CHAPTER 114

EPISODE……………….TRAVELERS

Sheppard went to a planet, per schedule, to pick up some supplies and drop off others, even though they did get quite a few from the T.A.R.D.I.S. In keeping with some of their allies, they got the fruits and other foods in exchange with whatever they traded anyway. There was a subtle difference between the fresh food and the stuff replicated. Which is one reason why Sheppard went off to get the fruits and such because they were from the Pegasus galaxy and not from Earth. After getting the said items, he dialed the Space Gate and was flying towards it currently.

"This is Sheppard, I'm on approach with the items requested." he said biting into a fruit that was hard like a apple but looked more like a plum.

"Acknowledged You know, since I started here in Atlantis, I have set up…" Rodney said as he snapped his fingers in thought. "Half a dozen research stations? Maybe more. And I don't remember you volunteering for a re-supply mission for any of them. In fact, I'm sure that this is a first."

"I'm a busy man Rodney." Sheppard said.

"That's the burden responsibility gives you when you are in charge of something Rodney." Ford said as Carter was signing off on something. "He didn't actually volunteer, per say. He was bored so I told ordered him to do this."

He was currently in a dark blue suit while she was in the leather SGA outfit because he liked her in that more than the usual SGA BDU's most of the rest of the expedition people wore.

"Oh. I thought it was weird that he went on one of these missions. Normally, one of the other gene therapy guys do it."

"That and once he heard what the mission was, he jumped at the chance to go." Carter said.

"Oh really? Let me guess, it had something to do with Doctor Mackenzie mentioning about the tropical paradise like area they were in that has people with little to no social inhibitions?" Rodney asked.

"I'd bet money on that is why he went." Carter said.

"We checked that area out….a week ago, right?" Ford asked. "Or was it two?"

"Last week, and you left very quickly. Which for once, I was happy to see you leave my side. Vala has wore less revealing clothing." Carter said.

"I….didn't need that image." Ford stated. "Daniel has told me many times of her advances."

"Hope the gate room is clear, I'll be there in another minute." Sheppard said over the line.

"It's clear Colonel." Carter said as she finished signing off something else.

"I got a interesting story about what happened on that planet. You General and Rodney might find it interesting. Ronan too." he said over the line with a humorous tone.

"No offense, but count me out." Ford said as he noticed Carter's eyes narrow as she watched the open gate.

"God, he reminds me of the bad side of Jack sometimes." she muttered.

"What the hell?" came over the line.

"Colonel, what's it happening?" she asked quickly.

"Someone just took a shot at me." Sheppard said as he brought up a screen on the window and did a scan. "I've got a contact, they are closing fast."

"Is it the Wraith?" Rodney asked.

"I don't think so…" he said as the Jumper shook from another impact.

"Transmit your coordinates right now!" Ford said quickly.

"Colonel get back here as quickly as possible." Carter said.

"I'm trying. Whatever they hit me with, just shorted out my systems. I've lost weapons."

"He sent the coordinates." Ford stated.

Two more hits stuck the ship and then everything went dark.

"Sheppard?" Rodney asked.

"Colonel, respond." Carter ordered. "John?"

"We've lost contact ma'am." Chuck said as the gate shortly after shut down.

He looked out the window as he called out for Rodney, either Carter or anyone else at Atlantis that might hear him, but only got silence. He didn't see it, but there was a very large ship above the Jumper, which he saw seconds later as it dropped down over him, bringing him into a hanger bay before he could do anything. Shortly after it was brought inside, it jumped into hyperspace. As the hyperspace window disappeared, a spinning blue box showed up.

"Atlantis, is the General. There is no Jumper and no debris of any kind. I've got a fading hyperdrive signal. Someone must have just came by and picked him up, Jumper and all."

"No debris anywhere?" Rodney asked.

"They must have used some attack that only knocked out the Jumpers systems. There is no sign of any parts of a Jumper on my sensors. I'm going to go after the hyperdrive signal, unless you want me to come back?"

"No, you go ahead and bring him back. Find out who took him and why as well. If there is any problems here, I'll call you." Carter said. "And bring back the Jumper if you can as well. We still have yet to figure out how to build one of our own even with the replicator systems."

"Understood. I'm alone, so K-9 is there if you need his help."

"Good luck. And don't go to another universe." she said signing off.

"I promise to try and avoid that."

A few buttons pushes later, the ship took off quickly, spinning through space after the hyperdrive signal.

With several unknown weapons and a few known weapons pointed at him, he got out of the Jumper and walked in front of two guys who kept weapons on him as they traveled through the ship corridors. It was sort of like a submarine inside because it was rather cramped and most doors had a wheel on them. There was wires, cables, pipes and other machinery parts on the ceiling and walls. And some of the floors had grate coverings on them. Having no weapons on him and too many people around with weapons, plus no idea where he was, he thought it best not to try anything even if he saw an opportunity to fight back. Plus, having ones hands tied behind their back did make trying to escape and or fight back very difficult to begin with.

"Hmm, nice ship. A little bit of a fixer upper, but I can see potential." he said glancing around.

Another man in front of him opened a bulkhead door and he was escorted into the room that seemed more like a cell than an actual living space. Other than a dim light above a grate in the ceiling, there was a basic cot against the wall with a pillow and blanket.

"I'm not talking about anything drastic you know. Maybe a better paint job, some throw pillows. Nice big plasma screen TV perhaps with all the sports channels."

He grunted in pain as both guys grabbed his so he couldn't move and then felt something jab him in the arm. He didn't see what it was, but it pulled a small vial of blood out of him. Once it was filled, he was pushed away towards the bed as one guard left. Seeing as he didn't feel anything different going on in his body, he figured blood was taken instead of something being injected.

"Look, I don't suppose you want to tell me what is going on here?"

"Here's how we are going to do things." the other guard said as the door behind him closed. "I'm going to ask some questions and you are going to answer them. Is that simple enough for you?"

"Sure." he said with a shrug.

"Who are you? Where are you from? And where did you get your ship?"

