Evil Descends on Atlantis

~~~

The evening sky was a brilliant orange and red, silhouetting Atlantis in perfect black contrast. The sea swirled around the piers in a soothing rhythm, calm and beautiful.
All off-world teams had returned safely and the non-essential computers were being shut down for the night. People were milling around, settling down for a good night’s rest after a day of research and exploration as the night shift were starting coming on, looking over the day's reports and settling down to maintaining the city through the night.

The day was not quite over for Radek Zelenka, though, as he tried to mend a broken connection to part of the city’s main power system. An overload in the system had caused a power surge that resulted in some of the city being without power and as Rodney McKay was busy calculating a formula on a recent discovery, he was alone in a power room deep in the city.

The tablet PC was glowing in the dimness, the only light available in the small room. He was busy trying to replace and connect the melted and fused wires with new heavier gauge wiring, while cursing in his native Czech tongue as a spark from the cabling burnt the tips of his fingers.

“Zis is just crazy! Darknezz and electrizity--not a good combination!” A noise behind him made him jump, looking around in the dimness. Nothing. “And now I am hearing thingz!” he laughed to himself.

Returning to the matter at hand, he failed to notice the slight rippling in the air.

“Hloupý drátý! Nesnadný až k vidět je!” he said as he tried to grasp the wires in his sore fingers.
Something rustled behind him and he tried not to notice the sickening feeling of dread in his stomach. He felt something was not right and room's darkness had suddenly become oppressive. Knowing there was no one within two floors of his location, he began to panic a little.

“Ah, Rodney? Are you there?” he spoke into the communicator in his ear.

“Yes, Radek! I am here and rather busy! What is it? Don’t tell me you can not fix a simple wiring loom without my help!” came the brusque reply.

“Ah no. I waz just wondering if anyone else had been zent down here.”

“No, everyone is off for the night. It’s just you and me. Why?” Rodney never got his answer. A blood-curdling scream screeched through his ear-piece, turning his blood cold.

“Zelenka!” he shouted frantically. “Radek, come in!” By the time McKay had ran the distance to the dark room that Zelenka had been working in, he had been joined by a rather worried and disorientated Carson.

“Whit did Radek say?” Carson asked in a tired, just woken voice.

“Nothing, he just screamed!” They entered the room and found Zelenka lying supine on the floor. His eyes were opened and glazed, a look of terror on his face.

“Oh, God!” Carson said as he knelt beside Zelenka’s still body. “His pulse is thready and weak, he needs tae get tae the infirmary now!” A gash in Zelenka’s chest was bleeding, his blood beginning a small pool on the floor.

McKay spoke into his ear-piece, ignoring the fear that had suddenly invaded his body and voice.
“Emergency! Sheppard get to power room 3, Zelenka down!”

“Medical team to power room 3!” Carson called into his. “Crash cart and gurney required!” Zelenka’s glazed eyes continued to look at the terror that had attacked him.

- - -

Earth, Ohio, USA

"No..." a faint murmur broke through the silence of the surrounding darkness. Suddenly, Quenderra bolted upright in her bed, releasing a short series of blood-curdling screams. The door opened a moment later, light from the hallway revealing that the blankets had been kicked onto the floor.

"You alright?" Andrea, the RA, asked in concern. The blonde was breathing heavily, taking deep gulps of breath and turning on her lamp.

"Yeah," she gasped. "Yeah, I'm fine--just a nightmare."

"You sure?"

Quenderra nodded and Andrea closed the door. The bloned cradled her head in her hands. It was never just a nightmare... never.

- - -

The machines in the medical bay beeped and alarmed as Zelenka lay still on the stark white sheets, his dark red blood staining their pureness.

“What the hell happened?” Sheppard asked while rubbing an eye.

“He...he contacted me. Asked if…he was alone. Then, he just…screamed,” McKay stammered.

“It looks like a wraith attack. As if one tried to feed on him,” Sheppard said as he looked closer at Zelenka’s wound.

“Excuse me! Get the hell out of here! I’m trying to save his bloody life!” Carson said angrily at the intrusion of Zelenka’s privacy. Sheppard and McKay walked into the corridor as Weir ran up towards them.

“I just heard. How is he?”

“He's in pretty bad shape. Looks as though a wraith attacked him,” Sheppard answered through a badly timed yawn.

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about that. The internal sensors would have alerted us if a wraith was in Atlantis, but we've gotten nothing,” McKay said, breaking from his reverie.

“But we have been having problems with some of the systems. Perhaps the sensors were affected?” Weir suggested.

“No, no, no, no. The scanners are on a different power source, they would not have been affected by the power surge. Something else has to be going on.”

“Are you sure? I mean, that looks pretty-wraith like to me,” Sheppard said as he tried to look into the emergency bay.

“No. It is definitely not wraith. We would know.”

Carson came out of the bay, his eyes downcast in worry. “It look’s like he wis attacked by something with large teeth. That’s no wraith hand attack, that wis a bloody great mouth that bit him.”

“What? We have some kind of beast in the city that’s trying to eat people?” Sheppard said in shock.

“No, this didnae try to eat him. It would seem that it…consumed his energy and shut down his brain.”

“What?! How did it shut down his brain!” McKay asked in alarm.

“He has very little brain activity, seems as though his mental functions have been taken from him. The wound is not severe enough to account for the lack of brain activity, but still he has none. Whatever attacked him, seems to have taken his mind from him.”
“What? No! How can that be?!” McKay shouted, realizing that his friend might not come back from this.

Carson shook his head. “I wish I could tell yeh more, but at this point there is nothing to tell. I will conduct more tests and let yeh know if anything of importance comes up.”

- - -

The HQ was quiet and still. A TDP burst into life and deposited Quenderra in the room. She looked around to see if anyone else was there, but no one was, the place was in darkness.

“Ziggy?” she spoke to the stillness, looking at the computer.

<I am here.> the words on the screen said.

“Where are the others?”

<At home.>

“No one else came?”

<No one was called. Why did you come?>

“Oh, nothing really. Just a bad feeling.”

<Incoming TDP. Please move aside.> Another TDP burst into the room and a rather dishevelled Fraggle stepped forward.

“Did yeh see it? Did yeh feel it?” she stammered in confusion.

“I felt it. I think someone--Zelenka is hurt.”

“No! Did yeh see IT! The thing, the…” Fraggle was lost for words.

“What did you see?”

“Nothing. Neither in the mind realm, nor in any sense I have but I knew it was there. Nothing. But it is evil. I sensed that much. It was…”

The alarm on the console rang loudly. A call from Atlantis.

- - -

Teyla was lying in bed, trying to sleep. She had been training with Ronon all afternoon and she was exhausted. She had just turned on her side when she heard the rustling at the door. Turning to see what it was, she noticed a ripple in the air as if something was moving that she could not properly see. She let out a small yelp in fear that stuck in her throat as something smacked onto her chest.

The pain was excruciating, she could not breath. She could feel her body weaken and her mind become faint and hazy. The pain began to dull, but she was unsure if it was because she was becoming numb or because her mind was shutting down. She knew her mind was fading, blackness surrounded her vision as she stared at the nothing that attacked her. Suddenly she ceased to be there, her consciousness left her body without so much as a goodbye.

Teyla’s body lay there in the dark, waiting to be found as her lifeblood seeped onto the bed.

- - -

Goosebumps spread over Quenderra's appendages as a message came over the communication system.

"HQ, this is Atlantis, we have an emergency. Please respond."

<Shall I send a reply?> Ziggy asked.

"Nah, Z, we got it," Quenderra told him as Fraggle approached the microphone.

"Weir, this Fraggle, Quen and I are at here at HQ--what's the nature of your emergency?"

"Oh, thank god!" Weir's voice came over the radio. "Radek has been attacked by some unknown..." As she continued, Quenderra suddenly drew in a sharp breath, gripping the edge of the table for balance. A small shriek escaped her lips.

"Quen?" Fraggle immediately turned to her friend. "Are yeh alright, lass?"

"Teyla..." Quenderra gasped. "Check Teyla's quarters..."

- - -

Kass dropped onto the floor of HQ just in time to hear Weir's transmission coming in from Atlantis informing the SSD that there was some kind of creature on the loose in Atlantis.

When Quenderra’s voice had came through the com, Sheppard had jumped and ran from the room. He had a slightly queasy feeling in his stomach as he raced to Teyla’s quarters. The corridors seemed to be unending, stretching in front of him as he ran.

Finally, standing at the door, he yelled to Teyla to open the door. When no answer came, he knew that Quen had been right. He opened the door and rushed in to find Teyla lying on the bed, her eyes looking up with a soft glazed look. Blood had begun to congeal and he thought he might be too late. Checking for a pulse, he found one, although it was very weak.

Lifting her into his arms, he ran from the room towards the infirmary. He tried not to look at her--to look might make him stop and break down in shock. A medical had team met him halfway and helped to get her back to the medical bay.

“Same as Radek I’m afraid. Though she is a bit worse off having lost more blood,” Carson informed them a short time later.

“Can we see them?” McKay asked. Carson had let them and Sheppard and McKay looked sadly at the two people lying on the beds in front of them. Both were pale and hooked up to beeping machines. Their unfocused eyes looked up at the ceiling, as if looking into the distance at something that was not there.

- - -

“We don’t know what it is, we don’t know how many there are, and we have no idea of how it or they got here,” Weir shook her head as she spoke to the SSD.

“I need to see all where all of the off-world teams have been in the last 48 hours. Maybe I have researched there and have something in my data banks,” Fraggle said.

“Has McKay had any luck with re-calibrating the internal sensors?” Kass asked.

“He has been busy fixing the power cables that Radek had been working on, with a full combat unit I might add, and he has so far been unsuccessful with the scanners.” A cold chill filled the air as the door opened and a rather gaunt and tired McKay walked in.

“Well, that’s power restored to all of the city," he said, rubbing his head. “I have no idea how this thing can be moving undetected around the city. I have boosted the sensors as much as I can and it detects nothing but the usual reading.”

“Do you want to me to try rigging something with the KoT?” Kassandra asked.

“That’s not a bad idea, it could work.” Kass and McKay left to try it out.

“Have you found anything yet that might help us?" Weir asked hopefully, looking at Fraggle as she read the recent reports.

“Nothing yet. I haven’t came across anything unusual on any of these worlds,” she answered as she continued to read, “But I am only halfway through the reports, I may come across something, yet.”

The door opened again and a rather crestfallen Kass walked in. “It didn't work. The scanners held at the same level even with the KoT connected. McKay is off to try some other things in one of the scanner conduits, try and boost…”

“Oh!” Quen gripped the edge of the table, her eyes squeezed shut, and breathing in short gasps. Weir was shocked and jumped up, but Fraggle told her to hold back. Small beads of sweat trickled down Quen’s face and she began to shake. Fraggle had seen her friend go through this many times, but this time was far more intense than any time previous and she began to worry.

“Quen?” she asked quietly.

“Th-th-the main…corridor!” the blonde fell forward onto the table, gasping for air. Fraggle and Kass ran from the room, heading for the main corridor. She lay so still in the middle of the corridor that she looked like a discarded doll. Fraggle checked her pulse, finding a weak and thready thump under her fingers.

“Medical team to main corridor. Heightmeyer down,” Fraggle said into her com. “This is not good. We were just in the main corridor coming to your office and saw nothing!”

“Try and see if you can sense anything.” Quen said as she walked up behind the team, finally composed. Fraggle closed her eyes, concentrating on the mind realm. Atlantis had a deep red colour to it in the realm--not a good sign. She could see the shadows of people working in the city and saw the shifts in currents in the sea. Darkness seemed to be seeping towards her, as if night was nearly upon them. She watched in fascination as it crept slowly towards her. Odd, she thought, what is this?

Then she was engulfed in darkness, tightness around her head squeezing and crushing. She gasped for air, feeling she was choking and suddenly woke back in to the real world, stumbling and disorientated.

Kass grabbed her shoulders to steady her. “What! What did you see!”

“Nothing! Nothing!” Fraggle gasped, her eyes wide and wild, shocked from the experience. “Nothing to see, only darkness!”

“What did you sense?” Quen pushed.

“Minds! Many very powerful evil minds!”

- - -

Fraggle entered the bathroom, following the sound of short, gasping breaths. Yet another man down and Quenderra had fled all human contact. It had taken the Scot a little bit to find her.

The blonde was sitting on the floor in the most distant corner of the room, partially hidden from view, both hands fisted against her eyes. Fraggle sat down next to her and gently nudged her knee.

"Are yeh alright, lass?" she prodded.

"I can't do this," Quenderra whispered, flashbacks of Nadala and the GoN flickering across her mind. "Send me back." Fraggle had learned that Quenderra often wore composure like a protective shield. Also, she knew very few people were allowed to see her this way. More likely than not, the blonde found her inability to maintain composure as frightening as anything else.

"Yeh don' mean that," Fraggle hazarded a guess. "If yeh did, you'd already be gone. Talk to me." Quenderra pulled her hands from her face and allowed her head to rest on the wall.

"It's never been like this--never this strong," she replied as her breathing slowly calmed to normal. "It's not just a feeling in the pit of my stomach or a nagging at the back of my mind. It's more like this great... big hand squeezes down on my whole being and gives this mighty shake. I can't see or hear anything because my mind--my mind is filled with these flashes an-and sounds, screams, I've been having nightmares for over a week... Fraggle, I don't even dream, let alone have nightmares. You gotta promise me, if I start acting the least bit off..."

"I'll stun yer ass and lock ya in a holding cell," Fraggle promised.

"Thanks," Quen managed a weak smile. "Now, if only I could focus harder and sense it a little bit sooner, no one else would get hur..."

"Quen, yeh can't blame yerself, lass, it's not..." she trailed off when she realized she no longer being heard. Quenderra had her head bowed and both hands fisted in the hair at the base of neck, her knuckles turning white. Her breathing had stopped. "Quen?!" Fraggle raised the blonde's chin--her face was frozen in an expression of terror.

"Oh, god!" she finally let out a chocked sob.

"Whit? Who is this time?" Quenderra turned her head to look at her, all composure entirely lost as she trembled uncontrollable. "Quenderra?! C'mon--out with it, lass!"

Fraggle was staring at Quen, waiting for a reply, knowing how hard this was for her. Truth be told, whatever was in the city was having a similar effect on Fraggle herself. Never before had anything in the mind realm ever tried to harm her, or ever been able, too. The fact that there was nothing to see made it more terrifying.

“I… I..”

“QUEN!” Fraggle shook her hard on the shoulders to bring her back to her senses. “Who is it this time and where are they!”

Quen’s eyes were red and filled with hot tears, staring at Fraggle with a look of complete hopelessness. All she could do was point behind Fraggle. At first Fraggle thought that whatever it was, was behind her, but nothing was there. Her stomach churned as something occurred to her.

“Where’s Kassandra?” she asked herself more than Quen. “DAMN IT! WHERE IS KASS!” She shouted with such ferocity that Quen clamped her hands over her ears as the sound reverberated in the small room. She jumped to her feet and ran from the bathroom, her heart racing, an icy chill in her bones. She turned a corner and halted in her tracks so suddenly she almost fell forward onto the motionless body. Falling to her knees she felt for a pulse, her trembling fingers finding the weak thumping.

Kassandra looked as if she had sat down and leaned back on the wall and fell asleep. Her eyes were staring at the ceiling, the signs of blood under her clothes could be seen through series of punctures holes in the jacket. Fraggle’s mind was filled with a wave of loss, temporarily freezing her. She stared at Kass for a few long seconds, tears spilling from her eyes before she pressed the COM in her ear.

“Medical emergency in corridor 3...Kassandra is down,” she said absently.

“Fraggle?” Quen whispered behind her. She did not look or answer her immediately, studying the vacant stare of Kassandra’s eyes as if mesmerized.

“She is gone, too,” Fraggle said in a low monotone voice. “A brightness extinguished by the dark.” She rubbed her forehead as she held back the sobbing her heart wanted. A thunder of feet came down the corridor behind them as the medical team arrived and took Kassandra to the infirmary.

Weir was following, having been alerted by Carson, who awaited Kassandra at the medical bay. "We had only just split up, she was coming to find you…is she…?”

“The same as the others? Yes, she is,” Fraggle answered with a sudden change in her mood. She got to her feet and stared at the place where Kass had been. The tears were gone, the need to sob had been suppressed, and a stony look of anger covered her features. Quen was rather worried at the sudden change in her Scottish friend. The abruptness that her feelings had been hidden surprised her.

“You need to lock this place down now, confine everyone to their quarters and get as many armed military combat units patrolling these corridors as available,” Fraggle said in a level but forceful voice.

~~~

Four people in the space of 2 hours, Carson thought, shaking his head. He did not want to think about what would happen if this were not stopped. He replaced Radek’s saline drip and left to see Kassandra. He smiled as he entered her room, remembering the quiet and funny girl from previous missions. Then his smile faltered as he looked at her pale face and vacant staring eyes.

Carson’s big heart was troubled by all of what had happened. His caring compassionate character made this all the harder to deal with, but he dealt with it all the same, dividing up time to care for the fallen. He took vital sign recordings, then went to his office and sat down. He let his head loll back onto the top of the chair, wiping his tired eyes with his hands.

A soft rustling came behind him. He froze, listening intently. Was that someone getting up out of bed? “Better bloody not be!” he sighed, getting to his feet. He stopped and stared in front of him, staring at something and nothing at the same time. The air seemed to be disturbed, waving and rippling in front of him. The rustling was so close it was now loud. He could feel a soft breeze playing with his hair and he knew that he was no longer alone in his office.

Something thudded onto his chest so violently he thought it had gone right through him. The breath caught in his lungs and he teetered on his feet. His eyes were wide in pain and he could feel himself drifting away. He could hear a scream filling the room and he realized it was himself making the noise.

