Stargate Atlantis: Sleep Before I Do

By: Shadow Chaser

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 & Stargate Atlantis and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions, AcmeShark Productions, and Scifi Channel. This story is for amusement only and I didn't get any money for it. No copyright infringement is intended.

Category: Action Adventure, Drama, H/C

Pairing: Hints of Shep/Weir, hints of Ronon/Teyla, and hints of Shep/Teyla.

Notes: So I've had a few interesting reviews for the last chapter which tickled me. I just wanted to address concerns of the pairings in this story in this notes section. I am by far, not a romance writer – hence the "hints" of pairings. I specialize in action and convoluted plots (and making everyone's lives hellish as possible before patching them all up).

Also I just finished watching Season 4's "Outcast" after much debate on whether I really should give Sam another chance in Atlantis, but since it was a Sheppard-centric episode, I only saw her for 1 scene so I couldn't judge. The result? I am itching to write David Sheppard into perhaps either part 2 or 3 of my trilogy or even start a completely different fic regarding Shep's past history. Anyone know of any good fanfics out there regarding the estranged brothers?

Story:

Chapter 7 – Breakout

Amongst her people, she had heard of the legends of a powerful race that had walked the lands with the Ancestors, the ones the humans from Earth called Ancients. She had seen the legends come true when Taethos had captured them and had changed his form from feline-like to human and back. To Teyla, the hope of the benevolent race that legends said were allies of the ancestors had been shattered. But now...staring at the Klisan'thus that called himself Akiesios, or Apollo, which name she did not know, that spark of hope was kindled once more.

"But Akiesios is that short cat…" Rodney looked bewildered for a second before his mind caught up with his words, "you're that short cat?!"

The man before them grimaced for a second before shaking his head, "I'll pretend you did not just call us like those lowly feline creatures the Goa'uld Ra used to have around him."

"But how…?" Teyla could not comprehend why the diminutive Klisan'thus who had given her medicine to heal them would now appear in human form, unless he had been sent by Taethos to bring them before Kolya?

"There isn't much time," he hurried forward and produced an odd looking squarish-device and passed it over a few of the bars; "Taethos, Kolya and their men are currently distracted with invading the Genii homeworld."

"What are you…" whatever Major Lorne was about to say trailed off as their cell door suddenly popped open and everyone stared at Apollo.

He gave them a puzzling look before gesturing for them to follow him. Teyla immediately got up, hurrying forward as Ronon immediately took advantage of the open cell and loped out. "Ronon, wait!" she saw him move towards Apollo deliberately and realized what he was going to do. However, she was only able to grasp the edges of his tattered tunic before he roughly slammed the startled human-formed Klisan'thus up against the nearest wall, making him drop the squarish object and instinctively grabbed Ronon's arm across his throat.

"Stop!" Teyla raised her voice slightly, deliberately wedging herself between the two men, her hand a firm grip on Ronon's forearm. She stared at him, seeing his teeth bared slightly in anger, his dark eyes glittering with barely controlled rage. "Ronon, please," she put as much urgency and pleading into her voice, trying to push past his rage and get him to release Apollo. Klisan'thus or not, the man had released them and that had to count for something.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Apollo's face was turning red from the lack of oxygen, his hands trying to pry the arm from his neck.

Ronon's eyes flashed dangerously, "You're not changing back…"

"I…" Apollo wheezed with an effort, "I…mean you no harm…and to change now, would…only damage both…you…and me…"

"Really," the Satedan did not look convinced, but just as suddenly, stepped back, releasing his grip on Apollo's neck and the man slid half to the ground, choking and wheezing as he tried to draw more breath. Teyla's immediate instinct was to help him, but in all of her years with John and his team it made her more wary of a trap and instead, she stepped back and shook her head at Ronon who only shrugged at her disapproval.

"When we change," Apollo rubbed his neck gingerly before standing up, using the wall as a brace, "it is when we are most vulnerable. If I had done so, you could have easily crushed my windpipe with your strength or my hands could have changed first and accidentally ripped your arm apart." He looked sideways at Ronon who stood stoically with his usual cryptic smile.

She knew that smile was only a façade for him to present to others. The smile that said he did not trust a word the man was saying, but would gamely play along. He had only used it once on her, during their initial sparring session before he had never used it again.

"Yes, yes, that's good an all," Rodney's voice cut into the conversation before he stepped up and looked at Apollo, "can we go now?"

Apollo swallowed, wincing in pain before nodding, "Yes, follow me. I will lead you to where your weapons have been stored."

