Disclaimer: The characters of, "Stargate: SG-1" and "Stargate Atlantis", are owned by Robert C. Cooper, Brad Wright, Sci-Fi Channel and whoever else was involved with the creation and production of these two shows. Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a fanfiction intended for entertainment purposes only and no money is being made off of it.
Chapter 6: Unexpected Encounters
McKay swatted at another insect that had decided to land on the back of his neck. He knew that the temperature on the planet had to be at least ten degrees more than it had been the last time which had to put the temperature in the high 90's with severely high humidity. As he walked behind Sheppard and Sky, he couldn't help but worry how Sky was going to react when they got to the cave.
He wondered why Teyla had remained with Captain Sampson and Captain Long at the Puddle Jumper. He thought that she would have wanted to keep a close eye on Sky.
McKay couldn't keep his eyes off of Sky worried that she would attack them at any moment. He supposed that since Teyla wasn't there, that he would have to be the one to watch out for Sky. Ronon was with them and he could probably stop her if she tried anything.
When she suddenly turned and looked at him with those strange eyes, he jumped.
McKay saw that Colonel Yates, who was walking on his left, was looking at him with two raised eyebrows.
McKay brushed away a nonexistent bug from his neck and looked to his right only to see vines wrapped around the trunks of several trees.
He frowned, trying to figure out how this could have happened to him. Walking through a monster infested jungle with a girl who couldn't even talk and whose actions were unpredictable.
He was about to ask when they were going to get to the cave when Sheppard signaled for them to stop.
"Ok, there is the cave. Colonel Yates, I want you and Lieutenant Garza to stay and guard the entrance to the cave. If you see a creature, don't fire your weapons at it even if it is coming right towards you I want you to just duck into the cave."
"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Garza said with a sharp nod of her head before she went to stand next to the entrance of the cave, scanning the jungle with her eyes.
Yates nodded his head and took position on the other side of the entrance while everyone else entered the cave.
The cave was just how they had left it, except Sky wasn't in the stasis chamber and the door to the chamber was open.
McKay began the search for the cipher but he kept one of his eyes on Sky. Sheppard and Captain Sampson were studying the stasis chamber. Ronon was standing near the entrance, just in case there was any trouble outside.
"Have you found the cipher yet?" Sheppard asked as he studied the load chamber on his gun for the third time.
"No, I have not found the cipher yet. It would help if you didn't ask me that question every five minutes."
"I think if you stop twitching every time you heard a sound that you would have found that cipher an hour ago," Ronon said as his gaze landed on Sky.
Her eyes were moving quickly in several directions as though she could hear things that Ronon could not.
"Yeah, then why don't you search for the cipher then instead of standing there like a burned out lamp," McKay said as he brushed away some dirt off a part of the wall so he could read the symbols beneath.
Ronon looked at McKay with a raised eyebrow and when McKay began mumbling nervously to himself, Ronon couldn't help but be pleased at McKay's uneasiness.
"Colonel Sheppard?" Teyla said over the radio.
"Yes, Teyla?" Sheppard asked.
Ronon could tell that Teyla's voice sounded strained. Ronon gripped his gun tightly, wondering what had happened and if Teyla had been hurt.
"Is Captain Sampson with you?"
"No," Sheppard answered.
"He is missing. Captain Long and I checked the immediate area around the Puddle Jumper, but have not discovered any sign of where he has gone."
"Why did Captain Sampson leave the Puddle Jumper?" Sheppard asked.
"He said he was just doing a basic scout and wasn't going to go far."
"We'll go check it out," Sheppard said as he signaled Ronon to follow him. "Keep looking for that cipher McKay."
"Colonel Sheppard, I would like to look for Captain Sampson since he is a member of my team," Colonel Yates asked.
"Of course, but radio me every five minutes. I don't want to take any chances," Sheppard said and nodded his head when Colonel Yates agreed.
"I think we already took a chance of coming back here in the first place," McKay said.
"McKay, find that cipher," Sheppard said warningly as he watched Yates and Garza leave to search for their missing comrade.
"Colonel Sheppard, this is Colonel Yates, Lieutenant Garza and I found Captain Sampson, he's dead."
"What did he die from?" Sheppard asked.
"His life force has been sucked dry so that means that there is a Wraith on this planet," Colonel Yates said.
"Are you certain?" Teyla asked wondering why she hadn't sensed the creature before.
"Yes," Colonel Yates responded sharply.
"All right, Yates and Garza I want you to head to the Puddle Jumper."
"We never saw the wraith the first time we were here," Ronon commented.
"Yeah, well there is a wraith here which means we need to leave immediately. Have you found the cipher yet, McKay?"
"Uh, not quite yet," McKay said, already knowing how Sheppard was going to respond to his answer.
"Look, McKay, Dr. Taylor told you what to look out for so I don't understand why you haven't found the cipher yet!"
