Start Chapter 21

John cloaked the Jumper as soon as it emerged from the gate and flew to the rally point immediately in order to avoid colliding with the other jumpers that were coming in. Him and the two teams in the back waited in an interminable silence as the seconds ticked off the mission countdown. Agonizingly slowly the appointed time arrived and Sheppard followed the teams out leaving the jumper cloaked near the forest. John, Ronon and Rodney headed towards the building with the most life-signs. While smaller than all the other teams his team wasn't attacking it alone far from it and they had Ronon. As his team exited and proceeded towards their rally point in the city Sheppard got a bad feeling and one look at Ronon told John he wasn't the only one. He cycled his radio through the different team's frequencies and heard that they were all pretty much on course and a few others also thought something was wrong.

Ronon returned from his own personal scouting mission, "Sheppard there's a patrol around the corner we can avoid them but we might not be able to find them again."

"How many?"

"Six."

"No we'll get them on the way out. Rodney lets go," he said as Rodney jogged up behind them with his computer and several Ancient devices.

They headed further into the city towards the building. As the Colonel continued to listen in on the other teams channels he heard several teams getting bogged down by patrols. His team however encountered relatively light resistance.

They blew open the door only to find the room completely devoid of life, "Ok Rodney which way?" Ronon asked after clearing the room.

"This way," Rodney whispered motioning towards the door at the far end of the room.

"We just blew open the door do you really need to whisper?" Sheppard joked. Rodney shrugged as the proceeded further into the building. Sheppard was betting this was the building where the Athosians were being held and as he saw the blood streaks across the floor and heard the screams from other parts of the building. They moved silently, quickly, and efficiently towards their objective and eventually the screams were replaced with gunfire and stunner blasts. Sheppard watched as Ronon went around a corner only to reappear again a moment later jumping backwards as stunner blasts whizzed by him. John motioned for Ronon to cross over to the opposite side of the hallway; John poked out from around the wall and fired a long controlled burst down the hallway as Ronon ran across trying to get back behind the corner. John pulled back just as a series of stunner rounds crashed into the wall behind them. Ronon pinpointed the location of the one shooting at Sheppard, Ronon hugged the corner wall and exposing as little of himself as possible angled himself and his weapon around and fired four shots at the target. Sheppard crouched down and leaned around the corner, he emptied half his clip into two of the mutants that he saw. He signaled to Ronon that only one remained; they both jumped out of cover and firing the whole way killed the final mutant.

When the last guard dropped Ronon rushed forward to make sure they were all dead, "Clear."

Rodney ran after Sheppard and Ronon who were already continuing into the facility. However the further they progressed into the facility the more patrols they came into contact with. They were making less and less progress as combat wore on they were hit by stunners and while they managed to stay conscious their reaction time were slower and their progress moved to a crawl before they were finally stalled.

"Major Lorne where are you?" Sheppard said as stunner flew past his head and they all returned fire.

"Yes Colonel we just took out another patrol this definitely appears to be the main building.

"Where are you?"

"About 50 meters from our objective."

"Rodney get me a route," he said indicating for his team to fall back.

"Ok we'll link up with you as soon as we can," John and his team disengaged and sent a grenade towards the enemy. John and his team ran through the facility towards Lorne in an effort to find a path of less resistance.

When they managed to link up the combination of firepower proved effective to break through the enemy lines and make their way a large door. They secured the area made sure that the dead were dead and waited for Rodney to crack the door. After a few minutes they grew frustrated waiting for him to succeed and decided to blast it open. When the charge blew and the door slid open they were met with relief. Many of the Athosians were still alive although not in the best of shape.

"Colonel Sheppard, Major Lorne, Rodney, Ronon where is Teyla?" Halling asked noticing his friend and leader was missing.

"She's waiting for you all in a jumper she's got some news."

Halling nodded and began organizing the Athosians for their escape. After a surprisingly short time they were ready and John proceeded to began evacing them to the jumpers. It was while he was waiting for the Athosians that the entire mission changed twice.

