Rated: M for violence and language (I just watched Fight Club and I think it may have rubbed off on me. Not nearly as gory as that though.)
Author's Plea: I have 69 people who have this story on alert. Which is really cool and I'm glad that so many people have enjoyed reading my story so far. But I only have three or four people who regularly give me reviews. And I love them for it! (Thank you!) Everybody else, it is a known fact that author's do well to get opinions on their stories. It can feed the fire to keep writing. I know it encourages me! So please review!
Author's Notes: 1- As with last chapter, flashbacks with be in italics.
2- Sorry about the long delay. I've been sick and not up to writing until here recently. Also this chapter was a pain and took me forever to get together in a way I liked.
The air was thick, heavy, and smelled distinctly of pine needles and rain. Why was it always raining lately? John crouched behind a natural rise, overlooking the square stone building just beyond them. Ford lay behind and to the left of him. He couldn't see them, but John knew that Ronon and Duggar were circled round the far side of the building by now with their men. Far off to his right, Sheppard could just make out McKay fidgeting in his position with Lorne.
The building looked out of place here. This planet was highly forested, nothing but nature in any direction. Yet this one lone building - gray and drab - tried to act like it belonged. It'd fit in more on Earth, some small town court building or a factory even. Not some alien prison house.
There weren't any guards outside. No protective fences or barriers. Rodney said that he wasn't even picking up much of an EM pulse. That at least let them know that a ship wasn't nearby, something John had been very concerned about when Rodney had figured out that the gate now on this planet was the space gate that had once floated near its orbit.
Whomever these people were, they weren't too concerned about being found. John was still cautious though. Anyone who had access to a ship had technology. And technology usually meant someone setting something off that led to them trying to shut something off that planned on blowing them up or running from someone who wanted to shut them up...permanently.
It was almost time to strike. Waiting sucked. Especially when they were this close. Teyla could be in that building - suffering - and he was just sitting here waiting for night to fall. John clenched his jaw. He had to focus. All emotional crap had to drop right now. It'd just get in the way.
"Unscheduled off world activation."
"Raise the shield, Drew." Woolsey positioned himself toward the gate.
"We're receiving a radio transmission, sir."
Intrigued, Richard walked around to stand behind Drew. "Put it through, please."
Brief static came through the time. "Atlantis, come in. This is Lt. Aiden Ford. Do you read?"
Confusion was Richard's first reaction. There was no Lt. Ford enlisted under this expedition. And then he remembered. Before he came - Lt. Ford, the one who had gotten addicted to the Wraith enzyme. Woolsey motioned for Drew to patch him through.
"This is Richard Woolsey of Atlantis. We read you," he paused, "Lieutenant."
"Good. Where's McKay?"
"I don't hold the gate open for long distance phone calls, Mr. Ford. Do you mind telling me what this is about?"
"Fine. But you'll call for him when you hear what I have to say anyway."
"Do continue."
"I heard you've been looking for a man that had been one of the missing?"
"How did you hear that?," Woolsey asked, suspicious.
"Word gets around."
When Ford didn't continue, Woolsey asked with exasperation, "And?"
"And I'm your man."
Richard couldn't help but find that highly convenient and even more unlikely. "What a very small galaxy we live in, Mr. Ford."
"Believe me or not, I bet you've got next to nothing on these guys. You don't even know who they are. And I know where their base is. Don't you have people among the missing, Mr. Woolsey?"
Richard raised his head at the condescending tone Ford had taken on saying his name. "You have my attention. What do you expect in return for this information?"
"Supplies and food. That's all I ask."
"Food should not be a problem. Depending on the supplies you are inquiring about, possibly."
Rodney stumbled into the control center after having been summoned. Before he could so much as gripe about being pulled away from his lunch, he heard, "I want a box of the flashy little sunglasses your teams are wearing these days. Full medical supplies. And McKay."
"Ford?"
"McKay! It's about time you showed up. Get ready for a mission. Me and you are going on a little field trip."
"Are you out of your mind? Why would I go anywhere with a Wraith druggie?"
"Because I know where Teyla is."
Rodney's face blanched and then grimaced. "Oh. Well, I guess that's a good reason."
Richard cut in. "Why don't you just give us the address, Mr. Ford? We'll give you your supplies in return for the information."
"It's a little more complicated than that. I don't know the address. McKay will have to figure it out."
Rodney replied hotly, "Who exactly do you think I am?! Do you KNOW how many gates there are in this galaxy?! No, of course you don't! Well over a thousand..."
"What happened to the Dr. McKay who could do anything while telling everyone exactly how stupid they were for not figuring it out themselves? I know the planet, McKay, just not the address. Trust me. You'll be able to figure it out."
Richard cut in again. "And how is it that you do not know the address?"
"It's a long story. Do you or do you not want to find Teyla?"
Woolsey could hear the growing impatience on Ford's part. "I still don't understand why you feel the need to go?"
"I have a man in there, okay?!," Aiden shouted.
His annoyance seeping heavily into his tone, Rodney asked, "How does your knowing the planet help me determine it's gate address?"
"You've been there, McKay. You'll get it."
