Cedarfiction.net - In Truth... Freedom

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Act 2

Vega almost felt human again, after she had bathed, though Todd's silence was bothering her. She was sure that it had something to do with the failure of his latest experiment. She'd come to know that he was incredibly touchy about such things. It could only mean trouble.

Still towelling her hair dry, she came up behind him. He was staring at the screen of his computer, of which, of course, she could make no sense, since it was written entirely in Wraith characters, and boldly lay her hand onto his shoulder.

He let out a voiced sigh, and turned away from the computer, reaching to take her by the shoulders.

"Alicia," he rumbled softly, "there is something about which you and I must speak."

She couldn't help but swallow hard. Something about the tone in his voice told her that this was likely to be a conversation she might wish she had been able to avoid. Still she asked, "What is it?"

He shook his head, "Make yourself comfortable," he said, "There is fresh clothing on the cot. I will leave you to change, and when I return, we will speak."

Without another word he stood up from the stool on which he was perched, and left the laboratory. She stood, blinking as if stupefied, looking toward the door. Her paralysis was only broken by somewhat sarcastic laughter from the hybrid.

"Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it," she snapped, and with a slightly nauseous feeling in her belly she turned to go and investigate the clothing that Todd had said was on the cot for her. She expected more of the same that she had been treated to before, the scant fabric that fit where it touched, and left very little to the imagination. When she unfolded the dress, her breath caught in surprise.

"Seems like someone's been a good little girl, and has gotten her just rewards," the hybrid said.

"—to hear it, yes, I know," he said. "But have you considered what you have to… or were supposed to have done, in order to receive your prize?"

Vega ignored him; tried to anyway, as she held the soft fabric up to her. Granted the bodice would be tight, and would probably only cover the bare minimum, leaving her shoulders and arms bare. The skirt, though shorter at the front than the back, was full and looked as though it would hang in overlapping layers, exposing her legs if she moved, but keeping her covered when she was still. The whole thing was a deep, almost black velveteen fabric.

"Oh boy," she sighed, talking to herself as the hybrid's words finally sank through the joy of having something that would, at least in some small way, not leave her so exposed.

"You think you have the presence of mind to… lie to a Queen?" the hybrid stressed.

Coming awake with a short cry, from a sleep that brought no rest, and trembling, where he was still a knotted ball in the corner of his cell, Michael was certain that someone had called for him.

When he tried to move, everything hurt. Squeezing his eyes closed tightly against the pain of it, he tried to unravel his arms and legs, and finally, in the frustration of it, he brought his head back, hard, against the bulkhead behind him.

He began to question if he had the strength for this; to rue his stupidity – arrogance, perhaps, and to look for a way out of the cell. He knew the Hive. If he could just find a way to be free of the cell.

Michael tried to stand, but the pain of it proved too much for him and he once more slid down the wall, this time almost snarling in anger at the Queen, the scientist, the Lanteans – even at himself.

Without the energy to maintain it, his anger faded rapidly, and a small chuckle escaped his throat at the irony of being here, locked in a prison, technically, of his own making.

She took a deep breath as she heard his footsteps returning along the corridor and then the tread of his boot inside the laboratory.

"Do not speak another word until you hear what I have to say," Todd cut her off, coming to where she was standing beside the cot.

"No, seriously, I—" she looked up at him, gesturing with one of her hands between them.

No sooner had she done so, than Todd's hand closed around her wrist. He spun her around, making a grab for her other hand in the process, and holding them both behind her back, in his left hand, he pushed her forward, pinning her against the wall, and slammed his right hand against it, right beside her head.

"I said 'do not speak,' woman," he all but roared. "When will you learn your place?"

His actions and the tone in his voice startled her – terrified her, and she struggled against him almost frantically.

He stepped closer, using his body weight to hold her in place. "I have not even begun to—"

"I trust you—" a new voice registered relief in Vega's thundering heart, and more so when the pressure from where Todd gripped her lessened.

"How dare you interrupt me!" he said furiously as he turned away from her a little. Her knees suddenly lacked the strength to support her and she all but toppled to the ground. "You can see I'm busy! Get out!"

"Forgive me," the sub-commander's voice was contrite, and moments later the door closed.

"Oh, masterful… that'll be sure and throw her off the trail," the hybrid said.

Vega looked up, still breathing hard, still trembling, but looking between the hybrid in the alcove, and Todd, who stood glowering at him. Before the hybrid could speak another word, Todd crossed the room, and activated the door to solidify, effectively sealing off the hybrid.

Then he turned back to Vega, and she shrank away when he took a step toward her. He stopped moving and held out a hand in her direction, she was sure it was meant to be placatory.

"My apologies," he said softly, "The Hive Sub-Commander followed me, our little… tryst had, of necessity, to be convincing."

"No, I could not," he began to walk toward her again, offering his hand to her, to help her to rise, and this time she took it, allowed him to steady her as she got to her feet. "I just said—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I heard you. Convincing… right?" She swallowed. "What… did you want to talk about?"

"We have avoided this topic of conversation for a long time, Alicia, but now time is upon us as the Queen expects you to be returned to her by morning," he said.

"Yes, I… I got that much, and…" she trailed off as he gestured toward the side of the cot.

She did sit, and a moment later so, too, did he. "Yeah, but can we, though?" she asked.

"I know what you're going to say, Todd. The Queen… sent me to you, so that we, well… you know." she blushed and couldn’t bring herself to say it.

She swallowed. He was so matter of fact about something so… intimate to her, that she couldn't help colouring from the tips of her ears to the soles of her feet. "Such a romantic," she joked, trying to cover her embarrassment.

