Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Stargate franchise or its storylines. My intention is not infringe upon those rights, so please don't sue me.
The Young Weapon
Chapter 6: The Alien Reality
Thunder rumbled in the distance as McKay touched down the jumper on the rugged forest floor. Inside the small ship, Naima and the two doctors peered out into the darkness of the foliage. A moment passed while Naima contemplated her next course of action.
The silenced annoyed an antsy McKay. "Your move, warrior princess."
The Satedan snapped out of her trance and phased through the back of the pilot seat to deliver a debilitating shock to McKay's body. He convulsed violently and his head smacked against the lighted controls. Before Keller could rise to his aid, Naima stepped into her path. Keller was suddenly struck by the calmness displayed by Naima's unthreatening gesture.
"Please, just sit…" Naima motioned for Keller to sit as she holstered the Wraith stunner. Keller complied and Naima continued. "Before we move on, I need to make something very clear: You are one of very few people in this universe who would ever make me think twice about killing you. Don't take that for granted, doctor…because I will respond if you don't comply. Anything about that you don't understand?" Keller nodded. Both women rose and exited the jumper, then walked into the darkness of the forest.
After roaming around in silence for almost an hour, Keller couldn't help but speak her mind. As she felt her way through the dense forestry, she spoke to Naima behind her: "Listen - I gotta ask something - there are two men lying in the infirmary who really need treatment. Thing is, I don't even know where to begin. They were infected with some type of pathogen when…when they encountered you. Any chance you did that on purpose?"
Naima thought for a moment before answering. "The people who built that place used a plaster mixed with a volcanic rock. It was a strong but highly toxic foundation rock. They always had to deal with a small number of workers who got sick from it, but it worked for them."
"So you know how they were treated?" Keller perked at the prospect of a solution, but sensed the distrust from Naima's tight lips. "Look, Naima, I honestly can't think of any argument that would persuade you to help us, but please-'' she stopped in an open field and spun to see the Satedan, "those men are dying. There has to be some part of you that cares." She struggled for an answer, "Oh! Colonel Sheppard - he told me that Ronon told him that his wife was a healer on Sateda - a doctor like me. Surely, she taught you that life-'' but before she could finish, Naima's eyes lit with fury and she stalked towards the doctor.
She clasped her hand around Keller's throat and thrust her against the trunk of a crimson tree. "Don't you ever talk about my mother," Naima hissed as Keller gasped for oxygen. "You will live a very long life so long as you don't mention her again. Do you understand?" Keller rapidly nodded.
Naima's rage slowly drifted away from her face as she noticed the deep red color of the tree bark she held the doctor against - the sole red tree in a forest of black wood. She dropped Keller absent-mindedly and examined the bark for imperfections. When all she saw where the vertical striations of the untouched bark, she stepped back from the tree and crouched to the ground. "It's not right," Naima whispered into the empty space of her arms.
A still-exasperated Keller established a sitting up position against the tree. She regained her stability and stared at Naima, and Keller noticed something in Naima's eyes that she had not seen since this whole situation began - fear. The previously indomitable Satedan was shaking in her boots as she looked at the truly alien world around her.
Keller dared to speak her piece: "I'm not saying that I know him as well as you do, but - correct me if I'm wrong - how do you know if this Ronon is your father?"
"I don't," Naima breathed. She broke her crazed stare and turned her gaze to Keller. Naima held out her brown-stained bandaged hand to Keller. She was reluctant at first, but eventually she took Naima's hand, and she saw a bright warm light…
"Colonel Sheppard - the jumper has been located." Lt. Suayan spoke to the back of the jumper where Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, and SGA-3 loaded their weapons and activated their tracking devices.
"Land a couple clicks south of the jumper," Sheppard ordered, "Naima could be laying a trap."
"Yes, sir," Suayan responded. The whipping winds made the lieutenant's landing rockier than expected.
Owusu chimed in her reminder. "We need to hurry, Colonel. The winds will soon be fanning the flames."