Rodney looked over at Mr. Woolsey to find the man staring back at him. Rodney pointed at the open gate agape. "If you think I'm going out there alone with that overgrown hippie wannabe, you are out of your mind!"
Before Richard could respond, Ford did. "Send Lorne's team. We'll need the help getting into the complex. They'll protect you from the hippie wannabe."
Woolsey frowned. "Give us a few minutes. We'll call you back."
The gate shut down. Ronon looked over at John. "You think they'll do it?"
John didn't even look up. "Yeah. He's got nothing to lose and it could end this whole fiasco."
"If he chooses to trust me," Aiden added.
"Don't go looking all sullen over that," John pointed at the younger man. "You're the one who left."
"Yeah, well I didn't see you offering to call home for help. Wonder why that is."
They stared at each other, each annoyed. John broke the contest. "You never mentioned a man."
"You never asked."
Papers from a chart flipped back and forth. His tongue clucked against the roof of his mouth as he opened it. Licking his index finger, he turned another page.
"You are healing quite well, Eleven. Quite well, indeed."
Snapping on some gloves similar to those Dr. Keller used on Atlantis, he prodded her right thigh. It felt badly bruised but Teyla withheld her wince. It was nothing compared to the pain one week ago when he had had one of his men break the bones from her thigh down.
He smiled gleefully. "What a breakthrough. A little more time and I may have you at Wraith quality yet."
A voice that sounded remarkably like John's sarcastically shouted 'Yippee' in Teyla's head. She smirked at the voice, causing a slightly confused expression from Him.
He would start more 'treatments' tomorrow. Depending on how much he liked the progression of the treatment, her next experimental injury could be in a few days or a week. It didn't really matter but Teyla kept count anyway.
She had undergone twelve treatments - ten successfully. Her right leg had been broken five times, her back once. Teyla tried to remember the various chemical tests done on her but ultimately could remember nothing but the pain from those experiences. She remembered these things for Dr. Keller. Jennifer would need to know as much as possible when she was rescued. She would be rescued.
Torren was six years, nine months, and three Atlantean days old. She had been gone ten months and twenty days. These Teyla remembered so as to not lose track of time. She chanted them in her head every day so as to not forget. It would be so easy to forget. It felt as if she had seen nothing but these four bleak walls for years. She chanted them to fuel the dwindling fire in her soul. For when she did escape, Teyla would know exactly how long He kept her away from those she loved, how long she heard the screams of others confined like animals, how long she had suffered by His hand.
"It's time."
John's voice spoke abruptly through Connelly's radio. Ronon looked over the expanse of open ground they would have to cross while the Lieutenant acknowledged Sheppard. It was dark, which would give them some cover, but not so dark that they were blind. There were two moons on this planet, both only partially full but they provided enough light to give an eerie gray glow to everything around them.
Ronon hadn't wanted to wait, but he couldn't fault Sheppard the logic of his choice. The area was open and exposed. There'd be no way to get to the entrance of the building during the day without alerting someone to their presence. John wanted this done right, no rash decisions, no screw ups. They'd both waited too long for this moment to blow it now.
Setting his stunner to max, Ronon rose from his cover - Lorne's man following behind. Once he and Connelly got inside, Duggar and Rogers would make their way in.
When left alone, it grew so quiet in her cell that Teyla could hear her own blood flowing through her veins, her heart pulsing in her ears. There had been several weak moments when Teyla willed the beating of her heart to slow until it stopped, taking the pain with it. But then she would remember her son, her beautiful son. He needed her. She could not give in. She would not give in.
Torren was six years, nine months, and three days old.
Teyla heard a stunner faintly in the back of her mind. It would not be the first time. Though, normally she dreamt of a P-90. Even as she thought it, Teyla heard it - and much louder than the stunner. She smiled. She used to call for him when she would hear it but Teyla had long since realized that these sounds were tricks of her mind. Besides, He had grown tired of her shouting and had since muzzled her.
Teyla could still hear him shouting her name in her mind, a mix of urgency and desperation. But then the door never opened. He never came.
Rodney stared into his life signs detector.
"My god, these are all cells."
Lorne pointed his P-90 down the different hallways. They'd already taken out three guards on their path here but so far no alarms had been set off and it had all gone down fairly quietly. "Which one?"
"Which one?! Pick one. There's got to be over a hundred in this section."
Evan started down the hallway on the left. "Well, at least there's windows."
"And door codes." Rodney frowned. "Oh, I really hope they aren't different for each door."
"We'll just shoot our way in if we have to."
"Yeah, great stealth there, Rambo."
Lorne scowled. "I said if we have to."
Rodney's eyes widened as he looked over Lorne's shoulder. "I think we have to."
Evan whipped around just as another guard in a blue uniform aimed his weapon. Lorne didn't hesitate firing.
"Well there goes stealth," Lorne commented dryly, hearing Ronon's stunner in the distance. "Let's get these doors open, McKay."
Ronon shot open another door with his stunner. Every room was the same. A lone individual strung up by chains or strapped down to a table. Connelly guarded the hall, directing the captives which way to get out. So far they'd released twenty five people. Most were able to walk out on their own, but some were supported by others, limping out on broken bones or other various injuries. A few had picked up weapons off fallen guards, the first to do so following Connelly's instructions on how to get free of the building.
