Note1: Happy New Year ahead to all :) Thank you so much for reading this fic and sticking with this AU world with me.
Note2: I was hoping to post one last chapter for the year, but the chapter just went on so long that I decided to split it into two. Therefore, I am pleased to provide two new chapters today to see in the New Year. I hope you enjoy them.
0000
Chapter 24 – The Threat
An atmosphere of discord and anxiety hovered over the Government buildings as Ladon moved quickly through the corridors. The morning was proving to be uncomfortably warm outside and a thick sense of humidity seemed to hang in the air, stealing the promise of a clean and fresh breath of air.
Or was that simply due to the tensions and whispers moving through the hallways?
The news of the latest riot had filtered around the senior officials and whispered between work colleagues. The riot had been small and had been contained at the main entrance into First City, seemingly started by those seeking to spread their discontent in from Second City.
But, of course, it was not the work of simply dissatisfied farmers and traders. Kolya was ramping up his plans, which suggested that perhaps the hour had arrived. Though no confirmation had yet been received through Ladon's co-conspirators that Major Sheppard had been captured successfully, the timing of the riot and the increasing sense of tension in the halls of power suggested that indeed Kolya had begun his endgame.
So, this hurried and sudden call for Ladon to report to Cowen's office was a little concerning, but perhaps expected.
Turning one last bend in the stone-worked hallways, the entrance to Cowen's office appeared just ahead, but the door was shut and the space outside it was filled with other waiting officials. Ladon arrived into the group, his eyes drawn almost immediately to where Hulte and General Maloo were stood to one side. Hulte lifted his chin as an invitation and Ladon started towards them.
As he made his way through the worried looking gathered officials and military leaders, Ladon caught snippets of their conversations, and almost all of it was about the riot. Lots of supposition and gossip mixed with nervous glances towards Cowen's closed door.
Having reached Hulte and Maloo, Ladon turned his back to the others around them, trusting Maloo to keep a subtle watch that no one strayed too close to hear anything incriminating.
"What is this about?" Ladon asked them quietly, the discussion easily covered by the other voices.
Hulte's eyes slid over to Maloo, who was the one to answer. "The Portal had received two dial ins from both Athos and Atlantis in the last hour."
Ladon drew in a breath. "Then it is underway for certain."
Hulte nodded. "Cowen refused the first dials in from both Athos and Atlantis, citing the current high alert lockdown, but then the Elite and Enforcement made further contact and now there is a dial in from Atlantis."
Ladon switched his eyes to Cowen's shut office door. "He's talking with them now?"
"We believe so," Hulte supplied.
"What has been said?" Ladon pushed for more details.
"No one knows yet," Hulte replied. "Only Commander General Reed is in there with him."
Ladon nodded, worrying on his lower lip as he considered the closed door.
"Are we still in agreement on our planned intervention?" Hulte asked, his voice lowering even further so that it was barely audible even to Ladon stood only a foot away.
Ladon nodded, his eyes shifting to Maloo, but the General nodded immediately. Though somewhat new to the covert group working for Kolya, he was trusted by Hulte and had a good military reputation that Kolya clearly respected. Brought into the fold by Hulte since Maloo had been hoping to bid for the Elite Political Marriage, Ladon suspected that Maloo's main motivation now in helping was to be part of the strike that would kill Major Sheppard. Though rarely one to show any glimpse of emotion, Maloo was clearly resentful that the Major had stolen his chance to marry an Elite warrior and seal himself a lucrative and politically important lifelong position.
"I will see to-" Hulte replied, but a sudden loud crashing sound cut through the air.
All discussions in the hallway dropped away instantly, all eyes on Cowen's closed door, through which could still be heard the rattling of something rolling across the floor inside.
Ladon glanced at Hulte, and the Ambassador smiled back – Cowen was reacting in his usual way then. The plan was ready to unfold. The next step was to build Cowen's fear of the Elite and the importance of assisting them and Atlantis to find Major Sheppard and bring Kolya to justice. Cowen needed to lead the raid that would attempt to capture Kolya, which, in his mind, would mean showing himself as the bold and powerful Genii leader that he wanted to be. Storming an enemy's bunker, fighting alongside the Elite and Atlantis, would be exactly what he needed to do to reaffirm his power; or at least that was what they needed to help him believe in order to fulfil Kolya's plan.
