The Adventures of the SSD

Working Through

2008-12-07T22:06:00.000-08:00

Note: This was the last arc we were in before Real Life took us captive 8 months ago. It is now here... and it is now complete.

~~~

Kassandra and Fraggle stood in the hanger as they watched their new ship come to a gentle landing. They surveyed the barnacle-covered hull with soft sighs.

"Well, at least it's in one piece all we have to do is fix it up and it'll be good to go," Kass spoke cheerily, glancing sideways at Fraggle who was wondering where Colin had disappeared to. They hadn't seen him since they'd all arrived back on the mainland a few hours before.

~~~

Two hours earlier...

It had been nearly a week since Quenderra had departed Atlantis and the SSD and the remaining members of the team were still quite down-trodden at her departure... for the second time. The team had been cleared by Carson, with strict instructions not to overdo the work. Kass looked at Fraggle and Colin before glancing around once more. Opening a TDP to headquarters, the three agents stepped into it. They came to a stop in the main room and were greeted by Ziggy's half-hearted beeps and blinking. He still missed Quenderra.

Kass grinned at Ziggy as she spoke, "You know, Zig, I'm going to need some help getting the ship into tip top-shape--I'm sure Fraggs has some stuff you can help her with, too." As she spoke the last part, she elbowed Fraggle in the ribs.

"Ouch! Yeah, of course I got something," Fraggle said, muttering under her breath something that sounded like 'that the no good for nothing, my ego's bigger than my hard drive can do.'

Kass glared at her. "Why don't you, uh, go show Colin around and get him settled in. I'm going to go clean the hangar bay for our new arrival." With that, she grabbed her gear and stalked off in the direction of the hangar.

Colin looked at Fraggle inquisitively. "Is she always this grumpy after a mission?" Fraggle shook her head.

"Naw, she's just a wee bit shaken up still. She'll come around--you'll see," she assured. "And now, for the grand tour!"

~~~

Fraggle surveyed the craft. It was smaller than the junker had been, but that was not a problem. This ship would be much better once it was modified, she hoped. "Looks like you have your work cut out for ye, lass!" Fraggle said with a laugh.

Kass pulled the KoT out of her coveralls and entered a command, opening the hatch on the back of the craft, her jaw slack as it did so. "Wow! It's a gamma class transport ship! They didn't tell us that when they said we could have it!"

"You mean you didn't notice when you were on board, before?" the Scot asked.

"Well... I was a bit distracted," Kass grimaced. She took a few steps towards the ship, pinching her nose as she got close. "Smells like it could use a good cleaning, though. I'm certain I can fix whatever problems it has!" she declared with an enthusiasm rarely seen from the agent. Fraggle shook her head as she turned and walked away, leaving Kass and Ziggy to the task at hand.

~~~

Kass had set to the task before her with great zeal, removing all of the paneling from the interior of the ship to clean it. With Ziggy's help, she installed all the interior cameras and internal sensors. The cleaning and smaller modifications done, she was ready to set the KoT to repairing the hull of the ship that had been damaged in the explosion that caused the ship to crash into the ocean. The brunette plopped down with a sigh, her back against the wall as she connected the KoT to the ship and started entering commands, her fingers working lightening fast across the keys. As the commands streamed from the KoT she felt more than saw the repair work being done to the ship's damaged portions.

~~~

Fraggle paused outside the door to the hangar. "This is the hangar where we keep whatever ship we happen to have at the moment. Used to be the Junker but we had one fall apart and the second one had to be self destructed to kill off some of the hybrids, I've been told." At that moment a loud BOOM shook the door. Colin looked at it with concern.

"Do you think it was wise to store the explosives in the room where you keep your transportation?" he asked. Fraggle shoved through the door, surveying the room, a feeling of dread in her stomach as she peered through the smoke that hung heavily in the room.

"Kassandra? Are you okay? Kassandra?!" Fraggle breathed a sigh of relief as Kassandra strode out of the back of the ship through the quickly dissipating smoke covered in soot and grime.

"Sorry about that! I was repairing the ship and I kind of overloaded the KoT and it crashed!" Kassandra paused and gestured at the ship which was now restored to one piece, practically gleaming under the lights of the hangar bay. "I'm almost done with it--just a few more modifications and it'll be ready to fly!" There was a sparkle in her eye that conveyed her excitement about the whole thing. It was good to see her smile again--really smile.

~~~

Christmas had passed and a new year was just around the corner. The headquarters were decorated with tinsel and baubles, a Christmas tree was in the corner with three presents under it, unopened. Quenderra had not returned or been in contact in the four months since she left, but everyone bought her a gift, just in case. Fraggle had insisted upon it.

Kassandra had worked wonders on their new transport. The ancient ship had yet to be named, the team having decided on naming it after its first test run. Its first flight in centuries was due that night--just as the clocks turned to a new year. Well... somewhere in the universe, anyhow.

Kass was busy with final adjustments, her precious ship now meaning as much to her as the Junker had to Fraggle. She had spent weeks making everything just right. Updating the interior and cleaning the exterior. She had interfaced Ziggy with the ship's computer, to which the AI had taken quite a liking to.

Fraggle was playing her XBOX, trying out a new game she had got from Kass for Christmas.
Colin was sitting watching the clock, his first flight in a space ship not coming quick enough.

"Stop fidgeting, it will be time soon enough," Fraggle said as she put down the controller and went to fetch a beer.

"It's alright for you, you have been out there before!" Colin said, sweeping his hand skywards as if space was above him instead of the ceiling.

"Yeah, I know. And you are so going to LOVE it!" she teased. Beer in hand, she slumped back down into her games chair and restarted the game.

Colin had got up, and walked over to the tree. He lifted one of the presents from under it and passed it between his hands.

"Put it down," came Fraggle's voice.

"Do you think she will come back?" he asked.

"I don't know. She made it quite clear that she didn't intend to," Fraggle said, an edge to her voice that he hated to hear. A bitterness that he had not heard there before entered her voice whenever Quen's name was mentioned.

"Fraggle. I have known you a long time..."

"Oh, here we go!" she exclaimed, pausing the game and staring at Colin who did not flinch under her stony gaze.

Colin looked at his friend with the defiance in her face, the defensive pose of her body. But her eyes betrayed the hurt she felt.

"You know I am here if you want to talk," he said softly. He knew her too well to think he would get through to her in her current state of mind. As if to reinforce her attitude, she turned from him and switched the game back on.

Colin made his way to the hanger to see how Kass was coming on with the ship. He rounded the doorway to find her covered head to toe in black fluid. She was grinning and trying to wipe herself down as she saw him enter the bay.

"Stupid of me to attempt change the oil on a ship this size by myself!" she laughed.

"What happened?!" he asked, grabbing an old towel and throwing it at her.

"I tripped on a cable and fell in the oil basin!" she explained, pointing to a container that was as big as a bath.

"So, how is it? On schedule for launch?" For his part, he tried not to look too eager.

"Should be ready in about, ooh, I would say--5 minutes!!" she declared excitedly. "Launch in approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes!" As she dried the black substance from her face, she looked at Colin as he stared at the ship in awe. She grinned knowingly. "You looking forward to this?"

"Oh, hell yeah!" he breathed.

~~~

The ship was gleaming white with a pearlescent shine of turquoise and pink. Its mighty engines were encased in huge structures at either side of the craft, streamlined against the body.
It stood there huge and beautiful in the hanger, facing the doors as if waiting for its launch.

"It's magnificent," Colin breathed.

"Yeah," Kassandra said, looking at the ship and seeing its great potential.

Later, Fraggle joined them, running a hand over the smooth hull, amazed at the work that Kass had done almost single-handed.

"Well, she will never be the Junker, but I bet she flies like a bird!" she said, clapping her hands in glee.

"Oh, you and your Junker! Nothing will measure to that piece of--"

"Now, now! NEVER a bad word shall be spoken of my lovely bucket of bolts!" Fraggle interjected, holding a hand up in front of Kass's smiling face.

"So, are we ready?"

"Oh, Colin! Yeah--we're ready!"

~~~

The three SSD agents made their way into the ship, the roomy interior both welcoming and comfortable. Ziggy squealed in the console, just as excited as the others to finally be taking flight.
The hanger bay doors opened as Kass started the engines. A low hum invaded the air, a deep rumble within the ship vibrating under their feet. The noise grew as the engines came to life.

Fraggle's eyes gleamed at the sound. "Oh MAN! They sound so GOOD!" Kass rolled her eyes at Fraggle's continuing love of powerful engines, then turned to see Colin staring ecstatically out of the main window. The ship pulled forward and slid past the hanger doors into the dark starlit night. Fraggle increased the power and the engines roared with power as it took effortlessly to the sky. Cries of excitement and celebration filled the ship's bridge as she tore through the sky into the upper atmosphere and on into space.

"She needs a name!" shouted Fraggle.

"Oh, but what, though? Kass replied.

Colin stared out of the window, noticing how the ship's pearlescent body seemed to glow with an inner fire in the light from the protective force field. "What about the Phoenix?" he suggested, turning to the others.

"Yeah!! The Phoenix!"

The Phoenix made her way through space, dancing through the blackness, like gleaming shooting star.

