A Trick of the Mind
Chapter One
The familiar alarm of an incoming wormhole startled Dr. Elizabeth Weir out of her Ancient-datastream induced comatose. Shaking her head as she leaned on her desk in order to stand, she walked out of her office and took the gangway in three long strides.
"It's Major Sheppard's IDC, ma'am," the technician said, glancing at the woman. Elizabeth simply nodded to him, her mind still a little foggy. Stepping up to the railing, Elizabeth closed her arms over her chest and watched as Rodney McKay and Teyla came sprinting through the Stargate. They were followed quickly by Lieutenant Ford who backed into the Gate room while sending bullets back through the event horizon.
"Where's John?" Elizabeth yelled above the gun fire. Rodney, who was leaning on his knees while catching his breath held up a finger, signaling her to wait. Furrowing her brow, Elizabeth looked up just in time to see Major John Sheppard come flying through the Stargate. Tucking his head into his chest, he landed in a somersault and was on his feet facing the Stargate with his weapon held up in the blink of an eye. He immediately started to shoot while yelling for someone to either put up the shield or shut the wormhole down. Or both, he really didn't care.
"Now would be good!" He yelled just as what could best be described as a giant spider stepped into the room. Sheppard and Ford immediately aimed for the head, pounding bullet after bullet into the creature and forcing it back until only half of it remained on this side of the event horizon. Then the technician reacted to Sheppard's command and shut the Gate down. A terrible scream ripped through the room as the spider was severed in half before it collapsed. Stepping up to it, Sheppard shot another round into the creature before he was convinced it was dead.
Without saying a word, Sheppard turned and instantly found the technician behind the control panel. He was about to berate the boy despite their level difference when Elizabeth cut in.
"I take it that planet is a no?"
"A very big no," Sheppard said, staring daggers into the technician. "And that wasn't even the biggest of them."
Elizabeth turned to the cowering technician before heading for the stairs. As soon as she was within reach, she put a hand on Sheppard's arm.
"We'll deal with the problem later," she said under her breath before bringing a radio up to her lips. "Can we get a quarantine team to the Gate room? We have a big mess to take care of."
Without waiting for a response, she turned to the very dead spider and shivered.
"Yeah," Sheppard said, "my thoughts exactly."
"How many?" She couldn't stop staring at the strange creature, even as a team in hasmat suits appeared.
"Imagine an Earth-sized spider's nest. Then multiply it by three and blow them up to roughly that size." Elizabeth's face fell.
"Not quite the sanctuary we were looking for then."
"Just a little off target, yes."
"Excuse me," came Rodney's voice. "Let's not forget the one that jumped me from behind."
Elizabeth turned to look at the man and, for the first time, noticed the not-so-delicate thread that was wrapped around his neck and waist. Rodney's expression was that of exaggerated anguish as he looked back an forth between Elizabeth and Sheppard. If he was expecting sympathy, he didn't get any.
"I'm still waiting for that 'thank you', Rodney," Sheppard said with a slight sneer.
"Then you'll be waiting for a very long time, Major. If it weren't for you killing that one little spider then we wouldn't have that half of a much larger spider in Atlantis, nor would I have come very close to being breakfast. I do not enjoy being breakfast."
"I think it was actually late afternoon on the planet," Sheppard said in an offhand manner. "So you would have been tea."
"Regardless of the time of day, Major, you seem to have a knack for waking up very angry, very hungry insects that would like nothing better than suck our insides out of our chests."
"Well, excuse me for being a little sensitive about large bugs hanging around in webs who seem to be eying my neck!" Sheppard stepped right up to Rodney and used his superior height to stare the scientist down.
"You didn't have to kill it," Rodney replied without backing down. "Walking around the web would have sufficed."
"Had I known that it would have woken the rest up, then, no, I wouldn't have killed it. In hindsight that was probably a bad idea." Sheppard seemed to be giving in, which was rather unusual; the look in Rodney's eye betrayed his distrust. However, Sheppard was not done. "But I still saved your neck."
"Would you say the same about waking up the Wraith?" Rodney asked this in a very low, threatening tone. In response, Sheppard's eyes widened and he looked about ready to actually attack Rodney had it not been for Elizabeth stepping between them, pushing the two men apart.
"Gentlemen, please."
Sheppard snarled at Rodney over the top of Elizabeth's head.
"There is no need for that, Major," Elizabeth said, stepping back. "Now I know this is a stressful time for all of us but we have to keep ourselves in check. We will find a planet in time, we just have to be patient and keep our heads. Having our ranking military officer in chains for murder is the last thing we need right now."
She looked at Sheppard who conceded and took a step back, his brow furrowed in frustration. Rodney, on the other hand, looked offended that she hadn't said anything about needing him alive but didn't speak up; the look on Elizabeth's face was enough to stop him.
