Act 2

The door stood open, still, as it had in their desperate rush to get Teyla to the Jumper and back to Atlantis. He shone his flashlight across the space between where he sheltered in the lea of a cooling tower and the door. He turned his head to take in the rest of the compound. In his mind he still saw the dark shape of the Puddle Jumper filling the large empty space to the side of the building; a limp and pallid Teyla held in Ronon's arms – the drops of blood on the floor…

"Come on, McKay, you can do this," he muttered to himself, and with a final look around, for though the compound still looked deserted he did not trust his impressions, he crossed the open space at a sprint, and held his gun so tightly his knuckles almost shone white in the beam from the flashlight.

He was doing this for Teyla, he reminded himself, as he stepped over the threshold and began to make his way toward the room where they'd found her. He shivered as the heavy metal door came into view and beyond, the rust-stained walls; took in a deep, steadying breath, and went inside, turning toward the window, before which he knew he would find him.

"One of Michael's hybrids?" Sheppard asked as McKay called him over.

"You could say that, but…" McKay reached out and carefully turned over the body. "…I don't think that's quite the point."

Sheppard sighed as he looked down on the man, and then glanced back toward Teyla, cradled in Ronon's arms.

"We have to get her back, Rodney," Sheppard said, almost apologetically. "We can't risk bringing him as well. We don't know what Mi—"

"I know, I know," McKay said softly, "But at least can we," he shrugged a little, "find something to cover him."

The rough woollen shroud still lay on the floor by the window, though why he should have expected otherwise, he did not know. He felt like a character from some horror movie, who would approach the corpse, only to have it sit up and reach to wrap its fingers around his throat; squeeze the life out of him. It was irrational. The only things he really had to fear were the microbes and bacteria that would be growing – thriving – on the decaying flesh.

He quickly set down the silver case on top of the workbench, trying not to notice the many surgical tools that still lay there, or the bloodied swabs… or the scurry of bugs as they hurried away from the intrusion on their feeding.

Opening the case he took out the protective clothing, the gloves and the mask, and began to dress himself for the task. He was realistic enough to know that, alone, he would not be able to bring the body back to Atlantis, but he meant to be certain he could collect what Jennifer needed to be able to alleviate his fears.

"And what if it just confirms this?" She said, flicking the edge of the PCR in his left hand.

"Well then… then…" he faltered, did he really want that? "At least we'd know… At least you'd have the answer for when she called you on it all being a lie!"

**

In the bright light of the Laquoian morning, the fears of the night before seemed far from real, but the worries did not. If the Wraith did come looking for her, then she would endanger her friend and she would not, under any circumstance, allow herself to do that.

They stopped in front of the gate, and Teyla lowered herself to one knee as she turned to face Chaya, smiling. She held out her hands and the girl happily slipped her own into the Athosian woman's warm grasp.

"You cared for me so well, Chaya," she said softly, "Promise me you will care for your mother just as well."

"I will, Teyla," the girl said, and for a moment fell quiet and lowered her head to meet gently with Teyla's. "Come back soon, Mama misses you."

"And I miss her," Teyla said, straightening up and playfully tapping the girl on the nose, still smiling. "One day – perhaps." Then she straightened up, the smile fading from her face as she came to her friend, and took the cloth bag from her shoulder.

They had been generous; had provisioned her with fresh clothes, food for her journey, had even found a weapon for her… it was crude, but it would be a defence where before she had none.

"Are you sure?" Raisa asked her quietly.

"I have never been more certain, my friend," she answered. "I will not be the one to bring danger to you and your ch—"

Her voice cracked and she could not finish the word. Thoughts of her own child in Michael's hands assaulted her. She heard his imagined cry, felt his fear and his pain. She jumped as Raisa's hand closed over her arm.

"You will find him, Teyla," her friend assured her, "And when you do, and bring the one responsible to justice—"

"Justice, in this galaxy, is strained, Raisa," she shook her head. "I want him back… I am empty without him."

"You will find him."

She took a deep breath, and fixed a smile on her face, forced as it was. "Yes," she said with a sigh.

"Where will you go?" Raisa asked.

Teyla shook her head. "Better that you do not know," she answered, "Simply that I will visit the worlds on which my people have friends, and see what trail I can discover."

After sharing a fond farewell with her friend, she dialled the address of a starting point, and stepped into the wormhole to begin her journey.

**

McKay turned his head aside and lifted the corner of the blanket gingerly, already making a disgusted face even before he had set eyes on the corpse. The smell of it was bad enough that he was almost loathe to look – sickly, sweet… putrid. With the back of his free hand pressing the mask closer over his mouth and nose – he could almost taste the decay if he did not – he took the courage that was lodged in his determination to help and suddenly threw back the blanket.

"McKay, what the hell are you doing?"

He let out the most feminine of cries and skittered backwards away from the now clearly visible corpse. The pale white flesh was colourised and peeling where the tissues had begun to rot away, even in the dryness of the atmosphere, beginning to swell. Wax-like, and frozen in the throws of whatever painful looking death had taken him, the pale orbs seemed to stare accusingly at him, where the head had toppled to one side.

"I said, what the h—"

"Sheppard," McKay tore his gaze away from Kanaan's body and squeaked out the man's name. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"What are you doing here?" Sheppard asked. He sounded irritated.

"Following up a lead, an investigation, something Keller needed for her research," he said. It wasn't exactly a lie. Perhaps stretching the truth a little, but it wasn't a lie. Then irritated himself, he said, "More's the point, what are you doing here?"

"Ronon was worried about you," Sheppard told him, jerking his thumb toward the other man. "He heard you'd gone off world without backup, and like any good team member, he came to report it to me."

