Chapter Nine – And So They Come
"Sir, several small ships are approaching the surface!" A young communications officer reported, his voice a strange mix of fear and wonder.
Katan stared at several different view screens in front of him at the military headquarters. "So, the prophecy will be fulfilled," he muttered sullenly under his breath.
Almost a year ago, the savages had ventured into the city on the pretence of warning them about a danger that was to come. He remembered the day clearly; he'd almost laughed out loud at the ridiculous claim the elderly man, Dadan, had made.
For centuries, the savages had lived alongside them in peace. They considered themselves to be a tribe people and wanted not to be disturbed and Katan was happy with that. To him, the savages had nothing useful in terms of technology or training.
To honor the respect between them, there had been border patrols and restricted access for the areas up north, where the so called savages lived. Katan had also deliberately made the savages seem more ruthless and unenlightened to the city people, so as they would not venture out to them. Due to that, not many city people had seen a savage up close and upon closer inspection they seemed just like each other, except for the clothing.
When the savages came, they came in numbers and situated themselves at the large Square of Enlightenment, a central point in the city. They told about a prophecy, about an enemy so dark and powerful that no one would be safe. About an alien invasion that would leave no one standing and able to defend the city, or even the planet. In all the ridiculousness they also said the city's power would run out because the energy modulators would be drawn.
It was the last statement that really caught Katan's attention; because there was no way for them to know that the Inner Circle and the engineering section had been battling the power problem for generations already. However, it wasn't up until recently that it had become an immediate problem. No matter how hard they'd tried they hadn't come up with a solution that would make the strange power rods glow again, or energy modulators as Dadan called them. As it was they were down to one glowing rod which was rapidly failing in power distribution. Even the sky seemed to shimmer at times and that made some people superstitious.
The government, upon hearing this claim about an immediate threat from space, got divided, friction arose between politicians and between the military fraction and the Inner Circle. A turbulent time had followed with scientists starting to search the old archives for something close to the prophecy the savages spoke of. The government used a cover-up story, denying that they believed the savages even the slightest, but the real reason for the sudden political changes and founding of archaeology teams to search the underground city, the enhancement of the old construction, and restrictions to Hover craft travel across the continent, was leaked to the press.
The resistance formed after that. They claimed the government was ignorant to interplanetary threats. The government in turn claimed there was no one out there to pose a threat despite their recent precautions.
The resistance started to gather information on their own, wanting to make people aware of others. They spoke with the savages, about the prophecy written in Ancient times. They spoke of a dark shadow, of an enemy besieging what once was –
"M.O Katan!" An anxious voice shouted, bringing him back from his musings. "Sir, what are your recommendations?"
Angrily he slammed the com button to talk to his team leaders out on the field and those down below in the old city.
"Seize John Sheppard!" He commanded cryptically before killing the connection. He was suddenly fuming, his hands shaking with anger. He hated loose threads and he couldn't for the world work out where the alien fit into all this.
The M.O then nodded at his second in command. "Open defense sites, deploy armed forces," he ordered sternly.
"They are aliens, sir," the communications officer in the background cautioned.
Katan ignored the man and held his gaze on his SIC.
Military Defense Officer, aka his second in command, Sha Rodin nodded seriously before relaying the order through the military network, executing battle commands.
OOOOOO
M.E Lani Nadim hesitated as she followed the active tracker in order to find the location of her colleague M.E Teldan Tori. The device took her deeper and deeper into the old structure beneath the city and into corridors off limit to most. She wondered if she would finally encounter Amni Lak and his cohorts or Katan's Alpha Teams in the eerie place and felt a shiver down her spine.
She'd never met Amni Lak personally even though Katan had tried for months to prove her involvement with the resistance. Her presence at this place would no doubt get his suspicions raised to a whole new level. However, Lani Nadim was in fact a Triple. It was the name of those who worked in secret groups to prevent a civil war from all sides. She worked for the government, but she also handed important information through secure and reliable channels to make sure the resistance was up to speed and in turn prevented any assault on them. She also had a close and tight relation to the savages, as the city people called them, those who lived simple lives with old traditions outside the city border. She suddenly caught herself smiling as she thought about Dadan and his people.
