Chapter 7: Off to Arastica.

At last, John entered puddle jumper one – his favourite jumper – ready to go on the mission to Arastica. Looking around he was surprised to see that everyone was there before him, which was totally understandable since he'd overslept this morning. Torren sat in the co-pilot chair and Teyla sat behind him. Dave sat behind the pilot's chair and in the back sat Ronon, Rodney and Carson. There was a feeling of apprehension among them all because they knew that if they didn't succeed in this mission the ramifications for future generations could be disastrous. Who knows how the timeline had already been affected by him sending the Wraith hive from the future into the past? He sure hoped that they would never have to find out.

Carson had released him from the infirmary two days ago, in that time he and Teyla had looked for an apartment and spent most of their time with baby Torren. At nights he had slept in Teyla's spare room so that he could be close to her and Torren. Adult Torren and Dave had also spent plenty of time with them and he knew that he was going to miss them both when they went back to the future – that wouldn't be for a while though, since he had no idea how long it would take to put this timeline right. Hopefully, it wouldn't take more than a few days because he really wanted to get back to his life.

For the last two days, he'd been running with Ronon, which had left his leg feeling stiff and sore, but Carson told him that it would get better the more he used it, and at night he still woke up coughing. Carson had also commented that he hoped the mission to Arastica wouldn't set him back, in terms of his health, but there was really no other choice as they had to go on this mission and John had waited long enough – although if Carson had his way he'd be grounded for at least another week.

When they arrived back from the mission he and Teyla had decided to move in together and undertake the Athosian bonding ceremony and he had also agreed to participate in a ceremony to officially recognise him as Torren's father. When they had told their friends about it, they couldn't be happier – Woolsey had even agreed to officiate at their wedding if they chose to have one.

Last night he had said goodbye to baby Torren, and they had left him with Jennifer. Amelia and Jennifer had agreed to take turns looking after him. Torren seemed excited to spend time with his Auntie Amelia and Auntie Jennifer, but he really had no idea that his parents may not be back for a while – or at all. But then the other Torren had grown up without them and he had turned out fine, so he knew that whatever happened to him and Teyla that their son would be okay.

A gentle voice interrupted his contemplations, "John are you ready to leave."

He looked behind him and smiled at his fiancée and although he hadn't given her a ring yet, he still chose to call Teyla his fiancee and she seemed happy enough for him to do so.

"Let's get this show on the road, the sooner we put this timeline right the sooner we can get home and get on with our lives."

"Oh…and there's one other thing I need to tell you, Dad," Torren said sheepishly.

He looked at his grown-up son with caution and he was convinced that he wasn't going to like what Torren said, "and what would that be?"

"I've asked Todd to meet us on Sheppard's planet, and before you start to shout about it, we may need help to deal with his queen. That's if she's woken up from hibernation. This is possible because some of the wraith were awakening when we first landed on the planet and it looked as if they are feeding on each other."

The thought did cross his mind to yell at Torren, but then he knew that Torren was right, and they would probably need Todd's help. He was about to say something when Teyla brought up another problem that had been bothering him and he hadn't had time to mention it.

"Could we not go to the future and prevent the Hive ship from going through the anomaly in the first place?"

"Believe me Teyla, that was the first thing we thought about," Dave informed her, "but we don't see any way that John could have prevented that from happening, so we thought that our only course of action was to prevent the wraith from crash landing on and infecting Arastica in the first place."

The whole thing was beginning to give him a headache, "Okay let's get going before I end up with a headache. You know how much I hate temporal mechanics." The thing that messed with his brain the most though was that he had eliminated a virus in the future that had been put in Arastica's systems by an event that hadn't happened yet – something that he had caused.

He started up the jumper with a thought and then he dropped it into the gateroom waiting for the gate to dial.

A few minutes later they exited the gate, and they were in space. The estimated time to Sheppard's planet was three hours, so he decided that he would just try and sleep since there was no way he wanted to spend the next few hours talking – perhaps he wouldn't mind talking to Teyla though.

oOo

They had been in the jumper for almost three hours and Teyla was fed up. Torren, Dave, and Rodney had done nothing but talk about alternate realities and Ronon had paced backwards and forwards in the back of the jumper for half of that time. Carson had spent most of his time sleeping and John had locked himself in the front compartment of the jumper – not for the first time.

