Crossing the Line
Chapter Four
"Col. Sheppard and his team were exploring M3X-479; we recently found evidence of several cities around the globe and a small village near the gate, and Dr. Mckay thought the energy readings showed residual evidence of a ZPM. As you know, they made contact with one of the villages yesterday and radioed us, saying the villagers had advanced technology and they would be staying the night. However, they missed their check-in time this morning, and about thirty minutes ago we received this transmission."
Weir walked over to a disc player and hit play. In the background there were sounds of gunfire and blasters, some yelling, what could have been Sheppard shouting orders. Rodney's hurried voice, though bogged by static, filtered through above this into the room.
"Trapped- Teyla unconscious- get- base is- Shepp-"
It cut off into static; Dr. Weir stopped the disc and turned to face them all.
"I'm not going to order you to go on this mission; I'm sure you can all appreciate the danger and the odds of survival in enemy territory of which you have no knowledge." Dr. Weir leaned against her desk and clenched her hands together; Anna was sure the other woman didn't realize what she was doing. "All I can say is that you know what Col. Sheppard and his team have done for Atlantis; this is a voluntary mission, and I won't think the worse of you for staying - but it would be best if you made up your minds quickly."
Sandwiched between Laura and Jason, who had perched on the arms of her chair, Anna couldn't see her CO, but she thought she knew what he was thinking - and she was right.
"You should probably have Carson standing by with a medical team for when we get back - just in case."
Elizabeth heaved a sigh of relief and nodded.
"Godspeed, all of you."
"Riley, point with me. Danny, middle, Cadman, 'tenant, rear." Marcus strode forward, his hands firmly clutching his P90. "Arms at ready - closest village isn't for four miles, but Sheppard met some natives half a mile from the gate."
He knew he didn't have to tell them to stay alert - not his team. Here, now, was where all that drilling would come into play - and he would find out if the training had been worth the hours they'd spent on it.
With any luck, they would free the other team and make it back to Atlantis with only minor injuries.
Without any luck, Sheppard and his team were already dead and he and his team would be killed any moment in a well-planned ambush.
With bad luck, they would be captured by said ambush and the natives would possess a truth serum and advanced torture machines. Everyone with him was trained to withstand violent interrogation and basic 'truth cocktails', but, having been a captive on several different planets, he had no illusions as to what a race of people with better technology than earth could and could not do; he had been tortured before, and he had kept his mouth shut, but the others in his team were, for the most part, untested. Danny and Riley had been with him one time when he was captured, but that time they had only been roughed up a bit and let go; Cadman, he was sure, had been on an unfortunate mission or two herself, but nothing particularly bad that he knew of. And Schweinsteigger - honestly, he had no idea. Several of her files from the SGC were classified beyond his level, but he had no real idea how she would do under pressure.
Today was her chance to prove herself; today was the chance he would have to see whether he should have chosen Petit.
He could only hope she would do well - for both their sakes.
But now was not the time for that. There would be time for him to think of her -- and of how he should answer her question -- later. Now he had to focus.
There was an open field of some wheat-like grass in it, with what looked like a forest beyond it. Marcus sniffed. He didn't like it; it was too quiet, and there could be any number of people lying in wait in the tall grass or behind the trees. Had this not been a rescue operation, he might have reconsidered going in at all, but it was a rescue operation, so he contented himself with signaling a 'caution' to his team and plunging into the field.
It was actually a beautiful planet; temperatures in the '60s, the sky in soft grey and pink, light breeze whistling around him. Honestly, if it started drizzling he would think he was back home in Washington.
Something rustled in the grass. Marcus fisted his hand and held it up, and the footfalls behind him stopped.
It came closer, closer. Marcus stepped back as a small metal ball rolled against his feet. What the hell?
It rolled back and a beam of light shot from it and started scanning him. He wasn't going to wait to see what happened next.
"Break for the trees!"
