"I'm sorry Teyla but he isn't here." Colonel Samantha Carter told the other woman with as much remorse as she could offer the one that had left Atlantis nearly nine months prior. The one that single handedly destroyed Atlantis' number one team and its leader.
Teyla frowned and placed a hand on her heavily pregnant belly. "When will he return?" She questioned as her eyes strayed to her son, Torren, playing nearby on the floor.
Sam followed Teyla's eyes. "A lot has happened in nine months." She let her eyes slide from Torren to Teyla's belly to prove her point. "Perhaps it's a good thing he's not here." Then she remembered why the team wasn't in Atlantis. "Then again perhaps it isn't." She added quietly. It wasn't a secret that John and Teyla were an item which made her sudden departure all the more devastating on the man. "He's not coming back Teyla." Finally she revealed.
"Not coming back? He has returned to Earth then?" Teyla worked to hide her surprise. She never thought John would willingly return to Earth not when he so clearly loved Atlantis.
"I didn't say that." Sam hedged and began to shuffle papers around on her desk. "John and his team are on assignment." She finally revealed.
Teyla tilted her head to the side. "I do not understand." She was confused and Sam wasn't helping.
Sam sighed. "We received intel several weeks ago that a hive ship was discovered on P3X-994. John, McKay, and Ronon have been overseeing the evacuation of the planet. Also they've been studying the ship and it's sleeping occupants." She looked up from her shuffling. "A week ago they were exposed to a pathogen; we're unsure if they contracted it on the ship or the planet but McKay has been able to determine it's highly contagious and quite deadly." Looking back down she began to fiddle with a folder.
"So they are trapped on a planet with a hive ship that has yet to wake?" Teyla felt dread settle in her stomach. "What are you not telling me?"
"Their final check-in was two days ago and they reported that the hive was showing signs of waking. Since then we have been unable to reestablish communications with them. I'm sorry Teyla. They aren't coming back because they are more than likely already dead."