"I disagree! It would take too long to debrief her...besides she hasn't even been cleared for off-world duty yet."
"All the more reason to take her, trust me Woolsey she's good at this sort of stuff. She held her own longer than anyone else against Ronon, they seemed to have hit it off even, she won't be a liability and what better way to evaluate her is there than take her with us on this one."
"Colonel I understand where you're coming from, I really do, however we need to act now and debriefing would just take too long. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that the longer this takes the worse off Ronon may be."
"Mr Woolsey, I agree with colonel Sheppard, I believe this would be a good experience for Lieutenant James as well as a good opportunity for Colonel Sheppard to evaluate her. I am sure Ronon would agree to if he were here." After having enough of being spoken about, I cleared my throat a little and stuffed my hands into my pockets, watching each of them for a moment before letting my eyes rest on Colonel Sheppard. He looked a little bashful,
"You wanted to see me?" I asked, only letting a little of my annoyance show in my tone of voice. I didn't like anyone discussing me like I wasn't in the room, my back isn't a voicemail and if they couldn't say it to my face they should keep their mouths closed.

Sheppard nodded as Woolsey sighed and left, pushing me a little furthur into the room as he did so. Teyla smiled graciously, though there was a hint of concern in her eyes. Rodney gave me a smile to but even he looked stressed, and Sheppard just looked down right annoyed.
"Yes I did, Ronon's been kidnapped." he said, watching how I reacted to the statement. I kept my face calm and nodded once, my anger dissapated and instead I found a small knot of concern in my stomach for the man I didn't really know but had found friendly enough earlier.
"How can I help?" I asked while keeping my eyes focused on his face. It was times like this I remembered that I was right to make that vow to myself so many years ago, never let anyone close, they can be torn away to easily. Having friends was different to letting people in. Infact if my old friends had been asked twenty question about me, they'd of realised that they never really knew me at all. The only one I had ever let in, was Rodney Mckay, and he was standing infront of me in a dangerous place, which made me begin to doubt how wise of me that was.

Sheppard looked at me and glanced over my shoulder before locking those piercing hazel eyes on mine.
"I was hoping you'd say that. I'm going to go through this fast, but I'm only going to do it once, okay? Ronon's from a planet called Sateda, it was destroyed by the wraith a long time ago and he's touchy about the subject so I suggest straying from it if you ever have a sit down conversation with him. Anyway, there were a few people who survived the attack and when we met up with him, he was runner. A runner is someone who runs from planet to planet from the wraith, who follow them because they implanted trackers into the runners, it's a sick form of entertainment to them apparently. But last year we were investigating a rumour about a group going around and taking out a hell of a lot of wraith, who turned out to be old friends of Ronon's. Unknown at the time though they were wraith worshippers, people who serve the wraith and all that jazz, but that all turned to hell when we were out on a mission. They tricked us and we got in trouble. Ronon fought them and now two of them are dead, however one called Tyre still roams free and according to Teyla he was waiting for them on New Athos, proceeded to stun Ronon and then stunned her. Now, we need to find Ronon." He concluded as my head spun ever so slightly. "Got it?" he asked uncertainly. Frowning slightly I used my hands to make a sort of timeline,
"Er...Ronon's an alien who had his homeworld destroyed, he met old friends last year, two of them died in a mission gone wrong because they were lieing about their allegiances, ones still alive and stunned Teyla and Ronon before he kidnapped Ronon?" I asked hesitantly, Sheppard nodded and behind me I felt Woolsey walk into the room and looked around slowly,
"The Daedalus says they can't pick up any signal from Ronon's subcutaeneous locator beacon on New Athos." he informed them. Sheppard frowned and I winced a little, my hand moving to my upper arm on the left where they'd dug into my skin and placed my own locator beacon in.

