Promises Made, Chapter 3
"This is where I must depart from you. Follow this road and it will lead you into Inbi lands. Young Aiden has said that their Grand Commander himself will meet you on the road."
It is early morning of their third day on Teyne. The team have spent the past two days learning about the Dreyan culture. The Dreyans are artists and philosophers for the most part. When John and the Marines got their first glimpse of the Dreyan society, they could not understand how a civil war has continued for so long. But they soon learned that the Dreyans posses a passion and strength of conviction that is hard to suppress.
The Dreyans believe that, through countless generations of cullings, it is only art and music and thought that survives. Without the desire to make things of beauty, they become nothing but cattle to the Wraith. If they need to make ugly and brutal war with their own people to preserve that culture, then so be it.
"Thank you Minar for leading us this far. Please extend our gratitude to your High Minister for taking such good care of us these past few days."
Elizabeth extends her hand to the Dreyan who takes both of them in his.
"It has surely been our pleasure Elizabeth. And please, be careful as you travel on. The Inbi are a ruthless people and not all of them may share in the desire for peace."
"We will be careful. But please Minar, if peace is going to succeed, you have to stop thinking of the Dreyans as being so different from yourselves."
"For you, I will try. Travel well."
Sheppard doesn't even attempt not to roll his eyes.
"Travel well," comes in a chorus from the other three Dreyans who are traveling with them. They are all wearing looks of adoration as they take turns shaking Elizabeth's hand before moving on to the soldiers and McKay.
The Atlantis team and the Dreyans start to walk in opposite directions. Sheppard looks over his shoulder to make sure they aren't within ear shot before turning to Elizabeth.
"Two days."
"Two days, what?"
"It only took two days for the Dreyans to start eating out of your hand."
"You're exaggerating."
"No I'm not, am I Ford?"
Ford is grinning. He won't tell his CO that several of the Dreyan men had assumed that Weir and Sheppard were "united", as they call it. Ford didn't correct them because it was hard to ignore Sheppard's scowl every time one of them fawned over Dr. Weir.
"Sorry Dr. Weir, but the Major's right."
"See? I'm right and everyone knows I'm right."
Ford, McKay, Stackhouse, and Markham are all nodding their heads in agreement.
"Oh?" Elizabeth retorts. "And who had the High Minister's daughter scurrying for water every time you cleared your throat?"
Sheppard shrugs. It's not like he did anything but smile at the girl. Then again, that does tend to get him in trouble more often than not.
"And I heard the women giggle every time the three of you walked by them. Not to mention that one poet that was so interested in Rodney's scientific theories."
McKay blushes and gets some good natured ribbing from the three Marines. John is glad that everything is going well so far. Elizabeth seems to be enjoying her first mission out and the others aren't really treating her any differently than any other team member.
They keep walking down the road with John and Elizabeth a little in front of the others. The Marines and McKay are discussing, in some detail, the Dreyan women who are beautiful and not afraid to show off their "attributes". Sheppard just hopes that they don't forget that Weir is within hearing range. Maybe treating her just like another team member isn't such a good thing. It's probably better to keep her occupied.
"So are you getting a good feel for the situation here?"
"Starting to."
"What do you think of the Dreyans?"
"Not exactly what I would expect of a people in the middle of a war."
"Tell me about it. Painters, Poets, and Musicians don't strike me as the military type."
"True. I still find it hard to believe that they started this whole thing."
"What?!"
"Were you sleeping through the discussions?" Elizabeth shoots him a disapproving look.
"No...well, not all of them." John gives her a wry smile. "And not really sleeping so much as daydreaming about, uh, more important things."
He wiggles his eyebrows in a exaggerated, suggestive way and gets the desired effect when she blushes then steers the conversation back to the safer topic. He's getting really good at this. He loves how she can't quite keep up the mask of stoic leadership with him.
"If you had paid attention, you would have learned that it was the Dreyans who started the civil war."
"You're kidding."
"Nope. After the most recent culling, they felt that the Inbi were spending too much effort on perfecting weaponry instead of finding ways to protect their culture from future attacks. There was a protest that turned into an uprising and when the Grand Commander tried to squash it, things got ugly."
"So technically the Grand Commander started the war by trying to quell the rebellion."
"Not really. I never said that the protest was a peaceful one. We're not talking about hippies standing with arms linked singing 'Kumbaya'. They blew up a munitions depot."
"Impressive. I never would have guessed the Dreyans to be..."
Sheppard's voice trails off. He comes to a stop and holds up his hand. The voices of the Marines behind them break off immediately and McKay's stops when he notices the sudden silence. The team has come to a portion of the road that is bordered on the right side by a dense grove of trees. John doesn't like that he can't see more than a few feet into the tree line. It's the perfect place for an ambush. Minar's words of warning suddenly don't sound like paranoia. Caution is always better than over-confidence.
"I don't like being bunched up walking next to that tree line. Ford and McKay, you take point. Stackhouse, you're with Weir."
