Author's Note: I'm extremely sorry for the delay in updating the next chapter! I was away for a few days and unable to access the internet, so here is an extra long chapter to make amends. Hope you enjoy. :-)

Every bone in his body throbbed in pain with each beat of his heart. There was a high pitched whine in his ears that would not go away, even when Sheppard opened his eyes. He realized he was lying on his back on the floor, and when he turned his head with a groan, he saw First crouched on the floor in the corner of the room, watching him. The alien's mouth moved, but Sheppard didn't hear anything, realizing the whine filling his ears may have meant his eardrums had ruptured. Something was off in his vision as well, and Sheppard winked one eye shut, then the other, realizing his right eye was blinded.

Ignoring the alien for the moment, Sheppard rolled to his side, feeling a sharp flash of pain along his ribcage. His breath hitched as his ribs expanded and he grimaced, noting the familiar pull of broken bones. Shakily pushing himself to hands and knees and then finally to his feet, he saw the Jem'Hadar had moved closer. Shuffling away, Sheppard turned slowly, feeling the pounding in his head starting to escalate with the movement. There really was nothing in the room that he could use. The chair had been moved to a corner and nothing marred the smooth walls. The door was in front of him now and he could see nothing to activate it. He moved closer to the door and put his hands on its surface. Nothing.

Suddenly, the Jem'Hadar was at his elbow. With one eye not functioning, Sheppard realized he had a serious blind spot now. First's mouth was moving but Sheppard could hear nothing. The alien was starting to look very hostile, and Sheppard decided he had nothing to lose. In a quick swing, he landed an uppercut on the alien's jaw, snapping his head back. Hissing in pain, Sheppard shook his hand out. The Jem'Hadar had plated, scaled skin, and his jaw was rock hard. The blow didn't seem to phase the alien and First moved in with lightning fast hands, wrapping one thick hand around Sheppard's neck and fisting the other in the front of his t-shirt, hoisting him into the air and slamming him with force against the wall behind him.

Sheppard choked, his air supply effectively cut off as the alien squeezed and pushed him further into the wall. His ribs ached as he struggled for breath and he could swear something was breaking in his sternum at the strength of the Jem'Hadar's hold. He kicked out, planting his boots firmly in the alien's abdomen and pushing. He managed to dislodge First's hold on his shirt and they both fell to the ground, rolling as Sheppard fought, tooth and nail, to dislodge First's death grip on his throat.

Blackness and dancing spots were edging in on his vision and Sheppard could feel the strength starting to leave his body as the alien straddled him, pinning one of his flailing arms to the floor. Sheppard gripped the alien's forearm with the other hand, trying to relieve the pressure on his throat to no avail. First squeezed and the blackness descended quite suddenly.

First held his grip on the human's throat, pressing a thumb against his carotid until his eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp. Releasing his hold and letting Sheppard slide limply to the floor, he checked to see if the human's chest was moving. When he saw the slight rise and fall, he got up and went to the door. Activating it, he informed his men to bring a doctor.

While he waited, First mulled over the human's actions. Most Jem'Hadar had never seen a human before but they knew enough about them to predict their actions. This one was more warrior-like than he expected. He was unpredictable and although much weaker than the Jem'Hadar, First wondered what it would be like to fight the human fairly. His men might enjoy it.

Something was off about this one, however. His actions had caused First to suspect some damage to his hearing and eyesight. He did not seem to pay any attention to First's questions and did not notice when First had approached him.

After a few moments passed, the human began to stir on the floor, and First stood over him, beckoning to the Jem'Hadar at the door. The doctor, a Cardassian, entered at that moment.

"What is wrong?" the doctor snapped.

"I believe his hearing is impaired," First answered. "You do not need to attend to his other injuries. Just confirm my suspicions."

The doctor knelt next to Sheppard, who suddenly lashed out, connecting one leg with the Cardassian's side and throwing him against the wall. The Jem'Hadar moved swiftly, pinning the man's arms and legs to the ground and leaving him grunting and thrashing against their grip, muttered curses flowing from his lips as the Cardassian moved in again, passing the scanner over his body. After a moment, the doctor pursed his lips, sitting back to look at the scanner.

"His eardrums are ruptured," he said. "There may be some nerve damage to his eye from the beating you gave him as well."

First thought for a moment. "Repair his hearing and sight. Leave everything else for now."

"I'll need to take him to the infirmary," the doctor said. "I can't do it here."

"Fine." First motioned to his men and they hoisted Sheppard to his feet. The man immediately balked as they tried to pull him towards the door, and First slammed a fist without thought into the side of Sheppard's head. Sheppard immediately went limp, his head lolling as they dragged him through the corridors.

