A/N: I'm starting my senior year in high school on Tuesday... so that means that I'm not going to be able to write anywhere near as much. I will try to keep the story coming as fast as I can, but I can't offer any guarantees. I promise that I will finish it though. Chapter 14 Beta'd by Angw and Trickster's Queen of War.

A/N: One thing about my depiction of Ronon. Obviously I don't like him, but I wouldn't judge him unless you've already seen Season 2 of Atlantis.

Aiden fired the stunner. John didn't have any time to react. It took him a second to realize he didn't have to. The stunner knocked a wraith down that was just behind him. John rammed his sword through the wraith's head, to ensure that it stayed down.

"I never wanted to hurt anyone." Aiden admitted quietly. "But I know I came close, a lot of the time."

"Come on Ford." John said. "We need you."

"Alright... I owe you this much, for not giving up on me."

"We should hurry." Teyla said, glancing nervously around the room. "The wraith know we are here."

John retrieved his P90. "Then let's get back to the cargo bay."

"Why the cargo bay?" Aiden asked.

"That's where the old man is."

"Old man? Major... ehh.. Colonel, have you lost it?"

"No, as we all found out." Rodney smirked. "Apparently, we're the companions of the apprentice, AKA Colonel Sheppard."

"That's just too cool." Aiden grinned broadly.

John retracted his sword and placed it on his belt. He then ducked back out the way they'd come, back into the hallways. "Ford, stay in the middle with Rodney. Teyla, you've got our six." He ran down the halls, they were already past the point of stealth.

He had to stop once they got close to the cargo bay. The wraith were swarming their location. He tossed a grenade around the corner and into a group of four wraith. The grenade exploded, sending the bodies flying. He ducked around the corner and into the bay while Teyla opened fire on a pair of wraith pursuing them.

The bay was empty, there was no sign of the old man. John swore. He quickly evaluated their options. They couldn't stay in this cargo bay for long. He briefly considered stealing a wraith dart. He was sure that its controls were coded though. Their last option would be to look for a stargate.

However, in Pegasus, many stargates didn't have DHDs and many of them were in orbit. They didn't have a jumper that could reach it if it was in orbit. He turned as the wraith came charging into the room. He opened fire, taking down the lead wraith with a quick shot to the head.

Aiden fired indiscriminately with the wraith stunner. Most of the wraith were collapsing from its effects. Rodney was cowering behind a box, shooting blindly over the top. Teyla was across the room from him, firing into the crowd. It was carnage, there was no glory in it.

Suddenly, a bright light blinded John again. When it cleared, he was standing back in the ruins. He allowed himself to relax. They were safe, at least for the moment. He turned to face the stone table. The old man was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, where are you?" John yelled into the air.

The old man appeared out of thin air only a few feet in front of him. "I am here."

"Will you not do that?" John asked in an overly dramatic voice.

"You have completed the first task of any apprentice. You have bound a group together in friendship. They will be your companions for your trials."

"No offense, but the last time I had to do several trials..." He shook his head. "... the end result was not that good." Teyla glared at him. "You lost your connection to your people Teyla, I'd say that's not that good."

"Hey, what happened?" Aiden asked.

John looked at Teyla. "Shall I tell him, or do you want to."

Teyla smiled. "I shall. Aiden, my name is now Teyla Emmagen Sheppard."

Aiden raised an eyebrow, then grinned. "So you're saying that you two finally got together."

"What do you mean finally?" John snapped.

"Come on Colonel. You two are perfect for each other. I'm surprised you didn't get together sooner." Aiden held up his hands. "I seriously don't mean anything more than that."

"I'll deal with you later." John said as he turned back to the old man. "So what are these trials?"

"There are three." The old man said slowly. "The past, the present and the future."

"Okay, why didn't I see this coming?"

"You must pass each trial to become a member of the order of time. It is all about being in the right place... at the right time. That can influence the entire course of history."

"I assuming we have to start with the past."

"Correct again apprentice. A member of the order of time may not interfere with the time line while in the past. This first trial will force you to acknowledge that." With that, the old man disappeared.

"Great, how are we supposed to..." Rodney's voice was cut short as the world was once again bathed in brilliant white light.

XXX

John awoke in a jumper. He glanced around. The jumper was occupied by four people. They looked human, but they wore elaborate flight suits. He glanced down at his hands. They looked normal. Teyla, Rodney, and Aiden were all standing near him.

The people in the jumper didn't seem to be paying any attention to them. The pilot spoke. "Atlantis, this is Recon 31, moving towards planet."

"Are they ancients?" Teyla asked.

The pilot and his crew didn't hear her. John raised an eyebrow. "I'd guess so."

"But this is theoretically impossible." Rodney stammered. "Time travel just isn't possible. And especially not back to the time of the ancients."

"Recon 31." Boomed a male voice over the speakers. "Please identify any possible places to plant seeds."

"Affirmative Atlantis. Recon 31 going on station." The pilot turned to the dark haired woman behind him. "Lana, anything?"

Lana shook her head. "Nothing concrete. The planet is pretty barren. I am reading several energy readings."

"I thought nothing lived in this galaxy." The black haired man from the copilot's seat said.

"Remember Aldera. The planet with the really thick atmosphere. We encountered the aliens there."

"Yeah... but that was only once, and they certainly didn't have energy generators."

"Let's take a look." The pilot said, putting the jumper into a dive towards the planet.

Aiden was looking out the front window. "Colonel... doesn't this place look familiar?"

