Miles from nowhere

Disclaimer- Don't own 'em, never will, and if I did I couldn't afford their medical bills. (especially after this story) evil laughter

Comments make me type faster so tell me what you think. (This is my first fanfic so try to be nice to me.)

Part one

"I don't see why I have to keep coming out to all of these backwater colony worlds that haven't even come as far as inventing the light bulb," Rodney McKay whined as he exited the wormhole, "my expertise could be much better used back on Atlantis now that we've managed to piss off yet another another race of Ancient-hating aliens."

"I believe that the Replicators would have attacked us eventually without our interference, Rodney." Teyla said as the Stargate shut down."They seemed to be holding quit a grudge against the ancestors."

"I actually don't blame them," John Sheppard commented.

Rodney looked at him.

"What, if I'd been abandoned by my creators, or whatever Ancients are to those things, I'd be willing to hold a grudge."

"For thousands of years?"

"Well, maybe not quite that long."

"Hmpf." Rodney adjusted his pack. "Can we get moving and finish this completely pointless mission before dark, I have no desire to be trekking through pitch black forests with flesh eating monsters and god knows what else trying to kill me today."

"Don't be so melodramatic, McKay. Besides Ronon will stop all of the monsters from goring you." Sheppard grinned at the Runner. "Won't you?"

"Yeah," Ronon said pulling out his blaster for emphasis, "But I don't think the monsters will bother you."

"Why not?" Rodney demanded.

"Because all of that sunscreen you're wearing will make them think twice about eating you. You'd probably make them sick."

"Hey, it's not my fault I have naturally fair skin." Rodney pouted rubbing in a white blotch above his nose.

"The MALP saw smoke coming from this direction." John said gesturing with his P-90 attempting to break off the argument.

"It is most likely a village." Teyla said, "It would be wise to get there before dark, we would not want to frighten our potential allies with our sudden appearance."

"I don't see how good of allies people who most likely don't even know how to use the stargate could be." Rodney said as they started walking in the direction of the village.

"Shut up McKay, they might have a cool Ancient temple you can poke your nose around while we try to trade." Sheppard proposed trying to get Rodney to shut up for a minute so he could hear himself think.

"Not very likely, Ancient temples have to have an energy source, and if there was an energy source we would have been able to detect it by now." Rodney snapped back.

John watched as Rodney whipped out his hand held Ancient do-hiky and looked for an energy source despite what he had just said. Typical Rodney, says the first thing that pops into his head without thinking. Not that John believed that there was anything Ancient here, just like Rodney had said, it was a supposed to be a small community. A few villages scattered across the hillside. At least according to the Atlantis database, of course it had been a few thousand years since it had been updated. But the database would have mentioned if there had been anything Ancient built here.

Rodney finished searching with his scanner. Satisfied that there was nothing anywhere around them giving off an energy signature, he looked up. They had only been walking for about two miles and the sun was already starting to set. So much for his 'don't get eaten by roaming midnight monsters' plan. As they kept walking in silence the forest around them started to come alive. All sort of odd alien bugs started chirping and McKay swore he saw something big with fur. He was about to make a rude comment about how Sheppard's' leadership skills needed improvement if he was willing to let his team be stalked my werewolfs when Teyla spoke.

"The village is just up ahead." She pushed aside a bunch of branches and the team followed her single file with Ronon bringing up the rear. When they emerged from the trees they were directly behind a log cabin.

"This looks promising." Colonel Sheppard said walking around the outside of the house.

"Yes," Rodney said looking toward a lit up window, "they're way more advanced than I thought. They've discovered fire."

"Why don't we knock and see if anyones home." Suggested Sheppard, completely ignoring Rodney's comment. He strolled up to the door of the house and banged on it twice. He waited a few minutes and looked at Teyla. "Looks like no one's home."

"Perhaps we should try one of the larger buildings." She suggested.

"Good idea."

As they approached a central looking building they could hear music playing inside and people talking loudly.

"Looks like this is the place." Sheppard said. "Who feels like crashing a party?"

"It does seem like a gathering of some sort." Teyla agreed.

"I'm all for it as long as we don't end up on the menu." Rodney groused. His comment was sarcastic bet John didn't think that he looked too apprehensive. He look over at the runner trying to tell what he thought of the plan. Ronon shrugged and gestured for him to knock on the door. John did so. Again they waited for a matter of minutes.

"I do not believe they can hear us." Teyla observed.

"I think you're right." John reached for the doorknob and pulled the door open. Inside people were everywhere, all were too busy either dancing, drinking, or talking to realize their arrival.

