Chapter 12 - They Followed Me Home
- Location
- Oblivion
Chapter 12 - They Followed Me Home
"We had to pry it out of the wall with a crowbar." Shepherd told them as he held out the potentia for McKay to take.
"You better not have damaged it." McKay muttered as he gingerly accepted the device.
Eventus rolled his eyes at McKay's meaningless griping, since there was no way the man didn't know it was a lot more likely that the crystalline structure of the potentia would damage a steel crowbar then the other way around.
"I was not sure you would be able to retrieve the potentia without the rest of the keystones." Allina offered as she stared intently at the object McKay was holding, the young woman having come back around in a somewhat twitchy state about fifteen minutes after Shepherd and Ford had lowered themselves into the chamber.
"Eh." Shepherd admitted with a shrug as he began helping Ford pack up their gear. "Don't think the guys who built the place were expecting someone to be able to just point out where they had hidden it."
"I'd say it was probably purposeful." Eventus pointed out as he began pulling himself back up to his feet. "They wouldn't want to dig up the keystone's every time they wanted to take the potentia out for something after all. So the general ease of removal if you knew where it was, was probably an intentional feature of the chamber's design."
He held out a hand to help Allina up, and the woman stared at his hand for a moment before twitching slightly and shaking her head.
Brushing the dirt off the back of his pants, he turned to Shepherd. "So back to the castle then?"
Shepherd shook his head while surveying the area cautiously with his eyes. "I want to get the ZPM back to Atlantis before the Genii show up."
"You cannot leave with the potentia." Allina objected in sudden concern as her eyes flicked over to him. "The Ancestor… We need… There are things that must be done first."
"I'm sure it'll be alright." Shepherd offered as he shot the woman a somewhat awkward smile. "Evan's not the type to hold it against you, right Evan?"
"Nope." Eventus agreed, though he was a little worried the Genii might take their annoyance out on Allina and her people. "But if you want I can stay for a night? Give you all some time to decide on what you want to ask for?"
"That's really not the best idea." Shepherd said with a wince as Ford and Teyla walked over. "The Genii don't really like us."
"By which he means they've tried to kill us multiple times." McKay snarked as he finished stowing the ZPM in his bag.
Shepherd glared at McKay. "I was trying not to alarm Allina. But yes. So unless those orbs of yours can also shoot lasers…"
"They can't." Eventus admitted apologetically as he cringed slightly in remembrance of those particular test runs. "There were stabilization issues with adding a weapon to that particular design that made it impractically dangerous."
"Then it's probably best if we aren't around when they show up." Shepherd finished.
A number of different emotions flashed across Allina's face before settling on a firm determination that felt moderately foreboding for some reason Eventus couldn't quite put his finger on.
"If you must do this to keep the Ancestor and Potentia safe, then at the very least I must insist on us coming with you back to the city of the Ancestors."
"Perhaps we could ask Elizebeth, John." Teyla put forward as she gave the man a somewhat hopeful glance. "It would be something of a fair trade for the ZPM at the very least."
Atlantis certainly had the empty space to take on Allina's small group, and from what Eventus recalled about the importance current day Athosian culture seemed to place on not just taking things from others without payment he could certainly see the appeal.
Unfortunately from the look on his face, it was pretty clear that Shepherd wanted to object to the idea on principle, likely only holding himself back from doing so because it was Teyla who had come out on support of it.
"How many of you are there?" Shepherd asked Allina in a tone that suggested he was very much hoping for a number that make the decision easier.
Allina glanced in the direction of the stargate with a frown before shaking her head almost pityingly. "Not counting Sanir. There are only six of us."
"Only six?" Shepherd muttered in surprise, a feeling Eventus could appreciate in this case given he had honestly gotten the sense that when she talked about her people she had meant all of them.
The Daganian woman hunched in on herself slightly at the question. "The recent culling was quite thorough, as it stands, the seven of us were the only survivors within the valley."
That was unfortunate on several different levels, though Eventus supposed it explained why the group just happened to be trying to dig up a two hundred year old legend at the same general point in time the Atlantis expedition had shown up.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask Elizabeth." Shepherd agreed with the slightest tinge of guilt in his voice as he studiously avoided looking Allina in the eye.
"The more the merrier." McKay added impatiently. "But shouldn't we be going?"
"I'll take point." Shepherd announced in seeming agreement as he motioned for the rest of them to begin walking to the gate. "Ford, you watch our six. And keep an eye out for Sanir just in case."
Frowning, Eventus took a moment to check the drone he had set to following the woman. "She's back at the castle, looks like she pulled a handful of projectile weapons out of somewhere and is handing them out to the rest of Allina's people."
Shepherd gave him an odd look before shaking his head lightly and motioning for everybody to start moving. "When we get back you need to show my people how to use those things."
"Sure." Eventus agreed, it was doubtful anyone but Shepherd himself would be able to use the controllers mental interface to anywhere near the same degree Eventus himself was able to. But them being able to use it even at just the base manual control level would be nothing but useful for his purposes of locating things his people had left behind that had gotten buried in the intervening millennia. "I assume you want me to forward your people a copy of the user manual too?"
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Author's Notes: Mark's "Bringing home cultists" off the bingo list of actions the other Ancients would disapprove of Eventus doing.
