Chapter 26

When he woke later that day, Sheppard felt considerably better. Yes, he still hurt in more places than he dared count, and sure he was still pissed that Sarayah had evaded capture, but the fatigue that had been tugging at him for days had lessened, and if he wasn't mistaken his headache was a little less...achy.

He couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of team members beside his infirmary bed, waiting to update him...or even to reproach him for sleeping on the job, which McKay had done a few times in the past to cajole him into wakefulness. For a second or two he allowed a sense of panic to rise unchecked, until the curtain shielding his bed drew back and a pretty young woman with long, light brown hair smiled at him from around it.

'Hi, Colonel Sheppard. How're you feeling?'

He recognised her as one of Carson's medical staff, but he had no idea of her name. He did his best to stifle a yawn and replied, 'Not bad considering, thanks. How's Carson?'

He saw a little of the light that had sparkled in her eyes dull. 'He's recovering in isolation. I put him through emergency surgery to remove the bullet. It's a good thing Major Lorne got me here when he did. If we'd delayed any longer I don't think he would have pulled through.'

'So he's gonna make it?'

Again, she looked a little sad as she contemplated her answer before giving it. 'He's critical, but the surgery went well, and he's had a massive transfusion of blood from the army of willing donors I had beating a path to my door, so I'd say he has a fighting chance.'

Sheppard nodded, letting his head fall back to rest against his pillows until he thought of another question. 'He said he couldn't feel his legs...he will get that feeling back, right?'

The sigh she gave before answering told him everything he needed to know without the need for the explanation that followed. 'The bullet clipped his spine, damaging his spinal cord. I doubt he'll ever get any sensation back in his legs...but...you never know. I've heard of some people defying the odds before, but it's very rare.'

He looked down at himself, realising for the first time that his scrubs had been removed and his chest was covered in dressings and ECG pads. His skin was so tender he hadn't even noticed them above the discomfort. Come to think of it, he did kind of remember someone removing his scrubs when the medical team had breezed in...something about needing to assess his injuries.

Apparently seeing his surprise, the young doctor said, 'Sorry about all those wires. After everything you've been through, I thought it best to monitor your vitals for a while and make sure there weren't any nasty lingering side effects. Thankfully, other than the obvious bruises and lacerations, and some increased activity in your hypothalamus due to the influence of the implant they gave you, everything seems to be okay.' He glanced down at the bloody bandages wrapped around his left upper arm, wincing when he tried to move it. 'Oh, except for that,' she conceded, her face flushing with colour at her omission. 'That's kind of a nasty one. You popped a few stitches when they...you know...' Her voice trailed off as if she thought he might fall apart if she actually mentioned what had been done to him. 'Anyway, I'll get someone to come by to clean and re-stitch that now you're awake. I didn't think it was worth waking you before since you were so exhausted. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go scrub up for another round of surgery.'

'On Katie?'

She nodded.

'And how's she doing?'

The doctor's face fell again. 'The bullet's lodged in a really tricky place. I wish...' She paused, and sighed. 'This is not the direction I expected my career to take...at least not this quickly. I'm not acting CEO material. Carson would be able to do this surgery with his eyes closed...well...not actually with his eyes closed because that would be stupid.' She stopped and took a deep breath as if that was the only way she could stop herself from babbling. 'If I'm honest, Katie needs someone better than me, but I'm all she has right now.'

'You'll do great,' he told her.

She smiled, but he could see her heart wasn't in it. 'Well, if you're up for visitors Dr Weir asked me to let her know the moment you woke up. And I think there may be a few other people waiting to see you, too. It took some persuading to make them leave in the first place. I thought I was going to have to have them put in the brig.'

'Yeah, I can imagine.' The doctor headed out through the curtains, but Sheppard thought of something and called her back. 'Hey...uh...'

She popped her head back in his enclosure. 'Yeah?'

'Sorry...I've seen you around, but I never caught your name.'

'Jennifer,' she smiled. 'Jennifer Keller.'

The name was instantly familiar, and a flash of memory, disjointed and disturbing almost stopped him from delivering his message. She'd patched his future self up after Guedeseo. 'Dr Keller, tell Rodney he doesn't have to feel bad about not coming to see me. He should be with Katie right now.'

Her smile widened at that. 'I'll let him know. He's been practically tearing himself in two about not being here...that and complaining about how uncomfortable the chairs are here in the infirmary. He complains a lot, doesn't he?'

Sheppard couldn't help the smile that one brought to his face. 'Yeah, he does. It's one of his more endearing qualities.'

The doctor's eyebrows twitched up. 'Oh...' and then she disappeared.

So Sheppard lay his head back against his pillows, pulled the sheet up to cover the exposed dressings on his chest, and waited. Not that he had to wait long. He doubted more than five minutes had passed when Elizabeth arrived, shadowed by both Teyla and Ronon. Their smiles were in complete contrast to their dishevelled appearances. Clearly their desire to keep abreast of the medical conditions of their colleagues pulled harder than the draw of a hot shower.

