A/N: Why does everyone think I have something up my sleeve? Am I that evil?

Ok, so I am. Muahahaha!

It's official, this will be longer than Phantom Thoughts in word count. Odd how I originally thought it would be dramatically shorter. Two more chapters after this one.

--not beta-d yet, busy lives…

Chapter 12-Ascent

He felt as if something was bogging him down, keeping him from opening his eyes and from moving. Reality stayed just out of his reach, cloaked in a cloudy haze. By touch, he could feel a pillow under his head and a light blanket stretched over his body, and he could barely hear someone in the background.

"That's the common description."

Was that Carson? But what was he doing down by the generators…

"You've never had the chance to find out yourself?"

Wait, now that was Dr. Costello… Radek felt his fingers starting to tingle…

"Oh heavens no, and hopefully I never will."

"Well that doesn't seem right, we've been her for exactly twenty-seven hours and you have for over a year."

Radek picked up his hand and the simple motion brought him fully into being alert, and that included to the pins and needles now spreading throughout his body.

"There have been a few other instances, Dr. Hong. As you have found out today, going off-world isn't necessary to encounter them."

"That is evident."

"It seems that Dr. Zelenka has joined us." Irene stated as she noticed him moving his hand to rub his face.

Carson immediately walked over from Dr.'s Hong and Costello's infirmary beds to Radek's and checked his eyes with that darn penlight he always has, "How ya feeling?"

Radek responded as he looked around the room, "Tingly."

"I was just telling those two that it will pass in a few minutes."

"Wraith stunner?"

"I'm afraid so."

Radek gulped, "There's a Wraith in the city? I was hoping I only imagined seeing one's feet."

"It's here alright, but Major Lorne and Captain McIntyre have it locked up in the brig."

"Is everyone okay?"

Carson sighed, "Pine, Elm, and Dr.'s Jones and White. Sergeant Stackhouse somehow manage to get away, I'm waiting for him to wake up in the other room."

"Oh my… four people…"

"I wouldn't want to be in its position with Major Lorne, not to mention when Colonel Sheppard gets back."

"They're still not here?"

"No, and we're without communication yet also." Carson made sure to keep the worry from his voice.

Radek put his head back on the pillow and muttered, "I think I need a drink."

---

Major Lorne stood over an unconscious Sergeant, timing it to when the young man should wake up. He should really have been awake by now, or at least will be very soon. He couldn't help but think how lucky the man was, to have a Wraith stop feeding on him so early, with no explanation. It had the whole medical team in a buzz brainstorming reasons.

All Lorne cared about at that moment was that it meant one less soldier down, one less the Colonel had to write home about, leaving almost everything out. How do you write a letter informing someone's family their child, spouse, parent, or sibling is dead, but died with honor, without talking about the Wraith, the Stargate Program, or the Pegasus Galaxy to bring them closure?

He didn't know the scientists killed but by the reaction of their department, they were well liked, and just out for a walk. Talk about a case of the wrong place at the wrong time. The soldiers were new recruits from Stargate Command, shipped off on the Daedalus.

The day had started out with a boring breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, and somehow turned out into one of the unusual days that he had grown accustom to since being at the SGC. Granted, what he was facing every day was no person with a snake in their heads or in their stomachs, but something that sucked the life out of you with their hands and thought of you as nothing but food, instead of a slave, host, or an enemy of their god.

He was determined to be there when the young man woke up, so Lorne pulled up a chair and sat down. He had to think about how he was going to handle the Wraith that was currently taking residence where Steve and Bob did. He could wait until Lt. Col. Sheppard got back, but they had no idea when that would be, or even if… no, he was going to be back because there was no way he was going to have Caldwell as his CO, Sheppard probably just got a little sidetracked, McKay saw something interesting…

Lorne sprang up again when he heard the Sergeant groan and saw him move his hand a little. "Stacks pull on through now."

"Major?" He asked groggily.

"That would be me." He was on the man's right side, his hand resting on the bed.

"My team… there's a Wraith…"
"We got it in the brig."

