"Ronon! Wait!" Sheppard yelled as Ronon headed down the wide stone steps and across the atrium.
Ronon ignored Sheppard's order and kept walking. He glanced at Cerese crouched near the edge of her counter and then at the crowd of people outside. Ronon heard people shouting even though the wooden doors to the building were closed and watched as people either ran past the windows or stood in the street pointing up at the sky.
"What's happening!" Cerese cried and ducked under the counter as another dart screamed past overhead.
"Wraith," Ronon replied shortly and kept walking.
"What?" Cerese shrieked behind him. "What do we do?"
Ronon left the city house without a backward glance, dodging around the people gathered on the street, and headed toward the edge of town.
"Look!" someone in the crowd shouted. "Here comes three more."
A few people ducked back into doorways as the darts flew past, but most stood in the middle of the street, watching as the waves of ships flew over the city.
"Kiroma is truly blessed by the Ancestors," a man said, and several people standing nearby nodded in agreement.
Ronon growled under his breath and pushed through the crowd, ignoring the startled or disgruntled exclamations left in his wake.
"Ronon!" Sheppard shouted from somewhere behind him, but Ronon kept walking.
The Satedan village lay to the east of the city, he reminded himself and turned down a left-hand street. A part of him knew he would never reach Teyla or McKay in time, but he didn't really care. He'd avenge them and the Satedan villagers by taking out as many Wraith as he could before the Wraith killed him.
"Hey!" Sheppard exclaimed and grabbed Ronon's arm.
Ronon turned with a growl, but Sheppard scowled back and kept his grip on Ronon's arm.
"I get it," Sheppard said. "I'm worried about them too. But we can't just go charging through who knows how many Wraith soldiers without a plan."
"I have a plan," Ronon growled and shook off Sheppard's hold on his arm. "Kill any Wraith that gets in my way."
"As plans go, it could use some work," Sheppard replied with a wry smile. "We aren't going to be able to do much for Rodney or Teyla if we're dead."
"You have a better idea?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Sheppard said. He glanced up and down the street, then pointed to the fields and the forest at the edge of the valley. "The first thing we need to do is get out of Kiroma without alerting the Wraith to the fact the city exists."
"Why? Not like they cared about the people left to fend for themselves."
Sheppard frowned. "You heard Tiernan and saw the state of those ZPMs. Assuming I'm right and they powered other cloaking emitters, whoever took the crystals out of the emitters, did it a long time ago. These people," Sheppard waved a hand at the nearby crowd, "had nothing to do with that."
Ronon knew Sheppard was right, but that didn't mean he wasn't still angry. How many people had the Wraith culled over the generations thanks to the actions of a small group of individuals? Just like Kell, he thought with a glare at the city house behind them.
"Once we're out of the city, we'll use the forest for cover," Sheppard continued. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be caught in a culling beam while mounting a rescue operation."
Ronon considered that for a moment. "Fine. The village is that way." He pointed to his left.
Sheppard nodded, and together they made their way through the scattered crowds of gawkers. A few people turned and watched as Sheppard and Ronon left the city center, but most of the men and women they passed ignored them in favor of watching the Wraith ships overhead.
They left the city fifteen minutes later, and Ronon felt some of the tension ease from his shoulders once he was away from all of the people treating a Wraith culling as some sort of entertainment. They followed a cobbled path along the edge of one of the fields until the trail ended in a dirt track a quarter of a mile from the edge of the forest.
"The edge of the cloak must be close," Sheppard said. Ronon cocked an eyebrow, and Sheppard pointed at the last rows of grain in the fields and added, "The fields end here, and the trail changes over to just dirt."
Ronon glanced at the edge of the field and saw what Sheppard meant.
"The game would be up if their crops ever extended beyond the cloak," John said.
"If they didn't know about the cloak, how did they know where to stop planting?" Ronon asked.
"Who knows," Sheppard replied. "Maybe it was just something passed down. 'Don't go beyond this point' or something."
Sheppard inched along the dirt track, his head cocked to one side and his right hand extended. "Here," he said a moment later. "If you look close, you can see a slight distortion in the air."
Ronon stopped next to Sheppard and studied the empty space in front of him. "If you say so," he said with a shrug. He glanced to his left, then his right. "Don't see any Wraith."