'Colonel...you are looking much better than when I saw you earlier,' Teyla said, the first one to speak as she stood beside him and took his hand.

Elizabeth slipped in at the other side of his bed. 'That's an understatement. You had me really worried for a while there.'

'I had me worried, too,' he confessed, his eyes meeting Ronon's now.

'Looked like you had it all in hand to me,' his friend grinned, not even entertaining any thought of bearing his heart.

'Yeah, well, I did, but it was still good of you guys to show up and help tie up the loose ends,' he quipped. 'I was gettin' kinda tired holding the fort all on my own.'

'Tired or not, you did an excellent job,' Elizabeth told him. 'All Pegasus nations take note; there will be no successful invasion attempts on Atlantis while John Sheppard is in residence. That's the Genii and the Atrascans you've seen off now.'

Sheppard's mood darkened despite her joke. 'But Sarayah got away.'

'We'll find her,' Ronon promised him.

'Unfortunately, I expect she will be the one finding us...when she is ready,' Teyla told him.

'Yes, she is rather like the proverbial bad penny...' Elizabeth agreed.

'Well, much as I'd love to keep talking about her and creeping myself out, I think I need to catch up on a few hours of activity. What's happening with the Atrascans?' Sheppard asked. He kept his tone casual, but that wasn't even close to how he actually felt.

'Well, Teyla and Ladon came up with a plan to get them to hand back Atlantis that has them pretty scared,' Elizabeth explained.

'Ladon, huh?' he queried. There was something familiar about that. He had the feeling Radim had helped against the Atrascans the last time, too.

'Yes, I think he felt he owed us after what happened with Kolya. Thanks to him and some clever work by Radek, not to mention everything you did, we sent the invasion force back to Atrasca with their tails between their legs and a promise to be good in the future.'

'And we trust them?' Ronon asked, his tone telling them how doubtful he was.

'Not really,' she confessed.

'The grunts are good people, but the leaders are control freaks and pretty soon they'll wanna make another play for power. There's nothing stopping them doing the same thing again...only next time they'll more than likely do something worse than dumping the personnel they think are surplus to requirements on another world,' Sheppard mused, the thought of how lucky they'd been this time leaving his throat suddenly dry. 'It might be best if we move the city.'

'To another world?' Elizabeth asked. He arched an eyebrow. 'Okay, that was a dumb question,' she admitted. 'It's just so much work to move Atlantis when we're still having trouble picking out a suitable new Alpha site. There are a lot of dangerous animals out there.'

'And a lot of dangerous people, including the Atrascans,' Sheppard countered. 'I don't know how long it will take them to build another sonic cannon, they may even have another one already for all we know, so all they'll have to do is dial us up and send through another massive pulse. We're all out for the count again and the city is theirs.'

'They may not need the cannon,' Teyla announced, her brow puckered with concern now as she squeezed his hand a little harder. 'When we were seeking a way to get back to Atlantis, Ladon had his many spies gather information on the Atrascans. We believe they are definitely the ones who stole the experimental Stargate from Guedeseo.'

Sheppard's jaw dropped. For a moment he'd forgotten about that damned machine. They had to get it back.

'Any chance we could talk them into handing it over?' he asked, looking hopefully at Elizabeth.

'I'll open negotiations tomorrow. With any luck, they'll have no idea how to use it and agree to do just that.'

'If Sarayah told them what it does they won't hand it over easily.'

'What if she goes after it herself?' Ronon asked, giving Sheppard a whole new realm of worries. 'You said she left in a jumper. She could take that place apart with a few drones.'

'We need to get it back now,' Sheppard told Elizabeth, sitting up and ignoring both hers and Teyla's protests as he tugged the electrodes from his chest. Thankfully, he remembered he didn't have any clothes on before jumping fully out from under the sheets. 'I need my uniform.'

'Where do you think you're going?' Elizabeth demanded. 'John, you are in no way ready to tackle this yourself. I'll ask Major Lorne to put together a team –'

'I'm going, Elizabeth. I'll pop some Tylenol and I'll be ready to go.'

'Pop some Tylenol? Are you kidding?' Elizabeth demanded, standing firm in front of him as he slid to the edge of the bed and clutched the sheets around his waist.

'Dr Weir is correct, Colonel. This is a mission best left to others,' Teyla told him, helping to block his exit route.

'It's just a few cuts and bruises. I can manage a trip to Atrasca.'

'That would be a very bad idea,' a small and decidedly plaintive voice announced, and when Ronon stepped aside his movement revealed Zelenka clutching a computer tablet to his chest and looking more worried than he usually did.

'Radek? What is it?' Elizabeth asked.

He shuffled forward, passing her the tablet. 'The supposed passing Wraith ship we used as a ruse to strike the bargain with the Atrascans turns out not to be a ruse at all. There is a Wraith ship heading right for them.'

Elizabeth's face dropped. She took the tablet and studied it. 'I thought there was nothing in the vicinity to spot your signal.'

'There wasn't,' he said, swallowing hard. 'But there are some unusual atmospheric conditions in the ionosphere of Atrasca and they somehow amplified the transmission. The Wraith ship changed course and set it's heading for Atrasca shortly after we came through to Atlantis. I don't think this can't be a coincidence.'

