Chapter IX

Major Evan Lorne sat on the balcony just off the mess hall, eating his breakfast of coffee, eggs, and sausage. Well, he was trying to get it all down. He honestly wasn't all that hungry but he knew he'd need the fuel later on and so he kept trying.

At 1200 hours, he and his team were to go to PX3-525 and attempt at communicating with the species that inhabited the planet. Evan had no idea how they were supposed to accomplish that since when Colonel Sheppard and his team arrived they didn't understand the language the species was speaking but that's what his orders were and that's what he was going to do.

Ever since Colonel Sheppard and his team had arrived in the gateroom in a big blue box and two mysterious visitors, things at Atlantis had gotten more exciting than was normal. And it wasn't a bad kind of exciting, either. It wasn't the stressed kind of impending doom that they were used to every other week it seemed. No, the atmosphere was filled with curiosity and wonder. After all, no one knew who the man calling himself the Doctor was, or what he was since it was obvious to some that he wasn't human.

There were security risks, of course, with the newcomers – how had the man managed to fly his machine into the gateroom without using the stargate? – but Evan was pretty sure that only the military was concerned with things like that. The scientific portion of Atlantis wanted to know everything they could about the two new people and some even wanted to test the doctor to make sure what they had been told was true. Doctor Weir had immediately put down that line of inquiry, threatening to send them to work with Colonel Caldwell and Doctor Kavanagh if they even tried it.

From the sound of non-stop chatter in the back of his mind, Evan guessed that Atlantis herself was excited as well. To say that it shocked Evan to learn that the big blue ship was not only a ship but a sentient one at that would be an understatement; it would be like saying the wraith were only dressed like space vampires for Halloween. But every once in a while he heard snippets of conversation sneaking through his connection with Atlantis and there was no doubt about the ship's sentience. So, he'd spent the past few days with a constant headache save for when he was asleep.

Now, with the exception of the low hum that he's come to know from Atlantis, things were quiet and Lorne was grateful. If only things would stay that way longer than a day.

The Doctor walked confidently behind the wraith commander with Doctor Beckett following hesitantly behind him. Despite how glum some of the team from Atlantis seemed to be, the Doctor felt no worries. He allowed his eyes to take in as much as he could while keeping a smile on his face. In truth, he was actually excited to be on the hive ship. He'd never been on one before and he couldn't wait to get his hands on its systems.

While the thing was part machine, it was also composed out of organic material and the way the wraith had mixed the two was just beautiful to the time lord. No one made ships like this, except for that one time he, Rose and Mickey had run into Revolutionary France on a ship but that was a totally different situation to say the least. None of the organic material on this ship had been taking from a living being while every major part of that ship had been.

They were led into a wraith form of a conference room where the drones spread out, evenly spaced, along the circular wall, their weapons trained on the two men. Just ahead of them were two thrones, one more to the fore than the other, asserting its dominance over the other one. The wraith commander walked in front of the thrones and knelt and two drones roughly insured that the Doctor and Carson did the same. Carson must have resisted because the Doctor heard the man grunt as his drone had to be particularly rough with him. The Doctor understood the humans' abhorrence to kneeling before these beings but the time lord had no such scruples.

Whereas the humans saw only monsters for what they did, the Doctor understood that, in truth, the wraith were no more monsters than the humans that ate meat. It was, essentially, the same principle.

They had been kneeling for only a few minutes when the Doctor heard the two wraith queens enter. He recognized Amara's footsteps almost immediately, leaving him to assume the other one was the wraith queen that had beaten the Colonel.

"Bind their hands," Amara commanded as soon as she'd walked in and from his position on the floor, the Doctor smiled. Apparently she wasn't taking any chances with him. Smart girl.

Neither man fought against their guards as their arms were jerked behind their backs and bound with coarse, braided rope. After the task was finished, the drones pulled on their arms, pulling them off their knees to face the two queens. Out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor saw Carson swallow heavily and felt a small pang of guilt sweep through his veins. The Atlantean was scared – and with good reason – but not only that, he hadn't wanted to even come. The Doctor knew that if anything happened to Carson, it was his fault. He just hoped that nothing did. But then, that wouldn't be his luck, would it?

"So, Doctor, what is it you wished to speak with us about?" Amara asked, keeping her tone neutral, if not a bit amused at the situation.

"I want you to leave this planet and its people alone," the Doctor stated, sounding for all the world like he was talking about getting a cuppa. During his declaration, he was speaking to the room at large, looking at them all as he spoke. Afterwards, he focused solely on Amara and his expression sobered into one of concerned sadness. "I can help you." He paused and then though about it. "Weellll, actually he can help you," he jerked his head over to Carson as he said this, "but you know what I mean."

