Title: In the Shadow of Ruin
Author: Mer, Hah and Em
Genre: Drama, Action/Adventure, AU
Warnings: Violence and a few naughty words
Season/Spoilers: none
Summary: Earth is enslaved by the Goa'uld when their first attack is not thwarted, but years later a small band of mercenaries led by Weir discovers the secret of Atlantis, which could prove to be their salvation. AU. Shep-centered. Weir, McKay, Lorne, Teyla and other familar faces are involved.

Disclaimer: We don't own any of the characters. If we did, Shep and Lorne would be our cabana boys and we wouldn't get much writing done.

AN: Slowly but surely, another chapter finally gets written -ducks rotten tomatoes-

In the Shadow of Ruin
By Mer, Hah and Em

- Chapter 4 -

"Ford! What have you got?" Elizabeth ordered to one of her men, as he helped close the doors of the hangar on the mercenaries' secluded base. John, Lorne, and McKay followed her down the steps of the stolen Al'kesh.

"He's here, Ma'am. And he says he's almost figured it out."

"Excellent! I'd like to meet with him right away." Elizabeth turned to John, "This is Aiden Ford, our weapons expert."

"John Sheppard. Call me Shep." He smiled politely as the young man cheerfully shook his hand.

"Good to have you on board, Shep."

"We all are," Elizabeth added. "Now, let's go pay our guest a visit."

"Yes, Ma'am. He's waiting for you in the lab." Ford turned to leave the hangar while Elizabeth waved the rest of the team to follow.

Lorne joined step with Elizabeth and leaned in close and spoke in a whisper. "I don't like this at all." He glanced back at John, making sure their conversation was private. "I mean, getting a pilot from the enemy, hiring a scientist we know absolutely nothing about! We've managed to stay alive for so long because we operated in absolute secrecy and no one except our own recruits even knew the resistance existed. The more outsiders we bring in, the more chance we have of being betrayed."

"I understand your concerns, Marcus. Believe me, I do. But can you fly an Al'kesh? And how's your Ancient?" She paused as he gave her a defeated look. "It's a risk we have to take. We're nearly there." She flashed a quick smile and placed a reassuring hand on his back before turning her attention to John, who was walking behind them in silence.

"Most of the base is underground," she told John as they descended a flight of stairs, noting the curiosity on his face. "We discovered this abandoned military site entirely on accident. Fortunately the Goa'uld had overlooked it when they destroyed most of our bases in the war."

"How nice of them."

The group continued walking down more stairs and through a series of dimly-lit corridors as Elizabeth recalled how they'd set up their operations at this base. The long trip to the lab gave John some idea of the vastness of the facility. Leave it to Elizabeth to set up something like this.

The lab was a clutter of books, scientific instruments, and computers they'd scavenged, and in the middle sat a man immersed in his work. As the group crowded into the room, the man peered up over his glasses with inquisitive blue eyes. As soon as Elizabeth followed Ford through the room's door, he stood up to greet them. John wondered for a moment if the man would've even gone to the trouble if she hadn't been with them. Nevertheless, before anyone could begin introductions, he walked over to them and spoke to her confidently. "You must be Elizabeth Weir."

To John's surprise, she hesitated, just briefly, and he wondered if it was at the fact that this newcomer had known who she was. Not giving anyone else a chance to notice, however, she quickly responded in turn, a confident and satisfied expression splayed across her face. "And you must be Daniel Jackson, solver of the stargate mystery, former member of SG1, and the man who's going to solve all our problems."

Despite her smug sarcasm, neither nodded in confirmation, nor did they break eye contact as they took a moment to gauge each other for the first time.

"Well you didn't exactly give me much choice," he finally responded, breaking up what had become an incredibly awkward silence to everyone else in the room. "The armed escort was a nice touch, by the way, albeit completely unnecessary. You have something I need, remember."

Without shifting her gaze from his direction, she moved to stand beside him, speaking with an air of superiority. "Ah, well, I couldn't exactly risk you coming here to take it from me before you'd fulfilled your end of the bargain, now could I?" Apparently satisfied by his lack of response, Elizabeth stepped back toward her group and pointed casually toward the door, eyes still fixed on Daniel. "Leave us. I'd like to speak to our new guest alone."

Lorne nodded and walked out the door, directing John, Ford, and Mckay to join him. Once they were all out in the corridor, she slammed the sturdy metal door, shutting out any hope of eavesdropping.

The foursome hovered outside the closed door for several long minutes before McKay decided to break the awkward silence which John had been quite enjoying. "So, does anyone like the game 'prime/not prime'?"

Lorne rolled his eyes. "Here we go again. I'll be over here doing something more interesting, like staring at the wall."

