Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, etc.
Part 10/?
Darkjewelledassassin: Thank you! And yes, I really do like your idea, I'm really glad you think out loud, LOL! I hope you enjoy this chapter, too. . .
Wraith named Michael: Thank you! And me too. At least they've realized it now. . .that's half the battle won right there. Just watch out for the satellites. . .I can see the headlines now, "Fanfic Writer Is Blamed for Alien Space Ship In Orbit." LOL. Hope you enjoy this chapter, too!
Stargatecrazy: Thank you! I was hoping the angst factor would turn out on screen the way it did in my head. . .I guess it did. Thanks and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
SpaceMonkey0941: Yes, it is quite annoying, isn't it? It's just like a slap in the face, and when they're together constantly they don't really stop to look at how much they mean to each other. I suppose it's just a fact of life, or at least TV. . . LOL. Yes, I know exactly what to do, and here is the next chapter. . . I hope you enjoy!
There is a spoiler for the third season episode "Sateda" in this chapter!
Author's note: Things start to be set right again in this chapter, but the story is definitely far from over. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please don't kill me!
Chapter 9
A Lead
It had been five days now since Teyla had been taken, five long, agonizing days that had left Ronon exhausted and at the very end of his patience. It felt as though they'd been searching forever, been to nearly every planet in the galaxy, but he knew there were still thousands left unsearched. Sheppard and McKay had stuck by his side, helping him search on whatever planet they went to next for supplies, or just to visit, an excuse for a search.
They had turned up nothing.
Other teams were going out too, keeping their eyes open for anything or anyone who might have information about the Athosian woman and her fate. They asked questions, both subtly and pointedly, but no one knew of her, no one seemed interested or held hope.
He was beginning to think that it was pointless, that she would never be found.
Ronon sat quietly at the edge of a small creek on the next planet on the list, staring glumly at the rushing blue water and wondering why he was seriously considering giving up. He'd promised himself that he'd find her, and get her back to her home, but here he was considering giving up and just settling with clinging to the little bit of joy she had brought back into his life. After all, Jadin and Kyana needed him, they were very young and needed their father. He couldn't constantly be off searching for a woman that wasn't even his Teyla.
But still, he couldn't give up, if for no other reason than he had to get her back to her Ronon, to give them the chance that had been torn away from his and his Teyla. . .
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the locket he'd given to Kyana. She'd given it back to him, saying that maybe a picture of her would help him to find her again. Truthfully Ronon had thought of it himself but hadn't wanted to take the locket back from his little girl, since that was all she had of her mother.
Ronon ran his thumb over the beautiful and intricate engraved design on the front of the locket before opening the front and gazing at the smiling face of the woman in the picture within. She was so happy in that picture, so at peace. . . It made him wonder what had ever gone wrong, what they'd ever done wrong, to deserve what had happened.
Why she had to have died.
"I've seen her before."
Ronon jumped and catapulted to his feet, hand reaching for his weapon as he spun to face the person who had spoken.
A short man with graying hair and squinty eyes leaped back, eyes wide. "Don't shoot!" he cried.
Ronon blinked and slowly holstered his weapon again, trying to even his breathing. "What are you doing here?"
The little man held up a pail. "Coming to get some water," he said. "Saw you sitting here and wondered what was in your hands. Looked over your shoulder and saw the picture." He pointed to the locket. "I've seen her before, couple of days ago."
Ronon's heart nearly leaped into his throat. "You did?" He had been hoping that Teyla was still alive, that she had somehow escaped the Wraith, but that had not prepared him for this.
His unexpected visitor nodded. "Went to an uninhabited world two days ago to get an herb that grows there, on account I needed it for a stew. Saw that lady there come barreling through the Ring like the Wraith was chasing her, and whattaya know but they were. Two of 'em followed her out. Few minutes later she came back to the Ring and left. Found the two Wraith off a bit into the woods, both dead. Sword through the heart by the looks of 'em."