"We get it, doc," Sheppard retorted. "Suayan and Owusu - stay with the jumper. Everyone else - move out."
They fled out of the jumper with their guns pointed in every direction, and immediately ascended the ramp of McKay's jumper. Teyla was the first to see McKay slumped over the ship's controls. "Rodney. Rodney! Wake up!" she shook him awake.
He exhaled sharply and dizzily glanced at Teyla. As she helped him into an upright position, McKay clasped his forehead. "Where have you guys been?"
But Teyla noticed the more pressing issue. "Rodney, where is Jennifer?"
McKay was suddenly gripped by the situation. "Jennifer? Jennifer! Naima must have taken her."
"Where were they headed?" Sheppard asked.
"I-I don't know," McKay stammered. "She stunned me before they left."
"Alright," Sheppard grabbed the detection device from the jumper's compartment. "Don't get up, Rodney. We'll all take different directions. We have one hour to find Naima and Keller." As they swiftly exited the jumper, the green foliage of the forest whipped back and forth, and the thunder began to descend from the midnight sky.
::::::::::
When Keller opened her eyes, she and Naima were seated in a foggy cerulean room with a cone of white light descending on their heads. The dewed grass Keller held between her fingers morphed into a flat ceramic-like floor. She stood, followed by Naima, and gazed around the endless space. "Where are we?"
"I'm not asking you to believe what I'm about to show you," Naima said. "See this memory and try to understand why my trust in you people is seriously lacking." She turned to look over her armored shoulder. Keller followed her gaze to see a metal cage with two people trapped inside. The space around the cage shifted and changed to form four dark figures. The two figures in the cage came to focus when Keller and Naima approached the familiar isolation chamber of the Atlantis base.
There they saw that one of the two figures was a younger Ronon, with brown chin-length waved hair and uniform facial hair surrounding his tense lips. Crouching in his toned arm was a comparably smaller child with long flowing hazel hair, no more than ten or twelve years old. Keller related the little girl's blood-soaked bandaged forearm to the vertical scarring barely hidden by Naima's wrist armor.
Keller's gaze refocused onto the isolation chamber when the entrance at the far end of the room hissed as it slid open. In walked Mr. Woolsey, in a white lab coat with a full head of hair, followed by two medical personnel, and John Sheppard, wearing black fatigues with the most ranking stripes on his chest. It seemed so strange to Keller how familiar they were, yet so unrecognizable at the same time.
When General Sheppard motioned to the armed soldiers, one stepped out of line to deactivate the shield around the chamber and open the blast door. Ronon broke his embrace of the little girl to stand directly in front of the door. His gaze held steady as Woolsey entered the chamber with a clipboard in his hand.
"Last chance, Ronon - where are the Replicator/human hybrids located?" Woolsey's terse tone echoed in the room.
"Not until you let my daughter leave," Ronon snapped back.
"Well, unfortunately, we cannot release your daughter on account of her special abilities," Woolsey placed his euphemism. "We require those abilities to solve the hybrid infestation. You should know this better than most. Your little Naima is one of them." The girl sitting in the chamber crawled backward, inching away from the man in the white coat. "Ronon, I'm a doctor - I won't harm your daughter."
"Then what do you call those cuts on her arm?" The protective father asked.
Sheppard interceded. "Behavioral conditioning. She wasn't being very cooperative, but she knows the name of the game now."
"Is that was this is to you," Ronon growled, "a game?"
"I could have done worse," Sheppard retorted.
Ronon instinctively lunged foreword, only to be met by Sheppard's weapon - a strange copper snake with red eyes. It released an electronic hiss when Ronon stopped in his tracks.
"Enough," Woolsey interrupted. Seeing no hope with the father, he looked past Ronon to peer at the little girl, "Naima? Just tell me the gate addresses of the settlements, and you and your father will be set free."
The young Naima rose to her feet. "I don't have any answers for you," she stubbornly replied, "doctor."
