CHAPTER 2 – ENTER THE ADVOCATE

Mallon allowed them time to eat and complete their tasks of personal hygiene as dictated by their civil rights, then elected to begin her interviews and prepare them for their trial immediately after these tasks were completed. She chose to visit Colonel John Sheppard in his cell first, considering this the respectful thing to do given that he was their team leader.

Seated across the table from him, she found it just a little difficult to focus on the paperwork that she had brought with her. Her eyes kept shifting to the unruly dark hair and the warmth of his eyes that followed her moments avidly and she felt just a little uncomfortable. She was not used to attention from men, nor was she used to giving it herself and she did not understand her need to look at him.

Setting her papers out neatly in front her her, she opened her largest book and looked up at him expectantly. "Colonel Sheppard. Do you understand the crimes that you have been accused of?"

"According to your ambassador, they are supposedly – unauthorised use of a weapon, unauthorised entry to this world and unauthorised use of technology – how am I doing so far?"

She consulted her notes and raised her eyes to smile at him. "Very good Colonel Sheppard, this is correct, but you say supposedly... does that imply that you are not in full agreement of them?"

John's eyes widened. "Full agreement sweetheart? Hell, I barely acknowledge them! We carry our weapons whenever we leave Atlantis and travel off world, it does not signify aggression, it is simply our form of self protection. Unauthorised entry to this world? If we're not welcome, then I'm sorry – happy to go our merry way now that we know this – in fact much prefer not to be where we're not wanted. And the last one? Unauthorised use of technology? That one is a little ridiculous... you have to admit..."

"Colonel Sheppard. You do not appear to take these charges with the seriousness that they need to be taken. You have one week to help me successfully defend you, and I cannot do that if you are not fully repentant for your sins and that requires full understanding of what you have done wrong. If you are found guilty, you will not be allowed to leave. You and your team will be made to work in our mines for the duration of your lifetime."

John leapt up, pushing his chair away abruptly. "Are you serious Mallon? How the hell can that be deemed fair? And you and your people are fools if you think Atlantis is just going to sit back and let us rot here for the rest of our lives. They'll come looking for us, in large numbers, and they'll be pissed. You do not want to make an enemy of us!"

Mallon looked afraid at his tangible anger, and he watched those silver eyes turn a stormy gray and her physical body shrink away from him as though to hide from his anger. He felt a measure of guilt – likely this whole mess was not of her making, she was simply doing her job which appeared to be attempting to enforce a series of laws she really did not understand, but had been brought up to respect. He moved around the table to her, and squatted down beside her so that he brought himself eye level with her and felt the enforcer move up behind him with his weapon trained at him. Turning his head slightly he frowned at the man.

"Back off Rambo. I'm not gonna hurt her, give me a little credit. I don't lay a hand on women. That is one of my personal laws – back off!" Something in his eyes made the enforcer shift back slightly, but he did not move all the way to the back of the cell where he had been previously and John noted that his posture was a little more tense than it had been and he fought to get his own emotions under control.

"Mallon, I apologise. I realise that you are here to help us, as much as you are able anyway. My anger is for your laws. They are not our laws, nor did we have knowledge of them – if we had, we would have respected them, and chosen not to come to this world."

He watched her posture soften slightly. "If people come from your Atlantis to rescue you, they will also bring weapons, technology and make unauthorised entry – is that not correct?"

She saw the dawning of understanding in John's eyes. "Oh crap... they'll be bound by the same problems that we had... will they be captured as well?" At her nod, he rose to his full height again, and began pacing around the room. "I need to get a message to them Mallon, before they arrive. I need to warn them..." He sat down at the table, grabbed for a piece of paper and quickly scribbed a message on it, folding it, then passing it to Mallon. He used his eyes to let her know that the message was for her alone and was not to be shown to anyone else from the world. She acknowledged this by nodding slightly, and discreetly moved the paper so that it was hidden beneath one of the books that she had stacked in front of her. Opening the book, she was able to open the note unnoticed and read the message that Colonel Sheppard had left for her.

You have to help us Mallon. Get one of the radios that were taken from us and get to our jumper at 1200 hours tomorrow. Atlantis will be expecting a message from us. You need to tell them what has happened. Please.

She finished reading the note, her face now pale and looked up at him. He saw the quiver of her chin and knew that he had both scared and confused her, but pushed aside the feelings of guilt. He had to find a way to get her to help them. She was the only chance they had of getting off this world and back home.

She dropped her eyes and tucked the note further into her own papers and he knew that she would give consideration to his request.

"Colonel Sheppard. We need to work on how you wish to proceed with this defence. Please. We will list your reasons for breaking the laws as have been read to you and we will attempt to try and prove that there were extenuating circumstances that caused you to break them. This should be our line of defence. Do you agree?"

"I don't want to go through this farce for the next week Mallon. We are not guilty and I am assuming that this is more of less going to be a kangaroo court. Your ambassador has decided we are guilty, and this will be just for show. I think you know this."

