Title: The Trial

Author: SyFyDiva (formally Jedi Ha'Li)

Rating: T (for scenes of torture and possible language)

Genre: Angst/Hurt Comfort

Characters: Sheppard, McKay, Teyla and Ronon

Summary: Sheppard's POV…the team accidentally trespasses on sacred ground and Sheppard must face the punishment to save his team. Shep Whump, of course.

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Stargate Atlantis or the characters. Duh. I'm just playing with them.

"I'm picking up some readings." McKay checked out his indicator. "Right over there."

He tromped off into the woods, barely aware of his surroundings, his nose buried in his scientific readings.

"MCKAY!" I shouted it, hoping to gain his attention. How many times have I reminded him to be mindful of his surroundings whenever we went off world? Hell, how many times have I reminded him to be aware of his surroundings when we were in Atlantis? I could quickly count off 10 such situations in the last month where the scientist had either gotten himself or someone around him hurt because he wasn't paying attention.

McKay barely turned around to glance at me. "Huh? You say something?" And off he continued, in his own world.

"I believe Colonel Sheppard would like to remind you to look around you while you walk." Teyla said, ever the diplomat.

"What I would like is to give him a hard kick in the ass." I muttered, loud enough to get a laugh out of Ronon. At least HE was paying attention to the surroundings. Even after four years, I still wasn't entirely comfortable dragging a scientist around on missions. Sure, McKay had come a long way and Ronon and I continued to train him in weapons and military maneuvers, but he still wasn't military.

"Hey! Check this out!" The shriller than normal cry grabbed my attention. That was McKay's excited geek voice…he must have found something really cool.

What he'd found was some ancient ruins, covered in overgrown vines. More like a pile of haphazardly stacked rocks, if you asked me. Except for the faint glow coming off the rocks, you wouldn't know it was anything worth checking out. And, of course, for the extremely flushed, excited face of one Dr. Rodney McKay.

"Do you know what this is? No, of course you don't." He gestured wildly, still looking as if he was going to pass out from the sheer excitement of whatever he had found. Teyla, Ronon and I just stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Which we knew he would. He always did.

"It's a ZedPM.! I'm almost sure it is. The readings are extremely similar to the readings of the ZedPM back on Atlantis!"

A ZPM? Now that was exciting! And really really surprising, stuck on a backwater planet, with no real population to speak of, in the middle of a dense forest. What was it doing out here?

"What is a ZPM doing out here?" Teyla asked him. Brilliant minds think alike.

McKay shook his head. "How should I know? But its here. I'm sure of it. We, and by 'we', I mean 'I', just need to find a way to get to it. There should be a control panel somewhere around here." his voice trailed off as he bent over to examine a particularly large glowing stone. "Ah, here it is." And he touched it. That's where the trouble began. That's where the trouble always began.

The four of us leaned over to see what would happen. And were promptly enclosed in a glowing force field, effectively trapping us.

Oh crap. Crap crap crap and double crap!

"What the hell! McKay! What did you do!" I yelled. Hell, I was pissed. Leave it to McKay to get us caught in a` 10,000 year old equivalent of a bear trap! I gingerly touched the force field with my finger, only to be knocked on my ass by the resulting electric shock. Well, I HAD to check, didn't I? Crap.

At least he had the decency to look panicked. "I didn't do…I mean, I…well, how was I supposed to know it would do that!"

"Don't touch ancient things! We've been over that! Especially after what happened on MC4303! I still can't see the color purple because of you!"

"Who wants to see the color purple anyway! I did you a favor!"

"Guys, shut up." Ronon's voice cut through the argument. "We've got company."

I whirled around as I heard the familiar charge of Ronan's weapon firing up. Sure enough, we were surrounded. In the middle of a dense forest, on a barely populated planet, we were surrounded.

Have I said Crap yet?

And not only were we surrounded, but we were surrounded by a lot of really tall, really bald guys wearing robes. And in the Pegasus galaxy, the can only mean one thing. Over zealous, religious freaks. Or a hair club for men convention. Probably religious freaks though.

"Lower your weapons! They will not work in the containment field." A loud voice informed us and so we lowered our weapons…NOT.

"Think we can shoot thru the force field?" Ronon muttered, just loud enough for us trapped rats to hear.

"Did you see what happened to Sheppard when he just touched it? The bullets would most likely bounce off and strike us! I say we put our weapons down."

"I believe Dr. McKay is correct. We should do as they say. They outnumber us greatly." The voice of reason, otherwise known as Teyla, said.

I shook my head, still kind of dazed from the aforementioned electric shock. "Or, we could try to shoot our way out of here anyway. See how it goes." Ronon raised his weapon and smiled his agreement.

"Or," Teyla said patiently. "We could hear that these men have to say, John." Uh oh, she used my first name. In Teyla talk, that was the equivalent of your mom breaking out your middle name. She meant business. I lowered my weapon.

"Fine. Lets hear what they have to say. And then we shoot at them."

"Put them on the ground." Head overly zealous religious guy said. I sighed. Like that could happen.

"Tell you what, Chief. How about you tell us what's going on and then we'll talk about the weapons."

"Seriously, don't shoot that in here. It most definitely will ricochet and hit us…probably me." McKay was saying in the background.

Tall head overly zealous religious guy looked at me. "You are the leader of this group?"

"I am. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. And you are?"

"I am Malorn. Head Priest of Tygarn. You and your companions have trespassed upon sacred ground, Colonel." I knew it! "The law dictates that all transgressors of the Ruins of Tygam be sacrificed to our ancient ancestors." And every single overzealous freak was suddenly aiming very large, very sharp arrows at us.

So did NOT see that one coming.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I put my hands up quickly, in a very non threatening way. "Lets just hold on a moment! "

"Our weapons will pass though the containment field. Your end will be swift. Ready!" The archers pulled back on their strings.

McKay actually shrieked and ducked behind me. Ronon raised his weapon and took aim.

"Just hold on now!" I admit I was starting to panic too. "We are visitors to your planet and we had no idea we were breaking your laws."

Teyla broke in. "Surely we can come to an arrangement that would satisfy your laws without our deaths."

"Yeah, what she said!"

"I say we take them out with us." Of course that was Ronon. Not helping, buddy! Crazy bald guys are pointing arrows at us!

The head crazy put his hand up. "Hold." He said to his archers. To us he said, "You are visitors?

Well, duh!

Teyla nodded. "We came from another planet though the ancestral ring. We did not know we were encroaching on your sacred ground. We apologize and vow not to do so again. If you would simply let us out, we can be on our way."

"But the ZedPM!"

"Quiet McKay!"

Moran nodded. "The law does allow for travelers who are unaware of our laws. One of you may suffer the trial, and the rest will be spared. Once complete, you may be on your way with a promise never to walk our planet again."

A Pegasus Galaxy way out…better than being shot with arrows, but not by too much.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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