Teldan Tori on the other hand, was a member of the resistance group even though he worked at the government sanctioned Hospital Section One. Section One was the state of art branch at the large medical facility situated in the prime tower in the middle of the city. Tori was in the General Department, the place Sheppard had been brought to after Katan's men had found him. Lani had no doubt about who'd taken Sheppard when the emergency evac message came through. It had to have been her colleague but she was still amazed at how he'd managed it. For a moment she'd wondered if it was Sheppard who was the patient.
As Lani and her two trusted companions, a nurse and a junior doctor, neared the destination she couldn't contain her surprise any longer. The corridors of the old city were brightly lit in a warm glow and next to every door shone symbols on a small display in a foreign language. As the tracker brought her up to a large double door her mood sank for she had no means to get in.
"How-" the nurse she'd brought with her began as the doors slid open to reveal to her a brightly lit room.
Lani wasted no time as she spotted Teldan inside, lying on what appeared to be a medical support bed in the middle of the room. She closed the distance to him in two strides.
"Lani," he whispered.
"Save your strength," she said worriedly.
"This is a hospital section…" he whispered weakly. "Sheppard…he knows."
"I know," she said sadly as his head lolled to the side.
"Brought me…here," he whispered before oblivion took him.
"He's dying M.E Nadim," the junior doctor said grimly.
"I know," she echoed sadly. "He's lost a lot of blood and he's in a severe condition. I don't think he'll live through transport even under normal circumstances. We have no choice but to treat him here."
The nurse frowned, it was the same nurse that had taken care of Sheppard when he'd first been brought in. "Lani?" She said with uncertainty.
"Take a look around, this is an advanced hospital section. It might be old and not used in a very long time and we may not understand all the equipment there is here, or its language, but it gives Teldan the chance he needs to survive. The ground forces have been deployed – I heard it over the link and whatever they are, those in the strange ships, will make it impossible for us to reach the hospital."
The nurse and the junior doctor accepted her call and turned their attention to their wounded colleague.
Lani watched them work for a moment but found her mind drifting. Too many questions whirled around in her head. However, the main question, the one she couldn't understand was where John Sheppard fit in. He was a wildcard - where everything else seemed remotely connected he was a lose thread.
During her limited free time she had had time to make some enquiries of her own and she'd reached the conclusion that Sheppard was not of her world, nor was he connected to the aliens now roaming the city. She'd seen what they'd looked like, those horrible beings. Oddly enough she had faith in Sheppard, despite their brief encounter. Now she'd learned he'd brought Tori to this medical facility to help him and that he could operate certain equipment that remained a mystery to her own people. She needed answers – she needed to find Sheppard again.
OOOOOO
Colonel Sheppard let out a dry laugh as he stepped out of the internal citywide transporter. Finally freedom seemed to be within reach. A bit further down the hallway was a ladder of a sort, not of Lantean design though, but still. It led upwards through a thick slab of what seemed to be concrete. He set a brisk pace heading for the ladder and swung his gun over his shoulder so that it rested on the strap only while he checked the life signs detector.
He froze, hands on the ladder, as the ground shook beneath him. However, that wasn't what concerned him the most at the moment, the life signs above him were. Dots appeared and then disappeared before his eyes; from the look of things there seemed to be massive fighting going on above his head. Climbing a few steps upwards he was just about to stuff the life signs detector in his pocket when several dots turned red instead of white, the Lantean system instantly recognizing them as Wraith.
Contemplating on whether to back off and retreat, he cast a glance downward and decided to climb down again and have another go at the transporter. Unfortunately, as he was about to step off the ladder, he heard the familiar hum of the transporter. He wasted no more time. He practically bounced up the ladder and pried the hatch open and eased himself over the edge and onto the open street, throwing himself into utter chaos.
Troops had deployed on the market street, civilians screamed and tried to rush over one another in order to get away. John quickly jumped out of harm's way as a beam from the closest dart swept away several people in front of him. That's when he involuntarily got the soldier's attention.
The team leader for a rather large group of men was fast and perceptive as he aimed at the Military Commander of Atlantis. "Let go of the weapon!" He shouted.
John carefully took a step back, earning himself a warning shot that hit the ground only inches from his foot.
"I wouldn't do that," the team leader cautioned.
Calculating his next move Sheppard received unexpected help from the darts above his head as they drew near again and shifted some of the attention away from him. He took a deep breath and dared a glance at the sky, waiting for the right moment to act. Just when the beam was deployed he threw himself away from it and it gave him momentary protection from the troops. He just hoped they would go for the dart instead of him.
