Ezrikos is standing in the shadows, watching the scientists (her new favorite pastime- much like watching a comedy show) argue about who is going back to check on the Stargate when the young Atlantian lieutenant comes back with a scout group looking very grim.
She takes a half-step forward into the sun and he comes to her to report instead of looking for his CO.
Amazing what a little subtle body language will do for your credibility.
"Captain," he says with a nod and a sketchy salute, "we may have problem."
Fantastic.
"That's nice, lieutenant," she says with a perfectly straight face, "I haven't had any problems today; I've been looking forward to one."
Actually, that's not true. She has had a problem today.
That problem would be Major Sheppard. Somehow, someway, in the nineteen hours she's known him, the man has gotten under her skin.
She can't believe she said that to him.
Okay, so, yes, she does like perseverance in a man, that's no reason to mention it to another military officer, even if she was teasing.
A superior military officer.
A superior military officer in a completely different military.
Nineteen hours, and he's driving her crazy.
She doesn't share any of that with the lieutenant. Forge, she thinks his name might be. Something like that anyway.
"What problem, lieutenant?"
The young man looks her in the eye (well, she's wearing sunglasses, but close enough) and says, "There's an even larger Wraith encampment further to the south. It, umm…well, it looks like a mining expedition, ma'am."
Great.
"Sir," she corrects him, absently.
"I'm sorry?"
"The Alketch address all military officers as 'sir' regardless of gender. Although you don't actually have to address me as anything so it couldn't possibly make the least difference."
She's babbling, and she makes herself stop.
Focus, dammit.
"A mining expedition you said?"
His confused look vanishes. "Yes, ma'am. I mean, sir."
She nods, mostly to herself. "Okay. A further examination is probably in order. Grab a snack or something, lieutenant. You'll need to come along."
He doesn't move. Ezrikos sighs and gives the lieutenant a sidelong look. He seems tired, but uncomplaining. Good soldier, this kid.
"Go on, but stick around here. I'll go get Major Sheppard."
Gods help her.
Major Sheppard is talking to one of his soldiers in medical when she finds him. She steps into the space vaguely designated as medical, but he doesn't notice her, and she takes the time to study him, not wanting to interrupt.
There should be a law against looking that good after being stunned by a Wraith and tramping through the forest. It's just not fair. And it makes it really hard to concentrate.
Actually, there should be a law against looking that good period.
He needs a haircut, she thinks, savagely. She likes it, but it isn't nearly military enough for a man of his rank, and it's the only thing about his appearance she can honestly criticize.
Or so she thinks until he turns and looks at her, and her thoughts come to a screeching halt, and she has to admit that there is nothing she can honestly criticize. She just stares at him, utterly speechless.
Stupid hormones.
"Yes, Captain?" His raised eyebrows do very interesting things to his face, and it takes her a moment to remember why she came looking for him.
Hopefully he'll think she's just being mysterious.
"Lieutenant…ah…Forge?"
"Ford," he corrects.
"That's it. Lieutenant Ford has returned with the scout group, apparently the Wraith are here in greater force than we originally suspected, and are executing some sort of mining project. Lieutenant Ford recommends, and I agree, that we should get some deeper intel."
The military jargon is a comfort when she's off-guard, not that she'd ever admit it.
Sheppard thinks about it for a second, then nods, and says, "Gonna try and keep me off this one too?"
Ezrikos counts to ten in her mind. "No, Major. Anyone else you'd like to have?"
Might as well get into the spirit of cooperation; they could be here awhile.
In the end it's Ezrikos and Sheppard, Lieutenant Ford, a Sergeant Markham, and Sergeant Spruance. Spruance is one of Ezrikos' people, and the leader of squad four. She tapped him for this because he's the best of the military personnel with Wraith technology.
A handy talent, that.
The Wraith are about four and a half klicks out. Fortunately for her sanity, Major Sheppard does not talk the entire way. She's afraid to think what she might say to him now.
In fact, he doesn't say anything besides the normal, mission stuff, "all clear, circle left, on your four", stuff like that, until the path drops over a small cliff, and when he steps over it he turns to look up at her and says, "Watch your step."
She thinks he would have offered her a hand if his weren't full of weapons.
She glares anyway. He seems to sense it, even through her sunglasses, and he flashes her a grin that turns her brain to mush and says, "Sorry. Habit."
Ezrikos doesn't say anything because she's too busy trying to stay on her feet and remember how to breathe at the same time.
That grin. That grin should definitely be outlawed.
Especially in times like this where distracting the person on his six will almost definitely get him killed. Probably by the three million Wraith that happen to be just on the other side of that hill.
Okay, so it's not three million. It sure looked like it at first glance, no wonder Ford seemed grim.
"'bout a hundred of them," Sheppard says, peering through his binoculars at the pit they've begun digging. "What the hell are they doing?"
Ezrikos lies down next to him, takes the binoculars, hands them to Sergeant Spruance, and hisses, "What the hell are they doing?"
Spruance takes his time, just to annoy her, she's sure, and then says, "I think it's an iridium mine."
"Why the hell would they want iridium?" This from Major Sheppard, of course.
Sergeant Spruance loves to lecture. "Well, actually, the economic ramifications of…"
"Sergeant? Why?" Ezrikos has known him long enough not to let him get started.
"Oh, uh, they use it as decoration."
Anything that isn't military or practical seems to throw Sheppard, something Ezrikos finds to be an admirable trait.
"You mean, like jewelry?"
"Exactly."
Ezrikos looks at her sergeant and asks, "Do we care?" The important question in this situation, she feels.
"Umm…I don't think so."
She combat crawls backwards. "All I need to know."
Everyone seems to agree, and they get headed back, fast.
"Plan?" she asks the major once they're out of range.
"Get off this planet as fast as possible," he says, "We don't have the men or the equipment to set up a reconnaissance mission."
"Agreed. Plus, they know we're here."
"There is that. You?"
She's walking beside him now, easier to talk that way. "Same. The scientists will bitch and moan about their ground-breaking mold samples, but what else do they ever do?"
Sheppard grins. "Yeah, but what would we do without them?"
"Vacation?"
"Very funny." He seems to think something's wrong, he's looking around, and moving more cautiously than he was before.
"What is it?" she breathes, holding up a clenched fist to signal the men behind her.
Sheppard braces his P-90 against his shoulder. "Something's wrong."
And that's when the Wraith appear from nowhere.
Ezrikos was careful not to bring anyone but Wraith veterans on this little excursion. Not that any of her people are new to the Wraith.
It pays off. They all drop flat, and not one single soldier gets hit in the first barrage of stunners.
Actually, some of the stun bolts that fly over their heads hit other Wraith in the circle, something she's previously only seen in bad movies.
The intuitive Major Sheppard opens fire, followed quickly by everyone else, and the Wraith are whittled down to three in a minute or so.
"Move!" Ezrikos snaps at the others, and take the three in a rush and keep running. Six Wraith are probably a perimeter team, letting more catch up to them would be a very bad thing.
Waiting for them at the ruins-cum-base is another bad thing.
Doctor Rodney McKay.
Or, more accurately, Dr. McKay's news.
Apparently, the Stargate has been damaged. There's a long, technical explanation which the scientists shout over each other to explain, and Ezrikos actually understands most of it, but the point is, until they can fix it, they're stuck here.
And they can't fix it until they get back out there.
And there are roughly a hundred Wraith on the planet.
Four and a half klicks south.
