Lakewater – Thanks, I'm glad you liked the last chapter.

Sparklyshimmer2010 – Explanation about Athos is coming and that's weird, two of my stories not making it to your email, oh well. Thanks for the review.

Steph7085 – I'll slap the Ancient for you lol, thanks for the review.

Jammeke – I don't like the Ancients either, I don't like them on the show or in my fic lol. They always seem kinda stuck up. I hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for the review.

Kuroima – Thanks for the review, I'm glad my internet is fixed now too lol. I like Jack too but unfortunately he won't be staying for too long, he has a job to do on earth after all.

Saphiretwin369 – I'm glad you liked Jack's bit at the end, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy his chapter.

- - -

Chapter 11

John walked down the stairs to the gate room; all he knew was that someone was coming through from earth by General O'Neill's request. The shimmering blue event horizon was already illuminating the gate room and Jack was stood in front of it waiting for whoever was coming. He looked back at the gate in time to see Lieutenant Colonel Carter emerge. She walked toward the General with a small smile on her face which he happily returned.

"Sir," she greeted.

"Carter, good to see you," Jack returned and John watched the exchange with interest. He'd all the rumours about the two of them and while he was all for them being together he was fairly sure, from what he'd heard that hadn't come from the gossip mills, that they had not acted on whatever was between them. "Sheppard," Jack called and John realised that was his cue to join them. He closed the few steps between them and greeted Carter warily, he had a feeling he knew why she was here.

"Colonel Carter," he acknowledged.

"I've brought Carter here so that she can help run the city whilst Elizabeth is missing," Jack stated carefully, well aware that he was probably treading on thin ice. There was a lot of loyalty to Elizabeth here and this could very easily be taken the wrong way.

John wanted to protest but held his tongue, both these people deserved his respect and he knew his protest was born more out of a need to protect Elizabeth's position than anything else.

"She's here to help, you and your team can join the search and Carter can worry about looking after the city so you don't have to," Jack told him as though he sensed the silent protest John was giving him and John could only nod.

- - -

Elizabeth walked out of the house wearing the hunting clothes she had been given and joined Taros and Malar who were both wearing similar clothing. "Calm down Malar, this is the way of life these people have chosen and we must learn to live with it. Hunting is a part of their life and we must each take part in it."

"I do not see why it had to be me," Malar mumbled under his breath as Elizabeth joined them and Taros offered her a small smile. He wasn't looking forward to this any more than she and Malar were but he was right, these people had been kind enough to share their home and the least they could do was take part in the day to day life here. They were probably going to be here a very long time.

"Are you ready?" the villager who would be leading the hunting party asked them.

"Yes, Kalen, we are ready," Taros informed the well built villager who then nodded and walked toward the rest of the group.

"Alright everyone, it's time to go, you all know the rules, don't move far from group and stay alert," Kalen shouted and there were several grunts from the men and murmurs from the few women in the group. They made their way toward the edge of the village with Kalen leading the way. Elizabeth felt a little nervous having never done anything like this, on earth she had always been against hunting and now here she was. They reached the edge of the village and many of the villagers pulled out their hunting knives and their bows and arrows.

Elizabeth tightened her grip on her own bow which she was holding at her side and adjusted the strap that was holding all the arrows behind her back. She wondered how bad her aim would turn out to be, John may have taught her how to fire a weapon but a bow was a completely different matter.

The twenty or so people that were in the party split into smaller numbers and headed in different directions. Malar mumbled something under his breath as he joined one of the groups and Elizabeth opted to stay with Taros, the elderly man gave her another small smile and followed Kalen and another man.

They were walking for several minutes in complete silence before Kalen held his hand up in a gesture for them to stop. He pointed ahead of him to where an animal was walking through the trees. He turned to them and whispered quietly. "That is a Vlaos, it's a great source of meat but we never attempt to kill them. They are the most vicious animals in the forest and could easily kill several people before we take it down."

