This is the chapter where the first major plot difference with Stargate Atlantis arises, so please just bear with me for a few hundred words. Please Review and tell me what you thought of it. And, as I try to say whenever I post, thanks to Hobobillybob for his help Beta-reading.

Unknown Planet

Unknown Galaxy

As soon as the soldiers exited the Stargate they fanned out just as they had trained to and formed a half-circle. The area around the Gate was flat and treeless. The only cover for a hundred meters was the DHD.

When the Gate deactivated the Troopers changed their formation to a complete circle. When they didn't see any movement through their helmet-mounted NVGs Colonel Rico stood and his men did likewise.

Rico pointed out four of his Troopers and signaled them to stay and guard the Gate. He motioned for the rest to follow him and fan out across the field as they walked cautiously towards the treeline.

At the edge of the forest, Major Sheppard held up his fist to signal the Troopers to halt. Sheppard motioned for one of the Troopers closest to him, a Corporal Ford, and they walked forward slowly, all the while they continued to scan with the flashlights attached to their rifles.

A tree limb snapped and movement in the woods caught their attention. After several tense seconds, a kid came running out into the clearing. Weapons were immediately trained on him. Before anyone could say anything, another kid jumped out and tackled the first to the ground.

As soon as the first recovered he looked up in terror at the heavily armed and armored soldiers. "Please, don't hurt us!" he begged. Before the Major could respond a tall man with long hair came sprinting out of the woods and immediately put himself between the soldiers and children. He held up his hand to show he wasn't carrying a weapon

"Please! They're just playing!" He begged as his eyes took in just how many armed men there were around. Colonel Rico sauntered over with his weapon pointed at the ground, ready to come up at a moments notice, and looked at Major Sheppard.

"Everything okay here, Sheppard?" He asked of his Second. The Major looked up at him and nodded.

"Yes sir, just a couple of kids." As he said that he lowered his Morita to point at the ground as did Corporal Ford beside him. Slowly the adult looked around and stood to face Colonel Rico.

They locked eyes for a moment before he pulled the children off the ground and onto their feet. He turned to Major Sheppard and pointed to himself.

"Halling." Sheppard looked confused and shrugged.

"I don't know what that means." Colonel Rico smirked and looked at Sheppard.

"Its his name." He said matter-of-factly. Major Sheppard looked back at Halling.

"Oh, Halling, its nice to meet you." He said in embarrassment. Halling looked back at the shorter Major.

"Are you here to trade?" He asked, never breaking eye contact. Major Sheppard nodded.

"Trade? Yeah, we're, we're traders." The Major was clearly uncomfortable but decided to go with it.

Halling crouched to look the children in the face and scolded them for playing in the forest after dark. Standing, he looked back to Sheppard.

"Teyla will want to meet with you." He said. Immediately he turned and herded the children back into the forest. The Troopers followed, all the while scanning the forest for targets in case it was an ambush.

Soon the path became lit by freestanding pedestals containing burning dishes. The two childred walked beside the Major and turned to him.

"What's that thing you're wearing?" One of them asked.

"Its a helmet, it protects your head." They mouthed 'oh's and continued looking at him.

"What's with the things on the front?" The other kid with the weird mask on asked.

"They help you see in the dark. Check it out." As he spoke he removed his helmet and handed to the closest kid. He put in on and pulled the NVGs down to his eye. The kid with the mask on demanded to see and tried the helmet on.

"Whoa, can I have it?" He asked hopefully.

"No," Major Sheppard said as he put it back on his head "What's the mask you've got on?"

"This? Its Wraith." The way he said it made it seem obvious. He handed it to Sheppard and he looked at the strange thing.

"Wraith, huh? What's that?" The children looked at each other in confusion as he handed the mask back.

"You don't know? What world do you come from? Can we go there?" The Major just shook his head and chuckled.

"I'm afraid not. I'm from a galaxy far, far away." Before the kids could say anything else the procession, which by now had been joined by several villagers who had been along the path, reached the village. It wasn't much, a collection of tents and campfires.

Halling led them to one tent in particular which looked bigger then the rest. He called inside and was told to enter by a female voice. Halling lifted the tent flap and stepped through then held it open for Colonel Rico,vMajor Sheppard, and Corporal Ford who moved to put their backs against the tent wall.

Halling whispered to the woman who seemed to be the leader that the strangers wished to trade. She looked at them with soft but firm eyes. She was definitely the leader.

"I am Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Tagan." Her eyes had grown suspicious quickly as she peered at the visitors.

"Colonel John Rico, Major Sheppard, and Corporal Ford." He said as he introduced the men. "We have a few, specific needs-" Before he could continue he was cut off.

"We do not trade with strangers." Her voice was full of strength.

"Well then, we'll just have to get to know each other a little better, won't we?" Major Sheppard replied in a calming voice. "Me, I like Ferris Wheels, College Fieldball*, and anything that goes faster than two hundred miles an hour." Teyla looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Corporal Ford leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Sir, that's not gonna mean anything to them." Without breaking his smile Major Sheppard leaned over for Ford to hear him.

