A/N: Okay, if you didn't read the description this story contains McShep elements. (In otherwords, JohnxRodney pairing of the sorts) So if you do not like that sort of thing, please feel free to turn away now, as flames will be ignored. On a happier note, thank you to the most amazing Beta ever,Ashvarden! Without you this story would be terrible. This story is also an Alternate Universe, so before you start reading there are probably a few things you should know. 1) The Atlantis team never met Niam. 2) Oberoth was never killed when the Asurans took over Atlantis. 3) They failed to destory the Replicator homeworld during season four. Trust me, it may sound like nothing, but it helps to know those things if you don't pick it up along the way.
This is my second McShep attempt, the other story is already finished in writing, but my other Beta ribbon_purple has been busy and is still going over it. So I wrote this to pass the time, which this is also complete. And should be regulary updated. If not bug me, nag me, harass me until I do. Enjoy, and if you think I'm doing a good job, please take the time to review. Thanks.
Little light was able to shine through the thick foliage of the treetops, leaving the forest below in a murky damp darkness. Sunlight that was able to find its way through the dense greenery illuminated the layers upon layers of grey rotting leaves that saturated the forest floor.
All sense of time had been lost long ago, along with all sense of direction, which wasn't very crash hot to start with. Sheppard had to argue with himself about whether or not they should head back to the Stargate, but how far back it was, he had no idea.
The rustling of the leaves was the only sound that filled the air, the cool breeze flowing freely over the ground, lifting the once alive greenery away into the darkness beyond.
Sheppard watched McKay as he wandered forward, mumbling under his breath and looking over at the energy readings he was receiving on another one of his do-hickeys that Sheppard could never understand. The last time he tried to grasp the complexity of the device he ended up getting a massive headache, so he did his best to avoid the technical side of things and leave that to the "science god" as McKay puts it.
Behind him, Ronon and Teyla strode at a reasonable pace, laughing at each other's jokes. For the last few off world missions, Sheppard had begun to notice the change in their attitudes towards each other.
Though, lately there were other things on Sheppard's mind that he'd begun noticing more than he probably should.
For the past week, McKay had slowly become his every waking thought, from the moment he woke up in the early hours of the morning to the late hours of night before he went to sleep. At first he tried to push it aside in the hoped that it would pass, but it was slowly dawning on him that perhaps he had feelings for his best friend since he'd arrived at Atlantis.
Many, many times he'd caught himself staring at Rodney, daydreaming, thinking about what it would like to brush his hands through his hair and press their lips together. Unfortunately, on multiple occasions, Rodney had caught Sheppard's eyes upon him, though he never mentioned anything about it.
A twig snapped under Sheppard's weight as he stepped on the small piece of wood, the echoing crack causing McKay to twist frantically, startled, as if expecting to be fired at with arrows.
Doing his best to hold back the grin that had begun to widen on his face, Sheppard continued walking, patting Rodney on the shoulder as he passed. "Scared much?" Nope, he couldn't hold it back any longer and started laughing.
"I was not scared, thank you very much." He glanced over to Ronon and Teyla, who had caught up. "I was simply testing my reflexes."
Yep. He was scared.
"If you say so," John mused to himself before leaning back against one of the trees and yawning.
"John, I don't believe that there's anything on this planet that could possibly be any use for us. Wouldn't it be best to go back while it's still light?" Teyla looked back in the direction they'd come from. She was right, so far there'd be no evidence to suggest that there was anything useful here.
"Yeah." Sighing, he pushed himself back into an upright position. "I'm calling this one off, let's go home."
Home, even saying it felt natural these days. He was used to it by now; many people from the Atlantis expedition called it home. After all these years, how could anyone go back to a normal life? Especially after seeing all the wonderful things the universe had brought to him? Aside from the Wraith, the Replicators, the Genii... okay, maybe it wasn't so great in some aspects. But it was home nevertheless. The thought of having to go back to Earth and live the same old life was something he would never be able to do, not after Atlantis came into his life.
