ADDICTION

It had been a long and wonderful night with the delectable Larrin, morning had come quicker than he would have liked though and this signified another end... another goodbye. And God only knew, these were getting harder and harder. She was supposed to be a distraction. A sexy, wild and totally inappropriate – distraction. She had become more... much more. Her scent surrounded him constantly, permeated the recesses of his mind, would appear at random moments and bring a smile of satisfaction to his face. Then her scent would disappear and he would be bereft, alone and aching for something that he hadn't even known he needed.

Trading with Tuers had been completed successfully and Elizabeth had been happy with the jumper load of supplies that they had returned with. If both men appeared to be a little worse for wear, she had chosen not to comment, simply raised her eyebrows in query. The result of too much Ruus wine and an even headier night of extremely good sex on the part of both men had them looking extremely exhausted and mood wise, just a little bit snappy. Elizabeth hid a smile. Men were such shallow creatures really, their feelings worn on their faces for the world to see. Elizabeth had known that Larrin had been looking for John and it was she who had told Larrin where he would be. Elizabeth sighed a little as she supervised the unpacking of the last boxes before telling John and Ronon to go and get some sleep. John's feelings for Larrin were become a distraction for him and his work and she would need to sit down shortly and have a good talk with him.

John needed no encouragement to crawl into bed after securing the jumper. It had been a long night. No sleep. Larrin, lots of Larrin. As he closed him eyes she came to him out of his dream darkness and he felt himself sinking into her, just as he had done not a few hours before. She filled his dream, just as she had filled his hands and his body and when he awoke several hours later and dragged himself out of bed to look into the mirror, it was a haunted man who looked back at him. He needed to move on... he couldn't function with her on his brain. It wasn't fair to the rest of the base, or to himself. I'm sorry Larrin.. I can't do this anymore. You find it too easy to move on each time. Not so much for me. For me it's like a piece has been left behind each time. I look in the mirror now, and I'm not whole anymore. You took part of me with you and I can't live like that. Half a man. I need to move on sweetheart. Cut the chord that binds us.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair and it stook up in disarray and the stubble on his chin gave him a dangerous look. Squinting slightly at himself, images were still a little blurry, he thought that he had aged in these past few months... needed some down time, and badly.

Later that afternoon, he found himself in Elizabeth's office. She guestured for him to take a seat. "Sit John, and don't take this the wrong way – but you look like crap!"

His bark of laughter had him running his hand through his hair again and he slumped lazily in the chair, unable to find the strength to sit upright. He felt boneless, full of lethargy and needed someone to take it all away.

"Yeah Elizabeth – I feel like crap. Not just that damn wine last night either... although I know I overindulged in that just a little. She's gotten to me Elizabeth... and the only way I can get my sanity back is to cut the strings completely. I can't live a half life waiting for her to turn up in some area of the galaxy. I need to move on."

"That you do John – unless she's changed, and I would doubt that she has.. then yes, you need to move on. I don't have to tell you that whatever is between you and Larrin is self destructive at the moment and you're not doing yourself any favours by hanging on. Why don't you go back to earth for a while. Get away from Atlantis and get a clearer perspective." Elizabeth looked at him kindly, taking in the shadowed eyes and slumped posture.

"I'm thinking that would be a good thing... give me a couple of days to get things sorted out around here and then I'll take you up on that suggestion. Do a bit of surfing... hang out at the beach, see some friends... hell, normal stuff!"

He rose from the chair, a little more life in his face now and Elizabeth found herself smiling at him. She rose also and followed him to the door. "Perhaps you could find yourself a woman here on base... if you stopped comparing them all to Larrin!"

"And therein lies the conundrum Elizabeth. Once you've experienced someone like Larrin... let's just say the rest of the human race pales a little in comparison." While said in all seriousness, he did attempt a laugh at the end of it, just to dispell the worry from Elizabeth's eyes, if nothing else.

Two days later he had sorted out all the business he needed to in Atlantis, and with a small bag packed he waited in the gate room for the gate technician to sort out a small glitch in the dialling system.

"What's the problem Peter? Do you need to call Rodney to have a look at it?" John put his bag down and turned to look up at the gate room.

"I don't know Colonel. It seems to stop on the last chevron, almost as though someone is blocking out signal out. I'm going to call Dr McKay."

John left his bag where it was and went up the stairs into the gate room to await the arrival of Rodney. The gate very rarely had problems and when it did, it was of course a serious matter. This being the only way back to earth. Rodney arrived minutes later, alerted by the urgency in the gate technician's voice. "My expertise is needed again I see? Move over Peter, let me take a look. Have you run the usual diagnostics?"

