“Soonir…” Aaren hesitated, clearly unwilling to speak in front of the Atlanteans. “He is a criminal, a man who has broken many taboos, ignored our laws. But he is our concern.” The elder nodded to himself. “Takkol has decreed it so. We shall deal with him.”
“And how long is that going to take?” demanded Lorne. “What reason does this man have to take our team-mates in the first place?”
Aaren’s aide, the one with the parasol in his hand, leaned closer to his master. “Elder, Takkol would not wish you to speak of this.”
“Takkol is not here,” Aaren retorted. “He sent me in his stead, Dayyid!”
“I’m going to ask you this one more time,” Sheppard began, his tone firm. “Who is Soonir and what does he want with Keller and McKay?”
Aaren’s glower deepened. “There… Is a militant group among our people, Colonel. Men and women who oppose the old ways that have kept our world free of the Wraith and living in harmony. They keep themselves secret from us, but they take every opportunity they can to oppose the veneration of the Aegis. Soonir leads them.” The local called Dayyid shook his head, looking away.
“The kid said he used to be one of your top guys,” said Lorne.
The elder nodded. “He was one of our leaders, until his views brought him into conflict with Takkol. Soonir was banished from our settlement, but he still has many sympathizers there. He remains a constant impediment to our society.” Aaren paused, thinking. “He may have seen your fellow voyagers as an opportunity… To take them would embarrass Takkol and ensure your enmity.”
“Will he hurt them?” said Sheppard.
“I do not know. It is more likely that he will ransom them in return for some demand.”
“A demand he knows Takkol will never meet!” Dayyid added.
“My people aren’t part of your disagreements,” said the colonel, “and I’m sure as hell not letting McKay and Keller become someone’s bargaining chips. Where does this Soonir hang out?”
“You cannot approach Soonir without sanction from Takkol!” snapped Dayyid. “The great elder will never allow it!”
Lorne shot Dayyid a look. “You know where he is, don’t you?”
“We…suspect,” Aaren admitted. “Soonir has several bolt-holes, but there is a disused river-farm in the lake shallows he favors. But he has many men at his command.” The elder sighed. “Takkol has, to date, been unwilling to draw our guards from their duties in the settlement so that we may mount a sortie against the militants and arrest Soonir. Takkol fears it will leave the lodges unprotected.”
“Not to mention him,” Rush said quietly.
“How many?” said Sheppard. “How many men has this guy got?”
“At least twenty militants,” said the elder. “But they are all armed, and we could not take them without significant bloodshed.”
The colonel glanced at the major. “Lorne, how many stunners does your squad have?”
“Six, maybe eight at the most.” He nodded, seeing Sheppard’s plan as it formed in the other man’s eyes. “Also some noisemakers and stun grenades.”
Sheppard turned back to Aaren. “Here’s the thing. I want to rescue my people and frankly, given your attitude to security around here, I don’t trust Takkol or you to get it done. So you’re going to show me where this farm is and I’m going to get Keller and McKay back myself.”
“That will not —” Dayyid was silenced by a sharp gesture from Aaren.
The elder gave a slow nod. Sheppard could guess what the guy was thinking; even from the first moment he’d seen him, John had pegged Aaren as an opportunist, as someone unhappy in his role as second-string lackey. He had no doubt that Aaren wanted Takkol’s job, and certainly arresting a major criminal — if that’s what Soonir really was — would help that agenda along. Finally Aaren looked up at him. “This shall be done. A temporary partnership with the voyagers, to ensure that their missing friends are safely returned to them.”
“Takkol should be informed of this,” Dayyid grated.
“Then go and inform him,” Aaren replied, newly emboldened by his decision. “Inform him that Colonel Sheppard and I are about to do what he has been afraid to.”
Dayyid grudgingly thrust the parasol into the hands of one of the other Heruuni and set off back toward the settlement.
Sheppard found Lorne watching him and crossed to where the major stood, lowering his voice so that it didn’t carry. “I know that look. If you’ve got something to say, let’s hear it.”
The other officer was silent for a moment. “I’m not sure about this, sir. A reconnaissance-in-force, that’s one thing, but putting together a joint military operation on the fly?”
“Technically, it’s a police action,” Sheppard noted.
“Whatever you want to call it, Colonel, it’s a direct intervention in a local disagreement.”
“You’re gonna start quoting the IOA rulebook at me? You, of all people?”
Lorne frowned. “Nope. But it’s got to be said. This is an escalation.”
“That’s why I’m ordering non-lethal weapons only.”
The major nodded. “Roger that. But with respect, I still don’t like it.”
Sheppard’s eyes narrowed. “What, and you think I do? You think I want to get in the middle of some religious or tribal argument? I wish I had the option, Major, but this Soonir has cut down all our choices to one. We leave this to the locals and we got no guarantee of seeing Keller or McKay alive again. Like it or not, we’re involved.”
“Colonel Sheppard!” Aaren’s voice cut through the air. “Are you ready to proceed?”
He looked toward the elder and his men. “Lead the way.”
“Takkol is a threat to the lives of every man, woman and child on Heruun,” said Soonir, leaning forward on the wide cushion. “The matter is no less grave than that.”
“Why do I get the feeling that he’d probably say exactly the same thing about you?” Keller sat to the right of McKay, on another low cushion. The room was sparsely furnished, and it smelled faintly of damp and boiled vegetables. Rodney shifted and tried to make it look casual; in fact he was doing the best he could to figure out where they had been taken to. Hooded, after a hour of bumpy riding on the back of some kind of covered wagon, they’d been marched into this building and sat down. When the hoods came off, Soonir was there along with the muscle guys from Laaro’s house. It was about that time he’d belatedly noticed that their radios were gone. The bald man had kept his word about the weapons and the rest of the kit, though, but that didn’t make McKay feel any better. He got the sense that any one of these bruisers would be on him the moment he made a move toward his P90 or his pistol.
Soonir was nodding. “I imagine Takkol tells terrible stories about me, Doctor Keller.” He spread his hands. “I’ve learned to live with it. My reputation matters little in the scheme of things.”
“Yeah, the thing is…” McKay drew himself up and eyed the rebel leader. “Takkol was just a bit snobbish towards us. He didn’t kidnap us and drag us out to who-knows-where for a chit-chat.”
“You have not been kidnapped,” growled one of Soonir’s men. “That is what the Aegis does.”
“Gaarin is correct. Think of it as accepting a forceful invitation,” Soonir added, throwing the man a sideways look.
“What was with the hoods, then?” Keller replied. “If you wanted to speak to us, there are nicer ways.”
“The hoods were necessary. For your safety as well as mine.” Soonir got up and gestured around the room. “You have no idea where you are, and so when I release you, you cannot tell Takkol where you were taken to.”
“You’re going to release us?” McKay immediately regretted the half-surprised, near-pleading words as soon as they left his mouth.
The other man, Gaarin, eyed him without warmth. Rodney noticed that, like Soonir, he too had thin lines of inky tattoos about his temples. “Of course. If you had come here without the hoods, we would have had to kill you.”
“Lucky us,” Keller added, in a weak voice.