Stargate Rejects

“You’re putting me back to work?!”

“Nick, calm down -”

“I’m dying, Beckett!”

“Nick -”

“I’m dying!“

“Nick. You’re not dying!”

“Maybe not yet! Give it a few more days! I’m… I’m a dead man!”

William sighed.

“This is your fault,” Nick said. Stupid William and his stupid gene therapy. He stared down miserably at the force shield attached to his chest. It had seemed so cool a few hours ago. Until he’d realized that he couldn’t get it off. Until he discovered that nothing but air could enter his body. Until he’d lifted his coffee cup to his mouth and then watched in horror as the drink bounced off the shield and splattered onto the floor. Until he’d realized that he was going to survive the trip to the Pegasus galaxy, the Wraith attack, and getting kidnapped, just to die of thirst and hunger. Just his luck.

“You’ll survive three days without water,” William pointed out. “We’ll figure out how to get it off by then.”

“Promise?” Nick said, feeling childish for asking.

“I promise,” William replied. The statement made Nick feel a little better.

“But you have a mission in an hour,” he continued. “Better go get ready.”

“Hmph,” Nick replied.

–xox–

“Dr. Wheeler,” a female voice called out as Nick was heading toward the Jumper Bay. Nick turned around to see a woman with short, dark hair hurrying down the corridor after him.

“Yes?” he said.

“I’m Dr. Victoria Asher,” she introduced herself, shaking his hand. “I’m the Atlantis expedition’s psychiatrist.”

“Okay…” Nick replied, confused.

“Dr. Beckett mentioned your problem to me,” she continued. “I think I might be able to help you.”

“That’s great,” Nick replied. “How?”

“As you know, some Ancient technology has a mental component to its operation.”

“So you’re saying this shield won’t come off because I don’t want it to?”

“Subconsciously, yes.”

“That’s great, except I do want it to come off. Do you think I want to die?” Nick snapped irritably.

“No, I’m just saying that in a place as unfamiliar and dangerous as the Pegasus galaxy, it’s only natural for one to subconsciously desire some extra form of protection.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” Nick said.

Dr. Asher shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said. “But it’s something to think about.”

“Thanks,” Nick said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a mission to go on.”

“Of course.” Dr. Asher smiled and headed down the corridor toward the transporter. Nick turned in the opposite direction and continued toward the Jumper bay. When he got there, Tyson and Mike were already inside one of the ships. Nick took the seat next to Tyson (just in case Gaylor was coming along) and cleared his throat.

“How are you doing?” Tyson asked.

“Oh, you know. Dying.”

“I’m… sorry to hear that.” Tyson looked a little like he was trying not to laugh.

“Hmph,” Nick said. Maybe people would take this problem seriously when he was dead.

“You’ll find a way to get it off,” Tyson said.

“Yeah, sure.” Nick decided to change the subject. “Who’s going on this mission?" Not Gaylor not Gaylor please not Gaylor.

“You, me, Mike, and Gabe.”

“Saporta,” Nick acknowledged, feeling somewhat relieved.

“Yeah,” Tyson said, looking at Nick oddly. “You okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just, you know, hungry.”

“I’m here!” Saporta announced, entering the Jumper and sitting in the seat behind Nick.

“About time,” Tyson said, but he was grinning. “Everyone ready to go?”

There was a chorus of affirmative answers. Tyson lowered the Jumper into the Gate room and dialled the D.H.D.

“Now remember,” Tyson said, “the Gate we’ll be coming out of is a space-based Gate. That means that when we arrive on the other side, we’ll be arriving in orbit around the planet, rather than on the surface of the planet. I’ll have to fly the Jumper down through the planet’s atmosphere until we reach the surface. It might take a while, so I hope you all brought snacks.”

“Ritter!”

“Sorry, Nick.”

— xox—

Nick must have fallen asleep during the journey to the planet. When he began to regain consciousness, he heard his name. He kept his eyes closed and listened in.

“…about Dr. Wheeler’s condition?” It was Mike’s voice.

“Nah, he’ll be fine. Dr. Asher and Dr. Beckett think it’s psychological. It’ll come off when he really wants it to,” Tyson’s voice replied.

“So… when he actually starts dying of thirst and hunger?” Saporta asked.

“Most likely.”

