Fic: Retreat
Dec. 23rd, 2005 06:46 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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sga_santaTitle: Retreat
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
workerb
Characters: McKay, Sheppard (gen)
Recipient:suaine
Rating: G
Spoilers: Most of Season Two
Summary: The one where Rodney goes on vacation.
Retreat
"Hey, Rodney. There's a nasty rumor going around about you going on vacation," Sheppard informed McKay as he strolled into a lab occupied by McKay and Zelenka.
McKay was busy collecting and checking equipment. Zelenka glanced up from his computer, pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and muttered half-sentences. Sheppard swore he heard the words 'counting down the minutes' and 'be out of my hair' as he passed by the Czech. Or it could have been 'you have funny hair', Sheppard wasn't exactly sure.
"I know it's hard to do without me but even geniuses need a vacation once in a while," Rodney shot back and glared at Zelenka. Zelenka made a face and mumbled something in Czech.
"Vacation? This place wouldn't happen to be a beach planet populated by tall blonde women, would it?"
"Yes, because those are so abundant in this galaxy," McKay bit out.
Sheppard watched McKay as he moved around the lab, grabbing and discarding equipment. "So where you going?"
"MXG-543. I found it on the database a few weeks ago and Major Lorne's team checked it out. Safe surroundings, peace and quiet, no people around." McKay waved his hands around in a distracted manner as he glanced at some sensors lying on a table.
"And?" Sheppard arched an eyebrow, gave McKay and the sensors a pointed look and waited for the real explanation. McKay wasn't a peace and quiet kind of guy and the equipment he collected didn't look like stuff people brought on vacation. No suntan lotion, books or anything.
"And some Ancient scientists used it for a retreat."
His interest piqued, Sheppard moved closer to Rodney who started stuffing equipment into his backpack. "The kind where they meditate before they turn into balls of light or the kind where they hide from the Wraith?"
"The kind where they relax and get away from things and people." Sheppard heard the unspoken 'and they were scientists so they may have done something else there too.'
"So you're just going to relax, catch up on some sleep, not do any work or see if they left anything interesting behind, like a ZPM."
"Something like that." McKay avoided the colonel's gaze and tried to fit an overly large piece of equipment in his bag.
"You're a bad liar, Rodney. Sounds more like a mission."
"It is not a mission. It is simply going to be a visit to a planet where I can take some time off." The more McKay insisted, the more transparent his motives for taking the trip became.
"And find things Lorne's team missed," Sheppard added.
"Did I mention relaxing?" McKay argued, not wanting to concede defeat. "I need to be away from people who are far less intelligent than I am," McKay continued as he finished loading his pack. Out of the corner of his eye, Sheppard saw Zelenka shaking his head and miming 'two hours, only two more hours'.
"Great, then I can go with you." Sheppard smiled, inviting himself along.
Bristling at the thought, McKay folded both arms over his chest and stared at Sheppard. "What, you don't have weapons to drool over? People to flirt with? Hair products to restock?"
"I could use some R&R." He gave McKay a pleasant smile, as though it was a done deal.
"Can't afford to lose me, huh?"
Sheppard placed both hands on his hips and inched his head forward for emphasis. "The last time you wanted to go alone somewhere, you blew up a solar system."
McKay threw up his hands, conceding the small defeat. "Fine! You can go. But this is not a mission!" he insisted.
'''Course not." Sheppard grinned, looking like he was already planning all sorts of mischief.
McKay rolled his eyes. "Two hours, Colonel."
Two hours later, Sheppard met McKay in the jumper bay and both men proceeded inside one of the jumpers.
McKay slung his oversized backpack off, dropped another bag on the floor and took his seat across from the colonel. "How long are you planning on staying, a month?" Sheppard motioned to the stuff McKay brought. They seemed considerably larger than what he saw in the lab. Sheppard only brought a small bag and his vest gear.
"I may need all that stuff. Just don't park the jumper so far away this time."
Sheppard radioed the gateroom. "We're on our way. Don't go having any wild parties while we're gone." He was sure the scientists would be celebrating McKay's absence for a few days.
The jumper ascended slowly from the bay and took off at a fast pace into space.
An hour later, the jumper arrived at what Sheppard called the vacation planet. The planet's stargate was positioned several miles away from a small valley. The valley's open fields made way for a small lake, with tall hills and mountains flanking the lake on all sides. There were signs of an abandoned encampment near the lake. "That must be the place." He steered the jumper towards the valley.
McKay surveyed the surroundings with a slight grimace. "When the Ancients said retreat, I thought of something a little less … "
"Rustic?" Sheppard volunteered.
"Primitive!"
"What did you expect, another Atlantis?" Sheppard half-smiled at the thought of another Ancient city.
McKay drew himself up slightly and stuck his nose in the air. "Not exactly," he answered defensively.
Sheppard slowly eased the jumper down, picking a spot half the distance to the lake. "I'm taking down the jumper down here. Close enough for you, Rodney?" He landed the jumper in a small clearing in the field.
"Close is a relative term, Colonel." McKay rarely stopped bitching about parking.
As soon as the jumper was powered down, both men grabbed their gear. McKay struggled his backpack and bag until Sheppard took the bag from him and slung it over his shoulder. The doctor gave it up with little protest and followed Sheppard out of the jumper.
"Kinda quiet here. Peaceful." Sheppard wandered across the field, P90 swinging carelessly at his side. He checked the detector for life signs and found none. Behind him, McKay also pulled out his detector and confirmed the colonel's findings. "I told you there was no one here."
"So we've got the place all to ourselves." Sheppard grinned and threw McKay a cheerful look. He wasn't opposed to having a solitary retreat. That's what retreats were for.
