18/04/2008 17:23:00
One Month Later…
A pair of brown eyes slowly began to open, only to rest upon the sight of blurriness. The light above her was bright as the brown eyes began to focus. Major Amber was finally waking up. Her chest was pounding, and she couldn't remember why. Squinting at the light and ignoring the pounding, she cautiously sat up.
She was on a bed; of course it wouldn't take a genius to figure that one out. Around her were four walls, each painted a pale blue; one wall had an Atlantian-like door. Figuring that she'd fall on her ass if she tried to reach it, she continued to toss her head from side to side, trying to figure out where she was. "Hello?" Amber called with a yawn.
No one, or thing, answered her. Amber eyed the door again and the same image of her falling on her ass entered her mind. "HELLO!?" she shouted, a lot louder than before, still not receiving an answer.
"God damn it!" Amber cried out in frustration. "Where the hell are everyone and where the fuck am I!?"
The room's door jerked open suddenly, causing Amber to jump slightly. Dr. Becket entered the room, his face buried in the tablet he held in his arms. "Carson?" Amber asked softly and slowly, though a cheery tone was hinting.
"Major!" Carson jumped, looking up from the tablet with a surprised look. "You've finally come to."
"Carson…" Amber paused. "How long have I been here, out cold?"
He hesitated before replying, "One month."
"A MONTH! What happened, I can't remember anything up 'til… a while ago," Amber shrieked, scratching her head. She snapped her fingers and there was nothing. "WHAT THE FUCK!?" Amber shouted.
"You and the rest of John's team was captured by the wraith on your last mission… the queen wraith fed on you, took your powers, and killed you for over an hour," Carson explained, shivering at Amber's tone.
"That mother-fucking," Amber was cut off.
"MAJOR!" Carson shouted.
"Sorry… angry moment, I was never good at anger management," Amber smiled.
Carson couldn't help but laugh. "I'll be back," he said. "I'm going to have someone get you some normal clothes out of your quarters."
"You're letting me roam around, already?" Amber questioned, sliding her legs onto the edge of the bed, out from under the blankets.
"Well, supervised and on certain parts of Atlantis," Carson said. "You should be fine. You're injuries healed a few weeks ago."
Amber nodded with a shrug and watched Carson exit the room. Sighing, she gazed up at the light above her, noticing that there was something near/on her that was reflecting the light. Amber was puzzled and looked down, seeing her engagement ring looped on a gold chain, a chain that she had seen Jeremy wear on numerous occasions. Oh my god! Jeremy… I hope he's okay, Amber thought loudly in her head. (Note: she didn't feel anything for John).
Carson reentered the room a few minutes later, carrying a pair of black cargo pants and a dark gray t-shirt. He laid them on the bed beside Amber and smiled, "Here you go. Now get changed, call me in once you're done. Oh, and don't stress yourself."
Five Minutes Later...
Amber called Carson back into the room, she'd finished changing into her nice, clean clothes. She came in and helps her to her feet. Her body was all stiff and ever step she took another part of her body cracked. She nearly fell on her first step, see, she knew that she'd fall on her ass before she reached the door.
They exited the enclosed facility and crossed through the infirmary. Amber stopped and leaned back to look at herself a mirror they had passed. "Carson," Amber said, stiffly walking up to the mirror.
"I swear, I didn't do a thing. I came in one day and that was your hair color," Carson said, putting his hands up, showing he was innocent.
"OH MY GOD!" she shrieked. "I haven't had black hair since… since… mom died…"
Amber ran her fingers through her black hair. It was shorter too, she noted as she saw it came up to a little below her chin. Shrugging, she continued out of the infirmary with Carson at her side, occasionally catching her so she didn't fall down a flight of stairs or trip over air.
The Control Room was packed with people, new recruits too. Amber gazed around, as if she'd just arrived on Atlantis for the first time. A few workers in the Control Room looked up at her, either they couldn't recognize whom it was or they were surprised to see it was her. They walked up to Elizabeth who hovered over a group of people working on a system.
