Chapter 15:Exposed

When Edana awoke Lorne informed her of McKay's visit and she quickly got herself together and they scooted down to his lab. Lorne was quite nervous about how anxious she was, so he kept close, and kept her seated. As Edana read through the entry they had deciphered her eyes widened. They had translated it correctly and it was an introduction to the experiment. Her reason for being here was to lead them astray, but her thoughts and feelings were pulling her in different directions. She wanted to live again, but then again, it was a different time, could she really be happy, especially living the life of another. She also realized that she'd be cutting Alexa's life short, she was returning to her old self. After 10,000 years in an urn, Edana's revenge had grown cold and once again she was becoming the girl who put everyone else's well being in front of her own. She was shaken out of her daze by a question from McKay, "So, what do you think?"

"Um, well, its still a bit odd. Let me take a look at the database, I want to try my own little cipher on it," Edana attempted to stall. She received an unfriendly expression from McKay. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I just think I should try it on my own, then, when I come up with the same thing, we'll know we're right." At this point she wasn't sure what she was going to do. McKay huffed and exited the lab, as Edana turned her attention to the encoded database. After McKay shuffled out, Lorne went over behind Edana and put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him. "What's up," she asked calmly.

He massaged her shoulders. "Just take it easy, don't put to much time into this. I'm sure McKay translated it correctly. I know you're worried and want it to be perfect, but…" He turned her chair around and bent down to look her in the eye, "if this is some kind of mental attack, you need to give your brain a rest."

As she caught the compassion in his eyes as she lost control. Her posture and voice changed to as if she was in great pain, "Marc, help." She stuttered and trembled, "I'm dieing." Alexa's control only lasted a moment, and Edana returned to normal. Lorne put his hand on her cheek and look at her concerned and confused. He shook his head as he looked at her, he didn't know what to say.

Edana spoke to Alexa, "Nice job girly, you just killed yourself. I was debating leaving and letting you live, but you had to go and pull that little stunt, so forget it now. And if I stayed I was going to pretend to be you, so as not to break your sweetie's heart, but that's changing now too!" Alexa's actions cause Edana to revert back to her vengeful self.

Edana jumped up out of the chair and pushed Lorne back onto his butt as she nabbed his side arm. "What the hell," he shouted.

She aimed the sig at the Major on the floor, "FYI, Alexa is dieing, and her conscious is slowly fading off into oblivion. And I'd like to take a moment and introduce myself, Edana's the name, and I'm the new owner of this body, and I plan on keeping it!"

Lorne couldn't believe what he was hearing, "And just how do you think your going to do that? There's no way I'm just going let you kill her! Besides where do you think you're going to go?"

"That's non of your business, but I do have a nice planet picked out. Oh and that kiss you gave me when I woke up was nice, it actually gave me the incentive to stick around, but after that stunt your girl just pulled, I'm just gonna go off and do my own thing. Hey, no moving" Edana waved the gun around.

Lorne quit trying to get up, "Wait, you're telling me you've been here this whole time." He paused as he thought for a moment, "You're… You were what was in the urn. You're the thing the database was referring to."

"I'm not a thing!" Edana's hand holding the gun shook as she walked closer to him. "At least I never used to be! I was a person once, one of whom you call the Ancients. They did this to me! You know what, that doesn't matter now. What matters now is that I make it to what you call the Stargate, but I know as soon as I leave you'll tell the others, so, looks like I'm going to have to shoot you. And it's not that I want to, it's that I have to. I'm actually kind of sorry about it."

Lorne stared down the barrel of the gun, and in what seemed like slow motion, he watched as her finger started to squeeze the trigger. Just before the gun shot, her arm jerked to the side and she shot the wall as she became frozen in place. "I can't hold her for long," Alexa managed to get out as she took control for a moment. Lorne jumped up but as he reached for the gun Edana came back into control. He managed to grab it just in time, but there was nothing else he could do, he couldn't possibly hit her. Edana maneuvered around him and she ran out of the lab and into the corridors of Atlantis.

Lorne kicked the chair in front of him, "Damn it!" Then he activated his head set, "It's Lorne, we've got a security breech! Madison is possessed! Pursue with stunners! I repeat, pursue with stunners!" He went over to what McKay had translated and began reading it through.

Colonel Sheppard contacted him back, "Major, you mind informing me of what the hell is going on?"

He finished scanning through the entry, and was able to connect the dots. "Turns out the urn wasn't empty sir. It was a vessel, a sort of holding cell, for an apparition who calls herself Edana. It seems she used to be an Ancient and something happened that turned her into an astral consciousness. She's been in control of Madison this whole time, and she's intent on getting to the Gate." As he explained things McKay and Zelenka, who were also was hearing this, entered the lab. "Good, you two get to work on translating the rest of this, see if you can't find a way to get that thing out of her," Lorne ordered as he made his way to the door.

"Wait," McKay shouted, "we're not even sure it's right!"

"Trust me, it's right, or she wouldn't have tried to kill me," Lorne shouted back as he left the lab. McKay and Zelenka stared at each other for a moment in shock of the answer they had just received and then turned their attention to the database. Lorne made his way down to the armory to grab a stunner, where he ran into Sheppard's team, minus McKay of course, also gearing up.

Teyla put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Major, she's not getting out of the city. We'll find her."

At that moment Lorne had a realization, "You said the city, not the Gate… The Jumpers!" He grabbed a stunner and bolted out the door, tailed by the Colonel and his team.

Sheppard radioed throughout the city, "I want a Security team to the Jumper Bay ASAP! Double time, move it!"