Authors: Wild Force Ranger & Jadelyn Tate
Story: The Shadows Grow
Disclaimer: We own only the idea and two of the ladies. Alice is Wild's creation while Nicole and Oliver are Jadelyn's.
Summary: As the danger to Atlantis grows, Ronon recruits the legendary Shadows to fight alongside them. But capricious allies can be worse than none at all...
Chapter Two: Meeting of the Minds
"Unscheduled Off-World Activation!"
"Who is it?" Dr. Weir said, hurrying into the control room. Chuck shook his head, studying the screen as Sheppard and Ronon came in.
"We're receiving a message," the gate tech told them. Ronon frowned, his instincts screaming at him that something was up.
"What does it say?" Sheppard asked as the gate deactivated. Chuck frowned, putting it on the main screen. Dr. Weir and Ronon both moved forward and then paused when they realized what they were doing. The civilian commander shook it off first, looking at the message.
"It's not in a language I recognize," Dr. Weir said as Ronon frowned at the screen. "Maybe send it to Nicole— "
"It's in Satedan," Ronon interrupted, reading it quickly. Dr. Weir and Sheppard looked at him.
"What does it say?" Sheppard asked, looking mildly curious. Ronon nodded to himself as he finished reading the letter.
"The Shadows will meet us on Belkan in two days time," he told Dr. Weir, his voice tinged with satisfaction. She looked surprised but Sheppard looked pleased.
"This is from them?" she asked and Ronon nodded. Sheppard looked at Dr. Weir and she nodded.
"Alright, AG-1 has a go," she agreed. "But I want a translation of this letter before then."
Ronon frowned but nodded in understanding. "I'll take it to Dr. Scott," he told her and she nodded her approval; she knew the head of the Culture Center had somehow talked Ronon into teaching her Satedan and so would be the best one to translate it for her.
~~*^*~~
Ronon didn't look around as he lead the way to the small bar they were going to meet the Shadows at. The crowds parted for them in the face of Ronon's large frame but he didn't take much notice—it wasn't that unusual.
"Don't call them the Shadows," Ronon told them quietly. "Call them by the names I introduce them as."
"Why?" John asked but from the look on his face, he was sure he already knew the answer.
"No one knows their names," the Satedan said quietly and Teyla nodded.
"And you'd like to keep it that way," Rodney guessed. Ronon nodded.
"They trusted me to keep their secret. If we're going to trust them to keep ours..." he trailed off with a significant look. John nodded.
"Just a group of friends out for a drink," John agreed as the bar they were looking for appeared. Ronon pushed inside.
"Don't drink the alcohol here," he told them.
Rodney frowned at him suspiciously. "Why not?" he demanded. Ronon just smiled and headed for the bar.
The bartender looked up as they approached. "What'll you have?" he asked, eyeing them.
"Ale all around," Ronon grunted out. The bartender nodded as Rodney frowned again.
"I thought you said— " he started but shut up when John elbowed him.
Still eying them, he starts handing out the ales. "Six Drachen," he said and Ronon dropped the coins onto the table, along with four extra.
"You know Josiane? And Ariana?" he asked, looking at him. The bartender spilled some ale in surprise.
"Sorry," he muttered and grabbed another cup. "Who's asking?"
"A friend of theirs," Ronon said simply. "They called."
"Friends?" he asked skeptically. "Those girls don't have friends."
Ronon leaned at him, his face a careful mask of stone. The bartender stared at him a moment before pointing and retreating to another patron down the bar. John decided he'd probably retreat too when faced with Ronon.
Rodney started. "Girls?!" he asked incredulously. "You never said they were girls!"
"Rodney!" John said, giving him a look. "A little discretion, please?"
"They're not girls," Ronon grunted out. Rodney frowned but didn't say anything since John was still looking at him. Ronon picked up two cups. "They haven't been girls since the Wraith attack."
The team followed him a few steps before stopping when Ronon held up a hand, nearly splashing Rodney in the process. He was frowning at the table.
"Problem?" John asked worriedly and suddenly wishing he'd agreed to bring Lorne and a squad of marines.