This rooms occupant did not even raise her head when Ronon threw open the door. Her body hung limply from the chains in the ceiling, a thick fiery red braid falling over her right shoulder.
Wrapping his arm around her waist, Ronon shot the chains to free her. Her arms fell heavily at her sides. It wasn't until Ronon started to move that she recognized he was there. Then she panicked. Lashing out, she went to strike with a fist to the side of Ronon's head but he caught her wrist.
"Woah! Calm down. We're here to help. We're getting you out of here."
She fought weakly for a second more before breaking down in tears. Her face was black and blue and from the way she grabbed her torso - instantly trying to stop her tears - Ronon surmised her ribs were badly bruised if not broken as well.
Ronon cupped the side of her face in his hand to direct her face toward his. Hers was so badly swollen that there was no way she could see him.
"Cora..."
Her brows furrowed as much as her face would allow. "How...how do you know my name?"
"Bryn told us we might find you."
"Bryn? No. She's not here, is she?" Cora's hands unconsciously reached for Ronon's chest in inquiry.
"No. She's safe. You're safe now too." Ronon looked over her and back out the door. "I need you to stay here. I have to free the others but I'll come back for you."
"I...I..." She looked terrified at the prospect of staying there alone.
"I will come back for you."
His voice was deadly serious and she nodded, steeling herself just the way Bryn had. "Okay." Cora felt for the wall behind her and then slowly and painfully sank to the floor to wait. "I'll be right here."
"Ronon!"
Ronon ran out the door at the sound of Connelly's voice, gun raised.
"They found Teyla!"
People shuffled past John to the exit, more than ready to fight their way out if need be. Ford shot open a door.
"Ford, what the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be leading the people out of here!"
"It's quicker this way." Aiden kicked open the door when it didn't fully budge. John growled. Ford wouldn't know how to stick to a plan if he was a bug on flypaper.
"Sheppard, come in!"
"What is it, Rodney?" John used his stunner to open another door.
"We found Teyla!"
He froze, his whole world narrowing down to the radio strapped to his chest. "Is she okay?"
"I dunno. I mean, yeah - she'll be fine."
She'll be fine. Not she was fine. A piercing sting stabbed into John's shoulder and he flinched and hissed against the shock. The world shot back into focus and the frightened gasps and screams of the newly released captives reached his ears. John whirled to his left and found a guard immobilizing people one by one with a weapon that John idly thought looked like the Cricket from Men In Black.
Sheppard raised his weapon, his left arm throbbing as he did so but there was no way he could get a clean shot with the people in a panic between them. John barrelled his way through the remaining people, in effect swimming against the current, feeling or rather loosing the feeling in his left arm. Finally getting in better range John lifted his weapon and fired, downing the guard. Unfortunately, there was more than enough to take his place.
More Cricket fire shot beyond the far wall and John turned for cover in the nearest cell he could find. Where the hell was Ford?! A few people who had been shot were downed in the hall, in various stages of pain or shock.
Diving in a room, John reloaded the P-90, heat exploding in his chest. When the zing's of Crickets stopped, John shifted to open fire out the door - doing little more than catching a guard in the arm before he ducked behind cover again.
Belatedly John realized McKay was yelling in his ear. "John! John, what the hell is going on over there?!"
"Oh, nothing Rodney. Just playing a little game of tag with the guards is all. Get Teyla and the rest of the people out NOW. No waiting."
"Where are you?"
"NOW, Rodney!"
There was an annoying pause in which John's hands started to shake and his heart beat far too rapidly that he began to wonder if somehow the Cricket had caused him to go into an alien induced heart attack when Rodney replied, "Okay. We'll meet you out there."
Satisfied with the answer, John positioned himself partway out the door to return fire. Ford poked his head out a door two down from where Sheppard was currently seeking cover and shouted, "Yo, Sheppard! You think you can cover me?"
"If you hurry!"
Ford took that as a yes and made a run for Sheppard's position, diving into the room over John's head right as he ran out of ammo in his P-90. Sweat pored from John now and he barely got another clip in his gun.
"They got you with one of those stinger's, didn't they?"
"That's what we're calling them?," John asked incredulously.
Aiden shrugged. "You got puddle jumpers." Frowning, Ford sheathed a blue blood stained knife and pulled something out of a pocket. "Damn, Sheppard. You better be glad there was more than one."
John shot blindly down the hall. "One what?"
Aiden stabbed something in his leg.
"Ow! Son of a bitch. What was that for?"
"It'll keep you from dying. Everybody else is out. I suggest we do the same."
John's heart rate wasn't slowing down but his vision started clearing remarkably. He eyed Ford suspiciously. "What'd you give me?"
Aiden smirked and pat his leg. "Later. Let's get out of here."
And with the stupid impulsiveness that John was shocked hadn't gotten him killed yet, Ford shot out the door and down the hall toward the remaining guards, determined to take them out.
John scrambled to his feet, dumbly following after Aiden. He tripped over a body, one of the prisoners that had been hit with a stinger. Her eyes stared blankly up at him. John gripped his weapon tighter and rounded the corner.