"Banks," Rodney said with a sigh.

"Banks had nothing to do with it," Sheppard corrected him. "It was Zelenka, if you must know. Said something about you going off with some crazy talk about needing to do something to help Teyla."

"But Banks must have told you where I'd gone," McKay said.

"Matter of fact," Sheppard told him, frowning, "Banks denied being the 'go to' guy when I confronted her on it."

"So how—"

"You forgot to disable the log," Ronon growled. "Must be something really important to make you do something stupid like that."

"Yeah," Sheppard said, gesturing toward the corpse. "Isn't this a little… Doctor Frankenstein for you?"

McKay sighed, "I'm just here to collect a sample of Kanaan's DNA to help Keller with some of her research."

"All right," Sheppard said, "Better, but still a little too CSI."

"Look, if you really want to help, instead of standing there making up a list of Movies, and TV shows you can quote at me, why don't you and Ronon go and… take a look around, see if there's anything left that might… give us any kind of clue as to what Michael was doing here."

"You mean besides holding Teyla prisoner and kidnapping her baby," Ronon snapped.

"All right," McKay raised his voice a little bit, "I know you're angry and upset about what's happened to the baby, I am too, we all are, but—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Sheppard interrupted, "Go look around… see if we can find anything."

McKay started to move back toward the body, muttering under his breath, "but right now that baby might be better off where it is."

"What did you say?" Sheppard turned around and walked backwards a couple of steps as he reached the doorway.

"Doesn't matter," McKay said in his usual curt manner. "Just… don't—"

"—touch anything, yes we know."

**

He ached. It was as though a hollow emptiness had seeped into every atom of his being, settled there as an acute reminder of everything; of every denial, every rejection, each betrayal more insidious than the last, and yet, still he burned with the hope – the need – for relief.

Rising quickly, as soon as the computer sounded the alert for the end of the simulation, Michael crossed to the workbench and reviewed the results. Scrolling quickly through the many screens of data, growing equally as irritated at this failure as he was relieved for the possibilities, he tilted his head tiredly from side to side. Although, it seemed, he had made progress in stabilizing the remaining residual weakening of the cell walls, the degradation remained.

However, in the pattern of the results, he believed he saw the key to finding the solution. He might yet be able to avoid the necessity for such a dangerous course of action as was currently his only option, provided his strike team returned with the materials he needed. Still, for now, he would need to continue with his course of treatment.

Sighing again, he unfastened the buckles on his leather tunic and shrugged of the heavy, armoured garment, to reveal the soft cotton shirt he wore beneath.

The surgical wound on his right biceps was seeping again where it should have long since healed, and the wound in his shoulder ached without mercy.

He growled in irritation, and as he heard the quiet footfalls behind him, and felt the arrival of the hybrid lieutenant, he snapped, "What do you want? You can see I'm working."

"You asked to be informed when the cruiser returned from the Wraith facility on the moon of the fourth planet in the Canai system."

Michael paused in tightening the restrictive band above his left elbow to tilt his head, and turning slightly, glanced at the hybrid. "They resisted?"

"No," the hybrid answered. "They were completely unprepared."

Michael snorted in contempt at the complacency of the Wraith. To leave such a facility vulnerable, unguarded at any time was careless, but to do so under such circumstances as he had learned existed in that particular reproductive facility, at that time, was unforgivable. The Hive in attendance deserved everything that had happened to them. Still, one major concern assaulted him, and to remind himself that neither could he allow himself to become complacent, he pressed the needle into his vein and released the tourniquet slightly to allow the sample he was collecting to flow into the vial.

"You are certain that the Hive was unable to trace the bio-signature of our cruiser and follow?"

"No question," the hybrid confirmed and Michael breathed out, deep and long, letting out an almost satisfied growl of relief.

"You secured the prisoner?" He took the vial from the end of the syringe, turned it one way and then another, before setting into a holder and pushing a second vial into its place. This one he would have to work with immediately if the cells were to remain viable enough to sustain the growth necessary before the resulting organism could be placed into stasis.

"Yes. Placed away from the central core of our compound – chained as you ordered." the hybrid said.

"Good." Sighing with relief, Michael removed the vial and the needle from his arm. He agitated the blood sample he had just taken, before setting it into the centrifuge. "Do not allow anyone to have access to the building until I arrive. I must finish my work here first."

He saw the hybrid nod respectfully, and then dismissed him from his thoughts as he turned back to his experiment – and the manipulation necessary to correct his earlier, impatient mistake. Then he moved along the workbench and quickly prepared, and self administered, the injection.

**

It was late into the evening when Teyla arrived on the outskirts of the village, and the inhabitants should have been settling down for the night. There was a chill in the air and her breath condensed around her, a visual reminder of the long, forced march she had taken to arrive.

She frowned. The further into the village she walked, the more local inhabitants she saw, each hurrying to and fro, carrying cloth bags, and loading boxes onto badly constructed hand carts.

"Excuse me," she called out to one of the villagers. When he did not stop, she called out again, "Excuse me. I would like—"

"If you're looking for a trade, or a place to stay," a different man answered her, looking up from packing several things onto his own cart, "I'd suggest the inn, but the innkeeper left earlier today, and I don't imagine the others will be far behind him."

"Left?" she asked, both puzzled and worried. "Jayred has never left his inn, not in all the time I have known him."

"Aye, well," the man said, this time stopping to turn and frown at Teyla. "Maybe you don't know Jayred these days, or the things we have had to face."

"What kinds of things?" Teyla asked, the tone in her voice darkening.

"The villages of this world have been the focus of much attention from the Wraith," the villager told her. "This village has seen cullings twice in the last tenday."

