Story Notes:
Light apoca-fic. End of the world and after.
Originally posted to my LJ at http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/481360.html
Disclaimer: All known characters belong to their respective copyright holders. All situations and original characters herein belong to the author. This story is for entertainment purposes only.
Author's Chapter Notes:
One of the truly unexplored ideas in both Stargate shows is what happens to the alien populations who are displaced either directly or indirectly because of their contact with the SG teams. This story was my own attempt at exploring that idea.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
The clear blue sky arcs above her and from her place beneath the tree, Teyla can see contrails from the many planes (not puddle jumpers - never that again) that fly overhead.
Make them give you what you want. They owe you.
Earth is many things to Teyla. It's noisy, boisterous. Nearly two months go by before she is finally able to sleep through the night, the quiet seeping into her bones. It is alternately beautiful and ugly. On a drive through the city, Teyla takes in the carcasses of buildings that still house people but for all the world look like they've been touched by the Wraith.
She turns to John. "How?"
He shrugs, uncomfortable. "I'm not even going to try and explain it," he says. In Pegasus, rich and poor were relative - more of a matter of how badly the Wraith had razed a world a generation before, how well a people bounced back. Teyla files away her feelings to examine later.
They owe you
It takes Rodney, Jinto and two other soldiers to stop Teyla from plunging back through the gate to Atlantis. No one can mistake the bright flare that illuminates the SGC gateroom before it is cut off by the iris just as no one can deny what caused it.
Ancient doomsday devices buried deep within the cores of four planets: Atlantis, Athos, and two others that had no names. A final solution from the past that would wipe out as many Wraith as possible if they massed for an all-out attack on Atlantis. Rodney and Radek tried to explain about percussive force, planetary mechanics and the like. What matters to Teyla are the thirty people who ended up in a last ditch defense of the Atlantis gateroom when a group of Wraith beamed in before everything was ready.
Marta. Rahel. Jens. Teren. There are more and she knows them all.
Halling.
"I truly understand now," he'd shouted to her over the self-destruct klaxon and the sounds of fighting. "Why you fought. Why you stayed."
Teyla was almost out of bullets but the gate was open, almost all of the remaining Athosians and Atlanteans had gone through. Rodney was running, running toward her, firing his side arm while the Wraith poured in like rats. Even as a few fell, more came to take their place. They were desperate, they were triumphant. Atlantis was theirs and those remaining were just a snack.
"Halling, we must go!" She tugged at his arm but when he turned toward her, his eyes were content. His hands were warm on her face when he brought his forehead to hers.
"Ancestors keep you, Teyla Emmagan. Remember me."
He pushed her into Rodney's arms as he sprinted up to them and shouted "Go!"
Teyla doesn't remember when she stopped screaming his name.
Owe you
General Landry and other members of the International Committee say all the right things. They say sorry, sacrifice and immense thanks. When the Daedalus arrives, she knows the extent of the loss. Two hundred and fifteen Athosians survived between the ship and the last mad dash through the gate. In Pegasus, that would just mean they would move to another planet and start again.
On Earth that makes them refugees.
Landry tries to look like a benevolent father. "We can resettle you on another planet of your choosing," he says. "Anywhere you want to go." She thinks she hears something underneath, something that is a little less than welcoming.
John and Rodney take her to a local pub for steaks and beer, mostly to get her off base. The rest of her people are in temporary housing just outside of town.
There's so much to say, but no one is sure where to start. Ronon isn't with them; he quit Atlantis during the evacuation, intent on making a life for himself among his people on Belsa.
SG-1 shows up when they're on their second pitcher of beer.
"Hey there, campers," Mitchell says as he pulls up a chair. "I thought we might find you here."
"Considering none of us really has anything to do right now, Colonel," Rodney says with some asperity, "this is as good a place as any." John nods and cants his glass in Rodney's direction.
"What he said."
Teyla looks at the five who comprise the SGC's flagship team. She hasn't had time to talk to them much. Between the exodus from Pegasus and the ongoing cleanup from the Ori invasion, there haven't been many opportunities to talk much less get to know one another. Still, she is glad of the extra company, especially that of Teal'c and Colonel Samantha Carter. Teyla looks at these people who've traveled the stars yet still live at the whim of those who've never left the planet. She recognizing family when it's sitting in front of her and inclines her head gracefully.
"Shall we order more beer?"
Make them give you what you want
The next time she meets with Landry, Teyla has a plan. Daniel and Sam gave her copies of after action reports and after a long night of reading, one thing becomes clear:
Earth owes their allies a very heavy debt.
Not necessarily the ones with high tech: the Asgard, the Tok'ra. It was, as Rodney would say, the little people. The ones who lived lifetimes under the shadow of forces greater than themselves, who had their lives disrupted for good or for ill every time an SG team walked through the gate.
Teyla doesn't pretend to speak for them but they are uppermost in her mind when she sits across from Landry and several of ranking members of the Committee just as Halling's ghost sits at her right hand as he did in life.
"Now, we have several planets we think would be appropriate for your people to resettle on, Miss Emmagan..."
Landry's voice cuts off when Teyla's hand comes up.
"Why are we not offered a chance to stay here on Earth?"
She sits back and lets the cacophony wash over her knowing it will eventually die down. Important negotiations always begin like this. When things settle, the real work would begin. Teyla takes a sip of her tea, savoring its strength.
**
"Hey."
Teyla looks at Elizabeth when the the other woman settles on the bench next to her. It is strange to see her in formal clothing after their years together in Atlantis but somehow it suits her.
"Dr. Weir," one raised eyebrow changes that to "Elizabeth." Teyla trains her eyes back on the horizon. "It is a fine day today."
Elizabeth nods. "It is, isn't it." Her hand reaches out and touches Teyla's shoulder. "Are you ready?"
Teyla favors her with a brilliant smile. "How can I not be?" She stands, brown hands smoothing over the fine linen of the wide legged trousers and tunic she chose to wear today.
"Let's get going, then. Everyone's waiting for you," Elizabeth says with a grin. "Ambassador Emmagan."