The Daedalus was a space ship that had been built on Earth and travelled between the Pegasus galaxy (where Atlantis was situated) and the Milky way galaxy (where Earth was), it's commander (Colonel Steven Caldwell) was highly decorated at the SGC. Sheppard nodded,
"Well then what can we do now?" Rodney asked. Teyla frowned thoughtfully as I stood back and watched the whole thing unfold, it wasn't my place to say something yet.
"Tyre must have moved him from the planet, but something stopped him killing Teyla...he could have done it easily but instead he left her there." Sheppard said thoughtfully. Teyla nodded with a pensive expression on her face.
"Perhaps he still has some of his Satedan honour? Perhaps we could find another Satedan?" she suggested. After seeing everyones confused looks she continued, "A Satedan named Solen Sincha could be found on a planet called Belkan last I heard. Perhaps he could help." she explained while looking expectantly around the room. Sheppard nodded his head eagerly, and Woolsey thought for a moment before slowly nodding himself.
"Alright, go ahead." he said. Sheppard tilted his head,
"I'd like permission to take Lieutenant James with us." he said, not suprising anyone given the previous conversation I had walked in on.

My eyebrows rose expectantly and Woolsey sighed, looking wearily at him,
"Granted, however she is your responsibility If something goes wrong this is on you Colonel." he said firmly. Sheppard grimaced but nodded, motioning me to follow them out of the room with Rodney hot on my heels, "Alright lieutenant, gear up in the armoury. I don't expect to have to give you a lesson on how to put on tac vests and holsters, all the stuff you need is in the vest pockets already but you need to add a leg holster for your glock and attach a P-90 to yourself. You have five minutes." he ordered as he lead me inside the armoury. I was done faster than he expected, liking the familiar weight of a side arm strapped to my leg perhaps a little to much. I felt more like...me. Rodney gave me a smile as I walked over to where Sheppard was just clipping his P-90 to his vest.
"Hey, first time off-world, excited?" he asked with a smile. I raised an eyebrow slightly,
"A little I guess...I just kind of wish that it was under different circumstances." I replied cautiously, Rodney rolled his eyes,
"You know, you don't have to be so stoic and all. Sheppard's not going to kill you if you relax a little and try...I don't know, being friendly." he said pointedly, pinning me with a look that clearly said we need to talk.

I shot him a glare back but thankfully Sheppard ignored us, instead focusing on Teyla who was gearing up across the way from us before she walked over. "Great, ready to go." Rodney said enthusiastically. Sheppard shot him a sideways glance while I stood beside Teyla, who stepped beside me gracefully and looked at the gate (that had already been dialled) before us. It was a shimmering pool of blue that made the floor glisten. A sparkling puddle of water that Sheppard lead us through with such ease I knew they'd done this a thousand times before, so I had nothing to worry about. My foot fell onto hard packed dirt on the other side. I blinked slightly as the daylight hit my eyes. We were on the edge of a village that seemed almost medieval; according to the reports I'd read most villages in Pegasus looked this way. We didn't stop to look around though. Teyla and Sheppard lead the way into an old tavern, where Teyla stopped to look around for a moment before continuing to walk until we were infront of a drunk looking man. His hair was thinning and his face was pale and creased with age...not to mention he smelled strongly of alcohol.
"Solen Sincha?" Sheppard asked, his face a mask of calm as he pulled on the tough guy act. The drunkard looked up and surveyed us for a moment before lowering his gaze again and taking another long drink from his tankard.

The tavern was warm, uncomfortably so with poor lighting and a low buzz of chatter in the background.
"I recognise those uniforms from the stories I've heard, so tell me, what would people from the great city of the ancients want with me?" Answering a question with one of his own only made me dislike him more, he was being cocky and not very helpful considering the predicament Ronon was in. I was getting more than a little impatient with the whole thing if I was completely honest.
"You're a Satedan right? Then you know Ronon. Well he's...in trouble." Sheppard said, carefully choosing his words. Sincha raised an eyebrow and snorted taking another drink,
"He's always in trouble." he pointed out, making me frown. So he was just going to judge him? He wasn't going to help one of his own? I shared an annoyed glance with Sheppard and my eyes flickered to the tankard he was still drinking from. I made a small motion with my hand and he gave me nod of approval. My hand whipped out and smacked the tankard across the table, making Rodney jump as Sheppard leaned closer to Sincha's face. I really can't stand drunks I thought, keeping my eyes locked on the back of Sincha's head.

