CHAPTER 14 – STRAIGHT FROM THE TOP

Ronan's eyes had narrowed when John had walked back in and he had noted the bloodied fists, and pushing himself out of his chair thinking that John had been in a fight, he looked at the message that flashed quickly in Sheppard's eyes, and mentally backed down. Time to get out of there and fast.

John's anger was palpable as they left the settlement and Ronan, apart from concerned glances sent his way, kept silent until they stepped through the stargate on Atlantis. Sometimes a man needed a little silence to get his thoughts in order.

He saw Dani in the control room as he stepped through, automatically looking up to see if Elizabeth was there. He needed to talk to her. Wincing as he fisted his hands, the faces of the two men swimming in stark clarity across his eyes, he looked directly at Dani, and she saw something in his eyes that caused terror in her heart.

She ran down the stairs, hair streaming out behind her, and pulled herself up before she got to him, noticing the blood on his hands. "John? What happened? You're hurt." Gently she picked up his hands and turned them over, then tugged gently. "You need to go to the infirmary to get these treated..."

"Later!." He ground out brusquely, and none too gently pulled his hands from hers, turning his back on her and missing the flash of hurt that entered her eyes. It was Ronan that made the effort to explain, casting an exasperated look at John.

"Ted and Eric walked in just as we were leaving. I haven't managed to get the story out of John yet, but am guessing that anger drove him to take some steam out on a brick wall."

"Jesus Ronan. I had him, he passed within a foot of me. I could have killed him, both of them right then and there."

Elizabeth joined them from the control room. "And what would that accomplish John. You would have been captured by the others, the plan would be ruined and we'd be at less than square one, as we'd have to send in another team to rescue you and Ronan."

"Well Elizabeth, then consider yourself lucky that my eventual reasoning mirrored yours, and all I've got is my blood on these fists, instead of their blood on my hands..."

In anger, he went to leave the gate room, and Dani made to go after him. "Leave him Dani. You don't wanna be around him right now, when he's angry like that. He'll say something he'll regret and hate himself tomorrow. Give him some time to cool down." Ronan had caught up to her and placed a hand on her arm to stop her following him.

"I've made my problems his Ronan,and that's not fair." The dejected look in Dani's eyes had Ronan pulling her lightly towards him and leading her back up to the control room.

"No Dani, those problems are the problems of your planet, and he's made it his job to clean them up. You unfortunately, are just one of the casualities of that problem."

Elizabeth called out to Ronan just as he was about to enter the control room. "Get John back here Ronan, we've got a video comm coming in from General O'Neill, and it's urgent." Ronan continued to steer Dani into the control room, at the same time tapping his ear comm and brusquely telling John to get back to the control room, and mentally hoping that the man's mood would improve a little soon. He suspected that whatever General O'Neill had to say, was not going to add any good vibrations to John's mood.

Ronan kept Dani protectively in front of him, inadvertantly shielding her both from the General, and John's ascerbic mood as he thundered back up the stairs, face darkened by a scowl.

"Jesus Ronan, what the hell is so important that I can't get a minute to myself around here..."

"That would be me Colonel Sheppard... generally when a ranking officer calls, it means you drop everything and find out what that ranking officer wants. Seems your time on Atlantis has blurred those distinctions even further..." General O'Neill did not look particularly impressed this time. The news he had to tell them had left him feeling betrayed by his country and his government and he did not welcome the insubordination of an officer who carelessly flouted his disrespect. Not at this time...

"Sorry General..." John muttered, and came to stand beside Ronan, anger tightening his features further as he noted Dani held close by Ronan, in an obvious attempt to shield her from him. "Just completed our meeting with the rogue military team, fortunately minus Major Ray larson, but we did have the oh so dubious pleasure of confirming that Ted and Eric are in fact offworld and a part of this rogue team. Damn it General, I walked right past them and was seconds away from showing them exactly why you do not beat up on a woman..."

John curled his bloodied fist, and on the video feed, General glanced downward able to clearly see the damage that John had done to his fists. "Seems to me Sheppard, you got in a few punches elsewhere?"

"Venting General,and no it didn't work... unfortunately. I am still pissed, now add bruised and sore and feel like my damn insides are churned up. Sir!" Remembering a little late that he had managed to forgot the polite form of address for a ranking officer. Perhaps he had been in the Pegasus Galaxy a little too long. His military training, in some repects, was starting to showed blurred lines of definition.

"Colonel, take yourself a deep breath, because my news is a little worse. I had a call today, from the Vice President..." General O'Neill let his voice trail off a little, to give the Lantian personnel time to let the implications set in before he continued.

