To Serve
This was supposed to be an easy diplomatic mission like the hundreds that she had brokered before on Earth, a quick run through the Gate in the Puddle Jumper to sign the trade agreement. The Covak Government insisted that the agreement had to be signed by Dr. Weir, as she was the leader of the Atlantis base. Colonel Shepard was not happy about being forced to get in his dress uniform but Dr. Weir had insisted that the full diplomatic front was to be presented and all the top people of Atlantis were to be there. Each person had been asked to bring a partner (As in a date, male, female which was highly stressed by the Covak government.)
Even though it was highly advised that everybody should bring a date Dr. Rodney McKay could not get anybody to go with him. He had even tried to pay one of the girls from the galley, which got him his fifth slap of the day. His checks were getting very sore but Dr. Elisabeth Weir refused to ask anyone to go with him. She told him that this was his problem and he had to find his own date for the reception.
Colonel John Shepard came through for him at the last minuet with a girl that had been following him around for weeks like a puppy. He didn’t try to lead her on but she wouldn’t leave him alone. When he asked her if she would go to this dinner reception with Dr. McKay she agreed as long as he was going. McKay was told to keep his hands off her or she would be forced to kill him, which would bring great joy to all the woman on the base. Seeing that she would come out good on both accounts John told McKay about the deal.
As they boarded the Jumper Lieutenant Ashley Gordon showed McKay the taser she had quietly stowed away giving it a push in his direction. She pulled the trigger letting the power jump from one lead to the other for a split second letting him know she meant business.
Ashley was five foot six with short brown hair and blue eyes, she was an attractive woman with a good personality and easy to get along with. Ashley worked in the engineering department. Which had forced her to put up with a lot of grief from McKay and they had a running bet going on which one would kill him first, the wraith or someone from the base. If she did the job herself she could make a lot of money from the bet. That made her smile at the thought of the self proclaimed Genius laying in a pile on the ground begging for his life.
The destination was set with Shepard at the controls but when they exited from the Gate it was supposed to on the planet but this Gate was in space. The group was confused for a moment until the beam of plasma energy hit the jumper on the port side putting the ship into a spin while descending at an alarming rate. The ship was spinning at a fast rate causing everyone to be pushed against the side of the ship. It was a flat spin instead of end over end or a figure eight. Ashley yelled for the person next to her for help.
“Push me forward and help me get my back off the wall, Tayla and Dr. Weir both put their hands behind her and pushed her forward. She slowly and carefully stood up on the wall; she fell once before they understood what she was trying to do. Tayla and Elisabeth scooted closer and used their arms to help her stand and back up enough to reach the control panel on the far side of the jumper. She was finally able to get the access panel open and pull the control crystal for the starboard thruster cutting it’s power and causing the ship to stop spinning. As it slowed down it started to nose toward the ground causing Ashley to hang onto the panel and change the other crystal diverting power to the antigravity engines and maneuvering thrusters.
Shepard was still strapped into the pilot’s seat. He leveled the jumper and slow the decent then extended the shields below the ship so that they would take most of the impact. The ship still hit with tremendous force causing the rear door to open and ejecting Ronon before the emergency shield was able to come on. The jumper had landed in a very large group of trees crashing down through the canopy with Ronon doing the same on the outside without the protection of the shields. The tree limbs slowed his decent just like it did for the jumper but he was getting the beating of his life out there. The jumper slowed to a stop about fifty feet up in the tree but Ronon slid down to the ground landing in a pile of thick leaves to lie there unmoving.
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Can’cia was getting too old to be pulling the little cart back and forth to town for her supplies. She had to work harder these days to get the things she needed to survive. It was sure to be a plot for the younger women to kill her off so that they could have her land and the old mine that was part of her property. They had been at her to sell for a long time but her mother and grandmother had owned the land. If her daughter had lived she would have passed it on to her in that same way it was passed to her. Life didn’t play along with her plans when her daughter had died fighting for a mate she had wanted to acquire. He was a handsome creature and the others had fought hard. Rilla had also wanted him to add to her harem of man toys and she had arranged to have Sillia eliminated in the first rounds to keep her out of the way. When her girls ganged up on her they went too far and broke her neck. Can’cia vowed then that to have a male around was just a problem and she had let all her slaves go to market. Now she wished that she had kept at least one to pull the wagon and help with the work around the farm.
That was when she saw the large man laying on the ground under the tree bleeding and broken. Her cart was not full this trip so she moved some of the supplies to the side and worked the man into the bed beside the supplies and she put the rest on top of him. His feet were dragging on the ground but that couldn’t be helped although it was strange that a male would be wearing boots. Usually men were kept barefoot so they couldn’t run away as easily. He also didn’t have a tattoo indicating who he belonged to. Such a large strong man would be highly prized for the amount of work he could do. He was a good foot taller than any of the men in town and much stronger. She was wondering how he came to be beaten and left to die under the tree out in the middle of nowhere. She decided that she could ask him later if he lived through the night.
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Things in the Jumper were a mess; it had rolled several times while coming through the canopy. It had stopped on a group of large branches that had formed a net by growing together between three trees that were fighting for the light for over a hundreds of years.
The sun was setting when John Shepard began to open his eyes; he was lying back in the pilot’s seat looking at the sky where the Jumper had made a hole on its way down. It hurt to move but he needed to see what had happened to the other members of the flight.
The sight that he took in was one that he did not want to remember. McKay, Becket and Laura Cadman were strapped into their seats but Tayla, Elisabeth and Ashley were laying on the force field and John was looking at a five-story drop below them. It looked like the only open area in the towering crown of trees but there it was waiting to swallow three very important people in his life. The back door to the Jumper was hanging open and did not look too badly damaged. There were sparks coming from several of the panels and he could smell the ozone of electrical shorts. The force field that was holding the three women up was going dim then flashing bright again as the power drained. John knew that if he tried to shut the door it would either short the field on the shield or it would run out of power. That or it would shut off as the door closed being as they were not in space causing the girls to fall to a certain death.
Jumping down onto a weak force field was not a good idea but he was running out of options, one of the storage bens was partially open and John started to smile.
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Can’cia stripped the man and cleaned his wounds the best she could. She stitched the deeper cuts and setting his arm and leg. She bound his ribs to keep them from moving and doing internal damage with the jagged edges of the breaks. He had a large knot on his head that she had trouble getting the skin to close over and she knew that he would have the dizzy sickness for several weeks if he survived. She had some tricks she had learned over the years that would help. His body was strong and told a story on its own about a lot of fights. Along with some near misses that would have killed if the attacker were just a little more accurate. He had survived and she was thinking that the person that had missed probably had not.
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John Shepard used the thin nylon braded rope to climb down to the back of the Jumper and strap himself into the last seat. After tying to three women off he unbuckled himself and carefully stepped onto the force field which dimmed again and bowed where he was standing. John was about to pick Elisabeth Weir up where she was laying facedown when her eyes opened. She tensed and screamed at the sight of nothing between her and a long drop. She had never liked high places and this was one place that she really did not want to be.
“Easy Elisabeth, don’t make any sudden moves.”
She suddenly relaxed hearing John Shepard’s voice so close and he had used her first name. It sent a happy chill down her back and made her smile even in the situation she was in. “I have you tied off so that you won’t fall, stand carefully and strap yourself into the seat.”
Elisabeth saw a chance to have a little fun with John and took it before thinking about it. “I see that you have tied us up while we were all unconscious. It wasn’t in any of your profiles that you are into kinky bondage games.”
She smiled at him and he turned a deep shade of red at her suggestion. All he could do was stammer not knowing what to say. Elisabeth strapped herself in taking some of the weight off the force field, which brightened some again. John went to Ashley and gently picked her up placing her next to Dr. Weir. Just as he bent down to pick up Tayla the control panel shorted dropping the force field completely, the rope was small and wrapped around Tayla’s belt. Tayla was the first person he had tied off so it wasn’t a long drop before the rope stopped her fall and John was just able to grab the front side of her belt as he was falling.
There was a jolt and a sudden constriction around her waist. She looked down to see a very long drop and John Shepard dangling under her while holding her belt. Things were a bit foggy for a second until she got her bearings.
“John, want is going on here?”
“Nothing, I’m just hanging out, what’s new with you?”
John started swinging back and forth to where he could reach out and grab a limb then he let go of Tayla. “Try to climb back into the Jumper and shut the door, if it won’t shut normally use the crank and manually close it then open the side door for me, please.”
It took a while for Tayla to climb up but she was able to swing over to the other side and climb up the door itself then she was able to close the door most of the way with the manual lever.
John was setting on the limb looking around at all the wildlife in the treetops. There was a group of rather large monkeys with long red and white fur. He saw all kinds of colorful birds that looked like parrots. The main thing that caught his eye was the spider that was the size of a dinner plate looking back at him with a hungry come to dinner with me expression. A snake went by looking for a monkey meal and it was time to go inside where all the big guns were. John climbed up where he could get into the side door and with only a small struggle he got inside hoping that his little spider friend would want to stay outside and look for a nice big bird to have for dinner.
Ronon came around slowly with a great deal of pain. He was having trouble breathing, his head would not stop spinning and his eyes were crossed. This was a pretty bad concussion. He felt along his side with the one arm that was working and figured that he was not wearing any clothes and only had a light sheet covering him. His leg was also immobilized so it was probably broken also. This was about all the information he could gather before he passed out again.
Can’cia watched as he silently took stock of his injuries and blacked out again, he was a strong one, most of the people she knew would not have been able to come back into the real world for a week and that included the strongest of the women.
It made her think of her two sons and her mate; he was not around long after the second son was born because of an illness that took him away. He wasn’t able to teach the boys how to properly serve a woman and to be submissive in order to stay alive. Both boys were forced into the market at a young age when they were claimed. One fell to the three run rule. The first time he ran away he was beaten almost to death. The second time he was gilded and put into the mines to work. He couldn’t stand it there and ran the third time but he wasn’t able to get very far and he was thrown into to pit with the Hungry. She shuddered at the thought, nothing could be worse that the Pit.
The gilding should have taken most of his aggressive behavior out, although she hated to see them castrate him, it was for his own good and the good of the society. After all they couldn’t have a man running around doing just anything he wanted, he needed to be controlled. Her other son ran once also but he learned his lesson and never tried again.
This big guy couldn’t have had a runners beating although it looked like one but they were all done in public where all the men were forced to watch so that they wouldn’t take the idea of running seriously.
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The crew in the Jumper had gotten off easy with only bruises; bumps and Ashley had a sprained wrist from falling after getting the Jumper out of the spin. Elisabeth had seen Ronon fall when the door flew open. He had been forced back there by the sudden nose dive and the first impact caused to door to open, he was outside of the force field when it came on, then he was just gone. They needed to get down onto the ground soon and they all wanted to find Ronon. They needed to see if there was a possibility of his survival or to give him a proper burial as a friend and member of the Atlantis crew.
The climb down was one that nobody wanted to ever do again. Rodney McKay was afraid of heights and would not stop babbling in a nervous prattle about the most uninteresting subjects to keep his mind off the ground. The last fifteen feet of the tree they were descending did not have any lower branches. Tayla walked along a thick branch until he came to a small tree about four inches around where it intersected with the branch she was on and used it to get to the ground. John Shepard took Dr. Weir by her hand and Ashley Gordon by the other and walked to the smaller tree where Elizabeth went down first.
“Okay Flash, your next and I’ll help you as much as possible with your injured wrist.”
Ashley had been called Flash since she was a little girl but she didn’t know that Colonel Shepard knew that. She found that she didn’t mind him calling her by her nickname at all but if Rodney McKay said it one time he was dead.
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Dr. Becket checked Ashley’s wrist again and reset the splint to keep it from moving much then he made a sling so that she could keep it somewhat up so that it wouldn’t throb as bad. He didn’t have much in the way of medical supplies on this trip. It was just a short trip but now he wished he had brought his bag along and vowed to never leave the base without it again. He gave Ashley some of the painkillers that he recovered from the medical emergency kits onboard the Jumper. They weren’t very strong but they would help and they would also keep the swelling down a little. Ice would have been nice for this sprain but nothing like it was anywhere around.
The ground around the area was soft and spongy with a really thick layer of decaying leaves. They formed into a search pattern to look for Ronon. After several hours of searching the ground and straining their necks looking up into the branches of the trees there was no sign of him. Nobody needed to say that he couldn’t walk away from a fall like that, he was either injured or dead but he was not anywhere around there.
Dr. Becket found the small road that was really just a wide trail wandering through the forest. It was getting close to dark and it was decided that it would be best to setup camp for the night.
