She awoke in a hospital bed to the sound of concerned chatter.
"Wait Sheppard, she's in no condition to speak with anyone. I can't let you see her."
She turned to see who was speaking, and noticed that she had been restrained. Apparently the Lanteans had found it prudent to cuff her to the bed.
"She threw a knife at me Carson! I've got a right to know who the hell she is."
"She had a rib sticking out of her chest for petes sake major"
"Well you put it back right?"
"Well yea. But.. But still."
"Then it's fine if i just talk to her."
The man they called Major Sheppard approached her bedside, and sat down backwards on a strange chair with wheels. He folded his arms over the backrest, and rested his chin. There were many questions he wanted to ask her. Like how she had managed to escape from the Wraith. Or how she had come to wear the Lieutenants garments. Why she looked so incredibly like-. But most importantly how she had come to dial the Atlantis gate.
"You put me out of service for a week." Sheppard said to the girl, who noticed the heavy bandage on his bicep, silently proud she hadn't missed.
"You got a name?" Sheppard shifted his weight and raised his chin, resting it in his right hand. The girl turned away and looked out of the window. A beautiful sight that showed part of the city, as it bathed in the morning sun. The calm ocean lapping at its pears, as golden rays of sunshine penetrated the water's surface, reflecting specks of light that twinkled like stars.
"Well then..." He said after a pause, and placed a pair of folded black cargo pants on her bed.
"Katelyn..." He suggested as he read the name tag stitched to the flap of one of the cargo pockets, and glanced at her "Where did you get them?"
"They were given to me." She replied without looking his way.
"By?..."
"A relative." She lied blatantly.
"And where did he or she get them?"
"I can't tell you." She turned back to the window.
"Because you don't want to or..."
"Because I don't know." She snapped at him, pulling on her restraints.
She hated being tied up. She had accumulated too many bad experiences regarding the practice, and it made her immediately dislike anyone who did the tying. In this case the Lanteans. Even if their reasons were understandable.
"Ok. That's enough. Out you go. She'll tear out the stitching if you continue like that."
Dr. Carson pushed the complaining Major complete with chair out of the room. An act for which the girl immediately began to like the man.
A day later, a woman came to meet her. She introduced herself as Dr. Weir and apologized for not having come to meet her when she had first arrived, claiming to have been delayed by other matters. What they were she didn't say. The woman assured her her safety if she promised not to harm any of her crew. And urged her to detail the occurrences of the past few days so that they could better understand what had happened to her. Dr. Weir Ascribed her unwillingness to talk to the shock that no doubt affected her, and decided to give her some time to collect herself.
It took a few days before she was well enough to walk around. And when the time came, she requested to be allowed to stretch her legs.
Noting that she had been on good behaviour Dr. Weir granted the request and tasked Teyla the long haired one with providing her a tour of the city ship.
She had been given her things with the exception of the knives and she hastily discarded the hospital gown. The hard chest and back plate the Wraith had given her fit snugly, and limited her movements slightly. A limitation that she found lessened the pain in her side. It made her feel good to wear the things she called her own. Made her feel complete. Even without the boots she had discarded after having punched a hole through one of them. In her own things she felt much better than in the hospital gown, but above all they provided the security she so desperately required.
Teyla seeing the girl walk the halls of the big city barefoot, stepping on the legs of the pants that were to big for her, had used an expression she did not understand and gave her a pair of tan coloured boots. A colour that did not match the girl's outfit, but was nevertheless accepted.
The Major, in an attempt to do something he had affectionately termed 'bonding with the enemy', had invited her to a social gathering.
There by way of a flat screen they were able to follow the recordings of a great battle of some sort, in which units of brightly colored uniform waged war with one another. She found it strange, and rather silly however, for the men to be clad in armor but without even the most modest of weapons, and worse for them to be chastised openly by a bystander that resembled a raccoon- who's presence neither the players nor spectators enjoyed- whenever they applied a move that could leverage effect. She found that the men on both sides lacked coordination, skill and above all, a good sense for tactics. Equally confusing she found the behavior of spectators in the room, who screamed and cheered at the soldiers that could not hear them, and for an outcome of a battle that had already transpired.
