Part: 14/16
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It was wonderfully quiet among the trees, but as John walked towards where the Elite were gathering, he could still hear exchanging fire in the sky high above the forest. The ground fight was over for now, but they still had to get off this rock.
"How did you find us?" Oneakka was asking as he kicked a dead Wraith away from where Breack was getting up. Blood was smeared down one of the traitor's cheeks, but he looked intact. It must have been quite a ride for the guy being chained up to Oneakka throughout the battle.
Karin, the stern Elite woman from the Sythus who had never liked John, was the one to reply from the group of five Elite who had joined in the fight. "We knew you would try to get to the base or its tunnels. The fireball pointed the way and Ketra was the guide through the trees," she reported as she wiped down her sword. She looked barely out of breath.
"Ketra?" Emmagan asked looking round, obviously concerned in seeing her pet's health.
John was already headed towards her, Ketra practically falling off his shoulder in her eagerness to get to Emmagan. John saw Emmagan's smile as she saw the little dragon and then the smile shifted to him. She moved to meet him, sliding her swords into their sheaths on her back as she did.
"Massa!" A voice shouted and John looked round to see a large barrel-chested Elite man rushing through the group, a long knife in his hand as he reached Oneakka's side and grasped the front of Breack's clothing. The traitor's knees went out from under him and it was only Massa's hand that held him up.
The Elite reacted immediately, Halling and Nalla's hands landing on Massa, restraining but not pulling him away.
"Massa, we need him alive to testify," Halling was saying loudly over Massa's angry growls as he tightened his fist into Breack's front, the stained edge of his knife pressed against the soft underside of Breack's chin. Si's large hand landed on the knife hand, gently restraining, but again not pulling Massa away.
"He killed her, slaughtered her!" Massa shouted, his attention fixed on Breack.
Emmagan reached Massa's side. "Massa, we all know how important Mera was to you. You have every right to avenge her, but her memory and her death will be honured more by him telling his story," she said calmly, one hand lightly resting on his shoulder.
"We can report whatever he tells us," Massa protested. John saw Si add some more pressure to hold back his knife hand.
"No, we need him, Massa. Iketani was behind all this, and she controls many on the High Council," Emmagan informed him and John saw the man frown and finally look away from Breack, though he kept his grip tight on the front of the man's shirt. "This was an even deeper betrayal than we feared and it must be cut away. We will need him as evidence. His words, not just his body," Emmagan said calmly.
John was close enough now to see Massa's tortured eyes studying Emmagan and then drop back down to Breack. The traitor hung from the big man's hand, his eyes wide as they switched between the man and his knife.
Massa looked back to Emmagan. "He must be punished!"
"He will be, my old friend," Halling said from beside Si. "But, first he must assist us."
Massa looked from Breack to the Elite around him. "He will not simply walk away from this. He will be punished and if he is not, then I have the right to enforce it."
Halling nodded, as did the others and their hands dropped away from him. Massa stared back down at Breack, the knife edge pressing slightly tighter than before, and then he finally released Breack, shoving him as he did. Massa turned, sheathing his knife, his back to Breack. It also meant the man was now facing John.
"Who is this?" Massa demanded, his eyes shifting from John to Ketra on his shoulder. The dragon tilted her head, clearly familiar with him.
"This is Sheppard and somehow he survived the battle," Si replied with a smile as he passed John.
"He's Emmagan's new slave," Oneakka reported, his tone full of teasing suggestiveness, as he dragged Breack back up to his feet.
Ketra chose this moment to abandon John's shoulder, digging her claws briefly into him, creating multiple pinpoints of pain, as she leapt from him to Massa's outstretched hand. John hoped he had hidden the wince from the large Elite who was still frowning down at him.
Massa turned towards Emmagan, "Which would explain Kanaan's mood," he said with a raised eyebrow as he handed Ketra over to Emmagan. The small dragon scurried up Emmagan's arm, her sleek skin turning bright silver in colour as she rubbed her head against Emmagan's jaw with clear pleasure.
"This is Major Sheppard of Atlantis," Emmagan explained, clearly purposefully ignoring the comment about Kanaan. "What of the two cruisers?" She asked.
Massa had glanced back at John, his interest caught. The man's eyes swept over John, no doubt noting the Wraith blood and empty holsters. "We used Elkaska's gifts to destroy one," Massa reported.
"The other is fighting above still," Karin added. "We should return to the transport craft."
The Elite moved, heading towards Karin as she turned and led the way. Stepping around and over broken pieces of Wraith John made his way to catch up with Emmagan. High above he could hear the fire fight continuing, but the sounds were more distant.