With this many leaves in the area they thought it would be better not to start a fire and it was rather warm out anyway. The rotting leaves under the top layer of dried leaves made it very smelly to sleep on the ground but there wasn’t much choice of anywhere else. John took off his jacket and rolled it up for Elizabeth and Ashley to use as a pillow then he laid down. Tayla walked up and looked down at him.
“Would you mind if I slept next to you so that my hair isn’t in this muck oozing up through the leaves?”
“No problem, you are welcome to use me as a pillow anytime.”
Tayla smiled her thanks and lay down with her head on his shoulder. They split up the watch with Dr. Becket taking first watch with McKay second, Tayla third and Shepard taking last watch. John took off his shirt leaving his tee shirt on so that Tayla could keep some of the goop off her hair but the moon was out and shinning on the one place it could get through the trees; which was the trail and that is where John Shepard was while on watch. Tayla wasn’t able to sleep for watching him dressed in only his tee shirt covering his upper body while turned in a semi profile, which emphasized his strong lean shape. She liked what she saw. A few feet away Elizabeth Weir was taking in the same sight. That brought a smile to her face thinking of what she wanted to do to him especially after that comment about the rope while in the Jumper. She finally closed her eyes and drifted off into some pleasant dreams.
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The head diplomat from the Covak Government was not at all happy when he called Atlantis to ask why they had blatantly snubbed the signing ceremony and reception. If they didn’t want to trade with Covak they should have just said so instead of causing a great deal of embarrassment to himself and the Government. The signing was to be broadcast throughout the planet but instead they got a no show.
Colonel Caldwell gave his apologies and informed them that the delegation left for their planet yesterday right on time.
“Our computers show that the Stargate has not been activated since the last time we had a delegate come through for the talks.”
“Please accept our apologies on this matter and I will be getting back in touch with you on this but right now I need to find my people. Thank you Ambassador.” With that Colonel Caldwell cut the communications.
“Alright people, we need to find out what happened to that Jumper and where it went to, I want our people back. Now move it, I want answers and I want them as of now!”
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Tayla opened her eyes to a cloudy sky and the sound of distant thunder. She stood up and did her best to wipe off the sludge that had seeped up through the compost heap that was everywhere on the ground and tried to forget the smell but it was not going away. They had not brought any other clothes with them this trip and everybody was in their best clothes. Now they were all very dirty and stained and nobody was happy about it.
The mission was diplomatic and it was highly stressed that there were to be no weapons present, the Covak people were to provide security. That now meant that their only weapon was a single 9mm with two clips and a knife that was always stored in the Jumper for emergencies. John gave the knife to Tayla and tucked the 9mm in the back of his pants.
“Okay, we need to find a city so that we can find out where that plasma blast came from and why we were shot down. This is definitely not Covak so be on the alert for hostiles.’
John looked at Dr. Weir and smiled at her, “Is that alright with you Elisabeth?”
She went a little week in the knees at the way he addressed her and smiled, she went wide eyed and agreed that his plan was the best and to proceed.
“Cadman you take point with me, Flash and Tayla cover out six. Remember Ashley the danger will be coming from the side or back in the rear position you do not need to watch what is in front of you except to know not to fall over a tree root.”
McKay, Dr Becket and Dr. Weir you’re in the cradle, just watch the sides for anything unusual or anything we can use. We need food and water now so keep a sharp eye.
Colonel Shepard was smiling at Ashley and she knew he wasn’t talking down to her; he was helping her in a field mission that she was not trained for. This looked more like a combat mission all the time and had to be considered dangerous.
“Lieutenant Cadman, pick a direction, if you please.” She pointed to the right and off they went.
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Two hours later they came to a small stream next to a grove of trees that looked like apples, they drank and cleaned their clothes as much as possible. The girls just walked into the water and started washing themselves and their clothes and tried to get the goop out of their hair.
When the guys saw this they just shrugged their shoulders and walked into the water also, they all knew a good idea when they saw it.
They gathered some of the fruit but Dr. Becket warned them not to eat much or they would get dysentery. John and Tayla found some long strait branches and cut them into five-foot lengths. They sharpen the end and built a small fire by the stream to harden the points.
He handed the pistol and clips to Laura at the loud protest of McKay. “Why does she get the gun and I don’t”
“Because Rodney, she’s trained to shoot this weapon and you are not. I’d give you a spear if I wasn’t afraid of you poking you own eye out with it.”
Elizabeth Weir and Dr. Becket were both having a hard time not laughing out loud they were both turned away from McKay and shaking with the suppressed humor. Ashley just laughed out loud at him not caring if it hurt his feelings. Rodney just stomped off to the trees and started picking more of the fruit. John and Tayla went out to see if they could find some meat for the hungry group.
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Ronon woke as Can’cia was cleaning his wounds and applying clean dressings.
“Where am I?”
The old woman looked shocked that he had spoken.
“I don’t know who trained you but they did a poor job of it. You are too badly injured to take a beating now so I’ll tell you for this for your own good and I will not repeat it again. You will only speak if spoken to or you will be punished!”
Ronon was at a distinct disadvantage at the moment, even this old woman could beat him and he could do nothing about it. He nodded his understanding and drifted back into sleep.
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After an hour of Rodney being gone Elizabeth went to see what he was up to. She found him asleep under one of the trees. He had six of the apple cores lying on the ground beside him. That was on top of the two he had eaten earlier, his stomach was distended and he was looking uncomfortable. She had traveled all over the world while on Earth even to some of the most remote areas and she knew what dysentery was. She smiled at the thought of what McKay was in for and how this was going to be a really good lesson in fallowing Dr. Becket’s orders.
John and Tayla were able to get a small goat like creature no thanks to him. He spooked the animal and it bolted but unfortunately for the animal, when it ran it went in the direction of Tayla and she scoured it cleanly as it tried to run by. John shook his head when the thought crossed his mind that this was a beautiful and dangerous woman and he was glad that she was on their side. It still amazed him to watch her kill the goat thing with ease while wearing a dress and looking so ladylike afterward. She gave him a brilliant smile. “We will eat well tonight.”
John smiled back, “We will, thanks to you.” They skinned the animal and cut it up to take back to camp.
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When John and Tayla got back to camp they built up the fire and started cooking the meat in small slabs so that it would cook faster. Dr. Becket found a flat rock that was about two foot square bringing it to the fire then he started looking for more square rocks and soon he had a larger flat cooking surface over the fire. Rodney McKay came back to camp looking rather green and holding his stomach like it was about to explode. He started to set down on a log but jumped up and ran back into the tree line again.
Dr. Becket looked grim. “I told him not to eat too many of those apple things or he would get dysentery, now we will have to keep him hydrated or he’ll be really sick.” Dr. Becket went to check on Rodney while the rest had to laugh about the situation. Rodney had done this to himself and nobody else was to blame.
A couple of minuets later Dr. Becket found Rodney behind a bush.
“Do you mind, a little privacy here while I finish blowing out the rest of my intestines.”
“Sorry Rodney, I just wanted to see if you were alright and to tell you to drink a lot of water so that you don’t dehydrate. By the way, you haven’t been using that plant next to you for cleaning purposes have you?’
“Why yes I have; is there something wrong with that or do you just really like that plant.”
“No, I really don’t like that plant and I don’t think you will either, that’s Poison Ivy.”
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Dr. Becket went back into camp and got some of the meat on a stick to let it cool.
Ashley and Elizabeth had found some large gourds that were dried out then they got the knife and cleaned the seeds out and made some cord out of woven grass to carry the new water bottles. They spent another three days there waiting for Rodney to get better and it helped to let their bruises and Ashley’s wrist sprain to heal.
They nearly had to tie Rodney down to keep him from scratching his butt where he had the Poison Ivy so that it would heal and they could move on. With that and the dysentery he couldn’t find a comfortable place except in the water down stream and he was not able to stay in there for very long without turning into a prune.
It would have been better if he had something to do to keep his mind occupied and off his rumbling stomach and itchy parts. Dr. Becket had checked a couple of times and said it was normal. To Rodney it was far worse than anything he had ever dealt with in his life. He was never allowed into the woods as a child and saw no reason to go into them as a young adult until he came on the Atlantis expedition. This was his first experience with the dreaded Poison Ivy. He had gone back and memorized the shape and color of the plant so that he would never go near it again. Then he started wondering why a plant like that would be on a planet so far from Earth. Did the Ancients want to move this plant to this planet along with the humans just to make them miserable? He needed to find something to do before he went crazy. There was just too much time here with nothing to do but itch, bath and run to the bush every five minuets.
Dr. Becket finally said it was okay for Rodney to travel with most of the rash gone and the dysentery clearing up he would still need a lot of water and food to maintain his health until he built back up to normal.
The last couple of days were kind of nice for John, he spent his mornings hunting with Tayla, his afternoons were spent with Elizabeth on walks that they both enjoyed. They even held hands for a while when not in the sight of the other. He spent his evenings talking with Ashley and the others around the campfire.
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The first night in camp after the meal Tayla ask if the offer to use him as a pillow anytime was still valid, and he said yes of course. Elizabeth Weir was ready to spit nails and throwing daggers with her eyes at Tayla, then she smiled and walked over to John.
“I understand that you have a very comfortable shoulder to sleep on, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare one would you, my neck is pretty stiff from sleeping on the ground.”
Tayla was tossing the nails and daggers right back at Elizabeth along with a few rocks and sticks. John wasn’t thinking about this much he was enjoying the attention he was getting from the women and they were pouring it on pretty thick now.
“You poor thing, let me see if I can help with that sore neck.” John started giving her a really good neck massage causing her to moan with pleasure as her neck muscles relaxed from his touch. In just a couple of minuets she was leaning back against him giving him a relaxed and happy thank you.
“You know, I do have a spare shoulder if you want to use it tonight.”
Tayla refused to give up her position on his left shoulder and Elizabeth snuggled into the right shoulder and purred like a kitten saying thank you.
Colonel John Shepard had no idea that he had just become a battlefield, if he could’ve seen the sparks flying over his chest he would have run for cover and waited for the all clear.
Laura Cadman was curled up in the arms of Carson Becket leaving Ashley with only Rodney McKay. She would rather sleep with a snake then to go near him. She did think about going up the middle. John had Tayla on his left and Dr. Weir on his right, if she could just figure a way to go strait on top of him…. No that would get her hurt from both sides even before they realized that she was there.
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Rodney McKay wasn’t doing well after about three hours of travel, the dysentery was better but not gone. The Poison Ivy was going down but the constant walking was causing it to rub and that was a real problem. He was slowing everybody down and there was nothing he could do to make it any better. Along the bluff they had been traveling there was a small cave that would be good cover. There was water close by and there was plenty of meat that had been cooked into jerky to preserve it. That made it work as a meal on the road that didn’t have to be cooked. Colonel Shepard couldn’t leave him there by himself so the girls drew straws to see who would be left behind to look after the whiney scientist. Ashley drew the short straw and with her having the sprained wrist it would be best for her to stay behind and heal as well. They left the 9mm with her and all the ammo.
The walk became much easer that afternoon without the constant moaning and whining of Rodney, although everybody in the group was glad they didn’t have his problems.
Back at the cave Ashley had gathered a good load of firewood and stashed it in the cave with their supplies. She filled the gourds with water while Dr. McKay got ready to take another bath to try and relieve the itching and chafing.
Ashley ate some of the jerky and went outside to see if she could find some more fruit or plants that were edible for something else to eat besides the jerky. She looked for about half an hour and found some plants that looked like the potatoes in her aunt’s garden. She dug them up taking several back to the cave for supper. She went down to check on Rodney when she saw four women and a man walking in the direction of the creak where Dr. McKay was.
Rodney had heard the commotion coming in his direction so he grabbed his clothes and ducked under a bush out of sight. The group stopped right where he had been soaking in the creak to start filling their water bottles and to rest. Ashley could only watch them but she did see part of Rodney’s leg so she knew where he was hiding. Just his luck that they would take their noon break on the creak bank eight feet away from where he was hiding. The bush was scratchy and it had small thorns that dug into his back and side. There where rocks under him and no way to move in order to get them out or to get more comfortable in any way.
The women didn’t look advanced at all; they carried bow and arrow, knives and short swords. Their clothes were okay but not anything more than home spun cloth with some fur trimmings and boots that looked like moccasins, no hard soles. The man was poorly dressed and carried most of the weight from the four females and he didn’t have any shoes at all. He was dirty, bruised and acted very submissive to all the women in the camp. When then man was told to do something he would scurried away quickly to do as he was told. While bringing one of the ladies a cup of something from the fire he tripped on a rock and spilled the contents of the cup on the ground. The woman that he was bringing the cup to got up and he fell to the ground in a prostrate position asking for forgiveness. She picked up a stick from the fire that wasn’t too big but big enough to hurt and hit him three times hard across the back then she kicked him for being so careless with her drink.
