Chapter 55: I can always use another ... test subject.
I woke up on the floor in a Wraith cell ... alone. Scrambling up I rushed to the door, craning my head to see if there were other occupied cells nearby. Putting a hand to my arm I registered the sore spot covered over by a bandage with grim humour. What was the point of having a subcutaneous transmitter if every bad guy in both galaxies knew about it?!
"Teyla?" I whispered harshly, and then again more loudly when she didn't respond.
"She cannot hear you," the words announced my visitor before his face came into view.
"Michael?" I could feel my mouth drop open at the surprise. He was Michael but not exactly as I remembered. He looked human and Wraith in a mix that seemed different from the last time I'd seen him ... and he looked something else, some other indefinable genetic ingredient that changed him from Wraith into something else.
"Sabina Scott," Michael replied blandly, "or should I call you Mrs John Sheppard?"
"Ah ... I don't mind either," I replied, my mind distracted by the realisation that Teyla had already revealed information to Michael in the short time we'd been captive.
"Don't blame Teyla," Michael stepped closer and looked at me with clinical detachment. "She revealed your connections to save your life ... I was determined to take my revenge for what happened on M8G-352 by having you put to death, a fact I shared with Teyla when she questioned your whereabouts. I believe it will be that much more satisfying to use you to bait Colonel Sheppard instead."
"So I'm just a bargaining chip?" I asked weakly.
"For now," Michael agreed. "Give me trouble and I may decide to revise that assessment. I can always use another ... test subject."
"Is Teyla all right?" my question halted him just as he turned his back on my cell.
"I would not harm her," Michael admonished, giving me a sense that he was insulted I'd think otherwise – hello, captive on a hive ship doesn't exactly spell tropical vacation! "She carries inside her a child of utmost importance to me. For this I set the trap that brought you both here."
"You want her baby?" I looked at him in horror.
"He is necessary to complete my plan," Michael revealed.
"Let me guess," I couldn't help the sarcasm that fairly dripped from my voice, "galactic domination. It just never gets old does it?"
"I will rid this galaxy of both its human vermin and the scourge of the Wraith," Michael preached righteously. "Those strong enough to survive will join my ranks and become my army."
"It was you," I realised the full magnitude of his plan. "You distributed the Hoffan protein on all those planets. You've killed thousands of people already!"
"It was necessary," Michael said dismissively, turning to leave. He took a few steps before glancing back over his shoulder at me. "Remember ... I am what your people made me."
"We make ourselves," I said sadly. He paused for a moment with his back to me before continuing on his way.
Taking a seat on the floor I leaned against the wall tiredly, thinking about my options. Michael believed I was worth keeping only because I was John's wife ... I'd never had much to do with him prior to being captured so he didn't know about my own Wraith connections. That was my advantage, the fact that I had skills Michael was unaware of – it was just a matter of working out how best to use that.
oOo
My first thought was to try to communicate with Teyla using the Wraith telepathic ability we both shared to a degree. The only trouble with that was it'd been a while since I'd tried it and I wasn't confident I could hone in on just Teyla unless she knew I was trying to make a connection. If I ended up dragging in even one of the Wraith on board it'd be all over so I decided to reserve that option as a last resort.
That really only left escape. Since any time was as good as another from what I could work out I didn't bother waiting, focussing my attention at the door controls and forcing my way into the Wraith neural network. It was a buzz of Wraith commands, conversations, systems traffic all zinging at speed so one little command to open a door wouldn't register enough to cause suspicion.
"That's more like it," I whispered, grinning as the door webbing contracted open silently.
Creeping from my cell I made my way down the corridor, listening for the guards but not surprised when I didn't see any. The Wraith were notoriously arrogant about their captives, even with those instances when we'd escaped in the past to warn them they should be otherwise.
I suspected we were on a Wraith cruiser, not as big as a full Hive ship but it was still unlikely I'd just stumble across Teyla by wandering around. I needed to access the controls, see if I could find her that way. Peering around the next corner I spotted a guard in the corridor ahead.
"Great!" I muttered, ducking back out of sight. The Cruiser schematic I recalled from my study of the Wraith database (before it had self destructed) said there was an access console down that corridor. Could I take a single Wraith guard with the element of surprise on my side? Peeking quickly around the corner again I saw the guard with his back to me. Turning back I glanced around, looking for anything big enough that I could expect the Wraith to go down when I hit him over the head with it. Being a Wraith ship of course there was nothing. Reaching a hand down inside my boot I felt for the knife I always kept there.
Yes – thank God the Wraith never searched their food for concealed weapons!
So I was armed ... it improved my position a little but I wasn't John. There was no way I could sneak up behind someone, even a Wraith, and stab them in the back or worse yet slit their throat. But I had to do something.
