Title: Remember Atlantis
Author: stella_pegasi
Rating: K+
Genres: Action/Adventure, Hurt/comfort, Angst, Whump, Romance
Word Count: Chapter 7: 5,380
Spoilers: No blatant spoilers…some mention of events related to Stargate overall.
Warnings: Language
Characters: John Sheppard, ?
Summary: Colonel John Sheppard wakes up after suffering a serious injury to find the memories he holds aren't real. Or are they? Now, he has to determine which reality is really his.
Disclaimer: I do not own them; I would have treated them better.
Author's Notes: Things are beginning to happen, Sheppard and Brody have escaped but in what condition? Sheppard's team is getting closer to putting the pieces together to find Sheppard…but will they find him in time?
Let me know what you think….two more chapters to go after this one. Will have those chapters posted as soon as possible.
(Sorry, tried to post this Sunday, but posting was down for upgrades.)
Remember Atlantis
by stella_pegasi
Chapter 7 Found
Teyla and Rodney arrived at the abandoned building just as Johnston and Mehra were removing the rope bindings from a very groggy Nacor. Sitting in another chair in same room, was the younger slave trader who had been eyeing Mehra at the tavern. Lorne was leaning against the work bench, talking to the young man. When he spotted Teyla and Rodney, he motioned for Major Teldy, who had returned from the outpost planet, to continue the interrogation.
Dr. Beckett had also returned from outpost planet, Colu, with Major Teldy's team. He had remained at the outpost to treat a group of inhabitant's who had become ill from a tainted well. Lorne suggested that Beckett stay behind and render medical assistance to the villagers. He assured the physician they would send for him once they had reliable Intel about Colonel Sheppard's location.
Beckett was currently patching up Nacor's minor injuries; the worst, a swollen blackened eye. He looked up as Rodney and Teyla walked in.
"Did you find out anything at the tavern?" he queried in his familiar brogue.
McKay rolled his eyes, and barked out, "Nothing more than we already knew. Nacor here is despicable slime, and involved with the Lucian Alliance. Oh…and we're off looking for a group of kidnapped people; not the kidnapped person we came to find."
Lorne glanced questionably at Teyla, "What's he talking about?"
"We did learn something, major. Nacor and his companions are most definitely slave traders, aligned with the Alliance. Apparently an Alliance enforcer met with Nacor several days ago in the village. A merchant named Monor confirmed that fact. The kidnapped people whom Dr. McKay refers to are the young men and women who are missing from the town. Monor requested we help find them. I asked Ronon and Captain Isaacs to see if they could find the ship that Nacor was taking us to. Perhaps the kidnapped villagers are still there."
"We can confirm that Nacor is in cahoots with the Lucian Alliance. Nacor gave it up; he got tired of Mehra smacking him, but he didn't tell us much. Densin here," Lorne jerked his head toward the young man Teldy was talking to, "told us a bit more. Nacor and his men were working with an Alliance commander by the name of Geron. Pretty bad apple from what the kid said."
Rodney interjected, "That's the name Monor gave the man that met with Nacor…Geron."
Lorne continued, "Jameson seems to think that, from what he has learned about Geron, if the Alliance was going to be engaged in an operation like this, they would use Geron to oversee it. They don't like the Tau'ri, but they love power, so they will join anyone that will help them gain more. Let's see if Densin has any more info on Geron and his operation."
Before they could begin interrogating the young Densin, their COM's activated. Captain Isaacs was reporting that they had located the slavers' ship and the missing villagers.
Lorne turned to Teyla, "Perhaps you and Dr. Beckett should go see if they need help. I'll radio Stackhouse to join you. Tell Isaacs to obtain names and statements from the victims; Jameson is attempting to get these guys off the grid. He is planning to turn them over to a planet where they have taken slaves. The planet is not under Alliance control, and will try these men for their crimes."