Elizabeth looked at Sheppard. 'The Wraith will cull their planet. This is our fault.'

Much as he thought the leaders deserved it, Sheppard couldn't stomach the thought of innocents like Solvaat, Teelac and their families being slaughtered, especially after the help they'd given them. 'We have to evacuate them.' He slid the rest of the way off the bed, still clutching the sheet around him.

'John –'

'Elizabeth, we're gonna need every pilot available out there to save those people. We're not talking days, we're talking hours at most before the darts start showing up. I've done missions in worse condition than this before. I know I can do this.'

Her huge eyes looked imploringly at him, silently begging him to change his mind, but he wouldn't...he couldn't. He owed Solvaat and Teelac and all the innocent people of that planet. Besides, having rested a while he was sure he could manage it now.

'There is very little time, Dr Weir,' Radek reminded her. 'If we are going to do this, we have to do it now before the Wraith reach a close enough proximity to dial up the Stargate and keep it open.'

Marie showed up just then, with a tray of equipment ready to suture Sheppard's injury.

'Dr Weir?' Teyla gently pressed.

Looking harassed, Elizabeth finally acquiesced. 'All right, go...I doubt I could stop you anyway. But please, John, let Marie suture your worst injuries before you leave. Ronon, Teyla, gear up and collect everything Colonel Sheppard needs. Bring it all back here to the infirmary.'

They nodded and ran out, Radek still loitering and looking a little squeamish as Marie began to remove the dressing from Sheppard's arm. The pad was dark with blood.

'Elizabeth, if the Wraith get their hands on that Stargate –' Sheppard started, but she held up her hand and stopped him.

'I know. If you can retrieve it, do it. I don't even want to think about what they could do if they ever got that thing operational.'

'We could probably use someone with a little scientific know-how on the team to help us with it, but Rodney's kinda indisposed –'

'I will come with you,' Radek immediately offered. 'It's the least I can do, for the Atrascans and for Rodney.'

'Thank you, Radek,' Elizabeth smiled grimly. Then she gave one final warning look to Sheppard. 'Now be a good patient and let Marie do her work. Do not leave here until she's satisfied you're patched up enough to stay vertical.'

'I promise,' he called after her as she and Radek departed, wincing as Marie unloaded a syringe of local anaesthetic into his arm. The pain of the needle was short lived and was soon replaced by blissful numbness. 'Don't suppose you could just inject me all over with that stuff?' he asked hopefully.

Marie smiled briefly. 'I'm afraid not, Colonel.' But her expression snapped back to serious again as she prepared the sutures. Working quickly, she soon had his arm sewn up to a degree she was satisfied with. The fresh dressing covered it to the point that he could almost forget the wound was there.

Next she peeled away the dressings on his chest, skilfully masking her shock at what lay beneath them. It was the most minimal of reactions, but for just a second her face fell before her professionalism took over and she once again became the picture of medical efficiency.

'You can't read Medulsan, can you?' he asked, as she carefully stripped away the last of the blood soaked dressings.

She shook her head. 'Perhaps Doctor Weir learned some when we worked with them previously, but I never had the time.'

'Yeah...I'll ask her some time,' he mumbled, pretty sure he would never show the marks to her.

After cleaning his injuries, and determining that very few stitches were necessary, she was just starting work when Teyla and Ronon arrived with his uniform and gear. He asked them to wait outside the curtain a few moments so they wouldn't see his scars, and distracted them with a question. 'Any news on Carson?'

'Nothing more than you most likely already know,' Teyla called to him. 'He is seriously ill but stable. The next twenty-four hours are critical, but so far the signs are good.'

'That's good to hear,' he replied, feeling better as Marie put down her suturing equipment and began applying dressings. She worked quickly, aware of the time constraint they were under. Eventually, she finished up with a dose of painkillers directly into an artery. 'That should keep you going for a few hours, Colonel. I'll get you more to take with you in case you need a top up.'

When she left, Teyla entered his bay and set down his uniform on the bed beside him. 'The jumpers are already launching for Atrasca. Major Lorne is heading things up until you can join him on the planet's surface. Dr Weir has requested that the Atrascans select a planet of their choice for refuge, but she will not allow them back into this city.'

He nodded, picking up his T-shirt and slipping it on. It felt good to be able to move relatively pain-free, even if it was only a drug-induced sensation of comfort. 'Understandable. How did the Atrascan's take the news?'

'Supreme Commander Danteeras is, in his words, "justifiably shocked and furious", but he has accepted our offer of assistance,' she told him.

'Doesn't have much choice,' Ronon rumbled.

'Ronon, I know you're pissed at the Atrascans, but remember they're not all bad people,' Sheppard reminded him. 'Sure, there are one or two that I wouldn't mind feeding to the Wraith myself, but most of them deserve our help. Now, if you'll give me some space to pull on my pants we'll go give 'em some.'

