Chapter 11

Juroah brought the transporter in to land a significant distance from the Reliquiae's Agrastan fortress. From that point, they would have to make the rest of the journey on foot to avoid detection since it was highly likely that the Ancient females would be scanning the skies for approaching craft. They might normally be in an almost constant state of hibernation, but something told them they wouldn't be sleeping right now. And security would no doubt be high for fear of reprisals from Akalus after the theft of the human.

It was pitch black out on the grassy plains surrounding the mountainside fortress. It would be several hours before the first of the two suns rose, the night affording them much needed cover to approach without being visible. But the darkness brought its own dangers. The ground, uneven and rocky in places, caused them to stumble numerous times. The fissures out there could prove lethal, some of them measuring over fifty feet deep. As a result, their progress was slow and steady, though not impossible as Juroah and Mishta set their enhancers to night vision, and picked their way carefully across the grounds leading to the foot of the Agrastan Mountains.

The verdant foliage disguised more hazards than just the stones and crevices, though. This area was renowned for its varied and poisonous insect life, creatures that could paralyse you with a single bite and suck the life right out of you. Mishta hated insects, whether they were the relatively tiny venomous examples or the Kheprian guard-sized ones. They seemed so different to herself that they made her skin crawl, and she prided herself on being tolerant of most species…except humans. There appeared to be numerous variations of bugs scurrying around their feet. Now and again, one would time it badly and end up crunched under her boot, sending a shudder up the full length of her spine. She wondered if the fact these tiny creatures made her more nervous than the thought of breaking into the Reliquiae fortress meant she really did need more of her medicine.

Juroah had, as instructed, watched over her as she'd taken a dose during their flight. Juroah was a good friend and mentor to her, but he could be strict when he needed to be. He knew as well as Lansha did how unpredictable she could be without her medicine. He'd been on the receiving end of her violent mood swings once or twice when she'd neglected to take it, so she couldn't blame him for being so forceful about its necessity for this mission.

Their bodies aching with tension, they eventually reached the foot of the mountains, pausing to gaze up at the fortress morphing out of its craggy rises. It was barely visibly in the darkness, but lights glowed in several windows, giving them something to aim for in the midst of that gloomy rock face.

While they made this first part of the climb on the virtually vertical incline beneath the fortress, they knew they should be almost impossible to see. The Reliquiae had grown complacent in their old age, leaving the foot of the mountain unguarded, no doubt thinking themselves too threatening for anyone to risk enter their home by such a route rather than landing a craft at some of the various plateaus on the way up. Mishta knew, however, that the fortress itself housed scanners that would detect their presence the moment they entered it, and they'd come well equipped for the challenge.

Juroah fired his grappling hook as far up the rock face as it would reach, giving it a firm tug to ensure it could hold his weight before securing it to his climbing belt. It held fast. 'Come on, Mishta,' he whispered, repacking his grappling gun. 'There's no time to waste if we're to have any hope of retrieving the human and departing before sunrise.'

Mishta hadn't realised just how cold she was until she prepared her equipment to fire. With numb fingers, she lined up a shot from her grappling gun. It fired out, landing somewhere near Juroah's hook. After testing its strength, she unhooked the wire from her gun and attached it to her belt. Pushing the gun into her backpack, she signalled she was ready and they began their ascent.

It proved tough going, as fit as she was, and Juroah struggled even more. The cold air stole their breath, leaving them heavy-limbed and dizzy. Their cables wound in as they rose up the rock face, keeping taut to prevent them from falling. It was lucky they did that, because their numb fingers and toes didn't always find the best holds and many times they could easily have fallen if it weren't for the tightening wire.

Gradually, with assistance from small shrubs and various niches, they hauled themselves up, and with an overwhelming desire to get out of the biting night chill, they reached the smooth table on which the Reliquiae had constructed the fortress many centuries before.

Mishta gathered up her climbing gear and breathed on her fingertips to warm some life back into them, while Juroah pulled out their signal scrambling units. He attached one to the front of her jacket and set it running, programming it to the frequency they had been informed the Reliquiae scanners operated at.

