Stargate Genesis

Episode 9

"Beginning Again and Again"

It had occurred to Todd that accepting an assignment to the Genesis Mission would mean months aboard an isolated spaceship filled to the brim with humans. It had also occurred to him that most of those humans would find his presence offensive or even hateful. What had not occurred to him was that these things would bother him. The way people stole glances at his artificially smoothed palms, the hurried way conversations ended when he entered a room, the glares he could feel on his back, it was all to be expected and yet, it hurt. The serum still needs work, he thought. It's made me a little too human.

"D-Do you need any help in here," said a voice behind him.

Todd turned around and saw the tiny frame of Communications Officer, Dr. Bailey Evans, standing in the doorway. He smiled, but kept his lips together so as not to show the points of his teeth. Besides Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Evans was the only member of the Elizabeth's crew who would willingly speak to him and he wanted to encourage her.

"Thank you Dr. Evans," he said, turning back to the Ansible Device, "I have nearly finished with my calibration, but I will need to do it again once we have traveled an additional three billion light years. I would be delighted to have your assistance then."

"Oh, of c-course," she said, somehow managing to sound relieved and disappointed at the same time. "I'll be on the b-bridge if you change your mind."

Todd watched her leave. The stutter perplexed him. He knew she only did it when she spoke to him, but if she feared him then why did he so often find her nearby? Then suddenly he had a very human thought: it must be empathy. It made sense. The creature Evans was soft and round, a shape he had gathered was not approved of by her tribe. The males of her race would have shunned her, and the females had likely excluded her from their rituals. She had experienced the suffering of the one who is not like the others, and now she had witnessed the same suffering in him and was trying to relieve it.

Empathy. It was a concept that had taken him two years of living amongst humankind to fully understand. It was not simply the ability to anticipate the actions of another, but the ability to experience vicariously the pain or the joy that would lead to those actions, and it was the ability to take on that pain and lessen it or to share that joy and multiply it. It was a level of inter-organism communication that was surely unparalleled in the universe, and it was the reason humanity was so dangerous. If you understood the cause of pain, then you understood how to cause pain.

The Ansible Device lit up as Todd dropped the last of its control crystals into place. He smiled at how very… human it looked.

The ancient stones had been a technological marvel. Inhabiting another person's body may not have been the most convenient way to communicate across vast distances, but as far as he knew it was the only way that had ever worked. As with all things though, it had not been good enough for humanity. They had insisted that it conform to their expectations of such a device, despite the fact that it was the first they had ever seen and likely the only one of its kind in either the Milky Way or Pegasus. But he had done what they had asked. The Ansible Device he had delivered would allow them to project a three-dimensional image of themselves across nearly infinite distances in an instant without the need for trading consciousnesses. What most of them didn't know, and had not even asked, was how he had done it.

Todd removed a panel in the device and looked inside. In the center of a mass of protruding crystals was a purple web of organic polymers that were the building blocks of all Wraith technology. For Todd the answer had been obvious. The communication stones required a biological conduit, and anything that biological conduit could transmit, so too could the stones. Todd reflected bitterly that if Sheppard could see this he might liken the glorious organic circuitry to a malignant growth, a tumor, not realizing how crucial it really was. The webbing looked healthy and he was about to replace the panel when he saw something odd.

He took a closer look at a strand of webbing wrapped around the communication stone at the center of the device and saw some very light discoloration. It looked like… scar tissue. Which would mean that a tiny section had been removed long enough ago for the organic polymers to grow back in and cover the wound.

Todd reached for his tablet. He didn't like using it. Its surface was cold to the touch and the screen responded poorly to the scrape of his long fingernails. He used it now to bring up the list of crew members who had used the device since their departure from Earth.

There was Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Evans, Eli Wallace, and then… no one. Of course it had to be someone, but whomever it was they had not entered an authorization code and the system had recorded them as an unknown user. Somehow they had gotten through his security wall and made contact with Earth not once but five times in the last month. Todd brought up the recording of the most recent of these communications. From the time stamp he saw that it had occurred only hours before.

The Ansible Device whirred and started to project symbols into the air. Nine symbols were repeated twice in the same order each time, and that was all. They weren't Wraith in origin and they weren't gate symbols, but Todd could recognize them. Anyone on the Elizabeth would have recognized them. They were what drove the ship. Nine of one-hundred and twenty-eight symbols that could take you anywhere in the universe… if you had a gate drive.

