Chapter 26

Arriving on Taldis was like stepping into a city caught in the middle of a war zone. Everyone was walking around on edge, as though waiting for a bomb to drop on them. The streets were quieter than would be expected for a port city on a market planet. The people that were on the streets hurried from place to place, avoiding shadowy areas and locking doors behind them. Curtains were drawn on all the windows as though they hoped that somehow it would prevent the shadow getting in.

"This place has been hit hard," Laura said as they made their way along the quiet street.

"Then let's hurry up and do what we came for," John replied and the group made the rest of the walk to the police station in silence, taking in the city around them. The police station seemed quiet as well, the officers as on edge as the civilians, the atmosphere subdued. Laura knew from the reports they'd received that three police officers had been killed here by the shadow.

Chief Dent was a grey haired man in his fifties, he had everything they'd requested set out for them in a briefing room. He seemed stoic, emotionally detached but Laura could tell he was tired, scared and angry. They were left to go through reports, Rodney was escorted to the scenes by a local officer and Carson went to the morgue alone. There were so many reports to go through; so many witnesses to speak with that Laura and Marcus had to help with that instead of going with Carson and Rodney like they usually would.

She noticed John kept the reports from the school incident to himself, laying the task of going through them on his own shoulders rather than anyone else's. She also noticed Elizabeth switch some of those files with her own so that he wouldn't have to do them alone. Once everyone had their files and the list of witnesses to go with them they went their separate ways, no one was able to go with a partner this time, there were just too many witnesses, too many attacks for that. Instead they were all escorted by a local officer.

Laura was escorted by Officer Sampson; she was young, probably still quite new to the job. She could tell how much the shadow attacks had affected the young officer, how much more talking to witnesses was affecting her and by the time they were half way through the list the woman was emotionally exhausted. Laura couldn't deny that she was too; she wasn't sure how John and Elizabeth had managed to do this since the attacks first began.

"Let's take a break," Laura suggested. "I think we could both do with something to eat and half an hour away from this."

"But shouldn't you get these finished, I mean the longer it takes the more chance there is of someone getting killed again," Sampson said, she looked worried as though she was expecting a shadow to appear the moment she agreed to take a break. Laura didn't tell her that there was a chance it would take another attack for them to be able to track down the Shadow.

"Sometimes you just have to step back and allow your mind a moment to rest, otherwise you'll burn yourself out and you can't save anybody that way. We're both hungry and we've spent the last four hours listening to one horrible story after another about people dying. We need a break, then we can come back to this with a slightly fresher mind."

The young officer nodded, still looking unsure but as long as Laura could get her to sit down, eat something and talk about something unrelated to the shadows then that was all that mattered.

It had taken the majority of the day to get through the witness list and there were still people that hadn't been available to talk to them. They had gotten what they needed to though, they could understand the behaviour of this particular shadow and from that they could start trying to figure out where it was hiding, where it might attack next, what they could do to minimise casualties. They also knew how aggressive it was, this one was by far the most aggressive they'd come across. It picked out its victims like all the others but it had no problem killing anyone else along with them, the school was evidence enough of that.

He was exhausted but kept his mind awake and alert as he sat with the local detectives who were going through everything they knew that hadn't been in the files, including their newest theory.

"There's been a pattern to the attacks, they always start on this side of the city and then work around it until they stop again for a few days," the chief told them. "We think that maybe the shadow is resting somewhere here," the chief indicated the area of the city in between where each wave of attacks started and ended.

"This is all forest here?" John questioned, pointing to the edge of the map he was being shown.

The chief nodded. "Taldis Woods, they go on for about fifty miles."

"That's probably where the Shadow is hiding, it's quiet, dark, it's not likely to be discovered," John stated. It would be dark soon; it was too dangerous to go searching for it now. They would have to wait until morning, hopefully by then they'd also have a better idea of exactly where to look, fifty miles of forest was a lot of ground to cover. "I want you to mark on this map the locations of all the first and last attacks in each wave."

The officers did as instructed while John got on the radio and called his team back. They'd all been close by so it didn't take them long to reach him and he quickly filled them in on the latest theory. They were shown where all the first and last attacks had taken place and were able to narrow down the search area and set up a search grid so more ground could be covered quickly.

"Alright, we've done everything we can for tonight," John said once they had everything in place for tomorrow. "I suggest everyone go home and get some sleep, you're going to need it for the morning. We'll brief at 7:30, anyone going on the search please be here by then and keep this to yourselves, we don't need a media circus or any civilians showing up."

"Wouldn't it be helpful to have more people involved, we usually use civilians when searching the woods, we just don't have the manpower to cover that much ground?" one of the officers asked and John shook his head, surprised at the question. The officer was young though, clearly still learning the ropes, there was nothing like being thrown in the deep end to learn how to swim.