Then Carson’s mind was gone, his body falling to the floor, as the rippling air and rustling left the room.

~~~

The infirmary was becoming a place of desolate emotions. Now that Carson had joined the fallen, things were even more taxed at the medical wing.

“Its like a knife twisted in your heart,” Fraggle said, as she looked at Kassandra lying pale and still.

“Yeah, and you would know what that felt like?” McKay retorted, his mind somewhere else.

“Actually, Rodney, yes. Have you ever felt it? I think not or you would not be so off hand about it,” Fraggle sneered.

“You have had a knife in the heart?” he replied in a sarcastic tone.

“Not in the heart, obviously!” she said in a voice dripping with anger. “I was once knifed in the stomach, a painful reminder of a savage cult in the Andromeda galaxy. One of the most singular painful things I have experienced. And this feels almost as painful,” she added as she looked on the fallen.

Things were not going the way they usually did. The KoT and the FTF found no anomalies in Atlantis, and no one knew what to do. Fraggle was feeling it the most. She always felt in control no matter what the situation, but this had ran away from her and she was struggling to keep up.
Quen was doing her best to help her, sensing the turmoil in her friend's soul. But Fraggle continued to battle against the odds, trying to figure out what was happening.

“Have you had any joy modifying the internal sensors in any way?” the Scot asked, forgetting her anger as quick as a passing thought.

“No. I’m afraid not. The scanners detect nothing other than our own people. And a few sewer rat type vermin in the lower decks,” McKay said thankful in the change of subject.

“What about Z?” she asked Quenderra.

“He doesn't see anything wrong at all,” Quen replied with a shake of her head.

“Z? Who is Z?” McKay asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Quen’s new computer buddy. He does not like me much!” Fraggle said with humour that she did not feel.

“Tell me you did not name him after Quantum Leap’s palm held!” Sheppard said in jest.

“Actually, the palm held is just a remote conduit, and yes, I did,” Quenderra said, giving them a mock 'try-me' expression.

“I have had it for the night I’m afraid. I need to sleep or I will just melt into a useless state and be of no use to anyone,” Fraggle said with a yawn. The Scot bedded down in guest quarters, tired beyond belief. She thought about Kass and the others lying in the medical wing, her heart aching over the loss. She tried to think of ways to help, but her tired brain shut down into deep sleep moments after her head hit the pillow.

She was in a corridor of Atlantis, walking aimlessly down its dark length. She was aware of something behind her as she walked, but she did not turn round. Quenderra hovered in front of her, a look of fear on her face.

“Turn back, Fraggle, don't come this way!”

But she ignored the plea, knowing it was a dream. Her mind continued to wander and darkness invaded it. She tried to see what was within the darkness, sure that it was just a smoke screen for some entity. She batted her arms around, trying to swat the darkness away, to no avail. Something was in the darkness, peering at her. It was then that she felt the blow to her chest, an impact of such force that she cried out in pain. She gasped for breath and could see something rippling in the air in front of her...

As her mind seemed to fade, she jumped up in the bed, breathing hard and terrified at the dream she had just had. Her breathing was becoming more controlled when the COM she had left on the side table squeaked. She lifted it and put it to her ear.

“Fraggle, come in! Fraggle, Quen is down, come in!” Nothing had ever felt like this before. The blow to her emotions was like the world had just ended. She sat in the darkness, tears streaming down her face, feeling utterly alone in this, the biggest mission the SSD had ever been part of.

Fraggle made her way to the medical bay, her mind a fury of emotions. She stopped next to Quenderra’s bed, her eyes watering once more. Her friend lay there, her eyes staring at nothing, abject fear on her face tearing another hole in Fraggle’s heart. She reached out and stroked Quen’s arm, looking for a reaction that never showed. Jennifer Keller had taken over for Carson and was trying to help Fraggle calm her emotions.

“At least they are alive, we can help them,” she said.

“Help them, how?” Fraggle returned with venom. Keller just walked away, feeling incompetent in the face of such confusion. Fraggle stared at Quenderra, willing her to react to her attempt at waking her. Quenderra just stared at the ceiling. In all the missions, she had never felt so alone. She stood there, looking at her fallen comrades, wondering if there was any hope at all.

Keller was busy looking at reports, leaving Fraggle alone in Quenderra’s room. Fraggle noticed a rustling sound behind her.

“I’m sorry, none of this is you fault, Jennifer,” she said, thinking that Keller had came back into the room. Moments later, she realized this was not so as she turned to the silent space behind her, looking for what had made the noise.

Fraggle stared at the door, aware of something standing in the doorway. “Hello?” she said with mounting fear. Something was there, staring at her, she was sure. The air around her seemed to come alive as something came close to her. She felt the ragged breathing on her face, the feeling of terror intensifying.

“What are you?” she asked in defiance. Her chest exploded in a burst of pain as something had latched onto her like a massive leech. She stood on her toes as she tried to regain her balance from the blow. She could feel the draining of her being, dwindling to the most basic survival tactics of her brain.

Keller had entered the room to see Fraggle balanced on her toes, a look of sheer terror on her face, and watched as the SSD agent slid to the floor unconscious. She watched as a figure like rippling in the air walked past her, chilling her to the core.

Fraggle stared at the ceiling just like the others, fear and terror etched on her face.

~~~

“This is a mess! People are dropping throughout the city and we don’t know anything!” McKay said, looking at Weir.

“We do know something. Keller reported seeing a figure-shaped anomaly when Fraggle was attacked.”

“And what good does that do us?”

“Nothing, I suppose, but at least someone has seen something.”

“What exactly did Keller see?”

“Well, according to her report it was as if the air was rippling. She heard a rustling noise as it passed by her and it looked to be a bipedal shape. She did not actually see anything, just movement in the air that appeared as a moving shape.”

“Rippling and rustling… Hmmm,” McKay said. He stood up, his finger pointing in the air as if something had just occurred to him and left the room. Weir got up and followed him, hoping that he was on the brink of discovering something that would help them. McKay was typing on a keyboard, hammering the keys as he quickly wrote new commands into the system.

“What are you doing?” Weir asked him.

“Shh! Busy,” he replied.

Minutes passed in silence, then he began talking as he continued to type.

“It occurred to me that the rustling and rippling were perhaps indicative of some sort of shielding mechanism. I am re-calibrating the scanners to sweep the frequencies. It may take a while, as it needs to find the exact frequency to see through the shielding.”

“You think that things with personal cloaking devices are prowling the city?”

“It would explain why no one has seen anything. It would also explain what Keller saw and heard. If I am right, and I usually am, then this should show us anyone who is in the city.”

They both stared at the screen, watching the small blue circles of the individuals confined to quarters, but nothing else showed.

“I don’t understand. The sensors are looking in all frequencies, we should have found something!”

“Wait!” Weir said pointing to the screen. They both wore expressions of confusion as a small red circle suddenly appeared in a corridor in the south side of the city. It made its way to the nearest occupied room.

“But…but that’s impossible! They're transporting into Atlantis?!”

As they watched, another three red circles appeared in various parts of the city.

“We better get someone down there.”

“Sheppard, it's Weir. We need a team sent to the living quarters in…” she was abruptly cut off by the sound of John screaming in her earpiece. “JOHN!”

~~~

The medical bay was filling to capacity. Keller and the team were working long shifts trying to help the fallen. Keller was doing a final round, passing by Zelenka’s bed, when she heard him murmuring in his sleep..

“…potřebovat až k spravit drátý…” A whisper came from Radek. “…musit ne dovolit Rodney… cenit JÁ am neoprávněný…”

“What is he saying?” one of the nurses asked. “He keeps repeating it over.”

“It doesn't matter, the fact that he is talking at all is a very good sign! Get an EEG done now!”

~~~

The eerie stillness held within the understaffed infirmary, despite the fact it was filled to capacity. Keller had gone to share the results of Radek's latest EEG with Weir, leaving the Medical Ward under the care of Dr. Cole and the others.

A marine or two was located at every door--as though that did any good. Dr. Cole had just finished taking vitals on Fraggle and Col. Sheppard before returning to her desk. She sat there for moment, trying to make sense of everything that was happening, but the answer still eluded her. As she glanced at her desk, she suddenly stiffened--something had been moved. The stuff on her desk never moved, only the folders and the reports did, but nonetheless something was amiss. She couldn't put a finger on it...

Noticing a smudge on her mirror, she grabbed a tissue to clean it off. That is when she realized what was the matter. The blonde-haired doctor stared in shock before jumping to her feet and running to the bathroom. Why had nobody noticed? It seemed so obvious to her--the mirrors no longer reflected... they were all black.

~~~

“So what was he saying?” McKay asked Keller.

“Em, it translated to roughly saying… 'need to mend wires, must not let Rodney think I am incompetent',” Keller answered, looking away from McKay’s reddening face. He felt like someone had rubbed salt in an open wound. It was bad enough that he treated him the way he did, but he did like him! Radek’s words hung in the air, McKay stared at the floor.

“But as I was saying, the fact that he is speaking is the good news. He has repeated it over and over as if his mind has stuck where it is. Nevertheless, there is brain activity where there was almost none before.”

“And what of the others?” Weir asked.

“No signs from the others, their condition remains the same.”

Keller’s COM burst in her ear.

“Okay, on my way,” she said, gathering up her reports.

“Everything alright?”

“Radek is more active and saying something else.” The others followed her as she left the room.

~~~

Radek’s arms were flailing around, attempting to shield him from some unknown horror.

“…Zjevení!… Zjevení ar napadnění!…” he repeated as he fought an unseen assailant.

“What does that mean?” Weir asked.

“I will get the…”

“Wait! He has said Zjeveni many times in the past. Always annoyed me! It means wraith, he is talking about the wraith!”

"What about the wraith?"

"I don't know what else he is saying..."

Then Dr Cole came bursting through the door behind them, her face ashen white.

“Have you seen the mirrors! Have you seen them!” she demanded.

“Calm down, Sarah, what are you talking about?”

“The mirrors! There are no reflections, they are just black!”

“Oh great, just what we need! As if things are not spooky enough around here!” McKay said as he walked towards the nearest mirror. “The mirrors are fine, look!” he said pointing at his reflection. Cole slowly stepped up to the mirror, peering at the blackness it held.

“NO! There is nothing! Nothing!” she shouted. Keller took her by the shoulders and made her stand still long enough to talk to her.

“Sarah, there is nothing wrong with the mirrors! What…” she noticed the burst blood vessels in the other doctors eyes, the way her pupils were rather larger than they should be. “What happened? Sarah..?”

“Something in the door way…the air was rippling…that sound! Then, my head--the pain!”
Keller helped Cole to the nearest bed and made her lay down. It did not take much, as Cole proceeded to pass out. A thought in her head, Keller pulled the curtains and opened the other doctor’s shirt. There were puncture marks on her chest like the others but not as deep, as if whatever had hit her had been interrupted in what it was doing.

“Hang on, let me check something,” said McKay, approaching a computer. “Yes, there was an intruder in the medical bay when we picked them up on the scanners. They all transported back out when the scanners detected them. I wondered if they knew they had been seen.”

“So it was disturbed. That would explain why Sarah was not as badly effected.”

“ZEJEVENI! WRAITH!” Zelenka was becoming more alert, his eyes were beginning to focus on things, people, and his fear was back in a great rush. “Wraith are attacking!" he shouted.

McKay ran over to him, trying to calm him down. “Radek! It’s okay, there is nothing here with us!”

“Rodney! The wraith are in the city! Big ugly…different wraith!” Radek said as he grabbed to Rodney’s arm. “They are…AAAARRRRGH!” Zelenka screamed as he held onto his chest. Keller pushed McKay aside and asked him to leave.

“His wound has opened, leave.”

McKay walked towards Sheppard’s bed, feeling the same loneliness that Fraggle had experienced earlier.

John stared at the ceiling, just like the others. He was pale and deathly looking.

“Now, I am on my own and I don’t know what to do," he murmured. "What would you do? Oh yes, blow everything up! Like that would help.”

“You are not alone McKay,” a voice behind him said. He turned to see Ronon standing there, a small smile on his face.

“But I thought you where off-world for a few weeks?”

“Yeah, well, I’d rather be kicking wraith butt than on some tour with yet another small civilization.”

Rodney smiled, grateful to have Ronon to help him. “Well, I better fill you in then.” Ronon listened patiently as Rodney told him everything that had happened while he was away.

"So the wraith have developed some kinda cloak?" Ronon finally cut to the point. "Doesn't look like what wraith do to people." The large Satedan nodded towards Col. Sheppard.

"Yes, well, as I already mentioned, we don't know if it really is the wraith, only that Radek has been mumbling in his not-so-peaceful sleep about them and more and more of our people turn up like this," Rodney responded, with a wave to the afflicted. "Even the entire SSD was taken out."

"All of three of them? You mean their luck finally ran out?" Ronon's tone was the slightest bit sarcastic.

"Yeah, you know what? They've saved our butts quite a few times amongst the three of them."

"I'm not saying they didn't," Ronon replied dryly. "I'm just saying they're lucky."

"That, and they got a few connections we don't..." McKay conceded. They stood there for a moment.

"So, what's the plan?"

"What? Plan? Right... we need to, uh, to figure out what's been done to them," Rodney said, and then, "Lab." He headed off and Ronon followed, not entirely convinced that he was up to teaming with Rodney.

As they left the infirmary, Quenderra's wristband began to hum and vibrate on the bedside table.

<Quenderra!> Ziggy exclaimed urgently in the biggest font that would fit on the small screen. <Quenderra--the city! The city is under attack...>

~~~

Keller finished attaching the EEG to Zelenka’s head, turning to the monitor to see the readings.
Zelenka’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first, then he realized where he was.

“Hello?” he whispered, the pain in his chest restricting his breathing a little.

“Radek?” Keller said getting to her feet and looking at him. “Radek, how are you?”

“I… I am…” his eyes suddenly became fearful.

“It’s okay Radek, you are safe here.”

“I could not see it. Then it was there…staring at me. It just suddenly appeared in front of me!” his voice raised in panic.

“Calm down, you are safe, now.”

Radek turned slowly to Keller, he appreciated the fact that she was trying to help him, but he could not get her to understand the terrible reality of what had happened to him. He saw a ripple behind Keller, a small movement in the air. His eyes almost bulged out of his head in terror, knowing what the thing was and what it would do. He tried to tell her but she thought he was confused, holding him onto the bed when he tried to get up.

Keller’s eyes opened wide in fright as something grabbed her and spun her around. Radek watched helplessly as Keller became partially engulfed in the cloaking shield, knowing what she could see in there. Her body slid to the floor, unfocused eyes open in fear. Radek tried to grab the attacker, he did not know what he would have done if he had managed to, but he didn’t. The rippling disappeared in a small flash of light. Radek screamed and shouted for help from the diminishing staff of Atlantis.

~~~

Rodney stared at the screen, not really believing what he was seeing. “This can’t be! They are all over the place, there are so many of them!”

Ronon looked at the screen, worried by what he saw. “So the red dots are the attackers?”

“Yes! Have you not been listening to me!” McKay said with a touch of sarcasm.

“How many?”

“Scanners are picking up at least thirty. Wait! Twenty. No! None! They're gone!” The screen only displayed the blue circles of the Atlantis population.

“I guess we better go pick up the casualties. You work on something to figure this mess out,” Ronon said as he turned away, pulling his gun from the holster.

“You’re leaving me here? Alone?” McKay whimpered.

“Get on with it, McKay, or there will be no one left.” A nurse came into the room and approached McKay.
“This was on Quenderra’s wrist. It was saying something about the city being under attack. Thought you might be able to use it.”

“Ziggy?” McKay said taking the device from the nurse.

<*Authorization verified* I am here, McKay.> Z's screen answered.

"Oh, am I glad to see you!"

<I do not know why. I know no more than you.> the screen flashed.

"But at least we can try work this out together."

<Radek Zelenka has awoken. He may know something. Keller is now on the list of fallen.>
McKay was lost for words. How many more would succumb to this scourge?

~~~

Ziggy began to calm, though his smaller monitor still nervously displayed random pictures, words, and static. Few people considered him the sentient being that he was. Quenderra was one of them, while Kassandra was almost there. Fraggle was well aware of this fact, but due to her differences with the machine, refused to admit it. Z really couldn't care less... that is, as long as Quen was around to protect him from the Scot Agent's wrath.

As for Z's panic, it was directly due to the fact that his remote connection to Atlantis had been mysteriously severed. Not only had he lost access to the city's computer system, but he could no longer access Quenderra (or any of the other agents) via her wrist device. It had taken him far longer to reconnect than he preferred.

Among the first things he was able to ascertain was the fact that the city was under attack, which he immediately conveyed to Quenderra...

"What's this?" asked a nurse, picking up the watch-like object from Quenderra's bedside stand.

<Quenderra! Atlantis is under attack!> the small screen displayed. It suddenly flashed red as the nurse picked it up. <*Access denied* You are not authorized. I must speak to an SSD-approved personnel. *Access denied* You are not authorized...>

"It's one the SSD's new gadgets--I'm not sure what it does," answered one of her co-workers, peering over her shoulder.

"It was saying the city's under attack."

"Well, it is."

"I know, but--maybe it can be useful." As the nurse took the WD to McKay's location, Ziggy was urgently searching the reports that had recently been entered into Atlantis' computers. When he found the answer to his query, the caps lock LED on the keyboard burst. Quenderra was hurt. Not just Quenderra, but a large number of others also, including the other two SSD agents.

"Ziggy?" Z heard a voice speak his name. It took half a second for him to ID it's owner.


<I am here, McKay,> he'd replied. Now, the two of them were working together to figure out what exactly was going on. Ziggy found Rodney's presence comforting amidst all the turmoil. McKay was a smart man and he seemed to appreciate Z for what he was. Then again, perhaps the man was just lonely and frightened, but so was Ziggy--his closest friend was hurt and sick, and there was only so much he could do to help her...

McKay had hooked Ziggy up to a tablet and headed to the medical bay, continuing to work through things on the computer. Z pointed out that the results of blood tests that Carson had run were now available for viewing. McKay was too busy to look at them at that moment and continued on looking at the scanner readouts.

When they reached the medical bay, McKay was surprised to see that there had only been one casualty of the last attack: Keller. Ronon and a team of helpers had found no other people harmed.

“Radek! How do you feel!” McKay said as he noted that Zelenka was awake, although pale and shaken.

“I am…ok,” the Czech replied.

“I am glad to see you… awake,” McKay said awkwardly, unable to show how relieved he was. “Do you remember anything about what attacked you? We have no idea what is going on and we need to know anything you think might help.”

“Well, I remember that it was a wraith that attacked me. But it was very different to the ones we have seen before.”

“How so?”

“It was very large, very powerful. It had a cloak device, which is why I did not know it was there. But when it grabbed me, the cloak covered me and I could see it,” Radek swallowed, remembering the vicious attack.

“But how could it be a wraith? It didn't suck you dry--and Carson said it was more like a bite on your chest, not a normal feeding mark.”

“I am telling you, the same as I have been trying to tell everyone else, it was a wraith!”

“I agree,” a voice said from the bed behind the curtain. Teyla had awoken just after Keller had fallen. McKay opened the curtain, glad to see another awake.

“It was a wraith, but very different. I did not sense it until it was next to me.”

Ziggy beeped and prompted McKay to look at the test results. He looked over them, stunned to see that there was indeed wraith DNA found in the wound site, but the enzyme to keep the wound open and the heart pumping was in very low levels. Instead, it seemed there was another chemical substance, one that the lab had labeled as similar to adenosine, a chemical in the body that induces sleep. But this chemical was so potent that it effectively shut down the brain for hours.

These were indeed a different type of wraith. But what they were doing in Atlantis and where they were coming from was puzzling.

Ronon buzzed in McKay’s comm. “McKay, have you found anything?”

“This is interesting. These things are wraith, but very unusual. Almost like a mutation or sub species. The DNA and blood tests Carson conducted show that…”

“Anything that will help before the next attack,” Ronon interrupted, not keen on hearing technical terms and theories.

“Well, no! I have not found a single thing to help! Unless we actually catch one, there is very little chance of figuring this out!”

“Meet me in corridor 2.”

