Stargate Atlantis

Message from Home

Part 1

*Pegasus - winged horse

1 : a winged horse that causes the stream Hippocrene to spring from Mount Helicon with a blow of his hoof. 2 archaic : poetic inspiration. 3 : a northern constellation near the vernal equinoctial point.

1

P3C-376

Two years, nine months and four days after the second homecoming.

Lieutenant Colonel Lorne continued to fire until the Wraith was only inches away from him. The P90 clicked as the final round slammed into the creature before him. It gave him a toothy grin as the bullet wounds began to fade from its chest, leg and shoulder which Lorne had pumped full of lead. To be able to heal this quickly, the Wraith must have fed recently. Lorne didn't have time to dwell on it as the creature reached out for him. He quickly dislodged his knife from his back-holster and stabbed the feeding hand in desperation. It only triggered the Wraith, making it enjoy this upcoming feed even more. It snarled in delight as it backhanded him, tossing him several meters in the opposite direction of the cloaked jumper. Evan landed in a heap, stunned by the brute force used against him, and grimaced as he realized several ribs had been broken and that blood trickled down his forehead. "Great," he whispered to himself.

The white-haired creature snarled as it studied its prey, thrilled by the resistance. It waited patiently for the human to try and get up again.

Something inside Lorne snapped, he'd be damned if he'd survived four years in the Pegasus Galaxy before only to be culled by a Wraith crossing path with their mission now.

Darts filled the clear blue sky above him, their whining noises creating a cacophony of despair as it mixed with the voices of confused and frightened tribespeople. It was an all too familiar occasion to the Lieutenant Colonel, only, this wasn't what the Pegasus Galaxy was supposed to look like nowadays. Besides, the people here appeared like they'd never seen a Wraith before. They didn't know what to expect. 'Damn ancients and their secrecy', he thought angrily.

What made everything so much worse was that the tribe that lived peacefully, close to the beach, had a rich culture that was very aligned with the nature of the planet. They lived with the planet, not off the planet, and took only the most necessary resources from it. They weren't technologically advanced and therefore no match for the Wraith who now roamed the sky, in search for a prey. There was nothing Lorne could do to protect them. He could only hope that whatever hive ship the darts came from would be destroyed by the Daedalus.

Several gunshots rang out, effectively pinning the several thousand-year-old creature. Lorne managed to incline his head just in time to see the smoking gun pipe of Colonel Carter's P90.

The Wraith looked annoyed, blinked at her and then began to advance on her position. She fired again and again until the enemy fell to the ground. Tired and dusty she reached up to wipe away the perspiration from her forehead while stepping close to her teammate. "I had forgotten how persistent they can be," she said.

Lorne made a face, showing off his dimples, yet his smile held no mirth. "I guess I am lucky he wasn't really hungry," he replied sarcastically as he took her hand and was hauled to his feet.

He almost doubled over as he came to be upright, he sagged against her for a moment, then managed to right himself up again. "Where are the others?" he managed.

"Easy," she cautioned gently as she studied him with concern.

Evan dry swallowed as he put his hands on his thighs to catch his breath. Truth to be told, he wasn't feeling that great at the moment.

"Daniel and Sergeant Thompson have barricaded themselves in the bunker. We've lost Doctor Jones and Corporal Chance," she said regretfully. "Doctor Burke is severely injured."

Lorne closed his eyes in bitter resentment. "They never stop coming, do they?" he whispered. "I wonder how many people who are dead because of Atlantis absence?"

"You can't think like that, Evan," Sam reasoned softly as she gently reached out to steady him.

Lorne pursed his lips. "Where is Colonel Mitchell?" he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"He and Lieutenant Niva is rounding up the tribe, trying to keep them from being culled. It's crazy, they're falling down on their knees, watching the sky in awe, like the darts belongs to God," she said seriously. "Come on, we need to get to the jumper to get some help."

He nodded, trying to regain his bearings as another dart flew low over their heads. Several Wraith soldiers suddenly stood on the ground next to them.

"Crap," Sam whispered as she raised her P90 and pushed the trigger to lay off semi-automatic fire.

The two humans were badly outnumbered and the Wraith strong and vicious.

Sam smacked a new magazine to her gun while Evan emptied his 9-mil pistol to give her cover fire. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The Wraith closed in on them, staggering as the bullets ripped through the flesh and ligaments, pressing on towards their prey, snarling in delight at the refreshing resistance. The nearest creature reached out for Carter and threw her across the ground like a ragdoll.

Lorne was cornered and his gun empty. Already injured and in desperate need of medical attention he willed for his battered body to obey his command one more time. Knowing there was nothing he could do for Carter, he struggled toward the jumper, as the sun beat down on him like a welding flame.

He momentarily froze as he felt the Wraith's long thin fingers closing around his wrist, twisting him around, unceremoniously slamming him to the ground. He landed on his belly and grimaced as the impact jarred his bruised and battered body. The air was sucked out of his lungs and he didn't need a medical professional to tell him that he'd just punctured his lung.

The Wraith hissed, showing its teeth as it turned its victim around. The creature faltered for a moment in surprise as Lorne's blue eyes defiantly glared at it. Then recognition sparked behind the pale eyes of the Wraith and it snarled, readying itself for feeding. "Lantean descendants," it said. "We have been looking for you."

Lorne laughed sarcastically inside as he realized that his final moment had finally come. There was no escaping it this time.

OOOOOO

Note: The second homecoming refers to the day Atlantis landed on Earth so it takes place sometime after the end of the show. Also, this story is jumping back and forth in time for a while so if it is confusing – just remember to look at the dates. The story will reconnect to/work as a sequel to another story of mine called "When Time is Up – full story" but it isn't necessary to have read that one before this. It features some of the characters from SG-1 for quite a while but that is simply because Atlantis is back on Earth. Here's a warning; the story is not finished yet and RL works in mysterious ways so updates might not be regular. I hope that you enjoy the story anyway and are intrigued to read more – that's all I could ask for.