"I have Dr McKay. It is showing as nothing out of the ordinary. It just locks on the last chevron."

"We're being blocked. Sheppard?"

John moved in behind Rodney to see what he was looking at on the screen. "Look at this Sheppard. See that frequency there? Not from here – someone is trying to dial in as we are dialling out and they're attempting to block our signal to stop us dialling out."

"Can you open up a line of communication with them. It may be a distress signal." He remembered not too long ago when Larrin and her crew had been in trouble and they had sent through a video communication asking for help.

"I'm sending through an open communication now, but whoever it is, they're blocking that also. They want control of our stargate."

"And was someone going to tell me about this?" Elizabeth moved into the control room, coming to look over Rodney's shoulder.

"Just about to Elizabeth... saved us the phone call, so to speak. Looks like we're gonna have company soon." John clicked on his radio and called the security channel. "I want two marine teams down to the gate room – now! Full gear and weapons. We may have unfriendlies coming in hot. The iris has been blocked so we have no choice but to allow them access."

John ran out of the control room and down the stairs, grabbing a weapon off one of the usual security team that kept constant guard in the gate room. He backed away slightly, acknowledged the marines that ran in and took up a defensive perimeter around the room, and kept his weapon trained on the stargate.

"Colonel! They're dialling in now. No communication." Rodney's voice came through the loudspeaker down to the gate room.

"Marines. Set your weapons for stun. It may be an offworld ally in trouble, so we can't go in hot until we know what we are dealing with here."

John took his place beside them, his own weapon trained on the stargate as he saw the chevrons begin to light up. The wormhole expanded outward into the gate room, pulsing blue liquid, then settled back to a shimmering blue as the event horizon stabilised. Weapon fire came through the stargate immediately and John yelled at the marines. "Change weapons from stun. Terminal force gentlemen."

A group of at least twenty military personnel came through the stargate weapons firing and immediately took down several of the marines. John yelled at the remaining marines to close their perimeter and flicking a glance up to the control room he saw Elizabeth on the radio to the rest of security to get down to the gate room to assist. The military team who had come through were fast and efficient, better than anything John had seen thus far in the Pegasus galaxy. Their aim was superb and their focus without doubt intense and they secured the gate room within the first few minutes of arriving through it, leaving several marines down and the remainder down on their knees with their hands behind their heads. John was one of them and looking up again at the control room, he saw that Elizabeth and the rest of the control room crew had been taken hostage as well and were in the process of being secured.

The off world soldiers, once they have secured the gate room and the control room, left in a coordinated movement, obviously instructed to move through the rest of the city, taking out any threats.

Another team came through the stargate, the second wave no doubt, whose mission would have been to mop up any insurgents who were still posing a threat to the completion of their own mission. The fanned out, weapons trained also on the marines and John who knelt on the floor, then moved their eyes to take in the personnel who were being brought into the gate room, already tied and bound and pushed down onto the ground alongside the others. Many of the earth military had been rounded up in that first wave and John mentally congratulated them – they were an efficient military team, zero chatter, economical movements and quick infiltration of a base that they would have had only limited knowledge of.

One man, obviously the leader, stood in the front to speak. "People of Atlantis. I am Andren, leader of the Kilteen movement. It has come to my attention that you are responsible for the early awakening of the wraith and the recent culling on my world. This should not have occurred for many years and we did not have the appropriate measures in place to thwart such a culling. Who is in charge of this facility?"

John saw out of the corner of his eye, that Elizabeth was about to stand up, but he removed his hands from his head, spreading them slightly to indicate that he was non threatening and spoke. "I am Colonel Sheppard. I am the military commander of this base. Why do you come here?"

"Colonel Sheppard... yes I believe your name has been spoken by many in this galaxy. Why do we come here? To seek retribution and to find a safe place for my people. We have spent the last few decades preparing for the next culling. We have trained our people in military skills and secured weapons as you can see. If we had been given the expected time between cullings to fully prepare, we would have been able to fight them with a superior force. As you are the ones responsible for this not coming to pass, we will take this facility to ensure the safety of my people. It is only fair."

