A/N: Episode alert! Some dialogue is mine, but most belongs to the actual show. Now comes the fun part of inserting an OC into a visual episode. I hope you enjoy. PS—I have tweaked some things so that Brady can actually be in this episode. It isn't exactly the same. I love this episode and only rearrange things for creativity's sake. Don't fry me.

Oh, and I know Amelia doesn't come on until 2008, but she's awesome, so I had to pretend she was already there. Just a mention. Nothing major.

I DO NOT OWN STARGATE ATLANTIS, THE CHARACTERS (oh, what fun that'd be), OR ANY OTHER THING THAT COULD GET ME SUED.

SATEDA
Aug 4, 2006

"Incoming wormhole. It's Colonel Sheppard's IDC, ma'am."

"Lower the shield," Weir commanded.

Sheppard and Teyla rushed through the event horizon. "Someone get us some vests and guns," Sheppard snapped.

"We were just about to come get you guys," Major Rutheford said. "Where's Ronon?"

"Still back there," Sheppard said. "Did McKay get through ok?"

"Yeah," Weir said. "Carson removed the arrow and got him patched up. What happened?"

"Ronon bargained for our lives," Teyla said as Brady and two Marines arrived, lugging vests and weapons.

"By sticking a knife to his own throat," Sheppard said. "We're going back."

Brady passed over the supplies she'd been carrying. She adjusted her sidearm and tightened the straps on her vest.

"It took us fifteen minutes to get to the gate," Sheppard said, getting locked and loaded.

"The place could be crawling with Wraith by now," Teyla said.

"This isn't an exploratory mission, doc," Sheppard said to Brady as she stepped onto the platform. "We're gonna be dealing with Wraith, maybe lots of 'em. You sure you can handle..." The expression on Brady's face had Sheppard nodding resolutely, leaving his sentence unfinished.

Rutheford smiled at Brady's tenacity. "Let's go get him."

"The village was destroyed," Brady reported as she returned through the gate. "The villagers were dead and Ronon was…gone," she stumbled over the last word, concern evident on her face.

"He's alive," Sheppard said as he ascended the stairs.

"Don't get me wrong," Beckett said quietly. "I hope he is, but how can you be certain?"

"They made sport out of trying to kill him in the past," Teyla reminded them.

"You think they'll make him a Runner again?" Brady asked.

"He was the one that got away," Sheppard pointed out.

Teyla nodded. "I believe they will try again."

"That's bad," Brady said, shaking her head. "That's very bad."

"Yeah," Sheppard said. "He won't go down easily."

"How do we find him?" Weir asked.

"If they make him a Runner again, they'd have to do another implant," Brady said.

"Rodney, think you can pick up a signal?"

All eyes turned to McKay. "Oh, of course. If it sounds like it might be impossible, you look at me."

Beckett spoke up. "We still have the tracking device I took out of him before."

McKay sighed. "We might be able to tune the long-range sensors to pick up any similarly generated subspace transmissions. That's if they put another device in him," he added.

"Get it done," Weir said.

"Colonel," Brady called as the group separated. She matched his stride as they walked toward the locker room. "I want on this—"

"Nope," Sheppard said, cutting her off.

"Colonel—"

"Look, Brady," he said, stopping and facing her. "You're good at what you do—in the office and in the field. But we don't know what's going to come at us on this trip—"

"All the more reason to have me along," Brady said. "I know I'm not part of Alpha team, Sheppard, but you're one man down right now. Assuming whatever plan you guys devise includes taking other teams, you'll still have at least one opening. I need to be in on this."

Sheppard sighed, but after a moment gave a short nod. "Fine. But I want you to listen up—whatever misconception you have about having to prove yourself to anyone on this expedition, you need to get rid of it. That's how people get screwed up and distracted. You go on missions with teams here because you are capable, not because they need some Squint to even things out. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Brady nodded.

"Ok. I'll call you on the radio whenever we get this thing rollin'."

"Thanks Shep," Brady said.

"Just outta curiosity, why are you so hellbent on going?" Sheppard asked as Brady turned to go.

