AN: Sorry for the days between updates. This was a rather pivotal chapter so it took more planning. Thanks to Linnzi for her beta help! I tinker and fix, and edit, and add constantly so any mistakes are completely mine. Thanks again for reading and sticking with us!

Part Thirteen…

Ronon woke surprised to find he was still alive. He didn't feel good by any stretch, instead his muscles felt weak, and tired, which was something he hated. But, he supposed it was better than being dead.

"Ronon?"

"Teyla?" His voice was harsh, and even deeper than usual. If he didn't know any better, he would've almost thought it was someone else saying her name.

The Athosian leaned into view; Lily perched along her hip, contentedly munching her fist. "You have been seriously injured. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been seriously injured," he rasped.

Teyla didn't smile enough.

"It must've been bad," he said, trying to reach a clumsy hand to rest on hers, but it got hung-up on a wire clipped to his finger, and he didn't have the energy or the ability, to move and untangle. He let it drop, and kept staring upwards, as he also didn't have the strength to lift his head or move around. "Still alive, though."

She seemed to shake off some of the tension, and smiled, but it was a ghost of what it normally was. "It was…bad. Do you need anything? Water?" She already started moving towards the pitcher he could see at the end of his bed, settling the baby on a blanket beside the chair she must've been sitting in, and next to some toys.

He did want some, but as she poured the cup, his eyelids proved too heavy for his willpower, and Ronon drifted back into a recovering sleep.

OoO

If there were a punching bag next to him, Lorne would've worked it over. "I join an expedition and somewhere along the way, they just happen to forget to mention a renegade native lurking about with some real resentment," he bitched to himself.

Then he got pissed because it wasn't their fault. It was his. The files were there. It wasn't anyone's fault but his own that he hadn't caught all the details when he'd skimmed through them after the situation had settled post siege on the city. He had read the one file on the Genii in depth. He'd even read about their attempted take-over to the smallest detail. But he hadn't read the obscure file about a mission to find a ZPM that had failed, at least beyond knowing that they located it in the ruins and the natives kept it. If he had, he would've known Kolya was out there with even more of a chip on his shoulder.

It was bad enough they had their own nuts to deal with, now they had the added kick in the ass of having two of the top expedition members in the hands of fanatics. Which brought him to where he was currently heading, and that made him even angrier. If he was right, he'd been suckered. Brought in by a pretty face, and a kind ear.

Someone had known they were heading to that planet, and, as it had been a last minute mission change, it limited the personnel that knew down to immediate command staff and two medical personnel. Even if one of the individuals had gossiped, the Genii wouldn't have had time to stage an ambush. It had to have been one of the individual's in the immediate loop. Lorne knew he wasn't the culprit, and he pretty much figured he could rule out Weir, Beckett and McKay, so that left him with the other three members of his team and the nurse. Which happened to be Alicia.

He knew she was on duty now, and he also knew he was taking a big risk, but he was going to her quarters and search while he could. If he found anything, then he'd go to Weir, but until then, he wasn't quite ready to set the hounds on her. In fact, he prayed he was wrong, because he had begun to like her. A lot.

And being ranking military officer, since Caldwell wasn't around right now, he had the command behind the decision.

Just to be safe, he knocked and waited. No answer, but then again, he hadn't expected there would be. He gave the command override, and entered the quarters carefully. He knew there could be traps set to give away his presence, in fact, he kind of expected it, but that, too, would give her away for what she might be.

On the surface, the room was clean, but Lorne focused on a pad of paper that seemed out of place. It wasn't tucked in a drawer, or on a desk, but tossed on her bed. The top sheet was blank, as were the pages underneath, but he carried it over to her desk and set it down, searching for a pencil in his own pocket. Luckily, the military motto was be prepared. He usually carried at least one pen and pencil, along with his Gerber multi-use tool.

He sat down in the chair, and pulled one of the back sheets out of the notepad, and laid it over the top sheet. Taking his pencil, he lightly began to color, holding it pressed at a slant. Letters and numbers began to appear underneath.

"Son of a bitch," he whispered. It was the gate address to the world they'd been ambushed on.

OoO

John rested his head wearily against the concrete wall. His mind had been running on overdrive, past memories flitting in, before moving back to the rear to make way for others.