Taking out the immediate danger and getting another shot with a stinger for his trouble, John called over his radio. "Are all the prisoners out?"
Lorne responded. "Yes, sir. All out and away."
"Duggar and Rogers?"
"Charges set, sir."
"Good. Head toward the gate. We'll catch up to you. Sheppard out."
Ford and Sheppard continued making their way cautiously down the halls. It was eerily quiet now. There had been little defense of the building - nothing they hadn't been able to handle. It didn't sit well with John. Surely an operation that had efficiently struck hundreds of planets in this galaxy had a better protective measure than a few measly guards.
John itched with energy, skin crawling with the desire to hit something, someone, do something. "Ford," he hissed, "what the hell did you give me?"
Without taking his eyes off the path in front of them, Aiden said, "Found out last time I was hear that those stingers didn't have as much effect on me as everybody else. Figured it had something to do with the Wraith enzyme."
"You gave me Wraith drugs?!"
Ford flicked his eyes at Sheppard. "You're alive, aren't you?"
John glared at the back of Aiden's head. "You didn't have a man in here at all, did you?"
"I plead to their precious sensibilities."
"You mean it sounded better than 'I'm going to get a fix'."
"Means to an end, Sheppard."
The sound of shattered glass had both men whipping to an open doorway they had just past. John slowly entered the dark room, gun raised. It was a lab of sorts - no doubt to gather the findings from their "patients".
"Ford, get your glasses on and check the room."
Aiden pulled the glasses out of his pocket as Sheppard did the same.
"What's in the box, Rodney?"
"TGD's." Connelly opened the box and Rodney pulled out a pair. "It's just a rough model, I haven't had time to perfect them yet."
Ford grabbed a pair.
"Careful!," Rodney shouted, body tense as if trying not to lunge to save his precious creation.
John took the pair out of Rodney's hands. "They look like sunglasses," he said skeptically.
"Sunglasses that can detect thermal readings. With Torren giving us that Teyla just disappeared, we figured some kind of cloaking device was used. Unless it had some way of completely voiding their heat signature, they would still be visible using these. Originally we had the SGC send some equipment to us but it was bulky and in the way so I..."
"And Zelenka," Lorne added.
Rodney frowned briefly before brushing off that tidbit of information. "...I made these. Lightweight, somewhat durable..."
John cut in. "Somewhat durable?"
Grimacing, Rodney said, "Well, by somewhat durable I mean they break really easily."
Giving them a once over, John put them on and pushed the lone button on the side. Everything was green or blue except all the bodies around him, varying pieces of them ranging from yellow to orange to red.
"Cool."
"Yeah, I wouldn't do that either. They don't last very long before they stop working."
John turned it off and frowned at McKay. "Do they have any good features?"
Rodney looked a cross between indignant and nonplussed. "I said it was just a rough model."
Ford walked slowly down the center of the isle, aiming his weapon in the gaps between tables. John stayed at the door, blocking escape. Something crunching under foot caught John's attention and he aimed his P-90 at the noise.
A lone figure shakily rose to his feet with his hands raised in the air.
"P...please, do not shoot."
"Ford, is the rest of the room clear?"
"Yep. All clear."
John leveled a glare at the figure before him. "Take off your cloak."
Slowly reaching up, the man pulled a device out of his temple. With the glasses on, he didn't look any different. John lifted them enough to see if the man was truly visible before he fully took off the TGD's.
"I beg of you. Please, do not kill me. I'll do anything. Tell you anything."
"Do you work here?"
The man hesitated. "Yes."
"You run experiments on people that you steal from their homes?"
"Our people are dying."
"And that makes it okay to use other people as your lab rats?!"
"What we do is for the benefit of all - to make a better race, to solve the ailments we all face. Here we will find a medical breakthrough to change the face of..."
John tightened his grip on his weapon, shaking it slightly. "I don't care about your bull shit! What you do is torture and kill people."
Sheppard's mind shot to one of the first cells he'd opened today. A man had been burned all on the right side of his body. But the scars on the other side...the man had begged that John kill him, the pain being more than he could bear. Instead John half carried him, getting another man to help carry the burned man out of the building.
"If you were really so humane you'd do the tests on yourself!" John's nostrils flared, his control stretched to the breaking point. He would love nothing more than to make this man feel every bit of the pain he had caused. "Where are the others?"
"The...the others?"
John raised his weapon slightly in warning.
The man blanched and stuttered, "They have hidden away. In the unlikely event that we were found, all the researchers were to head to locations hidden throughout the complex until the threat was terminated."
"Thank you."
John shot him point blank in the head. The man fell, a death so quick he didn't even have time to register fear or pain on his face. Sheppard turned to Ford. "Let's go."
Neither man said anything until they had escaped the confines of the building.
"Must say I'm a little shocked."
Not that John needed to ask..."About what?"
"Point blank in the head after he surrendered. Not very humane of you."
John pulled a detonator out of his pocket. "I disagree. He's not going to get crushed or burn to death." With the flick of a switch, the building exploded behind them - crumbling as if it was no more than a house of cards.
