Chapter II. Waking up
Major John Sheppard had no idea of where he was, or how he got there. The last thing he remembered was pain; mind numbing, excruciating pain. He opened his eyes to have a look at his surroundings, and saw Teyla and Ford sitting on the floor next to him, and McKay was lying on the floor on the other side of the room. He covered his face with his right hand, "what a tactical advantage", he thought, 'having a device that causes pain to intruders, so they can capture them'.
Lt. Ford noticed the Major had woken up and asked, "Are you ok, Major?" Sheppard looked around and slowly sat up.
He looked at Ford and Teyla, "What the hell happened?"
Teyla shrugged, "We do not know. While we were hiding, you and Dr. McKay started to scream in pain and collapsed. The two men found us pretty quickly."
Sheppard started to feel confused, something he had never liked, it made him feel vulnerable. "Neither of you guys felt it?"
Ford frowned and says, "Felt what Sir?"
"The pain, I felt as if some clawed monster wanted to rip off my head and take my spine with it." Then from the back of the room, they could hear McKay say, "Graphic, but I felt the same way." They all turned their heads toward McKay, who was slowly sitting up while massaging the back of his neck. They all stayed silent for a moment, thinking about their situation.
"What do you think this means? That not all of us suffered from the pain."
Sheppard said, only followed by a grim, McKay, "I think it's the ancient genes, both you and I have them, Ford and Teyla don't. So, there you have your answer."
Ford looked at McKay, "So, from all the planets in this galaxy, we had to come to the one where they don't like ancients?"
Suddenly a door was opened, and a white tall man entered the small room, he was wearing a long black cloak that reminded Sheppard to the ones worn by monks. Also he noticed the man carrying a small device in one of his hands.
"Come with me." The man said, Sheppard got up, and walked toward his captor.
"What the hell is going on? Where are we?" The man gave Sheppard a cold look back.
"Come with me now!" He touched the device he was holding and Sheppard fell to his knees, the pain in his head returned in pulsating bits. "Ok, you've convinced me, let's go." The man looked amused at Sheppard, as if enjoying his pain. He eventually turned the device off and signalled the group to walk out of the room.
They all walked out of the room, Sheppard in front, the man in the back. They were led to some sort of main chamber that did not look much like the buildings on the outside. To Sheppard this place looked like one giant gothic palace, but without the darkness. The place was as bright as if they were outside. Once inside the chamber, Sheppard noticed there were roughly 30 people in there. Most of them scattered around the chamber, except for one on the other side of the room, obviously the leader as he looked like a king sitting on his throne.
The man stood up and glanced at the prisoners. Sheppard and his team were led to stand right in front of the king's throne.
The Major was the first to speak up, forgetting for a second he was the prisoner, and those normally aren't aloud to talk much in front of their captors without retribution, "I think you might have made a mistake here. Why did you capture us? We are from…" But Sheppard was cut short by a guard that hit him over the head, making him stumble to the floor. The guard kept hitting him, this time on the ribs.
Nobody said anything until McKay started to loose it and shouted, "I don't know what we have done to be your prisoners, but I don't think this is the best way to communicate."
Lying on the floor, Sheppard was grateful that McKay was defending him, but he knew, just by the way the people reacted, that it would make no difference. He tried to move but his ribs objected wildly to that movement. From where he was lying on the ground Sheppard looked at the king and noticed a young woman walking toward the king. Her beauty could be seen from miles away, her skin as white as snow and her hair black as the night going past her waist. Even though her beauty was great, her facial expression was grim, almost bored.
She could feel Sheppard's stare, but she disregarded it as she approached the king. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and then without even looking at him, she left in much the same way she had entered. The king stood up and said in a calm and steady voice, "I will hear what you have to say. My name is Elek, leader of Toulnya."
Sheppard was helped standing up by Lt. Ford and replied as calmly as he could at that moment, "Thanks! Care to explain now, why this treatment?"
Elek looked sternly at the Major and replied, "Your race is banned from here, why do you dare to come back? If it is for her, I thought we agreed a long time ago that she belongs with us."
Sheppard stared at Elek. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
Elek frowned, "Strange, you are from Atlantis, yes?"
"Yes, but this is a mistake, this is the first time we set foot on this planet"
"I think you are the one mistaken, and the agreement was final. It's been hundreds of years, but that agreement is still valid." Elek looked at his guards, "Take them away. I'll decide what to do with them tomorrow." The guards nodded and rounded the team up to be led out of the room and back from where they came. They didn't resist, as they knew that at this point that was useless. They'd be overpowered before they even made one move. They would have to collect more information on what was going on first before even considering some sort of escape.
