Title: Space Pirates

Author: Illman

Category: gen, h/c, action/adventure

Beta: Wish I had one, but I don't. All the grammar mishaps and misspellings are my own. Feel free to point out if I butchered the English language too badly.

Date: 01/01/2005

Warnings: violence, reference to torture, darkfic

Disclaimer: It's their universe, not mine.

Summary: Sheppard gets kidnapped by alien space pirates. The rescue mission doesn't go exactly as planned.

Author's Notes: Slightly revised version of the first chapter.

Another hour. McKay glanced at his watch and sighed. Time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl. He'd never been that eager and at the same time been that nervous to leave for a mission through the Stargate. No matter how much he tried, all he could think about was the mission and its possible outcomes. Scenarios full of hope, scenarios full of dread. Realism pushed him to the darker, more dreadful versions of the mission.

Three weeks ago, they had been on the interplanetary version of a market. Dozens of races were there, trading everything, from food to the most obscure devices. Things had been going along well. Teyla who had been to many such markets before handled their transactions gracefully and managed to acquire a device that was clearly based on Ancient technology. It had started to glow as soon as Major Sheppard touched it. McKay had been extremely fascinated by one of the traders demonstration two crystal like spheres which created a small force field between them. He'd just been about to ask the merchant a question when a roaring noise and panicked screams made him turn around, wondering what the commotion was all about.

A ship was hovering low in the sky. Having seen the ship of the Goa'uld, it wasn't very big, but still, it's presence seemed unwelcome. People were running, abandoning their merchandise. Although the danger was unknown to him, he decided to follow their example and run of the jumper. He had lost sight of his team mates at the market, but figured they'd head for the jumper as well. They had landed quite a bit away from the village and he had to pause for a moment to catch his breath, when he was half-way to the clearing on which they had landed. Allowing his body to get some much needed oxygen, he saw Teyla sprint past him. Behind her was Major Sheppard who stopped at his side, asking whether he was all right. He was about to nod, when a searing pain ripped through him, making his knees buckle beneath him, sending him to the ground. He hardly noticed, the pain overriding all other sensation. He heard the major yell something, felt hands touch him, then nothing.

He had woken up two days later in the Atlantis infirmary. That's when he learned that the major had been captured by the aliens that had attacked. By the time a rescue time had been formed and gotten to the planet, the aliens were gone and nobody knew or if they know wouldn't tell them, were they could find those aliens. There wasn't much else that they could do. Major Sheppard was officially MIA, but everybody knew that unless he made it back on his own, his chances were slim to none. McKay couldn't accept that. Officially of course he did, but personally, he didn't. He knew the odds of stumbling upon the right planet were astronomical, he was smart after all. It wouldn't hurt to ask the people they met of they had ever heard of the space pirating aliens as he had come to call them. When he had asked Lieutnant Ford to do just that while he was recovering from his leg injury, the lieutenant was more than happy to do something to find his CO.

For three weeks nothing, then finally, the Sivians had been able to tell them more. They had been ambushed by these aliens several times. The space pirating aliens were actually a nomadic tribe who, according to local lore, had been banished from their home world generations ago and now made a living by plundering other planets. According to the Sivians, they had kidnapped people on previous occasions, although always to get ransom from tribe of whoever they were holding. The Sivians had also been able to provide them with the location of the last known location of the pirates.

McKay got up from his chair and started pacing. They had never gotten any demand for ransom. So would did they want with the major? A prisoner would be only getting in the way of a nomadic people.

He checked his watch again. Ten minutes. Time to get going. No matter what happened, he'd do all he could.

So far everything had been going according to plan. Security wasn't too heavy in the makeshift camp of the pirates and their version of a prison lay slightly removed from the main camp, making it even easier for them to remain undetected. Invaders were not a worry of the pirates. Stackhouse was keeping an eye on the happening in the camp. Something was definitely going on there, but as long as it kept them busy and therefore prevented them from noticing their presence, he didn't care.

