Encoded – Part 30

“I can’t believe they expect us to be out on the front line,” Kavanagh grumbled from behind Rodney. “We’re scientists for fuck’s sake. I never signed up for this.”

Rodney closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. Kavanagh had been at it for hours now, pretty much since they got in the jumper, bitching about having to risk his neck and no one showing him the respect he felt he was due. Always doing so quietly, but loud enough to be overheard. At first, Rodney and Miller had simply ignored the man, but Rodney had reached his limit. Turning in his seat, he glared daggers at the other scientist. “Kavanagh, I swear to God, if you don’t shut up, I will space you. Everyone is at risk, no matter where we go, so just shut up and do your part so we can save the day, okay?”

Miller snorted a laugh, which he quickly turned into a cough when Rodney turned his glare on him. The man couldn’t quite keep from grinning, though, and it was all Rodney could do to keep his own amusement from showing because Kavanagh had gone decidedly pale. And blissfully quiet.

With one final glower at the other man, Rodney turned back in his seat and heaved a sigh of relief. He was a hundred percent sure the peace wouldn’t last, but he would take what he could get. After another half an hour, Miller cleared his throat and pointed at the HUD. “Sir, we’re nearing the station, you might want to prepare for EVA.”

Rubbing his suddenly sweaty palms on his thighs, Rodney nodded. “Right. Kavanagh, give me a hand.” Oh, how he hated the very idea of a spacewalk. Having to climb into that suit and have his world shrink down to just that. To know his oxygen supply was limited and that if something happened to the suit, he was done for, no help to be had and no John to back him up. He almost refused, but thought better of it. Besides, he would not let on exactly how frightened he was. Not in front of Kavanagh.

By the time they had maneuvered him into the suit, Miller was preparing to dock. “Dr. Weir, this is Miller. We’re approaching the satellite.”

“You’re on the other side of the solar system, Lieutenant. You guys be careful out there,” came Elizabeth’s voice over the comms.

Rodney swallowed hard. “Understood.” Like he had needed that reminder. Grabbing the helmet, he stepped into the rear section of the jumper. “Okay, close the bulkhead doors.”

Miller turned to look at him, giving him a reassuring smile. “Good luck.”

“Right.”

Kavanagh remained silent, rolling his eyes. Rodney shook his head, muttering, “Asshole,” under his breath as he put the helmet on and the doors closed. Grabbing hold of the netting that held the generator in place, he forced himself to breathe evenly as he released the generator and hooked it to his suit. “Okay, you can do this. No big deal.” The jumper jarred slightly as Miller docked into the station. “Come on, Rodney. No space. Just straight into the station. You can do this,” he repeated, trying to calm his nerves as he opened the hatch and made his way down.

“Are you okay, McKay?” Kavanagh asked, sounding frustrated.

“I’m fine,” Rodney bit out. “Why?”

“You’re breathing kind of heavily,” came Kavanagh’s dry response.

Great. So much for breathing evenly and not showing his fear. No sense denying it, at this point. “I’m feeling a little claustrophobic. How much air do these things hold, anyway?” Now why had he asked that? He wasn’t at all sure he wanted to know.

Miller sounded amused. “Eight hours.”

Rodney’s heart constricted with panic. “Well that’s enough, right? Even with the heavy breathing? We calculated that in, right?” God, why did his voice have to go up like that?

Kavanagh snorted. “You’re going to be fine, McKay.”

Was it him, or did the man sound like he wished that wouldn’t be the case? Rodney narrowed his eyes as he made his way down deeper into the space station. “Yeah, it’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one with the eight-hour ceiling worth of breathing,” he grouched.

When he made it to the bottom where the controls were, he tried to activate the power but got nothing. Damn. Well, hopefully this would be the only problem. “It’s completely dead.”

Before he could continue, Kavanagh interjected snidely, “Well, we thought as much.”

