I've heard the expression ' the enemy of my enemy is my friend', and I've discovered that it is mostly true, but this is not one of those times.

The weeks since my experience have been full of off world adventures and whenever I join Sheppard and Teyla in sparring it always ends up with popcorn and Sheppard sighing in blessed relief. I think I've done more in the last few weeks that I have in the last hundred years. I've nearly lost count of all the planets and people we've met, some good some not so good. Presently we are on the planet Hoff, and being led around the inhabitants underground facilities, but I knew immediately that this was the wrong planet. Everything was clean and pristine here, not rusty and old.

Teyla and Ford walked behind me and McKay had dragged Sheppard up ahead with the Hoffan ambassador who was leading this wonderful tour.

This is actually our second day here as possible trading partners, and Sheppard had asked me to wear something a little less... dark, on this visit. Make a good impression and all that. I hope he's happy. Because here I am walking and trying to pretend that I am not a vampire but a young human wearing a red shirt with a white silk blouse and white "sensible" sandals with no height whats so ever. Luckily the necklace that Alex got me went pretty well or it wouldn't have ended well.

Up ahead I see the ambassador walking away while McKay is glaring at Sheppard, I roll my eyes and hurry toward them.

" You haven't told them? When were you planning it, after they all get culled?"

" For your information I was planning it today. I'm just waiting for the right opportunity." Sheppard sounded a little frustrated, either at the task at hand or because of McKay, I may never know.

I sigh at the promise that I had made to them all, I couldn't read them without their permission or unless it was an emergency. Which leaves me totally in the dark when it comes to those around me, what next?

Footsteps alert me to the approach of the ambassador and I look behind them to see the gray-haired man, a smile on his face.

" Good news, I talked to the leaders and they granted me permission to show you our greatest accomplishment. Though it's not finished, we hope that it will help us fight the Wraith." he sounded pleased at this announcement.

Teyla and Ford caught up with me and we headed after Sheppard and McKay as the ambassador led them down the corridor. I was intrigued by his claim but also a little skeptical, what could these people possibly come up with that the Lantians hadn't.

We caught up to them as the ambassador urged them into a room off the main corridor, " Please."

I hesitated before following the others, it wasn't that I had a problem or anything, but something inside me said "caution". The room was filled with viles full of mostly some reddish liquid, one sniff of the air verified that it wasn't blood. There were a few people in here with white lab coats that ignored us and went on with their work, but one of the White Coats did look up. She was blond and petite and very pretty, she smiled at the ambassador introduced her as Lead Scientist Koment.

" This is the lab that we work in to perfect what we hope will someday destroy the Wraith. Koment? Would you like to tell them what you stride to create in here?"

She bowed slightly, " Yes, Ambassador," she turned to us, " About fifty years ago a scientist named, Rawet Feran, discovered quite by accident that he possessed a protein that could possible prevent the Wraith from feeding. Unfortunately, he was taken in the last culling and was not able to finish his research. Thankfully," she turned around and walked to a bookshelf full of viles and reached up to pick up a rather tattered looking book, " we still have these. Feran made detailed notes of his discoveries and failures but I fear that without Feran himself here it will take longer to produce a viable serum." Koment wrapped her arms protectively around the book as she finished her little speech.

Sheppard looked at McKay with a glint in his eye that made the skin on my arms tingle, McKay shrugged,

" Possible."

Sheppard turned to the Ambassador, " We may be able to speed up the process."

" Why couldn't you have just sent a sample through the Gate? Why make me come here?" I smiled as I heard the Scottish accent reverberate down the corridor.

" What? Aren't you happy to get out?" I could hear the smile in Ford's voice.

" No, not with the knowledge of what happens to the body when one steps through that things."

" Please don't go all Dr. McCoy on us." Sheppard sounded amused.

" Well, pardon me for being a little squeamish about my body being dematerialized and than rematerialized at the molecular level."

" Sir, he does have a point there." Ford was still smiling.

I couldn't help but laugh at their conversation, especially when you take into account that they didn't know I could hear them.

McKay looks up at me, " Whats so funny?" he sounded kinda bored, of course, since his expertise wasn't needed in this case...

I try to stop my laughter and fail miserably when Carson Beckett steps into the room with a smiling Ford behind him, the Dr. McCoy comment rushing to the forefront of my mind. I burst into peals of laughter.

Sheppard glances at me before turning to McKay, " What's her deal?"

