Atlantis Base 2

by theassassinnox

This work is based on Stargate Atlantis. We used the universe and the bad guys, but you will not find any of the cannon characters present. New cast and new adventures! Action, adventure, and plenty of wraithy goodness. Rated M for violence/language.

1. Agi

AN: Please note that this story is, in fact, written by two different authors (plain text for Katie and bold for Benton). What began as a little RP via email turned into something much larger. This is our first public work of any sort, so if you do read, please review and let us know!

This is listed as a Stargate Atlantis Fanfic. In a way it is, as we are playing in that sandbox. All of our characters are original though, so if you are looking for you favorite cannon characters, feel free to back away slowly.

Action, adventure, and wraith ahead! Please enjoy. We're in the planning stages for episode two. Again, if you like what you're reading, please let us know. Thanks!

.o0o.

Agi

By Katie Lipton and Benton Brahm

.o0o.

Consciousness returned slowly, leaving her wishing that she were still blissfully unaware. She opened her eyes just a crack and was greeted with the sight of a metal slatted wall. She breathed deeply, wincing as she gave silent thanks to the fact that she was able to wake up at all.

She moved slowly, her hand trailing up her side and touching the damp cloth at the bottom of her rib cage. She fingered the hole in her corset where the shrapnel had passed, and as she sat up a wave of pain told her that there were at least another three shards in her back.

She stood, feeling light headed as she took stock of her surroundings. She was in a small empty room; the walls horizontal slats that let her see a larger room beyond.

Cain woke quickly. He could feel the last of the concussion vanish, leaving his head clear. He took a deep breath enjoying the lack of pain, and checking each of his limbs carefully for any lingering damage. Finding none Cain reached and searched for the rest of the Agi, his people, and found nothing.

Cain breathed again, and searched for any minds. Not far from him there were two, alert though unconcerned. They were guards, not his guards though. They were curious about him but didn't consider him a real threat. Fools. They guarded something else, someone else. He reached for that mind, and found pain. Hunger. Rage. Despair. This creature called itself a Wraith. She was a queen of her kind, and she was alone. She was screwed.

Cain chuckled and opened his eyes. He was in a cage, and an energy field of some sort surrounded it. Across from him stood two creatures, the likes of which he had never seen outside of a mirror.

There was a human guard on either side of the door of her prison. She moved slowly, the grace of a true predator showing despite her injuries. She stalked toward the wall, watching with a small amount of satisfaction as the marines both took an involuntary step back. She stopped just short of the wall, giving the impression that she stopped there by choice, not because of the metal or the field that kept her contained.

One of the marines swallowed, then brought his hand up to his ear and spoke softly, "Colonel…she's awake," he listened for a moment, "understood."

Yellow green eyes traveled past the guards to the human that was in a similar chamber across from her. She pinned him with her gaze, taking in the details. She did not miss the tears in his clothing, or the fact that there was a large black blood stain down the front of his shirt. Wraith blood.

Cain stared at the two creatures standing guard, he barely noticed the one they were guarding. She was just another alien, another "something else". But these, these were like him. Not just similar, but exactly like him. For the longest time the other Agi thought that anything that had only four limbs that stood with an upright posture looked alike. And in that time Cain had gotten very good at spotting the differences quickly. These aliens had two arms, two legs, five fingers, and faces arranged the same as his own.

However, the more he examined these creatures, the more he began to feel the differences. Their minds were small, not weak, or at least he had felt weaker, but small. Unable to affect the world, or even look outside of their own skulls.

The guards flinched. One of them jerked his weapon to point at something then stopped and shook his head. Cain frowned. The other guard braced himself as though standing his ground against something. He reached deeper not worrying about being detected, and saw what they saw.

Something shadowy and indistinct, something that oozed disquiet and fear. Cain looked where the guard did with his own eyes and saw nothing. He looked for the first time at his fellow prisoner. She was small, pale, well dressed. He could feel somewhere deep with in her a concern for how she appeared. She was influencing them. Suggesting things to there minds. This one was interesting. So Cain stood and watched.

The young Queen masked her features as a wave of dizziness swept through her. She dropped the illusions, swaying slightly. She stepped back and pivoted on a heel, disguising the moment of weakness as an intended movement.

The two guards blinked, looking around, then sharing a significant glance as they straightened at their post. One looked back to their prisoner, who was now standing straight as a rail in the center of her cell, her black solidly to the both of them.

"Everything okay Lieutenant?" The speaker was tall for a woman, standing just under the six foot mark. She had a short-cropped military haircut, and stood with an authority that could not be denied.

Both men snapped to attention. The Lieutenant made his report, "We're fine Colonel. Thought we saw something. Must have been her," he inclined his head to the cell behind him, "I'd read the reports…but experiencing it first-hand…we'll be ready next time."

"Good, see that you are." her brief nod was curt, but the words were softened by a pat on the shoulder.

Cain frowned at the strange newcomer. The guards acted with deference, as though to an officer, but none of them carried any rank with in the Whole. In fact there was no Whole, Cain could only think that their group-mind must be terribly stupid. He chuckled again and approached the edge of his cage to get a better view for his eyes. He ran a touch of his mind down the field causing it to light up in response.

One of the guards glanced up finding him only a hands breadth away, and swallowed. Cain could feel the suppressed desire to jump back in his mind.

"Colonel? What about this one, Sir?" the guard asked gesturing at him with that tiny mass driver, one of the Agi would have been able to fit most if it in one hand.

"Well I suppose that depends on him," she turned, approaching his cell. She looked him up and down. He seemed none the worse for wear, despite the fact that he had been unconscious and fairly tossed around when they had found him. He wore strange clothing, and had Wraith blood all down his front.

"My name is Colonel Samantha Aaren. How are you feeling? Did the wraith hurt you?"

Behind her, the Queen made a small indignant noise. Both marines turned toward her and leveled their guns.

Cain stared at Samantha for a moment, marveling at arrogance of assuming that he spoke their language while he plucked the meaning of her words from her head. Then laughed as he delivered the meaning of his words back into her mind.

"Of course the Wraith hurt me. They were rather desperate to do so. Of course we hurt them first." Cain grinned savagely his gaze snapping briefly to the Queen, "Would you like to see how?"

Colonel Aaren stared at the strange man for a moment, trying to decide what had just happened. He was speaking a language she had never before heard, and yet the meaning was quite clear.

"While we are pleased to gather any weapons that may aid us in destroying the Wraith, now is neither the time or place for demonstrations," she stared at him hard, "How are you doing that?"

"Doing what Colonel?" One of the marines asked, his eyes flicking back and forth between the wraith, the strange man, and his commanding officer.

"Our new friend seems to be more than he would appear," She raised her hand to her ear and spoke quietly, "Dr. MacKenzie...I'll be needing the results of the scans as soon as they're ready…understood, thank you. I'll be up in a moment."

The Colonel ran a hand back through her short blonde hair as she turned to face the wraith, "We've not caught a female of your species before. Think of all of the things you can teach us."

The Queen remained facing away.

Colonel Aaren slowly paced around the cell, studying her captive. The wraith was much smaller than any of the males they had held before, standing at roughly 5'5". She had black hair, which hung in waves down to her hips. Her skin was a mottled green that was so pale it almost appeared ivory under the florescent lights of the complex. She had some tattoo work around her right eye, stark and sharp, and more ink showed on her left shoulder and the exposed part of that arm. Pale green eyes with slit pupils tracked the Colonel as she made her way to the wall in front of the wraith.

"What? Nothing to say? The others were at least willing to chat."

"And what is it you would like me to say?" the Queen hissed in a multi tonal whisper. She moved to the wall so quickly that the Colonel didn't have a chance to step back before their eyes were inches apart…only separated by the transparent field, "Shall I threaten you?"

The Colonel laughed, "Threaten me with what? I'm willing to bet that one of the two totaled Hive ships we found belonged to you. Which one? The one that looks like a war zone?" Across the room she just caught the look on the human prisoner's face. A look of pride, and satisfaction almost seemed to emanate from him. "Or the one that's just space debris?"

Cain looked up and this time did not bother to speak but merely projected, "What of the third ship? What of my people's remains. What did you do with them?"

The young Queen struck with amazing speed, her hand snaking out to grab the Colonel's throat. It would have been a fatal blow…had there not been the field. As it was, her hand shot out and hit the invisible barrier with a flash of greenish light. The Colonel remained intact.

She let out a howl of frustration that ended in a hiss as her hand automatically went to the hole in her side.

"We found you on the mostly intact vessel," a small smile played about the Colonel's lips, "but you had one lonely worshipper trying to guard you," her eyes slipped past the Wraith and landed on the blood stained human, "the other Queen had a score of drones around where she fell. No, I imagine you're not much of a threat at this point. Your Hive is gone, your crew is laying dead along with an entire ships worth of who knows what, but they are certainly more frightening than any Wraith I've seen. Plus, you've got more shrapnel in you than I've ever seen a human take and survive. There is another ship floating out there, but it sure isn't Wraith."

A puzzled look passed over the Colonel's features as she looked back to the strange man, then addressed the marines, "Gentlemen, as you were. Contact me if anything comes up." With that she quit the room and headed toward the infirmary. Dr. MacKenzie had mentioned some interesting results in the scans of the human.

Cain watched the strange human leave. She had called him a Worshiper. Of the Wraith, he assumed. But more importantly his ship remained. Cain smiled. Which meant all he had to do now was wait until his people came for him, and they would come. As certain as entropy, they would come. And may their Whole help any who stood between the Agi and one of their own.

.o0o.

Colonel Aaren was having a very strange day as she made it into the medbay, and from the look on the Doctor's face it was only going to get stranger.

"Doctor? What have you got for me?"

