CHAPTER 37 – DISTRACTION

She felt his hands at her head, stemming the bloodflow, a sting of an injection and knew that he was numbing the area so that he could stitch her up. She continued to float in that half state of consciousness, aware when his eyes touched on hers. She sensed when he had finished, noting the absence of his touch, then he was back and the cuffs were being removed from her hands. She attempted to push herself up and groaned. The pain in her head was incredible and she leaned over, retching and felt his hands on her back as he held her with one hand and placed a bowl in front of her with the other.

"Easy...take a moment to get your balance back. We've no choice but to move you immediately. If you found your way here, then the others will and while we will have a little unpleasant surprise waiting for them when they arrive, we want you off the planet before they get here. Our allies have been in contact with us. They're not happy at the loss of the 302's – and we intend to cut a deal with Atlantis to get them back. We know they're there, and if they want to see Sheppard and his team again, then they'll hand them over nice and easy. No blood spilled."

"Except mine..." Her voice was fading in and out, but she had understood what he had said, and knew that regardless of the new deal on the table, it did not include her release. She was a retribution for her father no longer being in their control.

"Unfortunately... yes, you will be a casualty of this little war – just as your father would have been. But you'll have the distinction of being one of the universe's first super soldiers. A fully functioning half wraith, half human hybrid, with 100 percent capability in all fields dominant to each DNA."

He paused a moment, helping her to her feet now and securing the flexi cuffs onto her wrist behind her back. She was too weak to even attempt to fight back.

"You'll be the prototype and we'll use you to train them once we have a considerable army. There'll be no group on earth or in that galaxy that will be able to oppose us. The most formidible hired guns the world has ever seen."

"Why...?" She struggled for breath now, and he was walking her out of the infirmary and into the main area of the building she had been brought into.

"Because we can... Take a moment to consider the extreme perfect predatory nature of the wraith. They are an indomitable force. They are without conscience, possess superior strength, a brilliant high level of mental acuity, telepathetic capabitilites and they do not die of natural causes. Combined with the natural human strengths which takes away the need to feed – they will eat as humans, not as wraith – and you have to admit, the idea and eventual concept is more than just a little brilliant."

One example of that brilliant race that he had just rapturised over now stood in front of her. The wraith from the laboratory, the one who Sheppard had supposed killed.

Not so dead then... she fought to push down the giggle. Are these people so very wrong in what they do? The wraith? Apart from their method of feeding, they were a formidable race, and perhaps, if some of their less extreme tendancies could be bred out, the possibly there would be something in their eventual result.

The wraith had run his eyes up and down her body and she saw something flare in those yellow cold eyes.

"She is the same as the other... but stronger. I sense that. Now that we have perfected the serum, it has seemed almost destined that we were to have another sent to us... one who would complete the first prototype. The other... he was not strong enough and his body would not have withstood the shock of the transformation for very much longer."

His long cold finger reached out and ran lightly over her face, and she pushed back a little to escape his questing hand, feeling the hard body of the doctor behind her.

Then suddenly, he gripped her chin in his hands and his face moved closer to her.

"Where are the ships? The one's that were taken from us. We need to complete the transformation in order to finalise our plans. Your so called protectors in your galaxy? They will feel the sting of their own weapons, modified in such a way that they will never withstand the onslaught. Your galaxy will be protected no more, and it will be ours..."

He broke off then, his yellow eyes slanting suddenly toward the doctor as though realising that he had revealed more than he should have. She felt the shift in the body behind her, the coiled tension and realised that he had just reached the conclusion that the wraith were in fact going to double cross them. She felt his hand slide in behind her body as though reaching for something, and his movement after that was lightning fast.

He brought a gun out and now banding his hand around her to hold her back against him, he trained the weapon on the wraith.

"Not liking where this is going...we had a deal and while wraith and humans will always have their differences, this was of benefit to both parties."

He had begun walking them both backwards and the wraith followed, amusement in his voice.

"This way, we get all the benefit. We get the ships we need, the protype, the Asgard technology and a new feeding ground. We see the benefits in your super soldiers, as you call them and perhaps we will simply keep our little creation to ourselves. Afterall, now that you have given us what we want, what is to stop us from taking more? Give me the girl and then make sure those ships are delivered to the planet along with Colonel Sheppard and his team. The rest of you are free to leave, but I warn you – if you decide to return to your home galaxy, it will no longer be safe. If you chose to remain here, on this planet, then we will offer you immunity – that is your payment for giving us what we needed. You see, Jenks...the rules of the game can change at any time."

