Chapter 6 – Reunion

SGA SGA SGA

John and Teyla battled over the various obstacles that littered the floor. They found an empty storage container, and carefully wrapped up Pamela's remains and placed them in it until they could give her a proper burial.

John looked around as he walked. He understood that the room below was part of the original shut off areas of Atlantis that they had never been explored previously in all the years they had been on Atlantis, so John had no idea what was down there. It was even possible that the explosives could have been placed months previous without his knowledge by their ex-marine 'buddies' who had already caused them enough grief.

The reduced lighting was not helping matters so he thought it brighter, and Atlantis obliged. He would damper it down again once they were free of the room as he did not want to pull too much power from the Z.P.M.

Several pieces of the metal shelving had shattered on impact when huge chunks of ceiling had hit them. They walked tentatively between the sections until they made it to the door.

"Oh, no!"

John placed his hand on the door beside the bloody hand prints that had made Teyla gasp.

"She tried to get out before..." She breathed.

"Looks that way. She must have been injured first and tried to escape this room. But why would the wraith not just have taken her life immediately, and why here? I'm starting to have a horrible feeling about this." He stared into space.

"Share with me, John." Teyla gripped his arm so he would look at her.

John lowered his hand from the door. "There is no way we brought a wraith on board – just no way. So that means it had to have been brought on board when I left Atlantis that last day with poor Richard. I just knew Atlantis was not safe left alone."

John looked around for something to try and open the locked door with. "It begs the question…" he huffed as he pounded the lock with a chunk of a beam, "…if there are any other surprises hidden away on Atlantis! ...We have to be wary of anything and everything that looks different... Damn, I wish I could get Lorne or Ronon on the radio. Earlier, before the radio was cut short, Sam was trying to tell me something... She sounded like she was shouting. I hope the 'gate room is intact, these explosions sounded further away as well."

With one final scream of anger, John's swing with his makeshift weapon had the lock broken off and he grabbed Teyla's arm to move beside him. He looked over at the box that contained Pamela and cringed. "You know, Todd was very quiet when I asked him what happened to him at Roswell. He hinted there was a bigger project than him going on. Roswell, has had more going on over the decades than I will ever know."

"I am sorry, John. We must be swift in catching this wraith."

John spun around and grabbed Teyla's shoulders. "That's it! Bloody hell that has to be it!" Realisation made him step back and kick some rubble, then wince as his calf protested.

"What?"

"They've gone and done it, that's what. They thought they could get rid of everything in one go. Y'see, nothing was to be 'secret' anymore. The public were not daft. They wanted …and were getting… the freedom to know everything - at last - that Roswell had kept hidden all this time." He shook his finger. "…but they would not want evidence of 'aliens' to come to light would they? Oh, no! So let's fill Atlantis up with all the evidence and samples of this, that, and the next thing – and blow it up with her so it's all gone and there is no more evidence …no more explaining required …no more, US!"

John threw his hands in the air. "They kept a wraith there without our knowledge! When did that happen? What else did they have?"

After his outburst, John, sat down hard – strength leaving him by the bucket loads. His realisation of what was happening draining him. Teyla kneeled in front of him and pulled him into an embrace. She remained quiet, but held him while he came to terms with it all.

One massive heavy sigh, and John pulled back. He took Teyla's chin in his good hand and leaned in for a kiss. Teyla met his eyes with the kind of smile that made him want to cry. He gently touched her closed lips with his and it was like touching a butterfly's wings. He pressed in deeper and Teyla responded by opening her mouth slightly to accommodate him. John moaned and smiled against her skin with his next kiss. "Mm, better stop there. But, hmm, thank you, Teyla." His voice had a tone Teyla had not encountered before – it was soft, sensual - it promised more.

Teyla licked her lips. "Better?"

John nodded. "Good medicine."

Teyla pushed her hair behind her ears. "What do we do now?"

"Time to meet up with Ronon and Rodney. But I want to go a different way, see what's there. Come on, let's go."

John and Teyla swept the area they walked, with their ears and eyes working over-time. It was not a nice feeling knowing that there was a wraith loose on Atlantis – probably in their very area.

Teyla walked beside John, her mind in a constant state of trying to pick up on where he might be; but with Todd here, it meddled with her 'radar' somewhat.

