A/N: I expect there will be one or two more chapters before this is finished. I hope you are all enjoying the angst!

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O' course the queen demanded that I replace the device, naught that she knew what it was, but I was defiant, remaining silent and uncooperative. They bound my hands once again behind me back, and then began to beat me viciously when I would'nae comply with their demands to bring power back online. I tried tae be strong for ye, Love, an' I did the best I could...

My thoughts were of Carson and that first kindly smile he had offered me as the fiery light in the sky loomed closer and closer. I knew it would utterly annihilate everyone within a hundred yards of the off-worlders, including most of us standing in the outpost at the gate. Chuli's mouth hung agape with shock and dismay at the sight of the fires from the Blessing of the Ancients heading for the gate. The queen was going to kill the off-worlders, and she obviously did not care who else died with them.

But the light faded as suddenly as it had appeared, and the modules of light flickered and died, dropping down from the sky like bricks. Several landed at the feet of the off-worlders, and their ranks split apart and made way as the devices slid between them across the frozen ground through heaps of fallen leaves, coming to a stop with a small residue of smoke rising in the cold air from each one. Carson had deactivated them! He had saved us!

I took a deep breath, renewed with confidence by Carson's success. "Sheppard, my friends, lower your weapons! We will take you to the palace!"

Upon seeing me leaning over the banister with a grin on my face, he seemed perplexed by the would-be attack, but was more eager to find out what exactly was happening. As they slowly complied with my request and lowered the aim of their weapons to the ground, I ran down the steps to the counterweight system of the gate and pulled the lever to open it, accompanied by Chuli close behind me. The off-worlders stepped warily through the gateposts, but Sheppard hid his suspicion carefully behind a well-practiced military demeanor.

"I hope you have a good explanation for all of this," he said tentatively.

"I am sorry, Colonel Sheppard." I was genuinely apologetic. "It could only have been the queen. I suspected that she might try to use the Ancient weapon against you, and so after I rescued him, Carson went back into the palace to disable it."

"And you let him go alone?" McKay asked incredulously, gripping his machine gun tightly. "Are you crazy?"

"The devices are dead," I said, pointing a finger to the smoking ruins of Ancient technology. "He was obviously successful. But the queen will certainly notice that the devices have not detonated. Carson is in grave danger, and we must act quickly if we are to help him."

Chuli nodded with acceptance, and we took off at a brisk run toward the palace. The guards at the palace gate were easily dispatched with a weapon that Sheppard carried, a hand-held device that emitted some kind of burst of energy when fired, stunning the hapless guards before they knew what hit them. Sheppard and his team all followed me and Chuli as we led them through the bowels of the palace and into the outskirts of the outpost that was buried deep below the surface.

It was not difficult to find Carson. His yelps of pain could be heard echoing eerily through the corridors, and I flinched with horror each time I heard it. Sheppard grimaced with discomfort too, tensing his grip around his weapon as we strained to discern the direction it was coming from. I charged ahead into the central room with the control chair, there to find Carson in the grip of Pel'Ara once more, the queen backing up into the corner of the room behind her. Blood dripped from the corners of Carson's mouth, and a new set of bruises decorated his pale face. I was infuriated.

When Pel looked up to see me, she tensed with anxiety and pulled Carson protectively in front of her like a shield. Drawing her sword up under his neck threateningly, she snarled at me with outrage, speaking clearly and defiantly. "Go, my queen! Save yourself from these betrayers!"

The queen was more than happy to take the opportunity to escape and slipped out of sight into the shadows of a doorway at the back of the room. Sheppard had just caught up behind me and stepped in front, aiming his weapon at Pel. A pained look of utmost relief crossed Carson's features as he saw his friends coming to his rescue, but he dared not speak for fear of drawing attention to himself.

"Back off, or your friend dies!" Pel threatened furiously, pressing the blade of her short sword firmly against the skin of Carson's neck.

"Let him go!" Sheppard demanded impassively, and thus a stand-off ensued.

Pel dragged Carson back toward the door, inching closer to it and testing the steadiness of Sheppard's trigger finger. But no one had noticed Chuli discreetly reaching toward her belt behind Sheppard, grasping a dagger from a hidden notch. They all knew that if Carson's captor was allowed to reach the door that he would be as good as dead, and she would be as good as gone.

With a swift and practiced motion, Chuli flung her dagger at Pel. It plunged deeply through the back of her hand and embedded itself through to the hilt of the sword. She cried out with pain as her hand dropped away from Carson's neck, giving Sheppard the opening he needed. A swift blast from his stunner felled her, leaving Carson panting to catch his breath from the horrific experience and also from the pains of his beating.