An hour later they broke camp and went on their way to Rodney’s great relief, he was now muddy, bruised and scratched up. He quickly went back into the creak and cleaned up then got dressed to go back to the cave and out of harms way if possible.
When the women had left and she knew that Dr. McKay was safe. Ashley went back to the cave and started the fire to get the potatoes cooking. It wasn’t that she was feeling domestic or anything but she couldn’t see Rodney McKay being able to boil water, let alone cook something that wouldn’t cause a very excruciating death to the victim of the meal. While she was cooking hers she needed to do his or have to listen to his constant whining about being hungry. That would only start him on the other whining he would want to do. If that happened then she would need to a quiet place where the body wouldn’t be found. She was happily thinking that they were off world and there were plenty of isolated places to hide a body.
Rodney come into the cave and sat down but he was nervously twitching and shaken by the near miss down by the creak. He was nearly spastic while telling her about the incident and the beating of the man that they had with them. She didn’t bother telling him that she had seen all of it from a line of trees about twenty feet away. When he finished his story she picked up a potato from the rocks she was using to cook it without burning much handing it and a piece of the jerky to him along with one of the gourds of water. He ate only mentioning that he would like to have some salt and butter at least but it would be even better with sour cream and bacon bits maybe some chives…. Ashley was about to go looking for the best place to stash the body when he thanked her for the wonderful meal while out on a hostel planet with no previsions, it was very good and filling.
He got up and pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket to look at the back of the cave then noticed that there was another passageway leading further down the side that wasn’t visible from where they were sitting. When he went around the corner he forgot that he wanted to tell Ashley that he wanted to see what was further down in the cave. A crossbow bolt shattered against the wall where he would have been if he had kept walking. He picked up the bolt and took it back to show Lt. Gordon
Rodney was getting excited now. “If the tunnel is booby trapped that means there’s something in there that we aren’t supposed to see.”
Ashley wanted to see what was down there herself but she knew how dangerous it could be. “That’s true Rodney but we can’t go running off into a cave without some safety equipment, we need extra lights and ropes not to mention helmets would be nice.”
“Yes I know, but we don’t have that and we do need to see what they’re trying to hide back there. This is a planet that used advanced weapons to shoot us down in space but they’re primitive on the surface using swords, and beating their servants for spilling the coffee.”
“Okay, we need to make some things then so that we can see at least.”
Ashley had noticed there were some trees not too far away that looked like a kind of pine tree. She picked up some sticks that were about two feet long and went to the long grass taking the dead stems and weaving them around the end of the stick until she had a thick tight bundle on the end of six of the sticks. Next she went to the pine trees to get some pine resin to coat the end of the torches with.
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Rilla was setting on the bench being tended to by her servants when the group of strangers came into town with the men in the lead carrying weapons. It is true that it was just a wood spear but that was against the law and as the leader of this providence she needed to do something to stop the incursion before other males started carrying weapons.
She got the attention of the guards and just pointed to the newcomers. They were surrounded in a matter of seconds. Their weapons were taken with Dr. Becket and Colonel Shepard on their knees with knives pressed cold and cutting to their necks letting them know that it was not a good idea to move. Laura, Tayla and Elizabeth were at the end of a half a dozen swords when Dr. Weir stepped forward to address the leader of the women.
“What are you doing and why are we being held captive?”
“You have broken several laws and must be punished.”
“I’m sorry; we didn’t know we were breaking any laws here.”
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse here, if you break the law you are punished.”
“What law did we break, if I may ask?”
“Your servants were walking in front of you and carrying weapons. This is not tolerated in any providence that I know of. Another thing I must ask; why do these servants have on footwear?”
“We are from a land that is far away, many months travel and that is where we have our customs from. There it is cold and if we do not allow the men to wear footwear they would get the black toe and it would ruin them. We also use the men as guards if they prove their loyalty.”
Elizabeth was having to think fast to get out of the situation, she could see now that this was a matriarchal society and they had made a big mistake by coming into the town.
John didn’t think before he looked Rilla in the eye and spoke. “We didn’t mean anything by this and.”
Rilla backhanded him so hard that he fell flat on his back in the dirt and shook his head.
Dr. Becket was shocked that someone would hit a person like that for no reason. “Now hold on lady he did nothing to you so why did”
Carson Becket had never been hit that hard before in his life. He was lying beside John on the ground. They were roughly picked up and stripped to the waist then they had their shoes and socks pulled off as they were strapped to a post.
Rilla came up behind John Shepard. “You have an untouched back, you were really spoiled by your mistress but that is going to change right now. You have spoken without being asked a question and that is punishable by five lashes of the whip. I am telling you this so that you will know why you are being punished.”
With that she pulled the whip and laid into both men without mercy. John took the beating without a sound but Dr. Becket was not as strong and he cried out with every stroke of the whip. Laura Cadman, Elizabeth Weir and Tayla were still being held at sword point and unable to help or do anything.
“Because you have broken the law, I am stripping you of the ownership of these men and putting them on the block to be challenged for. If you should so choose to, you may fight for them; you can regain ownership if you win. In the meantime they will be trained to be proper servants. That or they will be gilded and sent to the mines if they are not trainable in a short time. If they do not serve well in the mines then they will be given to the hungry.”
Elizabeth was in shock at seeing the men whipped and told that they were going to be sold as slaves from what she understood. “What do you mean by the hungry?”
“You are from a long way off, the hungry are a group of men in an old quarry with no way out and no food; when someone is thrown in they learn to eat or they are eaten.”
“You mean they’re cannibals?”
“I do not know the word you are using but they do feed on each other. If someone is sick, weak or injured they do not last long there.”
Rilla turned and left with the men being drug behind them with ropes around their necks.
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To conserve the torches they were only using one at a time with Ashley in the front looking for and disarming the traps as they went. The traps were mostly just trip wire traps that set off different types of devices in the form of bolts, darts and spears with one having an ax swing down from the roof from behind. This was great, they quickly disassembled the ax trap and took the ax with them, it was a little heavy but it was a good weapon. Some of the walls were lined with thorns or other sharp objects that probably had poisons on them. There were places where the sharp poisons traps were on the floor. Somebody didn’t want strangers in this cave.
After the first run in with the poison spikes Ashley went back outside to get two sticks about a foot in length then she split the end down the middle with the sharp edge of a rock using another rock as a hammer. The double sided ax was too big to split the wood properly. She found a couple of rocks that were triangular but fairly flat and placed them in the split of the wood. She found a smooth tree bark that made a good string when cut into thin strips the tie the stone into the triangular rock into the split of the wood. She hardened the strings by putting them into the dieing coals of the fire. This made a good hammer with a handle. Ashley then made more of the torches to take along.
When they went back in they started knocking the spikes off the walls and floor so that they wouldn’t accidentally prick themselves on the way in or out. The poison was strong as they found out when the happened on to a skeleton with old blood at the base of where the foot had made contact with one of the floor spikes killing them instantly. That or it might be that the fall onto several more spikes had done the trick but the end result was evident. Rodney was busy carrying the spare torches and the ax so Ashley was doing all the checking for traps and disarming them. Rodney was keeping track of the time and torches so that they had plenty of time to retreat to the outside before they were out of light.
Ashley took her time to make sure all the spikes were removed to prevent accidents. In the next bend the tunnel broadened into a larger room with a door in the far side. The door was a type of metal that did not have any hinges set into a metal frame. It also seamed to be part of the rock that surrounded it. There was a blue hand on the wall and a keypad that had markings but neither of them knew what they were. Rodney put his hand on the blue hand on the wall. A light came on in the room and the keypad lit up indicating that it was ready for the combination. The keypad seamed to be part of the rock like the door frame. Unfortunately there was no gap to be able to pry the keypad off the wall and short the wires. Rodney tried several times to put in different codes knowing all along that there were too many possible combinations. On the fourth try he received an electrical shock that sent him across the room and landed him on his butt.
“I don’t think that is such a good idea anymore.”
Rodney gave her an ‘I can’t believe you said that’ look before trying to get up and falling over again. Ashley went over and helped him up to a setting position against the wall.
If this combination is that tough then there would be a combination written down somewhere so that it wouldn’t be lost. She walked the room looking for hidden chambers and ledges or even inscriptions on the wall and came up blank. She looked at Rodney with a smile, “Our friend in the tunnel that had the misfortune to step on the spike. I’ll bet there’s a note or something on the body.”
Ashley lit the torch again and they moved carefully back down the tunnel to the body. She was careful while moving the half rotted body making sure that she did not prick herself on one of the spikes and end up as a matching set on the floor. There was nothing in the pockets or the leather bag on the belt but there was a pendant with the inscriptions on the back.
Now that they had the combination the problem was, how do they read it? The symbol’s were there but were they read top to bottom, bottom to top, right to left or left to right, possibly back and forth in any of the directions. Ashley took the bag, knife and short sword along with the belt from the body but didn’t put it on. It definitely had the smell of a dead body about it and she didn’t want to put it on until she could clean it properly and hopefully could get the smell off of it.
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Ronon woke as Can’cia was tying the last of the knots securing him to the bed to the point of not being able to move anything. “Look big guy, I need to go back into town and I don’t want you trying to get up and move around. You would just hurt yourself again and I would need to start over trying to heal you. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to let you loose.”
Ronon was still dizzy and cross eyed from the concussion but he could feel that his right arm and leg were broken and a couple of ribs. He was helpless at the moment and the old woman was right. He would have tried and he would have fallen probably hurting himself again just like she said he would. Now that all that was out of the way he needed to get up so that he could find out what happened to his friends. He didn’t know if he was alone on this planet without a way off. The Stargate was in space and he didn’t think he could jump quite that high with a bad leg. There wasn’t anything he could reach that he could cut the ropes with and the old woman was good at her knots. It hurt to struggle against the bonds and his head was spinning wildly nearly making him sick again. The best thing for him was to do as she had said and lay still.
Can’cia took her backpack this time instead of the cart so that she could travel a little faster. It still took her two hours to get into town to get the medicine that would help the big man heal and make him less dizzy. She went strait to the healer and asked her for the drugs telling her that she had found a big man injured and she had clamed him for herself but that she needed to heal him first.
The woman told Can’cia about the strangers and their odd behavior and how Rilla had beaten the men and taken them to the training hall. She told her about the three women that were with the men and how Rilla had forced them to release the men to her. They would need to fight if they wanted to reclaim them. The men were to be trained to serve the women of this providence properly. As soon as Can’cia had left, the healer went to Rilla to tell her of the man that Can’cia had found and was now claiming.
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Can’cia was not a fool, she knew what the healer was about to do. She went to the area where the new people would be camped to seek their help and to find out what was really going on. The camp wasn’t too far away where she made her introductions. “I understand that you are having trouble with Rilla and that she has taken your men.”
Elizabeth looked her in the eye and answered truthfully. “We didn’t know the laws of this land and we were attacked and basically robed.”
“What you did was not a minor crime here and Rilla did the right thing according to our people and the laws of this land. What we need to discuss is what you are going to do to fix the problem.”
Elizabeth and Tayla both looked at her with hope. “You mean we can get them back?”
“Yes, anybody can challenge for them if they choose, but it is a fight that can be very deadly and has to be fought one for one although you can have a partner that can assist you in the fights.”
“We need weapons and I need to know everything about this fight and be sure to leave nothing out.”
“I will tell you everything but we need to leave here and travel to my cottage before this camp is overrun by Rilla’s people. They will try to eliminate you as a threat to her getting your servants.” The three women broke camp quickly to start the journey to where Can’cia lived.
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Rodney and Ashley tried several combinations and after the third time of picking himself up and getting very frustrated the door opened. Rodney refused to let Ashley try the combinations stating that he was stronger than she was and could take the power of the jolt much better than she could. She knew that he was trying to protect her and she was impressed that he would do that for her.
The first room was small, only about ten by ten with some work stations and a few panels with their lights blinking the ready. The panels were marked but Rodney could only make out a few words which did not make sense to him. The next door opened like the one’s on Atlantis but before it opened the outer door closed like an airlock with a powerful air exchange before the second door would open.
The second room was a little larger and the control chair of the Ancients was sitting in the center of the room. There were other control panels around the room to which Rodney set about trying to find out what they did. Ashley absentmindedly went over to the control chair and sat down. The chair leaned back and she was thinking that it was rather like a recliner and very comfortable when everything lit up. She was thinking about Tayla and John, wondering where they were when a screen appeared in the air. It was showing John Shepard and Dr. Becket both being beaten with a strap for not being quick enough while bringing something to one of the trainers. She was horrified to see the lash marks on both of the men’s backs; then Tayla, Dr Weir and Lt Cadman were in a picture walking down be the creak with an older woman.
