When they arrived, it was already nearly dusk. The planet was their average fare: a wide field with a Stargate at its center, with a strip of woods along one end of the field just behind them. Teyla had said that she remembered it as being inhabited by a group of people who would probably be willing to trade part of their crop for medical supplies, but that she had not visited them in a long time and wasn't sure whether they were still there. Elizabeth had judged the chance of food to be worth the gamble, and sent the team to investigate, along with—much to John's delight—the sword, just in case.

"Doesn't look like anyone's been around here for a while, sir," Ford observed almost immediately.

"Let's hope you're right." John shaded his eyes, peering toward the horizon. "Teyla, just where were these people last time you came here?"

"That way." She pointed. "Just over the crest of that hill, a few kilometers away. Normally, however, I would have expected them to leave a guard posted at the Stargate."

"Which doesn't necessarily prove anything," Rodney added quickly. "The people here are probably expecting the Wraith to remain in hibernation for another fifty years. I wouldn't be surprised if they're still here and just too complacent to continue guarding the Stargate."

"You've got a point." John groaned. "It's getting dark, though, and we don't know who's living here now, so heading for the village now is probably a really bad idea. Let's camp out for the night over there by the trees so we can get firewood."

----

"Hey," Ford said suddenly, "did anyone just hear something?"

"Nope," John said, and instantly straightened up. "Did you?"

"As a matter of fact, sir," said Ford, "there it is again."

This time they all heard the distinct sound of twigs crunching in the woods. John glanced sharply at Teyla, who nodded slightly. "They are Wraith," she whispered.

"Great. Just great," John muttered, but he was already reaching for his vest, which was never far away. "Get your gear on, everyone. Let's go."

To be precise, there were three Wraith making their stealthy way towards their campsite. There was a moment of surprise when they discovered that their prospective victims were fully awake and armed and coming in the other direction, and then each side opened fire on the other at the same instant. Within moments, the team had been split up; one Wraith had gone after John, one after Ford, and one after Rodney and Teyla.

The latter two had managed to evade their pursuer for the moment and were catching their breath behind a conveniently large tree when John suddenly let out a yell; whether of anger, surprise, or pain they couldn't tell. The Wraith that had been chasing them could be heard to change direction, heading away from them and towards the sound/

Rodney glanced uneasily back over his shoulder. "I don't like the sound of this. Maybe we should go investigate."

"We should," Teyla agreed. "But we should not go together. It may be a trap of some kind."

"That's reasonable. What if I go to see what's happened to Sheppard, and you try to find Ford?"

She nodded mutely and slipped out of sight.

John turned out to be not too hard to find. He was still talking, and Rodney had no trouble locating him by sound alone. He came up ultimately to the edge of a small clearing, and then shrank back out of sight, stifling a frightened gasp. John, I told you to be careful with that thing, dammit . . .

There was no sign of Ford; hopefully, he'd met up with Teyla somewhere. All three Wraith were there, however, forming a sparse but menacing—and steadily shrinking—ring around the clearing. And in the center was John. He had slung his gun uselessly onto his back, and was instead brandishing the sword. In the dim light, it seemed to glimmer more brightly than before, and in its dim light John's eyes looked not just darker but jet black. "Try me," he was saying, his voice grim but smug. "You won't get past this blade, I promise you."

The tallest of the three Wraith laughed, its smile widening nastily. "Your delusions amuse me, human," it hissed. "You do not even know how to kill us, and yet you challenge us with increasingly primitive weapons. I have not even seen a sword wielded in over a century."

John shrugged. "Well, now you have," he said cheerfully, and severed the Wraith's head. He spun around just in time; the other two were almost upon him, close enough now to fight back with their own knives. Rodney reached for his own gun, but by the time he'd raised it the fight was over. The remaining two Wraith had been dispatched—somewhat more messily than the first, but dispatched nonetheless.

Rodney could only stare in shock for a minute. He knew enough about swordsmanship to be very aware that it took a huge amount of training to use a sword—especially a big one, no matter how light. He was also pretty sure that John had little, if any, experience in fighting with swords. It wasn't exactly standard fare at the Academy.

John was now motionless in the center of the clearing, once again staring mutely at the sword, seemingly oblivious of the pale blue blood now spattered over him. His head was bent, making it impossible to see the color of his eyes. Rodney was about to call out when someone tapped him on the shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What happened?" Ford asked quietly.

"What do you think?" Rodney snapped back, his nerves still on edge.

"Is Major Sheppard all right?" Teyla inquired.

"It looks to me like he is. I was just about to find out." Without further hesitation, Rodney stepped forward into the clearing and called out, "John—" Before he could continue, John suddenly sprang into motion.

Rodney looked down, discovered that the tip of the sword was now pressed against his throat, and gulped.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know, I should be posting faster. ::blushes:: Especially since the chapters are so short, and this is a pretty easy story to write. But I've just been so bloody tired lately. ::goes off in search of caffeine:: I found a caramel apple. Maybe that'll help.

Note to self: caramel apple plus keyboard equals very bad things.

Judging by the color of Wraith skin, I'm guessing that their blood is blue. I don't think the color of their blood has actually been established in the series yet. If I'm wrong, please tell me.

This is Cyndi's friend :O Who takes over her computer and spreads evil within it. EVil