Chapter Twelve – For Every Action …

OOOOOO

Military Organizer Katan actually found himself smiling as he watched on the view screen, in the control room, how his army trained, black ops, was easily overpowered and outsmarted by this soldier called Sheppard. The black ops weren't ordinarily used for guard duty but they were, alongside the Alpha teams, some of his best men on the field, members of his elite force.

Katan was therefore impressed yet furious at the same time, and the smile was as much in surprise and uncertainty as it was of rage and desperation.

When Katan finally spoke to his SIC it was in a low, cold and calculating voice that seemed devoid of any emotion. "It is a shame he can't be made an asset, he would make such a contribution. Now, John Sheppard must die here – for planet security."

Sha discreetly shook his head in disagreement. This wasn't the way to handle things, certainly not his way. He secretly wished to seek out Lani Nadim and discuss the situation like they'd done so many times before. For Sha Rodin was a Triple; determined to stop his world from falling apart, lost between narrow-minded people and vast disagreements. He'd heard reports from the underground battle too and he'd recently just avoided reporting the knowledge about Lani having taken a small team to rescue her medical colleague, Teldan Tori. Katan was already trying to frame her, he didn't need to know about that particular event.

Sha regretted he couldn't contact Rackie, who'd infiltrated the resistance group, and hear the latest at his end, and he desperately needed to hear the wisdom of Dadan. Because Sha knew that John Sheppard was the key to all this; he just didn't know what door he would open and what it would mean. The only thing he was certain of was that he must prevent Katan from killing John Sheppard because he was a link, oddly connected to the history of this world and Sha believed in the prophecy.

OOOOOO

Teyla felt uneasy as she walked the old corridors below the ground level. It didn't help that she had a life sign detector in a tight grip. The old city was worn and in some sections highly unstable. The floor creaked forebodingly as she made her way in a dimly lit hallway near what would have been the botany labs back on Atlantis. Cobwebs draped the old lamps on the walls, and dust caked the floor and ornaments wherever she looked. She let out a shallow breath and cautiously peered around the corner of a junction as if expecting to find someone despite the fact that she was alone. Teyla decided to keep going in the direction of the small gym where she and John usually met to practice on Atlantis, but her hopes of finding him there were small. Then, as she drew near she saw footprints and a glimmer of hope flickered through her mind. She carefully knelt to study the print and was forced to hold back her disappointment as it didn't belong to John.

There was a sudden spark behind her that made her jump, her hands unconsciously reaching for the P90 clipped on her TAC vest, the life signs detector forgotten on the floor where she'd knelt.

An eerie glow lit up the small space behind two large double doors to the lab section next to her, and with a cautious glance thrown at the life signs detector, she saw two dots appearing. In the semi darkness she hadn't spotted it, but now the glow and the familiar hum gave away the internal citywide transporter.

Equally surprised as his team mate, Rodney McKay threw his hands in the air as the doors swooshed open to reveal the hallway of section three, level four. "Whoa, don't shoot," he piped up worriedly staring down the barrel of Teyla's P90. The young doctor in his company said nothing but was obviously frightened as she shrank back in the corner of the ICWT.

Teyla couldn't help but grin as she lowered her weapon. "Rodney, I did not expect to find you here," she said, then turned to look over his shoulder. "M.E Nadim."

"No, well I preferred taking the easiest way," he returned. "Lani told me of an access point from the market street but –" the scientist made a face. "Considering all the hungry Wraith running around up there, I thought it safer to take the back door."

Teyla raised an impeccable eyebrow; she and Ronon had had to go through the market street.

"I found a map of the city and then correlated it with a map of the one above, then I just had to make sure how Askula was situated and calculate where the nearest internal citywide transporter was – it turned out to be no less than five meters from the museum," he said with a smug look on his face.

"Askula?" Ronon questioned as he walked out of the shadows behind McKay, causing the scientist to jump.

"Do you have to scare the crap out of me!" he retorted angrily as the big Satedan walked up to stand opposite him with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "You could have just said something like a normal person."

"I just did," Ronon returned.

"The map wasn't the only thing we found," Nadim said in a hollow voice. "A woman appeared before us."

"A hologram," Rodney clarified. "Similar to the one that greeted us when we first found Atlantis. Apparently this is Askula and this was a beta site but it wasn't hidden from us for the reasons I thought."

"Explain, McKay," Ronon said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"They gathered here, some of the cities, lined up like the cities back on the Asuran homeworld, to discuss how to deal with the threat the Wraith had turned into. There were disagreements among the Council members about the way to neutralize the Wraith and defeat their enemy. Ever the diplomats trying for a peaceful solution, the Lanteans weren't quick enough. The Wraith cornered them and they scattered," Rodney said.

