The
city of Atlantis,
the
Pegasus Galaxy.
John was positively aching all over after another vicious wooden training-stick bout with Teyla Emmagan – his body would probably swell up with bruises over the coming days, but Sheppard appreciated the training. He was always trying to better himself as a fighter, and with the sparring with Teyla, John learnt that tactics and timing, as well as a healthy level of brutality and strength, went a long way towards victory…
Teyla was too sound, tactically, to be overcome – but Sheppard knew he was getting closer with every sparring session, and soon enough they would become quite evenly matched.
Colonel Sheppard hopped into the shower in his personal quarters in the city of Atlantis, and let the hot water wash over his entire body, slowly easing away the pain that was coursing through him from head to foot. He massaged out some of the more taut, swollen parts of his body, and let out a sharp gasp when something caught in his lower back and a stabbing knife of pain shot up his spine.
John gritted his teeth and turned around in the shower cubicle, letting the water strike him full in the back – now Teyla really had put him through the ringer today, Sheppard thought with a rueful little smirk, but then, that was good that she hadn't held anything back. He could only get better because of her toughness in their sparring combat.
Suddenly, there was a massive explosion somewhere deep within the bowels of Atlantis, that rocked through the entire structure of the city-starship. John was hurled back into the wall of his shower, and cried out involuntarily when his side slammed up against the unyielding wall – he was ALREADY hurting enough, but now another bruise would probably be added to the collection.
The explosion – because that was what it was, John had absolutely no doubt – had been quite large… and by his reasoning, it was deep within the city, probably near the ZPM Output Room. A very vitally important part of Atlantis if every there was one, the Lieutenant Colonel thought grimly to himself as he staggered out of the shower cubicle and raced over to his clothes cupboard, to hurriedly put on some clothing.
Then he snatched up his P-90, a couple of full mags of ammo, and a handheld radio, and bolted out of his room at a full run, racing down the hallway as fast as his legs could carry him.
# A #
The door to the ZPM Outlet Room had been made of a reinforced metallic substance the Ancients used in much of their construction – it did not stand up well against the tiny little explosive charge that the Athosian, Malden, was able to attach onto the side of the panel, as it was one of the most concentrated detonation charges the Genii had ever managed to synthesise.
Oskar moved in first, with his auto-gun raised and ready to fire at any target on the other side of the breach. The Genii operative was tensed up, ready for immediate action, but found nothing to shoot so he moved quickly away from the doorway.
Malden entered the room behind Oskar… and almost instantly, a stream of deadly high-velocity bullets smashed right into the wall right by Malden's left side!
The Athosian spun straight around on his feet and looked back down the hallway, to see Lt Colonel John Sheppard thundering down the corridor straight towards them, his P-90 assault rifle raised up and its barrel smoking from recent use…
Malden leapt aside at the last moment, avoiding the next burst of weapons-fire by mere inches and just narrowly avoiding instant death. Oskar, the only one out of the two of them armed with a weapon, and also the best shot, as an experienced Genii intelligence agent, crept forward towards the door.
He pointed at Malden, and then indicated the triangular-shaped console in the centre of the ZPM Outlet Room – within which was the fully-charged ZPM that powered the entire city, the target of their sabotage operation. Malden, the one who had managed to bring the Genii-designed super-explosives into Atlantis, raced over to the triangular console and quickly started planting his tiny little charges.
Oskar stood right by the blasted-open door, and waited patiently for John Sheppard to make his move on the opening, to leap into the room – and make the last mistake of his life, crossing over the threshold right into the Genii spy's gun-sights.
The Genii almost felt sorry that he was about to kill Sheppard – despite the fact that he had only just met the man, he had heard that John was a brave, honourable warrior, worth his respect despite the fact that he was the enemy.
# A #
Sheppard edged closer to the breached doorway, staring through the blown-open section of the city and into the ZPM Outlet Room.
He had seen Malden ducking around behind the other side of the triangular power conduit, where the three ZPMs that could power the entire city were inserted, but had missed his opportunity to shoot the man for the few brief moments he had exposed himself. John didn't know where Oskar was, but he did not doubt that the Genii was in there as well, waiting for him to rush into the room after them, and get himself killed…
The first place John had gone to after he dressed and armed himself, racing out of his room at a full sprint, had been the temporary quarters where Oskar had been set up in – and there, he had found the bloodied body of the Sergeant that had been assigned to sentry-duty outside the Genii's door, having been killed by a deep knife wound to his throat.