"This isn't a lost hiker we're dealing with and we're not searching for a body. This shadow is extremely dangerous; if it were possible not to have any of you there I would prefer that. You have no way to fight these things; no way to defend yourselves, if it gets near you it will kill you. As police officers you know how to follow instructions, its part of your job, I can't be sure that civilians will do the same, they're an unknown and could put the entire operation at risk," John explained and received several nods and murmurs of agreement. "Chief Dent has informed me that the terrain in the forest is difficult; please be prepared for that, I'll see you all in the morning."

Ronon walked into the kitchen with Teyla, both of them ready for the long day ahead. Lorne, Cadman and Beckett were already there, the three of them halfway through breakfast which Beckett had obviously cooked.

"There's plenty left for you," Beckett told them gesturing to the kitchen. "I made enough for everyone; we can't very well go hiking through the forest without a decent breakfast in us."

"Thank you," Teyla replied as she walked over and dished out two plates of food, leaving enough for the three still absent members of the crew. Sheppard and Elizabeth walked in only minutes later, both of them getting something to eat before joining the rest of them at the table. It was fairly quiet as they ate, everyone intent on their own thoughts. They'd all finished eating by the time McKay walked in, he looked uncomfortable in the hiking gear he'd been forced to wear and he dropped his backpack with a thud.

"I don't get why I need all that stuff," he complained.

"What do you mean all that stuff, it's mostly just emergency supplies, it's not even that heavy," Lorne told him, lifting his open backpack up from the floor next to him as if to prove a point, waving it up and down. McKay just glared at him as he grabbed the rest of the food from the kitchen and sat down to eat it.

"We're leaving in ten minutes Rodney," Sheppard told him as he stood up and grabbed his backpack.

"What, you're not even gonna give me time to eat?" McKay questioned, the pitch of his voice rising.

"I told you we were leaving at 7:00, you should have gotten up earlier," Sheppard replied leaving the room. McKay grumbled something about indigestion to himself as he ate his breakfast faster and Ronon stood up, taking his and Teyla's plates to the kitchen and placing them both in the dish washer with everyone else's.

They were slightly late leaving the ship, they'd all stood outside waiting for McKay to join them for five minutes, the alliance agents had all yelled at the scientist to hurry up repeatedly. He came out eventually, still grumbling to himself as they took the two cars they'd been given to the police station. There was a reporter outside trying to get a quote from the agents, trying to get the full story but they ignored him. The station seemed a lot busier than it had yesterday and Ronon figured they'd called in any off duty officers to help with the search.

Sheppard and Elizabeth went to speak to the chief while the others helped some of the officers get ready for the search, handing out bottles of waters and snacks. It was just before 7:30 when the chief called for everyone's attention and Sheppard briefed them all on the plan for the day.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind you all how dangerous this Shadow is. If you locate it, do not engage it, do not even approach it," Sheppard emphasised the point. "You can't fight them, you can't defend yourselves from them, your weapons are useless against it. If you find it, radio my team and give us your position, we'll be with you as quickly as possible. I'll say it again, do not engage the Shadow. Now please see these officers for your grid assignments."

Everyone moved over to the officers that Sheppard had gestured to, stood to the left of the room with data pads. Sheppard walked over to join the rest of his team, weaving his way through the crowd of officers.

"I've split us up so we'll be evenly spread around the search area, that way they'll hopefully be at least one of us close to anyone who finds the Shadow," Sheppard told them all, he pointed to the map on the wall behind them. "Rodney, you'll be in grid one, Elizabeth will be in grid 3 and Ronon in grid 5. I'll take Grid 7, Laura, you'll be in grid 9, Teyla in grid 11, Carson in grid 13 and Marcus in grid 15. That means that at least two members of the team will be no more than a grid away from anyone who finds the Shadow."

"Good plan," Lorne nodded.

"It's about a half an hour drive from here to the forest, once the extra supplies have been loaded into the cars we'll be ready to go," Sheppard told them. The team made their way outside where several officers were loading up bottles of water into the back of several cars and two busses were waiting to carry officers to the search area. It wasn't long before the chief gave them the go ahead and everyone began piling into busses and cars. Ronon was glad the team had their own two, comfortable, spacious cars.

Ronon and Teyla shared a car with Sheppard and Elizabeth, the drive was mostly quiet and it seemed like forever before they arrived and Ronon was able to get out of the car and stretch his legs. The rest of the team pulled up behind them and the cars and busses carrying the local police were not far behind. Ronon was surprised by how quickly the cops got themselves organised and it wasn't long before he was walking through the dense forest. There were thirteen locals assigned to the same grid, all of them instructed to follow Ronon's orders. Ronon had been surprised when Sheppard had declared him to be in charge of the searchers in his grid, it was a lot of trust to be placing on him. What choice did they have though really? The only people with any real experience of the shadows were him, Teyla and the alliance agents.