Todd put his computer down and walked almost dazedly out of the room. His feet found a flight of steps by themselves and directed him down passed the gate room and toward the bow of the ship. He turned a corner and suddenly he could hear the titanium ring of the gate drive powering up. He broke into a sprint.

He didn't know why, but he had a very bad feeling. He rounded a corner at speed and terrified humans darted away from him as he passed. He could hear it spinning. Around another corner Dr. Evans shrieked and threw her hands up over her eyes. He kept going. The symbols were locking into place, he could hear them. First one, then two, then four, then eight and then he was there. He stared wildly around the room and took in the shape of someone crouched beside the gate drive with control crystals strewn across the floor. The figure saw him and leapt away, but Todd had clearly arrived too late. The Elizabeth was ready to jump.

~~00~~

"This. Is. Stupid," Eli panted as he circled the Colonel in the decon chamber that was serving as their sparring gallery. Sweat clung to the bantos rods he held in either hand. It flowed out of his palms and followed the curves of the elegant designs carved into the wood before dripping off onto the padded floor.

"It's not stupid," said Colonel Sheppard calmly.

He brought the rod in his left hand down hard and when Eli raised both of his own rods to block it he used the rod in his right hand to strike at him just above the knee. Eli's peroneal nerve sent a shockwave down the length of his leg that caused it to twitch uncontrollably and he instinctively switched most of his weight to his right foot. John whirled around and hooked a rod under it then went up from the knees and dropped the boy to the mat.

"It's saved my life more times than I can count," he said as Eli struggled to his feet behind him. "You just need more practice."

"Yeah well being really smart has saved my life a few times too you know," said Eli. "Granted it hasn't been more times than I can count, but I can count pretty high so it's probably a wash."

Colonel Sheppard opened his mouth to say something witty, but Eli held up a hand and looked at his watch.

"Any second now," he said.

It only took a moment for the Elizabeth to jump, but it wasn't a good idea to let it catch you off guard. The feeling was like closing your eyes at dusk only to open them a moment later at dawn. It threw a person's sense of time out the window, and it was easy to panic and start believing it had been hours since you had taken your last breath. There was a humming noise as the Elizabeth's sublight engines fired and took the ship into the newly made wormhole, and then everything went slightly sideways. It was at this instant in a jump that Eli was sure if he could only turn his head he would see copies of himself stretching back into the past. And then it was over. Or not.

There was a crash and Eli tumbled to the floor with Colonel Sheppard on top of him.

"Ugh," said Eli, as the alarms began.

"Come on," said the Colonel, getting up. "I think I'd like to know what that was."

~~00~~

On the bridge of the Elizabeth Major Lauren Burnette was doing damage control. The ship had dropped out into an asteroid field and the proximity detector hadn't activated her shields. She hadn't even had time to send them up herself before the first asteroid had plowed into them and sent sparks and armor plating spinning off into space. The gate drive room in particular had taken heavy damage, but at least it hadn't decompressed.

Now the shields were up, but she needed teams to assess the damage, and isolate any compromised sections of the hull. The erratic pressure readings she was getting told her they were venting atmosphere in at least three places, and emergency hatches weren't responding. Damnit, she thought. It was too much to suggest that the proximity detectors and the emergency hatches would both malfunction at once; this was sabotage.

"Major, report," said Colonel Sheppard from behind her. He was striding toward the command chair and she got up quickly.

"We've somehow gotten off course," she said. "And several key emergency systems have failed. I've initiated a lockdown of the ship's sensitive areas."

He brought up the virtual schematic of his ship and saw the ugly scrape running along the starboard side of its body.

"Casualties?" he asked.

"Coming in now," said Lieutenant Jacoby, with a hand planted firmly over his headset. "Four concussions, a dozen broken bones and lesser sprains, and… and one dead, Airman Tracy Mitchell was in corridor twelve when the asteroid tore a hole in it."

Eli groaned and leaned on a bulkhead for support. He hadn't known Tracy Mitchell well, but you never forget a man once you've been inside of him.

The door to the bridge opened again and Todd came in escorted by two armed marines who had bound his wrists together with cable ties.

Colonel Sheppard turned around in his chair when he heard the Wraith growl his name in that ancient raspy voice that always reminded him of a Genii prison cell, and got up quickly when he saw the restraints.

"Unless those are a lot stronger than they look I suggest you remove them, soldier," he said addressing the marine behind Todd's left shoulder.

