Stargate Atlantis: Sleep Before I Do
By: Shadow Chaser
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 & Stargate Atlantis and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions, AcmeShark Productions, and Scifi Channel. This story is for amusement only and I didn't get any money for it. No copyright infringement is intended.
Category: Action Adventure, Drama, H/C
Pairing: Hints of Shep/Weir, Shep/McKay friendship, hints of Ronon/Teyla, hints of Shep/Teyla.
Notes: I might end up changing the rating back down to a PG-13 but it mostly depends on how much violence I use in this fic. The R rating is mostly for later chapters… Please tell me if I'm getting the characterizations of a few characters wrong! This chapter was a total bitch to write…no one wanted to cooperate until the very end.
Story:
Chapter 3 – Rescue
Out of the corner of her eye, Elizabeth could see John fidgeting with hastiness in the seat next to hers and knew that he wanted to get out and go to M3R-154 as soon as possible. There were eight people sitting in the conference room. Six of them were the rescue team; four of them Marines, Black Ops trained, and the other two were Ronon and John. Next to her was Colonel Caldwell, who just minutes ago, beamed in from the Daedalus, a grim look on his face.
Elizabeth didn't blame him for his look; after all, the team sent through the gate along with at least half of Major Lorne's team was formerly under his command.
"Carson says that Dr. Hendrisk has woken up and though she is still sedated, she has given notes on what she had encountered. From what I can gather, Rodney and the other scientists separated from the Teyla and Major Lorne's group before they got into the village and headed towards the device. She doesn't remember much except that Rodney told her to get off of the device, apparently they've got it working, then she remembers running through the woods, chased by what she claims are cat-like creatures…" she read off a sheet of paper that held Carson's notes.
Daring to look up, the table was silent and both John and Colonel Caldwell had almost incredulous looks on their faces. The Marines were professionally silent and had faces that could have been chiseled from rock. However, the most curious expression out of all of the people present at the table was…
"Ronon?"
All eyes turned to the Satedan who was staring at a point in front of him on the table. His hands were folded and elbows resting on top of the table, head resting on his hands and he looked a bit…pensive. She waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts and saw the look of concern John shot towards her and silently agreed with him – this was the most unusual behavior she had observed in the Satedan since he had joined them two years ago.
"There have been legends among my people," he started out hesitantly, "of what you call cats, of a race that existed along side the Ancestors and Wraith. The history books barely make any mention, but we thought they died out…"
"Do you think they can be the ones that Dr. Hendrisk was talking about?" Elizabeth asked.
Ronon shrugged, indicating that he didn't really know and that his knowledge of the subject was limited.
"Could there be something in the database?" Caldwell spoke up.
"Yes, but that would take time, and McKay, Lorne, and the others need us now," John half-snapped at the Colonel, a frustrated expression on his face. Her second-in-command turned to face her, "It's the night time over there, puddle jumper in and out, they won't even see us coming."
"I thought you had said the clearing between the stargate and tree line was smaller than what a puddle jumper would be able to fit without hitting trees," Elizabeth countered, giving him a steady look to not go on a half-planned rescue mission, "Colonel, I understand your desire to go in and rescue your people, but right now, we need an effective plan. I won't risk loosing anyone else."
"Then have the Daedalus drop us off!" Elizabeth was beginning to see the frustration well up considerably within him. She knew his motto, it was the same as then-Colonel Jack O'Neill's motto when he was in command of SG-1, leave no one behind. And that motto was what was driving him right now, especially concern for Teyla and Rodney.
She turned to Colonel Caldwell who had a completely neutral expression on his face. Ever since he had the goa'uld parasite taken out of him, he had mellowed a bit, but she knew that he still harbored at least some resentment of being "cheated" out of his post as chief military officer of Atlantis. "Colonel, how long would it take for the Daedalus to reach the planet?"
Caldwell glanced down at the mission report he had been given when he beamed down before looking back up, "Four hours, give or take an hour or so."
"You have your answer Colonel," she looked at John, "I want radio contact between you and the Daedalus by the hour along with Atlantis."
