Part one

John Sheppard could feel someone poking his arm. In fact whoever it was kept on prodding and it was beginning to get downright annoying.

'Can't you let me die in peace?' He grumbled, forcing his eyes open to see a pair of concerned brown eyes about two inches from his own. Stopping himself from yelling out in surprise, he took stock of his situation.

He was lying down in what appeared to be some kind of cave, his head was pounding and his side felt as though someone had rubbed a giant cheese grater over it a few times. As his gaze fell on the owner of the other set of eyes, the memories of what had occurred prior to this came flooding back…

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Earlier…

'What did you say these people were called again?' John asked Teyla who was walking beside him.

'The Clar'am,' Teyla informed him, her voice patient although she had reminded him of the name a number of times before they had arrived on the planet.

'And you really think they might be interested in some sort of trade?'

'Definitely,' Teyla assured him. 'The Clar'am are an agricultural society who have devised many ways of increasing the yield of their crops. The only problem we might have is that they may not think we have anything worth trading.'

'I'm sure we can find something,' John sounded confident.

'They are also very skilled in the arts of healing, though not in the same way as Dr Beckett,' Teyla added.

'How come I get to come along on this little field trip and Beckett gets to stay where it's nice and comfortable?' Rodney asked, struggling to keep up with the pace set by John and Teyla. 'Medicine is his field of expertise after all.'

'Really?' John grinned at McKay's obvious distaste for this mission. 'I hadn't realised that. You're here because we are a team Rodney, and believe it or not, you have, on the odd occasion, made a valuable contribution on some of our missions.'

'Well if you're going to be like that about it…' Rodney let the subject drop. 'How much further is it anyway?' It was close to midday and the sun was high in the sky making it incredibly warm. It also seemed to be a very long way to the village they were heading for.

'Not much,' Teyla told him, wisely ignoring his other comments. 'When we reach the top of this trail we should have a good view of the village.'

'You should get more exercise,' Ronon told him as he came up behind, his long legs eating up the distance. 'Perhaps you'd stop complaining so much,' he added under his breath, but not quietly enough.

'I heard that,' Rodney bit out before falling silent, reserving his energy for the last push to the top of the hill.

'Get down!' John's voice was full of urgency as the rest of the team joined him, lying flat on the brow of the hill and looking down into the valley that opened up below. 'Anyone you know?' He looked at Ronon and Teyla as they surveyed the scene that was unfolding in the village.

'I've come across them before. They target those who have no ability to defend themselves,' Ronon's face clearly showed what he thought of these people. 'I arrived at villages a couple of times just after they had finished. They take what they want and don't leave anyone alive to tell the tale. Once I got there before they left. That particular group never attempted another raid.'

'I have heard of such people but have been lucky enough never to encounter them,' Teyla confirmed Ronon's information. 'We don't have much time.'

As one, Teyla and Ronon began to make their way quickly but stealthily down the hillside, using bushes and rocks for cover. John glared after them, but knowing that he would have given the order anyway, left it at that.

'Stay behind me and keep your head down,' he hissed at Rodney before setting off after the other members of his team.

Just before they reached the village, John brought the team to a halt to issue his orders, sending Teyla and Rodney off together and keeping the impulsive and hot-headed Ronon with himself where he stood a better of chance of preventing him from getting them all killed.

Lobbing a couple of stun grenades in to the middle of a group of the intruders who were about to set fire to a large building in the centre of the village, was the signal for their attack. They had already asserted that the majority of the raiders were in this group with a few stragglers checking the now deserted homes of the villagers for anyone who might have been left behind.

The main group were dealt with rapidly, those not taken out by the grenade were subdued by other means, but the individuals still at large were proving to be more problematic. A couple had managed to make their way back to the centre of the village and had set fire to the building, confirming their suspicions as to the location of the villagers.

'They're burning them alive,' Rodney's voice shook with horror as the unmistakeable sounds of people screaming in the building could be heard. John gripped his shoulder, knowing no words would help.

