Title: The Howler
Author: Heatherf
Disclaimers: Not mine, no money made, etc. Do own a gaseous dog with a bad attitude
Warnings: My grammar, spelling, and blatant disregard for proper punctuation (I'm a rebel like that) etc. Bad words.
Thanks: Mitzi and NT, they're amazing (like Meg T.) I'm in awe of their natural ability to make commas behave and to catch the words I just make up on a whim.
Spoilers: None. Well, I don't think there are any.
Any and all mistakes are all mine; those I'm exceedingly good at and will take credit for them.
Summary: The team and Beckett go off world to look for an energy source (big surprise there) and offer medical aid to the locals (another original plot concept) and run across some trouble (Good God look at all these original ideas!)
Characters: Beckett, McKay, Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon
The small knot of five strode forward, heads bowed, leaning into the wind and the driving rain of a moonless night. The wind swept down from the steep craggy monolith mountains that ringed the territory. The wind was brutally raw and as fierce as the mountains that stretched into the night sky. The mountain tops loomed like pointed incisor teeth. The forest spread from its base and stretched for miles before coming to an abrupt stop at the city edges.
M3X-808's city was nothing more than a collection of stone buildings that radiated out from a central well like spokes on a wheel. It sat at the southeastern border of the dense forest and was the only trading market within a five days walk of the stargate. Villages and small farms dotted and scarred the surrounding forest like rosetta rash on a small child.
The heavy dank smell of animal hide and rotten produce enveloped the small band of travelers as the wind coursed over abandoned streets. The tallest of the group strode a step before the others, leading them steadfastly through the deserted cobble streets that only four days ago hummed with activity. Traders of all kinds had peddled their wares as farmers and woodsmen brought their products to buyers. The streets had been filled with the scents of animals, unwashed bodies, herbs and spices. Horse drawn carts bogged the streets, struggling over the cobbled stones, scratching for purchase pulling wagons loaded to near bursting capacity, carrying produce, seeds and hay.
Dr. Weir had sent SGA-1 and Carson Beckett off world to M3X-808 five days ago, based on the recommendations made my Major Lorne and his team after their initial investigation of the world.
Major Lorne had taken unexplained powerful energy readings that sporadically seared their instruments and deemed they required a closer look.
The booming metropolises which comprised the only major trading city of the planet seemed nothing more than an overblown 'farmer's market intermingled with the worse smells of any fish or poultry market found in the inner cities of Earth's larger cities. However, the team was not there to investigate the growing 'city' or its sporadically washed inhabitants.
Their interests laid outside the bubbling, gurgling confines of the Spartan stone block buildings.
Colonel John Sheppard and his team were to investigate the surrounding thick forests and its inhabitants.
SGA-1 and Dr. Carson Beckett had left the city in search of the mysterious spiking power. The random and amazingly strong, if infrequent bursts of energy were still there. They practically had Dr. McKay hyperventilating with excitement. However, they were unable to pinpoint their exact source of origin. The instruments flared to life, sparked and blinked out for a moment before coming back on line.
Dr. Beckett had occasionally leaned over the astrophysicist shoulder to stare at the energy readings and found nothing terribly exciting. Beckett's occasional unimpressed 'hmmms' and unenthusiastic 'ahhhs,' brought McKay to a jibe sprouting tizzy and chuckles from the others.
"Why'd we bring him?" McKay had asked on multiple occasions, each time directing his question to Colonel Sheppard.
Carson matched McKay's put upon look and would stare expectantly at the Colonel, hoping to hear an incredibly good reason.
He was sadly disappointed every time.
The answers ranged from, 'He needed to get out'---to 'vaccinate the locals' to 'irritate you, McKay'.
McKay would mutter, "Figures," and turn his attention back to his handheld energy meter.
Sheppard's answers did not satisfy either scientist. Carson felt it necessary to point out to everyone, again, that he could not just go off world and arbitrarily vaccinate some alien population against a set of diseases that were not indigenous to their planet, with antibodies or antigens that were probably incompatible with the population in question. Didn't any of them pay attention in their biology classes?
