Darth Maul

Darth Maul

Chapter 1

Stargate Atlantis: Darth Maul

Major John Sheppard finally made it up to the top of the hill he and his team had been traveling up. He halted the group and took a look around at the landscape. It was a beautiful view. As a matter of fact it was a beautiful planet. He just wished that the place Dr. Rodney McKay wanted to take a look at wasn't still so far away! It wasn't that he didn't like walking so far but they had already been walking for an hour and it was an extremely hot day on this planet. He was beginning to wish that they had of brought the puddle jumper instead.

"Rodney, how far till we reach this magnificent find?" John asked McKay, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"If my calculations are correct, and we know that they are, it should be about 10 minutes away," Rodney answered. "And you won't be so sarcastic if it's a Zed-PM we find will you?"

"Rodney being sarcastic with you just comes natural." John answered back and then started walking again. "Let's get a move on guys." he said to the team.

Teyla and Lieutenant Aiden Ford just looked on amused, for banter such as this often happen between the two men. Teyla often wondered how the two men were becoming such good friends when they had such obvious differences. But the athosian surmised that she still had a lot to learn about Earth men.

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True to McKay's word, 10 minutes later the team arrived at the spot that sparked McKay's interest. John took a look around the place. It looked a lot like most of the abandoned ancient cities they had come across before on the travels through the Stargate. There was broken pillars and what looked like partial buildings that had come apart with age and time, spread about a green valley. It would have been an archaeologist's dream city. But John was no archaeologist so the city lost its appeal soon enough when he realized that McKay would want to spend a decent amount of time here. He knew that McKay was hoping to find a Z-PM hidden amongst the ruins, and he hoped that McKay found what he was looking for. They had been in Atlantis now for eight months and a he felt that a Wraith attack was bound to happen sooner of later and a Z-PM would surely come in handy.

John's attention came back to the present and he studied his team, all 3 of them had their eyes on him waiting for him to make some decisions. He was actually surprised that Rodney had waited for his orders. Usually the scientist just went off of his own accord.

"Okay, Lieutenant you and Teyla secure the perimeter, keep your eyes open."

"Yes Sir." Ford answered walking off with Teyla to secure the perimeter.

"Rodney, you're with me, do your thing." John said with a sweep of his arm and watched as Rodney mumbled something then walked in the direction his equipment was obviously telling him to go.

"So Rodney, what makes you think we're gonna find a Z-PM here?"

Rodney sighed in frustration. He really wished that Teyla had stayed with him instead of Sheppard. They had been in the city for a few hours now and he thought he was really making some headway and he would probably make a lot more if the Major would quit asking him questions that Rodney was sure he had already asked a dozen times. In the short time that they had known each other, Rodney had established that the Major became increasingly annoying when he was bored. Which he just happened to be right now.

"I already told you." Rodney finally said.

"Well tell me again." John replied walking around and kicking small bits of the ruins with his feet.

"Major please go annoy Ford or Teyla."

"That's no fun, besides I just sent them on another perimeter check." John told him and gave up his rock kicking when Rodney gave him a dirty look.

"So?"

"So what?" Rodney asked looking up in frustration.

"So what makes you think there might be a Z-PM here?"

"Well if I must tell you again, when Stackhouse's team did a reconnaissance of this planet in the puddle jumper, they picked up some energy readings that were worth checking out, as I'm sure you know Major finding a Zed-PM would solve a lot of our problems and help us discover lots more about Atlantis since we would be able to power the city fully." McKay answered all in one breath without taking his eyes off his equipment.

"Ahh right," John said. "I'm just gonna go check with Teyla and Ford and leave you to it."

"Yes please go!"

"Okay, okay, okay." John said with an insulted look on his face.

Rodney watched as Sheppard walked a few feet away and contacted their two teammates on his radio. He didn't see why the Major was being so cautious with perimeter security. It was obvious to at least Rodney that they were alone on this planet. But he guessed that was Sheppard's job to worry about that and after all his team's safety was one thing that Sheppard did take very seriously. At least it kept him from annoying Rodney for a little bit. Realizing that he still wasn't getting any work done, Rodney went back to focusing on his equipments reading in order to locate what he hoped was a Zed-PM.