"Ah, Samantha. I wish I could say. I finished most of the scans pretty quickly, genetically and physiologically he's human. Beat all to Hell. Based on his injuries he's not going to be waking up any time soon. I doubt you'll be able to ask him any questions for a while now. But the more I look at this the more I doubt he's a Worshiper. He's in fantastic physical shape for one thing. No scars on him for another, though I dare say he'll have some now. But where things get really bizarre is when I got to the neural mapping. His head is... oh I'd say three to four times as dense as ours. There's just more neurons per centimeter, which makes these scans a pain to read but in spite of that I've found at least five complex neural structures that I can't identify. Really Samantha this is all very exciting I would love to get some more samples while he's still unconscious and... Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Kenna, he's awake. I just spoke with him…more than spoke with him. I'd have sworn he was in my head somehow. Look, I know it sounds crazy, but he's down there speaking a language I've never heard before and he's looking as fit and well as any one of our crew. His words made no sense, but I could completely understand him," the Colonel shook her head, her brown knotted, "I don't know how he did it, but he looks to be in better health than our Wraith."

.o0o.

Cain had been studying the Wraith across from him for a while now. She hungered like nothing he had ever felt before. More interestingly though, she hungered for her guards. She wanted them, desperately, like he wanted water. It had been a while before anybody realized that he needed food and water more often than the other Agi. And like he had thirsted for water, she hungered for the human guards.

One of the guards had been talking at him for just as long as he had been looking at the Wraith. Cain didn't listen to dead things. So he had ignored that guard who was obviously trying to establish some superiority over the Wraith through him, because they thought he was less dangerous. Fools, perhaps he would both teach and learn this day.

Cain turned to the guard and reached into his mind. Quieting it. Turning most of it off. And leaving buried deep with in its core one overwhelming need, one burning compulsion, one command that could not be disobeyed.

Go to Her.

She sat quietly in the center of her cell, watching the guards watch her. One was speaking with the other human across the aisle. She moved slowly, methodically, trying to keep her breathing under control as she unlaced the remains of her corset. The dress below was soaked through with blood, though the sheen was the only tell as the dress was also black.

She set the torn corset aside, her hand once again behind her. A moment later she let out a low hiss and dropped a shard of metal to the floor with a clatter.

The guard watched in morbid fascination as another shard was dropped to the floor, then another, the black blood flowing freely. All the while the Queen's gaze never wavered from her human captors.

The Marine that had been talking left off, evidentially giving up on the silent human, and turned back to the Wraith, stepping closer. Something about his stance set off her predatory instincts, and she mirrored his movements, rising slowly, leaving a black trail as she approached the door.

Before the other marine could stop him, the talkative one swiped his hand over the panel, deactivating the field.

She was on him in an instant. She got a good grip on his collar with her left hand, hauling him against the bars. Her right hand slapped to his chest, and instantly the man began to scream. He went stiff with pain, his eyes rolling back as he visibly began to age.

.o0o.

Kenna blinked, "He's awake? And he doesn't speak the language? Sam I take everything I just said back, this isn't just exciting- this is unprecedented! This is spectacular! A human being that has survived in a hive ship, and not only that but apparently heals faster than they do. If we can convince him to tell us how he did this, or how his people did..."

"Slow down Doctor," the Colonel said, holding her hands up in a placating way, "I can see why you're excited, Hell, I'm excited, but I can also tell you that this kid is dangerous. If he can get in our heads, we don't want to leak him intelligence…"

The colonel's radio clicked and she held up a hand to stall the doctor, "Go."

"Sir, I don't know how to say this but..."

"Just come out and say it Lieutenant."

"Jenkins just... Well, fed himself to the Wraith Sir. We stunned her down but still."

"What? How did this happen?"

"I don't know Sir, one moment Jenkins was talking to the human, then he turned, walked up to the cell, and deactivated the field. He was gone before I could put her down."

The Colonel clicked off her radio, "Doctor, you're with me," then she turned quickly and headed straight for the detention center.

The scene before them was nothing short of horrendous. Jenkins lay on the floor, his body nothing but a shriveled, skeletal husk. Lieutenant Bradshaw was sitting crouched over the body. The wraith lay on her back just inside the cell door, black blood trailing out behind her, though the skin that showed through the rents in her dress was whole. She still clutched the torn collar of Jenkins' shirt in her left hand.

The human still stood where Jenkins had left him right up against the edge of the barrier looking calm and unperturbed. He appeared more curious than anything else. Dr. MacKenzie was already kneeling down next to Jenkins' body even though everybody in the room already knew it was too late.

The Colonel rounded on the human prisoner who was curiously unfazed by one of the more horrific deaths she, an experienced soldier, had ever seen.

"How did this happen?" She asked again. Behind her, Bradshaw just made a helpless gesture. The man before her volunteered an answer.

"Perhaps the dead man's mind, realizing it was dead, got tired of waiting for the body to catch up."

"And what do you mean by that?" the Colonel's voice was dangerously quiet as she stepped closer to the human prisoner. She pinned him with a glare, realizing that he seemed entirely unaffected by what he had just seen.

At that same moment a small med crew arrived with a stretcher to remove the late Jenkins. Dr. MacKenzie followed the stretcher without a word, her face set in the detached mask of a medical professional as they left the brig.

"You have taken one of the Agi prisoner. My people will come for me." Cain spoke with the absolute certainty of one who spoke of gravity, or the sun rising, and this absolute knowledge of fact transmitted itself along with the meaning of his words. "And when they arrive, you will understand what I mean."

Behind the Colonel guards had begun to hose down the Wraith's cell to clean out the blood, and strip her of her filthy, bloodstained clothing.

Colonel Aaren had experienced a lot during her years of duty, but seldom had she ever come across someone with so much conviction. The words shook her, though she kept her face neutral. When she spoke, her voice was strong, a clear authority in the room, "Finish that up as quickly as you can," she addressed the soldiers who were zipping a much too large jump suit onto the small queen, "we don't know if the stunners are as effective on the females. When you're done, fall back to the hall, post a guard there. I want nobody in or out of this room without my permission, got that?"

"Yes Sir."

She nodded, then headed for the command tower. She needed info on the Agi, and fast.

Precisely three minutes later, the soldiers resealed the cell, retreated to the hall, and closed the bulkhead behind them. The human was left alone with the unconscious wraith.

Cain smiled. The human leader was beginning to think that she had some idea what was going on. If she only knew. Speaking of things that she didn't know, it was time to perform some additional experiments. And so once again he reached out with his mind, not to the field this time, but past it and into the cell across from him. He lifted the unconscious Wraith into the air, slowly turning her so he finally could get a good look at her. He used an extension of the same power that had used to heal himself to examine her unique physiology. Cain was no doctor, but after having seen many aliens he liked to 'collect' their oddities.

.o0o.

The command tower was unusually quiet as most of the staff stared at the screen that monitored the prison block. Samantha frowned and started over to see what exactly they were looking at when a voice brought her up short.

"Colonel. My office. Now." The voice belonged to one Doctor Malcom Day: the civilian head and governor of their little colony. She adjusted her course and followed Dr. Day into his office and assumed an at ease position.

"Sir?"

"Don't, 'sir' me Colonel. What the Hell is going on down in the detention wing? You said it was going to be another simple Wraith containment and now we have a man dead, and this!" The doctor gestured to his own monitor where the Wraith rotated slowly in her cell, apparently suspended by nothing. "Well? Explanations?"

The Colonel simply stared at the screen for a moment, her mouth working but no sound coming out as she tried to understand what she was seeing, "I…I don't know Sir. It must be the human. Don't ask me how though, that's Dr. MacKenzie's gig. I thought I had a wraith worshipper, not a bloody X Man."

"Colonel, this is not a joke."

"With all due respect Sir, I'm not laughing. This may be worse than we thought. He claims to be part of a race called the Agi,"

"One of those saurian monstrosities we found all over the hive?"

"Yes, and they aren't particularly forgiving when it comes to having their people captured. He's as good as told me that it was his people that took-out one Hiveship, and tore up the second. I was on my way to talk to Dr. Russell and see if she could find anything about these "Agi" in the Ancient databases."

"Go."

.o0o.

She was floating on the edge of sleep, the fluid of the hibernation pod suspending her, making her weightless. There was harsh light just beyond her eyelids, and she was beginning to feel cold. Something was wrong.

The young Queen jerked awake, her eyes darting wildly as she looked to the floor several feet below her. A long tendril of wet hair obscured her vision as she slowly rotated mid air. She tossed her head, sending her hair down her back with a wet slap. She tried to reach the wall, the floor, the ceiling, anything that would get her back on her feet. After a moment's struggle, she went still, taking stock of her surroundings.

Her clothing was gone, and in their place was a jump suit that hung past her hands and feet. The floor of her cell was wet, but clean, and the guards were nowhere to be seen. Another rotation brought her back to looking at the cell across the way, where she locked eyes with the human, "How are you doing this?" she demanded.

Cain examined the Wraith for another revolution. These humans were dead as soon as his people got here. This one, however, might be worth some time. Maybe more. Gently he set the queen down on her feet facing him.

When he spoke, he again transmitted his meanings to her mind, "I don't know. My mind is larger, stronger than any others I have ever met. And I have met many. Your mind has more reach and strength than many as well. Is it common to your kind?"

She approached the field, getting as close as she could without touching it and looked at him through narrowed eyes, "The Wraith are all aware of one another. Our minds can influence those who are weaker. I am young, but strong for my kind."

She sat slowly, keeping her eyes on him the entire time as she viciously cuffed the sleeves and ankles of the offending garment. The Queen tilted her head, her voice inquisitive, "How is it that a human shares this trait?"

.o0o.

"Russell?" Monique's lab was as always disturbingly neat and tidy. The doctor herself stood in front of a monitor watching as the Wraith was set down and the two prisoners began to converse. Both voices were audible but only the wraith was understandable. The human was still speaking whatever language was his own, only now nobody could understand it.

