Title: Behind the Mask
Author: Kazavid
Chapter: 1 / 16
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other
Archiving: None
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters
Spoilers: None
Feedback: Yes
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

BEHIND THE MASK

Chapter 1

Scanning the surrounding area, Sheppard took note of their position, they had chosen a good place to wait. The forest area was huge, the trees, rose high into the canopy creating a dark, almost surreal, atmosphere beneath. The foliage growing beneath the canopy, was dense, this would provide good cover, if they needed it. They were situated on a slight incline, which gave them the perfect position to see anyone coming along the path.

Sheppard, and his team, were waiting to meet up with a tracker. This tracker, was someone who knew where the Ancient Outpost was. Or so they had been told, by Mallick, a local guy, who had made the arrangements in the first place.

Ronon prowled around the area watching and listening, waiting for someone, or something, to catch his attention, anything that would require him to investigate. He hated all this hanging around, doing nothing, he liked the adrenalin rush of conflict.

Teyla was sitting down on a fallen tree, next to McKay, who was unusually quiet at the moment. She was trying to engage Rodney in some conversation but he was too engrossed in his laptop, so she gave up and turned back to survey her surroundings.

Sheppard, was leaning his back against a tree, his eyes scanning the distant pathway, watching for anyone coming their way. But he wasn't exactly sure from which way this guy would be coming.

"You think this guy's gonna show up?" Ronon asked Sheppard.

Sheppard turned to look at Ronon, "There's no reason he shouldn't show up, Mallick said this guy was eager to trade with us." he looked at his watch, "It's only been an hour, lets give him a few more minutes before we give up." he turned back to continue watching the pathway.

Ronon, looked at Sheppard, his 'I'm fed up' expression didn't go amiss, but there wasn't anything Sheppard could do about that. Ronon returned to his prowling. It was only a few minutes later, when Ronon caught sight of someone on the path.

"Someone's coming." Ronon said, and immediately vanished in to the trees. Sheppard, focused his eyes along the path and could just make out a shape moving in their direction, as it got closer, Sheppard realised that there were two figures.

He turned back to look for Ronon, but he'd vanished, gone to check out the visitors before they reached Sheppard, and the others.

As they drew closer, Shepard saw that both men where armed. He also saw that one of the men wore something over his face. He didn't like that, and nor would Ronon. The men stopped, just in front of Sheppard.

Sheppard, had his gun in sight, ready to use, but it was lowered, a veiled threat to anyone who was thinking of doing anything. Sheppard noticed, that the man wearing the face mask, also had his gun lowered, and like himself, was ready to use it.

"You Sheppard?" the tall, black haired man asked, nodding to Sheppard.

"Yes, you the tracker?" Sheppard queried.

"Yes, Mallick said you were looking to find this Ancient Outpost. And that you would be willing to trade, if I showed you the way."

"Yes, were willing to trade with you, but we need to find the Outpost first." Sheppard, wanted to make sure they were shown to the real Ancient Outpost, before he handed anything over to anyone.

The black haired tracker looked at Sheppard, weighing up whether to trust Sheppard or not. Sheppard was doing the same thing, but the one thing that was making Sheppard hesitate, was the second tracker, the guy wearing the mask over his face.

Sheppard took a calculating look at these guys, the black haired trackers age was probably, late twenties, mid thirties. He was as tall as Sheppard, but maybe a little heavier, and he looked more muscular. The second guy was much harder to fathom. The face mask he wore, was very distracting. Although it wasn't actually a mask, more like a large visor, it looked like it was moulded over the face. The only thing you could see when you looked at the mask were the reflections of your surroundings, or your own face. He looked thinner and smaller than the first tracker, but with the loose fitting clothes he wore it was hard to judge.

"I'm Sean, and this is Hunter." the black haired tracker said, introducing himself, and his friend, to Sheppard. Sean held his hand out, Sheppard hesitated at first, but relented and took hold of Sean's hand, and shook it.

Sean, couldn't help but notice how Sheppard was looking at Hunter.

"Do you have a problem with Hunter?" Sean asked Sheppard outright. Then waited for the usual response he got.

Sheppard, still staring at Hunter, turned to look at Sean, 'well if they were being honest, Sheppard thought,' so he told him what the problem was.

"I don't like not knowing who I'm with." Sheppard said, his eyes, focusing on the mask Hunter wore.

Sean and Hunter had encountered this problem before, not many people liked not being able to see someone else's face. Sean himself, had admitted that if it were him, confronted by someone with a mask, he also would not like it. But Sean also knew Hunter wore the mask for a reason, protection. In this world, there were disadvantages as well as advantages as to who or what you were. And Hunter found it safer to get around wearing the mask, letting everyone think what they wanted. Sean had learned to ignore Hunters peculiar habits, but every so often they encountered this type of problem.

"Look, you're hiring me, Hunter is my main tracker, he's one of the best. So if it's a problem that he wears a face covering, don't hire us, find someone else, it's your choice." Sean gave Sheppard a look that said, the mask issue was not up for negotiation, Sheppard pondered this, could he accept this guy without even seeing his face. Sean waited for Sheppard to respond.

Sheppard realised that they didn't have much choice, they needed to find that Ancient Outpost, so he conceded.

"Fine, your hired." Sheppard told Sean.

"Alright, when do you want to get started." Sean asked, relieved that Sheppard still wanted to hire them.

Hunter, who had been quietly surveying the others and the surrounding area, suddenly pulled his gun up and pointed it towards the trees.

Everyone reacted, Teyla pulled her gun out and pointed it towards Hunter. McKay sat there, eyes wide and wasn't sure whether to move, or stay where he was. He decided to stay where he was, any movement at this precise moment might attract someone's attention, thus incurring a bullet to his person. Sheppard, who also had his gun ready, tried to calm the situation down.

"There's someone out there." Hunter said, the voice was strangely modulated, not real, artificial.

"It's just one of my men, who's been scouting around the area." Sheppard told them."Ronon, get out here!" Sheppard shouted.

Ronon, came looming out of the trees, blaster, pointing and ready to fire. Ronon was aiming the blaster at Hunter, and his look was very intimidating. Hunter, stood his ground, but only Sean noticed the slight lowering of Hunter's gun, and the subtle change in his stance. Something was wrong, Sean realised, something was bothering Hunter, specifically, something about this Ronon guy.

"Ronon, take it easy, put the gun down." Sheppard told him, but Ronon wasn't listening just yet, his adrenaline was pumping and he was eager for a confrontation, he just continued to stare at Hunter.

Sean, like Sheppard, also tried to calm the situation down, trying to get Hunter to lower his weapon. Hunter took a few seconds to realise what Sean was asking, he lowered his gun. Ronon seeing this, lowered his gun, but still continued to stare daggers at Hunter.

Sheppard ignored Ronon's aggressive stance, for he understood Ronon's dislike of the guy.

"So, how about we get started now, no time like the present. We can use the Puddle Jumper, make things a little more easier." Sheppard said, smiling, ignoring Ronon and Hunter who seemed intent on intimidating the hell out of each other.