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The Siege Pt. 1
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Kai was in the jumper bay, running a last check on the jumper McKay was taking out to the Ancient satellite. It was almost a fifteen hour flight each way and a lot of things could go wrong out there. Miller was a good pilot, but he wasn't as experienced as she would like for a mission like this, but it wasn't her call to make.
"Zian," Kai looked up in surprise as Major Sheppard strode up the ramp.
"Major," she greeted with a nod.
"How's everything looking?" He asked, running his eyes over the read out on the HUD.
"Ready to launch," she said,
closing the display and disengaging from the controls. She swung the chair around and stood, moving to the rear control panel. She unplugged her tablet and was on her tip toes trying to reach it to close.
The Major suppressed his snort and easily closed the panel. "So once they're outta here, what does Zelenka have you running off to next?"
Kai hesitated and turned back to The Major. "Nothing," she said. "He's working on the self destruct program. Not really my area."
"Well," Sheppard said shifting his weight uncomfortably. "My team is heading off-world to take a look at a potential Alpha site."
"A new Alpha site?" Kai asked in confusion, the last she had heard during the briefing the alpha site had already been secured.
Sheppard let out an exhausted sigh. "The old one was tagged by the Wraith."
Kai wrinkled her nose and went back to packing up her equipment.
"Anyway, with McKay going on this mission we're short a science team member, if you're interested..." he dragged off uncomfortably. "Otherwise I can always ask Kavanagh," he added quickly with a wry grin.
Kai chuckled, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "Well, I'd hate to subject you to that," she agreed and the two of them stepped out of the Jumper together.
"Well," Rodney said briskly as they appeared. "Everything ready?"
Kai nodded. "She's all set," she promised.
Grodin and Miller passed them, carrying large supply containers aboard before they settled into their seats. McKay hesitated, looking at the jumper and fidgeting with his hands.
"Well, don't wait up," McKay said briskly as he turned back to The Major.
"Good luck Rodney," John said grimly as he held his hand out to him.
McKay shook it. "It'll be a walk in the park," he said puffing himself up arrogantly. Then he turned and boarded the Jumper.
Kai and Sheppard stood and watched at the roof door opened and the jumper lifted away and out of sight. She could practically feel the tension rolling off The Major. McKay wasn't just his team mate, he was his friend. She could imagine The Major wasn't too happy sending his friend to the other side of the solar system without him.
She turned to him, and opened her mouth to say something reassuring when the familiar hard nudge in the back of her mind distracted her. She frowned for a moment, and glanced at the Major out of the corner of her eye. Was it something he was doing? She shook the thought away. Whatever was happening it had something to do with her and being in the city of the ancestors.
"Miller's a good pilot," Kai said conversationally, trying to cover up her own discomfort.
Miller was one of the pilots she had been training. He was the most experienced after her and the Major.
"What?" John asked turning back to her. Then he realized how worried he must have seemed and he quickly schooled his expression. "Right," he agreed. "Course he is."
Kai followed the Major down to the locker room to gear up. Teyla and Ford were already down there. It was Teyla's first mission back on active duty and the Athosian seemed eager to get back to work. Kai didn't blame her. She knew from experience how hard it could be being cooped up in the infirmary.
The four of them stepped through the Stargate together. Ford and Sheppard set up a flanking position as they began a sweep of the area around the gate.
"All right, I want to secure a ten klick radius out from the gate. Should take a few hours, stay in radio contact. Last one back is a rotten egg."
Teyla and Kai exchanged confused glances and John let out a sigh. "Never mind," he huffed. "Ford, you're with me."
"Are you challenging us to a speed contest?" Kai asked a glimmer of challenge shining in her eyes.
John frowned at her and she actually smirked at him. "I would have thought you had learned your lesson Major," she teased.
He snorted and shook his head. "Let's move out," he called then he turned back. It was rare of Kai to open up so much in front of others, he didn't want to discourage her. "Last one back has to escort Kavanagh's team next time they go off-world."
Teyla and Kai exchanged a pleased smile and the two took off into the underbrush. They started with a traditional sweep pattern and worked their way out from there.
They had only been in the planet a couple hours when Kai heard something like thunder. She frowned and looked up, but the sky was blue and the sun was still shining. She froze, straining her senses to see if the noise would come again.
"Kai?" Teyla asked cautiously as she noted the Mortii's distraction. Teyla had been around Kai enough to learn to depend on her heightened senses. "What is the matter?"