Oh, shut up, Rodney thought. “I’m going to hook the generator up, see if I can get life support going.” It took a little bit of doing but, in the end, he managed to get it connected, and when he turned it on, he let out a whoop. “It worked! Life support is on. Just have to give it a little time then you two can come down.

Before too long, Miller and Kavanagh joined Rodney and they set to work getting the station operational again. Rodney managed to get full power restored but the gravity still wasn’t working. Rodney was floating high, nearly touching the ceiling as he worked on the power restoration.

Kavanagh was on what amounted to the ground floor going over schematics. “Primary power online,” he said flatly – as usual stating the obvious. “Looks like life support is now at a hundred percent. I think I found the switch to initialize the gravity.”

“Okay, great,” Rodney said, trying to make his way to the ladder. “Just give me a second to-” Kavanagh hit the switch, instantly turning gravity back on, sending Rodney plummeting  screaming to floor, passing Miller on his way down. Oh God, he was going to die, he just knew it. He flinched as the floor loomed ever closer and he landed face down with a loud thud. Rodney groaned, his back shooting tendrils of pain through his whole body. “Oh yeah.” Rolling gently over onto his back, he winced. “Yep, that’s permanent back damage,” he grunted.

Kavanagh leaned toward him but didn’t offer any help. Of course he didn’t, Rodney thought. Idiot.

“Sorry,” Kavanagh said, not looking repentant in the slightest in Rodney’s opinion. “I assumed it would turn on more slowly.”

Rodney glared at him. “Well, you assumed with my life.”

Kavanagh huffed, rolling his eyes. “Stop being such a baby, McKay, it was just a little bump.”

A little bump? Is that what he called it? Rodney had half a mind to ream the man up one side and down the other. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. They didn’t have time for Rodney to chew Kavanagh out, and he still needed the man if they were to have any shot at fixing the satellite on time. Once he had a handle on his temper, he looked at the scientist and – quite calmly, he thought – asked for a status report.

Looking as if he were about to bitch about something, Rodney turned up his glower, causing the other man to fumble in his pocket for his handheld. Peering at it, he scowled. “Looks like everything is operational.” Good, Rodney thought. “Except for the weapon itself,” Kavanagh finished.

Damn. “Ehh, details,” he managed, grasping Miller’s hand he let the man help him to his feet. Rodney nodded, muttering, “Thanks.” Moving gingerly toward a terminal, Rodney groaned. “Okay, let’s get to work.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

John sat pouring over the data scrolling along his screen, trying to find more viable planets. If he were honest, staring at the computer was starting to give him a headache. Rubbing his temples, he sighed. Then again, maybe it wasn’t so much that he was working on this problem. He could sense Rodney’s frustration bleeding through the bond and it was beginning to affect John. He definitely didn’t envy his mate being stuck with Kavanagh. He was certain the man would be grinding on Rodney’s last nerve by now. “Okay, how about this one?”

Ford leaned over to peer at his screen. “Which one’s that, sir?”

John sat back in his chair, swiveling toward the lieutenant. “The one with all the waterfalls?”

“So why don’t we just name it Planet Waterfall or something?”

John blinked. Was he serious? Yeah, the kid was never going to get to name anything again. Ever. The LSD had stuck, mostly because John hadn’t been able to think of anything better himself, but really… Before he could respond, though, he felt a sudden twinge in his back. It was bad enough that he jerked in his seat. “Ow! What the hell?” he muttered, rubbing the small of his back, frowning. Touching on the bond, he couldn’t help worrying what had happened to Rodney. The pain faded, but he was certain his mate had been injured, though he had no idea how or how badly.

“Sir?” Evan put a hand on John’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

John glanced up at his second in command, taking a moment to assess himself before nodding slowly. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think. That was weird. Something must’ve happened at the satellite.”

Evan nodded, then tilted his head toward the control room. Ioan got up and followed the silent command from his brother. John smiled in spite of himself as he heard Ioan radio Miller for an update. “Thanks,” he murmured to Evan, who nodded again.

