The
city of Atlantis,
the
Pegasus Galaxy.
This was such a bad idea!
The words, poetically simple yet accurate, tore through John Sheppard's mind with the force of a thunderclap from the very heavens above, deafening his senses. The thudding, numbing impact of one of Oskar's bullets slamming into his right shoulder rocked through the Colonel's entire body, and he was knocked severely to one side by the physics of the round striking his shoulder the way that it did.
But that probably saved his life though, as he avoided the next four shots, which would have hit him if he'd continued the dive through the opening the way he had. The fortune of being shot… it ended up saving Sheppard's life, taking that initial bullet to the shoulder.
He rolled along the floor as soon as he hit the ground, wincing as he went over his wounded shoulder, and came up with his P-90 rifle pointing right at Oskar, the saboteur. The Genii operator moved his gun around as fast as he can to bring it to bear on Sheppard, but the American was far too quick on the uptake. He squeezed back on the trigger, unleashing a full maelstrom of rounds upon the hapless spy on full-automatic.
Oskar didn't have anywhere to go, and he didn't have enough time to react to the fluid situation – he just stood there, half-crouched in his 'hiding position' beside the breeched door, and took every single bullet John fired at him.
The rounds tore through his body, and sent him careening back into the corner of the room – quite obviously dead, his body having been literally ripped to shreds by the horrendous assault rifle's vicious firepower.
But John could not afford to take a breath for even a moment – he snapped himself back around to face Malden, his gun swinging around to bear on the Athosian turncoat.
The big, burly merchantman stood a little away from the triangular dais in the centre of the room, holding up a small remote-control device that Sheppard reasoned – accurately, though he could not be completely sure – was the triggering mechanism for the explosives. His forefinger hovered fleetingly over the red button that would detonate the explosives… a huge grin was plastered all over Malden's face.
"We've already won today, Colonel Sheppard – there isn't a thing you can do to stop me now. And just think, because of your incompetence, Oskar and I were able to accomplish our task, and strike a blow for the people of the Pegasus Galaxy against the enemies of peace and freedom!" Malden said triumphantly.
John had the man lined up now in his gun-sights – but Sheppard didn't take a shot yet, in fear that he would not be able to take the bomber down before he could detonate his charges. The Colonel needed a clear, perfect shot.
"When did you turn traitor and join the Genii, Malden?"
"Traitor? I WAS NEVER A TRAITOR TO MY PEOPLE, SHEPPARD!" Malden roared back, at the top of his lungs. "Teyla Emmagan and the fools who've aligned themselves with her are blind to the greatness of the Genii – as are you, Colonel. You should never have challenged them in such a way. They are a great people, greater than you and yours will ever know. And they are the true, rightful rulers of this entire galaxy!"
One thing was becoming quite obvious very quickly – Malden was a fanatic, and as such, was a very dangerous foe to deal with. He believed in this Genii propaganda hook, line and sinker; the only way to end this, as John dreaded, was through the use of force.
He sucked a huge amount of air down into his lungs, aimed carefully through the scope of his weapon, calmly exhaled the carbon-dioxide out again… and as he breathed out, John squeezed back ever-so-lightly on the trigger, sending three high-powered bullets out of the end of his rifle. They slammed right into the upper left portion of Malden's chest a split-second later, shattering his ribs and lungs, and tearing his heart completely out.
The Athosian dropped to his knees, the remote-control slipping out of his grasp, completely forgotten, then fell face-first onto the floor.
His ruined chest was bleeding profusely, and there was literally litres of blood splattered all over the place… as well as a virtual river of it running out of Malden's corpse.
John slid back onto the ground, and shut his eyes to the carnage all around him. Damn this whole mess… Sheppard was too tired to move, too tired to call for help, too tired to check on the explosives or do any work anymore whatsoever.
It was over for him, he'd finally had his fill – Sheppard was done.
In less than a minute, John could hear the unmistakable sound of the Scotsman, Dr Carson Beckett, wafting through his head, and he opened his eyes slightly to see the Atlantis expedition's chief medical officer crouching over him. Sheppard smiled, and he knew at last that the cavalry had arrived.
At last, it really was over!
# A #
On
theedge
of Sector 1146, onboard the USS Daedalus,
the
Pegasus Galaxy.