Elizabeth looked forward as the animal continued on unaware of their presence and both Kalen and the other man relaxed. It only took another couple of minutes for them to come across a small animal that reminded Elizabeth of a hare and after Kalen gestured for them to stop he raised his bow and pulled an arrow from the pack on his back. He took aim and Elizabeth almost couldn't watch as the arrow shot through the air and hit the animal. It gave a small cry before it died and the other villager walked over and picked up the dead carcass, throwing it in the brown sack he was carrying.

Over the following twenty minutes Elizabeth watched Kalen and occasionally the other villager kill several animals, some big and some small. They spotted another of the hare like creatures and instead of taking aim with his arrow as he usually did Kalen turned to Elizabeth and Taros. "I think that perhaps one of you should do this," he told them and Elizabeth froze for a moment.

"I will do it," Taros said having sensed her hesitance.

Kalen gestured for the white haired Ancient to step up beside him and Taros did so raising his bow and taking one of his arrows. Kalen helped him to hold it correctly and then to aim before allowing Taros to take the shot alone. The arrow hit the small creature and Taros did not look happy about his achievement even as Kalen patted him on the back and the fourth member of their group gathered the kill.

"I hope this is not an experience I will ever get used to," Taros said quietly and Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder. Their attention was caught when the villager who was collecting the animal froze on the way back to them. They all turned around slowly and saw to their horror, a Vlaos standing behind them, probably the same one they had seen earlier.

Once they were over their shock, Kalen and the villager acted quickly, they grabbed their bows and arrows and fired at the same time as the animal charged toward them. It was easily two thirds the height of a person and grey fur covered its entire body. It charged at them, its four legs giving it speed and Elizabeth could see the sharp teeth.

One of the arrows missed and the second lodged itself in the animal which seemed not to notice. Elizabeth grabbed Taros' arm and pulled him to the side as the animal pounced at them. Two more arrows were fired both of them missing as the Vlaos made a run for the villager. He wasn't able to get out of the way in time and the creature pinned him to the floor. Kalen fired another arrow and Taros stood up and joined him. The creature seemed to be momentarily phased by the hits giving the villager enough time to grab the hunting knife sheathed at his side. His dug it into the animal just below its neck and the Vlaos growled in pain before biting the man's shoulder.

He cried out in agony and Elizabeth, now also on her feat, pulled up her own bow and grabbed an arrow from the pack on her back. She had very little idea what she was doing, she could only mimic what she'd seen in movies and try to aim her shot right. Her first shot missed along with Taros' next shot but Kalen managed to hit the creature which again only seemed to phase it. She fired again and this time managed to hit the animal in the neck, it growled from the impact. Kalen fired another arrow which hit the beast beside her arrow and it returned the favour by going for the villager's neck. Elizabeth actually heard the crack as the man's cries of pain came to an abrupt end.

The beast turned to her, picking her out as its next target and she was able to fire another shot before it charged at her. Taros and Kalen both fired as well and she barely managed to throw herself out of the way. She hit the forest floor with a thud and ignored the sharp stone that had dug into the palm of her hand. She turned onto her back and sat up quickly, scurrying backwards as the beast advanced on her again. Another arrow hit it in the side and a second joined the ones already buried in its neck. The animal staggered and Elizabeth continued to move away from it until her back hit a tree and she was trapped.

Another arrow sailed through the air and hit the Vlaos in the neck again. It staggered toward her again for a few moments and then collapsed on the floor with a loud crash and after a few more seconds, it stopped moving and the sound of its breathing disappeared completely.

Elizabeth stayed on the floor, her own breathing was heavy and she could feel her heart beating a thousand miles an hour in her chest. She hadn't felt like this since her first year in Atlantis when the Genii had stormed the city and Kolya had taken her hostage. The whole situation had been frightening but it hadn't been until Kolya had grabbed her and John had been stood in front of her taking aim that she had felt truly afraid.

Taros hurried over to her and offered her his hand; she accepted it with a grateful nod and allowed him to hep her stand up. They looked over to where Kalen was kneeling next to the final member of their group, she already knew the man was dead and the look of utter sadness on Kalen's face only confirmed it. He took his time before standing up and looking at them. "Are either of you hurt?" he asked and Elizabeth shook her head in answer before looking back at the dead animal on the floor. "We will take him back to the village, it will provide more meat than all the animals in the sacks," Kalen told them gesturing to the two sacks full of kills the group had made.