Andren gestured to his soldiers. "Take them to the cargo bay and ensure that they are secure. Once we know the full extent of their numbers we will find a suitable world to send them to where they will be free to make a new life for themselves. They will experience the pain of a wraith culling, unprepared. This will be our new home. Colonel Sheppard, you will accompany me to the control room where you will give me suitable instruction as to how this city works. If you do not do this satisfactorily, I will inform my soldiers to begin killing the people in the cargo bay. One by one. Are we clear on that Colonel Sheppard?" Andren had come in behind John and pushed the weapon he held into his back.

"Crystal... but you are making a grave mistake Andren. This city is not of our design and it can only be operated with a special gene that is found in many of our personnel. If you do not have this gene, and I assume that you don't then you will be able to do nothing here."

Andren pushed his gun further into John's back to get him moving up the stairs and into the control room. "Then we had best find out now, exactly how much functionality I have – and how much you will be required to do for me.. before I shoot you."

John found himself in the control room along with Rodney, Elizabeth, Zelenka and two gate technicians. Andren stood behind them and gestured to the control screen. "Explain the controls – now!"

Rodney huffed a breath and launched into one of his extremely long and convoluted explanations that generally had people crossing their eyes and yawning widely and John was pleased to see that Andren was not immune either, to Rodney's rather inconsiderable charms. He gestured impatiently. "Simple explanations not the confusion you seek to spread. You will not misinform me Doctor McKay or you will be among the first to die."

At that moment the chevrons lit up and Rodney looked at John, eyebrows raised. "Expecting someone, Colonel?" At John's headshake, Andren gestured down to his waiting soldiers. "This will be the third wave coming through. Take those prisoners to the cargo area and secure them." He continued to watch as the last chevron activated and John flicked his glance down at the computer and felt a bolt of alarm shoot through him. The IDC coming through was Larrin's and he had no way to warn her she was stepping into a trap.

John sent up a quick prayer of thanks that the iris had not been reactivated and the hope that Larrin was at least coming in armed. She stepped through the stargate with her usual arrogant swagger and John yelled down at her immediately. "Larrin! Take cover – NOW!" Fast on her feet and quick of mind, Larrin's eyes had registered the control room personnel being held captive and as soon as she heard John's voice and the words that he yelled, she was ducking and running, immediately out of the gate room and taking refuge in one of the hallways, making her way to the weapons room at a run, knowing the hallways of Atlantis well after having spent some time prowling through them while waiting for her ship to be repaired.

The soldiers had not found the weapons room yet, and Larrin's eyes ran over the shelves filled with ordinance. She mentally calculated what she could carry. Grabbing a tactical vest she shrugged it on and grabbed C4, grenades, attached a P90 and took several knives which she hid in strategic places within her clothing and tactical vest. Hearing movement in the hallway outside, she pushed herself into a darkened corner of the room, waited until the movement had gone, then stealthily crept from the room to make her way up to the control room. She had the advantage of knowing that there was another entrance into the control room – through the conference room that sat off to the side. Her mission – to free John and the others, then regain tactical control of Atlantis.

She heard soldiers calling out instructions as she moved through the city, but managed to remain undetected until she got to the conference room and smoothly, moved inside and kept hard against the wall. There was a large window in the conference room that looked out into the gateroom below and she needed to stay back as it was likely that whoever was holding the Lantien's hostage, now had security in the gate room to ensure no more people came through the gate uninvited.

Larrin hesitated at the door to the control room. Peering around it, she saw John, Rodney and Elizabeth at the control panels, with two armed soldiers with guns trained on them. The Lantien's hands were bound behind them and John had blood coming from the side of his head. Likely his smart mouth had got him into trouble, Larrin surmised. She knew him well, knew that he displayed no respect for authority that used brute force over tactical advantage and when backed into a corner as he was now, he would resort to jested comments and ill thought out jokes that tended to anger those in charge. She shook her head. Not one of his more endearing qualities.

Larrin raised her weapon and took aim, carefully taking out one of the soldiers, then rapidly firing at the second one, watching as John's head swung around to look at her, anger warring with delight on his face. The third soldier, likely the leader judging by the agression in his stance as he had stood behind John, immediately raised his weapon in her direction and took careful aim. She ducked quickly, hearing John's cry of warning, and the shot went wide over her head and she moved in fast, bringing her weapon up again to fire. She managed to get a shot to his arm, and his cry of pain brought a grim smile to her face but this was quickly erased when she saw him back carefully out of the control room, Rodney now pulled in tight against him, weapon held out. "Take one more shot woman, and this one will not see another day. And he appears to be an important person in this city." Larrin kept her weapon up, but her glance flicked to John. He nodded and she fired, trying to catch him in the leg this time and was rewarded with Rodney yelling at her.

