Chapter Six A Little Death
Assembly Hall
The Atlantians met up with the Tegeran citizens; there were only four Tegerans when Persim first began to round up help to battle the rebels. Word had spread that some were fighting back and the Tegerans now numbered about twenty, volunteers continuing to show up. With the nine Atlantis team members they made an almost equal force for the rebels. The rebels, however, still had more firepower.
They had gathered on the third floor of a building across the street from the assembly so that they could watch what the rebels were doing; Lorne, Waters, Isaacs and Ronon were discussing tactics. As they were deciding how to strike the dining hall and rescue the hostages, the two Tegerans who had gone in search of the missing weapons returned; guns, vests and radios in hand. Ronon looked positively euphoric when he had his hands on his gun again; even Rodney looked pleased to have his gear back. Now they had weapons, Lorne declared that the rescue mission was a go.
With the Atlantis team in the lead, they moved from the third floor to the first, Ronon and Isaacs had left by a door to the alley in the back and were moving toward the assembly building from each side, keeping their radios open so that Lorne could monitor their progress. Isaacs had seen two of the rebels walking along the south side of the building toward the detention center. It was only a matter of time before the rebels discovered they had escaped.
Both Ronon and Isaacs reported that the entry way to the dining hall was clear and Lorne was about to give the command to go, when he heard another voice over the radio.
"Ronon Dex, hold it right there." Ronon turned to find he was looking into the smiling face of Major Teldy, at least three teams of Marines including the missing Lt. Chang, and Dr Beckett. "And here I thought we needed to rescue you."
"Teldy, this is Lorne; you couldn't have come at a better time. Ronon, Isaacs return to the lobby and bring the cavalry with you."
The teams from Atlantis and their allies from Tegeran met up inside the lobby of the building where they had been hiding. Lorne, along with Isaacs and Colonel Sheppard's team gave Teldy's teams a quick update on the hostage situation in the dining hall and what they knew regarding Mr. Woolsey and Colonel Sheppard.
Persim had become the de facto leader of the Tegeran fighters; he knew that the safety of the colonel and the Atlantis commander were the upmost concern of the Atlantians but he needed their help to free the hostages. He approached the group as they were discussing their next move.
"Major Lorne, everyone; we realize that you are most concerned about your people who are still missing as are we. We feel a grave responsibility for the events that we have allowed to take place here. We should not have allowed these men to take over and put your people in such danger."
Persim paused, "We must ask for your help as our families and our friends are also in danger. If you will help us, I promise we will do all we can to help you find Colonel Sheppard and Mr. Woolsey." He waited, afraid that these brave people would say no but in his heart, he knew otherwise.
Lorne walked closer to him and put his hand on Persim's left shoulder. "Persim, you are right, we are very worried about the colonel and Mr. Woolsey but we are also not going to allow these so-called 'rebels' who are truly nothing but criminals to harm your people. We have every intention to free your people and then go after ours; your help will be appreciated."
Persim looked at Lorne for a moment and then dropped his head in embarrassment. When he looked back at Lorne, "We give you our thanks, I am not certain we deserve it."
Teyla walked up to Persim, "This is what friends and allies do for each other. Come; let's free your people and then we can free ours."
Lorne looked at everyone, "Ready? Let's do this." The allied group put their plan into action.
The operation was over within twenty minutes. The combined force rescued all the hostages included Governor Lalrahn and most of the assembly members, captured twelve rebels and killed two with only one Marine slightly injured. Dr. Beckett and the two Air Force paramedics set up a triage area in a room across from the dining hall where they could treat the injured, which included some of the hostages who had been beaten by their captors.
"Captain Waters, Lieutenant Stackhouse, take the prisoners with the exception of those two" pointing to the two rebels the hostages had indicated were in charge, "and put them in cells in the detention hall. Ozem, you are a security guard for Tegera?" Ozem, one of the volunteers who had responded to Persim's call, nodded and Lorne continued, "Go with them and leave some of your men to guard them, then come back here with all the people you can spare."