"Yeah but this time he's in trouble with Tyre, he kidnapped him. Does the name mean anything to you?" Sheppard asked, his patience wearing thin as Sincha raised a brow, leaning back in his chair right into the barrel of my P-90. Glancing over his shoulder at me I raised an eyebrow and let my gun drop, looking as innocent as I could manage until he focused his gaze back on Sheppard.
"Tyre you say? He's not Satedan. Got no honour, former wraith worshipper last I heard." he grunted, holding his hand in the air for another drink.
"Former?" I asked, unable to stop myself. Sincha nodded looking at me curiously.
"Yeah, former, as in Tyre dissappointed the wraith and they let him go." he said wryly. I frowned. I'd never seen a wraith but from what I'd read in mission reports and the profile Landry had given me, they wouldn't just let somebody go. From what I'd read wraith were merciless and cruel, cold and calculating.
"Why would the wraith just let him go, why not kill him?" Sheppard asked, narrowing his eyes at Sincha as he shrugged,
"It wasn't a kindness. He's an example now to all the fellow human beings the wraith like to torture. There won't be a planet safe enough for him. If it's that important to you, I'll keep my ear to the ground and if I get a lead, I'll let you know." he said, grabbing the full tankard from the busty waitress that came over to hand it to him and taking another long swig. He'd almost downed it in one as I shot him a digusted look and wrinkled my nose. Sheppard told him how he could contact us and motioned for us to leave.

As we walked through the village he turned to me with a smirk,
"Take it you don't like alcohol?" he asked almost teasingly. I shook my head,
"I don't mind alcohol, I just don't like affiliating myself with someone so wasted." I replied frowning slightly. Sheppard nodded once in understanding but his smirk grew just that little bit bigger.
"Clearly, nice move with the tankard by the way, it certainly got his attention." he said. focusing his eyes back on the road ahead as a small smile graced my face. A feeling of pride swelled in my stomach, I liked the feeling of knowing I had my CO's approval, because my former CO had practicly hated me. I was on about Colonel Harrison who hated my guts with everything he had in him, of course. Back on Atlantis, Sheppard had invited me to join him and Rodney in the mess hall. Teyla was talking to Woolsey and as I walked in I found it was only Sheppard that was there. Having nothing to eat since breakfast had made me hungry, so I grabbed what little food I felt I could eat and piled it on my plate before walking over.

Sheppard kicked the chair out for me and I smiled,
"Done like a true gentleman." I quipped as I sat down. Sheppard raised an eyebrow,
"What can I say? Rodney should be here soon, I think he's in the bath." he replied with a shrug and I shook my head a little taking a bite of my sandwhich. Sheppard, I noticed, wasn't eating anything, and the awkward silence grew between us as he stared out of the window. "So..." he trailed off awkwardly as I swallowed down the half of my sandwhich I'd been eating.
"So..." I repeated hoping it would egg him on to say something. The silence between us was too loud in contrast to the buzzing noise of chatter that surrounded us. He looked at me like he wanted me to finish that sentence so I thought about it and said the first thing that popped into my head, "Thanks for asking Woolsey to let me come with you earlier, it was sort of enjoyable under the circumstances." oh good god how could I say something so tactless? His teammate had been kidnapped and I was treating the mission like it was a holiday outing! Stupid, stupid, stupid Tegan! He shook his head leaning back in his chair as I hurriedly finished the second half of my sandwhich,
"Don't worry about it, I want you with us when we get a lead too, I think Ronon might actually be happy to see you." he said with a small but sexy smirk on his face.

Damn, I hadn't noticed that before. I blinked a little,
"Are you sure?" I asked. He nodded raising an eyebrow,
"Are you doubting yourself lieutenant?" he asked, keeping his face carefully blank. Then it hit me, this was a test. They'd been talking about evaluation, this was apart of it. I shook my head,
"Not at all. This just seems a little personal to your team, you've only known me a day." I pointed out. He shrugged as Rodney sat beside me with a huge tray of food. Rolling my eyes I opened up my jelly pot and began to eat.
"I've tried everything, even the Archimedes apporach." he huffed shovelling the mountain of food into his mouth with his fork. It cut short our conversation at least as both me and Sheppard frowned at him, he sighed, "You know, bathing? Archimedes had a eureka moment when he was in the bath. So I tried bathing but other than gaining a nice strawberry scent, I got nothing." his voice slowed down a little towards the end and he frowned before shaking his head and turning back to his food.
"Wait, Rodney? You had a bath?" I asked, a fake look of shock on my face that made Sheppard chuckle, Rodney scowled at me,
"Yes I had a bath, what's so surprising?" he asked waspishly.

