Sheppard target
by Mission Reporter
Chapter 3: The ties that bind
(Ronon's POV)
Anger burnt hotly within me. Sheppard took the punishment that was meant for me! I could kill the man for his foolishness! I never asked it of him, the punishment was mine and mine alone to endure. He is a warrior, my commander, I knew that I had to obey him, but I could not accept this! He should not have done what he did. He should have let me take the punishment instead. After all, it was my boot that had flattened the blue slug; my foot that had squashed it until it was nothing more than a blue stain on the ground. It reminded me very much of Jamba snort that we often found in Sateda during my boyhood hunts. Yet, I was a runner, I knew the ways, I was better at it than he is, I stood a better chance at surviving this than he does. Sheppard was wrong, he should have never taken my place, and now he would have to pay the price.
I looked around to see the faces of Teyla and Rodney; they both looked devastated to hear Sheppard's fate. Me, I'm just plain mad, and given a chance I would kill everyone of these damn Fuzzies. Especially him. The one wearing red, the leader, the one who sentenced Sheppard to death by target practice, to be hunted down like some animal. Sheppard does not deserve such a fate. I know what it feels like, after all, I have been doing that for seven years—hunted by Wraith. I also experienced that recently again, in Sateda. If it were not for Sheppard and his team arriving to rescue me, I would be dead. I know that now. I owed Colonel Sheppard and Dr Beckett more than my life, I owed them a debt of gratitude that could not be repaid.
And now Sheppard has gone and done something stupid like this. When I get Sheppard back safely to Atlantis again, I shall kill him myself. Perhaps not kill, but seriously maim, or seriously threaten to main—somewhere where it hurts, somewhere that he would not likely forget. He must never take a punishment that was meant for me again. John Sheppard is my commander, my friend, my warrior brother, the man whom I respect above all else. Him, and Dr Beckett, these two I owe my life. Yet, what he has done I cannot accept, and I would do everything in my power to see that he survives.
These people from Earth, they are very different from all the others I've met. I do not fully understand them. They care about one another, even for strangers like me and Teyla. Not all of them, but some, like John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, and Carson Beckett, they are my friends... they are more than friends, they have in some unexpected way become my family. They are all that I have left.
I could still recall Teyla's words to me after I had been rescued from Sateda. I remembered her telling me what Sheppard had said to her after I had asked her why they had risked their lives to come back for me. I knew that if the Atlanteans wanted to leave me to my fate, they could have easily done so. Sheppard, I heard, had fought for me. He took a big risk to do what he did. I heard that Colonel Caldwell disapproved of my rescue, but Sheppard fought for me nonetheless. Sheppard especially has always made me feel welcomed, like one of them. And I have never thanked him for coming after me... to Sateda. I had thanked Dr Beckett that day, but not Sheppard. I figured he knew how I felt. After all, we were both warriors, we do not need words for that. I now truly know the depth of his belief that no one gets left behind.
I recalled with something akin to shame, how I had threatened to kill Sheppard that day if he killed the Wraith on Sateda. But that Wraith was mine, and I wanted to feel his life disappearing under my hands. In the end, it made no difference, for Dr Beckett destroyed it; and I also owed the Doc another debt; him and Sheppard too. But it felt good, looking into that Wraith's eyes and seeing his death written in there, and especially me telling him that it was so. I felt the sweet taste of vengeance that day. My only regret was that the Wraith didn't suffer more before his demise.
My fury fumes, hot like the lava on Mt Sandenos. No! I will not let John Sheppard die on my account. He would not be left to face these cowards alone. Even if I had to fight all these warriors myself, kill every last one of them, wipe every smug smile off their faces, I would see to it that Sheppard was not left behind.
I tried to break free then, to attack, to force the one in red to take me instead. But I felt the four armed warriors who had gathered earlier to restrain me, hold my arms tightly behind my back. I struggled against their hold, glowered at my captors, the anger within me red hot deep, but they had me down tight. I might be strong, but I knew my limits and I knew that I couldn't escape from their hold, not one against four, those were uneven odds, even for me.