OOOOOO
The elders where deeply troubled by the events taking place in the city. They had recited the holy words several times and some of them had even walked over to the ruined Ring of the Old Ones in an attempt to try and decipher the symbols, but it was harder than to read pictograms and the old language had been long forgotten.
The only thing they could conclude was that the prophecy was being fulfilled in front of their eyes. Even though, a long time ago, their ancestors had chosen a simpler life instead of the now blooming city with all its advancements they were far from daft. They believed in traditions and held their heritage high and considered their family important. They needed no knowledge about advanced technology and/or science in any form because they tended to their own. It was said that their ancestors once walked among a people much more advanced than the city people. They came in flying cities and they'd simply been called sky people, or the 'Old Ones' by the younger generations.
The sky people had fought the dark enemy spoken of in the prophecy and lost. The ruins of a once brilliant city were all that remained. A few of the sky people remained a short amount of time to help defend the tribe people, the natives on the planet. They made the sky shimmer, creating a thin layer by pure magic that held away the darkness. However, the sky people warned that the protection wouldn't last forever and one day the dark enemy would once return. It was a story that had been told for every generation since the destruction of the city. When the sky began to shimmer the prophecy would be fulfilled.
The savages had always known there was other life among the stars. Therefore Dadan and the other elders hadn't been that surprised as the ship had appeared above their heads a few days ago. What had confused them however, was the four people that appeared out of nowhere and turned up at their doorstep just before. They had strange clothes and carried weapons Dadan and the rest of them had never seen before. First he took them for outsiders – people who travelled a vast distance around the world before getting back to the start, but then he slowly began to realize they were not.
They'd invited themselves into the caves and stumbled upon the bones of a planet-wide cat-like animal. One of the men had begun to chatter excitedly when he found the pictograms on the walls made by their forefathers. Dadan had sucked on a breath when the leader of the four had ventured into the burial ground of the sky people. Old things that he'd been told belonged to the mysterious sky people had begun to light up. Dadan had immediately assumed they warned him of danger. The savages assembled their weapons and began to hunt the four people. Then the ship came roaming over their heads and it made it impossible for them to capture the strangers and they never found them.
Old Master Dadan carefully stuck his head outside the cave entrance to glance in the direction of the city. His lips pressed into a thin line of displeasure as he saw the small ships circulating over the large rural area. Although it was some distance away he still felt worried about the proximity. He wished he'd seen as clearly as when he was just a young boy, but faith had dealt differently. Dadan could venture into the city and have an eye operation as the young and persistent medical examiner Nadim had suggested on her last visit but it didn't appeal to him. He'd chosen the simple life, his eighty year old body was tired and he didn't feel up to the trip. Dadan closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh air as the howling wind almost whisked him outside.
The old man opened his eyes in confusion and set his forehead in a deep frown as he saw the two young villagers that came his way from the broken ring suddenly fall to the ground. Then he thought he saw the grass crumble from an unknown force a bit further away. Dadan then heard footsteps behind him as others came through to the cave entrance, obviously aware that something was going on outside.
Despite the fact that Dadan had seen many strange things over the years, courtesy of being neighbors to the large city, he'd never seen two men and a woman walk out of a cylinder shaped vehicle that had appeared out of nowhere only to become invisible again as the trio had set foot on the ground.
Dadan wasn't that superstitious but yet he fell down on his knees in awe. It was the same people that had visited several days earlier. Those who'd appeared just before the strange ship that scorched the ground and destroyed the Ring of the Old Ones.
It was clear to him now, he finally understood that the people he'd taken for outsiders, or even the dark and powerful enemy, were in fact neither.
The incident during their last visit had created a debate and an uncertainty among his people that hadn't been settled until recently. Some believed that by hunting the visitors they'd angered the mighty people on the ship and that that was the reason for the unprovoked attack. He had settled for that explanation since they hadn't seen the visitors again nor the ship but now he wondered if they had anything to do with the ship at all.
He was troubled, unable to come to terms with what was happening in front of his eyes, but as he reached out with his hand to stop several members of his people from walking out of the cave and prepare for battle once again, he came to the conclusion that those people before him where not the enemy. In some strange way they gave him hope – they reminded him of the tales of the sky people.
OOOOOO
To be continued