This is told as if an episode from the Stargate Atlantis series. This is only a portion of the "episode" thereby, the episode has not been completed yet, making this only the first "chapter" of the fictional episode "The Chosen One." It includes all members of Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard's team: Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, and Dr. Rodney McKay. It will also feature Dr. Richard Woolsey, Jennifer Keller, and two original Wraith characters whom have not been officially 'named' yet. Their names will be revealed in the following 'chapter' of this 'episode.'


"Now, why exactly are we going to this planet again? I thought it was uninhabited, and why aren't we taking a Jumper?" Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard asked.

"Yes, you are correct. It is uninhabited. We received an faint energy signature emitting from the surface of the planet using the long range sensors. Thus, we need to go and see what's going on. The walk isn't too far from the Stargate," Doctor Rodney Mckay explained rapidly.

"You're saying we don't need a Jumper?" Sheppard questioned in surprise with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, of course. Is that not normal?" Rodney answered feeling rather puzzled. Sheppard gave a small fake smile with a nod of the head.

"Wraith?" questioned Sheppard as he and Rodney continued walking down the corridor to the control room.

"Not sure, unlikely, possibly," Rodney bumbled as Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex joined them.

"So you don't know," Ronon stated bluntly.

"I didn't say that, but technically-" Rodney stuttered.

"Could it be another one of Michael's labs?" asked Teyla with a sense of worry. All four of them continued until they reached Doctor Richard Woolsey.

"Doubt it, this has a completely different energy signature," quickly answered Rodney.

"Then, what is it?" Sheppard asked with persistence.

"We don't know, Colonel Sheppard, that's why you and your team are going. We need to know what this energy signature is and why it suddenly started emitting on this planet. The Wraith destroyed it while hunting the survivors of the Hoffan plague," Dr. Woolsey answered.

Rodney glared in exasperation. "That's what I was trying to explain."

"Well, you didn't do a very good job of it," Ronon said blankly.

"Thank you Captain Obvious-" Rodney started.

"Enough you two, we're about to go off world to go check some unknown energy signature," Sheppard squinted his eyes.

"Is your team ready?" asked Dr. Woolsey, folding his arms.

"Yep," Ronon answered as if for everyone, charging his weapon. Rodney rolled his eyes.

"Good luck and be careful. Who knows what you're going to be looking at," Dr. Woolsey smiled with a flicker of worry in his voice.

"Thanks, we'll call in as soon as we found the place," Sheppard informed as the Stargate address to the desolate planet was being dialed. The Stargate let out a burst of energy that looked similar to something splashing in water. The burst blew back into the Stargate and turned a wavy blue, signaling the completion of the dialing.

"We'll be waiting," Dr. Woolsey added. Sheppard nodded his head as he turned to enter the Stargate. Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney followed-all of them hoping that it wasn't another one of Michael's labs that happened to have a different energy signature. That's all they needed was to run into more of Michael's experiments.

Flying through a long curvy tunnel of colorful light and stars, they reached the other side of the Stargate with no problems. Colonel Sheppard exiting first, then, Ronon, Teyla, and finally Rodney. The air smelled like soot and ashes. The Wraith had definitely leveled the villages that once stood there. The four of them stood in amazement at the destruction in a terrible awe. Teyla sighed in sadness as she gazed over the blackened horizon. Ronon gave a slight shutter as this brought back memories of when his home world, Sateda, was wiped out as well. Feeling the uneasiness in the air, Sheppard asked softly, "Okay, Rodney, which way?"

As if Sheppard's question snapped him out of a trance, Rodney unwidened his eyes and pulled out an Ancient energy detector he found on Atlantis in one of the Ancient's labs from his backpack. It lit up a light blue screen as soon as it was in his hands with a white dot blinking some distance away, at least according to the little map that also appeared on the screen. "This way," he motioned heading East towards a small mountain range. He lead the way as they followed, Ronon taking one last glance at the once was a village with a growl in his throat.

They hiked along a natural pathway that must've been worn down from constant use through a thick forest of trees and foliage until there was a split in the road: one right and one left. At that point, Teyla hesitated with a small gasp, "There are Wraith nearby. I can sense them."

As if by reflex, everyone brought their guns up into position and began scanning the area for any signs of the life sucking aliens. Rodney pulled out the life signs detector, also an Ancient trinket, and viewed. "Where are they, Rodney?" Sheppard asked quietly with urgency. "Right or left?"