"Sorry, John. I should have known there was something not right."

"Teyla, it's okay. Just concentrate on the now. There is so much going, that I…" John stopped abruptly, causing Teyla to almost walk into him. Then she saw what he was looking at.

"Crap. What's all this?"

They had turned a corner into a scene of heart gripping terror. Boxes, crates, and obvious explosive materials littered the corridor for quite a distance.

John's body for a second froze. Then, slowly he moved forward. "It's probably everything from Roswell." He turned to look at Teyla. "I don't even have a clue what could possibly be in these."

Teyla dipped her head. For a second something tickled her mind. Just stroked it with a finger. She had him.

John understood when Teyla's wraith abilities kicked in; so when he watched her face change expression, he brought his splintered metal bar up in readiness to fight.

Teyla's head came up fast to look at the ceiling. "John!" She had only a second to cry out in warning.

Down the wraith came.

He landed in a crouch and immediately flung himself forward so that his solid head rammed into John's stomach. They both proceeded to clatter down to the floor.

John felt his body land hard, but he wasted no time in rolling with it and kicked out at the wraith, but it had stood as fast as it had fallen. Teyla, out of the corner of his eye as his breath returned, had found a couple of pieces of metal and was fighting the wraith away from him with her usual dance; although when she had first looked at him she looked confused for some reason. The wraith had also grabbed a piece of metal, and when the two weapons clashed over their heads it made an incredibly loud noise. The noise was just awful. Whereas wood had an almost song to it when they practised every day – here, in battle – the noise was one of stark fear, danger and savagery.

Teyla parried well, and John was so proud of her. He understood her hunger at destroying the wraith, and also the desperate desire to protect him. She ducked and dived, kicking its shins to distract it on each quick, defensive, turn of her body, and all the while John just tried to breathe again. She managed to slide out of reach several times when its aim proved almost her un-doing. In that moment, when she got the better of it, she wanted nothing more than to trick it into a manoeuvre that it did not see coming. Unfortunately, the wraith had fed recently and it was as strong as any other she had fought against. She quickly glanced at John as he had regained his energy and was planning on attacking the wraith from behind whilst Teyla distracted.

The wraith fell from John's strong attack just inches away from her. Its foul breath urged on her desire to kill. She stood and launched her metal sticks into its body and head; again and again as it lay on the ground. But once again, she was beaten back, as it sprung up, and a good punch from the wraith's fist caught the side of her head and she went flying back, over onto a couple of crates, and she slid down the wall to the floor; dazed.

John was furious. He watched Teyla go down and his stomach fell, he felt instantly sick, but thankfully she had not fallen unconscious. He had to kill this wraith before they both went down.

John whipped his arm up, teeth bared. Then the wraith stood still and just looked at him as he got a good view of the human in front.

John reeled back ever so slightly. Oh, it was wraith all right; hands that fed. But its face was different. No markings that identified it as unique, no yellow eyes that distinguished it as wraith. Instead, human eyes of blue looked at him in wonder and understanding of who was standing defensively in front of him.

"John Sheppard." It was a statement, not a question. It knew who he was.

John dropped his arm, startled – he did not see that coming. He slowly dropped his arm, massaging the pain there, not really sure what was happening

"You know me? Well, I can't say I have the pleasure of knowing you; listen up, I don't want to. What the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" John growled. "You have killed my people!"

SGA SGA SGA

The wraith's memories they had forced upon him came flooding back. Here, in front of him, was the man responsible for his capture several months ago. Here was the man, in the flesh this time. No more a wall of images that flashed at him; telling him that he was the man that wanted the experiments done to him; to change him into a hybrid wraith/human. Ironically, they had wanted him to also understand compassion – a word they explained several times – but he never took it in; never understood what it meant. Eventually they knew he would never be on their side so they had kept him locked up; unsure what to do with him. Until just a few days ago when he was told he was going home. He didn't believe them, of course. They had starved him for months – he could not last too much longer. Then he woke at some point to find himself on Atlantis: alone, starving after being deprived of food for so long...until he had fed at last. That had been a surprise!