"I didn't sign up for life-sucking aliens and giant bugs when I agreed to come," Rodney said instead, his eyes still on Sheppard.
"None of us did, Rodney," Elizabeth sighed. "Now I think it best if the two of you calmed down before we debrief. We don't need to be at each other's throats while trying to save hundreds of other people."
"You're sending us to our rooms?" Sheppard asked, finally looking somewhere other than Rodney.
"If you want to think of it in that light, then yes I am. Shower, sleep, eat, I don't care what you do so long as you two don't kill each other in the process. We'll meet again in the conference room at eighteen-hundred this evening." With that as a farewell, Elizabeth ascended the steps to return to her office and to continue her search for a suitable planet in order to protect her people.
---
After leaving the Control Room and depositing of his gear in the armory, Sheppard stormed through the halls while trying to keep something of a composure. Nobody spoke to him or dared to approach him as he took hall after hall to get to his room. At one point he actually had to pause and turn around, having missed his passageway in his anger.
How dare Rodney say that.
As soon as his door was closed behind him, Sheppard turned around and slammed his fist into the wall, yelling obscenities at the dent he made while imagining it was Rodney's face. He could not stand that man sometimes. Genius this and genius that did not make up for the fact that Rodney was next to useless in a fight. He spooked easily, held a gun as if it were going to bite him, and could not go three words without saying how brilliant he was and how stupid everyone around him was in comparison. And, at the moment, Sheppard could not decide which trait he hated the most. Hell, he hated them all.
Anger, however, quickly turned to regret. Not over what he had said to Rodney but over the fact that he had slammed his bare fist into a metal wall. A very hard metal wall. Pain was now coursing up the length of his arm and his knuckles were bleeding and already bruised. He swore rather brilliantly as he shook the hand out. The movement only made him wince.
"Great," Sheppard muttered to himself, "Elizabeth is going to kill me."
Rubbing at his brow with his uninjured left hand, Sheppard glanced at the clock near his bed. He still had a couple of hours before the debriefing which meant he had plenty of time to get this checked out. Hopefully it wasn't anything more than a slight strain. Anything else could be detrimental to the survival of Atlantis.
Before leaving, Sheppard took off his jacket and, delicately pulling his throbbing hand through the cuff, tossed it across the room where it slid off his bed to land in a pile on the floor. He didn't bother picking it up and it simply blended in with the haphazard shape the room was already in.
It did not take long for Sheppard to reach the infirmary and even less time for Carson Beckett to take notice of him. The Scotsman smiled in greeting and patted the shoulder of the woman he was speaking with before turning and addressing Sheppard properly.
"What brings you here, Major? You didn't discover a creature hanging off of your leg, did ya'?" Carson grinned from ear to ear and Sheppard scowled.
"I thought we agreed 'never again'." He would have held up one hand in gesture had it not been for his injury. Instead, his scowl only deepened. The expression did not last for long, however, before he held up his injured hand. "I came about this."
"Scrape it up, did we?" Carson took the Major's hand and started to examine it before pointing the man to one of the beds to have a seat.
"Not exactly," Sheppard said as he sat down. "Rodney insulted me and…"
"I'm not going to have to fix him up, will I?" Carson asked as he pulled on a glove. Glancing at Sheppard over his shoulder, he looked genuinely concerned.
"No, but I might have to find someway to get a dent out of my wall."
Carson frowned as he turned to fully face Sheppard. "You're saying that you punched the wall."
It wasn't so much of a question as it was a confirmation to which Sheppard nodded. Carson sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward while muttering under his breath. "We'll have to take a closer look at it, then; make sure things are were they should be."
When Sheppard held up his hand once again, he was pleased to see that it was not swollen which meant he probably had not broken it. His body visibly relaxed as this realization took hold. Carson glanced up and Sheppard momentarily before straightening completely.
"Well, good news is that I don't think it's broken, but you seem to have realized that," Carson said with something of a lopsided grin. Despite that, his expression immediately became serious as he continued. "However, I would like to take a couple of x-rays, just to be sure."
Sheppard nodded and glanced around the infirmary. Hopefully Elizabeth wouldn't show up. He'd need some time to prepare himself for telling her how he had injured his dominant hand in a rather childish way. When he didn't see her, Sheppard sighed in relief. He would have to face her eventually, he just wasn't prepared to do it right now.
Carson returned not long after Sheppard had made his sweep of the room and gestured for the Major to follow him. Sheppard hopped off the bed and followed the doctor towards a rather sophisticated looking Ancient device.
"Place your hand there, Major," Carson instructed, pointing to a spot right under a large casement. "And if you could take a seat…"
The doctor rounded the table to arrange Sheppard's hand palm-side up with fingers extended. Sheppard winced but was pleased that the pain was not as bad as it had been. That only meant it was getting better, right?
