Chapter 34

Teyla listened closely to the night sounds as she sat on the rear hatch of the jumper, waiting for Juroah to return. The air was chill, but still she refused to close up the jumper hatch and wait inside. The flight would not take long, and she was keen to see Ronon once more.

Lansha sat silently beside her, the others having closed themselves into the cockpit of the jumper for warmth. Nearby, the Kheprian transporter that had brought the dart to this location also sat silently, its crew also eagerly anticipating the dart's return.

The craft's flight had been a little less steady than usual for a dart, but, as Rodney had insisted to her several times, preciseness of angle was not essential. Juroah had been advised to sweep the tower with the newly extended, wider beam, courtesy of Kheprian technological improvements, to ensure he could encompass the whole of Ronon's room in one pass. Japhalan perimeter defences meant he would get no more than one chance to succeed so they had given him the best chance possible.

'Juroah won't fail,' Lansha said softly, as if afraid to disturb the quiet. 'He's quite the pilot, and knows no fear in the face of the enemy.'

'He certainly seemed confident,' Teyla replied, smiling as she recalled the enthusiastic way he had taken in Rodney's instruction on how to carry out his mission. 'I have no doubt he will do his very best.'

A dull buzz carried to them on the breeze now, too quiet to accurately identify. They both looked in its direction, waiting, listening. When the buzz developed a definite whining pitch, they knew Juroah was on his way back to them. Teyla jumped to her feet and ran to the bulkhead doors, thumping on them.

'Juroah returns.'

She started down the ramp to where Lansha now waited in the clearing atop the rocky precipice from where Juroah had launched, his eyes turned skyward. 'It sounds different.'

He was right. Something sounded off.

'Oh, that does not sound good,' Rodney announced as he joined them. 'I hope he can land that thing safely.'

'If anyone can, it's Juroah,' Lansha assured them, but the white knuckles of his clenched fists told Teyla that he feared the old Birajan was in danger as much as they did.

After a few more minutes the dart soared into view, or at least partially. One wing was on fire and glowed eerily like a comet cutting through the night skies, giving away its position.

'Jesus!' Mehra breathed beside her. 'He's not gonna make it!'

'Rodney…I do not believe this landing will be as controlled as we would like. Perhaps we should all move out of the area to give him more room.' But before anyone could respond to her suggestion, Teyla watched Hakkar and two of his troops come bounding out of their transporter, spraying some a foam-like substance all around the landing sight.

'Huh! These guys think of everything,' Rodney smirked, turning back to the approaching, flaming dart. 'They might actually be nearly as smart as me.'

The dart came in closer and lower, flames licking the side of the craft. It had to be getting hot in the cockpit. Teyla prayed to the Ancestors that both Juroah and Ronon would make it safely back to the ground. As his craft passed over the cliff edge, Juroah operated the beam as he had been instructed to, depositing a horizontal form on the ground. The Kheprians were now lighting the way to the crashlanding pad they'd hastily laid, and thankfully Juroah seemed to understand their intent, aiming the dart into the foam cushion. Teyla watched him swoop overhead, instinctively ducking as the heat registered on her skin, though he was several feet above them and there was no real danger. As he impacted with the previously soft spray it seemed to solidify, slowing the craft and bringing it to a rapid halt while simultaneously smothering the fire.

'Oh…man…that is gnarly!'

Teyla looked first at Mehra, then toward where Ronon had reintegrated. Ronon lay there, barely dressed, entangled with a much older female alien dressed only in a negligee.

'Ronon…dude! I understand you're a red-blooded man and all, but is that seriously the best you could do?' Mehra asked, her lip curling at the sight of them.

The two of them scrambled to their feet, Ronon protectively pushing the female behind him.

Apparently unable to believe his eyes, Rodney couldn't help himself from joining in the chorus of disapproval. 'What the…she's old enough to be his mo…his grandmother!' He looked decidedly nauseous at the thought of that.

'Who do you think you are addressing?' the female bellowed. 'How dare you be so rude?'

