A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you for all of your comments, kind words, and hypotheses from the last chapter. Parmakai asked a great question/brought something up regarding the vow between Ronon and Eva. I'm actually going to have Ronon elaborate a bit more on that in...two chapters so stay tuned.

For now, let the stealth mission begin!

Eva had gone through the gate with her family plenty of times in the past – to New Athos, Manaria, and Belkan, among others – usually to hunt, to trade, or occasionally to visit other displaced Satedans. But this time was different.

For one thing, she had never been this heavily armed. Though her father had trained her to use any and every weapon available on base, usually when they traveled together the most she ever carried were her knives and occasionally a small handgun or, if they were hunting, a bow and arrow. Today, however, she had visited the armory and this time, no restrictions had been placed on the type or number of weapons she could take with her on the mission. She had grabbed a P-90 and silencer, a sidearm, a large dagger, several smaller knives, some C4, and copious amounts of ammunition.

As she entered the locker room, she carefully laid her collection of weapons onto a bench and removed her jacket. That was another difference: she had never gotten ready to go off-world in the locker room. It had always been reserved for actual members of the Atlantis expedition – not their children. Like any regular day, she would usually get ready in her bedroom, perhaps spending a few extra minutes with the mirror and some eyeliner if they were going somewhere like New Athos where she might run into someone she felt the need to impress. But this space… it felt so official.

No one had arrived yet, and she expected just as much. She had wanted to get there early to give herself enough time to both mentally and physically prepare to face the Wraith again. Collapsing onto the bench next to her weapons, she began the ritual of concealing the various knives she had collected on her person. One in each boot, a few in her pockets, and a couple twisted into her hair.

She stared at the lockers as her fingers went through the familiar, almost automatic motions for the braids. They were alphabetized as best as they could be, with preference given to expedition members who frequently traveled off-world. Emma, for example, didn't have one. Obviously, neither did Eva. But Ronon did and she happened to be sitting right across from it.

She had never seen the inside of her father's locker – neither in this reality, nor in her own – and she found herself curious about what he kept in there. Did he have pictures of her or her mother taped to the door? A reminder of what he would lose if he didn't come back from a mission? Or did he prefer to keep those two worlds separate? Did dissociation from those he loved make it easier to slip into warrior mode?

She wondered what this Ronon would have in his locker. Was that old, tattered, sepia-toned photograph of that other woman, the one she had once found along with a gold ring in a small wooden box in the closet, in there somewhere?

Melena. That had been her name. The few times her father spoke about her, she had seemed a lifetime away. And wasn't that literally the case? In her timeline, the woman had been dead for over thirty years; that was longer than the number of years this Ronon had been alive. How long must it have been now, though? A decade or so?

Finishing off the last braid, she knotted them all together before slipping into her jacket. It was the one that she had removed from a fallen soldier and worn during her time on Sateda. Somehow, it hadn't been thrown away after her rescue, so she took it back and washed it over and over again until the stench of sweat, fear, and death no longer lingered. She then cut it up and re-stitched it to fit her better. Master seamstress she was not; the shoulder seams were a bit ragged, and the long seam down the back was a little crooked, but she had gotten the job done. She liked the way it felt now. No longer was it the oversized relic of a man long dead, but something she had reclaimed and made her own.

Buttoning it up, she stood and looked for her TAC vest on the rack, eventually finding it next to Ronon's. The tag on his hanger was crisp and white, less worn than some of the others that had begun to peel and yellow, evidence that it had recently been replaced.

DEX, R.

She slid the hanger over.

DEX, E.

For years "Dex" had been sufficient. Now there was reason to specify. The smile on her face barely registered before it was choked out by the memory of the last time she had seen her father. Yelling, struggling, suffocating as she was hauled away to be used for sport.

Swallowing hard, she pushed down her rising panic, ripped the TAC vest and leg holster off their hanger and shoved the C4 into the pockets.

