Chapter 42: That double crossing bitch!

"I want to be on the Daedalus when you head out," I told John. It was early evening and we were sitting at our usual table in the commissary. John had just finished explaining the plan he and Rodney had come up with to test the retrovirus gas on another Hive.

"Why did I know you were gonna say that?" John looked away and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Because deep down you can see the advantage having me there could give us," I replied reasonably.

"We need you here on Atlantis, just in case things go pear shaped," John said heatedly.

"No," I retorted. "You want me here on Atlantis so you can go off with one less thing to worry about!"

"That's not," John paused with a grimace, "entirely true ... it would give me less to worry about but it also makes strategic sense. You're the backup plan – you can't be that if you get wiped out with the rest of us if this thing goes really, really, wrong."

"Your mission will have a greater chance of success if I'm there," I said boldly. "If communication is cut off for example I can make a connection and find out what's going on. If the other Hive ship tries to attack I can jam the Wraith inside so they can't even aim properly."

"You said the other day that you weren't even sure you could do any of those things because they haven't been tested," John protested my claims. "Now you're telling me you can do them, no sweat?"

"I don't think Colonel Caldwell will have a problem with me being on his ship," my tone suggested that John's main concern really was just the personal angle.

"So you're gonna go over my head again," John looked angry now.

"Not unless you get really stubborn about this," I admitted honestly. "Please don't make me do that because I really hate it."

"I'm just waiting for the one time when we're in this kind of situation and you actually do what I want," John grumbled.

"And I'm waiting for the one time you have faith enough in me to see things exactly the same way I do," I replied in disappointment.

"I do have faith in you," John insisted. "I've seen - hell I've felt – the strength of your mind."

"Then trust me to know the best place to put myself," I almost begged. "Besides, this is supposed to be a routine mission – I'll probably spend the entire time being bored on the Daedalus."

"Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna regret this?" John muttered under his breath.

"I can go?" I asked hopefully.

"You can go," John agreed, still reluctant. "But you follow mine and Colonel Caldwell's orders to the letter!"

The next morning I loaded up my gear and had myself beamed aboard the Daedalus in time to do some work setting up the Wraith Dart, just in case. I'd decided that if things really did go wrong I should have the TED set up somewhere with separate systems and an independent means of surviving in space. That would give me maximum flexibility should I need to call on its functionality. The trip to the planned rendezvous was interminable and I'd exhausted every minor idea for tinkering with the Dart while we were still in hyperspace.

I noticed immediately when the hyperspace engine disengaged and we returned to normal space. Almost immediately the ship shook with what could only be direct hits to the hull.

"John," I yelled into the radio. "What's going on out there?"

"The Hive ships are firing on our position," John revealed grimly. "The enemy Hive as well as our friendly."

"What?!" I growled. "I knew that waxy faced Wraith bitch couldn't be trusted!"

"We're making evasive manoeuvres while we give McKay and Ronan a chance to beam back over here," John said. "Stay where you are until you hear back from me."

"Acknowledged," I confirmed.

Once I'd signed off I cleared my gear away from the Dart and then rigged myself into the cock pit. Checking to make sure the TED and my laptop were properly secured, I steeled myself to wait to hear back from John. If he came back telling me Rodney and Ronan were still on that Hive I wasn't waiting for orders – there was no way that Queen was taking my friends anywhere.

"Sabina," John radioed me only a minute or so later. "Hermiod can't beam through their jamming program ... looks like that was bogus too. Can you do anything with TED to help?"

"How much time do I have?" I asked grimly.

"Maybe another couple of minutes, tops," John admitted.

"I don't know," I said hesitantly. "I'll try ... stand by."

I activated TED and perceived all the possible optimal connections in the telepathic pool. Locking in the command to bombard them with mental noise, I radioed back to John. "Get Hermiod to try it now," I said, grimly holding the TED to the target.

"No luck," John replied a few seconds later.

"Hang on," I demanded, closing my eyes to look more closely at the connections TED had perceived. My stomach dropped sickly as I realised there was only one type of mechanical connection available – the Darts. Looking more closely at the reams of information TED had hovering in the background I discovered why.

"That double crossing bitch!" I complained bitterly.

"What?" John demanded impatiently.

"Those files they gave us have self destructed," I revealed angrily. "I can't do anything about the Hive ship itself because TED can't find it anymore."

"This just keeps getting better and better," John drawled, angry too. "What about the Wraith in those Hive ships?"

"Already jamming them," I replied. "It's causing some confusion over there but they've obviously got the ship set on a firing sequence since they're still attacking us. Either that or TED isn't working quite how I'd planned. I'm sorry," I said in disappointment.

"Not your fault," John countered, "and any confusion you can cause is a bonus. I'm taking the F302's out to target their hyperdrives ... stay in contact just in case I need you to try something else."

"Be careful," I whispered, taking a deep calming breath when John cut off the connection.

With the aid of TED I was able to perceive the battle taking place outside the ship. I knew which F302 was Johns – I tried to help him and his squadron by targeting the Darts closest to their positions for extra jamming. I knew the instant John disappeared from the sensors, although I could still pick up his telepathic signal.

Once I worked out why that was I powered up the Dart and flew it out of the hangar and into space. I'd timed my exit perfectly ... John's small squadron of F302s had destroyed most of the Wraith Darts and the remaining few had retreated back to the Hive ship. As soon as I got close to our supposedly friendly Hive ship the automatic pilot took control just as I'd hoped. I sat back and let it take me into the Hive ship along with the other Darts. John was somewhere on that ship and I had the horrible suspicion that without me he wouldn't survive this time.

Authors Note:

Thanks for all the reviews guys ... here ends Season 2! Just kidding ... my story is continuing into Season 3 - I'm sure you all know by now that I'm not big on cliffhangers! So next up is No Mans Land ... another edited chapter tomorrow.