"It appears the rumors of your demise were exaggerated, Colonel Sheppard," Kolya said with a smirk. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," John replied, his expression neutral. "I see you managed to get out of that pit."
Kolya smiled. "I had a few friends among the Daganians. Once you were gone, they came back for the rest of my men and me."
John snorted and walked around the perimeter of the room. A tall bookshelf stood against the back wall of the room. A few books were scattered on the various shelves, while small sculptures and what looked like minerals from the mine filled most of the various shelves. John picked up a piece of chunky green stone and turned it over in his hand.
"My friends told me you left the planet empty-handed," Kolya said with a mock frown. "Too bad."
John remembered Allina taking the ZPM from Rodney and McKay's hurt and lost expression as she explained she was taking the 'potentia' and hiding it until the Ancients returned to claim it. He used the excuse of putting the stone back on the shelf as a chance to school his features and turned to Kolya standing near the desk.
"Something tells me you didn't get it either," John replied with a cheeky smile.
Kolya ducked his head and rubbed his nose. "No. The new Brotherhood went into hiding. With their precious potentia. None of the Daganians I spoke to was willing to give up their location."
John winced and wondered how many Daganians Kolya had tortured or killed before he gave up his search for the ZPM.
"Let them keep their precious object," Kolya said and stepped back. "I no longer require a ZPM to bring my plans to fruition. The destiny of the Genii is to rule this galaxy, Colonel Sheppard. My destiny is to ensure that happens."
"Yeah, I think I heard something about that a few months ago," John replied, and he felt the muscles in his left shoulder twitch.
"Oh?"
"Met a friend of yours," John explained as he leant against the wall next to the bookshelf. "Calum. He seems eager to start a coup in your name. Too bad he has no idea where you are."
Kolya smiled. "Calum was one of my brightest students. After Sora, of course." He eyed John for a moment, then continued, "I'm sure Doctor McKay was happy to see Calum again."
The barb hit its mark, and John couldn't hide the flash of anger that crossed his face at the memory of Rodney telling the team about who Calum was and what he had done during Kolya's aborted attempt to invade Atlantis.
"He gave him, Kolya, I mean, the knife. Held me down while …"
John clenched his hands behind his back and forced the anger back down as Kolya smiled.
"Huh. Calum seemed kind of weak to me," John replied, hoping to wipe the smirk off Kolya's face. "I'd say his tactics were childish at best. If he really is among the best and the brightest of the Genii, I don't think the galaxy is in much danger." John smiled to himself when he saw Kolya's expression shift from gloating to annoyed.
"Careful, Sheppard, my patience has its limits." Kolya paused, and his expression shifted again, this time to something almost predatory. "Perhaps I should be thanking you, Colonel."
John raised a questioning eyebrow. "Why's that?"
"It's thanks to Randorian," he nodded to the woman standing next to him, "telling me about the arrival of your surveillance device that I knew you wouldn't be far behind. With your timely arrival, I now have everything I need to bring Cowen to his knees."
"What's that supposed to mean?" John asked.
Kolya ignored him and turned to Randorian. "I assume you have all of the uranium I require?"
"Not all of it," Randorian replied. She took a step toward the desk, but Kolya grabbed her arm and jerked her back to face him.
John saw the flash of anger in Kolya's eyes and tried to decide if he should intervene.
Randorian glared down at Kolya's hand wrapped around her arm, her expression one of anger instead of fear. "We must be careful that the shipments sent to Cowen appear in order," she explained and jerked her arm free. "If our plan is to remain a secret, I can only hold back so much from each shipment before Cowen notices and starts asking questions."
Our? John thought to himself as he watched the power play in front of him.
"How much longer?" Kolya growled and paced away from Randorian. "I have intel that Cowen is planning something. According to my source, he has Radim's scientists working overtime on an important project. The time is coming for me to strike."
John noted the singular Kolya used and wondered if Randorian realised she was about to be double-crossed.
"It will be several more days," Randorian told him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "The only reason I contacted you now was because you wanted to know about any unusual activity near the ring. When my men reported a strange device had appeared, I thought you would want to know. Nothing has changed with the delivery schedule."
John stared first at Randorian and then Kolya as what Kolya was planning sank in. "You're planning to attack Cowen with nuclear weapons?"
"Yes, Colonel," Kolya replied. "And thanks to your arrival, I now have a scientist at my disposal who will be able to complete the work more quickly than I anticipated." He glared at Randorian. "Assuming I have the materials required."
John felt his stomach lurch. "McKay won't work for you," he growled.
"Oh, I think he will, Colonel. You forget that I know his weakness." Kolya rested his hand on the hilt of the knife at his belt.