"Twice?" Her frown deepened. "But that makes no sense."

"It does if you consider the first time they took only a handful of us," a newcomer's voice added, and Teyla turned to include him in the conversation. "Before they came back, that is. What you see now is all of us that are left. We will be lucky to reach the safety of our caves before they return again."

"Them or the others," the first man added.

"Others?" Teyla felt a thrill of nervous expectation travel through her.

"Came for trade, they said. Three of them," he told her, "Stayed at Jayred's inn two nights… except when morning came on the third day, they were gone, their beds not slept in."

"And so had many of the able bodied men… the youngest and fittest of us," the other one said, "We searched, didn't find anyone for a long time, not until we got to the Ring of the Ancestors… and then there was one… looked like he'd been in a fight - whoever they were, they made a real mess of him, so we were told."

"This man – does he still live?" she asked.

"Aye, he does, he's at the caves already, with some of the others." The villagers frowned, their eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Why is it so much of interest to you?"

"These 'others' you speak of," Teyla said, "I believe they are the same people I have been looking for. They may be able to lead me to the one that took my son."

"If your son was taken by these, they you'd be well advised to—"

She shook her head, already guessing what they were going to say.

"I cannot give up searching," she said, "My son is only a baby and he needs his mother." She paused a moment, to gather her fraying emotions, before she asked, "You think they will return."

"Them or the Wraith," one of the two men said, reversing what was said before.

"Then I should like to stay… and help your people move into the caves, in return for which I ask you to allow me to stay in one of your homes."

"But that's crazy talk," he answered, "if they come, they'll find you and—"

"—and I will make them tell me where I can find my son." she finished.

**

Michael took a deep breath as he stood ready to open the door and confront his latest prisoner. He knew what to expect, and knew it would not be a pleasant or an easy time, but still, in the hope of avoiding the necessity of a more unpleasant experience still, he would leave no avenue unexplored. Quickly, before he changed his mind, he opened the door and stepped inside.

As Queens went, she was not the most impressive he had seen. Shorter than most, what should have been her natural, bone white hair had been coloured in the brightest of reds, to match the blood coloured stain on her lips. Behind it all, she looked tired – drained. She would, he reminded himself, given where she had been, and what she had no doubt been doing. She was thinner than most as well, altogether lacking in presence; contemptible.

As soon as she saw him, she snarled viciously, and strained against the chains that bit cruelly into her wrists.

He allowed it for a moment before he commanded, "Enough!"

-silence!-

She snarled for a moment longer, vying with him mentally as he pushed his command on her, and resisted her own insistence that he release her.

"Let me explain what will happen," Michael began once she had quieted somewhat, "As long as you cooperate, you will be permitted to live. If you attempt to make contact with your Hive, or any other Wraith, I will know. If you attempt to gain control of any of your guards; of my soldiers, I will know. If you, in any way, attempt to subvert my intentions for you, your life is forfeit, and believe me, over the years I have had much time to perfect the art of destroying Wraith… and I do not need you alive, in order to carry out my plan."

"Then why am I still alive," she demanded finally.

Michael chuckled, "Why waste resources, preserving that which already preserves itself, until it is needed." As he spoke, a hybrid appeared at his shoulder, carrying a small metal tray. On the tray were arrayed a number of surgical instruments.

The chuckle faded from Michael's voice, as did the mild, patient expression on his face, as the Queen challenged him, "You would not dare!"

"How little you know me," he tilted his head to regard the Queen. His hands became fists at his side as he fought the part of him that was still Wraith, the part of him that naturally responded to the presence of such a one, the part of him that the Lanteans had all but murdered… he growled angrily. "Now… let us begin."

**

"Teyla," Jayred smiled and came to clasp her hands tightly in his, before lowering his head to meet hers in proper greeting. "It is good to see you. Are your friends with you?"

She fixed a smile onto her face as the thought of Sheppard and the others, and all that had passed between them, flooded into her, threatening to sour the meeting with Jayred. "No," she said. "I come alone."

"A pity," he answered, "We would have much use for their assistance."

"Perhaps not always the wisest course," she said, fighting to keep the smile in place.

"Teyla?" Jayred frowned. "Has something happened between you?"

"There has been a misunderstanding," she held up both her hands to forestall his interruption, "for which I am seeking answers and that is why I am here. Jayred, there is a man I need to speak to. He was taken by those that stayed in your inn, but escaped."

"Raehn?" Jayred said, "I am sorry, Teyla, but the remaining elders have decreed that none may see him, he—"

"Please, it is important. He may be the key to help me find my s—" Her eyes narrowed, and she took a sudden breath. "Where are your people," she asked urgently.

"Teyla?"

"Your people, Jayred, how many of them are already in these caves?"

He frowned in confusion, "Almost all of them," he said, "Why?"

"There are Wraith outside," she answered.

"They are looking for me," a new voice answered.

She turned, and as she set eyes on him the blood in her veins froze, and then boiled in the next instant. Before she could check her motion she flew at him, grabbing for the knife she carried concealed in her boot.

He blocked slowly, receiving a deep gash to his forearm, and instantly began to back away with each strike she made, defending as best he could. He was no match for the angry Athosian woman, and soon Teyla had him pinned to the rear wall of the cave, her knife at his throat.

"Where is he?" she snarled into the man's hybrid face, before the villagers managed to overwhelm her and pull her away from him. "Where has he taken my son!"

**

Michael paused in front of the door to check that all of the remaining particles had been properly neutralised, and then checked a second time. He knew he was tired and must not allow himself to make mistakes because of it. When he was sure the spore was no longer present, airborne in the room, he keyed the code to unlock the door.

