Sheppard looked at Ronon in shock.
"You knew?" he said. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
"Didn't ask," Ronon replied, scooping up more food.
"What the hell Ronon," Sheppard snapped, pushing his tray away. "McKay turns into some super nice ninja and you didn't think to say anything?"
Ronon looked up from his meal putting his fork down. "Why didn't you notice?" he growled.
Sheppard opened his mouth to snap out an angry reply and sighed instead, his shoulders slumping. "What the hell is going on? What's got into him?" he asked quietly.
"Don't know," Ronon replied. "But it's not good."
At that moment McKay walked into the mess hall with Teyla at his side, McKay letting go of her arm to pick up a couple of trays. Teyla turned to look at Ronon and Sheppard, her face slipping from a look of pleasant interest to a look of sadness. It was gone in an instant as she turned back to answer a question McKay had asked.
Sheppard looked at Ronon. "Teyla too?" he queried.
"She knew before me," Ronon confessed.
Sheppard ran a hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his neck. "How the hell am I going fix this?" he asked, more to himself than Ronon.
"Ask him," Ronon said.
"What?"
"Ask him," Ronon repeated. "No-one's asked him what's wrong."
"It's not that simple," Sheppard said.
"Why not?"
"Because ……" Sheppard started, looking for an answer. "Because it's not," he finished.
Ronon looked at him and shrugged. "I'll ask him then."
"No you won't," Sheppard snapped, leaning forward. "I'll sort this out. I'm the team leader," he said pointing at himself.
Ronon just shrugged, picking his fork back up and continuing his meal.
"Colonel Sheppard, please have your team report to the control room" Chuck's voice said over the citywide intercom.
Ronon quickly shoveled up several forks full of food as he stood, following Sheppard out of the mess hall, McKay and Teyla falling in behind, after McKay had shoved two full trays of food at the nearest marine.
SGASGASGASGASGA
"We received this message from Lorne's team about four minutes ago," Carter said, nodding at Chuck to replay the message.
"Atlantis, request urgent backup," Lorne's voice said. "Have engaged …. a burst of automatic weapons fire drowned out Lorne's voice … surrounded, came out of nowhere…. more weapons fire …. outnumbered.. more weapons fire and shouting … been hit. Need urgent backup now. Atlantis, do you … the message ended.
"Where are they?" Sheppard demanded.
"M1G399, "Carter replied. "Routine mission. We have a trade agreement with them."
"Peterson and Bain were with Lorne's team," McKay said. "The Farrenians agreed to let us examine some ruins."
"They have always been a peaceful people," Teyla added. "My people have traded with them for many generations."
"Possible outside hostiles," Sheppard said. "Might have come through the gate."
"Chuck, dial the planet, let's get a recon from the MALP," Carter ordered.
McKay sat down at a console as the gate whooshed into life, tapping away on a laptop.
"Receiving MALP telemetry now," he said, pointing behind him at a large screen, everyone turned to look at it as the static cleared and a picture of the surrounding area came into focus.
The MALP telemetry gave nothing way. All looked peaceful. The village and ruins were just visible in the distance.
"Major Lorne this is Colonel Carter, do you copy, over?" Carter said into her radio. "Carter to Lorne, do you read, over?"
"Signals getting through loud and clear," Rodney said.
John turned to Carter. "We'll do a sweep with a cloaked jumper. I'll take a couple of teams of marines."
Carter nodded her agreement. "Chuck, get Baker and Rosta's teams to report to the Jumper bay." She turned to look at John. "I want an initial report fifteen minutes after you've gone through the gate. Go suit up."
SGASGASGASGASGASGA
The jumper cloaked as soon as it cleared the event horizon, gaining height as it flew towards the village.
"Life signs?" John asked.
"Multiple," Rodney answered. "High concentration in the village, naturally. Some spread out signs from the surrounding woodland." The HUD flickered to life, Rodney pointed to a series of dots as he glanced towards John. "Approximately fifteen life signs at the ruins," he said.
"Fifteen. Take out Lorne's team and your two guys, leaves us nine hostiles," John commented.
"We outnumber them," Ronon added, nodding his head towards the marines in the back of the jumper.
"And they have our guys as hostages," Rodney pointed out. "There are also life signs in the woods surrounding the ruins; we have no way of knowing if it's the local wildlife or hostiles or just innocent villagers. Lorne's jumper is next to the village, no life signs inside."
"I'll put her down at that clearing we just passed," John said "We can do a recon and …"
"I've found away in," McKay suddenly said.
"Where?" John demanded.
McKay twisted in his seat to face John, pulling his laptop with him. "Eight of the life signs are below ground," he explained. "I recalibrated the jumper's sensors and this," he pointed to his laptop, "is the extent of the ruins. There are several underground passageways and what I assume are rooms." He tapped at a section of the laptop, showing a large square area. "This is where the eight life signs are, and here," his finger traced across one of the passageways, "is a back way in," he finished with a smile.
"And were it that?" John asked.
Rodney twisted in his seat again bringing the HUD back up. "There," he said indicating a large clearing. "It's about a mile from the ruins."
"Cool," John said, "I'll put the jumper down there and we can find the entrance and make our way in underground, which should ….."
"There's only one problem," Rodney said.
"What?" Ronon growled.
"I have no idea of the condition of the passageways, they may have collapsed and we don't know for certain if it's Lorne and his team."
"Well, we're about to find out," John said.