John scowled when Miller told them what had happened. “I’m going to kick Kavanagh’s ass if we make it through this.”

“I’ll help,” Evan said quietly, folding his arms. “What kind of idiot-?” He cut off, shaking his head. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

John smirked at his friend. “Said what?”

Evan grinned.

“Major Sheppard? We have a situation at generator station one,” a voice came over the comms. John and Evan shared a look then took off running, followed closely by Ioan and Ford.

“What’s the problem?” John asked the Marine that had called him once they arrived.

“Bates, sir. He’s been attacked.”

What the hell? He hit his comms. “Get a medical team down here.” Kneeling beside the unconscious man, John checked his pulse. Relieved to find his heartbeat, John glanced over him, wishing they had someone better equipped to handle situations like this. Unfortunately, no one had thought to send along anyone who had more investigative experience.

“Who did this?” Evan asked the marine. “Do you have any idea?”

The man shook his head. “No, sir. We were on patrol when we found him like this. There wasn’t anyone around.”

Carson and his team arrived, so John stepped back to let them do their work. After making sure patrols were increased and evidence – what little there was, at any rate – would be gathered, John, Evan, and Ford made their way to the infirmary, Ioan staying behind to oversee matters on site.

Carson met them as they walked into the infirmary. “Is he going to be okay?” John asked as they headed to Bates’ side. He might not like the man, but he was still under John’s command and he hated losing people.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Carson shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. He’s got five broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, and the concussion was quite severe.”

Well, that certainly didn’t sound good. Staring down at the sergeant, John sighed. “When can we talk to him?” He really needed to get information from the man, because right now, all they really had was the prior altercation between Bates and Teyla and John really didn’t care to speculate on that. Teyla followed orders. She couldn’t have done this, of that he was certain. But still…

Carson shook his head. “You can’t, I’m afraid. I’ve placed him in a medically induced coma until the subdural hematoma can be dealt with.”

John blinked. The what?

Tugging at the sheet needlessly, Carson continued, “We won’t be finding out what happened from him any time soon.”

Scowling, John went over his options, which were far too limited to his liking. Ford turned to him. “Teyla and him got into it pretty bad yesterday, sir,” he said, voicing John’s thoughts.

Casting a quick look at Evan, he was relieved to see his second in command found it equally hard to believe Teyla guilty of this attack. Biting his lip, he turned back to Ford. “A fist fight and a beating like this are a long drive apart, Ford.”

A strange look came over the lieutenant’s features, one John couldn’t place. “I understand that, sir, but they were in a fight they were both looking to continue.”

And unfortunately, the kid had a point. Still, he refused to believe it of his friend. Meeting Carson’s gaze, John tilted his head to the still form on the bed. “Anything pointing to who did this?” he asked, hopefully.

Lips tightening, Carson sighed. “I’m having a forensic exam done on both his body and his clothing right now.”

John nodded. With a little luck, that would point to whoever did this. “Let us know what you find out.”

“Aye, I’ll have Mac tell you himself as soon as he has the results,” Carson assured.

Taking a deep breath, John cast one last glance at the sergeant. “Let’s go get her side of the story.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Mac’s computer dinged, letting him know the test results were finished. Pulling them up, he poured over the findings, frowning. “Hmm.” The DNA sequence he’d run was oddly familiar. He could tell it wasn’t any of their expedition, which left few alternatives. Taking a deep breath, he searched for Teyla’s file and compared the two. A relieved smile spread on his lips when they didn’t match up, though it quickly morphed into dread. The results weren’t a complete match, but they did share similar markers.

“Oh, no,” he muttered. “It can’t be.” It took him a minute to find the file he was looking for. When he did, the proof of what he was seeing was not unlike getting hit in the face. The DNA he had gathered off of Bates was Wraith. There was no doubt in his mind.