"Neither, the only other life signs besides us are straight through the trees about three hundred meters," Rodney paused. "Which is where the energy signature is coming from."

"Great, just what we need. Wraith finding the energy signature first," Sheppard groaned in annoyance.

"That energy signature must be important if they are here," Teyla suggested.

"Doesn't matter, lets just kill them," Ronon snarled heading in the direction that Rodney indicated.

"Ronon, wait. Lets sneak up on them and see what they're doing first before we charge in and kill everyone. Who knows what this energy signature is. If it's dangerous, let them be the ones to get hurt. At least we can report what it is once it's in sight. If it's worth looking into, we'll ambush them, but until then, we'll just watch. That's an order," Sheppard commanded calmly. Ronon set his gun to kill with a face of disgust. "Is that clear, Ronon?"

"Yeah, fine," Ronon answered in annoyance out of pure hatred for the Wraith. "But this is a bad idea."

"There is something else that I cannot describe," Teyla warned.

"Like what?" Sheppard asked curling his eyebrows.

"She just said she couldn't describe it," Rodney blurted, feeling stressed with the knowledge that they were possibly going to encounter another Wraith attack.

"Thanks Rodney," Sheppard squinted his eyes. "Let's go check it out, but quietly. We don't want to give our position away." They proceeded straight into the trees. The foliage grew thicker and the trees taller the deeper into the forest and closer they came to the base of the mountain. Hearing some voices in the distance, Sheppard held up his hand in a fist, signaling a halt. They hunched behind some bushes and peered over the top. There was a Wraith Cruiser in the air that began flying into the sky, most likely into orbit or to a Hive. There was a Wraith Dart barely small enough to fit in the small clearing at the base of the mountain where a small cave opening was placed. A Wraith commander and five soldiers were heading towards the entrance of the cave. "Let's get closer," said Sheppard.

They began to make their way, still in a slight crouch as to avoid the gaze of the two Wraith soldiers waiting on guard outside the cave's entrance. A high pitched beeping sound came out of the energy signature device that Rodney was holding. The Wraith soldiers heard and immediately looked in their direction, stunners up, and ready to fire. As they started their search a huge explosion blasted out of the cave's entrance, killing the soldiers outside and most likely the Wraith inside as well. Sheppard and his team ducked behind a large tree to avoid the debris of the blast. "What the h**l was that? Rodney?"

"I didn't do it! The device read that there was a huge energy spike just before the blast. There's only one thing in this entire universe that can have that sort of energy spike. A ZPM," Rodney deduced wide eyed once again.

"That would explain why they are so interested," Teyla remarked with a sigh of relief. "I still sense something odd. I cannot shake the feeling. The Wraith are gone, but this strange feeling is still present," she added.

"Well, whatever it is, it has a ZPM and is most likely Ancient. So let's go see what's left in there and why it exploded," Sheppard suggested. "If there's anything left."

"Wait a minute, this energy spike has traces of the energy that an Ancient shield would give off. There's a good chance that whatever is in there was protected by the blast using a shield. It appears the shield is gone now, but there's definitely Ancient technology in there," Rodney said rapidly with excitement. "Let's go! We can't risk the Wraith coming down while we're in the cave."

"I agree. We go in, check it out, grab the ZPM if possible, and get out as fast as we can. As much as I like chatting with the Wraith as much as any other guy, I don't want to stick around," Sheppard announced sarcastically. "But lets be careful, who knows what caused that explosion in the first place. Rodney?"

Rodney glanced down at the Ancient device once again and began fiddling with its buttons. "Ah-hah! It's the Ancient gene! The explosion was caused because the Wraith didn't posses the Ancient gene. The Ancients must have built something in there and protected it by placing sensors that detects the gene and placing a shield over critical systems thereby creating an explosion that neutralizes the intruders," Rodney exclaimed with excitement. "This is ingenious! Something must be very important in there!"

"So does that mean if Teyla and I go in there it'll explode because we don't have the gene like you and Sheppard?" Ronon asked tying his dreadlocks behind his head and out of his face.

"Most likely," responded Rodney as they made it to the entrance of the cave with smoke still emanating from the darkness of the opening.

