2. Slaughter
Listening to John Sheppard scream was shredding every last vestige of courage she had. The Wraith loomed over him, mercilessly, painfully sucking the very life out of her friend. The dark room on the screen emphasized the horror of the perverted show. Finally, with a wave of his hand, Kolya ordered the guards to pull the Wraith away. He stepped aside to reveal John collapsed in the chair, his head hanging down limply, panting and shaking, and sorely lacking in more than a few years.
"You have two hours." Kolya informed her coldly. Elizabeth had just enough time to see John lift his aged face and look into the camera before the feed was cut off. He had been firm in his command to not give into Kolya's demands. But after what he'd just been through, was that what he still wanted?
Elizabeth continued to ask herself that question over and over as she listened to the scum that was costing Sheppard his life prattle on with his insincere apologies and self-rightous refusal to concede to even the smallest amount of shame.
"Sounds like you're the traitor," Ronon was informing Ladon as they sat discussing the situation at the conference table.
"Does he have to be here?" Ladon asked her, snapping her attention away from her dark thoughts.
"The more you talk, the gladder I am that he is," she told him coldly. Ladon bit back what was undoubtedly a nasty retort before resuming the political niceties which he seemed to think was keeping him alive. Unfortunately for him, she was having trouble hearing them over the echo of John's screams in her head.
She wanted to turn Ladon over to Kolya. They deserved each other. When Elizabeth was a teenager her mother had always warned her never to air her dirty laundry in public. It was an old fashioned policy that had none-the-less served her well. The Genii however, were not only airing their laundry, they were throwing it in the Lanteans' faces and tangling them up in it. And John was the one suffering for it.
Ronon was all for handing Ladon over with a big red bow and making a lot of noise about it. But he didn't understand complex politics that came with protecting an entire city, rather than just a few people. She knew that giving into Kolya's demands was just inviting not only him, but others to do it all over again.
Then Carson goes and warns her that he doesn't know if John will survive another feeding.
Elizabeth retreated to her office to plan her next move. She absolutely forbid Ladon from leaving the city, not willing to let him run away from the mess he'd dragged them into. With a great effort, she pushed John's screams to the back of her mind where they became more of a dull whisper rather than a constant roar. She had to figure out how she was going to handle this. She couldn't give into Kolya's demands. She couldn't let Atlantean policy be so weak. She had to be firm and stay strong. John was a soldier; he could handle this. She had to believe that.
If only he'd stop screaming.
When the team returned from the planet empty handed, Elizabeth felt her heart drop and shatter. That planet had been their one and only hope. Kolya was due to call in five minutes, and she had no rescue plan.
John's team came to join her and Beckett, waiting for the call. Ladon was across the small room, wisely giving the fuming Lanteans a wide breadth. He was avoiding their pointed glares, which was hard to do when Ronon was studing him through a mask of sheer hatred. "We should turn him over," he voted again. Even Rodney was starting to look supportive.
"Colonel Sheppard specifically ordered us not to," Teyla said firmly. Like Dr. Weir and Colonel Sheppard, she was a leader and understood the sacrifices that had to be made for the greater good of all. That didn't mean she was any happier than the rest of them.
"We've ignored his orders before," Ronon grumbled.
Elizabeth just felt sick. Despite the pain that they all shared, in the end whatever happened could be laid only at her own feet. She was in charge, and therefore personally responsible for the outcome. She'd been so sure of her resolve at first. It was easy to be cold and stalwart when brandying words across a video feed. But watching and listening to her friend being tortured was puncturing holes in some illusions she'd had about her strength. She didn't know if she could sentence John to endless rounds of Kolya's tender mercies. Not for this weasel.
"Incoming wormhole," the gate technition announced.
"Receiving video transmition," Rodney said, standing over the tech's shoulder. His own shoulders were slumped with defeat, dread written into every line in his face. No one wanted to face what they all knew was coming. The only question was, how much would Kolya make John suffer for his petty plots this time?