"I don't know the third," Ronon replied quietly. John looked over at the table. Two brunettes were sitting at a table in the corner, half covered in shadows with a very familiar redhead. John's mouth dropped open a little.
"Teyla, is that who I think it is?" he asked and the Athosian nodded in surprise.
"It does appear to be, yes," she said. Rodney frowned.
"Sora?" the physicist said. "What are the Genii..."
Rodney was cut off as he was elbowed again, this time by Teyla. Ronon looked at them. "She was Genii?"
"Is Genii, last I checked," John corrected.
Ronon shook his head. "Not likely to be anymore," he told them easily. "They don't like the Genii."
"Any particular reason?" John asked curiously, hefting his gun.
"Beside the fact that they're homicidal maniacs?" Rodney butted in. Ronon smirked.
"They pissed of the leaders," he told the three. "Something about a prison breakout."
"I like these girls more every time you say anything," John grinned. Ronon snorted and headed for the table again.
"Ro," the tiny brunette with green eyes said, nodding at him but not getting up. She was leaning back in her chair, balancing on the back legs as she fiddled with a knife.
"Ronon," the other brunette said; she was sitting confidently at the table, all four legs of her chair on the floor as she coolly assessed the three new people through light brown eyes.
"Major Sheppard," Sora greeted him. John smiled.
"It's Lt. Colonel, now, actually," he told her proudly. "I was promoted." Sora smiled briefly before nodding at the Athosian and the fidgeting scientist.
"Teyla, Dr. McKay."
"John, Teyla, Rodney, and you know Ronon," John said, pointing them out. Ronon sat down next to the brown-eyed brunette, stealing a bite of something off her plate. Ronon jerked a thumb at each of the women as he introduced them.
Josiane Acalon was the green-eyed brunette that seemed to enjoy her knives; John wasn't sure but he thought she had at least seven blades on her person, not to mention at least one gun. That, estimate, however, was seeing her with her coat on and he suspected she had many more hidden where he couldn't see.
Ariana Toren was the one glaring at Ronon for stealing her food. She didn't seem to have as many knives but did seem to have an abundance of little gadgets and pouches. He vaguely remembered Ronon mentioning that the Shadows had roles that they tended to instinctively fall into, much like AG-1—Josiane was the pretty face to get to them out of trouble and Ariana was the one who devised all the technology and whatnot they used.
Rodney and Elizabeth had not been impressed when he'd likened them to James Bond and Q or Van Helsing and Carl. Come to think of it, Ronon wasn't impressed either, John realized silently. He shook away the distracting thoughts and smiled brightly at the women.
"Well! Now we all know each other!"
"No, we don't," Josiane said bluntly. John frowned at her.
"We don't?" he asked. Ariana raised an eyebrow at him.
"We know Ronon," she said, motioning to the large Satedan. "Sora knows you."
John refused to fidget as the two brunettes studied him, Rodney, and Teyla while Sora gave Ronon a once-over. Deciding turnabout was fair play, he studied the former Genii.
The last time he'd seen her, Sora had been running around trying to fight the Wraith attacking Atlantis during the Siege. He hadn't been around when she was sent back to the Genii and he had to wonder why and how she had ended up with Shadows.
Like her companions, she was dressed almost all in black and browns, with some small amounts of pale green and blue thrown in. The coat she was wearing was just like Josiane and Ariana's but with small differences. Where Josiane had what seemed to be knives sewn into her coat and two pockets, Ariana had several pockets and lots of random pouches hanging from a belt that seemed to be sewn into the fabric. Sora's coat, on the other hand, was mostly bare but had a few knives sewn in like Josiane, a few extra pockets, and several clay figurines on chains that as far as he could tell were for decoration.
Josiane looked distinctly unimpressed as she looked at Ronon. "These are your friends, Ro?"
John bristled slightly. "These are your friends, Ronon?" he asked, deliberately mimicking Josiane's tone.
Josiane simply stared at him. John refused to be intimidated by a woman smaller than Teyla, no matter how homicidal she looked playing with her knives. And when did she pull out another knife, anyway? John asked himself with a frown.
Ariana turned to Josiane. "This is why we have no friends, you know," she told her easily. Josiane pursed her lips a moment before smiling brightly.