"Now there is a strange coincidence. I was going to ask you the same exact questions."

A sharp punch to his gut brought him to his knees as the wind was knocked out of him.

"The difference here is, I'm not the one who's hands are tied behind his back. Now, who are you, where are you from and where did you get your ship?"

"What do we know?" Ronan asked as he and Teyla were inside Carter's office and were told what had happened.

"Very little other than it wasn't the Wraith or Replicators that took him and the Jumper." Rodney said. "We sent another Jumper to investigate the area while the General is off trying to locate Sheppard at the moment. If it wasn't for already knowing the energy signature of the T.A.R.D.I.S., which thankfully, is very hard to detect or even look for, we might have mistaken it for something else. The point is, we picked up a different hyperdrive energy signature left by the ship that took Sheppard. We can say for certain, other than because Sheppard said it wasn't the Wraith, it is not a Wraith signature. Nor is it a Replicator signature."

"What makes you sure that it isn't them?" Teyla asked.

"For one thing, Ford would have been attacked shortly after he arrived since I doubt the Replicators would have just taken Sheppard and left without trying to get to here first. They could have easily hacked the Jumper and got through the gate quickly since it was open at the time." Carter said as Teyla nodded in understanding.

"This energy signature is unique. I've never seen anything like it and it doesn't match up with Ancient tech either." Rodney said.

"We know very few races in this galaxy that have hyperdrive technology." Teyla said.

"That's what makes this a even bigger mystery. I told Ford to find out who these people are, why they took Sheppard and what is going on. Hopefully they can become allies instead of another enemy." Carter said as she sat back in the chair.

"Yeah, we are lacking in ships ourselves."

Sheppard was on his knees, getting punched in the face yet again for not speaking the right answers. He had a cut above his eyebrow and a split lip, plus a possible black eye going to form later.

"I can do this all day." the guard said as John spit blood from his mouth.

"Oh, I think your knuckles are going to be sore sooner than that." he muttered.

The guy was about to swing again when the door opened. A long reddish orange, curly haired women with a leather outfit, plus another guard came in. The other guard stood by the door as she walked up before John. The leather top covered everything but her arms, except for just under her shoulders that kept the top up, and just above her breast.

"Anything?" she asked.

"Only his name. Reed Richards." the guard said.

"His name is Sheppard. We intercepted part of his last radio transmission." she said.

"I didn't get your name." Sheppard said.

"You can call me Larrin." she said as she pushed her finger under his chin. "You really should cooperate. It would be a shame to cause to much damage."

"I agree." he said as she was walking away. "Maybe if you tell me who you guys are and what you guys want, we might be able to work out some kind of deal."

"Well, don't get my hopes up and then disappoint me." she said with a unhappy shrug. "Tell him what happened to the last man that disappointed me."

"We never found his body." the guard that had been hitting him said.

"We assumed he was thrown out into space." the other guard said.

"I get it."

"Good, bring him along." she said.

He was hauled to his feet and dragged along to another room, after being cleaned up first. The room he was then brought to had a big table, made of wood and square in shape, with wooden chairs around it as well. The room was tunnel like in shape with lots of wires and other parts hanging or showing. Yellow curved lights built into the walls, plus a line of blue lights under the floor against the walls lit up the room. She sat at one end as he was sat at the other end and had a plate of food put before him by one of the guards. He gave it a glance, noticing it was on a metal tray.

"Another form of torture?" he asked looking at the food that made some of the movies he saw prisoners in jail eat look better.

"When you spend as much time in space as we have, you don't get a lot of fresh food." she stated.

"How much time, are we talking about?" he asked as he picked up something that looked like black Jello, but didn't fall apart as he picked it up and then set it back down. "This is a conversation right? A two way street?"

"This, is our home." she said waving one hand around.

"This ship?"

"And other's like it."

"Sounds like a few friends I know that do the same thing." he muttered as he glanced at the disarray of wires and such. "But there…ship is in much better condition."

"Is this ship you speak of where you came from?"

"No. I just work with the people of that ship. Couldn't fly it if my life depended on it either. Some sort of bio-whatever that only responds to them." he said with a small smile. "So, why do you live on a ship?"

"We're travelers."

"So you live in space all the time?" he asked politely.

"We land on planets that we need to, for supplies, trade." she said shrugging. "The rest of the time, we keep moving."

"Always staying one step ahead of the Wraith?" he asked as he looked at what seemed like a graham cracker.

"That may have been how it started. But now, it is just who we are."

"Well…" he said setting the food down. "No offense, Larrin, but it doesn't sound like much of a life."

"Being a herd animal isn't much of a life." she said getting up and walking over to the wall that had a couple of cups and a metal jug. "Besides, all the food has the required nutrients we need."

"Well, as tempting as that sounds. My jaw is a little sore right now." he said as she poured water into a cup.

"Things like that are necessary from time to time. Although it is not the most efficient way of getting information, but it helps people understand, their situation." she said setting the cup down and then sitting on the table top.

"That situation being completely are your mercy." he stated.

"Exactly. Anyway, I know more about you than you think."

"Oh really?" he asked intrigued.

"Yes." she said sitting in the chair. "For instance, I know you carry the gene required to operate Lantian technology."

"For the record, it's Alteran." he said without thinking. "But I ain't one of them. I just know some…"

"People who are Lantian or Alteran. Yeah. Look Sheppard, I know you have your secrets, but there is things I need to know. If you stay on my good side, you will be able to keep some of them. But if you continue to play ignorant with me, I really will jettison your ass into outer space and consider the little ship you have a small trophy for your troubles."

"Okay." he said nodding. "What is it you want, if I am even able to help?"

"For awhile now, we have been hearing about a new group of humans who possess the gene needed to operate…Alteran technology, and have been using it to fight the Wraith. We have set up dozens of spy satellites, around different worlds with Space Gates, in hopes of an encounter. Eventually, we got lucky." she said with a smile.

"So, instead of trying to get a meeting with our people, you attack me and disable my ship, and then have your friend try to beat the hell out of me."