"I owe it to Ronon. If you remember, on my first mission out with Alpha he saved my ass in a big, big way."

"I remember," Sheppard said. He chewed his bottom lip, an unconscious habit that Brady had noticed at their first meeting, and finally nodded again. "Go on," he said, inclining his chin. "Keep your radio on."

"Will do," Brady replied.

Brady met Teyla in the corridor as they walked toward Weir's office. Colonel Caldwell had beamed in from the Daedelus moments earlier and was now helping Sheppard formulate a plan.

"So...Sateda, huh?"

Teyla looked at Brady and nodded. "Yes. Rodney believes that is the only viable choice out of the devices transmitting currently. We have been unable to dial Sateda's Stargate. Either it was destroyed during the war or the Wraith disabled it for this game of theirs."

"Figures. Like Sheppard said earlier, Ronon's the one who got away," Brady said as they ascended the steps. "The Wraith won't play fair."

"Neither will Ronon," Teyla added with a quick grin.

"This is true," Brady said, opening the door to the conference room.

"—if the Wraith are hunting Ronon," Caldwell was saying, "then there's a very good chance that there's a hive in orbit. I should have to remind you the Daedelus has not done well in its last few engagements with Wraith hive ships."

"A direct confrontation isn't necessarily our only option," Brady said. Caldwell looked a bit put out by her interruption, but McKay drew his attention before he could call her on it.

"We drop out of hyperspace, beam him onboard, and get out of there," McKay said. "Simple."

"You know damn well we can't come out of hyperspace and get close enough to a planet to beam someone off the surface," Caldwell said heatedly. "We'll be detected."

McKay frowned, not liking Caldwell's disdainful tone.

The older colonel sighed. "Look, you know I want to help, but I will not put my crew and the only ship we have in this galaxy at risk for one man."

Everyone in the room bristled.

"One man who isn't a member of the U.S. military," Sheppard said.

"I didn't say that!" Caldwell replied, looking affronted.

Sheppard ignored him. "He's a member of my team and he deserves the same respect as anyone on this expedition."

"We don't leave our people behind, Colonel Caldwell," Brady said.

Caldwell pointed a finger at her. "Don't preach to me about not leaving people behind, Dr. Thatcher." He looked at the faces of the other team members and knew he was fighting a losing battle. "I'm just saying it's a very bad risk/reward situation."

"Just get us in close," Sheppard said. "Like Brady said, confrontation isn't our only option. We'll take a cloaked Jumper the rest of the way."

Weir touched her headset. "Carson?"

"Elizabeth."

"The mission is a go."

"I'll go with them," Beckett said. "Remove the tracking device before we get back on board."

"We'll be out of there before the Wraith even know what happened," Sheppard said.

Caldwell jutted his chin stubbornly but sighed in resignation. "I won't bail you out if you get in trouble," he said.

Sheppard faked offense. "You say that as if we're always getting in trouble," he said cheekily.

Caldwell looked Sheppard, unimpressed, as a weary father might look at a mischievous child.

"You've got ten minutes to get your team assembled," he said. He clicked his communication device. "This is Caldwell, ready for transport beam."

With one last look of admonition, the colonel disappeared in a flash of white light.

The journey on the Daedelus was short and uneventful. Brady and Carson chatted comfortably in the mess hall while Rodney ate everything in sight.

"Oh...good God. Try this cookie!" he said, thrusting a piece at Brady. "It's delicious. It literally melts in your mouth. I wonder if we'd be able to get the cooks from the Daedelus to get assigned to Atlantis..." He sighed appreciatively as he popped the rest of his snack into his mouth.

An announcement came over the loudspeaker, interrupting the relaxed atmosphere of the trip.

"This is Caldwell. I need the Atlantis team to get to the Jumper and await my command to disembark."

Brady's mind wandered as she sat on the Puddle Jumper and idly listened to Beckett and McKay bicker back and forth. The Wraith had turned Ronon back into a Runner, of that much she was certain. There was no other reason for a Runner to be on Sateda. But—and this is what really concerned her—how had they turned the tide in their favor? The Wraith wouldn't just tag him and let him go again. They had to have some sort of advantage.

