Chapter 13: New Sateda.
Rodney opened a channel, to New Sateda and hoped that someone on the other end was listening and if they were, he really hoped that they were friendly.
He'd woken his friends up a few minutes before and they were sitting in the front of the jumper with him and he could feel the anticipation they were experiencing.
"This is Dr Rodney McKay, and I am wishing to speak to someone in charge of the military?"
They sat silently for a few minutes and there was no reply, so he tried again, "this is Dr Rodney McKay and I need to speak to someone in the military, it is of the utmost importance that I speak to someone straight away?"
A face appeared on his screen a few minutes later and he was amazed at how much he looked like Ronon with his long dreadlocks; he would have been about the same size as him as well.
"I am General Specialist Rohan Lux; how can I help you?"
Rodney didn't know what a General Specialist was, but he assumed that it was a higher rank than Specialist.
"We need help and I really hope that you will be able to help us, Michael is back and he is trying to become great again, by creating a new race of hybrids and I suspect that he is holding a friend of mine hostage and that is if he is still alive!" Rodney ranted.
"You are flying an ancient craft and I have detected that you are a hologram, where did you get the craft from?"
Before Rodney had a chance to answer Shalite spoke, "we have come from Atlantis and please believe us when we say that Michael is back." She practically begged.
Rodney watched as the Satedan's demeanour changed. "You have come from the city of Atlantis. I thought that it was in orbit around a red giant?"
"Yes, yes, yes, but that isn't really the issue here, did you not hear me? Michael is back and he is wanting to take over the galaxy again and we really need your help!" Rodney stated rudely.
"I believe you, now can you bring your craft in to these co-ordinates and I will contact president Carver, to come and talk to you, I will also order my men to have a ship ready to assist you at the first available opportunity."
Rodney sighed with relief, "Thank you for listening to us."
The Satedan nodded and the transmission was cut off.
"Well he seemed friendly, didn't he? What do you guys think?" Rodney asked looking around at his friends.
"Yes, he did and I hope that he is really willing to help us and he is not hiding anything," Shalite commented and Rodney could see the weariness in her face.
A set of co-ordinates came up on the screen and he immediately set course, he knew that time was of the essence, because Sheppard could be in real trouble right now and from what Shalite had told him a few days ago, no-one could contact Tuart or any of his crew either, so he assumed that Michael had them.
When they had told the coalition that Tuart and his crew were missing and they suspected that Michael had them, they had simply laughed and said that they had probably taken some time to go exploring. Shalite hadn't even bothered to talk to the council on Louisa, because she knew that they still wanted to talk to John and she had no idea whether they still wanted to arrest him or not.
Rodney was confused by the coalition's actions, as they were supposed to be the governing body, protecting the citizens of the galaxy, but to him it seemed as if their operation was a shambles.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tuart was dosing in his cell when Carson entered, he knew that if they were going to act they needed to act quickly. Michael had gone to his ship after he had left Sheppard and he had told Carson that he would be there for around two hours. The first thing they needed to do was set the explosives around his ship and then they would set them in several other places around the caves and the plan was to remote detonate once they were outside of the caves.
He walked over Tuart and gently shook him hoping to wake him up without startling him, "Tuart, you need to wake up."
He was relieved when Tuart slowly opened his eyes, "what's happening?" Tuart asked
"We really need to set the explosives and enact our plan now; Michael is on his ship and he will be for a few hours."
Tuart nodded and Carson held out his hand to help him up, "come on let's do the ship first and then we'll place the other charges." Carson suggested and left the room hoping that Tuart would be following.
They quickly made their way to the cave where Carson had hidden the explosives and Carson really hoped that Michael hadn't found their stockpile, because it would be really bad for them if he had.
When they arrived at the cave Carson immediately headed for the back where he had hidden the explosives and the few guns that he had managed to find, "Okay Tuart you're going to have to tell me the best places to set the explosives to do the most damage. Take a gun and if you need to defend yourself, do so without hesitation."
Tuart nodded and led the way as they left the cave.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the area where Michael's ship was hidden. Carson wanted to get right to it, but he stopped when Tuart held his hand up signalling that he should wait. That was a hand signal he knew well from the few times that he had been off world with Colonel Sheppard and his team.
"There are a few hybrids hanging around in the bay," Tuart whispered.