"You were about to enter the gate and I couldn't let that happen. The damage to your ship is minimal at best anyway. You see, anyone capable of operating Alteran technology is very important to us."

"So, that is why you took a sample of my blood." he said taking a drink.

"We are working on a control interface adapter that requires a small amount of necessary genetic material. We needed your blood to test it."

"I'm going to guess it didn't go so well." he said as he moved the plate away and placed both arms on the table.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you wouldn't have a use for me anymore."

"On the contrary, there is all kinds of useful things you can do for me."

"Commander, we are approaching the coordinates." a voice said through a com.

"Understood." she said standing. "Take us out of hyperspace. And, of course, you are right. The interface isn't totally operational yet. Come with me."

He only glanced away from her when the guard moved forward. Getting up with a sigh, he followed instead of being dragged.

"Nevik, my chief science officer, says we have a much better chance with the interface if we reverse engineer Alteran technology that has already been initialized." she said as she opened the door to the ships hanger.

"Reverse engineering huh? I don't really understand the concept of that…" he said as the door opened fully to show the Jumper. "I see, you want to use my ship."

"Not exactly." she said nodding.

The guard shoved him into the room and then the door was closed behind him.

"Hey!" he said stumbling in and barely keeping himself from going face first into the metal floor.

"Activate the force shield." she said.

He glanced around and even noticed no one was inside the room or inside the ship. When the floor beneath him suddenly glowed for a moment, he felt trouble was coming quickly.

"Sheppard, can you hear me?" she said over a com.

"Would you mind telling me what you are doing?" he asked as he realized he was standing on a energy shield.

"Offering you a deal." she said. "Open the hanger bay doors."

He heard everything as the floor beneath him split to the recesses of outer space. Only because of the shield did he and the Jumper not go flying out by explosive decompression.

"This is just, not, right!" he said barely moving.

"Don't worry, you're safe as long as the shield doesn't malfunction. And that almost never happens."

"Why are you doing this?" he asked quickly.

"You wanted to know what this is all about. Look beneath you."

He looked down, still feeling extremely afraid of being sucked out the instant the shield failed, plus the feeling of seeing nothing but stars below one's self was creepy anyway. The view changed as a ship came into view as the one he was in parked above the other.

"I'm assuming you recognize the technology? It is an Alteran battleship. It has been dormant for thousands of years and you are going to help me get it operational again."

Ford saw his sensors show that the signal stopped and he quickly stopped as well. Activating the screen, he saw the ship he was following and a familiar ship below it.

"Well, well, well. I can see why they took Sheppard. Or a best guess anyway." he said twirling his cane a moment before picking up the phone. "Hey Sam, I caught up with the ship. Sheppard's signal shows he is still with whoever captured him. I'm sending images to you that should arrive shortly. Like me, you shouldn't recognize the ship above, which he is on. But the other should point itself out."

"Why haven't you dropped in and picked him up like I said?" she said from the other line. "Oh. I think I know why they took our Colonel."

She and the rest of Sheppard's team were in her office and looking at a laptop that had a connection with the T.A.R.D.I.S. while she was on the T.A.R.D.I.S. cell phone, with speaker on.

"I thought the same thing. As far as I can tell, the Atlantian ship is pretty intact. A few bad areas and some other not fully functioning systems. I guess whoever these people are, which read as humans, want him to help get the ship running right. I'll pop in and see what I can do and then get back to you. We can at least say we know he wasn't captured to be killed or anything. His vital readings indicate he seems to be just fine." Ford said as he looked over the scans. "However, it looks sort of like he might also be panicking as well from these readings."

"Any reason why?" she asked concerned.

"What I get from his position, is he is in the hanger of the ship above. And I think the hanger door is open with a shield on."

"That sounds rather scary. He must be looking at the ship below him then." Carter said.

"Probably. Looks like the hanger door is closing now. I'll get back to you soon."

"Alright. We'll be waiting to hear from you." she said hanging up.

"Has it occurred to you people, that there might be a good reason why they abandoned this ship in the first place." Sheppard stated as they walked through the hallways after going over in the Jumper, by gunpoint.

"We know the reason." she said as two men followed from behind them. "We were able to access the ships logs."

"They were attacked by the Wraith. They lost communications and the shields were failing. The engines were damaged but they managed to escaped into hyperspace." Nevik said. "Then they realized their main drive was giving off deadly radiation. So they abandoned ship."

"They intended to return and effect repairs, but they never got the chance." she said. "It has been drifting in a two hundred year orbit of a dwarf star ever since."

"I see, it's never been fixed then?"

"No." she said as they stopped in a hallway that had a view of outer space from slanted windows behind him.

"I hate to state the obvious, but one of the reasons I agreed to help you was so that you wouldn't kill me. If I am going to die of radiation anyway…"

"We've set up shield emitters to protect certain areas of the ship and, we've all got radiation detectors." she said as she held up her left arm that had some small black object that blinked. "Take him to the bridge. Start with sublight propulsion. I'll check the emitters."

She took off one direction as the other two took off with him another direction.

"Hey, I don't have one of those…" he was saying when he was cut off from being pushed along by the guy that had hit him before.

A couple minutes later they arrived and entered the bridge.

"Here." Nevik said as he picked up some device that was linked into a console near the command chair after they entered.

"You know, this ship is ten thousand years old." Sheppard said, and then after getting a look. "I'm just saying for the record, if it doesn't work, it is not my fault."

Nevik looked at the device again as John sat in the chair. He placed his hand on the right side interface of the chair and the ship lit up quickly.

"Amazing, I've been trying for two months now to get this systems up. I need to calibrate the interface for neural input. Why don't you start moving the ship forward." Nevik said.

"Are you sure about that?"

"That is why we are here." Nevik stated. "You fly the ship, so I can record the input and replicate it here."

"Damn, these engines are really damaged." Ford said as he stepped out into the area where the leak and other damages to the engines were. "And the radiation is beyond lethal. Going to have to burn my clothes or space them after this. Being a Time Lord is so much fun. Radiation like this has little effect on me. Unfortunately, it doesn't like my Sonic Screwdriver."