"Dr. Weir," Carson said, tapping her shoulder and grasping her attention.
Elizabeth looked up and then straightened her back. "Yes Carson… Amber?" she said, looking at the different looked major next to Carson. People in the Control Room gasped, "That's Major Amber?!"
"Aye," Carson said. "A little shaken, but still her."
Elizabeth smiled, "It's really good to see you up and awake."
"Thanks," Amber replied. "I'm still freaked out about the whole thing, especially being out for the whole month, or so."
"Don't worry, I'll catch you up later," Elizabeth assured her.
Amber nodded in reply and spaced out as Dr. Weir and Carson began to talk. After a few minutes of just standing there, the Gate activated.
"Atlantis, this is McKay, we're coming in hot!" Rodney voice sounded and Elizabeth told them person sitting at Gate Control to lower the shield. Out of instinct, Amber rushed down the stairs and caught a nine-millimeter that a fellow army person tossed to her. She stood at the far side of the gate, literally right next to the ring.
Rodney appeared in the Gate room after rushing into the event-horizon on the opposite end, followed by Raine, Alek, and Teyla. The next person to step through was Jeremy, and then Ronan. The Gate deactivated; John hadn't made it through.
"Is everyone alright!?" Dr. Weir exclaimed, hopping down the steps to the Gate Room. Amber positioned herself behind the returning team, Raine and Alek were the only ones aware of Amber's presence behind them.
"Where's Colonel Sheppard?" Elizabeth asked them, winking at Amber without them actually noticing. Amber returned a smile.
"Geez," Amber muttered, loud enough for them to hear. "Just ignore me (she sniffled). I guess none of you are happy to see a friend who has been out for a month. Oh well… I'll just go back to sleep. I guess you don't love me anymore!" She was having fun with this, and turned her head to the side, not facing them as they turned around.
Each of their faces lit up, other than Ronan (Alek could still careless), he couldn't figure out who it was. "Who's that?" Ronan muttered to Raine.
"It's Amber," Raine replied.
"Really? Humph, doesn't look like her," Ronan grumbled.
Raine rolled her eyes and sighed. Jeremy, who was extremely happy, ran up to her, picked her up by the waist, spinning her around. As he kissed her, Rodney couldn't help but mutter, "What's going on."
"You're such a dumb-ass Rodney," Raine scowled.
"You never listened to John did you, when he was fussing all over them being engaged," Teyla sighed.
"Huh? Since when!?" Rodney exclaimed.
Elizabeth walked over and pushed Amber and Jeremy apart, standing between them. "You can catch up later, but at the moment, we need to find John," she said.
"You're right, Dr. Weir, the party wouldn't be fun without him," Amber admitted.
An Hour Later…
The StarGate began to activate, and the order to raise the shield was issued. The person sitting at Gate Control informed Dr. Weir of a video and audio that was requesting a reply. They awaited Elizabeth's orders. "Open it, in a non-network channel," she order, and turned to the screen hanging from the ceiling.
Amber ran up the back stairs into the Gate room, followed by the rest of her team. The video feed appeared on the screen; it was Kolya, the evil back-stabbing Genii.
"Dr. Weir, I was beginning to think you weren't there," Koyla said.
"What do you want Kolya?" Elizabeth said, noticing John in the background tied up and gagged on a chair with two guards at his sides.
"As you can see, Dr. Weir. I have Colonel Sheppard," Koyla replied, stating the obvious.
"I want to speak to him," Elizabeth demanded and Kolya stepped to the side.
"Let's rephrase that, we want he to speak to us," Rodney spoke up.
"Dr. McKay, how's the wrist?" Koyla asked, before nodding to the guards beside John to remove the gag.
"By my authority, don't do anything he says!" John shouted just as the gag left his mouth. The guards quickly re-gagged him, after a small fight.
Amber's brown eyes narrowed as she spoke up before Elizabeth could say anything, "Kolya! Listen to me, let him go or I'll KILL you!"