Ronon Dex swung his right fist in for a punch at the Genii soldier's chest, only to have the blow countered with a blocking move and be forced to repel a blistering counterattack. The enemy trooper came at him with chops of deadly skill and accuracy, with enough strength behind the blows to do some real damage. Most of them he was able to deflect, but a couple got through Ronon's defences and he was staggered by the impacts.
Dex didn't really expect this fighter to be as good in hand-to-hand combat as he was – he seemed to be way above his comrades in ability with this art of war. He himself was forced to rise up to another level of combativeness, if Ronon wished to defeat his foe.
The chops came down hard on Ronon Dex, but at last he managed to get his own back against the Genii – by seizing his right hand in his left hand, locking it in with a cold, vicious steel-like hold, and slamming his right fist right into his opponent's forearm with every last ounce of strength!
With a sickening crack, the Genii commando's arm snapped light a twig, and he crumpled over in agonizing pain. It was a devastatingly brutal move, for a fight where the victor got to live just a little longer and the loser was as good as dead – there were no half-measures in such a combat situation.
One thing that Ronon had to give begrudging respect to, was the fact that, even though tears of pain were streaming down both of the enemy fighter's cheeks, he did not cry out or scream in agony. He was in incredible pain, but he did not give into his situation or despair in any way.
With a broken arm, Dex had expected his foe to be quite a pushover – instead, with just one good arm, the man's legs came into play as deadly weapons all of their own, and he fought on with even more daring tenacity than before.
As yet another roundhouse kick found its mark, and Ronon Dex was knocked staggering backwards into a hard metal wall, he bounced back suddenly and seized the Genii's right foot suddenly in midair!
The enemy combatant could do nothing more than hop along where he stood, trying to pull back his foot from out of Ronon's grasp, with little success… the warrior was trapped.
Ronon Dex was going to end this now, while the chance presented itself. He yanked back on the leg of the Genii fighter, tugging him forward towards him, and taking the other man off-balance. As the enemy soldier tumbled forward, Ronon drove his left hand, hooked in the manner of a chopping-spade, right into his foe's throat with all his might!
The fighter's windpipe was crushed from the blow, and he fell to his knees struggling for breath. Dex quickly moved around behind his adversary and, without a second's pause, grabbed the man round the back of his neck. With ruthless, brutal efficiency that any true Genii would have respected, Ronon Dex snapped his enemy's neck, severing his spine in one smooth, calculated action.
Killing the great Genii trooper, Egan… one of the most promising young warriors Commander Kolya had ever encountered.
# A #
He knew it was going to be a tough ask from the outset, but Kolya had not expected to find such tough, dogged resistance when he had. Now, the numbers advantage the defenders had over the Genii boarders were playing a crucial role, and one of their number, a scraggy-haired behemoth who fought like a war-god, was leading the enemy on a counteroffensive against his force.
It was a dangerous venture to undertake, but this man was more than up to the challenge – he inspired those that fought with him with his deeds, and they were plentiful, worthy of any man's respect. The Genii troops, Kolya's very best fighters, were fearful to engage this killing machine – even with their illustrious Commander present, they feared the retribution of this seemingly invincible adversary.
When he heard that Egan had been killed, felled by the massive juggernought of a fighter that was bearing relentlessly down on his position, Commander Kolya bowed his head in sorrow. He mourned the passing of a brave young trooper, a man worthy of honour and respect.
And, as a Commander, Acastus Kolya was also forced to evaluate his force's tactical position. To put things bluntly, he could sum up their assault on the Daedalus with one simple word: FAILURE,
But there still might be a way to salvage SOMETHING out of this whole mess. Deep down, Kolya still burned for his revenge against John Sheppard – and a way to get that revenge slowly unfurled itself within the Commander's plotting, calculative mind.
# A #
They were withdrawing – Ronon noticed this even as he was shooting a fleeing Genii soldier in the side, then again in the back as he went down hard onto the floor. Making a fighting-retreat. And it made sense too, Dex thought with a smirk of self-confidence; the bastards were getting their butts handed to 'em now.
