Note: This particular tale is still a bit zany (Okay, okay... they're all a bit zany) as we were still figuring out who we were as characters. Also, it would seem we may be missing an adventure or two... *scratches head*
~ ~ ~
The room was still lying in darkness at the SSD HQ. The phone had stopped ringing now, but a new buzzer was sounding next to one of the consoles. It was radio system that had been installed when the SSD had formed and decided to set up headquarters on the mainland. It was a way for Atlantis to contact them when needed.
A TDP portal (Time Distortion/Delay Phenomenon) formed in a violent turning of clouds near the ceiling in the corner.
Phfoot! Fraggle had returned to the Pegasus system, through the phenomenon that only the SSD were capable of. As she stepped into the dimness, the room sensed her presence and powered up. Consoles sprang to life, and lights were switched on. She looked around to see if more of the gang were around, but as is the way with the TDP, timing arrivals together was quite unpredictable.
It was then that she noticed the computer screen blinking an urgent statement across its screen.
"Alert-SSD! Alert-SSD! Atlantis requires your help! Wraith have taken Rodney McKay and John Sheppard hostage on their ship. Please respond! Alert-SSD!"
"Oh crap!" Fraggle whispered, looking at the screen in disbelief. "How long have they been trying to get through to us?" It was then that she noticed the intermittent buzz of the radio system. As she reached for the receiver, she knew who was on the other side. It occurred to her that the voice in her head had never left from the last adventure. Surely she had gone mad? Nevertheless, it was there telling her that Weir was on the other end and that panic was all that was on her mind.
- - -
Quenderra halted suddenly in the midst of her drowsy shuffle towards her bed, suddenly wide awake. The sense that something bad, somewhere, was happening to someone important to her causing chills to run down her spine."Don't be silly," she murmured to herself. "Everyone--everything--is fine." But as she lay down in her bunk, a knot began to form in her stomach and the wheels in her head continued to turn... the feeling had never been wrong before.
Little did she know how right she was nor where the TDP would take her next.
- - -
Kass plopped down on her bed, the Keyboard of Truth (KoT) an arm's reach away. Closing her eyes, she wondered when the SSD would meet again, blissfully unaware of the ringing red phone.
- - -
The intent to carry out the threat was evident in the snarling tone of his voice, the evil look in his eye. The implications for McKay and Sheppard were obvious to all--they would lose them and become enemies. He shut down the communicator, watching the faces of the Atlantians disappear from the screen.
This Wraith did not want to suck the life from the two men, he had something much worse in store. He had heard about the experiments that the humans had performed on his kin, and he had the idea to do something similar. He figured that these humans would react differently and change their minds when their compassion for a fellow human was roused, especially two important to their mission in the Pegasus Galaxy. He's used experiments from humans and the Iratus to develop a serum that would mutate the two Lantians.
Into what? He did not quite know, as the other humans he had experimented on had either died or were comatose whilst locked in a horribly mutated body.But he was desperate enough to lose his prized subjects. If the Lantians did not hand over the location of earth, he was to be ripped limb from limb and thrown into the event horizon of the nearest stargate, to the core of a burning sun. So yes, McKay and Sheppard would be a loss if the experiment did go wrong, but his life depended on it now.
Back in Atlantis, Weir was tired and weary from trying to contact the SSD. She knew that the TDP couldn't be predicted--at least, not yet--and that the SSD were unable to get here any quicker. Her voice was hoarse, her eyes sore. Would they ever answer her? And if they did, would it be on time?
- - -
"Look I know this is an emergency Elizabeth, but I start nightshift back on earth in an hour, I have an early TDP arriving. The others will be here when they can. Don't worry." Fraggle put the receiver down, and shook her head. The TDP was howling above her, waiting to suck her back home. Just as the pull of the TDP grabbed hold of her, she noticed something. Another TDP was forming in the other corner of the room. Smiling to herself, Fraggle D let the forces rip her back through time and space to allow her to go to work...but not the work she wanted to go to... Phfoot!
- - -
After her TDP dropped Kass in a heaping lump on the floor with a thud, she glanced around and found the room empty. She saw the warning flashing on the screen and mentally cursed knowing what this was all about. She quickly geared up thanking her lucky stars that she had grabbed the Keyboard of Truth and a knife back on earth, as she went to power up the ship that would take them into battle.
- - -
"Oh, nonononono!" Quenderra murmured under her breath. "I can't just disappear in front of a bunch of people!" She got up from her spot on the bleachers and told her friends not to wait around for her. Hurrying through the crowd of people pressing their way into the large gymnasium, she made her way to the bathroom and entered one of the stalls. No sooner had she shut the door behind her than she was overtaken by the now-familiar light-headedness that came with transportation via the TDP.
"Okay, so who are we rescuing this time?" she wondered as she arrived at the headquarters. "Atlantis needs our help--ah! It's the actual team this time! S'pose it's best that way, since the actors actually believe it's a TV show. I'm still waiting for something to happen to Mallozzi, though." The blonde looked about the room. "Okay, TDP--take me where I need to go. Please... I really don't want to ride there in that Junker of a ship we have..."
- - -
PHfoot! Fraggle bounced into the middle of a cat fight, wondering what the hell was going on. Her eyes, bleary from lack of sleep, watched as Kass and Quenderra rolled about the floor, fighting about whether to use the TDP or the junk ship for the rescue. Quenderra was biting Kass' leg as Kass was throwing text at Quenderra’s head.
"RIGHT!" Fraggle roared, instantly getting their attention. "I have just finished a LONG nightshift, and I am in no mood to start patching up you two! Heads ship, tails TDP!" (throws coin into the air)
- - -
"Fine then," Quenderra relented as the coin landed heads for the third time (it was best out of 5), "but me or Fraggle drives."
"Why can't I drive?" Kass protested.
"Because when you drive, I can't tell the difference between the sense that something's happening to our people and the sinking feeling that we're about to crash. Admittedly, that has somewhat to do with the fact that the ship is about to fall apart anyway," Quen explained, "but you drive like my mom. Trust me when I say: that's frightening."
Fire flashed in Kass's eyes (she LIKED driving) as she stalked towards the blonde."Quen-der-RA!" she growled.
"And!" Quenderra continued quickly, backing away from the angered SSD agent. "AND you gotta do your thing with the Keyboard of Truth, right? In fact, that's the only thing I have against your driving, you try to do both at once. Driving and typing just doesn't work for you--it doesn't work for me, either. I rather think we'd be better able to help if we arrive in one piece, don't you? Truce??" Quenderra held up her arms in a defensive gesture as she awaited Kass' response.
"I will drive there, you drive back," Fraggle told Kass. "Is that fair?" Pleased, Kass nodded and let poor Quenderra by with a final glare.