John and Aiden set out at a jog to catch up with the others. Sheppard's leg twinged in discomfort where he was hit with the second stinger. The Wraith enzyme seemed to be holding back the full brunt of its effects. John just hoped that the withdrawal from the dose of enzyme wasn't too terrible. They still had a two day hike to the gate. Longer with injured among them. He didn't need to add himself as a liability.
Rodney jumped at the explosion, his shoulders jerking up as his head went forward in some lame instinct to protect himself. Turning around, he saw the smoke billowing up through the trees. Reaching wildly for his radio, Rodney called, "John?! John, come in."
"We're fine, Rodney. Keep going. We'll double time it and meet up with you in a bit."
Rodney glanced at Teyla beside him and saw the relief on her face that he knew must be reflected in his own. Teyla continued walking, helping a girl no more than eight walk along with what looked like scars from knife wounds on her exposed arms. Rodney's eyes followed Teyla - the way she'd looked when he and Lorne first saw her ingrained in his mind.
"Teyla!"
Strapped to a table, she lay at a forty-five degree angle - her arms, legs, and torso bound with thick leather. The entire lower portion of her face was covered with a metal piece that took Rodney back to watching Shredder attack Master Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Feeling sick to his stomach at seeing Teyla tied up like some kind of experiment, Rodney quickly untied her bindings while Lorne continued down the hall to free the others. Teyla grasped his arm and rose unsteadily to her feet. Once sure she could stand on her own she released him, grabbing the metal on her face. Rodney felt along the back portion on the back of her head, finding a release mechanism which opened the device. Teyla quickly flung her silent torture device away from her. Rodney watched it bounce across the floor as Teyla experimentally stretched her jaw muscles.
"Come on. We need to get out of her."
"Wait." Teyla grabbed his arm again to stop him, her voice weak and hoarse with lack of use. Rodney watched her reach underneath the long slightly shredded skirt that she wore and realized with horror that she was removing a catheter-like tubing. She grimaced in pain, her head involuntarily shaking minutely as if shuddering. Taking a deep breath, Teyla opened her eyes and nodded to let Rodney know that she was now ready.
Lorne pulled up the rear of their caravan, scanning the trees for any movement. His team flanked the left and right of the large group while Ronon took the front, leading a woman blind from the swelling of her face by the hand. Duggar carried a boy on his back, no more than four or five.
Evan's whole body tensed with a seething rage. Doing experiments on men and women deserved death and in his mind, a little of their own medicine. But to do these things to kids ...there was a special hell for people like that.
They'd been lucky there had been relatively little resistance. There had been guards, but looking back Lorne seriously doubted they were anything but guards for the prisoners themselves - meant to keep them in line for transport between rooms.
One of the more elderly women of the group tripped in front of him and Evan reached to help her up. She smiled weakly and quietly thanked him, patting his hand and continuing her painful walk. He wished he could do more to help her, wished she didn't have to walk with everyone else, but there was nothing for it.
It was too dark for this. Everyone was exhausted and though Lorne didn't want to say it, he was pretty positive the threat was gone. Still, if there was one thing he'd learned, it was to never get cocky and off your guard in the field. Things could go to hell in a handbasket mighty fast. Besides, it looked as if dawn was approaching. He loved planets with short nights.
An explosion sounded so loud and so close behind him that he could feel the heat singe the hairs on the back of his head and the opened mouth terror of the people in front of him were noticeably lacking their screams.
Oddly enough, Lorne's first thought was, "And it was going so well."
John and Aiden turned to each other when they heard the explosion. Without saying a word they both set off at a dead run, following the sounds of the screams and weapons fire.
"Lorne! What the hell is going on?!"
Yelling into the radio, Lorne replied, "....ship. I..s....ri...over us."
"Get those people scattered in the trees. We're on our way."
Evan looked around at the chaos of people running and thought that order wouldn't be much of a problem. Some people were so terrified they looked around helplessly, afraid that if they moved they might run straight into the next explosion.
John and Aiden got to the others faster than he would have thought and with less energy expended than he knew was normal. It felt like the beginning stages of turning into a bug all over again and considering what planet he was on, that really did not settle well with him.
Smoke billowed up out of craters where the ship had struck. Sheppard looked above, the ship looming in a static position - blocking out what little light dawn was affording them.
John ran to Lorne's position. "Where's the bazooka, Major?"
"Sorry, sir," Lorne replied, adding dryly, "Rogers really wanted his extra Mars bars."
"They should really be standard every mission, don't you think?"
Evan grinned while reloading. "Mars bars or bazooka's, sir?"
"Both," John replied with mock seriousness.
Their weapons were doing absolutely nothing against the shield of that ship - which if John didn't know any better was of Ancient design. As if that wasn't just swell, then the troops came in. The only thing that gave them away was the white light of the beaming technology as they landed. John pulled his TGD's on. There had to be at least fifty of them. So with Ronon, Aiden, and Lorne's team that gave them one against seven.
John aimed his P-90 and fired. The bullets bounced harmlessly off a shield. So, big alien space ship blowing holes in the ground. Check. Invisable enemy. Check. Invisable enemy with personal shields. Not cool - and check.
