Under cover of darkness, the team managed to drag their unconscious catch through the colony doorway and towards the planet's Stargate. It was no easy task—the animal weighed a good half-ton, and the iron chains they had draped across it only added to its dead weight. Bonewhite was the only individual who was not helping to move it, as he had been charged with protecting the group and covering them from the rear. Even Guide, injured though he was, helped. It was less than ideal, but given the circumstances, it was the best they could do. Jennifer, sweat rolling down her brow, grunted and questioned no one in particular.
"Why can't we just beam this sucker up into on of the Darts?"
"And give away our position?" came the voice of a Wraith Jennifer did not know. "That would be a very unwise decision indeed."
"Not to mention the buffers in the Darts are only good up to a certain weight," offered another. Jennifer was surprised that either of them had bothered to answer her—on their way into the colony, the others had been content to ignore her presence entirely, but now...
"Stop talking!" Bonewhite snapped at a high whisper from behind them, and the group obliged without question. "I heard something."
They halted now, taking advantage of the unscheduled break, but the uncertainty of Bonewhite's statement left them tense nonetheless. Jennifer watched as Guide straightened and drew his weapon, his every sense on edge as his eyes scanned the edges of the forest. The Stargate was in sight, the ring empty and dark, but its presence alone was enough to reassure Jennifer that they stood a chance to make it back home.
Home.
Was that what she had come to call the Hive?
Gunfire rang out suddenly, and a red glow zipped past Jennifer's shoulder.
Blaster fire?
Another shot was fired, striking Guide in the arm and eliciting a roar of pain. He swiftly returned fire, hunching down into battle stance while the others did the same. Jennifer found herself unceremoniously shoved toward Bonewhite, who snatched her by the sleeve and dragged her down behind a large boulder. He growled at her to stay put and then shot around the edge of the stone. Jennifer slid alongside the rock and peered out past the edge, striving to see her attackers. Another red glow burrowed into the trees at the edge of the field and her heart leapt into her throat.
That was a blaster! There was only one individual she knew of that carried a blaster.
"It would appear your Atlantean companions are not so lost to you as you believed," Bonewhite hissed as a stray bullet skimmed the edge of the boulder. He sidled down until their upper arms contacted each other. Jennifer looked at him in the darkness, wishing she had the same night vision she knew the Wraith did. "Perhaps if we can get them to stop blindly shooting at us, we can come to an agreement that does not involve death!"
"Tell Guide to cease fire then!" Jennifer bit back, shouting over the gunfire. "I haven't perfected the whole mental-connection thing yet, especially not while being shot at!"
But before either of them could make the request, Guide's own voice rolled over the surrounding area.
"John Sheppard!"
If the doctor's heart hadn't been beating out of her chest already, it certainly was then. Without thinking, she leapt upward and cried out to Sheppard to stop firing. Guide's head snapped around and his feeding hand made a mad grab for her as she bolted from behind the rock and past his position, straight into the fray. He caught her, the force spinning her around so that she lost her footing completely and landed on her knees in the field. By some miracle, she had managed to make her presence known without injury, and the gunfire came to an abrupt close. The Wraith commander's grip on her leather jacket was unfailing, in spite of his own injuries, as John Sheppard, Teyla, Ronin and Rodney emerged from the timberland on the opposite site of the field, weapons drawn and at the ready, but quite obviously cautious. His senses heightened by the adrenaline, Guide sensed the change in Jennifer's chemistry already.
"Well, well, well," Sheppard sang to the commander when he had come to stand within a few meters of the group and their downed animal catch. "Long time no see Todd. What've you been up to lately? Aside from snatching up our best medical officer and the Hoffan drug, I mean."
Guide sneered as he pulled Jennifer to her feet, maintaining his hold upon her.
"I knew you and your team were off world when Atlantis was attacked, but I had presumed it would take much longer to run into you. Tell me, how is it you came to be here, on this planet?"
"I felt the need to take a vacation, and this seemed like an excellent place to do just that," John replied, the mocking nature of his tone evident to the extreme. "I, for one, am more interested in how it is you came to be here, on this planet, with our doctor in tow."
Jennifer looked at Guide but his harsh yellow eyes never left John's.
"Your doctor would be dead along with the rest of your people were it not for my actions."
"The rest of my people are dead because of your actions!" John bellowed, his finger twitching over the trigger of his gun.
"I was under your guard when Atlantis was attacked, John Sheppard, surely you do not think I had anything to do with what happened?"
The colonel scoffed.
"The surveillance footage we recovered shows your Dart fleeing the city just a few seconds before the self-destruct sequence completed and the place was blown sky-high. Funny how you were bound and under guard until you needed to be freed."