Teyla and Ronon ducked out behind the curtain, and he was soon dressed and ready to gear up. He did it on the hop, pulling on his tac-vest and connecting his radio while Ronon held onto his P-90 and holstered P-14.

When they reached the jumper bay, Radek was waiting for them with Elizabeth. She eyed Sheppard with some relief. He obviously looked better than she'd expected him to.

While Elizabeth addressed them, Sheppard strapped on his holster. 'Major Lorne contacted us a few moments ago. The Atrascans are loading supplies onto trucks and heading toward the 'gate. The jumpers are being deployed to ferry equipment and essential personnel.'

'Meaning the leadership?' Sheppard asked.

'Pretty much.'

'Essential being a matter of opinion then,' he quipped, finally finished with his holster and taking his P-90 from Ronon. 'So you want us to make finding the experimental 'gate our priority?'

She nodded. 'Major Lorne seems to have the evacuation in hand. Do what you can to find it, but don't get yourselves killed over it. That's an order.'

'You know me,' he replied, giving her a cocky grin. 'I always follow orders.'

They boarded swiftly, closing the hatch to the sound of Elizabeth last moment, 'Good luck!'

Well, he hadn't had much of that lately. Maybe he was due for some right about now.

oooOOOooo

Sheppard swept their craft low cross the Atrascan landscape, tracking back along the convoy of trucks now heading toward the Stargate. Zelenka kept him updated, telling him the ship was still too far out to launch the darts and activate the Stargate, and in his estimation they had a little over three hours in which to find the experimental 'gate and return to Atlantis before they would be trapped.

Sheppard suspected some arm twisting might be required to find the device in time. Elizabeth had ordered every large item that could house the Stargate generator checked by Atlantis personnel before being loaded onto a truck or their jumpers to ensure the Atrascans weren't smuggling it off the planet, and so far Major Lorne had reported no such discovery. If the device was truly there, it had to be somewhere in their underground facility.

'How big is this facility?' Sheppard asked as he steered them in a north easterly direction at Zelenka's request.

'Very,' the Czech told him, calling up some data on his tablet. 'The total area occupied by the underground city is two million square feet.'

'Say again,' Sheppard half choked.

'I'm afraid you heard me correctly, Colonel Sheppard. 'The site is vast. There are several hundred people both living and working within its confines after all.'

'We are definitely gonna need a few clues about where to find that damned Stargate device,' Sheppard breathed.

'Perhaps since we are lending them our assistance in the evacuation they might be generous enough to tell us its location,' Teyla suggested, although her tone made it sound as though even she doubted that would happen.

'Since the high ranking military officials probably view the imminent Wraith attack as our fault, I seriously doubt that,' Sheppard mused. 'Is there any way we can track it, Radek?'

'Er...if it is operational it would be emitting an EM field similar to that of our own Stargate in Atlantis. But I doubt it will be since they would need someone with an ATA gene representation as strong as yours to initialise it.'

'Check anyway, just for my peace of mind,' Sheppard asked him.

He did so, and shrugged. 'Nothing.'

'We're definitely gonna need help finding it then,' Sheppard sighed.

'Over there.' Teyla reached between them and pointed to a copse of tall, straight trunked trees. 'You will need to set us down over there. The entrance to the underground facility is concealed amongst those trees.'

Sheppard gently banked in that direction and set the jumper down. Then, ordering Teyla to guard Radek, and Ronon to watch their six, he took point, lowering the rear hatch and heading on out toward the facility, cloaking the ship behind them.

After making their descent to the lower levels, they found the place buzzing with activity. People scurried from one room to another, arms full of various items of equipment and uniform, food and other supplies, and what appeared to be numerous packing crates of varying sizes. Dotted around were members of Atlantis personnel, organising the smooth flow of people in and out of these corridors and checking their loads. Someone dressed in hazmat gear and towing a cart loaded with metal crates bumped into Sheppard as they rounded a corner ahead of him, knocking the wind right out of him. Whoever it was gave him a prolonged stare, as if silently accusing him of being to blame for all this, then simply bustled on his or her way without even a word of apology. Sheppard let it slide; he figured panic made people forget their manners at the best of times, and a Wraith attack was as bad as times got, but he really could have done without the impact on his already battered body.

After catching his breath Sheppard led his team on through the area, occasionally stopping Atrascans and asking them about the device taken from Guedeseo. Most of them looked genuinely puzzled, and those that didn't appear confused seemed frightened. Whether that was because they feared giving away the experimental 'gate's location or because of the imminent Wraith invasion wasn't clear, but what Sheppard knew was that they didn't have time to waste interrogating people who might actually know nothing. So he gave the instruction for them to split up and begin searching in the now mostly empty rooms, ordering Teyla and Zelenka to stay together or his protection.

He left his colleagues a way behind, hunting for anything resembling a laboratory. He figured they would have been working on the device, and if they hadn't had time to package it up already it would still be wired up to some Atrascan tech down here. He stayed in radio contact with the others, giving and receiving reports of their futile searching, an hour ticked by, and the first twinge of pain throbbed in his arm, reminding him that time was quickly slipping away from him.