"Who is that?" Koyla asked, noticing the surprised and joyful look on John's face as she spoke. He and Amber met once before briefly.
"It's Major Amber Sheppard! You let him go!" she spat, despite the looks from Elizabeth to shut up.
Kolya went silent for a moment as he examined the twitching John. "You have three hours before we dial back," With that, Kolya's image disappeared and the Gate deactivated.
"Who was that?" Amber questioned, turning from the screen looking directly at Raine.
"Augustus Kolya, he used to be a Genii until he was exiled for turning against them," Raine answered.
"Oh, him?! What the hell does he want?" Amber sneered.
"I don't know, but we know someone who might," Dr. Weir replied, and then gave orders to the Gate Control person.
Another Hour Later...
Layden, the current leader of the Genii, had been brought to Atlantis after being told of the Atlantians' problem with Kolya. Amber sat in the chair across from Layden in the debriefing room. Her black hair was tucked behind her ears, except for one strand that dangled over her left eye.
"Excuse me, Dr. Weir," Layden said looking at Amber. "I am wondering, who is this woman?"
Elizabeth looked at Amber and then back to Layden, "This is Major Amber Sheppard."
"Nice to meet—" Layden started.
"Layden, the better you cooperate, the nicer I'll be. I am in no mood for this procrastination crap!" Amber hissed at him.
"Major, that's enough," Elizabeth said in a loud tone. Amber narrowed her eyes and slumped back in her chair. God, I want to shoot him so bad, she thought.
You wouldn't want Atlantis to become enemies with the Genii, do you? Raine said to her through a telepathic connection.
Holy crap! Don't scare me like that! Wait… I can still hear your thoughts! Amber replied.
Raine laughed, though you can through my abilities. Don't worry we'll get him back, dead or alive.
DEAD! Amber shouted.
Amber, calm down. Kolya has ways of getting his way; don't buy it, Raine replied.
Amber sighed and looked at the clock: 30 minutes remained until Kolya would dial into Atlantis. She looked at Elizabeth and Layden; she had missed the entire conversation.
"Elizabeth, we need to find out who or what Kolya wants, he wouldn't do this unless he had a purpose," Amber said, jumping back into the conversation.
"Yes," Layden replied, "then we'll find where he's hiding." He looked at Amber, he could tell something was troubling her; probably the main reason for her attitude. Also, he thought she seemed lost in thought at times.
"Major," he said, "is there something wrong?"
Amber, yet again, snapped back into reality. "Oh, um, yeah. It's nothing that you'd understand," she replied. Her eyes, instinctively, roamed over to the clock; ten minutes remained. Her heart lurched as Elizabeth told them that they should head to the Control room.
Layden got to his feet first and followed Elizabeth out of the Briefing Room. Amber sighed, and used her arms to push her stiff body to her feet. Using the table as a railing of sorts, she left the room. By the time she reached the Control Room, the Gate activated and Kolya's image was plastered to the screen.
Jeremy walked up to her, wrapping his arm around her waist, bringing her closer and allowing her to shift her weight on him. Dr. Weir looked up at the screen and listened to Kolya rant about how he'd obtained John on their previous mission.
"Good evening, Dr. Weir," Koyla began. "I assume that Layden is with you by now."
Elizabeth hesitated, and looked over at Layden. "Why would Layden be here?" she replied.
"Dr. Weir," Kolya laughed. "Here's my proposition: I'll give you Colonel Sheppard for Layden."
Elizabeth looked back at the screen and then at Layden. She shook her head and said, "We will not trade one man for another, even if it is John's life at stake."
"Suit yourself," Kolya grumbled, motioning for the men at John's (he was in the room with Kolya) to open the door. When the door was open, two more of Kolya's men walked into the room. And they were escorting a wraith up to John. The men unlocked one of the shackles on the wraith's hand and Kolya nodded to them.
Amber turned away from the screen, burying her head into Jeremy's shoulder as the wraith placed its hand on John's chest, and began to feed. For the first time in her, life she could relate to that particular pain that he was feeling.