Turning to Dr. McKay, Lorne asked, "Sir, could you stay here? We need to find out about this Geron, and what kind of security and weapons he has, if Densin knows. You might have some questions for him." McKay nodded, joining Lorne as Teyla and Beckett headed out to assist Isaacs.
~ooOOOoo~
Only Dresa was calm. The Lucian Alliance guards, standing before Geron, appeared terrified. Word that the Trust member Banks had been killed, and Tichtor beaten, had spread quickly through the ranks. They knew that Geron desperately wanted whatever the Tau'ri Trust members were offering, and that he would do anything necessary to succeed. Word that the Tau'ri military officer had escaped, instilled fear in the guards. The fact that the Tau'ri escaped the planet with one of the Trust operatives pushed Geron past reason.
The tall, menacing Alliance commander was sitting in his large chair in the receiving room of the compound; his security staff lined up before him. He hadn't spoken for several minutes; he simply stared at them. When he finally stood up, no one in the room took a breath.
"We are quite formidable, the Lucian Alliance. This day, however, you have all made fools of me, and a mockery of everything thing that we have worked so hard to achieve. I should kill the lot of you where you stand. However, we have escaped prisoners to locate. I need you to find them." He had begun to pace, and was quiet again. When he stopped pacing and turned to look at them, his eyes were cold, hard, black in the dim light.
"Understand this; if we do not recover our prisoner, there will be nowhere for you to hide." He waited a few seconds allowing his words to sink in, and then addressed Chief Guard, Viras. "Since your 'men' have not only lost one Tel'tak to the Tau'ri, but the other to sabotage, radio for transport. Nera's Ha'tak is in the neighborhood, and should reach us quickly. If we are fortunate, and you should hope that we are, we can intercept the stolen Tel'tak before it reaches Marcon. We need to find them, before they find a stargate."
~ooOOOoo~
The Tel'tak had been traveling for over an hour. Sheppard was trying to stay alert, but he was in a great deal of pain. He yearned for his too short bed on Atlantis, and minimum forty-eight hours of sleep; but he settled for the fairly uncomfortable pilot's seat on the Tel'tak. He had been staring out of the cockpit's large viewport, tying to stay focused but his thoughts kept drifting to memories of the virtual reality. One moment he was watching the HUD telemetry; the next, he was lying in a hospital bed with Beckett standing on one side and Isabella on the other. Isabella. He realized that he was forcing thoughts of her from his mind, but it wasn't working. He also knew that he had to bring his focus back into his physical reality. His life, and Brody's, depended on him maintaining control.
Sheppard swiveled the pilot's chair toward the area where he had moved Brody following launch. Even the ordinary act of pushing off on his foot to turn the chair sent ripples of pain through his hip and ribs. Brody was lying on his right side, his head resting on Sheppard's leather coat, covered with a blanket. Sheppard had rummaged for supplies when they first got underway, finding blankets, several water containers, and provisions.
The NID agent had taken a full blast from the Alliance energy weapon directly on his back. Sheppard decided to keep him from lying flat on the wound. He imagined Brody was hurting worse than he was from the glancing blow to his hip, and he didn't choose to add to his companion's pain. Sheppard breathed a sigh of relief about one thing. The Alliance weapons had been set to stun only; a very fortunate detail for Brody.
He knew he should check on Brody by going over to him, but he simply felt too weak to make the effort. He could see Brody's chest was moving; for the moment, that was going to have to do. Grimacing, he reached for a water bottle sitting on the console, part of the supplies he had found. He also found something akin to crackers and some sort of tinned meat. He had eaten a bit to keep his energy level up. However, Sheppard knew he had to control the pain, or he couldn't function.
Checking the HUD to verify they were on course, he slowly reached for Brody's bag, sitting on the deck next to him. Taking the little medical kit out, he withdrew the vial, another disposable syringe, and an alcohol swab. Drawing up a small amount of liquid, he cleaned the port with the swab, and injected the drug.