"And if you were tall and blonde, I'd be thrilled at that prospect." McKay stepped briskly towards Sheppard's side.
"I'm tall." Sheppard bobbed his head slightly. "Not sure if I'd look good as a blonde though." He cocked his head at an angle, trying to picture it.
"What?" McKay gave a Sheppard a sideway glance, partly bewildered by the response. It sounded almost flirty.
"'m just making conversation. If I were tall and blonde, maybe you'd loosen up and relax. This is kind of a vacation, remember? You're supposed to be enjoying it. Didn't you ever go on vacations for fun?"
McKay snorted at the idea. "My parents pretty much killed the idea of fun on vacations. They liked trapping us inside a car and driving from one end of the country to the other while they screamed at each other." McKay winced, remembering the sound of his parents' shrill voices. "My friends did the same thing except they wouldn't be screaming, just drunk and daring me to eat citrus. I spent a few summers playing the piano or at labs instead. You?"
"Didn't have many family vacations. My father was in the military. We moved around a lot. Guess he thought that was enough sightseeing," he shrugged, accepting the rationale. It wasn't too bad. He got to see places most people didn't get a chance to visit.
"And your friends?"
Sheppard stared sightlessly ahead. "Hard to keep friends when you move around every few years." The quiet explanation didn't sound regretful but matter of fact. He'd had years to get used to it.
"Ha! You're not exactly Mr. I Know How To Have Fun on Vacation either."
"I rode ferris wheels during summer vacation." Sheppard smiled at the memory. He kept on grinning until they reached the encampment by the lake.
A dozen sturdy tents were positioned in a straight line facing the water. The slight breeze made the tent flaps flutter around. Small pits were dug out in the ground near them, possibly for campfires.
McKay ducked into the first tent and Sheppard took the next one. The doctor glanced around the tent for signs of Ancient technology but only found makeshift beds and what looked like fishing poles. He ran a scanner over them but they gave no indication of being anything but wooden poles.
Both men took turns examining the other tents and found similar things in them: beds, poles, pots and pans here and there but nothing resembling Ancient technology. Feeling at a loss, McKay dropped the scanner and exited the next to last tent. Sheppard had dropped both his and McKay's bag outside the last tent but kept the rest of his gear.
McKay ducked out of the tent and watched Sheppard leave the last tent. "Find anything?"
"No, but I'm staking out this tent here," Sheppard stuck his thumb out and indicated the one behind him. "It's nice and roomy. Wanna share it?"
"I'm not sleeping with you!"
Sheppard raised both eyebrows at McKay's outburst.
"I meant, I'm sleeping in this tent over here," McKay backtracked and moved towards the tent he just left.
"Come on, we can share a tent and tell creepy ghost stories. It's a camping tradition." Sheppard chided him.
"Creepy ghost stories?"
"The Athosian children liked hearing my stories." He nodded, as if that was all the proof he needed.
"They're children! What do they know?" McKay's disdain for children was in full force, even without them running around and bothering him.
"Betcha they know how to have fun. You don't get the concept of fun, do you?"
"What I don't get is this place. Where's the Ancient technology? Why would they stay here without them?"
"Here's a thought. Maybe the scientists did come here to get away from the labs and all the technology. They came here to camp. Fish. Swim in the lake. I hear people do that stuff on vacation."
"Why?" McKay burst out. Sheppard thought scientists with a bent for the outdoors wasn't that inconceivable.
Sheppard shrugged. "If something had been here besides all this, Lorne's team would have mentioned it."
"Yes, and Lorne's team has what, a botanist for a scientist? Parrish may be helpful if you want to know about flora but not all that useful when it comes to Ancient technology!"
Sheppard ignored McKay scoffing at his fellow scientist and decided to explore more of the area. He motioned to a pile of rocks that stood near the lake." I'm going to check out that side." McKay gave him a dismissive nod, mumbling something about a waste of time.
The colonel approached the flat-topped, waist-high rocks and wondered if it was the Ancients' version of a fishing spot. It certainly looked like an ideal place to sit and while away the hours, waiting for the fish to bite. He planned on doing that later.
As he got closer to the rocks, he found a shape in between them that didn't quite look like a natural formation. He stepped cautiously around the rocks into a small path in the middle. Silver, gleaming and half-buried in dirt and rocks, it was less than waist-high and looked Ancient. He reached out and suddenly it came to life, lights glowing and moving.
"Rodney, there's something h-- whoooooaaaaa!"
Outside a tent, McKay was fiddling around with a data pad and sensors, running self-diagnostics on them. His head snapped up as he heard Sheppard's yelp and immediately scanned for Sheppard over by the rocks.
The colonel wasn't by the rocks but zooming towards the middle of the lake, riding and trying to control what looked like a jet ski.
"What the --? Sheppard!" McKay clutched his equipment and took off on a run, trying to catch up with Sheppard as he sped across the lake.
Gasping and almost out of breath, McKay reached the other side of the lake a few minutes later. Sheppard was flat on his back, the strange jet ski device lying beside him. McKay dashed towards him, imagining concussions, broken bones and all sorts of injuries the colonel could have.
"Are you okay?"
Sheppard groaned and stood up slowly. He looked disgustingly healthy and definitely uninjured. "Take off was great but the landing sucked." He shook it off and then broke out into a huge smile. "Now that was fun."
"You decided to go water skiing all of a sudden?!?" McKay spat out.
"Thing was buried by the rocks. Must have turned it on when I stepped on it and it took off. Goes pretty fast. Did you see me?" Sheppard acted like an exuberant puppy, eyes all bright and excited. "What took you so long?"
"In case you haven't noticed, that lake is about the size of two football fields. I may have had Cadman the sprinter in my head for a while but not her tendency to run for fun!"
"Want to try this thing out?" Sheppard sounded as if he were dying for another ride.