- - -
The Junker, as Quen had named it, was indeed a pile of junk. Parts foraged from far around the galaxy, joined into one big lump of space flying metal design. The engines were a cool pair of ZK 5000's, scavenged from a nearby planet after the owner crashed and burned. The ZK 5000's were guaranteed to get you where you had to be in face distorting, neck breaking speed. But only if they had the fuel to run them.
"Eh? Did anyone think about filling her up? You know, a perpetual state of readiness.....?" The huge engines whirred and coughed, and refused to fire up. Fraggle's face got more and more red, there were little wisps of smoke trailing from her ears. She let loose a roar that frightened tiny animals from their homes up to 2 miles away."So that...will be...a no....then!"
"No fuel?! I think we have some stocked up somewhere in the HQ, don't we?" Quenderra asked. "Not that I want to take the ship, nor would I have foggiest idea where."
Refueling was not Fraggle's idea of fun. It took ages and was pretty disgusting. The fact that the engines ran on decaying compost and the saliva from a huge breath exploding, dinosaur-like creature from a neighboring planet left the fuel drums rather stinky and shiveringly horrible to go near. Once the ship was ready, a rather shaken and pale Fraggle fired up the powerful, but decaying craft, and took her out of the atmosphere and into the blackness of space."So where exactly are we going to look first? Weir sent through a video of what the ugly-butthead said, are there any clues as to where they are?"
Kass looked around as she typed. "No Fraggle I have no clue where we are going. Let me type up a few keywords and see if the trusty keyboard can locate that slimy scum." She typed furiously away at the keyboard narrowing the search to a four-planet radius that popped up on the blurry HUD of the ship. "Okay I have narrowed it to the space around these four planets. Two are near stargates and two are a rather long jaunt--more of a sprint for this Junker" Kass spoke with near certainty, "I am guessing that the jerk would go to one of the two planets that the stargate is a bit away so as not to be detected by any aerial recon teams."
"Okay," Fraggle said, "pick... that one." And the Junker made its way to the planet they hoped the Wraith was holding McKay and Sheppard. Just as they entered the atmosphere, the Junker began to rumble and shake, threatening to tear itself to bits."There is a ship above us, if we don’t get out of here we are toast."
It was then that the radio sparked up. "SSD ship, this is Sheppard, come in."
Kass looked at the radio in surprise, also hearing the voice echo in her ear forgetting she had brought com units for everyone this time and she quickly remembered and held them out to Fraggle and Quenderra.
"I figured we didn't want to get separated this time," she stated plainly, remembering the goo monster. Kass quickly scanned the console in front of her, locating the radio button, "I am opening a channel now," she stated for no particular reason as she hit the big 'RADIO' button. "Sheppard, this is Kassandra aboard the SSD Ship. If you are piloting that thing, please back off a little before you ruin our ship." She paused, waiting to see if it was Sheppard piloting the other unknown ship as she looked at Fraggle and Quenderra anxiously.
"Copy that, Kassandra, and its good to hear its you!" The larger ship moved away, allowing the Junker to settle into a more normal flight pattern.
"What is your situation Sheppard? Are you with McKay?" Fraggle asked.
"Yeah, he is here, too," came Sheppard's voice. "We just escaped and locked the weirdo in a room. But I don’t think it will hold too long."
"What?!" came the voice of McKay through the comm. "I thought you said you had taken care of him!"
"Settle down Rodney, I did take care of him."
"Oh, yes, for what? Ten minutes? Five minutes, hmm? In fact, why didn't you just let him fly the ship!"
"Okay guys," Fraggle interrupted. "Lets rendezvous and work out what to do next."
"Oh, Fraggle? You didn't happen to bring some power bars with you? I don't fully know what that big green idiot did, but I'm verging on hypoglycemia here."
"Yes, Rodney, I always have a stash on the Junker in case you ever grace us with your presence." Fraggle smiled to the others. "You say that the Wraith had done something to you. What has he done exactly?"
"Well, you're not gonna believe this......."
- - -
"What are you doing?" Quenderra hissed at her traveling companions, ignoring the explanation coming over the radio. "How do you know it's really them? And even if it is, we don't know what the wraith did to them! They could be brainwashed! It could be a trap! What good will it do if we get captured, too?!" The blonde glanced suspiciously out the front view screen at the ship above them. "I just--I have the feeling that something bad is happening or about to happen." She gazed at them pointedly, her expression clearly showing how right she believed herself to be...
"Okay, what do you suggest we do?" Fraggle asked, realizing that Quenderra was right. "I could go in, you two keep watch? Or do you have something in mind?" They watched through the front screen as the larger ship landed near theirs. Two figures were getting out."It sure looks like McKay and Sheppard. But what is that on Sheppard’s back?"
"Looks can be deceiving," Quenderra reminded them. "I say we go out there with stunners--shoot first, ask questions later."
Kass glanced between her traveling companions and the figures outside the other ship, "Okay you guys you take the stunners I got the Keyboard of Truth to back ya up. I don't know about you, but I just hope there aren't any of those stupid Iratus bugs around I HATE THOSE!"
"OK, lets go meet them." The three walked towards what appeared to be McKay and Sheppard, but Fraggle couldn't shake a growing feeling of dread. Quenderra was right to be suspicious, something was wrong. Sheppard walked over in his usual slow and confident gait, as Rodney followed, looking somewhat guarded.
"It's not very friendly to point those things at your friends," Sheppard drawled, pointing at the stunners.
"We have to be careful," Kassandra replied.
"Really. You have to be careful? And yet you fly through space in what can only be described as a collection of crumpled debris," said Rodney incredulously. Politely ignoring the statement, Fraggle proceeded to ask what happened to them. While Sheppard spoke about being on an away mission, then coming under attack and taken aboard the ship, Fraggle noted out of the corner of her eye that McKay was acting strangely.
"Rodney, what are you doing?" she asked, pointing the stunner at him.
"Fighting....it....warn you....." he struggled to speak. The SSD were becoming alarmed, it seemed as though McKay was growing, and Sheppard now had trouble speaking.
"Get away...you don't know...what they've done!"
"RUN!!" Fraggle hollered.
"We can't leave them here, like this!" Quenderra shouted.
"We can't help them like this either! RUN, NOW!!" When they got into the Junker and had closed the door, they watched as the two Atlantians made their way back into the big ship. "Get us out of here now," Fraggle growled.
Quenderra took the pilot's seat with a huff. "What?" Kassandra asked her, getting used to being able to tell when something was on the blonde's mind (she didn't always volunteer). She glanced back at them over her shoulder as the SSD Junker took to the air.
"We shouldn't have left them," her tone was terse, likely indicating that she was fighting to keep her words neutral. "Those are our people, I could feel it, but something is happening to them and it's only going to get worse. We should've stunned them, hog-tied them, and taken them back to Atlantis where Beckett could have a look at them. I just... I don't think we should've left them. I just hope..." She left the sentence unfinished, but others knew what she meant. They all hoped that they hadn't forfeited their only chance to save McKay and Sheppard.
