Author Note: Thanks for all the favorites and subsriptions guys! Please review if you have ANY questions, or constructive critisisims, or even if you just feel like reviewing ;)
Disclaimer: I only own Katerina and the events surrounding her!
As Sheppard, Teyla, Rodney and Ronon stepped out the Stargate, the first thing they saw was a snarling white tiger at the edge of the forest.
The whole team had guns pointing at the creature within milliseconds.
"I thought you said they were friendly." Sheppard hissed to Rodney. The stargate was in the middle of a large field ringed by what looked like large spruce trees, with a mid-sized, extremely over-grown trail leading away into the distance
"Yeah well the last transmission from this planet was from over 2,000 years ago, so don't blame me!" He hissed back.
The cat lowered its lips, and slowly walked towards the explorers.
"Check the life-signs detector. See if its… masters are anywhere nearby." Sheppard told Rodney, keeping his gun levelled at the cat. It seemed only interested in Ronon, tilting its head in curiosity at the dreadlocked man, making sounds like it was trying to talk.
Teyla gestured with her gun to the cat. "You know… her? Him?"
Ronon shook his head, his laser gun steady. "It was four years ago. I have no idea."
The cat gave up on trying to talk, and gestured with its big head as if to say 'follow me,' and headed back towards the over-grown trail, picking up a mouthful of fabric on its way back into the tree line.
"I'm not getting anything on the detector."
"That's not good" Sighed Sheppard. "Alright, follow the cat."
~~~
They followed the tiger down the trail, the only sounds coming from the twigs the humans broke, and Rodney's constant "Not good. Nooooooot good," mutterings at the empty life-signs detector.
The cat knocked aside most of the undergrowth as it made its way along, but Ronon and Sheppard had their knives out the hack some of the more stubborn shrubbery away.
The trail ended in a large clearing, with a mountain range at the back, forest surrounding the other three sides. The village in between the mountains and the forest was in ruins, each house a mess of charred wood and tangled weeds.
"Well crap." Said Sheppard. The tiger turned and looked at them, seeming quite small in the setting of tall mountains in the back, burned and destroyed buildings in the mid ground. Small, considering its belly was about level with Rodney's shoulders.
"I'm pretty sure they kept the place better when I was here." Said Ronon.
The cat stood up, and made its way into the forest to the left, not bothering to look back.
Teyla was about to follow the huge cat, when Ronon put a hand on her shoulder.
"Let it go. It was probably left with instructions to take the next group of people who came through the 'gate to the town."
"So it's just going to live in the wild now? We could take it back; see if we could learn anything about its kind."
The tiger, who was barely visible in the trees by now, snarled loudly.
"Well, now we know what it thinks about THAT idea." Said Rodney absentmindedly as he fiddled with the detector.
"Wraith, you think?" Asked Sheppard, poking the burnt wood with his gun.
"That, or Genii, maybe?" Teyla wondered, looking around
Sheppard shook his head. "If it was just Genii, then why didn't their guard... cats take care of them?"
"It would have to have been space ships." Rodney said, as he finally got the detector to do what he wanted to. "Definitely Wraith energy signatures
"Can we go now?" Asked Ronon, bored.
"Without saying hello to an old friend? Ronon, I thought your manners were better than that." Said a voice from the forest.
Ronon looked extremely confused, until he saw the girl with long black hair wearing loose black pants and a pale brown tunic with leather bracers on her arms emerging from the forest. She was about five feet eight inches. He black hair hung all the way to her waist, framing her slender body and brilliant blue eyes that were set in a very pale face.
"Katerina?" The girl leaned on a tree and nodded, looking over the rest of the team who now all had guns pointed at her (Ronon excepted).
Ronon gestured at the girl. "Katerina, this is Sheppard, Teyla, and Rodney."
"I'd say nice to meet you, but…" Sheppard looked around as he lowered his gun, the others doing the same.
"Yup. Official reports about Selania say that everything was completely destroyed, cats and all, and there was nothing left."
"Selania? This city?" Asked Teyla
Katerina was about to reply, when Rodney cut her off.
"Not quite, according to the Ancient's computer, that's the name of the planet." Katerina frowned at the interruption, but nodded.
"Almost two years ago. I've been alone ever since."
"You and the cat." Said Ronon, and a weird look crossed Katerina's face for a second.
"Me and the cat."
"You know her?"
"She was the one who took care of me when I came through their 'gate with four, no, five broken bones." Ronon said to Weir's question. They were by the door of the medical room, watching Doctor Beckett making a fuss over his new patient, take blood samples and asking her if she had any pains here or there, to which she always responded she'd never been sick a day in her life and suspected that wouldn't change. Saying that as a doctor herself, she would know. She scowled as Beckett shoved another needle in her arm, tapping her fingers on the edge of the bed impatiently.
"What do you know about her?" Weir wanted to know, tapping her fingers on the door frame.
"She's good with music, isn't too fond of killing, but will if she has to. She seemed completely trustworthy when I knew her, but it's been a few years. I suspect she has had a few… changes in her life since then."
"I suppose she has." Said Weir, breathing out a sigh through her nose. "Could you bring her to my office when Doctor Beckett is done?" Ronon nodded.
~~~
"I keep telling you, I'm fine!" Katerina said with considerable exasperation to Doctor Beckett.
"I'll be the judge of that, missy." Said the Doc, his Scottish accent thick.
"I learned a while ago, never argue with Beckett. You're not going anywhere." Said Ronon, sitting on the other side of the bed.
"Hmmmm." Said Katerina absentmindedly as Beckett stuck another needle in her arm. "I thought we'd already done this!" She said, rolling her eyes.
"Before it was for a blood test, this one goes to the scientists, so they can look at your genetic makeup."
Katerina's eyes widened in something that, to Ronon, almost looked like fear. The expression was gone before he could really analyze it, and she was just the girl who had taken care of his injuries four years ago.
"Alright, that should do you." Said Beckett, removing the needle from her arm and wiping her elbow clean with some disinfectant.
"Freedom!" She hollered, throwing her arms up in the air and hopping off the bed with a huge grin plastered on her face.
"It wasn't that bad, was it?' Ronon asked, raising his eyebrows. Katerina shook her head as she practically skipped out the infirmary door.
"I'm just not a patient person." She grinned back at him. "You gonna show me around this place?" She asked, rapping her knuckles on the metal wall as she dodged a science team moving down the hall.
Ronon nodded.