Three

Mh. They're already halfway up to the rendezvous point and still Simmons hasn't put on his usual "I may look like I'm a model soldier, but deep down I don't give shit about your orders."-face. In fact, for the first time since rescuing Laura from Alton, it feels like the guy walking beside him hasn't put on any mask at all. Only now he realizes why he always just knew that Simmons didn't give him any respect. Every time he'd looked at the Lieutenant, he'd seen the guy put on a mask, as if he himself didn't qualify for being allowed to see the real Simmons.

God, why do the sessions with Obanashi have to be compulsory? It feels like the shrink is starting to rub off on him. It's been three months since Alton took Laura and Keller hostage, and he's really over it. Honestly. Sure, the feeling of secretly wishing Laura would stay in Atlantis and not go off-world again even though it means that he has to deal with her cabin fever at one point hasn't fully dissipated, but really… that's got nothing to do with the whole incident. And the fact that he still wakes up in the middle of the night just because he has to make sure that she's still there is absolutely normal as well. He used to do that even before she was taken hostage. Well… not as often, granted… but…

"By the way… congratulations, boss." A little startled, he looks beside him. Meyers has come up. He raises an eyebrow. "The new I.O.A.-rules." Ah, right. So at least one of his team members had actually read the memo. And now he knows what else has been bugging him about Simmons: Not a word about this from the Lieutenant. He would have expected at least some aside or a one-liner, but… nothing. He looks to his other side, where Simmons just keeps on walking. There isn't even a look on his face that says "The only reason I don't bitch about this is that you're still the guy who can fire me." Inwardly shrugging he turns back to Meyers.

"Thanks, Sergeant. But the honor isn't mine alone. In fact… I was just the guy who dug through tons of paperwork. And not even that alone." Well, at least not the last part of it. He still remembers very vividly how Laura and he burned the midnight oil repeatedly and once or twice ended up throwing paper balls at each other in frustration… and once or twice… better not think about it now.

"Still… people owe you one." Well… people… and Will and Jessica Meyers. Living together in Atlantis would have been much more difficult if there hadn't been the new rules, even being married. In fact, the transfer had only been possible, because Mr. Woolsey had gone head to head with a few members of the I.O.A., convincing them that transferring a few spouses as a test run to see if having a stable relationship really posed such a threat to people's performance would be a good idea. If he ever figures out how to circumvent having to tell Woolsey that he overheard one of his conversations with Colonel Sheppard, he'll certainly thank Woolsey for taking this upon him for the Atlantis crew.

"No, they owe Mr. Woolsey and Colonel Sheppard." What… still nothing from Simmons? What's the matter with the kid; he wonders and throws Meyers a look. The Sergeant understands immediately and simply shrugs his shoulders. Something's up with the kid and…

"Who owes me and Mr. Woolsey?" Sheppard barges in, but before he can answer, Rodney beats him to it.

"All the lovebirds in Atlantis who now can come out of their dark corners." It does sound a little… grumpy. Someone got up on the wrong side of bed? Simmons seems to become a little uncomfortable, so he just signals him with a jerk of his head to fall back and join Teyla and McPherson at the rear of their group. The Lieutenant immediately obeys him.

Now it's Ronon's turn to speak up. "You're saying that just 'cause you don't have someone to share one of those dark corners with you." Personally… he agrees with that. And did the Keller-Dex-McKay-triangle perhaps come to a conclusion?

McKay, though, just gives a humorless little laugh. "Oh, and how would you know, Tarzan?" Yep, sounds a lot like Dr. Keller finally made a decision, and not in favor of Rodney McKay. As for himself, he has decided to keep out of this, because Ronon and Rodney are far better at providing entertainment on this rather long walk from the 'Gate to the rendezvous point than anything from him could possibly be.

"Common knowledge." Ouch.

Rodney doesn't seem too amused about this, either. "Hey, at least I can…"

"You may want to wait with whatever you were about to say, Rodney, because there is our rendezvous point.", Teyla suddenly interrupts him with a voice that sounds just a tad irritated, and he wonders if something is bothering her. He should probably take her aside in a quiet moment and ask. But just not right now, because she's right.

In front of them, there's a little village consisting of houses built around a square, looking a little Celtic. The only thing standing out is a black obelisk in the middle. Three women are already waiting for them a few feet away from the village's borders, all clothed with dresses that look roughly medieval. Neither Ronon nor Teyla could tell them much about this planet, because neither of them has had much contact with the inhabitants before. All had been very brief exchanges, and so they don't really know what to expect.

As the women come to stand in front of them, they eye them warily. After a few seconds that they obviously need to reorient themselves, they… seem to ignore them and bow down and the one in the middle – a middle-aged dark-haired woman with quite a commanding presence – says: "Welcome to our village, sirra. I am Morigan and these are Khara and Oonagh." From where she's looking at, it's quite clear that she doesn't mean Sheppard. She means Teyla. Oookay…

Teyla, diplomatic as ever, manages to be faster than Sheppard and answers: "I thank you for your welcome. May I introduce my companions and myself to you?"

The leader just gives them another glance, looking a lot like sizing them up and then replies: "It is not custom among our people for a leader to introduce her escort, but please do so if you wish." Oh. Okay. Obviously… they just stumbled over a society where women are automatically supposed to be leaders. And did Sheppard just mumble: "Should have sent Teldy's team."?

