Chapter 31: Intergalactic Explorations

The day he got to go off world came much sooner than Alex had anticipated, much before he had even been cleared to train with Ronon. Not even a week after passing qualifications with Sheppard – they were shelving the P-90s until Dr. Beckett gave his official clearance – Rodney had barreled into the labs shouting about some shield generator being on the fritz.

Dr. Z had apparently known exactly what he was talking about, because he had offered up Alex's help almost immediately. It made Alex wonder just what kind of minefield he was walking into if Dr. Z had no desire to go help himself. But it was a chance to get off the city – and it would be with the safety of Sheppard's own team, which was probably the only reason had Sheppard approving it.

"I thought this was a friendly planet," Alex said, eyeing the tac vest Greg was holding out in his direction. "Wasn't that the entire point? A safe, friendly place."

Greg just grinned at him, before insisting on the vest. "Just because it's friendly, doesn't mean you won't run into unfriendlies." Sheppard sent him a disapproving glance, and Greg seemed to backtrack. "I mean… uh, gate protocol, kid."

Alex rolled his eyes – there was a grand total of seven years between them, kid was a bit of an overstatement – but he shrugged into the vest nonetheless. Greg cinched up some of the straps, loosened others, until it was a snug, but not too tight fit. Then checked that the gear pockets actually had the correct gear.

The extra ammo for the P-90 was discarded and replaced with a sheathed knife.

"Alex, catch!"

Alex glanced up just in time to see a thigh holster come flying his way and caught it before it nailed Greg in the side. He grinned, then proceeded to strap it on. This was far more trust that MI6 had ever placed in him. They had probably expected him to shoot himself in the foot – especially after his failed shooting of Mrs. Jones.

That was a moment of his life he was happy to not relive.

"Sir?" Greg looked adorably confused, glancing between the holster and Sheppard.

"He qualified last week," Sheppard said, casually, crossing the room with an extra M9 in his hands. "So, he gets to carry, just like everyone else. Or he wouldn't be going off world with us."

Alex took the M9, checked it, and slid it into the holster. It felt comfortable, right.

"Just make sure to check that back in when we get back."

Alex let off a jaunty salute, then reached over to rummage in the backpack Dr. Z had packed for him. He wasn't sure he knew what half the devices actually did, but Dr. Z seemed pretty insistent that Rodney was going to find it irreplaceable.

"Lieutenant, make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." Sheppard clapped Greg's shoulder and he seemed to pale at that. Like that wasn't already his job most of the time. "Jumper loads in five. That means you Rodney!"

From there, it was organized chaos, as Rodney directed first one group, then another, in the proper loading of the jumper. No large machines – thank goodness, since according to Greg they were going to have to trek in at some point – but enough bags that it was going to be a long couple of miles if they needed all of them. The only positive to Alex's inability to carry objects larger than twenty pounds, was that it wouldn't fall to him to get most of the supplies through.

Finally though, everything seemed to be to Rodney's satisfaction, because he slipped into the co-pilots chair and started tapping away at his tablet, complaining about someone named Vernon bringing back unknown artifacts to the lab and then being called off the city. Apparently, Rodney wanted to do some poking of his own at whatever Vernon had brought back and was going to have to wait.

After a few more minutes, Ronon and Teyla appeared, and with little fanfare, Sheppard raised the ramp.

"Command, this is Jumper One, dialing out for M7G-677."

"You are clear for go, Jumper One."

Greg all but pulled him back down into one of the back seats as the 'jumper lifted off the ground and headed into the gateroom.

To go through the gate.

So cool.

"Gets old after a while, kid." Ronon was watching Alex with an amused smirk on his face.

"Oh, sourpuss," Sheppard called from the front, punching the triangle shapes in some sort of sequence. Dialing the gate. "You're just mad you can't fly these things."

Ronon just snorted, then sat back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest.

Not someone Alex would want to meet on the wrong side of the city. Planet. Whatever.

