Author's Note: And we're back:)Someone e-mailed me about the timeline, so I thought I'd clear it up. Anything after "Coup D'etat" won't be included, but the story occurs a couple of years afterward, where a season three or four would be. Hope that helps, and if not, just forget I said anything! Anyways; enjoy the chapter!
Next Update: Sunday, July 2nd.
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The Last To Fall
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It had been too late to win from the moment he'd first spotted the Wraith. Their enemy was in control of the City and, despite Rodney and Radek's best efforts, their hold seemed adamantine. The two scientists hadn't been able to repair any of the systems.
Rodney had failed.
Their hope that the Marines could keep the Wraith at bay vanished when their backs appeared at the entrances to the 'gate room and the control room.
They'd been cornered.
Sounds of gunfire ignited the air while shrill screams sounded above it all. The people gathered behind the front lines exchanged fearful glances, clinging to one another. Those who knew how to use a gun formed a circle around the nearly defenseless. Their hands shook as they aimed their weapons.
Rodney typed feverishly on his laptop, trying to bring up some sort of defense. He'd managed to block several pathways to the center of the City, but many had already passed the doors. There were other ways to the center, as well. They just kept coming.
"Rodney…" Elizabeth placed her hand on the back of his chair, her knuckles white. "Any progress?"
"No," Rodney said, frustrated at his lack of progress. Closing a door had become nearly ten times as difficult – most commands he sent from his console were overridden. He'd discovered a virus that was most likely to blame for this, but he did not have nearly enough time to destroy it. The new safety protocol that would have enacted itself when a Wraith entered the City would not initialize.
Elizabeth nodded and withdrew her hand. She glanced at her other hand and swallowed tightly. John had pressed a pistol into her palm earlier, ignoring her blatant hate of weapons. At the moment, she wasn't sure if she was disgusted with herself for accepting it or comforted by the defense it would provide her. She walked back and forth in the control room, keeping tabs on all of the activities that were going on to try and hold the Wraith back.
" Elizabeth," Rodney moved his hands away from the keys and turned to look at her. "Maybe we should…" he couldn't bring himself to say the words.
They couldn't abandon the City, couldn't leave it in the hands of the enemy…
Another scream lit the air.
Rodney and Elizabeth turned to see a few Wraith break through the line, shoving aside an aged body, running for the mass of people. Even more gunfire erupted and their bodies crumpled as they hit the ground.
Elizabeth looked to Rodney, her fear obvious on her pale face. "We can't keep this up," she whispered, and Rodney knew what she really meant.
They couldn't win this.
"We should dial out," he found his voice. "Some of the scientists and Athosians don't even know how to fire a weapon; they're Happy Meals on legs standing here."
"Do it," she ordered, and left his side to order the immediate area in front of the 'gate cleared.
Rodney moved to the DHD and began to dial the coordinates of a planet they'd come across a few months ago. The people there were kind and hospitable, and he crossed his fingers that they'd agree to putting up some people for the night.
He had a horrible feeling that it would be more than a night, but he squashed the feeling immediately as he pressed the third coordinate.
"Rodney!" Radek's voice carried over the gunfire.
Rodney turned to look at him, and time seemed to stop. The Marines that'd been fighting at the entrances to the control room had been overtaken. The Wraith flowed past the last soldiers, swarming toward Rodney, Radek, and the few others remaining.
Radek backed up until he was shoulder-to-shoulder with Rodney, and drew his own weapon. Through the blur of bodies, they saw a Wraith plant its hand on the chest of one of the Marines.
Numbly, Rodney wondered who the corpse had been.
They fired their weapons frantically at the approaching Wraith, but for every Wraith that fell, another came in its place. Some leaked past, running into the 'gate room. The screams were no longer distant. Rodney fumbled for another magazine, backing away. Radek and the others had disappeared in the fray.
Rodney glanced up from his weapon and saw a Wraith standing just before him. He cursed at the pistol, trying one last feeble time to reload, but his hands were shaking too much. Panicking, he clutched the handle and struck out, the metal colliding with the Wraith's head.
It did little damage. The Wraith grabbed Rodney's arm, twisting it painfully, and reached back with his other hand, preparing to strike.
Rodney knew what was to come, but he still gasped when the hand collided with his chest. Agony traveled through his body like ice in his veins. He tried to fight back, but he couldn't move his limbs. Breathless, he felt something happening, something he couldn't explain, but it filled every fiber of him with a stinging ache.
In the back of his mind, he realized that he was dying.
Suddenly, the haze that had enveloped him evaporated, and the pain eased. Rodney gasped and stumbled back, opening his eyes to see the Wraith falling to the floor, bullet holes in his chest. He turned to see Elizabeth standing there, her eyes wide, the gun in her hands pointed where the Wraith had been. He moved toward the console, cursing the lack of feeling in his legs when he nearly tripped, and finished dialing the address.
As soon as the wormhole connected, people began to run for the 'gate. Elizabeth quickly moved to Rodney and Radek and pulled them underneath another console. The Wraith were bypassing them now, running for the mass of people below.
"We have to get out of here," Elizabeth told them. "We…we have to leave. But we can't let the Wraith get the data the Ancients left behind."
"I'll upload the virus onto the mainframe," Radek said as Rodney managed to insert a new clip into his gun.
"I'll stay with you," he said to Radek.
"And I have to tell everyone to get out of here," Elizabeth informed them, her worried eyes on the people that still remained.
"On the count of three, then," Rodney announced. "One…two…" he took a breath, "three!"
They moved quickly from their hiding spot, Elizabeth sprinting through the crowd, just barely escaping the inhuman arms that reached for her. Radek immediately ran to a laptop, typing hurriedly. Rodney stood next to him, his gun aimed at the Wraith streaming past.
"Almost there…" Radek murmured.
A Wraith finally moved toward them. Rodney fired at him repeatedly, and it fell just feet in front of him. The relief was temporary. His gunfire had drawn the attention of several others. "Hurry it up!" he cried, and glanced toward the 'gate room. Elizabeth was standing by the soldiers who had formed a circle around the 'gate, yelling her orders to evacuate as soon as all of the civilians had gone through. Confident that her orders had gotten through, she ran for the control room, but she was knocked aside from the stampede of scientists and doctors headed for the wormhole. Her body fell to the floor, her head bouncing against the steps.
"Done!" Radek announced, and they ran for the steps, narrowly avoiding the Wraith and gunfire from their own people that sprayed over the room.
"Keep going!" Rodney ordered. He had stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes searching for Elizabeth. The moment he spotted her he rushed to her side. Blood was rolling slowly down her face from the cut on her forehead, but she was able to stand with his help. He held on to her forearm as they stumbled toward the wormhole. Rodney turned his head, glancing backward as he stepped into the event horizon.
The last thing he saw of the City were the corpses lining the ground and the Wraith surging after him and Elizabeth.
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