John clenched his hands into fists at the threat, and Kolya smiled. "Who knows, maybe it won't come to that." Kolya moved his hand away from the knife. "As I recall, there was no need for knives the last time we met."
"Do you want to keep trading barbs, or do you want to find the ZPM? Look, lift me out of here. I'll help you find it, but then you let my team go."
John stared at the various mineral samples on the shelves next to him as another memory surfaced.
"Our Rodney discovered today he cares about someone else as much as he cares about himself," Beckett said with a tiny smile. "And he was afraid he might lose you, Major."
Contrary to anything Rodney might say, John knew McKay would do whatever he had to to protect the rest of the team.
Which meant he had to make sure Rodney didn't get the chance to sacrifice himself for the sake of the rest of them, John decided.
"What makes you think I'm just going to let you take McKay?" John asked, his tone and expression hard as he turned back to Kolya.
Kolya smiled. "From the simple fact that you cannot stop me, Colonel," he replied. "You and your team are prisoners here. You cannot escape, and even if you did, where would you go?"
John pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Kolya shook his head. "You may have others in the galaxy fooled, Colonel, but I know the Wraith didn't destroy Atlantis. I also know that without your equipment, you have no way to lower the shield protecting your … stargate? is that the word you use? and return to the Ancestor's city."
"You're not taking him," John told him, ignoring for the moment the fact that Kolya knew the truth about the city.
"We'll see about that." Kolya turned to Randorian. "I think Colonel Sheppard and I understand each other. Feel free to send him back to the mine. He can make himself useful digging for the uranium I need to complete my plan."
John noted the phrasing, and for a moment, he almost felt sorry for Randorian. Then he remembered that she was kidnapping people and holding them prisoner, and any sympathy he felt for her vanished.
"As you wish," Randorian said. She walked over to her desk and pulled on a rope hanging next to the window.
A few moments later, there was a discreet knock on the door. The door opened, and Hollum stepped into the room.
"Yes, Mistress?" Hollum asked with a bow.
"Return the prisoner to the camp," Randorian ordered.
"At once, Mistress," Hollum replied. He walked over to John, took his arm, and tugged him back toward the door.
"This isn't over, Kolya," John said as Hollum pulled him from the room. "You aren't taking McKay."
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
Teyla sat with her back to the wall, nearly asleep despite her aching back and hands. She glanced at Rodney pacing back and forth in front of her and shook her head. Teyla knew they needed to get what rest they could while they could, but Rodney had been tense ever since the guards had left with Sheppard.
"Maybe someone in charge figured out we were here, and this," he waved a hand in front of him, "is all a mistake," Rodney said more to himself than to Teyla or Ronon. "Maybe Sheppard is explaining right now who we are, and someone will come and let us out of here soon."
He glanced at the door and shook his head. "No, it shouldn't take this long to explain the basics of a simple trade mission."
Rodney reached the corner and turned around. "Maybe he was able to escape?" he asked himself as he rubbed the makeshift bandage covering one of his palms. "He managed to get back to the 'gate and call for help?" Rodney nodded to himself as he passed Teyla. "A team of Marines would certainly come in handy right about now."
Ronon and Teyla exchanged a glance as Rodney continued to pace and postulate various scenarios. Teyla understood Rodney's concerns and shared them, but she also knew Rodney was wasting energy, not to mention drawing unwanted attention from the other prisoners, with his continued pacing and muttering.
"Rodney, you should sit down," Teyla said as Rodney walked past her.
"I think better when I'm standing," Rodney told her with an absent wave of his hand. He crossed one arm over his chest and pinched his lip with his other hand. "Do you think they sent him back into the mine?" he asked no one in particular, then shook his head. "No, that wouldn't make sense." He turned and headed back toward the corner.
Teyla sighed and shook her head as more of the prisoners near them watched Rodney. When a red-haired woman started moving toward their end of the room, Teyla turned to Ronon and jerked her chin in Rodney's direction.
Ronon nodded, then stood and placed himself in Rodney's path.
"Do you mind?" Rodney asked, looking up at Ronon with a scowl.
"Sit down," Ronon ordered in a low growl and turned Rodney toward Teyla.
Rodney glared up at Ronon and tried to step around him, but Ronon merely shifted his feet and blocked the attempt.
"We need to do something," Rodney said, and even though there was frustration in his tone, Teyla heard the underlying concern. "Sheppard's been gone too long. Who knows what's happened to him."
"It hasn't been that long," Ronon replied. He glanced at the woman watching them, took Rodney's arm, and tugged him toward the wall. "Sit down. Before one of them," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "starts asking questions."