Lieutenant Coughlin, one of the members of Lorne's team whom she had met earlier that day during the mission briefing, entered the locker room just as Eva was zipping up the vest.

"Hey," he said as he headed straight to his locker.

Preoccupied with figuring out the metal vest clip for her P90, she merely nodded her chin to him in reply.

"Nervous?" he asked. "This is one helluva mission."

She let out a frustrated grunt as the clip snapped shut before she could get the metal loop on the P90 through. "Not really."

"Then you are either very brave or very foolish." He looked back at her over his shoulder and gave her a genial smile.

"Probably a bit of both," she said through gritted teeth as she tried the clip again.

He chuckled softly. "Aren't we all?" He shut his locker, found his own TAC vest on the rack, and headed her way.

She cast him an inquisitive glance as he stood, not across, but directly next to her.

"Here." He held his own P90 in his hand. "Push down, slide, clip, secure."

She followed his instructions and managed to get the gun secured to her vest.

"Luckily, it's a lot easier to release than attach. Just pull." He demonstrated by pulling his own firearm straight down and the clip released.

Hers did the same when she tried it, and she smiled over to him after managing to clip it on for a second time. "Thanks."

"You headed to the Jumper bay?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Practice a few times while you wait for the rest of us. First with your dominant hand, then with the non-dominant." He clapped her on the back before returning to his locker.

"Will do."

As she reached the exit, she glanced back at him and glimpsed the inside of his locker. There wasn't much in it – some clothes, an extra pair of boots, a hat – but on the door, a few pictures had been tacked up. The one that caught her eye showed two girls about her age, sitting in a small motorboat and holding up fish they had caught, large smiles plastered on their faces.

"Thanks again," she called to him.

He gave her a thumbs up. "No problem."

She wondered who the girls were.

Push down, slide, clip, secure. Push down, slide, clip, secure. Push down, slide, clip, secure.

She could do it now in less than a second with her right hand, but was considerably slower with the left. It made her feel so stupid. She had been able to fire every weapon she had ever encountered with pinpoint accuracy but this – this was what tripped her up. Then again, her father rarely wore a TAC vest (which made her wonder why they still hung one up for him in the locker room) and so she had never learned this utterly basic skill.

She kept trying.

Push down, slide, clip, secure. Push down, slide…

"Hop in, kid," Sheppard's voice rang out behind her.

She turned to see him and Teyla heading toward one of the Jumpers they were going to take for the mission and got up to follow them. The rear hatch was already open and Sheppard immediately took his seat in the pilot's chair, Teyla directly behind him. Eight people, mostly large men in full tactical gear, needed to fit into this single Jumper, so Eva sat in the rear compartment, unzipping her vest to allow for more comfort.

"Eva, come take shotgun," Sheppard called to her. "I want to show you a few things."

"Me?"

"I did say Eva and not Evan, didn't I? Yes, you."

Somewhat uncertain, she moved to the front seat on Sheppard's right and stared at the control panel.

"You flew one of these things once before?" he asked.

She exhaled sharply through her nose. "Flew one, yeah. Landed it? Not so much."

"All right," he said. "As you know, the interface is mostly neural, but there are manual additions and overrides, too."

She nodded her comprehension.

"DHD," he pointed to the center triangle, "propulsion, drive pod retraction, drones…"

He continued to point out nearly every button, lever, and slide on the dashboard and she tried her best to keep up, lamenting that she hadn't taken a page out of her mother's book and brought a notepad along. There was so much to remember. But the colonel was patient, repeating himself as needed and answering any questions she had.

Lorne and his team, along with Ronon, all showed up together and took seats in the rear compartment as Sheppard continued to explain the various parts of the ship.

"McKay's not gonna be happy," Ronon said from behind her, giving her a start. The man could be completely silent when he moved and even Eva hadn't realized how close he was.

She turned fully around in her seat and braced her arm on the armrest to look at him. "Why not?"

Ronon's eyes widened at the sight of the stripes on her sleeve and it took him a second longer to answer her question than it normally would have. "You're in his spot."