"Happy New Year!!!"

~~~

Ziggy let out a cheerful chirp as the SSD Phoenix ascended from the atmosphere, leaving the world of Lantea below. <Environmentals are stable,> he reported from his communication screen. <All systems are operating at optimum capacity.>

"Well done, Kass!" Fraggle congratulated her fellow SSD agent.

"Well, it was nothing, really," Kass said, indulging in a bit of false modesty as Z let out a beep. "I mean, I did have to have to clean it out and patch together most of the hull..."

"Um... girls?" Colin said, looking at the communications panel.

"Patch it together?" Fraggle snorted. "You practically had to replace the whole thing!"

"Well, yeah," the brunette admitted with a smile.

"Ladies, I believe we have a problem," their male companion interrupted, raising his voice. Z gave a long, shrill tone to emphasis the Brit's point.

"What?" the two woman snapped, mostly irritated by the pitch Ziggy had chosen to use.

<There seems to be...> the computer's screen began before there was a sudden crack followed by a low hissing sound.

"A hull breech!" Colin finished as they all turned to face the foreboding sound.

"Ziggs, how fast are we losing atmosphere?" Kassandra demanded.

<Too fast!> he declared with a low breedle. <You must descend back into the planet's atmosphere *immediately*!>

"Really? What gave it away?!!" Fraggle retorted. "Looks like 'the Phoenix' should've been named 'the SSD Leaker'!"

"That's not funny!" Kass declared.

"Wasn't meant to be!"

"I don't think we're descending fast enough," Colin pointed out.

"Colin..." Fraggle started before she was interrupted by several sharp chirps from the communications panel.

<Hold on... tight!> Z warned.

"What..?" Kassandra began, but was cut off as the ship suddenly lurched downwards, throwing them all off their feet.

"Ow, ouch!" Fraggle yelped, landing wrong on her wrist. "Ziggy, if you kill us, I'm gonna come back and rip your bloody hard drive out!" The SSD computer chirruped an apology as it focused on pulling the leaking ship from the vacuum of space.

"Is it.. just me, or... i-is it getting hard.. to ..breath?" Colin panted as the oxygen fled the cabin. There was no response, but the man didn't ask again as he'd lost consciousness but a moment later...

~~~

"Ow. Ow... Ouch--Kass!" the Scot tossed aside the oxygen mask and jerked her hand away from the younger woman's attending touch. Kassandra scowled at her, removing her own oxygen mask and putting the tank away.

"Well, it's not broken, but you should probably still have a doctor look at it," Kass responded a bit tartly. Fraggle was not the easiest patient to deal with.

"I'll be fine," Fraggle growled, taking a swig from her beer bottle. "If Ziggy would've given us a better warning before yanking the damned floor from beneath our feet..."

"We'd probably all be dead," Colin cut her off. "He thought quickly and, by doing so, saved all our lives. That has to be worth a sprained wrist."

The random bursts of images that flickered over Z's smaller monitor slowed momentarily. <...Thank you, Colin.>

"You're welcome," the man smiled.

"Oh, don't do that!" Fraggle moaned. "You're feeding his bloody ego!" Colin opened his mouth to respond when Ziggy's monitors flashed red and an alarm filled the headquarters. The three agents cringed at the shrillness of the noise.

"Now what?" Kass demanded.

<Unauthorized life form in the hangar bay! There's.. there's... There's somebody in the Phoenix!> Ziggy declared. They grabbed their weapons, two stunners and a zat gun from the SGC, and hurried quietly to the hangar, approaching the ship's hatch from three different directions. Kass drew in a sharp breath when it suddenly opened.

"Alright!" Fraggle commanded, leaping in front of the open hatch and pointing her zat into the small cargo bay of the Phoenix. "Hold it, right there or I'll... Oh, my god."

"What?" Kass demanded, joining her friend. "What is i--?"

The figure within the ship gazed back, shifting with the uneasiness of one who trusted nobody. Long hair reached to the person's hip, the ends a reddish color fading up to a more natural brownish blond at the roots. She pointed her own weapon back at them, though none of them recognized what it was. Neither Colin or Kass managed to keep their weapons trained on her.

"Quenderra?" Colin murmured in surprise. The intruder jumped, her cold blue-gray eyes narrowing and her grip tightening on her unfamiliar gun.

"Stay off my ship!" she snarled. "Who are you and how the HELL do you know my name?!"

"Quenderra, it's us," Fraggle began, lowering her weapon as she stepped forward. Quenderra fired her weapon at the Scot's feet, where the pale bolt of energy ricocheted, leaving a burnt hole in the woman's pant leg without actually hitting her.

"The next shot will not be a warning." The blonde's voice trembled ever so slightly, but her face was set with fatal determination. "Stay. Off. My ship."

"The Phoenix isn't yours, Quen--it belongs to the SSD!" Kass objected. The weapon was redirected towards her.

"The what?"

"The SSD? You used to be a part of it?"

"I've never heard of such an organization, let alone participate in one."

"Perhaps this simply didn't occur to you," Colin said, "but... you do know you're outnumbered, right? We have three weapons to your one." Quenderra let out a derisive snort.

"I have a resistance to your stunners and by the time you could shoot me twice with your zat'ni'katel, you'd be dead," she told him, then smirked. "In fact, lower your weapons or..." Her gaze flitted about for inspiration, before she aimed her gun at Kassandra's forehead. "I'll shoot the sweet-looking one."

~~~

The three looked at Quenderra with shock, her bedraggled appearance and her longer hair making her seem so different--almost alien. Fraggle had began to lower her weapon when she suddenly stopped, raising it as she threw her head back and laughed loudly. Colin and Kass looked at her with puzzled stares as she turned abruptly towards Quen.

"I am so sick of your crap, Quen," she declared. "Put the damn weapon down. Who the hell do you think you are anyway? The only one who ever gets hurt in the team? God damn it, Quen! You always have to take the dark and brooding attitude! I am so SICK of it!!"

Quenderra's aim wavered, confusion flashing on her face. "You--you don't know me!" was all she could say as she tried to understand what the other was saying, puzzled as to why some stranger should know her traits.

"I don't know you? I don't know YOU?" Fraggle sniggered and turned momentarily away from her, and made a questioning look at Kass and Colin. "Quen, love, I know you too well, lassie. Something happens and you are the one who thinks it all happened because of you. You leave in a hissy fit and return in a blaze of glory. In the meantime, you pound my brain with your bloody whining and self sacrifice that, to be quite bloody honest is wearing thin!"

"Fraggle," Colin said in a stern voice.

"No, no, Colin. This is Quenderra--the one and only Quenderra. The only member of the team who hurts. The only member of the team who sacrifices. The only member of the team to WALK AWAY FROM THE TEAM!" Fraggle's eyes were brimming with tears, anger flushed her cheeks as she continued to point the zat at Quenderra. Colin moved beside her, lowering the raised arm slowly.

"I think she got your message," he said quietly.

Quenderra had lowered her weapon and was looking at the floor. How did this... this ferocious person know what she was like? How could this person look at her and know what shame she felt? How did this person know her very soul?

"I--I don't know you. You..." she regained her composure and raised her weapon. "Who the hell are you to talk to me?! You don't even know me! GET OFF MY SHIP!" There was a loud hiss as the air crackled with energy. Fraggle's eyes opened wide as the blast caught her. She tumbled off-balance and fell onto her sprained wrist. Colin and Kass ran over, holding her and supporting her as she tried to get back to her feet, failing and falling back onto the floor.

"She shot me!" she said in hurt and confusion. "Quen shot me! Crap!"

"Damn it Quen!" Kassandra shouted as she and Colin tended to a groggy and hurt Fraggle. Quenderra stood there, wondering what the hell was going on, and trying to figure out who these people were and how they seemed to know her.

"I warned you," Quenderra finally spoke, her tone unnervingly chill. "I told you to stay off my ship. You're the ones who wouldn't listen."

"How could you shoot Fraggle?!" Kass demanded, tears stinging her eyes and straining her voice.

"I don't know Fraggle. I gave her a warning shot. That's more than I usually give. You, uh, might wanna take her to a doct... What in blazes?" Quen emerged from the ship in a hurry, looking about the hangar in shock. "What are you? How the heck did you get my ship in here? Where are we?"

"Press on the wound, I'll get the first aid kit and call for assistance," Colin told Kass. "Fraggle, hold still." He rose to his feet and glanced back at Quenderra with a scowl before heading into the main room.

"I only meant to graze her," Quen murmured, coming up behind Kassandra and peering down at the damage she'd caused.

"Only meant to graze me!" Fraggle cried out in rage. "You still shot me!"

"You moved at the last moment," the blonde ground out between clenched teeth. "Move aside." She waved Kass away, despite the brunette's protests. Quenderra pulled a cloth-wrapped object from a pocket in the side of her pants before crouching down beside the angry Scot.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped.

Quenderra took her roughly by the chin. "With this much blood," she said, emphasizing each and every word, "I may have hit your subclavian artery and there's a good chance I also punctured your lung. Now, I don't know you, and so far, I don't like you, but I am not a killer, I'm not gonna risk letting you die because of an error in my judgment."

"You mean now you realize you shouldn't have shot me?" Fraggle snapped, wincing in pain.

"No, actually, I should've just blasted off your kneecap, but I was trying not to cripple you. Now, shut up and let me help you." Quenderra exposed the wound just below Fraggle's left clavicle before unwrapping the object from her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Colin demanded, running forward.

"Colin, wait," Kass told him. Quenderra slid the device onto her hand and held it over the wound. She put her head back and closed her eyes and the device began to glow. The blonde's body began to tremble, but she managed to hold the object steady enough to complete her task. She drew in a slow breath, slouching back on her heels.

"I owe you nothing, now," Quenderra spoke softly as Fraggle rose to a sitting position, "Just let me take my ship and leave. Please."

"Is... is that what I think it is?" Kass stammered, overcoming her shock.

"It is," Fraggle replied, staring at Quenderra in a mixture of confusion and surprise.

"What is it?" Colin asked, not entirely sure what was happening. Kassandra met his gaze.

"It's a goa'uld healing device."

