Chapter 8

John had divided up the incident reports among his team so they could read through them all as quickly as possible. There was only one witness this time, she'd gotten a good look at the creatures but the police were dismissing her descriptions of monsters as being all in her head. He had sent Laura to talk to her but she'd returned an hour later with a shake of her head saying the woman was too traumatised to get anything else out of her.

It had taken some time to set up their briefing room, the evidence boards had all needed to be re-organised. They'd been filled with every bit of information the local police had found, too much, it was hard to follow.

"Alright," John said after hours of reading through reports, he rubbed his eyes, blinking several times. "Let's go through everything we know, we need to figure out where to start with the search tomorrow."

"The attacks are largely clustered to the south west of the town," Lorne gestured to the map. "It looks like the creatures started out exclusively attacking in the forest, picking off campers and hikers, a couple of patrols, then the investigating officers."

Laura nodded, "All of the attacks that did occur in town were on the very edges except for the last few. My guess is that once people began to realize something was happening and stopped going into the forest, and then stopped being out around the edge of town, the creatures were forced to venture further to pick up victims. They're still trying to avoid detection for as long as possible."

"They've taken more people here," Dex commented, "A lot more."

"There's either more of the creatures here, or they're planning on taking more people with them," John agreed, he stood up and walked over to the map. "These were the locations of the first disappearances," he pointed to four pins that were clustered relatively close together. "It's likely they were close to wherever the creatures have set up camp here." He picked up a marker and circled around the four pins, I think we need to start our search in this area."

"Two teams again?" Lorne questioned and John looked at the map.

It was a large area to cover but he was concerned by the number of missing people on this planet compared to Delesta. It could well mean there were more of the creatures here and if that was the case, they couldn't risk going up against them in smaller groups, they wouldn't stand a chance. On the other hand, they needed to cover as much ground as they could as quickly as possible.

"Yeah," he finally decided, "We'll split into two teams again but I want to keep us closer together than we were on Delesta, it took you guys too long to reach us. If we'd been in a firefight we'd have already taken heavy losses by then and you guys showing up wouldn't have made a difference."

"And if there's more of these creatures here we need to be able to react quicker," Laura confirmed his thoughts. "I'd love to know what it actually takes to kill these things, or at least take them out long enough to put a dent in their numbers."

"I'd like to know how they can take so many hits in the first place," Lorne added, "We put enough bullets in some of them on Belase that they should have been down permanently, how are they just taking that much damage without being wiped off the board?"

"All stuff we need to know," John said as he examined the map, his brain trying to determine the best search routes. It was a lot of ground to cover, the forest was dense which would make it difficult to move, or to see an enemy approaching. It did give them the advantage of additional cover in a fire fight though.

"We should start there," Dex pointed to the map. "The first attack site is close by, if they'd only just arrived and needed to find victims to feed on, they probably attacked the first people they came across."

John marked the point on the map, "That's a good idea, team one can start there and team two can start from here." John marked another point on the map, close to the first. "If we move in this direction, we can spiral out towards the third attack site, then the second site, then loop around near the fourth site which would have us moving back towards town in the late afternoon."

"Meaning we'll be back in town before dark," Lorne said, then pointed to the map himself, "There's some caves here, we should make sure we check them out. Looking at this map, there's no clearing big enough for a ship like they had on Delesta, so we might be looking at the same set up as Belase."

John marked it on the map, "Worth checking out."

They spent the next couple of hours planning the two search routes, ensuring that both teams would remain close together in case one encountered the creatures. The live tracking systems would keep both teams aware of the others locations, they would know whether to speed up or slow down if one team got further ahead.

"Some of this is gonna be difficult terrain, make sure you're all prepared for it," John told them. "Laura, find the chief and tell him to gather up his people for a briefing, I don't want to waste any time tomorrow, we need to be heading out at first light."

"You got it," she replied and left the room. John looked at the map, then the list of missing people. If there were more creatures here then they were in for a serious fight. Even with the additional officers that had been sent from other towns to help with the disappearances, it wasn't going to be enough.

He grabbed his radio, "Daedalus, this is Agent Sheppard, come in."

"We read you Agent," Caldwells voice came back. The captain had no idea about the existence of the creatures, he wouldn't understand John's request without any context.

"How do you feel about lending some of your people for a hike, one that might end in a nasty firefight?" he questioned, he didn't want to make it an order if he didn't have to.

"How many do you need?" Caldwell asked, that was surprisingly easy.

"As many as you can spare."

Teyla glanced at the digital clock beside her bed, time seemed to be moving so slowly. Every day was the same and with each one that passed, they seemed to get longer and longer. She was bored, she was restless, she was angry. It didn't help that she felt trapped, her freedom to leave felt like an illusion, one she hadn't tested yet.

She'd returned from the gym an hour ago, her muscles were sore from pushing herself just a little too far but it was better than just sitting around. She put down her book, she was part way through reading it for the third time and it wasn't holding her attention. If she didn't get some answers about where Ronon was soon she was going to become much less compliant.

The door chime sounded and she should probably be ashamed of how fast she answered it, maybe it would be something for her to do, she'd even go and endure one of Carson's check ups right now.

It was her guard who stood there waiting for her, "Miss Emmagan, please come with me."

He was polite, they were all polite, but she could tell they didn't want her here. "Where?"