While he waited for the drug to kick in, Sheppard reviewed the ship's log once more. Knowing that the cargo ship had left the last planet that the Trust technical team had gated to, it the logical choice to return to that planet. It possessed a stargate; simply land as near as possible to the stargate on the planet, dial the gate, and they would be back on Earth. How much easier could it be? That's what was worrying Sheppard; it was simply too easy. If Geron had an alternate way off the planet, a more powerful ship, or if he had the capability to communicate off-world, the Alliance would be waiting for them. Sheppard realized he and Brody lacked sufficient energy to put up much of a fight.
~ooOOOoo~
Despite his protestation, the emotion reunion of the families and the victims affected Rodney, as well as the others. Some of those taken by Nacor and his thugs were barely fifteen years old. Beckett had checked over all the victims; other than a few abrasions and bruises, they were fine. Emotionally was another matter. McKay noticed that the airmen and Marines were gentle and considerate with the victims and their families. Sheppard had taught them well.
Two hours after freeing the villagers, the Atlantians headed for the stargate to travel to Colu. A SGC team waited at the outpost to take possession of Nacor and his team. The Marines escorted the handcuffed kidnappers, and Lorne, as well as Ronon, were keeping their eyes on the pack. The Marines were itching for the kidnappers to try something. They cared little for men who preyed on the innocent.
Once through the gate, the Marines transferred custody of Nacor and his thugs to the SGC. Lorne ordered the Marines and airmen to stand down until further notice. Lorne led Sheppard's team, Major Teldy, Captains' Stackhouse and Isaacs into the Quonset hut that functioned as the command center for the outpost. Jameson was waiting inside the hut for them; Colonel Cameron Mitchell was there as well.
"Hey, guys; have a seat. I hear the intel Jameson collected may have paid off." Mitchell was smiling, but his blue eyes conveyed the seriousness of the situation.
Lorne spoke first, "One of Nacor's men spilled his guts. His name is Densin; he's from a world the Ori destroyed. He joined Nacor when they came to raid his planet, mostly out of self preservation. His information was limited, but we found out something very interesting."
Sitting down, Lorne continued, "Nacor and another slaver had a conversation about Geron that Densin overheard. Geron left the planet for a location he called 'the compound.' He bragged to Nacor that the Alliance was about to get their hands on a huge treasure. Densin said they had been to the planet in question before. It was accessible only by ship; the planet didn't have a stargate. According to Densin, he was told place is where the Lucian Alliance hides out when they are trying to get away from the SGC."
Mitchell, startled, looked at Jameson, "Well, that explains a lot. We wondered where these guys disappear to all the time. Rumors of a hidden location where they could lie low circulated a while back. We've placed surveillance on the stargates when certain important Alliance leaders have gated to planet. At times, they simply vanish; never returning to the gate, but then they show up later, on another planet. This definitely explains a lot; probably, they traveled to the hidden base."
Teyla asked, "You believe this compound could be where they are holding Colonel Sheppard."
Mitchell shook his head, "Yeah, could be; now we just gotta find it."
McKay had been quiet during the discussion, but he leaned forward at Mitchell's words. "Captain Stackhouse ordered the logs of the slavers' ship downloaded. The logs are on a laptop that Lieutenant Hendriks carries. Stackhouse felt the logs could be investigated for locations where they kidnapped people or sold slaves. If Nacor traveled to the compound at anytime, it most likely will be in recorded the ship's logs, or, at least, in the navcom archives."
Jameson responded, "Dr. McKay; the outpost computers have the database of stargate addresses loaded. Could we cross-reference the slaver ship's logs with that database?" McKay nodded. Rising, he followed Jameson toward a small air-controlled room constructed inside at the back of the Quonset to house the computer system. Lorne left to retrieve the laptop from Hendriks.
An anxious hour passed before McKay, and Jameson, returned. McKay looked quite pleased. "Mitchell; Nacor visited one planet that is not in the stargate catalogue." He opened his laptop, turning it toward Mitchell, "This planet." A star chart was visible on the screen, one of the blips circled in red.
"This is it?" Colonel Mitchell asked, pointing to the red circle.