"Well I don’t know about you two, but MY vote is that we go into orbit around the planet and I can use the Keyboard to change our crappy shield into a cloak and we can monitor them from there," Kass said as she looked between Fraggle and Quen as they moved the ship into orbit. Kass hopped up from her seat, going to the back of the compartment and plugging in the KoT and typing furiously away while muttering to herself. "You know when this is over we really need to get a new ship, ladies." She looked at the small blurry screen in front of her as she spoke with a unsure tone. "Okay, that should do it. Though, I am no brilliant astrophysicist, I think we are cloaked."
"I think you're right, Kass, we should be cloaked, now, but the Junker probably couldn't take a hit with a pebble," Quenderra said. "And we do need a new ship. Y'know, a Tardis would be nice, if we can come by one... Oh. That cannot be good! Fraggle, you completely filled the tanks, right?"
"Yes," Fraggle answered slowly. The blonde maneuvered the monitor so it was more clearly visible to her Scottish companion. "Then, why are we almost out?"
Kass typed furiously away at the KoT, glancing at the screens as she typed. "I think I found the problem," she said in an ominous tone. "Apparently, there was a small crack in the fuel tank. When Sheppard and McKay flew their ship so close to us, the pressure created forced the crack larger and the fuel has been draining into space, which means we are TOTALLY scre--" She was cut off as the Junker suddenly lurched downwards at an alarmingly fast pace towards the surface of the planet from which they had just come....
- - -
The others were so upset and angry with her for leaving McKay and Sheppard behind, that neither had noticed that Fraggle was hurting too, nevermind realize that she did it for a reason. She sat quietly, her mind rushing through countless ideas for a rescue, each one as useless as the next. Fraggle's reverie continued until she realized Quenderra was talking to her."What?"
"The fuel tanks are almost empty, I thought you filled them up?" Quenderra said accusingly. Fraggle sighed. This was not good. And if the others even began to suspect the danger they were in, they might not be so quick to get back to the fight."What's up with you anyway! The way you are acting is beginning to make me think you want to sabotage this mission." Quenderra’s blonde anger exploded. "How could you do that to them! To us! No one will ever trust us again!"
Kass looked at Fraggle as the ship hurtled toward the planet as she spoke in a strangely soft and reassuring tone. "Fraggle, I know you did this for a reason but we NEED you to concentrate here. We have to get out of this one alive!"
- - -
So, the Junker had finally succumbed to the war with gravity and tore through the atmosphere like a burning fireball. "Quick, concentrate on the TDP!!" shouted Fraggle above the screaming noise of tearing metal. The three were suddenly pulled from the crumbling ship and were placed safely on the planet's surface. "Oh CRAP!" Fraggle screamed!
Kass slowly opened her eyes and realized the throbbing against her arm came from clutching the Keyboard of Truth too tightly. Just as quickly, she realized that they were in a small dark cave with some kind of sticky gooey orbs hanging from the ceiling. "Uh, Fraggle, Quen... are those what I think they are?"
Fraggle's mind was a whirr of adrenaline fueled lightning, synapses firing quicker than normal to make her think and act quicker, to get them out of here safe and alive. "DONT LOOK AT THEM!" she screamed. Grabbing the others by the arms she physically dragged them from the cave. Her strength was borne of fear and desperation. The others tried to comprehend the situation, but it was lost on them. They had never seen these creatures before. 'If this is what that wraith was experimenting with,' Fraggle thought, 'McKay and Sheppard are in bigger trouble than we first realized.'
Kass looked at Fraggle and Quen, her mind racing, trying to come up with a plan to trap the creatures into the cave but finding none that would be feasible since the Junker was now officially toasted. "C4! We need some C4!" she screamed at Quen and Fraggle, desperately pounding at the KoT trying to work its magic into creating C4 as she ran.
All of a sudden, the KoT kicked into life, and a powerful beam of BOLD text fired from it to the hurtling doomed Junker. The fiery Junker stopped in the air, burning like a low lying sun, then began to move towards the cave. As they ran for cover, the Junker stopped above the cave then dropped with an almighty bang on top of it. The wave of heat from the wrecked Junker whooshed over them as they continued to run.
"Good thinking Kassandra, but we are not out of danger yet, not by a long shot," said the Scot.
"Alright, that’s enough!" Quenderra exclaimed, breathing heavily from exertion. "What the hell is going on, Fraggle? You can't expect us to keep on following you for no good reason!" Fraggle stopped in front of them, but did not turn around to face them. Her silence was as heavy as guilt as she tried to gather her thoughts and tell her friends what was going on.
Kass crossed her arms and looked at Fraggle's back, and she spoke a tad harshly, "FRAGGLEDRAGON, if you know something that will help us with this mission then you are obligated by the SSDC to tell us so that we may complete this mission objective." She looked at Quenderra whose blond head was nodding in vigorous agreement.
"That's right. We need to know." They looked back at Fraggle who slowly turned around to face them. "This is bigger than the last time," Quenderra continued. "There are fewer of us. If we're going to get through this, we NEED to communicate. All of us. Fraggle," she looked at the Scot, "you know what those things are, don't you?"
Fraggle drew a deep breath, then sat down heavily on the ground. She rubbed her head with shaking hands, then looked up at them."When you first came through the TDP, what happened? What did you feel, see, hear? Anything or nothing?"
Kass looked at Fraggle unsure what the TDP had to do with the mission but she answered anyway. "When I first came through the TDP I saw yours just leaving and the message on the screen and felt the KoT jabbing into my ribs from hugging it too tightly like I tend to do. I didn't hear anything, though. It was deathly silent until Quen came through and we started fighting over the Junker. Even when I was prepping the Junker, you could have heard a pin drop. It's like nothing I have ever experienced before--an other worldly calm. Since we have arrived here," she paused and gestured broadly around her at the barren planet before continuing, "I felt this sense of urgency and dread at what was awaiting us, though, I am not sure why. Maybe it was because I knew we'd be stuck here...or worse."
