Chapter 8

The bolt of blue light hit Sheppard squarely in the back, throwing him away from Todd. Groaning, he lifted his head to see Chitter pointing a wraith stunner at him.

"I thought all the wraith tech got destroyed," he mumbled, startled at how weak his voice sounded.

"I wasss able to retrieve a few itemsss before they were incinerated," Chitter's voice was bordering on the sonic level, "What were you thinking?! How will it help the wraith if you get yourssself killed and there isss no one to fly thisss ship?!"

Sheppard stood up, feeling his prematurely aged joints complaining at the movement. He looked at Todd. The wraith was at least breathing noticeably now and some of the visible wounds were now partially healed. He would have hated to have given away so many years of his life for Todd to still die on him. Again.

A beeping from the counsel made both John and Chitter turn.

"Proximity alarm, " said Sheppard, his voice sounding a little stronger now, "another ship about to exit hyperspace."

"Has'parians?" asked Chitter nervously.

"I don't think – whoa!"

The Ancient warship exited hyperspace mere metres from them. The whole scene had such a sense of 'déjà vu' that Sheppard had to smile. Another control lit up, indicating that they were being hailed. He switched on the mike.

"Larrin? That you? Cause I've got to say, you've got great timing if it is."

"Larrin's dead." came the female voice over the coms, "She was killed by the bird-women's metal pets because they deemed her 'contaminated'."

Sheppard sat in numb shock. How come Larrin of all people would be thought of as 'contaminated'? When would she have-? He stopped, realising exactly when and where Larrin had come into close enough contact to a wraith for the Harpies to be able to sense the genetic signature on her.

"Scans indicate three life-signs aboard you vessel," continued the woman, "identify them or we blast you."

"One kid harpy and one wraith." answered Sheppard. Chitter looked at him exasperatedly. The only response he could come up with was a shrug.

"Harpy? You mean one of those bird-women? And a wraith? Together?" the voice sounded incredulous.

"Let us aboard and you can see for yourself," replied Sheppard. The woman on the other end seemed to consider this for a minute.

"Okay. Use bay three." With that, the transmission was cut off.

***

The Travellers had been able to give him a change of clothes. He didn't feel comfortable wearing his expedition uniform anymore. He wandered out of the room he had been given and bumped into Farina. She had become the captain of the ship after their old one was killed during one of their hit-and-run attacks on the Harpy ships.

"Settling in?" she asked.

"I'd feel better if I knew were my friends were." Sheppard replied.

"The bird-girl is in the brig." she held up her hand as Sheppard opened his mouth to complain, "I would like to add that she insisted. We've lost a lot of people to them over the years. Not many of my crew would take kindly to her being on board, so, for now, the brig's the safest place for her."

"What about Todd?"

"That's why I came to find you." She led the way down the hallway and Sheppard followed. "The bird-girl showed us how to interface with your ships databanks do we were able to use that to help with treating the wraith." She stopped outside a doorway and looked at Sheppard critically. "You failed to mention that that wraith is insane."

"What?"

"Just what I said. The thing seems to think that its hallucinating. I thought that maybe you could snap it out of it." She smiled knowingly as John, "You two do have a history, after all. It was in the databanks." She said at Sheppard's confused expression.

She opened the door and gestured for him to enter. He did so, and she closed the door behind him. The room was dark, but Sheppard was able to make out the huddled form of Todd on the bed.

"Todd?" said Sheppard, "It's me, Sheppard. How you doing?" I suck at this bedside manner thing worse than Elizabeth did, he thought to himself. The shape on the bed stirred. "I heard you were kinda confused when you woke up," continued Sheppard, "so they thought a friendly face may help."

"Go…"

"What?"

"Will not… tell..."

"Okay, buddy, you're really starting to confuse me. Won't tell what?"

Todd's only response was to curl up further on the bed. Sheppard walked closer to the bed. He wasn't sure if he wanted to comfort Todd, tell him that he was safe, or just see the wraith's condition. He reached out to the figure on the bed. In a flurry of movement, Todd's arm shot up and grabbed John's out-stretched arm. Sheppard started but didn't pull away. That would probably mean the loss of his arm. Todd's eyes were wild with fear and… what? Sheppard looked closer and saw the hollow determinism behind Todd's eyes. Farina had been right. Todd had lost his mind, probably from the torture that he had suffered from the Harpies.

