12 – Advances

(Atlantis – Armory Three – 13.02.2022, 0845)

Admiral Jonas Quinn was a rarity. The bulk of the Admirals that ran the Terran fleet were from Earth. But Quinn was from Langara, one of the older colony worlds. Being one of the older worlds, it was home to an imperial shipyards. Which had provided Quinn with way into the Fleet. Over the years, he had climbed the ranks to Rear Admiral Lower Half. He had been assigned as second-in-command of the Pegasus Reserve Fleet under Rear Admiral Upper Half Evan Lorne.

~Promotion time.~ Quinn thought as he grabbed an energy rifle from the armory. The Pegasus Galaxy was covered by three galaxies. When the galaxy had been conquered, it had been divided into First Fleet Zone and the Second Fleet Zone. As for the Reserve Fleet, it was based at Memphis, the only other city-ship in the Pegasus Galaxy.

Quinn figured that if he played his cards right, he could become commander of both the Reserve Fleet and governor of Memphis. Of course, he would have to avoid the wrath of Empress Sheppard first. So he would go down and collect this other John Sheppard. He had gathered a team of sixteen soldiers to provide him security as he went down to Sub-Atlantis.

"Let's go."

He led his group towards the elevator down to the slave city.

(Sub-Atlantis – Cell – 13.02.2022, 0903)

Guide was not happy. He had made a hole, but not much more progress beyond that. These people were many things, but not stupid. He had tried to make the hole wider, to no avail. His attempts to access the greenhouse systems had also failed. ~I need a new plan.~ The problem was that he didn't have any ideas on that front. ~Come on, Guide, think.~

That was when the door opened and somebody threw something into his cell. Before he could move towards the door, it was slammed shut. He picked up the object and examined it. ~An icepick ?~ Then he noticed there was a small red button at the bottom of the device. He pressed it and the device lit up, emitting a thin laser beam that quickly burned a tiny hole in the floor. ~Well, this creates options.~ He took the device and set to making another attempt at making the hole wider.

As he did that, Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey smiled. Like Jonas Quinn, this version of Hailey was from Langara. Between that and the fact that she was a female, getting promoted had been next to impossible. But her superior, Captain Harry Maybourne, had made enemies in the wrong places. When she had heard that about the alternate Wraith, she figured that it was only a matter of time before the creature tried to escape. And if it succeeded, then Maybourne would get executed. And she would be promoted to Captain. So she had given the Wraith a laser cutter. Now all she had to do, was wait.

(Sub-Atlantis – Street – 13.02.2022, 0903)

The second circle was not all that different from the first circle. There were several security check-points. But the natives had managed to find ways around them. A hole in the wall here, a passage through the sewer there. Simple bridges connecting roofs. It turned out not to be that complicated to bypass the local guards. Timing their movements well, Sheppard and company had quickly made their way to the stairwell down to the third circle. The problem was that there was another checkpoint here. And this one could not be bypassed.

"So, now what ?" Guide asked.

"We can blast our way through," Sheppard said.

"No, that would draw reinforcements from the third circle," Teyla said. "And I don't have my other stun grenades here. Besides, it would take too long, we have to be away from here before the stunned guards at the other stairs wake up."

Sheppard studied the checkpoint. There were six guards between them and they stairway down to the third circle. They were armed with energy rifles. The problem was that – like Sheppard's weapon – they appeared to have DNA locks. This meant that taking the weapons from the guards was totally useless. So all they had to work with, was Sheppard's handgun. ~Time to…~ The thought was cut off by the sound of a siren cutting through the second circle. This made the guards exchange looks. Then the ranking officer barked something and four of them bolted. Sheppard looked at his companions, only to see Guide smiling.

"Something you want to share ?"

"Sub-Atlantis has been expanded and remodeled several times. And the work was not always as precise as it should have been," Guide said. "We found part of the old fire alarm and got it working. I guess the rest of my cells figured out what we were up to and that we needed a distraction."

"Smart."

With only two guards to worry about, Sheppard drew his energy pistol. He set the weapon to stun and shot the guards. Guide gave him a surprised look. But Sheppard quickly picked up one of the guards and dragged his to the controls for the gate. Next to the lever to raise the gate was a hand scanner. Sheppard put the guards' hand on the scanner and pulled the lever. They then dragged the guards into the guard station and grabbed their keys, which they used to lock them in. That done, the group headed for the third circle.

(Sub-Atlantis – First Circle – 13.02.2022, 0903)

Quinn and his team had been searching the first circle for Sheppard and his cohorts. This had been complicated by the confirmation of a rumor he had heard about the city of slaves. Said rumor was that there was a resistance movement in Sub-Atlantis. The resistance had made communications more difficult by using a fire alarm to create a tremendous amount of noise. As it was clear that their target was not on this level, he ordered his group to move on to the second circle.

They were on their way there when they encountered a large group of security personnel. ~They responded to the fire alarm, the idiots !~ The fact that they were here, meant that the entire second circle was empty. It also meant that their target was probably on the third circle by now. Quinn gave hand-signals to his own troops and the security personnel. Soon, they were headed out.

(Sub-Atlantis – Cell – 13.02.2022, 0910)

By using the laser device against the right spots, Guide had been able to make the hole wide enough to escape through. This, however, left him with another problem. The distance between the ceiling and the floor of the greenhouse was ten meters. He could make the jump without breaking anything. The problem was that it would make considerable noise hitting the floor. So he would have to pick the right moment to make his move.

