Chapter 9

Giving in to the inevitable, Elizabeth sat down on the rock next to Ella. Around them their bodyguards spread out while trying to keep an eye on both women as well as each other. Elizabeth ignored them. As far as she could see both entourages were suspicious for no good reason. The Atlanteans were careful, because they would not allow anything to happen to their Commander's wife and the Satedans were careful, because it seemed they had been betrayed once before.

"It had seemed like such a good idea when the Devil had spoken of it first," Ella was telling her tale. Though Elizabeth was listening carefully, she did spare some part of her mind to consider the young woman. She was very pretty and even among the peculiar people Elizabeth had met these past few years she seemed exotic. She had large almond shaped eyes and full lips. Her hair was a soft shade of brown, but tangled into dreads. Her dress was obviously that of a warrior and covered her from chin to toe. Her arms were bare, though, and very slender. On her hip, like all the rest of her team, she wore one of those guns Ronon had and that she had given Elizabeth. Strapped to her back was a huge sword.

"All of you knew the Devil?" Elizabeth asked. Some people would merely tell a tale, but some needed some prompting. Ella seemed like one of those who needed a hand. This didn't appear to be a vanity thing, but because the tale itself seemed to upset her.

"Yes, we all know him," she corrected. Then she indicated one of the men. "Jackon used to be on his team," she added and Elizabeth took a moment to glance at the man. At this moment he wasn't a threat and Elizabeth turned her attention back to Ella. "The idea was to find a safe place to evacuate to before the Wraith came."

"Wait, the Devil is Satedan?" Elizabeth interrupted as everything Ella had said suddenly fell into place. The cryptic message from the future O'Neill had given them had only mentioned 'the Devil'. Up to now they had assumed it was someone from a race they had not encountered before. Why else call him that if they had not known who he was?

"We're all Satedan," Ella answered with a frown. Obviously she did not understand Elizabeth's confusion. But the young woman shook her head. "But Ronon would not believe him. See, Ronon knew him from before. A few years before the Devil warned us the Wraith were coming, Ronon's friend, Melena, was raped," she continued. Elizabeth knew some of the story of Ronon's life on Sateda, but he had never mentioned something like this. "The man was one of the Devils' men and so nothing came of it. The Devil self covered it up."

"I can't imagine Ronon would leave something like this just like that," Elizabeth frowned. Ronon had a very strong sense of justice – it was also a very permanent sort of justice. The young woman shook her head and dreads flew around her head.

"He didn't. But by that time he no longer trusted the Devil and he asked to be assigned to another squad. He wanted me to go with him, but in spite of everything I believed it was a good idea to join the Forty." Shame as well as anger warred for dominance on her face and in the end Ella merely sighed. "I was much younger then."

Elizabeth wanted to smile at the statement. The girl could not be much older than twenty-five. But then something she had said occurred to Elizabeth.

"The Devil is the one who sent the Forty to find a place of safety?" she asked; frowning. If these people knew the man, then perhaps they could avert the catastrophe that seemed to loom over Atlantis.

Ella frowned. "He's the leader of the Forty, Draven Navac," she replied. "I thought you understood that?"

Elizabeth drew a deep breath and looked back at her team. She knew what they must be thinking and she wished she did not need to ask the question that burned in her mind. But this was SGA-2. They would not easily interrupt her conversation – unlike the entire SGA-1. She looked back at Ella.

"We didn't know," she told her. "Ronon never mentioned it," she gently tried to get to the bottom of things. She really liked Ronon, but she really hoped he had not purposely kept something as important as this from her and the rest of Atlantis.

Once more Ella shook her head and a dreadlock nearly hit Elizabeth in the face. The young woman seemed to do everything to the extreme. "Ronon? No, he wouldn't have known," she replied and mentally Elizabeth sighed. "We named him 'the Devil' after he blew up an entire Wraith ship." Ella looked away for a moment. "But a while back we discovered he was working for somebody else, someone beyond the Satedan people." She looked back at Elizabeth. "This person had warned the Devil that the Wraith was coming, but had told him it would be at least a year before they arrived. But just after the Forty left, the Wraith attacked. Some of us had confronted the Devil about it, but he remains loyal to this person. He says he isn't, but I remember the story Ronon told me about Melena. And Jackon told us Draven would sometimes disappear through the stargate for a few hours without telling them where he was going."

Elizabeth considered this. She knew how important it was for a team to trust their leader and if one of Draven's own team left him, she needed to take note of that. But then again, Jackon might have said that for his own reasons – reasons she could not trust. It seemed, either way, as if Draven Navac was not to be trusted.

"Doctor Weir," Lorne suddenly drew her attention.

"Yes, Major," she said as she looked around at him. He looked apprehensive.

"The LSR has picked up a number of life signs headed this way," he informed her.

"You were told to come alone!" Ella angrily yelled as she leapt up. Her gun had appeared in her hand and she was backing up towards her group of Satedans. With deliberate care she aimed her gun at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth also stood up, but she merely frowned at the young woman. She was sure Ella was definitely leaving something out of her tale if she was this skittish. "I'm as surprised as you are that we've picked up life signs," she informed Ella. The rest of Ella's team trained their weapons on SGA-2.

"I knew this was a bad idea," she spat. Lorne tried to step in front of Elizabeth, but she held up her hand to hold him off. Fortunately he heeded her command. She knew one mistake now could result in someone getting hurt or killed.

"I will trust you that you didn't invite someone to ambush us if you can trust me the same way," she seriously told Ella. For a very long minute the two women merely stood staring at one another. Then Ella nodded and immediately her team retrained their weapons. This time they were pointed in the direction of the approaching blips. After glancing at Elizabeth, Lorne turned his weapon in the same direction and the rest of SGA-2 and Chuck followed suit. Elizabeth glanced down at the weapon she held in her hand and for a moment she was tempted to raise it along with all the rest of the people. But then she lowered it so it hung by her side. It was neither vanity nor any sense of righteousness that made her lower it: she had no idea how to use it and would probably just end up shooting the wrong person. She would have to make a point of it to learn. Once she might have thought most differences could be solved with negotiations. Not anymore.

