Rodney glared at Elizabeth, who was returning his look with a stern expression.
"You are not going back to that planet, Rodney!"
"And if I go on my own? Without permission? You know I can manage it, Elizabeth, it's not that hard to rig up."
She shook her head, pressing her fingers to her temples and shooting him a look that was fit to kill. "Rodney, I cannot afford to lose you both. I need more than Zelenka here running things... If you go, and something happens, then we all suffer."
"Elizabeth, Zelenka is more than competent to do what needs to be done, and besides, it's not like I wouldn't be coming back. I doubt she did anything more than do some lab work on site or something. I really can't imagine her doing anything else." He said, partially trying to convince her, but also himself. Elizabeth shook her head and shot him a look.
"Rodney..."
"How often have I asked you to trust me?" he asked, as she raised her eyebrows.
"The time you destroyed an entire solar system comes to mind..."
"Ah... right. There was that..."
--
The Stargate on Sokra flared to life again and the next group came in, including SG teams 3 and 4, and a very ornery Rodney McKay. Sheppard marched up to them, and after motioning to the SG teams, pointed at Rodney, and crooked his finger in a follow-me motion. Rodney rolled his eyes, but followed him anyhow.
"What are you doing here, and why are you not recovering?" Sheppard hissed once they were off to the side.
"Well Nichols decided to head off with your team, and whatever her plan is, she's going to need some help. And if you don't need her I plan to drag her stubborn rear right back to Atlantis , with or without her cooperation." He said, as Sheppard cast a glance to the side. "Where is Nichols, Sheppard? I thought she'd be here in some make-shift laboratory or something...""
"We don't exactly know."
McKay's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "WHAT?! How do you not know??!" His mind went to about six different bad places. "She's a WOMAN, and she was the only woman on this off world mission team! How did you lose her?"
"She took off on her own before I could pair her with someone! By the time we realized that she had gone off, it was too late for us to go after her. Someone swears they saw her heading towards the main building, but..."
Eureka. Rodney had a glimpse of thought... he remembered there being a room in there that was full of technology, and they had called it the control room... which one could assume meant that it ran the whole damn place and supplied power, air to some places, and more...
"She's going for the control room. She's going to cut the power. " Rodney said, grabbing his weapon and swiftly walking towards the main building. Sheppard was quickly on his heels, a confused look on his face as he walked with Rodney, who was actually tough to keep up with at the moment.
"WAIT. Why do you say that??" Sheppard asked.
Rodney shrugged, then gave a small smirk.
"Because it's what I would do."
--
This was going far easier than she had thought it would.
Kait skulked around the main building, making her way to the control room. Her head was starting to feel like she was floating, and she honestly felt like garbage. So, Carson was right, she supposed... She probably should have stayed in the medical bay. But it would pass, and this would get SG-1 out if she was right, so that would make it worth it.
Rounding the corner, weapon in her hands, she glanced for guards, spotting none. Letting out a breath, she moved into the control room, and locked the door behind her, finally able to relax for a few minutes.
She moved to the control panel, and pulled the Ancient memory crystal from her pocket, attaching it to the computer system. Pressing some of the keys, she started the download sequence for the virus... and covered her ears a moment later as an alarm began blaring. She kicked the console. "Damn. Good luck stopping the virus now, I give it 10 seconds until this whole place has no power..."
There was a banging at the doors, and with that, she began to hunt for anything that would work as a door stop... because, as she now realized, the doors were about to be let open and she was about to be under attack.
--
Rodney and Sheppard made their way inside, as they looked at their surroundings... "Ok, Rodney you go that way, find that control room. I'm going to try and make my way over to SG-1, we have intel that they may be in the prison here. Get moving fast, before-"
The power whirred to a halt, and both of them looked up with ominous looks.
"...before that happens. Go!" Sheppard shouted, as they went their separate directions. Sheppard took off to the right, Rodney to the left.
Sheppard followed the directions given by his soldier, going up a flight of stairs before coming up to some guards. Drawing his weapon, he shot them, before moving past them and into the next room, where the sounds of fighting could already be heard. As he rounded the next corner, he almost came nose to nose with Colonel O'Neill.
"Sheppard!"
"Colonel O'Neill!"
O'Neill laughed for all of a second before firing at a guard who was about to get up behind Sheppard. "So, hell of a rescue attempt you have going on here." He laughed, as Sheppard shrugged.
"We try, sir."
"Colonel Sheppard... where is McKay and Nichols??" Daniel asked, as Sheppard gave a shrug.
"Rodney's going after her now, she's the reason the power's out."
Sam started swearing, and Sheppard had the decency to look confused at least.
"Someone care to explain to me what information I'm apparently missing?"
--
Rodney ran around the corner, firing at two guards in the hall before hurrying to the control room. Something was not right. He could feel that something was not right... He reached the room, and spotted the door open, sounds of a scuffle coming from the room. He heard crashes and bangs, and the sound of a punch and a thud, the clattering of a body against machines, the tinkling of crystals as they hit the floor.