At this, Amara laughed. The sound was so cruel and cold that it sliced through the Doctor's soul, leaving jagged shards in its wake.

"What could I possibly want from this thing other than a snack?" she asked, eyeing Carson as though he were nothing more than a chicken that had been wandering on her ship.

"How about to be human again?" the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow.

The fire of laughter died instantly within Amara's green eyes. She honed in on Carson, her expression morphing from that of a bird watching its prey to amusement to desire. None of them surprised the Doctor, including the desire. Once they figured out exactly how much Carson knew about their systems, their blood, and their feeding techniques and that he'd also had a hand in creating not one virus but two – both of which are deadly to the wraith in one form or another – they would all be gunning for him, wanting him to fix what he'd created.

Amara quickly wiped all expression from her features, save for a sneer that the Doctor knew didn't mean anything good for them. She slowly got up from her chair and glided over to where he and Carson were standing. Making sure to draw blood, she ran a sharp-nailed finger down the side of the Doctor's face.

"And what makes you think that I would ever want to be human again?" she asked, showing her revulsion to the idea by digging her nail in just a little bit more as she ran it down his neck. She hissed and then withdrew her hand, gliding back over to her throne.

Ignoring the blood trickling down the side of his face, the Doctor answered, "Because your food supply is dwindling far too fast for your needs."

"It is not dwindling," one of the wraith commanders declared from off to the side of the queens. "It has been tainted."

"And once we get our hands on the one who created that virus, all will be solved," the less dominant queen added, adding a hiss as though to punctuate what they would do with the person once they got a hold a them.

This statement made the Doctor uneasy. He knew that Carson had almost single-handedly created that virus. Not only that but he had also created the half wraith who had dispersed it throughout the galaxy, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths at the hands of the other wraith. He also knew that the doctor had created the virus that made all wraith turn human. He couldn't imagine what Amara and the other queen would do to the Scot should they find this out and nor did he want to.

Something of his thoughts must have shown in his expression - either that or the doctor had unwillingly given himself away - as the Doctor watched Amara's eyes slowly slide over towards Carson, an unpleasant gleam within them. Her lip curled back in a feral sneer and both doctors knew things were over.

"Well," the Doctor said, adding cheer into his voice, smiling when he saw a couple wraith cringe at it. He wriggled a bit, making a show of being uncomfortable in the bonds - which wasn't too hard since he was uncomfortable - in order to hide what he was really doing. "I can't say I'm surprised at your refusal but I had hoped that you would have taken me up on my offer."

Amara looked amused at his statement but the other wraith queen hissed her displeasure at his statement. "Is that supposed to be a threat?" she asked, her anger palpable as she tried to invade his mind.

The Doctor blocked the assault easily, smiling at the wraith. Beside him, Carson hissed quietly, making the Doctor briefly turn his attention to the man. Even from his peripheral, the time lord could see Carson's eyes were scrunching in pain. The older queen hissed as Carson obviously fought her attack.

What she wanted from the Scot, the Doctor didn't know; it was, after all, possible that she didn't want anything, she just wanted to hurt him. But neither did he really care. Without thinking or showing any effort, he extended the shield over his mind towards Carson, watching as the burden of fighting slowly eased from the man's face.

The wraith queen hissed and soon the Doctor's vision exploded into stars and dots. He groaned when pain soon greeted the constellations, pounding through his right cheek.

"Was that really necessary?" the Doctor grumbled, abhorring violence. He looked over at Carson, giving him a slight nod of warning as well as assuring him that things were alright. The doctor's blue eyes widened marginally, but it was in his expression that the Doctor saw that he was scared but also angry.

Another smack had him wishing that he could, just once, shut up when it was wise to do so. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the Doctor's personality to do that and so he found himself saying, "Oi! Is it really necessary? Have you lot every tried just asking a question without threat when you want something?"

The wraith commander sneered and raised his hand to smack him again.

"Stop!" Carson inserted, struggling within the grasp of a drone who had apparently come up to hold the doctor back when he'd started to interfere earlier.

Amara rose an eyebrow - or what would have been an eyebrow if she'd still had them. She sneered again - seriously? doesn't she remember any other expression - and then glided over to the Scot.

"And what are you going to do, little one?" she taunted, running her feeding hand all over Carson. She started at his chest, her threat blatant before she moved on, running her hands over his shoulders and down his back as she stalked around him in a circle. "You are nothing more than my next meal."

