Right, I feel I should clarify exactly what this story is. It is not set in the Firefly universe, and I'm not just sticking characters into the Firefly crews' roles. I'm afraid I simply don't know enough about that universe to do a true crossover. Instead just imagine this as a whole new universe. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, and on with the story...
Sheppard steered the skimmer out of the hold and into the bright desert sun, moving it swiftly towards the walled city. He turned to Elizabeth standing next to him.
"So where's this big ancient site supposed to be?"
"I don't know, he said he'd give us the coordinates when we got here. Seemed like he was in one hell of a hurry, though."
"Great." Sheppard remarked as they entered the city, moving slowly through the bustling crowds inside the walls. A few minutes later they drew up outside the archaeologist's house. Elizabeth walked up to the door and knocked. There was no answer. At this Ronon drew his weapon.
"Something's wrong. I can feel it." Sheppard glanced over to Elizabeth, who also looked worried.
"Alright" she said "let's check it out." She moved to the side to let Ronon open the door. It was unlocked.
"Oh, this just gets better and better." Ronon moved inside first, followed by John and Elizabeth.
"Teyla, keep an eye out."
"Yes captain."
The house was completely dark, with shutters covering the windows. The three of them moved forwards with blasters drawn, before Elizabeth gasped and darted forwards. A woman's body lay on the floor. Elizabeth knelt down next to her, and shook her head.
"She's dead. Ronon, check upstairs." He nodded and left the room. "John, follow me."
They continued onwards through the deserted house.
"Help!" They both turned and hurried towards a closed door. "Help me!" John opened the door as Elizabeth covered him, and then moved swiftly inside. It was the archaeologist's study, covered in manuscripts, maps and trinkets from dozens of different worlds. Doctor Jackson was lying on the floor, a puddle of blood slowly spreading out beneath him.
"Captain...Weir?" He gasped. "You're too late." Elizabeth knelt by him and grasped his hand tightly.
"Who did this to you?" His eyelids fluttered shut, then he forced them open again.
"I don't know. Smugglers, pirates maybe. They came in, killed Sha're, found the location..."
"Location of what?" she shook him lightly. "Doctor?"
"The...location of the ancient site I was going to excavate. If they find it... they can't get it...too dangerous." His breath was rasping, he could barely speak. "Helios system, fourth planet. 500 miles north of southern shoreline, 600 miles west of river...Find it, before they do..." His head lolled to the side. Elizabeth checked his pulse, then sighed and closed his eyes.
"Now what do we do?" She looked up at him, her eyes blazing with rage.
"Now we find whoever did this, and we kill them. Might just find that ancient site as well." John nodded slowly. Ronon spoke from the doorway.
"No one else in the rest of the house. The woman-"
"Sha're. Her name was Sha're." Elizabeth said strongly.
"She was stabbed in the neck, would've been quick, relatively painless."
"I don't care." Elizabeth stood. "Let's go find this Helios system."
They left the house, and were joined by Teyla.
"Captain, is everything alright?"
"No. They're both dead. Let's go." Behind Elizabeth's back, John and Teyla exchanged concerned glances. Elizabeth could be cold-blooded when she had to be, but right now her voice was completely devoid of emotion.
"Very well... Captain, I think we may be being watched." Teyla said as they climbed into the skimmer.
"Probably. Whoever did this strikes me as a professional group. They would want to know if anyone showed up here."
"You want me to go find them?" Ronon asked.
"No point. They'll have contacted the others by now. Let's just get the hell off this planet." John pointed out as the skimmer left the city and accelerated swiftly towards the ship. He activated his radio. "Lorne, this is Sheppard, we're coming home."
"Copy that, I see you, come on in."
The skimmer entered the cargo hold and powered down. Lorne stood at the controls and closed the door behind them, clearly concerned.
"What happened?" He asked as they all got off the skimmer. Elizabeth glanced over to him briefly, then looked at John.
"Sheppard, find this Helios system and get us there as fast as possible. I'll be in my room." She started off, then stopped at the door into the main passageway. "I don't want to be disturbed." Lorne stared after her, now confused and concerned.
"What was that about? What the hell happened?" John started towards the entrance, gesturing for Lorne to follow. He also paused at the door.
"Teyla, Ronon, let's make sure the railguns are working, alright?" They both nodded silently. John nodded back and left the hold, Lorne following him.
"John, what happened?"
"We found the archaeologist and his wife. They'd been attacked. Before Jackson died he gave us the location of the ancient site he wanted to excavate."
"Right...and we're going there why exactly?" Sheppard glared at him. "What? I'm just saying, clearly there's something very valuable out there and clearly whoever killed the archaeologist has got a head start. They won't be very happy when we show up." John nodded.
"Yeah, I know. But they killed two innocent people, and like you said, there's probably something valuable or something very dangerous out there. We don't want some pirate group running around with that. Most importantly though, we're going because Elizabeth has told me to take us there!"
Lorne sighed.
