Realisation
Shepherd took a look around at the surrounding buildings of the city. He had some good cover here from Atlantis' Control Tower so he was in no immediate danger. He took a few steps forward before he heard a sickening crack above his head.
the 302 had just shot the first Puddle Jumper to pieces right over him - on fire, it began to fall, the roar of engines soon caught up with him, as the Puddle Jumper exploded on impact against the Tower behind him. Shepherd made a desperate dash for the far end of the walkway.
The second Puddle Jumper shot like a bullet under the walkway, closely followed by the 302 - damn, that's one good pilot... They darted between buildings in a furious game of cat and mouse before they shot out of the streets into the sky - the 302 unleashed a flurry of bullets and the second Jumper blew into a million pieces.
"Colonel! that 302 just took out two Puddle Jumpers... he has some real skill if he can pull that off without the help of the Ancient Gene! it's practically impossible to take down a Jumper, it has all the advantages!"
"We know... and the Daedalus isn't happy about its loss at all. Make this mission worth it, Shepherd, we just lost two good pilots down there. Find out who that pilot is, shepherd." said Hammond sounding very frustrated.
The 302 flew back over his head and shot towards the other side of the city, doing a Victory Roll in the process. show off... Shepherd moved into the building he'd been taking shelter at. There were lockers on every wall, a lift in the centre of the room, and a door at the far end.
He took cover behind a crate as he heard voices moving closer. "So, what the hell did you need to talk to me about? the next time you run at me and pull me out of my patrol, you're getting shot," said the first of the guards, who came through the opposing door with somebody else. He took time to look at the panicking man who'd pulled him down the hallway... "You're sweating... you look like you've seen a ghost," he said.
"Listen, there's something on this base - not one of our own," said the second. something? that can't be me...
"What? why didn't you report it to the CO!?" the first one shouted, getting frustrated.
"The intruder... he's not human... he cu-ut down m-my squad on a routine p-patrol through the medical qua-arter... He's using some kind of s-sword!" the second man stuttered.
"Snap out of it you daft prick, nobody else has seen this 'intruder,' you're probably just high, I told you to stop taking that E..." said the first, entirely unconvinced.
"Of course you didn't see him! he's using Jumper technology, you can't even -" just as the second man was getting somewhere, their radio crackled.
"Alpha Squad, fall back to the Control Tower, somebody wiped out an entire Patrol, we have an intruder, and I want to know who it is!" the man shouted over the radio, and the two guards looked at eachother.
"Now I think I believe you. Let's get back to the Tower and tell them what you saw," said the first man, as they both ran through the door ahead.
something did that to a patrol? what could it be? thought shepherd. "Colonel, there's an intruder on the base besides me. He's cut down an entire patrol, and nobody has a damn clue where it is," said shepherd over his radio.
"Well you did get some kind of 'support' at least... just... take advantage of the work and find the hostages. The building you're in should have a prison block a few floors down, the Hostages should be there. There are 15 hours left until their deadline, Shepherd. We need that nuke ID'd and disposed of before then." hammond said.
Shepherd looked around - this looked like some kind of armoury... he walked over to a locker at the far end of the room and kicked it open. There was a Beretta 92fs sat on a shelf with a locked slide. He picked up the boxes of ammo near it and dropped them in his chest pouches. He slided a magazine into the 92fs, and the slide shot back into place.
He got in the lift at the centre of the room, holstering his newfound weapon. the little flashing light kept decreasing until one of the little Ancient lights lit up and the doors opened.
"Shepherd, we're reading Woolsey's signal in the room to your left - hurry in there and get him out for extraction," the colonel's voice came over his radio.
Shepherd ran down the hallway and took a left turn - there was a door into the room on his left. He entered, and flinched as he saw a guard - before noticing he was snoring loudly on his chair. Shepherd grabbed the cell's keys from the desk and unlocked the door on the farthest left.
Woolsey looked like he'd been tortured for information... but Shepherd shut the door behind him so he couldn't get out.
"Shepherd!? what are you doing here!?" woolsey said, scanning him up and down.
"I'm the pawn they sent in here to save your ass, but I want information first," Shepherd said.
"Anything you want to know, just get me out of here!" Woolsey looked desperate now.
"Hold on. We need to know - do the terrorists really have the ability to launch a nuclear strike?" Shepherd asked without blinking. He'd come here for this, so he should make it worth it.
"Why? what are they doing?" Woolsey said, looking confused.
"Fox-Hound are threatening the US, and they say that if their demands aren't met in the next 15 hours, they'll launch a nuclear weapon,"
Woolsey looked shocked. "What are their demands?" he asked.
"The remains of O'Neill. And one billion dollars." Shepherd felt like this was coming from the mouth of a terrorist itself...
Woolsey almost fainted. "They can't ask for that much!" he said, falling back onto his bed. "Ok... so they could launch a Nuke..."
"What!? this is a derelict city with no real source of power, where'd they get a Nuke from!?" Shepherd shouted.
"It was here all along. When the Atlantis expedition failed, the Government decided to put the base to some use, and stored a few Warheads here..."
"Those idiots! they were too vulnerable!" Shepherd gasped.
"And they found out my password! I never could resist torture..." Woolsey began to moan.
"Your password?" Shepherd asked, confused.
"Yes. My password. I know one, and Landry knows one. Both of our passwords are needed to disengage the safety device. Only then can you make a Nuclear Strike," Woolsey sobbed.
"You've said enough - Get to the roof and I'll call for a cloaked puddle jumper as your extraction. I'm gonna go get Landry," Shepherd said.
"Shepherd... thanks for doing this - it means a lot... I never - wait, do you hear that?" Woolsey whispered.
The sound of a fight going on outside met their ears. There was loud shout, a deafening crack as somebody fell to the floor, and after a few minutes, the door opened...