He occasionally heard voices over the radio, mostly teams checking in with each other and with the base camp they'd set up just outside the forest. Other than that it was quiet in the forest, even the sounds of the wildlife were few and far between, as though they knew what was in there with them. The quiet was interrupted by a voice on his radio, loud and urgent as it informed them it had found the Shadow and it took Ronon a moment to recognise it as Beckett. He went through the list of search grids in his head, remembering that Beckett was in grid 13, the other side of the search area. He took off that way, ordering the rest of the officers to stay in their grid, they would do no good if they followed him and if the shadow got away there'd be people around the area that could spot where it went.

Teyla was in grid 11,that put her only two grids away from the Shadow and Elizabeth was in grid 3, even further away than Ronon was. The terrain was rough, it would slow them all down but Teyla would encounter the shadow long before he could get there, long before Elizabeth could get there and without Elizabeth, Teyla had no defence against the Shadow. His legs moved faster, he ignored the officers he passed by and focused only on the voices coming through his radio. Elizabeth was making her way there but she was still all the way back in grid 4, coming up on grid 5. Teyla was already in grid 13, following the noise to where the Shadow was. Beckett's comm. remained open and Ronon could hear him shouting at the officers to stop firing, to pull back and a moment later announce into the radio that they had an officer down.

Then he heard Teyla's voice tell them she was there, she could see the Shadow and he was sure his blood froze in his veins. He tried to run faster knowing that even if he got there now there was really nothing he could do to help her. Elizabeth informed them she was in grid 6, still too far away. Ronon wasn't even sure which grid he was in now, he just kept running. Cadman and Lorne both arrived where the Shadow was, their voices joining Beckett's in getting the officers to pull back.

"Another officer down," Lorne shouted into the radio. "Pull back, stop firing and pull back."

"I'm in grid 7, coming up on grid 8" Elizabeth's voice announced breathlessly.

"In grid 13," Sheppard's stated and Ronon heard his voice join the rest of the agents that were already there. Sheppard had only been two grids ahead of him; Ronon had to be close now. "Teyla get back, Elizabeth's not here yet," Sheppard shouted and Ronon could feel the wave of dread run through his body.

"I'm in grid 10," Elizabeth's voice told them; she was still three grids away.

"Teyla back up, you can't fight in on your own," Sheppard called, Ronon could barely hear his voice through Beckett's open radio and he hadn't heard anything from Teyla. "That's an order Emmagan, get back here."

Ronon prayed she'd do as she was told, it was the only time he had ever, and probably would ever, so desperately want her to follow and alliance agent's orders. He heard gunfire and shouting up ahead and knew he had to be close. Several officers moved passed him, going in the opposite direction, pulling back as they'd been ordered to. Then he ran into a clearing, Lorne, Cadman and Beckett were still ordering men to pull back. Sheppard was amongst the trees, unmoving, silent and Ronon fought back his anxiety as he ran over to them.

He was stopped by Sheppard's arm and Ronon followed his gaze to where Teyla stood. She was facing down the Shadow; neither was moving, as though they were sizing each other up. He wanted to run over there, to shout to her, to get her to move back but he knew if he did anything to upset the situation, anything to break whatever spell had been cast over them, he could make things worse. At least this was buying them time for Elizabeth to catch up to them, she couldn't be far away now; she'd only been two grids behind him.

It seemed like time had frozen, for several minutes they all just stood there and then without warning the Shadow moved. It swept towards Teyla so fast no one had time to react, it enveloped her, killing her slowly and Ronon tried to run to her only to be hit by some kind of light that knocked him back to the floor. Sheppard grabbed his arm and pulled him up, he heard Teyla cry out and only John's hand stopped him running to her again.

Elizabeth moved passed them, running toward the shadow and Ronon felt Sheppard tense beside him. She reached through the shadow, pain on her face as she grabbed Teyla and the Shadow screeched, feeling pain of its own now that the connection between the Electus had been made. Ronon squinted his eyes against the light he knew was coming, it flashed brightly and disappeared quickly, taking the Shadow with it.

Teyla and Elizabeth hit the ground and Ronon ran to Teyla as she tried to push herself up from the mud. He helped her to sit up, she looked dazed and exhausted as she looked at him and then quickly glanced at Elizabeth.

"Hey, we didn't lose consciousness that time," Elizabeth said brightly, her voice full of exhaustion as she leaned her head against Sheppard.

"Four down," Teyla whispered breathlessly. "Four to go."

TBC