Debbie418uk2 - Yeah, that's exactly why I wanted to put him in. He's not really a bad guy, he just got the short end of the stick and the enzyme is messing with his mind. Yeah, fight scenes are not my strong point. I guess it all depends on the muse for the chapter. This is one of my slightly older ones, so I don't know how it turned out. Ohhhhh! I'd have to read the chapter again to figure out which movie I was talking about. LOL
Oh! I never had any movie in mind! LOL! I don't know what movie it was, so you'll have to pick one. Hum....Maybe... Lost in Space?
Jasminesmommy - Yep, I never saw him die once and for all, so I believe he's still alive. :)
E. Nagrom - LOL, I never thought of that. But I don't think Aiden ever died. Not that I know of, except when the enzyme was first introduced into his system. Thank you, I figured it was fully possible the treatments could taint the enzyme.
Sparklyshimmer2010 - Unfortunately, my computer won't open the file, so I can't read the chapters. (Sighs) Well, I can always dream. :) LOL. Glad you liked the chapter.
The idea of this story was inspired by Debbie418uk2's latest chapter of 'Rodney's Really Bad Days', Chapter 59, 'The Outcasts'. Consider this a tag of sorts. I meant it to be more original, but as I wrote, this is what came out. I hope you like it, and thank you to Debbie for the muse.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
(Normal POV)
The first thing John noticed as he rolled over, was the pain in his head and the tangy taste of blood in his mouth. Feeling dirt under his fingers, he paused in his movements and struggled to make sense of everything, his eyes still closed against an apparently bright assailant, and the pounding mirgaine that threatened to send him spiralling back into the world of darkness.
The last thing I remember was... He paused, his mind still fuzzy. The gate. We travelled through the gate on a recon mission. We... Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he gasped as the bright light of the sun burned his sensitive eyes. "Ah!" Closing his eyes, he put the back of one of his gritty hands against them and waited for the dizzy spell to pass, before he decided to make another attempt. Crap! The others! Managing to get his eyes open, he looked around and vaguely recognized the burning remains of the small village he and his team and taken up temporary residence in.
That was when the smell of burning flesh met his nose, and he winced, pulling back a little, before trying his arms and pushing himself shakily into a sitting position. The wince made John realize something was pulling at the side of his head and he raised a hand to feel something rough. Pulling his hand back after scratching a little, he realized it was dried blood. "Oh, man. What happened?"
There was little to nothing left of the village, wild fires having destroyed a lot of it. Bodies lay unmoving on the ground, and from their state, it was clear to tell they weren't going to be moving, any time soon.
A massacre.
That's all it could be described as. As he slowly stood up, everything spun and John forced his eyes closed.
Flashback
"Welcome to Ghorek, our home." A lively child was grinning as he lead Team Sheppard towards a small village made up over about seven straw huts and maybe a little over a dozen people. Their guide was a boy of about six, who was dressed in ratty-looking leather pants, and that was about it. No one else seemed much better. Everyone was pale and clearly under nourished, and their clothing was all ratty and looked ready to fall apart.
A young woman came over and smiled wanly, her oddly blue hair shining in the sun. "I'm sorry, has my son dragged you to our village? He's very easily over exciteable." She bowed, and nearly stumbled, but luckily Ronon caught her hand and held her up. When she blushed and pulled away, offering an apology for her clumbsiness, the big Satedan offered a confused look.
"We're explorers." John stepped forward, offering what he hoped was a kind smile. "We came from the Stargate."
"Star...gate?"
"The large metal gate, over there a ways?" John made vague motions with his hands, gesturing in the direction they'd come. In fact, he was barely paying attention at the moment. He was more transfixed by the numerous lovely young woman, and the cute kids running around. Wait... Suddenly, something hit him and he frowned. "Uh, excuse me, but... Where are the men?"
As soon as he asked that, he noticed several of the women almost looking afraid. They glanced at him, Rodney and Ronon warily, and kept most of their children close to them, as if somehow protecting them.
