Hello everyone! Thank you as always for all the amazing comments and votes on the last update! I love reading what you are thinking as you read. It seriously keeps me motivated! You are the best!
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Season Two
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The Siege Pt. 3
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Kai flew the Jumper away from the city. It had taken all of her skills as a pilot to avoid the darts that were making a run at the city. She cloaked the jumper immediately knowing no matter how badly she wanted to engage them she had to get clear. Only destroying the Hive ships could end this.
It didn't bother her. She should have died on the planet her people dumped her on for the Wraith. She had been living on borrowed time every day since that day. Weir and Sheppard and Teyla and Zelenka; they had shown her another life and she would forever be appreciative. She was following Sheppard and that combined with knowing everyone back on Atlantis would live was enough.
Her radio activated. "Jumper Two come in," the Major's voice came through. She glanced at the display and saw he was contacting her on a private frequency rather than the one that ran through the control room.
"This is Jumper Two," Kai replied. The only reason she could think he would be contacting her privately was to talk her out of it and she was determined to do this. They had to destroy both Hives.
"I know I'm not a highly trained super assassin like you, but typically you're supposed to run away from danger," Sheppard joked wryly.
Kai snorted, somehow even in this situation he was able to make her laugh. She would never understand how he managed to do that. "You're one to talk."
"What can I say," he said. "I like a little excitement in my life."
"Same here Major..." she told him, and she nearly bit her own tongue when she realized she was flirting with him. Not that it mattered anymore. They would both be dead in less than ten minutes. "I volunteered." She wasn't as good at this as he was, and their old joke fell flat as the reality that this would be the last time she spoke to John Sheppard hit her like a crushing weight.
She could hear him sigh through the comm. "Anyone ever tell you that you have a death wish Zian?" he asked seriously.
Kai forced herself to snort. "Only every commander I ever had," she told him.
There was a long moment of silence when all Kai could hear through the radio was the Major's breathing. According to her screens he was closing in on the first hive. "The bay doors are open," he said and his voice was back to the shrewd tone of The Major. "That's going to be our best bet."
"Understood Major," she fought to keep her tone as business like as possible so he would know she didn't regret it and she wasn't afraid. She didn't want him to feel responsible or guilty. It had been her decision to get in the second jumper.
"Kai-" he started to say but stopped. It was maybe the first time since they met that he called her by her first name. He had always called her by her last name, using it to keep distance between them. There was a long pause before he spoke again. "Thank you." His voice was rough and pained.
Kai didn't know what to say to that. There was so much she felt like she should say but couldn't, or didn't know how. So much she wished she convey to him. She owed him everything. "It's been an honor," her voice was almost a whisper. She closed her eyes and tried to think of all the things she wanted to say and there was that familiar hard nudge in the back of her mind. She reached down and touched the center of her chest. It felt strangely tight and for the first time in as far back as she could remember her eyes burned with unshed tears.
She heard his proximity alarm go off through the comm and it pulled her back to the present.
John Sheppard was out of time.
He switched the controls back to the open comm. "They haven't detected my approach. The weapon is armed and ready...I'm going in."
Kai tightened her grip on the controls as she tracked his progress on the HUD. She watched in agony as the beacon that represented his jumper disappeared inside the larger beacon that was the hive ship. Less than ten seconds later the first Hive exploded in a blinding wave of heat and light. The shock wave tore through several cruisers and blew her jumper off course. The force of it shook the tiny ship so badly she was amazed it didn't sustain damage.
She regained control and reset her systems, double checking her trajectory. Once it was stable she stared down at where her hands gripped the controls.
John was dead.
She leaned forward and closed her eyes as pain like she had never known lacerated her body. It didn't seem possible that he could be gone. He was always so full of life. She drew in a shuddering breath and realized in that moment that feeling in her chest was still there.
She scowled and looked back up at her sensors. The first hive ship had definitely been destroyed.
"Jumper Two come in," a painfully familiar voice came over her private channel.