"Hello folks!" John shouted over the noise. Only a few people looked up. They quit talking immediatly and started staring, those who were still talking were soon silenced by their companions.

"Hi, my name is John Sheppard," John began, speaking to his his curious and startled audience, "and these are my team members Teyla Emmagen, Ronon Dex, and Rodney McKay." he pointed to them each in turn, "Is there anyone here who is in charge?"

"We are peaceful explorers." Teyla added quickly, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea. John nodded in approval. The team looked out over the group waiting for someone to distinguish themselves. Some drunk man in the back hiccuped loudly.

"I am in charge." A man near the front said standing up. He was a short, young man wearing something close to a suit, his face was clean shaved and his hair was a rich brown color. John watched him as he circled around them looking them over. Ronon growled in annoyance as he flicked at his dreadlocks with curiosity. It was all John could do to stop from laughing. He could tell Rodney was having the same problem because he snigered somewhere behind him. The man apparently didn't notice or care about the visitors distaste of being stared at and continued inspecting them.

"My name is Teram." He said finally standing back. "May I ask what you're doing in our village?"

"We are explorers." Teyla replied. "We come to learn about your people in hopes that we may become allies."

Teram paused and appeared to be considering her offer. "And you are the leader of your people?"

"No," Teyla smiled, "that would be Colonel Sheppard."

Teram turned to face him. "You wish to form an alliance with our people?"

Sheppard nodded, he was starting to feel a bit nervous talking to this guy. All he seemed to do was ask questions. "And we were also wondering if you could give us a place to stay tonight. We walked a long way from the Stargate."

"Stargate?"

"Big round thing, with symbols that light up." Rodney stated. "Of course it's probably too advanced for your pathetic scien-..."

"It is not important at this time." Teyla said cutting off Rodney in mid-rant. "Perhaps you know it as 'The Ring of the Ancestors'."

"Ah, of course." Teram answered. "But if you are peaceful explorers," He asked staring directly into Sheppard's' eyes, "then why do you carry weapons?"

Teyla looked at John, her eyes telling him that he should answer this one. He unhooked the clip on his P-90 and held it out in front of him.

"We carry weapons to defend ourselves, you never know what kinds of wild animals and violent people you might encounter on another planet. If you're interested, we can supply weapons like these for your people if we decide to trade." John wanted to get the idea of negotiations out as quickly as possible so they could finish this mission and head back to Atlantis. He could send back another team to close the negotiations later. This guy was officially creeping him out. He could tell by his team mates nervous glances that he was not the only one sensing something was off.

A girl got up from the table and stood next to Teram. She was wearing a white and yellow ruffled dress that made her look not unlike a layered cake. In fact, all of the women in the room were wearing similar dresses.

"Such serious matters like negotiations should not be discussed tonight," She was telling Teram, "tonight we should be celebrating." She turned to talk to Sheppard. "Would you care to join in our feast?"

"What exactly are we feasting for?" Rodney asked.

"Why the hunt, of course!" She replied acting as if it was absurd that they didn't know. "Teram slayed the biggest runner beast of all." She stood on her tip toes and kissed Teram on the cheek, he didn't even so much as smile, which unnerved Sheppard even more.

"Please, join us."

Feeling there was nothing to loose, and that they didn't have much of a choice, Sheppard sat down at an empty space at the table, Teyla moved to sit next to him but was stopped by two girls.

"Oh, no! You can't eat!" They cooed.

Sheppard and Ronon were on their feet at once, "Why not?" Sheppard demanded.

"Because she is not in formal dinning attire." One of the girls replied. "She needs to come with us."

"Um, I don't think so." Sheppard said, he was already feeling uncomfortable being here and he didn't want any of his team members out of his sight.

"It's alright, John." Teyla said, "I will be fine. If this is their custom I should abide by it."

John frowned but agreed and sat back down at the table as he watched the girls guide Teyla away. He drew his attention back to the food on the table. The feast looked incredible. There was a big chunk of some sort of meat in the middle, and dozens of smaller side dishes all along the table. He helped himself to something that looked a little like mashed potatoes.

"Does this have citrus in it?" Rodney was questioning a man sitting next to him.

"What is citrus?"

John rolled his eyes as Rodney attempted to explain to the confused villager what citrus was. He started eating some of the meat and was surprised at how good it was. It was so tender it practically melted in your mouth.

"Wow, maybe we could trade for some of this stuff," he said to Ronon. The runner grunted through a mouthful of the potato-like dish. John was just about to take anther bite when he saw something moving in the back of the room.

"Oh my..."

TBC

What did you think? Was it good? Please R&R!