"Elkaska will be most disappointed that his gifts were not used to kill the target Queen," Halling was saying.
"I will break it to him softly," Emmagan replied with amusement. John fell into step behind her. Ketra turned on her shoulder and looked back at John, but instead of the usual glare she tilted her head as if considering him. Her aggressive opinion of him may have gone, but her focus still unnerved him somehow. Maybe it had been the seriously close-up view of her fangs sinking into that Wraith's throat. She had saved his life, twice, so he mustered up a smile for her. She tilted her head and returned to snuggling up against Emmagan.
"Have we heard from the Fleet?" Jobrill asked as they trekked at a fast pace through the trees.
"They received the distress call. It is two Satedan ships that fight the cruiser overhead," Karin reported.
"And the fleet?" Emmagan asked.
Karin looked over her shoulder. "Lead Commander Dex reported that the battle was going well."
"Well enough that he sent two of his own force to aid us," Nalla remarked.
"Lead Commander already," Halling muttered with amusement. "Dex's skills are only surpassed by his advancements." Beside him John saw Emmagan's smile in reply to Halling's comment.
"We have sent word back to the training base," Karin continued. "No details were included, but the advice to place all slaves of the Elite under guard. They will understand the importance." In the distance beyond Karin, John could see metal amidst the trees.
"All our ship's crews will need to be assessed for their allegiance," Jobrill uttered thoughtfully.
"It will have to be done carefully," one female Elite from the Sythus added. Beside her walked the wounded male Elite, his side strapped up, the blade still in place in his ribs. The woman was helping him walk, but John was amazed that he could walk at all. John considered offering to help by taking his other arm, but decided that it would probably be any insult to the warrior.
"We must hunt down Iketani," Oneakka stated.
Emmagan glanced back at Oneakka, turning her profile into John's view. She looked like there wasn't a scratch on her. Her clothes were peppered with blood, leaves and dirt, but clearly she was fine. A few of her braids were coming loose and there was a smear of dirt down one of her cheeks, but other than that she was unharmed. All those Wraith she had killed and there wasn't a scratch on her. Now, he really understood what he had seen that first time he had met her. He had been trapped in a Wraith base and she had entered into the middle of the fight, consequently saving his life, and he had watched her chasing Wraith from the room. The Wraith had been running from her and now he knew why. The others around him had more cuts and bruises, but she and Oneakka and Si appeared completely unscathed. After the intense battle John's body ached, his ears still rung slightly and he felt exhausted, but they looked as tall and as strong as when they had started this battle. Perhaps it was borne simply out of the adrenaline, and how pretty Emmagan was, but he felt in awe of these Elite. Back in Atlantis they had no idea how brutal and skilled these warriors were. No wonder the Wraith had been defeated in this area and chose to keep away from them.
Up ahead a shuttle-like ship sat among the trees and in its side a door slid open and John saw Kanaan step out, his expression relieved. John glanced back to Emmagan, but with her back to him he couldn't really judge her mood. Massa's comment about Kanaan had certainly suggested a relationship of some description between Emmagan and Kanaan, and now more than ever John really wanted to know what it was.
Suddenly in the distance there was a massive explosion, all turned, but it was far away and clearly high in orbit. Hopefully it was the last cruiser and not one of the fleet ships.
Emmagan smiled beside him. "The cruiser has been destroyed," she reported and the atmosphere of the Elite group relaxed around them. John frowned and looked back in the direction of the explosion, but trees and probably hillsides and clouds blocked his view. He looked back round to Emmagan and she saw his look. She had known the Wraith were coming and had known there were going to be a lot of them. She had said Elite had special gifts…
"You can sense Wraith?" He asked her. "Like Ketra can?" He asked.
Emmagan's dark pretty eyes studied him for a moment before she nodded. "And enter their minds," she added. "I am a Seeker. I hunt down Wraith and can defeat their Queens on the battlefield of the mind or the body."
"Wow, that's some gift," John replied.
She looked away at that, back off to the trees they had passed through. Behind them the others were climbing into the transport shuttle. "It can often be a burden as much as it is a gift," she replied.
"That it can," Si replied as he passed them. John watched him walk past and saw Si give him a pointed look. John suspected some of his awe had been showing as he had been looking at Emmagan, so he tried to hide it better. So he looked off into the distance as she was and wondered what she saw or felt.