Captain Mercer, Lieutenant Bonner, I want your teams to sweep the assembly building for any more of these rebels and get it done quickly. " All of the team leaders acknowledged Lorne's orders and headed for the assembly hall.
Turning to those left in the dining hall, he motioned to the two rebels he had held back, "We have some interrogating to do."
Cellar
Woolsey and the colonel had gotten into position, waiting for someone to return to the cellar. Sheppard was watching Woolsey; the Atlantis commander was sitting very still on a stack of crates, near the stairs. Sheppard was going to ask a lot of this diplomat if they were to get out of this situation. He knew that Woolsey was nervous but there wasn't much he could do about it.
Sheppard was lying on a low counter that ran along the side of the cellar; he needed to be able to move quickly and knew that lying on the cellar floor would make it to difficult for him to do so. He would only have to swing his legs over and stand up from this position which would allow him to move with more ease. He was lying on his right side, his left side hurting too much, his head facing Woolsey and the staircase. Woolsey was to distract whoever came down the stairs so they would turn away from him, thinking him unconscious.
They didn't have long to wait; Pava and Fracie came down the stairs, pausing to determine where both of their prisoners were located. Seeing Sheppard lying on the bench, Pava remarked, "Looks like the pretty boy's still out cold. Mosston got him good with that last punch." As they both turned toward Woolsey, Fracie said, "How sweet that you got your little friend up off the floor so he wouldn't be cold. Hate to break it to you but pretty soon, he'll be cold for good and so will you." Fracie was still about two feet away from Woolsey with Pava directly behind him. The mistake they made was turning their back on Sheppard.
Pava never knew what happened; Sheppard grabbed his head, hand over Pava's mouth, and the sharp metal strip sliced deep into Pava's throat, blood spurting from his neck as Sheppard let go of him; Pava was dead before he hit the cellar floor.
Fracie had reached for Woolsey's arm to pull him off the crates when Woolsey head-butted him and pushed him toward Sheppard. Fracie recovered and took a swing at Woolsey but missed as Woolsey feigned a move to the right and then ducked left. Fracie did not have time to recover and his momentum spun him around and he was facing the colonel. He had just enough time to realize what Sheppard was going to do right before he felt the makeshift metal knife plunge into his chest. With a look of surprise on his face, Fracie sank to the floor and was still.
Sheppard bent over, a moan escaping as the pain in his left side spiked from the movement; he pulled the 'knife' from Fracie's chest, checking for a pulse but there was no pulse to find. He stood up gingerly, grabbing a sack from the counter to wipe the blood from the weapon. "OK, that's two bad guys down and one bad guy to go; let's go find him." He looked over at Woolsey and gave him a slight grin, "That was…a really good move; I'm pretty sure Ronon would be proud of you, I know…I am."
As they reached the stairway, Sheppard turned back to Woolsey and spoke in a hushed broken voice, "When we get…to the top, you stay on the…stairs. I am going to scout out the first floor…to locate Mosston." Sheppard began to make the difficult, painful climb to the first floor; Woolsey struggling behind him.
Both men were breathing heavily as they reached the top of the stairs; Sheppard cautiously looked into the hallway from the open cellar door. To his left, there appeared to be a large room where the hallway ended and at the other end of the hall there was a closed door. On his right, across the hall there was an opening with no door that led to a kitchen; directly in front of him, an entry into a dining room. He motioned for Woolsey to stay put while he crossed the hall into the dining room; he needed to find out where Mosston was before he let Woolsey join him. The last thing he needed was for Mosston to surprise Woolsey; the Atlantis commander had done very well so far but he didn't want to ask too much of him. If they were lucky, Mosston would not be in the farmhouse and they could get of there.
