Deidre watched the surveillance video in amusement as Doctor McKay muttered quietly to himself, looking between the multiple systems set up before him. Nearby the large brute of a man called Specialist Dex was typing on one of their portable systems. Every so often McKay would ask Dex for information and the brute would respond. She knew the words held importance to them, but to her it just a bunch of meaningless sounds. Unless it had wings and was capable of being flown, she didn't care.

She knew her people were one of the few who had advanced enough to develop flight. Carefully hidden laboratories and detailed notes passed down from generation to generation had allowed them to craft ships capable of soaring in the sky. It was an achievement few others knew about since only those societies with equal or higher technology were privileged to witness it. At that point it was customary to exchange knowledge in hopes of advancing both societies. It was a method that had worked well for nearly a hundred years – until the last 'peaceful' society had betrayed them, killing several scientists and stealing years worth of data. The Velian council had vowed to never let that happen again, no matter the cost.

When these newcomers arrived, it was obvious they had technology far beyond anything her people had encountered so far. Their knowledge of Ancestral technology was astounding, especially by Doctor McKay. How had one man managed to learn more knowledge than a dozen Velian scientists? The council instantly knew that this was an opportunity they could not pass up.

Deidre had been summoned and given her orders – use the Wraith Dart to acquire the scientist. Though she knew the implications of such an act, and the wrongfulness of it, she was a soldier trained to obey orders. She also knew of the necessity of such a move. Many of their trading partners had reported an increase of Wraith cullings; some had been completed decimated. It was only a matter of time until the Wraith came to her planet.

With a soft sigh she turned away from the screens, moving back to where the Dart ship was still being repaired. She would've like to have the scientist work on the ship as well, seeing how it was the brutish assistant who damaged it, yet she knew that was not yet a top priority. It was more important to get the defense system discovered within the underground facility operational. And there were still all the odd Ancestral items still to be cataloged. Those two had a lot of work to do; they wouldn't be free to look at the Dart anytime soon. In fact, they wouldn't be free at all, period. As a feeling of guilt began to appear, she changed her course and headed toward the exercise room. A good workout always made her feel better – and brought her mind away from what couldn't be changed.

oOo oOo oOo

"What's it say now?" McKay's muffled voice called out from underneath the console. Ronon glanced down at the monitor in front of him. The colorful lines and charts seemed to dance across the screen, with several numbers flashing in various corners and sections. He didn't understand it, had no idea what any of it meant. All he knew was that he had to pretend he knew what he was doing.

"Seventeen percent," Ronon responded, paying attention to the number in the upper right corner, the only one McKay had said was important and actually mattered. Everything else was for show. "The power levels are at nine while the conductor is at twenty."

He thought he heard a snort of laughter from McKay at the nonsense, but it didn't matter. As long as their captors believed McKay needed his help he could remain close to the scientist. Randomly typing a few buttons on the screen changed various numbers. The important number couldn't be affected by what he was doing, and McKay had encouraged him to do whatever he wanted to the rest. So with McKay referring to him as Specialist Dex, Ronon had tried to take his roll as a scientific assistant seriously.

"What about now?" came another muffled question.

"Forty percent," Ronon answered after glancing at the screen. "Power is up to twenty and conductor is at five."

"What, five? That can't be!" Shifting out from under the console, McKay hurried over to the screen. "Oh no no no no no!" He moved to another open laptop and began to quickly type. "This is so not good."

"What is it?" Ronon asked, more puzzled than concerned, but McKay was still concentrating on the computer. Moments later the lights began to flicker and the console McKay had been working on began to spark. "McKay!" he called out, now definitely concerned.

"It's overloading, I can't stop it!" A loud zapping sound filled the air as the console blew a circuit. The room was plunged into darkness for a few seconds before the lights were restored. Ronon expected to see McKay panicking, or working frantically, or even just frozen in a 'we're doomed' state of mind; what he did not expect was the scientist calmly typing on one of the systems.

"Uh, McKay?"

"Hmm?"

"What just happened?"

The scientist paused and looked up in puzzlement before understanding. "Oh, that. Nothing really, I just purposely blew out one of their systems." With that he went back to typing.

"Why?" Ronon asked a few moments later.

"Because," came the answer as McKay jabbed one last key, "It allowed me to disabled their monitoring systems, which means no more Big Brother watching us all the time. I've also managed to hack in and disable their ability to create any more tremors in the mines."
"Won't they find out?" Ronon asked, not even bothering to inquire about the big brother comment.

"Of course they will. The point is for them to believe that we had no part in it, and more importantly, that we don't know anything about it." Seeing the lack of understanding in his eyes, McKay clarified, "If the Velians believe we think we're still being monitored, they will continue to threaten us with those still in the mines. However, we know they're safe now, well, relatively safe. Kinda hard to be really safe with these insane people. In either case, it gives us two less things worry about. Now, seeing how I also disabled their doors, I have a few minutes of peace to work on getting us out. Look here."

He pointed to the screen. Ronon recognized it as a building schematic, but he didn't know which one. "What is it?"

"A map of this facility. This is our building…" He pressed another button and the image seemed to multiply. "And this is the entire facility."

"It's… big."

"Understatement of the year," came the comment. The facility was along the size of the Daedalus, spanning throughout the ground. Parts were of Ancient design, others crafted afterwards to make the facility more livable. Shields prevented both power and life signs from being detected from the surface. The Velians were much more advanced than they had let on, even more so than the Genii, especially since they could both modify and repair Wraith Darts. The Velians would've been an extremely valuable ally – instead they had just become a very dangerous enemy.