"So quiet you could hear a pin drop. I wish!" Fraggle said wistfully. "You have heard of the beings that live in the vacuum of space, the creatures that no one really notices? Well, in the wake of the TDP, dark matter, the thing known least about, is drawn nearer to our vision and mind. In this dark matter are other beings that live in such conditions that they have adapted to life in nothing. Of these creatures, there is a species of terrible evil. They are known as the Ghosts of Nothing. No one is meant to see them, and when they are seen, they are brought into our realm, and they cause havoc. I have been coming to this galaxy for some time using the TDP, my research and curiosity brought me here, but never had I ...." She fell silent for a moment, standing up and then pacing. "I....I heard the screaming before I saw them. I wish I had not heard them as now when I go through the TDP, it's all I hear. They...saw me first. I did not know what it was at first. It was like a dark shadow in the vortex. So, I.....I reached out my hand. One of them grabbed my arm and tried to pull me out. I fought so hard that I brought one with me instead, I threw it back out of the vortex and hoped that it had gone back to the dark matter. But I fear it did not, and now I am responsible for all of this. If only one came through we might have had a better chance. But since we have seen the nest, I believe another is here. I had heard of the Ghosts of Nothing, I researched their existence a few years ago. I know what they are capable of. If the wraith has been experimenting with these Ghosts, we may already have lost McKay and Sheppard. And it's all my fault."
Kass looked at Fraggle taking in all that had been said. Finally, after a long moment of silence, Kass piped up, "I have not heard of these Ghosts of Nothing, though, they do NOT sound like a creature that will be easy to defeat. Do we know if the containment device that was used for that energy creature is still around? If so we might be able to use it to capture the GoNs, and free Sheppard and McKay...."
Quenderra gazed at Fraggle, only half-listening to Kass. Goosebumps caused all the hairs along her arms to stand on end. "The shadows," she murmured, seemingly to herself at first, "a lingering darkness, a foreboding that never leaves the back of my mind. A constant, frantic hum that would be piercing shrieks if my brain was unable to reduce them to white noise. It's like a bad taste in my mouth, a never-ending knot in the pit of my stomach. An unnamable nightmare that stalks me in the day, like an apparition just visible in my peripheral vision... Just enough to drive one crazy and set them ill-at-ease. Right, Fraggle?"
Kass looked at Quenderra listening intently, "So, um, am I the only one of us who hasn't seen these creatures of nothing?"
Quenderra looked at Kass. "I haven't seen them," she said. "Only sensed their presence."
Kass looked at Quenderra with uncertainty, "I haven't even sensed them at all, ever. I feel kind of confused as to why not. Every time I enter the TDP, it is always so silent and quiet--not another soul or anything in any form in the TDP..." she trailed off suddenly pounding away at the KoT.
- - -
FFFRR!
"Ouch!" Something hit Fraggle in the face, drawing blood from her cheek."We need to get behind something. Rodney’s power bars are beginning to explode. There is so much energy in those things, they might take our heads off!" Cringing behind a massive tree as the edible bombs exploded around them, they became aware of something moving--a wraith running through the woodland, seemingly chased by something. It was the wraith from the message, and if he was still here, McKay and Sheppard would be close.
It was then that something occurred to Fraggle. She lifted her fold-to-fit laptop from her pocket and began to search. All of the data she had collected on the GoN and other species throughout her travels in the universe were stored in here. She whirred through the data as the explosions began to abate. Something did not add up. Then she found it.
"The Wraith is not the one who carried out the attack on the away team, it was the GoN all along. Here, look." An illustration of a GoN was followed by a detailed analysis of the creature. Highlighted was the sentence '...with the ability to control and take over, any intelligent form of life...' "You see, the Wraith is being controlled, too, just like McKay and Sheppard. Its the GoN that are doing this. But why?"
Kass realized she HAD seen one of them, but not in the TDP."That looks like Prog! Exact same except its a different colour!" She said.
"Prog? Who the hell is Prog?!"
"Prog was someone I met when I first came to the Pegasus galaxy after we saved David from the Spacey. He was the chef at the little cafe on P4125X. The food was lovely and the coffee gorgeous!" she said licking her lips. Puzzled, Fraggle turned the electronic page and showed Kass a new picture.
"Is this what Prog looked like?" A creature just like a GoN, except instead of shadow, he was light.
"Yes! That’s him!"
"Its a Ghost of Matter! Prog is a GoM! If anything is going to help, we need to find Prog!"
"But Prog is gone. No one knows where he went to. The Cafe shut down and he disappeared."
Quenderra was quiet throughout, and did not reveal the mist in her mind that was talking to her. You will all pay for what you have done... Her body seemed to slip out of her control, and she found herself trapped, viewing the world like an observer in her own body. From her position beside Fraggle, Quenderra suddenly plunged her elbow into the Scot's ribs, removing the KoT from Kass's grip a split second later. Tucking the keyboard under her arm, the blonde departed before her friends knew what was happening.
- - -
As Fraggle bent double, the breath pushed from her lungs in a violent grunt of pain, it occurred to her that Quenderra's shadow did not look quite right a she ran away from them. "We...have to ...get her!" Fraggle gasped.
"Are you ok!" Kassandra asked.
"I'm fine. Come on, we have to get her. She's been taken over."
"How do you know that?"
"Her shadow had wings. It was the same thing I saw on Sheppard’s back when he got out of the ship earlier. They may be able to hide inside people, but their shadows are always the same shape."
"Oh no. McKay, Sheppard, and now Quen?" Kassandra whispered. "We are now down to two. We will be lucky to get out of this alive. Quen has the KoT. Before they were evil killers, suckers of life and light. Now they are armed with the KoT, they could blow up planets, suns if they wanted." They went to run after Quenderra, but she disappeared within a billowing vortex."Oh no! They also have the use of the TDP too !!!!"
- - -
Quenderra's mind was in flux. Part of her wished to fight the presence that had taken control of her body, while another part craved the power. And power it was indeed! As an SSD agent, she had access to the TDP, combine that with the Keyboard of Truth and she would be unstoppable... if she surrendered everything she was to this shadow. Naturally, being able to sense them had made her a target, but that wasn't all... Fraggle wasn't responsible for the ghosts getting through, not entirely. 'I'll help you,' she told her possessor suddenly. 'I'll cooperate...'
- - -
There it was again. That voice in her head. It was telling Fraggle to reach out her mind. The world through her mind was a very different world than is normally seen. When she closed her eyes and concentrated on the world surrounding her, she saw the essence of the place. She could see the movements of time like fleeting spirits, the colour of people's minds and souls.
Since the voice started talking to her, it was much more clearer. She could more accurately understand what it really was she could see. Her breathing slowed down and she calmed to a stillness that frightened Kassandra. But she had seen this before and knew what it was Fraggle was doing. While Fraggle was lost in the mind realm, Kassandra would have to take care of them both.
Fraggle's sense of danger was less evident and her reactions more sluggish. But she had to make contact with Quenderra before she was lost. She could feel her moving around in vortex, she could feel her fight for dominance in her own body. She felt the fight being lost and the memory of what Quen had done. The betrayal of her colleague sent her instantly back to real time so fast she stumbled and fell to the ground. "It wasn't me!" she whispered.
- - -
Quenderra lingered back in the portion of her mind that was her own. That quiet place fortified against all the forces of hell.
'What are you doing?' her cautious self demanded.