"I hear..." Kai started to say and then her eyes widened. "Run!" she yelled without ever seeing it. She locked her hand around Teyla's upper arm and the two women bolted back towards the gate. The trees behind them crashed and cracked as something massive gave chase. Every footstep it made sounded like thunder and Kai could feel it in her bones.
"MAJOR!" Teyla yelled into the comm. "Evac. Now!"
They sprinted towards the gate. Ford and Sheppard had beaten them back and were in formation to cover them. Kai didn't look back, she ran straight for the gate. She saw the moment it came into sight behind her. Sheppard's eyes widened for less than half a second before he started shooting.
"Ford! Dial the gate!" he yelled.
Teyla fired a spray from her P-90 over her shoulder, but nothing seemed to deter the creature. Kai risked a glance and cursed. She had never seen a reptile that large in person, only heard legends of them.
"Let's move!" Sheppard yelled as Ford disappeared through the horizon. Teyla went next and Sheppard stayed in position until Kai sprinted past him. Once they were through the three of them laid down cover fire as Major Sheppard ran across the event horizon.
"Activate the shield!" Sheppard yelled as soon as they were clear.
The shield shimmered into place and then flashed as something crashed into it on the other side. Ford leaned forward gasping for breath.
"Everyone okay?" Sheppard asked looking over his team.
"Yes Major," Teyla agreed.
He nodded briskly and turned around just as Sergeant Bates ran up the stairs. "I told you she was a liability, sir!" Bates exclaimed, shoving his finger into Sheppard's chest. "Now, I'm not going to let your personal feelings endanger this facility any longer."
Kai was fairly certain it was Teyla and not her Bates had a problem with this time, but she scowled nonetheless. Teyla had done nothing but sacrifice for Atlantis again and again. It was maddening Bates could not see past his own prejudices to the truth.
"What?" Teyla asked stomping forward.
"Look, I'm not accusing you of doing it intentionally, but the Wraith must be getting information from you."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sheppard growled dangerously. "We ran into a...what the hell was that?"
"It may have been an imbatu," Kai said in disbelief.
Everyone glanced towards her and she realized her words meant nothing to them. It must have been what the Major felt like when he so often made references she failed to understand.
"It looked an awful lot like a T-Rex, sir," Ford said immediately stepping forward to diffuse the tension.
"Yeah, an im...im..." the Major tried and gave up. "A T-Rex. Wasn't even a Wraith. So why don't you check those accusations," Sheppard said taking an aggressive step towards Bates.
Weir cleared her throat stepping forward between the two officers. "I take it you don't recommend that planet as an Alpha site?" She asked turning her focus on Major Sheppard.
John shook his head, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "It wouldn't be my first choice. If McKay doesn't get the satelite on-line we're screwed."
"Kai," Weir said turning to her. "You are familiar with many systems in this galaxy, would you be willing to help in the search?"
Kai nodded. "Of course Doctor Weir," she agreed.
Bates turned and left. Sheppard and Weir were too distracted to notice Teyla slip away to follow him.
"Can you think of any uninhabited planet that might be suitable?" Weir asked.
Kai shook her head. "Honesty I did not have much cause to visit uninhabited planets. Not to mention, when we were sent off-world an Instrument was never allowed to know or dial the gate address. We were only permitted the address to gate home."
John stared at Kai. Every extra piece of her past made him more and more angry over what had been done to her. She had been little more than a slave to those people. They wouldn't even allow their people to know the addresses of other planets as a way to control them.
Weir opened her mouth to say something but Kai went rigid. "Major-" she said and she turned towards the hallway Bates and Teyla had disappeared down. She hurried towards the sound of raising voices.
"Perhaps you are not aware, Sergeant but being accused of serving the Wraith is the greatest insult among my people!" Teyla growled, her voice rising with her temper.
"Oh, I'm aware," Bates yelled back.
Kai turned down the hall just as she heard the slap of flesh. As they came around the corner Bates was just recovering as Teyla pulled back to hit him again.
"What the hell's going on?" John exclaimed. Ford ran past him to restrain Bates as Kai grabbed Teyla's arms, locking them behind her back in a hold.
"I was simply stating an opinion!" Teyla yelled fighting against Kai's grip.
John put himself between the two raging people. He couldn't believe they were doing this right now. The Wraith were coming, they didn't have time for this shit.
"She attacked me!" Bates growled, shoving against Ford in his effort to get at Teyla.
"For good reason!" Teyla exclaimed dragging Kai forward several inches.
Kai tightened her grip on Teyla's wrists, pushing them up into her shoulders. She didn't want to hurt her friend, but Teyla was several inches taller than her and stronger.