"Whoa, hold on a second," Lorne held up a hand, "before that, where's Colonel Sheppard?"

"He is still healing, I will retrieve him after we get your weapons," Apollo looked at him, his face mostly unreadable, but Teyla could see that he was worried.

"Not good enough," Ronon looked about ready to slam him up the wall again, "we're coming too."

The human formed Klisan'thus opened his mouth once to protest before closing it and shook his head, "As you wish." He gestured for them to follow him and headed down one of the halls. Teyla followed behind Ronon who took the lead, his eyes dead set on the man as he led them through the maze of corridors. Behind her, she could hear Rodney shuffling, all the while still tapping on his tablet, Major Lorne, Captain Pearson, and Lieutenant Brown following in the rear.

"We do not have much time," Apollo called back to them, "I have talked with Colonel Caldwell and Dr. Weir about an escape plan. I have also contacted the Agentus for back up and they should be sent soon. After Colonel Sheppard has been released, we must reach the control room for this base to disable the sensors and allow your warship, the Daedalus to beam down more soldiers to distract Taethos and his men."

"What good's a distraction going to be? I mean, you guys use weapons similar to the staff weapons the Goa'uld use and they fire faster!" Rodney called behind her and she turned her head slightly to see that he had put the tablet away and was hurrying to keep up with them.

"Taethos plans to invade the Genii homeworld in a couple of hours," Apollo replied, "I must stop him and destroy the Wraith'gul before he can use it to wipe my people out."

"You're Genii?"

"But the Wraith'gul needs an Ancient or someone with the gene to use it, you said so yourself!" both Lorne and Rodney's voices asked at the same time.

They turned another corridor before stopping in front of a door and Apollo tapped a series of keys on a small hidden control panel before the door slid open and gestured for them to enter. Teyla stepped into the small room and immediately saw her tac vest, P90 and Wraith stunner on the ground. She picked up her gear and immediately put it on; checking to make sure everything was secure.

"Yes," Apollo answered Lorne's question, "I overheard the hyperactive-"

"I am not hyperactive and my name is Dr. Rodney McKay than you very much," Rodney groused from his corner as he secured his own tac vest and weapons.

"-Dr. McKay's statement regarding the Wraith'gul's activation," Apollo continued smoothly as if Rodney did not say anything. He looked at them nervously, "If I had known you were the second-born children of the Alterans, I would have freed you sooner. I am sorry…"

The familiar whine of Ronon's gun powering up made Teyla dart a look at the Satedan to see him pointing it at Apollo who looked mildly surprised, but also a resigned expression appeared on his face. "You may shoot me if you want, Satedan, and make your way out of the base yourself, but please honor my last request, destroy the Wraith'gul before you leave this place, otherwise, my mission will be for naught."

"Mission?" Ronon asked his voice neutral.

Apollo drew himself up and Teyla frowned slightly. The way the man held himself…it was very similar to the posture she had seen in all of the military personnel within Atlantis, especially on John and on Major Lorne whenever they were faced with someone questioning their decisions. Apollo, Akiesios, whatever name he went by, he was military…that much was certain.

"I am Arileon Apollo of the Agentus. My mission was to infiltrate Taethos' group of rebels and assassinate him if he posed a threat to my people. We are not Genii, but the effects of the Wraith'gul when sent through the chapp'ai have the ability to affect my homeworld," he said, his blue eyes glittering with pride.

"Your people, the Klisan'thus," Ronon tilted his head, his eyes hard and unreadable.

"My people, the Furlings," Apollo replied.

And in that moment, Teyla knew something profound had changed, but she did not know what it was.

Dr. Rodney McKay always prided himself on figuring out the solution to the toughest problems. He also prided himself on his vast knowledge of both the alien races Stargate Command had encountered over the years, especially with his one-year exile to Russia, and his subsequent trip to the Pegasus Galaxy. Even after they had established continued contact with Earth over a year ago, he still prided himself on knowing all of the facts of the war in the two galaxies and what efforts were being made to halt both the Ori and the Wraith. After all, such knowledge and discoveries in either galaxy would perhaps benefit one front of the war or the other.

And with that fact in stone, he knew that the last of the four races of the Great Alliance had never been discovered or hinted about in any of SG-1 or any of the SG teams' missions throughout the years of operation. There was just an arbitrary mention of the Furlings on PB2-908 in the ruins of what was once a great meeting hall where SG-1 had discovered it on one of their first missions. All four races that had banded together to form an alliance had communicated with the common language of the atoms that had made up the periodic table, but that was the last time the Furlings had been mentioned.

