Mantle

by Eirian1

The stakes have never been higher nor the price of failure more costly as Teyla fights to the truth and two powerful enemies come to blows when one is forced to assume the mantle of the other. Virtual Season 5 Episode 4

4. Act 4

Act 4

"At least we managed to get this far without any trouble," Sheppard whispered to Ronon as the two of them sheltered at the side of one of the outlying buildings of the village.

"Yeah," Ronon agreed, "but I still favour a more direct approach."

"Ordinarily, I'd agree with you," Sheppard said, and then nodded outward from where they were sheltering. Someone was approaching and they would have to get a hold of him before he could raise the alarm, since there was no way he would miss them.

"Maybe he can tell us where they're holding her," Ronon murmured as he got to his feet, flattened against the side of the building, ready to grab the villager as soon as he was close enough.

"I wouldn't count on it," Sheppard warned, and moved back a little to give Ronon space to work.

It was over within seconds. As the scuff of a footfall sounded right beside the building, Ronon's fist flew out into the open. Sheppard winced as he heard the blow land heavily. He'd been on the receiving end of that fist once or twice and his jaw ached even at the memory of it. Ronon followed his fist around the side of the building and soon came back, half carrying, half dragging the struggling man in his arms, his hand clamped across the prisoner's mouth.

Though he had no intention of using it, Sheppard pulled out his handgun and pressed it against the man's throat. The man's eyes went wide with fear.

"Hi," he said with a sarcastic smile, "if you plan on living past the next few minutes, you're going to quieten down and tell me what I want to know. Then the worst thing that'll happen to you is that I'll let him hit you again. Follow?"

In Ronon's restraining grasp, the man nodded, and Sheppard gestured to the former runner, who fixed a snarling expression on his face before he cautiously let the man go.

The villager sat up, pressed himself against the wall of the building, still staring in fear at the gun with which Sheppard kept him covered.

"You have a prisoner here. A woman," Ronon said, the words rumbling in his chest.

"The Lantean? What of her?" he asked softly.

Sheppard exchanged a glance with Ronon, "Well, you're going to tell us where you're holding her, that's what of her."

"Where we hold all of our prisoners," the man answered, somewhat arrogantly, Sheppard thought.

"Which is…?" Ronon said. His impatience was clear in his voice. He took up his own weapon and pointed it at the man's head.

"The inn," the man stammered, suddenly fearful once more, "the… the… the basement at the inn."

Sheppard nodded, "Thank you, you've been very helpful," he said, and then looked meaningfully at Ronon. As the last word left Sheppard's mouth, Ronon lashed out and caught the man square on the jaw, sending him quickly into unconsciousness.

"I still think we should have killed him," he said as Sheppard secured the man's hands behind his back and tied a gag into his mouth.

"He's a non-combatant, Ronon," he said, shaking his head.

"He's a Wraith Worshipper," Ronon corrected, sneaking a look around the side of the building. "His kind would betray their own grandmother, given half the chance."

Sheppard sat for a moment, staring at Ronon until the Satedan warrior turned and gave him a puzzled frown. "What?" he asked, sounding a little uncomfortable.

"How come you're the scary one, when I'm the one with the big gun?" he asked, half serious, nudging the P90 that he had slung around his neck.

Ronon grinned, grimly and fiercely. "It's all in the teeth, Sheppard," he said, "and the beard. I'm sure the beard has something to do with it."

Sheppard shook his head again, and keyed his headset mic. "All units," he said quietly, "this is Sheppard. Target is the inn. Repeat… the inn at the centre of the village is our target. Move in."

**

Teyla suddenly gasped and looked up, as if she could see through the layers of the inn to the Hive she suddenly felt entering planetary orbit. Shaking the man by the lapels, where she suddenly grabbed him, she growled urgently, "There is no more time. They are here. Tell me now!"

"What good will it do you? You're a prisoner, you—" he suddenly broke off as she twisted her hands and pushed him against the metal of the bars, his airway restricted. "All right, all right," he gasped. "Mikalos… I come from Mikalos."

Teyla closed her eyes for a moment. Mikalos had once been one of the best of the Athosians' trading partners. Once, she had known it well and she mourned what she imagined had become of it since they had fallen into sympathy with Michael and his terrible schemes.

Dropping the man she held, she quickly began searching around. One thing he had said held an undeniable truth. She was a prisoner, and if she could not find freedom before the Wraith came, then she would never be able to act on the knowledge she now possessed, of the sympathisers of Mikalos. She could not allow herself to be taken by the Wraith.

**

The time for caution and secrecy had long since passed. Sheppard led his team storming into the centre of the village. The threat of their weapons was enough to keep most of the villagers from taking action. Those that did were quickly taken out with well placed shots that served as further deterrent against reciprocal action… until they reached the inn.

Ronon launched himself at the door, which splintered under the impact of his massive bulk – as did the heavy chair that awaited him on the other side, wielded by an equally bear-like villager.

He growled and, ignoring the pain, lashed out to grab the man by the throat, and drive him against the bar. He had to clear the doorway and allow the others inside. The grizzly man clamped the steel band of his grip around Ronon's wrist and began to pull, trying to get free. At the same time, he made a fist of his other hand and drove it repeatedly into Ronon's side. The pain increased with each blow, but still he ignored it. Teyla was here… somewhere… and they had to free her.

"Stand down, Ronon," Sheppard ordered and, a moment later, he realised that the man was no longer punching him. Breathless, and still angry, he let go of the man's throat and stepped backwards, beginning to turn and walk away.

"Now," Sheppard said calmly, "We don't particularly want any more trouble, so why don't you tell us where to find our friend and we—"

As Sheppard spoke, everything about the whole situation… about Teyla, the baby, Woolsey, Michael… everything rose to assault Ronon, spiralling around inside his incredible anger. Turning back he snatched up his blaster from its holster and, hardly bothering to aim, fired a single shot at the bear who still leaned, gasping, against the bar. He didn't even wait for the man to slump to the side, simply stepped over him and grabbed the innkeeper by the front of his shirt and half pulled him across the counter, to roar into his face.

"Where is she!"

The innkeeper pointed to a door at the side of the room, and slumped over the bar as soon as Ronon let him go. Ronon strode in that direction, his gun leading the way.

"Nobody moves," Sheppard ordered the marines he left on guard, as he moved to follow Ronon.

**

Footsteps descending the rough wooden steps made her flatten herself against the side of the basement wall, abandoning her attempt to pry open the lock with the edge of the metal plate she had found in the corner of the cell.

"Teyla!"

She gasped in surprise as she heard Sheppard's voice, and moved back to grip the bars of the door so that he would see her.

"John?" she voiced her surprise when she saw him at the foot of the stairs, hurrying past Ronon.

"We're going to get you out of there," he told her, and stumbled only slightly as Ronon pushed him aside with one hand and raised the weapon he held in the other.

"Stand aside," Ronon told her.

Quickly she moved as far away from the lock as she could, and still be standing by the bars. The lock soon disintegrated under the blast from Ronon's weapon, allowing him to push open the door.

"Ronon," She took his hand as he reached for her and allowed him to pull her to his side. "Not a moment too soon. The Wraith—"

Sheppard's earpiece crackled with momentary static, and then the voice of one of the marines warned, "Colonel Sheppard, we've got company, inbound."

"Fall back to the woods," he ordered, glancing around, "We'll find another way out of here."

As he spoke, Ronon pointed upwards, to a small hatch at the top of the side wall. "Beer hatch… always is one in this kind of place," he said softly.

**

She let out a soft moan as he slipped a hand beneath her neck to raise her head enough that she could drink the liquid without choking. The blanket slipped away from her as he did, and Vega shivered, making a trembling grab for the soft woollen cover.

"C-cold," she whimpered, pushing away the hand that held the bowl to her lips.

"Far from it," Todd told her patiently, concerned. "You have a fever. You must drink."

"No, I'm cold…" she moaned. Her open eyes seemed glazed, and she turned her head away from the bowl, reaching for him. "Hold me…"

Todd blinked, and then frowned. "Alicia, you do not know where you are," he told her, "You are delirious. You must drink this water."

Growling just a little, he lifted her into a still more upright position, supporting her against his shoulder with his arm across her back, as he brought the bowl to her lips again. This time he gave the slightest of mental pushes to the command to drink.

~you must drink~ ~must drink~ ~drink~

At last she acquiesced, drinking slowly at first, but as she began to realise her thirst, more eagerly.

"When he first started to develop the drug it took approximately one in every six of them this way." Todd frowned and looked toward the alcove from which the hybrid spoke. "They all died. You're wasting your time."

She gave a little cough, and pushed the bowl away, making an almost desperate grab for his hand as the water spilled over her… little as it was, she acted as though she was drowning.

"And yet…" Todd rumbled, still looking across at the hybrid, who stood dispassionately watching the two of them. "…you are here, and are infected. Therefore he must have found a way to neutralise the issue causing this reaction."

"You're assuming that he didn't just start over and take a different route," the hybrid said.

"Your attempt to persuade me that I am wasting my time tells me that he did not," Todd answered.

"Touché," the hybrid admitted. "But it took him a long while – longer than your friend there has. Based on the clinical presentation there are way too many possibilities. You might get lucky, seize on the right one first time, but…" He shrugged. "I doubt it."

"And I suppose you are about to suggest that if I… refrain from experimenting on you, you will tell me which of these avenues of possibility I should investigate first." Todd raised an eyebrow.

"I know that I won't survive your experiments," the hybrid confirmed softly. "And I very much want to continue living."

Trembling against him, Vega let go of his hand and reached to touch the side of his face. At the touch he turned his gaze from the hybrid and looked down at her.

