Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

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Teyla and Ronon were waiting for them. Teyla and McKay were already hurrying away, speaking urgently. Ronon waited for her to secure the jumper before he stepped up beside her and they hurried to catch up to the others.

"You sure it was three seconds?" McKay asked as they hustled through the woods. He stumbled a little over his feet as he struggled to keep up with Teyla's long strides.

"Yes," Teyla confirmed.

"And there's twelve minutes of video?" McKay asked, breathing heavily already as the group moved through the dense forest.

"Yes," Teyla responded.

McKay hesitated. "All right so it's a ratio of about ah..."

"Two hundred and fifty to one," Kai finished for him distractedly as the gateway came into sight. She frowned at the field, it had an almost mirror like surface. Supposedly they were close to John but she couldn't feel him or their connection at all. It was as though he were in a totally different galaxy. She wished she understood more about their connection so she knew what that meant. She didn't believe he was dead, he couldn't be.

"Just out of curiosity, what does that mean for Colonel Sheppard in terms of days?" Beckett asked, setting his gear down.

"We're already talking months," McKay said grimly.

Kai pressed her lips together as she stepped up to the stone writing on the wall next to the gateway. She smoothed a hand over it, clearing the dirt and vines away from it.

"It's an odd dialect," Kai muttered after a moment. "It's some kind of sanctuary from the wraith. A place the last of the ancients could travel to and ascend without fear of attack."

McKay nodded. "Of course, the ancients could essentially spend entire lifetimes in the field before the Wraith even discovered the place."

"And if they attacked their ships would get torn apart like the probe did," Kai finished.

"So it has remained for 10,000 years," Teyla said in awe as she gazed at the threshold.

"This," Kai said smoothing her fingers over the grooves of the letters. "This is a warning as well as a welcome to anyone who wanted to seek the path to Ascension on their own."

Ronon shifted his weight. "What's the warning?" he asked warily. He was resting his hand on the butt of his gun as though he expected enemies to jump out of the trees at any moment.

Kai swallowed and turned to face him. "Once you cross the threshold, there's no return," she said grimly.

McKay snorted confidently. "That is unless you have the exact location of the power source and the expertice to turn it off." He turned to Ronon. "Hey we may even get a ZPM out of the deal."

"Now you're talking," Ronon said with a grin.

"All right, let's do this," McKay said motioning to the field.

Kai walked through first. She went fast, but the extreme pressure as she passed through left her breathless and shaking on the other side. The cave was dark, but she could see well enough. There was evidence that The Colonel had been there, and there was no sign of the supplies Teyla had put through. She hoped it meant Sheppard had moved on to a more secure location with better resources.

As soon as she was through the connection returned to her in an overwhelming rush. He was alive, although she couldn't tell anything beyond that. She was anxious to get moving, but she knew better than to go off on her own. Once the others were through they would find him.

McKay came through ten minutes later. "Ow!" He exclaimed with a disgruntled frown. He looked up to find Kai pacing restlessly. "How long?" he asked, glancing back at the field behind him.