'These will run for two hours only, so if we haven't found the human in that time, we'll have to come back out to give them time to recharge themselves. After that, we can try again...if we haven't been detected by then.'

His tone was grim as he said those final words. Mishta nodded her understanding, watching on as he set his own scrambler to the same frequency. 'You're certain these will work, Juroah?' she asked, just the slightest gnaw of nervousness nibbling at her bravado now.

He shrugged – really not the response she'd been looking for. 'I hope so. We paid good money for these and all the scanner frequencies used by local species.'

'But they've never been tested against Reliquiae technology before?'

He shook his head and gave her a worried smile. 'No, we've never needed to use them until now.'

'So, this is the test?' she reasoned, her anxiety making her voice pitch that question a little higher than she would usually speak.

'Not scared are you, Mishta?' Juroah asked with a nudge, obviously picking up on it.

'Not for myself, no, but if they find us in their fortress, I'm afraid of what might happen to you, old man,' she replied. 'It's not my blood that would sustain them…and you are not as fast as you once were.'

He gave her a smile she knew was intended to calm her nerves. 'I can take care of myself, youngling. Don't waste another moment worrying for me. Here.' He pushed a gun into her hand. 'To defend yourself. It has enough power for twenty pulses, so use it sparingly. And take this, too.' He handed her a syringe.

'You know I prefer not to inject my dose,' she protested. 'And I'm not due another yet anyway.'

'Then, it's fortunate that's not for you. It contains a stimulant to rouse the human if they're keeping him sedated. We cannot afford to be carrying any extra weight if we have to make a speedy escape.'

She snatched it up from him and pushed it the breast pocket of her thick jacket, looking up at the vast building once again. They would have to be incredibly lucky if they were going to find the human in less than two hours.

'I think we should start with searching the upper floors. It's the most likely level they would hide him on because it's the most difficult to reach and the hardest to escape from.'

She nodded absently, but Mishta had a very different idea of where their target might be held. Her attention had been drawn by a room in a side tower with a domed roof. For one thing, it was the only light burning in that side of the building, making it stand out. And no doubt the room there had only one exit other than the sheer drop from the windows making it difficult for anyone held within it to leave by a route that wasn't covered by the biometric scanners rumoured to be operational inside the building. But more than that…the strangest sensation came over her, leaving her a queasy with nerves. A sense of…destiny. She almost laughed out loud at the thought, it was so ridiculous to her, but she had sensed it a few times in her life, just like the moment she had seen the Reliquiae craft heading to Phylacos and had felt compelled to follow it. She knew better than to ignore what instincts were telling her. 'I think we should go in there,' she said, pointing at the tower. 'I'm sure he's within those walls.'

'Why?'

'I don't know. It's just a feeling,' she told him with a casual shrug, preparing to make the climb. 'You just have to trust me.'

'But it's exposed – not easy to defend.'

'Or to escape from. Besides, you know the Reliquiae are complacent. Their reputations hold most at bay. It would not concern them.'

Juroah looked more contemplative now as he gazed up at the tall windows. 'Perhaps...'

'Wait here. I'll climb up and check inside.'

'Mishta -'

'I'll be careful, Juroah,' she promised, anticipating his warning.

Scaling the fortress wasn't as easy as climbing the mountain. It took three shots from her grappling hook to gain purchase on the exterior sill of one of the windows of the room she had identified as her target. Furthermore, the walls were so smoothly hewn she was almost entirely reliant on the cable to reel her up, a job it carried out much too slowly as far as she was concerned. Eventually, Mishta reached window height and carefully peeked over the sill into the room beyond, scouring its contents with a well-trained eye for keen observation.