'We think we're addressing the horny old cougar who bought our kidnapped friends. That sound about right?' Mehra challenged, gripping her P-90, and taking aim.

Teyla set a hand on her arm, forcing the gun down. 'Let us not cast aspersions, Dusty. We are all friends here.'

'Friends?' the female scoffed. 'You will all be slaves in my palace before this night ends.'

'Yeah…good luck with that!' Mehra snorted.

'You'll show Mistress Leilana respect,' Ronon growled, his lip curling in that way he always did before attacking. 'Or I'll make you.'

Teyla felt Mehra tense, anticipating trouble. She tried her best to diffuse the situation. 'Ronon…we are your friends. Surely you know we mean you no harm…nor Leilana.'

'Mistress Leilana,' the female hissed.

'I'm sorry, and who exactly are you mistress of out here?' Rodney charged, lifting his chin.

She eyed him, her eyebrow arching. 'Another human male…and not without your own appeal.'

'Excuse me?' McKay squeaked, eyes bulging. 'Do you know who I am? I'm Dr Rodney McKay, eminent astrophysicist and Head of the Science and Research Division of the Atlantis Expedition. I'm not just eye candy for some, some –'

'Horny cougar,' Mehra repeated helpfully.

'Yes…that.'

Teyla would have laughed at the absurdity of it all if she weren't so desperate to keep a lid on Ronon's obviously mounting anger. 'Mistress Leilana,' she began. 'I appreciate you are of high regard amongst your people, as I am amongst mine, but our friend was taken dishonestly, and does not belong to you. We are free humans, and we wish no harm to you. We only want our friend returned to us.'

Leilana glared at her, the silence hanging heavily between them. Then she screeched, 'How dare you – a human – compare yourself to me. Ronon, silence these impudent insects!'

Telya heard Mehra groan, 'Oh, crap,' and Rodney whimper as she stabilised her stance, ready to fight.

Suddenly, a flash of particle energy engulfed the Satedan. He staggered a couple more steps before falling on his face on the ground.

Teyla spun, as did her companions. They found Tamrak emerging from the back of the cloaked jumper, Ronon's gun in his hand.

'I…I heard the trouble and I thought you might need this,' he stammered, looking shaken. 'Then I thought I should probably use it.'

She gently took the gun from him, seeing that Ronon had thankfully left it set on stun, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. 'Thank you, Tamrak. You did the right thing.'

Mehra was already pushing past him, dragging various things down from the overhead compartments until she found what she needed – restraints. She passed a set to Teyla. 'You cuff Ronon. I'll get Miss Hoity-Toity over there.'

Though it pained Teyla to do it, she knew it was necessary. She retrained Ronon's arms behind his back, then rolled him over. His cheekbone was grazed from the fall, but he was breathing steadily and seemed otherwise unharmed.

Lansha and Juroah now joined them, as did Hakkar, having handled the situation with the dart. 'What happened?' Juroah asked.

'It seems Ronon is quite protective of the female you collected along with him,' Teyla explained as politely as she could.

Lansha looked down at Ronon, then over at the female, who was suddenly silent and far less arrogant. 'Should I ask?'

'Best if you don't,' Mehra told him, pulling Leilana's arms behind her back.

'Wait…what are we planning to do with her?' Rodney asked. 'We can't take her with us. Don't you think we have enough problems?'

Rodney Made a good point. She would be of no help to them, but she might bring the wrath of the Japhalan army on them if they kept her prisoner.

Mehra stepped back, restraint still in hand. 'So…what do we do with her?'

Teyla strode toward her, looking up into the tall alien's eyes. 'Nothing,' she said. 'We do nothing with her.'

'What…you can't mean you plan to leave me here?' Leilana demanded.

'That is exactly what I mean.'

'I will not stand for this, you impertinent little primitive. How dare you –' Another flash of light and thump of energy floored Mistress Leilana where she stood, right there on the bluff overlooking her city.

'I'm sure she will awake by morning to enjoy the lovely walk home in the sunshine,' Teyla said cheerfully, satisfied with her work.

Mehra stared down at the heap at her feet, then grinned at Teyla. 'Nice!'

