Thank you all you lovely people for your lovely, lovely comments! Special thanks go to Wildweasel, sherryw, MacGateFan, Jules47, StarSkimmer, Titan5, chokolaj, auStraliS, drufan, Ditzyleo, reen21200, TheNaggingCube, Reyson and PryoDragon2006. Your reviews inspired me to write more so here's another early update just for you. The longest chapter yet! Hope you enjoy.
Chap 7: Shoot Out at OK Corral
Lt Colonel John Sheppard had every intention of staying where he was while Teyla saw to McKay. After all, he was hurting too much to try to move. Already, the makeshift bandage that Teyla had tied to his arm wound was soaking through with blood, not to mention his earlier shoulder wound was still bleeding slightly and throbbing like crazy. However, as he looked up towards the sound of weapons fire, he caught sight of a little girl, probably three or four years old, sitting on the ground and crying while a few panicked villagers dashed past her unnoticed. Some one, probably the Genii, had set a wooden hay cart on fire and had pushed it onto the street. Currently, it was heading straight towards the child.
John cursed, pushed himself up with a painful grunt and ran towards the girl, picking her up with his uninjured arm, barely avoiding the wooden cart as it rolled past them. The child continued to wail at his shoulder so he tried to calm her down with soft 'hush' and 'shoo' sounds. When that didn't work, he finally resorted to humming a soft lullaby that he seemed to remember as a kid. The calming tone of the melody seemed to work and soon the little girl stopped crying, giving little hiccups instead. Tiny fingers lifted and began playing with his spiked hair, pulling at the strands, something that John didn't find amusing at all.
"Hey, hey, hey... stop that, will ya? By the way, what's your name?" he asked, wondering what to do with her. The toddler didn't answer him, but gave a little soft giggle and pulled his hair even harder.
"Ow! Will ya stop that?" John frowned, but his voice was still gentle, and the child ignored him and continued playing with his hair. He knew that he needed to get the girl to safety, or at least hand her over to someone who could deliver her back to her parents. Suddenly a woman ran past him.
"Hey!" he called out, reaching out with his wounded arm despite the pain it caused him, trying to stop her. The Nonamer woman panicked. Thinking that he was the enemy, she gave him a painful kick in the shin, screaming loudly to let her go.
"Ow!" Sheppard cried out. "Hey, hey! Easy there! I'm the good guy here! I only wanted you to take this kid back to her parents!" he showed her the child that he was carrying.
"Oh!" the woman's eyes widened apologetically. "So sorry, mister. Yes, I know the girl, her parents will be worried looking for her! Here, pass her to me, I shall see that she is returned safely to her family. Thank you, good sir! Thank you!" she cried as she took the child and quickly fled towards one of the buildings.
John sighed, relieved that the child was safely taken care of and that he didn't need to worry about her any longer. He looked at his wounded shoulder and arm, frowning worriedly: both were still throbbing painfully and bleeding somewhat. Adrenalin was coursing through him, he still had strength remaining to do what he had to do. Wincing painfully, he clutched his wounded arm, took a deep breath and made his way towards the sound of battle. Adric and the other young men were not hardened soldiers, they knew nothing about battle tactics. They would need help if they were to defeat the Genii, even with Ronon's help.
o-O-o
The sound of gunfire had lessened by the time Sheppard reached the corner of an old abandoned barn. In the short period since their escape from the burning stake, the Genii had retreated and commandeered one of the villager's homes, using it as shelter. The house was situated in the outskirts of the Nonamer village. Sheppard was amazed at how far the Genii had moved in such a short space of time. Staggering towards a shadowed, isolated corner, he stumbled across the body of a dead Genii soldier and an injured young Nonamer, probably around Adric's age, lying on the ground. In the ensuring panic and chaos, he could see how easy it was for the villagers to miss the injured youngster lying hidden in the shadows. Bending down to assess the young man's injuries, he recognised the boy to be Calwen, one of Adric's young friends in the football team. The kid looked up at him with scared eyes riddled with pain as he clutched his bleeding gut.