He had wandered the ship aimlessly, afterwards, unsure what would happen next. Several containers had been left behind, and those he did not have any interest in. He wanted nothing to impede his return to Pegasus. There he would find sanctuary back in his tribe. He presumed Atlantis would be leaving soon.

But the man, Sheppard, had asked him a question that had frozen him to the spot. He had to know the answer as to why he had asked him what he was. Surely, he knew he was wraith – it was obvious; and yet…the way he had looked at his face?

The experiments he had no memory of, but he knew by his foggy brain when he awoke on the occasions he had been knocked unconscious, something had happened to him, although he had felt no different.

The wraith smoothed down his face.

He held back when he noticed the female: recovered, circle him from behind. There was something he remembered. He had not seen himself in years; they never had had him in a room with mirrors or glass to see his reflection. He had not even thought of looking when he had awoken on Atlantis. The joy of that discovery had been enough for him then.

But now the human had stumbled him. He wanted to know what he was looking at on his face - and it was certainly enough for the human to be confused. He had to see for himself what had happened to him.

The wraith charged the one called John Sheppard – his sworn enemy. He side stepped a counter attack, punched him hard and ran past him. He would see him again, and that's when he would drain the life from him.

SGA SGA SGA

John was startled when the wraith ran at him. He raised his weapon in a defensive stance, but he could tell by the serious expression, in its too human eyes, that it was not intending to take him down. It had something in mind. Still, John lunged when it was within a breath of him and struck a solid blow on the wraith's shoulder. But it looked like it barely felt it, just bared its teeth and punched him in the face: hard. Landing on in his side, John watched as the tall wraith charged down the corridor and out of sight.

"John?" Teyla arrived beside him.

"I'm okay. What was that?"

There was no response, so John raised himself up onto weary legs and touched her wrist. "Teyla?"

"Sorry, I…I just can't tell anything about it in my mind." She turned to look at him. "It is not completely wraith – neither is it human. It has been experimented on… he has been experimented on."

"As he is part human, he becomes a 'he'?"

Teyla nodded. "His eyes…they were sad and angry…and human!"

John nodded. "I know, I saw. And it looks like I have been made to blame for it all. He recognised me. Probably they showed him pictures, or something of me. Brain washed him into thinking I had something to do with his capture."

A bitter taste of blood entered John's mouth, he wiped it away with his sleeve and looked at the direction where the wraith had ran to.

"We should follow him." Teyla followed his gaze.

"He's a threat; yes, but, who knows what's in all these boxes. I need Lorne and his men to check them all out. We may be in more danger. So we have to carry on the way we were going for now. Come on."

John led the way as they ran down the corridor, with John holding onto his newly bruised chin as they did so, and limping from his torn calf. Teyla glanced his way and shook her head. John caught her expression and scrunched up his face; thoroughly doleful at his present state of health.

Dancing lights started floating in his peripheral. Atlantis was calling... still trying to tell him something...was it the wraith? An urgent pain in his head made him stop; he grabbed it, moaning.

Teyla crowded his mind with her words beside him, but he needed peace to figure out what Atlantis was trying to tell him – just for a minute.

John entered into a trance that sent the returning spiralling array of facts and figures into and around his brain. Soon, he was back to when he felt he couldn't cope with it. He slid to the floor. Teyla was with him. The pain that would not subside – that he did not know how to handle, was back.

He could feel his teeth almost shatter with the pressure of trying not to scream out loud. It was just as well the wraith was long gone, as he could not force himself up and out of the bottom of extreme concentration his mind had taken him to.

Then Atlantis made it known to him.

Once he had allowed himself to push further through the pain and into the overwhelming array of facts, one thing became blatantly obvious. One solid black crate with what looked like netting covering it, pulsed in his mind and caused his fingers to curl into the hard ground beneath him with pain.

It was what Atlantis had been trying to bring to his attention.

John clawed his way back. The image of what he had to find burned into the back of his eye lids. It had to be destroyed. He needed to find it. It was causing Atlantis - and possibly, him - the greatest threat to their survival. What it was, he wasn't entirely sure, but the sooner they could dispose of it the better.

Now that it was the focus of his attention, John snapped his eyes open to a surprise. Ronon and Rodney had found them; all were squatting down watching him with concern.

"Help me up." John spoke – his voice sounding weak even to him.

