Chapter Eight Friends

It was nearly two and a half hours before Dever and his group arrived at the gate. They unloaded the cart which contained about thirty boxes and a lot of large cloth sacks. Once they had unloaded the cargo near the gate, one of Dever's men punched an address into the DHD and nothing happened.

Dever strode over to the DHD, yelling at his minion, "What did you do? Did you put the address in correctly?" The man assured Dever he had but Dever didn't believe him. He pushed the man out of the way and entered the gate address himself. Again, nothing happened.

Dever was livid; he pushed one of his men, knocking him to the ground. "The gate has been sabotaged; those Atlantians have done something to it. Killing Sheppard wasn't enough; I should have killed them all." He stopped ranting as he heard the sound of a ramp descending, as he tuned toward the noise, he heard a voice he didn't expect to hear.

"Dever, I would like my jacket back."

"You, Sheppard, you did this; you broke the gate."

"No, didn't break it; just took the control crystal out. Doesn't look like you are going to get to leave Glostern any time soon." Sheppard was walking down the ramp on his own power but Ronon and Brenner were slightly behind and on each side of him.

Dever men's had raised their weapons, most of them the P-90's they had taken from the teams or Dever's had purchased off-world.

"You are outmanned and outgunned, Sheppard. Give us the crystal and we'll spare your lives."

"Like you spared the lives of your fellow Glosterns, Dever." Jast Veron walked out of the jumper past Sheppard. "Yes, I know everything; Losa and her daughter are alive, these good people saved them. She told me about your plot to take all of the artifacts that we have kept hidden all these years for yourself. You knew that the Keepers were deciding how to return the artifacts to the worlds they were taken from now that the threat of the Wraith is gone. How could you?"

"How could I? You might be content to live on this dull world, living such shallow little lives but not me. I want off this world and rid of you, my dear, older brother. I am sick of your kindness and your compliance. I want to live."

"I never realized how unhappy you have been; this is all we have ever known and I thought it was enough for us. I am sorry that I didn't help you."

"You sanctimonious bastard, don't pity me; pity yourself." Dever pointed his weapon at his brother, "Sheppard put that crystal back or I will kill my brother and then I will kill you and this time I will make certain that you die."

"Not going to happen, Dever. It's over; you need to realize that." Sheppard looked up above the gate and nodded; three other jumpers materialized over their heads. When they arrived at the gate earlier and realized that there were no life signs near the gate, Sheppard had contacted Atlantis and Teldy led two jumpers and four more teams to their aid.

As Dever looked up at the jumpers, his men realized that they had no chance and began to put down their weapons. Dever turned back to his brother and Sheppard, "Now, you die."

He fired at Jast but Ronon tackled the leader and rolled him out of the way; the bullet ricocheted off the jumper into the dirt. Dever then turned toward Sheppard and fired but Brenner was quicker, he threw himself in front of the colonel. A shot rang out from behind them and Dever fell, a bullet in the center of his forehead.

From a perch near the top of an evergreen tree, expert sniper Ramon Esai Rodriguez was grinning, he had taken Dever out. Then he realized that Sheppard was kneeling on the ground, holding Brenner in his arms. Pauli had been hit in the chest with the shot Dever fired at Sheppard. His friend was still, his face pale, and there was a lot of blood.

Atlantis

He wondered exactly when the sounds of the monitors and machines in the infirmary had become so comforting to him. He felt quite content in the clean, soft sheets, the low lights, and antiseptic smells that surrounded him. Then he smiled to himself; he was pretty certain that the contentment was because of some really good drugs.

Fighting his way out of the dark fog, he felt the familiar soothing voice of Atlantis in his head helping him regain consciousness. As his head cleared, he raised up a bit to see if he was alone; of course, he wasn't. Ronon was sitting quietly next to foot of his bed; Rodney was in a chair next to him, his pad open, always working; Teyla was sitting on the bed behind Rodney, Torren asleep next to her. His team, his friends; yeah, he was content. Then he remembered.

"Rodney…" He moved his hand to get Rodney's attention.

Rodney nearly dropped his pad as he jumped up, "Sheppard, you're awake."

"No, Rodney, I'm asleep and you're dreaming," the colonel laid his head back onto the pillow.

"Always the funny man," Rodney answered but he was smiling.

"Colonel, how do you feel?" Teyla had jumped down from the bed but kept her hand on Torren.

"Felt pretty good when I first woke up but then I remembered. How's Brenner."

There was hesitation before anyone spoke and Sheppard felt his heart seize; that kid could not be dead but he asked anyway, "What, is he gone?" Even he could hear the fear in his voice.