"Alright, you two stay out here and keep guard. If any Wraith show up, shoot them. Rodney and I will go and check out whatever Ancient stuff is in here. Any sign of trouble, get back to the gate and send for some backup. We'll only be in there for a few minutes to look things over. After that, we'll head back to the gate, inform Dr. Woolsey of what we found and send a larger team to come," Sheppard explained. Teyla and Ronon nodded their heads and turned around with their guns in position while Rodney and Sheppard headed into the cave. Sheppard switched on the small but bright flashlight on the end of his gun which lit up the path in front of them to a comfortable capacity. "What do you think is at the end of this tunnel? What's so important? The last secret Ancient technology we played around with ended up blowing up our Stargate along with a good number of others in the galaxy," Sheppard questioned with a sense of doubt to continue forward.

"I have no idea, but I cannot wait to see. Something guarded this elaborately must be of great value to the Ancients; therefore, it's worth exploring," Rodney urged as a faint light began forming up ahead. They continued until they reached the source or the light which was a small organic computer consul emerging from the ground, Wraith technology.

"How did the Wraith get this in here so fast? They were only in the cave for a minute," Sheppard demanded.

"How should I know? They could have come here before! Let me take a look,

just-just hold on," Rodney furled his eyebrows stepping up to the consul and scanning the data on the screen.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Rodney," Sheppard insisted.

"Let me at least turn on the lights to see what they have done to the Ancient paraphernalia, alright?" Rodney blurted impatiently.

"Fine, just hurry up," said Sheppard slowly but sternly. As soon as he said, the lights flashed on one at a time until the whole room was lit. It was completely organic and covered the cave's surface, appearing like the inside of a Wraith Hive ship with two stasis windows visible. Another computer consul was placed in between both of them with definite Ancient technology attached to the room's reddish brown, organ-like interior. Rodney's eyes widened once again as he and Sheppard slowly walked over to the stasis windows. There were apparent silhouettes inside, but too blurry to differentiate who or what was in them. Rodney scanned through the consul's data until a beep sounded.

"Oh crap," Rodney mumbled.

"What did you do?" Sheppard interrogated, apprehensively.

"I think I just woke up whoever is in that stasis pod," Rodney pointed to the pod on the right hesitantly as the fogginess of the window began to melt away and the window itself retreated back to the wall. The one inside took a deep breath through his nose and opened his green cat-like slitted eyes, a Wraith.

"RODNEY!!" Sheppard roared in frustration as he and Rodney opened fire on the Wraith to no avail. A shielding of green light protected the Wraith wherever the bullets hit as he stepped out of his stasis cell. With hunger in his eyes, he turned his gaze towards them. "WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!!! IT'S LIKE HE HAS SOME KIND OF SHIELDING!" Rodney shrieked over the gunfire. The Wraith walked towards them slowly with no hesitation and grabbed each of their guns with either hand. He yanked them out quickly with little effort and threw them behind him.

"Now that I have your attention. You must wake the other stasis chamber. My Queen slumbers inside, she is the key to everything and must awake," the Wraith said to both of them in his deep, Wraith voice. Sheppard and Rodney stood there unmoved with Rodney giving off the deer-in-the-headlights face. "Did you not hear me?" the Wraith continued impatiently.

"Look pal, we're not going to just go wake up your queen just because you want us to. We didn't even want to wake you up," Sheppard expounded holding up his hands in front of him to try to calm the Wraith, noticing he was flexing his feeding hand. The Wraith growled revealing his sharp teeth with a glare. He was suddenly distracted by something as he quickly turned his attention to the entrance of the cave.

"I must tend to some matters. This conversation has not ended," the Wraith replied as he pushed past Rodney and Sheppard, knocking them down with a small burst from his shielding. Just then, there was gunfire coming from the direction of Teyla and Ronon.

"We've gotta stop him!" Sheppard shouted urgently. "He's headed straight for Ronon and Teyla and it looks like they already have company!" Without another word, he and Rodney hustled back to their feet and bolted towards the cave entrance. The Wraith reached Teyla and Ronon first and pushed them aside, grabbing their guns in the same fashion he did Rodney and Sheppard's. Without hesitation, he continued forward to the recently re-materialized Wraith soldiers heading towards him with their commander not too far behind. He was repeatedly shot by their stunners, but the blasts were absorbed by his shielding. "Why are they firing at him?" Sheppard asked pointing out the obvious as he and Rodney reached Teyla and Ronon who had already made their way to their feet again.

"There is something different about this Wraith. I cannot explain it, but something is definitely unusual. He is part of the feeling I sensed earlier, but the strangest is still in that cave somewhere," Teyla noted as they all just watched the single Wraith taking out the soldiers one by one with ease.

"He mentioned his queen was still in stasis back there and wanted us to wake her up as well. Did I mention, Rodney accidently brought him out of stasis?" Sheppard added. Rodney glared at Sheppard as they continued watching the single Wraith who paused in front of the commanding Wraith.