Ford, McKay and Teyla were progressing through the ruins of what had once been a prospering city. The sun was setting fast, making them harder to detect, but also hampering their search on unfamiliar group. McKay was getting nervous. It was taking to long. Eventually someone was going to notice them stumbling around. He looked up and saw Ford wave his hand, signalling him and Teyla to come over. Apparently Ford had found something. Taking a closer look, a stairwell, leading to a preserved basement of the ruins. The ceiling was low and the corridor narrow. McKay hated places like that. Two rooms branched off at each side before the corridor took a sharp bend. Without exchanging words they split up, each checking a room. At first he thought the room was empty, but when he already had his back turned already, he thought he'd heard something, the sound of a movement. McKay turned back, this time thoroughly checking the room. This time he saw him, hidden from the casual observer behind crates, boxes, canisters and other random chunk. Even though he had tried to prepare himself for this moment by imagining all kinds of scenarios, it still hit him hard. There was a difference between imagining and seeing it in reality. The major was lying on the stone floor, curled away from however came into the room. He kneeled down next to him.

"John?" he asked softly, keeping his voice down to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

He didn't get a reply. Worried, he reached out to check the major's pulse. But as soon as he made physical contact, Major Sheppard lunged at him, throwing him down to the floor. Sharp, stinging pain erupted in his face, neck and chest, before he could even react. Caution was forgotten as he cried out in pain, an instinctively tried to free himself from under the major and flee. Another heavy blow knocked him in the chest, leaving him gasping for air. He heard voice and gunshots getting louder. For a second, he saw a dark shape above, then all went dark.

The basement seemed to have been mainly used for storage. Some of the items clearly predated the current occupants of the planet, other items had clearly been put there fairly recently. So far, no guards and no sigh of the major. Ford and Teyla carefully approached the bend in the corridor. Ford gave Teyla a questioning look. She just shrugged. She didn't know where McKay was either. If he had found their missing CO, he surely would have let them know. A pained cry disrupted the silence, followed by two more in quick succession, then it was silent again. They couldn't tell for sure, but it had sounded like McKay. Ford signalled Teyla to wait and watch out for any guards that might have been attracted by the noise. He went back the narrow corridor, as fast as he could without making noise. He hadn't made more then three steps when he heard gunfire, four shots being fired rapidly. The aliens knew they were here. That meant that they had very little time left before they would sure the fate of their CO. Forcing himself not to look back, he proceeded towards to room McKay had been checking out. Unsure what to expect, he approached with caution.

The guard was no longer moving. Sheppard crawled off his legs and took his weapon, which made a far more effective means of self defence than the shard of broken glass that he had used to attack the guard that had come to take him. Supporting himself on a crate, he struggled to get to his feet, his knees unwilling. He hardly noticed the bloody handprints he left on everything he touched. The shard of glass had left cuts on his palms, where his own blood mixed with that of the guard. He was tired, the fight had used up his meagre reserves and the adrenaline rush was starting to wear off. But he couldn't give up now. Something was going on, he had heard the shot being fired. He eyed the door. He would be ready.

Something had changed. While they had been preparing to leave earlier, panic seemed to have broken out in the camp of the aliens. They were running around, carry supplies which were hastily loaded unto their ships. Stackhouse had no idea what had caused the sudden urgency until a blast, seemingly coming out of nowhere struck at the edge of the camp. The ground shuck violently, not unlike an earthquake and the tents and trees that had been in the blast radius burnt brightly against the dark sky. Time to get off this planet. On the upside, the aliens were more than distracted now, on the downside, whoever was attacking was not worrying about innocent bystanders.

He fired a shot at the figure standing in the doorway of the room. The bullet missed him by two inches at the most. He wiped his left hand on his pants, never letting go of the gun nor letting the dark figure out of his sight. His hold on the gun was slippery, the cuts on his hands were still bleeding. Looking at the figure made him notice that he looked familiar. He had seen him before in his dreams. Maybe he was dreaming right now, he had been very tired. But he couldn't be dreaming, his body hurt and there was never pain in his dreams.

