Teta Prime
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter IX: "Escape"

Colonel John Sheppard's eyes widen in fear as he stares at one of the three genetically enhanced Wraith. The Wraith stares back for a moment, then throws Sheppard across the room. He hits the wall hard, and the Ancient weapon he'd been holding clatters to the ground out of reach. The Wraith walks towards him.

"We've spent a long time searching for you, human," the Wraith hisses. "And you just walk into our nest." The Wraith grabs Sheppard's vest and rips it open. It pulls back its hand and prepares to feed. "It's been a long time since I've fed," the Wraith says smiling, "but I haven't forgotten!" Before the Wraith could place its hand on his chest, Sheppard pulls his 9mm out of its holster and empties his last clip into the Wraith, forcing the nearly-invincible foe to back off for a bit. Once out of ammo, Sheppard dives for the Ancient rifle. He grabs hold of it, but as he does the Wraith grabs his vest. Thinking fast, Sheppard slips out of the vest, rolls, and opens fire on the Wraith.

The first shot from this Ancient weapon burns a hole into the Wraith's shoulder. The next two do the same to its chest. And, as the Wraith howls in pain, a final shot connects with its chest, causing it to fall over and die. Sheppard, not trusting that the Wraith is really dead, fires about two-dozen more shots into it. Now satisfied, he turns and heads in the direction of the lab.

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Sheppard walks bare-chested down the corridor that leads to the lab. As he rounds the corner he sees two Wraith with stunner pistols. He ducks back around the corner before they can shoot him. Peaking out again, he unleashes a barrage of weapons fire from the Ancient rifle he's holding. Since he's blind-firing, the Wraith don't have much difficulty dodging his shots. One they've taken cover, they start to shoots at him with their stunners. This goes on for at least five minutes.

Realizing that he's in a stalemate, Sheppard pokes his head out one more time, then pulls it back as a stunner blast comes his way. Even though the blast misses him, he pretends as though he's been hit, falling to the ground. Seeing what's happened, the Wraith both walk over to him. As they stand over their prey, they look at each other and smile. But before they can feed on the colonel, he lifts the Ancient weapon and shoots the crap out of both Wraith. They go down in a matter of seconds.

Sheppard gets to his feet and stares at the Wraith bodies. He sighs in relief, and walks away.

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In the city of Atlantis, the mood is grim. It's been grim for the past three weeks, ever since the Valkyrie had failed to return on schedule. No one had heard anything from the mighty cruiser in over a month, which led them to believe she'd been intercepted and destroyed by the Wraith. Without the Valkyrie and her reinforcements, the people on Atlantis were running out of options. It seemed that the city was definitely lost.

In the control room, Doctor Weir stands in the middle of a room filled with activity. But she doesn't care anymore. She's fighting a loosing battle. The people she loves are risking their lives, and in some cases dying, every day, and she can't take it anymore. As she stands there, Colonel Caldwell walks over.

"We've repelled another Wraith raid," Caldwell tells her. Weir just nods. "Doctor Weir, for what it's worth..." Before he could attempt to say anything encouraging, one of the officers on duty interrupts him.

"Offworld activation!" the man shouts. Sure enough, the Stargate is coming to life as someone attempts to reach the city. The gate activates with the 'fwoosh' effect, and the yellowish energy shield that protects the city against unwanted intrusion is activated. There is silence for a moment. Then there is an impact sound. It happens again. And again. Caldwell's eyes widen.

"It's a Morse Code signal," he says. "9-2-3-7-5-0-2-3-4-6-8-3-6-7-3-8-3-6-8. 10-M-I-N-U-T-E-S. 9-2-3-7-5-0-2-3-4-6-8-3-6-7-3-8-3-6-8. 9-M-I-N-U-T-E-S... the message keeps repeating."

"Um, ma'am," the gate technician says. "That's Colonel Sheppard's iris code." Weir's eyes widen.

"Lower the shield," she says softly.

"Belay that order!" Colonel Caldwell commands.

"Colonel!" Weir is outraged.

"He said nine minutes," Caldwell tells her calmly. "We shouldn't lower the shield until then."

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Nine minutes later, the shield is lowered, and, much to everyone's horror, a Wraith Dart flies through the gate. Security teams in the control room all raise their weapons and prepare to fire when the canopy turns transparent. Behind the controls of the ship is a very beat-up looking Colonel Sheppard. Weir breathes a sigh of relief.

"Open the Jumper Bay!" she orders.

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In the Jumper Bay, Colonel Sheppard lands the Dart in one of the vacant spaces left by a Jumper that had been destroyed. He steps out of the craft as Doctor Weir, Colonel Caldwell, Doctor McKay, and Doctor Beckett race towards him. Weir reaches Sheppard first, and she throws her arms around him.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she says with tears in her eyes. Then she sniffs. "Whew!" she says, taking a step back. "You really stink."

"Yeah, well, fighting for your life on an alien planet doesn't leave much time for bathing," Sheppard tells her, and they both laugh. He turns and reaches into the cockpit of the Dart. "I brought home a few presents for you guys." Weir arches an eyebrow as Sheppard pulls out the Ancient weapon and hands it to Doctor McKay.

"This is an Ancient weapon that was very effective against the Wraith," Sheppard explains.

"How so?" Rodney asks.

"I don't know," Sheppard tells him. "That's why I'm giving it to you." John reaches back into the craft and heaves the body of one of the Wraith out of it. "This is a super-Wraith."

"I beg your pardon?" Doctor Beckett asks in his Scottish accent.

"The Wraith on Teta Prime were using an Ancient lab to enhance their DNA," John explains. "I figured you'd wanna study him."

"Oh, you are absolutely right," Beckett tells him. John reaches back into the ship for his last item. When he comes out, he's holding three Z.P.M.s.

"These," the colonel explains, "I got for everyone." The people in the room stare intently at the objects in Colonel Sheppard's hands. Before anyone can comment on them, the urgent voice of an officer in the control room is heard over the intercom.

"Doctor Weir," the officer shouts over the intercom, "we have three unidentified vessels that dropped out of hyperspace just outside of our orbit bearing down on us!" The joy on the faces of the four people in the Jumper Bay fades away quickly.

The End

Author's Note: I know what you're all thinking. "What! No resolution! What's going to happen to Atlantis! Why won't you tell me!"

Well, don't worry, I will. But not in this story. No, you'll have to wait until I write The Fourth Siege, the sequel to Teta Prime for the answers to that. In that story, the defenders of Atlantis face down the Wraith in one final winner-take-all battle.

Now, The Fourth Siege will be on-line, at the earliest, at the end of October or beginning of November (2005). I'm currently working on another fanfic, and I want to finish it before working on this new story.

So, until then, this is The Ascended Ancient, signing off.