Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis (though it would be nice). The children do belong to me wuahaha (evil laugh). This is for enjoyment only, so please R&R, and constructive criticism would be great as this is my first Stargate Fanfic. Thanx 

Spoilers: None yet, but you will be warned in advance

Pairings: I'll let you figure that out hehe

Setting: Sometime during Season 1

Chapter 1: Leaving Atlantis

"Major Sheppard! Evacuate the children now!" ordered a lean grey haired general into his radio while running down the corridor towards the Atlantis gateroom as fast as he could.

"But sir, what about you?" the major said over the radio.

"I'll be right behind you! Just go and that's and order!"

Major Sheppard was helping a fallen scientist who was running towards the gate with the rest of the evacuees. When the gate disengaged, the major turned to a young captain "McKay, round the kids up now! We're going through the gate ASAP"

"Yes sir!" replied Capt. McKay and he ran off shielding himself as debris continuously rained down from the unstable ceiling above.

Major Sheppard felt all of Atlantis shake once again as the shields were bombarded by another round of energy blasts from the dozen hive ships hovering a few miles above. The ships arrived six hours ago, continuously pummeling the now failing shields.

Most of the great city's inhabitants were dead while a small number of survivors were being evacuated to the alpha site. Now all that remained in the empty city were four small children that hid in the infirmary when the wraith first arrived, Capt. McKay, the general, and major Sheppard.

Capt. McKay came back with the four terrified children "Sir, they're here and my guess is that the shield isn't going to hold any longer"

"Thank you McKay, you know I never would have figured that out on my own" growled Sheppard "Let's move out!"

The general arrived nodding to Sheppard to get the children ready while he ran up the stairs to dial the alpha site for the final time. As another blast rocked the city, the gigantic blue splash of the stargate exploded towards the waiting group. "Okay let's get out of here!" yelled the general.

Major Sheppard sent the IDC signal and received confirmation that the shield on the alpha site was deactivated. Sheppard turned back to the general "Come on move your butt, sir!"

"Oh no" whispered the general running to the awaiting group as the shield began to collapse. He wasn't halfway to the children when a squad of wraith appeared on the top of the stairs. The children screamed as major Sheppard and Capt. McKay stepped between them and the wraith.

"Get them!" ordered the wraith commander and the squad started for the small human group.

Major Sheppard, Capt. McKay, and the general started firing upon the wraith with their P90s. The entire wraith squad hit the ground unmoving; the officers took the opportunity to reload their weapons before they went through the gate. "Okay kids, time to go on a little trip" said Sheppard.

"I don't want to go I can't swim" said a little girl in the group staring at the blue abyss of the stargate her green eyes full of fear.

"Don't worry Sam" said Sheppard "It's not water and your brother is going to be right beside you" The major glimpsed at McKay who grinned at his sister despite their dire situation.

"Okay" said Sam hesitantly and she stepped through the gate plugging her nose and squeezing her eyes shut, just in case. She held McKay's hand tightly while the children followed closely.

"Okay sir let's go" said Sheppard when another blast rocked the now vulnerable city, but there was no answer. Sheppard turned around to see that one of the wraith somehow survived the weapons fire and was feeding upon the general. "NNNOOO!" screamed Sheppard and started pumping the entire P90 clip into the wraith. The wraith collapsed to the ground finally dead and Sheppard ran over to the general, propping him up against some fallen debris.

The general was barely alive, his well toned body was nothing but frail limbs and his eyes were slowly losing the strength that the major has admired for all of these years. "Major…I want you to take care of the kids and be strong for them they need you."

Sheppard was barely able to hold back tears "I will sir. I'll make you proud"

"You…already have" gasped the general grabbing a hold of Sheppard's hand "Now…go"

"No sir, not without you" said Sheppard squeezing the general's hand in encouragement.

"You…and I both… know that…I won't make it" whispered the general as a tear trailed down his worn face "Now please…go and protect the children" The general gave Sheppard's hand one final squeeze.

The major traced the scar that ran vertically down the general's face smiling at him in love and respect then stood up slowly walking towards the gate. Hesitating before stepping through, Sheppard turned around and said "I love you, father" then disappeared into the event horizon.

Brigadier General John Sheppard watched as his eldest child stepped through the gate "I love you too" and breathed his last breath, not having to witness the horror of four wraith running into the event horizon before it closed.

SG SG SG SG SG SG

Major Kristy Sheppard stumbled through the stargate and stood up to see several guns pointed at her. She looked around in confusion seeing that she wasn't at the alpha site at all. Instead she was standing in the gateroom of Atlantis, but not the Atlantis that she just left. No, it was an undamaged fully operational Atlantis that looks like it hasn't seen a wraith attack in years.

She went to grab for her P90, but she noticed for the first time that it was ten feet way from her. She guessed it must have slipped out of her grasp when she hit the floor of the gateroom. She grabbed her zat gun instead of her 9mm, not wanting to severely injure the guards before her, and pointed it at them.

"Don't move" said a young sergeant.

