1

Chapter Three

The going was slow as John made his way toward the sniper's nest, mostly because the terrain sloped upward sharply. The Sinomean snipers had picked the best positions in the area to bedevil them. Damn, these people knew what they were doing. Why can't we ever face a few inept enemies?

The rugged landscape provided him with lots of cover, but the exertion of climbing left his head and arm pounding. In fact, he was concentrating so hard on moving, he actually jumped when McKay's voice came over his headset. "Okay, Teyla's in position. Did you find Ronon?"

Sheppard paused behind a boulder, but his gaze never stopped scanning the area, looking for any sign of Ronon. He let go of his P-90 for a moment as he cradled his injured arm. It didn't help that he'd landed on it more than once during the barrage of grenades. Glancing down, he saw the field dressing was barely holding back the flow of blood down his arm. He gripped the P-90 again and answered McKay as he started moving again.

"No, not yet, but he's left enough dead and unconscious bodies around to know he's been through here. The life signs detector shows there's several people in the area, but no way to know which one of the dots is Ronon."

McKay muttered, "It's damned inconvenient for him to go AWOL right when we need him most."

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's very damned inconvenient. But then he did take out a grenade launcher and sniper singlehandedly, so I suppose we could cut him some slack – Damn!"

He came around a huge tree and found Ronon sprawled on the ground with two bullet wounds in his shoulder. Normally, that would have merely slowed him down, but he'd lost a lot of blood and seemed barely able to hold on to consciousness.

Sheppard took a moment to do a quick 360-degree turn to make sure their location was secure. He kicked away the weapons from the four Sinomeans lying on the ground. Two were dead and the other two looked close to it. Still, it wouldn't do to have a raider pop up with a weapon in hand at an inappropriate moment. He knelt down and patted Ronon's cheek.

"Ronon, can you hear me?" Ronon's eyelids fluttered with the sound of Sheppard's voice.

Sheppard had forgotten all about McKay until the man was yelling in his ear, bombarding him with an endless stream of questions. "What? Why did you say damn? Did you find Ronon? Is he in trouble? Are you in trouble? Damn it, answer me!"

"You've really got to cut down on your caffeine intake, McKay," Sheppard grumbled as he took out a field dressing and applied pressure against Ronon's wound to stem the blood flow. Ronon groaned in response, but Sheppard didn't ease up. "Ronon took a couple of bullets to the shoulder. He's semiconscious, but not enough to help, so I'm going to need some assistance moving him back to the gate."

"What's your location?" Lorne asked breathlessly, as if he was on the run.

Sheppard described his position and Lorne answered. "I'm near you. Be there shortly."

"I can make it on my own," Ronon said groggily, trying to rise up on one elbow.

Sheppard forced him back down. "Sure you can, but why push yourself when you don't have to?"

Ronon groaned again, but this time, it was in obvious frustration. Sheppard frowned. "Rodney, is Teyla's group through yet?"

"They're moving to the gate now-"

An ear-piercing screech cut through the air, interrupting McKay. It was followed by such intense screams of horror that Sheppard spun around in the direction of the stargate. They were blood-curdling screams. Sheppard tried to imagine what could cause such sudden fear and came up with a hundred different scenarios, each one worse than the last. Now, it was his turn to ask questions. "What the hell was that?"

Ronon forced himself up when the chorus of screams intensified, and Sheppard didn't fight him this time. He was too intent on what was happening on the other end of his radio. He heard McKay say, "What the fu-"

Rodney's voice trailed off before he started yelling, "Hey, kids, come back here! You can't get through the gate that way! Get back over here! Sheppard, we need you now, damn it!"

Sheppard gritted his teeth together in frustration. "What's happening?"

Teyla answered for him. "Colonel, something terrible has attacked the children. Something I couldn't get a glimpse of, but I fear there are dead among them and our own people now, and there's even more wounded. We need additional assistance and we need it now."

"Lorne, get every man to the gate! That includes you. I'll get Ronon back."