The gate sparked into being and then the shield dropped. The 'jumper accelerated – Alex could feel the changes in the machinery, but not actually feel it – and in a blink, they were through the gate.

It was unlike anything he had ever experienced – though admittedly, the first time had been rather more traumatizing and he hadn't been able to completely appreciate the quick blip through the gate. This time… This time, he felt the burst of cold that penetrated straight through his body and seemed to settle in the depths of his bones for a long few seconds.

And then it was over.

The jumper burst into sunlight that hadn't been present in the dimly lit gate room. He couldn't help the slight gasp of air, as if trying to reprocess how things worked outside of Atlantis, before any after effects completely disappeared – as if they had never been there in the first place.

The others didn't even seem fazed.

And then, he realized they were on another planet.

Well, he had been for the past two months, but… This was different.

It didn't look that different from Earth

Green trees, brown dirt, sun in the blue sky.

But it wasn't the ocean world he had just come from.

"Atlantis, we are through. Heading to rendezvous point, check-in in six hours. Sheppard out."

The jumper picked up speed, skimming over the treetops and heading for a location to the south.

Could it still really be south though if he wasn't on earth…?

The jumper assured him that whether or not that was true, it was headed in a southerly direction. Well, meridies, which seemed to be a fairly accurate one to one translation between Ancient and Latin.

Why couldn't there have been all these helpful little side notes when he was trying to steer the puddle jumper?

"Stop poking at it!" Rodney shouted, breaking into his concentration. "Yes, you, back there with the souped-up gene."

Alex blinked, realizing that Rodney was shouting at him.

"I'd rather not fall out of the sky because you were curious at the most inopportune moment!"

Oh.

He noticed that?

"Calm down Rodney," Sheppard said, taking a hand off the controls and clearly doing nothing towards calming Rodney down. "He's not going to rip the controls from under my hands."

"Hand!"

Alex couldn't see him, but he was pretty sure Sheppard rolled his eyes, before placing his second hand back on the controls.

"Have a little more faith in my abilities, Rodney."

"I'm sure Alex had no intention of concerning you," Teyla broke in, before it could break into what looked like an all-out fight. She raised a careful eyebrow in his direction and Alex realized he was supposed to say something.

"No! Not, uh, at all," he stuttered, trying to come up with an explanation that didn't sound quite as bad as the truth. He was trying to figure out how Sheppard actually flew the thing, in a straight line. "I was just… uh, listening. To everything."

Any further debate was cut off by Sheppard making a long sweeping approach before settling down in the midst of a circle of trees. He cut off the power to the jumper with little preamble, before waltzing out the back.

Alex scrambled to his feet, Greg close behind, and stepped foot onto his first, real, alien planet. Atlantis didn't really count.

It was grass.

Just normal grass.

Sheppard grinned at him as he stepped out. "We started tame."

There was the same breeze he was used to. The same rustling of leaves in the trees.

All, surprisingly, normal sounding. Surprisingly Earth-like.

"Huh." Alex circled the jumper, curious if it all looked the same. And it did. It really, really did.

Sheppard scratched something in the dirt before waving Alex and Greg over. "Aerial surveys here are kind of pointless with all the trees, but…" He nudged a rock so it was sitting just outside the circle he had drawn. "Map making 101. Rock is us, circle is the shield. Generator is over here." He scuffed a mark on the ground just inside the left of the circle, scuffed another one almost on the opposite side. "Main village is over here, but don't go getting any fancy ideas. No wandering off alone."

Alex huffed and crossed his arms because there was no doubt that that command was pointed at him.

"If, and I emphasize if something happens, make for the villages—"

"Yes, yes, can we go now?" Rodney cut in, trodding right through Sheppard's little schematic. "Not everyone here is cutting their gate traveling baby teeth on a perfectly safe planet." He strode toward the outer edge of the clearing, foot tapping impatiently.

"Come on, kid." Greg slapped his shoulder, steering him back toward the back of the jumper. "Grab your pack – McKay's antsy and your existence is apparently setting him off today."

