Story Preview: Human 3.0 by zaganthi & Perryvic (McKay/Sheppard/Beckett)
Human 3.0 Summary
"That's the sort of thing you need people like me to stop. Out of the couple of handfuls of manifesting natural 3.0 humans that exist on the planet, the SGC had four of them. That wasn't a coincidence."
Human 3.0 Snippet
"Elizabeth said they have offered us the choice of their Ancient artifacts if Carson can figure how to cure or treat a disease that has been surfacing over the years. Let's just say we're quietly confident you can manage that, doc."
"No pressure." Rodney lifted his eyebrows at Carson, and smirked not too subtly at him. "Of course, now that I've said this I'm still going to have to fix something, won't I?"
"Elizabeth said we should help out where we could and try and make a good selection from the artifacts," John answered.
"I am sure that they will be most grateful," Teyla added. "No matter what you do."
Rodney was probably making his usual checklist of things he could repair or check the working condition of, given different levels of technology. As long as it didn't involve repairing nuclear reactors, the bitching would be to a minimum.
Ahead, John could see the village. They were about to head down the slope when Teyla suddenly stopped holding up a hand to get them to halt. "Wait. I thought..."
"What is it, lass?" Carson asked looking concerned.
"I thought I caught the edge of a hostile thought," she said, looking around.
John immediately went onto alert, looking around, getting into a defensive position looking for cover. They were completely exposed. Shit, shit, and that was the worst position to be in. Rodney shifted, and John could feel him start to push out a shield of EM field. "Shit. Shit."
"Carson! Get in close to McKay!" he ordered sharply, "Which direction, Teyla?" She'd edged away with a hunting look and it was a matter of seconds when he heard the rattling crack of bullets. Training had him phasing automatically so any projectiles passed through him. And Rodney, Rodney and Carson would be fine because of the magnetic shield. Teyla was exposed, and he returned fire. "Rodney! Try and shield her!"
Rodney moved, pulling Carson physically with him, and John guessed she was in the shield area now. He wished it were visible, that Rodney was doing it, that there was something other than a feeling in the air.
"They are coming from the fields to our left!"
That left him and he nodded and headed in that direction. "Fuck! On it. Retreat to the Gate! Now!"
He was going to find out who the hell it was who was trying to ambush them. This whole mission had to be a set up. Too promising, too much of a good thing apparently. He started towards the woods in a run when he heard Rodney cuss sharply, felt pieces of metal whiz past from his team's direction. Maybe Rodney should've tried attacking sooner, but John hadn't been expecting the flash and the force that suddenly filled his vision, knocking him backwards.
Concussion grenade, but...fuck, he had slipped phase automatically and he turned to glance at Rodney and the others to see things going badly wrong. Teyla had been thrown clear and her enhanced strength meant she was stirring. The strange feeling of needing to breathe was creeping over him as other canisters littered the area, venting some gas.
He had to breathe. He had to take air in sometime, except Rodney was crouched, curled in on himself, and Carson was slumped down. They'd probably breathed, and Rodney couldn't shield them from that. Shit, he had to breathe.
He tried to run, out of the zone of whatever the hell it was away from Teyla so they would follow him, and by the time his molecules burned with the need for more energy and he had to whoop a breath he'd hoped he was fast enough, but almost immediately he felt dizzy. It ruined his concentration when he tried to phase again so it was unstable and painful and he had to breathe again and that was enough to send him to unconsciousness.