Okay, upon thinking on it...I've decided this is the final chapter. And I'm making it good, so I think we'll be happy.
And on the night of the reawakening of the Gates, and our love for them...I give you my finale. Enjoy.
PS I dedicate this to Eileen. Who angers me. I love thee anyways. She puts up with all my creative fits/anger/contempt/sarcasm/modesty without much of a peep...which sometimes pisses me off more...This one...is for you...for trying to see ROZ where sometimes there is none.
I wanna hear what you have to say about me
Hear if you're gonna live without me
I wanna hear what you want
I remember december
And I wanna hear what you have to say about me
Hear if you're gonna live without me
I wanna hear what you want
What the hell do you want?
-Damien Rice, I Remember
The cavalry, such as it was, did arrive, though honestly they didn't make the situation that much better. The Stargate started to dial, causing everyone in the clearing, which was located strategically close and in sight of the Stargate, to turn and stare at it. No one knew quite what to do. The Atlantians knew that their people were NOT supposed to come through, and the Avarians hoped that it was someone who was going to negotiate with them. Turns out, it was neither.
What, or rather who, stepped out of the gate was the Avarian President (whom the Atlantians had actually met but due to circumstances had been "detained and unavailable" for the actual meet and greet on Atlantis), and he wasn't happy. Along with his entourage, he stalked over to Tavis and began making angry gestures. He didn't speak. From the outside, it looked comical. Apparently, from the look on Tavis's face, the inside was a lot more terrifying.
Finally, the President, a tall balding man, turned to the Atlantians and spoke. "I want to apologize for this situation."
"Does this mean we can leave?" Sheppard asked before anyone else could get a word out.
The President looked surprised. "Oh, no. We've already signaled the Wraith. I've come to retrieve my subordinate and return to Avar."
"What about the Zero Point Module?" Rodney asked, causing Sheppard to elbow him in the side.
The President blushed. "It was something we were considering going after. My assistant," he gestured to Tavis, "merely overstepped. If we had been going to do this, it would have been farther down the road, when we could have thought this out." The man stressed those last words and glared at Tavis. "However, it's salvageable. The Wraith will be here in a few minutes, and we'll be long gone." He gestured to one of his entourage, who ran and started to dial the gate. "I'm sorry for this, truly. We might have been allies. For a while, at least."
The Atlantians watched silently as the Avarians left, and were too slow to move when the last one to go through, turned at the last minute and shot the DHD, preventing them from being able to dial Atlantis. Finally, all was silent.
"John, when will the Orion arrive?"
"They're circling the sun now, so they're out of communications, but it could be anywhere from an hour to two."
Elizabeth nodded. "Ronon, where could we stay hidden until the Orion arrived?"
"There are no natural caves or even hills to burrow into. This is one large flat area."
"Okay. Rodney, where's the nearest forest?"
"One mile west, if these maps are correct." Rodney was pulling map and map out of his backpack, as well as what appeared to be camouflage paint. The four others watched as he painted his face black while he studied the maps.
"Okay," Elizabeth smiled. "Gather up the supplies. We'll head for the forest, and if we arrive, we'll hide there."
"The Wraith will most likely send Darts down," Teyla commented as she picked up her pack.
Elizabeth nodded. "If they do, I want the team to split up. Try to keep them from ganging up on us." The others nodded, well aware that the Darts once targeted on someone, would do sweep and grabs with their "nets". Where one missed because the person dodged, the one behind would grab, and that's that. "If the Avarians have informed them who we are, I doubt they'll be sending only one or two ships."
The others nodded, and grimly refused to think about the future. It was the only way they survived these types of situations so often. Better yet, it's the only way their sanity survived. Slowly, but picking up speed, the team headed west towards the dense growth of the only forest around.
They'd only been walking about twenty minutes when the first hum reached their ears. Immediately the trackers/hunters of the group (Teyla and Ronon) turned to the East, with the others halting when they realized the duo had stopped. There came a stillness over them, not human in nature. It was the stillness of a deer in headlights, a wolf cornered, and gazelle in the lion's path all wrapped into one.
With moments, Ronon had latched onto Elizabeth's hand, taking off into the North, heading toward a large creek that the maps told him led to a lake. Following suit, Sheppard and Teyla took off to the South toward some rocky terrain. Unfortunately, this was the problem with odd-numbered teams...someone is always left out. Rodney stared incredulously at the retreating forms of his teammates.
"Now what am I suppos-oh...run..." Rodney took off to the West, of course, for the forest. As the three groups slowly got away from one another, four Wraith cruisers slipped into the atmosphere and began to track them. When they reached the point that the team had split, as their sensors told them, two of them continued West, and the other two in opposite directions. They quickly gained on the members of the team...
Ronon wrapped his arm around Elizabeth, pulling her over him as they rolled out of the way of the beam. However, this close to the creek, that roll carried them over the small ledge and straight into slightly rock and sand filled creek bed. The sand softened the blow, the rocks were small enough to only irritate, but the two-hundred+ Satedan that landed on top of her hurt. There was no time to even contemplate enjoying the arrangement, because Ronon was instantly at his feet and pulling her behind him.
"Where are we going?" Elizabeth asked as she brushed one soaked strand of hair behind an ear, noticing as she did a deep cut on her hand, probably from the fall.
"The lake."
"Why the lake?"
