Author's Note: Apologies for the gaps in updating. I've been all over the country the past few days and struggling to find time to post, but the story is finished (not sure how many chapters yet, though) so I'm not writing as I go - have no fear! For now, please enjoy an extra long chapter and let me know what you think.

He remembered a memory that wasn't his, but was his at the same time. It was a memory from long ago. So long ago that he had another name. Icarus.

He remembered standing at his father's side on one of the piers of Atlantis, dressed in silver armor. They looked out over the shining spires of the city at the planet they were flying towards, and he recognized it as Earth.

They had to go there long ago to help with the war. It wasn't long after Ra had come and spread his influence, but a new enemy had emerged, and his father was sure that Icarus would bring peace to the planet.

He settled on Earth and fell in love. She was a Greek beauty who attended her father's sheep. She was the love of his life.

But winning the war was his duty and he had to leave her with his sons one day. He had to protect Earth and its people. So he fought against the enemy with all his might, but the only way to defeat them was to fly them into the sun.

So he did.

Woolsey immediately ordered a probe sent to the planet Sheppard tried dialing out to. Worried about what they might find, McKay rigged a drone to fly through the 'gate, followed by a cloaked puddlejumper to wait at the 'gate and dial back to Atlantis. They were prepared for anything.

Lorne piloted the 'jumper with McKay at the drone's controls. Woolsey had strictly ordered them not to leave the proximity of the 'gate so they settled on one of the black dunes nearby to wait for the drone.

They had emerged on a desolate landscape. A red sky greeted them, with no sun in sight through the haze. Black sandy dunes surrounded the 'gate, and once the drone rose high enough, they could see on the camera rolling hills as far as the horizon with nothing else within scanning range.

"Looks like a volcanic area, like Sheppard said," McKay said, deftly flying the drone away from the 'gate. "I'm picking up sulfur and trace amounts of silicon, normal levels of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen. Nothing pinging on the technology sensors, yet."

The drone flew for a few minutes before they finally saw a cluster of buildings in the distance. The buildings were black like the landscape, low, long and blocky, and arranged in an intricate pattern.

"Is that … a Fibonacci sequence?" Woolsey queried through the comms.

McKay's eyes widened. "Looks like it. Why would anyone arrange their buildings in that pattern?"

"Curious," Woolsey mused.

"What's Fibinitchi?" Ronon's voice rumbled through the radio.

"Fibonacci," McKay answered in annoyance, "was the discoverer of the mathematical sequence of doubling numbers which visually turned into perfect spirals. It's found everywhere in nature."

Below the drone, they saw a few tiny figures roaming between the buildings.

"Can you zoom in?" Woolsey asked.

"Zooming." McKay focused on one of the figures and it emerged clearly on the screen as looking like one of the aliens who had accompanied Sheppard back to Atlantis. The bald heads with blinking lights on the temples were unmistakable.

"Think this is where they're from?" Lorne asked.

"No idea." McKay spun the camera, seeking out the other figures and finding that all of them were indeed the aliens. "I'm not picking up any human life signs. No Wraith, either. Just these guys."

"How many?" Woolsey demanded.

McKay frowned as he looked at the mass of dots swarming the screen in front of him. "Too many. Looks like they're all underground. It could be an army down there. Thousands. It's hard to tell."

"And Colonel Sheppard wanted to go back there?" Teyla asked.

"Hey, I'm as perplexed as everyone else," McKay answered. "He's clearly not in his right mind, and I think the key is getting that thing off of him."

"Doctor Keller is nowhere near being able to extract the device safely," Woolsey said.

"We might have to take him there." Lorne set his jaw as he looked at McKay. "Maybe they can get it off."

"Something tells me they won't do that," McKay replied. He backed the drone off. "I'm going to bring the drone back to the 'gate. I've gotten all the intel I could so let's download what we can and make a plan. Shut down the connection so we can dial back."

Moments later, Lorne and McKay joined the rest of the team in the control room.

"What worries me is that they could amass their army and storm the 'gate to Atlantis at any time," Woolsey said. "Sheppard and the other aliens just walked right through our shield like it was nothing."

"He did have that Ancient device," McKay pointed out. "I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it does, but unless they have more and someone with the ATA gene who can work it, we might be safe."

"Surely they would have attacked us already if they had the means," Teyla said. "I believe Colonel Sheppard is the key to whatever it is that they would like on Atlantis. He has tried with the utmost of his being to return to them."