"Fine," he muttered. He shook off Ronon's hold on his arm and sank next to Teyla with his knees drawn up to his chest.
Ronon glanced at Teyla, then stood next to Rodney with his back to the wall, flexing his hands until the woman watching them turned away.
Teyla nodded her thanks to Ronon, then focused on Rodney. "I'm sure Colonel Sheppard is fine," she said and rested a hand on Rodney's arm.
She felt the tension in his muscles, and for a moment, her resolve wavered. Perhaps there was more going on than merely Rodney fretting. Was there something he wasn't telling them? she wondered.
"Are you sensing something through the mental link?" she asked in a whisper. "Is that why you are so concerned?"
Rodney rubbed his forehead and shook his head. "No," he said with a tired sigh. "There's no tingling, and I haven't felt any spikes."
"Then we will take that as a sign that Colonel Sheppard is all right," Teyla replied. She patted Rodney's arm then rested her hands in her lap. "The only thing we can do for the moment is wait. Either Colonel Sheppard will return or -"
"Or what?" Rodney interrupted in an angry hiss. "We never see him again, and the guards come back here and take another one of us who knows where?"
"That is not -" Teyla started to say, but Ronon shushed her.
"Someone's coming," Ronon said. He pushed off the wall and stood between Teyla and Rodney and the door.
Rodney and Teyla exchanged a glance then stood when she heard the familiar thump as the bar locking the door was removed. The door opened a moment later, and Colonel Sheppard tripped as a guard shoved him into the room from behind.
"No need for the pushing," Sheppard said to the guard as he stumbled to a stop.
The guard ignored him, closed the door, and a moment later, Teyla heard the bar for the door clunk back into place.
"Sheppard!" Rodney exclaimed as John walked over to their corner. "Oh, thank god."
"Wow, McKay, nice to know you care," Sheppard replied, but Teyla saw a tiny smile on John's face as he squeezed Rodney's shoulder. "You guys all right?" he asked, studying each of them in turn.
"We're fine," Ronon replied. "What happened?"
John glanced at the men and women watching them and jerked his head toward the corner of the room. He waited until the other people in the room drifted away and said, "I had a meeting with the person in charge. She -"
"She?" Rodney asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "No wonder the meeting took so long."
Sheppard glared at Rodney. "She had company."
Rodney snorted.
"Kolya," Sheppard finished.
Rodney gulped and the smirk disappeared.
"Good," Ronon growled. "About time someone dealt with him."
Teyla saw Sheppard grimace and asked, "Colonel?"
"It wasn't an accident Kolya showed up when he did," Sheppard explained and glanced at Rodney. "You were right. The mine is supplying the Genii with the uranium Cowen needs for his bombs. What Cowen doesn't know is that this Randorian person is also skimming some of the refined uranium from each shipment and sending it to Kolya."
"Oh, that's all we need," Rodney grumbled. "Another Genii with nuclear weapons."
"There's more," John said with a frown.
"He needs someone to build them," Ronon guessed with a nod at Rodney.
John nodded.
"Oh, that's just great," Rodney exclaimed and flung his arms away from his body. "As if my day couldn't get any worse. First, I get irradiated in a mine, and now a Genii psychopath wants to turn me into an intellectual slave." Rodney braced his back against the wall.
Teyla noticed Rodney held his right arm tight against his chest, glanced at Sheppard, and saw the frown on John's face. He had spotted the unconscious reaction as well, she realised.
"Hey," Sheppard said. He stepped in front of Rodney and rested his hands on Rodney's shoulders. "We are not going to let that happen."
"How exactly do you plan to stop him?" Rodney asked with a scowl as his voice rose. "In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly free to come and go as we please."
"Keep your voice down," Sheppard admonished with a glance at the rest of the room. "I have a plan."
"Oh, well, glad to know you have a plan."
Teyla saw the fear in Rodney's eyes even as he made the sarcastic comment.
"Trust me," John said with a grim smile. "Kolya is not going to do anything to you." He held Rodney's gaze for a few more seconds. "All right?" he asked in a near whisper.
Rodney blew out a breath and nodded.
Sheppard let go of Rodney's shoulders and stepped back.
"So, what's the plan?" Ronon asked.
"Simple," Sheppard replied. "We escape. Or more to the point, Teyla escapes."
Teyla frowned. "Should we not try to escape together?"
Sheppard shook his head. "One person has a better chance of going unnoticed. Besides, you know how to move through a forest quickly and more to the point, quietly." He paused and glanced at Rodney. "Kolya is not going to let Rodney or me out of his sight, or at least the guard's sight. I'm sure he's already told Randorian to keep a closer eye on us."