"Romance is a human notion, Alicia Vega," he said softly, "The truth of the matter is that the Queen has sent you to me as a test of our loyalty to her. Should we have… engaged in such activities and then turned from our affections toward her—"

"Then I fail the test," he corrected her softly. "Humans have been known to develop affections for their Wraith masters – so it is not entirely unexpected by the Queen, and as long as it only enhances your loyalty to her…"

"If we don't… do this thing, then you fail the test again, rejecting her gift and probably so do I for not being… interesting enough of something," she said.

"Oh, spare me the Wraith chat up lines," she said fearfully. "You're the genius, what's the solution to this?"

"It would seem to me that the solution is obvious," he said quietly, "though I will not make that decision for you. Some Wraith… would. I will not. It must be your choice and I expect you to be honest with me."

She looked away, and after a moment couldn't help but chuckle, as the thoughts, the swirling thoughts and feelings knotted in confusion inside of her - fear, and curiosity, and the undeniable need for comfort all at war with the absurdity of the situation.

His face crinkled into a frown, and his eyes narrowed a little in a semblance of upset. "You wound me."

"Todd, I'm sorry, I just…" she trailed off, looking away again. She stared into the middle distance of the laboratory, as if she would find the answers there; would suddenly work out what to tell him and how. After she had not answered him for what seemed many long minutes, he reached for her, took her chin carefully in his fingers and brought her gaze back to his face. She swallowed, "I'm scared, Todd."

"I don't know what to believe, what to think, I—" she sighed. "I will confess to being curious. Wondering what it's like for the Wraith, but—"

"It is her way, the way she chooses to manage her Hive," he answered, "but you are changing the subject, and we have little time left to decide."

"And what if I can't?" she asked him, covering the back of his hand where he still held her chin with her own cold fingers. "What if I can't make that decision?"

"Then we have only one option available to us," he said, "Because otherwise… the Queen will kill you."

The memories continued to surface in Michael's mind as he tried to move past them, find his way past them, to connect with the Hive itself; to find some way to free himself from the predicament.

Vega flinched as Todd's hands settled on her shoulders, and he swept her loose hair aside. Behind her he leaned closer, and she jumped again as she felt his breath against the side of her cheek.

"Yes, but," she whimpered a little as his right hand moved across the top of her chest, the warmed metal scraping slightly against her skin. "Why like this?"

"Wraith males will always first approach a female in this way," he said softly, "If we are to create the proper illusion for the Queen…"

"Mn… Todd, look," she shook with each breath as he tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck to him, "Why don't we j—"

"Because you… are not certain, Alicia," he said and his lips brushed her neck as he spoke.

Michael sighed. Afterwards it had been swift and almost brutal, but even so she had given to him everything he had asked of her, in word or thought. Her every action had been to please him, even to the last, as he had turned them again, pinned her beneath him and with a roar at the fulfilment of his own pleasure, thrust his feeding hand on her and taken deep. But something…

"One day… Milla, yes. One day…" he whispered into the darkness of the cell, knowing then that she would not release him from his cell.

"So, the girl finally succumbed to your Wraith charms," the hybrid said as Todd returned the door to its opened state.

"If you do not watch your tongue, I will close it again," Todd warned him. He ignored any further comment the hybrid might have been about to make, feeling satisfaction at the fact that in a few short moments, this particularly smug individual would have that smugness wiped from his face when he saw the state of his master.

As if the thought reminded him of the arrangements he had made, he went to the workbench and began to load the latest set of results into the computer, and the slides into the microscope. He did not necessarily believe that the Abomination would help him willingly, but thought perhaps, by now, he would have softened enough to be willing to accept a bribe.

While he waited for the guards to bring the renegade scientist to the laboratory, he took some time to consider what he already knew from the analysis of his last failure.

As before, the retrovirus in his serum had reactivated the cellular development of the Wraith cells which had used the proteins and amino acid strings to replicate their entire helixes onto the human DNA strands. However, like the last time, once that process had completed, instead of stabilising as they should – as was the desired result at least – the newly created cellular enzymes had begun to completely destroy the chromosomal bonds on a molecular level. The result had been nothing but a pool of almost primordial hybrid soup.

He sighed, running the possible adjustments he could make through his head until he heard a scuffle by the door. He looked up in time to see two of the drones supporting the Abomination between them. Mentally he waved them away and watched as the Abomination swayed unsteadily.

In spite of the antagonism he felt toward his former rival, he couldn't help but feel a certain degree of empathy, remembering his time as a captive of the Genii.

The abomination made no move to sit. Nor did he even seem to register that he was being spoken to. He just stood, staring ahead not quite blankly. His expression was sullen.

"Come now," Todd said lightly, almost congenially. "We can… be of assistance to each other. I cannot imagine that you have been treated to many comforts."

Still the Abomination did not speak. This time, however, he began to move his eyes around the room. Todd did not pressure him – gave him the time to take it in. Finally, he felt the Abomination's eyes on him.

The tangential leap took Todd by surprise. He blinked and, looking at the Abomination, frowned deeply.

"No," he said, "though, if you cooperate I am certain that I could use my influence to secure certain… comforts for you."

"Of course," Todd answered, gesturing toward the microscope. "While you and I have always been… rivals, and you are a prisoner on this Hive, that does not change the fact that yours is one of the most gifted scientific minds I have ever encountered."

The Abomination looked Todd straight in the eyes. Todd thought he saw an incredible weariness in the dull pain burning there.

"I wouldn't exactly say… needed," Todd said, denying the truthful assertion. "I'm more than a little aware that you have a certain expertise in my current line of enquiry and I thought—"

"It really would be in your best interests," Todd said darkly, and once more gestured to the microscope.

Moving painfully slowly, the Abomination approached the workbench. Todd looked him over as he did. Aside from the injuries that he, himself, had given to the other – and he recognised them very well – he saw the raw redness on the side of his neck, no doubt from the energy rod Wraith used from time to time on their most belligerent of prisoners and runners. As the Abomination raised his hands, to rest his fingertips against the workbench, Todd saw the cuts and abrasions the restraints had caused around both wrists.