He put the damaged device back into his pocket and then glanced around for some tools in hopes of making some repairs. Before he landed inside the damaged section, he noticed shields in various areas of the ship and only four people onboard. It didn't take much to link into the ships communications, which, though damaged, worked well enough for him to hear them talking, plus being able to link with theirs as well made it easy to hear them talk. Seeing as they needed Sheppard alive to help with the ship, he figured he'd do some work to it and then talk to whoever the people were in hopes of an alliance. Obviously, Sheppard was helping somewhat willingly so they weren't really enemies, but more like humans in need of serious help. Which meant they needed Sheppard enough not to kill him.

"Just fly the damned ship." the other guy said as he pulled a gun that was just like Ronan's and pointed it at his chest.

"Okay. I was just going to say, instead of saying, move the ship forward, you should have said, initialize the ships inertial dampeners first."

"Wait!" Nevik yelled.

He placed his hand over the panel and the ship moved forward as fast as it could, without going into hyperspace. Being in the chair, he felt G forces, but stayed put, unlike the other two who were thrown back into the wall. Larrin was walking through the corridors when she was tossed into the wall as well. Ford was getting some work done when he was tossed across the room and into exposed wires that gave him a good charge. Getting up slowly from the floor, while smoking, he shook the effect off and muttered a few unintelligible words before going back into the T.A.R.D.I.S. at a crawl.

John quickly got up, leaving the ship moving, as he ran over and grabbed the gun off the floor.

"Hmm I thought this looked familiar. I have a friend who has a gun just like that. I always wondered where he got it." Sheppard said as he worked on a console.

"I'm going to kill you." the guard said as he started to get up.

He shot the guy then Nevik, stunning them, before going to other consoles on the bridge. Larrin slowly got to her feet, holding a bruised arm.

"Silas, what happened?"

Sheppard walked back over to the stunned guard and picked up the small radio system on the guys arm.

"Nevik, what is going on up there?"

"I'm sorry, but your friends are unavailable right now." he said into the device as he sat back in the command chair.

"Sheppard, what are you doing?"

"You said fly the ship, so I am flying the ship." he stated with sarcasm.

She watched out the window as the stars changed to white and blue lines as the ship entered hyperspace.

"We had a deal Sheppard. I was prepared to let you go in exchange for your help." she said as she quickly took off walking.

"I'm sorry, but I don't trust people who kidnap me, torture me and then threaten to throw me into space." he said as he looked at a holographic screen in front of him.

"Sheppard, I want you to drop this ship out of hyperspace." she demanded.

"I don't think so."

"Listen to me then. I have shut off the shield emitters for your area. Right now, the bridge is being flooded with radiation." she said as she kept walking.

He thought about it and even glanced around, but nothing seemed different and he felt okay. Looking at the unconscious guys still by the door.

"You're bluffing. You'd never sacrifice your own people."

He heard a noise behind him and looked at the still unconscious guys, tied up back to back, and the radiation detectors that were blinking a lot.

"Look, if you don't turn over control of this ship, I will have no choice." she stated.

He dropped the ship out of hyperspace reluctantly and then let the men go, not noticing that their detectors had quit beeping and blinking a lot. Holding him until she arrived, he was taken down to a holding cell on the ship and left there for a bit. It had alternating squares for bars and a energy shield for the door. He wasn't surprised when she came back with her arms crossed.

"You surprise me Sheppard."

"That's good. At least I didn't disappoint you instead." he said with a smile and relief that was both true and mocking.

"Oh, no. I knew you'd make a move at some point. You just did it sooner than I thought. And seriously, I didn't expect it to be…."

"Clever? Creative?" he asked with pride.

"Reckless! You could have killed all of us including yourself!" she practically shouted as she walked over to look at him through the energy shield.

"I once pulled 11 G'S in a F-16 without passing out, so I figured I'd give it a shot." he said with pride as he stood before her.

"Well, I underestimated you."

"I feel the same way. You got the tough as nails down to pat, but exposing your own people to lethal radiation…." he said shaking his head. "It takes a special kind of lady to do that doesn't it?"

"Larrin?"

She walked over to the doorway as Nevik shook his head. Sheppard sat down on the old bed and heard every word they said, mostly because it was so quiet and there was no humming from engines or other systems going. The shield was rather quiet too so that made it easy to eavesdrop anyway.

"It's no good. He shut down propulsion and navigation before he shut down the bridge. And for some unknown reason, the engines aren't leaking the radiation anymore, nor have I yet to find out how or why either. I can say he couldn't have done it from the bridge."

"Well, at least one problem is out of the way even if we don't know why. Perhaps a self repair system started up when he activated the ship." she said.

"It is possible, but I don't think the ship has that sort of capability. I'll try to check though. But at the moment, we are totally stranded and sitting targets for the Wraith if they find us."

"Did you get enough data for the control interface?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I still need to check that as well."

"If you can't get that going, we are going to be stranded and eventually die from starvation or being culled."

"What about him?"

"Like hell! He is not going anywhere near that bridge. He can't be trusted!"

"If we don't get the systems back online, he'll die out here like the rest of us!"

"That's the problem!" she stated forcefully. "Does he look like a man who thinks he is going to die?"

"No." he said after a moment.

"Go check the subspaces communications array."

"The Ancients lost communications during the battle, they have yet to be repaired."

"Check it anyway. Maybe they work now that the engines have mysterious stopped radiating the ship."

"Very well." he said walking off.

Sheppard's team was in her office yet again with K-9 and one of Rodney's laptops. He had various laptops hooked up to various programs he had been checking on since arriving on Atlantis and one of them started working suddenly, so he brought it to her office and K-9 instantly figured it out at the same time as Rodney did.

"Basically, the Ancients created a program that checked subspace for any sort of patterns, sort of like our SETI program back on Earth, that listens in for alien transmissions." Rodney said to the other two while Carter nodded in understanding. "I was working on a different project when this laptop activated one of the programs I had been investigating."