"NO! Who knows what else that thing could be? It could be a torture device!" McKay paled at the thought.
"A jet ski that goes about 100 miles per hour across a lake. Yes, that would be torture." The smirk on Sheppard's face belied his attempt at being serious.
"It could've been a transporter that'd drop you off in the middle of the lake for some kind of virgin sacrifice to a lake monster!" McKay yelled, anger replacing worry.
"Virgin sacrifice to a lake monster? At a retreat?" Sheppard half-laughed in disbelief. "Has anyone ever told you you're paranoid?"
"Occupational hazard, what with the Wraith and whatever else out there that's been wanting to kill us."
"It's like an Ancient version of a jet ski, Rodney. It was probably left here so Ancients could go across the lake and have some fun doing it," Sheppard explained. "Hop on, we can ride back to the tents on this thing."
"Or we could check out this side of the lake since we're here." McKay thought his idea was infinitely better than speeding through a lake on a transport that barely held two people. "Look, if that jet ski is here, there may be other Ancient technology around."
Sheppard shot a longing look at the Ancient jet ski but nodded at McKay's suggestion. He swung both hands to the side, indicating that McKay should lead the way.
With Sheppard alongside him, McKay swept most of the area beyond the lake on foot, pointing the sensors towards the looming hills and mountains. They'd been walking for the better part of an hour before McKay skidded to a halt.
"Wait. Sensors are picking up some kind of energy reading. Over there." He pointed to the side of a mountain partially obscured by foliage.
Sheppard saw nothing but mountain but McKay was always right when it came to readings. "Guess Lorne's team didn't make it this far."
Both men made their way to the base of the mountain, McKay constantly checking the sensors to steer them in the right direction. They found a craggy rocklike section that blended into the mountain.
"Reading's getting stronger." McKay pushed the foliage aside and Sheppard peered over his shoulder to see what was behind it. An entrance to a cave-like structure lay beyond.
"After you." McKay gently nudged Sheppard in front of him. Sheppard moved in front of the entrance, flipped the light on his P90 and proceeded inside.
McKay followed suit, still checking the reading off the sensors.
Midway through the dim cave, they found several passageways splitting off in different directions. Sheppard angled his head towards one of the larger passages on the right and chose to explore that one.
"HA!" McKay's loud exclamation echoed through the passageway. "Nothing here, they said! I just picked up an energy signature. For a Zed PM."
Sheppard didn't need McKay's explanation because a familiar sight greeted him at the end of the short passageway. A small chamber contained Ancient consoles, one of which held a ZPM.
"Guess it was a good idea to check this place out. We should radio Atlantis." Sheppard touched his headset. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard, come in." Nothing but static on the line so he tried again. His next attempt met with the same result. "Must be some interference, I can't get through."
"We can tell them later." McKay practically brimmed with excitement. He brought out a data pad and connected it to a console to boot up the interface. As soon as he tapped some controls, overhead lights came on and flooded the chamber with brightness.
"Any idea what it's powering up?" Sheppard looked around for other Ancient devices to explain the ZPM's presence but found nothing in the vicinity.
"No. Looks almost depleted. These Ancient logs are encrypted pretty well too. May take some time to break it."
"You don't see any words on there that mean sanctuary, do you?"
"Why, you expecting an ascended woman to drop by? You know the minute one does, you'll flirt with her and there goes the ZPM."
"Could we not talk about that right now? Just find out what it's being used for. I'm going to check the other passageways." McKay got to work on decoding the logs while Sheppard went exploring.
A few hours later, Sheppard came back to the chamber with the ZPM with some news. "No one around but there's some sections I can't get to. Looks like they're shielded. That must be what the ZPM is powering. Question is, what are they shielding? A sanctuary, some place they could get to in case the Wraith came, a route to another hidden underground city?" Sheppard listed the possibilities.
McKay stared at the read out of the decoded logs on his data pad and shivered slightly. "Wrong on all counts. This planet was a retreat at one time. Peace and quiet, nature, outdoor sports. Then it became something else." He paused to check the readout again. "A quarantine."
"Quarantine?" Sheppard looked at McKay in askance.
"According to these logs, a small portion of the Ancient and human population was hit by a lethal virus. The scientists kept it under wraps to prevent a panic and brought the infected Ancients here. Told them they could stay here, be in peaceful surroundings and away the population while waiting for a cure."
"Makes sense. They didn't want the virus to spread or Atlantis going on lock down so they put them up here." He remembered Atlantis' systems sealing off most sections when a nanovirus was accidentally released from a viral lab the previous year.
"That's not all they did." McKay's brow furrowed as he stared out past the passageway. "Information's spotty on the location but it looks like they found the virus on a planet where the Wraith hibernated. Found some Wraith skeletons there too. My guess is they thought the virus affected the Wraith and wanted to use it against them."
"I'm guessing they weren't successful."
"The scientists used the infected for some, shall we say, questionable research. They held them in here, took the samples of the virus and mutated it so it'd be more powerful against the Wraith." McKay grimaced at the idea of medicinal voodoo as a weapon.
Sheppard gave a slight shrug at the explanation. "Doesn't sound so bad to me."
"They also tried to find to a way to mutate it so it'd leave the Ancients unaffected. They tested it on infected Ancients and said they were doing it to find a cure! Finding a cure was an afterthought."
Sheppard looked almost fascinated at the methods some Ancients used for defense. He knew that desperate times called for desperate measures, especially during war.
"Bottom line, the scientists used the infected Ancients as guinea pigs. Killed some of them in the process and justified it by saying it was for the greater good. Save all of Atlantis against the Wraith and all that. It's possible these scientists were the ones responsible for the nanovirus." McKay pointed a finger to his head, the residual memory of brain aneurysms killing part of his science team coming to mind.