He was pulled from his evaluation of the Abomination's condition by the realisation that he was staring at him, waiting.

Sighing, the Abomination leaned down to look into the eyepieces. The change in attitude must have unbalanced him because he staggered slightly and Todd reached out, reflexively, to capture his elbow and steady him before he could bring the equipment down on top of them both.

The Abomination turned his head and glared at him until he released his hold, and then leaned down once more to examine the loaded slide.

Michael felt almost comfortable as he operated the equipment to slowly focus, and then magnify the sample. Almost. He let out a long, slow breath as the image slowly resolved itself into something painfully familiar.

He saw the frayed edges of the primary bond between the chromosomes and the evidence that the Wraith template had failed to anneal to what remained of the T7 chromosomal key. He could give the scientist a solution for that particular part of the problem, but it wouldn't change the fact that the Wraith template itself was clearly not strong enough to support the mutation.

His belly knotted with something approaching fear. If the scientist had already used the Queen's genetic material…

"I…" The question obviously caught the scientist off guard. "One of the sub-commanders."

Michael let out a long, slow sigh. While relief flooded through him at the news that it had been a mere sub-commander's DNA that had been used as the template in which to carry the retrovirus, he could not believe that the scientist could be so stupid. It was almost as if he did not want the experiment to succeed.

"What's your point?" the scientist asked. He sounded confused, only underlining Michael's opinion of his ability and intentions.

Todd growled at what he knew was a deliberate jibe at his ability. He almost backhanded the already injured creature, raised his hand to do so and then stopped. He noticed the Abomination was staring in the direction of the alcoves that held his two remaining hybrid soldiers. Did he feel sorrow for their plight?

Slowly he lowered his hand, and following the direction of his gaze, said, "It was obviously not a problem you encountered."

The Abomination slowly turned his head, looking with contempt in his eyes toward Todd. He did not, however, comment on what the Wraith had said.

"If you have no intention of answering my questions, I will have you returned to your cell and leave you to the mercy of your jailers," he snapped.

"How do I prevent the cellular degradation," Todd demanded angrily. "How can I force the Wraith and Human DNA to anneal? What am I missing?"

"When the solution evades you, return to the basic functions of the problem and solve each issue one at a time," the Abomination lectured quietly.

Finally pushed beyond the limits of his patience, Todd lashed out, sending the Abomination half way across the laboratory to land in a crumpled heap beside the furthest alcove. Only a moment later, two drones appeared in the doorway.

"Take him back to his cell," Todd snapped, and without hesitation they picked up the stunned prisoner and began to drag him away.

"This is the third settlement we've had ask us for help in as many days," Sheppard said as he walked with Ronon into the conference room. "Woolsey has to listen this time."

"I wouldn't be too sure on that," Keller said as she swept past the two of them to take her place.

"He's pulled my medical teams off three of the worlds hardest hit by the modified Hoffan plague."

"I'll sort this," Sheppard said, holding up a pointed finger toward Keller. Then he turned, heading for the door and almost walked into the brooding mountain that was Professor Varnerin.

"Shall we, gentlemen?" Varnerin smiled cheerlessly and took his place beside Keller.

"Colonel Sheppard?" Woolsey invited Sheppard to start by briefing everyone on the current intelligence they had received as they and the other teams travelled off world.

"No," Sheppard said, "first of all, I'm telling you you're making a huge mistake pulling in those medical teams. Our doctors are all that stand between those people and an excruciatingly painful death."

"I'm sorry, but, in light of the current and expected escalating conflicts with the Wraith, the IOA has initiating a new policy: immediate recall of all base medical personnel. From now on, Doctor Keller and her people will be focussing entirely on the health concerns of this city. We need to prioritise." Woolsey said.

Sheppard shuddered, the conversation all too familiar. He couldn't help but glance at Rodney, see him much older, reciting words very similar to those Woolsey now spoke.

"Face it, Doctor, you've overextended yourself with all these humanitarian efforts and your continued attempts to find an antidote for the Hoffan drug, not to mention trying to find a way to reverse Major Lorne's hybridisation when you've already told us that it was not possible," Woolsey said, "You need to refocus your attention back to the medical needs of this base and its personnel."

"That means, Colonel, that in Professor Varnerin's opinion, Major Lorne's mental state is a major security risk to this base, and as such I have no choice but to have him confined." Woolsey said.

"No, you can't do that, I won't let you," Keller snapped. "The man needs medical attention and—"

"The man is a Human-Wraith hybrid under the control of a very dangerous sociopath," Varnerin corrected her. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but there's no other choice."

"There's every other choice," Keller told him, standing up in anger, and Sheppard couldn't help but admire her for speaking out. "If we get out there, find this bastard and make him tell us how to undo this; send our doctors and our nurses out there to see to the care of the people he's hurting – people are dying out there!"

"I know," Woolsey said, "and, believe me, if I thought there was anything we could do about it, I would authorise it, but no. For the time being, my decision stands. Please sit down, Doctor Keller."

"What about him?" Woolsey asked. "From all the reports you've given lately, it seems as if we've succeeded in weakening him to the point where he's been forced to pull out of many of his locations; go to ground. Perhaps we've even seen the last of him."

"That's a dangerous assumption to make," Sheppard said. "Start thinking like that and it's just the time he's going to walk right up to our doorstep and bite us on the ass."

"Michael knows the defensive capability of this base and our ships, we think it's highly unlikely, especially in his current, weakened state—"

"—that he will launch an unprovoked attack. If he is still out there, he's far too busy defending against the Wraith," Woolsey finished.

"Which brings me to my point that the Elder Hive is gaining greater dominance among the Wraith," Sheppard said.

"Wait a minute," McKay interrupted, looking at Sheppard with a frown on his face. "Elder Hive? There you go with that naming thing again."