"Well use a stunner and stun them then!" Carson grumbled, feeling frustrated.
After a few well-placed shots from Tuart the hybrids were all neutralised, so Carson quietly entered the cave, "where do I put these charges?" Carson asked his companion.
"We can put a few around the outside of the ship, but unfortunately we may have to place a few on the inside as well."
Carson didn't like the sound of that, "are you sure?"
"Well we can do a certain amount of damage out here, but I'm not sure it will be enough to kill Michael."
Carson sighed, he knew that he definitely wanted Michael dead, so it was probably up to him to get aboard the ship. If Tuart tried to do it Michael would be suspicious, "okay give me the charges and tell me where the best place is to put the explosives."
Carson watched as Tuart obviously thought things over, finally he spoke and gave him some suggestions, "if you can get in his lab, you could put a few there and then perhaps the control room?"
"Aye I guess I'll get going then." Carson stated heading towards the ship, he knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but he also knew that their plan had to succeed, because the whole future of the galaxy depended of what he and Tuart did next.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Shalite exited the jumper and followed Rodney, Joe, and their escort. They were being taken to the see the president and the leader of the Military. The Satedans had given them every assurance that they were willing to help them, but they just wanted to go over a few details first and prepare a strike force.
She walked along in awe, the buildings were unlike anything that she'd ever seen before, and she wondered if they were common on New Sateda.
The soldier who was accompanying them stopped outside of a building and spoke to them, "just go inside and tell the man standing behind the desk who you are, he will then take you to the President and General Specialist Lux."
"Thank you," Joe replied, as he and Rodney headed towards the building and Shalite followed admiring the building in front of her.
The place was enormous, the building was three stories high and she had no idea how far it stretched out behind the façade. It was built of cream brick with decorative red bricks around the windows and doors.
"Joe this is beautiful, I can't wait to see what it looks like inside." She said her voice full of wonder. She had seen impressive sights on her own planet, but she had never seen a building as magnificent as this. The buildings on Louisa were drab in comparison, at least the ones that she had seen anyway. In fact, most of the buildings she'd seen in the galaxy were fairly plain, so she wondered why the history books made claims that they had technology to rival the ancients.
"Well let's have a look, shall we?" Joe suggested and grabbed her hand before walking in.
Shalite was equally amazed by the interior of the building, the front area was decorated in cream and accented in burgundy and it was just as large and opulent as the outside of the building. She followed Joe up to the front desk and continued to look around, as Joe and Rodney spoke to the Military officer there.
"This place is really amazing." She heard Joe say.
"This is the Presidential palace, but the President isn't the only one who lives here. There are many people who work for the Military and government who reside here with their families as well." The officer replied.
"Are there other places as beautiful as this on the planet?" Shalite asked, hoping that it wasn't just a privileged few who lived in such palaces.
"There are many other wonderful buildings on our planet, but this is one of the oldest," he replied.
Rodney interrupted the conversation at that point, "Yes, yes, you can drool over the architecture later, but now we have more pressing needs to attend to."
"Yes sir, if you just proceed down the corridor to your left, you will find an elevator there, take the lift to the basement and someone will meet you in the basement and he will show you to the conference room, where the President and the General will meet with you." The military man said, pointing to a passageway on his left.
"Thankyou sir," Shalite answered, not giving Rodney a chance to be rude again.
After five minutes of walking through a maze of rooms in the basement, they came to a large set of double doors. Their military escort opened the door to reveal a large room with plain cream walls and grey carpet, in the centre there was a large table, and it was made of some kind of polished wood. Sitting at the table was General Specialist Lux and a much older man with short grey hair, blue eyes, and a much fuller figure.
The General stood up and made the introductions, "this is President Julian Carver, the leader of the New Satedan empire."
Shalite stepped forward and introduced herself, "I am Shalite Flensing, I work for the coalition archaeological society."
Next Joe stepped forward, "I am Dr Joe Jarvis."
Finally, Rodney stepped forward and Shalite could see that he wasn't too happy, "I am Dr Rodney McKay, and can we please get down to business, people are suffering and quite possibly dying while we exchange niceties?"
"Yes, please sit down?" The president suggested, while glaring at Rodney.
Shalite sat down next to Joe, while Rodney sat on the other side of him next to General Lux.
"Now Dr McKay, why don't you tell me what's going on?" The President asked him and Shalite could see that he wasn't happy with having to deal with them.
