Author's Note:

Apologies for the delay in getting back to this story. I'm a few chapters ahead on the writing now so fingers crossed there won't be any more major delays. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter - it's always lovely to hear your thoughts on how the story is progressing. I don't use a beta so apologies re any errors I missed.

December 16th

After four days on the Daedalus Jennifer would be forgiven for feeling like they were never going to get to Olesia. She'd have hovered around on the bridge if Colonel Caldwell would allow it but of course that was out of the question. She couldn't be actively involved in the ship's journey but she pushed her friendship with Colonel Sheppard to the limit, radioing him with increasing frequency the closer they got to ask him how much longer.

Evan was in jail … on a planet with in all likelihood poor sanitation and limited medical care. Were they feeding him properly and letting him exercise? Was he injured? As their arrival at Olesia loomed, Jennifer's concern for the condition she'd find Evan and his team in escalated.

"Doc," John's voice over the radio halted another round of spiralling what ifs.

"We're there?" she asked hopefully.

"We're there," John confirmed.

"Did you find Evan and his team?"

"Five transmitters, all sending back strong signals," Sheppard reported.

"Oh, thank God," Jennifer exclaimed.

"Head down to the F302 bay," John advised. "We leave in five minutes."

Jumping up Jenn grabbed her medical kit – the one she'd kept packed and then checked every day regardless – and then almost ran to the large internal hanger where they stored the F302's and for this journey two puddle jumpers as well. John had decided to bring a second ship, just in case a more compelling show of force was required to convince the Olesian's to free Lorne's team and cooperate.

"Ready?" John asked, giving Jennifer a chance to stow her gear before she took a seat in the back of the Jumper.

"Ready," she said, nodding to Teyla and Ronon. Rodney looked up before quickly directing his attention to the screen at his station.

"Right, let's do this," John powered up the Jumper. "Bridge, this is Jumper 1, ready to depart."

"Jumper 1, Bridge, acknowledged. Bay door opening sequence commencing in three … two … one."

Jennifer watched as the large doors slowly opened, the blackness of space growing until the stars of Olesia were visible too.

"Jumper 1, Bridge. You are go for launch."

"Acknowledged." John grasped the controls and guided the ancient ship through the opening, the drive pods engaging as they soared towards the planet below.

"This is insane," Rodney muttered, fingers tapping rapidly on his keyboard.

"So you've said … repeatedly. Relax Rodney," John retorted. "Nothing untoward showed up on the scans the Daedalus took. It'll be fine."

"Well that's reassuring!" Rodney's sarcasm was in full swing. "They don't have any weapons big enough to show up from space – I feel so much better!" He shot John an irritated glance. "Never mind the various weapons we wouldn't detect … you know, the ones that shoot bullets and kill people!"

"They won't shoot us," Sheppard was firmly positive.

"How can you possibly know that?" Rodney demanded.

"Because Lorne hasn't been sitting on his hands the past two weeks," John smiled back at Jennifer. "At the very least I'd expect he'd have gotten an agreement from this Privic guy Eldon mentioned to hear us out before making any decisions."

"You're putting a lot of faith in a guy who's being held in jail by people who used to specialise in that kind of thing," Rodney retorted, "no offense," he added, giving Jenn an awkward look.

"None taken," Jennifer returned. She could see Rodney's point but like John, she had faith in Evan. She'd seen him achieve things when the situation looked grim before – why not this time as well?

"Lorne got Eldon to go against his own people to dial Atlantis," John reminded them. "Let's just reserve judgement until we see what kind of reception we get, okay?" Looking at Ronon, he continued. "Be ready to show some force … just don't look like you're ready to show force."

"I got it covered," Ronon flashed John a grin that said he'd like nothing better than for the Olesians to give him a reason to show that force.

Sheppard narrowed his eyes at his Satedan team mate.

"Everything will proceed as planned," Teyla soothed her team mates. "Should we not be focussing our attention on the village?"

"We should," John agreed, giving her the kind of smile he reserved just for her.

