Stargate Atlantis: Nature's Bounty5
The mist was thickening into rain. It washed the trees, the ground and the hills in a murky darkness that dissolved the sky into the land. The rain was cold, clammy, sticking to clothes and to skin like a sweaty palm. It weighed down clothing and hair. It made the mud almost impassable in some areas, more like a quagmire than dry land.
"There." Aiden shoved Moira to her knees.
It took a moment to see clearly through the grime. It took a moment to see the dead body in front of her. Moira drew back in alarm, hands on her thighs as she sat with her legs bent under her. She kept staring as she opened her backpack.
"What is it?" Aiden asked, keeping his gun on the woman although she hardly seemed a threat.
"I don't know," Moira muttered. "Let me scan it and take tissue samples." She produced a square machine that looked very much like an old Earth cassette tape player. It hummed to life at her touch and she began to manipulate its screen. Instantly it began to film the body in front of her as she swept the camera's eye back and forth, back and forth. Another command produced a tiny scraper and vial that extended out to take DNA samples from the body's bare arm. "This was designed for very small creatures, or very dangerous ones. It will secure the samples without any human contamination and keep them secure until I can get back to the lab. Have you ever seen anything like this creature before?"
"No," Aiden said, fascinated despite himself as the little machine did its work. "That's why I brought you here. It's almost human. Definitely not Wraith."
"It could very well be human, or a species of human." Moira's mind was racing as she stared at the creature in front of her. Mud covered most of it but she could discern a humanoid body and gray skin. It wore clothing and curious armor. There was some kind of implant on its bald head and over one eye. "Did you kill it?"
"No. The Wraith did…they couldn't feed on it so they killed it but it took three of them. Then they came after us and we finished them off, but this…it can't be human!"
"We're in another galaxy, remember?" she stated. Carefully she scooted closer, stretching the machine over the creature's face to extract a cheek swab. Her hands shook slightly but she was certain the creature was dead. "You killed the Wraith for their enzyme?"
"Yeah. Our synthesized stuff isn't as good anymore. Hey, how did you know that?"
"I read your file."
"I have a file? Cool!"
Moira sat back and the machine stored the tissue samples. It snapped shut. She slid the machine into her backpack, and stared at the creature. It was large, bulkier and taller even than Ronon. The head was bald, revealing a large skull with a somewhat protruding brow line. Curious markings were on the skull and the breast plate of the armor it wore, insignia of some kind. "This mechanical part…my guess is that it's a neural implant of some sort, for heightened senses or for communication or both. Do you think you could remove it? It may store data."
Silence. Whispers of rain slithered on the wind. Moira felt a shiver and turned on her knees, only to be backhanded by Aiden. She cried out, falling onto the creature. To her horror she thought she felt it move beneath her. She scrambled but was violently hauled to her feet.
"Shut up! Move!" Aiden was furious. He had let his guard slip, just for a moment and now he knew they were no longer alone. He could feel unseen eyes on him. He forcibly dragged Moira away from the creature, heading for higher ground.
"No! Let go of me!" Moira had managed to grab her backpack and swung it towards Aiden but the blow didn't even slow him down. "I thought you wanted my help! Let go of me!"
Aiden swore, whirling and placing the muzzle of a handgun to her temple. "Come out, sir. I know you are there. Sheppard. Sheppard!"
John silently cursed and stepped out of the hollow where he had been crouched, biding his time and lining up his shot. He raised his arms, holding the P90 over his head and approached slowly. He stared, feeling a surge of anger seeing Moira bruised and battered and bleeding. "Ford. Let her go. I'm here now."
"I knew you'd show up, sir. But only you. Tell the rest to go."
"You know I can't do that, lieutenant. They have to hold the 'Gate for us. Let her go and we can talk, just the two of us. Then we can all go back to Atlantis."
"Atlantis?" He spit. "Atlantis abandoned us! Atlantis abandoned me!"
"We left to protect Earth from the Wraith. And you could have come back to us at any time," John reasoned, gaze locked on Aiden and the gun at Moira's temple. He slowly neared, step by step, the mud squelching under his boots, P90 still held up in the air. Rain sluiced down his arms and he blinked it out of his eyes. "Now put down the gun and let's talk. We don't harm our own now do we? I just gave you a direct order, lieutenant. Let Doctor O'Meara go and we can talk."
"No! You just want to imprison me, or abandon me on some other planet! No, sir! I lead a team now, just like you! A team much better than yours!"
"Your team is dead, Aiden. Put down the gun and come back to mine."
"You…you killed…"
"We don't harm our own and I won't tolerate those who do," John said sternly to Aiden's genuine shock. Abruptly he lowered the gun, flipped it, aimed it and held it steadily. It was so fast that Moira barely had time to react and Aiden barely had time to protest. "It's your call."
Aiden snorted. His grip tightened on Moira's arm and he pressed the gun's muzzle to her skin. "You wouldn't risk a shot."
"I'm not aiming at her."
Aiden gulped, recalling the last time John had uttered those words. John had somehow shot past Elizabeth Weir to hit Kolya and send him through the Stargate. The military commander appeared just as determined now, even more so as he squarely had his target in his sights and was not going to back down.
Moira squirmed but the pressure of the gun and Aiden's grip stopped her. "Look, we're all from Atlantis, right? We should all be on the same side, right? We need to help each other against the Wraith and this new alien," she tried to reason, but both men ignored her, locked in a battle of wills and resentment.