"Okay Sheppard, I just hope you know what we're getting into. I think I'll go help Teyla and Ronon check out the weapons."
"Good. Thanks." John continued on alone through the living area and past Elizabeth's closed door. He entered the cockpit and began the power-up sequence. Suddenly he saw a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye.
"What the hell?" He activated the exterior sensors and saw four fast moving vehicles converging on the Pegasus from all sides.
"Shit. Lorne, Ronon, Teyla, get those guns ready, we've got four skimmers incoming." He activated the shields. The four skimmers came into weapons range and opened fire, sending missiles crashing into the Pegasus' shields and shaking the entire ship. "Mckay, I need those engines, now!"
"Wait one bloody second would you... there, go!" John hauled on the control stick and lifted the ship into the air. Elizabeth staggered into the cockpit.
"What the hell's happening?" She demanded.
"Four skimmers firing on us." The ship shook again. "Those are some bloody powerful missiles!" He activated the main engines and the Pegasus hurled itself up through the atmosphere and into space. John let out a long breath. "We're clear." He called up the navicomputer. "I've found the Helios system, it's way out in the outer belt... it'll take us 2 days to get there.
"Jump as soon as you can." Her voice sounded odd, and he looked at her. Her eyes were red and he knew she'd been crying.
"Elizabeth, are you...what is it?" She shook her head.
"It's nothing. Jump." John plotted the course, and activated the hyperdrive. A window formed in front of the ship and pulled it in. When he looked back, Elizabeth had already left the cockpit. He sighed and stared out into hyperspace.
Ten minutes later, John left the cockpit and headed aft. Elizabeth's door was closed again. The thought of her in there crying made his stomach twist. He entered the living area to find Teyla, Mckay and Lorne leaning closely together and speaking quietly.
"Guys." They turned and looked at him guiltily. "What are you doing?" They all looked at one another until finally Teyla rolled her eyes at them and spoke.
"We were discussing the captain's... unusual behaviour." John nodded and sat down.
"Yeah. She's been... weird."
"Weird?" Mckay asked incredulously. "I'd say more than weird. We didn't even know this Doctor Jackson and his wife, and now we're flying off to avenge their deaths?"
"Look, I know that this seems...crazy, but Elizabeth's smart, and like Lorne has already pointed out to me whatever this thing is that they're looking for it's gonna be either valuable or dangerous. Better we have it than these... other guys." Seeing they were unconvinced, John sighed. "Fine. I'll go talk to her. Hey, Mckay, why don't you check out the recordings of the attack. Maybe we can learn something about those guys who attacked us." Rodney nodded slowly, but looked slightly annoyed. "What?"
"It's just that I've known Elizabeth a lot longer than the rest of you. Surely I should be the one to go talk to her?"
"Well, yeah, but you have all the social skills of a dead Wraith, so I think we'll stick to my plan. Teyla, Lorne, go... go do something!"
He left them still sitting there, and walked to Elizabeth's door. "Oh," he muttered under his breath, "this is such a bad plan." He knocked on Elizabeth's door. He knocked again, but still got no answer. Finally he took a deep breath and opened her door. Elizabeth was sitting in her desk chair, feet on her bed, staring out the window into hyperspace. She finally looked at him when he sat on her bed next to her legs.
"John." Her voice was quiet and distant. "Is there something wrong?"
"You tell me."
"What?" Her eyes were still red, there was even a tear in the corner of her eye.
"Elizabeth, I'm not just your pilot, I'm your friend. I've known you for two years, so please, tell me what's going on. Mckay, Teyla, Lorne, we all noticed it...please."
She held his gaze for a moment, then looked away again.
"My parents were murdered when I was eighteen. I used to live on Caprica, went to the university there. I was studying to be a diplomat, I thought I might be the one to integrate the inner and outer worlds. I came home one day..." as her voice trailed off John leaned forwards and carefully put his hand on her arm, then slid it down and grasped her hand firmly. "I came home and found them, stabbed, bleeding on the floor. The police showed up, investigated, but after a few weeks... I dropped out of uni, left Caprica. I ran out of money on some godforsaken backwater moon, so I joined the Pegasus. The captain, Jack O'Neill, was a good man. When he retired, he gave me the ship... Space is so large, it's easy to forget...but seeing the two of them lying there just brought it all back." She looked down, and noticed her hand in his. He started to withdraw it, but she held it tightly. "I, I haven't told anyone about this, not even Rodney. He joined after I did. Please, don't tell anyone, ok?" John nodded.
"Of course. I'll just tell them that you're feeling ill or something." She smiled faintly.
"You really think they're going to believe that?" He laughed
"Not a chance, but they won't push. Can I get you anything, something to eat or..." She shook her head.
"Thanks, but I just need some time alone. I'll be out soon, I just need to pull myself together. Captain can't be crying!" She laughed shakily. "Do you," she paused and glanced at him nervously. "Do you understand?"
"I understand." John stood. "And I'll help you get these bastards." He left the room.
