AN (sparklyshimmer): Me and my sis have finally finished a chapter for a long-planned joint fic!! Hooray!! Ok, this idea came from the ending of BAMSR, I think everyone will rather enjoy it, I take credit for most of this chapter, but my sis gets her stuff in very soon. :)
A/N (saphire): Sparkly did write pretty much this whole chapter with some input from me. She told me her idea that she got and I loved it! So anyway, hope you enjoy. Please review:)
"I still think Ronon is a good name for a boy or girl." Ronon grinned at Teyla across from him. The team plus Doctor Keller sat in the mess hall.
John made a face. "For a girl?"
"Yeah. Why not?"
"Oh please. That is not a girl's name. But if you're going to name your baby after anyone, Rodney is the name of a brilliant man destined for greatness." said the scientist and added, "And if it's a girl, well then I guess there's always Meredith."
"Of course, Rodney." She smiled at them all with laughter in her eyes.
"I've always like the name Emily." Keller spoke up.
Just then John got a call through his radio from Carter.
"Colonel Sheppard? I need you down in the control room immediately."
"On my way."
The team got up and headed off, Ronon excusing himself from Keller and giving her a soft smile. As soon as they got to the control room John noticed Major Lorne's team talking to Carter with serious expressions. He walked over to them with Ronon, Rodney, and Teyla following close behind.
"Major. Colonel." John greeted the two of them.
"John, good. We have some news."
Before she continued, Rodney let out a groan. They all looked at him.
"Good news or bad news?"
"Well it's not good news." Said one of Lorne's men, a young Lieutenant.
Everyone turned their attention to him. "What?" he shrugged.
Sam turned back to John. "Looks like we missed a replicator ship." She said.
"What?!"
"Excuse me?!"
Rodney and John looked at her incredulously. Ronon and Teyla both looked surprised. Lorne explained to them. "My team was on a routine mission, dropping in for a chat with one of our trading partners. We took a jumper and long range sensors showed a replicator ship. It wasn't moving."
"Did we not destroy them all?" Teyla asked. "How is this possible?"
"It shouldn't be." Rodney interrupted Sam as she started to speak. "The scans indicated that all the ships had been pulled in to the Asuran planet."
"Well maybe one ship wasn't close enough to be pulled in." John suggested.
"Then the device the other us gave us should have showed it."
"However it got there, I say we destroy it." This comment from Ronon surprised no one.
"Ronon's right. We'll have to get the Daedalus or Apollo back to Atlantis as fast as possible."
John looked over at Sam uncertainly. She noticed.
"You disagree Colonel?"
"I was just thinking. Why is there just one ship out there? Shouldn't there be more by now?"
Sam didn't say anything, instead averting her gaze and thinking.
"I just have a feeling." John continued. "Let my team take a jumper to check it out, maybe figure out what they're doing."
"Are you planning on sneaking aboard? Because I will not approve this mission if that's the case." She said, somewhat sharply.
"We don't have to get on board. We can cloak and fly by and Rodney can do some scans. Assess if they have any damage, see if I can pick up on anything else."
She sighed. "All right. If you don't get anything within one to two hours, you fly straight back." She told them sternly.
John nodded.
"Ok Colonel. You leave in an hour." She headed for her office.
The three guys were gearing up when Teyla walked in. "Ronon? You are going?" she asked.
"Yeah. I've been gettin' bored. Want to do something." He saw the look on her face, knowing that she would very well have nothing to do there either. "Sorry." He added.
"You're not here to convince me to let you come with us are you?" John asked.
"No." she smiled. "I am not. I merely came to wish you good luck."
John nodded and smiled back. "All right kids, let's go."
The three left, Rodney complaining along the way about being rushed.
"You getting anything Rodney?" John asked.
Rodney looked at his hand held tablet and then checked some readings behind him in the jumper. He sighed. "No. Nothing."
"Well we've still got some time to kill. Maybe we arrived just in time for the party."
As if on cue, the jumper was fired on.
"What the hell?! Rodney I thought we were out of their sensor range?"
"We are! That didn't come from the replicator ship." Rodney frantically looked at his readings.
"Then where did it come from?" Ronon asked.
"I don't know, but we are getting out of here." John tried to fly away but nothing happened other than more hits to the jumper. They all held on to the nearest surface trying not to be jolted out of their seats. "Rodney! Why can't I go anywhere? And why can't I fire back?"
"Because both turning and weapon controls were damaged."
"Well fix it!"
"It's not that simple, Sheppard. Whoever's shooting at us knew just where to hit us!"
Just then another jumper decloaked in front of them. They stared at it in surprise.
"Please tell me that's not the replicators McKay."
"Can't do that. They're sending us a message." Rodney said. "Huh." John looked at McKay. "The, uh, replicator ship is going to fly to us and we can fly straight into the jumper bay."
"Well I guess we don't have much of a choice. We're not going anywhere."
"Great." Said Ronon, in a way that couldn't be said if it was sarcastic or not. "Maybe now we can destroy it."
"Who knows? Maybe." Said John.
John stopped the jumper and they stood up.
"Now what?" asked Rodney.
Ronon took his gun out and John prepared his. "Oh, do you seriously think they're going to let us keep our weapons?"
"Of course not, Rodney, but we're not going to let them capture us. Ok?"
Before any of them could do anything the back door to the jumper opened to reveal several replicators with their stun guns. They immediately shot Ronon and John.
"Oh yeah, we won't get caught." Rodney muttered sarcastically. He held his hands up in the air, showing he had no weapons, but the replicators shot him unconscious as well.
The first thing John saw when he woke up was the black inside of a blindfold tied around his head. As he went to move his arms to take it off, he found that – of course – they were tied up. Damn those replicators, he thought.
"Ronon? Rodney? You guys there?" He called quietly.
"I'm here." Came Ronon's voice.
Rodney groaned as he came to. "What happened? Where are we? Oh no, I can't see anything!"
"You're blindfolded McKay." Ronon gruffly informed the panicking scientist.
"Wonderful." John heard Rodney mutter. Then he heard footsteps. A pair of arms grabbed him and pulled him up.
"Uh, hey guys." He was being roughly pushed away. "Mind telling me where we're going?" John asked in his usual flippant way.
"We are taking you to our commander. She has requested your audience." A male voice answered nonchalantly.
"Oh she has, has she?"
They kept moving for a couple of minutes until the replicators shoved him to the ground, face first. He could only imagine the silent, compliant nod they gave their commander. His blindfold was removed and the first things he saw were black boots and a nice pair of leather pants up to the commander's knees. John couldn't resist commenting.
"Well, with an outfit like that, at least my captor is pretty hot."
A laugh caught his ears, and for a moment his heart constricted. No. It can't be. But he knew that laugh. He loved to hear that sound. Especially directed at him.
The woman moved closer. He laid there frozen, afraid to look up and see if his saddened mind was playing a trick on him. Afraid to look up in case it was in fact true.
But as soon as her voice flowed smoothly in his ears he looked up sharply. Standing less than five feet away was Elizabeth Weir.
"If you're going to make comments like that, Colonel, I suggest you know who you're talking to."She smirked at John, whose mind was still incapable of gathering his thoughts. "But I'm flattered."
"E – Elizabeth?" He stammered.
"Hello John."