The New Recruit-Chapter 3-The Path Splits Again

Thank you for the reviews! I apologize if the character of Airman Ballard seems a little too much like Mary Sue, but I honestly have been working on this character for a month (I was just waiting for my beta-reader to get around to reading the story-thanks Lili!). And now, on with the story!


"You're sure that there's an energy signature coming from that corridor?" Sheppard asked McKay and Zelenka as their little troupe continued on down the hall they had taken when the team had split up.

"Yes, and one from that direction, as well," Zelenka added as he pointed to another corridor on the left side of their fork in the road.

"Okay, so I guess we're splitting up. Teyla, you and Zelenka go left; McKay and I will go right. Lorne," Sheppard spoke into his radio. "We've encountered a fork in the road with two different energy sigs, one coming from each direction. We're going to split up."

"Understood; we've come across our own fork and are about to split up, too," Lorne's voice responded.

"We'll remain in radio contact. And guys, don't try to kill each other," the colonel added as an afterthought, knowing that, despite the fact that Ballard and Kavanaugh worked in the same area, the young airman might get the idea to leave her colleague in the maze that the temple was sure to become. Come to think of it, he thought to himself, Ronon might do the same thing. We still don't know that much about either of them and I don't want to leave even the most annoying-

His ranting thought was cut off by Teyla placing her hand on his arm. "Colonel, we'll meet back here, agreed?" Leave it to the Athosion leader to think of something so simple that he had forgotten about it.

"Uh, yeah, we'll meet back here. Radio contact at all times, got it?"

"Yes," she answered before disappearing down the corridor after the Czech scientist.


"Okay, people, so now that we've hit this fork in the road, we're going to have to split up. Kavanaugh, you're with me. Ronon and Ballard, you go left, we'll go right. Understood?" Maj. Lorne looked around at his group who all nodded in understanding.

"Yes, sir," Ballard answered before disappearing down the left corridor.

"We meet back here, got it?" he told Ronon who only nodded before following the young woman.

At least I don't have to worry about either of them killing Kavanaugh or purposely leaving him down here, although there's a thought that almost every single person on Atlantis might agree to doing, the major thought to himself as he followed the long-haired scientist down the right corridor.


"Do you know how far it is to this energy source?" Ronon asked the woman in front of him.

"According to the reader, it's about thirty or so yards ahead of us," she answered, looking up from the electronic device that she had pulled out of her pack soon after they entered the temple.

They remained silent for ten minutes until Ronon, who usually enjoyed the quiet, decided to ask his companion the question that had bothering him since the day before when she had thrown him half-way across the gym during training.

"How were you able to do that?"

"Do what?" she asked without looking back at the burly Satedan.

"Throw me across the room like that," he answered in a tone that said, what did you think I meant?

"I don't know; I guess it's because-" she was cut off from answering as the floor beneath them gave way to a smooth stone slide before they could even react.


Okay, so that's chapter 3. I apologize (again) if this chapter confuses anyone, but I just love a cliff-hanger, don't you?