Disclaimer : Stargate Atlantis and all its characters and so on belong to MGM. Not, alas, me.

Author's note : I started writing this story a little after the end of season four but as usual got badly sidetracked. It's therefore AU from shortly after that, Teyla is back, Woolsey is in charge and Carson is still in stasis. I leave all other details deliberately vague. I hope you enjoying reading and please leave a review with any thoughts, critiques or suggestions you have.

The Remnant of Danetheron

Sheppard looked at the undergrowth spreading in all directions beneath the lofty canopy of the forest and sighed. "Remind me why we're here will you?"

McKay sighed too. "I think an advanced civilization lives here – or lived here at least."

"So far, so good," said Sheppard. "And you think this because you found something in the Ancient database that says so?"

"No."

"Then you cleverly pieced together intelligence from other sources?"

"No!" McKay exclaimed. "I distinctly remember you being at the briefing. You know my reasoning."

"Right." Sheppard drew out the word and nodded slowly. "Yet after trekking around this forsaken forest for six hours, investigating something you found scrawled on a wall in an abandoned lab doesn't seem so worthwhile."

"It wasn't scrawled on the wall." Rodney threw his hands up in exasperation. "It was printed quite neatly actually and -"

He was cut off abruptly as he tripped over a low branch and was catapulted face first into a gorse thicket.

"Oh, for the love of God," Rodney exclaimed as he tried to stand up and pricked his legs on more spines. He glared furiously at Sheppard who was doubled over in laughter. Teyla helped him up, her face a study in neutrality.

"I take it back," said Sheppard after catching his breath. "We should do this more often."

"Found something, " Ronon declared from up ahead. "There's a dirt trail running west."

"Hear that Rodney?" Sheppard called out. "A dirt trail. Could well be some pretty advanced aliens behind that sort of infrastructure."

McKay, still wincing and plucking spines out of his clothes, said nothing.

Fortunately, the trail led them out of the vast forest and into a shallow valley chequered with fields. In the heart of the fields, a hill rose out of the plain. Low stone buildings with roofs of turf huddled around its base.

"Sorry Rodney." Sheppard scanned the valley through his binoculars, "This looks like a bust."

"Let me see," McKay snapped. Pulling out his own binoculars from his TAC vest, he surveyed the crude buildings. "Yes, well I'm sure they're more sophisticated than they look. They might just be into retro architecture and.." His voice trailed off when he noticed Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon had stopped their survey and were all staring at him in disbelief.

"Okay, fine. Doesn't look like they'll be winning any Nobel prizes, but they might know something useful. We've come this far, so we might as well check it out."

"This is the very last time I support any mission you plan," Sheppard stated definitively. "We wont need a jumper, the gate will be close to their settlement," Sheppard mimicked. "Good call Rodney."

"You're just annoyed Woolsey green lighted my mission and vetoed yours."

"Perhaps we should introduce ourselves," Teyla swiftly cut in, inclining her head towards a man approaching them from one of the fields lining the path. Sheppard gave Rodney a meaningful look as he took in the man's rustic attire and farmer's tan.

The stranger smiled brightly and spoke first, "Welcome, friends. I have not seen you before. Are you travellers?"

"Yes we are. I'm Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard." Sheppard waved a hand at each member of his team in turn. "Dr. Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagen, and Ronon Dex. We came here through the Stargate to make contact with the inhabitants of your planet."

"I am Yaneth. It is well that you have come. Please let me take you to our village and introduce you to our Elder."

* * *

The village was similar to dozens they had seen in Pegasus; a vision of agrarian, pre-industrial Earth. Yaneth led them to a low building in better condition than most others in the settlement and introduced them to Elworth, a jovial, beefy man with a moustache that would have made a walrus proud. He bade them all sit down around a table and signalled for refreshments to be brought.

"It is good to receive visitors," Elworth said, "We do not often see strangers in these parts. The galaxy has become a troubled place these last few years. Many of those that once traded with us have become paranoid or else have been culled."

"We are always looking to make new trading partners," Teyla replied, smiling. "I am sure we each have things the other will find useful."

"That would be well," said Elworth. He waved a hand to thank the young women who set baskets of fruit and bread on the table. McKay noted with disgust one of them was paying Sheppard a lot of attention as she poured goblets of some fruit drink for them. Sheppard gave her a lazy smile and she blushed. "We would be delighted to repay you for your faith in seeking us out. You are clearly more sophisticated than we, could we ask it of you to give us medical aid?"

"I am sure we could arrange assistance for you," said Teyla, "What is the nature of the problem?"

Elworth sighed and rubbed his eyes. "A couple in the village have fallen sick but we cannot discern why. We feared it was contagious and so isolated them as best we were able to but no others have fallen ill. This made us suspect an environmental cause but their daughter is fine so it would have to be something outside the family home that they were both exposed to."