With a shaking hand, he hit his comms. “Carson? You’ll want to see this for yourself.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Mac knew his friend well enough to know he would want to rerun the tests, so he did. Carson arrived just as the results came in. Mac moved out of the way so the man could take a proper look. He didn’t need to check the second results, Carson’s, “Bloody hell,” told him he had been right.

Carson took a wavering breath. “Right. I’ll start preparing sickbay for possible incoming wounded. You go find Major Sheppard and tell him what you’ve discovered. Him, and no one else. I do not want to alert anyone over the radio, Mac. God knows what that Wraith’s been up to, and it wouldn’t do to alert it. Or to cause a mass panic, for that matter.”

Mac nodded. “Aye, I’m on it. Back as soon as I can.” He headed out in search of John. Mac wanted to run, but firmly pushed that instinct down. Running would set tongues wagging and that would not do. He did set a fast clip, however. He tried John’s office first, only to find it empty.

“You looking for the major, doc?” Chuck called out.

Turning, Mac nodded. “Aye, do you know where he is?”

Chuck pointed to Dr. Weir’s office and Mac waved in thanks even as he hurried over.

“-this is Teyla we’re talking about,” John said, tilting his head to the door when he heard Mac.

Mac shook his head. “No need to worry about Teyla, Major. You have bigger things to concern yourself with.”

John frowned, but before he could ask, Evan spoke up from beside him. “What do you mean, Mac? Did you find out who attacked Bates?”

Meeting his mate’s eyes briefly, he nodded then refocused on John. “Aye.”

“Well, who is it?” John asked with a hint of impatience.

Taking a deep breath, he kept his gaze level with the major. “It was a Wraith.”

“What? How?” Elizabeth sounded stunned.

“That’s what I’d like to know. Wraith? Are you sure, doc?” John asked as he got to his feet.

Mac nodded. “Aye, I ran the test twice to verify and it’s definitely Wraith.”

John glanced at Evan and Ford in turn. “Ready room.” They both nodded and headed out. John tapped his earpiece. “Dr. Zelenka, I need you in Weir’s office, stat.” Meeting Mac’s eyes, he said, “Doc, I’ll be right back. I need you to fill Zelenka in on everything we have so far, then we’ll go from there.”

“Aye, of course.”

He watched as John followed his men to gear up. Closing his eyes briefly, he took a few calming breaths, though his heart wanted to skip a few beats. He had never been in contact with a Wraith before – at least not a live one – but he knew they were creatures of horror. And now they had one running loose on their city doing God only knew what.

When Radek arrived, Mac filled him in on everything, Elizabeth listening quietly to it all. The little man seemed as disturbed by the idea of a Wraith running around Atlantis as Mac was. John and the others came walking back, closing their tac vests. “What I want to know,” John asked, “is how a Wraith got on Atlantis to begin with.”

“Well, he didn’t ‘gate in,” Ford remarked.

“The dart,” Radek said quietly, looking pensive as he tapped his chin. Mac wasn’t the only one to give the man his undivided attention as he continued. “The Wraith dart that scanned us. It made its way through the city, scanning for data. The second it was done, it self destructed.”

Mac and Evan shared a glance. Evan’s jaw set with determination. The Wraith had been there for nearly two weeks without notice? The thought horrified him. A sudden feeling of reassuring calm came through the bond, causing Mac to smile a little. “Thanks,” he mouthed at his mate. Evan nodded.

The conversation continued around him and Mac tried to pay attention but his mind was half on what they had learned and half on trying to prepare for what he knew would come. He supposed they had been lucky that Bates had been the Wraith’s only casualty so far but he was not likely to be its last.

Mac tuned in again at Elizabeth’s, “What we know for sure is that we have a Wraith intruder in the city that we need to track down.”

Radek tilted his head, frowning, then straightened, his face brightening as he thought of something. “I think I have an idea.” He headed toward the control room and began to fiddle with one of the stations.