"Yes, Mr President, "Rodney replied looking sheepish.
"Please call me Julian and I'm sure the General would be happy if you call in Rohan."
Rohan nodded and Shalite held her breath while Rodney launched into an explanation, "I don't know how, but Michael has set up a lab and base of operations on a planet nearby. It appears that he has been trying to create his hybrids again and all he wants is to be powerful again."
"But according to history he needed a child with unique DNA to perfect the hybrids?" Julian asked with interest.
Shalite sighed and she felt tears brimming in her eyes, "apparently my child has the DNA that Michael needs. He has been in contact with me in my dreams and I fear that he has already captured my husband and my friend Roget."
She felt Joe's hand in hers and she felt comforted by it, it was a difficult time for her and she'd already decided that she would stay on New Sateda when the others went back to the planet to look for John. And when they found him, she really hoped that they would find Tuart as well.
Julian turned to Rodney before he spoke again, "And Dr McKay I understand that Michael has a friend of yours. Do you know what he wants him for?"
"It's a long story but believe it or not he wants revenge."
"How is it possible that Michael is back?" Lux asked and Shalite could see that he was confused.
"We believe that he has continuingly been cloning himself throughout the millennia." Rodney answered, "but can we please go and rescue my friend and destroy Michael." Rodney begged.
"I agree Dr McKay, Rohan will accompany you and your friends to his ship, where his crew will accompany you to the planet you mentioned for a search and rescue mission. You can fill me in on the details later." Julian told them with a smile.
Shalite was about to ask if she could stay here, when Joe spoke up, "I believe Shalite needs to stay here, I don't want to put her or her baby in jeopardy."
"I would have to agree with you Dr Jarvis, I will have some quarters arranged for her." Julian suggested before turning to face her and continuing, "do you need to contact anyone?"
"I would like to contact the coalition archaeological academy, as they have asked for updates on Atlantis."
"Why didn't the coalition of planets offer to help you with the Michael problem?" Rohan asked and Shalite could see the cold anger in his eyes.
"It's a long story, so can we fill you in on the way?" Rodney grumbled.
"Yes, let's get going, "Rohan said getting to his feet and leaving the room before anyone had a chance to say anything else.
Shalite watched as Joe and Rodney stood to their feet and quickly followed. Now she was alone with the President and she wondered if she was doing the right thing by staying here. The archaeological academy was due to go the Atlantis in less than a week and she wondered if she would be there, since she had no idea how long she would be on New Sateda.
She was startled when Julian spoke to her, "If you would like to contact the academy, I will take you to a transmitter you can use. I think that I would probably like to contact the coalition council as well. Perhaps you can tell me what is going on with Atlantis and Michael when you have had a rest then."
"Thank you, Julian. I think that I would like to have a rest before I contact anyone though."
Julian nodded and led her out of the room.
A few minutes later she stepped out of the elevator onto the third floor and she was surprised to find a long corridor with several doors down each side.
"These are our guest quarters," Julian informed her. "For now, I will assign you some quarters and when your friends return, they will be given rooms nearby. We have no other guests at the moment, so you are welcome to stay as long as you need."
"That would be lovely, thankyou Julian."
Once Julian had showed her to a large spacious room and told her to contact him if she needed anything, he'd left her alone, to take in the room.
It was remarkably similar to the reception area in its colour scheme, but obviously it was much smaller. There was a large bed in the middle of the room, and it looked big enough for two people. This brought tears to her eyes, because despite the fact that she had wanted to leave him, she missed Tuart terribly and she hoped that she would see him again very soon.
Laying down on the bed, she suddenly felt exhausted and it wasn't long before she fell into a deep sleep.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rodney happily boarded the spaceship which Rohan had led them too. Apparently, they would be able to reach the planet that they had left Sheppard on within an hour and that suited him. There was no way that he wanted to sit through another seven hours in a jumper, even if he was a hologram. His contemplations were interrupted when Rohan spoke to him.
"I want to see you and Joe in my ready room as soon as this ship has taken off, although the President and I are more than willing to help you I want an explanation as to what is going on."
