AN: Moving right along, here's the third chapter and things are starting to get bad for our guys. I hope you all enjoy and don't forget to take the time to let me know what you think!

Chapter Three

Immovable Objects

"If I'm right, behind this door is the command center." McKay indicated the closed wall blocking their path. They had walked steadily to this point, encountering no more bizarre occurrences with the Major or anything else. The ship was deathly quiet; the only audible sounds were the inhaling and exhaling of the Atlantis team.

"Is it safe?" Ford asked, staring at the doors with trepidation.

"We're on a Hive ship Lieutenant. I doubt there is any part of this that I'd call safe." McKay said examining the area of the wall where they had previously figured out was the conduit for the electrical components that controlled the mechanisms for opening and closing.

Teyla smiled briefly at McKay's comments. "Can you open it?" She asked.

McKay flashed a triumphant smile, and pressed against the surface of the wall, his hand sinking inward as if he were pushing into gelatin. The door slid open to reveal a pitch-black expanse. He turned towards Teyla, "There's an easy way for everything."

"I see."

Sheppard wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. He was filled with a strong reluctance, his mind knowing they had to progress forward but something deep down telling him there was something very bad waiting inside. He took a deep breath, thankful for the dim lighting from their P-90's. It wouldn't help the situation if the rest of the team saw his anxiety. "Lieutenant, after you." He ordered, striving for a steady tone.

Ford blanched, "Me?"

"You're the lead Lieutenant, let's go." Sheppard replied, leveling his weapon and taking a moment to glance at the life-signs detector in McKay's hand. It still registered the four of them and nothing else.

"Yes Sir. Here goes nothing." Ford muttered to himself.

The beams of light shot into the room like pinpointed lasers; illuminating tracks of dust motes in a singular trajectory, and casting weak shadows farther out. They had gone only a few feet before Ford stopped dead in his tracks. "Shit!" He cried, and fumbled back into Teyla.

The level of tension skyrocketed, muscles tensed and trigger fingers tightened. "Ford?" Sheppard's back was straight as an arrow, eyes narrowed and focused.

"Wraith, everywhere." Ford had recovered from his initial shock and was leaning forward to see the figures better.

Sheppard looked at McKay. "Nothing." McKay answered, referring to any more blips on the screen in his hand.

"Then they are dead." Teyla surmised, creeping closer to Ford and peering at the gruesome sight.

"I think that would be a fair assumption." McKay confirmed, scooting closer to Sheppard as John approached another wraith corpse to the right of Ford and Teyla.

Sheppard eyed the body warily. The wraith looked more gruesome in death than in life. It's mouth was warped into an agonized grimace, hands upward, and claw like, as if warding off some attack. An involuntary shiver raced across his back. This wraith had been afraid. He knelt beside it, drawn by some force. He couldn't seem to drag his eyes off the visual terror.

He heard voices behind him, murmurs that he couldn't understand, and felt overcome by tunnel vision. He felt himself falling to his side but couldn't stop it. His eyes closed and he no longer knew anything.

McKay saw Sheppard kneel next to the wraith. He fingered the detector uneasily. Getting close to the thing even if it was dead seemed unwise. "Major, you probably shouldn't…" He didn't finish his sentence because Sheppard was staring into the blackness ahead. He wasn't moving or blinking. "Major?" Rodney tried again and received no reaction.

Teyla and Ford heard McKay and looked away from the body in front of them. They saw Rodney move forward and Sheppard fall to his side. Ford rushed to Sheppard, "Major!"

"What the hell is going on?" McKay snarled.

It was cold, bitterly cold. He clasped his hands and arms close trying to conserve body heat. Where was he? It was dark, darker than before. He could make out shadows. He heard noises around him, and he whirled in circles trying to prevent any unseen attack. The terror inside was growing to overwhelming proportions. "Who's there?" He shouted angrily, knowing the best defense was a strong offense.

"How did you do this?"

The voice was disembodied, coming at him from his left or right, he couldn't tell. "Do what?"

"You murdered our entire ship." The voice was stronger now, a soft vengeance coming nearer and Sheppard was afraid.

"You're wraith." John accused.

No reply but Sheppard could make out something coming towards him. He wanted to run but didn't know where to go. He didn't even know where here was. He stood firm and waited.

A face took form slowly, features sharpening into a very pissed off wraith. "You shall die." It said.

"If you're dead, you can't kill me." Sheppard was starting to put some pieces of the puzzle together.

The wraith screamed in frustration and rushed at John. He couldn't help the surge in fear that coursed through his body, but he didn't move. The wraith passed through him and he couldn't hold back the scream of pain as that icy hot feeling again seared his nerves, and he felt himself falling.

