Chapter 5

The planet Elizabeth, SGA-2 and Chuck found themselves on the moment they stepped through the gate was shrouded in darkness. As they had come prepared for any eventuality, they quickly put on their night vision goggles. Well, that is: everyone except Elizabeth. With a frown she looked at the five men surrounding her like an honour guard.

"Surely it's not that dark?" she asked of them, wondering why they were all wearing their goggles. Though the light was dim, she could see quite clearly. It was no darker than the average full moon night on earth.

"It's dark, all right," one of Lorne's men, the scientist Parish, told her. She was not overly fond of the hyper-active man and she was not even sure why Lorne had requested the scientist to be on his team, seeing as every report had indicated that the two of them had not gotten on when they had been on the planet where they had found Ronon.

Looking around her at the starlit field Elizabeth realised why she was able to see and they not: those damn nanites. "Well, I'm sure John will be happy with the news," she muttered to herself. As if she really needed another reason to be worried about the babies she carried.

"Ma'am?" Lorne asked in that formal way of his and she smiled at him in answer. No need to freak him out even more than he already was. As she had suspected, the entire SGA-2 had not been happy with the knowledge that they were to escort her through the gate. They had not balked at the order, but she could see they were considering their fate when they got back to Atlantis. Well, they were marines: they could tough it out.

"Any life-signs?" she asked in reply, indicating the LSR (it used to be Life-Signs Detector, until someone pointed out the unfortunate abbreviation; now they referred to it as a Life-Signs Reader) Lorne was holding. In the classic way the teams had of simultaneously holding the P-90 and the LSR, Lorne looked like a clown trying unsuccessfully to juggle. The P-90 really did not leave one a free hand to use.

Lorne turned a couple of times as he tried to get his bearings. With her nanite-enhanced vision she could see there were no visible landmarks and she knew they would be strongly relying on the LSR to get them back to the gate. The entire area around the gate was completely bereft of any vegetation or landmarks. It was merely a flat expanse of dark rock that seemed to go on forever in every direction. It was perhaps one of the scariest places she had ever seen.

"There's a number of blips in that direction," Lorne finally replied as he stood facing back the way they had come. Elizabeth also turned to look in the direction he was looking, but even with her enhanced vision she couldn't see any people.

"Exactly what do you mean by 'a number of blips'?" she asked the team leader of SGA-2. She knew Lorne as well as most of the other team leaders, yet she did not know him well enough to be familiar with his idea of 'a number of blips.'

Lorne leaned over slightly so she could see the LSR he was holding in his one hand; looking slightly ridiculous. "The life signs are too far away for the LSR to show every individual," he explained.

"So there could be five or there could be twenty," Elizabeth clarified and Lorne looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Well, I've also found a number of rock formations that emit energy readings comparable to those the LSR reads as life signs," Parish piped up and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Yes, I've read the report," she informed him. Then she tilted her head slightly in the direction of 'the number of blips.' "But let's go find out if these blips aren't the people we've been expecting," she informed him. Years ago she had learned the trick of giving an order that sounded like a suggestion, but wasn't. Nobody ever questioned those suggestions.

"My money is on those being people, not rocks," Chuck piped up behind her as they set out in the direction indicated on the LSR. Lorne held the small device, provided by the puddle jumper, in front of him like an ancient relic. Well, at least the 'ancient' part of it was correct. But these past few years she, and most of the Atlanteans, has been disillusioned in their awe towards the Ancients. Once, Elizabeth had dreamt of nothing so much as meeting the people that had built the stargates. Now, with a few years and an equal amount of bad meetings with them, she hoped never to lay eyes on them again. Though they were technologically advanced, they were arrogant and enormously stuck-up on their own importance.

"I wouldn't take that bet," Lorne replied. "One of those blips just detached themselves from the rest and is heading this way."

With those words, the men surrounding Elizabeth became even more alert. With the exception of Lorne, who was holding the LSR, everyone had their P-90's firmly gripped in both hands and was walking in that weird crab-like way she knew they had when they tried to make themselves smaller targets. She, on the other hand, did not carry a gun. Instead she walked in the centre of the group with head held high. With her newly discovered enhanced vision, she was starting to make out the shape of the person coming their way. Though the person was too far away to determine anything about them, she was sure it was a woman. The way the person walked reminded her of the way Teyla walked: like a warrior, but a warrior with hips.

