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Piercing the Veil	By : trudyw000 Category: Harry Potter Crossovers > Slash - Male/Male Views: 8941 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate Atlantis, I make no money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Author's Note: Here it is, for your delight and delectation, Chapter 11, please read, REVIEW and enjoy, thank you.

Chapter 11

The rest of the trip back to the city was spent in tense silence, every person in the shuttle craft lost in their own thoughts.

As they finally approached the central tower Elizabeth left her seat in the cockpit to speak to the men in the back of the craft. As she did so she laid a hand briefly on Sirius' shoulder, a silent thanks for so many things.

"Shepherd, as soon as we land I need you to get your team together and go bring back Sumner."

"Yes ma'am" he replied smartly before turning to Jack, "General O'Neill, you want to come with?" he asked but Elizabeth interrupted before the General had a chance to answer.

"Jack will be staying in the city" she stated, Jack looked mutinous and seemed to be about to argue but a light touch on his arm from Daniel who was seated beside him was all it took to restrain him giving Elizabeth time to offer an explanation. "The Military leader of this expedition has gone off the rails, I'm sending the next highest ranking officer to go get him, I need someone who will have the men's respect to take over the military leadership if anything goes awry. Jack stays."

At her words Jack subsided and John, knowing a lost cause when he saw one turned to his next pick. "Sirius, you want to join the party?" The shuttlecraft had landed and Sirius had left the cockpit to stand beside Elizabeth. He looked surprised at the invitation but eagerly accepted and with a nod John turned to Rodney seated beside him, "Well Rodney?"

"Huh?" came the eloquent reply.

"Are you ready for your first mission through the Stargate?" John clarified at Rodney's questioning look.

"I'm sorry Major, but my place is here in the city, I have work to do" and standing Rodney hit the control for the ramp at the rear of the shuttle.

"Rodney," John called him back, "standard operating procedure requires a member of the science team on each gate team." He stated.

Before Rodney could answer Daniel was on his feet, hand raised tentatively in the air, "I'll go." he offered.

"There you are," Rodney gestured vaguely in Daniel's direction, "you have a willing volunteer." and turning he made to leave the shuttle but John's voice pulled him back.

"Rodney, a member of your science team has been taken off-world against his will and by force by a man whose behaviour since we arrived has been erratic at best and..." he trailed off, balking at outright insults to a commanding office, even one who was completely cracked! "well you get the picture."

"And!" asked Rodney defiantly, his body language clearly conveying his desire to be anywhere else other than here discussing this.

"OK, firstly, Daniel I appreciate the offer, but at the moment your expertise can be best used here in the city helping Lantia." 'and besides,' he added silently, 'do you really think the General is going to let you go off-world without him?'

"Rodney, you need to do this, we're essentially going on a rescue mission for one of the scientists under your command, he's your responsibility, right now your place is on this team, going to get Kavanagh." To Shepherd's consternation Rodney showed no sign of wavering, it was unthinkable to him not to go after a man under his command who was in trouble but apparently scientists didn't work that way.

He was about to try again when Sirius spoke up.

"Rodney," he said with his head cocked slightly in the way that indicated Lantia was speaking in his ear. "Lantia likes Kavanagh," he paused "a lot!"

"Huh?" grunted Rodney again obviously questioning what that had to do with anything.

"You know Lantia, giant city wide computer, has complete control of the water in your shower, the air in your quarters..." he paused again a small frown appearing between his brows, apparently something Lantia had said confused him but he continued anyway, "the... the lemon in your tea?" Sirius quite liked lemon tea, James' mother had made it for them sometimes when they were younger so he did not understand the look of horror or the way all the blood seemed to drain from Rodney's face leaving him chalk white. It seemed Lantia knew what she was doing so he carried on following her prompting, "Yes, she spent quite a while talking to him yesterday evening, she found him interesting and would like to continue the conversation."

Rodney gulped, "I see, in that case I may need to spend some time getting to know him myself." he finally responded, "I'll be happy to join you Major."

"Excellent, gather your gear we'll meet back here in twenty minutes. And Rodney, don't forget to stop by the armoury for a weapon. I know that all the science team have at least had weapons familiarity training, I want you armed." he finished with determination hopefully forestalling any arguments from the scientist.

He needn't have worried, Rodney barely acknowledged the instruction as he hurried off muttering under his breath about who knew what.

"Elizabeth, could you have someone track down Lieutenant Ford?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied, "what should I tell him you need him for?"

"I need a fourth member of the team, he seems capable."

Elizabeth was surprised and didn't bother trying to hide it, "I didn't realise you'd met him?"