At this, she pulled back her hand, poised to feed of Carson.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Doctor warned. He looked at his previous companion in all seriousness, inwardly smirking at Rose's eye roll earlier when he'd begun scanning anything and everything. "See Rose, there's always a good reason why I do what I do."

Amara hissed at the intrusion, but dropped her hand and stared at the Doctor. "Do tell me, Doctor. Why should I spare this thing's life?"

"Because you value your own," the Doctor replied. He rose an eyebrow at her, silently challenging her to continue, knowing that she wouldn't; not with that kind of threat.

The Doctor watched as Carson's expression twisted from fearful defiance to curiosity only for his eyes to marginally widen in comprehension.

In a flash, Amara was in front of him, bombarding him with one command, "Explain."

"Happy to," the Doctor obliged with a wide smile. He quickly became more serious as he added, "Once you let the Gabrihath, the Atlanteans, and Rose go."

Amara chuckled, telling him she in no way planned to comply.

"You know," she said as she walked back over to Carson. "There are other ways to kill; I don't have to feed." She reached out and wrapped her hand around Carson's neck, slowly tightening. "Shall I crush his windpipe?" she asked, giving the Doctor a cruel smile. Her suffocating grip loosened but it provided the Doctor with little comfort as almost immediately, Carson began grunting in obvious pain. His grunts soon became hisses which then transformed into little whimpers. "Or shall I break his brilliant mind into shards of glass?"

The Doctor knew that he could no longer attempt to reason with his former companion. He wriggled a little, loosening his jacket sleeves as he said, "Actually, I'd prefer neither."

And with that all hell proceeded to break loose.

In the cell, Rose patiently waited the other occupants to wake. The first to do so was, unsurprisingly, Ronon. He grunted and came awake swinging. Thankfully Rose hadn't even tried of stirring any of them, otherwise she would have quite the spectacular bruise and a monster headache at the mo'. The big man settled down almost immediately after waking. He looked around at his friends and then proceeded to wait for the rest to wake, apparently content that they were all unharmed.

Teyla and the Colonel woke soon after, each coming awake almost at the same time as the other. The Colonel groaned and Rose winced in sympathy. No doubt the fall hadn't done his injured side any favors but she made no sound. Rose somehow knew that the group as a whole were used to this and therefore patiently waited for each of them to grab their bearings.

Doctor McKay was the last to awake and he made the biggest fuss of them all. He started with a loud groan, complaining about how he wished they'd stop doing that because there's no way it's good for his nerves to get stunned so many times and oh, how much his back hurt, and then whining because he'd gotten a small bruise from falling. For the most part his friends endured this with eye rolls and indulgent smiles to one another. Rose just blocked him out, slowly getting used to his grating voice and annoying complaints.

"Everyone okay?" the Colonel asked once they were all awake. He looked around at the group, but for the most part his gaze was focused on Rose since he hadn't a clue what had happened to her while they were all unconscious.

There was a general murmur 'fine' that swept around the cell with Rose offering the military man a smile, assuring him that she, too, was fine. He nodded, satisfied and then slowly eased to a standing position.

"McKay, any ideas how to get out?"

"In case you've forgotten, Colonel, we are going to get out of here," the physicist snarkily reminded him. There was doubt in his tone that belied the assurance of his words and it made Rose want to snap at the man for doubting the Doctor. It was, after all, the time lord's plan to release them - they just had no idea when.

The Colonel seemed to take a breath for patience before retorting, "Yeah, I meant sooner than that."

"Why is it that every time we're in trouble, you all look to me?" Rodney griped.

"You are the resident genius," the Colonel sarcastically answered.

"As you keep reminding us," Ronon added, his voice rumbling in his chest.

"Excuse me, but I think the last time we were captured on a wraith hive ship, it was actually Ronon that got us out, not me," Rodney returned. His eyes marginally widened when he realized that he just admitted that he was not as good as he thought he was but he didn't - wisely - add anything afterwards.

The Colonel turned to his bigger friend. "Chewie, ya got anything?"

"They searched me thoroughly this time, Sheppard," Ronon answered, sounding annoyed.

"How'd you get out last time?" Rose asked, not like not knowing what was going on.

"Ronon managed to find some knives in his hair that he used to free us," Teyla answered. Her tone was even but there was something within the words that said she was fighting a smile at the memory.

"Hang on, wasn't the last time we were on a wraith ship was when Teyla went undercover as a queen?" the Colonel asked, pointing a finger at the woman.