"Why didn't they just use the original virus on Wraith?" That would have been the quickest to get rid of them, Sheppard thought.
"If it were that simple, they would have done it," McKay's tone was short and highly sarcastic. "You know how hard it is to kill them. Wraith physiology is highly adaptable. They could have developed a resistance to it."
"So the mutated virus didn't work and people died for nothing." The war would have turned out differently, had the scientists been successful.
"The scientists found that out. Atlantis was under siege at the time so they must have left and boarded up this place to conceal evidence and the virus."
"If they abandoned this place and the infected people died without a cure, why they continue to keep this place hidden? Why keep the shields --" Sheppard paused to consider something. "If the shields are up, that means the virus is still here."
"Probably. They can last a long time."
"And anyone stumbling through the gate, like other Ancients who didn't know about it, could get infected if they found this place and accidentally released the shield. Even if someone locked the address out from the Ancient database, that wouldn't prevent people from other planets in the galaxy from coming here and doing the same thing." The possibilities were endless.
"Possibly." McKay nodded, although he thought the chances of other humans doing that was remote. "I doubt the Ancients wanted to give anyone else access to a ZPM either."
"So we can't risk taking the ZPM or it will release the shields and the virus." The airborne nanovirus had spread quickly the last time and Sheppard guessed this one would too. He waved goodbye to another ZPM.
"No."
"We've got to put a warning -- What is that?" Sheppard glanced at the ZPM which suddenly glowed brightly. The Ancient symbols on the consoles also glowed before slowly disappearing.
McKay grabbed his data pad and noticed fluctuations on the readout. "Wait, wait, wait, what are you doing?" He shook then dropped the pad and rushed over to one side of the console, pushing some of the buttons before backing away.
"What's happening, McKay?"
"Uh. Slight problem. The ZPM's almost depleted and the shields are starting to fail. When I powered up this console, it used more power and weakened it, like when we arrived in Atlantis."
"How much time until it collapses?" Sheppard inched toward the exit, trying to get a jumpstart on the escape. Atlantis' shield failed much quicker than they had all thought.
"Not much. But we've got a bigger problem."
"Besides unleashing a virus on us?" Sheppard hadn't liked the odds already.
"There's a fail safe. This thing is doing a fast countdown to overload. In case the shield collapsed, this system was rigged to overload and take out the entire valley and most of the area beyond it. If any of the Ancients with the virus ever got out, the blast would kill them to prevent the virus from spreading elsewhere," McKay explained quickly.
"Or from telling anyone what happened here. Can you stop the countdown?"
"It's locked in and I don't have time to find the access code to override it."
"How long before it overloads?" The colonel calculated their chances of getting out alive and hoped they'd have enough time.
"Not nearly enough time for us to get out of here and clear the blast radius on foot. This explosion is going to be big and unless you have a magic carpet that can whisk us away really fast --. "
"The jet ski." Both of them hit upon the idea at the same time. They hurried out of the passageway, exited the cave and ran at top speed to the lake.
"Move!" Sheppard shouted at McKay who was trailing behind him. The doctor put on a burst of speed to catch up. There was nothing like the threat of imminent death to get adrenaline going.
Sheppard hopped on the ski and ran his palm across the controls to fire it up. He plastered himself against the front controls to give McKay room. McKay squeezed in, clutching Sheppard tightly from the back. "Hang on!" Let's see if this thing can break some speed records." He cranked it up and they sped through the lake.
"Remind me why this is fun again?" McKay shouted, as they took off at a quick pace. Waves of cold water sprayed and drenched them as they traversed the lake. Sheppard ignored him, concentrating on keeping the jet ski on full throttle. McKay grabbed Sheppard tighter.
Sheppard almost upended them as he powered down the jet ski just before they hit land. Scrambling past the encampment and open fields, they both rushed towards the jumper and climbed aboard. Sheppard took the controls and punched the jumper into the air.
"We're not going to make it," McKay worried.
"You'll live to have a real vacation," Sheppard's tone brooked no argument.
The explosion and ensuing shock wave from the blast hit just as they reached minimum safe distance.
From their vantage point high above the planet's atmosphere, they surveyed the destruction below. The blast took out the valley and most of the area around it.
"Well, that was one way to get rid of a virus," Sheppard mentioned casually, as if he hadn't just been running for his life a few moments ago. Outrunning an explosion was becoming more of a common experience for him.
"And to get me to ride a jet ski," McKay added ruefully.
Halfway to Atlantis, Sheppard gave a Weir a short report on what happened and promised a full debriefing later on. He was sure she wouldn't be authorizing any more vacations any time soon, not after they blew up part of a planet. That didn't stop him from planning one.
"How about next time we go find a quiet beach and just go surfing?"
"Next time? We'll probably be eaten by sharks! Or you'll drown and I'll have to give you CPR. I'm bad at CPR." McKay waved his hands around.
"That's what I like about you, Rodney. Always considering the possibilities."
End
Author:
workerbCharacters: McKay, Sheppard (gen)
Recipient:
suaineRating: G
Spoilers: Most of Season Two
Summary: The one where Rodney goes on vacation.
Retreat
"Hey, Rodney. There's a nasty rumor going around about you going on vacation," Sheppard informed McKay as he strolled into a lab occupied by McKay and Zelenka.
McKay was busy collecting and checking equipment. Zelenka glanced up from his computer, pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and muttered half-sentences. Sheppard swore he heard the words 'counting down the minutes' and 'be out of my hair' as he passed by the Czech. Or it could have been 'you have funny hair', Sheppard wasn't exactly sure.
"I know it's hard to do without me but even geniuses need a vacation once in a while," Rodney shot back and glared at Zelenka. Zelenka made a face and mumbled something in Czech.