"Allow me," said Todd, and he ripped the ties apart like they were threads. The marines, and a few officers, raised their weapons.

"Put 'em down," the colonel shouted. Todd had yet to make any threatening movements, and he didn't need a firefight on his bridge.

"Now we're gonna take this nice and slow," he said. "You first, marine, why'd you bring him here like this?"

"We found him messing with the gate drive," said the marine. "He'd pulled out at least a dozen control crystals."

"Alright," said John. "You say he was messing with the gate drive, fine. I can't think of a reason for you to lie, so how about it Todd, got an explanation?"

"If I wanted to I could have destroyed this ship a hundred times since we left Earth, John Sheppard," said the Wraith, not at all helping his case. "But as we are both still alive to discuss it, you may rest assured that I have yet to make an attempt. Your men 'caught' me working to undo the damage caused by the real saboteur."

"You saw this person?" asked Sheppard.

"I did, but they were wearing very dark clothing as well as a mask, and alas you humans often look quite alike to me," he replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, this morning's excitement has created a delay in my… routine."

The Wraith turned to leave and Sheppard signalled the marines to let him pass.

"By the way, Sheppard," he said just before the doors closed. "I believe the culprit has been using the ansible to contact Earth. Perhaps Dr. Evans could determine what information they have passed on."

The door to the bridge closed and Colonel Sheppard took the opportunity to speak privately to his officers.

"Alright," he said. "I know how some of you feel about Todd, and it may not be a comforting thought but he practically built this ship so it's probably true that if he wanted to unbuild it we'd be dead by now."

"The fact is he caught our saboteur in the act and that's bought us some time," continued Sheppard. "My guess is we're looking at a plant. Someone who's been with us since we left Earth. They managed to avoid detection this long so we're not likely to find them now, but with the whole crew performing sweeps they'll have to fall into line to avoid suspicion. If we want to catch this person we don't need to find him, we just need to figure out what his next move is going to be."

~~00~~

In his quarters Todd cursed the stupidity of his human crewmates. While they had detained him the real culprit had undoubtedly had time to cover his tracks. Were this vessel a Hive he would simply replace such defective drones as those marines. The thought of feeding on them was starting to overwhelm his higher functions and he reached for the black leaden box containing what he thought of as his anti-wraith serum. Green fluid was leaking through the seam where it opened, and when he looked inside he found the serum flowing free amid the crushed glass of all but one of the vials he had brought with him.

Eyes closed with her ears perpendicular to the ansible, Dr. Evans strained to hear the first of five unauthorized conversations Todd had left open on his tablet. Whoever had made the communications had gone to some effort to erase the recordings by pinpointing the locations where they were stored on the ansible's biogenic core and excising them with a scalpel, but they hadn't counted on the resiliency and regenerative capabilities of Wraith technology. Scabs had formed over the incisions and the core had done its best to replicate the audio files that were lost.

The most recent file was clear as day, because the saboteur had been in a rush to execute his new orders, but the first communication was a garbled, scratchy, ghost of its former self, just barely discernable over the static. She concentrated.

There are a little over two-hundred and fifty-thousand words in the english language give or take a few thousand neologisms or archaic expressions. Ancient has closer to two million, and the most primitive languages can have no more than a few hundred or even a few dozen, but what all languages have in common is that they are finite in nature. They have to be because they are made in the image of finite beings.

With that thought in mind Evans undertook the mind boggling task of whittling down that two-hundred and fifty-thousand to a single word.

"Three syllables, latin root, consonant heavy, first letter a, assignment," she said, then did it again.

"Three syllables, three vowels, four consonants, emphasis on first syllable, monitor. Four syllables, second syllable s or z, longest syllable fourth, probably a proper noun, Elizabeth."

The message was short and that was all the substance she could pull from it. She moved on to the next message which was much clearer. The saboteur had probably congratulated himself on how surgical this second cut had been not knowing how much easier to handle the core would find such a wound.

"Alpha, seven, four, eight, foxtrot, charlie, Weir, alpha, seven, four eight, foxtrot, charlie, Weir," the scratchy voice recited.

That one was easy. It was the code necessary to enter a new orientation into the gate drive following an extended amount of time at sublight speed, but it was three weeks out of date. It certainly hadn't been used to hurl the ship into that asteroid field, but now there was more.

"Echo, nine, three, four, delta, bravo, Weir, echo, nine, three four, delta, bravo, Weir."