McKay turned to John, looking both amused and incredibly smug. "He's just jealous that he lacks the mental capacity to challenge my undefeated record."

John smiled and nodded, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Well, it couldn't hurt to win once more," McKay said cheerfully. "89?"

"Not prime," Ford piped up.

"Wrong, as usual. You never cease to amaze me."

"16,201," Ford offered.

"Prime," McKay replied with a grin.

John raised an eyebrow and stepped into the conversation. "Actually, it's not."

"Oh, really? I didn't think flyboys could even count that high."

"Nine hundred fifty-three times seventeen," he responded indifferently.

"Well," John almost felt bad for him as the scientist's face fell and Ford stifled a laugh. "That game sucks anyway. How about-"

Mercifully, his suggestion was interrupted as the lab door reopened. Though John knew his own intelligence, he had no desire to engage in an IQ measuring contest with this arrogant man. As Elizabeth emerged from the lab, he tried to gauge her mood; though she concealed it well, she seemed uneasy about something and it made him nervous.

She walked past them without a word and made it around the next corner before John heard her footsteps start to get louder again and she stormed back toward them, visibly frustrated.

"Well, don't just stand there! McKay, see if there's anything you can do to help Dr. Jackson with his work. Ford, show John to his quarters," she ordered firmly. "And Marcus...you're with me."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Lorne replied, a bit too enthusiastically, and the pair walked off without another word.

As John walked with Ford down the hallway, the kid slapped him on the back amicably and broke into the grin he'd been trying to hide. "Did you see the look on his face? I haven't seen McKay look like that since we found his secret food stash. You some kind of genius too?"

"Just trying to shut him up," John shrugged.

"In that case, keep up the good work. Come on, room's this way."

They walked in silence for a moment, then John figured now was as good a time as any to start his inquiry about the operation. "So, Ford, how did you get involved in all of this? I mean, you don't look old enough to have been military at the time of the invasion, so where did you get your weapons training?"

Ford stiffened a bit at the reference to his age, but tried to appear nonchalant. "Actually, I was in basic training when the Goa'uld showed up. A small team and I were doing elite weapons training exercises and we managed to escape getting captured. After that, well, let's just say no one was left to take our weapons back." He ended this with a broad and distinctly triumphant smile. "Didn't take us long to find a few more small groups like us and decide to take the fight to the enemy. We caught the attention of the resistance and the next thing I knew, we were meeting Weir and her team. Guess I'm a quick study," he beamed.

John smiled in response, but they both continued down the hall in silence as he thought over not only what Ford had told him, but how to proceed. He knew he had to tread lightly while talking to these people, but Ford did seem to be the most open and sociable resistance member he'd encountered so far. He started to wonder if he might find an ally after all. And maybe he would even be able to gather information on this group he'd been thrust into, not to mention Elizabeth, who was in many ways a completely different person from the woman he'd known ten years ago.

- - - - -

"I don't trust him." Lorne told her, unhooking the weapons from his gun belt and setting them all down on the makeshift dresser.

Elizabeth pulled him to the bed and guided him onto her lap. She peeled off his vest on the way down, her recent frustration now replaced by annoyance at his poor conversational timing. "Marcus, in case you hadn't noticed, he happens to be the world's foremost expert on Ancient--"

"I mean Sheppard."

She pushed him back a few inches, just out of reach, as he leaned in to kiss her. "What?" She did nothing to hide her contempt at his implication.

Despite her momentary frustration, Elizabeth did nothing to fight back his efforts to unbutton her shirt, and she leaned back in, trailing kisses along his strong jaw line from lips to neck, forcing him to respond to her question between gasps of pleasure.

"How do we know he's not working for the Goa'uld?" He slipped the opened shirt off her shoulders as he spoke and instinctively shifted his head and torso, allowing her to return the favor so she could move in on his bare chest. "Just look at where we found him."

His thoughts were distracted as her hands slid down his back and skillfully removed his belt and thigh holster, allowing them to drop and noisily hit the ground. He found it increasingly difficult to get his mind back on track again as she teased him with tingling fingers, running them up his thigh and chest. "We never should have gone for him in the first place. We saw how close he was to Amounet herself." Elizabeth froze and looked up at him, a slight flash of anger and jealousy in her eyes, which only fueled his own. "We have no way of knowing whether he's a Goa'uld spy! He could be revealing our location, telling them who's here, and sabotaging our base from the inside! What better way for them to finally destroy us?"

Annoyed to her limit and not wishing to listen to complaints or argue further, she slunk her way up just close enough to place a kiss on his lips. "I think you're just being paranoid..."

Before he could respond, she eased down into the sheets, assuring he forgot all about his jealousy as he followed her down.

- - - - -