"Would the same not be true for me as well?" Teyla asked. "After our mission to Dagan, Commander Kolya is aware of who I am. He has never seen Ronon. I would think he would be the better choice."
Sheppard smiled. "Maybe, but Chewy here is kind of hard to miss. If Ronon suddenly disappeared, someone would notice." John paused and glanced at Rodney. "Besides, I might need his help here more."
"Lovely," Rodney muttered under his breath.
"Fine with me," Ronon said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Teyla weighed the pros and cons of John's argument for a few more seconds, then nodded. "What is your plan?"
"All right," Sheppard said and bent forward. "There's a path not far from this building that leads out of the valley," he said in a low voice. "If I'm right, that's the way back to the 'gate. All you need to do -"
Teyla sensed movement in the room, glanced up, and saw Graime, Alman, and Brandt walking in their direction. She held up a hand and shook her head at Sheppard. John gave her a puzzled look, and Teyla jerked her chin over his shoulder.
"It won't work," Graime said as he stopped behind Sheppard.
Sheppard grimaced, then turned around. "What won't work?" he asked Graime with an innocent expression.
Graime rolled his eyes. "Do you think you're the first person to try to escape from here? There have been three attempts since Alman and I were captured a couple of months ago."
"What, umm, what happened?" Rodney asked.
"What do you think happened?" Graime retorted with a glare at Rodney. "The guards caught them, dragged them back here, and they were whipped, the men and the women, until their backs bled. Then they were sent back into the mine. None of them survived for very long after that."
Rodney gulped and glanced at Sheppard, who crossed his arms over his chest.
"So help us," Sheppard said to Graime. "If we can get a message back to the rest of our people, they will send help. Then we can deal with the guards and Randorian. We can shut the mine down and send all of these people back to their homes."
Graime studied Sheppard for several moments, then turned to Ronon. "You really believe this will work?" he asked.
"I trust Sheppard," Ronon replied.
"And if he gets us both killed?"
Ronon shrugged. "Then we died protecting innocents. Isn't that what we signed up for?"
Graime glanced at Alman standing beside him.
"If we work together, we might stand a chance," Alman said.
"We have to try," Brandt added and coughed into the cloth in his hand. "The alternative is dying in the mine." He glanced at Sera asleep on one of the pallets behind him. "It's too late for me." He stuffed the cloth back into his pocket. "It may not be too late for her."
"We have doctors," Teyla said with a gentle smile. "Very good doctors. It is possible they may be able to reverse the effects of your exposure."
Graime glanced at Alman and Brandt, both of whom nodded in reply to his silent question.
"All right," Graime said to Sheppard. "We'll follow you." He stepped forward until he stood in front of Sheppard. "But I still don't trust you."
John studied Graime for a moment. "This will work."
Graime studied him for a moment longer, then stepped back with a sniff. "What do you want us to do?"
"The best time for Teyla to escape is when the guards move us from here to the mine," Sheppard replied. "Which means we're going to need a distraction. Something that's going to pull enough of the guards away from their posts that Teyla can slip into the woods unseen."
"I might be able to rig something in the mine or the refinery to explode," Alman offered.
"What is it with you Satedans and always wanting to blow things up?" Rodney asked with a frown.
Graime started to make a reply, but Sheppard held up a hand, stopping him.
"It doesn't matter," Sheppard said. "Anything like that would mean waiting at least another day, and we don't have that much time."
Graime glowered at Rodney for a moment longer, then shrugged. "Start a fight," he suggested, eyeing Sheppard. "It's not that uncommon, and the guards usually watch before eventually breaking one up."
"That could work," Sheppard replied. "We'd just need to find someone -"
Graime snorted.
"I'll do it," Ronon said and looked at Graime and raised an eyebrow.
Graime hesitated a moment, then smiled. "Garrison rules?"
Ronon nodded.
"What are garrison rules?" Rodney asked.
"Don't worry about it," Ronon replied.
"If Satedans are like our military," John explained with a glance from Rodney to Ronon, "it means they don't stop until someone makes them."
"Something like that," Ronon said.
Rodney stared at Ronon. "You did hear the part about this being a distraction, didn't you? You aren't supposed to actually kill each other?"
Ronon crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at Graime.
"All right, Colonel, I guess you have your distraction," Graime said. "For all of our sakes, this plan of yours better work."
"It'll work," Sheppard promised. "Get some sleep. The guards will be back here in a few hours. We need to be ready to put this plan into motion."
John waited until Graime led Alman and Brandt back across the room, then sat down on one of the pallets against the back wall and scrubbed a hand over his chin.
