The fog swirled around, thick and ominous. Sheppard was surveying the area carefully. Bad things had happened last time there was fog this thick, and all his mind saw were those creatures. The masks had haunted him for weeks. He pushed the terrifying memory down, clearing his head and focusing. Once glance around at his team showed Mckay, looking worried-probally about the same thing he was-as he trembled in the slight cold. He was whining about how much he hated 'a damp cold'. Behind Rodney he saw Teyla rolling her eyes as she smiled. And then there was Ronon, covering their six. Everything was in order, but it was eerily quiet. Suddenly something caught Ronon's attention.

"What is it?" Sheppard asked, trying to sound authoritative and unafraid. Ronon shook his head and continued to walk.

Rodney grimaced and looked over at Sheppard and began to whine. "Are you thinking what I am trying not to think about?"

Sheppard sighed and, following Ronon's lead but still leading the pack, he began to move on through the dense fog that was growing thicker.

As they trudged onward towards the small village they were trying to make first contact with, Ronon stopped again, whirling around as water sprayed off his slighty damp dreads.

Now John was nervous. A hint of irritation slipped into his voice as he whispered hoarsely. "Ronon, what is it?"

Ronon's blaster was drawn and he was staring intently at the fog that hid all but the things inches away from his face. He was listening more than looking. "I thought I heard something. It was probably nothing though."

John frowned and glanced around with both his eyes and his P90 as Ronon continued to scan the area. Without a word he disappeared into the fog.

The area he entered seemed even foggier than the area he left, and Ronon felt a tingle crawl down his back. Then he heard a soft thump behind him as someone-or something-dropped from a tree. Ronon quickly redirected his gun, but it was knocked out of his hand by a quick and well placed blow. Suddenly, not wanting to take the time to grab a knife, he was deep in almost-blind hand to hand combat with the person. The. . .girl? Though, he had to admit, the moves were strong and smooth, well coordinated and almost always hitting their mark, the hands that flew at him were small and dainty.

Just then a wraith dart flew overhead, distracting both for a split second. Ronon could hear John calling him, starting to get annoyed at Ronon for ignoring him. The woman seemed to be slowing down, but Ronon thought she might be wanting to get out of the wraith's way as much as he was. Unfortunately never letting his guard down was something that had been drilled into him until it was second nature, and he fought on. He could hear John still calling his name, coming closer, and he could feel a strong wind beginning to blow. The fog began to dissipate and soon he could see his attacker's sillouette.

John could also see Ronon's sillouette, fighting with whatever had been following them. John was going to shoot what he assumed was a wraith, but as the fog continued to clear he was convinced the attacker was human. The strange thing was he had never seen Ronon this evenly matched. He heard Teyla and Rodney come up behind him, gasping almost in unision.

Ronon knew they were there, but he couldn't stop, he couldn't get distracted. The fog was almost clear, but instead of identifying his attacker, he focused on her hands. They flew towards his head and his neck, then suddenly stopped. He kept his guard up as his eyes drifted down to his attacker's perplexed face. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't register her face. Then it hit him. He took a step back as his eyes widened in disbelief. The young woman's face lit up as she smiled with recognition and was about to speak when she was hit with a wraith stunner. Five guns opened up on the wraith and he was soon on the ground, but five more who heard the gunfire took his place. The young woman, who hadn't had time to move from the clearing, took another stunner hit and fell to the ground, but not before she had taken out one more wraith. Ronon jumped over her and knelt in front of her as he took out more of the wraith with Sheppard and Teyla's help. Once those five were taken care of he scooped the unconcious young woman up, tossed her over his shoulder, and crouched behind a tree. Ronon's eyes darted to his team, and he saw John and Teyla watching for the next group of wraith that were surely coming and Rodney slumped down next to the tree he had been hiding behind. Leave it to Rodney to get hit when they needed his help.

After a few minutes, since nobody else came, Sheppard stepped out from behind his tree.

" Well, someone has to carry Rodney and someone has to carry-who is this?" Sheppard said, his voice starting as a sigh and ending in confusion.

Ronon laid the young woman down carefully, removing his hand from behind her neck tenderly and brushing the strands of deep brown that had fallen from the braid than ran all the way down her back from her lightly tanned-but obviously pale otherwise-skin.

She was wearing a worn brown shirt that buttoned up the front. It had gotten small and tight, and her midriff was bare. Her brown leather pants were snug, but it looked like she had found them recently other than the rip across her lower thigh. The wound under that rip, though almost healed, was still visible. She had knee-high leather boots that Ronon recognized from a boot-smith back on Sateda, and he assumed she must have been back there scavenging at some point. She was short and thin with well toned muscles.

His voice was quiet, almost a whisper as he said, "Ella, my sister."

Sheppard looked confused by the obvious lack of resemblance, but he shook his head with a sigh and said, "You can explain in the infirmary."

Ronon grabbed Ella again and Teyla helped John get Rodney back through the gate.