And yet...though the plan was of Kolya's devising, Ladon did not quite understand how this was going to be achieved in light of the riots and the new Alliance-wide high alert. Cowen had started to hunker down in his offices here and in his highly fortified Palace away from any potential riots and possible chance of being caught in a culling. Would that make him more likely to go off-world during a crisis? Would leaving the planet in the hour of need be seen as a very weak move by the Supreme Leader and present the opportunity for the people to riot and take over in his absence? Or would Cowen jump at the chance to leave for awhile and then be able to return a victorious Elite-assisting leader?
Of course he would never return, as Kolya's plan and Ladon's carefully constructed destructive device would ensure that Cowen and his strike battalion were removed efficiently from the Genii' main staging primary planet. The problem then would be, how to ensure that Kolya was stopped from returning and taking over, which was why Ladon and Hulte, with Maloo assisting, had planned to secretly assist Atlantis. If Kolya could remove Cowen, and Atlantis remove Kolya, then the threat of the Genii falling under another dictatorship would be averted and the homeworld could finally find stable leadership.
The office door abruptly opened at the hand of Commander General Reed from inside, but it was Cowen's voice that shouted through the open doorway.
"In here, now!" He commanded and immediately everyone outside started to file into the office.
Ladon made sure to place himself in the middle of the pack this time, not hiding at the back where his position may look suspicious. He also made sure not to stand with Hulte either, instead sliding into a position to one side in full view of Cowen's desk. As Ladon found his place, he noticed the dented metal cup and broken glass frame on the floor by his boots; evidence of Cowen's outburst.
Except, Cowen was not showing any obvious signs of that anger at the moment; he was stood behind his dark throne-like chair, looking instead at the wall screen behind his desk. The screen showed an image of the vast city deep below First City, Cowen's birthplace. His back to everyone filing in, Cowen remained still and silent, his hands clasped behind his back. Ladon noticed that Cowen's knuckles and fingers were blanched slightly white from the tight clasp, which was the only outward sign of his anger.
Everyone inside the office, Commander General Reed moved into his usual place at Cowen's shoulder and the room fell silent, all eyes on Cowen's back.
"It seems," Cowen said after a beat, "that an old enemy has lifted his head above the grasses he has been hiding in and is attempting to strike at me from afar." Cowen's voice was oddly controlled and calm, reminding Ladon of the Supreme Leader's more balanced early years of ruling their people.
Around the crowded room, Ladon was aware there were at least five of his fellow conspirators, all ready and placed for this very moment. He made sure not to look at any of them, his eyes on Cowen and he worked to make sure he was frowning, as if unsure of Cowen's meaning. For though Cowen's back was turned to them, Commander General Reed was always watching.
"What enemy, Cowen?" Someone innocently asked from the crowd.
"One who was once a celebrated soldier of our people, but now who behaves little more than a criminal begging for scraps now that he is excommunicated," Cowen muttered, almost more to himself.
Two people stood close to Ladon whispered Kolya's name.
"Acastus Kolya," Cowen stated slowly. "I always knew he would try something one day; a good soldier never stops fighting."
Ladon made sure to frown deeply, exchanging a look with another senior official stood next to him.
"It seems," Cowen continued, his back still to them, "that Kolya has finally decided to take his revenge on Atlantis and has captured Major Sheppard, intending to kill him."
Ladon chose his moment. "Major Sheppard?" He asked Cowen. "As in Elite Emmagan's new Political Husband?" Worried whispering told him not everyone in the room had realised the full implications.
"Yes, Ladon," Cowen replied. "And Kolya is looking to lay the blame on me and our people."
More whispering.
"This cannot be allowed to happen," someone stated unnecessarily.
"We must strike back at him," Pendrick said from across the room, one of Ladon's fellow conspirators.
Pendrick had a staunch and unyielding belief in Kolya, which could present a problem in the days to come.