"Several teams returning from off world have reported that, in certain areas, the Wraith have resumed culling," Ronon reported, "Previously they were being kept busy either by Michael's army—"

"But," McKay cut in, getting up from his seat to activate the schematic. "Our long range sensors are showing that, from time to time a small cluster, maybe two or three Hive ships, come together and one of those ships is always the 'Mother-of-all-Hive-ships."

"We can only speculate," Sheppard said, ignoring McKay, "that whoever is on that Hive is forming some kind of… network and—"

"Let me spell it out for you, Prof," Sheppard said. "Imagine a regular Hive like… a little tiny sailing boat. Now think of the Elder Hive as… say, an aircraft carrier, or a destroyer." He drew a small circle and a huge circle onto the scratchpad in front of his place. "Faced with size and, no doubt, firepower, you're going to tell me it's not a case of the smaller being dominated by the larger?"

"In light of which," Woolsey interjected, "The directive from the IOA, to see first to the safety of this base, makes even greater sense."

"So that's it, then?" Ronon growled, "We're supposed to just stand back and let whoever it is commanding that Hive just take over the rest of the galaxy?"

"For the time being, until we receive any compelling evidence to suggest we should do otherwise," Woolsey said, "that's exactly what we're going to do."

"One of the Wraith," Woolsey explained. "Colonel Sheppard and his team have had… dealings with him from time to time."

Sheppard shrugged, uncomfortable under the gaze. "Not really," he said, "so long as you remember that you can't really trust him as far as you could throw him – no."

Sheppard waved his hand dismissively. "We don't have time for a history lesson, Prof, sorry. Key point right now is: he gave us some data."

"Maybe," she said. "I'm still trying to identify the amino acid chain so that we can understand what he's telling us."

"Is beyond your help," Woolsey asserted. "Meanwhile, Colonel Sheppard, I'd like you and your team to start on those some of those reports I'm missing."

"Reports?" Sheppard said incredulously. "I can't believe you're confining us to base when there are so many worlds out there crying out for our help."

"And those reports may well pinpoint exactly where our help and resources would be better off targeted," Woolsey said. "No one is confining you anywhere."

"Fine then," Sheppard said. "Our military involvement, in my opinion, is better targeted on providing support for Doctor Keller's research into curing Lorne and helping Beckett." He glared at Woolsey, almost wishing he would argue. When he didn't, Sheppard concluded, "We need to find Michael."

Vega winced slightly as the Queen carefully ran the pads of her fingers over her wrist, visibly bruised as it was from the tightness of Todd's grasp against her as he had pinned her against the laboratory wall. She tried to be still as the Queen circled her, sometimes touching, but mostly only running her eyes over the marks and bruises that she and Todd had so painstakingly created.

She shivered. It had been so clinical, so calculated a deception. Yet now she began to doubt her own ability to maintain the lie. She knew that if she couldn't, if the Queen discovered the obfuscation, then she would be dead before she could blink, and so, probably, would Todd.

As the Queen continued to circle her, leaning in closer to breathe in deeply, smelling the air around her, almost animalistic in her manner of welcome at Vega's return, Vega began to wonder if it would have been safer, would have been so terrible a thing to acquiesce to her curiosity; to submit herself to Todd.

Vega trembled as the Queen laid her cool hand against the burning mark on the sensitive side of her neck.

At the memory of it she felt her nerves sensitise, a warmth buzzing low in her belly, her breath caught and she almost moaned as the Queen pushed at the memory… as strong as it was, and as troubling… As the Queen's mind left hers, Vega gasped. She felt tears rising – frightened by the Queen's interest and by her own reaction to the thought.

"I… tried only to please you." Vega stammered, her fear real even if the words were a lie.

"I trust your mood is much improved," the Queen purred as she turned to face the Abomination. She ran her eyes over him, looking for the evidence of her Commander's hand against him. She chuckled at the sullen expression and walked to him where he stood, immobile, in the centre of her chamber. "Perhaps not," she continued and ran her hand over his shoulders as she moved behind him. He still did not move. "You look tired," she purred seductively, "You should rest."

Slowly, still behind him, she trailed her left hand from his shoulder, down over his chest. A slow, needful hiss bubbled inside her at the lingering taste of the girl's desire, still fresh in her mind. The hiss became a growl as the Abomination caught her wrist and pulled her hand away from him.

She lashed out against his restraining grasp with the blades of her right hand and with a small cry he let go.

The weight of the remembered pain; of a Wraith rejected by his Queen, drew anguish of an intense and almost human nature from deep inside of him; conflicted with the anger of her ingratitude for everything he had done for her, given to her, every service.

"You sent me to a lesser Queen, on a failing Hive – to nothing!" his tone almost appealed for contradiction.

"It was only ever meant to be a temporary measure," she said and took a step forward. He backed up.

"Stop calling me that!" Anger flared inside of him, deep and scalding, like the touch of the energy rod against his neck. She had sent him away and the inferior Queen into whose service he was pressed, by time and circumstance, had undervalued him, used him – all but murdered him, and now this? He gritted his teeth as he cried, "I won't let you use me any more!"

"What I did was for the good of the Wraith. You were to bring them to me – unite us," she growled at him. "The failure was yours, not mine."

"You sent me as a lamb to slaughter, knowing that the Queens would not come to heel; to keep yourself safe from the war with the Ancients!"

She reached for him and pure, wild reflex made him block her incoming hand. He pushed it aside before he lashed out in turn, landing a surprisingly hard punch against her face. With surprise on his side, fuelled by the last vestiges of the strength of his anger, he sent her reeling backwards to fall to the chamber floor.

Even as she landed, the vice of her mind gripped him, stealing control, holding him immobile again as she found her feet and flew at him. She landed three crushing blows against his face and chest before the drones reached her side and she stepped away.

As he approached the room where the Commander worked to carry out the Queen's orders, Todd could tell that the Abomination had tried to stifle the scream, but still the sound of it cut through him, chilling Todd's every sensibility.

