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Broken Circles Update
Summary: The city was gone, destroyed, leaving behind only the people who'd once stood and fought for their new home.
Pairings: Sheppard/Weir, Ronon/Teyla
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Nothing specific, just general season 2 spoilers...if you've seen Runner you'll know all you have to.
Chapter One
Elizabeth lay on the ground, watching the stars above her. One year. It had been one year since they’d stepped through the gate from Atlantis. While they still officially lived under Elizabeth’s command, Ronon had taken over for the most part, being the only one in the group who knew how to live constantly on the run.
They couldn’t stay in one place. The Wraith were everywhere, hunting constantly, wanting them more than anyone else in the galaxy, because they’d ruined their chances of getting to Earth, to a seemingly unlimitless food supply.
In their travels they’d heard rumours from the locals, rumours that the city of the Ancients had been destroyed. Luckily they had evacuated the Athosians a few hours before the Wraith had attacked. They had checked on the Athosians a few days after they’d first evacuated Atlantis, informing them that the city had been destroyed, that they could no longer connect a wormhole through to the gate there, cutting them off not only from the planet but from Earth.
Since that day the galaxy had become swarmed with Wraith ships, the fleet in full working mode with no one to stand in their way, watching planets carefully, and when the people of those planets became to hard to controlthey would attack.
There was no longer opportunity for hiding and pretending that their populations were smaller than they were. The days of fighting back were over; the Wraith had full control of the galaxy, every habited planet, and many that weren’t. It made it difficult for them to find planets where it was safe, but somehow Ronon managed to do so, knowing the exact caves to hide out in on un-habited planets.
They’d been in their current location for two weeks, and so far it had proved safe enough. They stayed in the underground caves during the day and headed out at night to find food. Ronon had taught them the art of hunting and scavenging for food and they’d gotten used to eating strange animals, and being able to tell what were the good fruits and what were the bad ones.
But now she lay staring at the starry sky, wondering how many of those sparkling lights were actually Wraith ships lying in wait for them and how many of them held planets that were being threatened. For a moment she found herself wondering which one of the stars was Atlantis, or used to be, and which one was the Milky Way.
It was times like these she needed to Rodney around. She felt herself saddened at the thought of her friend lying in pieces under the ocean, in the ruins of the resting place of the city they once called home.
“Mind if I join you?” the Scottish accent gave away who it was, there was no need for her to look up.
“Of course, if you want to lie down on the not-entirely-dry ground,” she replied.
“It’s warm enough for a little water to do no harm,” Carson replied, lying down on the grass next to her. “So what are you doing out here?”
“Thinking,” Elizabeth replied.
“You do this a lot, now,” he stated. “Lie in the grass and look at the sky.”
“It gives me something to do,” she sighed. “I always wonder which direction home is.”
"Earth?" he asked.
"No."
“I miss Atlantis too,” he said. “I know Earth is our real home, but Atlantis just feels…”
“…felt…” Elizabeth corrected without thinking.
“Aye,” Carson said, the sadness in his voice echoing her feelings.
“It’s been a year,” she said after a moment.
“Today?”
“Five minutes ago, since we left Atlantis,” she paused before continuing. “It’s probably exactly a year right now since the self destruct went off…”
She felt her words catching in her throat and fell silent. Carson seemed to understand because he reached out and squeezed her hand lightly.
“It’s possible they could have escaped,” he said, not sounding too sure of that.
Elizabeth sat up, not able to look at the sky anymore, and turned around to look at Carson as he sat up as well. “It’s false hope, Carson, we both know that.”
“But at least it’s hope,” he said.
She nodded slightly, looking away. “At least it’s hope…”
They sat there for a long time, side by side, staring out over the valley that stretched away in front of them. Elizabeth felt her mind wandering back to the people she’d lost. To John. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, resting her head on her knees.
She missed him, as uncaring as it sounded, more than anyone else. He’d always been there for her to lean on when she needed someone, he’d always been there to make her smile, to give her that warm fuzzy feeling she’d read about in so many books. Even now thinking about him made her smile.
She remembered him giving her the first birthday present she’d received off world. A pot that she assumed one of the Athosians had made and sold to him. That had meant so much to her, that he’d gone to the lengths to not only find out her birthday, but get her a present for it. But that was the kind of person he’d always been, loving and caring at the same time as being their best fighter pilot and military commander.
