Sheppard remembered another mission — before he and his brothers were sent to Atlantis.
This mission had gone much like the first. A Wraith ship had been brought down on a small green moon in a space battle, but it was still intact. They had engaged the enemy in hand to hand combat with the goal of taking the resources they needed and eliminating the ship.
Sheppard and his brothers once again suffered many wounds. The Wraith never gave in easily and learned quickly that the stunners didn't work. Sheppard could barely use his left leg and arm after being impaled and slashed with multiple Wraith blades. But he was still walking because he could feel nothing. Behind them, the Wraith ship crumpled into dust.
Slowly, the familiar sickness and confusion returned as he watched one of his brothers dial home.
Home was a place of shimmering waters and spires, of ships that responded to thoughts, of people who looked like himself.
But when they emerged on the other side, they were once again on the dark red and black planet. And the tall pale brothers surrounding him were not his true brothers.
So he fought his brothers again, confused as to why he felt such conflicting emotions. But once again, he was brought to the glass coffin and pinned down while he thrashed against their hands.
And once again, the man who looked like himself and did not look like his brothers emerged from the darkness, his face sad and empty at the same time.
And once again, the flash of light enveloped him.
And once again there was nothing.
Keller wasn't expecting to pull an all-nighter, but with the attack on Atlantis she had no choice. After Woolsey had announced the Code Nightingale, the power had gone out for around half an hour, leaving them in the dark, but then it had returned as if nothing had happened. The infirmary was overflowing with the injured, and she was snapping out orders and figuring out who needed help first.
Then Ronon and Teyla had limped into the infirmary with an unconscious Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard between them.
"Colonel Sheppard?" Keller asked, confused.
"Yes," Teyla said. "He has returned. But I fear he may not be in his right mind."
"He attacked us," Ronon said.
And then Keller saw the sword.
"Oh my God," she gasped. "What happened?"
Teyla looked uncomfortable. "We could not stop him. I also had to shoot him in the leg." She indicated towards Sheppard's right side, and Keller saw that the entire right side of Sheppard's body was soaked in blood from just above where the hilt of the sword stuck out, all the way to his boots. A trail of blood dripped behind them on the floor, and the Colonel's tanned skin was white, his lips turning blue.
"Get him on the bed," Keller said, pushing a more mildly injured Major off of the nearest bed. "Gently now. On his side."
Ronon, Teyla, and Keller manhandled Sheppard until he was lying on his left side. Keller checked his pupils, finding them unresponsive.
"You said you stunned him?" she asked.
"Yeah. Four times," Ronon replied.
"And a gunshot and stabbing."
Teyla nodded.
"Ok, we need to get the sword out." Keller began snapping orders. "Someone get his shirt off."
An orderly started to cut away Sheppard's vest and shirt, and that was when they saw it.
Just below Sheppard's neck, settled on his spine, was a thin row of red lights, about ten centimeters long.
"What is that?" Teyla asked.
"I have no idea," Keller replied. "We will have to deal with it later. Right now we have other pressing matters. Please, give us some space. I'll let you know how he's doing."
"You need to tie him up," Ronon said.
"What?"
"He's dangerous."
"Well, isn't he normally?" Keller replied, flabbergasted. "It's his job."
"No. He is different," Teyla explained. "He would not have hesitated to kill us earlier."
"Fine." Keller decided to ask questions later and motioned for another orderly. "We'll keep an eye on him."
"I'll stay here," Ronon said, pulling out his blaster. "Stun him again in case he wakes up."
"I don't think that's —" Keller snapped her mouth shut as she saw the steely look in Ronon's eye. "Fine. Just stay out of my way."
Woolsey was a bit shell shocked after the assault on the control room. It had been late, and he had been wrapping up his work to head to the comfort of his own room when all hell had broken loose and the missing Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard had strode in, wanting to take over Atlantis with a gang of tall, pale aliens at his back.
Now, Ronon and Teyla informed him that the aliens and Sheppard were down. McKay had immediately run off to re-install the stolen ZPM, and thankfully, the power was back.
It was time to get some answers.
Striding into the infirmary, he found an unconscious Sheppard strapped hand and foot to a bed. He was covered in blood and bandages and Woolsey felt his stomach churn a bit at the sight. His orders had been to take down the Colonel at any cost necessary, and it looked as though it had taken quite a bit to finally bring him down.
Behind him, the infirmary was a scene of chaos. Woolsey had never seen so many injured filling the beds and empty spaces.
Keller was bustling around, snapping out orders and moving from patient to patient, but when she saw him, she immediately said, "I have no idea what the hell is going on, so don't ask."
"Yes," Woolsey agreed. "We have no idea what is going on, either. Surely there must be a reason for Colonel Sheppard's actions."
"We found something on his back," she continued. "It could be something that's controlling him."
"Unless he's been brainwashed, or it's some super enzyme," Ronon quipped from a nearby chair where he had stretched out his left leg. A medic was binding his knee.
"He was exhibiting qualities very much like Lieutenant Ford," Teyla said from where she stood next to Sheppard's bed. "It could be that these aliens have some form of enzyme that they used on him as well. We also found this —" She showed Woolsey a small round green stone. "Dr. McKay believes it is how Colonel Sheppard and the aliens accompanying him were able to penetrate our shield and remain cloaked from our sensors."
Keller slid a scanner over the bed and booted it up. Sheppard, who had been lying completely still, suddenly stiffened and started convulsing.
Slamming her hand down on the scanner to abort, she flew to his side, checking his vitals and eyes as the seizure subsided.
"What happened?" Woolsey demanded.
"I have no idea," Keller replied. She went back to the scanner, and as soon as she booted it up, Sheppard once again began to convulse. She shut it down and the convulsions stopped.
"What the hell?" Keller was flabbergasted. "It's like he's allergic to the scanner."
Woolsey looked at the scanner, then at Keller. "Perhaps it is Ancient technology. Do we have an MRI machine?"
Keller snorted. "I wish. Do you know how much those things cost? And why would we bring one here when Atlantis' scanners are so much more sophisticated?"
Woolsey agreed reluctantly. "Then what do we do?"
Keller shook her head. "I'm not sure if it's hurting him to do this, but his injuries are pretty severe. I don't want to hurt him further until I'm sure he's stable. The sword nicked his lung and he's lost a lot of blood already."
"Sword?" Woolsey sputtered.
"He was … proving to be difficult to subdue," Teyla said. "He did not appear to feel his injuries, much like Aiden and others we have encountered who were on the enzyme."
"I'm running his bloodwork now," Keller added. "Hopefully that can tell us more without putting him under the scanner."
"Please keep me informed," Woolsey said. "And what of the others?" He motioned to the chaos behind them.
"Twenty seven injured, seven critically, including Colonel Sheppard." Keller took a deep breath, then added, "Three dead."
Woolsey felt his heart jump into his throat at the news. He nodded, then tightly said, "Please let me know if there is anything I can do. I'm going to see what else we can find out."
Turning, he left the infirmary as he wondered just what exactly he was going to tell Stargate Command.
