Chapter Text
Ssshawook, the sound of the stargate closing confirmed to lt colonel John Sheppard that Dr Rodney McKay had finally got his act together and joined himself, Ronon and Teyla on the planet side of the wormhole.
"Glad you could join us, Rodney." John Sheppard drawled without turning to look at the scientist.
"Oh I was..."
"Save it McKay, we've got a planet to explore." Sheppard cut in before Rodney could babble out his excuses for being tardy.
Rodney McKay let out an audible huff and looked to Ronon and Teyla for support, only to find it distinctly lacking.
Sheppard surveyed the sun lit scene before them, the stargate was on a grassy hill that looked out over a vast forest that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. There appeared to be what was once a path leading down into the forest.
"Hmmm, seems to be uninhabited." Rodney McKay noted as he stood next to Sheppard. He squinted in the sun light.
The colonel pulled out his eye glasses and scanned the horizon. "You scanning for any energy signals?" He asked the scientist as he continued to view the surroundings.
"Right." Said Rodney as he pulled out his adapted life signs detector.
"Hey, what do you make of this?" John said before Rodney had a chance to do anything with the LSD. He handed his eye glasses to the scientist. "There straight ahead, just below the horizon."
Rodney took the eye glasses and trained them on the spot that Sheppard indicated. "Looks like a building of some sort. What do you think, Ronon?" He said passing the glasses on to the large, silent warrior.
"Do you think it's worth a look?" Sheppard asked his team.
"Woah, check this out." Rodney said before anyone could answer the colonel. He'd managed to get LSD switched on. "Energy readings off the scale." He showed the instrument to Sheppard. "And I'd say they're coming from the direction of what ever that building is."
"That settles it then. Come on." Sheppard said to the rest of the team. He took back his eye glasses from Teyla, who had been viewing the alien building.
"Colonel, should we not contact Elizabeth and tell her what we are doing?" Teyla asked.
Sheppard looked at McKay. "Are those energy readings likely to interfere with our communications?"
"Doubtful. They're weird to say the least but don't appear to be harmful in anyway." Rodney replied, still fiddling with his LSD.
"Well we've got three hours before Elizabeth will be checking up on us. I say we get moving now and simply relay our progress at the time." Sheppard started walking down the hill, following what he assumed was an ancient path.
It wasn't long before they were under the shade of the forest. The air was still and smelt of rotting leaves. The path they were following led deeper into the forest. Ronon walked ahead with his sword drawn, in case they needed to cut back any foliage. Teyla took up position behind, her ears attentive to the slightest sound. Sheppard walked beside Rodney, who had his attention focused on the LSD.
"Hey, check this out." Ronon's deep voice sounded ahead. He was clearing away the foliage from what was clearly a stone column, covered in carvings and some illegible text.
“Anyone understand that writing?” Sheppard asked.
"Nope." Came Ronon's less than helpful reply.
"It definitely isn't Ancient." Rodney said, squeezing between Sheppard and Ronon.
"Well it proves there were people here once." Sheppard replied. He indicated that they should all move on. After a moment he realised two of the team hadn't moved. Teyla was stood watching Rodney, who was photographing the ruins. "Come on Rodney, we can send a science team back later to check it out."
"Just grabbing a few images in case we don't get the chance to come back here. I'm sure the archaeology team will appreciate it."
Sheppard rolled his eyes at the scientist and carried on along the path.
As Sheppard and his team continued it soon became apparent that they were in the midst of what was once a city. There were ruins every which way they looked, mostly half hidden by leaves and vines. Occasionally there would be a clearing, where trees had been unable to get a foothold and the remains of half tumbled buildings could be clearly seen. Who ever these people were they'd had an appreciation for art and architecture. There were statue plinths with only the legs of the subjects remaining. The buildings were covered in intricate geometric forms and there were lots of the same writing they had encountered earlier.
The path came to an abrupt end before a huge set of metal doors, decorated with simple zigzag geometric patterns, set within a thick stone doorway. The doorway itself was at the foot of a large pyramid shaped building that reached up high above the trees, the top of which was clearly what they had seen from the stargate earlier.
"Well I'd say we've arrived." Sheppard said, touching the metal door.
"Yep, this is point zero for the energy readings." McKay confirmed.
Sheppard looked at his watch. "Another twenty minutes before Elizabeth is due to check in with us." He said.
"Do we wait or do we see if there is a way in?" Rodney asked.
