It's Not Easy being an Intergalactic Space Explorer
Chapter 9
Perseverance
Sheppard sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on his boots. He was exhausted. The insomnia wouldn't go away, and neither would all the bad news.
The bombings kept happening, but lately there hadn't been too many. Atlantis had encouraged their allies to adopt a 'see something, say something' campaign, and it was apparently working. The situation with the clones, however, had gone from bad to worse. A clone had assassinated a religious leader on Gedrel. On the planet Sedari, one had tried to kill a politician. The man had survived, but was seriously wounded, and that 'Sheppard' had escaped through the Gate. But on other worlds, the bodies of heavily-armed clones were found on the street, dead for no obvious reason and lying in pools of rotting filth. Since then, there had been no further sightings, but John didn't think the clones were gone for good. Their instability might just be a temporary setback.
Woolsey had suggested that Sheppard limit his trips off-world, just to be safe, but John had unequivocally refused to be intimidated. Seeing his own body used as a weapon of terror was devastating for Sheppard. Seeing their allies question Atlantis' ability to protect them was the absolute last straw. John had had enough. Time to be proactive, not just reactive.
"Ok, everyone, you all know what's been going on lately," said Sheppard. He and Woolsey had called a meeting of the City's senior civilian and military leadership to brainstorm on how to fight back. "The Wraith Worshippers have been basically kicking our butts for the last few months, and I'm sick of it. Frankly, we've been underestimating their capabilities. They have become more than the strike-and-disappear terrorists that we've been accustomed to, a lot more. Then there's the Wraith. They have cloaking technology now on their darts and may very well have it on their cruisers, too. And finally, there have been too goddamn many times that the Wraith Worshippers have gotten through security measures that we thought could keep them out."
"Mr. Woolsey and I want your input on what we can do, not just to counter this insurgency, but so we can get the drop on our enemy."
Woolsey spoke next. "We need to take advantage of every resource at our disposal. We have thousands of eyes and ears on dozens of planets that I think we can use more effectively. We also have the determination and creativity of each one of you. Any suggestions you have are welcome, even, as Sheppard said to me the other day, 'the wackiest ones.' (John smiled a little self-consciously at that.) We look forward to hearing from you."
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"Unauthorized off-world activation!"
"Oh, god, now what?" Sheppard came out of Woolsey's office where they had been reviewing the latest intelligence on enemy activity. "What do we have, Chuck?" he asked warily.
"It's a video transmission, Sir, coded high priority, from…Oren Sidal."
"Who the heck is that?"
"Uh…," said Chuck, checking his read-outs, "He's the chief physician on Sedari."
"Ok, then, open a channel."
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Jennifer Keller was making her report to Atlantis over a grainy video feed from Sedari. "It's as bad, if not worse, as Dr. Sidal told us, Mr. Woolsey. These children are seriously injured. At least eleven of them should be transported to the City for intensive treatment of their burns and respiratory distress. They desperately need antibiotics before infection sets in. The children – and there are some injured adults, too – require a sterile, well-equipped, hospital environment. The Sedari do not have the type of medical equipment or facilities to adequately care for these victims."
"I cannot believe, Doctor," Woolsey said sadly, "that anyone would set fire to a school with children inside it. Please tell Dr. Sidal that we will dispatch medical assistance to his people right away. I'll also be sending security teams to investigate this terrible case of arson."
Within a few hours, a total of 19 children and teenagers were being cared for in Atlantis' infirmary. One or both of their parents accompanied them, not wanting their children to be alone in a strange place. Several adults suffering from minor burns or smoke inhalation were also being treated. Dr. Keller expected that most patients would need to stay on Atlantis for a few weeks. Sheppard was personally heading a team to hunt down those responsible. When terror attacks targeted innocent kids…he'd seen that as a soldier on Earth, and he would not stand for it here in Pegasus.
After several days, Jennifer was pleased to see that her patients were doing quite well, physically and emotionally. Ronon, Teyla, Woolsey, and even McKay and John made efforts to visit the children and play with them. Jennifer often had to chastise Ronon for carrying happy little kids around on his shoulders, and more than once some adult had tripped over a ball in the hallway during an impromptu game of soccer.
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One evening, very late…
John tightened the laces on his sneakers. Ok, where did he want to run tonight? Maybe a route that would eventually take him outdoors. It had been very warm on Atlantis lately, but at 1:00 AM there would be a pleasant breeze coming in off the ocean. Sheppard strapped on his watch and wristband, and took off in the direction of the farthest pier.
He had been jogging for about 20 minutes when the klaxon went off – three short bursts, sounding over and over again. It was the alert that said the City was being breached.
