Author's Note: Thank you to all for the reviews so far - I love reading them! Sometimes I even get ideas to add to the storyline from you!
Exhausted, Sheppard debated whether he should strike out immediately or rest and figure out his next steps.
Ultimately, he decided that he needed to move. He had no idea what Kolya intended to do with his team, and the longer he waited the more time Kolya had to get ahead of him.
Painfully, he shifted his Beretta from the right to the left side, clipping the strap around his thigh and repositioning his ammo. There was a chance he could fire with his right hand, but he would only be good for one or two shots as the kickback might disorient him if he couldn't get a handle on the pain in his shoulder.
The moons overhead were bright enough that he was able to find a trail from the Stargate leading into the forest that looked as though it had been freshly made. Long grass lay dented between the trees in a different direction than from where he had come from near the cliffs. Kolya and his men were probably in no rush to cover their tracks if they thought Sheppard wouldn't be following them.
As he set out, the radios crackled to life with someone asking for a check-in. Sheppard knew his time was limited when no one replied, and he wasn't about to reveal that he was the one who had taken out the guards at the 'gate. After two demands for a check-in, the radios went silent.
As he walked the trail, Sheppard wracked his brain trying to remember why they had come to this planet in the first place. He couldn't remember its code name, nor their original mission. Were they here to find Kolya? Or was it one of their typical missions and Kolya had ambushed them?
Tightening his grip on the P90, he kept moving, trying not to dwell too much on what he couldn't remember so that his senses stayed alert. It was hard enough to watch the faint trail in the grass as well as keep himself in a straight line and learn how to compensate with only one working eye and arm.
He moved as swiftly and silently as possible, not knowing if there would be other Genii stationed along the way, and not knowing what he might be walking into.
Did Kolya have a base here? Was there something on this planet that Kolya wanted? Why take Teyla and McKay and leave he and Ronon behind? Or did the Genii take Ronon, too?
After nearly an hour's trek through the dimly lit forest, Sheppard finally saw something out of the ordinary: an artificial light in the distance. Senses on high alert, he slowed down, P90 snug against his shoulder and Beretta unclipped.
Coming to the edge of a clearing, he crouched down in the high grass behind a knobby tree to take in what was before him.
It was an Ancient ship.
It looked as though it had crashed long ago on the planet, but was mostly intact. The nose was almost level with the ground and looked undamaged. Plowed lines behind it had grown into furrows of earth covered in foliage and young trees.
It was beautiful, with the typical silver lines of Ancient design, but it was smaller than most of the Ancient ships Sheppard was familiar with. It might have been around 200 meters long but it was difficult to tell with the overgrowth of the forest around it. Outside, Genii soldiers patrolled in the light of lanterns set at intervals around the ship. The lanterns were being extinguished as the faint light of dawn crept through the trees.
Sheppard counted eight guards. They would be hard to pick off, but not impossible. Before he set up where to begin his assault, though, he needed to scout out more of the area.
Stealthily, he worked his way around the perimeter of the clearing, taking note of which guards seemed more attentive and what weapons were in play. As he rounded the front of the ship he realized he could see inside what looked like the bridge. His jaw tightened as he saw Kolya with McKay directly in front of him through the window. The physicist cowered in front of the Genii as Kolya gestured wildly and shouted soundlessly.
To the side, Sheppard saw Teyla tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. Two guards stood on either side of her. She was fuming, rage in her eyes. There was no sign of Ronon.
Kolya suddenly hit McKay and the doctor went down. Sheppard couldn't see him anymore, but he saw Kolya move like he was kicking the man.
Raging himself, now, Sheppard had to hold himself back from launching a full-on assault in that very moment. He had a very good idea of what Kolya was doing now. He had no use for the 'gate if he could get the ship off the ground. And an Ancient ship in Kolya's hands would never be a good thing.
As he watched, Kolya walked over to Teyla and shoved his gun against her temple, still shouting. Sheppard saw McKay stagger to his feet, hands outstretched and shouting back. After a moment, Kolya re-holstered the gun, grabbed McKay's arm and shoved him into another chair where McKay slowly began fiddling with the console.
Sheppard wondered if McKay knew he was out there. He wondered if his team knew that the situation wasn't as hopeless as they had thought. But he also couldn't remember how he had ended up halfway down a cliff and wondered if they thought he was dead.
Regardless, Sheppard knew McKay would hold off Kolya a long as he could. McKay hopefully didn't know that Kolya had dismantled the 'gate and would delay for the rescue from Atlantis.
But Sheppard also knew that the Genii would not hesitate to use Teyla against McKay to get him to move faster. He needed a plan, and he needed to move quickly. And he still didn't know where Ronon was. Was the Satedan planning a rescue, too? Or had he also been captured?
Falling back, Sheppard reassessed which weapons he had on his person. He needed a distraction.
Pulling out one of the Genii guns, he took it apart, found what appeared to be gunpowder in the barrel, and knew exactly what he would use it for.
Retreating further back into the forest and out of earshot of the Ancient ship, he got to work.
First, he emptied one of the guns of gunpowder, shoved the muzzle as deep in the earth as he dared, and pulled the trigger. As expected, the gun clicked, but didn't have enough powder to shoot the bullet from the chamber, creating a squib. The sound wasn't too loud so he hoped none of the guards had excellent hearing and came to see what was going on.
Checking the gun over, he hoped the bullet now stuck in the chamber would hold for him to carry out the next part. He stuffed the chamber with the emptied gunpowder and added gunpowder from the other gun.
Moving closer to the back of the ship, he waited until the sunrise was just starting to peek through the trees. The light would be crucial to his next step. He set the gun in the grass on the edge of the clearing, sure that none of the guards could see him behind the tree he hid behind. Starting a little fire in the dry grass with his flint, he set the gun nearby and sprinkled the remaining gunpowder around it for good measure. He directed the small flames towards the makeshift bomb and made tracks as quickly as he could towards the side of the clearing away from the fire with his back to the rising sun.
After a moment, there was a small explosion, and Sheppard held his breath, watching the guards. Every single Genii jumped in surprise, then took off towards the explosion.
Sheppard shook his head. Kolya really needed to work on training his men.
Propping himself against the tree he was hiding behind, Sheppard lifted his P90 to his shoulder and started picking off the soldiers, now clustered together. Easy targets — even with a busted shoulder. As he had positioned himself with the rising sun at his back no one could tell where he was with bright sunlight in their eyes. It was over in seconds.
The only problem now was that he didn't know how many soldiers were inside the ship with Kolya, and he had successfully given himself away.
He waited tense long minutes to see if anyone would come out of the ship. When no one did, he moved around to the nose to see Kolya at the window, peering out and yelling at the soldiers with him. Behind the man, Sheppard could see McKay at Teyla's side, head bent as they whispered together before Kolya ripped McKay away, throwing him back into the chair he had occupied moments before.
Anger flared again, but Sheppard held himself in check. He needed a cool head to storm the ship.
Stealthily, he moved through the long grass towards the ship's entrance. No shots had fired yet, and he peered carefully around the doorframe to find no one guarding the inside of the entrance. Moving up the corridor, he heard footsteps running towards him and retreated back outside to stand to the side of the entrance, P90 at head height.
Two soldiers rushed by, completely missing seeing him. He fired and they went down in the long grass. He could only imagine how livid Kolya would be at the incompetence of his men.
Listening carefully, he heard nothing else, but waited a moment before attempting to enter the ship again.
This time, he made it further inside without encountering anyone else. He could feel the ship thrumming inside his head.
It wanted to fly.