This is a team fic, again apologies for any medical inaccuracies, I'll post this one in chapters.

I hope you enjoy it and of course concrit gratefully recieved. This is unfortunately not Betaed, so I'm afraid all mistakes are mine.

The characters will be returned to the box when I'm done as I don't own them.

Protective Instincts

Chapter One

'There are times when you have to start thinking that life just isn't going to cut you any breaks. This was starting to look like one of those times. The whole world isn't necessarily against you, it just feels a hell of a lot like it though.

Travel through a network of intergalactic gates is bound to cause problems, Murphy's law states that as an irrefutable fact. If it can go pear shaped, if the gate can fail and if the locals can turn out to be not as friendly as you had wished, then it's going to happen. I just wished it would happen to somebody else sometimes that's all.

"A peaceful mission" Elizabeth had said, "a quick 'fly in, check out the power signatures that we had noticed and fly home again" mission. Ok, if that was so, then why were we now sitting here, under the shelter of a cliff overhang, soaking wet and me with the worst headache you could imagine and a belly that felt like it was trying to turn itself in side out.'

John held his throbbing head in his hands as he thought about their predicament. There was one thing he was absolutely sure about as he considered their current situation, Murphy had gotten involved and when Murphy's law gets involved with anything; well...life has a nasty habit of taking a completely different direction and not one that will always end up more pleasant.

It's not that the mission had started off badly; on the contrary. When they had left the city earlier, even Rodney had been surprisingly upbeat. He had actually been eager to get going which, at the time should have had alarm bells ringing on so many levels, but it didn't.

'If I knew then, what I know now, we would've never have listened to Rodney; we would never have brought the damn thing with us and none of this would have happened; but then they do say that hind sight is a wonderful thing'.

So, they had to sit here, soaking wet and miserable. They were a very long way from home and with a hell of a lot more to contend with than they had anticipated. At the moment, as things stood…as far as John was concerned, their situation sucked.

24 hours earlier…

Rodney's interest had been peeked as soon as the initial results from the MALP telemetry had been analyzed. He had been surprisingly eager when the suggestion of a mission to check out the findings had been raised.

His reaction had caused a few raised eyebrows amongst the team at the time, as it was considered normal practice to resort to extreme tactics to entice the physicist away from his lab, engrossed as he normally was in one of several experiments, or involved in a heated debate with Radek. But this time was different, this time he actually seems excited by the prospect of leaving.

He had appeared in the jumper bay with the usual paraphernalia that accompanied him during his off world excursions. His rucksack and pockets were normally bulging with numerous scanners and sensors, with any spare space crammed with power bars.

"Absolutely necessary, the last thing you need is for me to suffer a hypoglycaemic reaction off world, do you" had been his reaction the first time that Sheppard had teased him about it.

But this time as well as the usual, he was also carrying a new piece of equipment, one that they hadn't seen before. It was quite a bit larger than the life signs detectors they used normally. As Rodney concentrated on it's small screen, it started to flash intermittently as he tweaked its controls.

John was vaguely intrigued by Rodney's new toy, he hadn't seen it before and was mildly interested in knowing what it was.

"Rodney quit messing about and get your kit loaded and 'what' exactly is that?" Rodney looked up as John pointed to the machine in his hand and a frown creased his forehead.

"Humm, what, oh this, …well, not that you would appreciate the finer details of how it works, but in 'layman's terms', this is one of the new sensors we discovered whilst we were sorting through one of the labs in the lower levels, we believe it will prove very useful." and with a smug grin, his attention returned to the new sensor.

"And it does what exactly, in 'layman's terms'. John matched Rodney's sarcasm with his own and looked at him expectantly.

"It, well, we're not one hundred percent sure, but we…uh" Rodney looked slightly flustered and then it struck John what the problem was.

"You don't know exactly do you!" he grinned at him and rested his hands on the stock of his P90. "So Rodney," he drawled, 'in terms that we can all understand', why don't you explain to the 'lesser mortals', why you are taking untried and untested ancient equipment on a mission with us, I'm sure we're all really interested to know" and John looked around and indicated the rest of the team. "Enlighten us".

Rodney opened and closed his mouth several times before answering,

"Well.. firstly it is not 'untested', we have done several preliminary trial runs in the lab; and whilst no, we are not 'exactly' sure how it works yet, we are fairly confident that this, uh, 'sensor' will be able to help indicate the location of previously undiscovered power signatures."

Rodney looked at the expectant faces around him and held up the sensor pad.