"Dr. Weir," Kolya called jovially as his face appeared on the monitor. "Are you prepared to hand over Ladon Radim?"
Casting one last scathing look at Ladon as he inched closer, she shook her head at Kolya. "No," she bit out, sounding far more confident than she felt. With a regretful and possibly slightly surprised sigh, Kolya signalled the torture to commense. As the Wraith attacked Sheppard once more, screams once again filled the room. The gag did little to mute them. Sheppard's body writhed and bucked against the chair as he instinctually tried to fight back and was thwarted by the ropes that bound him to the chair.
Elizabeth tried to force herself to watch, to give John that much respect, but her eyes clamped shut and her head turned sharply away under own volition. Sheppard's agony seemed to go on forever. McKay was making choking sounds, while a loud thump echoed through out the room as Ronon tried to flip a table that was bolted into the floor, and had to settle for slamming a wall. He seethed in anger, turning on Elizabeth.
"Stop this!" he demanded. He turned to Ladon and grabbed him by the throat, violently toppling him to the ground. Ladon made a strangled sound of surprise and tried to bat Ronon's arm away, but the scheming scientist was little more than a fly to the furious giant that was Ronon. Ladon's head hit the metal flooring with a clang, and he was still. Ronon immediately started dragging the unconscious body towards the gate.
Torn, Elizabeth looked between the beserk Satedan and the psychotic Genii on the screen. God, she hated this galaxy and all the pain and violence it bestowed on its residents. Teyla and Rodney were running after Ronon to the gate, leaving Carson and Elizabeth fraught with indecision.
The room suddenly became definingly quiet as Sheppard's screams were cut off. The Wraith pulled away from Sheppard, and was shuffled away. "Dr. Weir?" Kolya cooed.
Glancing once more at the group arguing at the base of the gate, Elizabeth felt her own rage boil over the surface. Kolya had gone too far, and was going to reap what he deserved, to Hell with the consequences. "We'll send him. Just give us an address." Kolya beemed. John was clearly dazed, but she could tell he was trying to shake his head no at her. I'm sorry, John, she thought, praying that he would one day forgive her. Kolya merrily held up a picture of a gate address with a small flourish, then cut the feed.
Elizabeth nodded at the tech to dial the address as a detail of marines joined the team at the gate, bringing gear for Rodney and Teyla. Walking down the stairs, she stood up besides Ronon, his shadow cast by the light of the gate towering over her. "I'm giving you free reign to end this," she said quietly and with steel. "Make him pay." Ronon gave a feral grin before tossing Ladon over his shoulder like a sack of grain. Elizabeth knew the bloodshed she had just endorced would haunt her for the rest of her life, but she comforted herself with knowing that she was saving John's life.
The ropes bit into his hands as the guards tied them even tighter. He was bound with his wrists behind his back, another rope binding his elbows together, plus another rope looping around his chest and upper arms. The gag was still in place, rubbing his sweat, tears, and drool into his face. Yeah, he was pretty well trusseled up. And they still had the nerve to beat him senseless before dragging his stunned carcass through the gate.
His limbs felt like lead and all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep. And throw up, but that could wait. Maybe. Upon nearly collapsing on the other side of the gate he began to worry that maybe it couldn't. Considering that the gag was still in place, that would be very bad. Swallowing hard, he managed to control the urge, but he was panting and sweating even harder for the effort.
Sheppard looked around, studying the foilage, trying to get an idea of where they were. So far, his list of possiblities still included just about every standard Pegasus Galaxy issue planet he'd ever heard of. Effin' Ancients, settling on planets that all looked like the same patch of woods. His head ached, his arms throbbed, his gut cramped, and his whole body just felt too heavy. Today had to be a new record for longest day of his life.
The gate activated again, and thirty Genii soldiers levelled their weapons at the open portal. Kolya positioned himself close behind Sheppard, holding a knife right up against his throat, nicking it slightly. McKay, Ronon, Teyla, and four marines stepped through the gate with Ladon Radim slung over Ronon's shoulder. Sheppard wanted to scream in frustration. No, he thought in denial. Please, they didn't…. Meeting Ronon's eyes, Sheppard silently begged him to not make this all for nothing.
