Hey guys, normally I'm just writing german stories, but due to an injury I have, I needed something to do at home and thought, maybe I try to translate. I know it's far beyond "normal english", but I think, it's understandable. Since I've no clue how to find a beta reader here (to much confusion on my side), I just published it. There ARE mistakes, spelling, grammer, whatever, but if you like, send me PM's with correction. Hope it's not too bad to read :)

*edit* So much thanks to LMGoody, who beta-readed my story in a smooth english :) I'll update the next chapters when LMGoody sent them back. THANKS AGAIN SO MUCH!

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Destiny had dropped out of FTL so the crew could refill their supplies. Two gates were in range, one of them locked. Colonel Young sent a quick prayer and hoped they wouldn't get in some trouble like they did so often. He also hoped that the space suits wouldn't be necessary and that just this one time he would be lucky.

Rush and Eli stood at the console, dialing the gate. When the wormhole was established, Young said "Eli, send the kino." The device was on it's way, before Young had even finished his sentence.

"Looks good, Colonel", Eli said, when he got the first readings. "Oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, 73.4 °F and there's a creek near by." Quite proud of what he could tell, he looked at the Colonel who smiled.

"Lieutenant Scott", he adressed his subordinate, "what are you waiting for?" Scott didn't hesitate a second longer and he and his team stepped through the gate.

When they emerged they were greeted by springlike air. Trees circled the glade where the gate stood. As soon as he made sure the area was safe, he allowed himself to take a deep breath before he activated the radio. Dusk was already setting in. "This is Scott, send the next team."

"Understood", Young confirmed and seconds later more people stepped through the gate.

"Sergeant Greer, take two men and investigate the woods to the west; James, go south. I'll take the north." While the soldiers split up to secure the area, other people started to test the water; scooping it into a large container.

Greer and his team hadn't even reached the forest boundary when the sergeant lifted his fist. Immediately his people froze and focused on the woods. Now they could see what Greer had probably spotted – something large moving at the edge of the forest.

The three of them waited intently and very slowly a figure stepped out from a bush. It was a woman, who stared at them in surprise. It was obvious she had been gathering some berries as she was carrying a basket filled with the yellow fruits. "Who are you?", she asked bravely, nervously waiting.

Greer decided that this woman probably wasn't a threat and lowered his weapon. Still wary though of the woman and his environment he came closer and said: "We're travelers just looking for supplies." The next moment he activated his radio.

"Lt. Scott, this is Greer, seemes we've found a local; looks peaceful, though."

"We're on our way", the Lieutenant responded and a moment later Greer saw him and his team emerging out of the woods heading in his direction.

„It would be a pleasure to help you", the woman said and added, „Our village is nearby. If you'd like to return with me, you can talk to our village elder and we can share our supplies. This would probably spare you some work."

Scott, who had finally reached the group, replied cheerfully, „We would gladly accept your offer. We haven't much for trading, but maybe…"

The woman stopped him with a wave of her hand. „Never mind," she said. „We have the woods and the creeks which provide us with plenty of food; we really don't need anything from you. We would be very happy though, if you could spend some time with us. Perhaps you could tell us some stories about you and your ship?. Unfortunately, new tales are hard to come by here." She smirked slightly and Scott and Greer exchanged a look.

"I'll inform the Colonel", Greer said. "You go ahead."

"Agreed. Make sure one team stays with our people harvesting water; the rest are with me."

"Yes, Sir." Greer headed back to the gate, relaying Scott's orders.

"Please show us the way", Scott said and he and his team followed the woman.

It took them about half an hour to reach the village. The sun had started to set and the whole village and it's inhabitants looked like something out of the dark ages. Scott saw no technology or modern comforts at all. The people wore rough clothes, which seemed to protect them pretty well from wind and weather. The only lights came from the fires in cooking areas, lanterns and a large firepit in the center.

