Chapter Nine

Darkness.

Absolute and complete darkness.

Sheppard had experienced such a thing before, several times in fact. This, however, was the first time he had experienced it without knowing where he was or what may be around him. They had rematerialized into this, whatever it was and both had been smart enough not to move. For all they knew they were standing on a cliff's edge, or could set off some booby-trap, or a hundred other things McKay had mentioned while they stood here.

"You know," whispered McKay, seeming to think keeping his voice low was appropriate. "I think I'm beginning to see something, shapes at the least."

"No you're not," said Sheppard forcefully. "Its just your mind trying to make sense of what it cannot see."

"Oh! Says the great commander – and where did you pick up such important medical knowledge? One of your many, and I say many, trips to the infirmary perhaps?"

"Fine Rodney, then what do you see?"

The answer was a mumble that Sheppard thought he may have understood but Rodney needed some more prodding, and it filled the time. "What was that?"

"A giant protein bar okay, I see a big rectangular shape that may just resemble food."

"…"

"Yes Colonel, you can insert a laugh right here at any time."

Sheppard did and was rewarded with an elbow to his side. In the end he figured it was worth it and proved at least McKay was in moderately good spirits.

Once the fun had worn off though Sheppard sighed; enough was enough.

"Hey!" he called out, his voice not even returning an echo. "I get it okay, we're here and you have the power… so just turn on the lights and we'll admit we've learnt our lesson!"

Just when he thought that maybe he was wrong and they should try moving Sheppard heard a feint scuttling that stopped just short of their position.

[power is an interesting concept isn't it… you assume I have the power because you are blind – but that is just a perception, with or without sight I believe you have the ability to change the unchangeable… to turn events that have been set in motion for eons]

The voice had the same resonance as Sharmilla-Joth but was more masculine and with a touch of sadness. Sheppard immediately sensed that this being did not intend them harm but perhaps would put them in danger simply by asking for their help – for that is exactly what he was doing, fancy words or not.

"Let me guess," Sheppard asked, stepping towards the voice. "You need us to do what you can't; act on your behalf because we couldn't possibly understand the situation you're in?"

A couple of red lights brightened from the floor and illuminated their companion, but little else. In the low light he was still an impressive sight. Resting upon six crab-like arms was a cylindrical body that had a face covering almost half of the body. It had two eyes, larger than any Sheppard had seen but so full of emotion that he almost gasped at the intensity; it was as if the creature could extend its feelings and wrap them around Sheppard. The nose was flattened but still recognisable and the lips were huge and despite their size very human-like.

[I believe] the creature spoke, its lips moving again in a very human fashion [that you would understand all too well]

McKay stepped forward, no fear evident in his body language. Either he was learning to mask it or he really had no concerns about the alien they faced.

"Hi," he smiled. "Doctor Rodney McKay, but I assume you know that?"

The creature nodded and smiled. "Hello Doctor McKay, it is a pleasure to finally meet you – I am Kellerax-Six." The metallic echo had disappeared and perhaps that meant that something had changed, exactly what Sheppard had no idea.

"One question," said McKay. "How does an alien species far from our galaxy have technology that is quite predominate in our galaxy?"

Kellerax-Six smiled again. "We have travelled far – and for much of that time have been content to study and not interfere… but at times our scrutiny has not gone unnoticed."

"That's not really an answer."

"I never said I would answer your question."

Sheppard stifled a laugh and put a hand on McKay's chest, silencing him. "If I may ask Kellerax-Six, exactly what help can we provide a civilisation such as yours?"

Kellerax-Six's face frowned and to both Sheppard and McKay's amazement the body rotated to reveal another face, similar in structure but older, more wrinkled. "For that I shall answer… the favour we seek is a simple one – defeat us."

Sheppard was shocked to silence. From what he had seen the technology was not beyond their own but if his suspicions were correct they had nothing that could even damage this craft sufficiently to force a defeat.