The moment her brain registered what she was seeing, a deep-seated envy began to burn at her core. What lay within was the height of decadent luxury – beautiful handcrafted furniture, high vaulted ceilings, and a huge bed the likes of which she had never seen before. It made her own bed back at camp look sadly pathetic in comparison. Right now, she couldn't help but think she would chew her own arm off for a few hours of slumber in that masterpiece of craftsmanship. If only they had the time…

The bed filled a good portion of the chamber and was dressed with fine fabrics and plump pillows, so at first she didn't notice that lying dead centre of it, spread eagle and unconscious amidst the ruffled sheets, lay a human. Mishta's heart skipped at the realisation that her instincts had been right. But the lack of movement from his pale limbs in amongst the scarlet sheets left her wondering if their journey had been wasted after all. The human appeared to be dead, and she was about to climb back down and tell Juroah just that when common sense kicked in. If he was dead, the Reliquiae would surely have eaten every scrap of flesh from his bones. They would not have left his corpse lying on a beautifully adorned bed, like the final decoration atop some wonderfully sumptuous dessert.

Looking down to where Juroah waited for her, she signalled that she'd found something. From what she could see in the gloom he seemed surprised, fumbling at his belt before quickly firing his own grappling hook up to the same sill and rising to join her. He stared in stunned silence at the sight that met his eyes.

'The human,' he breathed. 'You were right!'

'You doubted me?' she smirked, but she didn't have time to bask in her moment of glory. 'The window is protected,' she said, pointing to the lower edge. There, a flicker of light, barely visible unless you knew what to look for, glowed out. It was a motion sensor, and it meant that if they crossed the barrier of the window, the Reliquiae would immediately know of their intrusion.

Juroah nodded but remained unfazed, slipping his backpack off to search for something that could help them with their dilemma. They'd been gradually purchasing technologies to help them infiltrate Phylacos for years. Now, they were about to put some of them to use in a setting they'd not been intended for. Soon, they would find out if the gadgets were worth the money they'd paid for them. If not, the cost would be much higher than the credits they'd handed over in trade for them.

Her companion eventually found what he sought and brought it close to the window, activating the device. It immediately began a search through different frequencies of sensor settings, hundreds of them in only a few seconds, until it found one that exactly mimicked the one operating at the window. He stuck the tiny device to the outer edge of the window frame and adjusted the beam until it struck the miniscule Reliquiae receptor directly. A light flashed to show the device was now fully operational and carrying out the desired task. Now, all they had to do was get through the window.

Inside the frame, in the top right-hand corner, they could see the window generator. It was linked to the security beam at the bottom, so if the generator was removed, it broke the beam. A power field formed the window, the nature of its resistance making it far more flexible than glass. Falling rocks could not break it, and no dust, dirt or rain ever sullied it, leaving visibility never anything less than perfect. Any solid matter coming near it was instantly repelled. Still, their mimicking devices meant that taking out the generator would be child's play…as long as they worked.

This time, Mishta had the device in her hand and ready to operate. As soon as the beam was in place, she set it running, rapidly searching through thousands of frequencies until it found the one they needed, and the window de-activated with the merest shimmer of energy.

They paused, hardly daring to believe it had worked so seamlessly…half expecting the Reliquiae to come crashing through the door at any moment. When that didn't happen, they climbed into the room, bringing the bitter night air in with them. It spilled into the bedchamber and began to fill it up, pushing the formerly resident warmer air out into the chilly night. Still, the relief of the slightly warmer room as it rapidly chilled was a welcome if brief respite all the same.

Juroah hurried over to an archway leading to an antechamber, gun at the ready, and ensured the additional room was clear. While he did that Mishta crossed to the bed. The human remained motionless, but his chest rose and fell steadily, showing he was still alive. She watched him, suddenly completely mesmerized. The only other human she'd ever seen in the flesh was her father. He, by his own definition, had been "nothing much to look at" – broad, squat, and bristling with hair on his face, arms, and legs. He'd joked that he was something called a bear, an animal from his home planet of Earth with a reputation for being bad tempered. But this human was different. He appeared to be relatively young, long and lean in build – perhaps a little too lean, but that was understandable after a stay at Phylacos. His skin had far more elasticity and fewer wrinkles than her father's, who had been over fifty human years old when both she and her brother were born. This man was, in all honesty, the most striking creature she'd ever seen.

