Chapter 12: A changed future.

The time when they were expecting the anomaly to form came and went and still nothing was happening. John was beginning to become bored by this time as were, Teyla and Ronon. Todd had disappeared again – probably to look for a meal – and Nickel was talking with Rodney, Dave, and Torren about science – or something equally as boring. Carson had gone into the jumper for a rest, or at least that was what he had told them. The problem was that he needed to be doing something other than talking, he wanted to be fighting and killing wraith and he knew that Teyla and Ronon felt the same way. They had been sitting staring into the sky for three hours and he had no idea whether the anomaly was going to form, or the hive ship was ever going to crash.

He turned to his adult son and smirked, "Hey Torren you do know that your calculations were wrong, don't you?"

"Sorry Dad, but ten thousand years is a long time, so I was bound to get things a little wrong. The only problem is I don't know whether we are just a few hours out, or whether it is weeks or months. That's what we are trying to figure out now."

"I probably would have got it right," Rodney muttered loud enough for him to hear.

"What was that?" Dave asked with a lopsided grin on his face and John shuddered at how much he looked like a younger version of him.

"Never mind, I'm just a little frustrated," Rodney replied.

"Well, I will leave it to the three of you to figure out, I'm going for a walk," he looked at Ronon and then Teyla before he continued, "who's with me?"

"I'm in," Ronon mumbled standing to his feet.

"I feel as if I will go mad if I do not do something soon," Teyla commented standing to her feet as well.

Before they had a chance to walk away Rodney stood up with a panicked look on his face, "what happens if the anomaly forms while you're gone?"

"Well, we'll come back," Ronon growled.

"Yes, but what if we get attacked by the wraith before you get here?" Rodney whined.

"Don't worry Dr McKay I will protect you," Todd hissed walking back into the clearing.

John almost laughed at the stunned look on Rodney's face, "See McKay nothing's going to happen, Todd will look after you."

"Umm…. well thank you, Todd," Rodney stammered in reply.

Torren and Dave looked up from what they were doing, and they both had a huge grin on their faces – it was no secret that the two men were fond of the big wraith. Nickel still seemed a little wary of him though.

"Okay," John began, "now that everyone is happy, I'm going for a walk, or run, so that I don't die of boredom.

He started at a slow jog as he left the clearing and headed towards the river. To him, the river and the cascading waterfall were one of the most magnificent views on the planet and he was hoping that when the mission was over, and the timeline had been restored that he and Teyla could spend some time here. Perhaps they could build a cabin on the exact spot that Sheppard was going to build one in the future, and then Sheppard and his Teyla wouldn't have to build one in the future. He shook his head at the thought because the complexities of time travel and alternate realities were giving him a headache again.

A soft voice startled him out of his contemplations, "John, Honey are you alright?"

"Sorry Teyla, I was just thinking that when this is all over, we could spend some time here, maybe even build a cabin."

"Yes, I agree that would be nice, perhaps we could have our wedding and honeymoon here. This was the place that we finally admitted our feelings for one another after all."

"I hadn't even thought of that Teyla, but this would be a wonderful place to have our wedding, maybe we could ask Torren and Dave if they could stay."

That thought alone sent his mind into a spin – his grown-up son from the future and an alternate version of a John Sheppard's son at his wedding. He shook his head, as thinking about quantum mechanics was giving him a headache again.

"Are you alright John?" Teyla asked softly.

"Yeah, I just keep on thinking about how messed up the timeline is. But according to McKay that doesn't matter, unless one of your ancestors gets killed in the past – in theory anyway."

He felt Teyla's hand in his as she spoke, "I know it is very confusing, so I try not to think about it."

Clearing his throat he smiled at her, "umm…shall we go on our walk now?" He looked around before continuing, "it appears that Ronon has already gone."

Just as they were about to walk off there was a flash of light above them and then suddenly the sky went dark. John looked up just in time to see the hive-ship finally coming through the anomaly that had just been formed.

