Author's Notes: - Thanks to Stonedtoad for betaing.
Enjoy.
Nathan studied what appeared to be a downed craft of some kind. They'd found it about seven hours from their initial position.
"Sir," Ortiz spoke up, "There seems to be an air pocket. From what I can ascertain it's either the bridge or a storage room."
Nathan smiled slightly, "Commander, get a team together. Take a member of Dr Smith's team just in case."
Jonathan nodded; he motioned Tony and Miguel to follow him before leaving the bridge with them.
"Captain," Lucas sidled up.
"No, you can't join them," Nathan told him.
Lucas chuckled, "Not what I was going to say. I've been going over the readings we took when we went through whatever sent us here. I want to talk to Dr Jackson and see if she can answer any of my questions."
Nathan shook his head, "Not just now. I want her to sit and wait for a while. She knows much more than she's telling us."
Lucas shrugged, "Yes, sir."
Nathan smiled to himself, he remembered the first time he met the kid and hated the idea of having him onboard. He'd been wrong about that.
x
Ari was getting bored.
She'd been allowed to change into some more comfortable clothes before Bridger had her handcuffed to the infirmary bed once more. She knew he was hoping this would make her talk, as though she actually had any clue what was going on.
She spotted Ford wander in to speak with Dr Smith, who was still trying to work out why she couldn't sense Ari's presence. She realised suddenly Ford was staring, not exactly at her but to one side of her.
"What?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Nothing."
"You're lying," Ari stated coldly, "What is beside me?"
A little stunned by the force of her demand, Ford shrugged, "I just thought I saw a man standing there. I was wrong."
When he left Ari swore. She looked around making sure there was no one else in the room before she turned to her side, "Shifu, what the hell are you doing here?"
Her brother slowly became visible, a sheepish look on his face, "It is good to see you, Arianna."
"Don't try to get out of this," she snapped, "What are you doing here? And why were you hiding from me?"
Shifu looked slightly embarrassed, "You know the rules."
"Ah, yes," Ari rolled her eyes, "The rules. Which also state that no one should be able to see you but Ford somehow has. I'm guessing that wasn't the first time."
He gave an innocent shrug.
"What's going on?" Ari asked with a fond smile.
"The box is from Atlantis," Shifu explained, "It created a connection with a similar device…"
"On the original planet," Ari finished as she connected the dots, "That's not good. Atlantis isn't here; it hasn't been for a long time. We're stranded."
She swore again when he nodded confirming her theory.
Reaching over Ari grabbed the chart and removed the paperclip, at her brother's bemused look she shrugged.
"They need to think I got out of the handcuffs using something," she told him, "Other than anything I have to explain."
A shiver slid through Jonathan on entering what turned out to be the bridge of the vessel, though unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was dark and the only word that came to mind was creepy. Even through the suits he was sure he could smell smoke clinging to the air around them.
"Commander," Tony's voice came suddenly, "I found someone."
"Someone?" Jonathan asked, "As in alive someone?"
Tony hesitated, "Not quite sure about that, Commander. You need to come and see this."
Jonathan frowned and started over to where Tony was standing staring slack-jawed at the floor behind one of the consoles.
"Tony, what is…." he trailed off as he saw what Tony was staring at.
It looked humanoid with long white hair and a face that reminded Jonathan of a nightmare he'd had as a child.
Slowly he moved forward hearing a squeak of horror coming from Tony when Jonathan checked to see if whatever it was had survived.
"Dr Ellington," Jonathan called, "I have a survivor."
x
Wendy was stunned by the creature that was brought into the infirmary.
She stared for a moment before spouting off orders randomly hoping that they'd help her. Something brushed the edge of her mind but it was gone as quickly as it appeared so she ignored it.
After a while she spotted the Captain arriving to hear what she'd discovered.
"Nathan, I have never seen anything like this," she shook her head still trying to get over the creature currently lying unconscious in her infirmary.