"Am I going to die?" the youngster gasped out weakly, gripping John's forearm in a death grip as Sheppard began applying first-aid to Calwen's wound. He recognised the wound to be fatal, he had seen such injuries before. However, he couldn't leave the kid to die alone, not without making some attempt to save his life.
John looked into the scared youngster's eyes. "You're going to be fine, Calwen, just hang on," he said reassuringly; the lie formed on his lips in spite of the grief he felt in knowing that the kid was dying as he spoke. The kid nodded, closed his eyes for a moment, before coughing out blood. Then he opened them again to weakly whisper into John's ear, "Sheppard! Koden... has... Adric! You've got to help him!"
It was the last words the boy uttered before closing his eyes again, and with a soft exhalation, he breathed his last and was gone. John didn't have time to mourn the young Nonamer's loss; that would come later, when he was on his own, in a time and place where there were no other lives to worry about. He briefly bowed his head, then lifted a gentle hand to shut the staring, dead eyes of boy who would never grow up to be a man.
Then, in the stillness of the night, he heard Koden's taunting voice call out his name.
"Sheppard! Get me Sheppard! Otherwise the kid dies!"
o-O-o
Sheppard made his way, half staggering, towards the group of Nonamer villagers who were now gathered together, watching in horror as Koden pointed a weapon at young Adric's head. He currently held the boy in front of him like a shield, while standing partially hidden by a barn wall. The young Nonamer looked dazed, and the side of his head was bleeding from a wound as if he had been struck by a weapon. Adric's friends and the rest of the Nonamer men who had decided to join the fight were looking at the scene in front of them with concern. None of them were skilled enough to shoot Koden where he stood for fear of hitting young Adric.
At the moment, Toga, who was hidden behind a tall water barrel, was pleading with Koden to release Adric.
"Please!" the red haired leader of the Nonamers stammered. "This was not what we agreed upon! Let the boy go, and I assure you that my people will allow you safe passage back to the ring of the Ancestors!"
Koden looked at Toga, then at the bodies of three of his men who now lay either dead or injured on the ground.
"Your word means nothing to me, Toga! You can't even control your own people from uprising against us! I want Sheppard! He was responsible for the deaths of many Genii. Kolya wants him dead and so do I! I know he escaped from the burning stake!"
Toga looked worried now. "We do not know where the Atlantians are! If you are willing to wait, perhaps I could send men to track Sheppard down for you, but please let the boy go!"
Koden shook his head, grabbing Adric closer to him, his forearm around the youngster's neck. "No! If you can't get me Sheppard, then I'll accept your surrender Toga in exchange for the boy's life. You can be my hostage instead! You can tell Kolya how our alliance failed - how Sheppard and his team escaped their execution."
There was a murmuring in the crowd at his words as the Nonamers looked at Toga to see if he was willing to do the exchange. The chubby man's features paled, and he shook his head. He could not do it, for he knew that to do so would mean surrendering his life and he was not willing to do it. He could not give his life up for a mere boy: he loved his own life too much for that. Although he adored receiving the admiration of his people, especially them thinking how clever he was in his use of words and in his negotiation skills, this was one time where he was not willing to play the hero in order to get his people's adulation. When push came to shove, he would always choose the saving of his own skin even if it went against the wishes of the crowd, even if it did lose him his popularity, his fans, his followers. After all, Toga considered that it was always better to be a coward and live rather than be a hero and dead. How could he enjoy the crowd's adoration if he were death? He knew that given enough time, he could always win the people back to him. After all, he was their leader, they looked up to and listened to him, there could be no other.
A tall man with blond white hair and a limp approached Toga. "My Lord Toga, please..." he pleaded, "you know that Adric is my son, the only family that I have. Please, can you not help him, my Lord?"
Toga shook his head and could not meet the Nonamer's eyes as he replied, "I am sorry, Aldwen, I cannot. I am needed here to lead our people, it is my destiny. The Nonamers would be lost without me."
The boy's father looked disgusted, then he stood up and shouted to Koden, "I will take the boy's place!"
Koden looked at the middle aged man, noticing his brown cloak, peasant outfit and sneered. "And why would I want you? Either get me Sheppard or Toga, those are the only two whom I'm willing to trade for."
