Jo Graham: Homecoming

“Colonel Sheppard.”

Lorne’s voice crackled in his earpiece, and he felt the adrenaline shoot through him. “Go ahead.”

“We’ve got nothing, sir. No sign the Wraith have been in orbit. It looks like it was a straight raid through the gate.”

He’d expected as much, but the disappointment was still painful, left the taste of bile in his throat. “Copy that. You can bring them home, Major.”

“Permission to make one more sweep,” Lorne said. “Out to lunar orbit. There might be something—”

“Negative,” John said. A part of him wanted to say yes, send them out one more time, and maybe even one more after that, but if they hadn’t found any trace of Wraith activity, then the Wraith hadn’t been there.

“Copy,” Lorne said, after a moment. “We’re heading back to the village, eta six minutes.”

“Six minutes,” John acknowledged, and turned back to the DHD. At least it gave him an excuse to ask for an update.

“Lorne’s finished his search,” he said, and shook his head as Teyla turned too quickly. “Nothing.”

“We did not expect it,” she said, but he could see the same unreasonable disappointment in her eyes.

“Can we dial home, or do we need to wait to use the gate?” John went on.

“I have copied the buffer,” Radek said. He looked even less tidy than usual, hair standing up and his glasses smudged, a mark on his nose where he had adjusted his glasses with dirty hands. “It is just a matter now of weeding out the known addresses. Which we are doing.”

“OK,” John said. He wanted to tell them to hurry, that every second they wasted was a second when Rodney could be dying, but they all knew that, knew it too well. His chest prickled, as though he could still feel the points where Todd’s claws had pierced the skin, as though at any second his own life would be dragged from him, and he shook himself, hard, turned his back on the others to touch the radio again. “Major. You can head straight back to Atlantis. Give them an update, and tell them to stand by.”

There was a little pause before Lorne answered, and John guessed he had swallowed a protest.

“Roger that.”

“John,” Teyla said, at his elbow, and he looked down to see her face as taut and worried as he felt. She started to say something more, then stopped, shaking her head. “I think — I don’t know.”

“Yeah.” He laid his hand on her shoulder, just for an instant, seeing again the sparkle of the culling beam, hearing the whine of the Darts. “They were after Rodney,” he said, slowly, the thought that had been nagging at him finally coming clear. “This wasn’t random, and it wasn’t a regular Culling. They wanted McKay.”

Teyla’s breath caught in her throat, but she nodded slowly. “Yes. The Darts could have had many of my people, but they concentrated on us. I thought they were trying to break our resistance, but — I fear you are right, John.”

“Yeah.” John took a breath. “There’s one good thing about it. If they were after him specifically, they aren’t going to just feed on him right away.”

Teyla tipped her head to one side, her expresion lightening a fraction. “That is true.”

Of course, if the Wraith wanted McKay in particular, it was because they wanted something from him, and that was so not good… John shoved that thought aside, trying to hold onto the only shred of hope. Rodney was a lot tougher than he looked, and smart as hell; he’d be able to buy time, resist until they could come after him. It would take time to get him back to whatever hive had sent the Darts — and he hoped to hell it wasn’t Queen Death’s — and in that time… He turned back to the DHD. “How’s it coming?”

Radek looked at him. “We have an answer,” he said. “There were thirty-seven addresses in the buffer, from the last six months. Halling and Teyla have identified twenty-eight of them, and I believe we can eliminate them, for now. It is not likely this attack came from a human world. That leaves nine addresses to investigate.”

“I am sorry,” Halling said. “I would not for anything have had our people used this way.”

“It’s not your fault,” John said.

“If there is anything more—” Halling began, and John managed a smile.

“You’ve done it already. Nine addresses — we can search nine addresses.”

“Maybe we can eliminate others, too,” Radek said, not looking up from his screen. “Once we are back on Atlantis. It’s possible.”

“Yes,” Teyla said.

“Yeah,” John said. A light was moving in the night sky, bright against the stars, and Lorne’s voice sounded in his ear.

“Preparing to dial the gate, Colonel.”

“Lorne’s coming through,” Sheppard said, and glanced around to be sure the area was clear before he touched his radio. “Go ahead, Major.”

The symbols lit, and the wormhole whooshed open, leaving the event horizon shimmering blue, casting light brighter than day. The jumper hovered for a moment, adjusting its course, and slid through. John took a breath, and touched his radio again. “Ronon. Bring your team back. We’ve got places to go.”

“Did you find where they took him?” Ronon’s voice was eager.

“We’ve got some places to start,” John said. He looked around the circle of light, seeing the Marines on guard, Halling still shaking his head, shamefaced, Radek bent over his computer as though he could force some last piece of information from it. Teyla looked back at him, grave and resolute, and he nodded slowly. They had a starting point, and they would make that be enough.