Author's Notes: I'm sure this won't come as much of a shock to you guys, but this isn't even close to all I wanted to give in this chapter. Unfortunately, this is all my schedule and my muse would permit. There's always next time, I guess. And not to worry, those who are still reading - assuming anyone is still reading - there WILL be a next time. Promise!
Thanks so much to nacimynom for her beta, despite her own crazy schedule. And to alicesandra for letting me throw ideas at her. Luckily, she came away without any bruises. ;-)
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Chapter 36 - A Song No One Can Hear
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xo
Only when his boots hit the ground in Atlantis again, Mason began to relax. Exploring old wrecks and ruins like the torn down former outpost they'd just left had never been his favorite missions. On top of that, meeting a Wraith in a place where the Wraith had once murdered everyone had made him feel as if he were walking over people's graves.
It gave him the creeps.
With Rodney directly behind him, Mason had been first through the Gate home. Todd followed flanked by Ronon, and Sheppard brought up the rear. A security team met them as they came through, a welcoming party in case their guest got any funny ideas. Mr. Woolsey was stationed out front with Maj. Lorne and Maj. Everett.
The new addition stood coolly, hips loose, her flowing dark hair pulled back as per regulation, and her expression poised. Almost too sanguine, all things considered. Her gaze was zeroed in on the Wraith.
"You made excellent time, sir," Maj. Lorne said as the wormhole shut down behind them.
Mr. Woolsey wore a staid frown. "Colonel, I see you've brought along a friend."
"Well, Todd had quite a story to tell. We didn't want you to miss out," said Sheppard.
"I look forward to hearing it. I am certain it'll be an interesting tale."
Sheppard inclined his chin and a pair of armed soldiers carrying a set of shackles approached the Wraith, who seemed occupied scoping out the room. From the ceiling to the floor, Todd's pale yellow eyes took in every bit of the scene.
"Lock him up tight and then escort him to a holding cell," Sheppard said to his men.
Thick metal cuffs clicked into place around Todd's wrists. An accompanying set of rings was secured around his ankles along with the heavy chains that bridged them together. As if seeing the place for the first time, Todd ignored the shackles in pursuit of his search. Visibly distracted, he adopted a deep sideways tilt of the head and a mildly grotesque visage that Mason could only interpret as startled.
What was he doing?
It almost looked like he was listening to something.
Mason focused on the sounds around him, but he didn't hear anything unusual.
Sheppard had apparently noticed the Wraith's odd shift in demeanor as well, as his manner grew even more guarded than before. "I'd hate to keep you away from your old room. Five-star accommodations all the way, just like you remember. We haven't changed a thing."
Todd's attention was clearly elsewhere. He stood eerily still. And then his cat-like gaze abruptly shifted to look at Sheppard. His gray lips tugged back in a slight grin and he responded in a low, resonating voice that made the hair on the back of Mason's neck stand on end. "Something has changed."
Mason watched as the muscle in Sheppard's jaw flexed. "Enjoy your cell." His CO turned and said in a restive tone to Mason and Ronon, "Take him. After that, report to the infirmary. Briefing in an hour."
Ronon nodded. Mason said a concise "Yes, sir." They'd all feel better once Todd was stashed safely behind an Ancient force field.
"Maj. Everett." Sheppard glanced across the room.
She sprang to attention. "Yes, sir?"
Sheppard all but disregarded her formality in favor of clipping his P-90 back onto his vest. "Why don't you go with them? While you're down there, they can show you how the cell controls work."
Mason caught Ronon's fierce scowl as Maj. Everett stepped up to join them. She gave the towering Satedan a pert, one-sided smile as if slyly daring him to object aloud. Her features were delicate yet projected a steel edge, likely honed from the experience of being a woman in a field choked with alpha males. Maj. Everett definitely wasn't one to be pushed around.
In the space of a moment, Ronon and Sheppard held a silent exchange. Ronon's dissatisfaction was plain. Sheppard overrode it; with a flick of his eyes toward Everett and Todd, he made his intentions clear. This was Maj. Everett's first encounter with a Wraith and he needed to know how she would react. If she wasn't able to handle it, it was better they find out here—under controlled conditions—than out in the field.
"Go," Sheppard said.
Ronon did. Grudgingly.
A pair of SO's took point as Mason, Ronon, and Maj. Everett moved into formation behind the prisoner. The group started toward the doors. Todd marched along without missing a beat, one foot in front of the other, still intent on whatever it was he was listening for. He kept on adjusting the angle of his head as if it would help. He reminded Mason of someone trying to identify a song being piped over the speakers in a noisy restaurant, able to hear just enough to capture the attention and make you realize you know it, but the surrounding chatter completely drowns out the melody. Of course, then you're annoyed and the only recourse is to hope the song changes or your food shows up.