"It's fascinating isn't it Colonel? Probably implants of some kind, very advanced technology, perhaps even on par with the Ancients. Directed electromagnetics? Or maybe applied gravitics? How do they power it I wonder? Maybe..." She trailed off mumbling to her self.

"Dr. MacKenzie found some interesting things on his head scan, maybe he is some sort of telepath with psychic abilities."

"'Psychic abilities?'" Russell made quotes in the air with her fingers, "Give me a break. That's about as likely as the Wraith deciding she wants to teleport out of her cell. It just isn't going to happen. Besides, there's got to be some perfectly logical…you didn't come here for this discussion did you?"

"No, no I didn't. I need you to search the database for anything having to do with the Agi."

"On it," the Doctor slipped onto a rolling stool and slid herself up to a computer consol. Her fingers danced on the keys for a moment, then Ancient text scrolled across the screen.

Both the Doctor and the Colonel spent a moment staring at the screen, digesting the small amount of information presented.

"Not a lot to go on."

"Space based raiding culture, semi hive intelligence."

"Great."

.o0o.

Cain snarled, and for a moment, all that the link contained was pain and anger. The temperature in the room plummeted, "I am Agi! I am nothing else. Not human, not Solinede, Agi." Cain took a deep breath, "I am Agi."

The Queen's head jerked back as though she had been slapped. She rose quickly, distancing herself from the man, "Agi then," her breath created a white plume before her eyes. She began to pace along the back wall of her cell, clearly agitated, "If you say you are stronger than the others you know, are they also able to do such things?"

.o0o.

"Indeed. Looks like a couple of encounters. They came, they saw, they grabbed everything that wasn't nailed down, and left again. Space Vikings." Dr. Russell looked up and smiled, "Looks like interesting religious requirements, it says here they never leave corpses, theirs or others if they have the time. They never leave their own behind."

There was a moment of silence and the soldier and the scientist looked at each other and then the Colonel's radio clicked again. "I'm really starting to hate that thing." She clicked her radio on, "Go."

"Sir, the temperature just dropped like a stone. I don't know what's going on down here but, ah... "

"I'll be right there Lieutenant," she clicked off her radio with a sigh, and glanced back at the monitor. The Wraith was pacing back and forth in her cell, her breath forming clouds as she continued to converse with the human, who looked like he was about ready to murder something.

"Look, it would appear the female of the species can be just as charming as the males," the Doctor laughed weakly, "Right. I'll see if I can dig up any more information."

"Thanks Monique," The Colonel started quickly toward the detention center, radioing in another four men along the way.

.o0o.

Cain laughed and took a deep breath before visibly calming himself, "The others have no need. I use my mind to make up for what my body lacks. Did you not see them on your..." Cain searched for a moment through the queen's mind for the term, "Hive ship? Well if not you will be able to see them again when they get here."

"I did not see anything," she stopped, a fury building inside of her, "I was…overwhelmed when my Hive was destroyed," her head spun as she remembered the moment when her world dropped out from under her. She had been aware of everyone, and had even been linked with the organic structure of the ship itself. To have it all stripped away in an instant would have been too much for a weaker mind, "I awoke in the hands of the humans."

The Queen realized that the Agi before her was in some way responsible for the death of her crew, and the destruction of her Hive. The thought grounded her, and all of the fury and frustration of the past several hours bubbled to the surface, "Agi…let them come!" She shouted, her eyes wild as she stood quivering with rage.

.o0o.

The four men met her before she had gotten very far and they had Dr. MacKenzie in tow.

"Colonel I know your busy but I think there's something you ought to know," the Doctors accent was thick with strain. "I've been goin o'er the samples you brought back from the hive ship, as well as the prisoner's blood and tissue. First, the blood from the strange ones is not even a double helix. And secondly the prisoner's samples contain none of the antibodies for any human diseases, not even any of the ones we find among the various indigenous populations we've discovered."

"So what? We may be able to use disease warfare against these Agi?" The Colonel wasn't really paying attention to what the Scottish doctor was saying, being far more concerned with keeping any more of her people from dieing.

Kenna shook her head, "No, I don'na think so. Assuming that the…Agi are the Wraith's attackers I highly doubt that anything we could cook up would affect them without a better understanding of their physiology."

"Then I really don't see why you're telling me this Doc, I have work to do."

"Sam." MacKenzie stepped in front of Colonel Aaren stopping her just in front of the detention wing doors, "You're not listening to me. I think there's a very good chance that we may be the first humans this boy has ever seen."

Colonel Aaren stopped short, her expression shocked. Then she looked resolute, "if that's the case, then we need to learn more from him than we thought."

A fierce shout came from within the detention center. The Marines all exchanged glances and shifted uncomfortably, glad that the Wraith was contained, but unsure if they really wanted to even enter the room.

The Colonel nodded once to the Doctor, then slid her hand over the door panel and stepped inside. To her right, the Wraith was staring daggers at the Agi, and it looked as though the shield were the only thing that was allowing the young man to go on living. To the left, the Agi was watching the Wraith calmly, a look of mild amusement on his features as she snarled at him.

"What might be going on in here?" the Colonel sounded almost amused herself.

Cain ignored her, not letting the humans in the room in on the conversation, "Yes we killed you. And you killed us. My ship is just as dead as yours. The difference is, the rest of the flotilla comes for me, you will still be in that box and unable to do anything. As the human leader said, why should I fear you?"

The colonel frowned, "I asked a question, what the Hell is going on in here?" Her breath blew white. The Wraith steamed. For a moment nobody moved.

Later it would take film analysis to see if the Queen moved first or the marines fired first but in the end the result was the same.

The Colonel looked back at the marines, "Lieutenant?'

Bradshaw shivered slightly in the cold, "Like you say Sir. When it comes to the Wraith, 'When in doubt, stun them out."

Doctor MacKenzie poked her head around the door, "is it safe tae come in?"

The Colonel waved her in. The short Doctor entered quickly, eyeing the wraith that lay in a heap in the cell floor, where a thin sheet of ice was forming from the recent cleaning, "You shouldn't keep doing that to her…we don't know how much she can take," she moved quickly, opening the cage and neatly drawing two vials of blood from the Unconscious Queen's forearm, "Aye, she's fed recently, but judging by the state she was in when she arrived, her internal wounds likely aren't healed yet, and I can assure you she'll need more before she's feeling well."

"Hurry it up Doc."

As the door slid shut and the shield reactivated, the young Queen began to stir. She moved slowly, sitting up and looking around for a moment, her eyes slightly unfocused. A moment later she stood, her eyes hard as glass as she glared at the visitors before turning her back on them and remaining silent. Had it been any other creature, in any other context, such a motion could be described as a sulk. In this case, it was a dismissal.

The Colonel turned to her Agi captive, "What did you do to get her that upset? I've never seen one so pissed off…I'll admit, I'm impressed."

Cain shrugged, "She figured out that my people destroyed her Hive. Apparently that upset her." Cain crossed to the very edge of his containment, "Colonel Samantha Susan Aaren, British Special Air Service, security code nine five tango tango delta six. Your mind burns with worry and curiosity. What do you want from me? And what is a tango?"

The Colonel blinked, her tone guarded when she answered, "I…want to understand. I want to learn about you, where you come from, how it is that you do what you do. How did you destroy two Hives so easily?" She shook her head, confusion, curiosity, and a little fear of the great unknown mixing to make her feel a bit jittery. She laughed, it had a little edge to it, "Tango is a name we've given to the letter "T" when we're working with radios…it can't be mistaken for anything else."

She moved closer, "I've answered one for you, how about you return the favor?"

Cain cocked his head to one side, "We took them by surprise. My," the word had overtones of a ships captain, a family or clan leader, and the leader of a war band, "said that we only needed one ship to loot. We fired on one, destroying it immediately." Cain looked over the Colonel's shoulder at the wraith queen, including her in understanding what he was saying, "The other we boarded. The Wraith fought well. It was an even match. They all died. We all died. Except for me... and her. The Flotilla will come for the rest. For me. They will not be pleased."

"Your wounds have been treated, and we have not harmed you. In fact, we'd be glad to give you back, but until then, we need to keep you secure," the Colonel sounded almost apologetic about the last bit.

Her radio clicked, and she excused herself, "Gentlemen, keep guard at the door, if there are any more…disturbances, you know how to handle it."

Cain's voice lingered in Samantha's head even after she left the room, "If 'secure' keeps me locked in this room, the Whole will not care what you call it. Neither will I."

A moment later they were alone once again. The Queen seemed calm and collected. She looked very small in the oversized jump suit, her breath appearing in soft clouds before her face. She shivered, the same way the humans had, but refused to acknowledge her discomfort as she stood, still as stone, and listened to the small movements of the Agi behind her.

He took a deep breath and pulled back the last of his temper and the influence he had been exerting on the rest of the room. Slowly the temperature began to rise back to normal. Cain sat on the floor, his cell being bare of furnishings. For a moment he considered sending out his mind to follow this Colonel and learn of where he was. But he was tired. He had expended a lot of energy to heal himself. So instead he sat, and waited, and hoped these humans that looked so like him were more inclined to remember to feed him than the Agi were when they first adopted him.

A few minutes later, the door opened and a woman entered with a small cart. "Agi? Is your name Agi?" she fidgeted, glancing over at the still form of the wraith, "I thought you'd like something to eat, and some clean clothes. Once you're finished, we'll see about moving you to more comfortable quarters."

She ran her hand over the field controls, slipping the food under the door slat, along with a neatly folded jump suit and a basin of warm water before quickly re-activating the field.

The room began to return to a normal temperature. The queen relaxed a little, turning to watch the mousy human as the Agi was given supplies. Threats were not working, and the humans were right, short of another spectacular mistake, they had nothing to fear. There was no way she would be able to get out of the cell on her own.

"Human," her multi tonal voice was soft, almost charming.

The attendant turned with a start, having been unaware of the wraith's attention, "Jenny…my name is Jenny."

