So Ronon and Amelia are back on Atlantis and Todd is still fighting the unknown enemy in the Pegasus galaxy. But what's going on with John, Rodney, and Carson?

A Bonus Chapter this week since I had a bit of spare time.

Chapter 3: Friend or Foe.

John walked towards the strange city in the early morning light. There was a chill in the air and a fine layer of mist covered the wooded landscape. The bugs and insects flying around him were small but just annoying enough to make him feel uncomfortable – he really hated bugs. They were walking down a narrow cobbled path and he suspected that given the number of weeds growing between the stones it wasn't used that often. He could see the city from where they were, and he had no idea how they were going to get in given the large stone wall that surrounded it. In fact, it looked more like a heavily fortified fortress from medieval times than a city that had been built by a technological civilization – at least from the outside it did.

They had decided to land the jumper a few kilometres away from the city and cloak it because they had no idea whether the locals were hostile. They had detected plenty of life in their walk through the Forrest, but no humans till this point – that alone had alarm bells ringing in his head. He had thought about going back to Atlantis, but he knew that they needed answers and they had to take a chance that the people on this planet had some.

A loud voice pervaded his thoughts, and it didn't take him long to guess who it was, "Sheppard are you listening to me?"

"Sure, McKay, what's up," he answered while rolling his eyes.

The scientist sure had a flare for the dramatic, so he wondered what Rodney was going to complain about this time. So far, he'd been strangely quiet on their walk towards the city, but then again, they'd only been walking for about ten minutes.

"Do you want some on my insect repellent, because the bugs seem to love you?"

He flinched at the comment as it was probably true, bugs seemed to be attracted to him for some reason. Shuddering at the thought of the Iratus bug that had almost killed him, he stopped and faced McKay.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about bugs and if I'm going to end up smelling like citronella, I don't want any of your bug sprays. Geesh I'm sure that the inhabitants of this city could smell you a mile off."

The spray Rodney was using had a strong smell to it and he wondered why the scientist couldn't whip up something without such a strong smell. But then he remembered Rodney's cocoa butter sun lotion, so clearly the scientist had a liking for strong smells.

Luckily, Carson spoke before Rodney had a chance to answer back, "I have something a little kinder to the nose if you'd like it, General."

"Thanks, Carson, but I'm fine, we should be nearing the city and I'm hoping that we'll be able to go inside soon."

"Are you kidding General, who knows what kind of diseases these insects carry?" Rodney complained in his usual high-pitched whining tone, "for all we know they could kill you."

"I'll be fine Rodney!" He stated forcefully before walking off in the direction of the city again.

He had a lot on his mind right now and the last thing he needed was to get into a debate about insect spray. But then if they'd been more careful about the plant life on the Solarian home world Teyla wouldn't be near death and in stasis right now.

Sighing he stopped and looked back at Carson, "how about you give me some of your spray, doc?"

Carson passed him a can of spray and he spent a few minutes covering his body with it and he was grateful that it had no smell to it.

"What about you doc are you going to put some on?"

"Don't worry General, I saw the bu.., I mean insects as soon as I stepped out of the jumper, so I have already put some on."

He was relieved that Carson didn't say bugs because although it had been almost ten years since the Iratus bug incident and eight years since he had turned into a bug, he still hated bugs. Even the mention of the word sent a chill down his spine.

It wasn't long before they started down the narrow path again. Although they'd only been walking for about ten minutes the early morning mist seemed to be drying up and the sun was slowly climbing in the east. The landscape could easily have been anywhere on earth, or countless other worlds in the milky way or Pegasus galaxy. He had to remind himself that they were no longer in the Pegasus galaxy, and it was truly disconcerting every time he contemplated it.

Suddenly he heard some kind of machinery in the distance and he immediately grabbed his nine mil and started to scan the area. Looking towards the city, he was surprised to see some kind of hovercar coming towards them and he was instantly on high alert. Within minutes the car came to a stop alongside them and a tall dark-haired man, wearing a grey tunic and pants stepped out. The man had to be over seven feet tall, and he wondered if all of the man's race were tall like this – or was he an anomaly.

"Greetings visitors, welcome to the planet Hilaring, I am Voth. We do not get many visitors to our city, but I assure you we are friendly and always looking to trade." The man plastered a fake smile on his face that made John shudder.

John slowly lowered his weapon, not at all convinced this man was friendly, but they still needed answers, so they would go with it for now.

"I am John Sheppard, and this is Rodney McKay and Carson Beckett."

"Pleased to meet you all. I will escort you to our city so that you can meet with minister Toth, he is always happy to meet new people and talk about trade. Then perhaps we could have a meal and you may like to contact your people."

The smile on the man's face widened and it freaked him out even more. Maybe it was time to leave and get back to Atlantis. They could probably find another way to get the information they needed, but before he could say anything McKay decided to open his mouth.