The young woman who's come over, spun around to face him, her eyes wide. "You are from the gate of worlds?" She eyed them closely. "Then you do not know of how things work on our world?"
He shook his head, noting Teyla's worried look. "I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to scare you."
Staring at him a moment longer, she seemed to search for something, but then smiled a little. "You are not like the Gharens, then. Please, come, we will explain all." Turning, she walked towards a large unlit firepit, and sat on a log around it's edge.
Still frowning, John exchanged looks with the rest of his team before moving forward, gripping his P90 tighter as he went.
End Flashback
That was two days ago.
The Ghoreks didn't have much to trade for, but they did have a berry that was, apparently, very high in vitamins. At least, that's what one of the later teams that came through, told us. They were extremely excited about it because it had such a high amount of general vitamins, like a multi-vitamin pill, only one that tasted a lot better. The Ghoreks were eager to trade for food and medical supplies, and Elizabeth agreed warily, uncertain about everything that was going on, on this planet.
Stumbling over to one of the bodies, John winced to see Rhinna, a little girl from the Ghorek village, burned to a crisp. With a heavy sigh, he looked around and raised his hand to his radio. "Rodney? Teyla? Ronon? Anyone, this is Colonel Sheppard, do you read me?" When he was met with silence, he felt his eyes narrow as he moved around the center of the village, patting himself down and realizing his weapons were gone. "Damn!" He tapped his radio again. "This is Colonel Sheppard calling the gate patrol, do you read?"
"Sir, this is Major Freeman. We read you."
"Finally! At least someone's still out here." Groaning a little, John's legs collapsed under him as his head spun again. "Look... We... We were, er, are under attack. I can't contact anyone else, and Ghorek village is gone."
"Sir, we didn't get any anomalous readings."
"Doesn't change the fact that I'm standing in the middle of a levelled village, and my only companions are burned bodies." He shot back with a glare, forcing himself to his feet. "Listen, call Atlantis and have them send at least three teams backup. I need to find the rest of my team, and see if there are any survivors."
"Alright." There was silence for a moment, then his voice came back. "Sir, I've got Salsman dialing the gate now."
"Good. Until the backup arrives, I'm going to request radio silence. I'll be scouting around the village."
"Understood."
"Sheppard out."
Flashback
"Thank you, Rhinna, for showing us around." John smiled at the enthusiastic little girl.
Brushing her long green hair out of her eyes, she nodded and smiled brightly. Turning, she danced her way out to a distant hut, turned, and waited for us.
"Huh, she's energetic, isn't she?" Rodney was eyeing his padd. "There's no weird readings here, I doubt they're pulling a Genii."
"Good." Smiling towards the little girl, I raised an eyebrow. "Funny how they all have odd hair colours."
"Yeah, like the fiery red haired boy, the blue haired woman and this green haired little girl." Rodney made a face.
"What? Is it making you wanna dye your hair?" John tried not to smirk as Ronon grinned.
"No, but I really can see you with pink hair."
Chuckling at Ronon's abrupt glare, John shook his head. "Try it, Rodney, and ally or not, Ronon'll scalp you."
"Not that there's much to get." Ronon mused out loud. "Maybe they have a secret hair growth formula you can use?
Glaring right back, Rodney muttered something under his breath and turned back to his padd.
End Flashback
John had circled all through the village, finding at least a dozen bodies either in the remains of the burned huts, our out someplace visible. That basically made up for the majority of the village population, but he did notice that some seemed missing, and besides two bodies of his marines, the rest of his team was still missing.
His radio chirped and John almost jumped a foot in the air. Cursing his nervs, he grabbed the almost empty P90 he found lying near one of the bodies. It obviously wasn't there during the fire, it looked undamaged, but besides the burns on the body, it was also riddled with bullet holes, telling him either one of his men went crazy, or the enemy got a hold of their weapons. Tapping his radio, he glared at the ground as he made his way to a large path created by several pairs of feet, and signs of several people being dragged. "Sheppard here."