Was Ronon wounded? If so, how badly?

She chewed on the inside of her cheek, worrying. Over the past few months, Ronon had become a good friend to her. Closer, really, than anyone else on Atlantis, save Carson and Amelia. He'd been a good sparring partner, someone to argue and squabble with—and they did plenty of that, thanks to his moodiness and her hardheadedness—and he'd even managed to cheer her up if she was having an off day. She didn't know how she'd handle it if he—

"We're here," Sheppard said, opening the cargo door. "Me and Teyla will go after Ronon. We'll track him with this," he said, holding up a blinking device.

"Uh…" Brady said, raising her hand. "I'm going too."

"You know, one day I'm going to order my team to do something and I'm not going to get any argument," Sheppard said pointedly.

"Sure. And one day I'll sit in the dugout with the Red Sox," Brady said, checking the clip in her weapon. "We've all got dreams."

Sheppard threw an expression that all but mirrored the look Caldwell had given him earlier.

"Let's go," he muttered.

"Good luck," Beckett said.

Brady followed Sheppard and Teyla out of the Jumper. They crept into the war-ravaged building, following the maze of rubble toward the blinking dot that indicated Ronon's whereabouts.

"He's not moving," Brady whispered.

"Well, maybe he's pinned down," Sheppard replied.

No one was willing to think anything worse.

Sheppard held up his fist, halting their steps. A howl, haunting and full of anguish, resonated in the empty building.

"Ronon?" Brady whispered.

They continued slowly toward the sound. It stopped suddenly as they approached the ruins of an open surgery. Guns at the ready, they rounded the corner.

Ronon, still in the process of getting to his feet, growled and pointed his gun at them, startled at their sudden appearance.

"Don't look so surprised," Sheppard said, lowering his weapon. Ronon slouched against the wall and slid back to the floor.

"Are you ok?" Teyla asked, stepping forward.

Brady brought up the rear, frowning as she noticed the small pool of blood spreading from beneath Ronon's thigh.

Sheppard bent to help Ronon to his feet. Brady went to his other side to support his weight if his wound was too severe to walk unassisted. Teyla kept an eye out for any approaching Wraith.

"Come on. You can thank us later," Sheppard said. "McKay and Beckett are waiting for us in a Jumper on the roof."

"Get out of here," Ronon said. He pointed his gun at them, waving it between Sheppard and Brady.

"Oh, hey," Sheppard said, raising his hands.

"Whoa. What are you doing?" Brady demanded.

"Look buddy, I know you've been through a lot, but uh..."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ronon said stubbornly.

"Dammit," Brady hissed, glancing out a broken window. "We're gonna have company very soon."

McKay's voice sounded over the radio, verifying Brady's words. "What is going on down there? You have at least twenty-five Wraith closing in on your position from the ground level."

"It seems Ronon doesn't want to leave," Sheppard said.

"Well too bad! You tell that ungrateful example of unevolved humanity that we came all this way to rescue him, so he'd better get off his ass—"

"McKay says he's very hurt you wont come with us," Sheppard said, interrupting Rodney's tirade.

"I can't," Ronon said.

"Why the hell not?" Brady wondered.

"Keturah and his people...they had a deal," he said, looking at Sheppard. "They traded me for their freedom."

"You're doing this for them?" Brady asked incredulously. "The ones on that planet who turned you over to the Wraith in the first place?"

"It was my fault they were culled."

Teyla looked at Ronon sympathetically. "The Wraith did not honor the deal. Keturah and his village, they're all dead."

"Now can we go?" Sheppard asked, holding his hand down to Ronon.

The warrior pushed himself to his feet with a stifled groan. He favored his right leg, clenching his teeth against the pain he felt.

"No," he growled.

Brady hissed in exasperation, looking at Ronon as if she'd like nothing better than to choke him. "Why the hell not?" she asked again.

He looked at her, his eyes cold and determined. "Because I'm going to kill the Wraith responsible for all this."

Sheppard sighed and shifted his gun. "I don't suppose he happens to be one of the ones out there that's about to come in here?"