Sheppard nodded. "Looks like we got a little lucky. We'll clear the cloaking field and make for those trees," he added, pointing to his left.
Ronon took another step forward, heard the faint crackle of energy, and felt the hairs rise on the back of his hands. He took a step back and glanced at Sheppard.
"It's perfectly safe," Sheppard said. "I've walked through a cloaking field before."
Ronon grunted a non-committal reply. He made sure the leather duster was free of his holster, unholstered the particle weapon, and stepped through the invisible field. Sheppard followed him, and Ronon shook off the tingling feeling in his hands.
"Okay, maybe not exactly the same as the cloaking field for the jumpers," Sheppard said, scrubbing a hand over his face.
Ronon glanced back at the city and noted there was no distortion effect now that he was outside the field. As far as anyone outside the cloak was concerned, the valley appeared to be nothing more than an open plain surrounded by trees.
Sheppard checked the P-90 and jerked his chin toward the forest. "Let's go. Before someone sees us."
They weren't far from the forest's edge when Ronon heard the whine of more darts heading in their direction. He raised the particle weapon, but Sheppard pushed him from behind.
"Move!" Sheppard said. He ran a few steps toward the trees, then turned back. "That's an order."
Ronon glared first at Sheppard and then at the approaching darts.
"Hey!" Sheppard shouted. "Let's go!"
Ronon stared at the darts for a moment longer, then turned and followed as Sheppard raced across the open ground. They made it into the trees just as another squadron of darts flew past.
Sheppard watched the ships disappear in the distance, then turned and headed deeper into the forest. "We stay out of sight as much as possible," he said as Ronon pushed past him and took point. "We don't want to lead any Wraith back to the village."
Assuming there was still a village to worry about, Ronon thought to himself. Once again, his people were in danger, and he could do nothing to protect them. All of the frustration and anger he'd felt after the fall of Sateda came welling back up to choke him. Ronon had his fist clenched, and his arm cocked and aimed at the trunk of the nearest tree when he heard branches snapping off to his right.
Ronon turned back to Sheppard, jerked his chin toward the noise, and stalked into the trees.
"Ronon," Sheppard hissed.
Ronon ignored him and kept moving. He was careful where he placed his feet and a few seconds later saw four Wraith drones coming through the trees in front of him with their stun rifles raised.
Ronon didn't wait for Sheppard. He stepped out from behind a tree and opened fire.
Three of the drones were on the ground, and Ronon was firing on the fourth when he heard the sharp crack of Sheppard's P-90 behind him.
Ronon swung around, raised the particle weapon, and saw two more drones lying on the ground behind and to his right.
Sheppard removed the spent magazine from the P-90 and replaced it with a fresh one as he walked over to Ronon. He glanced at the four bodies on the ground, then peered into the trees.
"Dead, dead?" Sheppard asked with a nod at the Wraith drones on the ground.
Ronon nodded.
"Any more?"
"No," Ronon replied.
"Then let's keep moving," Sheppard replied. He paused and stared longingly at the stun weapons lying on the ground, then shook his head and glanced at his watch and then the tiny patch of sky visible through the thick canopy of branches. "We aren't going to make it back to the village before it gets dark."
Ronon looked up and noted the sun's position. "Probably not."
"We'll have to find someplace to camp for the night."
Ronon nodded and led the way deeper into the trees. They flushed out a dozen more Wraith as the afternoon wore on, and Ronon found he was enjoying the hunt. Felt good to turn the tables, he thought to himself as he shot two more unsuspecting drones.
The sun was nearing the horizon when Ronon realised it had been an hour since he had seen or heard any more Wraith. He kept the particle weapon at the ready as he pushed his way through a stand of low brush and was surprised when he found a wide road stretching out in front of him.
"Found the road," Ronon said. He stopped at the edge of the trees and aimed the blaster up and down the road. When he didn't see anyone, he holstered the weapon and stepped onto the gravel road.
"This is the road that leads back to the Satedan village?" Sheppard asked, stopping next to Ronon.
Ronon checked the sun's position and glanced at the low hills to his left and the valley in the distance to his right. "Should be."
Sheppard nodded and lowered the P-90. "How far are we from the village?"
"Still several hours hike that way," Ronon replied, pointing at the hills.