They probably looked stupid running away from a metal ball, but it was a good thing they did - that way none of them were close enough to get hit by the bullets it spat out, or that puff of steam that was probably a sleeping gas of some sort or other that it released right after the hail of bullets.
Of course, even the trees couldn't protect them from the loud, shrill whistle it emitted when it failed to kill or otherwise disable them. In and of itself it would have been harmless, but the race that had built it as an alarm system was far from harmless.
Marcus made it to the edge of the forest and pointed up; his team got the idea and started climbing the trees. If what he thought was going to happen was going to happen, staying on the ground was not an option. Someone was climbing up behind him; Marcus perched on the highest branch he could find that would hold his weight and reached down to help haul whoever it was up.
Ah, Schweinsteigger. Well, didn't this mission just keep getting stranger and stranger.
Within minutes the forest and field were teeming with what Marcus could only assume were security guards: comfortable-looking camo uniform, identical weapons - one larger two-hander on a shoulder strap and a handgun strapped to their thighs. They fanned the forest ground in careful, practiced patterns; all right, he could see why Sheppard had thought they would make good allies - but why had they attacked the other team? And why were they so paranoid? Wraith attacked from the air, not from the ground. There was something strange going on here.
Well, the good thing was that the sky was darkening fast, and soon it would be dark and they would be harder to see.
The bad thing was that the sky was darkening fast, and soon everything else would be harder to see.
The natives had some sort of flashlight, and they were using it to check in the grass and in some of the trees. Fortunately they had missed his team so far; he just hoped it would stay that way.
The branch under Schweinsteigger gave a little, and without thinking about it he put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He would have done the same if it were Danny, Riley, or Cadman, but. . . it was different with her. Her breath landed on his cheek; some of her hair clumped on the back of his neck. It was sticky with sweat. He shivered; with any luck, she hadn't noticed.
It's not that she didn't appreciate it,she reallydid. Some women would have thought it was chauvinist, but she thought it was kind of nice. If it had been him almost falling off a tree, she would have done the same thing -- and it would probably have been just as awkward. She didn't really think there was anything sexist about it at all. Actually, it was more than kind of nice. And apparently, he had forgotten he still had his arm around her waist.
Not that she was complaining. Nope, not she. Actually, it was more than kind of nice. Way more than kind of nice.
Oh dear, she sounded like a bimbo, didn't she? Any moment now she'd begin waxing poetic about his oh-so-strong arms and the way he-
Did he just shiver?
Hmm.
That was interesting.
If only this weren't happening while they were hiding in a tree to avoid capture and summary torture and/or execution, she might even have the time to read something into it.
As it was, however, she had to focus.
On the situation at hand.
The situation at hand that did not involve wondering why he still had his arm around her waist, to be specific.
Not that she was complai-
Right. Focus.
Well, on the bright side most of the local Gestapo - well, that's what they looked like, really - were leaving.
On the not-so-bright side, the ones that were left were starting to seriously examine the trees.
It was dark, and they were wearing their black BDUs, but if those people had decent eyesight - and it looked like they did - they probably wouldn't miss the intruders perched in the trees.
Where was a good old wraith attack when you needed it?
All right, they weren't looking through all the trees, just some of them. Now, if they could just miss the four trees that actually had anyone in them. . . and if they were as lucky as that, well then heck, maybe the tooth fairy would descend from the heavens armed with an AK-47, kill all the natives, and free Col. Sheppard and his team.
Actually, what they would probably end up doing was to wait until as many of them left as would, then jump or play sniper with the ones that stayed behind. Hopefully, they would be caught by surprise.
Hmm, she couldn't tell from this height very well, but they all looked a bit taller than she was; in fact, the shortest seemed to be about Lorne's size. Great, so the runts had six or seven inches on her. Well, didn't this just keep getting better and better. Too bad she didn't have a sniper rifle handy - that would even the odds a bit.
There were only eight left now, and spread out. Not good odds, but probably the- whoopsie, not good. Flashlight beneath their tree.