Sheppard looked into the dining room and it was empty except for a simple wood table and four chairs; dirty plates and empty bottles of what might have been wine were sitting on the table. There was a door on the left of the room leading to what looked like a living room, the door to the right led toward the kitchen. He listened for movement in the kitchen and hearing none, eased into the dining room, moving cautiously toward the living room. Then he heard a voice talking to him and it wasn't Woolsey.
"Well, well, Sheppard, you are resourceful aren't you? Ferish has told us about you and how much Kolya hated you because you could outsmart him time and time again, but you don't get to outsmart me; not this time. I am going to assume you have taken care of my men?" Mosston was standing in the kitchen doorway.
"Wasn't very hard…to outsmart them; it was actually pretty easy, those guys were idiots." Sheppard answered trying not to let Mosston know how weak he felt.
Mosston leaned against the door frame with the casualness of someone who knew he was in control. He sneered, "I don't see your friend; please tell me that at least, they killed him or do I need to keep watch in case he sneaks up on me?"
"Unfortunately, Fracie…killed him; but…don't worry, Fracie paid for it." Sheppard was trying to see where Woolsey had gone without alerting Mosston. He could see that Woolsey was no longer standing in the doorway to the cellar.
"Fracie and Pava were fools; it was only a matter of time before I killed them myself, thanks for taking care of that little task for me."
"Always…willing to help, now, I think…I'll get out of here."
"You might be brave, Sheppard but you are not strong enough to take me on. Besides, Ferish will be here soon and he will relish taking his revenge out on you." Sheppard smiled stoically, because he knew something Mosston did not know.
As Mosston started toward Sheppard, he stopped abruptly; a surprised look etched on his face, as the realization of what had just happened to him registered. He gazed at Sheppard, as blood starting to trickle from the corner of his mouth, "Kolya was right; you are a clever man."
Mosston fell to the floor, revealing Woolsey who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Looking down at Mosston, Sheppard could see a large knife sticking out of Mosston's back; he kneeled on his left leg as best he could and checked Mosston's pulse; there wasn't one.
"Richard, thanks…I wouldn't have been able to stop him if…he came at me. I told you…this would get dirty." Sheppard's breathing was labored and Woolsey was getting concerned about the colonel. "You go in…the kitchen and see if you can find some food we…can take with us and maybe…something to keep some water in. I'm going to see if I…can find our gear. We need to get out of here."
Woolsey just stood there, shocked at what he had done and maybe more shocked that they had just killed three men and Sheppard was moving on to the next problem without blinking. He watched the colonel walk gingerly through the doorway into the other room, favoring his right leg, holding his left side and breathing hard. Woolsey was certain he would never understand the motivations of this man or any of the military but he was certainly beginning to respect them more and more. Turning into the kitchen, he started looking for food.
Hardly five minutes had passed when Sheppard returned, "Woolsey, found our stuff, all but the communicators and the radios, they destroyed them. Did find their weapons and also found these, not even broken." He smiled as he handed Woolsey his glasses, "Help me…get this vest on, will ya?"
Woolsey helped the colonel who winced badly as he tried to put his left arm in the vest; he was certain the colonel had some broken ribs. He managed to get into his vest by himself, though not without pain, and Sheppard handed him one of the rebels' weapons.
"This is a Genii weapon, shoots…pretty much like our weapons. You should be…able to handle this with no problem. Any…luck with food and water?"
"Yes, I found a couple of loaves of bread, some cheese, some kind of meat, and some fruit, at least I think it's fruit. As for water, I found this," he held up a large canteen that looked like military issue, what military was a mystery.
"Good, this certainly must be our…lucky day," the colonel's sarcasm not lost on Woolsey.
"Indeed, colonel. The canteen must have belonged to one of the rebels; I found it laying on top of a shirt I think Pava was wearing when I first saw him. I've used the shirt to make a sling to carry the food." He watched as Sheppard clipped his P-90 to his TAC vest and checked the ammo in his 9-mil; he had found his K-bar and replaced it in its sheath and placed the large knife that killed Mosston into a compartment on his vest. From another pocket he retrieved a pair of night-vision goggles which he put on his head.