The rest of the journey through the atmosphere and towards the island the Stargate was located on was done silently, everyone lost in their own thoughts. For Jennifer they centred around her excitement at being so close to seeing Evan again, as well as her fear that something would go wrong. When she'd opened Evan's message for day 16, it hadn't crossed her mind that the true day would come and she'd still not have seen him.

"Almost there," John murmured, eyes trained on the HUD. It was almost dusk on Olesia, the sun sitting low in the sky. They flew low over the trees, the canopy thinning until the village came into view. It was primitive but organised. As John brought the cloaked jumper down to hover in the centre they could all see there were no signs of obvious concern. No soldiers with guns – no weapons, just a few people finishing up their day's chores. "Looks okay," John decided, landing the jumper. Activating the radio he spoke briskly. 'Daedalus this is Jumper 1. We have confirmed minimal visible threats and are proceeding to phase 2."

"Acknowledged Colonel," Caldwell replied personally. "We have sensors locked on all of you."

"Hopefully we won't need it but be ready to pull Lorne and the others out on my signal," John turned to his team, meeting each gaze as he signed off. Hitting the release for the rear hatch he strode out first, uncloaking the Jumper as he went.

They garnered a crowd, mostly kids and those adults who'd been working nearby.

"Hi," John said easily, speaking generally in the hopes that someone would step forward to act as spokesperson. "Can anyone tell me where we can find Major Lorne and his team?"

"You need to speak to Privic," a woman returned, her eyes darting from John to the Puddle Jumper nervously.

"That'll do to start," John smiled, charming the older woman. "If you could just point us in the right direction Ma'am we'll be on our way."

"At the end of the street," the woman gestured behind them. "It's the last hut – the one with the veranda."

John turned, eyeing the few huts that stood between them and the chance to begin negotiating to get their people back. "Thank you," he said, motioning for everyone to fall in as he led the way forward.

Jennifer walked beside Ronon, something reassuring in the way his narrow eyed gaze assessed everyone and everything they passed.

When they got to the hut a man was already emerging. Jennifer judged him to be around fifty – old by Pegasus standards. He was quite short and there was an air of something gloomy or sad about him that Jennifer found worrying.

"Are you Privic?" John asked, keeping his tone pleasant.

"I am," Privic replied. "You must be Colonel Sheppard. Major Lorne warned us that you would come."

"Well, the major was right," John rested one hand on his P-90, giving the man an assessing look as he introduced the rest of his team. "Now I'd very much like to talk to Lorne myself, so if you'll just go and get him we can have everything sorted in time for dinner."

"I will allow you to speak to Major Lorne," Privic began, "once we have discussed the terms of his release."

"Is that right?" John drawled easily.

"I am well aware that you can remove all of your people from this planet without the need of force Colonel," Privic sighed. "We have not harmed them, nor will we. Olesia is now a peaceful settlement … we have no power beyond our ability to disable any Stargate as we see fit."

The suggestion was out there even though they had to read between the lines. Privic was threatening to shut down the Atlantis Stargate.

Rodney laughed. "Oh please, like you have the ability to do that, let alone our gate address!"

Privic smiled, a pleased with himself and somewhat secretive smile.

John grimaced. "You have the gate address?"

"Eldon is very gifted with Stargate technology Colonel," Privic explained. "As you would be aware, very few planets have been dialled from this island. In fact there have been only four. The planet you yourself sent our convicts to, your previous gate address, the planet Eldon went to, to meet Major Lorne's team, and most recently your new location." Privic smiled at Rodney. "And before you speak Doctor McKay, no we do not have the means to get through your shield, nor is this required to disable your Stargate."

"Is that possible," John stepped closer to Rodney, speaking low enough for Privic not to overhear.

"Maybe," Rodney allowed. "The shield stops matter from being reintegrated by placing a barrier less than a micron away from the event horizon. It's still an open wormhole though – transmissions, radio signals, anything that doesn't rely on physical matter, are unaffected."

"Right," John shook his head. Stepping forward again he gave Privic his game face – the one that said get out of the way because he meant business. "We'll talk," he said grimly, the unspoken 'until we hear something we don't like' clear.