~~~

McKay walked wearily to corridor 2. Ziggy was chirping away, displaying theories on the tablet screen. “No Ziggy, now that the scanners are working to all frequencies we would have picked up a cloaked ship in orbit.”

“Nuh-uh, there are no wraith on the mainland.”

“What do you mean? All of them? Except Keller. Interesting.”

“Who are you talking to?” Ronon said as he approached McKay.

“Em, Ziggy. The SSD computer.”

“Well, don't they have all the gear,” Ronon said rolling his eyes.

“He just informed me that all the others who were in the vicinity of the last attack, but not… attacked, had been given an inoculation recently. Looking at this, the people who have been attacked have not had the inoculation.”

“Yeah, the inoculation against the damn flu that one of the guys brought back from a mission.”

“How do you know?”

“I was given the inoculation a few days ago, before I left for the tour.”

“So, it won’t attack you!”
"Yeah, but it will attack you. Says here you have not had it yet,” Ronon said looking at the tablet.

“Yes, well I hate injections, and I feel quite alright,” he said pompously. “Wait a minute! What do you mean it will attack me?!”

“Well, you said we need to catch one and here in a lonely corridor seems to be the best place to get attacked. And since it won’t attack me, you’re the bait.” McKay was stuttering and stammering in protest, as Ronon told him to stay put and walked away from him. He stood there for a while, feeling abandoned. Where did Ronon go?! Would he get to him in time if something happened?

Rodney looked around the lonely corridor. He could hear something. There seemed to be a rustling sound coming towards him from the right. He pressed some things on the tablet hoping that Ziggy could oblige him. Ziggy’s screen flashed he would try.

The rustling was all around him and a rippling floated in the air in front of him. Sweat dripped down his face as his heart hammered in his chest.

“Ronon... Ronon?” he whispered trying not to pass out with fear. A breath stroked at his face and toyed with his hair. It was right there. The cloak extended around McKay and to his horror, he saw the terrible reality of the mutation.

“RONON!” he screamed as he pressed a button on the tablet. Ziggy let out a series of screeching beeps, sending a command to the wraith’s cloak to shut down. Aware that it was no longer hidden, the wraith thing roared and rushed its massive, clawed hand at McKay. He could see the hand deformed with a large mouth in is palm, teeth bared terrible and dripping with saliva. He closed his eyes, suddenly resigned to what was about to happen, when a THUBOOM sound filled the air. He opened his eyes long enough to see the wraith fall to the ground after some stun shots from Ronon’s gun.

“You didn't think I would let it get you, did you?” Ronon said with a broad smile.

“Actually…yes, I did…” Then poor McKay slipped to the floor, having fainted.

~~~

A strange sensation swept over her. It was the same feeling she used to get when she walked down her friend's particularly steep basement stairs when she was a child. Like she was suddenly upside, walking on the ceiling instead of the floor.

"Hello?" she tested her voice in the space. The way the sound seemed to echo and hang in the air at the same time told her that she was dreaming. She glanced down at her left wrist, but it was just her ordinary watch. "Okay," she thought aloud, "no Ziggy. So what's happening?"

Crying.

The sound was unmistakable in the empty space. Quenderra moved forward, realizing for the first time that she was ankle deep in a sluggish white fluid, like milk that had been thickened. The sight made Quenderra's skin crawl as she remembered a recurring childhood nightmare. She suddenly felt apprehensive. Something was about to happen, but she couldn't tell what.

"Hello?" she said again as the person who was crying came into view. "Are you alright?" It was a girl wearing tan-colored clothing. She sat beside a hole into which the liquid at their feet was flowing. Quenderra could not see the girl's face because it was covered by her hands and long black hair. The blonde moved closer.

"Hey," Quenderra spoke softly, placing a comforting hand on the stranger's back. "What's the matter? Why are you crying?"

"They've fallen in," came the response, "all of them."

"Who?" Quenderra asked, gazing at the hole.

"My family." The girl looked at her for the first time and Quenderra gasped.

The girl was a wraith.

~~~

Quenderra could feel herself crying. The girl's sadness--her confusion--was now her own and she didn't know how to make it go away...

Heightmeyer, Kass and Carson had all came round, and Quenderra was on the verge of waking. She was going through what all the others went through as their brain activity increased after being suppressed by the chemical. Murmuring with fear and panic as the waking brain remembered what had happened last time she was conscious.

McKay woke up, lying in a bed with Weir standing next to him, a bemused smile on her face.
“Well Rodney, you certainly are a different breed of hero. Ronon had to carry you here after you…”

“Passed out!” McKay said, preferring that to the wimpy word fainted.

“Well, needless to say, your plan worked,” she said, nodding to the next bed.

McKay sprang from his bed with fright, staring at the beast in the bed next to his. “You…you put me in the bed next to his?!” he said incredulously.

“There were no other beds and he had to go somewhere.”

“Dinnae worry, he has been restrained and sedated,” a tired and pale looking Carson said as he slowly and painfully approached.

“You shouldn’t be up! What are you thinking?!” McKay demanded, looking at his friend.

“No one else left, and I’m no that badly hurt,” Carson said offhandedly. They looked at the beast, certainly different than any wraith they had encountered. It’s skin was a pale blue, mottled with black markings. Its glazed, open eyes were black with green slit pupils. Its body was terribly different. Muscles bulged in the arms, legs and chest that the normally slightly wraith did not have--huge, powerful rope-like muscles capable of great speed and strength. Its mouth was slightly larger, its teeth more like that of a large feline. Its hair was long and black, untidy and straggly. But its hands were the worst. Both hands, that normally held a gash-type feeding organ, had a mouth of sharp teeth like the wraith normally had in their mouth, dripping with pinkish saliva.

“Well, that’s different.” McKay said swallowing hard.

A sharp yelp was heard a few beds down, and they hurried to Quenderra’s side.

“It’s okay, lass, you’re safe here,” Carson soothed.

“The wraith! They are here!”

“Yes, we know.” McKay said, looking back to the monster.

“They are changed, something happened to them!” she said, tears in her eyes. “They did not know what was happening to them, someone did it to them!”

“Quenderra, calm down love! Yeh dinnae want to burst that wound like Radek did.”

She realized with surprise realization that it was Carson talking to her. “You're okay? Radek is okay?” she asked, wiping her eyes.

“Everyone seems to be okay. Fraggle, Col. Sheppard, and Keller are still out, but we hope they will back back with us soon.”

“Fraggle, too! Oh! What a bloody waste of time it’s been having the SSD here!” she said absently.

“What were you saying about the wraith being changed by someone?” Weir asked softly.

“I…I can’t remember. It was like a bad dream! I saw a wraith crying, it was as if she was in pain because her family and been taken...I just got the feeling that someone took them and changed them. But I can't remember it clearly...”

“That’s strange. Some test results came back that I ran on the…captive. They are sure that it is a female.” Carson said.

“That thing! A female?!” McKay barked in sarcasm.

“What thing?” Quen asked, struggling to get out of bed.

“No, no! You lie there.”

“I will not!” she got out of the bed, as weak as a newly hatched chick. Clutching her chest, she walked purposely past them. She made her way to the bed where the wraith lay. She did not know why, but she felt she recognized it.

“It’s the one from my dream. Except, she was more wraith-like.”

“Wraith telepathy,” McKay said. “It must have transmitted something telepathically as it is sleeping. Perhaps it itself is dreaming and sending out messages. You and Fraggle are the ones sensitive to it, so you felt it.”

“Yes. It felt like a dream within a dream, so yes, I think you are right,” Quen said with wonder.

“Oh!” McKay said, turning back to his bed and retrieving his tablet that lay on the bedside table. “Here, I think he has been missing you.” He handed Quenderra Ziggy, who emitted a loud squeal as he recognized his friend and that she was okay.

Further down the ward, Fraggle was starting to scream. “NO! Take it away from me! I don’t want to!” They ran down to see Fraggle getting out of her bed as if nothing was wrong with her. Her vacant eyes told Quenderra that she was in the mind realm.

“NO! Let me go! NO! Look what you are doing to us! To your own kind!! Arrgh!” Fraggle toppled back onto the bed, coming out of the dream state and realizing her chest hurt. “Oh God, that hurts!” she said grabbing her chest as a small trickle of blood showed through her white top.

“Oh that’s jist bloody like yeh, isn’t it!” Carson growled. “Yeh jist cannae be quiet and still fer once!” he said as he shooed the others out of the room to redress the chest wound.

“Yeah? Well you need tae work on yer bedside manners, Doctor Brusque!” she returned with a small smile at her fellow Scot.

~~~

Understandably, the wraith was not very happy. Waking in a darkened cage, she jumped to her feet and surveyed her surroundings. She breathed angrily as she saw the guards around her cell, grunting with hate at her captors. In one quick and agile movement, she threw herself against the bars only to receive a shock for her efforts. A growling groan came from her throat as she massaged her burnt arm. But she didn't give up.

Again and again, she threw herself at the cage, at one point running along the bars like an animal, sparks of light from the force field lighting where she touched. She barked furiously as she finally came to a stop in the middle of her cell, breathing heavily. Her black eyes stared at the shadows outside, knowing that someone was watching.

She yowled and snarled like a ferocious beast, caged and impotent. She closed her eyes, trying to figure a way out of her incarceration, when a voice came to her ears from the shadows.

“What are you? What are you doing here?”

She sniffed the air, trying to get a feel for the person behind the voice. He smelt of weakness. He had been fed upon lately.

“What are you? Where did you come from?” the voice persisted.

She replied with a feral snarl that hurt the ears of the guards surrounding her.

“Its no use. She is more animal than anything. She doesn't seem to understand us.”

She cocked her head at the new voice. Another one who had not been fed upon! She felt the hunger within her, her mutated body craving for the feed she had been denied earlier.
With a piercing scream she leapt into the air, grabbing the bars above. She held herself up with her toes and fingers long enough for her heart to pump the enzyme around her body.

When she felt ready she let go with her toes and threw herself towards the cage wall with all of her strength. The bars bent and buckled and she threw herself against them ignoring the shocks, again and again. She barged through, oblivious to the shooting guns of the guards bouncing off her body. She leapt towards the place the second voice had been, only to find no one there. She turned and sniffed the air, realizing that they had left the room. She ran at the guards and took one down, forcing her hands onto his chest, hissing at the power that his strength gave her. She then jumped from the dead body and bowled her way out of the room, disappearing into the dark corridor.

~~~

Quenderra drew in a sharp gasp, images flashing through her mind. Glancing around, she verified that no one was currently paying any attention to her. Slowly, she got out of her bed and made her way to the corridor.

The SSD Agent knew her way around the city as well as anyone who didn't actually live there. She knew where she going. The overwhelming feelings that washed over her assisted in this matter. Her WD, back on her wrist again, beeped and vibrated urgently.

"Not now, Ziggy," she told him, pressing a button to put the device on silent.

<But... but it is dangerous!> Z protested, but his misgivings never entirely reached their destination. Quenderra continued onward, finally pausing outside a door intersecting with one of the other hallways. The sense of the wraith's presence was almost overpowering. She stepped towards the passageway and passed her hand over the door panel to open it. A short distance down the hall, the former captive prowled like a wild cat on the hunt.

Quenderra said something and the creature turned to face her with a ferocious growl. The blonde repeated the word and the mutated being seemed to tilt her head. "That's your name, isn't it?" Quen asked, taking a tentative step forward, all the while her brain screaming that this was a terrible idea. "You recognize me, don't you? Yes. Yes, it's me. You're hurt and confused, aren't you? Let us help you--I'm not sure we can, even, but let us try." The wraith let out a gruff noise, hesitating for a moment before rushing towards her.

Quenderra saw her life flash before her eyes as she desperately tried to prepare herself for the inevitable...

~~~

The huge beast came tumbling towards her, a whirl of muscle and sinew. Just when she thought it would attack, Quen noticed that it had stopped. She opened her eyes, realizing she had squeezed them shut. The beast stood in front of her, its hands pointing towards her, a soft yearning groan coming from its throat. Quenderra saw that both hands had mutated into feeding mouths, and fresh blood dripped from them. The beast looked at her with…what? Remorse? Guilt?

Quenderra slowly lifted her hand to the beasts hands, hovering them above as if sensing the pain within the creature.

Ronon and Sheppard came running down the corridor, their guns in the air ready to shoot.

“NO!” Quen shouted. The wraith turned and snarled at them, her eyes seeing the guns aimed at her head. She pushed by Quenderra and shot off down the corridor faster than imaginable for a thing her size.

~~~

Fraggle had rested long enough. She got out of bed stiffly and put on her clothes.

“And where dae yeh think your going?” Carson asked when he saw her heading for the door.

“I’m going tae help get this thing under control. And no, yer not going to stop me. And yes, I feel up to it. And no! I won’t take it easy!” She smiled as she left the room. Carson shook his head, a smile on his face, as he watched her go.

Fraggle met Quenderra, Ronon, and a tired Sheppard as she walked down the corridor. “What happened?” she asked, sensing a confrontation.

“This one wants to befriend the damn thing that almost killed us!” Sheppard said angrily, looking at Quen.

“It’s not what it seems! There is more to this than meets the eye!” Quen said.

“She is right. Something else is going on,” Fraggle said, staring at both men, never flinching from their angry stares.

“I don't know why we trust our well being to a bunch of female idiots,” Ronon said.

“Excuse me?” Fraggle shouted. “Did I jist hear that right?”

“Yes. I don’t think you are all as special as you think you are. With your gadgets and strange freaky powers. What makes you think you are right all the time?”

“Oh, here! Lets jist let the bloody caveman and the bombastic bomb-loving twit blast away all oor problems! Lets jist go hame Quen, and let them get on wi’ it!”

“No. No! Ronon did not mean…”

“Yes. I did. It’s time we took on things ourselves.”

“Fine, go fer it! Yeh think I have nothing better tae dae than come here all the time and he'p yeh fight yer bloody battles?!” she stood her ground in the face of the giant Satedan. Fraggle turned and walked away, furious at the blatant disregard of all the help the SSD had given in the past.
“Bloody ejit! Let him get on wi’ it himsel!” she murmered to herself as she made her way back to the medical wing.

“What is WRONG with you!” Sheppard said to Ronon as he watched Quenderra following Fraggle.

“It’s a wraith. No matter what they think it is, it’s a wraith. And I don’t care what’s been done to it, it's still evil,” Ronon replied with steadied fury. “And we have to live with the fear of the wraith, the SSD don’t.”

“Eh, guys? I think we have something you had better look at.” McKay came through the com.

~~~

“It has Ancient DNA in its blood,” Carson said. “In fact, it is more Ancient than wraith.”

“What are you saying, that the ANCIENTS did the experimenting?”

“Yeh, it looks that way. It would seem that the DNA of both wraith and Ancient have been spliced to create these things.”

“Are you telling me they experimented on their own, too?”

“Actually, no,” McKay said holding a tablet up for Sheppard to see. “It would appear that a single person is responsible for this. I have gone through the database since this result came through and have found a man called Jena Groen had shut himself away from the general population of the ancients and conducted experiments that the others disapproved of. He was arrested and taken to trial for what he did, but the damage had already been done. The ancients did not know what to do with these…mutated beings and shipped them off to a nearby planet as they proved to be very dangerous and unstable.”

“So, why are they turning up now? We have been here 3 years and never seen or heard of them.”

“My guess is that it is their time to feed. They must hibernate just like the wraith, and now they've woken up.”

“But where are they coming form?” Sheppard asked.

“That's the million dollar question.”

~~~

“The scanners are picking her up in the lower levels. No one is down there, so there should be no more casualties.”

“Until the next wave transport in anyway,” Weir said as she looked over the incident report. “Are we any further forward with figuring out how to stop the attacks?”

“We have to find out where they are coming from. If we catch her, we could interrogate her.”

“And how do you propose to do that without sedation? She took out one guard and crushed the cell she was in.”

“Well, what about Quenderra? She seems to have connected with the… thing while they were both unconscious. If we sedated it, we could communicate with it through Quenderra and Fraggle,” McKay suggested, not lifting his eyes from the computer screen.

“Okay. Assemble a team and go get her. But I want it made clear that if she attacks and hurts anyone, she has to be taken down. We cannot afford any more casualties.” Sheppard and Ronon left the room.

“Oh no! Another power surge!” McKay said, keying commands into the computer.

~~~

The lower levels were dark and dank. The team moved forward slowly, each covering the others' backs in case of attack. They had been like this for 40 minutes with no sign of the hybrid anywhere. The scanners were no longer picking her up, as once again a power surge had taken down power and scanners to part of the city.

Sheppard inched his way forward, his ears straining to hear anything other than themselves. Ronon was behind him, his eyes trying to see any movement, his gun readied to fire. A small scuffle up ahead made the team halt. Silence.

They were barely breathing, listening intently. Another scuffling noise, but from which direction?
They stood still for many moments, sweat gathering on their faces, fear eating at their minds.
Nothing. The corridor was silent and empty, but something did not feel right. It was Ronon who realized something was wrong. He could feel something breathing on the top of his head, then a drip spattered onto his face.

“IT’S ABOVE US!” he roared as he lifted his gun above his head. The beast came tumbling down on top of him, his gun batted from his hand. Two of the team had fallen as the thing attacked, trying to get back to their feet and help. Sheppard raised the wraith stunner and fired twice. The great body collapsed, quiet and motionless.

“You want to get it off me?” Ronon grunted as he tried to shift the beast.

~~~

Fraggle was getting dressed into her combats and jacket, readying to leave Atlantis. She stiffly managed to get her arms into the sleeves, careful not to damage her wound again. The WD was beeping away on her wrist, trying to convince her to stay.

“Z. I'm sure everything will work oot fine. And as fer Quenderra, she has you. She is lucky to have you. I know we never saw eye to chip, but…yeh are pretty smart, and I’m gonna miss oor little fights buddy.”

Ziggy buzzed and beeped, and accidentally shocked Fraggle with frustration. But Fraggle did not get angry, she just took the WD off her wrist and laid it gently on the bed table.

“It’s okay, Z. Look after Quen and Kass for me.” She smiled a strange smile and turned away.
Fraggle waited until no one was near then activated a small TDP. She stepped into the vortex and disappeared.

