The Lost

Chapter Thirteen: Rendezvous

Jennifer was glad when Lorne and his team came back through the Stargate, and not only because they didn’t look like they were in panicked retreat from the Wraith. They’d been waiting while Lorne sent a MALP through, checking out its transmission carefully and then taking his team through after it to make sure they weren’t walking into an ambush. She wasn’t going to complain about being cautious, but standing next to Ronon with her pack leaning against her feet had involved a lot of awkward silence. There wasn’t much small talk that seemed appropriate to the situation.

She was finding it hard to know what to say to anyone. Half of the people who knew her were acting like Rodney was dead, which she thought was jumping the gun just a little bit. The other half kept saying things that were probably intended to be reassuring, like ‘we’ll find him,’ without seeming to have much idea of how they intended to do that.

“So what did we find out?” Woolsey asked, coming down the stairs behind her. He looked a bit relieved, too. They were all pretty twitchy at the moment.

“Basically the Stargate is sitting in the middle of a big open field,” Lorne said. “Just a big, flat grass plain, with what looks like a river and some trees way off to the north. No sign of a road. The good news is, you could see anybody coming for miles.”

Ronon nodded shortly. “What’s the bad news?”

“Anybody could see you coming for miles. If we were thinking about setting up an ambush, we’re going to need to take a cloaked jumper through.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Woolsey said. “Major Lorne, I’d like you to take a jumper and provide some backup, just as a precaution.”

Jennifer glanced at Ronon, suspecting he’d argue it wasn’t necessary, but he didn’t. He did hesitate for a moment, as if not sure whether Lorne expected to take charge of the mission. Jennifer wasn’t sure exactly how chain of command applied to the current situation; Ronon was a civilian acting on Woolsey’s orders, but Sheppard and by extension Lorne were supposed to be in charge in military situations, and if this wasn’t a military situation, she wasn’t sure what was.

“Let’s do this,” Ronon said when Lorne didn’t make any move to step in.

“I’m on my way,” Lorne said promptly, and headed for the jumper bay.

Jennifer shouldered her pack. “Let’s do this.”

“I’ll contact Todd once you’ve gone through,” Woolsey said. “Don’t hesitate to dial the gate if you have problems.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ronon said. Jennifer wasn’t sure exactly which way Ronon meant that, but the gate was already boiling blue, and Lorne’s jumper was descending in front of them. The event horizon rippled as it passed through ahead of them.

She and Ronon followed cautiously. She was very aware of the unfamiliar weight of the pistol in her thigh holster. She’d hesitated before putting it on, but there had seemed like too many ways this could go wrong. Just wearing the pistol didn’t mean she was going to have to use it.

She still wasn’t used to the tug of the wormhole, even after who knew how many trips through the Stargate in the last two years. It felt like being tumbled through cold air, like being on the carnival rides at the state fair when she was a kid with the world whipping by in streaks of color. She’d usually been too breathless to scream.

They stepped out into a warm afternoon. The grassy field stretched out in all directions, although in the distance she could see a smudge of trees on the horizon and what might be the distant gleam of water. Lorne must have already cloaked the jumper; she wished she knew where the jumper was, but it was probably better if she didn’t. It meant she couldn’t give its position away with an unguarded glance upwards.

Ronon turned a circle, his pistol drawn, before seeming to decide that they weren’t yet surrounded by Wraith.

“What now?” she asked.

“Now we wait,” he said. He backed up from the gate and lowered his pistol at it. Jennifer thought about drawing her own and decided that the situation wasn’t that dire yet. She tried to look like she was totally confident about dealing with the Wraith.

They didn’t have to wait long. Almost at once, the gate’s chevrons lit as it activated. Jennifer braced herself, ready to move fast if she had to.

Instead of Wraith, what emerged through the gate was a small floating device of some kind, roughly spherical and gleaming metallic in the sunlight. It hung in the air, rotating all the way around its axis, and then darted toward them.

Ronon aimed his pistol in one easy motion, looking like he was about to shoot the thing out of the air. Jennifer caught his arm. “I think it’s a probe,” she said. “We did send a MALP.”

“I know what it is,” Ronon said. He didn’t lower his pistol, but he didn’t shoot, either. He glanced down at her hand on his arm. “Don’t do that.”

Jennifer let go. “I just think that if we shoot the probe, it’s going to make them think twice about going through with this meeting.”

She half-expected Ronon to say that would be fine with him, but he let out a frustrated breath instead. “They’d better know something about where McKay is.”

“Well, I hope so, too,” Jennifer said. “Obviously. But we’re probably not going to find out if you shoot that thing.”

Ronon lowered his pistol to the side and spread his free hand with a little smile that didn’t actually make him look less threatening. “I know you can hear us,” he said to the probe. “We haven’t got all day.”