She froze, her mind racing as she tried to rationalize what she had just seen, what she was hearing and what she knew to be true. She reached down and touched the center of her chest.
"John?" she asked, her voice breaking with emotion.
"It's me," he promised. "Shift course to the heading I'm sending you. You can dock in the F-302 bay. I'll meet you there and explain everything," he promised and the radio cut out.
Kai followed the headings and was shocked when she saw a massive battle ship in front of her. It was smaller than the wraith hives and a design she had never seen before. Large docking bay doors opened as she approached.
"We are lowering the shield. Please dock in bay two," an unfamiliar voice instructed over the radio.
Kai frowned but did as she was told, trusting Sheppard wouldn't lead her into a trap. Assuming that had been Sheppard. Doubt flooded her and she gripped the controls tighter. The Wraith could make people see things. It had never worked on her before, but what if she had been so upset she-
Kai closed her eyes and drew in a steadying breath, forcing herself to focus. Her emotions were all over the place and she needed to lock them back down. She guided the jumper through the bay doors and set it down where they indicated. Once she powered it down she lowered the back hatch. She turned and Sheppard was striding up the ramp towards her.
She stopped hardly able to believe he was in front of her. She was so relieved to see him alive the tightness in her chest was almost unbearable.
He stepped up in front of her, his eyes searching her face as he gazed down at her. His hazel eyes were more intense than she had ever seen them. "Don't ever do that again," he said sternly.
A small, relieved smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Is that an order Major?" she teased. She was so relieved she felt lightheaded and giddy.
He snorted and shook his head as though he couldn't believe she would crack a joke right now. "If it will stop you from ever taking another suicide mission? Yes," he said. Then his eyes softened and the feeling in her chest shifted into something different.
John tilted his head and his brow furrowed as he stared at Kai. "Is that-?" he started to ask and then he shook his head. It was just his imagination.
There was movement behind them and Sheppard jumped back like he had been shocked. "Let's get back to the bridge," he said briskly.
Kai nodded and trailed behind him as he strode out of the bay and through the ship. The ships design was impressive and as they walked the Major explained all about the Asgard's beaming technology that had saved his life and how they planned to use it against the Wraith.
The doors to the bridge slid open and a balding man in a military uniform stepped forward holding his hand out to Kai.
"Colonel Caldwell," he introduced himself.
"Kai Zian," she replied shaking his hand.
"Welcome to the Daedalus Miss Zian."
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The control room on Atlantis was painfully silent as they all watched the small blue dot approaching the Hive. Knowing it represented both their salvation and the death of one of their beloved friends made it that much harder.
"Detonation in five, four, three, two, one." McKay did the count down at they watched the small blue dot disappear into the hive. John was perhaps the first true friend he had ever had.
The whole control room went silent as the hive exploded on the screens and disappeared from sight.
"Target has been neutralized," Chuck reported, but no one cheered, no one celebrated. It was a hollow victory that had come at a great cost.
"He did it," Elizabeth said choking up.
"Yeah," McKay agreed. "He did."
"Doctor Weir," Chuck called urgently. "I'm picking up another ship."
"Another Hive ship?" she asked in dismay. They didn't have the means to destroy a third Hive. It seemed they couldn't catch a break.
"Negative, I'm reading IFF."
"Command, this is Sheppard," his voice crackled through the radio.
"John?" Weir asked in disbelief.
"What other Sheppards do you know?" He mocked.
"Oh thank god!" Beckett rejoiced.
McKay was shaking his head as he stared at the sensors display. "No no, it can't be. We saw the Hive ship go up."
Another man's voice came over the comm. "I assure you Doctor McKay that Major Sheppard is alive and well."
"Who is this?" Weir asked suspiciously.
"This is Colonel Steven Caldwell, Commander of the Daedalus. We are ready to assist you."