'So, back to camp?' Rodney asked, paying the crumpled pile of Japhalan noblewoman no attention at all.

'Yes, if someone will help me get Ronon into the jumper.'

But Telya need not have worried. Hakkar immediately stepped forward and picked Ronon up, threw him up onto his shoulder as if he weighed no more than a feather, the carried him aboard, lowering him gently onto one of the benches.

Teyla thanked him as he removed his hunched form from the craft and joined his fellow crewmen.

'They are most impressive,' Teyla said as she watched them board their transporter and leave. 'Nothing is too much trouble for them.'

'Should've seen them earlier,' Rodney enthused as he climbed aboard the jumper and took up his seat at the controls. 'Thee of them picked up that dart and carried it aboard their truck like it was just some giant Airfix kit. Now that was impressive.'

'I'm sure it was,' she smiled back at him, kneeling beside where Hakkar had laid Ronon. She stroked his forehead, relieved to have him back, but worried that he wouldn't be the Ronon they needed him to be.

'He'll be all right,' Lansha assured him, sitting beside Mehra on the bench opposite. 'From what I understand of the control chips, once they are out of range of the transmitter controlling them, their effects soon dwindle.'

'I hope so,' Teyla sighed, stroking his head again as she watched his eyes flickering from side to side behind his lids. 'We need his strength and determination to help retrieve John and your sister.' Lansha said nothing, and when she looked over at him, she saw tears in his eyes. 'Do not give up hope, Lansha.'

'I'm trying not to,' he croaked. 'But it's hard.'

With everyone else settled in the cockpit, Rodney set the jumper in motion, taking them out of the danger zone before anyone could track the descent of the dart. The first part of their plan had been a relative success. Now they needed to focus all their efforts on finding the Stargate before Akalus could bring his plan to fruition.

oooOOOooo

'Activate the chair, John.'

Sheppard had been strapped into the control chair for hours now, with Akalus in his Mishta suit trying to force him to make it work. Beneath his right hand, the gel-pad controls had been adapted from the normal layout, now depicting a set of seven gate symbols. The chair was there for one purpose and one purpose only. To open the Stargate.

'Told you…it's dead,' he panted, as the sensation of every atom in his body shaking erupted again, throwing him into another wave of agony.

It wasn't that Akalus thought he could hurt him into submission anymore – he had to know that wouldn't work by now – but his anger at Sheppard's constant refusal made the entire room shake, and him along with it. The temporary lighting Akalus had set up around the place fizzed and a few elements popped at the force of his energy's vibrations, dulling the fierce light he'd been enduring through his discomfort. It was a relief for his tired and sore eyes.

'It is not dead,' Akalus yelled. 'I prepared it myself. All the power connections are there and working. I know all you have to do is initialise it.'

'Sorry…no can do, Chief,' Sheppard rasped, relaxing a little as the tremors subsided, leaving his clothes cloying to his perspiration-soaked skin. 'It isn't connecting with me. You must've got something wrong.'

Akalus leaned over him, hands grasping his restrained wrists, Mishta's beautiful violet eyes locked onto his. 'I could always find a new host,' he growled, a taunting smile twitching at one corner of her mouth.

In an instant, Sheppard's bravado left him. 'Don't hurt her…she's done nothing to hurt you.'

She laughed, an unmelodious, sarcastic chuckle that grated on his already irritated nerves. 'I think we both know that isn't true. And she'd love to do far worse.'

That comment struck him. 'You can see her thoughts?'

'I could…until I shut her down.'

'So…her mind is gone now?' That would make this easier, if all that were left was this soulless body inhabited by a monster.

Akalus curled Mishta's lips into a broad smile this time. 'Oh no, she's still here…just sleeping.'

Sheppard stared back into those eyes, so devoid of warmth, so strikingly cruel, and couldn't imagine that any morsel of Mishta remained. Akalus had lied to him and played him from the very beginning of his incarceration in Phylacos. This was probably just one more deception meant to keep him in line. 'Prove it.'

