Aceso followed the last group out of the cave system, scanning around to make sure that no one had been missed. The caves meandered and split off, but the group was being led by Jarin. As he said, he acted as a leader in his own right, and the people trusted him.
The last group emerged into the bright foggy day outside of the cave. She could still sense Teyla nearby somewhere, so she knew it wouldn't take long to get picked up. The people had a bit of a hard time walking down the rocky embankment, and she observed some stumbling and falling. Fortunately, others stopped to help pick them up and help them to the forest below the caves.
As the people milled about outside of the cave, Jarin seemed to take charge in helping them to form groups. He would need to ensure that no one split off from the group and got lost in the woods. The fog prevented anyone from seeing very far ahead of them, and getting lost would be a real danger.
She spotted Jarin ahead, guiding people and shouting to try to keep everyone together. He made eye contact with her, and he stopped what he was doing to come over to her.
"I wanted to thank you," Jarin said.
She bowed her head slightly. "You are welcome."
A young woman in the group nearby pointed at her. "Are you a wraith?" she exclaimed.
"I am," she answered.
Jarin moved to stand beside her. "This is Aceso, she is with the Atlanteans, and has helped free us. We will extend every courtesy entitled to a guest per our traditions."
Behind her, she heard a jumper landing, and turned to see Sheppard and Teyla exiting down the ramp. The people in the crowd murmured in surprise.
"It's an ancestral ship," Jarin said in shock. "I have only heard them described."
"Colonel Sheppard," Aceso greeted. "I am pleased to see you."
"Likewise," Sheppard said. He glanced between her, Jarin, and the crowd. "Is everything okay here?"
"It is," she said with a brief smile. "I believe Jarin may need assistance guiding people back home."
"All right, why don't you head into the jumper. Ronon and I will help guide people back on foot. Adams can fly to the village to pick us up when we're done."
Aceso obliged by walking to the jumper. As she neared the ramp, Teyla came out to hug her as she stepped on the ramp.
"I am glad you're safe," Teyla said. "We feared you were lost to us."
Aceso returned the brief hug and then sat down on the bench. "So much as occurred." Her guilt about endangering her team came to the surface. "I am ashamed about what happened. It could have been prevented had I only turned back."
Teyla sat down beside her. "You do not need to worry," Teyla said. "Your team is safe, and we have found McKay."
Aceso felt a guilt lift from her shoulders. "I am glad they are all well."
"Yes, only…" Teyla said, apprehension forming. "McKay has been changed. Beckett used your machine to alter him into one of those giant creatures."
Aceso looked to Teyla, wondering if this was a joke. "What?" she said in disbelief.
"It's okay," Teyla said. "We found him, and he is safe. We only need to find the machine in order to turn him back to normal."
Aceso slumped to the side out of sheer exhaustion, resting her face in her hands. Her hands shook and her limbs became a little numb, whether from hunger, anxiety, or relief, she didn't know. "What of Beckett?"
"Another team is working on finding him."
"You need to exercise caution, he is manifesting the consciousness of Michael," Aceso explained.
"Yes, we already deduced that," Teyla said. "Todd explained how this may have happened, and also helped us to restrain the sentinels."
Aceso shook her head. "I can hardly believe Sheppard agreed to his involvement."
Teyla sat on the bench opposite to her. "We did not have much choice. Todd's network of spies found Beckett. Because we couldn't send a large contingent of soldiers to this world on our own, we needed his soldiers to help."
Aceso closed her eyes. She would have a long debriefing to look forward to, hopefully after a long shower and a decent meal.
(0)
Sheppard kept pace with the groups. The man named Jarin seemed to be a leader, and helped guide people away from their location and to the village.
Ronon had run away to head off a few people who were walking out of sight into the woods. Once he had directed them back to the main group, he went over to meet back with Sheppard.
"You don't think Todd is going to start culling people with the darts do you?" Ronon asked.
"He'd better not," Sheppard said. "Or I really will kill him."
"If you ask me, you should have already shot him."
"Mmm." Sheppard agreed halfheartedly.
They worked for around an hour to get everyone back to the edge of the village. The group of people was around two hundred in number. This village wasn't very large, but they seemed to have a decent sense of style and decorum. Their buildings were well maintained and painted well.
Still, the village looked pretty creepy in the dense fog.
As the people saw the buildings of their village, they naturally started guiding themselves home without any help. In what seemed like moments, Sheppard was left standing there, along with Ronon.
Jarin approached them cautiously. "I heard of you before," Jarin said. "You are Colonel Sheppard?"
"I am," he said proudly. "What can I do for you?"
"My name is Jarin," the man said. "I spoke with your leader, a Mr. Woolsey and his team led by Major Lorne."
Sheppard nodded his head. "Yes," he affirmed. "I remember you. Your people said you didn't want to have anything to do with us."
"That is true," Jarin confirmed. "Which is why I am surprised that you are here now."
"Well, your village got targeted by a very bad—person," Sheppard said. "We needed to intervene, or else he would have caused some major problems—for everyone."
