AN: I forgot to note in the last chapter that a lot of inspiration was taken from a National Geographic documentary by Lisa Ling as she traveled with a medical team beyond the DMZ into North Korea. I saw it years ago, and it is available on youtube. Chilling. That is the only way to describe it.

Anyhoo... I finally managed to get a few chapters ahead and *knock on wood* the plot issues completely figured out.

New OC coming in this chapter. Not originally planned, but needed to go forward.

thanks for all the continuing support! Your reviews and all the favs/follows just make me giddy!

Sebryn cursed herself. She should have known better, she really should have. Getting captured by the followers of the Ori was a rookie move. As the daughter of the leader of the Resistance in a war that had waged for longer than any of them could remember, she was a veteran of war and had been weaned on battle since she was a young child.

Generations before, her people had been created from normal humans by the evil of the Ori. They had been twisted and made to be able to enslave the great space-dwelling creatures that lived among the planetary system in the nebula at the edge of the galaxy.

The creatures -drakkon in the old language - had the ability to travel through vast amounts of space in the blink of an eye, with nothing more than the powers of their breath and thought.

She had heard the stories of another group of people who had tried to work with the magnificent beasts, but when the war had begun, they had fled to other galaxies across the great expanse of the universe.

Genetic manipulation and biological warfare secured the Ori's plan to make the beasts dependant on the humans for life. In order to save their great race, they bowed to the will of the humans and gave a part of themselves in a symbiotic relationship. It gave the drakkons an anchor for the mortal world.

Before the change, their race was said to be truly immortal. After it, the symbiosis with the humans caused them to age and die a mortal death, even if their lifespans were still longer than almost any other known race. By joining with the humans, they were able to maintain their grasp on reality and the powers they held.

Not all of the creatures accepted the bonding, however, and those who refused became monstrous representations of their once noble race. They suffered deformities and only possessed rudimentary understanding of the language they once spoke. Their innate abilities to create wormholes and heal with a simple breath, or rain fire down upon their enemies, all but vanished.

Some of the humans were then enticed by the promises of Origin, and they commanded the creatures they had bonded with into visiting unspeakable horrors upon those who refused the will of the Ori.

A nearly forgotten legend, cut into the smooth stone walls of the Hall of Ancestors, told of a time when nearly all was lost.

They were dying. The ongoing genetic manipulations, even with the bonding, had begun to take its toll. Fewer eggs were being hatched and there were less human children with the ability to bond.

In what they thought was a final hope to save themselves, they called out to the ones who had fled millennia before. The Alterans came to their aid, but instead of becoming embroiled once again in the war with the Ori, Moros, the High Chancellor of Atlantis, offered them a chance to escape.

He promised to help find a cure for the ailments that had begun to plague the drakkons, if they would only follow him to a new galaxy. Around that time, they had begun to call themselves Furlings.

A large portion of their population took the opportunity. But, a few stayed behind to guard their way against the Ori. Sebryn's ancestor was among them.

Prophecies told of a day when the others would return with a cure. But, thus far the Furlings who had fled, had never been heard from again.

The evil of the Ori had grown. They had started to clone the drakkons in order to gain their power, without the mess of having a human to control them.

Originally, it had worked, but the cloned drakkons had degraded and their innate, magical abilities weakened. It soon came to a point where the cloned embryos were frozen in crystal and the Ori appointed human followers as Priors, people gifted with the ability to focus the power within the crystals.

Sebryn's people had continued to work on their own methods for a cure. While they had not found a way to completely break the bond between human and drakkon, they had remedied many of the other issues. Drakkons were no longer on the verge of extinction from the biological warfare waged against them by the Ori.

The Furlings started to flourish as a people. The nebula had become a sanctuary for the drakkons and the humans once more. Many of the planets hidden within it were protected from the Ori, but the war was still far from over.

They now numbered in the thousands, and much of their lifestyle was devoted to finding a way to destroy the Ori once and for all. It was difficult to wage battle against nearly untouchable god-like beings. The Resistance had to settle for protecting themselves and hitting the followers of Origin whenever they could.