McKay dropped to sit on the stairs and buried his face in his hands in relief. "Thank you," he muttered. They had done it. Somehow, against all the odds, they had outlasted the Wraith. With Asgard technology one Hive ship should be no problem for the Daedalus.
Elizabeth however remained focused. "We are very glad to hear it Colonel. And I assume we have you to thank for saving Major Sheppard?"
"We were monitoring your transmissions as soon as we came out of hyperspace, but we couldn't beam him in until he decloaked his jumper."
"Didn't take much convincing," Sheppard assured them with a wry chuckle of relief. He had certainly had his fair share of near-death experiences in his life but this one took the cake.
"Doctor McKay?" Caldwell asked.
"Present, yes," Rodney responded climbing back to his feet.
"I trust you'll know what to do with this," Caldwell said as two marines were beamed directly into the city holding a large, protective case.
"Your ZPM sir," the first marine said holding the case out to him almost reverently.
"Rodney," Elizabeth said with a giddy smile. "what do you say we get that shield back up?"
"What say we," McKay said with an excited grin. He looked like a kid on Christmas.
"What about Kai?" Weir asked after a moment.
"Jumper Two is docking as we speak," Caldwell promised.
"Well, we still have Wraith all over the city."
"After we deal with this other Hive ship we will assist you as soon as we can. Caldwell, out," and the radio went dead.
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Kai and Sheppard stood side by side staring out the windows of the Daedalus watching the dog fight going on just above the planets atmosphere. The darts and the F-302s were fairly evenly matched and it was tough to watch. Kai could feel the Major's tension as he watched and knew he would rather be in one of the fighters than up here on the bridge.
"Colonel," a female voice came over the loud speaker. "Hermiod is ready and standing by for warhead transport. But I can tell you he is not happy about this."
In addition to beaming Sheppard out of the Jumper just before it blew, he and Caldwell had devised a plan to use the beaming technology to drop a warhead directly inside the Hive. It had apparently taken some doing, but they had managed to convince the single Asgard they had on board to override the lockout protocols.
Caldwell was unmoved by Novak's warning. "I'll take that under advisement," he replied sarcastically. In the brief time Kai had been around the Colonel she found he was a very different kind of leader than the Major. In fact, now that she thought about it she wasn't sure she was a fan of Colonels from earth. The two she had met seemed removed and cold from the people they led.
Caldwell turned back to the technician sitting beside his chair. "Are we in transport range?" he asked briskly.
"Yes, sir," the technician replied.
"Transport warhead when ready," he ordered formally.
"Ready," the woman's voice replied. "Five, Fo-" she began counting. There was a brief pause. "The weapon is away," she said sheepishly.
Kai turned back to the window and watched as the Hive ship exploded. The blast was blinding and she looked away for a moment before turning back. One of the cruisers was caught up in the blast and exploded as well as the others were caught up in the shockwave. Watching the explosion she realized it really was lucky her jumper hadn't been destroyed in the first blast. It had been a careless mistake.
"Novak I need you to prep another warhead for transport, we need to take out those cruisers."
"Colonel, wait," Kai called. As the cruisers regained control of their systems they were changing their trajectory away and shifting away from the planet.
"Sir, cruisers have broken off and are entering hyperspace," the technician confirmed.
"Seeing what we just did to the remaining hive ships I don't blame them," Caldwell acknowledged.
"There's still a lot of darts out there," the Major said stepping up next to Kai. She could practically feel the anxious energy radiating off the Major from being stuck on the ship instead of out there battling the Wraith himself.
"Sir, the Wraith fighters are regrouping," the technician's voice rose with tension.
Caldwell sat back down in his captains chair Looking supremely confident as he activated the overhead comm. "All railgun positions, standby for defensive fire."
"The Daedalus is not the target," Kai said in horror as she watched them diving towards the planet.
The technicians fingers were flying over his sensor displays. "Miss Zian is right sir, the formation is headed towards Atlantis."
Kai and Sheppard darted over to look over his shoulder at the console. The Wraith darts had formed what looked like an arrow and were headed straight for the city.
