Travelers

"Travelers" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis.

Synopsis
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is captured by a never-heard-before race of technologically advanced Humans known as Travelers, who brought him to help activate a dormant Aurora class warship to help resolve the population problems faced with the race's limited number of ships, only to be chased after by Wraith. Meanwhile, the rest of his team tries to find him.

Plot
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is returning from a resupply mission from a paradise world where Dr. Mackenzie is studying a race of primitives with "little or no social inhibitions". Dr. Rodney McKay is stunned to hear that he happened to have free time when it comes to this particular mission. However, a mysterious wave hits Sheppard's Puddle Jumper, knocking out his weapons and cloak. McKay wonders if it is the the Replicators or Wraith, which Sheppard doesn't think so. Another wave disables the whole ship, meaning he is now drifting in space, where a mysterious space ship picks it up and hastily jumps into hyperspace.

Sheppard, with his hands tied behind his back, is in the ship, where it looks old and run down. After suggesting some decorating to his captors, he is taken to a room, where someone takes a blood sample from him and is then being questioned by a strong man named Silas, and asks him some very simple questions, which Sheppard tries to feign ignorance at, attempting to ask him the same questions. Knowing he is not completely cooperating, Silas starts to beat him up.

Meanwhile in Atlantis, McKay is with Ronon Dex and Teyla Emmagan, where he tells them that Sheppard was right that his attackers aren't the Wraith, since the residual radiation left from hyperspace doesn't match any hyperdrive technology they encountered before. He prepares a Jumper to search the planet. However, when they arrive, they can't find Sheppard's Jumper anywhere, meaning he hasn't crash landed. McKay then works on a way to find where Sheppard is, but says that sometimes there is nothing we could do.

Back in the ship, Sheppard is still being beaten, when an attractive woman named Larrin stops them. She tells him that they need his help and if he co-operates, she will let him go. They take him to another room, where he is given some stale food. Larrin explains that they are Travelers. They built spaceships that can hide from the Wraith, so they can advance technologically. They rarely stop to trade on other planets, explaining the stale food. They also found him by sending dozens of satellites over planets with Spacegates to track Sheppard, and got lucky. Larrin tells Sheppard that if he cooperates with them, he gets to keep some of his secrets. She then orders the ship to drop out of hyperspace, to send Sheppard somewhere.

He is then taken to the hanger, wondering what they want with him. He is taken to the hanger alone, when Larrin, from the outside raises the force shield. The bay door opens directly below him, where there is just the shield between him and open space. Larrin tells him not to worry, since the shield failing rarely happens. Sheppard is then made aware of what they need him for, below him is a drifting Aurora class warship. Larrin explains that they know he has the Ancient Technology Activation gene to activate Lantean technology, and they need him to help them activating it.

The Travelers have access to the ship's records, and reveal that the Lanteans that once crewed the ship engaged in a battle with the Wraith, which resulted in the ship becoming heavily damaged. A radiation leak from the main drives forced the crew to abandon ship. But since they found it, they set up shield emitters circling the radiation's point of origin. He is then taken to the bridge, where Silas, and a scientist named Nevik urges him to sit on the control chair, followed by all the systems activating. Nevik explains it took him two months to build an interface, but was unsuccessful. Now with Sheppard, he could make it work. He then instructs Sheppard to move the ship. However, Sheppard states that Nevik should first tell him to activate the inertial dampeners, and flies the ship without them, resulting in the rest flying and incapacitated. He notices Silas carrying a gun, similar to the one Ronon has. He then hijacks the ship and jumps to hyperspace, leaving the Traveler ship behind, possibly to Atlantis. Even though he is in control, Sheppard is forced to relinquish command when Larrin threatens to deactivate the radiation shields, which would mean sacrificing her own people. However, Sheppard shut down the ship, forcing the Travelers to keep him alive, where they take him into a holding cell.

Meanwhile, the Atlantis team is trying to track down Sheppard. While searching, they find an SOS signal in Morse code when looking through background noises from subspace. McKay quickly concludes that Sheppard is the source of the signal. They track down the source to the outer edges of a star system. A fleet of Jumpers, with Major Evan Lorne leading takes the Jumpers to the nearest planet with a Stargate, and proceeds to follow the source of the signal, which will take five hours.

Meanwhile, Larrin confronts Sheppard and finds out about the secret code. She tells him that his plan worked, only that his people haven't found him, but the Wraith. They sent a Wraith cruiser to the area, where it immediately starts to attack the ship. The shields are online, but are only at 20% charge. Sheppard convinces Larrin to send him to the Control chair and destroy the ship. However, soon the shields fail. Silas and Nevik, who are in the bridge can't divert any more power. The Wraith fires at the ship, which hits the bridge, destroying it. Silas and Nevik are killed. Sheppard then manages to launch a horde of drones, which swarm and then destroy the cruiser and then activates the internal communications.