"The beams don't work in water."
"Really?" Elizabeth asked, not having ever encountered that fact before. "You couldn't have mentioned this the countless times our people have been chased by these things?"
"No one ever asked."
"Ass."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
They ran for all their might, using Ronon's innate sense of direction to stay on path. Every once and a while, they had to swerve and erratically sprint between the few trees and shrubberies around. It was about five minutes into the game of cat and mouse, since the Wraith could have caught them several times and didn't, when they heard a hoarse yell from the North. The couple froze for a few moments, while Elizabeth let out an agonized moan of, "Rodney."
Ronon couldn't allow her time to grieve, but thought to himself that when the time came, he would retrieve the scientist for Elizabeth. For himself as well. The scientist, though irritating, had a habit of growing on a person. Like fungus.
Finally, they reached the lake, if it could be called that. It was more like a pond, if not a spring. It was tiny, but from appearances deep. The hum started to deepen again, meaning the Wraith were going to make another pass at them. Ronon started to pull Elizabeth into the water, pausing when she gasped.
His wordless inquiry was answered with a shaky smile. "Cold."
"You swim in the waters of Atlantis and aren't cold, but this is?"
"I'm prepared for Atlantis, this is a bit of a shock...plus, I've been running."
Ronon nodded, pulling her close as they slowly floated in the middle of the "lake". Elizabeth, already weak from all the running, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hung on. "You're certain they can't get us from here?"
"Yes...they'll come down in person though when they realize that."
"Yeah, but I've got one of the best warriors in the galaxy at my disposal."
Ronon pushed her soaked bangs out of her face. "I'll protect you."
"I know."
About a mile in the opposite direction, Sheppard and Teyla weren't having the same luck. Though the rocky terrain made the single directional beam avoidable, ramming into rocks at full speed wasn't fun. After three collisions with rocks, and two with each other, Sheppard and Teyla ducked behind a particularly large rock and caught their breath.
"We can't continue like this, Colonel Sheppard."
"I know."
"We must either hide or fight."
"There's an idea."
"Colonel Sheppard, would you please contribute something to this conversation?"
"Do you hear something?"
Teyla, who'd been distracted by the closeness of Colonel Sheppard (not that she'd admit it), heard what he'd been focusing on. Whereas only one Dart had followed them before, now two were closing in. With the original circling from the south, another one was closing from the North. There would be no escape.
Sheppard and Teyla dodged the first ship, and dived right into the second's beam. They were caught up in the same transporter that McKay had been. Finally, the Dart turned North, and went after the final members of the team. The other two ships joined it, and together they headed for the only two members left uncaptured, Ronon and Elizabeth.
The couple floated in the water, watching as the four ships hovered and soared around them, perplexed as to why the beams weren't working. Elizabeth gasped as the lead ship came in on approach. Instead of trying to beam them into the data core...it started to fire.
"Ronon?"
"Start swimming," he told her, shoving her away from him and closer to shore. The sound of blasts hitting the water followed them as they reached the shore and rolled out of the way.
"What now?"
"We're captured," Ronon said simply, holding his leg where one of the blasts had caught him at last second.
Even as Elizabeth and Ronon stared at each other, eyes full of emotions both had hid, released, and kept unspoken; a Dart swooped down and beamed them up.
The first sight that greeted Elizabeth's eyes when consciousness returned to her...was Rodney's face about an inch from her's. Instinct was the first thing to reach her, so she slapped his face away from her's and jolted back. Okay, that wasn't her first instinct, but it allowed her to indulge in an urge she'd had for two years.
Immediately, there was a flurry of activity on the edges of her sight, and the rest of her friends surrounded her. Ronon grasped her arm, which was still retreating from the gigantic shove she'd given to Rodney, who was now sprawled on the floor whining about his nose.
"Arg! I was just checking to see if she was awake!" Rodney yelled as Sheppard pulled him up and smacked him on the head. Elizabeth looked around, realizing that they were back on Atlantis.
"How did we get here?"
Sheppard stepped back so Dr. Beckett could take her vitals, but explained as he did so. "The Dart that came down and got us was one of our's."
"The experimental one equipped with Wraith transport technology." Sheppard nodded. "The one that wasn't working." He nodded again. "The one that turned all the other experimental transports into goo?" Once again, he nodded. Elizabeth fought the urge to vomit.
Dr. Beckett took this moment to interrupt. "Rest assured, Dr. Weir, you're fine. All of you."
Ronon picked up on the double entendre. "All of her, implying there's more to her than usual?"
The others, well, most, had no idea what he meant. Elizabeth answered. "Yes. There is."
Ronon smiled. Teyla chose that moment to speak up. "More of me to."
Ronon stared at her. "I thought Dr. Beckett said it was one in five?"
Beckett explained. "The guarantee of the odds said it would be at least one in five. However the natural odds of one in two meant that the others had equal chance as well."
Ronon smiled, and grasped Elizabeth's hand a little firmer. She smiled back. Teyla smiled at all. Rodney was still complaining. Beckett was smiling at Rodney. John was confused.
"More of what?"
FINISHED!
WOOT WOOT! I hope this was a satisfactory "Welcome Back Atlantis" present! I appreciate all love sent my way.
Also, for any interested in why I chose this song and these lyrics, please ask or email me, and I shall explain ALL!