Sheppard studied the hills, then glanced up and down the road. "There hasn't been any sign of the Wraith for a while," he said. "Think they're gone?"
Ronon shrugged. "Maybe."
"In that case," Sheppard said and tapped his earpiece. "Sheppard to McKay. Rodney, come in." After several seconds Sheppard frowned. "Rodney, it's John. Answer me."
Ronon kept one eye on the road as he listened to Sheppard. After almost a year, he knew better than to say anything about the fact McKay wasn't responding. He turned toward the hills and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Teyla?" Sheppard tried again. "This is Sheppard. Please respond."
"Nothing?" Ronon asked a moment later and made sure his tone and expression were neutral.
Sheppard shook his head and tapped his earpiece. "Don't say it," he ordered with a raised finger. "They are not dead."
Ronon dropped his arms and shook his head. Sheppard might call it hope. Ronon called it denial. He took a few steps down the road in the direction of the village as the sun set behind them.
"Until we have proof otherwise, we're going to assume they are alive," Sheppard added as they walked down the road side-by-side.
Ronon said nothing. He didn't want to believe that McKay and Teyla, not to mention Orlin and the Satedans, were dead or worse, but he accepted the odds of their surviving a culling were slim at best. The Wraith had always been a relentless force when attacking a planet. Now, with so many of them awake, their food sources were even more limited. Any world the Wraith visited was likely to be culled entirely as a matter of survival for the hive.
They walked in silence for another twenty minutes as the sun set behind them. "We need to find a secure place to bed down for the night," Sheppard said, glancing at the side of the road.
"Not much around here," Ronon replied, studying the low ferns lining the edge of the road and the trees looming out of the encroaching darkness.
The sun had set, and the twilight was fading when Sheppard turned on the barrel light for the P-90 and played it over the trees.
"There," he said, holding the light on a clump of trees and boulders not far from the road. "Not perfect, but the rocks will give us some cover if we need it."
"Should do," Ronon agreed and led the way into the trees.
Ronon bent and picked up several dry sticks and a few larger branches for a fire. He caught movement from the corner of his eye and saw Sheppard clearing the area near the boulders of detritus and smaller rocks.
It crossed Ronon's mind as they worked to set up their camp that no communication had been necessary. The team had been off-world enough they had fallen into a natural routine when it came to sleeping rough. In a few minutes, Sheppard had a small fire going, and he set the MREs he had stashed in his pack next to the fire to heat. Ronon gathered more branches and built a makeshift break that would hide the light of the fire from anyone passing on the road.
"Food's ready," Sheppard said as Ronon put the finishing touches on the break.
Ronon nodded and sat on one side of the fire as Sheppard handed him one of the meal bags. He glanced at the contents, shrugged, and took the plastic fork Sheppard handed him.
"You never answered me, you know," Sheppard said after they had been eating for a few minutes.
"Never heard a question," Ronon replied.
Sheppard stared across the fire at him. "Are you really going to make me ask?"
Ronon looked up from his dinner. "Ask what?"
Sheppard set his bag of beef ravioli on the ground. "We just found a village full of people who survived the attack on Sateda. Something you've been hoping to find ever since I met you." Sheppard braced his back against the boulder behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. "So I guess I'm asking. Do you want to stay here?"
Ronon looked down at the cooling beef stew in his hand and considered what Sheppard was asking. His relationship with Orlin aside, did he want to stay in the village? He remembered the Satedan stew Tanis had served them the night before. The familiar smell. The way the spices bit his tongue. He had resigned himself years ago to the idea he would never taste Satedan cooking again.
Tanis' stew had brought back any number of memories. His mother smiling at him across the dinner table. His squad huddled together during winter fighting drills, trading stories as they tried to stay warm.
Melena.
Ronon shook his head and took another bite of stew.
Then there were the villagers themselves. The people wore familiar clothes and acted the way he expected. He wouldn't be an outsider if he stayed. No one stared at him as he walked around the village. Other than Orlin's understandably hostile reaction, the villagers had greeted him as a lost son returned to them. They had welcomed him into their fold simply because he was one of them.
Could he be happy in the village? he wondered, poking at the last of the stew.
Farming or taking up some sort of trade had never interested him much in the past.