" Don't look at me, she just suddenly started laughing."

I gasp for air as I push the bubbles of laughter down and I stare at Sheppard, " Dr. McCoy, huh? I didn't take you for a Star Trek fan."

His eyes widened, " You heard that? But we were thirty yards away."

I smile and shrug, " It's what I do."

At that moment Koment entered the room and Dr. Beckett turned around, I heard his heart speed up and his breathing quicken and I resisted the urge to giggle. Koment greeted Beckett and watched as he and Ford set up the laptops.

" I've never seen such advanced technology before." she sounded in awe as Beckett pushed the power button and the screen lite up.

Beckett shrugged, " There okay, but compared to some other technology that we've found we are sadly primitive."

Koment continued to eye the computers as the others left to finish the tour, I stayed behind, I didn't really want to go tramping around the facilities.

I watched as the two of them studied sample after sample and I start to wonder what could possibly be so darn interesting. But I don't want to interrupt so I keep my mouth shut and before I know it three more days have passed.

" I wish we had some Wraith cells to test this on."

Koment hurries over to a drawer and pulls out a clear slide with a sample and hands it to Beckett, " We got this a few years ago and we've used it to test on."

" That's wonderful, but even if it works with these it might work differently with live subjects."

I roll my eyes and quickly slip into his mind, use the Wraith that is trapped in Atlantis. How stupid can a smart person be? We caught the thing about two weeks ago, ironically with the beacon that they had been using against us.

Sheppard had nicknamed him, Steve, you gotta love his name choosing abilities.

Without missing a beat Carson suggested getting fresh samples, I watched as Koment's eyes widened at the knowledge that we had a live Wraith back home. McKay is the only member that stayed behind with me, the others went back with Beckett to... deal with Steve. I have done my best to ignore his cell and anything that might lead me to it, although I have noticed that no one has asked me to participate in feeding him. Not that I'm complaining, one less argument.

Everything went quickly when Beckett returned, I heard that Steve put up a fight until Sheppard came in a stunned him twice. I was surprised when Beckett announced that the serum was ready for a test trial, and even more so when he volunteered Steve. Sheppard, Teyla, and Ford left alone and came back with a full armed guard and one Steve. Unfortunately, I couldn't ignore him now, and I couldn't just disappear until he left. I did wait until the last possible moment when Koment and Beckett led a terminally ill patient that had volunteered for the experiment. The young man didn't look good and I don't think it was just from his illness. The hard thing about being what I am and being me is resisting the urge, the temptation, to save those that are in need. I couldn't even give the man a drop of numbing venom to ease his pain, at least not without giving myself away.

When we enter the small room the first thing I notice is the guard, armed and ready for just about anything. The next thing is the shiny metal bar enclosure with Steve standing inside, a pleased expression on his face. Then there is Sheppard's, not so pleased, especially as he sees the man that is about to offer himself to Steve. I step around Beckett and join Sheppard in front of the enclosure, even though I feel Steve's gaze move toward me I don't respond.

" You don't have to do this." Beckett didn't want the young man to suffer anymore than he had to.

The man looks at Steve and doesn't waver, " No, I want to do this."

Koment and Carson walk the man to the entrance, Sheppard and the guard ready their P-90's as I reach forward with the key Ford had given me earlier. I turn the key and yank the barred door open and watch as the man tentatively steps in. I close the door and lock it behind him closing off his only escape. I watch with a heavy heart as the man unbuttons the top five of his night shirt and weakly stands in front of the Wraith that is about to take his life. Honestly, I don't think that any of this is going to work and we've just sacrificed a innocent man to a terrible fate. I resist the urge to hiss in warning as Steve approaches the man with a victorious sneer. My hands tighten into fists as he raises and pushes his hand onto the mans chest. But even before anyone can register any difference, I see Steve's face fall and he looks at his hand. With a angry wanna be growl he pulls and walks away, the young man still standing but breathing heavily.

I reach out and open the door, Koment carefully steers the man out and disappears with him and Carson. Aware of the hostility emanating from Steve I quickly close and lock the door before turning away to follow. But just as I exit the room I catch a mild scent in the air and it smells like death, I disregard it as best I can and hurry after Beckett's retreating form.

Unfortunately, not even ten minutes have passed when Ford asks Beckett to come take a look at Steve. Sheppard had decided to follow me when I left so we ran back together. Inside the room the guard isn't as ready for anything as they had been the first time, I glance to my right and see Ford starring into the enclosure.

