Chapter Four

Teyla watched with a heavy heart at the sight as Sheppard entered the dense forest and out of their sight. Although she was a leader in her own right, she had learnt how to follow orders and sighed ever so slightly, not taking her gaze from the mixture of dark green and light brown formations.

"I'm sure they're going to be just fine."

Teyla looked to her only remaining companion, Beckett gave her a somewhat sympathetic look as his own eyes wandered to where the Major had left at lightening speed. "I do not doubt it," Teyla finally replied turning her body round in order to face him. "Major Sheppard will be able to handle whatever is thrown at him."

Beckett gave something akin to a nod and adjusted the collar of his jacket in order to let more air in. It didn't even get this warm on Atlantis, but there they had the luxury of a nice, gentle breeze coming in from the ocean. Teyla straightened up and took on an authoritative air; "We must continue the search."

"By all means," Beckett answered. "Lead the way."

--

Sheppard felt like his lungs were at bursting point, he hadn't ran this fast or far in well, forever. He couldn't even remember anything close to this during his training but at least he had kept himself in very good condition. This forest was more trees than anything, he had a hard time trying to keep to the dirt track as it was hard to tell well the path began and the forest ended. Now he wished they'd put something down in order to find their way back to their original starting point more easily. Like the kids in one of those stories, what was it again? Hanzel and Gretal. They'd left small stones in order to get back home when their parents tried to abandon them. Now if that were written nowadays, Sheppard would whole heartily agree. Most children were nothing but trouble.

He skidded to a halt, kicking up dirt and looked round, breathing deeply. When the hell had he started thinking about children's stories and not focusing on the reason why he was running through this place? Sheppard decided that he had to get back to the stargate and then carry on from there in the same direction McKay and Ford had gone. Checking his watch, he forced his legs to continue and carried on running. Only hoping that he knew where it was he was going.

--

"Here let me help you Doctor."

"No, it's perfectly all right. I can manage."

Teyla looked down at Beckett with a raised eyebrow and placed her hands firmly on her hips, this was no time to slow down when they had a job to do. On trying to conquer the track, he had slipped and fallen back down at least two metres, which meant that they would be behind time. Beckett did not fail to catch the look. "Honestly, I'm fine."

The Athosian hesitated; his trousers were torn and blood stained one of his knees as he got back to his feet. "If you are sure."

Carson saw where she was looking and waved it off. "It looks worse than it is. I've suffered much worse," he replied trying to sound casual and that falling halfway down unstable mountains was something he did everyday. Teyla however, looked unconvinced and he took a breath and a grim look replaced the confident one. "Did I not mention I hate going offworld?"

"Several times," Teyla answered turning round and carried on climbing.

"This isn't what I signed up for," Beckett carried on as he gripped a rock tightly and pulled himself up as best he could, sure it wasn't a steep mountain but still, it was a hard task. Especially for a medical doctor whom spent most of his time in the infirmary and only going offworld when there was some kind of medical emergency or something medical related. This definitely did not fall underneath that category.

"Please try and keep up," Teyla said quietly, who hadn't even broken out in a sweat having been used to this sort of climate.

"Onwards and upwards," Beckett muttered as he heaved himself up to the next level.

--

A golden coloured sphere could be seen, the sun glinting on the unknown metal and Sheppard had never been so relieved to see a sight such as this in all his life. Lowering the binoculars and putting them back in his equipment belt, he made his way down the hill and broke into another run, somehow finding a burst of energy as the peak got closer and closer.

It didn't take long and Sheppard had to admit, the temple was indeed an impressive sight. For an old building anyhow. "McKay," he said, treading cautiously, weapon drawn. "Ford?" Sheppard looked on the floor and over to the temple, more specifically in the entrance where a clip caught his attention, quickly he walked over to it and crouched down, picking it up. All the rounds had been fired and the clip deposed of. Ford was carrying a P90 so he had to assume that some sort of attack had gone down. "McKay," Sheppard said standing up straight, dropping the useless clip back down to the ground. "Ford?"

"Major?"

Sheppard frowned and looked round, that was McKay's voice but where the hell was the man? "McKay," he replied intending to follow the voice until Ford quickly stuck his head round the corner of the entrance. "Ford."

"Good to see you Major," Ford answered walking out into the open towards him.

"I could say the same about you," Sheppard said as McKay decided it was time for him to also emerge. "What the hell happened to you guys? Why didn't you respond?"

"We were attacked," McKay replied dusting himself down, he'd obviously hit the ground at some point and he'd been cut with something.

"We retreated into the temple but there's some kind of forcefield which prevented us using the radios." Ford said filling Sheppard in better than McKay's simple 'we were attacked'. "Our assailant didn't come in after us."

"Assailant, as in one?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes sir."

If it took one assailant to make Aiden Ford to retreat, this wasn't good. Just what the hell were they dealing with? Sheppard looked to McKay and Ford in turn before reporting in with Teyla and Beckett.