'Quiet,' she mentally took a deep breath. 'Trust yourself.' Well was she aware of Fraggle's attempt to make contact and how quickly her colleague had retreated back to the visible reality.
'She thinks I'm a traitor,' she reflected sadly. 'But what other option do I have? I'm used to dabbling in multiple realms--I'm a writer. The ghost believes that I am in accord with it. I may yet beat this shadow at its own game. Oh, Fraggle! Kass, don't give up on us!' she silently pleaded. Her body emerged from the TDP yet again.
"Come," her voice commanded. McKay and Sheppard stood a short distance from her.
"Quenderra?" McKay questioned. 'So,' Quenderra's possessor mused, 'their hosts are still fighting back--the fools.'
"Come," she repeated. "This realm is ours..."
- - -
Prog, his real name Moropa, was himself a paradoxical creature. He should not be seen, and yet had been expelled from the Dark Matter realm for treason against the GoN to live in the seen world. He had been a spy of sorts, from the regulatory council set up by the GoM to stop the devastation caused by the dark entities of their species. He had been found out and tortured, then banished. Working in the Cafe as the only visible member of his species had helped him realize the enormity of the GoN threat. He knew that Fraggle did not know that he was the voice in her head. He knew that she did not even realize the real reason she had an a dragon alter ego, nor the fact she could see time and space when she closed her eyes. Once more he called on Fraggle, attempting to pull her back to the vortex to make contact with her.
A flicker passed over the faces of the two Atlantis team members before their minds were suppressed once more. "How did you get your host to submit so quickly?" Sheppard asked.
"Because I am smarter in my dealings with these mortals," Quenderra heard her own voice snap back at him. "She has agreed to assist us." A triumphant smile crossed her face.
"Maybe she's just, uh, weaker," McKay suggested.
"Do you take me for a fool?" her voice took on an ugly rasp. "Why would I choose someone weak?"
"Because she can sense us," they responded together."And you do not believe that is but an offshoot of a greater latent power?"
"Do you?" Sheppard looked dubious. Quenderra threw the keyboard against a nearby tree.
"Wh-what are you doing?" McKay demanded.
"My host has informed me that the one called Kassandra is the only one who can work the keyboard," she responded coldly. "No use carrying it around."
"And you believe her?"
"Are you questioning me?" there was no response. "We must continue, now." The TDP activated and they were sucked into it, leaving the fractured KoT behind...
- - -
It seemed as though the vortex was calling her, as if the TDP had a will of its own. "Kass, I think we need to go back into the TDP."
"To where? We don't know where anybody is!"
"I can't explain it, but something is telling me to go back into the vortex. If we are gonna rescue Quenderra and the others, then we gotta try anything that might help."
Kass was depressed, without her KoT she felt unarmed and vulnerable."Come on!" Fraggle called as she called up the TDP and jumped in.
- - -
Quenderra could feel herself slipping. She didn't know how many deceptions and half-truths she could get her possessor to believe. The SSD agent had tricked the ghost into abandoning the KoT, knowing she could not be trusted to keep it. Now she wish she had. Now, she wanted that advantage. Something else was happening to Quen. No longer was she merely a victim in her own body. The surge of power was intoxicating, appealing to a side of her that she had kept suppressed for years. It was from this shadow of her own being that her ability to sense when something bad was happening or about to happen arose. It was this part of her mind that had reached out to the darkness within the vortex of the TDP. 'I'm not a traitor,' she thought desperately, but it was no use. Too late did she remember that those who play with fire get burned. And with that, the Quenderra the SSD and everyone else had known was gone...
- - -
Kass followed Fraggle, forlornly wishing she had brought something other than the KoT with her. "Fraggle where are we going?" she asked as they traveled through the TDP. Kass knew that they had to act fast if they wished to save Quen and the others.
As soon as they had entered the vortex, Kassandra's question was answered. The vortex continued to billow far longer than usual. It felt as though they were being pulled apart by the forces surrounding them, but something kept them safe. The vortex suddenly stalled, and they were suspended within its walls. Face to face with a Ghost. Kassandra's sharp intake of breath reverberated within the walls, alerting Fraggle to the Ghost presence. Fraggle felt strangely composed as she stared at the Ghost. It just stared back, waiting for them to speak.
Kass squeezed her eyes shut even though she knew that it would not make the ghost disappear. "FRAGGLE, HELP ME!" she screamed, not knowing if it would do any good or if she was alone in this battle
"I know you," Fraggle stated. The voice that came back to them was like whispers in a haunted room.
"Yesss. You do."
"Say hello to your friend, Kass. This is Prog."
"Pleassse, Moropa isss my given name. I prefer to ussse it inssstead of Prog--an insssult gave to me by the GoN."
"How do I know you?"
"Put your hand to the wall and touch mine." Moropa said. When Fraggle's hand touched Moropa's, she winced in pain as electrical charges shot through her entire being. She watched as her arm began to glow, much the same as Moropa, who smiled at them.
Kass looked at Fraggle’s arm with a mixture of shock and amazement as she reached slowly towards the wall contacting it with the tips of her fingers feeling the tingles it sent through her. She spoke, not knowing what to say, "Moropa can you help us? Our friend Quenderra has been taken by the GoN, as have John Sheppard and Rodney McKay..." she trailed off desperately waiting for an answer that would be cut short by the TDP dropping them to the surface of a foreign planet...
- - -
Quenderra halted suddenly, getting confused looks from Sheppard and McKay. She looked up into the sky with an angry sneer."Moropa!!" she shrieked. He was meddling and she could sense it. She continued her forward motion. They must not fail.
Fraggle stood on the surface of the new planet with a new resolve. Fear and uncertainty was replaced by anger and confidence. Moropa did not tell her how she knew him, but his confidence, reassurance, and will for victory was so powerfully contagious. Even Kassandra looked more mean as she surveyed her surroundings. Fraggle closed her eyes and focused on the surroundings in her mind. She could see nothing. Nothing untowards in the vicinity at all.
'That’s strange, why would Moropa send us here if the was nothing to...' That’s when it hit her. There was nothing. No life at all in the vicinity. She knew from her research that the GoN had been known to use life energy as fuel. The very action of the conversion left nothing in its wake, a small vacuum within which the dark matter was contained. Because it was a vacuum, it was easily transported into the void that the GoN called home. People, animals, vegetation, anything that they could they would transform. But for what reason? What the hell did they need so much power for?
- - -
"Soon," the possessor of Quenderra's body told her companions, including Quenderra herself, "ALL our brothers and sisters shall be free! We will control the universe. And I, all of me, will be queen."
"You will keep that form?" McKay's possessor questioned. "If we get enough energy, you will not need to."
