Chapter 48: You did what I ordered you to do.

The journey back to the POW planet was as difficult as it had been last time. Although it wasn't painful it did take most of my mental capacity to maintain control of the various systems while the ship was in hyperspace. That left Rodney alone trying to make the necessary repairs to give me some chance of operating the weapons should we need them.

When the ship broke clear of hyperspace I established a stable orbit before relaxing my control of the ship.

"Nice work," John complimented before turning to Rodney. "Any sign of the other Hive ship?"

"No. We're clear." Rodney reported.

"Alright. Patch me through to the camp," John requested.

"Just give me a second," Rodney turned back to his laptop to tap out a few commands. "Wait a second ..." he muttered as a series of screeches went off. "A bunch of secondary systems just came on line."

I put my hands back on the controls and then groaned.

"What?" John turned to me in concern.

"The ships sensors have been activated automatically," I replied grimly. "There are Wraith down on that planet."

"How many?" John demanded.

"Between twenty and thirty," I replied, "along with over a hundred humans."

"Some of them reverted," John frowned.

"They'll be feeding on each other," Ronan pointed out grimly.

"What about Doctor Beckett and Lieutenant Morrison's team?" Teyla asked in concern.

"They could be amongst the human life signs," I looked across at her, grim faced with worry. "I have no way of telling." Picking up something else from the systems I groaned in frustration.

"Sabina?" he looked at me questioningly.

"This just gets better and better," I complained. "They've broadcast a distress call ... a Hive ship is on it's way here." Rodney started muttering as he punched in commands on his laptop interface.

"How long?" John demanded.

"Hours, minutes," Rodney looked up with a sick expression. "They could be here any time."

"Teyla, Ronan, you're with me," John ordered, "Rodney, Sabina – get me weapons."

"How could they contact the ship so far out?" John kept Rodney and I in the radio loop as they made their way to the Puddle Jumper.

"It is possible that a group of them acting together could communicate over much larger distances." Teyla admitted.

"Should I try jamming them with the TED?" I asked John, kicking myself that I hadn't thought of it sooner.

"The Hive ship's already on the way but I guess it couldn't hurt," John replied. "Do it."

I activated the Ancient telepathic device and quickly tapped into the nearest Wraith signals – selecting the commands to send a constant stream of noise down those connections I left the device to continue until it was time to deactivate it.

"What about the failsafe device?" John asked Rodney. "What kind of kill zone are we looking at?"

"Everything in a three mile radius is toast," Rodney said grimly.

"You sure about that?" John demanded. "We've got no margin for error."

"The blast radius doesn't just stop at three miles," Rodney pointed out.

"What about the ones that are still human?" Teyla asked the question I'd been thinking myself.

"There's nothing we can do for them," Ronan admitted.

"If Michael got his memory back, they could all know about Atlantis by now, and how to find Earth," John explained the necessity. "We can't take that chance. Once we get our people out, we'll give you the signal, you set off the nuke."

Rodney looked at me with sick horror.

"I hate this too," I told him. "If there was another way ..."

"There isn't," Rodney said grimly. "Let's get to work on those weapons."

We worked in silence for some time, not really expecting to hear back for at least half an hour. When that time had elapsed Rodney started pacing the Bridge in agitation.

"Oh, come on!," he said nervously.

"Rodney, come in," John finally reported in.

"What's happening?" Rodney demanded.

"We've got Carson," John replied. "Morrison and his team are dead. We're headin' back." We waited a few moments and then John reported in again. "We're clear. Light it up."

"Understood," Rodney said grimly. He moved over to a different console and activated the controls. "Failsafe detonation in three ... two ... one."

When nothing obvious happened I knew immediately that something was very wrong.

"Rodney?" John demanded.

"I don't understand it," Rodney said sickly.

"What happened?" John asked.

"You mean what didn't happen?" Rodney corrected grimly.

"Are you telling me the bomb didn't go off?" John's voice had taken on an angry edge.