John nodded sharply, a grim smile on his face as he and the rest of the table got up, a signal that the meeting was over. He immediately gathered his stuff and went over to the Marines, talking to them quietly before they all saluted and left.
Elizabeth didn't get up and instead watch him leave the conference room along with Ronon, the two men with similar grim expressions on their faces; expressions she had been seen far too often in recent months. A quiet sigh escaped her lips and she rubbed her left temple, beginning to feel a headache coming on.
"Bad day at work?" Colonel Caldwell's voice startled her and she looked up to see him still sitting at the conference table an unreadable expression on his face.
She smiled slightly at his attempted humor to lighten her mood, "Days like these are the worst."
He nodded absently and got up, placing a hand on her shoulder, "We'll get them back, I promise." He suddenly left, his boots clicking on the hard floors of the city as he headed back towards his ship.
She looked up, staring as he walked away, appreciating the gesture of comfort he gave before getting up herself. This was no time to relax, and she needed to find any information regarding the Klisa'nthus and those cat-like creatures on M3R-154.
John could feel the low-level tension on the bridge of the Daedalus. It probably was not the sight of four heavily armed marines all dressed in black, though that could have contributed to some of the tension, but it probably was because many of the crew knew at least someone who had been captured on M3R-154. He had seen similar situations during his tour in Afghanistan when the Taliban kidnapped a few of the personnel.
They were about an hour away from the planet when they received a transmission from Atlantis. He glanced at Caldwell as he took it and broadcasted it over the bridge, audio only since the subspace transmission didn't allow any video.
"Colonel Caldwell, there's been a problem. Please hold position," Elizabeth's voice came over the transmission and John raised an eyebrow in silent surprise as he walked to hover behind Caldwell, Ronon joining him.
"Dr. Weir, what-"
"The natives on M3R-154 just returned the bodies of Dr. Ashley and Lieutenant Li," Elizabeth sounded haggard over the comm. and the silence on the bridge was deafening with her announcement that a pin could literally drop and one would hear it three bulkheads away.
"What do they want," John stared at a point outside the windows of the blue-white waves of hyperspace, willing himself not to stare at the shell-shocked expressions some of the crew was wearing. He faintly realized that he sounded cold and professional, but chose to ignore any of that.
"They know you're coming, however, I don't think they know when or how. We have one hour before they kill the next prisoner to open the shields on Atlantis to let them through," she replied, regaining control of her emotions and her voice became a lot more professional.
"How the hell did they know?!" John was shocked.
"They scanned us, high frequency. It affected some of our computers and Atlantis reacted as if it was a threat by manually shutting all of her doors," the distinctive Czech-accented voice of Dr. Radek Zelenka came on.
"Can't we just say that the shield is off and to tell them to go through? I mean you've got men with guns there, so if they send someone through, we can shoot them on sight," Ronon spoke up behind him and John absently nodded, not really caring if Elizabeth could see him or not.
"We did take down the shields when Dr. Ashley's IDC came in, but raised it as soon as we realized it was their bodies. It took us just over two hours to get both systems back online and for Atlantis to figure out that the scan didn't threaten her," Zelenka replied, frustration creeping in his voice, "and I can say, if we lie, they'll probably scan us again and shut down our systems once more-"
"-And in two hours, two more will die," Caldwell whispered before sitting straighter in his chair. He turned to his second-in-command, Captain Dave Kleinman with a nod, "All hands stop."
"All hands stop," Kleinman echoed loudly over the internal comm. system and the ship dropped out of hyperspace.
John felt a rising anger grow within him and walked around the command console to face Caldwell. "You can't just do that!" he said, trying to keep his voice even, "McKay and the others are still out there!"
"Colonel, they might have sensors that we don't know about," Caldwell replied sharply, "and as you have noticed, they may be more than the primitive species of the villagers on the planet. Until then, we proceed with caution."
John frowned angrily at his statement, but he knew that Caldwell was right in more ways than one. They really didn't know what they were up against. Even if it was just a primitive cat-like species attacking them, they did inhabit a planet where an Ancient device was placed and the Wraith that had not culled it for thousands of years before it failed. And the fact that they had used a technology that had set Atlantis on edge…
"So what then? We sit around?" he still wanted to get in the last jab. He never did like Caldwell. He did respect him to a certain extent, after all, the man saved his butt more than once, but that still didn't mean he liked him.