"Jesus Larrin – don't shoot! I'm not convinced your aim is all that good..." Andren backed out of the room, Rodney still held in front of him and Larrin let him go, running over towards Elizabeth and John to untie them. She managed Elizabeth first, who then turned around to take care of the gate technicians, and Larrin came up hard behind John, savouring the feel of his muscles as he brought her mouth to his ear, causing a shiver to run through him. "A simple thank you, will suffice Colonel Sheppard. Looks like you need me to save your sorry ass this time..." Her hand reached down and ran suggestively over his jeans clad ass, dressed appropriately for his return to earth rather than day to day base operations. "And a mighty fine ass it is... Colonel." She untied his hands, keeping herself pushed up against him as he flexed his hands to get the sensation back into them and stayed where she was as he turned around quickly, coming up hard against her. She reached up to touch the blood that had bled a trail down the side of his face, and using the sleeve of her shirt, she wiped it gently away. "You can be grateful that another of your extremities is... hard..."

Her words had been said softly, for his ears alone but Elizabeth had seen by their rather obvious body language that sparks had already begun to fly. She watched as John pushed Larrin aside with a whispered "I'll be sure to thank you ….later... but for now, we have an entire base to get operational again, and out from under mercenary rule." Louder now, he said. "Elizabeth. We need to get down to the weapons room and grab..."

He hesitated when Larrin opened her tactical vest to show the supply of C4 and grenades that she had stashed there and grinned in appreciation. "A woman after my own heart... we'll need more though. Come on Larrin... you and I will go down and get as many weapons as we can carry. Elizabeth, can you get a message through to earth – tell them we need help. Andren did something to the control panel – the gate may not be operational, but try. We'll be back for you. Larrin?"

She moved up beside him and he felt the heat of her body near and together they moved down the hallway, keeping hard against the walls, listening for the sound of footsteps. At one point they sensed movement at the end of the hallway down which they were headed and he pulled her suddenly into a supply closet and keeping her trapped against the wall in the darkness, they waited until the sound of footsteps, several by the sound of them, moved past. He became aware in the darkness, of her breath on his neck and his arousal as he pushed himelf into her. Her hand had come up to rest on his chest and splayed there, feeling the softness of the cotton shirt he wore. She had not seen him in earth clothes and found the difference in him noticable.

"Why'd you come back Larrin. You just stepped through that gate as though you belonged here. I was just on my way... back to earth. Another five minutes and you would have missed me."

Larrin dropped her head to his shoulder, breathing in the scent that was unmistakably John, unable to put into words why she had felt the need to come back, unannounced through the Atlantis stargate.

"I needed to see you." His hand was busy. His mind screamed at him leave this room now – there is a whole city waiting for you to free them.. their leader is running holy amok through your city and Rodney is being held hostage somewhere... you've got a job to do Sheppard. But he needed to hear why she had come back. Before he could go out there and do his job, he needed to know. His hand continued to stroke, to touch to heat and he heard her breathen quicken, then her cry as she came in a shuddering peak.

"Because of that Larrin.. is that why you had to see me? Is that all there is between us? Heat?" His questions shot out at her brutally and she knew why he did that. Knew what was in his heart that made him hit out at her now. It was in her heart also.

"You know it's more than that John..."

"Then tell me damn it! Stop making me feel as though I'm only a damn convenience for you. A truck stop in the night. Tell me that I'm more..."

"I'm trying John..."

"Not hard enough Larrin – now I need to go and rescue my people. They trust me to do my job and I'm damn well going to do it, without you distracting me, without you giving me small pieces of yourself then taking it back again. I can't do it anymore Larrin... not that way!"

He left her against the wall of the supply closet, almost in tears, knees still weak from the sudden orgasm he had brought her to – to teach her a lesson. And she felt shame. She dropped her head and slowly slid down the wall, as tears came unbidden. A foreign feeling, for Larrin did not shed tears often, and certainly not over a man. But this was not any man. This was John Sheppard, and he had gotten under her skin.

The door opened again and she looked in alarm, but it was just John – he had come back for her and as he stood looking down at her, puzzled at the tears on her face, she got to her feet quickly and pushed past him. "You've made you case clear Sheppard. Let's get your people free, then I'm leaving and you can go back to Earth with your tail between your legs, cause you'll not have much else there..."