"They got to it," Ronan said without emotion.

"We cannot leave the Wraith here to be found by the Hive," Teyla pointed out.

"Get back to work on those weapons," John ordered Rodney and me. "We're not goin' anywhere."

"This is so bad," Rodney complained as he rushed hurriedly between consoles, trying to get the weapons systems back on line. I tried to help through the neural interface but my control of the systems was not the problem. Rodney finally managed to get power flowing where it was needed, just in time for the rest of team Sheppard to arrive back on the Bridge, Doctor Beckett in tow. Teyla moved to assist Carson to a spot where he could rest while Ronan and John approached the main console.

"How are we doing with weapons," John asked, looking from me back to Rodney.

"Sabina has control of the weapons," Rodney reported, "but it won't do us much good because the targeting system isn't functioning. We can fire but it'd be blind luck if we actually hit anything."

"I have an idea," I dropped that into the silence that followed Rodney's announcement.

"Let's hear it," John said, the look on his face telling me he had a vague idea of what I was going to say.

"I already have TED sending noise down to everyone on that planet," I said. "I could make that more aggressive – render them all unconscious. We could pick up the human survivors and then I could ... ah I could use TED to make it more ... permanent."

"We don't have time to make enough trips down to the planet to save even a fraction of those humans," John told me grimly. "That Hive ship will be here any minute and we need to make sure there's no one there for them to find."

"There's still over a hundred men down there that believe that we are their saviours," Doctor Beckett said desperately.

"Can TED send a killing blow to everyone down there at once?" John asked me.

"You mean can I kill everyone down there at once," I returned. "It's just the same as that old adage – guns don't kill people ... people kill people."

"Can you do it?" John demanded.

"I honestly don't know," I replied. "It depends on the strength of the mind ... clearly some of them are stronger than the others." I thought for a moment before continuing. "The ones who are still human? Definitely. The ones who've reverted? Maybe most of them. But Michael? He's strong and I'll only get one shot at it."

"Okay," John came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "This is my call ... and I'm sorry Sabina but I'm gonna have to order you to use TED to send down the strongest killing blow you can manage. Take out as many as you can. Then we'll switch to the Hive weapons – you'll need to bombard the surface with as many hits as the ship can produce before we lose power."

I looked at him sickly, tears welling into my eyes, before turning away.

"Sabina!" John pulled me around and got up right into my face. "Can you do this?!"

"Yes," I pulled away and stalked grimly over to the telepathic device. "Accessing the telepathic pool now ... sending killing blow ...," I reported emotionlessly. I slammed the device with as much mental force as I could muster, TED expanded it and shot it down all the Wraith connections I'd perceived. As soon as it was done I carefully deactivating TED before stepping away. I staggered slightly ... John was there in an instant but I shrugged away from any kind of human contact. Putting my hands on the Wraith Hive ship controls I tried as best I could to target the camp site and then sent down as many hits as the ship could produce. We were still firing when our own Hive ship shook with the force of external blows.

"It's the other Hive! We're taking multiple hits!" Rodney reported with a sick look.

"What about the target?" John demanded.

"It's hard to say for sure how accurate our fire has been," Rodney admitted. "The interference from weapons fire means I can't tell whether there are life signs still on the planet."

"Sabina - blanket the entire area," John ordered. "We can't afford a mistake."

I kept the Hive ship firing down on the planet as the Bridge shook violently again.

"Engines are offline!" Rodney yelled. "We're venting atmosphere! Power's about to fail."

I staggered back as the Hive controls went dead under my hands. John grabbed my arm and hauled me against him.

"Get to the Dart Bay," he yelled to his team, pulling me with him as the others preceded us from the Bridge.

"NO!" I tried to pull away from John. "We have to get the TED!"

"There's no time," John shouted.

I pulled against his hold a second time. "I can make it! It's too valuable to let it be destroyed."