Alex rolled his eyes, but shouldered the pack on – weighing in at 19.5 pounds, it came just under Dr. Beckett's weight restrictions – then stepped back to let Greg take whatever else Rodney deemed the most important. Between the two of them, they had rather impressive packs.

"Ronon, McKay, you're with the kids," Sheppard said, sliding on his sunglasses. He patted the back of the jumper, which obediently raised the back hatch. "Teyla and I are going to check in with Kearas. We'll come find you in a few hours." There was a soft chirp and the jumper shimmered out of view.

If Alex hadn't known it was there, he never would've even looked twice at the spot.

McKay grumbled at apparently being lumped in with the kids, but he struck out in one direction with hardly a second glance. Greg nodded for Alex to follow, and Ronon clearly intended to take up the rear.

"Keep 'em safe, Chewie!" Sheppard called out, as he and Teyla headed off in the opposite direction.

Alex smothered a grin, before nearly jogging to keep up with McKay's pace. This was probably going to be more of a test of his returned stamina than anything else he had done so far. Hopefully, he wouldn't give Dr. Beckett a reason to come for his blood…

"Ow, fuck!" Rodney yanked his hand away from whatever crystals he was trying to solder together – or whatever the equivalent was for crystals. He shook his hand out, before glaring in Alex's direction.

Probably for his amused expression.

"You know, when Zelenka asked to send you in his stead, I imagined much less smirking and much more helpful contributions," Rodney sniped.

Alex shrugged, then looked around. "You told me to sit and be quiet." He was doing exactly what Rodney had asked, after all. It was, admittedly, a little boring though, sitting in the shade of the cave and having nothing to do.

Rodney narrowed his eyes in Alex's direction. "You can measure voltages, can't you?"

"Sure." Dr. Z had taught him to use the Ancient version of a multimeter on one of his first days. Now he could even understand what the numbers said, instead of just knowing the right location of the response.

Rodney took a pile of crystals and unceremoniously shoved them into a small bag. "Find the ones with lower than 13 zeds. Connect here and here." He pointed out two very small indentations in the base of the crystals, then showed how the reader was supposed to attach. "Have Lieutenant what's his face take you out beyond the perimeter."

"Perimeter?"

"Hello? Shield generator." Rodney waved his hand at the powered up and glowing device in the center of the room. "What part of no electronics don't you understand?"

Well, he supposed that would have been nicer if someone had explained that part to him. But he wasn't going to give that as an excuse. Alex just kept his face carefully blank. "And when I find the ones with low zed?" Because that was a unit of measurement he hadn't learned about yet. Hopefully it was clear on the reader.

Rodney stared at him for a long moment, before grabbing another bag and shoving it in his direction. "Just keep them separate. Chop, chop."

Alex very carefully didn't roll his eyes and took the proffered bags and multimeter. It was something to do and well, it sounded like it was probably useful, since Rodney's attempts to solder things together so far hadn't seemed to be working. He very purposefully left behind his backpack full of gizmos, because obviously, it was going to do Rodney more good than Alex.

Greg looked just about as bored as Alex had, when he stepped out of the cave. Oh, his gun was at the ready, but Alex bet that even just a little excitement would liven up his day.

"We're supposed to take these out beyond the perimeter," Alex said, holding up the bags and meter.

Greg jumped to his feet at once, clearly pleased with the opportunity to do something. "Should be about five minutes, that way." He nodded toward the faint path they had followed in.

"Don't go too far," Ronon rumbled, clearly not intending to follow them. At least someone thought they could take care of themselves.

Alex followed Greg through the trees and brush – which still looked remarkably like earth. And well, it all looked the same. It was a miracle that anyone was able to navigate these types of places. Spy though he may have been – the majority of his work and Ian's training had been city based. Drop him in the middle of a wilderness and, well, all bets were off on whether he'd make it out on the other side. Not that he hadn't dealt with jungle and whatnot in the past – but it certainly wasn't as easy as a city.

