A/N: This is your lord speaking (yes, "lord", today... I'm a male... MAN! I feel like a woman...) ¤does the darth-vader-breathing¤
Anyhows, since some really charming little creature out there (yes, I mean YOU, Lady Vyxen... Lujana says "Greetings, milady" and takes of her mask... hat... whatever) had an idea about a "two-chapter-week", I feelt it was legal.
Remember, honey, I do this for you only ¤flirtflirt¤
Oh. And one more thing before you read: TAKE ON YOUR BOOTS, THERE ARE THRESHOLDS TO COME!
Leave a comment, save a Wraith! (A new way to get more reviews...)
10. Troublesome
- - -
"So, what are we supposed to be looking at?" said Weir when they met up with Ford. Carson waved his arms, then pointed at the door.
"He's… he's… Kain is… well, not stunned… anymore." he began, gaining questioning glances from everyone. Thus he proceeded: "He's more like… awake, alive and… hugging…" There was silence. John flinched.
"Hugging?" he said, "Wait… that's not very wraithish." More silence, Weir cleared her throat.
"Who? Who is he hugging? There was no one in the room when we left." She frowned, Carson Beckett felt a bit nervous.
"I guess we didn't check good enough." the doctor spoke, but then came back to what he was thinking when he ran to get Weir and John, he turned to John. "There is most certainly something about him we're all missing." Carson spoke, John sent Elizabeth a short gaze, she was puzzled, he could see that as clear as the sun when the sky wasn't covered by clouds.
"What are you suggesting?" he asked slowly, as he turned to face Carson again, the little Scottish man bit his lip and then waved his arms again.
"Maybe we're all wrong," he said, "maybe this wraith isn't bad at all." John snorted at those words, having Carson to proceed, "John, you called it a wraith, it freaked. It didn't kill you, but it got upset. It set off to feed, but not on a human, note that. And didn't you say he killed one of his own kind at the planet?" Carson was by then deep into his own mind, getting more and more anxious, but as he was about to speak again, Sheppard interrupted him.
"You know, even though what you say is correct, there is one thing you're missing: Teyla. If he's as harmless as you say, then why did he do that to her? And why wouldn't he admit it?" John thought out aloud, Elizabeth nodded.
"I want to believe in what you say, Carson, but you must admit it seems strange. If he's not hostile, why would he do such a thing to her?" her voice was calm and serious, Carson Beckett shuddered his shoulders.
"Maybe he didn't," he said swiftly, "maybe it's just us, covered with prejudges, seeing ghosts where there's only shadows." John seemed doubtful, Carson blinked at him, "Please, the poor thing is in there, crying, hugging a little girl-"
"- a little girl?!" suddenly the Athosian woman awoke. Seconds later, Carson had to jump out of her way, as she was about to attack him, Weir reached out for the woman's arm and pulled her away from poor Beckett. "Let go of me! This is what you call security! And what did that monster do to Teyla?!" Carson stared at the woman, supposing she was the mother of the child. The realize made him very uneasily aware of that if she had been allowed to, she would probably had rip his head off. He took some steps backward.
"He means no harm, if he would had been as evil as all of you say, that girl would had been dead long ago." he was pleading, mentally down on his knees, "Give the lad a chance, please?" John didn't seem to be very happy about what he heard, neither did he approve of what was said. He began to speak with irony:
"Yes, lets give the wraith a chance, shall we?" he rolled his eyes, "Don't you at all hear how utterly… wrong that rings?" But Weir was prepared to give Kain a chance, a small one. After all, he had done no harm to any human in Atlantis.
- - -
A day later McKay and Radek had found a possible solution, Rodney had even been so focused, he hadn't noticed that the cold had gone away. His nose was blessed with the ability to breathe again.
"This," McKay said and turned his laptop around, making it possible for everyone to spot the screen, "is the gate address we found in the data base." he explained, having Zelenka to continue.