"Reinforcements have arrived, sir. SG-2, SG-7 and SG-13. I'm sending them to you, sir, Dr. Weir has instructed two more teams to come through to assist us in holding the gate, in case we are attacked."
"Understood." Without even waiting for them, he stalked into the woods, his vision red in the corners at the thought of a basically helpless society so cruelly taken down. "Have SG-2 set up a base in the village and hold that spot, and tell SGs 7 and 13 to scout the edges of the town. They'll find a trail left by the attackers."
"What about you, sir?"
"I'm going on ahead of them. Sheppard out." Following the trail, he saw the occasional bloody mark on a tree trunk, or a droplet on the ground, and hoped the enemy was injured.
Flashback
"So Gharen is where all of the men...are, and...they are all...married?" John's eyes were narrowed, not knowing what to think.
Juliennus nodded with a frown, being the only male in the village over seven or eight years of age. He was an elderly man, and the one in charge of helping the women with the hunting and gathering. "And they come every year to pick at least five boys to take back to the town with them."
"I don't understand. These are all children born out of..."
"Treason. Yes. Unfortunately, the men of Gharen are unreliable. They will often hide their marital status, take a mistress, and the moment she becomes pregnant, kick her out of the town with the child. The women never ask or say anything. The men of Gharen are in control, if the women question them, they are beaten or killed."
"But you're not like that." Teyla frowned.
"Not all men are, but most of them. Most of the men were taken from this village at some point or another, as children, but if they are chosen at a later age, they tend to keep their memories of their real mothers. Most of us try to get back, but once in Gharen, the security set up will kill you for trying."
"It's a more advanced society, then?"
Juliennus chuckled dryly and shook his head. "Far from it. They are about the same as us, but see themselves as better. About their only advancement is some rudimentary explosive device. The only real difference is that there are far more of them. They vastly outnumber us. They have many guards, who are instructed to kill on sight any who try to leave or enter the village." After a moment, he frowned. "We still have our sources of information, however. They have told us Gharen is planning to attack us. If it is just a small task force, perhaps they won't do much damage."
"You can't mean you're just gonna sit back and accept the attack?!" Rodney's eyes were huge, and he almost dropped the plate of berries he was holding.
The village elder sighed and shook his head. "What else can we do? I am the only one who knows how to use a weapon, I would have taught the others, but I do not know how to make more, and the only weapon this town has is one bow and a few lonely arrows. If we do not resist, they may feel merciful to keep the killing to a minimum."
"But why are they killing at all?"
"They see us as a threat. Every year our number grows, as we learn more and more about how to survive on our own. The bigger our village gets, the bigger the threat to them. Or, so they think."
End Flashback
"They were no threat." John gritted out from between his teeth as he stalked on ahead. Hearing a sound to his left, he spun in that direction, and stumbled back a step as a dizzy spell hit him. Leaning against a nearby tree, he took a deep breath and focused on the path, continuing on down it.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour or more of walking, he heard the sound of a celebration in the distance. That only served to fuel his anger. They massacred women and children and they're celebrating?! He snuck up to a large tree and looked around it, his eyes narrowing as they landed on a fair sized group of men who were drinking from leathers and standing around a small fire.
Glancing around, he saw his team tied up at the edge of the clearing, the only one conscious was Ronon, and he looked ready to kill, himself. Then again, that might have had to do, in part, with a man who was playing with his blaster, like it was some sort of toy.
Looking to either side of him, he noticed a small path to his right that led around the clearing. Frowning for a moment, he wasn't really sure what to do, but glancing again at Ronon and seeing the Satedan's eyes locked on his, as well as the almost pleading look to untie him so he could go on his own massacre... John began to circle the clearing through the small path, taking a lot longer than he would have liked, but needing the time to make sure he was careful and as silent as possible.
There was a round of cheers and John looked to the clearing again, feeling his eyes widen as one of the Gharens held up the severed head of Juliennus. He quickly turned back to his task and snuck through the woods, making it to the back of his team. Now for the tough part. They were in a little ways, and the only way to cut them free would have been to walk into the clearing to do so.