One reason he had joined the Satedan military was because he had wanted to be more than that. Even as a child, he had been the one to protect other children from bullies. His actions had landed him in a fair amount of trouble from the school magistrates and his parents, but he couldn't help it. He had a need to protect others. The Satedan military had given him the chance to satisfy that need. If the Wraith had never attacked, he would have lived his life happy. Happy he was serving a larger purpose. Happy he had Melena.
He glanced at Sheppard, watching him across the fire. Sheppard gave him the chance to protect others too, he told himself. Not only protecting his team when on missions but potentially protecting the galaxy from the Wraith.
The Wraith.
There would be little opportunity to kill Wraith if he stayed on Haven, he reminded himself. If he wanted to fulfil his vow to make the Wraith pay for the destruction of Sateda, staying in Atlantis would be the wiser choice.
Ronon scooped up the last of his meal and grimaced as he chewed. It might have been stew, but it wasn't anything like Satedan cooking. Maybe he was okay with that, he decided.
~*~*~*~ SGA ~*~*~*~
Rodney ducked under a branch and tried to keep Liam's cloak in sight as he followed the Satedan children into the forest on the other side of the clearing. He heard a scrabbling sound behind him, turned, and saw a Wraith drone standing at the edge of the trees.
The same one as before? he wondered. Or another one? How many Wraith could be out here hunting for anyone trying to escape?
Rodney ran faster, ignoring his aching knee and the tightening band around his chest when he tried to breathe.
Keep going, he ordered himself. Don't stop. Can't stop.
Young trees with thin, supple trunks gave way to bigger trees the farther they ran, and it wasn't long until the thick canopy overhead dimmed the light from the afternoon sun. The air smelt of damp, and it was weirdly quiet. No birds chirping. No six-legged monkeys chattering and throwing fruit at him. Even the buzz of insects had died away. All Rodney heard was his raspy breathing and the thump of his feet as he ran.
If Liam was following a path, Rodney couldn't see it. The young man zig-zagged through the trees as he led the group of children farther away from the clearing. Between his throbbing knee and the vice-like band around his chest, Rodney was hard-pressed to keep up with the terrified children. Liam darted to his left again, and Rodney groaned as he lumbered along behind him.
His knee buckled under him a few minutes later, and Rodney caught his balance on a handy tree trunk. He braced himself against the tree and tried to catch his breath.
Darts crisscrossed the sky overhead, and Rodney saw the glow from more than one culling beam through the trees in one direction or another. Do they know we're here? he wondered. Or were they just hoping to get lucky?
He checked their backtrail and nodded. No drones following them, at least, he told himself as another dart screamed past overhead. At least none that he could see.
We need a plan, Rodney thought as he bent forward with one hand braced on his thighs, and hand stunner still in his other hand. We're just as likely to run into a Wraith patrol as avoid one at this rate. Besides, he told himself, he wouldn't be able to keep going for much longer anyway.
"Liam!" he called.
Liam glanced back, gave a sharp whistle, and jogged back to Rodney's side.
"Doctor Rodney?" Liam asked.
Rodney grimaced at the phrase but let it go as he tried to catch his breath.
"Are you all right?" Liam asked as Coby and the rest of the children crowded around them.
Rodney waved off the question and tried to count heads. "Is everyone here?" he asked Liam and forced himself to stand straight.
Liam glanced at the children and nodded. "The Wraith are still out there. We can't stay here."
Rodney glanced up through the breaks in the canopy then tried to peer through the gloom under the trees. "I think we're safe for the moment," he said. "Besides, we need a better plan than aimlessly tearing through the jungle."
Liam pressed his lips together. "The forest isn't thick enough here. The culling beams can still reach the forest floor. We need to get into the areas where the canopy is more dense, and the beams can't penetrate."
Rodney dropped the hand stunner on the ground, patted his vest pockets, and pulled out the Ancient scanner. "Maybe there's another option."
He turned the scanner on with a mental command and fine-tuned the device to search for the Ancient alloy. He pushed off of the tree as he stepped around the children watching him and turned in a slow circle.
"Come on, come on," he muttered. "I know one has to be around here somewhere. How large of a field could one of those emitters create with a fully charged Zed-PM?"
