Chapter Ten
Legend or truth?
A/N: Chapter ten already?! Wow, I just may finish this and turn it into a series.
Disclaimers: We all know by now that I own only Flanna and Susie.
Susie was having a bad couple of months, that was the only reason she could think of. For the past three months, she's gone from being Kolya's prisoner and fed on by Wraith to being Ford's minon. Not to mention that Aiden was still not believing the whole 'I'm Sheppard's daughter bit'. Plus he was constantly going off to get more enizeme and dragging Susie along with him.
One of these days... She promised herself, wanting to knock out Ford. But it was hard to escape a super-human overly paranoid. It was like escaping from Both Ronon and Flanna only ten times worse. Susan Sheppard promised herself that if she ever got away from Ford, she would never go on another off-world mission again. She now knew what the Expedition was talking about when they said that Sheppard was a trouble magnet. It seemed to her that not only John was but all Sheppards were.
"You ready?" Ford asked Susie, on his way to another mission to get his precious enizme.
"I don't have much a choice do I?" Susie asked standing up from the hard bench she had been sitting on. "I do how ever want a weapon this time."
Ford grinned suddenly. "You'll get one when hell freezes over. If you are a really a Sheppard, which I highly doubt, you would've figured a way out by now."
Susan was really getting tired of the games that Ford was playing with her. "I will give you three reasons why I'm a Sheppard." She told Ford, starting to count on her fingers.
"One, A sheppard is never defenseless, not even when they have no weapons." She tapped her pointer finger, counting. "Two, You have underestimated me, Aiden." She touched her middle finger. "And Three... I've had a bad couple of months, so don't even start!"
Instead of tapping her ring finger, Susie launched herself at the surprised Ford. Letting go of all thought, Susie started to fight the not so helpless lieutenant Aiden Ford. Aiden was very surprised when Susie kept up with his attacks and even started to put the former Lueitenant on the defense.
Never mess with Susan when she's got three months of pent up anger, frustration, and feelings of helplessness bubbling out of her, you'll only get really hurt if you do.
Ford didn't stand a chance agaisnt the whirlwind of terror going at him, nor could a Tazmanin devil stand against Susie when she unleashed everything in her.
Susie had subdued the former Atlantean in a couple of minutes, something which she was sure that Flanna could have done better.
Standing up, Susan looked towards the gate and then down at the unconcious Aiden Ford. Making a deciesion, she threw her hands in the air, and looked heaven ward a pleading look on her face.
Turning to the bloody plup that was Ford, she grabbed his pant legs and drug him out of the Cavern, towards the Gate. After an hour of dragging, she dropped him and leaned on her legs, panting. "For a short guy, you sure are heavy!" She huffed to herself.
*()*
Flanna walked down the hallways of Atlantis. Many people had come to ask her about the Legend that they would turn into reality. So Flanna told them the story, many spellbound as she painted the air with her words. Once done, they quickly hurried off to turn the Legend into Truth. Flanna shook her head, watching the marines or sciensists hurry off to complete their mission- Bringing Susan Teryl Sheppard home.
Walking into the Control Room, Flanna was surprised to see only Carter at the bank of computers. "Where's everyone?" She asked truly curious.
"Seems they all started to hear a certain legend and all the sciensists took off like their pants were on fire." Carter looked up from her book. "I haven't seen that many sciensists work together and not bicker since Stargate Command."
Flanna pulled over a swilve chair to sit next to her friend. "What can I say? I've got good story telling skills." She said shrugging it off as nothing.
Carter looked towards Flanna, and tried to get her to see the way the others say it. "No, your words painted pictures that the people could see in their heads, Flanna, you gave them courage to bring Susan home. If you walk into the Labs right now, I bet you will see every single person working like a bomb was about to go off, to get her home. You gave them something special and they will bring that lost solider home, no matter what. Impossible isn't impossible when Flanna Dex is involved."