“Dr. McKay, Tayla is down by the creak and we need to get information, can you get there quickly or do you want me to go?”
“No, I’ll go, I have the flashlight. I’ll be right back.” Rodney went quickly out the doors and into the cave making sure he was watching his step so as to not step on a spike that they might have missed.
He was able to make the creak in time to catch the women and bring them back. Ashley met them at the entrance to the cave with the torches to bring them back. Rodney went to the chair when they got back into the room. It wasn’t working nearly as well for him as it did for Ashley. He grudgingly moved out of the way and let her sit down. She brought up the area map that located the inventory on the planet. She reset the defensive weapons to repel Wrath ships but to let the Jumpers through. The location where they were did not have any weapons or ships; it was just a watch station and remote station. The nearest weapons and ships were five hundred miles away. That would have been a short trip to the Ancients in a Jumper but it would take them a long time to get to the ships.
“Dr. Weir, have you come up with a plan for this situation? What are your orders?”
Elizabeth looked over to Can’cia for information. “How are we going to handle getting the men back?”
“We will need one person and an assistant to challenge for them and this is going to be a bloody fight. Rilla will not let them go easy. She wants them for herself and she would loose face in the community if you were to get them back. She will kill you and anybody associated with you as quick as she can before or during the challenge.”
“Okay then; I’m going to need my strongest people here to fight for John and Carson if we’re going them out before they’re permanently damaged or killed. Dr. McKay is going to need someone with him to get the ship and weapons that we will need to get off this planet.”
“Flash, I want you to go with Dr. McKay for the ship, he may need your skills as an engineer. That‘s going to leave us one person short to get the boys back and I have a good idea that it will have to be a woman. Is there someone that would be willing to help us?”
“There is only one person that is willing to go against Rilla and you’re looking at her.”
“The challenge won’t be for another month so we will need to use that time to get you girls trained properly.”
“I hope John and Carson can hold out that long.”
Ashley smiled. “I may be able to help a little on that count.” She went back to the chair and sat down. She brought up the image of John and Carson. She appeared in their room as a hologram telling them that they needed to hang on and do whatever they needed to do to survive until help could arrive.
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Ashley cleaned the sword and belt to a point that they could be worn without too much discomfort from the smell. Rodney had the other knife while Ashley kept the pistol and clip.
Can’cia told them the fastest way to travel that kind of distance would be on horseback. They didn’t have any money to buy the horses but Rilla had a rather large stable. That night Tayla and Cadman went in and borrowed four of the biggest and best mounts there. They also took the saddles, saddle bags and packs for a long journey. Then they ran all the horses out to make it look like someone left the gate open and the horses ran away.
There were a couple of guards at the stable but nobody would ever find them. It would look like they ran away in fear after the horses got away to most people. They didn’t want a posse riding after Flash and McKay if at all possible.
This also gave them more weapons to use in the fight. Flash and McKay were loaded with supplies and sent on their way as quickly as possible to avoid any threat of being caught. They knew that they were going to have to ride fast and hard but neither one of them knew much about horses or riding.
At the end of the first day it was almost impossible for either one of them to sit in the saddle or on the ground, it was hard to even walk. Ashley had always make fun of the old western movies where the men would walk bow legged after riding with the herd of cattle all day but that is exactly what both of them were doing. They didn’t stop shaking for an hour after they were on the ground because of the constant jarring of the horse. Rodney was almost over the Poison Ivy but now he had actual blisters on his butt. He knew the word saddle sore, but now he was learning a whole new respect for the people that did this kind of work day in and day out.
Can’cia had shown them how to take care of the horses by removing their saddles at night and hobbling them, (The two front feet are loosely tied forgather so that they will not go far during the night and can feed in the fields.) She had also packed away some liniments with instructions on how to use them for their sore butts.
The next morning they were feeling much better and Rodney decided to try and use his blanket to pad the saddle, That was a bad idea and after he picked himself up off the ground the third time he decided that the blanket was too slick and it bunched up anyway so he went back to just the strait saddle. They changed the horses about every hour and a half to let them rest and to walk around themselves for a moment. The packs were a lot lighter than people so the horses that they were riding changed places with the pack horses when they stopped.
It was hot out and the smell of the horses and themselves was getting quite overpowering by the second day. They came to a stream about an hour before dark and decided to make camp there so that they had a chance to bath the horses and themselves There wasn’t really any way to set up a guard shift with just the two of them and riding that hard all day left both of them totally exhausted at the end of the day.
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John Shepard and Dr. Carson Becket had become the best of students at the training hall. Rilla would often come by to stroke their faces and tell them that soon they would belong to the richest house in the providence and that she was going to make special pets out of them. This was said with confidence like she meant it as a good thing not to threaten or belittle them. They were going to be her property if no one else wanted to fight for them and she knew that was very unlikely to happen. Nobody and seen anything of the women that brought them into town for several days now and she had wandered if they were responsible for the gate being left open at her stable. She knew that nobody would dare steal from her so it had to be an accident. When Rilla would tell them of their new home that awaited them they would just keep their eyes down and smile making her think they were happy to be going to a good home soon.
Rilla wanted to cut their time in training and take them home now but the law said they had to stay there for one month minimum and no more than four months maximum. If a man could not be trained in that amount of time he was not trainable and would be destroyed. Those that were sent to be destroyed were usually tied to a post and left to die slowly as an example to the other men to serve properly or suffer the same fate.
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Ronon was happy to see the three women from the ship and all three of them were happy to see that he was alive even if he was a little banged up. After seeing the inside of the cave and what they could do with the chair that was in there Can’cia was no longer afraid to use the devise that her mother had found. Her mother had told her to never tell anyone about it or she would be hunted down and killed for the thing. They untied Ronon from the frame of the bed while she went into the darkest part of the mine with a small candle to light the way and retrieved the thing from its hiding place.
When she got back inside Ronon had tried to set up and passed out again like the stubborn man he was. She placed the device on his leg first and left it there until the light went from a yellow to orange, then she moved it to his arm and did the same thing. She took off the splints and changed the configuration of the thing and set it carefully on his head and held it in place. She told Tayla to hold his arms down so that he did not push her away before the machine was finished healing him.
“If he is half the warrior you say he is we may be able to use him as a gladiator before you fight for your men. He will be pitted against three women in a death fight and if Rilla knows that he is mine she will send in her best. That will mean we don’t have to fight them if he is able to take them out. Rilla would also bet heavily on her girls. This could be another way that they could get back at her.”
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Rodney McKay did not have a weak heart and that was a good thing when you wake up with a very loud pistol going off three times next to your ear. He looked around and did another heart check when he saw the overgrown mountain lion laying fifteen feet away in the moonlight. The horses had spooked and that woke Ashley where she very carefully sighted the animal in and took it out. Her range instructor would have been proud of her marksmanship in the dark with only moonlight to aim by. The animal had stayed in the shadows most of the time it was stalking them. She had caught the movement of one of the bushes and it had made the mistake of getting in the moonlight just long enough for her to aim and shoot.
It was going to be sunup soon anyway so they broke camp leaving the animal where it was shot. She wanted to get the pelt but it would have spooked the horses from the smell of a predator being that close and not being able to get away from it.
The next day’s ride was a little better, there was a slight breeze and it was a little cooler than it had been for the first couple of days. They were getting more used to riding and more comfortable in the saddle but it still wasn’t easy.
About half way through the day they ran into a hunting party of seven women that wanted news of the community that they had left. Ashley did her best to gossip and tell the girls about the newcomer and the fight that was going to be in less than a month now for the two strange men. The women of the hunting party told of their province and the ins and outs of their daily lives. Then they asked to buy her male. Ashley was very quiet for a while making Rodney squirm in the saddle.
“He is really of no use and I would be doing you a disservice by selling him to you although the thought was appealing for a moment to just be rid of him and buy a good male or a cat.”
They all laughed and went their separate ways, everyone but Rodney who was a little upset that they would talk about him like he wasn’t even there.
“I’m sorry Dr. McKay, but on this planet you’re just merchandise and your feelings don’t count. I guess you can understand how the females on earth do when they hit the glass ceiling or how they felt before they got the vote. But this is worse because you’re owned here. I guess we’re going to have to start a male rights movement. Do you want to burn a jockstrap to symbolize your freedom?”
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Ronon and Can’cia both kept the women very busy drilling them on the hand to hand combat along with knife and sword techniques that would be needed for the upcoming fight. Ronan also taught them how to kill quickly and without hesitation, there would be no mercy in this battle. This would help them to conserve strength plus cut down on the possibility of getting injured; they would need to be both quick and deadly.
They were also taught how to take a weapon away from an opponent while unarmed or to kill the person with their own weapon before taking it out of their hand. If the women were not training on fighting he had them running, and they ran a lot. The running built up their stamina and strength so by the end of the day they were wiped out and barely able to crawl into their blankets before sleep took them.
Ronan didn’t take that much time sleeping, he had taken measurements from the women and while they were running and doing their regular exercises which Tayla was helping with, he was making their weapons and hunting.
The house was far enough from town that he could hunt without much of a chance of being caught. The women were burning up a lot of calories with all the exercises but they needed to build muscle not loose weight which required large amounts of protein. He added the white tubers and some other vegetables to make soup some days and the starch helped them with needed calories.
After their morning run he would let them rest and eat then he took them through their paces in weapons training and speed exercises plus some tumbling. It was always good to know how to get up off the ground quickly, especially if it could keep you alive for a little longer.
Cadman and Tayla were surprised at the determination of Dr. Weir and her skills at both the fighting and her flexibility. She told them that she had spent a lot of time in ballet and gymnastics before and during collage. She was quick to pickup on the every technique she was shown and she had a lot more strength that the others would have thought. What they didn’t know was how determined she was to get John Sheppard back and if she could then she could claim him fair and square. Tayla was also determined to get John and claim him for herself. Laura Cadman was going to fight for Dr. Becket with the help of Can’cia. Rilla wouldn’t fight too hard for him he was something to amuse herself with but she would fight hard for Sheppard.
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John and Carlson did everything they were told to do. There were all kinds of training, like the proper way to serve dinner to the mistress. They were taught how to give proper messages so they could tend to the lady of the house after she had been out hunting or working. They were being trained as house men, not laborers. Rilla was going to take these men and she wanted them where they would know how to please her.
While they were in the room at night John was working on Carson to toughen him up. He was doing pushups and running in place to increase his endurance and to make him strong enough to be able to keep up if they had to run. They had been told many times what happened to men that ran but if it came down to them running or watching as one or more of the women were killed trying to get them back then they would run. Neither one of them could stand to watch their friends die trying to win them back. They both agreed that it was better to take their chances out in the wilderness than running for the rest of their lives. The other men on the training hall had told them that in the North there was a place that was ruled by men and if they could get there they would be safe from the women. It was said to be a long way off and in the cold country but it was better than living a life of a slave. Others had said that it was just a myth and that there was no such place. They said that there couldn’t be a place that was ruled by men only, it was impossible for men to rule, they were not physically or mentally able to take on the task of governing themselves. John and Carson knew that the brainwashing of the training school was working well on those men. They didn’t discuss it further knowing that the men that were about to graduate would tell the head mistress. They would be punished for even talking about running or even the thought of men ruling.
In the meantime both of the men were beefing up and it was being noticed by the women that were doing the training. They liked what they saw and started training them on the advanced courses like how to please their mistress in the bed chamber.
John was surprised at how well Carson did with this training. He wasn’t bad himself and got high praises but they wouldn’t stop talking about the things that Carson was able to do and how easy he was to train. They talked about it all the time and acted like the men were not even in the room. They had a yard that they were let out into for exercise and to get out of the building. It was walled off and well guarded so it wasn’t possible to escape that way but they did have some room to do their exercises out there. They were not being dressed in the homespun clothing of the common people now. They had on the fine clothing of the upper-class servants and the guards were looking at them like they were a real catch. Some of them were even talking about challenging for the men themselves even if it was against Rilla.
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Colonel Caldwell was getting impatient with the lack of results of finding the away party that was now nearly a weak and a half overdue. When they went over the computer logs they found that a star went supernova the moment that they entered the wormhole. It just happened to be caught by one of the observation computers and it had taken a week to find that information. It wasn’t that big a deal to the computer system and was put on low priority as something of interest that should be checked out but not right now. The power of the super nova was enough to divert the outgoing wormhole to a different Gate but the chances of finding which Gate they were diverted to was unbelievably high in the, ‘it will not happen’ category. All the lead people of the Atlantis station were gone and it didn’t look like they would be coming back. Colonel Caldwell sent the message to Earth that the members of administration of the Atlantis base were lost and presumed dead.