"Jen-ny," the queen pronounced it as two distinct syllables, and with a smile, "How long are you planning on keeping me here?"

"I'm just a nurse miss. I work for Doctor MacKenzie. I don't know what the Colonel plans to do with you." Jenny shrugged almost apolitically.

Cain had changed clothing with seemingly no modesty or concern for who might be watching, "I know what they plan for you, Wraith." He presented himself at the entrance of his enclosure, and watched as Jenny fumbled with the door controls.

The Queen's eyes flashed, ground-eating strides bringing her to the door of her cell. Her voice was measured, calm, but had an undertone of mockery, "Oh, I can guess. I imagine your fate will be much kinder. Agi have no history with the humans, and weapons comparable to Wraith. They need you."

Images flashed through the Queen's mind: her cage, and the human who so generously donated himself to her survival, Cain's voice whispered there as well, Perhaps they are not the only ones.

Even as this happened the Agi turned to Jenny, " My name, is Cain, Jenny Pascall. And yes, I can read your mind as you put it." He gestured at the door and the increasingly nervous looking marines stationed there, "But I believe you were supposed to take me somewhere? More comfortable accommodations?" Cain smiled. To the Wraith Queen, it looked like the smile of the proverbial "cat that had gotten the canary", though neither of the aliens knew that particular phrase. To Jenny the smile was comforting and kind, somebody who knew he could be unnerving and was trying not to be. To the marines the smile looked like that of a predator that had its prey dead-to-rights and so saw no reason not to play with it's food before eating it.

"Yes," she said, her eyes wide, "If you would come with me?" She turned and led him out of the detention wing, the guards falling in around them. Jenny glanced back as the door was sliding shut to see the Queen standing in the nearest corner of her cell, watching them with her head canted to one side, the very picture of confusion, her hands pressed flat against the field.

She led her small group down the halls, explaining some of the basics of where they were, and pointedly ignoring the uncomfortable glances from the Marines, "The city is called Atlantis, though we are not the ones that built it, it's Ancient made. We're not even the first Earth crew to work here in the Pegasus galaxy. There was another team in another, very similar city to this one, but they have all gone back home. Actually, that makes this Atlantis Base 2, but we just call it Atlantis for simplicity's sake. We arrived in this city almost two years ago, and it is now our home, at least…for the time being. Stop looking at me like that Bradshaw, he's a mind reader…he probably already knows all of this. It can't hurt to be polite."

A moment later, Cain found himself presented with a rather large room with a high ceiling. A bed, couch, small table, and a couple of chairs provided comfortable furnishings. In fact, it could have been considered a rather nice set of quarters, though the observation windows running along the entire top third of the room were a jarring tell. This was not a luxury apartment, just another form of cell.

Cain stood in the middle of the room and looked around taking in the large furnishings and the observation windows. "It appears a most comfortable cell. Thank you for the consideration, however forced and minimal it may be."

Jenny smiled though she was not sure if that was the correct response, "There will be marines outside if you need anything."

"I'm sure they will be."

.o0o.

The night passed swiftly for some, fitfully for others. Samantha dreamed of mind reading security breaches. Malcom dreamed of totally alien cultures to study. Kenna and Monique had almost the same dream- a world where things moved because you wanted them to, and no other reason. For one it was a dream, the other a fun-house nightmare where logic no longer applied. Bradshaw dreamed of pretty girls and tropical beaches. Jenny dreamed of Wraith. The Queen dreamed of turning the tables on her captors, of power, of food.

Cain dreamed with all of them. And in the morning he decided he wanted to see what this city, this Atlantis, looked like. And, so he left- the marines snoring softly behind him.

.o0o.

The queen awoke to a present in her cell, one of the marines was watching as a doctor moved through the door. He carried one of the stolen wraith weapons, and had apparently underestimated how long a blast would keep her out.

She lashed out, sweeping the marine's legs out from under him. He fell quickly, the stunner firing on the way down. The blue bolt whizzed past her ear as she rolled to a crouch and pinned him, pressing her right hand to his chest as she began to Feed. The nurse screamed and marines poured into the room. The encounter lasted only seconds, ending with one barely alive marine, and one very stunned wraith.

She awoke fifteen minutes later, the hang-over effect of the stunning fading quickly. The Queen felt better than she had since being taken prisoner, and smiled to herself as she took a deep breath and relished her non broken ribs. Today was looking better, and it had only begun.

.o0o.

Samantha was having a good morning. Despite the dreams of the night before, the stranger was still in his lockup. She'd checked with the guards several times and they had reported no activity. And in spite of the meeting with the senior staff that Dr. Day had called to discuss the Agi and their other new guest, she was still in a good mood.

And then her radio clicked. A brief moment for raised eyes and soft swearing, then she clicked it on, "Go."

"Sir, We've had another attack in the detention wing. Marconis is in med bay, the attack didn't kill him but I don't think he's what we'd call fit-for-duty anymore."

Moments later, the door slid open and the Colonel burst into the detention wing, pistol in hand.

The queen stood quickly, her hands spread wide, "Are you to be my executioner?"

"Get against the wall, back to the bars," the Colonel's voice was so cold, that the Wraith blinked in surprise. When the wraith did not move immediately, the Colonel fired a round at her feet, "MOVE."

Unable to do much to defend her self, and not wanting to be shot again, the Queen moved smoothly to the wall, and sat, her back against the field. The field clicked off a moment later, and she felt metal cuffs cinch around her wrists.

The door to the cell slid open and Colonel Aaren stormed inside.

"Now what am I going to do with you? You've killed one of my men and hospitalized another. And you've only been here for a day. I must tell you, if this is what I can expect in the future you're not worth hanging onto." The pistol snapped up and centered between the queen's eyes, "So, what am I going to do with you?"

"I took what I needed to survive," she said quietly, her eyes focused past the muzzle of the pistol and on the Colonel's face, "I was injured, if I did not Feed, I would not be here right now. While I don't like the idea of being kept in this box until I starve, it's mildly better than being left alone on a wrecked Hive floating dead through space. I know how it hurts to loose men," her gaze hardened for a moment, then she relaxed against the wall, her head leaning back, eyes closed, "trust me."

Colonel Aaren blinked, "I believe you do. What the Hell happened out there?"

The Queen stayed quiet for a long moment, eyes closed. When she spoke, her voice was measured, as though she had to detach herself from the meaning of the words to get them out, "I was to meet with the Queen of the larger Hive. We were to make negotiations on an Alliance. I boarded her vessel, and was making my case when I sensed another ship. A moment later my Hive was destroyed. All of my Wraith….died…at once," her eyes opened, focused on the human, willing the Colonel to understand.

"A Queen is connected with her Wraith, and her Hive," she paused a moment, her eyes closing again as she drew a slow breath. Her features set, and she continued, stronger, "The Agi came, and extinguished them in an instant. I woke up here." She curled her lip, exposing fangs as she cast a glance around the room, her yellow green gaze once again settling on the Colonel, "I don't know how I came to be injured, and you know the rest."

Samantha nodded slowly trying to decide whether or not she really wanted to be empathizing with this creature, and carefully not examining weather or not she had a choice. "You eat one more of my men, and I shoot you. No questions, no explanations. Just bang, goodnight. You get me?"

The Wraith looked at the Colonel for a moment, her face unreadable, then a small smile quirked the corner of her mouth, "I get you. But eventually I will need to Feed, surely you must understand that? All things need to eat. I have no hibernation pod here, I cannot Sleep through your lifetime."

The Colonel's radio clicked for her attention again, she was really beginning to hate that thing. For the moment she ignored it and focused on the Wraith in front of her, "Yeah well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it. Until then, no more eating, no more problems." And she turned and stormed out.

.o0o.

Kenna MacKenzie and Monique Russell were deep in argument over the viability of psychic powers, leaving Malcom Day to stare at the empty seat where Samantha should have been and cursing the five minutes of inattentiveness that had removed him from his dig in South America and landed him behind a desk; a desk that had eventually landed him here, trying to ride hard on geniuses and military officers.

It was the silence that snapped him out of his reverie. Nothing got Dr. Russell to shut-up except victory or the total derailment of her mental juggernaut. Looking up he discovered it was in fact option two. As somehow the man who was supposed to be in lock up was standing in their conference room examining the view from their windows.

Day shook himself and started half out of his chair, his mind busily trying to decide if it was an anthropologist or administrator that day. In the board room the administrator won out.

"What are you doing here?" Day tried to sound furious but the best he could manage was confused.

"Haggling." Their strange, supposed prisoner replied without turning from the window.

"Haggling... Over what? With who?"

"With you, and Colonel Aaren. Though she seems to be absent."

"What are... what?" Day was losing his train of thought. There was just something about the man that was distracting.

"Your proposal was that you lock me away with no regard for my wishes. My counter is that I go where I want with no regard for your wishes." Cain turned away from the windows, "Are you unfamiliar with haggling?"

"Of course I know about haggling," Day frowned, "But how did you get here? Look on the monitor…there are four men outside your door."

Dr. Russell turned to Cain, held up a scanner, and pressed the button. Her face fell when no internal power sources were detected, and she turned and immediately started working her next theory up on her tablet computer.

Cain stared at Dr. Russell for a moment, then seemed to be suppressing laughter and only partially succeeding. Fortunately the good doctor was so engrossed with her new project that she was the only one in the room to miss Cain's attempt at politeness.

Getting himself back under control he focused himself back on Dr. Day, "Their minds are weaker than mine. They saw what I wished them to see. You may be able to kill me Malcom Day, but you cannot hold me." Cain's eyes unfocused for a moment then he snapped back to the here and now, "I should leave you to your meeting. If you're looking for Samantha, she's in the detention wing, threatening... and sympathizing with the Wraith. But she's about done now so if you call her she will come." Cain gave a peculiar sort of gesture that gave all the impressions of a bow without ever actually compromising his center of balance, and vanished out the door that he had presumably used to gain access to Day's office.

