Author's note: Another chapter, a few more clues.
John Sheppard stepped out of the shimmering Stargate, took a single, deliberate step further and planted his hands on his hips. With a deep relaxed breath he scanned the horizon, squinting in the bright clear sunshine, and then turned his head slightly at the splut of sound behind him. Rodney McKay emerged, muttering as usual, and moved to stand off to Sheppard's right. The air seemed warm and lazy, like a heavy summer afternoon, and a hot breeze ruffled the funny little purple flowers at John's feet. The delicate blooms folded up in waves as the gentle gusts bent their stems, then popped open again once the wind had scurried on to other mischief.
For some reason, the dancing plants brought a puzzled frown to John's brow and he chewed on his bottom lip as he tugged his sunglasses out of their pocket, situating them neatly over his light hazel eyes. John was watching McKay wave his hand scanner around in unusually quiet immersion when the scientist suddenly stiffened in silent alarm. He jerked his head towards John. In that same instant, a cold vice of terror simultaneously clamped down within John's chest. For a brief moment, their eyes locked…remembering.
Teyla and Ronon emerged only seconds later to find both men frozen in alert tension, weapons drawn and watching the perimeter warily. With a startled glance between them, the two Pegasus natives also drew their weapons and joined the survey of the surrounding, peaceful, meadow.
Several tense seconds of silence passed. Ignoring Teyla's pointedly puzzled looks, Sheppard jerked his head towards McKay and growled, "You feel it too?"
"That poignant sense of déjà vu on steroids? Oh, yeah."
Sheppard felt a sudden urge to rub his chest that was suddenly tingling with a mysterious ache. He kept his hands tightly wrapped around his weapon instead. "So, what do you think? What's going on here?"
McKay wagged his sidearm in nervous circles as he answered, "Can't really be sure. Some kind of time loop maybe? Ancients messing around with a variation of the time dilation field perhaps. Wouldn't be the first time they screwed this kind of thing up!"
"Goddam Groundhog Day all over again? Isn't that plot getting just a little bit trite by now!"
"We don't actually know that is what's going on here..." Rodney trailed off though, seemingly at a loss to make any alternative suggestions.
A few more moments of edgy silence ticked by when Teyla finally asked hesitantly, "What exactly is the problem?"
John tabled the question for the moment, asked his own question in return, "Teyla, you're usually pretty sensitive to this kind of thing. Do you remember being here before?"
"I do." Ronon's deep-throated interjection startled Rodney.
"Really? Well now, that's surprising." Ronon scowled, looking as if he wasn't sure if had just been insulted. John almost chuckled as he watched the Satedan finally decide to give McKay the benefit of the doubt – this time.
Ronon shrugged, "Treeline looks familiar, I recognize the way the path enters the forest. I can tell you it's exactly 69 paces to the edge of the meadow…" his voice trailed off with a puzzled expression that John understood completely. Ronon knew all those things, but he couldn't remember how he knew them. Even for John, the sudden, overpowering certainty that he'd been here before and that something terrible had happened was fading. Small details he'd held so clearly in his mind were slipping away from him like sand through his fingers.
His gut-aching sense of dread was not any less pronounced, however and Sheppard suddenly dropped his P-90 against his chest and strode off towards the nearby DHD. "Teyla," he answered her original question at last, "the problem is this whole damn place and we're leaving." Ronon followed, a step to the left, reacting to the unconscious unease by assuming a proper military escort. John did chuckle this time, his friend's wary presence at his side reassuring him slightly. He reached for the glowing symbols on the device in front of him.
Rodney was nodding in relieved agreement to Sheppard's course of action, but he took a step closer to Teyla who was watching Sheppard with careful concern. "Something bad happened here. Or is going to happen, depending on how you parse the tenses. If we are dealing with a time loop, Sheppard's right, we need to leave. This kind of temporal manipulation is almost certainly a local phenomenon."
Teyla squinted into the blue, cloudless sky and murmured softly over the singsong whine of the Stargate as John punched in the first symbol, "We were to arrive only hours after dawn. This sun is high, just past midday…"
"What?" Rodney snapped out of his lecture to stare intently at Teyla. John, who habitually kept his mind attuned to his whole team at once, paused for a fraction of a second before touching the next symbol, recognizing the signs of an important revelation in McKay's posture.
The bullet slammed into John's back, the force of the impact throwing him forward to sprawl against the DHD. Several keys were mashed at once, and the device, in a display of electronic befuddlement, blinked wildly for a moment, then fell dark, the Stargate following suit.
I really, really hate this planet, thought John, as he slid slowly down, grasping spasmodically at the edges.
When his knees hit the ground, he couldn't decide to be grateful for or terrified by the fact that he felt nothing of the impact against his knees. His whole body, from the shoulders down, was numb and lifeless. He quickly sagged to the side and felt strong but rough hands snatch for his shoulders to ease him into a, basically, seated position. John couldn't quite claim to be sitting up as his full weight was resting against Ronon's thigh and torso. He gulped for air, fighting down the temptation to simply close his eyes and allow himself to pass out.
Instead, he blinked and squinted up at the silhouetted face above him. Ronon was staring intently at the treeline, managing to assume a posture that was both protective and deadly. The warrior's whole frame almost quivered with the desire to chase after the threat, to hunt down and exact revenge on the enemy that dared strike at one of his own.
"Ronon…"
John croaked out the word between shallow fast breaths then, grimacing, pressed a hand into his chest where the lingering ache had sharpened into a pulsing spike of pain. He coughed a little, no more than a gurgling wheeze, then tried again. "Ronon!" His hand against his chest felt warm and slippery.
Finally, reluctantly, Ronon turned his face, but his anguished brown eyes wouldn't quite meet John's. You big idiot. It's not like I'm going to dump a load of sappy crap on you. But, it was enough.