"Teyla, we have to go back to the others now!" He told Teyla with urgency in his voice, as he grabbed her hand and started running.

Five minutes later they arrived back at the campsite and the first thing he noticed was that Todd had disappeared again. The second thing he noticed was that Rodney and Nickel were panicking and Torren and Dave were trying to calm them down. The third thing he noticed was that Carson was delving into his doctor's bag looking for something to help.

"Rodney please calm down, or I may have to sedate you for your own good," Carson said reassuringly – although John didn't think that it was working.

Ronon arrived a few seconds after him and tried to take control of the situation, "McKay, Nickel. We have a plan remember, so there's no need to panic."

"Do not worry Dr McKay," Teyla soothed, "everything will work out fine if we just follow the plan."

John was relieved when Rodney began to calm down, "how about we sit down McKay and when Arastica starts firing drones on the hive, we will know that we should start getting ready to go."

Rodney looked a little shaky, so John let out a sigh of relief when he finally sat down, what was even better was that Nickel sat down beside him.

Rodney looked up at him from where he was sitting, "Sheppard can you please repeat the plan for me?"

"Basically, once we know that the hive has crashed, our mission is to find the queen and stop her from reaching Arastica. That is our top priority, I'm not overly concerned if the Wraith reach the city because I don't believe they have the ability to infect Arastica. And the ancients are heading back to Atlantis anyway."

Nickel nodded at him, "so all we have to do is get rid of the queen and then I can make my way back to Arastica and go through the gate to Atlantis?"

"Yes," Torren replied," and then all we have to do is make it to Arastica and open an anomaly back to our time."

"Easy," Ronon mumbled.

John took a deep breath before he replied to his friend, "I hope you're right Chewie."

All he could do was sit and watch the sky because John knew that when the hive crashed the air was going to fill up with smoke and the sun would disappear. He had warned the others about the smoke on several occasions, but he had no idea what they were expecting. He hadn't even lived through it himself he was only going on a vision that Arastica had given him, so he hoped that he would be able to cope with it when it finally happened.

Taking his eyes off the sky for a moment, he looked in the direction of Arastica and was happy to see that they had started firing drones, not long now and we can put our plan into action.

Drones from Arastica were fired on the hive ship and they started to hit it, and when the darts were released a minute later, the drones started to hit them as well. The ship was heading towards the planet, and he knew that it wouldn't be long before it crashed. So, he took a scarf from his pocket and put it around his nose and mouth, he then pulled his sunglasses out and covered his eyes and waited for the inevitable. Everyone else did the same except for Ronon, he just smirked and rolled his eyes at him.

Todd was still nowhere to be seen and he hoped that the big wraith would turn up soon as they may need his gun to disintegrate the Wraith queen. Even though he had already done it in the future – that was just another example of how confusing time travel was.

The ground shook and there was a loud bang as the ship hit the planet and he knew that if they didn't put their plan into action now it may be too late. By this time the ancients from Arastica had stopped firing drones, so he assumed that they had taken care of all of the darts as well – at least he hoped they had because the last thing they needed to deal with was being picked up by a dart.

"Right, does everyone know what they need to do?"

When they all nodded, they started to run in the direction of the hive ship. Dave and Torren were good with a gun, so they were protecting Carson with Ronon's help. Rodney had been on way more away missions than Carson, so he came with John and Teyla, Nickel was with them as well.

The smoke was filling with thick black smoke and the sun had disappeared by this time, and he could see the fires burning around the hive ship. It looked like something out of a movie and the apocalyptic landscape was disconcerting, to say the least. The smoke was beginning to irritate his lungs and eyes despite the fact that he was wearing a scarf and sunglasses on his face. Wraith were screaming as they were fed on by their fellow drones and he had no idea why there were still so many drones in the ship they had discovered ten thousand years in the future.