Checking that the Wraith Guard hadn't moved I tried to work out an approach with a better than even chance of success.
"No guts, no glory," I muttered under my breath, taking a few quick breaths before easing my way out into the corridor. I was holding my breath as I took each careful step closer to my target. What I didn't factor in was the other guard who appeared in the corridor ahead of me.
Giving one of those Wraith growls he raised his stun riffle and fired it. Luck was with me though because I had just enough time to anticipate his move and I was close enough to the first guard to grab him quickly. He took multiple stun blasts in my place and would have fallen had I not braced myself against the wall, groaning at his weight as I raised his stun rifle and fired back in quick bursts.
Less than a minute later I stood there panting, one stunned Wraith guard at my feet and the other stretched out in the corridor a few feet away. That's when I took the time to look closely at my victims. They weren't the usual Wraith sentries with masked faces – in fact they didn't look like Wraith much at all. They were hybrids, like Michael only with more human and less Wraith characteristics. That explained why it had taken so many shots to bring them down – they'd been enhanced by Michael's genetic manipulations.
It wasn't over though ... I had to work out what to do with the two of them so they couldn't raise the alarm. I needed to be able to move about the ship as freely as possible which would be difficult with additional patrols out looking for me. Even on a Cruiser they had the chambers used to store their victims between capture and feeding ... I was pretty sure I'd seen one back close to the cell I'd awoken in. It was a risk to hang around but I decided it was worth it as I dragged first one and then the other guard to the chambers and muscled each of them into place. A quick stabbing thought to the controls and both guards were preserved in cocoons until someone noticed and released them.
Back to business, this time armed with two stun rifles I headed towards the auxiliary control console that had been my original destination. This time I made it without coming across any other guards. Propping both rifles up next to the console I put my hands in place and brought up the internal security schematics. They didn't have a "Teyla is being held here' flashing sign but there was an occupied holding cell on the next level which looked promising. It took a few minutes for me to be confident that I'd memorised the shortest route there, including the positions of sentry posts along the way.
Shouldering one rifle and carrying the other poised in front of me, I headed to what I hoped was Teyla's position. With no further run ins I made good time.
"Teyla?" I approached the cell hopefully, looking in all directions before I moved across to the doorway.
"Sabina!" Teyla surged to the front of the cell.
"You're okay," I checked her over quickly, seeing nothing to indicate she'd been mistreated.
"I am well," Teyla replied calmly.
"Stand back and I'll get you out of there," I moved across to the door controls, getting ready to activate them.
"Do not!" Teyla protested. "I cannot leave."
"What?" I looked at her incredulously.
"Kanaan is here – I saw him," Teyla insisted intently. "I cannot leave without him and the others of my people forced to serve Michael."
"We can come back and rescue them later," I protested. "Bring a team and a heap of weapons."
"You go," Teyla urged. "Get back to Atlantis and tell them where I am."
"That plan has so many flaws I don't even know where to begin," I retorted grimly. "The worst of which is that I have no idea where we are apart from the fact that we're travelling through hyperspace which means the ship won't be wherever here is by the time I get back!"
"With one of us free the odds of everyone being rescued increases," Teyla argued.
"I won't leave you here alone like this, and I don't mean just because you're almost eight months pregnant although that's certainly a motivator right now," I argued back heatedly. "Michael is crazy Teyla! Did you see – he's eliminated his need to feed on humans, taken away what could be seen as a vulnerability – what's next? I can't begin to imagine John's reaction if I come back without you and have to admit I chose to leave you behind ... not to mention what Ronon or Rodney would say. But I wouldn't do it anyway, even if I could be assured they'd believe I'd done the right thing, not when Michael is so unpredictable."
"It is my choice to stay," Teyla said resolutely. "You cannot go against my wishes."
"Oh but I think I can," I replied sarcastically, activating the controls to retract the webbing. Walking in I held up my stolen weapon. "This stun rifle says I can break you out of here and drag you to a Dart unconscious if I have to. You've been stunned recently so we know it won't hurt the baby. I'm hoping you won't make me do that."
"Sabina, please," Teyla looked at me pleadingly, her eyes filling with tears.
"Isn't the safety of your baby more important than anything else?" I questioned earnestly.
"Michael will not hurt me or the baby," Teyla insisted.
"For now," I agreed grimly. "He told me your baby is key to his plans, but we have no way of knowing how ... did he tell you why he wants your son?"
"Just that he had great plans for him," Teyla admitted. "He took them Sabina. Michael took my people but I still do not know where they are ... only that he is using them to create his army."
"I can have us in a Dart before Michael even suspects," I promised. "Now that we know it was Michael we can revisit our allies, find new leads ...Teyla?"
"He is ... changed," Teyla said sadly.