John didn't know where Oskar had procured a bladed weapon from, or how he had managed to get so close to a trained Special Forces soldier, who would have been on the highest state of alert, to deliver such a blow. But he had, and that was all that really mattered – the Genii 'defector' had been a plant all along!
And now, he was going to cause some major chaos in Atlantis – unless he could be stopped, with whatever force was necessary.
As he had bolted down a number of corridors, and through doorways at a full gallop, Sheppard had spotted Malden, the Athosian merchantman, racing along ahead of him. And suddenly, it all made perfect sense!
The Genii spy, Oskar, had not been alone in this set-up; he had help, from Malden, an Athosian!
Teyla Emmagan was not going to be pleased.
# A #
Moving cautiously over to the left side of the blasted-out section of doorway, pushing himself back into the wall and sliding along til he was right by the opening, John aimed his P-90 into the murky semi-darkness, keeping his trigger-finger resting lightly back on the firing-catch.
He cursed himself at that moment for not picking up any flash-bang grenades – they would have proved wondrous for an assault of this nature, into a room that John did not know where the hostiles were located exactly.
Sheppard decided to move, right then and right now. He had to take the chance and just leap in there, or else the two saboteurs would be able to accomplish their task.
The Colonel took a deep breath, and leapt straight through the opening into the ZPM Outlet Room – and straight into a murderous hail of bullets from Oskar's auto-gun!
# A #
On the edge of Sector 1146,
onboard the USS Daedalus,
the Pegasus Galaxy.
Ronon smashed his fist right into the face of one young male Genii soldier, then lifted him up by his shoulders and hurled the slightly-concussed fighter bodily into a stack of heavy metal crates nearby. The man groaned when he impacted with the crates, and they tumbled down all around him, but Ronon Dex had not an ounce of pity for the soldier – he moved right on to the next combatant.
There were Genii all over the place… Rodney McKay had kept them all apprised of the locations of the other four Puddle Jumpers as they came in on the Daedalus, sweeping in and landing all over the hull of the battle-cruiser – but they had not managed to get any of the vessel's defensive weaponry operational in time to destroy any of the Jumpers as they travelled inbound.
And now, what had been a containable problem, with fewer than a dozen enemy troops to deal with, was now a much larger, more dangerous situation – they were now facing with over fifty Genii fighters boarding the ship from five separate breach-points… this had every chance of going the wrong way for the defenders, and Dex was more than aware of that fact.
A burst of weapons-fire from a crouching Genii soldier almost took off the top of Ronon's head as he paused in a doorway for just a moment, but the burly veteran had sensed the danger at the last moment, and ducked aside just before the first round zipped by.
He spun around on his feet and raised his blaster up to fire in one fluid motion – three shots of red energy burst out of the gun-barrel of his gun, and struck the Genii halfway across the room full in the chest. The soldier flew back off his feet and slammed right into the wall behind him, the three bolts of laser-fire having punched huge holes through his chest.
The Genii was killed instantly, and his lifeless body slid slowly down to the floor, a thick smear of blood marking his descent.
Bullets were flying all over the place, as both parties traded shots with one another, and the Genii boarders slowly made their moves further into the winding confines of the Daedalus.
Ronon Dex looked back towards the rest of the defensive line, further back down the corridor, and watched as, right before his very eyes, a Lieutenant from the vessel's Engineering division made a run from one point of cover to another… and got cut down in a murderous hail of enemy fire. The young man was pitched back off his feet, spinning around 180 degrees on the spot as he was virtually torn apart by the Genii gunfire, and dropped dead to the ground right on the spot.
They didn't have enough experienced, trained fighters onboard the Daedalus – in all, the battle-cruiser had less than thirty Special Forces soldiers, including Ronon himself, and they were all being outclassed and outmanoeuvred by this determined assault force.
A couple of Genii troopers, a male and a female, made a rush for a SF soldier who'd somehow been cut off from the rest of the defensive line – Dex saw the blurred movement from out of the corner of his eye, and turned around to catch sight of the two enemy fighters dashing in low and fast towards the stranded soldier.