Hell of a time for his mind to shape up. He watched Rodney sleeping on the cot, and wished it hadn't happened here. He had a bone to pick with McKay, and one that included taking advantage of his memory loss. When he thought back to the kiss, to the swirling emotions and confusion – it wasn't so much anger, but wondering why Rodney took the chance.

There had been growing feelings for McKay since…well, he couldn't even put a finger on when it'd began. The pregnancy had thrown them in a situation that like Rodney had said, hadn't allowed him any privacy, and McKay had gotten to see him in situations he never would've dreamt of (nor would he want to ever again). And Rodney hadn't bailed on him, hadn't left him during all those times he'd lashed out, and been an ass. When he'd been suffering, Rodney was there. When he was sick, in pain, and felt lost, Rodney had been there.

The clanging of the door above brought John to his feet. He watched warily, as Kolya and four other of his men walked down the stairs, and over to his cell. He didn't pull his eyes away once.

"Time to play?" he asked, his tone hard. He wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of knowing he was worried.

"Time to move, Colonel." Kolya gestured to his men. "We don't want you to know where you're being moved to, so, I'm afraid you're going to take a little nap."

Sheppard chuckled. "You're not sorry."

The pitted face twisted in amusement. "No, I'm not. Good night, Colonel." Kolya nodded, and two of the men brought up guns, and pulled the trigger.

John felt the sting, and was able to turn enough to see Rodney jerk in his sleep. Boy, was Rodney in for a shock when he woke up, thought John, before the sedative took him under.

OoO

Lorne leaned against the wall outside the infirmary. He gestured at his men to hold. He'd gone to Weir with the evidence he'd found, and while it wasn't the smoking gun they'd hoped to find, they both knew it was incriminating and the best lead they'd had to date. She'd signed off on the order to bring Alicia into custody for questioning.

He'd tried to move things along fast, so if he had triggered any warning in her quarters, she wouldn't have time to do anything about it. And with that said, a call to Beckett had confirmed she was present, and accounted for.

Making the signal to move in, he led the team into the infirmary, ordering everyone to stand where they were and hands up. He was hoping for the mass confusion to keep her from acting until they'd gained control of the room.

He'd hoped wrong. As soon as they'd breached the doors, she pulled a gun from her waist, hidden by her uniform shirt, and trained it on Beckett.

"Over here, Doctor Beckett, now!" she ordered.

Gone was the polite girl from next door, and in her place, was a cold blooded killer. Lorne had seen it before in the Middle East. He knew she'd pull the trigger. "Do it, Doc," he said. It'd give him time. "You're not getting out of here, Alicia – if that is even your real name."

She smiled easily, grabbing on to Beckett's arm and roughly pulling him closer to her. She pressed the muzzle of the gun against his back. "Oh, I think I am, unless you want to be one less a doctor."

"Where do you plan on escaping to? The Daedalus is back on Earth, and you'll have no way to return home. This is pointless," Lorne reasoned. "If you let Beckett go, we'll see you get a fair trial. It won't be freedom, but it's better than exile."

The bitter laugh took everyone by surprise. "I won't get a fair trial," she denied. Her lips curled in a sneer. "I'll be dead. My people don't work the way your people do."

"Who are they? We'll protect you." Lorne was holding his gun steady on her, but was doing his level best to talk her down. If they had any hope of finding out where McKay and Sheppard were, she had to be taken alive. He knew she was the key to their location.

"You can't."

Beckett craned his neck to look at her. "Lass, if you'd be safe anywhere, you'd be safe in this galaxy, to a point. You could go live on the mainland, and I could sign your death certificate. They'd never know any better."

She seemed surprised by the offer. "You'd do that? Even after the things I've done?"

"To get our other people back, and prevent more death, yes," Lorne interjected. He didn't like it, but right now wasn't the time to disagree with anything that might work.

"I want assurances, signed agreements."

Her rapid acceptance threw him off just as much as her pulling a gun earlier had. She didn't waste time, he had to give her that much. "In that agreement will be the full disclosure and assistance in retrieving Sheppard and McKay," he added.

When she nodded, he tapped his ear piece, and started the wheels in motion. Maybe things wouldn't end as bad as he'd thought.