Greg paused every now and then to check his watch, as if it were some sort of homing beacon. After the sixth time, he took two more steps forward then turned around to grin at Alex. "This should be far enough."

Alex raised an eyebrow at him. It looked like the exact same stretch of forest they had been in for the last few minutes. Sure enough though, the multimeter turned on with little protest. He studied the readout for a moment, before successfully interpreting which numbers corresponded with the mythical zed output.

After spying a convenient rock – that was, yep, still outside of the perimeter – Alex dropped to the ground and poured out the bag of crystals. Some were flatter, while others were longer and pointier, but each one had the small indentation on the bottom. He lined up the prongs on the meter with the crystals and watched the output skitter around for a long handful of seconds.

A long handful of seconds.

Until finally, it settled on a number. Eight.

Dud.

He designated a dud bag, and set it by his feet, before dropping the offending crystal inside. Even if it couldn't be useful here for the shield generator or whatever, someone on Atlantis was no doubt going to want to examine it. If not Rodney himself. But then, he seemed to dabble in just a little bit too much…

Alex grabbed another crystal and repeated the process.

Fourteen.

He glanced at the small pile, then down at the bags.

It was going to take a while…

Checking crystals had a monotonous quality to it. Check. Wait. Toss. Check. Wait. Toss.

Alex was pretty sure Rodney had palmed off the task because he had no desire to do it. That was the perk of assistants. They got to do all the grunt work.

He wasn't quite sure what he had imagined when Dr. Z set him up to assist Rodney, but… this wasn't it.

He blew out a long breath as, yet another, crystal got dropped into the dud bag.

"Real exciting, ain't it?" Greg had eventually picked a convenient tree, and while he wasn't to the point of sitting down, he was definitely lounging against it.

Alex snorted, then held another crystal to the meter. "Seems to me there are some distinct disadvantages to having a shield that apparently nullifies all other electronics." And it seemed like an oxymoron. The shield itself was technology, wasn't it? How did it not kill itself?

Probably not a question to ask Rodney…

"It brings darts right down from the sky, apparently," Greg said, before casting a gaze at the treetops. "Though I'd never gotten the impression that their culling beam works too well in forests."

Twenty-two. Oh, nice and healthy, that one. He slid it into the not-a-dud bag, then grabbed another at random.

"But then wouldn't they have to deal with the live wraith that crashed?" Alex asked.

Greg shrugged. "Rumor has it that the people of this planet have contingency plans for that. And the wraith are far too used to their stun guns. Take that advantage out and, bam, out of luck."

Alex wasn't quite sure he got it. After all, supposedly, even a wraith without a stun gun was incredibly strong and fast. And was no real match for bullets from his little handgun. Not that he had any desire to see one in person…

One. Absolutely not useful for Rodney's purposes.

"Besides, wraith have avoided this planet for the last few years – too many missing darts. There's no point in sending out a scout here, when there are plenty of other planets—" Greg froze, head tilting to the side, before staring up at the treetops.

A low hum – and not an Ancient device hum – was slowly getting louder.

"Oh, fuck," Greg breathed, before glancing over at Alex. "I think I just jinxed us."

The hum was growing louder, until it was a shrill whine that seemed to pass right over them. Alex hunched his shoulders in as it increased in pitch, then started letting up as it increased its distance.

"What was—?"

"That was a wraith dart." Greg grabbed his P90 and held it in a ready position, eyes darting at the forest stretching out in front of them. As if a wraith were just going to pop up anywhere. "We need to get out of here."

Alex shoved the remaining crystals into the not-a-dud bag – if he ever got around to finishing the task, there would at least be a better return on not-a-duds than duds – and got to his feet.

He only had a vague idea of where they were in the forest. Sketchy schematics notwithstanding, he really wasn't any good at navigating forests. He could probably find the trail back to the cave but…

"We've got to get to the village," Greg said, before all but herding Alex in a different direction. Away from the shield. "If that dart dropped anything…"

Alex swallowed, then looked out over the quiet forest. A life signs detector would be great right about now, but no, Dr. Z had said he wouldn't need anything like that.