He lay down on the floor to study the movement below. The people walking down their were wearing Terran uniforms. ~Guards.~ They were tending to large, green plants. Based on the equipment and tools - which looked well maintained - Guide figured that this food was for the guards and not the slaves. ~Nothing for it, but to wait.~

(Atlantis – Royal Chambers – 13.02.2022, 0918)

Empress Sheppard's spies had provided her with an update on how things were going down in Sub-Atlantis. And so far, Admiral Quinn's performance was not making her happy. She had been able to vaporize her husband and the Admirals, because there were no loyal security officers in the rooms. But it was only a matter of time before the wrong people found out. Then they would kill her and take control of the Empire. Unless she could gather enough support. But for that, she would need time. So she would need this other Sheppard to keep the truth hidden. ~And if he refuses to aid me, I will wipe out the city of slaves.~

In the meantime, she would continue preparing for the invasion of the alternate reality. The war was not her long-term plan. But it was well known that John had wanted to invade the other universe. And to keep up the illusion of John still being alive, she would have to launch this war. Then – a couple of weeks in – she would frame General Landry for his death and have him executed. Hank Landry was the general in charge of the Pegasus Galaxy ground forces. And he was not a fan of the Sheppard dynasty. So framing him for murder would be easy.

As for the first name on her potential ally list, that currently belonged to Evan Lorne. She would promoted Lorne to commander of the First Pegasus Fleet. Then she would she would install the right person as his second-in-command. That way, Lorne would stay in line. Or else, his second-in-command would deal with him. As for Quinn, he would have to settle for Commander of the Pegasus Reserve Fleet. That was presuming he didn't mess up his current assignment and get himself executed. ~Which isn't looking very likely so far.~

She was about to ask from an update from her agent in the third circle when somebody rang the bell to the Royal Chambers. Her rule was about to face its first challenge.

(Sub-Atlantis – Cell – 13.02.2022, 0919)

Much to Guide's surprise, his chance came a lot sooner then he expected. It turned out that the guards loved their cigarettes, cigars and pipes. As soon as they went for their various smokes, he pocketed his little tools and climbed down into the hole. He gave things below one last look, then let himself drop.

As expected, he landed without breaking anything. But it was indeed far from silent. So he bolted from the place where he had landed. Fortunately for him, he was on one end of one the greenhouses. There were several of them in a circle. He reached the end of the greenhouse and found that the doors to the next one were not locked.

~Arrogant fools, probably presumed that the cells above were escape proof.~ By the time the guards reached the place where he had landed, Guide was two greenhouses away. ~I can't keep running in circles.~ He looked around and spotted an air vent. It wasn't locked either, so he simply opened it and crawled inside. After several meters, he came across a vertical shaft. So he began climbing upwards.

"Come to Atlantis, we'll have a few laughs," He grumbled at he climbed. "And here I was, thinking this was going to be an easy attack."

He managed to climb up three levels. The vent stopped at point. ~So, not as stupid as I thought.~ And this end had a grill of it that was locked in place. Guide took out his laser device and set to cutting his way out of the vent.

(Sub-Atlantis – Street - 13.02.2022, 0932)

Getting through the third circle had taken more time than passing through second circle. There were security measures that made breaking through walls and bridging roofs impossible. There was also a security system that blocked passage to the circle's sewers. Well, officially. But the local resistance cell – led by a Wraith female called Petra – had found ways around that. The problem had been that the third circle sewers were quite the labyrinth, so getting to the passage to the fourth circle had been not as straight forward as Sheppard had hoped.

And now they were facing a major headache. A man who looked an awful lot like Jonas Quinn, was in command of a large group of soldiers and guards. They had lined up dozens of slaves and were holding them hostage. ~I don't like this.~ Sheppard and his group were watching the situation from the shadows. He had a bad feeling about where this was headed.

"Sheppard !" Quinn began. "I know you are out there. You and Banks have one minute to surrender ! After that, I start shooting people !"

"You can't trust him," Teyla said. "He will kill you and then he will kill the hostages."

"Maybe," Sheppard began. "But we're going to have to risk it."

He knew that Teyla was right. But he had told to do something. Because he could not just sit in the shadows and risk these people getting killed. And it appeared that Quinn did not know about Guide and his family. Nor Teyla and her allies. And in his mind, this was the best of the options they had available to them. ~Admitted, they are all bad. But you still have to choose, John.~ He exchanged a look with Banks, then walked out of the shadows. Banks gave Teyla a nod and followed him. As soon as they walked into view, Quinn turned to them.

"Well, well, the infamous John Sheppard," Quinn said with a sadistic smile. "Not such a tactic genius after all," He turned to two of the guards. "You know what to do with him."

The guards nodded. They put cuffs around his wrists and took him away. The last Banks saw of him, he was headed towards the stairs back to the second circle. ~They're probably taking him to the city above.~ The question was…why ? As for Banks, two soldiers grabbed her and took her to hostages. They forced her to her knees, then turned to Quinn.

"Orders, Admiral ?"

"The Empress made it clear that she wanted Miss Banks dead," Quinn began. "And I think that it is time we send a message to the local resistance cells. So, let's kill two birds with one stone."

"Yes, Admiral."

The soldiers and the guards lined up and readied their weapons. Banks got the bad feeling that her story was about to end right here and now.

(Sub-Atlantis – Street - 13.02.2022, 0932)

Down in the seventh circle, Guide was dodging traps and guards. It had taken several minutes for him to cut his way out of the vent. He had ended up getting lucky, because he had dropped into a broom closet. From there, he had made his way to the room next door. That room had been the armory. While the weapons had proved to be useless - having been fitted with some kind of security lock – he had found a goggle that allowed the guards to see the traps.

Like the level he had been on, this level was a collection of cells. Between the cells where corridors that were secured by means pressure plates hidden underneath the stones that made up the floor. They weren't under all the stones, having been placed randomly. Besides these, there were trip wires, lasers and guard patrols.

Having dodged all that, he had just reached what appeared to be an elevator. The problem was that it was being guarded by two Terrans and he lacked a weapon. It was time for him to get creative.