Cpt. Ritter- I've forced myself to sit down and write this one! I must sayI much preferthe second thought to the first one. I can't wait to read your fics. Especially the Sheyla one! Hope you like this chapter.
OMGirl- I'm so glad I've been forgiven! Thank you soooooo much for your review!
Camy- I could never forget my fics! Okay. Maybe I did sort of forget about my CSI story. But I'm working on it! I hope I didn't make you wait too long!
ch.7 A Lost Hope
Elizabeth sat behind her desk trying to finish her reports. But no ammount of tedious paperwork could keep her from worrying about her friends. No. They had become more than friends in these past two years. They were her family. And she hated to think that they weren't coming back. No. She scolded herself. They will come back. They've gotten out of far worse situations before. But in her heart she knew they wouldn't. And it made her sick to think about it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door. Colonel Caldwell came in without waiting for Elizabeth to even look up. She refused to say anything to him. So he started talking.
"He's not coming back." Elizabeth didn't respond. "I just think you should realize that he went on a suicide mission. He knew he wasn't going to come back and he took some very good people with him. Sergeant Bates especially will be missed. He was a very fine officer." Elizabeth glared at him. How dare he? "I just want you to know that what Colonel Sheppard did was very selfish. He's going to get those people killed up there. All for his lover girlfriend."
Now Elizabeth was mad. Her desk creaked ever so softly as she stood up and leaned across it so that her face was mere inches from Caldwell's. Her death-glare that she had only used once on Kavanaugh when Sheppard's team was stuck in the stargate marred the beautiful features of her face.
"Get out." Her voice was no louder than a whisper but it delivered the message better than it would have had she been screaming it. Caldwell defiantly stood in place. "How dare you talk about Colonel Sheppard that way. In all the time I've known him, he has never done anything to put anyone in danger. He would give his life for anyone on Atlantis with only one regret: That he couldn't do it for everybody." She allowed a small smile to tug at the corners of her lips. But as she was skilled at this, it did not minimize the severity of her words. "But he wouldn't for you. At least not anymore. Now get out of my office before I have to get someone to forcibly remove you."
Caldwell, stunned to his bones, glared back at her and allowed only three words to escape his lips before he left, "You'll regret this."
Once he was gone, Elizabeth sank back into her chair and buried her face in her hands. Deep beneath the layers of her heart, she knew that John, Terras, Ronon, Lorne, Cadman, McKay, Carson, Bates and Teyla were not coming home.
o
Neith lay on her back in a chaise lounge in a room right next to her own. Her mind was going over all of Teyla's thoughts. One name kept coming up, John Sheppard. Neith contemplated this. It appeared that she had feelings for him. A mental image came up behind her closed eyes. The man who tried to capture her!
Neith sat up. This could be good for the both of them. The idea circulated around as Teyla mentally shouted 'no' to it over and over. Her fingers snapped and Kojhah immediately came to her side.
"I need to change my clothes. I have an idea that I have been contemplating since those Tau'ri tried to capture me. Fetch the gown I wore when I joined with my beloved Meret." Kojhah obeyed and went into the next room. She returned holding a golden silk dress with a white, short sleeved, figure-hugging top that ended just past her breast.
Kojhah, feeling extremely disheartened as she watched the woman who could have been her friend rip her necklace off and throw it on the lounge, dressed Neith in the gorgeous gown and slipped white strappy heels on her feet.
Next Neith ordered Kojhah to go away and called for Hotep. Within seconds, Hotep was standing in front of her, ready to give his life if asked.
"How may I serve you my lovely queen?" Neith basked in this adorement and smiled fondly at Hotep.
"I have found a host for my beloved. You will bring me the vessel in which the Tollen placed Meret after he was removed from his previous host seven months ago."
Hotep bowed his head. "Yes my queen." And he marched from the room. He returned several minutes later carrying a tank of water that held a single deviant goa'uld symbiote.
"Now bring me the one called Sheppard."
o
No one dared to say a word. When the jaffa Hotep came for John, he got upsilently and allowed two guards to tightly grab his arms and lead him away from their cell. Ronon, of course,sent daggers flying at the jaffa, Cadman gazed sadly at the strong, sensitive man being led away, and Lorne watched hopelessly at their retreating backs. John didn't dare look back. He couldn't look at their faces, knowing this was the last time he would see them, knowing he had failed them.
John was brought to a lavishly decorated room with lots of gold. Gold walls, gold material on the curtains and furniture, gold everything! How he would hate gold forever after this!
Sitting comfortably on a chaise lounge, was Teyla. Or at least, she looked like Teyla. Her eyes glowed as she stood up and walked over to where he was being held by the jaffa.
Even with her three inch shoes, Teyla still only reached his nose. John thought about this and only just now realized how short she was. Neith looked him up and down. She seemed pleased from the look on her face.