Kristy observed that the guards were wearing uniforms remarkably similar to hers and McKay's. She spared a glance at McKay, who looked just as confused as she felt, which made her sigh in relief that she wasn't going crazy. She went to order him to lower his weapon when her blood turned cold. "McKay, get the kids out of here now!" she yelled.

The sergeant went to tell them to stop, but his eyes grew wide as saucers looking right past Kristy's shoulder, as did the rest of the guards. Kristy spun around to see four eight foot tall fully armed wraith enter through the event horizon.

The children, led by McKay, started to flee to safety, but one of the wraith grabbed Sam by her backpack. She started screaming as the wraith held her up to its face with its one hand.

"Put her down you bastard!" yelled McKay. He ran towards the wraith ready to fight for his sister's life with his bare hands. One of the other wraiths stepped forward and punched McKay in the stomach sending him flying into the group of guards.

"Where are we?" demanded the wraith holding Sam.

Kristy pointed her zat towards the wraith while slowly backing up towards the children. She looked back to see that McKay was no worse for wear and fuming at the wraith holding his younger sister. She also saw two armed men run down the steps towards the group of guards and began quietly conversing. "McKay, are you alright?" she asked rejoining the group the same time as him.

"I've been through worse before" he winced slightly never taking his gaze off of the wraith holding Sam.

"My best guess to get Sam out of this unharmed is that we shoot them with our zats. Do you think it would hurt her?"

"I don't think it will" he answered hesitantly. "But it's a chance I'm willing to take to get her back"

"I demand to know where we are, puny Earthlings!" roared the wraith beginning to get impatient.

Kristy and McKay nodded at each other and walked nonchalantly towards the wraith, much the human soldiers' surprise. "Well, I don't know where we are…Bob" said Kristy looking at the wraith holding Sam. "Doesn't he look like a Bob?" she winked at McKay.

"Yeah, I guess. I would have thought Julie, cuz you know he looks kind of like a girl, but Bob's fine with me" he smiled back.

Kristy laughed "You're right McKay, he does look like a Julie"

'Bob' tossed Sam away roaring in rage at the two and charged. Kristy and McKay pulled out their zats and fired, instantly killing him. McKay ran to Sam cradling her in his arms protecting her as the other wraith charged towards them.

Kristy heard a familiar voice yell "Open fire!" and the guards finally decided to do something and started shooting the wraith. Two wraith collapsed and the third moved quicker than anything Kristy has ever seen, soon she was lifted up into the air by her throat.

The wraith looked in her eyes with his terrifying yellow ones and smiled. "You must have forgotten young one…" he said tracing her jaw line with his claw "…we can feed from anyplace on your body"

Kristy eyes widened and she screamed in pain as the wraith began to feed. It felt like tiny daggers were digging into her neck while the wraith slowly drained her life force from her body. She could feel her vision becoming hazy and her limbs were feeling heavier and heavier by the second. The wraith grinned at her agony and the pain subsided slightly.

"That was only a day, little one" he smiled, starting to drain her again; slowly taking her life one day at a time and counting each one to her out loud.

Kristy swung her legs up trying to kick him in the head, but he just laughed at her frivolous attempts. She then grabbed her dagger and with as much strength as she could muster, she stabbed him in the chest. The wraith howled in pain letting go of her, dropping her to the floor as he collapsed instantly dead. Kristy struggled to her feet and pulled the dagger out of the dead wraith's chest cleaning it off on his clothes. Her back was to the approaching soldiers, so she whispered into her radio "McKay, time to get out of here. You know what to do"

"Yes, sir" he whispered over the radio.

"Put your weapons down" said the familiar voice once again making her straighten up in surprise.

"Dad?" she said as she turned around to the source of the voice. She saw John Sheppard with his P90 pointed at her. He wasn't the same man though, he was leaner and more muscular, his hair wasn't grey and he didn't have a scar running down the side of his face. She looked at his uniform and saw that it said major instead of general. She saw confusion flicker on his face for a brief moment then it was replaced by the expressionless mask that he always had when he was worried about something.

"I said, put your weapons down" he ordered raising his P90 a little bit higher.

Kristy looked at McKay at the other end of the room and nodded. He grinned and slipped his hand into his back pocket and pulled out a silver globe about the size of his palm.

"Okay I'm putting my weapons down" she said out loud never taking her eyes off of Sheppard placing the zat and dagger to the ground "Just don't hurt the kids"

McKay rolled the globe towards Kristy and the soldiers. The globe started to blink and was beginning to blink faster every second. "Kids I need you to close your eyes" he said and they complied with complete trust.

The soldiers turned to the sound of the rolling globe and the sergeant said "Oh shit!" The ball let out a white flash and over half of the soldiers collapsed unconscious.

Kristy opened her eyes and grabbed her zat finishing off the rest of the conscious soldiers. "Run!" she ordered and the children took off into the interior of the city without any hesitation. She bent down to an unconscious Sheppard and placed a hand on his shoulder making sure that he wasn't an illusion "Well it was nice seeing you alive one more time" and left, running after the children.

(TBC)