"You! I thought we terminated you and the queen centuries ago!" The Wraith commander growled.

"You were obviously mistaken, Commander," the Wraith said calmly as he removed his leather, fingerless glove from his feeding hand.

"You are a traitor to the Wraith and are just as weak as the Lanteans! Your doom will be ensured this time!" The Wraith commander roared bringing up his arm and flexing his feeding hand.

The other Wraith thrust his hand onto the Wraith commander's chest, piercing his claws into the Wraith's skin and digging his feeding organ into a suction. "That is where you are also mistaken. You were the traitors, we are the future," the Wraith proclaimed as he began draining the Wraith commander's life force. His eyes widened as he growled in the air. The burning hunger was being satisfied until nothing but an empty shell of the commander was left. He released his hand, causing the aged corpse to fall instantly. He continued to make his way to the other Wraith who were merely unconscious and not shot cold. His strength continued to grow with each feeding until there were none left but the humans still standing, stupidly at the cave entrance.

Ronon had retrieved his gun by now and began firing at the Wraith as he made his way back to them, again, in vain as the shielding continued protecting him. He reached them with ease and placed his glove back over his hand. "It's no use Ronon, he has an Ancient personal shield like the one I had, that Lucius stole, on his chest," Rodney blurted as Ronon was firing at the Wraith's head point blank range. The Wraith gave a toothy smiled and examined Rodney. Rodney noticed and took a step back as Ronon ceased fire.

"You are correct, human. Please forgive me for interrupting our conversation. I was hungry," the Wraith spoke, opening up his leather trench coat to reveal a small black and green octagonish Ancient device attached to his black shirt over his chest. He brought his hands behind his back in a proper fashion. "Now please, about my Queen."

"A Wraith saying 'please,' and apologizing. That's a first," Sheppard inserted sarcastically still on alert.

"Then, why did you not just simply feed on us?" asked Teyla in confusion.

"Yeah, and how can you be wearing one of those shields? You'd have to have the Ancient gene in order for it to stick to you," Rodney added with a little fear.

"It is by honor that I keep the covenant I made with my Queen not to feed on any humans unless by means of extreme desperate measures, and the Queen has fed on me enough to have this 'Ancient gene,' so you call it, to be become part of me," the Wraith explained with irritation. "Once again, I request the release of my Queen."

"What's so special about her anyways? What is she the 'key' of and why did that Wraith commander call you a traitor to the Wraith?" interrogated Sheppard squinting his eyes.

The Wraith rolled his eyes with a sigh of exasperation. "I would hope you understood the urgency of the situation in my voice, but I was obviously mistaken. All your questions are more appropriately answered by my Queen, herself. Release her and she would gladly reveal them to you," the Wraith answered in aggravation.

"Alright, we'll release your queen, but we need to take some safety precautions. I'm going to need you to remove your shielding device and wait out here. Is that clear?" Sheppard asked slowly. Rodney gave Sheppard a stare of you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me. The Wraith thought about it for a moment and squinted his eyes. His gaze was piercing as he looked from Ronon, who had now lowered his gun, to Teyla to Rodney then, finally back to Sheppard.

He tilted his head in a slight bow, continuing to look at Sheppard and said, "Very well." He placed his left hand over the Ancient device. It powered down and fell into his hand. Immediately, Ronon swung his gun up to the Wraith's head. He started laughing maliciously.

"What's so funny?" Ronon asked almost rhetorically, not sharing the Wraith's humor.

"I see that my former brothers' actions have caused you to think I am untrustworthy. I could only assume by the rage in your eyes that you want me dead. The sign from me showing trust in you was taking off this shield, and you repay me by shoving a gun at my temple. This...I find amusing," the Wraith chuckled in his throat.

"Ronon, put the gun down. He's right," Sheppard commanded.

"If it would give you comfort, stun me while you awaken my Queen, but leave her here for us to continue with our work," the Wraith suggested, broadly smiling.

"What work is this?" Teyla asked, sharing Ronon's agitation.

"Like I said before, my Queen would explain in greater detail and would prefer it," the Wraith replied. Sheppard, noticing Ronon's finger "slipping" on his gun's trigger, pulled out his acquired Wraith stunner and shot the Wraith in the chest. He growled in slight pain as he dropped to the ground on his back, unconscious.

"What do we do now?" Rodney asked.