Jarin nodded. "Yes, Michael, we know."
"How did you know that name?" Ronon asked.
Sheppard thought it was poignant, seeing as Michael never really adopted the name for himself.
"Aceso told me," he said.
Sheppard had nearly forgotten, but Aceso didn't have her cloak with her when she spoke with this man last. That meant he knew what she was.
"Right," Sheppard said slowly. "So, you've gotten acquainted with her?"
"I must say, I wasn't expecting such dramatic confirmation that the Atlanteans were working with the wraith," Jarin said.
"I guess there's no point in denying it now," Sheppard said. "Yes, we've allied with some wraith individuals who have shown a willingness to help people. We're still careful of course."
He knew that statement would be met with skepticism, and so didn't bother to clarify.
"Indeed," Jarin said. "Aceso seems quite different from how I would imagine a wraith to be."
"I've been surprised sometimes," Sheppard said.
There were noises ahead of them, and Sheppard squinted, trying to see through the mist. Vague forms began to appear like shadows, which gradually took shape into the forms of Genii soldiers walking through the middle of the street. There were at least a dozen of them.
Sheppard spotted what must have been the Genii commander emerging from the mist, followed by thirteen soldiers walking up the main road in between the rows of wood buildings.
"It's the Genii," Ronon said disdainfully.
This was what Sheppard was afraid of most in coming to this world. He didn't want to have to face off with the Genii. Monsters—he could handle those. Michael—no problem. Genii—well, the closest he'd been to death was at their hands, second only to the wraith.
Sheppard turned to Jarin. "Can you talk to these guys and convince them to leave us alone?"
Jarin looked to Sheppard worriedly. "I can try," he said uncertainly.
Jarin approached the commander, and the soldiers gripped their weapons tighter as they became aware of their presence. Sheppard matched their mannerisms, just in case.
"Greetings," Jarin said. "Welcome to Eritas. I'm afraid we've gone through quite an ordeal just now, but I appreciate that you're here to help."
The man scowled at Sheppard. "As per the agreement with the central Genii authority, the Atlanteans are not to be allowed to operate from your world. What are they doing here?"
"They invited themselves I'm afraid," Jarin said. "But their help has been welcome, and they've managed to help us avoid a crisis."
The man gestured, and his men raised their weapons. Sheppard did the same, along with Ronon.
"Easy fellas," Sheppard warned. "No need for things to get ugly." Sheppard discreetly pushed the button on his radio three times in a repeating pattern, a code for distress.
Jarin walked to the periphery, not wanting to get in the line of fire.
"You will surrender to us," the commander said, or you will be fired upon.
Sheppard didn't know how quickly any of the other teams could get to him, so the only choice lay in surrender.
"Okay," Sheppard said, raising his gun to the sky and unfastening it from his vest. He gently placed it on the ground, and motioned for Ronon to do the same. The hulking man grunted in disapproval, but didn't object.
"See? We're friends," Sheppard said.
"Arrest them," the commander said.
Sheppard would be sure to complain about this treatment when he next got the chance. The truth was that their relationship with the Genii was frigid at best. Adding to that, there was also no guarantee that these soldiers were aligned with a faction that even recognized Radim's leadership.
He really did not want to be a prisoner of the Genii.
As if to answer his thoughts, a burst of wind passed by him and Ronon, flying like a grayish tan blur straight into the soldiers, knocking them back like bowling pins and sending some of them flying several feet into the air.
Sheppard could scarcely make out the creature that contained McKay's personality, running at incredible speed. A few of the soldiers began to pick themselves up and to get their bearings, but McKay double backed, rushing the commander. With a fluid motion, McKay took the commander by the torso between his jaws and threw him. As he did that, his tail whipped around, sending a few more who had picked themselves up flying onto their backs again. Some of them stayed down.
The commander glided a few feet before smacking straight into a pole supporting one of the eves of a house. He favored his arm and rolled around on the ground in pain.
Sheppard took the opportunity to seize his weapon. Very few of the soldiers still had their guns in the confusion, most of them opting to run and hide.
Just then, a jumper uncloaked overhead. The remaining soldiers upon seeing the jumper voluntarily disarmed themselves and knelt on the ground.
McKay sat down nearby. Sheppard could swear that he was smiling with a goofy fanged grin.
"Got here soon as I could sir," Lorne said.
"Great timing guys," Sheppard said. He walked over to McKay, giving him a grateful pat on the shoulder. Sheppard noticed the bright orange blanket wrapped around McKay's neck like a giant bandanna.
"McKay knew there was something wrong about a minute before your signal," Lorne explained. "He took off in a flash, and I followed him here."
Sheppard spotted Jarin watching crouched from a stoop nearby, and gestured for him to approach. He walked out into the open, eying McKay suspiciously.
"That is one of the anathem," Jarin said, pointing.
"We call him McKay," Sheppard said. "He is a good friend of mine and brilliant scientist."
McKay let out a groan, indicating he approved.
"Indeed," Jarin said. "You Atlanteans seem to make good allies of terrible monsters."