"Any idea how it survived?" Nathan asked, studying the creature with fascination.
Wendy let out a bemused laugh, "I don't even know if I found its heart."
"Captain," a yell from the other room interrupted them, "Captain, get in here."
Nathan sighed and they moved to the room that currently held Dr Jackson.
"Yes, Dr?" Nathan asked sharply.
"Get that thing off this boat," Jackson snapped.
"Dr Jackson, we do not know what the creature is," Wendy told her, "But it is injured."
"Then we're damned lucky," Jackson retorted, "Captain, that is a Wraith. The moment it wakes up it will kill everyone."
They stared at her before Wendy held up her hands, "Dr, there is no need to worry."
"Do not patronise me," Jackson snarled at her, "Captain, I was sent here as an Atlantis expert. Take my advice and dump that thing in the ocean before you become the entrée."
A scream from the other room proved the young woman right, Nathan and Wendy spun horror filling them as they saw one of the doctors held against the wall by the creature, its hand pressed to the man's chest as he aged before their eyes.
"Get these things off me," Jackson yelled, pulling at the handcuffs holding her to the bed, "Before we become the main course."
x
Ari felt Bridger push her forward as they ran, she could hear shots as the guards tried to kill a newly fed Wraith.
"Will you listen to me?" Ari called, "Captain, you can't kill this thing with bullets."
"Then what do you suggest?" Bridger snapped.
Ari took a deep breath, she could practically hear both her father and her uncle Jack telling her that this was the worst possible idea in the world but unfortunately it was the only thing that could save the people on this boat.
"Trust me, Captain," Ari said before she ducked under his arm and ran towards the space monster, hearing him call her back.
Running through the corridors of the Seaquest Ari hoped she was as strong as she had been when she was sixteen when she'd eradicated the Gould from the galaxy.
"Okay," she whispered to herself, "WWJD, what would Jack do?"
Praying she wasn't about to get herself killed Ari swallowed hard before she yelled out, "Hey, bad hair day."
When the Wraith turned to her Ari forced herself to stand her ground, "I'm pretty much the youngest person around. Come and get me."
She turned and began to run as it started to chase her.
x
"What the hell is she doing?" Nathan demanded running onto the bridge.
O'Neill shook his head, "She challenged it then ran."
"Where is she leading it to?"
O'Neill shrugged.
"Get something down to her," Nathan ordered, "I want to be able to talk to her."
He waited relieved when O'Neill told him they'd managed to get Dr Jackson a radio.
"Jackson, what the hell are you doing?" Nathan snapped at the young woman.
"At the moment," she replied her breath coming hard from running, "Trying not to get caught."
"What do you need?" Nathan decided he'd yell at her later.
Jackson paused, "A place to get this thing off the boat."
"O'Neill is going to guide you," Nathan told her, "And Dr Jackson, we'll discuss this later."
"If I survive I'll be happy to."
x
Ari had been a little surprised when a man handed her a radio before he ducked back out of the way but she had to admit she was relieved to hear Bridger's voice. Now she had O'Neill talking to her.
"Take the next right," the calm voice came through the radio in her ear.
Ari could sense the Wraith still coming at her, she was ensuring it kept focus on her by occasionally giving it a mental smack. If her father or Jack ever found out about this, or even worse her mother, Ari knew she wouldn't hear the end of it.
"Tim, tell me I'm almost there?" Ari pleaded.
"Just down the stairs," he told her, "Once there you have to get the creature through the door and close it so we can flood the room."
Ari grimaced, "Yeah, that'll be easy."
"Good luck."
Ari knew she only had one chance to do this and hoped to hell she was strong enough. She'd never tried to do anything like this in her life; this was not floating a rubber ball in the air. The Wraith appeared and Ari stood her ground in front of the door trying very hard not to shake or scream as it bore down on her.
"Interesting," the Wraith snarled, "I've never met a human who could do that."
"It got your attention," Ari replied channelling Jack, "Didn't it?"