He’d been the closest thing to a best friend she’d had since elementary school. Her eyes were suddenly watery, thinking of the look in his eyes before he’d gone to set the self-destruct. She knew she’d always regret not saying goodbye, and it was times like this that she did.
“I miss them,” Carson blurted out suddenly. “Even Rodney.”
Elizabeth smiled at that, wiping her eyes quickly, not wanting to show Carson how upset she really was. “Yeah, his annoying chatter was always there to fill empty silences.”
“And he was always a useful form of entertainment,” Carson said.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth said quietly, her mind returning to John again.
Carson seemed to notice her change in composure because he reached out and put his arm around her, pulling her to him. She appreciated the gesture more than he could possibly know, not having had someone there to comfort her since John…
“Sometimes…sometimes I really wish John was here,” she heard her own voice cracking, not even sure why she was telling Carson.
“I know,” he replied.
“I just, I started to rely on him so much and then…” she stopped, not able to fight tears and talk at the same time.
“I know,” Carson repeated, rubbing her shoulder with his hand. “It’s hard when you lose someone who was such a good friend.”
She fell silent for a moment, reflecting on the statement. “He was much more than that.”
He paused before saying,“I know.”
And the third time he said it she knew he actually did understand. John was a great friend to her, but he was so much more than that at the same time. He had been so much more to her.
“We should get back to the cave, Ronon will be back soon with food,” Carson said, removing his arm from around her and standing up, holding a hand out.
Elizabeth breathed in deeply and stood up, looking once more out at the stars. “They could still be out there,” she said quietly to herself, then she turned to Carson. “Thank you.”
“Always welcome,” he replied. “Come on, lets go.”
The two of them turned around and returned to the cave.
Ronon didn’t like being on the run. Again. He’d spent two blissful years living a relatively normal life, yet here he was again hiding from the Wraith. Although at least they didn’t have to move every day, he could spend more than one night in one place.
And at least this time he wasn’t alone.
He felt left out with these people though. They were so amateur at the whole living on the run thing. He spent most of his thinking time wishing Teyla were around, if she was there he’d have someone around he could relate to, someone he had something in common with. These people were nothing like him, although they were learning, it wasn’t the same.
He looked up to see Elizabeth and Carson entering the cave. There were two people who had no place on the run. A diplomat and a doctor. He wished he could leave them in a village somewhere, but it was too risky. Moving around was the best way.
“Hmm smells good,” Lorne said, sitting down opposite Ronon. “What is it?”
“The same thing we had every night for the last two weeks,” Zelenka muttered, sounding bitter.
“That’s great, I love local rodent,” Lorne grinned.
Ronon couldn’t tell if he was using Earth sarcasm or if he actually felt that way about the food. Either way Ronon didn’t care much. After a year they’d become accustomed to eating whatever came.
“Eat away,” Ronon muttered.
He took his share and watched as everyone took their places around the small fire. It was a warm night, but there were few times when they saw real light, spending most of their waking hours in the dark to avoid being seen. After a few moments Elizabeth reached down, picking up her silver mug.
“I’d like to make a toast,” she announced, avoiding looking at anyone specifically.
All attention was on Elizabeth. Ronon wondered what in the galaxy they could have to toast about, but he figured Elizabeth was usually level headed so there must be some importance to her toast.
“It’s been exactly an Earth year since Atlantis was destroyed,” she said, calmly, but he could hear her trying to hide her emotions. “So I’d like to toast to those that fought and died so we could live and Earth would be safe.”
The clinking of water mugs echoed through the cave for a few moments before everyone fell silent, now in their own world of thought. Ronon wished they were still back on the city. He didn’t talk much anymore, he didn’t seem to have a need, that was a part of his life he’d thought was over, but here it was again. He had nothing in common with anyone.
He really wished Teyla were around.
He closed his eyes, letting the extra warmth from the fireplace wash over him, trying to pretend he was back before the Wraith had ever taken him. Sateda had never been a particularly peaceful planet to live on, but it hadn’t been one that was so bad it was unliveable. Ronon had loved his home, and he’d had his friends there. But the Wraith had ruined all that, destroyed their cities, killed his friends.
It was only because of Teyla that he’d even discovered there were other survivors from the battle.
And now she was dead.
He felt anger fill him. Standing up he threw his plate down, turning around and storming out of the cave. He didn’t want to be with the others, he wanted to be alone. That was how he belonged, alone. Everywhere he went disaster followed him, and it was better he stayed alone. At least that way no one else got hurt.
Next...
(Prologue can be found here)