~~~

As Kass and Fraggle continued to stare at Quenderra, Colin rushed over and put his hand on Fraggle's shoulder.

"Are...are you OK?" he asked as he looked at the blood covering her clothes, wondering why she suddenly didn't seem to be in any pain.

"I'm fine," she shrugged off his hand and got to her feet, angrily walking out of the hanger back into the headquarters. Kass called after her and was about to follow until Colin held her back.

"Oh no. You don't want to go in there, now--not when she is in that mood. Believe me! Leave her be."

Quenderra was looking around the hanger bay, ignoring the others when Kassandra abruptly turned on her.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, training her stunner on the stranger.

"Kass?" Colin said worriedly, unsure of what to do.

"I'm Quenderra," the newcomer responded with a roll of her eyes, "which you already seem to know. What is this place and why did you bring my ship here? HOW?" she continued, ignoring the weapon aimed at her head.

"This ship, is our ship," Kass said through angry, gritted teeth. "And you are not Quenderra. You may look like her, but you are not her."

"How do you know that?" Colin said quietly as he stood by Kassandra.

"She would never have shot Fraggle. Hit her maybe, but not shoot her."

Quenderra simply shrugged and walked over to the ship. She looked confused for a moment then turned back to them. "Why did you refit the engines?! And what's with the paint job? I'm not sure I--where the hell are my cargo doors?! What the hell have you done to my ship?! When did you have the time?"

"I told you! This is not YOUR ship! And if you think after all the work I did to that leaker that you are going to take it from us, think again, missy!"

Quenderra sighed and straightened, putting her weapon in its holster and walking towards them. "I think I may have made a terrible mistake," she said, extending her hand. "Hello. My name is Quenderra Grodin. This is my ship. And you are?"

Kassandra stared at her. "Quenderra Grodin? Doctor Peter Grodin's wife?" she spoke softly, lowering her weapon.

"You knew Peter?" Quenderra asked, her voice tightening with emotion. "He-he's gone now. I lost him on our last trip to Traders' Quarry... damn those bloody goa'uld." She rubbed the tears from her eyes before they could fall. "How did you know Peter?"

Kassandra did not know anything about Traders Quarry, but she knew of the Goa'uld, and she remembered Peter very well. "We had a Peter Grodin here. He... had an accident and died a couple of years ago. I am sorry for your loss..." she murmured, not really sure why those words came from her mouth.

"I lose, either way," Quen said bitterly, then snapped out of her reverie. "Okay. So let me guess--you took the ship out and played around with the matter flow in the engines or something equally as stupid, and tore me off MY ship, in MY reality, onto yours?"

"What? Matter flow? Reality? This IS reality!" Colin scratched his head.

"Um, remember what we said about there being numerous alternate realities?" Kass said. "Meet an Alternate."

Fraggle sniggered from the doorway, making them all turn. "I really should have known," she shook her head as she walked over to them, her clothes changed and no longer covered in blood. "Quen would know better than to shoot me." She walked up to Quenderra Grodin and put out her hand.

Quenderra scowled at her at first, but shook her hand, anyway. Seeing the warmth in Fraggle's eyes, she soon found herself smiling back.

~~~

There was a click of a large bolt followed by the sound of a door being thrown open about then, accompanied by hurried feet. Quenderra Grodin whirled about to face the newcomers, her weapon drawn and aimed with startling quickness.

"What happened? Where's my patient?" Dr. Beckett demanded as he and members of his medical team entered the hangar bay from the long corridor leading out the back. They were accompanied by Major Lorne and his team. Ziggy had taken their access code and allowed them entry into the HQ.

"Hold your fire!" the three SSD agents cried out in unison as Evan and Quenderra aimed at each other.

"What the bloody hell?!" the physician exclaimed, still not certain what was happening.

"Quen, lower your weapon, those people are our friends," Fraggle told her, putting herself between Quen and the major.

"Don't shoot--I don't think she wants to hurt us," Colin said to Lorne.

"Quenderra," Fraggle said again. The blonde bit her lip, doubt showing in her eyes.

"You know them?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You can trust them?"

"With my life." Slowly, Quenderra lowered her weapon, and across the room, Evan did the same.

"What is going on here?" Carson wanted to know. "We got word that Fraggle was wounded, so we got out here as fast as we... Quenderra?!"

"No. Well, not our Quenderra," Kass explained. "And Fraggle was wounded--Quen shot her. Then she healed her..."

"Healed her?"

"With a goa'uld healing device..."

"A Goa'uld device?" Beckett repeated dumbly. "Not our Quenderra?" All the eyes in the room stared at Quenderra, who began to feel like she was in a cage on display. Sensing that the new Quenderra was growing anxious, Fraggle ushered everyone back into the headquarters. Lorne and Beckett stayed behind as the other Lanteans returned to the city. Lorne had his gun in his hand, guardedly watching Quenderra.

After discussing the occurrence on the Phoenix's first flight, they turned to figuring out what had happened. "Tell me, did you do any modifications to the engines?" Quenderra Grodin asked.

"Well, yeah. Our whole existence in this dimension is caused by the TDP. So I modified the engines to generate TDP vortexes when we would require them."

"Ah," Quenderra smiled, a knowing look on her face.

"What are you thinking, Derra?" Fraggle said, noting the smirk on her face disappeared as soon as she had called her that. "What? Whats wrong?"

"No one has called me 'Derra' since... Peter," she sighed, standing up and walking to the window. A wave of sadness hit Fraggle so hard she almost could not breathe. What the hell? Her mind confused and her feelings mixed up, she gasped as flashing images fleeted through her mind.

"Fraggle?" Carson asked as he approached where she was sitting and hunkered down next to her. Derra turned to look at the person she had shot and healed, wondering if she had in fact, not healed her. Fraggle raised her head, her breathing coming under control.

Fraggle looked at her--really looked at her--and saw the differences between this Quenderra and hers.

There were lines on this face that were not on Quen's face. Lines and scars that were from worry and battles fought. There was a haunted look of someone lost, and someone who had lost. She was not their Quen no matter how she looked. And she realised that the feelings that took her breath away had come from this stranger.

Derra saw the look on Fraggle's face and had seen that look before. She had seen it on Peter's face weeks before she had lost him. The look of someone who knew her pain.

Derra did not know how this stranger knew, but she knew that she did.

"I--I need to get back to my place. I need to be returned to my reality," she said as she walked back out to the hanger, Lorne in tow behind her, gun not raised, but ready.

Fraggle breathed deeply, nodding her head to reassure Beckett who was beginning to look quite concerned. "I'm okay. Really, it was nothing." She got up and got a beer from the ever-stocked fridge in the corner.

"So, what do we do?" Kass asked. Fraggle swallowed the cold liquid, Carson shaking his head with a look of surprise on his face as she finished the beer in one drink.

"Well, she has to go back home," she said, throwing the bottle into the bin with a crash. "She cannot stay here."

"Well, yes. I know. But how are we to get her home, we don't even know what happened to bring her here!"

"Nope. But she does," Fraggle answered, reaching for another beer.

"Eh, Fraggle? I don't think--"

"Colin, back off," she said as she flicked the lid off the bottle.

"Don't come to me when your head is sore," he held his hands up in submission, shaking his head.

Fraggle knew that he only worried about her. But he did not understand. This Quenderra had to get home. She had seen something in her. Something bad would happen if she stayed.

Quenderra Grodin had not been dragged here by accident.

Derra Grodin was here on purpose.

~~~

"Remember when we first met?"

Quenderra looked up into the man's eyes. "How could I forget? We were both at the Underground Gate Facility in Colorado, Earth. Travelers getting away from the center of conflict. Sort of..."

"Yes, I was heading off to my new assignment at the Earth Beta Site," Peter murmured, smoothing back her shoulder-length red hair. "You were different, though. All the others there were weighed-down with fear, but you still had spirit." His wife smiled.

"Little did you know that the moment you spoke to me, you had no chance of ever getting rid of me."

"I wouldn't want to," the man told her, kissing her softly. "You're a good person and somehow you're going to help end this madness."

"Am I, Peter? I'm not so sure," Derra shook her head. "I'm who I am because of you, my love. I hate the Wraith and the Goa'uld are little better. We do what we must, but... Peter, if I ever lost you, I would break, I would..."