"What is that?" Coby asked, pointing to the device in Rodney's hand.
"A scanner," Rodney absently replied. "Hopefully, it will - Yes!" he exclaimed when a faint dot appeared on the screen.
"What's in that direction?" he asked Liam and pointed to his left.
"Umm, nothing, really. No caves or anything like that if that's what you're hoping for."
Rodney shook his head. "This is much better than a cave," he replied, suppressing a shudder. "Anything else?"
Liam shrugged. "If you keep going, you'll eventually reach the road between our village and Kiroma."
"Kiroma?"
"It's a city," Liam replied. "According to the people who live there, it's the largest city on the planet."
Rodney looked up from the scanner in surprise. "City? There's an actual city on this planet?"
"I guess so. I've never been there, but a man, not much older than me, used to visit the village and talk to Orlin about all sorts of things. He told me all about it. He said the city was older than any other settlement on Haven. That it had been blessed by the Ancestors."
Was that where Sheppard and Ronon were headed? Rodney wondered. If the city was as old as Liam claimed, did that mean John and Dex would be safe from the Wraith?
"Why do you want to know about Kiroma?" Liam asked.
"I don't," Rodney replied as he studied the scanner screen.
"Then why -"
"You're sure there's nothing else out here in the forest?"
"I've never seen anything, if that's what you're asking," Liam replied. "But I don't bring classes out in this direction very often."
"Classes?"
Liam nodded at the children. "It was supposed to be a fun excursion into the forest to learn about the plants and animals. How to hunt for game. Find water. That sort of thing."
Rodney pinched the bridge of his nose. "So you weren't in the village when the Wraith arrived?"
Maybe the Wraith didn't attack the Satedan village, after all, he said to himself. Maybe Teyla was safe.
"No," Liam replied. "We were -"
Rodney waved his hand. Who are you kidding? he chided himself. Of course, the Wraith had found the village. "It doesn't matter," he said to Liam with a tired sigh.
He glanced at the children scattered in front of him. Assuming they all survived this little adventure, would there be anything left for them to go home to? he wondered.
He tabbed through the scanner settings until he found the screen for life signs. He found their clump of readings. Dozens of other dots cluttered the screen, and Rodney assumed those were Wraith. None of the dots were close to his position, but they weren't that far away, either. He wasn't sure where the village was, but he didn't see any other large concentrations of life signs on the screen.
Rodney felt a pang in his chest as the implications of the readings sank in. The villagers were all gone. Teyla was gone. He wasn't finding anything indicating the large city Liam had mentioned, either. Did that mean Sheppard and Ronon were dead too? he wondered. He remembered the profound sense of loss he'd felt standing on the Daedalus bridge, watching as two hive ships destroyed themselves and, he'd thought at the time, the rest of his team.
Sheppard had managed to find a way to survive that, Rodney reminded himself. Could he do it again? Maybe this city, or whatever it was, was too far away for the scanner to detect it, he tried to tell himself.
He looked up and saw Liam watching him with a frown. Don't say anything, Rodney ordered himself. They will find out the truth soon enough. Right now, they had to find a safe place to hide. They could mourn once the Wraith were gone.
He switched the scanner back to the mineral reading, picked up the Wraith stunner in one hand, and kept the scanner in the other.
"Head that way," he said to Liam, indicating the direction with his chin.
"But -"
"There should be another cloaking generator somewhere in that direction," Rodney told him. "We can hide there until the Wraith leave." Just don't ask me what you're going to do after that, Rodney mentally added.
Liam studied him for a moment longer, then turned to the children. "You heard Doctor Rodney. He knows a place where we can hide and wait for the Wraith to leave."
Liam and Coby took the head of their little procession while Rodney brought up the rear. The children were quiet as they followed Liam, and Rodney was silently grateful for the slower pace Liam set as they walked. His breathing wasn't as labored, but his throat was still scratchy, and his knee still ached.
Can you break your kneecap? he wondered, not relishing the idea of more crutches in his future. Rodney did his best to ignore the ache as he limped along, keeping one eye on the scanner and the other on the children.
"We need to be going more in that direction," Rodney said ten minutes later and pointed to the left with the Wraith stunner.
