Chapter Seven
Ford stood near the entrance to the cell. He felt so alone and useless. He hadn't been able to help Teyla and now she was with the Wraith, for all he knew she was being fed on. He walked towards the web-like cage and leaned against it, looking out into the hallway, willing Teyla to appear there.
The hallway remained still, empty.
He sighed and let go to the web, moving back to the wall and sitting down feeling helpless. For a moment he wished he was still on Earth, still with his grandparents. He remembered how he'd sit down every night and watch TV with his grandma. JAG, CSI, Without a Trace, X-Files – anything really. He missed that.
He missed sitting down and watching the football on the weekend. Hell he even missed his housework. Anything was better than this.
He looked up as he heard noise. Two Wraith were escorting Teyla back towards their cell. Hejumped up and walked over to the web. It opened and the Wraith forced Teyla back inside before walking off again. He looked at her, noticing the left shoulder of her jacket had been ripped, blood was evident on the skin below.
"Are you OK?" he asked, looking at her eyes.
"I am fine," she replied, looking away for a moment, then returning her eyes to his. "We are at the Wraith home planet…"
"Home planet?" Ford asked. "You never told us they had a home planet."
"I do not know anymore of it, no one has been there and returned…" Teyla said, fear in her eyes.
"And we're there now?" Ford asked.
"We are above it," Teyla replied.
Ford closed his eyes. They were in big trouble…
Elizabeth sat silently in the seat behind McKay. Her mind drifted to the dream she'd had. It had been real, hadn't it? Shestared ahead at the expanse of ocean, her thoughts focusing on what he'd said.
"I'm going to do something, and I don't know what's going to happen to me…but its against the rules, just being here is against the rules, so the reaction of the others can't be good…"
What did that mean?
She remembered reading a report back at the SGC about Dr Daniel Jackson. He'd ascended and broken the rules, resulting in him being thrown by the Ancients back to the human plane of existence, naked and with no memory on a distant planet.
It had been sheer luck that SG-1 had found him.
What if that was what happened to John? What if he ended up alone with no memories on a distant planet?
At least he would be alive…
She felt slightly relieved at knowing he was alive to some end, and that they were on their way to rescue Ford and Teyla, there was just the small detail of regaining control of Atlantis and getting the address of the planet from the Athosians.
Atlantis came into site. The Daedalus hung in the air above it, fighters, obviously Earth-made, were fighting the Wraith darts.
"Carson, cloak," she said, suddenly realising they were uncloaked.
He did so and the got slowly closer to the city.
"We need to get into the control room and deactivate the self-destruct," she said, then she glanced quickly at her watch. "Within ten minutes…"
"Are you insane?" Rodney asked, turning around to look at her.
Yes, she thought to herself.
She opted to refrain from response to Rodney. He looked at her for a few moments, curiosity in his face. She herself became curious as to what he was thinking.
"What?" she asked after a few moments.
"You were talking to him, weren't you?" Rodney said.
Elizabeth froze. How the hell could he possibly know that? She'd refrained from telling them what was going on in her mind, what she'd written down and why she needed to contact the Athosians.
"What makes you think that?" she asked, sensing the uncertainty in her own voice.
He seemed to think about it from a moment. "Well you had to get that information from somewhere…"
She knew he was avoiding something. Her consideration of whether or not to continue it further was interrupted by Rodney making her decision for her.
"You might talk in your sleep," he admitted.
"And what did I say?" Elizabeth asked, a sudden knot tied in her stomach.
How much did Rodney know?
"You said his name and a couple of other things," he said, glancing at Carson.
"Rodney…what did I say?" she asked again, not quite sure she wanted to know.
Carson and Rodney exchanged another look.
With a sinking feeling she figured out what she'd said out loud. She shifted her eyes to look at the battle occurring before them. There were more important things at hand that what she'd said in her sleep, she could deal with that information later.
Rodney seemed to sense this in her and also turned back around to look at the battle. Carson slowed the jumper as to avoid any accidents. The battle was higher up than they were, therefore it was unlikely they would be hit by any stray blasts, but it was still a possibility.
"Watch out!" Rodney shouted, pointing directly upwards.
Both Elizabeth and Carson looked up to see a Wraith dart spiralling down towards them, a stream of smoke coming from the back.
"Move!" Elizabeth shouted just as Carson sped the jumper forward fast enough to avoid the spiralling dart.
They missed it by inches.
Elizabeth closed her eyes for a second, relieved. When she opened them Carson was slowly lowering the puddle jumper into the jumper bay. She looked up at the Wraith darts, not entirely sure they wouldn't be noticed.
Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder at the remaining nuclear bomb, wondering whether or not they should removed it.
She figured it was better left there, just in case they needed it later.
Dr Radek Zelenka sat on the floor of the gate room. He'd been grabbed by a Wraith halfway between the jumper bay and dragged to the gate room and sat down with the rest of the Atlantis crew who were still around.
He watched as the two Wraith guarding them paced around the small group. He was sure there were more people there, and he hoped that Dr Weir, Dr McKay and Dr Beckett were still out there, finding a way to help them.
There were Wraith everywhere in the control room, pulling apart all their equipment. Radek knew it would take hours for them to fix it all again. An unmasked Wraith made its way down the stairs towards the group and stopped in front of Radek.
"This one," he said, leaning forward and grabbing Radek, pulling him to his feet. "I need your help…"
Radek swallowed, he wasn't sure he could stand up to a Wraith if it asked him to do something. The Wraith pushed him towards the staircase, Radek tripped slightly but managed to regain his footing before making an idiot of himself.
He looked towards the Stargate, willing the SGC to send someone through to help them.
As he reached the top of the stairs he saw a Wraith standing, holding the device which would allow them to return to Earth.
"Is this what we require?" the Wraith hissed from behind.
Radek swallowed, trying to remain silent.
The Wraith behind him put his arm around him, turning him around and grabbing his throat.
"Is that the device we require to get to Earth?" the Wraith asked.
Radek opened his mouth to reply…