Author's Note: I would like to thank my beta reader, Nika Dixon, for her guidance and her patience. Any mistakes here are purely my own.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Stargate Atlantis or the characters. The only thing that is mine are any original thoughts or characters that you may find here.

Chapter 12

"Is she-" asked Lieutenant Jenkins as Lorne crouched beside Doctor Weir.

"I don't know. Doctor Weir?"

She could hear the concern in his voice and despite his gentle tone she knew that he was angry at himself, blaming himself for her treatment. She would have to set him straight.

"Ma'am? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Major. I can hear you," replied Weir as she tried to push herself upright.

Lorne put a hand on her shoulder to stop her movement. "Maybe you should let me check you for injuries first."

Weir looked up at the Major and saw the guilt in his eyes. "This is not your fault, Major. None of this would've happened if the Dalerians had been upfront and honest with us. If anyone is to blame it's them and the Ree-Tan. Not you." She saw the lingering doubt in his eyes and knew she needed to say more to convince him. "Major, you know as well as I that the Colonel would never have let me leave Atlantis with such a small military force if he thought that there was any risk at all. There was no mention of another race in the mission reports from SGA-6 when they made first contact and no reason to expect this. It is not your fault."

She continued to watch him, her eyebrow raised, waiting for a response. She hoped her words were enough to get through to him. She needed him to concentrate on how they were going to escape if they got the chance, not mired in guilt. She was relieved when she saw him lift his head and nod. He had gotten the message.

"Yes ma'am but I doubt the Colonel will be letting you off-world again anytime soon without at least two teams and maybe not even then."

"I suspect you're right," replied Weir.

Weir winced as Lorne took her wrist and felt along the bone checking for fractures.

"It doesn't feel broken, you might've sprained it though and you've definitely taken some of the skin off your palm. 'Fraid we don't have anything to clean it with."

"It'll be fine, Major. " replied Weir as Lorne touched the dark bruise on her right cheek. The skin was already tender to touch and she was sure it would sore for the next few days as would be the bruise near her eye. She let him finish checking her facial injuries while she thought back on what Jaymar had asked of her and what he would do if she refused him.

"Besides the bruises you have a wound over your eyebrow that's still bleeding. It should stop on its own. And I'd say you have a possible concussion. Did they hit you anywhere else?"

Weir shook her head, wincing at the spike of pain that lanced through her head. She could only imagine how much worse Lorne felt but still she would give anything for one of Beckett's pills right now. "No. He wanted me capable of thinking about his proposal." She glanced across at the historians before continuing. They were watching her with their own guilty looks including Harneg who looked like he had aged ten years in the short time that she had been gone.

"What was it?" asked Lorne, noticing where she was directing her attention.

"He wants me to translate the ruins for the Ree-Tan."

"And if you don't?"

"He'll start killing people."

"You cannot help him," implored Harneg "He would use the weapon against my people."

Weir turned towards him. "Jaymar accused your people of the same thing. Why do you hate each other so much?"

"The Dalerians invaded this world." replied Lorne "Apparently the Ree-Tan are the original inhabitants."

Weir returned her attention to Lorne as his words sank in. In the eyes of the Ree-Tan they had indeed been helping the enemy. Despite this she knew that she could not do as Jaymar demanded if the result was to be the death of another race. She would have to rely on her negotiation skills to find another solution, but for that she would need to understand why things were as they were. She took a deep breath to clear her head and straightened before turning to the Dalerians. "Tell me everything."

"Our planet was dying, droughts were common and our crops would often fail. When it did finally rain it brought storms, destroying homes and killing hundreds. Food was in short supply. We traded with other worlds, including the Ree-Tan, but we still struggled to source enough food. People were dying from starvation and many took matters into their own hands to save their loved ones. Our society was breaking down into chaos." replied Maris, pausing to take a breath. "Then the Wraith came. Many were not capable of fleeing; others did not see the point and meekly surrendered themselves to the Wraith. Those that were left decided that we must leave our home world if we were to survive. Those that we had traded with were willing to take a few people but they themselves had insufficient food to feed all of our people. Half our people were scattered across several worlds then we asked the Ree-Tan. They were our last hope to find a world that would take the remaining people, but they refused to take any. We knew that we asked much of them and that food would be scarce but to refuse us completely was unthinkable. It did not sit well with our leaders. We were left with only one choice or so we thought. Take the planet by force. The Ree-Tan fought back but they were no match for our Enforcer squads. We thought with time that they would accept our co-existence but they did not. It was decided that a wall should be erected to keep the Ree-Tan contained. That was more than 100 cycles ago. Over time their number has grown. Then three cycles ago the Ree-Tan found a way passed the Enforcers for the first time. We do not know how nor do we know where. But we do know that they intend to seek their revenge. They killed fifty Dalerian men, women and children in that first raid and have declared that they will not stop until they have rid this world of my people. We have nowhere else to go and most would rather see the Ree-Tan eradicated than give up the only home they have known."

Weir could only imagine how terrible it would be to live through such dire times and to be refused help when it was most needed. She understood desperation. She had seen it many times throughout her career and it had often been used to justify atrocities. But to persist with such atrocities when the Dalerians were now in a position of relative affluence was something she failed to understand.

"Hence the search for the Ancient weapon. Jaymar is correct. Your people intend to use it to wipe out his people," stated Weir.

Maris glanced at Harneg before returning his attention to Weir. "Yes. Since Brille became Councillor much effort has gone into finding the Ancient weapon mentioned in the Ree-Tan historical files. He believes that it truly exists."

"Surely your people have all the food they need now. Why not take what you need and relocate to a vacant planet?" asked Weir.

"Many Dalerians feel that this is their home now and are not willing to move. Not all of us feel this way but there are too few of us to make any difference. Councillor Brille also commands all of the Enforcer squads and no-one dares to speak out against him for fear of reprisal."

"Maybe he will change his mind when he realises that Jaymar is also after the Ancient weapon and intends to use it to eradicate the Dalerians."

"I doubt that it will do more than affirm his resolve," replied Maris. "I am sorry that your people have become caught in the middle. You do not deserve this."

"Thank you, Maris." replied Weir absently massaging her forehead. Her headache had grown worse whilst Maris told his story. She wasn't sure whether it was from the beating or the gravity of the Dalerian duplicity.

"You should rest." commented Lorne offering her a hand to help her to her feet.

Weir took the offered hand and rose to her feet unsteadily before allowing Lorne to guide her to the far corner of the cell. She knew Lorne was right. They all needed to rest when they could in case an opportunity to escape presented itself. And escaping was more important than ever now that they knew the truth. Atlantis would not miss them for another two days but if they did not escape before then John would send a team through to investigate and possibly get caught in the middle of a battle between the Ree-Tan and the Dalerians. She could not let that happen.

"Still plan on refusing the Ree-Tan?" asked Lorne quietly as he sat beside Weir.

"Yes I do. All I can offer Jaymar is to attempt to negotiate a resettlement of the Dalerians to another unpopulated world and an offer of assistance against the Wraith. I will not help them destroy each other." replied Weir.

TBC

A/N: Another short chapter I know but at least we're starting to understand what is going on with the Ree-Tan and the Dalerians. The action should start to heat up even further in the coming chapters so don't miss out on future updates, sign up for an alert and why not leave a review at the same time. The reviews just might keep the plot bunnies at bay... but then again they might just make them go even more whump crazy. Who knows with plot bunnies? Anything is possible.