"We have Ro!" she reminded her, grinning at the amused Satedan. Ariana rolled her eyes.
"This is why we have one friend, you know," she reiterated. She turned to Sora. "You know them?"
"I was their political prisoner for several months," she answered matter-of-factly.
Josiane and Ariana both tensed, glaring at the three Atlanteans. John grinned at Sora hopefully.
"Bygones?"
Teyla sighed as Rodney sputtered.
"You tried taking over our, our base!" he reminded her.
Teyla elbowed him. "That was due to a misunderstanding between our leadership and Cowen," she explained.
"Cowen?" Josiane asked, stilling in her chair to stare at them suspiciously. "You're in league with Cowen?"
"No!" John exclaimed. "No, no, no, no. Can't stand the guy. He keeps trying to kill us."
"John!" Teyla scolded.
"Well, he does!" Rodney defended Sheppard's comment. Sora nodded reluctantly when both brunettes looked at her.
Josiane smirked. "A point in your favor then," she told the colonel, her disdain for the Genii leader obvious.
John looked at Ronon, grinning proudly. "I got a point."
Ronon wasn't very impressed. "I have sixteen," he replied simply and John deflated.
"He was once on twenty three," Ariana told them with a smirk. Ronon growled. "We had to knock some off."
John grinned at that. "Why?"
Josiane butted in. "Don't you dare," she warned and John's grin widened; he sensed a story.
Ariana ignored her companion and the growl coming from Ronon. "He and Josiane got into a fight. They ended up both getting shot," she told them with a smirk.
"He touched me," Josiane replied flatly. Ronon's eyes flashed as he glared at her.
"You were falling into a river!" he reminded her angrily. John's eyes lit up.
"Ha!" he crowed. "The Shadow Falls!"
Rodney sent him an irritated look but other than that, they all ignored his comment. He pouted.
"Ronon, there was a point to this meeting, yes?" Ariana asked the former Runner. "Because Josiane's going to hit you again if you're not careful."
"Or take points away," Sora said, her face the picture of innocence.
"I'd rather hit him at this point," Josiane grumbled and John finally realized why Ronon respected these women.
"No," Ariana told her firmly. "If you don't like what they're saying, you can hit the dark haired one."
"Hey!" John exclaimed, alarmed as Josiane seemed to accept that compromise way too happily.
"Well, there's no sport in fighting the other one," Ariana shrugged. John grimaced as Rodney frowned.
"Wait a minute..."
"Rodney, hush," Teyla told him before he could finish that thought. She turned back to the women. "I believe we have started on the wrong terms. May we start over?"
Josiane sighed. "What kinda trouble are you in?" she finally asked.
Teyla smiled at her. "We are in no specific trouble right now," she answered.
John looked at Ronon. "For once," he muttered and Teyla glared at him.
The Athosian turned back to the three women. "Ronon suggested you might be willing to form an alliance against the Wraith."
"He did?" Sora asked and then looked at Ronon. "You did?"
Ronon shrugged. "You fight the Wraith. We fight the Wraith," he said as if it were that simple. He suddenly smirked. "These guys can't sneak to save their lives."
Ariana eyed them thoughtfully. "They're wearing too much stuff," she told him and he nodded.
"Yeah, they do that," he agreed.
"Thanks, buddy," John told him sarcastically.
"And your outfits allow you to blend in?" Rodney asked skeptically. Josiane and Sora looked down at their outfits, frowning.
Ariana stretched, smirking. "Are you looking at my weapons, Rodney?" she asked coyly.
"Depends what you means by weapons..." John muttered as Rodney sputtered in embarrassment next to him. Sora laughed, eyes crinkled in amusement.
"Down, both of you," she ordered, only half-joking.
"We do fine on our own," Josiane pointed out. John frowned. "Why would we need you?"
Ronon ignored the byplay and shrugged. "They need help, and you're the best," he told her.
"There's only three of you," John pointed out. "And from what I understand, you have no base, nowhere safe you can stop."
"That's the beauty of it," Josiane told him easily but John thought he saw some flash of emotion in her eyes. "No base, no place for them to ambush or attack us."