OoO

Waking up was unpleasant. John didn't like sedatives on a good day, but in these conditions, it was made even worse. He felt queasy and tired, and generally grumpy. Life was too fucking complicated.

There'd he'd been, living life in Antarctica, accepting the status quo, when General O'Neill had arrived and screwed up his entire life. He'd been shot at, drowned (granted, alternate timeline, but still), beaten up, stunned, forced to go through pregnancy, lost his memory…lost his fucking mind.

"I feel sick," moaned McKay.

John looked up from his knees. When he'd come out of the drugged sleep, he'd found himself on a mattress in another cell. There weren't any obvious differences, and he'd wondered at first if Kolya merely played a mind game in knocking them out, claiming it was to relocate. But, John doubted that. Odds are they'd been moved, because it made sense, and it was something he would've done. Not feeling up to standing and searching around, he'd contented himself instead to sitting, and drawing his knees in close to rest his head while he shook off the last effects of the drug.

"It passes." John didn't add that it was apparently taking a long time to pass.

"What happened?"

Sheppard watched as Rodney carefully got himself upright. His face was pale, and misery was etched all over. "Kolya wanted us moved to another location. Another planet, I'd guess, since they'd sent the coordinates to the planet where you were being kept so I could join you. It would've been stupid to keep us there."

Rodney rubbed the palm of his hand against his forehead in distress. "Of course, the bad guys have to make sense. They couldn't just this once screw-up."

"Give 'em time, the day's still young."

"Wow, you sounded positively normal." Rodney had stopped rubbing his head, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at John. "Do you remember…uh…things?" And if Rodney looked worried over the thought, John figured he should.

The urge to draw out the suspense was high, but given the circumstances, Sheppard figured this probably wasn't the best place. The cell was undoubtedly bugged, and he needed time to decide just how he was going to handle Rodney's little game with him.

"You know," John said. "I haven't seen a single spider in this cell. You'd think, with it being a cell and all, there'd be tons of bugs."

"I guess we just got…lucky."

He was kind of proud of Rodney. McKay didn't even start scanning walls or anything, just picked up the hint, and let it go, instead of being obvious. Clapping his hands together, John said with forced joy, "So, I spy with my little eye, something black."

McKay's lips twisted in a wry grin. "The floor. Oh, wait. The wall. No," he lifted a finger, "hang with me here, the ceiling."

"Fine, you think of a game," John huffed. "Some of us work with what we've got, you know."

"Rock, paper, scissors." McKay pulled John's cot towards his own. "At least there's a statistical pattern of probability for me to concentrate on."

"If you think you can outwit me by tracking how often I go with rock, think again. Remember, could've been in MENSA, too. I can randomize my…randomness." John knew there really wasn't any such thing as true random, but he'd go with rock ten times in a row just to screw up McKay's system.

Rodney stared at him with thinly veiled impatience. "Put up, or shut up."

John smirked, but sat down. "On three, one…two…three." He did scissors and smirked even more at Rodney's consternation. "And you thought I was doing rock."

"Shut up, and go again."

"If you're sure you can take losing," John said magnanimously. At least for now they had something to take their minds off the situation. It was a start…

OoO

Lorne crumpled the note. God damn it! He should've known. The double crosses were beginning to make his head spin. Stalking towards the gate, he gestured at his Lieutenant to dial. It didn't matter that Alicia said she had thought it was a possibility. It didn't matter that she said she had an idea with where to go from here. What mattered was that nothing was. Ever. Fucking. Easy. In this galaxy. The only upside to recent developments was that he'd been cleared. Those with the guts had apologized for believing the worst. Those who didn't have the guts, he didn't care anyway. But it did feel incredibly good to be exonerated.

"Let's get back home, Tango's are not here."

After they'd cleared through Beckett, and it was damn annoying that even five minutes off-world resulted in a twenty minute exam, he finally was in the briefing room with Weir.

"You read the note, Ma'am?"

She looked as pissed as he'd felt earlier. "I did."

"Am I to assume you're not giving up, as Kolya suggested?"

"You would be correct, Major." She stared at the note. "If he thinks we're going to let him merrily make off with two of our men, he's sorely mistaken."