There was another mission that Rodney had heard involved the once-disgraced Colonel Harry Maybourne and archways that transported people over vast distances, but most of that mission report had been deemed top level classified, signed and sealed by General O'Neill himself and he had no inclination to cross paths with O'Neill any more than he had to, given the fact that the man did not like him.

But to find out that Apollo, Akiesios, whatever his name was, that he was a Furling, the last missing race of the alliance, was completely mind boggling. Not so much in the scientific sense, but more in the what-the-hell-did-we-do-to-deserve-this type of sense.

"Furlings…" he blinked, staring at the handsome man. "Oh…" his mind raced at the possibilities, a thousand questions as to who, what, and why did they leave, along with so much more, but all his mouth could say was that simple word. However, just as fast, his mind was racing towards the implications of the Wraith'gul, the fact that it was such a dangerous weapon, they needed to destroy it quickly before it could kill them all; and why did the Ancients even build such a thing in the first place? Shouldn't they have known that humans were going to be curious about their technology – not that he had any problem poking around and finding out things worked – he really liked that sort of thing, figuring out how life worked was another-

"McKay!" Lorne's bark of his name startled him out of his thoughts as he realized that everyone else was waiting for him in the hall and he was the only one left in the little closet space where their tac vests and weapons had been thrown in.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized hastily before hurrying forward and brushed past the Major, ignoring his eye-roll and followed behind Teyla and Ronon who was on point. Apollo walked in front of them, cautiously pausing occasionally to listen for any signs of guards who may have discovered their escape.

They stopped in an intersection of the two halls and his worry jumped a little higher. "Why did we stop? What's-"

"The control room is down there. There should be three Klisan'thus on duty. My access code is," Apollo paused for a second, before shrugging to himself, "I believe perhaps 44325 if the Tau'ri uses a base of 10 like the Alterans?"

"Yes," Rodney replied quickly at the look directed to him from the Furling. "And why do you call them Klisa'nthus when you're Furlings?"

"Because in our natural state, we are Klisan'thus, in your humanoid shape, we are Furlings. My people believe it to be easier for your kind to comprehend," he definitely heard the slight arrogant tone the man used and bristled. A part of him wanted to come up with a witty reply of sort to knock Apollo down a few pegs, but he caught the warning look Major Lorne gave him and backed down.

However, something still niggled at him. "Where are you going?"

"To get Colonel Sheppard," Apollo replied before turning to Lorne, "my code should be able to lock the door behind you should you encounter any resistance."

"Whoa wait, I should-"

"McKay we're going to need you to crack the computers," the Major's tone brook for no argument and he sighed.

"Fine," he hated when everyone relied on him. Yes he could work with pressure, but this constant pressure was enough to break some people. It was a miracle that he hadn't been driven completely insane by his working conditions yet. "Always rely on the scientist," he grumbled as he followed Lorne and his men down one of the halls, Apollo, Teyla, and Ronon going down the opposite way.

As they headed to the control room he noted that all of the walls looked the same, dreary and very reddish and dry. He knew that if someone handed him a map of the place, he would have a very hard time getting out let alone figure out where he was.

He drew out his handgun, nervous as he saw Lorne, and Brown slide up against the entrance of one side of the walls, him and Pearson on the other. He knew he was expected not to participate what was probably an upcoming firefight, and while he was grateful for that, he still couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear. He hated firefights, was a poor shot, and they always ended up with him getting at least an injury of sorts, no matter how minor.

His last injury was from Sheppard himself as the man had obviously not possessed all of his mental faculties and shot him! Shot him like he was some enemy Wraith! Without even listening to his pleas! He would have thought that the years of their grudging…friendship, he was reluctant to admit, that Sheppard would at least somehow recognize or at least hear a man's pleas before shooting.

He saw Lorne make a signal for three before a couple of other signals that he did not really recognize. Rodney wished he had learned some military hand signals from Sheppard as he felt completely out of the loop. The Major punched the series of numbers on the control panel and just as suddenly the door slid open and all of them rushed in. Rodney followed behind, his gun pointed downwards like he was taught and he peered in just in time to see three of the Klisan'thus fall to the ground in a burst of gunfire before silence reigned once more.

"Huh…" he muttered mostly under his breath as he stepped in cautiously. He would never admit it, but seeing how fast a strike team worked when ambushing people was a visceral experience to say the least.

