Chapter Thirty Six – Home
John Sheppard
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Being in fairly good mood John Sheppard strode into his living quarters and cast a quick look at the thick book lying on the night stand; 'War and Peace'.
"Looks like we'll have our time later," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
He moved across the room and eased down behind his desk. He wasn't quite sure why he still had one, maybe because it stood in the room in the first place? He wasn't the type to sit behind it. It didn't feel right somehow, to sit and broad behind a desk when you could be out on missions. Besides, if he wanted to sit behind a desk he could just go to his office. Although today he wanted as much distance between himself and his office as possible because he could easily imagine the amount of paperwork lying in wait for him.
Of two bad things he actually preferred the report writing, especially since he had so little left, and when it came to the rest of things he was sure that Lorne dealt with the most pressing matters at hand.
It wasn't like he had neglected his duties, he'd done a fair share of paperwork but he was still behind schedule, given the amount of time he'd spent coped up in Keller's lovely infirmary.
John suddenly chuckled as he realized that he was in fact brooding and glanced out through the window. It was still heavy downpour outside but the wind had decreased in intensity. Teyla, Keller and the rest of the team would be arriving back any time now. The intensity in the storm plus the ZPM experiment had caused a hold up.
With a sigh he reached for the laptop, plugged it in to recharge the battery, and accessed his report.
"…to defeat them before they defeated us. I still don't know how we managed but we did," he read aloud. "And I still don't," he added wearily.
John rolled his shoulders and grimaced as his tense muscles protested the action. He flexed and relaxed his muscles, letting his head roll from left to right, repeating the action several times before groaning in dismay.
"The backside of office work," he mumbled under his breath.
Sheppard stared at the screen, as if trying to burn the written words into his mind. As he did so he was involuntarily brought back to that day, that final moment of their mission.
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The irony of the situation would have been laughable had it not hurt so much to do so. He'd lost count on how many times he'd had to pick his ass up from the ground these days.
It hurt to breath, it hurt to think, and it even hurt to lie still. Yet it was an even spread of hurt so nothing sort of distinguished itself from the rest of the various aches.
His mind was in a haze. It felt like he was on the border to oblivion yet his mind refused to give in to it. At first he could only make out pieces of the conversation that was obviously going on above his head and then, slowly it began to clear.
"…last of them?" Keller asked anxiously.
He groaned trying to move but stopped short as a spike of hot pain radiated from his wounded side. He settled for stillness at the moment as he sarcastically spoke up. "We knew they were many but this about takes the price."
Feeling numb he decided to give the moving part another go. Biting his lower lip, preventing himself from crying out he decided to turn on his back. He felt his eyes start to water at the action, tears of pain threatened to spring from his eyes as he gasped for breath. He was so caught up in his own misery that he barely heard Ronon assure Keller that there were no more Wraith present.
However, Teyla's soft, yet clear voice startled him. "John, are you all right?"
He looked up to study her and she met his steady gaze, her dark eyes clearer than in a long time. She looked at him in understanding, their friendship so tight they could almost communicate without words. She asked out of politeness so that he could at least tell her a white lie and feel good about it.
Jennifer Keller suddenly appeared next to him, struggling with the zipper of the medical supply bag, grimacing while using her bad hand. Although the hand stopped her only temporarily and it wasn't long before she started dabbing the wound with the last drips of the antiseptic.
"Of course he is not all right. Have you seen him up close lately?" Rodney said testily before letting out a sigh, continuing in a much softer, almost apologetic, voice. "I'm sorry, Teyla, I didn't mean…"
He steeled himself as Keller applied pressure on the wound while Teyla's reply filtered through.
"It's okay Rodney, I understand," the Athosian said.
"McKay," he managed through clenched teeth. "Go and fix the gate; I have had it with this place."
There was a rustle not too far from him and he opened one eye to see Ronon make his way over to where the scientist sat cross-legged. He couldn't help but to smile as the big Satedan dragged the Canadian away toward the DHD.
"Easy, Conan," McKay drawled angrily.
The smile morphed into a grin at what was playing out in front of him.
Ow, ow, ow!"Rodney protested as he bent down to massage his lower legs.
"Teyla?" Keller suddenly questioned causing him to turn serious once again.
"There is a Wraith ship in orbit and it's coming closer. When the darts didn't return from their culling and search for…" the Athosian trailed off.
He turned to Jennifer, unable to hide away the concern for Teyla as he looked up at the doctor. "Should she be straining herself like that?" he asked.
The doctor shook her head sadly. "Should you?" she whispered back.
He was saved from answering her as Teyla spoke up again. "Yes, they were looking for the Ancient Outpost here," she whispered.
"Teyla, be careful." Jennifer warned.
"How…did they know?" he asked curiously.
"It's a renegade ship," Teyla returned in a serious whisper. "They are looking for ways to increase their power in the community. They learned about the outpost from the Ballarians as they entered their minds."
"How did they know about it? It is no mention of it in the Ancient database on Atlantis?" Rodney hollered from where he was sitting, at the DHD.
"Because it was declared lost with all hands due to a catastrophic experiment at the end of the war," she informed.
"Which was?" Rodney demanded impatiently.
