On Any Given Day - The Watch Stander
Chapter Four - A Matter of Trust
Once Rodney had the lights on, they found themselves in a large room. The ceilings were low and the air smelt musty from disuse. After examining this room they made their way down a long hall that led to storage rooms full of ancient equipment and what looked like supplies. Most of the food supplies were no longer viable, but the ancient artifacts were still in relatively good condition, considering how long they had been in here.
Rodney felt himself getting more and more excited at each new ancient device he discovered in the storage rooms. He could easily spend weeks here and still not examine everything.
"This is amazing!" he cried happily as he re-entered the main room with another ancient artifact clasped in his hands, a large smile covered his face.
Teyla smiled at his exuberance and noticed the slight smile that tweaked at the corner of Sheppard's mouth as well. Rodney's enthusiasm was always infectious, no one was immune. Seeing him this happy just effected everyone around him.
In the main part of the room was a large counter-console where Rodney had started piling items of interest.
John leaned against the consol and watched as McKay went into each store room and returned with several items. After twenty five minutes of this activity, McKay's energy level started to falter. Sitting on the counter, he wiped his perspiring face, looking exhausted and seemed to be slowly fading once again. Pulling out a power bar and a water bottle, he proceeded to eat the former in less than two minutes.
While looking at McKay closely, Sheppard could see the lines of exhaustion written on the scientists face and the now black circles under his eyes. Sheppard knew they should take the scientist back to Atlantis, the man was not well, anyone could see that. However, the mission was still half finished, for they still had to go meet and greet the villagers.
He hated this, once again angry with McKay for forcing these decisions on him. In the end though he found a compromise.
"McKay, you stay here while the rest of us go and make contact with the villagers. Have something more to eat, like that MRE I know you have in there, and we'll come back and pick you up in about three hours. That should give you enough time to give this place a good going over and get whatever items you can carry. Later you and a scientist group can return and look for other things. How's that sound?"
Ronon chose that moment to enter the room and having overheard Sheppard, spoke up.
"I'll stay here with McKay."
Rodney looked at Ronon with a smile of thanks, but before he could say anything, John cut in.
"Sorry, big guy, you're going with us. "
"John, Is that wise?" Teyla asked, clearly upset that Rodney would be left here alone. Especially since he was unwell.
"I agree with Teyla", Ronon added. "McKay needs someone here to watch his back."
"Well, I disagree! No one knows this outpost is here and he'll be safe. Besides, we'll be back in a few hours, so there's no problem." His voice was placating. John wasn't in the mood for babying McKay after all the hassle the man had put them through today - he'd had enough.
How I wish I'd brought Zelenka! Even Kavanaugh would be acceptable.
Somewhere inside though, a little voice told him that he shouldn't treat McKay this way, but he pushed it aside - far too annoyed with the scientist to listen.
Rodney looked lost as he turned away from his team mates' upset looks to focus on the closed mask that was now on Sheppard's face. The scientist could no longer read what was behind that mask, but knew it didn't bode well for him, so he didn't argue the point.
"Right... I'll just check out what energy source runs this place while you're all gone. I'm pretty sure no one had been in here in a very long time, 10,000 years might just be a good guess."
Sheppard looked satisfied that there would be no further arguments from McKay and headed toward the door.
Ronon looking angry, followed Sheppard, intent on having a word outside with him.
Teyla stayed behind and smiled sadly at Rodney, "Will you be all right here?" she asked softly. She was worried about how tired and unwell he looked and how John was being so harsh with him.
Rodney smiled, "Of course, no one knows about this place or the vines would have been already cut away. I'll be fine."
"All right, but keep your radio on so we can stay in touch with you."
"Right," He tried to appear calm, but underneath, he felt hurt that Sheppard would just leave him behind - as if he were of no value - or further use to him.
Teyla left as Rodney gave her a little goodbye wave.
He watched her leave and after a few moments of silence, the room seemed to close in on him. It suddenly felt cold and threatening. Something inside him made him want to run after them and beg to go with them, but his pride told him no and he didn't. He just couldn't be that weak in front of Sheppard; he'd rather be dead than feel that kind of humiliation.