When he turned down the next corridor and once again collided with someone hurrying in the opposite direction. He was relieved to find it was Solvaat.

'Sheppard! I did not think I would see you here!' the man gasped. 'You are clearly a hard man to keep down.'

He extended his hand, and Sheppard let go of his P-90 to shake it. 'Don't get me wrong, Solvaat, but I was kinda hoping not to run into you here. Why haven't you left already?'

'I cannot leave until I'm certain the evacuation is complete.'

'Yeah, well, your people are running out of time. You might have to rethink that and consider saving your own ass before it's too late. Where's your family?'

'I loaded them onto the third truck to leave here, I received word that they have already passed through the Stargate. They're safe.'

'That's good news. So how about you join them now?'

'There are other officers still here that I am charged with escorting to the surface.'

Sheppard arched an eyebrow. 'Really? I thought the ranking officers would have been the first to hightail it out of here.'

'I am as surprised as you are, but Commander Thelbaar said he had something important to do and would be ready for the final jumper out of here. Unfortunately, no one has been able to reach him since then so I mounted a search. Teelac is on that jumper and I would prefer it to leave sooner rather than later.'

'Teelac...she's still here?'

Solvaat looked puzzled. 'Yes...your Major Lorne said he would take her through the Stargate in his craft because she looked too sick to travel by truck. He is just waiting for Commander Thelbaar to join them and then he will take off.'

Sheppard activated his radio. 'Lorne, this is Sheppard. I'm gonna look for Thelbaar myself. You can head out...oh, and the woman from the infirmary, Teelac...keep her on board when you drop the others off at their destination. We're taking her back to Atlantis for treatment.'

'Sir? Dr Weir was pretty adamant that the Atrascans weren't allowed into the city,' Lorne responded.

'She won't mind making an exception for her,' Sheppard told him. 'Now get yourselves out of here, that's an order.'

'Yes, sir.'

Solvaat smiled and nodded. 'She will appreciate that. Thank you, Sheppard.'

'It's the least I can do for her. Now let's find this Thelbaar guy and get you out of here. I have an idea where he might be.'

'You do?'

'Yeah. You know where they keep the Ancient device they took from Guedeseo a couple of years back?'

Solvaat nodded. 'We have a specialist laboratory for studying Lantean technologies. I imagine it will have been one of the first things removed along with the rest of Danteeras' collection. Your people have been commandeering all those things as they were taken up to ground level.'

'Well, I've got a feeling that this particular piece may have come with special instructions to conceal it from us,' Sheppard told him. 'I have to find it.'

'Is it dangerous?' Solvaat asked him.

'In the wrong hands...yeah.'

Solvaat sighed, again torn between his loyalty to his planet and his trust of Sheppard. 'Danteeras is most definitely the wrong hands,' he grunted. 'I'll take you to it. Hopefully Thelbaar hasn't managed to smuggle it out of here.'

'Hopefully...'

Solvaat set off at a jog and Sheppard followed him, passing a few more Atrascans pushing trolleys of bags and boxes to take up to the surface. The corridors sloped downward, leading them further underground. The air quality down there seemed to change, getting thicker and more oppressive under the phosphorescent lighting.

Eventually, Solvaat slowed to a walking pace, and gestured towards a closed door. 'This is the room,' he told him, rifling in his pocket for something. He pulled out a rectangular metallic plate and held it up to a panel beside the door. 'Only ranking military and certain qualified personnel have access to this room. The work in here is highly classified and often dangerous.'

They entered cautiously, Sheppard keeping his P-90 held ready to fire. If Thelbaar had orders to get the device out despite the Atlantis personnel presence, he might be armed and willing to fight his way out of there.

The room was in darkness and completely silent. Solvaat, propping open the door and, using the light from the corridor, located the light switch and flipped it, illuminating the scene. An initial scan of the room from the vantage point he had showed nothing amiss, but Sheppard couldn't ignore the way the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Something was off. He wasn't about to drop his guard just yet.

Solvaat pressed forward, Sheppard following and guarding their six. Only a couple of feet further in they spotted a few items displaced and knocked to the floor. Sheppard supposed that could have happened in the Atrascans' rush to pack up and leave. There was no need to worry about a few broken items of little value when you were running for your life. Solvaat glanced back at him, obviously noting the breakages too, and then proceeded.

They moved from that first section of room through to a second, through double doors that hissed open at their approach. Beyond that barrier, more items lay strewn on the floor, many more than Sheppard thought likely due to mere carelessness. There had been some kind of struggle. Solvaat scanned the room as he moved on, something crunching under his boot and stopping him in his tracks.

'This does not look promising,' he whispered, and when Sheppard joined him he saw the broken radio lying on the floor in front of them.

'That explains why no one's been able to reach him,' Sheppard whispered back.

They kept their weapons held high now, ready for any sign of trouble. But the lab remained silent. Whatever had happened here appeared to be long since over.

Solvaat took a few more steps, then stopped again, Sheppard faltering to a halt too.

'Do you smell that?' Solvaat rasped.