"Yeah, well…he can deal," Eva said, facing forward once more.

McKay was the last to board the Jumper, nose buried in his tablet as he made his way to the cockpit, and nearly sat on Eva before looking up from the screen to see her there.

"Excuse me. Children ride in the backseat." He gestured over his shoulder.

Sheppard spoke up for her. "Not this time Rodney. I'm giving flying lessons."

"But –"

"No buts. She should know this." He waved toward the HUD.

McKay turned expectantly toward Ronon. "You know how easily I get motion sickness. Do you think we could –"

"Not a chance," Ronon said, leaning back in his seat.

"You know," Sheppard continued, "I've always heard that the cool kids are the ones who sit in the back of the bus."

"It's the bullies who sit in the back of the bus," McKay said under his breath as he reluctantly returned to the rear compartment.

"What did you call this planet again?" Sheppard asked to those in the cockpit.

"Talus," Teyla replied.

"And you said there's a shrine on it?"

"Yes. It is known among my people as a place for victims of an illness called the Second Childhood. It offers the gift of one last day spent with family and friends…and a quick death."

"So…it kills them?" Sheppard asked. "Aren't shrines supposed to be sacred? Doesn't sound too shriney to me."

"It allows the sufferer to die with dignity," Ronon said, a distant look on his face.

Sheppard narrowed his eyes. "But it still kills them."

"The Second Childhood is like Alzheimer's, Colonel," Eva explained. "The Shrine provides clarity for one last day."

"Hm," was all Sheppard said in reply before the ship's comm activated and Woolsey's voice came through the speaker.

"Jumper 2, what is your status?" Woolsey asked.

"Standing by," Lieutenant Miller, who was piloting the other Jumper replied.

"Jumper 3?"

"Standing by," Sheppard said. "Go ahead and send the MALP through."

"Sending the MALP through."

"All right," Sheppard began. "We're either gonna get away with this or we're not." He looked round at everyone else. "If we don't, the ride's gonna be wild and it's gonna be fast, so I need everyone prepared."

Eva nodded and gripped tightly to her armrests, figuring that nothing could be worse than the end of her little Jumper joyride, which now seemed like it had happened so long ago.

"The MALP is clear of the gate and they're firing on it from both sides of what appears to be a deep valley," Woolsey said. "Jumper 2, descend to the gateroom."

"Yes, sir," Miller responded.

"Jumper 3, you will need to be right behind Jumper 2 in order to take advantage of the smokescreen. It won't last for long."

"Understood," said Sheppard.

"MALP is deploying smoke. You should have complete coverage of the area in five seconds. Four…three…two…Jumper 2 you have a go. Jumper 3 –"

But Sheppard had already lowered the ship into the gateroom before Woolsey could finish his order.

"Good luck," was the last thing Eva heard Woolsey say before they went through the gate. Eyes glued to the HUD, a warning flashed across it in Ancient. She didn't understand the whole message, but could make out a few words: "never," "gate," "cloak." The warning vanished as quickly as it had appeared and suddenly, they were blanketed by a thick cloud of smoke.

"Cloaking now," Sheppard whispered just before he took the ship high into the air and out of the haze.

Looking down, Eva caught sight of two Hive ships grounded in the middle of a large, desolate valley and her mouth went dry. Jumper 2 was nowhere to be seen.

"That's one hell of a valley," Ronon commented.

"Do you think they detected us before we were able to cloak?" Teyla asked.

"No, I think the smokescreen worked," Sheppard answered. "Jumper 2, do you read?"

"Yes, sir."

"Were you detected coming through the gate?"

"I don't believe so, sir."

"Okay, Lieutenant." He took in a deep, long breath. "Commence aerial assault. Target the westernmost Hive ship."

"Yes, sir. Deploying drones now."