The question was - were they like Goa'uld shields where knives could get through or Ancient shields were they were just shit out of luck? Considering which galaxy they were in and their choice of transportation, John was guessing the latter but it didn't hurt to check just in case. Unsheathing one of his knives, John threw it at the closest inviso alien. Score one for the home team. Personal shield was not effective.
John passed on this intel to the others and set to work.
He couldn't believe it. They'd actually done it. Seven to fifty and they'd actually done it. There was still the ship to contend with but it had remained auspiciously silent while it's men had been on the ground. John's TGD's flickered off, their power finally draining - having lasted for the whole battle. Taking the glasses off, John took a look around.
Lorne eased one of his men down to the ground out of sight. His shin was badly broken, the bone sticking out of the skin - yet the man had stayed standing and finished off three others before it was all said and done. Ronon pulled his long knife out of a body, his arms and pants splattered in blood.
Before John even had time to truly breath in their accomplishment - if you could ever really call so bloody a slaughter that - white light shone around him again.
No.
John gripped his two knives, keenly aware that now he was at a serious disadvantage.
Teyla ran. She ran so hard and so fast that her chest burned and her leg throbbed incessantly. She did not care. Teyla and Rodney had hidden the children and the ones too injured to offer assistance as far from the explosions as she could. Now she had to get back. She had to help them.
Rodney huffed, his face a stark contrast of white and red, sweat poring off of him when he finally reached the ship again. It looked almost humorous to come into such a sight without the TGD's on. A few people randomly striking out at air in the middle of a forest - until that is Rodney saw one of those few people hit paydirt, blood coming from seemingly nothing. Rodney quickly pulled out his TGD's, the scene changing drastically. There had to be forty or more people on the ground. The majority of which were picking up far more blue on the thermal glasses than the others. Why, Rodney had no idea. Knowing the blues to be targets, Rodney aimed his 9 mil and fired. Deflected. Ah - that explained the blue. A shield could definitively alter a thermal reading.
Rodney's eyes widened as the blue figure turned around and looked at him. Crap! He had seen blood. How had he seen blood? Maybe the shield only guarded against high velocity weapons. But that meant hand to hand. Rodney really didn't do hand to hand. In fact, he did quite terribly with hand to hand. He couldn't even use the sticks that Ronon kept trying to teach him with. His gym teachers had always told him that his hand eye coordination sucked. Okay, so they hadn't so much as said sucked because they were teachers and teachers didn't tell their....Rodney ducked as the blue man tried to hit him. Okay, not panicking. Plan A - Rodney used his crouched position and jutted forward to try and knock his opponent off his feet. Which did not work if the fist in his side was anything to go by. Their momentum still taking them forward, Rodney tried to grasp the man's right arm to stop his swing and managed to get his foot behind the others calf, sending him sprawling backwards. Unfortunately, he grabbed Rodney's vest pulling him down as well. The alien wrapped Rodney in a headlock and pounded his fist into the side of McKay's head. Shocked and with a blistering pain now in his head, he couldn't think how to retaliate and the man kept hitting him. One of his arms pinned between them, Rodney reached down on his thigh, unsheathing a knife Ronon had given him years ago that until this day Rodney had never used, and plunged it into the man's side. Rodney was instantly released from his headlock and he pushed himself on his hands and knees.
"Always have a plan B," Rodney muttered as he watched the strange blue thermal face come to rest on the ground.
"Rodney!"
McKay looked up, trying to find the voice. It was John.
"You got any more of those?"
Shaking his head in incomprehension, Rodney asked, "What?"
"The TGD's!"
"Yes, uh, in my pack. Give me just a minute!"
Rodney ripped his pack off his back, digging around to find the extra pair he had stowed away. There! As his fingers wrapped around them, a sharp stinging pain radiated through his brain and out his right eye from his temple. Rodney yelled and vaguely heard John's voice in the background. Rodney tried to claw at the object in his temple but someone standing behind him prevented the move. When his eyes started getting heavy, Rodney realized that this must have been what happened to Teyla. He knew he couldn't be dying because the pain in his head was fading and he wasn't in enough pain to be dying.
Something barrelled into Rodney's head, sending him flying backwards. Having still been on his knees, his body fell back oddly with his feet trapped awkwardly underneath him. Something bony impacted with his head but not hard enough to constitute a hit. Rodney tried to move whatever it was off of him while pulling the device out of his temple at the same time. Getting free of his attacker, Rodney sat up trying to blink the sleep from his eyes as if that would help remove the sedative from his system. Looking behind him, he saw John - or who he assumed was John - beating the crap out of another blue man.
Sheppard stopped when the other no longer moved underneath him and quickly got to his feet. Just barely panting, John turned. "Rodney, you get those glasses?"
McKay looked down at his hand. The lenses were broken. Rodney reached up for his own. "Here, take mine."
John shook his head. "No you keep them."
"You can do a hell of a lot more than I can with them. Take them."
John didn't bother answering, just taking off, leaving Rodney there holding the glasses.