Jameson replied, "We're certain that this is the planet. Nacor apparently visited often; according to the logs, they were transporting slaves to the compound."
Mitchell scrutinized the star chart, "I think Carter is closer than Ellis or Caldwell." He spun toward the communications console located across the room. "Lieutenant," Mitchell ordered, "get me the General Hammond."
~ooOOOoo~
His ear was twitching; as if it was being tickled. He raised his hand to brush whatever was irritating him away, but the sensation increased. He struggled to shake the feeling, but soon realized that someone was talking to him. Gingerly, he opened his eyes.
"I thought you might sleep the entire journey, colonel."
The cobwebs cleared, and Sheppard saw that Brody was awake. He was sitting on one of the benches that lined the ship's curved hull. Sheppard also noticed the leather bag was now resting on the deck next to Brody's feet.
"Sorry, man, I took a small hit of the pain med. I must have fallen asleep." Sheppard struggled to sit up; he had slouched down in the chair while sleeping. He realized that Brody had draped his leather jacket across him while he was sleeping. He slipped the jacket back on, moving a bit easier than he had earlier. "How you doing?"
"Colonel, I've been better." Pain was evident in his voice.
Sheppard chortled, "Yeah. I hear ya." He swiveled the pilot's seat toward the console, and checked the HUD. "Looks like I was out for about an hour and a half. How long have you been awake?"
"Not quite an hour, I believe. When I came to, I saw that you were asleep. Seeing the med supplies on the console, I pretty much figured why you were napping. Thought I could use a bit of that good stuff myself. Managed to get over there and retrieve the bag. Gave myself a shot; didn't take much, or at least, as much as I wanted to. The burn from the stun setting of that weapon wears off after a few hours. At least, that's what I was told."
Sheppard grunted, "I hope so, still hurts like a son of a bitch."
Brody drank some water from one of the containers Sheppard had found. He then splashed some water onto his face. "So, where are we?"
"We've been traveling for about two and a half hours. I set a heading toward the last coordinates that were in the log. Did both cargo ships arrive at the compound at the same time?"
"Y-yeah…it took both cargo ships to haul all of the equipment and people the Trust sent."
"That's the good news. We should be on the right heading; straight toward a planet with a stargate."
"OK, I'll bite; what's the bad news? No wait, I know; they will expect we'll head there."
Sheppard nodded.
"Well, we'll have to deal with that when we get there; so, when do we get there?"
"Should be a little less than four hours. We should probably try to eat something, then get some rest."
Brody smiled, "Wishing we had some MRE's right about now."
Sheppard laughed softly, "None stuck in the magic bag?"
"Nope; forgot the magic wand, too, colonel."
Brody stood up and began moving around. He was stiff and his gait was a bit off, but he was improving. He sorted out the provisions, managing to come up with a half-way decent assortment of food. Within about ten minutes, the two men were sharing a meal.
"How long have you been with the NID?" Sheppard asked between bites of some kind of dense savory bread.
"About two years, was an active Marine sergeant prior to that, spent a few tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was recruited by the SGC and started training for off-world missions. However, not long after I arrived at Cheyenne Mountain, the NID came to recruit for a covert operation to infiltrate the Trust. I was chosen. I was undercover when we thought we had the Trust on the run. Obviously, they are quite resourceful. My cover wasn't blown then, and the Trust recruited me for this little project. I'm pretty good at Ancient tech stuff."
"Natural or synthetic gene?"
Brody smiled, "Natural, sir; but not real strong. They discovered it during routine testing at the SGC. Nothing like yours."
"Ah…my reputation precedes me." Sheppard chuckled, somewhat half-heartedly.
"Let's just say the Trust has a pretty good size file on you. They want Atlantis really badly, sir. All that technology; the ability to travel between galaxies. That kind of power just feeds their already huge, warped egos."
"What was their plan?"