"We must prove to the Elite and Atlantis that we will not be blamed for such disregard for law," Pendrick continued, his words making sense to those around him considering his high position in security. "If the Elite blame the Genii and take out their revenge on us..."
More worried whispers met that seeded idea.
"We can't have the Elite coming here, blaming us!" Someone said a little too loudly.
But, oddly, Cowen didn't seem to react to that, and the office fell quiet again, all eyes returning to his back.
"Something has been playing on my mind for some time now," Cowen told them. "About these riots." Ladon held still, surprised. "But now it makes sense. Small strike groups that appear out of nowhere; it is just the kind of thing Kolya would think of."
Ladon swore he could feel Hulte looking at him across the crowded room, but he kept his eyes on Cowen, working on the appearance of confused worry; which was not all that difficult considering Cowen's surprising reaction so far.
"Underhanded but arrogantly bold," Cowen continued with surprisingly calm logic. "It stinks of Kolya. He thought he could undermine my rule, force the Genii people against each other, but that wasn't working, so now he's taken things a step further. He's using Atlantis and even the Elite against me," Cowen shook his head. "The arrogance of the man."
Ladon risked a glance across the others in the room, seeing Maloo on the edge of his view; the General was frowning, his own surprise clear on his face.
"Then it is even more vital that we are the ones to deal with Kolya," Pendrick put in. "That we stop his traitorous ways and prove your innocence and power to our people, to bring us back together."
It sounded good, and on any other day it might work, but the words felt oddly concocted in the face of Cowen's turned back and oddly calm behaviour.
"Commander General Reed tells me that we have some possible locations as to where Kolya has been hiding all these years," Cowen asked over his shoulder towards Pendrick.
"We have some possible locations," Pendrick agreed, "but it has been policy not to hunt him outside of Alliance territory."
"Under whose orders?" Cowen asked sharply. Ladon didn't like this. Did Cowen already suspect Pendrick?
"It is part of the general Alliance agreement," unexpectedly it was Commander General Reed who supplied that fact, saving Pendrick without intending. "We are not allowed to pursue any territory or vendettas outside of the borders."
Cowen looked at Reed at his side, but, at this angle, Ladon could not see his expression.
"With the Elite's request for our assistance," Pendrick put in, "we can now put together a strike force to find Kolya wherever he thinks he can hide from us outside the border."
Cowen finally looked round, turning on the spot, his eyes on Pendrick. "And why would we do that exactly?"
A moment of mutual surprised confusion fell across the office. Ladon tried not to wince as he watched Pendrick try to recover.
"To stop him," Pendrick came up with.
"And play right into Kolya's hands?" Cowen asked, some anger starting to rise in his voice. "I have no doubt that any, if not all, of our intelligence on his possible location is tainted with the stink of Kolya's touch. No Genii lives will be lost walking into Kolya's very obvious trap. We'll let Atlantis and the Elite find him."
Cowen moved around his desk chair and sat down, and as he settled back in his throne, he finally looked around the room. "I want a list of any and all possible locations of Kolya and I want when all within the next half hour. I will then provide the list to Atlantis for them to do the hard work for us, and, if they find Kolya, I have no doubt that the Elite will deal with him. If he is so stupid as to kidnap an Elite's Husband, then I'll not stop them making sure he's never a problem again," Cowen smiled with clear satisfaction.
Whatever Cowen's initial reaction to the news from Atlantis, the broken evidence of which crunched under Ladon's boot, clearly he had thought it through and arrived at what was a rather sensible conclusion.
But, it was exactly the opposite of what Kolya wanted him to do.
Wasn't it? Wasn't this exactly what Ladon had feared? That Cowen would not do as they hoped he would. Cowen had spotted the trap easily enough, it seemed, which surely Kolya would have considered. Kolya was one of the most highly skilled strategists Ladon had ever known, a fact which struck him as the plan appeared to evaporate in front of them.
Would Kolya really have so completely underestimated Cowen? Or was there going to be another part of the plan that would draw Cowen off-world later, which Ladon and his group were not yet aware. They had suspected that Kolya had started to alter his plan without sharing the changes with them, but getting Cowen off-world had always been a central part of the plan.