First one of his teams had managed to find and kill Michael. He had been escorted by a number of soldiers when a rooftop team spotted him. They called in air support and took him out with a drones. Sure it wasn't an epic showdown with the heroes like in the movies, but Michael was dead and no one cared how he got that way. With his death the mission seemed to be going perfectly there were reports that several of the soldiers appeared to stop fighting and were surrendering. It was just as the mass surrenders when the first shots hit. The Wraith had arrived earlier than expected and were hitting the planet it was only a matter of time before the darts were swarming over the city.

By the time the darts appeared however most of the teams had linked up and were on the way to the extraction zones. The Athosians had been divided up among three teams each heading to a different zone.

John and his team were heading back across the field to the jumper when the darts spotted them. They dropped several warriors across the field most too far away to be of much concern but a few needed to be dispatched. Sheppard dropped to one knee and began firing at the Wraith while Rodney ran towards the jumper hoping to get aboard. He fired a quick burst at the first Wraith hitting him dead center and dropping him before he could react. He shifted fire to a pair who were slightly off center and loosed another salvo of bullets. The remaining Wraith warriors fell from combined fire from the other teams.

Lorne and his team headed for the second jumper covering Rodney and preparing to guard the Jumper against Wraith assaults. Ronon charged the Wraith closest to the Jumper and held them at bay long enough for another team to get into their Jumper and get airborne. Turning back towards John he headed to him to help hold off the Wraith but John signaled him to head to the jumper. Sheppard turned towards the Jumper and began to stand up when a bright light appeared behind him. It deposited five Wraith a few feet behind Sheppard, the Wraith immediately saw him and fired; the first shot went wide but the second, third, and fourth were dead on. He went down quickly into the grass and several more shots followed him down.

A moment later another white beam appeared behind him this one however deposited no troops it dematerialized him right in front of almost every one of his friends. Rodney stood frozen Ronon fired at the dart and growled. Lorne and his team fired as well and headed to the Jumper. As Ronon ran inside and closed the door Lorne turned patted Rodney on the shoulder as a sign to go and tapped his earpiece "I'm sorry to tell you all but Colonel Sheppard has been beamed up into a dart," he threw his earpiece across the Jumper and slumped down into the copilots chair.

***

Teyla sat in the Jumper listening to the radio communications from all the teams it was boring for her but better than sitting in Atlantis. She heard the news of her people's rescue and then of Michaels death. She was disappointed it wasn't her who'd killed him but at least the man responsible for her people's suffering was dead. She sensed the Wraith as soon as they entered the system the orbital bombardment began almost immediately and ceased only when the darts swarmed across the sky.

All of her concerns disappeared however when the ramp lowered and she saw Kanaan except he was different. He looked at her differently, moved differently, and his face was not his she walked over to him, "Kanaan I am glad you survived."

"Teyla it is good to see you as well," he responded distantly as if she was someone who he had met years ago it hurt her. But she had no time to question him further as more and more of the Athosians came into the jumper many her injured but none severely so. The Jumper became more and more crowded. And she was only able to greet everyone quickly. She was forced back into the cockpit when she heard Major Lorne's voice over the ships comm.. but was unable to hear what he was saying so she turned her own earpiece on, "but Colonel Sheppard has been beamed up into a dart," she stopped her eyes went wide.

He was gone.

They knew the risks Sheppard had told them that if they were captured by the Wraith it was unlikely they would be able to mount a rescue operation. She pushed her way through the packed Jumper—which considering her pregnant belly was considerably difficult-- attempting to get outside she didn't know why but she needed to get outside and see the sky. As she stepped outside the team who were escorting the Athosians were trying to make their way to the cockpit in order to take off.

"Teyla what are you doing? It's not safe out there."

She barely registered the danger, John was gone. They'd grown close again and she couldn't believe that he was taken from her just as she was…just as she was…She couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't voice that particular feeling. Sure she's always been attracted to him physically and he'd grown on her as she'd gotten to know him as well, but she'd initially given up hope of ever being with him and moved on with Kanaan. She'd doubted his feelings until she'd felt an inkling of them first hand on that ship.

She stood still looking up at the darts as if trying to find the one that had taken Colonel Sheppard. She never heard the Dart or saw the beam but in front of an entire Jumper filled with her people and a team of marines who were standing just inside the jumper she was beamed away.

A/N Hope you enjoyed