"According to the Wraith, they worked with shield modifications. It is a common belief that their experiment failed, causing the complex to implode, and leaving only mass destruction behind," Teyla replied. "It is said the radiation killed almost every researcher instantly."
"Radiation?" Rodney asked worriedly.
He had to roll his eyes at that. Typical McKay to state such a thing in such a dramatic way. He was about to deliver a sarcastic remark but refrained from it as he saw the worried look on Jennifer's face as she moved over to Teyla.
He let himself drift for a moment and was brought back only a minute later as Ronon hollered a question. "Why would they test shields?" the Satedan asked. "Atlantis already have a shield?"
However, the answer didn't come from Teyla but from Rodney and he had to strain his ears to hear the scientist. "The war may have been lost but they weren't all dead. They searched for one last chance to survive against an attack and – I actually believe they succeeded."
"Kind of depends on what you mean by succeeded Rodney," he returned sarcastically.
"The Wraith are searching for the records of the shield and how to destroy it. Apparently they have been searching for a long time. It was only recently that the knowledge of the site was retained," she said.
"Why?" he asked confused. "No one has ever used the shield modifications."
"One ship; or rather one city." Rodney said suddenly, pausing in his work.
Keller raised an impeccable eyebrow. "Atlantis?" she wondered aloud.
He shook his head. "No, we would have found it," he replied with bitterness. This cast a new light about what had been going on behind closed doors a long time ago. Lantians hiding things from one another.
"The station back in the power room, deep down into the core of Atlantis?" Keller asked surprising him.
However, it elicited a reply from the Canadian. "Maybe," the scientist deduced. "We never understood what it was."
"Oh great, you are telling us we have had this advantage the whole time and never used it?" he asked irritably.
"Look, Sherlock, I don't have all the answers!" Rodney replied testily.
"Really? That must be the first time," he returned dryly, unable to help himself.
"When I was little there were tales about ancient cities, not just Atlantis," Teyla said suddenly, perhaps it was an attempt to break off the bantering between him and Rodney, he didn't know, but for some reason he found himself intrigued by what she was saying.
"About the Lantian home world," Ronon filled in seriously as he walked over to her, leaving Rodney on his own at the DHD. "About a world filled with marvellous things. Large cities connected together, like departments. About treasures so rich every crock in Pegasus wanted to go there."
Teyla nodded. "When the Wraith awakened and came, the civilization scattered," she added. "Heavy bombardment caused severe destruction. An enemy so powerful that it could the rival the powers of the ancestors had plagued our galaxy, forcing the mighty powers on their knees."
"Tales," Rodney returned smartly, obviously having overheard the conversation.
"Don't know, sounds pretty solid though," he said. "Remember the hologram, what she said upon our arrival?"
"Your guardians fled," Rodney replied flatly, ignoring his remark. "Left millions of people behind in order to save themselves."
"I know," Teyla let on sadly. "However, you came back for us."
There was an awkward silence before she spoke up again. "Anyway, Terra'an," she let on cryptically.
"The name of the first colony – means 'New beginnings'," Ronon explained, probably realising the rest of them had never heard of it. "A vast city, landed upon beseeched soil where a handful of people stayed behind."
He rubbed his tired eyes and marvelled over what it must have been like in the Pegasus galaxy for Teyla and Ronon before their arrival. If it had been good or bad? If they'd really welcomed the people from the Milky Way with open arms? He got his answer more or less as the natives continued with their story.
"For many generations the knowledge of the marvellous city that spread life and prosperity around the galaxy where passed on. The ancients became something more – something powerful. They were rarely seen and when they were they walked through their mystical rings. Then when a powerful, dark and deadly enemy force arrived upon the galaxy the city returned to defend their children," Teyla told them.
"Doom settled that day when the great city was destroyed," Ronon added, his voice hollow.
"We've never come across another city, except for Lantia," Rodney admitted. "The one we named 'The Tower'."
He frowned suddenly wondering if Ronon or Teyla had ever seen another ancient city before Atlantis but neither of them said anything, instead it was Rodney who continued.
"The remains of the Ancient civilisation were shattered and very few people knew about this. Atlantis could never alone defeat the Wraith so in a hope for survival they set a destination for earth; in a galaxy so distant from Pegasus that the Wraith didn't know about it," the scientist deduced.
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John Sheppard sighed, he was tired. Tired of inaction, tired of hurting, tired of Wraith. However, no matter how difficult the mission had become, how screwed up everything had been, all of them had emerged with their lives intact – except the Acclosians.
He looked at the last paragraph he'd written. The report was finally finished and with it he intended to let everything that came with it go – the nightmares, the trauma, the pain.
He saved the document and attached it to an e-mail. Sheppard raised his hand and hesitated a second before finally hitting the button to send. A moment later he got the recite telling him the report had been delivered to Richard Woolsey.
The colonel leaned back in his chair and exhaled slowly.
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To be continued
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AN:
Thank you "Guest 64" for your kind and encouraging words ;)
Thank you to those who've put the story on alert and favorited – I wish I could hug you all.
And thank you to all who read! There is a whole bunch of you. I am so glad. I hope you stay tuned for the last chapter.