"I won't give up on one of my team!" the recognisable voice of Major John Sheppard drifted from the briefing room, many heads in the control room turned at the sudden yell.
"Major I'm not saying we should give up on him! I'm only saying that we need to take some teams off the search. We don't have the manpower to search for him, to try to find allies against the wraith and possible trading partners! He's been gone for a month now, and as much as we all miss him we have to start thinking about getting back to normal" came the exasperated reply from Dr Elizabeth Weir, the leader of this expedition.
"You think we can ever get back to normal?" the doors to the briefing room opened and Major Sheppard walked out his face bent low, his brown hair even messier then usual. As he started down the steps he heard a voice
"Major" he turned to see Teyla walking down the steps towards him, her face was pale and tired. None of the team had slept properly since the disappearance of Doctor McKay on what they had though was a friendly meet and greet.
When they had arrived through the gate, they had been greeted by some of the villagers who had been extremely interested in hearing the stories of Atlantis. Rodney had begun almost immediately to ask questions about the villager's technology.
'Why hadn't he just kept quiet?' thought John ' I should have realised that the villagers were up to something1 God Rodney why do you always have to get into trouble! If it's not being infected by a deadly virus it's being held hostage by a lunatic.'
Teyla saw the look of pain and guilt flash across her friend's face; she took a step towards him.
"Major you should not blame yourself for what happened to Doctor McKay!" she put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"Yeah, but if I'd…" he began to say before she interrupted him.
"You could not have known what was going to happen on that planet, to Doctor McKay or anyone else." Her voice brought him back to reasoning, her hazel eyes held his searching gaze.
"Sir?" the voice of Lieutenant Ford broke the silent exchange, both turned to look up at the Lieutenant as he started down the steps towards them.
"Sir, Doctor Weir says that we have most of the available teams out there looking for him….' He started to say before the gate suddenly activated, all three started to run up the stairs just as Elizabeth tore from the briefing room into the control room her face filled with hope that this would be Rodney, even though she knew it would be probably impossible as he had been missing for so long she still wanted to hope. She looked around to see John, Teyla and Aiden run into the control room the same look of hope reflected in each of their faces.
As the gate finished the dialling sequence, and the shield had been activated the whole room turned to Peter Grodin waiting for him to say that an IDC had been sent through. When none appeared the whole room turned back to their various jobs all disappointed. Then a crackling came over the radio and a voice buzzed in.
"Doctor…have…information…McKay…lower…shield" the interference was terrible but as soon as the name 'McKay' had been mentioned the whole room had looked up.
'Strange how McKay's snarkiness has affected everyone's life's. It just wouldn't be the same without McKay's grumbling' thought Sheppard as he surveyed the totally silent control room.
"Lower the shield" Elizabeth said, she was full of hope that this information would help lead them to her friend.
When the gate's shield had been deactivated four people stepped through into the gate room. Three of them stared around, all taken aback by the immense beauty of the ancient city, the fourth however did not stare around awestruck he simply watched the stairs and smiled when Elizabeth started to descend towards him.
Elizabeth hitched a smile on her face in order to mask her fear and anticipation of the information that these people brought with them.
"It is good to see your again Doctor Weir" the fourth said still smiling widely at Elizabeth.
"It's nice to see you too Ambassador Filope" Elizabeth replied automatically, she shook hands with the Ambassador briefly before stepping back to introduce him to her flagship team. Filope bowed to all three of the team, he received a curt nod from both Ford and Sheppard and a small smile from Teyla.
"You said you had information." John stated bluntly as he surveyed the Ambassador and his companions coldly. The companions seemed to realise that they were being watched and promptly turned and bowed towards the small assembly of people gathered around them.
"Yes indeed we do. But it might be best if we discuss this new information somewhere more… umm… private" Filope looked around at the crowded control room and at the slightly emptier gate room, and for the first time his smile faltered.