"I haven't really, exchanged a few words before we came through the gate but I've read his file and we need a fourth man."

Any reply Elizabeth might have made was stymied as John left the gateroom at a jog, Sirius trailing along behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twenty minutes later found John, Sirius and Lieutenant Ford back in the gateroom, Sirius had taken a few minutes to move the shuttlecraft back to the hanger bay and the three of them were making small-talk with Elizabeth, Jack and Daniel as they waited for Rodney to arrive.

Elizabeth, Jack and Daniel had hung around so that they could see the others off on their mission. The three had been surprised when John walked back through the doors five minutes before with Sirius still in tow to see the change in the wizard. Gone were the flowing locks and the velvet frock coat, instead his hair was confined in a neat pony-tail and he was wearing a set of black BDU's that John had apparently rustled up from somewhere. On the upper arm, where other members of the expedition sported the flag of their home country, Sirius had an image of a bird in red and gold, a phoenix, wings spread and head stretched up high as it rose from it 's own ashes.

Sirius had wanted to object when John had thrust the bundle of black clothing at him but on second thoughts he realised that the clothes on his back were the only thing he had left from home and so he had meekly accepted the bundle and quickly changed. He had noted the flags on the arms of the other men and women all around him and wanting to put some small stamp of his own individuality onto the clothes he had held his hand cupped over his upper arm for a few moments, concentrating fiercely on the image he wanted to display. Taking away the hand he had been pleased to see the image of the phoenix emblazoned there exactly as he had envisioned it. John had noticed the amendment immediately of course and Sirius had merely stared at him defiantly but John had simply nodded, approving the change and they had set off through the city again as John continued his preparations.

Sirius hadn't been as pliant when John had tried to press a weapon upon him when they reached the armoury and John had backed down quickly enough when reminded of the events earlier that day when Sirius had been confronted by Colonel Sumner wielding a rocket launcher.

Finally, only ten minutes late, Rodney made his way into the gateroom laden down under a heavy rucksack with quite obviously no weapon in sight.

"Rodney, what have you got there, we're only going to retrieve our men, we shouldn't be gone more than a few hours." Shepherd's laughter was friendly and Rodney looked a little rueful.

"We don't know what to expect and really, have you read any of SG1's mission logs?"

"Hey!" Jack clearly objected to the perceived slight against his team though he had to admit, they had had more than their fair share of interesting missions over the years.

Shepherd acknowledged Rodney's point, he had indeed read all the SG team's mission logs but the ones from SG1 certainly made the most entertaining bedtime reading of them all. Changing the subject he handed over a holstered pistol and belt, "you forgot something."

Rodney took the offering unhappily, looking down at the weapon in his hands with distaste.

"I know you're checked out on it, I reviewed the armour master's logs." and Shepherd sounded so uncompromising that Rodney had no choice but to awkwardly strap the belt around his hips.

Sirius moved over to help him adjust the rucksack so that he could feed the belt around underneath it and as he settled it back on its straps Rodney noticed that it was suddenly significantly lighter. Surprised he looked up to meet the wizards sparkling grey eyes and received a sly wink from the eye hidden from the rest of the group. Rodney had never had a wide circle of friends but that certainly seemed to be changing, he'd set himself to find out what it was about Kavanagh that Lantia found so interesting and he'd definitely enjoyed the time he'd spent this morning with John, Jack, Daniel and Sirius. Somehow the Pegasus galaxy was beginning to feel more like home than Earth ever had.

With the team finally ready Shepherd waved up to Grodin in the control room and suddenly the Stargate sprang into life, the symbols around the edge lighting up as the co-ordinates locked on until finally the wormhole opened with a startling display that caused Sirius to flinch back unthinkingly at his first real exposure to the amazing feat of engineering that was the Stargate technology.

"What's it like?" Sirius asked, nodding to the event horizon.

Shepherd just smirked and gestured to Ford, "ask him."

Confused Sirius looked back and forward between the two men, there was obviously some kind of private joke here, that much was plain from the smirk on John's face and the sheepish expression on Ford's. As Shepherd stepped through the 'gate, Sirius cocked an eyebrow at the younger man with a look that just screamed 'Well?'

Ford was looking uncomfortable, the image of a Hogwarts first year caught in the act by a grim Professor McGonagall sprang into Sirius' head. He was about to say something, to let the kid off the hook when Rodney broke the moment. Stuck behind them on the ramp to the Stargate Rodney had apparently got tired of waiting and stepping up he shouldered his way roughly between them, "can you take this up on the other side" he threw over his shoulder as he too stepped through.

