Stargate Atlantis: Season 8

by Lady Mayrid

Episode 10: (REVISED) An easy mission to M7G-677 - the kid planet - has some unforeseen consequences that lead to some enlightening confrontations for all involved. Also, John finally pulls his head out of his ass, Kate and Todd have a talk and Andromeda is reminded why Valloran is the last person you ever want to piss off. Just another average day in the Pegasus galaxy…

1. Ancient Deception

A/N: Hello there my peeps! I am so sorry about how long it took for me to get this up, out and uploaded for you all to read. I assure you that it's been one hell of a struggle between my husband coming home from deployment and me having the worst case of writer's block I've ever contracted…sigh…it's been tough. But, as promised, here is chapter one of a whole new, gooey, yummy season for all of you to read and enjoy. Sorry it's been so long but I'm back now. I love you all dearly my faithful readers. Read, Review and be merry. Cheers!

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Episode I: Ancient Deception

It had become routine, a sequence of events that had played out over and over again many times in the past month or so since Major Sheppard's return to the lost city. The sun would rise, Atlantis' inhabitants would busy themselves with their work and like clockwork, sometime in the latter half of the day, a very particular wraith commander would come calling.

Todd the wraith had begun to visit the city of the Ancients with an alarming frequency that, if left unchecked, had every possibility of becoming not only habit but the norm. Colonel John Sheppard was less than pleased by this for a variety of reasons: the first and foremost being that the wraith's comings and goings had nothing what-so-ever to do with wanting something or otherwise requiring their assistance to achieve a certain end. No, Todd's visits had taken on an entirely social nature. One in which his only objective was to see and spend time with Kate while she recovered from her ordeal as a runner and that, quite frankly, made John feel literally ill.

Woolsey had told him point blank after Todd had dropped by for the fourth day in a row - at which time John had first started to see the trend that was emerging - that the military man was to stay out of the whole thing and keep his distance. John had fumed and shouted, ranted and raved but in the end, had been basically told to shove it by not only the bespectacled, balding director of Atlantis but also Ronon, Weir, Teyla, Mrs. McKay, Cadman, and his very own mutinous second in command. They all seemed to be under the impression that there was absolutely nothing wrong with Todd's numerous visitations to his still bedridden sister and, while John couldn't disagree more, he was outnumbered practically the whole city to one and, therefore, didn't have the manpower to mount an admirable defense.

He was screwed and there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it.

~xXx~

John Sheppard was not the only one who was aware of just how much time the former High Commander of wraith had been spending in Atlantis as of late; the wraith himself was aware of it as well. Todd was unsure of when he had made the conscious decision to progress farther in his relationship with Katherine but he knew, given all that had happened and all the revelations that had been made during their run, that there were some truths that he could no longer afford to ignore or deny. The greatest of these previously un-admitted actualities was that he, Valloran, legend amongst wraith, belonged in his entirety to the female who now sat beside him in silence.

They were both of them were in Atlantis' arboretum which had become, over the past several weeks, a recurrent place for them to find themselves at some point or other during his, by now, regular and numerous visits to the Lantean city. Today, they had taken three turns about the entire enclosure, talking quietly as they transversed the immaculately manicured paths before stopping to sit under a particularly large tree. Their conversation had died off as soon as they had been seated and Todd the usually stiff wraith had allowed his habitual stoicism and stillness to fade. Katherine was but inches from him sitting back on her hands as she held her head aloft, eyes closed, her face angled towards the sun. Bright light danced across her features illuminating her skin so that it appeared to almost glow. In that moment, he did not think that she had ever looked more mesmerizing.

He was enthralled.

"What is on your mind, my Katherine?"

Kate opened her eyes and blinked as she turned towards Todd, offering the wraith a gentle smile as their eyes met. She hadn't noticed what he'd taken to calling her while they'd been on the run, but now that they were back and their lives had resumed their normalcy, it didn't escape her attention how Todd almost always referred to her as 'his' Katherine. The sound of it always made her smile. "Everything and nothing," she replied softly and with a sigh, "Just…thinking."

Todd cocked his head to one side and studied her, his eyes trailing languidly over her figure. "Of what?"

Kate shrugged. "Different things," she said and then, knowing that the time had come to have such a discussion, added, "Like how much I've seen you since you brought me back."

The wraith let out a soft hiss and dropped his eyes to the ground, suddenly very interested in the grass upon which they rested. He had been curious as to how much time would pass before Katherine chose to question him on the logic behind his recent behavior. The time having arrived, Todd found himself struggling to make a reply. The words he had prepared for this event now seemed insufficient and ill-suited for the task leaving the wraith with nothing to say. So, rather than continue to flounder for an appropriate response, Todd lifted his eyes from the ground and quietly asked, "You tire of seeing me?"

The overall tone of his voice was one of jest but under it, Kate was able to catch a lingering note of true concern. Shaking her head from side to side, she shot the leather clad alien a pointed look. "Silly wraith," she chided. "I could never get tired of seeing you. It's just…" she took a deep breath and then plunged onwards. "It's just that you're always here and, as far as I know, it's not because you want something or need our help so, I guess, I'm just curious, I mean I want to know if…if the only reason you're here at all is…is to see me?"

Todd blinked and steadied himself for the words that were to come. "Can you conceive of another reason why I would come so frequently to this city and with such regularity?"

Kate shrugged half heartedly. "I dunno," she muttered, plucking at the grass under her. "Not really."

The wraith inclined his head. "Then yes, my only reason for continuously calling upon Atlantis is my desire to see and keep company with you, my Katherine."

Kate felt her breath hitch, her eyes flying up to his and holding. "Your Katherine?" she questioned feeling that now was the opportune time to ask him what exactly he meant by always calling her his.

"Yesssssss," Todd whispered, hissing as he dipped his head closer towards hers. Lifting his feeding hand, he reached out and applied his fingers to her cheek, releasing another soft, barely audible, hiss as she intuitively leaned into his touch. "That is, if you have no objection?"

Heart fluttering wildly in her chest, pounding against her ribcage, Kate lifted her own hand and used it to cover his. She felt the wraith still and, emboldened by the frantic beat of her own heart, Kate turned her head and softly kissed his palm directly on his feeding slit. Todd's reaction was fast and immediate. The wraith grunted and then let out a low primal growl that echoed in the back of his throat. Smiling against his hand, Kate turned her eyes back to his and noticed that the normally golden hued orbs had turned amber and seemed to radiate emotion.

She took a deep breath and gave him her answer. "What objection could I possibly have?"

Todd felt himself gulp, a shiver running down the length of his spine harbingering the wave of euphoria that followed. He had been afraid, afraid that his own stubborn insistence that there be nothing but amity between them might have dampened her desire for him. That, having not acted upon it when first discovering it, her want might have waned so that any chance he would have had had passed and gone; turned to dust in the wind.

"And you are certain of this?" he asked, his voice thick and heavy sounding; its timber deeper. His eyes were half closed as they gazed at her, eager to have finality on the issue that could not be disputed.

Kate nodded and dropped her hand from his which also fell away. Leaning forwards she tilted her head to the side and angled towards him as she whispered, "I am."

There! He had it! Katherine had given her consent. She would be his, his and his alone. His…

While triumph danced in Todd's eyes, Kate smiled and pushed herself upwards so that the space between them disappeared as her mouth met his. The wraith did not immediately respond and, instead, froze. Kate hesitated on pushing him farther, afraid that she'd overstepped her bounds but then, in the next instant, Todd began to respond to her. Within moments he had pulled her forwards so that she had no choice but to straddle him, her legs wrapping around his waist as he planted her in his lap and reached upwards, entangling his hands into her hair. Kate returned the favor and wound her fingers into his wildly unkempt, not-quite-white tresses, crushing his mouth under hers and darting her tongue out so that she might taste him.

He let her. In a reversal to the role he had played his entire adult life, Todd opened his mouth and yielded to her, subjecting himself to her will. He had his answer, the female whose body was so sweetly pressed into his own, very clearly wanted him, needed him, and desired him as much as he desired her and so Todd resigned himself to her completely and stopped trying to think.

He just let himself be and Katherine, his Katherine, continued to kiss him as above them the treetops swayed.

~xXx~

"I'm gonna kill him."

Lorne glanced sideways at his commanding officer who was standing, arms crossed, glaring at the security feed that was currently streaming in from the arboretum. "No you're not," he said with certainty, giving the other man a pointed look that dared him to argue. "You're not gonna do a damned thing."

John rounded on his major and snarled at him. "Why the hell not!" he screeched, gesturing at the screen and the two people that were on it. "Todd the fucking wraith is making out with my sister and I distinctly remember telling him that I'd kill him if he ever touched her ag -"

"Technically, Kate's making out with him considering she's the one that started it," Lorne interrupted, steadfastly refusing to back down from this one.

John let out a growl of exasperation and contempt. "Well he sure as hell isn't stopping her!" he argued, glancing back at the screen just in time to see that Todd the soon to be deceased wraith's hands had found their way up under Kate's tee-shirt. John felt himself turn green.

Lorne sighed. "And why would he?"

John turned back to him. "What?" he squeaked, now feeling violently ill.

The time had come to enlighten Colonel Sheppard into the complicatedness and true depth of Todd and Kate's relationship and Lorne was personally very happy to be the one doing it. "Why would he stop?" he asked, eyeing his commanding officer pointedly.

John scrambled for an answer. "Because, because…because he just should!"

Lorne rolled his eyes. "Colonel, you're either blind or stupid if you haven't figured out by now that Todd's in love with Kate and that Kate's in love with Todd," he squinted at the man whose face had suddenly lost all of its color in one go. "Personally, I'm inclined to believe that it's a little bit of both."

John stared at him. "He…she…they…it's not…that's…no way!"

Lorne nodded his head sagely. "Yes way. I mean really, why do you think Todd went through all that trouble to find her while she was a runner? He agreed to work with Ronon! That ought to have told you something."

While he'd never own up to it, especially considering the state of shock his mind was currently in right now, John had to admit that Lorne's explanation explained a lot. Taking one last glance towards the security monitors to see that Kate and Todd had stopped kissing — he thanked a multitude of Gods, anyone who would listen really, for this — and had taken to just sitting there cuddling with one another, John was able to conclude for himself that some of what Major Lorne had just told him had to be at least partially true. Kate loved Todd, that he would freely agree to, and the wraith, in turn, seemed to care about her in an affectionate way that was as close to actual love as the green-skinned alien was ever likely to get.

Was it the type of love that Lorne seemed to think it was? John very much doubted it. Todd couldn't love her, not really, not in the way she needed him to or wanted him to and Jonathan Patrick Sheppard would stake his life on that fact up, down and sideways until the cows came home.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be one of those situations where he'd just have to let the situation play out and run its course. Telling Kate that Todd didn't really love her and wasn't good for her wouldn't work and would probably only make her more determined to have Todd be the knight in her bizarre - and really fucking creepy - fairytale. Therefore, John found himself with two choices. He could accept the fact that his sister now had a wraith for a boyfriend and make damned sure she knew how pissed off he was about it and run the risk of her never speaking to him again. Or, he could give them his blessings, stand back, and wait for the inevitable break up to come.

John decided on the latter.

"Fine," he said to Lorne, turning on his heel and shutting the security cameras off so that Todd and Kate could have some privacy — not that they'd known he'd been watching in the first place. "I won't kill him."

