Okay, this is an AU piece prompted by the good people over at the whump thread. This is AU for the upcoming season four episode Travelers, so if you don't wish to be spoiled, read no further …but otherwise, jump aboard!

Fettered Lives

Chapter One

"Look Rodney, I don't care 'how' you managed to leave it there, lets just say that I don't think any of us had really had any intention of returning to the planet quite this quickly!"

Sheppard was pissed.

The initial visit to M6S 576 had been pretty successful in his books. The locals had welcomed them with open arms and after a brief tour of the town's facilities, they had gathered at the meeting rooms with the ten main elders to discuss the possibility of future trade arrangements. The towns folk had been more than happy to give them a tour of the fruit orchards when they had made contact originally, but it had been the fields of the coffee type bean crop that had had the team salivating. Coffee was a rare and much hoarded supply back in the city, more valuable as a commodity in the internal black market than chocolate bars or the new movies that arrived occasionally on the Daedalus.

The trade meeting had gone fairly smoothly, with Rodney only managing to upset two of the elders with his snarky comments. Teyla, as was becoming more and more frequent, had gently intervened and managed to dissolve the argument before it started, but Rodney had then sulked for the rest of the meeting, staring around the tall room, for all intents and purposes studying the wall hangings that decorated the smooth plaster walls. Sheppard had decided to ignored him, the trade agreement was very important to Atlantis, so he had left him to stew.

The meeting had lasted nearly two hours, but as they had risen to take their leave, Sheppard had felt confident that the agreement that had been brokered was a good one and he actually felt quite pleased with himself; diplomacy definitely wasn't one of his strong points.

The elders had insisted that they take a tour of the town and surrounding ruins at the conclusion of the talks and Rodney's interest had immediately been regained as they had finally approached the ruined sections of the city.

The walls in that part of the town had crumbled away, but there were definitely signs that the buildings had been inhabited if not within the last few hundred years, at the very least by peoples who had the ability to write, or at least engrave in 'ancient'. Rodney had disappeared into the buildings with his scanner and laptop, leaving the rest of the team to make small talk with the surprised elders.

Teyla had developed an affinity with one of the elders during the talks and had engaged in a deep discussion about the current situation regarding the Wraith. Their world had not been visited by a hive ship within the last century that the elder had been able to recall, but he had admitted that his people were realists and they knew that it would not be long before another culling took place, they had heard tales from worlds that had been hit quite recently and they knew that they lived on borrowed time. Teyla had found it difficult to listen to the man talk about his future. She knew how savage the Wraith attacks had become and her heart bled for this world.

Ronon had been bored. His stance had changed constantly as he had stood listening to the conversations taking place around him. He was always uncomfortable standing still, his body not used to inaction.. He had caught Sheppard's eye on several occasions and lifted an eyebrow in question, but Sheppard had just given an almost imperceptible shake of his head in answer, so Ronon had resigned himself to wandering around the ruins, following Rodney as he had knelt occasionally to study the texts he found engraved on the irregular stone panels placed haphazardly around the walls.

After approximately half an hour, Sheppard had finally reached his limit of 'nice'.

He could just about 'do' diplomatic, Elizabeth insisted on it; it was just that diplomacy didn't excite him the way it did her. Elizabeth's busy schedule negated her inclusion on many of their off world missions, so it was normally left to Lt. Colonel John Sheppard to step up to the plate and negotiate for the supplies they needed to replace their own dwindling resources.

Sheppard had found himself more than ready to leave when the elders had motioned towards the setting sun. An invitation had been offered to stay over night, but Sheppard had politely declined, his jaw had already started aching with the effort of continuous smiling. With a tight final smile to the chief elder, he had tapped his earpiece, calling the team back together in preparation for their departure.

Of course, Rodney being Rodney, he had been way behind the other members of the group.His attention had been totally focused on his examination of the script, so he had taken the longest to return to the clearing, appearing at a run a good minute after everybody else had been ready to embark on the journey back to the town centre and the waiting jumper.

The journey back to the town had passed pleasantly enough, but as they had approached the jumper, Sheppard had started to feel the stress that had built in his shoulders and neck dissolve away; flying the little ship always had that effect on him, the smooth ride easing even the most troubled soul. The niceties of departure had been completed non too soon for Sheppard and, hands duly shaken, the team had re-embarked and started the preparations for the short journey back to Atlantis.