Having already exploited nearly every available source of power in their own galaxy, the Ori had control had begun to weaken.

A new found energy began to take hold among the Furlings, to step up the Resistance. Even normal humans, on the planets controlled by the Ori, were beginning to break away from the rigid structure of Origin.

Recently, word had begun to spread about humans from Albion making their way to Celestis.

Albion...the very same galaxy where Moros had taken the refugees...also called The Milky Way. The Furlings had no idea about what had happened to their cousins who had fled, but they weren't about to let the Ori gain more followers and power without a fight.

Then, the day came when a deformed white creature was seen sailing through the stars in search of the Ori.

A scout party had been sent out to try and intercept the drakkon from Albion, but their efforts had been in vain and the creature was captured before they could make contact. The elders of her people were embroiled in discussions about how to free the white drakkon, or if they even should.

Taking a group to the Ori's holiest and most protected city, the absolute heart of their control, was suicide...especially, when the sightings had not been absolutely confirmed. There were too many variables and the protection of their own people came first.

Sebryn had known that she should have left it alone and focused on her own duties, but something about this creature, and the stories of old, intrigued her. On her own, she had left the safety of the nebula and had attempted to sneak into the Holy City of the Gods, hoping to find proof of the white drakkon.

She sat, curled over her knees in a corner of a dark room, not even bothering to brush away the lifeless strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face. It felt like it had been ages since she had bathed or seen the sun, and the once golden-brown locks were dark and limp. Cheeks, once flushed with the excitement of life, were now pale and sunken from weeks of imprisonment.

Time no longer held meaning for her. The chief Prior - the Doci, mouthpiece of the Ori - had spent days preaching to her the words of Origin. He had hoped to convert her and discover a way for the Ori to infiltrate the Resistance that had kept them from full domination over the galaxy.

When the normal methods of conversion failed, the Doci had turned to means of torture. But, she had still not given him the information he craved. She knew, however, that it wouldn't be long until the last of her resistance disappeared and she would bend to his will.

At night, she listened to the pitiful cries of the white drakkon, echoing through her soul more than her actual ears. The creature itself was being tortured for its power; the only one of its kind to have been captured for generations.

During her captivity, she had overheard rumor of the Ori using the human counterpart as a base for a genetically modified clone, which they could control completely. Sebryn didn't know if their plan had worked. Although, she supposed it must have to some extent, as she began to hear the guards speak reverently about the birth of a girl called the Orici.

In the past two days, however, something had changed.

There was a charge of energy in the air, and the soldiers she saw seemed more tense than usual. The Doci had been conspicuously absent...even the cries of the white drakkon had changed.

When her guard brought her food that night, he was so distracted that Sebryn took advantage of the situation. Her innate abilities to control different aspects of her surroundings had been stifled from the chains she wore on her wrists, but that didn't stop her from being able to jump on the back of her guard and throw her arm around his neck.

She left his body cooling in her cell and began making her way out of the prison; unlocking the bindings on her wrists with his keys.

Amazement and confusion swirled in her mind when she found the armory devoid of soldiers. Gathering a few weapons to aid her, Sebryn then hid in a secluded alcove and took a moment to flex her mental abilities.

She reached out through the city, carefully sensing for the best way out. There was a building, not too far from her current position, that held a communications platform. If she could make it there, she could send a signal for help.

The city of Celestis was beautiful, but it was cold and sterile. There was a new feeling of tension and fear permeating the air. Soldiers patrolled the streets in odd maze-like patterns.

If she didn't know better, she would have thought they were herding, or perhaps leading, someone or something toward the prison cells. Then, she saw them.

Five men scurried from alcove to alcove, hiding in the shadows as best they could, along a nearly deserted street.

They were strangely dressed, and their weapons were unknown to her; all except the staff the black-haired one carried. It was an antiquated version of the staves used by the priors. There was more, though - she could sense he was one of her kin.

A wave of disgust coursed through her at the sight of it. Among her people, it was considered an abomination to abuse the spirits of the drakkons by using the Prior's staves.

Sebryn had to wonder if he was the reason the white drakkon had fled from Albion.

