All Dawn could hear was some kind of static hum. All see could see was darkness. Wait, it wasn't darkness...her eyes weren't open. She fluttered eyes open ignoring the pain the action caused. She could only see shadows. Where was she?

"Hello young one." A voice came from behind.

She spun to confront the stranger a little too fast and stumbled slightly. Something was affecting her; it was as if her abilities had been sucked away. She felt slower than before and nothing in her sight was as sharp as it should be.

"Who are you?" Dawn asked the stranger. "And where the hell am I?"

As the stranger came closer she squinted, trying to get a better look at the unknown. It was a woman that much she could tell and she was...glowing. Not that Dawn hadn't seen anyone glow before, hell she had been known to glow on occasion.

She studied the woman's face which was becoming clearer now. She was middle aged with shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes and she was smiling. Dawn didn't get an 'I'm evil' vibe off her.

"My name is Lyanna. I'm sorry to say that I am the reason that you are here."

"Well at least you're honest. Are you gonna tell me why you brought me here?" Dawn asked irritated.

The newly named Lyanna smile broadened and she gestured around her. "First things first, where are we?"

Dawn looked at her confused. If crazy bats had brought her here why was she asking Dawn where they were? She gave the woman a quizzical look before taking another look around her.

"Oh."

Dawn knew where they were. Somewhere she hadn't seen in a long while, a place where some of her best and worst memories were created.

"Why am I seeing this place? It doesn't even exist anymore?"

"We're in your mind Dawn Summers; you choose the scenery, for the moment."

Dawn wasn't sure what to do with the 'for the moment' part of that statement but she was still taking in where she was.

She was home and not the crater it was the last time she ever saw it.

The 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign stood where it always had and behind it wasn't the large pit she had helped create what felt like forever ago, before her stood the quiet little town of Sunnydale.

She felt the pang of grief in her chest that always came with thoughts of Sunnydale. Here was where she had lived with her mother, where she had loved and grieved Tara as well as her sister. This is where her childhood had ended and she had started to grow up.

After Sunnydale and the destruction she had seen Dawn had changed. After the town sunk into the Hellmouth along with anything that really tied her to the person she was. All photos of her mother were gone bar two or three that Buffy had managed to save. The cemetery where she would go and talk to Tara after school (in daylight of course) and the Magic box were all gone. Hell, even the school was gone.

Buffy had been so insistent that she go to college, have a normal life. Deep down she knew Buffy had known that was never going to happen but she understood why her sister would try to push her away from what had destroyed her own life and filled it with so much grief.

That had never happened of course. Dawn had refused, having the same stubborn streak Buffy possessed. Unfortunately that had resorted in the two sisters to become estranged for the rest of her teen years. Buffy had gone to Rome and started building a headquarters there, while Dawn had gone to Cleveland with Giles and Faith. Of course they reconciled and forgave each other for their pig headedness but the whole experience had greatly changed Dawn. She threw herself into studying books and training with Faith and the other Slayers that made their way to Cleveland. She might not be the most emotionally healthy person in the world but she had evolved as a person in other ways.

"This was my home." She told Lyanna. "It's gone now."

"Nothing is truly ever gone. This place lives on from people that hold memories, good or bad."

"Okay Yoda, enough of trying to get in my head. What's happening?" Dawn didn't like where that conversation was going to go.

"I'm sorry I do not wish to pry, merely offering something that I have learned from experience." Lyanna was now stood next to Dawn towards the town. "I am not here to harm you Miss Summers; I'm simply here to help you understand."

"Understand what?" Dawn asked, not sure whether she way buying what the woman was selling.

"You have questions and I am here to answer them. When you touched the device you allowed me to access your mind so we could have this chat."

"Well that answers one question. You're the reason the device was giving me and Faith the wiggins. Next question, Daniel touched that device before me and for a lot longer. Why aren't you rooting around in his head?"

"It takes more than the gene to access some parts of our technology. Some also take in to account...other things."

"Like what? Stop with the cryptic and get to the point." Dawn told her. She never liked half answers.

Lyanna turned to face Dawn and hold her hands.

"I'll explain everything, but I think we need to go back to where this all began."