It grinned at her, showing her all his sharp teeth before suddenly rushing towards her. Ari stretched out her hands managing to hold him in place before she spun and began to push him into the room. In her entire life Ari had never done anything more difficult than mentally fighting the Wraith. It had its own telepathic abilities and was trying every trick it had to break her concentration. Ari struggled, forcing herself to hold on, relieved when she felt another presence adding strength to her.
"Thank you, little brother," she murmured, managing to force the Wraith into the room before slamming the door. "Captain, you can flood it now," she called, straining to keep the door closed, "But do it fast."
She gasped feeling the Wraith surrounded by the water and she was able to let go. Exhaustion took over and her legs couldn't hold her up anymore, two arms caught her and Ari briefly saw Bridger holding her before she fainted.
"She's still unconscious," Wendy reported joining the command crew in the ward room.
"How did she do that?" Tim asked, "That was…"
Miguel and Lucas chuckled when Tim trailed off, it was a rare occasion their friend was lost for words.
"Once she wakes up we can ask her," Nathan said, "So, what do we know?"
Ford sighed, "Not much, Captain. We're scanning as far as we can, we have the WSKRS at their limit but there doesn't seem to be much near us."
"What about where we came through?" Nathan asked, "Is there anything there?"
Lucas shook his head, "Nope. If I hadn't been on the bridge when it happened I wouldn't believe we were on another planet."
Silence filled the room as they all thought about the implications of their predicament.
"Okay," Nathan broke the silence, "We go on as normal for now. Commander, you along with Lucas, Mr O'Neill and Mr Ortiz look for some clue in the readings we've already taken as well as everything the WSKR's send back to us. Find me something."
x
Ari groaned when she woke up. Opening her eyes she checked her arm relieved that Bridger hadn't decided to cuff her to the bed again. Her head was too sore to get out of them right now.
Glancing up she saw Bridger standing looking down at her.
"If you're going to yell at me," she said before he could speak, "I only ask you do it quietly. I have a headache."
He shook his head, "I was hoping you'd feel up to explaining what's going on."
"Give me a painkiller and a few minutes for it to work," Ari sighed.
He nodded with an amused smile and motioned to the doctor who jabbed a needle into her arm. She was grateful the painkiller worked quite quickly and she was at least able to focus when Bridger led her into the ward room. As all eyes turned to her Ari sighed, "This is more people than Jack gave permission to know."
"The situation has changed," Bridger reminded her, "And this is my crew who need to know."
Ari sighed again, "Okay, the quick version of what the Stargate project is."
x
Tim sat in the ward room looking at the symbols from the box once more in the hope he could find something to help the team who were suddenly statues. He thought about the story Dr Jackson had told them. The gateway to other worlds, the alien creatures that could suck the life from you with their hand and the fact Atlantis was a real place.
The thing that was scaring him though was that they were stranded here, on another planet with no way home. A soft tap made him look up and he saw the young woman who had just told them the most incredible story standing there.
"Can I come in?" she asked softly.
"Sure," he nodded, "I'm hoping you can help me get the rest of these symbols."
She grinned, "Oh translating. That would be my area."
Tim pulled out the seat beside him and passed her the pictures, "So, Dr Jackson any ideas?"
"I'm pretty sure I've already told you to call me Ari," she chuckled, "And I have plenty."
Tim laughed, "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," Ari told him.
He hesitated before deciding to ask, "How did you get involved in this?"
"My dad opened the Stargate," Ari replied with a fond smile, "And I was raised around it."
"What about your Mom?" Tim asked, "What did she do?"
"My mom was dead," she shrugged with a smile at his horrified look, "Don't worry, she's alive now."
He continued to stare at her stunned making her laugh some more.
"My family is not what you would call normal," she told him, "Which I think you've already guessed."
Tim chuckled before sighing softly, "Do you know if this will be able to get us home?"
"I wish I knew," Ari whispered, "I really wish I knew."