"Ah, I should explain myself," Elworth continued with a wry smile as he noted his guests' surprised expressions. "You think I speak in terms more advanced than the leader of a simple people would know of. You are correct to do so, our knowledge surpasses our technology. The reason for this is that it is not ours."

McKay started to speak, realised nobody could discern a word he was saying through the mouthful of food he was chewing and hastily swallowed it. Studiously ignoring Sheppard's bemused shake of the head he started again. "Do you mean you found some alien technology?"

"My people have several devices that we have found here. I do not honestly know their origin," Elworth answered. He stood up from the table. "Come, I will show you them."

"Please excuse me Elworth," said Teyla as she herself rose, "I will go to the gate and request a doctor comes through to treat your people."

* * *

Elworth led them to the village square, an area of rough cobbles bounded by the low houses of the village. In the centre of the village lay a broad, low stone cylinder.

"This has been here as long as anyone can remember," Elworth explained as he gestured for them to inspect it, "I am not sure if it has always lain here or was moved. You notice the stone is perfectly smooth? It is beyond our skill to achieve."

The surface of the stone was a matte black. Elworth laid a hand on it.

"This device is a library of some kind," he told them, "If I think of constructing houses, it displays information on constructing houses."

The surface shimmered as he spoke and diagrams appeared across it. Elworth withdrew his hand and it turned black once more.

"I feel it is a very limited repository," Elworth continued, "It has taught my people a great deal but those who created it obviously knew more than it stores. My predecessor as Elder believed it was a gift from an advanced ally in times past but I think it may have been a teaching device for children that my ancestors stumbled across."

Sheppard looked at McKay and waved his hand at the device as if to say "What do you think?"

"It's certainly sophisticated. Doesn't resemble any Ancient or Wraith devices I've seen."

"There is another device for you to see," said Elworth and headed towards one of the houses lining the square.

It was dark inside and the building was empty other than another, much slimmer, stone cylinder. A small silvery disk was mounted on the stone pedestal, tapering to a point like an inverse funnel. Elworth waved a hand over it and a holographic display flickered to life above it in the shape of a globe. Elworth moved his hand across the surface and it morphed into a flat display of the landmass.

"This one has certainly been moved," said Elworth, his face illuminated by the Tracker's display, "When I was a young man it was kept in the Elder's house but there are stories it was taken from the ruins up on the hill in the days of my grandfather."

"Incredible," McKay murmured when Elworth focused the display on a yellow spot and it transformed into the hill, dots marking the positions where people stood.

"Is that one an Ancient device, Rodney?" Sheppard questioned.

"I don't think it is," McKay answered quietly, still focused on the Tracker as Elworth continued to manipulate the device. "How are you controlling that?" He asked the larger man.

"It is enough to think clearly of what you wish the Tracker to show."

"You said this might have been found in the ruins?" McKay asked, shifting his gaze from the device to Elworth. He nodded. "Can you show me them?"

* * *

Jennifer Keller sighed deeply and ran a hand distractedly through her hair. The desk in front of her bore the fruits of her labours for the past six hours - four empty cups of coffee, computer tablets and a mass of handwritten notes. The frustration and helplessness were invisible but she felt them all the same. Everyone told her not to beat herself up over it and they were right. Michael had spent months honing the Hoffan drug, she didn't have the same time or resources to play with. It was unrealistic to expect herself to find a solution in any timescale shorter than years. But every day that passed without that solution meant more deaths.

She was used to dealing with death, to be a good doctor you had to be. Sometimes there was just nothing you could do, a patient would have irreparable injuries or have reached their time or just had plain bad luck. She accepted that. Then there were other times when the patient wasn't beyond salvation but the road to it was so hard to find that they died before you found it. She accepted that too, knowing you were fallible was another part of being a good doctor. Sometimes you just got it wrong and someone would die. That was harder to stomach but she knew in those cases that she had done all she could and although the choice was wrong there was no way of knowing before making it and in the end she could even accept that.

This was different. The sheer uncaring scale of it floored her. Stalin said 'a million deaths is a statistic' and it was only now that she knew how wrong he was. A few times she had gone to the affected planets and seen the hope in the eyes of the people when she said she would try to help, seen the defeat in their eyes when they realised she couldn't and seen the life gone from the eyes of survivors and fallen alike when the drug had run its course and decimated the population.

She couldn't help wondering if Carson would have been able to make a difference if it were him in this situation. The thought didn't escape her that she would have been able to find out if she had found a solution for that problem too. Sighing again she cleared her mind, this sort of thinking didn't achieve anything.