"Captain, how far until we're at the edge of their planetary orbit?" Caldwell ignored him and turned to his second-in-command.
"Fifteen minutes, sir," Kleinman replied before tapping a few buttons on his console, "it would take the jumper another additional fifteen minutes to reach the planet."
"So we've got half-an-hour to search and rescue the prisoners…" John muttered mostly to himself, before turning to Kleinman, "how far can the Daedalus' sensors reach into the planet? Any chance of picking up life signs?"
"Life signs may not do you any good Colonel if we pick up the villagers," Caldwell looked confused but John shook his head.
"I just need a place to park the jumper," he replied.
"Hermiod?" Caldwell shrugged at his statement as he patched through the Asgard.
"I can extend the life signs detector, but it will limit the range. I recommend we move in closer-"
"Negative, we can't chance it," Caldwell replied, "boost it."
There was a seemingly disgruntled noise from the Asgard before his connection cut off and John caught Caldwell rolling his eyes in exasperation before sitting upright once more as a screen came up, this one showing a map with a lot of dots…a lot more than John had expected.
"Looks like an army down there," Ronon commented nonchalantly from behind and John gave him a sideways look before turning back to the map. There were a few blank spots on the edges of the map and he noticed the cluster that was surely the village that wasn't too far from a blank spot. Hopefully no one would notice their arrival.
"I'll send in an escort wing of X-302s-"
"Negative. We don't know what kind, if any, sensors they're using," he said shaking his head, "we'll stay in radio contact within the hour." It was his cue for his men to head to the Puddle Jumper docked in the Daedalus' bay, and he made a move to leave the bridge when both Elizabeth and Caldwell's voices stopped him.
"Good luck," the two said almost simultaneously and John half turned, giving a slightly strained lopsided grin.
"Thanks," he replied before he headed out the bridge. Even before he fully stepped out, Caldwell was already barking orders to his crew. He hoped that they would be able to find Rodney and the others and get the hell out of there.
Teyla knew that the first sign something had gone wrong was when she felt a wave of pain that consumed her whole being. The second sign was that her eyes were closed and she was lying on a very hard, cold ground. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Reddish-brown walls covered with grime greeted her and the dim light given by small high windows cast shadows all around.
Beyond her sight to her right were bars…many bars, and many cells all interconnected together. They looked like metal bars, nothing like the organic Wraith ones aboard their hive ships.
"Teyla?" Major Lorne's voice made her suddenly sit up and she splayed out her arms to steady herself from the dizzy wave that spun circles in her vision.
"Whoa, take it easy, Teyla," a strong arm held her steady as the dizziness subsided and leaned her gently against the grimy wall. She closed her eyes briefly and when she thought she felt the nausea and dizziness pass she opened them again and glanced to her right to see Major Lorne staring at her, concern on his face. "You okay?" he asked and she nodded slowly.
"I think so," she worked her neck around, feeling the muscles pull and contract as she started to remember what had happened, "what happened after I was incapacitated?"
"I don't remember much, but I do remember being dragged out of that son of a bitch's house and into the woods. Next thing I know, I'm here," Lorne rubbed the back of his neck, "only Pearson is here, don't know what happened to the rest of his team. My team's also here, and I think Dr. McKay has a concussion; he's been mumbling pretty badly for the past hour or so."
Teyla glanced to her left to see Lieutenant Wescott watching over the scientist, occasionally putting a cold compress on his head. It was then that she noticed she still had her vest on, but no weapons. Surprise must have registered on her features as Lorne nodded.
"Me too. I don't think these…cat-things see us as too much of a threat," he said.
"Can we pool our resources together to make something explosive to get us out of here?" she asked.
He nodded towards where Sevanov, Captain Pearson, and Lieutenant Brown were huddled in the opposite corner of their large cell, a pile of stuff taken from their vests in the middle of their huddle.
"Have any of them stopped by?" she asked.
"No, oddly. I don't know what's going on, but-"
"It is unusual," she commented agreeing with him, "I have never seen anyone treat prisoners so lightly. Perhaps it is meant to intimidate us?"
