Ajax stopped talking as the unstable wormhole vortex flung itself out of the Stargate before just as quickly snapping back to present as a gently rippling wormhole entrance.
"That's our cue." Max said, leaping the last few steps as the Flock ran up behind her and Tigris gripped her shoulders as he struggled to stay upright.
"Wait a moment." Lorne said, entering the room. "They'll have guards at the gate. What do you say I clean 'em up for you?"
"Be my guest." Max said, standing back from the gate slightly and waving her arm forward.
Lorne grinned, then pulled the pins on three grenades and tossed them through the gate. There was a moment of silence, then Lorne nodded. "Okay, it's probably clear."
Max nodded in acknowledgement, then stepped through. The rest of the Flock followed, then the Riders walked through, swords already in hand. The mermaids exchanged a significant look, then followed the Riders after waiting three seconds. Finally, Lorne stepped through with the rest of ART-1, weapons ready for action.
It was quiet aboard the hive. Apparently, the ship had not seen fit to grow more crew as it's hull was expanded.
After a brief look around, Ajax sheathed his long knives, hands loosely hanging by his sides.
The mermaids were likewise standing in a relaxed posture while McKay worked out where the ZPM was likely to be.
"Any time now, McKay." Lorne said quietly glancing over his shoulder. "I don't wanna be on this tub any longer than I have to be."
"Almost got it…" McKay replied absently, tapping his computer screen. He looked up and jerked his head, "…this way."
The group quietly walked along, ready to completely flip shit on any Wraith that dared to show themselves.
"I just realized something." Ajax said.
"What's that?" Lorne asked coming up beside him. Ajax could tell that he was trying to get his mind off the fact that they were on a Wraith Hive ship.
"You have three Riders with varying levels of skill in magic, four people with power even beyond that of a Rider, and the knowledge required to use it, and seven human-avian hybrids with survival training beyond that of any in the Armed Forces. In short, we have overkill, and I still haven't factored in Ronon and his blaster."
"Thanks." Lorne murmured, half-smiling. "That makes me feel better."
"Glad to help." Ajax said. He then raised his hand and whispered a few words in the ancient language. In an adjacent hallway, two Wraith dropped to the organic decking, dead.
Just then, a blue light seared a path right next to Ajax's head. He whirled around, eyes glaring, "hey, careful where you aim those things!" Ajax yelled. "You nearly took my head off!"
They kept firing, and the group scattered to take cover.
"Aragon!" Ajax yelled, drawing out the syllables in Aragon's name.
"What?" Aragon shot back, twisting to dodge another attack.
"I can't feel these things!" Ajax said. "And there's so little else in the area, I should be able to sense these guys."
"You can't mean…" Eragon said, joining the conversation.
"Yup, I think these masked things are the Ra'zac." Ajax replied, voice bitter.
"It would make sense." Eragon mused, his right hand gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Either way, time to take them out." Ajax replied, ducking another stunner round. He chuckled, then put his hands together. "I saw this in a you-tube video once." he said, standing. "Kami-KAMI-Hey, come on, bro!"
Orange light roared from his palms resolving into a tight beam of light that vaporized the Wraith infantry and most of the wall behind them. Ajax separated his palms again. "I didn't think that would work." he said in wonder.
"Well, it did, so come on, we need to get going!" Cleo said, running past him with the other mermaids right behind her.
"Where'd you pick that up?" Aragon asked as they took off once more. "That was incredibly dangerous."
"Like I said, you-tube." Ajax replied, shrugging. "It was Jersey Shore meets Dragonball Z."
Aragon blinked several times. "On second thought…I don't want to know."
They continued on, Ajax painting a line of magic on the floor as they went. Suddenly, all hell broke loose. In the confused bedlam of the close quarters firing match, nobody noticed the slight tremor caused by a missile explosion on the outer hull of the hive.
In the five minute melee, the room became so crowded with bodies that the entire group was separated.
"We gotta get outta here!" Lorne shouted, breath heaving. "We can't keep this up!"
While nobody acknowledged the fact verbally, they all managed to get the point and struggled their way from the room before gathering in a side hall.
"Report!" Max called and one by one the Flock called out as they gathered around her. Meanwhile the others looked at them strangely. After Max had checked that all of her Flock was there she looked around at the others.
"Where's Ronon?" she asked.
"Dead." McKay said, wiping his brow before reloading his gun. "They hit his lungs. He bled out."
"Oh."
Just then, their radios crackled and they heard. "Stargate Command, this is Sheppard, come in."
"Sheppard, where are you?" they heard another voice ask. It was Colonel Carter.
"I made it inside." Sheppard replied. "Look, I don't have much time before this place is swarming with Wraith so, I'm arming the nuke."
"Did he say NUKE!" Rodney asked nervously.
"John…" Carter started.
"Just do me a favor. When Atlantis shows up," he sighed with resignation at not being able to see his friends again. "tell 'em I said goodbye."
McKay frantically grabbed his radio and hit the talk button. "SHEPPARD! This is McKay! Stop what you're doing, now!"