Ziggy buzzed forlornly, not understanding why Fraggle would leave. She had programmed something into him, so he could not see where the TDP had taken her to, but he guessed home. He was unable to communicate Fraggle’s leaving to Quenderra, as she had taken her WD off to have a shower. Kass was asleep and he did not want to waken her as he had the report saying that she had taken a reaction to some of her medication.

So he waited for his friend to find him. His circuitry buzzed his AI thoughts around his network, trying to figure out what the funny equation in his mind was. He thought and calculated and came up with an answer that made him buzz sadly.

He was going to miss fighting with Fraggle, too.

~~~

Quenderra emerged from the shower several minutes later, toweling off her hair as she stepped out of the bathroom. The face of her wrist device was flashing green--urgent, but not an emergency.

"What is it, Ziggy?" she murmured, picking it up off the counter. "What?! Nonono--this is going to take forever, bring it up on the RD." The blonde abandoned her towel on the sink and crossed the room to pick up the remote device. Ziggy was fully informing her of Fraggle's departure, random images faintly flickering behind the text. It was rather distracting, actually, but Z always did that when he was nervous or perplexed and it showed up on his small monitor and the display on the RD.

<I tried to stop her. I am sorry.> he said.

"No, Z, it's not your fault," Quen soothed. "So, she went home? What do you mean, 'You assume so?' You don't actually know. Fraggle, what are you up to? It's okay, stop worrying about it--I'm going to be leaving, too, and Kass when she's better. Because, Z... We're not wanted here. Besides, Ronon's right--they don't need us. If it weren't for the TDP, we wouldn't be here in the first place and our natural abilities wouldn't be enhanced the way they are. ...huh? No! I'm not abandoning you! Look, we'll discuss this later, okay? What else has happened? ...They caught her?"

~~~

"Hey, how is she?" Quenderra asked softly, entering the room which contained the holding cell.

"If we didn't need her alive, she'd be dead," Ronon responded coldly.

"Ronon!" Teyla admonished.

"No," the blonde shook her head. "No, he's right. I just wanted to see how she was and... and say goodbye...."

“Goodbye? What do you mean goodbye?” Teyla asked.

“We have to go. Fraggle has already left,” Quen said, her eyes flickering towards Ronon and back to Teyla. “Kass is ill, Fraggle’s wound had burst, and I am not mentally prepared to deal with this. We are more of a hindrance than help. So goodbye.” She turned and left the room. She didn't want to say goodbye to anyone else, realizing why Fraggle had not done so. It led to awkward questions... and lies for answers.

She gathered her things and went to see Kass. She was still very pale and weak, but she looked better than she had done the night before.

“So we are really leaving them?” Kass asked wistfully.

“Look’s that way.”

“Where did Fraggle go? Why did she not say goodbye?”

“I don’t know. I have a feeling it has something to do with that damn temper of hers. She is probably blasting people in her VR game as we speak. I will blast her when I get my hands on her!”

~~~

Quen travelled the TDP to Fraggle’s home. She was going to have to teach the Scot some anger management techniques.

“Fraggle! Get your ass out here now!” she shouted as she landed in the lounge. “Fraggle!”

The house was quiet. She made her way to the computer room, finding it empty, the VR game console lying where Fraggle and last left it. If Fraggle did not return home, where the hell was she?

Ziggy beeped and squealed an incoming transmission from Atlantis. She turned on the SSD terminal in Fraggle’s computer room, hearing McKay’s voice.

“This is McKay, please respond. We need your help back here!”

“You don’t need our help McKay, you can do it on your own,” Quen answered into the com.

“Quen! We need you or Fraggle to read the thing's mind, none of us can do that!”

Quenderra thought a minute.

“Tell me you are not pissed because of Ronon!” McKay’s words interrupted her thoughts.

“No, but I think Fraggle is,” she replied.

“They are both as bad as each other!” McKay returned.

“Yeah, tell me about it. I will be back soon, but I don't know where Fraggle is, and I don't know when she'll return.” Quenderra shook her head and shut down the terminal. She looked around the messy room, filled with computers and consoles, comics and toys. She smiled at the childlike nature of her friend, then sneered at the equally evident temper streak she had.

She called up another TDP and returned to Atlantis.

~~~

The TDP flared in the SSD Junker, depositing Fraggle on the bridge.

“Bloody caveman!” she growled. “Idiot women? I'll bloody show him!” she said as she jumped in front of the controls. Her first instinct had been to leave them to it. If they did not want her help, then she would not give it. She was going back to Scotland, her conscience clear, her temper flaring.

She had gone into her computer room, booted up her VR console, and proceeded to blast the crap out of a dozen bad guys. Her anger faded as the pain in her chest increased from her movements. She had sat down, holding her chest lightly, breathing hard and red faced from exertion.

As usual, her anger dissolved as she relaxed, and she decided to help, but without them knowing she had. The hard thing to do was lock Ziggy out of the system. Quenderra had made sure that he had access to everything, and that made it nearly impossible to use the Junker without anyone knowing. So she programmed Ziggy to forget where she was going and ignore all communication from the Junker.

This way, if anything happened, she and she alone would be in trouble.

She cloaked the SSD Junker, opening a TDP to Atlantis. She stayed in orbit, recalibrating the cloak to function on multiple frequencies knowing that McKay’s new scanner calculations might see her. The first sign of a ship or anything, the Junker scanners would pick it up well before Atlantis computers did. She sat back and waited, drinking a long cold bottle of lager.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, Fraggle completely relaxed. She put her feet up on the console and slunk back in the chair. The lager went down nicely, cooling her and relaxing her further. Peace and quiet. No screaming people, no weird beasties, no squealing annoying wrist devices, no one to annoy her and no one to answer to.

Her little reprieve did not last, though. It was not long before the computer system beeped an incoming traveler. She watched as a single entity travelled to the city, jumping and spitting lager over herself as she realized where the traveler had come from. The computer traced the origin to somewhere on the Lantean world. Not from the mainland, nor from a ship in orbit.
The origin was far beneath the Lantean sea, a few miles away from the city, undetected as no one had been looking for anything under the water.

Fraggle set the computer to dive as the SSD Junker entered atmosphere and headed towards the sea.

~~~

After Quenderra returned to Atlantis, she made her way to where the captive was being held. Ronon didn't seem too enthused to see her, but then again, Ronon never looked too enthused to see anyone.

"She's sedated?" the blonde asked.

"Aye, that she is," Carson responded.

"You do realize that I can't actually read her mind, right? This is more Fraggle's domain--I mean, she can see things in the mind realm, with me, it's more an extra sense."

"Then, where is she?" McKay demanded. "I don't want this thing to wake up..."

"Pissed," Quenderra answered. "But I'll see if I get something a little more precise." She consulted the remote device. "Z, what do you mean you can't locate her? She couldn't have just disappeared! ... No, I don't blame you. Now, if I know Fraggle... Ziggy, where's the Junker? In the hangar. Are you sure it's in the hangar? Ziggs, you're displaying random pictures in the background of the RD--that's usually not too great. Just... open the window into the hangar and give me visual." Quen stared at the screen in shock for a moment. The Junker was missing. "Oh, damn. Fraggle, what are you up to?"

Moments later, the alarms began to sound...

~~~

As the alarms alerted them to another attack, Quenderra tried to think quick.

"Okay, um, you all should probably go," she said to John, Ronon, and Teyla, although they were already headed for the door. "Rodney, Carson, um... if you'd stay."

"Oh, sure, no problem," McKay immediately volunteered.

"I'm not sure this will work," the blonde continued as she turned towards the sedated hybrid. "Ziggy, keep trying to find Fraggle."

"Wait a minute--what are you doing?" the scientist demanded, not liking Quenderra's expression.

"I'm gonna try to get inside her mind," she answered. "We need intel. It might not even work. The first time I accessed the mind realm, I was half-dead."

"And the time after that?"

"This is the time after that."

"Are you sure it's such a great idea, then?" Carson demanded worriedly.

"Do you see Fraggle anywhere?" Quenderra countered. "You might wanna keep the stunner handy--I'm not sure what's gonna happen." Quen reached out and placed a hand on each of the wraith's shoulders. Closing her eyes, she focused...

~~~

As the Junker descended into the gloom, Fraggle pondered how the mutated wraith came to be under the sea. Having left so soon after the argument with Ronon, she was unaware of the fact that these were actually mutated ancients they were dealing with.

The sea was alive outside the window, Fraggle watched huge shadows swimming in the murky distance. One of the consoles began bleeping and she was surprised to find that Ziggy had managed to contact her.

“Hello Z. I thought yeh were smarter than that, it took yeh almost 3 hours tae get me!”

Ziggy blasted beeps and screeched at her.

“Oi! Yah stupid machine! Whit the hell is wrong with yeh!”

Ziggy began to explain about the captured mutant when Fraggle noticed an alarm signal flashing on the console.

“Quiet Z!”

The little device squeaked indignantly and Fraggle bashed the console that Ziggy was talking through.

“SHUT IT! DAMN IT!” she hissed. Looking back at the flashing console, she noticed it was a silent alarm for internal scanners. A worrying chill made her shiver involuntary as she realized that something had transported into the Junker.

Fraggle powered down all lights and moved quickly to the in-shot at the rear of the bridge, crouching down in the darkness. She wished she had not left the WD in Atlantis, she could sure use a remote connection right now. Ziggy was still active, as his console was the only thing lighting the darkness, but that did no good--Ziggy still did not know where Fraggle was as he was still locked out of the computers.

Rustling noises fell on her ears. It was here, standing right next to her. Flashes of the first encounter with one of these things invaded through her mind. Her hand went to her chest as she remembered the pain that had caused. She did not realize she was holding her breath until she started to get slightly light-headed. She chanced a small intake of breath, hoping that it would not hear her.

It moved slowly forward, not realizing that it had passed within centimeters of her. She could see the outline of the rippling air from the shield and wished she had grabbed the stunner from her jacket.

As it approached the consoles, it powered down its cloaking device and stood looking out of the large viewing window, its hands resting on the consoles.

This one was much larger than the one back in Atlantis, its huge body seemed to grow when it breathed. Fraggle was in no mood to die, but she knew her time had come when the beast sniffed the air with sudden interest. It was the signal that made many a hidden animal realize it had been detected. It slowly turned towards her, its massive hands still set on the consoles.
Hoping that Ziggy would understand and pick her up, she jumped and pressed the internal com and screamed down the line.

“ZIGGY, HAL IS A MORON!”

As the beast was about to run at her, it was stricken immobile by an electrical charge that shot from Ziggy’s console. It roared and shook, then slid to the ground unconscious. Fraggle stood, shaking slightly, realizing what a lucky escape she just had. If Ziggy had not managed to contact her, she would have been a goner.

She approached the console, stepping over the great beast. “Eh, thanks, Zig.” Something triggered her into the mind realm, she found herself staring at the terrible beast as it looked at her with wide angry eyes. Then suddenly it transformed into a human, a young man no more than 35 years old. Short blond hair and large sparkling blue eyes.

“Who are you?” Fraggle asked as she calmed a little.

“I am Groen, I was the Main Councilors son.”

“Main Councilor of where?”

“Atlantis.”

She looked at him, trying to decide whether this was a wraith ploy or not. It occurred to her that the man in front of her did not seem very wraith-like, he did not seem angry or ready to attack. He just stood there, watching her and waiting for a response.

“So, yer trying tae tell me that yeh lived in Atlantis?”

“I did, before all this happened,” he said, lifting an arm and looking at her reaction as it turned to wraith and back again. “I have to tell you things before I wake up again. The urge to feed is so strong that it overrides all of my thoughts. I become…an animal and have no control over my actions.”

“So, tell me then,” she said uneasily, wondering how long the beast would be out for.

“We were part of a group researching wraith DNA. We hoped to find some way of attacking them with a virus or something that would take a lot of them out at one time with no harm to our people.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen yer virus research labs in the city.” She thought back to the time a virus killed some people and almost McKay and Zelenka.

“Yes, well if we had been given the chance, it would have been perfect. As it was, one of the team became, unstable, after a wraith killed his wife and sister during a raid. He became obsessed with the idea of re-arranging human and wraith DNA, trying to splice the two to make an army of human-wraith hybrids with which to use against the wraith. When the council found out, they tried to help him, took him away for therapy, and denied all access to the labs. He was very clever and managed to get back into the research, telling us all that he had recovered and that the council were happy for him to join us again. No one questioned him, no one had the chance.”

Groen looked to the ground sadly.

“One day, he locked the research lab with us all inside. He locked all access to and from the lab and none of us noticed until it was too late. Karron was the first one. He took her into one of the clean rooms, locked the door and injected her with his serum. We all heard her screaming, thought that there had been an accident. 'Look what you are doing to us! Your own kind!' she shouted. We did not know what was going on.”

Fraggle shivered as she remembered those words. She heard them in her mind before she had woken in the infirmary. Karron was the wraith back in the city.

“Karron never came back out of that room. What did come back out was horrifying. We all tried to escape, but he had locked the room. I saw him, smiling as he watched Karron transform. You could see the pride on his face, but he could not see the terror on ours. While Karron was holding us, he injected us. Soon we were all transforming. Pain was screaming in the room as our bodies contorted and pulled, our very beings shredding from us to make a new body and mind.”

His image shuddered and morphed in and out of human form. She realized the beast was beginning to waken, they had to hurry.

“When we were all changed, we could sense each other, hear each others thoughts. It was confusing and terrifying. We could all see what each other had in our minds as if we had seen the images with our own eyes.” Groen stopped talking, the memory still haunted him. “It was not long before our minds had turned to feeding and the council found out what had happened by the blood we shed that day.”

It was wakening, Groen was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain his human form.

“What happened to him? The one who did this tae yeh?”

“He was arrested, taken to trial. But Karron was the daughter of a councilor. Blinded by grief and hate her mother took him from his cell and brought him to the place where we were all caged up. She was so angry that she grabbed his arm and injected him with his own serum. As he was changing, everyone could sense his fear, it was then that he realized his mistake. That was when he finally woke up to reality, and hated himself for what he had done. Arrested, convicted and punished.” He stopped talking.

“So he is also with you all?”

“Yes. He is, in fact, very close. Jena Groen. He never forgave himself and now he sits in hell with his creations, wakening to feed when the time comes.”

“Jena Groen? But…”

“Yes. Me. I remember their memories as if they were my own. A curse of the splicing of our DNA. It makes it hard to see things from your own perspective sometimes, you see and remember things as the others saw it. The council forced us all onto a ship, taking us to a different planet. The ship did not make it off this world. The council made sure that we would not, planted a bomb on the ship and here it lies under the glorious sea. Luckily, only the forward part of the ship was damaged. So most of us survived. We scavenged what we needed in raids on Atlantis. We made our home more livable, we created our shields so we could feed without being caught. And so we have been here, for so long. Detestable beasts, hating ourselves and wanting to die for what we have done. But the wraith DNA keeps you alive. We live for the feed…”

Fraggle was wrenched out of the mind realm as the beast grabbed her leg, crushing it with his huge hand. She tried to get free to no avail. The beast threw her to the ground and stood up. He was snarling and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her to her feet. She felt the impact on her chest and realized her time was up. She was trying to reach the stunner, but it was just out of her grasp.

“Groen!” she croaked. “Groen, you don’t want this!” She stretched her hand in vain towards the stunner in her jacket. He just roared in her face and kept on feeding.

~~~

Ziggy was sure that something was wrong. His mind shredded the barriers that Fraggle had put in his programme and he gained access to the Junker’s computers and sensors. Realizing that an intruder on the ship was attacking Fraggle, he sent a message to his friend, hoping she would it in time.

Rodney and Carson watched silently as Quenderra attempted that which she'd never before tried. Just as it appeared that the blonde was hanging her head in defeat her spine arched and she let out a loud cry that sounded like it was from pain. She turned from the unconscious form on the bed and threw herself at Carson.


"It's alright, lass..." he began.

"I'm starving!" the young woman declared. They knew then that it wasn't Quenderra speaking. Rodney raised the stunner and mentally prepared himself to grab for the .9 mil strapped to his thigh, but Carson motioned for him to hold fire.

"The hunger," she cried, turning away from the doctor and putting her hands over her head, "is too much. I wasn't meant to live like this. It's not... it's just not fair."

"What's not fair, lass?" Carson prompted. She turned towards him again, her eyes like a caged animal.

"You can understand me?" there were tears in her eyes and her lips trembled. "Who are you?"

"I'm Dr. Beckett. Who are you?"

"Karron," she answered, "my name is Karron."

"Well, you've taken over Quenderra's body," McKay couldn't help but retort. Karron looked at him with Quen's bluish-gray eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just..." she began to cry again, "I just wanted to know what it felt like to be human again. But I'm not... I'm going to kill him!"

"Who?" Rodney voice squeaked.

"Jena Groen," she growled, her face contorted into a look of hate that neither man had thought Quen's face was capable of making. "He did this to me! To us! The fact that he is one of us is no longer a comfort.... one of these days, I will KILL him! His blood will flow from both of my hands." She shook with rage as she paced. Rodney had lowered the stunner, watching her in a horrified sort of fascination. "I was young! Only 16! I was young and beautiful and I was falling in love... now, I'm a monster!" She covered her head again.

"Easy, lass," Carson soothed, "if we can find Groen's notes, we may be able to help you--get your life back...."

"Get my life back?" Karron shrieked. "My life could've been over hundreds of times! Instead, I live like this!" She motioned to her own mangled body on the bed. "I can't take it anymore.... just kill me! Just..." Her eyes fell on Rodney for a brief moment before she suddenly lunged at him before he had time to react. Grabbing the gun from its holster, she whirled around, aiming the weapon at the monstrosity that was herself.

"Karron, don't!" Beckett exclaimed. "You and Quen are..." He was cut off by three shots from the gun and a pain-filled scream from Quenderra. The weapon slipped from her fingers and Rodney caught her as she slumped to the floor.

"Oh, god!" she cried, this time in agony.

"Quen, lass, I need you stay with us," Carson said calling for a med team.

"What does... what does Ziggy want?" she gasped. The WD on her wrist was beeping and buzzing insistently. Rodney read the message coming through. He paled.

"Fraggle's being attacked by one of the creatures!"

