Missing:
Atlantis Gate:
The leader of SGA-2 looked back at the Stargate as it closed without the last member. She had been injured which is why she had gone ahead of the Lt. knowing that the Lt. would be right behind her. But when the Stargate had closed and the Lt. had not come through, they knew that she had either been injured or had been captured by whoever had attacked them. They would assess the planet again with a probe this time before sending anyone else back. They needed to know what they were dealing with and obviously the locals weren't too keen on people poking around their home.
The leader of SGA-2, a Major named Johnson headed to the infirmary with the rest of her team since they all needed to be checked out. There was no telling what they had picked up while off-world. They could have picked up some kind of infection and not known it. And to top it all off, half the team was injured so they all needed to be looked at by Dr. Keller anyways. They would debrief after being checked out by the doc. And they would all need to be able to go back out and search for the missing Lt.
Colonel Sheppard and his team walked into the infirmary just as Dr. Keller was telling the team that there was no permanent damage. A few would have to stay overnight for observation, especially Major Johnson, but other than that, they would be fit for duty by mid-day the next afternoon. Dr. Keller left with Dr. McKay, saying they needed to go over some of the data collected from the planet while the team had been there.
Explanations:
"What happened out there Major?" Colonel Sheppard asked.
"I'm not exactly sure Colonel. One minute we were collecting samples and the next we were under attack. Lt. Kolwezi started firing back first as she was the closest to the hostiles and then we all ran back towards the gate with the supplies we were able to collect. The next thing we did was dial the gate and we all came through. Lt. Kolwezi said that she was right behind me since she wasn't injured, but when the gate shut she wasn't there."
"So you're thinking she was hit on her way to the gate?" Ronon asked.
"It is a good possibility. But I don't get it. We saw no signs of people ever living on that planet. There were no signs of any kind of civilization ever having set foot on the planet. It actually looked like a good Alpha Site for the near future. Now I'm not so sure I want to go back except to get our soldier back of course."
"Of course, but first you and your team need to get better." Teyla said.
"Doc says we'll be fit for duty by mid-day tomorrow. She wants to keep an eye on us for the night. And after what happened out there, I'm inclined to agree."
"Alright, we'll get information from the planet from the database, see what the Ancients had to say about it and start looking for Lt. Kolwezi as soon as we can. You guys get some rest. You're going to need it."
"Yes sir."
The Planet:
Cora was dozing when the guard came back in to check her wound. She became alert when hands started touching her. She pulled back from the hands as they moved over her body, making sure that she was healing properly. She could see the other girls and understood why they were so scared. Once they were satisfied that Cora was healing properly (the way they wanted her to heal), they grabbed a girl from across the room and took her with them. It didn't take long before the girl was screaming her lungs off, pleading for her life.
And Cora knew that if she fained being injured much longer, she would be fed to the monster she knew as the wraith. And Cora also knew that if her tracking device wasn't working, then there was no way her people could find her and rescue her and the other girls. She was going to be in trouble if she didn't come up with a way to escape and soon. Shortly after the girl was taken, food was brought in on the backs of some kind of small animal. Cora looked at the animal, straight in the eye, and though she sensed that the other girls had tried that before, she got a feeling the animals had attacked the other girls. Cora had always been told she had a way with animals, now was the time to put that skill to good use.
The animal that had her food on its back walked up next to her, turned around as if to take her food away, and lay down next to her knee as if saying don't worry, I know a way of getting out of here. The guards and the other girls seemed to sense that Cora was somehow special because the animal had not tried to attack like it had so many times before. Cora kept her eyes on her food as she ate and though the animal did not want to leave, the guard grabbed it roughly by the collar it wore and dragged it away from her. It was able to look back once. The eyes of the animal told her all she needed to know.
If she could get free, she wouldn't just be freeing herself. If she could get free, the people that had taken over this planet would be destroyed and the animals could go back to what they had been doing before any people had come to the planet. If she could get free, she would be freeing not only the slaves in the room with her, but the animals of the planet. Now all she had to do was get free.
The Search Begins:
Colonel Sheppard and his team were headed out, to another planet near the one Lt. Kolwezi had disappeared. They were going to secure a location where they could keep tabs on the planet Lt. Kolwezi had disappeared on. They had sent a MALP back through to that planet but the MALP had come under fire and they were unable to retrieve it. That only left one way to get to the planet's surface. If they were going to get their soldier back, they would have to come by ship and then by a cloaked Jumper. And if they were going to get her back, they needed to know what they were up against.
Once on the sister planet to the hostile planet, they began searching the planet for any signs of why these people had captured one of their own for no reason whatsoever. Ronon and Teyla stayed back on Atlantis as they were going to go to the local villages that they knew they had friends in and ask around about the planet. There was no name for the planet and though they knew it to be uninhabited, there was obviously some activity on it since one of their own had gone missing on it.
As the Alpha site on the sister planet of the unnamed planet was set up, Teyla and Ronon ventured through the Stargate to see if they could find out any information on the people that had taken up residence on the unnamed planet.