"Vacation? This place wouldn't happen to be a beach planet populated by tall blonde women, would it?"
"Yes, because those are so abundant in this galaxy," McKay bit out.
Sheppard watched McKay as he moved around the lab, grabbing and discarding equipment. "So where you going?"
"MXG-543. I found it on the database a few weeks ago and Major Lorne's team checked it out. Safe surroundings, peace and quiet, no people around." McKay waved his hands around in a distracted manner as he glanced at some sensors lying on a table.
"And?" Sheppard arched an eyebrow, gave McKay and the sensors a pointed look and waited for the real explanation. McKay wasn't a peace and quiet kind of guy and the equipment he collected didn't look like stuff people brought on vacation. No suntan lotion, books or anything.
"And some Ancient scientists used it for a retreat."
His interest piqued, Sheppard moved closer to Rodney who started stuffing equipment into his backpack. "The kind where they meditate before they turn into balls of light or the kind where they hide from the Wraith?"
"The kind where they relax and get away from things and people." Sheppard heard the unspoken 'and they were scientists so they may have done something else there too.'
"So you're just going to relax, catch up on some sleep, not do any work or see if they left anything interesting behind, like a ZPM."
"Something like that." McKay avoided the colonel's gaze and tried to fit an overly large piece of equipment in his bag.
"You're a bad liar, Rodney. Sounds more like a mission."
"It is not a mission. It is simply going to be a visit to a planet where I can take some time off." The more McKay insisted, the more transparent his motives for taking the trip became.
"And find things Lorne's team missed," Sheppard added.
"Did I mention relaxing?" McKay argued, not wanting to concede defeat. "I need to be away from people who are far less intelligent than I am," McKay continued as he finished loading his pack. Out of the corner of his eye, Sheppard saw Zelenka shaking his head and miming 'two hours, only two more hours'.
"Great, then I can go with you." Sheppard smiled, inviting himself along.
Bristling at the thought, McKay folded both arms over his chest and stared at Sheppard. "What, you don't have weapons to drool over? People to flirt with? Hair products to restock?"
"I could use some R&R." He gave McKay a pleasant smile, as though it was a done deal.
"Can't afford to lose me, huh?"
Sheppard placed both hands on his hips and inched his head forward for emphasis. "The last time you wanted to go alone somewhere, you blew up a solar system."
McKay threw up his hands, conceding the small defeat. "Fine! You can go. But this is not a mission!" he insisted.
'''Course not." Sheppard grinned, looking like he was already planning all sorts of mischief.
McKay rolled his eyes. "Two hours, Colonel."
Two hours later, Sheppard met McKay in the jumper bay and both men proceeded inside one of the jumpers.
McKay slung his oversized backpack off, dropped another bag on the floor and took his seat across from the colonel. "How long are you planning on staying, a month?" Sheppard motioned to the stuff McKay brought. They seemed considerably larger than what he saw in the lab. Sheppard only brought a small bag and his vest gear.
"I may need all that stuff. Just don't park the jumper so far away this time."
Sheppard radioed the gateroom. "We're on our way. Don't go having any wild parties while we're gone." He was sure the scientists would be celebrating McKay's absence for a few days.
The jumper ascended slowly from the bay and took off at a fast pace into space.
An hour later, the jumper arrived at what Sheppard called the vacation planet. The planet's stargate was positioned several miles away from a small valley. The valley's open fields made way for a small lake, with tall hills and mountains flanking the lake on all sides. There were signs of an abandoned encampment near the lake. "That must be the place." He steered the jumper towards the valley.
McKay surveyed the surroundings with a slight grimace. "When the Ancients said retreat, I thought of something a little less … "
"Rustic?" Sheppard volunteered.
"Primitive!"
"What did you expect, another Atlantis?" Sheppard half-smiled at the thought of another Ancient city.
McKay drew himself up slightly and stuck his nose in the air. "Not exactly," he answered defensively.
Sheppard slowly eased the jumper down, picking a spot half the distance to the lake. "I'm taking down the jumper down here. Close enough for you, Rodney?" He landed the jumper in a small clearing in the field.
"Close is a relative term, Colonel." McKay rarely stopped bitching about parking.
As soon as the jumper was powered down, both men grabbed their gear. McKay struggled his backpack and bag until Sheppard took the bag from him and slung it over his shoulder. The doctor gave it up with little protest and followed Sheppard out of the jumper.
"Kinda quiet here. Peaceful." Sheppard wandered across the field, P90 swinging carelessly at his side. He checked the detector for life signs and found none. Behind him, McKay also pulled out his detector and confirmed the colonel's findings. "I told you there was no one here."
"So we've got the place all to ourselves." Sheppard grinned and threw McKay a cheerful look. He wasn't opposed to having a solitary retreat. That's what retreats were for.
"And if you were tall and blonde, I'd be thrilled at that prospect." McKay stepped briskly towards Sheppard's side.
"I'm tall." Sheppard bobbed his head slightly. "Not sure if I'd look good as a blonde though." He cocked his head at an angle, trying to picture it.
"What?" McKay gave a Sheppard a sideway glance, partly bewildered by the response. It sounded almost flirty.
"'m just making conversation. If I were tall and blonde, maybe you'd loosen up and relax. This is kind of a vacation, remember? You're supposed to be enjoying it. Didn't you ever go on vacations for fun?"
McKay snorted at the idea. "My parents pretty much killed the idea of fun on vacations. They liked trapping us inside a car and driving from one end of the country to the other while they screamed at each other." McKay winced, remembering the sound of his parents' shrill voices. "My friends did the same thing except they wouldn't be screaming, just drunk and daring me to eat citrus. I spent a few summers playing the piano or at labs instead. You?"