Well, Todd didn't look annoyed yet. Good thing. His food wouldn't be coming for a while.
Mason overheard Maj. Everett talking to Ronon as he moved beside her. "You missed our session this morning." Her voice was the very soul of politeness, although a swift look in her direction revealed a taut smile on her lips.
Ronon didn't so much as look at her. "I was busy."
"So I see." She spared a chilly glance at the Wraith before reclaiming her nearly flawless composure. "You could have radioed," she said softly, "or left a message taped to the gym door telling me you weren't going to be there."
"I guess," Ronon said.
Inwardly, Mason groaned. Based on last night's "warm" introduction, it didn't come as a huge shock that Ronon and Everett weren't meshing very well, but he didn't want to be here for this. The only thing he wanted to think about was the mission. The job. Nothing else. No distractions.
"You know, you weren't the only one who had other things they could've been doing this morning," she said. "I waited for nearly forty-five minutes."
"Sorry," Ronon said.
Admirably, Maj. Everett kept her tone even. "I don't need you to be sorry, I need you to be where you say you're gonna be. I have a job to do and superiors I have to answer to. Next time you can't make a training session with me, have the decency to let me know."
"Fine," Ronon growled.
"Good."
Mason shook his head. It was going to be a long walk.
"David?"
Dave Sheppard felt a touch to his arm just above the elbow. He peeled his distracted gaze back down to where Teyla waited with an expectant grimace.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Dave looked around and realized he had stopped in the middle of the corridor, where he and Teyla had been walking only moments before. "Yeah, I …" Wary, his eyes roved upward once more to examine the corridor ahead. "I just thought I heard …"
Something. Nothing. He wasn't sure either was true. And even as the thought crossed his mind, he realized how ridiculous that sounded. After a lifetime of relative normalcy, he'd just taken a three week voyage in a spaceship, of all things. Now he was walking through an alien city in a galaxy that he'd never heard of until eight months ago, and that was to say nothing of the Wraith—space vampires who fed on life rather than blood. And Teyla had said that one of them was now in their midst. Probably the very same one that once had fed on his little brother. No wonder his imagination was running wild.
"It's nothing," he said, finally returning his full attention to the woman by his side. "Anyway, I should probably be asking you that question."
Ever since they'd left the mess hall to meet up with John, Teyla had been fairly preoccupied, hardly saying a word. Stranger still, she kept crossing her arms as though she was cold and then dropping them back to her sides with feigned indifference.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.
Since he didn't understand Teyla's unique ability to sense the presence of Wraith beyond what he'd read in her file, he trusted that she would know if anything was wrong. On the other hand, she was only just recovering from a complication with her pregnancy; a complication that John had said stemmed from a genetic problem between her Wraith DNA and the baby. If this Wraith's presence did anything to jeopardize Teyla's health or his niece and he didn't at least ask—incessantly, probably annoyingly—Dave would never forgive himself. And more than likely, neither would John.
Her left arm moved unconsciously to grasp the upper part of her right, only to slip down as before. "I am fine, David. I was simply … surprised," she said, attempting to explain away the fleeting look of shock that had briefly taken over in the mess hall.
"Is that what you'd tell John? You were surprised?"
Teyla donned an uneven smile as his tone made it clear he wasn't convinced. "Perhaps not." She sighed and glanced uneasily at the path ahead as they resumed walking. "It was … stronger than I anticipated. Stronger than I have ever felt from a Wraith."
"Ever? Is it this Todd character? Is he special or something?"
"Todd is devious and ambitious and certainly strong, but he is a Wraith like all the others."
"Then why do you suppose this time was different?"
"I have not encountered a Wraith in quite some time." She paused and then added hesitantly, "And circumstances have … changed … since I have become pregnant. I should have expected it."
The way Teyla now avoided his gaze bothered Dave, as if she was withholding something from him. He was about to press her for more when they rounded a corner and she came to an abrupt halt. Having kept a close pace to hers, Dave narrowly avoided bumping into her shoulder before he stopped.
Mason, Ronon, Maj. Everett, and a pair of marines stood before them.
Dave had seen photos of Wraith before, mostly file images taken of the dead after the siege in Atlantis, but they did little to prepare him for the real thing. The marriage of insectoid features into a humanoid face stunned him into silence. The Wraith – presumably the same one John had nicknamed Todd – had shocking white hair and ash grey skin that exhibited an almost waxy sheen under the corridor's overhead lights. A predatory air radiated in his body language. Todd's mouth pulled into a curious sneer, revealing a row of shark like teeth. For a second Dave knew what a minnow felt like.
The Wraith's yellow eyes stared directly at Teyla.
