Dragon Wings And Puddle Jumpers pt2

Index

 

John reached the trees a little behind Ronon and Teyla, gasping for breath. He turned to check on McKay, and was shocked to see his friend still a long way back, stumbling as if he was injured. To John’s horror, the Wraith dart had deployed a culling beam and it was seconds from reaching his friend. Without thinking he started forward, but was stopped by Ronon placing a hand on his shoulder. Ronon was right, no matter how fast he ran, he could not get to Rodney in time to save him. Then, to his surprise, a large creature, that looked for all the world like a dragon from a children’s fairy tail snagged Rodney with its tail and pulled him safely out of the way of the culling beam. John was glued to the spot as he watched the dragon rider battle the Wraith dart. He found himself thinking  got to get myself one of those!

Several more darts flew overhead, and were chased by riders on bronze and copper red dragons. John noticed that the riders each carried some sort of large energy weapon, which they used to attach the darts. Although the winged beasts were fast, he could not figure out how they could keep up with the wraith ships, until he saw one wink out of existence and appear a few yards away.  One of the dragons misjudged their trajectory, and was fired upon by the wraith. To John’s surprise, the dragon was protected by a greenish glow.
“Personal shield.” he said without thinking.
“Very impressive, aren’t they” said Teyla, cutting through John’s thoughts.
“I  must admit, I wouldn’t mind having one of my own” replied John. Teyla grinned at his response.

Once the battle was over, three of the dragons flew over to where John and the others were watching, and landed gracefully. A young rider dismounted from the largest bronze dragon and walked forward to greet them.
“I’m Saul, rider of Talgarth”
“John Sheppard, and these are Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex.” John replied.
“You wear the same uniform as the people in the Gate Ship. Did you come here to find them?” Saul asked?
John had standing orders not to tell anyone they were from Atlantis, but there was no point denying that the crew from the jumper were his people, especially if they had survived.
“Yes, we did.“ he replied. “Are they ok?”
“Yes, but they were injured in the crash. We took them to the healer’s hall in the Citadel. Kellis is taking your friend Rodney there now?”
“He‘s ok, isn‘t he?”
“I don’t think his injury was serious. Come, we will take you to the Citadel”.

The harness the riders used had room for two people, so John, Ronon and Teyla were each assigned a dragon to take them to the Citadel. Saul invited John to ride with him on Talgarth. Even bending down to help them mount, the dragon was as tall at the shoulder as an elephant. The harness was held on by a mesh of leather straps that also doubled as a ladder. John was tired out from all the running earlier, and was less than elegant climbing into his seat. As his foot slipped he thought to himself.
Well done John, nice way to make friends with the locals. I hope I didn’t hurt you Talgarth.
No John Sheppard, you didn’t, but thank you for asking.
John nearly fell out of his seat with surprise when the he realised the dragon  had spoken to him telepathically. Saul looked at John, an odd, thoughtful expression on his face.

By the time he was seated and safely strapped in John was exhausted, but it was worth it when Talgarth unfurled his wings and took to the air. John had flown a lot of different airplanes and even space ships, but this had to be the most amazing thing he had ever experienced.  He found himself wondering how the others were enjoying the ride, especially Rodney, who was not good with heights.

Once they were airborne, Saul turned round in his seat to look at John.
“The Gate Ship your people came in, that was a device of the Ancestors. Are your people descended from them too?”
“Yes, some of us.” John replied, “Hang on, did you say your people are descended from the Ancients?”
“That’s your name for the Ancestors? We are, although the ability is not as common as it used to be. It is a requirement for a dragon rider.”
“Let me guess.” said John, “You need it to use those guns.” As he said it he glanced down at the impressively large weapon that was strapped to the webbing of Talgarth’s harness.
“In part, but also to talk to the dragons. I guessed you must have the ability after Talgarth spoke to you.”
John smiled apologetically, “Guilty as charged, I‘m afraid.”
“This is good news, maybe our people could form an alliance?” Saul asked.
“I’m all for making new friends.” John smiled. “Of course it would have to be approved by the leaders of our peoples.”
“Of course.” replied Saul.