Rodney nodded and followed the man to the bridge, the ship reminded him of the Daedalus and the Apollo, although it was a little larger and probably had more powerful engines. He wondered why the Satedans' ships were not as extravagant as The Pheonix had been Perhaps this was a military vessel, but then The Pheonix had supposedly been as well. The people and their alliances in this time period were extraordinarily complex and he wondered whether things were as stable as the Coalition of planets led people to believe.
As strange rumbling filled the room, when looked up, he was surprised to find that he was on the bridge, with Joe standing beside him, and the ship taking off. He stood and stared at the view screen until the ship passed through the upper atmosphere and was in space. It was then that Rohan looked at him and indicated that he and Joe should follow him.
Rodney and Joe followed Rohan into a small room off to the side of the bridge. Just like Captain Picard's ready room, Rodney thought as he entered the room.
"Dr McKay, Dr Jarvis please sit down and tell me who you are and what is going on?" Rohan suggested pointing to a seat.
"It's a long story, so where would you like me to start?" Rodney asked, still looking around the room.
"Well why don't you tell me who you are? I know who Dr Jarvis is and where he comes from, but I can't find any record of a hologram named Dr Rodney McKay ever being created." Rohan suggested with an intense glare.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I was created by a man 50,000 years ago, to help a friend who was brought to this time by a freak accident?"
"Did an astronomical event interact with the ring and cause him to time travel?"
Rodney was amazed that this soldier seemed to have some intelligence, but then Sheppard was extremely intelligent for a soldier, so it shouldn't have surprised him, "yes, how do you know of such things."
Rohan sighed, "That kind of thing has happened throughout the history of the New Satedan empire and we have lost many good people because of it that is why the ring is used very rarely these days. It can be used, but only with special permissions from the president."
"Where is the gate?" Joe asked before Rodney had a chance to say anything else.
"It is hidden in a secret location." Rohan answered and it was obvious to Rodney that he wasn't going to say anything else on the matter.
"Anyway," Rodney said before he continued, my friend was brought to the future in a freak accident and the original Dr McKay created me to meet him when he ended up on Atlantis in this time period. It was unfortunate, but when Sheppard arrived here and I was activated we found that the planet Atlantis was on, was orbiting a red giant, but that didn't matter because we found a way to protect the atmosphere and put him into stasis for another 6 to 700 years, so that when he awoke we would be able to send him back to his time when another solar flare would interact with the wormhole."
Rodney took a deep breath before continuing, "the problem was that the planet would be uninhabitable long before that, so it was never going to work. A group of archaeologists were exploring Atlantis and they found John is stasis and tried to wake him up, which inadvertently activated me. It was then that they told me that the planet would be enveloped by the gasses from the red giant within 50 years."
"So basically, what you're telling me is that your friend is from the past and needs to get home and possibly change the timeline?" Rohan asked and to Rodney he looked a little sceptical.
Rodney spoke one word and it was a word full of meaning, "yes."
"Well I guess we can talk about sending your friend home later, but I must clear it with the President first. For now, we need to concentrate on finding him and destroying Michael. And I believe you that Michael is back as well, because there are accounts in our history books of Michael clones turning up from time to time and trying to take over the galaxy." Rohan explained.
"Your history books must be very different to ours." Joe commented and he didn't look happy.
"Well Dr Jarvis that is a conversation for another time, but what I can tell you is that the coalition of planets has kept many things from its citizens. That is why more planets are leaving the coalition every day."
"I believe we will have much to discuss in the near future." Joe answered looking bewildered.
"Yes and I would like to hear what you have done with Atlantis as well, because many times we have offered to move it, but the coalition has not been interested in our help and I have no idea why."
"For a soldier, you sure know a lot about politics," Rodney commented with a roll of his eyes.
"I am not only the head of the military, for the New Satedan Empire, I am also the Vice-President and although we have the fire power to win a war against the Coalition of planets, it is our desire to preserve peace in this galaxy."
"Well I guess that's a discussion for another time as well," Joe commented.
"Yes, it will have to be because I need to get back to the bridge. You are both welcome to join me, or you can head to the mess hall if you are hungry."
Rodney looked at Joe with pleading in his eyes, "I guess I could use food."
Joe just rolled his eyes, he knew that despite the fact that Rodney was a hologram he loved to eat, "I will accompany you Dr McKay, as I am famished."
Rodney was relieved when five minutes later he was sitting down to enjoy the largest sandwich he had ever seen and there was lots of coffee as well.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tuart was relieved when Carson exited Michaels ship, "did you run into Michael?"