"Please, Todd," she whispered, her voice full of pain and fear, "don't let me die."

Todd breathed out long and slow. He frowned, and barely tilted his head at her appeal. It would be easy to do that – to turn the situation around and report to the Queen that the Abomination had planted a poisoned apple in their midst and that he had been the instrument of the Queen's salvation, the removal of the threat to her, in discovering the infection in the girl.

"Please…" she whispered again, and her hand trembled against the side of his neck.

On the other hand, her death would weaken his position; his ability could be called into question, and perhaps his resources limited only to those he needed in connection with his work for the Queen. He would no longer have the satisfaction of knowing that at any moment the Queen could make a fatal mistake and that his could be the power to save her, and displace all those that would come before him.

He let out another long, almost hissed sigh, on the end of the breath he finally voiced his thoughts. "Alicia Vega, what are you to me?"

**

"Teyla," Sheppard called her name, and when she turned his way he tossed a weapon to her so that she could cover them as they climbed from the hatch. As he rolled topside, and reached back down for Ronon's hand, he couldn't help but smile. The burst of P90 fire toward the incoming Wraith… Teyla giving cover… it was just like old times.

He touched her shoulder lightly when he and Ronon were clear of the building, but it was a redundant gesture. As soon as Ronon reached her side he pulled his blaster and started firing shot after shot at the small group of Wraith that had been beamed down into the centre of the village. It did not take long to eliminate them entirely.

As soon as the last of the Wraith fell to the combined assault of Teyla's and Ronon's fire, she turned to Sheppard and tossed the weapon back in his direction.

"We have to leave," she said.

"Sure we do, just—" he stopped as she immediately began heading for the road that led to the Gate. "Teyla, wait up!"

She turned and walked backwards a way, her face set into a determined and serious expression. "I am sorry, John, I cannot afford to wait."

"Where are you going?" Ronon asked, sounding hurt.

"Back to the Stargate," she answered, turning again to walk on.

"But there will be Wraith there," Sheppard protested, hurrying a few steps to catch up to her.

"Not yet," she stopped walking and turned to face him, gripping his arms. As they stood, part way between the village and the Gate, the marines that Sheppard had ordered to the woods began to emerge, to join them, forming a protective perimeter around them.

"This planet belongs to the Wraith. That," Teyla gestured back to the village, "is a village of Wraith Worshippers. The Wraith are not here to cull, and so do not need to prevent the use of the Gate. Not until the pilot of the Dart that set the commander and his soldiers down in the village reports their loss to the Hive—"

"Uh, Teyla?" Ronon interrupted her lecture, glancing skyward.

"Oh, crap!" Sheppard spat, also looking up, and watching as the Wraith Cruiser descended into view.

"There is no more time!" Teyla cried, and suddenly letting go of Sheppard, began to run along the cobbled road.

"Teyla!" Sheppard called after her.

"Teyla, wait!" Ronon shouted, taking off after her.

**

As she broke from the group, even before the others called her name, he frowned, and knowing he shouldn't let her get away, began to raise his weapon. She'd defected… he'd been told that… why hadn't they restrained her? He didn't understand.

If he waited much longer she'd be out of effective range.

**

"What the—" Sheppard spun around as soon as the firing began, ordering frantically, "Stand down! Hold your fire!"

Ronon veered from running down the road to sprint toward the soldier that was firing on Teyla, rushing at him, roaring loudly as he went, and trying not to put himself in the line of fire.

"Stop him!" Sheppard yelled to the other marines who, caught off guard by their companion's rogue action, were slow to respond.

Ronon took a running leap and tackled the man head on, sending him flying, and the rest of his gunfire, brief as it was once the angry Satedan had reached him, harmlessly skyward.

**

It felt as though someone had taken a poker from a hot fire and used it to beat against her side and her hip. The impact sent her spinning to sprawl on the hard cobbles. She was only yards from the Gate, and at first did not comprehend what had happened.

"Teyla!"

She heard Sheppard's cry, barely registered the alarmed tone. All she could think was that he would try to take her back to Atlantis; try to prevent her from finding her son.

"No, John," she murmured as she forced herself to her feet again. "I am sorry."

Adrenalin raced through her bloodstream as she began to move, hearing him calling her name, hearing the angry shouts from Ronon… She had no choice but to go on. Pressing her hand against her suddenly painful hip, she forced her feet to carry her toward the DHD, feeling that gathering Wraith presence and knowing she had so little time. She hit the podium almost at a run and dialled the first few symbols with a bloodied hand.

"Teyla, don't!" Sheppard called again, coming closer.

"John, go back!" she cried out to him as she dialled the rest of the address. "I have to do this!"

The wormhole whooshed into being, for a moment cutting off her sight of his approach. When it stabilised, he was standing at the edge of the clearing.

"Please, Teyla, you don't have to do this alone." He held out his hand to her.

"Yes, Colonel Sheppard, I do." She shook her head, stepping closer to the event horizon. "None of you can understand. He is my son… I am his mother, and I. Need. Him in my arms. And if that means that I must harry Michael to the very ends of this galaxy, then that is what I will do."

"I get that," he said, taking a step closer, "I do, but—"

"No buts, John Sheppard," she stood by the wormhole, "As much as you might want… to help me… others of your people do not."

"Teyl—!"

**

"…others of your people do not."

She took another step closer to the event horizon, and Sheppard took a frantic step toward her. If they lost her again they might never find her, and she was hurt… shot… and bleeding.

"Teyl—" he started to call out for her and sprinted the last few steps. He tried frantically to burn the memory of the lighted symbols on the DHD into his memory. "Damn it!"

"Colonel Sheppard!" one of the marines called for him as he stood running his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"What?" he spun around and started back down the road, toward where the others had the subdued marine, and the enraged Satedan, separated.

"He said it was a standing order from Hollick!" Ronon spat, held between two struggling marines, enraged.

"You better hope he confirms that when he comes round, soldier – if he comes round." Sheppard seethed, meaning to let the matter drop until later, but suddenly thinking of all of the possibilities for disaster that could arise from the soldier's action, he appealed, "Do you even realise what you've done?"

"I was following orders, sir… attempting to neutralise a dangerous—"

Ronon broke free of the restraining soldiers and started swinging his fists, incensed, at the young marine.

"Ronon!" Sheppard moved toward him. "Ronon, stop! Stop! This doesn't help Teyla!"

Risking getting hit himself, Sheppard put himself directly between the marine and the Satedan warrior. He closed his eyes as the big fist came swinging directly for his face, and held his breath. A moment later, when he did not feel excruciating pain in his nose or jaw, he risked opening one eye… and then the other to look into the snarling face of his Satedan friend.

"Get out of my way, Sheppard," Ronon said in a low voice.

"Look, the best way we can help Teyla is to get back to Atlantis, and have McKay figure out the address. I saw most of it… he can figure it out," he said. "Getting stuck here with the Wraith descending on us is not the way to go."

"You better be right," Ronon snarled, beginning to straighten up, and starting to turn toward the Gate.

Sheppard took a breath, and let it out slowly as his friend started walking away. As they reached the Gate, and started dialling, Sheppard called his name softly.

"What?" Ronon snapped, moodily.

"Definitely the beard," he said.

Ronon growled.

**

It had been a short battle… barely a battle at all in fact, and it irritated Todd that he had been summoned, along with the Commander, to be present in the Elder Queen's chamber, when the Queen, and Commander of the subdued Hive were brought aboard to swear their allegiance. It interrupted his research, and his experimentation, and he could not afford the time for that.

"What is this…" the Queen pushed with her toe at the bound and whimpering human the subordinate Wraith faction had brought with them into her presence. "…offal you bring before me?"

"He claims he knows where the woman prisoner will go," the Subordinate-Queen answered. "Says she asked about the Creature his people serve."

"Release him," the Queen instructed, and her Commander stepped forward with a knife to cut the man's bonds.

Todd felt the Queen's emotions echoing around the chamber, gathering strength at the mention of the woman.

"If you wish to live…" she started as the man began to sit up. Her tone was mild, curious. She stared at him for a long time, tilting her head first one way and then the other… as she did, the calm expression melted from her face, her eyes hardened again and she tensed with badly concealed anger. "…then you will tell me everything you know of this woman…"

"Teyla!" the man cried out in abject terror, debasing himself in front of the Elder Queen. "I heard the other Lanteans call her by that name. Her name is Teyla!"

Todd frowned. He had heard that name… Sheppard's friend, the scientist – McKay – had said something about her being a prisoner of the Abomination. Had she escaped him? Was that why they pursued her now…? But no, it was more than that he felt from the Queen. It was anger, a burning hatred… jealousy.

=The net is closing. Your research… it is ready?=

~progressing, my Queen~

Todd gathered every part of him to make the lie convincing. He had been concentrating almost solely on the solution to the Hoffan problem that had presented itself in Vega, and his primary reason for having been brought aboard the Elder Queen's Hive had been pushed aside.

"And where," The Elder Queen leaned down and stroked the backs of her fingers down the terrified man's cheek, "did you say she would go?"

"M-m-my home world," he stammered in answer, "Mikalos,"

The Elder Queen looked up at her Subordinate-Queen in query. "Where is this place?"

"My Commander searched the human's mind," the Subordinate-Queen answered lightly, "We can… transmit the coordinates to your Commander."

"No!" The Queen's voice was whip-like, and the mental echo of it painful even to Todd, at whom it was not directed. The Subordinate-Queen shrank backwards, almost stumbled, and a trickle of blood began to run from her nose.

=how dare you believe you could deceive me!=

"Forgive me… Elder!" the Subordinate-Queen inclined her head. "My Commander will remain aboard your Hive to guide you with information, as you desire."

