Linnëa noticed almost immediately when the stargate, her stargate, activated. The ancient tree brought herself to full activity, a state she rarely entered, and alerted a nearby elf. The Jumper that emerged through the stargate had human signatures within, and Linnëa informed the elf that the occupants of the strange craft were likely to be friends.
The elf quickly found a mirror, and cast the scrying spell on it that would allow her to speak with the Queen.
"What has you so agitated, Midia?" Islanzadí asked, after properly observing the traditional greetings.
"My queen, the Ring has stirred, and a strange craft appeared from its waters. Linnëa says that they may very well be friends," Midia answered.
"Indeed," Islanzadí mused. "Water, you said?"
"Yes, like a pool on a windy day, stood on its side within the Ring. It evaporated before any of us could approach it."
"You mentioned that Linnëa said they might well be friends. What state was she in at that time?" Islanzadí asked.
"She was as active as she had been during the Blood-Oath celebration, nay, more active than even that," Midia amended. "Her bark took the appearance of an elf, and she spoke plainly."
Islandzadí's eyes widened in shock. Linnëa had never done that before in recorded elvish history, which meant that it was incredibly important if she had actually done so. "Thank you for telling me. We shall keep an eye out for them here. Alert Eragon, and Nasuada, if Eragon is engaged in matters away from the Varden. Du evarinya ovo varda." With those final words from the Queen, Midia allowed the spell to drop, and Islanzadí's image evaporated from the mirror.
"Huh," Sheppard muttered, peering through the windscreen. "Looks like there's a war going on down there…unless they're going for largest bar fight records."
"What shall we do then?" Teyla asked, standing halfway out of her chair. Concerned brown eyes took in the violence below for several second before she settled back into her seat.
Ronon checked his blaster setting again, simply to make sure, and Dr. Beckett began looking through the medical kit he had brought with him. Rodney's knuckles whitened around the Beretta in its holster.
"I think I'm going for shock and awe," Sheppard commented, urging the throttles forward. A thought and the Jumper de-cloaked, just in time for it to visibly fly just over the rooftops of the city. Sheppard reached forward, and dialed up the inertial dampeners, then banked hard right while throttling down.
As the Jumper appeared in the sky above Gil'ead, both groups of combatants retreated, certain that it was the work of the other, and waited as it slowly touched down in the town square. There, the drive pods retracted, and the ramp whined as it slowly descended.
Murmuring broke out amongst the two armies, as the fighters gathered there tried to make sense of what had just landed in the middle of their battle.
Ronon walked out first, his blaster loosely pointed at the ground. His eyes cast about, searching for targets as he cautiously moved down the ramp. Behind him, Teyla and Sheppard came out with their P-90s at the ready, each paying attention to one side of the Jumper.
Somehow recognizing that the strange weapons carried by the newcomers were similar to bows, the soldiers of the Empire raised their shields, and bunched together, forming a solid wall of shields.
After several tense moments, Islanzadí pushed past her front lines, and glided towards the trio. At the same time, Sheppard spoke up, speaking to all present. "Would anyone like to explain to me exactly what's going on here? I seem to be a little short on context at the moment."
"Were you not sent by Galbatorix?" Islanzadí retorted. "Certainly, he should have given you the information you needed."
"They aren't with the elves?" one of the soldiers muttered. A glare from his commander saw the man subside.
"Who are you, and who is your ruler?" an Imperial commander cried out.
"My name is John Sheppard, and I answer to Dr. Weir," he said. "Who's your ruler?"
"We serve King Galbatorix, in the proud defense of this land!" the Imperial commander answered.
"I am Queen Islanzadí, of the elves. In alliance with the Varden, we seek to overthrow the tyranny of King Galbatorix," she stated. "Where have you come from? Linnëa has indicated that you are likely to be friends to our people."
"Did we meet anyone on our way in?" McKay asked sarcastically. "I thought we kind of flew through a bit fast to make introductions."
The Queen inclined her head slightly. "Perhaps for your kind," she said. "But Linnëa is an ancient, even by our standards. She has had many centuries in which to hone her abilities."
"Did she just say Ancient?" Sheppard asked.
"I believe she did. Perhaps we should listen to what she has to say," Teyla replied softly.
"Okay…McKay, Ronon, keep an eye on those guys," Sheppard ordered, waving vaguely towards the Imperial soldiers. "Teyla and I are going to speak with the Queen a little more privately."
"You've got it, Sheppard," Ronon grunted, turning to face the soldiers.
"He's always finding the ladies," McKay muttered to Ronon as Sheppard was walking away. John pretended not to hear, though he couldn't completely suppress the slight smirk when he heard McKay add, "stupid Captain Kirk syndrome."
"If someone I don't know is speaking on my behalf, I think I'd like to meet with them," Sheppard said quietly.
"That can be arranged," Islanzadi replied. "However, I will need to ride with you in your strange flying craft, as the journey would otherwise be several days on foot."
"We can do that easily enough," Sheppard answered.
"Will you require guards?" Teyla asked. "We do not have much extra space within the Jumper."
"My magic will be sufficient," Islanzadi answered regally.
Teyla and Sheppard shared a look, then Teyla nodded fractionally. John raised his eyebrows slightly, and Teyla nodded again. "Very well," Teyla said at last.
Islanzadi motioned towards the Jumper, and the trio began walking back to the Ancient spacecraft.
A/N: So, that chapter got caught in a bottleneck of ideas, and as soon as I figure out who dropped a fifty-three foot trailer of rabid plot bunnies RIGHT OUTSIDE MY FRONT DOOR, I intend to [MESSAGE REDACTED] So, yeah. Once I was able to clear the bottleneck, then I had some problems actually getting the tail end of this chapter put together, as some of the holes didn't line up properly, so getting the bolts in required me to void the warranty while assembling.
Anyway, you didn't go to the bottom of the page just to listen to me blathering on about my problems, so:
Answers to Readers:
Siskodefiant: Yes to all three, though it's all getting re-worked a bit.
Trife: Glad you like it.
To the Ninth of the Feather series: Thanks for the advice. Hopefully, I'll get my dialogue into a better place.
Telron: Glad you like it.
Okay, I'm done here. Leave a review; I'm going to get a coffee, and see about that next chapter.