Ahn and Wen, walked down a hall towards the mess hall. They had just come from a briefing with Cameron Mitchell. It had been brief and the commander told them all to get some rest and food into them. When they got there, they both grabbed trays full of food and sat in a corner together. Ahn eyed one of his glasses with food in it. Using his spoon, he poked the content, which in turn jiggled. Seeing his confusion, Wen said, "It's called Jell-O. Try it."
Giving a slight shrug, Ahn took a spoonful of the blue gelatin and ate it. He raised his eyes to meet Wen's and said, after swallowing his Jell-O, "This is the most delicious food I have ever tasted!"
Wen's lips twitched up and she put her glass of red gelatin on his tray. Then she stated, "You never said why you wanted to be a fighter so badly. I know your brother did his job better than others so, they let you as a favor to him."
Ahn stopped eating for a second before swallowing his Jell-O, already in his mouth, while putting down the spoon. He hesitated then said, "I suppose, I hated being helpless and doing nothing while our forces were off fighting. I suppose I didn't want to be a mindless breeder, like an animal. Why did you join the Atlantians? Are you human?"
It was Wen's turn to hesitate. She fidgeted with her gun in its holster, switching it between stun and kill. Then she said, "No, I'm not human. I'm half human/ half Satedan. Ronon, my father, was from Sateda."
Ahn cocked his head, curious about the female warrior's origins. He asked, "Will you tell me of Sateda? I have never heard of the planet."
Wen nodded and continued fidgeting with her pistol. While she spoke, Ahn quietly began eating his Jell-O again, "Sateda was in the Pegasus Galaxy. It was a good planet with honest people and some of the best fighters. The Wraith thought it was getting too advanced so, they culled the entire planet. Only about 300 survived. My father was captured and forced to be a runner, a person with a tracker embedded in them who is to run only to be captured again by them for entertainment."
Ahn set down his spoon again and stopped her hand fidgeting with the pistol. He met her gaze evenly and said simply, "I'm sorry."
At about that time, Dacey grabbed a metal chair which made a ton of noise as she dragged it over to the duo's table. Ahn took his hand back as Dacey set the chair at the end of the table and slouched into it. Once she was situated, she opened a bag of Goldfish in her hand and began eating them. She was addicted to them along with Tic-Tacs. Dacey asked, "Whatcha doing?"
Neither answered, unsure if the other wanted them to. Dacey raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly saying, "I get it. The two of you were having a private conversation. You know what? The two of you would make a cute couple in the fighters-found-love-together way. Like boxers. Or Marines."
Wen frowned and Ahn chuckled until Wen kicked his shin under the table. Wen gave Dacey an annoyed look as she walked away. Ahn took a longing look at his Jell-O, then went after her. Just as he was about to follow Wen out the door, he went back and grabbed his Jell-O and spoon. Smiling and taking a bite, he quickly made his exit. Dacey smiled and rolled her eyes at them.
Wen and Ahn walked toward the gym, now dressed in fresh clothes. Wen donned nearly the same outfit as before. Ahn had elected for a white muscle shirt and shorts. Wen thought he looked good in the shirt because it showed off his muscled body in a very appealing way but, she kept it to herself. He still had no shoes. When they arrived, a metal circle above their heads was near the door: a basketball hoop. Ahn looked up to it in awe. He said, "What in creation is that?"
Wen said, "It's a basketball hoop. I'll teach you how to play."
She tried explaining it to him in simple terms but, as she went on he became more confused. Sighing, Wen said, "Just try to get the ball through the hoop."
Shrugging, Ahn threw the basketball she handed him at the hoop. Missing, it hit the middle of the backboard and came right back at him. Ahn ducked as it went where his head had been. It hit the floor and started bouncing towards the opposite basketball hoop. Ahn said, as he looked at it over his shoulder, "Wow!"
Wen laughed a pure, real laugh she hadn't done in what seemed forever. Ahn changed his gaze to her and smiled broadly, showing off perfect white teeth. He thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. He said, "I've never heard you laugh. Why do you not more often?"
She gave his a mischievous glance and a playful shove. She said, "Come on. You still can't play basketball yet. I'll show you how to shoot."
Wen went over and grabbed the ball, which now was just rolling on the floor. Coming back, she got prepared to shoot and made a great shot. Ahn stared at the ball in wonder for a moment before going and getting it. He looked sheepishly at her. She got in a position to shoot and he mimicked her. She demonstrated how to shoot and he did the same, while actually shooting.
