Chapter 228 - 227

Atlantis

Standing on the balcony overlooking the stargate, Cato was unsure what was happening. Hearing the gate activating, he is uncertain if this is the arrival of promised Wraith reinforcements, or the Tauri attempting to usurp his control of the city. The few armed men in the operations center level their weapons at the gate. This course of events was one Atlantis had already considered.

Powering up the powerful shield emitters meant to defend the city, Atlantis directs the protective field to form a solid wall between the gate and the shooters. As a single jumper exits the gate, Cato and his men open fire with the Wraith energy pistols held in their hands. While these weapons can easily incapacitate a human, against the powerful Ancient designed shield they stood no chance of inflicting even minimal harm. Above the now stationary jumper hovering in the gate room, the roof opens.

Rising through the opening into the upper jumper bay, the jumper continues to gain altitude. Also open is the access point leading out of the jumper bay and into the airspace surrounding the city. Exiting the top of the center spire of Atlantis, the jumper picks up speed, and heads towards the far corner of the north pier of the city. Circling the landing area designated by the city's artificial intelligence, the jumper descends.

Coming to rest on the outer pier, the Borealis team members exit the jumper. Standing before them, the Atlantis avatar welcomes them to the city, and informs them she will be their guide to Colonel Frost's location. Passing easily through the lockdown as if the procedure were not in effect, the team emerges into a large room full of military personnel. Throughout the room, men and women of the armed forces could be seen readying weapons and gear. Also standing in the room were Colonel's Carter, Mitchell, and Sheppard. Accompanying the Colonel's were detachments from their vessel's onboard security detachments.

"Hello Colonel Mitchell. Would you classify this as getting the band back together?" Teal'c asked.

"Very funny. I was just getting used to not running around on the ground getting shot at." Mitchell replied.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Daniel says with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You really haven't had the full Pegasus galaxy experience until you've fought off a hostile takeover of Atlantis." Sheppard quipped.

"Look on the bright side, atleast its not replicators." Carter said with a smile.

While waiting for reinforcements to arrive, Colonel Frost had been a busy man. His available manpower was not nearly what he would have wished, but that was due to a majority of Task Force 190's shooters being conducting missions around Pegasus. The five Special Forces teams he had at his disposal he had broken up into smaller groups. These smaller groups he intermixed with less experienced military personnel. In this way he hoped to take groups not trained for the mission of dynamic entry and turn them into something semi workable. The Ranger element aboard Atlantis he broke into four man entry teams, and had them move into position near living areas where enemy personnel were known to be.

Daniel, Carter, Mitchell, and Teal'c he grouped together. Knowing they had all once been together on SG-1, he was certain that it would be foolish to break up an established team dynamic. To this group of four, he assigned the task of securing the city's mess hall and the expedition members therein. Captain Carlyle's lone team of Delta operators were his best available asset. To this group he gave the task of making their way to the center spire, making their way to near the control center through recessed maintenance access ways, while dealing with any threat they might encounter.

"Colonel Sheppard, Doctor McKay, you're with me. Doctor Keller, remain here and establish a triage center to evacuate casualties to. Lieutenant Scott, you and Sergeant Greer will be going to the nearest transport booth. Atlantis will guide you to the stairwell one level below gate operations. Once there, you will take up a blocking position and prevent the enemy from escaping through that route." Frost stated.

"Where might we be going? Keep in mind that your team is composed of a physicist and a ship captain." Rodney said to Frost.

"We will be making our way to the secondary control room at the base of the city. Once there, you will work your magic while Colonel Sheppard and I go work magic of our own elsewhere." Frost replied.

"I've actually got an idea for the hostages in the control center." McKay said.

"I'm all ears Doctor." Frost replied.

"The main tower isn't shielded from beaming. Nothing is stopping us from beaming them aboard one of the vessels in orbit, and having Atlantis replace them with holographic representations. As long as a distraction can be arranged, I highly doubt the bad guys would even notice the switch." McKay explained.

"Good idea. Run with that idea and make it happen. Let's get a move on people!" Frost announces to the room.

Over the course of the next forty minutes, teams stealthily made their way through the winding passageways of Atlantis. When friendly forces were encountered, the avatar of Atlantis performed verification of identity. Once cleared, these personnel were directed to take the path the avatar laid out for them and remain in the lowest level of the north pier. In three instances, Special Forces teams encountered lone members of the opposition trapped in passageways by the lockdown. In two of those instances, these individuals were struck in the face from a distance by capsaicin-filled paintballs, referred to as pepper balls. Capsaicin being the active ingredient in pepper spray, the chocking and blinding effects were immediate and effective. In the third encounter, the opposition member and one of the assaulters rounded the corner and came face to face. Delivering a vicious knife hand blow to the throat, this opposition member met his end in the blink of an eye.

In the west pier, a four-man Ranger team stood ready to assault an enemy controlled recreation room. Beyond the rooms sealed door stood five hostage takers, and seven expedition members. Without the assistance of the Atlantis avatar, this information might have taken hours to develop. It had been decided to go in hard. Rangers are not known for their sympathy towards those who take their fellow team members hostage. Weapons were readied, as the four men lined up one after the other to the right of the doorway.