I grinned a little and put a hand on his shoulder,
"Your ego fit in there with you." I said matter of factly. Sheppard laughed louder at that as I leaned back in my chair, taking a sip from my water bottle and giggling at the look of dissapproval Rodney had on his face. A man I didn't recognise stood behind us, his navy blue uniform had the black patches so he was definietly military, and he was about the same height as Rodney with quiffy brown hair and blue eyes. He was okay looking really, but to me, he didn't have a patch on Sheppard.
"Sir, looks like Solen came through, he has a lead for us. He gave us the address to a planet called Sarif Sur." the man informed us while casting a curious look at me, Sheppard nodded,
"Lorne get your team together, James, Rodney, let's get this cleared with Woolsey and move." he ordered. Sheppard directed me and Rodney to the armoury where I was gearing up again just three hours after I'd taken it all off. The man Sheppard had called Lorne lead us to the gateroom as Sheppard hurried past us into the armoury with Teyla on his heels. Lorne turned to face me,
"Hi, Major Evan Lorne, I don't think we've met." he said extending a hand, I shook it firmly and he seemed surprised by my grip.

I nodded once,
"Yes, I'm new, I've only been here just under twenty four hours. Lieutenant Tegan James." my response was slightly cordial but Lorne didn't seem to mind, he nodded once with a curious glance Rodney's way who merely shrugged at him, the men behind him cleared their throats and he rolled his eyes,
"Lieutenants Coughlin and Reed,they make up the rest of my team. Guys, Lieutenant James." he made the introductions as we shook hands and Coughlin gave me a cocky smirk,
"So we got a Brit on board the military train huh?" he asked. Lorne gave him a warning but I raised my eyebrow, here we go...
"Problem?" I asked. He grinned,
"Not at all, just speculating. I mean, aren't Brits supposed to be too sophisticated for war?" he asked. Suddenly he looked quite sheepish as I grit my teeth and glared up at him,
"No we're not, infact this Brit wouldn't be apposed to shoving her fist down your throat just to see if it comes out the other end. We don't all drink tea, have bad teeth and meet the queen you know Coughlin, but if you really want to stereotype me go ahead. However, I promise you if you do I'll make sure you can't move anything below the waist and you'll never walk again is that clear?" I demanded, feeling my blood boil with I hated people like that.

Coughlin took a step back as Lorne shot him a look that said you so deserved that, even his friend was snickering behind him as Rodney struggled to hide his smirk.
"Coughlin, you really need to learn to keep your mouth shut, apologise." Lorne said with a nudge. Coughlin mumbled a sorry and I huffed in reply, looking away as Sheppard joined us. No doubt sensing the tension between us he moved me to stand beside Teyla as we moved out through the now dialed gate. This time, we stepped out into a forest. There was moss on practically everything as we spread out to look around. Thankfully Lorne took his team the opposite way. I kept quiet, scanning the surrounding area and keeping my P-90 aimed up, ready to fire at a moments notice. My body was coiled so tight, like a tense spring that was ready to burst at any moment, the tension making my muscles rigid. The forest wasn't too densely packed, but their were parts where the bushes clumped together with low hanging tree branches making it look thicker than it really was, and I noticed one such area had been trampled, like a body had been through there. Pointing it out to Sheppard, I followed with his team to take a look but all we found was a clearing, the area was deserted and we had nothing.
"You think Solen lead us on a wild goose chase?" Rodney asked. Teyla frowned and shook her head,
"No, he still believes in Satedan honour, he would not mislead us." she replied confidently and I smiled. I was really starting to like her.