Sheppard smelled it, all right. An acrid, almost rusty smell hung in the air. But it wasn't just metallic, it was also decidedly human. He recognised it immediately, the smell bringing back disturbing memories of the sight of Carson lying in a pool of his own blood on the chair room floor.

'Yeah, I smell it.' It reeked of death, or someone near to it.

They both started forward again, Sheppard taking a different course so they could search the room more quickly.

A few second later Solvaat called to him. 'Sheppard – here!'

Down on the floor, wedged between a workstation and a storage container, lay an Atrascan man losing a lot of blood.

'Thelbaar!' Solvaat tested his pulse. 'He is still alive...barely. Thelbaar...Thelbaar can you hear me?'

The ghostly white man responded, just a slight flicker of his eyelids at first, then he turned his head toward the sound of Solvaat's voice. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He didn't have the strength to speak.

'Ask him about the device,' Sheppard prompted.

'He's dying,' Solvaat told him. 'I'm not sure he can tell us anything of use.'

'It's important,' Sheppard insisted.

Though clearly uncomfortable with troubling the man in his poor condition, Solvaat pulled a flask from inside his jacket, unscrewed the lid, and then gently lifted Thelbaar's head a little, tipping it to his lips. Sheppard had no idea what was in that flask, but it had a decidedly 'medicinal' odour.

'Thelbaar, what happened to the device from Guedeseo? Has it been moved?'

The man could still barely find the power to make his voice heard. Solvaat had to lean right in to hear him.

'He says he was dismantling it when someone interrupted him.'

'Who?'

Thelbaar's lips moved. Solvaat leaned in again and strained to hear the words. 'He couldn't tell. They were wearing protection gear. Full body.'

'What happened?'

'She told him to hand over the device...when he refused, she shot him. She clearly used a projectile weapon like ones you possess. Perhaps she was one of your people.'

Sheppard went cold as a moment of recall hit him. Just after entering, the figure in the biohazard gear who had bumped into him on the way down here. The one who had seemed particularly aggravated by him. 'Sarayah!' he breathed.

He stood and operated his radio. 'All personnel be on the lookout for an individual wearing full white hazmat gear. Apprehend on sight, but take all precautions; the target may be armed and extremely dangerous.'

Lorne immediately responded. 'What's the problem, Sir?'

'Didn't I tell you to leave?' Sheppard scolded.

'I'm just about to set off, Sir, but it sounds like you need a hand.'

'I can't be certain, Major, but the individual could be Sarayah...and she has the experimental 'gate device.'

'Dammit,' Lorne hissed. 'I saw someone fitting that description about half an hour ago hanging around near the jumpers, but I haven't seen them lately. It was like they were there one minute and gone the next.'

'Search the area again, Major...and be careful. I'm coming up to join you.'

'Colonel Sheppard, do you require Ronon and I to search the facility any longer?' he heard Teyla ask.

'No, I want everyone back at the surface searching for Sarayah.'

'Colonel...we do not have long before the Wraith are close enough to dial the Stargate,' Radek reminded him.

'I'm aware of that, Radek, so let's use the time looking for her rather than talking about it!' Sheppard snapped, silencing him. 'Okay,' he said, turning back toward Solvaat and his fallen comrade. 'Let's get this guy outta here.'

Solvaat just smiled grimly, wiping his bloodstained hands on his jacket as he straightened up. 'There is no need. He is dead now.'

Sheppard got that old sinking feeling. Yet another person was dead because he'd failed to contain Sarayah. Nodding, he started out for the door, Solvaat just behind him. This day was getting worse all the time He just hoped they could stop Sarayah escaping and prevent the situation escalating completely out of control.

oooOOOooo

When Teyla and Radek reached the surface, they found very few people left, the Atrascan trucks and most of the jumpers having left some time ago.

'Have you found anything, Major?' she asked, hearing Ronon come thundering out of the concealed entrance behind her.

'Nothing. I've communicated with our people over on Ipsolan, the planet the Atrascans chose to evacuate to, but no one has seen anyone dressed in white hazmat gear or fitting Sarayah's description.'

'She is very skilled at evasion, but the Stargate has been in connection with that planet almost the entire time, excepting the occasions when the event horizon has closed down and it has been necessary to redial. She cannot have gone anywhere else unless...'

'Unless she used the jumper she stole,' Lorne sighed. 'She could be cloaked and hiding out on this planet or even through on Ipsolan right now and we wouldn't know. We wouldn't have paid any attention to another jumper heading through. '

'You should warn everyone there to be on the lookout. If she is on Ipsolan, she will try to escape when the evacuation is over and the Stargate shuts down.'

Lorne wandered away, sending a communication through to his personnel on the other side of the wormhole to warn them of their concerns.

While he did that, Sheppard emerged from the underground city. 'Any word?'

Teyla shook her head. 'No one has seen anything of Sarayah, either wearing what you described or not. Major Lorne believes she may be hiding out in the jumper she stole from Atlantis.'