"Do you think that's such a good idea?" Rodney's hand was on his arm. "You gave us a scare. All moaning and such like again."

John scowled and held his good hand up towards Ronon, whilst looking at Teyla. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He asked of her when she took his other elbow.

"I am fine, John. Worried about you. You blocked me out again, and I couldn't get you to come round."

"It was Atlantis. Come on, I'll tell you as we search. Any radios working yet?"

"Hold on a minute, John." Ronon boomed and stood still. "You both fell through a floor. We find you in a trance again. Teyla tells us there's a funny looking wraith loose that's killed Pam, if not Stuart! AND, you are obviously going through the pain from hell. No, you don't get to do that again without explaining things first."

John stood with his hands on his hips, head to the side and smirking. "Got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Ronon?"

"Nah, wrong side of the galaxy!" He smirked back.

John shook his head. "Very funny. Look…" John proceeded to tell all that he knew, "…so no, Rodney, you don't get to open the box or meddle with it in any way. Atlantis wants it gone – so it's out of here when we find it."

"And the wraith?"

"I want it gone too - obviously!"

"I want to look at these boxes." Rodney persisted.

"Not yet, Rodney. Maybe not ever. I want to take whatever explosives they have placed on Atlantis and use them to blow it all up. Leave nothing behind, Rodney. It's not worth the added grief – who knows what we would uncover.

"Exactly – could be beneficial, you never know?"

"I do know. If they didn't want to keep it… if they wanted it gone. Get my meaning?"

Rodney clenched his fists. "But…"

"But, nothing! I am not going to repeat myself. Now, the time I spend arguing with you, is less time trying to find this black box Atlantis wants gone…"

"…John?" It was Lorne breaking up his argument with Rodney. "…Lorne, where are you?"

"Not far from you, I think, but Ryan and Phil; they lost you. Are you okay?"

"We are fine. A bit beat up. How are you? How many explosions?"

"Sam is reporting six. No life threatening injuries, but two admitted to the infirmary. The damage is quite extensive. I don't think we have the materials for all the repairs. We might have to close off some more of the city. Radek got the radios working, he…"

"He's not alone in his lab, is he?" Rodney interrupted, worried.

"No. He's in the 'gate room. What's up?"

"Lorne, listen. I want you all to double back with the marines and protect the civilians and the 'gate. We found Pam. She was fed on by a wraith…if you can call it that. I'll explain later."

"A wraith?"

"Yup. And there's more. All that Roswell disposed of is lying here in these corridors. I've no time to do anything about them, but, for now I need to find a large black box with netting on it – have you seen anything like that?"

"No, John.

"Well, this is important. It's a danger to us all and Atlantis…she, um, told me that. Lorne, listen, if you come across it alert me to its whereabouts and I'll come running. It's that important. Obviously finding that wraith is import too."

"Okay, John. Will do."

"Care to explain further." Rodney asked.

John sighed. "Look. I think I understand Atlantis better. She didn't want to hurt me this way, but it was the only way to communicate; and as I have the gene…"

"She's bamboozled you with lots of information like what happened to certain members of SG Command before."

"Something like that, Rodney, except I understand her loud and clear. Whatever is in that box is the first thing EVER that has been a threat to her very existence. Not only that – its synthetic, artificial, contrived – whatever you want to call it, it's man-made. Perhaps even on Earth for goodness sake! And whatever it's made of, whatever it's going to do – its part wraith and interfering with all that she has ever known before: that she knows.

Teyla touched his arm; alarmed at how red his face was getting. "Are you in pain, now, John?"

John was. He was in hellish pain.

"Honestly, Teyla. I've stopped concerning myself with it. This job of finding the black box supersedes everything, and I mean everything."

"Then do you know where to go next?" Ronon asked, gun raised.

"No, but we are sticking together and taking each open corridor as they come – then we are taking every closed corridor until we find what we are looking for."

With a purposeful look on his face, John half walked, half limped away from his friends. His resolute actions were copied by the other three.

It was only a matter of time before either the box, or wraith were found with all of them so determined. John's only knew one thing: Atlantis wanted both gone as soon as possible, and he would surely oblige.

SGA SGA SGA

To be continued…..