Lorne eyed the colonel skeptically, not completely sure that the man really had surrendered, but said nothing. Nodding, he left the security room, heading towards the mess hall and lunch while, behind him, Colonel Sheppard lingered for a moment or two longer before leaving himself and making a beeline for the arboretum.

Woolsey stopped him as he was passing by the gate room.

"Colonel, a word."

John pivoted on his left foot and turned around to face Atlantis' director. "What's up?" he asked trying very hard to make it sound like he wasn't a little bit irked that his mission had been interrupted.

Woolsey clasped his hands behind his back and looked squarely at the man standing in front of him. "As you know, Jennifer has recently cleared Major Sheppard for active duty effective immediately," he paused and eyed the colonel. "As her commanding officer, you also have to sign off on her medical papers stating that you agree with the doctor's evaluation and feel that -"

John waved the man silent. "Yeah, yeah I know the drill," he said hurriedly, anxious to get going as he started to edge his way towards the hallway he'd been originally headed towards before Woolsey stopped him. "She's good to go so if that's all -"

Woolsey pressed his lips together. "No," he said, steadily studying the colonel who was very clearly up to something. "That's not all."

John sighed. His mission, it would seem, was gonna have to wait. "Okay," he said slowly, sighing dramatically in defeat. "What else is there?"

Probably something to do with Todd and Kate, Woolsey thought to himself as he gestured for the man in front of him to follow him up to his office. Once they got there, he methodically picked up Major Sheppard's medical papers discharging her from Jennifer's immediate care and flipped to the page that he needed Colonel Sheppard to find. The military man was bouncing around from foot to foot when he took the folder from him and, with a sigh, Woolsey leaned against his desk and got straight down to the point while he watched Sheppard to his best to scrawl his name across the CO's signature line while standing up.

"I received a message from Stargate Command requesting the use of Major Sheppard and her skills. They want her immediately."

John looked up from his messy and almost unreadable name that was the absolute worst excuse for his signature that he'd ever made. Letting the SGC borrow Kate was as good an excuse as any to get her away from Todd for at least a short amount of time and so, his decision was made almost instantaneously. "I see no problem with that," he said, handing the medical papers back to Woolsey. "In fact," he continued, already backing out of the office back the way he'd come. "I'll just go tell her now so that she can go get geared up and be on her way," he was now walking backwards away from Woolsey. "Wouldn't want to keep the SGC waiting."

And then he was gone.

Oh yes, Woolsey said, again, to himself, Definitely up to something. With a sigh, the city's director sat down behind his desk and started to go over last week's field reports.

~xXx~

Meanwhile, John was practically sprinting to the nearest transport. Boarding and pressing the screen in the spot that would take him to the deck just outside of the city's only patch of green, John darted out of it as soon as the doors opened and very nearly ran face first into his quarry. "Ah, just the people I wanted to see," he said, false cheer making his voice come out at a slightly higher pitch than usual. "Been having fun?"

Kate and Todd frowned and looked at each other before turning their eyes back to the overly enthusiastic colonel. "John?" Kate asked both curious and suspicious at the same time. "What's going on?"

Her brother looked at her. "SG-1 called; they apparently need your help with something so go get geared up and pack. Woolsey's dialing the gate in twenty minutes."

Kate, who didn't for a second believe that this was the only reason why John had come all the way across the city to find them, lifted one eyebrow and gave him a hard look before nonetheless walking past him and boarding the transporter. Todd made to follow but was stopped by John who actually reached out and grabbed the wraith by the arm to stay him.

Todd started and looked down, staring at the human's hand where it rested on his arm.

Kate stared too.

"Don't worry," John said, turning to his sister and smiling at her reassuringly before rounding on the wraith who was eyeing him as though he'd just grown a second head. "Me and Todd just have to have a little chat."

Worried, Kate tried to protest but John waved the transporter doors closed on her before she could say anything. Sighing, Kate pressed the point on the screen that would take her to the level where her room was located.

Meanwhile, several levels down and still standing outside of the transportation device, John let go of Todd and rounded on the wraith, his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face; the false pleasantness gone. "We have to talk."

Todd glared at the human not at all pleased with his tone of voice. "Concerning?"

John leaned against the wall behind him and openly glared at the alien. "My sister."

The two word response was the last thing that Todd the wraith had expected to hear. "What of her?" he asked wearily knowing that the territory they were about to enter was both unfamiliar and deceptively treacherous. One wrong word could lose him his chance at securing Katherine as his mate and Todd would do all within his power to keep that from happening. He, therefore, had to be most cautious with what he said and how he said it from now onwards.

John eyed the wraith and noticed how, all of a sudden, the predator in front of him looked both defensive and cautious at the same time. Good, John thought to himself before he cleared his throat and got up off the wall, stepping towards Todd and fixing him with a look. "My sister loves you," he began quite pleased to see that, for the second time in as many minutes, his answer seemed to have thrown Todd completely for a loop. Oh, this was fun. "Why, I've got no idea but she does and nothing I say or do is gonna make a difference so, I've got two options."

The wraith eyed him. "Two?" he inquired having thought that the human, were he to become aware of Todd's intentions, would only consider himself as having one and that would be to keep Katherine as far away from him as the human could possibly manage. Perhaps, even going so far as to banish him from the city. It did not matter to Todd however as, regardless of what course of action Sheppard decided to take, his intentions and plans would not change. Katherine was to become his mate with or without the human's blessings, and although her courting would be made considerably easier and less strenuous if Todd could secure the colonel's compliance - or, in the very least, his acceptance - it was not expressly needed. Nevertheless, the wraith hoped that whatever the colonel considered his second choice to be it would be in Todd's favor.

He was not, however, going to hold his breath.

John nodded. "Yes, two," he said, reveling in the wraith's confusion and surprise. It was a rare occasion when he had the upper hand when dealing with Todd so, regardless of the reason why he had it, he was going to enjoy it. "I can either kick you out of Atlantis and keep you as far away from Kate as possible which will not only not work - knowing you you'd find some way to see her - but it'll make her hate me which is really a situation I wanna avoid. Or…"he paused and looked up at the wraith for a moment before he continued. "I could do nothing."

Todd was so stunned he felt as though he might have been physically slapped. "You would not stop me?" he asked, thinking that perhaps he had heard wrong. Surely Sheppard would not be content to stand back and watch, doing nothing to intervene or hinder him, whilst he paid court to Katherine.

John rolled his shoulders. "That depends," he said, looking pointedly at the wraith. "What, exactly, do you plan on doing with my sister?"

Todd stiffened. The tone of the human's voice was accusatory, as though Sheppard doubted that his desires where Katherine was concerned were honorable. The lack of faith the male had in him was exceedingly bothersome."Nothing untoward I assure you."

John shot him a piercing look. "Explain."

The wraith snarled. He did not want to do this, did not want to have to explain to Colonel John Sheppard, in detail, what his plans for Katherine were. However; he knew that if he did not then he would most likely lose Sheppard's willingness to allow his suit for Katherine altogether and that was not something that the wraith was prepared, having so recently won it, to relinquish. Katherine deserved to have her favor curried openly for all to see rather than in secret and shadow in whatever short amount of time he could find to give to her without her brother becoming suspicious. If he was to be given the opportunity to treat Katherine with the courtesy that she was most worthy of then he needed Sheppard's complicity. And if that meant that he would have to give the human a full account of what his actions were to be, then so be it. He would do it for Katherine and for whatever future he was to have with her.

John waited while the wraith thought about what he was going to say but, after a while, got impatient. Tapping his foot on the floor for emphasis, he peered at the wraith expectantly. "I'm waiting."

Todd knew what he wished to say but was unsure as to how to correctly convey it in terms that the human would understand. "I plan to…I should like to…to court her," he explained, settling on the words that Major Lorne had used when he had explained to him what the term 'dating' meant.

John's right eyebrow went up. "Oh really?" he asked, a little bit surprised by the wraith's answer. He'd half expected Todd to say that he planned to make her his mate or something of the sort. He hadn't figured on the wraith actually wanting to date her like a normal person before trying for the home run. In John's opinion, when it came to women, Todd struck him as being the type of guy that got straight to the point and didn't bother with the wining and dining. His idea of courting was probably the conversation he had with whoever it was he was planning on sleeping with while he talked them out of their clothes.

Needless to say, John's mind was not put to rest. "How?"

Todd hissed sharply. "What do you mean how?" he queried, confused. "I doubt that our cultures differ so much in this arena. The methods utilized are surely as common amongst your kind as they are amongst mine."

"Oh, I doubt that," John shot him a look. "We're nice to our women."

That response made the already irritated wraith growl. "And you think that we are not as kind to ours?" he demanded, glaring at the human. "That we do not take the utmost care when attempting to obtain the affections of a female whom we would covet?"

"With a female wraith, sure I can see it," John made a face. "But, Kate's not a wraith. How do I know that you won't just seduce her, sleep with her and then lea-"

"If you value your tongue, you will be silent!" Todd threatened not liking the human's presumptions that Katherine's species should mean that his treatment of her would be anything less than exemplary. "Katherine is worthy of every conceivable consideration and I can assure you that I plan on seeing that she is treated in such a way as to fit her eventual station."

John frowned. Now it was his turn to be confused. "What eventual station?" he asked having not honestly thought that Todd had any plans for Kate beyond fucking her. "What exactly do you think she's gonna be?"

They had finally reached the bottom line and Todd, smirking, was only too happy to answer the human. Based on Sheppard's arguments throughout their by now lengthy discussion, the wraith had managed to grasp that the male thought very little of his intentions for his sister. Oh yes, he was going to enjoy this. "My mate; what you humans call wife."

John's mouth dropped open. Sputtering indignantly, he grappled for something intelligent to say. Unfortunately, all he could come up with was a loud exclamation of, "You wanna marry Kate!" which clearly voiced his incredulousness of the wraith's statement. No way Todd had just said that!

Todd inclined his head. "I do, yes" He cocked his head to one side and lifted one brow-ridge. "Why? What did you think my designs for her were?"

Now it was John's turn to be uncomfortable. "Well I…" he stumbled, shifting nervously in front of the overbearing Todd. "I-I thought -"

The colonel's discomfort spoke volumes as did the fact that he was now looking determinedly at the floor and had begun to turn a rather elaborate shade of red. It did not take much in the way of intelligence to understand what the human had been thinking. "You assume that my desire for Katherine goes no farther than her body and what pleasures it might afford me," his eyes narrowed to slits and his nostrils flared, both clear indicators of his displeasure. "You are wrong."

"I…I s-see that now," John gulped even though, truthfully, he didn't see it at all but if saying that he did meant that Todd stopped looking at him like he was plotting various ways to kill him, then he'd gladly say anything the wraith wanted. Saying it didn't mean he believed it. He didn't and it'd be a cold day in hell when he ever did.

Todd took a step towards him. "Do you?" he hissed, his lip curling upwards just slightly as he bore down on the human upon which the tables had just suddenly been turned.

John nodded his head vigorously.

Todd withdrew, backing up so that there was now a respectable distance between himself and the colonel. "Good," he turned his eyes onto Sheppard one last time. "It would be in your best interest to not doubt my affections for her again."

The male shook his head and, with a satisfied hiss, Todd turned on his heel and walked away intent on seeking out his intended to bid her farewell before she departed. Sheppard did not follow and for that, the wraith was grateful. When he reached the control room, his eyes immediately sought out Katherine whom he found to be standing before the gate in the company of the city's director. He advanced and was pleased to see her eyes turn to meet his as soon as she became aware of his presence.

"Katherine."