An eyebrow twitched up. 'You don't trust me?'

Sheppard allowed his head to loll back against the seat, feeling utterly drained. 'Let me think about that. You hid out in Geeja at Phylacos and told me I couldn't leave the facility because the air outside was unbreathable. You hid out in Jemma and pretended you was some college kid, scared out of your wits and too frightened for me to leave your side. Now here we are. And you ask if I trust you. Do you get a kick out of hurting women, Akalus? Is that it?'

The previously curious gaze hardened to something else entirely more terrifying. 'I take female hosts because men like you are so easily fooled by a pretty young face,' he sneered, backing away.

'Geeja and Jemma are both dead. Why should I believe this time is any different?'

'Geeja was alive when you spoke to her. She was a strong young woman, and I only had to use her body when I wanted to speak to you, so it was less stressful on her. She probably could have survived…if I'd wanted her to.'

That thought cut John deep. Another life that could have been spared. But he wouldn't be distracted from his request. 'So, prove it…Prove Mishta's still alive.'

'I don't have to prove anything to you.'

'You do if you want me to make this thing work.'

Akalus stared back at him, silent…unblinking. Then, with no warning, he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

To his left and a little way behind him Sheppard heard movement, so craned his neck to see Oolanae now stood at the bars of her cell, open-mouthed and staring at the inert form. They exchanged the briefest of glances, but neither of them spoke. What had just happened?

'Mishta?' he ventured tentatively.

With a gasp, Mishta rolled onto her back and screamed, her body contorting as if she were in agony. She could barely draw breath between cries as she fluctuated between writhing and curling, anything she could do to find relief.

'Stop! I get it. I get it!' Sheppard yelled, but Akalus wasn't about to take orders from him. He would stop when he felt his point had been made.

Eventually, Mishta got to her hands and knees, and through sheer effort of will, managed to speak. 'John!' she gasped, raising her tear-streaked face to look at him.

He couldn't respond…hoping beyond hope she didn't beg him for help he couldn't give.

'If…' She gritted her teeth and groaned, her face screwed up against the pain as Akalus tried to enforce some level of control within her. But he watched her push through it, determined to convey her message. 'If you get…a chance –' Again, she was crippled by whatever tortures Akalus was inflicting inside her. Somehow, she found the strength to try again. 'If you get a chance…to end him, do it…no matter what it takes.'

Everything seemed to fall away around them in that moment. It was just him and Mishta, and her clear permission to kill her if necessary. He'd needed to hear it, and she'd instinctively known that.

'I –' In that moment, as she tried to speak again, Akalus resumed control. Her face snapped back to a cruel sneer in an instant. She rose oddly, like a puppet being lifted by its strings, a movement that seemed independent of any force exerted by muscle or skeletal structure.

'She's quite the spirited one, your friend,' Akalus told him stepping up onto the dais the control chair rested on, and slowly, almost too carefully undoing Sheppard's restraints. 'And strong, too. Amazing what a being can endure for love.'

Was that what she'd been about to say? That she loved him? Sheppard didn't meet his gaze – couldn't even contemplate it. Mishta was in there, aware of everything. She was not asleep, nor cowed like Oolanae had told him. She was being oppressed and forced to act against her will. This had to be intolerable for her, hosting the one being she had spent most of her life trying to stop.

'Look at me,' Akalus ordered.

He wouldn't…he couldn't. It hurt too much. Much more than anything Akalus had done to him so far.

'Look at me!'

When he failed to, Akalus gripped Sheppard's shirt and ripped him from the seat, flinging him across the room. He collided at speed with the bars of the cells, the sensation of ribs snapping sending screaming pain through his body, stirring up his neurons into a fireball of raging pain. Before he could even get his breath, he was once again lifted and thrown along the passageway, sliding several feet before grinding to stop. His body refuse to obey when he ordered it back to his feet, a sensation not unlike a knife in his side pinning him in place. Oh, yeah, those ribs had damaged something when they'd snapped. He wasn't going anywhere.