"Please wait here a moment. I'll let our people know that we have visitors." She disappeared into a larger hut and when she reappeared, she was followed by an older man, who greeted them friendly enough.

"Welcome strangers. Please, make yourselves at home. Shortly we'll gather here, cooking something we hope you will find delicious. I've heard you need some supplies?"

"Yes, thank you", Scott said hesitating. He was a bit taken by surprise with the warm welcome and felt a bit guilty to take away the provisions of those people. But when he looked over to a very large hut whose doors were open, he could see dozens of crates, sacks and barrels, piled to the roof.

"You're sure, you just want to give up some to us?", Young's voice came from behind. He was followed by the rest of the away team. He was assured they did. Soon after their arrival, the villagers as well as the Destiny crew started to carry nearly half of the supplies from the large hut back to the gate. Meanwhile, some of the women had set a fire in the big firepit in the middle of the village and began roasting some kind of wild boar on a spit.

About 3 hours later the supplies were on Destiny and nearly half of the crew had left the ship. They sat around the bonfire together, eating, drinking and telling stories about their journey. Young tried to omit some specifics, keeping the story general and subtly tried to make it clear to his people to spare details from or about the ship. It was just a feeling he had. He didn't know why he wanted to keep these secrets; maybe he felt so uneasy because it wasn't their ship. The villagers weren't upset though, and the village elder just smiled and said: "Everyone keeps some little secrets, Colonel. Without them, life would be boring." He blinked at him and took a sip of water.

For a moment Young was alarmed by his words, but then thought it was foolish. They had seen the village. Neither the huts nor the people seemed dangerous in any way for them. He smiled, tried to focus on the laughter and conversations of the people and told an anecdote from his childhood.

On Destiny Rush and Eli were busy analyzing readings from the systems. Eli wasn't altogether happy about being at work as half an hour ago (when he was in the gate room to help store the supplies) he overheard some talk about how wonderful the planet was and felt he wouldn't mind trying some of this boar-like animal.

When he came back to Rush he started to rave about the things he had heard to the scientist.

"They're roasting some kind of wild boar on a spit and the air is wonderfully warm. Maybe we could join them for a while? You know you really could use a decent dinner. Youdidn't have lunch today because you were calculating something again…"

During his monolog, Eli pushed some buttons and looked out of the corner of his eyes to Rush. The scientist didn't stop working, but said slighly irritated: "All right, Eli. There're four hours left until Destiny jumps to FTL again. Go."

"Don't you wanna join me?", the young man tried again, feeling a little bit of pity for the scientist.

"That would just be a waste of my time. Out, before I change my mind", Rush snarled, even more irritated and without another word Eli sped out.

When he was gone Rush paused for a moment and allowed himself to sigh. They wouldn't make any progress if people got constantly distracted from work. For some minutes he continued working until suddenly an unknown reading of an energy source on the planet caught his attention. Frowning, he studied the readings and activated his radio.

"Eli, are you still on the ship?"

There was a pause before he got an answer, which wasn't what he wanted to hear: "Sorry, Doc, already on the planet."

Rush shook his head in resignation as he was sure he had been in time and Eli just jumped through the gate.

"Have fun. Rush out."

He leaned his hands on the console and looked down, like he always did when he thought about a decision. A few seconds later he left the control room, packed the things he would need in a backpack and made his way through the gate too.

"Rush, what are you doing here? Wanna celebrate after all?", Colonel Young asked in surprise, when the scientiest stepped out of the darkness.

"No, thank you, I just thought I would get some fresh air. Mr. Wallace convinced me this was worth it."

He walked past the party and had nearly vanished into the darkness again when Young's voice made him pause.

"Rush! Wait."

On edge, Nicholas Rush turned around and looked at the Colonel.

"We don't know much about this world; there's a possibility that there are dangerous animals in the woods. Maybe you should stay with us. Air here's as fresh as anywhere", he said with a smile.

