The Prophecy

Chapter 5

Teyla woke up coughing painfully. Her throat and chest hurt. She tried to move her arms and legs but found them restrained. She opened her eyes. At first all she saw was blackness, but after a short while her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could make out her surroundings. She, along with everyone else from Atlantis who had been in the negotiations earlier was bound to a chair.

They were in a dimly lit, huge room with a high ceiling. Men in dark clothes, carrying weapons similar to those the Atlantians used on their missions stood along the walls, as well as guarded the single door to the room. Teyla's eyes searched the room, finding John bound to a chair near her. He was slumped over, head bent down to his chest, obviously he was still unconscious. She wanted to reach out and touch him to make sure that he was all right.

The door at the far end of the large room opened and a group of people was shoved inside by more armed men dressed similar to their captors. Teyla recognized Dr. McKay and other scientists from Atlantis. Fortunately none of them seemed hurt. All of them were hand-cuffed. Their captors forced them to sit down on the floor.

----------

After what had seemed like an eternity, one of the armed men, stepped in front of Teyla and John, who had woken up in the meantime.

"You two, you are the leaders." The man who was familiar from the negotiations pointed at John and Teyla with his gun. "You have come here to conspire with the government. Trading is merely a front. Do not deny it. The government now conspires with aliens while still denying us our rights. But we won't give up that easily. Today we have proven that we are not to be treated like that. The capital city is ours now. We will show to every citizens of Arona that the government has abused us for decades and that it now conspires with off-worlders to keep us subjugated. People will have no choice but to see the truth."

"You are mistaken. We are peaceful traders. We are not conspiring against your people" Teyla said in a calm voice.

"Your lies won't help you. We will find out the truth." The rebel leader struck Teyla across the face with his hand. Despite the pain, she didn't flinch and held his gaze.

John saw that the truth wasn't going to get them anywhere. The rebels were convinced that they were involved in some sort of conspiracy with the government. He had dealt with the deluded beliefs of terrorist and rebels before, there was not going to be an easy way out of this. The best he could do was try and save as many lives as possible.

"You can let the rest of our people go. They have done nothing. They are here on our orders. They are innocent. They don't know anything."

The alien rebel leader seemed to consider John's proposition.

"All right. I will let them go. But you to will stay and you will answer to us. We will find out how you have conspired with the government to deny us what is rightfully ours." The rebel leader left them, going over to two of his men, obviously discussion something with them. As far as John and Teyla could tell, he was intent on keeping up his end of the bargain.

The rest of the Atlantis team was rounded up and led out the door by two armed rebels less than ten minutes after John had agreed to the terms of the rebel leader. Now, they had no means of verifying whether their comrades were indeed being released. John berated himself for his stupid oversight in the negotiations. Weir would certainly not have overlooked the crucial point. Now, he had brought himself into a position where his life, the life of the woman he had intended to marry less than three days ago and not to mention to lives of his men, depended on the word of an alien rebel leader also referred to as a terrorist. He should really have stuck to piloting and have left the negotiating to people like Dr. Weir.

John didn't have much time to contemplate his dire situation. The rest of the Atlantis mission team had just been led out, when two of the rebels walked over to him and Teyla, freed them from the chairs, while keeping their hands tied behind their backs. They were blindfolded and then led out of the room.

They walked indoors for a while and then entered a shuttle like vehicle. John had seen the low-flying craft before while he had been on the planet. He estimated that they were in the air for a good twenty minutes. That allowed them to cover a sizable distance, making escape more difficult. After a smooth landing, they were led into another building.

They briefly stopped, their captors discussed something in their native language and then, John wasn't sure, but he guessed that they separated. He only heard his own footsteps and those of one other person which had to be those of the guard leading him. They took a sharp turn and he was shoved down to sit on a chair.

Once again his chest and feet were bound to the chair. Even though the rebels hadn't shown overly abundant violence John didn't have any illusions about the treatment he was about to face. They were going to question him and if they didn't like his answers they would probably torture him. And Teyla. His mind mercilessly added. Maybe there was still a way to negotiate for her freedom. She shouldn't be in this position.

She couldn't move and she couldn't see. She could sense that she was in a very small and she could also sense that she was alone. Yet, she was not afraid. She was calm. She had acted against the prophecy. Her fate would be different than foretold. She was ready to accept whatever fate the universe was going to accord her. Knowing that she had prevented the prophecy from coming true was enough for her. She heard the door open and heard another person enter the room.

Suddenly she felt a presence in her mind. It was a sensation so very foreign to her that it seemed unreal, but the foreign presence was very real and it was expanding, controlling, calling up images in her mind that she had no control over. Still, she was not afraid. She fought back with all the strength of her mind. But soon she found that she was no match against the intruder in her thoughts. She succumbed to unconsciousness as she could feel the foreign presence accessed her most private memories and thoughts that she would never have willingly shared.

----------

Teyla jerked awake. She was still blindfolded and handcuffed, but she wasn't in the small room anymore. It felt like she was back in the shuttle again. She could hear the engine, and felt the vibrations of motion. The last she recalled was trying to fight off the invading presence in her mind. She must have blacked out. She felt nauseous and disoriented. She pushed back the lingering feelings of fear and disgust, at the moment she could not afford to dwell on what had happened. The craft came to a rocky landing and someone grabbed her by the arm, yanking her to her feet and dragging her outside of the shuttle craft. She stumbled a bit, feeling slightly dizzy. Without warning the blindfold was removed. The suddenly bright light hurt her eyes and she had to shut them, slowly getting used to the brightness of the late afternoon.

As soon as she was able to see, she looked around to assess her situation. They had indeed been transported in one of the shuttle-like vehicles that the inhabitants of this planet used for transportation. Their captors were apparently done with them. They were busy getting back into the shuttle. John was a few feet from her. While she was merely feeling dizzy, John was on the ground, unconscious. Teyla quickly checked him over, but found no apparent injuries. Thankfully the rebel didn't use such methods of torture. John's pulse seemed somewhat rapid, but at least it was strong. There was nothing Teyla could do for him. The best would be getting him back to Atlantis where Dr. Beckett could have a look at him.

They were not far from the gate. Teyla recognized the square from when they had been shown the city before their talks. From the armed men in the streets and the absence of passer-bys it was obvious that the rebels had taken over the entire city when they had stormed the ministerial building.

She couldn't carry John. The only way she could get him to the gate was to drag him. She grabbed him under the arms and started to make her way to the gate. The armed rebels eyed her suspiciously but let her pass. Due to her own exhausted condition, she had to take several breaks before she finally reached the gate. She just hoped that she was in time for John. She had been ready to accept her fate, but she had never meant for this to happen to John.

TBC

A/N: Sorry, this chapter was a bit heavy on the action. But John will learn about the prophecy soon enough.