Frozen, Teyla began to breathe faster. A pale tint suffused her rich complexion as her expression locked. Silence consumed the corridor. Dave's heartbeat was a metronome of building tension as he observed her stiffen. A look of horror took root in her brown eyes as the hypnotic ferocity of Todd's gaze only deepened, boring into her.
Behind Todd, Ronon and Mason traded a strange look. Something was very wrong, but Dave didn't have the slightest notion what.
"Keep moving." Ronon's command cut the curtain of silence like a chainsaw. His blaster made a whirring noise as if it was revving to life, a barefaced warning to the Wraith. Mason circled around and placed himself between Teyla and Todd, his gun low but his hand coiled around the trigger.
Maj. Everett nodded to the other two men. They promptly lifted the noses of their weapons. "You heard him," she said. "Keep walking."
The Major took a step toward the Wraith. Ronon immediately reached out and touched her arm with impressive softness and control, considering his eyes never moved from his target. "Careful," he said.
She glanced down at his touch, a look of bewilderment present on her features for a microsecond before it vanished. Dave's attention skated toward Todd's bound but uncovered hands, a clear and present danger, though the Wraith no longer seemed to know they were there.
Then Todd moved, not away as ordered but straight toward Teyla. A flurry of movement erupted, and Dave was stunned to find himself on the fringe of a standoff as five weapons snapped upward and took aim.
Correction—six.
In an instant, Teyla slipped her hand around the butt of Mason's sidearm and yanked it from his thigh holster. She moved up alongside Mason into the open, to the marine's clear disquiet.
"Teyla, don't," Mason said.
Fury and grit like Dave had never seen poured from Teyla as she lined the Wraith up in her sights. "Not. One. More. Step."
Todd stilled. He didn't move closer, but he didn't look like he was about to yield either. He might have been a prisoner, but for a moment Dave had the sense that they were the ones held captive.
His eyes narrowed to tenacious slits. Teyla inhaled sharply.
And then John was there, gun drawn, the barrel pressed viciously to the back of Todd's neck.
"Back off," John barked, his lungs heaving from exertion. Minutes before, the instant he had felt Teyla's fear he'd taken off running, leaving Rodney and Woolsey spluttering in his wake. He'd pushed himself to his limits as her emotions fluctuated in his mind, rising to borderline panic. "Don't make me regret not shooting you earlier."
John's protective instincts were aflame as he looked over Todd's shoulder to Teyla, who was exhaling rapidly, her gaze trapped as she struggled to maintain her aim.
Teyla? Teyla, talk to me.
He had to bear up to the returning call as her thoughts came back at him with screaming force. John suppressed a bone-chilling shudder. He felt the reflected pressure of Todd in her head, confused and searching as if mindlessly compelled. Reaching. Seeking an entrance. Teyla had barricaded her mind and the baby's, but she was struggling to maintain that level of control on her own. She couldn't use the baby's abilities to help her. Not only could that expose their daughter's vulnerable, developing mind to Todd, but the consequences, they knew, could be dire.
He is so cold, John. Teyla's arm started to waver. I do not know how long I can … keep him out.
His jaw set, John kicked the backs of Todd's legs and forced him to his knees. John pushed the barrel of his Beretta hard against Todd's skull. "I don't know what game you're playing or how long it's been since you've fed, but I'm betting you won't recover from this. Now back off or I'm putting an end to all of this right now!"
Responding for the first time, Todd slowly rotated his head and brought it around so he could look at John out of the corner of his eye. "You are different, John Sheppard," he said, oddly nonchalant given the current number of bullets with his name on them.
John glared. "What are you talking about?"
He chuckled, a rumble of distant thunder that sent another chill down John's spine. "You have taken a mate."
Time stopped as John's thoughts raced, chasing the adrenaline surging through his veins. His finger hovered perilously above the trigger.
"Sir?" Maj. Everett said uncertainly.
John looked up. A few seconds passed and then he lowered his gun. "Get him out of here."
The SOs rushed in and pulled Todd to his feet. John watched on as Ronon, massive and angry, growled his own threats in Todd's ear. Across from John, Capshaw gently spoke a few words to Teyla, her gaze still focused on Todd. Gradually, her attention drifted toward the big marine and she released her weapon into his care. After holstering the gun, Capshaw grasped Teyla's shoulder in a quick, firm hold and then moved off to rejoin the prisoner escort. Teyla looked drained. And Dave …
God, Dave.
John hadn't even noticed his brother was there. What had all of that looked like to him?
His mind jumping from one stream to the next, John's stomach twisted as the knowledge that Todd had heard him sunk in. He'd heard him mentally communicating with Teyla.
Shit.
John didn't know what that meant for the time being, but any information in Todd's hands was information that would one day be used to his advantage. Maybe John should've put a few bullets through his brain, ZPM be damned.