From their high vantage point, they watched the attack unfold. Seemingly out of nowhere, the first battery of bright yellow missiles rained down on the Hive, landing in small bursts of fire. Immediately, darts swarmed from both ships, trying in vain to track down and eliminate their unseen foe. Despite the resistance, the Jumper was able to double back and fire more drones.

Lieutenant Miller was a talented pilot, Eva decided, based on the way several hits managed to set off other, smaller chains of explosions. With a limited number of drones available, he must have targeted the more essential sections of the ship.

"Miller, come in," Sheppard said. "That was some nice shooting. Everything okay?"

"Not entirely, sir. A dart managed to just barely graze us before we could get out of there. One of the drive pods got hit. It's still functional in terms of thrust, but Dr. Simpson would like to take a look at it and make sure it still retracts before we attempt to go through the gate again."

Sheppard gave his shoulders a shake, as though a chill had passed through his body. "I think that's a wise idea, Simpson. Land as far from the Hives as you can while still remaining within radio distance. See if you can find some tree cover in the forest. Keep the cloak on as long as possible and carry out any necessary repairs. We'll check back in in two hours."

"Yes, sir. Miller out."

With the first phase of their plan complete, Sheppard shifted his focus to finding a safe place to land. They bided their time for a few minutes in a holding pattern, but as the darts dispersed wider and wider in their search, Sheppard was able to fly lower and eventually land the Jumper within sight of the unharmed Hive ship. This was the important part, Eva realized.

"How do you land it?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh. Well, you imagine the Jumper landing," he said, somewhat obviously.

"So all you have to do is think 'land' and it'll do it?" She raised her eyebrows. "That didn't work so well for me the last time."

"You don't think of the word 'land.'" The ground was rapidly approaching. "You picture it in your mind. Like…like…"

"Like a leaf kissing the surface of a pond!" McKay called from the back.

"Kissing?" Sheppard repeated. "Come on now, Rodney. Don't make this gross."

"Hey, it works!"

Sheppard ignored him. "It's like when you want to activate the cloak. Thinking of the words 'cloak' or 'invisible' isn't enough. You have to imagine the ship disappearing in the sky."

Eva nodded slowly as Sheppard brought the Jumper to a smooth halt on the dirt ground. He hit a button on the dash in front of him and the HUD surfaced, then zoomed toward the main entrance of the Hive ship. Wraith were streaming out of it in hordes, all running toward the crippled ship. So far, their plan had worked.

Once a planet belonging to the Ancestors, Talus had been taken over by the Wraith in recent years. With two Hive ships and about 10,000 Wraith on the ground, they knew that the enzyme they needed would be in bountiful supply. But in order to justify running a dangerous stealth mission on two fully-equipped Hives, all in the hope of defending Atlantis against one Cruiser that was maybe heading toward the city, their objective had been modified.

Not only were they to harvest the enzyme of at least twenty Wraith, they were to severely cripple if not completely destroy both Hives. The aerial attack on the western Hive would serve as a diversion to reduce the numbers of Wraith soldiers on the eastern Hive. Then, once the Wraith were distracted and their numbers reduced enough, Sheppard's and Lorne's strike teams would board the unharmed Hive to begin the hunting and harvesting process. Beyond that, they would plant C4 along the way, which they would detonate once the harvesting was complete. The explosion of the second Hive would then hopefully serve as another diversion as they returned through the Stargate.

It was insanely risky, but if they managed to accomplish their objective, it would be well worth it. The Wraith fleet would be severely damaged, they would have their enzyme to wake Janus, and could potentially free the world of Talus to once more allow safe passage to those who sought the Shrine.

Squadrons of Wraith continued to spill out of the eastern Hive, all rushing toward their sister ship to mitigate the damage.

"Now what?" Eva asked.

"We wait," Sheppard answered.

A/N: Once again, thank you for reading! Some of the dialogue may have felt familiar to you. This is because I lifted a few lines directly from the episode "The Shrine." Credit goes to to Callie Sullivan (whoever she may be) at Gate World for providing the transcript for it.