Ronon knew immediately that he had to act – the Genii were moving towards their target at quite a quick speed, and he was a good distance away from them all, but the battler in him was not about to just sit back and let a team-mate, a fellow member of this expedition from Atlantis, get killed.
Crossing the distance between himself and the Genii at a full run, Ronon Dex made a flying leap through the air as the two enemy fighters made their move on the SF, crossing around to attack him from two separate directions simultaneously, and fired at them both with his blaster…
One of the blaster-shots hit the female trooper right in the face, an incredible shot for Ronon to make in midair – she dropped straight to the ground, most of her face having been blown away by the laser-blast, having been killed instantly.
The other Genii turned straight around to face Ronon, and opened fire with one of their rifle-weapons, unleashing a vicious torrent of bullets right at the big fighter as he came crashing hard onto the ground. Dex only just managed to roll away as the rounds all slammed straight into the ground where he'd landed just moments before.
He had only avoided death by quick thinking and immediate action – half a second later, and it would have been a different story entirely!
After rolling a couple of times and coming to a sudden, halting stop, Dex raised his blaster up to fire at this dangerous threat… when suddenly, the left side of the Genii soldier's head exploded in a crimson geyser of blood!
The Special Forces trooper, with a bullet through his right kneecap and everything, had managed to hobble around from behind the cover he had found for himself, lined up the enemy gunman with his Beretta handgun, and took the shot that had to be taken.
With an unbelievable level of courage and tenacity, the SF had gotten Ronon out of a really bad situation… Dex hadn't known whether or not he could have gotten a shot off at the Genii in time, before he in turn was cut down in a hail of bullets.
The young trooper (from a country called 'France', Ronon saw by the blue, white and red striped flag-insignia on his right shoulder – Lt Colonel Sheppard had been informing him a little about the multiculturalism of the Atlantis expedition) gave him a broad, cheeky little lop-sided grin – just before his throat exploded in a huge spray of blood, and he dropped to his knees right in front of Ronon, most of his neck having been blown away by a point-blank shot from behind.
The expression of bewilderment and horror on the soldier's face was heartbreaking, even to a toughened fighting-man such as Ronon Dex. He looked up from the dying man's face, hie entire body twitching with burning, incessant rage, to stare right into the eyes of the man he was determined, above everything else now in the entire universe, to kill with his own bare hands…
Ronon had no way of knowing it, but he was in fact sizing up Commander Acastus Kolya's Group Leader, Egan – the second-in-command of the entire Genii Strike Force.
His Genii foe was holding a smoking, smouldering auto-gun tightly in his right hand – the weapon he had used to do the murderous deed.
When he saw the look of anguish and vicious fury plastered across Ronon's face, the enemy simply smirked in contempt, and threw his handgun aside. Dex could not have been more pleased – the man knew what was coming, and in fact welcomed the fair, hand-to-hand combat.
"You just made the biggest mistake of your life…" Dex said coldly to his adversary, lacing every word that he spoke with brooding menace, "…and you're going to spend the last minute of your life regretting that mistake, before I finally do the both of us a service and kill you."
His foe did not say a word – he simply raised his fists up in preparation, and beckoned with his right hand for Dex to 'come and get it.'
# A #
Dr McKay did the best that he could to relay timely, accurate intelligence on the movements of the Genii throughout the ship's corridors and sections, using the visual data he was getting from all the security cameras spread out all over the place – that was, until the Genii realized that someone was getting good Intel on their advances, made the deduction that it was through the security cameras, and began to destroy the devices as they moved through the Daedalus.
Rodney caught a bone-chilling glimpse of the very scary, dreadfully dangerous-looking Commander Acastus Kolya as he and a group of his troops made their way towards the Mess Hall… where Colonel Caldwell and a sizable force of his crewmembers were waiting, to meet the boarders with overwhelming force of arms.
The look on Kolya's face was… horrifying.
The Commander looked ruthlessly driven to succeed – he would probably kill his own son (if the man even had a son to speak of, that is) if it meant that he would succeed in taking over this ship.
Kolya raised his Genii rifle up in one smooth motion and fired at the security camera as he passed by, destroying it – and stopping McKay from watching the compliment of enemy troops moving down the corridor towards his colleagues.
Rodney raised the handheld radio up to his lips and clicked the TALK button. "Colonel, you've got a pretty large force of Genii inbound, coming in from Sector Five – and Commander Kolya himself is at the front!"