Information Sought:
Ronon and Teyla walked through the gate to see guards on either side of it. When the guards realized the people coming through were friends, they immediately dropped their weapons to their sides and greeted the friends. Four guards stayed at the gate as two others brought the two friends to the center of the village. Ronon and Teyla both noticed that security for the village had been heightened and they were curious as to why. Once in the center of the village and offered a seat by the leader, the questions began flying as both sides wanted answers.
"Tolan, why such heightened security? We have never seen you so concerned about the welfare of the village, well not like this at least." Teyla asked.
"We were hoping you would have some answers for us Teyla. We have been attacked every fortnight since the waxing of the moon nearly a month ago. They were supposed to attack last night but did not come. We fear that they might come tonight instead."
"Who do they take from your people? And who are they?" Ronon asked.
"We do not know who they are. We just know that all they are taking are girls in their early to late teens. And we do not know why they did not attack last night. We are not the only planet that they have attacked. We just know that from what the others are saying, that they are only taking girls in their early to late teens. We got reports this morning before you came that they had not attacked the other planets around us last night either. It was like they had already taken someone from somewhere else. Though we don't wish harm on anyone else, we are glad our young ones are safe for now. We have made arraignments for our young girls to go into hiding for a while, but we have yet to find a place safe for them to stay."
"We may know why they did not attack last night. One of our soldiers, a Lt. Kolwezi was taken yesterday afternoon on a planet in this system. The planet has never been inhabited so we had no way of knowing if it was hostile or not. Her teammates made it back through the gate with little injury to themselves after they were caught off-guard and ambushed, but the Lt. was unable to get back through the gate. That is why we are here. We were wondering if you had heard of anything like this. Now that we see that you have, it would be best for you to send your daughters, all of them, young and old with us back to Atlantis. It would be safer. And we will go to the other planets and get the other girls and women. If men are left of the planet then maybe they will stop attacking and we will have a better way of tracking them." Teyla finished.
"This Lt. you talk about, was she young?"
"Yes, I think she just turned twenty-four. Why do you ask?"
"Because they seem to take only girls and women under the age of twenty-five. They have taken no women over the age of twenty-five since they started attacking."
"I understand, but it would be better that all the women and girls are out of harm's way. And if you have any place here on the planet to hide, I suggest you do. Take what you need to survive with you, but don't come back to the village until we tell you that it is safe. We will leave you this radio. Turn it on every seven days. If you hear nothing on the other end, turn it off to conserve the battery. It is best that you do not come out of your hiding until we believe it is safe to return your women and girls to you."
"Thank you for coming Teyla, Ronon. It was best that you came now and not tonight. We will ready the women and girls immediately. It is best that they be gone before night fall and we be in hiding before nightfall."
Tolan left to ready the women and girls to head for Atlantis with Teyla and Ronon, knowing that it would be some time before they were reunited with their loved ones. By the time they were ready to leave, the men and boys of the village had already headed for the mines, a frequency on the planet as well as the caves that cut through the mountains. It would be safer for the women and girls to be off the planet then to have them abducted nightly by whatever was coming through the gate to take them.
Safety of Atlantis:
When Ronon and Teyla came back through with the women and girls of Tolan's village, Mr. Woolsey immediately asked what was going on. Before answering, Teyla and Ronon got the women and girls comfortable in the guest quarters. Then they went back to the Control Tower where by now Colonel Sheppard and the rest of their team from the Alpha Site was waiting for an explanation.
"So what's going on?" Mr. Woolsey asked.
"The women and girls of Tolan's village have been attacked since the waxing of the moon last month. They believe that these people are coming through the gate just for the women and the girls and we said that they would be safe with us on Atlantis until we knew what was going on. Other planets in the system have been attacked the same way. The men and boys of Tolan's village have gone into hiding so that whenever these men attack again, they will believe the people abandoned their homes to get away from them. We need to get to the other planets and villages before too many more women and girls are taken. They will be safe here. Here we will be able to protect them, but if they were to stay on their home-worlds, they would be vulnerable to attack daily." Teyla said.
"Okay, that was a lengthy explanation, and I agree with your thinking but you should've discussed this with us first." Colonel Sheppard said.
"There was no time. The next attack would have been tonight. We needed to get them to safety immediately."
"Alright, alright; we'll go to the other planets tomorrow, get the women and girls and bring them here. We'll let the men and boys know that it would be best to go into hiding. We'll give them a radio so they know when it is safe to come out again. I'm assuming you gave the men a radio to keep in touch with us?" Mr. Woolsey asked.
"Yes. We told them to turn it on every seven days and that if they hear nothing to turn it off and keep it off. If we find nothing about these people that are attacking them for no reason, in a few weeks we'll move the rest of the people to one of our Alpha sites and let them stay there for a while until it is safe for them to return to their homes." Ronon finished.
"Sound like a good idea to me. Let's get moving then, shall we." Rodney said finally speaking up.
More to come in next chapter…
Please Review…