He wasn't sure what to do next. His plans of escape had never gone that far. He had killed the guard when he had come to take him away to be sold, just like he had planed and practised in his mind over and over. But he had never thought about what to do next. Thinking was difficult. They were giving him something that messed with his mind. He no longer cared. He had his revenge. If he thought about it, all he really wanted was go back to his dreams. He had done that a lot lately. Maybe he'd fall asleep and not wake up again, never stop dreaming. But he couldn't do that now. He had to do something about the man standing there in the doorway.

"What do you want?" not having spoken in a while, it seemed strange to form the word

The man seemed confused.

"We just want to take you home. Dr. Beckett is waiting for us in the jumper, he's going to take care of you. We have all been worried about you."

Dr. Beckett, that was another person he remembered from his dreams.

"It's not real, you just want to sell me and you're afraid that I'll shot you."

Ford didn't know what to do. He didn't seem to be able to get through Sheppard. Whatever had been done to him had to influence his mind to the point where he didn't even recognize his team anymore. Ford glanced at McKay, lying still on the floor. It was too dark to make out whether he was still breathing. He hoped for both Sheppard and McKay that he was going to be all right. Sheppard would never forgive himself for harming any of his team.

"Can I have a look at him? He needs medical attention." Ford pointed towards McKay's body.

"He's dead." Sheppard replied coldly, his tone of voice sending a shiver through Ford. He had never seen the major like this. This side of him was normally hidden. It made him wonder what the major was capable of doing when in this state.

Suddenly the ground shock violently and the sound of an explosion filled the room. The ceiling rocked, but it held. Ford was thrown off his feet, landing on his front on the stone floor. Sheppard who had been sitting on a crate fell backwards, the gun sliding from his hands. Ford saw the gun at the same time as Sheppard. Sheppard was on his feet, while Ford was at a disadvantage being prone on the floor. Both men tried to lunge for the gun. Sheppard reached it first and immediately pointed it at Ford. Seeing the man's face up close, Sheppard recognized it. It was definitely one from his dreams. He touched his head, a futile gesture to order the chaos. Lately, the dreams had taken over and he had spent less and less times in the grim reality of his prison. Was he now starting to confuse the two?

Maybe he was losing his mind completely? He wondered what would happen if he just closed his eyes. The aliens would take him away and sell him on this galaxy's equivalent of a slave market. But the alien had said that he would take him home. Everything was confusing. His head had started to hurt. It was getting harder and harder to hold to gun steady. In a brief moment of clarity he realized that he couldn't win. He just wanted to go back to dreaming. His dreams were the only things that had kept him going through the seemingly endless series of identical days. He wasn't going to be anyone's property, sold like an animal. He recalled a male voice telling him that it was the coward's way out. But sometimes it was just the only way out.

As soon as Ford realized was Sheppard was about to do, he lunged towards him, determined to reach him before he could pull the trigger. Time seemed to have slowed down as his body slammed into Sheppard's bringing both of them down hard at the same time as the explosion of a shot made his ears ring. Ford's mind screamed in horror. This couldn't happen. He scrambled off the major, who was deathly still, blood on his face and running down the side of his neck. Frantically, Ford examined the right side of the major's head. It was hard to tell with the hair and the heavy bleeding, but it seemed to be that the bullet had merely grazed his skull instead of penetrating the bone. Now, they had to get out of here. Ford radioed the jumper for backup, and informed Beckett that he'd have two patients to deal with. While he was waiting for help to arrive, he checked on McKay, who luckily, in spite of Sheppard's claim to the contrary, was still alive. McKay sported several cuts and stab wounds, none of which seemed too deep. Blood was drying on his forehead, indicating that he had taken a hit to the head as well. When Ford tried to take a closer look at the head injury, McKay groaned and tried to shift away from the touch while raising his arms as if to protect himself from further injury to his head and face. Judging by the cuts and blood on his hands and lower arms, this wasn't the first time he'd done this. Ford put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him, but McKay flinched at the touch and rolled away from him, even though the movement clearly caused him pain.