He paused in the doorway, taking in the scene. The Abomination was suspended by one arm from a chain that linked through the bulkhead. His shirt had been torn from his body, exposing him to their torture. His feet barely touched the floor, hyper extending his shoulder. One hand, his right, was free of the restraint, but held in the grip of the Hive Commander's hands. The Abomination struggled, but stood little chance against the strength of the healthy Wraith.

Fighting for breath, fighting the Wraith, Michael barely noticed the scientist standing in the doorway. Nausea swirled in his belly. It weakened his legs still more, increasing the ache in his left shoulder as it had to take his weight. Still he would not submit; admit his grave error at striking the Queen.

Agony blossomed, sharp and deep, as the Commander finally twisted one of the fingers of his right hand. The sound of cracking bone was drowned by the scream he failed to hold inside. The whiteness of the pain stole his vision as the Commander ground the broken bones together, and at the same time, a sub-commander gleefully pressed an energy rod against the extended side of his body.

"Wait." the word was a balm that took away the intensity of the pain, allowed the whiteness to recede to a dull ache. He took a shuddering, gasping breath and opened his eyes.

The scientist walked toward him slowly, looking up and down his body, his eyes lingering on the mess of injuries that Michael knew he had, though he could not bring himself to see. Defiantly Michael met his eyes. Did he think that just because they had him, chained and vulnerable – tortured – that he would cooperate; answer his questions?

"The Hoffan protein anneals to the rhesus factor carried in human blood chemistry. Tell me how it can be forced to disintegrate, anneal to another carrier that can be flushed from the human system?"

So, the scientist was seeking to cure the humans, allowing the Wraith to feed again. He could not help the slightly insane mirth from rising in him; bubbling out of him. The scientist frowned, transmitting anger with every part of him.

"How can we use this knowledge to create a vaccine to prevent the proteins from attacking Wraith physiology?" the scientist raised his voice against the rasping, humourless laughter coming from Michael's throat. "Answer me!"

As abruptly as the laughter began, it stopped cold, and that cold became anger that raced through his veins, banished the fear that only moments ago had threatened to overwhelm him.

As if they were the only two in the room, Michael looked him straight in the eye as fierce and icy as he had ever been and said softly, but with a deadly edge, "The humans… have a phrase. I'm certain you are familiar with it." He gave the barest of pauses, before he quoted, "Go to hell."

The Wraith scientist narrowed his eyes, pure trembling rage burning visibly in their slitted yellow orbs. "Finish it," he ordered the Commander, turning on his heel and storming away.

The burning pain against his side, the white agony that burst in on every nerve, and the acute and indescribable grinding that reached into the depths of his gut as one by one, the Hive Commander broke and twisted his fingers, stole every ounce of control he possessed. He could not but cry out. There was no help for it – and in the midst of it, as he began to slide toward the mercy of unconsciousness, he fought, and failed to keep in place the mental safeguard he had so carefully erected.

It had been a restless day. Nothing Teyla could do would settle her and as the day wore on, she grew more and more tired, until finally there was nothing to do but sleep. Her terrible exhaustion drew her quickly into a deep, but fitful sleep, full of whispers and half remembered images until quite some time in the night…

As consciousness and pain possessed him again, awareness of his cell floor returning, the air chilled his already trembling body. He cried out for Teyla, a desperate appeal. He knew he was in shock, knew the dangers and tried to force his body to cooperate, to sit up, to find those tattered shreds of strength and wind them around himself again.

He could not allow himself to reach for her again nor to call for her. He could not allow his pain to endanger her and everything he had worked for.

Ignoring the further pain that movement brought him, he forced himself to sit, to lean against the wall, and from the rough, frayed blanket, tore several strips using his teeth and his one good hand. Then stealing himself against renewed nausea and the agony to come, began to straighten and bind the broken fingers of his right hand.

Teyla came awake, gasping, the edge of a cry still almost real in her ears. Her heart pounded and tears of uncertainty came to her eyes. She sat up, leaned against the wall behind the low bed and drew the blanket around her suddenly shivering form. What did it mean? What truth was her mind seeking to bring her such a fearful dream?

Her new-won freedom was both a blessing and a curse for Vega. She took more than a few wrong turns in the long corridors between the rest chamber assigned to the Queen's handmaidens, and Todd's laboratory.

A matter of urgency he had said in the message. She worried at what it might be. She also worried at seeing him again after the confusing rush of desire that had surfaced in her as she had thought of Todd at her neck when she returned to the Queen.

Perhaps it had been the Queen's desires then, that had invaded her mind and body. If what Todd had said was true. As needful as the Queen appeared, she would have, most likely, found Vega's memory very arousing. She sighed – sounded like an excuse. There was a word for situations as this one that she experienced now. If the Queen was not the cause, then it must be that simply because he had kept her safe, so far, she had affixed her feelings onto him.

"Come inside." Todd's voice startled her. "I was beginning to wonder if you had received my message."

"A warning," he murmured, turning away from the equipment on the workbench to face her.

"Wait here," he said urgently as he began to move toward the door. As he passed her he put an almost gentle hand onto her shoulder. "There is something I must attend to, but I will return shortly."

The worry of it soon faded as she investigated the things she could see on the workbench. The vials contained various coloured fluids. There were cultures growing in dishes and slides that had been prepared for viewing under the microscope.

Standing on tiptoes, she tried to make sense of the sample that was currently on display. She could not understand. It reminded her of dusty doughnuts and, no doctor, she sighed and began to draw away; to look elsewhere.

"About ti—" she began, thinking it was Todd, returned. She stopped as soon as she saw one of the Hive sub-commanders. "I… he…"

The Wraith just stared at her. It was either a hungry or lascivious expression she thought he wore.