Kate smiled in greeting and looked up. "Have a nice chat with my brother?" Todd hissed and ground his teeth together. She snickered. "I'll take that as a no."

"Sheppard was very intrusive with his questioning," the wraith offered, attempting to school his expression so as not to betray just how much the human male's inquires had angered him. Were it only Katherine's presence in which he stood he would not have bothered, but Woolsey did not need to know how very much he desired to, at that particular moment, strangle one Colonel John Sheppard.

Kate let out a bark of laughter. "Gave you the third degree did he?" she asked and when Todd looked confused, she went on to explain. "He asked you what your intentions were."

Todd nodded.

Woolsey's ears perked up and he looked at the wraith whose frequent visits, and the reasons for them, had not gone unnoticed. The wraith's eyes were glued onto Kate with an intensity that made Richard Woolsey feel very hot, like he was intruding upon a private moment and so, with a gentle cough, the former IOA bureaucrat turned around and walked away directing his steps towards the control room. He met the colonel at the top of the stairs and, when it looked like the man was about to go and interrupt the wraith and the woman, held out an arm that the preoccupied military man walked straight into.

"Woolsey," John said, looking down and around until he saw who had stopped him. "I -"

Richard Woolsey shot the man a stern look and shook his head, silently commanding the colonel not to interfere. Reluctantly, John stood down and walked away, grumbling under his breath and clenching and unclenching his fists the whole while that it took him to vacate the control room. Satisfied, the director of Atlantis smiled and headed towards his office.

Below, as the stargate stopped spinning and the wormhole was established, Todd stepped towards Katherine and narrowed the distance between them to less than a finger's length. He was aware that it was not entirely proper to be seen in so intimate a stance in the view of so many but, partly due to Sheppard's disbelief of the situation, he wished to make it known that Katherine was to be his chosen and that he was to be hers. Dropping his head towards hers, he hissed in pleasure as she tilted her face upwards towards him and brought her eyes up to his own.

"Until we meet again, my Katherine," Todd whispered gently, lifting his feeding hand so that he could touch her face. Again, he hissed in pleasure as he felt her lean into the caress so that now, the whole of her cheek was pressed flush against his feeding slit. Oh, but she tasted exquisite. He could not wait until she was good and truly his, in all things. It would be a torture to wait until the opportune moment came upon them.

Kate held his golden gaze with her own and lent her head into his hand, feeling how warm his skin was against her own. "Goodbye, Valloran," she whispered using his name because she knew that there was nobody around to overhear her.

Todd's breath caught in the back of his throat and his longed to kiss her, felt the desire well up within him as the syllables of his given name came rolling off her tongue. He refrained, however; because such as that, under so many watchful eyes, crossed the line of impropriety and, as he had told Sheppard, he fully intended to treat Katherine as a lady ought to be treated. He would not stoop to such openly gross public displays of affection as though she were a common whore.

For one more moment Kate let herself stay in Todd's embrace before she drew back and smiled at him. For three seconds they stood, frozen in time, eyes locked with one another's and then Kate turned on her heel and walked through the gate to Earth.

The portal deactivated and Todd felt her absence as though a physical part of himself were missing. Already longing for her return Valloran, greatest of wraith, took his leave from the once lost city.

~xXx~

There were very few times when Kate intentionally threw a fight. Most of the time, unless the person she happened to be sparring with was a fellow NC or Todd or Ronon, she'd come out on top regardless of the amount of effort she did or did not put into the activity. There were certain people however, whom Kate behooved herself to allow to win. Vala was one of them and so it was that, currently, in the smaller of the two gyms underneath Cheyenne Mt., the former goa'uld host and significant other of one Daniel Jackson, sat atop the pinned super soldier who was content to just lay there whilst the older woman handed her not only her ass but a stern talking to.

"I mean," Vala ranted, her hands waving wildly in the air as she berated the woman on whose stomach she was sitting straddled, "What on Earth were you thinking? Were you thinking is the better question because you didn't used to do things like that."

Kate shrugged her shouldered and pretended to play dumb. "Do stuff like what?" she asked innocently.

Vala glared at her. "Oh no!" she exclaimed hotly, poking Kate in the chest. "Do not play that game with me missy, it won't work. I know you. You tend to over think things, just like my Daniel. It's Cameron that comes up with the crazy, half baked ideas that almost always nearly get us all killed. You're supposed to be the level headed one."

Kate snickered and sat up. Vala stayed were she was and ended up in her lap; Kate rested her arms on the woman's knees. "We didn't have time for level headed," she tried to explain, imploring Vala with a look. "We were under attack. It was do or die."

Vala snorted and got up, offering a hand out to help Katherine do the same. "That's another thing," she said, starting in on the younger woman once more. "You had just woken up from a coma after a very traumatic experience. What were you thinking?"

Kate smirked. "Didn't you already ask me that question?"

Vala nudged her in the arm and held the door open for her so that Kate could enter the shower room first. "Well you still haven't answered it yet," she rationalized, picking out a random stall and stepping into it.

Kate took the one next to her and shed her workout clothes before closing the curtain and stepping under the warm, wet spray. Groaning in pleasure — showers in Atlantis didn't exist unless you asked one of the scientists to rig one for you and even then, they didn't work very well — she washed away the sweat from her and Vala's spar and then started on her hair. Squirting shampoo into her hand she decided to try and answer her friend with the only explanation that she could come up with.

"I was trying to think like John," Kate called out over the sound of the two showers and the gurgling of water down the drains. She tilted her head back to wash out the shampoo and then jumped; Vala was looking down at her from over the wall that divided the two stalls. "Yes?"

Vala gave her a reproving look. "Colonel John Sheppard, from what I hear, is worse than our dear Cameron. Why on Earth would you use him as your basis for reason?"

Kate finished rinsing her hair and turned the water off, stepping out of the stall and grabbing for a towel as, beside her, Vala sat down on a bench and waited for her explanation completely unconcerned with the fact that she was naked. "Here." Kate said, handing the other woman a matching white, fluffy towel before sighing and sitting down to begin getting dressed.

Vala wrapped the terry cloth rectangle around her and continued to eye Katherine. "Well?"

Kate sighed. "Didn't Daniel and Cam tell you about me and John after they got back a couple of months ago?"

Vala shook her head. "Tell me what about you and the colonel?"

Kate stopped putting her socks on and looked up. "That he's my brother."

Vala's eyes widened to the size of saucers. She was silent for a moment, her face screwed up into a contemplative expression before, inevitably, she began talking again. "Well," she said. "That certainly explains a lot."

Kate laughed out right. "Oh my God," she giggled, gasping for breath as she tried, and failed, to pull on her nano suit. "I've missed you."

Vala beamed. "I've missed you too," she said earnestly, only just reaching for her own clothes. "Now then," she began again, "Just wait until you see what my Daniel has found. It's…incredible."

Kate quirked an eyebrow. "Incredible huh?" she stood up and dropped her towel and workout clothes in the hamper. "That coming from you must mean it's really something."

Vala shot her a look as she brushed out her wet hair and pulled it into her customary pigtails. "Oh, very funny you," she scolded, turning towards Kate once she was done and starting to push her out of the locker rooms. "Come along," she said, shoving her out the door into the SGC corridor, "Let's go. Mustn't keep Samantha waiting."

Kate shook her head mockingly. "Oh, no, we mustn't, you're right," she turned and looked back at Vala over her shoulder. "I'll race you."

And with that the two girls were off. Kate won, it was only fair seeing as she's let Vala pin her so easily and then sit on top of her while she ranted. Still, both women very nearly trampled Cam as they raced up the stairs, came careening though Sam's office and sprinted into the room that overlooked the disembarkation room.

"Whoa, watch it!" Cam yelled, covering his head and ducking as first Kate and then Vala raced past him. When the coast was clear, he uncovered his head and announced happily to the room at large. "Hey everybody, Kate's back!"

Sam smirked and took a sip from her coffee cup while she rearranged her stack of files. "I can see that," she said, turning to look up at the woman who was breathing somewhat heavily and standing just a little ways off to her right with her hand son her hips. "Have a nice time down in the gym?"

Kate opened her mouth.

"About that," Cam cut her off, leaning on the back of one of the chairs; they were still waiting for Daniel to arrive along with however many books he felt this briefing needed. "How come the first thing you do after getting here is to go off with this one," he gestured at Vala who had taken to sitting on the table, "and hole yourselves up in the gym?" he pretended to look hurt. "I didn't even get a hug."

Kate shot him an expression of mock sorrowfulness. "Aw, I'm sorry Cammy," she said in her best baby voice. "Did I hurt your feelings?"

Cam glared at her. "What if you did?"

Kate snorted. "Get over it."

Cam stood up and puffed his chest out. "I -"

"Children, children," Sam called out, cutting Mitchell off. She shot them each a look. "Now sit down and wait patiently until -"

"I'm here!" Daniel's voice announced as the archeologist came up the stairs clutching his customary cup of coffee and about six books which where perched precariously in the hand not carrying the precious caffeinated beverage. He walked quickly over to the table and dropped the tomes onto it before standing back and taking a sip out of his mug. After swallowing, he looked up at Kate. "Hey," he greeted. "How was the trip?"

Kate shrugged, pulled out a chair and sat down. "Short."

Daniel nodded absentmindedly and took his own seat while, around them, Vala - who had gotten off the table - and Cam did the same. Everyone looked expectantly at Sam.

The General sighed. "Okay," she began. "So a couple of days ago SG-11 was on a routine mission to P4X - 284 when they came across what we think is transport of some kind once belonging to the Ancients," she rotated in her seat just slightly and picked up the remote control for the overhead projector. Pushing a button the screen lowered down from the ceiling and the lights turned out. Moments later, the five of them were looking at what looked like a banged up Aurora half covered by a hill.

Sam turned around and looked back out at everyone. "From our initial surveys, the ship itself looks fairly sound but we can't be sure until we actually board it and check it out. Which is why," she looked fixedly at Kate, "We called you."

Kate raised an eyebrow.

Cam answered her silent question. "Captain Richardson is on maternity leave; we couldn't really call her in for this one."

Kate shook her head. "You guys only have one person stationed here that's got the ATA gene?" she looked around and saw both Cam and Sam nod sadly. She snorted. "That's sad."

Cam nodded vigorously. "Oh, it's a damned conspiracy," he explained to her. "Every year, without fail, we get a whole ton of people in with the gene and every year they all get shipped to Atlantis," he sighed, stat back and crossed his arms. "It's not fair."

Kate giggled; Cam looked like somebody had just kicked his puppy.

Sam, too, giggled slightly. "Yes, Washington is secretly plotting against us," she stood up and looked down on her team. "You all have ten minutes to suit up. You'll be leaving in twenty minutes. Dismissed."

The general headed towards her office while the four of them hopped up, filed out and started trooping towards the equipment room. "We're glad you're back, Kate," Cam said as they walked, throwing his arm around the woman walking next to him and giving her a one-armed hug.

Kate smiled. "So am I."

"But don't do it again!" Vala scolded form the back of the group and, as one, they all laughed.

~xXx~

It was a short walk from the gate on PX3 - 783 to the grounded Ancient ship and Kate, upon first seeing it, was reminded vaguely of the time she, John, Ronon, Lorne and Tyler had found Todd's hive in a similar position on the planet where they'd gotten captured by Ford. The only notable difference here was that one, the ship they were now attempting to board was a lot smaller then Todd's hive and two, it literally had an entire mountain on top of it. Needless to say, it had been there a while.