Had things taken such a turn for the worst that the drakkon and her human had fled from their own kind? She wondered.

Her stomach twisted and she cursed silently. The four humans could be easily dispatched. The one who carried the staff would be a bit more difficult. However, as she watched them more, she could tell the man seemed to be suffering.

"Good." She muttered out loud. It served him right for abusing his power. Glancing over to her left, she could see the path that led to the Communications building. Sebryn could easily slip through to that room and set a trap to lead the men directly to her.

Once inside, the room could be secured while she waited for help to arrive.

If they even deemed it safe enough to come for her. She figured she would probably have to escape the city in order for her people to find her.

But, even if they couldn't, Sebryn still needed to tell them what she had learned about the Furling from Albion, the drakkon, and the Orici.

Gwaine stumbled and squinted. Lights danced in front of his eyes and made his head pound. He'd been through enough training to realize that they had walked into some sort of trap. A flash grenade of some sort had gone off the moment they had walked through the door.

He fingered his gun, squeezed his eyes shut and tried to listen. Thankfully, whatever had been used, hadn't made a sound. Although, he could feel the pressure in his head from the minor shockwave it had produced.

His vision just started to come back to him, when he felt someone kick the back of his knees. He felt his legs go out from under him. A hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head back.

A knee in the small of his back and the edge of a blade at his throat made him freeze momentarily to assess his situation.

Arthur's shouting seemed to distract his assailant enough that he was able to grab the arm over his shoulder. The blade nicked the side of his neck as he threw the person over his head.

The grunt of wind being expelled from his attacker's lungs caused the person to let go of his hair. Gwaine pushed himself back and brought up the assault rifle.

What he saw wasn't what he had expected. A young woman, barely more than a girl, laid on her back and staring up at him in surprise and anger.

Her brown hair was matted and wild; her clothing soiled and torn. She didn't look like one of the Ori's followers. In fact, she looked more like an escapee from a mental institution.

Dark brown eyes stared at him in defiance. Gwaine had to smirk. She obviously had thought herself better prepared to take on five trained men. "You guys okay?" He asked, keeping his eyes trained on the girl.

"Merlin's out cold, but he's alive." Leon responded. He knelt near the dark-haired man, slumped against the wall.

Arthur had his sword out, and was moving toward the girl menacingly. "Who are you?" He demanded, bringing the sword to her throat.

"Me? You are the ones who broke into this secured room. Who are you?" The girl snapped. She glared at the men vehemently.

Taken aback, Arthur paused, "I asked you first."

"So?"

"So? So, what?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

Gwaine's snickers turned their attention toward him. "It's obviously you don't belong here either."

Her only response was to narrow her eyes and cower on the floor.

Percival stepped in between his friends and the girl. He lowered his gun and pulled a meal bar out of his pocket. "You look hungry."

Arthur rolled his eyes and backed away, tapping Gwaine on the shoulder. They would let Percival deal with the girl, while they moved to check on Merlin and assist Leon. Waving his hand at the unfamiliar control panel, he asked, "Leon, is this the type of computer thing you needed?"

The tall man nodded.

"Good. See if you can find what we're looking for."

Unwrapping the bar, Percival held it out to the girl. He offered her a friendly smile. "My name is Percival. What's yours?"

"Sebryn." She said softly. Her breath was still coming in short gasps. The weeks of imprisonment and torture had taken its toll on her body. There had been a time when she could have taken these men easily. Her mistake was in assuming that only the Furling man would have been an issue.

The way he was slumped against the far wall, told her he wasn't the one she should have been concerned with. It was obvious now that the others were professionally trained warriors.

She pushed herself up to a sitting position and cautiously held her hand out for the food.

His smile grew and he crouched down next to her. "See, we're not so bad."

Sebryn took a bite of the meal bar and nearly gagged, "Are you trying to poison me?!"

Gwaine shook his head and laughed from the other side of the room. MRE's, or Meals Ready to Eat, were a staple in the military for survival in places where they didn't have the time or means to make a real meal. They were designed for the protein content and necessary vitamin intake. Taste was not something that factored into their production.