Dr. Day looked out the door where his "prisoner" had gone, his face perplexed. Then he activated his radio, "Jenny, I need you in my office, now. Colonel Aaren, when you are done in the detention center, join us in the meeting that started five minutes ago…there have been some interesting developments."

A few moments later Samantha dragged Jenny into the meeting room, "I found this outside, somebody want to tell me what's going on?"

Day looked up, "That's what I'd like to know Colonel. I just had a visit from the prisoner that you assured me was secure. How did that happen Colonel?"

Samantha blanched, having flashbacks to the nightmares of the previous evenings, "The Agi? He was here?"

"Cain." Both of the senior staff members stared at the young nurse who shrank slightly into her own skin.

"Excuse me?" Day leaned forward looking vaguely predatory.

"His name. It's Cain."

Day smiled, this might work even better than he thought it would.

"You've been talking with him?" Samantha asked, her mind working furiously as she thought of the telepath in the same room as Day. The security and intelligence risks compounded in her head made her feel a little weak in the knees.

"Well…yeah. He's not that bad," she looked down at her shoes for a moment, feeling very small under the eyes of her superiors, "He, uh, he's glad to have a better room. I don't blame him; the prison area isn't exactly friendly. Not- not that it's supposed to be!" She blushed scarlet, absently tugging her long brown braid that had fallen in front of her shoulder.

"Are you on friendly terms with him?" Dr. Day asked politely, trying not to sound too eager.

"Friendly enough I suppose. Why Sir?"

"I have an assignment for you…"

"That's all fine and good," Samantha was beginning to look a bit panicky, "But where is the… Where is Cain now?"

.o0o.

Cain walked back in to the detention wing. He had been all over the tower, examined the living spaces, and spent several hours watching the so-called Stargate. The people going in and out were very serious. They came back from many places. They were worried, about the Wraith, about someplace called Earth. And now he wanted to talk to somebody with some perspective, somebody who knew more about this place, somebody like Queenie the Wraith. So he stood before her cage as she sat and rested.

"They are afraid of you. You are locked in here and cannot harm them, but they are afraid of you. Or the concept of you."

"Cain," she remained seated, her eyes closed, "you came to visit me. I'm flattered. Doing well with the humans?"

Cain glanced around then sat down on the floor. "Well enough. They put me in a nicer cage. Yourself?"

She quirked a brow ridge at him and cracked open one eye, "Apparently not a very good cage. Do they know you're here with me?" She inclined her head to the security camera in the corner.

Cain glanced up at it, "If they don't know now they will soon. I could disable it but that would be just as obvious. I imagine they will have some things to say to me." he shrugged.

She threw back her head and laughed, "Indeed," she stood and approached the wall, "Well then, we may not have much time. I don't think they fear me at the moment, as I can't get out. They fear Wraith. They fear us because they know that if we get to their home planet, their Earth, that there is nothing they will be able to do to stop us."

Cain cocked his head to one side, "Could they not just leave? The histories tell us that our home world was destroyed in a great war. We simply moved on."

"From what I understand, they aren't the kind of culture that would just leave. But even if they did, who knows what else might be on neighboring planets?" her eyes looked far away for a moment, a small smile playing about her lips.

"There you are!" Jenny entered the brig, "You're a hard man to follow. Oh, sorry. Dr. Day has assigned me to keep you company during your stay in Atlantis."

Cain blinked, "He what?" his voice was dead-pan, the wraith chuckled, "Oh yes, very amusing." Cain turned and examined the girl again then sighed and muttered to him self, "So negotiations continue."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand you," Jenny said, reading his tone, and knowing she wasn't really welcome. She smiled weakly, looking to the wraith, "Can you understand him?"

The Queen quirked a brow ridge, "I seem to understand what he wants me to."

Cain sighed and for a moment felt a little guilty. When he spoke again he was understood by all, "Well, pull up a patch of floor. We are having a discussion on why humans are afraid of Wraiths. And how that relates to our," Cain gestured to indicate the wraith and himself, "current position."

Jenny nodded, and sat cross-legged on the floor, "This should be interesting."

The Queen turned to Jenny, "I was telling him that you humans fear Wraith because you are our prey. You Atlantis humans fear us especially because you are from a far richer feeding ground, and it's only a matter of time before we find out how to get there." There was no threat in her words, just simple fact. It would happen, and the Wraith were a patient race.

Jenny nodded, "Sounds about right."

"Which leads to why you are so interested in me, because my people can face the Wraith on equal terms. But we will see both the Wraith and the humans of Atlantis as our prey, though we look for very different reasons than the Wraith." Cain looked thoughtful as he spoke in similar tones as the queen.

Jenny marveled at the conversation that she was having with two people talking quite calmly about destroying both her and each other, with no malice or ire.

She briefly wondered where the video feed would end up, and what sort of debriefing she would have to go through after being witness to this conversation.

"And what is it that you seek?" the Queen growled, "What was it that you wanted so dearly to necessitate the killing of my Hive?"

Cain looked at the queen for a moment, "What necessitated the destruction of your hive was good tactics. There were two of you and one of us. We could not take both. Both ships looked the same, so we picked one to kill and one to loot. That is what we were after, the ship, the technology we had not seen before. Things we can sell to those not worth attacking."

"So your people are basically space Vikings? Interesting. Where do you come from?" Jenny asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

The Queen hissed, and began pacing in her cell. Part of her was absolutely furious that her Hive had died for such an inane reason; the other part was thankful that they had chosen her Hive, or both Queens would now be dead. While her High Commander was quite capable, her Hive would not do well without a Queen.

For the moment Cain chose to ignore the fuming Queen, she was having difficulty reconciling her own feelings about the death of her hive. Apparently her religion did not prepare her for death as a part of existence. Cain didn't particularly want to go digging for more information, so he chose instead to address the human. He frowned as he went looking for the meanings behind her words and what he found caused him to jerk back slightly at the cartoony, disproportionate and overly hairy men that were apparently these Vikings.

"We are not vikings. We are Agi. The difference should be obvious. And we come from the Flotilla. The Flotilla comes from... nowhere that exists any more."

Jenny looked at the Agi carefully. He was not what she imagined a Viking would be at all. That being said, he did look like he wasn't afraid to fight, and that he'd take whatever he needed without much thought to consequence. So, in a way, the Viking motif still fit, "What was it like?" she asked, referring to his home world.

The Queen stopped pacing, her posture stiff as she found herself relating to Cain. Both of them came from homes that no longer existed. She sat, smoothing down the jump suit with a small frown. The sleeves just wouldn't stay rolled up. She started to re-cuff them, then reached up to the shoulder and tore the sleeve from the offending garment. She made short work of the other as well.

"The planet of our origin was destroyed long before my time. We are taught to mourn it in concept, a Whole that has passed. But death is part of life. As for the planet itself... it was much like any other world. It had plains and deserts, forests, jungles, mountains. It had its harsh seasons and its gentle ones. Now the only part of it that remains is in the Flotilla Heart, and the memories of those now gone."

Cain paused as his eyes unfocussed and he seemed to be elsewhere for a moment. Then he smiled and looked up at the room's security camera. "You just won Dr. Russell a small amount for violence to your dress."

.o0o.

In the conference room Kenna paused in passing Monique her money, as Cain's eyes almost seemed to meet hers through the monitor. "How does he do that? I've got to get him in for a cat scan."

Monique snatched the money from Kenna's hand, "It's some sort of remote wireless method of hacking into the security feed." She glared at Dr. MacKenzie as if daring her to say otherwise.

Samantha almost sobbed, "Can we please focus for two minutes on what we're going to do with the two of them, without getting distracted by how-he-does-whatever-it-is that-both-of-you-agree-is-happening, whatever the method? Please? Just two minutes?"

"There's no security feed in this room Monique, hacking it wouldn't tell him what's happening in here. I'm adding remote viewing to the list of demonstrated powers." Kenna bent over her tablet and started making notes.

Samantha looked to Malcom with an air of desperation, "Sir, I'd like to renew my request to shoot both of them."

"He could be hacking into some Ancient security system that we aren't aware of and don't understand yet." Monique insisted stubbornly.

"Please Sir!" Samantha halfheartedly begged.

None of them were paying enough attention to see that on the monitor Cain seemed to be almost dieing of laughter.

.o0o.

Jenny couldn't help but smile as her charge doubled over in laughter, his face red as he fought to regain his breath. She didn't fully understand what was so funny, but even the implication that the folks in the control tower had had a pool going in regards to the lifespan of the jumpsuit was enough to make her chuckle.

The Queen pulled the last few loose threads, pointedly ignoring her two laughing companions as Cain regained control, stood upright and wiped his eyes with the back of a hand.

.o0o.

In the control tower, alarms went off and one of the scientists turned toward Dr. Day's office and announced, "Incoming Wormhole, we have a Stargate Command IDC."

Day nodded, "Drop the shield. Do we have transmission or incoming?"

"Looks like incoming," the tech replied.

Day sighed, "We're going to have to call this meeting short. Ladies?" He gestured at the door that let him back into the control room and his underlings followed him out. The area in front of the gate was busy as new techs, soldiers, and equipment quickly piling up to be sorted. Standing in front of them however was a man that made Day glad of his professional mask. The Doctor could almost feel Samantha snap to attention behind him, as her immediate superior General Nathan Morden climbed the steps to greet them.

It wasn't that General Morden was a bad person; he was just the original security hard-ass at the forefront of the new and disturbingly fast growing US Imperialism movement, and utterly devoid of anything remotely resembling subtlety. He believed in a sort of modern manifest destiny, that the Stargate had been placed on Earth solely for the benefit of the United States, and anything on the other side was a piñata and should be hit until the candy came out. And of course they would emerge victorious because God was on their side.

One would call him delusional if not for the fact that he was one of the modern worlds great tactical geniuses and all of his attitudes had been remarkably successful so far... at least in the absence of public opinion.