"No. He's probably still up on the hive," Ronon replied.

"We can't take on a hive ship," Teyla said, shaking her head.

"Won't have to."

Brady brought a hand to her ear as her radio buzzed. McKay's irritated voice demanded to know why they weren't moving.

"Ronon wants to take care of a few things first," Brady said, sighing.

"Oh really?" McKay asked acidly. "Like what?"

Everyone ignored him.

"Let's go kill some Wraith," Sheppard said.

"I vote Ronon buys dinner tonight," Brady said, giving him a small smile.

"Just stay out of my way," Ronon growled. Brady looked at Teyla and rolled her eyes.

"Hey," Sheppard said, pulling Ronon's gun out of his vest. "Thought you might want this."

Ronon took the gun and led the way out of the surgery.

"You're welcome," Sheppard said dryly.

"What the hell is going on down there?" McKay asked over the radio.

"Ronon thinks he can get the head Wraith responsible for all this to come down and fight him if we kill all these Wraith first."

"That is the stupidest plan I have ever heard!" McKay said.

"I dunno. Killing a bunch of Wraith always seems like a good idea to me," Sheppard replied.

"It's a great idea, as long as we don't get killed in the process," Brady added sardonically.

"Oh, come now Brady. No one likes a pessimist," Sheppard said.

"You're outnumbered at least thirty to four!" McKay squawked.

Beckett's voice piped up. "Um, it's actually twenty-nine to four. Twenty-eight..."

"Ronon appears to be quite angry," Teyla said.

Sheppard led Teyla and Brady down the stairwell after Ronon, picking off Wraith as they went. Once they hit the bottom floor, they filed out and began sweeping the wreckage, taking out any Wraith they came across.

Rodney droned on in their earpieces, but each soldier had been in the field enough times to know how to focus only on their objective and to shut out any distractions.

Carnage surrounded them. Brady lost sight of Sheppard and Teyla. Ronon was somewhere off on his own. She killed the last Wraith in her corridor before turning back to where they had split up.

The building grew quiet as the sound of gunfire faded. They regrouped in the dim foyer. Sheppard radioed the Jumper.

"That's it. We got them all, McKay?"

"Uh...yeah. It's just you guys left," Rodney said, surprise clear in his voice. "Well, that was quick."

"I got five," Brady said with a shrug.

"I got six," Sheppard said. "Teyla got..."

"Eight," Teyla said with a smug smile.

Sheppard touched his earpiece. "I got nine, Teyla eight, Brady five. Ronon got the rest."

Teyla and Brady exchanged an amused look, shaking their heads.

They found Ronon talking to a recon drone near the entrance of the old hospital.

"You want me?" he asked. "Come get me! I'll be waiting."

Brady winced as he shot the drone. Ronon turned and pointed a finger at them.

"You kill him before I do, I kill you."

"What if he kills you first?" Sheppard asked.

"Then you kill him," the warrior replied, walking out of the building.

"Got it."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Brady said.

"We'll take posts and cover the street," Sheppard said. "Teyla, you and I will take the right side. Brady, get back to the Jumper and cover from the balcony on the roof. McKay?"

"Yeah?"

"I want that Jumper ready to go when this thing's done, got it?"

"Copy that. I've only been trying to get you to come back for fifteen minutes already."

"Stay in contact. Radio open," Sheppard said as Brady broke off to get back upstairs.

"Got it," Brady said. She climbed the staircase, stepping over dead Wraith and the remains of Satedan doctors and nurses. She passed the cloaked Jumper, hitting the side as she passed to let McKay and Beckett know she was out there. She lay on the roof and pointed her P90 toward the street below.

"I could shoot him right now," Sheppard said over the radio. Brady frowned.

"I wouldn't," Teyla warned.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Shep."

"You really think Ronon would kill me?" Sheppard asked.

"He's got it in his head that he's gotta do it to make this right," Brady replied.

"I think he wouldn't forgive you," Teyla said.

The radio was quiet as the team watched Ronon take a beating from the Wraith commander. Brady's finger was itching on the trigger of her gun. She wanted to take that Wraith down just as much as Sheppard. No doubt Teyla felt the same way.