"Z... activate a TDP..." Quen murmured. Then everything went black....

~~~

The TDP opened as Quenderra slipped into unconsciousness. Ziggy was squealing and screaming, jarring McKay out of his shock. He grabbed the wrist device from Quen, putting it onto his own wrist.

“Whit are yeh doing, Rodney?!” Carson shouted as he watched McKay run towards the TDP.
McKay leaped into the vortex and was instantly tortured by the phenomenon he was not meant to travel in. Ziggy was the only reason he could and survive. As the vortex violently pushed him through, he thought his pain would never end. He was lucky it was such a short trip.

The TDP threw him out onto the bridge of the Junker, right behind Fraggle and the mutant, unnoticed. McKay watched in morbid fascination as the beast continued to snarl and feed, he saw the light leaving Fraggle’s wide pleading eyes. The look of her terror bringing back all the faces who had been hurt in the last 24 hours, bringing with them the pain and grief he had experienced throughout the last day.

In that moment, Rodney McKay snapped. His inhibitions and cowardly feelings were swept away by that look. All the horror and fear, the pain and anger welled up through his mind. No more would be hurt through this if he could help it. He raised the stunner and shouted.

“LET HER GO!” The beast turned quickly to the newcomer, its black eyes dripping with a hunger that would never be satisfied. McKay fired one, two, three shots into the monster. It threw Fraggle away, sending her crashing into the main console, falling limp onto the floor.

A terrible roar left McKay as he fired again and again at the oncoming beast. A fury he had never before experienced took over his mind as he continued to fire upon the falling beast. He suddenly stopped firing, gulping breaths of calm as his rage leaving him as quickly as it had engulfed him.
He turned from the mutant and ran to Fraggle. As well as the fact her chest was bleeding again, a large gash on her left temple was oozing blood. But she was alive.

Rodney stood next to the console, about to talk to Ziggy when his eyes saw the main window. He looked with surprise to find water outside.

“Where are we?” he said to himself.

Ziggy beeped and squealed, displaying flashes on the screen.

“She is alive Ziggy. We have to get her back to Atlantis... Where are we?”

Ziggy told him of the barriers that Fraggle had imposed on his system, denying him access to the positional data. McKay watched as the Junker continued to make its way to a dark blot in the murky distance. He battered the console keys, pulling up the programmes and swiftly removing the locks that Fraggle had put in place. As Ziggy was going through the data in the positional logs, McKay realized that the thing in the distance was a ship. Covered in algae and clouds of marine life swimming around it, Rodney was still easily able to identify the ship as a rather large Ancient made craft, ripped apart at the front bulkheads, but otherwise intact. Ziggy squealed and beeped, pulling Rodney’s attention back to the console.

“You have got to be kidding me!” he said as he read the data.

Four miles from Atlantis. It felt more like a million.

~~~

McKay stared at the ship in the murky distance, knowing that this was where the hybrids were coming from. Ziggy’s beeping brought him back to the fact that Fraggle was in danger of bleeding to death and he ran back to her fallen body.

Checking again for a pulse, he knew he was running out of time, her chest wound was bleeding profusely, and the head wound not much less.

“I need a TDP Ziggy," he said to the console.

Ziggy reminded him that only the SSD had the power to activate a TDP vortex.

“Oh, come on! How hard can it be!” he said, panicking.

Ziggy burst a bleep that sounded like a raspberry. McKay read the data on the wrist device, realizing he had upset Ziggy.

“I know that the SSD do more than we realize, but I need to get Fraggle back to Atlantis or we are going to lose her!” Something triggered in Ziggy’s programmes. A failsafe that even he did not know about. Quenderra had made sure that if any of the SSD were in mortal danger, Ziggy could call a TDP.

It was all a matter of programming in data and co-ordinates relating to wormhole travel and the exact key resonance of the SSD’s vortex, the only thing that was missing was the mental key and exact brain wave of one of the SSD.

Ziggy requested to be put onto Fraggle’s wrist, then he then keyed into a small chip in Fraggle’s wrist that she had not known to be there. When she finds out, Ziggy’s little AI mind thought, there will be hell to pay! He shot a small pulse of data into the chip, which activated the part of Fraggle’s mind that called on the TDP.

With an almighty whoosh, a TDP formed next to the consoles. McKay dragged Fraggle over to it and entered the billowing vortex, returning to Atlantis.

~~~

The TDP opened into the room where Quenderra had fallen moments before. Carson jumped back in fright from Quen as the vortex threw McKay and Fraggle in a heap onto the floor.

“Oh crap! This is not good!” Carson exclaimed when he saw the blood on Fraggle’s clothes. He pushed hard onto Fraggle’s wound to stem the bleeding, putting one hand to her neck. “Oh, God no!”

Nothing.

All at once Fraggle’s heart had stopped, just as Carson felt for her pulse.

McKay staggered back in shock as Carson screamed for help. Fraggle stared at McKay through half-lidded, lifeless eyes. His throat went dry as he realized she was gone. He stared at Quenderra and wondered if she had gone, too.

Nurses and machines burst into the room, followed by Sheppard and Ronon, who had been making their way back to see if Quen had had any luck with the hybrid.

Carson was holding the defibrillator, its squealing scream filling the quiet room as it charged.

THUNK!

Nothing. Squeal.

THUNK!

Nothing. Squeal.

Sheppard looked at McKay, then Fraggle. What the hell had happened? Ronon watched the situation unfold, an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

THUNK!

Nothing. Squeal.

THUNK!

"Damn it, Fraggle!" Carson shouted in frustration, hitting the young woman with the defibrillator once more. Nothing. "Donnae give up on me now!" The med team were attending to Quenderra who was entirely unresponsive. The hybrid was dead. Carson gently pressed his fingers against Fraggle's throat for what seemed like the thousandth time. Nothing! A sob caught in the physician's throat as he tossed the paddles aside, angry that he was unable to do anything more and suddenly aware that the wound on his chest had begun to hurt from being pulled at.

"She's stopped breathing--we're going to have to ventilate," he heard Sarah Cole, who had recovered rapidly, say to the group working with Quenderra. "Let's MOVE, people!"

"Carson?" Teyla spoke softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What can we do to help?"

"If I could get someone to move 'er off the floor," he managed, frustrated that he couldn't even do that for Fraggle. Ronon stepped forward and gently lifted the Scot SSD Agent up in his arms. He tilted his head to one side as he looked down at her face.

"What?" Sheppard asked, noticing the slight change in the Satedan's expression.

"I thought I saw her eyelids move," Ronon replied as he laid Fraggle on an empty bed. He pressed his fingers against her neck. "Doc, I got a pulse." Carson immediately rose to his feet and hurried to Fraggle's side. It took but a moment to confirm this. Somehow, by some miracle, Fraggle's heart, which had not been working less that a minute before, had taken up a weak, thready beat. The doctor shouted commands to some of his staff, and they all scrambled to hook the fallen woman to the necessary equipment.

Carson couldn't help a small smile. She was gonna make it--he could just feel it...

---

In another realm...

"Karron! Karron--calm yourself! It's me. It's Quen!" Quenderra told Karron when she'd connected with the beast's mind.

"Why are you trying to help me? What does it matter to you?" Karron had shouted at her. "Just leave me alone!" They stood in the same place that Quenderra had dreamed of before, only now, Karron appeared as she had over 10,000 years before when she was a girl apprenticing with one of the scientists. She was indeed beautiful, with a pale, silky complexion that contrasted with her long black hair and intense green eyes. She turned from Quenderra and made her way as quickly as she could in the fluid at their feet.

"Karron, wait," the blonde insisted. "Just let us try! You were wronged! You have been suffering for years and you did nothing to deserve it--nothing!"

"You want to end my suffering?" the Ancient had spat, tears brimming in her eyes. "Then, kill me! Kill all of us!"

"I won't do that."

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't believe in giving up on people when I think there is still hope!"

"There is no hope," Karron cried. "It's too late for us. Even if we could be changed back, we would never lose the hunger, the need to feed would always haunt us. No, Quenderra. We must die. It's the only way." Quen tried to reason with the girl as she made her way towards the pit.

"Please, just listen to me!" the SSD agent was growing frustrated. Karron turned her emerald eyes on her.

"Thank you for trying to understand instead of just fearing me." She turned back towards the hole and Quenderra suddenly realized what the pit represented. It was the end of life. The family Karron had spoken of before was not her fellow mutated ancients, but her true family, the people she cared about, carried away by the continuous flow of time, as represented by the fluid at their feet.

"Karron, don't!" Quenderra exclaimed, grabbing her by the arm.

"Let me do this!" Karron cried, attempting to pull away from her. "I just want to die! I don't want to hurt anymore!"

"There's another way!"

"There isn't!" The two young woman struggled for several moments, Quenderra trying to pull Karron away from the pit, and Karron trying to escape Quenderra so she could jump in. Finally, Karron gave a mighty pull, freeing herself from the blonde's grasp, but not without throwing them both off-balance. Karron gave a triumphant grin as she fell into the hole. And Quenderra fell with her...

~~~

Carson allowed Cole to redress his wound only after he had checked on Quenderra and Fraggle. He could not believe that Fraggle’s heart had started again, glad that it had. But he felt that perhaps the damage had already been done, as she lay in a coma-like state, unconscious, unmoving.

Quenderra was still hooked to the ventilator, but she seemed to be in a better state. He hoped that she would come round soon.

As Cole dressed his wound, he could hear Sheppard’s raised voice in the corridor. “What the hell do you mean you left the Junker in the ocean! Why the hell did you not surface it?”

“Fraggle was dying! I was not thinking about the Junker!” McKay said confused.

“So we lost the one thing that may have given us a lead on these things!”

McKay looked lost as he fought his confusion. Why the hell was Sheppard so upset with him? Had he not gone through the TDP, Fraggle would be dead and the Junker lost anyway. “I did what I could! Fraggle was my main priority!”

“Of course she was!” Ronon said.

“Oh what? Another go at the SSD with your witty sarcasm?”

“No, I’m saying you did the right thing,” Ronon replied, shifting uneasily.

“I’m sorry, we just had the way to get rid of these creeps and now it’s gone. Without the SSD we have no way to get to the Junker,” Sheppard shook his head and rubbed his brow in defeat.

“I’m sorry!” McKay said exasperated, feeling as if he had let the whole of Atlantis down.

“You know, I can help,” a voice said behind them. Kassandra stood pale and strong, determination written on her face. “I am an SSD agent after all.”

~~~

Quenderra had begun to breathe again on her own. Carson removed the ventilator when it was obvious it was no longer required. His head dizzied for a moment, he was pushing himself too much. As he went to sit down a hand brushed his. He looked back to Quenderra as her eyes fluttered.

“Quen! Quen lass!”

Quenderra’s eyes opened and she slowly looked around herself.

“Quenderra, you are alright,” Carson reassured her.

“Am I?” she asked strangely.

“Quen?” Carson asked worried as he remembered that she had been mentally tied to the hybrid when it died. “Karron?” he asked fearfully.

“Am I….?” she asked again, as if she were not really there.

“Are you what, lass?”

“Am I the only one here?” she eventually managed as she massaged her throat.

Carson breathed a sigh of relief coupled with sadness. “No love, yer not alone,” he said sadly. “Fraggle is...”

“Fraggle is what?” Quen said as she struggled to her elbow to look in the direction Carson was staring.

“She is very ill. Her heart stopped and I couldnae get it started again. I thought she… I thought we had lost her. She came back and, well, let’s say she has not woken yet. I’m not sure she will.” He could not look at Quenderra, feeling he had let her and the SSD down.

“No. You did all you could have,” her voice quivered, making Carson feel worse. Quenderra watched Fraggle’s chest rise in time with the ventilator. “She is strong, she will come back.”

“But you! Whit about you! How dae yeh feel? Whit happened earlier?”

“She killed herself. She is gone,” Quen said, her eyes dreamy and her voice a low whisper. “She could not bear to live with the hunger any longer.

~~~

“So, you are saying that these things are under the Lantean sea, in an old Ancient ship?” Kassandra asked McKay.

“I am sure of it.”

“Ziggy, show me the position of the Junker in relation to the Ancient craft.”

Ziggy was slow and sluggish, his little AI brain kept fretting over Quenderra. His fretting slowed his calculations as the human emotion took up a lot of his power.

“Ziggy listen to me. You need to shape up little guy if you are going to make it through this business. Quen and Fraggle are down, but we are not! Come on Z, get it together!”

Ziggy’s little mind fired quicker, realizing that Kass was right. He displayed the last position of the Junker and calculated its course.

“Okay, folks, the Junker is still quite a bit away from the Ancient craft, so lets go!” As Kass prepared to open a TDP to the Junker, Ziggy squealed a deafening squeak. “NO!” She looked at the three men in front of her, ready to go to the Junker.

“The Junker is moving--away from the Ancient ship.”

“But, but how can that be?” McKay stuttered.

“Ziggy read life signs on the Junker.”

~~~

Quenderra sat in her infirmary bed, still looking dazed--as though she was still in shock over what had happened. And well she should have been. Carson hadn't expected her to regain consciousness so soon. She held a hand out in front of her, examining the smooth skin and the way the tendons moved beneath it. The blonde noted how her hands felt a little dry--she should probably lotion them. Also, her nails were getting kind of long, but they weren't peeling yet, so she probably wouldn't need to trim them for several days, at least.

"How is Fraggle?" Quenderra asked softly as Dr. Cole approached, though she never removed her gaze from the hand and forearm that she held in front of her. She had little scars that she seldom had time to notice, little freckles neglected by the rush of living.

"Her EEG is returning to normal, pulse and breathing are steady, but she's still unconscious," the blond-haired doctor watched her for a moment--she seemed almost fascinated by the way her hand functioned and by the natural patterns in her skin. "How's Quenderra?" Sarah raised her voice a bit to be sure she got Quenderra's attention.

"It's kinda funny," tears glistened in Quen's eyes as she spoke wistfully, "the little things we take for granted. My hand's kinda pretty. I mean--the way it moves, the way the wrist rotates, how all the muscles and tendons and such work together. It's ingenious. Truly ingenious... Karron missed that."

"You couldn't save her. But it's not your fault," the physician soothed, placing a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. Quenderra looked up at her, her grayish-green eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't describe if she tried.

"No," Quen's voice, which almost always carried well, sounded small, listless, "No, I couldn't. She wouldn't listen to me... she wouldn't let me help her." Tears began to stream down her face as she leaned her head back in the pillow. Sarah regarded her sympathetically. What could she possibly say?

~~~

Kass spoke suddenly, remembering that this wasn’t the old Junker held together with duct tape and good thoughts but the SSD’s ‘new and improved’ junker that had replaced it. “Ziggy, do you think you can access the internal sensors of the junker? I’d like to see the view from the interior camera, we need to know who is piloting the junker.”

She could almost feel Ziggy zipping through the information trying to gain access to the system which she had requested, when suddenly he beeped loudly drawing her attention to the message <*Error* Unable to access internal sensors.>

She looked incredulously at her WD as she spoke, slightly frustrated, “What do you mean UNABLE to access internal sensors, Ziggy, you’re the smartest computer in the world how can you be UNABLE to access them?” With that she trailed off waiting for a reply.

The wrist device vibrated slightly with energy as Ziggy's frustration grew. <I just... CAN'T!> he exclaimed in a blocky font. Strings of numerical codes and commands made their way through Ziggy's mind, many of them showing up on his smaller monitor back in HQ, the palm scanner lighting up and dimming again.

"If we can't get the Junker back," Sheppard began, but Z let out a shrill hum. The face of Kass' wrist device blinking blue.

<Secondary Forward Cam activated.> The camera panned about slowly, silently, revealing the newest occupants of the SSD Junker...

~~~

The silent camera feed showed some hybrids standing on the bridge of the Junker. They looked huge in the small space, but moved around with ease. One was larger than the others, the lack of audio feed hid the orders and commands he barked at the others.

His black oily skin was mottled with blue and red, stretched tightly over his muscular body. His face was grotesque, his black glistening eyes looked at each hybrid in turn. He pressed a button on his chest, shimmered and disappeared from the Junker.

A head moved in front of the camera, stopped and turned to look at the lens. Black eyes stared hard at the camera, as if waiting for something.

“The power LED!” Kassandra whispered. The hybrid opened his mouth in a wide silent snarl, the large teeth sharp and glistening. His body lunged then the camera went offline.

Kass looked up from Ziggy’s small screen. “So, we can’t get to the Junker and now the enemy have hold of a highly advanced working ship!” Sheppard flared, clenching his fists and stormed away.

“What is wrong with him anyway!?” McKay said, watching Sheppard walk away.

Ronon stared at him for a moment, as if about to say something, then just turned and walked away.

“What? What?” McKay stammered hopelessly.

~~~

Ziggy informed Kassandra that Quenderra had woken. She made her way back to the medical bay to see her. She found Quen sitting next to Fraggle’s bed staring at nothing.

Kassandra approached her, waiting on her to notice her presence. She didn’t. “Quen?”

“Oh Kass, hi. How are you?” she asked distantly.

“I'm fine, but how are you?”

Quenderra sighed and seemed to see Kass for the first time. Her tired, pale face broke into a huge smile, as she got up and hugged her friend, glad to see her on her feet again. “I am fine--fine!”

Kass turned towards Fraggle, noticing that Quen would not look at their friend. Fraggle’s ashen face remained peaceful, her body still. Machines beeped and worked around the bed, breathing for her, monitoring her.

“No change,” Quen said looking at Kass.

Kassandra looked back at Quen and for a brief moment did not know her. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the woman in front of her, trying to figure out what it was that seemed out of place. She blinked and Quen stood before her, smiling.

“What is it? There something on my face?”

Kassandra smiled, shaking her head and the nagging feeling from her mind. Quenderra seemed to change, turning and looking at Fraggle.

“I wonder what she saw when she was on the Junker. Ziggy said that she froze for some time after the Hybrid went down, did not move again until the hybrid woke and attacked her. I can only surmise that she was in the mind realm. What did they talk about? What does she know?”

~~~

McKay found Sheppard on a balcony, silently looking out over the sea, lost in thought. “Uh, Sheppard?”

“What is it Rodney?” John growled.

“Have I done something to upset you?”

John ignored him, continuing to look out at the moving water.

“Well, have I?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, you have been snapping at me all day and I wondered why. What’s wrong?”

John turned and looked at Rodney. He stared hard at him, a look so intense and angry, that McKay found it hard to keep his eyes raised. “I don’t have time for this! People are hurt, dying, and you come here asking what’s wrong?”

“I…I…”

“Keep it, McKay! I don’t wanna hear it!” John pushed by McKay, bumping him slightly and made to walk inside.

“Shep… John!”

John turned to stare at McKay and twisted over, falling to his knees, clutching his chest. Rodney ran to help his friend, but John pushed him away.

“I’m fine, damn it!” he got back onto his feet, wavered, then continued walking. Leaving McKay open mouthed and more confused than ever.

~~~

Weir listened to Quenderra and Kassandra as Sheppard looked on. McKay entered the room and sat down, noticing Ronon and Teyla in discussion through the glass wall.

“If we open a TDP right onto the bridge, they will not be expecting it, if we are quick, we can disable them and gain control of the Junker again.”