The ball left his hands and hit the backboard with a loud thump. The basketball came back and hit the rim, nearly going in but, it rolled over the rim and onto the ground, not going in. Ahn frowned and went to get the ball.
The two worked together to teach Ahn how to play. When he had mastered shooting, Wen took the ball and said, "Now I'll teach you how to dunk."
Ahn raised his slim eyebrows as she ran and jumped to the hoop. Grabbing on to the smooth metal, she released the ball and stayed on the rim. Ahn opened his mouth slightly but, didn't say anything. He came closer to her; she dropped from the rim. Taking another step forward, Ahn caught her, wedding style, like in all the corny romance novels. Wen gasped, she was so surprised. Ahn looked down into Wen's deep chocolate eyes. She looked into his deep blue ones, that looked like water: clear and bright. The two leaned towards each other when the internal communications came on. Mitchell's voice came on the communications, "Wen, Ahn, Dacey, Zola, Shaun, report to the briefing room."
The two stopped and leaned away from each other. Ahn slowly let her down, feeling suddenly how close they were. Wen's cheeks flared red and Ahn gave a sad half-smile as she started out the door. He followed after her.
By the time Wen and Ahn arrived at the room, everyone else was already there. They sat down as far away from each other as possible. Cameron Mitchell sat at the head of the elongated table. He leaned forward in his chairs and laid out a few papers in front of him. He said, "Atlantis is still having trouble. They contacted me a few minutes and said it was a classic case of people turning into aliens they know nothing about. So, we need options."
Shaun said, "Let me ring up to the city and help my mom. In theory I should be immune to the disease like my mom."
Mitchell leaned back and frowned. After a few tense moments, he said, "Alright. I doubt I could stop you."
Dacey started to object at about the same time as Mil did. Both were getting angry and kept arguing until Cameron said, "Enough! We could use another genius in the city. And unless any of you have his IQ and are immune to the plague, I don't wanna hear it."
Dacey knew he was right. She couldn't do anything to help him. Dacey sat still, glaring and giving an annoying glance at Mitchell. He just gave her a stern look back. Shaun looked at Cameron and said, "With your permission, I'd like to take my leave and get up to Atlantis."
Cameron responded, "Granted."
Shaun stood and exited through the metal door, a slight hunch in his shoulders Dacey could tell meant he didn't want to go. He was just putting on a brave face because he felt he had to for everyone else. Dacey frowned as he went. After he was gone, Mitchell told the remaining, "For the rest of you, get some rest and be ready for anything."
Dacey sighed and left quickly while Ahn and Wen gave each other a glance before leaving together. As Dacey stormed down the hall, Wen and Ahn came up behind her and began keeping pace behind her. Ahn said, "Would you like to get a cup of, what's it called? Coffee?"
"Thanks Ahn but, I think I'm going to hit the gym. I'll leave you two to have fun. Maybe you can even get a room."
Dacey snorted at her own joke. Wen rolled her eyes and said, "Dacey, you need a room, not me."
Dacey turned a corner and went straight to the gym as the duo split off to go wherever they were going. Inside the gym, a basketball court was the first thing in sight. Beyond that, rows of machines stood and past that, locker room doors gleamed silver. Dacey headed to the men's lockers. She pushed aside the door which felt cool against her hand, after she knocked and made sure it was empty. She timidly walked towards the locker that her dad used to use. After he died, everyone had silently agreed to leave it the way it was and not touch it. Back then, Dacey hadn't wanted to see the locker and up 'til now, she hadn't either. Debating whether or not to look in it, she remembered something Shaun had told her once, "I know you don't need to know about your dad but, you deserve to know where you came from."
They had been talking about whether or not to review his military record after his funeral. Shaun had said to but, she hadn't anyway. Thinking of it presently, she thought he was right. Stepping forward, she opened John's locker. Inside, a uniform hung along with workout clothes. On the top shelf, cologne, deodorant, and socks were strewn. In the bottom of the locker were his shoes, polished but dusty. On the inside of the door, pictures of John, Lin, and Dacey on their different vacations were taped up. Larrin wasn't in any of them on the inside because she always hated to be in them. There was one picture at John's eyes level that showed the entire family. The group was in the Traveler colony in the Pegasus Galaxy. They were all smiling, hugging, and Dacey was on John's shoulders. This was the last picture taken before they had died. Tears slid down her face without her wanting them to. She let them be though; knowing Shaun would say it was okay.
