Title: Atlantis
Author: Tonia Barone
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Defiant One, Prodigy (SG1 S4)
Disclaimer: Believe me, if they were mine there would'a been a lot more angst this episode. Also a lot more nookie.
Notes: Thanks to jakisbishlygay for the beta, though I may regret that soon. You all are gonna hate me for this ending, I'll tell you now. Never fear, the coming Interlude is already half written. Please don't lynch me yet. hides behind Radek again
Summary: Battles long fought always produce bittersweet victories.
Her Favorite arrives at the puddle jumper at last and crouches behind a rock formation some meters away. His mind is still mostly closed to her, so she cannot give him the full report she wishes. She is moderately pleased when he contacts her Protector; at least he is not so foolhardy as to attempt this alone. She is also amused by the possessiveness her Favorite shows towards the puddle jumper, even if her Protector isn't.
Something her Protector says sparks a memory, a very worrisome one at that. She nudges her Favorite and is relieved when he notices the remains of the previous night's frost in the shadows of the rock formation. A reason this planet was never colonized was the freezing temperatures the surface reached at night. While it is true any building her former Children constructed could withstand the temperatures, they had been very fond of open air. That was part of the reason she, herself, had such vast open areas and large windows.
Her Children are lucky that they arrived on the planet just after sun rise and that the days are quite long. They were six hours overdue and the Second was still a little over six hours away. Night on this planet would fall in roughly nine hours; not much time to spare. She urged the Second to hurry and was gratified when he asked the pilot to increase their speed.
Her Protector points out that a rescue would not likely arrive until after nightfall, which prompts her Favorite to come up with a bold plan. That is, if by bold you mean stupid, dangerous and foolhardy. With plans such as these, it is little wonder that her Protector has yet to realize that her Favorite is also a thinker—what thinker would conceive such a ploy as the one her Favorite is now implementing?
Her Protector tries his best to talk her Favorite out of it, but her Favorite can be very single-minded when it comes to the safety of his charges; especially if his love is amongst them. After asking a report on the dying thinker's progress, her Favorite signs off and begins to parlay with the Wraith within the puddle jumper. Her Favorite informs the Wraith that the war was lost for his kind and that he is the sole survivor. So convincing is her Favorite's bluff that the Wraith begins to believe it. He sets up a meeting near the Wraith cruiser; a ruse of course.
Just as the Wraith leaves the safety of the puddle jumper her Favorite attacks. Personally, she believes he should have waited, but as he is still closed to her she could not tell him this. The Wraith goes down, but it is not dead. Indeed, even as her Favorite approaches it, the Wraith is reaching for one of her Children's smaller primitive weapons. She tries to warn him, but he is so sure of his victory. Foolish, foolish boy!
Her Favorite pays for his impetuousness when the Wraith manages to hit him in the arm with the weapon he held. Her Favorite retreats to 'lick his wounds' as her Children would say. All was not in vain, however: the Wraith is weakened; she can feel it in the way his hands shake as he works on the control crystals. It takes her a few moments to realize what the Wraith is trying to do.
Her Favorite and the Engineer had discovered much when it came to the puddle jumpers. They were self-contained and their systems were both less complex and less in quantity. There were a few things, however, that they had yet to discover; the shield the Wraith had just calibrated was one of them. Well, this is certainly not good.
Checking with her Protector and the thinker reveals that the thinker is slowly regaining control over his extremities. Her Protector is so stressed now, so worried, but he is trying to maintain a light demeanor. Though he fails, the effort, at least, is appreciated. Her Favorite interrupts her Protector's dubious care over the thinker with a report of the skirmish. She reassures him even as her Favorite confirms that he is not seriously injured.
When her Favorite comments on how the Wraith seemed different from the others he's fought, stronger and possessing an amazing healing rate, she relays to him via her Protector the 'theory' that the Wraith's ability to heal, at the very least, is proportional to how recently they have fed. Her former Children were aware of this fact, but her newer Children were only just now speculating on it. She helps where she is able, but the Healer is still not as open to her as she would like
Her Favorite 'advises' that her Protector give the dying thinker one of their hand-held projectile weapons on the chance that he doesn't return. Both she and her Protector have misgivings about this course of action, but her Favorite cannot be swayed; he cares much for his thinkers and their safety. Her Favorite ends the discussion, trusting her Protector to do as he was asked.
Her Favorite studies one of the Wraith explosive devices he took from the cannibalized Wraith as he was leaving.