"And you will return to your own Hive, and await my instruction."

"Yes… Elder."

**

McKay came hurrying down the steps to the Gate Room as Sheppard and the others stepped out from the Stargate. He looked first one way, and then another.

"Well… where is she?" he asked.

"We lost her," Sheppard said in distaste.

"What… what do you mean, you lost her?" McKay stammered, "How hard can it be, I—"

"What he means," Ronon growled, "is that she got away from us, Gated to another world after getting shot at by this—"

"Shot? Teyla was shot?"

"Listen, McKay," Sheppard said as he beckoned the city security forward, "We don't have time for explanations right now. I have a partial address, and the chances are that a Wraith Hive is already en route to the planet that address leads to as we speak." He broke off to instruct the security detail to escort the young marine to the brig. "So what I need you to do is to find me that address, and dial the Gate so we can get back out there and find Teyla before they do."

"Of course," Rodney said, obviously pushing aside the questions, "Give me what you have…" he held up a tablet toward Sheppard.

He quickly scribbled down the symbols he could remember being lit, and then, as McKay hurried back to the control room, Sheppard tapped his headset mic. "Keller, this is Sheppard."

"Go ahead, Colonel, what can I do for you?"

"I need a field medic with a medical kit ready to go, like yesterday."

"He got her?" Ronon asked, horrified.

"Looked like just a flesh wound, but… there's no telling," Sheppard answered Ronon, and then, since Keller had not answered him, added, "Doctor?"

"I'm sorry, Colonel, I'm the only one available right now and—"

"Then grab your gear and meet me in the Gate Room in five. McKay?"

"I'm working!" he called down from the control room. "Almost there…"

"Delta team, this is Sheppard," he called the team on standby, almost picturing them suddenly scrambling from where they waited, never expecting to be called on their 'standby' days. "Report to the Gate Room immediately."

"Colonel Sheppard, what's doing on?" Woolsey came to a surprised halt as he walked into the Gate Room crowded with the marines of Alpha team and the ordnance officers re-equipping the soldiers.

"We have a positive location on some of Michael's people," Sheppard said, "I'm assembling a strike team."

It was only half the truth. He deliberately neglected to mention the fact that Teyla was on her way there, because he couldn't think of a way to put it that Woolsey would not misconstrue.

"I got it!" McKay called down from the control room, "M5B-217."

"Do we have a go?" Sheppard asked Woolsey, his voice urgent.

Truth was, he was going with or without the official word from Woolsey, but he would prefer to go with his blessing. That way it couldn't come back to bite him on the ass.

"What?" Woolsey asked, sounding momentarily surprised, "Yes. Yes of course, Colonel. You have a go."

As the Delta team and Doctor Keller arrived, and everyone assembled a safe distance from the Gate, McKay came hurrying down the stairs to join them, pocketing electronic gadgets as he came.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, McKay?" Sheppard asked.

"I'm coming with you," he said, and judging from the grim determination Sheppard saw on his face, nothing he could have said would change McKay's mind.

**

She paused to lean against the rocky outcrop at the side of the road. From the high ground on which the Gate stood she knew that, even though she had not taken the wider path down the rocky hillside, she was heading in the right direction, but it was a long way, and she was nearing exhaustion. She once more pressed her hand against her side to check that the makeshift bandage was holding and cried out a little as the touch disturbed the wound. She had to rest… and soon.

Night was falling, and already there was a chill in the air. She would need to find a place to shelter and doubted that she would get much closer to the settlement without detection. She fixed her gaze on the lone building up ahead, nestled between the rocks as it was, and resolved to rest once she had reached it.

As she started to move, the path beneath her tilted a little and she stumbled, reaching out to catch herself again, before she fell. The movement jarred her already aching hip, and for a moment she waited, breathing away tears of hurt and frustration, and no little mounting fear.

Gathering her resolve she started again down the sloping path toward the small stone built building. As she got closer she could see smoke rising from a small chimney in the side of it, and a light flickered within, against the gathering gloom, from out of the window space.

For a long time, she stopped and waited, lowering herself behind a low wall to watch the house, for that was what she had decided it must be. She knew the people of this world were in sympathy with Michael, and did not wish to simply walk back into captivity. Her aim was to find him on her own terms, to take Nethaiye from him and… and then what? She had not thought beyond that point. When she had her son, what then of Michael?

Light spilled over her suddenly, and she raised an arm to shield her eyes, peering up at the dark silhouette standing over her with the lantern raised, caught… careless, she cursed herself.

"It will be a cold night," a voice said. There was no menace in the tone, and he sounded puzzled or concerned. "You'd do well to continue on to the town, or if you will, perhaps come inside to warm yourself by our fire."

"How did you—?"

"My boy watched you come down from the Ring. Folk don't usually take this path any more," he said. "They take the wider road, so… when he said he saw you coming down the trail I knew you'd probably wanted a quiet arrival in town."

"Yes, I—"

"Goodness sakes, girl, come inside. We don't bite, we have a warm fire, and there's food aplenty." he lowered the lantern and held out a hand to her, and after only a moment's hesitation she reached out and took it, accepting his help to rise. He frowned when he saw her side. "You're hurt."

"It is nothing," she said.

"No, you're bleeding, that is not 'nothing.'" he turned his head then, and called to someone inside, "Lydia, put water on the fire to warm, she's hurt."

"Thank you," Teyla said, her voice shaking a little.

"We've a reputation for hospitality," he told her softly as he started to lead her inside, "And just because that's been the cause of many of our troubles here, doesn't mean that some of us won't uphold what we've always stood for."

**

Todd finished drawing the sample of Vega's blood and gently tucked her arm back beneath the blanket. He sat for a moment on the side of the cot, looking down at the pale, almost luminous quality in her skin, as the fever had leeched much of her colour from her once vibrant complexion. Her breathing was laboured, and shallow, but at least she breathed.

"She is very weak," the hybrid said from his alcove. "You haven't much time."

"Instead of you warning me of what I do not have," Todd snapped, half turning his head to look in the direction of the hybrid. "Perhaps some useful information would help to save the girl… and yourself."

"I told you," the hybrid replied belligerently, "It's in the amino acid chains."

"You told me that preventing the thermal, condensing reaction in the formation of the peptide bonds would help to reduce the fever. That is what I have done, and this is the result." Todd snapped. "She has become dehydrated, and is in danger of becoming hypothermic."

"That's the point," the hybrid said, "You're not thinking, Wraith. The effect of the protein in the first place—"

"Enough!" Todd cut off the hybrid's words.

His raised voice startled Vega toward wakefulness and she whimpered, turning her head away from the sound. He reached out to lift away a strand of hair that had fallen across her face, to push it back behind her ear and to draw up the blanket a little more, to keep in what small amount of heat her body still provided to her.

She opened her eyes as he did. Her gaze fixed on his hand, which hovered near her shoulder, at the top of her chest. She drew back against the cot, putting as much distance between his hand and her body, her eyes pleading… afraid.

Frowning he drew his hand away, turned his palm to look at the feeding slit on his hand. He let out a long, voiced sigh.

"I'm so tired," she whispered. "Please, just—"

It hit him with such force the realisation actually made him gasp softly. The enzyme inhibitors within the Hoffan protein were reacting against her naturally occurring enzymes. The compound was failing to anneal with her human cells, as it was designed to do, and so instead of remaining dormant until the presence of foreign enzymes were introduced to trigger its reaction, it was active in her system.

He let his hand fall against the top of her chest for just a second, almost patting her in reassurance, before he got to his feet and hurried to the equipment in the centre of the laboratory.

"Todd?" she questioned.

"Why hasn't the protein been absorbed by the cells in her blood?" he fired the question at the hybrid, even as he set a drop of her blood onto the computer sensor for analysis.

"Antigens," the hybrid answered. "He found the Hoffan protein has two specific nucleic patterns, one of which attaches to a particular antigen. Where that antigen isn't present—"

"—the secondary nucleic pattern-type is prevented from being absorbed by the aggressiveness of the primary one," Todd finished, watching the results flash across his screen, "Of course…"

"Todd?" Vega repeated, struggling weakly to try and get out of bed.

"And having no attachment—"

"—the protein does what it was designed to do – anneals to the enzyme cells, feeds on them and—"

"—causes cellular breakdown in the organs and systems through which the blood—"

"—carries the protein-enzyme polypeptides." Even as he spoke, Todd unfastened the clasp on his coat and shrugged off the heavy garment, beginning to roll up one of the sleeves of the shirt he wore underneath. As he did he approached the alcove where the hybrid was still chained in place, and passed his hand over the sensor to release the lock. "You will have to help me."

The hybrid shook his head, "It won't be enough, not the method you're planning, you—"

Todd lashed out, grabbing the hybrid by the throat and lifting him from the floor to pin him against the wall of the alcove. "Do not presume to know my mind. You will help me to extract the enzyme that I need, or our agreement is cancelled, and you will be the next one on which I experiment."

"Todd," A light touch against his arm, tremulous and cold, calmed him. He let go of the hybrid, who fell to the deck, rubbing his neck, and turned to support Vega, slipping his arms around her, as she struggled to keep on her feet.

"You must rest, Alicia," he told her softly, almost smiling, for the first time truly believing that he might find the solution to this problem that he and his people faced. "We have many things that we have yet to do together, many discoveries to make. Trust me… I promise I will make it as painless as possible."

**

"Thank you," Teyla said softly, as Lydia finished tying the bandage around her, and drew up the blanket once more over her. She and her husband, Korl, had shown her nothing but compassionate concern, taken her into their home, fed her, cared for her, and now gave her a place to rest for the night in front of their fire.