She saw the anger that crossed his face and he reached down like lightning gripping her arm and dragging her upward until she was pulled hard against his body, leaving her in no doubt as exactly what rested somewhat uncomfortably between his legs. His breath caressed her cheek and she couldn't help the sigh that came out and just like that he was pushing her away again and out the door, not looking back to see whether she was following.

His silence unnerved her and she pulled on his arm to get his attention when they had stopped at the end of the next hallway. "Where would he have taken McKay? Without access to the control room, he would lose his advantage."

"He'll try and take out the ZPM's, lose some of the power to the city, force us out of the control room. At least,that's what I would do. We've got four ZPM's all in different parts of the city, so is going to be fun." He clicked his radio. "Elizabeth. Can you track movement in the power rooms? I think he might be going for the ZPM's."

He paused, waiting for her answer and felt Larrin's body close to his and had to close his eyes to block out her scent. "Check for movement around the city. Most of it should be in the cargo holds, although I imagine he'll have security detail in other areas as well. I'm heading down to the gear room now, I'll grab a hand held detector, but I need your eyes on things until I do." He clicked off his radio and motioned to Larrin that they carry on.

In the gear room he put on a tactical vest, grabbed a hand held motion detector and enough small arms weapons to take down several portions of the city. Larrin leaned negligently against the door watching him, her eyes also flicked to the hallway beyond for signs of any unwanted personnel. As he geared up her sharp eyes took in his earth clothing.

"Why were you going back to earth, John?" The question came out of the blue and he paused in the process of clipping on his P90.

"Distance, Larrin... needed to put a galaxy between us and the crap you leave behind when you go each time. That the answer you wanted to hear?"

He slotted a beretta into his leg holster, patted down the pockets of his vest and turned to leave, having to walk past her at the doorway. Her keen eyes looked deeply into his and he moved closer to her than was necessary as he went to go through the doorway. And watched her eyes darken.

"We do this to each other Larrin. You're content to walk away at the end of it all with a jaunty wave and a 'see you later'. At first, I was too. Not so much anymore..." Her dark chocolate eyes had him dipping his head to flick a tongue over her lips and he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. "Let's just get out of this mess, and maybe we can... talk..."

He held the motion detector in front of him and headed toward one of the power rooms. "Got you... Larrin? I've got two signals in one of the power rooms, not too far from here. I'm thinking Rodney and Andren. Let's take them – but keep the firepower limited – we can't afford to destroy that ZPM."

She acknowledged him with a look, then moved in behind him. His radio clicked again and Elizabeth's voice came over it urgently. "He's taken out one of the ZPM's John – we've lost power to the east quadrant of the city."

"Roger that Elizabeth. We're nearly at the first power room – we'll track him from there as he leaves."

Just then weapon fire shot past him and Larrin pulled him back, the deadly beam narrowly missing him. He kept his body hard against hers and raising his own weapon fired in the direction that the blast had come. There was answering fire, more this time and John knew that they were outnumbered. Into Larrin's ear he said quietly. "We'll go back down this hallway, take the left and we'll go around them that way. They have no way to track us as we can them – that gives us the advantage."

He looked down at his detector. "Six of them – dead ahead. Come on, let's go!" They retraced their steps and took the left turn and keeping his detector in front of him, saw that the six dots had paused at the fork, and half had taken the right, the other half the left. "Ok... not so stupid. Larrin – Andren and McKay are heading to the next power room. We've got to take them there before another ZPM goes out."

He increased his speed, managing to avoid two more security groups using the detector and had almost reached the next power room when they heard an urgent whisper behind them. "Sheppard!" Turning, John saw Ronon and Teyla running towards them.

"Jesus Ronon! I thought you must have been rounded up with the others and in the cargo bay."

Teyla answered him. "We were sparring and did not realise what had happened. When we had finished we headed for the mess and found no one and our next stop was the control room. Elizabeth told us where you were and what had happened. What would you like us to do Colonel?"

"Larrin and I are trying to head off Andren and McKay from the next power room. Can you get to the cargo bay? Try and take out as many of the guards as possible... discreetly of course..." This last was aimed at Ronon who tended to go in with big guns blazing and sometimes little consequence for his actions. He motioned to his detector. "Up head – all clear at the moment. Take the lower quadrant and head into the cargo bay that way. There is less foot traffic that I can see." He waited for their acknowledgement, then moved off with Larrin, needing to get to the second ZPM.

The room was empty when they got their and the ZPM was still operational. "It seems we were in time Sheppard? Set a trap?"