Unless Kolya had given up on that idea.
It occurred to Ladon that, if Major Sheppard were never recovered, if he were killed and Kolya never found, how would the Elite and the rest of the Alliance react? The blame, or at least heavy suspicion, would surely fall on Cowen and the Genii people. Would the Elite put boots on the homeworld? Would Enforcement arrive to investigate the highest levels of Government? Perhaps Kolya had already left little pieces of incriminating evidence for that eventuality.
Athos surely would withdraw all its trade, which would be a severe blow to the Genii economy, especially as Athos' many close trading partners might feel obligated to also punish the Genii by withdrawing their trade and support. Would Political Marriages be broken, defence contracts withdrawn, and currency investment abruptly vanish?
And at the heart of it all, Supreme Leader Cowen would be blamed. What would Ladon's fellow Genii do if they thought it was all his fault? As in the old days of the Genii civilisation, would there be a mass revolution to remove the leader? Could this be Kolya's new plan? To drag Cowen from his throne using the Genii people themselves.
It was a plan that suddenly made far more sense to Ladon than the simple attempt to lure Cowen off-world for an untraceable explosive device to remove him. This way, Kolya could return once Cowen was removed, blaming everything that had befallen the Genii people on Cowen's terrible rule. Kolya would promise them a bright new future, to unite the Genii people once again, despite having secretly been the one to tear them apart in the first place.
It seemed mad, so unfeelingly cruel to their people, that Ladon could only pray that it was simply all in his own mind.
Hulte's voice rose over Ladon's worried thoughts.
"Cowen, might I suggest," Hulte said in his own worried tone, "that, as our Ambassador to Athos, that I visit Leader Torren and assure him of our conviction to assist in the recovery of his new Son by Marriage." There as some murmurs of agreement. "Considering how much trade we have with Athos and its closest allies, and the new contracts following the decline of our offer of Political Marriage, I think it is important that I visit him in person for you."
And also provide the next step in the plan to undermine Kolya, which was now perhaps even more vital than before. The locations Ladon and Hulte were going to give Atlantis were at least actual known secret bases and holding places Kolya had been using out beyond the border, whereas what Cowen was going to supply them would probably be simple weak gossip and old former Genii spy huts. No, Atlantis needed the accurate list now more than ever if they were going to find Major Sheppard and Kolya.
Cowen appeared to be thinking about Hulte's suggestion. "I agree, make sure that we're seen as very worried," Cowen replied almost eagerly. "In fact, stay close to Torren, because he'll have reliable intel on Atlantis' hunt for Kolya and Major Sheppard. Stay with him and report back regularly; I want to know what is happening as it happens."
"Yes, Cowen," Hulte agreed readily, but obviously not for the reasons Cowen was aware.
Ladon could only hope that Atlantis were successful and that Kolya was stopped quickly. Though all of Ladon's fellow conspirators disapproved of Cowen's unstable and weak rule, at least he was not using drugs, civil unrest, and the threat of collapsing the Genii economy as Kolya was willing to do.
No, it was vitally important that Major Sheppard was rescued and able to report who had taken him, for he had become the linchpin in a war between the two aggressive Genii leaders.
00000
Teyla had never felt so useless in her entire life.
Everyone around her was doing their very best to prepare all they could to help find John, while Teyla just watched, providing nothing except a few comments.
She'd stood to the side and watched as Colonel Carter had expertly spoken with Cowen. The Colonel had delivered her news and worked her request for his assistance with remarkable skill, walking an amazing balance of being somewhat accusatory while also coming across as helping Cowen by reporting Kolya's work. Cowen had in turn provided a surprisingly balanced response, clearly unpleased, but seeming to be willing to provide some intelligence on where Kolya might be. He had also agreed to work with the Elite in allowing access to the Genii' personnel database.
Shortly after Colonel Carter had spoken with Cowen, Father had dialled in from Athos once more, reporting that the Honour Guard were working closely with Halling and Oneakka at the Facility and that they had already received acknowledgement from the Genii that they could access the Genii databanks. It seemed all were active and working to do whatever they could.