Ronon blinked and swallowed hard. They turned her into a Runner. It was the only explanation; if she wasn't a Runner, why hadn't she just come back through the Stargate to the Beta Site, where she would be safe? "Did you happen to see the coordinates that she went to?"
The little man shook his head. "Nope. I was too far away from the controller device. I can tell you she did look mad, though. Wouldn't want to cross her if I was the Wraith." With those last words, he gathered his pail of water and wandered back off into the woods with a friendly wave over his shoulder.
Ronon slipped the locket back into his pocket and took off for the village, where Sheppard and McKay were probably looking for him by now. This time he had good news to tell them: Teyla was alive!
Unknown Planet
"Please listen to me, you have to let me go! The Wraith will come and destroy us all if you do not!" Teyla gave a desperate tug at the ropes binding her hands to the pole behind her back, but they did not give in the least. The only thing that got her was even sorer wrists and screaming pain in the still tender wound in her back.
"That's what you think, Runner," one of her captors said venomously. "We have captured your kind before and turned them over to the Wraith and been richly rewarded. It will be no different this time."
Teyla swallowed hard and remembered the village of people that had turned Ronon over to the Wraith because they had thought him still a Runner. That had been her universe, but she was sure that the Wraith of this reality couldn't be much different at all. The people of this village would probably be paid as her captor had said. . .only it wouldn't be by being safe from culling.
"Please, listen. If you let me go now, it might not be too late to save your world. I can guarantee you that the Wraith will come, but as soon as they have what they want, me, they will destroy you. . .please, I've seen it before. . ."
Her captor just shook his head and laughed, turning and heading back to the main part of the village. That left Teyla alone at the outskirts on the far side from the Stargate, secured tightly and unable to do anything but hope that this one time the Wraith wouldn't show up; or this would be the time that Ronon showed up. It didn't matter if it was her Ronon or the Ronon of this reality, just as long as he came.
There would be no way she could get herself out of this one.
Beta Site
"Have you found it yet?"
Rodney McKay looked up from where he was tapping away at his computer to glare at Dex. "Would you like to do this?" he snapped, stepping back from the keyboard with a flourishing motion.
Ronon backed off and resumed pacing. "You said you could use the tracking device Doc Beckett took out of me to track her."
"No, I said I might be able to use the device Carson took out of you to track her," McKay corrected snidely without missing a keystroke. "The odds of. . . Oh, would you look at that?"
Ronon seized his pacing and went to stand behind the scientist, peering over his shoulder though he knew Rodney hated that. "What? Did you find her?"
McKay crossed his arms. "There are nineteen different signals matching the one from your device. Why don't you pick one?"
Dex stared at the little red flashing lights, sympathizing with their faceless owners. But which one of them was Teyla, or were any of them?
Rodney pointed to three, one right after the other. "These three are staying in the same place. The rest of them are moving." One of the red dots disappeared. "Uh oh."
"Uh oh?"
Rodney gulped. "Either one of them just died or they were recaptured. One of the devices just disappeared."
Ronon ran his hands down his face. "The question is was that Teyla? Or someone else entirely?"
McKay looked back at the screen. "Well, we need to make a decision. We don't have enough manpower to search all these worlds, we're just going to have to pick and choose and hope we wind up on the right one. We've got four teams available to start searching immediately, including ours."
Ronon turned to look at Sheppard, who had been silently observing from the back corner of the room. The colonel came forward and looked at the screen, then at Ronon. "It's your choice, Ronon, that's what Elizabeth said and I agree. You're the one spearheading this operation, so it's your decision where to start."
Dex looked back at the computer screen, worried his lip, and then pointed. "We'll start here," he decided. "I just hope that's her."
It has to be, he thought. I can't lose her the same way I lost my Teyla. . .
To Be Continued. . .
So, they're on the track of her, and Teyla's been captured. (Yes, I am kind of channeling "Sateda" here, but I promise that the resolution will be quite different, and I've had this idea in my head for almost a year and just now finished planning the ending in my head. I am honestly not trying to rip off the episode.) The next chapter should be up tomorrow, and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!