"I agree with Teyla," Lorne nodded. "Whether they want to take the city or not, they had the ZPM and tried to take it with them. And they were flanking Sheppard, like they were trying to protect him. They need him for something. And we can't just bring him back there."

"We may not have a choice."

They all turned as Keller's voice cut through the control room. She hurried towards them, concern written on every feature.

"Colonel Sheppard's condition has worsened," she continued. "There's nothing I can do to help him as his body is metabolizing everything too fast. I'm worried that if we can't remove that device he's … he's going to die."

"Have you made any progress on the other devices?" Woolsey asked.

"A bit. I managed to turn one off, so the next step is to try and remove it which shouldn't be too difficult now."

"How did you turn it off?" McKay sputtered.

Keller blinked. "Purely by accident. That's why I'm here, actually. I've been trying to reach Doctor McKay on the comms and he hasn't been answering."

McKay looked embarrassed. "I shut my radio off after we got back."

"When you're done I need your help," Keller said to him. "We don't have much time. Colonel Sheppard doesn't have much time."

"I got it, Doctor McKay," the tech at the 'gate controls said, sliding into the chair nearby. "We'll let you know the results as soon as they're downloaded."

"Go," Woolsey ordered.

Reluctantly, McKay handed over the drone controls and followed Keller back to the infirmary, Ronon and Teyla on his heels.

Sheppard was strapped hand and foot to the first table they saw, trembling and writhing, his face twisted in agony. Multiple IVs and wires lined his body, and the monitors around his bedside were flashing in alarm.

"What happened?" Teyla demanded.

"His condition deteriorated rapidly since he tried to escape the last time," Keller explained as she started gathering equipment. She shoved a few pieces into McKay's arms. "They were taking him back to his cell when he had another seizure. It's almost like he's in withdrawal, but whatever is leaving his system is killing him in the process."

"Killing him?" McKay repeated, shocked.

Keller nodded gravely. "His internal organs are shutting down. Whatever was giving him the ability to heal rapidly is no longer doing so. I suspect his last escape attempt might have depleted the drug almost entirely. He's in a great deal of pain but I can't give him anything because his metabolism is still so fast that medications aren't working. His body is going to eat itself if we can't figure out how to get this thing off of him, or figure out what it's doing to him."

Sheppard twisted on the table, fighting the restraints, eyes glazed. A monitor started blaring an alarm.

Keller cursed. "I need ice packs!" she bellowed.

"What's going on?" Ronon asked.

"His temperature is spiking," Keller said, pushing him out of the way as medics rushed in, packing ice around Sheppard's body. They waited for tense moments until the monitor stopped the alarm.

"Ok," Keller sighed. "I think his temperature is stabilizing, but we need to keep an eye on him."

Sheppard tossed and shook on the bed as the medics tried soothing him under the restraints and ice packs. His face was lined in pain.

McKay's face hardened with resolve as he looked at Keller. "Show me what you did. We need to get this thing off of him."

At the sound of McKay's voice, Sheppard whipped his head towards the man, straining against the cuffs as a nurse rearranged ice packs under his arms.

"Rod … Rodney …" Sheppard gasped, panting with the effort, agony on every feature.

McKay sagged, stepping closer. "We're doing everything we can to help you, John," he said softly.

Sheppard tossed his head. "Rodney … Janus."

"What?"

"You have …" he gasped, struggling for every breath against the pain. "You have to find … Janus."

The gasps for air turned into gasps of pain, and Teyla's eyes welled with tears.

"Can we do nothing for him?" she asked.

Keller shook her head. "The only thing that's ever really knocked him out was Ronon's blaster —"

Ronon whipped the gun out, flicked the setting to stun, and immediately fired. It only took three shots to knock the Colonel out, but even in unconsciousness, he gasped and trembled in pain, the lines in his face barely softening.

"How long does he have?" Ronon asked quietly.

Keller looked defeated. "I don't know. If nothing changes then days at most. But as it is, he may have to go on a ventilator, and possibly dialysis within the next 24 hours. After that, there's nothing more I can do."

McKay snapped his fingers, dumping Keller's equipment onto a nearby cart as he pulled up one of the Atlantis computers nearby.

"What are you doing?" Keller demanded.