With his brain still spinning, Sheppard felt a hand grasp his hair, pulling him back towards the cells. The pain increased ten-fold and his mind phased out for seconds at a time, and before he understood where he was he was slamming against the back of his cell, the bars closing him in again. He rolled onto his back as lay gasping shallow breaths. Each inhale was agony; he couldn't take in enough air.

Somewhere in some greying-out distant corner of him mind he was aware of hissing and throaty growls, then yowls of pain and screams that shafted right through his brain. He didn't have the strength to lift his head and find out what was happening. The sounds became patchy and distorted as he blacked out and then pulled himself back again and again. Then a needle stabbed into his neck and his body buzzed with the release of its contents.

Enzyme.

He could feel its progress through his system, and with its course came sweet relief – bones fusing, torn organs healing. He lay still and savoured the release. He'd thought he was going to die, but of course, Akalus would never allow that to happen. Why had he fooled himself into thinking that?

Eventually, when his breathing levelled out he opened his eyes, finding Akalus staring down at him.

'Perhaps now you understand how useless it is to resist.'

A faint whimpering caught his ear, and he turned his head to look over to Oolanae's cell. She cradled her arm, hissing pathetically when she saw her eyes on him.

Akalus crouched and gripped his jaw, forcing Sheppard to face him. 'We will try again tomorrow, John. And I expect you to comply.'

Sheppard lay very still as he was released and Akalus left, his body still healing. He didn't want to slow the process.

'You're only delaying the inevitable,' he heard Oolanae say once they were alone.

'Nothing's inevitable,' he told her, pushing up into a sitting position and scooting back until could lean against the bars. 'Akalus has a specific time window in which his plans have to happen. I just have to hold out long enough for that to pass.'

'You do not have the strength.'

That pissed him off. This Reliquiae didn't know anything about him, and she's already painted him as a quitter. 'I might just surprise you.'

'Humans are weak…they all give up eventually.'

Buttons effectively pushed, he couldn't help but fire back. 'Really? I didn't exactly notice you putting up much of a fight!' he growled, getting to his feet and pacing to burn off his mounting anger and frustration.

'My sisters will come. I have no need to fight.'

He halted his pacing and huffed out a laugh. 'Yeah, right. The old 'I coulda won if I wanted to' argument. Sorry, but I'm not buying it.'

Oolanae strode to the bars that separated them. 'You think me coward?' she challenged.

He stepped forward to face her, certain the bars would keep them apart. 'Well…if the cap fits.'

She hissed from deep in her throat, eyes burning with intent. 'When my sisters come –'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've been over that. But what'll really happen when your sisters come is Akalus will crush their ambush and throw them in a cell, just like he did to you. They don't stand a chance.'

Something about her demeanour told him she was confident that wouldn't be the outcome. 'They are Wraith by now.'

He shrugged. 'So?'

'They will be hungry, but not for flesh and blood…for lifeforce energy.'

And suddenly he knew where she was going with this. Akalus was pure lifeforce energy. 'They'll feed on him.'

She nodded, a broad grin splitting her face.

'So, tell them to come.'

She narrowed her eyes at him. 'I have no means of communicating with them.'

'Use your telepathy.'

Her lip curled into a sneer. 'Your serum destroyed that along with everything that made them Wraith.'

He smirked back at her, feeling strong and fired up by the enzyme she'd been forced to share with him. 'So, you're not even gonna try?' He closed in on the bars until he could feel the buzz of power vibrating the air particles around him. 'Are you honestly telling me you've never felt even the tiniest bit of a connection to the others…never considered even for a moment that you could sense their thoughts?'

Her expression changed, as if she realised that she had felt a glimmer of something resembling a connection.

'I mean…if you get them here and they feed on Akalus, that leaves you free to carry out your threats to me. And I'm just waiting here, like an all you can eat buffet…'

He knew she would be able to smell his blood, so tantalisingly close yet out of reach, and it would drive her crazy. She lifted her chin, picking up his scent, almost salivating. It was creepy as all hell, but he could front this out. She was tempted, he could tell. But she couldn't get to him.