"So you came here to confront him," Korl asked as he returned to the room, "to take back your son?"

"Nethaiye is but a babe in arms, Korl," Lydia said. Teyla had spoken with the woman at length as she had cleaned and dressed her wounds. "What do they say in the town?"

"Some of our friends are anxious to meet you, Teyla," he said. "In the morning I will go with you into town to meet with them. Some of them may be able to help you more than I can, though—"

Teyla tipped her head, frowning slightly at his hesitation. "Is something wrong, Korl?"

"We must be careful," he told her, "Aneram said that earlier today, some of his men… what did you call them, hybrids…? He said that many have arrived since the afternoon. They have begun to gather some of the equipment they had left here."

"He is leaving," Teyla said, sighing in frustration.

"And closing down his outposts here," Korl confirmed, nodding. "The workers have been sent home already. Many are concerned as to how they will make their living once they are gone. It is soon winter, and our people have not tended their fields and livestock, since there has been no need, these… people have provided for us in return for our diligent work."

"Korl, I am sorry," she said, closing her eyes until Lydia squeezed her arm again.

"You need to rest, not to apologise," she said, and Korl nodded in agreement. "Our people have always been hardy. We will survive."

Teyla sighed again. She could not help but think otherwise, even if she did not give voice to her thoughts.

**

He walked quickly along the bank of liquid filled containment chambers, flicking switches as he went. Inside the tanks, shadowed forms twitched and began to flail as the power that sustained them was cut. The light and heat faded, and the life giving oxygen was cut off from the breathing tubes attached to the growing forms.

"Drain the tanks," he instructed the hybrids that had followed him to the laboratory. "Burn the biogenetic organisms."

Reaching the end of the line of tanks he moved to the stasis unit, and, taking an insulated case from another of his hybrids, he set it on the bench and deactivated the stasis unit, beginning to transfer the contents into the case, quickly and efficiently. To another of those who had accompanied him, he instructed, "Wake those that are close enough to fully transformed and take them aboard the cruiser to finish the process."

"The others?"

"Shut them down," he said, matter of fact, as he closed the case, and handed it to the waiting hybrid for transport to the cruiser.

He turned and watched as the small team of hybrids he brought with him began to carry out their orders, and felt a brief flutter of concern pass through him. What if he had not accounted for everything?

Slowly he walked toward the centre of the laboratory, where the metal operating table stood empty beside the bank of equipment he had built from nothing, from a time when solitude threatened to crush him into madness… when there was nothing, and no one to share his cause…

He sensed the man drifting toward wakefulness and moved back into the shadows, wanting to observe the one before committing to what would be, from that point, an irrevocable journey.

"Wha—" the man turned his head one way and then another, trying to free himself from the restraints, and at the same time discover if he were alone. "What is this place? Where am I?"

"It is no place you will ever recall," he said softly.

"What… I… Who are you? Where are you? Show yourself!" Slowly, taking his time, he walked into the pool of light beside the operating table; watched the expression of fear and revulsion cross the man's face. "Who are you?"

"No one you will ever remember," he answered in the same, soft tones. For several moments he stood, looking down on the helpless Athosian man, smothering the emotions that were threatening his composure. "I have been watching you for some time. You disappoint me."

A frown of confusion replaced the other expressions on the man's face, and then on deepening concern, "I can— I feel—"

"Yes," Michael breathed and leaned down a hand on either side of Kanaan's shoulders.

-you sense me- -sense me- -sense-

"What are you?" Kanaan tried to pull away as Michael increased the pressure of his mind against the Athosian's – more and more with each word he spoke.

"I am the pariah that lurks in the dark corners of every heart, the demon that waits in the night to corrupt the innocent, pervert the just, and exploit the weak. I am the angel of death that will tear down the hypocrites, expose the false overlords and bring them to their knees. I. Am. Vengeance."

"Stop!" Kanaan screamed, his back arching in fear and pain at the images and thoughts that Michael pushed, in anger, into his mind, "No more! Please… no more…"

Michael calmed as quickly as his anger had begun and moved away then, turning to draw a tray of surgical equipment closer to the table – releasing the terrified Athosian from his mental grasp.

"What," Kanaan gasped, "What are you doing?"

"You need not fear," Michael told him, "I have no intention of harming you. Quite the contrary in fact, you and your… affections for Teyla are—"

"Teyla?" Kanaan frowned.

"Enough!" Michael cut him off, picked up a nearby syringe, and quickly injected the contents into the side of Kanaan's neck. "There is work to be done."

Michael sighed, and for a moment laid his hand on the surface of the operating table. The genetic splice had been a difficult one, technically brilliant, medically unique… potentially fatal.

"Transfer the data to our main facility." he twitched his head a little, taking one last look around. "Destroy the rest of the equipment."

He turned to face his lieutenant as he entered the room, already knowing what the hybrid would tell him, but taking a breath, needing to hear it anyway.

"The Elder's Hive has just left hyperspace and is approaching the planet." the hybrid said as he came to a halt and handed a Wraith tablet to Michael.

"So," Michael said softly, "Time has caught me." He sighed and reviewed the data on the tablet. "All is prepared, the arrangements have been made?"

"Everything is in place," his lieutenant confirmed. "You are certain that is where—"

"It is the only possibility remaining." He nodded once in confirmation, then handed back the tablet. "You have your orders."

"The captive?"

Michael sighed. The experiment had barely finished before he left and he would have liked more time to study the results, which on first glance had appeared to be promising. Too soon to, in any event, to consider the experiment at an end.

"Sustain her. It may well be that we have need of her yet," he answered.

"And Atlantis?"

"Atlantis will take care of itself," Michael answered darkly. "Do only what you must to ensure out plans continue unhindered. I will join you later."

The hybrid lieutenant nodded once and then turned to go. Michael remained, still and quiet, a brooding presence in the remains of the laboratory as, one by one, his loyal army of hybrids left him to carry out their assigned tasks.

**

There was little more that he could do, except to keep her comfortable until the process of creating the serum was complete. He flexed his arm, ignoring the soreness and glanced at the computer. The readout indicated that the process was only sixty-five percent completed. Perhaps the hybrid had been correct. Perhaps it would have been more prudent to call in one of the guards and instruct him to attempt to feed on Vega, giving him more time to perfect the catalyst that would impose the false antigen signature on her blood cells and allow the absorption of the protein. As it stood, it was a race between the creation of the antigen serum and Vega's self annihilation.

He sighed, and finally tore his gaze away from the sleeping woman. In the meantime, he reminded himself, he had work to do. He moved along the workbench to the microscope to view the progress of the cells in the culture, and the effects of the latest biochemical compound on their mutation.

"Promising," he purred as he stood watching them for a while.

"Don't you feel used?" the hybrid behind him asked softly. "I mean, what is it she expects you to do for her? Remove our Wraith DNA? Make us human again and therefore weak?"

"What the Queen wants from me—"

"The Queen, not your Queen?"

"—is of no concern to you."

"Have you given any thought to what will happen if you should succeed?" the hybrid pressed on, refusing to be deterred.

Todd stopped, and drew away from the microscope, then turning to face the hybrid, said, "I have given it a great deal of thought. And above all it will ensure the survival of my kind in a universe that seeks to destroy us."

"But the Queen—"

"She was here at the beginning, and she will see us safely thought this next evolution of history. It is what they do." Todd snapped.

"Tell me then," the hybrid asked. "What makes being of your kind deserving of survival, over all others."

"We are Wraith," Todd answered, snarling just a little, and as though that reminded him of his experiment in progress, he began to mix together the required components to create a larger batch of the compound he would use as a test in one of the three remaining hybrids. It would take time to mature, for each of the chemical constituents to complete their reaction and become the drug he would administer, but he had faith that, this time, the results would not be the unrecognisable regression toward a baser life form.

He had not realised he stood staring at the flask, spinning in the centrifuge, until the thrill of the alarm from the other workstation broke in on his non-thought to alert him to the completion of its task.

Picking up the vial in his hand he stared at the deep red serum inside, and then past it to where the human woman lay, pale and dying on his cot.

"If the full solution still evades you, break the problem down into its component parts and solve each step as a separate entity."

Here was the first real step toward solving the conundrum the Hoffan protein presented to his people. In curing Vega he would have a live test subject with a modified protein incubating inside of her. A ready source of everything he might need in order to inoculate his people against its effects, and restore their ability to feed as needed.

"One step at a time," he reminded himself. First she had to survive his cure.

**

She blinked up at him as he woke her again. She felt as though she was breathing underwater. She alternated between too hot and too cold, and every nerve, and muscle and bone in her body ached. She'd had flu once – real influenza, not the bad colds that people like to refer to as flu – and it had been nothing like this. Silently, she promised herself that if she ever saw Michael again, she would personally rip out his entrails and feed them to him piece by bloody piece.

She fought to focus her eyes again to find Todd looking at her in concern. In his hand he held a hypodermic syringe.

"What is that?" she asked, her mind clearing enough to realised that he intended to use it on her. "Medicine?"

"Of a kind," he said softly, reaching for her, but she pulled away.

"No," she said to him, "not until you tell me."

"You are sick because your body did not absorb the Hoffan protein as it should have done, and so it remains inside of you, doing to you what it would do to any Wraith that feeds on you."

"And that?" she pointed at the syringe.

"This is a serum that will… make it possible for you to absorb the protein by temporarily altering your blood chemistry."

"Temporarily?"

"Long enough," he said softly.

She looked at him seriously, and took as deep a breath as she could. "There's a but," she surmised, watching the concern that was written all over his face.