"Thank you, Voth, you have no idea how hungry I am, so a meal would be great."

John put a fake smile on his face and spoke as cordially as possible to Voth, "please may I have a word with my friends in private?"

"By all means John Sheppard, I will wait for you a little way down the path."

"It's just John or Sheppard." He stated beginning to feel a little annoyed with the stranger.

Once the hover car had driven off, he turned to Rodney and Carson and shared his suspicions, "look guys I know we need answers, but for some reason, I don't trust this guy."

"I think you're just being paranoid Sheppard."

"No Rodney, the General is right, we need to proceed with caution."

He was relieved that the doc was willing to back him up, "thanks Doc. I think we should accept Voth's hospitality, but we should keep our eyes and ears open."

When both of his friends nodded, he turned and walked down the path towards Voth and his flying car. For the first time, he had a good look at it. It had wheels and tyres just like any other car, so it was obvious that it could drive on the road as well. There were wings moulded to the side and given how small they were he wondered how high the thing could fly. The colour was the same grey as his tunic, and it left him wondering if any other colours existed in the city.

"Please climb in?" Voth suggested when they reached the car.

Rodney was the first one in the car and he sat in the front next to Voth. John suspected it was because he wanted to talk to Voth about the technology. Carson was next and he brought up the rear. When he stepped in the vehicle, he was surprised at how plain it looked – it looked like any car from the early 21st century. Although the car seemed to run on autopilot.

"We will travel along the roads in the old part of the city so that you can get a good view of the ruins. When we reach the new city, we will take the vehicle into the air."

Once they were moving John looked out the window wondering how old the city they were about to enter was. The landscape that the car was driving through was mainly wooded the same as the area they had landed in – perhaps the entire planet was a huge forest.

"Is this planet entirely Woodland?"

"No, John Sheppard there is a handful of lakes and small seas," Voth replied, using his full name again – much to his annoyance.

Rather than saying anything he nodded his head and looked out the window again.

They had been travelling for five minutes when the car stopped by the gate to the old city, somehow the gate disappeared and when they started to drive again, they were able to drive straight through the entrance.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Rodney exclaimed and he looked like a kid who had discovered a new toy. "How does that work? Where did you get that level of technology, did you steal it, or did you kill someone for it? Or did you develop it yourselves?"

Rodney was beginning to sound rude, and John had had enough, "Rodney!" He growled.

The last thing he needed was for Rodney to get the locals offside, especially when he was suspicious enough of them already. Thankfully, the scientist got the message and was quiet.

"Do not worry John, I do not mind. Perhaps Rodney McKay would like a tour of our science labs. We can then explain a great many things about our city to him."

"I would love that thanks, Voth," Rodney replied with enthusiasm.

John nodded his head and looked out the window at the old city there were travelling through. The ruins seemed to be thousands of years old, and he wondered how many millennia these people had lived on this planet.

There was something familiar about these ruins. With the stones and the way the buildings had been constructed, he realised that they looked similar to medieval castles on earth. There were still towers with turrets remaining in parts of the ruins. The stones could have easily come from the earth as well. The grass and hills surrounding the ruins were long and green. Again, he got the impression that he was somewhere in Europe in the middle ages. He wondered if Carson felt the same way.

He got his answer a few seconds later, "how old are these ruins?" Carson asked with interest.

These people were so similar to them – except they were taller. The ruins of their city were similar to many ruins of earth, perhaps the ancients had seeded this galaxy tens of thousands of years ago as well.

"Our ancestors built this city eons ago. We have no idea how long the ruins have stood here. We moved into the new city many generations ago."

That was all that he said, and John knew that he wasn't going to get anything else out of him right now as he got the impression that Voth didn't want to talk about the past.

The car stopped in front of another tall gate and again the gate disappeared, and they were able to drive through, this time he was amazed to see a city with tall glistening towers that looked every bit as beautiful as Atlantis.

It wasn't long before they were flying over the city, and he took a deep breath before taking in the beauty of the city. There were green manicured lawns – he was fairly sure they were artificial though – surrounding the buildings and small ponds with local wildlife scattered around the city. The trees around the city were tall and wide, with varying colours of leaves and they provided plenty of shade around the city.

While John was busy admiring the city, Carson spoke in awe, "This is a beautiful city you have here Voth."

"Thank you, Carson. We will be landing in a moment and then perhaps you'd like to contact your people before you have a meal."

John nodded his head as the car landed behind one of the tall glass buildings, "I would appreciate that thank you." Although he had no idea why Voth assumed he had people to contact – just another thing to make him suspicious of the man.

He hoped that they would be able to contact Atlantis without these people eavesdropping, he had to somehow let them know that his Spidey senses were tingling.

"You will not need your weapons in our city, so you will hand them in at the door," Voth suggested and John didn't miss the smug smile on his face.