That one was for accessing the cartography database. It was also out of date, but it meant that shortly after they had left Earth someone had been running around the ship with officer level clearances.

Lauren pulled up the cartography database on her computer and tried to find their present location. Despite the city sized boulders she knew were floating a few miles overhead and the white dwarf she had seen them orbiting with her own eyes the screen showed that they were in empty space several hundred million miles from anything. She set the computer down and radioed the Colonel with her discovery. The ship had no idea where it was and probably hadn't since they left the Milky Way.

~~00~~

Todd stalked the corridors of the Elizabeth clutching his last remaining vial of anti-Wraith serum in his still smooth palm. He felt agitated. It wasn't the dull human agitation he felt when a crewmate glared at him across the mess hall. This was the agitation of an apex predator whose prey has issued it a challenge. Someone on board had targeted him.

He was now two hours overdo for his daily dose of the serum and the psychological effects were beginning to take hold. He could feel his long repressed anger and thirst for power rising from the depths of his drug addled mind, and the hunger would not be far behind.

Luckily the physiological changes would take longer. It would be a week or two before his feeding pads reasserted themselves and if he was clever he could hide the loss of the serum for some time beyond that as well.

He tried to calculate how long it would take him to produce more of the serum with the resources available to him on the ship. Maybe three weeks to infuse a colony of bacteria with the proper genetic modifications. One week to cultivate enough of them for a dose. Another three days to harvest them and centrifuge out the necessary proteins.

It was doable, but there was no telling how the crew would react if they discovered his predicament before the work was complete. Sheppard would probably confine him and return him to Area 51 on Earth, but the way he had been received thus far there could just as easily be a mutiny and he could end up breathing his last breath out into space.

He reached an intersection and a trio of airmen nearly bowled him over as they rushed passed. Todd closed the fingers of his left hand around the vial and plucked the last man in the line up by the back of his vest with his right. The other airmen paused as their compatriot was turned bodily to face his captor.

"Where are you running little mammal?" he asked.

The well-built military man was not accustomed to being called "little," but he was also not accustomed to being dangled by the neck a few inches from the sharp teeth of a Wraith, so he let it pass.

"We are performing a sweep of this section for intruders," he said, and then added, "sir." None of the crew was ever sure exactly where Todd stood in the ship's hierarchy, but they often thought it was better to be safe than savory.

Todd set the man down and the three of them left even more quickly than they had come. The Wraith in him scoffed at the futility of their efforts. Whoever had attacked the Elizabeth had also hidden among her crew for over a month. They couldn't hope to find him now unless they lured him or forced him out.

~~00~~

John Sheppard rubbed his temples. On Atlantis he had led people into battle against dozens of enemies known and unknown. His success in those engagements had been due in part to his knowledge of military tactics and his knack for predicting his opponent's moves, but the support of his team, from Rodney's boundless intellect to Ronon's fighting prowess to the leadership of his civilian commanders, had also played an undeniable role.

On the bridge of the Elizabeth he was having trouble recreating that synergy with the officers he had available. When he had asked for theories on the motivation of the saboteur he had gotten a storm of ideas from Eli and Lauren, but the two of them had dismissed those of the other out of hand and both were now pursuing separate lines of inquiry that were getting them nowhere.

Dr. Evans had reported in a few minutes ago and informed them that the ship had been thrown wildly off course ever since leaving the Milky Way, but unlike Rodney who would have seen the new information as a clue to their opponent's plan she had simply sounded disturbed by the discovery and had gotten unintelligibly squeaky when Sheppard had asked her what it meant. Meanwhile his Navigation Officer Major Pyotr Ročenka had been incredulous, and insisted that she must have been mistaken and was endeavoring to prove that they really were where the ship's computer said they were.

He had to take control. To lead. These were the best and the brightest. They just needed… a conduit.

"Eli," he said. Eli turned from his monitor where he was scanning nearby planets for potentially hostile alien life of even vaguely humanoid shape.

"I don't want you to think about what I'm about to ask. Just answer the question. Who is most likely group on Earth to launch an attack on the Elizabeth?"

"The Lucian Alliance," said Eli, then looked surprised that he had said it.

"Why?" askep Sheppard.

"Because they wanted the Destiny for its technology and now that the Destiny is gone they've set their sights on us. They even kidnapped Greer because they thought he would know the gate address to get them here."

