Chapter II: The Damsel in Distress.
Ford, Bates, and Sheppard met in the control room. Sheppard began, "We'll check her quarters and workplace again, then we'll leave. She might have left some clues that might indicate where exactly she was going to be. That will give us a smaller area to search."
Sheppard turned around and looked at Peter Grodin. "Is there any way to get that whole area on the sensors?"
Peter punched a few buttons on the console in front of him, then replied, "The area where the camera was found was heavily damaged by the storm. There is no way I will have those sensors running today."
Sheppard nodded. "We'll stay in radio contact, and hopefully we'll be back for dinner." Sheppard turned around and looked at Bates and Ford. "Let's move out."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Stella's quarters fairly standard-issue: a small bed in the corner, a desk and a chair. On her walls she had two posters: one of the movie Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and a smaller one of the painting The Morrighan by Amy Brown.
Her desk was filled with camera tapes and papers, the chair was full of clothes and the bed was made. The trio looked around but found nothing, then Ford picked up an open notebook and started reading. He paused for a moment, then said "Whoa, she writes as if she hated being here."
Now Sheppard moved to the exit and replied, "That woman is a walking contradiction. Let's go."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Stella had found refuge for the last hour inside of what it looked like a storage cabinet. She was very uncomfortable, but she knew that the damned wraith was around and she couldn't afford to get caught; again.
Just before walking in this room, Stella had seen a trash chute at the far end of the room. If someone didn't come soon and the Wraith appeared again, she would consider going through it. But first she had to make sure the Wraith was not near.
She opened the cabinet door and looked outside. Everything was in calm. There were no sudden moves or illusions. He might not be around…maybe…She closed the door and considered her situation, now a splitting headache was forming. Could be from either or both of two things: injuries from the fall from the balcony, or the fact that she hadn't eaten anything in a while.
She really wished she could have a life signs detector right now. Stella felt tired, and hadn't heard from the Wraith in a while, so she opened the door again and crawled out of the cabinet. Once outside she stood up and stretched, then she opened her backpack and took out the last bit of water she had left.
She took a small sip of the precious liquid and looked around the room. The moment she had walked in here, she hadn't noticed that the place looked like some sort of recreation room. She made a mental note to return here with a camera when the area was declared Wraith-free.
Right now she had two choices: she could walk out the door and be attacked, or stay in the room and wait for the Wraith to discover her. Stella decided to take her chances; she grabbed the backpack and slowly walked out of the room. If the Wraith was going to kill her, it would be better to fight than wait for death.
Once out of the room, she noticed that everything was clear so far. Right now she was one or two levels down from where she had lost her camera, which placed her at approximately sea level.
Stella was moving slowly, careful not to make a sound. She saw the door to the transporter at the end of the hallway. She decided to try it again; maybe this time it would work.
She heard a sound, and felt her hairs standing up and her senses on high alert. Then, as she got closer to the transporter, she saw something: a Wraith illusion. He knows where I am. Stella decided to walk faster; she saw the Wraith's illusion again and stopped. She decided against her will to turn around; a few feet behind her the Wraith was smirking at her. Damn it!
Stella turned around and started running, but instead of going into the transport, she followed a hallway to the right. Then it was like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, she saw some stairs she hadn't seen before she had slowed her pace. Just beside it, a door to her left. But before she ran to it, something hit her on the back and she landed a couple of feet away on the floor. For a moment she felt confused. She turned and lay on her back. The Wraith was smiling and getting dangerously close.
Before she could react, she had the clammy hands of the Wraith were wrapped tightly around her neck. Her hands were free and were frantically searching for something that could help her get rid of the creature. "You are a feisty one, very uncommon in this galaxy." He was enjoying this and she knew it. Her hand found exactly what she was looking for: a very sharp piece of glass.
She took it and slammed it to the Wraith's face, right in his left eye. Confused for a moment the Wraith lost his grip on Stella and she took advantage of it. She stole a glance at the creature, he had the glass still in his eye and his face was covered with blood. Her body shivered. She had stabbed him in the eye, how disgusting was that?
She staggered for a moment, and then ran toward the stairs. Stella had climbed half of the steps when she felt something at her feet. Something had grabbed her and pulled her down. In an instant she lost her balance and fell face first to the steps. She knew it was the Wraith making another attempt at sucking her life out. All she knew was that she kicked and screamed, but then at some point her head hit one of the steps. All she could feel was the sensation of being dragged by her feet by a very angry Wraith.
He stopped once he was away from the stairs and kneeled beside her. In her mind everything was racing, where is help when you need it? Her sight was unfocused but she knew the look the Wraith was giving her.
Then there was a loud sound, and the Wraith disappeared from sight. Stella saw figures moving around her as everything went black.
-0-0-0-0-
The world was a swirl while every sense came back to normal. Stella heard voices around her and slowly opened her eyes. She had her back against a wall, and Stella noticed that they were still in the hallway. What are they waiting for? Sheppard and Bates were speaking in hushed tones, "It'll be better to take her back and then return with a full team."
Stella just had to interrupt, "I think he disabled the transport, they come in but don't go out." The three soldiers were startled when she spoke.
Sheppard looked confused. "We can use the one we used to get here, it didn't look damaged to me."
Stella felt her head swirl again, "We can go and try but I think it's pretty sure that he damaged it." The swirl was at it again, She felt nauseous. Lt. Ford kneeled by her side and offered her some water, and she took it gladly. She saw that Sheppard and Bates were talking again, Stella returned the canteen to Ford and glared at him. "How long have I been out?"
"About ten minutes."
Then another question plagued her mind. "How did you know where to look for me?"
Ford took the canteen and replied, "Sgt. Bates's team found your camera."
Absently Stella repeated, "My camera." Then it dawned on her, Oh shit! "My camera? And…did anyone see the tape?"
Ford recalled her rants on the tape and a small smile shot across his face. "Everyone saw the tape."
Oh…God I'm dead! Ford had to bite his lip in the fight to control a wave of laughter when he saw Stella's expression. Her face had changed to be half amused, half worried. But she was also trying to repress a laugh.
Stella stole a glance at Sheppard, who was now talking on his radio, and then she looked back at Ford. "Was he angry?"
It was Sgt. Bates the one who answered, "Fuming."
He now knelt beside Stella and gave her a smile; she smiled in return. "Hi Colin… less chance for me to step into a Puddle Jumper?"
Bates, who was searching through his vest, took out a bandage and replied, "Possibly in a million years." Bates opened the gauze and pressed it against the base of her neck, where Stella hadn't noticed she was hurt until he touched it. "Damn it!"
Ford was looking at them with interest, "I'm sorry, I know is not my business, but I really need to ask. What did you do to him to make him hate you so much?"
Bates and Stella shot glances at each other. Ford stared in disbelief. "You knew? You knew and you didn't told me?"
Bates got defensive. "Hey! I'm sworn to secrecy. I don't tell."
Stella smiled at Bates and then looked at Ford, "It's just because I…"
Sheppard who closed in on them and cut her off Stella. "I just informed Dr. Weir, Dr. Beckett will be waiting for you. Let's move out."
Yes sir! Stella wondered if the man was made of stone as Bates and Ford helped her stand up. Once on her feet, she discovered that her back was aching like hell, and her head hurt. But other than that walking could be done. She looked at Bates, "How do I look? Do I look like hell?"
Bates was now checking if his gun was ready when she asked the question, he looked at her and said with a crooked grin, "You look like crap." And then he moved towards the Major.
Stella smiled at Bates and said sarcastically, "Why thank you my dear Sergeant."
Then they started walking up the stairs, Ford keeping to her side as Sheppard and Bates were covering front and back.
