"Dr. Weir! We need a Puddle Jumper!" Teyla shouted as soon as she exited the wormhole.
Rodney exited still in shock and completely flustered.
"Yes, yes, we need one now."
"What's happened?" She asked descending the stairs. The team's radio conversation had come across as the wormhole engaged. It had sounded like a Wraith attack. They would be compromised if the Wraith found out they survived.
"They're gone, all gone," babbled McKay. He looked lost.
"Dr. Weir, Col. Sheppard and Dr. Beckett were captured by what appeared to be a Wraith dart. Dr. Weir there were no Wraith on that ship," stated Teyla unequivocally. "The ship was only after them; it ignored Dr. McKay and me."
That snapped McKay out of his morose state.
"You're right." He had not noticed it at the time, but the damn thing had only tried for the Colonel and Carson. The thing flew right over him and Teyla and left.
"Someone else has sold us down the river," he scoffed. "Just when you think you know someone."
The Tage had been good trading partners; one of their first. Only a few partners knew the Atlanteans had survived. All be it, they thought that Atlantis was gone and the expedition was hiding on another planet. But still.
Rodney continued to mull things over. But why the colonel and Dr. Beckett? Why didn't they want Teyla or himself? What had happened that whoever just wanted Sheppard and Beckett? A light bulb moment went off; he was not called a genius for nothing. Derwood. Rodney closed his eyes and sighed. Opening them, he looked between Elizabeth and Teyla.
"They're still on the planet. Those sons-of-bitches kidnapped them."
"Who?" Asked Dr. Weir.
"Derwood…Darin…Deriam! He was interested in how Col. Sheppard survived a Wraith bug attack." He was getting more agitated by the second. "We need to go back. They took Carson because they do practice medieval voodoo medicine!"
Weir tapped her headset. "Major Lorne, get your team ready to take a jumper to P4X-927 in five minutes." She made her way back up to the command deck. "Sgt. Stackhouse, get your team together for ground reconnaissance. Get me Proconsul Parther Amon on the radio. I want my people back."
-----------------
A pair of boots greeted his awakening.
"What is it about this galaxy and no shoelaces? Everyone's mastered the slip-on boot. But no one's figured out laces here?"
Sheppard was jerked up from the floor by the owner of the pair boots and promptly slammed up against the wall by a tree stump of an arm. The man was the biggest person he had seen yet in Pegasus, Dex included.
"You're not Wraith," Sheppard stated simply.
"Are you the piece of filth that damaged my ship?" Boots growled.
Sheppard scanned the room. He spotted Carson statue still in the corner, eyes bugging out of his head.
"Depends, were you the asshole impersonating a Wraith dart?" Sheppard heard Carson actually gulp.
The man slid him up the wall to where his Milky Way galaxy, size 11, shoe laced boots came off the floor. Sheppard continued to stare defiantly into the man's eyes.
"Perit."
Sheppard looked behind Boots at a woman in her 40's with brown shoulder length hair. Her appearance was official. She was use to getting her own way. And, at the moment, she looked ill-tempered.
"I demand restitution," growled Perit, clenching his jaw and keeping his eyes fixed on Sheppard.
"We have paid you. You need to make repairs out of that." She was definitely a frosty customer. "We need him; we no longer need…your services."
Perit released Sheppard who landed on his feet and rubbed at his chest. Carson moved toward him.
"Stay where you are, Dr. Beckett," she commanded. He dutifully froze.
Rage simmered below Perit's surface. "The damage he did is more than what you paid me."
"Not my problem, you made the deal. We paid you. Now leave." She waved in two armed guards.
A sly smirk crept across his face. "You are correc,t of course. I will go make arrangements." He slipped out of the room shooting Sheppard one last glare. Sheppard smiled and waved back at him.
Frosty addressed Sheppard next. "Sorry, you proved more of a challenge than he expected. He was supposed to take you at the bridge. He arrived too late, so he had to do a little hunting."
She walked confidently farther into the room. "We need your help, Col. Sheppard and Dr. Beckett."
"We are not the Droids you are looking for," he replied waving his arm.
"Droids? I was told you were strange people. Arrogant too," she said never changing her expression.
"By who?"
"Now, now. I never reveal a confidence."
She was playing with him. He could already tell this was nothing as benign as just helping. The kidnapping was his first clue. His second might be the imprisonment in the little room.
"Well then, can I ask your name?" Sheppard asked smoothly.
"First Mender Arna Gezble, head of the medical commune," replied Beckett coolly.
She acknowledged him with a nod of her head.
Sheppard blazed on. "Nice to meet you. Well, I can understand asking for Dr. Beckett's help, but why me?" He met her gaze head on. However, he was not sure he wanted the answer.
"You survived an encounter with some of the local wildlife." Her eyes, in return, pinned him like an insect to a board. "We want to know how."
--------------