The event horizon rippled, and two Wraith walked through into the grass between them and the gate. One of them was all too familiar. She’d gotten used to looking at Todd through the blur of the stasis field. At close range without the field between them, she had to fight not to twitch as he strode toward them.

He and his companion stopped with a good ten feet still between them, well out of arm’s reach if not out of reach of a flying tackle. She hoped no one was about to tackle anyone else. “Ronon Dex,” he said, his rusty voice rising over the rustle of the tall grass. “Dr. Keller.”

“That’s us,” Ronon said. He didn’t like to use the names Sheppard had given the Wraith, Jennifer had already noticed. Then again, they weren’t their real names, if they had real names, so she wasn’t sure using them won them any points for being polite.

“Thank you for meeting with us,” Jennifer said.

Todd inclined his head slightly to her. She wished she knew exactly what that meant. “As you see, I am practically defenseless. This is neutral ground, by long tradition. You may put your weapon away.” His eyes flickered to Ronon as he said it, but returned to Jennifer.

“Wraith tradition,” Ronon said, in a tone that made it clear exactly how much weight he gave that.

“Our traditions are older than yours, Satedan.”

“We’re all here to talk,” Jennifer said. She suspected that if Todd started insulting Sateda, things were going to go downhill fast, and they couldn’t afford that. Not when this might be the only way to help Rodney. “We have a problem, and we’re hoping we can give you a reason to help us with it.”

“I will be pleased to hear about your problems,” Todd said. “But first, you will send the cloaked Lantean ship you have brought with you back through the gate.”

Jennifer very deliberately didn’t look up. She tried not to let her eyes move at all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“There’s no jumper,” Ronon said.

“You are wasting my time,” Todd said. “I will not spare you much more of it. You do not trust me enough not to have taken precautions. You will order your ship to return to Atlantis, visibly, or we have nothing to discuss.”

Jennifer glanced at Ronon, a moment before it occurred to her that it was probably as much of a tell as if she’d looked up. With reluctance written in every line of his body, Ronon thumbed on his radio headset. “They know you’re here,” he said. “I want you to decloak and go back through the gate. Tell Woolsey we’re getting ready to talk.”

“If you’re sure you know what you’re doing,” Lorne said.

“We’ll be fine,” Jennifer said into her own radio. Todd laid one hand seemingly idly over the top of the probe, and the wormhole cut off behind him. The probe sank slowly to the ground.

The jumper shimmered into visibility, and the gate began to activate behind them — not the symbols for Atlantis’s new location, Jennifer realized, having spent enough time since they arrived memorizing those. Of course Lorne wouldn’t chance letting Todd see the gate address for their new home. If he didn’t already know it.

Ronon kept his eyes on Todd, still not putting his pistol away. “What if we really hadn’t brought the jumper?”

“Then you would be growing too careless to be worth negotiating with.”

“No chance of that,” Ronon said.

“So I see.”

The jumper sank lower as the wormhole opened, and it neatly threaded the eye of the Stargate above their heads. When it disappeared, standing in the middle of the open field suddenly felt pretty lonely.

“What if we have another jumper?” Ronon asked.

Todd gave Jennifer — not Ronon — that little nod of his head again. “I will take my chances.”

“Good,” Jennifer said. They were certainly taking enough of a chance themselves.

“Talk,” Ronon said. He kept his pistol out, ready to level it on Todd if he made a single wrong move. The other Wraith was watching them both, his long braided hair shifting with every slight movement. Ronon wondered if they made him nervous. He hoped so.

Todd met his eyes. If he was nervous at all himself, he wasn’t showing it. “You are the ones who wanted to ask for a favor.”

“We want to trade,” Jennifer said. “We might be able to do you a favor if you’ll share some information.”

“There was a raid on New Athos four days ago,” Ronon said. He was getting tired of pretending this was a friendly conversation. “Three darts came through the ring. One of them took McKay.”

“That is unfortunate,” Todd said. “What do you expect me to do about it?”

“Share some information,” Jennifer repeated.

Todd exchanged glances with the other Wraith. He thought they were communicating, in whatever way they did. The other Wraith bent over the probe and activated it again, his fingers moving across its surface like he was petting it. Ronon leveled his pistol on it, although it looked like the standard ones that only had cameras and transmitters, no weapons.

“It is essential that we move away from the Stargate,” Todd said. “You may follow us.” He turned his back on Ronon and began walking toward the treeline. The other Wraith followed him, but kept glancing behind.

It was awfully tempting to just shoot them both. If he killed the other one, he could probably take Todd down but leave him alive. There was just a little too much chance of Jennifer getting caught in the crossfire.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he said.

Todd turned. Ronon hated the way they always moved, like snakes trying to fascinate their prey into freezing. “We are not the only ones who use this meeting place,” he said. “I cannot afford to be seen treating humans as people to be negotiated with.”