"The hive has got to be watching," Teyla said. Obviously Sheppard had moved to set up a shot. "We shoot that Wraith, they blast us all from space."

"He won't be able to take much more of this," Brady said, grimacing on Ronon's behalf as the Wraith threw him against the wall of a building. She stood and backed to the Jumper. She closed comms to Sheppard and Teyla and pounded on the side of the Jumper.

"We've been watching the whole thing," Carson said as he lowered the cargo door. "Ronon's not gonna be able to put up a defense for much longer."

Brady stepped into the cloaked Jumper and pushed into the cockpit. She watched as Ronon grappled with the Wraith. Soon he would be unable to get back on his feet.

"I'd say that's just about enough of this macho crap," McKay said heatedly as Ronon crawled away from the Wraith. The commander grabbed him by his dreadlocks and tossed him to the ground as if he weighed nothing.

"Carson, take us down. We're delivering aid," Brady said resolutely.

Beckett brought the Jumper off the building and letting it hover above the street, directly in front of the Wraith, who was kneeling above Ronon.

"Shoot this guy," McKay said.

"If he doesn't like it, he can sue me," Beckett said.

He closed his eyes and dropped the Jumper's cloak. The Wraith looked up in surprise as the ship materialized in front of him. Beckett fired the weapons, blasting the Wraith. Brady searched the ledge where Teyla and Sheppard had taken position, sighing with relief as she saw them run out of the building.

She strode to the cargo haul and opened the back door, scooping the other team members into the hold just before Beckett sent the Jumper to flight. She closed the door and slid down it, resting on the floor. She looked at Sheppard and grinned.

"Everyone ok?" Beckett asked, opening the cockpit doors as he and Rodney spilled out.

"We are ok," Teyla said. She stored her weapons, stepping aside as Brady slid over to unlock the med kit.

Brady opened the kit, removing things Carson would need to remove the tracking device as well as patch up Ronon's cuts and holes until they were on board the Daedelus.

"Which one of you killed the Wraith?" Ronon asked quietly, panting.

"That would be me," Beckett said, smiling proudly.

"My idea," McKay chimed in, also smiling.

"Ronon..." Teyla warned.

"What?" Beckett asked nervously. "Don't tell me you're not happy that he's dead."

"I had him in my sights the whole time," Sheppard said, "but Ronon said he'd kill me if I shot him."

Brady couldn't contain the small smile that curved her lips. Sheppard sounded so pouty.

"It was all Brady's idea!" McKay said frantically, pointing at her.

"Oh, real mature McKay," Brady said. She passed the stocked med tray to Beckett, who sat it on the shelf above the bench, possibly to keep the contents from scattering all over the Jumper if Ronon decided to hit him.

"Thanks doc," Ronon said, surprising everyone. He grabbed Beckett and pulled him in for a hug, slapping him gruffly on the back. "You too," he continued, hauling Brady to him and squeezing her briefly.

"What, them you thank?" McKay asked, his voice filled with indignation.

"I could have killed him at any time but Teyla wouldn't let me!" Sheppard said huffily.

"Thank you," Ronon said, releasing Brady. "All of you."

"Oh...don't mention it," McKay said.

"It's nothing, really," Sheppard said dismissively. "I only killed 11...12 Wraith."

Brady looked at him disbelievingly and shook her head, chuckling as Teyla rolled her eyes.

"How about you sit down and I get that tracking device out of you and deactivated before that Hive ship gets a bead on us?" Beckett asked, retrieving his tray. "I take it this time you won't mind if I give you a sedative?"

Brady stepped to the side as Ronon passed out in the Jumper floor. "I guess I could have tried to catch him..."

"Well, he did threaten to kill us earlier," Sheppard reasoned as he removed his gear.

"True," Brady agreed, kneeling and helping Beckett roll Ronon onto his stomach.

"Um...Who's flying the ship?" Sheppard asked.

"Me," Rodney answered, watching with fascinated horror as Beckett began the retrieval.

"Rodney."

"Oh! Right," McKay said, slipping back into the cockpit and taking the helm.