"Shh. No more," he hushed, putting a finger against her lips. His gentle eyes gazed into hers. He understood her more than anyone had. He knew her pain and the things that haunted her, just as she knew him.

"To Traders' Quarry," she sighed. "To meet with our master's servant in order to obtain our new assignment." Peter planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"To Traders' Quarry," he agreed, "in order to stay alive."

~~~

Derra stood before a mirror in the infirmary, a pair of scissors in hand. A pile of red and gold waves of hair surrounded her feet. Several marines stood guard nearby. It was only about 6:30 in the morning, but Dr. Beckett had had her brought to the infirmary to run tests on her soon after they had encountered her in the SSD headquarters. He had found the discovery that she could use Goa'uld technology disquieting and wanted to make certain she was no threat. The Scot cleared his throat as he approached. The SSD were with him.

"Dr. Becker," she acknowledged him without looking away from the mirror.

"Well, I've come back with your test results," he said, frowning at the incorrect name and the mess she was making. "You're not exactly forth-coming, y'know."

"Should I be?" she asked, putting down the scissors and turning slowly. Her hair was very short now, the dyed portion entirely cut off, and she had swept it back from her face with the exception of some side-bangs that lay obediently across her forehead.

"You could have mentioned you were once host to a Goa'uld symbiote, for starters," Carson pointed out. "Naturally, you have an entry scar and naquada in your bloodstream..."

"A Goa'uld?" Derra interrupted. "How can you be so sure it wasn't a Tok'ra?"

"Tok'ra don't like to enter their hosts through the back of the neck," Kass responded. The woman before them gave an unreadable smile.

"You assume that they aren't as bad as the Goa'uld in my reality," she spoke in an almost teasing tone. "I'll give you this one, though. It was a Goa'uld. And that is the reason I am able to use Goa'uld technology. Will that be a problem?"

"Why would I not be surprised if you told me that you also knew you had the ATA gene?" the doctor asked.

"The what?" Derra's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.

"The gene that allows its owner to use Ancient technology," Colin offered.

"Ancient technology?"

"Ancients," Kass said, "the builders of the Stargate."

"Oh!" a light came on. "Well, yes. My mother was Alteran."

"Your mother was an ascended being?" Carson demanded.

"No," Derra laughed, obviously finding his question absurd. "My mother is of the race that built the Stargate, mastered ascension, and are mostly underground right now if they aren't already themselves ascended. Besides, she was only part Alteran--I can barely use a life-signs device."

"Why don't you just tell us what we should know about you?" Fraggle wanted to know.

"Because you didn't ask," came the reply. "Now you have. Where I come from, the Goa'uld have ruled the entirety of the Milky Way for ages. Earth has been under their domination since before I was born. More recently, the Wraith of the Pegasus Galaxy went to war against the Goa'uld. They attacked Earth. It wasn't so bad there before the Wraith came. The Goa'uld had given us a fair amount of freedom in exchange for our loyalty. Earth's population went from 3 billion to nearly half that in a matter of months. It was all but decimated. The Goa'uld declared war.

"The Underground Gate Facility in Colorado helped many escape the horrors there," she continued. "That's where I met... that's where I met Peter. Um... We traveled from planet to planet, doing what we had to to stay alive. We were free for awhile, and then we came under the service of Baal."

"You serve Baal?" Kass and Fraggle demanded in unison. Carson was just stunned.

"It was do or die. In my reality, it's serve the Goa'uld or the Wraith. Which do you think is the lesser of two evils?" Derra retorted, her tone demanding how they dared to judge her without knowing her story. "Besides, we never met with him face to face. We received his orders through his First Prime, Teal'c, of Chulak."

"Teal'c?" Kassandra gasped in surprise. "But--he was first prime to Apophis!"

"Not in my reality. Chulak is Baal's domain. Apophis hasn't even been a system lord for two centuries. Osiris defeated him at that time." She gave them a look that clearly questioned how ignorant they could possibly be. "A year ago, Peter was taken by Master Teal'c to Baal's mothership. He was to be kept safe there while I completed the mission. I was promised," her voice began to tighten with emotion, "PROMISED, supposedly by Baal himself, that Peter would be safe...." Quenderra looked away, tears streaking her face. She had left out the part where she'd been a host, but no one had the heart to ask her about it.

Carson did have one more question for her, however.

"Derra, love, according to our scans, there seems to be a device of Goa'uld origin in your thoracic cavity. Do you mind if I ask what it is?" The woman used both hands to try to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"It's to protect me from Wraith stunners--it neutralizes their effect. It also gives me a heightened resistance to zat'nikitels," she answered. The room fell silent as Quenderra Grodin took deep breaths to calm herself, sinking down onto a bed.

"Are you alright?" Kass asked softly, sitting on the mattress beside the woman who looked so much like her estranged friend.

"I will be. Today's just hard," she responded softly. "It's the day... the day I lost the only good thing left in my life. It's hard. I hope you never experience such pain." The brunette did not respond to this. Words seemed too cheap to lend as a salve for Derra's seeping wounds. So, they waited around in silence while Carson reported to Dr. Weir.

~~~

"Wh-what?" Quenderra's voice faltered helplessly as she stared at the large, dark man before her.

"Your husband is dead," Teal'c intoned again.

"NO!" the woman shrieked, throwing herself at him. "You promised me! You said that Lord Baal promised me! Murderer! MURDERER!" She pounded her fists ineffectually against his chest.

"Your husband died in service to his god," the Jaffa growled, grabbing her wrists in an almost crushing grip. "Your tears are wasted."

"You promised me. I did what I was told and you PROMISED me," Derra cried. "You BASTARD!" She spat at him. His scowl deepened.

"If Lord Baal did not wish that you remained alive, you would join your husband." He shoved her away and turned to go. "If I were you, I would not assault me again." The man activated the ring transporter and vanished. Quenderra fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands.

"Oh, god!" she sobbed. "Oh, god, no! Not my Peter. Please, not Peter!!" But she knew her prayers were in vain...

Her only love was dead.

~~~

Derra Grodin studied the steady flow of information scrolling along the screen of the Remote Device. The piece of technology had once been constantly in the possession of Quenderra James, the SSD agent who had left after being possessed by the Ancient-Wraith hybrid Karron. Kassandra sighed. She missed Quen.

"You people are reckless," Derra sighed at length.

"Huh?" Kass murmured, coming out of her reverie. The alternate was gazing straight into her face, but there was no warmth there, no sense of familiarity from years of interaction. The agent found herself wondering how someone who at first looked so identical to her friend had so quickly grown to look so different. This Quenderra's face bore a harshness, a sorrow, even a lack of innocence that had never touched her Quen's features.

"You're fooling around with that of which you know precious little. I admit that the way you have refitted the engines to run off of what you call the TDP is ingenious, but..." Derra set down the RD and straightened her body. "This 'Time Delay Phenomenon' is merely a physical manifestation of the 'Mind Realm' which enables one to travel across universes and realities at will. The fact that you can use it intuitively without actually knowing how it works is rather disturbing, actually. By all rights, you should have been torn limb from limb a long time ago--it's not a toy. But I'm getting off topic...

"By using the TDP as a power source, you're risking the possibility of destroying an entire reality," she continued. "See, you could say that realities exist in layers, like a cake, if you will, with a thin layer dividing one from the other. The mind realm is basically reality as it exists beyond that which is usually perceived. When you use the TDP as a power source for your ship, it's like using a fork to poke holes into one of the tiers of a cake--you poke it enough, and that layer's gonna become nothing but crumbs. Granted, the possibility that there's actually any life in a reality from which you draw power is infinitesimal, but that's not the only concern. Draw power from a reverse reality, and your engines will implode with a force great enough to suck in this galaxy and most of the next. I recommend that you find another power source." Kass looked at her in shock.

"How do you know all this?" she demanded.

Derra smiled. "Lots of studying. That, and more people are conscious of mind talents in my world."

"Mind talents?"

"Well, yes. Abilities within the mind realm--it's genetic, actually."

"Genetic?" Kassandra was trying to process the new load of information that seemed to flow from Derra's mouth.

"You really don't know much about yourself, do you?" Derra was surprised. "I'll explain it to you as I understand it. The ability to access the mind realm is facilitated by a mutated gene, which is what all of you in the SSD have in common..."

"But Fraggle's the only one who can access the mind realm!" Kass exclaimed.

"No, she isn't," the blonde shook her head. "Fraggle has the Sight of the mind realm, meaning she can SEE it, but that's not the only mind talent. There's also the emotional and physical aspects of the mind realm. Your Quenderra and I are able to sense emotional flow of space-time--it's hard to explain... it's that prickling sensation racing across your flesh, the tingling at the back of your mind when you know someone is spying on you, a gut feeling that something is about to happen... sometimes, it washes over you so strongly, you can't breath. Like, you're at the bottom of the ocean, the whole world pressing down on you. And it's not just some people. It's everyone, everything, everyplace... and at first it drives you mad and it seems it'd be easier just to lose your mind." Derra squeezed her eyes shut, as though remembering something unpleasant.

"And... the physical aspect of the mind realm?" Kass prodded gently, her curiosity nibbling at her mind.

"The mind realm's physicality... it's the one I know least about. It's what you have. That ability to manipulate that which is beyond the scope of the physical realm and affect reality--it's the most dangerous mind talent, especially when one has it as strongly as you do. I've never seen the likes of you, Kassandra Todd," Derra become grim. "It's a good thing that you are meek and humble, because with your abilities, you could so easily lord yourself over all those around you."

"No..." the SSD agent shifted uncomfortably, "that can't be true..."

"It is. The Keyboard of Truth is just a tool to help you channel your abilities. Treu, you can't use it for ill, but you could learn to do everything that you do without it. But whatever you do, should you choose to further strengthen your skill, keep your head, Kassandra. People like you are rare." Kassandra gasped. Derra's expression had become so earnest, so open. There was nothing hidden in her words. They had been genuine.

"..'kay..." the brunette whispered. The blue-gray eyes were redirected and the mood shifted ever so slightly.

"You were in love with him, weren't you?" Derra asked.

"Who?"

"Peter."

"H-how did you know?"

"Because I'd look at you the same way were our positions reversed," Derra said. "You don't want to like me, but you can't bring yourself to hate me..."

"It's not like that--" Kass protested.

"I'm not offended," the alternate interjected. "Just... we hold this in common. It makes me feel a little less alone."

"Derra..."

"Tell me about him," Derra requested suddenly, her wistful gaze meeting Kass's own. "Please... will you tell me about your Peter?" A small smile touched Kassandra lips and she nodded.