John swung away from them and activated his comm. "Elizabeth you've got a problem."
"Yeah, we see that Major," Elizabeth replied tightly.
"We're moving to intercept, but I don't think we can get there in time," John told her, his throat tightening as he realized that even after everything they had done the bastards were still going to win.
"Sir," the technician said. "Their approach is ballistic. Their impact velocity will be in excess of 10,000 kilometers per hour."
"Get the damn shield up!" Sheppard snarled but there was no response from Atlantis.
Below them the explosion was so massive they could see it from their position above the planet. Kai and John both flinched as they watched in disbelief. John's hand came up and he caught Kai's elbow but it was as much to steady himself as it was to steady her. They were supposed to have been the ones to sacrifice themselves and now they might be the only survivors.
"Atlantis, this is Sheppard come in," there was no reply, just agonizing silence. He let go of Kai and paced anxiously back and forth across the deck of the Daedalus. His eyes were locked on Kai as he waited for a response.
"Atlantis!" he called sharply into the silence. He met Caldwell's gaze and took a deep breath to steady himself. He couldn't be seen being emotional in front of a superior officer. "Elizabeth, this is Sheppard. I repeat. What is your status?"
Static crackled over the radio before Elizabeth's voice came through. "We're still here," she said. "That's our status."
John exhaled in relief. "Don't scare me like that."
"Sorry," Elizabeth said quickly. "What about the Wraith fleet?"
"The remaining cruisers have withdrawn from the battle," Caldwell filled in, quickly assuming command of the situation.
"Thank you Colonel," Weir said diplomatically. "Thank all of you."
"Glad to be of help ma'am. We're going to stay in geosynchronous orbit for the time being. Can we be of any further assistance?" Caldwell offered as he sat back in his command chair.
"We could use some help with the Wraith in the city," Elizabeth said hopefully.
Caldwell smiled indulgently. "I'll send down some people the help with that. Daedalus out." The comm clicked off and he turned back to John and Kai. "Major Sheppard, Miss Zian, I'm sure you're anxious to get back to Atlantis."
"Yes sir," Sheppard agreed. "Thank you."
"We'll beam you down, you can come back for your jumper later," Caldwell told them.
"Let the valet know we'll be back for it. Thanks again for the rescue," John said stepping forward and offering his hand to Caldwell.
The other man shook it. "Glad we made it in time. General O'Neil would have been pissed to hear I let you sacrifice yourself, no matter how heroically," he added with a chuckle.
Sheppard and Kai were beamed directly into the gate room with a dozen marines from the Daedalus. As soon as they materialized in the middle of the gate room Sheppard turned to the marines. "Secure Stargate operations," he ordered.
Weir hustled down the steps towards the Major and Kai. Her eyes were locked on John.
"Well I'm home," he called good-naturedly.
She smiled in relief as she approached them and threw her arms around him pulling him into a tight hug. John frowned in confusion, unsure what to make of her welcome. She was trembling slightly and he rested his hand awkwardly against Elizabeth's back.
Elizabeth pulled back, but kept her grip on John's arms as though she needed the reassurance that he was actually standing in front of her. "Yes you are," she agreed with a smile. "I truly thought-"
"Yeah, yeah, I thought that same thing about you a minute ago. We gotta stop that," he said wryly.
"I'd like that," Weir agreed warmly.
Kai's eyes widened for a moment and she quickly looked away. She had never seen Sheppard or Weir like this together. She turned away so she wasn't intruding on their private moment. She felt foolish for not noticing sooner. Of course, there was something between them, it suddenly made so much sense. They worked so well together.
It shouldn't bother her. She pressed her lips together and ignored the strange pain in the center of her chest. She wrapped the knowledge around herself like armor, cutting herself off from the feelings she never should have entertained in the first place. She turned and quickly hustled out of the room, leaving them alone.