She stared down at him, unable to tear her gaze from him her despite her previous hatred of all things human. She froze on the spot, unable to move as she watched him, enthralled, while he remained deep in his slumbers, unaware of her presence and completely incapacitated. A sudden and almost overwhelming urge to reach out and stroke him hair gripped her and she tentatively stretched out a hand toward it…

'Mishta, is he alive?' Juroah hissed from across the room. He edged now toward the main door to listen for sounds of activity outside.

His voice snapped her out of her stupor and she snatched her hand away. 'Yes,' she called back in a hoarse whisper, still unable to tear her gaze from the pale form stretched out in front of her.

'Then, wake him up! The less time we spend here, the better.'

She nodded, reaching into her breast pocket for the syringe of stimulant. When they'd set out on this journey to free the human from the Reliquiae's clutches, neither of them had expected it to be so easy. Admittedly, had they not previously purchased the technology to ease their path it wouldn't have been, but even so, it was hard to believe they'd found him so readily and would soon be out of there again. Pausing for one last, lingering look at the man's peaceful face, she plunged the needle into his neck and released its contents into his bloodstream.

It took only seconds to work its magic. The human's eyelids strained open and his head lifted a little off the bed. Then, his eyes fell on Mishta. She slapped her hand across his mouth to stifle the sound forming in his throat, and she signalled for him to be silent. 'If you want out of here, no noise,' she warned him in her best English. His eyes fixed on her – pale green with flecks of rich brown – and she watched the fog of sleep rapidly leave him to be replaced by sharp intelligence. He nodded his agreement, and once sure she had his compliance Mishta slowly moved her hand away. 'Now, get up.'

His uncertainty of the unfamiliar creature before him remained locked in his expression and he hesitated as he took a beat to mentally absorb her appearance, but then followed her instruction without a sound. As he stood, he stumbled and she caught him, supporting his weight until he steadied. He was quick to free himself from her grip, as if he didn't really trust her and had no desire to feel indebted.

Though his reaction to her was lukewarm at best, Juroah's appearance seemed to perturb the human even more. Not surprising, she supposed, since the only other pure bred Birajans he would have seen were the scientists employed by Akalus. The stories of their work that her father had shared late at night with her brother while they'd thought she was sleeping still haunted her now. They were ruthless and without compassion, viewing humans as specimens rather than sentient beings.

Juroah offered his help to the human and led him quickly to the open window. 'Come, we must leave now,' he called to Mishta, spurring her into action.

But as they neared the window, they heard a noise from outside. While Juroah tugged the human back away from the opening, Mishta leaned out carefully and soon spotted a group of Reliquiae women talking directly beneath their exit route. They were too far down for her to hear what they were saying clearly, but there was no urgency to their conversation, so it appeared they were not aware of the extraction in process many floors above them.

'Change of plan,' Juroah said, pulling her back from the window.

'We should listen. We might learn something useful,' she hissed, trying to return to the opening.

His grip on her arm tightened. 'I don't intend to spend a moment longer here than I have to. Let's find another way out.'

He was right, but she couldn't help feeling they'd missed an opportunity to gather valuable intel. Juroah was already heading for the door, so she caught the human's wrist and pulled him along with her. 'What do you plan to do…walk out of the front door?' she asked, unable to keep the doubt from her voice. 'We should wait and see if those Reliquiae move on. The window is our most direct route back out of here.'

'And if they don't move, what then?' he hissed. 'In less than two hours, we become visible to their scanners. It will be far harder to find another way out, then.'

'They won't need scanners to find us if we have to go through the building to get out. They'll smell him, and probably you if you get too close to any one of them. You know how easily they can seek out male flesh…especially human.'

'Who the hell are you people?' the human asked, finally breaking his silence. 'Have you come to take me back to prison?'

Mishta's hackles rose immediately with the insinuation they were in some way linked to Akalus. How dare this man suggest they had anything to do with that stinking place? Juroah took a steadying grip of her shoulder. 'He's only ever seen Birajans in Phylacos. It's natural he should make that assumption.'

