STARGATE BASE - ATLANTIS : PEGASUS GALAXY

Major John Shepherd found himself blindly following his somewhat best friend down another one of the abandoned corridors within the Atlantis compound. The doctor of science before him seemed incredibly energetic that morning, much less grumpy than usual and he wondered just what was getting the man before him to be so giddy. The Canadian officer had not been this happy in the many adventures they had travelled upon the walls of the building they had been using as a base for the last few years. 

"McKay." Major Shepard called hoping to at least stop his friend before the pair of them were too far deep in something they could have avoided. 

"What?" The man's usually grumpy and slightly miserable tone of voice was gone and replace rather with a voice of joy, hope? John was unsure but he was pretty concerned. Maybe whomever was in front of him was an imposter. 

"What are we even looking for?"

"No clue but it's holding a lot of energy." Doctor Rodney McKay responded and his words did little to ease the unrest which the Major felt taking over his entire being. 

"You fill me with little joy."

"That statement fills me with joy Shepherd." McKay replied from his position a few yards ahead before he suddenly stopped. John looked at what the man had found, to see another door. The door was not suspicious in any exact reasoning, however it did have an eery feeling to it. It looked identical to all the other doors in the building, but there was a feeling. And if an inanimate object could give off a feeling John was sure it meant no good. Therefore, he raised the gun he held within his uniform to prepare the two of them.

"Put the gun down Shepherd, it's Atlantis we're not going to find something incredibly dangerous on the other side of this door." McKay waved him off succeeding in opening the door. Only to most likely regret his words as the door open. 

Inside the room they had entered was a strange collection of pods. Much like emergency escape pods upon a war-vessel. As the lights within the room flickered on, the lights within the pods turned on. John cast his eyes over the pods, some had withstood time better than others. Some were cracked, missing sections, had large holes in. And most he saw were empty and he became perplexed as to what they might have been used for. Until he came across one, one which finally had something inside. But he was not prepared for what was to be inside. He assumed it was humanoid at one point, the greying figure troubled him. Until he realised what he was seeing. For before him was an ancient. A dead ancient and his felt his breath hitch. 

"McKay, I really feel we shouldn't be in here." John called as he came across more and more deceased ancients within the pods. And he had to understand that before him each of these ancients had perished within the pod they had been entrapped in. 

"Give me a minute Shepherd." McKay responded and John chose in that moment to follow where his friend currently stood before a pod. 

"McKay, they're all dead. I think we're disturbing their resting place." John muttered his voice low as if not to spook the spirits of which must of been held within the room.

"Not all." John focused his attention to what McKay was looking at. Before him was an ancient like the others. Though this one appeared to still be a teenager. A teenaged girl if he was being precise. 

"She's alive."

"Yeah I think she might be the last ancient." McKay spoke his tone was a mixture of disbelief, excitement and something John couldn't place his fingers upon. 

"Well what do you want to do?"

"Call Medbay we're gonna need all hands on deck to successfully wake her." McKay commanded his hand resting upon the pod. 

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Her elders had promised her that they would wake her soon, when she had paid for her crimes. She had never thought herself to be a criminal, and she had never really understood why she had been chosen to be frozen in the first place. She had cheated in a test, that was her crime; dishonesty. Her mother had fallen ill, and rather than study for a test she had chosen to help her mother. Focus her attention on trying to make her mother feel better. So she had stolen the test questions the night before the test to make up for the fact she had not studied. But they had caught her and the council had chosen she would be cryogenically frozen for a short period of time as a punishment. 

Yet when she was finally awoken the people who faced her were not the ancient council. Nor were they her parents. Her heart leaped, had something happened to her mother whilst she had been facing her punishment. She would never forgive herself if her mother had succumbed to her illness whilst she was being punished. The people who stood before her spoke something she was struggling to understand. It did not make sense upon the first listen.

'Welcome back Miss A'yorri' A voice spoke from above in her own language and A'yorri looked to the control system of Atlantis, she could barely recognise the area around her, noting it looked similar to the medical rooms she had once visited before her punishment but something was wrong. She stood from the bed ignoring what she assumed must have been protests to her actions walking over to the nearest computer. One of which she recognised, placing her palm against the surface. Watching as the monitor quickly changed allowing her full control of the Atlantis area changing the wording from whatever language the others were speaking in and returning it to Alteran and the moment she began to understand the control system she soon realised that something had gone terribly wrong.

She had not been awoken a mere few weeks from the moment they had frozen her but thousands of years. Her chest felt tight, she could feel the tears gathering in her eyes. She had missed everything. 