"Pearson, Brown, secure the door and lock it. McKay, front and center," Lorne barked at him and he hurried over to the console that had been once occupied by a Klisan'thus, stepping over the large furry body before sitting down in the chair.

He tapped a few keystrokes on what looked like their version of a keyboard before looking up at the monitor and a pit of dread formed in his stomach. This couldn't be… "Oh no," he groaned as he stared at all of the symbols and tapped a few more keys.

"What?" Lorne demanded behind him.

He grimaced, wondering how he was going to figure this one out. "According to the sensors," he could barely read the fast moving Lantean symbols let alone translate about half of the stuff on the screen, but most of it was somewhat similar to the systems of Atlantis itself, "its connected to the stargate itself. If we deactivate the sensors, we have no way of getting off this planet."

"So, the Daedalus is in orbit, according to what Apollo said," Lorne shrugged and Rodney shook his head, military types, they did not get it.

"Yeah, but it also is telling me that there's at least a hundred of not more Klisan'thus, Genii, whatever, on the planet right now, most of them going through the stargate. We deactivate the sensors now, we shut the gate down. And that will render us unable to see anyone!"

"And they'll figure out that it'll be from here," Lorne slowly nodded, realizing the dire situation they were in.

"Yes!" he hated being right, "and right now, if they know where here, we won't be able to escape, grand plan or not! The Daedalus can't tell which one of us is which so they can't beam us out even if they wanted to!"

"Can't we just leave now and go to an isolate spot-"

"No!" good God, how hard was it to press upon the clueless Major that they were utterly screwed over this time, "you don't get it. There are hundreds of Furlings, Genii, whatever crawling around up there right now. More than we encountered in the village. It doesn't matter if Sheppard came in that Jumper; we can't get out with that many people around!"

"So what do we do?!" Lorne snapped back at him, and Rodney recoiled slightly at the harsh tone he used.

He opened his mouth several times, but just as he was about to reply, a beep from the console made him turn back and he stared up at the screen, tapping a few more buttons and brought up a layout of the compound they were in. "Uh oh," he breathed out quietly.

"What?"

"I think this is the hallway we split up, and I'm presuming that the three dots in that room," he pointed vaguely at the three dots in a room, "is probably Apollo, Teyla, and Caveman."

"Yeah?"

"Well, there are six dots moving towards that room," he pointed to six dots moving rather quickly towards the three in the room.

"That's not good," Lorne muttered and it was the understatement of the year.

Apollo glanced around the medical ward, breathing a quick sigh of relief as he saw that no one but the assistants that had been assigned to him had touched anything. Transforming back to his natural form, he had walked in and hurried his assistants out of the ward, telling them that he needed to conduct some research in private and for them not to return for a while before changing back and gesturing to the Satedan and Athosian to come forth from their hiding spots.

After he had told the humans that he was a Furling, he saw the humans' faces light up in comprehension and recognition. However, in the Satedan and Athosian, there was only confusion, but Major Lorne had placed a hand on the Satedan's shoulder and whispered urgently in his ear, and it was only then that the pneumatic and energy powered gun was removed from his face.

He knew full well what the gesture meant from Ronon Dex. It said that he was going to trust him for now, but if he made any suspicious moves, he would die instantly. He had then explained his plan to them, for them to split up while he removed Colonel Sheppard from the ne'u'lial and brought him to the control room. He hoped by then that Dr. McKay would have figured out how to disable the sensors from the stargate and enable the Daedalus to beam in soldiers to help them escape while he made his way towards the Wraith'gul.

"Well?" Dex looked anything but happy; his gun pointed towards the ground, but also not-quite towards him as he hurried towards the far side of the wall and activated the hidden panel on the wall and the secret compartment opened.

The ne'u'lial slid partway out and opened with a gentle hiss. He heard stifled exclamations of surprise from both Emmagan and Dex and ignored it as he smiled, seeing that Colonel Sheppard's wounds had all healed, including his dislocated shoulder. All that was left was some rips in his clothing, something the ne'u'lial was not designed to fix, but it was not an inconvenience.

"The hell is that?" Dex growled as the two of them approached the ne'u'lial.

"This is the ne'u'lial, it is a healing device we have developed that has the capabilities of even reviving the recently deceased," he explained.

"Recently deceased? Including those from Wraith attacks?" Emmagan looked concerned.

"No," he shook his head, "unfortunately that is one aspect the ne'u'lial cannot undo."