She dropped her eyes and he felt his anger begin to grow again. Banging the table, he pushed up again and this time the enforcer was not about to let him flout his temper. He pushed up behind John and pushed the muzzle of the weapon into his neck and John, angry, reacted to the threat and turned quickly, bringing his foot up sharply into the man's stomach, causing him to bend over, winded from the kick. His weapon dropped to the ground, and with his lightning reflexes, John grabbed the weapon, just as he heard running feet in the hallway outside the cell.

He knew that he only had minutes to spare, and hating himself just a little for what he was about to do, he grabbed Mallon around the neck and pulling her upward, used her to shield him from the enforcers that came to a stop outside his cell. He pushed the muzzle into her neck and aimed a kick at the head of the enforcer who was trying to regain his wind, knocking him back down to the ground.

The enforcers stood uncertainly outside the cell, weapons trained on both John and Mallon, and he took aim quickly, managing to hit them both with two blasts of the energy weapon.

He dropped his mouth to her ear, and said quietly. "I'm sorry to do that to you Mallon, but I need to get out of here, and I need you to help us. I don't want to hurt you." He felt her shaking and knew that she was terrified. Edging them both to the door of the cell, he bent down slightly so that he could locate the keys that were hanging off the belt of the guard who had been knocked to the floor of his cell. The guard was attempting to get up, and after securing the keys, John aimed a stun blast at the man, ensuring that none of the guards would be able to follow them.

He kept a hold of Mallon, but dropped his arm so that it anchored around her waist rather than her throat, and half dragging her beside him, he managed to unlock his cell and move down the hallway. Quietly, he bent to ask her. "My team Mallon, where are they holding them?"

"They are all in separate cells Colonel Sheppard. All in this hallway, each cell separated by a single room for observation." John kept moving, watching as her hand fluttered slightly, indicating the direction of the other cells and he held the keys in readiness, knowing they would not have much time.

Hell, make that no time... An energy blast flashed down the hallway in the direction that he was intending to run and it was followed by two more. "Damn, I can't go that way... what's behind us... quick Mallon, I need to know!"

"That leads into the conference room where you were earlier. It is the way out if that is what you seek. Please Colonel Sheppard.. will you leave me here? I won't stop you from leaving..."

"Sorry honey, no can do... I need you for insurance. And I can't leave until I get the rest of my team out. You're going for a little ride... I'll apologise now for this, but unfortunately your leaders have left me with no choice. We've done nothing wrong and I refuse to be tried for a crime that makes no sense to us. Not gonna happen!"

He kept his grip on her and moved back the way that they had come, going back past his own cell and noting that the enforcers that he had stunned were still out cold. They arrived back at the room where they had met the Ambassador and found that it was now empty and pushing his way through he saw that there were two exit doors. John's mouth was again grazing her ear. "Mallon – quick, which door do we take? And don't even think about setting me up sweetheart, 'cause when I get pissed, well, let's just say you don't wanna be around. Cooperate with me? I'll make sure you get out of this unhurt and in one peace and I'll make sure that your powers that be know that you were an unwilling assistant in all of this. I just want to get my team out and get home – ok?"

Feeling his nearness and the breath against her cheek as he spoke was disconcerting and she nodded her head, eager for him to leave her and be gone. The hard muscles of his body that periodically came into contact with the softness of hers left her gasping slightly and she did not enjoy this feeling of not being in control of herself and her emotions.

"I will help you get to a safe place beyond my settlement, then you will leave me – please? You are scaring me..."

"I'm sorry for that Mallon, really. Let's just get out of here so that I can review my options. Will the stargate and our jumper be guarded?"

"Yes Colonel Sheppard. The stargate always fully guarded as is our mandate. That is how you were captured. Nobody comes through from other worlds unless they meet all the requirements as soon as they arrive through the gate. If it is found that they are in possession of technology or weapons, they are immediately apprehended. You will not get close to the stargate and the guards are not out in the open. They will be hidden, and likely expecting your escape now that the alarm has been sounded."

She indicated the door they should take, and keeping her close, opened it quickly finding it led to a courtyard. John kept close to the walls of the compound, hearing sounds of activity and running, but saw no sign of any further enforcers coming their way, so quickly made his way around the side and behind a building, half dragging his unwilling hostage.

He managed to get to the wooded area unnoticed and pushed the two of them into a thicker area of bushes, putting a hand over her mouth as he heard a sound nearby. "Shhh..." seeing the fear in her eyes he tried to instill some warmth into his and became aware of the nearness of her body, very slight and small, and pulled up very very close to his and wondered briefly, if the fear he saw was not just in his actions, but in his very nearness. He stared into her eyes a moment longer, saw some of the fear begin to leave them as they saw in his what he wanted her to see.

He took his hand away from her mouth, needing to trust her a little and smiled at her when she didn't immediately open her mouth to scream. "Good girl..." he whispered, then turned and pushed them both deeper in the wooded area, needing to formulate a plan for getting him and and his team out of there.