Flanna sat, stunned at what Carter had told her. She wasn't trying to brianwash the Expedition members, only give them hope to achieve the Impossible. "Wow, when you say it that way... I should've just kept the Legend to myself then, huh."
Carter smiled. "Sharing the Legend with us was a gift, Flanna. I don't know how you think but I can guess that you've seen things that nobody had seen before. I remember those days, when Sg-1 was the wonder team of Stargate Command. But you saw something in those almost dead on their feet sciensists and showed them what you see and why they can get the job done." Carter leaned towards her friend.
"By the End of the Day, they will come through no matter what, and you believing in them, got those men and women to try even harder to find Lueitenant Sheppard."
Flanna stood up arubtly, heading out of the control room, "Thanks! But I think I've figured it out..." Flanna was bouncey and clicking her fingers rabidly heading towards the Labs.
Carter watched as Flanna, who was an outsider and made the rest of the team see the things that they did, the way she did. To Flanna, the Atlantis Expedition were making miracles happen every single minute, just by being in the city of the Ancestors.
*()*
Susan dropped the still-out-of-it-Ford on the gate steps. She had lugged the former Airman over several miles to reach the gate. She wasn't going to leave Aiden behind (1) because he was one of the Expedition and he was a commrade in arms, no matter what and Susie wasn't just going to leave Ford to fend for himself. And (2) Susie shared similar traits with her father and one of them was leaving no man behind.
Punching in Atlantis' address, the gate didn't activate. Susie being Susie did what she normally did, yell at the darn thing while pulling the cover off of the DHD to see what was wrong. What was wrong was this, one of the important Crystals were missing and She knew only one person that knew how Sheppards thought... Ford.
*()*
Flanna hurried to her room, deep in thought. There was something else that she had carried in her rucksack, something that her Grandmother had told her to keep safe at all cost.
Entering, she went straight towards her beaten up leather rucksack. Flanna pulled out from the bottom, a Pendant. This wasn't just any ordinary pendant either, it was shaped like the pyramid shaped design stargate symbol, with the circle above it.
Flanna held the pendant in her right hand running towards the gate room. There was more to the Legend to the Lost Warrior than just the stuff that she had told her friends. Well luckily for Atlantis, Flanna had the pendant in her bag all along, she had just forgotten all about it until... now.
Running into Rodney on the way out of the control room, Flanna stopped just short of knocking him to the ground. Rodney was about to give her a word or fifty seven on running over the Head scientsist, when he spotted something that Flanna was clutching. "What's that?" he asked totally forgetting the almost incident a few seconds earlier.
"Something I should have done when this mess first started, McKay. If you'll exscue me, I need to bring the lost back home."
"Lost? What the heck are you talking about, Flanna?!" Rodney stared after the bag of surprises. She was standing straighter than Rodney had ever seen her stand, her air was that of a Queen. She was elegant, yet stood like some one royal, a warrior, yet a woman. If Rodney didn't know better, he'd say that Flanna was of the Sheildmaidens of Rohan. But that was puposteris, the Shieldmaidens of Rohan were just a Legend... right?
*()*
Ronon was on his way to the control room, to talk with Amelia while she was on duty for the several minutes that she had left. Having Rodney almost knock him down, was something new for the ex-Satedan. Ronon had thought he had seen everything the galaxy had, but here was the head Scientist running through the halls when Rodney McKay complained about everything, even the littlest exricess.
Entering the gate room, there was even a bigger surprise for Ronon. Flanna was standing on the balcony, wearing what looked like the Pendant of Aife, Leader of the Sheildmaidens of Rohan, Queen to the Lost Warrior. Some Satedans claimed that whoever wore the pendant could find what belonged to them, but it had to be the true desendants of Aife and Eachann. While the others claimed that it would intitle the wearier to ultiment power.
