Tegan's Point Of View:
It had been another week after we'd arrived back on Atlantis for Ronon to go through withdrawal, and another two or three days after that until he was allowed out of the infirmary. I'd gone to visit him once but mostly we'd just sat in silence. I hadn't heard anything about where I was placed or what my job was, so it had been a fairly boring week of showers, eating, sleeping and gym. I'd sparred with Teyla and she was teaching me how to fight with Bantos sticks. I'd seen colonel Sheppard occasionally and had dinner with him and his team quite a lot, we were all pretty friendly with each other except there was always an awkward atmosphere between me and Sheppard when we were alone. I'd also made friends with Torren, Teyla's son. The little guy was adorable and as uncomfortable as I was with kids I couldn't help but think I was getting better, but I still needed a lot of guidance from Teyla, who appeared to be a natural mom and very good at her job at the same time. Currently, I was walking to Woolsey's office. He had summoned me there a few minutes ago and considering I pretty much knew my way around Atlantis now it didn't take me long to get there. Suprisingly, when I got there I saw Sheppard sitting in one of the comfy looking grey chairs, he gave me a nod and a quick smile, motioning to the seat beside him.

Sitting carefully I looked at Woolsey with an expectant face. He looked up from his paperwork and smiled,
"Do you know what this is Lieutenant?" he asked me with a sparkle in his brown eyes. Woosley was a balding man with a ring of dark hair around his head, and a face that seemed to be permanently grimacing (although he had this polite smile he used a lot that only made his face crease a little more each time he did it). I drew my brows together in a frown before slowly shaking my head and looking between him and Sheppard, who looked thoroughly unamused by it all and rolled his gorgeous hazel eyes,
"Can you just tell her already?" he groaned. Woolsey rolled his eyes towards the heavens and frowned slightly,
"I was building up the suspense." he said in an effort to defend himself, but Sheppard just shot him a look that clearly said he didn't care. I didn't either, the anticipation was niggling at me and making me feel just a little giddy if I was honest. "Well, Lieutenant, this is colonel Sheppards report on the mission to rescue Ronon." he said, watching my reaction. I grimaced a little, so I was still going to get into trouble for trusting Tyre? This was some twisted punishment hearing?
"In my defence, Tyre did come back and get us out of the cell. He never intended to double cross us with the wraith." I said while crossing my arms over my chest. Woolsey frowned,
"What?" he asked, clearly baffled. Sheppard however chuckled,
"You're not in trouble James, it's good news." he assured me, a mischievious sparkle in his hazel eyes.

His whole demeanour was screaming I know something you don't know and his boyish grin made me struggle to contain my own smile, that and the way the light was shining off of his touseled hair (that looked so damn soft that I found myself wanting to run my hands through it like some sort of crazed fangirl) was making him look hotter than usual. "Put her out of her misery sir will you?" Sheppard asked teasingly. At least he liked me, damn former CO's. Woolsey sighed,
"Alright, alright. After evaluating your performance on this mission, Colonel Sheppard has requested you be put on an off-world team." My eyebrows tried to escape into my hairline as my mouth dropped into a small O shape. Sheppard cleared his throat,
"Not just any team either, I want you on mine." he added, making my jaw drop just that little bit furthur. Composing myself, I swallowed and blinked a little,
"That's...that's...I mean...oh wow..." I stammered. I was more than happy with the idea, more than willing to do it, but eventually I was going to have to leave wasn't I? As soon as the problems back home were sorted I'd have to go. I'd only been here for two weeks but already I felt at home here, I felt like this was somewhere I belonged. I knew Atlantis was only a short term solution, that I didn't have a proper contract to stay here but I didn't want to leave this behind, I knew that already.

Woolsey must of known, surely? As if he knew what I was thinking, he smiled and held up a whole stack of papers.
"This is a year long contract, if you wish to join the team and stay then you're required to sign it. What do you say lieutenant?" he asked. I smiled broadly and nodded,
"Where's the pen?" I replied, and Woolsey produced it from his pocket with a flourish. Standing I took it and without hesitation signed the contract with my curvy signature, officialy making myself part of the team. Outside, we could hear Rodney kicking up a storm about something on one of the laptops, and after filing the paperwork away Woolsey dismissed us so we could check it out. Sheppard walked with me and looked at me with a small smile,
"Welcome to the team Lieutenant. Can I ask why you're only just signing the contract now though?Were you not expecting to stay in Atlantis?" he asked. I froze a little, biting my lip. I didn't want him to be dragged into the crazy mess known as my life, but maybe he really needed to know? Could I tell him? I'd only known him two weeks, could I really let him in so easily, so soon? Taking a breathe, I found I couldn't meet his eyes as I replied,
"I got into trouble back home that required major relocation, I don't really like talking about it." my voice was quiet and to my dismay, there was a hint of hurt in there too. Sheppard raised a dark brow at me and seemed to grimace,
"For my own sanity please tell me you didn't murder someone." he said sounding curious, too curious.

