It's Not Easy being an Intergalactic Space Explorer
Chapter 7 – Trying to Make Sense of it All
A few hours after Sheppard's rescue from the Wraith Worshippers…
As John began to stir, his hand brushed up against the metal rail of his bed and the crispness of hospital linens. For a panicked second, he thought he was back with the doctor and that his rescue had been a cruel illusion. But, what was that noise? Food munching. Cracking open an eye, he saw McKay sitting by him, balancing his tablet on his lap while eating a sandwich. Ahhh, thought John. The comforting sounds of home.
"Hey, Rodney, can you save me some of that?" John teased in weak, raspy voice.
McKay almost dropped his lunch. "Sheppard?! Everybody, Jennifer, he's awake!"
"Hey, guys," said Sheppard with a tired, but very happy grin. Teyla, Ronon, McKay, Keller, and Woolsey somehow all managed to fit around the bed.
Teyla was the first to speak. Her expressive brown eyes conveyed everyone's relief that he was finally awake. "John, we were so concerned. How are you feeling?"
"Well…I've been better, ya know and…hey, Teyla, what's with the cast and sling? – oh, god, the attack on Sil." With so much happening to him personally, Sheppard had forgotten what had started it all – the terrorist bombings.
Teyla was quick to reassure him. "We're fine, John. Jennifer did an excellent job taking care of us. But there were, sadly, many other casualties." Seeing that Sheppard looked distressed, she added "We can talk about it a little later, alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just glad you're all ok." He then asked, "Uh, how long have I been here? I don't remember exactly…"
"About 4 hours," answered Dr. Keller. "You were kind of a mess when they brought you in, but you should make a full recovery. I'm going to keep you in the infirmary for at least three days, though. Non-negotiable!" she added, as John opened his mouth to object. "Now, let me check your vitals, and the condition of those stitches…may I?" John nodded 'yes.' Jennifer gently moved his scrub top aside to reveal a long, angry-looking, partially healed incision. "Colonel, these are surgical stitches. How…why…do you have these? Were you beaten? Did you have internal bleeding?"
"Uh, it's complicated…uh, you could say that I ate something that didn't agree with me," John waffled. Jeez, on any other occasion that would be about the best line ever. Boy, he had an awful lot of things to explain this time around!
Jennifer looked at him in complete puzzlement. The Colonel always was reluctant to discuss, or even acknowledge his injuries, but mysterious surgery?
Rapidly changing the topic, Sheppard added, "What happened? I remember that it was practically World War III in the Compound, and a couple of guards had me. Ronon and Lorne got me outta that tunnel and we were heading to a Jumper and…"
"And," finished Ronon, "you keeled over, out cold. I barely kept you from falling face down in the mud."
"Why'd I pass out?"
McKay gave him a 'could you possibly ask a more stupid question' look. "Well, it could be because of the 103 degree temperature, dehydration, the two gashes in your head, the concussion, the Wraith stuns, bruised ribs, that infected-looking incision – which is from what, by the way? – and the fact that somehow you managed to lose 10 lbs in 6 days and I can't lose 10 lbs in 6 months!"
"Really, I was gone for 6 days?" John said in amazement.
"Yes, Colonel," Woolsey replied. He then said, "John, I know we just got you home, and you're injured, but protocol requires that you be debriefed as soon as possible. It's particularly important considering who kidnapped you. We of course took all the necessary precautions while you were gone – changing security access codes, recalling off-world teams, changing IDCs, putting the alpha and beta sites on alert, and so forth. If they got anything out of you, or if you think they did, we need to talk right away."
"As soon as he's well enough," said Jennifer.
"It's OK, doc," said John grimly. "I do need to be debriefed right away. Uh, what they did to me, it wasn't an ordinary interrogation…" That was an understatement! How in God's name was he going to explain what had happened, and what sensitive information might or might not have been taken from him, and not by people, but by a bunch of creepy über aliens and a 6-inch long escapee from a restaurant's raw bar?
Woolsey eyed Sheppard with concern. "John…not that I'm saying you would willingly…ah, were you compromised?"
John took a second to answer. "Uh, yeah, but that's complicated, too."
"OK, Sheppard, what's with all of this 'it's complicated' crap?" demanded McKay. "You're being really cryptic…and you're starting to scare me, frankly. What exactly happened?"
"Yes, and speaking of what happened, Colonel Sheppard," interjected Dr. Keller, trying to take back some control of her own infirmary, "why did they operate on you? Why did they do a spinal tap, and a bone marrow biopsy, and all kinds of tissue sampling? You have tiny marks all over your torso which are signs that they biopsied several of your organs. And why do you have all of those electrodes imbedded under your skin? I have to say, you're one of the most interesting patients I've seen in a long time."
