Sheppard led his team through the hallway to the empty command center. Looking to his watch, he blinked when he realized they were four minutes away from the other teams arriving. They'd been held for almost the entire time allotted to them to capture this ship.
"We've got to hurry. Everyone else is about to get here." Sheppard shouted. He looked to Aceso, who regained some of her strength, but still leaned on Ronon for support.
Whatever mistrust Ronon had of her before didn't prevent him from helping her.
"Are you going to be able to do this?" Sheppard asked Aceso. "If not, we will have to re-program the ship to accept commands from Teyla."
"I can do this," Aceso said, "but I will not have the strength for a long journey through hyperspace."
"All right," Sheppard said. His worry didn't subside.
"You hardly look different," McKay commented. "I bet you'll be just fine."
Aceso gave McKay a pained expression. "It must feel worse than it looks," she said. "I will be able to recover but I must have some rest soon."
"All right McKay," Sheppard said, getting his attention. "Program the ship to accept Teyla's commands, she can at least fly it through hyperspace."
"Got it," McKay said, working his way over to the main command console and fumbling with the interface.
"We have to wait for the signal," Sheppard said. The Daedalus would arrive any moment now.
"What are we going to do about the wraith on board the ship?" Ronon asked.
Aceso went to one of the consoles to the side of the room brought up a holographic schematic of the ship's interior, showing life signs concentrated in the starboard side dart bay.
A shrill alarm sounded for a second, then shut off.
"Now what?" Sheppard asked.
"The transport ship is leaving," Aceso said.
As they feared, the life signs disappeared from the dart bay just as a transport ship exited the bay and flew up, away from the planet. They watched all this unfold on the holographic display in front of them.
"Are we in danger from them?" Teyla asked.
"I don't think so," McKay answered. "Those ships don't have weapons, and in a second, the Daedalus will be here."
A minute later, a dart exited the hive ship and went off in a different direction.
Sheppard pointed to the dot on the display indicating the dart. "Is that him?" he asked, referring to Nyx.
Aceso shut her eyes for a second. "It is," she said. "He says that he must go his own way."
Over their earpieces, they heard a voice. "Colonel Sheppard." Caldwell spoke from the Daedalus.
Sheppard tapped the earpiece. "Here sir."
"We're engaging the orbiting hive now. You have cover to move the ship on the ground."
Sheppard waved at Aceso, who focused on starting up the ship. The whole structure of the ship soon began vibrating.
"We're lifting off now," Sheppard called over the radio.
Another transmission came over a different channel. "This is Lorne. We've destroyed the guard towers, and we're proceeding into the camp now."
"We'll be there to meet you," Sheppard said.
They all watched with interest as the holographic display indicated the ship's position, and where their landing zone was marked.
"Careful," McKay said. "I know it looks like we're barely moving, but you're approaching two hundred kilometers per hour."
"I know what I'm doing Rodney." Aceso said. Her voice dropped just a half tone into a wraith timbre, something that only happened when she was stressed.
"Just let her figure it out McKay." Sheppard said. "She's a lot better at this than any of us."
"I know that!" McKay shouted back. "But I always get nervous when we're moving such a big ship. I don't know if you know this, but the amount of kinetic energy we have is equivalent to…"
Sheppard put up his hand. "I don't want to know McKay. We just have to hope it'll all work out."
McKay shut his mouth tightly at that. He had learned over the years to know when to stop talking.
The lumbering ship hovered about five hundred meters over the surface as it moved along, for all intents and purposes, looking like a mountain had simply picked itself off the surface and flew away.
Sheppard watched the display depicting the ship approaching the open pit mine. The ship could cover the entire mine like a giant lid, although Sheppard hoped that wouldn't happen. He looked to Aceso for some indication of what she was doing, and saw her in deep concentration. Her brow furrowed, and her teeth bared in focus.
He had the urge to say something, but resisted, knowing that she was doing her best, and showeing remarkable strength despite what had just happened to her.
A low rumbling began, and an alarm went off again.
"We're dragging the lower hull on the ground." McKay said.
"I'm slowing down," Aceso said.
"You know, I'm noticing a pattern to how you land ships." McKay commented.
Aceso snapped back at him. "Do you want to try?"
McKay shrugged "Hey, we still have to fly this giant bathtub out of here. We can't break it."
The ship's thrusters cut out suddenly, and with a few moments of shuddering, they came to a stop. The holographic display showed the main right side dart bay entrance right at ground level to within a meter. Aceso had landed within two hundred meters of the main road leading down into the mine pit.
"That was amazing," Sheppard said. "Right on target."