"Why do you keep the door locked," she demanded as he stepped inside. Her tone was harsh, her face showed half way between angry and afraid. A knot twisted in his belly as memory came unbidden to his weary mind.

"I have been told you wanted to see me?" he said, and waited back a little way from the bars of the holding cell as she carefully sat up, and got to her feet. One hand, he noticed, came immediately to rest against the curve of her belly. With the other she gripped the bars as she stepped up to them.

"Yes… Michael," she said, her tone was clipped and he inwardly cringed from it.

"Well," he said and spread his arms to either side, "Here I am."

He watched as she took a breath, felt her forcing stillness on her mind. He tilted his head curiously, though kept the frown from his face.

"Why are you keeping me here?" she asked, and this time the frown did show on his face. He would have thought it was obvious. He was about to tell her as much when she explained, "We are aboard your cruiser, and unless I am mistaken, are in hyperspace—"

His expression softened, and hope swelled inside of him. Already she was sensing the ship, beginning to read the nuances of its operation.

"Where would I go?" she threw her arms up to either side of her, and stood regarding him fiercely.

He lifted his head a little, looked into her eyes, considering all that she said. There were still places that could present a danger to her – and to the ship, should she try hard enough – but… she was, at least in some ways, justified in asking the question, and the small cell was hardly a fitting place for an expectant mother, let alone the mother of this most awaited child.

He sent out mental instructions to some of his men to prepare quarters for her, fill them with the softest blankets, fresh fruit and water. In the next moment he stepped forward and activated the door release, but as he took another step closer, she took a step back, a small, startled expression on her face.

Instantly he stopped moving, swallowed hard and looked down, and then away. "Go where you wish," he said softly, trying to keep the sorrow from his voice. "I will prepare quarters for you."

He sighed.

"You must forgive me," he said. "There are still many places within this facility that could present a danger for you."

"But—"

He crossed the room to stand in front of her, "We are preparing a place for you that I hope will be more comfortable," he tipped his head, "more appropriate. Perhaps you would like to see."

She blinked at him as though surprised, but the surprise soon dissolved into a fearful, mistrustful expression, "Oh, I—"

"Come now, Lisstha, have I yet harmed you?" he refused to let her unsettle him further, pushed aside the bubbling memory, and the resulting, painful twist in his chest, and said, "Or have you been shown… consideration?"

In answer to him she held out her hand, where the scar still puckered there, in spite of his care in tending to it. "You cut me."

"An unfortunate necessity, as I explained at the time," he said.

“I told you… because of the interference of your friends, we must make another hyperspace jump, and I will not allow the subspace radiation to harm him.”

"Yes, but—"

"And have I not done everything possible to ensure it heals well?" he continued, without giving her much time to argue again. "Please," he added with as much of his inherent charisma as he could muster, "it would make a pleasant change from the constant pressures of work, and give you the freshness of the outside in your lungs."

"I should," she began, faltering slightly, "I should like that."

"Then," he said and reached down to guide her to her feet. He noted that she was a little unsteady, and even through the blouse, could feel the temperature of her body was elevated. "Come."

**

She struggled with them as they held her against the makeshift table. "You do not understand. You cannot trust this man," she told them. "He has been taken from you and turned into a hybrid creature, part Wraith, and part Human, by someone called Michael."

"I have heard you speak that name before, Teyla," Jayred said, with a frown, "But you said—"

"I told you of the creatures he was creating, yes, but this… this is different." She snatched her arms from those that were holding her, and straightened herself up. "He has found a way to—" she stopped, and turned her gaze back toward Raehn.

"To what, Teyla," he asked softly.

Ignoring him, she turned to Jayred, "What about the men that were staying at your inn, Jayred? Where did they come from?"

"I'm not certain I recall," the innkeeper answered. "Orsebbe, I believe."

"With the… ringed moons?" she asked. An image came into her mind, and a feeling of strange discomfort… For a moment her eyes ceased to see the hybrid soldier standing in front of her…

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She stiffened as Michael's voice came from behind her, and his quiet footfalls approached. He stopped a little way from her but she could still feel the warmth of him against her back. She wanted to deny that it was beautiful; wanted to find some comment she could make that would push away the undeniable connection she felt, as they stood together, watching the rotation of the moons from the portal of the cruiser, and the way that the rings almost, but did not quite, intersect… but she could not.

"Another stop to allow for recovery from the journey in hyperspace?" she asked. It was the best she could manage.

"I had hoped that you would—" he seemed to hesitate, and when he began again, his voice was softer, somehow warmer. "I had hoped that you would—"

Teyla frowned as the feelings began to dissolve and the memories blur, but she was left with the impression that he had deliberately stopped in that place, specifically so that she could enjoy the view that he too thought was beautiful.

She shivered a little, uncertain of how to feel about that and looked up at Raehn again. He was staring at her.

"Where is he?" she demanded again. "Where were those others taking you?"

**

He tried to remember to slow his steps so that the woman could keep up with him, reaching toward her mind, trying to find that part of her that he knew would be developing, harboured there, an inner consciousness waiting to be unleashed.

"What…" she hurried a few steps to try and catch up to him, and he felt her reaching for his arm. "What is this place?"

"Just another dead world, destroyed by the Wraith, abandoned by the survivors, forgotten by both. A perfect place to conduct my work."

He took a deep breath as memory flooded through him again, slowed his pace still further and half turned to face Lisstha.

"The people of this world were destroyed during the war between the Wraith and the Ancients," he explained softly, almost absently watching the way the breeze stirred her hair. He tilted his head to one side, and without conscious guidance, his eyes lifted to gaze toward the horizon, seeing the brightness of a flash that had sent a stab of intense pain through his sensitive Wraith eyes, and the ensuing cloud of dust that began to lift toward the atmosphere… but only in his memory. Feeling the agony flood through his heart at his Queen's anguished warning in the instant before the Dart's beam swept over him…

"What happened?"