Like I said before, these people were cowards. They do not deserve to breathe the same air as Sheppard. If they harmed one hair on Sheppard's head, they were going to be dead. But I knew that even though they were cowards, they were also vicious warriors, that they were capable of killing Sheppard without so much of a bat of an eye. Yet, they do not fight openly or cleanly. To me, they were just like the Wraith. While they guarded us so closely, I would wait and bid my time. But I swore to myself, that the one in red was mine. If John Sheppard died, on my oath as a Satedan, I would kill the bastard myself and hang his innards for all to see.
-xo0ox-
(Rodney's POV)
Oh my God! I stood there gaping in shock, still unable to believe what Sheppard had done. He had taken Ronon's place to be target practice for these blood thirsty savages who don't deserve to see the light of day.
How could they be so upset over a slug, for crying out loud? Sure it was blue, and it could sing, but come on, it was still a squirmy wiggly freaky worm! A bird's snack, the lowest of the low, the scrub of the earth. Okay... maybe I went a little too far with that last description cos all geniuses know about the benefits of worms in the earth. But you get my drift. They're dime a dozen out there, we all saw as much, hundreds literally thousands of them, living out in that open field. So, yes, surely they couldn't cost the life of a man, could they? And it wasn't just any man's life. But Lt Colonel John Sheppard: the man with the natural, raw ability of using Ancient technology as if he was breathing air; the man with vast amounts of Ancient gene flowing through his freakin' self-sacrificing veins.
While I would have never admitted it in front of Sheppard, there have been times where I've felt the deep bite of envy especially when I saw how easily he used Ancient technology with minimal effort. And what do I get? ATA gene therapy received from mice! And they were only half as good compared to what Sheppard got. What wouldn't I give for his gene. Okay, can you blame the scientist? I was jealous of Sheppard's gene. There you have it, I said it out loud, so sue me. Yes jealous, the green eyed monster and all that went with it, over an alien gene. An itty-bitty minuscule gene. Yet in my mind it was something that allowed you to use Ancient technology and that was everything, especially out here in the Pegasus galaxy.
I suppose I should be grateful that Beckett's gene therapy actually worked on me, but human beings are never satisfied, we always want more. And when we get what we want, we want even more still. Okay, I admit it. Sometimes I could be egoistical, a little rude and maybe a little self-absorbed, perhaps even a tact greedy on wanting the credit for all scientific discoveries. But I'm a genius, and you'd never find another brain smarter than mine in the Pegasus galaxy, so I'm entitled to some personal quirks, so give the brilliant scientist a break, why don't you?
Which was why I found it so difficult to contemplate the fact that Sheppard was about to be killed over a lowly earth slug. Over something so minute. And to rub salt to the wound, it wasn't even for something that Sheppard had done... I mean, how screwed up was that? Damn Sheppard, and all his self-sacrificing Kirk like tendencies! Yeah, sure, he might be our team leader, but it still didn't give him the right to throw his life away, even for Ronon. He might be a mathematical genius at Mensa, but he still was a moronic Lt Colonel in my book. In fact, I wondered how he survived this long to make it to Lt Colonel in the first place.
I remembered hearing rumours during the early days in Atlantis, and while I was never part of the gossip column, even I heard tales about Sheppard disobeying orders and not respecting the chain of command. Hmm, that latter bit? I could believe, for I could see Sheppard doing what he needed to do especially if he thought he was doing the right thing. It was one of the things that made me respect the man. Despite his military training and background, he was unconventional, his people meant more to him than just orders. We felt safe being under Sheppard's command, for we knew that he cared enough for us not to throw our lives away on some wimp. Nor would he leave us behind; no matter what the cost. Which was why, despite my anger, frustration and fear, I think I understand why Sheppard did what he did, but that still didn't stop me from being mad at him.
But one thing that I cannot bear was the thought of loosing probably one of the closest friends I had in the Pegasus galaxy. Being a genius scientist, I didn't have much time for friends, either to make friends or to cultivate friends—whatever you call that thing where people got together socially to spend in friendly chit-chat. Not especially when there were better things to do with my time. But somehow Sheppard, with his easy confidence, laid back attitude and snarky personality had gotten through my numerous barriers that I had built up over time, and offered me something that I least expected to find when I accepted this assignment in the Pegasus galaxy - the gift of friendship.
