Chapter 19

Be a Dear and Pick Out Something Nice, Would You?

The smell of laundry on the line was a guilty pleasure, a smell to be enjoyed that was for sure. Joben's bright sun blazed down and the breeze gave everything a fresh, crisp feel- like the laundry. Tykah removed the wash from the line like she did every afternoon after devotions. Doing others' wash helped to pay for food and clothes for her three children. Ever since a Prior took away her husband and her world, she somehow had to make ends meet in this new home.

They had not been here long. Finding safe havens was increasingly problematic. The Priors with their rigid ultimatums visited more and more worlds. Little could be done to stop them. A few victories had reached her ears, but more often than not, failures ending with the annihilation of another civilization were the norm. She refused to lose hope, yet.

She gazed at her youngest playing nearby with small spherical stones. She flicked a large one at the smaller ones sending them scattering around a circle drawn in the dirt. An old game passed down for generations. The child turned her face up at her and a quizzical, innocent expression crossed it. She quietly asked, "Mama, what's that?" She pointed towards the sun in the sky.

Tykah placed her hand over her brow to block out the sunlight and squinted trying to make out the tiny shapes hidden in it. "I don't know Miza. Go get your brother and sister."

The child ran off as the swarm of…They were ships and they were heading their way. Not again, please not again.

"Miza! Miza! Get in the house! Get in the house!"

The insect whine of the first ship sped overhead and released a beam of light that raked the ground. Miza running as fast as her little legs could carry her disappeared before Tykah's eyes.

Screaming, Tykah ran even harder towards the house. "Rein! Shukie!" She had to find her other two children before another ship appeared.

To her horror, they ran out of the barn carrying clothes and into a beam. Keening and wailing for her lost babies, she dropped to her knees and pleaded with the sun and stars to give her her children back. The whine of yet another ship in the blotched sky came from behind her. She had nothing left in this life and waited to join the rest of her family.

In her sorrow, she took no notice of the screams of others sharing the same fate.

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He had trusted them to have a defense ready. The SGC, Atlantis, Rodney-- someone to have the ships lined up and ready to go, and to give this…this prehistoric bitch a come to Jesus moment.

A handful of ships finally appeared on the screen. He silently cheered them on as they started a dog fight. He recognized them as Goa'uld fighters and a larger ship whose name escaped him at the moment. Alvin? Alkaline? Al-something or other. It occurred to him that this was not Earth. A sense of relief flooded through him and guilt sprang to its side as he realized some other unfortunate planet in his home galaxy was the first stop.

"So many thousands," Lucy said breathlessly. "And your world holds more?" The gleam of greed in her eyes was unmistakable.

The Hive and a few darts dispatched the pitiful number of ships after only a few minutes of air time. The pilots did not stand a chance with the sheer, overwhelming number of Wraith. His heart sank into the mire and despair skirted around it.

He blandly replied, "Lieutenant Col…"

"Yes, so you have said, repeatedly."

She looked at the entrance of her sanctum and the gleam deepened. One of the Jasons brought in a boy of about twelve. Lucy had been feeding on people in front of him for days now. Young adults to old crones were marched in only to wither and die before him. He started to give them names from old TV shows. It was easier to remember each and everyone of them, proof of their existence, a memorial for their sacrifice.

He had started with Little House on the Prairie- Paw Ingalls, Maw Ingalls, Laura, Albert and so on. He moved to the Dukes of Hazzard next. The young woman had truly been a Daisy, the shorts and FMP's would have looked great on her. He had also seen a definite Betty when he was on the Flintstones. The red-haired Wilma was just as defiant as she should have been. All gone, like the shows. All of them had been adults. Change was in the air now that she had brought in a pubescent.

At the moment, he was assigning names from the Waltons. Reserving John Boy for himself (obviously), this kid reminded him of Jim Bob. He had an inkling why she chose such a young victim. His outburst in the other cocoon must have given her ideas. Should have kept his emotions close and his big mouth shut; should not have let her have anything to use against him.

To his credit, the boy stood straight and tall. Fear was in his eyes and Sheppard could tell that he was not too far from shaking in his boots, but he handled it better than most. "I am Rein of the free Jaffa. You do not scare me."

The boy-- no, young man might not have been shaking, but Sheppard had a constant tremor now. It increased when the adrenaline started flowing at the sight of the planet. It spiked with a little more ferociousness since the kid walked into the room.