Dawn world spun as Sunnydale and the desert disappeared and was replaced with the last place she remembered before this dreamscape. They were back on the ship but it was different, there were Lanteans buzzing everywhere.

"Well this place got busy quick." Dawn quipped.

Lyanna smiled at her. "I see humour is your preferred method of defensiveness. This is how I remember the ship that your friends are now occupying."

"Again I ask, what's going on? I'm tired of playing games." Dawn told the older woman forcefully.

Lyanna made her way to the station that had got Dawn in this mess. It was there that a double of the woman sat.

"Well that's not something you see every day. Are you ready to let me in on the secret now?

"It's no secret young one. I thought it might smooth things if I knew a little about you before we continued. After all, by the end of our meeting you will know one of the biggest secrets I have kept for 10,000 years."

Dawn took a second to assess some of the Lanteans. They didn't seem to be able to see her so she perched on the end of Lyanna's desk.

"Lay it on me."

Lyanna nodded. "What I have to tell you is something that was greatly hidden in the war. Only a handful of Lanteans knew and it was going to be kept that way. The few of us that were researching the matter devised a way to keep it hidden from others. We expanded on the technology we developed to ensure the wraith couldn't use our own weapons against us. To access our files or anything associated with what we were doing the security system also scanned for DNA markers."

Dawn's eyebrow rose. "I'm no Willow but are you saying that it scanned your DNA?"

Lyanna nodded.

"So that means what? You're my great great great grandmother?"

"The connection is slightly more complex than that. I suppose I am technically your sister's ancestor."

Dawn put her head in her hands. "Why is everything in my life always so mixed up? Can I not have a simple conversation with a 10,000 year old woman?"

Lyanna smiled. "There is that humour again. As I was saying, while I am Lantean my husband's blood was that of the Huntress race."

"I thought the Huntress' were an all female kinda group." Dawn asked.

"How did you believe they procreated young one?" Lyanna asked innocently.

Dawn's cheeks tinged red. "Ok, oversight on my behalf, my bad."

"The Huntress race was one dominated by women but they had male offspring just like any other race, although the males of the bloodline did not share certain...qualities that their female counterparts did. They were only gene carriers."

"Ok, I'm following. Girls had superpowers; guys didn't but could pass the superpower gene on to the daughters. Buffy's a descendant of you and your gene carrying husband and I was made from Buffy's blood so that makes me related to you in a really weird way, am I right?"

"You are listening young one that is good. For what I have to tell you is of great importance."

"Well it's not every day you get a history lesson straight from the horse's mouth so to speak. Although it happens to me more than most, perks of having vampire buddies help you with you high school history homework. So what's the important stuff?"

Lyanna moved so she was behind her past self looking over her shoulder at the work she was doing.

"The Huntress's were what turned the tide against the Wraith when we were beginning to lose hope. We actually began to believe we could win this never ending war. How foolish we were to think that the Wraith, who had proved so adaptable in the past, wouldn't find a way to counteract our advantage."

Dawn put her hand up. "I know this one, enter the Destroyers right?"

Lyanna nodded and she looked saddened as she continued. "Small units of the warriors were continuing taking down wraith ships from the inside and killing their Queens but the Wraith would not take such an attack lying down. They tried to neutralize them."

Dawn sighed. "That the thing with Big Bads, they always find a way to hurt you even if you are winning."

"And indeed they did. They found this planet where many families of the Huntress's called home and Culled it. We were safe in the bunker down here but the world above was desolated."

Dawn could see the grief behind the woman's eyes as she told her story. Dawn realised that many of the people taken in the attack could have been friends, even family.

"While the Wraith managed to put a dent in their ranks most of the people here were civilians, the old and the young. The main contingent of the army was safe in Atlantis or on missions at the time of the attack. The Cull did not deter them however, if anything it gave them more cause to see the Wraiths end."

Dawn could understand that. Losing people could affect you in one of two ways. It could make you shun the world and retreat with your grief or fill you with so much rage you had to lash out. She's seen both approaches amongst her friends.

Lyanna continued her story. "They doubled their attacks but it wasn't long before whispers reached the ears of both races leaders. Both Lantean and Huntress forces spoke of a new type of Wraith warrior, stronger, faster and virtually impossible to kill. Our losses seemed to increase."