"Rodney and I will go back in the cave and wake up his queen. You two stay out here with him and make sure he doesn't go anywhere. We'll stun the queen and bring them both back to Atlantis and put them in the prison cell for safe keeping. We'll ask our questions, they'll give us answers, we'll determine if those answers are legitimate, and then, we'll go from there," Sheppard proposed firmly.

"You're serious? We're going to do what he asked? Who knows what she is capable of! She could feed on us right on the spot! And-" Rodney rambled nervously.

"Rodney! Think about it. He said that she fed on him enough to give him the ancient gene. What does that say about her?" Sheppard examined. "She might be able to tell us more about the war with the Wraith. Obviously, these two aren't on the best of terms with the other Wraith and could maybe give us some hints as to their weaknesses or at least some strategic planning."

Rodney thought for a moment. "Right, then, um...lets go, I guess," he stammered.

"Ronon, don't kill him. He could be useful too," Sheppard commanded.

"I still don't think this is a good idea," Ronon protested shaking his head, staring Sheppard down.

"That's an order," demanded Sheppard with utmost seriousness. Ronon cocked his head back with understanding without changing his frustrated facial expression. On that note, Sheppard turned around and headed back into the cave. Rodney quickly followed. "How did you open the other one the first time?"

"I don't know, actually. The language was a mix of Ancient and Wraith. It was very complicated. There were a lot of crypted codes from what I could tell. I think it was merely luck...or unlucky in our case," Rodney replied as they reached the stasis room once again.

"Well, try to do it again. If we're going to get anything out of our 'friend' out there, we need to wake up his queen," Sheppard stated, using the term 'friend' very lightly. Rodney began meddling with the computer consul between the two stasis pods again. Shortly after he started, another beep sounded as the other stasis pod began opening like the first one had done.

"That was fast," Sheppard commented in surprise.

"That was actually by accident too," Rodney admitted as they watched the pod open completely. The body inside was female like the Wraith outside claimed, and she was Wraith. Her eyes remained closed as she never took in a breath. Without gaining consciousness, she toppled to the ground.

"What just happened? Did you do that?" Sheppard asked trying to catch her fall. He was reluctant to brace her before she landed completely, knocking him over as well.

"I have no idea, I just pressed the same buttons as before," replied Rodney in puzzlement. He helped Sheppard maneuver her into Sheppard's arms and eased him on his feet, her body limp. Sheppard groaned from the strain and slowly made his way to the cave entrance.

"Rodney...find the ZPM and meet us outside," Sheppard struggled as he walked.

"Oh, right," Rodney said as he quickly returned to the Ancient computer consul. Sheppard carefully made his way through the darkness, trying not to crash into any of the cave walls, and safely made it out of the cave where Teyla and Ronon were still waiting. The Wraith was conscious once again and on his feet. Teyla had placed a set of hand cuffs on the Wraith that tied his hands down to his waist. He looked down at his arms and back up in irritation.

"Just a another safety precaution we forgot to mention," Sheppard stated sarcastically as the Wraith gazed at the queen in his arms.

"Of course," the Wraith replied with the same amount of sarcasm. "What have you done with her?"

"She came out of stasis like this. We didn't do anything to her," Sheppard replied, adjusting his cradled hold on the queen's body.

"She is weak. She must feed. You must allow me to wake her completely. I can assure you that the only thing she feeds on is me. She will not harm you," the Wraith insisted.

"Now why is that? Why did you promise her that you wouldn't feed on humans and she only feeds on you? That doesn't sound very Wraith-like," Sheppard questioned, still very sarcastic. The Wraith pursed his lips and squinted his eyes. "Well, if you're not going to talk then-" Sheppard started.

"Got it! We should head back now before any more Wraith show up," Rodney shouted while running out of the cave. With an unspoken agreement, they all started their way back through the forest to the Stargate. Ronon nudged the Wraith along with his gun to his back. When they reached the Stargate, Ronon stunned the Wraith who fell to the ground as Rodney quickly dialed the address for Atlantis and just in time too. The shrieking sounds of Wraith darts flying in the air came to ear as the gate finished dialing and burst open just as it did before.

"Everybody hurry inside the gate and drag him in too!" Sheppard yelled as they all sprinted to the blue, wavy gate. The sound of darts overheard faded instantly as they returned to Atlantis. Dr. Woolsey was waiting for them at the gate with military soldiers holding up their guns for safe measures.

"You never called in, and what is all of this?" Dr. Woolsey questioned staring at both unconscious Wraith.