"Who?"
"Kanaan," she explained. "Michael has altered him, made him a hybrid of human and Wraith DNA. When Michael brought Kanaan to see me he didn't even know me at first. But I saw something Sabina, in his eyes. He mouthed the words fed to him by Michael but there was torment ... and hope in his eyes. I cannot abandon him."
"Fine!" I turned away, exasperated at her stubbornness, suddenly appreciating John's position when I'd been stubborn like that in the past. "So how do we save him and the others?"
"We bide our time," Teyla replied firmly. "We wait for an opportunity to act ... and we trust that Atlantis will come for us."
"Listen, you know how much faith I have in John," I returned, "but this is a tough ask. They don't know where we are or who took us. It's a big galaxy ... it could be a while before they find us and we don't have that kind of time," I looked pointedly at her large bump.
"We can revert to your plan if my due date draws near," Teyla pointed out.
"So what?" I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I just go back to my cell and play along?"
"If you do not they will search this ship until they find you," Teyla insisted. "Michael will not hurt you now he knows of your importance to Colonel Sheppard."
"Maybe not," I conceded, still thinking. "You've got heightened Wraith skills at the moment right?"
"I have not tested them recently but I was able to access the damaged Hive ship controls with ease," Teyla agreed.
"Do you think you could talk to me telepathically, without alerting the other Wraith?" I asked, revealing why I'd wanted to know about her Wraith abilities.
"We will need a way to communicate," Teyla nodded her understanding. "I will try."
"Okay, wait a while, give me a chance to get back to my cell," I looked at her for a moment, torn with the horrible sense that I was about to make a colossal mistake. "If I don't hear from you I will be coming back and getting you out of here, no arguments."
"It will work Sabina. Do not worry – I will be fine," Teyla promised, sensing my continuing reluctance.
"You better be," I said it sternly but then ruined my tough girl facade by hugging her quickly before hurrying from the cell, pausing to reactivate the web closure. "Try the telepathic link in a few minutes," I reiterated before turning and running back down the corridor.
It galled to retreat like that, to wilfully reimprison myself in that Wraith cell but I didn't see that I had a choice. I could have dragged Teyla off, sure – and then she'd never have forgiven me. As it was, a part of me was already dreading my return to Atlantis because I knew Major Lorne would have told John I jumped into the beam after Teyla. When I had to admit I had the chance to escape but didn't, his anger was only going to be worse. But I also dreaded the reaction I'd get if I couldn't save Teyla ... she was as a sister to John and he'd be devastated to lose her. I couldn't do that to him, couldn't bear to think of the damage it would cause to both of us. Somehow I had to make this work.
oOo
The change in motion let me know that we'd exited hyperspace just as I returned to my cell. Almost immediately the ship was shaking from what could only be weapons fire. We were under attack.
My heart leapt at the thought that perhaps John and the others had found us already. Of course if it really was them and they were there for us it was unlikely they'd be firing away so indiscriminately and my hopes settled back into what was more realistic – that the Cruiser was under attack from a rival Hive.
The battle was brief, our damage minor enough not to be apparent from inside the ship, and then motion returned to the characteristic hyperspace feel.
"Sabina?" Teyla's voice echoed in my head, familiar but much stronger and more tightly focussed than I recalled from the last time we'd communicated that way.
"Teyla," I sent my thought back to her. "It works!"
"Of course," Teyla agreed. "You are back in your cell?"
"Yeah," I said glumly. "Did you feel that shaking before? The ship was under attack but it looks like we escaped before they could do much damage."
"You believe it was Atlantis?" Teyla queried.
"I'd like to," I admitted, "but it's more likely it was one of Michael's rivals."
"I wonder where Michael is taking us?" Teyla thought.
"If he runs true to form it'll be one of his little outposts," I returned. "Like that place you guys found with those monster hybrids, although hopefully there won't be more of them."
"He will keep us separated," Teyla said worriedly. "He will not risk any attempts for us to collaborate."
"I know," I sighed, thinking it through. "It's gonna make opportunities to do what you wanted, to rescue everyone, more difficult to manufacture but at least we – ."
"Michael approaches," Teyla interrupted urgently. "Do nothing!" she added before slamming closed our connection.
I waited but Teyla didn't get back to me ... pacing my cell worriedly, I fervently hoped her silence was because Michael was still talking to her and not for any of the other grimmer reasons I could come up with.
A short while later the Cruiser was out of hyperspace again ... moments after that the ship shuddered and came to a rest, the kind you'd only get on land.
Wherever it was Michael was taking us, we had arrived.
Author's Note:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY happybear 2005 .... have a wonderful day. Thanks for being a loyal and consistent supporter.
Next Up? The Other Side of the Story Chapter 12