"Great job with their claws," a groan came from McKay and Teyla turned to see him attempt to sit up, wincing as he pressed a hand to his forehead, ignoring Lieutenant Wescott's efforts to hold him to the ground. "Oooo…that's not good…"
"Dr. McKay?" she asked, watching him splay his arms out, leaning against the wall as he blinked owlishly a few times.
"Yep…that's a sore spot," he winced again as his fingers found a tender spot on the back of his head before he propped himself back up against the wall, waving away the Lieutenant's efforts to sponge his forehead again. "Look, I'm fine. Thank you, but I'm fine," he said in a curt voice to the Lieutenant who just gave him an icy look before glancing at Teyla and Lorne.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught Lorne waving Wescott to the other group and the Lieutenant shrugged silently before getting up and heading over to the huddle just as McKay slid over to them, still a bit disoriented, but otherwise looking more alert.
"Ashley and Hendrisk aren't here?" he asked, looking at the huddle of four before staring all around him.
"It would seem that they have escaped," she replied.
"Or killed," he mumbled.
"I rather believe they have escaped and are now getting reinforcements from Atlantis," she said in a slightly stubborn voice. If there was one quirk she usually found fault with in Rodney was that he was too pessimistic at times.
He made a noise that sounded like agreement before he suddenly sat up straighter. "The device!"
"What?" both Teyla and Lorne said at the same time.
"The-The device!" he snapped his fingers, "It isn't Ancient design."
"But I thought you said there was Ancient text all over it? I mean, the books show it too," Lorne looked confused.
"Yes," McKay said, "but that's just to throw whoever's looking at it off. Look, I don't know who built it, but it's designed to kill us humans, Ancients, whatever."
Teyla was shocked. "Are you sure?"
"I did a rough translation before we left, but I'm pretty sure it said that it's to kill humans and Ancients," he replied, rubbing his face tiredly.
"Could it be possible that Taethos and his people don't know about it?" Lorne asked.
"It is possible, but somehow, I doubt it may be highly unlikely," Teyla narrowed her eyes, suppressing a wave of anger that was uncharacteristic of her.
"Teyla?" Lorne and McKay looked confused.
"I believe some of Taethos' people truly do not know what the device is, but Taethos knew," she said with a hint of finality in her voice. She did not want to talk about what had happened to either McKay or Lorne. She had sensed that the leader of the village was a womanizer of sorts and had indeed separated the women of the group, including Lieutenant Li, Lieutenant Wescott and herself to have a talk with them privately.
The talk itself was simple enough; Taethos had asked if the three of them could possibly stay as ambassadors to his people for a few more days and perhaps teach the women in the village to defend themselves. There was a more subliminal meaning to his request that she had pointedly ignored until shouts of Major Lorne on the radio alerted the three of them that something was wrong.
It was then at least five of what Major Lorne had called them cat-things emerged from the shadows, seemingly having blended into the wall and ambushed them. The three of them had fought against their ambushers, until Taethos' human appearance had melted into one of those cat-like creatures and killed Lieutenant Pai-an Li. Her shock at seeing someone literally shape shift was a mistake as she was knocked out by one of the creatures and then the next thing she knew, she had woken up in the cell.
"I mean, how can you be sure-"
Lorne waved a hand to shut McKay up just as Teyla picked up on footsteps coming their way. Captain Pearson and the rest who were trying to figure out a way to free themselves with their equipment quickly shoved things into their vest pockets and scooted towards them to join them. Both Dimitri Sevanov and Lieutenant Wescott lay on the ground, pretending to be half-awake.
The heavy footsteps got closer and across from their cell, the doors opened to reveal Taethos and three heavily armed cat-like guards. She noticed that one of the guards was a lot shorter than the others but seemed to command the respect of the guards and even, to her surprise, Taethos, though he acted like he was in charge.
"Taethos," McKay said as he managed to pull himself to a standing position, despite the obvious dizziness that was still plaguing him. He must have been hit a lot harder than he was letting on, Teyla realized.