"I've been instructed to escort you to the council chambers," he told her reluctantly and she nodded her head, following him through the Alliance headquarters.

Elizabeth was already there when they arrived at their destination, she looked curiously at Teyla as she approached, she wasn't expecting her to be here. "Why are we here?" Teyla asked her, glancing at the large ornate doors behind her.

"My presence was requested, they don't usually say why," Elizabeth informed her.

Teyla shook her head, "And you simply come when called."

"That's my job," Elizabeth replied flatly.

The doors were opened a moment later and they were told the council was ready for them. Elizabeth walked in ahead of her and Teyla annoyed herself by hesitating for a moment, she'd never been here before, never stood in front of the Alliance counsel, even at her very short trial only the counsel leader had been present.

The room was large, there was no furniture save for the semi circular table and chairs where the counsel sat. It made her feel small and somehow humbled, like she had been invited into a sacred place and should be grateful. She didn't like it, the whole atmosphere made her uncomfortable. Elizabeth looked as though she didn't like to be in here either but she didn't appear uncomfortable, she was probably just used to it.

"Agent Weir, Miss Emmagan, thank you for coming," Counselor Tyrone said, he was the one who had stopped by the infirmary after they had woken from their coma. Teyla kept quiet, resisting the urge to point out the fact that she probably hadn't had a choice. "Agent Weir, we are confirming your return to active duty status and have taken your opinion into account regarding your reassignment."

Teyla's eyes snapped to Elizabeth who was giving nothing away, she stood still, her face a mask as she waited for the counselor to continue. There was tension in the room though, as though everyone was unhappy but no one wanted to say anything out loud.

"You will not be assigned to a new partner for the time being," Tyrone continued, Elizabeth merely nodded her acceptance before the counsellor spoke again. "Agent Sheppard and his team are investigating the appearance of strange creatures on several of our worlds. They are currently under a communications ban which is to remain in effect. We have compiled the information they have gathered so far in this report."

Counselor Tyrone held up a datapad, a young woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. She took the datapad from Tyrone and moved across the room to hand it to Elizabeth. Teyla, for the moment, seemed to be invisible.

"Are these the creatures from the prophecy?" she asked which gained Teyla's immediate and undivided attention.

"We believe that is likely, we would like you and Miss Emmagan to familiarise yourself with this information. Agent Sheppard's team is currently on the planet Mavarr investigating several disappearances that we believe are linked to these creatures. You are to join them there and assist with the investigation, learn whatever you can of these creatures and report directly back to us. You are now under the same communications ban, you are not to contact anyone unnecessarily and must not speak of these creatures to anyone outside of the investigating team."

Elizabeth nodded again, "When do we leave."

"Within the hour, the Poseidon is waiting for your arrival in orbit, a shuttle is ready to take you," Tyrone said, then clasped his hands together in front of him. "The communications ban is in place immediately, you are not to contact Agent Sheppards team until you arrive. It is of the utmost importance that we do not cause panic among our people, the war with the Vernai is reaching a pivotal point."

"I understand," Elizabeth said.

"You are dismissed."

There were no further words exchanged, Elizabeth walked out of the room datapad in hand. Teyla didn't think she'd ever seen anyone be so compliant, it didn't fit the image she had of an Alliance agent but she supposed they had always answered to someone.

"Gather your things, I'll meet you at the spaceport," Elizabeth ordered,Teyla bit back her response, she wasn't here to take orders from the Alliance, least of all from Elizabeth.

She returned to her room, packing didn't take very long since she didn't have many belongings. Elizabeth would probably need more time, she owned more things, but Teyla wasn't going to wait. She pulled the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder and headed to the spaceport with her escort. It surprised her to find Elizabeth had, in fact, beaten her to the shuttle and was sat comfortably reading through the datapad.

"I thought it would take you longer to pack," Teyla admitted as she stowed her bag beside Elizabeth's.

"Agent's keep a bag ready to go at all times," Elizabeth said without looking up from the datapad. "I only had to throw a few things into it."

Teyla stamped down her anger, of course she had a bag ready to go at all times. Elizabeth was used to this life, comfortable in it, Teyla had no such consistency in her life. She took a seat in the back of the shuttle opposite Elizabeth who finally looked up at her. "We can go through the information the team has gathered once we're on board the Poseidon, when we can discuss it somewhere privately."

Another person boarded the shuttle, it was Dr Beckett. He had a bag identical to Elizabeth's slung over his shoulder and he looked a little flushed, like he'd been running to reach them before they left. Elizabeth smiled as Carson stored his bag and took a seat next to her, "We received the message that you were joining us, you didn't need to rush."

"Aye but I didn't want to delay us, even if they did only add me onto the mission at the last minute," Carson replied with a shrug. "And I may have been a little eager."

"I'm sure Laura will be glad to see you too."

"Agent Weir, are you ready?" a voice asked and Teyla saw a young man's head poking around from the pilot's seat.

"Yes, Lieutenant, let's go."

"Yes ma'am," the young man replied.

They were on their way then, she finally had what she wanted, she knew where Ronon was, what they would do when she got there she didn't know. She knew Ronon wouldn't be happy working for the Alliance and they'd used her to control him, they couldn't do that now. So what did that mean for them, would they simply leave? What would they even do with their freedom now that they had it?

TBC