Carson disappeared behind a computer terminal for a moment before instructing Sheppard to turn his hand over in order to get the other side. After changing the film, Carson disappeared once more and told Sheppard to be still.
"Very good, thank you, Major," Carson said with a nod a moment later. Sheppard simply tightened his lips in response and lifted his hand off the table and into his lap. Glancing up at the ceiling to see if there was anything particularly interesting about it, Sheppard stood and walked to where Carson was sitting a moment later when asked to do so.
"Just as I suspected." Carson pointed at a screen on which the x-rays had shown up; he would retrieve the actual prints later. "The bones in your hand are intact. However, I would be willing to say that you bruised it up pretty well upon impact. Just what are you mad at Rodney for, this time?"
"It's not important," Sheppard said as he glanced away. The mere thought of Rodney's gall still enraged him but he was big enough to not repeat what had already been said.
"Right." Carson studied the Major for a moment before pointing back towards the part of the infirmary they had just come from. "Let me just bandage that up and you can be on your way."
Thanks," Sheppard replied.
The cleaning and bandaging process took next to no time and Sheppard was thanking Carson once again before he knew it. Standing up and brushing his hands on his pants, Sheppard smiled at the Scot.
"How's about this being another story we don't tell anyone?"
"Just be careful," the doctor warned. "The hand will be sore for a couple'o days but you should be able to use it well enough. Just don't plan on doing any climbing."
Sheppard allowed himself to laugh. "But if anyone asks about the hand—"
"What hand?"
"Exactly," Sheppard said, pointing at his friend. "Thanks again, Carson."
"My pleasure, Major."
With a smile, Sheppard almost shoved his hands into his pockets before thinking twice about it. Instead, he checked his watch to see whether or not food would still be available in the mess hall. He hadn't eaten since very early that morning and his stomach was just now reminding him of that fact. With a slight frown, Sheppard was just lowering his arm when he ran right into someone heading in the opposite direction. Bringing up his hands in order to steady the other person, he was momentarily horrified to see whose shoulders he was holding—Elizabeth.
"John!" She exclaimed, flustered from suddenly walking into the tall pilot.
"Hello, Elizabeth," he said with a smile, trying to smooth over their collision. "I didn't see you there."
"Well, you did suddenly appear from the corridor." As if suddenly realizing which passageway Sheppard had come from, she looked him up and down. "You aren't injured are… What happened to your hand?"
"This?" Sheppard asked with a laugh as he held up his hand. "It's nothing. I must have run into something while trying to not get eaten by a bunch of big ass spiders."
"I can tell when you're lying, John," Elizabeth said with narrowed eyes. "What really happened."
"I ran into a wall?" He tried. Elizabeth nodded.
"I thought so. Can you still shoot?"
"I was going to go check after eating something. Carson said it'll be fine as long as I don't go running into any more walls."
While Elizabeth was obviously upset, she was taking it a lot better than he thought she would. In fact, Sheppard had been preparing himself for a full blown tempest about how careful he should be seeing as he was in charge of Atlantis's military personnel and one of the most important members on this base considering how close the Wraith were. He suspected, however, that Elizabeth knew just how aware of this he actually was despite his tendency to be somewhat reckless.
"It won't happen again," he sincerely promised.
"Good." She nodded. "Major."
"Doctor Weir."
And they parted. Sheppard glanced back at her after a couple of steps and blew out the air he had been holding in his lungs. Perhaps she was a bit more upset than he had originally thought. That farewell had been, for the lack of a better word, chilling.
Gritting his teeth, Sheppard decided to rush through food and spend as much time as he could in the shooting range to make sure his hand still worked properly. And if it didn't…well, that was not really an option.
---
Elizabeth entered the conference room and was pleased to see Sheppard and his team already gathered there. She nodded to them as she rounded the table and took her seat at the head. Glancing to Sheppard and his bandaged hand, she sat forward and placed her forearms on the table.
"What happened on the planet, Major?"
Sheppard looked her in the eye before turning away and gesturing to his team with his injured hand. After countless rounds with a variety of different weapons, his hand was sore but working just fine. That, however, was pushed to the back of his mind.
"Nothing really happened in the first couple of hours," he started. "There wasn't a village nearby or much of anything other than trees. Lots and lots of trees. It got a little tiring after awhile, actually. Anyway, just as we had decided to start a general sweep of the immediate area I noticed the first spider. It was a little bigger than the Earthly variety but I didn't pay it much mind."
"Can I interrupt," Rodney asked, doing just that. "I'd like to say that the Major practically jumped out of his skin and gave the thing a wide berth. It was only this big toe to toe." He held his hands maybe seven inches apart and nodded. Ford rolled his eyes.
"You squealed and told me to shoot it, if I recall correctly," Sheppard shot back, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Rodney opened his mouth to respond but Elizabeth was quicker.
