Ten

He wishes Sheppard wouldn't have sent him off with this off-world team of all teams. Because then he wouldn't feel as drained and ashamed as he is feeling now. But when your CO tells you to search an attacked traders' camp for any survivors, you simply don't tell him no. And now he's standing amid the smoldering remnants of what used to be a tent site, surrounded by dead humans and carelessly strewn out personal effects.

"Major?" He turns around at the very low voice and finds himself standing face to face with Teyla. Her usually dark-skinned face is ashen and her eyes are moist. That's all he needs as a confirmation as to who these people were.

"It's them, isn't it?" She just nods, and he isn't quite sure if she doesn't regret going head to head with Sheppard about accompanying them on this mission. But they need her here, no matter how much Sheppard had wanted to shield her from this. In the end it had been Kanaan to quietly point out that Teyla was the only one being able to recognize these people. Sheppard had countered with the fact that Sergeant Meyers had been there as well, but Woolsey had insisted that two pairs of eyes were better than one and so both Meyers and Teyla had accompanied them.

He takes a deep breath, and the smell of smoke and decay fills his nostrils. It's sickening, but he feels like he deserves this for all the dark thoughts he'd had on what he wanted to do about these people. "I'm sorry, Teyla."

She looks away, but he can still see the pain in her eyes. "As am I." Her gaze swerves over the destroyed camp site and he can see her clenching her fists. It tells him that underneath her grief there's already anger and the wish for making the ones responsible pay growing. When she turns back to him, there's a new determination in her eyes. She wants to say something, but before she can form a sentence, Meyers calls out to him.

"Exucse me, sir! You might want to see this." They look at each other and in silent understanding they walk over to Meyers who's crouching in one of the tents' remains being towered by Ronon. As the Sergeant sees them approaching he stands up again and holds up something that looks absolutely out of place. Something smallish and metallic… almost like a flash drive.

He wants to ask Meyers if he has any idea what that could be, but Rodney is faster and unceremoniously grabs the thing from the Sergeant's hands. At that Meyers looks very much like he wants to give McKay an earful, but refrains from it with the poker-face he perfected through countless encounters with overzealous officers.

Rodney on the other hand can't wait to get this thing connected to his data tablet. He shortly thinks about pointing out to the doc that this thing could very well be something triggering an explosive, but one look at the almost feverish eagerness in Rodney's face tells him that it would be useless anyway. Then, finally, Rodney gets the thing working. After a few tabs on the tablet, he grins his usual smug grin and shows them the tablet. But as he tabs the Play-button for the video obviously stored on the device, it quickly vanishes.

The face that appears is male and human and the collar that is visible looks very much like that of a Genii uniform. The background is some non-descript blank concrete wall, so it doesn't tell them much. But it's irrelevant anyway, since that face in front of them lights up in a smirk. "Ah, I see you found my little present. My congratulations. And now because I know that you had to go to a considerable amount of trouble to get to this, I won't hold you off with more talking." Get to the fucking point, he wants to scream at the smug face, but he can get a grip on himself fast enough.

"As you have probably already guessed, I'm the host of two of your expedition members, a Dr. Jennifer Keller and a Lieutenant Laura Cadman. I do hope both their suitors are watching now, because I have some very interesting footage for them to see." Good God. From the corner of his eyes, he can see Teyla shaking her head incredulously and isn't quite sure if he heard her murmur "Hamrash… what did he do to you?" He makes a mental note to ask her if his assumption that this guy knows about this from torturing the traders was correct.

There's a cut and then the screen is parted in two, showing them two cells with one inhabitant each. One of them is pacing to and fro impatiently and he can hear two sharp intakes of breath as Ronon and Rodney both recognize that person as Jennifer Keller. The other one... is Laura. Involuntarily, his grip around his P90 tightens and he has to swallow down the sigh of relief. She's sitting, leaning against a wall, looking distressed and with her face bruised badly, but at least alive and conscious.

"As you can see, both of them are alive and relatively unharmed. However… I'm afraid they may not stay like this forever. To avoid harming them any further, I have a proposal to make. I have orders from the one you call Michael to exchange these two for the Athosian Teyla Emmagan and her child. I will make this very easy for you, Atlanteans. On this storage device you will find the coordinates of the planet where your missing women are waiting for you. You only have to exchange them for the two Emmagans and then you'll have them back. As for the question in which condition… that solely depends on how fast you are." With that the screens reverts back to black.

For a moment, neither of them says anything. Then Meyers says matter-of-factly: "It's a trap."

Immediately, Rodney whips around to the Sergeant and snaps: "Of course it's a trap, Captain Obvious."

He wants to intervene and tell Rodney off for getting in the face of one of his Marines like that, but the Sergeant simply smirks and replies: "Actually, it's Sergeant Obvious… Mister Clueless." Whoa, way to go, Sergeant, he thinks and doesn't know whether to clap the Sergeant on the back for that perfectly straight-faced answer or give him a good wigging for disrespecting such a high-ranking civilian.

He is, however, kept from saying something, when Ronon speaks up: "Save that for later. We need to get back to Atlantis."

It's his turn now, because he's officially in charge of this mission, so he nods and says: "Agreed." Then he takes a deep breath and says loud enough for all the other team members still searching through the camp site to hear his order: "Come on, everyone, pack it up and head back to the 'Gate."

Immediately, the medics and combat engineers that belong to the team heed his orders and in only a few minutes, the team is complete and ready to go. Without further delay, they set off for the 'Gate again, but when they reach the top of the hill that stands between the 'Gate and the destroyed traders' settlement, Teyla stops and lets everyone pass. He notices and joins her as she stands and looks down on the destruction. He gives her a few moments of peace and then says: "They'll get a proper burial. I promise."

Teyla doesn't react for a second or two, but then she finally nods and replies, still looking down on the tents: "You do not have to feel ashamed, Major." She turns to him, finding him frowning in puzzlement and adds: "Do not think I have not guessed which thoughts you have been harboring ever since we found out that Hamrash and his people had a part in Laura's and Jennifer's abduction. And yet you have never once let them direct your actions or cloud your judgment. That is something not many people are capable of, given the circumstances. This is no one's fault but that of Michael and his followers. You have nothing to feel guilty about."

But he does. And the least he can do for these people, who were as much victims as are Keller and Laura, is making absolutely sure that Atlantis takes care of letting them rest in peace. So he just nods and says: "Neither do you. Now, come on, we need to kick some Hybrids' asses." At least that's what he desperately needs. He still wants… needs to make someone pay, for all the things they did to Laura and Keller and those poor traders down in the valley.

"Yes, we do. And do not worry, Major. We will find them before they can do to Laura and Jennifer what they did here." Now there's the grim determination in Teyla's voice that he already saw in her eyes before. It tells him very clearly that she has a few ideas herself what to do when they finally get to these guys.

He nods and they turn around to follow the others. As they are quickly walking down the hill, he adds: "No doubt about that. And Teyla… Evan's fine, by the way."

She gives him a half-smile and simply says: "Very well… Evan." And then they both break into a run, propelled by the feeling of finally having made a real step forward in this whole case.

A/N: You know... this is one of the chapters of this story that I absolutely loved writing and still love to read, for some reason. I really hope you like it at least half as much as I do :)