Sheppard rubbed the back of his neck, and she saw him wince even though he didn't use his injured left arm. Rodney had told her about the way Sarayah had strung the colonel up in the mouth of the Stargate to force him to stop the auto destruct. It had been a while since Sheppard's treatment in the infirmary and his muscles would undoubtedly be feeling the aftermath of that strain again.

Lorne approached them now. 'I've ordered Jeffries to take a jumper up and start scanning Ipsolan for traces of another craft, but if Sarayah's cloaked it's gonna be impossible to detect.'

Sheppard sighed, his weariness showing for all to see now as his whole body sagged at the news. 'Okay, get yourselves back to the 'gate before the Wraith arrive. We'll do one last sweep to look for anything suspicious, then we'll join you back at Atlantis.'

'Yes, Sir.'

'That might not be wise, Colonel,' Zelenka stammered, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. 'The Wraith will be here very soon.'

'What isn't wise is leaving this planet without trying one more time to locate that experimental 'gate when the Wraith will be here very soon,' Sheppard corrected somewhat tersely. 'I really don't need that on my conscience, Radek, do you?'

Lorne tugged Zelenka away, and Sheppard turned to Solvaat now. 'You need to go with them.'

'I should stay and help,' he instantly responded, looking resolute.

'No, you shouldn't,' Sheppard clarified. 'If we miss-time this, our ship could end up stranded here until the Wraith move on. We only have limited supplies to sustain us, so, much as I could use you, we can't afford to take you. Besides, I figure Teelac would be happy to see a friendly face right about now. '

The Atrascan look frustrated, but clearly understood that Sheppard was sincere in his reasoning. Without further discussion, he nodded and ran to catch up with Major Lorne and Dr Zelenka on their way to their jumper.

'Right people. Let's move out,' Sheppard ordered, stalking away toward where he'd left their craft.

They all boarded quickly, Sheppard darting through to the pilot seat and firing the jumper up, ready for flight.

Teyla stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. 'Colonel, you need more medication.'

'We don't have time, Teyla,' he snapped, but as he looked back at her she could see the pain scored into his expression.

'It will not take long,' she insisted.

She hurriedly pulled out a syringe and a vial of the pain killing drugs Marie had managed to pass to her as they had all rushed out of the infirmary, and which she had secreted in her tac-vest. He shrugged out of his own tac-vest, then his jacket, then thrust his arm out, running through some of the start up programmes with his other hand while Teyla injected him.

Once she'd done, he allowed her to sit and then set the craft in motion, flying at speed, covering as much of the area as possible in what little time they had left. Teyla felt her tension mounting as he pressed on with the search. She understood where his obsession came from – this woman had almost destroyed everything he'd helped to build in the Pegasus Galaxy – but time was swiftly running short. They needed to head for the 'gate.

She glanced back at Ronon, whose taut expression told her he too thought this had gone on long enough.

'Sheppard, we need to leave...now,' Ronon grunted, unprompted.

'We're almost done. There's a landmass up ahead covered in trees. If she'd hiding out there, she may have dropped her cloak thinking she won't be spotted –'

'Sheppard! The Wraith are coming. There's no way she's gonna drop her cloak now. We have to go!'

Teyla could see the anger and distress fighting it out in Sheppard's eyes as he looked back at Ronon, then across to her. Then, his shoulders slumping, he thankfully nodded. 'You're right. Let's go home. We'll find her another day.'

'Yeah, we will,' Ronon agreed, giving Teyla a grim smile as she nodded her thanks.

Sheppard turned the craft around and set it flying as fast as she'd ever known toward the Stargate. The event horizon had shut down, so as they neared it Teyla began to punch in Atlantis' address...only to have her instruction interrupted as she hit the fifth symbol.

'Crap!' Sheppard breathed, veering their craft away from its approach route and cloaking them. He took the jumper up high and hovered, watching as at least a dozen Wraith darts broke through the rippling event horizon and headed out towards the Atrascan's hidden city.

Teyla heard Ronon's angry huff and the thump as he dropped his hands on the arms of his seat in despair. They were trapped here just as she'd feared they would be.

'Sorry, guys,' Sheppard apologised, looking genuinely embarrassed by his error in judgment. 'Looks like it's MREs for us until the Wraith leave.'

'Perhaps it would be wise for us to move out of the planet's atmosphere and remain in orbit until the attack is over,' Teyla suggested, her senses tingling uncomfortably from the proximity of so many Wraith.

'Your wish is my command,' Sheppard quipped, setting them on an upward climb. They experienced minor turbulence as they left the atmosphere of Atrasca and then watched a while as more darts left the Hive ship and flew down to the planet's surface.

'With any luck, they'll figure out pretty quickly there's no one left to harvest and we won't have a long wait,' Sheppard sighed, slouching in his seat and yawning.

'I would not be so sure of that,' Teyla told him squinting against the brilliance as the Wraith unleashed their customary beam of fiery light on the planet's surface. This was how the Wraith refuelled. Just as with the Wraith themselves, the Hive needed life to replenish its stores of energy, the ship literally sucked the life from the planet, drawing strength from their chosen world's natural resources. 'It takes a while for the ship itself to be ready to leave, and there is still much in the underground facility worth investigating. We may be here some time.'