She admits a lack of knowledge when it comes to them; her former Children had never salvaged one intact. Even still, she tries to warn him against separating then twisting the two halves and putting them back together. Her worries are confirmed when the device lets out a high pitched hum, followed by blinking lights on the sides; great, he's armed it. Her Favorite is quite smart, however, and soon realizes the same. He quickly throws it and just barely manages to duck before it explodes.
Her Protector, hearing the blast from the explosive device, contacts her Favorite to assure that he is still there. Her Favorite placates him, then orders her Protector to remain off the radio; he is 'busy' and does not wish to be disturbed. When her Protector goes to argue, she quickly stops him; her Favorite is doing battle with the Wraith, she tells him, and he does not need the distraction. Her Protector reluctantly complies.
Her Favorite used the lull in battle to eat a 'power bar', as her Children call them, while trying to devise another plan of attack. He'd only managed a few bites, however, when a fairy flew up looking for food. Kind-hearted as her Favorite was, he broke off a small bit and set it aside for the fairy. The fairy ate then flew off only to return a minute later with a dozen more of its kind.
This worried her Favorite greatly, for while one fairy was hardly noticeable, a dozen or more would draw the attention of the Wraith. In desperation, her Favorite tore a large piece off the power bar and threw it away from him; the fairies immediately flew after it. Appetite gone, her Child put the rest way and went back to observing the Wraith. A few minutes later he had an idea, which she was only half-sure of.
Her Favorite ran around the dunes surrounding the puddle jumper until he was across from his previous position. He activated a smoke-flare and ran back around to the rock formation he had been hiding behind. As the Wraith was in the puddle jumper and unable to immediately see the flare, her Favorite fired a few shots in the flare's general direction. The Wraith peered out the front windshield and upon seeing the red smoke left the puddle jumper.
Atlantis would have sighed if she could. Her Favorite had done well in luring the Wraith from the puddle jumper, but before walking off the Wraith had activated the shield. Her Favorite was so sure of his victory. He was still closed to her, but she tried to reach him all the way until he hit the shield. As the shield conforms to the shape of the ship, he hit the upper portion first then fell into a slide as he hit the lower portion. He was quick to rise and return to cover, but he was a little shaky; the shield 'packed quite a punch' as her Children would say.
After a moments pause to catch his breath, her Favorite wasted no time planting the second Wraith explosive device in the ground then placing a radio over it. He had just enough time to return to the rock formation before the Wraith returned.
The Wraith didn't lower the shield, but it did follow the sound of her Favorite's voice to the device. Tired of her Favorite's taunts and not seeming to remember that her Favorite had heard him quite clearly not long before, the Wraith lifted the radio from the device. He had just a second to realize what was about to happen before the device exploded.
Her Favorite, though cautious, was prepared to celebrate his hard-won victory. His joy was thwarted by the rise of the Wraith. Cursing his luck, the Wraith and life in general, he retreated once more.
Her Protector fretted when he heard the second explosion. The dying thinker tried to persuade her Protector to go aid her Favorite, but her Protector was nothing if not loyal; he would not leave the other thinker on his own.
The thinker persisted, however, and after several minutes he had almost convinced her Protector to abandon him. She also was torn between him leaving or staying. On the one hand, she was so proud of her Protector for remaining with the thinker. But on the other hand, her Favorite would not last much longer against the Wraith. It has been toying with him and now grew weary of the game.
When the shot rang, she was as unaware of its coming as her Protector. Even though he knew what he would find, her Protector turned to face the thinker. It was a gruesome sight, yet her Protector committed it to memory, just as he had done with the other thinker this Wraith had fed upon.
The thinker's sacrifice was not in vain: her Protector knew instantly why his comrade had done such a thing; besides the obvious that is. After taking another moment to say a small prayer for the thinker, her Protector races towards the puddle jumper where her Favorite was fighting a losing battle against the Wraith.
---
Her Favorite hit the ground hard and she felt his pain as her own. Three broken ribs, two more fractured ribs, the graze on his left arm and a concussion; her Favorite was not in good shape. Her Protector was on his way, thankfully, but whether he would arrive in time or not was still in question.
The Wraith was advancing on her Favorite, taunting her Child with the knowledge that he will be dismembered so that the Wraith will be able to use her Favorite's hands to pilot the puddle jumper. Not that this plan will work--there is a mental component to the interface that requires what her Children call the ATA gene; just using his hands will not work. Unfortunately, the Wraith was unaware of this.
The Wraith had evidently acquired another weapon before leaving the puddle jumper because he was now firing on her Favorite. Her Favorite returned fire as best he could, but he was running low on ammunition.