'Teyla, Rodney, get as many people as you can out of there,' John spoke through gritted teeth. 'Ronon, we'll round up the rest of them and…' he didn't finish, the fierce look on Ronon's face told him that anyone he found wouldn't live for long, and at that moment he didn't really care about trying to reign in the soldier's impulsive nature.

As John worked his way cautiously through the maze of houses, he could hear the attempts to break down the barricades to the central building, at the same time the screaming was also dying away until the only thing that could be heard was the flames licking away at the building accompanied by crashes as the structure began to cave in on itself. Hoping that at least some of the villagers had been saved, John continued to stalk his prey.

He wasn't sure what it was that alerted him, it certainly wasn't a noise, but whatever it was made him freeze, his senses fully alerted to imminent danger. Almost without warning a figure appeared from the shadows and lunged at John, a long-bladed knife held at the right angle to slice his throat open. John reacted instantly, ducking and rolling under the blade, he positioned himself to the side of his attacker with his gun just behind the other man's ear.

'Drop the knife or I will shoot,' John hissed.

The attacker appeared to consider this for a moment or two before resuming his attack but had not counted on John's superior reflexes, the instant he made his move, John pulled the trigger and it was over. In spite of what he knew these barbarians had done to the villagers, John still regretted the need for taking another's life, but he had no time to consider his action any further as the fight was still not over.

The sound of cries cut short told him that Ronon was making short work of anyone who got in his way, and considering the attitude of the one he had dealt with, he was pretty certain that there would be no prisoners taken today. He was about to continue his search when a voice whispering hoarsely behind him caught his attention. Wary of walking into a trap, John cautiously moved forwards, becoming aware of more noises as he did so - the sound of someone fighting to break through the rear panelling of one of the houses accompanied by muffled crying and whimpers of fear.

As he reached the source of the noise, he realised that there were some survivors after all – a man was desperately trying to make a hole big enough at the back of the house to push through. As his eyes fell on John, a look of terror crossed his face at the thought that in spite of all his efforts he had been caught.

'It's alright, I want to help,' John hissed, trying to reassure the man. From his side, John was able to remove several pieces of timber that told him how well built these houses were – it was extremely hard work and still all there was to show for it was a small gap that was nowhere near large enough for anyone to fit through.

'It's taking too long,' the man was almost sobbing with fear now. 'They're coming this way, I can hear them. They're going to catch us. Wait.' Turning around, the man appeared to be speaking briefly to someone behind him, then he turned back and tried to squeeze a child through the gap they had made. John made one last concerted effort to widen the gap and at last it was just big enough and he was able to pull the little girl out. 'There's no more time,' the man's voice sounded resigned to his fate. 'Please take care of her for me. Be good little one, always remember how much I love you.'

'Wait,' John tried to call him back. 'There must be something…' His words died on his lips as he heard voices shouting inside the house accompanied by the sound of gunfire. Wasting no more time, he picked the shocked and silent child up and quickly made his way to the edge of the village, hoping to be able to conceal her somewhere out of the way and come back when the coast was clear.

He was able to find a sheltered area where it was relatively safe and tried to persuade the girl to let go of him to allow him to continue his hunt for the attackers but she clung on to him, refusing to release the only friendly face now left to her. Accepting the situation for the time being, John considered his next step but was interrupted as his radio crackled to life.

'There are more of them than we thought, Colonel,' Teyla's voice came over loud and clear. 'We have to retreat, Dr McKay is injured and we cannot hold out much longer.'

'Understood. Are there any survivors?'

'No,' Teyla's voice was hard and unforgiving at the thought of what had been done to these people she had known. 'We were too late. Where are you?'

'I'm to the south of the village, I'll make my way back to the 'gate and meet up with you. Sheppard…' John's voice trailed off as he heard the sound of feet coming his way. 'I've got company,' he spoke as quietly as he could. 'If I'm not back in fifteen, go through without me.'