"Nowhere to call home," Teyla pointed out softly and all three women stilled, expressions turning blank. Realizing she had apparently hit a sore spot, she tried a different angle. "What if you are injured? Even the best fighters don't win every engagement. "
"The Wraith don't know where we are," John agreed, having seen the same thing Teyla had.
"We have...places...we can go," Josiane told him. "We simply don't stay in one place for very long."
"And you have no wish to stop?" Teyla asked, worriedly. "To rest, to recuperate?"
"Rest is for those who have something to lose," Ariana said softly. Ronon shifted when John looked at him worriedly.
Teyla realized it first. "How old were you when your world was culled?" she asked, dreading the answer.
Josiane's expression turned frosty. "It wasn't culled. It was destroyed."
"It doesn't matter," Ariana burst out, the turn in conversation obviously upsetting her. She turned to Ronon. "Why did you think we'd agree, Ronon? You know who we are."
"They need help. You're the best," he repeated.
"Well, if you put it like that...," she said, feigning being flattered. "We're the Shadows, Ronon, not the Earther's enforcers."
The three women stood up and Ronon sighed, resigned.
"Wait, what?" John asked, looking at the former Runner. "Ronon..."
"They're done listening, Sheppard," he told him simply. John glared.
"We're not done talking!" he told them angrily. Josiane pulled a gun out and aimed it at him.
"I can make it so you're done talking," she told him simply. John and Rodney gaped at her while Teyla seemed distressed.
Ariana sighed and pulled out her gun as well. "Try not to destroy the fittings this time!" the bartender called, having seen the action. Most of the patrons looked away when Ronon glared at them. He stood up and got between Josiane and John.
"Stop that," he told her, pushing her gun away. She glared at him.
"No, Ronon. I don't know why you brought them here," she told him. "We do well enough on our own. They have legends about us. Why do we need them?"
"You're right, this was a mistake," he said. He turned his back on them to speak very deliberately to John. "If you run long enough, it's easier to keep going than to stop. The girls want to keep going. Let's go."
"Hey!" Ariana yelped and then frowned in realization. "Oh. I see what you're doing." Ronon grinned at her and Ariana turned to Josiane and Sora. "He hasn't got any less sneaky, anyway," she told them.
Josiane sighed and finally put her gun away. "Or any less confusing," she complained. "What is he doing?"
"He's trying to imply that he's stronger than us, because he stopped Running and we won't. Appealing to our pride, and all that," she explained patiently. She turned to Ronon. "Which might work if we cared what your friends think of us."
Josiane frowned. "You stopped Running?" she asked, confused. "Since when?"
Ronon gestured at his comrades. "Since they took my tracker, killed the Wraith on my tail," he told her, frowning. "Three months or so."
"Ronon wouldn't risk anyone he calls friend if his tracker was still active," Ariana nodded. She fished out a device from one of her pockets. "Plus, my scanner didn't pick it up."
Rodney immediately perked up. "Scanner?" he asked, looking at her expectantly.
"Oh, just something I threw together," Ariana told him easily. "Comes in handy sometimes."
Josiane and Ronon both snorted at that and then stared at each other, slightly horrified expressions on their faces. John frowned but shrugged it away as another quirk the two shared. Ronon shook himself and turned to Ariana.
"Show him, or he won't shut up about it," he advised and then glanced at Rodney as the woman did what he suggested with a sigh. "Ariana's the brains of the outfit."
Josiane frowned at him. "I take offense to that," she informed the table.
"You're the looks of the outfit," Ariana placated her. Sora scowled.
"Hey!"
"You're the...," Ariana started but came up blank. She looked to Ronon who smirked.
"Apparently you're the common sense of the outfit," he told the former Genii. Sora smiled ruefully.
"Sadly, I can see that as being true," she acknowledged, sharing a grin with Ronon.
"Ariana, is he supposed to be taking it apart like that?" Josiane asked suddenly and John turned to Rodney as Ariana pulled out her gun.
"Hey!"
"Rodney, play nice," John warned him. Rodney looked flustered, a few wires poking out of the device as he looked around.
"I was just trying...," he started but was cut off when Ariana climbed over the table and yanked it out of his grasp.