"I think I may need a little more explanation."

"And I shall give it." The floor changed colour and became a landscape, falling back to a continent, and then a planet closely orbited by a smaller but similar planet. "The planets Pi Antikos and Pi Anterios – orbiting an aged star on the very edges of a galaxy far from this one." The star shone brightly but surged and enlarged. "Knowing the end was coming and without the ability to flee our civilisations made a choice." One planet was quickly surrounded by black panels, while the other was reduced as if it was an apple being devoured. "One for the other; one to live and the other die."

"That's amazing," muttered McKay. "I mean I know its possible but the resources and the engineering capability? Surely building a fleet of ships would have been easier?"

"And what would ships do for us? Would they sustain us, provide for us? We lived in a dying system upon the edge of a desolate galaxy – we could not know what was beyond and if there were other worlds to support us."

"But you soon found out," prompted Sheppard.

"Yes," rumbled Kellerax-Six. "And therein lay our problem."

SGASGASGASGASGA

Keller stomped in front of Woolsey's desk. "You can't possibly believe that Major Lorne attacked those soldiers – that he is the aggressor and not they?"

"I don't have much choice," answered Woolsey. "They all claim the same thing – he went crazy and started attacking them… should I discount the word of several decorated marines over a man who may not even be who he claims to be?"

"I…" Keller decided to change tack. "Why would Ronon help him then? If he's not Lorne then Ronon would be the first to try and stop him."

"Doctor, I cannot possibly try to understand what Ronon is thinking or why he is doing this – but the security of Atlantis is at stake and I can't afford my personal feelings to override what seems a logical conclusion."

"So what, you're going to just kill them without hearing both sides?" Keller slammed fists on his desk but Woolsey just sighed.

"I have given orders for them to be taken alive."

"And if Major Lorne was not the aggressor how likely is it that these marines will follow that order?"

"Are you suggesting I cannot trust the very soldiers we put our faith in every time we walk through that gate?"

Keller gritted her teeth and had to finally relent and shook her head. "Wouldn't it just be better to leave them for now until the bigger threat is out of the way?"

Woolsey stood and walked around the desk, guiding her out of the office. "Only a small team is going in, and unfortunately it is difficult to fathom this being a coincidence – we cannot leave him free to roam the city when whatever is approaching may well be the thing that created him."

"Major Lorne would never betray us Mr Woolsey."

"I know that," said Woolsey. "But what if he isn't Evan Lorne?"

Keller found that too hard to answer.

SGASGASGASGASGA

Lorne kept watch while Ronon tried unsuccessfully to push the doors shut. The power had been cut ten minutes ago and they both knew what that meant.

"You should go," said Lorne, tyring to make eye contact with Ronon but failing. "They want me; if you leave now-."

"We're not discussing this," muttered Ronon and kicked the door in frustration. With it wide open their ability to defend this corridor was limited and they would have to fall back before being cornered.

"Ronon," Lorne walked up and gently grabbed the other's shoulders. "I don't want you dying for me – there's things I can't explain in the time we have but you and me…"

"What?"

He looked into Ronon's eyes and saw the anger, the hurt and the confusion. How to say that all this may be for nothing? Perhaps he was Evan Lorne but more and more he was thinking not, and if that were so then Ronon was fighting for a phantom.

"I…" his lips quivered at the thought of pushing this man away. "I love you."

Ronon's mouth picked up in the corners with a knowing smile. "Yeah, you do."

"That's why you have to go – what if?" He couldn't quite say the words and even if he did would Ronon believe him? He had fought so hard for Lorne to be accepted as, well as Lorne – to now suggest he wasn't might be difficult to explain.

Lips caressed his own and his moan of frustration turned to one of pleasure. Ronon's strong hands gripped his head and neck, nimble fingers circling in all the right places. Their tongues fought for dominance and Lorne felt Ronon smile against him – shutting Lorne up had always been easy for the Runner and Lorne knew that Ronon knew it.

