A/N: Sheppard's reaction to waking up tied up and alone in the Jumper. I was going to write more but this seemed like the best place to end it. I really liked Tabula Rasa.

Nebulous Shadows

By JewelsGlow15

First impression: He felt terrible…

His head was simply pounding and the angle he was sitting had given him a stiff neck.

"Ouch," he grunted as he rolled his head back. He was gingerly trying to ease into a more comfortable position when tiny pins and needles tore up and down his limbs, stalling the movement.

His breath hissed out painfully and he tried to reach out with his hands to rub the sensation away. That's when he noticed… he couldn't move them.

His eyes flew open and sure enough… a considerable amount of rope was wrapped around his wrists and ankles. An initial panicked jerking at the bindings only drew them tighter so he stopped.

A covert glance around his immediate surroundings showed he was alone… but nothing looked familiar.

Easy…Assess then Act.

He was in a small room. A cell, he thought at first, but after a more careful look he reconsidered. There were two sections. He was seated on one of the bench-seats near the rear. The forward compartment had a large viewing window at one end. There were four swivel chairs facing it with controls in front of the pilot and copilot seats.

So… a vehicle of some sort? Maybe a plane?

The window showed an impressive expanse of vegetative growth but nothing else.

A chill crept in on him.

Just where the hell am I anyways? Had they crashed? Who'd tied him up? What's the matter with me? Why can't I remember? The pounding headache wasn't helping matters.

Uneasiness settled over him like a cloak… as well as a healthy touch of paranoia. Something was very wrong about this whole scene.

Sternly he told himself to calm down and think… Think about it logically.

First things first… Get these ropes off.

Easier said than done, he soon found out. However, by wiggling around on his backside and maneuvering his wrists closer to his feet, he managed to get enough slack to release the ropes binding his ankles and then used his teeth on the ones surrounding his wrists.

Hot, sweaty and annoyed but free, he got to his feet. He swayed a bit as a wave of dizziness washed over him and blindly grabbed at the bench-seat to keep from falling.

OK, that's not good… he thought. Pushing whatever was the matter with him aside for now, he surveyed his small prison.

The vehicle's storage areas seemed to consist of two pieces of black netting secured over the backseats, where dozens of boxes and containers hung suspended. The rest of the vehicle was relatively empty apart from the chairs and dashboard controls.

He swallowed, feeling dreadfully uncertain. He should do something.

A plan… I need a plan… Um, a weapon.

He needed to find something he could use as a weapon and then figure out how to get out of here before whoever had tied him up came back…

A crawling sense of urgency made his search fast and rather sloppy as he tore down the netting and riffled through its contents. Half of which he didn't even recognize though he had the disconcerting feeling that he should. Bits of wire… electronic gadgets… something that looked like the screen part of a computer… but he did locate some packages of food and some canteens for water. Those he stuffed into a backpack, just in case he needed them later.

Near the front end of the netting, he found a small, locked yellow case. Suspecting that it must contain something important, he used a hammer to smash the lock and get it open.

There was a weapon lying inside.

He wasn't sure what it was called but it fit comfortably in his hand. Without conscious thought, he automatically checked to make sure it was loaded. His hands moved with practiced ease through the motions- as thought he'd done it a thousand times before. He finished by sliding the weapon into a pocket strapped to his thigh. Somehow that seemed right.

Fortunately, getting out of the vehicle proved easier than he'd thought. About midway through his search he must have accidentally hit the release button because a door at the back opened and lowered into a ramp. He'd practically jumped out of his skin when it happened.

I'm still not sure how I did that, he mused.

Unfortunately, freedom from the vehicle only provided more questions and even greater uncertainty. He still had no idea where he was, how he'd gotten there or why someone had tied him up. A chill passed over him again and he shivered.

Maybe there was a good reason for that… he thought uneasily, glancing down at the weapon on his leg.

A quick recon around the vehicle proved nothing except he was alone in the middle of a large forest, which seemed to go for miles in every direction and that he had absolutely no idea which way to go. The heavy underbrush showed no signs of trails or human habitation, although it appeared that someone had hacked their way into the brush going south from the vehicle. With no other clues, he headed back and examined the vehicle itself.

He looked at it critically… It was small, probably could hold a dozen people comfortably (or a few more than that uncomfortably.) The complete lack of anything resembling a road or wheels on the vehicle itself seemed to rule out land travel, which left arrival by air. It didn't look like it'd crashed here either. He wasn't sure how it flew, since it didn't have wings or blades, but landing in such a small clearing indicated some sort of hovering capability. (He wasn't sure how he knew that.)

All of which leaves me… exactly nowhere, he thought in frustration. He leaned against the vehicle and cradled his aching head.

All right. All right. Think… If this vehicle is the only way out of here… Hmm…

After some consideration, he decided his best bet would be to wait here. It wasn't like he could fly this thing himself. He had a weapon. He could set up a little ambush and maybe force whoever owned it to take him out of here or at least tell him what was going on.

Plan set, he picked a spot to wait out of sight. Somehow, it was always better when you had a plan…

Twilight had begun to edge toward darkness when he finally heard someone coming.

Only one, a big guy.

Ok, Ok… You can do this…