"But, sir – "

"No buts, just do it! That's an order!" Sheppard took a deep breath and stared in the direction of the gate. "I don't care how you do it, Teyla, but get all the kids you can through that gate now. We don't know when or if the Sinomeans will make another run at us, but the fewer targets around, the better. We'll take care of getting the others across. You just get the ones who can move to safety."

"We are starting through the gate now," Teyla said, sounding torn between saving the ones she could and mourning those who were lost.

There was no time for grief, though, then multiple shots rang out and new screams echoed in the early morning air.

"Lorne, where's the goddamned backup for Teyla's group?" Sheppard barked.

He'd barely finished speaking when Lorne growled, "McMurphy, knock that gun out!"

"Already on it, sir," came a low graveled reply from Sgt. McMurphy.

Sheppard started to get to his feet and moved too quickly, at least faster than his battered body could tolerate. He got a major head rush, causing his vision to go blurry again. He put a hand on the ground to steady himself and shook his head, instantly regretting it. He knew he had lost blood from the gash on his arm, but it wasn't enough for this reaction. Maybe it was the concussion finally getting the best of him. Or it was everything all together.

His sense of nausea and dizziness only increased and he took a good long breath. The adrenaline rush from the battle that had been fueling his actions until now was beginning to play out. Damn, he needed to hold it together a little longer. He still had to get Ronon back to the gate and then to help with those kids. He felt a hand on his arm and jerked his P-90 up until he saw Ronon beside him, his hand on John's arm. "Sheppard?"

John blinked and squared his shoulders. "Uh, sorry. I guess I spaced out there for a moment. I'm fine. Let's go."

Ronon didn't move. "You don't look fine. You didn't even hear me calling to you until I touched you."

Sheppard ignored his concern as he turned back toward the gate and pointed. "Listen to those kids screaming. We've got to get back there. Right now, nothing else matters."

There were a few more shots, and then McMurphy's' voice came over the headset, "Target eliminated, sir. The medics are with the injured at the gate. We lost at least one man, maybe more, in that freak attack, and we've got injured. God, I don't know how many of the kids were killed . . . it's not good."

Lorne spoke up. "We're almost to the gate."

Sheppard heard the hoarseness in his voice as he said, "Lorne, don't waste a second. Get the wounded through and watch out for whatever attacked them."

McKay spoke up. "Teyla and the first group are through."

Sheppard closed his eyes for a moment at the information. What should have been good news barely registered. Those children had been killed on his watch and the ones who lived will probably be traumatized forever.

Sheppard rubbed his aching arm, then realized what he was doing and adjusted his hold on his P-90. He could deal with his injuries once those children were safe. His tone was angry, more at their assailants than Rodney, but he still took it out on his friend. "And you're still standing around talking about it, McKay? Get the next group moving!"

"There's just no pleasing you," Rodney said, sounding like he was running.

"I'll be pleased when those kids are safe and not before."

"All right, I got it already."

Sheppard turned back to Ronon who was on his knees by then, though his skin tones were several shades paler. Ronon swayed a bit and had a hand pressed tightly against his bleeding shoulder as John met his uneven gaze. Sheppard asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Ronon smirked and held up a bloodied hand. "I dunno. How many fingers am I holding up?"

There was only one finger pointed upward, one with implied meaning, and the sight made Sheppard grin despite their situation. He'd have to have a talk with the other expedition members about corrupting every alien they came across when he got back to Atlantis. "You just looked like you were having trouble focusing," Sheppard replied.

"One of them clocked me pretty good with his rifle butt, but that was the last thing he ever did."

"Well, that explains your grogginess." Sheppard took a deep breath. "So, you think you can do this?"

Ronon didn't pause. "I'm ready."

Sheppard nodded. "Okay, on three."

He was able to get Ronon on his feet, but only after a lot of effort. "Geez, you're big," he said with a grunt.