As the team commander nodded his head at the Atlantis avatar, the sealed door sprang open. In a single fluid motion, the team commander tossed a single M84 flash bang grenade through the entryway. Two seconds after the nine-ounce device hit the floor, it unleashed an earsplitting one hundred and eighty decibel boom, scrambling the inner ears of everyone in the room. Simultaneously, the device emitted a six million-candle watt power flash of light, temporarily blinding all within. On detonation, the Rangers sprang into action.

Rangers one and three entered the room and fanned out to the left of the doorway, while Rangers two and four fanned right. M4's at the ready, they immediately opened fire on the hostiles in their zones of fire. Performing a task drilled into their minds through repetition, each of the Rangers squeezed their triggers twice. Performing the double tap, each hostile was hit with two 5.56mm rounds. Punching neat and bloody holes in chests and lower faces, each hostile was delivered to a violent and bloody end.

The fifth hostage taker was not so lucky. During the initial takeover of the room, this man had made it a point to slap less compliant female occupants into seeing things his way. In the scuffle, one female lab technician accidently spilled a flammable liquid on the fifth man, and the floor where he stood. Simple bad luck brought him back to that area when the Rangers entered. On detonation of the M84, the flammable liquid in a puddle at his feet caught fire, as did the man. Seeing the man engulfed in flame, Ranger three was unsure of what to do. Raising his weapon to take a shot, the team commander waved him off.

"Save the ammunition Ranger. Let him burn." The team commander said without a trace of emotion.

In the secondary control center in the depths of the city, McKay was hard at work. Upon arrival, Frost had handed him a list of other tasks. The first of those was an increase in temperature within gate operations to one hundred degrees. This would serve to exhaust the opposition, while also adding a new stressful dynamic to their mindset. As manpower suited to the task of hostage rescue and forcible entry were critically short, those members of the opposition in areas lacking expedition members would be dealt with in a different manner. Removing any semblance of civility from the equation, Frost instructed McKay to evacuate the atmosphere from areas of the city. It was far easier to deal with hostile forces if they were already dead from suffocation. The last set of tasks for McKay Frost outlined, before he and Sheppard exited the room, making their way towards the main tower.

Already making their way up the center towers maintenance access ways, Captain Carlyle and his three Delta operators were making steady progress. Much to the Captains chagrin, these access ways did not run fully up the length of the tower. Instead, every seven floors the team was forced to exit the access way, and make their way down a hallway, only to enter the next upwardly climbing access way. During the third change of access ways, Sergeant Checa quietly radioed that he had bodies to his front, and sounds of movement. Against his Captains orders, Checa stalked forward with his MP-7 submachine gun at the ready. Easing around the doorway ready to meet any threat that might be unlucky enough to find itself in front of his muzzle, Checa came face to face with Ronon. Both men had their weapons leveled, and maintained them at the others head for a brief second before lowering them.

"Hey bro!" Checa whispered.

"Hey! What took you so long?" Ronon asked.

"Had to stop off and see a lady friend of mine on the way. You know how it goes. Let me tell the boss you're here." Checa replied.

In brief whispers, Checa informed Carlyle and the other operators of his discovery. Making their way down the hallway, the three men arrived moments later. Looking around the room, Carlyle took note of the stack of enemy dead Ronon had collected in the room.

"Looks like you're stacking firewood in here." Carlyle said.

"Something like that. You people want to give me a hand? I've got three more down the hall." Ronon replied.

At that moment, an idea flashed through Carlyle's mind. Allowing that idea to fully form, he quickly tapped his radio earpiece to run the idea by Colonel Frost for approval.

"Dark Horse Actual, this is Nightmare Actual." Carlyle began.

"Go Nightmare." Frost replied.

"I've located Romeo Delta in the upper levels of the objective. He has eight enemy killed in action at this location. I'd like to put the KIA's in the transporter booth and send them to the enemy commander in gate operations." Carlyle stated.

"Approved. Dark Horse Actual out." Frost said in terse reply.

Approval in hand, the Delta operators and their Satedan addition began to fireman carry the enemy dead to the transport booth down the hall. Piling them in a heap, Carlyle instructed the Atlantis avatar to transport them to the nearest booth to gate operations. He was well aware that the booth in question was just down the hall from the operations center.

Far below, the former members of SG-1 had made their way to the mess hall. Prior to entry, the team had debated the merits of several entry methods. Carter suggested using several of the city's systems to alter the balance in their favor. Mitchell was in favor of a surprise assault. Teal'c leaned more in favor of luring any enemy combatants inside out through subterfuge, engaging them once out in the open. After listening to the varied opinions, Daniel suggested first asking the Atlantis avatar if any enemy combatants were present within the mess hall, and if so how many. In the end, Daniel's position won over the team. To everyone's surprise the avatar informed them that multiple enemy combatants were present, but were unconscious. Apparently, those present when their lunch was rudely interrupted took great offense at having their Salisbury steak sharing the limelight with an armed insurrection. Knocking their captures unconscious, those present hog tied the new arrivals, and then finished their meal. Tater tots are a serious menu item on Atlantis.