"So," she asked as she and Vala trailed behind Cameron who was trailing behind Daniel who had his nose pressed into the screen of the scanner he was holding as they walked along the ship's perimeter. "What exactly are we hoping to find here again?"

Vala shrugged and flipped one of her pigtails back over her shoulder. "I don't know," she said dismissively. "Any number of things really. My Daniel's not picky with what he finds so long as it's Ancient."

Kate snickered. Ahead of them, Cameron called back to the two women. "You should've been here last month when we were exploring these ruins on P7X -495. Apparently the ruins used to be an Ancient city and while we were scouting around we found what eventually turned out to be an Ancient toilet. Anyway, long story short, the thing kept Danny boy occupied for days."

At this, Kate laughed outright. "I would've paid to see that," she said and then, as suddenly as it had come, her merriment vanished.

Both Vala and Cameron noticed. "Something wrong, love?" Vala asked, eyeing Kate's downturned face out of her peripheral vision. "You got all quiet."

Kate sighed. "It's nothing," she said unconvincingly. Both Cameron, who was now walking backwards so that he could look at her, and Vala shot her looks. She sighed again, this time more heavily. "It's just that you said this happened last month. I was just remembering what I was doing a month ago is all."

Vala, ever the most demonstrative out of the four of them, reached out to reassuringly pat Kate's shoulder. "There, there," her voice soothed. "It's all over now."

Cameron nodded. "That's right," he agreed. "Todd saved you didn't he?"

Kate smiled, the mention of his name causing her mood to lighten considerably. "Yes," she confirmed softly. "Yes he did."

Being male, Cameron missed the look on her face and turned back around to walk straight as their little expedition continued onwards. Vala, on the other hand, didn't.

"So," the former goa'uld host said, her voice pitched to an almost giggle. "Tell me about your Todd? Daniel says that he's the scariest thing he's ever seen and Cameron says he's ugly. What do you think about him?"

Kate let out a deep breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding. "Okay, first off, he's not my Todd," she explained although, in the back of her mind, she realized that this wasn't entirely true. In all actuality it probably would be politically correct to call him her Todd given what he'd taken to calling her recently.

Vala made a noise that could be considered a kind of sing-song disagreement. "That's not what I heard. I heard that he isn't nice to anyone other than you and that you're the only one he ever listens to. That sounds an awful lot like he's yours to me."

Kate blinked rapidly and rounded on the woman walking besides her. "Where did you hear that?" she demanded.

Vala shrugged. "Oh, a little birdie told me."

Kate made a face. "This little birdie wouldn't happen to be named Jack would it?"

Vala shook her head. "No but I'm sure he knows the dynamics of you and Todd's relationship same as everybody else. It's not a secret you know. "

Kate chuckled but said nothing knowing that Vala's little birdie - who she strongly suspected was Cam since Jack was out of the picture - would have a heart attack if he knew what kind of relationship she and Todd really had. Turing to ask Vala a bit more about who her source was, Kate was cut off before she could even open her mouth.

"That's it, I found it. I found a way in!"

Daniel's enthusiasm hadn't dulled one iota in the entire time he'd been a member of SG-1 and the archeologist was now positively hopping up and down as he danced happily in front of what Kate was going to assume was an entrance to the ruined ship. "Great," she called out somewhat less enthused then her former teammate. She turned towards Vala. "That never gets old."

The elder ebony haired woman nodded vigorously, a grin plastered over her face as she gazed at her mate. "He's very excitable, my Daniel. One of the many reasons I love him."

Cameron snickered as he and the girls caught up to the twittering Daniel and examined the large crack the elements had made in the hull of the ship. The crack was their way in and, after poking his head inside and making sure that nothing nasty was going to jump out and eat them, Cameron gave them a signal stating that all was clear and lead the way inwards. The bouncy Daniel went next followed by Vala and then finally Kate who took up the rear. Inside the air was stale and smelled strongly of dust. Kate coughed and looked around.

"Looks like we're in the engine room," she commented, squinting as she looked around. She turned towards Daniel. "Which way?"

Daniel inhaled and fought back the urge to cough as he looked down at his Asgard scanning device into which the schematics of the ship were currently being displayed. "This way," he said after a while and the team took off down a corridor on their left. This led them into a hallway and, after they'd gone up one or two levels, into a large cavernous type room whose ceiling Kate could not see. It looked like one of the hibernation chambers inside of a hive.

"Well, isn't this fun," Cameron said contentiously as he turned about in circles. "So far we've found lots of dust, a spider web or two and a huge empty room," he finished his third revolution and turned towards Vala and Kate who were still hovering on the fridges of the chamber just outside of the door. "Mission accomplished; let's go home."

Daniel growled. "Just because we haven't found anything in the first ten minutes doesn't mean that there's not something useful here," he argued, glaring darkly at the back of Cameron's head. "You always do this. You're worse than Jack."

Cameron smiled; he looked quite pleased with himself. "Oh yeah, I'm worse than General O'Neil," he looked at Kate. "Do I get a cookie?"

Kate rolled her eyes and stepped into the room. "I doubt it," she said, walking over to him. "If anything you probably get a -"

Her words trailed off as suddenly, as soon as she'd come into the room, lights, instruments and all sorts of other things flared to life and, in an instant, the cave like chamber was awash with light. Blinking to adjust her eyes, Kate pushed past the little white lights that were doing cartwheels in front of her face and glanced around.

What she saw made her jaw drop.

"Holy Shit."

Surrounding them were rows upon rows of Lantean stasis pods not unlike those that had been found on the Aurora. Looking around, Kate lost count after she got to three hundred. Each and every one of them had an Ancient inside of it.

Daniel was so excited it looked like he might start to hyperventilate. "This is…this is…I…this…WOW!"

Vala and Kate exchanged amused glances. Cameron started to approach the nearest pod. "Hey guys," he called, gesturing them over to his position. Once they were all gathered he pointed down at the stasis pod's occupant. "This one's alive."

Kate frowned and moved over to the pod next to Cameron's. She peered inwards and glanced briefly at the life sign reader just to the right of the pod's mount. "This one's not."

Cameron stepped back and started to go down the row, shining his flashlight onto the pods one by one. "Fan out," he instructed. "Find all the live ones."

Kate looked at him. "What's the plan once we do?" she asked hoping against all hope that he wasn't about to suggest that they wake them all up.

Cameron shrugged. "We'll take the live ones back to the SGC, hook 'em up to our Ancient defrosting machines and then let them thaw," he stopped before another live pod and quickly marked it by drawing an X in the dust on the pod's casing.

Kate made a face of utmost contempt. "Why the hell would we want to do that?" she wanted to know as she passed by yet another dead pod. "We don't even know -"

"Look," Cameron interrupted her. "I know that you don't like the Ancients as much as we do but the fact of the matter is that the chance to talk to live ones is too good of an opportunity to pass up. We'll take the live ones back to SGC and thaw them out. Period, paragraph end of sentence and if you don't like it then you can hop on over back to Atlantis once we get back."

Kate scowled but bit back the retort she wanted to make. Unfortunately for her, she was on a mission with perhaps the two biggest Lantean/Ancient sympathizers in the whole universe. Trying to tell either Daniel or Cameron that waking up a whole bunch of frozen Ancients was a bad idea would get her into a whole heap of trouble so Kate, wisely, kept her mouth shut. Things, she could already tell, were gonna get bad and something told her that they'd need her around when it all went south.

They always did.

With this in mind, Kate didn't voice another word of complaint as she, Vala, Daniel and Cam continued to go over each row of pods one by one to look for survivors. They found seven and, after calling in an extraction team to come and help them, disconnected the live pods from the ship and carefully transported them to the SGC.

~xXx~

Light.

Noise.

Sound.

Bright.

Cold.

Awake.

Alive.

From the deepest pit of nothing, she began to feel her body awaken and her mind revive its self after such a long slumber. Tentatively she tested her limbs starting with her arms and then her legs. When the sensation of moving hit her, she opened her eyes and blinked up at the bright lights that lit up an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar place. A bolt of panic stole through her and she tried to sit up only to find herself unable to do so. Reason wove its way back to the forefront of her mind and, as soon as it had come on, the panic bled away. Stilling herself, she focused her breathing and attempted to lift herself up. The action took supreme effort but, once she was sitting upright, she cleared her throat and asked out loud to the room at large the one question that sat at the forefront of her mind.

"Where are we?"

Her question was barely audible and her voice was scratchy from lack of use. She sounded horrible and the one who answered her did not sound so pleasant either.

"I do not know," she turned and squinted, the figure on the bed next to her sharpening and becoming clearer. It took a moment but, in the end, the person's visage become clear and she could see that it was Bellatrix.

She swallowed in an attempt to wet her throat so that her voice could return to its normal octave and tone. "How much time has elapsed? Do we know?"

Bellatrix shook her head, her short, spiky black hair jerking with the motion. "No we do not," she said, her voice weighted with worry as she glanced over her shoulder at the others who had not yet woken. "We know nothing."

The woman sighed heavily and swung her legs over the side of the makeshift bed that she had woken to find herself reclining on. Upon farther inspection the bed was revealed to be one of the platforms used to awaken those that had been put into hibernation. She frowned and looked past Bellatrix, her eyes alighting on the faces of the others. Her father was there as well as her brother Tobias, Mathis, Nicodemus and Methuselah. All were breathing, their chests rising and falling rhythmically, and all of them lay reclined on the same waking platform upon which she now sat.

And yet, the stark walls of the room about them were very clearly not of Lantean design. Wherever they were, the peoples here had access and a clear understanding of their technologies but were obviously not fellow Alterans. She frowned, the situation was quite odd if not slightly disturbing. At the very least it was a comfort to know that, as alien as the chamber looked, they had not been awoken by their enemy the wraith.

Bellatrix watched her make an assessment of the room. "The people that hold us, they seem to have mastered our technologies," the older woman cocked her head to one side as she studied her red haired companion. "What do you think their purpose for waking us is Andromeda?"

The woman, Andromeda, shook her head slowly. "I do not know," she let loose a breath that seemed to stretch on forever. "Perhaps, in time, someone will come and tell us the reason for which we have been brought here."

"Wherever here may be," Bellatrix muttered, casting another look over her shoulder. "When do you think they will wake?"

Andromeda opened her mouth.

"With your chattering, sooner rather than later I should think."

Both women's heads jerked towards the new voice. It was Methuselah and while the words he spoke were harsh, his tone was not. As always, the elderly engineer was in good spirits and in a good humor. Both women smiled.

"Greetings upon waking, old friend," Andromeda said, nodding towards him as he, like her, struggled to sit. It took the elder more time than it had her to manage the task and, once he was upright, his grey-blue eyes turned towards his former student.

"Andromeda," he looked at her, gazing at her from beneath hooded eyes. "It is good to see you well. Have we any idea how long we have been in stasis?"

Bellatrix shook her head towards him just as she had done to Andromeda. "No, none. We know nothing of where we are or who brought us here other then they seem to be able to harness our technologies and, I think, that we are underground."

Methuselah frowned and looked at his surroundings, noting the table upon which he sat. "I can see that," he looked up at the low ceiling and the matching grey walls. They did not look to be carved of any natural stone and instead looked to be of some sort of composite. "Hunnn," he grunted, returning his eyes to the two women. "At least we do not appear to be in the organic surroundings favored by the traitors."