"Naw. If we were going to poison someone, we'd use something that tasted better. Make certain they'd eat it all without complaint." He gave her a wink before turning back to Merlin.

She found herself giving Gwaine a shy, little grin. Sebryn took another bite of the food, grimacing again at the taste of it. "Who are you guys? You don't look like you're from around here."

Percival held out a bottle of water. "The jokester is Gwaine and that's Leon." He gestured to the man attempting to figure out the control console. "That's Arthur..."

"...And Sleeping Beauty over here is Merlin." Gwaine said, just as Merlin began stir.

They all noticed the way her eyes narrowed and her mouth turned into a thin line when Gwaine introduced Merlin. It was as if she was willing to accept the others, but something about their friend displeased her.

"He's a Furling." She whispered.

"Uh, yeah. How'd you know?" Gwaine paused to reevaluate Sebryn. He was curious how a girl who seemed to have recently escaped captivity knew what Merlin was.

"Well, he's not a Prior, and among the Furling people, it's against the laws and beliefs to carry or use one of the Prior's staves. Yet, he seems to have some command of it. So, I...uh... took a guess."

"Yeah. Right." He wasn't fully buying her reasoning. There was more to what she was saying. Something about her felt familiar to him. It took a few moments for him to put it together.

On Earth, and in the whole Milky Way, Merlin was the only Furling known to still exist...if they believed what Moros' journal told them. Yet, she said the term as if it was as common as saying human. The fact that she also referred to laws of the Furlings told him that she was more than familiar with that particular race of people.

He grinned as the pieces fell into place. Moros hadn't told the whole story in his journal. Somehow, that didn't come as a surprise to the roguish knight. Sebryn knew what Merlin was. He hadn't seen any signs of an actual flash grenade in the room, yet she had somehow managed to throw them back with a burst of light, obviously focused directly at Merlin.

The blast had felt familiar in a way, and now, Gwaine knew why. Sebryn had magic. He began chuckling.

"Something funny, Gwaine?" Merlin's voice croaked harshly. He reached up to massage his temples, in an attempt to alleviate the thundering headache that came from being blasted back against a wall.

"Yep. It seems our old...as in Ancient...friend forgot to tell us that Dragon Lords still exist here."

"What is a Dragon Lord?" The girl asked, her lip curling up in a sneer. She looked between the two men, before meeting Merlin's eyes.

"Is that true? Are you really like me?" Merlin sent the question to her through his mind. He felt a mental block come down in her mind.

He knew that she had heard him, but couldn't understand why she seemed reluctant to answer. The only other person like him he'd ever met had been his father. All the rest of his knowledge had come from Moros' journal and the Nox.

A sense of desperation began to seed itself deep in his chest. If there were others, maybe they knew how to help him...to help Aithusa.

"Can you stand?" Arthur asked him, breaking Merlin's attention away from Sebryn.

Merlin nodded and reached out to gratefully accept his friend's assistance. His legs shook like Jello underneath him. He unconsciously shied away from the staff, when Arthur tried to give it to him. The look on his face betrayed his repulsion.

His action wasn't lost on Sebryn and she began to wonder if her initial assessment had been flawed. Her mental wall came down enough to ask him a question. "Why do you use that, if it repulses you?"

His blue eyes evaluated her cautiously and doubt replaced the initial hope he'd felt. While she did have magic, he wasn't ready to take Gwaine's word about her heritage. They were strangers in this galaxy. For all he knew, she could have been planted in this room to draw them in. "I had no other choice."

Brown eyes shifted away under the scrutiny of his gaze.

"Are there more like you here?" He asked out loud, hoping to get more information.

"No. I was the only one stupid enough to get captured coming after the white drakkon." She paused and finished the protein bar. "Why are you all here? Where did you come from?"

Percival noted the reluctance in the others to answer her directly. He understood their hesitance, but he'd always been one to accept things, and people, at face value. "We're from a planet called Earth. It's in another galaxy. We came to rescue Aithusa, the dragon, from the Ori."