"Data suggest that Colonel Sheppard sent a S.O.S. Morse code signal through a damaged transmitter system on the Ancient ship the Master and he is on Mistress." K-9 stated.

"I'm guessing that Ford probably hasn't got into contact with him yet if he sent this to us." Rodney said.

"Possible. Last I heard from him, he said he was checking out the damaged engines. Since the three other people on the ship with Sheppard don't have the gene to operate Ancient technology, he felt the Colonel was going to be okay since only he could operate it for them. Why he didn't leave the engines alone and go get John, the Jumper and find out what I told him, he didn't say. He hung up shortly after saying he'd call back as soon as he could."

"I hope everything is okay." Teyla said worried.

"So do I." Carter said. "I'll let you know when I know something new."

He was pacing around the cell when she came back several minutes later and turned the shield off.

"What's happening?" he asked casually with his hands in his pockets.

He didn't see her right hook and barely managed to keep himself from dropping to the ground.

"Ow!" he said standing back up slowly. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Do you realize what you have done?!"

"Besides the fact the engines aren't lethal anymore, and for the record, I do not know how or why that is, I don't know what you mean."

She punched him dead in the nose seconds later. It didn't break it, but it hurt enough he had to grab it as tears came to his eyes.

"Stop that!"

"I'll stop when you stop lying! You tapped into the damaged communications array and sent a signal, didn't you?!"

"Yes, I did."

The right hook this time did put him on the floor.

"Hey! You said you'd stop if I told the truth!" he said getting up slowly.

"You're right." she said pulling the gun from her hip. "I'm better off shooting you."

"Alright…" he said as the weapon powered up as he held both hands away from his body. "Don't you think you are overreacting?"

"Broadcasting the location of our ship worked! But guess what, a ship is approaching and I don't think it is the one you were hoping for!"

"What do you mean?"

"It's the Wraith!"

"Great…" he muttered.

The Wraith ship dropped out of hyperspace quickly and stopped just above their ship.

Ford was back in the T.A.R.D.I.S. and had went through a decontamination process, just in case, and then got dressed in his silver suit. He was finishing with the cuff links when he came in and found a S.O.S. message that came from the ship.

"Interesting. John managed to send a signal for help. I guess I should go tell him I am here." he said grabbing his cane and heading for the door. "Oh, better drop in somewhere else first in case someone comes to check this area of the ship."

The ship shook as it took a impact and the two guys on the bridge were showered with sparks.

"The Wraith ship is firing on us!" Nevik shouted over the com.

"Do you have the shields up?!"

"Affirmative! But they are only at twenty percent!" Nevik said as the ship shook from another impact. "They won't be able to withstand this for very long."

"If you want to get out of this alive, you are going to need my help." Sheppard said as he stood. "I realize that you and I don't exactly trust each other, but, that is not going to make much difference if the Wraith blow the ship up, isn't it?"

"What have you got in mind?" she asked with some fear as she lowered the gun.

"For starters, you can shoot back!" Sheppard exclaimed.

"Right. This way!"

A few twist and turns later, she pointed down a corridor.

"The weapons control platform is down that corridor. I am heading back to the bridge."

He nodded as she took off running. The room lit up as he entered and sat down in the chair. It leaned back as it powered up, but the room shook and sparked as the ship took a heavy hit. The chair went back up and shut down from the damage as smoke arose around him.

"Dammit!" he said getting up and going behind the chair to pull a panel off that had crystals and crystal components that weren't lit up. "Piece of cake."

Another hit shook the ship as more sparks burst around the two.

"The shields are down."

"Can't you reroute more power?!"

"There is nothing I can do." Nevik said as they turned to look out the window at the Wraith.

Another blast came from the Wraith and was headed right for the bridge. The two turned as they heard a strange sound and then saw a blue box appear near the center by the command chair. Just as the energy blast started to impact, it was partially blocked and deflected. The glass windows blew inward and several consoles blew up, knocking them backwards against the walls and consoles were they landed on the floor injured and unconscious, but alive. Sheppard and her felt the impact, but didn't know the extent of the damage.

"Dammit! I was a couple seconds off! This is going to take a long time to repair." Ford said shaking his head and then looked up to see a few holes in the ceiling. "A real long time."

The Wraith ship began firing again, but failed to get through the shields he placed around the ship.

"Silas, Nevik, what happened?" she asked over the com as she tried the bridge door, which didn't open. "Do you read me?!"

Ford heard her, but didn't say anything as he checked the two men out. Seeing as they were still alive and going to be okay for the moment, he got up as he heard her running from the bridge door.

Sheppard, surprising himself with the fact he actually listened to Rodney enough to remember what to do, got the chair working again. Once it powered back up, he sat down quickly and activated the weapon system. A good dozen or so drones raced out and blew the ship and few darts that circled around. Once he noticed the enemy was gone, he powered down the weapons and sat back up.

"Larrin, it's Sheppard."

"I didn't give you a communicator." she stated.

"I've activated the internal communication systems and am speaking to you through an intercom. What happened?"

"I don't know. I can't access the bridge and my people aren't responding."

"Sorry. The Wraith ship has been destroyed however."

"Stay where you are. I'm coming to you." she demanded.

It was no surprise when she entered the room to find the chair powered down and him no where to be seen.

Ford, having not been on one of these ships in ages, had no idea where he was going and lost her when he was trying to follow her discreetly. It took prying the door open by hand to get out, but he managed and was listening for her footsteps, but apparently, took a wrong turn somewhere. Since he didn't bring the life signs detector he left in the T.A.R.D.I.S., by accident, he didn't have any way to locate anyone and he really didn't want to give away his position. He also felt it was stupid of him to have left the gun he got from the unconscious guy behind inside the T.A.R.D.I.S., even though it was damaged. Currently, he was completely weaponless and didn't even have his cane with him and was kicking himself for being so stupid.

"Hey Sheppard, you hear me?" he asked into a mike he found on the wall.

Getting no response, he tried yet again and then gave up to look around more.

