A/N: It's me again:D
I'd like to give a shout-out to all my readers, but most notably to Storm Herder, Aria DeLoncray, Lady Dark Hope and Aaunty Pasta – You are all the most AWESOME people I know! I just want to thankyou for your continued support with this fic, 'cause without it I would have stopped writing after chapter one! You guys are the reason I keep going with this, and if I could buy you all lots and lots of chocolate cake, I would!
SGASGASGA
Once they got down to the end of the corridor – taking twice as much time as it would usually take, because of having to dodge Wraith – Michelle noted the intersection and surmised that they were on the middle prison level, though she wished that she had a scientist there that could confirm her guess. While it was true that they did have a scientist there, unfortunately Doctor Ingram was one of the scientists responsible for studying irrigation systems to improve farming, as well as researching good methods of propagation to use in the greenhouses that the Lantean botanists were creating. The only reason that Captain Webb knew as much as she did was because she had spent many hours subtly looking over the shoulders of Dr McKay and Dr Zelenka, studying some of the various things that they would put up on the screens in the Control Room to present to Dr Weir.
While McKay was completely oblivious to her little studies, she found that Zelenka would sometimes catch her looking and deliberately point out a few extra details, or shift a little so she had a better view of the screen. Occasionally he would even invite her down to the labs to help him work. At first she had declined, but when Radek offered that she go down to the labs on the premise of using her gene on something or delivering a message, she simply couldn't refuse. Now she was very, very glad she hadn't refused.
Thankfully Dr Ingram, unlike some of the other scientific staff, knew when to keep her trap shut, and thus stayed completely silent and submissive as they directed her around the ship.
"We're on the third level," Michelle said with complete confidence that she did not feel. "I don't know the exact way, but I know the general direction to one of the armouries. We should get what we can there and then head to the Dart Bay."
"You think we can fly a Dart out of here?"
"No, I highly doubt that. But I think I might be able to rig up a small, subspace locator beacon-thing to send a signal to Atlantis. Which is why we'll also need to stop at a door along the way and grab some wires. If all goes well we could just use one of the doors to the Dart Bay and maybe hotwire it shut in the process. Just so you know, though, I'm not exactly expecting all to go well."
Doctor Ingram gave her a strange look, "I did not know that you were on the scientific staff, you wear the military colours…"
Michelle cut the older, Greek woman off with a cold stare, "I'm not on the scientific staff. I wear the military colours."
She felt a little bad for snapping at the scientist, but her head was really giving her hell, and she didn't want people thinking she was a nerd – she was already having a hard enough time fitting in and definitely did not require a repeat of her school days by having the cool kinds laughing at her behind her back (chances were that those types of kids now made up the majority of the Atlantis military sect. Besides, even if the military would accept that she was a closet geek, she knew there was no way that she would be able to get away without getting crap from people like Kavanaugh). She supposed that at least she had not been the type of geek who often acted as a punching back for the bigger kids. They had only laughed behind her back because despite her thin frame they knew she could pack a punch. The only reason she hadn't given Blake Rogers a nice black eye in eighth grade was because she didn't want to get caught being the instigator of a fight.
Shaking her head to clear away the digressive thoughts, she returned her attention back to dodging Wraith as they continued in the general direction of one of the small transport-things that the Wraith used to travel between the levels of the ship. They had been extremely close to being caught at least seven times now, though one did work to their advantage when they were forced to ambush a negligent pair of Wraith, and ended up with two more knives and an extra stunner pistol because of it.
Despite be able to move a little more offensively now it was still very slow going. Pearce had taken one of the larger knives that they had picked up and given the other to Dr Ingram, instructing her carefully that should she need to take down a Wraith, the best way would probably be to catch it by surprise and slit it's throat, making sure to push it's head forward first so that the artery that carried the main blood supply to the brain would not be protected by the windpipe.
Michelle had opted to keep her trusty little knife as opposed to the larger, unfamiliar Wraith one. She had had it for years and was very proficient with it. In fact, she had got it from her great grandfather when she turned fifteen and never been without it since, taking it absolutely everywhere with her and always sleeping with it stashed under her pillow. She had even come up with some rather proficient ways of getting around airport security with knives, just so she would always have it with her –probably not exactly the most legal thing to do, but she did it anyway. Having the knife with her made he feel safe, and now being in the Pegasus Galaxy she made sure to double check every time she left her room that she had it with her. She had even started taking into the bathroom with her and sitting it on the sink when she showered.
Ducking and weaving they through the maze of organic corridors they eventually managed to reach the transporter and select the correct level for one of the secondary armouries, which were generally less heavily guarded than the primary ones. Before they left the transporter, Michelle quickly pried the cover of one of the control panels open and pulled out some wires that she might need later.
The three of them managed to reach the armoury with fairly limited difficulty, and the armoury they had chosen turned out to be less heavily guarded than they had suspected it might be, figuring that the Wraith would have doubled the security on key places such as armouries, but evidently they had not expected their captives to know their way around a hive ship so well, probably doubting that they would be able to figure out how to get to a different level, let alone find an armoury.
They drew the Wraith away from their posts cautiously, then swooped in as quickly as they could. Both the Captains managed to get some pretty nasty bruises from the fight, but they managed to kill the five-strong guard party. Dr Ingram even managed to kill one, though she was then rather disgusted by the oozy black blood that now stained the knife she held.
Stocking up on as many Wraith grenades, stunner pistols and knives as they could without impeding their movement too much, they decided how best to get to their next goal. To their delight, while Dr Ingram was only really a botanist, she was also fairly proficient with computers and after a few minutes of tampering (even though none of them could read Wraith) she managed to bring up a schematic of the hive on one of the system monitors located in the armoury. Despite the labels of everything being in Wraith, Michelle had seen enough of the schematics during Zelenka and McKay's little presentations that she could point out key areas of the ship and how to get there.
Eventually they planned and memorised a route to the Dart Bay which they figured was the least likely to have many Wraith patrolling it. By now, even Dr Ingram was starting to get used to the running and ducking and weaving and was becoming rather proficient with a stunner pistol.
At the Dart Bay they found a pair of Wraith by one of the doors, but the bay was otherwise deserted, making Captain Webb think that they must either be in hyperspace, or very, very cocky Wraith.
They snooped around for a minute until Captain Pearce found a Dart in a nice little defensible corner for Webb to pull apart. Guessing what different components did, Michelle, with the help of Ingram and Pearce, finally managed to build a device and set it to the Daedalus' frequency. All that was left to do was wait.
SGASGASGA
Hope you liked it! I know I'm dragging this out a bit, but what can I say, I'm cruel ;-P Well, until tomorrow: Peace, Love and Unity man! Yeah!
Coming up:
Chapter 6 – Rescue
"John?" He was already half way to the door of the Control Room when Elizabeth called his name, causing him to turn and face her. "Bring them back," she said simply. Nodding, he left to ready the teams.