He leads Larrin to the room, where she is then locked in. Sheppard is in the auxiliary control room and tells her that he is going to find his people first. But Larrin points out that her people need the ship more, since she was forced to abandon some of her people, after they lost a ship, and they no longer have any resources to build any more. Having this new ship will solve their population problems. However, when Sheppard still tells her to stay, Larrin pulls out her weapon and sets it to incinerate setting, which blows a hole in the door and escapes. Sheppard continues to put obstacles in the way between him and her.

She then runs to a door, where Sheppard reads a set of lifesigns. He attempts to persuade her that they aren't Silas or Nevik, since they are both dead. His suspicions are correct, Larrin opens the door, revealing a Wraith. They both engage in hand-to-hand combat, when the Wraith gets the upperhand, and is about to feed on her, when Sheppard approaches, with Larrin's gun and shoots him several times with it, killing him. However, the charge of her weapon is gone, meaning there are no more shots, and the Wraith's handblaster is damaged as well, meaning they're defenseless. This doesn't help the situation, when Sheppard picks up three more from the Life signs detector.

Worse, Sheppard and Larrin notice that the three Wraith are directly between them and the control room. Because Sheppard had neglected to turn off the controls, the Wraith can potentially find the control room and take control of the ship themselves. They continue to get into an argument, and Larrin reveals that she only kidnapped Sheppard in the first place because she was afraid he would refuse their help. They then go into hiding from more Wraith, until they leave. Larrin proposes a plan to kill the Wraith; she can lure them into a side of the ship, however, one of them notices something and runs the other way. There, Sheppard will fire a Drone weapon into that section and kill the Wraith. The plan worked, and the Wraith are sucked into space.

Just as Larrin thinks it is over, she turns around, where the last Wraith catches and feeds on her, until she is near death. The Wraith keeps Larrin alive so that he can interrogate her to answer how many others are on board. Before he can get any further, Sheppard arrives and holds the Wraith at gunpoint, with the uncharged gun, playing a bluffing game. Sheppard forces him to relinquish his handblaster, and then forces the Wraith into a deal. If the Wraith returns Larrin's life force, then Shepperd would let him go and he would fly to the nearest planet with the Stargate five hours away. The Wraith reluctantly agrees to the terms.

After the Wraith leaves, the revived Larrin is grateful for this, and a sexual tension builds between the two, and Larrin seduces Sheppard with a kiss, steals Sheppard's stunner and stuns him. He wakes up in the same corridor, but locked in a room. Larrin, in the secondary control room, tells him that his attempts to alert his people to find him first has failed, since some of her other ships arrived first, by sending probes to all Spacegates in the vicinity of their previous position. Eventually they detected the energy signature. Sheppard's locked out corridor door opens, revealing...

Meanwhile, The fleet of Jumpers are somewhat near, but detected there are now more than one signal now. They find out that one of the ships is an Aurora-class vessel, with several unknowns. They wonder if they should carry on, despite being outnumbered, Ronon tells them that even if it was a fleet of Hive ships, they still won't stop. They proceed.

Sheppard is now back in holding, where Larrin tells him that they still need him, in case his genes are needed again to operate the ship. However, Sheppard convinces Larrin that she is leading her people down the wrong path by always running from the Wraith, and that she and her people would be doomed to a slow death. He reveals that the Wraith are caught up in their war with the Replicators, and to tell them to strike back, and also offers an alliance between the Travelers and Atlantis.

Meanwhile, the Atlantis crew has reached the fleet. They consider attacking the ships when the battleship and the Traveler ships jump to hyperspace. The team is about to lose hope when they detect a single Jumper with a life sign and realize it is Sheppard. Back on Atlantis, Sheppard recounts his story to the team, and is teased about his relationship with Larrin, especially by McKay, who wishes to be kidnapped by a sexy alien himself. But Sheppard then points out that Larrin is still out there, and that they may meet again.

Notable Quotes
Silas: Here's how we're gonna do this. I'm gonna ask you questions and you're gonna give me answers. Is that simple enough for you? Sheppard: Sure. Silas: Who are you, where are you from, and where'd you get your ship? Sheppard: See, that's a funny coincidence, cause I was gonna ask you the same exact questions. (Silas punches him)

Sheppard: What's happening? (Larrin punches him in the face) What was that for? Larrin: Do you realise what you've done? Sheppard: I didn't do anything. (Larrin punches him in the face again) Stop that! Larrin: I'll stop when you stop lying. You adapted the damaged communications array to send out a signal, didn't you? Sheppard: (hesitates) Yes. (Larrin once again punches him) Ow. You said, you'd STOP THAT!

Sheppard holds the gun at the back of the Wraith's head Sheppard: I can see you just fed, which means your regenerative abilities are at the highest. But, I seriously doubt that you can grow a new head.

After Sheppard explains his time with the Travelers McKay: There's something you're not telling us. She was hot wasn't she? Sheppard: I don't know what you're talking about. McKay: Oh, I knew it! That is so typical! Sheppard: She had me beat, Rodney. She threatened to kill me several times. It wasn't like we were hanging out in a spa together. McKay: Whatever! All I know is that every time I get taken captive, it's the Wraith. Just once, I would like to be taken prisoner by the sexy alien.