Title: Mind Over Matter

Summary: When Sheppard returns from bereavement leave after his father's death, a discovery leads Atlantis to a new world and potentially valuable allies. But a secret from the planet's past might just wind up costing Rodney and Sheppard their lives.

Timeframe: Set directly after Outcast.

Spoilers: Major spoilers for "Outcast," and the season one episode, "Childhood's End." A reference to "Critical Mass."

Disclaimer: They're not mine, and I promise I'll return them in good condition. Um…mostly.

A/N: This is my long-overdue fic for the help_japan auction. It was won by caitriona_3 in March, who has been *infinitely* patient and understanding. She asked for Rodney and Sheppard friendship and brotherhood, and that is the focus of the story, though a few other bunnies worked their way in there too. Originally, it was supposed to be a 5 to 7 page one-shot, but it mutated into a multi-chapter, and it wound up about, oh, nine times longer than what I'd originally promised, lol. It is already complete, though, and I'm hoping to post a chapter every few days. That might change when college starts up for me again next week, but I will let you know if that happens.

A/N2: Many, many thanks to my close friends, ladygris and Noelani618, for all of their wonderful feedback and encouragement, and their constant willingness to serve as sounding boards! And of course, an incredible thank you to Darth Mom, the best beta in the Star Wars galaxy or any other.

As always, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his incredible grace, mercy and forgiveness. Without Him, I would be utterly lost.

I hope you enjoy it!

Mind Over Matter

Chapter 1

The present…

The metal restraints snapped closed with a loud clang, and Rodney swallowed hard, feeling the sharp edges of the cuffs dig into his wrists and ankles. Two other bands slid around his throat and forehead, holding him firmly in place. His heart hammered in his chest as he looked up at the machine looming above him.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" he managed.

"Yes," Amirelle admitted. "But it will be brief. Once your conscious mind is separated from your body, the pain will cease."

"You know," Rodney retorted, his voice cracking, "that really doesn't make me feel any better."

Amirelle didn't answer, just watched impassively as the machine lowered into position, stopping inches from Rodney's head.

Rodney shivered on the cold metal slab he was shackled to, feeling the chill even through his clothing, and tried to look around. He couldn't turn his head, but he could still see Sheppard out of the corner of his eye. He was on the floor, laying on his right side, his breaths coming in rapid, ragged gasps. His eyes were closed - he was probably unconscious.

Rodney just hoped it wasn't too late for the antidote to work, and that Amirelle would keep her word when he was…well, when this was over. He wasn't sure what he'd be able to do if she didn't, but he'd think of something. He wasn't going to let Sheppard die. Though, Rodney thought, a little annoyed, it would, of course, be just like Sheppard to go and die before anyone else could.

The machine whined suddenly, and Rodney swallowed again, his mouth and throat dry.

Then, he shut his eyes, and waited for the end to come.

Countdown: Ten hours earlier…

Dr. Rodney McKay walked quickly down the corridor, his laptop tucked under one arm, a stack of notes in his other hand, and a pen held in between his teeth. He got a few curious looks from the people he passed in the hallway, but thankfully, they knew better than to get in his way.

He was, after all, in a hurry, and he didn't plan to stop for anything short of a planetary disaster, or the City's imminent destruction - which, alright, in the Pegasus galaxy, that was a distinct possibility. But, hopefully the next crisis could wait until after the daily briefing, a very important daily briefing, that he had exactly - Rodney glanced down at his watch - two minutes and fifteen seconds to get to. He quickened his pace, almost jogging the rest of the way, and strode through the door, taking his seat with just moments to spare.

Zelenka quirked an eyebrow at him across the table, but Rodney ignored the look, took his pen from his teeth, and set about organizing his notes. He still hadn't quite forgiven Zelenka for his refusal to be the one to take care of that malfunctioning Ancient device on M7G-677. The Czech had just muttered something about bratty little children, included a few, choice words in his native tongue that were probably best left un-translated, and walked out the door before Rodney could explain.

Considering how Zelenka had looked when he'd come back from his last visit to that particular planet, Rodney couldn't really blame him, but it still meant that he'd been stuck going in Radek's place while Ronon went with Sheppard to his dad's funeral. Zelenka had actually apologized once he'd found out about Sheppard's father, offering to lead the repair team anyway in spite of his…previous experience, but by then, it had been too late for Rodney to make the trip to Earth.