---
Above the planet the Second, the Warrior and the two guards reached orbit. She urged the Second to open communications as soon as possible. A few minutes later, he finally got through.
---
Planet-side, her Favorite, desperate as all his ammunition was exhausted, charged the Wraith with nothing but a combat knife. He managed to stab it clear through the Wraith's feeding hand before the Wraith batted him away. The Wraith pulled the knife from his hand and slowly stalked her Favorite. He sensed that her Favorite was in no longer in any shape to attack.
As the Wraith closed in for the final blow her Protector arrived. Relief flooded over her as she watched in disbelief as her Protector emptied his weapon into the Wraith then asked her Favorite what to do next. Did the man not pay attention in the weapons training course her Favorite required of all off-world personnel?
While her Protector reloaded, the Wraith turned his attention back to her Favorite. It was then that her Favorite was again besieged by the hungry fairies. An idea occurred to her then and she was quick to share it with her Favorite. He took the remains of his power bar and ordered his Second to fire on the largest life sign when he gave the word. His Second protested that both her Favorite and her Protector were too close to the target, but he would give the order when the time came.
In a daring move, her Favorite darted forward and slipped the power bar in the Wraith's belt. The resulting hit left him with another broken rib and a fractured clavicle, but it served its purpose; the fairies converged on the Wraith. With her Protector ducked behind a rock and her Favorite across the clearing doing the same, her Favorite gave the order. She added as much power as she could to the drone and was quite pleased when the Wraith--and, sadly, the fairies--were obliterated.
As her Favorite and her Protector reassure themselves that the other was well, she thanks the Second and the pilot for their quick actions. Without them, it is unlikely that her two most favored Children would still be alive.
When the second puddle jumper landed, her Favorite assured his Second and the Warrior of his and her Protector's well being. Once he had assuaged his teammates' worries, her Favorite brought up the matter of the dead thinkers. He didn't look at her Protector, but his hand never left his love's shoulder.
No one mentioned what an obvious gesture of care and love that was.
Her Protector remained with the Warrior and her Favorite while the Second took the two guards to retrieve the bodies of the thinkers. Neither of her two Children was in any state to perform the task; one was physically battered while the other was on the edge of a mental breakdown. For all his off-world experience, her Protector has never been so close to death. The Warrior remained to watch over them and to sooth their individual wounds--both physical and mental in origin.
And while the Warrior wrapped her Favorite's ribs and checked over her Protector for physical wounds, the Second and the guards found the body of the thinker who took his own life. The sight alone was enough to turn the stomachs of the guards and the Second, and this raised their respect and esteem for her Protector. That he could witness such a horrifying event yet still function enough to rush to her Favorite's aid amazed them, something that cause the Second much guilt. For all these months he had fought alongside her Protector yet still deep within himself he considered the man a simple thinker--not the warrior he was slowly becoming.
The Second swore to never underestimate her Protector again.
It takes her Protector nearly two hours to deactivate the shield--even with her help. The guards return ten minutes after the shield is finally deactivated and come upon her Protector repairing the most immediate damage caused by the Wraith. When the time to leave finally comes, her Favorite insists he and her Protector return alone in the puddle jumper. Unsurprisingly, this statement is met with resistance by their other teammates.
The Second and the Warrior spent nearly half an hour alone arguing against it, yet they finally cave when her Favorite takes them aside and explains how he wishes to talk privately with her Protector. A significant look informed his teammates the nature of the subject he wished to discuss with her Protector. This got his Second to back off immediately; her Favorite's culture has some very odd views on same-sex lovers.
The Warrior, though she did not understand the logic--or lack thereof--she did understand that her Favorite wished to be alone with the man he so obviously loved. She agreed to travel with the guards and left to inform the guards of the travel arrangements. Her Favorite told his Second to wait for them in orbit then lead them home. When asked why, her Favorite informed his Second of the promise he made to her Protector to allow him to fly home. He also shared the tale of their journey to the satellite.
His Second was kind enough to wait until his puddle jumper was in orbit before releasing his suppressed amusement.
In the other puddle jumper, her Favorite sat himself in the navigator's chair while motioning for her Protector to take the pilot's seat. While this did not 'magically'--she has learned so many new words and phrases from these new Children; they are most amusing, yet appropriate--cure him of his grief, it does serve to distract him for a short time; about the time it takes for him to get up into orbit and realize he must follow the Second.
She almost pities her Favorite, for he has fifteen hours to travel with his love's ire. Hopefully he will be able to calm her Protector and, perhaps, finally admit the true depth of his feelings for her Protector.