It amazed John how easy it felt to kill. Not easy in the sense of morals or whatnot. When you're defending your life or that of others, morals aren't at the top of your mind. No, John was amazed at the sure ease he was feeling now - this particular instance. The odds were horrible but he was defending himself with an ease he knew he had never been capable of before. It was the enzyme. He'd seen it in Ford. In Teyla and Ronon. In himself even. He could see why Ford hadn't wanted to give it up - wouldn't want to give up this advantage. Another jumped on his back, trying to stick that damn device in his head. That's all they seemed to be trying to do. None were using any weapons of lethal force. John flipped the man and was surprised by how quickly his opponent got back to his feet, lashing out at him again. Sheppard struck the enemy in the chest so hard that the man fell to the ground. John waited for a retaliation when he heard it.
"John!"
He looked up and could see Teyla no more than twenty feet away from him. Their eyes locked for a single moment and then she disappeared. Anger and panic fought for dominance in his body as he surged forward.
"Teyla!"
He didn't know where to hit. He couldn't hear anything to help above the fighting everywhere around him.
"Teyla!," he yelled desperately. A blur of color flashed in his peripheral vision and John saw her, blood dripping out of her temple as she flung something on the ground trying to twist out of the grip of her invisible captor. Cold calm slipped into John's blood. Teyla wretched herself free right as John got to her side and John struck out with his fist, firmly connecting with facial bone. John grabbed for cloth, not letting go when he found it - falling to the ground and pouring his rage out over and over again on an enemy he couldn't even see. White filled his vision and his hand connected painfully with the dirt. Suddenly on his hands and knees, John gazed around. Everyone else had paused as well.
John looked up - expecting the ship to open fire. Instead, it lifted and disappeared from sight.
Lorne gaped at Rodney. "What just happened?"
The scientist looked as bewildered as the rest of them. "I...I don't know."
John got up off his knees.
"Do you think they found the others?"
John's eyes jerked at the sound of that voice. It was Teyla. She was covered in dirt and grime and a little blood, her hair as long as when he first met her. Quickly scanning her body, he didn't see any apparent injuries. Teyla was alive and whole and right in front of him.
John was vaguely aware of Rodney answering. "No. I mean, I don't think so. They went in the opposite direction."
Teyla seemed satisfied with that answer, nodding tiredly. John stood directly across from her, five yards between them. When she turned away from Rodney her eyes collided with his.
He stood rooted to the spot, staring at her. In some part of his mind, he knew that the others were talking, walking away to help gather the wounded. He just couldn't stop looking at her. After all his searching, he'd finally found her and he still can't bring himself to touch her. John hated himself for it. He's a coward and he knows it.
Teyla swayed slightly on her feet, a small almost hysterical huff of laughter escaping her lips that's not really directed at him but at everything - at being free, at being with them, at the sheer accomplishment of what they just went through. There are tears in her eyes - of joy or pain John's not sure which - and when she takes a step toward him and her right leg buckles slightly something in John snaps and before he knows what he's doing, he's moved the distance between them and stops just in front of her. Teyla thinks he's hesitating again but he reaches for her hips, lightly putting his hands there and tilts his head forward.
When she realizes what he's doing, the tears Teyla has refused to let fall for the last ten months and twenty days finally leave her eyes and she returns his gesture, resting the top of her head against his forehead - the Athosian greeting this foreign man had accepted with ease and somehow turned into something entirely different. Something theirs. Teyla closed her eyes, bringing her hands to rest on John's arms as she soaked in his presence.
His hands tighten reflexively at the contact, clinging to her to know that she's really alive and really there - making sure she can't disappear from his sight ever again. He isn't yet aware how fiercely she is clinging to him as well.
"I knew you would come, John."
He's heard her say it before and prays to god he never has to hear her say it again. John's voice is hoarse, whispered. "Always, Teyla."
And with that simple statement, he confirms what they've both been denying from the very beginning. She squeezes his arms lightly and breaks the Athosian embrace. Opening her mouth to speak, her words were cut off by the sound of John's radio.
"Major Lorne, this is Colonel Caldwell on the Daedalus. Do you read?"
John heard Lorne reply as Teyla met his eyes again. "That explains why the ship left," she mused.
John smiled a small one sided grin. "Guess so."
He really had to stop staring at her. Clearing his throat, John surveyed the area. Old habits die hard. "You said something about hiding the others?"
For less than a moment, it looked as if something dimmed in Teyla's eyes. Looking briefly over his shoulder, she nodded, "Ronon and Rodney have already left in that direction."
"John," she continued, "how is my son?"
His eyes softened. "He's safe. Waiting anxiously for you." Grinning boyishly, he added, "I'll be uncle of the year when I bring you home."
Many emotions flooded through her eyes. Relief. Joy. Guilt. The last caused him to nudge her with his left hand, which John belated realized was still on her hip. "Hey."
Teyla looked up at him briefly before staring pointedly at his shirt. "I have missed so much."
"Not your fault," he said firmly. "And you get him for the rest of your life." He really wanted her to look at him again so he repeated his slight nudge while saying, "Not too bad, huh?"
Her lips twitched. "No," she replied in that adorable polite way that she always did, finally upturning her brown eyes to look at him again.