'If you're not taking me back there, where are you taking me?' he demanded.

The two of them exchanged a startled look. 'He understands us,' Juroah gasped.

Mishta pulled the human's head down to her level and saw the unit inserted into his ear. 'They gave him a translator.'

'Then, he must be the right human. They wouldn't waste it on one they didn't consider special. It seems your translation skills weren't needed, after all.'

Mishta eyed the human dubiously, and shrugged. 'He doesn't look special to me,' she lied. Then, she activated the device she'd used to open the window and set about trying to open the door. In only a few moments, it figured out the code they needed to open it. She pressed it to the locking mechanism, and they heard a hiss as the latch pulled back and the door popped open a fraction.

Juroah pushed the door back enough to ease his body through and cautiously peered out into the empty corridor. 'I'll take the lead,' he whispered. 'Keep the human close to you. Hopefully your disruption field will mask his biometrics too.'

He signalled for them to follow him out, and the human did so at the nudging persuasion of Mishta's gun. She couldn't miss the annoyance in the look he gave her. Pale and skinny he might be, but he still had some spirit in him.

They slid along the corridor, pressed close to the walls. There were voices, distant and feminine along corridors leading off from the one they found themselves in. They allowed the sounds to guide their course, choosing passageways that echoed silence rather than conversation, with no real idea where any path they chose would take them. It felt as though they were journeying deep into the heart of the building. They sought a way down, but none was forthcoming.

Then, finally, Mishta spotted something that looked promising ahead of them - double doors at the end of a corridor. She pushed the human toward Juroah and ordered him not to leave his side, then she ran at the doors, slipping a knife from her belt and jamming it through the slight gap the joining of the two doors left. Prising them apart a fraction, she was able to force them further open to see what lay beyond.

'An elevator shaft,' she called back to Juroah.

He joined her to examine it, dragging the human along with him. Apparently understanding the need to stay in proximity he didn't resist, pressing himself back against the wall beside the doors and keeping watch along the corridor as if he was used to employing evasion techniques. The shaft dropped down into utter darkness – a seemingly bottomless hole. Yet, this would be their best chance of escape. It obviously led down beyond the fortress, perhaps even to the bottom of the mountain.

'What do you think?' Mishta asked her mentor.

'I think we have no choice,' he replied, gesturing with a sharp beckoning motion for their human to go through the doors.

The human shuffled over, peering down into the seemingly bottomless drop. 'Can I just say this is a bad plan…' he murmured, grimacing at the sight.

'You prefer to stay here?' Mishta spat.

'If that's the alternative…' he said dipping his head toward the shaft, 'yeah.'

'Staying here is not an option,' Juroah assured him. 'There's too much at stake for us to leave you behind.'

'Like what?' the human demanded.

'There's no time to explain,' Juroah snapped, losing his patience. 'If you want to escape the Reliquiae, you must come with us now.'

Voices, not so far away, forced the man into a decision. He peered down the shaft, teetering on the edge of the seemingly endless drop. 'You're gonna call the elevator, right?' he asked, edging backwards.

'We don't need one,' Mishta insisted, holstering her gun. 'This way is much quicker.'

'What waaayyy!' the human cried, as a push in his back sent him plummeting into the abyss.

Before the voices could come any closer, Mishta and Juroah followed quickly behind him.

The descent seemed to last an eternity. Thankfully, the shaft was wide, and although at times she sensed she drifted close to its sides, she did not collide with them. They all came to a sudden, bone-shaking halt only a few feet above the solid stone ground.

Mishta grinned wildly as she activated a small flashlight and swam her way across to another set of double doors that marked their exit. She pushed the blade of her knife between them once again, and peered through the gap the act revealed. Though concealed by rocky outcrops, it opened onto the foot of the mountain out of sight of the Reliquiae females that had blocked their planned escape route.

'Was that escape quick enough for you, Juroah?' she laughed.

'We aren't free yet,' he warned.