Sheppard looked at the seemingly foreboding doors. "Well, first lets see if these doors actually open." He pushed on the doors. Ronon quickly moved into to help. The doors opened surprisingly easy, with nothing more than a wailing groan. The air inside smelt stale.
"The air doesn't smell too good in there. It might be an idea to wait the twenty minutes before going in." Rodney pointed out.
Everyone agreed and so they all found things to occupy themselves with while they waited. Rodney captured images on his camera, Ronon carried out some maintenance on his gun, Teyla looked around whilst John decided to sit on a block of stone and enjoy a power bar.
Finally they heard Elizabeth's voice over the radio. Sheppard relayed to her all that had happened and that they were about to enter the alien building. Elizabeth of course urged them to proceed with caution.
"Let's do some tomb raiding then, if this is a tomb." Sheppard said, clicking on the flash light on his P90 and heading for the open doors.
The beams of their flashlights illuminated the ancient walls of the mysterious interior. Ahead of them was a fairly short corridor with another door at the other that was slightly open. They came to the second set of doors and decided to push them open. These inner doors proved strangely stiffer than the outer ones, and they were only able to budge them wide enough to squeeze through. Once inside though they were greeting with a sight that made all their jaws drop.
They found themselves inside a huge chamber that was littered from wall to wall with piles and piles of gold, silver and jewels. There were golden statues and treasure chests over flowing with all manner of beautiful objects.
"Wow!" Sheppard heard himself say as the treasure before him glinted and sparkled in the beam of his torch light.
"It'll take a life time for anyone to catalogue all this." Rodney gasped.
"These people were clearly great artisans." Teyla remarked.
Sheppard moved forward, treading carefully between caskets and chests loaded with loot. "It's like being in some Sinbad movie, where they find the legendary lost treasure." He picked up an item that looked like a belt made from sold gold squares that were linked together. Each of the squares had a different symbol embossed into it. He considered it could be some sort of chain of office worn by a court official. He put the chain back where he'd found it and moved on to check out the rest of the chamber.
"Over here." A dry sounding voice said in Sheppard's ear.
Sheppard spun around but saw no one. His flash light did illuminate another door way over in the corner of the room. He look back and could see Rodney, Teyla and Ronon still busy checking through stuff, the beams from their flashlights going to and fro.
"Don't worry about your friends, they are safe where they are. Come through the open doorway. I need you. I need you to help me." The voice said again. Sheppard couldn't quiet work out whether he was actually hearing the voice or it was in his head. The others certainly weren't reacting to it.
John Sheppard knew the most sensible thing would be to call over Ronon or Teyla and check out what was behind the door. But he had an overwhelming itch to go an check it out alone. Using his flashlight he picked his way through the piles of treasure and made his way to the open doorway. He found himself in yet another corridor although this time he could see a feint light at the end, a weird sort of purplish light. He walked down the corridor and found a chamber at the end which was empty except a creepy thing that looked like an old tree stump with a single branch. The branch held what looked like a very large purple crystal. The object pulsed and flickered with a strange purplish light that reflected off the walls.
"Welcome." The dry voice said.
"Who or what are you?" John said out loud. He circled around the object, viewing it from every angle.
"Once I was ruler of this world. I was loved by its people. But something happened long ago and my people are now all gone."
"Yeah, we kind of noticed the ruins outside. This place seems to be pretty much intact though." Sheppard replied gazing about the chamber. "What happened here?"
"An unforeseen natural disaster killed the people of this world. I was left to grieve for them for all these millennia. But now you are here, John Sheppard."
"So, you know my name but I don't know yours."
"It would be impossible for me to translate my name into your language." The dry voice replied. "You could choose a name to call me if you wish."
Sheppard watched the mesmerising swirls of light within the artefact for a moment. "How about I call you Brian?."
"Very well, Brian it shall be."
"So, Brian, I take you're inside this purple swirling crystal?" Sheppard asked, taking another tentative step towards the object.
"It is the vessel that contains my energy, yes." Brian replied. "I am what you would call an ascended being."
"Really? Most ascended beings I've met can take human form."
"I was never a human, John Sheppard."
"Wow. Hey you weren't a Wraith were you?"
Brian made a noise like an indignant snort. "Certainly not."
"Sorry." Sheppard found himself saying.
"John Sheppard I have something to ask of you."
Sheppard frowned at the swirling orb of light. "Okay?"