Adric looked at his father in horror. "No! Father, I cannot let you do this!"
Koden laughed. "So, the boy is your son? I must admit, your son has guts, more so than your leader, Toga. But the boy is correct, I do not want you. Either hand me Sheppard, or give me Toga, but I prefer Sheppard, the choice is yours. You have two minutes to make up your mind before I blow a hole into the boy's brain."
o-O-o
As John made his way closer towards the stand-off, Ronon suddenly appeared out from the shadows to pull him aside before the rest of the villagers saw him. "You okay?" The Satedan looked at Sheppard's bleeding form in concern.
"I will be once this is over," John replied grimly. "How many?" He felt slightly out of breath, shaky and feverish. So far he had managed to hold the pain at bay, but he knew that it couldn't last forever.
"The Nonamers took two down, I got two, that leaves three more, including Koden," the Satedan replied.
"Make that two more, I found a dead Genii behind the barn. I take it that you didn't count him?" clarified John.
"No," Ronon replied. "So the Nonamers got three. Not bad."
John nodded as he checked the clip in the weapon that Adric gave him. "OK, not counting Koden, do you know where's the last one?" He placed the handgun behind his back, hidden under the Atlantian jacket.
"No, he's concealed himself well," replied Ronon. Dark eyes noted Sheppard's actions, making the runner frown. "You don't have to do this, Sheppard."
John closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "Yes I do, Ronon. A kid is dead because of me, another kid might be killed because of me. If I didn't persuade Adric to help us, he wouldn't be in any danger now."
"And we'll be dead instead," Ronon declared. "This is not your fault Sheppard, but Toga's and the Genii. If there's any blame here, it belongs to them, not to you." There was a pause, "Which kid died?"
"Calwen," John replied.
Dex didn't say anything for a while as he recalled the tall skinny youngster with light brown hair, green eyes and a loud laugh. "Good kid," he finally commented.
"Yeah," Sheppard replied, saying nothing else as he looked down at his hands, seeing his own blood mixed with the dead kid that he had tried to save.
"I could try to take him out, even with the boy hostage, I could take the shot," Ronon said. "In fact, I was just about to, when you arrived."
Sheppard shook his head. "No, Ronon, the second Genii probably has his weapon aimed at Adric, even if you do manage to get a clean shot at Koden, the other shooter will probably finish off the kid. That's why Koden is holding Adric partially exposed as he is. He doesn't want a repeat performance of what happened with Kolya when he held Elizabeth as a hostage. If we took him out, his sniper could probably take us and then the kid out at the same time."
Ronon looked at him questioningly.
John shook his head again but this time with impatience. He didn't know how long his strength would last, or how long he could remain conscious, he couldn't afford to stand around explaining things to the Satedan. "Long story, Ronon. Let's just say that I managed to take Kolya down with a shot while he was trying to drag Elizabeth as a hostage through the Stargate when he invaded Atlantis."
The Satedan lifted an impressed eyebrow which slowly turned into a frown. "So, are you intending to surrender yourself to Koden then?"
John locked a determined gaze at the Satedan. "If I don't, the kid's dead. Don't worry, Ronon, I know what I'm doing. I'll take care of Koden. You guard my back and take out the Genii shooter. My bet is, he's probably up on the roof somewhere, or at least from a high vantage point, like a sharp-shooter guarding Koden's back and taking anyone out whose a threat to him. For the moment, I'll be that distraction, but that means that you'll have to track the shooter down first before I can take out Koden."
Ronon nodded, then he removed another weapon and handed it to Sheppard. John looked at it, noticing that it was another handgun. "Koden will expect you to surrender your weapon, you'll need another one for backup."
John smiled. "Thanks," he said. "You're a good man, did you know that?"
Ronon did not reply, yet the look that he gave John told him that the Satedan still wasn't happy with his idea.
As John turned to go, he was halted once again by Ronon. "Be careful, Sheppard. Don't get yourself killed."
John smiled. "You just see to the last Genii and I'll be fine."