Ronon ignored the Colonel's plea, none-too-gently depositing Ladon on the ground face first. "All right, he's here. Hand over Sheppard," Rodney demanded impatiently with a snap, a dark fire burning in his eyes.
Kolya just laughed. "Excellent. You see Dr. McKay, this didn't have to be that hard." Kolya nodded to one of his men who came forward and flipped Ladon onto his back, confirming his identity. "It's him," he assured Kolya as he dragged the body to rest at Kolya's feet.
Kolya smiled with delight before sending Sheppard sprawling towards his teammates. Teyla rushed forward to catch the Colonel before he could fall to the ground. She hurriedly passed him over to McKay, who half-dragged the still bound man away from the Genii, keeping their bodies low. "Now, I believe our business is concluded here," Kolya began, amused, before he was cut off with a boom.
The ground in front of Kolya exploded in a tidal wave of dirt as a carefully aimed drone tore up everything in a five foot radius of Kolya, including both him and Ladon. A puddle jumper materialized behind the team as it decloaked, revealing the source of the explosion. It landed after firing the first shot, and more marines ran out of the rear hatch P-90s already opening fire. McKay rushed Sheppard inside, not even looking at the confused man before settling him down on an empty bench.
Now out of danger, McKay untied the gag around Sheppard's mouth and began to fumble with the ropes. "McKay, care to tell me what the heck's going on?" Sheppard demanded.
The roar of the P-90s drowned out any response McKay could have given, but the racket didn't last for long. Glimpsing outside the jumper as McKay untied him, Sheppard could see Ronon and Teyla wielding not guns, but knives, leaving an impressive spray of red in their wake. To his astonishment, he realized that neither of them were going for killing shots; rather they were slicing and stabbing away at their opponent's arms, legs, chests (Ronon even went for a kneecap on some poor schmuck), They were taunting their prey, savagely hurting the Genii as they had been hurt through their friend.
Sheppard swallowed, unused to seeing this level of carnage from his friends. Worse, he hated feeling an answering brutallity in himself, longing to be out there with them, striking out in his own rage.
With a grunt of pain, his arms fell forward and he realized McKay had finally freed him. He started to sway when McKay's arms left his chest, and they were quickly replaced. "Easy Colonel," McKay comforted, sitting next to him. Sheppard was very glad that McKay was in the jumper with him, and not getting mixed up in the mess outside the jumper.
Finally there were no more Genii to maim and slowly kill, so the bloody rescue party returned to the jumper to assess the full damage done to their friend. Ronon thought Sheppard didn't look too bad, all things considering. He looked like he was in his late fifties, maybe even early sixties. He could still fight once Beckett let him out of the infirmary. His face was red and swollen in what would form a motley array of bruises over the next few days. Sheppard hadn't been beaten before they'd made the deal; Kolya must have done it after, even after they'd agreed to his terms. Ronon felt the urge to get out of the jumper and shred someone's heart out again.
Sheppard studied the bloody visage in front of him, unable to shake the feeling of an alternate reality. Dear Diary…. This morning had been a normal morning, and a regular mission. This afternoon had been Hell incarnate, one torture after the next. This evening he'd been convinced he was going to die a dry, whither husk in an enemy bunker at the hands of two separate enemies. Now tonight, he was safe with his team and going home. It was just too much. He felt his sides tremble as he sucked air in and out, small sounds escaping his lips. The gasping breaths became longer and louder until he realized he was laughing hysterically, unable to stop himself.
McKay gripped his shoulder tightly. Teyla was mumbling something soothing, but Sheppard wasn't listening. He closed his eyes, and the world became the sound of his unsettling laughter and the rumble of the jumper taking off. Sometime later, he felt a prick in his shoulder, and he eagerly gave himself up to the darkness. When he woke up, it would be tomorrow, and everything would be back to normal. But for now he could be crazy. Just this once.
It's midterm month. Can you tell?