Kaitlyn.
He turned the corner to see a guard lifting her smaller frame by the throat, blood coming from a split lip dripping onto her tank top. Rodney glared, moved forward, and pulled the guard back and off of her, throwing him to the floor with a grunt before raising his weapon and shooting the guard in the neck, the guard gripping his throat and holding a hand on the bleeding out wound.
Rodney moved to Kait and helped her up, as she coughed. He noted her wounds, her skin tone... she would be fine. His thoughts went back to his words from before, a lump forming in his throat as she began to speak, her voice raspy.
"I... I cut the power... used a virus... I didn't think, the door unlocked as soon as the power shut off, and the guards came in. I fought one off but the other one, I couldn't-"
He cut her off by placing his mouth on hers and then pulling her against him. "I'm sorry."
It was all he said, and all he needed to say. She nodded, grabbing his shirt and pressing herself closer to him. All he wanted right now was to claim her, kiss her until the pain stopped and make her happy... give her what she deserved, but unfortunately, they had more pressing matters to attend to... like getting back out of the building in one whole piece.
His radio perked on at that point.
"Rodney!! Answer if you can hear me!"
"McKay here, what's wrong Sheppard?" he asked, a flash of new worry crossing his already tired features.
"Do you have Nichols yet?"
"She's safe."
"Good. Head back to the Stargate. Dr. Jackson and Major Carter told me that they're after you two, they want to make you hosts. Get back to the Stargate!" Sheppard said, making Rodney blanch then pull her to her feet.
"We've got to go."
They began to run, heading back to the main entrance, their feet hitting the ground hard and fast. Down the stairs, take a turn...
"Rodney, guards!"
He grabbed her and pushed her into the adjoining hallway, as they continued their run.
"There! Lord Ozymandias wants them alive and unharmed!"
Rodney sucked in air, as guards appeared around the corner in front of them. Trapped, cornered, he turned on his radio, so Sheppard could at least hear some of what was happening. He pulled Kait behind him, as she looked up at him. He gave a sideways smirk. "I can do something brave for once in my life." He said, as she sighed, squeezing his shoulders.
"I've always thought you were brave, Rodney." She said quietly. He motioned for her to try and make her way out, which was pointless because they were surrounded from all sides.
He pulled out a weapon, and began to fire, as one of the guards closed in and grabbed Kait's arm. She threw a punch that hit the guard hard enough to knock a tooth loose. They both fought like wolverines, kicking and shooting and throwing punches until they were overtaken, which inevitably happened. Once they were...
Kait yelped as the guard pulled her by the hair and threw her down, her eye darkening and her lip dripping a steady stream of blood. Rodney hit the floor in front of her, unconscious from a blast from their weapons, not that it was stopping them from kicking the shit out of him...
"Stop!" she croaked out, but it was the last thing she saw for a while as the end of a weapon hit her in the head, knocking her out.
--
SG-1, Beth, and Sheppard had all stopped at the Stargate, frowning. They had listened to the radio, and heard the whole scuffle between the guards and the scientists. O'Neill looked at Sheppard. "We can't go back now." He said, as Sheppard nodded.
"Yep. And I need backup... let's get Ronon and Teyla here... can the Tok'ra help if they become hosts?"
"Possibly, as long as they become hosts the traditional way, but it may do irreparable harm..." Sam said, as Sheppard nodded.
"Then I guess we need to get them before they become hosts..." he said, before turning from the team and making a call through the Stargate. If he was going to have any chance of getting them back, he needed Ronon back on Atlantis and on his way to Sokra now, same with Teyla.
--
Rodney woke up in a cell, his arms chained in front of him. He sat up, rubbing at a sore spot on his head, and wiped away blood. 'Oh fantastic.' He thought, before looking around.
"Kait?"
He spotted her laying on the floor to the side of him, and he moved over to her as fast as his body would allow. He pushed her hair back, wincing at the damage done to her. Her face was marked up with bruises and her chin and lip had dried blood caking it. He raised his shackled hands to touch her shoulder.
"Wake up Kait. Come on."
She opened her eyes groggily, and he almost wished she hadn't. The look on her face as the pain set in broke his heart.
"I'm sorry, I would have let you sleep if I thought for a moment it was safe... but I don't think it is..." he said. She gasped up at him, and he had a fleeting thought wondering how bad his own injuries were.
"Hey, focus, don't worry about me, it's just some bruises. We need to get out of here. Do you have any ideas, information on the locking system, anything?"
She shook her head, and he cursed inwardly. He had been hoping for something, anything, to get them out of there.
There was a clanking outside of the door, and a guard walked up. He reached down and yanked Rodney to his feet, doing the same to Kait a moment later.
"What do you want? What more could you possibly want?" Rodney spat out, as the guard sneered.
"My Lord and his beloved wish to have an audience with you."
u02?