Liam glanced back at him and nodded. He changed direction, keeping one arm draped over Coby's shoulders, and Rodney swallowed another pang of worry laced with envy. When all was said and done, Liam would still have his brother.
Would he be able to say the same? Rodney wondered.
Liam called for a rest break thirty minutes later, and the children plopped down with their backs against various tree trunks in groups of two or three. Each child carried a canteen, and a few of them pulled out bundles of food and shared it with their neighbors as they quietly talked to each other.
Rodney sat on a lumpy tree root a few meters away from the kids. He set the Wraith stunner on the ground, and after taking a few sips of water, he studied the Ancient scanner in his hand. The dot wasn't much closer, and Rodney estimated they had at least five kilometers to go before they found the cloaking emitter. He switched the device to check for life signs and rubbed a hand across his forehead. Dozens of dots sprinkled the screen, but if there was any good news, none of them were close to their position.
Liam glanced at him, whispered something to Coby, then stood and walked over to Rodney. He sat down on the tree root and bent forward with his forearms braced on his knees.
"That device," Liam nodded at the scanner in Rodney's hand, "it does more than just find these emitter things, doesn't it?"
Rodney hugged the scanner to his chest as he crossed his arms. "What makes you say that?"
Liam snorted. "I'm not blind," he said. "You asked about the village and then did something with your scanner." He glanced at the kids and then ducked his head. "They're all gone," he whispered. "Aren't they?"
Rodney sighed. "I don't know. Maybe," he said. He glanced at Liam, saw his stoic expression and ducked his head. "Probably," he admitted.
He held out the scanner where Liam could see it. "This is a map of all of the life signs in the area." He pointed to the cluster of dots in the center of the screen. "This is us." Rodney readjusted the scanner to show a wider area with dozens of scattered dots. "Some of these could be animals, but most are probably Wraith."
Liam studied the screen for a moment. "Where's the village?"
"Exactly," Rodney replied, unwilling to admit he wasn't really sure where the village should be on the map. "The scanner isn't picking up any other large clusters of readings. It could be the village is out of range, but …" Rodney glanced at Liam, and they both understood the unspoken reality.
Liam hid his face in his hands.
"I'm, umm, I'm sorry," Rodney offered.
Liam dropped his hands and stared at the children. "It wasn't supposed to …" He blew out a shaky breath and looked at Rodney. "What does your device say about your people?"
Rodney pursed his lips and shook his head. His mind flashed back to the bridge of the Daedalus after the two Wraith hive ships had blown up, and he felt a bubble of anguish in his chest. Not now, he ordered himself. You're stuck in a forest overrun with the Wraith with a bunch of kids. Pull yourself together.
"I'm sorry for you, too," Liam said with a sad smile. "Your friends seemed nice."
"They were more than friends," Rodney muttered, more to himself than to Liam. He shook his head and stuffed the scanner back into his vest pocket.
"Don't say anything to them," Liam said as Coby walked over to them.
"What are you guys talking about?" Coby asked Liam.
"Nothing," Liam said with a smile. "I was just asking Doctor Rodney how much farther we had to go to find the next emitter."
Rodney mentally groaned at the continued use of 'Doctor Rodney' for a name.
"Are we almost there?" Coby asked.
"It looks like we still have a couple of miles to go," Liam said to Coby with a weak smile. He stood and draped his arm over Coby's shoulders, turning him away from Rodney.
"Okay, everyone," Liam said to the children seated in front of him. "It's going to be dark in another few hours. So what I want everyone to do is keep an eye out for any berries or tubers we can use to make our evening meal. You all remember the lessons on what to look for?"
The children nodded and climbed to their feet.
"We're not going home?" Katia asked.
"Not yet," Liam said as he knelt before her. "Doctor Rodney," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder in Rodney's direction, "knows of a place where we will be safe for tonight. We'll go home tomorrow."
Katia puckered her chin as she stared at Rodney. "I don't like him," she whispered to Liam loud enough for the entire clearing to hear her. "He yelled at me."
Liam glanced at Rodney, then smiled at Katia. "I'm sure Doctor Rodney didn't mean to yell," he said, and Rodney humphed out a breath as he pushed himself to his feet.
Katia gave Rodney a skeptical glance. "Are you sure?" she asked Liam.
Kid is smarter than she looks, Rodney thought as he bent and picked up the Wraith hand weapon.
