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By the time they arrived in Rigella, John had already devised a plan. They would land two of the jumpers on the outskirts of the village so the residents would not be alerted to their presence. The two strike teams would walk from there. A cloaked jumper carrying Dr. Beckett would hover above the building that held Elizabeth in case they met with too much resistance or needed immediate medical assistance.

It was a few hours from daybreak, so the strike teams were able to disguise their approach into the city under the darkness of the night. They moved slowly, purposefully. John was glad it was not the middle of the day. The streets were almost deserted. It was easy to move in undetected.

He surveyed the layout as they approached their destination. It was a large warehouse. There was one exit in front and one in back. He motioned to Lorne, instructing him to move his team to the back of the building. Lorne nodded and moved his men into position.

Under the cover of darkness, John and his team silently moved to the front of the building. John pointed at Ronon and Teyla and signaled for them to move to the other side of the door as they prepared to enter the building. Rodney was confused.

"What do I do?" He whispered, "I'm sorry, I don't understand the.." he mimicked John's hand signals indicating that he didn't understand the signs. John rolled his eyes, put a finger to his mouth and motioned for Rodney to stand behind him.

Breaking radio silence, John clicked his headset and said "Move in." Immediately, both teams broke through the doors and entered the building.

In no time, they were taking fire. John crouched behind large crates that were stacked up on the left side of the room. The gunfire seemed to be coming from across the room and from a location on his right.

John focused his attention on the hostiles on the right, trusting that Lorne's team would take out the ones on the other side of the room. John listened to the shots trying to pinpoint the location from which they were coming. He peeked around the crates and waited for the men to come out from behind their cover. He aimed and squeezed out two shots. Both men went down. A few seconds later, Ronon took out another one, and Teyla got the last one.

Afterwards, they grouped together scanning the room to make sure they hadn't missed anyone. As they moved towards the center of the room, Lorne's team approached, "All clear."

They were in a large warehouse filled with crates, boxes and weapons. It was probably a storage facility for the mercenary group. To the left was a hall leading down to a basement area. To the right was another hallway and steps leading up to a second story area.

They separated into teams of two. Teyla and Ronon took the hallway to the right. Major Lorne and one of his men went up the stairs. The remaining two from Lorne's team remained in the main warehouse to guard it and keep their escape route open.

John and Rodney moved towards the basement. It was where Rodney thought Elizabeth was being held.

When Elias returned, Elizabeth was resting against the wall, sitting on the cold concrete floor with her legs pulled up to her chest. She was staring into the corner and did not look up as he entered.

"Have you thought about my offer – your life in exchange for the information we need?" he queried.

She did not respond and continued to look away.

He slowly approached, stopping only inches away from where she sat, "Tell me."

He bent down becoming angry about her lack of response, "It's your last chance."

Elizabeth continued to ignore him, realizing that there was nothing she could do to change his mind. She had already tried to negotiate with him. He was beyond reason. Besides, she was certain that the Hive queen would kill her anyway, regardless of any "deal" she might make with Elias.

He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and jerked her to her feet. She gasped and finally looked into his eyes. They were chilling and dark. Hatred was seething through them. She tried to wrestle her arms free, but his grip was tight. He pinned her arms against the wall and moved in to press his lips against hers. She bit his lip, determined to fight back with every ounce of strength left within her. He looked at her angrily and backhanded her. She cried out in pain.

John and Rodney cautiously went down the stairs that led to the basement area. It looked like an old bomb shelter. At the bottom of the stairs were two large blast doors. John slid one open as quietly as possible. He was hoping that Elizabeth's captors had not been alerted to their presence. It was unlikely that the sounds of gunfire had been able to permeate the concrete bomb shelter. The element of surprise would give them an advantage.

He glanced back at Rodney who was clearly nervous. He was gripping his gun tightly with shaking hands. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be much help. At least he was quiet, which was unusual for Rodney.

They walked down the dark musty corridor, stopping to investigate each room. There was no sign of life – or Elizabeth. They were about halfway down the hall in a dark room when they heard a muffled cry. It was so faint that John wasn't sure what he heard. He looked at Rodney, "Did you hear that?"

Rodney looked surprised, "Yes…you heard it too?"

"Elizabeth" they both said in unison and ran out of the room.

Rodney and Teyla found themselves in the living quarters. Most of the rooms were empty. The building housed only a few soldiers. As they walked down the hall together, Teyla stopped suddenly. Ronon continued forward until he realized that Teyla was not following him. He looked back at her. She had a somber expression on her face.

"There is a Wraith here," she looked up at him. "I can sense its presence."

"Oh great," Ronon frowned and switched his weapon off stun mode.

They moved cautiously towards the closed door at the end of the hall. Ronon readied his gun as they prepared to enter the room. He was surprised when the door knob turned easily. He had an uneasy feeling that this could be a trap, but he didn't care. Ronon swung the door wide open, revealing a large, elaborately decorated living room. He and Teyla moved in with their weapons raised. Their eyes scanned the empty room.