"The last of the darts have been destroyed," she reported after a moment and she turned, her shoulder brushing lightly against his as she headed for the shuttle. John took one last look around the forest and followed her. As she disappeared inside, John reached up to grasp the side of the hatchway and as he climbed inside he saw Kanaan seated to the left in a pilot seat, and the man's eyes held suspicion and perhaps something a little darker. John paused in the entrance, the last in, and saw that the large, heavily armed Elite took up most of the space and there were only two seats free – one beside Breack or in the spare pilot seat. He turned to move towards the latter.
"Don't let him pilot, Kanaan," Oneakka called out. "He crashed the last time." The others laughed, but in that moment of teasing John understood that he had gained some respect.
As he moved towards the seat he looked back towards Oneakka. "You've still got all your limbs; stop complaining," he called back. The Elite laughed in response and Oneakka lifted an eyebrow as he crossed his arms, but there was definite approval there now.
As John strapped himself into the spare pilot seat, Kanaan's presence rather cold beside him, John finally let out a sigh of relief. He looked down at himself, to the alien clothes splattered with blood and dusted with dirt, and wondered how he was going to write this up in his report when he got back to Atlantis. Battles were usually the strangest of things to write up. 'We engaged the enemy and were victorious' would probably be the simplest, but it would hardly describe what he had lived through. And it did not pay true homage to what he had seen the Elite accomplish today.
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The planet occupied the lower part of the porthole at which John stood. It was the planet all this had been about – the target world just beyond the Alliance's border. The one taken by the Wraith Queen, turned into a massive base that she had been using to build her forces and threaten the Alliance. Now it burned.
The atmosphere was a swirling mess of dark burning colours, broken occasionally with small flashes of the explosions and flames within the dying atmosphere. Through the occasional patch of burning sky below John could see the pillars of dark smoke rising from the ruined landscape below. Nothing would have survived that, and any Wraith that may have escaped in ships hadn't gotten much further. Large pieces of Wraith ships glided in orbit over the planet and John set his attention on one chunk, watching it turning slowly, the momentum most likely still lingering from the explosion that had torn apart the Wraith cruiser it had formally been a part. He could see the tiny details of broken floors within the piece, see the flame-light from the planet below shine across the organic mess of the Wraith technology torn up inside.
He should feel pleased and impressed by the utter destruction the Alliance's massive fleet had wrought upon the Wraith here, but instead it chilled him through. This Alliance wasn't some weak underdog, struggling against the Wraith – they were a superpower that had stomped on this world with a furiousness that was shocking. He understood that it had probably been a symbolic act and the burning planet below their statement to their intolerance of the Wraith. Now John really understood why the Wraith had left the Alliance alone, why they had turned on the other unprotected worlds of Pegasus. He had witnessed the Elite's living skill and violence earlier and now he saw the Alliance military fleet's power.
A trail of light entered into his view and he watched it impact into the large piece of Wraith debris, and the chunk of debris exploded into tiny pieces of light. As the haze cleared only tiny particles remained. John turned his gaze to the small fighter craft that had fired on it, clearing up the battle's litter. He watched the fighter change direction, admiring the pilot's skill and the sleek design of the ship as it banked and headed towards its next easy floating target. There were plenty of similar small fighters buzzing amidst the fleet, slipping and sliding around the wide variety of ships all hovering over the planet, watching it die. He focused on those larger ships now.
The Sythus had missed the battle, having arrived as the cleanup had begun. Breack had told them that Iketani, the traitor master-mind behind setting up the Elite, had stayed true to her position as an Elite and had not given the Wraith Queen the right coordinates for the Alliance fleet, thereby betraying both the Elite and the Queen. The Queen hadn't been on the planet though apparently, clearly not very trusting of Iketani despite their agreement. Having met Iketani, John could understand that viewpoint.
His body ached and he felt tired through to his bones, but other than a few cuts and bruises he was intact. His deepest wound had been the one in his thigh from the crash, and the Elite doctor had passed some cleansing device over it, before pinching the cut's edges together and had quickly stapled the wound shut. John had almost hit the woman in response to that abrupt and unexpected painful action. She had laughed at his swear words, not understanding the literal meaning of the Earth terms he used, but she had gotten the meaning behind it clearly enough. She had then smeared a clear gel over the staples, which had solidified into a flexible watertight bandage over the cut.
After that he had taken a shower, finally washing away the dirt, sweat and blood from the fight. The warmth of the water had soaked into his tired muscles and afterwards if he hadn't been hollow with hunger he would have passed out on one of Emmagan's sofas. Instead the Elite had converged and wolfed down a meal as the Sythus rushed through hyperspace to meet up with the fleet. But, when they had arrived, the battle had been over.