"Major Sheppard!" McKay called. The man had lain inert for over five minutes. The ammonia cartridge had failed to work. He rocked back onto his heels, looking towards Ford, "We need to get him back to Atlantis."

"I agree." Teyla said.

Before Ford could reply, a soft moan brought their faces down to the Major's location. Sheppard brought a hand up towards his face, pushing against his forehead and wincing as if he were in pain.

"I'm getting tired of this." He said softly, cracking his eyes open.

"You're not the only one." McKay grouched, relief flowing thick through him.

Teyla stared at him intently, "Was it another wraith ghost?" She asked.

Sheppard nodded and reached out for a hand up. Ford and Teyla tugged him to his feet. "Yes, it was."

Ford picked his weapon off the floor where he had dropped it, and handed it back to the Major. "We should go back, something's going on with you, and I don't think we should stay to see what happens next."

Sheppard ached and was relieved to have Ford be the one to suggest they hightail it out of here. "I couldn't agree more…" He was cut-off by the sudden powering up of the lights. "McKay?" He turned looking for the physicist, and located him a few paces to the left, standing in front of a console with a smug expression.

"I found the lights."

That's when they all got a good look at the room. There were wraith corpses literally everywhere, all in the same horrific position as the next. "I think whatever happened here might not be worth sticking around to find out." McKay suggested, his voice slightly awestruck.

"I think you're right." Sheppard agreed. This was bad, even if it was the wraith. The level of death was fantastic. "It looks like they all died at the same time."

Ford stepped gingerly through the fallen bodies finding a path to McKay, "Can you download the data banks?"

McKay nodded, "Yeah…I can."

"We need to get the Major back, how long will this take?" Teyla asked. She hadn't forgotten Sheppard's spells and wasn't eager to delay any longer.

McKay looked sheepish, he had forgotten for just a moment that Sheppard wasn't in any shape to hang around. "Not long." He looked at Sheppard, "We're all ready here."

Sheppard wasn't going to let his weakness ruin this shot at gaining valuable information. "I don't know what's going on…there's something…but I'm not dead or dying and I'm not going to walk away from what this means in saving our people Teyla. I'll be fine. McKay, do it."

McKay got to work, pulling his laptop from his pack. Sheppard found it hard to fight the fatigue that seemed to settle on him like a blanket. He tried for nonchalance as he found a spot on the ground. It was a macabre position to be in but he wasn't up for playing graveyard keeper and moving bodies around just to have a clear line of sight on the ground.

Teyla didn't miss his actions. She came over and dropped her pack beside him. "What happens when you pass out?"

A brief smile flittered across his face. "I see a very angry wraith."

"And it goes through you?"

"You could say that."

Teyla frowned, "Does it say anything?"

"It did this time. It said I killed it." Sheppard fingered a loose thread on his pant leg. "I figured out that it can't kill me."

"But it hurts you?" She prompted.

"Something hurts." Sheppard met Teyla's eyes with his, "It's like I'm in another place…another dimension. I'm alone and it's there, and it's mad as hell."

"How is this possible?" Teyla was afraid for the Major.

Sheppard shrugged. He didn't know. "I'm not sure. There's some kind of shift, and I'm there."

Ford had been listening without trying to overtly eavesdrop, "Do you think it's related to what happened on this ship?"

"Maybe…possibly…hell, I don't know." Sheppard replied tiredly.

"If it is caused by this ship, it will stop once we leave." Teyla asserted.

A sudden drop of the lights stopped further conversation, the ship shuddered, and the lights came back on. All eyes turned to McKay who had a very worried look on his face.

"McKay?" Sheppard said, his voice low and the unspoken what have you done clear in his tone.

"Oh no."

Sheppard clambered to his feet, "Oh no what?"

"I think I accidentally activated the auto-defense systems."

Ford's face registered shock, "You think?"

"No, actually I did." McKay answered, typing in commands hoping to shut down the process he had inadvertently begun.

"What auto-defense systems did you accidentally activate?" Sheppard asked keeping his voice calm, and hoping he wouldn't get the answer that he was about to get.

"Automated distress call." Rodney answered. "And that's not the worst of it."

"Then what is?" Ford asked, exasperated. What could be worse than a 'come and eat me' signal being broadcast to the nearby wraith?

"It put the ship into a lock down. I can't access any of its systems."

"Great." Sheppard figured enough was enough. "There's no reason to stick around. Let's get the hell out of here before their buddies show up looking for answers."

"That's another problem." Rodney said, a level of discomfort plain for everyone to see.

Sheppard rolled his eyes; "I'll probably regret this, but what now?"

"The landing bay is also locked down. Nothing goes in or out of the ship."

"Crap." Sheppard swore. They were locked in a Hive ship, and a signal was being broadcast for the neighboring friends to come join the party. "This is bad."

"Yeah." McKay agreed. They were in trouble.