"Richard, check your vest and see if you have a pair of these goggles; this will make things a lot easier." Woolsey looked and was relieved that he had a pair as well. Sheppard was also relieved; both of them having night goggles would mean that they could move faster or at least as fast as they could in the condition they were in at the moment.
The last thing he did was check another pocket and with a slight smile, he pulled out a small green cardboard box, and Woolsey heard him say 'good' under his breath. He saw Woolsey looking at him and he motioned to Woolsey with the box, "Gum?" Woolsey shook his head no.
Sheppard finished putting his gear away, "OK, come on, we need…to get out of here. It's dark and I want to find some shelter as soon as possible, we need to rest. Give me the canteen, you carry the food."
Woolsey handed Sheppard the canteen and he slipped his arm into the sling he had made from the shirt to carry the food. They left the farmhouse by the kitchen door and Sheppard led them out into the dark.
The Dining Hall
Major Lorne waited until the prisoners were seated, hands tied, before he walked up to them; Ronon on his heels.
"We need information on the whereabouts of Colonel Sheppard and Richard Woolsey and we need it now." His voice quiet but there was no misinterpreting his intention; he would have that information.
The two rebels simply stared straight ahead and did not speak but they seemed to be watching Ronon. Lorne asked again just as quietly, "Where are our people," yet there was still no answer. Lorne didn't speak, he turned slightly as if he was going to walk away but moved quickly and kicked over the chair of what he thought was the stronger of the two men, the dark haired one; the younger redheaded prisoner was startled by his action. The chair back hit the floor with a loud crack as the wooden back broke under the prisoner's weight.
Lorne knelt down by the prisoner's head, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way and I assure you, the hard way will not be pleasant. In fact, I think I'll just turn you over to Ronon," as he got up, he motioned for the two Marines standing next to the prisoners to upright the chair. "Cut him loose," as they did, Lorne turned to Ronon, "He's all yours." Ronon grabbed the dark haired man by the back of his collar and drug him across the floor toward the dining hall door.
Lorne turned back to the remaining prisoner; "He should have talked; Ronon's not as nice as I am." No sooner had Lorne utter those words when they heard a bloodcurdling scream emanate from the corridor. The redhead looked toward the dining hall door, frightened and trembling; Lorne chuckled to himself, he realized he owed Ronon $20; the Satedan had told him that they should work on the redhead, that he was the weaker of the two. Lorne laughed to himself, now that Ronon had caught the betting fever, he suspected they would all be a lot poorer.
Another scream came from the hallway, followed by another and then another, then silence; the redheaded prisoner was now visibly shaking. Lorne, who had taken a seat at a nearby table, looked over at him and shook his head, "Ronon is in charge now, if your friend doesn't talk, he'll be coming for you next."
At that moment, Ronon appeared in the doorway of the dining hall, a dark angry look on his face as he calmly wiped his knife off; the rag appeared to have blood on it. The prisoner's face became ghostlike pale, his red hair standing out like a halo of fire above his head; he tried to talk but he was having difficulty getting his mouth working. As Ronon got closer to him and the Marines moved to untie him, he yelled, "I know where they are, I'll tell you! Please, keep him away from me!"
Ronon walked over to Lorne and whispered, "You were right major, Sergeant Fuller can scream like he's really being tortured and those new power bars with the red fruit filling make good fake blood. Now, let's find out where they are." The two men approached the prisoner.
Outside the Farmhouse
Woolsey was out of breath, they had been moving through the woods east of the farmhouse for almost forty minutes without stopping and he was close to collapsing; no, he thought, he had already collapsed even through he was still moving. Sheppard was in front of him and Woolsey could tell he was getting weaker and weaker with each step.
"Colonel, don't you think we need to rest for a few minutes? I could really use some food," but he was actually thinking that the colonel needed rest and food more than he did.
