Path of the Storm Chapter 17, a stargate: atlantis fanfic

Stargate Atlantis: Path of the Storm

Chapter Seventeen

All this waiting around was starting to get tedious and John Sheppard knew all about tedious, hell he'd had to put up with Rodney McKay for the best part of a year now. Thinking about McKay only upset him now and not in a "you're annoying me so I'll shoot you with whatever is at hand" way. It upset Sheppard as he feared the worst, no one went to all the trouble that Kolya had just to invite you to a tea party. At least at a tea party you had snacks and something to drink. Here you got nothing at all, even the Wraiths were looking peckish and he wasn't about to be part of their main diet.

Sheppard glanced up to Mike and then back to the other Wraith who was lying on the floor looking pretty miserable. Then again, that was probably considered a normal expression for their species. He looked away and over to the door, just waiting for Kolya to step through and start taunting him again as John had been coming up with some great comebacks that were just itching to be unleashed on the jerk.

He had to admit that he had a lot of time on his hands what with being stuck in a cell and all. Sheppard folded his arms and leaned his back against the wall, all he wanted to do was think about Atlantis and all those there who would be coming up with a plan to rescue him. Now he wouldn't exactly call himself a straight down optimist but he'd spent a good deal of time around these people and he could see that they always looked after their own.

Matriya kept her eye on the Wraith who Sheppard had named Mike, it was looking at her with an intimidating expression. She hadn't known about their mental capabilities and it was trying it's best to communicate her, after all if she was a telepath it wouldn't be that hard to control her. Kolya hadn't assigned this woman to guard them until the one he called Sheppard had arrived, now he seemed to have her here constantly to delve into the Human's mind and extract information he requested. Mike slid his gaze to Sheppard who had his eyes closed and appeared to be resting; he had heard snippets of conversations Kolya had been involved in.

He had overheard words used such as Atlantis and Earth. Mike had no idea as to what this Earth was but he definitely knew Atlantis. Hissing at Matriya he stepped back and closed the distance between himself and Sheppard, there was still a matter of this obstruction separating them but he was certain that wouldn't be much of a problem for too long. The Wraith came to the conclusion that Sheppard must have been one of those who inhabited the city over 10,000 years ago. An Ancient.

Mike glanced back to Matriya who had her energies focused elsewhere now, there had been the sound of approaching footsteps and she had walked over to the door. The Wraith turned back to Sheppard and saw that in his state of rest, he had slid dangerously close to this side of the cell. If only he could reach through and pull him across, it was hard to judge from this distance but he believed he could do it. His hunger was overwhelming him. With one more look to the door, Mike crouched down and reached a hand through the bars. His fingers brushed against the material of Sheppard's jacket, it was the closet he had been to a Human in three days. It had been three days since Kolya had stopped feeding him after Mike had failed to co-operate with the Genii, the Wraith in the cell the other side of Sheppard had been starving over a period of almost two weeks now which explained his weaker state.

Sheppard jerked slightly and Mike immediately retracted his hand but his gaze never left the man. One more look to the door to see if the woman's attention was still off him, he tried once more and gripped Sheppard's wrist tightly. Awoken from the catnap, Sheppard's eyes snapped open as he was pulled up to his feet and connected with the bars. He groaned which gained Matriya's attention; she spun round unprepared for the sight behind her and unholstered her weapon at the same time.

The Wraith had Sheppard in his grasp, if anything happened to him than Kolya would surely kill her for letting him come to harm.

John hadn't had the displeasure of coming into close contact with a Wraith, well not a male one anyway and he didn't believe it would get any better. Sheppard looked directly into its eyes as it raised his right hand, he had seen the way these things fed and he wasn't about to let himself become yet another victim. He whipped his hand across his chest and fought to loosen it's grip on his wrist before that other hand came close enough to start the feeding process. "Don't just stand there," Sheppard yelled breaking out into a sweat while trying to prise himself away from the bars. "Shoot it!"

Matriya rose her weapon and sighted down the barrel to fire at the Wraith when the door opened behind her, Kolya strolled in and immediately a scowl appeared on his face at the sight. He hadn't wanted Sheppard to feed the Wraith, he had gone back to Bre'tar to arrange for food to be delivered for Mike and this was the gratitude he received. "Release him," Kolya said instead of demanding to know what was going on for this display was evident enough.

Mike stopped short and looked sideways at Kolya with a contemplative expression, or it could have been wind? Hell, Sheppard wasn't sure and all he knew was that he wanted to get as far away from this thing as possible.

"Release him," Kolya repeated with a tone that clearly said that he would not ask a third time.

The Wraith stared at Sheppard and Kolya in turn. It looked once more to Sheppard then did something that caught him completely off-guard, it actually let his wrist go and released him. John took a few steps back in order to establish a safe distance between him and Mike while looking back to the other Wraith who hadn't made any attempt to move. Mike turned to face Kolya. Had he witnessed this correctly? Had he just seen a Wraith take orders from Kolya?

There was a scream from outside and one of Kolya's men dragged in a woman, Sheppard squinted his eyes and instantly recognised her as Jeana who had served them the wine on Bre'tar but what the hell was she doing here? Kolya looked back to Jeana then to Mike with a mischievous expression.

"I have something you want," he finally added darkly.