Anna shrank back unconsciously and felt Lorne's arm tighten around her. Strange, she had completely forgotten about that. As smoothly and quietly as possible she started she started to unclip her P90 from the strap and ready it. Lorne's arm disappeared from around her waist and she knew without looking that he was doing the same.
There was a rustling at the bottom of the tree. Great, they were moving the branches to have a better looksie. Right now it was only a matter of seconds until-
"Cheska! Ni hat'mo lagnar, un chantsk." The voice came from the fields.
Anna put her hand on Major Lorne's to stop his movements, then raised her finger to his lips. Time for translations later. On the ground, one of the soldiers let go of his branch.
"Lagnar? Ip hetim?" The soldier sounded skeptical; Anna held her breath.
"Cha!" Yes. Thank goodness. Now, if they would just -- aha, perfect. The second soldier - a woman, it seemed like - walked away from the tree and activated a radio. Then, to Anna's surprise, she started speaking in slightly-accented English.
"Base, this is Specialist Arden. It appears the alarm was activated by a large rabbit. Yes, we're certain." A pause. "Commander Tlalek? The- oh, the prisoners. Yes, sir, I will oversee the transfer myself. "Yes sir, the holding cells on the east of the base. Right away, sir."
Anna held her breath as the soldiers slowly made their way out of the forest. Major Lorne turned a quizzical look at her, but she held up her hand. It wouldn't kill him to wait, and she didn't want to have to repeat herself twice.
It was a good ten minutes after the last soldier was gone before Marcus dared to use his radio.
"I think we're safe now - regroup."
He dropped down first, then without thinking about it reached up to give her a hand.
Okay, where the hell had that come from? She was an officer in the air force, not a helpless damsel in distress. She didn't really seem to mind, though, and no one else had noticed. Maybe their luck was changing.
All right, Cadman, Riley, Danny - yep, all here. Lovely. He turned to Schweinsteigger.
"It's obvious you understand their language - anything else you can tell us?"
She smiled a little as she redid her ponytail.
"Right - actually, I think I can tell you quite a bit about them. One of their languages - the dialect the two were speaking - I actually studied with Dr. Jackson at the SGC. The fact that they spoke English is the good, well actually the bad, part, though, because if I'm right - and I might not be - then we're nearby a military base manned with an elite group of soldiers from whatever cities or villages there are on this world."
"And you would know this how?"
She shot him a look before answering, and he was momentarily reminded of Gen. O'Neill and Dr. Jackson. Except she actually liked shooting at things, whereas Dr. Jackson had- right, paying attention.
"Well, the only place Dr. Jackson or I have ever seen that language was that one world; the only reason we were able to translate was because there were other languages used on that planet - which happened to include English, German and Aramaic, which both he and I are fluent in. But the society on this planet consisted of four or five different nations, each with their own armies, navies, and air forces, who took the best of the best and formed one super army dedicated solely to fighting the goa'uld, with a small base located near the stargate. If this base is similar to the other, there are holding cells on the west and east sides of the base; in between them are dorms and offices, I think. But that was in another galaxy; they might have a completely different thing going on here."
Danny perked up, and Marcus turned to him.
"Actually, Dr. Itzlou and I have been working on a study on cross-pollinization of cultures between the two galaxies, and there are some societies that seem to be very similar, to at least have the same basic original structure. Of course, this might not be one of them - it may just look similar, as she said."
Marcus nodded; it was a risk they were just going to have to take.
"All right, you take point with me then, Cadman, Riley, Rear, Danny, middle." He unclipped his P90 and held it firmly in his hands. "Arms at the ready."
They started off at a quick pace; they would slow once they got nearer the base. Marcus peeked at the lieutenant; she had a frown on her face.
"Anything else that might be of help, 'tenant?"
She glanced at him and sighed.
"Back with the SGC, they had a similar state of technology - though I hadn't seen any of those round things. Their guns are special - they hold more rounds and sound like they used a silencer."