Sheppard turned, "Yeah, we should rest a few minutes but then we have to keep moving." The colonel's face was pale and he was in obvious pain; his breathing ragged, his voice raspy. "Let's go over here," he headed toward an outcropping of bushes with several trees behind them, "I think we'll be out of sight." They walked into the underbrush and found a small clearing near some trees; Sheppard removed the night-vision goggles and placed his hand against a tree to steady himself.
As Woolsey started to sit he noticed that Sheppard was having a hard time sitting down; he took hold of his arm but the colonel tried to shake him off. "No, John, you will let me help you."
Sheppard shook his head in agreement and Woolsey eased the him down as gently as he could.
"Richard, you're…pretty good in a fight." He was struggling to take the top off the canteen and Woolsey took it from him, opened it and handed it back to the colonel.
"John, you are too injured to keep walking like this and I am not in great shape either; we need to find some shelter so that we can hide and rest." He took some bread, cheese, meat and fruit out of the sling he made and handed Sheppard bread and a piece of fruit; Sheppard refused the meat and cheese. Woolsey was pretty certain that the colonel was nauseated and that wasn't a good thing considering the hits he had taken to his head.
They ate and drank in silence for a bit but Woolsey noticed what Sheppard had eaten which was little more than a bite of bread and he had only taken a couple of sips of water. He also seemed not to be able to get comfortable, Woolsey asked, "Colonel, do you have a broken rib or two?"
"I'd laugh…at that question but it would hurt too much. Yeah, I think…ribs broken." Sheppard tried to lean against the tree behind him but gave up, the pain was too much.
"We need to bind those ribs, colonel." Woolsey began to rummage his TAC vest for bandages; he pulled out the pressure bandages but Sheppard put up his hand, "No…don't wrap around anymore, there...should be tape in the next pocket. Woolsey found the tape and then he removed the colonel's vest and BDU shirt and then pulled up his t-shirt. Sheppard guided him as to where to place the tape along the injured ribs from his sternum to his spine and then above and below the fractured ribs. It was painful and Woolsey wasn't very adept at bandaging but with a little direction from Sheppard he managed to get some support for the colonel's chest. He helped Sheppard get dressed and then watched as Sheppard tried to lean against the tree again.
"Thanks; that feels better; breathing a little easier." Sheppard seemed to relax somewhat.
"There are some syringes in here; I suppose this is the morphine?" Sheppard nodded to Woolsey, who continued, "Should you have some? I mean, I know you might have a concussion and I think Keller told me no morphine if the injured person has a concussion."
"Hmmm…did the dizziness and nausea and blinding headache give it away? No…not morphine, just some Tylenol; that's all, but that…I will take." Woolsey handed them to Sheppard along with the canteen; then decided taking a couple himself would be a good idea.
"Colonel, you are not in good shape. I don't understand why we didn't take the transport that was at the farmhouse? This would have certainly been a lot easier on us if we didn't have to walk."
"I thought…about that, Richard but there was only a one-lane road leading from the farmhouse, if we had taken the transport we could have…run into Ferish and gotten blocked in. I don't think either one of us can take on anymore of these guys."
"Well, you're right about that, colonel; I couldn't swat a fly right now." Woolsey leaned against the tree behind him and decided the colonel was on to something; it felt good to have some support behind his back.
"Listen, I know this has not been easy for you and I wish…I could have protected you better but you have…really done well. We'll get out of this."
Woolsey chuckled, "I never had any doubts, colonel."
"Mr. Woolsey; and they say you don't have…a sense of humor."
"Never thought I didn't, colonel."
Sheppard attempted to get up, "Come on; let's move before we get too comfortable, I want to get some more distance between us and that farmhouse before we take some time to rest. Make sure we don't leave anything here." Woolsey reluctantly extended his hand to help the colonel to his feet and they headed into the dark, Sheppard leading the way.