Stackhouse shook his head to wake up and avoided thinking about the pins and needles effect, "My team, sir?"

"I'm sorry." Lorne squeezed the man's shoulder gently, "They didn't make it."

Stackhouse's face turned from worried to grieving to stone cold in a second flat, a look Lorne had seen too many times on too many faces through is career. In a flash of red scrubs, Stackhouse threw the light blue blanket off and was on his feet.

Lorne reacted just as quickly, moving between him and the door and grabbing him by the shoulders, aware of the IV line that was dragging behind him. Stackhouse didn't stop trying to get around him, the adrenaline blocking out the warnings his body was trying to send.

"Sergeant! Stand down!" He looked into the man's eyes that continued to stay lifeless though his body calmed and he stood still.

"With all due respect sir, that thing didn't kill your team."

Lorne kept his voice in military sternness, "I understand that, but you are in no condition to take revenge on a Wraith right now."

With a few deep breaths, Stackhouse could feel his body go weak as the adrenaline faded away; his knees buckled and gave out. But Lorne kept him up and yelled back out of the room, "Doc! I need some help in here!" He turned back and got Stackhouse back on the bed.

"I've been stunned before sir, but I… it wasn't like this." His face was no longer cold and emotionless.

Lorne kept his hand on Stackhouse's shoulder and softened his voice, "You weren't just stunned."

A flash of understanding spread across his face and he brought his hand to his chest, pulling the top of his shirt out so he could look down. He saw a large bandage. "How bad is it?" He kept his eyes off of his superior officer as he looked at the skin on his hands and arms.

"It's nothing to worry about, just a scratch."

"You called for me- oh Sergeant, you're awake." Carson plastered a smile across his face as he walked in the room. "You're quite an anomaly, lad. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty weird, I can't move too well yet and my chest of course hurts."

Carson took a hold of his wrist, "Your motor skills will be back to full functioning soon." He squeezed to apply pressure, "Can you feel that?" Carson was satisfied with a nod from the Sergeant.

"He didn't seem to have a problem with motor skills a moment ago." Lorne remarked.

"What do you mean?"

The two military men looked at each other, a moment of understanding passing between them and Stackhouse answered Dr. Beckett, "I attempted to leave your establishment a little early and ran to the door. It must have worn me out."

Carson scolded, "Don't go trying that again until I release you."

"Yes, doctor."

Carson went back to being genial and gentle with the next subject, "We need to discuss exactly why you're…"

"Alive? Yea I'm wondering that myself doc." Stackhouse rubbed his chest.

"It's incredible, honestly. From what I can tell, the Wraith stopped after a few seconds, not long enough to do any real damage to you but enough to… get a sampling."

"It tasted me?" He fought the urge to crawl up into a ball since that wouldn't be manly, and the urge for revenge came back.

"Now that is just plain freaky." Just when Lorne thought the Wraith couldn't get any stranger, "The one we have locked up is a picky eater?"

"That would be one explanation and the simplest," He directed his speech at the Sergeant, "or there could be something in your specific makeup."

"Maybe it was something he ate." The Major said jokingly.

But instead of laughing, Carson cocked his head in thought, "What have you eaten in the past twenty-four hours? Don't leave anything out."

Stackhouse crossed his arms in contemplation, "For lunch yesterday the mess had spaghetti and garlic bread, and for dinner I made a chicken dish, rice, and a salad."

"You cook?" Lorne raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. My mom taught me, she said she didn't want us boys starving in our 'bachelor apartments' like my father was when she met him. A man had to know how to take care of himself."

Carson hid a smile at the similarity between his and the young man's mothers, "Continue, please."

"Oh right, then for breakfast was the oatmeal and fruit in the mess and for lunch I made a sandwich."

"Hmm." Carson crossed his arms, his clipboard hitting his side.

"Is that an 'I have an idea hmm'?"

"It's an 'I'm thinking hmm', Major."

"Oh, right." Lorne decided to shut up and let the man think.