"McKay?" Sheppard asked, more confirming than questioning.
"Yes, it's me, I've got Lorne and Teyla, we're inside the Hive."
"What?" Sheppard asked incredulous. "Wha-how?"
"Look, it's a long story, just, the important thing is, if you're about to do what I think you're about to do, don't!"
"This Hive is about to attack Earth, Rodney, I don't have much of a choice."
"Just wait, we'll come to you, I'm sure we can rig up some sort of a remote detonator."
"What good's that gonna do for us? We can't get of this ship."
"That's where you're wrong." McKay said, almost triumphantly. "This way!" he proceeded to lead the group in the direction of the only other human life sign on the scanner.
Ajax continued leaving the trail, ensuring that the group would be able to find their way back when they needed to return to the gate.
It had grown eerily quiet, though occasionally, they would come across another bone-masked Wraith. Cleo and Emma were on either side of McKay, and whenever a Wraith popped up, they ensured that it wouldn't bother them again.
Lorne and Teyla had stopped firing, since a few whispered words seemed to be getting the job done just as well as a quick blast for a P-90. Eragon and Aragon had taken to cutting at the pillars in each room, weakening the ship by depriving it of power and the varying organic fluids that pulsed through it's veins. Meanwhile the Flock walked towards the back with Ajax, their eyes peering into the darkness cautiously.
They finally found the area where Sheppard had parked his 302, and John jumped out from behind one of the pillars, weapon ready. He lowered his weapon a moment later, having recognized the group. Ajax allowed his hand to drop to his side, the glow from his gedwëy ignasia fading.
"You guys are the last people I expected to see on this ship." Sheppard said.
"Same here." Rodney said, holstering his handgun. "Gimme a minute." he dashed to the 302, already working out the details of the detonator.
Sheppard watched him for a moment, then turned towards Teyla. "Where's Ronon?"
Teyla and Lorne exchanged a glance, but neither spoke.
"Teyla, where's Ronon?" Sheppard asked again, more urgently this time.
"Sorry, John." Teyla said sadly, keeping her eyes on the floor. Sheppard nodded briefly in sad acceptance of the fact.
Three levels above, a Wraith commander happened upon Ronon's body. After healing the wound, he fed on one of the infantry standing nearby, and 'reverse-fed' ever so slightly on Ronon, bringing the Setedan warrior back to life.
Ronon groaned in suppressed pain as the commander backed away slightly.
"I restored your life, human, and bound your wound." the commander stated.
The pain, though intense had been brief, and Ronon had recovered enough to speak.
"Hmm," he said. "That was real nice of you."
"Now you will answer my questions." the commander said, ignoring the jibe. He stood up, attempting to cow Ronon into submission before beginning. "How many humans are on my ship?"
Ronon didn't speak, so the commander ground his heel into Ronon's side. The wound was still quite painful, and to have pressure applied to it was even worse.
Ronon screamed in pain.
Rodney had done up the detonator in record time, and they were already on their way back towards the gate. Ronon happened to be along the path, and they heard Ronon's cry of pain.
While Aragon and the rest of the group would have rescued him, Sheppard beat them to the punch with Lorne and Teyla flanking him.
Bullets tore through the various Wraith standing around, and when the commander crumpled to the deck, dead, Sheppard lowered his weapon. "How ya doin' Chewie?" he asked.
Ronon just groaned. Lorne and Teyla rushed to help him up as Rodney exclaimed, "You were dead!"
"We're all gonna be dead unless we get outta here." Sheppard said, pushing him forward.
They rushed out of the room, Teyla scooping up Ronon's blaster as they left.
"Sheppard, what's your status?" Samantha asked over the radio.
"We got Ronon, and we're headed back to the gate." Sheppard answered.
"How much time?" she asked. She didn't bother to ask about Ronon, all that mattered at the moment was the destruction of the Hive that was powering it's weapons.
"Five to get there, and another five to calibrate the DHD for local coordinates." Rodney answered quickly.
"Ten minutes." Sheppard said.
"I'm sorry, the Hive is powering weapons, we're outta time." Carter said, voice grave.
"Understood." Sheppard said, resignation seeping into his voice as he looked back at the others. "Rodney, give me the detonator."
"Yu- We're almost there!" Rodney said. "I mean, look, did I say five minutes to calibrate the DHD? I meant two minutes."
"Rodney." Sheppard said quietly.
Rodney prepared the detonator, then handed it over to Sheppard who glanced at everyone who nodded. He was about to hit the button when the radio cackled again.
"John, wait. We're detecting another ship."
A/N: Just because I could, I split the Hive raid into 2 sections. Review!
Answers to Readers:
Master of the Blood Wolves: Okay, so my fights scenes are a little anemic, I'll try to work on that. The Van Helsing reference was from the starting fight scene of the movie, when Van Helsing fought Mr. Hyde.
Forsaken By All: The DF reference was from the song 'The Warrior Inside'
And now for anything Avenging Angels might have to say!
Nothing from me today! Review people!
Sincerely,
Avenging Angels
