The prison was just as he remembered it: dank, cold, and smelling of stale urine and mold. His footsteps echoing as his boots hit the stone floor, Ronon headed for the cell that the team had inhabited during their brief stay in the city. The cells lining the walls were vacant, but Ronon wasn't too surprised; he remembered them being empty the last time had been there. It did seem a little strange, however, that they had been the Ontarish' only prisoners, but he hadn't really had time to wonder about what he'd observed.
He found their cell in the exact state they'd left it; the door was still hanging wide open, and the control panel opposite was still destroyed. Needless to say, there was no Dr. Weir. He quickly backtracked, double-checking the other cells as he went. His second observation matched the first; there was no one else there.
Ronon was about to contact his teammates when he noticed a smear of blood near his feet. When he bent down to examine it, he noticed a spotted trail of the dark red liquid leading to a small door hidden in the shadows. He tried the handle, only to find it jammed; without wasting a second he threw himself against the rotting wood and grunted in satisfaction when the door popped completely off its hinges.
The room beyond the newly cleared entryway was dark, and it took a few moments for Ronon's eyes to adjust to the lack of light. During that time the familiar stench of death wafted up a rapidly materializing staircase, making his nostrils flare in distaste. His disgust quickly turned to concern and he took the stairs down two at a time. At the bottom of the stairwell, he lit a flare and threw it into the middle of the room. In the red glow Ronon could see a series of rusty lamps lining the wall closest to him; the quick dip of a finger in one revealed the oil to be warm. Someone had been down there recently. He could see the faint outline of a small cell, similar to the cages the Satedans had used to transport large animals, in the middle of the room. Curious feet carried him closer to the bars, and when he peered inside the cell he saw a standard issue Atlantis expedition jacket crumpled in the corner. He ran inside and picked it up, noticing as he did so that the fabric appeared to be covered in a fine grey dust. There were traces of the same substance on the thin blanket he found on the floor.
Ronon tapped his earpiece, "Weir's not here, but I found where they were keeping her."
"What?" Lorne's surprised inquiry came in a whisper.
Teyla's confused voice floated over the airwave, "Where else could she possibly be?"
Ronon shrugged automatically, forgetting for a moment that no one could see him, "I don't know, but she left her jacket behind, and there's some sort of grey dust on it." He didn't mention the blood stains and tears that he'd discovered marring the material.
There was a pause before Teyla replied, "Perhaps it would be best for us to regroup."
"I'm standing outside the Council House," Lorne murmured, "and I think it would be best if I keep heading for the control chair."
Ronon slung Elizabeth's jacket over his shoulder and exited the cell, "All right; Teyla, I'm coming to you."
"Understood," she signed off.
Just as he was bending down to retrieve the flare, Ronon saw a crumpled form lying in the shadows. The sinking feeling in his stomach was quickly allayed when he realized the body was too small to be that of an adult. That relief turned to disgust as he realized the implications of that fact. He backtracked and grabbed the blanket he'd seen on the floor, then carefully covered the little girl with it. After briefly bowing his head, he turned and ran up the stairs toward Teyla with the hopes of reaching someone he could still save.
SGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGA
Rodney stared at his hands as the last of their teammates' transmission filled the unbearable silence of the puddlejumper. He risked a glance at the team's injured leader, whose white knuckles were the only evidence he was feeling anything at all.
"I'm sure Elizabeth is okay," Rodney was pretty sure that his repeated assurances were getting rather old, but he didn't have anything better to offer; and the constant assertions and suppositions he spouted were as much for his own benefit as anyone else's.
"Why wouldn't she be there?" John sounded calm enough, but McKay had known him long enough to hear the underlying panic in his voice.
"Maybe they decided to move her somewhere nicer…" Rodney cringed as soon as the words were out of his mouth; it sounded like a stretch even to him.
"Right, and then maybe they decided to bring her tea and cupcakes," Sheppard countered sarcastically.
