Chapter 1

John's temper was still simmering as he landed the jumper. Nothing is as powerful a righteous anger, and he really did feel aggrieved that she had doubted him so much. Ronon and Rodney had tried to talk him out of coming, but he was still too furious at Cat to listen, the sound of the glass vase breaking against the wall and her last sharp words still ringing in his ears. But, as he calmed down, he also began to understand, just a little, why she had been so jealous. Frankly, he had been amazed that she hadn't wanted to talk about the incident in the bar. She had briefly let him know that she knew, but he thought she had forgiven him. Well, that clearly wasn't the case. Still angry, he wondered what an earth he was doing here. Oh, well. It would do his battered ego no harm to flirt with a pretty young thing and even less harm if she flirted back. He had no intention of taking it any further than that, however. Lorne had asked him if he could pilot the science team to the mainland, something about a hot date, and John had initially refused, not wanting to spend a night away from Cat. In his anger, he had radioed Lorne and told him that his 'hot-date' was on.

Lorne had warned him that piloting biologists to interesting habits could be more boring than watching paint dry and he began to see his point. The girl was undoubtedly pretty in a 'sweet' almost boyish kind of way, but she was much too young for him and didn't have Cat's beauty or luscious curves. He tried to make eye contact one more time, but Parrish was far too interested in the exotic plant life to notice the signals he was giving out and rather more keen on staying with the pale little colleague who had accompanied them.

Sulkily, John slowly strode back to the jumper. He may as well take his time, he thought. Twenty four hours in this damn tropical forest before he could get back and make things right with Cat. There would be nothing much else to occupy him here. He hadn't brought his i-pod with him. Even his copy of 'War and Peace' would be welcome now. He had briefly entertained the thought that he could contact her from the jumper, but he knew enough of her stubbornness to suspect that she wouldn't want to speak to him yet.

'What the hell!' he exclaimed, just as a loud crack sounded from behind him. Turning, he saw a flash and felt the tingle of a stunner, before collapsing in a heap on the ground.

His body ached and his head hurt, as he slowly came to consciousness. Shaking himself, he realised that his legs and arms were tied, his arms behind him. As far as he could see, there was nobody around and he thought about calling out for help, before thinking better of it. If there were hostiles in the area, the two scientists were more than likely to get themselves killed, although John had no idea about what he was facing.

'First things, first, John.' Behind him was a large, sharp stone sticking out of the ground. Feeling the bounds, he realised that they were not too tight and he could probably get some purchase on them. It surprised him how easily he cut through them and he was able to untie his legs with no great difficulty. Even they felt less like jelly than they normally did after being hit by a stunner and his headache began to recede. Now he needed to head back to the jumper. Cursing, he realised that his guns had both been taken and reached inside his sleeve for the knife that Ronon had taught him to conceal.

The Jumper was only about 500 metres away, the hatch wide open. John was certain that he had closed it. The acrid smell of smoke filled the air and he knew what he would find before he even cautiously looked inside. Someone had completely trashed its interior, smoke still rising from the cockpit. Knowing it was probably futile, he checked the control crystals.

'Damnit!' he cursed. 'Oh, for God's sake, John, what are you thinking? There are two defenceless and unsuspecting scientists out there. Go find them. That's your job here after all, not flirting with young girls half your age!'

For some reason, the undergrowth looked deeper and more difficult than it had before. He was certain that there had been more of a clearing around the jumper when he 'parked' it. Dismissing the thought as irrelevant, he headed off in the direction where he thought the scientists had last been. Suddenly, to his right, he heard a sound in the undergrowth and he felt the hairs stand up on is arms, a sure sign that his 'spidy' sense was working. With knife in hand, he crept stealthily towards where he thought the sound had come from. About 10 metres in front of him he could just make out the back of a man in some kind of uniform.

'Genii? No, don't be ridiculous, John, Now you're seeing things.' There is now way in hell that the Genii could have found them. There wasn't even a gate on the mainland and he was pretty certain that the Genii didn't have space-ships. Still, better safe than sorry. John's period in special ops had made him pretty good at covert operations or 'sneaking up on people' as Rodney liked to call it, so he was somewhat surprised when he reached the spot where the soldier had been only to find that he had disappeared. Now, this was becoming downright perplexing.

Too late, he heard the footsteps behind him. Turning quickly to fend off the threat, he stopped in his tracks.

'Kolya!'. What the hell! Distracted, the last thing he felt was a sharp pain in his head, before he collapsed to the ground.

TBC

AN: I have to show how there were little clues that the events were not real had John been able to pick up on them. While the events do more or less match those of the episode, there may be some omissions or additions and the dialogue is not entirely the same.