Then, Ronon Dex saw an older, slightly weary Genii soldier come striding out of a side corridor further up ahead, followed by two more troopers with what looked like one of the Daedalus' own crew supported between them. One of the two men had a gun to the unconscious prisoner's head.
Almost instinctually, Dex knew that he was looking into the face of Commander Acastus Kolya, the Genii troop leader who had caused so many problems for the Atlantis expedition in the past. And as they came closer, he also spotted none other than Colonel Steven Caldwell being supported between the two armed Genii soldiers.
This was quite a situation to be in… Ronon ordered his personnel to cease fire, and Kolya did the same to his Genii. There was an eerie silence at last, as Ronon Dex slowly approached the Genii contingent out in the middle of this makeshift battlefield.
"You are Commander Kolya, I presume," Ronon said softly, folding his harms in front of him as a sign of intense disrespect. He wanted to convey the right message to his enemy…
"That's right… you, I don't think I've met before. Are you new to this Atlantean force?" the Commander replied. He was looking at Dex quizzically, tilting his head slightly to the side, as if looking at his opponent from a different angle would reveal some key insight.
Ronon smirked. "Yes, you could say that… now, what the hell is this all about? We have no real problems with the Genii here – we never really did in the first place, it was YOU who attacked US in Atlantis! You should just turn around, hop back into your Puddle Jumpers, and fly right on out of here before you really start to piss me off."
"Brave words, my friend, brave words…"
"Let's get one thing straight," Dex snapped back angrily, "I will NEVER be your friend, and the next time I see you, I'm blasting a hole through your head where you stand, without hesitation. So don't you forget that, okay?"
With that, the man turned to leave, but then Kolya stepped forward. Ronon's body tensed up for instant action, ready to draw his blaster and try to take down as many Genii as he could before he was killed… but then he noticed that the Commander was holding out a piece of white paper, on which was scrawled a few symbols.
Ronon took the paper, and looked at the symbols more closely – he saw instantly that they were from the Stargate, symbols of a world somewhere within the Pegasus Galaxy. He looked up at Commander Acastus Kolya.
"We know the man that we have in our possession is the commander of this vessel – a very senior officer in your military too. I propose that Major John Sheppard meet me, alone, on this planet. I promise that he will not be harmed in any way, until we meet, one on one, to battle it out to the death to see who the superior fighter TRULY is!" Kolya said. "If he is able to defeat me, then my prisoner will be released to Sheppard and they can both travel safely back to Atlantis through the Stargate on this world. If not… the prisoner will stay with us, to be tortured for useful information, and John Sheppard will be dead. It's a simple arrangement, but I hope the Major accepts my challenge."
Ronon snickered. "He's not a Major anymore, Kolya. He's a Lieutenant-Colonel."
"And that's supposed to mean anything to me?" the Commander snapped back testily. "See to it that John gets the message, and understands me. We will wait on the planet for forty-eight hours, understood?"
"But how are we supposed to get back to Atlantis in time? You did a mighty fine job of taking all our electronics offline."
The Genii laughed back in Ronon's face. "Well, that just isn't my concern now, is it? John better reach this planet by the deadline, though, or you all will never see your companion here ever again!"
# A #
With that, Commander Kolya, the Genii troopers that were still alive and moving, and their prisoner Colonel Caldwell retreated back to the Puddle Jumpers, and boarded the space-vessels for immediate departure. Ronon and his armed crew followed every last Genii soldier back to their ships, under gunpoint – but no one fired on anybody. This was a tactical withdrawal.
Nobody wanted things to turn bloody again… there had already been enough death for everyone to deal with as it was.
Rodney McKay radioed to Ronon that he had short-ranged rail-gun weapons online at last, as the last Genii-operated Jumper shot off away from the Daedalus, but Dex told the doctor to hold fire. McKay didn't understand it – he had the Puddle Jumper dead-centre in his sights!
The press of a single button was all it took to slice that spacecraft to pieces.
"Rodney, the damage is done, just let them go," Ronon Dex replied with a heavy sigh. "We have to get this ship back on track as soon as possible, we have to care for our wounded, see to our dead, and get the message back to John. Atlantis is going to be in an uproar over this – we'll get our revenge over the Genii for this atrocity, but today, we have to deal with trying to get through this more or less whole!"