Rodney shook his head at the order to go back to Atlantis. "Not if you want the ZPM readings that I'm picking up."
Now that was worth sticking around for. "You never said anything about a ZPM earlier, you've been holding out on us Rodney."
"Ha ha. Well, it wouldn't be hard to from you," Rodney snapped back, showing his resentment towards John without hesitation.
Teyla stepped between the two of them. "Do you have any idea how far away we are from it?"
Rodney gave John a smug look. "Of course I do, it's about eight hundred meters that way."
Rolling his eyes, John gestured for Rodney to lead the way. There was no use fighting with him, he'd never win anyhow, especially when in concerned him and possibly finding a new ZPM.
The wind had begun to pick up now, the breeze's cool touch almost refreshing against his face as he continued to follow Rodney between the obstacle course of vines, dead tree branches, rocks, stumps...
"I found something," Rodney interrupted John's thoughts. "It should be somewhere about here..."
Looking around, they all saw nothing. The area was small, but one of the wider open spaces they'd come across since arriving through the Stargate.
Unfortunately, travelling in the Puddle Jumper had been out of the question, because of the thick treetops that circled high above them. It would be impossible to get through them without severely damaging it, but it sure as hell would have made it a lot quicker in searching the planet.
"I don't see anything," Ronon grumbled.
Teyla nodded her head. "I have to agree, I don't see any sign that a ZPM might be around, Rodney."
Rodney continued to fiddle with his device while Sheppard scouted the outer perimeter of the area.
At least here there was plenty of sunshine; one large beam was shining through the foliage spreading out over the entire area. There were plenty of plants though, that was for sure. The botanists would have a field day here when they told them about it back at Atlantis, almost every inch of this place was covered in some form of plant. At least there weren't any crystals this time; thank god there weren't any crystals this time.
Rustling from somewhere in the darkness beyond the trees got John's attention quickly. Signalling the others to hide, John positioned himself behind one of the trees, gun at the ready next to Rodney who was scrambling to get his gun ready.
Rodney opened his mouth to speak, but John quickly placed his hand over it to shut him up.
Seconds later, the figure of a man walked straight past them. To their surprise, he stopped and greeted them.
"Welcome, we've been expecting you."
Lowering his gun, John examined the stranger. He was wearing a bright white shirt and pants. Both were spotlessly clean. There wasn't a single speck of dirt on them.
"You... have?" John managed to force out of his mouth.
"Indeed. We've been waiting for you ever since the great circle activated a while ago. We were beginning to worry you might have gotten lost." The stranger didn't seem to notice Teyla and Ronon, he seemed more attentive to him and Rodney, taking occasional glances at their weapons.
"I'm sorry." Teyla seemed hesitant to say anything. "You say "we've been waiting for you" yet I don't see anyone else around."
"I've forgotten my manners. Let me begin again. Hi, my name's Val. My people, the Myrans, our world was attacked by the Wraith. Only a few of us managed to escape, we set up a colony here where we've been safe ever since. Follow me and I'll lead you to our village."
Val walked away into the darkness, not turning back, giving them enough time to decide whether or not they should follow.
"They may have something worth trading, he appeared to be from a very advanced culture." Teyla was already bought on them following.
"You can't know that," Rodney whispered harshly.
"I say we follow." Ronon didn't seem to be phased either way.
"Three against one Rodney, but if you feel as if you can't handle coming with us, you can stay here. Alone. In the dark." The bait was now dangling tentatively on the hook, waiting for Rodney to bite, and just as John had expected, he did.
"Fine," was all Rodney said as he secluded himself into silence.
Not wasting any time, the four ran to catch up to Val. No one noticed the figures in the shadows watching them as they left, and certainly no one heard them as they began to follow.
*
For a few minutes John kept a close eye on Val. He wasn't a very talkative person; John knew that much to say the least.
