TITLE: THERMOPYLAE
AUTHOR: TIPPER
Disclaimer: Stargate: Atlantis and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s), not me. Thank you to the amazing writers, producers, actors, crew and directors who bring these shows to life.
Status: WIP – 75 percent written as of the date of posting.
Characters: SGA-1, with a side dish of Beckett and Lorne.
A/N -- This is another theme one. I'm sure you'll figure out what it is fairly quickly, if not from the title. Hope you like it!
Description: Searching for a crashed ship on a planet, with Lorne's team and Beckett for back-up, SGA-1's luck holds true when the Wraith show up. Plenty of angst, h/c and mayhem for all!
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CHAPTER ONE: TRAP, TRAP, TRAP
"I'm telling you," McKay hissed in Sheppard's ear as he stepped up behind him, far too close for the colonel's liking, "this is a trap! It screams trap. Everything about it, trap, trap, trap!"
"We're fine, McKay," the colonel whispered back, stepping over a small branch on the almost invisible trail they were following. The long, wheat like grasses grabbed at their trousers as they walked, leaving a sea of rippling gold in their wake.
"No, we're not," McKay insisted, getting even closer, his chin almost on Sheppard's shoulder. "This is a bad idea. A horrible, really terrible, incredibly bad idea." He took a breath, and added, "Oh, and did I mention, also a trap?" He managed to time it with the snap of a twig underfoot, and Sheppard flinched slightly.
"It's not a trap," he hissed, trying to put as much warning in his tone as he could muster without raising his voice and alerting their guides or Teyla up ahead.
"Oh, okay, right, sure. It's not a trap, no. How could it be?" McKay prodded the colonel's back from behind with a finger as he whispered, until Sheppard finally turned and slapped it down. It didn't faze McKay in the slightest, and he got his chin up on the colonel's shoulder again as they resumed walking. "I mean, there's nothing trap-like about this at all, is there? After all, we're only on an alien planet with people we know nothing about, following them into the middle of nowhere, on the basis of a promise that seems so wildly improbable even I don't believe it. And I'm usually the most gullible one...probably because I trust too easily. You know," he mused, "I really need to be more cynical about things. I'm really just too nice most of the time to call people on things..."
Sheppard's head rolled back as he groaned, "McKay..."
"And can we talk about this forced march up and down these hillock things?" The man behind him pressed on unrelentingly, still miraculously keeping his voice down, though right now, Sheppard really just wanted him to shut up. "You don't find it at all odd that these people's idea of a 'short walk' from their village turns out to be over five miles from the damn gate? And you know I'm not going to be any good when we have to run this distance back. And we will have to run it, you know we will..."
Sheppard shrugged hard then, forcing McKay's chin off his shoulder and the scientist back a step. "For the love of God, McKay," the colonel hissed. "Will you just give it up?" He started walking a little faster in an attempt to get away. "It's not a trap! Christ, you make a mosquito seem pleasant in comparison!"
"A mosquito? Oh, you think I'm annoying?" The scientist jogged a couple steps to get up close again, his breath huffing a little as he whispered, "Annoying is having no one listen to you when you're right. Worse, when your life is at stake. Because you know what this is? Give you a hint...it rhymes with crap!"
"Frappe?"
"Ha ha. Very droll." He waited a moment, then cursed. "Damn it, and now I'm thirsty."
Sheppard drew in a sharp breath, trying to keep calm, mentally counting to ten. Looking forward, he regarded the two Cutsarkian guides several yards ahead, looking for any sign that they could hear McKay's grousing. A young brother and sister, both in their early twenties and extremely fit, they were chatting lightly with Teyla. Neither turned to look at them, or changed the cadence of their conversation with the Athosian, so...seemed like they were okay.
Sheppard sighed, throwing a dark look over his shoulder at Rodney. "Just keep it down, okay? Worth the risk, remember?"
"Yeah, I know. I was there when Elizabeth said that," McKay sneered. "Against my very wise and, without doubt, soon to be prescient counsel, I might add."
"Oh for...Look, don't forget we have Lorne, Beckett and a bunch of Atlantis' best hanging back by the gate, watching our tails. If we need help, we'll tell them, and they'll have a jumper through the Gate from Atlantis in seconds."
"Fat lot of good that's going to do us when they knock us out, take our radios and sell us to the nearest village for Genii weapons!"
"Oh my sweet God! Will you just give it a rest?"
"Will you order us to turn around?"
"No."
"Then I'm not going to give it a rest. By the way, in case you missed it before, I think this might possibly be a...oh what's the word I'm searching for..."
"Jaunt? Adventure? Odyssey?"
"TRAP!"
"I am so going to kill you in a minute," Sheppard snarled, turning to look at him fully this time. Seeing motion close behind McKay, he gave a small smile as he focused his gaze over the scientist's head, "Better yet, I'll have him do it."