John moved to stand next to Aiden. "This is the wraith home world."

"Then this must be when the ancients awoke the wraith." Rodney said. "We've got to stop them, or warn them."

"But we cannot." Teyla said, the voice of reason. "The man told us, that we mustn't interfere."

"But we have a chance to eliminate the wraith before they have a chance to feed on this galaxy. Atlantis will never have fallen. We'd be..."
"Shut up Rodney." John snapped. "I think we're supposed to learn something from their mistakes."

"Since when did you become the philosopher?"
"Apparently when I became an apprentice to the order of time. On top of that, I don't see how we're supposed to do anything." John waved his hand through the head of the pilot. "See, my hand goes straight through."

"That's weird." Aiden said.

"Hey look at that!" The copilot said, pointing to a wraith hive ship, buried in the mountain. "It looks like some kind of crashed ship."

"Lana?" The pilot asked. "Anything?"

"It's definitely got a power source." Lana replied. She turned around and looked out the front window of the jumper. "Wow. That's impressive. Whoever made that had to be sentient."

The pilot landed the ship in a clearing right next to the ship. John instantly learned one thing. The ancients had been naïve. They'd not ever suspected that something could possibly be as advanced as they were. He turned to Rodney. "Learned one thing already."

"That ancients were not very cautious." Rodney said. "They'd encountered no, or almost no, life in this galaxy when they came to it. Why would they be?"

"Well... it happens to be a galaxy far far away. I'd be careful."

"Remember Colonel. They built the stargates. They seeded life in this galaxy. I think they had reason to be arrogant."

John shrugged his shoulders as the crew of the jumper climbed out. "Let's follow them."

The ancient crew walked straight up to the hive ship. They all held ancient scanners. Only one of them carried a weapon, a strange pistol that John had never seen before. He glanced around in the immediate area. He couldn't help but feel cold, as if he knew something bad was going to happen.

While he could've guessed what would happen based on the facts about the first war with the wraith that he knew, he didn't know exactly what would happen. He guessed that it was only a matter of time before the wraith showed up. His hands found themselves clutching his P90 in a ready position.

"So who do you think made it?" The pilot asked Lana.

"Not sure. Though it looks like it was made for bipedal humanoid like aliens. The most amazing thing about it is that it uses some kind a super alloy for its hull. It's more advanced than the hull on our best ships."

"So it's more advanced then us?" The copilot said.

The fourth member of the crew walked right up to John. He was a dark skinned man with long brown hair. The area around him seemed to shimmer slightly. "Welcome to the past, Apprentice Sheppard."

"You can see us?" John asked.

"Yes. I knew you'd come. Something is about to happen, something big. My entire goal is to ensure that it happens as it's supposed to."

"How can you know that?" Rodney said, rambling again. "There are an infinite number of possible outcomes based on every decision made by every person in the universe at any one time."

"For me, this is the present. I can alter events that happen here, but only from knowledge I have in this time. I cannot do more than that. That is the hardest part of being an agent in the order. You can only change the present. The future is used only to see consequences of our actions long before they happen."

"Didn't the order try to fight the wraith?"

"Yes. That is what I am doing now. I cannot simply tell them there is a threat. They must discover it on there own. The first time that this war happened... Atlantis was destroyed."

"But Atlantis is perfectly fine." John replied.

"That is because of what I must do. You know this. What you learn here, remember. I won't be talking to you again." The area around the man stopped shimmering, he walked back over to his crew mates.

"I do not understand." Teyla said. "Why would you be able to see the past and the future, but not be able to manipulate them. How is it possible not to… even accidentally alter them."

"Colonel. They're going into the ship." Aiden said, pointing to the hatch the ancients were stepping into."

John motioned for everyone to follow the ancient. Once again he was inside a wraith hive ship. He couldn't say he liked the trend. This time, he knew for certain that it was the same ship he'd been in when they first got to the Pegasus galaxy. He could remember every detail exactly.

The ancients were walked down deep into the ship. They were moving in the opposite direction that John had taken. The ship's halls were completely devoid of all life. He hadn't seen a single wraith. He glanced back at Teyla. "Do you sense anything?"

She shook her head. "Either I cannot because we are in the past or all the wraith are sleeping."

John followed the ancients into a large room. It had a massive pulsating light coming from a central cylindrical power core. Lining the walls were wraith consoles and other devices. In one corner was a small device with a clear dome that glowed blue.

John turned to Rodney. "Any idea what any of this stuff is?"

"Not a clue. Although I'd guess this is some kind of engine room." Rodney pointed to the power core.

Lana walked over to the domed object. "What's this?" She reached out to scan it.

"It looks like..." The pilot trailed off. "I'm really not sure what it looks like."

"It's using some power and it's sending off some kind of signal."

"What kind of signal?"

"Like an automated message." Lana showed her scanner to the pilot. "It's in a language I've never seen before."

Rodney peered over Lana's shoulder. He then turned back to John. "It's wraith."

Lana reached out and touched the device. It looked like she was trying to see if the dome was removable. Instead, the glowed changed into a red glow. Then, a screech nearly deafened them all.

The pilot glanced at his life signs detector. It suddenly began to light up with dots. John knew exactly what this meant. This had been when the ancients had awoken the wraith. This was not a good place to be. He didn't want to repeat what had happened the first time he'd done this.

A/N: Ahh hah! I did it again. I'm getting better at these cliffhangers.