The Prophecy

Chapter 4

It was past midnight and there was a pre-mission briefing scheduled for early in the next morning, but Teyla was still awake. Her body demanded that she rest, but her mind kept its own hours and would not let her sleep. The events of the day replayed on her thought over and over, the surprised, and hurt look on John's face and she had hurt him, for his own good, really for the good of both his and her people. Still, the hurt in eyes that she had seen in that moment, haunted her. To know that she had caused the man she loved such pain, filled her with guilt. The knowledge the she had acted with concern for the greater good could do only so much to assuage that guilt.

She had never believed in the prophecies of which there were many. Generally the prophecies were regarded as something only the simple minded and the superstitious believed in. As the leader of her people she had spent a fair amount of time studying the history and faith of her people, but she had always focussed foremost on the survival of her people, everything else was a luxury.

Things had changed since they had joined forces with the Atlantians, although they had also had to withstand one Wraith attack since then. But that time their losses had been far smaller than in the past. While she had spent most of the last three years getting to know the Atlantians, Halling had studied many of the prophecies and religious texts of their people. The oldest prophecy that had miraculously survived hundreds of Wraith attacks, moves to new planets, countless generations and bloodshed at hands of plunderers at caught his interest. About a year ago, he had shown his find to her. The prophecy opened by speaking of the arrival of the children of the forefathers coming from distant stars. They would take the place of their ancestors and the great city would rise from the oceans.

There was no denying it. The prophecy stated incredible detail what had happened. The Athosians' alliance and the awakening of the Wraith were mentioned as well. Teyla believed in many things, but she didn't believe that the future could be predicted. At first she had refused to read the rest of the prophecy, but Halling at urged her. So she had continued reading the prophecy, written in the language of the Ancients, the paper looking untouched by the millennia it had survived.

People never consulted her in intellectual matter and most of the Atlantians probably considered her to be purely a warrior but Teyla hadn't become the leader of her people by being slow witted. She didn't have much knowledge of science as her people had never developed to that level, but she had a good memory and knowledge of many peoples and planets. She had only read the prophecy once, but had committed to the memory almost word by word.

She had agreed with Halling not to tell anyone. She had kept the knowledge in the back of her mind. Nothing had ever happened, until today. She didn't know where she stood with John. Part of her wanted to tell him, explain to him why she had rejected him, tell him that she still loved him, that it had nothing to do with him, tell him that she still wanted to be with him, if he still wanted her. She looked forward to getting to the Mainland, she desperately needed to speak to Halling, concerning the prophecy and her initial promise not to tell anyone. Only one more mission before her leave.

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The briefing had never seemed that long and John had never had that much trouble concentrating on what was being said. Sergeant Stackhouse was reporting on what he and his team had learned on their initial expedition to PX-what-ever-planet they had been to. He had never thought of Stackhouse as the verbose type, but now he seemed to go on forever about the native people, the trading possibilities, and some ruins that they had spotted.

He tried to keep his eyes fixed on either Stackhouse or the file in front of him which he should have read but hadn't because he had been otherwise engaged. Engaged was not the right word, it made him think of Teyla and the fact that they were not engaged and that this was so wrong and that he had no idea why and that he couldn't even look at her without hurting. He had no idea how he was supposed to get through being on a mission with her.

His only hope was that there were going to be a lot of people on that mission: McKay along with a team of five other scientists, Sergeant Stackhouse with his all military team, Ford as further military, Teyla and two of the Athosians who she had been training and who had been joining mission off-world before and finally he himself to represent the interests of Atlantis. He really should read that file.

He was catapulted back into reality when Stackhouse finished and Weir suddenly started talking.

"I trust everyone is familiar with the information about PX – 923. You'll assemble in the gate room at 9.00. Dismissed."

Before John could escape, Weir stopped him.

"You seemed distracted this morning. Is everything all right?" She seemed genuinely concerned.

"Sure, everything is fine. Just didn't sleep very well last night. He lied, not wanted to discuss his relationship crisis with his boss, even though he knew that eventually people would notice that their relationship had suddenly fallen apart. But right now, he had enough to do, getting used to it himself.

"All right, just keep your head focussed on the mission." Weir advised, not indicating that she believed him for a second.

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The mission started out smoothly. Most of the scientists played with their ruins under the watchful eye of two Marines. The two Athosians who were accompanying Teyla were getting a tour of the local agricultural installations, McKay and another physicist were discussing power plants were local scientists.

He, along with Ford, Teyla and more military guard was sitting in trade negotiations with the local equivalent of the minister of foreign affairs. He was negotiation on behalf of Atlantis, while Teyla was representing the interests of the Athosians. As far as his experience with trade talks went, these were going along just fine. They were roughly at equal levels of technology compared to earth, but over the centuries had had far more time to research defences against the Wraith. They on the other hand were interested in some of the Ancient advances that were useful to people without the gene.

They had just taken a lunch break in their talks, when suddenly the floor shook violently. Instinctively, thinking earthquake, John grabbed Teyla by the arm, and dragged her under the table. The floor shook again, much more violently than before, this time accompanied by what was definitely the roar of an explosion.

This was no earthquake. Smoke started to fill the air quickly. John heard coughing and yelling in a language he didn't understand. He pulled his shirt up over his nose and mouth, trying to filter to smoke a bit before breathing it, but it was no use. Like in slow motion, he saw Teyla crumple to the floor beside him, he reached out, feeling for her pulse. His joy over finding it to be strong and steady didn't last long, as his own strength started to ebb away, his elbow gave way under his weight and he sank into blackness himself.

TBC

A/N: We're getting to the Prophecy, slowly but steadily. They just run into a bit of trouble on the way.