Footsteps echoed through the corridors behind me, footsteps that sounded as if they were traveling away from us. Pushing my way through the crowd of off-worlders that had gathered behind Sheppard, I listened intently to the fading echoes. They were coming from a corridor that led off to the north side of the complex, and the realization dawned on me that it could only be the queen trying to make her escape.

I left Sheppard and his team, who were too distracted to notice the noise, to deal with the task of tending to and freeing Carson themselves, and I strode off determinedly to track down the queen before she could slip away into the folds of the city where she might never be found. I brought the schematics of the palace into the forefront of my mind and decided to head her off at an adjoining corridor near the secret underground entrance Carson had entered that she could not avoid in order to make her escape.

My cleverness was soon rewarded as I spotted the queen quietly stepping right within my reach. I stepped out in front of her, determined to make sure she knew exactly what my intentions were. The queen stopped in her tracks, eyes wide with surprise and fear. She searched my stern and stolid face for something, hiding her desperation.

"Why?" she whispered forcefully. "Why have you betrayed me for these barbarians, Cousin?"

I stood as still as stone. "You are the betrayer, Merae."

She was perplexed by my use of her first name, but it did not stop her from using every manipulative skill she had to move me from her path. "You have always served our people with distinction. How can you so coldly turn against your own kin, Ky?"

I said nothing.

But she pressed on. "How could you choose that pathetic male over the years of service that you have given to this city?"

Her words bit at my conscience like the coldness of the changing of the seasons that had bitten at my skin. She could see my confidence falter and pressed my weakness to her advantage, taking a few steps closer. "We can leave the palace together, you and me.

"This device is the key to our power," she said as she produced a red crystalline object from the folds of her robes and took a few more steps forward. "If we can make it to the guard post and rally our soldiers against the newcomers, we can take their technology and weapons for ourselves! If you replace this device and reactivate the Ancient weapon for me, we can rule this entire galaxy together!"

"No," I responded flatly. I had been fooled into feeling guilty about betraying my years of service to my people, but I would not be coerced by her corruption.

She glared at me narrowly and furiously, now nearly face-to-face with me. "How unfortunate."

I barely had time to flinch as I saw the glint of a knife being thrust forward out from the folds of her royal robes. Without even a chance to react, I felt the sting and yelped as the blade was embedded deeply into the left side of my abdomen and twisted viciously. I gasped with surprise and shock, blinking in utter disbelief. The queen smiled cruelly, and then leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"You should have accepted my offer, Ky," she whispered impassively as she withdrew the dagger, wiping off the blade before replacing it back into its holster. I slid helplessly to the stone floor at her feet. "I will not allow you or these off-worlders to take away what is mine. They will be joining you in the afterlife soon enough."

I could scarcely believe what had just happened. Merae was selfish and power-hungry, but I had not even suspected that she might try to murder me, her own cousin. Grief and an immense sadness overwhelmed me as I watched her retreat into the shadows of the corridor without a hint of regret. Blood began to pool behind me on the floor, but I only barely noticed it over the tears that began to flow freely down my face. A pained sob escaped my lips and I felt lightheaded as the cold stone of the corridor began to draw all heat from my body, and grew darker, fading into shadow.

But before the shadow overtook my consciousness, I felt a warm pair of hands grasping my face and pulling me close. I had only a vague smattering of sensation left, but when he spoke, I instantly knew him by the foreign inflections of his voice. It was Carson, and he was holding me tightly within his arms.

"Ky!" he cried desperately, but it barely seemed more than a distant whisper to me. He tore a strip of cloth from his cloak to staunch the bleeding. "Hold on, Love. I've got ye."

It took a great effort to force my eyes open. I looked up into his face and gazed happily into his pale blue eyes, moved by the concern for me that I sensed within him. I thought I should have been shouting, but my voice was weak and my breath shallow. "I'm glad your friends found you."

"Aye," he responded shakily, trying to force a reassuring smile. "You're goin' tae be alright, Lass. Don't you worry. You've got the best doctor in two galaxies lookin' after ye."

"My wound is mortal, Carson," I said softly, grimly. I knew that the knife had pierced my liver, and that I would soon bleed to death. But I was not concerned for myself, but for him. "I'm sorry... I suppose I shouldn't have run off alone."

"Nor should I have, either," he said with an understanding smile that faltered as tears began to well in his eyes. "It's my fault."

"No," I whispered, trying to stave off the looming shadows in my mind, but failing miserably. "It's not... your fault. Carson... I..."

I could not stop the darkness from overtaking me. My eyelids drooped closed and I felt my body go limp in his arms. He clutched me tightly, whispering soft and encouraging words in my ear, and the last words I heard before losing myself were his.

"Colonel, if we don't get her to the infirmary immediately, she's goin' tae die."