After a while even the men were able to see the figure approaching them, and by then Elizabeth was sure it was a woman. Another minute brought the Atlanteans and the woman together. Both the Atlantean party and the woman stopped a few feet away from each other, boldly assessing one another. From her spot in the middle of the five men, Elizabeth could clearly see the woman, but knew the other's view of her was slightly obstructed. Until Lorne and his team was sure the stranger wasn't a threat, that would be the way it stayed, she knew.

The woman opposite the group was slightly older than Elizabeth, perhaps in her early forties, with wide shoulders and an overall look of a female Viking warrior.

"Ella Dex?" Elizabeth finally asked; unwilling to let the silence continue any longer.

The woman shook her head. "My name is Farna Mase," she replied. She was looking directly at Elizabeth as she spoke. "You were told Ella would only speak to you or Ronon," she accused. "You are Doctor Weir, aren't you?"

Elizabeth lowered her chin, unwilling to let this Amazon intimidate her. "I am Elizabeth Weir, yes," she informed Farna. "As it is quite obvious that Ella did not deem it important enough to come alone to this meeting, it would seem only fair that I bring my own escort as well," she loftily told her. She would be damned if this woman would dictate the terms of this meeting. As Ronon's sister, Elizabeth was willing to give Ella the benefit of the doubt, but this woman was merely annoying her.

Instead of continuing to look formidable, Farna suddenly smiled. "Draven's pet told us you were not easy to manipulate," she informed the group at large and Elizabeth wondered at the peculiar phrase referring to Draven Navac. She had assumed these people would be friends of his, but this woman did not seem to be overly fond of the leader of The Forty. With the same smile she held out her hands towards Elizabeth. Cradled within it was a weapon like the one Ronon carried. "Ella wishes you to have this," she announced.

This was not what Elizabeth had had in mind when they had come here. With some trepidation she looked at the gun, then at Farna. Her eyes then quickly travelled to the men around her, only to find all of them looking back at her. When her eyes met Lorne's he merely shrugged. Obviously the next move was hers.

Stepping out from between the two men in front of her, Lorne and his second in command, Lieutenant Harold Sherman – both of whom stepped slightly aside and mostly lowered their guns – she reached out and took the weapon from the large, strong woman. "Thank you," she said and inclined her head slightly. "But we didn't come here to be bribed," she added for good measure.

Farna laughed: a loud and booming laugh that had her throwing her head back in mirth. When she had finished she turned and gestured for them to follow. "Come, Ella will like you," she added by way of an invitation. And so the seven of them, SGA-2, Elizabeth, Lorne and Farna, set off in the direction from which the other woman had come. The trek took another half an hour, but finally the terrain started to offer a few scattered boulders. It was on one of these large boulders that they found the rest of the group waiting for them. At the front was another woman, this one hardly more than a girl and Elizabeth immediately knew her to be Ella Dex. Though she didn't resemble Ronon at all, she had the same way of looking at one as did her brother. Also, she had a similar head of dreadlocks. Not that Ronon still wore his dreads. The woman was small and delicate, with large dark eyes and dark hair and a number of tattoos on her neck and hands. Behind her sat four men; all of them sporting the tattooed insignia Elizabeth had come to know on their necks. If Ella was the epitome of small delicacy, they were the epitome of large and intimidating. Short: they resembled most of the other Satedan men Elizabeth had ever met.

Stepping out behind the men and Farna, Elizabeth walked up to Ella and slightly inclined her head. "You wished to see me?" she began; tired of being manipulated and tested.

Ella smiled slightly as she stood up. She reminded Elizabeth of Sitnalta, only darker. "I am surprised they allowed you off Lantea in your condition," she said as she indicated Elizabeth's slightly rounded belly.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, annoyed. She had been sure the pregnancy hardly showed when she had left, especially with the BDU's she was wearing. "Ronon was not available," she informed their hostess. "Believe me, the only reason we are here is because of our respect for your brother," she firmly added.

Ella nodded; looking sad. "Yes, I know," she replied. She looked behind her at her team, then at Elizabeth and hers. Then she sighed. "My team and I – well, Jackon and my team, really – wish to join you on Atlantis," she began and Elizabeth wondered which of the men Jackon were. "But first we need to tell you something. Something about the Devil."

Author's note: At this stage I would like to thank Ella Dex, the writer and not the character, for lending me...well...Ella Dex. Reading her story I really loved the character she created to be Ronon's sister and she was graceful enough to allow me to use her. Though I will only use the basic character, anyone that wants to read where I got her can, look up Ella Dex on Fanfiction. The moment where Ronon and Ella meet for the first time in years is really a powerful moment, worth reading. Thanks again, Ella!