The forest slowly began to widen up; the distance between the trees got further apart the longer they walked. Ahead, a large horizon of light shed through the trees in a painful glare. It was ages since they'd been out in the bright sunlight. John had only just gotten used to the idea of seeing in the dark.
The opening was massive; for a good solid mile a grassy plain spread out right until it met the edges of the forest on the other side, the grass swaying in the wind hypnotically. In the middle stood a small collection of wooden lodges.
Val directed them towards a stone well that sat peacefully in the middle of the village. Just by looking at it you could tell it'd obviously had been there for a long time. Moss ran along and through the cracks all the way up to the very top.
The Myran colony that Val had mentioned was almost nothing more than a sheer tent. Okay, maybe there were a few small wooden lodges but they'd expected something a little more extravagant.
"Welcome to our Village." Val paused before continuing. "Please wait here while I tell the elders of your arrival."
Leaving them to wait by the well, Val diverted himself into one of the lodges, probably to go get the elders.
John glanced down into the well, struggling to see the bottom. Picking up a stone from beside the well, he dropped it down. He waited for a splash. Five seconds later, the surface of the murky water below rippled as the stone was swallowed up by the well.
Behind him he could hear Rodney starting to grunt. "So much for your 'advanced' civilisation." He even added the quotations with his fingers.
John watched as Teyla rolled her eyes. "What's that term you use on Earth, John? Never judge a book by its cover?"
He nodded slowly, not sure where she was going with any of this.
"Rodney, just to let you know, not all people in Pegasus wish others to see how advanced they really are." Taking a long, deep breath, she looked away.
The lodge door swung open, revealing three people wearing identical clothes to Val, the same old boring white shirt and pants.
One of the older elders stepped forward and stretched out his hand towards Sheppard. "Welcome. I hope Val didn't frighten you, but we were beginning to worry. My name's Niam, and this is Neridah." He gestured to the woman on his left, her blonde hair blowing into her face. "And Tirral." She stood on his right, her seaweed green eyes standing out more than any other feature on her body.
John grabbed Niam's outstretched hand and shook it firmly. At first it was warm, but it felt cold and dead in his grasp the longer he held it, as if all the life had been sucked out of it.
Removing his hand, Sheppard looked back at the village around him. "Nice place you have here."
Tirral spoke up from her silence. "If you can call it nice. Our previous planet was destroyed by the Wraith. The culling took almost half of my people, it was a great loss for all of us."
"My entire planet was destroyed by the Wraith as well." Sheppard watched Ronon pause as if he was remembering the events that happened on Sateda.
"Please, come inside. It's a lot warmer than it is out here." Val directed them away from the well and into the lodge that the elders had walked out of moments earlier.
Rodney was being awfully quiet, especially seeing that he had a rather annoying habit of never shutting up. Once they'd entered the lodge, John watched as the glowing heat from the fire brought colour to Rodney's beautiful face again.
Beautiful face? Rodney wasn't that attractive... was he?
"Okay, you really need to stop thinking about Rodney right now, John," he lectured to himself. "Just think of anything but him. Atlantis, Ferris wheels, Puddle Jumpers, math, Rodney... damn!"
It was a lost cause.
Snapping himself out of thinking about Rodney as best as he could, he diverted his attention to the current matter.
"Please, sit." Tirral pointed to the brown couches that lay around the fireplace.
John sat down on the couch that was closest and sank into it, almost having a heart attack when Rodney sat directly beside him, pushing his body up against his to allow Teyla to sit down also.
Maybe not so much a heart attack, but a lot of blood was going straight down to somewhere where it shouldn't have. And to make things worse, his face began to go red when Rodney's hand accidentally brushed up his leg, almost touching his crotch.
"Sorry, there's not much room," he apologised quickly.
Ronon leaned against the back of the couch, while the elders and Val sat on the longer couch opposite them.