In the end it was she that first spotted the group of people approaching. "It's okay," she told the nervous soldiers around her. "It's John and his team," she informed them.

Once more Lorne glanced sideways at her, but she ignored him. Let him think what he will. She did look over towards Ella. "Ronon is with them," she told the young woman. She frowned when Ella suddenly looked nervous, though. "What's wrong?" she asked. Life in the Pegasus Galaxy was a great adventure, but it had also been a great teacher. Elizabeth immediately suspected Ella had withheld some vital part of information of that perhaps she was not, in fact, Ronon's sister. But the way Ella suddenly started fidgeting with her hair and clothes made her smile, instead. "How long has it been since you've seen him?"

Ella scowled – an expression that reminded her of Ronon. "Since before the Satedan world was destroyed," she answered. Elizabeth calculated it must be almost twelve years. Obviously the girl looked younger than she appeared, for nobody would take a fourteen year old girl into battle.

Within a minute SGA-1 reached them with John in the front. Elizabeth had known he would not be impressed by her leaving Atlantis and she was ready for any signs of anger from him. But he surprised her by walking up to her and, with an expression of concern, took her in his arms. Silently they embraced for a few moments before stepping back and looking at one another. Elizabeth lowered her chin slightly as she tried to access her husband. "I thought you'd be angry with me," she softly told him. He glared at her, but after a moment he inclined his head to one side. As she followed his gaze she saw Ronon and Ella silently standing cross from one another.

"I guess I would have done the same thing," John replied. He stood close beside her and finally his eyes fell on the weapon she was holding. He peered at her as he whispered: "You don't suppose I could..."

She glanced at the gun in her hand. Then she sweetly leaned over and whispered back: "Yeah, I suppose you could teach me how to shoot this thing."

"I have two more crates I wish to give to the people of Atlantis," Ella finally spoke. "In return my team and I request permission to join you in the city of the ancestors." Though she was referring to the weapon in Elizabeth's hand, she was still looking at Ronon. Though by all appearances that sentence seemed to be a non sequitor, Elizabeth realised she understood where it had come from. Ronon could be very intimidating and Ella must wonder if he would not simply refuse to allow her to come to Atlantis. The gift of the weapons was an awkward attempt at bribing Elizabeth and the rest of those who might overrule her brother.

By now the rest of SGA-1 and SGA-2 had gathered around Elizabeth and John while warily looking at Ronon and Ella.

"You left," Ronon said; completely ignoring the guns and the bribe and Elizabeth knew she would not push the issue if he refused Ella permission. At that moment, though she liked the wild young woman, Elizabeth's loyalty lay with Ronon. That did not mean that, should he not have a good reason to show Ella away, she would not at least speak to Ronon about it in private later. She would probably get John to speak to him about letting his sister join Atlantis as well. And probably Teyla. The two of them, Ronon and Teyla, were quite obviously in love even if both of them were working hard at trying to deny it. in fact, in many ways they reminded her of her own relationship with John before they had settled their differences.

"And you stayed," Ella answered, making Elizabeth wonder if perhaps they hadn't had a fight about this before Ella had left with the Forty. It seemed like something these two people would fight about.

"I thought I would never see you again," Ronon said and Elizabeth could hear a tightness in his voice she had never heard before. She recognised it, though, as a deep emotion he tried to keep from surfacing. Whether they had fought twelve years ago no longer seemed to matter and she could just imagine the loneliness and heartache Ronon must have suffered. The Wraith had attacked Sateda before the Forty could return and for long he had believed he was the only one that had survived the attack. When he had heard that at least three hundred of his people had survived, he must have realised at least some of the Forty would be alive as well and he had probably been quietly hoping of seeing his sister again one day. No wonder he was emotional.

"And for years I thought you were dead," she shot back. Her voice was level, but from where she stood, Elizabeth could see the woman's face while Ronon's back was turned towards her. Ella seemed on the verge of tears. And then, suddenly, Ronon stepped forward and embraced his sister. With some surprise on her face Ella wrapped her arms around her brother and now Ronon had her off her feet and was swinging her around in a circle. When he finally put her down she staggered slightly, but he steadied her. His face was beaming with joy, but Elizabeth could see the evidence of tears held back. In the dark of the planet she guessed she was probably the only one to see it.

"John, Teyla, Elizabeth, McKay, this is my little sister!" he proudly exclaimed while he still held her. Elizabeth smiled.

"Yes, we've met," she gently told him. And then everyone suddenly seemed to be talking at once. The Satedans were being introduced and the Lanteans were congratulating Ronon and all around Elizabeth chaos – happy chaos – reigned. Except for one person, she realised as her gaze travelled over the group. Of all the people there it was only Elizabeth and Teyla that stood slightly apart and the other woman had the strangest expression on her face. As she saw Elizabeth looking at her, though, she suddenly smiled and joined the happy group. Elizabeth did not envy her position. It would probably be much easier to deny her feelings for Ronon if Teyla could convince herself he was just a large, angry warrior. But she had noticed Teyla would get that same look on her face whenever Ronon unwittingly revealed his softer side. And somehow Elizabeth suspected there was a deep, emotionally wonderful side to the big warrior. She only hoped they got it sorted out before it caused either one of them too much problems. She needed them both on SGA-1. She also needed to tell them about what Ella had told her earlier. The truth was: she needed them to help her save Atlantis from the fate that loomed less than a two years into the future. And now they knew who the Devil was.