At the sound of the girl's voice he almost started, and his eyes snapped back to look at her. He took a hurried, snatched breath, and let it out slowly, as a sigh.

"Their portal – what you know as the Ancestor's Ring – was flooded with radiation from subspace interfe—" he stopped when he saw the uncomprehending expression on her face, though no less interest or concern. Taking another breath, he said, "Energy from inside the pool you see when the Ring is active. The portal exploded."

"Killing everyone?" She sounded horrified.

"Not quite everyone," he said, letting out another long, slow breath.

"Some survived?" she asked, and ran the back of her hand across her brow. He noticed that it trembled slightly. "How do you know all this?"

His barely voiced sigh became a light growl as he stepped toward her. "Because I was here…"

**

"McKay!" Sheppard called as the scientist started to take off almost as soon as the Jumper touched down in the bay. "Wait!"

He stopped with a sigh, "Look, Sheppard," he said patiently, "If I don't get this stuff to Keller, then it's going to have been an entire wasted trip I risked my—"

"No one asked you to go," Sheppard reminded him. "In fact, as I recall, Woolsey distinctly restricted Gate travel to essential and official missions only."

"Look, I told you," he said, "Doctor Keller needs this tissue, this DNA, for her research."

"Why?"

"Because," he said, thinking on his feet. He didn't want to lie to Sheppard, but right at that moment he didn't want to tell the truth either – not until he was entirely sure it was the truth and not just some terrible misreading of the PCR results. "Because at some stage, when we find Teyla and give her time to recover, she's going to want answers. She's going to want to know why Michael was so fixated on her baby – what was so important about him."

"Hmm," Sheppard said, and McKay could hear the disbelief in his voice.

"Look," he said, frowning, "I just wanted to be able to do something to help Teyla. I can't be out there shooting the shit out of the Wraith, or kicking Michael's ass, or any of the other things that you guys do. I'm a scientist. I just wanted to do my part."

"You really think this stuff can tell you that?" Sheppard gestured to the silver case in Rodney's hands.

"Yes," McKay nodded, "I do."

"All right, just," Sheppard sighed, "Next time tell me, Rodney. You don't need to shut me out."

"There's no way Woolsey would have authorised—"

"I didn't say anything about Woolsey," Sheppard interrupted. "In fact, to hell with Woolsey. This is about Teyla – helping Teyla. Whatever it is that Michael did to her, isn't going to last forever, and when it's over she's going to need her friends. We have to stick together, McKay. We can't let Woolsey and his officious paranoia divide us. All right?"

McKay looked between the Colonel and the former runner who was standing nearby. Ronon's arms were folded and his face was the epitome of thunder. McKay had only seen that kind of murderous look on Ronon's face when he was dealing with Michael. Even a small victory against Michael, like giving Teyla the truth, would be enough, he hoped, to take some of the ire out of Ronon's expression. He sighed, as he realised he was falling pray to his own lies, because he wasn't sure that this particular truth would be anything other than a victory for the Wraith-Human hybrid.

"All right," he said quietly, and before either man could say another word he set off to take the samples to Jennifer.

**

Rest would not come to him. His mind was haunted by visions of the hideous mutations his serum had forced on the hybrid test subject, and he could not help but shiver again as he lay on his cot… nagging at the edges of the problem, seeing ribosome and chromosome fragments floating before his closed eyes.

"If the full solution still evades you, break the problem down into its component parts and solve each step as a separate entity."

He growled as the memory came to mock him… the scientist that the Renegade had once been speaking to him as though he were still an untested, mewling child.

Throwing back his blanket, he climbed to his feet and began to pad across the width of his quarters, stiff from lack of rest, frustrated from lack of success, in need of some small relief from both.

He paused in his pacing, and tilted his head as he felt the nuance of the Hive change around him. They were preparing to engage the hyperdrive. He could not help but tense still further, in spite of his conscious effort not to do so, as another memory surfaced to the front of his mind.

He stood at the console, beside his Queen, both frowning in consternation at the anomalous energy readings their sensors were detecting from the planet, from the vicinity of the Portal.

*display the planet*

She had barely finished the thought before the main screen activated to show the blue and green world. Barely a moment after, a bright flash from the surface engulfed almost the entirety of one side of the planet.

The Queen's consternation turned to concern, and then alarm as the sensors continued to supply them with troubling readings.

~recall the Darts~

He did not wait for her to give the order. As her Commander, he too must see to the safety of the Hive, and of his Queen.

~as soon as they are aboard, we must make the jump to hyperspace – return to our feeding grounds~

He began to turn from the screen to attend his Queen… but a sudden flood of distress and fear made him turn back. He was in time to see the Dart, out of control and hurtling toward the Hive. If it made the bay there would be no way it would stop in time to avoid a fatal collision with the interior bulkhead.

~Brace for impact!~

He stepped closer to his Queen, within reach, should she need his strength to steady her, and only a moment later the deck rocked violently, shuddering in the wake of the explosion. A slight change in the Queen's breathing told him that she too felt the damage to the Hive.

"The Scientist!" she hissed… following with a mental command for her commander to bring him to her…if he still lived.

*Hyperspace!*

~the other Darts~

*We can no longer wait for them*

He did not like the order, but she had given it and he would obey. He nodded curtly to the Wraith at the helm and then left the bridge in search of the scientist…

He had found the Scientist. More accurately he had all but run into him in the Hive's main drive chamber… frantic – almost raving with a fearful madness that he had not, before the event, understood.