“You mean treating humans as people,” Jennifer said. Todd didn’t bother to respond. “You could tell them we were your prisoners.”

“Will you allow me to restrain you, then?”

“No,” Ronon said flatly.

“Then that will be difficult to believe. If we are to negotiate, we will not do it standing next to the Stargate.”

“Fine,” Ronon said. He nodded to Jennifer. “Dial the gate. We’re leaving.”

“No, we’re not,” she said. “We’re not done here.”

“Yes, we are,” he said. He stepped backwards until he touched the DHD with his left hand, not taking his eyes off Todd. He found the first symbol by feel, the plate warm under his hand.

“No, we’re not,” she said, her voice low and hard the way he’d only heard from her a few times before. He hadn’t liked any of those times. She turned to Todd. “You don’t want to stay by the gate, fine,” she said. “We’ll come with you.”

“He said himself more Wraith could come through the gate,” Ronon said. He wasn’t sure why she wasn’t understanding how bad that would be. “We’d be cut off.”

“Then we’ll find a way to deal with them.”

“No,” he said. “End of discussion. We’re dialing out.” He pressed the first symbol in the address for New Athos.

“Fine,” Jennifer said. “Dial out if you want. But I’m not leaving until we know for sure they can’t help us find Rodney.”

“Follow or not,” Todd said, turning his back on them again. “But I would not remain at the gate if I were you.”

“I thought you said this was neutral ground,” Jennifer said.

“I am willing to treat you as if those rules applied to you,” Todd said. “Others will not be.”

Jennifer looked at Ronon. He could see her wavering. “It’s got to be a trap,” he said. “We aren’t doing this.”

She set her jaw. “I am,” she said.

There was a moment where he could have caught her arm to stop her. He probably would have if she’d been Teyla, but he hadn’t been raised to push women who weren’t soldiers around that way. That was probably going to get them both killed. Jennifer set off through the long grass, and Ronon swore under his breath and went after her.

They should be leaving enough of a trail for someone to follow. At least, he could have followed their trail. Lorne would at least be able to track them by their subcutaneous transmitters. That was something.

Todd and the other Wraith seemed unconcerned with whether they were following or not, keeping to a slow enough pace that they could follow without running, but not making any effort to drop back to join them. Ronon kept his eyes on them, but he could feel every step they were putting between themselves and the Stargate.

“We probably should have told someone that we were moving away from the gate,” Jennifer said under her breath. He wondered if that was supposed to be some kind of peace offering. It didn’t work, if it was.

“Can’t,” he said shortly. “Unless we shoot the probe first. It’ll record the gate address.”

“Right,” she said.

“You should listen to me,” he said. “This is a bad idea.”

“We can’t do this now,” she said, her voice a hiss barely above a whisper. They could probably hear her anyway. “We need to be together on this.”

You mean we need to do what you want, he thought, but he was all too aware that the Wraith were listening. “Fine,” he said.

“Where are we going?” she called to Todd.

“Be patient,” he said without turning.

“We’re not,” Ronon said.

“I know,” Todd said. “Just beyond the trees.”

They walked for a while in silence. The flat plain was beginning to slope down toward the line of trees, and the grass was shorter, brushing against his ankles. That made him frown, but he didn’t want to take his eyes off the Wraith to look closer.

“What?” Jennifer asked.

“This field’s been grazed,” he said. “Maybe just some kind of herd animal that roams wild here. But maybe not.”

She glanced down underfoot. “I think you’re right,” she said. “You don’t think there are people here, do you?”

“No cooking smoke,” he said. “But not everybody keeps fires lit all day when it’s this warm.”

“We are here,” Todd said, and actually stopped and waited for them to catch up. “You will be better received if you stay close to us. Most humans are not welcome here.”

I thought this planet was uninhabited, Jennifer said.

Then you have been badly informed, Todd said. As he spoke, a man stepped out from behind the trees. He was wearing robes and high cloth boots that looked weirdly familiar. After a moment, Ronon realized they were imitations of Wraith clothing, or maybe even the real thing.

Wraith worshiper, he spat.

The man spread his hands. You travel in the company of the gods yourself. His left hand was painted in what Ronon realized to his disgust was an imitation of a Wraith's feeding slit. His hair fell down his back, clearly once dark but beginning to gray.

They aren't gods, Ronon said.

Ronon, Jennifer said. It doesn't matter what he thinks they are.

Yes, it does.

You may find this entertaining, Todd said. But my time here is limited. If your blade cannot keep a civil tongue, you would be wise to silence him.

It took Ronon a moment to realize the Wraith was talking to Jennifer. His free hand clenched into a fist.

I'm sure we can all be civil, here, Jennifer said.

If course, Todd said. He looked about as skeptical as Ronon felt.