"Gentlemen," she warned. "This is not an open discussion table. Only contribute intell, not jabs at each others egos. Major, if you would continue."
"Of course," he nodded. "As I was saying, I didn't really think much about the spider. It was big and I avoided it, nothing much to tell. We didn't see another one for roughly a quarter of an hour and, just like the last, it was sitting in the middle of a web of nearly invisible thread. For the next ninety minutes they became more and more prevalent. Figuring the area we were heading would simply get more infested, I ordered the team to move out and head in a different direction since this was obviously not a suitable place to use as shelter from the Wraith.
"Just as we were leaving, Ford's hat got snagged in the bottom of one of the webs. The spider, who was apparently hiding in the branches, was the size of a cat and moving fast. Without a second thought, I shot it twice in order to prevent any trouble and we took up a quick pace."
Rodney snorted indignantly near the end and Elizabeth turned to him. "You have something to add?"
Looking up and around, Rodney pointed at himself. "Me?"
"Yes."
"No, nothing. Just thinking about what's coming up. Go ahead, Major, you're doing a fantastic job."
The look Sheppard gave Rodney was not a happy one as he turned to look at Elizabeth.
"Anyway," he drawled, a harsh edge to his voice. It was growing increasingly obvious how upset he was with the scientist. "It wasn't until a spider the size of a collie jumped McKay from behind that we knew there was a problem. After the three of us," he indicated Ford, Teyla, and himself, "disposed of the creature, we started to hightail it towards the Gate. I didn't want to take any chances."
"Of course not, John, and I'm glad you didn't. Is that it then?"
Sheppard leaned back and slung one arm over the back of his chair with a shrug. "I think you know the rest and I'll detail it in my report. The summary is that a whole crap load of them started to chase us—both on the ground and in the trees. We gunned a couple of the faster ones down and would have had that last one under control before stepping through the Gate had Rodney not tripped over his own feet causing both Ford and myself to go down. Our friend in the Gate Room was able to catch up and would have taken Ford's head off if the Lieutenant hadn't been quicker than he was."
There was silence for a moment before Elizabeth glanced around the table with one brow raised. When nobody had anything further to contribute, she sat forward and stood up, her hands still on the table.
"Right then. If you haven't done so, I want each of you checked out by Doctor Beckett just to make sure you're okay." She looked at Sheppard as she said this and he gave her a thumbs up. A slight smile flickered across her lips before she continued. "I've scheduled another mission for the four of you tomorrow morning to be commenced at oh-eight-hundred.
"This planet is mentioned in the database to be inhabited with friendly natives who were willing to trade and to fight with them against the Wraith," Elizabeth continued. "The Ancients seemed to believe the native peoples harnessed a great energy source that could be used against their enemies. By the time they discovered this source it was apparently too late to fully explore it; there aren't any records explaining what it is they found, if anything significant at all. It did say, however, that these people are highly advanced and were on the verge of space travel when the Ancients gained their allegiance."
"Could it be similar to a zedpee-em?" Rodney asked, intrigued. Elizabeth simply shrugged.
"It's possible but if they were nearly as advanced as the Ancients the Wraith probably decimated their cities. I don't even know if there are any people left on the planet. Regardless, I want you to go to the planet to see what you can find. Even if its people are dead or do not have this power, it could be place to safe harbor our people when the Wraith arrive."
"On a peopled planet?" Rodney cut in.
"We don't know if there are people there, Rodney."
"Well, yes, but if there are, isn't it likely that the Wraith know about them? They could have been culled already."
"Yes, all of that is true, but we're running out of options very quickly. We need to follow any lead we happen across that could possibly help in stopping the Wraith. Even if there are people who do not understand the technology of their ancestors, we must look for it anyway. Do I make myself clear?"
"As crystal," Sheppard cut in, eying Rodney.
The scientist made a face but didn't say a word.
"Good, you're dismissed." She sat down and shuffled through a couple of papers she had brought with her. Just as Sheppard was about to leave, she glanced up and said, "Will you stay behind for a moment, John?"
He turned to look at her before telling Ford he'd talk to him later. Walking to the woman's side, he tilted his brow.
"Yes?"
"Your hand, it's okay?"
"It is."
"You're sure?" She looked up at him in order to determine whether or not he was lying.
Sheppard's expression was grim. "Yes, Elizabeth, I'm sure. I wouldn't risk the others if I wasn't."
"Good. I'll see you in the morning then. Good night, John." She looked back at her papers.
"'Night, Elizabeth."
---
A/N: I know, I know, Season One, but my current lack of cable television has proved it difficult for me to fully enjoy Season Two. That being the case, I have chosen to restrain from dealing with characters—such as Ronan—that I am not currently familiar with. Fortunately, I have someone taping the upcoming season for me so, hopefully, I'll be able to catch up. I hope that hasn't turned anyone off, 'cause there's a lot more to come…