"A wise decision," Privic said, clearly relieved. "While this is not a social occasion Colonel, it is traditional for the village elders to share the evening repast with our people. You will be my guests, after which there will be ample time to discuss other matters."

"How could we refuse your gracious invitation?" John quipped sarcastically.

Privic smiled. "Good. Please, follow me."

Sheppard motioned for Teyla and Rodney to lead. Jennifer hurried to get into step beside John, her expression pained. "John," she pleaded, not sure what she was really asking him to do. The idea that she was so close and yet still unable to see for herself that Evan was unharmed was unbearable.

"I know," he shot back. "I want to say screw you to this guy as much as you do Doc, but if there's even a remote chance they can shut us down like he says, we can't take the risk. Look, just play along for now. Can you do that?"

"Of course," Jenn replied unhappily. "I just … we're so close."

"You heard Privic – Lorne's fine," John reassured her. "Just hang in there."

Nodding, Jennifer glared at the back of their host, wishing just once that things could be simple!

"Major Lorne."

Evan looked up to see one of the village elders, Remar, at the cell door. Eldon looked up too, his expression falling when he saw who it was. The man wasn't there to release them – in fact, if Privic were to have a right hand 'yes' man, Remar would be it.

"Privic wished me to tell you that your people have arrived," Remar announced, his face disappearing from view as soon as he was done.

"Wait!" Evan jumped up, moving to stand at the door. "Tell me what happened!"

Remar let out a grunt of annoyance but he did come back. "Your people arrived just before nightfall. Privic convinced them of the need to talk about our situation before any discussions about your release. They attend the evening repast as we speak."

"You said 'my people'," Evan said quickly. "Who's here?"

"Colonel Sheppard introduced himself and his team, and another woman, a doctor," Remar answered grudgingly.

Jennifer! Evan held in the desire to shout out an audible 'yes' with accompanying fist pump. Without any further conversation and before Evan could ask any more questions Remar took his leave.

"This is good news, isn't it?" Eldon asked. After so many days jailed together the younger man was much more relaxed and comfortable when talking to Evan.

"It's great news," Evan corrected. "Any idea what Privic used to get Colonel Sheppard to agree to talk first?"

"My program," Eldon turned away, kicking at the wall in frustration. "I should never have created that tool!"

"You couldn't have known how Privic would use it," Evan excused. Thinking about what would make the Colonel cautious he sighed. "So I guess he's threatening to shut down our gate too." Evan looked at Eldon suddenly. "He'd be bluffing though, right?"

"Ah," Eldon avoided Evan's eyes by staring at his feet.

"Eldon," Evan warned.

"M-maybe," Eldon admitted nervously. "I didn't have time to test everything so I may have … exaggerated my early results." Eldon looked up then. "I had to convince Privic to allow me to use the tool."

"So Privic is using the exaggerated information you gave him to bargain with Colonel Sheppard, only he's bluffing but he doesn't know he's bluffing?"

"Something like that," Eldon admitted. "Theoretically it is possible the program could shut down a Stargate remotely via an open wormhole."

"So you're saying the shield wouldn't protect us?"

"If it works at all, no," Eldon said reluctantly.

"Well … this just keeps getting better and better!" Evan shot out, glaring at Eldon irritably. "Anything else you've neglected to tell me?"

"No Major," Eldon said miserably. "I'm really sorry … about all of this."

Evan sighed, relenting abruptly. There was no point – the kid had meant well. What was it they said about the road to hell and good intentions? "Don't worry about it Eldon. We'll sort something out."

"I hope so," Eldon murmured, returning to his bed and lying down wearily.

With nothing else to do, Lorne followed suit, lying on the thin, narrow mattress of his own 'bed' and staring up at the ceiling. When he'd shaped the number 16 in pebbles, the last thing Evan had been thinking was that it would actually take that long before he'd see Jennifer again. Now that he knew she was there, on Olesia, the frustration of still being locked up had him ready to climb the walls. "Soon," he reminded himself. He'd already waited so long, what were a few more hours?