"Feel free to speak up, I'm just trying to break the ice here." Before the Major could go on with his futile self-explaining Teyla spoke.

"Each morning, before dawn out people drink a stout tea to prepare us for the coming day. Would you care to join us?" Major Sheppard looked back to her and smiled.

"I love a good cup of tea. There's another thing you know about me. We're practically friends already." Teyla returned the smile and motioned for the men to sit as one of the villagers began pouring them cups.

After the tea was finished they had gone outside only to see the sun was now up. A trooper who Rico recognized as Corporal Bates motioned him over and handed him binoculars. In the distance Colonel Rico saw what appeared to be an abandoned city.

"We didn't see it until the sun came up." Rico analyzed the area and the buildings and nodded.

"Looks promising. Shelter, nice little valley. Location, location, location." He handed the binoculars back to the Trooper and walked to where Major Sheppard and several of the 'Athosions' as they called themselves, were gathered.

After informing them that they wanted to take a look around the area where the city was a man standing beside Teyla began to look frightened.

"The city of the Ancestors is not safe." Rico looked him in the eye and saw how frightened he was.

"We can handle ourselves." The man shook his head.

"The Wraith will come." They had heard the word Wraith several times already, all of them spoken with fear and dread.

"Who are these Wraith?" He asked the Athosians. Teyla and the man looked between each other in confusion. She peered back at them cautiously.

"We have never met anyone who did not know." Colonel Rico was growing concerned. These people seemed to have a great phobia about these Wraith.

"Well, you have now." Teyla slowly approached.

"If the Wraith have never touched your world then you should go back there." Major Sheppard looked down for a moment before answering her.

"Well we'd like to but we can't. See, here's the thing; we've gotten ourselves into a bit of a bind and we may need a safe place to stay for a while.

"Our people believe that the Wraith will come if we venture into the Old City, but it is a belief we have not tested in some time." Colonel Rico looked at her before walking outside. Major Sheppard and Corporal Ford walked to the edge of the lake the village rested by.

"Even if they don't want to come with, that city's worth a look. Not to mention the possibility that there could be ZPMs there that they don't know or care about." Major Sheppard looked back at Teyla in the tent before looking at Rico.

"What if the Wraith are the enemy the Ancient hologram woman was talking about?"

"All the more reason for us to have a defensible position if we have to abandon Atlantis. Major, I want you to stay here and find out what you can. Ford, go back to the Gate and report we may have found something." Without waiting for their acknowledgments the Colonel walked away.

Sheppard walked slowly back to Teyla and smiled. "Well, I guess its just you and me. And him." He said, referring to the man sitting nearby.

"Your leader has the eyes of one who has seen many terrible things."

"Yeah, well, where we come from we have a bit of a bug problem. It doesn't exactly make for easy living." Teyla looked up at him in confusion before shrugging it off.

"You truly cannot return to your world?" She asked questioningly. Sheppard shook his head. "Then there is something you must see." She then began to lead the Major into the forest.

After a long walk, they arrived at what looked to be the mouth of a cave. Teyla grabbed a torch off the wall and lit it with a strange lighter. Sheppard grabbed his own flashlight off his belt. As he shined the light on the ground something reflected it.

Sheppard reached down and dusted it off. Teyla approached and looked at it. A smile took over her face.

"I lost this years ago. How did you-" She was interrupted in her happiness by the Major.

"It was just lying over there in the dirt. It was reflecting the light." Sheppard grinned and placed it back on Teyla's neck. They then turned and noticed the massive number of pictures dotting the walls.

"Someone's been busy." He said,impressed. Teyla approached the drawings and looked at them closely.

"The drawings in the cave are extensive. Many must date back thousands of years." Major Sheppard then noticed one that looked like it had space ships on it.

"Does this represent the destruction of your city?" He asked as he pointed at the specific tile. The Athosian shook her head.

"This drawing far predates that." Confused, Major Sheppard looked back at her.

"So, what, somebody knew it was gonna happen?" His companion shook her head in reply.

"I believe it happens again and again. The Wraith allow our kind to grow in numbers. Then, when that number reaches a certain point, they return to...cull their human herd. Sometimes a few hundred years pass before they return. The last great Holocaust was five generations ago. But still they come, in smaller numbers, to remind us of their power." Her voice was solemn, recounting the sufferings of her people.

"Its a hell of a way to live." Sheppard replied.

"We move our hunting camps around, try to teach our children not to live in fear. But it is difficult. Some of our people can sense the Wraith coming. That gives us warning. We should go, it'll be dark soon." With that she started the long trek back to the village.

Back at the Stargate Corporal Ford, who had joined the four Troopers who Colonel Rico had assigned to watch the Gate, radioed in when the Chevrons activated.

"Colonel we have Gate activity here." Almost as soon as the Puddle formed a strange elongated craft flew out of it at high speed which was quickly followed by another two. Their course set them towards the village.