"What?" McKay turned, but not fast enough to avoid the ringing dope slap Ronon gave him, a triumphant grin on the Satedan's face for having got close enough to do it without McKay noticing. "Ow!"
Sheppard chuckled, giving Ronon a thumb's up sign. "Nice," he whispered.
"Jerks," McKay muttered.
"Is everything all right?" the woman guide called back, her brown eyes wide and a little worried. "Is someone hurt? We heard a cry." She looked at McKay, her brow furrowing in concern. The scientist was rubbing his right hand over the back of his head, refusing to look up.
"We're fine, Innis," Sheppard called back, smiling broadly. "McKay just tripped."
"Yeah," Ronon agreed, smiling even more broadly and backing up to return to his position watching their backs, "tripped."
McKay mumbled something unintelligible, but didn't openly disagree. The young woman looked sympathetic, nodding.
"I'm sorry the trail isn't more of a trail," she said. "We rarely travel this far from the village in this direction, even when hunting, because it is so open," she gestured at the nearly treeless landscape around them. "It is simply just not a path walked often."
"Then why were you out here?" Sheppard asked.
"Because my brother and I like to explore," Innis replied with an exuberant smile. "We're a little different from the rest of our people that way. Of course, it's also why we found the ship and not anyone else." Next to her, her brother Fallen nodded in agreement.
McKay snorted at the mention of the word 'ship,' but Sheppard just smiled more. "It's fine. Keep going. We'll be right behind you."
"Walking into a trap," McKay muttered under his breath. Sheppard nudged him roughly in the ribs.
"I'm sorry?" Innis frowned prettily, looking quizzically at McKay. She was a short haired blond woman, almost Scandinavian in appearance, and normally that was enough to keep Rodney at least distracted, but the long walk they'd taken to get here had taken any such joy out of him. "Doctor McKay," she asked, "did you say something else?"
"No, no," Sheppard said, still smiling his most charming smile, "He just said, it's a walk in the park, which is a saying where I'm from meaning an enjoyable hike. Please," he threw an arm out, "lead on."
Her brow remained slightly furrowed, but she didn't deny his statement. Instead, she just nodded and turned to start walking again with Teyla and the other guide. The young man, a similarly colored tall blond, frowned a little, but didn't say a word. Teyla, looking almost short between the two natives, sent Rodney an almost wounded look before moving on. After all, it had been on information she had gotten that they were here, and she'd been rigorous in verifying it, well aware that the last few missions she'd recommended had all resulted in near disasters.
Rodney sighed heavily, but, for the moment, mainly because Teyla's look had caused him some chagrin, he quieted down and refocused his attention on the life signs detector in his left hand...
Sheppard, thankful for the reprieve, decided it was a good time to check in with Lorne over the radio (who promptly replied that everything was quiet back at the village). Once done (and with a pregnant look to McKay), he found himself taking more of an interest in their surroundings beyond searching for signs of danger.
The countryside they traipsed through thick with the tall, wheat colored grass along with ragweed-like flowers and a handful of scraggly trees rising not much higher than Ronon. Daisy-like flowers of pink and yellow popped up occasionally, along with thorny bushes that looked as if they had been picked clean of any fruit long before. Longer patches of the yellow grass reached almost up to Teyla's head, and Sheppard longed to pluck what looked like a piece of weed from her reddish hair as they followed her.
The air around them was filled with sun sparkled dust and soft down—presumably seeds from whatever they had on this planet that was like flax or milkweed—and alive with insects. Everything around them seemed to vibrate with the noise of the almost invisible creatures—bees jumping around from flower to flower, beetles making straight line flights across the fields, tiny mosquito-like bugs whistling in their ears.
The trail they followed climbed slowly up and down shallow foothills, all similarly covered in the same yellow grass and scraggly patches of forest. Much of it looked roasted in the humid heat, ready to snap at the slightest breeze, but...it didn't. The roots were deep—they looked dry and dead on top, but, beneath, were alive and well.
McKay tripped for real as they came down another low hillside, running into Sheppard and pushing him forward a few steps.
"Sorry," McKay muttered, not sounding all that apologetic.
"Whatever. Just be more careful."
"More careful?" McKay replied. "You accuse me of not being careful? You're the one leading us into a—"
"Okay!" Sheppard shouted, turning on his heel to meet McKay's gaze directly behind him. "That's it!" He grabbed the man's arm and viciously pulled him off to the side, towards a collection of thorny bushes about thirty feet away, "You're coming with me!"
"What?" McKay was suitably astonished, and let himself be pulled. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to have a little chat," Sheppard snapped. He turned then, looking back to where Ronon, Teyla, Innis and Fallen were all watching them with slightly startled looks. "We'll be right back," he said with a forced cheerfulness. "I've just got to talk to my friend here." And, the fake grin still on his face, he turned and started walking again, still dragging the scientist after him.