# A #
"Understood, Dr McKay," Caldwell replied grimly into the radio, and then quickly he glanced around his immediate environs. What he saw did not fill him with confidence…
Most of the men and women under his command in this section of the battle-cruiser were members of his crew – Air Force personnel, not ground-combat soldiers. There were five Special Forces men in the group, spread out along the defensive line as moral support, and for much-needed leadership reasons.
But this was not going to be good for them, if it became a prolonged, bloody, entrenched fight – a battle eventuality that probably suited the Genii more than it did the defending Daedalus force.
Kolya, the Colonel was sure, was a masterful tactician, and knew his command situation well. He was leading a smaller, more skilled and well-disciplined force in against poorly-trained, numerically superior defenders. If Acastus Kolya was as good as he was led to believe, Caldwell feared the Genii Commander would find a way to nullify the only thing his force had going for them – their numbers.
If he found a way to cancel out Caldwell's numerical advantage, Kolya would have gone a fair way towards winning this fight.
Rodney McKay had been an invaluable help before, watching the Genii moving throughout the ship and relaying their activities back to the defenders – now, Steven Caldwell would willingly have given his right foot to have some timely tactical intelligence on the movements and actions of the enemy force that was about to storm their Mess Hall.
He knew they were coming… he could almost feel their presence, and it was an offence to Colonel Caldwell's military sensibilities.
When they came at the defenders, the Genii came from three different directions – and they struck hard, sharply, and with ruthless vigour.
The Genii assault troops were like demons unleashed from the deepest pits of hell. They swept through the Mess Hall like a speeding, ravenous horde, blasting out an incredulous amount of weapons-fire, which swept through the defenders' lines with murderous efficiency.
It was like cutting down blades of grass… most of the crew just stood there half-out of cover, unbelieving that the Genii were so deadly efficient, and were riddled with bullets right there and then, without pity or remorse.
Colonel Steven Caldwell was splattered with the blood of a young Captain, who'd gotten struck by a half-burst of bullets from a Genii marksman from halfway across the killing grounds, and his mind shut down.
He couldn't see… there was only red… it was a nightmare… death, everywhere…
The Beretta handgun drooped down by his side, useless now, as Caldwell retreated in on himself. The sound of Rodney McKay's incessant voice, demanding to know if the Colonel was alright, if they were holding their own against the Genii attack, echoed through the room…
# A #
Most everyone in Colonel Caldwell's miserably doomed defensive force had killed by the Genii in the brutal fighting. A couple of the Special Forces soldiers, though, had survived, and when they saw that most of the crew of the Daedalus were dead, they lowered their weapons to the ground and raised their hands in surrender.
There was nowhere to run to, anyway – the Genii had come in from every direction at once, effectively sealing the defenders in the Mess Hall where they were slaughtered en masse.
Commander Kolya made his position quite clear on taking SFs prisoner right from the start – he shot both men in the head at point-blank range, execution-style. The soldiers hadn't stood a chance. They'd been unarmed, and had never seen the danger they were in til the last moment, looking down the barrel of the Commander's auto-gun…
When it was done, the Genii leader looked over to the enemy combatant standing amongst all the bodies of his fallen comrades, all glazed-over in the eyes and covered in the blood of his brethren, and he smiled in satisfaction.
This man had been shouting orders and beckoning about the place before Kolya had launched his brutal assault, and while his trap had sprung closed around his hapless victims, he had tried to lead his people in a fighting retreat – until, suddenly, he'd stopped moving, had just given up the fight right there out in the middle of the room.
The Genii knew what this was – his enemy was fatigued, battle-scarred. The screams of the wounded and moans of the dying did not seem to sit well in this man's soul. Kolya felt no pity for his adversary – he only felt glad, that now he had some kind of enemy leader in his custody.
He gave the order for the bald-headed, blood-splattered man to be hog-tied, and carried back to one of the spacecraft they had come onto the vessel in – Kolya would be taking back this man, for further 'discussions' at a later date.
One day soon, he planned to be standing again in the Gate Room of Atlantis… at the head of a massive, overwhelming Genii Strike Force.
But that was for another day… now, Commander Acastus Kolya planned to finish this operation, and take control of this entire Atlantean battle-cruiser!