Aceso went over to the spot where Ronon rested and sat down beside him. She leaned to rest her back against the wall.
"That's it," she said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
Sheppard gave McKay a wry smile. "See, nothing to worry about."
The radio crackled on. "That was one hell of a landing," Lorne said. "You're right where we need you."
Sheppard tapped the radio. "Good to hear it. How's the evacuation going?"
"Everyone is understandably confused. They're showing some hesitance to getting on a hive ship, but we're talking with the section leaders and trying to explain that our own people have commandeered the ship."
"Let me know if it becomes a problem," Sheppard answered. "Tell them that I'm in command of the ship."
The ship's external sensors tracked the life signs of the people filing out of the mine and into the dart bay. There were just over a thousand people in this group. He watched the white dots on the hologram as they entered the hive ship's dart bay. His thoughts turned to Arret, and the way he died. Then his mind wandered to thinking about Naam.
They should have survived. They should be there now, and it was his fault that they weren't. That sinking feeling returned as his mind spun in a loop.
"This is jumper five, we have the supplies loaded for the refugees," Stackhouse said.
Sheppard snapped out of that thought and tapped the radio. "Land inside the main dart bay entrance on the ship's starboard side."
"Roger that."
It took about twenty minutes from landing before all the little white dots came aboard the ship. The main dart bay entrance was a large physical door that operated like an eyelid, and they would need to be clear of it before trying to close it.
"Lorne," McKay called on the radio. "Can you confirm that everyone is aboard. I need you to clear the main door before we close it."
"Everyone is aboard now, and all jumpers are inside the bay." Lorne confirmed. "We'll stay clear of the door and watch over the refugees."
"All right, shutting main door," McKay called out before commanding the door from his console.
"Hurry it up," Caldwell said. "We've been playing chicken with this hive ship for awhile, and our shields can't take much more bombardment."
Sheppard had almost forgotten about the Daedalus. While the rest of the teams were working on the ground, the crew of the Daedalus was saving the day right now, preventing their ship and the mine from being targeted from space.
Aceso had fallen asleep, but Sheppard could see her breathing calmly. He knew from experience that there would be a lot of pain and that occurred after being fed on. Being a different species, her experience may be a little different, but outwardly, it seemed to be affecting her the same way.
At Caldwell's announcement, she came to attention slowly and attempted to stand up, only faltering slightly. Sheppard moved to help her stand up and guided her over to the control console.
"This will be a bit more violent than before," Aceso said, bringing the engines online again.
The ship rumbled and shook — hard. The noise permeated the entire structure of the ship like a loud roaring.
The display showed the ship blasting off of the surface much faster than anyone expected. If not for inertial dampening, the ship and occupants would be crushed. The sensors cut out, focusing their attention on their orbit trajectory. The ship's launch scattered debris high into the air like a volcano exploding. Unfortunately for the wraith, that wouldn't be the end of the day's destruction.
"The planet has been evacuated." Sheppard said.
"We're broadcasting an IFF," McKay said over the frequency. "We should register as friendly on your scope."
"Roger that," Caldwell replied. "We're launching missiles." They were already too far away to see the destruction that the weapons caused, but no one there really cared to watch. It satisfied him enough to know that the hive ships and the mine had become radioactive dust.
Their path took them up into orbit at a shallow angle, but the entire process took only a few minutes before they reached space. "We'll stay until you enter hyperspace," Caldwell said. "No rush now, all of the ships are destroyed, and the remaining hive fled."
Sheppard looked to Aceso, who plotted their course on the navigation display.
"We'll meet at the rendezvous site," Sheppard said.
The ship jolted slightly as it entered hyperspace, and Aceso stumbled to the floor. Sheppard wanted to help her, but Ronon caught her from falling and helped her lean against the wall.
"That was amazing," McKay said. "As far as missions go, that was really smooth."
"We almost got killed Rodney," Sheppard pointed out.
McKay walked around in an excited circle. "Yeah, but we got everyone out, and no one died."
"A few wraith did," Ronon deadpanned.
Rolling his eyes, Sheppard knelt down on the floor near Aceso and Ronon.
Turning his attention to Aceso, he tried to figure out how he could help her. He couldn't help but feel annoyed at her reckless outburst, but considering that she was going after Ice, he couldn't really blame her. He might have done the same in her position. "How are you doing?" he asked.
She shook her head. "I feel terrible," she smiled. "But it's my fault. I shouldn't have gone alone."
"No, you shouldn't have," Sheppard scolded. "Your brother had a plan to keep all of us safe, and that was almost ruined because you abandoned the team."