Although he wasn't sure about Voth, he really had no reason not to trust him at this point and they needed answers, so he couldn't see any reason why he should refuse. So, when they entered the building a few minutes later, he took off his tac vest and gave the security guards at the door his weapons and he instructed the others to do the same – he only hoped that he wasn't doing the wrong thing.

Ten minutes later after walking through the large building, they came to a large room that looked a lot like the control room on Atlantis. The rest of the building had been different though, it had been more like a 21st-century office block, with its dull grey carpets and off-white walls. It actually reminded him of Dave's office back home. The place was weird, and he would be happy to get out of there as soon as possible.

"You may contact your people from here," Voth suggested pointing them to a terminal, "I trust you know how to go about it?"

"Of course, we do, we're not imbeciles," Rodney ranted, and John could have smacked him for being so rude again.

"McKay, that's enough!"

"Sorry Sheppard," Rodney replied a little sheepishly.

John didn't miss the glare that Voth gave Rodney before he spoke again, "I will leave you to contact your people and when you've finished you are invited to a meal with Minister Toth. Then if you wish to discuss trade with him you are welcome to do so."

"Thank you, Voth," John replied as graciously as possible.

Once Voth had left the room, he turned to Rodney, "can you establish and link?"

"You really need to ask me that question," Rodney stated sarcastically.

For the first time since they'd entered the room, Carson spoke and the good doctor sounded worried, "what are we going to tell them?"

"We're going to tell them everything's alright and that we'll contact them when we've finished," he whispered in the doctor's ear. He had a plan in mind, but he had no idea whether they were being monitored, so he decided to keep it to himself for now. Carson looked as if he were going to argue, so he just winked at the doctor, hoping he'd get the message and remain quiet.

Luckily, the doctor seemed to get the message and when Rodney established a link a few minutes later he put on his best smile.

It wasn't long before he saw Lorne's face on the monitor, but what surprised him the most was that Ronon was there.

"Ronon, how?" That was all he managed to say.

"It's a long story Sheppard, but the short version is that Amelia and I followed Atlantis into the nebula and then we were sucked into the same anomaly that you were."

He would have loved to hear Ronon's story, but now wasn't the time as there was far too much going on, "that's great and it's good to see you again, but you'll have to tell me another time."

"How are things going down there General?" Lorne asked and John didn't miss the concern in his friend's eyes.

"Things are going well Colonel, the people seem friendly, and I'm convinced that they can give us the answers we need…"

He was about to continue when Rodney tried to interrupt, "But Sheppard you said…."

"Anyway," he said interrupting Rodney, "Don't contact us unless we contact you, Sheppard, out."

Rodney and Carson stared at him, and he chose to ignore them for now, "It's about time we headed to lunch. What do you say, McKay."

"Umm…sure, I am beginning to feel a bit hungry."

At that moment, the door opened, and he turned around only to be hit in the chest by a stunner beam, his last thought before he lost consciousness was, I really should have listened to my Spidey senses.

oOo

Ronon watched as the video screen went blank, and he instantly knew that something wasn't right. Sheppard would never tell them not to contact him, so there had to be a reason why. If Sheppard were with them, he was sure that his Spidey sense would be tingling.

He turned to Lorne who was standing next to him open-mouthed, "Lorne there's something not quite right. We need to get down there because I'm convinced that they're in trouble."

"I tend to agree with you Ronon but knowing General Sheppard he has some kind of plan. So, I will give him forty-eight hours and if he hasn't contacted us by then, you can lead an away team to find out what's happening."

He respected Lorne and if he was going to obey anyone's orders other than Sheppard's it would be Lorne's every time. Although he wasn't as close to Lorne as he was to Sheppard, he knew that Lorne was a fine soldier and leader in his own right, so for now he decided that he would leave it be.

"I hope you're right Lorne," he said before turning away. "Anyway, Amelia's taken the kids to the Sheppards' apartment to put them to bed. That's where I'll be if you need to contact me."

He knew that Amelia was feeling unwell again, so he had asked if Jennifer would come and take a look at her, and Jennifer had said to bring her to the infirmary first thing in the morning. Ronon had agreed to take Torren and Charin to daycare the next morning while Amelia went to see the doctor.

When he arrived in the apartment a few minutes later he found Amelia sitting in Sheppard's recliner feeding Charin her bottle."

"Melia where's Torren?"

"I've just put him to bed, he was going to try and wait for you to read him a story, but he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow."

"What about Charin, will she need anything else to eat?"

"No, she should be right, but she will need her diaper changed and since I'm not feeling well, I'm going to let you do it Ronon."

"Are you alright Melia, I mean you haven't looked well for months now?"

Amelia looked down at her feet, and he was annoyed at how she changed the subject, "what did Col Lorne want?"

"Sheppard just sent a video message through to tell us everything is alright, but I don't buy it. I'm convinced that something is wrong."

