The violent shaking sent him tumbling into the dirt, clouds of dry brown dust obscuring his vision. But just as soon as it had started, it ended just as abruptly, and he stood back to his feet to take in his surroundings: he was in a desert, more specifically, a desert by the ocean, with even a miniscule beach thrown in for good measure. To his right, a massive column of smoke rose into the sky over the ocean, its source all but obscured by the clouds of dust carried on the wind.
The dust then began to clear. Wait, was that a building?
Yes, several, in fact; all badly damaged.
As the dust cleared, his eyes took in the sight of an entire town, stretching for several miles, and the sun, rising over a series of dull brown hills and mountains (presumably to the east). He took in a sharp breath as the full impact of what he was seeing dawned on him: this town seemed utterly abandoned and very nearly destroyed, practically split in half by several huge fissures that ran across the main drag.
What the hell could do this?
An earthquake?
A split second later, his head jerked in the direction of the water and the source of the smoke. A screech, almost inhuman in its quality chilled his blood, very nearly sending him into a state of panic. But a sense of equal parts logic and curiosity suppressed the nascent fear and forced him into a jog toward the shoreline.
What he saw there nearly made him faint.
Two figures were slowly being consumed by a raging fire, one loosing the inhuman screeches, the other one, laughing weakly. The eyes of the first suddenly locked with his, and an evil smile twisted the already burnt and horribly scarred face.
He screamed in terror.
"McKay!"
"Huh?" the scientist mumbled, still twitching in his 'sleep' if you could have called it that.
A sudden jolt to the seat brought Rodney McKay back into reality.
"What?!"
"Damn, McKay, what'd you eat for breakfast?"
"Oh, ha-ha," Rodney grumbled as he resumed a more upright, rather than slouched position in the co-pilot seat of Jumper 1.
To his left, piloting the craft, was Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. Occasional womanizer, sarcastic, and a constant pain in the ass. Of course, Sheppard would probably say the same of him, just less on the womanizing part.
"Who the hell kicked me?"
"Teyla," grumbled Ronon from the seat behind Sheppard's. Out of the corner of Rodney's eye he could see Teyla aiming a kick at the big Satedan's shin. "Ow!"
Rodney couldn't help but smirk.
"Don't make me pull this thing over," Sheppard warned in a jovial, yet equally serious tone of voice.
Teyla adopted a look of guiltlessness, while Ronon was left to massage his aching shin. Sheppard chose that moment to turn his attention back to Rodney.
"So, Rodney – what was that about?"
"What was what about?"
"Your... well, sleep, if you call it that."
"Oh, that... just a little dream, nothing to worry about," the Canadian scientist stated rather dismissively, before returning his attention to the large Flexi tablet in his lap.
"Good, 'cause I was going ask Colonel Carter to start inspecting the offworld food when we get back."
Rodney looked up from the tablet, raising his eyebrows at Sheppard. "What?"
Now he was just plain confused.
"You know, I thought maybe there was some citrus hidden away in one of those banana things."
Rodney's eyes narrowed in irritation. In the six years they'd known and worked with each other, Sheppard had long-since figured out exactly which of his buttons to push, and when to do so.
Now it was Ronon's turn to smirk. Teyla merely raised her eyebrows in mild amusement.
Rodney quickly decided that it would be best to bury himself in the lines of data scrolling their way across the semi-transparent surface of the tablet.
He could still see the telltale marks of a smirk on Sheppard's face.
That smirk, however faint, completely disappeared mere seconds later as a loud bleep sounded from the console and the HUD suddenly flared to life.
Rodney's ears twitched and his focus instantly shifted from the tablet.
"What is it this time, another space rock?"
Sheppard did another sensor scan before replying. "Still too far out to tell."
Another bleep sounded from the console, and Ancient text appeared on the HUD, designating the contact, very near the edge of the Jumper's sensor range, but the bold white dot now glowed a faint blue.
"Hold on..."
Teyla squinted at the HUD. "What is it?"
Rodney answered. "Whatever it is, it's emitting a faint, but distinct energy signature."
"So it's a ship?" asked Ronon.
"Either that, or random space rocks have started emitting nuclear radiation," Rodney replied, his tone a mix of sarcasm and distracted interest.
"Nuclear?" Sheppard was dumbfounded.
"Yeah. It's faint, but it's there."
Sheppard flicked the comm switch.
"Daedalus, this is Sheppard."
Colonel Caldwell replied, his voice scrambled by faint static. "Go ahead."
"Colonel, we're picking up a faint energy signature near the edge of the system, and, well, McKay says its nuclear."
"Did you just say 'nuclear'?"
Yet another bleep sounded from the console and the Ancient text updated itself automatically. "Well, that answers that question."
"Sheppard?" Caldwell was getting curious.
"It's definitely a ship, sir, but that's all I can say for now. It's still at the edge of our sensor range."
"Understood. Keep me advised of your progress. Caldwell out."
About three hours and half of Rodney's sarcastic lecture on nuclear physics later, they were finally in visual range of the ship.
The configuration was something new on Sheppard (albeit not as odd as the mystery aliens they'd encountered while on the alternate Daedalus last year). There were five roughly rectangular sections in a straight line, with a comparatively narrow, circular spine connecting them dead center, and a smaller, angular protrusion jutting out of the bow, contrasting with the rather squat, pyramidal shapes atop the main sections. The engines, or what he presumed were the engines, sat in a narrow block of sorts at the rear, connected to the remainder of the vessel only by the spine that ran its entire length, and were quite dead.
It was obviously a derelict.
"Rodney?"
"Hold on... Got it. Energy signature's coming from the fourth main section, the one with the weird looking skylight."
Sheppard gave him a look but Rodney just shrugged and continued.
"I'm reading minimal life support, but that shouldn't be a problem..."
"You mentioned nuclear radiation, right?" asked Teyla, sounding concerned.
"Yes. And?"
"Should we not use HAZMAT?"
"At these levels, no. It's more akin to what one of our naquadah generators puts out."
Sheppard gave him a questioning look. "So, it's nothing to be worried about then?"
"No."
"Good."
As the ship rotated longitudinally on its axis, the glare of the nearby star, however faint, exposed what appeared to be a hangar bay of sorts on the starboard side of the second section. At first glance it appeared to be open to space, but a brief orange flicker of energy seemed to mark a force field across the opening.
Sheppard cast at glance to his right. "You catch that, Rodney?"
"Yeah. That force field's hardly registering at all; any farther out and we wouldn't have even known it was there."
"Is the bay pressurized?"
Rodney tapped away at his tablet for a few seconds before responding. "Just barely. About as much as that other Daedalus was."
Sheppard nodded in acknowledgement before contacting Caldwell.
"Daedalus, Sheppard."
"Go ahead, Colonel."
"We found the ship. It's adrift, probably not running on much of anything from what I can tell, but McKay says there's minimal life support and he's managed to localize the energy signature."
"Radiation hazard?"
"He says there is none. That, and we see what seems to be a hangar bay."
"Is it pressurized?"
"Just barely."
"All right. Keep in contact if you can. We'll be standing by if you need anything."
"Copy that."
"Caldwell out."
The comm link terminated in a burst of static.
A/N: This story is based on one of Joseph Mallozzi's ideas for a potential Season 6 episode. And yes, this SGA is set in a slight AU, the differences namely being that Sam is still in command of the Expedition, and Midway was never destroyed.