"Are you leaving anything out, a snack maybe? What were you drinking?"

"I've been drinking water, coffee, or juice and I had some garlic stuffed olives last night."

Lorne questioned, "Where did you get garlic stuffed olives?"

"My mom sent them through Cheyenne Mountain. The Daedalus brought the package along with the other mail."

"What did you make your dinner with?"

"I grilled the chicken, well it was really that bird from P6X- 232, and topped it off with garlic salsa, the salad was a combination of vegetables from the mainland with an olio santo dressing, and the rice was the Pegasus Galaxy's version of rice with an onion type vegetable I chopped up and roasted with garlic."

"I see a pattern developing here."

"As do I. What was in your sandwich?" Beckett could almost hear the gears moving in his head.

"Pretty plain, just bologna and mustard."

"What sort of mustard?"

"Gar…" Stackhouse suddenly realized what the other two men were thinking, "Garlic honey. You really don't think that the Wraith are allergic to garlic or something?"

"Well, I don't know quite yet, but by judging that every food you've eaten except breakfast this morning contained some sort of garlic, even your salad dressing, maybe it made you less appetizing." Carson jotted down this rather remarkable detail down on the clipboard he brought in with him.

"So he tasted funny to the Wraith? We all take garlic supplements and they won't bother us?"

"It could just be a matter of preference." Carson checked the monitors for the Sergeant's stats.

Lorne continued, "We have a Wraith locked up in the brig with a serious aversion to garlic… and I thought this all was weird ten minutes ago."

Stackhouse looked down at the IV he practically ripped out when trying to flee the room, "It's sort of normal for us Pegasus Galaxy veterans."

"Wait… where did you get garlic mustard, salsa, and olio santo oil?" Major Lorne looked down at the young man.

Stackhouse shrugged, "My mom knows I like them. Once she found out we would receive mail regularly, she kept sending stuff." He ended with a smile.

Not to be outdone the Major countered with, "Well, my mom sends me chocolate chip cookies."

"My mum sends Brodie's or Taylor's tea and oatcakes, though the cakes aren't the best thing to transport."

Lorne remarked, "Oat cake? What is that?"

"The oatcake is not a cake at all really."

The two Americans just looked at the Scotsman very confusedly who responded, "Don't know much about cooking where I'm from then? No, of course not."

"Yea, we're just a little lost here, doc. So he'll be fine though, right?"

"Aye, but there'll be an overnight stay just as a precaution." Beckett noticed their looks and stared down both of them, "And don't go pulling a Colonel and trying to escape, it never ends well."

Lorne mildly mocked hurt, "How could you think we would do such a thing?"

"I'm only preventing a habit from beginning." He turned back to Sgt. Stackhouse, "Get some rest."

"I will."

Major Lorne said a goodbye-for-now and followed Dr. Beckett out, "Do you think the mess hall will have some garlic?"

Carson stopped walking, "What do you have in mind?"

"Nothing yet really, just wondering."

"You would have to ask." He eyed the American soldier carefully.

"Alright, thanks anyway." Lorne left quickly on his own mission.

---

"Do do do do, do do do. Do do do do, do dododododo… Do do do-"

"Maj- Colonel, will you stop with the Jeopardy thing already?" Rodney snapped in Ronon's voice, it bellowing through the submarine.

"I'm just passing the time."

"Well, think of something else."

John leaned back in the pilot's seat, "Any requests? Some Johnny Cash maybe-"

"No! Don't sing, hum, or anything remotely associated with either."

"Jeeze, what got into you?"

"I would like to spend my last few hours in relative peace, Ma-… Colonel. You just had to go get promoted, didn't you? I would never get used to that." He crossed Ronon's arms.

"Your last few hours?"

"Yeah, come on, I do know that as soon as we walk off the sub, you and Carson will drag me to wherever you decided to leave Garin's console and rip me out of here."

John ran his fingers through his still semi-short hair, "You don't have to make it sound like that."

"Like what? Like how it'll be? There's no way Elizabeth is going to let me stay in here, no way Ronon is, and there's no way I want to. It's not my body, it's just too …"

"Big?"