" Steve, doesn't look so good." he says without looking at us.

Sheppard and I walk up next to the bars to see Steve in back slumped against the cold metal, his breathing more labored than necessary. I smell death again as he looks at us, " What have you done to me?"

Without warning, Steve suddenly rushes toward us and reaches his hand through the bars, stopping two inches short of Sheppard's neck. The scent is strengthened considerably with him in front of me and I watch as he sinks to the ground.

Ford looks at me, " Isn't there anything that you can do for him?"

I turn my gaze to his face then behind him as Koment enters the space before returning to Ford, " No." I wasn't lying either, because other than death I also detected something else, something that wasn't suppose to be there. I had an idea what it was and I doubt very much that even my venom would have saved Steve.

With that thought I turn and leave before the scents become anymore stronger.

After that incident, I didn't go to the lab with Koment and Beckett, I didn't attend the tour that Sheppard seemed to be subjected to for the entire duration of our visit, and I didn't dare mess with McKay or Ford. I heard in passing that the young man from the test had died the day after but that everyone just thought that it had been his illness. I wasn't so sure but I kept my mouth shut. When I discovered Beckett walking to the entrance of the complex with Sheppard and McKay, I knew something was up. But before I could catch up to them and ask, Teyla appears and announces that Beckett is needed in the hospital. They disappear down the corridor, I glance to my left and start down the corridor in front of me, I know I'll beat them to the hospital. Sure enough I enter the area that houses the Hoffan hospital and am assaulted by the scene before me. Hoffan's, men, women, children, every type, either lying on single person beds or on mats on the floor, some didn't even have mats.

Nurses and doctors ran around continuously trying to help the people but with their best efforts I heard more than one heart stop. Footsteps behind me told of the other finally arriving, and I watched as Beckett set to work and enlisting Teyla's and Sheppard's help. Ford was already running around trying to help the over tacked doctors, McKay stood in a corner with a sorrowful expression. I can't take the stench anymore and start breathing through my mouth as I walk toward McKay and stand next to him.

For two hours, I stood there. For two hours, I watched dozens of individuals pass from this life. For two hours, I saw Beckett try to save those lives and the toll it took when he failed. When I saw him and the others leaving the wing I grab McKay's hand and pull him that way. He doesn't fight me and left me pull away from the still many poor souls that are suffering.

" Beckett. What's happening?" my voice was no more than a whisper.

" The drug. It has, apparently, a fifty/fifty mortality rate. Those people in there are as good as dead. Koment among them."

" I'm sorry, Carson. I don't think that there is anything that anyone could have done. I doubt even I could have."

" Why?" Ford sounded tired.

" Because the drug is made from that protein, my venom would most likely have ignored it as just a part of the body."

" Let's get out of here." Sheppard looked exhausted, and disgusted.

I turn around with the others only to hear a voice yelling at us to wait. Looking behind me I see the Ambassador running toward us with a piece of paper clutched in his hand.

" What?" the disgust was obvious.

" I just thought that maybe to might want to see the results of the vote." he holds out the paper and McKay reaches out.

" Eighty percent in favor." with a sigh he rips the paper in half and turns away, Teyla with him.

The Ambassador glances at Sheppard, " I certainly hope that this event doesn't hamper our trading arrangement."

Sheppard rests his right hand on his P-90 strapped to his vest, " We've changed out minds."

With that he turns around and heads after McKay and Teyla, Ford and I behind him.

" So, what do we do now? We still need food." McKay sounded subdued.

" I know of a planet that we trade with often." Teyla volunteers.

" Nice people?" Ford looks a little curious.

Teyla glances at him, " Yes, the Genii."

" They are simple farmers and fair traders. I've had many dealings with them and never have I been disappointed." Teyla wasn't speaking to me exactly, but I was sitting across from her in the circular meeting room, Dr. Weir was listening carefully to what Teyla was saying.

Weir leaned forward, " What can we expect they'll ask for?"

" Medicines. Maybe the promise of helping with the harvest."

" Will they trade with us for sure."

" They are cautious, but after the welcoming banquet everything usually moves smoothly."

Weir turns to Sheppard, " You'll have to make this work, I don't think that we can ration any further."

The Major nods, " I know."

" Okay, then. You have a go."

The episodes are a little mixed up but I made them that way so that it wasn't like an exact copy. Hope you all can forgive me there.