"You will make a suitable host." She nodded to the jaffa holding him and they forced him to his knees. Their grip tightened on his arms. When they let go, he would have ugly bruises where they were holding him. Neith strutted over to a cabinet behind her, swinging her hips as she walked. She opened the drawer and pulled out a hand device. She slipped it onto her hand and walked back over to where John knelt.
"Teyla?" John begged, panicking. He knew what that was. She was either going to kill him or sedate him so he could be implanted with a goa'uld. Neith's step faultered. But a second later her eyes glowed again and she regained her composure. "Teyla please don't do this." He begged again. But this time she smiled. A malicious grin that showed all her teeth and reminded John of the Chesire cat.
"Your attempts are vain. You will not succeed." With that she raised her hand with the glowing hand device to his forehead. It was the most peculiar sesation he had ever felt. John was limp in the jaffa's grasps yet he was still acutely aware of his senses and what was going on.
One jaffa bent his head down to his chest, no longer enablingJohn to see in front of him. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Neith walk around behind him. Then he felt the most unimaginable pain he had ever experianced. He wanted to scream out but the hand device prevented him from doing so. John vaguely remembered falling to the floor before he blacked out from the pain.
Neith watched the man fall to the floor as Colonel John Sheppard, and rise as her beloved, Meret. His eyes glowed as he smiled at her.
o
Carson and Rodney watched, horrfied, as Bates and Terras wrestled each other on the floor. It had started when Bates announced they were leaving. Terras had decked him in the head. They lost their grips on their P-90's and they clattered to the floor, one spilling out its ammo. Bates had grabbed Terras' hair and shoved her up against the wall, almost strangling her from his grip on her throat. Gasping for air, Terras kneed him in the stomach. He doubled over, letting her go.
Terras kicked her leg high up, striking Bates in the stomach once more. He regained his posture and grabbed her right arm, twisting it behind her back. Terras fell to her knees and Bates pushed her onto her stomach. He grabbed her other wrist and held both together. She writhed beneath his grip but he held fast. Using the strap that clipped his P-90 to his vest, Bates unclipped it and tied tightly around her wrists. When he was done, he gagged her with a handkerchief from his pocket.
She flopped around like fish on dry land for awhile. She finally admitted defeat after ten minutes and resolved to glare as hard as she could at Bates.
"If either of you touch her, you'll be sorry." Bates warned the Doctor and the scientist. They nodded simultaneously. Bates turned on his radio and told Miller to come to pick them up. He then turned to McKay. "Get that door opened." McKay nodded and pulled out his laptop but something caught his eye. He pretended to be opening the doors but kept one eye trained on Terras. When Bates had turned around, she twisted her arms around until one had gotten free.
Bates was still oblivious to Terras as she silently snatched up one of the P-90s. He now lay on the floor. Terras tossed the empty weapon back onto the floor and picked up the one that still had ammo in it.
"That was some hit!" Rodney exclaimed. "Are you sure you don't play baseball?"
"What's baseball?" She said after untying the gag and shoving it back into Bates' pocket.
"Never mind."
Carson bent down and checked Bates' pulse and felt the lump on the back of his head. "He won't be getting up anytime soon."
"McKay, get those doors open now."Terras ordered.
"But-" He protested.
"Do it." McKay wasted no time. "Come on in Miller." She said into her radio when McKay signaled it was done. She turned to the doctors. "Let's get him to the cargo bay."
They met no resistance during the twenty minute walk from the storage room. Terras took lead while the other two half carried, half dragged Bates. When they got to where the Jumper was waiting, they saw Miller stand outside looking very anxious.
"What took you so long?" He asked when they got close enough to hear him.
"We called from the storage room." Terras set her P-90 down and took the unconscious Sergeant from Carson and Rodney. She dragged him inside the Jumper and dumped him on the floor. Then she came back out and picked up her P-90 again.
"What are you doing?" Carson said when he saw her clip the gun to her vest and turn the safety off.Terras ignored him.
"Miller, you are to take the Jumper and Bates back to where you were. That's an order. Come back when we call you." Miller nodded almost automatically. "Do you have any explosives?"
"C-4. Yeah. In the box under the seat." Terras went back in the Jumper and, stepping over the human carpet, dragged the heavy box from under the seats. She threw the lid off and made a pile of the C-4 next to the box. She had about ten in her pile when Miller stopped her.
"What?" She said aggravatedly.
"That's enough to blow this ship up twice." Terras reluctantly put a few back and shut the box again then slid it back under.
"Let's go." She picked up the C-4 and handed some to both McKay and Carson. She put her own stock in her vest and started to leave. McKay and Carson followed her without a second thought. Once they closed the interior door, McKay opened and closed the exterior one and they set off to rescue the rescue team.
A/N- My doesn't that purple button look exceptionally gorgeous? Click it and you'll get a digital cookie.