“Going onto that ship is suicide, no matter how fast you think you will be.”

“We cann't let the Hybrids take the Junker. Who knows what they will do, where they will go. And getting her back means we have an advantage,” Quenderra said, looking at Weir.

“I can not give you a team to walk into that kind of danger. I will not allow them or you to walk into that… it’s suicide! You have seen what these beasts are like! It takes at least six shots to take them down! You are trying to tell me that you can take down eight hybrids at once?”

“I say do it.” Sheppard broke his silence.

“I say no.” Weir countered.

“So what? We sit here like fodder? How many more Elizabeth? How many more have to be hurt and killed?” he shouted.

“John, can we have a word, in private?”

“You can have as many words as you like, but not with me. I am not gonna stand around waiting on the next attack, and watch more good people suffer!” He stormed out of the room, leaving the air heavy with tension.

Ronon and Teyla entered the room, having seen Sheppard walk out.

“Doctor Weir, the Junker is surfacing,” Teyla informed her.

~~~

John’s mind was in turmoil. Never had he been in a situation that he had lost control so terribly. What was wrong with him? He had watched his friends fall, watched a man ripped to death, and had been mauled himself. Then there was McKay, working seemingly effortless through the situation and left him feeling... what? Jealous? No, angry. Angry with himself. Angry at his weakness, his failure to gain control. He saw three people not even from this dimension hurt and dying trying to save them all and he could do nothing. Again his hand came to his chest, it was getting worse. It was beating him and this made him furious. He was failing.

John remembered McKay and Ronon working as a team to trap a hybrid, he remembered Carson fighting to save Fraggle, the team fighting to save Quen. He saw himself on the sidelines looking into a fight he should be winning. His failure was made more unbearable with every weakening moment his body let him down. He gave orders that went wrong, made plans that did not work, and for everything that went wrong, he blamed himself.

He heard footsteps behind him, hurrying towards him. He turned and stared at McKay, who shifted uneasily under his stony glare. “What is it?” he asked gruffly.

“It's… it's not you fault, any of this.”

“I never said it was!”

“No, but I… I know you, I know that you feel you are letting everyone down as this keeps going on.”

“McKay, when you know ANYTHING about me, it will shock me.”

“Sheppard, think about it. These things have taken out the SSD--hell, even the angry Scot was nearly killed! With their technology and talents, even they could not get the upper hand in this!”

John stared at McKay for a long time, silence invading the space between them. He knew Rodney was right. He had been a bloody fool. His face softened a little as resolve built in his mind.

“What do you say we go kick these hybrid’s ugly butts?”

McKay breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that the wrath he thought would come did not.

John turned, his usual swagger returning, and McKay watched in horror as he fell to the floor clutching his chest in agony.

McKay ran and turned Sheppard onto his back, calling on the com for help. John grunted in pain as blood oozed between his tight fingers.

“Your wound has opened again! Why didn't you say so?!”

“No…” John grunted, “attacked…again.”

“When?!”

“During… last… attack… when you were… on the Junker….” John slipped into an inky blackness as the medical team reached his side.

~~~

The assembled group watched Sheppard, and then McKay, leave the room. Quenderra turned her attention back to Dr. Weir.

"Elizabeth," Quen's tone seemed strangely detached. "If we can't take the Junker by force, why don't we destroy it?"

"What?" Kass exclaimed. "We can't destroy the Junker! The KoT can't replace it twice! Fraggle loves that ship!"

"Fraggle would agree with me. We can't let the hybrids leave Lantea with the Junker. We destroy it and the creatures within."

"I thought you wanted to befriend the things," Ronon said gruffly. Quen directed her gaze at him.

"You can't help someone who doesn't want your help," she said matter-of-factly.

"But is it even possible to destroy the Junker remotely?" Weir asked, bringing them all back on topic. Quenderra consulted the RD.

"Ziggy, could you destroy the Junker?" Ziggy worked sluggishly, almost reluctantly. Impatient, Quen repeated her question. "Ziggy, can you or can you not destroy the Junker?"

<I can.> he answered finally.

"He can," Quenderra told the others. Kass bit her lip, not wanting to say anything else. All eyes turned towards Elizabeth. She agonized over the decision. "Elizabeth, we'd be doing them a favor," the blonde SSD Agent spoke up. "They've lived for more than 10,000 years in a living hell. If I learned anything from Karron, it's that they are suffering. They're no longer human beings--Jena Groen stole that from them."

"Do it," Weir finally said. Quenderra typed the command into the remote device. She looked up as she finished.

"It's done," she spoke softly, a bit a sadness in her eyes.

~~~

Outside, now miles above the city, the control of the junker was suddenly overridden. Before the eight hybrids on-board could determine what was happening, the self-destruct started and counted down at a speed only Ziggy could follow--and even his mind was left spinning. There was a loud explosion and brilliant flash of light as the Junker turned into innumerable pieces of debris and ash which floated down to the ocean below.

~~~

"What happened?" Elizabeth demanded as she, Ronon, Teyla, and the conscious members of the SSD met the medical team on their way into the infirmary.

"He was fed on during the last attack!" McKay answered. "And he didn't tell anyone!"

"And this time it's worse," Carson added, his eyes betraying how worried he was. The medical team continued on, leaving the others behind as the doctors and nurses worked to stabilize John's condition.

"This will continue," Quenderra spoke passionately. "There were 32 hybrids created by Groen, Karron told me. Nine are now dead. That leaves 23. There is no other way, Dr. Weir--they must be destroyed!!"

"Quenderra is right," Teyla said, though, there seemed to be reluctance on her part. "We cannot live like this."

"But how do we do that?" Elizabeth demanded. "According to Rodney, it takes several shots with a stunner to take one down. How do we know bullets will do any good?" She was obviously feeling frustrated. No one could blame her. As the others discussed how they could possibly defeat the hybrids, Quenderra silently withdrew, unnoticed. She made her way through the corridors, stopping momentarily at the armory. Several minutes later, she found herself in a secluded corridor. The hybrid that had been giving orders on the Junker before it left was there.

"Jena?" she spoke. "That's who you are, isn't it? Hello. Don't be afraid." The young woman slowly stepped towards the beast. "Easy... It's gonna be okay, Jena. Just--trust me..."

~~~

The soldier looked at the thing in front of him, it's huge body lunging towards him. The man's scream never left his mouth, his windpipe crushed as his throat was held closed by the massive hand that crushed it tight. Quietly he set the man on the ground, stepping over the body without another glance.

As he walked undetected by Atlantis scanners, he melted into the shadows and crouched in the dark. He wandered the corridors, unable to find where he wanted to be. Sniffing the air, his black eyes shifted constantly... watching, looking.

He had to get there, had to get back to the lab.

He caught his reflection in a glass panel, it shocked him still to see it. He tilted his head as his eyes regarded the image that haunted his life. The largest of all the hybrids, Karron’s mother had injected him with a huge mount of the serum he had created. His body was grotesque, its black oily skin repulsed what was left of his human mind. He heard a noise, a shuffle of feet coming from the room behind him. He crouched low and as the door opened he pounced on the man. Planting his hand on the man he drew strength again, feeding more power into his body.

The man made no noise as he died.

A sound in his dark mind, screams from the others, instantly stopped as they died on the destroyed Junker. Eight of his best, gone in the explosion. The hybrid was overcome with rage, he screamed a roar and he lofted the man in the air, his claws tearing as he threw the body back inside the room he had tried to leave. Turning, he remembered the reason for coming to the city. Get to the Lab. Get the serum. Get back to the ship.

His anger abated as a new mind entered his. A mind he had known since childhood, a mind that followed him from human to monster. Jena Groen turned to face the mind he felt, surprised to see a human woman standing there. She was blonde with sea green eyes, so much lighter than Karron’s had been. Yet, he thought he saw Karron staring from those clear bright eyes. The woman stood there with no fear on her face nor in her mind.

A moaning growl sounded deep in his throat, his confusion at sensing Karron within this little female human.

"Jena?" she spoke. "That's who you are, isn't it? Hello. Don't be afraid." The young woman slowly stepped towards the beast. "Easy... It's gonna be okay, Jena. Just--trust me..."

~~~

The dark fog lifted so slowly, he did not notice it at first. His mind fought until he could hear voices.

“I don’t know whit the hell he was thinking about. A bloody wound like that, I am surprised he didnae collapse earlier. Bloody ejit!”

“Well, it takes practice... to be a bloody... ejit,” John said as the fog finally left his head. His eyes opened to Carson writing in a chart at the end of his bed and Ronon standing at the bottom of Fraggle’s bed. When he heard John’s voice, he walked over.

“So, what has happened since I came here?” he inquired as he gingerly attempted to sit up, giving up when his chest hurt to much.

“The Junker was destroyed,” Ronon informed him.

“WHAT?!” John shouted then regretted it as a shooting pain ripped across his chest.

“The SSD decided it had to be taken out rather than let it be in control of the hybrids.”

“You realize, she is gonna be pissed when she hears that,” John said, motioning his head towards Fraggle.

“Yeah, that’s if she wakens to hear it,” Carson shook his head as he walked away.

“What does he mean by that?”

Ronon just shook his head and looked at his feet.

“Where is McKay?”

“He and Kass are in with Teyla and Weir, discussing what to do about the hybrids.”

“So what are you doing here, then?”

“I’m looking for Quenderra. She’s been missing since you were brought here.”

“Eh, I hate tae interrupt the party, but yeh should be resting,” Carson said, ushering Ronon out.

“They blew up the Junker?” John asked again with a smile. “I wish I had seen that!”

~~~

“The fact that they are proving so difficult to injure or kill with normal weapons, means we have to look at a different approach.” Kass said to the people in the room.

“Do you have something in mind?” Weir asked as she sipped on yet another coffee.

“Looking through the data on the original experiments, the changes brought about a massive mutation of the DNA, which in turn made the hybrids' tissue and bones much stronger than anything we have ever seen before. Normal stunners and bullets are useless, they take too long to bring them down. I was thinking, fight them from the inside. We could use nanites. Take them all down at the same time.”

“That could work. We could use the KoT to help program them,” McKay said, a smile on his face.

“But how do we deliver them to the ship?" Kass queried. "Get close enough and they will board a jumper. Look at what happened to the Junker. They had no problem getting onto that.”

“Well, we can work on that while we work on the nanites,” McKay said as he got to his feet.

~~~

Groen watched the woman in front of him, talking so calm and sweetly. She was as soothing as Karron had been, before he turned her. He had loved her with all of his heart--he had loved the girl even more than his departed wife--it was the reason he turned her first. In his complete misjudgment, he believed what he had been doing was a benefit to all and that everyone would agree and que up to be turned. He believed that Karron should be the first as she always came first in his life.

The small blonde continued to talk, walking closer to him, slowly, carefully.

Groen’s breathing was slowing as the rage left him, leaving him with the ever present hunger. He could smell the blood of the human in front of him, and he wanted to feed on her, but he sensed his beloved Karron, and his confusion rooted him to the spot. His breathing was deep and slow, his huge arms hung by his sides slack and motionless. He was like a statue. Small growls were forced from his throat with every breath, as his black eyes looked for the face of someone not there.

“Groen, trust me. Look at me, you know who I am.”

He mewled a yearning cry as his thoughts were confirmed. Karron was in the girl in front of him. He stepped forward, thoughts of leaving this damned body by way that Karron had done filled his mind. They could all do it, leave this stinking life behind and be normal again! He raised a massive hand towards Quenderra, placing it softly on her head. He stroked down the side of her face and dropped back to his side.

She closed into him, so small within his huge frame, raising her arms as he lowered his head and shoulders to her in an awkward embrace.

Her head met his, and she whispered in his ear. “For all that you have done to me... for all that you have done to us.”

It was only then that he realized that something cold was pressed against his head behind his ear. He tried to get his head back, but Quenderra pulled the trigger before he even moved.
His arms dragged down her sides as the embrace broke apart, pulling her forward with him. She righted herself and watched as Groen’s mighty body slid to the floor, his eyes opened in a surprised expression.

She stood for what seemed like an eternity, staring at him, mixed feelings in her mind. The daze was broken by the sound of someone running towards her direction. Ronon rounded the corner and slid to a halt, seeing Quenderra standing over the hybrid's dead body.

Quen glanced up as Ronon rounded the corner. Her expression was unreadable. She looked back at the lifeless body of Jena Groen. Slowly, her fingers loosened, allowing the gun to clatter to the floor. She took a step backwards as her body began to shake involuntarily.

"Oh, god..." she murmured. Ronon approached the hybrid as Quenderra backed against the wall, wiping her hands on her pants as though to clean them of unseen blood.

"Ronon, come in," Teyla's voice came over the radio. "We thought we heard gunfire!" The Satedan looked at the blonde before answering, but she avoided his gaze.

"You did," he responded. "Quenderra ran into one of the hybrids--she killed it."

"She killed it?" McKay echoed in disbelief. "This is Quen we're talking about!"

"I know, McKay," Ronon rumbled neutrally.

"Is Quenderra with you?" Teyla asked.

"Physically."

"Stay put," Elizabeth directed, "we're coming to your position." Ronon leveled a grim gaze at the dead hybrid before standing and moving over to Quenderra. She had slid to a sitting position, head on knees and hands over her head. He could tell that she was trying to calm her own breathing.

"Hey," he spoke gently. He sat down next to her. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

"I... I sensed him," Quen began quietly, leaning her head back against the wall. "I followed him here. I spoke to him and he... he came towards me, so I--I killed him."

"You were defending yourself," Ronon asserted. The woman closed her eyes. Weir and the others reached their location. Carson had joined them, while Kass had remained with Fraggle.

"Oh, my god," McKay exclaimed when he saw the mess that was the hybrid's head. Teyla approached the body, closely examining the damage. Elizabeth took in the scene as Dr. Beckett turned his attention to Quenderra.

"Quen, love, are you alright?" the Scot asked her. The eyelids opened, revealing the stormy irises beneath. Quen looked at him, unseeing, her body still trembling. She diverted her gaze, shaking her head slightly. "Alright, up ya go, lass," the doctor spoke soothingly as he and Ronon helped her to her feet. He led her back towards the infirmary as the Satedan turned to the others.

"What happened?" Weir wanted to know.

"It attacked her," Ronon said. "She protected herself." Teyla looked like she had something to say, but she remained silent.

"Since when did Quen carry a gun?" Rodney demanded.

"Maybe she got smarter."

~~~

Kass listened to the steady beep of the heart monitor, watching as Fraggle's chest rose and fell in time with the ventilator. She looked so pale, yet peaceful.

"Fraggle Dragon," the youngest of the SSD began, "I'm not even sure you can hear me, but... you've always been such a good friend--you made me feel important. Valuable..." she trailed off, tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Easy, lass," Kassandra heard Carson's voice as he entered the infirmary. "Could you have a seat and let me have a look at yeh?" Kass left Fraggle's bedside and approached the doctor's location. Quenderra sat on a bed, staring into the distance.

"Is she alright?" she heard herself ask.

"She seems to be in a bit of shock," Carson answered. "Other than that, she appears to be fine, but I can't know for certain until I'm done examining her." Kass studied Quenderra's expression, concluding that the SSD had never been in such a mess before.

~~~

"Dr. Weir," Teyla called as she approached the other woman.

"Teyla," Elizabeth turned to face the Athosian. "What can I do for you?"

"I didn't say so before, because I did not wish to upset Ronon, but I do not believe that the hybrid was killed in self-defense."

~~~

Kass sat at her friend's bedside, feeling helpless. She surveyed Quen with worried eyes, taking in her friend's bedraggled appearance and distant eyes.

She spoke to her friend softly, which was a contrast to her normally vibrant, bubbly personality, "Quen, I don’t know what happened out there, I just know that you did what you did for a reason,” she paused for a moment knowing that the best thing she could do at the moment was support her good friend.

~~~

Kass lost track of the time she spent sitting at Quen's side as she bounced ideas around in her head as to how to defeat the worst enemy they had encountered up until this point. She jumped slightly, feeling a hand come to rest on her shoulder. She turned around to find Radek standing there looking at Quen's form.

"Radek, how are you feeling?" she asked looking up at him from her seated position.

"Mám se dobře, Děkuji," Radek replied, forgetting that the SSD agent in front of him didn't speak Czech, suddenly reminded by her perplexed look, "I am fine, thank you. How are you?"

Kass smiled up at him, "I'm good, though, I could use your help on something Radek. I think I may have figured out a way to deliver the nanites to the hybrids." With that, she paused, awaiting his answer

It was now his turn to look confused. "Are you sure you want my help? Why not go to Rodney and request his assistance on the project?" he paused for a moment as the last part of her statement sunk in. "You have a way to deliver them to the ship, how?"

Kass took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye, before speaking. "We use Groen’s body to house the nanites and send it back to them."

~~~

A couple hours later, the Atlantis team sat impatiently waiting for Kass to reappear with her brilliant plan that she said she must share with them ASAP.

Sheppard glanced around the assembled people with a sigh. “So, where do you think she is and what exactly is the brilliant plan that she came up with to deliver the nanites to the ship?” He glanced at the weary faces gathered around his bed in the infirmary.

~~~

Kass had been hard at work for the last several hours as Zelenka toiled away in his lab modifying the nanites to be deliverable through Groen’s corpse. She’d transported herself back to the SSD headquarters in order to work with Ziggy on a way of hacking the ancient ship's navigation and control systems to see how viable it was as the SSD would be in dire need of a new ship after the destruction of the Junker. She also worked with Ziggy on creating a way of shielding the ship so as to prevent the hybrids from leaving it and transporting into Atlantis. Finally, she left at the last possible second to head back to the meeting she’d arranged before her departure. She quickly summoned a TDP and hurtled through it to the infirmary of Atlantis landing with a soft thump.

Rodney looked up as she arrived. “About time you arrived! You’re the last SSD agent we have in good working condition around this place and I can’t do all the work, anymore!”

Kass glanced around the assembled group, realizing that Radek hadn’t yet arrived in the infirmary. “Where’s Radek? I had him working on the programming of the nanites”

At the mention of nanites the whole team suddenly looked up, intently focused on her. Sheppard spoke first with an accusatory tone that belied his sudden distrust of the plan, “WHY the hell are you messing around with nanites? Who approved this? If those damn buggers take over again it’ll be YOUR ass on the line.”

Elizabeth waited patiently for John to finish his little tirade before speaking. “What role exactly do the nanites play in this plan?”

Kass looked a bit taken aback at Sheppard’s sudden outburst before beginning her explanation.

**4 hours earlier...**

Kass and Radek sat in his lab staring at the programming of the nanites that they were working with. She rubbed her eyes as they scanned the lines of code before Radek spoked up, pausing the code and pointing to the screen, “I think that we could insert something here that would program the nanites to activate once they are transported through the TDP.”

