Runner (episode)

"Runner" is the third episode of the second season of Stargate: Atlantis.

Synopsis
After finding a dead Wraith on P3M-736, the Atlantis expedition find evidence that a missing Aiden Ford is responsible. When searching for him, it is not only Ford they find.

Plot
On P3M-736, Major Evan Lorne and a botanist, Dr. Parrish, are walking through a forest. While Parrish is interested in the vegetation, Lorne grows impatient. Suddenly they find a dead Wraith and so they return to the Stargate. However they are watched by Lt. Aiden Ford from a tree.

Back at Atlantis, Lorne informs the others and Dr. Carson Beckett reveals that the enzyme sac was removed which identifies Ford as the one who did it. Dr. Rodney McKay however is not pleased to go to the planet since it has a very high UV rate. Later Lt. Colonel John Sheppard talks with Colonel Steven Caldwell who reminds him that Ford is now a threat to the base, much to Sheppard's annoyance.

The team then flies to the planet with a Puddle Jumper and start to search the planet. Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan examine the place where the dead Wraith was found. McKay and Lorne talk about Ford while searching for him. Suddenly both teams see someone and chase that person. Before they can catch him, Teyla and Sheppard are shot. Lorne then contacts Atlantis and informs Dr. Elizabeth Weir about the situation.

At daybreak, Sheppard and Teyla wake up in a cave and are confronted by a person who threatens them with a P90. He then tells them that his name is Ronon Dex and he has a flashback about when he was in the military fighting the Wraith. Back at the Stargate teams start to search for their missing comrades. In the meantime Sheppard and Teyla talk with Ronon and he tells them that he has seen Ford and he again has a flashback about when Ford killed the Wraith. They tell him more about Ford and what has happened to him until Ronon leaves.

While McKay talks with Lorne the Major is stunned by Ford who then takes McKay with him because he wants to prove that he is now much better. At the cave Sheppard and Teyla free themselves and confront Ronon and Teyla realizes that he is a Runner. He tells them that he was implanted with a Wraith tracker and then hunted. Afterwards he takes the two by surprise and holds Sheppard at gunpoint. Meanwhile Ford tells McKay what has happened to him since he left Atlantis. At the cave Sheppard makes a deal with Ronon which includes removing the tracking device from him. In exchange Ronon will help them capture Ford.

Back in Atlantis Weir informs Dr. Carson Beckett about the situation but he is not happy. Back on the planet Ford starts to quarreling with McKay and then leaves to free Sheppard and Teyla but McKay follows him. At the cave Teyla talks with Ronon about his situation and he tells her that he has been hunted for seven years. Suddenly Sheppard and Beckett arrive and Beckett starts to examine Ronon, while Sheppard watches from a short distance away. Beckett is finally able to remove the device (although he had to do it while Ronon was awake and threatening Teyla with his weapon) but then Ronon passes out.

Meanwhile, Ford stuns two soldiers and McKay angrily shoots on him then runs away. Suddenly the gate dials and three Wraith Darts come through. At the cave Ronon has left and attacks Ford who wants to kill McKay. The two fight until Sheppard intervenes and then Ford runs away. Sheppard confronts him but Ford runs in the culling beam of a Dart.

Back at Atlantis the team informs the others but Caldwell is angry with Sheppard. Sheppard then visits Ronon and brings him to the control room where he is shown a picture of his world Sateda, which now lies in ruins.

Notable Quotes
McKay: Look, I want to get Ford back just as much as everyone else. But have you seen my complexion?

Teyla: (sarcasticly) Yes.

McKay: It's very fair. This isn't fair.

Sheppard: How come it smells like I'm on vacation?

McKay: (putting on sunscreen lotion) Mmm, could it be the simulated tropical aroma of cocoa butter?

Sheppard: Strong enough for anyone within five miles to smell you.

McKay: Like they haven't been tipped off by the Aqua Velva.

Sheppard: It's dark.

McKay :Yeah, well the sun will be up in 2 hours, 43 minutes and... 10 seconds.

Sheppard: It's raining.

McKay: So we'll be cold and miserable. Look, the cloud cover will depreciate a small percentage of UV rays but 95 per cent of deadly is still deadly.

Lorne: Dr. Parrish said a day or two of exposure wasn't going to kill us.

McKay: And Dr. Parrish has a PhD in what? Right, botany!

Sheppard: And, Major, you get McKay.

Lorne: Lucky me...

Lorne: Wow, you must really be some kind of genius.

McKay: Well, as a matter of fact I ...eh, wait a minute, why would you say that now?

Lorne: Something has to have kept Colonel Sheppard from shooting you all this time.

McKay: What kind of special training do you guys have to go through to get this sort of mission?

Lorne: You guys?

McKay: Yeah, you know... Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. It's a great place to start.

Lorne: And by "this mission" you mean hunting down a skilled weapons expert hopped up on Wraith drugs in the pitch black of an alien planet?

McKay: Yes.

Lorne: Actually, I skipped that course in Major School.

Lorne: I was hoping Lieutenant Ford might recognize a friendly face and just turn himself in.

McKay: What, you mean me?

Lorne: Well you were friends, weren't you?

McKay: Oh yeah, when we weren't out on harrowing missions we used to hang out together. I'd share my dreams of a self-sustaining fusion and he would talk of how you could sever a man's torso with a P-90.

McKay: By my calculation we have been exposed to 327 millisieverts since the sun came up. May not sound like much to you, but I've been keeping a running tally of my lifetime exposure to radiation. X-rays, cellphones, plane rides, the whole unfortunate Genii nuclear reactor thing. My God, last week we flew dangerously close to the corona of a sun. As it is I may have to forgo reproducing.

Lorne: Yeah, it's funny. I was just thinking that might be wise.

(Sheppard and Teyla are sitting on a cave floor and tied together back to back)

Sheppard: What the hell are you doing?!

Teyla: Getting my hand free.

Sheppard: Doesn't feel that way!

Ford: (to Rodney) Why don't you drop your gun? I know what you're like with weapons — I wouldn't want it accidentally going off while it's pointed at me.

Weir: Pack up what you need.

Beckett: I don't think an operating room and bloody army would fit through the gate.

Sheppard: You heard of Androcles and the lion?

Beckett: Aye. And who are you in this retelling? The Romans?

(Beckett to Ronon Dex while operating on him in the open without sedative)

Beckett: Look, I just wanna say one last time: I really don't think this is a good idea. We're cutting very close to your spinal column here, if you're to flinch...

Ronon: I won't flinch.

McKay: You can't kill an unarmed, upside down man!

Goofs

 * When Ronon Dex shoots Lt. Colonel John Sheppard from the bushes, the shot comes from Sheppard's right yet Ronon steps out from his left. In the DVD Commentary for this episode, Director Martin Wood explains that the Visual Effects team had mistakenly believed Ronon would be coming from the opposite side.

Characters

 * Ronon Dex
 * Dr. Parrish

Planet

 * Sateda