"Thank you, but I prefer to go for a walk. Don't worry, I'm not going that far."

He just wanted to leave when he heard Young again: "Sergeant Greer, you're with him."

Rush felt the urgent desire to strangle the Colonel. Besides the fact that he wanted to be alone when he tried to find that energy source, he thought it was out of pure malice to send Greer of all people with him. Another voice prevented him from saying something he probably would have regretted. It was TJ who stood up and said: „I'll go with him. I could use a little walk, I think I ate a bit too much."

Both Young and Rush knew that she realized what was brewing and tried to save the day. She gave Young a pleeding look and he nodded.

"Very well. Dr. Rush, TJ is with you."

This time, Rush's face showed only a slight disapproval, but he was wise enough to accept the offer of Lieutenant Johansen.

"Let's go", he just said and headed off. TJ hurried to catch up and Young said: "One hour, TJ. And if there's anything unusual, you radio in immediately."

"Understood." Conscientiously she grabbed her Medi-backpack and followed Rush.

"I'll eat my hat if he's only going for a walk", Brody murmured and chomped into his tough, but very delicious meat.

"Who knows what he has found this time", Eli agreed silently, but was a bit worried. Of course he had known right away that Rush wasn't here just for a walk and was glad TJ was with him to keep an eye out. Since he couldn't do anything about it he decided to let it go.

"Rush, what is it really you're after?", Tamara asked, when they were a few minutes away from the village and sure that nobody could hear her.

Nicholas sighed. Why did Young always have to foil him and believe that he needed a watchdog.

Because he is convinced I'm up to no good, he thought bitterly.

He answered TJ, "I have reasons to believe that there's a cave nearby. I just want to check it out."

TJ knew, there was more but he wasn't ready to tell. Not now, anyway. So she just said: "Okay, how far is it?"

Rush looked at her sceptically. He wasn't used to the fact that someone accepted his sparsely worded explanations. "Approximately 15 minutes."

They walked in silence for a few minutes until TJ tried to make some small-talk.

"I didn't see you in the mess for lunch", she said carefully.

"I was busy working on an important project, I just lost track of time", he answered and hoped she would drop it. He had to admit though, his stomach had been growling when he stood by the bonfire and he could smell the roasted meat.

"Hm, did you eat something later on?", she naturally pressed on.

"No. But when we're back I intend to do just that. Could we end this conversation by any chance?"

"You know I'm responsible for the health of the entire crew, which includes you too, Nicholas. To be honest, I've been worried about you for some time. You've lost weight again and work too much and too long."

"If everyone would be more concerned about Destiny instead of their hobbies, I wouldn't have that much to do. Take Mr. Wallace for example; he perfers to sit at a bonfire instead of assisting me. Of course I need to work much longer then." Rush sounded quite peeved, but TJ was unimpressed by that.

"I understand the new data is extremely interesting since you broke the code, but it's of no use if you collapse."

"I don't crock up. Can't you see how important it is to understand everything about Destiny and her mission? We have to know what Destiny is up to. Only then might we able to dial earth and bring more scientists on board, who…", he fell silent when he noticed the gaffe he'd made.

"And of course bring the crew home", Tamara softly reminded him.

Rush stroke his hair. "Needless to say."

TJ just nodded. "Certainly. Nevertheless, you have to restrict your workload. You'll collapse if you continue to work like this. I'm the medical officer and I recognize the symptoms; you're not far away anymore."

"We're almost there", the scientist abruptly changed the subject. "There's the entrance."

Tamara intended to continue the conversation at a later time and looked in the direction Rush was pointing to. He was right. On a small hill was a crevice in the mountain.

"Dr. Rush, you're not really going in there just like that?", TJ asked a bit nervously.

"Why do you think I came here?", he answered with a bit of dry sarcasm and whithout looking at her again he climbed up the small hill.