"Anything else?"
She stiffened, and he had to stop himself from patting her on the shoulder.
"If - and, like I said, that's a big if - if this is a similar society, then there original buildings were built by the ancients, and I can tell you the layout of the prison."
Marcus pursed his lips but let it slide -- for now. This was not the time for personal questions, and, much as he liked to pretend this conversation was private, he knew that Cadman, Riley and Danny could hear every word.
But it was obvious that she had been in a situation similar to Sheppard's -- and it was even more obvious she still had issues with it. Much as he wanted to know if something was wrong with her, he knew it wasn't any of his business, but that wouldn't stop him asking her about it if he got the chance.
He knew he was lying when he told himself it was for the safety of his team - but that didn't stop him lying to himself, either.
This place was giving her the shivers. It was almost exactly like P4X-511 had. They had kept to the outskirts of the base so far, but, barring a little difference in paint and shrubbery, the layout seemed exactly the same as it had been on that planet.
Not that there was anything wrong with that -- in fact it was a really really good thing, for the mission; it just gave her a really weird vibe of déjà vu. Brought up all bunches of lovely memories -- getting shot, watching people bleed to death, finding out what real torture was all about. Yep, felt just like home.
Hmm, two guards at the back door of this one, it looked like. She handed the binoculars to Major Lorne and pointed out the building, then waited as he looked it over.
Eeh, ants. This was why she did not like crawling on the ground. No, strike that. There were actually many reasons she did not like crawling on the ground. Ants and other creepy-crawly creatures were just one of several dozen.
Well, this was going to be difficult. It was almost pitch black now, the soldiers were probably on high alert due to the prisoners and the alarm they had set off, and there were two - no, make that three - guards on the back door of the prison.
Well, on the bright side, at least they knew it was the prison on the east side of town. Otherwise things would be even less happy than they were.
Major Lorne was tense beside her; she could barely see his hands rubbing together. No doubt he was trying to figure out a way in. If only she had her sniper rifle with her. But, of course, she hadn't thought she would need one. Well, if she ever went on a rescue mission again, she would be sure to bring one. Just prop her up in a nice tree, give her some infrared specs, and-
Hold that thought. If this place was just like that place would be, then there would be- oh yes, there were.
"Sir," she whispered as she tugged on Lorne's sleeve. "Sir - we can use the trees." She had his full attention now. "See, they're so close together I think if someone climbed one he could cross to the next and the next - then take a stunner when he were close enough."
Lorne looked at her.
"He?"
"Just a pronoun, sir - actually, it would probably be better if there were two people; if one got taken out, then-" She shushed; his frown had returned, and she knew he was thinking about it.
All right, so acting like a human squirrel wasn't something they taught at military school, but he should have thought of it; he really should have thought of it. It was, after all, the only way he could see that would give them the advantage; as of right now, the guards had higher ground, superior weapons, and reinforcements up the wazoo, and all he had was the element of surprise.
There would, of course, have to be at least two people in the trees for this plan to work: one person wouldn't be able to take all three guards out quickly enough for them not to be able to call for help, and would probably end up dead for his - or her - troubles. No, two people would do the trick.
Schweinsteigger, having had more training in sniping than the others, was the obvious choice. He knew this. Everyone else knew this. Not only that, but she was the smallest of them all, and thus would have a better chance of making it from tree to tree without making a noticeable amount of noise.
Cadman was the next smallest, but she was more clumsy than the rest of them, but her forte were explosives and big weapons, so, while decent, she was not quite as good a shot with a 9mm as he and Jason were.
Danny was good at climbing trees, but he was a civilian, and a pretty crummy shot. That didn't matter quite as much with a P90, but when it came to small guns with small targets. . . definitely not.
Jason was a pretty good shot, but he was 6'1" and kind of bulky. He made a good football player, but not a very stealthy tree climber.