John gives the young Marine a look which clearly communicates what is expected of him. Stackhouse nods. He can't help but feel pride in the fact that Major Sheppard trusts him with Dr. Weir's safety.
"Markham, you're with me."
The team continues walking down the road, this time in silence as they listen for any unexpected rustling in the trees. McKay and Ford are walking about ten yards in front of Weir and Stackhouse with Markham and Sheppard at about 5 yards behind them.
Ford and McKay are almost to the end of the grove, at a bend in the road, when a group of birds suddenly take flight, out of the trees immediately to their right. Sheppard is the first to see the two small objects as they arc toward the road, almost lost in the scattered leaves disturbed by the birds.
"Grenades!"
The two grenades land in front of and behind Weir and Stackhouse. They all react immediately to Sheppard's cry. Everyone dives toward the ground except for Sheppard. He defies all of his military training and survival instincts. John doesn't jump away from the grenade in front of him - he actually takes a slight step forward. He sees Elizabeth and Stackhouse falling to the ground with the Marine trying to position his body to land on top of hers. He never sees them hit the dirt because he's knocked backward by the force of the blast.
Remaining fully exposed to the grenade blast could have been a costly mistake. But, luckily for Sheppard, the Inbi have not focused much time on improving their explosives capability for inflicting damage. Their pride and arrogance tells them that the enemy should see what has beaten them. They do not use grenades to kill with anonymity. Instead, they are used to stun and shock their targets, giving the Inbi a tactical advantage in an attack.
Sheppard is laying on the ground dazed – partially from the blast and partially from hitting his head on the dirt as he fell. His ears are ringing and he knows he'll have a bitch of a headache later. Through the dissipating smoke, he sees two men walk out from between the trees. He struggles to sit up and swing his P90 around. But his movements are sluggish and he knows that he's not going to make it up before they're on him.
Two shots ring out from his left and John watches as the two Inbi go down in front him. One shot catches the first Inbi in the hand, causing him to lose his weapon and drop to the ground writhing in pain. Another shot gets the second Inbi in the shoulder as he pivots toward the first gunshot.
Sheppard scrambles to a kneeling position with his P90 up and ready to fire. His eyes are focused on five additional Inbi emerging from the tree line. He hears as Markham comes up from behind him and then more footfalls as they're joined by Ford and McKay. There's no need to cover their six because the road falls off to a cliff that would be impossible to climb without some serious climbing gear and a lot of noise.
"Holy shit – Dr. Weir."
At least McKay has the presence of mind to whisper his comment under his breath, but something has clearly surprised the scientist. Sheppard risks a quick glance to his left. It's years of military training and the hostile situation that keep his face from showing any reaction.
The shots didn't come from Stackhouse. The sergeant is on the ground, unconscious. Kneeling next to him, in a position that matches Sheppard's, is Elizabeth. Her arms are in front of her, elbows lose and slightly bent, with her left hand cradling her right as it expertly holds a 9mm. The gun is still smoking and it's clear she's the one who fired at the two Inbi.
Elizabeth has shifted her aim to the Inbi whose uniform identifies him as the commander of this attack group. Sheppard follows her line of sight and realizes that she's not aiming at her target's arm or shoulder. If she were to fire right now, the bullet would go between the Inbi commander's eyes. The Inbi knows it too because he is frozen in mid-stride with his weapon only half way up to firing position.
The rest of them are in a stalemate with both the Atlantis and Inbi guns raised and ready to fire. Only Elizabeth has gotten the advantage over her target. This could get ugly real quick if they don't take control of the situation. Sheppard addresses the commander.
"You just saw her take two of your men down. I guarantee you that our weapons shoot straight. So no matter how the rest of this shakes out, you'll still be the first one to go."
The other soldiers glance toward their commander, clearly unsure of what to do. The commander's upper lip curls into a snarl and he starts to raise his weapon. Elizabeth's eyes narrow and her finger tightens on the trigger in response. The Inbi weapon stops moving.
"Tell them to drop their weapons. You're not going to win this."
There's a commotion as another fifteen or so Inbi come running around the bend in the road.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Ford turns his P90 towards an older Inbi who steps forward. There's the unmistakable sound of fifteen guns being made ready to fire. Nobody moves.
"Commander Karna! What is the meaning of this? You were ordered not to take hostile action against anyone during the cease fire!"
There's no response from Karna.
"All of you, drop your weapons. That is a direct order from your Grand Commander!"
The soldiers behind the Grand Commander obey immediately, but the ones in front of the tree line look to Karna first. They drop their weapons only after their commander gives them a nod. Sheppard pulls his P90 back against his chest and the rest of the team follows suit. Elizabeth turns to check on Stackhouse who is starting to come around.
The sergeant has a nasty looking gash on his forehead, but is sitting up by the time Sheppard walks over. John notices that Elizabeth has blood on her uniform.
"You hurt?"
"No. It's from Stackhouse."
John looks at her for a long moment before motioning between them with two of his fingers.
"You and I need to talk about keeping secrets from each other."
TBC...