Sheppard had went to the auxiliary control room of the ship and started activating the different systems around him. He found her life sign inside the chair room and closed the door quickly before she could leave. He also found another and closed down all the doors nearby, leaving the person inside a corridor system. Plus he found the bridge was severally damaged and according to the sensors, had been open to space for a few moments. At the moment, there was a shield surrounding the ship and he figured it was the ship generating it because he didn't look any closer. He didn't find any life signs on the bridge so he was sure that one of the two died when it was hit, leaving the other guy that he blocked off moments ago alone. He only hoped it was the Silas guy instead of Nevik, because he could possible get free.

"Sheppard?" he heard her ask.

"Sorry about that." he said as he worked on a different console.

"What are you doing?"

"For the moment, not much." he said going to a different console. "The hyperdrive seems to be offline."

"What?! How bad is it?"

"Well, it is not exactly my area of expertise…" he said checking another console system that brought up a holographic screen above it. "But if I am reading this thing right, the drive itself is undamaged. And all radiation levels are back to safe zones. I guess it is probably just a short in the control system."

"The we should be able to solve the problem with a simple bypass. Just let me out and I should be able to fix it."

"I, don't think so." he said moving to another console.

"We are a floating target out here Sheppard!" she shouted angrily.

"Alright, take it easy. I shut the transmitter off. My people should have gotten the message by now." he said. "If it helps any, the shields are still up according to the readings I saw moments ago."

"Well, that helps a lot!" she said sarcastically. "You can't assume that that Wraith ship didn't broadcast our position! Those shields will not hold for long if another ship or more arrives!"

"There is no reason to assume they did either." he said looking at some readings. "They are at war with the Replicators and each other, somewhat. So they might be a bit busy and not come at all."

"Listen to me Sheppard! I have spent my entire life around hyperdrive systems! I know what I am doing so let me out!" she yelled while pacing.

"I never said I didn't believe you. Don't worry, my people will be here."

She looked around the room in anger and then pulled a knife from her side. Pulling a panel off, she started working on several crystals and other glowing parts. It was no surprise when she shocked herself from poking something with the knife blade. John looked up from one console as something beeped at him.

"Larrin, what are you doing?" he asked as he looked at a screen that told him some of what was going on in that room. "Look, my people will be here shortly. We'll get the hyperdrive back online then and then drop you off at the nearest gate."

"Not good enough." she said as she kept playing with the inside with the knife.

"What, my word or the deal?"

"How about both?" she said as she caused it to yet again spark.

"You're the one that kidnapped me, remember?"

"Because I need this ship!"

He hit a button and the power supply to the room shut off.

"There, I did you a favor."

"Sheppard, listen to me. Our fleet is old. There was a time when we had the resources to build new ships, but now we don't. When we loose one, it is gone for good. Even with the strict population control, there just isn't enough room for all of us anymore. We've been forced to abandon some of our own people on the ground." she said sadly as he kept going from console to console.

"Well, they are no worse off than the rest of the people in this galaxy."

"Fine, we do this the hard way." she said with anger as she pulled her gun and, at max setting, started to blow the door away.

"Larrin, what are you doing now?" he asked hearing the gun fire over the line.

About a dozen shots later, she stepped through the smoking hole. He saw that she had left and activated a shield nearby that she walked into.

"Sheppard, you are really starting to annoy me!"

"Just sit tight then. My people will be here soon enough."

"Silas, Nevik, come in. Silas, do you read me?"

"Give it up, they are gone."

"You don't know that!"

"Actually, I do. The bridge is exposed to space, or was. The shield is keeping atmosphere in at the moment. I don't read any other life signs." he said lying as he noticed the other life sign had moved from the location and was near the front of the ship. He quickly activated the force fields and lock downs in that area, figuring it was the Nevik guy that was still alive, but wasn't responding for some reason. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head and went another direction.

"Larrin, where are you going?" he asked as he saw her move on the screen. "I can track you anywhere on this ship."

He looked at the other screen seeing the other life sign moving out of the confined area and then back at her screen to see another life sign coming from down a corridor toward her on the right.

"Larrin, stop. I'm picking up another life sign directly in front of you."

She ran towards the door as he kept talking.

"It's impossible! There is no way they got out of that section alive!"

She opened the door and was shocked to see a Wraith before her. She started to back up and went to pull her gun when it was knocked from her hand. When the Wraith went to put his hand on her to drain her life, she pulled the knife from behind her back and stuck it into his hand as he rushed forward with it. He growled in pain and pulled the blade out as she tried to punch him. They quickly started to exchange blows, but he had the upper hand as he grabbed her foot and tossed her aside into the wall. As she backed up against it, the Wraith pulled a hand stunner out. Before he could aim, three blast from her gun struck the guy in the back.

"Are you alright?" Sheppard asked as he walked up with the weapon still aimed.

"Just fine." she said standing quickly. "He caught me off guard, that's all."

"They must have boarded us with a few darts when they were attacking or before their ship was destroyed. We left the hanger bay pressurized and they flew right in."

"They?"

"Yeah, there is four more. But we can track them with this." he said as he looked at a life signs detector.

"Where did you get that?"

"Auxiliary control room. You got to know where to look. Come on."

She followed and then stopped and went back for the pistol stunner. The Wraith grabbed her foot as she was reaching for the dropped gun. Sheppard quickly came around the corner and fired three more shots. Giving the dead Wraith a swift kick to the head, she glared at him as he walked up.

"Tenacious little bastards, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

"Don't suppose you have any more of these?" he asked as he pulled the power cell out of the gun.

"I'm afraid not." she said as she turned the stunner over to see a blast in it from her gun earlier. "And this isn't going to do us much good either."

He went to give it to her and then gave it a few twirls before putting it behind his back. She sighed and followed after him while shaking her head. Several corridors later, he held up a hand.

"Wait, we got one coming this way. No, looks like two. Damn."

"Which ways?"

"To our right and left." he said glancing around.

He stepped back a few steps and waved his hand over a control. The door opened to a room that had a few storage crates in the small section.