'Wh...what the hell…w…was that?' the human asked, still so shocked by his sudden descent that he could hardly string a sentence together. 'You...you could have k...killed me!'

'I knew the anti-gravity cushion at the bottom of the shaft would stop you,' Mishta said, matter-of-fact.

'I was thinking more of the heart attack…on the way down,' he grumbled, clutching at his chest as if he feared his heart might actually fall out. She did her best to stifle the smirk his fear brought to her face. There was no time to gloat about his lack of daring.

A sound from above them caught their attention. The elevator car was on the move, and from the growing rumble it wasn't hard to calculate it was on its way down.

'We must move quickly!' Juroah hissed, catching hold of the human's arm. He kicked off against the back wall to propel them toward the doors, just as Mishta forced them open.

They were barely out of the shaft when the car came into view. They raced to hide themselves before the occupants could disembark and find them. In the darkness, and with so many craggy hiding holes available, it was easy to conceal themselves from view. But the Reliquiae possessed other enhanced senses they had yet to contend with and Mishta instinctively knew they were not out of danger yet.

Two Reliquiae stepped out of the lift and began to walk away from them. They carried a large box between the two of them, obviously too heavy for only one of them to manage. At first, they seemed so engrossed in their task that Mishta thought they'd remain undiscovered.

Then, they stopped.

'Do you smell something?' one asked, testing the air.

The other also appeared to pick up a scent. 'I do.'

'The human's blood must be potent if we can smell it down here.'

'He was carried in this way. Perhaps his scent lingers here still.'

The slightly taller of the two allowed her eyes to wander over the nearby area. 'Perhaps,' she mused.

They set off, but only got a few more paces before one of them stopped again.

'The scent is weaker here.'

'A little, yes.'

'Do you not think that strange?'

There was a brief pause in conversation before the other asked, 'What are you thinking?'

There was another moment of hesitation, and then the Reliquiae turned toward the human's location before answering her sister. 'That the human might not be where he should be.'

Mishta could see him from her hiding place. Though he was out of their line of vision, he wasn't far enough from their position to move without being spotted. The Reliquiae would easily find him.

The two put down the box they bore and began to retrace their steps, while the human tried to edge further back into the niche concealing him. The hole unfortunately refused to allow that. A few more steps and the Reliquiae would be upon him.

Not so far away, she saw Juroah slowly slip his pulse gun from its holster. Much as he didn't want the Reliquiae to steal the human back from them, he wanted them to find him even less, and being a male they might decide he was worth eating even if his flesh would only give them minimal sustenance.

As the two tall, slender females came into view, he lifted his weapon a little to line up a shot. Mishta could hear the human's shuddering breaths scraping in and out of his lungs, so there was no way the Reliquiae couldn't. They zeroed in on the man's position quickly, spotting him lurking in the shadows of his murky hole.

'You should not be out here, Human,' one called to him. 'Come with us peacefully, and you will not be harmed.'

The human stepped out and raised his hands, deliberately keeping his gaze fixed on the Reliquiae. He gave no clue as to the positions of his companions, who remained hidden nearby. 'Okay. You got me. Can't blame a guy for trying though, right?'

One female snatched up his arm, pulling him close. 'How did you get out of your room? You were meant to sleep until morning. You could not have got down here without help.'

'No. Indeed. Perhaps –' the other growled, her posture tensing. Then without warning she spun around and launched, catching hold of Juroah and disarming him before he had a chance to react, '— you had something to do with this.'

She clutched Juroah by the throat, her nails digging into his flesh. Their calm behaviour departed them with the spilling of the Birajan's blood. A deep-throated hiss issued forth from the both of them, the second female catching hold and tugging at Juroah as if about to tear a piece of him away for herself.

Suddenly, the human yelled, 'No...Stop...Please...I'll come with you quietly if you don't hurt him.'

'You'll come with us whether we hurt him or not,' the Reliquiae sneered. 'You have no choice.'