"I, uh…that is Radek and I, believe that this is much more sensitive that the sensors we are currently using and should prove invaluable once, that is…uh, once we have field tested it, which is exactly what we are going to do today. "

He looked vaguely irritated at his own hesitation, and stucking his chin in the air, turned towards the open hatch of the jumper.

"Right are we going then!" Rodney announced to nobody in particular, turning his attention back to fiddling with the controls of his new 'toy' and walking into the jumper.

John looked at Rodney's disappearing back, lifted an eyebrow then shrugging,

"OK, lets get this show on the road. Are we all loaded?" Teyla gave him a nod of affirmation with a small smile towards Rodney's disappearing back. John returned her smile with a shrug and waited for her to embark with Ronon. Making sure that nothing had been left behind, he then moved forward to enter the jumper and closed the hatch behind him.

As John settled himself into the pilot's chair, he looked back into the body of the jumper at his team. Each member of his team had come from such diverse backgrounds, yet they fitted together like the pieces of a jigsaw. Teyla, who was storing the equipment into it's correct positions for flight had been the leader of her people. She had always been used to offering advise and guidance and as a member of his team, her professionalism and calm nature had proven invaluable on many occasions.

Ronon on the other hand was a man of few words. He had for many years been forced to shun friendship and human company. His years on the run from the wraith had honed his natural hunter's instincts and there had been many times when, without his superior reflexes and deadly accuracy, the rest of the team would have suffered the consequences.

John looked over at Rodney, busily typing into his laptop; glancing at the new sensor as he did, obviously making notes to pass on to Radek upon their return. The man was an enigma, with his tinder dry sarcasm and brusque manner; it was easy to miss the loyal and fiercely passionate side to his nature. John had found himself spending more and more time in Rodney's company since they both joined the expedition originally. Rodney had found the going hard. Friendship did not come easily to him and he had found most people tolerating his prescence but that was as far as it went. John had discovered fairly early on the enjoyment that could be gained out of 'Rodney baiting'. Rodney had, rather surprisingly reciprocated the 'battles' and had warmed to the then Major.

John shook his head at the memory of those first few months in the city. It had been, 'interesting'.

As John finished the last of the pre-flight checks, he was starting to regret the second turkey sandwich he had grabbed from the mess hall as they had headed to the jumper bay. His stomach grumbled and rolled and he was forced to twist in his seat to relieve the discomfort.

"Are you well colonel?" Teyla eyed him with concern. She had noticed the look of discomfort on his face as she had returned to the front of the ship.

"Yeah, damn turkey sandwich isn't settling so well." John gave her his best reassuring smile, "I'm fine. OK folks, let's head out shall we."

As the jumper descended into the gate room, John glanced up to the balcony where Elizabeth stood watching. She was nearly always there when they left. She watched as the jumper lowered itself smoothly from above and then nodded briefly to her military commander as the jumper readied itself for launch. John raised his hand to her in acknowledgment then prepared to leave. He glanced back at Rodney, who was sitting on the bench seat in the rear, his attention totally focused on his new 'toy' and John had to smile, 'some people are SO easily pleased' and with that thought, his attention returned to the job at hand and he instructed the jumper to head out.

The trip through the gate was uneventful and as they rematerialized, John initiated the cloak; the last thing they needed was terrified locals. As they headed in the general direction that they knew the power signatures had originated from, John studied the sky around them. There was not a cloud anywhere, the sky was a deep, unbroken blue; perfect flight conditions. 'What more could a pilot ask for'. He shook his head slightly as a smile played on his lips and he instructed the little ship to head towards the Northern horizon.

The terrain that they travelled over was barren to say the least. There were a few trees scattered around but generally this part of the planet was fairly devoid of any type of greenery. Rock strewn hillsides were the order of the day, with the occasional mountain to break up the monotony.

Passing over one of the dusty plains that seemed to be the norm in this part of the world, a flock of birds lifted into the air. Their drab sandy brown plumage seemed to blend in with their surroundings and they squawked in alarm as they rose into the air. They had obviously been startled by the approaching ship and flew up in alarm, possibly sensing the change in the air movement as the cloaked ship flew overhead. No other signs of life made itself apparent as they flew on, travelling ever closer to their goal.

Rocky cliffs and gorges started to give way to slightly smoother areas of landscape as they travelled further north. After a few more minutes of travelling, the jumper drifted over an immense ridge and they found themselves passing over a large expanse of water. It was the first water they had seen in the barren landscape, so came as quite a surprise as it was quite an extensive lake nestled between two of the higher peaks. As they flew slightly closer to the shore, they could see a small village at the waters edge and people going about their everyday lives.