'Great,' Sheppard said with another sigh. 'So I guess we're here for the duration.

'Don't suppose there's a planet within flying distance with a Stargate?' Ronon grunted, 'I'd rather be doing something about getting home than sit here watching this.

Teyla watched the HUD fire up. It highlighted two planets lying in completely opposite directions with Stargates. 'Huh, you're in luck, Chewie. We can fly for twenty-five hours and reach a planet with very little landmass and miles of oceans...maybe stop off for some surfing and catch a few rays, or we can fly for twenty-one hours in the opposite direction to the outer limits of the next solar system and use the 'gate on a planet whose maximum temperature reaches a balmy -120 degrees. I know which one I ch –'

Sheppard stopped dead, his eyes glazing with thought. Teyla instantly knew what he was thinking and feared for what he would do next.

'Maybe she didn't stay here or go through to Ipsolan. She's probably flying to one of those planets.'

'We do not know that,' Teyla immediately responded in the vain hope of changing his thinking.

'Yes, I do. It was the least risky option with all the movement at the 'gate during the evacuation.'

'So which planet d'you think she headed to?' Ronon asked.

Teyla rolled her eyes. Questions like that would only serve to encourage John's determination to follow the woman, and she wasn't sure that was their best option.

Sheppard sat forward in his seat again, examining all the info on the HUD. 'I don't know. The ice planet is nearer, but she might worry the temperature would interfere with functions. If she does, the other planet looks more welcoming. Then again –'

'Perhaps she knows nothing about either of the planets,' Teyla offered. She will not have your understanding of the HUD readouts –'

'She's been coming to Atrasca for years. What's the chance no one has ever mentioned these planets in front of her?' Sheppard asked, his gaze fixing on her intently.

'But we have no way of knowing which choice she made, or even if she is travelling to either. She had four options, neither one more likely than the other,' Teyla pointed out, raising the pitch and volume of her voice to assert herself. 'Colonel, we only have enough drugs left to treat you for the next eight hours at most, after that, we have to rely on what is in the medical kit, none of which is suitable to keep you fully functioning and able to carry out such a long flight safely. I feel our only option is to wait here and return to Atlantis when we can.'

'Yeah, why not? We can just kick back and enjoy the show,' he muttered angrily, mentally shutting down the display and throwing himself back in his seat. The movement forced a groan from him. She hoped the medication soothed his pains soon, but it was likely they would have to stretch out the time until his next dose for as long as he could bear.

'She's right, Sheppard. Whatever we do could be the wrong choice. We need more teams.'

'But we don't have any more teams,' Sheppard growled, teeth gritted. 'So what? We just sit here and do nothing.'

'If we make the wrong choice it might take us longer to communicate what we know to Atlantis,' Teyla soothed. She reached out and laid her hand on his forearm, feeling the furious tremble in his muscles as he gripped the arm of his seat. 'There are simply too few of us to search for her now.'

'I'm a better pilot than she is. She's only able to fly that thing based on flashes of memory and experiences her other self passed to her. If I make the right choice we could catch her...we're no more than few hours behind her at most.'

'John...please...she will be flying cloaked. We will not be able to see her until she reaches one of the Stargates. This is a battle of wits we cannot hope to win today. Better to return to Atlantis and lure her to us where we can fight her more effectively.'

Sheppard gave a soul-deep sigh. 'Yeah...I'm guessing her all-pervading need to nurture me into becoming a better person will soon have her knocking at our door again.'

She frowned, wondering what he meant.

Sheppard just looked a little awkward, then shook his head. 'Ignore me...I'm just really, really tired. You guys mind if I take a nap while you keep an eye on things?'

'No, of course not,' Teyla smiled warmly, glad that whatever urge had been driving him to pursue Sarayah now seemed to be assuaged. 'Ronon and I will wake you if necessary.'

He wriggled lower in his seat, popped his feet up on the panels in front of him, folded his arms over himself and closed his eyes. Within just a few minutes his breathing changed, a tell-tale sign that he was already asleep.

Teyla looked back at Ronon, who huffed out a quiet laugh, then twirled his chair around so he could put his own feet up on the other rear seat beside him. 'Make yourself comfortable, we could be here a while.'

Though Ronon seemed relaxed now, she didn't feel the same way. John's reactions were out of character, lacking his usual capacity for rational and cool judgement. Yes, she'd seen him angry, but never as out of control of his emotions as he had been for just a few moments there. Sarayah had done something that made this all somehow intensely more personal for him, and she suspected it lay beneath those dressings on his chest. He'd been so definite that she and Ronon shouldn't see him until Marie had finished her work, yet he had never worried about such things before. She watched him sleeping, a frown causing deep ruts in his forehead. Even in his dreams he remained troubled. She dearly wished she could take away his distress and let him have a few hours of decent, restful sleep, but she suspected the only way to do that was to outwit Sarayah and have her under their control once and for all. Restful sleep would not be his this day.

A/N: Since it took so long to post the last chapter I thought I would get another one up for you to read today. I hope you enjoy it. :)