Aurthor's Note: Sorry, I should have said this story starts sometime in the middle of Kindred part 1--after Teyla is kidnapped but before she is rescued. Anyway, thanks for the comments! Here's the next chapter:

Three Weeks Earlier

Sam sighed, pacing up and down the length of the cell.

It had been a simple search and rescue operation, one more in a line of unsuccessful missions. At first, Sam had been sending out multiple teams at a time to search for Teyla, but now their list of possible planets was growing slim, and she couldn't continue to exhaust resources like this. They'd thought this gate address was hopeful, and it was the first they'd received in almost a week. Sam had decided to join Sheppard's team on the mission herself, but she expected to find one of Michael's hive ships. She didn't expect it would turn out like this.

"Do you mind?" Rodney snapped from where he was slumped against the wall. Sam stopped pacing for a moment and glared at him with narrowed eyes. "I mean, it's not like we haven't been captured by the Wraith before. It's not like this is new for any of us."

Sam frowned at his smug attitude and continued to pace. So he'd managed to get himself captured by the enemy. Yippee. That doesn't make him a soldier. That doesn't give him bragging rights or anything.

Sam was frustrated. Of all the possible scenarios that could've played out on this mission, or all the planets they'd been to, it had to be the one she decided to go to.

John tossed tiny pebbles at the wall and his eyes followed Sam as she paced, somewhat amused. Ronon glared down at him, as though expecting he should make her stop somehow, because she was making them all restless, but John only grinned and continued to toss pebbles.

Finally, Sam slowed and leaned back against the wall, beginning to slide down it.

"So," she said. "I take it you guys haven't come up with any bright ideas?"

Rodney frowned, looking bored. "Oh, yes. I've just been waiting for your permission to share them with the class."

Sam scowled. "Well, Mr. I've-been-captured-by-the-Wraith-20-times, ever manage to actually escape, or did you just master the getting captured part?"

Rodney feigned laughter. "Oh, hah-hah," Sam rolled her eyes.

John slouched lazily against the wall. "When we don't report back they'll send a rescue team."

"At which point, they'll get thrown in here with us." Rodney quickly finished for him.

John smiled widely. "Well," he said, as the other two glared at the pessimistic scientist. "The more the merrier."

At that point, they were interrupted by the opening of the cell. Sam backed away as two muscular, heavily armed Wraith entered, followed by a scrawnier, unmasked one. Ronon, who had been leaning against the far wall, straightened up, prepared to defend himself and his team mates if need be.

The scrawny Wraith sneered at the four prisoners. "Which one of you is the leader?"

"I am," Sam and John said at the same time, taking a step forward. Sam looked over at John with a mixture of annoyance and amusement, and John silently apologized and backed off. The Wraith did not look impressed. He looked back and forth between the two before he made his decision.

"Take them both."

Ronon made an attempt to intercept them but one of the Wraith had already grabbed Sam, and the other one threw Ronon against the wall before seizing John and roughly shoving him out of the cell. Ronon was quick to recover, and lunged forward once more but the cell had already sealed shut.

Sam and John were led, or rather shoved through a series of narrow corridors, all strange in texture and color. They looked quite familiar to John, who had been aboard Wraith hives many times, but this was still a little new to Sam.

Finally, they reached a large, open room (or at least, large compared to the corridors) which also looked eerily familiar to John. He sighed as he was forced to his knees in the middle of the room. Wraith hive ships really did all look the same.

The Wraith who had been guarding them stalked off to stand by the doors, and Sam and John exchanged wary looks. Just then, they could feel a presence behind them and they realized they were being circled. They both stiffened.

The stranger seemed to appear out of nowhere before them, and they realized it was a female Wraith—a queen probably. She hissed menacingly, hovering over them, perhaps too close for comfort.

"Why have you come here?" she demanded, her voice hoarse and shallow, like that of a sickly cat.

John shrugged. "Just checking out the place."

The Wraith only grinned, a horrible distasteful grin and glared down at Sheppard, coming to stand directly in front of him. She slowly extended long nailed fingernails to stroke his jaw as she continued her interrogation.

"You are the ones who reside in the city of the Ancients," she observed. "You… are the one called Sheppard."

John frowned, clenching his teeth in the effort to resist. "Well…" he grunted. "It's good to know I'm popular."

The Wraith grinned again and released him, taking interest in Carter instead. "But this one…" she said, as though speaking to herself. "This one I do not know of."

Sam only glared back at her, and her lips remained sealed. John gulped, trying to decide whether to try to draw her attention back to him or keep quiet.

"Tell me," the Wraith suggested. "What is the name of the planet you came from?"

Sam said nothing. If this Wraith knew enough to know who Sheppard was, then she knew they came from Earth. She was just trying to find out where Earth was.

The Wraith frowned when she got no response, and without warning, her hand jerked up to stop millimeters from Sam's face. Sam didn't flinch, but the searing pain in her head came as a surprise, and caused her face to contort in agony. John had to restrain himself not to lunge at her attacker.

The Wraith grinned again, pleased to see her victim in pain. As if high off of something, she said, "How many humans occupy your world?"

Sam tried to look defiant, but she was shuddering trying to keep this thing out of her mind.

"Let her go, she won't tell you anything!" John shouted, unable to contain himself.

Sam was released and let out a heavy breath as the Wraith paced back over to John. John glared at her, hatred evident in his eyes. She only stared down at him for a few moments, as though deciding what to do with him. Finally, she jerked her head up to one of the guards standing by.

"Return him to his cell," she ordered, and the Wraith marched over and hauled him to his feet.