John looked at Jennifer, quite stunned. What the hell had they really done to him, besides forcing that mutant piece of seafood down his throat? "I can explain about the operation, and those electrodes, but the other stuff? Oh, no," John said, a horrible thought occurring to him. "I was unconscious for hours while the symbiote was taking over. They must have used that time to…" John suddenly stopped talking as he realized he was basically thinking out loud, and kind of freaking out his friends.
"What symbiote?! Was it the Goa'uld again? What did they need tissue samples for? Were you-" The area around Sheppard's bed grew noisy as he was pelted with question after question.
All of a sudden, John felt like he was in the glare of a very big spotlight.
Well, he had to deal with it all sooner or later. "Hey, guys? How about this: let Dr. Keller here do what she needs to do. Then, somebody get me a new uniform and we'll meet in the conference room in, say, an hour?"
ooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo oooooooooooo
"Tell me again: How many flights of stairs did you fall down, Sheppard?" asked McKay.
John sighed. "One flight. And, no, I am not making this up." Sheppard had been propped up with a lot of meds from Dr. Keller so he could make it through this meeting, but he was starting to think they weren't going to be enough. He took some small comfort from how good his shiny new boots felt as he fielded the questions – and disbelief – of his colleagues.
"Oh, c'mon Sheppard, I mean, think about it: In the middle of you being held prisoner by the Wraith Worshippers, which is bad enough, a group of time-travelling, telepathic, purple aliens…."
"Purple – EYED aliens, Rodney," John corrected. "And they're called Azeron."
"…pardon me, a bunch of purple-eyed aliens decide to pluck you out of your cell and take you to a galaxy far, far away where they dig through every square inch of your brain, and then send you back to the Wraith Worshippers where they mind-probe you with a symbiote shaped like a giant clam. And on top of that, these Azeron tell you that SOMETIME in the near future, either all the humans or all the Wraith are going to die, but they can't tell you why, only that they're not the ones that are gonna wipe us out, somebody else is. Did I get that right?"
And to think that John could have been working in the family business instead of trying to untangle all of this…
"Look, it sounds worse than it is – well, the being wiped out part is bad – what I mean is, despite everything the Azeron and the cultists learned, I think we may be OK," John tried to explain. "I told you that I destroyed the information that the doctor took from me, and I don't think he kept any other records. He was an egotistical son of a bitch who didn't like to share any of the credit for capturing me. If he hadn't been killed in the raid, I would have shoved a symbiote down his throat and interrogated him myself."
"Yes, it's unfortunate we can't question the doctor," commiserated Woolsey. "I'm leaning towards believing you, Colonel, about the information the symbiote took from you – I suspect you did destroy the only copy. But the doctor also collected medical information about you," Woolsey reminded him. "Now, I'm not a scientist, but I think we can all safely assume that they are trying to isolate your ATA gene. They may have other reasons for taking samples that we haven't even considered yet. Did you ever see any equipment that might be meant for storing biological specimens? Do you think they kept medical data in the Wraith storage system that you destroyed?"
"Richard, like I said before, I had no idea they did any of that to me. They tied me to a chair in a big, empty room and forced me to swallow that…thing. Then, they put me into a coma for six hours while 'Chris the Clam' took over my mind and body. Now, I do remember them saying, as they were knocking me out, that a 'device' of some kind had been calibrated for humans. What the device was, or what it was for, I have no idea. When I was strong enough to fight the symbiote, I could hear what he was giving away…the gate addresses, the coordinates…" John shuddered. "I could even see through his, er, my eyes, but I don't remember anything unusual. And anyways, it was just snatches, you know? Most of the time, I…I couldn't…" Sheppard let his words trail off.
"Several teams are on the planet now, Colonel, scouring the Compound. They'll confiscate computers, medical equipment, anything else that looks valuable," Woolsey assured him. "Dr. McKay, I'd like you to lead a science team to take a look at the Compound, be a second set of eyes. The soldiers will appreciate your help."
"The teams will need my help, Richard," boasted McKay. "No offense, Sheppard, but you military types tend to blow things up first, and then wonder why you can't find the clues and evidence later."
He was kinda right, thought Sheppard, but he wasn't about to give McKay the satisfaction of acknowledging it. He gave him a withering stare instead.