~~~

Fraggle was starting to feel uneasy.

Over the last couple of days, Quenderra Grodin and Kass had grown surprisingly close. Derra doted on the younger woman like an elder sister and was easily able to bring her out of her shell. That, in and of itself, didn't bother her. What did was that sometimes, the Scot thought she saw malice flicker in the alternate's eyes. Not directed at anyone... just there. She didn't like it.

"Have you considered the possibility that maybe you're a bit jealous?" Colin had asked when she had confided her misgivings to the man. "I mean, the way I understand it, you and Quenderra were the closer ones before. Now, this alternate, Derra, comes in, looking for all the world like Quen, and develops a close bond with Kassandra. Fraggle--perhaps maybe you feel like you're losing them both..."

"This has nothing to do with Quen!" Fraggle had snapped, irritated that he was right at least in that the thoughts had crossed her mind. "I'm telling you, Colin--Quenderra Grodin is up tae no good. There's too much we don't know about her."

"Then, do you think we should tell Kass to stay away from her?" he had queried.

"Och, I dunno!" the Scot exclaimed. She hadn't seen the brunette laugh so genuinely since Quen had abandoned the team. But now, this Derra Grodin--naquadah-in-the-blood, possessor-of-the-ATA-gene, endless-supplier-of-information-regarding-mind-talents-etc--now, she could coax it from her with seeming ease. Fraggle didn't want to take that from Kass, she just wasn't so sure that the girl's new friend could be trusted.

"Rodney!" Fraggle presently exclaimed, passing the man in the corridor. "Have yeh seen Kass?"

"Kass?" the man blinked.

"Brunette, rather tall--"

"I know that!" the scientist snapped. "She was with Derra Grodin in the mess about twenty minutes ago. Why, is something wrong?"

"No," Fraggle faked a smile. It was probably nothing. "I just haven't seen her, is all. Thanks, Rodney."

"No problem," McKay murmured, watching the Scot hurry away down the hall. He couldn't help but think that the SSD just kept getting stranger and stranger.

~~~

Now Fraggle was really growing concerned. An unexplainable sense of panic had welled up within her and she could no longer hold it back. She hopped up onto a table.

"Has anyone seen Kass?!??" she shouted, raising her voice above the mealtime racket.

"Fraggle, love, whit's the matter?" Carson demanded, stopping next to the table and looking up at her. "Come down before yeh fall and bloody hurt yerself."

"Carson, have yeh seen Kass?" Fraggle asked as she returned to the floor, unable to shake the sense that something was amiss.

"I'm afraid I haven't--not since this morning," the doctor responded.

"Fraggle, are you alright?" She turned to see Colin looking at her strangely.

"Kass was here with Derra earlier, right?" she demanded.

"Yes," her friend answered. "They left to go on a walk..."

"Which direction?"

"How should--"

"Which way did they bloody go, Colin??"

"They exited that way," Colin pointed to one of the exits.

"Towards the chair room, then?" Fraggle exclaimed.

"Among other things," Carson contributed. "What difference does it make?"

"Derra Grodin has the ATA gene."

"But she said--"

"She didn't come here on accident! The hues are all off--I saw it. We have to find both her and Kass, now!"

~~~

Derra Grodin let out a soft chuckle. "It's been so long since I've felt like I could connect with someone. Really connect," she said. "You have helped me to find some comfort, Kassandra Todd. Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me," Kass told her. "I'm just glad I can be there for you." Derra turned to face her, her eyes a storm of emotion.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way." The brunette took a step back as the blue-gray eyes suddenly hardened, resolute and tortured. "I hope someday you can forgive me, Kass--I really do." Kass's mind screamed at her to run, but her body responded too slowly and soon her arm was twisted painfully behind her back, her weapon on the floor.

"Derra, please--whatever you're gonna do, don't do it," Kass pleaded, grimacing in pain.

"There is no other way. I'm taking this city."

~~~

She had planned it. Derra Grodin had planned to use her as a hostage. She had used a thin rope to tie Kass's hands behind her back before shoving her roughly along ahead of her, almost too fast for the tall brunette to keep her feet.

"Derra, you're hurting me," Kass whimpered. There was no reply. Kassandra felt ashamed--how could she be so foolish? She should have known better than to trust this stranger...

With the threat of hurting her hostage, Derra was able to get to the chair room with relative ease, using a stunner to take out any guards along the way. As they approached the ancient control chair, it lit up instantly, responding in a way that the SSD agent had only seen with Col. Sheppard.

"You lied to us," Kass didn't try to hide the hurt in her voice.

"Ironically, I was more honest with you than I have been with anyone in over a year," Derra said sadly. "Now, Kass--sweet, gentle Kass--I need your help. I need you to help me transport your city to my reality. You can even use the KoT." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind the brunette's ear.

"It can only be used for good."

Derra opened her mouth to respond.

"Hold it, right there!" a voice rang out. Fraggle and Colin had rushed into the room, accompanied by Col. Sheppard's and Major Lorne's teams.

"Sorry," Derra whispered to Kass as she retook a painful grip on the girl's arm. Kass couldn't hold back a pain-filled cry. "This doesn't have to get violent! Just let me take the city and no one has to get hurt."

"Too late!" Fraggle growled savagely. "Let her go and maybe we'll spare yeh!"

"You don't understand!" the alternate declared, also becoming angry. "You all have it SO EASY here--and you don't even realize it. The wraith and the goa'uld are at war in my reality. Whole worlds are dying, everyday. Atlantis is the key to bringing down the wraith--ours was destroyed. What do you even use your city for? For shelter? A place to live? We need it to fight! We need it to end the wraith! Once the wraith are destroyed, the goa'uld will fight amongst themselves again, then they can be taken out, too!" Tears were streaming down her cheeks now. "It's the only way! Do you know how many realities I've searched? If I retrieve this city, Lord Baal will trust me, and that will be his undoing!"

"This isn't about saving lives," Sheppard spoke up. "This is about getting revenge. If this is your way of doing things, you're no better than the wraith or goa'uld."

"That's a lie!" Quenderra screamed from behind Kass. "They killed my Peter--I am nothing like them!"

"They're right, Quenderra. This is madness--it needs to end." Everyone in the room turned to look in surprise at the newcomer. He strode forward, his stride confident, yet somehow casual. And entirely wrong for the Kavanaugh they knew.

Derra fixed him with a glare. "What are you doing here, Kav?" she demanded.

"Sir?" Lorne questioned.

"Hold your fire," John answered.

"Thank you," the alternate Kavanaugh said to them with a slight nod before continuing forward. "My god, Derra--look at you. You're so overcome by your hate... This isn't what Peter would have wanted for you." Her hold on Kass loosened.

"I don't have to listen to you..."

"What are you doing? You think if you get close enough to Baal, you can double-cross him?" the man continued, stepping ever closer, his tone a strange blend of snide and concerned. "You think he can't see the hate in your eyes? Everyone can."

"Says you!" Derra shouted. She let go of Kass and stalked towards him. The brunette rushed to her friends who released her from her painful bonds. "Just because... just because you were Peter's friend doesn't mean you know me!" She glared up at him, hostile and tearful.

"You can't do this, Derra," he spoke softly, firmly grabbing her by the upper arms. "Atlantis is too large even for you to transport between realities. Even with help, the city will be torn apart--you know that."

"It's only a possibility, Kav," she ground out stubbornly, trying to shrug off his hold. "It's the only way to reclaim our reality from monsters!"

Kavanaugh sighed impatiently. "You're smarter than that--it's suicide. We'll find another way."

"Why do you even care? WHY do you care?"

"Because I promised my best friend that if anything happened to him that I would take care of his most prized possession."

Quenderra Grodin reduced to tears, her body wracked with sobs. "Why, Kav, why? Why Peter? Why me..?" The man rested a hand on her shoulder as she vented her heartache and frustrations. Sheppard hesitantly lowered his weapon, nodding for the rest to do so as well.

Fraggle wrapped Kassandra in a tight embrace. "Thank god you're safe!" she murmured.

