FIC REPOST: The Zoal Moons

[x_erikah_x]

THE ZOAL MOONS
By ErikaH
Title: The Zoal Moons
Chapter: 2/8
Word count: ~1600
Rating: PG13
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan. With Elizabeth Weir, Evan Lorne and Carson Beckett.
Genre: H/C, Gen, Team
Disclaimer: Stargate and all related characters are the property of MGM Television Entertainment.

Summary: The team’s mission fails miserably as they crash land on an apparently desert moon.

...

Chapter 2 – Shivering Night

A throbbing head. That was the first thing Rodney felt coming back to consciousness. Slowly, he began felling the pain on other parts of his body too. He opened his eyes slowly, but still couldn’t see anything. He blinked a few times to make sure that his eyes were really opened. He waited a moment until he adjusted to the very dim light as he remembered the last moments before darkness came.

They had crash landed on a moon.

His back and arm were hurting and he considered how much it would take to keep his back from giving up. He then discovered that his body was flat on the floor. Rodney turned his body to lie on his back and sat on the floor of the jumper. He run his hand through his head and flinched when it reached a cut. He felt blood on his hand. Oh God, I’m bleeding! The Canadian panicked for a moment searching his vest for a light. He took it out illuminating the ship. He saw Teyla resting on the floor of the cockpit and Ronon getting up from beside her.

“You okay, Mckay?” Ronon asked looking at the scared scientist.

“We crashed on a desert moon, my head hurts and I’m bleeding, so no, I’m not okay!” he said, almost whimpering.

"Suck it up, Rodney," Sheppard said peeking from his seat.

Ronon, on the other hand, ignored him completely, actually giving a faint smile, and turned to look over Teyla. Rodney decided to follow him, remembering her previous condition.

“Teyla?” the Satedan whispered gently, touching her shoulder. He repeated the call shaking her softly when she didn’t respond. “Teyla.”

There was a brief moan and after a short time she started opening her eyes. Ronon helped her to sit up. Rodney saw she was still bleeding. He got up looking for the first aid kit and handed it to Ronon. The big man too the kit and Rodney retreated to the back of the ship to examine the damage.

He rubbed his aching arm, and made grunting sounds as he checked each system.

“So… can you fix it?” Rodney heard the innocent tone on Sheppard's voice.

“The whole power grid is down. I don’t have any replacements for the fried components!” Rodney shouted waving his hand around. He frowed as the abrupt movement reminded him of the head injury.

“But you can fix it, right?”

“Weren’t you listening? This is beyond my amazing repair skills!”

“You’ll think of something.” Sheppard tilted his head as he spoke and turned, heading for the cockpit.

...

“How are you, Teyla?” John asked her leaning over her side.

The Athosian woman nodded trying to look okay, but the Colonel saw the pain behind her eyes. She had hit her head when she fell from the seat, not to mention the bleeding.

"I will be fine, John." She tried a faint smile.

John pursed lips, concerned. They still had twenty four hours before Atlantis started looking for them. Fortunately the moon was close enough from the space gate for them to detect their transmitter signals. But they would have to hang on for one day.

“How are you, Colonel?” Teyla asked him in return.

“I’m okay,” he said sitting on the pilot’s seat with a hand on the back of his neck.

John stared outside for a few moments, probing their surroundings. They were on a small plateau surrounded by peaks and cliffs, but he could not distinguish the extend of the geography because of the darkness. The bottom part of the window was covered in dirt that came from the crash and there was a ring around the small crater the puddle jumper had formed falling from the sky.

It was windy outside and a few minutes later the ring shapes were now almost gone. The windshield was covered with even more dirt, reaching its lower half. It was cold, and the temperature inside the jumper had decreased a few degrees since they had crashed. They would need life support if they were to survive the night. He looked back and saw Rodney looking over several components, running from on side to another.

“Is there any chance we could have life support before the temperature reaches below zero?” he asked.

“The power distribution system is damaged. There isn’t enough power reaching any kind of system in the ship. I’m working as best as I can, but we are not going to make it out of here.” Rodney said still moving around with a frown on his face.

“Look, we just need to make it until the others come for us.” John tried to sound calm and in control.

“Yesyesyes… I’m working, but I’m just saying that you’d better be prepared for an unpleasantly cold night.”

…

Unpleasantly cold. Those were the words. Somehow that felt like an understatement. They were all four locked in the cargo hold of the jumper, separated from the cockpit, to keep the warmth. Sitting side by side, hugging their knees, shivering, wrapped in the blankets found under the rear seats, so close to one another, that they almost looked like one single shuddering body, all rubbing themselves, trying to stay away from hypothermia.

Rodney was able to give them the CO2 recycling, on a minimum output, but it was better than opening the rear hatch to let the freezing O2 get in. Now he was trying to give them a glimpse of life support working on the parts that were now under his knees with the tools over his lap. The scientist had stopped complaining about the difficulty of fixing delicate parts wile shaking, freezing and with a gash to his head, probably because he was too cold to do so and a silent Rodney is not a good sign.

John was beginning to worry about Teyla too, who also fighting against a bullet wound. She was placed in the middle of Ronon and Rodney and the Satedan had his arms around her keeping her as close to them as possible. They had given her painkillers and antibiotics, and those made her sleepy. Her head rested over Rodney’s shoulder and he just looked at her with a worried face, still making clear to Ronon with a grimace that this was distracting his work. The big man decided to let Teyla rest her head on his shoulder instead. John didn’t know if this was a good idea, but there wasn’t much they could do about it.

John’s job was to hold the light over Rodney’s work, and wasn’t easy to keep the light on the right direction with hands that wouldn’t stop shaking. And now he was bored. He had tried to guess what his friend was doing, but then decided to see different shapes in the cold smoke coming from his mouth and nostrils. He then had his head against the wall behind him trying to see more shapes on the roof of the jumper. He had a few moments of distraction that didn’t last long.

His fingers soon got rigid and numb. He changed the hand holding the lamp, but his left hand wasn’t much better. He kept his right hand close to his mouth, blowing hot air into it. As soon as a hand got too cold, he would swich with the other. It didn’t heat them, but at least kept them from becoming rigid again. He tried to feel the other freezing parts of his body without much success.

He closed his eyes wishing Rodney could fix this damn life support soon.

Beside him, Rodney was heating his hands too and wore a deep frown on his face. He narrowed his eyes when his hands started shaking too hard, trying to make them stop, but he gave up after a few seconds and heated them with his breath. John tried not to worry about the bloodied cut, now hidden under a bandage. It was not so deep, but he thought it very strange not hearing that much complaining from the scientist.

Ronon was rubbing his hands into Teyla’s. The Athosian was now completely covered by her blanket, kept in place and warm by the former runner. From all of them, Ronon was the one that showed less signs of being cold. The Satedan had the most amazing stamina and resistance John had ever seen, but still shook a little.

Another hour passed until Rodney gave a yell of victory.

“Hah!” Rodney took his pad and started typing into it. “I did it! We are not going to freeze to death anymore!” He seemed surprised and relieved. “I can’t believe we are actually going to survive the night!” He took an energy bar from his pocket and gave it a generous bite.

“Bout time. I was beginning to doubt your amazing repair skills.” Sheppard couldn’t help but smile. ”How long until it’s warm again?”

“Not long, but it will still be a little cool. I’m trying to conserve the power until we are rescued.” Rodney had the satisfied face he only wore when he was fed.

“Good work, Rodney.” John smiled, allowing himself to relax.

…

Chapter 3