The fleet had overwhelmed the Wraith, breaking through their lines and had obliterated the base below. Now, that fleet hung over the planet and John had to wonder why they lingered. He didn't know how or why, but there was the feel of a held breath on the Sythus and in the fleet outside the window. Emmagan had left him here in the observation room as she went off somewhere. He wondered if she was with Kanaan, but quickly pushed aside that thought. If today had shown him one thing among all the information he had gathered, was that life in the Alliance was very different to life back in Atlantis. He found himself feeling desperately homesick for the Ancient city, and his friends who probably all thought him dead. Emmagan had promised to deliver him to a world with a Stargate, but until then he remained at the mercy of this ship and the Elite, and his restlessness to return to his own people was growing by the moment. At least in Atlantis he knew where he stood and the small squabbles of the IOA and SGC meant so little compared to what he had experienced today.
The door slid open behind him and he focused his gaze to the reflection moving towards him. She had re-braided her hair and had changed her clothes. He didn't look round at her, but kept his attention on the fleet among which the Sythus sat. He slid his gaze over the ships he could see from his viewpoint, noting that the similar styles of ships were grouped together within the fleet as a whole. There were distinct markings on some of them, presumably from the same planet or system.
Emmagan stopped beside him and he let his focus shift to her reflection again. She was dressed in dark tones, her skin almost entirely covered, except for her face and the centre of her throat. Through that small slip of space he could see the edge of her black Wraith tattoo shadow down one side of her throat. Her swords were once again set on her back and he guessed that some new mission was on the horizon already. The dark reds and purples of the dying planet shone up against the porthole window, mixing with their reflections to create the image of her standing among swirling flames. Her attention was directed out straight through the window, her chin level and confident. She was unlike any woman he had met before and probably would again. He had seen her fight like an angel of death, swords slicing and cutting, as she fought against hundreds of Wraith with no clear sign of fear.
Yet, there was something else to her. The other Elite women held the same proud strength and skill, but in Emmagan's eyes he thought he saw more compassion and understanding than in them. Perhaps he was projecting his attraction onto that opinion, but he was pretty sure that, even among her own people, Emmagan was something special. As she stood beside him now, he felt oddly comfortable with her and she appeared in no hurry to fill the silence with idle talk. And even more strangely – he felt no need to either. What could be said against what he saw outside the wide observation windows?
So he let his focus return to the ships outside and turned his attention to absorbing information on what he saw outside. Anything to avoid looking back at the dying planet below.
Time passed as he watched the flow of the fleet, the small fighters completing their litter runs and turning back towards their home ships. After awhile John noticed that the fleet was subtly shifting, and from the top left of the windows a new shadow appeared. He looked up towards it and watched as a new ship appeared, sliding forward to sit in the middle of the gathered fleet. John watched it slide forward, its massive bulk as impressive as its design. Its hull was dark metal, blending it into the darkness between stars beyond it, and its basic shape reminded John of a bird of prey hunched over its prey. The wide long 'wings' of the vessel hung out and down, and along them its weapons were proudly displayed. There had been no hint at attempting to conceal any of the lines of gun barrels and launch tubes of whatever weapons it used to blast other ships apart. Among thugs this ship would be the biggest but oddly the most agile of them. It was the one you thought slow and easy pickings, but there was a clear sharpness to the ship, and the scorch marks along its 'wings' were testimony to the fact that it had been in centre of the battle the Elite had missed.
"The Satedan Primary warship," Emmagan informed him, breaking the easy silence.
John watched it fill the windows even further. "She's impressive," he offered.
"The Balista," she named the ship, and her voice held appreciation. "And our destination," she added.
John looked away from the Balista towards her for the first time. "It is?"
Emmagan's dark eyes slid to the windows allowing him a moment to appreciate the close fitting dark outfit she wore. "The fleet is gathered in greater force than normal, and it affords us the opportunity to meet."
John frowned at her tone. "Meet for what?" He asked, sensing he was missing something.
She looked back to him, meeting his eyes directly. "To talk," she replied simply and he narrowed his eyes at her. "You will have to play the part of slave more precisely when we are there," she added, ignoring his silent request to tell him more.
He paused, considering what he thought she meant. "Meaning I shouldn't mention I'm from Atlantis while we're there?" he guessed.
A smile crossed her lips as she gave him a slight nod. She turned from the windows, still smiling and he got the impression that he had impressed her with his understanding. But, there was no chance to follow it up, for she was moving away to the exit. John took one last look back out towards the large dark Balista, sparkling impressively in the middle of the fleet. He moved away, following Emmagan out of the doorway and into the corridor beyond.