"Yes, it's one of the planets where the Ancient were living for some whiles." he explained, as Rodney glared.
"Whatever," Rodney said, "my point being, we've got to go soon –" he proceeded, but was soon interrupted:
"- we've got only a month -" Zelenka proceeded but got interrupted himself.
"- before the city will fall apart. I was going to say that, Radek!" Rodney said angrily.
"You're too slow!" said Zelenka with an irritated tune.
"Yes, that might be because you interrupt me all the time!" he was fought back at, snorting.
"Do not!" he claimed.
"Yes you -" Rodney told him back.
"- I don't!" Zelenka waved his left arm, Rodney triumphed;
"Now you did it again!" he exclaimed.
"I was merely objecting!" Radek excused himself, interrupted by no one less than Weir herself.
"Guys," she cleared her throat, "if you please?" the commander took a deep breath as she focused her eyes at him. He nodded, there was no need for her to speak the words.
"We'll go as soon as we're ready." he confirmed, but yet again McKay felt he had to talk.
"Um, there might be something you'd want to know." he whispered, raising his left hand, "The planet you're going to is described as –"
"Crlzzdjdzcaharm!" the wraith swore hoarsely as he stumbled over the threshold. Without boots it was much more painful having toes, especially when there was something in their way. Arachnidus straightened up and rose his gaze, looking directly at the gate address. He stared at it for quite a moment, then winked at Weir, "Am I interrupting something?" he asked as Elizabeth seemed to notice the lack of guards hanging around him.
"Kain, where's your guard?" she asked him with a pretty strict tune, the wraith shuddered.
"I don't know, I couldn't care less. You people are so slow." he remarked then stared at the monitor again. McKay slammed his laptop closed and glared suspiciously at the wraith.
"He's sneaking." Rodney said, having Kain to growl for a while, until a sudden smile bloomed at the lips of the wraith.
"You're quite right, human." he whispered, "How very observant of you." the sarcasm was ripping. He turned to Elizabeth, about to say something, but was interrupted.
"Kain, those guards are one of the conditions we made," she stated, "you've got to accept that." The wraith snorted.
"I do not need no fucking babysitter." he murmured, not a bit happy about those conditions, "It makes you feel safe. I gain nothing from it. Just a constant feeling of paranoia." he proceeded, glaring viciously at the floor. Elizabeth was tired. Tired because of many things. Because of the fact that she and Kain had already gone through the discussion. More than twice. McKay didn't like the silence at all. Bates looked as if he was about to explode with a huge 'told you so', but remained silent. Rodney cleared his throat.
"If Mr. I'm-a-wraith-but-not-dangerous-at-all could leave the room, I would be happy to proceed." he said, not noticing that both Kain and John were staring at him. He had said the w-word again. Kain growled.
"I will not accept being referred to something similar to what he just called me." snarled the wraith, sending McKay a deadly gaze. Then Kain decided he wasn't going to kill Rodney just yet, and turned to Elizabeth, "They can't go to that planet." he simply stated, Rodney frowned.
"But…" he said, gaining that cold gaze again, "we've got to go. And how the hell would you be able to decide whether we'll go or not?" he proceeded as aggravated as if he had been criticized in his own home. Kain smirked.
"Because I've been there. It's filled from bottom to top with wraith traps. The humans at the planet was about to discover the old Ancient weapons repository. Our queen would not allow that." Kain spoke as if he didn't have more than blurry memories, he closed his eyes, "I was a youngling back then. Eighteen years old, it was one of my first missions, I was filled with pride." He opened his eyes again, gazing at McKay, "You can't get in there. Not without help. But I doubt you're eager enough to let me go with you." The wraith grinned at Bates, who was about to say something, "At least I've warned you." he smirked widely, until he turned to Elizabeth, pointing at his own feet. "I've got no boots." he said in a grumpy tune and almost bit his tongue as Ford began laughing wildly, "There is no fun in that." he hissed as he turned his eyes to face the laughing man. Poor Ford, who hadn't at all intended to laugh, felt some deep regret as he tried to escape Kain's cast of eye. Then Elizabeth narrowed her eyes.