With barely another moment's pause, he rushed at her and she began to wonder if the Queen had sent him; wonder what she had discovered.

She backed away as far as she could go, catching the stools and throwing them down between them. Scant protection, as the sub-commander simply bat them aside, as if they were of no consequence. Soon she had nowhere left to go.

Roaring in satisfaction, the Wraith thrust his hand against her chest, slamming her back against the bulkhead wall. The action and the unmistakable bite of his feeding hand drew a scream from her, and she lashed out, trying to defend herself even as she knew it was pointless. He far outmatched her in strength.

The scream was a soprano counterpoint to the second voice, raised in a roar of anger, before the Wraith sub-commander appeared to fly backwards away from her, and there was Todd, standing between her and the Wraith, who even now was struggling to rise.

Trembling she reached for Todd's arm and he drew her in to his side, where she unashamedly nestled against the warm leather of his coat.

Keeping Vega close, feeling the way she clung to him, and finding it a curious reaction, he turned his gaze to the sub-commander.

He was struggling to breathe and clearly in pain. Obviously the woman remained a danger to Wraith.

"Help… me…" the sub-commander gasped, reaching out to Todd. At the same time, Todd felt his weakening mind reaching for the collective consciousness in warning. He could not allow that.

Quickly pushing the trembling woman away from his side, he crossed the laboratory in very few strides and came to one knee beside his fellow Wraith.

"You… sa—" the sub-commander began, before, almost mercifully, Todd snapped his neck.

"There was nothing I could do for him," he said. "For Wraith, the effects of the Hoffan drug are swift and painful."

"You're saying," Vega said slowly, her voice horrified, "that I did that to him?"

Todd climbed to his feet and came to gently take her hand in his, righting one of the stools and guiding her toward it.

"Do not let it concern you, Alicia," he said gently, and began to reach for one of the vials on the bench and a clean piece of gauze. "He should not have tried to feed on you. I also am at fault. I should not have left you alone. I apologise."

"No, it's all right," she said as she watched him tip some of the liquid from the vial onto the gauze. "I can't expect you to babysit me every second of the day. What was it anyway?"

"It turned out to be nothing," he said, and as carefully as he could, he began to clean the area now bleeding from the touch of the Wraith's hand.

"It is an astringent," he answered, "very effective as an antiseptic, and for stopping bleeding."

"No shit!" she said, and he raised his eyebrow at her. "You were going to warn me about something?"

He nodded slowly, "I have learned that your companion handmaiden is to be given to the Hive Commander. If she survives, she will have much influence over our followers aboard the Hive. You should be careful."

"Yes," he said, finishing with the first aid to her hand-burned chest. "You should go and rest while you are able. Even though he was unable to feed, you have still suffered trauma."

He watched as she left the laboratory and sighed softly. It was a dangerous game he played, all sides against the middle. After a moment he stood and went to take blood and tissue samples from the dead Wraith, before summoning two drones to quietly dispose of the body. Even before they had arrived, he was hard at work on the analysis.

Varnerin stood in the shadowed corner of the brig watching the figure standing in the centre of the holding cell. Lorne hadn't moved in as long as he had been there. Varnerin took out his pocket watch to check the interval of time. It had been some twenty minutes.

He raised his eyebrows and took a step forward, a storm cloud moving into the light. It changed nothing. Lorne remained perfectly still, staring straight ahead, breathing calmly. He appeared almost to be sleeping with his eyes open.

"I was alarmed when Richard first told me that you had been… how shall we call it?" Varnerin said at last. "Infected?"

He expected the hybrid Lorne to turn and face him; to at least acknowledge his presence as he spoke. He did nothing.

"Everyone else here thinks that Michael did this to you as a… humanitarian gesture; to save your life."

"You know that Doctor Keller is vehemently opposed to you being here – in the brig, I mean." Varnerin kept his voice as calm and neutral as he could, giving the creature in front of him nothing to react to except the words.

"You were right to bring me here," Lorne said. His voice held no trace of emotion, one way or another, to being locked in the cell. His words were as dispassionate as his posture. "I represent a serious security risk to Atlantis."

"What makes you think I did?" Lorne asked, his head tilting just the slightest little bit to the side.

"Jennifer still thinks that she can find a cure for this," Varnerin pressed. Lorne turned first his eyes, unblinking, and then his head to face Varnerin at last. The Storm Crow was momentarily taken aback by the intensity of the threat in that simple movement. "She insists that if we find Michael; find his research even—"

"This state of being is not a disease," Lorne said, and though the voice was calm, there was a hint of something like anger beneath the surface of the words.

"Ah," Varnerin smiled coldly. "At last a sign of life. So, who am I speaking to?"

Lorne turned and took several paces toward the equidistant, horizontal bars that made the cell.

Varnerin turned his head back over his shoulder to the marine standing guard by the door, and ordered, "Open it."

As the force field began to deactivate from the top down, Lorne took a step backwards. Varnerin stepped forward, trying to gain dominance and to be the first thing Lorne saw as the cell opened.

"But you do feel him, don't you?" he said chillingly as he stepped inside the open cell. "Michael, I mean. It's in my head. Make it stop. That's what you were talking about, isn't it?"

"You don't remember brandishing a scalpel against the doctor to make her tend to Teyla's injuri—?"

"Why is that?" Varnerin asked harshly. "Perhaps you don't remember kidnapping Richard in order to escape the city?"

With no warning, and moving surprisingly quickly for one of his size, Varnerin thrust his hand forward and caught Lorne completely unaware, discharging the taser against the side of his neck. Though Lorne jerked with the electro-shock, and pain was evident in his eyes, he made no sound.

"Every time you lie to me you will receive more of the same," Varnerin said, and then pulled the device away from Lorne.

"I wasn't trying to escape Atlantis," Lorne repeated. Varnerin frowned, and raised the taser again. "Teyla… I had to get her out of the city. It isn't safe for her here any more."