"So, Ronon, Teyla, Rodney, John, what brings you to this planet?" Niam placed his hands on top of each other, staring directly at them.
"We're in search of allies in the fight against the Wraith, as well as any technology that could help us," Teyla said, moving uncomfortably, which caused Rodney to push up even closer to John.
"Sorry, but I don't know what we could trade you. We don't have much in the ways of weapons," Val replied.
"What about a ZPM?" Rodney blurted out.
Val and the elders exchanged confused glances. "Can you please explain what that is?"
Rodney shuffled forward a bit, giving John a bit more breathing room. "It's an energy source used by the Ancients."
"Oh!" Niam remarked. "You mean our energy crystal. Yes, we have one, but we have no use for it. Why?"
"I knew it! I knew there had to be one around here somewhere!" Rodney jumped up excitedly, only to receive multiple raised eyebrows from everyone. "What I mean is, we've been searching for ages for one to power up our city, as ours is nearly depleted and it can only be replaced by another. And seeing that you're not using it, would it be possible that we could somehow trade for it?"
John watched Rodney's fingers cross behind his back.
"What would you give in return?" Tirral clasped her fingers together in an interlocking motion.
"We have medicine, weapons you could use to protect yourself," Teyla answered.
Each of the elders and Val silently whispered to each other. A few minutes later, they came to their conclusion.
"You offer is acceptable," Niam agreed.
Something wasn't right; this was starting to get a little too weird for his liking.
Then something occurred to him. "Excuse me... not meaning to sound rude, but earlier when you greeted us you said our names. Funny thing is, I don't remember telling you them."
All at once, Niam and the other elders laughed. "Really? I thought you did. Maybe Val mentioned your names when he came to get us?"
John watched Niam give Val a serious glance. "Of course I did."
"No, you didn't," Rodney butted in. "We never had time to tell you our names either."
He was right. Sheppard lurched up from his seat. Raising his P-90, he directed it at the elders. "Who are you?" he demanded forcefully.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ronon raise his gun also, followed by Teyla and Rodney.
He felt confused when the elders laughed again. Obviously, they didn't realise the seriousness of the situation. If it came to it, he would shoot and ask questions later.
Neridah got up from her seat and took a step forward, towards John. "Not much of a trade negotiation when you have weapons pointed directly at you, is it? Put them down before you do yourself more harm than it's worth."
Niam and Tirral were also standing up with dark expressions stamped on their faces. Val was still sitting on the couch, just watching the events unfold in front of him.
"Answer the question," Ronon grunted as his flicked his weapon to stun.
The lodge door behind them flung open as five more people entered the room, blocking off any means of escape.
Niam took another step forward, but not before John fired a bullet into his shoulder. It didn't bleed, though. "Now, now. That wasn't very nice, was it?" Niam mocked.
John fired at his leg this time. Not even a drop of blood, but he could clearly see the hole where the bullet had gone through.
"Your weapons are useless; you might as well give up." Val stretched back on the couch.
"That's it, fire!" John commanded. In seconds, the entire room was filled with the sounds of bullets whizzing through the air at high velocity. Each one hit one of the elders, but they persisted in standing. They didn't even flinch when the bullets hit them. Firing a bullet into Niam's head, John watched in horror as the wound closed over like it was never there.
"You-you're Replicators," Rodney stammered, lowering his gun.
"So it would seem. Grab them." The Replicators guarding the door stormed forward without saying a word and grabbed each of them by the shoulders. It didn't matter how much they struggled; the grips were locked.
The sheer power of their hold was painful; John's shoulders felt like someone had impaled them with a hot iron rod as their fingers dug deep into the skin.
"As I said before, John Sheppard, we've been waiting for you for long time." A large, shadowy grin spread over his face as Val stood directly over John. "Now, let's get to it, shall we?"
The last thing he remembered was seeing the fear on Rodney's face as the Replicators plunged their hands into their heads.
To be continued..