He let out another growling sigh. What good such dark memories serve… if he could find no rest, then it was unlikely that he would achieve much success in his work. He picked up his heavy leather coat, for he would not leave the safety of his quarters without its protection, and extended his pacing to include the corridors of the Hive.

**

Keller looked up from the microscope as McKay walked in. She frowned when he beckoned her over to a more private area of the lab.

"Rodney, what did you do?" she asked suspiciously.

"I got you those samples I was talking about."

She grabbed his arm and dragged him further into the corner of the room. "You brought his body here?"

"No," he wriggled uncomfortably and rubbed his arm where she had pinched his skin, "No, not all of it, just…"

"For God's sake, Rodney!" Keller looked around as though she thought the samples would, at any minute, leap up and attack the two of them. McKay held up the case he was carrying. "Did anyone see you?"

"By anyone, you mean Woolsey, right?" McKay asked.

"No, I mean anyone." She took the case from him and put it on the workbench nearby where they were standing, thought she made no attempt to open it.

"Sheppard and Ronon—"

"Rodney!" she yelped at him, once again looking around as though Colonel Sheppard and Ronon were about to come storming into the infirmary and demand to be told what was going on. "I told you that I didn't think this was a good idea, and now—"

"They came to find me, Jennifer, what was I supposed to say?" he added as he saw the look on her face. "They're our friends and they're Teyla's friends too. It's all right. I told them you needed it for research so that you could tell Teyla why Michael is so obsessed with her baby."

"Isn't that a li—?"

"NO!" he raised his voice, and she jumped. He took a breath then, and continued more quietly, "That's why I need you to run these."

Keller sighed, "All right, Rodney, I'll do the analysis, but… I really don't think you're going to like the answers. Why should it be any different than we already know?"

"She wou— I mean…" he ran his fingers through his hair. "This is Teyla we're talking about."

"No, Rodney," she said solemnly, and with a hint of anger, "this is Michael we're talking about. He could have done anything… any kind of manipulation, mutation… You've seen what he did to Lorne… Kanaan… the other Athosians… why not— just…" she took a breath to try and calm herself. "Let me run the tests."

McKay gladly pushed the silver case in her direction again.

**

The moment he could again feel his wholeness, the desperate pain of loss flooded through him. It was as though everything in his mind had turned to darkness and yet it bordered on sentiment.

He felt her then, as he had not in centuries – not since she sent him to the other – and he knew without a doubt that the emotion was hers and was a warning.

=hyperspace – danger! Stop the Hive or perish!=

In the mere heartbeat it took for him to understand, he gathered his breath and then threw himself into a sprint toward the drive chamber, pursued by the fireball that was the wreckage of the out of control Dart that had brought him aboard. There was neither any point, nor any time, to warn the Hive Commander, irritating and stubborn individual at best, dangerous and subversive otherwise. He would have to take direct action and hope that circumstances would mitigate in his favour.

By then he had reached the main drive and could see the Commander hurrying into the chamber.

"The Queen—"

He barely heard the words and took little notice. Primary allegiances held within him, only strengthened by his instinct to survive. He already held his weapon in his hand, so quickly he slid the setting to maximum and took aim at the most vulnerable part of the drive generator, even as it began to power up.

The shock of the stun beam raced through his body, a burning heat that disrupted his heartbeat and blurred his vision. He expected it, and growling, pushed aside everything but the concentration and focus to pull the trigger.

The resulting explosion, which cascaded from the dying unit, bathed him in the wrath of the flames that screamed forth. He barely had time to turn aside.

A slight whimper drew him back to the present. No Darts would pluck him from this place now, at the behest of the Queen, forced or otherwise – the cruisers in orbit were his own, and the barren crater that had once been the site of this planet's portal remained just that… barren.

He turned his head toward Lisstha, and saw that she looked at him in confusion. Her bewilderment gave way to fear, and then to mounting horror. "You can't have been here then," she began, "No one can—"

Her voice broke off and she stumbled. A look of pain crossed her face.

Michael tilted his head as he stopped walking and swept a cool gaze over her. She was breathing quickly, a slight whimper in the back of her throat.

"Wraith do," he said, his voice losing the warmth and intonation of before. He took a breath. He needed to tread gently with this one.

"But you're n—" This time she let out an audible half cry, and folded in on herself a little. Curious, he watched for a moment, head still tipped to one side. Waiting. "Please, what's happening? It hur—"

Finally he stepped forward, slipped his hand supportively beneath her elbow, and said pragmatically, "The process is much less traumatic if you try not to resist."

"You—" she took a gasping breath and tried to pull away from his now restraining grasp. "You did this?"

"It was you…You're the one responsible for spreading the Hoffan drug."

She had looked at him with the same horrified surprise as this woman now did. It twisted a knot inside of him at the remembrance of it, even though he had expected it would be her response. He sighed and tried to push the thoughts of Teyla to the back of his mind; time enough yet to once more ensure her safety.

"It was necessary in order to complete my work," he told Lisstha finally.

When he let go of her she stumbled backwards into the waiting arms of his summoned hybrids.

"Take her to the cradle," he told them. "We must begin."

**

They had allowed her to stay in the caves as long as she had promised to keep away from Raehn. It had been a grudging acceptance of their interdiction, because, as tired as she was, she did not relish the thought of fighting the Wraith, and that was the alternative – to fight her way through the Wraith to the Stargate, and find another place to pick up the thread.

She had glowered in frustration for a long time before the angry disappointment turned to exhaustion, and she finally accepted the blanket that Jayred brought to her, and found a relatively private corner in which to curl up. It had not taken long for her to fall asleep.