Kass studied the line of code intently for a moment before speaking, “Sounds like a plan, Radek. I think I am going to go back to the SSD headquarters and work with Ziggy on infiltrating the computer of the ancient ship.”

*****

Rodney sat absorbing the information that had just been thrown at them, “So, you mean to say that you hacked the computers on the ancient ship at the bottom of the Lantean ocean?”

Kass looked at him and spoke slowly, as the several days she had spent with little to no sleep were finally catching up with her. “Yes and no. Ziggy did most of the work while I was modifying the shielding mechanism of the ship to prevent the hybrids from transporting into Atlantis.”

“So, how exactly do you plan on delivering the nanites to the ship?” Sheppard asked, a bit calmer.

Kass looked around at everyone assembled before explaining that part of the plan. “I had Radek modify the nanites so that they could be stored within the body of Groen which we will send back through the TDP to the ship once it reaches the surface of the Lantean ocean. The TDP will activate the nanites which will, well, cause them to... cease to be,” she picked her words carefully. Even though they were not human, nor had they been in over 10,000 years, she did not like the thought of their blood on her hands.

Weir who’d been listening to the interchange between her team and the remaining SSD agent carefully finally weighed in with her thoughts. “So, you are planning on infecting Groen’s body with the nanites, transporting him through the TDP, and then letting the nanites take over the hybrids? Fine, that could possibly work, but you can't bring the Ancient ship to the surface--it's too much of a risk!”

Kass sighed softly, her eyes staring at her two friends laying still in their infirmary beds. “Its too late, I already activated the program that will guide the ship to the surface over the next several hours”

Weir looked at Kassandra in horror, she was furious. “You had no right, you have no authority! What if that ship surfaces and your plan does not work? You are risking the lives of everyone in Atlantis and on the mainland!”

“And how does the TDP transport a dead body? I thought that it only transported living tissue?” McKay asked.

“One of us will have to go. Take Groen’s body with us,” Kass replied.

“And then what? You stand there and get attacked and killed? The nanites are not going to take them down fast enough to leave whoever goes unharmed!”

The conversation carried on, arguments and berating, as the clock ticked.

“And which one of you will go?” Weir demanded.

“I will go.” Quenderra answered. “I know the hybrid mind, it could give me the edge to either fight or evade them until they are taken down.”

“This is just… this situation is out of control. I am not happy about this. If this does not work, the aftermath is on your hands,” Weir said as she pointedly stared at Kassandra. As the group began to disperse, Teyla approached Weir.

“I am sorry we were interrupted earlier, what was it you had to tell me?”

“Not here.”

They walked back to Elizabeth’s office, Teyla obviously upset about something.

“You can not let Quenderra go on this mission.”

“I don’t want anyone going on this mission, but one of them has to.”

“No, you don’t understand. I said earlier that I did not think the hybrid was killed in self-defense. I think Quenderra killed it deliberately.”

“What are you saying? Quenderra actively sought out the hybrid and killed it?”

“I sense it--a presence in her. Alien. Wraith-like.”

“Karron?” The thought numbed Elizabeth’s mind.

“I believe so.”

~~~

The nanites were not active, and yet people evaded Groen’s dead body as if they were. The final preparations for the mission were being carried out, Kassandra and Radek were going over the data to ensure everything had been covered.

Quenderra was getting ready, putting Ziggy on her wrist, checking her com and holstering her stunner. She slid a filled syringe into her pocket, making sure no one saw it. The door opened to the room and Weir, Beckett and Teyla walked in with a couple of armed guards.

“Quenderra, can you come with me, please. Kassandra, change of plan, you will have to go on this mission.”

“What’s going on?” Quenderra asked innocently.

“I ask that you come with us to the medical bay,” Weir said. Quenderra’s gaze dropped to the floor, her shoulders squared and her spine straightened. When she looked back up, everyone drew a breath. She did not look like the Quenderra everyone was used to seeing. Instead, the look of hate and rage, a look never seen on Quenderra’s face, marred her usually serene features.

“Get back. Back away from me!” the words were hostile and angry, spat with contempt.

“Karron, that is you, isn’t it?” Teyla said softly.

“I warn you, get back from me, now, or I swear I will make her into me.”

“Karron, lets talk about this, come with us.”

Quenderra’s arm raised to her pocket. The guards raised their weapons higher. Elizabeth held her hands out to stop any interaction. Quenderra pulled the syringe from her pocket and held it for all to see.

“Groen’s legacy. Right here,” she raised the vial high. “I thought I could escape the hunger, that I could be human again. But… but you don’t know what it feels like. The gnawing hunger. Even now I feel it and I can not stand it! I have to return to the state that will allow me to feed!!”

“Karron, NO! You can not do it to Quenderra! She tried to help you!”

“That makes this hardest of all. I can not live without the hunger and I can not live with it! If I am to live I need to feed and if I am to feed I need to become what I was!” Karron uncapped the syringe and began to push the needle into her arm.

It was then that she awoke. Quenderra shifted under the weight of Karron’s mind, fighting to regain control of her body. She struggled to free her mind of its confines, eventually freeing herself enough to stop Karron from forcing the needle into her skin.

It was clear to Beckett what was happening, he saw a glimpse of the real Quenderra shifting on the features of her face, just as one of the guards aimed his sights.

“Don’t shoot!” she called, hoping they would understand.

“It’s Quenderra!” Beckett shouted. “Don’t shoot!”
The needle was puncturing the skin, though it had yet to enter the vein. Quen was in sheer panic. She did not want to become one of those things, she did not want to be Karron!
As the conflict wore on, Karron was gaining the upper had.

'You will never defeat me Quenderra, you are not strong enough.'

'I will never let you take me! Never!'

Quenderra focused all of her thoughts and steeled her mind. She broke free from Karron’s control momentarily. In those precious seconds, she looked straight at Carson.

“SHOOT ME!” she cried as Karron took back control of her body. Carson had to push the gun away as the guard fired a shot, sending a stray bullet blasting into a console that erupted in sparks. He grabbed a stunner from the guards holster and fired it at Quenderra, sending her flying backwards, the syringe dropping to the floor.

“NOOO!” Karron roared. “NO! I need to go back!!”

Carson fired again, rendering Karron/Quenderra unconscious. The whole room stood in shock.
Carson was the first to move, getting onto his knees checking Quenderra.

“Let’s get her to the medical wing.”

“The guards go, too.” Elizabeth said. Carson nodded his head as he looked with distaste at the raised guns.

“Of course.”

“It’s time,” Kassandra said. “I need to go now, or it will be too late.” She walked over to Groen’s body and took hold of his lifeless arm. Ziggy squeaked as the TDP burst into life.

“Good luck.” Weir said. Kassandra nodded, and stepped into the vortex.

~~~

Karron woke up in the infirmary much sooner than Carson would have predicted. Refusing to speak to anyone, she began to rhythmically pull at the restraints which held her wrists. She was determined to work on the numerous others later. The guards stood by impassively. The embittered Ancient had considered trying to fool the Lanteans once again, but decided that they were not worth her effort.

"I see that you're awake," Dr. Beckett said as he entered the room.

"Don't waste your time asking how I am," Karron scowled. Quen's eyes had taken on an unusual shade of green that they normally only had when she was wearing the color.

"I wasn't gonna." Karron looked at the doctor in surprise. "But I do want to know how Quenderra is. I want to speak to her."

Karron turned away. "Forget it," she snarled. "You will never talk to your friend again. EVER." Carson stepped up to the bedside, glaring at the monster inside his friend.

"That is where you're wrong," he whispered determinedly, trembling with anger. "You are wrong."

~~~

Meanwhile... Earth, Scotland

Colin Gerrard walked up to Fraggle’s flat, wondering what he would find there. His friend had gone off the radar for over a week and he worried where she was. She was always online, always reachable, but she had not been in contact for some time. No one had seen her, no one had heard from her, and people were starting to worry. He was worried. Damn it, last time this happened, she had been in a car crash and no one knew. What if something had happened to her again? What if she was lying in some hospital, alone and hurt.

If only he knew.

Colin and Fraggle had met in high school. He had moved with his family from England to a little town just outside Glasgow and met her on his first day at high school. There was nothing romantic in their relationship, but a deep friendship that had grown though the years. She was like a sister to him. During the high school years they shielded each other from the constant verbal attacks of the school bullies. They'd been classed as geeks, nerds, and that never sat well with the popular kids.

They left high school and went to college, then university together, both in different classes, but still able to remain friends. They made it further than the people who had ridiculed them at school, and they were proud of what they achieved. Every night, they were chatting online, everyday there was something new to talk about. Before the internet was an everyday technology, they used to write letters, writing about what they were doing, what new games they were playing. Once a month they would meet up in a cafe in town, spend the afternoon laughing and talking.

They had not spoken in over a week. In her last email, Fraggle had mentioned new friends in America. Had she gone there to meet them? Unlikely. She would have told him.

Colin knocked the door. Nothing, no reply. What was he expecting? Idiot. He tried the door handle and it opened for him. Not a good sign. He took a quick look around the house, finding it abandoned and unkempt.

Colin, at home in this house and very welcomed, made his way to Fraggle’s memorabilia room. He opened the door to the usual ubiquitous posters and collectible movie figures and models that covered her special room. He looked around for some sort of clue as to where she may have gone. The Xbox was slightly out of place. He switched it on and smiled at the score she had reached in her last game, dated almost 2 weeks before. The smile faltered. She had not been here in so long. So out of character for his ever smiling and funny best friend.

As he reached down to push the Xbox back into its normal place, he noticed a small box, lodged behind the console. He lifted the box out and examined it. It was a brown metallic box with strange markings on it. Wires protruded from its side and locked into the monitor on the desk. Strange. It was not plugged into the wall, though it seemed to be powered up, the light humming noise and tiny green light on the front showed it was live. A small button on the right corner proved too much and he pressed it, expecting the monitor to flicker on. Instead, a loud squealing noise emitted from it, much like the computer noise on a modem. In fright, he dropped the box on the ground.

A huge whooshing noise filled the air and a vortex of billowing light and electricity exploded in front of him. It moved closer to him and he froze in fear. The vortex engulfed him and shook his body with its power. He found himself flying through the billowing funnel, completely aghast at what was happening, screaming at the top of his lungs in fear.

Just when the experience seemed like it would not stop, he was thrown out as the vortex disappeared. He landed with a thump in a dim room. He could see monsters all around him, writhing in agony. What colour was left in his face drained as one of the monsters lunged at him. His scream was cut short as a tall brunette reached down and hauled him to his feet. Her face was strained and fearful, but she managed to speak.

“Where the hell did you come from?!”

~~~

As soon as Kass and Groen’s body landed on the exiting end of the TDP, she sprung into action. She knew that it was a fairly small ship, so she didn’t have much time to work. She dragged Groen’s body to the spot she’d determined would be best for the spread of the nanites and stepped away and prepared to activate a TDP back to Atlantis, feeling rather uneasy at the quiet that enveloped the darkened ship.

All of a sudden, out of the blackness, she felt something slimy grasp her ankle pulling her off balance causing her scream as she fell, her back hitting the deck of the bridge with a resounding ‘thud’. She lay there for a moment peering into the inky blackness around her trying to make out what had grabbed her, when out of the blackness she separated a shape that she recognized and gasped involuntarily, shuddering as the figure swam into her field of vision.

The greasy hybrid stared down at his quarry, a malicious grin spreading slowly across his parted lips as he spread his hand in preparation to feed. Kass spied the hybrid's spreading palm and sprung upwards contacting his body with hers harshly as they tumbled backwards onto the deck, Kass punching and scratching in the inky darkness praying that the nanites would soon take effect.

Kass screamed as the hybrid slammed its hand to her chest, before realizing that it was trying to pin her to the ground. Kass was bloodied and battered and about to give up when out of the corner of her eye she spied a TDP forming near where the writhing bodies of the other hybrids lay.

With the faint hope that someone, anyone, was there to save her, she slammed the full weight of her body forward into the hybrid and knocked him to the ground, his head hitting the deck with a resounding CRACK! as he lay writhing in pain as the nanites took control of his body. Kass regained her feet and headed for the spot the TDP had filled with the shape of a body before suddenly remembering that her fellow agents lay in the infirmary of Atlantis. She wondered who’d activated the TDP and given her the strength to fight back against the hybrid. Just as she was about to reach the person from the TDP a hybrid lunged at them causing a manly scream to fill the small space that they occupied.

Kass raced forward and grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet screaming, “Where the HELL did you come from?”

“I, I, came from England, Fraggle Dragon’s flat to be exact,” Colin replied to her, eyeing the form of the hybrid who’d collapsed at their feet as the space suddenly filled with a bright blinding light.

“The surface!” Kass shouted with glee as the craft came to float on the top of the water that surrounded it as far as the eye could see. Suddenly it hit her what Colin had said and she turned and looked at him again. “You say you came from Fraggles’ flat? In England!? But Fraggles' Scottish.” She wasn’t sure how much this stranger knew about the SSD and their adventures so she chose her words carefully. The moment was broken a second later by the groaning that filled the air surrounding the hybrids.

Colin eyed the brunette who matched the description of one of Fraggles’ American friends to a ‘T’. “Yes, I came from Fraggles flat. I am Colin, one of her friends I had not heard from her in over a week and became concerned, so I went to her flat and found it empty. Where in the world am I?”

Kass took in his words and mulled them over for a moment, considering the best course of action from here. Finally, after what probably seemed like an eternity she decided she better answer Colin, after all, she didn’t want to be considered rude by the newcomer.

“You are in the Pegasus galaxy on an ancient ship and those,” she paused for a moment to gesture to the still moving figures of the hybrids, “are hybrid wraith. You traveled here through what we refer to as the TDP or the Time Delay Phenomenon. It allows us to travel great distances in the blink of an eye.”

Colin looked slightly confused by the amount of information that was pouring from the brunette’s mouth. “How is that even possible? The Pegasus galaxy doesn’t even exist nor do wraith, there is no such thing...”

~~~

"Let me go!" Karron screeched at the top of her lungs, or rather, at the top of Quenderra's lungs. "LET... ME... GOOO!!! I will kill her! I will kill her if you don't release me!" One of the guards looked a bit uncomfortable, but the other was quite bored with the self-destructive being that had possessed the SSD agent. After all... she hadn't said anything of interest for some time. Quen's wrists were chaffed and bleeding where Karron had pulled and struggled with the restraints. They'd had to be tightened numerous times already.

"Let me go..." the voice was suddenly softer, more pleading. "Please. Just let me go. Why does this always happen to me? It's always me..." The patient had stopped pulling on the binds, her eyes closed, her head pressed back into the pillow.

"I see you've finally stopped struggling," Carson said in a detached tone as he entered. "Though, from the sounds of it, Quen's gonna have a hoarse voice for awhile."

"No," came a soft reply. "I support with my diaphragm when I yell. I can go for longer that way and I don't hurt my voice." Tears were streaming down the blonde's cheeks. Quenderra had been in choir for six years...

"Quen, love? Is that you?" the Scot asked hesitantly. The bluish-gray eyes snapped opened.

"Carson? You can hear me?" It was Quenderra.

"Aye, lass, loud and clear. How are you?"

"Oh, god. It happened to me again, Carson! Again!" Quenderra cried. "Why is it always me? Always the same story. Get her out of me! You gotta get her out of me!"

"Shh," Carson soothed, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just calm down, lass. Deep breaths..."

"No! No--you gotta get 'er outta me!" Quen was becoming hysterical. "I'd rather die, Carson! I'd rather die than not be me. Please... please, you gotta--" Her body arched suddenly in a seizure-like motion as she suddenly sucked in a deep breath.

"NO! I will not leave!" Karron screamed, yanking at the restraint and causing it to snap. The guards leaped forward to help Dr. Beckett hold the young woman down.

"I need help in here!" Carson shouted, then told the nurse who appeared in the doorway. "I need 3 mg of haloperidol, now!"

"You cannot make me leave!" Karron continued to shriek. "I own this body! It is mine! It is MINE!" The nurse returned with the sedative and despite Karron's struggling, injected it into a vein in Quen's arm with Carson's assistance. "I will... not. You can't--you can't make... me. I'll kill 'er.... I... will...." The young woman fell silent and the people around her relaxed ever so slightly.

"Do whatever it takes to make sure she can't leave this room and remove anything she could use to harm herself," Carson said, his mind numb. She had been there. For little more than a couple minutes, but she had been there.

"Dr. Beckett," the nurse spoke up. "Dr. Cole is looking for you."

"Thank you." Carson went off in search of his co-worker, finding her a moment later. "I heard you wanted to speak to me."

"Yes," Sarah said. "It's about Quenderra's latest EEG readings." The woman handed him the readings in questions.

Carson cussed under his breath. "It's like when Laura was in Rodney's head."

"That's right," Dr. Cole agreed. "Quenderra's brain can't take the strain of two consciousnesses--two strong consciousnesses--being there. Either she and Karron battle it out or she simply lets go, either way, if we don't get Karron out, soon, we're gonna lose her."

~~~

There was a stench in the place. The stinking odor from the hybrid's rotten breath had filled the ship's bridge. Colin gagged. Some hybrids were groaning, some were screaming, some were already dead. And although the brunette was smiling and talking to a thing on her wrist, all he could do was bend over and vomit.

Colin’s mind was racing, what the hell was this? A nightmare? His stomach emptied again as he bent over, his hands supporting him on his knees. He wiped his mouth and shakily stood up, again shocked at where he found himself. The brunette had stopped talking to her wristwatch and was looking at him quizzically.

“So, you are Fraggle’s friend?” she asked him.

He nodded his head, finding his mouth clamed shut as he looked over the dead and dying aliens.

“Well, I am Kassandra Todd. Or Kass, if you want.” She held out a hand with torn fingernails, scratches and bruises. He took the hand and shook it, then looked away again. She was standing there, calm as you like, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Which to her it was, but to him?

“What…what…IS THIS!” he shouted, his mind finally comprehending that this was real. He looked wildly around himself, suddenly scared, wanting to get out.

“Woah, there!” Kass said, holding his shoulder. “Calm down--it’s alright, you are safe.”

“I don’t understand! I was just in Fraggle’s flat! I end up in a hellhole full of what? Aliens?!” He turned and looked at Kass, really seeing her for the first time. Despite the big smile, the gleaming eyes and evident excitement about something, she looked awful. Her face was covered in blue-green slime, and blood was dripping down her face. Her clothes were torn and bruising was evident on her arms.

“My GOD! Are you OK?” he asked, realizing she may need some assistance.

“I could not be better!” she smiled back. Her eyes gleamed with pride and he wondered what the hell kind of kooky place he had landed in. She looked around the ship, nodded with satisfaction, then looked back to him. “You think this is weird, you have seen nothing yet. Ever heard of Atlantis?”