As Evan walked past Mac to follow Radek and the others, Mac stopped him, placing his hand on his arm. “Ev, be careful.” He worried for his mate. For his friends.

Evan cupped the back of Mac’s neck and smiled. “I’ll be fine, Mac.” At Mac’s narrowing eyes, Evan added, “I promise.”

Taking a deep breath, Mac nodded. “I have to get back to the infirmary. Carson’s already prepping for any casualties.”

Evan raised an eyebrow and Mac could feel his mate’s amusement. “So little faith in us, sweetheart?”

Mac huffed. “No, but better safe than sorry. Bates was only the first casualty. Once the Wraith figures out we’re onto him, it’s unlikely he’ll be as… careful.”

“We’ll get him, Mac.”

“I know. Just… make sure he doesn’t get you, too. Any of you.”

Evan nodded and Mac let him go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Evan cradled his P-90 as he watched Radek, his attention only partially on the man as he fine-tuned the city’s scanners. He could feel how on edge Mac was and it made Evan both want to follow his mate to hold and reassure him, and hunt down the Wraith to eliminate the threat altogether. Either way, he was itching to move. To do.

“Now if I could only expand the scanning field to-” Radek murmured as he worked. “Oh my God.”

That got everyone’s attention. “What?” John asked, frowning as he shared a brief look with Evan.

Radek moved toward the screen, pointing. Evan’s gaze followed the direction and he blinked. “There,” said Radek. “That’s him. Look.”

“You sure?” John stepped up to the Czech.

Pushing his glasses up his nose, Radek nodded. “Yes. The scanners work much like the LSD, but is more precise. It differentiates between human and….” He gestured at the screen, indicating the single red dot among all the white ones which were presumably all human.

John’s jaw seemed to set. “That’s him. You can track him in real time?”

Radek nodded. “Yes.”

Straightening, John turned to Evan, his eyes glancing over the others gathered around them. “Ford, Teyla, you’re with me. Evan, you and your team circle around to come at him from behind. Let’s go get him.”

The sound of weapons going at the ready echoed across the control room. “Yes, sir,” Evan acknowledged, already heading out.

It took them several minutes to get in place as they had to go the long way around, but they were getting close. “He still in the same place, doc?” John’s voice came over the radio.

“Yes, he’s still in the same room,” came Radek’s response. “It hasn’t moved since we located him.”

Evan shared a glance with his teammates as John murmured, “Let’s hope it’s still sleeping. Evan, are you in position?”

“No, sir, not yet. We’re almost there, though.” Evan gestured for them to pick up the pace as John let him know that they were ready.

“We’re going to breach the room at the same time from different directions. If he tries to get out the other door, take him,” John ordered quietly.

“Understood, sir.” Evan touched on his bond, trying to convey confidence and reassurance. He wasn’t about to let the Wraith get away. Mac’s quiet nudge of support bolstered Evan.

John’s quiet, “Standby,” was the last they heard before the sound of a minor explosion came over the radio, sending Evan and his team running to AR-1’s location. There was no need for Evan to give his team orders. They all knew that they had to get there now or risk John and the others getting fed on or killed.

The sound of a Wraith stunner sent chills down Evan’s spine. His team rounded the corner just as the Wraith ripped John’s shirt open. Dylan, who had one of the two Wraith stunners they had managed to get a hold of, was ahead of Evan by only a few seconds and raised the weapon. The Wraith gloated over his prey – over John – his hand ready to feed. “Nothing will keep us from our new feeding ground.”

Evan aimed his P-90, but Dylan got his shot off first and the Wraith went down in a heap. Scrambling to his CO and friend, Evan kneeled and placed his hand on the man’s chest, relief washing over him at the lack of a feeding wound. “We heard the whole thing. We got him, Major, you’re going to be okay.”

