Chapter 2

Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard ran for his life. Blue green bolts from Wraith stunners flew past him uncomfortably close and he thanked God the green bastards were terrible shots. His boots pounded on the asphalt of the city street, and the screams of the panicking residents and the occasional explosion from Wraith air strikes completed the symphony of destruction.

His team rounded the corner of a building into cover. "Hold up here!" Shepard shouted. "Covering fire! Hold the Wraith off as long as possible to give the civilians time to get to the gate!"

Shepard leaned out from his corner. He snapped the little P90 up to his shoulder and started firing in short, vicious bursts. Each burst was well aimed, hitting each Wraith soldier dead center of mass. Such fire wouldn't kill most of them, but it would take them out of the fight, or at least slow them down, and that was good enough.

Shepard's gun ran dry and he ducked back. "Loading!" he shouted. Ronon took his place, the whining boom of his pistol drowning out most other noise.

"Behind us!" Rodney shouted. Rodney and Teyla turned and started pouring fire into the Wraith that had flanked them.

Shepard got his P90 reloaded and hit his radio. "Atlantis, this is turning to shit on a stick. We've been flanked, we've got to pull back now!"

"The door's open, Colonel," Dr Weir replied over the radio.

"Fall back!" Shepard ordered. The entire team took the flanking Wraith under fire as they moved, driving them off.

Shepard's team made it to the gate with a horde of Wraith right on their tail. Major Lorne's team was holding the gate. At the sight of the pursuing Wraith, Lorne's team lit into them with everything they had.

"Go!" Lorne called to Shepard. "We're right behind you!"

Shepard didn't break stride as he charged through the gate. The odd sensation of stretching coldness enveloped him, and then he was back in Atlantis's gate room.

Shepard stood aside from the gate, panting. The rest of his team and Lorne's team came just behind him and, at last, the gate closed.

The gate room was full of civilians, most of them panicked. He ascended the staircase up to Stargate Control. He just wanted to be away from it all.

"Colonel Shepard," Dr. Weir said, coming out of her office. "What happened?"

Shepard grimaced. "What do you think happened?" he spat. "The Wraith weren't supposed to know about M4V-731 but, as per fucking usual, they found it somehow."

"That's not your fault, John," Weir said.

"There was a thriving industrial civilization there," Shepard said. "Hundreds of millions of people, the largest human population we'd found yet off of Earth. Now it's gone."

"Not completely," Weir said, glancing towards the refugees in the gate room.

"A few dozen out of hundreds of millions," Shepard said.

"You can't save them all, John," Weir said.

"Yeah," Shepard said, not sounding convinced.

"Take a few minutes," Weir said. "When you're ready, come to my office, I need to go over some things with you."

"Alright," he said, scrubbing his face. He glanced back at the refugees and his temper boiled.

XXXXXXXXXX

One hour, a shower, and a change of clothes later, Shepard found himself back in Weir's office. He still wasn't in a happy mood, though.

"We've got a new researcher coming in with the resupply shipment from Earth tomorrow," Weir said. "Dr. Andrea Shackleford, research biologist. She's going to be studying the Wraith."

"The Wraith don't need studying," Shepard said. "Unless it's being done through the scope of a rifle."

Weir sighed. She got up and walked around behind Shepard and put her hands on his shoulders, trying to massage some of the tension out. Shepard certainly didn't mind the attention, and she did have a way of calming him. He wasn't really sure how to describe the relationship between him and his boss, but it was definitely not leader to subordinate anymore. It was also wildly against every rule and reg he could think of that pertained to personal relationships with superiors. If it continued, it was likely to be a problem for them both but that was, thankfully, not a problem he had to deal with today.

"John, you've got to stop blaming yourself for everything the Wraith do," she said.

"I know, Elizabeth," Shepard said. "It's just...when I was in Afghanistan, people died in combat. It was part of it, but we all signed on the dotted line and knew what we were getting into. We volunteered, and I'd do it again. Am doing it again, I suppose. The Wraith just casually murder millions of civilians who didn't choose to fight in a war, and the way they do it..."

"I know," Weir said. "We're going to stop them, John."

"I hope so," he whispered.

"Look at me," she said. John turned and looked into her beautiful eyes. "We're going to stop them," she said, her eyes hardening with conviction.

Shepard smiled. "Thanks."

"Now," Weir said, returning to her chair, "Dr. Shackleford. She's mostly going to be working down in the labs with Rodney and Radek."

"Lucky her," Shepard said.

Weir grinned. "However, she has also expressed a wish to accompany your team if an opportunity to study the Wraith in their native environment presents itself."

Shepard lifted an eyebrow. "She's been briefed, I assume?"

"Yes, she's seen the videos of the Wraith feeding, and she still wants to go."

"Well, gotta give her credit for having spine," Shepard said. "Let me talk to her when she gets here. If I think she can hack it, we'll take her along if an opportunity presents itself."

"Good. That's really all I had," Weir said.

"Well, in that case, I'm going to go get some sleep," Shepard said.

"Goodnight John," Weir said.

"Goodnight, Elizabeth."

Shepard left her office and started mentally preparing himself to sleep. With any luck, he figured he might even be able to sleep through the nightmares this time.