"Where is everyone?" Ronon whispered to Teyla.

She frowned, sharing the same uneasy feeling that Ronon had. She could still sense the presence of the Wraith and felt it was very near. Looking around, she saw a hallway on the right and two doors on the left side of the room. Teyla jerked her head towards the hall, silently indicating to Ronon that they should search it.

They turned and moved towards the hall. Ronon had only taken a few steps before he heard a noise behind him. Almost immediately, he felt the sting of a stun gun. He managed to turn his head and get a quick glimpse of the hive queen before he went down.

Teyla turned and froze. Standing in front of her was the hive queen whose presence she had sensed. Behind the queen Wraith were 10 mercenaries with their weapons aimed at her.

"Where is Dr. Weir?" Teyla asked, ignoring the fact that she was outnumbered and Ronon was out cold on the ground next to her.

The Wraith silently glared at Teyla, eyeing her up and down. She moved forward and slowly began to walk around Teyla, "I sense that you are not like the others. You are not from their world."

"No," Teyla replied.

"Then you are of no use to me"

Teyla's eyes widened as she felt the strong force of the Wraith pushing her down to her knees. Her weapon fell on the floor as she no longer had the ability to hold it. The queen walked forward as a wicked smile formed on her face. "I sense that you are very strong. I will savor your strength."

The Wraith raised her hand and brought it down forcefully towards Teyla. It was only inches away from her chest when the first sounds of gunfire erupted from the hallway outside. The Wraith scowled and retreated down the inner hallway as Lorne and Reeder ran into the room.

Teyla dropped on her side and re-acquired her weapon. She fired in the direction of the retreating Wraith. The mercenaries returned fire protecting the queen as they made their exit.

The battle was over quickly. Four men had been hit, but the queen and the other mercenaries escaped. Lorne helped Teyla to her feet, and Reeder checked on Ronon who was already rousing from the stun he took moments earlier.

"Should we go after them?" Lorne questioned.

John was the first one through the door. When he saw Elias pressing himself against Elizabeth, he felt a murderous rage surface inside him. John rushed to him and threw him against the wall. He would kill him for touching her. Elias tried to fight back and pulled a knife from his belt. John welcomed the attack. It gave him more reason to make Elias pay for what he had done to Elizabeth. Elias lunged towards John with the knife. John side-stepped, grabbed the knife and broke Elias' arm in one swift movement. Elias fell to the ground writhing in pain. John bent down and began to beat him mercilessly.

Relief flooded through Elizabeth's body, and she slid to the ground. Rodney rushed over to her side. They both stared at John. She knew he was going to kill Elias. Although she hated him, she couldn't just sit there and watch him die.

"John," she whispered.

John heard her call his name and snapped out of it. He turned his head to look at her. Elizabeth had crumpled to the ground. She was looking directly at him, her eyes pleading with him to stop the beating.

He noticed her black eye and bloodied face and felt rage building up inside him again, but her eyes told him that she needed him. He stood up and walked over to her. Bending down, he gently touched her face. "Are you okay?" he whispered, half-scared of the answer.

She looked away, not wanting to break down in front of him. He leaned in closer and said her name softly, forcing her to turn her gaze back towards him. When she lifted her eyes, they were filled with the tears that she was trying to force back. He felt a swell of emotion rise inside him, "Come here" he said and gently took her into his arms. She shuddered and then sobbed quietly. John's brow furrowed. He couldn't stand to see her in pain. He held her tightly, "It's okay…I'm taking you home." John glanced over at Rodney. With his eyes, he motioned for Rodney to check on Elias. He didn't want him to wake up unexpectedly. Rodney nodded and walked over to Elias. He kicked the knife away and made sure that he was still unconscious.

Elizabeth gathered herself and pulled away from John's embrace. "I'm sorry" she said wiping her eyes and regaining her dignity. He tilted his head and looked at her. His eyes told her there was no reason to apologize. She smiled faintly. John noticed that she was cold, shivering. He wasn't used to seeing her so vulnerable. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, then he touched his headset and spoke into the radio, "I've got Dr. Weir…we're coming out."

"Elizabeth, there's a jumper waiting outside. You think you can you walk?" John asked.

She shook her head, "No…no, I don't think so."

He nodded and gently picked her up in his arms. She winced as he lifted her. John looked down at her pained face. He didn't want to hurt her, but he needed to get her to the jumper as soon as possible. He didn't want to stay here too long, giving time for the enemy to come and trap them.

"You okay?

"No, but I will be…just get me out of here," she said putting her arms around his neck and resting her head against his shoulder.

"Colonel? This is Lorne. We just had an incident with a Wraith. Do you want us to pursue?"

"No, we need to get Dr. Weir into the jumper. Radio Beckett and have the jumper meet us out front."

"Yes sir. Lorne out."

TBC – they're not out of the woods yet…more to come soon. Please let me know what you think