Chapter Eighteen – Bitter Sweet Success

Rodney let out a shaky breath as he disengaged from the chair and sat up straight. A thin sheen of perspiration from the strain glistened on his forehead and upper lip while his cheeks were flushed. He swayed slightly as he rose from the chair and was caught by the elbow of the wise Dadan.

"You truly possess amazing powers," the old man said sombrely. "But I can see it has its price."

Rodney swallowed and nodded casting a glance at his trembling hands. "I'll be all right," he said, but his words lacked his usual confidence.

Ronon smiled maliciously as he studied the small HUB that stated the Hive was lost. His satisfaction knew no end. Then he turned to his friend and became serious. "McKay, are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Rodney whispered as he straightened and made his way over to the consoles, where the Satedan stood, to check for himself that Hive had been destroyed.

"That was some shooting; didn't know you had it in you," Ronon remarked.

"Desperate times, desperate measures," the scientist mumbled under his breath then relaxed a little as he saw that the Hive was truly gone. "Now, on to the next problem."

"Which one; the mark bound Wraith troops, the divided and fighting people of the planet or the Stargate?" Ronon asked casually.

Rodney turned to his colleague with a sarcastic expression. "You really have to work on your positive attitude, Ronon," he said.

A faint smile spread over the Satedan's lips but he ignored the remark.

"There is still power down here," Rodney mused. "Maybe I can call up the database?"

Ronon watched as his team mate's fingers flew over the controls his face set in deep concentration only to be replaced by a look of defeat the next minute.

"It's no use, I can't establish a connection," he explained. "Not that I should have been able to if the security measures set up here are as tight as on Atlantis but it was worth a try."

"We are at your disposal, Doctor McKay," Dadan spoke up from behind. "Where do we go next?"

"The control room. Only I don't know where it is exactly and I don't know if it's still intact or completely destroyed."

Dadan nodded thoughtfully as if searching his memory. "'The room of power and magic, situated many meters above the ground, in the heart of the city'," he said ruefully.

Rodney lit up with hope at the recited words.

"'Behold the vast city crumples under the excruciating fire brought upon it'," one of the young soldiers said in a hollow voice.

"'It fractures in many places, some of it disappearing into the sky never to be seen again'," another voice continued.

"You thought it was one," Rodney whispered as he tried to imagine the sight of the battle so long ago.

"Our ancestors were nomadic people, Doctor McKay," Dadan said. "They never saw it as several cities – only one. They never saw them land on the planet, as I'm sure they must have done."

"'The ones who were lost, they served a purpose, they gave life to the rest of us so that we could prevail, so that we could chase darkness and turn it into light'," Ronon suddenly said, causing Rodney to stare at him in utter disbelief.

"It was a statement, famous words, part of a tale we were told as children," Ronon explained. "I never thought it held any real meaning, never connected it to a real event."

Rodney shook his head. "Let's leave the tales for a while, okay?" he said. "Dadan, do the pictograms show the Stargate being built anywhere?"

The old man shook his head sadly. "No, it has always been there," he replied.

"Then you don't know if it is Askula's gate or if the city had its own," Rodney deduced seriously.

"Why would it be this city's gate, McKay?" Ronon asked.

The scientist shrugged. "Why not?" he stated to no one in particular. "If they all landed here, they all had a gate. Why build another on the planet?"

"Dunno, McKay, that's for you to figure out," Ronon returned casually.

"I need a sparring partner…" he saw the look on Ronon's face and hastily added sarcastically; "Not in that sense, cave man. I meant intellectually."

In Sheppard's absence it was Dadan, who unknowingly took his role as a meddling man, used to using diplomacy many times between the young warriors.

"Perhaps you're both right in a sense," he started carefully. "Maybe it was the Ring of the Old Ones taken from the magic city. That would be unfortunate since it means that there is no other to look for. Then again, if it's not, time is wasted here. There are three mystical buildings that rise high above the city people's own city. I have seen them on my walking rounds early in the morning but there's never any light and they are a long way from here."

"If we were to walk to the closest ICWT would you be able to deduce their location, using the map of the city?"

Dadan had the composure to look unperturbed even though he didn't understand what the man in front of him was saying.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Internal City Wide Transporter, a small room which acts as a node. It literally takes you to another place within the city without the need of walking," he explained.

"Another magic device created by the sky people," Dadan said mystically.

"Yes," Rodney returned succinctly as he started walking toward the nearest transporter point.

OOOOOO

John Sheppard was pacing in annoyance, his hands clasped behind his back. Then, one look at the doctor caused him to stop and frown.

"Carson, what's wrong?" he asked suddenly.

"Teyla," he whispered eerily, causing goose bumps all over John's body.

The colonel walked over to stand opposite the Scottish doctor, his hands on the other man's shoulders. "What, Carson?" he demanded worriedly.

As his old friend and CMO opened his mouth to speak he was engulfed by a bright light and John felt his hands fall to his sides as the doctor faded out of existence.

"I am sorry, John, Carson wants to help you, we all do, but it is not allowed."

John listened to the soft female voice, recognizing it. "Teer," he whispered.

"Life is dangerous, John," she said seriously. "That is why we chose to remain in the cloister. You never called us cowards straight out but I know you thought so at times. I'm forever grateful you entered the sacred place even though it was not your intention. You helped us understand the final piece of the puzzle that was necessary for us to ascend. And like I said then, John. We will meet again, I'm looking forward to it but like then you're not ready for this kind of life."

"What's happening, Teer?" John asked worriedly. "What's happened to Teyla?"

"All is as it should be," the woman replied cryptically. "I've taken Carson back with me to where he now belongs. It is time for you to return as well, John."