"I'll bet Doctor Rodney is just a little grumpy because his leg is hurting him," Liam replied and stood. "Just like Orlin's leg aches in the wintertime makes him short-tempered."
Katia pursed her lips and peeked around Liam's waist at Rodney. "He needs one of Mama's poultices," she said.
"He probably does," Liam agreed with a glance at Rodney. "But it will have to wait until we find our hiding place."
Rodney ground his teeth at the conversation but chose not to engage. They needed to move before one of those random dots wandered into their clearing. He loudly cleared his throat, and Liam nodded.
"Let's go," Liam said to the children.
They made steady if slow, progress through the forest for the next hour as Liam pointed out various plants to the children. The children dug up the wild root vegetables or picked the berries from the bushes Liam showed them and stored their bounty in Liam's backpack.
Rodney paused to rub his aching knee and froze when he heard a scuttling noise in the underbrush to his right.
Liam held up a hand, and the children stopped moving. "Stay here," Liam whispered to the children and unslung the rifle.
He disappeared into the woods, and a few minutes later, Rodney heard the whine of the rifle firing.
"No, no, no," he muttered as he stuffed the scanner into his vest pocket. He glanced around the immediate area, looking for a place where the children could hide even as he readied the Wraith hand stunner and aimed it in the direction of the rifle fire. He tensed his hand on the grip and was ready to fire when Liam returned carrying a couple of animals in one hand.
"You picked now to go hunting?" Rodney asked with a scowl as he lowered the Wraith stunner.
"We're going to need something to eat tonight," Liam said with an easy smile.
Rodney felt his stomach rumble at the mention of food. Other than a power bar he'd eaten shortly before falling down the hillside, he hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast.
He gave the two small animals in Liam's hand a skeptial glance. The animals looked like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel, and neither was very big. "You're going to need more than two of those," he waved a hand at the animals, "if you want to feed all of these kids."
Liam smiled as he pulled a thin rope out of his pocket and tied the animals to a loop on the pack. "Along with the vegetables we found, there should be enough for a stew," he replied.
"If you say so," Rodney replied with a shrug.
"How much farther?" Liam asked with a glance up at the late afternoon sun trickling through the thick canopy.
Rodney checked the scanner and pointed toward the trees in front of them. "If you're done playing hunter-gatherer, the emitter is still a couple of kilometers in that direction."
Liam nodded. "Let's go," he said to the children. "Not much farther to go."
By the time they reached the clearing where Rodney thought the emitter should be, it was getting dark, Rodney's knee barely held his weight, and Liam's pack was full.
"Is it here?" Liam asked, studying the open clearing in front of them.
Rodney checked the scanner, then limped over to a stand of trees whose thin wispy branches hung nearly to the ground. He pushed aside some of the willowy branches and frowned when he found the emitter standing in the center of the cluster of trees.
"It's here," he replied with a tired sigh as the implications of the trees standing exposed sank in. "Maybe you can fix it," he muttered to himself.
Liam and the rest of the children ducked under the branches and stood to one side as Rodney circled the emitter.
"The trees weren't invisible," Coby said.
"Yes, thank you," Rodney grunted.
He dropped the Wraith stunner on the ground, then knelt with a groan and pressed his hand along the base of the pedestal until he found a panel that gave under his fingers. He pried off the panel and scowled when he looked inside the access hatch and found the Zed-PM missing.
"So much for that idea," he grumbled and sat up.
"What's wrong?" Liam asked.
"The power crystal is missing," Rodney growled. "Without it, I can't make the emitter work."
He popped the panel back onto the pedestal's base, then sat with his back against the emitter and closed his eyes. He was hungry and exhausted, and he could barely put any weight on his leg, thanks to his swollen knee.
Don't let it be broken, he thought to himself.
He had no idea how Carson would fix a broken knee and wasn't eager to find out.
"Are we safe here?" Liam asked. "If the emitter isn't working, won't that mean the Wraith will be able to find us?"
Rodney opened his eyes and saw the children sitting in a half circle in front of him. "Umm," he muttered and picked up the scanner lying on the ground next to him.
He switched the scanner over to check for life signs and blew out a silent breath when he noticed most of the random dots were gone.