At this, Jennifer stepped forward.
"He's telling the truth, John," she said, her voice cracking at the joy of speaking to another human being. "It wasn't the Wraith, it was the Replicators that attacked Atlantis."
"Replicators?" Teyla repeated, her brows furrowing as she stepped forward and lowered her weapon. "But we destroyed their home world. How could any of them have survived?"
"Oh, it's possible, just not very likely," Rodney spoke up from his place next to Ronin. John pivoted on one foot slowly to look at him with raised eyebrows.
"I thought the point of blowing up their home world was to destroy all of them, Rodney, not all but some of them..."
"I never said it was going to wipe them all out, just...most of them."
"Rodney...?"
Flustered, Rodney took on his trademark hurried method of explanation.
"Okay, look. In theory, if any of the Replicator ships were far enough away from the planet's core when it became unstable, it could theoretically have exploded before their nanites were sucked into the blob along with the others."
John's eyebrows raised even further, threatening to disappear into the shaggy dark brown hair as he waited further elaboration from his lead scientist.
"I just mean that it's possible some of them might not have been destroyed because the thing sucking them in disappeared before it could suck them in too." Rodney's mouth and eyebrows flatlined into a glare.
"Rodney!" John cried, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, okay, so I made a mistake, it happens even to the best of us from time to time!" Rodney cried, ducking his head below his open palms.
"It does not matter how they survived, but that they did, indeed, survive," Teyla cut in, stern and serious as usual.
John nodded.
"I agree. But, that still doesn't explain why exactly you felt the need to take our chief doctor prisoner aboard your hive instead of returning her to us." He looked at Jennifer now and lowered his voice to an exaggerated whisper. "We've missed you, y'know. Especially Rodney." His thumb jerked in the scientist's direction, who frowned, crossed his arms, and looked away.
Jennifer's cheeks grew warm and Guide's feeding hand tightened its hold on her jacket.
"Doctor Kell-err freed me herself," the Wraith commander boasted, holding his head high and allowing a small grin to touch his lips. "We made our escape together before Atlantis was destroyed, and took the last sample of your Hoffan drug with us." He moved his hand now, releasing her and laying it back against his side. The yellow eyes looked at her for a moment, but then moved to Rodney's form, as he had stepped forward.
"Any chance that I can...um...you know...come over there...without getting shot?" the twitchy scientist fumbled, his eyes locked on Guide, clearly frightened.
The Wraith bared his teeth and grabbed Jennifer's arm again.
"You may make your own choice, Doctor McKay, but I would not advise it."
Rodney halted, his mouth snapping shut and his eyes dropping to the ground. Ronin raised his blaster again, taking two steps forward and pointing it at Guide. The Wraith merely laughed.
"What is it with you humans and your need to kill, when there is so much that can be gained by allowing others to live?" the alien questioned, tilting his head.
"Speak for yourself," Rodney muttered under his breath.
"Enough!" Jennifer shouted from beside the commander, ripping her arm away from him and separating herself from both groups. "I will explain everything to everyone, but first, we need to get this animal back to the Hive ship. If it wakes up before we get there, we're all as good as dead." Her eyes darted back and forth between Guide and her Atlantean counterparts, trying to anticipate their reactions. As if on cue, a low grunt issued from the chained beast nearby. The doctor looked to the Wraith now, brown connecting sharply with yellow-green. "Guide, will you allow them on board? I believe they can help."
Bonewhite appeared now, standing between Jennifer and the commander, and the other two Wraith stood a short distance behind.
"She speaks wisely, my lord," Bonewhite agreed, inclining his head slightly to his superior. "The Atlanteans have no home. Their threat is minimal at best, but the assistance they can provide...it could be great."
Quite obviously Guide did not feel the same as his sub-commander or the doctor. The skin over the bridge of his nose wrinkled and his lips lifted up as he rolled his eyes. When they came to rest on John, the Atlantean cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head. Cocky as ever.
"Very well," Guide issued at last, gritting his teeth. "You may come aboard my ship, but you may not roam free. You will be restricted to three rooms in the lower decks, and should you attempt to take your leave of those rooms..."
"Yeah, yeah, we know, you'll eat us...er...feed on us, and all that," John cut in, wrinkling his own nose and waving his hand. "Let's get a move on, shall we then?"
Guide growled under his breath and looked at Jennifer.
"I hope you know what you are doing."
A/N: Okay, okay, I know I promised some fluff, but somehow I got completely turned around in this chapter. I guess I thought it would be more appropriate to have a little third party assistance before Guide and Jennifer get any closer...after all, they haven't really outright admitted to each other that they WANT something...why not throw a little uncertainty into the mix to stress everyone out? Author's privilege!