"General Mordan, welcome to Atlantis. I trust your trip was pleasant?" Dr. Day held out his hand in greeting.

The General nodded to both Dr. Day and Colonel Aaren, briefly clasping hands with the doctor, "I read in your last report that you have a female Wraith and a very strange human. You can brief me along the way."

With that the General strode past them and headed down the hall toward the detention wing.

A speaker crackled to life in the detention wing, and Dr. Russell's voice came through in a hushed tone, "Jenny, you have incoming. I repeat, General Mordan is on his way…if you can get Cain back into his cell that would likely be best. He just left the tower, you have thirty seconds or so until he gets there."

Jenny made a face and turned to Cain, "Well you heard the Doctor, lets go!"

Cain blinked at her, "What did the speaker say?"

Everybody in the room paused, "You couldn't understand that? But you understand what I say!"

"Words give shape to thoughts. Your thoughts I understand, the meaning, the intention behind your words. Not the words themselves. No meaning, no mind for me to look into, no understanding. Now what did she say?"

"I'll explain later, for now we have to..." Jenny trailed off as the door to the detention wing opened and there stood the command staff with General Morden.

Jenny thought really hard about Cain walking back into his cell, and hoped he'd catch on as she turned to the General, "General, what a surprise…"

"Why is he out here?"

"Sir?"

The Queen stood in the nearest corner of her cell, hands loosely clasped behind her back, amusement plain on her features as she watched the General's glare switch back and forth between Cain and Jenny.

General Morden was furious, what exactly this boy was capable of was unclear, but having any prisoner, especially one as uncooperative as this one had been, out of a cage sent exactly the wrong message.

"Colonel, why is the prisoner out of its cage?"

Colonel Aaren swallowed hard before replying, "Sir, the prisoner, Cain, is part of a people who have technology enough to take out Wraith Hive ships without much trouble. I thought that he would be a better ally than a prisoner. He has been moved into one of the furnished observation chambers, and Miss Pascall here is to accompany him at all times."

The General rounded on the Colonel, "Has he made any overtures of alliance with us? Has he given us any of the miracle technology, has he even explained what it is he does or how he does it? No! We reward cooperation. Not threats. Which according to your reports is all he's given us. Lieutenant!"

Bradshaw snapped to attention, "Sir!"

"Secure the prisoner! Now!"

Cain tensed. His mind expanded explosively, and he became aware of everything around him. He knew that the General had forgotten to turn off the stove before he left Earth. He knew what Jenny missed most in the world was her cat, and she didn't miss her bully of an older brother at all. He saw where everybody was within ten floors of him in every direction. Everything in the room moved with just a slight almost imperceptible resistance as his mind lay itself like a blanket ready to tense and exert its force. His mind continued to expand until he found the mind of one of the new workers who had come over from Earth. And he relaxed.

Bradshaw had begun to pull his side arm to enforce the General's order, no matter how pointless he thought it was, or how much he disagreed with it. The rest of the marines followed suit. Then Cain raised a hand stopping all of them in their tracks, and smiled like he knew something that they did not.

"Relax Lieutenant John Bradshaw. I will go willingly."

Cain walked calmly into "his" cell across from the Queen, and Bradshaw activated the field.

The General rounded on Colonel Aaren, jerking a thumb toward the Queen who stood calmly, "You planning on letting her out as well?"

Aaren stood, stone faced as she stared straight ahead, holding her tongue.

The Queen curled her lip, "I imagine I will be here as long as the Colonel wishes to keep me…Sir."

The General snorted, "You'll be here until I decide to let you out. Now you'll answer some questions for me, or I'll wring the answers out of you."

The Colonel standing behind the general kept up an admirable stone face but the Wraith could feel her fury at the General radiating from her, so clearly... in fact it was much clearer than normal.

Do not respond to my voice. It was Cain as clear as if he was standing next to her, The General doesn't know everything he should about the people he brought with him. If you play along, I think I can get us both out of these cages.

The Queen went very still, her eyes locked on the General as she thought about what Cain's words could mean. If I tell him everything he wants to know with no trouble, he will not believe me, she thought, projecting the words as though she were communicating with her Hive.

The moment stretched on, the Wraith staring at the General, seeming to weigh her options. Then the Queen yawned hugely.

Cain smiled, at the Queen's actions but the General was significantly less amused. He went perfectly still and smiled completely without humor.

"It is in your best interests to cooperate. I know sedatives and paralytics work on your kind. I will not hesitate to use them and any other persuasive means I can come up with in order to make you talk."

No he will not believe you. He will believe you are telling lies. But I need you here, and thinking clearly if this is going to work. Tell him something, keep him busy until our prey makes its move.

The Queen nodded slightly, acknowledging Cain's request, and at the same time appearing to give slightly to the General's threat. She walked forward until she was standing as close to the wall as she could without touching it, her eyes locked on the taller man, "Let us dispense with the posturing, General," she purred, "We both know that you are well within your power to do whatever you like to me. The laws that govern you at home do not apply to Wraith. At the end of this you are planning to kill me. So where's my incentive? I reward cooperation, not threats," she spit his words back at him with a smile, her tone steel wrapped in velvet.

.o0o.

Elsewhere in the city was Brian. Brian, on paper, was a supremely boring individual. He didn't graduate at the top or the bottom of his class. He didn't have an abusive home. He was just good enough to get the job done and had a talent for keeping his mouth shut, and even that wasn't really pertinent as the only people he could talk to were already cleared for anything he could give away. All in all the most significant risk Brian posed to anybody was that they might fall asleep while reading his jacket. At least on paper.

Off of paper Brian was actually very well trained. He was one of fifty members of the Foreign World Liberation Army, or FWLA, that had managed to sneak aboard this... space station or what ever it was.

Supposedly, he was an environmental tech. This allowed him and the other four people with similar covers the perfect opportunity to plant viral bombs all throughout the ventilation system.

.o0o.

The General gritted his teeth, "Your incentive, is that I just kill you instead of torturing you to death or simply letting you starve."

Colonel Aaren braced herself for an explosion from the wraith and a long afternoon of unpleasantness. Jenny slipped out of the detention center, scurrying back to the med bay as quickly as she could, she did not want to see what the General had in store.

Instead of exploding, the Queen's tone was guarded, wary "What do you want to know?" She was visibly sizing-up the man before her, deciding how much clout his threats actually held.

"I want to know how many Wraith ships there are. I want to know their capabilities, weaknesses, and locations. I want to know how many Wraith there are on each ship. I want to know everything."

She gave him a flat look, remaining silent for a long moment. When she felt he was about to speak again, she cut him off, "Our numbers have grown in the past year, I cannot guess as to how many complete Hives are currently active."

The General growled, "You are trying my patience. If you don't know for certain, guess. You knew last year give me those numbers. I give you one more chance."

In the other cell across from the queen, where nobody was looking, Cain smiled.

Soon.

"Last year we had at least seventy five ships in our Alliance. There were more in other factions."

Colonel Aaren drew in a breath, surprised that there were so many active Hives. And if that were only part of the population…

The General began to speak and she cut him off again, "Before you continue to threaten me, I must tell you I cannot guess what I do not know. The other factions were beyond the reach of my mind. I could make something up for you, if it would make you feel better about this interrogation."

"What would make me feel good about the interrogation is you telling me what you do know. How many Wraith are on one of these hive ships."

"My Hive contained nearly eight hundred," her eyes flashed dangerously, "We still had room to grow," she turned, her face unreadable as she tried to pull some surface information from both the General and the Colonel. She started to pace and caught herself, then turned, deliberately speaking past the General and addressing the Colonel.

"Colonel Aaren, when you look at a building back in…Lon-don can you tell how many people are inside? If you were to…call the person in charge, could speaking with them allow you to know how many people were present at a given time?"

The Colonel opened her mouth to answer but the General cut her off, "You are having this conversation with me. Not the Colonel. A military ship is not the same thing as a civilian office building. Since you seem to be unwilling I will, with some enjoyment I might add, resort to persuasion." The general nodded to one of the soldiers that had come with him who immediately snapped his rifle to his chest; a rifle with an oddly large boor size. "Turn off the field."

One of the Atlantis marines dropped the field, his movements quick as he stepped back out of Wraith reach.

I've stalled him as long as I can, the Queen projected as she leaned forward slightly, lightly balancing on the balls of her bare feet, ready to fight should the opportunity present itself.

Then this is going to be unpleasant. Cain grimaced. I hope it doesn't take them too much longer.

The general gestured at the over-sized rifle, "These darts are filled with a synthetic chemical. In its current state it's completely inert. In a moment my man here is going to fire. When the chemical in the dart interacts with the oxygen in your blood stream, it will become a thermocaustic. In other words, the combination of your body heat and blood-oxygen will cause it to eat through your veins. Now a human would melt from a single dose of this. I'm told your somewhat tougher than us, so we have a betting pool as to how long it will take for you to go. Fire when ready."

There was a soft hiss and a thump as the dart hit. Cain winced and the rest of the room held its breath.

She stared at the dart protruding from her chest, the moment stretching on impossibly long. Then the fire began to spread. It burned like nothing she had ever encountered before, the pain bringing her to her knees. Her breath hissed through clenched teeth as she doubled over.

The Queen was still for several heartbeats, her breathing shallow. If she had been human, she would have been dead within the first few seconds.

Colonel Aaren found herself holding her breath, hoping that the General had not just killed her prisoner. There was a lot she could still learn from the Queen. Why was she so still? A low, dry hissing sound escaped the Queen, and the Colonel's skin began to crawl when realized what she was hearing: laughter.

The Queen's head snapped up, her pupils hugely dilated as she snarled, lashing out with her mind and bringing the General to his knees. She stood, deliberately keeping him lower than her as she tore the dart from her chest and tossed it aside. She was in horrible pain, but she hid it well as she drew herself up to her full height. It would have been easy to simply slip away into oblivion, but she could feel the effects of the dart lessening by the moment. Darkness threatened the edges of her vision, and she let go of her hold on the General.