Another explosion followed by a shock that rocked the ground. What was taking the rest of the rescue team that long? Teyla came running.

"We must leave, the corridor has already collapsed on one side. It will not hold up much longer."

Ford tried the radio again, but as before, he couldn't reach the rest of the rescue team or the jumper.

"We're a stationary target down here, one shot and we're dead. We have to go now, it's the only way." Bates argued.

"But we can't just leave them here!" Dr. Beckett protested.

"We're no good to anyone if we're dead." Bates replied harshly.

No one said a word as they took off. What should have been an easy rescue mission had turned into a disaster. Their sudden ascent had not gone unnoticed and the jumper rocked when an enemy missile struck its side.

Stackhouse, who was piloting, returned fire, while dodging a second missile. There was no way to defeat the unknown attackers, the Atlantis team was clearly outgunned, so their only hope was to escape while the enemy was still bombarding the settlement on the ground. Their plan seemed to be working. The enemy sent one more missile their way, but made no effort to chase them as they left the solar system. No one spoke much, besides what was necessary, the atmosphere in the jumper was tinged with defeat and guilt.

The briefing was long over, but Dr. Weir had yet to move from the chair she had been sitting in when she had listened to Sgt Bates' flat voice telling her in horrifying detail that four of her people were stranded in an alien war zone, their location and condition unknown. When she had taken this assignment she had know that there would be casualties. She thought she'd be prepared for it. She hadn't been, Colonel Sumner's death had made that clear to her. They would pay the price for setting the Wraith free, they would come eventually, it was only a matter of time. But this, it felt meaningless. As if the universe had been deliberately cruel.

This time, the missing were her friends and not to mention some the most valuable resources of the Atlantis expedition. McKay the brightest scientist they had, Sheppard was not only an excellent pilot, but he also had the strongest Ancient gene, Teyla possessed valuable knowledge of many worlds and their people in this galaxy and she was a vital link to the Athosians, Ford had a promising career ahead of himself. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't risk more lives by sending another team to search for them. According to Bates and his men all hell had broken lose on that planet. They had barely made it out alive. No one had said it, but there was a good chance that the missing team had died in the surface bombardment. Ford, McKay and Teyla had gone out to save one of their own, knowing the risks. They had been prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for each other. It was a small consolation, but at least it gave their deaths meaning. You don't know that they are dead, a part of her reminded her.

The bombardment had stopped. There hadn't been any new impacts in the last 20 minutes, and they hadn't noticed any other indication of an armed conflict either. Not knowing how many of the aliens had been killed or had fled the plant by ship, it was difficult to tell whether they would be safe in the ruins of what used to be a city, or whether they would have to retreat further into the forest, to the spot where they had hidden the puddle jumper before. Opting for the safer spot, they faced the task of moving their injured friends there without being detected. They had checked out the route and deemed to secure, but that didn't mean that an enemy patrol couldn't run into them. Ford was able to carry Sheppard over to their temporary shelter, but McKay posed more problems. Although he wasn't fully conscious, he was aware enough to fight against any attempt to touch him.

"Dr. McKay, it is us. Lt. Ford and me, Teyla. We are only here to help you. You have been injured. Please let us help you." Teyla tried to get through to McKay, but there was no reaction to her words. She gently put her hand on his. He withdrew his hand immediately, but Teyla maintained the connection and he let her.

"We have to get you out of here. It is not safe here. Lt. Ford and I will have to carry you. You just have to relax, I know it will hurt a bit." This time McKay nodded weakly in response. He still flinched when Teyla and Ford lifted him from the ground, but he didn't fight them anymore.

Exhausted they made it to their new campsite. It was secluded, but it would only be suitable for temporary shelter, if they were going to be on the planet for several days as it was likely. The trees were a poor protection from possible rain and there was no water source nearby. Too tired and worn out, Teyla and Ford decided to explore the planet further by daylight.

TBC