"I am trapped here alone and unable to help anyone. I have seen in your thoughts and memories that the many worlds of this galaxy are suffering. Would you consider allowing me to enter your body and share my power with you to do what's right?"
"No way, the last time I allowed anyone to use my body they deceived me and nearly killed my friends." John remembered back to the time when he and Elizabeth had been temporarily possessed by two mortal enemies. They had used Atlantis as their personal battlefield, not caring who got hurt.
"I understand your reluctance John Sheppard. But I can assure you that I will not control you against your will. You will contain me and my power but your mind and body will be your own. You can summon my power when ever you want. Remember how you marvelled at the power Chaya could summon? With a single thought she could destroy your enemies. Do you remember how you envied your friend Dr. McKay when he move things with a mere thought? You can have those powers and a lot more. I am a far more ancient being than Chaya and her kind."
"How can you be older than the Ancients?"
"Huh, do you think that those who you call Ancients were the first intelligent beings to reach ascension?"
"Well, I guess not. But I am curious. If you're not human, Ancient or Wraith then what are you?"
"I will reveal that to you in time. But for now, take a moment to consider my proposition? Consider the power you will have at your command and how you will use it to help your people."
John thought about it for a moment. Remembered the power that Chaya and even Rodney'd had. He had to admit he wanted power like that for himself. But at what cost would such power come? Everything always had a price.
"C'mon, there's got to be a catch somewhere?" John asked eventually after weighing up the pros and cons of what Brian was suggesting.
"No catches, John. You allow me to use your body for a limited period. I help you and your people. I have not only have great power I also have great knowledge too. And before you ask, no it will not be painful. I will simply be a voice in your head, guiding you. Although I may occasionally speak through you if the need arises."
"So with you in my head I'll be smarter than McKay?"
"A lot smater John Sheppard."
"Well ok, I'll do it. But what about if I change my mind or something?"
"I will leave you if you ask me to, John."
"Right. What do I have to do?"
"Simply touch the glowing sphere."
"Wow, that simple." John reached out his hand to touch the orb. It's swirling became more intense as the colonel's fingers neared to it.
"Colonel, what are you doing?" The sound of McKay's voice made John stop. He turned around and saw the scientist standing in the doorway of the chamber looking very concerned.
"I've found away to get help. This orb contains Brian, he wants to share his knowledge and power with me."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Are you nuts?" McKay frowned at Sheppard.
"John." Brian's voice sounded in the colonel's head. "Please, let me share with you. Touch the orb and you will have all my power."
"Smarter than McKay eh?" Sheppard said with a smirk.
Rodney was about to ask John again what he was doing when the colonel spun around and place his hand firmly on the orb. An eerie purple glow climbed up the colonel's arm and surrounded his body. Ronon dashed into the chamber with his gun raised but McKay grabbed his arm, fearful he might shoot Sheppard.
"Oh boy, this is weird." Sheppard said as he was enveloped in an ethereal purple light.
"Colonel, let go of that thing." Rodney shouted.
Suddenly the light faded and Sheppard staggered. Rodney and Ronon rushed forward to steady him.
"Wow, it's incredible McKay." Sheppard laughed "The power I have now."
Rodney gave Ronon a concerned look behind Sheppard's back. "Um, colonel, what just happened?"
Sheppard straightened himself out and shook off Rodney and Ronon.
"Well there was an ascended being trapped in that crystal. It asked for my help, so I helped."
"Have you gone crazy?" Rodney fumed. "You don't know what touching that thing might have done to you? Don't blame me if you start mutating into a bug again."
Sheppard let out a hearty laugh. "I can assure you Rodney that won't happen. Anyway Brian wants to introduce himself."
Rodney frowned. "Brian? Who's Brian?"
"That's the name I gave the ascended being." Sheppard replied. "Anyway I'll let Brian do the talking." Sheppard closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. Both Ronon and Rodney took an involuntary step backwards. Sheppard's eyes glowed with an eerie purple light.
"Greetings to you Dr. McKay and Ronon Dex. Ah that must be Teyla behind you." Although it was Sheppard talking it deffinitely wasn't his voice.
"So, you're an ascended being?" Rodney nervously asked.
"Yes Dr. McKay. But before you ask, no I am not what you call an Ancient."
Rodney gave a nervous shrug and looked at Ronon, who did not appear to be happy. "Well." Rodney turned back to Sheppard. "What are you then?"
A smirk came across Sheppard's lips. "I was what you would call a star."
"What?" Rodney sputtered.