"Janus." McKay's fingers flashed as the computer searched, and then Ancient script began flowing across the monitor. Stabbing a forefinger at the screen, McKay said, "Janus was an Ancient. We came across his name years ago but there was nothing that interesting about him until Sheppard mentioned him just now."

"Why Janus?" Teyla asked.

"Janus," McKay said triumphantly, "was experimenting on soldiers who could win the war against the Wraith. I think that Sheppard accidentally stumbled on his lab."

"How does that help us?" Ronon demanded.

McKay's face fell. "I need to run this through the translation database, but hopefully we can learn more."

"How long will it take?" Teyla looked worriedly at Sheppard's trembling form.

"Not long — maybe fifteen minutes. There isn't a lot here which is … concerning."

"Well, get working on it, then!" Keller exclaimed. "I don't have much to share about the device as I'm still not sure how I turned it off in the first place."

"Start working on the other one while I do this," McKay ordered. "If we can get them both off I think I might have an idea."

"What can we do?" Teyla asked.

"Nothing," McKay answered, glancing at Sheppard, "for now. I'll keep you posted."

An hour later, Keller and McKay called Woolsey, Lorne, Teyla, and Ronon into the infirmary. Sheppard was beginning to regain consciousness, twisting against the restraints as he fought waves of pain.

"We got the other device off," McKay began. "This is important because —" he looked at Teyla and Ronon, "— you're going to wear them."

Ronon visibly recoiled. "Why?"

"The plan is — as long as Mr. Woolsey approves it, of course —" Keller nervously looked at the man, "that we have to bring Sheppard back to the planet he came from. The information that Dr. McKay found shows that Janus had a lab there. And the only way we can get there is if we don't bring anyone else with the ATA gene. Which means Major Lorne can't accompany them."

"It's probably where all these aliens or hybrids, or whatever they are, are coming from," McKay broke in. "Janus was experimenting on soldiers who could fight more effectively against the Wraith. He was ostracized from Atlantis because of the experiments he was running. We don't know if Janus himself is even still alive, or if the soldiers he has on that base are truly a new alien species. These soldiers could be human, or maybe even distantly Wraith, but with all the experimentation they've mutated into something else entirely."

"These aliens seem to be the perfect soldier," Keller continued, "And it seemed like they were trying to do the same thing to Sheppard."

"Turn him into an alien or soldier hybrid?" Woolsey asked.

"No — Give him the abilities of the aliens." Keller pointed at the monitor above Sheppard's bedside, showing an active scan of his body and other screens. "He was stronger, faster, impervious to pain. He's got something running through his system giving him these abilities, much like the Wraith enzyme. But this seems to be more powerful and longer lasting due to the device. Now that the device seems to be breaking down —"

"I think it needs recharging," McKay broke in.

Keller shot him an annoyed look and continued. "Now that something appears to be wrong with the device, it's working against him. His metabolism is off the charts. I'm doing everything I can to keep his body from eating itself. I've been pumping him full of nutrients, extra minerals, and protein, and it's used up in hours versus days. Drugs aren't working. High doses of morphine works for minutes. He's in constant pain now, and I'm not sure if the mind control or whatever control the device seemed to have over his previous actions is working anymore."

"Can we talk to him?" Woolsey asked.

"We've been trying," McKay admitted. "He hasn't been making much sense but he seems more like himself and knows where he is."

"He's developed a fever. It's higher than anything I've ever seen. Honestly, he shouldn't be alive right now," Keller continued. "I think whatever is left in the device is all that's keeping him alive. I'm pretty sure his last escape attempt depleted the device. It's almost as if it gives a surge of power or dumps drugs into his system when he needs it, but that means that it runs out faster when he uses it like that. If we don't recharge it or get it off of him he will die."

"Then let's go," Ronon said, resting his hand on his blaster.

"It's not as simple as that," McKay stammered. "You don't know what you're walking into. We saw the facilities from the drone but we know nothing about what's inside. We do know that they wanted Sheppard for his ATA gene, and that's why we can't send in Lorne or anyone else who has the gene."

"Then give me a unit of Marines without the gene," Ronon argued.

"You're injured," Keller pointed out. "I think we should find someone else, anyway."

"No!" Ronon exclaimed. "Give me something for the pain. I'm going."

"Ronon." Sheppard's weak voice cut through the tense standoff.

The Satedan surged to the Colonel's bedside. "Sheppard."

Sheppard groaned, opening eyes glazed with pain that Ronon wasn't even sure were seeing what was in front of him.