"And, Colonel," continued Woolsey, "what about what the Azeron learned from you? If they're as powerful as they sound…"
John ran his hand in frustration through his already messy hair. "I don't know what to do about the Azeron. I don't even think we could do anything. If they're everything they appear to be, then how do we fight them? I went from the Compound to a room in their galaxy – and I was still in my bed – in half a second. I don't remember any wormhole, any souped-up, Star Trek transporter beam, anything to explain how I got there. What do you do about an enemy who can manipulate time! How do we go up against a race who, pardon the imagery, cracked my head open like a piñata and took whatever goodies fell out?!"
"Christ, Sheppard, when you put it like that, then why bother fighting at all? Sounds like we're pretty much screwed," complained McKay.
"But that's just it, Rodney! I...uh…I can't quite explain why, but I don't think the Azeron are the enemy, at least not the usual kind. Yeah, I've only met them twice and each time they were spouting doom and gloom. But, um…I think they represent something…bigger than they are, and much bigger than us. Remember, I told you they called themselves 'mid-wives.' I think whatever is going on…the Azeron are required to play a part in it and so are we. And, uh, I don't think we have much choice in the matter. But that doesn't mean giving up! We have to figure out what the hell is going on, and stop whoever thinks they can get rid of us."
ooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOooooooooooooooooo
A few weeks after Sheppard's kidnapping…
…on a planet somewhere in Pegasus…
"Throw it to me, Leta!" yelled the blonde little boy. He squealed in delight as his sister threw him the ball, which was actually not much more than a tough piece of leather stuffed with sawdust and crudely sewn together.
"Aw, Leta, he's too little to play with us, let's go somewhere else," complained an older boy of about thirteen.
"Yes, we can go over to the big rocks. Those kids are too small to climb on them, anyways," said another older child.
And with that, Leta and her friends took their Pegasus version of a football and ran off, leaving behind Leta's brother and two other very unhappy eight year-old boys.
The blonde little boy scuffed his foot in disappointment against the hard, dusty ground. What could they play with now? His stupid sister had…
"Sarn, would you and your friends like to play with these?"
The little boy looked up and was surprised to see two women. They were strangers, but that didn't frighten him. Many people came through their Ring, to trade or visit.
One of the women was holding three silver balls, each about the size of an Earth orange. "Here, there is one for each of you," she said with a smile, kneeling in the dirt to be at the children's level. "If you touch these buttons, they make a pleasant sound and light up in pretty colors."
The boys eagerly accepted the gifts. "Thank you very much! These are much better than what the big kids have!" Sarn pushed one of the buttons and, as promised, it glowed with a beautiful light. "Hey, this matches your eyes," he said. "It's so purple and bright!" He and his friends then ran away, happy with their new toys.
The Azeron, in contrast, looked on sadly. The message had been sent, and would soon reach its destination.
oooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo
"What's so urgent, Mr. Woolsey?" asked John, entering the control room.
"We've received an unusual message from one of our allies, the Hesca. They lost contact with one of their trading partners, the Lytarans, two days ago. They can't dial their Gate. Other planets that trade with the Lytarans can't dial them either."
"A Wraith Culling? Or another attack by the Wraith worshippers?"
"I sincerely hope not. However, we won't know until we check out the planet. I'd like you and your team – make that multiple teams – to go through the Space Gate nearest to the planet and find out what happened. If we're lucky, it might be as simple as mechanical failure."
"Or Wraith cultists, again…" The attacks had continued in the weeks since Sheppard's abduction. With intelligence gleaned from their allies, they had managed to stop one bombing, but not another three, which in total had killed 14 people.
"Let's focus on mechanical failure right now, shall we, Colonel?"
oooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo o
It took them nearly two hours to reach the planet from the nearest Space Gate. Along with Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon and McKay were Dr. Keller and her colleague, Dr. Chen. Two more Jumpers accompanied them, with Major Lorne and Major Cappelli leading the other teams.
"Alright, folks, we're here," Sheppard announced as the Jumper entered a high orbit. "I'm not detecting any Wraith ships. Rodney, how about you?"
"Nothing so far, but you know, darts are pretty fast, and Hives and cruisers, they might be about to pounce on us any second from hyperspace, so you never…"
"McKay, nothing imminently about to blast us out of the sky?"
"Uh, nope."
"Good, let's bring the Jumpers down and take a closer look."
Sheppard and the two other cloaked Jumpers eased into low orbit around the Lytaran home world. At the helm, Sheppard never took his eyes off the console, alert to the slightest sign of Wraith. The Wraith – if they were the reason no one could contact the Lytarans – were probably gone from this system. They seldom lingered after a Culling, unless that world had something more to offer than food. So why couldn't John quell the gnawing anxiety in his stomach? Even Rodney seemed unusually jumpy.