And there John was with only an almost empty P90. There were about a dozen rounds left, and he didn't even have a knife. Things were looking grim. He had no idea of where his backup was, and there was no way he could see to get Ronon free before one of the guys shot off his bow, or the one that held a lone P90, getting off a few hundred shots.
Hearing a sound in the woods, back the way he'd come, he glanced that way and felt his heart skip a beat. If they found him now, he'd lose the only surprise advantage he had at the moment, so making a quick, albeit irrational decision, he leapt forward and shot the nearest guard. 2. That left him with ten rounds, a bunch of pissed off Gharens, and a knife on the downed body to toss to Ronon and hope the Satedan could reach and use it in time. Doing just that, he jumped to the left of where he was standing, drawing the fire towards him, and shot three more people. 6. Only six rounds left.
A searing pain in his side made him cry out, and John looked down to find a small throwing knife imbedded into his side. He ignored it in favor of shooting the thrower, followed by the leader, the one who'd been holding Juliennus' head. 8, 10... All the firing, and the new pain in his side renewed John's migraine, and he felt his legs give out. Falling to one knee, he looked to the nearest enemy and pressed the trigger.
Click.
Oh, crap. His eyes widened as he realized he'd used the last of his rounds. The enemy was closing in and he couldn't move, then there was a flash of red light, and the guy went down. Looking to his right, he noticed Ronon blasting people as Teyla slowly worked on getting Rodney free. Hearing blasts from his far left, he spun and saw his backup finally arriving. "About time!" He called as he stood up shakily.
Unfortunately, he'd taxed himself too much, and that was the last straw. Everything spun, and voices faded in and out. There was a sharp pain in the side of his head, but instead of bringing him back to the present, it only served to shove him farther, pushing him into the world of blissful darkness.
(Infirmary)
"So there were three boys they'd kept in a different camp, taken from Ghorek. They've been relocated into the Athosian settlement, by the way. And Lieutenants Corrin and Faldy were also kept in a different group. They were going to be killed later, but we managed to get to them in time. We're holding a large ceremony for all the innocents massacred in Ghorek village, the three boys are helping us out with that. And when we returned later, it looked like some kind of secondary massacre took place." Elizabeth was frowning. "The Wraith had stopped by and culled the remaining people on that world."
"Good." John glared grimly at the bedsheet across his form, ignoring the faint pounding in his head from an arrow that just barely missed puncturing his skull. Seeing the look he got, he raised an eyebrow. "Hey, they killed women and children for the hell of it."
Still, Elizabeth frowned deeply. "I've sent back teams to finish harvesting what fruit remained. You're lucky to be alive. You should have waited, John."
"I chanced more people dying."
"You did that anyway, rushing into a battle field with a dozen rounds left on your P90."
"I still managed to do a lot of damage and free Ronon."
"And if backup hadn't shown up when it did, you would have been killed. John, that was reckless." She pursed her lips and sighed. "Good thing I told them you'd probably pull this, and made sure they knew to hurry."
"Hey!"
"You're on light duty for the next two weeks, Colonel. Get some rest." She glared half-heartedly at him. "And no more rushing into battle so foolishly, ok?"
He wanted to argue, but when he stopped to think about it, John knew she was right. With a hesitant nod, he laid back and relaxed, closing his eyes as the morphine ran through his system via the IV Carson had going. A graze on his skull, a mild concussion from being hit from behind with a sling-shot and stone, and a nasty gash from a small throwing knife. Ronon, Teyla and Rodney had all been stunned, and besides Rodney suffering from low blood-sugar, they were relatively unhurt. John had come out the worse for wear.
And it was still nothing to the way those boys must be suffering. John made a mental note to go visit them when he felt better, but for now... Whether he wanted to or not, sleep was calling.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Hope you like it.
Written October 21, 2008
R+R please
Thank you
Tenshi