"Got a funky name," Dex muttered and Apollo wanted to shake his head when a sudden groan from Sheppard stopped his remark.

"Colonel Sheppard?" Apollo found himself pushed slightly to the side as Emmagan peered down into the golden depths with worried eyes.

"Ow," Sheppard grimaced, opening his eyes and blinking a few times before sitting up gingerly, "why do I feel like I've been hit by a ton of bricks?"

Apollo gave a rueful smile and stepped forward, "You are very lucky to be alive, Colonel Sheppard. If it was not for the ne'u'lial, you would have died from internal bleeding and poisoning of your blood from your injuries."

"Ne-what?" Sheppard looked at him owlishly before looking around him and he saw the human's eyes widen in either surprise or shock he could not tell. "This…this…it's a sarcophagus, isn't it?"

"Yes," Apollo looked at him, puzzled, "my people called it the ne'u'lial, but sarcophagus is the Tau'ri and Goa'uld term."

"You said Goa'uld," the look Sheppard gave him was unreadable, but he thought he saw a spark of suspicion there.

"John," Teyla placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "they call themselves the Klisan'thus, Furlings."

"Furlings?!" if it was possible, the Colonel's eyebrows shot up into his hairline as he stared at him.

"You may know me as Akiesios, the one who healed you?" he tried hesitantly.

"The cat-person? You're him? But you're…human," Sheppard looked a bit confused and Apollo resisted the urge to hiss at the derogatory term. They did not know, they did not know, he repeated slowly to himself.

"We are shapeshifters," he replied stiffly, "in my human form, I am called Apollo."

"Oh, well…nice to meet you," Sheppard gave him a hesitant smile before attempting to climb out of the ne'u'lial with some help from Teyla, "still doesn't explain about the sarcophagus."

"The Goa'uld scavenged our technology," it wasn't quite the truth, but it would have to do for now considering the circumstances.

The Colonel gave him a look that clearly said he did not really believe what he had just said, but in light of a rescue, would not ask questions for now. He accepted a FN P90, as he had found out from Colonel Caldwell what those large machine guns were called from Teyla who had been carrying two from the storage room and hefted it with his right hand, the tattered remains of his tac vest unable to clip the gun.

Apollo touched the panel once more and the ne'u'lial slid back into its hidden compartment. He turned around in time to see all three of them pointing their guns towards the door of his medical ward. "What is it?" he asked, perplexed before he smelled it. Something wasn't quite right…

"I thought I saw something down the hall before it disappeared," Ronon growled and the hairs on the back of his neck tingled. Something was definitely wrong…

"Oh no," he realized what Ronon had seen just as he saw stars as the first punch raked across his face and pain flared across his head.

John shifted his gun higher as the man who called himself Apollo suddenly flew across the room, crashing in a heap against a small cart full of surgical tubing and gauze. He thought he saw a flash of something where Apollo had been standing and his finger automatically tightened on the trigger, sending a spray of bullets towards the area.

At the same time Teyla and Ronon opened fire on other parts of the room, but surprisingly they didn't hit anything, only medical equipment and the walls. Suddenly John found himself flying through the air as he felt something punch his chest. He crashed heavily and painfully against a wall, banging his head against it and seeing his vision blur once before he slid down onto the ground. A soft groan of involuntary pain emerged from his lips as he grimaced and tried to get up.

However, just as he tried to move, he felt something grab his throat and pin him to the ground, before it felt like someone stepped onto his chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. He gasped, trying to breathe through his constricted windpipe before he heard a low growling sound and the air shimmered above him as a very large and furry Klisan'thus hovered above him. On the creature's wrist was something that looked like a Sodan invisibility device that he had remembered reading about in the latest batch of mission reports from Stargate Command.

"Hold your fire Satedan if you wish your companions to live," the familiar voice of Taethos made him slide his bleary gaze away from the growling Klisan'thus who was holding him down to see him pinning Apollo against the opposite wall, except it wasn't Taethos – but rather a very tall and dark furred with whitish streaks Klisan'thus speaking, his slit-eyes malevolent and a primal smile stretched across his jaw. It looked like the hellish version of the Cheshire Cat.

It was also then that he noticed Apollo's face was smeared with a black ichor of sorts, blood he realized, from a set of nasty cuts parallel across his right cheek. No doubt caused by Taethos in his initial attack against them.