"How long will it take Elizabeth to send Lorne and a team of Marines back here?" Rodney asked as he settled on the mat in the corner.
Sheppard dropped his hand and glanced at the door. "We're already late checking in. Chances are, Elizabeth will already have a team standing by. I'm more worried about Stackhouse or Thompson walking into the same trap we did than any delay getting a strike force together."
Teyla heard Rodney grunt, and she silently agreed with Sheppard. She knew someone needed to get back to the 'gate and warn Doctor Weir of what was going on on the planet. She understood the logic in John's plan of only sending one of them to warn the city, but she didn't like the idea of leaving the rest of her team in danger, not only from radiation exposure but now Commander Kolya.
She sighed and shifted on the thin pallet, trying to find a comfortable position. She decided that she would just have to get to the city and bring help as quickly as possible.
She was dozing some time later when she heard a low groan beside her and Sheppard's voice speaking in a whisper.
"You should get some rest," John said, and Teyla opened her eyes.
Late morning light shone through the windows high in the walls. A few of the other prisoners shuffled around the room, and Teyla noticed Ronon on her right, sitting with his back to the wall, watching the men and women in the room. She glanced to her left and saw Sheppard half lying on his side, his weight balanced on his left arm as he looked at Rodney wedged into the corner with his knees drawn up to his chest.
"Are you kidding?" Rodney replied in a low hiss. "This," he poked at the mat he sat on, "is going to destroy what's left of my back."
John chuckled. "Still, we're probably going to have another night working in that mine. You need to get some sleep."
"Too tired to sleep," Rodney muttered, looking down at his hands.
John pushed himself upright, sat with his back against the wall, and crossed his ankles in front of him. "Is that all it is?"
Rodney rubbed the scars on his right arm. "No," he admitted. "I've seen this scenario play out once already." He looked up at Sheppard. "Inside that Ancient memory machine or whatever it was."
Teyla held her breath. None of them had said much about what they had experienced while trapped in the Ancestor's device. While Teyla had found the experience cathartic, she suspected the others considered it an ordeal best forgotten.
"I remember," John said. "Kolya and the Genii were chasing you through some forest."
Teyla hissed, and John glanced at her.
Rodney shook his head. "That was at the end. Before that, Kolya had captured me, dragged me into an underground bunker, and demanded I finish building a bomb for him."
Teyla started to sit up, but John shook his head. Teyla settled back on the pallet, and John turned back to Rodney. "That wasn't real," he said. "It never happened."
"It certainly looks like it's about to," Rodney grumbled. "Maybe that device somehow projected future events as well as past ones."
"You forget one important thing," John said and tapped Rodney's arm. "You faced Kolya, and you beat him."
Rodney grunted and stared at the double doors.
"Get some sleep," John told him. "We'll deal with Kolya."
Rodney didn't seem convinced, but he laid down on the thin pallet and closed his eyes.
Several minutes later, Teyla heard Rodney's breathing even out as he fell asleep. She glanced in his direction and frowned when she noticed Sheppard still sitting with his back against the wall staring into space.
"Colonel?" she asked as she sat up. "Are you all right?"
John shook himself and smiled. "I'm fine." He bent forward, glanced at Ronon, and added, "Get some sleep. I'll watch things for a while."
Ronon nodded and lay on his back. "Wake me up in a few hours to take over."
Teyla sat beside Sheppard, watching the dust motes dance in the beams of sunlight as the men and women scattered around the room settled. Soon Teyla and John were the only people in the room still awake.
Rodney mumbled something in his sleep, frowned, then lay still.
John watched him until he drifted into a deeper sleep, then crossed his arms over his chest and sighed as he stared at the double doors.
"Are you certain you are all right?" Teyla asked.
Sheppard glanced at her with a tight smile. "Just making contingency plans. Kolya is a wrinkle we really didn't need."
Teyla debated with herself for a moment, then rested a hand on John's arm. "What will you do if Commander Kolya tries to take Rodney?" she asked.
Sheppard leant his head against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. "Stop him," he said and rolled his head in Teyla's direction. "Kolya isn't taking Rodney anywhere he doesn't want to go."
"It may not be that simple," Teyla told him with a gentle smile.
John glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.
"For all that he may be afraid right now, Rodney has proven he will take extreme measures to protect you just as much as you wish to protect him. Have you forgotten what happened on Dagan?"
John grimaced and looked back up at the ceiling. "Why do you think I'm making contingency plans? Kolya is not going to get McKay alone again." He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and nodded at Teyla's pallet. "Go back to sleep. I'll deal with Kolya. You just worry about getting to the 'gate and warning Elizabeth."