Ronon faltered, dropping to his knees despite Sheppard's hold on him, and he took Sheppard down with him, eliciting a grunt from both of them. John inhaled slowly to steady himself as Ronon pulled away. "Leave me. I can make it back on my own. Go see what's wrong with the kids."

Sheppard shook his head and instantly regretted it. He had to put a hand to his forehead and took a deep breath. "We don't leave our people behind. Come on, let's try again."

When they stood this time, both of them fared slightly better. At least, Dex didn't collapse again. Sheppard tried to take on as much of Ronon's weight as he could, but he was barely able to keep the Satedan on his feet. "You okay?" he asked breathlessly.

Ronon groaned as he put a hand to the back of his head, and blinked several times. He ground his teeth together. "I'm good to go. There's some serious payback I need to take care of."

"I hear you. I want to get my hands on those raiders as much as you do, but first we've got to get you to the gate. Focus on putting one foot in front of the other."

It was good advice for both of them, since the edges around Sheppard's vision were beginning to darken. Dex went silent and they kept moving, though they weren't going very fast. Sheppard was quiet, too, mostly because it took all his concentration to keep Ronon upright. He consoled himself that it was only a little further to the gate. He could make it that far, but not much more until he had a handful of aspirin and a minute to rest.

Rodney's voice was grim as he said, "Sending the second group through now with our soldiers carrying the wounded. That should be all of them . . . at least the ones who are still alive."

Ronon faltered and Sheppard tightened his grip. "Go on through, we're on our way back to the gate now – "

Sheppard stopped speaking when he heard a high-pitched whine and knew without looking that there was a grenade coming in their direction. He'd heard that sound way too much for one day. He shouted, "Grenade!"

They fell to the ground with Sheppard throwing himself over the Satedan to protect Ronon's body as much as possible. Both of them put their hands over the backs of their heads as the grenade exploded nearby. Then Sheppard's hands balled into fists. He was tired of this crap. He rolled to his side and fired his P-90 in the general area the grenade had come from, grinding his teeth from pain and frustration.

They moved to the relative safety of a boulder. It was only then that Sheppard took in the grisly scene around the gate. His mind refused to comprehend that the small forms lying about had once been children. The area looked like someone had come through the area with a hatchet, leaving bodies strewn about like abandoned toys. John tried to turn away, but couldn't. Little wonder why he had heard the kids screaming, they were the screams that heralded brutal death.

"Sheppard, stop lollygagging and get over here! We'll cover you!" McKay shouted, taking Sheppard by surprise. His lapses in attention were starting to disturb him.

Looking ahead, John saw McKay and McMurphy hiding behind a group of boulders, guarding the gate. Their presence was strangely reassuring and drew his attention away from the dead. He said the first thing that came to mind. "I thought I told you to go through the damn gate!"

McKay shrugged. "So sue me! I thought, with good reason, that you might need some backup! Besides, the medics already moved the injured with the help of Lorne's men," McKay said indignantly.

"When the brilliant astrophysicist is right, he's right," Ronon said quietly.

Sheppard gave Ronon a peeved look and said under his breath, "Yeah, but don't ever tell him that. It will give him a big head and it's already big enough."

"Hello? Are you coming or have you decided you to stay in this vacation wonderland?"

Sheppard rolled his eyes as they started moving again. They hadn't gotten very far when they had to duck again as another grenade hit near them, pounding them with dirt and debris. This time, neither Ronon nor Sheppard moved very quickly to get back to their feet. Sheppard rolled onto one side, gripping his arm as it throbbed with an agonizing rhythm.

The others were by the DHD, shooting at the snipers, when McKay shouted from behind his boulder, "Stop being a wuss. You're the one who's always telling me to stop talking and start moving, so move it, Colonel!"

Sheppard shook his head gingerly and looked to Ronon. "I think we've created a monster." He sighed with the depth of his discomfort and fatigue and said, "Let's go."

As the others continued to lay down cover fire, the two men got to their feet, and made a mad dash for it. Bullets were peppering the air and ground around them, but none hit their target. At least, not yet.

oOoOoOoOo