"This is a state of crisis," she said slowly, her thoughts digging deep into her mind. Even if her beloved team wouldn't like it, Kain could be their faint chance to survive. If McKay was right, if all the calculations were correct, they had to get that ZPM, no matter the cost. Both John and Kain noticed how her gaze became absent. John was the first of them to understand.
"You mean…?" he said with an utterly faint voice, Elizabeth nodded. McKay looked worried.
"Um… what exactly are you thinking? Because it doesn't seem very nice." he said quickly, his lines hitting the exact point when Kain understood what they were all pondering. At first he was struck with shock; Their leader considered trusting him, not to mention sending him to a wraith planet together with her crew.
"You people really are insane." he didn't realize how hoarse he had gone until he had finished the sentence. He cleared his throat, still staring at Elizabeth, then he laughed one of his rare laughter. One he really enjoyed. "Just days ago, your primary target was to shoot me into pieces, or at least have me locked up in some disgusting room. Now you're asking for my help, as if you had any reason to trust me." he smiled a soft smile, "How can you be so sure I won't kill you all?"
"We can't." said Weir, her voice was in a solemnly serious tune, "But you don't want Kira to get hurt, do you?" she proceeded, having John to stare.
"Wait," he said slowly, "are you threatening the life of a little girl?" the Colonel asked in a pretty frightened tune, "You're sure you're not turning into some kind of maniac, like Teyla?" Kain hissed, his teeth bared.
"Don't you dare to threaten a child like that." he spoke ominously under his breath, Elizabeth shook her head.
"No, I won't, but without this city we're all as good as dead. At least we will be doomed." She paused, eyeing everyone in the room, "Atlantis is our only defence against the wraith -" she said, "- if we evacuate, our chances of survival will be small." Kain rose an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what the heck you're talking about." he finally stated, Rodney groaned and shut his eyes.
"Everything you need to know" Elizabeth Weir continued, "is that we're in a really critical need of a ZPM. If what Rodney says is true." Rodney nodded.
"I'm afraid I'm right about this one." he stated, Kain became thoughtful. Then he frowned as he came to think about something very important.
"That's… not possible. To get hold of the ZPM. We can't do that." the wraith finally stated, looking somewhat embarrassed. There were many traps at the particular planet, the heaviest one had been set regarding that crystal like item which was referred to as a ZPM. What the hive queen had been hoping for was a situation exactly like this one: Humans willing to give up everything to get the ZPM, not realizing that they'd blow up both themselves and the planet by trying to take the device. Arachnidus supposed her logic was good: If a human would wish to have a ZPM, then it was far too advanced and had to be wiped out. Only a few members of the mission team had been allowed to know how to disable the trap, unfortunately Arachindus was not one of them. As his mind returned to reality he noticed that everyone were staring at him in a strange way. Slowly he realized that maybe they had been talking to him while he was thinking. "Um," he said, uncertain of what they might had asked him, "what did you say?" he finally asked, as he didn't dare to answer a question he didn't know. Elizabeth took a deep breath.
"Why wouldn't it be possible?" she made her gaze glow, Arachnidus felt it as if she was staring right into his very soul. The feeling was very much alike the one ha had gotten when the queen had eyed him that day so long ago. He shrugged and closed his eyes.
"Because I don't know the bloody code. If you try to fetch the ZPM without the code…" he paused, preparing for the worst kind of reaction, more gun shots and such, "… you'll blow up the whole planet." Nervously he opened his left eye, preparing for pain, but didn't get any respond except for Rodney's swearing. After a lot of consideration, he was ready to give them an alternate plan. A plan B, a pretty uncertain plan B. But he was willing to give it a chance, if not for Atlantis, he would do it for Kira.