"Dr. Keller," Woolsey's voice crackled in her ear, "Please report to the control room."

"On my way," she replied, glad to have an excuse to stretch her legs and take a break.

Woolsey was seated behind his desk when she reached his office, forehead creased in a deep frown. It struck her how ill at ease he seemed every time she saw him. It couldn't be easy knowing your appointment as leader was unpopular amongst your team she mused but he hadn't gone out of his way to connect with them either. She cleared her throat to indicate her presence.

"Ah, Doctor," he said, gesturing for her to take a seat.

"Teyla just radioed to request you join her and the team off-world. They have made contact with some natives and believe there could be some useful trade established. To show goodwill she'd like a doctor to examine some of the villagers who have an illness their local healer can't explain."

"Do you mind if I send Dr. Biro?" she asked hesitantly, "It's not that I mind going but I've got a lot of work to do."

Woolsey surveyed her impassively for a moment. "I think we can signal our intent best by sending our Chief Medical Officer. First impressions are important."

She looked at his neutral smile for a moment and nodded. "I'll be ready to go in 15 minutes."

As she rose and left his office, Woolsey added silently "and focusing on something you can actually do something about will make you feel better."

* * *

The village formed a ring around the hill. Elworth led McKay and Ronon up a path to the flat top of the hill. Sheppard had elected to remain behind in the village to discuss trade with the locals and await Teyla's return. McKay couldn't help but notice that Sheppard very rarely strayed far from her side since her recent return to duty.

Slivers of metal, that looked to be of the same substance the Tracker was made of, poked through the grassy hilltop but it was hard to draw any conclusions about what they may have once belonged to. Following a lengthy hike, they came to a dip on the summit where an opening led into a dark cave.

"I believe it was found in here," Elworth said, pointing inside the cavern. "But I cannot say for certain. The Tracker has been in the village as long as any of us can remember and probably several generations before that. We do not come here often. The tunnels are said to be unstable."

"Do you know anything about who used to live here?" McKay asked as he fished a flashlight out of his pack..

"No, nothing other than the devices we have found."

McKay set off into the gloom with Ronon in tow. Elworth hovered outside. "I will stay here if you do not mind," he called after them.

"Do you have any idea what you're looking for?" Ronon queried as McKay wandered about aimlessly.

"I'll know it when I see it," McKay replied absently.

In truth, he didn't see anything other than a crude network of tunnels. There was nothing to suggest any civilization of even moderate advancement had ever existed there. He plunged on anyway, inwardly glad Ronon was with him to find their way back out.

Passing the entrance to an adjoining tunnel, a glint in the darkness caught McKay's eye. "Something in here I think."

A drip from the roof of the tunnel had washed away some of the mud from the wall, partially exposing a silvery surface. McKay clawed at the mud around it, revealing a panel embedded in the rock. He waved a hand over it experimentally.

"Here," Ronon grunted and whacked it with his fist. A display lit up in the air in front of them.

"Typical," McKay muttered. Ronon shrugged.

A collection of coloured tiles floated before him, arranged in a rough cube. Some bore markings and others were blank. McKay stepped around the floating squares. It was an interface of some sort he was sure but he couldn't make even a rough guess as to how to interpret it. Tentatively, he extended a hand to one edge. Some of the tiles flipped, others moved but he could discern no pattern.

"Do you recognise these symbols?" Rodney asked.

"No."

"I have absolutely no idea what this tells us," he said with a frown.

A section of the display began to flash. A high-pitched whistling rang out through the tunnels.

"What did you do, McKay?" Ronon asked, exasperated.

"I think we triggered something by starting it up. Let's get back to the surface."

* * *

Sheppard met Keller and Teyla a short way outside the village. Miller, who had piloted the jumper had remained with it.

"I'm glad to see you Doc," he said as he fell in step with them and headed for the village, "This pair have huge purple warts on their skin. Really freaky stuff."

Keller grimaced. "Looking forward to it already."

A deep resonant sound, like a gong being struck, echoed across the village. The ground in one of the nearby fields split as a missile broke through the surface and screamed upwards towards the sky.

Sheppard reached for his headset. "McKay!" Sheppard angrily called out. "What did you do?" He demanded.

"I don't think I did anything." McKay's voice rang over the radio. "Why? What happened?"

Looking up in the direction the missile had taken, Sheppard winced as a brilliant pulse of light flashed across the sky and momentarily blinded his vision. Then, as his sight readjusted, he saw something phenomenal. Spewing flames, a deep hole punched through one side, a Wraith Hive plummeted into view. Dropping like a stone it hurtled out of view behind the ridge of the valley. The noise of the impact struck them like a physical blow and by the time he had regained his bearings there was only a plume of smoke rising over the ridge to suggest anything had happened.