"Then neither of you leave me any choice," Woolsey sighed. He sidestepped to let Sheppard fire an electric pulse at Ronon's torso. Before he could react, the Satedan collapsed and fell on his back, convulsing violently on the stone floor.
Naima knelt on the floor to her weakened father's side. "Papa?" Despite her call, her father continued to shake uncontrollably. "What did you hit him with? Papa!"
Woolsey crouched next to Ronon and laid down his first aid kit next to himself. "I can make it stop, Naima," Woolsey focused intensely at the young Satedan. "But you have to tell me - on how many other planets are the hybrids located?"
"I won't tell you anything! Now make it stop!" she snapped.
The blood vessels in Ronon's eyes began to pop from the continued seizure. He clenched his teeth and dug his fingernails into his palms to keep the desire to scream at bay.
"You don't have anyone else in this universe who cares about you more than your father, Naima," Woolsey convinced.
"Shut up!" Naima blocked him out. "Papa!"
Woolsey began to raise his voice. "He has protected you your whole life, now you protect him! How many other planets?"
Naima desperately reached for the white plastic box. Woolsey snatched it and swung it towards the energy field of the chamber, which buzzed and rippled before settling.
"How many?!" the doctor yelled.
Naima began to hyperventilate with hot sweat streaming down her cheeks.
"HOW MANY?!" he repeated with a bright red face.
"FIVE!" Naima finally gave in. "There are FIVE!" She fell back and buried her face in her shaking hands.
As Ronon's seizure began to subside, Woolsey rose to his feet and dusted off his knees. Still lying on the floor of the chamber, Ronon breathed heavily but showed signs of stabilizing.
Woolsey walked over to the entrance of the chamber and spoke to the general. "We have all the information we need," he calmly summarized. He nodded towards Sheppard's weapon. "We're done here."
When Woolsey finally turned back towards Naima and Ronon, he held the snake weapon in his hand.
Naima didn't see the weapon in time. One sharp intake of breath later, Woolsey shot a similar electric pulse at Ronon, and the Satedan's body went limp. His eyes glazed over and his hands relaxed.
The little girl sat still next to her immobile father. She reached out her hand to lightly shake him awake. Her attempt was futile - when she moved his body slightly, his head slumped to the side.
Seeing Naima sob uncontrollably, Woolsey took one more shadowed gaze at Ronon and shot one final blast at the lifeless body. The electric blast hit Ronon's abdomen and his body disintegrated into nothing.
Woolsey gave the reptilian weapon back to Sheppard, who holstered the weapon, ordered all military personnel out of the room, leaving Naima in the isolation chamber shaking from a completely different kind of shock.
All of the armed guards and Woolsey's medical assistants exited slowly from the room - all but a young female doctor with short brown hair and glistening grey eyes. Keller gasped as she looked into the face of this remorseful doctor, and saw her own.
"That-that's not me," she stammered, "why is that me? I've never even-'' She stopped when she saw the complete change of Naima's expression. The Satedan's tenacious demeanor had melted away to reveal red eyes matched with the tears streaming her dirty face clean.
Naima was about to respond when a deep, muddled voice pierced the memory's blue fog…
::::::::::::::
"Jennifer!" Sheppard's call shook the two women. The serenity of the blue room gave way to the whipping winds of the forest.
Naima withdrew her hand from Keller's cranium to see Sheppard pointed his weapon in her direction. She glared at the colonel who was ready to shoot his ARW, but due to her proximity to the doctor, he held his fire. The startling force of the winds did not phase his line of sight.
The Satedan bided her time until the select moment.
When Sheppard narrowed his gaze, Naima disappeared- a millisecond later his weapon let off an electric charge, which dissipated on the tree trunk next to Keller.
Naima reappeared right in front of Sheppard's face. She disarmed him, drop-kicked him, and locked him in her clasp, ready to snap his neck - all in a matter of seconds.