Two pulse shots hit the females, throwing both them and Juroah to the floor, and with them now stunned, Mishta made short work of killing the Reliquiae to ensure they left no witnesses. Juroah looked badly stunned by the pulse that had travelled through the Reliquiae holding him, but he managed to stagger back to his feet with a little assistance from the human.

'And that is why I needed to come on this mission,' Mishta said triumphantly. 'They found you, but they could not find me.'

'All right. If you want my thanks, you have it,' Juroah said, struggling to find his balance. 'As do you, Human.'

'I didn't do anything,' he said.

'You created a diversion. It gave Mishta an opportunity to act.'

Unimpressed about having to share her moment of glory with him, Mishta eyed their new companion with distaste, then turned her back on the pair of them and strode over to the box the Reliquiae had abandoned in their pursuit of him. It bore a coded lock, but once again, it posed no problem to the device she carried. She lay it across the lock, and it began to run through all possible permutations, the lock springing open as it was swiftly decoded. Inside sat a large quantity of Wraith hand weapons.

Mishta's jaw dropped. Never in her life had she seen so many of them. 'Ulkara be praised,' she breathed.

Hearing her reaction, Juroah hurried to join her. He, too, found himself at a loss for words. 'Wh…wh…where were they taking all these?' he eventually asked.

Mishta looked back over her shoulder at Sheppard, who patiently waited for them. 'I suspect they were mobilising their numbers for action,' she growled. She narrowed her eyes at the now approaching human. 'What did you tell them?'

He instantly held up his hands. 'Hey, don't go looking at me. I didn't tell them anything.'

'Hmphh.' She squatted down beside the box and began pulling all the non-essential items from her backpack. Mostly food and drink supplies. Nothing that could identify them if they were found.

'What are you doing?' Juroah asked.

'Taking the guns…or at least as many of them as I can carry.'

'There's no time. We have to get back to the transporter before anyone realises the human is missing.'

'Weapons like this, in this condition…they're worth a small fortune,' she dropped her voice to a whisper so the human wouldn't overhear them. 'Those explosives we need…they won't come cheap. We can't afford not to take them.'

After a few more seconds of pondering, Juroah nodded and sorted through his own pack so he could stuff it full of guns, too.

The noise of the elevator car rising in the shaft again made them all start. Someone had called it, which most likely meant that someone else would soon be on their way down.

'Uhh…I don't mean to criticise,' the human ventured, 'but shouldn't this escape involve us getting further away from this place? You know, like…actually escaping?'

They looked up at him, frowning, but Mishta had to concede he made a good point. She ordered her companions to help her hide the bodies of the dead Reliquiae, which they did as best they could with the limited light and available cover they had, then she crammed a few more weapons into her pack and turned to look the human square in the eyes. 'I hope you're feeling fit, Human. We have quite the journey ahead of us.'

'You could always pass me one of those guns…lighten your load,' he suggested, but she figured the withering look she sent him told him all he needed to know of what she thought about that idea. 'Or not…'

Instead, she snapped a rappel belt around his waist and picked up the spare grapple gun Juroah had removed from his pack, firing it into the ground. She attached the wire to the human's belt and told him how to operate the gradual release of the line. From the corner of her eye, she watched him test the wire for strength and hold, not nearly as alarmed but the prospect of the descent as she'd imagined he might be. It made her wonder, just for a moment, whether this human wasn't as pathetic as she'd thought he would be.

She fired her own grapple just a couple of feet away from his, secured her line, and leaned bac at the edge of the precipice as Juroah did the same the other side of him. 'Ready, Human?'

'As I'll ever be,' he grunted, hitting the release button and stepping off the edge.

Mishta and Juroah exchange a look, the latter giving her a smirk and a nod, as if he was impressed. Mishta only rolled her eyes. It would take more than this minor display of courage to convince her this human was best kept alive.

A/N: Sooo, maybe Sheppard is better off now...we'll have to wait and see! Thanks again for the reviews; I'm still battling with the noisiest ear ever so will do my best to keep on top of things but if there is a delay with any chapter it just means I'm taking a rest.