"Atlantis is a subject often discussed among the strong worlds of the Alliance, and among the fleet itself," she told him as he walked behind her shoulder.
John felt rather proud to hear that, though he suspected from Emmagan's tone that it was not a good thing. "Not all good then?"
"There are many who feel that despite Atlantis' clear successes against the Wraith, that your involvement only provokes the Wraith into harming worlds and perhaps into threatening our borders again," she replied.
"So they do care about the worlds outside Alliance borders?" John asked doubtfully, aware that he might be insulting her slightly, but feeling that a friendship of respect had been built up enough for him to speak more directly with her. He resisted the temptation to try to peer forward to see her expression over her shoulder as he kept back according to the slave rules he was still forced to follow.
"It is a primary plan of the Elite to be able to protect as many worlds as we can," she replied, not sounding insulted in the least. "But, there are factors which prevent that as yet."
"Well clearly you're able to protect your borders," John noted. "Why not push out further?"
She lead him round several corners as they made their way further back through the ship, but remaining on this low level of the Sythus.
"The Alliance is a massive collection of systems that must all be protected and patrolled, and it is all governed by only one High Council," she explained and when she didn't add anything more, he understood what she didn't explain further.
"Politics," John concluded. He had fought in many battles; on the ground, in the sky and in space, but the battlefield of politics was one he didn't really understand, or wish to.
Emmagan nodded, not actually giving voice to her response, and he got the impression that it was a sticking point for her as well. Her father was some bigwig leader overseeing some planets, so she had to understand politics to a certain degree. But then hadn't she said that she had begun her Elite training when she was only ten? The Elite seemed to have one pure focus – killing Wraith, especially the Queens. He imagined politics could get in the way of that sometimes.
"So, the Alliance thinks we're stirring things up in this galaxy?" John returned to her previous comment on Atlantis.
She led him round another corner and down a short corridor towards a large closed hatchway. "There is also the opinion that your presence in the City of the Ancestors should not be tolerated. The city belongs to those of this galaxy and it should be returned to us." They reached the large doorway and she passed her hand over the trigger to open it.
"Actually," John said carefully to her as the doors slid open. "Atlantis was first on Earth, back in our galaxy. The Ancients, the Ancestors, brought it to this galaxy with them."
She glanced up at him with a looked of interest before she moved forward. John turned to follow and found that they were back in the shuttle bay where they had arrived back in the Sythus. There were crewmembers scurrying around the shuttle preparing it, and its hatchway was open with Halling standing beside it clearly waiting for Emmagan.
As they approached Halling frowned at John. "Should you really be bringing an outsider with you?" He asked Emmagan.
Emmagan paused by Halling. "There is nothing to say I cannot bring my slave with me," she replied. Halling frowned down at her, his eyes full of questions that John didn't understand. He watched the two of them share some unspoken conversation, and he wished he understood what was being said.
"If they find out later they may hold it against you," Halling said, but his tone suggested he was already agreeing.
"How will it matter then?" She asked. "Now is a time to be looking towards the future, my friend." She smiled up at Halling and patted her hand against his chest before she turned and entered the shuttle.
John paused, his gaze locking with Halling's. The man looked at him more intently than he ever had before. John wasn't sure what the man was looking for, but he held still and let him look. Halling frowned again, an expression John hadn't seen on him very much, and John had the sudden impression that this 'talk' over on the Balista was not your usual get-together. Halling was tense and that didn't make John feel all that relaxed. Halling turned away though and entered the shuttle and John followed. They settled down, a pilot already sat at the controls. John sat by Emmagan's side with Halling across from them.
As the shuttle began to lift up from the hangar floor, John felt Halling's attention on him again and looked round, but Halling's gaze slid to Emmagan as he spoke. "I believe it unwise to judge an entire people on one lone example."
Emmagan didn't seem to take objection and nodded in reply. "I agree, but also it can take only one person to change the popular view. You and I know that better than most."
John decided that they were definitely talking about him. He looked at Emmagan beside him, but her attention was directed purposefully forward. Now it was John's turn to feel worried. Emmagan was taking him along to this 'talk' for a reason, one which even Halling either didn't agree with or understand. John suspected that he may already have been shoved onto the battlefield of politics without him realising. He had to hope that he hadn't become some kind of political pawn.
He turned to look out through the front of the shuttle himself and watched the Sythus slide away and the fleet appear around them. The pilot turned the ship, moving back around the Sythus' belly and the hulk of the Balista came into view. As John watched the massive ship grow to fill the view, he tried not to remember the Wraith version of pawns that had fallen so quickly and easily under the Elite's weapons.
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TBC