"I will need to restrain you." He tilted his head to the side, and she knew that even though she had tried to keep her face neutral, the very thought of restraint sent a prickling, cold terror flooding through her – a craving for death. "I do not imagine the process will be without discomfort, Alicia. It is for you own—"

"No!" she snapped at him, forcing herself away from him, sitting up against the bulkhead a little, "Anything else, just… no restraints."

He raised an eyebrow, "Very well," he agreed. "I will not use restraints."

Taking a shuddering breath, she nodded and allowed him to guide her to lie down again. As he took her arm into his hand she began to tremble almost uncontrollably and she felt the urge to cry as she had not done since she was a very small child. She had known violence, she had known fear… since coming to Atlantis, she had faced both many times over, but to lie there, at the mercy of a Wraith in whose hands she was placing her life – it was insanity… and insanity meant that they would come for her, take her from her bed in the dead of night and strap her to the cold hard gurney; fill—

"Todd!" she reached across to grip his shoulder as she felt the sting of the needle; the cold of the liquid, flooding into her. "Stop… stop… st—!"

He had barely withdrawn the needle when the burning started. It coursed through her body like lighted paraffin. The pain of it startled her, stole what breath she had and drew a deep cry from her as she arched her back from the cot.

Her arms flailed and caught against several bottles and jars on the shelf beside the cot, sending them tumbling to the floor of the laboratory, and those that did not, cutting her hand as they broke against the wall.

She barely felt him lift her against him, his hand behind her head, holding her close against his shoulder, and wrapping his other arm behind her back. She shuddered against him, her fingers making claws against his arms as she clung to him, crying out as the beating of her heart sent the burning serum through her body.

"Kill or cure…" she heard the hybrid's words echo round the room, "the only two possibilities in nature."

**

Sheppard peered from the ridge on which the Gate stood, toward the settlement in the distance, searching for any evidence, anything that might tell them where to find Michael; what he might have done in this place; what traps might be waiting for him.

"McKay?" he turned to the scientist, "Anything?"

"You see, this is what you get. If Woolsey hadn't pissed off the Athosians—"

"Anything, or nothing, it's a simple choice, McKay."

"Nothing. I got nothing. No energy readings, no evidence, no—" he stopped and then peered at the device in his hand again. "Wait a minute… Oh… oh no, this is bad."

"Rodney?" Sheppard grumbled, "A little more—"

"Colonel Sheppard, the Gate!" the captain of Delta Team called out to him as the symbols began to light.

"Take cover!" Sheppard called out, pushing a little against McKay who was still staring at the screen of his detector. "Move!"

The team scattered, finding whatever cover was to be had on the ridge. Sheppard pulled McKay down behind a large boulder, sheltered by sparse foliage, mere seconds before the first of the Darts came streaming from the Gate.

"Wraith, or Michael's people?" Sheppard hissed.

"Wraith," McKay stammered, horrified, "The Wraith, the… the… the… mother of all Hives."

"Crap," Sheppard said, quickly keying his headset. "This is Sheppard, it's the Wraith. We need to get the hell out of here before they send the ground troops through the Gate. Fall back; regroup in the copse at the foot of the ridge. All units – respond."

**

Sore, but feeling much stronger than the night before, Teyla walked along the track to the town. To one side of them the hedgerow, barely turned in colour toward winter, rustled in the wind blowing across the empty field.

"These fields will bear new crops, Korl, you will see," she said in response to his explanation of how many fields lay fallow, since Michael came to his world.

Beside her Korl smiled as he said, "Some of the others will be—"

The feeling was so intense it was dizzying, but still she managed to turn somehow and push the man into the shelter of the hedge, as the Darts went streaming overhead, like a storm out of a clear blue sky.

"Wraith," she spat.

"You are sure? Michael's peo—"

"I am sure," she told him bitterly.

"They are heading for the town," he said urgently, starting to push his way to his feet again.

Teyla snatched his walking staff from his hands and blocked the pathway as the first of the explosions sounded from that direction.

"No," he protested, trying to push past her, but she stood her ground, pushing back.

"Korl, listen to me," she said, "the Wraith are here to punish your people for their sympathy with Michael… they will stop at nothing to see every single one of you wiped out of existence."

"What do I do?" he asked in desperation.

"Go," she said. "Go back to your home; take your wife and family and leave. Get as far away from the town as you can and do not look back."

"But—"

"Run!" she roared at him, pushing him back in the direction from which they had come. Then she turned and tucking the staff under her arm, she began to run as quickly as she could, running towards the town.

**

"It's a massacre out there," Keller wrapped her arms around her as she backed away from the edge of the trees toward where Sheppard had gathered the others in relative safety. He shook his head at her, knowing they wouldn't be safe for long. Already the sky was blackening with smoke from the fires in the town, and still the Darts were skimming back and forth across the landscape.

"There's nothing we can do, Jennifer, not yet," he said.

"They're searching," Ronon said, looking skyward, watching the patterns of the flying Darts.

"Yeah," Sheppard nodded, "and so are we. McKay? Anything?"

Rodney shook his head.

"They're killing people, Sheppard," Keller said, horrified, "Aren't you going to do anything?"

"There's nothing we can do, Doctor," he growled. "If we go down there, we risk getting caught under Wraith fire; risk getting ourselves killed and that doesn't help anyone. Best thing we can do is hold out and do what we came here to do. Find Michael's people, take them out. Eventually the Wraith will leave and then we'll be able to go out there, find the survivors and—"

"I think I got something," McKay interrupted. Sheppard walked over to peer at the small screen he held in his hands. "It's very faint, but the energy reading matches those we've seen from Michael's facilities before. Coming from a small… cavern just a few klicks beyond the town. If we follow the ridgeline, we should be able to get there undetected."

Sheppard nodded, and clapped the scientist on the shoulder. "Even better at night," he said, "Good man, Rodney – all right, we lay low, wait for dusk and then head out."

"What about Teyla?" Keller asked softly, turning her back on the others and looking out toward the town again. "What if she's down there?"

**

"Run," Teyla shouted toward a woman and her daughter, "This way!" She gathered them quickly to her as they reached her side and propelled them onwards, "Keep going, out beyond the fields, into the trees and the valleys there. Go!"

She did not wait to see if they obeyed, only set herself more firmly on her way deeper into the battlefield that was the town. Around her buildings burned and crumbled, some of the stronger men fought hand to hand with Wraith warriors, only to be cut down in a moment by a shot from a blaster.

With each death her anger and her resolve strengthened, and ignoring her own pain she moved onward, trying to find as many of the townsfolk as she could, dodging fire from Wraith blasters and the strafing runs of Darts alike. She fought to save these people whose only crime was to side against the Wraith with their enemy.

A scream along a narrow alley between buildings drew her steps that way. A young couple sheltered in a doorway, stalked by two Wraith warriors, both taunting their terrified victims. Teyla snatched up a nearby wood-axe and sent it end over end to take the farther of the two Wraith in the throat. The remaining Wraith turned and, abandoning his former quarry, began to advance on Teyla.

Cautiously she backed away, giving herself space, and bringing the staff she carried to readiness. Against his blaster, the staff would have been useless, but she knew from his advance that he wanted more than just the quick kill. It was a risk, but a calculated one.

She did not wait for him to reach clear ground, only for him to be clear enough of the alley that it would not inhibit the arc of her staff. She came at him, her weapon blurring in the wavering light from the fires that burned fiercely around. From the fires, shapes darted and wavered toward her, tricks of the mind, she knew, meant to distract… to weaken.

"Oh no you do not," she murmured, her nostrils flaring as she spoke, and struck in quick succession, not once but three times against the overconfident Wraith warrior. He staggered backwards under her assault, raised his own weapon to try and defend, but under the onslaught of her aggression, her anger and her desire to give the townspeople as much cover as she could, he fell to her attacks, and did not find his feet again.

She moved on, not stopping, dodging aside as the gunfire began to get worse, as the Darts overhead flew closer and closer to the town, firing as they came and she knew what time she had for saving those left behind was at an end and that she had to look to her own survival. She had found no hybrids among the dead, nothing to suggest they had ever been here... and blinded by smoke, and tears of frustration, she began to retreat.

**

They might have missed it. But for the scuffed ground, barely visible in the near dark, and strange light from the flashlights and the distant firelight reflected from a smoky sky.

"Sheppard," Ronon called softly, "this way,"

They'd been following the line of the ridge for several hours, and Sheppard was starting to wonder if perhaps they'd missed it. The entire area was one mass of hills and valleys. Anything could be hidden anywhere.

"Stay sharp," he said, a warning meant for everyone, not just for the marines. "We don't want to run into any surprises out here."

**

She had risked a small fire against the chill in the air, even within the shelter the small shack afforded, the air was still chilled, and the wind whispered through the cracks in the tumbling down brickwork. She had quickly spread out the blanket she had salvaged and closed her eyes, to let the warmth of the fire seep into her chilled form.

The fire was warm, and she was comfortably relaxed, perhaps almost drowsy as she sat on the soft hearth rug, waiting for him to join her.

"You know, Kanaan" she said softly, "There is something I have n—"

He turned to face her, stepping into the firelight and she stopped and blinked at him. He frowned softly.

"Is something wrong?" His soft voice was not Kanaan's. It was lighter, softer somehow. Nor was it Kanaan's face that looked back at her. The longer, slightly lighter hair, the blue eyes, the longer, slightly less rounded features… all Michael's…

"No, I," she shook her head, "For a moment I thought—"

"The Wraith are a long way from here tonight, Teyla." He picked up two wooden bowls from a nearby table and brought them with him as he came to join her in front of the fire. "I made us something."

She breathed in deeply of the sweet scent of the Dulusk flower. "Luska Tea?" she asked, "All this time and you still remember?"