Forty minutes after Carlyle's team transported the enemy KIA's to the booth nearest gate operations, all was ready for the final phase in this most unusual of reclamation missions. It might not be the mission of Frost's dreams, but so far, it was working. That was enough for the Colonel. His only want was to bring each member of the expedition home safely.

In gate operations, the environment was sweltering. Due to the lockdown, not even the balcony access doors would open. Slowly, the hostage takers mood had grown darker and darker. Were this allowed to play out a bit longer, the time might come when they began attacking one another. Adding to their mental discomfort, Atlantis had been pumping in the sounds of subspace static at high volume while also increasing the lighting intensity slowly. It was a combination meant to drive a man mad.

As had happened during the jumper from Borealis's arrival, once again a safe zone was established in the lower gate room with the city's shield emitters. Seeing this, Cato stood ready at the balcony above. All he really expected was another jumper. Let them come he thought. Their shuttles can do nothing he was sure. Instead of the sounds of a gate activation, he instead heard footsteps. These footsteps soon turned into the black clad figure of Colonel Dean Frost standing behind the protective energy field.

"What are you staring at?" Cato demanded.

"I just wanted to know exactly what a traitor to humanity looks like. Now I know." Frost replied.

"You are the traitor to humanity, not I!" Cato argued.

"Oh really? How did you come up with that idea?" Frost asked.

"Instead of embracing all the Wraith can teach us, you wage a war against them." Cato replied, as if explaining something clear to all.

"You're blind to the reality of this situation. The Wraith sent you on a fool's errand." Frost pointed out.

"Why do you say that crusader?" Cato spat.

"I am a soldier, as are many who call Atlantis home. You and your followers are farmers. The Wraith sent you on a task they knew you would fail in, while dying during the effort." Frost said simply.

"Another word from you and you'll watch me kill Richard Woolsey." Cato threatened.

"Do you enjoy watching humans die?" Frost asks.

"The sight of human death is of no consequence to me." Cato replies with a laugh.

"Is that so? Then let us have a little show and tell. I'll introduce you to a few friends I picked up on the way here." Frost says innocently.

A moment later, three men and two women Cato knew to be fellow Wraith worshippers were marched into the lower gate room. Hands bound, and mouths gagged, the five fell to their knees in a line. Drawing a pistol from the rear waistband of his uniform trousers, Frost checked to make sure a round was chambered.

"Judging by the look on your face, you recognize a few of the faces down here. Were I a betting man, I would say that the little red headed girl at the end is something special to you. Am I right?" Frost asked.

"Release all of them now, and I will spare your life." Cato demanded.

"You've really been around the Wraith too long. Those types of threats only work when you have the upper hand. I can say with certainty that isn't the case here." Frost goaded.

"Release them now!" Cato yelled.

"Keep your eyes on your special lady. Anything you want to say, I would do it quick." Frost urged.

Before Cato could utter a single word, Frost placed the muzzle of his pistol to the back of the kneeling woman's head and pulled the trigger. In a display of brain tissue, blood, and bone, the body collapsed to the floor face down.

"Gita!" Cato screamed with a hand extended towards her lifeless form.

"You always have to make sure you stand far enough away that you don't get any of that on you. Once it is on your clothing, the smell never comes out. Should I continue?" Frost asked politly.

The assorted Wraith worshippers in the operations center were speechless. While they had seen death before, never had they witnessed another human take human life and then find humor in it. Each man found himself unable to rip their eyes away from the lifeless form of Cato's wife. It was this effect that Frost had counted on.

Moving swiftly, Captain Carlyle and his team covered the distance from the rear stairs to the combatants in seconds. Several were taken down with vicious knockout blows from behind. Carlyle closed on Cato, delivering a crippling peroneal strike to the targets left leg. Landing just above the knee, Carlyle's shin pulverized the peroneal nerve in Cato's leg. Instantly, the leg collapsed. Despite the pain, Cato could not rip his eyes from the body of his wife. As the last enemy combatant is bound in plastic restraints, Gita and the other four worshippers disappear into thin air. Gone even is the bloodstain that seconds before covered the floor.

"What trickery is this?" Cato demands in a frightened voice.

"Its amazing what you can do with holograms, isn't it? We used the same trick to beam out Woolsey and the others from the conference room several hours ago. Didn't notice that did you?" Frost asks.

"So my wife is not dead?" Cato asks near tears.

"Of course not. You didn't think I was a cowardly murderer like you, did you?" Frost asks calmly.

It would be many hours before things returned to normal in any shape or form. While the city came to grips with the bullet they had just dodged, another unexpected curveball would be thrown their way. Informing the SGC of the successful handling of the foothold situation, Atlantis was instructed to relay a message to the Pegasus Group of the Tauri fleet. All 304's were hereby ordered to immediately set course for Arkos. Three hours after receipt of this order, the many 304's within Pegasus departed in mass for Earth.