15 – Escape and Battle

(Sub-Atlantis - Hydroponics Level - 13.02.2022, 1020)

Sheppard and his group had been looking for the best place to break through the wall. And then there was the little issue of actually breaking through said wall. So far, they had not been caught by the local patrols. But sooner or later, they would get caught. Then he heard his voice come over the public announcement system.

"This is Emperor John…"

~Of course, the last couple of days were rewritten.~ Sheppard thought. Which meant that the Empress had not gotten her chance to murder her husband. And it also meant that there was a good chance that nobody knew he was here. ~Because, if things went according to plan, there is a version of me that was never taken my Atlantis right now.~ But this was not Sheppard's first rodeo. And on Stargate missions, things rarely went according to plan. So he still had to get back there. Then he spotted a red hatch in the floor. It was marked in ancient letters, so he had no idea what it said. ~No risk, no reward.~

He yanked the hatch open to reveal a ladder that went down into darkness. Sheppard climbed down the ladder and reached the bottom. As soon as he stepped off the last rung, several lights came on. It turned out that the lights were connected to a pressure plate. That plate served as a light switch. Looking around, he spotted an actual light switch. So he flipped it. More lights came on, revealing that he was standing in a tunnel. ~No way, it can't be that easy !~ But when you got a dose of PDL – aka Plain, Dumb Luck – turning it down was stupid. He yelled up to the rest of group.

"Guide ! It's a maintenance tunnel. Bring everybody down here."

The rest of them climbed down to the tunnel. One version of Guide led the way, while the other version came down last. He closed the hatch behind himself. The tunnel was filled with pipes and wires, along with the occasional control panel. Sheppard led the way down the tunnel, which ended at a red door. Like the hatch, it was marked in Ancient. But the door had a wheel like the ones found on submarines doors.

"It looks heavy," Jenna began. "You think that's to keep the sand out ?"

"Maybe," Sheppard said. "Only one way to find out."

He grabbed the wheel and began turning it. There was a loud groaning noise, which he believed was the door unlocking. It was not easy, but he managed to open the door. Beyond, the desert of Hades was waiting for them. There were no alarm as the group filed out onto the sands. ~That was the easy part.~ Which meant that it was time to start working on the hard part.

(Liberty – Bridge - 06.02.2022, 2247)

Vala and Mitchell walked onto the bridge of the Liberty. Looking around the room made it clear that the ship had escaped from the Terrans by the skin of its teeth. The bridge had been damaged by weapons' fire. And the crew had patched it back together with whatever they could get their hands on. Tomin was sitting in the command chair, which was a simple wooden chair. The original Ori chair had been victim of the Terran attack. Liberty's commander stood up and turned to them.

"Hello, Vala."

"Hello, Tomin."

He walked up to her and took her hands. There was an awkward moment of silence, which Mitchell decided not to interrupt. Then Tomin spoke up, a sad smile on his face.

"So, what's the plan ?"

"What makes you think there's a plan ?"

"Because there is no universe where you would show up here, like this, without a plan. Cameron, maybe," This made the bridge crew chuckle. "But not you," He gestured towards the main window. "Besides, there is the little issue of that clearly-not-Terran cruiser that is following us and beamed aboard."

"She's called the Daedalus," Mitchell said.

"So, the plan ?" Tomin said with a nod.

Vala began explaining what had happened in the original timeline. And what they were planning to do about it.

(Hades – Desert - 13.02.2022, 1032)

Sheppard and his group were walking around the mesa that Atlantis called home. They were staying close to the rock, figuring that Terrans would look for any escapees in the desert. Not under their noses. Given the size of the mesa, Sheppard figured it would take a while to circle the whole thing. They had also passed two more emergencies exit during their trek. Teyla was about to ask something when a small building came into view.

"What is that ?" Anita asked.

"Looks like some shed," Sheppard said.

But there was also an elevator coming from that shed. Looking up, Sheppard realized that it ran all the way up the mesa and to the top of one the outer buildings. They approached the shed and Sheppard opened the door. He was surprised it wasn't locked, until he saw the door of the elevator. It had the same words as the emergency exit they had used to escape.

"It's another emergency exit," Teyla said.

"But there's also a button to summon the elevator here," Pedro said, pointing to panel next to the door. "So, maybe it's also a way for people who have used to the other emergency exits to get back into the city ?"

"It is," Sheppard said, as a plan formed in his head. "Okay, I'm going to go up alone. From the top, I should be able to get to Jumper Bay. Then all I have to do, is fly the Jumper out of there and down here."

"I should go with you," Banks said.

"No, if this goes bad, they'll need your ninja knowhow to keep them safe."

"That and my feeding hand," One of Guides said.

Sheppard gave that Guide an angry look. Then he summoned the elevator and waited for it to arrive. ~No booby trap ?~ He had barely completed the thought when the elevator arrived. The cart was small and barebones. But the real problem was the automated energy weapon attached to the ceiling. ~Me and my big mouth.~

Sheppard dove to the left, barely dodging an energy bolt. Teyla was not so lucky. She screamed as the bolt – which had kept going – vaporized her. The weapon fired again, vaporizing one of the two Guides. Anita and the children screamed. As this happened, Banks had made it inside the elevator. She had found the override button for the weapon and pushed it. There was whirling sound as the weapon powered down.