Sighing I shook my head,
"If you really must know, someone was going to try and murder me." I said quickly, before walking over to Rodney before he could say another word. Me and Rodney had spent some time catching up over the past two weeks, he knew everything that was going on and was pushing me to trust people here. We'd had a quiet dinner once to talk things through and the gossip mill on Atlantis was rumouring that we were dating, but neither of us cared since his team and I knew the truth. We weren't and would never consider dating one another because we had been family. Quite literally, Rodney's parents had looked after me for the best part of three years. When I arrived, he took one look at my face and saw something that clearly made him curious.
"What?" he asked me. I smiled wearily,
"Nothing much." I replied, but he gave me that look that said we were talking later. Chuck (one of the technicians) flagged down Colonel Sheppard, who quickly called over Rodney, who of course dragged me with him.
"Doctor Mckay, a spaceship just appeared out of nowhere above M35-177, no hyperspace window or anything, it just...appeared." Chuck informed us.

Raising an eyebrow at Rodney, we watched him push his way past Chuck to type on his laptop, a thoughtful frown on his face as I cast a sideways look at Sheppard who shrugged. Perhaps spaceships popping up out of nowhere was a normal occurence here? I suppose around here it was.
"Okay so...wait, the IFF signal is that of the Daedalus but they just completed a return journey to Earth." Rodney said looking up at us,
"But I thought that those journey's took three weeks?" Sheppard asked. Rodney nodded and opened his mouth to say something but Sheppard cut him off. "Open a channel." he ordered, stern leader face back on again. Woolsey had joined us by this time but I could hardly contain my giggles. Rodney looked so annoyed at being cut off, his face was literally scrunched up as he glared at Sheppard, "Daedalus this is Atlantis, please come in." there was a pause before Sheppard repeated the sentence, more forcefully this time. Finally, after the fifth try, he got bored. Rodney was busy typing again at the computer and I leaned my arms over the ridge at the top of the lit up console as I waited to see what was what. "I propose we take a jumper up there." Sheppard said finally. Woolsey gave him one curt nod before Sheppard tapped his earpiece, "Teyla, Ronon, we're heading out, gear up." he ordered, before looking at me and Rodney with a grin, "Come on team." his voice was chipper and it made me laugh. He bounced off with such enthusiasm, so childishly. Rodney frowned a little as we walked after him,
"Wait, are you saying Tegan's part of the team?" he called after Sheppard, who was furthur down the corridor than us. Sheppard nodded with another boysih grin as he walked backwards into the armoury,
"That's exactly what I'm saying." he replied, turning around to gear up. Teyla and Ronon entered the room and not seconds later Rodney shared the good news with them proudly.

I blushed a little. He had such pride in his voice when he said it you'd have thought he was my dad or something. Ronon turned to me and smirked, ruffling my hair a little as Teyla said her congratulations with that gracious smile she seemed so good at.
"Congrats Tiny, new you'd be good round here." he said gruffly. I rolled my eyes as I blew my hair out of my face, before groaning and retieing it in a ponytail.
"I've told you already, five foot five is not tiny!" I exclaimed indignantly. Sheppard rolled his eyes and lead us to a place I hadn't been before called the Jumper bay. Grinning like a kid, I bounced inside after them. I'd read about Puddle Jumpers in reports but had never been for a flight in one. Apparently they could go rather fast, were agile, had awesome drone weapons and could go into space! Way cool! I sat there with a grin on my face, Ronon standing behind my chair with his hands on the top as the machinery lit up for Sheppard when he sat down, his hands on the controls. I watched the front screen as the sunlight poured in, and the vast cloudless blue sky opened up infront of us, the ocean below us shimmering as Sheppard took us higher and higher,
"How d'you like our version of flying Tea?" Rodney asked with a smirk, seeing my kid at christmas face. I nodded eagerly as the atmosphere created a cloudy hazy layer above us,
"It's amazing!" I breathed, wonder in my voice as Sheppard shot us into space. He was probably going faster than he should have been because the stars were streaking past us and looking a little blurry.