"I don't know all of it. The Trust made contact with the Alliance, working together on some raids throughout the Milky Way. When the Alliance stumbled onto the device you were hooked up to, they came to the Trust. They offered to trade the device for weapons. That's when the plan to take Atlantis was hatched."
"I was brought in to check out the device, but I didn't know they were planning on kidnapping you. I think they didn't expect to have the opportunity to kidnap you fall into their lap so quickly."
"I had a few days leave, and decided to go skiing. Remind me not to do that again."
"Preliminary examination of the device, led us to believe it was a 'dream machine,' as Banks, the project leader, called it. We discovered we could implant a virtual reality into someone, and divert them from realizing that we were probing their minds. They had a Tok'ra memory device as well."
"Read about those in the SGC mission reports." Sheppard remarked.
"Matt Tichtor was the programmer who studied your file. He created a VR for you, based on your family and history. He thought by making you think that you were only dreaming you would be less likely to fight the memory device."
"And spill everything I know about Atlantis."
"That was the idea, colonel."
"You were manipulating the device, weren't you?"
"As best I could, sir. I was lucky that no one else understood the Ancient device, or the Tok'ra memory device, as well as I did. I could control how quickly data was flowing from the Tok'ra device. I was hoping someone would find you, or I could figure out a way to get you out myself. I can tell you, colonel, I may work undercover for the NID, but I am still a Marine. General Landry would kick my ass from here to Paris Island if I didn't try to rescue you."
"Well, you tried, and then tried again, and I thank you for that. No matter what happens."
"Sorry I brought you out so badly the first time. I feel pretty responsible for you getting hurt."
Sheppard shook his head, "Not your fault…you couldn't have known."
"Colonel, I have some questions."
Sheppard turned away, looking at the HUD, checking the course; anything to keep from looking at Brody. He knew what he was going to ask. Sheppard wasn't certain he wanted to think about Isabella now. The fact was, however, Brody deserved to know.
"Ask away."
Really, I have two questions. How did you know my name, and who is she, colonel?" Brody's voice had dropped at least an octave as he asked. He knew he could be traversing on rough ground.
"I'll answer the last question first. I don't really know who she is. I do know that her name is Isabella. You know about the Ascended Ancients." Brody nodded, Sheppard continued. "An Ancient, Teer, I met prior to her ascension, created a dream state for me, as a diversion once when I was being tortured. She introduced me to Isabella in that dream. Later, Teer assured me that Isabella was real, and that I would meet her soon, someday soon."
'Sir, Tichtor didn't program her into the VR. We didn't know she existed. She shouldn't have been there, yet you placed her into the program. That's pretty amazing stuff, colonel. You manipulated a programmed virtual reality."
Sheppard was quiet for a moment, chewing on his lower lip. When he finally spoke, the corner of his mouth curled up slightly, "She's pretty special." He took a deep breath and continued, " The Ascended Ancient wanted to help me again, but she wasn't allowed. She went to Isabella, and somehow managed to bring her to me within the VR. She told me your name and what you were attempting to do. For a brief time, the real Isabella was with me."
"You know, there is a visual component to the device. I think there is an audio as well, but I could never get it work…on purpose. We could see everything from your point of view. She's beautiful, sir."
Silence hung in the air. Sheppard stared out the viewport, eventually he answered, quietly, "Yes, beautiful she is."
Brody busied himself for the next fifteen minutes, cleaning up the empty food containers, and sorting out items in his leather satchel. He left Sheppard to his thoughts. He could tell that the colonel was affected by remembering the beautiful woman from his dreams.
Finally, he spoke. "Colonel, it might be a good idea for us to take a bit more of the pain meds. We have just less than three hours before we reach the planet. I think before we go running around, we might want to have a little relief. We will also have time to get a bit more sleep."
Sheppard smiled, "You remind me of Dr. Carson Beckett; you're a nagging mother hen like he is."
"I told you, sir; I don't want Landry to kick my ass, because I lost one of his colonels. "
"No, don't want that to happen, on both accounts, so pain meds and a nap it is."