'If my sisters come, you and your friend will die,' she told him, seemingly confused by his taunting. 'You truly believe Akalus is so dangerous that you are willing to sacrifice yourselves to stop him?'

'You heard Mishta, right?' he asked, looking her straight in the eyes so she could see he felt no fear. 'Sometimes you've gotta look at the bigger picture. We need to end him, and if that's the price…' He shrugged, feigning casual indifference when really the thought of what she would do to him filled him with almost paralysing horror. 'So be it.'

They were so close, eye to eye, that only the bars split them apart. He could see every micro expression playing out on her pale features, watching in fascination as she finally settled on trust.

'I'll hold out until your sisters get here. Then it's all on you guys,' he told her.

They remained like that, mere inches apart, challenging…tense…until Oolanae eventually dipped her head, breaking the stand-off. 'We have an agreement,' she purred, walking away and taking a seat at the far side of her cell, putting distance between them.

He knew it had to be torture being this close to a human she wanted to chow down on, but she was practicing that restraint she'd been so keen on instilling in her sisters when they'd first met, back when they'd saved his life in their fortress.

This hadn't exactly been what he'd had in mind when he'd figured Oolanae might be useful to him, but he'd learned throughout his career to think on his feet and use what he had to hand. Right now, Oolanae's sisters, if they truly had resumed their old Wraith form, were the only beings who could possibly stop Akalus once and for all.

But they weren't here yet, which meant he might still have time to figure out how to save himself and Mishta before they could kill them both.

oooOOOooo

Rodney swept the door hanging aside and ducked into the shelter they'd built in their new hiding spot. His legs shook a little beneath him as he approached his huge friend, still restrained, but now with his wrists in front of him and his ankles bound tightly too.

Hearing him enter, Ronon lifted his head and fixed his eyes on him.

'Er, hey…Ronon. How're you feeling?' Rodney asked cheerfully, tentatively placing the tray on the floor and sliding it to within Ronon's reach.

Ronon averted his gaze down to the plate, reaching for the hot bread cake and biting into it gratefully. He'd refused food for the past thirty-six hours. So, this had to be a good sign.

'I'm good,' he grumbled around his mouthful of food. 'Embarrassed.'

'Embarrassed…? Oh, yes!' He mentally fumbled around for something comforting to say, coming up with the perfect response. 'Well, you're talking to the man who kissed Carson Beckett on the lips, so I think I have you beat in that regard.'

Ronon was silent a moment, then a twinkle of amusement lit his eyes, and he broke into a grin. 'I almost forgot that.'

'Trust me…I haven't.' Rodney said, with an involuntary shudder. 'Anyway, I assure you the details of your dalliance with an older female will never pass my lips.'

'They'd better not.'

'Cross my heart and…hope not to die, since you'd probably rip my spine out if they did.'

He ventured a little closer now and sat down, feeling more certain that the Ronon he knew and still feared at a deep, subconscious level had returned to them. 'So…you're not harbouring any secret desires to run back to the Mistress of the White Towers?'

Ronon just flashed him a death glare and continued to tuck into his meal.

'No? Good, good. I just have to check 'cos you did threaten to kill us all more than once in the past thirty-six hours if we didn't return you to her.'

Ronon paused his chewing and arched a questioning eyebrow.

Rodney gave him a tight, slightly crooked smile in confirmation.

'Sorry.' He continued to eat. 'So where is she now?'

'Well, let's see,' Rodney mused, pretending to give the matter serious thought. 'She will have woken around the same time you did…give or take an hour…so that's given her plenty of time to walk the seven miles back to the Japhalan citadel. I imagine she's luxuriating in a hot bath, soaking her aching feet, and moaning about insolent humans right about now.'

'You left her to walk back home?' Ronon frowned.

For a moment, Rodney's throat clamped tight. Was he going to need to bolt back out of range? 'Yes,' he nodded, chin jutted. 'Do you have a problem with that?'

Again, Ronon just stared back at him a while, then broke into another grin. 'No.'