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Ashley and Rodney were coming to another town and they had been warned by the women of the other hunting party that the male was not to be seen riding the horse or he would be taken away from her and sold. As they got closer to the town he dismounted and was made to run beside Ashley’s horse. She had taken the knife he was carrying away from him so that he would not be found with a weapon on him. Ashley told him that he needed to keep his head down and not look anybody in the eye. Can’cia had told them all about what would happen if the were caught, especially what would happen to Rodney. Rodney knew that he could do this but the hardest part of any of it was that he had to run beside the horse and he wasn’t allowed to have his shoes. His feet were very tender and he was going to have to make this look like he did it all the time.
When a woman came into town from a distant area it was always of great interest to the other women. Ashley had several offers to buy her slave if she were willing to let him go for a reasonable price. She would always stop and take her time considering the offer. To Rodney’s great relief she would decline telling the women that he had his uses. She would laugh telling them that he was useless other than something that was warm and soft to cuddle up to during the night and he did help to keep her warm when it was cold. They had only gone about a hundred miles so far but they were getting better at riding and they were making better progress all the time. It was getting routine now to change the horses grab something to eat and be back on the trail as soon as possible. They weren’t in as much need to stop for longer because of their sore backsides now. Once they got through the town it they decided that it would be better if he didn’t put his shoes back on and they had taken some of the homespun clothing off a clothesline on the outskirts of town before they went into the town. The women that they had run into before on the trail had asked why she had dressed her servant so strangely. Ashley was also dressed like the people of the area and they had stashed their other clothing in the bags on the packhorse.
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When the report that the leaders of Atlantis were missing and presumed dead came in, it didn’t sit well with General O’Neill. It was looking like Colonel Caldwell was making another grab for the Atlantis base. It also looked like he really didn’t care about finding where Elizabeth and the rest of the crew of the Puddle Jumpers were. Elizabeth had made mention before in her briefings about the Colonel’s desire to take her place as the leader of the Atlantis expedition. Jack would have loved to take charge of this situation himself but he wasn’t going to be able to get away right now. He was going to do the next best thing though and send his best people. He called Sam Carter into his office to confer with her on the best way to handle the situation.
Sam had been working with the Engineers on the development of a new craft that was very fast. It was a small craft that they had been building for their experiments and the craft had worked very well. They were about to start the production of a larger unit now. The one that they had was a two seater and it didn’t have a lot of room but there was a small compartment in the back where a person could lay down if they needed to. Jack called the people at Area 51 telling them that they needed to install a food replicatior and store supplies onboard the craft right away. He had the orders written up and handed to Sam before she had her clothing packed for the trip. She was to take Teal’c with her to assist her but she knew that Jack was sending the big Jaffa to keep her safe. She knew that he had confidence in her but it was always better to have someone that could watch your back and Teal’c was the best man for the job. That is if he wasn’t able to do it himself. With this ship they could be at Atlantis in only a few days compared to three weeks for the Daedalus.
When their jet arrived at the landing strip that was used for area 51 it didn’t look like much to Teal’c, mostly just blowing dust in the hot dry hilly countryside. Sam had told him that he would be impressed when he saw the ship but there wasn’t a ship anywhere around unless in the old hanger that next to the airfield. Inside the hanger was a car that they used to get to the area where the spacecraft was located which was behind some steep hills that were close by in a box canyon. When Teal’c saw the craft it was nothing like he had ever seen before. It was in the shape of a saucer but the Hyperdrive was larger than he had ever seen on a craft this small. It was just large enough for the two of them with room to move around behind the pilot and copilot seats. There were weapons on the craft that he did recognize as the large plasma weapons from an Alkesh. They were not the weapons from an Alkesh but they were replicas of the weapons that had been made for this craft. It would appear that the scientist had reverse engineered and improved on the Goa’uld ships using things from the Ancients and the Asgard to make the improvements. Teal’c also noticed that the ship not only had weapons facing the front but also on both sides and the back of the ship. The weapons could be aimed and were secured into the ship when not needed and when the ship was going through the atmosphere. The shields would protect them but it was better to not show the weapons if they were not needed. The technician that was working on the weapons system finished and the weapons were slipped back into their compartments.
They were given last minuet instructions on the modifications that had been made since the last time Colonel Carter had been down to see the ship. It would be able to make the trip to Atlantis in about ten days as they did when they took the modified cargo ship to Othalla which was in the Ida Galaxy where the Asgard live. This ship should actually be faster than the cargo ship and it would not burnout like the cargo ship had if they were lucky. They also had one of the Alkesh bombers that was being modified and would be ready soon but not soon enough. The ship had a small restroom in the back and it had just enough room to stand and stretch your legs but that was about all. It was not designed to a trip of this length but it would do the job just not comfortably. The seats would lie back so that one of them could sleep while the other one was watching the ship. Being as this had never been tried before with this ship it was critical that they keep an eye on the instruments. The communications would reach from the half way point and a little bit more so once they got within range of Atlantis they would not be able to communicate with Earth. They got into the ship and left Earth, Sam used the radio to call the SGC so that she could give a report and to say goodbye to Jack.
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Over the last two weeks Carson had lost about fifteen pounds and changed a lot of the weight he had been carrying around into muscle. This also was not missed by the trainers and Rilla. John was also gaining muscle and his hair was almost down to his shoulders now. He had needed to get it cut before the mission but now it was longer and soft, the way Rilla liked it. They would have two more weeks in the training hall before they would be put up for challenge. Rilla had quietly put out the word that if anyone challenged her for the men they would not live to make that mistake again. She knew that the women that she had taken the men from would want to get them back but nobody had seen or heard anything of them since they had lost the men. Rilla was thinking that they must have decided that the men were not worth dieing over and left the area to find new slaves. In seeing what superb specimens these men had turned into with proper training she knew that it was a big mistake on their part to leave them behind.
Rilla was wondering about this man that Can’cia had found and claimed for herself but he couldn’t be much if she was able to take him, she was just an old woman anyway. She had at first thought of not sending anyone out to the old farm to check on the man but then she had been surprised before. She sent two of her best women to check this out. It would be worth the laugh to hear that she had gotten some old man that had been turned loose because he was worthless to anybody. She would love to tell that story to the counsel on their next meeting. She told the two women that she wanted them to bring this man in to her so that she could see for herself what he looked like.
The women were moving slowly through the forest on guard as they should be in any situation even if it was to spy on an old woman. They both knew that Can’cia was a formidable opponent and she hadn’t gotten the reputation of a true fighter without being able to back it up. It was still early in the morning when they finally got close to the house and saw some strange things. There was a man that was larger than any man they had ever seen and he was packed with muscle from head to toe. He had long brown dreadlocks and a goatee which was something that the men of this area were not allowed to wear. He had a sword and he was sparing with two women. He was good with the weapon and this was definitely a violation of the law. Can’cia would loose her farm and the man for this move. They watched as Can’cia was helping with the instructions for the two women and giving them ideas on how to attack him. That was all good but they still weren’t able to get even close to the man. He was smiling like this was a great game but the women were concentrating on ways to get past his defenses. They were about to move back out of the area so that they could get help to bring in all of the people that were at the farm. It was going to take some of their strongest people just to bring in this lone man.
As they started to turn they noticed that they were not alone now. Tayla was behind them and had the drop on them. She disarmed the two women and brought them into the open area. Can’cia nodded and smiled at Tayla’s capture of the women. She knew that Rilla couldn’t stand to hear that she had a man at her farm now and would send someone to see what he looked like and if he was worth stealing for herself. Can’cia knew also that Tayla and Ronon would not have a problem killing if they needed to but the other two women had never killed a person before. Laura was trained but being trained and actually doing the job were very different. She had spoken with Tayla and Ronon about this and it was decided that they would need experience or they might hesitate while in battle and that would get them killed for sure.
She handed one of the women back her weapon and told her that if she could kill Elizabeth then she would be free to go. Elizabeth was more than a little surprised by this but she didn’t have much time to think about it before the woman attacked her. The woman wasn’t playing with Elizabeth. The woman was trying to kill her and she was doing her best to get it over with quickly so she could be on her way. The woman came at her with two thrust to the abdomen which Elizabeth parried out of the way then she swung the short sword hard at neck height which would be very hard to block. The weight of the sword would have carried it on into Elizabeth’s neck killing her even if she had blocked the maneuver. Instead of trying to block the stroke Elizabeth bent her knees to let he sword go over her head. The stroke was so strong that the momentum carried her attackers arm well past a good guard position. Elizabeth acted on instinct which had been trained into her now and thrust the sword through the woman’s chest killing her on the spot.
That was one down and now it was Laura Cadman’s turn to show her stuff. The other woman picked the sword up off the ground from her fallen companion as Elizabeth stepped back at Ronon’s request as he motioned Laura forward to take care of this problem. Laura knew just like Elizabeth did that these women could not be turned loose or all of them would be dead. That would leave John and Carson alone on this planet with no way out if something happened to Ashley and Rodney. This one was watching the fight before and she was not going to make the same mistake that her friend had. She was staying low and making short thrust with the sword so that she didn’t overreach. She was in a good fighting stance making it hard to hit any vital portion of her body easily. Lauren knew that a good stance was only an elusion that made a person feel safer. She had learned in karate class that a closed stance was good for beginners but when you get into the upper ranks you find out quickly that a simple turn will change that closed stance into a very open stance. If the person does not see what’s happening fast enough to be able to block the fight is over.
Lauren was strong and healthy now and she had been fighting a long time before coming to Atlantis in the Marshal Arts. She knew that this was dangerous but it wasn’t as bad as most people thought. Fear and tension were the biggest enemies here. Lauren relaxed and waited. She had dropped her guard letting the woman have an opportunity to attack which was what Lauren wanted her to do. Lauren was waiting as the blade was coming at her but her concentration was so intense that it looked like the woman was moving in slow motion. She did a half step to the left with her right leg moving her out of the thrust of the blade and actually into a closer range to the woman. The moment that her right foot hit the ground she was spinning bringing her left foot up in a spinning crescent kick hitting the woman hard in the face and flipping her back so hard that her head hit the ground before her back did nearly flipping her over in a backwards roll. It was hard to see if you weren’t watching closely but at the same time as her foot hit the woman her blade was snaking out to sink deep into the woman’s chest. Laura held tight to the blade so that it wasn’t pulled of her hand. In this situation it wouldn’t have been a problem but she knew that Ronon and Can’cia would have ripped her good for loosing her weapon at any point.
Elizabeth and Laura were both upset at killing the women but this was a way of life on this planet. When they went to reclaim the other members of their party they were going to have to fight hard but hopefully they wouldn’t have to kill to get them back.
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Ashley and Rodney were riding hard to get to the area where the main Ancient station was located but they knew that it was going to be close. It was beginning to look like they wouldn’t be able to get a ship before the fight was to take place for John and Carson. When they got there they both knew that they were going to need to get into the station unseen somehow. With all of the security and traps set up at the cave where the remote station was located the main station would surly be guarded.
Rodney had been running when he got the chance without his shoes to toughen his feet up. That way it wouldn’t be so obvious that he was a tenderfoot when he was around other women. They were both getting good at riding now and they had acquired a crossbow that they were using for hunting when they needed food now. Rodney was loosing weight and toning up considerably. Ashley was getting more and better offers to purchase him all the time. Rodney was very pleased by this but he had been warned to keep his head down and not to look at the women or smile when they offered a good price for him or she would take the offer. That dropped his smile but made her smile at his obvious shock that she would even consider selling him to another woman.
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Sam and Teal’c were able to make the trip to Atlantis in seven and a half days. That was the fastest trip that had been made yet without the Stargate. Sam knew that the other ship would be on the way soon but for now she was in charge with Teal’c as her backup. They got permission to land their ship and disembark. Colonel Caldwell met them down on the dock area just as they were about to enter the building. Sam saluted him as she was required to do as she was handing him the papers that she had been given by General O’Neill.
“Sir, these are orders from General O’Neill himself authorizing me to take command of this mission until we get Elizabeth Wear back. Even though you are of higher rank than I am you will be under my command until this mission is over per General O’Neill and the Joint Chiefs of the United States of America and the IOA.”
Colonel Caldwell stiffened up and he was unable to keep the anger out of his face but he knew that he had been very thoroughly squelched. He had no choice other than to step down and let her take command of what he considered his base.
When Sam got into the base and to the office that was supposed to be Elizabeth Wear’s she found that Colonel Caldwell had put all of her things in storage and set himself up in the office. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter changed those orders having his things beamed back to the ship while asking the very relieved crew to bring Elizabeth’s things back into the office. They were going to get her and the others back. There were no other options given.