"Ronon. Sniper is in the trees. Long range weapon firing heavy ordinance." Sheppard's clipped analysis was barely more than raspy panting, but Ronon was listening carefully and nodding in professional agreement. John raised his bloody hand from his chest to gaze at with detached appreciation. "Bastard's good too. A single kill shot from that distance is impressive."
John just barely caught a glimpse of enraged grief flash over Ronon's face at the term kill shot before he replied with gruff emotion, "Not good enough. He didn't kill us both." John actually grinned as Ronon suddenly realized what he'd just said and watched with amusement as the man's eagerness to begin his quest for revenge warred with the awkwardness of offering a more comforting sentiment.
McKay and Teyla saved Ronon from the moment by clattering up to them in that instant. Teyla was already digging in her pocket to yank out a field compress. Rodney hovered in a nearby squat, nervously keeping the DHD between himself and the distant forest while still trying to stay close enough to watch the activity around John. Ronon, his glare again locked on the treeline, was already pulling his teeth back into a gleeful snarl and shifting to hand John over to Teyla when John's hand shot out to yank hard on Ronon's collar.
"Dammit, Ronon," the plea was strained as the spike in his chest suddenly shot down both arms and he gasped. Ronon paused, Sheppard's desperate urgency holding him back far more than the feeble fist on his shirt. "I'm telling you this because you have to remember…next time." McKay and Teyla exchanged a look and Ronon slowly, finally met John's eyes.
You have to remember, Ronon. You have to help me stop it next time because…because I really don't want to do this again. The ache in John's chest was swelling, and he could almost feel his damaged heart quiver into arrhythmic confusion. Teyla slapped the absorbent dressing into the sopping puddle on his chest, simply shoving the bandage under the vest's edge rather than bothering to unzip it.
Sheppard, my brother, you will be avenged.
John regarded Ronon for a long moment. He saw the fresh grief standing out bright against the many other scars and wounds on the man's soul. But John was, himself, beginning to fear more than his death that would claim him in the next few moments.
He was beginning to fear that he'd rather die forever than have to die again. His fear must have slipped into his eyes because Ronon's lingering snarl softened into a more encouraging expression.
"I will remember Sheppard." Ronon spoke the words out loud on behalf of all of them.
"We all will." McKay's quick affirmation brought the smile back to John's lips and it remained, in defiant permanence, as his body seized into stiff agony, and his life slipped away.
John Sheppard stepped out of the shimmering Stargate, took a single, deliberate step further and planted his hands on his hips. With a deep relaxed breath he scanned the horizon, squinting in the bright clear sunshine, and then turned his head slightly at the splut of sound behind him. Rodney McKay emerged, muttering as usual, and moved to stand off to Sheppard's right. Their two shadows stretched out long before them, and John twisted to look back over his shoulder at the glowing orange orb that peeked out just above the rim of the still shimmering 'gate. The ground at John's feet was dewey and cool, despite the growing warmth of the air, and the pale blue sky had a crystal freshness about it.
Another splut announced the arrival of Telya and Ronon, and John tugged in his pocket for his sunglasses. As he lifted the shades up to cover his light hazel eyes, John suddenly frowned, looking closely at the familiar circles of colored glass with something like dread. A few steps away, McKay was muttering to his palm scanner and saying something like, "Are you sure we've never been to this planet before? I just had the craziest feeling of Déjà vu…"
At the innocent words, Ronon suddenly stiffened into a catlike crouch and jerked his head towards Sheppard. In that same instant, a cold vice of terror simultaneously clamped down within John's chest. For a brief moment, their eyes locked…remembering.
The next thing John knew, Ronon was pelting down the dusty brown road towards the treeline with the speed and power of a locomotive. Not really thinking himself, John leaped out after, shouting a hasty command over his shoulder, "McKay, dial the damn 'gate back home. Teyla, watch his 6, there's a sniper in the trees with enough range to reach the DHD." Rodney and Teyla stood frozen for several heartbeats, then snapped out of the stupor of confused memory and surprised response enough to start moving where they'd been directed.
John was just passing the DHD himself when he threw a look at the device, checking to make sure it seemed in working order, the instinct to evaluate all routes of escape coming as second nature. He stumbled to an abrupt halt, swallowing hard at what he saw. A suffocating swell of panic clutched at him and he found himself gasping from more than exertion. Forcing himself to move again, he turned to race off after Ronon, shouting back at McKay as he hit his stride.
"McKay. Turns out we're not dealing with a time loop after all! See what you can do." And then he was gone, willing the terror into adrenaline, and closing the gap between himself and the treeline with catlike speed…
McKay frowned at John's audacious assertion. While Rodney couldn't yet prove they actually were caught in a temporal event, and his memories of other "loops" were admittedly foggy and confused, he also hadn't yet come up with another theory that fit the circumstances. Rolling his eyes haughtily, (after watching worriedly after his friends disappearing into the meadow for a moment), he stepped briskly around to the front of the DHD device, certain at least that Sheppard had the "Run away home" part correct.
And like Sheppard, Rodney froze at his first glimpse of the Ancient panel.
The glowing keys were spattered in a thick spray of blackened, dried blood. One key near the top of the roughly oval board was dark and cracked. Despite his overwhelming urge to flinch away from the grisly image, he leaned closer to inspect the damage. A flattened and shattered bullet lay embedded into, but not through the key's outer cover. At least that's not one of the symbols we need. The thought drifted through McKay's mind, arguably comforting.
Teyla joined him, resting her hand on Rodney's arm in reaction. "That looks like…" she couldn't continue.
"What the DHD looked like…the last time Sheppard died."
TBC... and now it can get interesting.