"Silence!" the ghost hissed, but the information had gotten out. The shadow did not want a partner. 'And what happens to me?' Quenderra demanded, a red hot rage surging within her. 'ANSWER! What happens to me?!'
- - -
Like an intense sound wave, the thoughts hit her, sending her reeling, dizzy and nauseous. 'What happens to ME?!' The terror in that single thought sent Fraggle's mind into overdrive, she began firing out thought waves uncontrollably. It was so powerful that Kassandra heard the thought in her mind also, she paled in shock.
"Quenderra!" Fraggle bolted.
Kassandra followed in Fraggle's wake, unsure of where they were headed but not wanting to waste any time that could be precious when it came to saving their friends. "QUENDERRA, WE'RE COMING!" she thought loudly.
- - -
The thoughts, the memories, they were coming back. She could feel them as they got closer to the GoN lair. *flashback* Fraggle sitting taking notes on a new species of creature found on a planet in the Orion galaxy. *flash* Whirl of wind drags her through TDP. *flash* Suspended in the vortex, surrounded by Ghosts. *flash* "Will you do this for us, Squirrel Dragon?" "Yes." *flashback ends*
- - -
"QUENDERRA, WE'RE COMING!" Quenderra sensed Kass mentally call out.
'Use me, will you?" she thought to herself, her anger growing exponentially. She might not have been the same Quenderra she was before, but she would not allow anyone to walk over her. 'FRAGGLE!!! KASSANDRA!!!! We're over here!! ...you can take over my body, but no one, NO ONE controls my mind!'
"What are you doing?" the GoN demanded. 'You need me,' Quenderra answered. 'But I don't need you!'
"Need you? MMMMWuhahahaha! You silly little thing! I am so powerful now, I can live without you here! Come my brethren, leave these bodies and convert them to energy so we may bring our brothers and sisters forth!"
- - -
Kass headed towards where Quenderra's thoughts guided them, hoping that it wasn't too late to save their friend from the ghosts.
Fraggle could sense it before she felt it. It was like a ripping through her mind. The closer they came to the lair, the more restless they became inside her. The lair was in sight, and the GoN were just leaving their hosts. Like shadows of souls, black figures tore from the bodies of Quenderra, McKay and Sheppard. As the shadows left, the three fell to the ground unconscious. The GoN gathered above the unmoving bodies, preparing for the conversion of energy.
Fraggle felt as if her feet had taken flight as her body was lifted violently into the air by the GoM inside her. They had seen the GoN leave the bodies, and would not allow harm to come to Fraggle's friends. She had allowed herself to become the vessel that transported them to this realm, and they would not forget it. The difference was that the GoM had no energy to leave Fraggle's body, so would have to use her to fight, or kill her and use her energy to free themselves. They were after all, the same species as the GoN, they had their dark side too. But over the years of intellectual thought and research, they had grown to understand the world outside their realm. In the beginning they would not have thought twice about killing this human to gain their freedom to fight, humans are just encased energy to them, batteries if you will. But their minds had evolved, they discovered that the "batteries" were alive, had their own thoughts and this made all of the difference.
The GoN also knew and understood this, but did not care. This was the fundamental difference between the GoN and the GoM. Compassion. They knew they would have to use Kassandra too, and had already invaded her body out of desperation. She was lifted through the air, completely unaware as to how it was happening. They were only sorry that the two SSD agents did not really know how dangerous and painful this would be for them.....
- - -
Kass glanced around as she hurtled through the air, the GoM controlling her body and movements. She looked at Fraggle and screamed, "You NEVER said there was flying involved in this adventure!" She clamped her eyes shut not wanting to witness the great battle that was about to ensue.
- - -
With the declaration that the GoN were about to be free, releasing hordes of creatures just like them, Quenderra suddenly came back to herself. What had she done? How could she have taken the side of evil? She had helped them...
'NOOO!!' she screamed desperately at her possessor. 'Take me, but leave the other two alone!' But she was ignored. The last thing she remembered was the feeling that something horrible was about to happen, and then with a sharp, sudden pain, everything went black...
- - -
This was it. The battle was here and now. Fraggle could see Sheppard rousing and trying to help McKay and Quenderra out of the way. She was glad that they seemed to be ok. Fraggle and Kassandra landed softly on the ground out of sight. The voice in her head told her to be prepared. It had explained that they would have to use some of her energy to break free from her body, to be able to attack the GoN. She was wary of this, but trusted them. The GoN had no idea that the GoM were here, but the leader spotted Fraggle and Kassandra, just as they were about to attack the three struggling friends. They turned now towards them, their high pitched screams sounding like an alarm. The GoM sparked energy from Kassandra first and left her body. She watched in pain as the three GoM lifted from out of her chest, rising into the air towards the GoN.
It was explosive and deafening. The GoM hit the GoN mid air, and waves of multicolored light broke from their injuries. The screams from both sides were painfully loud, and the GoM seemed to be winning. They fired what looked like tiny meteors from their outstretched hands, that pummeled the GoN unrelentlesly. One GoN completely disappeared in a massive burst of light. The leader of the GoN screamed in anger and shot back a huge attack that took out all three GoM.
Then the GoM inside Fraggle burst free, taking to the air like angry hornets. Fraggle and Kassandra ran towards the other three, pleased to see them all on their feet.The battle was exploding above them, the GoM were being slaughtered. Every time one was killed, the GoN used the energy to pull through another of their own kind. It was even numbers now, and the GoN leader noted that Moropa was no where to be seen. Where was he?
She noticed the humans smiling and jumping around on the ground and hated them. 'That one,' she thought, 'Moropa was inside her! He must still be there!' It flew down towards the humans unnoticed. They were all shaking hands and talking while watching the fight above. Fraggle went to shake McKay’s hand when her eyes closed in pain. It was in her mind, ferreting around in search of Moropa.
'You wont find him here. He is gone. And he is gonna rip you to pieces when he is ready!' Furious, the GoN began to scream inside Fraggle, attempting to break free. It found the energy and exploded from Fraggle with terrible force, returning to the battle above to look for Moropa. Everyone looked at Fraggle as she swayed and staggered.
"Fraggle?" McKay said quietly. Fraggle's world was torn apart, the only reason she survived the energy conversion at all was because Moropa had intervened at the last moment. But he could not stop her brain from taking the full brunt of the internal explosion. Her mind fractured into a million pieces, and Fraggle Dragon was gone. Without a sound and with unseeing eyes Fraggle fell backwards into oblivion...
- - -
Too late did Quenderra realize that the sick feeling in her stomach was separate from the disgust that she felt with herself.
"Fraggle!" she cried as the Scot suddenly fell backwards. She and Kass caught their falling colleague and the blonde's fingers automatically went to Fraggle's carotid artery. "Nothing!" she bowed her head. 'This is all my fault,' she thought, then straightened suddenly. 'And I'm going to fix it!'