"Okay, what now?" she asked as he was looking at the device.

The Wraith was walking down the hallway, with stunner in hand. He sniffed the air and noticed a scent of live prey. Sheppard ran his hand over a section of the wall and it opened what could be a locker or hidden compartment.

"Wait, no Sheppard…" she began when he grabbed her by the jacket and quickly pulled her into the small compartment with him. Once the door closed, leaving them more than within kissing distance. "Oh brilliant plan.."

He put his hand over her mouth, which she bit. As he cried out in pain, she quickly put her hand over his mouth and there, their hands stayed as they heard movement nearby. Being as quiet as possible, they heard the door to the room open and the Wraith enter. When they heard the footsteps start leaving the room, they began to relax. That changed as they heard a stunner fire a few times. Then they heard the Wraith growl loudly and then heard the exchange of what sounded like punches and kicks. The sound of the crates being knocked around and banging against the door made them jump, but they stayed still and quiet in hopes they weren't heard jumping. More banging happened followed by a squish like noise, then total quiet. They slowly removed their hands from each others mouths and breathed, only to jump as they heard footsteps and the sound of the crates being moved again roughly. Both figured the other Wraith came along and there was a fight, which didn't surprise John. When the footsteps stopped outside the door, they both tensed and waited. They didn't even wait to see who it was as the door opened. Both struck out with their fist and connected with someone's face, hearing a cry of pain that wasn't Wraith. While crying out in pain, they fell back onto the floor holding their face as the two quickly trampled over them and out the door. She started to keep running when Sheppard pulled her arm.

"What are you doing?!" she cried out as he was looking back in the room as she tried to break free.

"We didn't just hit a Wraith." he said slowly as he let go and walked in. "I am so sorry General…"

"You could warn a guy." Ford muttered on his knees as he put his nose back in place and shifted to put a rib back together that he was sure was broke by someone with a thick high heel.

"You should have said something instead of just opening that door…" Sheppard said solemnly as he helped Ford to his feet. "Sorry about the suit too."

"I can make more." Ford muttered as he looked at the rips and his blood on it. "Were you the one closing doors and activating all those shields….."

"Yeah." he said solemnly again. "I thought you were someone else. I had no idea you were even here. Anyone else with you?"

"No. Didn't the shield around the ship give you any indication that I was here?" he asked as they left the room.

"Damn, you sure beat the hell out of him." Sheppard said as he noticed the smashed head of the Wraith and a damaged crate nearby with blood and other things on it.

"He was in the way. Who's this?"

"General, this is Larrin, the person who kidnapped me and the Jumper. Larrin, this is the General. My superior officer, friend and rescuer." he said happily.

"Great." she muttered with her arms crossed.

"I told you they'd get the message." Sheppard said smugly.

"Actually, I've been here awhile." Ford said.

"How long is awhile?" Sheppard asked.

"Hour or so. I wasn't keeping track." he said with a shrug.

"Are you the reason why the engines aren't radiating us?" Sheppard asked.

"Yeah. I fixed them first. Or at least that part that was damaged."

"Now that he's here, what are you going to do with me?" she asked.

"Let's deal with you later and get rid of the other two Wraith first." Sheppard said as he looked at the detector.

"How did you even get here?" she asked suddenly.

"My own ship. I tracked that small ship to this one and got on board before it jumped into hyperspace." he said with a shrug. "There is two more Wraith huh?"

"Yeah. Glad you are here." he said pulling the gun from behind him.

"Nice! Now we know where Ronan got his." he said taking it. "Ronan won't let me look at his. Beyond looking I mean."

"That's out of power. So your guns will come in nice and handy." Sheppard said while patting him on the back. "Once you blow those two others away, we can move onto other things. Like her and this ship."

"I…don't have my guns with me." Ford said, kinda reluctantly.

"What?! Why the hell not?!" Sheppard exclaimed.

"I forgot to bring them with. I had to change clothes after all that radiation and forgot to put things back on myself." he said as he twirled the gun a few times. "Nice balance."

"It's mine." she said making a grab for it.

"It's ours now." Sheppard said as he took it away from Ford. "It may have one or two shots left. Not really sure. Rather she not shoot us with it."

Ford took the gun back and it fired its last shot into the dead Wraith.

"Now it is empty. I'm going to keep this."

"I assume you'll make more then?" Sheppard asked.

"Hell yeah." he said handing it back to Sheppard. "Hang onto it for now. I'd rather not break it in a fight. Where are the other two?"

"In this section." he said pointing at the screen. "They must be having a board meeting."

Ford chuckled lightly and looked at the screen and then at where they were a couple times to get his bearings.

"They are moving. On no." Sheppard said.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"They are between us and the control room." Sheppard said.

"So?" she asked when it occurred to her. "Tell me you didn't leave the controls on?"

"I was busying saving your ass!" Sheppard exclaimed.

"I wouldn't have needed the saving if you hadn't broadcasted our position to the galaxy!" she yelled.

"One left, two rights, straight ahead and another right, then left." Ford muttered as he looked at the small screen and then walked off quickly.

"Had I known he was on the ship, I wouldn't have had to! And had you asked for my help in the first place…." he said stopping to notice they were alone. "Ah crap!"

She followed quickly as they ran to catch up.

"Hey! I know you can hear me!" Ford yelled loudly down the corridor as he ran. "You're going the wrong direction if you are looking for me!"

Sheppard came around the corner and saw Ford running down the corridor and saw the Wraith had turned around.

"General, they are coming your way!"

He stopped near the corner as one came out and fired a stunner at him.

"That doesn't work on me." he said with a sigh as he was shot three more times. "You'll have to fight me personally instead."

"Gladly." the other Wraith said as he walked up next to the other.

Both rushed Ford as the other two walked up and hid behind a section of wall to watch. One hit him in the face as Ford managed to deliver a sharp kick to the other that sent him flying back into the wall harshly. Another blow to his face knocked Ford to the ground and got the feeding hand stuck to his chest quickly.