"Didn't have many family vacations. My father was in the military. We moved around a lot. Guess he thought that was enough sightseeing," he shrugged, accepting the rationale. It wasn't too bad. He got to see places most people didn't get a chance to visit.
"And your friends?"
Sheppard stared sightlessly ahead. "Hard to keep friends when you move around every few years." The quiet explanation didn't sound regretful but matter of fact. He'd had years to get used to it.
"Ha! You're not exactly Mr. I Know How To Have Fun on Vacation either."
"I rode ferris wheels during summer vacation." Sheppard smiled at the memory. He kept on grinning until they reached the encampment by the lake.
A dozen sturdy tents were positioned in a straight line facing the water. The slight breeze made the tent flaps flutter around. Small pits were dug out in the ground near them, possibly for campfires.
McKay ducked into the first tent and Sheppard took the next one. The doctor glanced around the tent for signs of Ancient technology but only found makeshift beds and what looked like fishing poles. He ran a scanner over them but they gave no indication of being anything but wooden poles.
Both men took turns examining the other tents and found similar things in them: beds, poles, pots and pans here and there but nothing resembling Ancient technology. Feeling at a loss, McKay dropped the scanner and exited the next to last tent. Sheppard had dropped both his and McKay's bag outside the last tent but kept the rest of his gear.
McKay ducked out of the tent and watched Sheppard leave the last tent. "Find anything?"
"No, but I'm staking out this tent here," Sheppard stuck his thumb out and indicated the one behind him. "It's nice and roomy. Wanna share it?"
"I'm not sleeping with you!"
Sheppard raised both eyebrows at McKay's outburst.
"I meant, I'm sleeping in this tent over here," McKay backtracked and moved towards the tent he just left.
"Come on, we can share a tent and tell creepy ghost stories. It's a camping tradition." Sheppard chided him.
"Creepy ghost stories?"
"The Athosian children liked hearing my stories." He nodded, as if that was all the proof he needed.
"They're children! What do they know?" McKay's disdain for children was in full force, even without them running around and bothering him.
"Betcha they know how to have fun. You don't get the concept of fun, do you?"
"What I don't get is this place. Where's the Ancient technology? Why would they stay here without them?"
"Here's a thought. Maybe the scientists did come here to get away from the labs and all the technology. They came here to camp. Fish. Swim in the lake. I hear people do that stuff on vacation."
"Why?" McKay burst out. Sheppard thought scientists with a bent for the outdoors wasn't that inconceivable.
Sheppard shrugged. "If something had been here besides all this, Lorne's team would have mentioned it."
"Yes, and Lorne's team has what, a botanist for a scientist? Parrish may be helpful if you want to know about flora but not all that useful when it comes to Ancient technology!"
Sheppard ignored McKay scoffing at his fellow scientist and decided to explore more of the area. He motioned to a pile of rocks that stood near the lake." I'm going to check out that side." McKay gave him a dismissive nod, mumbling something about a waste of time.
The colonel approached the flat-topped, waist-high rocks and wondered if it was the Ancients' version of a fishing spot. It certainly looked like an ideal place to sit and while away the hours, waiting for the fish to bite. He planned on doing that later.
As he got closer to the rocks, he found a shape in between them that didn't quite look like a natural formation. He stepped cautiously around the rocks into a small path in the middle. Silver, gleaming and half-buried in dirt and rocks, it was less than waist-high and looked Ancient. He reached out and suddenly it came to life, lights glowing and moving.
"Rodney, there's something h-- whoooooaaaaa!"
Outside a tent, McKay was fiddling around with a data pad and sensors, running self-diagnostics on them. His head snapped up as he heard Sheppard's yelp and immediately scanned for Sheppard over by the rocks.
The colonel wasn't by the rocks but zooming towards the middle of the lake, riding and trying to control what looked like a jet ski.
"What the --? Sheppard!" McKay clutched his equipment and took off on a run, trying to catch up with Sheppard as he sped across the lake.
Gasping and almost out of breath, McKay reached the other side of the lake a few minutes later. Sheppard was flat on his back, the strange jet ski device lying beside him. McKay dashed towards him, imagining concussions, broken bones and all sorts of injuries the colonel could have.
"Are you okay?"
Sheppard groaned and stood up slowly. He looked disgustingly healthy and definitely uninjured. "Take off was great but the landing sucked." He shook it off and then broke out into a huge smile. "Now that was fun."
"You decided to go water skiing all of a sudden?!?" McKay spat out.
"Thing was buried by the rocks. Must have turned it on when I stepped on it and it took off. Goes pretty fast. Did you see me?" Sheppard acted like an exuberant puppy, eyes all bright and excited. "What took you so long?"
"In case you haven't noticed, that lake is about the size of two football fields. I may have had Cadman the sprinter in my head for a while but not her tendency to run for fun!"
"Want to try this thing out?" Sheppard sounded as if he were dying for another ride.
"NO! Who knows what else that thing could be? It could be a torture device!" McKay paled at the thought.
"A jet ski that goes about 100 miles per hour across a lake. Yes, that would be torture." The smirk on Sheppard's face belied his attempt at being serious.
"It could've been a transporter that'd drop you off in the middle of the lake for some kind of virgin sacrifice to a lake monster!" McKay yelled, anger replacing worry.
"Virgin sacrifice to a lake monster? At a retreat?" Sheppard half-laughed in disbelief. "Has anyone ever told you you're paranoid?"
"Occupational hazard, what with the Wraith and whatever else out there that's been wanting to kill us."
"It's like an Ancient version of a jet ski, Rodney. It was probably left here so Ancients could go across the lake and have some fun doing it," Sheppard explained. "Hop on, we can ride back to the tents on this thing."