"Well, yea. I've spent the last week of my life fighting for my own body back, and I'm not going to stay in this one, I can't. Hell, it's not even right. If I were Ronon I'd be seriously pissed, I was pissed with Garin."

"That was different though."

"True enough, he did completely take over with no intention if ever leaving. I on the other hand will be gone in … 2 hours and fifteen minutes."

"We'll be back in the city sooner than that."

"Why?" Copy-Rodney squinted Ronon's eyes.

"The moment we established radio contact, I'm having the Daedalus beam us out. Rodney back there can't wait."

"Yea…I forgot there's a ship now. I do intend to stay around until then just incase something starts to go wrong. With our luck, something usually does."

"Nothing is going to."

"Riiight."

"I mean it. What could, a giant sea monster comes and attacks us?"

"We're still under 18,446 meters of ocean, I'm sure there's some sort of creature that lives at this depth. Haven't read Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea have you? They almost got crumpled by a giant squid."

John replied sarcastically, "Full of optimism aren't you?"

"When one is a walking dead man, you don't have optimism."

"We're out from the fissure enough to contact Atlantis now, right?" They had tried about ten minutes ago, but at their greater speed they covered more distance.

"Yea, go ahe- oh my god…"

John looked over at Copy Rodney who was staring out the window and followed his line of sight. "I guess I spoke too soon."

They both stared at a creature that was so large they couldn't see around it, and its mouth was open and angled down at their angle of ascent.

"Turn, turn, turn…" Copy-Rodney anxiously stammered out.

"I am!" John glided the sub to the left.

"Because I really don't want to be eaten by a… what is that a whale?"

"One damn big whale!" John steered the sub, but the creature kept maneuvering in their way.

Teyla heard the commotion and ran from the back where she was sitting with the original Rodney. "I heard you -"She paused as she looked out the window, "I've never see an animal that large…"

Copy-Rodney exclaimed, "Large! The thing's enormous!"

"I wonder if it has a name." She sat down behind John as he piloted, trying to stay away from the creature's mouth.

Rodney snipped worriedly, "Who cares, it's trying to eat us."

"We most likely look like one of its normal prey." She kept her eyes on the creature. The sheer size was fascinating, but she would much rather observe it from a safe place.

"A fish as big as a sub? I'd hate to see one of those things." Colonel Sheppard took the submarine in a nosedive.

"What, what are you doing?" Rodney again stammered.

"Going under it. Try Atlantis."

"Oh, right." He hit the communications, "Atlantis this is Sub…"

"One!" John yelled.

"Right, One, we have a problem down here. A really, really, big problem."

"We read you, where have you all been?"

John gritted his teeth as he had the sub moving through the water under the creature. "No time for that Sergeant. We need to be transported out of here."

Bryan opened communications to Caldwell, "Keep talking, the Daedalus will have to use your radio signal, you're not exactly clear on the sensors yet."

They came out behind the animal, "Okay… we need a med team waiting in the bay then."

"You got it, sir. Anything else?"

"Just tell me Atlantis has been calm the past few hours." He had pretty much all he could take that day.

Rodney brought up a screen much like radar and it showed a large blip still behind them.

Teyla commented, "It's following us."

"I wish I could, sir… Are you ready now?"

"More than ready!" John and Copy-Rodney both yelled.

John didn't have time to contemplate Bryan's last response as the sub was enveloped in white light.

---

Lorne walked into the room and stood next to Captain McIntyre, who observed him carefully and quietly asked, "Sir, how's Stackhouse and what's with the… garlic?"

He kept the bowl balanced in his left hand, "He's fine and you'll see." The Major left the other man standing by the doorway with a bemused look on his face, along with the other guard, both carried stunners.

The Wraith was standing still, facing the other way from the doors. When he heard the talking, he turned around. His long black coat almost swept the ground and his white dreadlocks hung in front of his yellow and tallow skin.