A simple, low-risk mission.

No chance of catastrophe.

"Shouldn't we find Ronon and Rodney?" Because, well, Alex had no doubt that Ronon could take on a wraith. Probably with his bare hands and still win.

"Can't risk the cave. Come on," He prodded Alex once again, throwing cautious glances over his shoulder as they moved along. "They'll have heard it too, anyway."

And well, the village had been what Sheppard told them to do. If something happened. He supposed this was something happening.

If he weren't already juggling the bags and trying to keep his balance across the rough, definitely not a trail, terrain, Alex would have pulled his own gun.

Because he had a feeling that things were going to get real bad, real quick.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and Alex shoved at Greg, knocking him out of the way just before a blast came in their direction.

"Oh, fuck!" Greg reeled, then regained his balance. "Run, Alex."

Alex heartily agreed with the sentiment and took off at the fastest sprint he had managed in weeks, just staying in front of Greg.

Feeling that pursued sensation.

Hunted.

They were being hunted.

Alex swallowed down his nausea.

This was supposed to be simple.

He jumped over a log, only half realizing it was there, belatedly hearing the crack as something solid impacted where he had just been standing.

He didn't pause to look back.

"We're—in the—perimeter." Greg gasped out as they slid into a small hollow, then he yanked on Alex's arm motioning for him to keep going in yet another direction. "West."

Alex just kept running, as if he knew which way west was on this planet.

This planet.

What the hell.

There was still the creeping feeling that someone was watching them. Predicting their moves.

Why did they have to pick today of all days?

His breath caught in his chest, wheezing out on the exhale.

He wasn't ready for this.

Keeping up an indefinite sprint just wasn't possible. Not with how little training he had gotten in in the past few weeks.

After not having to run for his life on a regular basis.

"Down."

That was the only warning he had, before Sheppard appeared in front of him, P90 raised.

Alex dropped to the ground, rolling with the impact so that none of the not-a-dud crystals didn't get damaged. Greg wasn't far behind him.

But the hail of bullets he was expecting didn't come.

Instead, Sheppard had lowered his P90 and was watching Alex with an amused grin.

"What the—" The wraith dart. The running. The near misses. The misses. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Alex rolled onto his back, letting the bags of crystals fall to the ground beside himself, trying to catch his breath.

"How was that, sir?" Greg sat up next to him, looking far more composed than someone who had supposedly just been running for his life.

"Probably could've left off at one fuck," Sheppard said, casually, before turning to shout into the woods. "Chewie! That better have been set to stun!"

Alex dropped an arm over his face, still huffing. It had been a trick. A set up. A ruse.

There were no wraith.

"I have half a mind to shoot you for that," Alex mumbled into his arm. "All of you."

"And wouldn't that make a lovely explanation when we get back to Atlantis?" Sheppard nudged Alex in the side, and Alex grudgingly took that as his cue to get up. "Welcome to basic off-world training with AR-1."

Greg offered him a hand, helping Alex to his feet. "Don't feel too bad, they did the same thing to us during basic off-world training. But with goa'uld." He seemed to shudder at the memory, before grinning at Alex. "Besides, you did well."

Alex brushed off his clothes from the dust on the ground, before straightening up to look at Greg in confusion. "But… I didn't do anything." He had literally just run.

"Exactly." Sheppard clapped a hand on his shoulder. "No heroics. Just because you have a gun doesn't mean that your first resort shouldn't be running."

Fair enough.

"He pushed Simmons out of the way," Ronon said, appearing from out of the trees. He had a wicked looking gun resting over his shoulder. "Didn't have a good shot after that." And it was apparently what had been coming at them. Not regular bullets. Electronic of some sort, because the shots had stopped once they crossed the perimeter.

"I thought you weren't supposed to take me out," Greg said, looking slightly put out.

Ronon just grinned a smile with all his teeth, looking slightly menacing. "We only agreed on permanently."

