Betrayal

Tyre was waiting for them by the hangar door. Just before they reached it, Ronon muttered under his breath, "McKay says no other life signs." John just nodded. He had a hard enough time staying on his feet. Even with Ronon's support the walk from the gate had sapped his strength. He also realized that he was ravenously hungry. Which should not have come as a surprise, after all the Palapa juice needed substance to build the new blood cells.

When they entered the hangar they found the jumper sitting on a raised platform. Sheppard eyed the building's double doors.

"If you came in this way that was some fancy flying on your part," he said to Tyre. The Satedan smirked.

"Unfortunately I cannot accept this compliment. The roof retracts. But to open it we need power. I will go and start the generators." And with a short nod he was gone.

Ronon helped John into the jumper, and the Colonel gratefully fell into the pilot's chair. He took a com piece from a compartment in the control console and plugged it into his ear.

"… have known better than to leave the design of the plumbing facilities to Zelenka. I won't bother you with details, quite frankly they are rather disgusting, even for your level of aesthetics, but I can tell you that I will give this little excuse for a scientist a piece of my mind once we…"

John cast an admiring look in Ronon's direction. That his team mate had managed to remain so calm while this verbal tsunami assaulted his brain was no mean feat. Ronon just shrugged and began to search the jumper for something edible. Sheppard tapped his ear piece.

"Rodney," he said.

"Sheppard! Thank God you're here. I can't wait to get off this planet and… it is a planet, isn't it? In the past Michael always used planets for his bases, so that's what had me make this assumption, although there's no telling…"

"Rodney - SHUT UP!"

The silence that followed was thick enough to cut with a knife. Apart from a relieved sigh coming from the corner where Ronon stood. It was hard to tell if it was because of the peace and quiet in his head or because of the fact that he had just located a drawer full of power bars.

"Rodney, I need you to focus," John continued. "We're not home yet. First of all, I want you to run a full diagnostic on the jumper. Before I start her up I wanna know if there's been any kind of tampering with the controls or the programming."

He gratefully accepted a power bar from Ronon, who was now sprawled in the other chair, and continued with his mouth full, "And I want you to keep a close scan on any…"

"What the… oh no, this is not good…"

John choked on the bite he was just trying to swallow and began to cough, so it was Ronon who spoke up. "What's wrong?"

"From my readings it appears that your so-called ally Tyre just activated a beacon. I'm receiving the signal loud and clear."

Ronon and Sheppard exchanged looks. "He said he was going to turn on the generator. Any chance this might have caused this reading?" the Colonel asked.

"I may have been through a harrowing ordeal, but there is nothing wrong my cerebral faculties. Of course I can tell the difference between an energy output and a homing signal. This is definitely the latter."

Ronon pulled his gun and rose from his seat.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"I'm gonna shut it off. And kill him."

"Hang on a sec and let's think this through," John cautioned. "The damage is done already, and at the moment it might be wise not to let Tyre know we're on to him."

Reluctantly Ronon re-holstered his gun, but he remained standing. "What do you suggest?"

Glad to be back in his position of authority, John addressed McKay again.

"What's the status on the jumper?"

"To put it in a nutshell, we're not going anywhere. One of the DHD's control crystals is missing. We can't dial the gate."

"Son of a gun," Sheppard muttered.

"Good call you didn't let Chewie here blow our former ally to kingdom come. We need to get the crystal back from him."

"Didn't you bring any spares?"

"Of course I did, but a replacement needs to be programmed to serve its specific purpose. And considering the fact that our scanners just picked up an approaching hive ship I'm afraid we don't have that kind of time."

"Here he comes," Ronon growled. Looking up, John saw Tyre walking towards the jumper. He was carrying a small metal box. At the same time, the roof of the hangar began to move aside. Light spilled through the growing opening and clearly illuminated the Wraith Worshipper's self-satisfied expression. Sheppard thought he could hear Ronon's teeth grinding, and he put a restraining hand on his team mate's arm.

"Okay, Big Guy, you leave the talking to me. And no open aggression, understood?"

The glare Ronon sent his way could have melted steel, but the Satedan nodded and relaxed his grip on the handle of his gun.

When Tyre entered the craft, Sheppard had made up his mind to take a direct approach.

"There you are. And just in time. There's a hive ship headed this way. We need to get out of here, but I can't get the DHD online. You know anything about that?"

A look of concern crossed Tyre's face. Obviously this hive was not the reinforcement he had been expecting.

"I removed a crystal from the device. It was a safety measure while I left the jumper unattended. Here it is."

He held out the box to a slightly rattled Sheppard, who had not expected such a frank admission. Cautiously, the Colonel opened the lid. The crystal was in fact inside, nestled in a protective shell. He took it out and placed it in its slot under the control panel. The jumper's DHD powered up immediately.

"That's more like it," John quipped. "Let's get this show on the road."

Responding smoothly to his commands, the jumper rose from the platform and cleared the hangar ceiling. Lining up the craft in front of the gate, Sheppard began to punch in the coordinates for the Alpha site.

"And what, pray, is the meaning of this?"

Unable to answer this cryptic question, John slowed his dialing.

"Where on earth did you get this address? As you know I have memorized the dialing sequence of every planet we've ever been to, and this is not…"

Sheppard's hand was hovering over the last symbol when he heard a loud crash behind him. Ronon had tackled Tyre and was holding him in a death grip. Furious that his direct order had been disobeyed, John hissed, "What are you doing?"

"He was going for the DHD," Ronon explained in a strangled voice. It took all his strength to keep Tyre down. John looked through the jumper's front window at the gate, and suddenly everything made sense. The lit symbols on the Stargate were not the ones he had dialed.