Which left him. Target practice had always been something Marcus enjoyed, and he was pretty good at it - he'd even won several tournaments back home during leave. At 5'10" he wasn't too tall, and he knew how to sneak around when he had, to, but he knew Cadman would probably be more quiet than he was. But she was a worse shot. But then again, she wasn't attached to Lieutenant Schweinsteigger, whose odds of getting shot, once she started shooting the guards, would be significantly higher than those of whoever stayed behind. He, on the other hand, was.
Very much so, actually.
Why couldn't she just have been a dumpy forty-year-old man?
But there wasn't time for that now. He had to make a decision, and he knew he would have to live with that decision if something went wrong.
Being a major was far less fun than it was cracked up to be.
Not that she was nervous or anything, she just didn't like climbing trees in the nighttime. You never knew what insects could be there that you couldn't see - ants, caterpillars, beetles; all sorts of nasty things, really.
But she wasn't nervous. Not nervous at all.
Sometime within the next several minutes she would probably be dead or on her way there; strangely enough, however, that wasn't what she was not nervous about. Anna had been in several situations where it was likely she would die, and she knew she was ready for it if it were to come to that. As long as she made decisions that put her in harm's way she was liable to be harmed, and as long as she made the decision consciously and of her own volition she knew she wouldn't regret having made it, even if it left her dead or paralyzed.
But, all right, she really was nervous. Bugs were just not her thing. And the worst thing was she couldn't even slap them off her hand, as that would make too much noise and compromise the mission. If she got through this thing alive, she was seriously going to camp out in a forest until she got over her phobia; it was just an incredibly annoying thing to have, with a job like hers.
It had started to drizzle a bit, and the trees were becoming increasingly slippery. Major Lorne, inching forward on the branch ahead of her, lost his grip and slipped a bit, but Anna put her hand on his back to steady him. He gave her a quick thumbs up without looking back, and she grinned.
She hadn't really been surprised that he knew he was the next-best choice for this particular task, although that he had chosen to come with her had been just a tad unexpected. Not that she doubted his courage; she knew he had that in spades. It was just that-
Ah, he was standing - the branch he was reaching for must be from the next tree. Great. Now came the fun part. She watched as he swung himself up and off her branch, then 'climbed' the other branch and perched safely in the tree and waited for her. It must be the tree, then. Well, at least she wouldn't have to act like a chipmunk any more.
The difference between her and the major was that, whereas he had simply stood up -- granted, it was difficult to stand on a thin wet tree branch -- and grabbed the branch above him, she had to stand up, balance, jump to grab the other branch, and hope with everything she had that her hands didn't slip and the force of the jump wasn't enough to shake or break either branch.
With any luck, there wouldn't be any insects on it where she grabbed it, either.
All right, standing. . . Good, jumping. . . Good. . . Grabbing. . . Wonderful.
So far, so good. She swung herself a bit and bent her leg, hooking it over the branch. Alrighty, then. Thank goodness for all those extra crunches the major had made her do, although she would never actually tell him that out loud: it might give him ideas. Well, from here on out it was just like climbing a tree back on the ranch.
Except, of course, back at home she wouldn't be climbing a tree in what was now a bad rainfall, and if she fell or made a noise back home there wouldn't be people instantly shooting her with superguns.
But that was best left unthought.
Okay then. End of the branch. Now to just figure out how to- oh. Well, that was nice of him. Maybe some girls might not really appreciate being grabbed by their pants and dragged into a tree, but under the circumstances she really appreciated it.
Well, this was it then. Stretching herself out towards the front of the tree, she reached into her pack and grabbed the stunner inside. Better, Rodney had called them when he'd first shown them to her and Katie. The beams were less flashy, and they knocked people out longer. Better. She only hoped he was right.
There was something just right about doing this with Major Lorne at her side; regardless of the romantic implications, they did work well together. They thought similarly, although he was more analytical and she was more detail-oriented. She should start training with him more often.
