Melissa Scott - Allegiance

“You can’t ever get a cab when you need one,” Sheppard said.

“Well, let us hope that the delay is not critical to preventing Atlantis from being invaded,” Zelenka said. “That would be nice to think.”

Dick let the door close behind Zelenka and Carter before he raised his eyebrows. “He doesn’t seem optimistic.”

“We are all worried about Rodney,” Teyla said.

“Of course,” Dick said. He suspected that his decision to assign Zelenka to Sheppard’s gate team might also have something to do with Zelenka’s mood, but he still didn’t see any alternative. They couldn’t go on as though McKay might walk through the gate at any minute. “I’d like you to think about the best tactics for another rescue attempt, should we be in that position.”

“I’ll do that,” Sheppard said. “And also get some extra security teams to keep an eye on critical areas of the city, just in case.”

Dick turned to Dr. Keller. “Assuming for a moment that we do get Dr. McKay back, what happens then?”

“We don’t know,” Dr. Beckett said before Dr. Keller could answer.

“If the process they used is based on our original retrovirus, it should simply wear off once the virus is no longer being administered,” she said.

“Yes, but we don’t know that it is,” Dr. Beckett said. “It could just as easily be based on the process I developed for Michael, or they could have designed it from scratch after we gave them the idea.”

“Whatever they based it on, I think we should go back to your original work as a starting place,” Dr. Keller said. “It’s the best chance of figuring out what they did and making sure it’s fully reversible.”

“Please keep me posted,” Dick said.

“I will,” she said. “If that’s all…”

“One more thing,” he said. “I hate to have to be the one to say so, but we can’t put all our energies into this. I am not saying that we should stop trying to recover Dr. McKay. That has to be a priority, and not just because of the obvious security risk of having his knowledge in the hands of the Wraith. He’s a member of our team, and it’s important to all of us that we find him. But we came out here to do any number of important things, and the hard truth is that we can’t stop doing them just because one person is missing.”

“I think we all understand that,” Teyla said after a moment’s pause. He hoped it was just that she was the quickest to speak, and not that she was the only one at the table who agreed with him.

“All right,” Dick said. He stood as people began to push back their chairs. “Colonel Sheppard, if you’ve got time this morning, I’d like to discuss your team’s schedule for the rest of the week.”

“I’m not exactly booked up,” Sheppard said as the others made their way out. “I’d like to have a word with Lorne about security first.”

“Of course,” Dick said. “There’s also plenty of time for you to go shave.”

“I expect there is,” Sheppard said after a moment.

“We can’t act as though we’re in a state of crisis all the time,” Dick said. “I just think we need to send the message that things are getting back to normal.”

He could see Sheppard bite back whatever sharp reply had first come to mind. He might not like it, but he knew it was true. “Yeah, but what if we are in a state of crisis all the time?” he said instead.

“We still act like we have things under control,” Dick said. “At least, I always understood that to be part of my job description.”

“Which is why I’m glad you have the job and not me,” Sheppard said.

Dick was tempted to point out that it was a good question whether that would still be true once he heard from the IOA about his most recent set of reports. That problem could wait, though. He thought they had enough to keep everyone busy for the day.

They’d lost their usual outdoor table to their new home’s freezing weather, but John and Teyla were already camped out at a table inside when Ronon got through the mess hall line. They were sitting very close together, as if they intended to defend the table against possible attack. Teyla looked up as he approached and smiled. John didn’t exactly smile, but he relaxed a little and nudged a chair toward Ronon with his foot.

“Are we expecting to get shot at over lunch?” Ronon said, sitting down and spearing a bite of meat on his fork.

“Maybe,” John said with his mouth full of sandwich.

“No,” Teyla said. “We are expecting to be shot at eventually.”

“So what else is new?” Ronon said.

John snorted. “Not so much.” He stood up, glancing down at Teyla with what looked very close to a smile, and picked up his tray. “See you when you get back.”

“Where are you going?” Ronon asked as John made his way out.

“New Athos,” Teyla said. “I said I would pick up Torren this afternoon, and I have goods to take for trade. Mr. Woolsey says we may trade some of the packaged food for fresh, as well as the medical supplies and equipment brought out on the Hammond . We owe a certain amount already for the milk.” She swirled her coffee in her cup pointedly.

“We could trade more manufactured stuff than we do,” Ronon said. “It’s not like there’s not a market.”

Teyla shook her head. “I thought so when I first came to Atlantis, but there would be no profit in it,” she said. “It is so expensive to transport anything aboard one of the ships. The cost is in the generation of so much power.”

Ronon shrugged agreement, although he wondered sometimes why they didn’t make an effort to use some of the city’s machines to produce something that would be in demand outside the city. “Want me to come along?”

Teyla looked tempted, but like she wanted him to talk her into it. “I hate to go among my own people with armed backup.”

“You’re going to be armed,” Ronon said.

“Yes,” she said, her expression sharpening. He didn’t think she’d ever be as easy on New Athos as she’d been before the time she and Keller found it overrun by the Bola Kai, her people gone.

“So, I’m a friend. Who happens to be armed.”

“You are,” she said, smiling. “Very well, if you have the time.”

It might have been better to wait for someone who could fly a jumper, Ronon thought when he saw the boxes she’d stacked onto a cart in the gate room, but he gave it an experimental shove and found it easy enough to push.

“I can’t cover you if I’ve got this,” he pointed out.

“I am not really expecting an ambush,” Teyla said. “It is just as well these days to have…”

“Friends who happen to be armed,” Ronon finished. “Yes.”

“Give my regards to the Athosians,” Woolsey said from the rail above.

Teyla smiled. “We will.”

On the other side, it was actually warm, a light breeze moving the tall grasses of the gate field. Teyla reached for one side of the cart’s handle, and Ronon shook his head. “Keep your hands free,” he said.

She shook her head. “We are so jumpy these days.”

Ronon shrugged. “It’s what McKay would say.”

Teyla smiled. “I never thought I would hear you standing in for Rodney. Besides, if he were here he would keep his hands free to cover us both so that he did none of the work.”

“Yep,” Ronon said. He wrestled with the cart for a minute, Teyla eventually lending a hand to tug it free of a rut in the too-soft dirt.

“It is too quiet without him,” she said when they had the cart freed.

“There wasn’t anything else to do,” Ronon said.

“I am not blaming you,” Teyla said. “I hope you do not blame yourself.”

“It was my decision,” he said. “I made the call I had to make. How it went down is my responsibility.”