"Roger that Larrin. You on one side, me on the other. I want that ZPM untouched and I want McKay. The other guy – do what you need to with him."

Larrin settled herself in a darkened recess on one side of the door and John on the other and he watched as two dots moved toward them. He nodded at Larrin across the room and as the two people entered the room, John stepped out with his weapon trained on the two men. Rodney was still held tightly by Andren and as soon as the other man saw him, he pushed his weapon once more into Rodney's side. "Back off Colonel Sheppard. I will kill him."

"Actually Andren, I don't think you will. Rodney is too valuable to you. His knowledge of this city is greater than any of ours, so it is unlikely you will jeopardise your only means of getting anything to work." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Larrin move and she was fast. She dropped in behind Andren and had her own weapon pushed against his neck. John watched his eyes widen and Rodney, not normally known for his brave actions, used an elbow to jam back suddenly into the fleshy stomach of the man who held him and in that instant that he was free, Rodney pushed himself sideways, giving John full access. John fired, catching the man in the leg with his P90 and he went down with a scream of pain.

"Damn it Sheppard! What took you so long? That guy is crazy, but he knows more about the city than he should. It seems he has spent a long time studying it using intel he has received from others who have been here."

"So I guess a 'thank you' is out of the question... hmmm? You're pretty ungrateful Rodney, considering... "

"Yeah, well... you're not the one that's been dragged around like a sack of potatoes for the past half hour. The guy has serious body odour issues..."

John couldn't resist a grin, then moved over to secure Andren, handcuffing him then moving him into one of the recessed areas that they had recently hidden in, pushing a rag into his mouth so that he couldn't cry out. "That's more than you deserve Andren. I'd take you with us, but you're bleeding, and blood all over the hallways of Atlantis? Let's just say the cleaners here start asking for overtime when there's blood involved..." He flicked a jaunty salute at the bound and gagged leader and left the room.

"Ronon and Teyla are on their way to the cargo bay to start causing a bit of damage there. Looking at movement on this thing, we're still got several security groups wandering the city, in groups of four to six. We need to take these groups out, that'll even the playing field so to speak. Rodney – get yourself a weapon or two – you're with us!"

"Wouldn't I be better in the control room, with Elizabeth?"

"Grow a pair Rodney! Elizabeth has initiated a lock down in the control room. No one is getting out or in without her resetting the protocol. She is safe in there, and these guys cannot get access to the gate. We have the advantage, they just don't know it yet. They may have come here with plans and a fancy mission statement, but this is our city and it's sheer arrogance on their part if they think they're just going to waltz in here with a few guns and take what's ours."

John handed Rodney one of his weapons. "Take this Rodney – we've got another six coming up on us, so stay alert!"

They ducked into another hallway intending to backtrack and come around them. John heard Larrin cry out behind him, and turning he saw that she had been slow to retreat and one of the security group had banded an arm around her and was dragging her backwards with him. He fired down the hallway and John and Rodney had to duck quickly out of the way to avoid weapons fire. "Damn it!" spat John. "We need to go after her!"

Turning, he pulled up his weapon and held the detector at the top of the scope so that he could see the moving dots at all times. Tracking them back down the hallway, he saw them split into two groups of three, divide and conquer and stood at the crossroads looking left and right. "We'll follow the group that has Larrin. Leave the other for now. Ronon? Teyla?" He clicked his radio. "What's happening in the cargo bay?"

It was Teyla who answered. "We have taken out several of the security forces and they are now being held in the cell block, those who were still alive. There are still many left and they are now aware that there is resistance so they are more vigilant. We are at present relaying weapons to some of the people being held in the cargo bay. We have found a way to get in and out with no detection and we will stage an offensive as soon as we have enough weapons in the room."

"Excellent thinking Teyla! I'll be with you shortly. Larrin has been taken by one of the security groups. Once I get her free, we'll come lend you a hand."

"Copy that Colonel Sheppard."

"Rodney – they've stopped, up ahead. Still showing the four dots. You take the two that don't have Larrin – the other one is mine."

They rounded the corner and Rodney brought up his weapon and fired on the two security. The third one who held Larrin, quickly dropped back around the corner and was gone. John stopped briefly to make sure the two were down, then moved off after them. They were heading in the direction of the cargo bay. Rodney moved off after him and John urged the pace on a little faster as his detector showed the two dots starting to pull ahead. Rounding the next corner John saw that the hallway was empty, then he heard Larrin cry out in pain and he felt anger blossom inside him, hot and lethal.