"Don't make fun of me," he said, starting to turn away, and he looked so hurt that she reached out to stop him; her hand soft and gentle against his cheek. He leaned into the touch. "I made it for you."

She smiled at him and took the bowl he offered, glancing down into the dark liquid… into the reflection of his face in the mirror of its surface… the long white hair, golden, slit eyes and angular, Wraith face looking back. Her breath caught in her chest, the knot of it spiralling down to sit low and deep in her belly.

-what are we… to do?-

"You know… I waited a long time for this," he told her softly, still cupping the wooden bowl she held in his hand, to steady it in hers, that trembled slightly. "I… I'd like to think you—"

"Of course… I…" she flushed with embarrassment, a strange feeling in front of him. Oddly out of place. With a breath she took the bowl into both of her hands and sipped at the warm, sweet liquid inside. The sudden enormity of what they were doing caught her breath as she watched him take a sip of his own, his features blurring, changing in the steam rising from the cup. They became no less handsome, no less alluring, but somehow harsher, uncompromising, even without the twin blemishes that showed Michael as his hybrid self…

Without another word he took the bowl from her hands and set them both aside, moving closer, his head tilted softly to one side, the firelight changing his yellow eyes to shining burnished gold.

"Why… why have you never—" she started, but could not finish. She took several breaths before she began again, "We have been friends since we were children. Why has this never surfaced between us before?"

"Teyla, does it matter?" he reached for her and she leaned backward a little, out of his reach.

"Yes."

"I was a fool that did not realise his own heart," he reached for her again, sliding his fingers into her hair – leaning closer. The fluttering inside of her reached an almost overwhelming crescendo and only half serious she pushed him away, but she burned with the need for contact – to feel that intimacy.

He caught her hand, pulled it close to breathe against her wrist, sending a shock through her so intense that she pulled away and moaned softly. He followed, moving closer again even as she backed away, her breathing coming more and more quickly.

"You would deny me, now that you know…?" he said in a low voice that rumbled through her core.

"Know?" she whispered, tentatively reaching to brush her fingertips against the air before his lips, "I—"

She let out a small cry as he suddenly reached for her, wrapped her in his arms and lifted her closer. Startled she almost beat against his shoulders, looking down into his eyes that were full of need of her…but strangely playful in a way she would never have expected.

"If this isn't what you want, tell me and I will stop," he said, his fingers teasing against the small of her back, stroking there, where her shirt had risen up. It scalded her… the need for it was so great… and the denial of more, such sweet agony that she struggled away, turning away almost until he caught her hand, and overbalanced the both of them.

He caught her in his arms, and rolled so that she was beneath him, their playful game of rough and tumble ended against the pillows of his bed. She laughed softly as he held her down.

"Surrender," he said quietly, sensually, almost a whisper, leaning up a little so that he could look at her, run his hand over her… the touch light and yet she could feel nothing more.

"Never." She gasped softly as he slipped his left hand into hers, entwining their fingers against the pillows. His right hand that still held her playfully in place, pressed against her chest.

A knot of fearful excitement twitched inside of her, stealing her breathing, filling her with the scent of him, clean and musk together as he pressed closer to her. She closed her eyes and reached up with her free hand to run her fingers into his hair.

"I want you, Teyla," the two tones in his voice mingled to kindle an equality of desire that consumed her; burned within her. "My—"

"Michael," she whispered, opening her eyes, feeling the touch of his mind in hers, and the words not spoken; meeting the desire she saw in his golden orbs with her own burning need.

His lips found hers, and she parted them as he deepened the kiss, almost savage in its primal need. She moaned… longing for touch… the deeply buried need of it surfacing, rushing through her blood and almost drowning her in it as she opened to his touch and he pressed against her, his touch moving over her, under her shirt… against her skin, his fingers teasing against the risen, sensitive peaks her nipples had become.

Breaking the kiss, she cried out softly, needful, and threw back her head, exposing her neck to his kisses and the sharper sting of his teeth as he nipped gently at her skin.

Her hands reached for the clothes he wore, needing to feel him skin to skin against her, and he shrugged the garments away. His hands travelled over her body, exposing more and more of her skin to his burning gaze, his deeply needful touch, and the hot, sweet press of his lips against her.

She reached down, ran her fingers through his hair, grazing his scalp with her fingernails.

-Teyla- -Teyla- -Teyla-

He looked up at her, his eyes meeting hers, and she reached for him, drawing up to meet her waiting kiss, one hand in his hair, her teeth pulling gently at his lip, her tongue, tasting every inch of his mouth as he in turn explored hers.

She trailed her other hand over his shoulder, down his arm to guide the touch of his hand to find the ache that he had kindled in her; to glide against the dewy testament to her desire, between the soft folds of her body until the peaked expression of it.

His soft moan vibrated against her lips as he explored her, claimed her, made her his with a touch so sure, so certain, that she knew it could only have come from the mirror of her own longing answering his, demanding and quiescent both at once.

She gasped as his fingers stroked her and teased, breaking the kiss, dizzy with gathering sensation, and releasing his hand from her own she reached to touch the hard heat she felt against her hip, to slide her fingers, roll her palm over the length of him, and arched her back as his answering, low growl against the side of her neck unlocked the need for a deeper intimacy still.

As the dizzying, spiralling need trembled tightly deep within her belly she caught his hand, held his touch to stillness against her.

"No," she gasped, only a breath against his ear, "not yet."

He lifted his head to look at her, his golden eyes, dark in the firelight, full of the barely held fury of his need.

"Teyla?" the querying, soft call of her name was almost pained with the expression of it.

"I want you inside me," she whispered, releasing his touch from her hand.

He rose over her, a wave poised above the shore of her body. His skin was like fire against hers as he held himself on muscles that trembled with the effort of restraint. She began to close her eyes, feeling the knife edge of equilibrium that existed in this one moment; barely touched together, a storm on the edge of its surge.

"No, Teyla," he growled softly, "look at me."

She opened her eyes, meeting his as her breathing came faster, trembling…matching his own.

"Michael," she gasped, and her hips rose to meet his, moving as one, each claiming the other as their own. She tightened herself around him, crying out his name again, feeling every part of him filling that empty, wanting ache with such an agonising sweetness that she could not but surrender to it entirely… gladly.

Limbs tangled, her body moved, rising and falling to meet his, possession and surrender each in turn as she welcomed him over and over inside her. Her nails raked over his shoulders and his back as she wrapped herself around him, drawing him closer… deeper still.

His breath hissed across her neck, moist from his kisses, alive from the grazing sharpness of his teeth as their movements became stronger, faster as the desire inside her gathered momentum, and was echoed in the touch of his flesh against hers, within her, a part of her…sensation spiralling, winding around her tighter and tighter until she felt the madness of it pushing at her, singing through every trembling muscle.

"Michael!"

She cried out for him as every atom in her being broke apart and he answered, flooding into her, pulsing to fill her, as if with his very life, to the frantic pounding of his heart against hers.

The wave broke over her a second time...

…sweet release…

Her body, sheened in perspiration, trembled in completion and with a wordless cry, she woke, breathless and tingling... sensitive… alive… She sat up suddenly, sobbing with the memory of the dream, a truth she couldn't deny as she felt the pulse of it still trembling through her body.

"Michael," she cried out into the night, both wanting him, and hating him, a confusion of need and desire inside of her. "What have you done to me?"

**

"Whatever you do, stay behind me," Sheppard told McKay as they inched their way through the maze that was the rocky corridor down which they travelled. Sheppard behind his P90, held ready, took step by cautious step.

"Left… go left," McKay told him, even as he nodded, accepting Sheppard's command for caution. "It should be right up ahead."

Through the doorway, he could feel the open space of the laboratory; an open cavern, unlit, save for the single beams of light from the P90s as the marines spread out through the immediate area. Sheppard could tell, by the way the sound echoed slightly, that the room was larger that it immediately appeared.

"McKay," he said softly, urgently, "see what you can do about getting some kind of light in here."

"I'm on it," McKay said, moving toward one of the banks of controls behind the circle of marines, who spread out to give the scientist cover.

"I'm rather afraid that you're wasting your time, Doctor McKay, Colonel Sheppard." The familiar voice from out of the darkness was accompanied by the positive click of ten marines all tightening their fingers on the triggers of their guns, and by the melodic trill of Ronon's blaster charging.

"Todd," Sheppard said, turning to face the direction from which the voice had come.

"Indeed," the Wraith said, his soft tone held a resigned kind of irritation. He took a step forward into the small pool of light cast by the flashlight attachment on Sheppard's weapon. He tilted his head slightly, "Come now, Colonel, all this time and still we must meet under such conditions as these?" He gestured to the weapons aimed in his direction. "As I said, look around you… I rather fear that we are, both of us, too late."

Sheppard glanced at the emptiness in the dark around them. He felt that Todd was telling the truth, the place was empty. Whatever Michael was doing here – and Michael's people, maybe even Michael himself – was long gone. Slowly he started to release the death grip he had on his P90, and gestured to the other marines to do the same.

"Wait a minute. What are you—" Doctor Keller, her voice incensed, hurried past some of the marines to get to his side, trying to force the barrels of their weapons back into a firing position, Sheppard's too as she finished, "What are you doing? They're responsible for all those deaths out there. They—"

Sheppard raised an eyebrow Todd's way with a small shrug, inviting him to explain himself. While he didn't actually raise his weapon again, he did secure his grip on it.

"They?" Todd's question sounded more like a sigh in the empty room.

"Yes, you… you people… you… Wraith!" Keller stammered at him, waving an angry hand in his direction.

"As a matter of fact, I had very little to do with it," Todd answered softly.