Teyla spoke quickly, "He is alive, John; but has been in surgery for several hours. He is badly injured and Dr. Keller is very concerned. She and Dr. Beckett have been working on him since we returned."

Sheppard took a deep breath, "Where is Rodriguez?"

Ronon, who had been standing next to Sheppard's bed, replied, "He's in the waiting room."

"Get him for me." Ronon left to get the corporal.

"John, you are going to be fine. Dr. Beckett gave you some drugs to help you sleep and to help with the pain before they checked you out. He scanned your wounds and said that you were very lucky; the bullet did not hit any organs or major vessels. He redressed your wounds and is giving you an IV to replenish fluids. You lost quite of bit of blood before the corporals got to you but they did a great job of taking care of you."

"Yeah, they did. How is Johnston?"

"He is fine; Dr. Beckett set his leg and is keeping him overnight. His stab wound was not bad and he will heal quickly. It appears that our young corporals took very good care of him as well."

Ronon came back with a very solemn Rodriguez tagging along behind. He approached Sheppard's bed. "Colonel, how you doing, sir."

"I'm here, corporal, here because you and Brenner saved my life, not once, but twice. Thank you."

"It was Pauli, sir; he's the one who saved your life." Rodriguez was looking down at the floor as if he could not bear to meet the colonel's eyes.

"Corporal Rodriguez, look at me when I am talking to you." Sheppard realized he was going to have to play C.O. with this broken young man.

Rodriguez looked his C.O. in the eyes, "Sorry, sir; I'm a little distracted, sir."

Sheppard reached out his hand and Rodriquez grabbed it, mindful of the pulse-oximeter on the colonel's finger. "Rodriguez, Brenner's a tough guy; he's going pull through. You have to believe that."

"I am trying to, sir but I have never had a friend that I was this close to before. Pauli's a great guy and a damn fine Marine, sir. We can't lose him."

"He has the best doctor's and nurses in two galaxies, corporal. He'll make it. Now, get a chair; you're waiting with us."

Rodriguez never stopped looking at the colonel even though tears were welling in his eyes. He was embarrassed, Marine's didn't cry but for some reason, he was ok with showing his emotions to his C.O. He knew Sheppard understood; the colonel might not be able to express his feelings any better than he could but they both knew the feelings were inside them. He turned to get a chair and found that Ronon had already placed an empty chair next to his. The young corporal sat down and joined the vigil with Sheppard's team.

It was two more hours before Dr. Keller came out of surgery and found Rodriquez sitting in a chair next to Sheppard's bed, Torren in his lap playing quietly with a toy truck. Teyla and McKay had gone to get them food. Ronon had been asleep but he woke instantly when Keller walked up. Sheppard had fallen asleep but Ronon shook him awake.

"Doctor, how is he." Sheppard asked, noting how very tired Jennifer looked.

"Well, the good news is that he made it though surgery. That was a concern for us. He suffered a pneumothorax, a hemothorax, and a couple of broken ribs; there was a lot of damage and he lost a lot of blood. We are trying to maintain his pressure and replace the fluids that he lost. I am not going to lie to you; Corporal Brenner is not out of the woods. It is going to be touch and go for several hours."

Rodriquez, who had stood up with Torren in his arms when Keller approached, asked, "Doctor, when can I see him?"

Keller smiled at the young corporal, "He is going to be in recovery for quite a while, and I don't want to move him too much; then he'll be in intensive care. You should remain here with the colonel and his team. We'll keep you informed."

Sheppard looked from Rodriguez to Keller, "He'll be right here; thanks, doc."

Rodriguez turned to Sheppard, who shook his head, "Don't say it, we're all a team, corporal."

Twenty four hours later, Sheppard was feeling a lot better; rest, fluids, and some decent food had helped him regain his strength. Usually he would be pestering the doctors to let him out of the infirmary or he would have already snuck out. However, this was different and for once, he had no desire to leave; not just yet.

Teyla had just arrived and Rodney had gone to his lab for a bit, actually he left ranting about all the things Zelenka had most likely screwed up while he was gone. Ronon had convinced Rodriguez that he needed a workout and a shower. Actually he and Sheppard had decided that the kid needed a diversion; working out with Ronon was certainly a diversion.

"How are you today, John."

"Better, I think Beckett's going to kick me out today."

"That is a good thing, John Sheppard."

"Yeah, I guess." He glanced toward the ICU unit. "He had a really tough night; heart stopped twice but they got him back."

"Colonel, you realize that the corporal may not make it. Jennifer and Carson are both very worried."

"I know; I'm just trying to figure out if he doesn't how I keep Rodriguez from reacting the way I did the first time I lost a close friend on a mission. I became careless, completely unconcerned for my own safety much less anyone else's. Ray's too good a Marine and too good a man for that to happen."

