She woke with a start, for a moment unable to remember where she was. She felt cold and hungry and her back was aching. She realized she was lying on the ground in a small cell with no windows, her hands and feet tied, the bonds uncomfortably cutting into her skin. Not far from her she could make out the shapes of Major Lorne and his team, who all seemed to be asleep.

As her memory slowly returned she closed her eyes and wished to forget again. Maybe this was all just a bad dream. Maybe if she opened her eyes again she would be back on Atlantis in her own room, back with her people and her paper work. She had wanted to go off world more often. Had she known it was like this she would have stayed at her desk in her office, where it was warm and relatively safe. Where she was in control of things.

She knew they had to find a way out of this, they had to escape somehow. She just didn't know how. They had made one attempt to escape two days ago, and as a result they had been tied up and there were even more guards around. It seemed almost hopeless now.

But there was too much at stake here. This wasn't just about them. This was about the future of Atlantis, and what was even more, about the future of earth and their own galaxy.

The people they had negotiated with for food, the Aldalarians, had been friendly enough, and completely honorable and trustworthy. None of what had happened had been their fault. Elizabeth doubted they even knew what had happened.

There had been a spy among them. When they had returned to the gate to go back to Atlantis, they had walked straight into an ambush.

A trap set up by some wraith worshipers. Lorne and his men didn't stand a chance against them and had been overpowered in no time. They had been greatly outnumbered, plus they hadn't been prepared for any kind of attack. Nothing had given them any reason to suspect anything.

They had been captured and taken to the home world of these wraith worshipers, where they had been held hostage ever since. She had lost count of days, but she knew it had most probably been nearly three weeks now, maybe more.

From the little they had learned from their kidnappers, they had contacted their wraith queen, who was to arrive shortly.

Apparently those people had been instructed to look for them. To capture them. And the other day, one of the guards had finally let slip what this was really all about. Elizabeth had had suspected it already, but finally hearing it confirmed was a shock all them same.

They wanted the location of earth. They were going to get it out of them no matter what.

That was why they had to escape. She knew that none of them would ever willingly give anything away to the wraith, but who knew what methods they had of getting their information.

"Dr Weir" she heard Lorne's voice say and opened her eyes.

"What is it, Major?"

"I think someone's coming." he said and nodded in the direction of the door.

She listened. Yes, there were footsteps approaching. She heard several feet hurrying along the corridor outside towards the cell they were in.

And there was something else.

She strained her ears to make out the sounds she heard outside of the cell.

She held her breath. There were muffled cries, mixed with thudding sounds. Something was going on there!

The rest of the team was awake now, too, and they all exchanged looks of curiosity mingled with worry and fear. If someone out there was taking out the guards, and that was what it sounded like - could it be their own people? None of them really dared to hope for that. It could also be another group of worshipers, who wanted them for their own queen.

Suddenly the door burst open. Elizabeth had to cover her eyes for a moment as the bright daylight she hadn't seen in days fell on her face. She blinked carefully against the light, trying to make out the shape that was standing in the door frame.

There was something familiar about that shape, she thought... her eyes finally adjusted to the light and she stared at the person in the door frame with surprise, unable to speak for a few seconds.

"Ford?" she finally said.

He grinned at her broadly. "I heard you were in trouble. Thought we could help."

"How did you..." she began, but he cut her off.

"Not now. We have to get away from here first." he signaled them to follow him.

Major Lorne was immediately by Elizabeth's side to help her up. "Do you think we can trust him?" he asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes." She knew that John would have trusted him, that's why she was willing to do the same. For a brief moment John's face appeared before her inner eye, nodding encouragingly, telling her to trust Ford, to try everything to get back home to Atlantis. And to him? She smiled, but pushed the image away all the same.

Sometimes during the days she had spent here he had appeared to her. Every time her hope of finding a way out had started to fade she had seen him, telling her not to give up. At first she had found it rather irritating, but after a while she had gotten used to it, and she couldn't deny that it had in fact really given her strength.

They followed Ford and his men outside, passing lots of unconscious guards on the way. They were heading straight for the mountains that were looming only a few miles from the complex in which they had been imprisoned.

Some of Ford's men seemed to know the area pretty well, they reached the mountains without being followed. When they came to a small cave on the foot of the mountains they rested, and Ford told them how he had found them.