Sam asked Radek Zelenka to take as many people as he needed to find out where the Supernova that had redirected the wormhole could have sent the Puddle Jumper in the Galaxy. It wouldn’t have sent it too far off course so he started by locating all the Stargate’s so that they could at least try to find them. It took them a few hours to calculate the strength of the blast that hit the wormhole and calculate how far it would send it off course. Then there was the problem of why they didn’t just redial when they got to the destination and come back to Atlantis. That could only mean that they had run into a problem. With the puddle jumper it wouldn’t matter if they came out on a planet that didn’t have an atmosphere but if they were damaged or the Stargate DHD was damaged by the main control crystal being damaged it would account for them not being able to get home. Stargate’s are rarely bunched together in a sector of space. Radek and located twenty seven Stargate’s that the wormhole could have been rerouted to. That wasn’t too large of an area to check out. They started by dialing all the addresses one at a time to try and contact their missing people by radio.
Unfortunately there was a limit to how far a radio would work and all of the people on the Puddle Jumper knew that the radios would be useless to reach the Gate. They also knew that the dialing device onboard the Puddle Jumper would not activate the Stargate from that far away. If they could have done that they would have dialed Atlantis repeatedly letting them know where they were.
With that not working the next step was to go out and look for their people. With one Jumper missing for unknown reasons it was not going to be possible to send away teams even if they were in Puddle Jumpers to those addresses until they had a good idea what was going on. This left two ships that could do the job. Colonel Caldwell was sent to see half of the planets while Sam and Teal’c were going to go to the other half. Colonel Caldwell had already left and Sam was about to leave right after she had given some last minuet directions to Radek. He would be taking command of the base until she returned. They were about to leave the building when someone was saying that there was a medium size spaceship that was coming in at a tremendous speed heading strait for them. Sam stepped back into the control room to check things out. She had them raise the shields just to be on the defensive when an Alkesh bomber dropped out of hyperspace. Sam had the satellites zoom in on the ship which was marked as the USS Jacob Carter. Sam smiled knowing that it was the other ship. Jack must have pushed hard to get the ship space worthy so that it could be sent after her to help.
She called to the ship and was a bit surprised to see that Jack O’Neill was in the Captions chair. Sam was so happy to see him that she forgot protocol for the moment and she was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. Her actions were not missed by the other people in the control room and all of them were smiling at her happiness. She toggled her microphone which was routed to the ship.
“Jack, it’s good to see you. You’re just in time to help with the search for our missing people.”
Jack was smiling at her with an idiotic smile of his own. It was apparent to all that these two people had missed the company of the other. In his happiness to see her he forgot protocol himself.
“Sam it’s good to see you also, how many places do we need to check out and how can I help.”
This confused her a little; she had assumed that he was here to take command of the base. “Aren’t you going to take command Sir?”
“No, I think I will leave that in your capable hands. I’m here just too smooth things out and lend a hand. This show is all yours unless you need me.”
The opportunity was too great to pass up for her. “I always need you.”
Then she happened to think about all the people in the command center and onboard the Alkesh. “That is for your advice and outstanding leadership, Sir.”
Teal’c was actually smiling when he saw his friends interacting like this and what Samantha had just said and tried unsuccessfully to cover up.
Things were getting a little strained so Jack just beamed her and Teal’c onboard the ship and asked which direction they needed to go. Even with the fast Hyperdrive that was on this ship it was going to take about six hours to get to the location of the first planet. Jack asked Sam and Teal’c if they would like a tour of the ship which Sam jumped at. Teal’c knew what a third wheel was and declined for the time saying that he wanted to see the changes in the control of the ship and to see how they differed from the ones that he had flown in the past.
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It was getting time to prepare for the transfer of the men to the ownership of Rilla and nobody expected any challenge to be offered. It was a real surprise to the director of the training school that Elizabeth would be challenging for the male John with Tayla as her second. The man called Carson would be challenged for by Laura and seconded by Can’cia which really raised eyebrows. It was also put into the note that if Rilla wanted to keep the men for herself then she would need to fight personally for them.
The scream that came from the house of Rilla could be heard all the way across town. She was so mad that she was throwing things all over the house. Her servants were scurrying about trying to pick up the mess as she stormed through the house and out the front door. The note also said that Can’cia had a man that she was putting up against three of her best fighters. How could this be, a man that was being put up against three women. It would be a slaughter. Can’cia might as well have killed him herself but if that was what this old woman wanted then so be it. Can’cia would need to bet heavily on her male to be able to do anything. Rilla would bet against her to take the farm that she had wanted for years.
The farm itself wasn’t all that valuable but her mother had wanted it which made her want it also. She had gone to great lengths to get the farm herself but the old woman had resisted all the way. As a young woman Rilla had poisoned Can’cia’s male and when that failed to get her to sell the farm for a cheep price she had been forced to kill her daughter in a challenge. That also failed to get the old woman to sell. She had taken her two sons and abused them to the point of making one of them run until he was thrown to the Hungry. Nothing she could do would get the old woman to give her what she wanted. It was a constant thorn in her side to know that she had been beaten at every turn by this woman. Now she had the chance to get rid of her once and for all.
She would simply bet her house against Can’cia’s farm then she would kill the old woman in a fight to acquire the men. This was going to be a good thing all the way around for her. She stopped throwing things and sat down on her front porch smiling while she was making plans.
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Rodney and Ashley finally made it to the city where the main base was located. Now they were going to need to locate the base and get inside somehow. With the primitive nature of the people of this world it was obvious that they were not using any of the advanced technology. What they did have was the codes to get into the rooms although they had no idea how to use the equipment. Rodney had his scanner and he was doing his best to hide it as he was looking for energy signatures. They were expecting to find a building that was guarded by a few tough women but what they found was something that was much more than an old building. Only the main tower of the Cityship was showing above the ground now and steps had been built to go up to the balcony to gain entrance to the city. Rodney was very excited to find this but Ashley wasn’t quite as excited. This meant that any ships that were in the city would not be able to be gotten out. They needed to get into the now underground city somehow.
Ashley started asking questions around the town as to what was in the tall building that was at the center of this village. The women were more than willing to tell her all about the local government. She was told that only a priestess would be allowed into the main Castle and then only if she could prove that she was able to do something spectacular like teaching a man to do tricks like reading and counting. They all laughed but Ashley was forming a plan as she was leaving. This was going to take some considerable acting from Rodney but she was sure he could pull it off. He was going to need to act like one of the uneducated men of the planet.
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After searching four planets they had not been able to locate their missing people at this time. The one thing that they did find though was a strange power source emanating from a moon that was in the last system that they had searched. Sam marked it as something that they should investigate at a later date. Jack knew that she was highly interested in seeing what was causing this much disturbance. The power had a low emanation but they could tell that it was something large. Jack could see that she was itching to get out there and see what it was but she would never go as long as they had missing people to locate. Jack told her that this really did need to be looked into and while they were in the area and she might as well take care of it. He justified it to her by telling her that they would be continuing the search and she could meet up with them at the next stop or the one after that if she needed more time.
Sam didn’t know that he had beamed up her ship and had it in the cargo bay. When she found this out she did something that the crew never would have expected from the Colonel. She gave Jack O’Neill a kiss on the cheek as she gathered Teal’c and ran off to the cargo bay. Once they were onboard she radioed the control deck to let them know that it was safe to beam them out into space. Jack told them to have a good time and as soon as the ship was moving off he set course for the next planet that they needed to search.
Jack had called Colonel Caldwell to get an update on his end of the search pattern. Colonel Caldwell was surprised to get the communications from General O’Neill and even more surprised to find that he was running the other half of the search. Colonel Caldwell was trying to protest him sending Colonel Carter to take over what he thought was his command. Jack ripped into him over the communications link as he watched Colonel Caldwell turn red with anger.
“Colonel Caldwell, you had over three weeks to get something done and you failed because you did not want the leaders of Atlantis found. That was the main reason that I sent in someone that I knew would do the job. Colonel Carter had results in only a few hours of coming to Atlantis. Your actions are not acceptable to me or any of the people that serve under you. If you won’t go the extra step to get someone back in order to gain your own personal goals then we do not need you in any of the Earth services. I will accept your retirement papers as soon as this mission is over. Do I make myself clear Colonel?”
Colonel Caldwell was so mad that he nearly popped a vain. “You can’t do this to me. You sent your girlfriend here to make me look bad and now you’re trying to get rid of me!”
Jack was cold as he looked Steven Caldwell in the eye. Major Samuel Griffin was standing next to Colonel Caldwell in the command center of the Daedalus and that was who General O’Neill addressed. Major Griffin you are to take Mr. Caldwell to the brig immediately and confine him there until I relieve you of your prisoner back at Atlantis. You are now in command of the Daedalus and you are to continue the search for the missing crew of Atlantis until they are found or you are called back to base. Do you understand my direct orders Major?”
Major Griffin saluted the General then answered. “Yes Sir, your orders are understood and will be followed to the letter Sir.”
Jack watched as security came in and took Colonel Caldwell out of the room then he shut off the communications. Colonel Caldwell had no need to say anything like that and the relationship between him and Samantha Carter was above board and approved by the Joint Chiefs. It was one of the conditions of him taking the position and they agreed that they could conduct themselves professionally although she would need to have her evaluations done by someone else, it had been approved. The Colonel had stepped way out of bounds with his insubordination this time and he was going to have to pay for his actions. Jack had been very serious about him handing in his retirement papers when they got back or he would bust him so far down the chain of command that he would wish for the rest of his life that he had.
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Sam approached the moon with caution as it was an unknown. She had her shields up and weapons ready when she approached the location of the energy source. As they got closer things started to become visible on the dark side of the moon where only the lights of the ship let any light into the area. There wasn’t much for them to see other than dust. There was atmosphere on the moon but it was thin and very cold on the surface. The trail leading to the energy that was getting a little stronger brought them to a cliff face which had a door that was large enough to take a ship that was much bigger that the little saucer that the were presently in. Once they were inside, the door behind them closed and the lights came on. This was an airlock, although on a grand scale. Sam checked the atmosphere inside the chamber and it was quickly changing to one that would comfortably sustain human life. Once equilibrium was reached the other door opened into a building that was so large that it was hard to imagine. This was a shipyard. There were several spaceships in various stages of completion throughout the building.
This was a dream come true for Sam. She had known that they had to have someplace that the Ancients used to construct their spaceships in and she had found it. With just the ships that they had in the building now they could make some of the modifications to them that they had done to her little ship and the Alkesh to make an even better, more powerful ship than even the Ancients had. This was going to take some closer investigation but she was torn between reporting this to Jack and looking around the building. She finally convinced herself that if she was going to give a report of this magnitude then she was going to need to have more information than she already had. She made another check on the atmosphere one more time then she gathered her weapons and opened the door.
Teal’c was the first to step out into the unknown area which was the way he wanted it. He was very protective of the people that he cared about and Sam was very important to him as a friend. He would always protect her as if she were his own child. He surveyed the area carefully looking for any kind of danger before he moved out of the way so that she could come out of the ship. Sam was impatient to get out of the ship so that she could see the technology that was waiting on her inspection but she knew that she would not be going anywhere until Teal’c felt it was safe.
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Ashley was leading Rodney who was in his dirty homespun clothing and barefoot by a rope that was tied around his neck into conning tower of the Cityship. This was where the leaders of his community were holding office. They were stopped at the doors and asked what business they had with the Governess of the province. Ashley took on an air of disgust that she had been stopped by a guard when she was on her way to see the Governess.
“I am a priestess and I have come to show the Governess what I have been able to teach this man to do.”
“And just what is so impressive about teaching a man to do tricks?”
“I have been able to teach him to do simple math and count to fifty on his own. He can ever read some basic words.”
The guard was shocked that anyone would be teaching a man to do anything like this. “You know that it is illegal to teach a man to do these things. The only thing a man is good for is work and to keep you warm at night.”
Rodney was getting angry with the way the women of this world were treating the men and he really wanted to say something but he knew better. He was being forced to look and act like he was not educated at all in order to get into the Cityship. The guard let them pass so that the priestess could show the Governess the tricks that she had been able to teach this male.
When they got inside the tower they were ushered to the Governess of the province who was in her office. Rodney was still being led by the rope and he was looking wide eyed at all the technology that was around him as a person who had never seen anything like this should. The rooms all had candles lighting the dark areas of the control tower.