The General coughed for a moment then rose back to his feet looking remarkably unperturbed if a little short of breath, "If she does that again. Pump three into her. If that doesn't melt her... shoot her until it does. Now are we feeling more cooperative? I can repeat the questions if you like?"

.o0o.

Brian was leaning against a railing, pretending to listen to the female marine that had been assigned to show him around and make sure he didn't wander into anywhere he wasn't supposed to be. At the moment she was looking out over the view, and so didn't notice him check his watch again, then reach under his over sized pull-over hoodie and pull out the gun and the gas mask.

"I'm sorry Corporal Watcher."

"I told you to call me Emily..." What ever else she might have been about to say got cut off as Brian shot her.

He pulled on his gas mask, pulled out his remote detonator, and pushed the button. For a moment nothing seemed to happen. The effect was quiet but effective as the air system pumped the viral agent around the facility people dropped in their tracks. A few moments later the power all over the station cut out. Brian sighed, time to address his new prisoners.

"We are the Foreign World Liberation Army. We have taken control of this facility. Any area that's part of the central air system has been disabled. Which means if you are hearing this you are in either the medical bay or the detention wing. We advise you not to leave or open the door, as doing so would let the virus in. We have also cut power, your automated defenses have been rendered useless. You are cut out of your own systems. If you do not provide us with the control passwords to access the Stargate systems one of several Naquada bombs that have been planted throughout this facility will be detonated. If you wait too long to give us these passwords the virus will kill all those exposed. We await your communications. You have three hours."

In the darkness of the detention wing, Cain laughed.

Lack of light was not a problem for the Queen. The shapes of the soldiers stood out hotly in her blue scale vision as she moved silently to the side, off line of the soldier with the dart gun.

Colonel Aaren reached into her pocket and pulled a glow stick. She cracked it, bathing the area in green chemical light as she looked to her superior, "What now Sir?"

Remembering Cain's earlier trouble with the speaker system, the Queen projected the words as though she were communicating to the Hive, assuming that he would be able to hear her. She finished quickly, slipping into the darkness of the back corner of her cell, beyond the range of the chemical light. Her eyes shone in the darkness, their soft blue light the only thing that gave way that there was anyone in the cell. The fire continued to fade, what now? she projected, unconsciously echoing the words of the Colonel.

Now we wait for a moment then I make my pitch.

The general spent the next several minuets along with the rest of the staff trying to raise somebody, anybody, anywhere else in the city. Nobody responded.

"You have a problem general. You can't go outside. You can't retake your city. You can't give into their demands. You can't let all your people die." Cain spoke softly he was sitting cross legged on the floor his fingers steepled in front of his face. He spoke with authority, his was the tone of a man in control. "You really only have one option. General."

"Does it involve shooting you?" the general growled.

"No. It involves letting us go, and allowing us to solve this little insurrection for you."

The Queen closed her eyes, allowing the darkness to hide her completely, listening as Cain made a bid for their freedom.

The General stared at Cain as though some sort of foreign species he had never seen before, which as far as Cain was concerned, he was.

He could hear the Colonel's mind running in circles, about how the General was never going to go for this. About how this was probably their best shot for survival and the hide-bound reactionary moron was going to get them all killed. About...

"What do you think of the idea Colonel?"

Cain smiled at the delightful screeching sound the Colonel's mind made when it ground to a halt with the general's question.

Colonel Aaren cleared her throat, gathering her thoughts quickly, "Well Sir, tactically, what he says makes sense. If the virus is engineered to hurt humans, we're pretty much stuck here and at their mercy. Doctor MacKenzie said that Cain here looks human, but is made differently. It's likely he wouldn't be affected, and I doubt that they engineered this for Wraith," as there aren't Wraith on Earth, and your incompetence brought in an Earth team of terrorists who may have just killed most of my city, "Cain spent the afternoon around the city, and we had no incidences. He looks a bit of a scrapper, I think he could help us out."

"And the Wraith? You aren't about to propose we let it out?" the General's growl was unmistakable.

Aaren looked to the darkness in the back of the Queen's cage, and for a moment she saw the glint of a savage smile.

"There are fifty terrorists in this city. If you think I can kill that many alone I am flattered- but I can't. I'll need her help. Of course, you could choose to leave us in here. In which case you will all die, and I'll break myself out- maybe the Wraith too. I'll hand this city, all its records, and the Stargate over to my people. Maybe we'll cut a deal with the Wraith for the coordinates of Earth in exchange for their technology. What do you think my Queen, that sound like something that might interest your people?"

"Indeed," she breathed, seeming to materialize from the darkness as she stepped forward, "There are many Wraith who would give everything to get to the new Feeding Grounds. The Primary would be a fool to ignore an offer like that."

"Fifty? General, how many came though in your team?" Colonel Aaren barely managed to disguise the shock in her voice.

"We are not having this conversation," Mordan snapped.

The General paced back and forth in the detention wing, considering his options. "Fine, let them out. If either one of those... people, tries anything other than leaving the wing. Shoot them until they stop moving." The General paused then pointed at the Wraith, "That one gets the dart gun. Let them out."

Cain smiled, stood and stretched, then pushed open the door to his own cell before anybody else could reach it, and extended his arm to the Queen in a remarkably Earth-like gesture. "The good general has offered you a meal to make up for injuring you. Shall we go and get it?"

She stepped out of the cell, closing her eyes briefly as she passed the threshold. The Queen growled softly, nodding as she stepped past Cain. She stopped on front of the General, close enough to touch him, her hands held low by her sides. She looked him up and down, wanting nothing more than to tear the man before her limb from limb. Instead, she paused, pinning him with her gaze, somehow giving the impression that she was looking down on him despite his standing half a head taller. She then deliberately turned her back on him, and strode to the door.

Cain paused on the threshold looking down on at his arm then over at Colonel Araen, "Am I not doing the gesture right?"

The Colonel frowned, "Why would you assume that I know how to offer a lady an arm? It's not something I have a lot of experience with."

Because you were imagining me, or somebody very much like me offering you an arm like this earlier today. Cain laughed and followed the Wraith Queen out.

The door sealed shut behind them, leaving the Wraith and the Agi alone in the blackness of the hall. She turned to him, her eyes shining in the dark, "Thank you," she said quietly, "I won't forget this."

Then she closed her eyes, reaching out with her senses, feeling the life force of the terrorists a floor above them, "This way," she turned, her bare feet silent as she trotted quickly down the hall.

Cain didn't move, his own eye's closed, "You go on ahead. There's somebody else I have to see. I'll catch up."

She nodded then rounded the corner, padding up a staircase as she drew closer to her prey.

The Queen crouched low in the darkness of the stairs, watching the men as they moved restlessly around the room. Her hunger burned almost as badly as the fire from the dart had, her need to feed and regain the strength she had lost was just on the edge of control. She flexed her right hand, the feeding slit opening with anticipation. She counted six in the room, and their nervous energy was intoxicating. They knew they were in charge, and everything was going well, but that did not change the fact that the strange masks they wore were all that kept them from their own virus.

They moved in pairs, taking circuits of the Gateroom, checking each corridor as they passed. She waited until one pair was right in front of her, then reached out and brushed their minds. They saw a wisp, a shadow…something move in the darkness of the stairs, beyond the reach of the weak sunlight that filtered in through the stained glass windows. One looked to the other, then they both stepped closer to check it out.

She grabbed the first one and pinned him against the wall, the breath leaving him from the force of the impact as she started to feed. The second one drew a pistol, but before he was able to fire, the Queen reached over with her free hand and casually stripped the mask from his face. He gasped once, then slumped to the floor.

.o0o.

Cain watched as the man with the detonator paced back and forth. Every so often he would look at his watch then resume pacing. The Agi walked past the man to the woman on the ground and knelt beside her. She was firmly in the grip of the virus, but it was unlikely that the virus would ever get the chance to kill her; the sucking chest wound would to it first. Cain considered for a moment then lay his hands over the wound.

Brian started, and for a moment he tried to determine what had alerted him that something was wrong, he then realized that it was the absence of sound that had attracted his attention. The corporal was no longer wheezing and rattling. He spun and found a man standing over her, he wore no gas mask yet seemed unaffected by the virus.

The man looked at Brian and frowned, You are an unpleasant little creature. The words echoed in Brian's head though the man's mouth did not move. Your mind is a disgusting place. I think you should become better acquainted with what's hiding in there.

Then the man seemed to twitch and spasm as a huge multi segmented leg ripped it's way out of his side. Followed by another one, and another. In a moment the man was gone and a giant spider scuttled across the deck at him. Brian screamed and started shooting at the spider. He hit it. He could see that he hit it and out of each of those bullet holes thousands of tiny spiders crawled and flooded towards him.

Cain watched as the man called Brian thrashed screaming on the ground as his own imagination plagued him with his worst fears made real. Corporal Emily Watcher breathed easy, her bullet wounds closed. Cain left her with the screaming terrorist, there were many more for him to vent his anger upon. Plus, he couldn't let the Wraith Queen have all the fun.

.o0o.

"And that should do it!" Dr. Russell said as she punched in the final key-strokes, then turned her tablet so the others could see the newly reactivated Gateroom security feed. Her companions blanched, and she turned the screen so she could see as well. The Wraith was in the Gateroom, bent over one of the gas masked men. They could see his feet kicking weekly as she fed, then he was still. She jerked as a hole exploded out the back of her left shoulder, followed by another. Her head whipped around and she focused on something beyond the view of the camera.

She stood, another four holes peppering the front of the already bloody jumpsuit as she picked up the remains of the former terrorist and bodily threw him out of sight. The shots stopped.