Near the two he saw Teyla, also pinned much like he was by another Klisan'thus. Ronon stood near her, gun switching back and forth to the different targets, his face unsure, frustration coloring his expression. "How come you're not changing?" he asked loudly and John was confused as to why he asked that question when Taethos' cold laughter filled the air.

"Did he not tell you? He would rather save his own skin than to help any of you precious Tau'ri," Taethos chuckled, "yes, I know you are the vaunted Tau'ri, the second-born children. It is why I have kept most of you alive, or at least those of you who carry the genes of the Alterans." He turned his head slightly, "And you, traitor, I knew you would have been loyal to the Agentus all these years."

Apollo hissed something out that sounded a lot like a curse of sorts and was rewarded with a backhand to his face that whipped his head around and smeared more black blood against the wall. Taethos' eyes flashed dangerously before he drew a calming breath and turned to Ronon once more. "I ask only one more time, Satedan, lower your weapon and your friends will not have to die."

He saw Ronon's gaze fall on him and John tried to shake his head no, to tell Ronon not to give into this sadistic bastard's demands, to blast them all to hell, but he couldn't even move his neck. "Don't-" his words were choked off as the pressure on his neck increased and he began to see spots of black before his vision.

Just as he thought he was about to pass out from the lack of oxygen, he heard the whine of Ronon powering down his weapon and the pressure on his neck decreased instantly and he drew in a sliver of sweet, sweet, breath, even though the overwhelming pungent and gagging smell of wet cat hair filled his nostrils. He coughed once, his chest hurting from the applied pressure.

"Good," Taethos gestured to one of his men and from his line of vision he saw the Klisan'thus who had been holding Teyla down get up and grab Ronon's weapon before tossing it to the far corner.

"You still didn't change," Ronon growled at Apollo who had a slightly dazed look to his eyes, still reeling from the blow Taethos gave to him.

"Don't you know, Satedan? A Klisan'thus or Furling's change to different form is when they are the most vulnerable. Ah, I can see it, you knew, but you did not believe it, shame," Taethos gave them a toothy smile before suddenly grabbing Apollo by the front of his body armor and tossing him unceremoniously next to Teyla before walking over.

John suddenly found himself being hauled up by his tac vest and barely caught his feet on the ground as breathed in more air quickly and was shoved towards the impromptu group on the ground. He stumbled and caught himself against the wall above Teyla's head before turning slightly and used it to support his still semi-unresponsive muscles, his breath coming in short quick gasps. When he was thrown, the impact must have hit his spine a bit for his muscles not to move so well.

"It is why Apollo wants to save his own skin, not willing to die for any of you," Taethos taunted as he towered over all of them, before glancing back to see a few more heavily armed Klisan'thus holding short looking miniature staff weapons on them, all activated and pointed at them.

He hadn't realized it before when he had first stormed the underground compound, but it had explained the beam weaponry they had encountered. He had never seen a Jaffa staff weapon fired in real life, but had read about them from the various mission reports and even hefted one. It certainly lent credence to the fact that the Goa'uld stole Furling technology based on what he was seeing. He curled his fingers, a tingling feeling sweeping up and down his whole body as he could feel his nerves return to their normal functions. However, he also knew that there was nothing he could do to free them. One look at Apollo's bleeding face told him all he needed to know about the Klisan'thus and he still could remember the headless bodies of his men in the initial firefight.

"So," he managed to make his muscles work in coordination and gingerly stood, "I'm guessing keeping us alive is a priority."

"Correct, Colonel Sheppard," Taethos gestured with a claw to one of his men and one lumbered forward with what looked like bindings and cuffed one end to one of Ronon's wrists before dragging him forward and clipped the other end to a medical palate that looked liked it was built into the wall. He gestured again and two more Klisan'thus moved forward, both of them brandishing their weapons.

John got the hint and held his hands away from his body, saying that he wasn't going to make trouble and moved forward a little. However, he frowned as he saw that it was not Teyla who also moved, but Apollo, picking himself gingerly off of the ground, still a bit dizzied, but staggered forward. His frown turned to horror as he realized what Taethos intended.

It was as if everything slowed down right then and there as he turned to go back and somehow protect, shield, do something to stop Taethos from what he was going to do, but someone held firm on his arm, nearly yanking him off of the ground. He looked to his left to see Taethos pull out not a short staff weapon like the ones his men were using, but rather a full length one that he had seen the Jaffa Teal'c carry around and pointed the bulbous end straight at Teyla whose face looked like it could have been carved from stone.

"NO!" John shouted as Taethos activated the weapon with a hiss and fired.