Lorne got the distinct impression this Wraith wasn't an ordinary, low-in-the-ranks Wraith, it was dressed much the same way the one he and Dr. Parrish had run into on P3M-736, the one that had been chasing Ronon Dex.

They stood in silence a moment until the Major pulled over a chair and sat down, keeping the Wraith in the corner of his eye at all times. He leaned back with the steel bowl in his lap, whistling slightly as he lifted it out of another steel bowl, the noise of steel on steel echoing throughout the brig, and set it on the ground.

McIntyre held back a grin as Lorne began to peel the garlic cloves, slowly, discarding the skins in the second bowl. He knew the Major was up to something, what that something was he had no idea.

The silence continued in the room, perpetrated only by the crinkling of garlic skins.

"Do you have a name? I can't keep calling you 'the Wraith'." He didn't look up.

The Wraith hissed in reply.

Lorne looked the Wraith in the eyes, "Okay, we'll continue the Steve and Bob line of naming you suckers and we'll call you Jim." He recalled reading of the other two Wraith in the reports Colonel Sheppard wrote up.

"Jim, how do you like our accommodations? It's the best we could do on short notice." Lorne pulled out a small tool and began crushing the garlic cloves, the smell radiated through the room, and into the cell. He offered one of the crushed cloves, "Hungry?"

Jim snarled back, repulsed.

"No, I suppose not. You're pretty full aren't you?" Lorne kept the bitterness from seeping into his voice.

"You cannot hide here without our detecting you forever."

Lorne set down the second bowl, keeping one peeled clove, and stood with his hand on his 9mil, "I'd like to think we can." He stepped up to the cell's bars, "I know you tried to sabotage the city. I need to know if you did anything else, and I need to know now."

"There will be others who will find you, as I did."

Lorne took a bite of the clove, right in front of Jim's face, who winced at the sight, "You do realize where you're standing, two others of your kind met their ends." He brought the clove closer to the bars as he chewed, the scent blowing into the cell from his breath, "You sure you don't want some?"

Jim barred his teeth.

The Major continued, "I also need to know how exactly you got onboard our ship."

"You will not get any information from me."

Lorne's reply was cut off by his radio activating. After a few moments of listening he responded, "Thank you, Sergeant." He turned from Jim and picked up the bowl with the whole and crushed garlic cloves. Pulling his 9mil he called back to the guard, "Open it."

"Sir?"

He repeated, "Open it."

The door to the cell opened and Lorne slid the bowl in, which stopped short of Jim's feet, the Wraith jumped back and hissed. Lorne backed out and the door was closed again, the shield shimmering blue. "Just in case you get hungry again."

Major Lorne holstered his weapon, picked up the bowl with the garlic skins, and headed to the exit.

McIntyre questioned quietly, "Heading out to meet Colonel Sheppard, sir?" All military had been informed of his return.

"Yes, glad they're all back too."

"Is there a reason you just chomped down on a clove of garlic?" The Captain began to wonder if the superior officer had lost one too many of his marbles or spent too much time around a certain flagship team.

Lorne let a grin spread on his face under the disgusted expression, "The sucker doesn't like it, and I really don't either." He left the room to find the newly arrived Colonel Sheppard and to track down a glass of water.

---

Colonel Sheppard had watched Carson and his team lift Rodney onto a wheeling stretcher and only half listened to the commands the doctor was spouting out, something about respirators, internal bleeding, shock... It only took one word, 'crashed' and Beckett had pointed to the three other members of the team and told them to make their own visit to the infirmary, but not in so many words.

It wasn't like they weren't going to follow anyway.

Before they even lowered the hatch to the sub, Copy-Rodney had retreated back into Ronon's mind and let the man be in command again, permanently as far as the copy was concerned. He didn't want to face Atlantis only for it to be taken away.

John was walking next to Teyla and Ronon after Carson and Rodney on the stretcher, no one saying a word. It had been a long day, and they didn't even get the chance to tell anyone about the copy of McKay currently residing in Ronon Dex.

A/N: Still not out of the woods yet… hope you liked the longest chapter so far.