Upon reaching the infirmary, the doctor gave the man a sedative and set to work repairing the damage. First insisted on restraints for Sheppard as the doctor worked, keeping a wary eye on him at all times until the doctor finished.

As Sheppard was starting to come around, the Jem'Hadar quickly removed him from the infirmary and brought him back to the cell, dumping him unceremoniously on the ground as First knelt in front of him. Sheppard had managed to land on his hands and knees and shook his head, wincing as sounds in the room seemed overpowering after the long absence.

"Where are you from?" First asked.

"Boy ... you guys don't give up, do ya?" Sheppard grunted, pushing himself shakily to his feet. He felt much better than he had just a short time ago, and suspected that they had done something to fix his hearing and the massive headache that had been bothering him.

First followed him, standing squarely in front of the human. Sheppard licked his lips, suddenly aware that he was extremely thirsty, and looked around the room. With the exception of two Jem'Hadar guarding the door, he and First were alone.

"Jakat would like to know where you are from," First shrugged. "It is my duty to find out ... by whatever means necessary."

"Where the hell am I?" Sheppard demanded.

"I don't think you are in a position to be demanding answers, human," First sneered. "For your information, you are on a Cardassian space station, orbiting Bajor."

"What's Bajor?" Sheppard asked.

The Jem'Hadar cocked his head, curious. "You have not heard of Bajor? It is a planet on the edge of Federation space."

"Never heard of it. Or the Federation," Sheppard replied.

First's eyes narrowed. "You are lying."

"Actually, I'm not."

For some reason, First felt as though the human was telling the truth. He did seem generally clueless about many things that he should not have been. If he was lying he was pulling off his innocence act very well.

"Tell me where you are from," First asked again. "You came through the wormhole and there was no way to trace where you have come from. The Cardassians have been unable to duplicate the light that appeared when you entered."

"You mean the Stargate?" Sheppard was utterly confused. He mentally kicked himself a half second later.

First jumped on the clue. "Yes ... the Stargate. We know it is a wormhole. Where does it lead to?"

Sheppard crossed his arms, a smug grin on his face. "You guys haven't figured it out?"

"I am not a scientist." First hesitated, then motioned to one of the guards. "Summon Jakat."

As the guard left, First turned on Sheppard, grabbing his left wrist and spinning him around, bending the wrist up awkwardly behind his back and marching him over to the chair. Sheppard found himself unable to wrench out of the Jem'Hadar's grasp as he felt his whole left side go numb. The alien pushed him into the chair and rapidly fastened the restraints.

"You will tell Jakat everything you know about this Stargate," First said. "If you do not, I will hand you over to my men. They have been looking for a form of entertainment for several months now. Being stuck on a space station with only your duties to attend to means they tend to get ... restless."

Sheppard swallowed, unsure of First's threat. He kept up his cocky grin and winked at the Jem'Hadar, hiding his uncertainty. "Sure thing, boss."

Sheppard thought quickly about what was safe to tell these aliens and what wasn't. He knew that everyone breaks under pressure. He had seen it often enough in Afghanistan and elsewhere. They were lectured on it in training. It was likely that at some point he wouldn't be able to hold back and would tell them everything. He also knew that it was highly unlikely that a rescue was coming. Somehow, there was a malfunction with the Stargate on their way back home, and he was thrown onto another planet away from his team. He could only hope that they all ended up safely back at Atlantis. And he could only hope that he held out long enough that the information these aliens wanted didn't matter in the end.

It was only moments before Jakat entered the room. First greeted him.

"Gul Jakat, he has information on the wormhole."

Jakat's eyes sparkled. "What has he told you?"

"He called it a Stargate. I believe he may know how to activate it," First said.

Jakat stepped around First to stand over Sheppard. "Is this true? You know how to activate this ... Stargate?"

"Maybe."

Jakat glared at Sheppard, then viciously backhanded him. Sheppard felt the skin on his left cheekbone split and his head snapped back. He tasted blood in his mouth and gingerly tested his teeth to see if any had been knocked loose. The Cardassian was strong.

"I don't like games," Jakat said. "Tell me everything you know about this Stargate. Who built it?"

Sheppard looked at the Cardassian through blurry eyes. "The Ancients built the Stargate. They wanted something to use to travel vast distances."

"Who are the Ancients?"

Sheppard shook his head. "Don't know. Nobody does. That's why we call them 'Ancients.' They died out a long time ago."

Jakat's eyes narrowed as he processed the information. "How many Stargates are there?"

"Don't know." Here, Sheppard decided to lie. "I thought there were just two. The one I came through and the one that you have."