"She's very protective of her stuff," Josiane told him. Rodney frowned, looking at the device.
"But how did you..."
"Ronon, tell your friend what happened to the last person who touched my machines!" Ariana demanded, glaring at the scientist.
"The Shadow fell on him," Ronon deadpanned.
"Rodney, don't touch, alright?" John told him. Rodney glared at him but before he could say anything, Ariana spoke up.
"He tore the wire," she announced and then looked expectantly at John.
"I did not!" Rodney argued, turning his glare on her. She showed him the wire and he deflated slightly. "...oh."
Sora, Josiane, and Ronon each backed up as much as they could without outright standing up. John looked at Ronon carefully. "Ronon, do we have a problem?" he asked as the bartender came over with some snacks.
He looked at the group and zeroed in on the look on Ariana's face. "What he'd do?" he asked, unknowingly increasing the worry John was feeling.
"He broke her machine," Josiane told the bartender solemnly. The man put down the food, tssking, and then made a quick getaway, muttering something about how much it was going to cost to fix his bar.
"Ronon?" John asked again as Ariana silently waved the scanner in her hands. The Atlantis CSO shook his head mulishly and Ariana motioned again, this time more firmly and closer to his face.
In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Teyla smiled at Josiane. "You saved my father at one point," she told her with a smile.
"We save a lot of people," Josiane said. Ariana, sufficiently distracted from her silent argument with Rodney, turned and studied the Athosian more closely.
"Emmagen, right?" she asked finally and Teyla nodded, looking surprised.
"Yes, I am Teyla Emmagen," she agreed.
Josiane frowned. "How did you...one of these days, I will figure out how you know everything," she informed Ariana and then turned to Teyla. "Your father was Torren?"
"You can try," Ariana told Josiane loftily.
Teyla and John both hid smiles. "Torren Emmagen, leader of our people, before his death," Teyla acknowledged.
Josiane stared at her thoughtfully. "And you're Teyla, and you left your people for these...because?"
"Because they have proven themselves worthy, and I believe in them," Teyla replied promptly.
"Even after everything they've done?" Ariana asked. John frowned and looked at the Satedan.
"Ronon, have you been telling tales?" he demanded, his voice low.
"Everyone knows you woke the Wraith, Johnny," Josiane informed him coolly. "Every market on every world talks about the Earthers."
John shifted guiltily. "Well...it was an accident," he told them honestly, a hang-dogged expression on his face.
"You seem prone to those," Ariana noted and placed the scanner on the table.
"But we always fix our accidents!" John said, trying desperately to keep this discussion from dissolving into anger and blame.
"And how would you propose to the survivors of Agria how you plan to fix the culling of their world and the deaths two hundred thousand who once lived there?" Josiane asked.
"Or Swala? Or Thern? Or any of the others I could name?" Ariana added. She turned to the large Satedan. "Your intent may be good, Ronon, but the Earthers cannot be our allies."
Rodney glared at them. "You've never made a mistake? No one's ever died on your little sabotage missions?" he demanded, fishing out a wire from one of his tac vest pockets and throwing it on the table. "At least we're trying to fix ours!"
"We may have made mistakes but they never cost the lives of millions of innocent people," Ariana informed him softly. John winced.
"Before you came, we were doing exceedingly well against the Wraith," Josiane informed them. "Hives were being destroyed left and right because they weren't awake to fight back."
"So join us, and help us fight back now," John said, his guilt over what they were saying making him somewhat desperate. "We're doing our best, but if Ronon says we need your help, we need your help. Help us."
Ariana looked at Josiane. "He looks really sincere," she said. Josiane's expression was blank as she looked at John, refusing to meet Ariana's eyes.
"So did Kala."
Ariana shook her head at Josiane, frowning in disappointment. "Don't you ever get tired of measuring everyone by Kala? You hated Ronon at first too, and he's never betrayed us," she reminded the green-eyed Shadow. "Nor has Sora."
"I trust them. I have no reason to. But I do," Sora spoke up. Josiane and Ariana looked at her. "They are good people, despite the mistakes they've made."