Teyla and Ronon shared a solemn look as their team mate continued to fill them in.

"Askula remained, having been too damaged as she defended many of the others. Janus developed some kind of shielding; I only know half of it. Also, there's no mention of the Wraith detecting system we have, maybe that was invented after this? Anyway, the reason why the Wraith have never returned to this planet is because they thought nothing of it. As far as they are, or were, concerned they won the battle, nothing remained. Askula's shields have masked the life signs of the city people and the tribes in this region of the planet where it is most populated, until now."

"The power is failing, the shield is going down, cracking in various places," Lani filled in sadly. "When the sky begins to shimmer the enemy will come," she recited.

"That is only partly true," Rodney said. "If it hadn't been for the activity taken by the Travelers, the Wraith wouldn't have discovered your planet just yet. They followed their trail here."

"But the prophecy," she protested. "The sky-"

"It's an unlucky coincidence," Rodney said dismissively before he refocused his attention on Teyla and Ronon. "No trace of Sheppard?"

"No," Teyla said sadly.

"No, I didn't think so, that would have been too easy," Rodney mumbled.

OOOOOO

M.O Katan stormed out of the control room down in the military base and cursed under his breath as the ground shook beneath his feet. His hand wandered to the tightly strapped gun on his hip. Things were not going his way. Their most impressive guns were pointed towards the sky, aimed to blast the enemy out of the sky; yet too many of them remained, all while more and more citizens disappeared.

The government officials had just vacated the Council chamber and were safe, the appointed leader had been downright rude when he'd called on the link earlier to demand that Katan do something about the situation. The politician wasn't normally that harsh, but in the heat of the moment he'd lashed out and had come close to calling the military a complete disaster. Katan knew that when all this was over his head would be on a plate unless, there was a small chance, that he could prove he couldn't have handled things differently. That he could somehow get a confession out of Sheppard of bringing them to the planet, or if that didn't work, he could blame Dadan for not telling them the severity of the situation in the first place. Or he could lay guilt on Amni Lak and his frigid resistance group for interfering with military business and causing division among the people.

Katan smiled suddenly as he crossed several junctions to get out in the main hallway in his hunt for Sheppard. Things looked much brighter now than they had ten minutes before.

OOOOOO

Rackie crouched low as he heard footsteps drawing near his position. He had little time left to act and sighed in desperation as the ground shook beneath his feet. The already weakened section of the city where he was currently residing creaked ominously, protesting the strain added from the bombardment above. He could only hope it wasn't one of Katan's teams at the other end of the hallway, if it was he would have nowhere to go. Several sections behind him had collapsed; some of the resistance members were trapped, some were dead. Despite the contingency plans drawn up, nothing seemed to work in a real crisis. The persons Amni Lak had chosen to abduct had been executed, caught in the crossfire between the Alpha teams and the resistance fighters. Both sides had disliked each other for so long now that there was nothing holding them back – nothing to keep them from engaging each other in battle. It was a private war going on underground just as ugly and deadly as the one above on the streets. It was insane to fight each other when they most needed to stay united.

What complicated things was that Amni Lak was dead, shot to death while attempting to become a martyr. It fuelled the resistance members with a fighting spirit, and even though Meren Kal was a member of the Inner Circle and should see how wrong their actions were, he was afraid to do anything else than to follow the stream.

A handful of people that Rackie trusted were secretly spreading out in the underground city at this moment to try and stop the fighting. He just hoped they would get the rest to listen and see the bigger picture before it was too late. As for his own mission, he was on his way toward the experimental bunker that was dug out deep underground on the outskirts of the underground city. While the underground city was a great hiding spot, it left a lot to be desired in terms of communication with the rest of the world and he needed to contact the rest of his people badly – for Rackie was Triple and the time had come to reveal themselves.

OOOOOO

John Sheppard gritted his teeth as he slid the keycard in yet another holder, opening yet another door. Perspiration was slowly starting to cover his face as his hair grew damp and flat against his head. His shirt laid slick against his body and the fever was intensifying. Pain shot through his leg from where the arrow had been embedded with every step he took. The row of lights flickered above his head as yet another Wraith beam cut through the layers of rock covering the bunker. For all he knew he could be running in the wrong direction, but at the moment he didn't care just as long as he did something. Katan would stop at nothing; he was a dangerous, deranged man.