"Your galaxy offers such delights." She addressed the comment to Sheppard completely ignoring the boy's statement. "The Prometheus is a lie, is it not? There are no ships or just one similar to the one that defended the city during the battle."

That got Sheppard's attention. She was there, at Atlantis. It started to order in his mind how she had come by the blue prints for the engines. He was digging big holes on a planet and playing with Kolya while she plotted the first or second or third attack against Atlantis. A lone dart had scanned the city as he played moleman and she had reaped the benefits. He recognized her now as an old enemy, not a new one.

"The one called McKay told me many things while he…was interrogated." She stopped and watched his reaction. He did not give her one. "He informed me of the Asgard and their battle cruisers. Their transporter technology, and of the Goa'uld and their ships and armaments. But the Prometheus, something seemed flawed. A lie, perhaps. The chair…"

The chair, they put McKay in that chair. He wanted to be sick.

She smiled because of his reaction. Wide eyed and trembling, John's color leeched from his face as he watched her circle teenager. "The chair extracted the location of Earth, your pitiful defenses and some of your so-called allies."

The young man continued to stand straight and tall, but his eyes never left her except when she walked behind him. She stopped as she stepped out of his eyesight and laid her feeding arm over his shoulder. "Tell me who will be there and what will they bring to the feast, or he is my next meal."

John hated that science class skeleton-style grin she gave. He hated himself for what he was about to not do. There was a special place in hell for people like her and he was going to have a nice warm corner there as well. He stared at a point past the Queen and her salad. There were a billion or more kids on Earth like this one. He'd be damned if he was going to make it easy for her to suck them dry as well.

And to be honest, he was still learning about the Goa'uld especially after Caldwell's encounter. He knew about how the Jaffa had taken over Goa'uld modes of transportation…

He stopped his mental discourse. Lucy did not know about the Jaffa. She kept asking about the Goa'uld. Rodney gave her the Prometheus and the Goa'uld, that slick bastard. She would not expect any assets of the Goa'uld to aid Earth. He hoped that the kid's free Jaffa statement went unnoticed or misunderstood.

He looked Rein right in the eye. This kid was from a warrior class and thought he knew the meaning of sacrifice. He was about to find out. Sheppard knew Lucy well enough; she was going to drain this kid of his twelve years whether he answered or not. Another gauge on her twisted game, another pawn. Sheppard might be tired of games, but he had to keep playing.

"If those few ships are all the Goa'uld have…"

"We are not…"

"Intimidated," finished Sheppard quickly. He gave his best shut-up look. The boy returned the look with confusion, and then a minor understanding.

"We are not intimidated," Rein corroborated Sheppard's statement.

"If that is the best they have to offer…" She looked at the back of Rein's head and then at Sheppard. Her tangerine eyes full of delight. "…the best this galaxy can do, let us take what is ours!"

The HUD magnified all darts full of fresh food returning to the ship. After several minutes, the blue glow of hyperspace returned.

"It was a good haul and our hold is full. Yet, in all the excitement, I almost forgot…" She spun Rein to face her, reared her hand back and ate. She walked his shocked body backwards until she crushed what was left into the wall next to Sheppard.

Something broke in Sheppard as he heard the bones crack. With the youthful scream, the tears, and the knowledge he could do nothing about it, he disassociated himself. He was a wall ornament listening in on the world around him. The old portrait of Uncle So-and-So eavesdropping on the dirty little secrets that went on behind closed doors.

To his shame, he had sacrificed this kid and was prepared to do it again. He would give her nothing more on Earth. She had everything she was going to get, at least from him; which was nothing. Rodney had given her enough misinformation and anything he said might counteract it. Even though his tremors remained, the rest of him calmed and hyper-focused on a pulsating point across the room. His heart beat in his ear and his mouth went dry as he heard the frail little body collapse with a soft thud on the floor. Emotions spent, he stared ahead at the spot across the room. This definitely trumped Count Chocula and the spoon.

Flexing her hand, she strolled back over to him. "I was right, not enough." Her claws sank into already lacerated flesh and the maw cut into its usual spot.

He was ready for her and bit back the scream. His face reddened as she held on a second or two longer than normal. Her hair tickled his nose as she leaned in bending his ribs to the point of breaking before releasing him.