"Colonel !" Banks said as she bolted from the elevator.

"I'm okay," Sheppard said as he got to his feet. "Is everybody…," He saw two scorched patches of sand where Teyla and Guide had been. ~Teyla and one of the Guides, but which one ?~ "Which Todd did we…"

The surviving Guide held up his hands, he did not have a feeding hand. ~Okay, this could complicate things.~ It meant that the Guide from this universe had survived. And that meant that if they now had two reasons to prevent the attack. Not only where they trying to save their own Atlantis, they were trying to save their own Guide. ~Talk about irony.~ Without Guide, the balance of power within the Wraith would shift. And that would be bad news for the peoples of the Pegasus Galaxy. ~Especially if the Terrans invade.~

"Stay with them."

Sheppard stepped into the elevator and pressed the button. The doors closed and he rushed away.

(USS Prometheus – Bridge – 06.02.2022, 2306)

Colonel Everett Young watched as the Wraith Hives launched their darts. On his right, Captain Matthew Scott was ready to throw the ship through any evasive maneuvers he ordered. He was about to order his weapons officer to open fire, when there was a beep from Scott's console.

"Sir, an object appeared between the two fleets. It's…," Scott his several keys. "…a Goa'uld escape pod. It's transmitting some kind of signal."

"Can you decode it ?"

"The protocol is running, sir. But…"

That was as far as Scott got, before the space between the two fleets began to ripple. Then the ripples faded to reveal a fleet of Ha'tak-class motherships. Before Young could ask for details, these ships opened fire on both fleets. But the weapons fire was not the kind of energy bolts Goa'uld ships usually fired. ~What the…~ Young thought. Because the vessels were firing the same kind of bolts as the Wraith ships, along with Ancient drones.

"Return fire !"

Within seconds, both the Tau'ri and Wraith fleet opened fired on the new arrivals. But the newcomers had no intention of going down without a fight. To the left of Young, Captain Andrew Rivers was manning the weapons console. Rivers had been assigned to Atlantis before this. He had part of the team that had rescued AR-1 after they had been caught in a building booby trapped by a Wraith called Michael. He had been ordered to take a Puddle Jumper and serve as a look-out.

"Shields down to fifty percent !"

"Evasive maneuvers !"

Scott threw the Prometheus through a turn, while Rivers fired everything they had. But right now, their chances were not looking good. In fact, part of him thought that it would take a miracle to win this fight.

(Hades – Desert - 13.02.2022, 1050)

The Puddle Jumper cleared the atmosphere and Sheppard disengaged the cloak. Once he had gotten out of the elevator, making his way to the Jumper room had been easy. Then he had gotten one of the Jumpers, before flying off into the desert. The last thing they needed now, was Terrans breathing down their neck. So he was trying to plant a false trail. When he was several miles out, he had engaged the cloak and doubled back to the shed. He had picked up the others, before putting the planet between them and Atlantis. That was when he had begun the climb out of the atmosphere.

"Have you found any livable places down there ?" Anita asked.

"A few," Sheppard began. "The bad news is they're all taken."

"So, what do we do now ?"

"I'm looking for…," The Jumper beeped and the scanner display appeared. "There it is," The image zoomed in, revealing that the scanner had found a spacegate. "That's the original Gate."

"How did you know it was there ?" Jenna asked.

"This planet is not the only place with a breathable atmosphere. There are two moons with an atmosphere. But you can't put three Stargates that close together or they won't work."

"So the Ancients put a Stargate between the three of them," Jenna began. "Because they have spaceships to fly to all three. But doesn't the Gate on the surface override this one ?"

"Yes, it does," Sheppard said. "That's why they're not guarding it."

"But if it doesn't work, how will it help ?"

Banks made a face, but it was a fair question. Fortunately, Sheppard had a plan. ~Here we go.~ He activated the weapons and fired two drones. Because they had succeeded in sneaking out, Atlantis' shields were down. The first drone punched through the window and ended up hitting the floor, where it severed the power conduit. Then the second drone arrived and flew through the hole in the window. It kept going and met the DHD, where both it and the console ended. As did three Terran technicians. Between the two drones, the Gate went off-line. Which made the Spacegate light up.

"It's working !" Zachary said.

"Where are we going, Sheppard ?" Guide asked.

"Anywhere that isn't there. Once we're in the clear, we can start worrying about getting to my universe." Sheppard said, while dialing the Gate. ~I just hope M3R-485 is just as empty as it is in our universe.~ "I know a nice, little planet that should be safe," The sensors indicated that several Puddle Jumpers had been launched from Atlantis, but Sheppard had finished dialing. The wormhole opened and Sheppard lined the Jumper up. "Here we go."

The Jumper went through to M3R-485…

(M3R-485 – Plain - 13.02.2022, 1055)

….and found itself on a rough plain of stone. Not that they could see it, because the planet had a thick and fog-like atmosphere. An odd detail was the fact that the fog in question was a mix of purple and green. As the Stargate disengaged, Sheppard turned the Jumper to face it. If the Terrans followed them, he would be ready for them.

But nothing came through. The Terran Jumpers apparently hadn't reached the Stargate in time. Alas, that was where the good news ended. ~You've got to be kidding me.~ Because hovering above them were three Ha'tak-class warships. And they were locking weapons on the Jumper.