"Let's do this Rodney. That bastard is mine!" John broke into a run, with Rodney huffing along behind him. One look at the angry line of John's jaw, and Rodney was swallowing all complaints that were threatening to erupt. The Colonel was pissed. Someone had his woman and there would be no stopping him until she was safe.

He rounded another corner and they at last had the fleeing guard in their sights. An extra spurt of speed and the guard heard them, swinging around with Larrin now held in the front and John could see an already darkening bruise on her face and he registered two things in that instant. One, Larrin had tried to get away, and two, the guard would not get out of this unscathed. John's aim was good and he did not hesitate, simply locked eyes with Larrin briefly and at her nod she pushed sideways slightly allowing him a clear shot of the man's chest. He took it, and the man was down, a grunt of pain the only sound other than the impact of the body hitting the floor. Larrin tumbled sideways and John was there immediately, checking to see whether the man was dead, then crouching beside Larrin, not touching her, but waiting until she turned and acknowledged him.

His eyes swept over her face and he saw the spark of anger in them, that was quickly squashed down. He held out a hand now to assist to up and he watched her hesitate before she took his hand and he felt the shock that ran through his arm at her touch. Pulling, she came up in one smooth movement and he continued the momentum so that she was hard against her body, telling himself he did not want this, but his body betraying him by saying that he did.

She gave herself a moment to rest against him and even dropped her head against his shoulder, needing to feel his touch just a little. That angered her and she made herself pull away and he saw the gleam in her eyes as she did so and knew that her response mirrored his. They were destructive, yet tied by a bond that could not break. They needed each other, needed the touch of the other to sooth, to excite, to anger even... it was more than just a connection. He gripped her upper arms to stop her pulling away and buried his face into her neck, murmuring senseless words that had her body relaxing again, reacting to his touch.

Rodney cleared his throat. "Excuse me... if you two have completely finished your reunion, which by the way is not technically a reunion as you've only been apart for what...oh... ten minutes..., perhaps we could get on with saving the rest of the people on this base." Rodney's sarcasm had Larrin glaring at him over John's shoulder and he backed up a step. Not so brave when she was staring him down. He had seen the damage she had done to Sheppard during their first encounter. She was a formidable fighter, and John had chosen not to fight back and had taken all that she had given him without retaliation. Then had put all that heat into … something else.

John took Larrin's hand and when she tried to pull it away, he simply clamped down harder and she gave up. Fight the battles you know you can win, she told herself. Let him have the other ones. You need his touch as much as he needs yours at the moment. Don't deny yourself the small pleasures...

Ronon and Teyla had begun the offensive when they got to the cargo bay and John heard the sound of weapons fire as they rounded the last hallway, and tossing a look over his shoulder at Rodney,they put on an extra spurt of speed.

The took refuge beside the doorway to the cargo bay, ducking around the side to see what was happening. John could hear Ronon yelling, and as two security people burst into the hallway behind them, alerted themselves by the sound of weapons fire, John quickly brought his own weapon up and fired four quick bursts, dropping them in their tracks. His motion detector showed that more guards were en route to the cargo bay and he motioned to Larrin and Rodney that they would take up a defensive position, allowing Ronon and Teyla to carry on their offensive inside. They would take back their city.

Ronon burst out of the cargo bay with six of their own marines behind him, a triumphant look on his face. "We've done some damage in there, Sheppard. They've lost most of their control and Teyla has organised the others – soon we will have full control of the cargo bay."

John looked down at his detector. "We still have several groups throughout the city and I know that some of our own security forces are likely injured out there. Elizabeth has just informed me that a group of our marines has managed to regroup. They were on one of the lower levels during the initial attack and managed to escape detection. They've also located other personnel on the lower levels and are getting them to a safe area then they will join us on these levels. We need to make sure the infirmary is unguarded by their soldiers so that we can start bringing in our injured."

"Onto it, Sheppard!" Ronon shot a look at the marines behind him and they moved off in the direction of the infirmary.

"Rodney – you can get back to the control room now. Tell Elizabeth that lockdown can be deprogrammed for now. Check to see if any of the city has been damaged and I want eyes on all city movements. Copy that?"

Rodney nodded and turned, John and Larrin falling in behind him. "We'll give you an escort Rodney. Can't have you falling into enemy hands again."

"Very funny Colonel, but the back up is appreciated." Rodney's reply was his usual dry humour.