"Great. He's already…"

"Just watch.." Sheppard said as Ford cried out a moment and then kicked the guy away as the Wraith screamed in pain as his body slowly started to fall apart.

The other one got up and saw what happened to his fellow Wraith as he died very painfully.

"Ah, so you are immune to being feed on. What's more, you are one of the few that have the opposite effect on us." the Wraith said in contempt and anger.

"No." Ford said as they circled each other slowly. "I'm the last Alteran alive from back when Atlantis was at war with you bastards! I was the super solider project to use against your people. Maybe you've heard of me."

Ford was a little surprised when the Wraith jumped into him, slamming them both into the wall. His neck was grabbed with the feeding hand while the other sliced across his chest, ripping the suit and his skin open.

"I shall enjoy tearing you heart out!"

He brought up both feet quickly and shoved the Wraith away into the adjacent wall hard. Before the Wraith could slump to the ground or move, he ran up and slammed his hand into the Wraiths chest.

"How about I rip yours out!"

Blood and other internal juices came out as he yanked the heart out, leaving a trail across the wall, floor and past him as he flung the heart behind him. Once the body slumped to the floor, the two came out from hiding, though she moved a little slowly in amazement.

"Nice job Gen….oh gross!" Sheppard said as he turned away quickly.

He noticed them coming towards him and even John saying something, but when he looked at his hand and then the ripped opened area in the chest, he instantly got sick on the dead Wraith.

"Some super solider." she said mockingly as she crossed her arms. "Even if what you said was true, I will admit I was amazed at what I saw. But that went out the airlock the moment you threw up."

"Yeah, yeah." Ford said wiping his mouth and hand with his coat that he tossed aside afterwards. "Heard that before. That is all of them?"

"According to this." Sheppard said as he waved the device. "Just us now."

"Good. Let's go to the bridge so I can get cleaned up. While we go, you can tell me what the hell is going on." he said looking at the damaged pocket watch that was in his vest.

"I'm not sure I want this ship anymore." she muttered as she followed anyway.

She was very happy to hear that her two friends were still alive, though injured and unconscious. The T.A.R.D.I.S. blew her away as well and Sheppard warned her that even trying to steal the ship would be suicidal because it would defend itself and that stealing from the T.A.R.D.I.S. wouldn't go un-noticed either. After bandaging her two men up while Ford was getting cleaned up, Sheppard called Atlantis to tell them he was fine and that he'd be back soon to explain everything then. Needless to say, Carter was happy to extend to news that Sheppard would be coming home soon. After coming back in a red suit and helping her and her two men out onto the bridge, Sheppard and Ford had a talk inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. alone.

"Okay, we have a proposal for you." Sheppard said as they came out. "And, I think you'll like it a lot."

"The only proposal that will help me involves this ship being ours." she stated.

"Personally, I think it is rather ugly and bad in design. Not to mention, a Wraith target. Last one we had was destroyed by them anyway. So, you get the keep the ship." Ford said. "In exchange, you keep the fact that Atlantis is a secret. Our two peoples be allies and try to exchange information from time to time about the areas out here in space, since you said you have a fleet, which means you have a lot more info on space travel and areas to avoid and best places to go."

"That's it?" she asked surprised.

"Oh, and I keep both those guns." Ford said. "You'll have to get news ones for yourselves."

"Wow, tough choices." she said sarcastically.

"We'll also provide medical supplies, food and some spare parts for helping repair your other ships and, possibly this one. If you can get it running correctly without me." Sheppard said.

"The control interface I created was damaged." Nevik said.

"I fixed it and made it work better. But, it will only work on this ship. Don't go thinking you can try to come to Atlantis and use it to take over. If you find any other ships like this one, you should be able to get it to work on them as well." Ford said while pulling the object from his pocket and handing it to her.

"And next time you need something, just ask." Sheppard said. "We have a few planet we have teams on so, you may come across them. Let's not have more problems in the future."

"Very well." she said shaking his offered hand. "For what it is worth, I am sorry. We are desperate and couldn't risk you saying no to our need for help."

"I contacted your ship and she should arrive within the hour." Ford said. "I didn't detect any Wraith within this solar system, so you should be safe. We're going to go down to the hanger bay, leave the supplies stated and then take our Jumper and go home."

"Thank you General, Colonel. You have no idea how many lives you will be saving."

"It's what we do best." Sheppard said with a smile. "Good bye Larrin. No hard feelings guys."

"Oh god, this is really good." Sheppard said as he was sitting in the mess hall with his team and eating something Ford had cooked that day.

"Really?" Rodney asked.

"The General's cooking? Hell yeah! Besides, after spending a that time with those space nomads, you tend to really appreciate what you have back home." Sheppard said.

"I'm glad to hear that you were able to make an alliance with them." Teyla said.

"I would have went crazy and fought back at every opportunity." Ronan said.

"There was some bad moments and there was some good moments too." Sheppard said.

"You thought she was hot." Rodney stated.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Sheppard said.

"I saw her picture! The General showed all of us what the T.A.R.D.I.S recorded! You liked her! This is so typical! Every time I am captured, it is the Wraith! Just once, I would like it to be the sexy alien." Rodney stated rather loudly, ignoring the raised eyebrow from Teyla and the looks from a few other people nearby.

"She almost killed me several times and had that gun of hers had any energy left, and had she been able to take it from the General's hand, we'd probably still be there in trouble."

"I seriously doubt that." Ronan said.

"You're right. The General would have probably tackled her in an instant. Would have been a nice story to tell about him saving my life that way. The point is, despite all that happened, we ended up with some interesting allies and no one but the Wraith died."

"That is always good news." Teyla stated.

"That is still so unfair…"

"If she ever comes here Rodney, you can have her. I'll introduce you personally. I think she has a thing for scientist anyway. Very strongly told me she grew up around hyperdrives and knew how to fix, build and repair them."

"You're jerking my chain."

"No, seriously. She told me that before she decided to blow a hole in the door with that gun the General kept. By the way, you never have told us how you got hold of that gun you have Ronan. What's the story?"