Anna checked her night-vision goggles; no way was she going to risk them falling off. All right then. . . Oh, what was this? One of the guards had left, leaving just the two. Lucky. She aimed for the one on her side, knowing Lorne would do the same. Holding her stunner level, she waited for his command.
"On my mark,", he whispered so quietly she could barely hear him. "Three, two, one, mark."
It was rather anticlimactic, actually. Both guards were down before they knew what hit them. The stunners were even better than Rodney had said they would be; she only saw the light of the blast because she was looking for it, and it only made a small, short whine that she almost missed.
Jason, Cadman, and Danny had the guards tied and gagged securely before she and Major Lorne climbed down, and Anna reached for one of the guard's radios as she helped drag them into the bushes. She didn't expect that all orders would be broadcast to all of the teams on patrol, but it might still prove to be useful.
Fortunately, there weren't any guards stationed at the side or, so far as they could tell without walking up, at the front of the building. Unfortunately, the guards at the back door hadn't been carrying a set of keys, and it took Danny almost five minutes to pick the lock. She had never noticed he carried a lock picking kit in his pack; good idea, that. She would have to ask the scientists if they could rustle one up for her.
The prison wasn't very wide on the inside, though it was long. One side was just a row of barred prison cells, and the other side was walled off with several doors and windows on it; if it was like the other planet, that was where the guards were. She supposed no one had ever escaped from here before, as there were no noises coming from the guard room. The lighting was muted inside, probably to let the prisoners sleep - and the soldiers probably took advantage of that. Too bad for them.
Hmmm, the cells on this end were empty so far. Major Lorne reached the first window to the guard room and dropped to his knees, crawling beneath it. She followed suit, and she could hear Cadman and the others doing so as well. She turned to look inside the cells as she passed them.
Empty, empty, random man, empty, random woman, empty, empty, empty-
Voices. Up ahead. She froze before Lorne even signaled and quietly flipped her stunner on. The voices - voice, actually - seemed mildly threatening, and she strained to hear it.
"Well then, Lieutenant Colonel," the man spat, and Anna almost squeaked for joy. "If you refuse to tell us anything, tomorrow we will begin interrogating you."
Lorne rose to his feet and started inching his way towards the cell.
"If you still insist on keeping silent, then tomorrow I will take Dr. Mckay outside and shoo-"
She had never known Lorne could be so quiet while wearing combat boots - not to mention how good he was with a stunner.
Once she reached the cell the major had already freed Sheppard and was sawing away at Ronon's bonds with his knife. Teyla was sprawled on the floor, her head in the colonel's lap, apparently unconscious. Anna knelt by Rodney and started working on his ropes; funny, all this technology and these people still used ropes.
Colonel Sheppard noticed her at Teyla and grinned reassuringly.
"Just a tranquilizer - she'll sleep it off."
"I can carry her to the gate." Ronon, his hands free, grabbed the knife and started working on his ankles while Lorne and Jason, who had wandered in, briefed Sheppard of the situation.
Anna looked up at Rodney as he she rubbed his hands to restore circulation. Aside from a nasty-looking bump on his head and some minor chafing on his wrists, he looked all right.
"They haven't tortured you yet?"
"No - although you should probably be fussing about Colonel Stoic over there."
Sheppard shot him a look as Cadman helped him stand.
"My ribs are fine, Rodney - they're not even bruised." He paused. "No need to tell Carson about this, okay?"
Anna couldn't help but smile as she helped a complaining Rodney up and hustled him out of the cell. They still had to make it back to the gate, but so far so good.
By the time they reached the middle of the forest, the rainfall had turned into a full-out thunderstorm. Not happy conditions to be running in. Marcus stared at Ronon. Even without a woman slung over your shoulders.
So far, so good. From what he could see -- and from what Schweinsteigger had heard over the radio she'd borrowed -- there was a power outage back at the base, and it was taking some time to fix. With any luck, that would cover their escape.
Of course it had to be not two seconds after he thought that that an alarm sounded off in the distance, and the radio stuttered to life.
