The next day Ronon woke everyone from their sleep. Katara looked disheveled, her hair in a ratty mess. She attempted to brush it out with her fingers.
Dr. Beckett it seemed, had been awake for hours. Ronon didn't know if he had gotten any sleep at all.
"You alright, Doc?" he asked as Dr. Beckett handed back the gun from last night's watch.
"Yes. I'm just worried about that wraith is all. We need to capture it before it kills anyone." Dr. Beckett said.
Toph, Aang, and Katara were all listening intently to their conversation.
"We'll get him. They're easy enough to track." Ronon said. "Let's get going."
They headed back to Ba Sing Se.
"We'll have to sneak back in, won't we?" Aang asked.
"I guess." said Ronon. "I doubt the people will be worried about the border when there's a monster running around."
They entered the front gates, which had been abandoned. Ronon had been right. No one seemed to be patrolling the gateway.
The town seemed to be deserted, all the windows were shut, and doors were closed. None of the shops were open.
Ronon heard it before Toph sensed it. The footsteps were familiar to Ronon, he had known them far too well.
He raised his gun and aimed down an alleyway. The figure froze, as did everyone else in Ronon's group.
The wraith was hissing at Ronon. Ronon shot at it, and it darted away.
"GO!" he shouted and he began chasing after it.
"I thought you said it only hunted by night!" Dr. Beckett said, sprinting with Ronon to keep up.
"This one seems to be on a different schedule," Ronon said gruffly, panting.
They cornered it after chasing it for about ten minutes. Everyone was breathing hard. Toph managed to encase the wraith in earth, imprisoning it in an earthy prison. The beast roared angrily.
"Where did you come from?" demanded Ronon, pointing his gun at the Wraith's head.
"I will not answer you!" said the wraith. "We do not answer to scum," it hissed violently.
"Tell me or I blow your head off," Ronon said. The wraith glowered at Ronon.
"Wait… 'we'? There is another wraith?" asked Dr. Beckett. The wraith looked scathingly at the Dr.
"Crap, the other one must've hid in the puddle jumper Sheppard's got," said Dr. Beckett.
"Five seconds. Tell me what you're doing here." said Ronon.
"Never." said the Wraith.
"Fine." He said and he blasted the wraith. Aang and Katara looked away.
"Why did you kill it?" asked Katara.
"He would've killed more people, if he hasn't already." said Ronon.
Dr. Beckett looked at the corpse.
"We should bury it, so the villagers don't freak out." Dr. Beckett said.
"Got it." said Toph. She opened the ground in a funeral sort of manner, and they dumped the body in. She closed it seamlessly.
"What now?" asked Aang.
"We should go back to looking for Appa." said Katara.
"Well we were going to head back and meet up with Sheppard, what are you guys going to do?" asked Dr. Beckett.
Katara looked at Aang. Aang felt a twist in his stomach. They had no luck finding Appa, and it pained Aang to be without him for so long.
"We should look for Appa." said Aang.
"We can help you look," said Dr. Beckett.
"We have to wait for Sheppard to return anyway," said Ronon. Aang felt a spring of happiness fill him.
"Yes! Thank you!" Aang said, whirring around in the air. He landed on the ground and bowed to Dr. Beckett. Dr. Beckett laughed a little.
"Well, let's get going." said Ronon.
Col. Sheppard, Sokka, Rodney, and Teyla were all searching for the wraith that hunted the city. Tarlock had made it very clear that they would not be able to see the council unless they had captured the beast that roamed the Northern water tribe.
Sheppard had gotten an extra gun for Sokka, who was still a little clumsy with the gun. They stalked through the city, crossing over the bridges and searching high and low for the wraith.
Sheppard heard something move behind a building. He signaled for Teyla and Sokka to follow him and be silent. They slowly maneuvered around the building, and then Teyla caught sight of the Wraith.
She took off running, and Sheppard, Rodney, and Sokka sprinted after her.
She shot a few times at the Wraith and it tripped.
Teyla aimed the gun at the Wraith on the ground, but it didn't move. It was clearly injured.
Sheppard and Sokka also aimed the gun at the Wraith.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Sheppard. The Wraith snarled at Sheppard.