At least Rodney's visit to M7G-677 had turned out to be a productive one. The EM generator was repaired and once again working at full efficiency, and they'd come across something else, something that, if Rodney was right - and he usually was - might just give them an advantage over Michael, or just as important, lead to another ZedPM for Atlantis. Rodney and Zelenka had been going through the data the science team had collected, and were finally ready to present their findings.

Rodney glanced up just in time to see Sheppard stroll through the door. Sheppard offered a quick nod to each member of his team, then took his seat, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest. Sam entered seconds behind him, smiling in greeting and moving to her own place at the table. She started the meeting with the usual status reports, but as the head of the science department, Rodney got almost hourly updates on everything that mattered, so he tuned those out and shuffled through his notes once more. Satisfied that everything was in order, he tapped his pen absently on the table, his gaze unconsciously drifting back to Sheppard.

Sheppard had gotten back from his week of bereavement leave ready to go back to work, but Sam had insisted he take a couple more days, considering that his leave had been interrupted by that replicator mess. Sheppard hadn't looked happy about it, but he'd given in without much protest. That had worried Rodney, because when Sheppard wasn't insisting he was fine, something was obviously wrong. Well, actually, something was usually wrong when he tried to say he was fine too - "Me? Oh, I've been shot and I'm slowly bleeding out, but don't worry, I'm fine" - but at least that was normal.

Now, though, Sheppard was officially back on duty, and he was just…quiet. And that wasn't normal. Oh, sure, he'd still answer if somebody said something to him, still issued orders and fobbed extra paperwork off on Lorne, but he wasn't very likely to speak unless spoken to.

Rodney knew that he wasn't the only one who was worried, but when he'd brought it up, Teyla had just quietly suggested that they needed to give Sheppard time. Rodney had done that. He'd waited three days, and…nothing. So, he'd gone to Ronon, who, he'd figured, would at least be able to tell him what was going on.

"His dad died," the Satedan said simply.

Rodney gave him a flat look. "Well, thank you, Mr. Informative. I knew that already. What I mean is, haven't you noticed that Sheppard's acting a little…weird?"

"How else should he be acting?"

"I don't know! But something's not right. He's…he's quiet. Don't you think that's strange?"

Ronon just stared at him.

"Right. Forgot who I was talking to." Rodney sighed impatiently. "Look, did anything happen on Earth? I mean, besides the funeral and the replicator thing?"

"He talked to his brother."

He'd talked to his brother? Huh. Well, there was no reason to think that would-

Rodney's thoughts came to a sudden, screeching halt. "Sheppard has a brother?"

Rodney had, of course, plied Ronon for all the information he could after that, until the Satedan had finally gotten fed up and told him that if he wanted to know something, he should just ask Sheppard.

And, while, yes, that might have made a certain amount of sense, Rodney just couldn't do it, because…because crazy as it sounded, he felt like he shouldn't have had to ask in the first place. Sheppard, after all, was supposed to be his friend. And friends talked. They talked about things like work, and movies, and comics, and Oh, yeah, my family's rich and I grew up on an estate the size of Texas…

But Sheppard had never told him that. Sheppard had never told him that he had a brother, either.

"Rodney?"

Rodney blinked, mentally trying to backtrack, but, for all of his great multitasking skills, he came up blank. He straightened in his seat, trying to appear casual. "Sorry, what?"

Sam's lips quirked. "Your report?" she prompted.

"Oh. Right." Rodney cleared his throat, and quickly pulled up the info on his laptop, ignoring the amused looks he was getting.

"Well," he began, "as you all know, the Ancient device on M7G-677 started malfunctioning about a week and a half ago. The device had to be shut off for several hours, and repairs required some pretty extensive scans. While we were working, we picked up another energy reading. Really faint - barely distinguishable from background radiation. That probably explains why we've never detected it before. We managed to trace the source to some additional ruins about a mile south of the EM generator. They were hidden underground - whatever the Ancients were doing there, they didn't want the locals to find it." He turned his laptop around so that they could see the pictures his science team had taken of the ruins. "We think it was some kind of observation post."