Carson smiled at him, "no, fortunately he was so engrossed in his work that he didn't have any idea what was going on."
"Great, I've set some charges around his ship and I suggest we set some in your lab and perhaps some in the corridors between here and your lab." Tuart suggested.
"What about Roget's body?" Carson asked and Tuart could see the concern in his eyes.
Tuart's face darkened, he knew that Roget needed to be given a proper burial, but he also knew that they needed to act quickly and there was no way they were going to be able to get his body out of there in a hurry, "we may have to come back for him later, for now I suggest that we get Colonel Sheppard and anyone else we can out of here."
"Aye I couldn't agree more, let's lay charges on the way and then when we get to the lab where Colonel Sheppard is being held, we can lay a few more."
Tuart nodded and followed Carson laying more explosives as he went, he knew that it would only take a few placed in strategic positions to obliterate Michael's work and hopefully kill Michael at the same time. He knew that it would be dangerous and the chances of them getting out were slim, but he hadn't told Carson that, as he didn't want to worry him.
Once they had laid charges in Carson's lab, Tuart followed him as they headed to the cave that Sheppard was being kept in.
Tuart was shocked by what he saw when he entered, he gulped, before rushing over to Sheppard's side. He did not like what he saw. There was a large Iratus bug attached to his neck and he had numerous injuries covering his body. "What are we going to do Carson, how the hell are we going to get this bug off of him."
Although Tuart had never seen a live Iratus bug, he had seen pictures of them, so he knew exactly what it was, and it terrified him.
Carson rushed over to John' side. "First thing I have to do, is get that bloody bug off of him. We were doing research when I was working back on Atlantis and I believe that by injecting John with a sedative that it will be transferred to the bug through the feeding process. Hopefully, it won't kill John as well."
"So, it may not be safe?" Tuart asked.
"I don't know, but if I don't do something quick, he will definitely die."
John moaned at that point, taking a shallow breath he whispered "Carson."
"I am here John; Tuart is here as well and we are going to get you out of here."
Carson walked up to John and stood over him, so that he could see his face. "John, I'm going to inject you with a sedative. As the bug continues to feed on you, I'm hoping that it will be absorbed into its system and it will die, and we'll be able to get it off."
"Do it." John rasped out.
Carson looked around the cave and found some sedatives that Michael had used on some of his other human test subjects, he then patted John's shoulder and slowly injected the sedative into his system. John's eyes were becoming droopy and eventually he lost consciousness.
"Tuart, we may need a weapon in a minute." Carson told him.
Tuart pulled his gun out and set it to kill. They stood there for a couple of minutes before the bug started to pull away from John's neck, it fell to the floor looking half dead. Before it had a chance to crawl away Tuart shot it. It rolled on to its back and stopped moving. Tuart shot it a few more times just to make sure.
Carson looked down at John and started to Check his injuries. He grabbed his wrist and took his pulse, before placing his hand on his forehead to check his temperature.
"We need to get him out of here now. His breathing and heart rate are irregular, and I may need to intubate, so we need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible!" Carson demanded.
"I should be able to carry him, but you will need to detonate the charges at the right time," Tuart said as he picked John up and started walking towards the entrance to the caves, hoping that Carson was actually following him.
He walked as quickly as he could with his heavy burden in his arms and he was relieved when Carson came up alongside of him. "let me know when I can detonate the charges?" Carson said and it was obvious to Tuart that he was struggling to keep up.
Tuart just nodded, as he continued to hurry towards the exit, when he was about five metres from the cave entrance, he looked at Carson and spied something behind him. Looking closer he realised that Michael's hybrids were chasing them. He knew that now was the time to act, even if it meant that they would end up cutting off their only escape route.
"Carson, shoot those hybrids and detonate the charges!?" He yelled.
Everything appeared to go in slow motion from that point, Carson shot the hybrids and flipped the switch, before the ground began to rumble and shake around them. He heard explosions in the distance and dirt started to fall from the ceiling, Aw crap there's about to be a cave in, he thought as he run towards the entrance.
Just before they made it to freedom the roof of the cave collapsed on top of them, Tuart's first thought was to cover John's already injured body and protect him. A large rock hit him in the back of his head and the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the cave entrance disappearing when a pile of rock and debris fell from the ceiling.
TBC…