She was about to complete the deed when Keller interrupted. "Naima! Please, don't! He's not the one who killed Ronon!"
"He might as well have," Naima gritted. "You people come into our world and just take what you want - our resources, our lands…our lives!" Sheppard tried to release himself from her grip but his fists only caught air. She kicked the back of his legs and he fell to his knees.
"All I want is to be left alone," she started, "to find a place where I belong in this universe that is clearly not my own! You can't let me live my broken life?!"
"Not when you're about to kill my superior officer," Summers interrupted as he stepped out of the swaying bushes with his pointed ARW. Teyla also emerged from the shadows of the trees, but set aside her weapon to help Dr. Keller stand up.
"Whether or not he is your enemy," Ronon said as he entered the open field, "any Satedan would know that this isn't an honorable way to kill your opponent."
"Except when he commits a crime against Satedan humanity," Naima recited from the Satedan Warrior Code, "right, sir?" The approaching thunder accented her feral rage.
Ronon saw her point and was indecisive to holstering his weapon or not. The military man in him understood the danger she posed to his friend; but the father in him wanted to make peace with the only family he had left.
"Either way," she continued, "why should I listen to you? You're living with our enemy, and even if you are my father, you forgot about me a long time ago."
Ronon holstered his weapon. "That's not true," he whispered. His steadfast gaze tightened to a furrowed forehead that was frighteningly familiar to Naima.
"He's telling the truth, Naima," Keller affirmed. "I once treated Ronon for a Wraith enzyme overdose. He was in recovering for weeks. When I was treating his chest wound, I tried to remove that tribal necklace he has around his neck, and he almost took my hand off. I thought at first it was just withdrawal…"
Naima's stubborn expression held steady while Keller went on. "It had beads and feathers on it, but the largest item was a yellow bird talon with an inscription on it: an inverted semicircle over three horizontal jagged lines. I didn't think about it until I treated Captain Murphy - you used a knife to cut that same shape into the back of his shoulder…why?"
"So they would never forget what they took from me," Naima hissed. "Y'know, I never got my father's necklace back after they killed him."
"I'm here," Ronon approached softly. "I'm right in front of you."
"Be advised, sir!" Summers warned.
"Lieutenant, shut up!" Ronon yelled aside, then turned back to Naima. "What is it that you want more than killing Sheppard right now?"
Her sharp intake of breath was followed by a shuddered exhale. "A place to belong…"
"Then let him go." Despite the rumbling thunder around them, the two Satedans furiously held each other's gaze. "Let him go, Specialist."
With the eerie familiarity of this direct order, Naima released her grip on Sheppard's throat and pushed him to the ground.
The lightning had finally arrived when it struck the ground behind Keller and Teyla. The grass ignited into a blazing fire which consumed the forest behind the two women. Sheppard and Summers took Keller and Teyla on the alternate route toward the puddle jumpers.
"Sheppard to Suayan: fire up Jumpers 1 and 2! We're on our way!" The colonel looked back at his immobile friend. "Ronon! C'mon!"
"I'll catch up with you, Sheppard…" he quietly responded while still looking to Naima.
Realizing Ronon's conviction, Sheppard and the three others evacuated, leaving Ronon and Naima in the burning forest.
"What now, sir?" her voice still shaking with uncertainty rather than fear of the inferno around them.
"Well," he replied with a similar uncertainty, "right now you have three options: you can stay here and make a place for yourself," she scoffed at this suggestion, "you can come back to Atlantis, find a familiar Ring address and start over there, or…" he held out his hand, "you can come back and stay."
Naima stared at the familiar man's hand, but didn't immediately clasp it with her own…
As the fire gained on their heels, Sheppard, Teyla, Keller, and Summers spent the last of their energy to surmount the hills before the jumpers.
When they saw the ships in sight, Sheppard snatched the radio from his shoulder. "Head back to base, Suayan! We'll be right behind you!" The lieutenant obeyed the order and lifted off Jumper 1 with Dr. Owusu, and the remaining four ran into Jumper 2.