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Ronon wasn't happy about leaving McKay and voiced this opinion to Sheppard as they headed toward the village.
"This is not a good idea, Sheppard. He shouldn't be left alone."
John was now getting angrier, "I'm not leaving a babysitter with McKay! He's a big boy and besides he has a radio if there's trouble."
"It's not enough!" Ronon was angry as well, "Are you punishing him for something he's done?"
John stopped walking, "What?"
"You heard me, you two are always at odds now, even I see that. You're not thinking straight!" The Satedan waited for an answer.
John turned away, not sure if what Ronon just said was true.
Was he being unfair to McKay, allowing his personal feelings to cloud his decisions?
"I'll explain the whole story when we get back to Atlantis. I told you that already, so give it a rest!" he started to walk away.
Ronon suddenly pushed past Sheppard and took point. He was really pissed at Sheppard's new attitude toward McKay as it was putting a strain on the whole team.
John let him go, but started to brood about how he was being made to look bad by the scientist.
It isn't fair! After all, I wasn't the one that blew up a solar system and used my friends to get my way.
He kept telling himself that he had a right to be angry and that he wasn't the one at fault here. Something wasn't right though and he knew it. His anger was way off scale and it seemed to be always close to the surface now, making him anxious and impatient. Every time he looked at McKay he seemed to feel it building up inside him. Shaking his head he took a deep breath, he would have to do some soul searching and see if maybe he could adjust it down a few notches, and not take it out on McKay.
Nothing further was said by anyone as they continued following a well worn dirt path into the village .
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The houses in the village were simple structures and the residents all smiled at John's team as they entered the main square. A man came out to greet them from one of the dwellings and made his way over to them.
John put on his best happy face, ready to make nice with the locals as Teyla came forward to greet the man as well.
While they talked, Ronon stayed off to the side watching for any threats or danger. He really wanted to get this over with so they could head back to Atlantis. Sheppard was not acting right and if he had issues with McKay, they should be resolved before they all went on another mission together. Leaving a sick McKay behind was just plain dangerous and stupid. He was worried about the acerbic little scientist and this made him anxious and testy. He had already decided that McKay was a valuable asset to them all and shouldn't be mistreated by anyone. However, sometimes the man even drove him crazy with his incessant whining and complaining, none of which had he had heard today. Something wasn't right -later when they got back to Atlantis he'd make it a point to find out what that was. For now though, all he could do was wait.
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Rodney was in ancient heaven, he kept finding more and more items that he wanted to take with him, but there was only so much room in his back pack. He emptied out the extra MRE's, powerbars and other foodstuffs that took up valuable room and also took out a flashlight and other equipment that he considered expendable and could be easily replaced. Besides, he could just leave it in a store room and when they returned with the other science team they could retrieve it.
There still wasn't enough room, therefore he was forced to separate items of interest according to which he considered must haves. It was a tough decision as everything was of interest to him, but he managed to make two piles and finally got it sorted into a primary one. Then he decided to wait and pack the bag just before he left, incase he found something more important.
Exhausted, he sat down and undid his tact vest to allow cool air to flow over his perspiration soaked T-Shirt. He was hot and sweaty again and knew he needed to eat, so he picked up a powerbar and started to unwrap it.
While sitting here alone, slowly eating the powerbar, the silence of the room started to give him the creeps. The silence of centuries seemed to surround him making him feel very vulnerable.
As he looked all around to be sure there was no one here, he wished that Ronon or Teyla had stayed with him.
This is unnerving, being alone in here really sucks big time!
Maybe this was Sheppard's way of showing him that he didn't give a crap about his safety and that he now was an unwanted member of the team.
I've become useless to everyone, especially to Sheppard, and that thought really hurt.
He took a deep breath to clear away his emotions, not wanting to start feeling sorry for himself; there were other more important matters to attend to.
Right now he needed to find out what powered this place. Finishing off the powerbar, he washed the remainder down with a drink of water and proceeded to hook up his tablet to the small console on the counter before him. The connection took immediately and information started to appear on its screen.