"Ročenka, if the Lucian Alliance wanted the Elizabeth how could they take her without using the gate?"

The Navigation Officer tore himself away from the jump logs scrolling over his screen and turned around to face him.

"There is no way they could possibly overtake us. As far as we know there are no other ships in the universe that can travel as fast as the Elizabeth."

"Okay," said Sheppard. "Now imagine Dr. Evans is right about us being off course. If we've been going in circles we could be a lot closer to the Milky Way than we think."

The normally intransigent Chechen turned back around and wiped his screen of the logs and replaced them with star charts. He studied them briefly then said, "It's possible we're no more than twenty million light years from Earth.

"The Alliance would have to have hyperdrives comparable to our newest cruisers to make it out that far in the time we've been flying," said Major Burnette.

"Hang on, Lauren" said Sheppard. "If they were aware of our mission early enough to plant one of their people on the ship they could have sent a fleet out here months ago."

"But then where is it?" she replied.

"It's hiding," said Sheppard. "They don't want to deal us too much damage, but they know the feeling isn't mutual so they'll wait until their saboteur finds a way to assure them a quick and decisive victory."

"Then they'll go after the shield generator," said Lauren. "We should double the guard on them and buy ourselves enough time to repair the gate drive."

"I suppose then we would run from our attackers and await their next assault?" said Todd over Bailey Evan's radio. It was Bailey's, John thought. He could hear her squeaking in the background.

"Perhaps we should consider a more offensive strategy."

~~00~~

Two heavyset marines armed with P-90s and high caliber pistols, not to mention fists, stood at attention outside the locked door that led to the Elizabeth's shield generator. Their massive frames blocked most of it from view.

Across the hall a pair of eyes took occasional glances at them through the thin slats in the grating of the airflow duct. The mission was starting to look like a lost cause. She had made a point of scheduling the last jump while the Colonel was away from the bridge, but Major Burnette had reacted nearly as quickly as he would have and had managed to prevent the Elizabeth taking the damage that would be necessary to commandeer her without a dogfight. Even before that the Wraith had caught her attempting to remove enough control crystals from the gate drive to strand them at the coordinates she had been given. Gods but that thing was hideous, and she had seen what the Goa'uld were like.

This was a serious problem. If she didn't deliver the Elizabeth soon there would be no point in returning to the Milky Way, and if the ship made the necessary repairs and fled it would only be a matter of time before they discovered her connection to the Alliance.

There was only one thing for it. She steadied herself against the back of the duct and prepared to drop the guards with her revolver. She had them lined up in her sights and was about to kick the grating out when they reached a hand up to their coms in unison. Then they suddenly moved off down the corridor and the way was clear.

Stepping out through the grate as quietly as possible, Airwoman Amelia Reynolds felt like she was in a dream. She crossed the hall to the door and entered the code she had received in the fourth of her secret communications with the Alliance. The door clicked open and she stepped inside.

She removed a panel from the shield generator and a tray of control crystals slid out. She worked quickly. The Elizabeth's shield generator relied on the power output of two massive mark XI naquadah generators, but could also tap into reserves throughout the ship including the ZPMs in the gate drive. Amelia first isolated these alternate pathways and removed their crystals then searched for the two crystals that facilitated the primary power connection. Once she removed these the shields would fall and someone would come running. She would just have to hope she was faster.

She snatched at them like she was ripping off a bandaid then turned to go, but Todd had a hand around her neck before she could take a step.

~~00~~

Hidden in the asteroids around the Elizabeth, seventeen heavily modified Ha'tak watched as the Elizabeth's shields dissipated. Then they rose up, encircling their apparently defenseless prey and charged.

~~00~~

Sheppard had always subscribed to the theory that the best defense was a good offense, and the Elizabeth had an excellent offense, but the truth was that rail guns and drones were no substitute for a really good shield when the enemy was coming at you from all directions. He used the asteroids as best he could, and much of the alliance's fire was going toward melting the rocks around them. The Elizabeth's speed and maneuverability were impressive, but hersublight engines were pushing a ship nearly three times the size of the pursuing Ha'tak. Time was not on her side.

"Todd! I could really do with those shields right about now," he said into his com. What was that damn Wraith doing now?

A vessel appeared on the Elizabeth's starboard flank and Major Burnette vaporized it with a drone, but not before it took out two more rail gun emplacements. Sheppard turned hard to port to protect the now scarcely protected area of his ship just over the oxygen tanks. The move exposed a larger portion of the ship to their pursuers, but also exposed the pursuers to a heavy barrage from the gun emplacements there.