Even Earth's IOA group appeared to be providing some support and brainstorming ideas with Colonels Carter and Sumner, and Si and the two Facility technicians had been working hard with Doctors McKay and Zelenka to interface the analysis tech to the Ancestor systems. The interface had been completely a short time ago, and Si was sat in front of the main screen on the tech running preliminary tests on the recording Atlantis had provided of the transmission from the captors. Sat on one side of Si, the two technicians were in deep discussion with him, with plenty of pointing and reprogramming of settings. While on Si' other side, Dr McKay was watching and asking his own questions.
Teyla just watched it all, seeing everyone fulfilling their roles, while all she could do was stand and watch.
And desperately try not to keep replaying the horrific images from the recording in her mind's eye.
John.
She was completely useless to him just when he needed her the most.
She just needed somewhere to go or something to do for him, but there was nothing for her to do but wait.
A display on Dr McKay's computer screen to her left showed the Earth time system. To help her understand the timing, someone had given her one of the Earth wrist timepieces, and she found she kept looking at the device with an obsessiveness that only made the two small 'arms' of the Earth clock seem to move all that slower.
But the arms had kept moving, and were continuing to do so towards the fateful predicted time that John's captors would dial back into Atlantis.
Leaning down, Seeal looked over Si shoulder and watched the analysis readings, as she did she rested her hands on Si' wide and supportive shoulders. She was so desperately grateful Si was here and helping, for these transmission analyses were not her forte. She peered at the main screen in front of Si, watching the readings it had managed to capture from the recording, but she could already see that it was incomplete.
"Our systems aren't understanding the Ancestor readings of the recorded transmission," Si supplied her with the answer to her unasked question.
"We need to record and analyse a transmission through the Portal in real time," one of the technicians confirmed the resulting conclusion.
Teyla nodded and stood back upright. She had suspected this would be the case, but she had hoped so very much that a clear origin Portal might have been discovered so easily.
So, they had to wait for John to be tortured again.
She closed her eyes for the time it took her to draw in a breath and release it.
She was not sure that she could watch John going through that again.
As much as she hated it, she had agreed with Vakalis' suggestion that, for now, she remain unseen by the enemy. Colonel Carter and Si had both supported the suggestion, for it meant that the enemy might think Elite warriors and technology could not be used against them while the Alliance was on high alert.
Which was yet another area where she was completely useless right now. A Hive ship was somewhere in Alliance space and could potentially attack any planet at any time. There had actually been a culling on Atreus! Atreus had not seen a Wraith anywhere near its space in decades. Her fellow Elite were stationed around the Alliance, ready to support and fight, and she was not there to help. For all she knew, Athos could be the next planet to be attacked.
She took another controlled breath in and out to calm herself.
And then the Portal could be heard statring up.
"Unscheduled off-world activation!" The man sat at the Ancestor Portal console announced.
Teyla lifted her left wrist and it's slightly too big Earth timepiece. It was time!
She dropped her eyes back to Si' screen and saw him quickly preparing to analyse and record the inbound Portal's transmissions. Dr McKay moved back to sit in front of his computer screen, which he had told her would allow them to watch the inbound transmission without her being seen.
Not that she wanted to watch it.
Perhaps it was not John's captors, but Father or even Cowen dialling into Atlantis.
The wormhole exploded to life in the room below, out of Teyla's view, but she saw the moment that the transmission started across Si' screen. At least the tech was working.
"Receiving video feed," the announcement was proclaimed at the front of the room.
Teyla dropped her gaze over Dr McKay's screen just to her left, her uselessness threatening to tear her apart as the image appeared.
0000
John had just started to feel a lot stronger then Kolya's goons had returned.
He had watched as they unlocked the cell door and had considered putting up a proper fight this time, but, clearly, they were expecting him to try. All three of the goons had their Alliance guns ready, their eyes sharp and careful. As he'd walked out of his cell on demand this time, they'd annoyingly kept a smart distance from him; well beyond grabbing range.
So, he'd done as he was ordered and had quietly walked back down the cold stone hallways of their secret underground bunker of horror. Hopefully it wasn't going to be 'secret' all that much longer once Atlantis and Teyla got here.
