Missing Scene:

An Appreciation fic for Written by the Victors

by Sorka

Author's Note: I absolutely love Written by the Victors. It inspired me to write a small missing scene. It's only three pages long. It's a missing scene for just after the end of chapter 5 and before the Epilogue.

Teyla watched Rodney with concern as he paced the control room staring at the read-outs. Waiting for the sensors to tell him when the bomb had detonated. John had left almost the instant the IOA's stargate had gone dark. There had been no time to say goodbye. The Wraith were already dangerously close to the dummy fleet. As soon as their own stargate had established a wormhole, he had run to the puddlejumper and left.

Above them, the two remaining SGC ships, the Daedalus and Critias, were in ruins. The debris filled the sky, small pieces already falling though the atmosphere, filling the night sky with streaks of fire as they burned up. The communications officer, Brock, sat up straighter as she watched him. He hit a few buttons on the console in front. "We are receiving another message from the Daedalus."

"I thought we had destroyed the communications tower on that ship," Ronon said from a few feet away.

"Let us hear it," Teyla ordered, and Brock switched from headset to speakers.

"Atlantis, this is M-major Novak of the Daedalus, please come in. W- we surrender. Repeat: we surrender." It was the voice of the nervous scientist that had always manned the Asgard transporter. "We have lost main power, auxiliary power, and most critical systems. We have lost life support and are venting what atmosphere we have left. Atlantis, please. If you can hear us, we offer our unconditional surren--" The communication cut off in a burst of static.

Teyla looked at Ronon, who shrugged and suggested, "Get a lock on any life signs and have them beamed into the brig."

Teyla called a complement of guards into the gate room and had them train their weapons on the main floor below the control area. "Lock on the remaining life signs on the Daedalus and beam them to the gate room floor," she ordered. Then turning to Ronon, "We need them to know we are more merciful than they."

"Whatever," Ronon shook his head. "I'd rather let them burn up. After what they just pulled."

Both turned to Rodney who, it seemed, had not been ignoring what was going on. "Yes, yes, beam them here. It's fine, it's not like there aren't any survivors on the Critias either. Beam them all down."

A moment later the gate room was filled with the acrid smell of burned flesh and the moans of the wounded. Those that were well enough lifted their hands in surrender. The rest looked on dazed and frightened from where they stood or lay on the floor. Major Novak slowly stood on unsteady legs and faced the control gallery. "On behalf of the crews of the Critias and the Daedalus, I offer our surrender." Her voice was rough from smoke and fatigue. She had a burn on the right side of her face and her normally tightly braided hair had fallen loose and appeared scorched in spots.

Teyla turned to Naz Fallona. "Check them all for weapons and then take them to the infirmary." She turned back to the prisoners. "I would speak to your representatives now, if you are able."

Novak walked forward, hands raised; she was searched and allowed up the stairs to the conference room. She was followed by Captain Hann, of the Critias, who, while covered in soot and blood, seemed himself to be mostly uninjured. Teyla motioned for them to sit as the doors closed behind them. She placed on the table a laptop with the long range sensor readings that they had been watching for the last two weeks. "Do you know what these are?"

There was silence in the room as both Earth officers took in the information. Major Novak's eyes went wide with fear, while Captain Hann looked more confused than anything. "What is that?" he asked.

"Wraith Hive ships," Novak replied, her voice soft. "Seventeen of them. How soon until they get here?"

"What?" Hann seemed confused.

"They are ten hours away, but they will not get here." Teyla was grim-faced. "Now that your stargate has been shut down, our plan can be implemented."

"Hive ships?" Hann seemed dumbstruck. "That wasn't part of the briefing I was at. I was told this was a blockade mission. No one said anything about a secondary threat at my briefing."

"What rock have you been living under?" Rodney's caustic reply came from behind him. "The Wraith--you know, the space vampires that are the reason the Ancients left Pegasus to its own devices?"

"I've been fighting the Ori," Captain Hann said tiredly. "I'm an F-302 pilot mostly. I was tapped to head up the squadrons when Major Lewis' appendix burst."

Rodney's face went red, then white. He turned to Ronon and Teyla. "I can't deal with this right now."

"What are you going to do with us?" Novak asked as Rodney turned on his heel and left.

"After your injuries have been attended to, you will be given temporary quarters. Then we will discuss it."


Of the three hundred crew aboard both ships, only fifty-two had survived. Not willing to trust any of those that had laid siege to the city, it was felt that they would have less of a chance to do harm by removing the temptation of the stargate.

"We can not send you back to Earth," Teyla told them several days later. "All our efforts must be focused on the protection of the people of Pegasus. Accommodations have been made and as each of you are released from the infirmary, you shall be moved to a place of safety."

"Teyla," Novak, who had become the spokesperson for both crews, began. "What of the Wraith ships? We've heard very little."

"As I told you before. The Wraith shall not reach us," Teyla replied, her eyes cold. "And they have been stopped."

"So you're just going to send us to the mainland?" someone asked deeper in the crowd.

"You will be given everything you need to survive," she confirmed. "Your surrender was unconditional, but we are not cruel or inhuman. We could have easily sent you to a planet with no protection from the Wraith and an orbiting stargate. This way, we know that you will not come to harm."

Teyla left then with a nod to Lt. Cadman, knowing the task would be carried out quickly. She went to the wing of the infirmary with private rooms. She keyed open the one locked door and stepped inside. There lay John Sheppard, her husband and friend, unconscious. He had bandages around his head and a cast on his left arm.

Rodney sat next to the bed, working on his laptop. He looked up as she entered, and grimaced. "Are they gone?"

"Most of them," Teyla replied. "The worst of the injuries will take a few more days to recover."

"Good, good." Rodney turned back to his work. There was a tray with stew from Block's Tavern sitting on a nearby table. "I sent several 302s up to tow the Daedalus back into a more stable orbit again. Zelenka and a few others are willing to go up and check if it is salvageable now that the core has been shut down. The Critias is probably a lost cause: the superstructure's cracked. We'd need an orbital shipyard to effect any kind of structural repair. It will break up if we try to bring it through the atmosphere to repair it here. Either way, we can always use them as raw material if they can't be fixed."

"You should get some rest," Teyla said. "I can watch over him for a while."

"No," Rodney replied.

"Rodney-"

"I'm not leaving him. I've done everything everyone has asked of me. Things I don't think I would have dared ask of anyone, because of symbols and rituals and making things look good." Rodney's voice never rose past that of casual conversation. "But this? No. This is mine. I can work here just as easily as I can work in the labs or in our apartment. You need something? You can come talk to me here."

"Very well," Teyla conceded, a sad smile on her lips. "May I sit with you?"

"Of course." Rodney smiled back, though it didn't reach his eyes.

Together they sat watching John sleep. They talked of inconsequential things until Teyla's radio beeped and she had to take care of official matters. "Teyla," Rodney called as she got up to leave. "You did the right thing. Saving them, I mean. John wouldn't have wanted them all to die like that."

Teyla nodded. "Only time will tell."

The End