The gamble paid off as three Ha'tak exploded taking out a fourth that got caught in the erupting fireball. Sheppard banked around another asteroid before the remaining ships could return the favor.

Come on Todd, he thought, I can't keep this up forever.

~~00~~

"Why did you target me, rodent?" Todd asked the struggling Amelia. He was holding her by the neck a few feet above the ground, and he hoped the lack of air would make her think carefully about her response.

"Was… ordered too," said Amelia weakly.

Todd tightened his grip.

"Are you sure it wasn't because you wanted to see what a real Wraith looked like?" he asked.

"Please… I'm sorry," she gasped.

"I could kill you now, but perhaps I could persuade Sheppard to let me keep you as a pet until I can properly feed," he said.

She was crying now, but whether it was out of pain or terror was difficult to tell.

Todd marveled at the feeling of power that flowed through him as he held her. In this moment he would decide her fate, in this moment he was as God to this sentient creature who could only beg his forgiveness. This was what it was to be a Wraith.

His reverie was abruptly cut off by the voice of John Sheppard in his ear.

"If you don't want to die you'll get those shields up now!" he said.

Todd glared at the woman in his grasp then threw her roughly against the wall where she collapsed in a heap. Then he set to work bringing the shields back online.

~~00~~

Sheppard was getting desperate. Fully half of the Elizabeth's rail guns were down and engineering crews were having trouble keeping up with the breaches the Alliance was making in her hull. If he could find some cover, hide even for a minute, he could scramble enough F-304s to even the odds but there were still so many Ha'tak weaving through the asteroid field that he doubted he'd get the opportunity.

The enemy was getting wise to his predicament too. They no longer aimed for the ship's well-defended midsection, but instead came at him from the stern and bow where only drones and two rail gun emplacements could confront them. At the moment there were three Ha'tak on his tail and he was sure at any moment three more would appear in front of him.

He was wrong. From a crater in an egg shaped asteroid a few miles ahead six Ha'tak sprung an ambush and sent a wall of Goa'uld energy weapons fire right at his nose. The other asteroids in the vicinity left no room to maneuver and he braced for an impact that when it arrived was muted by the fortuitous return of the Elizabeth's shields.

Sheppard spun the Elizabeth so the F-304 bays were facing open space and gave the order. The predatory bats flew from their bays and swallowed up the remaining Ha'tak fleet like mosquitos on the breeze.

~~00~~

"In my defense," said Major Ročenka. "If you're going to get lost space is the place to do it. I mean three billion light years off course might seem like a lot, but compared to the infinity of space it's like taking a wrong turn on your way to the mini-mart. You'll see, we'll get back on track and you'll forget this whole silly mess even happened."

Sheppard didn't say anything. His Navigation Officer had already apologized for not catching the erroneous data Airwoman Reynolds had been feeding the ship for weeks, and had assured him it wouldn't happen again, but he still thought the man should consider a career change. Maybe the ship's cook needed a bus boy.

On the other side of the bridge Eli and Todd were sitting in their respective officers chairs, though Todd wasn't officially an officer so his chair was officially just a chair.

"So what happened with the shield generator?" asked Eli. "We were almost a smear on a Ha'tak windshield."

"My apologies," said Todd. "Miss Reynolds was more difficult to… deal with than I imagined she would be."

"Er… right," said Eli. "So what happened to her again? You didn't uh…"

Eli flexed the fingers of his hand as though trying to exercise a cramp.

"I believe she was beamed aboard one of the Ha'tak vessels while our shields were still down," he said ignoring the odd hand gesture. "I left her lying unconscious behind me and when I turned around she was gone. A thorough sweep of the ship's airflow ducts turned up nothing."

"Well," said Eli. He wasn't sure what to say. Amelia Reynolds had been one of his crewmates. He had seen her everyday and even spoken to her a few times. It was hard to believe she was Alliance, but then again a lot of people you wouldn't expect turned out to be mixed up with them. He thought of Ginn.

"We've got some ground to make up gentlemen," said Sheppard arriving beside them. "It's been a rough ride so far and it turns out we've only made it to the end of the block. I sent Ročenka to get us some coffee so Eli, if you would be so kind as to enter the coordinates of our next jump I think we can be underway again."

Written by Andrew Marron

Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist