Author's note: This is my first try at a fanfiction, so I hope that anyone who reads this enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The story starts of with some of my OC's as paragraph leaders, but there's a lot of SGA-1 in the second paragraph to make up for it for those who don't really like OC's.
I know this is a rather long chapter, but I don't pay much attention to the length of my chapters until I've actually finished writing them.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Since this is a fanfiction, it should be obvious that I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters. I do, however, own the characters in the first, third, fifth and sixth paragraph, and the Quenans, too.
Chapter 1 – Worries
The thick black of the night, combined with the howling of the raging storm, did nothing to improve her mood. If anything, it only weighed down on her more, increasing the building feeling of dread she had been carrying around for the last couple of days.
She tried to tell herself that there was nothing to worry about, that he could take care of himself. He surpassed her age by thousands of years, for crying out loud! Certainly he would know how to survive, no matter how dire the situation. One didn't live to reach that age and not have an extensive knowledge about pretty much anything you could get knowledgeable about.
Still… The feeling that something had happened, that he needed her, didn't go away. And she didn't like it. She had no idea where he was, where any of them were for that matter. There was nothing she could do now but wait, and hope for his return. Or at least a message. Or a sign. Hell, if he needed her, without any means of contacting the Palace, he would have Dreamt to her. He'd done that before, and it'd always worked, no matter how far away he was.
But he hadn't Dreamt to her. Not to tell her that all was not well, and that she needed to get her ass out of the Palace and to wherever he was to help him. Not even to tell her that everything was fine, and that she needn't worry.
So she stood as a frozen statue in front of a massive two story-seized window, looking out in to the thick black of the night, staring at the rain drops that slammed into the window, as if trying to break through it to reach her.
She didn't know how long she had stood there like that, lost in thoughts, when her most trusted servant came in to her chambers, waking her out of her trance. "Would you like something to eat, my lady?" She made a startled jump as his question brought her back to the present. "No thank you, Nerio, I'm not hungry", she replied while turning around to face him. He looked more than a little worried, she decided. "Something to drink than, perhaps?" He was always like that, looking out for her whenever she was too lost inside her mind and thoughts to look after herself.
The almost pleading look in his eyes made her consent to having a drink, and he hurried off, as fast as he could without actually breaking into a run, to get her a glass of wine. She was certain he was going to bring back a whole lot more than a mere single glass of wine, and sure enough, he came back carrying a tray that not only had one glass filled with red wine on it, but also two crystal carafes, one containing even more red wine, and the other filled with what she expected to be water.
There was no way that sweet servant was going to let her drink wine without having her drink at least as much water. He once said he couldn't let her dehydrate simply because she preferred wine over any other liquid. It annoyed her at times, but it also warmed her heart to know that someone was looking after her so well. That, and the fact that he understood her better than most other persons, made her think of him more as a friend than a real servant.
Nerio placed the tray on the glass table standing in the centre of the room, picked up the wine filled glass and brought it to her. She took the glass from him and took a sip whilst turning to stare out the window once more. Nerio stood next to her, staring out the window as well, looking at nothing in particular. It calmed down her persistent sense of foreboding a bit to have him stand at her side.
"You have heard no word of him, I presume?" He turned his head slightly to look at her face. She sighed. "No, nothing. It has been quiet for days. Ever since he left, actually." He laid a comforting hand on her left shoulder. "You should not worry, my lady. He is not due to be back for three more days, correct?" She forced her lips to form a small, but shaky smile while lightly patting the hand on her shoulder. "You are correct, but I cannot shake this feeling of dread that has been building in my heart. I just wish he'd Dream to me, so I would know for sure that I have no cause to worry myself sick." A frown made its way across Nerio's brows. "Doesn't he usually Dream to you when he is in some sort of trouble?"
"Most of the time, yes. But on these longer travels, he sometimes Dreams to me to let me know he is fine." Her lips now formed a real smile. "He knows how worried I get sometimes, especially with what's been going on the last few years."
She emptied the remaining drops of wine from the glass before handing it back to Nerio again. While he went to fill the glass with some more wine, she walked closer to the window, her warm exhaled breath condensing against the cold glass barrier.
"You can leave it on the table, I do not wish to have any more right now," she said to Nerio's reflection in the glass. She watched him nod to her back, than excuse himself to get back to his other duties. He could go to bed, get some rest, but she knew he would not rest until she did. And until her nerves would settle down some, along with her thoughts, she wouldn't be able to sleep, not deep enough anyway. Hell, she needed to down that wine all at once if she wanted to get some real sleep. But she couldn't do that. The alcohol would prevent her mind from receiving his Dreaming, just as much as trying to sleep with stampeding thoughts and frayed nerves would, if he Dreamt to her at all.
Somehow, she had to calm down. Then she had to go to bed, open her mind for his call, and fall asleep. For some reason, that sounded a lot easier than it was. Like most of her life, ever since he walked into it, about eight years ago.
He would come and go for months on end, as his superiors called for him to join the others in their missions. Everyone accepted the nature of this relationship, this alliance, between their people.
The alliance was beneficial for both their kind; his people providing hers protection from their, sometimes equal, enemies as well as giving hers access to valuable information to improve the lives of her kind; her people providing his a stable base of operations to fall back to should their other, stronger ones fail, along with continued research on how his people could overcome the one serious weakness their kind had.
There were breakthroughs in their researches and an experiment had been lounged, only to have proven insufficient for the long-term. But it had made the scientists of both people thinking, and they came up with something similar, only they needed something extra.
The previous experiment had failed because the two individuals participating in it – one of her scientists and one of his – were not attuned to each other. That's when the scientists had come to them. They had established a bond in the two years their people had been allies then, and seemed to be the perfect guinea pigs to try the new and improved formula.
She sighed thinking back about it. It had been most exiting for the both of them, and if it worked, they could be together on a more intimate level, without fear of causing one another harm. And it had worked. Because they were already linked to each other in some way. It was a major breakthrough, sure enough, but both people knew that creating a link like that between all of his people to all of hers would be far from ideal. Not to mention it was highly improbable that even a small minority of his people would consent to being linked to hers in such a way.
Nevertheless, the scientists had gained ground and could now focus their attention on improving their methods so that even the non-linked could benefit from their hard work. And back then, it seemed they had all the time of the universe to finish their theories and experiments.
Until about three-and-a-halve years ago, when all the others of his kind suddenly awakened. Now it was not just his people out hunting for food, but all their other previously hibernating enemies and allies as well. Which was not good for business. It definitely put a strain on the alliance her people had with them. Especially her scientists got a bit skittish. For good reason, since they were no match for their longer-lived predatory colleagues.
But the alliance had held, and still hold.
It also meant that they were away hunting a lot more than before. And they weren't just hunting for food. Now they were taking on their enemies as well, to assure themselves a continued food supply.
For her, it also meant that the possibility was always there, that he would not come back from his missions and assignments. That he got captured and killed. And no one but her would truly miss him. More than anything else, that thought ripped her heart out.
She walked back to the table and drank the wine from her glass, before heading into her bathing suite to run the bath full with hot water. Watching the steam swirling upwards from the tub, she hoped that the hot water would help calm her down enough to be able to sleep. She stripped of her clothes and glided into the bath, turning off the tap, letting the nearly scalding water soak her skin. Warm water always made her calm down, relax. It helped her clear her mind from most of her worries. If only it would stop her train of thoughts as well.
As she noticed the skin on her fingertips getting all wrinkly, she stepped out and let the water run down the drains. She towelled herself dry with a big fluffy towel and put on her nightshirt.
Back in her main chamber she closed the huge, heavy curtains over her two-story-window, glancing out into the storm raging night one last time. Then she walked into her bedchamber and settled herself down in her king-sized bed. Opening her mind, she hoped sleep would soon take her.
#
They were about to wrap up the business meeting, concerning a meaningful trade relationship with a people called the Quenans, when the screeching sound of Wraith-darts passed over the main centre of the town.
The radio started cracking and moments later a very distressed lieutenant practically screamed in his ear. "Colonel Sheppard, five Wraith darts just flew over, and more are coming! A cruiser is heading this way now!" That was just his luck. After five hours of discussion to reach an agreeable deal – medical supplies and training in exchange for part of the harvest so the people on Atlantis could have some more variation in their choice of food – now it seemed he was going to have to pull off a rescue mission as well. What was it with these Wraith that they kept showing up at the worst possible times?