"What did the Colonel say?"

"He suggested that we wait another forty-eight hours before mounting a rescue mission because chances are Sheppard has a plan."

"Ronon, knowing the General he has something up his sleeve, so I wouldn't worry much at this stage."

"Yeah, I know, so why don't you tell me what's wrong with you? I have a feeling that you know already."

He watched as Amelia took a deep sigh and a smile spread across her face, "I went to see a healer before we left New Sateda, and I asked Jennifer to perform some tests this afternoon. Although she hasn't got the results as yet, I'm fairly sure that I'm pregnant."

Before he had a chance to respond to her wonderful news, Charin started to scream.

Amelia looked at him with an amused look on her face, "I think it's time to change her diaper."

He looked back at her with a huge grin on his face, "yeah I guess I better get used to it."

Taking the baby off Amelia he smiled at her, he was going to be a Dad and despite the circumstances, they found themselves in, he couldn't be happier.

By the time he had changed Charin's diaper and settled her in her crib, Amelia had curled up in bed in the guest room, he thought about joining her, but he knew that he wouldn't sleep. He never slept well these days, so he left the Sheppards' apartment and started to run towards the lower levels of the city – the only problem was that Sheppard wasn't with him.

oOo

A slap to the side of his face brought him to full awareness, leaving Rodney totally confused. The last thing that he remembered was talking to Atlantis via a video feed. The next thing he heard was a soft lilting voice pervading his senses.

"Rodney, will you wake up? Sheppard is missing and we are in a tiny room with guards at the door."

Finally, he managed to open his eyes and Carson was right they were in a small room that was slightly bigger than a closet. It had the same dull grey carpets and off-white walls as the rest of the complex they were in and on one of the walls was a door with a tiny window at the top. Through the window, he could see at least one guard who was holding a gun.

He wasn't happy when he finally realised what was going on, "What the hell happened Carson!?"

"I don't know I just woke up a few minutes before you did and to make matters worse there are strange metal bracelets around our wrists."

Rodney looked down at the bracelet and for the first time he realised how tight it was – there was no way they were going to be able to get them off in a hurry. But that was probably the idea.

Now that he was completely awake, he managed to take a good look around the room and other than two cots against the wall there was no furniture and Sheppard definitely wasn't there.

He looked up at the door just as it opened, and he was annoyed to see Voth enter the room. Next to him was a tall blonde-haired man with piercing blue eyes, "what is the meaning of this!" He implored, he wanted to say more, but right now he was just too angry.

"And what have you done with Sheppard?" Carson asked finishing his sentence for him.

The blonde-haired man walked up to him and smiled sending shivers down his spine, "Ah you must be Dr Rodney McKay," the man turned to Carson before continuing, "and you must be Dr Carson Beckett and in answer to your question, General Sheppard is doing some work for us at the moment."

Suddenly he became very worried about Sheppard, "What do you mean he's doing some work for you and who the hell are you anyway?!"

"I am Minister Toth and if the two of you would like to look around the city you are most welcome too, but if we catch you in any areas that are prohibited we will have to punish you."

Rodney was furious by this time, "what do you mean by that? And how the hell do you know who we are?!"

Suddenly he felt a jolt of electricity running through his arm and he felt himself falling to the floor.

An evil smirk crossed Toth's face, "that is what I mean Dr McKay."

"We have provided some food in the other room if you're interested and then I will show you to some quarters to stay in while you are here," Voth offered.

He was too breathless and in pain to say anything further, so he was relieved when Carson spoke up, "are you going to tell us how you know who we are?"

Toth turned towards them and Rodney didn't miss the coldness in his grey-blue eyes, "there are extensive writings in our historical documents about a city called Atlantis and how it disappeared from the Pegasus Galaxy ten thousand years ago. There is also a lot of information about the people who lived there.

Ten thousand years ago our ancestors came to this galaxy from a galaxy in chaos and they decided that they would settle on this world. They barely made it here because their ship was heavily damaged, so when we crash-landed there was no way we were going to get back into orbit. Over the years our ancestors made this place our home, but they were always on the lookout for the city called Atlantis, hoping that they could help us.

There was already a city of the ancestors on this planet, and as the ancestors were long gone, we had no way of operating it effectively. Oh, we've made some of the technology work over the years since some of our people were able to activate the technology of the ancestors. None of them were particularly good at it though.

The ancient writings spoke of one from the ancient city that was able to operate the machinery effortlessly, so imagine Voth's surprise when he turned up on our planet."

Rodney was shocked by what he had just heard, what was with these people, "you could have just asked us to help?"

Voth and Toth stared at him blankly for a second or two before they turned and walked out of the room.

"What now?" Carson asked and Rodney didn't miss to worried look in his eyes.

"I have no idea, but one thing I do know is that we are so screwed."

TBC…