Wen and Ahn were in Wen's quarters, sitting at her round table that had only two chairs. Ahn was explaining a traditional Arhgohnnian card game. They had all the same numbers in their base 10 system, so it was not terribly different from Satedan card games. The rules were terribly difficult though, confusing Wen and frustrating her. Wen threw her fistful of cards onto the table in front of Ahn and said, "I give up! How could you ever play this?"
Ahn laughed a loud laugh that echoed in Wen's room. He said, "Alright, we won't play my favorite card game I guess."
Wen crossed her arms over her chest and gave an annoyed look towards the male alien. She stood and started pacing the room and said, "I'm going crazy doing nothing. Can we go to the gym and practice fighting unarmed or getting out of different holds?"
Wen kept pacing back and forth in the room. She felt trapped and nervous for Atlantis and totally helpless.
The chair scraped against the floor as Ahn stood up. She ignored it and continued pacing away from him. The boy alien went to where she was pacing. When Wen turned to pace back, Ahn stopped her by holding her shoulders. The two leaned towards each other, close enough to kiss. At the last second before they touched, Ahn whispered, "Yeah, we can practice sparring."
Ahn briskly walked out of the room and towards the gym. Wen blinked back tears furiously and followed.
When they arrived at the sparring room, which was attached to the gym but, you had to go through the lockers to get to, Wen circled around the outside of the mat. Anger suddenly swelled inside her, burning in her gut. Just when she had begun to fall for him, he had used sparring, her favorite hobby, as an excuse to get away from her. He was going to pay, she thought. Satedans were great at revenge and were even better at hand-to-hand combat.
Neither Wen nor Ahn had changed clothes but, they had come in and got ready to fight, stretching and such. Ahn stood in the middle of the mat and eyed Wen as she circled, waiting for her to make the first move. She waited for him to move and start the fight. After a few more circles around him, she lost patience and began walking towards the middle where he stood. She faked a punch to his face and kneed him in the stomach at the same time. He had raised his arms to block his head, leaving his middle exposed.
Ahn doubled over and fell to his knees as Wen began circling him again, clearly waiting for him to get back up. Ahn waited a few seconds, catching his breath, then reached out and pulled her ankle out from under her as he stood. Wen had been ready for him to and kicked up her other foot, connecting right in the middle of his chest. Stumbling back, he grasped at his chest and gave her a glare, showing he was going to fight for the win now; no more nice guy. Wen rolled to the side and to her feet. When she was up, she had rolled up so that her back was to the male alien. Ahn rushed at her from behind, trying to get a headlock with one arm and trying to wrap his other around her to trap her arms to her sides. Wen grabbed the one around her neck, straightened it, and used it as a lever to flip him over her. Surprised, he did nothing but let her. When his back hit the mat, a low moan escaped his lips. And, once again, Wen started circling. Ahn noticed and it made him think of a certain bird on his planet that was a scavenger and circled its dead prey. Frowning, he sat up, then finally stood, facing her. She cocked her head to the side and asked mockingly, "Who taught you to fight?"
Furious, he sprinted at her and bent down to try and tackle her. She stepped to the side, grabbed his shoulders and held them still until his feet came out from under him and he was on his back again. He said annoyed, "I'm not getting up. You'll just kick my butt. And for your information, great warrior taught me."
Wen looked at him and said, "Fine. I'll play your game. I'll still win."
She knelt beside him and motioned with her hand for him to attack her. He jumped at her, landing on his stomach when she dodged. When he got back onto his knees, she came from behind him and head locked him. She said calmly, "Give?"
Ahn simply nodded. When she let go, he gasped for air. Taking ragged breaths, he turned to stare at her. He sat down, facing her, and asked, "Where did you learn to fight?"
"My father. He obviously is still better than me but, I learned well enough I guess."
Ahn smirked and leaned forward to look her over and said, "Yeah. Not surprising. So, do you always spar for fun or do you do anything else?"
Wen frowned, concentrating. She scooted towards him and sat crossed legged in front of him. She said, "I was trained by my dad to be a fighter, starting at a young age. And my mom kinda balanced it out. She taught me kindness and such but, yes I typically do spar and shoot for fun. I don't know what else to do."
Ahn was silent for a few seconds. He shifted his weight and cocked his head before he said, "I think you have more to you than you give yourself credit for."
Wen gave a small laugh before she said, "Yeah, sure. Everyone sees me as myself, a mindless fighter."
Ahn shook his head furiously and insistently said, "No. I don't think so. You're wrong."
With the last statement, he took her hand. Shivers went through her entire spine; it was something that had never happened before, not with anyone. She gave him a timid smile.