"You were saying?" said Ronon softly.

Lorne sighed against his chest. "We should get moving, they'll use the secondary entry points and attack from at least two directions simultaneously."

Ronon grunted a laugh. "Helps to be the one who drew up a response for this scenario doesn't it?"

"Problem is they know that – so they'll adapt the strategy."

Still rubbing the back of his neck Ronon gave a half smile. "So what would you do?"

Lorne shrugged. "Gas through the vents; drop troops via Puddle-Jumper; change the transport lifts to-," he stared at Ronon. "They'll transport in behind us with a decoy to the front!"

Ronon's smile turned to feral grin. "That's the man I fell in love with." Lorne resisted beaming, since that would probably be the closest he'd get to an 'I love you'.

"So?" continued Ronon. "What should our response be?"

This time it was Lorne's turn to smile wickedly. "How's your swimming?"

SGASGASGASGASGASGA

"We've seen it in every galaxy and on almost every inhabited world – the strong rule the weak and although sometimes benign," Kellerax-Six's eyes darkened. "It is always this in-balance that creates conflict."

"True," nodded Sheppard. "But given the chance these 'weak' that you speak of rise up and redress the balance – its not a perfect universe but I'd like to think that there's more good than bad."

"What an optimistic species you are," said Kellerax-Six. "I wish I could view existence as you do… I think I once did but time has not been the kindest of teachers."

McKay stared down at the frozen image, one where one world encased in black was weathering the blast of a supernova where the remains of the other planet was disintegrating in the super-heated corona. "You're from the doomed planet aren't you?"

Kellerax-Six could not nod but his face said it all. "You are perceptive Doctor McKay – I am the last of Pi-Anterios; I have been alone in this universe for ten-thousand years." The body rotated again and another face, this much older and marked with age stared with almost blind eyes at them; the voice was as aged as the face. "It is we who came up with Integration – the gathering of the many to the few. There was no way to save our multitudes as individuals, so we saved them as a collective mind – a complex and constantly weaving myriad of three billion minds… now we are but one."

Sheppard hung his head at the tragedy of it, even though it must have been so long ago the emotions of Kellerax-Six still surrounded them and he could literally feel the devastating loss of so many.

The youngest face once more took control. "I and a few thousand others retained our physical form, being both host and body for the many; but now they have all moved on to other levels of existence."

McKay stepped closer. "Forgive me for asking but why – if all the others moved on why remain?"

Kellerax-Six moved his eyes to the dark orb of Pi Antikos. "Our neighbours, the ones we gave our home for, did not move on – they retained their physical forms and changed them to overcome age and death, taking new bodies when even technology could not revive the old ones. They are integrated as once we were but while being of a group mind offers much solace and harmony there is also great danger." The area they were in started to get lighter, still a reddish light but brighter and revealing thousands of silent and still bodies surrounding them like an eerie graveyard full of upright corpses.

"While decisions are easily made within such a concept as one integrated network of minds these decisions can be without empathy – without soul." Kellerax-Six moved slowly back, allowing Sheppard and McKay to see more clearly around the room; the bodies were human-like but there was not yet enough light to see them clearly. "I am afraid that sometimes an idea, once planted in the group mind, can spread like a virus – and is almost impossible to remove."

"And what idea has become dangerous enough for you to ask for the defeat of something you helped create?" asked Sheppard, although he feared the answer was all too obvious.

In his eyes Kellerax-Six also knew the answer was painfully clear. "That study of the universe is no longer relevant – where once we held knowledge as the only worthy commodity another idea has taken root and created this abomination – the Covenant now seeks power… and power is to be taken by conquest!"

The light brightened and they saw what surrounded them. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of identical beings all armoured and standing still and silent as sentinels. All with the same face and all known to John Sheppard and Rodney McKay.

Major Evan Lorne.

Tbc…