"Or we could check out this side of the lake since we're here." McKay thought his idea was infinitely better than speeding through a lake on a transport that barely held two people. "Look, if that jet ski is here, there may be other Ancient technology around."
Sheppard shot a longing look at the Ancient jet ski but nodded at McKay's suggestion. He swung both hands to the side, indicating that McKay should lead the way.
With Sheppard alongside him, McKay swept most of the area beyond the lake on foot, pointing the sensors towards the looming hills and mountains. They'd been walking for the better part of an hour before McKay skidded to a halt.
"Wait. Sensors are picking up some kind of energy reading. Over there." He pointed to the side of a mountain partially obscured by foliage.
Sheppard saw nothing but mountain but McKay was always right when it came to readings. "Guess Lorne's team didn't make it this far."
Both men made their way to the base of the mountain, McKay constantly checking the sensors to steer them in the right direction. They found a craggy rocklike section that blended into the mountain.
"Reading's getting stronger." McKay pushed the foliage aside and Sheppard peered over his shoulder to see what was behind it. An entrance to a cave-like structure lay beyond.
"After you." McKay gently nudged Sheppard in front of him. Sheppard moved in front of the entrance, flipped the light on his P90 and proceeded inside.
McKay followed suit, still checking the reading off the sensors.
Midway through the dim cave, they found several passageways splitting off in different directions. Sheppard angled his head towards one of the larger passages on the right and chose to explore that one.
"HA!" McKay's loud exclamation echoed through the passageway. "Nothing here, they said! I just picked up an energy signature. For a Zed PM."
Sheppard didn't need McKay's explanation because a familiar sight greeted him at the end of the short passageway. A small chamber contained Ancient consoles, one of which held a ZPM.
"Guess it was a good idea to check this place out. We should radio Atlantis." Sheppard touched his headset. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard, come in." Nothing but static on the line so he tried again. His next attempt met with the same result. "Must be some interference, I can't get through."
"We can tell them later." McKay practically brimmed with excitement. He brought out a data pad and connected it to a console to boot up the interface. As soon as he tapped some controls, overhead lights came on and flooded the chamber with brightness.
"Any idea what it's powering up?" Sheppard looked around for other Ancient devices to explain the ZPM's presence but found nothing in the vicinity.
"No. Looks almost depleted. These Ancient logs are encrypted pretty well too. May take some time to break it."
"You don't see any words on there that mean sanctuary, do you?"
"Why, you expecting an ascended woman to drop by? You know the minute one does, you'll flirt with her and there goes the ZPM."
"Could we not talk about that right now? Just find out what it's being used for. I'm going to check the other passageways." McKay got to work on decoding the logs while Sheppard went exploring.
A few hours later, Sheppard came back to the chamber with the ZPM with some news. "No one around but there's some sections I can't get to. Looks like they're shielded. That must be what the ZPM is powering. Question is, what are they shielding? A sanctuary, some place they could get to in case the Wraith came, a route to another hidden underground city?" Sheppard listed the possibilities.
McKay stared at the read out of the decoded logs on his data pad and shivered slightly. "Wrong on all counts. This planet was a retreat at one time. Peace and quiet, nature, outdoor sports. Then it became something else." He paused to check the readout again. "A quarantine."
"Quarantine?" Sheppard looked at McKay in askance.
"According to these logs, a small portion of the Ancient and human population was hit by a lethal virus. The scientists kept it under wraps to prevent a panic and brought the infected Ancients here. Told them they could stay here, be in peaceful surroundings and away the population while waiting for a cure."
"Makes sense. They didn't want the virus to spread or Atlantis going on lock down so they put them up here." He remembered Atlantis' systems sealing off most sections when a nanovirus was accidentally released from a viral lab the previous year.
"That's not all they did." McKay's brow furrowed as he stared out past the passageway. "Information's spotty on the location but it looks like they found the virus on a planet where the Wraith hibernated. Found some Wraith skeletons there too. My guess is they thought the virus affected the Wraith and wanted to use it against them."
"I'm guessing they weren't successful."
"The scientists used the infected for some, shall we say, questionable research. They held them in here, took the samples of the virus and mutated it so it'd be more powerful against the Wraith." McKay grimaced at the idea of medicinal voodoo as a weapon.
Sheppard gave a slight shrug at the explanation. "Doesn't sound so bad to me."
"They also tried to find to a way to mutate it so it'd leave the Ancients unaffected. They tested it on infected Ancients and said they were doing it to find a cure! Finding a cure was an afterthought."
Sheppard looked almost fascinated at the methods some Ancients used for defense. He knew that desperate times called for desperate measures, especially during war.
"Bottom line, the scientists used the infected Ancients as guinea pigs. Killed some of them in the process and justified it by saying it was for the greater good. Save all of Atlantis against the Wraith and all that. It's possible these scientists were the ones responsible for the nanovirus." McKay pointed a finger to his head, the residual memory of brain aneurysms killing part of his science team coming to mind.
"Why didn't they just use the original virus on Wraith?" That would have been the quickest to get rid of them, Sheppard thought.
"If it were that simple, they would have done it," McKay's tone was short and highly sarcastic. "You know how hard it is to kill them. Wraith physiology is highly adaptable. They could have developed a resistance to it."
"So the mutated virus didn't work and people died for nothing." The war would have turned out differently, had the scientists been successful.
"The scientists found that out. Atlantis was under siege at the time so they must have left and boarded up this place to conceal evidence and the virus."
"If they abandoned this place and the infected people died without a cure, why they continue to keep this place hidden? Why keep the shields --" Sheppard paused to consider something. "If the shields are up, that means the virus is still here."
"Probably. They can last a long time."