"Oh crap... why do I get the feeling it's all gonna hit the fan... and soon." John went to run a hand through his hair,and promptly winced as he aggravated his wounds. "What did he have to say General?" John noted that Ronan had released Dani and she had moved closer to the screen, effectively allowing O'Neill to acknowledge that she was in the room.

"Not sure if you're ready to hear this Dani – he demanded that we return you to earth. He knows you're in Atlantis. He didn't trust the one who had been told to get rid of you after they had beaten you, and they tracked the gate address after it had been activated. You had been held on a planet there in Pegasus, after being transported using the second stargate. At that time they had drugged you, and taken you offworld to find out how much you knew. You kept notes Dani, lot's of them. You had suspected for some time that they were up to something, but you suspected terrorist activities. Instead of confronting Ted, you went to your boss, who incidentally is in on the whole thing, and from there he went to the VP."

"Are you serious General? He told you all of this? Why the hell would he tell you? It implicates him, hell it likely implicates a lot of high up officials back on earth." John was pacing now, attempting to assimilate the information he had just been given.

"He knows I have no proof Sheppard. He knows that Dani has told us nothing that can formally implicate him. He's also told me that he will remove me from the SGC and that he has the power to do that."

Elizabeth tried to get control of the tension that was building in the control room. Dani looked terrified and had turned to John as though he could provide an instant solution.

"General, we're not sending her back – I don't care how much pull he has at your end. Sending her back will effectively sign her death warrant."

"You're damn right we're not sending her back." John thundered this out. "We're gonna continue with the plan we have in motion, we're gonna round this whole group up and we'll get the proof we need, tangible irrefutable proof and we'll take them down."

"John..." Dani placed a calming hand on his arm and turned back to the video screen. "You said I had notes – how did he know about those, and where are they likely to be?"

John looked down at the tiny hand on his arm and flicked his glance back up to the face of the woman who had been through hell and back for the security of her country, and didn't even remember it. Not the fragile woman who had arrived battered and broken through the stargate, only days ago. But a strong woman, with a backbone of steel, and she was beginning to remember the woman that she had been in her life on earth and that natural strength was beginning to assert itself.

"We have sent people to search your apartment Dani, but it has already been gone through – both by the police when your friends and colleagues reported you missing, and I would likely say that the vice president arranged for a thorough sweep of it as well. And if you had been as thorough as I think you were, you wouldn't have left any evidence for them to find that easily. The notes and evidence would be locked away somewhere secure. That's what you need to try and remember now. That's the key to bringing these bastards down to their miserable knees."

"You don't think I've tried General – hell, AM trying. Hypnosis gave up the vice president, and maybe further hynosis will yield where I hid the notes... If you don't send me back, what is he going to do? What can he do?"

"Dani, this is the vice president of the United States. Hell, you work in government, you know the wheeling and dealing that goes on there, and all the underhanded nastiness that goes hand in hand with the good stuff in politics. He has the ears of the president, he can shut down the stargate programme, he can shut down Atlantis and pull back all personnel and all the while he can continue his own little personal agenda with his team of rogue soldiers. The second stargate on earth can be moved to another location at a moments notice and we'll forever be tracking it. But if I get kicked out, the one put in my place will be on his side and slowly... that small cancerous root that has only just begun to take hold now, will become a black tumour, and our government will stand for everything that our fathers, grandfathers fought wars to protect against. Does that answer your question Dani?"

The General looked exhausted and they all knew that he had spent the last two days pulling every favour in that he could.

"Ok General." John firmed his resolve. They were not going to either intimidate him nor take over the country that he had given his life to defend. "How do you want to play this. We won't lose Atlantis, and we won't lose the stargate programme. It is the only thing keeping the enemy from the door, so to speak. Tell me what you want us to do."

A new respect for Sheppard crept into the General's eyes and he was reminded now, why he had chosen this younger man to command a base in another galaxy. "Keep up the plan you have in place with the rogue group, that is still our best bet to catch them in the act, and all together. They will not give up the higher ranked members of their group easily, but eventually, we'll be able to find the necessary leverage to get them to roll over. Go into the mission, once it has been confirmed, with full marine backup and they need to be brought in alive. Dani?"

When she did not answer, John swiftly looked around the room,and saw that she had gone. "She's gone Sir, sorry... I guess it must have been all a little too much to take in... I need to go and find her."

"Go Sheppard. But she holds the key, she needs to remember where she hid the evidence. That's what will bring them down. O'Neill out!"