~ooOOOoo~
McKay, Beckett, and Teyla sat inside a smaller Quonset hut that served as the mess hall. Ronon was outside sparring with the Marines to pass the time until they heard from the General George Hammond. Beckett had been watching Rodney intently for the last ten minutes.
"Rodney, what is that thingy you're messing with? It looks familiar, like a LSD."
Rodney was examining a device, a flat, rectangular, black box, currently plugged into his laptop. A pale blue glow emanated from a tiny screen set in the flat surface on top.
"It's a device that a team found in an Ancient outpost. We had," he paused a second, "uh…Sheppard activated it. Zelenka's been working on the data we downloaded from it and thinks it's possibly a scanner, a different model from the one we've been using. I just finished programming Sheppard's transponder code into it, and have been fine tuning the sensors. Zelenka thinks the range on this is much more than the 100 meters of the LSD's."
"That's good, Rodney; once we get near John that will help us find him even quicker," Beckett replied.
"Yeah, if we find him." Rodney answered Beckett, somewhat testily.
"Rodney, we will find him."
"Rodney, do we know how long it will take Colonel Carter to reach the planet? I am feeling quite unnecessary right now. There is nothing to do but wait, and it is most unpleasant."
Beckett nodded his head in agreement, "I offered to do medical checks on the outpost personnel while I was here. They looked at me, as if I was a boggart, chuckling as they walked away. Cheeky bastards; I was only trying to help."
Teyla smiled. "I do not know what a 'boggart' is; however, I think most military do not like medical exams."
Rodney appeared totally disinterested in their conversation, but interrupted to answer Teyla's question. "Landry and Mitchell realized that the three leads Jameson uncovered were all in the same general vicinity. Based on that, Landry ordered the Hammond to head for the area. Sam was already underway to the area when we found the reference to the planet in Nacor's logs. She should get to the planet in less than two hours."
"Then we will soon know if John is on that planet. Dr. Beckett, let us take a walk; the town is not far from here. Perhaps we can check on your patients from earlier in the day, and make ourselves useful." Standing up, Beckett following her lead, Teyla asked Rodney, "Would you care to join us?"
The scientist, engrossed in his laptop, gave a brisk wave of his hand and quick wag of his head, indicating no. Rodney wanted to run a diagnostic on the Ancient scanner device. If they needed it, he wanted it to be ready.
~ooOOOoo~
Geron was pacing the bridge of the Ha'tak, as he had been for the past hour. Nera was watching him with amusement; she had never liked the egotistical man or his lap dog, Dresa. She glanced over at the tall woman with the unusual eyes and wondered how Geron would react if she simply killed his pet. She had dealings with both Geron and Dresa before, and she had a score to settle. However, for the moment, there was a bigger prize at stake. She had been in on the plan to steal Atlantis from the beginning; Geron was just a tool to accomplish the mission. His distress at losing their link to the prize was great satisfaction for her.
"Geron, have a seat or leave; I am tired of your pacing." Her voice was razor sharp.
Geron turned toward her, glaring at the woman sitting in the command chair. Confident, she sat ramrod straight, her glossy, dark red hair platted down her back, her brown leather uniform fitting as though it was poured over her. Walking to the command platform, he sneered, "You believe yourself to be so superior to me, don't you?"
She laughed, "It isn't difficult, Geron; you always give me such reason to think so. Really, a man drugged, connected to machinery, and surrounded by your guards, escapes, steals a cargo ship and leaves the planet. How many of your guards died? I believe the number was six, seven. Killed by two men; your elite guards lying in their own blood. Yes, when the council hears of this, I believe you might be in danger of losing your status as the 'enforcer' within the Alliance."
"Nera, we knew that this Tau'ri was resourceful, smart; it was the Trust that we underestimated. We didn't expect Sheppard to have an accomplice. We thought an attack could come from outside the compound, not inside. None of us, not even the council, considered that occurring. Nera put aside your petty anger at me. I have beaten you too many times at your foolish games; I am not concerned with your taunts. We need to concentrate on retrieving Sheppard."