They came to a large rock and hid behind it to try and work out what was going to happen next, "Ronon can you circle left, with Torren, Dave, and Carson? And Teyla and I will circle right with Rodney and Nickel. Our main objective is to kill the queen but take out as many wraith as we can along the way. And whatever you do, don't let these wraith feed on you because these are the super drones that I told you about and believe me when I say that withdrawal's a bitch, even if you get your life returned to you."

Ronon nodded his head and started towards the hive ship with Carson following and Torren and Dave bringing up the rear.

"Right Teyla, can you please take point, Rodney you come next along with Nickel, and I'll bring up the rear."

Teyla nodded and walked off ahead through the thick smoke with Rodney and Nickel following in quick succession. He was about to follow when an explosion rocked the surrounding area and it must have been close because he was thrown through the air, when he finally hit the ground, his head connected with a rock, and everything went black.

oOo

Ronon was closing in on the hive ship when the ground shook as an explosion ripped through a distant part of the hive. The shaking of the ground was intense, but somehow, he managed to stay on his feet. Turning to look behind him he was happy to see that Carson, Dave and Torren were still on their feet as well.

"You guys alright?" He asked the others.

When they all nodded, he continued to approach the hive, the heat from the fires becoming more intense as he got closer.

Suddenly through the haze, he saw a large wraith and it appeared to be coming towards him, he pulled his gun out and signalled to the others to do the same. He had every intention of blowing its brains out when it spoke, "ah Ronon it is good to see that you're finally here."

"Todd where the hell have you been?" He growled.

"Sorry Ronon, but I have been communing with the queen and at the moment she is still in her chamber aboard the hive, although from what I can ascertain she intends to be on the move very soon. So, if you come along with me and pretend to be my prisoner, I should be able to eliminate her – again.

He didn't miss the glee on Todd's face as he contemplated getting rid of his queen. He had to wonder why Todd was so different to every other wraith that he had met. That was probably a good thing though because on more than one occasion he had helped them out of some extremely difficult situations.

No matter what happened next, he knew that he wanted the others safe and out of the way, "Dave, Torren, can you please go back to the campsite with Carson because no matter what happens I want the three of you safe."

Dave looked as if he were about to argue until Torren spoke up, "but what about you Ronon, don't you need help?"

"Don't worry about me I'll be alright, Todd's on our side remember."

"Yeah, but I still don't trust him," Carson muttered loud enough for Ronon to hear.

Ronon turned and smiled at his friend, "don't worry about me doc, I can look after myself."

He was relieved when Carson nodded his head and walked off with the others. The smoke was beginning to clear and just as he and Todd were approaching the hive the heavens opened up and the rain started to pour down in torrents, extinguishing the fires and sending more smoke billowing into the air.

oOo

An explosion rocked the area just as Teyla set out towards the hive and she was happy that she managed to stay on her feet, even though it seemed close. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew that they had a mission to complete, and she was determined to complete it no matter what. Looking behind her she saw that Rodney and Nickel were behind her, but John was nowhere in sight.

"Rodney, do you know where John is?"

"No, I assumed that he was behind us, but maybe he wasn't."

"I didn't see what happened," Nickel informed them.

She wanted to go back and look for him, but she knew that Arastica needed to be protected at all costs, in fact, the future depended on it.

"So, are we going back to look for Sheppard, I mean anything could have happened to him and knowing Colonel Calamity he's probably hurt?" Rodney ranted.

"Rodney!" She chastised, "Do not be so unkind. John cannot help being hurt all of the time. We will have a quick look around the area, but if we do not find him soon, we should proceed with our mission. I would like to find him as well, but our mission to protect Arastica is paramount. Do you understand?"

Rodney looked shocked after her speech, and although that wasn't the reaction she was going for, she was relieved when he nodded his head, looked up at her and tried to smile.

"Okay then Teyla, what do you suggest?"

"Well Dr McKay, the first thing I suggest is that we all stick together."