Teyla smiled at Sora who smiled back shyly. Rodney didn't sayanything but continued glaring at the women. As much as it pained him to admit it, even to himself, he could understand why they'd be hesitant to work with them—the Atlanteans really had made things really bad for a lot of the Pegasus natives. But he stood firm by his declaration that at least they were trying to fix their mistakes.
Ronon looked at John. "Sounds like two out of three to me," he told the colonel, who relaxed against his chair.
"This doesn't mean we'll go back with you," Josiane warned. John gave her a crooked smile.
"That's fine," he said easily. "We're just talking."
Ronon smiled at the women. "They have showers," he told them.
Ariana immediately perked up. "Showers?"
"So do many trade worlds," Josiane reminded them, amused.
"These are better," he informed them with a smirk. "It's the Ancestor's city."
"Ronon!" John warned sharply. Josiane snorted.
"Like we didn't know where you were living," she told him, almost teasingly. John gave her a funny look but let it pass. She changed moods more often than Rodney called himself a genius.
"Please," Ariana said. "Remember who you're talking to, Ronon."
"Word does get around, not to mention I lived there for several months," Sora nodded and Ronon scowled. Ariana laughed.
"He's so easy," she told the girls with a grin.
"Says the girl who had him convinced for several weeks we were—" the green-eyed shadow started but Ariana put her hand over Josiane's mouth, effectively cutting her off.
"I'm getting tired of talking," she said, giving the scowling Josiane a look. "And my scanner's fixed. Going or not going? Sora?"
"Give them the address to one of the havens," she suggested. "They need us, they call. We need them, I know the address to the city. But we have to get to Tenaya by nightfall, remember?"
Ariana nodded. "Josiana, going or not going?"
"Tenaya?" Josiane asked, ignoring Ariana's question. She made a face. "Do we have to go see Ven?"
"He has intel, remember?" Ariana reminded her, distracted by Josiane's question.
Josiane stood up, all ready to go. "He makes me want to hit Ronon," she said. The former Runner gave her a look that told her just to try.
Realizing what Josiane was doing, Ariana yanked her back down. "Vote now. Hit Ronon later," she orderd. "Do we ally or not?
John looked at Ronon. "Their impulse control needs work," he told him conversationally.
"Well, I suppose no one will actually believe them if they say they're allied with us..."
"They haven't hit anyone yet," Ronon told John, smiling at Josiane's reluctant agreement.
"Believe it or not, from Josiane that's as good as it gets," Ariana told John. "Ronon can contact us if necessary, but we do have to go now."
She stood up and handed Rodney a pouch. "You can have this," she told him. Rodney frowned and pulled out a small cube that lit up randomly when it connected with his skin.
"You're so cruel," Josiane told the brown-eyed Shadow.
Ariana scowled. "He broke my machine," she argued and Ronon smirked.
"He'll never figure it out," the dread-locked man told John. "No one does."
Ariana preened as Josiane and Sora smirked. "Ronon, keep your people here for a few minutes," Josiane said, standing. She picked up John's cup and poured it out, ignoring the indignant squawking from the watching bartender. "And don't drink the alcohol here."
Ariana hurried the three women away. "'Johnny'?" she asked Josiane.
"Does he look like a Johnny to you?" she asked back and Ariana shook her head, confused.
"No," she answered and Josiane smirked.
"Exactly," she said as they walked out of the bar. John could still hear their conversation through the various windows they passed.
"Wow. We actually got through that without violence. I'm impressed," Sora teased.
"We are capable of being non-violent, you know," Ariana pointed out.
"I DIDN'T GET TO HIT RONON!" Josiane shouted. John glanced over saw the Satedan rolling his eyes.
"Ow. Thanks, that ear's bust," they heard Ariana grumble. "Oh, get back here!"
John pinched the bridge of nose, imagining in his mind eye Sora and Ariana grabbing onto Josiane's arms to keep her from coming back into the bar to hit Ronon.
"Oh great," Rodney grumbled. "We just allied ourselves with three female versions of the Caveman!"
"Problem with that, McKay?" the man in question asked, eyebrow raised as he stared at the scientist coolly. Rodney swallowed.
"No..." he answered unconvincingly.
The girls passed the window next to their table then, laughing. They threw grins at the four before disappearing into the throng outside.