Quenderra gently shifted Fraggle's weight entirely over to Kassandra. Rising to feet, she distanced herself from the scene of the battle still occurring overhead, though she no longer was aware of what was going on.
'A person can't go back on their own time line!' the logical part of her mind warned, but she reasoned, 'This is NOT our time line--it's not even our reality!' Quickly, she activated the TDP, the one thing that she had access to that could do what she wanted. She entered the vortex, thankful that the GoN were too busy fighting the GoM to notice the momentary opening. Her head felt as though it could explode as she concentrated on going back, just a little over a minute.
But she wasn't traveling to any time or any place--she was going to a place and time where she already was and the TDP was resistant. Never one to give up easily once her mind was made, she continued focusing on her objective. After seemingly hours, though more likely, it was mere seconds, the TDP deposited her where she wanted to be. Fraggle was just turning to shake McKay's hand. A glance upwards revealed that the GoN that had earlier possessed Quen was making its way towards the Scot. Quenderra ran forward, shoving Sheppard and McKay into the portal.
She grabbed Kass's shoulder, "Into the portal--all three of you!" Kass and her present self obeyed, but Fraggle hesitated. "Quickly!!" the blonde pushed her into the vortex a split second before it deactivated. Clutching her head, she sank to the ground, no longer caring what happened to her, but briefly musing that the human body probably wasn't meant for such a paradox...
- - -
It was then that Kass glanced around the TDP and realized that Quen was there with them. She looked confused and slightly disturbed, sure she was going nuts. "Wait, Quenderra, how can you be here and there?" she asked shakily.
While the vortex billowed around them, Fraggle questioned her own eyes. There had been two Quen's a moment ago. She had saw it but did not believe it. The TDP threw them out onto the planet's surface, about a mile away from the fight. Everyone looked to Quenderra except Fraggle, who was looking to the other Quenderra. She watched as the other one exploded into a burst of light, and disappeared. Quenderra was wondering why everyone was looking at her. She had no memory of what her other self had done, as it was another time line from her.
Quenderra began to feel self-conscious and even more disgusted with herself as everyone looked at her."What? ...did I miss something?"
Fraggle closed her eyes and entered the mind realm, determined to see more than she had before. All of the cosmos opened up to her, she could see everything. 'Go back,' she told herself. Looking back into the past was not easy, but she had done it before. She saw herself attacked, she saw herself fall to the ground dead. She saw Quenderra's brave sacrifice to save her and the others. Quenderra looked at Fraggle who was staring at her, smiling.
"Thanks." she said with great feeling, to Quenderra’s confusion.
Kass looked at Quenderra questioningly. "Um, I don’t know how to put this, so I'll be straight with you. A minute and a half ago we were over there," she paused and pointed off in the distance of the planets surface, "and there were two of you!"
"Two of me?" Quenderra's eyes were beginning to water and her lips trembled. Between confusion, exhaustion, and self-disappointment, she felt ready to cry, but she would not lose it in front of her friends. "And thanks for what?"
"Yeah, two of you," Kass replied simply looking at her friend's trembling lip, biting her own before speaking. "I think that somehow, you changed what happened...." she trailed off and looked at Fraggle.
Quenderra's and Kass's questioning looks were left hanging in the air as a massive explosion rocked the landscape. They all looked towards the noise to see that Moropa had finally entered the battle field. He had been collecting the energy that was being expended throughout the battle and he shone like a sun with the power.
'And he is gonna rip you to pieces when he is ready!' The words echoed in her mind. She knew it was her voice and that she had not spoken them in this timeline. But she smiled as she remembered what she had seen in her mind. Moropa roared at the Queen of the GoN, the wave of sound sending her tumbling through the air. He lifted his hand and all the remaining GoM scattered from the field. The force and magnitude of the power and light that left his hand was unquantifiable. The GoN shook with screams of rage as they watched their kin exploding from the beam as it swept the battlefield. The Queen was trying to gather the energy, trying to escape back into the other realm, but Moropa caught her in the blast. When all was over, the silence was deafening. The GoM were bleeding colorful light from wounds and still stood proud in front of Moropa.
"Thisss isss not a day of victory. Thisss isss a day of sssadnesss. They are ssstill our kin, and we murdered them, but let thisss be a lessson to them. It will not be tolerated." Moropa said.
'A day of sadness,' the words echoed in Quenderra's mind. A day of sadness it was, indeed!
'A day of sadness,' the words echoed in Kass' mind as she surveyed the surface of the planet, watching the GoM and Moropa slowly dissipate into the air as she looked over at her companions. "Can we go home now?" she asked quietly.
"Hmm, yes, well. While I fully appreciate the fact that you came here and saved us, the fact remains that the spaceship blew up and we have no way of getting home. Any ideas where we are exactly would also be great," McKay said in his usual sarcastic manner.
"Well, its not like they had time to seek out a stargate, Rodney, give them a chance!" Sheppard said.
"I am just worrying about how long I have before I fall into a hunger-induced coma!" McKay moaned.
Kass turned and glared at McKay, a little on edge knowing that without the Junker or the KoT they were possibly SOL. "You know what, McKay? I'm sorry that we were a little more concerned about saving your asses than we were about bringing our non-existent second ship or not blowing up the power bars or finding a stargate on this miserable planet. So why don’t you talk less and think more of a way to get out of here?" After a moment she turned and looked at Quenderra and Fraggle and spoke in a much less irritated tone, "Hey, Quen, any idea where you took the KoT? We could really use it right now to get us out of here..."
The first light that had shone in Quenderra's eyes since she'd been possessed by the ghost dawned upon her face."The Keyboard!" she said, almost laughing. "Yes--yes, I know exactly where it is! It might be a little cracked, but it should still work... at least well enough to get us out of here."
A look of relief swept over Kass' face as Quenderra spoke. "That’s great! Let's go get it, 'cause with now having to get a new ship, we wouldn't be able to get another keyboard-they are very hard to find you know!"
"Why can't we use the billowing, cloudy tunnel...thingy?" Sheppard asked as they made their way to where the KoT lay.
"We can use it, you can't. That’s the rules. Did you not think that it was a bit of a bumpy ride?" Fraggle asked.
"No kidding!" snuffed Rodney.
"That’s because you are not TDP agents. The phenomenon was trying to expel you both, almost ripped itself apart in trying to do so. But since it was a short journey it managed to hold. If we were trying that to get home, we would be floating in space right now."
Kass picked up the KoT that lay on the ground at the base of the tree at which Quenderra had chucked it when she disposed of it earlier. She typed in a few commands and got no response from the Keyboard. She quickly turned it over in her hands and looked at the hole with exposed sparking wires and sighed "Rodney, think you can fix this thing?"