"Thanks be for small wonders," Bellatrix said softly, sighing. A movement caught her attention on the edge of her vision. "Andromeda," she called out to the younger woman nodding towards the movement. "Your father, look."

Andromeda did as she was bid and, upon seeing that her father was indeed about to wake, tested the steadiness of her legs. Finding them stable if somewhat weakened, she nonetheless hobbled over to the table upon which her sire lay. Reaching out, she grasped his hand and held it in her own, squeezing as she saw his body move again. "Father," she spoke gently, stooping so that she lowered her face more towards his. "Father, do you wake?"

Tanis' consciousness swam back into awareness and fought through the darkness that surrounded him as he heard his daughter call out to him. Struggling, he opened his eyes and focused, forcing his gaze to become clear. "Andromeda?"

Andromeda nodded and once more squeezed her father's hand.

Tanis responded and surged quickly into a sitting position, feeling a wave of dizziness wash through. Perhaps he should not have arisen so hurriedly but then, it was well worth the effort for now he was eye to eye with his youngest child. Her concern for him was palpable and he responded in kind by reaching out a hand to cradle her neck and bring her head down so that he might press a kiss into her forehead.

"It is good to see you well," he whispered, releasing her. As she stood back he slowly looked about the room. "Tobias?" he asked his mind, now knowing that his daughter was safe and whole, curious as to the state of his son.

Andromeda opened her mouth to answer but was saved the effort of responding by the subject himself who choose that movement to not only awaken but join the conversation.

"I am here, father," the young man announced before splitting off into a tirade of curses. "Where are we?" he asked once his slew of profanity had creased. "For what reason were we awoken?"

Tanis did not know what answer to give to his boy and, looking at his sister, knew that his daughter did not know the answer either. Nor did Bellatrix or Methuselah. "I do not know," he confessed hollowly. "I am sorry that I do not know more than this."

Tobias scowled and sat up, wincing as the movement made his already painfully throbbing head throb that much worse. "Well," he said, looking about. "We are obviously no longer on our ship and we are also obviously not in some wraith infested local. If we were it would not be so warm as it is in here."

"Nor would the walls be made of composite stone," Bellatrix observed, glancing around once more. "As I said to Methuselah, we are underground; I am almost sure of it."

Tanis inclined his head. "A plausible deduction," he returned his gaze to Andromeda. "Are there any others?"

Methuselah was the one who answered. "Mathis is still out cold behind you," the elder shook his head. "It is not so odd that he is the last to wake. That boy always could slumber through the most abhorrent things."

Andromeda fought the leer that came to the corners of her mouth and threatened to twist them upwards at the mention of her husband's sleeping habits. They had not married for affection but rather because it was a match that her father had approved of. Their union was a farce and while she was bound to him still, they were wife and husband only in name. In feeling, they hated one another. It was a pity to her that he was here with them at all. Would that he had been left behind on their ship away from her.

His sister's feelings towards the one that was bound to her were not unknown to Tobias who was the only one in the room who caught Andromeda's automatic discomfort at the mention of Mathis. In an effort to ease her suffering, the younger man drew himself up off of the table he rested upon and walked over to were his brother-in-law lay. Reaching out, he moved to shake the man awake only to have his wrist caught before he could so much as lower it towards Mathis' face. Looking down, he saw his intended target glaring upwards at him.

"Mathis."

The reclined man sneered and sat, still holding tightly to Tobias' left arm. "Tobias," his glare deepened. "Still attempting childish revenge are we?"

Tobias pulled his arm free and openly glared at the last one of their party to wake. "Always with you," he growled out contemptuously. "I do not suppose you know what is going on or where we ar -"

"Tobias."

Tobias grew silent at his sister's call and turned. Across the room from them, a door had been opened and four individuals had entered; two females and two males. The older looking female had blonde hair cut warrior short while the younger one had long, ebony hair and unusual colored grey eyes set into a stone cold face that betrayed nothing. The two men were of the same height and build, hair cut warrior short like the older woman the only difference in attire being that the one on the left wore ocular devices that sat on the bridge of his nose. They all guessed that they were used to help him see. It was he that stepped forwards first.

"Hello, glad to see that you're all awake."

The seven of them stared at him. He was speaking in their common tongue which was not something that they had been expecting. His accent was odd and not at all familiar but, besides of that, they could understand him perfectly.

Tanis stepped forwards. "Forgive us," he began un-accusatorily, he was a military man by nature but had been trained in diplomacy as it was almost always a better option and only rarely went wrong. "But for what reason have you brought us here and woken us from our stasis?"

The one with ocular devices opened his mouth to speak but Andromeda interrupted him.

"Where, exactly, is here?" she asked, curiosity rife in her tone. A glance from her father told her that she had overstepped her boundaries. "I apologize," she said, mentally scolding herself for her interruption. "It is just, I am curious as to where we are. This room," she gestured around her before she let her eyes fall back on the four newcomers, "It is most strange to me, to all of us. Please, can you not first tell us where we are?"

The one with glasses once more opened his mouth to speak but this time was delayed by the grey-eyed woman.

"You're on Terra."

Andromeda blinked and stared at the woman. Of all of them, she was the most difficult to read. The one with glasses seemed eager to speak with them, the other man and the older woman were calm and unassuming but this one, this young woman was as cold and hard as polished stone. There was accusation lying in the depths of her stormy eyes and the very look of them made Andromeda wary of her.

Afraid.

The raven haired woman seemed to be made purely out of violence incarnate not unlike another individual that Andromeda had once known. He was long gone from here, far away amongst other stars but still, the similarity in the intensity of their gazes struck her as something so familiar. Which is why she knew that, out of all of the four individuals that had come to greet them, it was this woman that needed to be feared the most - for she was the most dangerous; the most deadly.

Tanis, like his daughter, caught the similarity in the gaze of the woman to that of his greatest foe. She was like him in so many ways: stance; intensity of look; the way she held herself; the cast and tilt of her head as she looked upon them in unveiled disdain. All totaled it made him dislike her instantly. Still, he could not dismiss the words that she spoke and, upon comprehension of them, he looked at her and held his eyes to hers steadily. He had not backed down from that one and he would not back down from her either.

"Terra," he repeated, coming around the table he had woken upon and stepping towards her. "That is not possible. The planet was abandoned, it's portal buried. You are lying."

Kate didn't flinch although Mitchell, Daniel, and even Sam did. Lazily she held the eyes of the Ancient that had apparently taken up the task of asking all the questions, obviously the leader. She smirked, totally unaffected by his accusation. "The stargate you left behind was buried. The goa'uld brought their own."

Tanis' eyebrows shot up. She knew of the goa'uld and she had correctly called the portal a stargate rather then any of the other miserable permutations of the word he had heard uttered by various other peoples here in the mother galaxy. Still, just because she knew of the parasites and knew the correct translation for the portal did not mean that she was correct about their location. Terra had been abandoned, the humans seeded there by pervious generations of Alterans that had lived before his time would have vanished and become extinct without his race there to guide them. What she claimed could not be.

"As you say, woman," Tanis said, taking another purpose filled step towards her hoping to intimidate her with his advance. He was disappointed when she did not so much as flinch. "Still you lie. There is no possible way that we are on -"

Kate gave into the urge she had to wipe the condescending look off his face and punched him. Her fist made contact with his jaw and he flew backwards, stumbling into the two female Ancients who scrambled to catch him and stop his fall. Satisfied, Kate drew back and looked down on him in triumph. God, that had felt good.

"Major Sheppard!"

Kate turned, glaring hard at the clearly un-impressed Cameron who stood behind her. "Yes?"

Mitchell stared at her, floored. "What the hell was that for?" he demanded, gesturing down at the Ancient who was slowly getting back to his feet with the help of the two women. "What'd he do to you?"

Kate growled. "He was talking to me like I'm five and my elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor," she ground out, angry that her former team leader had automatically taken the Ancient's side rather than hers. She let out another snarl. "You heard him! Don't tell me you didn't because I know -"

Cameron stepped towards her. "I know you don't like them but you have to keep your feelings to yourself. You can't just go around punching people that you've only just met. You -"

"Colonel, that's enough," Sam called, turning and eyeing both her officers. She looked at Mitchell first. "Cam, you know Kate's got more of a reason to hate the Ancients then we do so just let her alone. They've done more shit to her then they've done to you so try and be sensitive to the fact that she just might know them better than you do seeing as she lives in Atlantis and you don't."

Cameron looked shame faced but held his tongue. He badly wanted to point out that everyone in Atlantis had a kind of backwards view of the Ancients and seemed to have lost their awe of the race altogether. The gate builders were just people to the folks over in the Pegasus and that bothered him; at least while she was here Kate could at least pretend not to hate them all blindly. He sighed.

"Fine," he bit out tersely. "Just, don't do it again."

Kate hissed and crossed her arms, muttering something under her breath.

Cameron glared at her. "What was that?" he mocked. "Sorry, I didn't catch it. Could you just repeat -"

"I said, pudorus tu," she said angrily. "It means 'fuck you'."

Mitchell's eyes scrunched up. "In what language?" he demanded, looking back over his shoulder at Carter who shrugged, Daniel who looked just as confused as he did and the room full of Ancients. They were all looking at Kate oddly almost like they'd understood her. He turned back to her. "Seriously, what the hell kind of language are you speaking because I've never heard -"

"How it is possible, girl," Tanis interrupted the man that was yelling in a language that neither he nor any of his crew understood. It sounded guttural and harsh but was of little importance. The language the girl had used, however, was. "That you can speak profanity in the tongue of traitors."

Daniel frowned. "Excuse me," he ventured before Kate could reply. The Ancient leader turned towards him. "What do you mean by the tongue of the traitors? Who are the traitors?"

Tanis opened his mouth.

"He means the wraith Daniel," Kate said, her tone dangerously low. Once more, the focus of the entire room shifted towards her. "Him and all the other Lanteans have it in their heads that the wraith betrayed them thus, the term traitors."

Comprehension dawned on the aerologist just as the leader of the Ancients apparently reached the same conclusion and exploded.

"You know to call us Lanteans, an identifying term used only by those that would betray -"

"Oh shut it you," Kate interrupted, rounding on the guy she's just recently punched. "Don't try and tell me they started the war because you and I both know it's the other way around. You started it, they retaliated. And with that superiority complex that all you guys seem to inherently have, you had your heads so far up your asses that by the time you realized that you were actually loosing it was too late. It's your own damn fault that you lost and I find that quite amusing."

Tanis glared openly at her; unbeknownst to him, his daughter smiled smugly. She was beginning to rather like this young woman.

Tobias stepped forwards to relieve his father of the task of speaking to these people before he became too angry and possibly did something that he would later regret. The war with the wraith was a sensitive subject to his sire. It was best if they reverted back to their original topic of conversation or else they could possibly make enemies of these people before their questions had been answered. "Please," he began, employing the neutral tone that his father had first addressed them with. "Forgive my father, just answer us this; where are we? What is this location?"

Kate scowled and snorted. "I already told you. You're on Terra. Believe me or not but that's where you are."

Tobias turned towards her and leveled his gaze to hers. Behind him, his father made a noise of anger but Tobias belayed the inevitable onslaught by speaking again quickly. "Then tell me this, for what reason were we brought here? What plan do you have for us?"

Before the raven haired woman could speak once more, the older woman stepped forwards. "We found your ship while on an exploratory mission to a planet we've designated P4X - 284. Upon gaining entrance, my team," she paused and nodded to the two men and the young woman before she continued, "found a large chamber in which there were several hundred pods. You seven are the only ones out of those hundreds that were still alive. Discovering this, we disconnected you from the ship and brought you back here."

Tobias stilled and a collective gasp filled the room. Behind him, Bellatrix began to shake while his sister went to her to comfort her; her husband then, if what these people said, was dead. She would never see him again.

"No."

Swallowing, Tobias turned back to the blonde woman. "What, then," he said calmly, as calmly as he could, "Is your plan for us? What will you have us do?"

Sam shrugged. "Well, that's kind of up to you." The Ancients all, collectively, blinked at her. She sighed and began again. "We brought you here because we hope that we can learn from you but also because we wanted to save you. Our planet is open to you and you may either choose to live out the remainder of your lives in our world or you can integrate yourselves into the off-world operations of this base. It's completely up to you."

Tobias had not expected that and neither, it would seem, had any of the others. The grey eyed girl's obvious resentment of them aside, they were being treated as allies and friends rather than as prisoners. He turned back to all those of his crew that were as of yet, still living. It was saddening to think that they were the only ones left. "What say you?" he asked them knowing that while it was clear to him which action he wished to take, he could not expect them all to wish to take such a course as their own. "What should we do?"

It was his father that stepped forwards, focusing his eyes on the elder woman. "I think it would be best Miss…?"

"General Sam Carter," Sam supplied for him before adding, "It's a military rank. I'm a commander as are both Kate and Cam. Daniel's a civilian."

Tanis nodded. "I am Tanis, Supreme Commander of what was once Atlantis' military fleet," he gestured backwards at his son and then at all of the others in turn. "This is Tobias, my son and also a commander under my command. My Second and Third officers Nicodemus and Mathis. Bellatrix is a medical practitioner as is Methuselah and my daughter Andromeda is an engineer; one of the best."

Each of them nodded towards the four as they were introduced before Tanis spoke again. "I think it would be best, General Carter if me and mine were to first learn of your operation, of its purposes and goals, and learn of your world before we make a decision. If that acceptable to you?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, more than understandable given the circumstances," she stepped back and gestured at Daniel to open the door. "If you'll follow me. My medical team needs to run some tests on each of you and then we'll see about getting you settled into some quarters. We'll hold a short introductory briefing this evening and tomorrow, circumstances permitting, we'll see about taking you all off base to see a bit more of our world."

Tanis nodded towards the General in gratitude before he allowed himself and his crew to be escorted from the room.

~xXx~

"Did you have to punch him Katherine?"

Kate smirked and looked down at the coffee she'd been nursing for the last past half hour. She and Vala were sitting at a table outside of her favorite coffee shop on the aptly named Shopping Ave. It wasn't a real street but rather a fake one that had been built right down the center of the largest shopping center in the Springs which had been designed to look like the main street of some small town. Specialty stores lined both sides of the 'street' along with a couple little mom-and-pop bistros, a café or two and a couple dozen other hole-in-the-wall type shops. The whole center had been designed to look like the main street of some nameless small town and it was a favorite proving ground for tourists and residents alike. It was also where Sam had decided to take the Ancients so that they could learn about Earth and all she had to offer.

Vala peered at the woman now staring contemplatively at her vanilla latte. "Well?" she asked, gently prodding Kate for the answer she had yet to give. "Was it absolutely necessary?"

Kate sighed and looked up, smiling at Vala dryly. "Yes, it was. Why?"

Vala let out a heavy, dramatic sigh. "Because my Daniel is very angry at you for it. He seems to think that you're judging them unfairly; he's very pro Ancient if you'll recall what with his history and numerous ascensions."

Kate snorted. "Yeah, that's the understatement of the century," she took a sip of her latte before putting it back down and leaning back in her chair. "It was…satisfying. You should've heard his nose crunch."

Vala opened her mouth to respond but fell silent as a shadow fell across the two women. Both turned and looked up, their eyes alighting on Andromeda.

"Yes?" Kate asked, making sure it was evident to the Lantean woman that she had interrupted them.

Andromeda was not fazed. "Your obvious displeasure that I am here will not entice me to go away," she began, looking down upon the woman that she had been told she could address as 'Kate'. "You delighted in causing my father pain."

Kate steadily held the Ancient's gaze. "I did," she said curtly. "He deserved it."

Andromeda laughed and easily slid into the seat opposite that of Kate. Folding her hands on the small, round table, she let her eyes betray their amusement as she gazed back at the human woman. "Oh, I do not dispute that he did," she said, watching as both women looked first at each other in confusion and then at her in a very similar manner. "You are surprised that I support your actions?" she questioned.

Vala nodded vigorously while Kate simply leaned forwards to study her opponent. "Yeah, a little," she said slowly, her eyes narrowing. "He's your father and all; I'd have thought you'd be pissed."

Andromeda flippantly rolled one of her shoulders. "Oh, I believe you will find that I am not in the same mind as those that I travel with."

Vala squinted. "What does that mean?"

Andromeda smiled. "It means that we are of different minds, my father and I," she looked pointedly at Kate as she said this before turning to the one called Vala. "I was wondering, if I might speak to Major Sheppard alone. I promise that I will do no harm onto her. I simply wish to have a private discussion."

Vala's eyes widened and she stood, clutching her hot chocolate in both her hands as she looked down on first Kate and then the Ancient. "Ah, right," she muttered as she backed away from the table. "I'll just go and find my Daniel then…"

And she was gone.

Kate fixed her gaze on Andromeda. "Talk."

Andromeda was not having it. She did not want to be enemies with this girl, woman, as her father had decided to be. Kate, in the short time she had known her, had mastered her curiosity so that the engineer found herself enthralled by the woman. Standing, she looked down on her reluctant companion and held out her hand in a friendly gesture, inviting her to rise with her. "Come," she beseeched, "Walk with me."

Kate stood and followed the Ancient's lead. They walked for almost ten minutes, neither uttering a sound before Andromeda ducked into a dimly lit store that seemed to be geared towards the mystically inclined. Kate turned to her and shot the woman a puzzled look. Andromeda simply began to walk the isles, lazily trailing her hands along the shelves. After a few minutes of Kate watching her, she joined her. Both women came to a stop in front of a large case displaying a variety of finely crafted athemes.

Andromeda spoke first. "Tell me," she said carefully, her eyes darting back and forth between the displayed weapons and the woman hovering so intently besides her. "What know you of the wraith?"

Kate's answer was a cautious one. "A lot."

Andromeda smirked and lifted her face from the glass case to look squarely at the younger woman. "Your caution reminds me of a wraith I once knew. He did not trust me when first he met me just as you do not trust me now. He was the most guarded individual that I have ever met," she paused and dropped her eyes for a moment before lifting them again and fixing them onto Kate's face. "You remind me of him, in more ways than one. I oft thought of him as violence personified. The aura of danger that he wore was palpable, a terrible and wonderful thing to see. You are like him. Dangerous and yet addictively alluring. I wonder if, perhaps, you and he are not both the same in some way. Two halves of the same whole perhaps?"

Kate kept her face impassive but her mind was reeling. Todd, Andromeda was talking about Todd, she had to be. Kate thought back to the first time she had met the wraith and how she had told him to his face that she thought he was violence incarnate. If the wraith that Andromeda was talking about wasn't Todd then Kate would eat her shoes. "Perhaps," Kate answered, her voice deceptively calm, no trace of her inner emotions coloring it. "I've not met many wraith."

Andromeda smirked, the corners of the mouth twisting upwards. "But you have met some of them," she stated, knowing that she had found at least part of the answer she had been looking for. She leaned towards the woman and whispered, "You have been to our stars have you not? Answer me again, how much do you know of the wraith?"

Kate knew she'd been caught. She's just as soon admitted that she'd been to the Pegasus and Andromeda had caught it, she's planned this. Resolutely, Kate squared her shoulders and turned on her heel, preparing to walk away.

Andromeda's voice stopped her. "We are not all the same, us Lanteans," she called out, smiling as Kate's retreat stopped. "Not all of us fought for Atlantis' glory during the war."

Kate rounded on the woman and glared at her, her eyes narrowed. "What do you want from me?" she demanded hotly, tired of playing games.

Andromeda sighed. "Forgive me," she said, honesty leaching through in her tone of voice. "I mean nothing by what I say but I had to know."

Kate let out an exasperated snarl. "Know what?"

"If you believed in Atlantis' cause or in the wraith's."

Kate was suddenly leery again. "And?" she asked, worried about where this conversation was apparently going.

In an effort to reassure her, Andromeda offered her a smile. "You are not in awe of us as the others are," she put forth her conclusion. "Your Daniel, Colonel Mitchell and even General Carter, they all see us as being more great then you yourselves but you, you see us as nothing so wonderful. You show open disdain for us and have not tried to hide your derision for me and mine since our introduction," she paused and then, on impulse, reached out and took Kate's hand in her own, clutching to it tightly. "I thank you for that."

Kate stared. "You what?" she stammered, shocked. "Why?"

Andromeda gazed at her sadly and let go her hand. "Because we are not worthy, I assure you, of the praise your people seem to be so very willing to give us. We have done nothing to earn it and it is refreshing to find one such as yourself that is capable of seeing past our intelligence - which often times blinds others into thinking us better when we are most certainly not - to our many faults; wide and varying as they are. Not unlike the wraith. They, too, lost their awe of us after knowing us for a time. It is why, when the council called for us to war with them, I refused."

Kate blinked, at a loss for what to say. A humble Ancient wasn't something she ever thought she'd see. "I -"

Andromeda let loose a sigh and began to once more lazily walk down the rows of merchandise that she neither knew the purpose of nor cared to learn. Kate followed her and, after taking several steps, she continued speaking. "I was drawn into the war regardless of my preferences. My father, Tanis, was supreme commander and I, as his dutiful daughter, was expected to do my part and put aside that which I believed in order to support my father's view point. On the outside, I did as was expected of me but inwardly, in secret, I acted the opposite. My position afforded me a great deal of information and I pursued it, passed it along to those that I believed we, with our war, were wronging. They used it and they won. It was my intention all along."

Kate stared at Andromeda's back. "You were on the wraith's side?" she could barely believe it. "Seriously?"

Andromeda nodded absentmindedly and then turned around to look at the younger Kate once more. "I tell you this because, as I said, you remind me of a wraith that I once knew. He was the greatest of friends to me and, I believe, you shall be like him in that as well," she stopped and looked keenly at Kate. "Am I wrong?" she asked slowly. "Should I have not told you this? Should I take it back?"

Kate shook her head. "No."

Andromeda smiled. "Then, I will ask again. How much do you know of the -"

"What do you want to know?"

The Ancient's grin broadened. "I do not know," she said as they exited the shop and continued walking down the street. "Tell me something, something that perhaps you think I do not know. "

Kate considered this and scanned her brain looking for a nugget of information that she could claim to know that Andromeda might not. She smiled and then answered, "He likes dark chocolate."

Confused, Andromeda frowned and looked side long at Kate. "Who?"

Kate tired to hide her smile and failed. "The wraith you said I remind you of. He likes dark chocolate."

Andromeda stopped walking. She had known from the conviction in Kate's voice that she knew in detail that of which she spoke when she had confronted her father the day previous but she had not thought, not plausibly, that the human woman would know of or would have met Valloran. "You know him?"

Kate, too, stopped walking and turned back to look at Andromeda. "Yeah," she said and then made a face. "Or, at least, I'm pretty sure I do." She eyed the ancient. "Let's see. He's about this tall, had pretty wild hair that I've never seen him comb and a tribal sort of tattoo around his left eye that sort of looks like a starburst if you squint." She cockled her head to one side and studied the clearly shocked Ancient. "That sound like him?"

Andromeda nodded slowly. "Yes," she said resuming her walk. "That is an accurate description of him."

Kate smirked. "Yeah, thought so," they continued down the street back towards the coffee shop. "We call him Todd."

Andromeda snorted at that. "Todd?" she questioned, repeating the odd sounding name. "What sort of name is that?"

Kate shrugged. "Well, when we first met them, the wraith were an unknown to us. For the first couple of years they were all just nameless monsters and we, admittedly lumped them all together into one generalized identity. My brother's the one that met Todd first, while they were both being held captive by the same guy. Anyways, after meeting him we learned that the wraith can be individuals. My brother named him Todd so we'd have something to call him. He answers to it, which surprised me the first time I read his file because he didn't seem like the type but yeah, I'm pretty sure he likes it."

Besides her, Andromeda nodded. In the short briefing that she and the others had attended the evening previously, it had been explained to them how these Terran humans had come to find and then inhabit Atlantis. Their ongoing conflict with the wraith had been also covered briefly, however, there had been no mention of Valloran nor any other individual wraith that she knew of. "Tell me," she began, looking once more to her left at Kate's profile. "What roll does Todd play in Atlantis? Has he ever been to the city? Do you allow him any freedoms?"

Kate snickered. "Oh, we left his involvement with us out of the briefing on purpose. Usually when our new recruits watch that video there's a whole segment on Todd but we sort of skipped that part of it last night for you all's benefit. We didn't think you'd be too happy with us if we told you that we let the wraith responsible for sinking the city in the first place to stop by whenever he damn well pleases and walk around all over the place unguarded. Your dad would probably have had a heart attack."

Laugher bubbled up from Andromeda's throat and she smiled wildly at Kate. "Yes, I can see that happening," she quieted and went back to her questions. "So, he is allowed to roam as he pleases? Does he oft time stay with you and yours? Do you work with him often?"

Kate nodded a yes to both inquires. "We see more of him then I'm sure my brother would like to, more so lately than we ever have before. He's got his own room even, but he doesn't usually stay over for the night much. Usually he's just there during the day or when he needs our help with something."

The Ancient inclined her head before frowning and taking another side long glance at her friend. "What do you mean in 'you have been seeing more of him as of late than you have before'? Have your endeavors with him increased so greatly since the attack?"

Kate shook her head. The attack on Atlantis by the wraith that had happened over five months ago now had been covered at the briefing even though Todd's participation had been left out. Her curiosity was founded, but Kate wasn't so sure she wanted to tell her just how much of and why Atlantis, and she in particular, had seen Todd so often lately. She didn't think she was ready for that confession yet. "No," she said eventually, "He's just been around a lot since he -"

"There you two are!"

Kate and Andromeda stopped walking and turned around. Daniel and Tobias were coming towards them. The girls walked forwards to greet them. "What's up?" Kate asked the bespectacled archeologist. "Lost us did you?"

Daniel frowned. "Vala said she left you two to talk over an hour ago," he looked down at his watch for emphasis. He looked back up. "Anyway, it's time to go back to base. Sam sent us to find you."

Kate sighed. "Well you found us," she looked at Andromeda who looked as unhappy as she felt to have been interrupted. She turned back to the boys. "Alright, let's go."

Happily, Daniel turned back around and started off down the street. Andromeda followed and Kate made to but was stopped but Tobias who stood in front of her. "What?" she asked, her left eyebrow raised in question.

The Ancient bowed towards her and held out his arm in invitation. "May I escort you?" he asked, his eyes alight with fire as he gazed at her.

Kate sniffed. "No," she said, brushing past him. He looked startled but quickly got over it and hurried to chase after her. Kate quickened her stride and caught up with Daniel, striking up a conversation so that Tobias would have to interrupt them if he wanted to ask to 'escort' her again.

Andromeda smirked as her brother fell into step besides her and began to sulk. "Let it go," she chided him. "She is obviously not interested."

Tobias scowled. "I shall simply have to try again at a later date."

His sister snickered. "I believe that if you should like to try once more you shall receive the same answer. She does not want you."

This was not what Tobias wanted to hear and so he marched past his sister, heading his steps purposefully towards their transport. Behind him, Andromeda shook her head slowly and thought back to all that she had learned today.

~xXx~

"General Carter."

Sam looked up. She was in her office reviewing the mission reports from the past week before they were forwarded to the big wigs up in Washington and Dr. Lam was at her door. Putting down the file she'd been reading through, she set it down on her desk and gestured for the medical examiner to come forwards. "Caroline," she greeted informally. "What've you got?"

Doctor Caroline Lam nervously extended a folder towards the base's commander. "Nothing good," she said as General Carter took the file from her and opened it to the first page. "I really hope I'm wrong about this."

Sam took the offered file and opened it, scanning through the medical information and coming to the conclusions at the bottom. Her eyes widened and she looked up, suddenly fearful. "You're certain about this?"

Lam nodded. "Unfortunately. I ran the tests three times because I kept hoping I'd get a different result but it's affirmative. The results are accurate."

Sam sighed and stood up, reaching for the phone on the corner of her desk; not the red one. Picking it up, she barked and order into the receiver and then hung up, turning towards the doctor as she did so. "What do you need to prove or disprove this?" she asked.

Lam shrugged. "I need to do a cranial scan. X-rays couldn't hurt either. Either way, we need to know."

Sam inclined her head. Moments later, the security team she'd ordered showed up outside her door. "We have a problem," she informed them, already heading out of her office towards Daniel's lab. "Come with me."

The head SF saluted her and made a series of gestures to his men before falling into step behind General Carter.

"What do I do!" Lam yelled out down the hall as Sam and then a squad of marines filed out past her.

"Be ready in the infirmary to run the necessary test," Sam called back, her pace urgently fast. "We'll bring him to you."

Lam nodded and turned around, scurrying quickly back to her medical ward and to her equipment, barking out orders of her own to her staff. God, she really hoped she was wrong about this.

~xXx~

Bellatrix was confused. "So please, explain this to me again," she asked, cutting Dr. Jackson off mid sentence. "How is it that so many of you are able to operate our technology? We implanted safe guards -"

Daniel began again, more slowly this time. "We devised a gene therapy to artificially treat those without the ATA gene. Those that are treated either gain the ability to use your technology or they don't, most do though which is why -"

"That is very ingenious of you," Methuselah imputed, genuinely impressed. So far in their learning of these humans, some of whom were descendants of themselves, while others were simply a more evolved issue of the humans he had known had been put on Terra long ago, it had been revealed that they were truly an ingenious lot. He and Bellatrix were unabashedly impressed even if Tanis, Nicodemus, Tobias and Mathis were less so. Andromeda was receiving instruction into their ways from another source, the woman named Kate with whom the engineer seemed to have found some kinship, while they had been grouped together in Dr. Jackson's lab to listen to his many lectures covering a variety of topics. Truly, these humans were fascinating. The things they had accomplished, and in such a short amount of time. It was astonishing.

Tanis thought otherwise. His mind was on something else entirely: Atlantis. Since having discovered that these humans had found the city and raised it, he had known that he had to get back there, had to finish what had been left undone when he and the others had fled. The humans were at war with the wraith who, from all that he had gathered, still thrived. That they breathed at all was an agony to him — one he wished to undo. The wraith were to be finished and Tanis would be the one to do it if only he could find a way to return to the city.

Andromeda was occupied elsewhere and so, while Methuselah and Bellatrix sat stilly and absorbed all that these humans would say, Tanis, Mathis, Nicodemus and Tobias sat in the back of the large room plotting. They had to convince these humans to return them to the galaxy that they had taken to calling 'Pegasus'. Only once they were there amongst their own stars once more could they finish their war and have their way.

The wraith would be undone. Tanis would see to that if it was the last thing he did in this world.

"And so," Daniel went on, winding down to his conclusion. "That's why we can -"

"Daniel, sorry to interrupt but we need to talk to Mathis."

Daniel looked up. Sam and about six heavily armed marines were standing in his doorway to his lab. He frowned. "Ok, sure," he said slowly, putting down the book he'd been reading from. "Sam, what's this about?"

Sam turned to look at him. "It could turn out to be nothing but, there was an anomaly that appeared on Mathis' blood work." She turned towards the Ancient in question. "We need you to come with us."

Mathis stood. "And if I do not?"

Sam's eyes narrowed. "It's not something that's open to discussion. You either come with us willingly or we'll take you to the infirmary by force."

The Ancient leered. These humans thought very highly of themselves but in reality they were nothing more than sheep to be herded. They could mimic the understanding and intelligence of greater beings than themselves, but they could never achieve it for themselves. Just forcing himself to be around them made him sick. "You cannot force me to do anything."

Sam's face remained impassive. "Try me," she said, taking a step towards the Ancient. He looked back at her but said nothing. She began again. "So, are you coming willingly or not?"

Mathis hissed, his lip curling up as he remained motionless. "No. I am no prisoner that you can bend to your will, human."

Sam was about to post a response when she saw the Ancient's eyes flash and then glow brightly before dying and returning to normal. She felt fear grip at her heart; unfortunately, it would seem as though Dr. Lam's initial tests were dead on.

As Mathis' eyes flashed, Daniel yelped and jumped backwards, his eyes wide and unbelieving. "It's not possible!" he yelped frantically.

Sam shook her head. "Apparently it is," she said before sending the signal to the SF's to capture the goa'uld-infected Ancient. "Take him."

Methuselah and Bellatrix had backed away from him as had Tanis, Nicodemus and Tobias, so that Mathis stood alone. He was not afraid, he was two great beings to their many weak selves. He would win and so he let them come. It was over quickly and the guards that had been brought to subdue him were no longer of any threat. Maliciously, he turned towards the woman who had been foolish enough to think that she could force him to submit to her.

"Your ignorance to my power is your fault, human," he said darkly, a little laugh coloring his tone. "It was your mistake and it cost you."

Sam snickered. "Oh," she said slowly. "I've got one more trick up my sleeve."

Mathis frowned and opened his mouth to inquire what trick she thought she had that would conquer him when the girl, Kate, appeared suddenly followed by Andromeda. He leered. "This is your trick?" he laughed. "She will fail same as these," he gestured down at the stunned marines.

Same turned to Kate. "He's got a snake in his head," she explained bluntly. "Take him down."

Kate smirked and turned towards the Ancient that she'd just gotten permission from her CO to pound on. "My pleasure," she hissed sadistically, coming towards the arrogant snake-head/ unascended asshole.

Mathis was unfazed. "What can you do to m-"

Kate was quick as she brought her weapon of choice, her lotlorian blade, up and quickly sliced both sideways and down, splattering Mathis' blood around the room. The Ancient yelped in pain and charged her. Kate held her ground and waited. When he got near enough she planted her right hand on his chest in much the same manner as she had seen Todd do while she'd been a runner, which knocked the Ancient off his feet. With her superior strength, she picked him up off the ground and slammed him down into the floor. Mathis let out a hiss of pain as his eyes flashed once more. He grappled at her hand trying to dislodge it but Kate quickly stopped his attempts when she lifted up her dagger once more and brought it to within inches of his throat.

"He's down," she announced, her eyes hard as they glared at her captive. "Where to you want him?"