All the while they partook in snacks and drink while the battle raged. The only behaviour she could understand. It was perhaps the combination of salty and sweet, or a side effect of the heavy medication she was under, that left her feeling nauseous.
Teyla quickly rushed her to the nearest bathroom where she heaved, against her sides vehement objections, the aggregate of poisons that her digestive system rejected.
With her bowels thoroughly purged, Teyla helped her limp back to the infirmary. To the bed that seemed to call out to her, and to an angry Carson that called out expletives to everyone else. For helping her through the ordeal, the girl thought, she would try to change her habit of constantly scowling at her.
It was only the second following day that proved fruitful. Teyla, and Rodney had taken her to see the shuttle bay. A massive structure with unimaginably high ceilings, lined with dozens of the ships she was to procure for the Queen.
Immediately she entered into negotiations for trade.
"They are not for sale!" Rodney exclaimed, quickly jumping in front of the nearest jumper as if to protect it. He had not yet gotten over the fright he had sustained in the Wraith's laboratory, and fidgeted awkwardly whenever the girl moved. "They aren't... Aren't they?" He looked to Teyla for confirmation.
"The ships are not for sale."
"You do not trade?" She asked.
"Yes we trade." Rodney retorted arrogantly.
"Then it is only a matter of price" the girl responded. Having all too personally experienced the power of money, she knew that anything could be bought or sold, provided that the party in possession of the goods was presented adequate remuneration, or a good enough reason to part with the goods for less.
"You've got nothing on you" Rodney shouted, already past annoyed.
"Gold? I have a stash off world." She lied.
The woman didn't look pleased by the offer.
"Information then? I know a great many number of worlds. And there are still plenty of questions I have not answered."
"Yes... But." The Woman began.
"A Queen then?"
Rodney jumped.
"I have killed one, and with luck her body has not yet decomposed."
Immediately she found herself in a conference room. Her audience included Dr. Weir, Rodney, Carson, Sheppard, Ronon, and Teyla.
She spun a tail about how she had been captured by the Wraith, who had subsequently gone into hibernation, but not before also forcing all their prey into hibernation pods as well. Presumably to preserve them.
She claimed to have escaped the pod with the use of a knife the Wraith had failed to find. Ronon, having once escaped in the same way, acknowledged that although difficult it was possible.
She then claimed to have devised a way to prevent the rest of the crew from awakening upon the Queens death. A method she would be willing to share in exchange for a shuttle.
No one asked how she had managed to kill the Queen. They had all observed the damage she had sustained and reasoned that it was too painful to recount play by play.
John still had a few questions and during a lul in the conversation, took the opportunity to ask about Lieutenant Katelyn's IDC, and how she had come in possession of it.
"IDC?" The girl asked, raking her brain to remember if the Wraith had made mention of it.
"Her Iris Deactivation Code." Sheppard crossed his arms.
"I bought it." She lied, still no closer to knowing what the thing was.
"Where?"
She passed him the gate address of the planet where she had first met the Wraith. She had meticulously memorized the gate addresses of all the planets in the torus trading ring as places she forbade herself from visiting, and deemed it a place as good as any to have 'bought' the device. If the Lanteans were ever to go there, perhaps they could bring with them some of their bad luck and spread it around amongst the merchants there.
"Did you buy it along with the gate address, so that you could come here." Teyla inquired, no doubt wanting to know if they had become compromised.
"No." She said remembering that the Wraith had dialled it for her "That, was an accident."
"So you mean to tell me, that you bought the device, made it a habit to use it and just out of pure coincidence dialled our gate?" Rodney interjected in disbelief.
"Precisely" The girl answered
"Somehow I find that hard to believe..." It was Dr. Weir. She had been observing the girl intently, and for once sided with Dr. Mkay.
"Don't then." The girl said arrogantly as she looked away.