Ronon grinned back ferally at him. "I'll hold you to that."
"You do that." John smirked.
o-O-o
"Let the boy go, Koden, I'll take his place," John Sheppard said as he stepped out into the open, revealing himself to the Genii leader who held Adric hostage.
All the Nonamers gathered there looked at the Atlantian in stunned surprise, causing them to whisper amongst themselves. Ronon, partially hidden in the shadows as he scanned the rooftops for the last Genii soldier heard murmurings from the crowd asking each other, "Why does he do that? Why does Sheppard risk his life for one of our own when our leader does not?"
It took Ronon a while, but in the darkness of the night, he eventually thought he spied a darker shadow that moved on the rooftop of a neighbouring house. He aimed the long range weapon that he had retrieved from a Genii soldier at the dark shadow on the rooftop. Now he waited for an opportunity where he could get a clear shot.
o-O-o
"Well, well, well. You impress me Sheppard, I did not expect you to arrive when you had an opportunity to escape. Kolya did tell me that you were an exceptional opponent, one to be respected," Koden said.
John tried to give what he hoped looked like a casual smile. "Yeah, well, here I am. You have what you want, let the kid go." He looked at the Nonamer youngster, "Adric you okay?"
The blond haired boy nodded. His gaze went to Sheppard's new wound and his unhealthy pallor. He could not believe how the colonel could still remain standing; he looked ready to drop on his feet at any instant. His blue-green gaze then went towards his father who was standing a few feet behind Sheppard, and Toga, who was still partially hidden behind the water barrel. His father, Adric saw, was also looking at John with a look of stunned disbelief mixed with gratitude. However, in Toga, Adric saw a look of jealousy and rage cross the Nonamer's features; the reaction from the Nonamer leader surprised and concerned him.
"Sheppard, you don't have to do this!" Adric looked at the dark haired, injured man who stood before him. He felt fearful for his Atlantian friend. He knew that the only reason why Koden wanted Sheppard was to kill him. Sheppard's determined hazel gaze met his.
"Yes I do. Trust me, Adric. Let me handle this."
"This is all very touching, but the reunion's over. Drop your weapon Sheppard. I know that you have one, a soldier like you, will always have one." Koden commanded.
Sheppard smiled, revealed the handgun that he held in his hand, lifted it up, then slowly dropped it to the ground to clatter at his feet. "OK. I lived up to my side of the bargain, now it's your turn. Let the boy go."
Koden smiled. "Not yet," he said as he lifted his weapon, aiming it at Sheppard.
Several things happened at once. Ronon shot the sniper on the roof top; Adric jabbed his elbow as hard as possible into Koden's stomach, then bit down hard on his captive's forearm, making the Genii curse and scream, before he punched Adric at the side of the cheek, making him see stars; at the same time, John grabbed the handgun hidden behind his back, his injuries obviously slowing his reflexes considerably as he turned to aim it at Koden. Adric staggered backwards from the blow, he screamed out "No!" as he tried to knock Koden's shot off balance as the Genii turned to aim his weapon back towards Sheppard. However, he was too late. He saw both men turn to fire their weapons at each other, both at the same time. He saw Sheppard stumble backwards as he was hit in the chest. Then Koden's body was suddenly falling on top of him, tumbling both of them to the ground.
Adric frantically pushed Koden's heavy body that fell on him and scrambled away from under it. He kicked the weapon out from the Genii's hand. There was a moan. Koden was still alive. Adric face hardened in anger. This man had shot his best friend Calwen and he had also shot Sheppard! His hand formed into a tight fist and he punched the wounded man hard on the face, knocking him out cold.
Sheppard! Adric turned worriedly to see what had happened to the colonel. He saw that the man was lying motionless on the ground with Ronon attending to him. Teyla and Rodney had also just arrived and were crowding around their team leader. Hurriedly, Adric scrambled to his feet, hoping that Sheppard was still alive.
TBC
The next chap will probably take a little longer to update. But perhaps if I get lots of reviews, I might get inspired and complete the chap sooner. :D Only one more chapter to go, I think (and possibly an epilogue). Please review!