'But…'

'I don't have time to argue, just do it. Sheppard out.' Cutting off the radio, John silently scooped the child up again and retreated into the woodland surrounding the village, searching for a more advantageous position from which to defend them.

Eyes scanning the landscape desperately, John at last saw what he was looking for - on the side of the hill a recent landslide had dislodged a number of large boulders that offered their only chance of protection. It was also part way up the slope so would provide a good view on three sides, the only downside being that they were exposed to the top of the hill, but it was the best option available and they had run out of time, their pursuers were almost on top of them and he just had to trust that somehow he would be able to get them out of there alive.

'It's going to be alright,' he said quietly to the girl, trying to sound reassuring. 'Just duck down behind this rock and I'll take care of everything else.' Hoping that he'd be able to make good on his promise, he got himself into position and scanned the area within his field of vision.

Five men were making their way towards him, using trees to provide cover as they steadily advanced. Studying their movements, John was able to anticipate the next locations of two of the men and fired rapidly, taking them down. Becoming more cautious now, the remaining three separated, moving out of his line of sight briefly before once again advancing but coming at him from three sides making it much harder to keep an eye on where each of them was. Taking a lucky shot he was able to get a direct hit on another of the men, unfortunately this one was approaching from a central position and he now had a wider area in which to cover the other two.

Ducking back down behind his cover to reload and take stock of his situation for a brief interval, he took up position once more and this time was able to easily shoot one of the attackers who had taken advantage of John's disappearance to make a break for their location. Scanning the area where he had last seen the remaining man, he began to feel a sense of dread when there was no sign of him.

Widening the area in which he was looking didn't help and John was beginning to think that maybe this wouldn't turn out the right way after all when a muffled cry from just behind and above them gave his opponent's position away. Whirling around as fast as he could, John took aim and fired several times until the man creeping up on them fell to his knees, hatred in his eyes until he toppled over and it was over.

Glancing down at the child beside him, he was surprised to see her crouching down, a small rock in her fist and taking aim up the hill, a second rock in her other hand.

'Did you..?' John asked, raising his eyebrows in curiosity. She nodded in response, staring up at him trustingly before her eyes widened in fear and she let fly with the rock she held, drawing a yelp from behind him. Not believing he could have missed one, he turned and saw one of the men he had previously shot kneeling down, blood pouring from a chest wound but aiming his weapon. At the same moment, both men fired, John's aim straight as an arrow and this time making a permanent mark on the other man. The other's aim was less accurate but John had no chance to move before he felt a searing pain in his side, knocking him off his feet.

For a few minutes he was unable to think beyond the pain but the crackling of his radio broke through the fog. 'Colonel?' Teyla's voice spoke over the sound of guns firing and voices shouting. 'We are at the 'gate. We have to go through now but we will come back as soon as we can. Teyla out.'

Struggling to think clearly, John turned back to the girl. 'We need to find someplace we can hide out. I don't suppose you know of anywhere?'

She considered his question carefully, tilting her head to one side as she thought. 'We could go to the play house,' she said doubtfully.

'How far?'

'On the other side,' she pointed up the hill.

'Ok, let's go.' Using the rock for support, John was able to get to his feet, finding himself to be very shaky. 'I guess we're going to be spending some time together,' John said as he tried to catch his breath. 'Perhaps it's about time we introduced ourselves. I'm John.'

'Mya,' the girl replied, worry in her eyes as she saw what a struggle it was for John to keep on his feet. 'You're hurt.

'Yes I am, but we need to find shelter as quickly as possible until my team can get back here, come on.'

The climb up the hill and the short walk from there to their destination was very hazy in John's memory and he had little recollection of the struggle it had been. Mya's playhouse turned out to be a series of caves winding through the rear of the hillside, some of them showing clear evidence that they were frequently used for games.

A few minutes after they arrived, John's struggle to remain conscious failed and blackness descended.

To be continued…