Title: Off The Beaten Path
Warning: - see author's note
Genre: Drama/Adventure/Comedy
Rating: PG-13 (ish)
Word count: 15922 (at the moment it may be expanded on later)
Characters: Woolsey, McKay, Keller, Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, OC, Others mentioned.
Author's Note: - So while updating a Stargate board I read the brief synopsis for the upcoming show Tracker. Well that made a plot bunny hop and you know how that goes. So there may be spoilers for that show in here but I doubt it since my OC is female and the one in the show is not. So this is purely something to keep my fingers busy at work without actually having to work.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Stargate, the techonology of it or any of the ideas behind it. I'm not making a cent off this fiction so suing me is pretty much a big waste of time.
As always feedback is appreciated and even helps to keep the plot bunnies from killing me.
XxXxXxXxXx
As the blue shimmer of the gate winked out behind them, Rodney McKay heaved his pack higher onto his shoulder and looked at the woman and the slight man in front of him. He still couldn't believe that Woolsey had agreed to come along instead of delegating someone else to take his place. Of course it wasn't like there was any chance of danger on this mission but in the Pegasus Galaxy you never could tell what would happen. Doctor Keller on the other hand was shaping up to be a decent asset in times of stress. Even though she'd really hesitated at the beginning of her tenure as the Atlantis head of medicine, she had grown a great deal and was now quite willing to jump into new situations without too much whining. Woolsey on the other hand, while growing a lot since his promotion to the head of Atlantis, still just didn't seem like the type of man that would want to go on an away mission. But, here he was, grinning in the late afternoon sunshine and adjusting his pack on his back.
"Well, I suppose we'd better head out before it gets dark. Wouldn't do to be caught out in the open where anything could happen."
"Oh that's not a problem," Dr. Keller said with a grin. "We've done this trip before and there's not a whole lot to worry about around here other than the possibility of sun burn or the big green butterflies that follow you."
Rodney suppressed a shudder at the mention of the butterflies that Keller liked so much. They smelled distinctly like lemons and he tried his best to avoid the green menaces in case they had any citrus-like properties. "What Dr. Keller means is that there aren't any predators around here so even if we are caught out after dark, there's very little to worry about."
Woolsey blinked at Rodney as if he was speaking a foreign language for a moment before removing his glasses and carefully wiping them off with a small handkerchief he'd pulled from his coat pocket. "Yes, well I'd rather not take too much time out here in any event. I do have other concerns back at the city and I have no idea how long these talks will take."
Keller glanced back and forth between Woolsey and McKay and noted that McKay's lip was beginning to curl up in a sneer. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that Samantha Carter had been displaced by the IOA agent as the head of the city, and the two men rarely saw eye to eye on anything. Woolsey was a very traditional 'by the book' sort of man and Rodney had learned quickly that the Pegasus galaxy had no rules so you had to adapt quickly or be annihilated. "Well then, let's not wait around here shall we?"
The trio moved out towards the small village that was hosting the talks that Woolsey would be mediating. This planet was home to two different tribes that had been in what seemed like a constant battle over the small patches of arable land this continent had to offer. Teyla had first introduced the Atlantis team to the two tribes a while back and while both of them were willing to trade with the Atlantis party they weren't willing to let the other tribe trade as well. So the city's representatives had been trying to negotiate peace between them for several months but neither side was willing to give up in their quest for superiority over their counterpart. Samantha Carter had made some headway and had nearly convinced one of the sides that the city's teams would be willing to relocate them to either another part of the main continent or even one of the lesser land masses. Unfortunately they suddenly realized that they would then not have access to the gate and the deal was off. So now Woolsey was trying his hand at the negotiations.
Dr. Keller was walking along in front of Rodney who had decided to take the rear of the procession, purportedly to protect their rear flank but also so he could watch Keller walk. He had to admit, she really did fill out the uniform pants she wore in a very pleasing manner. Smiling to himself he wondered if she would even consider going out on a date with him. Sheppard would tell him that he should stop hedging and just ask her, but the idea of a woman as beautiful as Keller rejecting him was just a bit too daunting. Plus he had a sneaking suspicion that Keller was actually interested in Ronon but there still wasn't any proof even if he had caught her staring at the big Satedan over meals several times. He desperately wanted to at least take her out on a nice walk down to the south pier but the reminder of how different he was from what most women considered date material kept quashing any hopes that fought their way into his cluttered brain. Trying to distract himself from his painfully bleak dating prospects he decided it would be best if he just engaged her in a conversation. After all they had talked quite a lot while they were trapped with Sam in that underground storage room.
"So…uh…how did you get involved in medicine?" He sputtered as he jogged up beside her.