As no immediate rescue appeared imminent right now, he'd focused on memorising the route from his cell to the hostage room, but, annoyingly, it was only two long corridors distance to walk and there had been no sight any of helpful staircases going upwards or any handy wall maps marked with 'you are here'.
He really hated it when an enemy was so damn smart.
Even more annoyingly, Kolya still hadn't appeared when John had been led back to the dentist chair of pain and strapped back into it.
As they worked, John tried desperately to hide the anxiety that was making him breathe too fast. He needed to stay calm. Looking round the room as casually as he could, his saw that Kolya's weak-ass replacement was already here.
As the last shackle was connected around John's ankles and the guards stepped out of view, Pranos stepped forward, smiling that snake smile.
"How are you feeling, Major Sheppard?"
"Just dandy," John replied sarcastically.
Pranos smiled again.
"Kolya still watching from afar?" John asked. His heart was already hammering in his chest just being back in here and they hadn't even brought out the Wraith yet. Maybe they weren't going to this time, after all there was no point in the Wraith just killing him and Pranos losing his leverage over Atlantis.
"I am keeping the Commander fully apprised," Pranos replied as the guard behind him was tapping away on his Alliance electronic pad cabled into the back of the big old camera. They were hooked up ready to play it appeared.
He needed to keep his cool here.
"Look," he said as calmly as he could up at Pranos, "we both know that my people are never going to hand Atlantis over to you."
"I think you underestimate your importance to Atlantis and the Elite," Pranos replied.
John frowned up at him. He'd had far too much time to think about this in the last three hours. "This isn't about Atlantis," he told Pranos, "this is about Kolya playing out his personal vendetta against me, so why don't we just finish this?"
"This is about you paying for your crimes against the Genii people," Pranos instantly argued.
"My crimes?" John scoffed.
Pranos shifted forward a step, leaning down towards John; yep he'd definitely hit a nerve. "It is because of you that Commander Kolya was forced to flee Alliance territory and Cowen continues to terrorise our people."
"It was Kolya and his team who stormed Atlantis and killed my people," John argued back.
"Your actions that day brought about the death of an entire battalion," Pranos spat back. "I knew those men and women, and, by closing Atlantis' Portal shield, you killed them all."
"We were the ones under attack; we were defending ourselves," John countered.
"I am sure that feels like justification enough for you," Pranos argued.
John made himself take a breath; this wasn't getting anywhere. He licked his overly dry lips and made himself stay calm and logical. "Look, just tell Colonel Carter what you really want and maybe we can make a deal."
"I have already made our terms very clear, Major Sheppard," Pranos stated and then waved sharply off to the left.
John heard the far door open and the new sounds of shuffling feet and the jangling of chains filled the horrifically silent room.
Breathing hard, John tried not to look round, but couldn't stop himself. He swore he could feel the old feeding mark start to sting again as he did, as if the sight of the Wraith had opened up the wound again. Shit, that didn't happen did it?
Only then John's view of the approaching Wraith was helpfully blocked by a Genii goon stepping forward with that white gag stretched between his hands again. This time John tried to resist the gag, which was probably a complete waste of energy, but he twisted his head one way and then the other, trying to fight against the fabric being wrapped around his head. The fight didn't work for more than a few seconds though, as another set of hands grabbed at John's head, holding him still enough for the gag fabric to be wrapped around his face.
As the Genii guard tied the gag in place a little too tightly at the back of John's head, he panted into the cloth, vividly aware of the clink clink of the chained Wraith being led past behind his chair.
The guards stepped back from him, and the dusty brown of the Wraith's outfit filled the right side of John's view. He worked hard not to look at it, to not look at that gauntleted feeding hand that was probably going to be freed any minute now.
His eyes on the floor as he worked to control his breathing and heart-rate, John listened as the guards unlocked the gauntlet and then the Wraith sighed almost blissfully.
On the edge of his peripheral vision, John saw the green fingers appear and flex with anticipation.
"Dial the Portal," Pranos ordered his underlings.
They were dialling Atlantis then.
John forced himself to look forward, holding his chin up. He wasn't going to go let Pranos think he was going to win this. Atlantis needed him to look strong and defiant, because he was.
