Chapter 2

Rodney began to rouse. He could hear voices coming from somewhere, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying, they felt muffled and almost dreamlike. He tried to open his eyes but as light poured into them he felt intense pain shoot through his head. He tried to figure out what was going on, what the last thing to happen was before he blacked out, then he recalled the ambush that had occurred. Realising he must have been captured Rodney attempted to talk, but his mouth did not want to cooperate, well there was a first time for everything. As sensation began returning to he body, he felt the rope which bound his wrists behind his back. Well he'd definitely been captured then. Pain slowly started to coarse through his body, whoever these people were, they definitely weren't to bothered about whether or not he got injured in the process. They hadn't killed him yet though which was a positive, although the scientist was sure he could list many more negatives.

As he attempted to open his eyes for a second time, a voice spoke, "Well it's nice to finally meet you Rodney McKay of Atlantis, I believe? We've heard many stories of your people and have been searching you out for quite some time."

He looked but realised he was unable to see anything , as he was being blinded by light, "How did you know that? Who are you? And where the rest of the people I was with?" Rodney began to get very agitated and feared the worst. He recalled Jennifer being shot and couldn't help but fear for her, he had no idea how badly she had been hurt, let alone whether or not she was still alive.

The voice began to speak again, "There are many stories about you and the rest of your kind from Atlantis, we have been building up information on you all in our quest to find you. Who we are is none of your concern, neither is the rest of your group. It is your own well being that you should be concerned about for the moment. We require some assistance, and realised that your people were unlikely to give it to us willingly, so we decided that our best course of action was to bring you here somewhat more forcibly." Whomever this person was, they were very calm and collected, but other than that Rodney could discern nothing about them.

"Nice to know that I'm appreciated within the galaxy, although much as I'm enjoying all this flattery, what makes you think that I would help you?" Rodney replied with a sneer. Suddenly there was a sharp pain on the side of his face. Well that certainly hadn't helped his headache, maybe sarcasm wasn't the best way to talk to these people. He didn't care though, his thoughts were just on Jennifer. Why had he left the rest of the team, maybe he could have protected her, or possibly have even avoided any of this occurring in the first place.

"Was that an incentive for you? We can certainly do a lot more damage than that, we have many methods for getting people to do as we ask. Anyway we have acquired some ancient technology, however it is currently not functioning correctly, and as you have the expertise, we require you to fix it for us." The man behind the voice had become temporarily agitated by Rodney, before becoming calm again.

In an attempt to figure out what was going on , the scientist decided he should try and appear at least a little cooperative, "Well as much as all the stories you've heard about me are probably true, I can't fix something I haven't even seen yet. And I won't necessarily be able to fix it even then, even I have my limits, brilliant as I am." Even in a situation like this Rodney couldn't help but be a little arrogant, it seemed it was ingrained into him no matter how hard people tried to change him.

The voice yelled, " Jerome, bring the equipment here right away," and Rodney heard some scurrying.

I few moments he heard Jerome return with the technology. They placed it in front of him and untied the rope which bound his hands together, as well as moving the light enabling him to be able to see once more. He felt something like a knife being pressed against the side of his throat, as the voice threatened, " One attempt at anything stupid, and I won't hesitate to use it."

Rodney felt himself tense up as fear shot through him like a jolt of electricity. Deciding it was wise to listen to his captors, he began to take in his surroundings whilst waiting for his eyes to gain proper focus. He saw that he was in a dark stone room with a large metal door which was currently open. It reminded him of an old war bunker, having a similar feel inside to one he had visited as a child. From what he could see there was nothing else in the room. His eyes caught focus of the piece of technology in front of him. He stood up to look and noticed that it resembled a satellite, and to the side of it was a control panel. It looked quite worn as if it had been sitting disused and neglected for some time. He began to study the control panel which he saw was on, and saw that all of it was written in ancient. He began to translate in his mind and read through the specs which he had managed to find. After a few moments of reading he suddenly came to realise what this technology was.

He began yelling, " You cannot seriously expect me to fix this! This is a weapon designed for mass destruction, it has the capability to cause massive destruction to a planet. You were right about my people not wanting to help, we don't go around wiping people out!" Scared as he was he knew that he had to go against this, and put others before himself for a change.

At that moment Rodney was grabbed from behind and shoved hard into the wall causing him to be winded. He again felt the knife on his cheek before the voice returned, "You are in no position to tell us what you are not going to do. You will do it, no matter what it takes, and just to show I'm serious…" His captor pressed the knife into his cheek, drawing blood and causing Rodney to yell out in pain, before continuing, "Take him away to his cell."

Some form of sack was yanked over his head before he was roughly pulled along by whom he could only assume was Jerome. As they walked he began contemplating what he was going to do. Fear coursed through him, and wondered how he was going to get through this. He really needed John there right now, he'd be able to sort them out and come up with a master plan, but by himself he was screwed.

Before he knew it they had stopped walking. He heard the door open, before the sack was pulled off his head. Rodney was shoved hard into the room, tripping, and heard the door slam shut before hitting his head on something solid and blacking out once again.

A/N-Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and those on the Mckeller thread for helping me out. Reviews are more than welcome, I am looking to improve my writing so feel free to make suggestions. I will be away for the next week so it will probably be a couple of weeks before there is another update.