She also stood up, glaring at the leader of the village who gave her a small smile. She immediately also noticed that Lorne had half-stepped in front of her along with Captain Pearson. She appreciated the support from the people from Earth.
"Ah, you're awake Dr. McKay. That is good…I was starting to worry that you were permanently incapacitated," Taethos smiled congenially at them, his hands clasped in front of him, a totally different demeanor than what he had showed when they had met him days ago. "And you too Teyla Emmagan and Major Lorne," Taethos smiled at them as if nothing was wrong, "and I see your men and women are also all right."
"What do you want?" Major Lorne stepped forward, and for a moment, Teyla had the sudden image of Colonel Sheppard overlaying Lorne's face and realized how similar the two were. She had always thought that Lorne's command style was different than Sheppard's, but she knew that he could not have chosen a better second-in-command than Lorne.
"What I want is quite similar to your goals, Major. And the goals of your expedition team," Taethos spread his arms out, his boisterous voice now low and sinister. "I want to gather the Lantean technology."
"It wouldn't do you any good, you don't have the gene," Teyla knew that Lorne had read the brief notes given to him by Sheppard before he went off-world. It seemed that none of the villagers actually had the Ancient gene.
"Unless your true form enables you to manipulate the technology," McKay spoke up.
"I have no-"
"Oh cut the crap. You're like, giant cats," Teyla glanced worriedly at McKay as he snorted derisively. Judging from experience, she knew that sometimes, it was bad to antagonize the enemy, especially if they were held prisoner, and if the person doing the antagonizing was Dr. McKay.
There were three very loud, very angry hisses from the creatures, but Taethos just stared at McKay with a critical eye and she did not like the gleam in them.
"Be careful Dr. McKay, you are treading a fine line," Taethos warned softly before to the shocked gasps of surprise, even from McKay, his human features seemingly melted as dark black fur appeared along with whitish streaks. His voice became a lot more guttural and there were hints of a feline quality that Teyla would have never recognized if she hadn't heard an accidental recording of Dr. McKay's cat, Bernoulli on of the Daedalus' supply trips a few months ago. "We could have killed you the moment you stepped through the Chappa'ai," he hissed, "but we've decided to keep you alive for the moment."
Taethos suddenly cocked his head to the side as if listening for something before a sinister smile that stretched across his face. "It sounds like your friends are here to rescue you…"
It was then, that Teyla could hear the faint distant sounds of gun fire…a lot of gun fire. That meant there was a serious battle going on in the distance. They watched as Taethos gave them an ominous smile before walking out, the other cat-like guards following him.
However, the shorter, diminutive one stayed behind, staring at them with an expressionless face.
"You are trying to build an explosive to leave here," the small cat-like creature stated before coming forward and his clawed hands wrapped themselves around the bars, "it is useless."
"Well forgive us for trying?" McKay had sat back down to lean against the wall, a slightly pained expression on his face.
"He requires medical treatment," the alien stated in a flat voice staring at both her and Lorne, "as does the female soldier."
Teyla turned and saw that Lt. Wescott indeed was looking pained, but kept a very firm grip on her emotions. She turned back to face the cat-like creature who kept staring at them, its slit-shaped eyes a bit unnerving.
Suddenly, there was movement from its claws and Teyla found herself holding something in her hands that looked like a bag of pasty-white stuff. She glanced back up at the alien who was still staring at them.
"Heal them. We do not wish them to be too injured before negotiations are concluded," the creature commanded before he turned and walked away through the doors that he had come through with Taethos.
"Wait," Teyla stepped forward, sensing something different about this cat-like creature. The alien stopped and turned back around, the same blank-yet-baleful look in his features. "What is your name?"
"Akiesios," the smaller cat-like creature replied before turning back around and leaving, the doors closing behind him.
Teyla let a hint of a smile cross her lips as she realized that this particular cat-like creature was more sympathetic to them than Taethos or the others. She hoped that by the time these creatures were finished with whatever negotiations they were conducting, that perhaps Akiesios could help them out.
Or by the time the rescue team came for them, they would be able to escape with the creature's help.