"Any life signs?" asked Sheppard.
"Uh…oh, God. The population of this world is supposed to be, what...a few thousand?"
"Yeah, that sounds about right," answered John, a hint of worry creeping into his voice.
"Sheppard…" Rodney said slowly, "I'm not reading anything. There are no life signs – human or Wraith – at all. What I am reading is massive energy residue from…Wraith fire."
The Wraith had struck again, just as they had feared. The Jumpers flew, silent and invisible, over smoldering ruins and countless dead.
"Goddamn it!" Sheppard pounded the console angrily. He had seen this too many times. He took a minute to regain his composure and then said, "I want to set down and take a look around."
"Take a look around for what, Sheppard?" said Rodney incredulously. "I just told you – no survivors."
"A reason," John answered. "Don't ask me why, but I don't think this was an ordinary attack."
"But the Wraith..?" reminded Rodney nervously.
"I think they're done with this place, McKay," Sheppard snapped with regret and disgust.
The three Jumpers landed in minutes and the crews quickly disembarked. As they explored the area, Sheppard heard Rodney muttering to himself. "What is it, McKay?"
"Uh, I don't understand why this world was culled."
"Uh, pretty basic, Rodney – Wraith need humans, humans get culled."
"No, I mean, this system, this part of the galaxy, they haven't had a lot of attention from the Wraith. Maybe it's the planets' low populations, maybe it's because their level of technology is rather modest. I would not have put Lytara on a list of 'about to get culled soon.' No interesting technology, no natural resources to exploit. Nothing that says 'come and get us.'
"Do you have to practice how to sound that insensitive, McKay, or does it just come to you naturally!? Jesus!" Sheppard was absolutely fuming.
Teyla stepped in to try and defuse the situation. "John, I am certain Rodney did not mean to sound that way. He is just trying to make sense of this, as we all are. Please be calm; we must not let anger get the best of us."
"Teyla's right," said McKay. "Sheppard, I'm sorry, but you know what I mean, and you know it's true. Maybe this attack is just a fluke, or maybe, like you seem to think, this wasn't an ordinary Culling."
As if in confirmation that something just wasn't right about the place, their LSD's and Rodney's tablet began sending out frantic warnings. A volley of Wraith stun beams came at them from about 75 feet ahead. Sheppard and his team dived for cover behind some ruined walls. Cries of pain could be heard as several soldiers from the other Jumpers were hit by the surprise attack.
"McKay, there's Wraith here! How the hell did you miss them?!" hissed Sheppard, crouching down low as shot after shot soared over their heads.
"Sheppard, I swear, they weren't there a second ago! No life forms but us!"
"Well, they're here now, McKay, so either they just beamed down or your equipment is totally f…"
"Wait a minute! Where'd he go? I'm not reading him anymore." Rodney turned his tablet towards Sheppard. The only blips on it were clumped in one large group – the Atlantis teams. As Sheppard stared at the read-out, yet another round of weapons fire hit the walls.
"What the hell is going on? OK, enough of this." Sheppard removed two grenades from his vest and handed one to Ronon. "About 75 ft away, at 2 o'clock," he whispered. "On three: 1, 2, 3…." The two men lobbed the grenades in the direction of the there-one-minute-gone-the-next Wraith. The powerful explosions shook the ground and rained dirt and rocks upon their heads. Sheppard gave an order over his earpiece for everyone to remain quiet and in position. After several seconds, and hearing no return fire, Sheppard tentatively looked out from behind the wall: nothing. He checked in with Cappelli and Lorne; they detected no movement from the enemy, either.
"OK, everybody. Let's check this out. My team will go in first. If I signal that it's ok, then Lorne, you move in, followed by Cappelli's team."
Sheppard and his team-mates cautiously approached the Wraith's position. No weapons fire. No life signs besides the humans. OK, he was dead…
The Wraith came out of nowhere, it seemed, firing his stunner. With a yelp of pain, Dr. Keller fell to the ground. Before the creature could hurt anyone else, Sheppard hit him with round after round…
The attack wasn't the biggest surprise, however. The crashed Wraith dart, appearing and disappearing in front of their eyes amidst the crackling of its malfunctioning energy field, was.
The Wraith ship had cloaking technology.
ooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo ooooooooo
"Is she alright?" asked McKay frantically, as Dr. Chen examined Jennifer.
"Is the damn thing dead?" asked Sheppard, as Ronon kicked at the Wraith who had taken a chest-ful of bullets.
"Yeah, he is…..NO, he's not!" yelled Ronon, as the creature opened its eyes and grabbed for his leg. Ronon planted a boot on its throat and motioned with his gun for the Wraith to stay still.