He nodded and walked off towards the area where they had last seen Sheppard and she very quickly followed with Nickel walking beside her.

Nickel hadn't said much, but she suspected that he was a bit afraid of what was going on. She knew that he was a scientist and not trained to handle these situations, but then so was Rodney and he was one of the bravest me she had ever met – although she wouldn't tell him that because all it would do would bolster his already large ego.

They walked on in silence as the smoky haze began to clear and just as they reached the spot where they had last seen John the rain began to pour down in torrents and that was the moment that she decided to stop searching for John and to get on with their mission. She didn't want to do it because she was incredibly worried about him, but she knew what John would tell her in this situation and he would tell her to continue with the mission.

She turned to Rodney and Nickel with much sadness, and she was positive that it showed when she spoke, "I believe that we should continue with our mission."

They both nodded and she was relieved that they didn't put up an argument. She turned around and headed towards the hive ship wondering whether Ronon and his team had reached it already and if they had would they have already killed the queen – she could always hope?

A few minutes later when they were approaching the hive, a large wraith seemed to be heading in their direction. She held her hand up to indicate that the others should stop, but it was too late as Nickel kept on walking and before she knew what was happening the wraith was upon Nickel and sucking the life out of him. Nickel screamed and she immediately started to fire her gun at the wraith's head, and she was aware that Rodney was doing the same. Initially, the bullets didn't seem to be making much difference and she was afraid that other wraith might hear the commotion, but the few that were left just ignored them and walked towards Arastica or back into the hive.

The rain was easing by the time they killed the wraith and the stench of death, mixed with the smell of the charred landscape filled the air. Through the smoky haze, she could see that one of the moons was out and night had come. The view in front of her was not unlike what she had seen on countless worlds that had been culled by the wraith, it was just a shame that it had to happen on such a beautiful planet.

A loud panicked voice interrupted her thoughts, "Teyla we need to get this wraith off Nickel because I think he is still alive!?"

Looking at Rodney she realised that he looked to be in shock, and she knew how he felt, but he was right, they needed to get the wraith off Nickel. She knew that he was probably going to die, so the least she could do was try and make him comfortable and sit with him in his last moments.

It took them a couple of minutes and when she looked down at Nickel, her suspicions were confirmed; there was nothing they could do for him as he was old, and frail and his eyes were already closed. His breathing was shallow and looked like it was going to stop at any moment, and she knew that she should be there for him. So she sat down beside him and held his hand and started to whisper soothing words to him, Rodney sat on his other side and held his hand as well. Suddenly his eyes shot open and with incredible strength Nickel pulled Rodney down and whispered something in his ear. He then closed his eyes and took his last breath.

She stood up and with tears brimming in her eyes she looked at Rodney she had no idea what Nickel had said to Rodney but that was a question for another time, "we need to get going now."

He nodded at her and she walked off with Rodney by her side. She had no idea why, but Nickel's death was affecting her more than it should. She knew that they should come back and retrieve the body at some stage, she had no idea if he had family or not, but if he did they deserved to know what happened to him.

oOo

When John awoke again the rain was pouring down in torrents extinguishing the fires that were still burning around the ship, sending billows of smoke into the air. The screaming that they had encountered when the hive first crashed had died down and John wondered how so many wraith were still alive, or what was happening on Arastica right now. He knew that he needed to get up and try and find Teyla, Rodney, and Nickel. The only problem was that his head was pounding again and this time he suspected that he probably had a concussion – he was convinced that he had hit his head in exactly the same spot as he had before. Carson was not going to be happy with him and would probably ground him in the infirmary for the rest of his life.

Slowly he managed to get to his feet, and he was happy that he didn't fall flat on his face again – although he did feel a little dizzy.

