Chapter 7
Struthea flicked a few buttons on a consol in the control room. Her lips were pursed, and her eyes narrow. In short, she was annoyed. Iepus had vanished, she had been knocked out and Muris was more interested in one of the Marines than in how hurt she was. She hadn't felt this betrayed since Celare had let word leak out of her work to the Ancients. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of Celare. He had been one of her most trusted suppliers back on Atlantis, and he had changed sides so fast it had made her head spin. It seemed like everyone she thought were her friends had begun to betray her.
On the screen, a series of numbers and letters flashed up for a few seconds, but she didn't even notice. A tear had slipped down her check, and she was trying not to show that she was crying.
"Ok, we're good to go!" cried Rodney, zipping around the room, pressing buttons, and plugging the device into several computers.
Ronon and John looked both ways before creeping out of the lab. Carson followed, a gun trembling in his hands. Last came Rodney, looking exited and completely oblivious to the danger. "We need to go to the ZPM room," he whispered, and John turned left.
The ZPM room was completely dark, with the faint glow of the ZPM in it's plinth. Rodney calmly touched a panel on the wall, and ever so gently removed the crystal that Struthea had put there. He quickly substituted it with the prototype clutched in his hand. Purple lightning crackled over the wall, rose to the ceiling and up through the tower of Atlantis.
Elizabeth blinked. Where was she? She was in the Control Room, standing next to...Struthea? The girl turned, saw her scared eyes, and reacted instantly. She spun around, and would have kicked her, but Elizabeth ducked, and stumbled against a consol. Struthea punched her, but Elizabeth grabbed her arm and pulled down sharply. Struthea went down, Elizabeth went up.
Struthea flicked her blonde hair out of her eyes. Elizabeth put up her fists, but to her surprise, Struthea was knocked out from behind. Teyla stood behind her, a long pole grasped in her hands, and one eyebrow raised.
Struthea opened one eye sluggishly. She saw Dr Weir standing at the DHD, with Teyla beside her. Struthea almost smiled, she had locked the system. She crept up, bending down to get the pole that Teyla had dropped. With one swift motion she knocked out both of them. Good thing they were the only two in the room. She bent over the consol, dialling quickly.
John rushed to the Gate-room, just as it activated. Struthea turned and looked at him through the folds of a long white cloak.
He raised his P90, aiming at her, and said "You're not getting out of here alive, Struthea!"
She smiled, lowered the hood of her cloak and dropped it to the ground. It fluttered down her legs and onto the silent floor. "I wouldn't try and stop me if I was you," she whispered.
John didn't move.
Struthea sighed, lifted her hands, palms upwards and closed her eyes. Golden, pulsating light flowed from her hands, zoomed into John and knocked him off his feet. He slammed against the wall, to the sound of some-one screaming. He picked himself up, but Struthea strode over to him, and lifted him up by his collar as if he was a rag-doll. Her face was grim, and her eyes narrowed. She flung him aside, and he crunched onto the stairs. He cried out, and tried to move his arm holding his gun, but it dangled uselessly. It was broken. His vision began to cloud, and he was dimly aware of the sound of the gate dialling, and of Struthea standing over his crumpled body, squaring up to finish him off.
A slight wind ruffled his hair as the gate activated. He looked up in time to see Struthea with her hands in the air, her mouth wide open and her hair blowing forwards in the breeze. The kawoosh was behind her, making her appear to glow. How could he ever have thought that he could beat an Ascended being?
Between her hands, a flicker of electricity formed, growing into a bright blue lightning blot that crackled and fizzed. She was about to bring it down, but...
"Enough," said a stern voice from behind her, and there stood Yajoca, dressed in a full white robe. White light rose from the ground, lifting him into the air and carrying him over to Struthea.
Her face was white, terrified, but angry at the same time. "Celare," she breathed. She to rose into the air, white light tenderly encircling her slim form.
He lifted his hands, and she (barely recognisable now, as she was in her ascended from) zoomed towards his form, a bolt of red-gold energy. He took it, and electricity shot from the tangled forms, hitting the walls, and bouncing back again.
John lifted his head, and saw Struthea's face staring down at him from her great height. For a moment she looked almost sorry, but he blinked and she had gone. Celare's form enveloped her's, and with a pitiful scream, she vanished.
John's head lolled to one side, and he was conscious just to see Celare looking down at the sparkles that rained down from where Struthea had fought her last great battle. And lost.