Keller smiled shyly and kept walking moving to the right of the path so that Rodney could accompany her. "Well, uh, I guess my dad was the one that got me interested in it. I was sort of…smarter than most of the kids in my town and he pushed me to learn about whatever made me happy."
She paused as they climbed up the short rise that led to the bramble thicket that surrounded the village. The thicket stretched for about a quarter of a mile in front of them and for several miles in either direction with only a narrow path leading from the gate to the villages. It was a good defensive perimeter that the tribes of this world used against the Wraith. This area was one of the very few parcels of land on this continent where anything grew and the villagers had managed to fight back the brambles far enough to sustain farmland on the far side of the thicket. The rest of the continent was made up of rocky outcrops and deep canyons.
"It's not really very exciting you know. I'm sure your history is much more interesting than mine."
Rodney wasn't sure she was wrong on that count but he wanted to listen to her talking. "Oh my life, nothing but boredom and nerd stuff. No, your story is really fascinating, keep going please."
She smiled shyly at him and looked forward to where Woolsey was leading the way through the brambles ahead of them. "Why do you want to know any of this?"
That caught Rodney off guard and he stumbled over his words as he tried to come up with an excuse, "Well, uh, I…oh…um…no reason? Hmm, seriously, you're just a very interesting person. I figure if I'm trusting my life to you on a regular basis I should know something about you right?"
Keller laughed softly, "Rodney, when is the last time you had to trust your life to me? You never come in for anything worse than a splinter."
"Yeah…well…it could happen. You never know what's around the next corner do you?"
XxXxXxXx
"Well it looks like we've finally made…" Woolsey's statement trailed off as he surveyed what was left of the village they were supposed to be meeting in. All around them there was destruction and devastation. Tents were strewn about and knocked over, fire pits were scattered and cold and the other signs of everyday life were uprooted and tossed about as if a hurricane had whipped through the village. "What happened?"
Rodney had edged his way into the middle of the clearing where the village laid, pulling his gun up in front of him and scanning the area for any survivors. "Wraith. See the scorch marks?" he asked pointing with the barrel of his gun at a charred black mark near the opening of one of the downed tents. "They must have flown in with darts and dropped the drones off just outside the village." He glanced back at Woolsey and Keller and snapped his fingers at them impatiently, "Start looking for people! There may be someone left alive here."
The other two dropped their packs and fanned out slowly. Neither of them were combat ready, and their fear of the Wraith was showing on their faces. Rodney was proud to see Keller smartly pull her pistol from it's holster and aim it towards the ground like she'd been taught. After the incident on New Athos with the Bolo Kai, Sheppard had insisted on her being trained with weapons. Keller had refused to carry anything more than a handgun but at least she'd agreed to that. Woolsey on the other hand had a side arm but hadn't pulled it yet. He was much more of a politician than a fighter but the man had been in enough dangerous situations with his tenure at the IOA that carrying a gun was not a problem for him.
Keller turned over a large piece of tent cloth and found two bodies under it. Kneeling to check for pulses her face fell when she found nothing. Rodney saw her sadness out of the corner of his eye as he continued forward, kicking bits of rubble around looking for the faint chance of anyone left alive. It was pretty obvious that the Wraith had taken everyone and moved on but they couldn't be sure until they examined the entire village. There were a few decimated husks of villagers that the Wraith had fed on as they herded the people towards the culling beams and the sight, while now familiar, still churned Rodney's guts.
"Oh! Oh…" Woolsey gasped from over to Rodney's right. He looked over to the director of the city and noticed that the man looked quite green around the gills. Rodney shook his head and wandered towards the other man and saw the drained bodies on the ground before him. What made the sight worse is that one of them was a child. Suddenly feeling a great deal of sympathy for Woolsey and his reaction to the carnage Rodney put a gentle hand on the other man's shoulder. "You just don't ever get used to it do you?" Woolsey asked quietly.
"No, no you don't." Rodney nodded as the older man looked at him with deep sadness in his eyes. "We should keep moving, there may still be people that need our help."
"Right," Woolsey said with a shake of his head. He directed his gaze over Rodney's shoulder to where Keller was searching through the wreckage. "Where's Dr. Keller?"
"She's right over…there?" Rodney whirled around to where he thought Jennifer had been but there was no sign of her. "She must be just over there behind that pile of wood," he said over his shoulder as he jogged to the other side of the camp. Once he reached the wood he'd indicated he darted behind it but the doctor was nowhere to be seen. "Dr. Keller?" he called. "Jennifer?" he called a little louder and got no response.
Woolsey had crossed the camp and was tapping on his earpiece, "Dr. Keller where are you? Dr. Keller?" The static that answered him didn't bode well.