A sound behind him caught his attention, so he turned around and he saw nothing. He turned back around and right in front of him was the biggest Wraith that he had ever seen – it was even bigger than the wraith that had fed on him in the future. His reactions were slow from his suspected concussion, so before he'd had a chance to pull his gun out the Wraith had his hand around his neck and was throwing him through the air. Not again he thought. Landing heavily, he managed to start shooting, while trying to get up at the same time. He must have zoned out for a minute or two because the next thing he knew was the Wraith had slammed its feeding hand into his chest and was starting to feed – and this time he knew exactly what to expect. He felt the wraith enzyme flooding his system and for an instant, it felt good, then he felt the wraith tearing his life away from him while shredding his nerve endings apart. Feeling weaker by the minute his life flashed before his eyes and all he could think was that he would never see Teyla or Torren again - basically, the same thoughts as he'd had the last time he'd been fed on. Eventually, the agony that he was experiencing became too much for him and he screamed, just when he thought he was going to die he heard a gunshot ring out and the wraith fell on top of him – killed, by a bullet to the head.

Now he was old, weak and had a huge dead wraith lying on top of him – for the second time in as many weeks – and it was making it difficult for him to breathe, so what the hell was he supposed to do this time?

A voice cut through the haze, and it was a voice that he hoped but hadn't expected to hear again, "Ah John Sheppard, can't I leave you alone for five minutes without you getting yourself into trouble?"

"About time you turned up Todd, where the hell have you been?"

"I have been looking for you ever since we landed on this planet."

He looked at Todd with confusion, "but you were at our campsite earlier in the day."

"That was not me," Todd replied, "I believe that is the future me."

It began to dawn on him what was going on, but he was in pain, and he felt incredibly weak, but there was no way he was going to tell Todd that, "well as much as I'd love to tell you everything that's happened since we spoke last, I'd rather you got this guy off me and maybe give me back some of the years he's taken?"

A few seconds later the dead Wraith was off him, and he was looking into the face of Todd who knelt beside him. He was convinced that this was the Todd from his time and whatever future Todd did to subdue him hadn't worked.

"Tell me why I should give your years back when you have destroyed my hive, John Sheppard?" Todd snarled before looking around at the postapocalyptic landscape.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Now Todd was smiling, which had him totally confused, "Never mind, you can explain everything to me later."

"Okay…can you help me now please?"

He closed his eyes as Todd's outstretched hand connected with his chest, and instantly he felt the enzyme released into his system again – and it felt good. He felt his strength returning to him as his life was returned and when Todd took his hand away, he felt as if he wanted more. But he knew how easy it would be to become addicted to the enzyme, so he took a deep breath and stopped himself from asking. Although he knew that he was going to go through some intense withdrawal anyway.

Placing his hand on his chest he felt the sticky blood there and he knew that Carson wasn't going to be happy to see him injured again, but he also knew that he shouldn't be asking Todd for any more enzyme. On a positive note any sign of concussion that he had seemed to have disappeared.

"Thanks, Todd," he muttered, before looking around to see where Teyla and the others were.

When he turned back Todd was gone, and he wondered whether he was going to see that particular Todd again in this time period. Already he was beginning to feel jittery, so he knew that he should find the others and make sure their mission was complete. Then he could spend a week in the infirmary recuperating – and shouting at everyone.

He knew that he needed to find the others, so he started to run toward the hive. There was very few wraith left running around and all that John could think of was perhaps most of them had headed for Arastica – although that wasn't his major concern right now.

He kept on running until he saw Teyla and Rodney in the distance," Teyla Rodney please slow down."

When they finally stopped Teyla looked at him with sadness in her eyes and he instantly knew what had happened, "Teyla where is Nickel?"

"I am sorry John, but he has passed."

"He was fed on by one of those giant wraith and it was terrible," Rodney ranted.

He had no idea what that meant for him, did it mean that he would disappear at some point, or did it not matter?

Holding up his hand to make sure it wasn't disappearing he turned to Rodney, "McKay why am I not fading away?"

TBC…