"Buddy," Sheppard gasped, "just leave me. It's … pointless."

"Sheppard," McKay leaned down on the other side of the bed, getting in the man's face. "Do you even understand what is going on? We're trying to save you."

"Yes," Sheppard nodded weakly. "I was … compromised. Pointless … to go back. Can't put … more lives … at risk."

He closed his eyes, hands grasping at the sheets beneath him as he twisted in pain.

Ronon stared at McKay, and then at Keller. "I'm going. And we're going now. Tell us what to do."

"But he's right," Lorne said grimly. "He was compromised. If we send more people in, there's a chance they will also be taken and used against us."

"We will not let it come to that," Teyla said, her jaw set. "We would rather die trying to save him than stand by and watch him die like this."

"This cannot be a Stargate Command sanctioned mission," Woolsey shook his head.

"Which is why I suggested no Marines. Only Ronon and Teyla go," McKay said. "They aren't SG Command personnel. You don't have to authorize this mission. If they succeed, great. If not, your hands are clean."

Woolsey shifted uncomfortably. "This is going to be a very difficult report to write."

"Then don't write it!" McKay snapped. "This is Sheppard's life at stake, not yours. To hell with Stargate Command. He would do the same for any one of us. Why can't we do the same for him?"

"We need to go — now." Teyla said grimly, looking at Sheppard. The man was trembling, skin pale and sweaty. "He does not have much time left. I would rather die trying to save him than let him suffer so."

Brushing Woolsey aside, McKay strode over to Keller. "Help me with the devices. We need to rig something up for Ronon and Teyla and we need to do it fast."

Glancing at Woolsey, Keller was torn between duty and defiance. But the Commander of Atlantis gave her the nod.

"Do what you can," Woolsey said. "We owe it to him."

They worked fast. McKay always worked best under pressure, and he and Keller managed to create a bracelet that Teyla and Ronon could wear. The devices glowed red on contact with their skin, but no tendrils shot out or tried to connect to the Athosian or Satedan when they put the bracelets on. Keller theorized that they only bonded with a host when in close contact with the spinal cord. The bodies of the aliens she was able to examine showed that their devices were linked to their spinal columns, but the spinal cord itself began in a completely unexpected place: between the eyes and the brain. Ronon and Teyla had no fear of the device bonding as long as they kept it away from their necks or backs.

Ronon armed himself to the teeth, and Teyla did likewise. They had no idea what they were walking into and knew that it was possibly a suicide mission. As they waited in front of the silent 'gate for Sheppard, McKay solemnly handed them both radios.

"I'm going to keep working on strengthening our shield so they can't come through the same way they did," he said. "You will only be able to get back if you send the code I've programmed into these radios. You need both radios to get back. Your normal IDC won't work because we won't know if you've also been compromised. Once we receive your signal we'll send a 'jumper to dial home. Woolsey doesn't want to risk sending you through with the 'jumper like we did with the drone. They might anticipate that we're returning and be waiting for us this time. For now, I've rigged a video and audio feed into your earpieces. We'll watch and listen as long as we can until the 'gate shuts down. Then … if you get back, hopefully we'll have a little more intel on these guys."

Telya laid her hand on the scientist's arm. "We will return, Rodney," she said gently. "And we will bring John with us."

McKay nodded tightly, his jaw tense and eyes hardened with resolve.

At that moment, Keller entered the 'gate room with a team of medics, wheeling Sheppard on a cart.

"He's awake, but I can't say he's lucid," Keller said quietly to Teyla and Ronon. "I gave him a dose of adrenaline to see if it would help. He might be able to walk, but I'd recommend a stretcher as he's quite weak now."

Ronon shook his head. "Not with that terrain. I'll carry him if we have to."

"Ronon, your knee —" Keller began.

"I'll carry him." Ronon shot her a look and Keller closed her mouth tightly, then nodded.

"Fine."

Ronon slid an arm around Sheppard's back, gently helping him sit up.

"Ronon?" Sheppard asked weakly, grasping at the Satedan's vest.

"We're going for a trip, buddy," Ronon said. "But you need to walk, ok?"

Sheppard said nothing but staggered to his feet, leaning heavily on Ronon. Teyla came up on the other side of him, taking his other arm over her shoulder.

"Dial up the 'gate!" McKay thundered.

As the trio staggered towards the glowing wormhole, McKay added quietly, "Godspeed."