Even better, these people didn't seem to be very good at keeping a clear head in the face of danger. Not a good sign in a fairly industrialized society. The Consul – the head figure leading these people – was only short of hyperventilating out of pure anxiety, and those surrounding him did their very best to imitate his behaviour. Not a good sign at all. It seemed like he had to do this by himself then. "Lieutenant, get to the jumper and dial Atlantis, get as many of these people as you can and send them through the gate. And shoot down those damned darts before they cull anyone!" He gave the Consul and his counsellors an assessing look. They were definitely not going to be very helpful in their current state, so he turned to his team members instead. "Teyla, do what you can to calm them down, we need them to lead their people to safety. Ronon, you help our men getting rid of those darts. Rodney you…" He honestly didn't know what he needed McKay to do. The scientist seemed to be near panic himself. "You just follow me." McKay made a small nodding gesture whilst clinging on to his P-90 as if it were a lifeguard. Sheppard just hoped he wouldn't accidentally get shot at with it. Although it would most certainly add up to his luck today if he would.
Ronon dodged past him to aid the military unit that was sent with them so Atlantis could be updated every hour on their status. Teyla was exerting her never-ending calmness on the not so calm Quenan leaders, at least gaining their attention, although it would probably take a while for them to be of real use to their own people.
Okay, let's see what's going on out there, John thought to himself, I sure hope those five hours weren't a complete waste of time after all. They had originally intended to give these people some sort of military training, so they could be of aid in their renewed war against the Wraith, now that the Replicators no longer existed to do the exterminating for them.
It had seemed like a good idea at first, letting the Asurans destroy all the Wraith hive-ships, but of course, things never went as were intended, and the Replicators had begun to destroy human worlds instead, so the Wraith would ultimately starve to death. It was an effective solution from the machines' point of view, but for Atlantis and the rest of the galaxy, including the Wraith, it was a horrible situation. So they had banded together, and, using Rodney's home-made Replicator, Fran, they had attacked the Asuran home world, leading to the planet's ultimate destruction. Afterwards, the Wraith had gone their own way, and they'd become enemies at war once more.
The Quenans, however, were a very skittish people when it came down to arms and warfare, unwavering in their believe that nothing good would come from the use of weapons and long-range missiles. Not even the prospect of those weapons eliminating the threat the Wraith were to their people, and all the other human worlds for that matter, could persuade them to accept their first offer. And so the hours long negotiation had begun.
Now, it seemed, the Quenans were likely going to have to rethink their attitude towards guns and missiles, as those exact things were now going to be used to try and save them.
With McKay awkwardly close behind him, John hurried out of the convention centre and onto the city streets which were now crowded by even more panicking Quenans. He was beginning to seriously think about advising Samantha Carter to abandon any contact with these people. The last thing they needed was this pointless panic to pass over to their expedition members. "Lieutenant, how's the evacuation going?"
"Not well, sir, the people seem to have lost it, and they are running in every direction, except for the Gate. I gathered from one of the less panicking citizens, that in times like these, they are supposed to stay clear from the Gate as much as possible."
Well, that was just great. "Tell Atlantis to send back-up through the Gate immediately, we need to destroy that cruiser, and I doubt a singe Jumper is going to do enough damage."
"Yes, sir!" He hoped it wouldn't take to long for those Jumpers to get here.
Rodney jumped, pushing the P-90 into his back, as a dart flew over directly above them. "Rodney! I'm not the one you should point that gun at! Shoot down that dart instead!" For once, Rodney didn't hesitate or stop to argue, emptying his rounds on the dart with a surprisingly accurate aim. John didn't think he'd ever seen McKay shoot with such certainty, let alone hitting anything non-friendly with such ferocity. He most certainly had never seen him actually shoot down a Wraith-dart like that.
Both engines failing miserably, the dart rematerialized the Wraith it was carrying, before crashing into one of the factory buildings, causing a chain explosion throughout that district of the city.
It just kept getting better and better. Not only were their half a dozen darts flying over the city, trying to sweep up as much humans as possible before heading back to the cruiser – or hive ship, if there was one of those nearby –, now they also head to deal with living, breathing Wraith inside the city itself. John tapped his radio, he had to warn the others. "Everyone, this is Sheppard, the crashed dart beamed out some Wraith into the city. Try to stun them if possible, they could provide us with information. Only kill them if necessary." Knowing Ronon, he would most likely skip the stunning part and go straight for killing. The ex-runner always thought killing Wraith a necessity. Not that he could blame him for that.