"For a member of the Trust, she was stupid in believing Kolya would uphold his half of the bargain." Lorne still wondered about that. Alicia was smart. She'd screwed with the city for a while, and even though Lorne still suspected an accomplice, he couldn't prove it.

Elizabeth drew in a long breath. "She may have been hoping for the best, but I'm sure she expected the worst." Weir locked eyes with Lorne. "I don't think stupid is a word I would ascribe to this…agent."

Lorne flushed, embarrassed. He'd been taken over by some kind of device during one of her plans. He nodded tersely. "Maybe not," he agreed.

"Question her further," Elizabeth ordered. She had shelved some morals before, she could do it again. "Major, I want to know everything she knows, are we clear?"

He studied her, searching for just what she was getting at. The cold lines, taut posture. It all screamed 'do what you have to do'. But he also knew she wouldn't condone pulling out fingernails or anything else equally gruesome. At least, he thought she wouldn't, but whereas before this entire infiltration, he would've said for sure in a millisecond, now… "Yes, Ma'am!" he acknowledged slowly. "We'll get them back, I promise."

"I know." She picked up the note, dismissing him. As her eyes scanned it for a fourth time, she still felt the fury rise up. Was Kolya destined to dog their steps forever? The flowing script was militant and precise, much like the writer.

My Dear Doctor Weir,

I'm quite sure you are wondering why I have addressed this letter to you, rather than the individual who secured my possession of your two men. The reason, I simply have more faith in you than she believed. But, then again, perhaps that isn't saying much, because, after all, I now have two of the most valuable assets of your expedition. I'm also just as certain that Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard will prove equally valuable to the Genii. There will be no trade. What we want is what we now have. If it brings you any comfort to know, unless they give us reason, we will not kill either of them. There is much they have to teach the Genii.

Best wishes,

Acastus Kolya

He was right. There was a small part of her thanking whoever would listen that he wasn't intending to summarily execute them, but then again, that was if she allowed herself to trust his words. She rather thought she could, for now. One thing he hadn't done was lie in the dealings she'd had with him. But he was a cold bastard, able to blink away death to do his job, and that scared her. She knew that if Sheppard or McKay pushed too far, and were too much of a problem, he'd get rid of the problem. Now she could only hope that Lorne would get something useful from Alicia. And she knew what she'd asked of him. She'd do it again, in a heartbeat. Alicia was an agent for the Trust. She'd also cost the lives of seven confirmed, and she wondered now that the missing nurse wasn't number eight.

No, what had to be done, had to be done, and this woman had given up her rights when she'd committed murder. And maybe, if she told it to herself often enough, she'd believe it.

OoO

"If you won't cooperate further, then we'll take the choice out of your hands," swore Lorne.

"I want my freedom," Alicia enunciated angrily. "I'll help you contact another undercover Genii spy that I worked with. I know he'll help me for the right price, but before I agree to do that, I want assurances that you'll free me on the mainland like you said."

"And I told you we would."

She pulled at her restrained arms. "I've seen nothing to indicate you plan on following through. I've already given what you asked for, and I'm still here, imprisoned and restrained."

Lorne paced by the door, thinking this words through carefully. "You are not the one in the position to be demanding anything. We could ship you back to Earth, and you'd be dead, by your own admission. So, either stop playing me, and tell me what I want to know, or we'll pack your bags."

"No. I want it on paper that I'm absolved of any crimes, and I want it signed by Doctor Weir. You said you would."

"You don't get what you want first, we do. Now, are you gonna cooperate?"

She stared at him with immeasurable defiance. "No, I won't. I'm done. You want your information, free me first."

He faked a sad sigh and then said, tapping his ear piece, "I'm sorry you said that – Doctor Beckett, I'm ready for you."

"You're not going to do anything to me," she sneered.

A smile split Lorne's rugged face. "You're right, I'm not – he is." He pointed to Beckett as the doctor walked in to the room carrying a medical bag.

Carson set his bag on the table, and began pulling out vials with clear fluid, and two hypodermic needles, along with alcohol and cotton balls.

"Nice try, but I don't buy it. One good thing about being 'one of the bad guys', is that when you're caught, the good guys always play by the rules." Alicia was acting as if she were as confident as her words declared.