"Well, pardon me. I've just been in this cave for the last three hours trying to find the stupid cipher!"
"Hey, I think this is what you've been looking for, McKay," Ronon said.
Sheppard turned around and looked Ronon who was pointing at a few letters of Ancient writing near the entrance to the cave.
"Right, it's going to be right next to the opening of the cave," McKay scoffed as he walked over to Ronon and looked at the writing cut into the rock.
After several minutes of McKay staring at the writing, Sheppard was losing his patience. "Well, McKay, is it the cipher or not?"
"It appears to be," McKay said reluctantly as he took a picture of the writing.
"If that's it, I suggest we get out of here," Sheppard said.
"Right, you don't have to tell me twice," McKay said as he put away the camera.
They left the cave, Sheppard leading them, McKay and Sky in the middle while Ronon was positioned at the end of the line.
Sky paused in mid-step and turned around. Ronon was surprised when she had suddenly stopped that he almost ran into her.
Ronon looked behind him and saw why Sky had come to a sudden stop. "Sheppard, there's a Wraith behind us and he's coming up fast."
"All right, we'll have to make a run for the Puddle Jumper," Sheppard said as he started to run, making sure that everyone followed behind him. Sheppard grabbed his radio.
"We are about five hundred feet from your location. The Wraith is right behind us and we are going to need cover fire," Sheppard said into the radio.
"You shall have it," Teyla radioed back.
Sheppard hoped that they would make it to the Puddle Jumper in time and they would have a chance to receive the cover fire.
Sheppard was surprised when he saw Colonel Yates step out from behind a tree and fired at the Wraith.
"Ronon, I want you to get McKay and Sky to the ship. Yates and I shall hold the Wraith back as long as we can."
Ronon nodded and grabbed McKay by the sleeve of his coat. McKay was about to protest, but with one look from Ronon, McKay surprisingly and wisely kept his mouth shut. Ronon looked at Sky and was surprised when he saw that she was waiting for him to move.
Ronon moved towards the direction of the ship, dragging McKay behind him and saw that Sky was indeed following.
The Wraith jumped into the air and kicked Yates weapon out of his hand. Yates held back a scream as several bones in his hand broke instantly.
The Wraith slammed Sheppard into a tree causing his vision to become so blurred that he couldn't even see his own hand. After a few seconds, he felt a jagged pain coursing through his entire body.
Sheppard's vision cleared slightly enough so that he saw the Wraith jumped onto Colonel Yates, slamming him into the ground. Sheppard could almost see the inhuman glee on the creature's face as it looked towards him from only ten feet away.
"Sheppard, McKay and I have made it to the ship but Sky's disappeared!" Ronon shouted through the radio.
Sheppard who was still unable to respond saw Sky appear from behind a tree.
"No, Sky!" Sheppard shouted when he saw that she was heading towards the Wraith and Colonel Yates.
Either Sky didn't hear Sheppard or she ignored him altogether. Sky connected with the Wraith, sending them both flying ten feet away from Yates.
Sheppard tried to sit up, but any movement caused his head to fill up with bubbles and pain to shoot through his entire body.
She raised Colonel Yates weapon and fired at the Wraith. Bullets struck the Wraith's chest and neck, but one bullet went through the Wraith's forehead.
The Wraith's body fell to the ground blood seeping out from its wounds.
Sky threw Colonel Yates over her shoulder and ran towards Sheppard. Sheppard was about to comment when he saw something moving within the trees about twenty yards away from their current position. He saw a flash of white hair and knew that there was more than one wraith on this planet.
He could barely move and there was another Wraith headed their way. He was about to tell Sky to get out of there when she picked him up and threw him over her shoulder. He didn't know whether to be thankful or completely flabbergasted, but that didn't last long when he saw the Wraith moving closer.
"McKay, get the Puddle Jumper's engines up and running. This is going to be a close one!" Sheppard shouted into his radio.
"Right on it, Colonel and I suggest that you hurry up. Ronon has seen signs of more than one Wraith out there," McKay said over the radio, sounding as though he still needed to take several deep breaths to recover.
"Don't I know it," Sheppard mumbled to himself as he raised his gun with difficulty fired off several shots towards the pursuing Wraiths.
"Fly us out of here, McKay."
"You don't have to tell me," McKay said as he used his mind to raise the ship off of the ground. With the ship's sensors, he could see that there were several life forms surrounding them, but he was far enough up that they wouldn't be able to access the ship.
As he used his mind to direct the ship, he couldn't help but think about the reasons Sky had to save the two Colonels. She had followed Sheppard's command to go with him and Ronon, but then she had disappeared when they had neared the ship. They hadn't realized that she had gone back to fight the Wraiths.
McKay thought that Sky was hiding something and that she may be far more intelligent than she seemed and perhaps she was just acting to get them to trust her. For whatever reason for Sky to involved in this ruse, McKay didn't know, but he was certainly going to find out.