Sam looked down at the scene before her and let out a heavy sigh. "Take him to the brig." Kate nodded and hauled Mathis up off the floor, marching him out of the lab and down the corridor to the left. Sam turned back to the room at large. "I'll call the tok'ra, tell them we need an extraction."

And with that, the general was gone.

Andromeda surveyed the mess of a room and turned her eyes questioning towards her father. "Did you know?"

Tanis shook his head. "No, daughter, I did not."

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Andromeda took her leave and went to go and find Kate. Behind her Bellatrix and Methuselah began to speculate along with Daniel about how Mathis had become infected. Silently, Tanis listened, his own mind working furiously. He knew of the goa'uld, knew of their strengths, and also knew that no parasite could infiltrate the mind of an Alteran without invitation. There was something else there, something that he was missing.

"Father?"

Tanis looked up, his eyes seeking out his son's inquisitive ones. "What is it?"

Tobias came closer to his sire so as to not be overheard by the others. Nicodemus followed. "Father, did you know?"

Once more, Tanis answered in the negative. "No, I did not but…" he trailed off and looked around him at both his second and his son. "Perhaps we can use this."

Nicodemus frowned. "How?" he questioned, eyeing his commander. "How can we manipulate this to be of use to us?"

Tanis considered this. "You know as well as I that he must have invited the parasite in, otherwise it would never have been able to overpower him. Our minds are too advanced. There must have been a strategic reason why Mathis would do such a thing, and if we can discern as to what, then we might be able to return to Atlantis after all."

Tobias took a sharp gulp of breath inwards. "And destroy the wraith."

Tanis nodded. "Yes," he looked about him once more and quickly noticed that Bellatrix and Methuselah were absorbed in their theories with Dr. Jackson. He returned his gaze to the others. "Come, while they are unawares. I would speak to Mathis, know his reason and then, then we may see how to use them to our advantage."

As one, both Tobias and Nicodemus nodded and followed Tanis stealthily out of the room. Unknown to them, Andromeda stood in the shadows, her back pressed to the wall, her ears perked and ready. She had heard everything and, knowing what she must do, took off down the corridor to find Kate.

~xXx~

Kate's strength had disrupted Mathis' equilibrium, but it had been quickly righted again once she had deposited him in what was to be his cell and left him there to rot. He knew that he would not have long to wait before Tanis would come to him in whatever way was available to him. His commander would come seeking answers and Mathis had them prepared for him, had had then prepared for him since he had first taken the beginning steps down this road. It was the only way and he would make Tanis see that. He had to make him see.

It was the only way.

"Mathis."

The incarcerated Ancient looked up, his eyes alighting on his commander, fellow officer and Tobias. He smiled. "You have come."

Tanis nodded and stopped before his cell. "Yes, I have come," he said. "The humans are all occupied discussing how it is you have come to be infected but I already know. You chose this did you not?"

Mathis nodded. "I did."

Tanis cocked his head to one side. "Why?" he inquired. "What purpose does having a parasite within you serve?"

Mathis smiled and stood, walking towards the bars of his cell. He stopped when he was directly in front of his commander and father-in-law. "Because the parasite, while being bothersome, has all the information of its entire race within its memory. Through it, I have learned. Learned how to be rid of the wraith."

Tanis came closer. "And how do you plan on achieving this?"

Mathis' smirk festered. "Do you remember Janus's device, the one that did not work?"

Tobias snorted. "Which one?"

His father glared at him to quiet him before turning back to look at Mathis. "The attero device?"

Mathis nodded. "I know what went wrong. I can, with the parasite's help, make the necessary arrangements so that the device becomes liable."

Tanis wet his lips, the anticipation of putting an end to the wraith filling him with pleasure. "And you are certain that you can make it work when even Janus could not? You know this for fact?"

Again, Mathis nodded. "It will be done."

Tanis stepped back, his mind working. "According to the humans, the attero device was destroyed but, from what I can tell, only the secondary device was terminated. The primary one is still intact," he looked up and fixedly held Mathis' gaze. "If we can release you, can you manage to return to Pegasus without assistance?"

"The humans are foolish if they think that their portal is the only one capable of reaching our home stars," Mathis said contemptuously, hating his captors for their ignorance. "If I am released and I can reach their portal, then yes, I can travel the distance back to our stars. Finding the device will not be an issue, as I merely have to find where it is not to know where it is," he looked up at Tanis. "You must provide a distraction for me so that I can reach their portal or all of this will be for not."

Tanis nodded. "We will do what we can," he vowed and then turned to Nicodemus and gave him a nod. His second officer came forwards and began to work his wonders on the lock that held Mathis encaged. It was not long before he was able to undo it and their comrade and last hope was once more free.

"Go well, Mathis," Tanis beseeched him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Do what you must for all of our sakes and -"

"Hey you, stop!"

Tanis and the others turned to find, not only Kate, but also Andromeda and many others standing behind them. They were all armed and, as his eyes traveled over them, he heard Mathis hiss from behind him.

"You whore!" Mathis screamed, coming towards his wife. "You have betrayed us! You -"

"I betrayed you long ago, husband mine!" Andromeda leered, lifting up her borrowed firearm and aiming it at her dearly beloved's chest. "It is simply time, I think, for you to know it!"

Mathis snarled in rage and ducked to the left as Andromeda fired. The bullet missed and the possessed Ancient took off running down a corridor towards the room where the portal was housed. He heard others chasing after him but kept running, pushing and shoving his way past those that thought to confront and stop him. He made it to the control room unharmed and began to work at the portal's controls. Sounds erupted behind him and, just as he finished the subroutine to override the system's barriers, he was pulled back and way from the control panel to be found once more in the grip of the one called Kate.

He hissed. "You are strong for a human," he acknowledged, ducking under her arm as she swung at him and crouching as the blast from her energy weapon sailed over his head and impacted the glass behind him. It shattered and, after it had all fallen, he leapt through the opening down into the portal room proper. Kate followed him and, as he ran towards the already activated wormhole, he could hear her breathing form behind him. She was close and he had no doubt that she would follow him through the gate to the planet he had imputed as his destination. He quickened his stride and did not stop running once he had made it through. As predicted, she came through behind him along with Andromeda his traitorous wife. Together both women chased after him as he led them in a circle away from the gate through the woods. When he was certain that there was enough distance between them, he headed back to the gate and began the dialing sequence.

Kate and Andromeda cleared the brush just behind him with only enough time to see him press the bulb in the center of the DHD and then sprint towards the gate. Coming up to the spot where he had been but moments before, Kate looked down and memorized the coordinates before it was shut down. Cursing in whatever language came to her, she growled upwards to the stars before turning around to look at Andromeda.

"He dialed Pegasus," she said flatly. "A planet called Mariot. I didn't know that there were any other gates here that could -"

"This planet is the one to which he came after the fall of Atlantis," Andromeda supplied, breathing heavily. "We did not return to Terra as your people thought. We came here," she felt her breaths beginning to even out and she looked at her friend. "I am sorry," she said.

Kate cursed again but made herself calm down in the next breath. "It's okay," she assured the Ancient. "At least we know where he's going. We'll just have to meet him on the other side."

Andromeda hissed. "Why do I believe that this is what my father wanted?" she looked over at Kate. "You will be talking us with you back to Atlantis yes?"

Kate nodded. "Your dad is gonna tell us what his grand plan is whether he wants to or not and then we're going to do whatever we can to stop your husband."

She nodded. "My father will not break so easily," she commented. "He is strong."

Kate glowered heatedly at the ground. "We'll see how strong he is after we lock him in a room with Todd, leave him alone and turn off all the cameras."

Andromeda snickered. "Yes, that method might prove to be useful," she sighed. "But first, we must return to Terra and tell the others, your General Carter, colonel Mitchell and Daniel, what is happening."

Kate inclined her head and walked towards the DHD and began dialing.

~xXx~

"So, what's the plan?" Mitchell asked, looking around the briefing room table at the persons assembled there. Kate and Andromeda had gotten back an hour ago and filled him and Carter in on what was happening. To say that they were worried was an understatement. They'd managed to get at least part of what the plan was off of the security camera that'd been in Mathis' cell block when he'd been talking to Tanis but, other than hearing the word 'Attero device' and the sentence that followed where they'd all learned that there was another one, they collectively had squat.

It was bothersome and now, Tanis, Tobias, and Nicodemus were tied up, bound, handcuffed and gagged on one side of the table while he, Carter, Daniel, Vala, Kate and Andromeda sat on the other. It was like playing chess and the three bad ancients didn't have any tells for them and the one good Ancient to go by. Mitchell was starting to see, however, why it was that Kate hated them all so much. If she decided that she wanted to punch Tanis in the jaw right this very minute, he wouldn't stop her.

Daniel didn't look like he would stop her either in fact, the archeologist who normally thought the Ancients walked on water was glaring at the whole lot of them more dangerously then Mitchell at ever seen the space monkey glare at anything before — and that included Ba'al. All in all, it had been a very bad day.

Kate sighed. "The plan is that I'm going back to Atlantis and you all," she looked around the table, "Are coming with me."

Mitchell jerked his head towards the three stooges that had literally released the hound so to speak. "What about them?"

Kate turned her head slowly and gave the three bound and gagged ancients a withering glare. "They're coming too. We have to get them to talk."

Daniel shook his head. "I hate to be the one to say it but," he looked at Kate. "I don't think that's gonna work."

Kate hissed. "Oh it'll work," she grinned sadistically. "Torture is usually a good motivator."

Daniel felt himself go pale. "H-how exactly are you gonna torture them?" he asked, almost afraid to know.

Kate's evil grin got bigger, wonder and more terrifying. "Todd."

Mitchell and Daniel looked at each other and, in unison, gulped.

Sam drummed her fingers on the table. "How do you know he'll help us?" she asked. Kate's plan was solid expect for her reliance on Todd the flaky wraith. The general knew that he wouldn't give them jack-diddly-squat if he didn't get something out of it in return. "He'll want us to give him something and, frankly, right now we've got nothing he wants."

Once more, Kate simply grinned. "He'll do anything I ask him to," she said confidently, eyeing Sam out of the corner of her eye. "Trust me."

The look in her eye was something dark and dangerous, deadly and foreboding. Sam knew then and there that if Kate was sitting here telling her that she could get Todd to torture somebody at her whim then she was telling her that because she could. They were going to Atlantis, they were going to call Todd and get him to come to the city and then they were going to use him to figure out what the hell kind of fucked up plan Tanis and Mathis had come up with.

The Ancients, were definitely screwed and, looking at them now from across the briefing room table, Sam couldn't help but feel just slightly sorry for them. Todd was bad enough on a good day when he was offering to shake somebody's hand. Sam had never seen him on a bad day, but she was pretty damned sure that Kate had. Kate had probably seen a lot of him that he kept hidden away from everyone else. The mission report that had come in from after Kate'd been brought back as a runner came flying to the forefront of Sam's mind. She didn't know details but she knew some of what had happened and she knew that Todd had killed quite a number of wraith in order to keep Kate safe.

Major Sheppard had asked Sam to trust her in regards to Todd and, looking at the determined set of the woman's eyes as she gazed at her, the set of her jaw and the way that she held herself as she sat, cold as stone, in her chair, Sam did.

The Ancients were so screwed.

---

A/N: As stated before at the bottom of every chapter in season 7, reviews are the only way that fanfiction writers get paid. I'm so broke right now it's not even funny so brighten my day and pay me by telling me what you think of the story I've served up and prepared for you. I'll see you all next time. Thank you and cheers!