"Who said I'm a good guy?" Lorne's ruthless smile caused her to pale slightly, and then his words made her sweat. He nodded to Beckett. "Do it, Doc."

She started pulling at the restraints, and trying to get away from the needle, but Carson drove it home without even a flinch. He smiled sweetly. "Sorry, lass, but I do believe this will hurt."

"What did you do?" she snarled. "This is crazy!"

Lorne leaned into her personal space and drawled, "No, what's crazy, is you believe that after the hell you've put this city through, that we'd turn our backs and let you make the demands. He's injected you with a large dosage of atropine, which can be fatal." He pulled back and watched her struggle. "In case you're wondering, the symptoms are," he gestured at Carson to take over.

Beckett considered the mental list to draw out the tension. "Let's see, very soon you'll begin to feel palpitations, dizziness, restlessness, excitement, possible hallucinations and difficulty swallowing." He tapped them off on his fingers. Then folded them and smiled wider, "Frankly, my dear, there's plenty more you may experience."

"Of course, death is in there, right Doc?"

Carson fiddled with the other needle. "Certainly, if I don't inject the counteragent, I'm afraid that respiratory failure, paralysis, and coma will be the end result."

"You're lying," she snarled, but her eyes were dilated and her nostrils flaring.

"I see you're already experiencing the tachycardia," observed Carson. He held aloft the other hypodermic. "This contains diazepam, and unless you answer the major's questions, you won't be getting it."

Alicia finally seemed to be losing ground as sweat marks appeared around her armpits. "I can't believe you'd so easily turn your back on the Hippocratic oath, Doctor," she said, her voice trembling slightly as the drug took effect.

"Really?" he asked, puzzled. "You did."

"I'm not a doctor."

He slammed the needle against the table, cold fury revealing itself. "But you're a nurse, a medic, sworn to help and heal. You've killed, and damaged, and I'll be bloody well damned if I'll sit back and let two more innocent men suffer because of your actions. You were a member of my staff." He took a step back, and breathed in. "I bear some of the responsibility because I failed to notice what you were up to. And I take that responsibility very seriously, Lass. Now, tell Major Lorne what he needs to know, and I'll end this."

Her body was noticeably shaking and she panted through her indecision, before her face crumpled. She began rattling off the contact's name, location, and more.

When she finished, Lorne waved at Beckett to hold off. "One final requirement. Your accomplice on the Daedalus, and here. I know they exist, and I know you're feeling pretty bad right now, so give it, or the contents of that shot won't ever make it into your body."

She flinched, but then admitted the two names, haltingly. With brutal satisfaction, Lorne gestured at the guards to unlock her. Carson stuck the vials in his bag, and the hypodermics.

Stunned, she shouted, "You said you'd give me the counteragent!"

Lorne smiled slow and easy, like a cat toying with its prey. "You weren't poisoned. Doc here gave you a stimulant. Maybe a bit more than is recommended, just enough to make you feel," he paused as if searching for the right word, "a little sick. And you'll forgive us for not giving you anything to feel more comfortable. Enjoy it. It's the least you deserve."

Together they left her in the hands of the security guards. She'd be moved to her cell, and kept there indefinitely, until they could figure out what to do with her. The good news, on two fronts, was the accomplice that had been in the city was, in fact, dead. Sergeant Vasquez. The knowledge was bittersweet. He hadn't killed an innocent, but he'd also been duped, and he now shared some of that rage that Carson had felt upon finding out about Alicia. That is, once Beckett had recovered from her having almost shot him. Vasquez had been a member of his team, and he'd been used. No wonder they'd been taken on that world, and made into a tool in the take-over attempt on the city. She'd known everything.

And the other. The one on the Daedalus. That'd be trickier to handle, and they couldn't do anything until it returned from the latest trip to Earth, so at least they had some time to prepare. He reminded himself to be patient. Slowly, things were coming together. Just a matter of time, that was all. Time. As long as Sheppard and McKay kept their heads low and their mouths shut, they'd make it. He groaned at the thought. They were so dead.

The End…of part thirteen

Psssttt...Ronon fans, next chapter he'll be back and on the road to recovering and getting in shape for the Big Damn Rescue. (smile)

edited to correct mistake, thanks vecturist!