"Yes, they can..."

The hard voice of Colonel John Sheppard had the wraith turning sharply and Jo closing her eyes in relief. The emergency beacon had worked and they had arrived.

"Ah, Colonel Sheppard. You heard my request then... we need you to complete our plan. We need you to bring those ships back for us."

"Not gonna happen, wraith. Those ships, complete with their modifications... which by the way, our military is most appreciative of... are on their way back to Earth as we speak. It seems some of the crew of the Prometheus are not to be trusted, so we've called another of our little surprises into play. Another of our ships, the Daedelus... will be taking our cargo back and some of your little elite group aboard the Prometheus."

His harsh words were directed both at the wraith and the Trust doctor. He had seen Sheppard and his team step out from around the side of the building and had had no time to either escape nor warn the wraith.

The wraith's words were mocking. "A minor setback Colonel Sheppard. We have the cloned braincells and we can rebuild. We have the technology and prototypes in place already, that were not on board those ships. I have the serum. You, Colonel? Have won only a small victory."

"Maybe not so small, wraith. That laboratory on the planet where you kept Colonel Barlow? It has been blown up, completely... the boys had fun doing that – some nice packets of C4 and that place is a pile of rubble. Oh, I know... it's likely that not all your eggs were in the same basket, but I think we've managed to crack more than just a few. But I do have one little bombshell to drop on you... well both of you actually. The Asgard? You know they're generally mild mannered little dudes... but we just happened to whisper in their grey little ears about what's been going down. It seems the don't take kindly to their technology being misappropriated and I suspect, gentlemen? That this somewhat unhealthy alliance that you've formed is about to encounter some serious Asgard wrath. Just saying'..."

John had deliberately not looked at her and flicking a cursory look over her now, had not missed the spark of hurt that shot into those silver eyes.

Ronon and Teyla had been following the tension that was mounting between the groups, and it was Ronon who brought up his big weapon now and fired on the wraith, dropping him to the ground. He moved his weapon now, so that is was trained high and to the left of Jo, who was effectively blocking most of the doctor's body.

"Stand down and give us the girl... I'm not feeling too merciful at the moment..."

John, in the interest of combat courtesy, gave the man the option to surrender, assuming – and rightly so – that he would not take the opportunity handed to him. He kept backing away, keeping Jo in front of him, and John saw the movement out of the corner of his eye, as she brought her elbow up and slammed it into his midriff, causing him to lower his weapon momentarily and for her to push away from him as he went down clutching his stomach. Ronon fired as soon as she was clear, and she stood a little uncertainly, until Teyla came up to her, bringing a hand to the side of her head to check on the blood flow from the reopened wound.

"My father, Teyla? Is he any better?"

"No, Jo. I wish I had better news for you. We managed to get the information from him as to where the Trust had established their base and this was of enormous benefit. However he was put back into a sedated state by Dr Beckett as he appeared to become agitated again."

Jo turned now to face the man who had still not moved toward her.

"John...?"

"I don't want to talk to you right now, Jo. Ronon, Lorne? Do a thorough sweep of the city and round up all the personnel. Rodney? I want you to find that tracking device they have, and shut it down. I need to bring the jumpers into the city so that we can load these bastards into it and get them back to Atlantis. They'll be on the one way express back to earth. They can deal with them. Once we shut this place down, I want nothing more to do with this sorry mess."

John turned and strode away. Lorne paused briefly, and moved towards Jo. The Colonel had been harsh, and while he understood why he had done it, Jo was a friend and she was hurting right now.

"You ok?" He put out a hand and rested it gently against the side of her head and the simple act of kindness had tears in her eyes and her breath hitched.

"Aaah hell..." Likely he was going to have to face Sheppard's wrath for not moving to complete his task immediately, and stepping in where he was no doubt not welcome, however he followed his own needs at the moment. To give her a small amount of comfort.

"Come here... it's ok..." He folded her into his arms and the damn broke. John had turned and saw her take the security of Lorne's arms and he shut his eyes in pain. He should have been the one to give her that, not his damn second in command. But he was too angry and too raw and he needed to get this job done so that he could try and put his feelings in their right compartments. And so he turned away, but not before he saw the way she clung to Lorne and the way Lorne dropped his head and spoke quietly into her ear.

Right now he just wanted to hit something.