"Oh yeah?" Keller's anger would not be sated, "Then how come you're here?"

Todd raised an eyebrow and looked between Keller and Sheppard, who had been about to ask a similar question, but who shrugged and said, "What she said…" gesturing toward the doctor.

"I would imagine that my reasons for being here are much as your own," Todd told them. "This facility belonged to the one you call Michael. The order for the destruction of the human settlement came not from me, but from the Queen. She—"

"Oh, sure, that's right," Keller said, and Sheppard realised that at least half of her anger came from the fact that she was terrified. "Hide behind the Queen – just following orders… Very—"

She broke off with a small scream that was echoed by the repeating trill of Ronon's blaster as the Satedan stepped forward, menacing the Wraith who, catching her flailing hand, had pulled Keller against him, and now held her, one hand against her chest, the other curled beneath her chin.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Todd advised. If he was intimidated by the Satedan's blaster pointing at his face, he didn't show it. "If you shoot me, I may not have time to feed on her, but… a slight twitch of my hand—"

Jennifer cried out a little as he moved her head with his hand – just a demonstration – and then she whispered, "Ronon…"

"Put down your weapons," Todd said quietly, addressing all of them.

"I don't think so," Ronon snarled.

Sheppard held out his hands, palms down, taking a half step forward. "Let's all just... calm down, shall we? Talk abo—"

"I said put down your weapons." This time Todd's voice was coloured with an edge of anger, and Keller let out another small cry.

"I think I got it," McKay announced, and Sheppard heard him throw a switch. There was a brief hum, and then from the side of the room, luminous green light began to spill from a bank of empty, glass fronted tanks.

It illuminated the darkness, to reveal that, around the outside of the room stood a full complement of Wraith warriors with their weapons pointing inwards, toward Sheppard and the others.

"Oh, crap," McKay said softly.

"One more time, Colonel Sheppard," Todd growled softly once more, his momentary anger abated, "put down your weapons, allow us to leave, and when we are safely away I will return the woman to you, unharmed. You have my word."

Sheppard laid a hand on Ronon's arm, and with a snarl, the Satedan warrior lowered his weapon and moved aside, allowing Todd a clear path to the door.

Step by step they followed him as he retreated down the winding corridor toward the exit.

Part way along the corridor Sheppard keyed his headset radio. "Greenoff, this is Sheppard, there are Wraith coming out. Let 'em go… they have Keller."

"Understood."

**

The marines had surrounded the entrance to the cave with flares, and coming from the sudden darkness of the tunnel, the brightness stung her eyes.

Keller felt as though she was going to pass out at any moment, or shake herself apart with trembling. The Wraith's fingers pinched against her neck and chin as they moved, and the metal at one fingertip dug in painfully, until she had to close her fingers around his wrist to try and ease the pressure he exerted. His hand at the top of her chest curled slightly, pressing still more painfully against her flesh.

They stopped moving, and from somewhere overhead she began to hear the whine of Darts approaching. He let go of her neck, though still held her tightly against him, and both their hands fell to the side of him.

"Forgive the necessity," he murmured into her hair, and as he let her go, she felt him press something small and hard into her left hand and close her fingers over it. Then he gave her a sudden push, and she stumbled away from him. She fell to her knees and dry-heaved into the dirt, and Ronon and Sheppard both came to her side.

"You all right?" Sheppard asked softly. She shook her head and hiccupped on the edge of tears as Ronon wrapped an arm across her back and gripped her shoulder in concern.

"We got you," Ronon said. "Just breathe."

Trying to get up from all fours, she held out her left hand, holding up the object. "He… He—" she started breathlessly.

"What is that?" Sheppard asked, coming to take it from her with a frown on his face.

She leaned against Ronon and shook her head, taking in a deep breath, "I don't know," she said, "Just before he pushed me away he put that into my hand."

"McKay?" Sheppard held out the object to the scientist.

McKay frowned. "Looks like a Wraith data module," he said.

"Damn it, Todd," Sheppard said, and as Jennifer watched, he looked skyward. "Why can't you ever just… do things the easy way?" He took a sigh then, and said, "All right, this is what we're going to do. We're going to search the surrounding area. They were here, they can't have gone far. Any clue… anything at all… radio in. Jennifer, Rodney," he gestured toward the tunnel again. "You're with me."

**

The others had long since gone – sent back to the Gate… back to Atlantis again, their tails between their legs, beaten once more by Michael's forces. This was not the way it was supposed to be. McKay had said so – would say so – maybe not so much any more.

"I should have been there," he said in self recrimination.

McKay sighed. "And you will be – and knowing the address where we eventually found Teyla, you will be able to get there much quicker. You'll save Teyla, save the baby, change the fate of the galaxy."

He stood alone in the remains of Michael's facilities. They didn't have the baby, they didn't have Teyla, and from what he could see, the fate of the galaxy was progressing pretty much along the same lines as the future McKay had said it would. Nothing that they did mattered, nothing was changed. Michael was still kicking Wraith butt, and the humans of the galaxy were still suffering at the hands of both Wraith and Hybrid alike.

The scuff of a footfall sounded behind him and, drawing his handgun as he turned, he spun around, ready to take on whatever danger had found him.

She gasped, and took a step back… and he let the gun fall from his hand, rushing toward her, reaching for her to take her by the shoulders and pull her into an embrace. She took another step back, and he froze.

"Teyla…"

"John?"

He let out a breath, just so relieved to see her he had forgotten himself. She moved past him as he did, and he turned to keep her in his sight. He watched her looking around the laboratory, her eyes dull and full of pain.

"We're all… too late," he said, as she reached for something that was caught on the side of the operating table in the centre of the room. "Everything's gone. They—"

It took him a moment to realise that the strange sound he heard was coming from Teyla… like a small, wounded animal crying out for help. It pulled at his insides… twisted them into knots and made him ache with her pain.

He shifted his weight, moved to take a step towards her, when on the edge of her keening sound, she sobbed a word, a name…

How does it feel, Colonel Sheppard, to know that it's me she calls for in the dead of night; me she reaches for when she's in need?

"Don't you dare call for that rat-bastard! He did this! All of this pain and suffering, it's all his—"

"I need answers, John!" she turned and screamed at him. "I can't do this alone any more!"

"Then tell me what I can do," he caught her hands and held them, shaking them in his own. "I'll help. I—"

"There is nothing that you can do." she told him, calming as suddenly as her emotions had overwhelmed her. She was sad and resigned, and in that moment he saw her as she truly was… tired, conflicted, and pushed beyond what limits his mind could ever imagine.

"There must be something." He sighed and looked at her intently and tried not to hear the haunting voice again as he finished, "someone…"

Act 5

"Teyla, it is dangerous… and reckless… and—" Halling paced and ran his fingers through his hair, looking at Colonel Sheppard, and past him at Doctor Keller, both of whom had accompanied her to the new Athosian settlement, whose numbers were recently swelled by the addition of the survivors from Mikalos.

"Halling, please," Teyla caught him in his pacing and placed a hand onto each of his shoulders. "I understand the dangers, but… there is no more hope. For me this is my last and I must know. I must find those memories." She waited for a moment, breathing as steadily as she could, before looking into his eyes, she said, "I know you have it. You are its keeper."

"Doctor Keller will be here to supervise, if that's what you're worried about." Sheppard stepped forward and spoke to Halling.

"Actually, after Teyla told me about the drug this meditation involves, I kind of insi—"

"No," Halling said, tearing his eyes away from Teyla's and cutting off what Doctor Keller had been about to say. "If Teyla is to do this, she must do it alone – the Athosian way. I mean no offense but you have interfered in our lives more than enough."

"But—" Sheppard began.

"Please John," Teyla said softly. "You must let me do this."

**

The secondary facility in which he stood was much smaller, barely more than a room. It had been a bolt hole of his for millennia – one of the many of which he knew he would have to dispose, since they were known to his rival.

Michael finally finished packing up the very last of his experiments. This had been a secondary location, a failsafe… The equipment didn't matter, there was always more to be had, if one searched in the right places, but the results of years of his work, some of it irreplaceable, had to be safeguarded before he could go on.

He turned and handed the case to the waiting hybrid. "Go, I will be… with you shortly." he swallowed as his breath caught in his throat, but the hybrid was already gone. He sighed and took a look around the empty room. Finally, everything was in place.

**

The candle flame burned between them, and in a small glass tumbler she held the dark green liquid to be warmed by the flame.

"Focus," Halling said softly, "See the place you want to go..."

She breathed deeply, pushing away the fear that patrolled, wolf like, at the edges of that place. They were deadly, those fears, any lapse, any lack of focus could mean the difference between life and death for her in the next few hours, the next few days… however long it took to find the key and to reach the truth that was locked inside her.

"Now," Halling ordered. "Drink."

**

A wave of dizziness swept over Michael as he turned to leave. He reached out, and grabbed the wall for support as his vision began to buck and spin wildly. It lasted only a moment and he took a deep breath, trembling slightly as his vision began to clear.

**

Halling supported her as the nausea and dizziness became too much for her to support herself. She felt his arms around her, but they were distant and she could not see him. She heard his voice but he sounded as though they were alone in an empty, sealed tomb… echoing….

"Focus…"

"Focus…" she whispered. "Yes…"

She stared at the candle flame until it was the only thing that she could see… a point of brightness in the dark that was all that she had lost… she pictured him… building his face… drawing it out of the darkness beyond the candle flame… shining… his golden eyes…

"Please… Michael, no!"