"And anyone stumbling through the gate, like other Ancients who didn't know about it, could get infected if they found this place and accidentally released the shield. Even if someone locked the address out from the Ancient database, that wouldn't prevent people from other planets in the galaxy from coming here and doing the same thing." The possibilities were endless.
"Possibly." McKay nodded, although he thought the chances of other humans doing that was remote. "I doubt the Ancients wanted to give anyone else access to a ZPM either."
"So we can't risk taking the ZPM or it will release the shields and the virus." The airborne nanovirus had spread quickly the last time and Sheppard guessed this one would too. He waved goodbye to another ZPM.
"No."
"We've got to put a warning -- What is that?" Sheppard glanced at the ZPM which suddenly glowed brightly. The Ancient symbols on the consoles also glowed before slowly disappearing.
McKay grabbed his data pad and noticed fluctuations on the readout. "Wait, wait, wait, what are you doing?" He shook then dropped the pad and rushed over to one side of the console, pushing some of the buttons before backing away.
"What's happening, McKay?"
"Uh. Slight problem. The ZPM's almost depleted and the shields are starting to fail. When I powered up this console, it used more power and weakened it, like when we arrived in Atlantis."
"How much time until it collapses?" Sheppard inched toward the exit, trying to get a jumpstart on the escape. Atlantis' shield failed much quicker than they had all thought.
"Not much. But we've got a bigger problem."
"Besides unleashing a virus on us?" Sheppard hadn't liked the odds already.
"There's a fail safe. This thing is doing a fast countdown to overload. In case the shield collapsed, this system was rigged to overload and take out the entire valley and most of the area beyond it. If any of the Ancients with the virus ever got out, the blast would kill them to prevent the virus from spreading elsewhere," McKay explained quickly.
"Or from telling anyone what happened here. Can you stop the countdown?"
"It's locked in and I don't have time to find the access code to override it."
"How long before it overloads?" The colonel calculated their chances of getting out alive and hoped they'd have enough time.
"Not nearly enough time for us to get out of here and clear the blast radius on foot. This explosion is going to be big and unless you have a magic carpet that can whisk us away really fast --. "
"The jet ski." Both of them hit upon the idea at the same time. They hurried out of the passageway, exited the cave and ran at top speed to the lake.
"Move!" Sheppard shouted at McKay who was trailing behind him. The doctor put on a burst of speed to catch up. There was nothing like the threat of imminent death to get adrenaline going.
Sheppard hopped on the ski and ran his palm across the controls to fire it up. He plastered himself against the front controls to give McKay room. McKay squeezed in, clutching Sheppard tightly from the back. "Hang on!" Let's see if this thing can break some speed records." He cranked it up and they sped through the lake.
"Remind me why this is fun again?" McKay shouted, as they took off at a quick pace. Waves of cold water sprayed and drenched them as they traversed the lake. Sheppard ignored him, concentrating on keeping the jet ski on full throttle. McKay grabbed Sheppard tighter.
Sheppard almost upended them as he powered down the jet ski just before they hit land. Scrambling past the encampment and open fields, they both rushed towards the jumper and climbed aboard. Sheppard took the controls and punched the jumper into the air.
"We're not going to make it," McKay worried.
"You'll live to have a real vacation," Sheppard's tone brooked no argument.
The explosion and ensuing shock wave from the blast hit just as they reached minimum safe distance.
From their vantage point high above the planet's atmosphere, they surveyed the destruction below. The blast took out the valley and most of the area around it.
"Well, that was one way to get rid of a virus," Sheppard mentioned casually, as if he hadn't just been running for his life a few moments ago. Outrunning an explosion was becoming more of a common experience for him.
"And to get me to ride a jet ski," McKay added ruefully.
Halfway to Atlantis, Sheppard gave a Weir a short report on what happened and promised a full debriefing later on. He was sure she wouldn't be authorizing any more vacations any time soon, not after they blew up part of a planet. That didn't stop him from planning one.
"How about next time we go find a quiet beach and just go surfing?"
"Next time? We'll probably be eaten by sharks! Or you'll drown and I'll have to give you CPR. I'm bad at CPR." McKay waved his hands around.
"That's what I like about you, Rodney. Always considering the possibilities."
End
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Date: 2005-12-23 07:25 pm (UTC)Great story, especially the snarks about ascended women... :-)
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Date: 2006-01-01 09:06 pm (UTC)Yes, it would be nice for them to chat with Carson about certain medical issues.
I'm glad you liked the line about the ascended women. Heh.
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Date: 2005-12-23 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 09:08 pm (UTC)I'm sure John wouldn't mind it a bit if Rodney practiced CPR on him. Rodney's probably good at it, he's just doing his doom and gloom thing. ;)
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Date: 2005-12-24 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-24 08:16 am (UTC)Merry xmas/happy hanukkah to you and thanks for this.
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Date: 2006-01-01 09:14 pm (UTC)Yep, Sheppard had to go along because he had to keep an eye out for McKay and vice versa. ;)
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Date: 2005-12-26 06:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 09:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-26 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 09:19 pm (UTC)It's odd but I stuck a line referencing the events in Trinity in the beginning without consciously knowing there'd be a mirror event of sorts at the end.
Thank you!
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Date: 2006-01-02 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 08:49 pm (UTC)Funny you mentioned that. I had a line in the original draft of the fic where Sheppard tells McKay his vacation sounded more like work but changed it to where Sheppard said it sounded like a mission. I think McKay would do a bit of work on his vacation, even though he didn't mean to.
Thank you! Glad you thought it was fun! He'll get to have a real vacation someday without any explosions or things going wrong.
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Date: 2006-01-02 09:19 pm (UTC)Hopefully with lots of hot sex with John *g*.
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Date: 2006-01-02 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-03 05:30 am (UTC)