"To kill everyone on earth. My people are coming," he hissed delightedly.
"This isn't earth," said Teyla.
"It might as well be culled. We are coming for everyone. You have no hope." said the Wraith.
"How did you get on our ship?" Sheppard demanded.
"As easy as it was to invade your planet, Sheppard. Kill me. I will die with honor." The Wraith said, he began raising his hand.
"What are you…" Sheppard said slowly, but then he noticed the beeping in the Wraith's hand.
"GET BACK!" Sheppard shouted and they all jumped back. The Wraith exploded, killing itself.
Sheppard was on his back. He sat up and looked at Sokka and Teyla. Sokka looked horrified.
"Why did it…why did it kill itself?" asked Sokka.
"Suicide Wraith. At least it gave us some information. We need to get back soon. It said Atlantis has been invaded." said Sheppard.
"Aw, I got wraith goo on me," complained Rodney, wiping off some of the debris wraith that had sprayed on him.
"Well, now that that's taken care of. We should go back to Tarlock and see if we can get a meeting in with the council." Sokka said.
They headed back to where they met Tarlock earlier, and they found him.
"Tarlock," Teyla said. Tarlock looked worried, and almost angry.
"Did you get the beast?" he demanded.
"It killed itself. But it's gone," said Sheppard. Tarlock looked curious, but it passed.
"Good. Now, we will let you speak to the council. If you would come this way, please." He said and they followed him.
They were led into the grand hall of the great ice building. There was a council sitting up along the table at the back of the hall.
"Grand Master Haylin, I present you the visitors," said Tarlock.
The man sitting in the main chair looked old and had a long white beard. He wore blue robes and looked very wise.
"What do they desire?" asked the man. Next to him was an equally elderly woman with brownish white hair. Most of the council seemed to be elders.
"If I may speak," said Teyla. Grand Master Haylin nodded.
"We are explorers, travelers. We wish to become allies with your people." Teyla said.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
"I am Teyla Emaggon, and this is Colonel Sheppard, Rodney Mckay, and Sokka." Teyla said.
"The young man, Sokka. He is water tribe?" asked Haylin.
"Yes," squeaked out Sokka.
"We will have to negotiate the terms of our alliance. Come back tomorrow and we shall delegate our alliance." said Haylin.
"Sounds good to me." Sheppard said.
"Thank you for your time." said Teyla.
They were led out of the grand hall and to the outside.
"We eagerly await your delegation tomorrow. Thank you for coming." said Tarlock.
"Thank you for having us," said Teyla.
They left without further word. Sokka sat in the back with Rodney, as Teyla and Sheppard sat in the front.
"We need to get back and fix the Wraith situation at Atlantis." Sheppard said.
"We need to pick up Ronon and Dr. Beckett." said Teyla.
"What happens if the wraith come to your planet?" asked Sokka. "Your home planet?"
"Then we get culled. Our world is the most populated, so it would not be good." Sheppard said.
"That thing was gross." Sokka said.
"They usually are." Sheppard replied.
"No kidding. I still have one on me," said Rodney, wiping his hands still on his pants.
They flew back to the Earth Kingdom and met in the spot where they had planned on meeting.
Sheppard, Teyla, Rodney, and Sokka all got out of the jumper. Sheppard spotted Ronon a little ways ahead with the rest of the group.
"Ronon!" Sheppard called. Ronon nodded and waved, and headed over to them.
"Did you notice the wraith on your ship?" asked Ronon as he arrived over to them.
"Just a little bit," said Sheppard, smirking. Ronon smirked back.
"How did two wraith manage to escape onto our ship?" asked Dr. Beckett.
"Two?" Teyla said, concerned.
"There was one that stowed away on the first puddle jumper. We managed to kill it." Ronon said. Sheppard nodded.
"Nice. Ours…exploded." He said.
"Suicide?" Ronon asked. Sheppard nodded.
"Bummer. It's so much more satisfying killing them yourself," said Ronon, grinning.
"You're alarming me there a little bit, buddy." Sheppard said. Ronon shrugged.
"You found Katara!" Sokka yelped. He ran to his sister and hugged her.
She laughed and hugged him back. "Get off me, you dolt. Squeezing the air out of me." She said and he laughed.