"You're right," Rodney granted. He looked over at Teyla. "So, ya got any ideas?"

"I am sorry, but I do not," she answered.

Silence soon filled the air as the group quieted down to contemplate what their next move should be. Rose remained quiet, knowing that any idea she would ever have included the Doctor who was currently unavailable to help.

Her mind wandered to wherever he was while the others though. She hoped he was alright; him and Doctor Beckett. She knew that the Doctor heavily planned on Amara seeing reason but Rose somehow doubted that the queen would. That knowledge produced a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had discovered long ago to be worry. Going by what the Doctor and Colonel Sheppard - more so the Colonel than the time lord - had revealed during the debriefing with Doctor Weir, Amara had a bone to pick with the Doctor and - if the Atlantean's past stories were to go by - the queen would make sure to make it as painful as possible for Rose's friend.

While her mind wandered, she heard the Atlanteans talking in the background but she didn't care to focus on it until there was more action involved with the chatter. They were having an argument - about what, Rose had no idea - and for a second it seemed that the Colonel would haul off and hit Doctor McKay. But he abstained and soon the room grew uncomfortably quiet again.

Just when Rose feared that they would never get out of here, the cell door swished open, surprising all of them.

"It worked," Doctor McKay said, shocked.

"Of course it did you git," Rose answered, her patience almost at an end from the strain of her worry.

"I'm sorry if I don't have the same unfailing loyalty to a complete stranger like you do," the scientist snapped, not taking too kindly to her insult.

"He's not a stranger," Rose defended.

"He was when you first met him," Ronon interjected, reminding her that she had told them how she and the Doctor had met. Unlike Doctor McKay, however, his voice held no judgment and she smiled at him, knowing that she would never be able to explain why she'd trusted the Doctor so implicitly right off the bat.

"Can we continue this later?" the Colonel asked, drawing everyone's attention towards himself. He stepped into the hall, checking for possible guards with Teyla and Ronon following immediately to flank and protect him.

Without bothering to wait for the scientist, Rose followed, leaving Doctor McKay to bring up the rear which he clearly didn't appreciate. Once the group was confident that their escape had gone unnoticed for the moment, they moved on, swiftly fleeing towards safety.

It amazed how well the team as a whole seemed to know where they were going without a map to guide them. Exactly how often do they get captured? They stopped abruptly as the Colonel raised his arm, his fist closed, and they crouched down against the wall, hoping to blend in with it.

Four wraith drones passed them by, not yet aware that they were not where they were supposed to be, and the group silently sighed in relief. After another couple minutes of travel, they came to a door that looked much like every wall on the ship.

"Rodney," the Colonel said, pointing towards the console to the left of the door.

"Yes, yes, fine," the physicist snapped. He moodily walked over to it and began pressing random buttons - well, at least it looked random to rose. Before long the doors to the room swished open and the group entered.

Those that were used to fighting - meaning Ronon, Teyla, and the Colonel - immediately went into battle mode. They ducked to avoid being stunned and pounced on the two wraith guarding the room. The Colonel and Ronon - with help from Teyla - snapped the necks of their opponents before Rose and Doctor McKay had done much more than duck the stunning blasts that headed their way.

Once the fight was over, the Atlanteans went over to where their weapons and vests had been stored and quickly adorned them.

"Now, remember," the Colonel said as he strapped the vest to his chest and pulled his pistol from the ground. He placed it in a holster that was connected to his vest. "Any wraith comes at you, stun them. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves yet."

"And what if that doesn't do any good?" Doctor McKay asked and for once Rose was grateful for his worry as she knew that neither she nor Doctor McKay were good shots.

"That's what the retrovirus is for," Ronon answered, flipping his - gun? taser? stunner? - around in his hand before stowing it within the folds of his clothing.

"Fantastic," Doctor Mckay answered, apparently not liking the answer.

"Rodney, one of us will be with you, it's not like you have to worry about it," the Colonel said, his tone a mixture of assurance and that of one talking to a slow child. He barely gave time for his words to register with his friend before he smiled and then went back out in to the hallway to check and make sure they were good to go.

"Okay, coast is clear," he confirmed, stepping back into the room and looking at the team. "Everyone clear on what they were doing?"

The group nodded, albeit some looking rather more nervous than others. Still, Rose trusted the Doctor and she trusted - well, hoped really - that his plan would work. Adrenaline started to pump through her veins and soon she felt her courage begin to rise as her fear began to disappear.

"Right," the Colonel said, nodding his head. "Let's go."

TBC