TJ looked around and considered what she should do, but since Rush set a brisk pace she had to decide quickly. She followed him. The scientist had already vanished through the crevice and the only thing Tamara could still see was the constantly fading torchlight.

"Rush! Wait!", she shouted after him, but he had already turned the corner.

"Damn it", Tamara grumbled and pressed a button on her radio.

"Colonel Young, this is TJ." She waited a moment, but all she could hear was static. "Colonel Young, do you read?", she tried again, but there was no answer.

"Damn it", she grumbled again, switched on her flashlight and went after Rush. When she had passed the crevice she noticed that there was only one way to go. For a while the cleft was steady and straight up to a sharp bend to the left. Cautiously she turned the corner and gasped for air in surprise. She was standing at the top of a wide stone circular stair.

"Rush?!", Tamara shouted, but didn't get an answer. She couldn't see his torchlight either. Carefully she followed the stairs down and after a few minutes she could see something lying in the middle of the stairs. She directed her light towards it and the next moment started to run.

"Rush!", she cried and reached the scientist, who was lying unconciousness on the ground, a severe cut on his forehead.

She examined him carefully and was glad she had brought along her medical supplies. While she cleaned the wound she noticed something strange. How could Rush have sustained such an injury? The walls on both sides were at least 2 meters away and there was nowhere obvious where he could have gotten hurt. She also doubted he just stumbled, because he lay on his back and there were no other scratches or cuts on his hands or in his face.

Someone must have knocked him down, she realized and lifted her flashlight to look for an attacker. But just as she did, something hit her hard on the back of her head and she joined Rush on the ground. For a brief moment she saw a vague figure coming towards her, then she lost consciousness.

Two figures dragged them both deep into the mountain up to a large chamber with a hugh device standing in the middle. Cylindrical conduits studded throughout with a bright, yellow energy core. If Rush would have been conscious, he would have found his mystery energy source.

Both were dragged to the device, put onto two cots which were connected to the device and locked under a glass dome. As soon as the pod was closed, small tubes penetrated their hands and arms and the device began to work.

An hour after Rush and TJ had left the party, Young moved a few meters away to have some privacy for radioing TJ.

"TJ, this is Young. Are you alright?", he asked, but like Tamara he could only hear static. He tried again with no luck. He decided, to wait another 15 minutes until he'd send a search party. They had to return to Destiny anyway, so he decided to take the time and wrap up the party.

"We're very thankful for your hospitality and the supplies", he said, when he got everyone's attention. "Unfortunately it's time to return to our ship and two of our people are missing. All personnel except Lieutenant Scott and Sergeant Greer return to the gate. We're going to search for TJ and Rush."

"That won't be necessary", a very well known voice sounded out of the darkness. Young turned around and was relieved when he saw TJ and Rush emerging out from the darkness.

"TJ, are you okay?", he asked worriedly. "I wasn't able to make radio contact."

"Same here", she answered and Rush said: "There's some kind of ore in the mountains which interferes with the radio waves. But that shouldn't be a problem anymore." Young said nothing, he was just glad that both had made it back safe.

"We return to the ship", he said and walked ahead. Rush and TJ were in the middle, followed by Scott and Greer. Half an hour later they reached the gate and stepped through it.

"Well, that was a welcome change", Eli said when the last team made it back. Then he looked at Rush. "Do you want me to help you with these readings again, Doc?", he asked, sounding a bit hopeless.

"That won't be necessary. Get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow", Rush responded, obviously relaxed, and caught up with TJ who just had left the gate room.

Slack-jawed Eli stared after him until he turned a corner and Brody, who appeared behind him said with a shake of his head, "If I hadn't seen that this was clearly Rush talking, I'd have thought it was someone else."

"Maybe he's just in a good mood. Who knows...maybe TJ bitched him out, she's really tough with that", Eli assumed and decided, not to think about it anymore but to take advantage of this unexpected time off. Brody shrugged his shoulders and headed towards his own quarters.