As the clink of Todd's chains traveled down the corridor, echoing from farther and farther away, John returned to himself and strode toward Teyla and his brother. He threw an assessing glance Dave's way, taking in the stunned expression and face rife with questions. "John, what … what just happened?"
John shook his head. "Later, Dave. Okay?" Then all his attention went to Teyla. He wrapped his right hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in close. Teyla sank into his arms. "Are you alright?"
"I believe so," she said. Her head rested against his chest as tension funneled from her body in cumbersome gasps.
"I want you to come with me to the infirmary and let Keller check you out just to make sure."
Ordinarily Teyla might have objected, but not today. Not this time. Their baby couldn't afford another close call.
John stared gravely ahead. "I don't know how he found out or what he thinks he knows, but if he conned me into bringing him here so he could get to you, I'll—"
Teyla lifted her chin to look at him. "I do not think he knew. From what I could sense of him, I do not think he expected to find me or the baby at all. I believe he sensed her and …" He saw her searching for the right words to describe the purpose for the driven, single-minded determination John had felt coming from his old rival. "I believe he was trying to investigate."
Investigate. And he'd come up with too much information already.
John tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her forehead. If he tries anything like that again, I'll kill him, I swear.
Todd didn't give them any trouble the rest of the way. Once they arrived, he walked into the cell of his own volition and sat down on the cot at the far end, already back to ignoring them as the SOs activated the shield. It was hard for Mason to walk away without giving him a few good kicks to the gut, but it was just as well that he didn't. Cooler heads had prevailed. He would've had to wait in line behind Ronon anyway. And maybe Everett too.
Mason and Ronon waited as Maj. Everett took in the simple process of working the cell controls and then turned to leave, expecting her to follow. Thoughts of the upcoming mission had already begun to take priority in Mason's mind.
But Ronon and he paused in the doorway when they realized she hadn't.
Without a sound, her attention had been drawn studiously toward the Wraith, who merely stared back at her, uncaring and uninterested. She had folded her arms tightly across her middle and her eyes were somber. Despite her Teflon bearing, Mason saw that it was difficult for her to be there. He didn't have to imagine the hole left behind when you lost someone important to you. How you had to push their memory to the side and allow yourself to think of them fondly but only sparingly, because dwelling too long on them made the pain of their passing as fresh and as painful as the day it happened. The sweetness of happy memories in the heart permanently intermixed with grief and carried around in silence.
Losing a parent wasn't one of those things you ever got over. It had been two years for him. Three for her. And she was finally face to face with a representative of the alien species that had sucked most of the life out of her father. Whatever nightmarish figure she might have imagined, it now had a face and it had shown her first hand just how fast things with the Wraith could spin out of control, could end up getting someone killed. Someone just like her father.
Even Ronon seemed affected by the shadow cast by her grief. He had finally put his gun away and his posture softened, shedding some of his earlier brusqueness.
"You should go," Ronon said to her, his voice full and raspy in the thick silence.
Maj. Everett's eyes shifted to meet his. She hesitated a moment, a part of her clearly wanting to tell him to mind his own business. But something seemed to stop her. She nodded and left without another word.
Mason watched her disappear up the corridor, then addressed Todd. "Don't get too comfortable. Colonel Sheppard will want to talk to you again soon."
The Wraith deigned to lower his gaze. His piercing yellow eyes peered back at him. "I look forward to it."
Mason and Ronon were far away from Todd's cell before Mason spoke again. "You're sure you want to do this thing with Everett?"
"What thing?" his friend said gruffly.
"You're not exactly cutting her any breaks."
"Being soft on her won't help her, it'll get her killed," Ronon said, eyes forward, stubbornness the attitude of the day. Even though Ronon was about as emotionally open as a rock at the moment, Mason also sensed he felt something resembling guilt about it.
"Just be careful," Mason said. "There's a line. See that you don't cross it. It's bad enough she had to find out about all this the way she did …"
He trailed off for a second, imagining how events had probably played out according to what Sheppard had told them. A phone call. A long flight knowing that her father had returned from his assignment and was hospitalized but not knowing why, followed by a cold debriefing and a doctor leading her to her father's room. Apologies. Guarded statements about recovery, but nothing that would give back the thirty odd years she could have had with him. Col. Everett had gone away a strong, able commander and came back an old man.
Shock. Tears. And then so many more when, after six months of trying to live with it, her father couldn't cope any longer.
The Wraith hadn't killed Col. Everett, but they might as well have.
"Just be careful," he said again, not sure what else to say.
They started up a flight of stairs. A pensive frown crinkled Ronon's beard. "You should take your own advice," he grumbled.
Mason stopped short. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Ronon paused a second before he continued to jog stolidly ahead. "Meet you in the infirmary."