"Now that's more like it!" He said out loud to the walls.
Their answer was the faint echo of his own words. ..
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The leader of the village, Tiran, was all smiles and happiness.
Too much happiness, John thought, It was creepy, and made him uncomfortable.
Teyla smiled as she listened to the man saying that he would indeed like to trade with them and would welcome a mutual trade agreement. Teyla thought he was too willing and told Sheppard that, just after Tiran went into his dwelling to fetch samples of his village's crops.
"He does seem awfully anxious to be pleasant and just a little too eager, don't you think?" John asked Teyla as he continued to smile and nod at the curious villagers that walked past them.
"I agree, but they certainly don't seem threatening, as I have seen no weapons," She replied.
"Ronon, What do you think?" He asked the Satedan.
"No weapons, but a lot of whispers and stares. I don't like it, let's get McKay and leave."
Ronon could always be counted on to cut to the quick of any situation.
A short man that had been walking by, stopped in his tracks and looked at them closely. He suddenly turned and approached them, walking right up to Teyla.
"Teyla? Is that you?" he asked.
Suddenly Teyla smiled and said, "Nayall, yes it is I. What are you doing here?"
"I live here now since the wraith culled my planet two seasons ago. I heard your people were all culled as well?"
"Yes, that is true, but we had help from friends and some of my people survived."
Suddenly embarrassed by her rudeness, she quickly introduced Ronon and Sheppard.
"These are my friends, John Sheppard and Ronon Dex. We are here to trade and thought we might find some new food that would help make our table a little more inviting," she offered.
Nayall seemed to be thinking, then made a decision. He reached into a pouch he carried over his shoulder and pulled out what looked like an apple and handed one to John and Ronon. Before handing Teyla hers, he discreetly added a piece of paper that he had folded very small inside his pouch.
He looked at her intently, "Do not look at this now, but leave here quickly. There is danger on this planet. I must go or they will get suspicious. It's been nice seeing you again."
He slowly left, acting as if he had only stopped to greet them and give them a sample of the fruit. Teyla quickly hid the paper in her palm and placed both the apple and it inside a pocket on her pants.
John watched him walk away, "Well, that was interesting - I'm getting a bad feeling about all this."
"Yes, it was. We must wait a few minutes, then leave. I also have what you call a bad feeling," Teyla said as she continued to smile at everyone that walked by.
The village leader finally came out of his hut, a larger smile on his face than before and handed them a basket of samples.
"Thank you," Teyla said graciously,"We will take this back to our world and our leader can decide what we in turn will trade you." It was said very low key as if their leaving now was the normal thing to do. The leader looked disappointed, but none the lessbid them farewell
Ronon took their six, while Sheppard and Teyla headed out together.
"First opportunity, I want a look at what he gave you," John whispered to her.
"Yes, but not here, we need to get further away from the village."
"Okay."
As it turned out they were halfway back to the gate, before an opportunity arose for them to look at the paper with no one around, as the road seemed to have quite a few traveling on it to the village.
John slowly unfolded the paper and discovered it was two sheets. He was surprised when he found a picture of himself starring back at him, the second sheet was a picture of McKay.
Teyla looked at his picture, "It says underneath that you are wanted alive by the Genii and they will only pay for you in that condition, no other." She looked up at him,"We must leave quickly. They have probably alerted them to our presence."
"Ok, I better radio McKay and tell him to meet us at the gate."
"That would be wise," Teyla said, suddenly aware, of just how vulnerable they all were standing here on the open road.
Ronon, sighed beside them, "I knew something about this planet was off."
John looked at him," Yeah, well that makes two of us, big guy. Let's get outa Dodge!"
He clicked his radio, "McKay, you copy?"
A faint voice replied, "Yes, what is it?"
"We need to get out of here fast, seems the Genii have been passing out wanted posters with our mugs on them, so get whatever you have together fast and meet us at the gate."
"Crap! I hate those people! Won't they ever give it a rest?" McKay whined.
"Just get to the gate, now! Out," John said angrily, he had no patience for the whining scientist.
"Let's go!"...he said to the rest of his team.
TBC