Dr McKay understood the logic of what he was being told, so that was why he followed Ronon's instructions and let the Jumper zoom away through the void of space.
Now that the last of the Genii had finally left them, the work slowly began to care for all the wounded personnel, the bodies of the dead were relocated to makeshift mortuaries that had been set up throughout the vessel… and the repairs began all over again in earnest, led by the ever-vigilant, focused Dr Rodney McKay.
# A #
It was the Asgard technician, Hermiod, who came up with the solution to their plight – he suggested that they get the sub-light thrusters back up and operational, and fly the severely damaged, decimated star-ship on to the nearest planet in the solar system. The planet where the Genii had launched their electronic assault from, and where the Puddle Jumpers had flown back to after their unsuccessful raid.
It took them all quite some time to get the right systems online again, and fully operational, but once they had McKay had them set an immediate course for the small planet's northern continent, where the Gate was located.
They landed on a smooth, flat open plain, right near the Stargate. The planet was completely devoid of life – Rodney assumed that the Genii forces had pulled out of there quite recently, as there were signs of their presence all over the place. Fresh footprints and tyre tracks were scattered all over the place.
McKay and a small group of engineers and Air Force command officers, as well as a squad of five Special Forces soldiers, crossed the short distance between the Daedalus and the Stargate, and quickly enough established a wormhole with the city of Atlantis.
Rodney activated his I.D.C. code and, leading the way, stepped through the Gate's event-horizon. He had absolutely no idea that he was just about to cross from one confused, critical situation, and right into another…
# A #
The
city of Atlantis,
the
Pegasus Galaxy.
The debriefing was conducted in the city's well-established medical bay, where Lt Colonel John Sheppard was under the constant, professional care of Dr Beckett and his assistants. John was not going to let himself get cut out of the loop – but Carson Beckett was not about to let his wounded patient out of his sight, for a single moment…
So the meeting was being held at Sheppard's bedside.
Ronon Dex, Dr Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Dr Elizabeth Weir, John Sheppard… they were all there, finally together again to relay their own personal portions of the entire, intricate web. What became instantly clear to everyone, once the outlines of all the events came into focus, was just how well-planned and –coordinated the Genii operations against them had been, over two separate fronts.
They had worked this out quite carefully, and Kolya's forces had carried things through to completion with skilled professionalism. By the time everyone had laid out their own stories about what had transpired over the last few days, the picture became crystal clear – Kolya had struck back at them with a murderous vengeance, and he had come away bloodied but victorious, in a certain manner of speaking.
Although it had been clear that the Genii force's grand prize had been the capturing of the Daedalus – which they had failed to accomplish – Kolya's forces had still managed to come away with a hostage. One Colonel Steven Caldwell.
Lt Colonel John Sheppard was not about to let that stand, though. He knew that Acastus Kolya was one cold, ruthless bastard, and that this entire operation was nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to take him down. The challenge that he had told Ronon about onboard the battle-cruiser before the Genii had withdrawn from the fight was just confirmation…
And John was going to take up the fight, wounded shoulder and all!
"I want to go to this planet," Sheppard said finally, when talk turned to Kolya's challenge at the very end of the meeting. "This situation with the Genii Commander has got to come to an end. We can't keep exploring the galaxy, knowing that somewhere out there, a brilliant military strategist hell-bent on destroying us all is out there, forever plotting new ways to hurt us. I promised the fool that if he ever did something like this again, I would kill him – and by God, I plan to keep that promise!"
There were stringent protests – he was injured, they didn't know the planet, it could be one big trap to get Sheppard off-world and then kill him straight away without mercy – but John would have nothing of it. He had made up his mind and that was that, there were no other alternatives as far as the Colonel was concerned.
Deep down inside them all, Ronon, Rodney, Teyla and Elizabeth all knew that he was right, that this was the way their war with Kolya had to conclude – but no one could bring themselves to admit it openly.
Carson was positively incensed when he learned… but he could do little to dissuade Sheppard, and Dr Weir would not back his motion to have the Colonel forcibly held back in the infirmary The rest of John Sheppard's team made their preparations – they would ALL be going to this planet, to back their leader up in case this was going to get ugly.
It was time to end this. It was time for Sheppard and Kolya to settle their differences, one-on-one, to the death…