~~~

Sometime later...

"Are yeh sure you're alright?" Fraggle asked for what seemed like the billionth time.

"Yes, Fraggle, I'm fine," Kass responded, though her tone held a mild bite to it.

"Look here, lass, Derra used your kind, trusting nature against you--you can't blame yourself for that."

"And I'll never forgive myself for it, either," the blonde in question approached where the SSD sat in the mess, Kavanaugh at her side. Derra looked miserable. "I am so sorry! I have wronged you so badly... Kass, I know I can't even hope for your forgiveness, but I really did like you--"

"Funny way yeh have of showing it," Fraggle snapped.

"Don't let this damage you, Kass--if I'd been thinking clearly, I never would have... think of it as being bitten by a stray dog. Don't let this damage you." The blue-gray eyes were pleading desparately, a new guilt added to their haunted depths. "I really am sor--"

"I forgive you," Kass said suddenly. "I forgive you, Derra."

Tears welled in the alternate's eyes and she reached out her hand as though to stroke the brunette's cheek before withdrawing it again. "Be well, Kassandra Todd."

"We're heading back, now," Kavanaugh informed them. "We won't return." They turned from the table, seemingly unaware of the three marines standing by keeping a watch on them. A TDP activated and they stepped inside, vanishing through the portal.

"That was interesting," Colin stated.

Fraggle turned to Kassandra. "Why'd you do it, lass? Why'd you forgive that--"

"Because she's just like our Quen," Kass answered promptly, wistfully. "She'll never forgive herself for hurting the people she cares about. Besides... holding grudges just brings a person down, don't you think?" Kass met Fraggle's gaze and the Scot realized she was right.

Sometimes the hardest part of working through something is learning how to let go.

~

End.

~~~

Attempted editing for optimal readibility by Quenderra.

Evil Descends on Atlantis

2008-01-05T23:33:00.000-08:00

~~~

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.

 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!"

 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.

 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.

 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. 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?"

 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.

The Write Way

2008-01-04T15:55:00.000-08:00

- - -

Almost two months had passed and life had temporarily settled down. Quenderra was finally on break from college so she could spend some extra time each day thinking. Added to her list of things to think about and read that July were witty saying and riddles.

"What?!" she had exclaimed when she'd heard about what had taken place. "I was speaking in riddles? Impossible!! Trust me, I'm not that clever!" The blonde didn't remember that part of the ordeal and probably never would, but the details were killing her. "How can I be so smart when I'm half there and so dense when I'm not?" she often asked herself.

-

Now, there are several peculiarities about the different realities. The SSD, of course, were only able to affect the occurrences in two of them (as far as they knew). In the one, the SGC, Atlantis, wraith, and everything else actually existed. In the other, the one in which the SSD agents lived, the Stargate program simply didn't exist--no gate, no Atlantis, no goa'uld, wraith, etc. In the agents' reality, Stargate was a TV show with actors that looked shockingly like the real people in the other reality. There were some differences between the shows and the reality they were based off of...

"What is an Ori?" Vala had asked, while Daniel had wanted to know, "You mean, we finally found all the Ba'als?"

... and...

"Whaddaya mean I'm dead?? They actually killed me, then?" Carson had gasped in horror. "Bloody Americans!!!"

"Just remember, Carson," Quenderra had patted his shoulder sympathetically. "It was the Canadians that did it."

However, just because the Stargate program and its whole deal didn't exist in their Home Reality (Quen had insisted on naming it), didn't mean that the people of the SSD's Earth were justified in their collectively arrogant notion that they were alone in the galaxy. Oh, no, no, no. It was just that most of the "aliens" in their reality chose to keep a safe distance, watching unseen from their ships. Alien abductions were very rare, as said aliens kept to themselves and allowed the puny human race keep to itself. Well, except for those that had taken up residence on the Earth.

In fact, the owner of Sci Fi was a planetary foreigner (PF), as they preferred to be called. He found what his human minions came up greatly amusing, as most of it was so entirely off, it'd make his great-great-grandmother choke in her grave. Probably his great-grandmother, too, if she weren't still alive. What wasn't so off was like a visit home to him, which, coincidentally, was also quite amusing. Sometimes that man laughed too much. He had not had anything to do with the Spacey Award kidnapping of David Hewlett, however. That had been a different alien (they're only called PF's if they've taken up residence).

But this time, the SSD computer (a nice, new, complex machine which which the name-fiend Quenderra had dubbed "Ziggy" a la Quantum Leap; which ironically, was real in the Stargate reality) didn't inform them that any of the Stargate personnel were in trouble (via their new wrist devices), nor was it any of the actors. No. This time it was one of the writers. One whom Quenderra had decidedly decided that she liked.

This time, Joe Mallozzi was missing.

- - -

Fraggle's gun emptied round after round into the chest of her latest victim. When she was sure he was dead, she walked calmly away to get a glass of water, returning to find her next victim. Sweat beaded on her forehead from the exertion of the last kill, and she wondered if the next victim would be so hard to chase down.

The TDP appeared behind her, and she wished that Ziggy would give her 5 more minutes to kill the next guy, then save the game on the memory card of her new V.R game console. But no such luck, she would have to start the level again when she returned. Taking off the head set, she stepped into the TDP with a scowl.

"Whit now!" she whined as she slumped down in a chair in the SSD HQ, rubbing at a scar on her arm. "As if another 5 minutes would’ve mattered, It’s taken me days to get to that bloody level in the game!" She mumbled.

"Oh nice to see you too!" Quenderra said handing Fraggle her new black wrist device.

"Sorry, but dae yeh know how long it’s taken me to get to that bloody level? I'm tellin' yeh, ages it took, ages!" Fraggle said as she put on the device.

"Why didn't you save it?" Quen asked, walking over to the computer.

"What!?...Why didn't I...what...och!" Fraggle said exasperated. “Whit’s the matter now anyway? Whit pulled me away from my recuperation, I wis enjoying mysel!” She moaned, but didn’t really mean it, she knew there would be a good reason, there would be hell to pay otherwise.

“Joe Mallozzi has gone missing.” Quenderra announced.

Fraggle burst out laughing, which resulted in a sharp pain in her side from her healing rib cage.
“Yeah right! As if Joe would disappear halfway through writing and filming the new season! Hang about, that is quite odd!” She suddenly realized it could spell trouble. “What’s the story? Anyone demanded anything, any clues?”

"Well," said Quenderra, "according to Ziggy--"

"Ziggy?" Kass interjected.

"Ziggs..."

"Ziggs??" Fraggle made a face. Neither were as excited about the name as Quenderra was.

"Fine! Z--can we all live with that?" the blonde demanded.

"Oh, yeah." "Sure." her friends answered, suddenly agreeable again. Quen sighed, then laughed.

"Anyhow," she continued, "according to Z, there has been no demands made nor any clues left. He simply vanished. However, Z is of the opinion that it's some form of alien abduction... he, uh, he thinks Mallozzi ticked off a PF with something he wrote. In any case, we need to find Joe and get him back to work as soon as possible. If he's gone too long, season 4 of Atlantis might have to be delayed--that would make for a lot of unhappy fans."

"Yeah, no kidding," Kassandra murmured, images of revolting mobs swarming the Bridge Studios. She shook the thought from her head.

"Where should we start?" Fraggle asked, wanting to get the mission over and done with so she could return to her game.

"Um..." Quenderra typed something into the keypad of her remote device (RD). It looked like an iPod, except it had a miniature keypad that could be pulled out and rotated for convenience. Though, it did double as an MP3 player--only it didn't ever need new batteries and Quen had all her songs and whatnot stored on Z's back-up, back-up hard drive. "Z thinks we should first talk to Tahalnid."

"Who?" Fraggle wanted to know.

"Oh--the PF who owns Sci Fi," Kass supplied. "The one Quen flirts with shamelessly."

"Oh," said the Scot. They both looked at the blonde.

"What?" she demanded. "He flirts with me first!"

"Okay. I seem to remember a certain other PF that yeh flirted with. The one that took yer flirting as a sign of...."

"OKAY! Do not go there Fraggle!" Quenderra laughed embarrassed.

"Well, I'm jist saying, yeh cannae be too careful when other species and cultures are concerned!" Fraggle sniggered.

"Yeah, did he ever get back in touch with you?!" Kassandra laughed.

"How was I to know that my flirting would trigger his arms to do that! I'm not discussing it any further you two! Back to the mission at hand!" Quen's face told the others the joke was over. "Anyway, he didn't look alien, or PF. He looked human. I didn't know he wasn’t," she added after a few moments.

"Whit gave it away in the end?" Fraggle said innocently. “The fact that two new arms appeared, or the fact his ears were on the wrong way!” She almost didn’t finish the sentence for the explosion of laughter that burst from her face. Kassandra spat her drink over herself, and Quen eventually started laughing at the absurdity of the whole thing.