"No one understands," Lorne answered. "There are people here that wish her harm."

Lorne shook his head, and a moment later when he had still made no answer, Varnerin thrust forward and shocked him again.

"I asked you a question," the professor rumbled before he pulled the device away.

"She must not come to harm." Lorne repeated when he could speak. Still he sidestepped the question that Varnerin really wished to have answered. The professor raised his arm again, ready to bring the taser to the hybrid Lorne's neck again.

Lorne lashed out. He blocked the incoming weapon with a crushing blow to Varnerin's elbow that forced him to open his hand. The taser went flying across the cell to bounce harmlessly against one of the corner posts. In the next moment, the hybrid-former-Atlantis officer struck out and grabbed Varnerin by the throat, force marched the man backward and slammed him once against the bars at the side of the cell before lifting him off the ground. It was a surprising feat for a man of Lorne's size against one as big as the professor.

"Atlantis' days are numbered. I can promise you that," Lorne said through gritted teeth, his pale, hybrid eyes burning with anger for just a split second, before the stun beam from the guard's stunner hit him twice in quick succession, and he fell to the ground.

Varnerin landed hard, but managed to keep his feet, pulled down the front of his jacket to set himself right, and looked down on the unconscious hybrid. He took a deep breath, trying to appear unruffled. There would be plenty of time to break the creature and discover all he wished to know about the hybrid's master once his equipment was properly installed.

Halling had been reluctant, at first, to allow Teyla to re-enter the meditation, but as she had explained her feelings to him and as her distress had mounted at his continued refusal, he had softened and had finally relented.

The drug was as bitter as she remembered it, and this time she had to force her belly to accept it, lying down on her side and curling up. Unconsciously she mirrored the position in which Michael had appeared to her in her dream.

It was a long time before the drug took a hold and she was able to bring to focus the image in her mind, of Michael and of the room that had been her prison after the birth of her son.

She could feel the explosions that were striking the ground outside, and through the window the occasional bright flash showed brilliant against the darkness. Teyla was afraid.

The sound of the door latch lifting, and then the door scraping against the floor of the room, pulled her eyes away from her fearful watch through the thick, frosted windows. She looked up sullenly as the door opened, expecting Michael. Instead she gasped in surprise as Kanaan came in.

"Kanaan," she said, and in her mind she harboured a hope that perhaps he had come to bring her from this place of clinical coldness, and rusted walls.

"Stay where you are," he told her. "You must rest as much as necessary in case we are forced to leave quickly."

"We can leave now, Kanaan," she said, and started to reach for the side of the blanket that covered her. "Take me to where he is keeping our son, and the three of us can leave together. My friends can help you, they—"

"Your friends are the cause of all this," he said, and after pointedly closing the door, he gestured toward the windows. "They have led the Wraith too close to this position."

"Colonel Sheppard is here?" she asked excitedly. Hope stirred inside her. If the Colonel and the others had found her, it would not be long before she had freedom from this; had her son in her arms.

Kanaan shook his head as he walked toward the window. "The Lanteans were fooled into taking another direction, believing nothing here. They were never any concern." He turned to face her as the sob of disappointment burst out of her. "The Wraith—"

"Kanaan, please," she begged him. "You must find a way to contact them, to bring them back."

"You must stop this," he told her. "You must realise that this is your place now."

"No," she hiccupped. "That is not you speaking, Kanaan, that is Michael. Please listen to me—"

"He has gone to arrange a diversion for the Wraith. He will send our cruisers to try and draw them away. He will return soon." Kanaan told her without emotion, without registering what she was trying to say to him.

"I don't care about him!" she spat vehemently, though even as the words left her lips, she felt her belly twisting with the lie of it.

"Yes, Teyla, you do," Kanaan said, and turned to her again. "I know you. I have seen the two of you. You care, and it is right that you care. Yours will be a position of greatness. You—"

There was little warning… only a small, buzzing sound filled the air before the window pane exploded inward, shattered to impale Kanaan with shards of glass, and the faint crackle of energy – as from a Wraith stunner – fizzled around him from the small dart-like object embedded in the side of his neck.

She threw off the blanket and crossed the room as quickly as she could. Her belly sent painful cramps through her body, almost stealing the strength from her legs. She all but fell beside him, reached for him as his body began to strain for breath.

"Teyla," he gasped, his voice bubbling as though his lungs were filled with treacle. "Don't… don't…"

"Do not try to speak," she told him, and then turning her head she called over her shoulder, a desperate cry. "Help!"

She tried to reach for the object in his neck, but Kanaan's fingers gripped her arm.

"No," he said, "listen… Don't… don't worry… about— about the… child…"

"Sshh," she tried to soothe him, running her fingers through his hair. Her hand shook. "Please, Kanaan, save your strength. Our child—"

Gripping her as tightly as his failing strength would allow, he shook his head. "In… time," he took another bubbling breath, "…you… you will come… to realise—"

"Teyla," Michael's urgent cry made her turn her head so quickly that she almost overbalanced. "Move away from him. Now!"

She hadn't heard him open the door. She had been so focussed in her fear, in Kanaan's suffering.

"What did you do to him!" she growled at Michael, and ignoring the pain, her centre of balance still unsteady from the birth, she threw herself toward him, lashing out. Easily he caught her, spun her around and held her tightly, struggling against him, restrained so that she could not hurt herself.

"Teyla, listen to me," Michael said firmly, breathing out hard, in the way she knew he did when he was controlling his temper. "The device embedded in his neck is of Wraith design. It is a seeker, programmed to find specific DNA and loaded with enough toxin to kill everyone in this room who possesses that DNA. It will only be a matter of time before it works its way free of him. Don't fight me."

"How do you know?" She moaned, feeling the truth from him, even as her eyes drifted back to Kanaan, who had begun to shake with convulsions.