McKay raised his eyes to the sky and back."You know, I am not called a genius for nothing!" he said as he took the broken keyboard and set to work.
- - -
"I must admit that this is possibly the most complicated thing I have ever worked on," McKay said distractedly.
"It works with a quantum regulator, I think that’s what broken," Kassandra said helpfully.
"Nevermind the fact that does not make any sense in the real world, does anyone actually have a spare quantum regulator?" McKay asked.
"Oh, yeah, Rodney. I keep one in my pocket just in case!" Sheppard laughed.
"Oh yes, very funny, except if we don’t have one, we don’t get home!" McKay said irritibly.
As Kass looked on over McKay's shoulder, watching him work on the Keyboard, an idea popped into her head."Wait! There is an backup quantum regulator over here," she paused and pointed to the area where the num pad would be. "Why not divert the power through the backup QR and power it that way?" she asked.
McKay paused for a moment, thinking. "That might just work," he said excitedly, quickly removing the cover of the keyboard and attempting to locate the backup Quantum Regulator(BQR). After a few minutes he located the BQR, and started the diversion process, "It doesn’t have much power but this should be enough," he said distractedly attaching the last connection and handing the keyboard off to Kassandra. She typed a few quick easy commands but after a moment nothing had happened.
"Uh, McKay, I thought you said this would work."
"I said it SHOULD work, not that it would. In case you haven't noticed, I am quite arrogant and think that all my ideas will work," he trailed off, glaring at Kassandra.
"Wait a bloody minute!" Fraggle said as she started to fumble about in her combat pockets. "It should be here....come on!" She said as she pulled her fold-to-fit laptop from her pocket."Here, what about this?" she said handing it to McKay. "I think I remember in the handbook, that the numerical pad in this was powered by a very small quantum regulator. Might not be big enough, but then again, it might?"
Kassandra's face suddenly brightened as she thought about what Fraggle had just said, "YES! That should do it. We will have to get a new fold-to-fit, but we can do that!" McKay took the FtF from Fraggle and quickly opened it, pulling out the mini QR and putting it into the Keyboard.
"Try that!" he said triumphantly a few moments later.
Kass took the keyboard and started typing commands and suddenly a box of power bars appeared and she looked at Fraggle. "I didn't realize your QR was capable of that! So, we need a ship right?" she asked.
- - -
McKay tried to hog all of the power bars, but lost the fight when everyone started to pull them from his laden arms. "Oh come on! How's a guy to live?" Rodney exclaimed as his prize load diminished. But it was only half-hearted, he was actually joking, in his own, sarcastic way. Kass hammered away at the KoT, writing all the data she felt they would need for the building of a new ship. Fraggle and Quen added their equations to the calculations, and soon it was time to press the Programme key. So what would it be? As sleek as a dart? As powerful as the Dadelus? Or as cool as an Goaul'd mothership? The new ship was about to be revealed...
As the ship slowly materialized from the things entered into the keyboard Kassandra cocked her head and studied the new ship. She looked at Fraggle and Quenderra watching their faces before looking back to the ship that looked remarkably similar to the Junker in which they had flown in on originally, though it was really much different with a more efficient power source, and more room inside."Uh, is that right Fraggle? I don’t know--it looks like the Junker to me..."
Fraggle burst out laughing at the looks on the others' faces. It was indeed the Junker: big and robust, powerful and beautiful! The difference was that the GoM had been watching and listening. They had to repay the SSD for all they had done. So when the Junker had been materializing, they made it so that the ship was virtually indestructible (wee bit of the good old Captain Scarlet!!!) and gave her a new shiny bodywork. The ship hovered feet from the ground, glistening like a newly launched passenger liner.
"Oh...MY...GOD!" Fraggle said as she stared back at the ship. "Its new ZK6000's! Oh, this baby is gonna FLY!!"(Fraggle's love of computer geekyness, was only equaled by her love of good looking machines with big engines.) They made their way onto the ship, McKay munching his power bars, Sheppard in his usual 'I don’t care' stride, Kassandra with a worried-about-this-ship look on her face.
Fraggle held a hand to Quenderra's arm, holding her back until the others had gone inside."I know that you went through a long journey of self discovery this time. I know the decisions you had to make. No matter what you think of yourself, no matter what you feel you did wrong, you came good in the end and that’s all that matters. If you were really THAT bad, you would have went the other way. Surely that counts for something?"
"But how do you know what I have been feeling?" Quenderra asked in shock.
Fraggle just turned and looked out into the barren landscape."Just know this. You did something for me today, something that you don’t even remember doing, but I do. And in my book, what you did... well, I am glad you are on the team. Thank you." With that, she turned and went aboard the ship.
- - -
Upon entering the ship, Kassandra had found a brand new Keyboard awaiting her and she immediately plugged it into one of the displays checking out the specifications for the new ship. She saw Fraggle enter the back of the ship and she spoke excitedly. "Fraggle! The fuel source for this thing is no longer that stinky icky gross monster goo! This must be the LE of the Junker complete with seats!" Kass surveyed the ship proudly and clung to her new KoT, though she would forever keep the old one as a reminder of the lesson which they had all learned that day.
Fraggle shuddered at the thought of the sticky monster goo fuel, and wondered what the hell would power the ZK6000's. She pulled up a schematic on the nearest viewer, and noticed that these were no normal ZK6000's. These were modified, to be powered by the TDP! The energy within the vortex, could be extracted and used as fuel whenever the TDP was called upon. This also enabled the ship to fly through the TDP, and of course, carry people in it that would not normally be allowed inside the vortex. (Hence the reason for the other seats!) As the ships massive engines powered up, all they had to do was wait on Quenderra to board the ship...
Kass looked out the back of the ship and studied Quenderra's figure standing there, but decided to leave her be for the moment, instead, more intent on finding out everything she could about the new ship since she had been charged with maintaining the 'fleet's' possessions. "Fraggle looks like we never need worry about running out of fuel again, doesn’t it? I am just amazed that we got the LE Junker, but in a way I'm going to miss that piece of space garbage!" she spoke with a note of sadness in her voice as memories of the old ship flooded her mind.
Quenderra stood gazing at the ship. "Well, we still have an SSD Junker," she murmured to herself, tears glistening in her eyes. She blinked several times, taking deep breaths to compose herself. Donning her best smile that no one who truly knew her ever bought but never questioned, she boarded the Junker, her decision made...
As the Junker rose from the ground and shot through the atmosphere, he crept out from behind the rock where he had been standing. He realized that the being acting as host would eventually break through the hold he had on him. Like is like, and the mental suppression would not last forever as both had the desire to feed and dominate. As the TDP tore an arc of light high in the sky, the King of the GoN watched with rage and hatred dripping in his mind.
"I will find you."
- - -
TO BE CONTINUED…
-
Attempted editing for optimal readability by Quenderra.
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