Still her sleep was troubled. She rolled first one way, and then another, moving her hand as if flailing out – as if fighting…

She moaned, whispering his name in her sleep, the same troubled, questioning tone on her lips as flowed through her in the dream…

She struggled, pushed against imaginary, restraining arms, and yet a part of her craved the contact, the touch, the closeness…

She reached out, calling out… little more than a desperate murmur in her sleep…

Pain flooded her heart… he was gone… nothing could bring him back. All the time, and those moments shared as they lived, and grew together from almost carefree children, to awkward young adults, into their strengths as leaders… gone… murdered in a single, simple shared moment…

A hand grabbed her shoulder, to shake her as the urgency of the mental warning already woke her. She lashed out, taking the hybrid beneath the chin with her fist, sending him sprawling backwards.

"Teyla," Raehn gasped urgently, "We have to leave, now. There's no more time."

"I am going nowhere with you," she growled at him, trembling as she remembered the dream; felt the need still inside of her, her arousal still strong – undeniable. She fought to control her breathing that came in snatches, almost panting. How could she? What had he done to her!

"If you want to live to see your son, you will come with me – now!" Raehn's voice sounded hard, calculating, the warmth and urgency gone.

She focussed her eyes on him again, to find herself staring at the weapon he was pointing in her direction.

**

"Ah, there you are, McKay," Woolsey's voice floated across the cafeteria, and McKay tried very hard not to groan. The man had caught up to him. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were avoiding me."

"No," McKay said hurriedly around a forkful of mashed potatoes. "I've just been… busy, that's all."

"So I understand," Woolsey said. "Doctor Zelenka said something about you being off world, working on something by yourself. I don't need to remind you—"

"I was on M4G-584 with the science team that was trying to gather information from what's left of Michael's facility there. I went back to the gate to download the buffer – see if I could figure out where Teyla went." It wasn't a lie, but neither was it the whole truth.

"I see," Woolsey said, nodding, and McKay felt a certain degree of relief spreading through him as he realised that, in his acceptance of the half truth, Woolsey revealed he knew nothing of his more covert mission on M7S-445. "Well, when you have a minute, I wonder if you could take a look at my computer. I'm having trouble interfacing with the city's main systems, and I have a report that I must get to Stargate Command that I can't write without access."

"Trouble in paradise?" McKay asked, reading the look on Woolsey's face, and using the sarcasm to mask his own involvement in the failure of Woolsey's interface.

"Nothing I can't handle," Woolsey said, "As long as I can access the city's systems."

McKay nodded, "I'll see what I can do."

"As soon as possible, please, Doctor." Woolsey nodded curtly and began to move away. McKay sighed with relief, then tensed as the base commander turned back. "Oh, and Doctor?"

"Hmm?" he said, picking up his glass, which trembled slightly in his hand.

"I'd like to see yours and Doctor Keller's report on your findings concerning the Wraith DNA, please."

Perhaps he did suspect after all.

"It's next on my list," he said, "after your computer, of course."

**

He grabbed her arm and pushed her against the trunk of a tree, the weapon in his hand didn't waver. They were barely a sprint away from achieving the Gate, when the Wraith guards came into view.

Overhead the darts were flying a crossing formation, firing devastating barrages against everything in their path, no doubt angered by the disappearance of their prey into the caves. It was a pattern she had seen on many worlds… worlds that threatened them… but what threat was here?

She could not help but look at Raehn… the determination on his hybrid face. For a moment she half closed her eyes, and reached toward him with her mind, trying to connect to the Wraith part of him extant now. What did he know that she did not?

"Don't!" he pressed the weapon against her ribs and the consternation at finding the Wraith guards at the Gate turned into a calculating warning on his face against her trying anything against him.

The memory came without warning, and cut her heart in two.

Kanaan stood looking at her, hands by his side, and in one of them he held a weapon. "…please, there's much you don't understand… you must listen to him—"

"Kanaan—?" she started, but her voice cracked and stopped the rest of the sentence before it began.

"—You must go with him," Kanaan continued.

Michael took another step toward her, and with nowhere to go, she started to raise her hands, meaning to fend him off.

"We don't have time for this," he told her, suddenly reaching forward.

"No, I will not—"

A fleeting, burning pain… heat began somewhere in her chest as the rhythm of her heart faltered. It spread outwards through all of her limbs, draining her strength. She managed to turn her head toward a sound she had barely registered – high pitched and harsh. Kanaan still stood with his weapon raised, and pointed in her direction.

"No… Kanaan," she whispered, and the blue lights of the cruiser began to darken around her.

She had reached for Michael then. She knew she had, though she did not know how. Michael had caught her hand, guided it to his shoulder and sheltered her in his arms. His embrace had been supportive and strong as he had lowered her gently to the deck and he did not let go of her – protecting her from the one man she thought would never hurt her. The confusion, the betrayal, and the self doubt she suddenly felt was overwhelming. She couldn't think; didn't know which way to turn – what to do – and so she decided on the only path that was open to her.

"We must leave," Raehn said, "take the Portal, and that means getting past the Wraith."

"Yes," she said, taking several sudden breaths, and before she could change her mind, added, "And if you promise to take me to Michael, I will not resist you. I will help you win this fight against the Wraith."

**

His feet almost dragged… Weary, he carefully set the wrapped bundle down into the little chamber beside the workbench. His head ached. It had been a long time since he had felt this way. Something had to give… and soon.

Ignoring the small, mewling protests the child made at the movement from one place to another, Michael activated the scanner to ensure the boy's health after the procedure. He breathed out slowly when the readings from the computer all confirmed that nothing was amiss.