"I know because I designed them," he said, and she thought he sounded almost sorrowful, "a long time ago."

"There is nothing I can do," Michael told her, loosening his hold on her, "he is already—"

He let go of her then, and started toward Kanaan. "Do not come any closer until I tell you it is safe. When I do, I will need the silver case that is beneath the incubation chamber."

She wrapped her arms around herself as she watched him move toward Kanaan, quickly make a grab for the device and turning, slam it against the wall beneath the window to blunt the needle. Then drawing his weapon he threw it away from him, and aiming, fired a long burst of energy at the thing until it tumbled harmlessly to the floor. Only when all this was done, did he turn his attention to Kanaan.

"The case," he demanded. As quickly as she could, Teyla brought the case to him, and knelt beside Kanaan on the opposite side from Michael.

"There is nothing you can do. Rest. I will do what I can for him." Michael answered. She started to get up, but Michael suddenly caught her wrist, and when she looked at him, he met her gaze sadly. "Teyla, you must realise that it may already be too late."

"He tried to save him," she breathed, opening her eyes. Halling frowned at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Halling asked softly, helping her to sit up, and steadying her when she swayed. "Who tried to save whom?"

"Michael, to save Kanaan," she said. Halling's frown deepened. "The Wraith had found us, fired some kind of dart into the building that—" she stopped.

She sighed, "Michael said that the device the Wraith had fired into the room carried poison, and that there was enough to kill all three of us, but he had also said that it was programmed to search for a specific DNA. I can understand that Michael would have shared his own DNA with his hybrids, but… why would that put me in danger?"

"I cannot answer that question," Halling said sadly. "Perhaps whatever he had been… injecting into you, for the sake of the baby, also carried his DNA."

Teyla sighed at the mention of the baby. "Perhaps," she said softly. "Either way, Michael had tried, for my sake, to save Kanaan. It is some small thing to be thankful for."

"You really do believe you will find good in him," Halling observed, shaking his head. Teyla did not answer. She had already given reason enough for needing to do so… though it was not the only one.

McKay stopped and turned to face the psychologist. "You want to know why I'm pacing? I'll tell you why I'm pacing. I'm pacing because I'd laid all this to rest, put it to bed and here you go, dredging it up again, seemingly to satisfy your own morbid sense of curiosity. You get off on this kind of thing or something?"

"No need t—" Rodney was beside himself and started pacing again. "But that's exactly what this is, Professor. It's personal. You're asking me questions, technically, about my medical history and you're expecting me to be all 'up close and personal' with you. Well, newsflash, genius, I don't know you."

"I'm just another doctor," Varnerin purred, "like Keller. You'd talk to her, right?"

"Oh, believe me, you are nothing like Jennifer." McKay snapped. He paced for a while, until he realised that Varnerin was saying nothing. He turned to face the man again, and saw him watching, making notes on the pad in his black leather folder. "What's that? What are you…?"

"Teyla?" McKay blinked in confusion, "I thought this was supposed to be about me, she—"

"Forgive me," Varnerin said smoothly, "You wrote in your post mission report that you observed Teyla apparently enjoying freedom on Michael's cruiser, that she… shared what looked like an intimate moment with him. What does that mean exactly?"

"Look," McKay said, coming to perch on the edge of the chair opposite the psychologist. "I was… hurt. I'd undergone surgery at Michael's hands, was scared to death… though that doesn't leave this room…"

"Of course not, Rodney, everything that goes on in this room is confidential," Varnerin said.

"… so given all of the above, it's entirely possible that some of my… observations and interpretations may have been a little… off."

"What if they weren't?" Varnerin said. "How would that make you feel about Teyla?"

"All right," Sheppard's voice, sounding more than a little piqued, interrupted McKay as the door suddenly opened, in spite of being locked, and when McKay saw Zelenka standing behind Colonel Sheppard, he understood how. "This inquisition is over as of now."

"What is the meaning of this, Colonel Sheppard," Varnerin got to his feet, his face dark, especially as Sheppard stalked inside and faced off against the man.

"Until you can answer, to my satisfaction, the reason you used punitive interrogation methods against a former member of my command—"

"Don't lie, Professor," Sheppard snapped. "The marine guarding Lorne's cell reported your use of the taser."

"That man is a former member of my command who'll be treated properly, according to the articles of war laid down in the Geneva Convention, which prohibits the use of punitive interrogation."

"He used a taser on Lorne?" McKay asked, standing up and moving to Sheppard's side.

"Before Lorne finally defended himself, and pinned the bastard to the wall, yeah." He sighed. "The marine had to take him down with a stunner or our friend here would likely be throttled to death."

"The hybrid is dangerous," Varnerin said. "A security risk. He shouldn't be allowed to remain in the city."

"And believe me," McKay added, "Keeping him here is a whole lot safer than letting him go… anywhere else."

Todd let out another sigh as he watched the same disintegration happen in a blood sample taken from one of the hybrids and exposed to another modification he'd made to his serum.

"You realise of course he lied to you?" the hybrid from the first alcove moved to the limits of his restraints.

"But at the same time, he gave you the key," the hybrid said. "He doesn't ask questions that are not relevant. It's not his way."

Growling in irritation, Todd turned away from the microscope to face the hybrid. "If you have something to say, then stop wasting my time and say it."

"Why do you think he questioned which Wraith you'd used as a template?" the hybrid asked.

"He said he was questioning my method, he…" Todd trailed off, thinking, considering everything he knew; everything he had done.

"He was questioning your sanity more like," the hybrid said. "To use a mere sub-commander's DNA as the key to your work?"

Todd blinked. How could he have been so blind? "The DNA is not strong enough to complete the propagation of itself within the human cells. I need a stronger template."

"Why settle for stronger," the hybrid asked, but Todd was not listening. He had already made the necessary leap.

"I need to use the Queen's DNA," he purred softly. "Now all I need to do is acquire it."

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