AN: Here is the next chapter but now I'm going to be cruel and tell you there won't be an update till after Christmas. Christmas Eve and Christmas I'll be busy, but I was kind enough to leave you all on a massive cliffhanger, Merry Christmas!

Chapter Six

Approaching Trouble

"You know, we really need to quit meeting like this." Sheppard drawled. At some point he must have dozed off on the Jumper only to wake in Freezer World. The transition from one place to the other was seamless, but this time Frank was waiting.

Frank's arrogance leaked around Sheppard. It was clear that the Wraith believed their superiority entitled them to go around eating everyone else. Nothing he said would change that. "What do you believe you can accomplish by being on my ship?"

"Your ship?" Sheppard exclaimed, purposefully obtuse. "It's our ship now. Finder's keepers."

Frank sneered. "You will die."

Sheppard threw his hands up, "Can we stop with the die routine? I thought we were making real progress."

"You said you didn't cause the death of my people." Frank seemed to consider the implication. "Have you considered that what did may kill you as well?"

"The thought had crossed my mind." Sheppard admitted seeing no reason to lie. "Do you remember anything about what happened?"

Frank grinned slowly, "If I did, I wouldn't tell you."

Sheppard clasped his hands together. He couldn't think of one good reason why the Wraith should tell him. If positions were reversed he'd welcome the thought of his enemy getting killed. He had to find some kind of leverage. "Your buddies are on their way. They'll follow us to their death." For that matter, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing the distress signal had activated. If they could find a way out of this without being killed, whatever had destroyed these Wraiths might take out the ones on the way.

"The loss of a few is insignificant."

"You didn't seem to think your loss is insignificant. That's why you're still around, isn't it?" Sheppard was digging. He needed to keep Frank talking. Every moment more was an opportunity to find out additional information.

"If I die, so do you." Frank seemed inordinately pleased at the thought.

"Yeah, about that, I get the feeling you know what's going on with this." Sheppard indicated his neck. "If I'm going to die anyway, it won't hurt if you spill the beans. What was that thing?"

Frank moved closer to Sheppard, "It was a Seh-wraith. They kill the victim before releasing."

Sheppard was startled by Frank's concession. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Frank. It wasn't out of the goodness of his heart. Frank wanted to scare him. He figured there was more coming. He wasn't disappointed.

"It leaves a marker, a protein." Frank smiled cruelly. "This protein attacks the host body."

Sheppard's mind snapped into overdrive. Beckett hadn't detected any abnormalities. "It's been months, and it didn't kill me." He said.

Frank ignored his comment, "Do you wish to know its purpose?"

He did, but he was hesitant to admit it. He had the hunch that Frank was enjoying the upper hand in their encounter. His lack of reply served to egg the Wraith forward.

"You will become like us. Soon you will be a danger to your friends."

Sheppard's head jerked so fast he was afraid he suffered whiplash, "You're lying."

Frank laughed and it was decidedly unpleasant, "You're weak, hungry."

"I'll never be like you." Sheppard said, his voice finding an edge. "I'll kill myself before I let that happen."

"You won't have a choice."

"There are always choices." Sheppard said with a strong sense of déjà vu.

Frank didn't reply. Sheppard looked up for him only to find empty space. His time was up and he found a strange reluctance to return to his reality. The knowledge that Frank had imparted scared him more than he cared to admit. He felt the icy grip tighten and knew whether he wanted it or not, he was being sent back.

"Major?" Rodney called. "Wake up, we've got company."

Sheppard didn't want to wake up. He didn't want to face his team. He wanted to crawl off somewhere and come to terms with what he knew as truth. He had felt something wrong inside since before they had boarded the Hive ship. He didn't know if it was the proximity that had begun the change or maybe it was bad coincidence. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get a chance to find out.

"Major! We have incoming and if you don't wake up, you won't have another opportunity to do so." McKay's voice was louder, and insistent.

"I'm up." He replied. He opened his eyes. He was still on the Jumper. Everyone was there this time. "Incoming?"

"Jumper Two to the rescue." McKay expanded.

Sheppard's forehead wrinkled, "I thought you said…"

"I wanted you to get up. I knew that would do it."

"McKay, so help me…" Sheppard swore but wasn't able to finish. He was overcome by a bone-deep fatigue.

"That's what we're trying to do." McKay answered, standing up slowly, his knees aching from being crouched too long. At Sheppard's look of confusion he elaborated, "Help you. We're trying to help you."

Sheppard took a deep breath. "Right." His mind processed what McKay had said. "Tell me Beckett is with Jumper Two?"

