A word about the stories genre: Ronon hopes this is gen. Teyla knows it is het. Rodney discovers it is pre-slash, and John is repressed.
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That keeps on giving
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"Wraith!" Teyla hisses, but Ronon is already on his feet, has already quenched the fire with minimal smoke in one oft-practiced movement.
It's supposed to be a day off, the first the team has had in a long time. Ronon has carefully chosen this planet for its lack of anything interesting: Pretty flowers and trees to please the eye but not bother McKay's sinuses, docile animals, a shallow lake for everybody to take a swim in.
"Three darts," Ronon says, and a minute later they see them, soaring up high from where the Gate is, spreading out in different directions.
It's meant to be fun, a day camping because Ronon likes roughing it now that it's – mostly - an option, and the others try to celebrate his Atlantis anniversaries. The weather is perfect for a good meal roasted on a honest-to-God spit, for drinking the brew from PX5-837 that Ronon likes best and everybody else drinks down readily enough.
There is nothing of interest on this planet except for them. Sheppard mutters something dark about killing a guy named Murphy as they get into positions behind the boulder they'd intended to use for a table. Ronon grits his teeth when McKay tries to go for his backpack without leaving the shelter the large stone provides, although Sheppard's "Will you stop it!" isn't much better. He's thankful for the way Teyla's hand clamps over McKay's mouth as he tries to assess if the closest dart has located their position.
They haven't even opened the bottles yet, not gotten to any of the fun parts, and everyone on the team had known McKay had planned something.
The dart is now unmistakably headed their way, and Sheppard knows when to give the command to send them running. They leave food and beer and swimming clothes behind. Nothing matters but getting to the Gate before the other darts circle back there. Two P-90s and Ronon's own blaster shoot futilely as they zig and zag to escape the culling beam. One less P-90 than there should be, and McKay is slowing them down because he's rummaging through his backpack, tearing wrapping paper off something as if his life depended on it. Ronon is about to bellow a rebuke when the man whoops and moves past Teyla and John.
"Take this!" he shouts, and suddenly there's a new gun in Ronon's left, blaster-free hand.
Ronon doesn't hesitate; the weapon is somewhat heavier than he's used to, but the motions are the same. In his experience, two guns are always better than one, his aim is as true as ever and --
and the dart is gone.
The team stumbles to a cold stop and stares at the spot just above the trees. A small shower of sparks is the only evidence anything was ever there. "Wha-" Ronon says, but is interrupted by Rodney yelling a bit hysterically, "Yes! Yes! Am I a genius? I'm such a genius!"
"What was that, McKay?" Sheppard demands faintly. His and Teyla's eyes are still wide with shock when the other two darts find them.
Ronon levels his new gun at the closest one, and wow, if this is the present McKay has been making so much noise about, it's awesome.
As he makes to obliterate the third dart, McKay shouts "Stun it! Stun it!" so he does, and the dart goes down, crashing through the trees. Sheppard is already searching McKay's backpack for a life-signs detector.
At the end of the day, when they share the never-opened beer bottles in Ronon's quarters, Ronon has got a new gun, Sheppard has the location of two hives, Rodney has got a fairly intact Wraith dart to play with and Teyla has a family of four to add to the Athosian settlement.
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