"Colonel, three bogies headed your way." Colonel Rico reacted immediately and began issuing orders to his soldiers.

"Take cover! First Squad move to the treeline!" The Athosians had begun to run and scatter away from the village. A number of villagers were running near the Colonel when the whine of the strange craft grew louder.

In front of his eyes, a white triangle of light came down from the craft and enveloped the three Athosians. When the light disappeared, they were gone. As the Colonel raised his Morita at the retreating aircraft he ordered his men to fire.

Gunfire joined the sounds of screaming as the Troopers attempted to take down the strange plane. Even with the sights added to the rifles before their departure from Earth, the soldiers couldn't hit the fast-moving target. Out of the corner of his eye, Rico saw a strange shadow move. When he tried to shoot it, his bullets passed right through it.

Major Sheppard's voice came over the radio saying that the apparitions weren't real and they should be firing on the ships. Rico immediately redirected him soldiers' fire to the craft overhead.

One of his Troopers responsible for carrying their missile launcher was looking around in panic at the ghostly visions. Rico calmly walked up to him and turned him around by the shoulder.

"Fire on those goddamn ships, Trooper, or I'll kill you myself!" He screamed in the man's terrified face. That seemed to snap him out of it because he then immediately turned the launcher on one of the closest ships. The missile soared out of its tube and left a trail of white exhaust in its wake.

The explosive arced up and impacted against the side of the aircraft and it exploded. Burning wreckage rained down on the village.

Major Sheppard and Teyla came running into the village in time to witness Colonel Rico and two of his Troopers barely escape a beam of light that attempted to abduct them. Armor piercing rounds tore through the ship and it began to trail smoke before crashing a short distance from the village. The only surviving ship left made a b-line for the Gate.

"Corporal Ford, the last ship is coming towards you. Take it down!" Colonel Rico yelled into his radio. The familiar sounds of gunfire and the light from an explosion lit up the sky.

The villagers who had been running for safety paused and looked at the sky before looking back at the soldiers. The Troopers were still searching for targets when Rico radioed Ford.

"Corporal, are you sure there were only three?" The Colonel couldn't see Ford nod.

"Yes, sir. I think we're clear." The villagers began to cheer loudly. Teyla jogged over to Colonel Rico. She was forced to push her way through her people to the small grouping of somewhat confused Troopers.

"What the hell is going on?" Colonel Rico asked of the smaller Athosian woman. He was forced to shout to be heard.

Teyla smiled and looked up at him. "Our people have not witnessed a victory against the Wraith in generations." The celebration was suddenly interrupted by a short burst of gunfire.

"Report!" Colonel Rico said as he tapped the transmit button on his helmet.

"Sorry sir, but you may want to see this. We're at the crash site east of the village." Rico recognized the voice as that of Sergeant Ace Levy, one of his oldest friends and the leader of Second Squad. He had dispatched him to investigate the sites and look over the debris.

Rico moved towards the dull light from burning wreckage east of the village with two of his Troopers trailing him. Their weapons were up and scanning. When they entered the clearing the crashing ship had carved in the forest they saw five troopers standing around a body. Their weapons were pointed at it even though it wasn't moving.

"Ace, what the hell happened?" he asked, walking towards the limp body. When he got close enough to see it in detail he froze momentarily. The body on the ground was a sickly pale green. It had long white hair and strange slits on his cheeks.

"What the f-" Rico was interrupted when the creature on the ground opened its eyes. Rico held up his hand to show them not to shoot but he pointed his Carbine at it.

"Move and die." Rico's voice was cold and full of conviction. It reached for something on its wrist and one of the Troopers kicked it in the side of the head . Hard. When it stopped moving Rico leaned down and felt its neck on the off chance it had a pulse point there.

To his surprise he felt a pulse and ordered one of his soldier's to restrain it. "Take it back to the Gate." The soldiers nodded and began carrying the monster back to the Stargate on a stretcher. Rico followed them and dialed the Gate when they returned. Before stepping through he radioed Major Sheppard to take temporary command until he returned.

Rico walked through the puddle alongside the soldiers who were carrying the prisoner. On the other side, there was one noticeable difference. When they had left, the supplies had been somewhat orderly in their arrangement. Hasty, yes, but now some crates were lying completely on their sides. When he saw the soldiers step through the Gate, McKay moved to a balcony that extended from the Control Room.

"Ah, Colonel, please follow me. I have something very amazing to show you!" Rodney shouted. Confused, Rico trailed the scientist led him to a set of doors near the top of the stairs in front of the Gate. When they opened, McKay practically rushed outside. Rico walked outside as well, though more slowly. Instead of seeing the hanging ocean above them as he suspected he would, he saw bright blue sky extending in every direction.

It took the Colonel a moment to recover before he turned his attention, but not his eyes, back to the Scientist. "What the hell did I miss?"

*Fieldball; the game that was similiar to football being played early in the first Starship Troopers film.