Trials and Tribulations

"Mairghread?"

A soft voice in her ear pulled the young wraith back to reality from the unsettling dreams of everyone on base. Her vision was blurry, another reminder that she had drained herself severely last night. Blinking furiously and struggling to sit up, she brought the person in front of her into a fuzzy focus.

"Mum?" she mumbled as she clumsily pushed her hair out of her face. "What're you doing here?"

Teyla smiled sweetly as she crouched by Mairghread, her daughter grown to her size and age. "Dr. Beckett released me. He believes that the device had no ill effects on me. What are you doing here?"

Mairghread was silent. She was unsure of how to explain, since she didn't think that Teyla knew of the nightmares.

But the Athosian held her gaze calmly before glancing at the man still asleep in the bed.

"He had one of his nightmares?"

It was more of a statement, Mairghread realized with surprise.

"You knew about them?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. She thought only she and Carson knew.

Teyla gave her a sad, wise smile. "I, too, have eyes, Mairghread. Before you came, the wraith who had made Ronon a Runner captured him, and took him to Sateda," mother and daughter shared a look of sorrow, horror and hatred. "After we rescued him, I sat by him in the infirmary while he slept and the others took a break."

She needed to say no more.

"Will he sleep much longer?" she asked Mairghread, knowing innately that her daughter had helped Ronon sleep.

Mairghread stumbled slightly as she rose and went to sit on the edge of the bed again, letting her hand hover over her father's head for a moment.

"Another hour, at least."

Teyla tilted her head to the side, looking at Mairghread with the gaze that clearly said 'what did you do to yourself?'

Once again, Mairghread was silent. How could she possibly explain that she had partially healed Ronon while he slept?

But Teyla was patient. Nearly infinitely patient. And she had the boring-into-your-skull/soul look down to a science.

But Mairghread still could not find the words to express what she had done, so she showed her instead. Gently linking minds, she replayed for Teyla what had happened—the nightmare, the pain, the healing, her collapse.

In response, Teyla came and helped her to stand, supporting her slightly as she wobbled and threatened to fall over.

"Come, let's get you something to eat," she said quietly, guiding her out to the kitchen.

Mairghread sat at the kitchen table while Teyla set about making her breakfast of a nature that Teyla could not hurt with her lack of cooking skills. There was oatmeal the Mairghread had gotten ready the night before, so it only needed to be heated on low heat for a few minutes to bring it to rights, and fresh fruit and nuts.

It was somewhat difficult, thinking about what Mairghread had done. Teyla was not mad or upset at what she had done; it was simply hard to face that the baby she had held through long, sleepless nights and raised was now undeniably a fully grown wraith.

Mairghread ate mechanically, consuming as many kilocalories and nutrients as she could. She had a sense of foreboding about today. She couldn't be sure about it. She wasn't even sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She just knew that something of great consequence for Atlantis would be happening today.

xxxxxxx

One Richard Woolsey was not in a very good mood. Three weeks traveling on the Daedelus, with a crew that clearly disliked him and with Gen. O'Neill as a traveling companion were enough to drive any mild mannered bureaucrat to insanity.

And so he had no compunctions about beaming down to Atlantis at local time 7 am and demanding that everyone involved with 'the wraith' meet with him in 20 minutes in the conference room, regardless of any previously made plans (like other, previously scheduled meetings or sleeping).

"I have made no secret of the fact that I consider this to a disastrous social experiment of the worst kind," he began when Dr. Weir, Sheppard and McKay had assembled. "And unless I see something very striking here, I am going to recommend that the wraith be exterminated before it can do serious damage to the security of this program."

"Woolsey," growled O'Neill. "What did I tell you about your opinion?"

"No, General O'Neill, Mr. Woolsey is perfectly justified in his fears, no matter how unfounded in this case," said Mairghread as she swept into the room with perfect grace.

Wow, thought Sheppard. She's laying it on thick. Maximum effect ahoy.

Her tight, accentuating bodice, modeled expertly after Teyla's, and long, floor-sweeping skirt were of a palest rosy pink with primrose yellow embroidery (hand-made by its wearer) and set off her curves to perfection while making her appear the antithesis to the gothic wraith of nightmare and memory. Lacy fingerless gloves hid her patriarchal tattoo and her hair was swept back while hiding her matriarchal one, both sure to antagonize the judgemental advisor.

She sat calmly across the table from Woolsey, her posture perfect but relaxed, her smile sweet and innocent, her gaze intense without being aggressive. Sheppard wondered vaguely whether she had that look from her biological parents, or whether she had learned it from Teyla.

"Although I am personally against exterminating me," she continued affably, "I do understand your concern. I believe, however, that I have a partial solution to your problem that can lay your mind to rest somewhat."

Woolsey, who had come in with his metaphorical guns blazing, now stared, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water at her. Her blitzkrieg tactic had thrown him completely off balance and while he seemed to know that he had lost control of the meeting, he was unsure how to get it back.