For a moment, he was sure this was it. And, that was all right, even preferred. No such luck, though.

Through the shock and heaving breaths of air, he spied Osy standing in the doorway vacantly waiting for the Queen to finish. The look might have been vacant, but rage flowed under the surface. The wheels turned and she had her own preparations mentally underway in her brain.

"I hope all offspring of your world are that succulent." Lucy grabbed him on either side of the face so as to have his full attention. The contact was too intimate. She had no right to touch him like that. "Next stop, Earth."

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"They should have warned us!" An old grizzled woman yelled at the Council. "The Tau'ri are only looking out for themselves!"

Bra'tac closed his eyes searching for patience. "Warned us of what? That the Wraith were on their way here? Is that not what they've already done?"

"They did not tell us they would stop and attack one of our planets!" The old member yelled back.

"So many worlds, they only knew that the Hive ship was heading for Earth." Bra'tac turned in a circle to address each member.

"Dur'mok is right! They brought this on all of us! Meddling with things they know nothing about. The Wraith have no honor and attacked a sanctuary for refugees, people fleeing the Ori and their Priors and the Lucian Alliance. Women, children and aged taken to be what, food?"

"Harvested like grain in the field. The Tau'ri should have warned us!" Another voice joined the chorus for blood.

Bra'tac glared at the members. "You call yourselves warriors, leaders of the Jaffa people? You mew and whine like sickly cubs. The Tau'ri only had information on the Wraith's interest in Earth. If they had known about Joben, do you not think they would have taken the fight there instead of their home planet?"

"Maybe Master Bra'tac, but maybe we should forget the Tau'ri and find these Wraith. Show them how the Jaffa deal with such cowardice."

"Forget the Tau'ri? Have you forgotten so quickly and easily? You are right Marcet, the Wraith have no honor. Now you see what those on Atlantis face daily. We are cattle to this wretched race. Let us show them what damage hooves and horns can do!"

"I say let the Tau'ri deal with them on their own. They forsook those on Joben. Fortify our own worlds! "

Bra'tac banged his staff into the chamber's floor. The echo silenced the pandemonium for a moment. "We promised them ships and now you want to repeal that offer? We know where the Wraith are heading. We know their tactics. Let's greet them with our brothers of Earth. Do not shirk this responsibility for an infinitesimal chance of finding this ship again. Council members, what are you prepared to do?"

The members mumbled, hissed and whispered to one another. Bra'tac stood in the center of the chamber and waited for the answer.

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"The Wraith are attacking? Sgt. Harriman, the next time you say that, qualify it," Gen. Landry snarled. "I thought we were about five minutes away from being the blue plate special."

The sergeant looked duly chastised from the glares of everyone standing in the Control Room.

"Yes sir," he said in a subdued voice. "I will provide a location next time."

"Thank you. Now please, replay the message we received."

"We received a distress call from a refugee camp on a M41-143 through the Jaffa High Council. They were under attack from a large ship with fast moving smaller ships. The ships, which I'm guessing are darts, used a transporter beam to remove the people from the planet." Harriman sat down and started a playback of the message.

A crackling voice relayed what the speaker was seeing before abruptly stopping mid-sentence. The screaming and tell-tale whine of darts played in the background for several seconds before cutting off.

"Sounds like a culling to me, sir," Mitchell said in a low respectful voice.

"It was not a full culling. The ship was there less than thirty minutes," Harriman added.

"We need the Atlantis personnel here sooner rather than later," Carter pointed out. "If the ship is already in our galaxy, then it is only a couple of days away. To state the obvious, we are running out of time."

"I know. Our daily communication is in two hours. I'll request their presence immediately."

"Don't you mean order, sir?" Mitchell asked with a sly grin on his face.

"You don't order Dr. Weir to do anything. I know, because I tried. That's one battle Jack O'Neill might even lose." Landry started for the door. "I'll make the formal request and we'll go from there."

The small laughs died down after his exit. "Well," Jackson clapped his hands together, "Let's get ready for houseguests."

"Which ones?" Carter asked.

"Does it matter?" Jackson asked back.

"I guess not," she flatly conceded.

The Gate started rotating and the familiar unscheduled off-world activation left Harriman's lips. "It's Master Bra'tac." The iris opened and the venerable warrior exited the wormhole.