The people on this planet did worship the wraith, but not all of them were happy with that. Those who weren't had somehow heard of him and what he could do with the power the enzyme gave him and had asked him to let them join him. They hoped that maybe through the power of the enzyme they would be able to free their planet.

They watched everything closely that was going on here, and when they had heard that people from Atlantis were being held hostage here, they had immediately informed Ford, who had rushed off to help them, and here they were.

Ford grinned broadly at Elizabeth. "We're gonna get you back to the gate safely. You will be back in Atlantis in less than a day."

Elizabeth smiled at him. "Thank you." she said "I don't suspect you'll think about coming with us, this time?" she asked carefully.

Ford's face turned expressionless. "No." he said and looked away. "Say hello to Sheppard from me, though." he got up and walked away. Elizabeth sighed. She would do that. John would be glad to hear that Ford was still alive and knowing him, he would be proud of him as well, for saving her and the team.

She was looking forward to going home. She missed her city. She missed ... the people in her city. All of them of course. She tried to pull her thoughts away from the one person she missed the most. She needed to stay focused right now. They weren't home yet.

----------

They had walked about five hours when they finally approached something like a small town.

"We need to be careful now." Ford warned them. "If someone sees us, we're in serious trouble. The gate is in that direction." he pointed to the left "We'll make sure it's safe for you. When I give you the sign, go. You will need to be quick. If something goes wrong, just stick to the plan." with that he silently disappeared between a group of trees.

They waited for almost twenty minutes, hidden from view by trees and rocks, when finally Fords face appeared from behind a shrubbery some way of and he signaled them that all was clear. As planned, they jumped out of their hiding-place and sprinted towards the gate. It was still about a five minutes run from where they had been hiding.

Lorne arrived at the DHD first and began dialing. As soon as the gate established, he started sending his IDC, when suddenly some kind of energy blast, coming from behind them, hit the gate, which shut down immediately.

Lorne turned on his heels, got to his knees, shouted "Take cover" and reached for his weapon, all in one swift motion. Only, he had no weapon. None of them had. And Ford's men were scattered all over the area and greatly outnumbered. Apparently, the entire town was assembled now, ready to kill them rather than let them escape.

But Ford's men still had the advantage of the enzyme. And there was still plan B.

The man, Cadell, a scientist who Ford had introduced them to earlier was at their side immediately. "Hurry!" he shouted and ran off in the direction of the woods. They followed him as fast as they could, in a zigzag course across the open ground until they reached the cover of the trees. They ran on for some minutes until they came to the small cabin a little outside of the town. They could still hear the sounds of battle behind them.

"Are you sure this will work?" Lorne wanted to know.

Cadell nodded. "Don't worry. As long as you don't touch anything inside..."

Lorne rolled his eyes. Scientists. "I have a bad feeling about this!" he whispered to Dr Weir as they entered the little building. She shrugged, but looked worried all the same. "We don't have a choice."

The inside of the house was crammed full with all kinds of scientific equipment. One of the men nearly knocked over a glass with some funny looking bubbly substance inside.

"Careful!" Cadell barked at him "Almost anything here can blow up this entire place. So. Don't. Touch. Anything!"

"Sorry!" the man replied slightly offended "No need to bite my head off!"

Now it was Cadell's turn to roll his eyes. "Just do as I say and everything will be fine! And we need to work quickly, they will be here soon."

----------

They had surrounded the cabin. They knew the Atlanteans were inside. They weren't sure yet how they had managed to escape, but soon that wouldn't matter anymore. They would capture them again. And make sure they couldn't escape this time.

They approached the cabin from all sides, making sure there was no way those people could get away. Suddenly there was a deafening bang and those of them who had been closest to the building were lifted off their feet and flung through the air backwards. When they looked again, the cabin was gone and all that remained was a black crater where the building once had been. There was smoke and dust in the air and in one corner a blackened part of what once had been a wall was sticking out of the ground.

The cabin had been destroyed.

Arlon, their leader, stepped out of a group of people who had observed from the background, a triumphant smile on his lips, his eyes cold and cruel.

"I always told Cadell he would blow himself up one day with those experiments of his. Seems like that day was today." He looked around "Well, at least the Atlanteans won't be returning home. That is at least some comfort to us!"

And with a last look at the explosion site, he turned and made his way back to his town.