John actually flinched at the sudden pain in his chest. He frowned and touched his sternum through his vest, wondering for a second if he was having a heart attack of some kind.
Weir let go of him like she had burned him. "Are you okay?" she asked urgently.
The pain was gone as quickly as it came like being stabbed by a white hot knife. In it's wake all that was left was a strange feeling of emptiness, like a piece of him he had never noticed before had been hollowed out and taken. He caught the flash of Kai striding away from him down the hall.
"John?" Elizabeth asked, bringing his attention back to her.
He turned to her. "I'm fine," he promised her.
"Do you need to see Doctor Beckett?" she asked uncertainly.
"No. It's nothing. Just a muscle cramp," he lied, and though she didn't look entirely convinced she took his word without question. "So ah," he said after an awkward moment. "Where are we?"
"Well, most of our sensors are down. But we do know there are at least a handful of Wraith still in the city," she said grimly.
"Still got some work to do then," John said with a nod, happy for the opportunity to have something to do.
"Before you do anything," Elizabeth said stopping at the base of the steps. "Colonel Everett insists on speaking with you...he's in the infirmary."
John nodded grimly. He was sure he would be in for it after personally changing the plan without orders. He and the Colonel had already been on rocky ground, and he wasn't looking forward to this little chat. But John wasn't one to shirk away from the repercussions of his actions and it certainly wouldn't be the first time he was chewed out by his CO for making the right call.
"We also need to discuss what to do about Ford. Beckett isn't hopeful."
John tightened his jaw. He knew the prognosis wouldn't be good when they had pulled the kid out of the water still attached to the Wraith. But he had hoped that somehow Beckett would be able to come up with some kind of miracle cure. Ford was a good kid and he didn't deserve this.
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It was the middle of the night and despite her exhaustion Kai couldn't sleep. She just kept replaying what had happened over and over in her head. Every time she closed her eyes she watched his ship disappear inside the hive and it exploded before her eyes. In her dreams however her radio never activated, she just kept waiting and waiting. She was left alone surrounded by silence in the cold, dark of space.
After tossing and turning for over an hour she finally got up and found McKay before he went to bed himself. She got his permission to harvest the parts she needed from the back up control room to repair the rest of the sensors.
The control room was surprisingly quiet, even Chuck had gone to bed, leaving a technician she didn't know monitoring the sensors. Thankfully the young woman didn't seem interested in talking and Kai was able to work by herself in peace.
It took her three hours to fix them. McKay or Zelenka probably could have done it faster, but she learned a lot about the ancient systems in the process. Besides, this way they were able to get some sleep. She stood and stretched her tired muscles. She moved over to the console and activated the long range sensors. It took several minutes for the program to reboot itself but when it did it chirped urgently.
Kai stared up at the display in horror. There was a slight tremble to her hand as she touched her comm. "Doctor Zelenka, Doctor McKay, please report to the control room immediately."
Zelenka arrived first, but McKay was only a couple of minutes behind him. By that time Kai had already triple checked the data and there was no mistaking what the sensors were telling them.
McKay groaned as he trudged up the steps. "What is it now?" he grumbled.
"I got the deep space sensors back on-line," Kai replied.
Mckay stepped up to the terminal he looked over the data and his paled. "This-" he started to say but stopped. He quickly rebooted the program, desperate for it to somehow be wrong.
It wasn't.
"Oh my god," Radek muttered.
Rodney touched his comm. "Elizabeth, Major Sheppard."
"What is it?" Weir asked.
"You're gonna want to get up to the control room," he replied gravely.
The three of them waited in tense silence for Weir and Sheppard. All the business of the last few days was swallowed up in the gaping truth that there was nothing they could do but wait.
"Aren't you three supposed to be getting some sleep?" Sheppard asked jogging up the short flight of stairs. Weir was right behind him.
McKay turned to their two leaders. "I was trying to do just that when someone decided she would rather fix the deep space sensors instead of getting some much needed sleep..."