But only the Dexes knew what the Pendant was, and the only Dex member that wore it, would pass it down to the oldest girl,who would then become the Leader to the Shieldmaidens of Rohan, and since Flanna was the only girl born to this Dex generation, she was the missing Commander of Rohan.
Flanna stood on the Balcony between the commanding Officer's office and the rest of the technictions. She closed her eyes concitrating on what she was about to do, while hooking the Pendant around her neck, still clutching at the Pendant with her right.
Then she sang. She started with the legends of Dex and his sons, who built a mighty civilation in a short time, to the legend of how the Mighty Dex fell in battle to a Wraith.
Then she started to sing Satedan's national Athem, Star spangled banner,(just because Susie had taught it to her and she felt that it was appropiate.) and the song about Atlantis.
The control room was put under a spell when Flanna started to sing. Her voice reminded them why they did what they did, and each sat straighter or stood straighter, proud to be there and doing what they did. One tech, slowly reached for the button that would let the rest of Atlantis, to hear Flanna's singing.
The stargate started to light up, when Flanna started to sing about the Shieldmaidens of Rohan, as did the pendant around her neck. Every six steps Flanna took forward was another Cheveron that was engaged on the stargate. When the first one took her off of the balcony, Flanna started to walk on the air, slowly walking down and forward, like coming elegantly down a staircase. The airmen that was guarding the gate, instantly pointed their weapons at Flanna, completely terrifyed for once, not that the Wraith weren't creepy, but this was creepier.
Ronon started to make motions telling the men to put down their weapons and watch as Flanna did her thing.
*()*
Flanna was standing before the gate, when the wormhole engaged. Only thing was off was the fact that the kawoosh of the gate horizion connecting wasn't there. The water like subsense was, just the kawoosh wasn't... Weirdest sight the people of Atlantis had ever seen, and they had seen plenty of those in their time of being in Pegasus galxay.
The wormhole spit out Susie Sheppard and Aiden Ford, when Flanna started to sing a song called Only in America by Brooks and Dunn. Something that reminded Flanna very much of Susan Sheppard when she was first introduced to it.
*()*
John was on his way to the messhall, when he got a call over his ear piece. One that he never thought was possible anymore. Susan was back in Atlantis along with Luienant Aiden Ford, who he had given up all hope of seeing once more. The shape which they came through the wormhole was pretty bad, well for Ford anyway, Susan only had a few sratches and sprains, and one very mild concussion.
John instantly broke into a run for the infirmary to check on his daughter.
*()*
Susie woke up to pain, she felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on her after she got kicked by every horse in the galaxy, no... make that the universe.
She could hear beeping from machines, reminding Susie that she was back home once again and that it all was a dream.. she hoped.
"Hey. The docs said you had a concussion, a spranged wirst, and a three inch deep inch cut on your left fore-arm." John's voice came softly from the chair beside Susie. "Ford was worse. You two got into a pretty bad spot huh."
Susan tried to lift her head to actually see her father, it had been so long to Susie since that first day in the Ancient city. "That's because he got into a fight with a mad Sheppard." She said, trying to smile, but it hurt.
"Well that explains nothing, but I'm just glad you are home safe." John scooted from the chair to sitting on the bed beside Susan.
"Me, too. But I am never going on another..." Susan Teryl Sheppard never finished her sentence, falling asleep with her father next to her. John shook his head, smiling at the way his Susie had fallen asleep. It had felt good to see her, but the docs wanted to keep her in the imfirmary for a while, seeing as she had been gone on who knows what for three months.
Sheppard moved several strands of Susan's black hair out of her face, watching her peaceful face while she slept. John sat on the bed for a couple more hours, just watching his little girl sleep the rest of the weary, before Doctor Beckett shooed him out fo the imfirmary for the night.
A/N: Well? What do you think? But don't fret dear readers, there is more to this story than just Susan being caught and then rescued in an unexpected way. There are still questions a plenty for our favorite characters, folks. So stay tuned.