She struggled in his arms as he held her, pinned her against the bench, restrained, his hand almost crushing hers. The sharp sting of the needle against the side of her neck was just the beginning. She felt the cold run of liquid into her vein, chilling her as he pushed the fluid from the syringe, and though she knew she should not, for it would hasten the flow of the drug inside of her, she struggled harder.

Fear… no, it was greater than fear. Panic gripped her as he let her up… literally threw the spent syringe away from them as if in anger or disgust and immediately wrapped her in his arms, pulling her close, holding her against him as, even through her struggling, the convulsions began.

"Look at me," he told her. The emotion in his voice made her want to and looking up she saw the anguish in his expression. "I need you to understand, they have left me no choice. There is no other way."

"What have you done?" she gasped, more painful convulsions spreading through her.

"I've given you a massive dose of a Wraith neural enzyme. Your body already produces it, and beyond this… physical discomfort, you won't be harmed. But it's necessary if I'm to do what I have to do… to keep you safe."

One of his hands moved to cradle the back of her head, keeping her eyes locked with his as she stopped struggling against him and looked up at Michael, jerking and trembling in his arms. More so in that moment than in any other she felt him… the press of his hand against the small of her back, his fingers wound into her hair and the heat of his body pressed close against hers. Her tiny hands trembled against his chest as the darkness of his mind began to close in on her… pushing through all that she knew… all that she remembered.

"Forgive me, Teyla…" he craved.

-forgive me, Teyla- -forgive me- -forgive-

**

"Tired…? Feeling harried?" Michael spun away from the workbench, turning to face the speaker. "Or is there some other reason for your carelessness?"

"Carelessness?" Michael stared at his old rival, antagonism rising in him again, then spread his arms, circling around the Wraith who turned to keep him in sight and said, "My army is away, my equipment, my research protected…?"

"But you, are not," The Wraith scientist took a step forward. "And that is your carelessness."

With no further warning he lunged at Michael, leading with the blade he snatched from a sheath inside the sleeve of his coat. Michael ducked backwards under the swing of the arm, stepped closer and grabbed the outstretched arm. He twisted it behind the Wraith, pushed him against the side of the bench, and twisted until the Scientist released the knife.

"Now who's careless?" he demanded, right against the side of the Wraith's face, before pushing away from him. He did not count on the Scientist's foot.

**

Todd snaked his foot around between the Abomination's feet, just waiting for it to try and move away. It came as he knew it would, and he pulled, hard, with his leg to sweep the Abomination's legs from under him, first one, and then turning full circle as fast as only a Wraith could, kicked out at the other one.

It fell hard, and Todd heard all the air rush from its lungs. He snatched up his knife from where it had fallen to the top of the workbench, and spun again, falling to one knee to strike downward with the sharp, barbed blade.

The Abomination rolled aside, not away from him, but toward him. It lashed out at close quarters, striking with its elbow against the small of his back. Todd rolled with the momentum of the blow, and came to his feet, turning quickly to face his opponent.

**

Michael grabbed the workbench and hauled himself upright, his lungs still aching from the sudden impact, breathing hard from the lack of air. He had to end this soon. He needed his strength, he couldn't afford to expend too much of what little remained to him in fighting the Wraith scientist.

Resentment rose inside of him, anger at the safe havens that this Wraith was already responsible for taking from him. How many more would he have to destroy?

Before the Wraith could put too much distance between them, Michael lashed out, catching him with a half open hand under his chin, jarring his neck backwards. At the same time he raised his other forearm to catch the knife that the Scientist thrust in his direction.

The pain was startling as the barbs tore through the leather of his coat and bit into the flesh beneath. He was momentarily distracted by it, and missed the block as the Scientist lashed out with his other hand, his metal tipped finger leading, to rake across the side of his face.

-so it begins- -it begins- -begins-

Stepping closer, keeping in close quarters, Michael struck in quick succession against the Wraith Scientist, unarmed, but no less able to hurt his rival, he hit out time and time again, his fist striking at the Wraith, and blocking the answering attacks that the scientist made.

Even as many times as he blocked the blows, and deflected the knife aimed his way, an equal number slipped past his defences, the pain was mounting, he was tiring, his movements slowing, perpetuating the vicious circle the fight had become. Still, as hard as it was, he would not yield to this Wraith.

**

Todd could not believe the ferocity of the unarmed thing he fought. In spite of being cut, and raked with his metal finger-guard, in spite of the many solid punches that landed against the Abomination, it fought still harder, and when it managed to slip one of its many attacks past his guard, it caused Todd a good deal of pain.

The Abomination moved in close again, trying to aim its blows at his most vulnerable, most sensitive pressure points. Todd blocked with the sweep of his hand that held the knife, felt the barbs again cut through flesh; the warm splash of blood that landed against his hand. He reversed the direction of the knife, stepped in closer, lashing out with fist and knife together.

A terrible mistake. The Abomination anticipated the move, and Todd wondered if he had telegraphed his intentions. The Abomination; Renegade; his former rival in science ducked under the double handed blow and came in hard on Todd's other side, the blow stole his breath.

The Abomination was at his wrist, trying to bend the hand that held the knife, to bring it around under him. He resisted with all the strength he still possessed, pulled the knife back as it twisted one way and then another. Then suddenly the Abomination thrust his shoulder against him, grabbing him around the waist and using the momentum to topple them both toward the ground.

They collided with the workbench, overbalanced and both hit the ground hard, with the knife beneath them, and for a long time, neither combatant moved.

**

"All right, Doctor McKay, let's see what you've got," Woolsey swept into McKay's laboratory to join them. Sheppard groaned inwardly. He'd hoped that the base commander wouldn't show. It would have been so much easier that way.

Oblivious, lost in the demonstration of skill, no doubt, McKay began the play by play as he tried to activate the data module and access the information stored on it.

"Okay, just attach it to the system… slowly bring up the power… firewall in place… run the encryption software and… huh!" McKay frowned as the computer let out an anticlimactic bleep.

"Well?" Keller asked, pushing her way forward in the press of bodies that crowded round the laptop's screen. "Well, what is it? Let me see."

"It's a file. One file," McKay said, throwing up his hand as if it insulted his intelligence to have done all of that work for only one file. "And it isn't even a very interesting file, it's just an image. One image? That's all that he could give us? An image? Throw us a bone, why don't you, Mister Friendly-Wraith. I—"

Sheppard frowned, watching the way Doctor Keller was peering at the screen. "What is it?" he asked, cutting off McKay's tirade.

"It's a visual representation of an amino acid chain," Doctor Keller answered, and then asked, "Why would he give us that?"

"He's a Wraith," Woolsey broke in. "No doubt just toying with us." Then turning to McKay, demanded, "You're quite sure that firewall is secure?"

"What?" McKay said absently, and then waved his hand dismissively at the base commander. "Yes, yes, quite… certain."

"No," Sheppard said, pointing to the screen. "If Todd gave us that, he gave it to us for a reason. Amino acids are your department, right?" he glanced between the doctor and the scientist.

McKay pointed at Keller.

"Well, yes," Keller said, turning around to keep him in view as Sheppard started toward the door. "It's a biochemical compound that—"

"Good," Sheppard interrupted. "See what you can figure out about that one."

"What are you going to do?" Woolsey asked.

Sheppard paused part way across the room and turned back to look at them as he said, "I'm going to see a man about a dog – a very ugly dog with yellow eyes, a bad complexion and an annoying tendency toward kidnapping and genetic experimentation. Ronon!"

The big Satedan got to his feet, uncrossing his legs and arms and turned toward Sheppard. "Yeah?"

"You're with me."

**

She looked up as the brief scuffle outside of her chamber disturbed her contemplation. She was seething inside. They hadn't found the woman… and while the settlement belonging to the Abomination's sympathisers had been destroyed, too many of the humans had escaped her wrath. The chamber glowed red in tune with her annoyance.

=let them come=

Her annoyance melted to curiosity, and then anticipation as the Wraith guards approached the middle of her chamber, dragging a semiconscious figure between them. Quickly, but sure to appear unhurried, she rose from her throne, and began to descend the steps.

The figure struggled weakly between her guards, defiant even in such a condition. She let out a low, growling hiss. They were dangerous, these hybrid creatures the Abomination created, entirely too strong, to uncontrollable… but why had this one been brought before her? What knowledge did it possess that warranted such an intrusion?

Frowning she turned her head to watch the approaching scientist, tilted her head on seeing the rapidly healing scratches and bruises that marred his face. Sudden realisation of the truth filled her with a thrill of excited hope.

"I made a promise to you, My Queen," the scientist said softly, inclining his head in a small bow. He gestured toward the prisoner.

The Queen turned quickly and flicked her hands toward the guards. They let go of the prisoner and stepped back, though they did not leave the chamber.

The semiconscious figure, suddenly unsupported, staggered a few steps before the strength in its legs gave way and it sank to its knees, in spite of an obvious effort to remain upright. It began to slump forward, but caught itself, leaning on a torn and bloodied arm.

Hissing she came to stand in front of the figure, ignoring the near half step forwards that both the guards, and the scientist made.

=look at me= =look at me= =look at me=

With growing satisfaction she unleashed the full force of the mental command on the unfortunate prisoner, on his knees before her. She watched as the trembling began, felt the mental struggle, strong even in such a physically weakened state.

=look at me= =look at me= =look at me=

She tightened her mental grasp still further, and relished the sounds of physical discomfort, watching the tendons straining on the side of its neck as he fought her; relished the sound of the cry that came from its throat, past clenched teeth as it finally began to succumb and raised its head toward her….

…and she shivered as, at last, the eyes, slowly rising from the floor of the chamber, met hers, and she saw the cold, hard fury of hatred burning in the Wraithlike golden orbs that captured hers as she finally came face to face with the Abomination.

To be continued…