For many long moments he stood, looking down at the child… examining his soft features; the deep blue eyes, and the barely noticeable flecks of gold within… a sudden, consuming feeling, a smouldering anger, jealousy flared within him.

A playful striving… each against the other…before he overwhelmed her, pressed her against the pillows of the soft bed. She laughed as he held her down… the delight in her eyes turning to desire as he slipped his hand into hers… clasping their hands with their fingers entwined…

A low growl began in the back of his throat, as he banished the thought… the memory, and with purpose moved to his equipment further down the bench – away from the child – away from the culmination of years of his work.

Yet – he glanced back the way he had come – all might still come to ruin if he could not find the key to solving the insidious cellular breakdown that harried him. He called up the latest results and studied them carefully.

His breathing deepened as he read, his nostrils flaring. His mood darkened still further as the images, and the computer simulation reached its end. Blinded by anger, he snatched up the nearest vial and turning, threw it at the wall with a frustrated, growling cry at his own, stupid mistake that had exacerbated the problem.

This had been his last hope… his only hope to avoid the one course of action he feared… there was only one thing he feared more… unbidden, he reached out...

In front of her, the Wraith lashed out, her hand moved, blurring in front of her, blocking – fighting…

Through their connection he widened his senses; saw the danger behind her, which she hadn't seen, and tried to send a warning, and an urgent call for action to the hybrid. He felt his mind touch hers and called her name.

**

-Teyla!-

At the warning she turned. On instinct she threw up her arm, deflecting the blade that was coming down, aimed at the middle of her back, and on the momentum of the turn, almost rolled around the Wraith to come behind him, push him into the path of his fellow warrior to give her time to recover her balance.

Raehn turned his head and his weapon toward the fight and fired a shot that narrowly missed Teyla's shoulder, but which took down the Wraith none the less. She did not hesitate, but launched herself for the remaining Wraith.

"Dial!" she told Raehn.

She came in low at the Wraith warrior, bringing her knee up toward his middle, at the same time punching hard against his arm as she caught his wrist that held the knife. The Wraith shifted his balance, and caught her unawares and the two of them fell, tumbling together in a tangle of limbs.

"Teyla!" Raehn's shout echoed the frightened cry inside of her. She scrambled for control of the knife; to keep away from the Wraith's grasp; to banish the sudden panic she felt.

"Dial!" she ordered again, grabbing the one coherent strand of thought, still in her mind, and this time heard him begin.

In the midst of her desperate struggle she got a hand to the hilt of the knife, still gripped in the Wraith's hand, straining with all of her strength she turned the hand that held it. She had to free herself; had to kill the Wraith warrior before he could feed on her, as he was trying to reach her; to get his hand to her chest. She forced all her strength, all of her concentration, on her fight for the knife until, with a sudden audible crack, the Wraith's wrist snapped and released the short blade into her hand. She did not hesitate, did not even pull back her hand, simply plunged the knife deep into the Wraith's throat, and rolled aside. She all but jumped quickly to her feet, looking around for any other dangers; any other Wraith.

It had been a messy fight, not one of her best, but she was tired and so in need of rest. It was not until she noticed that the symbols had stopped lighting on the Gate that she realised something was wrong, that Raehn had stopped dialling and was slumped over the DHD.

"Raehn?" she reached for him, but as she touched him, he toppled sideways, already dead, the side of him she could not see became visible as a smoking ruin. Gasping she turned around, looking for the source… the cause.

The Wraith, a hunter, walked slowly toward her, carrying his weapon, arm outstretched, head barely tilted to one side.

"You fight well, woman," he hissed.

Teyla glanced between the Wraith and the DHD, at the symbols still lit, awaiting the final one and the point of origin to complete the dialling sequence. She stood as still as she dared, her mind racing… fighting through the tiredness that had followed hard on the heels of the fight, for an address – anything that could complete the one already partially stored.

"Fight me!" the hunter said, and tossed his gun to one side, starting to run toward her.

"I do not think so," she told him, lifting her chin. It took every bit of strength she possessed to stand her ground as she reached over to the DHD, and completed the sequence. "Not today."

The forming wormhole swept out from the circle of the gate, reducing the careless and unsuspecting Wraith to nothing.

**

It was a part of the hive he had not explored before, but which was strangely familiar. Todd paused, frowning, trying to figure out why. It was a welcome distraction for trying to work out what he was doing wrong in respect of the hybrids.

Her words to him, as they stood staring at the thing the hybrid had become, had been urgent and in that moment she had, quite unguardedly, allowed him to see this corridor. Something here was important to her.

Slowly, he walked down the corridor, placing the remembrance of what he had seen over what he now was seeing… abruptly, he stopped.

If there was one thing he had learned from the humans, over the years, it was that they had some of the most ridiculous sayings for the most simple of processes. One sprang to mind as he stood there, looking at the closed door. Where there is a will, there is a way. He took his knife from its sheath, and very carefully peeled back the cover.

"So far, so good," he crooned one of the human phrases, as he reached for the innards of the controls. A moment later the door slid open at his touch, and as he walked inside, the chamber lit up to reveal a very well equipped laboratory… equally as well equipped as the one he had been given, but at least twice the size, and with adjoining rest quarters.

A small, almost unnoticed blinking light on the underside of one of the benches caught his attention. He might not have noticed it except that he had happened to look down to see what he was doing as he put his knife away. Without waiting to see if his supposition was correct about what the light could mean, he pushed off from the side of the bench all but dived for the door…

Even as fast as he was, he was too slow. The explosion rolled over him; took his feet from under him. The last thing he felt, an incredible crushing pain as light and heat bathed him in the promise of destruction.