Realising that they were holding things up Sirius offered a quick wave to the three waiting to see them off and stepped through the gate, closely followed by Lieutenant Ford. Coming out the other side Sirius gave a brief, whole body shiver from the cold of the transition before the warm night air of the planet they had landed on enfolded him. It seemed a pleasant enough place, the 'gate was in a large, grassy clearing within what appeared to be a sizable, open woodland. John and Rodney were conferring a short way off and Sirius quickly joined them. They were discussing which way Sumner's team might have gone.

Summoning up a clear picture in his head of the man they were looking for, Sirius held out his hand, palm up and murmured, "Point me Sumner." A glowing arrow appeared, hovering about an inch above his hand. For a moment it spun aimlessly before settling down to point in a steady direction. Sirius felt like it should be north, but really, how did you tell on a different planet, circling a different sun in another galaxy!

Shepherd just stared at the glowing arrow before a massive grin broke over his features, "You have got to teach me this stuff" he demanded eagerly before striding off in the indicated direction.

They had been walking for almost fifteen minutes when Shepherd stopped them, throwing up a hand for silence, and hissing a "ssshh" at Rodney when the scientist tried to ask what was going on.

In the sudden silence they could all now hear the noises that had caught Shepherd's attention as the thin, high sounds of women wailing drifted around them in the night air. Moving more cautiously now the team carried on and soon the trees around them gave way to a small, rustic village. The closer they got, the more they could hear and the sounds worried Shepherd. The deeper voices of men had joined those of the women and it was clear that there was quite a commotion going on in the little village.

The four of them managed to creep up to the houses and peering out from cover they took in the sight before them. Chapman and Wright had their P90's out, Chapman was covering a crowd of villagers whilst Wright was concentrating on a small group of wailing women who surrounded a man kneeling on the ground with the limp body of a child in his arms. To Rodney's surprise Kavanagh was there, his back to them as he leaned over the child, it looked like he was trying to help, trying to keep pressure on a wound going by his posture. That gave the watchers hope, Kavanagh may not be part of the medical contingent but he should know enough to know if the child was alive or dead, and if the child still lived there was hope that no permanent damage had been done, if only they could only get this situation resolved and get the boy to Atlantis for medical attention.

Chapman and Wright looked tense, they kept shooting glances over at something by one of the huts, but whatever it might have been was blocked from the view of Shepherd's team by the bulk of the building that they were hiding behind.

Just as Shepherd was about to move, to try to get a better angle Chapman called out a question, "is he alright?"

The harsh reply came in Bates sarcastic tones, "does he look alright?"

That seemed to be the last straw for Chapman and he fired a short burst from his P90 into the air before turning his attention back to the crowd he was covering, "What have you done to him?" he demanded angrily before letting loose another burst of gunfire.

Shepherd made to move again but this time Sirius stopped him with a heavy hand on his shoulder. The wizard shushed him with a finger to his lips and sidling around the back of the ramshackle building he peeked out from the other side. From his new position Sirius had a much better view of what was going on, he still couldn't see Sumner but the other three military men where all in clear view. Chapman and Wright still held their earlier positions, Bates was crouched over a still form slumped against the side of a small hut. As Sirius watched Bates stood angrily, worried that the Sergeant might decide to take more direct action against the helpless villagers Sirius summoned the magic within him and picturing his three targets in his head he whispered the words, "Petrificus Totalis."

The three men dropped like stones and the villagers cried out in terror as one lot of invaders were apparently vanquished, only to be replaced by four more who, having so easily defeated the first three men now stepped out from their places of hiding. Only Kavanagh and the man opposite him ignored the goings on around them as they concentrated on the child laid on the ground between them. Rodney hurried over to see what he could do to help leaving Sirius, Shepherd and Ford to close in on Bates position to see what had held his attention.

Reaching Bates prone body they stopped in shock. Beyond Bates there lay another figure in the uniforrm of a US soldier, slumped against the wall of the hut was an elderly man, his face creased and lined with age, a few wisps of pure white hair on his head. His jacket and the shirt beneath were ripped open to display a livid, scarlet hand-print emblazoned on the pale skin of his chest.

Crouching beside the man Shepherd laid two fingers on the skin of the throat, "he's alive," he confirmed before snagging the chain around the man's neck with one finger-tip. Tugging gently on the chain Shepherd pulled the dog-tags free from the torn clothing that had hidden them. He stared at the inscription in disbelief for several seconds before displaying it to Sirius and Ford.

Col. SUMNER, M.

A/N: Well what did you think, I can't improve if you don't let me know what bugs you! Please Review.
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Piercing the Veil