(0)
As Aceso ascended the stairs, she felt a creeping exhaustion setting in. It was the kind of mental exhaustion that forms after thinking about a problem for so long that you can't think about it anymore. Woolsey's office was nearby, and she could see him there through the window.
She walked past the control room, the technicians studying her as she crept by. She really didn't want to have this conversation, not with Woolsey anyway. Confronting her own failures felt like torture sometimes, a step that was unfortunately necessary.
Finally, she reached the door and knocked.
"Come in," Woolsey said from the other side of the glass. She opened the door and sat down on the chair in front of his desk.
Woolsey only spared a cursory glance at her. "I wanted to talk to you about your mission to Vorash," Woolsey said. "There are some things about your leadership that we needed to work through."
Aceso knew this was coming, and sighed silently as he spoke. "Very well," she answered.
Woolsey took out a sheet of paper, upon which something was highlighted. She recognized it as a printed form of the agreement with the Vorash government. The part highlighted indicated that Atlantis teams were to be allowed to keep their personal weapons.
"Did you realize that you were supposed to be able to keep your weapons on this trip?" Woolsey asked.
"I did," Aceso said. "Major Adams informed me of such at the time."
"I see," Woolsey said, "So you made the decision to press forward, even knowing the agreement was being broken."
"I did," she answered.
"Care to explain your reasoning?" Woolsey asked.
"I felt that the device and the laboratory was too important to let go," she said. "I believed that the vague language of the agreement empowered their government to do this, and that it had no other meaning than an exercise of power on their part."
"Yes,' Woolsey said. "That was one of their stipulations, that they would be allowed to inspect our ship on the trip there and to confiscate material or devices that they found harmful or disruptive. I admit, that was a concession on my part that might have been ill advised."
He re-set his glasses on his nose. "Did you have any other indications of what they may be planning?" Woolsey asked.
Aceso thought back to the commander and his fear. "I could sense that the commander performing the inspection felt a bit apprehensive of us, but nothing about that seemed out of place either."
"Well, wraith senses aside," Woolsey said. "Was there nothing else?"
"No," she said.
"It's clear then that this was a trap," Woolsey said. "They invited us there under false pretenses, and your team suffered for it."
"I should have sensed something," Aceso said. "I don't know why those soldiers were able to deceive me like that."
Woolsey shrugged. "It's possible that the soldiers didn't know why they were confiscating the weapons. They only do as ordered."
Aceso knew the motivations of the soldiers would have been concealed to her under those conditions.
"I expect a written report on your mission by the end of this week," Woolsey said. He closed his notebook. "You're free to go."
Aceso sat still, feeling quite stunned at the abruptness of the meeting.
"Is that all?" she asked.
"Unless there's something you need to add," Woolsey said.
Her gaze unfocused, her eyes glancing behind her at the stargate. "I believed I would be subject to more reprimand," she said quietly.
Woolsey sighed. "The IOA may take the time to write a letter," Woolsey said. "Their bias against you should make for a colorful read, but in terms of punishment, they won't really be able to do much since then they would have to admit some responsibility for the outcome of a mission and a treaty that they approved."
Woolsey stood up and walked over to the window alongside her. "Believe me. There's plenty of blame to go around. None of us in the negotiation process noticed any indication of deception, just as it was kept hidden from you. Let's not forget that this trap was devised by Michael acting through Beckett. There is a long chain of responsibility for decision making that goes back years when it comes to matters involving Michael."
Woolsey turned to her. "You feel guilty about your part in this. Believe me, all of us do. My only advice to you is to be thankful that none of your team got injured or killed."
"I am thankful," she said, "It does however make me question my capacity to lead."
Woolsey looked to her with a smirk. "That feeling never goes away, no matter how long you do this. On the bright side, your team members all wrote the same positive things about you. You prioritized the safety of individual members of the team, you facilitated ways to provide fresh water and food. You led them safely through many kilometers of dense forest without being detected by security forces on patrol for you."
Aceso thought back on that. "Much of that was advice from Major Adams."
"Taking advice from experienced members of your team is essential to leadership," Woolsey said. He sat down in the chair adjacent to her. "What you did when you turned yourself in showed a bravery that few leaders are capable of. You never stopped prioritizing the safety of the people under your command. That shows a true strength of character that I am going to be sure to put in my report."
Woolsey glanced away to the window. "I would say that you performed admirably under very harsh circumstances. Given that, I argue that keeping you in a leadership role would be a benefit to Atlantis overall."
Aceso paused for a second, letting her feelings settle.
"On another note, I know McKay has been asking to see you. I know how you feel about him, but I think there is an opportunity to mend some fences."
"Why would he want to see me?" she asked. "And what fence are you referring to?" She built and maintained a lot of fences while living on Irinak, but she didn't expect to have that come up again while living here.
Woolsey turned and glanced at her, showing his exasperation. "It's a turn of phrase," Woolsey chuckled. "McKay didn't say as much, but he kept asking to make sure that you were all right. I believe he wants to apologize."
Aceso nodded in understanding. "I should go see him then."
(0)