McKay was waiting to embrace Keller while a soot-faced Sheppard hopped into the pilot seat and activated the ship's locator. "C'mon buddy," he whispered to himself, "where are you?" Sheppard eagerly searched for a blue dot among the inflagration consuming the surrounding forest.
Sheppard was about to contact Ronon by radio when the blue dot suddenly appeared behind the right engine. It followed along the side hull of the ship until Ronon walked up the ramp - accompanied by Naima. Sheppard and Summers reacted to her presence with their weapons, but Ronon put his arm in front of her. "Wait, Sheppard, wait!" he persuaded. "She's on our side."
"I'm on your side, not his," Naima corrected.
"I'm not letting her on base, Ronon," Sheppard scoffed with his weapon held steady.
Keller stopped coughing long enough to look up. "She can help Gibbs and Simon."
A huge tree stump crash-landed in front of the jumper. "Fine," Sheppard conceded. "We're outta here…" He put his weapon on the dashboard and raised the ship's controls to lift off the jumper.
Naima and Ronon took a seat on the cushioned benches next to Keller. McKay was wiping away the soot from Keller's face when she turned towards Naima. "You can help them, right?"
She paused before answering. "I've seen what happens to victims of the Turan Sickness. It's a horrible way to die." Naima looked around. "Not even you people deserve that…"
Keller gently placed her hand on Naima's shoulder. At first Naima flinched away, but when she saw the doctor's sweet smile, her tension melted away. "Thank you, Naima…"
When Sheppard landed in the jumper bay, he powered down the ship and opened the shuttle door. Keller and McKay exited the jumper followed by Naima and Ronon, who were met by the weapons of five SGA teams.
"Hold your fire!" Sheppard yelled as he emerged from the jumper. "She's here to assist us - clear a path to the infirmary!"
The whole party took a transporter to the downstairs sick bay where lieutenants Gibbs and Simon were being treated. The medical staff watching over them was trying to hold down the convulsing men when Keller and Naima walked in.
"Do you have any Wraith enzyme, doctor?" Naima asked.
Sheppard intruded. "Only what we confiscated from your facility." Naima glared at him but was immediately given a clear plastic bag full of scarlet liquid. She pried open one of the metal drawers to extract two large syringes and slammed it shut again.
She ripped one out of its packaging while Keller was updating her on their conditions. "You might want to know that Gibbs is allergic to aspirin and Simon developed anti-bodies to the Hoffan drug when we went over to--'' but before she could finish, the entire medical staff watched as Naima plunged the large needle into Simon's chest.
They all stood silent as she filled the second large syringe and stuck it into Gibbs. She placed her hand on Gibbs' abdomen and his organs clearly appeared in the lab light. Visible black residue was located in his lungs as they relaxed and contracted. When she removed her hand, the lieutenant's scrubs returned to view. Naima phased both of her hands into his chest and swam around as if to locate something within his body. She finally brought her hands up out of his chest - they were minimally bloodied and riddled with black particles. She walked over to the side table and emptied out the residue into two Petri dishes.
"There," Naima finished, "your doctors can analyze that until their brains fall out." She grabbed a towel to wipe off her hands and left through the entrance of the infirmary. She kept walking until Ronon caught up to her at the end of the hallway.
"Naima, wait," Ronon called after her. She stopped and leaned herself against the wall. "Hey, look at me," Ronon took her shoulder and turned her towards him, "what is it? What's wrong?"
"I could've killed them," she breathed as she avoided his gaze, "I could've let them die. It would have been two less problems to deal with."
"But you're above that," he assured her. "You showed honor towards your enemy, which is more than I can say I ever did. Hey, look at me," she obeyed, "you did a good thing."
"Honor supersedes convenience," Naima recited, "right sir?"
Ronon recognized an excerpt from the Satedan Code of Honor. "That's right…"