It took several hours to ensure the complete safety of the city. Carson and the rest of his medical team had been held in the cargo bay with the others and a soon as she was able, Teyla got them out and escorted back to the infirmary. The cell area began to fill up with the offworld soldiers as they were captured and the infirmary began to fill up with the wounded. Rodney checked to make sure all systems were back on line, including ZPM's and ran a diagnostic on the gate, isolating the blocker that they had managed to use, thereby disabling the Lantien's use of the iris when the Kilteen movement dialled in. Rodney proceeded to block all communication and dialling from their world and although this would not stop them getting to Atlantis is they really wanted to, it would certainly make it more difficult and John hoped that their superior strength shown today would thwart further actions on their part.

The mess chefs got to work. There was a lot of hungry people and as John stood shoulder to shoulder with both Elizabeth and Larrin, one of the last groups to get food, he asked the question.

"Why have we never heard of this Kilteen movement before? Any military activity in this galaxy is sure to cause a blip on our radar. But nothing?"

Elizabeth selected some fruit to put on her tray. "They chose deliberately to stay below our radar John. It could have been a successful military coup and we weren't prepared for it. It could very well have ended badly. We need to step up our security procedures, especially gate travel. We can't risk something like that happening again. It's a shame we couldn't convince them to work with us. They'd be formidable allies."

John shot Larrin a look. He wanted to be alone with her, so taking some food and filling up a tray, and grabbing two cups of coffee which he handed to Larrin, he dropped his mouth against her ear, causing her to almost drop the hot coffee.

"My room – now!" He saw an argument about to burst forth, then she saw the hot look in his eyes and felt liquid need pool between her legs. After the adrenalin charged day, she needed the same release as he did, perhaps for different reasons. They drank the coffee en route and discarded the paper cups before they reached the transporter. As soon as the doors to the transporter had closed, his one free hand immediately splayed over one breast, kneading then dropping under the bodice to gently squeeze the pebbled tip, already hard and aching for him. She had two free hands and one had already undone the zipper of his jeans and she dropped down to one knee, taking his hard pulsing erection into her mouth, suckling wetly as he fought to keep his grip on the tray of food and fisted the other hand into her hair.

"God Larrin... not here... wait... my room!" She gave him one last lick, flicking her tongue across his tip and he groaned. There was no way he was going to get that back into his jeans, not without doing some serious damage.

The transporter had long since stopped and pulling his tshirt out and over his open trousers he placed the tray over to maintain as much level of decency as he was able, given his state of extreme arousal. Keeping her tightly in front of him for further insurance, it didn't help that she was laughing or stopping suddenly so that his erection rubbed against her, already painful, now almost at bursting point.

"Just. You. Wait." He managed to grind out and fortunately the hallway was empty and he opened the door to his room to push her inside, tossing the tray onto the table and stalked towards her, his intent clear in his eyes. She giggled, sounding very unLarrin like and turned to run but he was fast and her pants were down her legs before she could take the time to get a deep breath. There was no further foreplay. Hell, just being in the same room as one another was foreplay enough. He simply pushed her against the wall and slammed into her, grabbing one of her thighs to pull it up and around his waist. He kept his eyes open, watching the expressions on her face, cheeky, erotic, sultry, then pure passion as she came loudly, calling his name and wrapping her arms around his neck. He was following and as she went to slide down the wall, he legs suddenly boneless, he picked her up, still inside her and carried her to the bed.

"Just the warm up sweetheart... round twos coming right up..."

He moved his hand down there between them and felt her swollen folds around his engorged shaft and traced the line of her secret places until he found the little centre that stood quivering in the aftermath of her orgasm. And lazily, in no hurry now, he stroked, then took his hand away when he felt her close again to hear her whisper in his ear. "Bastard. Finish the job!"

"Not yet sweetheart. I want a promise out of you first." Lazily his hand returned to stimulate, then stilled – grinning as he felt her restless movements.

"Nah ah Larrin – a promise first."

"Damn it John. Do it now. I'll promise whatever you want me to promise."

His face serious now he looked down at her. "Come to earth with me – today. We'll get way from all the crap we have had to deal with. Just you and me and I'll show you my world. Promise me, Larrin, and I'll make it right for you – I'll make it good!"

"Damn you to hell John! Yes – I'll come..."

"Yes you will my love..." and with one powerful thrust she lit up like a firecracker on the fourth of July and screamed his name in surrender.

"A good soldier always completes his mission, Larrin..." and he smiled, feeling her pulse and throb around him as his own release came quickly. His woman...