Stargate Atlantis: Path of the Storm

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Chapter Twenty-Two

At Weir's insistence, Ford and Bates quickly gathered a small team together and once more traveled through the gate to the Bre'tar homeworld. The scientists who had accompanied them on their previous trip, Nivera and Cummings had both decided to opt out of a return journey and Ford couldn't say he blamed them. Especially with someone like Kolya being thrown into the mix.

Even Ford didn't want to go back as he would rather be on Atlantis waiting for all and any news of McKay's progress with tracking down the address, not going offworld again to do something that everyone else was capable of. Although, he knew the real reason why Elizabeth was sending him offworld again, it was because she didn't want him getting restless. At least, this gave him an opportunity to work off that restless energy.

Once they were through the gate, Bates quickly ordered his men to secure a perimeter incase they were expecting any more surprises then he, Ford and Reed made tracks for Silveas' village. As the three men walked, no one attempted to make conversations as each one of them were lost in his own thoughts. Ford wasn't sure if he was completely ready to return to the village as it would mean having to confront the memories it held.

In his short career, he was fortunate enough not to actually feel real loss and the tours he had taken part in had been short and uneventful but he was adamant about one thing. Aiden Ford never wanted to experience the feeling of being so useless ever again, when Kolya had revealed himself to the group, he should have fought to keep him from taking Sheppard. Instead, he had been powerless to stop the man, literally.

Even though it was the drug in the Drila, it didn't keep the tremendous guilt he felt from mounting.

Bates had gone a good three feet ahead of his colleagues, as he risked a glance back to them he couldn't figure out why they were taking their sweet time when it wasn't something that had to waste. Now he wouldn't exactly say he was a member of the "Teyla Emmagan Fan Club", he wasn't particularly a fan of Major Sheppard's either. He did know one thing for certain though, the loss of one of them or even, God forbid, both of them would hit the city pretty hard for various reasons.

They approached the final part of their journey but he didn't know what to expect. He had to assume that the Bre'tar had offer resistance when Kolya took some of their people but it was very evident they hadn't succeed. Eventually the village came into sight and it looked exactly the same as it had when Sheppard his team first arrived there. Untouched.

Coming alongside Bates, Ford set down his bag and reached into his pocket to pull out a pair of binoculars so he could get a better look at the village. He had gone in blind before and he certainly didn't plan on making the same mistake twice. "Well," Ford replied not looking away as he continued to scan the tree line at the far end of the village. "Looks clear."

"Doesn't mean it is," Bates answered with an extremely sceptical tone. Reed remained silent, averted his gaze and checked the safety on his P90.

"If there is…" Ford started saying as he put the binoculars away. "Anyone planning on ambushing us, then we'll just have to take them down." He stood up and threw the bag back on his back. "Won't we?"

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Once again, Kolya had done his famous disappearing act, which annoyed the Hell out of John, but there was one good thing about this. He had taken that bitch Matriya with him that meant that Sheppard didn't have to constantly keep his thoughts guarded, for the time being at least. Although he also knew that he wouldn't be able to relax. "Bastard," he muttered to himself in reference to Kolya.

Mike the Wraith glanced to him with a somewhat disgusted look but at least he was happy after his feeding, after looking at Sheppard for a length of time he paid his attention back to trying to intimidate the guard who had replaced the female.

Sheppard didn't exactly have anything to feel relaxed about in here; a maniac had taken him away from his team. A maniac who had previously killed two of his people when his people had invaded the city. He'd been beaten and burned, remembering his brief incident with the candle he looked down to his hand and realised he had completely forgotten about it. It was sore but nothing he couldn't handle. Oh and there was also the whole "being trapped between two Wraith's" thing, that wasn't so fun.

Sitting up, he turned around to look at the Wraith occupying the cell to his left and he had yet to be named by Sheppard. This one hadn't given him any trouble and as he leaned in for a closer inspection, he could definitely see the reason why. The Wraith was barely conscious, let alone ready to attack him. "That's it," John mumbled to himself. "I'm calling this one Sleepy."

The more he thought about recent events, the more it depressed him. Sheppard had been witness to a feeding and sure, it had been one of the people who had effectively sold him out to Kolya but it still didn't make what happened to Jeana right. No one deserved to have a Wraith feed on them, draining every last inch of their life away and he paused in that line of thinking. Except for Kolya, I wouldn't mind Mike getting his hands on that son of a bitch Sheppard thought and a small smirk played on his lips.

It was the mere promise of being able to kick Kolya's ass once all this was over that was keeping him from losing it completely, that and helping out Teyla. The smirk faded instantly, how could he have forgotten about Teyla? Sheppard lowered his gaze to the ground and placed his head in hands with an ashamed expression.

"Bastard," he uttered once more under his breath but this time John didn't know who he was directing that one at. Kolya. Or himself?

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