He just smiled, then laughed. Then jumped in surprise as another vortex opened up next to Kass.

“That was good work boys and girls--now lets go home!" she paused to look at him as she stepped into the vortex, "Well? Are you coming or what?” She smiled, then disappeared into the vortex.

~~~

The vortex spat them out in a room full of people who were standing pointing guns at them. Kass merely held up a hand and smiled at them.

“It’s OK! It was a success!” she beamed. The people began to clap their hands and cheer, as Kass excitement carried around the cavernous room. Colin stood in awe at the place in which they stood, his eyes coming to rest on a large circular contraption. A woman walked towards them, looking stern and worried.

“Kassandra, who is this?” Elizabeth asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

“Um, I am not quite sure, but he says his name is Colin, and that he is Fraggle’s friend from England."

Elizabeth Weir looked at him with curiosity. “How did you come here?” she asked.

Colin stood in the strange place, explaining his story to the woman who listened intently to what he said.

“And you have no idea where you are?”

“Look lady, I have been looking for a my missing friend, sucked through a bloody twister, spat out into alien hell, then brought back to a place more beautiful than I have ever seen. I have no idea about anything just now, except I am worried and tired, my friend is still missing, and I just want to know she is okay.”

The woman looked at Kassandra Todd, who suddenly looked sad, a worried look on her face. She drew a breath and returned her gaze to Colin.

“You better come with us,” Weir said.

“To where?” he asked.

“To the medical bay.”

~~~

Colin could feel the ground swaying beneath his feet, his mind swimming. They were rushing through the corridors towards the medical bay and his world was being torn apart. Too much information, too much strangeness, too much to lose.

Was this real? He was sure it was, but when they reached the medial bay, he wished it wasn’t.
He could see her lying there, so white and pale, so ill. He felt his stomach wrenching, his heart missing a beat. He was aware that Kassandra was speaking, but did not hear what she was saying. A large man walked towards him, gruff and angry, and he heard Elizabeth tell him to stand down. The man turned and walked away, his eyes on Colin at all times.

“Who is he?” Ronon asked Weir roughly.

“It’s Fraggle’s friend. I will explain later.” The Satedan nodded and leaned against the wall.
Colin stared down at his best friend, his emotions confused. He was glad to see her, thankful he had found her, but saddened and terrified at how he had found her. Someone put a chair behind him, and he sat slowly down.

“What happened?” he asked as he looked at the machines surrounding the bed.

“She was attacked by one of those aliens,” Kass said in a hushed voice behind him. Colin lifted Fraggle's hand into his, noticing the abrasions and blood under her torn fingernails. She felt warm even though she looked so cold, he could feel her pulse in her wrist. He put his head to her hand and wept. He had not been there for her the last time and again he had let her down.

Someone was speaking again. A male, saying that nothing had changed. Colin lifted his head and looked at Fraggle’s face. She was so peaceful and still he was afraid she might leave him right then and never know that he had found her. Something coursed through his mind. Something he had felt before but never really knew what it was. He looked up and found Kassandra staring at him.

“So that’s how you came through the TDP!” she said quietly, though he did not understand what she meant. His eyes blurred and closed, nausea coursing his body in violent waves. He felt a gut wrenching jolt and suddenly found himself in a place so alien, he knew he was somewhere different. Colin could see everything in the room, but it was more like a double image, a ghost of the room he had been in.

But here Fraggle was awake.

She looked at him but did not speak. She seemed unable to speak or move, just looked him with surprise and shock in her large dark eyes.

“Fraggle?!” he said as he tried to lean to her, finding he also could not move. She continued to stare at him, something pleading in her eyes that looked so pained and sorrowful now. Another gut wrenching pull brought his mind back to reality, and he was once again sitting in the medical bay.

“How did I do that?!” he shouted as his mind reset into reality. Had he dreamt it?

“Did you see her?” Kass asked him. “Did you see Fraggle?”

“She needs me to help her! I don’t know how!”

“Just concentrate, it will come,” she said, excitement rising in her tone.

“I don’t understand! What is this?!” his taxed mind was beginning to tire from the whole situation. He found himself in a strange place, strange people telling him things that just could not be true, and his best friend lying deathly still in front of him. Had he fallen, cracked his head?

“Colin. Everything will be explained to you, but if you can help Fraggle, you must.”

Colin nodded slowly, looking back to Fraggle. “What do I do?”

“It’s different for us all--well, for us who have it. You must find your own, em, talent. Concentrate."

Colin stood over Fraggle, staring at her pale face. He tried and tried to think her awake, but he could not. He felt stupid, staring and trying to force his mind to do something it was not capable of. The man was about to give up when something in the back of his mind stirred. It was the same feeling as earlier, the one he had had many times before, but thought it was daydreams.
Then suddenly, he felt he had made a connection with her mind. He could not see her, more like sense her. He kept his eyes shut, easier to concentrate than freak out about the ghostly realm he found himself in.

It was like guiding a blind person through a maze. She felt as though she was trapped and held in a damaged part of her mind and he pulled to free her, guiding her through her mind down the synapses of her brain. His talent was helping her, freeing her. He felt her surfacing, felt her coming round.

His eyes opened, finding himself staring into Fraggle’s large dark brown eyes as they fluttered open. She groaned and closed them again. Even though her mind was free, her body was not free from pain.

But she was awake.

Kass looked at Colin and Fraggle, knowing that now would be a good time to start talking about what it was that set those that were able to use the TDP apart from everyone else. She cleared her throat nervously not sure where to start as Colin turned to look at her, she focused on the task at hand, “I know that this is an amazingly scary thing to go through. I remember my first experience with the TDP, I was scared out of my wits by it. The TDP is a device that those with, well, special mind powers can use when they need to travel across great distances, time, and space.”

Colin scrunched up his face in concentration as he listened to Kass speak of the billowing vortex through which he’d traveled that she kept referring to as a ‘TDP’ as if it were an everyday thing. “So what exactly does TDP stand for?” he suddenly piped up.

Kass looked at Fraggle who was still coming around from the time she’d spent under in a coma. “TDP is an acronym for the Time Delay Phenomenon which Fraggle, Quen,” she paused for a moment at the mention of the other SSD agent, “and I discovered a while ago when we were intent on saving David Hewlett from the spacey award that he had won.”

Colin cocked his head at the mention of the name having heard Fraggle speak of this David Hewlett many times before, being a fan of his and all.

“We each have some special, I guess you could call it a power of the mind, that sets us apart from the ordinary citizens of the world. I have the ability to interact with a special piece of the SSD machinery unlike any other agent or person has ever been able to do. I have what is called the Keyboard of Truth, or the KoT for short. I interact with it on a physical and mental level and we connect and become a single unit when I hold the KoT in my hands.” Kass paused a moment to catch her breath hoping that she wouldn’t overwhelm the newcomer. “I know they say that inanimate objects can’t feel but the KoT is special--it has a life within it just like you or I do, it can only be used in the pursuit of good, and will not spew any evilness from its keys. It was a gift from a great and powerful,” she paused for a brief second searching for the right word, “being, who saw that I had the talents to use the KoT for its true purpose and not just covet it like so many before me had done. Fraggle has the mind realm, I don’t know much about it as I have never experienced the mind realm that she has only the one of the KoT that becomes its screen on which I see all that I am capable of….” Kass’ sentence trailed off as she sat on the bed next to Fraggle's, her body weary from the exhaustion which she had been fighting, her eyes drifting shut.

Knowing that at this moment she wasn’t capable of finishing the tale, Fraggle roused and tossed a pillow at her friends’ sleeping form. “Wake up, and finish telling the tale of the SSD, ye tired one,” Fraggle instructed her friend who was yawning as she sat up on the bed looking at Colin her mind mulling over the little she had learned of him.

“Right, so where was I again?” Kass asked, her body feeling the effects of the fight with the hybrid and the exhaustion that seemed to lurk around the edges of every moment she spent awake.

“Fraggle’s mind realm, and the KoT,” Collin helpfully supplied the weary looking brunette, “though I am curious about what exactly SSD is. Everyone keeps bantering that acronym around with no explanation.”

“Ah, yes the SSD. Pretty little thing stands for the Stargate Squirrel and Dragon Platoon, the worlds smallest platoon! We like to say. We come from 2 continents and 3 time zones and are bonded over many things now, though in the beginning it was a love for David Hewlett and stargate that brought us together. We have since become friends and allies in a multi-galaxy war against the evil forces that would like to rule the world. We all have our strengths and we all have weaknesses but when you put us together we make up an elite force that is to be reckoned with only with great care and consideration. Between us, we have much specialized technology at our collective disposal from the TDP to the Fold-to-Fit that is Fraggle's, to Quenderra’s Remote Device, and of course my Keyboard of Truth. Back at our headquarters we have our ever faithful sidekick Ziggy whom Fraggle tolerates. They kind of have a history that is rather colored and checkered.”

At that moment, Carson approached the place where the agent was explaining the SSD to the newcomer, and cleared his throat. “Excuse me, I hate to interrupt this little festival of greatness but you have been up entirely too long and I am ordering you to get some rest, mae dear, Kassandra, before you pass out. That means you, sir, need to leave her be go visit with Fraggle.” With that Carson ushered Colin away from the bed which Kass occupied pulling the drape shut behind them as Colin crossed the space and took a seat next to his friends bed, intently studying her face.

Fraggle was fighting to stay awake, and loosing the battle. She felt so exhausted and sore, she only wanted to sleep. She heard someone approach and opened her eyes a little to see Colin sit next to her bed.

“So, funny thing,” she croaked, her throat sore from having been intubated. “I am part of an intergalactic, transdimensional team that you did not know about.” She tried to laugh but ended up in a wracking cough.

“Yes, well, not the kind of thing you hear everyday, but kind of exciting.” Colin smiled as he took her hand in his. She looked at him, he seemed so tired and sad.

“How did you end up here?”

“You had been missing for almost 2 weeks, I searched your flat and found the box behind the console. It screamed at me when I pressed a button. I dropped it and came here through the equivalent of an electric straw.”

She smiled. “So you found Ziggy, then,” she said, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

“Ah, THAT was Ziggy?”

“Yeah. The most clever bit of technology I know, but don’t ever tell him I said that.” She closed her eyes again. Across the room, he could hear Kassandra muttering fitfully in her sleep, tortured by the events of the day.

“So, no one has spoken about the third of the trio, eh, Kwen? Qed?”

“Quen.” Fraggle’s eyes burst open, seeing images in her mind.

“Yeah, that’s it, Quen.” He waited for a short while, wondering if Fraggle had fallen asleep again. He noticed the shadows under her eyes, and felt a little guilty about keeping her awake. A tear fell from her eye, and he looked away.

“She, uh, she okay?” he asked, knowing the answer before he asked it.

Fraggle took a long deep breath and exhaled as though she was ridding herself of something hurtful. “Quen, she uh, she is deep. You know?”

“You mean deeper than you?” he snorted. She smiled.

“Yeah, deeper than the dragon,” a fit of coughing stopped her laughing once more. “Her mind talent takes her deeper into the realm of feelings and such, that sometimes she connects with the person she is in contact with. I am unsure of what happened, lying here in a coma for so long! But I sense more than Quen in her mind.” Her face took on a sad expression and she turned her head away for a second.

When she looked back, she held his eyes.

“Thank you for finding me.”

Her gaze was so intent that he felt they were almost connected.

“No problem. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

~~~

The days passed and Colin began to understand the world which he had been thrown into. Kassandra was actually a quiet person, almost shy. He concluded that the magnitude of what she had done with the hybrids had brought her out of her shell.

Fraggle was allowed up in a wheelchair and he took her through the city to her favorite spot--a large open balcony looking over the sea. “I love the sea!” she said, smiling.

“I know! Remember the time you dragged me out on the Forth of Clyde on that little ferry just so you could go out on the water?” They laughed for a bit. “So, tell me, where is Quen?” He had been there when Fraggle was told about what happened to her friend, had held her when she wept.

Fraggle had been so happy, he wished he had not said anything as her face frowned and she looked pained. “I don’t know, they won’t tell me.” she replied.

“Why?”

“I dunno, maybe because they know my temper might break and I will break Karron’s nose, but it will really be Quen’s?”

“You and your bloody temper!”

Someone approached them. McKay and Weir made their way onto the balcony. “Good to see you out and about!” Elizabeth said, smiling.

“And a good thing, too, we may need your help with something,” McKay butted in. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Carson reports that Quenderra is very ill. She may not survive this if we can not get Karron out of her head,” he said.

Fraggle shook her own head. “Why was I not told earlier?” she demanded. “Wasted time in which I could have helped her!”

“You were in no fit state!” McKay retorted to her outburst.

“If I am alive and awake, I AM in a fit state!” she shouted.

“I beg to differ,” Colin said.

“Colin, keep out of this, you have NO idea....”

“I DO have an idea! I had to drag you from the brink of death! So I DO have an idea!” he shouted back, his frustrations and emotions all coming together in this one point.

“Then you will understand why I need to go to Quen and try to help her,” she whispered. He nodded his head, though he was confused. Had this Quen come between him and Fraggle? Was he now the second best? Hell, she had only known Quen for a few months, yet she obviously felt more for her than him. He nodded again and walked away.

~~~

Quenderra was still restrained to the bed as no one knew when Karron could emerge. Karron was still under the effects of the Haloperidol, and Quenderra was at peace, at least for the moment. She turned and looked at Fraggle being wheeled in, and smiled at her friend.

“Fraggle!! You're okay!”

“Well, I am here, I don’t know about okay,” she smiled back. “I hear you have a problem with an alien in your head?”

Quenderra tried to laugh, but her face contorted and Karron came through.

“And so Fraggle Dragon comes, huh? Well, you will have no hope of winning against me!” she spat.

“Listen bitch, I will have you out of there in no time!” Fraggle rose unsteadily to her feet.

Karron was spitting and thrashing, trying to escape the binds that held her to the bed. “You try... you try and I will crush you and anyone who tries to get rid of me. Starting with Quenderra!” A shriek tore from Quenderra’s mouth, a howling pain of agony, as Karron somehow punished her host for even trying to believe that she would be free of her. The hunger was building, the thirst and agonizing hunger invaded even Quenderra’s mind. The battle was almost won, and Quen was not on the winning side.

Fraggle stood next to the thrashing body, willing herself into the mind realm. But her mind was weak, and she was filled with Karron’s hateful thoughts, making her shake and loose the contact she had made. Her body went limp and slid towards the floor, only to be stopped and held by strong arms.

“I am here,” Colin said. “We will do this together.”

She turned her head to see Colin smiling back at her. He had watched from the doorway, and suddenly felt ashamed at his earlier thoughts. Fraggle had not replaced him, she just had a team to support. A team that had grown from acquaintance to friendship bourn of tragedy. He held her close and helped her stand. Willing her the strength to do what they must to save Quen.
It was as if they were both in tune with each other. Although their powers were different, they were almost so similar as to be the same. This similarity allowed them both to combine their thoughts and energies towards their final goal.

Fraggle led him through the mind realm, somewhere his talent was useless. She guided him to where Karron and Quen both stood, struggling and fighting with each other. Colin did not know anything of the mind realm, but when he knew what he had to do, it became so clear that his thoughts were almost automatic.

On being brought to the exact location of Karron’s consciousness, he had only to pull her from Quenderra’s mind. It was harder than he thought it would be, but with Fraggle’s combined strength, he managed to pull Karron through the synapses of Quen’s mind, to a place where she could no longer survive. A place where Quenderra had complete control and Quenderra had the freedom to banish her.

They watched as Quenderra threw Karron down the milky tube to death, happy that the final act was by Quen herself.

Colin came out of the state first, quick to catch an exhausted Fraggle in his arms. He helped her back to her chair, making sure that she was okay. Behind him, a small voice piped up.

“I don’t know who you are, but thank you.”

Carson ran to Quenderra’s side and with visible relief, released the young blonde from her bindings. She threw a hug around his neck and thanked him for not giving up on her.
Elizabeth smiled and turned to Rodney, who seemed almost about as excited as she had ever seen him. A tired and yawning Kassandra walked in, wiping her bleary eyes. She smiled when she saw everyone laughing and smiling.

The team was back.

~~~

Days had passed and the newly grouped SSD welcomed another member to their fold. Colin had weighed up the idea and found that he wanted in on the act. He found the whole thing fascinating.

“And so there were four!” Fraggle had laughed.

The three SSD agents were gaining in strength and Carson was happy to let them go, as long as they stayed on Atlantis a little longer so he could keep an eye on them.

“Is Quenderra always so moody?” Colin asked Fraggle at lunch, still amazed that they were eating in another galaxy.

“She has been through a lot recently. Give her time, she will come round.” Fraggle looked at him, her fork almost to her mouth, but not quite. “You do know that you are my best friend? You realize that no one could come between our friendship?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he shook his head, slightly embarrassed at realizing she knew what he had been thinking. “I know.”

“The SSD are a team that need to be close, we need to watch out for each other. But that does not mean you are any less to me than what you were before.” She put her fork down and laid her hand on his.

“I know. I just was surprised at the way you all look out for each other.”

“Well, get used to it. You are part of the team now!”

He smiled and continued to eat. A clatter of feet raised their heads as Kassandra came running into the mess hall.

“You gotta read this!” she exclaimed as she thrust a piece of crumpled paper into Fraggle’s hand.
Opening the note, Fraggle’s stomach churned, guessing what the it might contain.

"My dear friends," it read in Quenderra's casual font. "I can't stay and I know you won't understand--that you'll refuse to do so. But think. How many times have I been possessed already? I take my leave of Atlantis for the last time. I will not return. I will not be in contact--not even with Ziggy. I've said it once, I'll it again: I'm a liability. I WILL NOT carry on like this. I have a life to live and I cannot live it with either of you a part of it. I've allowed the two of you to suffocate me... I can't be the person you need me to be. It's too exhausting.

“I take my leave of the SSD, and I hope that Colin makes for a better agent than I did. He has his work cut out for him--living up to your expectations. I have told Ziggy to listen to you from now on, but you know how he can be. He's a computer, for God's sake—he'll get over it.

“Good luck.” She did not sign her name.

Fraggle dropped the note on the table and stood quickly, sending a wave of nausea through her.

“It’s too late. She's already gone,” Kass said sadly. The two looked at each other, knowing that the letter contained a finality that Quenderra had meant to convey. They would not see her again.

Colin lifted the note and read it himself. He could sense the feeling in that letter, the self-loathing and hatred of what had happened to the person that had written it.

Fraggle sat down and pushed her plate to the side. “And then there were three,” she said.

~

End.

~~~

Attempted editing for optimal readibility by Quenderra.