Twenty minutes later the hunting party had gathered back together, several people were carrying the large animal and a few more were carrying the body of the dead villager. They walked back into the village and were greeted by the stares and whispers of the locals when they saw both the large kill and the member of their community that had been lost to get it.

- - -

"She is here to take over Elizabeth's position?" Teyla asked, it seemed she didn't like the idea anymore than John did but in the hour it had been since Carter's arrival he'd had chance to think about it. Her being here would free him up to help more with searching for Elizabeth and if the diplomat were here she'd tell him to accept it and the help Carter could give them.

"She's only here to help us search for Elizabeth, we can be more involved with the search now that someone else is here to run Atlantis," John explained and Teyla nodded her head in acceptance.

"She's only been missing for just over a week," Rodney protested.

"And hopefully with Carter here She won't be missing for much longer," John countered and Rodney sat down in his chair at the briefing table. They'd all gathered here a few minutes before the upcoming briefing so that John could explain the situation to them all.

"So, do we report to her now?" Lorne asked.

"I don't know but probably," John replied with a shrug and Evan sighed and looked down.

"If she's here to help us and Elizabeth then we should give her a chance," Carson stated from where he was sitting at the briefing table. John heard Jack's voice and turned to see him and Sam walking through the control room. Ronon was standing near the door and followed his gaze; he looked at the two new comers for a moment before looking at John with a serious expression.

"I don't like it," he stated and John nodded his head lazily, he hadn't expected this to go down well. He knew the population of Atlantis well, after all they were his and Elizabeth's people and he knew it was going to take people some time to warm to this idea.

Jack and Sam walked into the room and apparently picked up on the tension immediately. "All here a little early aren't we?" Jack questioned rhetorically.

"Just eager to get started sir," John half lied and Jack gave him a disbelieving look as he and Carter took their chairs along with everyone else in the room.

"Alright, where are we in the search?" Sam questioned getting immediately down to business.

"We've searched nearly all of the planets within a twenty four hour Jumper distance of Atlantis and we're planning on expanding the search area. Colonel Caldwell is still searching some of the planets in the search grid using the Deadalus," John explained. "We know that Elizabeth has been on at least five of the planets along with a group of about five Ancients. They seem to be looking for a planet to settle on and they're being very picky about it."

"Do we have any idea what type of planet they're looking for?" Sam asked.

"They appear to be asking the same questions on each of the planets they have visited. They want to know about the size of the population, how often they are culled by the Wraith but most of all they seem to want to know about the use of the stargate. How often the people use it, their relationships with other planets," Teyla answered and Sam nodded her head.

"The answers they're getting don't seem to be right ones," Lorne added "As soon as they've asked their questions they leave again."

"I think it's safe to assume that Elizabeth will believe that either General O'Neill's standing orders were carried out or that the Replicators still control the city," Sam stated thoughtfully "She probably told the Ancients she is with now and they are most likely operating under that assumption."

"So they believe that the city has been destroyed or is under replicator control. If it's destroyed then they have nothing left to come back to, if it's still under replicator control then..." John trailed off and thought for a moment. "Then they'd have to be concerned that the replicators are looking for them," he finished in realisation.

"And they have no idea that you destroyed the replicators," Sam added, jumping onto his train of thought.

"So they're probably looking for somewhere safe," Rodney stated.

"They could be asking about population size because they don't wanna endanger more people than they have to," Carson volunteered.

"And the questions about their use of the stargate," Teyla began "All of the people they have spoken to you have used the gate for trade, they have good relationships with numerous trade partners. If they wish to remain hidden then perhaps they are searching for a more isolated community."

"It explains why they haven't gone to any of our allies," Jack added, speaking for the first time since they'd sat down. John nodded his head feeling like they'd made more progress than in the majority of the week so far. They had some idea what was going through Elizabeth's and the Ancient's heads and hopefully that would help speed up their search.

TBC