Again, Jakat backhanded Sheppard, snapping his head back with enough force for the pilot to see stars. The left side of Sheppard's face felt numb. He could feel hot blood trickling down his face from the cut on his cheekbone.

"I think you are lying," Jakat hissed.

"Why's that?" Sheppard gasped.

"You seemed a bit confused when you came through our Stargate," Jakat said. "As if you didn't end up where you thought you were supposed to end up."

"Well, the last time I went through the Stargate, I didn't end up in a cold cave ... it was warmer. I felt the difference right away. Guess it was the wrong time of year."

Jakat sneered. "You humans appear to be very good at lying. How is it the Bajorans have never heard of humans? If you had been passing through regularly they would know." He leaned in close to Sheppard's face, his breath reeking of something that Sheppard didn't even want to guess at. "I happen to be a very good judge of character, Sheppard, but I think even my Jem'Hadar could tell that you are lying." Jakat leaned back, crossing his arms in a very human gesture. "Tell me, which planet is it that you come from?"

The hair on the back of Sheppard's neck went up. He had the distinct feeling that he should not, under any circumstances, tell this Cardassian that he was from Earth. He shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "Just some backwater place."

"It's name?"

"Coruscant."

Jakat backhanded Sheppard again across the face in a move too quick for his eyes to follow, leaving him reeling against the restraints, his face burning.

"You are very good at lying, Sheppard. I think I'm going to have to leave you with First again. He seems to be very persuasive. You have given me some information on this Stargate, but now I would learn where you come from. First."

The Jem'Hadar stepped up, his hand reaching for the device at his belt that Sheppard had become all too familiar with in the last interrogation session.

"I shall leave you to it," Jakat said with a smile.

As the Cardassian left the room, First signaled his men and they unfastened the restraints and dragged Sheppard from the chair, out the room and down the hall.

Sheppard decided to go as willingly as possible with the men as there was no way he was breaking their vise-like grip on his arms. Once he stumbled and lost his footing and they didn't even break their stride, dragging him along until he managed to find his feet. They marched him through a very long passageway lined with many doors, encountering the odd Jem'Hadar and Cardassian on the way. They emerged on a landing overlooking a bustling circular area two stories down that was the size of a large football field. Sheppard guessed it may have been their command center, but then realized there were no consoles or screens in the area. It reminded him of a busy marketplace, except for the fact that this place was filled with soldiers and not villagers.

The Jem'Hadar hurried Sheppard past the landing and then back down a long hallway filled with the doors that all looked the same. Sheppard saw markings on the doors that he assumed were numbers in whatever language it was that these people spoke, and he knew that if there were no markings it would be virtually impossible to tell where one was within the building he was in.

At that moment, the monotony of the endless grey walls and doors was broken by a window, and with shock, Sheppard realized he wasn't in a building. Endless blackness brimming with stars filled the window.

"Are we on a ship?" he asked, seeming to remember mention of a space station.

One of his guards looked at him in annoyance. "This is Terok Nor. Not a ship."

"A space station?" Sheppard persisted.

There was no answer but the Colonel was sure that must be what it was. If that was the case then there was no chance of rescue unless Atlantis was able to locate him by puddle jumper. He actually hadn't thought of rescue until the moment he realized he was on a space station. There had obviously been a malfunction with the gate, and Sheppard hoped that the rest of his team had made it safely back to Atlantis. He had no doubt that McKay would find out what had happened to him, but the question would be if they could reverse the malfunction. The quick glance he had gotten of the gate was enough to tell him he was no longer in the Pegasus galaxy. It looked exactly like the gate back on Earth, which meant he was much closer to home than he should have been.

Everything was still terribly confusing. These Cardassians and Jem'Hadar seemed very advanced with their technology, yet knew nothing of the Stargate and how it worked. They seemed to know that he was human, but again, did not seem to have had much interaction with humans before. The Jem'Hadar were treating him with a small degree of respect while the Cardassians looked down at him as though he were of no consequence to them. He had the feeling that if he didn't prove to be of some value to them, the Cardassians wouldn't hesitate to get rid of him.

The Jem'Hadar pushed Sheppard into a small lift and he felt the lift drop. It was hard to tell how many floors they went down, but when they emerged, the sight was totally different from the top floor they had been on. It appeared the station was still under construction, and Cardassian workers were welding bulkheads, carrying tools and working steadily around what appeared to be a very incomplete and open floor. Some walls actually didn't exist, and Sheppard tried to hold back his shock when he saw many gaps in the wall where the blackness of space was exposed. If this station was anything like developing technology on Earth, he was sure they were protected by a shield, but it was still an unsettling sight.