"Wraith got some buddies."

Lyanna paused and looked at the younger woman, really looked at her. Dawn had the feeling she was measuring her. She didn't want to find out what happened if it fell short. Dawn had quickly come to the conclusion that this Lyanna had a rather firm hold on her mind. She had easily manipulated Dawn in to seeing the lab and had mentally dragged her along for the ride.

"Our greatest flaw was always our arrogance; we were the superior race with advanced technology. Many of us believed we would defeat the Wraith because we were simply better than them. We forgot what those abominations were capable of."

That was when Dawn realised what she was being weighed for, whether she would make the same mistakes as her predecessors. Lyanna wanted to know whether she was worthy of the secret she had kept her entire life and then some.

She met the woman's gaze. "I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes but I will fight for my people till the end. Whatever it takes I am willing to do."

"You say that now young one but choices are not always so cut and dry. Sometimes you have to hurt the ones you love for the greater good. Have you ever had to make such a choice?"

Dawn considered the question and she knew her answer was no. She had seen the people around her do it. Buffy had done it with Angel when she had stabbed him to stop Acathla and then again to Xander when she attempted to Slay Anya. That's when she realised why she had never been put in the position. It was the burden shouldered by leaders, protecting the need of the many not just the one. She had never been a true leader like that.

"I guess we won't know until we're there will we?" Dawn answered her directly. "I can't answer that until I've been tested."

"You have many tests to come young one; I pray that this one is not in your future." Lyanna told her genuinely. "It is not a burden anyone should bear."

"So what does this have to do with this history lesson anyway?" Dawn asked.

"That will become clear. Have you ever questioned where this mysterious race the Wraith allied themselves with appeared from? The Huntress' were descended from a small group that split from us long ago, their origin was known but these Destroyers as you call them, were unheard of."

"Well, to be honest I hadn't really thought about it until now, haven't exactly had long to wrap my head around all this yet. I can see how that would have caused some questions though."

"Indeed it did, which is why we began to investigate. Maybe if we could find where these new foes had appeared from there would be a weakness found as well. That is when myself and a select few were designated the task. We would take any Wraith data banks we could find, hoping to find something of use but they never mentioned anything about their new allies. It was pure luck when one of the strike forces managed to capture one alive."

It clicked for Dawn then. Daniel had said that this lab had been doing something involving genetic experimentation. They had been experimenting on their captive.

"So that's what was going on down here, you were dissecting your live specimen." Dawn summarised.

"A rather crude way of putting but essentially yes, it was the only avenues open to us at the time. When they brought the subject to us we knew there was something strange about him. He wore Wraith armour but was quite clearly not a Wraith, this was confirmed when we discovered he had no feeding mechanism. He did however possess some Wraith like features."

"So what, a hybrid?" Dawn guessed.

"That was our assumption as well. We believed that perhaps the Wraith had managed to alter their DNA. The specimen was superior physically but mentally he was equal to a simple wraith warrior."

"That like the worker bees right, they just do as there told. Not a lot of brain power." Dawn had yet to actually meet a single Wraith yet but she hoped there was time for that yet.

"Yes, they are controlled by Wraith commanders and the Queens, very susceptible to the Wraith hive mind. With our curiosity peaked we began to run DNA profiles of the specimen, to this day I wished we hadn't."

"What did you find?"

Lyanna seemed to brace herself as she prepared to answer Dawn's question. Whatever this woman had been through had obviously taken its toll.

"We were correct in that the Wraith had been experimenting with genetics but it wasn't themselves they had they had tampered with. It was their captives."

"Captives? You mean the people that they keep for snacks? Why would a person react in such a way to wraith DNA?"

Lyanna looked at Dawn as she waiting for the answer to come to her and then it clicked.

Dawn's eyes widened. "Oh...it wasn't just normal people they had to play with though was it?"

Lyanna shook her head sadly. "No I'm afraid it wasn't. They had quite obviously kept hold of some of their captives from the Culling of this planet."