"How do we get out?"

"That's the problem, I don't think we can. There don't appear to be many transporter rooms, and those that I have found are well off from our current position. I doubt we'd get that far before they caught up with us."

"I can handle them," Ronon growled out.

"Of course," McKay quickly added, sensing his anger. "Too bad there's only one of you and, oh, say about a hundred of them?"

"But what about getting us out of here?"

"That actually will be up to Ula." At the mention of her name the creature moved out of the corner where she had been resting, despite McKay's charade. Having spent so much time with the scientist she had seen through his farce. "I did manage to find an unprotected passage to the surface. Unfortunately, Ula is the only one who has a chance of fitting." He pointed upwards, and Ronon's gaze followed his hands. About fifteen feet up was a small opening, no larger than a foot wide or tall. "It should exit out close to the mines."

"Air shaft?"

"A crude version, yeah, added on sometime after the Ancients left." McKay reached into his pocket and pulled out an object, which he placed on the floor before him. "I wish I could give our guys a better message, but these Velians will notice anything missing. This was the only thing I could think of that won't show up on any of their scanners." Ronon looked down at it.

"A power bar wrapper?" Pretty darn good description of McKay. The man was constantly munching on the foul things. "Good choice."

"Yeah." Ula moved forward and McKay laid a hand on her head. "You know I don't like it either," he told her softly, "but there's no other choice. You're the only one who fits, and you're a lot faster." Ula's expression showed that she wasn't happy with the news yet understood. "I don't know what's out there so just … be careful." Ula's tails flicked in unison as she gently bumped her head against his hand. "Ronon, could you help her up?"

He nodded. After Ula picked up the piece of foil in her mouth, he lifted her up and brought her to the wall. With a powerful jump she leapt out up out of his arms and into the shaft. She disappeared for a moment only to reappear and look down, her golden eyes meeting with McKay's gaze before she disappeared once more.

"You think she'll be able to make it to the gate?" Ronon asked as he moved toward McKay. The scientist forced his gaze away from the shaft and back to the open laptop before him.

"Of course she will," he stated curtly. "No way the Velians have anything fast enough to catch her. Besides, there may still be a chance of our own escape." He indicated the box of Ancient doodads still waiting to be inventoried. "Don't know what we'll find."

"You mean what you'll find," Ronon clarified, grabbing an item from the box that resembled an oversized spoon. "Just a bunch of junk to me."

"Yes, well, let's not go around announcing that to the Velians just yet, shall we? It was hard enough convincing them you knew what you were doing the first time around."

Ronon didn't say anything, but he could sense the uneasiness from McKay. Although the scientist was quick to avoid danger, Ronon knew he didn't like sending others into it either. And as much as McKay tried to pretend he just tolerated the Ulata Sitera, Ronon knew he cared for the little creature. Sending her off into the unknown must have been a difficult decision for him.

"Now, Specialist Dex," McKay stated, snapping him out of his thoughts, "We need to get back to our work. My little distraction must've got them running, and by now I imagine they've figured out how to override the doors. So remember, there was an unexpected explosion which I, using my brilliance, have just managed to fix, as usual."

"As usual," Ronon echoed sarcastically, but McKay had already returned beneath the console. With a sigh Ronon retook his monitoring position. Moments later the doors opened and two Velian scientists rushed in followed by several guards.

"What happened?" demanded Giothan. The head scientist had made several visits in order to 'encourage' them to work faster and was not about to tolerate any delays. With him was Galina, who had discovered the main defense system several years ago. She had pressured the council to see the defense system working before any of the Ancestral items were identified. The council had decided that a few items could be cataloged each day, but that the majority of the time would be spent on the defense system, a decision that had left an uneasy tension between the two scientists.

"What do you mean, what happened?" McKay sarcastically asked as he emerged from the console. "Your primitive functions nearly caused our deaths, that's what happened! We were lucky enough to limit the damage to just one system."

"What is the extent of the damage?" Galina asked, looking at the still smoking console with concern. "How bad is it?"

"Luckily it's better than it looks," McKay answered, looking at the system. "Specialist Dex was able to reroute power to a secondary conduit before the first caused a complete failure. Although I haven't run a full check, I don't think this will set us back too much."

"Don't forget your friends in the mines," Giothan stated. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to them now, would you?" McKay's eyes narrowed. Ronon saw the anger building and broke in quickly.

"We haven't forgotten," he interrupted. "Replacing the primary conduit will only take a few extra hours. Your system should still be ready according to our initial estimates, even with your faulty technology. That is, if you would let us work without constant interruptions." Thankfully no one noticed the look of shock on McKay's face at the easy use of gibberish.

Offended, Giothan was ready to order another 'demonstration' of their power, but Galina spoke first. "Please forgive us," she stated softy. "We know these working conditions are not what you are used to, but our survival rests in your hands. Our allies report an alarmingly increase in Wraith activity. Cullings occur more frequently and with more devastation. We need to have the device operational as quickly as possible."

Giothan cast a look at her that clearly showed his disapproval at her actions, but she did not see it, her eyes still on Ronon's. She knew how vital it for the system to be operational, and that simply threatening these two relentlessly would only hinder their efforts. Asking instead of demanding would get better results – especially since their threats could no longer be backed up.

"We'll get it working," Ronon roughly declared, "just let us work." He still had the urge to simply reach for his knives and fight their way out, despite McKay's prediction, but he knew it was not yet an option. Ula just left – she needed time to contact the others. But if there was no word from their friends within a few days, he was breaking out, one way or another.