John blinked slowly, still looking dazed, then closed his eyes. Evan checked his pulse and tried to rouse him but the man was out cold. Turning, he saw Simmons and Peterson were making sure Teyla and Ford were alright, both of whom were also down for the count. Dylan stood poised over the Wraith, ready to fire again should he stir.

Clicking his radio, he had to clear his throat before the words would form. “I need a medical team down here. The major, Lieutenant Ford, and Teyla have all been stunned.”

“Are you alright, Ev?” Mac’s voice sounded at once relieved and anxious.

Smiling softly, Evan nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. We got the bastard before it could do anything.”

“Good. I’m on my way.”

~*~*~*~*~

Why was it always him that got into these situations, Rodney wondered as he worked frantically to reroute the power to the weapon. He had to draw the short straw. Of course, it was lucky he did because of how bad the damage to the satellite had turned out to be. Kavanagh wouldn’t have stood a chance in hell at fixing this mess. Turning the last dial, Rodney heaved a sigh. “Okay, that’s about all I can do from here. Is power getting through?” Please let this work, he thought.

The seconds it took for Kavanagh’s, “Yes, power is getting through,” felt like ages to Rodney.

“Oh, thank God.” For once in his life actually meaning it, he sighed in relief. “I’m gonna end this EVA, we’re coming in and we’ll pick you up and we’ll get the hell out of here,” Rodney said as he carefully pushed off and made his way back to the jumper.

“Sounds like a plan,” Kavanagh muttered impatiently.

As soon as Rodney was back inside the jumper, Miller headed back to the loading dock. Rodney frowned at the sound of a failed docking. Checking the system he groaned. Just what they needed. The jumper couldn’t connect to the satellite anymore. “Kavanagh, we’re having a bit of a problem. The jumper’s not able to dock. See what you can do from your side.”

He shared a frustrated glance with Miller while they waited for Kavanagh’s response. “Looks like you rerouted power from the airlock to the weapon.”

Aww hell. “So we’ll do it manually, like we did the first time.”

Kavanagh huffed. “You had a space suit the first time. I don’t.”

Grabbing the helmet, Rodney sighed. “Okay, we’ll go back and I’ll reroute power so that-”

“There’s no time, McKay, the Wraith are too close,” Kavanagh cut in, sounding pissed.

“Well I know what I’m doing now,” Rodney protested.

“McKay!” Kavanagh bit out. “Leave me here.”

“No! We’re not doing that.” Rodney looked determinately at Miller, who seemed unsure.

“There’s no time, I’m telling you. Just get to a safe distance. I’ll power down the weapon so they won’t suspect it’s armed until it’s too late. Then when the ships have been destroyed you and Miller can swoop in to the rescue.” Kavanagh’s voice both full of disdain and his usual arrogance.

“Doc,” Miller murmured. “He’s right. I don’t like the idea any more than you do, but…”

Digging his fingers into the back of the co-pilot’s seat, Rodney swallowed hard. “Alright. We’ll cloak and come back for you once it’s done.”

God, but he hated the very idea of leaving anyone on that thing. Even if it was Kavanagh. His heart pounded in his chest as the satellite became smaller. Time seemed to slow for Rodney, so focused was he on what was happening out there. The Wraith ships coming ever closer.

Suddenly Rodney’s body jerked slightly and he gasped in shock, his knees buckling with the weight of realization. Miller jumped to his feet and hauled Rodney into his seat. “Doc, you okay? What happened?”

Rodney shook his head, still trying to catch his breath. That had been decidedly unpleasant. His whole body seemed to tingle for a few moments. Taking a deep breath, he met Miller’s gaze. “John got hit by a stunner.” Strange, how quiet his voice was, when inside he felt like panicking. His mate had been stunned, which meant that he was in an encounter with the Wraith. And since John wasn’t supposed to be off-world right now, that meant that somehow the Wraith were already on Atlantis and there was nothing Rodney could do about it. Not out here, a good fifteen light years away from the city and with Kavanagh stuck on the satellite.