John tried to make eye contact with Sam, give her some look of support, but Sam just stared blankly at the ground before her as he was dragged off.

He disappeared from sight and the Wraith began to pace in front of her prisoner.

"You have a strong mind," she commented, to which Sam had no response. "Perhaps it might be more open without the distraction."

"I won't tell you anything," Sam said simply, repeating John's words.

She felt a cold, clammy hand under her chin and she was being forced to look her captor in the eye once more. The Wraith looked smug and unconcerned by this statement.

"Tell me," she hissed. "Do you not fear death?"

V

John stumbled slightly as he was shoved back inside the cell. Ronon straightened attentively and Rodney quickly got to his feet.

"What happened? Where's Sam?"

John frowned, looking ashamed of himself. "She's still up there."

"What!? Why?"

He shook his head, void of an explanation.

"John," Rodney persisted. "What happened?"

John was opening his mouth to speak, but suddenly, they could hear heavy footsteps again, and John faced the cell door, looking suspicious.

Two more Wraith soldiers, (or perhaps the same ones, John couldn't tell) appeared on the other side of the enclosure, each with a large hand around one of Sam's arms. John held his ground as the cell was opened again and Sam, shoved inside.

"Sam, what happened!?" Rodney asked, trying to sound concerned, but growing impatient since he was asking the question for the third time.

Sam stared at him, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. "I don't know."

Just as she said it, the cell was being opened again and three more Wraith stormed in. Two of them were soldiers. The other was not. It—he did in fact have a face, and a very distinctive one at that.

He was pale white in color, and there was a large black tattoo, (somewhat resembling the markings they'd seen on Todd) covering half his face and continuing down his spine. His hair was long and white, and he was muscular, (though not as much as the soldiers) and wore heavy armor. His small black eyes scanned the room until they landed on Sam, and his snarl deepened.

He motioned to one of the guards and it lowered its weapon, advancing on her. Sam backed away, but the others realized too late what was happening. John and Ronon both lunged, but the other guard intercepted Ronon and the first one easily knocked John to the ground.

"No!" he shouted, rolling himself over to attack again just as Sam was pinned against the wall by the Wraith's massive feeding hand.

She held tightly to the creature's forearm, clenching her teeth through the pain. It felt as though the life was being suctioned out of her. Ronon stopped struggling for a moment and watched in amazement with the others as her attacker slowly went down, knees buckled, and she collapsed with him, scooting away from the dead corpse as much as possible.

The tattooed Wraith let out a howl of outrage, storming towards her and stepping over the lifeless body. Sam was still staring at it in shock when the Wraith's sizable hand closed around her throat and lifted her off the ground.

"How is this possible?" he demanded. His voice was deep and grotesque, and reminded her of the orks in Lord of the Rings. Once again, Sam said nothing.

The Wraith cried out in fury again and threw her to the ground, then stormed off and allowed the left over guards to retrieve the dead body.

When they were gone, the team hurried over to huddle at Sam's side. She was already getting up, and John assisted, putting a hand on her back to help her sit up.

"Colonel, you alright?" he questioned, concern evident in his voice.

Sam brought her hand to her chest and rubbed lightly where the feeding hand had struck her. "No…"

"What just happened?" Rodney asked, as though he'd missed something.

Sam squeezed her eyes shut and rested her forehead against her knuckles. She felt sick. "A Wraith fed on me, Rodney."

"Yeah, I know. So why aren't you dead?" Rodney asked, as though he thought it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

"It only fed on her for a couple of seconds," Ronon answered for her.

John raised his eyebrow. "It fed on her… and it's dead…" he reminded them.

Rodney frowned. "Oh god… you don't think she's been affected by the Hoffen drug?"

John shot him a look of disapproval. "The Hoffen drug doesn't kill instantly like that."

"Yeah, but still…"

"Rodney!" John warned. It was bad enough he was talking about her like she wasn't there, but now he was suggesting she'd been affected by an incurable disease. Rodney was silent, but his look of terror didn't go away.

"It's not the Hoffen drug," Sam said quietly. Her voice was scratchy and she gently continued to rub her chest as she lifted her head. "Jennifer would have picked that up."

"Well… what else could it be?" Rodney asked, seemingly disappointed his theory was being shot down.

"A natural immunity?" Ronon proposed. Rodney frowned.

"Oh yes, of all the possible people in this galaxy to have a natural immunity, it just happens to be Sam."

"Well maybe it's not natural," John said. He looked at Sam. "Right? I mean, who knows how many alien contagions you've been exposed to in your life time."

Rodney pouted, somewhat disappointed John had thought of something he hadn't.

Sam sat up as a thought came to her. "Jollinar…"

The men exchanged confused glances. "What?" Ronon asked, speaking for the group.

Sam lowered her arm now, counting on her heavy head to keep itself up. "The naquadah in my blood; it must somehow disrupt the Wraith's ability to feed."

Rodney was snapping his fingers now, obviously following where she was going. "Well that would make sense," he commented.

"What?" Ronon repeated, still not understanding.

John ignored him. "Yeah, and it explains why those Wraith were so freaked out," he said. "They would've never come across anything like this before."

"Like what?" Ronon asked again.

John gave him a sympathetic smile and patted him on the back. "I'll tell you later, buddy." Ronon frowned, but John was already addressing the rest of the team. "In the mean time, we need an escape plan. Ideas?"

"Not since the last time you asked," Rodney groaned.

John sighed, and looked to his other two candidates hopefully. Sam said nothing. Ronon looked between the three a few times before he decided to offer his advice.

"You get them in here. I'll get us out."