Grabbing his own P-90, John took aim at another dart, heading straight for the convention centre, taking it out. The dart flew right over, crash-landing half a mile behind the centre. That's when the city's surround communication activated, booming the Consul's voice into the streets, leaving every Quenan to stop dead in their track.
Apparently, Teyla had succeeded in convincing the Consul to evacuate his people in the city to Atlantis for the time being. There was no way that the planet's entire population would be able to make it to the Gate in time, and by now the other city's and villages would've be warned to go into hiding.
After the Consul's brief speech telling the city dwellers to get through the Gate, all Quenans picked up their panic right where they had left them, only this time, they all went scurrying towards the Gate, instead of away from it.
John was wondering how many people would get trampled to death by their neighbours, when Rodney started jumping up and down beside him, pointing to something behind them. "The Wraith, the Wraith! I don't have a stunner. Do you have a stunner? What are we going to do? I'm too young to die now! Not to mention that I've got so much unfinished projects to work on. I can't die now!"
"Rodney, relax, you're going to be fine," John said while grabbing hold his stunner, silently adding unless you don't stop acting like a Quenan right now, since using you as bait for the Wraith seems to get awfully tempting at the moment.
The two Wraith walking directly toward them spotted the stunner in his hands, and drew their own. John managed to knock out one of them, having to put six stunning rays into it, but the second one was now aiming at him and he didn't have the time to shoot that before getting stunned himself.
John braced himself for the inevitable, when the Wraith coloured red for an instance before dropping to the ground, right next to its buddy. "Nice timing, Ronon."
"Don't mention it. Is he okay?" The ex-runner nodded to where McKay was standing, wide-eyed, next to him. "He's fine."
"Fine? Fine?! I'm not fine! I just faced death again. Don't you know how much I hate it when my life seems to be flying away from me?!"
John rolled his eyes. Not again. Ronon grinned at Sheppard's obvious annoyance with the scientist. "Yeap, you're right, he's fine." Rodney gave an indignant 'huff' and turned his attention to the Wraith laying in front of them. "Did you kill him?"
"No, I stunned him. It didn't seem like it was necessary to kill him."
"What do you mean it didn't.." Before Rodney could finish his sentence, which was obviously the start of another one of his rants, a big bang interrupted him, followed by a message over their radio's. "The Wraith-cruiser has been destroyed, colonel Sheppard, sir."
"Very good. Now, if you could fly over here and pick us up? We have two stunned Wraith to take back with us."
"Yes, sir. We'll be there momentarily."
Teyla and the Consul joined the small group standing over the fallen Wraith. She looked at the Wraith, than at John. "Are we going to take them back as prisoners?" John looked her in the eyes. "Yes, we are. The holding cells have been vacant for a while, so let's see if they still function properly." She didn't seem to be too happy about the idea.
#
Kaos was sure he was going to have the most decent meal in years. The look of defiance was clear on the man's face, even as he braced himself for his fate, expecting to be brought down by his stunner any second.
He was about to send a stunning ray into the defiant human, when a hot, numbing sensation hit the back of his neck. The last thing he saw was the look of surprise on the panicking human's face, and a victorious smile on the defiant one.
Then there was nothing but darkness.
#
Samantha looked at the members of team 1. She honestly hadn't be expecting to be housing a few thousand extra people when they'd left to the Quenan home world a few hours ago. Not to mention two Wraith prisoners. The Wraith made her feel uncomfortable.
The only other Wraith she'd ever seen up close had been Todd, and he hadn't really been a prisoner in every meaning of the word, even though he was housed in on of the city's holding cells. Without his aid, a lot of worlds could have been destroyed. For some reason, she hoped the Wraith she was housing in the holding cells now didn't belong to whichever hive ship Todd had decided to join after escaping the Wraith cloning facility.
"How bad is the damage to the Quenan city?" She asked the question to John, but it was Rodney who answered. "Well considering that two darts crash landed in some important parts of the city – one of which was brought down by none other than my self," – a smug smile spread across his face – "the damage is pretty extensive. But for as far as we could tell, the key living quarters are still very much intact, so I don't think getting the people to settle back in their homes is going to be that hard."
Samantha couldn't believe what she was hearing. "McKay, that planet has just been attacked by the Wraith. We have no idea if and how many of the Quenans have been taken."