My grin only widened as Sheppard smirked at me, god that smirk was so sexy. "Okay now this...this should be done more often." I said happily, leaning back in the chair as the rest of the team laughed at me. My team, I was part of it now. I had a team. The thought alone made my smile wider. I stared out the window in awe at the big black blanket speckled with silver.
"We do it every once in a while. Wait until you see a spaceship up close." Rodney said with a grin before turning back to the screen and frowning. "Wait...oh this is not good...I'm not picking up any life signs aboard the ship." he said, looking at Sheppard. My smile faded as Sheppard took us in slower to look at the underbelly of the Daedalus. The ship was huge and grey, but there were...black stains, on the hull. My brows drew into a frown as I narrowed my eyes,
"Are those scorch marks?" I asked. Sheppard frowned a little,
"I believe so, perhaps from weapons fire." Teyla suggested as we studied the ship closely. Rodney let out another quiet gasp of shock and we all turned to look at him, frowns plastered on our faces. He really had a dramatic way of presenting things didn't he?
"Hardly any of the systems are working, the ships practicaly dead in the water." he muttered thoughtfully, staring at the screen as the radio sprung to life,
"Puddle Jumper 1 this is Atlantis, we just received a communiqué from Stargate Command, the Daedalus is still two days out from Earth, that's not the Daedalus." it was Chuck and this new news only disturbed me a little more.

An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach as Sheppard and Mckay discussed the possibilities before finally saying,
"Atlantis this is Puddle Jumper 1, we're going to go in for a closer look." Sheppard steered the Puddle Jumper to a sort of hangar as Atlantis replied,
"Okay, be careful Puddle Jumper 1." then it went quiet. My stomach knotted slightly, I had a bad feeling about this and I decided to voice it.
"I don't think this is a good idea." I murmered. Ronon grunted,
"Where's your sense of adventure Tiny?" he asked in his usual gruff voice. Christ, why did he have to call me Tiny! I shook my head,
"It's nothing to do with my sense of adventure Ronon...I just have a bad gut feeling and my guts never far wrong." I insisted. Sheppard frowned,
"We'll only stay for a few minutes, check out the bridge and see what we find there. Then we'll head to engineering, see what information we can extract and we'll leave again, okay?" he asked. Everyone looked at him for a minute like he'd grown a second head, but I just nodded slightly and kept my gaze on the darkness we were soon engulfed in as we flew into the bay. The team rose from their places simultaneously before walking to the back of the Jumper. For the most part I stayed relaxed, no life signs meant no aliens on board and nothing to attack us, however that didn't mean I didn't keep my finger poised above the trigger. I frowned ever so slightly as the back door of the Jumper lowered and let in a gust of cold air that sent a shiver down my spine.

I felt sorry for Sheppard, at least the rest of us had a jacket of sorts on, he only had his baggy black cargo pants and a black button up shirt with the badges on. But with nothing underneath and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows he'd be cold soon enough. The cold air surrounded us and wrapped us in its icy embrace, making goosebumps rise on my skin as I tried not to shiver,
"Do you want to take it in turns with my jacket?" I asked him. Sheppard's eyebrows rose at the offer and he shook his head,
"Nah, it's not that cold, I'll be fine." he said with a reassuring smile. I nodded but made a mental note to ask him about it later incase that statement changed. Walking out into the grey corridors, we saw they were empty and just as cold as the Jumper bay. "Rodney, you and Ronon go down to engineering and see what's up with the power. Me, Teyla and Tegan will head to the bridge." he said. I don't know why, but the way he said my name sent a shockwave through me and I wanted to hear him say it again. Shaking myself out of whatever daze I was in, I pushed the thoughts from my head, knowing it was stupid and ridiculous and instead followed him down the corridors with Teyla at my side. We kept our wits about us, checking out everything around us. There were no bodies at all. The ship was eerily silent and the only sounds we could hear were our even breaths and our footsteps echoing through halls...so I jumped when Sheppard's earpiece went off and Rodney began reporting everything.