As the rear hatch of the jumper had closed, sealing the team inside, Sheppard had breathed a deep sigh as he sank into the cockpit seat. It wasn't that he hadn't enjoyed meeting the new folk, it wasn't even the fact that he had endured the last torturous few hours at the negotiating table. No. As he had sat in the pilots chair and started his pre-flight checks, he had closed his eyes for the briefest of moments and revelled in the feeling of freedom that he knew piloting the little ship would give him. The ancient gene allowed him the level of control during actual flight that he would have never dreamed possible back on Earth. The most complex of manoeuvres became simplicity itself as the ancient technology picked up on his slightest thought; translating the information instantly to allow the ship to react to him as if he were linked directly to the control consol.

He had smiled as he had felt the ship lift from the ground, and as they had headed back into the atmosphere and he had dialled the gate in orbit around the planet, he had known that there was nowhere else in the world that he would rather be.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

As Sheppard now stood listening to Rodney ranting, he closed his eyes and thought that actually there were many, many places that he would rather be than here now, listening to Rodney's diatribe.

The man had left his laptop behind on the planet, but was now taking it upon himself to effectively try to place the blame squarely on anyone else's shoulders except his own.

"Look, I was extremely busy, and with" he pointed over at Ronon as he spoke, "Conon there leaning over my shoulder the whole time, I'm surprised I brought anything back!"

"Rodney, it was your responsibility and you shouldn't have left it behind" Sheppard glowered at the scientist.

"Okay. Yes. I know, .. I shouldn't have left it behind, but that doesn't change the fact that we have to go back for it. The information I collated from those engraved panels needs to be analyzed." Rodney's face took on a sullen slant and Sheppard gave in. He turned in exasperation and boarded the jumper once more.

"Rodney, you owe me one. The last thing I need right now is more social hobnobbing. I'll go get the damned laptop, but you better believe me when I say that you owe me big time and I intend to collect!"

"Do you want us to accompany you Colonel?" Teyla could see that John was unimpressed with Rodney's mistake. She knew that he had found the earlier talks ..difficult. It had been blatently obvious at the time that he was uncomfortable in the meetings and she was well aware he was not a natural diplomat. Returning to the town so soon would not be high on his list of priorities.

"No, I'm good, thanks Teyla. Just a straight in and out," he looked over at Rodney, "you sure that the location you gave me was accurate; after all" he said, looking back at the others, "we all know how, 'extremely busy' you were!" Sheppard couldn't help the sarcasm from creeping into his voice; this wasn't his idea of a fun filled afternoon. He'd arranged a sparring session with Ronon after the debrief, but that would have to wait now, as would a visit to the mess hall.

"Yes the location is accurate. Do you want me to come and hold your hand as well!" Rodney was angry with himself. He shouldn't have left the valuable equipment behind. He should have been more careful, but the scanner had taken all of his attention at the time and he had fully intended to transfer the information when they returned to the labs. He glowered at Ronon. He blamed the big Satedan for distracting him, but Ronon returned the glower with a raised eyebrow, shrugged and turned away.

"Ok. Straight in and out. Don't wait up kids." Sheppard ran up the ramp into the hull of the jumper and pressed the glyph to close the hatch, than moved to the front of the machine to position himself once again in the pilots seat. As he dialled the gate address, he could imagine Elizabeth standing on the overhead balcony in the gate room. She had been as exasperated as he had been at the error, but what was done was done and there was nothing that could be done to undo it; all they could do now was retrieve the missing equipment as quickly as possible before it became damaged or heaven forbid, went missing.

As the chevrons engaged and the tumultuous wave of blue and white boiled out towards the steps that led up to the gate itself, Sheppard took the jumper down into the control room and readied himself to leave. He glanced up to the balcony where Elizabeth normally stood, but she wasn't there. As he looked over the balcony area towards her office, he could just make out her outline; she was talking to an animated Radek and totally oblivious to the imminent departure of the jumper below.

With a final half salute to the techs in the gate room, he instructed the jumper to depart and he felt the forward momentum push against him as the ship obeyed his command. 'Straight in and out, no problem ..Right?'

Well, there I have to leave our intrepid hero for tonight, but I can assure you that things will unfortunately head rapidly downhill for our boy from now on!