"Two weeks ago, I had Dr. Beckett implant a small device in my chest that would give a shock sufficient to stun me for a minimum of ten minutes when my guards or the personnel in the control room push the button on the remote control. At the first sign of my…causing trouble, they can use this to 'stop me in my tracks'," she continued, above the shocked gasps and glares of the persons around the table.

"Mairghread, you didn't tell me you did this," Dr. Weir stated in her dangerous voice.

"I know. I did not because I knew you would never approve. But do not blame Dr. Beckett or Dr. McKay," she told the leader. "Dr. McKay and I developed it for use on future prisoner wraith, and I more or less forced Dr. Beckett to implant it. I told him I would do it myself otherwise."

She turned again to gaze calmly at Woolsey. "Would you like a demonstration of its effectiveness?"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" exploded McKay. "You have no idea what that could do to you! It was designed for a huge male!"

"Females are the stronger sex among the wraith, Rodney," Mairghread reminded him. "And I am fully aware of what it could do to me. It will be unpleasant, but there should be no permanent damage."

"Now, see, I don't like that!" exclaimed O'Neill. "Should?! Permanent?! Are you out of your mind? And where is this doctor that put it in you?!"

"Grandpa," soothed Mairghread, hoping the term of endearment and familiarity would serve to calm the irate general. "It was my decision, and mine alone. Sergeant Johnson?"

The hapless guard looked up guiltily. He just knew this was going to be like shooting a friend in the face, only more drawn out.

Mairghread gave him a look designed to allay his fears. "If you would."

Dr. Weir stood up, saying, "Wait, I don't—"

But Johnson had already pushed the button. Mairghread when rigid in her chair, arching her back as electricity crackled over her skin in a frightening display.

When the sparks ceased to fly a few seconds later, she fell off her chair and lay convulsing on the floor.

O'Neill and Sheppard leapt into action, rolling her on her side and checking to make sure she was breathing while Rodney called Beckett.

"Beckett?! Get down here! Mairghread's having a seizure! How the hell should I know?! Just get down here! Yes, of course it's that thing! No, she told them to! No, I'm not being sarcastic! Get your sheep-shearer's butt down here!"

A string of explitives broken up by barked orders pounded through the commlink, and fortunately Woolsey, who was staring at the chaos with a mixed look of horror, satisfaction and I-just-did-something-incredibly-stupid on his face, heard every word, having been given an earpiece when he arrived.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"She'll be alright," Carson assured them all a half-hour later in the infirmary. "She's resting now, I'll probably release her later today, if all goes well."

"Rodney?" Mairghread's croaking voice grated from the bed. "Was our ploy a success?"

"Ploy?!" shouted O'Neill and Weir in unison as they all spun around to look at her. Woolsey was conspicuous in his absence, having been warned by Sheppard to stay away from the infirmary for a while—Beckett still needed to do the requisite physical, but he would be in no mood to be either gentle or lenient.

Mairghread smiled (they had been pleasantly surprised to discover that wraith teeth were not actually naturally pointy—they grew pointy with extreme age, and were often filed, according to Mairghread, in order to give the impression of age).

"Yes. It was all very well thought out. Though I admit that I did underestimate the level of pain, and had not planned on having a seizure. John, would you explain please?"

"Sure. Ya see," he explained to the flabbergasted leaders, "We figured Woolsey wasn't gonna like it so long as there was only a couple of marines between her and mayhem. So, we just hurried along a little side project of Rodney and Radek. Beckett implanted it a couple of weeks ago, so it didn't look too suspicious (and I ordered him, by the way, besides Mary's threat). Figured we'd give Woolsey a little demonstration, prove she was well in hand and take it out as soon as he was gone."

"I like it!" declared O'Neill. "Sneaky, effective, and scared the little weasel sh—"

"You took a big risk," Elizabeth broke in. "She could have been killed."

"Actually, if she hadnae tried tae heal Ronon last night, she probably wouldnae have had a seizure," Beckett stated matter-of-factly. Which of course resulted in everyone spinning around to stare at him.

Teyla, who had walked in to hear most of the conversation, stepped in to save the flustered Scotsman.

"She sense last night that Ronon's shoulder and his scars were very…painful for him. So she…healed him."

"Like…" Sheppard slammed his hand on his chest. Teyla shook her head.

"No," interrupted Mairghread. "Like this."

She reached out and lightly touched O'Neill's knee. He jumped back in shock as she fell back in her bed.

"What did you do?!" he shouted, looking at his knee like it had suddenly sprouted an oak tree.

"Test it," she gasped.

O'Neill gave her The Eyebrow, but none the less stomped the floor several times before beginning to jump a little.

"Hey! That's great!" he declared. "That thing's be givin' me grief for years!"

"I know," she smiled.

TBC

Next: All Quiet on the Atlantean Front