Borealis (Stargate Atlantis FF)

Chapter 4 Encounters

It was hard to restart a traditional mission plan with his team scattered to different planets.

Rodney went to visit the kids with nearly depleted ZPM. John had a hunch the scientist was really fond of the little ones no matter how much loathing for them he said he sported. He had actually been smiling when he agreed to go. Then he suggested taking Jennifer with him for some medical checkups. Sam saw he wanted to spend some quality time with his fiancée. Oh yes, everyone knew even if it was supposed to be a secret.

Ronon made contact with some survivors from Sateda whom he thought he would never see again so there was no point in asking him to stay. He went for a week to show Amelia his friends. It was quite obvious that he was interested in her and she was happy with the fact. Maybe she had what took to get this tough shield out of him in the future. Now they were friends.

Teyla was still on Athos and since he felt a little like he was trespassing on her family moments he just decided to keep far from the first planet he visited in this galaxy.

Even Beckett was out to do some inoculations. Knowing him he just got dragged somewhere else. Lorne was taking care of him, so John was calm about his health. Anyway, Each member of Lorne's team was carrying a huge box with medications when John saw them last, just before going through the gate.

He was left on his own and Sam saw that he was restless. She asked him to see if there was still that safe heaven somewhere out there, the planet where an ascended Ancient resided. John did not particularly want to go there, he had never come back after the 'sharing' but since there was nothing else to do on Atlantis he agreed anyway. Sam was more than competent to be fine without him. Thinking of that he recalled something from his past as he flew through the gate to Proculus and started a leisurely descent towards the village. He did leave Elizabeth in Atlantis on a daily basis without the senior military officer and her chief scientist at the same time. If something had happened to her then... But now it seemed like a completely different lifetime.

He stepped out of the jumper and looked around. He parked just outside the village and cloaked the jumper, just in case. He stepped into the village and was instantly overwhelmed with the number of people that he saw. Either people on the planet magically multiplied in all shapes and sizes or there were people from another worlds.

Then he spotted Zarah, the abbot they met the first time. He noticed John as well and approached quickly.

"It's so great to see you again, Colonel Sheppard." He smiled. "We did not expect any of your people to arrive here, but we are happy you can visit."

"It's not quite what I expected."

"I know, you're referring to Athar's decision not to allow your people to stay here." The abbot looked like he was really sad about the fact. "It was allowed, and, actually encouraged, just about 6 cycles of our moon ago."

"Can I see Chaya?" Asked John. Something was wrong. Really wrong. Images from the island of criminals popped uninvited to his head. "I need to speak to her about it."

"Chaya is not here." Answered Zarah. "She left with Athar to protect us."

"She what?"

"She told us Athar had another way of protection for our people and that she wants us to cherish all those she will send. Chaya went with her as her priestess."

"Did anything happen here lately, anything dangerous?" Asked John.

"There was a great flash in the skies 5 cycles ago and then 4 cycles ago we were sent those people to help, provide and teach peace and calm way of life far from fear."