"Teyla, do you see that, the houses, are they on stilts? Have you ever seen anything like that before", John couldn't help staring at the strange configuration as they flew overhead.

"No, I do not believe any of the worlds that my people have visited had an arrangement such as that. It seems quite unusual"

"Must have a reason", all eyes turned to Ronon and John smiled, Ronon certainly had a way with words.

As they continued over the village, what could only be described as small fleets of fishing boats could be seen spread over the water surface. Their route took them to the northern most edge of the village boundaries and as they flew silently overhead, they could see people working in the fields set back from the shoreline of the lake, tending the crops that grew there. The lush green fields were in stark contrast to the barren, dry terrain they had passed over only minutes before and it seemed strange to see such a vast difference in such a small area.

There were great metallic pipelines leading down the mountain to the hillside bordering the fields, possibly irrigation channels, designed to feed the crops. Maybe the locals were well used to the difficulties they faced growing any form of food source in the unforgiving earth around them.

As they started to fly further across the valley formed by the two opposing mountains, the scanner in Rodney's hand started to bleep furiously.

"Wo-wo-wo, we have a VERY large contact," he stood and looked at the screen in his hand, his face crumpled in anxiety "I have a signal going off the chart here…"

"Rodney, what does 'off the chart' actually mean," John turned, "should I be concerned?" He looked at Rodney's face and didn't like the look of consternation and worry painted there.

"Rodney…"

"Hang on a minute, this shouldn't be happening, let me just…oops!"

"OOPS!.. McKay, that's not a word I like to hear when we are flying towards an unknown energy source, be a 'little' more specific!"

"Oh, oh no, I have a-a bad feeling about this..very bad" Rodney looked up and his expression was anything but reassuring, "Look, this is NOT my fault ok..we checked the readings during the tests and there was NOTHING like this, I…"

"RODNEY!, tell me." Sheppard was getting worried, there was something very wrong. Rodney's fingers flew over the controls of the sensor as he desperately tried to find the answers he needed.

"I don't think the sensor is just detected that energy source, I-I'm fairly sure, looking at these readings that it's causing the energy to focus towards us as well. There's something not right ..this shouldn't be happening,"

Rodney was struggling to keep his voice level and calm, and failing." There was nothing in the tests we did to indicate that this would happen!!" he grabbed hold of the back of one of the flight seats. "Sheppard, there is a MASSIVE energy build up ahead of us," Rodney pushed to the front of the jumper and his eyes scanned the sky in front of them. "It's, right… THERE!" Rodney pointed out of the front screen of the jumper and as they all looked towards where he was pointing, they saw a huge swirling blue cloud spreading across the sky. It looked to be emanating from the two opposing peaks and was moving fast.

The cloud billowed and boiled across the horizon and stretched its translucent fingers across the whole valley from one mountain tip to the other. It had appeared incredibly fast and apparently out of nowhere.

"Sheppard I'm pretty sure that now would be a.. really, really .. good time to change direction, that definitely doesn't look like something we should be flying towards" Rodney was looking at the scanner as he spoke, his fingers almost blurring against the small screen the, desperately trying to find a way to stop the terrifying turn of events from escalating any further.

"Sheppard… that cannot be good." Ronon was standing at the pilot's side when the cloud started to twist at its centre. The tendrils of cloud started to turn inwards, rotating and winding in upon themselves.

"Rodney, turn off the damn machine!" John rapidly turned to Rodney as he spoke, and pulled in a breath as his stomach pulled.

"It- it's, too late the reaction has already started." Rodney's face crumbled, this was his fault.

As they looked on in astonishment, the air was suddenly split by a crack of static electricity and a tremendous surge of energy leapt from the centre of the cloud and headed straight towards the jumper.

John tried to turn the jumper's nose away from the approaching energy burst, but the controls were becoming almost impossible for him to handle.

"Hang on, this is going to get bumpy!" John could feel the vibrations in the yoke beneath his hands gaining strength as the beam approached. The jumper started to buck and weave and he wrestled with the controls as best he could, but it was beginning to feel like a battle he could not win. His arms strained as he wrestled with his diminishing control of the ship. He could feel the strain through his whole body as he struggled to keep them in the air.

"Strap yourselves in, I'm having trouble holding her straight!" John could feel the jumper veering off course but there was nothing he could do about it, the controls had become less and less responsive, and as the jumper dropped suddenly to one side, the wave hit them.