“Hey that’s not fair, his hair covered his ears, I did not see them! That’s the last time I go out for a drink with you two, to some new club!” she laughed.

The laughter died when the three new wrist devices began emitting an ear piercing beeping.

“It's talking about yer friend at Sci Fi, yes?” Fraggle looked at Quen. “This is not good at all.”

Kass looked worriedly at her two friends having been pulled through the TDP almost unknowingly in her half awake state that she seemed to reside in most days.

"Tahalnid's missing?" Quenderra echoed in surprise. "And we were about to go talk to him. That can't be a coincidence... Something’s going on here."

"Yeah--that's why we're here," Fraggle reminded her. "Mallozzi was missing first, remember?"

"But why?" the blonde posed the question. "Why Mallozzi and then Tahalnid? What do they possibly have in common??" Quen looked from one to the other. Kassandra blinked.

"Don't look at me," she murmured, "I dunno..."

The wrist devices shrill beep filled the air again.

"Och, come ON! Whit now!" Fraggle examined the incoming text.

<Sorry for the typo...Tahalnid missing YOU...please respond.> Z told them.

"That silly, sneaky bugger! He's jist wanting to see yeh!" Fraggle stared at Quen.

"He must think I am the only one with a device!" Quen answered, her face as red as beetroot.
"Yeah, well, I'll let him know you're not," Fraggle said furiously typing into the device.

"What are you writing!"

"Nothing much, just letting him know that we are coming to see him about Mallozzi's disappearance."

"Let me see!" Quen said as she grabbed Fraggle's wrist.

"Hey! Watch the sore bits!" Fraggle exclaimed as Quen roughly rubbed a scar.

'Quenderra can't come to her device just now, but as your message came to all our devices..'

"Fraggle!" Quen said as she deleted the line of text.

Kass's dazed look was beginning to disappear as she drank her third coffee. The problem was that she was now getting high on the caffeine, and that did not bode well for the other team members' sanity. It had happened to Fraggle once during a mission, she had drank the entire flask of coffee in one go and jeopardized the mission as she sprung up from cover and began running around shouting like an eejit, to the horrific surprise of the people they were stalking. As it was, they had gotten such a fright at the high Scot, they left their hostages and ran for the hills.
Quenderra actually had a shockingly high immunity to the substance. Kass, on the other hand, she giggled and laughed when she was caffeinated. So this meeting was going to go well.

"Well, lets jist get this whole mission underway. We have tae go see Tahalnid, then I think we should check out Mallozzi's last seen location for clues."

"Right, lets go."

A string of giggles issued from behind them as they were about to step into the TDP.

"Oh fer goodness sake! Come on, Kass, lets go, love!" Fraggle said as she helped the rather high Kass into the TDP.

"Ziggy, you do know you can relay messages to just one wristband, right?" Quenderra asked the computer before following her friends through the portal. The screen blinked blue in acknowledgment. "Better yet, just send my messages to the RD, alright?" 'OK' appeared in large letters. The blonde stepped into the TDP.

---

The TDP deposited the three agents just down the hall from Tahalnid's office. They traversed the few feet separating them from the door and knocked.

"Enter!" a voice beckoned from within. So, they did. "We are absolutely not getting rid of that show! Not if I have anything to say about it," Tahalnid was telling someone on the phone. "It's a great show, it has lots of fans. ... Don't worry--the show has not seen its time. Yes, yes--it'll be on for years more. Okay. Call me later. Alright." He hung up the phone as he turned to face them.

"Quenderra!" the man exclaimed, rising to his feet and extending out his arms.

"Tally!" Quenderra returned with one of her sweetest smiles, giving him a hug.

"Tally?" Fraggle and Kass exchanged looks.

"I have not heard from you in almost four days--I was beginning to get worried," the PF told Quen.

"Oh, well, I've been working," the blonde replied. "I told you I was bad at keeping in touch."

"Yes, but this is me we're talking about!"

"Yeah--my point exactly!" Quenderra fixed him with a challenging look.

"Ouch," Tahalnid said, pressing a hand to his heart--which was actually about mid-abdomen. He turned to Fraggle and Kassandra. "This girl is not so nice, sometimes," he declared. "It's good to see the both of you again, also."

"Almost four days, huh?" Fraggle glanced over at Quen, who just shrugged, though her cheeks were a bit rosy. Tahalnid KuRo (his alien name, not his Earth one) regarded the three agents each in turn.

"This is business, huh? SSD stuff, no?" he deduced.

"Yes, but we all got your touching message. Thank you," the Scot informed him.

"Oh?" he looked questioningly at Quen.

"We've all got wrist devices," she told him.

"Well, I'll have to stop sending love notes, then."

"Tahalnid! Behave!!"

"We're here to investigate the disappearance of Joe Mallozzi," Kass jumped in with a giggle. "I've got a few questions for you..."

"Ohboy," Quenderra murmured. The feeling in her stomach told her that she shouldn't have let Kass have three cups of coffee...

Kass stepped forward, her eyes bouncing around in their sockets, a huge grin on her face.

"JustwonderingthelasttimeyouseenMallozzi!" she garbled out spitfire rapid.

"Kass, can I have a wee word with yeh?" Fraggle said, hauling her out of the room. "Excuse us please!"

"Fraggle! Ialmosthadhim!"

"Yeh, almost had him whit? Deaf? Confused? How many coffee's did yeh have BEFORE yeh came through the TDP?"

"IhadtwobeforeIputmyshoeson. IhadonebeforeenteringtheTDP."

"So, including the three at HQ, ye've had 6 coffee's AND travelled in the TDP in the last two hours?!" Fraggle wondered whether she should take Kass to the hospital. "I've a good mind to boot yer ass! Yeh know better than to travel in the TDP caffeinated out yer head!" But Fraggle calmed down a little when Kass's face dropped almost in tears.

"I'm sorry love! Yeh know I'm only concerned 'bout yeh! Remember the last time?" Fraggle asked putting her arm around Kass's shoulder.

Kass nodded her head, remembering the time she almost caused the Junker to crash while giggling and suffering palpitations from the caffeine. Kass giggled again, she could not help herself. Fraggle looked at Kass's wrist device, which told her that Kass was not in any danger, her heart and vital signs were fine.

"You go and have a wee walk round the building. Better still, see if you can find a human sized hamster wheel and have a wee run in that. I will go help Quen with Mr. Lover Man. Okay? Meet you here in 10 minutes."

Fraggle entered the room, apologizing for Kass not returning with her, but the words caught in her throat.

Quen was staring out of a hole in the wall, looking down the side of the building, a breeze playing with her loose hair.

"Okay. Whit happened here? Where's the PF Romeo gone, then?" Fraggle said as she crossed the room to Quen.

"He's gone. Something pulled him out through this hole." Quen said confused.

"Yeah, okay. Here we are 6 stories high and something came through the damn wall and grabbed Romeo and took him away? Are yeh crazy! This is Earth, not Atlantis!" Fraggle said as she looked out through the hole. She was really getting mad now, not only did this escapade take her away from her game, it was beginning to look like it would do so for quite some time. “Oh jeez, I hope this isn’t anything to do with those Superfans!”

- - -

Several minutes later...

"Well, Quenderra said, consulting the RD, "according to Z," here she grinned, thinking she sounded like Al, "the likelihood that the Superfans have something to do with this whole mess has gone from a 'maybe' to a 'most-definitely-so'. They're also missing."

"What?" Kassandra asked. "Ifthey'regonewhyweren'twenotified??"

"Because, they're fans--not even related to an alien or PF. It's the police's job to go looking for them," Quen explained.

"Except when they're somehow involved with the disappearance of one or more of our people," Fraggle added.

"Precisely. Now, Mallozzi went missing first, then the Superfans, and now Tahalnid. Joe was last seen walking between his car and his office. I think we should start at Bridge Studios..."

- - -

Poor Kass was in such a come down, that she could barely raise a smile by the time reached the studios. "Oh my head!" she moaned.

Fraggle rubbed at her forehead, trying to rub away the migraine starting to set in. The pain behind her left eye was signaling that this one was going to be a sore one. "I jist don’t believe this! Talk about bad timing!" she said hunting through her combats for her Naproxen tablets.
She pulled out the box, finding that she had none left. "Och this day is jist going fae bad tae worse!" She scowled.

"Are you ok Fraggle?" Quen asked turning back to find out what her friend was moaning about his time.

"Me? Aye I'm fine, jist keep going." she said, following Quen.

"So that’s why you have been in such a bad mood," Kass said as she walked past Fraggle. "I warned you about playing those games for as long as you do!" She sniggered.

"Hey! Don't yeh laugh at me, little Miss Coffee Brains!"

"Wait, what is this?" Quen said suddenly stopping and staring at something on the ground.

"I dunno, surprise me." Fraggle moaned.

"It looks like little bit of green goo."

"What!" Kass said stepping backwards into Fraggle.

"Whoa! No way! Surely we are not dealing with the same crew fae the first adventure!"

"Nope, its not that shade of green." Quen said, poking at the goo with a stick. "It's more of a greeny-blue."

"No way am I having anything to do with anymore goo monsters. No, nope, never again!" Kass said instantly starting to hyperventilate.