"Most of the vital systems are barely online including weapons, shields, not to mention hyperdrive and subspace communications are beyond repair. Explains why it's so cold huh?" Sheppard rolled his eyes,
"Yeah Mckay, just a little. Can you get anything not too badly damaged online?" Sheppard asked him, Rodney said he'd work on it before signing off as I shivered again, "You gonna be okay? Jumper has thermal blankets if you wanna head back that way." he offered. I shook my head,
"What and miss this? No way." I said with a smile, he nodded and we stepped onto what I presumed was the bridge. It had a command chair with two consoles either side of it and a large area behind it with screens and consoles, not to mention the really cool viewing window to the right when you walked in. I looked around in awe, searching for anything out of the ordinary with Sheppard and Teyla, it occured to me then that he knew my first name, but I didn't know his. I wondered what it was briefly. Maybe his name was Peter? It suited him and he looked like a Peter I suppose, but it could of been a whole range of other things.
"It is definitely the Daedalus, should I try and find the last ships log?" Teyla asked. Sheppard blinked, looking surprised as Teyla stood by the keyboard under the tiny monitor to the left. I walked over to join them as he said,
"You can do that?" she nodded in reply and tilted her head to the left, brows raised in innocent curiosity,
"Yes, Major Marks taught me how the last time I was here, why?" she asked. Sheppard shook his head,
"No reason just...so how about that entry log?" he asked awkwardly, averting his gaze as she typed on the keys. There was a small smirk on her face and I tried not to laugh. This team was different to the squad I had worked with in Afghanistan, they were more relaxed and not so uptight, and the CO wasn't dominating, he was open to suggestion and liked to join in the banter.

Finally, Teyla pulled up a recording. I didn't recognise the woman on the screen but behind her sparks were flying and people were scurrying around. Frowning, I watched the chaos on screen as the woman pleaded for anyone to help them if this video was found, and it was abruptly brought to a halt by static. I swallowed,
"Those poor people." I muttered. Sheppard and Teyla looked at one another before turning to me,
"She's not the commander of the Daedalus, this isn't our Daedalus at all." Sheppard said, frowning. There was a crackle, and then the radio sprung to life.
"Daedalus this is Atlantis, please respond." I recognised Lorne's voice as Sheppard sat in the command chair and looked ove the buttons for a minute before pressing one,
"This is Daedalus, go ahead?" he replied, as a minor tremor shook the ship.
"Sir we're reading an energy spike on the ship." Lorne informed him before another more powerful shake occured, making me and Teyla clutch the console to remain standing. Sheppard tapped his earpiece and stood up quickly,
"Rodney, Ronon, fall back to the Jumper, were getting out of here." he ordered as we hurried to follow him out of the room. But no sooner did we get out into the corridor we were stopped by a bright white light. I couldn't see a thing and threw my arm as extra protection for my eyes after I screwed them closed. Bracing my remaining hand against the wall I tried to move my body with the jerky movements of the ship in an effort to remain balanced. My stomach was fluttering with butterflies, worry making my stomach knot tightly as I waited for the ship to stop shaking.

When it finally did slow enough for me to stand up straight, I withdrew my arm and blinked open my eyes to look around. The lights were now running at full power as opposed to minimum. Shaking the disorientated feeling from my head I looked around to see Teyla and Sheppard were doing okay. Walking back onto the bridge, Teyla tapped a few consoles as me and Sheppard followed, "Is the ship okay?" he asked worriedly. Teyla slowly nodded,
"Yes, but...John, Atlantis is gone...it's dissappeared." she said. I frowned,
"John?" I asked before I could stop myself. Sheppard looked at me,
"My name." he answered vaugley. I nodded once to say I understood and thought it over. John Sheppard. It was a nice name, it suited him and his touseled hair and hazel eyes. Dammit! He was too noticeable, that was his problem, or rather...my problem was I kept noticing him. I wasn't too sure which way around that was.
"Hey guys, look I need you to go somewhere for me." Rodney said over the radio before giving us a bunch of directions that I didn't understand. So I had to follow Sheppard and Teyla again, realising there was a hell of a lot of following going on today. The ship was still freezing and my hands were numb by this time, I was having a harder time repressing the shivers but I still just about managed.

Sheppard opened the door just as Ronon and Rodney came around the corner. Rodney was talking at a super fast pace using his hands to explain things.
"The energy signatures practically the same as the one we saw when alternate me came for a visit, and so therefore I'm thinking...an...alternate...Daedalus." his speech slowed and quietened as he looked in the room. Turning my attention there I gasped a little, my hand flying to my mouth,
"Oh my god. That's not good." I mumbled. Sheppard nodded slowly,
"Next time you say you have a bad gut feeling, I'm trusting your instincts and turning us round." he muttered. Both of us shared a long glance before we turned our attention to the inside of the room again. I felt my own face go pale at the sight of the rest of my team, the team that were standing around me at that moment, staring at their dopplegangers as they lay on the floor. They were very pale and their eyes were closed, and they were very very dead.