She had no idea why John had left her out there, but she suspected that he needed to be alone for some reason and she was sure that he would tell her what was going on at the appropriate time.

Before she had a chance to contemplate things further the front compartment of the jumper opened, and John came out with a huge grin on his face.

"We're here and I'm about to land this thing."

She was the first to join John upfront and the view out of the window brought back some bad memories as this was what she saw when they had exited the anomaly in the future – right before they crashed on Sheppard's planet. This time John seemed to have complete control though.

"So, if this is Sheppard's planet, where's the anomaly?" Ronon asked and Teyla could see how confused he was, not that she could blame him.

It was Torren who provided the answer, "for some reason the virus isn't that strong in this time period, so I was able to shut it down from Arastica after we came through from the future."

John furrowed his brow and she immediately knew that he was worried about something, "Is it possible that the wraith in this time, will infect Arastica again?"

"I guess that's possible," Dave replied with a nod of his head and Teyla was amazed at how much he looked like a younger version of John.

"Great," John muttered, "now we have to try and stop it happening in this period as well."

"Surely if we go back in time and prevent it from happening, they won't be able to infect Arastica in this period," Carson surmised.

This time it was Rodney who provided the answer, "That's if they haven't done it already, making it difficult for us to connect with Arastica therefore we can't create an anomaly to go back in time."

By this time John had landed, much to Teyla's relief because now they could stop talking and get on with something because if they didn't stop discussing time paradox's soon, she was going to kill someone.

The first thing she did when she stepped out of the jumper was to look around the field where they had landed. It was the field where she and John had crashed in the future and although she expected to see the crashed remains of the jumper that she and John had crashed in or the jumper that the other Teyla and Sheppard had crashed in she wasn't surprised to see that they weren't there. They had crashed fifty years in the future after all. She suspected that the bridge over the river and the cabin that Sheppard had built wouldn't be there either. Neither would the tiny headstones of Sheppard, Teyla and baby Patrick. Looking at Dave she shuddered when she thought that he wouldn't be born for another thirty-five years, and he would spend ten years of his life on this planet before she and John found him.

Shaking her head, she looked at Dave and she wondered what he was thinking. Was he thinking along the same lines that she was thinking, or was it just another day at the office for him? He did seem to have a firmer grasp of temporal mechanics than she did, which wasn't surprising since he'd spent a lot of his life around Torren.

"How are you feeling Dave?" She asked as he exited the jumper.

"Don't worry about me Teyla, I have been on Arastica in this time frame before?"

"Why do you need us to go back in time with you anyway? I have way too much work to do to be on this planet, although…I would be interested in seeing and studying Arastica," Rodney ranted, and Teyla was relieved that he wasn't in full-on rant mode.

Torren smirked, "We need Dad to connect with Arastica. Apparently, she likes him. I have connected with her over the years as has Dave, but at the end of the day she still prefers Dad and she made it clear when I connected with her in this period."

"Great all the girls love Sheppard, and apparently every city in the galaxy loves him too," Rodney muttered and although she suspected that Torren and Dave hadn't heard him, she certainly had.

"How does she even know about Sheppard in this time because he won't connect with Arastica for another fifty years?" Ronon asked and it was a legitimate question.

"It has something to do with the fact that the ancients were experimenting with time-travel on Arastica." Dave supplied.

"Anyway, we should get going," Torren suggested, "If some of the drones have awakened, they may be wanting to infect Arastica in this time."

Teyla was looking around the clearing and an overwhelming feeling of dread came over her, "Where is John?"

"He's probably sick and tired of all this technobabble talk and already on his way to Arastica. I know I'm sick of it," Ronon mumbled.

She agreed with Ronon, so it was easy for her to start heading in the direction of Arastica and for the first time she noticed a crashed hive-ship in the distance, and she had no idea why she hadn't noticed it on the way in. She also had to wonder why they had just spent the last ten minutes standing around talking.

"Did any of you see that hive-ship on the way in?"

Ronon just stared at her as did Carson, "are you, alright lassie? It's not like you to miss something like that."

"Yes, Carson I am alright, but I do not understand why I missed it."

"I'm going," Ronon growled heading off in the direction of Arastica.