“He’ll be unbearable by the time that happens,” Saporta laughed. “He gets grumpy when he’s hungry.”

“As do many people, including yourself, Major Saporta,” Mike’s voice replied. Nick felt oddly touched that Mike was defending him.

“We’re almost there,” Tyson interrupted before Saporta could answer back.

“Good, I can’t wait to get out and walk,” Saporta muttered.

Nick waited a few minutes, then opened his eyes with what he hoped was a convincing yawn and stretch.

“Are we there yet?” he asked.

“We will arrive in a few minutes. How are you feeling?” Mike asked.

“Hungry,” Nick said automatically, and he realized that he really was starting to feel it. It had only been six hours since he’d last eaten, but his stomach was starting to growl unpleasantly.

“Don’t worry,” Tyson said. “Beckett will figure out how to get that thing off you.”

“Hmph.”

The ship touched down on the surface of the planet. Like Athos, it looked similar to Earth. They had landed in a wide field, surrounded by a thick forest. In the distance, mountains stretched across the skyline. As they climbed out of the Jumper, Nick looked up at the sky; despite the bright daylight, four moons were clearly visible.

“Alright, let’s head that way,” Tyson said, pointing to a slightly trampled path leading into the forest. “Nick, do you have that thing you found in the lab the other day?”

“Be more specific. I found a lot of things in labs.”

“The thing that shows you the energy readings around you.”

“Of course I do,” Nick replied, taking the small device out of his pocket.

“Good. We’re looking for ZPMs, so that kind of energy should show up pretty clearly on there.”

“Let’s get going, then,” Saporta urged.

Nick sighed and, trying to ignore the growling of his stomach, followed the team into the woods.

–xox–

“There’s an energy reading over here,” Nick announced after several minutes, pointing left.

“The path goes in the same direction,” Tyson remarked. “Maybe whatever’s producing the energy belongs to the people who live here.”

“Isn’t this planet uninhabited?” Saporta asked.

“According to the Ancient database, yes, but the database hasn’t been updated in millions of years,” Nick replied, rolling his eyes.

“Perhaps we should attempt to make contact with these people,” Mike suggested.

“Couldn’t hurt,” Tyson agreed. He inclined his head in the direction of the energy reading. Nick nodded and lead the way down the path.

They had only been walking for ten minutes when Nick stopped, staring at the energy detector.

“What’s wrong?” Saporta asked.

“I just found out that this energy detector doubles as a life-sign detector,” Nick replied.

“Okay… so are there people around here?” Tyson asked.

Nick shook his head, eyes wide. “Not people. Wraith.”

“Alright, fall back to the Jumper,” Tyson ordered. The team turned around, following the path back to the clearing.

“Damnit,” Tyson muttered when they reached the edge of the forest. Nick peered through the trees. Six Wraith were stationed in the clearing, guarding the Jumper.

“What do we do?” Nick asked.

“You have that force shield,” Saporta replied, pointing to the device on Nick’s chest. “They can’t hurt you. Why don’t you go fight them?”

A rush of fear swept through Nick at the thought of facing six Wraith on his own. Suddenly, a strange tingling sensation enveloped his body, and the shield dropped off his chest, landing on the ground at his feet. Saporta laughed. “I figured.”

“What?” Nick said. “It probably came off because I’m going to starve soon. It’s not like I wanted it to come off just now! I’m not scared!”

Tyson just smirked. “Come on. We’ve got some Wraith to kill.”

Tyson, Nick, Mike, and Saporta burst into the clearing, firing their weapons. The Wraith began firing back, their stunner beams barely missing their targets. Suddenly, Nick saw a small, black ship emerge above the trees, with a blue beam of light stretching from the bottom of the ship all the way to the ground.

“What the hell is that?” Tyson yelled.

“It is a Wraith Dart,” Mike cried. “If the beam touches you, you will disappear! My people believe that it stores you inside the Dart until it returns to the main ship, where they will re-materialize you and feed upon you!”

The beam was sweeping closer. Nick tried to get out of the way, but Wraith were closing in on both sides.

“Wheeler!” Saporta shouted. He killed the Wraith on Nick’s left side and lunged forward to push Nick out of the beam’s path.

But he was too late. At the moment he made contact, the blue light engulfed them both, and everything went black.