Author's Note: And another quicky chapter.

Curled in my hell chamber, I find myself subject to frequent day dreams. I begin to wonder how things are back home in Atlantis. I wonder if they've found Teyla and her people yet, and selfishly, what progress they've made in finding me...

'Teyla…' I repeat to myself. The name came to me some time ago and I've hung onto it like a lifeline. I know I'm not crazy; I do remember things... faces, feelings, memories... it just feels like so long since I've heard any familiar voice or name, I can't pull them from memory.

I've stopped eating, hoping like a coward that death will take me and save me from this pain and misery; but now the Wraith simply give me injections of something that takes the place of food.

I don't know how much longer I can go on like this. It seems impossible that they can continue this routine for an infinite amount of time without my ever divulging any information. I suppose if it comes to that they'll just kill me, but at this rate I would be welcoming of such an alternative.

"Sam... Wake up Sam..."

A musical, barely audible voice breaks my thoughts and I feel myself lifting my heavy head and eyelids. I look to the opposite end of my cell where I see myself leaning against the wall, an unreadable grin on my face; but I'm different. My hair is short and I seem impossibly clean. I say nothing; simply wait for the apparition to speak again.

"What are you doing?" she asks in a jaded tone of voice, as though she had caught me doing something exceptionally odd.

I say nothing, for I'm not sure what she's expecting me to say. She pushes herself off the wall and walks slowly towards me, arms crossed over her chest in a domineering way.

"Come on; you're the great Samantha Carter. Is this really the best you can do? Come on! Get up! We've got an escape plan to carry out."

I shake my head slowly, and feel myself nodding off with the effort. "...tried..." I mumble, and I'm surprised she can hear me.

"Try again," is her bitter reply.

I don't respond. I've already lost any energy I could have used to formulate such a plan, and I'm certainly not inspired enough now.

She bends down so she is at my eye level, but keeps a careful distance between us.

"Are you really still holding out hope of a rescue?" she asks. "Come on. You and I both know they're never going to find you. In fact, I'd be surprised if they were even looking. They're happy you're gone. You took the place of their leader and so they took you off to some Wraith planet and abandoned you."

I am no longer so drowsy as I was before, and I can feel my hands clenching into tight fists at my sides as she continues with her rant.

"That's a lie. They didn't abandon me," I say through clenched teeth. But this only seems to egg her on, and she continues in a scathing tone.

"They don't care about you. Let's face it; I'm all you've got. There is no rescue. If you don't get yourself out of here no one will."

"NO!" I scream, and I launch a rock at her.

It ricochets off the wall and echoes loudly in the empty room. I realize as my cloudy eyes dart around the cell that the only sound is my ragged breathing, and I am utterly alone.

I draw my legs up tightly to my chest and bury my face in the soiled fabric and begin to sob. Tears stream down my cheeks, leaving streaky lines across the layers of blood and grime.

For the first time since my capture, no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise, I have truly given up hope of a rescue.

V

As the Deadalous dropped out of hyperspace, Colonel Caldwell strode over to observe the approaching planet.

"Should we fire the beam weapon, sir?"

The commander shook his head. "No. Send the Jumpers; we want to leave as much of the facility intact as possible."

"Yes sir."

V

Meanwhile, aboard the cloaked replicator ship, Elizabeth Weir stood in the ship's control room watching in silent resentment as the Earth ship raided the planet below.

They had come too quickly, and the Wraith could not pick up their approach in time. If she had not needed the prisoner to complete her mission, Elizabeth might have been mildly amused by the Earthling's stupidity. With the information Carter had gathered by entering her mind, she could have proved quite an asset to the Atlanteans when they found her. But instead, they had sent a ship to destroy the facility she was being kept in.

There was of course, the risk that the Earthlings did know their commander was down there, and this was their flawed attempt at rescue; but even if that were the case, the replicator ship, even cloaked, could not stand up to the Deadalous in it's condition.

"Orders, commander," one of the replicator crewmen barked from their workstation.

Elizabeth's fists clenched at the inconvenience and pure irony of the situation. How close she had come to reaching her goal…

"Take us into hyperspace," she ordered, and watched through narrowed eyes as the battle sank into the distance.