McKay sighed, "Yeah okay, so that's not the most likely possibility; but I still think she's fine, wherever she is."
"She's in trouble, McKay."
Rodney was about to retort that that was the whole point of their mission when he noticed John's eyes had widened and his back had gone ramrod-straight.
"What? What is it?"
Sheppard just kept staring straight ahead, "I don't know, I just…I know we need to find her soon."
"Yes, I believe that's what Ronon and Teyla are working on as we speak," Rodney snarked.
"McKay," John's tone carried a warning.
"I'm sorry; I just tend to react badly when I have no idea what's going on and someone tells me one of my friends is in imminent danger!" he shot back defensively.
"Get one of them on the radio," Sheppard sounded unapologetic.
"One of who? Our teammates who at this very moment might be trying to stay hidden?" Rodney was incredulous.
John winced as he pushed himself out of his chair, "Fine, I'll do it."
Rodney snatched the radio just as John reached the copilot's chair, "No I'll do it; I might be able to make you sound less crazy."
SGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGA
Ronon had just reached Teyla's position when his radio crackled, "Um, Sheppard wants you guys to hurry it up a bit; he seems to think that Elizabeth's in major trouble."
The two Pegasus natives exchanged a look.
"Does he have any less vague information, like where she might be?" Ronon tried to keep the sarcastic edge out of his voice, but had a feeling he failed. He made a mental note to spend less time with McKay.
"I'm working on that one," came the Colonel's dry reply.
"Right." Ronon sighed.
"We shall do our best," Teyla assured the other half of their team, then tapped her radio and moved closer to the ex-Runner, "What are we going to do?" She was worrying her bottom lip, another habit she must have acquired from their comrades.
"It's time to try a new tactic," Ronon flipped the setting on his gun back to 'stun' and in one smooth motion, turned the corner and squeezed off a shot which struck a passing guard in the foot.
The man's leg buckled, and Ronon jumped out and grabbed the man before he could fall, then dragged him back to their hiding place.
"Did anyone see you?" Teyla's gaze darted over the street.
"It would've been pretty hard to miss," Ronon answered gruffly.
"What do you want?" The guard, who looked like he was barely old enough to grow facial hair, eyed them warily.
Teyla made sure the young man could see her fingering her gun, "There is a woman your people are holding captive…"
"Where is she?" Ronon broke in, grabbing the guard's collar roughly.
Faced with nearly two hundred pounds of angry Satedan, the man broke into a sweat, "I uh…I'm not sure who you're talking about."
Ronon didn't buy it, "She was the only prisoner you had; you couldn't have missed her."
"The only prisoner?" The guard looked genuinely confused, "We have lots of prisoners; they all work in the fields during the daylight hours."
Teyla caught Ronon's eye, then turned her attention back to their captive, "And where are these fields?"
The guard pointed to the West.
"Thanks," Ronon released the man, then shot him square in the chest, "Your reward is a nice long nap."
Just then their earpieces came to life. "I'm in the room with the Control Chair," Lorne announced breathlessly.
Teyla's brow furrowed, "Are you all right?"
"There were a lot of stairs," Lorne explained, "followed by a couple of rather large guards; but I don't think anyone noticed me."
"Except for the guards," Ronon pointed out.
"True," Lorne acknowledged. "So what's the plan?"
Teyla was biting her lip again, "Did you get Sheppard's message?"
A pause, then, "No, I had my earpiece turned off. What did he say?"
"He thinks we need to hurry." Teyla cut to the chase, "We found out that the prisoners work in the fields to the West of here, so we are going to check it out."
"Stay put," Ronon added, "We may need you."
"I'll be here," Lorne affirmed.
Ronon flipped his gun's setting, then watched as Teyla brought her P-90 to her chest, "Let's go."
She nodded, and the two of them quickly set off, ducking in and out of buildings' shadows as they set off in the direction they'd been pointed toward.