Chapter 1 – In a Dream She Came
It was a scream that woke him, and the smell of smoke and he leapt out of the bed, reaching blindly for the weapon that was always kept within arms reach. He stood alone in the centre of his room, his eyes gradually adjusting to the dark, turning slowly in a semi circle with his weapon drawn. Gradually awareness came back to him, and the sound of the scream faded from his mind as did the smell of smoke. He had awoken this way, many times before and dropping down heavily onto the bed he tossed his weapon carelessly on the floor and rested his forehead in his hands. Sateda, it's fall to the wraith and the loss of the woman he loved – their memories burned forever on the walls of his mind.
The dream had been occurring with more regular frequency these past few weeks. It had been two years since Sateda had fallen to the wraith. Ronon had watched it destroyed, darts pursuing a relentless path through the sky, culling all humans in their wake and the wraith cruisers in the sky above the city, firing down energy weapons that destroyed all buildings and the remaining people, leaving the city a pile of smoking rubble, lost to him forever.
He had stayed to fight, alongside his woman, Melena and they had remained strong, scouring the burning remains for survivors and killing as many of the wraith foot soldiers as they were able. Until a dart had taken the woman he loved in front of his eyes and he had dropped to his knees, strong in that face of all that he had seen, but weakened now, by the loss of his woman.
That had been two years ago, a lifetime and he had vowed to avenge her death and destroy the enemy who had reduced his beloved Sateda to the pile of smoking rubble that now, haunted his dreams. He had joined the Atlantis team, needing to align his strength with the strongest power in that galaxy and he would fight until the wraith were no more.
And still he awoke in the night, the smell of smoke and the sounds of their screams. A life time ago...
He dropped back into sleep, but it was not kind to him and the dreams came again. This time there was a different intensity. The pictures were sharper and the colours more vivid and there was another difference. Sifting through the rubble, the smell of smoke tickling his nostrils, he saw her, from the back the woman who looked like the one he had watched taken to her death two years ago. He called her name, in his dream, and she turned. It was Melena, dressed in rags and filthy, but alive and sleep was suddenly no more.
The sudden awakening had him in the centre of the room, weapon drawn again, and this time he found no peace from awakening, this time he found resolve.
She's alive he thought. He dressed quickly, holstering his weapon and leaving his quarters to stand outside the door of Colonel John Sheppard. There was no hesitation. He would have done the same for Sheppard in a heartbeat, and knocking sharply on the door of his quarters, he rested his head gently on his propped arm.
"Yeah... yeah...I'm coming." The sleep fuddled voice of Colonel John Sheppard got louder as he neared the door, and it opened showing the handsome, but slightly rumpled face of his friend, dark brown hair tousled from sleep, one hand rubbing briskly over his face as though to chase away the remnants of sleep, and Ronon heard the rasp of his hand as it moved over the growth of facial hair.
"Ronon? What time is it man? Our sparring match is not till morning... God, don't tell me it's morning already..." He peered a little blurrily at Ronon, turning to go back into his room, assuming that Ronon would follow and fill him in on why he was standing outside his door at this ungodly hour.
"Sheppard – I think she's alive!" Ronon began pacing around John's quarters, feeling the remnants of the dream pulling at him.
John groaned. "You're not talking about that damn character in the movie we watched last night – you do know that those movies are not real, just stories? We've talked about this Ronon..."
"Melena – I saw her, in my dream. The dreams have always been the same, up until tonight. Tonight's dream was different – she was in it, and she was alive. I need to go back, check... what if I left her there? Damn it John, I should have gone back..."
"Slow down Ronon... my brain takes a few minutes to kick into full power if it's woken up in the middle of the night. Melena? That's your girl, from Sateda? You told me she was taken by the wraith... you saw it happen..." John was sitting on the edge of his bed, sleep slowly withdrawing it's remnants from his mind, his thinking becoming clearer.
"I did see it happen Sheppard, and I went back, just after Sateda fell, there was nothing... no one. I haven't been back since. I figured there was no use, too many memories and too painful. Any survivors have been long since relocated. Damn it, if there's any sort of chance that she's alive...!"
"Calm down Ronon – there's nothing we can do right now – we'll take a jumper, go in the morning and take a good look around. I trust you Ronon – if you say you need to go back, then we'll do it. Ok?"
Ronon had stopped pacing briefly and he looked down at John, his face bleak. "It was so clear Sheppard, her face, her body... I tried to push her from my mind once I knew she was dead, tried to move on..."
John stood up now, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder, he turned him gently towards the door. "Go back to bed Ronon, we'll leave after breakfast." With a grateful smile at John, Ronon left John to return to his sleep, which he did so promptly, but not without a sympathetic thought for his Satedan friend. Losing his woman like that, hell – his entire city like that, would have been enough to send most men insane. The Satedan was tough, a trait that John both admired and became frustrated with at times. It also meant that he was unbending and expected the same dedication and values in everyone else and was not especially tolerant of anyone who did not possess them. Sighing, he closed his eyes and wondered what the morning would bring.