Then Major Lorne pushed forward, stepping onto the ramp as soon as it touched the deck. He was already on his radio, saying, "Dr. Beckett, we need a medical team for Dr. Zelenka immediately. Everybody else looks pretty beat up, too."
"And we were actually pretty beat up before the concussion wave," Rodney added, slumping down on the bench in relief.
Beckett came up the ramp, saying, "Thank God." He turned, waving to someone across the bay. "Get those gurneys over here!"
John ended up debriefing Caldwell from a gurney in the sick bay, in one of the private treatment compartments with a lot of esoteric unrecognizable medical equipment built into the bulkheads and people in Daedalus medical uniforms walking in and out.
John gave Caldwell the brief outline while a nurse scanned him and took blood. With a grimace, Caldwell said, "This was a close one. If the Wraith had managed to return with an Eidolon ship, this war would be over."
"I don't think they were there long enough to figure out what the Eidolon could do." On the way down to sick bay, before Beckett had chased him off, Lorne had managed to tell John about the hiveship that had arrived. The Daedalus had entered hyperspace before it could scan them, and there hadn't been anything left of the Mirror installation for it to find. "And none of the Wraith in the other reality made it out alive." John frowned, realizing he didn't actually know that for certain. The scout ship had been in pieces, and he didn't think any of the darts had managed to get in the air. "Did they?"
Caldwell shook his head. "Our scans didn't pick up anything coming out of the Mirror but debris and your jumper.
That was a relief. John winced as the nurse jabbed the needle for the IV into his arm. "I need to send a report to Dr. Weir." Lorne had said that Atlantis hadn't gotten any of the transmissions sent to the base moon after the Wraith had arrived, and John knew Elizabeth would be worried.
"As soon as we're well clear of the hiveship, we'll drop out of hyper and I'll send her an initial report." With a restrained flash of humor, Caldwell said, "Your team got lucky, again, Sheppard."
"Yeah, we usually do," John told him.
Caldwell left, and John meant to get up and check on the others. But this was the first time he had been able to rest in hours and the IV was taking the edge off the pain; he fell asleep before the nurse finished scanning him. He woke up with someone leaning over him, and he almost punched Beckett before he realized who it was. Beckett, used to this after more than a year in Pegasus, just dodged like a pro boxer and said, "Easy now." An unfamiliar doctor in Daedalus coveralls retreated hastily. Unperturbed, Beckett ran an Ancient handheld medical scanner over John. "You've banged yourself up this time, Colonel."
"I think I knew that." John rubbed his eyes. He had cold packs jammed into various places and his bad knee was propped up on a couple of pillows. Whatever was in the IV must be working, because the pain felt floaty and distant. Not unlike his head. "Where's my team?"
"They're all fine," Beckett assured him. "Just get some rest."
Beckett left with the other doctor, but John still wanted to check on everybody. He unhooked the IV bag from the stand and climbed carefully to his feet, shedding cold packs. Then he had to hold onto the table to steady himself, head swimming. Okay, maybe getting up wasn't such a great idea, but he was here now, and he still wanted to see how the others were doing.
The corridor was quiet now, empty except for Ronon, who was sitting in a chair, holding an IV bag in his lap. He looked like he had been in a bar fight involving chairs and broken bottles. John was pretty certain he looked the same. "You okay?" John asked.
Ronon nodded. John was a little too woozy to wonder why Ronon was out in the hall instead of in a treatment room, and just checked the next compartment.
He found Teyla and Miko there, both curled up asleep on the narrow beds that doubled as examination tables. Miko still had her glasses clutched in one hand. Teyla woke enough to squint blearily up at him, asking, "All is well?"
"Yeah. Go back to sleep," John told her softly, trying not to wake Miko.
John went out to the corridor again, noticing he now had Ronon trailing along after him. "Where's Rodney and Zelenka?" John asked him.
"Down there." Ronon nodded toward the end of the corridor.
John found the right cabin, stepping in to see a very pale Zelenka in the bed, hooked up to IVs and monitors, with a nurse making notes on a tablet. He asked, "How is he?"
"He's going to be fine," she told him, giving him an odd look. "Are you supposed to be-"
Rodney appeared in the hatchway, a laptop tucked under his arm. He was pale, bruised, and looked like he had a hangover. He frowned. "What are you doing up? Carson said not to bother you."
The nurse tried again, "You really need to-"
Zelenka stirred and tugged at the blankets, then he blinked, managing to focus on them. His voice hoarse, he asked, "Am I dying?"
"Don't be an idiot," Rodney told him, before John or the nurse could reply.
Zelenka frowned, waking up a little more. "Where are we?"
"The Daedalus," John said. "Everything's fine."
"Oh." Zelenka squinted up at them uncertainly. "You all look terrible."
The nurse made herding motions, saying, "He really needs to rest now. So do all of you."
She was probably right, so John left, prodding Rodney in front of him.
Outside, Lorne was just coming up the corridor. "Colonel-"
"Did Caldwell send a message to Elizabeth?" John asked him.
Lorne nodded sharply. "Yes, sir. While we were out of hyper."
"Great." John rubbed his eyes, swaying a little. That was one thing he didn't have to worry about. Maybe going back to his treatment table and the ice packs wasn't that bad an idea.
Then Lorne said, "I'm sorry I left you there, sir."
John blinked at him. "Left me where? Sony, there's been drugs. What?"
Lorne hesitated, and started to back away. "Maybe I should do this later."
"No, it's fine." John fought back a yawn. "What were you saying?"
Lorne fixed his gaze on the wall past John. "The Wraith showed up at base camp, sir, and I evacuated the teams. I should have-"
"That was your job, Lome." John was too tired and drugged and in pain to put this any other way but bluntly. "If you'd done anything else, I would've been really pissed off."
Lorne looked relieved. "Thanks, sir, I-"
Then Beckett stepped out of a cabin down the corridor, spotted them, and waved his PDA in exasperation. "Bloody hell, will you lot get back in your beds?"
Rodney turned toward him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was the sick bay, but obviously it's the brig."
While Rodney and Beckett were arguing, John decided lying down again wasn't such a bad idea. He was halfway to his room when he realized why Ronon was following him around. He stopped, looking up at him. "Ronon. You don't have to guard us here."
Ronon looked away, fixing his eyes on some invisible point down the corridor. "I've heard the others say the commander of this ship doesn't like you."
"Uh." John stared at him. The corridor was currently empty, but this wasn't a good place for this conversation, or to explain John and Caldwell's personal issues. And John wasn't thrilled to realize there were rumors about it. "That's kind of complicated. But it's not like-It doesn't mean you have to stand guard here. It doesn't work like that, with us."