When Ashley and Rodney come into the control room though the lights started coming on all around them as the City recognized someone with the Ancient gene. They had planed on this and when the lights come on Rodney screamed and ran off down the hallway like he was being chased by a ghost. The rope that he had been wearing around his neck came loose as he ran off and Ashley apologized to the Governess for his actions telling her that he was always frightened of anything like that. She grabbed a candle and asked permission to go find him. The governess was smiling as she gave permission to go find her lost male. It wasn’t often that a priestess was not able to control such an obviously unintelligent man. Ashley had the good grace to look embarrassed as she gather gathered her rope. She took out a whip from her backpack and got a very serous look as she left to find Rodney. The Governess was impressed that she was going to discipline the man right away. She would have thought that as a priestess she would want to bring the man back to be publicly beaten. It really didn’t concern her though so she just let it go.
Rodney was quick to make his way down to the control chair and the armory. They were going to need to take out the people that were left on the ship without harming them if at all possible. The armory was still locked and it looked like this part of the ship hadn’t been used for centuries. When Rodney got into the control room where the chair was located he started checking systems out. He had gathered several weapons that he and Ashley could use which had stun capacity. It was a shame that they couldn’t just get a Puddle Jumper out of the bay and use that to get John and Carson out of their problem and everybody home again. As it was he needed to confirm that the Cityship could take the pressure of trying to lift off with all this dirt on top of it. They knew that the dirt would mostly fall off once they got off the ground and into the atmosphere. They were thinking before they got into the City that they could drop the shield and just fly around until the dirt fell off if they could get it off the ground.
Ashley finally got to the secondary control room where he was and she started some checks of her own. To their surprise the ZPM’s were all three at maximum charge. Ashley was thinking that when the shields kicked in they would cut the dirt all around the city letting it loose. The village that was above them would be evacuated quickly as well as the people in the Cityship thinking that they were having an Earthquake, or in this case a tectonic plate shift. That should get them all to run away from the area. They were going to need to lift the Cityship off very slowly anyway so that the weight of the dirt didn’t rip some of the buildings and other parts of the ship away. Ashley was thinking that if this failed then at least they could get the Puddle Jumper out that is if they survived the crash back to the planet.
Ashley was sitting in the control chair and engaged the shields. That did as they hoped that it would and cut through the dry dusty soil before she shut the shield off again.
When the people of the village saw the shields come on they knew that it was time to leave in a big hurry. The guards that were stationed outside of the offices of the Governess ran inside to tell the Governess that something was happening. At that time the ground started to shake and move. The building started to violently shake for a few seconds and the room seemed to lift and heave up slightly. Everyone ran from the building and kept on running. There was a line that was cut in the dirt that was a long way from the tower but they were running for all they had. The ground shook several more times as they were running causing them to loose their footing but they were quick to get up and run on. They stopped to help some of those that needed assistance. One woman was trying to get three children out of the city so the Governess herself picked up one of the children and carried her to safety. With another shake of the ground they watched as the top of another building started to appear out of the ground.
For those that had horses or could get hold of a horse the Governess was sending them back in to gather as many people as they could to get them out of the area. The evacuation of the area went quickly after that with those that couldn’t move very fast being helped along. People were told to leave everything that was not alive and if it was an animal that couldn’t be rode out of the city to leave it. As it was there weren’t very many animals that wanted to stay around either. They were running for their own safety without being told to do so. When the Governess got to a safe area she moved everybody to a safe distance from the cut in the ground. She watched as the buildings that they had never seen before were raising several feet at a time with each heave of the city.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
It was time for Ronon to do his part in the fight. He knew that this was going to be dangerous but that was what he did best. He was a fighter and once he had lost his wife and their unborn child to the Wraith attack he only had one thing left that was keeping him alive. That was to kill as many Wraith as possible. He blamed them for his wife’s death and he knew that he was right. He had begged her to leave with the others so that she would be safe but she insisted on staying and helping in the hospital. Now it was time to kill again so that he could get back out into space and find the ones that he really wanted to fight. These people were just in the way and that was a bad thing for them.
Can’cia had come into town the day before to make her wager which was everything that she had. She knew that if they failed then she would be dead anyway so it really didn’t matter. When Rilla saw what she had done she put all of her property up as a counter wager. Rilla had a lot more property than Can’cia could even think about but she had to make an impression with her people. Rilla had bet everything that her three women could beat this one man. Rilla was in her finest Leather armor so that she could fight personally for the men that she wanted. She was going to fight for the one they had referred to as John while she would have a couple of her women fighting for the other one called Carson. Rilla was thinking that the man that Can’cia had was injured anyway because she had gotten the medicine for him. With the kinds of injuries that would require that kind of medicine he couldn’t be healed all the way. Rilla couldn’t figure out why Can’cia would throw her farm away like this but she was getting old and maybe she was thinking that this was a way to go out with a bang.
Can’cia was staying out in the open as they all walked back into town. They had a rope around Ronon’s neck as he walked in bare feet with his head down behind the others. He was walking with a limp to show that he was injured and they had smeared him with mud which was dried and flaking off now like he had been forced to sleep outside. That would be what a man like this and of low in rank would be forced to do. When Rilla saw them coming into town she was pleased to see that she was correct in the fact that the man was injured and not well kept. He would be weak from his injuries and bad treatment and this pleased her to no end. The others in town had seen the same thing and started to make their wagers as well in favor of the three women. The odds were going up in Can’cia’s favor now; it was at five to one odds against the man being able to survive more than a few minuets in the ring against Rilla’s best fighters.
Rilla as well as the others of the town also saw that the women that were with Can’cia were strong and moved with a lethal grace that they had not walked with before. The man that was being pulled by the rope was the largest man that they had ever seen though and even if he was injured it could be an interesting fight. With Rilla fighting these women the arena was sure to be packed with spectators. Rilla was charging admission to this fight but that didn’t seem to bother anybody, they all wanted to see what was going to happen in this fight. It was also a strong bet that Rilla would personally kill Can’cia. It was a sure that that when Rilla’s fighters had defeated the other woman they were to hold the old woman for Rilla to do with as she pleased.
Ronon was led to a large arena where he was going to fight his part of the battle. This was a gladiator type of fighting where every body was there to watch the blood and cheer on their favorite fighter. Once the stands were filled and everyone was ready Can’cia brought Ronon to the center of the dirt floor inside of the arena. She took the rope off his neck and looked him strait in the eye which was something that she had not done with any man other than the father of her children.
“Be careful Ronon, these women are out for your blood but they will want to make an example out of you to show how strong they are. They fight well as a team and a fight with them usually is finished in only a few minuets but they will want to humiliate you in front of everybody here.”
Ronon just nodded his understanding as she handed him his sword and knife. He tucked the knife in the small of his back and strapped the sword across his back so that he could draw it over his right shoulder like he always did. He straitened up to his full height then took an easy comfortable stance while waiting for the three ladies that were coming in to play. This was something that the crowd had never seen before. Usually if a man was in this situation then he knew that he was about to die. They nearly all would be crying and begging for their life rather than just standing there. When the women that were to fight with the man came into the arena crowd went wild. Again the man just stood there waiting like this was nothing to him.
The women moved around him in a circle threatening him but he didn’t move. This confused them and made them wonder what was going on. Did this man have a death wish or what? One of the women decided that she had played with him long enough and made a move to take him out from the back right. The man moved so fast that most of the people in the audience missed the blur of motion. What they couldn’t miss was the fact that the woman who tried to stab him in the back was now laying unconscious in the dirt. He had hit her with her own sword, which was now in his left hand. He moved a little to the right as he slowly drew his other sword. Now the women had to realize that this was a dangerous man. Ronon was now moving with a lethal grace that the women had never seen before in a man. He moved like a warrior, with confidence and grace that no man should have and the speed and skill at which he dispatched their friend. It was time to get serious about this fight.
Rilla was wide eyed at the sight of how easily this man had taken out one of her best fighters. This was no ordinary man. Rilla had no idea where Can’cia had found him but the odds were now stacked against her fighters and she could end up loosing everything to the old woman that he given her so much grief over the years. There was no going back now though, her hand was played.
It was now time for Ronon to go on the attack and to get this over with. He moved in with a set of movements that quickly beat down the opponent on his left but he did not kill her. He used the flat side of his blade and gave her a good lump on the back of her head though and she would not be fighting any more tonight. That left only one of the ladies to play with. She had just seen this man of all things, take out two of her friends and now he was coming for her. She took a stance ready to fight and do her job. She wasn’t a coward but she didn’t really want to die either. She was watching as he was moving toward her when suddenly everything went black for her. Rilla could not believe that one of her best fighters had just fainted. That was the end of the fight and Rilla. She had just lost everything that she ever had to Can’cia.
The old woman had come out into the ring where the man bowed to her as he gave her all of his weapons. Can’cia tied the rope around his neck again and proudly walked him out of the ring. Rilla was now seeing red. She had been setup so easily and she had no idea that Can’cia was so capable. She would now take care of that problem by simply killing her in the next match for the men. That way everything would go back to the way it was before and she would still have Can’cia’s farm for herself. As it was, Can’cia was now the richest woman in several provinces.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Sam was looking everything over with a fine-toothed comb as she wandered through the shipyard. She was making inventory as to how many ships were in the area and how far along they were in production. There were three that were nearly finished but they would need to add the modification to them in order to bring them up to the new standard. To her surprise a lot of the machinery was automated, with a push of a button she watched as a machine started making welds on the hull of a ship.
Teal’c could tell when Sam came up with an idea like everybody else that had ever been around her before. If she wanted to learn about these ships the best way to do that was to build one of her own. She went back to the control room where she had been looking the controls over before and started bringing up designs and making modifications. It took her a while to figure out what things did but she was able to scan her little ship for the drive specifications and weapons. She made some other modifications and the computer did some modifications of its own.
Some of the components that Earth was using were very outdated by the standards of the computer and it modified them to make them much more efficient. When she was finished designing the ship that she wanted to make it was something out of her imagination but there it was being built before her eyes. She sat back in the chair and admired her work but it had been an exhausting day trying to figure out how things worked and she fell asleep. Teal’c carried her over to a nearby couch and laid her down covering her with a blanket that they had on their ship. He went back over to the window and watched as the ship was being made. This ship was far superior to anything old or new. With combining all three technologies and using a small version of the ZPM to power the ship it would have unbelievable power to do whatever they wanted it to do. This was going to be a monumental find for not only the Pegasus Galaxy but for their own Galaxy as well.
Once Sam had finished designing her ship she had directed the computers to make modifications to the ships that were nearly finished but it was going to take a while for that to happen. It was a lot easer to build a small ship from the ground up rather than to take one apart and redesign it for the modifications. She was glad that it was all being done automatically now as she was sleeping comfortably. Teal’c soon sat down in to a comfortable position so that he could meditate and regain some of his strength as well as rest up.
When Sam finally woke up her ship was nearly finished. Teal’c was in the room with her and he opened his eyes when she started to move around. He gave a small smile and nodded his head to her as she got up and checked on the progress of all the projects that were going on around them. They decided that they would each take one of the ships with Sam taking her new toy of course. Teal’c was pleased to see the happy smile on her face as she looked at the ship.
“This is a fine ship Samantha, what are you going to name this vestal?” Sam was very happy that he had chosen to use her name, which was a rarity and only in private.
Thank you Teal’c, I haven’t really though of a name for it yet. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I would name it after its designer myself.”
She was a little embarrassed but she did like the idea. She walked over to the computer and typed in a command. As the last step of the building process the name was painted on the hull. This was the ‘USS Samantha Carter’.
“We will need to secure this facility then make our way back to the others so that we can continue the search.”
Sam went to another console and put in a command to lock down the building, which could only be unlocked by the ship she would be in or the outside console. That console was in the small airlock that they had arrived in. Teal’c took off first with Sam following close by. It was going to be a race now to see who could get to the Alkesh first.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
It was now time for the main event, the challenge. Rilla was going to have both challenges done at the same time. Again the bets were going heavy in the favor of Rilla to take everything. She would destroy the challengers for the man called John then she would challenge the winner of the other man. That should be her fighters so they would concede giving her both men. If the others won their fight then she would kill them and take the man for herself. In one way she was hoping that Can’cia would win in that battle so that she could fight her instead of just killing her outright while her fighters were holding her. Now that Rilla had lost everything she had she was not taking any chances. She told her fighters to not take any chances and to kill at the first opportunity that presented itself. She was planning to make short work of these two women then it would be four on two. The sun was starting to go down so there was only about an hour of light lift in the outdoor arena. If things went on longer than that it would be by torchlight.