"I'm glad you're back." Well, that just kind of slipped out. A rush of words he hadn't consciously thought about before they fumbled out of his mouth. Upon listening to them out loud John realized they weren't actually as telling as he had thought. In fact, it was a little too un-telling. He didn't want her to think she was just a colleague or anything so mundane to him but he figured 'I love you' was a little much with everything else going on. By the way his heart leapt into his throat at the mere thought of saying that, John decided definitely too much. Even though she was technically in his arms, he still felt he should add something to that statement. "I missed you."
She smiled - that smile that lit up her whole face and made her eyes sparkle. Her look softened and John felt her palm against his cheek, her fingertips in the hair just at the back of his head. "I missed you as well, John."
"Colonel?"
John clicked his radio as Teyla slowly stepped back to give him some room. "Go ahead, Lorne."
"Daedalus is ready to beam us all aboard, sir."
"Lorne, I told you - you really don't have to call me that anymore."
Teyla's brows furrowed in confusion.
"Yes, sir." There was a definite stubborn lilt behind that voice. John sighed.
"What did you mean..."
Teyla's question was cut off by the tell-tale sign of beaming technology.
They'd been separated shortly after arrival on the ship. Teyla had been sent directly to the infirmary while John conferred with Colonel Caldwell. When Teyla first spotted Jennifer she was so utterly shocked that she must have looked just like a Gibalta fish.
"Jennifer!," she finally exclaimed. "You are with child."
It was quite possibly the most inane thing Teyla had uttered in her entire life. Jennifer just laughed and rubbed her swollen stomach. "Oh this! Nonsense. I'm just retaining water."
Raising a lone eyebrow, Teyla smirked. However she was very aware that there were many who needed to be tended to. "You will have to tell me all that I have missed once we are again in Atlantis."
Smiling, Jennifer agreed. "We'll have a girls night."
That was hours ago now. Jennifer had finished Teyla's examination though she would have a much more thorough and trying medical exam once in Atlantis. There was much to discuss of her time away, however much Teyla did not wish it. Teyla remained in the infirmary to help comfort the more severely injured of those captive alongside her. Many of them were from worlds still unused to technology and the young ones were especially frightened or overtly curious of everything.
Teyla heard John's voice before she saw him.
"Drop it, Rodney!"
"I'm just saying..."
"Rodney..." That warning tone always seemed to get through to McKay and with a sigh, Rodney said no more.
They rounded the corner and John smiled pleasantly as if nothing was wrong. Even if Teyla had not heard that conversation, she could easily see by Rodney's dejected worried expression and John's forced ease that something was ...off.
"What is wrong?," Teyla asked quietly, not wanting to wake the little girl she had just gotten to sleep by singing an Athosian lullaby.
John tried to look innocent. "Nothing."
She was hurt that he would not confide in her. Teyla wondered if her earlier questions might have something to do with what was troubling him. "Earlier you told Major Lorne that it was not necessary for him to call you 'sir' any longer. Why is that?"
John quickly sent Rodney a look, cutting off anything the scientist might have been thinking of saying. Returning his attention to Teyla, he said casually, "Lorne's getting promoted to Lt. Colonel."
It wasn't a lie, John thought. It just wasn't the whole truth. He didn't know why he didn't want her to know. It's not like she wasn't going to find out soon enough anyway.
Teyla smiled genuinely. "Major Lorne will make an excellent Colonel. He is well deserving of such an honor among your people."
John agreed. "Lorne's a good man and an even better airman."
It was quiet for a moment and John turned his eyes to the sleeping child. Rodney was still stewing and if he didn't divert the man's mind, he was bound to bring up the topic again. "Doc had the baby yet?"
"What?" Rodney jerked away from his thoughts. "Oh. No. Still a couple of months yet."
John raised his eyebrows, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You know if it's a boy or a girl?"
"Yeah," Rodney smiled. "She's a girl."
John's smile was genuine when he saw how happy his friend was. "Congratulations, Rodney."
"Yes. Congratulations to you both," Teyla agreed. "I must admit I was most shocked when I first saw her."
Rodney, realizing his emotional display and because he was Rodney thus uncomfortable with it, grew serious and rambled, "Well, I'm still pretty sure I'll end up ruining the kid. Jennifer will be great. She's so nervous, though I have no idea why. And I keep having these horrible dreams that Jennifer and the baby get eaten by a whale."
John shook his head. Rodney and whales. "You got a name picked out?"
"No. Jennifer said something about wanting to see the baby to find a name that 'fits', whatever that means."
Teyla nodded. "Many Athosians name their children in the same manner. If not honoring someone they hold dear, parents will wait until they have gotten to know their child before bestowing a name they find appropriately matches their personality."
When Teyla glanced at John, dark intensity lingered in his eyes. Someone they hold dear. Blinking his mask back in place, John smirked, countering, "You could always name her Meredith."
Rodney's mouth dropped open at the affront. "Oh ha ha. That is so funny. Really! I'm rolling here. That never gets old with you, does it? And to think I missed having you around."
"You missed me?," John teased.
Rodney raised up his hands. "Don't ask me why. I must have been having a particularly bad Zelenka day."