McKay's hands automatically started flapping in mimicking of 'blah, blah, blah,' to further irritate the physician.
He succeeded quite brilliantly.
With those two grumbling at one another with an undercurrent of good nature ribbing, the rest of SGA-1 headed out of the city and its festival like drum of activity and into the surrounding dark forest, with Colonel Sheppard on point, Teyla a few steps behind and Ronon bringing up the rear. Nestled in the middle, protected on point and at their six, oblivious to the positioning of the team, Drs Beckett and McKay needled one another with seemingly tireless energy.
Sheppard sighed and closed his eyes briefly, wondering if it was even worth the effort to order them to be silent. He could hope that it lasted for more than a few seconds but realized it would only allow those two to build up energy for more arguments later.
Teyla occasionally chuckled at the verbal sparring between the two men behind her as they jumped from one unrelated topic to another. They eventually toppled onto the subject of which was a truer sport; Rugby, Football, Ice hockey or Curling?
Sheppard had perked up at the mention of Football but soon lost interest when he realized they spoke about Soccer. He listened to their incessant arguments, which were fueled more by passion than hard fact. The colonel cringed and considered turning around and shooting both of them and cursing himself for not having the foresight to bring a Wraith Stunner with him on this mission.
He dropped his head to his chest when Ronon inquired about Curling. McKay's explanation was nearly as tedious as the game itself.
Beckett had the gumption or lack of good sense to refrain from telling Rodney the same. Sheppard figured the physician was either incredibly brave or immeasurably foolish. Either way McKay prattled on with all the blustery indignation of an insulted brilliant, un-equaled genius whose country's second favorite pastime was just maligned.
The Colonel tossed an irritated look over his shoulder, making sure Beckett saw his displeasure.
The answering, dimpled grin only irritated the Colonel even more. Sheppard in a flash of insight suddenly understood Beckett's nettle like conversation with McKay. An answering knowing smile lit Sheppard's face.
"It's not going to work, Doc. You're still going off world with us again." It was close, though, Sheppard had to concede that Beckett was close to succeeding in either getting himself grounded to Atlantis indefinitely or simply shot.
Sheppard took great pleasure in seeing the grin fade from Beckett's features.
For five days, SGA-1 and Dr. Carson Beckett wandered the surrounding area circumferentially, searching for any type of energy readings that would fit with what Major Lorne and his team had measured a short week earlier, to no avail. The readings flashed across handheld monitors with brilliant blinding light that shut senses off before readings could be taken. Despite Rodney's attempts to protect the equipment and amplify the instruments' ability to withstand the intense burst, the ancient handheld tools failed to pinpoint the source of the strange power output.
The group continued their blind search through the soggy forest. They continued to trip across scattered dirt villages littered with malnourished inhabitants.
It was also during the Major's previous visit that Lorne and his team had indicated, perhaps prematurely, that they had access to medicines and knowledge that could aid some of the small surrounding villages before the coming winter.
They had promised to send a doctor.
As a result, Weir sent SGA-1 and Beckett back to M3X-808 with orders to find the source of the readings, hopefully a ZPM and fulfill the questionable medical promises made by SGA-2.
Lorne had chuckled out a warning to the departing members of SGA-1 and Dr. Beckett to beware of the man-eating, livestock-tearing beast of the forest. The locals called it a Howler.
Lorne's team had seen nothing of such a mythical creature, but wished the others luck.
The major's words about a roaming, bone crushing monster reached Beckett's ears just as the doctor stepped forward to enter the wormhole. Carson simply spun on his heel and tried to head back to his infirmary.
Sheppard snapped out a hand and latched onto the back of Beckett's vest and effectively turned the Scot back around toward the gate and propelled the doctor through the wormhole.
The colonel departed, showering the major with a look that promised dire consequences when he returned.
Paybacks were, in fact, a bitch.