John kept his head down as beam weaponry, unlike Wraith stunners, gorged new holes into the corner of the wall he was hiding. It was almost like being hit by the fiery blasts of the Jaffa staff weapons. Where the hell did these weapons come from? They sure weren't present when his team first gated through a few days ago. All the villagers had were bows, arrows, spears, and swords.
"Michaels!" he called out over the din of exploding shards of plaster and stone, grabbing the attention of one of the members of his team who was a few feet away from him, backed against another wall.
The Air Force Black Ops member nodded curtly lifting up his P90 and firing a few bursts before ducking back into his hiding spot, indicating that he was watching for his signals.
He made a hand motion for him to warn the others and held up a grenade he had in his hands. He gave him a curt nod before turning further down the hall behind him where three other hidden Black Ops soldiers Johnston, Walker, and Belaqua watching their six, were, occasionally firing into different hallways to deter anyone from following them.
"Toss it, I'll cover you," Ronon's gruff voice spoke behind him and John primed the grenade before taking a peek out of his cover. Just as he did that, the familiar whine of Ronon's gun above his head before shots rang out of it. He tossed the grenade, getting a good look at their attackers since they walked from their cloaked jumper into the village and into an ambush.
They looked like something out of a B-rated horror movie. Cats. Giant ones hold guns and looking very pissed. Ducking back, he covered his head with his hands as Ronon and the others did the same. Seconds later, there was a loud explosion followed by a wave of heat and wind from the exploded grenade.
Coming up from his crouched position, he saw that Michaels was already ahead of him, ducking into the still fiery hallway, P90 blazing as he mowed down whatever resistance met him. He quickly followed behind him, taking out any that he had missed, Ronon and the others taking up the rear.
Suddenly one of the soldiers behind him let out a strangled scream and John stopped dead in his tracks, spinning around and bringing his P90 up just in time to see claws raking a bloody and fatal path across Belaqua's neck. The cat-like creature that was holding Belaqua's now limp body tossed it away as if he was a rag doll and yowled at them.
Even without thinking, John fired his gun, spraying the creature in a hail of bullets as it charged at them. Apparently he wasn't the only one firing as both Johnston and Walker also fired. The creature fell heavily to the ground in a messy splatter of blood and guts in front of John. But it didn't stop there as more creatures emerged from the hallways that they had just vacated and charged at them.
"Cover fire!" he shouted as he emptied the clip and slammed in a new one before firing at the charging angry creatures.
He raked let loose small bursts of fire at the center masses of each one that came at him, before suddenly a grunt next to him made him turn slightly to see Ronon collapse to the ground, having taken a blast to his side. "Ronon!" he shouted, trying to see if the large Satedan was still conscious but there was no movement. "Shit…" he cursed softly before quickly reaching down to the man's neck and found that Ronon still had a pulse.
Glancing around, he ducked as one blast nearly took his head off and grabbed the man's jacket and tried to drag him. "Lay off the food, will ya?" he grunted softly to himself as he found that the Satedan was very heavy to move. Desperation filled him as he glanced to his left just in time to see Michaels take a blast straight to his face, sending him two feet into the air before he collapsed to the ground, headless.
"Shit, shit, shit…" he cursed as he dropped Ronon where he was and fired at a creature that had been trying to ambush him. A sudden prickle of danger on the hairs of his neck made him turn around, but it was too late. Searing pain scorched across his body as a blast took him straight in the stomach. He fell to the ground and blackness engulfed him.
Taethos stood above the unconscious and bloodied form of Colonel John Sheppard, a smile appearing on his face. He holstered his weapon, a tube that was half of the length of a human's arm but with a pod-like thing at the end where the weapon discharged its blasts.
"Tell him we have his quarry and we expect negotiations to be in full swing within two hours," he barked to one of his subordinates who immediately nodded and headed off in the direction of another hall.
He waved two more of his subordinates forward, "Get these two down to the cells and have them healed."
"What of the rest, Commandant?" one of them asked. A cruel looking wolfish smile appeared on Taethos' face as he looked beyond the two prisoners and towards the two other soldiers that were still alive, albeit injured.
"Kill them. Send the heads to Atlantis with a warning that if any rescue attempt is made, whether by space or through the Chappa'ai, the next one to die will be Colonel Sheppard," he growled.