"Yeah, so? We're not planning on resettling those people now, are we? Besides, all I'm saying is that we do not have to house them here in Atlantis, because their own houses are still very habitable."
"And what if the Wraith are deciding to get back there with a full armada to check out what's taking the cruiser so long, only to find out that there is no more cruiser?" John interjected, cutting Rodney off before he could respond, answering his own question instead. "I'll tell you what's going to happen. Not only will they do a full planet culling, they will also destroy everything standing on that planet to ensure that no one will survive." Rodney was about to respond to that when this time Samantha cut him to the chase. "Colonel Sheppard is right. We can't send them back there, not right now anyway." She thought about the situation and came up with a possible solution. "The Daedalus will arrive within the next two hours. I will send Colonel Caldwell out to the planet to do some reconnaissance. If everything is and stays clear, we can let the Quenans go back there in a few days. Colonel Sheppard, you will join the Daedalus when they head out to that planet."
"Yes, ma'am."
"In the mean time, try to figure out what you can concerning the hive ship that cruiser belonged to from those Wraith you've brought back."
At that, the team left her office. Sheppard and Ronon were off to the holding cell and it's new occupants, Rodney was heading back to his lab, most likely with a detour through the mess hall and Teyla was probably going to go to the infirmary for a check-up on her and her unborn child.
Sitting back in her chair, Samantha wondered if Atlantis ever knew any quiet times.
#
He was laying facedown on a cold, hard floor, with the worst headache he'd ever had. And he hadn't had many. He tried to move, but all his limbs were stiff and numb. He didn't understand. What was he doing on a cold floor anyway?
He tried to get up once more, but his body didn't want to obey him. Hissing, he closed his eyes, hoping his head would stop feeling like it was about to explode.
That's when it hit him.
The sting at the back of his neck. The surprised look on the anxious' face. The triumphant smile on the one that had shot down his companion. The footsteps of someone behind him before he fell down as well, passing out completely.
They had captured him. He was in enemy hands now.
His companion… What'd become of him? He reached out with his mind to try and contact him, but all it did him was increasing his headache. Damn it! He couldn't move, couldn't open his eyes properly and he couldn't establish a mind-link. This was not good.
He growled low in his throat. His companion had to be here. Had to be fine. If something had happened to his companion, it was all his fault, he knew it.
He shouldn't have hesitated. Should have stunned those humans immediately. But the thought of their screams as they begged him for their lives whilst he fed off them was way too tempting. He couldn't resist that prospect, so he'd told his companion to keep the stunner at bay, that they were going to do this the good old-fashioned way. And of course he'd listened.
And look where that decision had gotten him… them. He growled again. This couldn't be happening! This was not supposed to happen! If word of this got out to the Queen… She'd have his life, that much was for sure, no matter what happened next. But if his companion had gotten harmed… Or killed… He'd be begging for his death before the Queen was done with him.
No. He had to be fine! He reached out with his mind again, ignoring the building pain behind his eyes, probing for the mind of his companion.
Nothing. His head was killing him. But he couldn't give up. He intensified his effort, nearly passing out because of the pain.
There..! It was very weak, but it was there. The mind of his companion. Still unconscious, but alive. He let out a sigh of relieve before closing his eyes again, resting his head on that cold, hard floor.
#
Silence... Blackness... Floating in an endless void. Nothing to hold on to.
Flashes of blue… Memories. A stunner... Six blasts to the chest. Falling down...
Growling… Frustrated, desperate. A voice. Searching…
A light breeze. Like the wind, brushing against your shoulder. A sensation of relieve.
A single word, whispered, from the distance. "… Alive…" Slipping away…
Following the whisper's retreat. Back towards the light… Connecting with the body.
Opening his eyes, he stared up at a dark, gray ceiling. Looking around, he searched for the source of the whisper that had brought back his mind. Kaos was laying only two foot away, facedown, breathing shallow.
With predatory speed he crouched down next to him. Sensing out with his mind, he could tell that the other Wraith was still conscious, just in no condition to do much, other than wait for the effect of the stunning ray to wear off. He tried to send some of his strength to him. It seemed like the best thing to do, considering he would still be in the void if that whisper hadn't reached him.
As Kaos started to twitch, he looked around the room.
They were surrounded by bars… And guards.
#
To be continued
#