Graveness permeated his body as he walked down the ramp. Mitchell and Teal'c hurried out of the room and reached him first. Jackson and Carter soon followed.

"I have come to report that the Council is re-deliberating whether to send help or not. This attack has set many tempers on edge."

General Landry reappeared and walked up to Bra'tac as he spoke, "I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. Surely, they understand we had no advance warning."

"I have explained this and yet, they are as dense as pitch. They want to find this ship and destroy it on their own."

"Well, I'll send SG-1 to the Council except for Col. Carter. She's kinda busy here. Dr. Jackson, it's time to show some of that charisma."

"Of course, General."

"Teal'c, Jackson, it looks like we have another trip to make. Let's find the sleeping bags and give Expedia a call. We're going for a good old-fashioned revival." Mitchell turned and walked out of the embarkation room with his team in tow.

Landry could swear he heard Mitchell humming Amazing Grace as he left.

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Teyla rested her hands on top of her P90 and waited in front of the Stargate. She was leaving her home, again. This time her journey would be even farther, but unlike last time, she would be returning, most likely. Earth had requested their presence at their earliest convenience. McKay had blustered and complained like normal, but in the end, he said they would be ready for a morning trip. Even he could not deny the urgency of the situation. The Wraith were so close.

She had overheard the SGC verbal communication of a surprise culling on a Jaffa world. The Jaffa were understandably unhappy. She sympathized with them. They had just gained their freedom from one oppressive race only to have more try and take its place. Maintaining freedom from oppression was a constant battle, and from what she gathered, they were up to it.

Ronon shifted impatiently beside her as she surfaced from her thoughts.

"I thought we were in a hurry?"

She gave her patented patient face and answered, "The scientists always triple and quadruple check their equipment. The wormhole can only be held open for so long. They do not want to deplete the ZPM."

"They worry too much."

"Yes they do," she said with a smile. She looked up at the balcony where Dr. Weir and Col. Caldwell waited for the rest of the team leaving for Earth to arrive. It was not right. Nothing against the colonel, but it just was not right. Teyla could feel it as if the very walls screamed it, as if the walls cried for the one who was missing. It was probably nonsense, but she caught Dr. Zelenka- on occasion- eyeing the walls as well. Still, it must be nonsense. She exhaled and turned towards the sounds of wheels rolling, people talking and boisterous complaining.

"Simpson, are you sure you have the extra crystals?"

"Gee Rodney, I knew I forgot something!" She dramatically answered with a slap to her forehead. "They're in with the extra filaments." She pointed to a large duffle bag atop some metal cases.

"It's not like ACE is the place for Ancient hardware," snapped McKay. "We can't turn the car around and come back."

"Relax Rodney, we have everything," eased Zelenka and then he looked at his shoes. "Take care of yourself. Don't throw yourself shamelessly at the singular remarkableness that is Col. Samantha Carter."

McKay glared. "Shut-t…up." He popped the P at the end. He raised his eyes to the balcony and yelled, "We're ready!"

The lights started spinning and the cosmic flush shot out and settled. Teyla watched as Dr. Beckett went through with his team and equipment first. The technicians and extra scientists went through next and Rodney waited with Ronon and her. He rechecked his vest as he always did only to look up at her as she gave him a warm smile. He looked back at her like she was crazy and then looked around to see who she was smiling at. Realizing it was him, he gave a forced, smile-like grimace back. She thanked the Ancestors that at least some things had not changed.

Teyla returned her attention to the Stargate and watched as Sgt. Stackhouse and his team stepped through with more equipment. Their turn was next. Teyla watched as Dr. Rodney McKay gave Dr. Elizabeth Weir a very Lt. Col. John Sheppard wave before stepping into the shimmering puddle. Her smile grew.

It was a good omen.

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A/N: Congrats to Stealth Dragon for being the 200th review! Horns are blowing and confetti is being thrown! I've never had that many reviews before…Thank you. Also the counter is well into five digits…holy guacamole!

The bunnies thank you for the well-wishing. They went frolicking by the pond and narrowly escaped a gator. Quick reflexes and sacrificing a duck to the beast saved their fluffy little tails. Evil bunnies. They had to partake of a few margaritas and tequila shooters from Isaac until they calmed down. Gator's keeping an eye out for them though.