Teyla has now taken a step forward, still trying to counter her opposite's sternness with friendliness and diplomacy. "Thank you very much for your kindness." The woman's demeanor doesn't change much. This certainly doesn't bode well. Automatically he changes his stance just a little, tightens the grip on his P90 just a little more… all the little things he does almost unconsciously when he has the feeling that something might go wrong.

Teyla now starts introducing every one of them, but when she mentions that Colonel Sheppard is their group's leader and will therefore conduct all talks and negotiations for them, Morigan says: "We will only do business with you. Our traditions and rules do not allow us any differently." At this Rodney immediately wants to barge in, but Sheppard is fast enough to stamp on his foot and shut him up. The expression on Rodney's face is funny enough that he has to look somewhere else immediately to keep up his usual mission face.

Which is why he registers the very brief wordless exchange between Teyla and Sheppard. After only a few seconds, Teyla turns back to Morigan and says in the tone of voice he recognizes as her means to calm down her opposite: "We respect this. I will, however, have to confer with Colonel Sheppard during our stay. We hope it will pose no problem for you to allow him to be present at all times." He's a little amazed – and a little envious – at how much Teyla and Sheppard obviously can communicate with just a short look and a nearly invisible nod. The only other people he has seen communicating like this with each other are Thomas Moore and Laura Greenspan, back in a different life. And recently Thomas Moore and Maureen Reece. Not even Laura and he know each other well enough to need so little effort to understand each other.

Their welcome committee, however, doesn't look exactly pleased, but in the end, all three of them nod their heads. Phew. He would have hated to abort this mission already. Rodney would have fretted and whined all the way back, because the sole reason for coming to this planet had been that he'd found something interesting in one of the Ancient data bases on Atlantis and had wanted to check it out.

He also hopes that they'll get done fast with this because he still doesn't see any real reason why Woolsey has ordered his team to go along with Sheppard's. He'd been told that after other teams' recent encounters of the unpleasant kind on planets they had as little information about as about this planet, even Sheppard had to take a back-up team with him, but honestly… these people might be not exactly warm and friendly – at least not yet – but they really don't look like they could pose a threat. But then again… Hamrash and his traders hadn't seemed like posing a threat either and still Laura nearly hadn't made it back from that mission, a little suspicious voice whispers in the back of his mind.

But anyway… they are finally being led into the village, which hopefully means that Rodney will get closer to discovering that Ancient device he's very obviously eager to find. Maybe that'll also keep him from throwing dagger looks in Ronon's direction. He hopes that Colonel Sheppard knows what's going on between Ronon and Rodney and has found a strategy to deal with it, because he sure as hell wouldn't be able to tolerate such a friction in his team for long. Inwardly he sighs, because that brings him back to the fact that he still needs to find out what exactly is up with Simmons.

But not right now. Right now, he needs to keep his eyes open for possible trouble and on his own people. Both Simmons and McPherson aren't really used to strictly diplomatic and scientific missions yet and both look a tad too wound up… like two coiled springs ready to snap at any given moment. In the long run, that might lead to problems if one of the locals only so much as looks at them the wrong way at the wrong time. He knows that look quite well, having felt like this, on his own first few missions.

As they come to stand beside the obelisk in the middle of the village, he suddenly feels the familiar tug he always feels with Ancient technology nearby. Back in Atlantis he's so used to it that most of the time he doesn't even register it, and when they encounter Ancient technology on missions it's usually inactive… but somewhere around here one of the Ancients' toys is sitting and active. He throws a short look towards Rodney who already looks like a Golden Retriever on Speed, and he's sure the scientist has snuck a look at his equipment, because only natural ATA gene carriers can sense Ancient technology. Or so he's been told.

And another look goes towards Sergeant McPherson, the only other ATA gene carrier on his team. He should have felt something, too, and for him it should be much more unfamiliar. But the Sergeant doesn't let on anything, just radiates off the kind of wired alertness he's always displaying on a mission.

While Teyla is getting a short introduction on the village, he's devoting part of his attention to the surroundings. All around the square, people are standing in little groups, eyeing them warily and whispering among themselves. He takes another look around… and realizes that most of the people standing around are women. The few men that he sees are hurrying from one house to another, obviously keen on being invisible… servants, obviously. Yep, definitely a matriarchal society they stumbled upon.

He checks on his people again. Meyers has acquired a stance that looks somewhat between relaxed and on guard, with the P90 clipped to his vest and his arms resting on it. McPherson looks as inscrutable as ever, and Simmons… Simons looks like he could use a break. That guy's totally wound up, like something is bothering him. He wants to sigh. Is he really that old that he starts lacking sympathy for officers fresh out of the Academy who never had to deal with real military life before? Or is he starting to let his personal dislike of certain parts of the Lieutenant's attitude get the better of him? He really should…

"Rodney!" What the…? Obviously, McKay couldn't contain his impatience anymore and has decided to start wandering around and scanning the area, totally ignoring the fact that he's supposed to do as the village's men are doing, and Sheppard has just hissed at him to stop it. Ronon even went so far as to step right in his way… and suddenly he sees Rodney stumbling backwards, tries to sidestep him with a suppressed curse and… bumps into something very solid. The last thing he consciously registers is feeling like just having been hit by a truck. Then merciful oblivion surrounds him.

A/N: Oops, cliffhanger... I didn't even realize that when writing it. But lucky for you, mac could already beta the next chapter :D So maybe you won't have to wait too long for it ;)