Then it hit him all at once. The pain, the excruciating white hot pain, the overwhelming sense of despair, the shaking of the ground beneath him and the murky air. He thought he heard the shrill of beeping machines and a woman's voice, but he couldn't be sure before he was pushed into oblivion.

OOOOOO

Teyla choke on a breath as she inhaled the fine dust in the air around her. She recoiled and tried to hug her knees in an effort to stop the pain in her body but she couldn't. Something was lying over her legs, effectively pinning her in place. She took a moment to listen but all she heard was silence. The darkness was slowly setting over the landscape and as she looked she saw faint stars. For a moment she just stared at them, not comprehending how she could see them. Her eyes swept over the utter destruction around her and she gulped as she realized that the building she'd been standing in now lay in ruins.

Fear gripped the Athosian as she waited for the inevitable end to come, knowing that the Hive was out there. She tried to wiggle free of the debris trapping her and was somewhat surprised that she was able to move. Something trickled down her forehead as she crawled out beneath the chunks of concrete and she reached up with her hand to wipe it away. Her fingers came away red and she swallowed the bile threatening to rise in her throat. The latter however was only partly due to her headache. As she slowly, gingerly made to stand she saw the dead bodies around her, those who had not been as fortunate as herself. She swallowed again and made her way over the rubble to stand on shaky legs at the edge of the slab to, what once had been, the third floor to look out over the city. For a moment her heart stopped as she glanced below, then a faint upward curl appeared on her lips. There lay the Hive, broken into pieces.

"Rodney," she whispered with relief. "You made it."

Something heavy fell down to the ground behind her causing her to jump and then, in her exhausted state, she fell down on her knees. She watched as a hand and then an arm became visible under the rubble and then a blonde head.

"Sha!" Teyla shouted and with some effort made her way over to offer her hand.

The military officer gratefully accepted the help and with common strength they managed to get up. Sha leaned heavily on the small Athosian, his eyes dull but full of sparkling determination at the same time.

"Thank you, Teyla," he said and then eyed her with concern. "You are injured."

Teyla shook his worry away. "It's only superficial," she assured him. "You, on the other hand, are another matter."

She took in his torn clothes and the bright red blood that she glimpsed beneath them.

"It's nothing I can't handle," he said grimly and straightened.

Despite that he had hidden it very well, Teyla didn't miss the painful wince as he turned to watch what she had been looking at only moments before.

"Rodney and Ronon destroyed it," Teyla said proudly over his shoulder then her voice took on a darker tone. "They are coming, they are walking the streets below, those of them who have not already been killed. I sense them."

Sha swallowed as he turned to look at her, saw the determination on her grim face as she readied her weapon that was still amazingly attached to her TAC vest.

"There are many things I do not understand," he let on in a subdued voice. "How can you know without looking at your little gadget that they are still living?"

"A long time ago the Wraith used my people to experiment on; they gave us their DNA. They unknowingly gave us an advantage. It was a foolish act that somehow connected us to each other," she explained coldly.

Sha nodded as he involuntarily shuddered thinking they'd been fortunate. He refrained from asking anything more as he slowly, in agony, moved over the debris to where Rackie had once been standing. Fear of what he would find crept over him as he gently lowered himself on his knees to search for his friend and colleague.

Teyla quickly followed him cursing that she had lost the life signs detector. It would have been so much quicker to read the screen, to see which of those poor souls that lay buried under the rubble that was alive. She had liked the young and somewhat reckless engineer and had a feeling they needed his help if they were to aid the rest of her team and to defeat the Wraith on the planet once and for all.

The military officer, now the leader, cast into that role not unlike John had been when he first came to Pegasus, was grieving the young communications officer he'd pulled free. He gently closed the unseeing eyes of the dead man and laid his hat over the young face. In silence he gingerly rose and moved on to the boot that lay visible a short distance away.

"Rackie," he whispered as he once again knelt to the fallen. His face blanched and Teyla came to sit next to him, to help him. There was something in his grim expression that told her he'd found the man he was looking for.

"Sha?" Teyla asked carefully.

"Rackie is an engineer, he doesn't carry the standard military boot and he was the only one that didn't, exempt you, in this room," he said gloomily.

Teyla hastily glanced down at Sha's feet and then at the half buried man, realizing they didn't match. She froze as Sha's hand, which he'd gently put on the engineer's trousers, was instantly colored in red.

"Rackie?" Sha said with a slight tremble in his voice.

The only thing that answered was the slight howling of the wind.

Teyla saw Sha setting his jaw in determination as he gingerly got up again and headed over to clear the communications console free of the debris. The bloodied hand swept over the panel while the other one pushed a sequence in rapid succession. The panel lit up only to blow up an instant later, causing the military defense officer to curse under his breath and slam his hand on the piece of junk.

"Sha?" Teyla asked softly as she made his way over to him.

"The damn fool needs medical evacuation," he said angrily and then swayed on his feet. "I can't help him."

"Please, why don't you sit down?" Teyla said concerned. "I'm not in danger and I'm fairly unscathed. I'll go get some help."

"I can't ask you to do that," Sha said wearily. "It's not your fight, Teyla. I'm sorry you had to come here and witness it."

She placed a hand on his shoulder to give it a comfortable squeeze. "We're here. It is as much our fight as yours now. We have shall we say a mutual interest. If it weren't for you and Lani we would have had much more difficulty in retrieving our friend."

Their eyes met for a moment, both determined and deadly serious. Sha then relented and nodded in resignation. "Go, Teyla," he whispered.

OOOOOO

To be continued

/I truly appreciate your feedback and encouraging words ;) thank you. I hope you'll like this new chapter.