Nera felt her blood begin to seethe within her veins; she rose from the command chair, stepping down to stare Geron in the eye. "Geron, when this is over, I prom…"
She was interrupted by the navigator, "Commander Nera. The Tel'tak has appeared on our sensors. The ship is cloaked, but the tracking device Cronet developed is working. The tracking device frequency is not being masked by the cloak. The ship is minutes from the planet's atmosphere."
"Can you get a weapons lock on the ship?"
"Yes, commander."
"Disable that ship. Do not destroy it, or I will have your head." Nera's eyes narrowed as she intently watched the sensor display. Her interest focused solely on the small blip representing the cargo ship, quickly dropping toward the planet.
~ooOOOoo~
Inside the Tel'tak, Sheppard was piloting the vessel toward the planet. Following the coordinates in the navcom, he hoped to land the ship in the same place it had departed from. More, he was hoping that the landing site was close to the stargate.
Brody walked up behind him, peering out the viewport. Sheppard had angled the ship for re-entry, and a soft amber glow was building outside the window.
'We're getting close, Sheppard. With any luck, we'll be at the SGC in time for dinner."
"If I can land this thing in one piece."
"Hey, doing OK in my bo….." Brody's reply was cut short by the impact of an energy weapon, striking the ship. As the ship reeled from the blow, Brody careened thought the air, slamming into the cargo bay doors.
"Brody, you OK?" Sheppard was gripping the steering ball, trying to keep the ship from tumbling.
Groaning Brody struggled to his feet, grabbing his arm. He answered Sheppard, "Yeah...I'm OK. What the hell happened?"
"We got hit by some kind of energy blast." Glancing at the HUD, he saw the blip, the blip of a very large ship. "They found us. There's a large ship coming straight toward us; it fired on the engines, to disable them."
"We're cloaked; how the hell did they see us?" Brody yelled over the din.
Sheppard wrestled with the ship for a moment as a screaming roar came from the engines. "I don't know, but they succeeded. We're losing power. I can't keep her steady."
Brody just made it back to the cockpit when another blast hit the ship. He grabbed the pilot's seat, holding on to keep from flying across the room again.
"It has to be a Ha'tak; there must have been one close by that Geron called for. Can you get us down?"
"I don't know. The last shot took out navigation and knocked us off course. Brody, go find something to hang on to. We are coming in hot, and I can't stop it. We're gonna crash."
"Colonel, the escape pods," Brody yelled over the din of the screaming engines, fighting to gain power.
"No time, find something to grab onto."
Brody headed for the center control console, ducking underneath, and wrapping his arms around the pedestal. He kept his head up to watch Sheppard.
Sheppard was wrestling with the controls, but the ship seemed to gaining speed not slowing down. The screaming from the engines stopped, as Sheppard cut the engines, trying to allow atmospheric friction to slow them and hopefully, glide to a stop. A few seconds later, Sheppard's realized that gliding was not an option.
"Brody, we're going in; brace yourself."
Within seconds, the Tel'tak struck the ground with a tremendous impact. The ship skidded swiftly across the terrain, throwing Sheppard from the pilot's chair. They had landed on the night side of the planet, and he couldn't tell what the terrain was like. Now he could feel it; the ship was striking what Sheppard thought might be boulders, or possibly, structures. The lights were flickering wildly, then went out. He felt the ship' forward motion slow slightly; they were sliding more than bouncing. He waited for another impact, and it came, but not the way he expected. The ship began to drop again. Holding on as best he could, Sheppard whispered, "Crap," realizing they had most likely, slid off of a cliff. After what seemed to be an eternity, the ship impacted the ground with a tremendous jolt. As he lost consciousness, Sheppard saw the structure of the Tel'tak begin to buckle, then nothing but blackness.
Well...how's Sheppard going to get out of this?
Love to hear what you thought of Chapter 7! Will post Chapter 8 very soon...