I would insult him and he would insult me right back. Not only that, but he would find the time to bug the genius scientist and drag me out for movie night, popcorn and social gatherings with the rest of the team. This, he did, even when I told him that I didn't want to go and mix with all the little people. Pretty soon, I discovered that I liked being included in these social gatherings, even if all I did sometimes was to insult them or tell them how stupid I thought a movie was especially when there was a scientific explanation in the show that didn't add up to my realm of scientific brilliance. Regardless, to my utter surprise, I discovered that my team didn't seem to mind my caustic ways. And for the first time in my life, I didn't feel so lonely any more and I began to look forward to movie nights and the time we spent socializing at the mess hall—the idle talk, the chit-chat, the friendly banter, all that normal socializing stuff that human beings tended to gravitate to. And I blame it all on one damn cocky flyboy pilot by the name of Sheppard.
I guessed never realised how much I came to value Sheppard's trust and friendship until I almost lost it in the Artucus project. Only then did I realise how much Sheppard's trust meant to me and by then it was too late: I saw the look of disappointment in his eyes, I saw the loss of trust, and it hurt me..., to my ultimate surprise, badly. All my life I thought I needed no friends, that cultivating friendship was a useless commodity, a waste of time, and only after I had lost it, did I realise the value of it. The saying that you don't know what you value until after you've lost it, is very true. But needless to say, I took steps to regain back Sheppard's trust and friendship, and it was worth every effort. I would like to think that we are friends again, maybe even best friends, I'm not certain about that yet. After all, we are guys, we don't speak about such stuff.
But after being part of Sheppard's team for almost two and a half year's now, I could see that Sheppard had a penchant for trouble. Because at the rate he was going, he wasn't going to make it to see ripe old age, what with his encounters with the bag guys in the Pegasus galaxy. And I was angry, because I wanted him to see old age, and by old age, I meant the natural old age, not having his life sucked out by a Wraith. Also from the way that I've seen Ronon react, the big guy was not pleased about Sheppard's trade at all. In fact, he looked totally pissed with Sheppard. Can't say that I blamed the fellow, freakin' hell, I wasn't too happy about the trade either.
I was ashamed to admit it, but deep down, if I had to loose someone, I preferred it to be Ronon than Sheppard. Sure I respected and even cared about the Caveman, but I knew Sheppard longer. We spoke, we bantered, who was I going to pick on if not Sheppard? If I tried that on Ronon he'd probably bite my head off and eat me for lunch. Besides, we still needed Sheppard in our battle against the Wraith. He's our team leader, our friend, part of the Atlantis surrogate family of Teyla, Ronon and me... No, I take that back, I didn't want it to be Ronon either. Besides, I liked the Caveman, why would I call him that pet name anyway if not a term of endearment? Scary as he is sometimes, he's still a good guy, part of our surrogate family. I realised that I didn't want it to be anyone of us. There had to be another way out of this predicament without resulting in one of us dying, especially me. If any one of us died, it would be as if we lost a member of our family. No, no, no, we couldn't have that.
I could feel my heart rate accelerate, and I knew that if I didn't control the panic that was trying to rise from deep within me, I would soon start to hyperventilate. I tried to take calm deep breaths as I saw Sheppard having a glare down battle with that big Neanderthal dressed in that awful clown suit. Hmm, he was actually doing a pretty good job out of it and I wondered who would back off first. Conan over there was making a lot of growls, I turned to see that he was trying to break through the restraints of the four buffoons holding him. The Satedan was trying to get to Sheppard, he probably wanted to wipe off the smirk from that Neanderthal's face. Couldn't say I blamed him, in fact, I rooted for the big guy, hoping that he would be able to break free and save Sheppard somehow.