Moving quickly through the construction zone, the Jem'Hadar pushed Sheppard into a large room that appeared completely closed off from the rest of the construction area. The lighting was dim, but Sheppard could make out the silhouettes of about a dozen more Jem'Hadar in the room who all stopped what they were doing to look at the prisoner.

From Sheppard's first glance, he guessed that this was a training or recreation room. The Jem'Hadar seemed to be engaged in hand to hand combat across the room, but none of it appeared malicious and all were very orderly as they approached the small party with Sheppard. First stepped into the room, addressing the Jem'Hadar.

"This human has been captured by the Cardassians. He is called Sheppard. Jakat wishes to obtain some information from him but he is being uncooperative. We shall be using him in training for the next few days."

With that, Sheppard was released and roughly pushed to the middle of the room. Adrenaline was starting to pump through his body as he realized what First meant by "training." He made a swift headcount of the room, confirming there were fifteen Jem'Hadar in the room. If they were all as powerful as First, he was going to have a rough time.

First turned to Sheppard. "You will fight," he said. He then turned to address the soldiers in the room. "Begin."

One Jem'Hadar approached him silently from the shadows. Sheppard pretended not to notice him until the last minute. When the alien reached one scaled hand towards his throat, Sheppard quickly dodged and threw his shoulder into the man's abdomen, hearing a satisfactory whoosh of air as the alien tumbled onto his backside in surprise.

No sooner had the alien been dispatched then another approached, more warily this time. He and Sheppard circled, and the pilot crouched low, keeping to the balls of his feet, ready to dodge if he needed to. He was surprised at how quickly he had been able to take down the first Jem'Hadar, and knew that the element of surprise was over. This one would be more difficult.

Sheppard went over a quick mental checkup, finding himself bruised and stiff, but still able to move quickly when he needed to. He waited until the next Jem'Hadar was within striking distance and spun, his heel connecting solidly with the alien's head. The Jem'Hadar dropped like a brick, and Sheppard took the time to grab the knife that he had spotted at the man's belt, pointing the blade downwards to help in a slashing and stabbing motion as he smoothly turned towards the next two warriors who had detached themselves from the shadows, moving swiftly towards the pilot. Sheppard knew he would never be able to muscle his way past these aliens. They were simply too strong and he was in no longer in top form.

Hiding the blade behind his forearm, Sheppard slashed towards the nearest Jem'Hadar and then stabbed into his neck, but not before the second alien had slammed into him from the side. They slid across the floor, the Jem'Hadar's heavier bulk pinning the pilot to the floor, and Sheppard flipped the blade around, stabbing into the alien's side. The soldier grunted in pain and threw a well aimed punch, leaving Sheppard's jaw numb and stars whirling around his head. Sheppard lay stunned, unable to collect his wits, and the Jem'Hadar took that moment to grab the blade from his hand and throw it away, pinning his hands to the floor.

Shaking his head to clear his vision, Sheppard pulled his knees up in one fluid motion, pushing with all his strength against the soldier's chest. The Jem'Hadar refused to let go, and the momentum Sheppard had gained caused them to tumble, reversing their positions. Sheppard plowed one knee into the stab wound on the alien's side and there was a fierce snarl of pain, causing the vice-like grip on Sheppard's hands to loosen. Sheppard swung a fist at what he guessed was the alien's temple and hissed in pain from the resulting sting from the Jem'Hadar's hard, plated face.

Caught unaware, Sheppard was scooped off the soldier by another Jem'Hadar, an effective side-tackle that Sheppard cursed himself for not seeing. Landing hard on his side, Sheppard lay gasping for breath as the attacking Jem'Hadar loomed over him. Acting on instinct, Sheppard scissored his legs around the alien's knee, twisting quickly and hearing a snap as the soldier went down with a grunt of pain.

Not stopping to think, Sheppard rolled and came neatly to his feet, meeting another Jem'Hadar head on and slamming a well aimed kick into the alien's chest as he spun to meet another, grabbing the shorter soldier's head and slamming it down into his left knee. Hearing a satisfying crunch, he let go of the alien's head and swung around to slam an elbow into the side of another Jem'Hadar's head, ducking the alien's grasp and hooking a heel behind an approaching solder's knee, causing him to go crashing to the floor.

All this had taken mere seconds and Sheppard knew he couldn't afford to think with this many aliens in the room only concerned with taking him down. He knew he had to roll on instinct if there was any chance of him surviving, and his Black Ops training was perfect for the situation.

With a feral snarl, he lashed out at the next Jem'Hadar, a brutal snap kick to the face causing the alien to stumble backwards.