John turned on her, his eyes blazing as they finally hit his very last nerve. "Yeah and what reason is that?"
"My guess would be the Wraith!" Bates yelled slamming against Ford.
Sheppard whirled back on him. "Walk away Bates," he warned dangerously. Teyla tried to wrench herself free but Kai's hold was impossible to break and the harder she pulled the more painful it became on her shoulders. She fought, dragging Kai forward another inch and her shoulder slammed into The Major's.
"Sir!"
"WALK AWAY!" Major Sheppard's bellow echoed through the narrow hallway.
Bates pulled back from Ford, his hands coming down to his sides as he disengaged. His face changed into a snarl. "This isn't over!" he said pointing his finger towards Teyla.
"I would be disappointed if it were!" Teyla growled back, but she had relaxed in Kai's arms and Kai slowly let her go as Bates disappeared down the hall.
John whirled back to Teyla. "What the hell are you doing?" He yelled. "You don't go around decking the head of security!"
Teyla actually flinched as John yelled at her. Kai had never heard him raise his voice outside of a combat situation.
"He said-" Teyla started to defend.
"I don't care what he said!" John yelled and his voice lowered. "He says a lot of things. You just stay away from him." he warned.
Teyla's jaw was clenched as she nodded once and stormed away down the other hall.
Kai let out a breath as Sheppard and Ford exchange wary glances. "Good ears Zian," Sheppard told her.
Kai nodded. "It was hard to miss."
He snorted, with his anger completely drained away John just looked exhausted. "Come on guys, we got a lot of work to do, and two less people to do it," he grumbled and led the way back to the conference room.
They each took a laptop and started scrolling through the list of planets in the database. They worked through the night.
Ford ran down to the mess around 2:00 a.m. to get them coffee. John stood and stretched. He glanced towards Kai and saw she had fallen asleep with her head resting on her arm beside her computer. She had hung her tac vest over the back of the chair and looped her scarf loosely around her neck when she had settled in to work. Her dark curls spilled loose over her arm making her look soft. He was glad she was getting some sleep. She hadn't had a full nights rest since their last run in with the Genii. He frowned and rubbed at the center of his chest.
"I was thinking-" Ford started to say as he came back into the room holding two mugs of coffee. He caught himself when he realized Sheppard was distracted and staring at Zian.
John jerked his eyes off of Kai and looked back at the Lieutenant. "Yeah?" He asked a little too sharply. He forced himself to turn away and cross his arms over his chest. He was exhausted, it was the only explanation for his behavior.
Ford suppressed a smile. "Nothing sir," he said, setting the coffee down and retaking his seat. Others may not have seen it, and maybe Sheppard himself hadn't realized it, but it seemed like there was something there. Ford hoped something came of it. As far as he was concerned, Kai was good people, kinda scary sometimes, but loyal and genuinely good. The scary never seemed to bother the Major. Ford liked and respected The Major and thought he deserved to be happy.
They went back to work for another couple hours before the Major's voice woke Kai in the early hours of the morning.
"How about M1K-439?" he asked tiredly.
"Which ones that?" Ford asked.
Kai stretched and sheepishly unlocked her computer. She couldn't believe she had fallen asleep on the job. Glancing around the room however, she wasn't the only one. Only Sheppard and Ford were still awake. Other technicians and science team members were sleeping over their computers as she had been.
"The one with all the waterfalls.'
"Waterfalls? Why don't we just call it Planet Waterfall?" Ford asked making a note on the laptop in front of him.
Sheppard leveled an exhausted look at the enthusiastic young Lieutenant.
"What? I say we should just give them names..." Ford drew off and then shifted uncomfortably in his seat until Sheppard turned back to his computer. "Look, we got a list of five planets here. That should be enough potential Alpha sites to get Stackhouse and his team started-"
The P.A. clicked on overhead. "Major Sheppard we have a situation at generator station one."
John shoved himself to his feet before they had even stopped speaking. He glanced up quickly to Kai who was watching him. "Ford, Zian with me," he called and he jogged out the door.
Kai has shrugged back into her tac vest by the time they approached the generator station. Two marines were standing around it, but she thought she could hear a third. They were five feet away when she picked up the tangy scent of blood in the air.
"What's the problem?" Sheppard asked as he approached the marine in charge.
"It's Bates sir, he's been attacked."
They stepped through the doorway to see Bates laying on the ground. "Get a medical team down here!" Sheppard ordered.
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Hi everyone! I hope you are continuing to enjoy the story! Thank you so much for the votes! I really appreciate you taking the time to show your support. You guys are amazing!!!