"We need a medical team immediately! She isn't breathing," Sheppard hollered. Within seconds, a team of medical officers took the Wraith queen out of Sheppard's arms and off to the infirmary. "Take this one down to the cell," Sheppard added motioning towards the male Wraith out cold on the ground. He was soon hoisted up and taken to the guarded and shielded Atlantean prison cell.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dr. Woolsey demanded.

"This Wraith seems to be an enemy to the other Wraith and his queen is apparently very important to some operation they're trying to pull off. Somehow they both have the Ancient gene or else the cave would've exploded with them inside, we're not sure exactly. If she can give us some good insights about the Wraith and their weaknesses, then, she's worth interrogating. She hasn't been breathing since we brought her out of stasis. That's why she's in the infirmary. The stasis room had Ancient and Wraith technology and a ZPM. We've taken the ZPM and were running from Wraith darts that were flying around back there," Sheppard explained slowly.

"There was an explosion? You found a ZPM? What exactly was in this room?" Dr. Woolsey inquired, puzzled. Sheppard turned around and looked at Rodney. Dr. Woolsey followed his gaze.

"Oh, me? Right. Well, the cave we found was powered by a ZPM. The strange energy signature emitted was a mixture of Wraith and Ancient technology. The technology we found was actually a very elaborate stasis chamber where two Wraith slept dormant. The explosion was caused by an ingenious system to have drones self-destruct as soon as the life signs detected had no trace of Ancient gene. I accidently woke the male Wraith who reluctantly didn't feed on us and fed on the attacking Wraith. The Wraith queen in the stasis pod never actually gained consciousness, and well, you know the rest," Rodney clarified.

"I doubt the IOA would approve of you bringing two Wraith into Atlantis. Let us hope that they are of use to us," Dr. Woolsey stated looking at Sheppard in disapproval. Sheppard forced a smile as Dr. Woolsey turned and walked back to his office.

"Lets go see if our unconscious guest has woken up yet," Sheppard suggested.

"Are you referring to the queen or the other one?" Rodney questioned.

"Well, they're both unconscious, so lets go see how both are doing," Sheppard replied sarcastically.

"I'll pass," Ronon stated as he walked past Sheppard, into a corridor, and out of sight. Sheppard looked back at Teyla and Rodney. Rodney had the child's face of do-I-really-have-to? while Teyla gave a small grin, both signaling they were ready to go. Sheppard turned and lead the way to the infirmary. When they arrived there, the medical team was hustling everywhere. Doctor Jennifer Keller was shouting.

"I need oxygen! Somebody bring me an oxygen tank for her! She's still not breathing!" Dr. Keller hollered, anxiously. She sent another electrical shock into the queen's chest, but to no avail. She flatlined. Dr. Keller stared at the queen and then, up at Rodney. She shook her head with sadness in her eyes.

"Well, I guess I'll have to break the news to our 'friend' down in the cell. He's not going to like it," Sheppard said, dreading the thought a bit. He then, made his way to the prison cell where the Wraith was being held. At this point, he was conscious once again. The shackles on his arms were now off as the shielded prison cell provided plenty of protection. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"She is not dead, you did not listen to me," the Wraith announced as if he knew exactly what Sheppard was going to say.

"Her heart rate has flatlined and she still isn't breathing. I'd say she's pretty much dead," Sheppard retaliated.

"She has merely forced her body into a type of hibernation that shuts off most of her body. She is the only Wraith to ever accomplish this. I am the only one who can revive her," the Wraith rebuttled.

"Now, why is that?" Sheppard disputed. The Wraith walked up right next to the cell's wall and stared straight into Sheppard's eyes with intensity.

"That is for me to know. Other Wraith must not find out. If I were to tell you, a queen could easily probe your mind and find the information. I cannot let that happen," the Wraith replied, angrily.

"Why is it so important that she wake up then?" Sheppard interrogated.

"She is the key to our plan. Without her, we cannot carry it forward. I have made myself clear that she is of utmost importance in this matter," he paused. "After all..." He began, but turned and walked into the middle of the cell again, mocking Sheppard with his delay. He turned to face Sheppard again with a small grin. "After all, she is my wife."

Sheppard stood there, flabbergasted by the Wraith's statement. He had never heard of this before. The Wraith chuckled deeply in his throat, knowing what was going on in Sheppard's mind. "Now, take me to her. She needs to breathe once again." the Wraith added after a moment lingered past, allowing Sheppard to take in what he had said. He smiled once again and waited.