Rodney realised Ronon was toying with him, feigning loyalty to the potentially sexagenarian aristocrat to get a reaction. 'Very funny. But could you stop doing that? I don't think my heart will take it.'

'So, where's Sheppard?' Ronon now asked. 'How come he hasn't been to see me?'

'Ah,' Rodney began awkwardly, knowing this response would bring a genuinely unpredictable response. 'You see. That's the problem,' he stammered. 'We…er…we don't know.'

Ronon instantly dropped the food he was holding. 'You don't know?'

At that moment Teyla entered. 'Rodney? Is everything all right?' she asked, he gaze fixed on Ronon, who now looked as angry as he had the past thirty-six hours again.

'Yes…he's back,' he told her, holding out his arms to gesture toward Ronon like a gameshow hostess displaying the prize. 'Ronon's back.'

'He says Sheppard's missing,' Ronon grunted.

Teyla took a deep breath, flashing a Why did you tell him that now? glare in Rodney's direction.

'What?' he protested. 'He asked. What was I supposed to do, lie?'

'Of course not,' she said with a tight smile, before approaching Ronon and kneeling before him. 'Much has happened in your absence, Ronon. The night you and John we taken, we believe Akalus attacked and possessed Mishta. She found out where you and John were being held prisoner and without telling us, removed John from the Japhalan palace. Now we do not know where they are.'

'So why are we just sitting here?' he demanded. 'Cut me loose and let's get out there.'

He'd stretched his arms out toward her, and Teyla now clasped his huge fists in her tiny hands. 'We are doing what we can. At this moment, Lansha and Juroah are tracking records for the whereabouts of the Stargate on this planet. Wherever it is, we are sure to find John and Mishta. They will be back to update us soon.'

'And I'm monitoring for any 'gate energy signatures,' Rodney added. 'There's nothing so far, but that's a good thing. That means Sheppard hasn't activated the system for him.'

'That's only a good thing if he hasn't asked him to yet,' Ronon rumbled.

That was something Rodney hadn't considered…or rather, hadn't wanted to consider. Worrying about what might be happening to Sheppard didn't help him to focus…and he needed to focus.

'Akalus has our friends held hostage, and we're talking to pen pushers? It's not enough!' Ronon insisted. 'Cut me free.'

Teyla now grasped his shoulders. 'I share your frustration, but we can do nothing that will alert Akalus to our attempts to find him and put John at risk. We must be careful.'

'And what about Mishta?' he asked, his voice far softer now. 'If we can't get Akalus out of her – '

'We will do everything we can to save them both,' she assured him.

They stared into each other's eyes, some unspoken oath being shared there. Rodney couldn't hope to understand their shared Pegasus lives, the things they had been through, growing up with the only true certainly that the Wraith would show up one day. It was a bond that had always connected them in a way that he couldn't get close to.

Teyla dipped her head, and Ronon leaned in, touching his forehead to hers. There it was. An accord had been struck. She then pulled a knife from her belt and began to cut Ronon free of his bonds, just as he had asked her to.

'Finish your meal and rest for now. Once we find out where Akalus is, we will need everyone to be at full strength.'

Ronon nodded, silently picking up his plate and continuing his meal. Teyla rose and left again patting Rodney's shoulder with a sad smile as she passed. He'd never seen Teyla look so resigned. If she were losing hope, how would the rest of them keep their spirits up?

A chink of light appeared through the door hanging and Mehra's head popped around it. 'Hey, Ronon, you old lothario. When you've finished there, Tamrak's brewing up some fresh tea. Juroah added his flask of moonshine he brought from the rebel camp. Says it'll give some kick to it.'

Rodney watched her disappear again, open-mouthed as he turned Ronon's way. Thankfully, after staring at the doorway a moment or two, Ronon just huffed out a laugh and shook his head, shovelling down the last scraps of his meal.

Rodney relaxed, considering trying some of the no doubt noxious brew himself. They had Ronon back at least. That was definitely a cause to celebrate.

A/N: I don't think Sheppard is in the partying mood though! One rescued, only Sheppard and Mishta to go. Thanks to everyone reading and sharing your thoughts.