Again Dawn's world shifted around her, Lyanna had moved them again. It was still one of the ships but she didn't know if it was the same one. They were in a lab again but this one was different, there was only one work station and this lab had containment chambers, containment chambers that were occupied.

"Is this where you experimented on them?" Dawn asked the Ancient.

As Lyanna confirmed her question with a nod Dawn took a closer look at the test subject. She had never seen a Wraith so was going on what had been described to her from John and Teyla. These creatures didn't look anything like she had been preparing herself for. They wore wraith armour and she could see the greenish tinge to its skin. Other than that it looked relatively normal.

"It's a man?" Dawn asked.

Lyanna grim smile darkened her face as she walked over to stand in front of the specimen.

"As they all were. We never had any reports of a female wraith warrior."

"But I though you said..." Dawn was cut off as the woman continued.

"The huntress's active gene passes to female descendants but as I have said the males still carried the gene. We guessed that they didn't have success experimented on any females they managed to capture. We do not know why but only males seemed to respond to having their DNA manipulated. Although the response was an erratic one."

She walked away from the specimen, looking at it seemed to cause her pain.

"Once we knew what we were looking for, we interrogated captive Wraith scientists. With some persuasion the confirmed what we had already discovered but they answered the question as to why it was the men."

"You trusted the word of the Wraith?" Dawn asked, astounded.

"Their interrogators were Huntress's, they were persuasive." Lyanna quietly said. "We had no reason to not trust their intel, especially as it corroborated what we already knew. As I said they informed us of the experiments. They had been infecting them with Wraith DNA. Females reactions varied but the end result was always the same."

"I'm guessing they didn't make it."

"You are correct. Females for reasons we don't know weren't compatible for the change. Males however were. Our only assumption is that as the huntress gene was dormant in them that it allowed them to be manipulated with less dire results, although the results were still wildly erratic. The addition of the Wraith DNA seemed to pull their huntress DNA to the surface, making them formidable, but there were issues at the beginning."

"Well that's why you don't play with someone's DNA." Dawn muttered.

"The transformation drove them mad, there brain chemistry was altered. The wraith had created their weapon but had no way to use it, to begin with. Such projects soon found the attention of a Wraith Queen who began to take a hand in the project. It was her that realised they could use the hive mind to push back the madness."

"A Queen can do that?" Dawn asked.

Lyanna nodded. "A Queen has a formidable mind which unchallenged strength. There's very little they can't manipulate in your mind. So they made a perfect race to match our advantage, they were not only completely obedient under the Queens control and matched their kin in skill; they wore the faces of loved ones, fathers, brothers and sons. The huntress's lost their will to fight. So the wheel of war turned again."

Dawn took a moment to let the overload of information sink in. This is what Lyanna had meant when she had asked her whether she could put the majority in front of someone she loved. The huntress's hadn't been able to do that, so had doomed themselves along with the rest of the people in this galaxy.

"Why are you telling me all this? I don't understand." Dawn asked tearfully.

"Dawn Summers, what you see before you is but a shadow. I have been dead for 10,000 years. All that remained was this 'imprint' of me at the work station. To ensure that the true reason we lost the war was not lost. The Wraith I'm sure are still alive and well. The mistakes of the past must not be repeated."

Dawn was at a loss. She didn't understand how this would help her. There weren't any males to carry the gene left. Surely they didn't pose a threat any longer?

"This is where I leave you Dawn Summers. I have explained as much as I can to you. Now you must see what I can show you. I wish you well young one, you will not see me again."

Before Dawn could protest to whatever the Ancient was going to do to her next she was gone in a flash of light and the blackness consumed Dawn once again.

"Is there any change Doctor Beckett?" Daniel asked as he entered the infirmary.

Once the teams had departed Daniel had gone to sit with Daniel but after several hours had been dismissed by Carson to get some food. Dr Weir had checked in on schedule and reported Rodney's findings. There was nothing they could do for Dawn but sit and wait.

"I'm afraid not, Dr Jackson. Her ECG is still showing a coma dream state; there hasn't even been a slight spike."

Daniel thanked the doctor and took his perch next to Dawn. He'd promised Faith he wouldn't leave her and he had no intention of doing so.

He just really hoped she woke up soon.