"We were looking for Appa, but we couldn't find him." said Aang gloomily.
"Don't worry, we can start looking again." Sokka said.
"We'll need you tomorrow, for the delegation." Sheppard said. Sokka nodded.
"We need to get back to Atlantis, now. The last wraith said there might be some wraith at Atlantis." Sheppard said. Dr. Beckett and Ronon looked concerned.
"Let's go," said Dr. Beckett.
"Are you guys going to come with us? We'll bring you right back." Sheppard said. Aang looked at Katara and Sokka and Toph.
"Why not? We'll see if they're lying or not." said Toph.
They all huddled into the puddle jumper. Sheppard flew the ship back to the gate.
Once they reached the gate, Sheppard began dialing. The gate opened and Sokka, Katara, and Aang all were in awe. Toph couldn't see anything and was clutching to Ronon for dear life.
"What is that?" Katara asked.
"That, my friend, is the Stargate." said Rodney proudly.
They entered in it and everything for the next few seconds was hazy.
When they reentered the SGA command, they were taken up to the puddle jumper room. Once they got out, Toph huddled on the ground and vowed never to leave it again.
"Toph, get up." Sokka said, disapprovingly. Toph scowled at him.
"Shut up, Sokka." She snapped.
A couple of scientists rushed over to them.
"There's a wraith!" one of the screeched.
"Keep your voices down," said Sheppard. "Now, what's going on?"
The two scientists recounted what happened — that some wraith had stolen onto the ships and were now keeping Sam Carter hostage in the gate room. There were about four or five that had actually made it to Atlantis.
"Okay, I need you two to stay here. Can you do that?" Sheppard asked. They nodded. Sheppard beckoned for the rest of his team to follow him, including Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka.
"We need to get to the armory, for more guns. Ronon, you take them to go get more guns, I'll take Teyla and Rodney to the gate room." Sheppard said.
Ronon nodded, and he took Aang and the rest of them with him.
Rodney, Teyla, and Sheppard all went to the gate room. They were sneaking along when they saw Sam tied up and being interrogated by the Wraith. She had blood trickling down from her temple.
"Hey!" Sheppard shouted. Three of the wraith looked up. Teyla looked at him as if he were mad.
"What are you doing?" she demanded. He shushed her.
"Come get it!" he said waving his gun. The wraith stalked over angrily, and Sheppard began shooting once they were far enough away from Sam.
"Teyla, sneak behind them," he muttered out of the side of his mouth between shooting.
Teyla obeyed orders and began to sneak around the wraith. She managed to get to Sam and untie her.
"Thanks," Sam said. The wraith had just noticed after chasing Sheppard that Sam had been released. With an infuriating screech they ran back over to Sam. But Teyla and Rodney had begun shooting at them. Ronon came back with the teens. Katara and Aang and Toph didn't have guns, but Sokka did. Sokka began shooting at them.
Katara used water from her flask and began whipping the water at the Wraith. Toph used earth bending and began flying chunks of the ground at the Wraith. It knocked two of the wraith out cold on the floor.
Aang used air bending to blast the wraith to the ground while Toph also knocked it over the head with a rock.
It was silent.
Sam walked over to them, thanking them.
"You guys couldn't have come sooner," she said. "They had just appeared out of nowhere," she said.
"The scientists said there were four or five? I only counted three," Ronon said.
"We should look for it on the computers." Sam said, typing in the computers.
"There, on the third floor." said Teyla, pointing to a screen to a pair of floating green dots. Humans identified as red dots.
"Let's go," Ronon said, hitching his gun up and getting ready to go.
"Please, be careful." Sam said.
"You guys did awesome," Sheppard commented to Aang, Katara, and Toph as they walked to the third floor.
"What about me?" Sokka demanded.
"You did great too," said Sheppard. "Nice gun shooting." He said and Sokka looked happy.
Once they reached the third floor, they were silent. Sheppard motioned for everyone to keep an eye out.
"You know I have no idea what — this —" Sokka mimicked a crude gesture of what Sheppard had done. "means. I don't speak hands!"
"Shh!" Sheppard scolded. "Follow me, and keep an eye out." He said irritably.
Sokka nodded.