"Colonel, how are you doing today?" Richard Woolsey had walked up to Sheppard's bed.

"About to be kicked out of here I think."

Woolsey sat down in the chair McKay had abandoned, "I just spoke to Dr. Keller and she told me Brenner had a couple of close calls last night. Let's hope this young man is strong enough to come through this." Sheppard just nodded his head in agreement.

"I thought I would bring you up to speed on my talks with Jast Veron and the Keepers. Veron is still very distraught over what his brother did to their own people much less what he did to you and the others."

"He should realize he is not responsible for his brother's actions." Sheppard remarked.

"While that is true, colonel, nevertheless, he does feel responsible. It appears that they feel responsibility about other things that they had no control over. As time passed and they fully realized the nature of the items that their ancestors had stolen from culled worlds, they were appalled. The scope of treasures that had been taken and the fact that their ancestors had no qualms about taking these items. As the hundreds of years passed the artifacts became a badge of shame for each of the passing Keepers. It was after the Wraith started culling them that they began to try to figure out what to do to make amends for their ancestors.

I have seen the inventory and it is immense, Dever had not taken even a third of what they actually have and he had taken enough. There are extremely valuable artifacts, precious metals, jeweled pieces but there are also books with recorded histories of worlds that may not know what their worlds were like before the Wraith came. I believe those are certainly the most valuable of the artifacts.

Teyla was hanging on every word that Woolsey uttered. "This is so exciting for this galaxy; for even one world to be able to have a piece of their history before the Wraith is amazing."

"I agree, Teyla, and so do the Glosterns. Hundreds of years ago, some of them realized that the items could be a source of contention for their own citizens. They feared someone like Dever would try to take the treasure for themselves even then. So they literally stole the items back from the thieves and put them in the hands of several trusted families and swore them to secrecy. These families became the Keepers and they have kept these secrets for a very long time."

"I spoke with Losa Harben, and colonel, she is greatly appreciative that Glostern's new friends from Atlantis saved her and, more importantly to her, her daughter. Her husband was the Master Keeper and the only Keeper who knew all of the families that held treasure. He put to and to together and was on his way to a meeting of the Keepers when Dever killed him."

Sheppard remember something, " One of the women we spoke with when we first arrived told us that Paut had been killed and that he was on his way to meet with 'them' she said. She must have been talking about the Keepers. You know, the Tribunal Hall walls were lined with shelves and there was nothing on them, I wonder if those artifacts were displayed there at one time."

"In fact, colonel, up to a couple of hundred years ago some of them were. They have wanted to return these artifacts for centuries but with the Wraith they did not feel it was wise and they felt that if it became known that they had these artifacts, they would be vulnerable to more than just the Wraith. They just never realized that the danger would come from one their own."

"I have contacted the Pegasus Coalition and requested their help in returning the artifacts and we are going to review all of them in case they have some Ancient artifacts among the items. We will retain any Ancient artifacts unless they hold some ceremonial value."

"I tell you, Mr. Woolsey, we never know what we are going to come across around here."

"That we do not, colonel; we certainly do not. Now, I would like to talk to you about another…" Woolsey was interrupted by the sound of a monitor alarm going off.

There was a flurry of movement by the medical personnel toward the ICU. Teyla looked at the colonel with fear in her eyes and she left hurriedly in that direction. Sheppard and Woolsey waited nervously for her to return.

When she did return, her face was pale, "John, Corporal Brenner has gone into cardiac arrest again. I am not sure he is going to make it," tears were running down her face and she grabbed Sheppard's hand, feeling his own fear for the young corporal in the strength with which he gripped her hand.

The New Lantia Mainland

It had been a bit over a month since Sheppard and the teams from Atlantis had returned from Glostern. Sheppard had returned to active duty two weeks after their return and had been back to Glostern with a team of scientists who were helping catalogue the artifacts. So far, a few of the artifacts had been of Ancient origin and McKay and Zelenka were positively giddy about a couple of them but hadn't shared their delight with others as of yet. That, however, was perfectly fine with Colonel Sheppard. At the moment, he had better things to do than hang around the science labs.

He was stretched out in a lounge chair, on the nicest beach New Lantia had to offer, basking in the warmth of the sun. He couldn't seem to get enough of the warm sunshine. Sheppard had made good on the promise he made to himself that first cold night on Glostern. He had planned a camping trip to the mainland and they were now on the second day of what he hoped was going to be a week long vacation.