Miller squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sure he’s fine, Doc.”

Touching on the bond to reassure himself, he nodded. As far as Rodney could tell, John was okay. A part of him wondered just how far they would have to be before the bond would fail them in respect to letting them know something had happened to the other. And how long it would take until they had gotten used to it, because he didn’t think that it would be all that helpful in the field to have this type of reaction every time his mate ended up getting hurt. How did that serve anyone? Yes, it came in handy at times, sure, but…

Shaking his head, he forced his mind to focus on the task at hand. If they made it through all of this, he promised himself he would devote some time on the whole soulbond issue. For now, he had a Wraith attack to thwart. “I’m fine,” he muttered.

Miller nodded and got back into his seat. They stared as the ships got closer still, and Rodney hit the comms. “If you’re not powered up yet, now would be a good time.”

“Powering up,” came Kavanagh’s curt response. “It’ll be weapons-hot in about sixty seconds.”

Switching channels, Rodney radioed Atlantis. “Dr. Weir, the weapon should be ready to fire in under a minute.”

“Good luck, Rodney.” Three words, heavy with the weight of hope and fear.

The weapon hit its mark on the first shot, taking down the biggest Hive ship. Rodney grinned at Miller, who nodded. “Elizabeth,” Rodney called through the radio. “We have a confirmed kill.”

The cheers from everyone on the city rang through the jumper. “We copy that, Rodney,” Elizabeth breathed.

“One down, two to go.” This was going to work, Rodney thought. Then he frowned when the weapon remained silent. Switching channels to Kavanagh’s, Rodney urged, “Come on, hit ’em again!”

“We have a problem.” Kavanagh’s voice was tight.

Now what, Rodney wondered. “What problem?”

“The circuit we rerouted is overloaded. The weapon can’t fire again! I’m trying to find another pathway.”

Oh, crap. Rodney jerked his head, indicating for Miller to move toward the satellite. “We’re heading back in to pick you up.”

Miller shook his head, looking unhappy. “Sorry, doc,” he muttered.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Kavanagh snapped.

“We’re cloaked, they won’t see us!” Rodney argued. He was not going to leave Kavanagh behind. He just wasn’t.

“McKay! Don’t you dare leave me here!” Kavanagh was beginning to panic.

“Get us back there,” Rodney ordered, realizing Miller still hadn’t moved them closer.

“Doc,” Miller cautioned, looking pained, his gaze forward.

Rodney turned back to see the Wraith open fire on the satellite, destroying it and taking Kavanagh down with it. “Oh, God.” His heart seemed to stop as he stared in utter horror. Kavanagh was dead. He had hated the man, had threatened time upon time to space him. But even with all of that, he had never wanted him dead, and now he was and it was Rodney’s fault. God, but he felt sick.

Kavanagh was gone and he might as well have pulled the trigger himself.

“Doc,” Miller murmured, eyeing him warily. “There was nothing we could have done.”

With a shaking hand, Rodney radioed Atlantis. “Atlantis, this is McKay. We’ve lost the satellite,” he croaked.

“Did you manage to take out any more ships?”

“Negative, the two other Hive ships are intact.” He paused, drawing in a ragged breath. “Elizabeth… Kavanagh was on board the satellite.”

The silence that followed spoke volumes to Rodney as he dragged a hand over his face. He felt so very tired.

“Understood. What’s the status of the other two?”

“They’re not coming any closer. Looks like they’re rethinking their plans. At the very least, he’s bought us some time.”

“You can’t do any more out there, Rodney. Return to Atlantis.”

Sagging back in his seat, he shared a glance with Miller, who nodded. “We’re on our way,” Rodney said quietly before terminating transmission.

The entire trip home, Rodney kept seeing the satellite being blown up. Curling in on himself, he fervently wished John had been there. He needed him. Needed the steadfast reassurance of his mate. The fifteen-hour trip felt like the longest hours of his life.