"What about the human she is bonded with? I mean, she didn't get captured until after she reached Celestis. So, that tells me they might have been running away from something or someone. "

"That would be me." Merlin said softly. "I am her Dragon Lord. The person she brought here with her was my enemy who..." He stopped and sighed. He didn't want to relive the pain an explanation would entail. "I screwed up. I didn't know what I was doing. Aithusa and I are the last of our kind in our galaxy."

Sebryn stared at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Her people had always assumed that those who had escaped had survived and thrived. To hear that he was the last, and to witness the pain in his face as he said it, broke her heart. "So, you used the staff...?"

"...To open the Stargate to come here. I only found out what it was a few months ago."

"Fracking hell!" Leon exclaimed, bringing his fist down on the console. "I can't seem to find anything to help us."

"Before you all walked in here, I sent a message to my people. They know I'm here, but it might take some time for them to..."

"To...what?" Percival asked, noticing the hesitance in her voice.

"They may not even decide to come. The needs of the whole...over just me and some drakkon they can't even confirm is actually here."

"She's here." Merlin snapped.

"I know that. But, they don't. I came here on my own, against orders from my father to leave it be. I knew she was here and that I needed to get proof before they would even consider helping."

Sebryn wrapped her arms around herself. "Even if they did...the Ori are so powerful..."

Percival took off his coat and laid it over the girl's shoulders. He looked toward the other men.

Arthur was beckoning for them to gather around and eyeing the girl warily, thankful that she stayed put when Percival came forward. "We can't keep searching blindly through the city. Either she is part of the trap-"

"No." Merlin shook his head and interrupted, "I think she's telling the truth."

"You think, or you hope?"

"Does it matter?"

"Fine." Arthur rubbed a hand over his face. He looked at his friend.

Merlin leaned heavily on the staff. His face was sweaty and pale, and there was a slight tremble to his hands. It had dawned on Arthur, just before they left home, that if they couldn't save Aithusa, it might well be a one-way trip.

Just before they had embarked through the Gate, Arthur had spoken to Leon about it and the ancient knight had assured him that the Asgard ship, sent out over a month before, was in the Celestis Galaxy. Mickey had been instructed to send out a message to Heimdall with the coordinates, once they were through the Stargate.

If all was going according to plan, then Heimdall would have relayed the message, and the Asgard were simply waiting for the signal to transport the men out of the city and back home. It was a last resort, as Arthur had hoped they would have found the wayward dragon and Merlin would get them home.

Judging by Merlin's current state, they were going to be lucky if his friend even survived this journey. He wondered how differently things might have turned out, had Arthur actually killed the dragon named Kilgharrah, back in Camelot. Would it have killed Merlin at that time, as well?

He didn't understand how deep the bond went, or why they were even connected. But, questioning the 'what ifs' didn't do any of them any favors. All they had was the here and now.

Now, was a dragon they couldn't find, inside a city of god-like beings who wished them dead, or enslaved by fear into believing they were powerless against the will of the Ori.

Now, was his best friends counting on him to make a decision to move forward.

Now, was a place so completely different from everything he had ever known...except for one thing. They were together. They were preparing to thwart an evil greater than themselves to save one of their own.

"Sebryn." Arthur said, turning toward the girl. "You said you had sent a message to your people through this computer thing, correct?"

She nodded, and took his question as permission to join their conversation.

"Please show Leon how you did that. Leon, contact the Asgard and find out how long it would take for them to get here. We will have until then to find the dragon. If we don't..."

Merlin flinched and opened his mouth to protest, but Arthur held up his hand.

"...If we don't, then we regroup back on the ship and try to find a different way to come at this. Perhaps, we can take Sebryn back to her people and ask for their aid. If they are Dragon Lords like you, Merlin, then they probably have more knowledge of what is happening and how to deal with it."

It only took a few moments for Sebryn to show Leon how to send a message, but she warned that since their friends didn't have the decryption program that her people used, their message might be compromised.

Standing at the door, the others waited; listening and watching for passing patrols. It was amazing to think that they hadn't yet been discovered. No alarms had yet rung out to call the soldiers to arms on a search for a missing prisoner or any intruders.