Arriving yesterday around mid-day, Ronon and Rodney had helped him put up the tents, set up the fire pit he had gotten on Earth, put up the volleyball net, and unload the surfboards, fishing gear, footballs, and every other peice of sports equipment they had on Atlantis from the jumpers. Well, he and Ronon had done most of that; Rodney had been more worried about unloading the food and coolers they had brought with them.

"Sheppard, do you want another beer?" Ronon was rummaging in the beer cooler for his favorite brew, a dark lager.

"Yeah, I could go for another." Ronon grabbed Sheppard's favorite and tossed the can at him. As he did, a voice belong to a body lounging on chair nearby mumbled something about another beer for him as well.

Sheppard looked over at Dr. Carson Beckett who was slouched down in his chair and he told Ronon, "I think the good doctor is on his way to another sleep laden afternoon. A couple more of those and we won't hear anything out of him."

Ronon dropped a beer off to Beckett and came over to Sheppard and dropped into the chair next to the colonel.

"Too bad that beer doesn't work on McKay the way it does on Beckett. Then they would both be quiet."

Sheppard laughed, "If it were only that easy. At least, for the moment, Rodney is more interested in keeping an eye on Johnston to make sure he doesn't eat all the food." The big sergeant was wearing a soft boot on his broken leg and was having no trouble getting from his chair to the food and back.

Sheppard looked around at the soldiers that were on the beach. He had decided to include as many of the men and women in his command that wanted to join them. Most of the military contingent was coming from Atlantis for the day on a rotating basis so that they could get as many as possible out for some fun. There was all sorts of sports to play or not play along with food and beer all day long. He had only wanted a core group of people in the evening and overnight; there were only seven of them actually camping out for the week. He'd even talked Woolsey into spending the night, so at least tonight there were eight.

Teyla, Kanaan, and Torren were enjoying the surf; Sergeant Mehta was kicking butt in a beach volleyball match against Major Teldy, and there were surfers and swimmers in the water. Sheppard chuckled as he saw that the volleyball match seemed to be getting more attention from his guys than any of the other sports that were being played at the moment. He wasn't certain if it was the action or the bikinis that had their attention. Zelenka and Chuck Campbell were sitting in the shade along the tree line, playing chess. So far, everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

Sheppard looked out at the ocean and saw that one of the overnight campers was coming in after surfing for the last hour. There were some sweet waves on this beach and he had spent the morning enjoying them. The afternoon was reserved for beer and sleep; tonight, they were grilling steaks and roasting baked potatoes in the fire. All in all, it was going to be a good week.

The dripping wet surfer sat down in the chair next to Sheppard with a huge grin on his face. "Colonel, this has to be the best vacation ever; those waves are almost Pacific waves. That was a blast."

"Rodriguez, you're like a fish out there and you can surf like a pro."

"Hey, sir, you're not so bad yourself." Rodriguez grabbed a towel and started to dry off, "Listen, colonel, how can I thank you for having this camping trip. I mean you and your team, they have done so much already and now to include all of us in what is really your vacation. Well, I can tell you that there isn't a Marine…oh, yeah…or airman here that doesn't appreciate this, colonel."

"Enough with the flattery, Marine; I already gave you a medal, what more do you want?" Sheppard flashed a lop-sided grin at the corporal before he took another drink of his beer.

"Really, sir, if I can be serious for one minute. Back when we returned from Glostern, you and your team never left me alone to deal with what happened to Pauli by myself. After that third code he had, well, sir, those were some tough days. I got through them because of you and Ronon, Teyla and Dr. McKay. Hell, I even kind of like scientists now. Just thank you, colonel; you're the best C.O. we could ask for."

Sheppard laughed quietly, wondering what some of his former commanding officers would think of that statement. "No need to thank me or anyone else, Ray. You've learned what it took me a very long time to learn. That your teammates are what makes you survive this; you can't do it without them and believe me, you wouldn't want to."

"Yes, sir."

"The good thing, Ray, is you don't have to survive without your buddy."

Sheppard looked past Rodriguez at the sleeping form of one Corporal Paul David Brenner, who was nestled in a chair, sitting under a beach umbrella. He was still a bit pale and much thinner than he had been on Glostern but he had been on the edge of death for several days. He was at least another month away from active duty but he survived. Another tough Marine, Sheppard thought and as he looked around he realized he had an over abundance of those. That was something to be glad about and he was very glad.

"Yeah, colonel, I don't have to do with out my buddy which is a good thing. Besides, he hadn't introduced me to his cousin yet; you know, Sarah, the Army Ranger."

Sheppard looked over at his corporal who was grinning from ear to ear. He laughed and thought this was definitely going to be a good week. He took another drink of his beer and decided to watch some beach volleyball.