John turned to Kai. Her pale skin looked sallow and there were dark bags under her eyes. She looked exhausted. Her scarf was tied around her hair and knotted at the base of her skull, serving mainly to keep her hair out of her eyes.
"Yes, and?" Weir asked impatiently. She needed sleep as much as the rest of them, but she knew it would have to be something big for Kai to call them all here.
Zelenka exhaled before McKay could get around to answering. "We picked up twelve more Hive ships traveling in hyperspace," he told them grimly.
"Their course and speed will bring them here in thirty-six hours," McKay finished.
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Elizabeth called a meeting of all the senior staff members at dawn. She tried in vain to send Zelenka and McKay to their quarters for the few hours they had, but the two men instead took naps in the conference room while they waited. She finally had to resort to ordering Kai back to her quarters, promising her they would contact her if there was anything she could do. The hard truth of the matter was that there was nothing any of them could do.
Caldwell paced around the meeting room. "Twelve Hive ships?" he asked in disbelief.
"The cruisers that got away probably called for reinforcements," John said with a groan. They should have done more to stop the bastards from leaving. He had been so relieved to see them retreating in the moment he hadn't paused to consider they would call for help. It had been a stupid and reckless oversight.
"Our research shows there are at least sixty hive ships in this galaxy," McKay filled in. "Who knows how many more could be on the way..."
"At least the shields up and running," Sheppard said.
"That only buys us time."
"I like time," he snapped back.
Mckay settled back in his chair. "Look, the first siege of Atlantis lasted for years. I mean...with only one functioning ZPM we can't expect to hold out that long."
"Can we submerge the city again?" Caldwell asked.
McKay sighed heavily. "Look, its a city, not a yo-yo. I don't even know how they did it the first time."
"How long until they arrive?" Elizabeth asked. She was the only one who seemed calm in the face of this new challenge. The truth was however, it was exhaustion that had her calmly assessing this next attack.
"A little over a day," Radek told her in a low tone.
John shoved himself to his feet and paced in front of the screen as frustration raged through him. They couldn't keep up like this. Everyone was exhausted and they kept barely squeaking by on sheer luck and the skin of their teeth. It couldn't go on like this. They needed a new tactic. "You know what, I'm sick of this."
"I'm sorry?" Weir asked in shock. She expected outbursts like this from McKay, but never John.
John grunted, turning back to her. "I mean sitting around and waiting for them to show up. I say we take the fight to them."
Caldwell shook his head. "We got one ship Major."
"Yeah, one ship with Asgard shielding, an armory full of nukes and beaming technology. That evens the odds a hell of a lot," John was getting excited now. This was exactly what they needed to do. He was sick of the Wraith bringing the fight on their terms. With the Daedalus they could play a little offense.
"Twelve ships and their escorts," Caldwell said tightly. He had read the Major's file before coming here. The Major was known for being hotheaded and making impulsive decisions that were not always by the book.
"I'm telling you, we gotta send these guys a message. We aren't like the ancients. We aren't just going to sit around and wait. If they don't back off we have the capacity and the will to go kick their asses for a change."
Caldwell cocked his head to the side as he regarded the Major. "How do I fight a ship in hyperspace?" He challenged. He wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea, but he wouldn't endanger his ship or his crew without a solid plan.
McKay started to snap excitedly. "The Wraith faster than light travel is not as efficient as the Asgard hyper-drive on board the Daedalus. Not only are they slower, they travel in a series of jumps. So if my calculations are correct," he chuckled as the very idea of them being incorrect was ridiculous. "They will make one last stop here," he said pointing on the sensor map. "Fifty light years away before they make the final jump to Atlantis."
Caldwell turned to Elizabeth. "Doctor Weir?" he asked.
Elizabeth studied the sensor map for a moment before turning back to the Colonel. "It will feel good to have them on the defensive for a change."
"All right then," Sheppard said turning back to the room. "Let's do this."
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So...what did you think?