Greg took a step back and Alex choked back a laugh.

"So what, this was all some sort of…" Alex circled his hands, trying to find the right word. "Test?"

Sheppard shrugged, then bent over to pick up the bags of crystals. "Not all planets are as safe as this one. Sure, we usually hit them on good days, but sometimes the wraith surprise us. Or other humans do. And well, we can't exactly run you through the normal Basics of Pegasus classes – mainly because we haven't had one in months." He slung the bags over his shoulder, before turning back in the direction he came from. "If you've got the run lesson down though, I'm sure the others will be a piece of cake."

At some point during the walk back to the village, Alex's heart had calmed back down and he had recaught his breath. He was pointedly refusing to make eye contact with Greg, though he did understand. It was just as well to let him stew for a while though.

The trees hadn't given away in the slightest, but the slowing from Sheppard seemed to suggest that they were almost at their destination.

Personally, Alex didn't see anything but trees.

Greg sidled up next to him, before asking in a hushed whisper. "Did anyone mention that they live in tree houses here?"

Alex jerked, before glancing up and seeing… Cleverly concealed tree houses, with ramps and bridges connecting them – high up in the treetops. Almost too high for simple construction. "How…?"

"Get a population of only under 25 and I imagine the shapes of our houses would be changing too."

He looked up with renewed appreciation. Because this… this was a society that had decided – misguidedly – that turning 25 was a sentence punishable by death. That in keeping their population young and low… they would be safe from the wraith. They had only recently changed that policy.

It boggled the mind.

It also showed how fearsome the wraith truly were – entire planets would control their population in the hopes to make themselves unenticing for the wraith…

"Feel up to doing a little climbing?" Sheppard asked, as a rope ladder seemed to appear out from the treetops from nowhere.

Alex flexed his fingers, looked at how much it no doubt swayed, even when anchored. "Would… Dr. Beckett…"

Sheppard seemed to get what he was circling around. "Carson gave the okay for everything that we've done so far. If you don't feel up to it though, that's fine too."

It would've been nice if they had given him that same option while running for his life, but…

"Yeah, okay."

Sheppard motioned for him to start climbing the ladder – and Alex really wasn't sure he wanted to be the first to go up, but went anyway. It twisted a little under his weight, but really wasn't that much more difficult to climb than any other ladder. It just happened to go all the way to the treetops.

Part way up, he felt the ladder sag, and he looked down to see Greg starting up behind him.

Hopefully it could hold the weight…

Alex pulled himself up onto the platform and found himself face to face with another teenager. Similar height, scraggly brown hair, curious expression.

"I am Sherrin." He stuck his hand out and when Alex tried to shake it, was pulled into a backslapping hug. "We have never met a young one from Sheppard's world."

Sheppard's world. Alex shook his head at the ridiculousness of it. "I'm not that young."

Sherrin's eyes grew wide. "All we have met are elders." He leaned in, almost to share conspiratorially. "It almost seemed as if they were never young ones."

Alex snorted at that, but was saved from responding by Greg's appearance and subsequent greeting by Sherrin. The others weren't far behind – though McKay and Teyla were notably absent. McKay was probably still working on the generator, and since Ronon had joined them, presumably, Teyla was providing backup to him.

The platform branched off in several directions, bridges of varying quality leading to huts dispersed around the treetops. There were a lot more than Alex had initially seen, some stacked on top of others.

It was a miracle it didn't all come falling to the ground.

He wasn't sure he wanted to be there if there was a wind storm…

In a matter of moments, Sherrin shuffled the group along one of the rickety looking rope bridges and into a hut that looked a lot cozier on the inside than on the outside. And proceeded to introduce Alex to one of his most surreal experiences – alien tea on an alien planet.

Not bad.

A/N: Alex finally gets to go off-world! And he had a bit of an exciting trip too. Believe me, Sheppard is going to make sure he has all the skills he needs. Also, I think Rodney is just having one of those days...