She followed him, not caring whether anyone came with her or not, "I am coming too."

They had been walking for only a couple of minutes when she heard a scream in the distance, it was faint, but she immediately knew who it was – John was in trouble and she had to get to him as soon as possible, so she picked up her pace until she was running.

oOo

John exited the jumper last, and he was disgusted to find that everyone was standing around talking. They had a mission to complete so why was everyone standing around talking about the timeline? Perhaps he would give them a few minutes and go for a walk. He knew that the jumper he crashed in wouldn't be on the planet because that hadn't happened yet and wouldn't for another fifty years. He'd spied the Hive ship on the way down and for now, it appeared to be dead, but he wouldn't be surprised to find a few wraith awake and looking for a meal. He also knew that if this ship contained super drones from the future, they would probably all be in trouble before long.

Over the last few days, he'd found himself wanting to be alone for some reason and that feeling hadn't changed since they'd landed on the planet. Perhaps it was the fact that Rodney, Torren, and Dave were constantly talking and although he could grasp the basics of what they were talking about, he was sick of hearing about different universes and time travel. It all added up to a giant headache – especially the paradox that had been created by pushing the hive ship through the anomaly from the future. Dam the ancients, by showing off and trying to master time travel they had caused problems for everyone else – as usual.

Taking one last look at his friends he started to walk towards Arastica because for some reason he felt inexplicably drawn to her. He knew that it was against his better judgement to go there alone, but he wanted to be alone for now.

The view was as beautiful as he remembered it – although it had only been a week since he'd been on the planet. The sky was blue, and the primary sun was high in the sky, there was a gentle breeze in the air and the secondary sun was just peering over the horizon. The dry grasses were waving in the gentle breeze and if he'd been going in the other direction he would have come across the river by now.

He had landed as close as he dared to the hive ship and although common sense should have told him to land close to Arastica, he felt a little apprehensive about landing any closer since the last time he'd entered the city a wraith virus had tried to kill him – although he was still trying to come to terms with the fact that had happened in the future.

As he approached the Hive ship a feeling of dread overcame him and he knew that he should turn back and get his friends, but for some reason that he couldn't even begin to understand, he kept going. All of a sudden, a blinding pain shot through his temple and he fell to his knees.

Before he knew what was happening, John was watching the hive come through the anomaly again and he knew that if he didn't move the thing would land on top of him, so he immediately started to run towards the river, suspecting that he'd have a greater chance of getting to safety if he headed in that direction than if he headed towards Arastica. He knew this time that Arastica was trying to contact him again – the only question was why. He knew what was going to happen and when, so all he had to do was get back to the past.

Behind him, he heard explosions and soon realised that someone on Arastica was firing drones at the ship.

Eventually, he reached the river and turned around to see that drones were indeed being fired on the ship. It took only minutes for it to crash to the ground sending billows of smoke and a wall of fire into the sky. The once brilliant blue sky was now a cloud of smoke and he had to cover his mouth and nose to stop himself from breathing it in.

In the distance, he could hear drones screaming as they tried to escape the fiery inferno. He hoped that the ship would burn up and that there would be nothing left for the ancients on Arastica to have to deal with. He was disappointed when a minute later the sky opened up and the rain started to pour down in torrents.

The rain came down steadily for about an hour and by the time it had finished the fire was completely out – much to his chagrin. He was drenched, and the sun was going down, so he knew that he probably needed to find some shelter for the night. He knew that there was no way he would be able to get to the other side of the river to find the cave that he had found the jumper in when he was in the future, so he decided that his best bet was to head towards Arastica and hopefully he would be able to find shelter there.

As he walked down the well-worn path beside the river – well it wasn't as well worn as it was in the future – the wind was whistling through the trees, the suns had gone down by this time and there was only one moon in the sky, which created a dim light through the haze of smoke that was hanging over the post-apocalyptic landscape. He shuddered at the sight in front of him because in the distance he could see drones staggering towards Arastica and it was obvious that they were after a meal.

He continued, through the smoke-filled haze and could barely see in front of him. He got the shock of his life when a drone appeared in front of him with his hand outstretched, he tried to run away, but his feet were glued to the ground and just as the wraith began to feed, he screamed.