Doctors Russell and Mackenzie, along with Jenny and another nurse watched in horror as the Queen turned, swayed a bit, then straightened as she ascended the stairs toward the main controls of the city. She went straight for the DHD, sure hands entering a Gate address. She didn't look particularly surprised when the Gate remained dark, and instead turned toward the nearest marine who was slumped over the control panel. She looked at him for a long moment, and the collective audience groaned at the screen, knowing that they were about to witness the death of one of their own.

She reached out, taking the marine by the shoulders and tipping him back in his chair. His arms hung loosely at his sides, his head lolling back and neatly presenting his chest. The Queen appeared to caress the unconscious man, trailing the back of her hand down the side of his face. Then, remarkably, she turned away and raised her hand to the side of her own head, tucking something beneath her hair.

"Who is listening?" A voice that was decidedly not human spoke over the headset, and the Medbay let out a collective breath when they realized that the Queen had been lifting the Marine's radio.

"This is Doctor Mackenzie, I dun know if those in the holding cells can hear yeh but medlab reads you loud and clear."

.o0o.

Cain was collecting bodies; mentally commanding them to sleep, throwing swift blows to the back of the head, and telekinetically slamming them in to walls. All very efficient means to render someone unconscious without actually killing them. The Queen had need of food and Cain had a plan to get on everybody's good side.

.o0o.

There was a brief pause before the radio crackled to life once again, "Colonel Aaren and General Mordan cannot hear us. We had to open the doors to get out. They have been…exposed."

The Queen turned and looked directly into one of the security cameras, "Your Gateroom is clear, where do I go-" she cut off, the video feed showing her staring down at one of the lower halls with an intensity that was startling, even on a wraith.

Monique quickly switched the video feeds, choosing a camera that was placed further back, showing a wide view of both the control platform, and the hall that lead onto the deck in front of the Gate. A moment later a group of men rushed into the room, guns drawn, their postures practically radiating uncertainty. Over the headset, both doctors could hear the Queen breathing lightly as the men passed below her, though she could not be seen from the current camera.

A moment later, the wraith vaulted the railing and dropped nearly twenty feet down to the deck, landing on one of the men. Then the screaming started. Monique shared a grimace with Kenna, glad that the nurses were being spared the sounds of the chaos that they were hearing through the Queen's open mic. One look at their pale faces told the Doctors that the "silent movie" version was already too graphic for them.

These men, Cain decided, were not incompetent. They actually seemed to be very well trained and any seeming of incompetence had sprung from having no clue really of what they were up against. Cain watched the charge into the Gateroom from his hiding place up against one wall, and watched the Queen descend from where she had hidden herself. It was quickly obvious to anybody who had seen her work-over the others that they had no hope of winning. They had to know this, and if they weren't incompetent... then where... Cain smiled as he found his prey, and the sniper burst into flames.

She grabbed the nearest human, twisting his arm and bringing him to the ground as the remaining two closed in on her. She was vaguely aware of the sound of a knife leaving a scabbard as she snapped the neck of the one she had forced down. She turned and struck with the heel of her hand, effectively punting the second terrorist away from her.

There was a flash of light accompanied by a wave of heat to her left, and she spun to see a prone human who had burst into flames about the same time she heard the gleeful laughter of Cain. Distracted by the abrupt fire and the presence of her Agi companion, she didn't turn quickly enough to reengage the last terrorist. He struck her from behind, sinking the full seven inches of his combat blade into the space between her shoulder blades. She dropped without a sound, and lay still.

Cain paused. The queen dropping was unexpected.

The last few terrorists stopped for a moment almost unable to believe that the monster in their midst had stopped killing them. They approached cautiously, nervous laughter bubbling up their throats, emerging as full-throated maniacal laughter. They had lived, they were victorious and they had lived! It was then that Ted, the one farthest to the right, caught on fire.

Cain leaped the full length of the room borrowing the Wraith Queen's tactics and landed on the second terrorist. He turned as the third raised his knife to stab the new threat only to find Cain's hand in his face. They both froze for a moment then the terrorist slumped to the ground.

Cain was breathing hard, he had used a lot of energy during the fight, and now he was contemplating using up the rest of his reserve. He sighed and knelt down next to the Wraith.

"If you eat me, I will be very upset." He took a deep breath and Healed the Wraith Queen, then passed out on top of her. Unknowingly imitating the exact pose that the Atlantis station personnel had found them in, in the first place.

The first thing she was aware of was a weight across her back. The room was silent except for the soft crackling of dying flames. There was no gunfire, there were no shouts. Silence. Then there was a voice, "They're both down… Well I don't know, he just slumped over."

She opened her eyes slowly, spying a long knife covered in black blood laying just to her right. The voices continued to argue in the back of her head, their tones growing more and more anxious. She shifted, and the weight remained solidly across her back. Her wounds were healed, though she did not remember Feeding. She started to rise, feeling the weight slide off to the side. The Agi slipped limply to the floor.

The headset became more persistent, "What's going on out there? Hello? Answer me!"

"I am busy." she snarled into the com through clenched teeth, and was rewarded with a stunned silence.

She looked Cain over, seeing no obvious injuries. She touched him with her mind and found nothing. Frowning, the Queen stood, surveying the area. None of the terrorists in the Gateroom were left standing, so she bent and picked up Cain, lifting him easily despite his greater mass.

"Now you may speak," she said quietly into the com, "Doctor MacKenzie, where are you? Guide me."

A few minutes later, the Queen stood outside the closed infirmary door.

Kenna and Monique were arguing with the sort of frenetic energy and force of personality that had caused most of the medical staff to retreat to far corners. And as though that were not enough, what they were arguing about was exposing the med bay to the virus outside.

"I'm telling you the virus is gone. This isn't Ebola and anything else is going to have died without a host. The risk of air born infection is almost nill," Kenna was speaking in careful modulated tones.

Monique on the other hand was almost shouting, "What about other vectors? What about infection from those already infected?"

"Well unless these people are completely stupid, which the evidence would suggest that they aren't, it won't be transmittable by other vectors since they only bothered to shield against airborne exposure."

"But you can't know."

"No I don't, but the only way to help those people out there is to open that door and go out there. Now open it or I'll start experimenting on YOU."

"Fine fine," Monique backed down, grumbling as she hooked her pad into the door mechanism, "but if we all catch this and die I'm holding you responsible."

The door slid open, revealing the Queen still cradling the unconscious Agi. She walked into the infirmary, scattering the terrified looking nurses and laid Cain down on the nearest open bed. She stepped back, allowing the doctor room to step in and look at her newest patient.

Monique Russell stared open mouthed at the state of the Wraith's jump suit. She hadn't believed it possible for a Wraith to take that much damage and survive. She had no idea how many people the life-sucking alien must have drained to still be up and moving; she gave up counting bullet holes when she got to thirty. The Queen's pacing didn't help at all with the accurate assessment of damage taken.

Deciding it was something that she didn't really want to think about too hard, she turned her attention to the problem at hand, "Well now what? How do we cure the rest of them?"

Kenna frowned, "I don't know... what we need is more time to work on this..." the Doctor smiled in a way that would have made anybody who had worked with her in the UN start worrying, "and I think I know how to get it." She turned to the Wraith, "The enzyme you release before you feed, can you release it without feeding?"

The Queen stopped pacing and gave the doctor an appraising look, the meaning of her question not lost on the Wraith, "You mean to use the Enzyme to keep your people strong long enough to find a cure?"

"I think it should work, provided that you can produce the enzyme without actually feeding."

The Queen nodded, and took one more look at Cain before exiting the room. She headed back to the prison wing, the dark skinned Atlantis human trailing her.

"You can do it…without feeding…right?" Doctor Russell asked, paling as the Queen shot her a glare.

"With concentration," came the snarled reply.

The Wraith knelt next to the Colonel and pressed her hand into her chest. A moment later Samantha's back arched, her eyes snapped opened and she gasped, then fell back to the floor. She lay there for a moment, simply dazed.

Later Doctor Russell would insist that she could pinpoint the exact moment when the Colonel realized that there was a Wraith with a hand to her chest. The Colonel's eyes widened as she slipped out from under the hand, twisted her arm up behind the Queen, and pushed her attacker's head down to the ground. A moment after that, the rest of the Colonel's brain caught up and she realized that this was her Wraith, she wasn't any older, and in fact felt better than she had... possibly ever. She got up looking slightly embarrassed, "Um, sorry about that."

The Queen righted herself, wiping the back of a hand across her mouth where a fang had split her lip, her face unreadable as she reassessed the Colonel. The female was definitely well appointed as a leader to her people, and both stronger and faster than she looked. The Queen could see that the enzyme had worked as the doctor had hoped, for that the woman in front of her was absolutely brimming with life.

A brief smile flashed across the wraith's features, exposing way too many fangs, "I would have done the same were our positions reversed." With that, she turned and quit the room.

The Colonel blinked, "Hold up, we've got more in here that need... treatment."

The Queen stopped in the doorway and looked over her shoulder at the General who lay on the floor. She curled her lip, scorn written plainly on her features, "There is only one thing I would do to that one, and then you'll shoot me," green eyes flicked downward to her many holed jump suit before resettling on the Colonel, "I'm done being shot."

One of the colonel's eyebrows arched, "I'm glad to hear that. Now fix him."

Doctor Russell cringed as the Queen's eyes narrowed dangerously. The Wraith looked ready to simply leave despite the Colonel's orders. The wraith even went so far as to shift her weight in the direction of the door before the Colonel's hand moved to rest on her side arm.

The Queen's shoulders stiffened, then she moved smoothly, her eyes remaining on the Colonel as she knelt down by the man that had caused her so much agony not half an hour before. She looked down at him, her face unreadable as she tore open the top of his BDU with more force than was strictly necessary. She then leaned over him, her right hand poised. It was at this point that she paused, eyes sliding back to the Colonel once more.

She flexed her right hand, feeling the enzyme slick her palm, then she slammed her feeding hand down on the General's chest.