He saw relieved looks on his team. A huge weight seemed to lift from shoulders. Beckett could help him. Not long after he had begun to feel optimistic, his hopes were dashed as a thought occurred to him. "You said nothing could come in or out?"

McKay reddened, "Actually I was wrong."

"You? Wrong?" Sheppard mocked.

"Very funny." McKay said flatly. "Apparently things can come in, they can't go out."

"What kind of automated defense is that?" Ford exclaimed.

"The kind meant to trap intruders Lieutenant. Remember, potential food source. The Wraith aren't exactly afraid of their position on the food chain." Sheppard reminded him.

"Should they enter if we have yet to find a way out?" Teyla asked. She was concerned for Major Sheppard but they knew it would set up the other team for disaster if they were unable to find a way off the ship.

John frowned. Teyla had a point. Was his life worth putting the others at risk, especially Beckett? As the head doctor of the Atlantis expedition, he was invaluable, probably the most valuable member of the entire city. "No, they shouldn't.

"A wee late on that decision Major." The Scotsman's brogue interrupted their discussion.

John was surprised to see Beckett, accompanied by Doctor Zelenka, and Sergeant's Stackhouse and Markham, standing at the rear hatch of the Jumper. Damn.

"We're here to rescue you." Markham said.

"You're a little short for a Storm trooper." McKay cracked. "Oh come on, you know you all were thinking it." He snapped at the groans emitted from the group, Teyla being the only member appearing confused by the exchange.

"Star Wars." Sheppard said in explanation.

"Your culture seems obsessed by this Star Wars."

John smiled, "You have no idea."

"I hear you've been having some problems Major?" Beckett staved off further conversation, bringing his medical bag and kneeling beside Sheppard's prone form.

"You could say that."

Beckett pulled on a pair of latex-free gloves, and pressed his fingers softly against the inflamed tissue. "Does it hurt?" He asked Sheppard.

John shook his head. "McKay, take the others and see about getting the engines off. See if there are any Wraith approaching."

McKay seemed to pause, as if he were going to argue to stay, but thought better of it. "We'll keep in touch."

Sheppard nodded, watching Ford, Stackhouse, Markham and Zelenka follow McKay out the hatch. He strained to see Teyla sitting immobile behind him.

She lifted an eyebrow, "I will stay."

Sheppard knew he would have as much luck getting her to leave as he would getting Beckett so he decided to let it go, besides Frank was out there and alive even if he was incapable of attacking them…for now.

"All right Major, what's going on that you wouldn't say in front of everyone?" Carson asked, checking Sheppard's vitals while he talked.

Sheppard grimaced. "This is going to sound weird." He warned.

"Major, everything about this Galaxy is weird. Spill it."

"That bug left a protein. It's changing me into a Wraith."

Carson snapped his jaw shut when he realized it had dropped open in disbelief. "Really." He finally managed to reply. "And who told you that?"

"Frank."

Carson thought he had missed something. "Frank?"

"The Wraith ghost I talk to."

"I see." Beckett looked over Sheppard's head towards Teyla and mouthed, "Head injury?"

Teyla seemed as flummoxed by the Major's revelation as Beckett. She shook her head negatively. "Major, you didn't mention this before?"

John could see the look on Carson's face. "I'm not crazy." He said tiredly. "McKay knows what I'm talking about, Teyla you weren't here last time. When I have an episode I'm in this place, very cold place, and there's this Wraith, only he's not there in the corporeal sense of there, and he's been telling me more and more each trip. He told me the name of the bug and what it's doing."

"I see."

Sheppard figured he was lucky padded rooms didn't fit in Beckett's med bag. "Trust me."

Beckett studied John's tired figure. "Bloody hell." He swore. He was half tempted to give the Major a sedative and bundle him up, keeping him out till they managed to return to Atlantis…but if he was right, "Tell me what to do son." He said, making his decision.

Doctor Zelenka was examining the display that McKay had said might be the ships sensors. Everything he could figure out seemed to confirm McKay's suspicions. He had managed to pinpoint what he thought were internal sensors and external. He looked away, his eyes drawn involuntarily towards the pile of corpses against the far wall. He couldn't stop feeling as if all those eyes were watching him. He forced himself to look away, concentrating on the panel. Something was different. He cursed in his native language.

"Rodney!"

McKay turned away from the conversation he was having with Ford, "What?" He snapped.

"I think you should see this." Zelenka said, indicating the panel.

McKay strode over to Zelenka's side, and followed the path his finger was pointing. "Oh no."

"What is it?" Ford asked from behind him, causing Rodney to jump.

"The Wraith. They've found us."

The group stood staring at a display showing four approaching ships, converging on their location. No one spoke and no one moved. They were in trouble, very bad trouble.