We had turned back to walk back the way we came when Lorne contacted Sheppard.
"Sir we found something about three clicks north of your position." Confirming it Sheppard started jogging and me and Teyla frowned, leaving Rodney to groan and jog after us. After a few minutes we reached a small, rundown, wooden house. It was rotting and dillapidated but Lorne motioned us inside and we followed without question. There was a little bit of blood on the floor, a chair with rope surrounding it, and a body on the floor by the wall where it appeared to have landed after being thrown. Lorne knelt beside him to feel for a pulse. "It's weak, if we want anything from him we need to get him back to Atlantis now sir." he informed us. I took a mental image of the place and looked at Sheppard, who was apparently preoccupied with sorting out who was going to carry the body. Teyla looked at me,
"The body is definitely Tyre." she said. I frowned,
"Which means Ronon was definitely here...he must have contacted the wraith to come and get him, trying to get back into their good books and then the wraith went back on their word and left him here half dead." I deduced. Teyla frowned back at me,
"Where is the evidence to support that theory?" she asked, her expression and tone calm as we walked out together,
"The rope on the floor around the chair, why would he tie himself up? No, he used that to keep Ronon subdued. And the wraith let Tyre go to make an example of him to other humans right? So they wouldn't just tie up Tyre and leave him somewhere so remote no one would see him. Ronon however isn't here and would have surely headed to the gate if he had got free, so it makes sense that the wraith were here, took Ronon and beat him Tyre right?" I asked connecting all the dots for her so she could see what I saw. A gracious smile lit up her face and she bowed her head respectfully.

"You are very observant." she complimented, and I smiled back thankfully as we stepped through the gate together. Doctor Keller was there and already taking Tyre down to the infirmary (or wherever it was he was going) while we went to the armoury to put our gear away. Sheppard and Teyla were talking in the corner when Rodney walked over to me,
"So you like Teyla?" he asked. I sighed slightly,
"Not now Rodney."
"Then when Tegan, I though you said you were going to try and make friends." he pointed out. Looking up at him, the guy who had practicaly been my brother for three years, I frowned,
"I did but...I've only just met them Rodders, and besides you know that I hold even my friends at arms length." I replied running a hand through my hair. He frowned back at me and shook his head,
"You'll need them out here Tegan, besides I think Sheppard and Teyla like you." he pressed as I put my vest back on the peg and crossed my arms defiantly over my chest,
"They seem perfectly nice Rodney but I'm not rushing this." I said firmly, and he nodded in defeat as we joined Sheppard and Teyla by the door. They lead us down to the isolation room, and I took mental pictures of the maze of corridors in an effort not to get lost in the future.

When we reached the observation window, Tyre was screaming silently down below. He was bucking and writhing on the bed he was strapped to and I wrinkled my nose in distaste at the image.
"What's going on doc?" Sheppard asked, looking at Tyre worriedly. Doctor Keller frowned as she watched him, twisting and crying out in agony. Clearly she was finding it hard to accept she couldn't do anything for him.
"He's going through withdrawal." she answered quitely as I frowned. Was he on drugs?
"Withdrawal?" I asked, my curiousity getting the better of me. She nodded,
"When the wraith feed, they release an enzyme into their victims to make them stronger. Therefore their food tastes better and lasts longer. Obviously Tyre became dependent on the enzyme and now there isn't enough going around his body...he's going through withdrawal." she explained. I nodded once to show my understanding, unable to do anything but kept watching as Tyre writhed with horrid fasincation.
"How long is this going to take?" Sheppard asked. I knew why he looked so irritated; the longer this took the longer Ronon was gone. Right now, only Tyre really knew what had happened to him, and we needed that information as soon as possible to try and limit the damage to Ronon. Doctor Keller shook her head,
"I have no idea, it could take weeks or it could take days. It all depends on how quick the enzyme leaves his body, but my guess for the shortest time span would be at least three days if we don't give him sedative, which would be unethical can I add." she replied, not looking to happy with the idea.
"Don't give him any, we need that information as fast as possible." Sheppard said looking grim and reluctant, he was making the hard call and clearly didn't like it. Well, I didn't know for sure but judging by how much pain Tyre was in, this was going to be a long three days.