Sheppard's hand automatically went to his right leg for a gun. Of course there was nothing there. Shit! Where was he? He'd been so zoned out during his run that he wasn't quite sure where he was. Taking a quick look around, he realized he was no longer in the residential section of the City, so there weren't a lot of doors to knock on for help. The alarm suddenly stopped blaring. Ducking into an alcove in the hallway, he tapped on his earpiece. "Ronon? Lorne? Woolsey? McKay? Teyla?!" Nothing. Crap. Had they already been taken? Who had taken them? Sheppard had to get to the armory. He saw a transporter up ahead, got in and started to select a destination that would take him not directly to the armory but very nearby. If the bad guys had already made it there, John didn't want to walk in on them, unarmed. But, wait a minute, he didn't have to be unarmed…
Sheppard's request for security improvements had resulted in one particularly clever solution. Scattered across the City were several small, hidden caches of weaponry and other equipment. To access this gear, you didn't need the ATA gene, you didn't need an access code, you didn't need an old-fashioned key – and you didn't need a power source. All you needed were your fingers – press a certain non-descript spot on a non-descript wall and a panel would slide open. This had been Woolsey's idea – Woolsey, a compulsive reader of mystery novels. Hidden cubbyholes were a staple plot element in those kinds of books. Sheppard had loved how deviously low-tech his idea was. He had put Major Lorne in charge of identifying strategic locations, and instructed McKay to devise shielding for the sites that would block scans which could detect gunpowder and explosives. Only a handful of people knew about these secret places. They'd had to memorize where they were, and could not write down or record anything online about them. Now, the enemy might somehow find these stashes, but Sheppard and Woolsey had agreed that, if Atlantis were under attack, the benefits outweighed the risks.
Sheppard chose a transporter destination that brought him within several yards of a cache. It was the one closest to the Control Room, where he expected to find many, if not most, of the intruders. John opened the secret compartment and removed a Tac vest, a Wraith stunner, a gun which he strapped onto his right thigh, some knives, and a P-90. He slowly advanced, hugging the wall and alert to the slightest sound or movement. As he rounded a corner he startled an armed man. Before he could cry out, Sheppard took him down with the stunner and managed to catch him before he fell. He desperately hoped that no one had heard anything, or seen the brilliant blue flash of the gun. From up ahead came several voices. One of them was…it was Woolsey! Another belonged to McKay. Someone was speaking sharply to him, angrily, someone John knew, but who…? It…it was one of the parents from Sedari, what the heck were they…?
Sheppard never finished his thought. A Wraith stunner blast, at close range and hard into his chest, took him down in seconds.
He never saw that the person firing the gun was a kid.
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Woolsey and McKay tried to stand up and see what the disturbance was, but were shoved back down into their chairs by the guards. They were both seated, in their bathrobes and pajamas, at one of the consoles on the upper level overlooking the Gate. Ronon and Lorne, also in nightclothes, were on the floor near them, bound hand and foot and propped up against a wall. Down below, several security personnel lay dead.
McKay's heart sank as he saw Sheppard being dragged into the room. He looked at Woolsey, Ronon and Lorne in dismay. They had all hoped that, somehow, John hadn't been caught, since he hadn't yet been corralled into the Control Room with the rest of them. The men carrying Sheppard threw him roughly to the floor. Then, pulling out some rope, they began to tie him up.
"Hey, c'mon, what do you need to do that for? He's out cold, he can't hurt anyone!" said McKay.
"He won't be unconscious forever, and he's much too dangerous when he's awake," said one of the men binding Sheppard.
"Well, then, at least let us take care of him, he may be badly injured," pleaded Woolsey.
Faced with two relatively weak-looking men in their pajamas, the guard laughed and said, "Do what you want. But it might be better if he stayed unconscious for a while. Vorek has plans for him." Vorek was the man who had been yelling at McKay earlier and who was clearly the leader. He was tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a muscular build difficult to detect under the 'ordinary villager from Sedari' clothes he had been wearing since arriving on Atlantis. Vorek was a Wraith Worshipper.
It took nearly 45 minutes for Sheppard to wake up, and he did that slowly. McKay and Woolsey had managed to get him upright and leaning into a corner, and Woolsey had rolled up his own bathrobe and put it behind John's head. It was the only comfort he could provide; the Sedari had refused to give them water or medicine; ironic, considering all the help that Atlantis had given to them.
McKay gave a tremendous sigh of relief as John's eyes opened and began to focus on him and Woolsey. "Sheppard?" Rodney said worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm awake, and Christ, I really hate stunners," John said weakly. He looked beyond McKay to see Ronon and Lorne against the opposite wall. "Are you guys alright?" They nodded back 'yes.' "Hey, McKay?' continued Sheppard, "how come we're tied up and you two aren't? Are you gettin' special treatment or something?" he joked.
"No, I think they believe that Richard and I are such a couple of weaklings that they'd be wasting rope."
"McKay, what the hell's going on?" asked John, now completely serious.