Ronon was standing comfortably at the side of the arena still tethered by the rope to a post that was set there for just this reason. What the women in the arena didn’t know was that the rope would come off with a light tug if needed. When he saw the two women coming in from slightly behind him he was careful not to tense up and give it away that he knew that they were about to attack. They were both holding knives that were concealed so that they were not easy to see by the people in the crowd. Ronon knew that as soon as the crowd was focused on the fight then they would attack. With him just winning the fight the crowd would not want to see him hurt so that they could watch him fight again. He was a good fighter that was well controlled by Can’cia but his life was forfeited when he caused Rilla to loose everything. The post that he was tied to was near the stands, which gave him an idea. He stepped back gently getting close to the two women. He used his elbow on the chin of the closest woman and palmed the chin of the other woman so quickly that nobody was able to see what he had done.
He reached into the stands carefully gathering a jug of wine that was at the feet of a couple of the women there. He placed the two that he had taken out against the wall and put the wine next to them after spilling some on them. Then he stood up like nothing had happened so that he could see the fight.
John and Carson were sick with dread thinking that the people that they cared about so much were about to get into a very serous situation. Both men thought that it would have been better if they had just left them there to live out their lives in servitude. It would be better then being forced to see any of the women hurt or killed in front of them. As it was they were chained to the wall so that they could be on display and couldn’t go anywhere. Carson wanted to look away but John caught his attention.
“Carson you need to give them your full attention. They are doing this for us and they deserve to know that we trust them and they deserve us to honor their decision for what they are doing. We would have done the same thing for any of them a dozen times over if that was what it would take to keep them safe and bring them back home. So as hard as it is to do, hold your head up and watch as they do this.”
They watched as Elizabeth Wear and Laura Cadman walked into the arena followed by their seconds Can’cia and Tayla. The sight was one that the men would never forget as the women were in fine leather outfits that hugged their figures perfectly making them the most dangerous and sexy women that they had ever seen. The leather skirt let them move freely and the top was low cut and soft but they were also wearing hard leather bracers and shoulder pads to help protect them. All three of the women that knew the men saw the reaction to them and were pleased. They drew their swords and got ready to fight as Rilla and her women came into the arena.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Ashley was in the chair as Rodney was telling her what the stresses were on the city. To their great relief the shields were supplying some structural support for all the dirt that was weighing the city down. Ashley knew that they need to get the weight off or it was going to tear the city apart. Some of it shifted off as they inched their way slowly up out of the ground. It took a lot longer to get the city up out of the ground than they would have thought. They finally made it out and it also gave the people of the city that was sitting on top of this one time to get out. Once they were at a safe distance from the ground Ashley told Rodney to hold on. She had never though about this before but it just came to her. She already had the stabilizers engaged so it was not that big of a deal to turn the city from side to side shaking off most of the dirt. As the city got lighter she lowered the shields dropping the dirt back into the hole that it had come out of. She then set a course back to the area where they had left the others. The wind blew the most of the dirt off as they went but not all of it. Rodney grabbed a weapon and told Ashley that he was going to make contact with Atlantis to let them know where they were. He also told her to be sure to lock the door behind him.
Rodney had checked before leaving to make sure that nobody was left in the control room but the weapon was to make sure nothing popped out. He was making his way quickly but carefully as he went. He had lost about twenty pounds in the last month with the lean diet and all the exercise and he was feeling good now as he made his way to get help. He felt sad that they had been forced to leave their horses behind when they went into the city but there was no way they could take. He quickly dialed Atlantis and used his radio to call through.
Radik Zelinka was in the control room of Atlantis when Rodney’s message came through. It was radio only but both men were excited to hear the voice of the other. Rodney was nearly babbling as he was telling them about what was going on then he caught himself as he realized that they were under a tight time line. John and Carson could be in trouble as they spoke. Not to mention that Elizabeth, Laura and Tayla could be in a life or death battle if they didn’t get there in time to stop this. Ashley was going to need to stay with the city but Radik was able to get the location of the planet where they were located from the transmission and relayed it to all the other ships. Rodney went to the Jumper bay and got ready to do what he needed to do. The city wouldn’t be able to land on solid ground again at least not with either one of them at the controls. He could take a Jumper and do what he could to get the others home again. He used the ships intercom to let Ashley know what he was doing then left.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Jack, Major Griffin, Teal’c and Sam all got the message at the same time and all the information as to what was going on and where the other were. Sam had the fastest ship and she was the first to make it to the planet. She was fired on as soon as she came out of hyperspace by the large plasma weapon on the planet. She wasn’t exactly flying an Ancient ship although it was mostly that way. The computer that was controlling the firing of the weapon did not recognize the ship so it fired like it was supposed to. Sam needed to neutralize this weapon before it did damage to the other ships. The computer onboard was not able to get the weapon to stop firing like she thought it should have. The only thing left to do was to take the weapon out. The shield on this ship was built differently than most of the other shields were. Sam came up with the idea and most of the method of how to do it and the computer was able to finish the design on this ship. The shield would take the power of the energy that was being fired at it no matter what kind of energy it was and convert it into power to reinforce the shield itself. In other words the plasma weapon that was shooting at her ship only made the shields stronger not weaker. It would not only energize the shields but it also enhanced the weapons making them stronger at the same time. She rode the beam in as it was constantly firing at her now and it only took one shot to take the cannon out.
It was an odd feeling for her as she was pushing through the energy because of the configuration of the ship. She was sitting in the nose of the ship but all around her was a clear bubble with only a metal floor where the captions chair and copilots seat were located. The ships controls were all in the handles of the steering controls, which came up out of the floor. The displays were all heads up and holographic so they didn’t get in the way of seeing what was in front of her. She pulled up from the dive close to the ground and let out a whoop as the thrill hit her of making a dive like this. She had always loved to do that with a jet and this was much faster than any jet she had ever been in and much easer to control as well. She adjusted her heading to the signal of the Cityship and called letting them know that she would be there in a few minuets. The other ships were close by at that time and let her know that they would also be arriving at close to the same time now.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Elizabeth and Rilla were about to begin as Tayla was hanging back waiting for the Rilla’s second to come into play so that she could guard Elizabeth’s back. This was the job of the second. On the other side of the arena Laura was getting ready to take on her opponent also when the sky suddenly got dark. The sun was being blocked by something that was so large that the sky was completely blocked out making the arena as dark as night. Rilla took advantage of this and attacked Elizabeth as the torches were being lit. Most of the people were looking up at the sky wondering what was going on but Elizabeth and Laura both knew that in a situation like this it would be a deadly mistake to take your eyes off your opponent. Thanks to that bit of wisdom from both Can’cia and Ronon both women would live to see another day. The women defended themselves well and beat back the attack. Dust was falling down on everybody in the arena now from the large object that was floating about them. It was hard to see in the dim light but the battle went on as if it was supposed to be this way.
Then something else happened that shocked the crowd. A metal ship came floating down to the center of the arena and the back end opened to let out a rather ragged looking man in slaves clothing carrying a weapon. All the women of Atlantis were happy to see Rodney McKay but the women that were seconding Rilla and her companion made advances on the male for daring to carry a weapon.
Rodney looked at them giving them his ‘I can’t believe you are doing this’ look. He held up the weapon. “Lady’s please.” He shook his head and simply shot both of them with the stun setting on the rifle. He made a show of blowing on the barrel of the weapon and smiled at the women of Atlantis.
Then another ship came into the arena that none of them had ever seen before. It was difficult to see inside the clear bubble that was on the front of the ship but the voice that boomed out over the crowd was definitely that of Colonel Samantha Carter. She was telling John Sheppard and Carson Becket to stand very still. With the weapons on this ship she could do micro surgery if she needed to but right now all she needed to do was to cut the locks off the metal collars that were holding the men in position. With two quick shots she had cut the locks off and beamed the man onboard her ship. She was about to beam the other up when Elizabeth told her to stop.
The speaker system was so acute on this ship that she had no problem hearing the request and simply turned on the lights under the ship which lit the arena as if it was daylight again. Ronon pulled off the rope that was around his neck to walk over by Can’cia. He spoke quietly to the old woman who he had grown fond of over the time he had spent with her.
“You don’t really need to do this you know. She is finished and you now own everything that she ever had. You can walk away and there is nothing she can do about it.”
“No son, I do need to do this, she is the epiphany of evil and even though I cared about her mother as a friend a long time ago; this one must not be allowed to continue. She will do nothing but bring misery to all those around her. It needs to end now.”
I might have shocked the crowd but he didn’t care. He bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Fight well little mother, I will be watching.”
Sam beamed Rodney up to her ship as she gave the command to the Jumper to close the rear hatch. Rodney watched as the door on his ship closed and it rose into the air to add even more light to the arena. Rodney came to the front of the ship to stand behind John Sheppard who was sitting in the copilot’s seat watching what was happening on the ground.
“How are you controlling the Puddle Jumper from here?”
“New toy’s Rodney, now sit down and be quiet so we can see what’s gong on.”
John had given her a brief rundown on what was happening and why so she could understand. They all watched as Ronon gave the older woman a kiss on the cheek and she blushed but patted him on the cheek letting him know that she cared. The other woman in the shiny black leather was so mad now that she was about to loose all control. It was hard for Sam to accept that this woman would want to do harm to the old woman but that was what she was going to do. She went on the attack as soon as she was able to get close enough. Can’cia was spry for her age and limber as well. It wasn’t even noticed when Jack and several other guards beamed down to stand beside Elizabeth and the others. It wasn’t all that dangerous now, they were armed and could be beamed out at a moments notice but Elizabeth told them to wait. They all needed to stay to see this to the end.
Rilla was trying every trick clean or dirty to kill Can’cia but she couldn’t get close enough to make a clean cut. Both of the women were bleeding from multiple cuts but none were life threatening. Rilla knew that she was not making any headway this way so she decided to change tactics a little. She maneuvered herself into a position to where she had her back to the people that Can’cia cared about. Then she backed herself up to where she was able to turn and strike at the people. She was going to take out Can’cia’s man that had cost her everything. Rilla turned and thrust her blade at the man with the long tangled hair though several things happened at the same time. The man just vanished but the man next to him took her sword arm and brought it around over his head as he turned and twisted it at the same time. Rilla’s arm broke as she was flying through the air but the woman called Elizabeth had also thrust her sword deep into her hart before she even left the ground as she was being thrown. Elizabeth let go of the sword so that she did not interfere with the throw and Rilla landed on the ground hard. She gasp once then died in the arena where she had ruled over life and death for so long. It was over.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
They all said their goodbyes and went to their separate ships. Colonel Sheppard was going to fly the Cityship back to land it next to Atlantis. Teal’c’s ship had been beamed onboard the Alkesh for the trip back to Atlantis. He was piloting the Alkesh back to Atlantis while Jack was going to go with Sam back to the moon where they had made the ship she was now flying.
Sam was happily babbling on about all the things her ship was capable of doing. She had been thinking of making other modifications to the next model which she wanted to make when they got back to the Moonbase. She was telling him that they needed to name the base soon and bring in enough people to study the technology and fully man the base so that it could be put back into full production again. Jack was just setting back enjoying listening to her talk.
Rodney asked the Daedalus to make a sweep of the area where they had gotten the Cityship from. It took them a while but he finally located the horses that they had used to get to the city with. He had all four of them beamed onboard the Daedalus for the trip back to Atlantis. He would have a barn built on the mainland and an area fenced in so that they could keep the horses there. He had plans to modify one of the transporters so that instead of taking him to another part of the city it would take him to his barn. He knew that Ashley would like that as well.
When they all got back to Atlantis and things were getting back to normal again Tayla came by Elizabeth’s office and invited her down to the gym. They had only been back a couple of days and John Sheppard had been busy at the Moonbase helping to set things up there. Colonel Carter was officially in charge of the Moonbase now and she still hadn’t thought of a proper name for it but it would come with time.
Tayla was just hanging around now and Elizabeth could tell she had something on her mind.
“What’s on your mind Tayla?”
“I was thinking that since you won the fight for John Sheppard that you were entitled to him, right?”
“Well, technically speaking I guess you could say that but he is a free man and he can do whatever he wants.”
“In that case then since you are the owner of John Sheppard then it is up to me to challenge you for him.”
Both women were still wearing their leather outfits which they had learned to enjoy the feeling of the clothing so they had cleaned them and put them back on. Jack O’Neill was due to leave to go back to Earth in a few hours and he stopped by to see how things were going at Atlantis. He was told that Elizabeth Wear was down in the Gym and opened the door to see two very serous women with practice swords in their very sexy leather outfits squaring off to do battle. He was smiling and wished that he had brought some popcorn. This was going to be quite a show.
End.
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Fortune\'s Favor by Offworlder FAM
Winner of the Atlantis challenge for the December 2007 fic challenge contest.
Winner of the Atlantis challenge for the December 2007 fic challenge contest.
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