Shifting Shadows - R. Dex

-11-

"Teyla, it's not gonna work."

"Try again. Please. I believe you are more than able to do this."

"It's been hours and I'm tired."

Jules lay on her back on the floor of the sparring mat, surrounded by a group of soldiers all exchanging tired looks. Teyla stood by Jules's head, a hand extended downward to help her up. Teyla had been working with Jules on connecting their minds and keeping the connection. Once she'd managed that through a full sparring match - and won - Teyla had brought in Sheppard to force her to focus on multiple assailants. It had taken a couple of days, but she'd gotten it, able to hold her focus on two people and track them through a fight. Now, Teyla had called in a half dozen soldiers to challenge Jules. She needed to keep tabs on all of them for a full fight. She didn't have to win, but she couldn't lose connection. She hadn't managed more than a few minutes before she'd lose it.

"One more time."

Jules groaned as she took Teyla's hand and stood. She shook out her body and closed her eyes. "Fine. But then I'm getting some of that chocolate cake. For dinner. Just cake. I've earned it."

Teyla nodded. Once Jules stabilized her center of gravity, Teyla motioned to the soldiers to begin.

Jules was struggling. This whole thing had been her idea - trying to strengthen the reach of her mental capacity. She'd hoped maybe she could find a way to use it to fly again. At the very least, she needed to be a valuable member of the team. She'd be damned if she was going back to earth. Staying connected, even the slightest, to this many people? It was exhausting. With them constantly moving, crossing paths? It was nearly impossible to keep track of them all.

Suddenly the doors hissed open, and Jules's mind reacted instinctively, reaching out to see who it was.

Ronon.

Ronon had become familiar with the feeling of Jules's connection, so when it hit as he entered the room to find her sweating, chest heaving and forehead scrunched in focus, he welcomed it.

In that instant, tired as she was, she lost her focus. Ronon was familiar, and her mind naturally wanted a singular connection. It latched onto him, losing the sense of the others in the room.

Ronon watched as Jules relaxed almost imperceptibly, not noticing as one of the soldiers dove forward. He willed Jules to move and she stiffened for a second before the soldier took her hard to the ground. As her back hit the floor, she rolled, hurling the larger man over her head before she sprang up and spun around the next soldier lunging at her. She used his forward momentum to send him flying into the soldier rising behind her, then dove out of the way of the one to her right. He ran straight into the fourth soldier, who toppled under the sudden impact. Jules rose, pulling a practice knife from her back pocket and twirling it before she swayed. The fifth soldier, on her left, took the opportunity to attack, taking her hard to the mat. The wind left her chest and she coughed as her familiar presence quieted in Ronon's mind.

"Jules?" Ronon rushed forward, kneeling beside her as the soldier withdrew and Teyla joined him by her side.

"Shit." Jules shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I think we're done here. Thank you, gentlemen." Teyla knelt beside Jules and nodded her head for the soldiers to leave.

"What happened?" Ronon's heavy hand landed on Jules's raised knee. She batted him away but Teyla didn't miss the concern etched across his face.

"You." Jules's voice was laced with tightness and pain as she sat up and rolled her shoulders to ease the ache from the collision with the floor. The ache in her skull had eased some when the soldiers had left and the door had shut behind them.