"It's not worth your life!" John shouted, dragging me away from the Bridge. I glanced back despairingly and realised that he was right. The Hive ship was shaking violently, the noise of multiple explosions roaring all around us. I clung to John's hand as we sprinted after the others. We got to the Jumper and threw ourselves inside just as the ship started listing to one side.

"Hold on" John instructed grimly. "This is gonna be close."

He activated the Jumpers cloak and sent us powering out of the Dart Bay ... the roar of explosions chased us from the Hive ship and we watched in horror as only seconds later the whole ship blew apart, spreading debris over a huge area. Silence reigned as we watched the other Hive ship do a brief sweep of the planet before opening a hyperspace window and disappearing from sight.

"That was close," Rodney muttered, staring in sick fascination as pieces of our Hive ship floated past the Jumpers forward window.

"Too close," John glared at me. "What were you thinking, trying to go back for that device?"

"About the future of Atlantis," I said expressionlessly, "and how much better it would have been if we still had the TED."

John glanced over at me and turned quickly back to Rodney. "Take the controls," he said. For once Rodney did what he was told without questioning why.

"Sabina?" John squatted in front of my chair and looked at me closely. Doctor Beckett appeared at my other side, putting a finger to my throat and checking my pulse.

"Mmm?" I said dazedly. I watched with little interest as Carson shone his little penlight into my eyes. He felt my hands and asked me if I was having any trouble breathing. When I shook my head Carson turned to John.

"Pulse is slightly weak, but not of concern," he said in a quiet voice. "Pupils responded well and she's not cold so I don't think it's shock. Perhaps the amount of mental effort she expended –"

"Did I kill all those people?" I interrupted their whispered conversation. "I did, didn't I?"

"You did what I ordered you to do," John tried to reassure me. "It wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't yours either," I pointed out. "Who's fault was it? What would Doctor Weir say? Or Colonel Caldwell? Or Woolsey – I can just imagine what he'll have to say," I laughed mirthlessly.

"Don't do this to yourself," John pleaded with me. "What you did saved everyone on Atlantis – if that Hive had captured those men every Hive ship in this sector would have come bearing down on the city."

"Should that make me feel better?" I asked curiously. "Because it's ... not."

"We couldn't have done anything else," John reiterated.

"Maybe," I replied emotionlessly. "Did I ever tell you what my names means? Sabina – it means peace maker ... isn't that the biggest joke right now!"

I lost some of the emotional armour my detached state had been lending me when I looked into John's eyes and saw the guilt and anguish he was feeling. That was enough to break the dam – huge tears started pouring from my eyes as my breath hitched erratically.

I tried to turn away from everyone watching me unravel but John wouldn't let me. Without a word he stood and picked me up, taking me to the back section of the Jumper, and sitting down with me on his lap. Everyone else made the pretence of going about their business but since we were floating in space none of them really had any business.

I cried and cried until my throat felt raw and my eyes were swollen so much that I could hardly see out of them. John continued to hold me as Doctor Beckett came back to scan me with his portable scanner.

"It's going to be a long trip back to Atlantis," Carson said softly. "Let's get her stretched out back here so she can get some sleep – recover some of the energy she used up on the Hive ship."

I was stretched out and tucked into blankets, drifting in a haze but not asleep when the Daedalus arrived.

"Daedalus, this is Sheppard, come in."

"Sheppard," Colonel Caldwell replied with what sounded like relief. "Where the hell are you?"

There was a pause before John responded "Oh! Right. Sorry," as he realised he'd left the Jumper cloaked. "You got here in good time, Colonel," John continued. "We were looking at a long ride home."

Authors Note:

I chose Sabina as a name because it's the feminine form of Sabinus, a Roman cognomen meaning "Sabine" in Latin. The Sabines were an ancient people who lived in central Italy, their lands eventually taken over by the Romans after several wars. According to legend, the Romans abducted several Sabine women during a raid, and when the men came to rescue them, the women were able to make peace between the two groups. The source for this was behindthename dot com.

Only ONE chapter to go ... wow!