Schweinsteigger said something, but it was lost in a thunderclap. She jogged up to him and Marcus motioned Jason to fall back to her place and let her take point with him instead.
"I think they've figured out something's wrong, major."
Marcus nodded and made a hand motion; double time. He felt sorry for Ronon, but it just couldn't be helped. They were probably going to run into trouble sooner or later, but with the closer it was to the gate, the better.
They made it out of the forest in fifteen minutes, which was pretty good considering Ronon was carrying a deadweight and Colonel Sheppard, despite his protests to the contrary, had badly bruised, if not broken, some of his ribs.
Not quite good enough, though. Behind them Marcus could hear shouts - distant at first, but closer with every passing minute. Not quite good enough at all.
Halfway across the field, just under six miles left to the gate. Marcus turned around just as there was a burst of lightning. Oh, not good.
There were about fifteen of them, running at full speed, less than a quarter mile away. Marcus sighed and looked to Colonel Sheppard, who nodded and grabbed his weapon. Fortunately they had found the other team's guns before leaving the prison, otherwise they would have had no chance at all. Ronon lowered Teyla to the ground and stepped in front of her. Next to him Cadman handed Mckay his P90.
Marcus, following his CO's movements, released his gun's safety and crouched down in the grass, waiting.
Okay, there was one; he was letting his flashlight swing back and forth, which meant he was not holding his gun with both hands, which meant he would be a good target for the civilian. Slowly, so as not to ruffle any grass, she reached over, patted Danny on the shoulder, and pointed the guy out to him. He nodded and aimed his gun in the direction of the flashlight.
Her movement caused one of the figures sitting across from her to look up. She stared at him, waiting for the lightning to figure out who- but of course, Major Lorne. He was looking back, and they sat their for a moment, just staring at each other. There would be some serious talking when they got back to Atlantis. If they got back, the realist part of her insisted on adding.
But now the soldiers were shooting at indiscriminate patches of grass, and this was not a time to think of chatting. Anna pushed herself up on her heels a bit, took careful aim, and, not a second after Colonel Sheppard, opened fire.
The man went down with a short whimper, and she smiled, but now the knew where she was hiding. One ran toward her, and she jumped up and tackled him.
The next several minutes were sort of blurry. She knew she knocked that guy out when she downed him, and she knocked off another two with her P90, but then that was out of ammo so she pulled out her 9mm. She got another one with that, but then someone jumped her from behind, and she dropped it in the struggle. Someone - Ronon? - grabbed the guy on top of her and chucked him to the side, except that now her stunner had no power and she was only armed with her knife. Bugger.
Only a few left, though, and everyone on her side seemed to be standing. Oopsie, guy coming at her with a gun. She pulled back her arm to throw the knife, then saw a glance of motion at her side. Someone, it seemed, had found Teyla. Not good. Ermm, guy coming at her; he was fiddling with his gun. Gaah. Anna swiveled and threw the knife as hard as she could; it went through the guy's throat. Well, at least Teyla was safe for now, but-
Anna doubled over as something punched her in the gut. Ah yes. Bullets. She'd forgotten just how much fun those were.
The man in front of her shot again, and she stumbled backwards; she turned to look for someone, but all she saw was grass. Funny, she didn't remember falling.
Oh Lord, that was a lot of blood. Could she really lose-
Funny, wasn't it? The first time she had gotten shot had been on that other planet, and now probably the last time would be on its twin. Was this how Rebecca had felt? So tired and-
Oh, the thunderstorm was getting worse - or were those shots instead of lightning? She couldn't tell.
Maybe she should go to sleep and-
Oh look, Major Lorne. He was yelling something - trying to tell her something, she thought, but she couldn't make it out. Colonel Sheppard, too. They looked really worried; maybe she should tell them she was-
She was really tired. She let her eyes flutter close, but opened them again when someone jerked her shoulder.
Too painful. Not worth it.
Slowly Anna shut her eyes and let herself drift away.