He came back to the present to the sound of his scream as a Wraith that looked a lot like Todd had his hand outstretched towards him. He tried to roll away just as the feeding hand connected with his chest and just when he was expecting to experience the agony of his life being ripped away from him the hand was withdrawn.

The look on the Wraith's face was one of shock. He tried to look at the wraith closer and he realised that it wasn't Todd, although he would have given anything for the big wraith to show up right now.

"What is going on human, you have been fed on before and one marker in your blood is exactly the same as the marker as a certain member of my hive would leave. The other is from one of the super drones from my hive ship. How is that possible since my hive crashed on this planet over ten thousand years ago and only a few drones have awoken along with my queen.

Staring at the large Wraith, he tried to think of something to stay that wouldn't end up with him being the Wraith's next meal, "listen, Gerry, can I call you Gerry?" When the Wraith didn't answer he continued, "would you believe it if I told you that I'm a time traveller and fifty years from now I'm going to destroy all of your darts and send your hive ship through an anomaly in time?"

Gerry stared at him for a moment, and it made him feel extremely uncomfortable – the wraith boot on his chest wasn't helping much either.

"I think that you shall come and see my queen as I believe that she will be able to find the answers that we need."

What the hell does that mean, was his first thought, followed by, now I'm in trouble. He didn't have a chance to contemplate his fate any further before a stunner beam hit his chest and he was thrown into darkness.

oOo

Teyla was beside herself with worry as they approached the crashed hive ten minutes later. What she couldn't work out though was why they hadn't just landed closer to Arastica in the first place. Torren had just shrugged his shoulders and told her that Arastica was a bit grouchy at the moment and it was better that they approach her by foot. When she had stared at the Adult version of her son, he had just smiled at her and told her not to worry because he had it all under control – at that moment he had sounded exactly like Rodney, and she remembered how much she hated that about him. Another Rodney had raised this version of her son and he had taken on many of the annoying scientist's mannerisms. Her only hope was that she and John would get to raise baby Torren who was back on Atlantis.

A minute later Ronon stopped in front of her, and she didn't like the look on his face, "Sheppard's been here and he was lying flat on his back. I only hope that he wasn't fed on by a wraith."

"How do you know?" Rodney asked stopping alongside them.

"His shirt buttons are lying on the ground, so it looks as if his shirt has been ripped open," Ronon informed them as a snarl crossed his face.

A feeling of terror overcame her, and her voice was shaky as she spoke, "do you believe that he has been taken to the hive ship?"

Another voice entered the conversation at that point, and it was one she wasn't expecting to hear, "I believe that he would have been taken to see the queen. If one of her Wraith had tried to feed on him, they would have detected that he had been fed on before. Which would lead them to believe that he has information that the queen would find valuable."

"Well in that case then Todd, we'd better get going and you're going to help us, "Ronon growled with a murderous look on his face.

"I will go on my own," Todd hissed, "because the queen believes that I am loyal to her and will not question me. You should head towards Arastica, and I will meet you there when I have rescued John Sheppard."

Ronon looked as if he was going to complain, and she was happy when Dave placated him, "look I'd hate to have to agree with Todd, but he's right. We should get on with our mission and meet them on Arastica. Torren and I have to put in the right coordinates in space and time before we can create the anomaly, so it may take a while. When John arrives, all he'll have to do is sit in the chair and activate the anomaly then. We can then take one of the puddle jumpers in the bay and head through it."

"I still don't know why we couldn't land our jumper in the jumper bay in Arastica," Carson mumbled.

"Believe it or not when we came through the anomaly, we tried to land the jumper in the bay and Arastica tried to kill us, but she allowed us to enter her city by foot. I still haven't had time to figure out why yet though." Torren replied forcefully.

"I do not have time to listen to you squabble, "Todd hissed before walking off in the direction of the hive.

Although she wasn't a big fan of Todd's she decided that he was right and he was the only one who could find John, so she turned to the others with a fake smile on her face and spoke in a gentle tone, hoping to placate them all, "shall we not proceed to Arastica to try and complete our mission?"

When they nodded, she walked off in the direction of the city, knowing that if anyone could talk the wraith queen around it would be Todd. And although at times she still didn't trust Todd, she knew that in the future Todd wanted to develop a treatment to stop the wraith from having to feed on humans.

TBC…