Sam frowned. "An observation post? I thought that the Ancients stopped most of their anthropological research once the Wraith war began."

"As far as we know, they did, but the Ancients might have wanted to measure the effectiveness of the EM generator, and the, uh, population control measures they instituted there. The point is, the ruins are, well, in ruins, but the outpost's data storage device was about forty percent intact. We've only be able to retrieve a portion of the database, but we did find something that looks promising…" He hit a few commands on his keyboard, and Ancient symbols scrolled across the screen.

"Gate addresses," Sheppard supplied.

Rodney nodded. "Eight in total."

"Are these addresses to other planets where the Ancients kept devices like the one on M7G-677?" Teyla wondered.

"That's our theory," Zelenka interjected. "It may be that like, 677, these worlds have electromagnetic fields which also allow them to make use of the technology. But, unfortunately, the addresses were found in one of the more heavily damaged sections of the database. We're lucky that we were able to retrieve as much as we did. All of the information pertaining to the addresses was lost."

"We cross-referenced the list with gate addresses already in Atlantis's database," Rodney went on. "They're all listed for future exploration, but M7G-677 is the only planet we've sent a team to so far."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "I take it you're proposing that we move those worlds to top of the mission roster?"

"If these planets do posses similar devices," Teyla suggested, "then it's possible that the populations of those worlds, too, have been mostly untouched by the Wraith." She didn't say what everyone else was already thinking - that hopefully the populations of those other worlds hadn't been convinced to start committing suicide at twenty-four in a misguided attempt to protect their people. "As Atlantis has both the resources and the expertise to maintain such technology," Teyla continued, "they may be very willing to discuss an alliance."

"That's not all," Rodney added, unable to keep the edge of excitement from his voice. "Imagine what it would mean if we could get our hands on one of those devices. We couldn't use it on Atlantis, but if we could take it apart, we might be able to create our own. I mean, sure, we'd need to figure out the electromagnetic field issue, and find a sustainable power source, but if it we could, anybody we shared it with would be protected from most of the Wraith's technology, including what Michael has."

"Michael-proofing," Sheppard said. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too," Ronon agreed.

"The downside is, of course, that most of our technology wouldn't function in close proximity to those devices either, but even if we can't create our own generators, we should still see what these worlds have to offer. The EM generator on 677 uses a ZedPM as it's power source. If one of those worlds turns out to be unpopulated, and has a device with a still-functioning ZedPM-"

"Alright," Sam smiled and held up a hand, cutting Rodney off, "alright. You've convinced me." She turned to look at Sheppard. "Colonel, what's your team's next mission as the schedule stands?"

"P3X-515. We're supposed to negotiate a trade agreement with one of the local merchants this afternoon."

"Is there any reason that Lorne and his team can't handle the mission instead?"

Sheppard thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. "It shouldn't be a problem."

"Good." Sam looked back at Rodney. "Which planet would you recommend visiting first?"

"We should look at them all, eventually, but M7X-878 is the first planet on the list. It's as good a place to start as any."

Sam gave a nod. "M7X-878 it is. Get your gear together, and be in the gate room at 1300."

The rest of the meeting went by quickly. Jennifer had asked Sam to remind them that the infirmary would be closed for two hours, except in the case of medical emergencies, while she and her staff did inventory and restocked supplies from the Daedalus's latest shipment. They also discussed a mission proposal the Social Sciences division had made - Rodney rolled his eyes - and Zelenka brought up the need for some overdue jumper maintenance. But, with that, the daily briefing concluded, and Sam dismissed them.

Sam left first, heading for her office, and Zelenka followed soon after, telling Rodney that he'd handle the systems upgrade they had scheduled if the mission ran overtime. Rodney waved a hand in acknowledgement, then stood, and gathered up his laptop and notes. He had a few hours left before they had to leave and he wanted to see if he could pull anymore data off of that device.

He glanced up to find Ronon and Teyla still in the room, talking quietly.

Sheppard, though, had left without a word.

Rodney frowned, and started for his lab.

TBC…

A/N: The next part should be up in a few days.

I hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know what you think!

Take care and God bless!

Ani-maniac494 :)