"It's okay, we're going to help you." A voice spoke in her own tongue and A'yorri turned to see a man stood just behind her. She took in his strange outfit one which matched everyone else stood around him bar the strange emblem on his shoulder nor what appeared to be a name tag on his jacket. He looked as though he could have been around the same age as her father but A'yorri did not know whether she could tell anything anymore her perception abilities were off. They'd never been the most developed but everything seemed off now.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Rodney McKay and it's been a long time since you were last awake." The new man, Rodney was trying to be kind to her with his words but it only broke her more. And as she felt herself cry at his confirmation she felt the arms of the man come to wrap around her, completely oblivious to the strange looks he was receiving from the other people around him. Doctor Rodney McKay was never kind nor seemed to hold a soft spot for anyone. But this teenaged girl seemed to be an exception. 

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"A'yorri" A voice called and she looked upon from where she had been perched upon a table in the mess room. Her eyes focused upon her wrist. It was one of two new things she had noticed, upon the many, upon her wakening. But it was one of the only two new things about herself. Her mind had been running for a very long time in regards to what was placed upon her wrist. The second she noted to be located at the base of the back of her neck and though she couldn't see it as often, she often found herself pausing in the mirror to look at it. 

It had been two years since the team of Stargate Atlantis, or what they had told her they were, had awoken her from an incredibly prolonged punishment. And during that time she had continued her diligent studies as the race of the Alteran's were supposed to. Only now she was learning in a new language. The language of the Tau'ri otherwise known as those from earth. She spoke mainly English considering this was the widely used language upon the military base she was now calling home. But she had picked up a few other languages commonly spoken by members of the base. Her second and only other Tau'ri language being French from Doctor McKay. 

"McKay." She responded as she watched the older man sit down before her. His eyes looking to see what had got her attention caught. Upon seeing the name of which she was staring at he felt a strange feeling wash over him. 

"That's a soul mark, did you have them before?" Doctor McKay questioned, his voice in a kind probing way, something he only seemed to do for her. Or at least that was what everyone else had told her. 

"The elders always told me I would only get them when the ascended deemed me worthy." A'yorri paused "I had none before I started my punishment, who knows how long they've been there. It's likely whoever this was supposed to be, is long gone." A'yorri attempted to not sound completely dejected by her own words, but it was clear her tone. And if once again the tears clouding her vision were not giving her emotions away. She liked to kid herself it was because she was young, she had been awoken at 14, so at only 16 she was allowed to be emotional. She just knew that the ascended would look down upon her for following them if they ruled her too much. 

"I believe we found you at the right time, A'yorri. But I do believe you will not find them here." McKay touched her hand careful to not touch any part of the mark of which she had been looking at. 

"No I have yet to find a 'Jamie' or 'Leonard' here." She sighed but the pair knew it was in good faith. 

"I haven't seen a 'Leonard'" McKay spoke and A'yorri stopped for a moment as she took in the tone of which he was using to speak to her. She wasn't sure what it was she was hearing but it sounded protective or maybe he was angry. 

"Am I bad for having two?" A'yorri questioned unsure if he was using that tone because she had done something wrong. 

"You just continue to fascinate me." 

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"Are you really sure about this?" A'yorri questioned once again  as she stood staring down at the paper in her hand. Held within her shaking hands were her acceptance papers. Acceptance to Starfleet Academy to further expand her scientific and mathematics knowledge before she was to jet into space on an adventure of a lifetime. Yet it was not a question as to whether her adoptive family were happy to allow her to leave Atlantis of where they had found a home. No it was for the name of which graced the papers.

"A'yorri I am honoured that you have chosen to go by my name." Rodney McKay brought her into his arms, as whilst those around her would forever know her by the name which she had been called by her birth parents. The world, the world outside of Atlantis were going to know her by a different name. For she wanted to honour the people who made her more than just the Alteran she had awoken 10 years ago. She would be entering Starfleet Academy as Cassidy McKay Doctor of biology and maths. 

"Thank you dad." It was only choice times in which A'yorri called Rodney her dad, the first time she had been 17 when she had been allowed out of the base to travel with the team, Rodney had nearly fallen 3000 feet where he would have ultimately perished, until that was that the team realised the Alteran gifts of which A'yorri possessed. 

"I'm still pissed you didn't take mine. Shepherd too much for you to carry the legacy of?" John Shepherd teased from beside her first father figure. He received a shove from the man stood next to him. 

"Oh Pops I'll miss you too. Even if you can't count above 20." A'yorri teased as the man, and her second surrogate father moved his teasing eye towards her.

"I am smarter than the two of you will ever be." 

"In your dreams." McKay goated though should have prepared for the response he was to get from his attempt at bantering.

"Just like you are every night baby." Shepherd's words caused the grumpy scientist to blush, it had been quite a surprise to all aboard the Atlantis mission the moment that the pair had developed a soul bond, for it had only occurred after the pair had unanimously decided to raise A'yorri together. But all those around the slightly unconventional couple would agree that the soul bond made the both of them into better people.