"It looks like the Wraith might have left. I think we're safe," Rodney replied, showing the screen to Liam.
Liam bent forward and studied the screen, then nodded. "I think you're right."
Rodney stuffed the scanner into a vest pocket and closed his eyes again.
"We need to set up camp," Liam said. "Coby, you and Greta …"
Rodney woke sometime later and heard the children moving around but couldn't be bothered to find out what they were doing until he smelt smoke and opened his eyes.
Liam sat in front of the fire with two pots nestled against the burning wood. One of the children handed him a plate with the cut-up pieces of a pale yellow vegetable, and Liam added the pieces to one of the pots.
"Where …" Rodney asked with a grunt and pointed at the little fire.
"There is plenty of dead wood lying around the clearing, and Coby found a little stream while the children were collecting the wood for the fire," Liam replied. "How are you feeling? You've been asleep for over an hour," he added.
"Just resting my eyes," Rodney retorted, pushing himself more upright.
"Mmm," Liam replied. He ducked his head, but Rodney still saw the tiny smile on Liam's face.
"The stew will be ready in a few minutes," Liam said to Rodney and turned to the children. "Coby, show them where the stream is and make sure they all wash their hands," he added with a pointed look at two of the younger boys.
A few of the children giggled as they followed Coby back through the wispy tree branches.
"How's the knee?" Liam asked once the children were gone.
"Oh, umm …" Rodney glanced down at his leg and was surprised to find a rough bandage wrapped around the joint.
"Katia and I did that while you were … resting your eyes," Liam said, and this time he didn't bother to hide his smile.
Rodney grunted and examined the bandage. He lifted an edge and nearly gagged when he caught a whiff of the green paste plastered over his knee.
"What is that?" he gasped and let go of the bandage.
"Katia was right," Liam said as he stirred the contents of the larger pot. "Your knee is swollen and bruised. I'm surprised you were able to walk."
"Wraith chasing you is a wonderful motivator," Rodney retorted.
Liam nodded. "What happened?"
Rodney leaned against the emitter pedestal and sighed. "Fell off a cliff."
Liam looked over at him in surprise.
"It was a small cliff," Rodney clarified. "More like a steep, rocky hill, really. Banged my knee into a boulder at the bottom."
"That would explain it," Liam replied and pointed at Rodney's knee with his cooking spoon. "The poultice will help reduce the swelling enough that you should be able to walk on it by morning. It should also stop any infection in the scrapes."
"Umm, thanks," Rodney said.
"You're welcome," Liam replied.
The children returned a few minutes later, and Liam took the larger pot off the fire. Each child pulled a bowl and spoon out of their packs, then lined up beside Liam.
Liam spooned a portion of the stew into each bowl, and the children sat in groups eating dinner.
Fine time to leave your pack with the MREs behind, Rodney grumbled to himself as he ripped open the velcro on the pocket with his stash of energy bars.
Liam dug a bowl out of his pack and filled it with stew. "Here," he said, holding out the bowl to Rodney.
"Umm, what about you?"
"I can eat my share out of the pot," Liam replied, handing Rodney the bowl and a small spoon.
Rodney took the bowl with a nod, studied the contents for a moment, then took a careful bite. After his encounter with Tanis' stew, Rodney was ready for the spicy kick and was surprised when the broth didn't have much flavor at all. The vegetables, however, were soft without being mushy, and the thin strips of meat were tender.
Rodney ate the rest of his share of the stew without complaint. The sun had set while he slept, dropping the temperature, making the stew a welcome, if somewhat bland, hot meal.
Better than a crumpled power bar, Rodney told himself as he scraped the last few vegetables from the bottom of the bowl.
"Get some sleep," Liam said to the children once they finished their stew and their bowls were rinsed. "We'll head back to the village in the morning."
Rodney settled with his back braced against the emitter, zipped his jacket a little higher, and crossed his arms over his chest. Would there be a village for them to return to? he wondered as the children lay under their cloaks near the banked fire. And what about Sheppard and the others? What news did the morning hold for the fate of his team?
Rodney stared at the fire's glowing embers, unable to sleep as worst-case scenarios played through his head.
Sheppard had pulled off miracles in the past, Rodney reminded himself. He would just have to hope John had at least one more up his sleeve.