And he didn't want their last view of him to be afraid and staring at the floor.
He didn't want Teyla to see him like that.
If she was even still in Atlantis.
He closed his eyes for a second, letting himself think about her. Things had been getting so much better between them, and now he was going to go out like this?
Memories of her from early this morning flashed through his mind's eye. He'd looked through their open adjoining door to see her sat on the floor meditating. Her face had looked so serene, her back so straight and yet relaxed, her hands gently resting on her thighs. New morning light had been creeping in around her curtains, and a small band of sunrise had shone across her lap.
He wanted to see that every morning.
But he might never see her again.
Rage at the unfairness of this threatened to fill his closed eyes with tears.
He should have kissed her. Just one last time.
He should have kissed her in the new morning sunlight.
"Atlantis, do you hear me?" Pranos called towards the Genii' camera.
John batted open his eyes and looked towards the camera, holding his chin up a little higher and he pulled his shoulders back.
"We are reading you," Colonel Carter's familiar, and welcome, voice echoed down from the small speakers of the Alliance pad connected to the big camera.
"Good," Pranos replied. He was stood slightly to the side this time, making sure Atlantis could see John straightaway this time. And the Wraith stood looming over him.
John wished he could see through to Atlantis, get to see his home one last time. Be able to see Teyla again and make sure she could see he was being strong.
"What is your answer, Colonel Carter?" Pranos asked the camera.
"We are prepared to discuss alternative terms with you," Colonel Carter's voice replied.
Pranos shook his head straightaway. "I have clearly stated our terms already. Will you evacuate Atlantis and turn it over to us?"
There was a pause, but John knew what the answer was going to be. It was never going to be anything else.
"No, we will not hand this city over to you," Colonel Carter stated clearly.
John nodded his head forcefully so they would be able to see it on the other side. It was important that the Colonel see that he agreed with her, that he wasn't going to let this idiot use him to force Atlantis to do anything.
"I am a very disappointed, Colonel Carter," Pranos said. "I can only assume that you doubt that we are fully prepared to sacrifice Major Sheppard for our cause. Consider what the Alliance and the Elite will say when you report to them that you allowed Major Sheppard to be murdered when you had it in your power to save him."
Did he have to use the word 'murdered'? John closed his eyes again, taking a breath to keep himself as calm as he could. On opening his eyes though, he immediately found himself glancing towards the Wraith on his right. The green feeding hand was held out, the Genii guard's grip clearly tight around the Wraith's wrist to hold it back; until they wanted the thing to feed on him.
John lifted his eyes further to look up at the Wraith's face, to find it was already watching him. The thing's hunger was pretty damn obvious, which only made John's heart hammer faster in his chest and that stinging sensation on the feeding mark increased.
The Wraith was slightly stooped forward, the guards' hands around it holding it back...or maybe holding it up as well? Now the thing was out of its cell, John could see the sickly looking sheen across the Wraith's face, and the drawn, almost gaunt, lines of its face. It had looked better during their argument.
The life it had taken from him earlier really had worn off already. Used up and discarded; John's own life. And clearly the Wraith needed more, and was probably going to get it any minute now.
"We do not, and will not, bow to terrorist demands," Colonel Carter's forceful words cut through John's assessment of the Wraith and he looked back towards the camera. He'd missed some conversation between the Colonel and Pranos, but the Colonel's statement caught him right up.
Pranos shook his head, as if he was actually sorry to hear what she had said. "That is very regrettable, Colonel Carter," he told her. "Let's see if this will help you change your mind."
Pranos looked round at the Wraith and its restraining guards.
John's heart kicked up an extra notch in speed and fury.
"Do it!" Pranos commanded.
John shot his eyes back up to the Wraith, seeing the guards releasing it, and the Wraith turned its alien eyes from Pranos down to John.
John stared up at it, defiant and snorting loudly at what was about to happen all over again.
For a fraction of a moment, he thought the Wraith wasn't going to do it, but then its hand flashed down with frightening speed.
The feeding hand hit right where it had last time and suddenly pain filled every part of John's existence.
0000000
on to chapter 25