Rats! I had missed who had won the glare down battle, for now both men were looking at Ronon. I looked again at the stocky bearded man who faced us. Knowing Sheppard, he probably had a name picked out for Mr Fuzzie-Wuzzie over there. He usually did, like he did for those two Wraiths: Steve and Bob. I don't know what is it with Sheppard and his partiality for naming things: vessels, space ships, even scary life sucking creatures like Wraiths. Perhaps it's the perpetual kid in him, considering he's always bouncing around like a ball of energy, running with Ronon, stick fighting with Teyla, bugging and teasing the genius scientist... And he has the nerve to tell me that I'm like an out of control jet on codeine when ever I tried to explain to him about my numerous scientific discoveries. But that's Sheppard for you, sometimes he's like a little kid on a sugar high. Yet, in spite of this, there's another side of Sheppard, a serious side, a Sheppard who would do anything to protect those whom he cared about, like what he has always done for us, like what he was doing for Ronon now.
I turned back to look at the Fuzzies and thought to myself that I still couldn't believe that they were called Fuzzies. Jeez, what kind of name was that anyway? 'Oh, look I've got a fuzzie head. Oh, is that a fuzzie bear I see? Oh, what a nice little fuzzie drink! Is that fuzzie logic I hear? ' Okay, sure, the spelling was a bit different, but the pronunciation's the same, so what's the different I ask?
As they were about to lead Sheppard away to what I presume was to be is his execution, I had to call out, I had to ask. Despite not wanting to hear about it, I had to know what fate they had planned for my friend. Dammit! Sheppard is perhaps the closest friend I have in the Pegasus galaxy, and here we were standing like ninnies, unable to do anything to help him. Yet for a brief instant, I locked onto Sheppard's gaze, and I saw the eyes of a man who was saying goodbye to us, to me. But in them, I also saw no dull resignation of a man about to face his death, but one who was determined to fight, to live. I knew then that Sheppard was not ready to die, that he was not ready to give up on life, and on us; that he would go down fighting to his very last breath. It gave me courage to go ahead with my question, knowing that information was power; and any information we received, could perhaps be useful to Sheppard in some way. God, I surely hoped that I was correct.
-xo0ox-
(Teyla's POV)
I stared at Colonel Sheppard in shock. Once again he was doing what he had to do. While I was not so sure that I agreed with his methods, I understood why he was doing it. He did it in order to protect us, his team, and in this instance, he did it to protect Ronon. Yet, I feared for him. The men I saw before us were hardened men, warriors in their own right. I knew that they would not treat John gently.
If he was to become target practice to these warriors, Colonel Sheppard would have to use everything skill that he acquired in battle in order to survive this. I do not think he would be given a weapon, these people were not likely to play fair. My heart grew concerned at the thought that John would be left defenseless at the mercy of such men. The one in red had already stated that they wanted Colonel Sheppard dead. I very much feared for John's life. I suspect that he would be in grave peril when they took him to this Deathlands that they spoke about. I prayed to the Ancestors that they would guide his path, give him wisdom and strength for Sheppard to survive the challenge ahead of him. I also asked the Spirits of Ancestors for guidance, that we may find some way to help John out, anything that would save his life.
I saw him look at the time piece that he wore on his hand. He knew that he had to survive the hunt for five hours before help arrived from Atlantis. It was then that the thought occurred that perhaps Ronon might be more suited to this task than Sheppard. After all, the Satedan had spent seven years being hunted down by the Wraith. He knew the ways of the runner. He would be more apt at it than Sheppard. However, I knew that Colonel Sheppard would not agree to this; his actions and indeed words spoke for themselves.
I saw the look of determination in his face when he told us under no circumstances were we to trade our lives for his. Colonel Sheppard would do anything to protect us, his team. Once, not so long ago, he tried to mention to me how he felt about us, the team, that we were his 'family'. I realised now how true it is. As a team, we have grown close, caring about one another, almost like a family does. I do not know when and how the ties had formed, but formed they did, for now we are bound together more than comradeship, more than friendship. The care that we feel for one another are similar to those shared by members of our own families. And it was because of this, I knew that Ronon, Rodney and I would do everything in our power to try to save John from the fate that these people planned for him. I prayed to the Spirit of the Ancestors that we could.
-xo0ox-
TBC