John slipped through the door and breathed a sigh of relief as he allowed himself a few minutes to gather his wits and slow his breathing. He wished he had his life signs detector as he half jogged, half walked through the seemingly endless hallways of the experimental bunker complex. Then, to his surprise when he slipped through the next door, he emerged in a rough handmade tunnel - yet it was still as bright as the smooth surfaced walls of the bunker. His breath caught in his throat as he saw a Lantean door panel light up at the end of the tunnel – the Ancient City.

A shadow detached itself from the rest of the darkness and John froze as he saw Katan before him, a weapon pointed at his chest.

In slow motion he saw his opponent pull the trigger, saw the flame at the end of the barrel.

He felt the bullets rip through his chest; every impact pushed him further to the ground. He felt a burning sensation and watched with fascination how the blood trickled down on the floor. John glanced up at his nemesis and suddenly laughed at the irony of it all; he had run out of options. John Sheppard could not cheat death anymore.

Katan walked up to him, to stand next to him and watch him die.

"So...go ahead...why don't you finish what you've started?" Sheppard rasped.

"I am finished, when tomorrow comes you will be no more," Katan returned menacingly and holstered his weapon. "There's no way out of here and no one is out there to save you. This is for the best, Sheppard –for my word. I will deny you've ever existed, deny that you ever came here."

Sheppard laid his head down, unable to even make the slightest move, yet his mind felt crystal clear. He could feel his life slipping away and he was helpless. John felt a tear sting in his eye; something he hadn't felt since the day his mother died. He would die on a foreign planet in a distant galaxy where no one had ever heard of earth. Slowly he closed his eyes, letting himself succumb to the darkness.

He had one word at the tip of his tongue; why?

"You cannot give up," a faint voice whispered.

Sheppard opened his eyes in confusion but the only figure there with him was the military organizer and Katan was silently watching his life slip away. The only sound that could be heard was the sickening sound of his blood dripping down on the floor.

"Colonel Sheppard, please..."

He tried to swallow, but only managed to cough slightly as blood slowly seeped out of his mouth. He let his eyes flicker over the surroundings but again, there was nothing.

"You cannot give up," the voice repeated and, each time he heard it, the more familiar it seemed to him.

With a last effort he managed to turn his head slightly and smiled as he saw Carson Beckett kneeling next to him. "Now I know I'm dying," John whispered but it wasn't audible at all to anyone else. "I didn't expect it to be you who came to greet me."

Carson smiled sadly at him. "John, please fight this," he said solemnly yet in a supportive way.

However, John Sheppard was slow to catch up, his body refusing any kind of cooperation and his mind screamed in pain. The person before him was dead, having been obliterated by a bomb in Atlantis.

"You're dead..." he said, his voice sounding strange to his own ears.

"We are worried about you, and while we would treasure your arrival, your place is not with us yet," Carson said softly. "Hedda regrets she can't heal you this time."

Then he understood and suddenly all his remorse for not being able to save his friend lessened. For Carson wasn't gone; he was just as secure as he'd been before, but on another plane of existence.

"You Ascended," he said, it was more of a statement than a question. "I don't understand, you died so suddenly, Ascension takes time…"

"Time is not important where I am, John, nor was it important the moment Hedda reached out her hand to me."

"We mourned you, carried your casket through the gate back to earth..." John said, each word harder to formulate.

A smile appeared on the Scot's face. "And I saw you, I was proud of you all, but now is not the time or the place to discuss what has already been. John, listen to me, you have to fight this."

John attempted to giggle but the only sound was a guttural one before he found his voice again. "Carson...I can't, I've cheated death so many times."

"Don't I know it, lad," the Scottish doctor let on sadly yet a tiny quirk played on his lip. "They need you; you have things to accomplish that no one else can."

"We needed you too, Carson," John whimpered, not even his high threshold of pain was enough to withstand the agony cursing through his body.

The former CMO shook his head, his deep blue eyes settling on John's hazel ones. "I died instantly, there was nothing that you could have done to save me – nothing, John," he returned solemnly. "I made a choice that day and it was to try and save lives. However, for you there is still time."

"You don't understand, no one knows where I am..." John countered, his words no more than a garbled string of letters should anyone else had heard.

"You have to have faith in your team, Colonel," Carson said in an effort to snap his friend out of it by using his rank.

Tired, glazed hazel eyes glanced up at him. "We missed you," he said, struggling with the words.

"I've been with you ever since, but in a different way than you're used to. Now, you must keep it together for a little while longer."

"Why?" John questioned, suddenly angry at the man before him for asking him something he wouldn't be able to manage.

"Because they are coming," Carson said as he flickered out of existence.

OOOOOO

To be continued