"Todd," he tried to calm the wraith, but he was steadily loosing circulation in his aged wrist, "what did the Harpies want to know?"

With a snarl, Todd used John's imprisoned arm to throw him across the room. With a thud, Sheppard's back hit the wall and he slid to the floor. Farina opened the door, holding a gun like Ronon's.

"I take it that it didn't want to see you either," she said as she helped him to his feet. He put his hand to the back of his head and found blood on his fingers. Farina took his arm and lead him towards the infirmary.

"Come along, grandfather," she said stoically, "let's get you seen to."

***

Chitter was under armed guard as she worked on the Puddle Jumper's interface so that she could extract more information for the Travellers that had saved them. She didn't mind the presence of the guards, but she did wish they didn't look so trigger-happy. She reached down to pick up a scanner tool, but one of her guards snatched it up. He waved it tantalisingly at her.

"You want this back?" he asked.

"What are you doing, Harek? Just give it to the bird already," one of his cohorts said. The man ignored them. He slid the scanner into a back pocket on his pants.

Chitter chewed her lip. She was not naive, she knew that the guard would say that she was attempting to attack him if she tried to retrieve the scanner. She turned away from the man and looked through the tools she had been provided for something that would work in replace of the scanner.

"Hey! I'm not finish talking to you, freak." The man grabbed Chitter's left arm and she screeched. The guard was spooked by the sudden outcry, dropping her arm hurriedly. Chitter bit her lip against the pain in her wrist. Like a bird, her bones were hollow, which meant that they were fragile to excess force. She bit her lip again and attempted to hold back tears of pain.

"Everything okay, soldier?"

Chitter looked up to see the aged Sheppard glaring at the guards. All of them had backed away from the jumper and their guilty colleague. Harek looked around for support, but quailed under the harsh gaze of those that surrounded him. Cautiously he took the scanner from his back pocket and handed it to Chitter.

"No harm meant," he muttered, "just a misunderstanding. No damage done."

"We'll see about that," replied Sheppard. The man flinched as if he'd been struck. It seemed that everyone was on edge around Sheppard now. Chitter wondered if it had something to do with the ageing caused by the wraith feeding, or was it something to do with the Atlantis expedition. Either way, Chitter was glad to have him around. He was her guardian. He would look after her no matter what… wouldn't he?

Chitter nervously picked up the scanner and tried to look busy. Sheppard continued to stare at her as she worked.

"I've seen your kind gut a man with their talons," he said finally, "why'd you put up with that treatment?"

"I am not like the othersss," muttered Chitter trying to swap two crystals, but her hands were shaking too much.

"I know that, but you've got to stand up for yourself," insisted Sheppard, "otherwise they'll make your life misery."

"What do you want me to do?!" snapped Chitter, rounding on him. Her eyes were filled with fear. "If I fight them, they will kill me. They will say I am jussst like the othersss of my kind! I will not be shown mercy. I will not be shown compassion. Thisss is what my kind, my sistersss, have made me. I have no choice but to submit to their cruelty. The only other choice isss death."

Tears flowed down Chitter's face. John put his arm around her as she sobbed. She snuggled into him for comfort.

"Sheppard," crackled a voice on his com-unit, "you there?"

John tapped the unit on. "I'm listening."

"Scans just picked up two wraith signals. Two powerful signals. Doesn't make sense. I would have thought that the remaining wraith ould be hiding out."

"You got the location?"

"Heading there right now. If we're picking up these signals, then I'm sure our feathered friends are too. Need you in our chair, Sheppard."

"On my way," he replied. Squeezing Chitter's shoulder reassuringly, he left and headed towards the chair room.

My apologise for the lack of new chapters recently. Life is getting ever so slightly hectic.

One more chapter to go, and phase one is finished! Please remember to R&R. Otherwise, how will I know what you think of this?