"Hey! Let go of my arm," McKay hissed, trying to pull free, but Sheppard's grip was like iron. "Damn it, that hurts!"
"Good," Sheppard snarled, still aiming to get some distance between them and the natives. Behind him, he could hear Teyla quickly dispelling the concerns of the two siblings.
They walked until they were partially within the shade of three tall thorn bushes, and Sheppard whirled McKay around so he could face him, getting right into his face, still maintaining his harsh hold on the other man's arm.
"What the hell is your problem?" he hissed, back to trying to keep his voice down.
Rodney's eyebrows shot up, his face flushing with anger as he tried to tug his arm free. "Problem? What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"
McKay's face reddened even more, his chin lifting, "I'm only pointing out some—"
"Shove it!"
"Don't talk to me that way!"
"Then stop trying to get us kicked off this planet before we find that ship!"
McKay stared at him a moment, his gaze narrowing, and, with a burst of energy, wrenched his arm back. Sheppard let him go and McKay stepped back a couple of feet towards one of the bushes—just out of hitting range. Not that he believed Sheppard would actually hit him…well, not much.
"Well, that's just it, isn't it, Colonel? You've hit the crux, right there. Why am I complaining so much? Why do I think this is all such a huge waste of my time? Because it is!"
"Keep your voice down, McKay!" Sheppard hissed again. McKay squinted, but when he spoke again, it was in a whisper.
"Fine, I'll whisper, but that doesn't make it any less true," the scientist snarled. "We get word from some rather shifty characters on Belkan that there's a cloaked ship sitting on this planet, waiting for someone to come along and claim it. And not just a ship, a space ship, with all sorts of fancy technology dripping from it. And what does Colonel 'Warship Envy' Sheppard immediately do? Take it completely at face value and drag the smartest mind in the Pegasus galaxy out on a wild goose chase that practically screams TRAP."
"Teyla virtually guaranteed the accuracy of—"
"Oh yes," McKay snorted, crossing his arms, "And we all know how trustworthy her contacts have been of late. Let's see," he held up a finger, "there's the ones who sent us to a planet to be kidnapped by Ford," he held up another finger, "there's the ones who invited us to trade on a jungle planet, where we were nearly fed to the Wraith," he held up a third, "there are the ones who led us into a Genii plot to torture you and kidnap me," he held up a fourth, "there's—"
"Stop it!"
"No! I told both you and Elizabeth that there's no chance this ship is Ancient, not from the description, and we know the Wraith don't bother with cloaks, so it's not Wraith. So what does that leave, eh? Furling? I don't think so! Plus, how has it maintained a cloak for ten thousand years? The power drain would be astronomical! And another thing, if it's cloaked, how the hell did they find it? Unless they literally walked right into it, and I can't even imagine—"
Sheppard suddenly clapped his hands in front of McKay's face, causing the other man to flinch, but at least it shut him up.
"Listen to me, and listen good," the colonel said, deliberately lowering his voice to near growl level. "Teyla put everything she had to make sure this one was real. You know as well as I that she would never have even brought it up if she wasn't almost certain these people were trustworthy and this ship real. She's been gun shy as hell lately, and she's trying to prove herself to us. And we're going to let her, because she needs this. She needs to know we still trust her and her judgment. You get me?"
McKay grimaced, "But—"
"Are you saying you don't trust Teyla?"
McKay looked to the ground, still looking very angry, but also a little ashamed. "Well of course I trust Teyla," he muttered after a moment.
"Then behave."
McKay expelled a hard breath, then sucked in another, before looking up. "I am not a child. You don't need to tell me to 'behave.'"
A tiny smile quirked at the edge of Sheppard's lips, "You sure about that?"
The blue eyes narrowed at the challenge, "I hardly think you're in any position to—"
"GET DOWN!" Ronon shouted suddenly, and the two men both jumped a mile, turning to stare back at their teammates. Fallen was running towards them, aiming a pistol in their direction, Innis and Teyla on his heels.
"I told you!" McKay screamed, only seeing the deadly look on the male Cutsarkian's face as he froze in place, but Sheppard was looking at Ronon. The Runner was circling around to the side of them, his pistol also aimed in their direction...
"Behind you!" Teyla shouted, her P90 in her hands as she moved to get into a different position.
Sheppard and Rodney wheeled around, and looked up...as the biggest python snake either man had ever seen loomed over their heads. It was as wide as a tree trunk, and its head could easily engulf a whole man with one swoop. It opened massive jaws, revealing the two largest, shiniest, and pointiest teeth Sheppard had ever seen. Slowly, almost teasingly, it reared itself back, preparing to strike...
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TBC...
A/N – I admit, I started writing this during the Snakes On A Plane weekend, when they played Boa v. Python (with David Hewlett filling out a T-shirt very nicely...and unfortunately sporting a horrible mullet. LOL!) and I couldn't resist!