"They're Wraith Worshippers, Sheppard. All of them – all the parents of those injured kids from the fire. When we brought the families here, we just basically gave them a free pass to get into the City and…well…spy on us and learn whatever they wanted."
"The children - the older ones and the teenagers - are cultists, too," added Woolsey.
Before John could ask another question, the guards, realizing their prisoner was awake, turned their attention back to Sheppard. Pushing McKay and Woolsey out of the way, they yanked John to his feet and dragged him over to Vorek.
"Hey, I know you," John said to him. "You're the father of that little boy, the one with the third-degree burns, the one whose life Dr. Keller saved."
Sheppard got punched in the stomach for that. "Even if my son had died," replied Vorek, "his sacrifice would have been worth it. All of the children went to school knowing what was required of them."
"What?" John managed to straighten up from the blow so he could look Vorek in the eyes. "Am I hearing you right? You, the parents, set the fire? Did…uh…did those kids go to school that day knowing you were going to burn it down? Knowing they might die, and happy to do it, so your people could invade Atlantis?!"
"My daughter is the one who just shot you, Sheppard! All but the littlest children are true followers. When they are older, they will gladly make sacrifices as well."
"When they are older?!" yelled Ronon. "The most badly injured were the little ones! They could have all died!" He got a kick to the ribs for his outburst.
McKay couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought back to Sedrig, the inconspicuous, ordinary-looking guy, the Wraith Worshipper informant who had helped them find the Compound and Sheppard. He remembered thinking that 'maybe that's why sometimes terrorists were so effective – they were the kind of people you'd never suspect were capable of such violence.' Yeah. Like 11 year olds. And their supposedly loving parents.
"Enough talking," ordered Vorek. "Untie the Colonel's wrists – leave his feet tied – and sit him down," he said to the guards, who did as they were ordered, then shoved John into a chair. "Now, Sheppard, I…."
"Wait, wait, just one more question, ok?! And don't punch me in the stomach this time?"
"What?!" snapped Vorek.
"The rest of the people who live in the City: what are you doing with them?"
"As we speak, my followers are gathering them into your 'cafeteria' and 'observation room' so that we can adequately guard them. It is also an efficient way of selecting persons to be killed, if you and your friends don't cooperate with my requests."
"Now, getting back to what I want, Sheppard. In a short time, more of our brethren on Sedari are going to dial your Gate. We know of your protective shield and that it must be lowered before anyone may pass through the wormhole. We also have learned -heh, heh, do you know how much children can learn when they are left to run around unmonitored? – that only certain persons, such as yourself, can lower it. So, when the Gate is activated in a few minutes, you will place your hand on this device, lower the shield, and let everyone through."
"And if I don't? Hey, I gotta ask that, they say it in all the TV shows and movies…"
Vorek leaned down very close to John and said, "I will place your loud-mouthed Satedan friend down below by the Gate. Then I will dial an address and watch him disintegrate as the unstable wormhole fills the room."
"Well, uh," said John slowly, "that would be a way to make me cooperate."
"Sheppard, do not do what this man asks! You can't!" cried out Ronon.
"Ronon, I can't let them kill you, big guy."
"Sheppard, are you crazy?" said McKay. "You can't let more of these people into the City!"
"Rodney, this is my decision to make, so when I'm told to, I'm going to push that button over there, put my hand down and lower the shield." As he spoke, John stared at McKay with hard, fixed eyes.
"But Colonel," Woolsey started to say.
"No, no, it's ok, Richard," said Rodney. "I understand what John has to do."
In a few minutes, the Wraith Worshippers on Sedari began to dial in. Vorek suddenly wrenched Sheppard's left hand behind his back and pinned it there. "Do it now, Colonel. Place your hand on the screen – touch nothing else – and lower the shield."
As Ronon, Lorne and the others watched in disbelief, John placed his hand on the biometric scanner. The shield descended, and Vorek's men began to come through. And then…
"Now, Rodney, now!" McKay thrust his hand under one of the consoles and activated a switch. Instantly, the shield closed. Just as it had happened years ago with the Genii soldiers, one by one the Sedari were disintegrated on the other side.
One of the guards dragged McKay away from the console by his neck. Vorek was incensed. He turned on Sheppard. "What have you done? Lower the shield again!"
"No."
"You!" Vorek ordered a guard, "Force his hand upon the device."
"It's not gonna work, Vorek," said John as his hand was grabbed. And it didn't. "You see, McKay – the guy you decided not to tie up, by the way – just pushed a button that has completely over-ridden the hand-print system on the computer. The only way to lower the shield again is for me to enter a special access code. No code, no Gate."
"I will kill your friends!"
"Go ahead."
Vorek looked at the others. They were as quietly defiant as Sheppard.
"No, no, NO!" screamed Vorek. Then he grabbed a rifle and swung it at Sheppard, over and over again…
TBC…