Gwaine had commented on the fact, and Sebryn had smirked at him. "You don't understand the Ori or the Priors very well then. They communicate by a type of telepathy. The Ori would have told the Doci, who would have passed it onto the other Priors, and then, if they thought it was an actual threat, they'd spread the word. But, one thing I've learned in my life, the Ori don't really give a crap as long as they don't lose followers, and the Doci is too arrogant to believe that we can escape the city."

At their questioning looks, she explained that the Doci was the leader of all the Priors, and the only one in direct communication with the Ori...or, at least he was, until the rumors of the Orici had begun to surface.

"Oh, the Orici is real." Gwaine assured her. "She used to be Morgana, the evil bitch who turned Aithusa against Merlin in the first place."

"Well, in any case, they know you're here. When I was watching you guys, before I led you into this room, I could tell they were using the patrols to lead you somewhere. I'm guessing it might have been to somewhere near the Flames of Enlightenment. Do they know you're here for the drakkon...or dragon, as you were calling her?"

"If anything, they probably think we're here to see if Jackson's weapon worked." Percival suggested and the others nodded in agreement.

"Weapon?"

The men explained to Sebryn about the weapon Moros had developed to wipe out any being in the Ascended plane in the galaxy. The girl laughed, "Well, the Ascended plane is probably about the same size as the entire galaxy, just shifted into a different dimension. It probably worked, but it's doubtful if it was able to reach everywhere. From what you're saying, it would need to either be placed near the heart of their power...or, at least where the greatest concentration of Ori are."

"Which would be the flaming pit Morgana showed me."

"I thought she was your enemy?" At this point, Sebryn became confused.

"She was, back then. When Aithusa brought her body here, Morgana's DNA was used to create the Orici. Some of her memories...like how she used to care for Aithusa...lay buried deep within her."

Percival chuckled softly, leaned in and whispered about his 'just nod and go with it' advice.

Leon checked the countdown on his watch. They had less than thirty Earth minutes left before the Asgard ship was due to arrive. That was providing that the ship hadn't met with any resistance. In the communication he had received back, the Asgard reported that another ship had come through the Supergate, approximately a day after the one that Dr Jackson had sent through with the weapon.

He feared, as did his companions, that Adria was on board the returning Ori vessel. If she was, then she might arrive in the city at any moment. While the previous altercation between Merlin and the Orici had gone in the warlock's favor, Merlin had been stronger and more prepared. One look at his friend, and Leon's gut twisted with the realization that the next time the two met, the outcome wouldn't be as good.

"We need to split up." He said, coming to halt near another side street that cut across their path. They had already spent too much time looking through the various buildings and dodging patrols, attempting to find their way to the prison where the dragon was being kept. The patrols of guards, which they had been trying to follow as Sebryn had suggested, had all but disappeared. The city felt even more like a desolate ghost town.

Night had enveloped the place, and the lights had dimmed considerably. While it offered them more shadows to hide in, it also brought with it a sense of danger - stronger than it had before.

The others stopped and looked at Leon with mixed reactions of confusion and agreement.

"If we split up, how is the group without Merlin going to be able to sense this dragon?" Arthur rubbed his hands over his face in exasperation. His mind was beginning to wander and it took more effort to keep his head in the game. Thoughts of Guinevere and the children - especially his little princess - kept invading his thoughts.

Sebryn made a small coughing sound in the back of her throat. "Um...hello? I can sense her, too. Maybe not as much as Merlin here, but it's something, right?"

Leon nodded. He had come to the same conclusion. "Percival and I will take Sebryn, and head left down this street. We'll contact you if we find a way to get inside.

Gwaine tapped the key on his radio's mic to test it.

Percival heard the click in his earpiece and nodded, before keying his own and receiving confirmation from Gwaine. They looked to Arthur and Merlin for the final verdict.

"Alright. Let's do it. I'm sick of running around in circles, anyway." He glanced at Merlin with a smirk. "You still have no sense of direction."

Merlin rolled his eyes, but agreed to the choice.

"The Asgard ship will beam us out as soon as they arrive, unless they hear from us to the contrary. If we haven't found the dragon by then, we'll get to safety and figure out another plan of attack." Leon confirmed their earlier agreement with a glance at his former king.