Chapter 8: Belonging

Akire woke in her room and hugged her knees to her chest. She loved that she had her own room on Atlantis now. She had been here two weeks, and she knew so many people that her brain could hardly handle it. She had been introduced to Teyla Emmagen, the leader of the village formerly on Athos, and Dr. Rodney McKay, the chief scientist of the expedition, who was arrogant, but funny, along with so many others.

Ford had brought her a bar of something he called "chocolate" for a present to celebrate her getting better. This chocolate food she had found to be delicious, and she had eaten it in one sitting.

But the best surprise of all had come the previous day. Akire had been down in the sparring room, going through the sword drills that Xerin had taught her when she was little (she had picked them up surprisingly fast) when Sheppard had come in....

[[flashback time!!!!!]]

"Knock, knock." Akire turned around so fast that she almost lost grip of the sword. "Oh. It's you," she said, relieved. "I was just going through some drills."

"Yeah, what I came to talk to you about is kind of like that," Sheppard said. He straightened up from leaning against the doorframe and came over as Akire took a cloth and began wiping down her sword's hilt. "I'm wondering if you would be interested in being a part of my off-world team."

"Define 'off-world team'," Akire said, interested.

"An off-world team is a group of usually four people who go to other habitable planets through the Stargate to look for trading opportunities, or allies," Sheppard explained.

"So what does this have to do with me?" Akire asked.

"Well, I already have Ford, McKay, and Teyla on the team, but we've had a pretty bad time so far," Sheppard said.

"I've heard," Akire said. Sheppard and his team had encountered a life-sucking bug similar to the Wraith, survived a stuck puddle-jumper [[a kind of small spaceship, see here]], and destroyed a Wraith tracking device, all in two weeks.

"So I talked with Weir, and she said that I could ask you if you would like to be a fifth member. Ford is certainly keen to have you on the team." Sheppard gave a supercilious half smile.

"Me?" Akire said in disbelief.

"I can't take Carson with me, can I? It's bad enough we have to put up with McKay." Akire laughed, then said, "I would be honored."

Sheppard had a confused look on his face. "Is that a Pegasus Galaxy thing? Cause Teyla said that too."

"No, it's called being polite," Akire smirked.

"Hey, I can kick you off the team anytime I want," Sheppard said, turning to go.

"But really, Sheppard," Akire said in a more serious tone, "Thanks."

[[un-flashback!!!]]

"So where are we going today?" Akire asked Ford. They were walking towards the puddle-jumper bay. Both were dressed in Atlantis personnel attire, complete with bullet-proof vests (in case they needed them) and guns (only as an absolute last resort) but Akire also had her sword, strapped to her left hip.

"M7G-677," Ford rattled off the gate address. "Sheppard wants to take a jumper....I wonder why..." He rolled his eyes, and Akire chuckled in agreement. Sheppard possessed the ATA gene, a gene that allowed him to operate Ancient technology. McKay had had the gene artificially imposed on him, but Teyla, Ford, and Akire hadn't tried the treatment yet. Flying a puddle-jumper was one of Sheppard's favorite past-times, as before the expedition he had been a helicopter pilot.

"Has Teyla been there?" Akire asked. Teyla had been on several journeys to planets that the team had visited, seeing as she used to be her village's embassador.

"I don't think so," Ford said as they rounded the corner to the doors that led into the jumper bay. "But she'll be able to tell once we get there." He ran his hand in front of the crystals on the left side of the door, and it slid open. He and Akire walked inside.

☆☆☆☆☆

"So this is the new girl, hmm?" McKay was sitting in one of the front chairs, which he had spun around. He held a tablet in his hand, and his attention was divided between pushing buttons on the screen and glancing up at Akire.

"Yes," she said. "I'm Akire." She held out her hand. McKay waved her away. "I know who you are," he said irritably. Akire was a bit taken aback.

"Don't worry," Ford whispered in her ear, his breath stirring her hair. "He's like that to everyone."

"If you two kids in the back would stop whispering, then maybe we can start," McKay said. Akire took the empty seat behind Sheppard, while Ford stood behind her. Akire caught Teyla's eye. The light brown haired woman was sitting across from her, and when she saw Akire's gaze, she offered a smile. Akire smiled shyly back, feeling very intimidated, despite Teyla's gesture. The only person she really knew on the team was Ford.

"Okay, sit tight," said Sheppard. The puddle-jumper started to vibrate, then it rose into the air. Sheppard was controlling the jumper with his mind--that was how Ancients had operated the ships. He steered the jumper to the middle of the room, and the floor below them slid away. The jumper descended until it was in the middle of the gate room, in front of the activated Stargate.

"Maj. Sheppard, you have a go," Weir's voice crackled over the intercom.

The puddle-jumper flew into the gate, and they were through to the other side.

[[Did you like the flashback scene? Also, I am working on a page that entails the episodes of SGA that will be featured in this blog. Aaaand, a page that tells you about the characters of Atlantis. Yay!]]