"You abandoned me, sir. You…you left me out here to fend for myself!"
"That was your choice, lieutenant. I am sorry I couldn't save you back then, but I can save you now. All you have to do is put down the gun and let her go." John sounded sincere. A guilty sorrow filled his eyes, but his gaze never wavered and his aim never shifted.
Aiden suddenly laughed. It was a quiet but maniacal sound. "She'll be dead before me."
"Then you'll be next." John's finger stroked the trigger. "It doesn't have to be this way, Ford."
"I'm afraid it does, Sheppard."
Time seemed to stop, then slow as the two weapons were fired almost simultaneously. Moira heard the click and closed her eyes, but was abruptly jerked sideways and a pain blossomed in her foot. She opened her eyes to see John standing, preparing to take another shot as Aiden was falling. Blood was spurting from his shoulder and had forced his arm to jump, his gun to lower and shoot Moira's foot instead of her head.
Moira staggered and fell to her knees as Aiden leapt to his feet. But John was there first, firing his weapon and rushing ahead to knock Aiden aside, away from Moira. Abruptly the two men grappled and the P90 was dropped into the mud. Moira scrambled on her hands and knees to grab the P90 as John was violently flung to the ground.
"See? See? You can't beat me, sir! I'm stronger now! Stronger, younger, faster, smarter and hey!" He looked down as blood spurted on his leg, as a pain flared like a bee sting. He looked up to see Moira awkwardly trying to stand from the recoil of the P90 she had just fired. Aiden laughed and stepped to her. He grabbed the gun out of her hands, tossed it aside. "Stupid bitch!" He slapped her across the face then slid his fingers around her throat, hauling her up onto her knees. "Stupid scientist! You think you can make a difference? You think he'd even notice you? You think he'd even choose you over me? You are nothing! You are not important at all, not like me! You are nothing, a shadow, a mouse, a little thing in a corner that no one ever notices and no one ever sees and no one ever gives a shit about and you are a—"
Moira was gasping, prying at his fingers as they dug into her skin, into her throat and cut off her air supply. The world was blurring into a gray and black fog, his words were infiltrating her mind and cutting her down as surely as the pressure on her throat was strangling her.
Until that pressure lessened.
Aiden halted in mid-rant, looking over in surprise. He was about to speak, but the blood pouring from the side of his head filled his eyes. He turned an accusatory look on Sheppard before the back of his skull exploded and he fell backwards, backwards, dead into the mud.
Moira gasped and fell, catching herself with her hands as she took in great gulps of cold, wet air, filling her lungs. She looked over to see the military commander. John was on his knees, gun still trained on the fallen man. There was a grim expression on his handsome face, and blood was trickling out of the corner of his mouth.
John slowly moved to his feet. He spat blood out of his mouth. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand. He walked over to the body of his former lieutenant and just stood there, gun still trained on him just in case. It was starting to rain now. The heavy drops did little to wash the blood and filth off his clothes and skin. Rivulets streamed along his long, lean body, plastering his black clothes to him, plastering his hair to his head. He slowly lowered the 9mm but retained a firm grip on it.
John stood over the body, towering above her. A flash of lightning cast him in light, then shadow, a stark study of a primal male after the kill. Or so Moira thought as she stared, riveted. She staggered to her feet, wincing at the pain and adjusting the backpack onto her shoulder. She limped to John. "Colonel? Colonel Sheppard, we need to go. Colonel Sheppard?" She gingerly touched his arm as heart raced, raced.
He seemed made of marble, a statue clad in black, staring down at his former lieutenant. Raindrops glinted on his long eyelashes and ran along his sideburns, along his scruffy jaw, then down his long neck. Water shone on his full, perfect lips and he licked them, a quick motion of his tongue that hypnotized Moira. Until her foot burned with pain and she faltered, nearly falling and shivering as the rain soaked her and she felt she was sinking into the mud. "Colonel Sh-sh-sheppard?" she stammered. "John? John!" Her gentle touch turned into a shove.
John blinked, eyed her. His green eyes were full of anger, pain and guilt. Like a man surfacing from a dark pool of inner darkness he stared at her. He lifted his empty hand towards her and Moira winced, as if expecting to be struck. But his touch was gentle as his fingers played along her bruised, cut cheek and lip. "Moira." His voice was low, raw and almost proprietary.
Moira shivered but not from the cold. She swallowed. "John, we have to get out of here. Please."
He nodded, withdrawing his hand as his gaze roved over her. Her clothes were plastered to her body, like a second skin revealing every curve and swell under the mud and blood. Her soft voice calmed him. He looked at Aiden again then moved to grab his P90. He slid the 9mm into his thigh holster. He stopped. He turned to her. "What did he want to show you?"
"What? Oh, an, an alien. He wanted me to identify it."
"Show me."
"There's no need. I have film of it plus some DNA samples for analysis."
"Show me," he repeated in a quiet, firm voice.
She sighed, nodded. "This way." She took his hand, her fingers lacing with his and led him around Aiden towards an even muddier area in a little clearing away from the trees.
John was watching her limp. He was watching the motion of her muscles under her sodden clothes. "Your foot. He shot it," he said. He felt surreal, as if he had been in some drugged nightmare and only now was coming back to himself. But the feel of her fingers in his was real enough. Warm. Solid.
"Yes. I'm fine. Here…the…" Moira froze.
John came up behind her, stepped next to her.
The clearing was empty.