Sheppard kept walking slowly, and then Toph hollered. She raised a stone wall up and a blast hit it. Sheppard wheeled around to see that Toph had kicked the wall and it had hit one of the wraith.
Sokka shot at it wildly, the gun going everywhere.
Another wraith appeared behind Sheppard and Katara screamed.
She whipped water at it, but not before it could shoot at Sokka. Sokka let out a yelp of pain, he had got hit in the shoulder.
"Sokka!" Katara shrieked. She whipped the water again at the wraith and it collapsed.
Toph meanwhile had her hands full. She was punching every rock she could at the wraith. It kept dodging, but finally she knocked it out.
She turned to help Katara, and finally they both knocked it out.
Aang went to go help Sokka.
"He needs help!" Aang shouted.
Dr. Beckett went over to Sokka and examined the wound.
"It's just a flesh wound, it should heal up nicely if we get it patched up." Dr. Beckett said.
"Just a flesh wound? My freaking arm just got shot at! I could bleed out!" Sokka said dramatically.
"Keep your pants on, you'll be fine." Dr. Beckett said. "You're lucky it was just the shoulder."
There were two fire blasts. Everyone looked up to see Ronon firing a shot at each wraith.
"What? Less problems for us. We have three to interrogate upstairs." He said. They just watched him and he shrugged.
They got Sokka to the infirmary, and he was going to be just fine. He kept moaning about the pain, but Katara assured them he was just being dramatic.
"Dramatic? Woman, I'll give you dramatic." He said, hissing angrily. Katara laughed.
"You're such a baby. It's a tiny shot in the arm." She said. Sokka glowered at her.
"Maybe I'll shoot you in the arm." He mumbled. She glowered.
"What was that?" she asked sweetly.
"Nothing." He muttered.
Dr. Beckett was looking at Katara and the rest of them with an eager sort of look.
"Can I give you all a checkup? Just to see if you are all healthy?" asked Dr. Beckett. They had no reason not to allow him to, so they let him.
"Well. I can say your bending is truly amazing. Your physiological state is incredible! You are all very healthy human beings." Dr. Beckett said after giving Katara and Aang and Toph a checkup.
"Thanks," Aang said.
"Is Sokka ready to go? We're going to go back to Ba Sing Se." said Katara. Dr. Beckett nodded.
"He should be." He said and he looked over to Sokka.
"Sokka should just stay overnight, since we have the delegation tomorrow." Sheppard said. Sokka considered it.
"Why don't we all? Since Ba Sing Se isn't exactly welcoming right now." He said.
They all considered it.
"Okay, but only for one night." said Katara.
They ended up staying for the night.
Katara and Toph shared a room while Aang and Sokka shared a room.
Sheppard had checked in on both of them, and they seemed fine with the arrangements.
Sheppard and Ronon sat at the dinner table with Rodney and Teyla.
"So you like the earth girl?" Sheppard asked Ronon. Ronon looked taken aback.
"Um. She's likeable. Sure." He said.
"But you admire her." Sheppard said. Ronon shrugged.
"Sure, why not. So?" he asked.
"That's cool. I like Katara, she's pretty sweet." Sheppard said. Teyla smiled at him.
"You would like her," Teyla said and Sheppard looked at her odd.
"Why would you say that?" Sheppard asked.
"She's like you almost. I like Aang. And Sokka. I like them all really." She said, changing the subject.
Rodney sat there. "I think I like the bald kid. He's sweet. The earth girl is too sassy." He said finally and Sheppard laughed.
"Of course she is. She's sarcastic like you," Sheppard said. Rodney looked offended.
"Is not!" he said indignantly.
"Just a little," Teyla giggled and Rodney sighed.
"Well their powers are insane." Ronon commented.
"I wish I could bend the elements," Sheppard sighed wistfully.
"Maybe you can, if Beckett learns how to do his gene therapy right," said Rodney.
"Oh like how you almost killed yourself with that ancient tech?" Sheppard said and Rodney flushed.
"No. Obviously not. Well I'm going to go to bed," said Rodney.
He got up and headed off to bed.
"I think I'll head off to bed too," Sheppard said getting up. Ronon and Teyla both agreed they were tired and needed sleep.
They all went to bed, ready for the next day.