"I could have finished it," she said with a weak cough. "I could have ended her, but I hesitated."
Sheppard turned his head, genuinely shocked at Aceso's admission. He hadn't expected her to get that close to Ice. "Why didn't you."
She seemed confused and hesitant. "I don't know. I wanted to avenge my hive, but when she was within my power, I stopped."
Sheppard sat there silently. He guessed that revenge might be too much for her. As an empathetic person, she did not like causing pain. Sheppard didn't blame her for that.
She began to weep silently. 'Helpless,' was not the usual word to describe a wraith, but it seemed to fit this one right now. Her chest bled still, staining her undershirt. Sheppard knew the emotional toll that feeding took. When it happened to him, he turned despair into anger, which motivated him. He recognized the emotional turmoil that came with a partial feeding. Other people he'd seen who suffered it had serious emotional issues that started only minutes after it happened.
Ronon sat up. "It's better that you didn't," he said. "If you hesitated, it means you're not made for that."
"What do you mean?" Aceso asked.
"Have you ever taken revenge for anything? Not killing, something small?." Ronon inquired. "Like revenge against someone who stole from you."
She seemed thoughtful, looking back through her memories. "No," she answered.
"Then it's not in you," Ronon said. "Trust me on this."
McKay approached tentatively. "Do you need anything, food, water?"
She shook her head, "Only time will heal this damage, but I will be fine." She lay down on the floor, trying for a restless sleep.
"You're part of a team," Sheppard said, "so tell us what you need." While he could scold her more for abandoning the team on her own personal crusade, the fact that she had been fed on as a result felt like more than enough punishment — far too much.
She nodded weakly in response. "Thank you."
Teyla, walked over, growing more concerned. "You need to get those feeding scars taken care of — as well as a shirt that isn't soaked in blood."
Sheppard took this as a cue to talk to the team in the dart bay. "Lorne," Sheppard called over the radio.
The radio crackled with Lorne's voice. "Go ahead Colonel."
"How are things down there?"
"Good," Lorne said. "We're providing medical supplies and food now. These people are in pretty rough shape."
"I know," Sheppard said. "Can you bring us some medical supplies? We lost our equipment."
"And food?" McKay added over the com.
"Sure thing Colonel — if you don't mind me asking, what injuries do you have?"
"Aceso," Sheppard said. "She was fed on."
There was a silence. "You guys really can't catch a break," Lorne said solemnly. "I'll be right up with some supplies."
A little while passed where Sheppard and the team tried to entertain themselves with conversation and card games. Aceso tried to engage in the favorite habit of all stargate team members — hiding her pain.
Lorne and one other team member arrived from the dart bay eventually, bringing a number of supplies with them, including food, water, a medical kit, and some blankets. Teyla helped Aceso dress her wounds, which stubbornly hadn't completely stitched up and bled intermittently. They made up a makeshift bed with the blankets for her to lay on, which helped her get a little more comfortable.
She didn't seem to feel well, but ate and drank a little from the field rations at Teyla's insistence, and remained restful for the remainder of the trip.
Teyla took over control of the ship, mostly just monitoring the systems as it guided itself through hyperspace.
In a few hours, the sound of the ship had changed, meaning they had exited hyperspace.
A voice came over the radio. "Colonel Sheppard."
Sheppard sat up, and keyed the radio. "Go ahead."
"This is Stackhouse. I'm in the dart bay, and we felt a jolt through the ship. Is everything okay?"
Sheppard studied the navigational display, which indicated that they had reached the rendezvous point. "Everything's fine, we're right where we should be. How are the refugees?"
"They're fine sir. We've been keeping watch and distributing supplies as needed."
Now that they reached safe territory, unloading the rescued slaves from the hive ship proved to be a straightforward affair. The Daedalus beamed them off in small groups down to the surface of the planet below, where they walked through the stargate to Atlantis through their new alpha site.
Repatriating that many people would be difficult and time consuming, but Sheppard felt sure that the teams they brought in from the SGC could figure it out eventually.
"Sheppard this is Daedalus." Caldwell called.
"Sheppard here, go ahead."
"The security crew is ready to beam over," Caldwell said.
"Roger that," Sheppard said.
There was a bright flash of light when a team of Air Force technicians and security forces arrived.
"Colonel," one of the enlisted addressed. "We're here to secure the ship."
"Take good care of her," Sheppard said. "We need our new hive ship in good condition."
With another bright flash of light, Sheppard found his team on the surface of the planet in front of the stargate. Those who had been laying down found themselves laying on the ground in tall grass.
"We're going home." Sheppard said.