Hardly able to take his eyes off of the semi-cloaked dart, Sheppard started to question the Wraith.
"Why did you come here? How many more of you are on this planet!?"
Silence.
Sheppard placed the tip of his rifle in the middle of the creature's forehead. "C'mon…Fred… be smart. Answer my questions. You know I'm gonna kill you anyways. Do you want it to be quick or slow?"
'Fred' wasn't stupid. "We followed the beacons and gloried in the Culling!"
"What beacons?"
"The beacons utilized if any of our brethren are lost."
Sheppard got a sick feeling in his stomach. This sounded like their mission to the planet of the children, where the beacon on the Wraith corpse was accidentally activated.
"Where were they?"
"What does it matter to you, human? You cannot reverse what was done! The beacons brought us to this world; there were few humans here but they slaked our hunger! If my ship had not malfunctioned, I would be with my fellow Wraith celebrating our victory."
Speaking of beacons…Sheppard suddenly had a terrible thought: this Wraith was probably transmitting his own emergency signal. More Wraith might show up any minute! "What about you? Why haven't your people retrieved you?"
More silence. Sheppard again aimed his weapon at the creature.
The Wraith grimaced and answered him. "I do not know why. They may believe I am dead. There was a brilliant light and then an explosion which sent my ship out of control. But…my beacon is functional and yet two days have passed! Perhaps our Queen has ordered me punished for some reason…"
"What about the Ring? Why doesn't it work?"
The Wraith gave him a treacherous smile. "Some humans were foolish enough to try and escape through it, so we stopped them…"
Sheppard went to blow the Wraith's head off, but then had second thoughts. "Stun him and take him back to Atlantis," he ordered a group of Marines. "I want to talk with him later."
Sheppard then went to find McKay. He was crouched down next to an unconscious Dr. Keller, holding her hand and looking extremely concerned. "She's going to be OK, thank god! They just stunned her."
"Uh, Rodney" asked Sheppard, "I'm really glad she'll be alright, but I need your help for a minute. According to this Wraith, several of their emergency beacons led them here. Did this world have any ruins, like on Athos, where a beacon could have been found and triggered by mistake? "
"I don't know; I'll look it up. We never formally visited the Lytarans. I can ask the Hesca what they knew about the Lytaran's village…"
"Well, get on it!"
"Sheppard, you don't need to yell. I'll find something out as fast as I can!"
"Jeez, I'm sorry, Rodney. It's just that, there's been too much going on lately: this Wraith attack, the Wraith Worshipper bombings, me being kidnapped, oh, and don't forget the Azeron. Things are not right. And now this! Why would the Wraith target what seems like an insignificant little planet?"
"Well…Sheppard, maybe you don't want to hear this right now, but I have a theory."
"OK, I'll bite: Why did this planet get culled?
"It's not the kind of world we'd expect to be targeted."
"So, I'll ask AGAIN, McKay: Why? It has to be special in some way that we don't know about!"
"Arrgghh, how can I get this through your one-track, military mind, Sheppard? The reason I think they were attacked is because they're not special. From what I can tell, this planet doesn't stand out in any way. That makes it the perfect target for a terror campaign. Hit the place your enemy ISN'T afraid you'll go after. It's a highly effective scare tactic, being unpredictable and illogical. You know what? I think the Wraith Worshippers planted a beacon to lure the Wraith here. This time, the cultists didn't target the Pegasus equivalent of a big town or city on Earth. They wanted to hit a small, quiet village, a place where no one would expect, in a million years, anything this tragic to happen."
Damn it, Sheppard thought. Of course he was right. So why did he need McKay to remind him of something so obvious? Probably because McKay, as a civilian, had a perspective on the ordinary, everyday world that John or another soldier didn't, or couldn't, have.
"You're right, Rodney," John answered sadly. "But just because they did it once does not mean we'll stand by and let them do it again. C'mon, we've got a cloaked dart to check out and a Wraith to interrogate. Let's get moving."
As McKay and Sheppard walked back to the others, neither noticed the silvery shimmer as the Azeron, too, went away.
oooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo oooooooo
It was several hours before they went home. As the Jumpers disappeared into the sky, the late-day sun cast long shadows which slowly crept through what remained of the village. Soon they touched the lonely outcrop of rocks…and the remnants of a child's toy leather ball, charred and torn and leaking sawdust.
TBC….Sorry for the delay since the last chapter. Here's an extra long one. Between that annoying thing called 'a job' and now 25 inches of snow, I'm way behind. Please read and review! I hope to post another chapter within a week.