"Kass, don’t worry. I still have baby wipes in mah pockets!"

"Nope, no good! Every time I see goo now, it makes me sick and everything!"

"Well you better not come any closer." Quenderra warned as she noticed something. "This is bigger than I first thought!"

Fraggle walked over and looked beyond Quen, seeing the massive splat-like goop of blueish goo right in front of one of the parked cars.

"Right then, I suppose yer gonna tell me, that’s Mallozzi's car? Yeah?"

"Eh, yeah. That would be Mallozzi's car."

Fraggle looked up to the sky. "I hope that some alien cow hasn't came through a TDP, coz that’s one big pile of crap."

"Fraggle, get serious!"

"I am serious. Imagine whit a herd of alien cows could dae to the city! No, no, I'm not cleaning that up fer anyone!"

Quenderra considered what Fraggle had just said. "Yeah," she agreed. "Me, neither... So we know there's goo involved, but what does a writer for a TV show, a few fans who built their own gizmos, and the owner of a TV channel have in com--oh, god."

"What?" Fraggle and Kass demanded at the same time.

"They're all involved with science fiction!" Quen exclaimed. "Joe writes it, Tahalnid owns a channel that plays it, and the Superfans acted in some little commercial things to promote it! Oh, this is bad... very not good."

"You have a feeling?" Kassandra asked.

"I don't need a feeling to know this is bad," the blonde asserted. "We have attack of the blue-green goo monster on our favorite show. That equals bad. At this rate... is that David Nykl?? OMG!! You guys! Look! Look--it's David Nykl! Oooo! I bet some of the other actors are here...."

Fraggle grabbed Quenderra by the collar. "Whoa! Hold yer horses there, lass! Get yerself under control for pity's sake! We don't want to be going all gooey eyed and getting nowhere!"

"But...its...Nykl! And there could be Hewlett!"

At the very mention of the name, Fraggle lost her senses, bounced over Quenderra, bypassed Nykl with a wave and ran looking for Hewlett.

"I'm gonna beat yeh to him!" she called back laughing.

"Not fair!" Kass shouted as she watched her two friends, despite trying not to, going all gooey eyed and star struck at the thought of their favorite actors being here.

---

As Kass dashed after her friends in pursuit of their idols (at least the ones involved in Stargate), she ran around a corner in time to see Quenderra disappear. Kassandra let out a gasp.

"FRAGGLE!!!!!" she cried at the top of her lungs. The Scot snapped out of her gooey-eyed state and spun about to face her colleague.

"What?" Fraggle asked in concern. "Where's Quen..?"

"She vanished!" Kass answered in shock. "As in, POOF!" Fraggle jogged back towards her but halted suddenly when she saw something on the ground. Goo. Blue-green goo.

"Great. Just great! What does Quen have to do with all of this?" Fraggle bypassed the goo and took Kass by the arm. "We've gotta make sure all the cast are here--and not just 'cause we wanna meet them." About thirty minutes and the aid of "passes" courtesy of Z revealed that all of the actors were where they were supposed to be (Hewlett had the day off, both fortunately and unfortunately--he was at home). However, some of the lighting and camera crew were missing, along with Martin Gero, the director Martin Wood, a makeup artist, and some of the art and clothing departments.

What did all these people have in common?

“You know, this is suspiciously beginning to look like someone wants to make their own show. Their own Stargate show. Wait a bloody minute, why Quen? Why not the three of us?”

“Oh, Fraggle, tell me you are not getting jealous!”

“No! I mean, what has Quen got in common with the rest? Uh, hold the phone! Quen’s in the middle of writing a Stargate thingy! That’s her connection!”

“But they already have writers!”

“Yeah, but not SSD writers!” Fraggle pressed a few buttons on her WD, and waited.

“Och, come on Z! What do yeh mean you don’t recognize my code! Kass, try yours!”

“Same here. Z won’t tell me anything!”

“So we are one man down, locked out of our bloody computer and I have a major migraine banging like a pipe band behind my left eye! This day can not GET ANY WORSE!”

“Eh, I think it can!” Kass quavered, pointing to the sky. There was a large ship like structure flying overhead, small clouds of purple gas exploding from its exhaust. Every now and again, blue-green goo dropped from the sky.

“I jist hate being in the SSD. You have to clean everyone elses' crap up. Now we gotta clean this up! When this is finished, I’m taking a vacation!” She walked off in a huff, when a bit of goo landed on her head.

“Crap, crap, CRAP! Damn you alien-herbivore-like ship! I’m gonna explode into a tirade in a minute!”

Kass tried not to laugh at Fraggle’s new hairstyle of goop, while trying not to vomit everywhere.
“What do we do now?”

“Och, I jist don’t know. We are gonna have to look for more clues.”

--

After they had cleaned up the mess left by the unidentified ship, Kass and Fraggle stepped through the TDP into Quenderra's room.

"She has something to do with this, right?" Kass had reasoned. "Maybe there's some clues in her dorm room."

"She's moved her bed since we've been here," Fraggle observed. And indeed, the bed had been moved, as it was now perpendicular to the wall instead of horizontal to it. "Wonder which side's the wrong side?" she murmured, looking between the bunks to the other side.

"Quen's getting ready to have a roommate this fall," Kass mentioned.

"Well, the desk and book shelves don't show it--she's still using both sides! What are you doing--don't go through the documents on her computer!"

"The file's labeled 'Stories & Vids'," Kassandra pointed out. "I think she plans on sharing them." The file opened up.

"Look--it's the vid she did for the contest!" Fraggle pointed. "Wait... what's that?"

" 'DIRT 1'."

"Click on it." Kass clicked on the vid and it opened. Quenderra appeared as the media player opened.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Samaris Grant, one of the junior scientists under Dr. McKay..."

"Oh! I've heard about this--there's a collection of corresponding vid-diaries. They've got Rodney, John, Teyla, and a few others. Quen's must be the first one," Kassandra said.

"Did Quen say she wanted to some actin' down the road?" Fraggle asked slowly.

"Yeah, why?" They looked at one another. "Oh."

"I watched the Dirt vids on youtube. They are quite funny, and Quenderra can't half cry! It was like watching Blair Witch at one point! So this is definitely looking like someone is trying to make their own TV show. They have writers, actors, make up, costumes, hell they even have their own bloody fans! But I still cannae work it out. Where the hell can they all be?"

Kass looked at her wrist device again, poking at the screen. "Z is still not talking to us. He said he cannot be bothered to help us."

"Cannae be bothered! I've a good mind to throw him in a cup of coffee and fry his stupid arrogant circuit brain!" The wrist devices began beeping again.

"Z says he would rather you didn't and that he will help us only if we are nice to him."

"Whit? He said whit? Did Quenderra programme Z, or did she buy him from Barmy Hal Bargains! 'cause he must be deluded if he thinks I'm gonna be nice to him."

"Z says he thought you would say something like that."

Fraggle felt a shock jolt up her left arm, and she ripped the device off her wrist. "That wee bugger just tried to electrocute me!" she said, jumping on the spot holding her wrist.

"Z said Hal was his cousin and not to be disrespectful of one of the best computer characters of all time. Apparently, he is quite iconic in computer world."

"I don't care if he is monolithic, I'm not gonnae be nice to that stupid ZZ lose-its-Top. He jist made ma migraine worse!"

"Z said sorry and to put the device back and he will help us."

Fraggle picked up the wrist device and put it back on. No sooner had she fastened the buckle, when another sharp shock ran up her arm. "AAAAoooowww!" she said dancing around holding her arm again.

"He said that was for calling him 'ZZ lose-its-Top' and for being disrespectful toward the bearded group of rockers. But he also said that you are even now, and he will help us."

"He bloody better, or I'm gonna..."

"Fraggle, you are still wearing the device."

"Or I’m gonna jist have to figure it out myself," she finished through gritted teeth, feeling like an ass for falling for the trick.

Kassandra was trying to stifle a laugh, the Scot had a kind heart but a fiery temper, and more often than not, it got her into strife.

"Now, Z the almighty wrist computer. Tell us whit yeh can about the flying stink heap we saw earlier dropping goop like poop."

Another surge of electricity flew up Fraggle's arm.

"WHIT DID I DO THAT TIME!"

"Oh, he said sorry, he was just flattered at being called almighty and got a little excited."

The dark cloud above Fraggle did not bode well for Z.

---

Quenderra sat in a make-shift dressing room. The door was open and she watched the goings-on outside the room. Most of the other "actors" (none of which actually were) sat huddled together, whispering amongst themselves. She didn't blame them. They must have been scared out of their wits. Had she not been an SSD agent and in-the-know, she was pretty sure she would be, also. Quenderra groaned at the thought of having to zap all these people with a memory-eraser. What a pain, yet a necessary evil. She rose to her feet and exited the room with the intent of finding Joe Mallozzi.

"Where are you going?" one of the guards--a huge, bluish (though, not the same blue as the goo) brute with terrible breath and warts--bawled. "You can't come over here." Quenderra leveled one of her 'seriously-not-amused-aren't-you-aware-I-own-the-world' looks on him.

"Excuse me?" she demanded with raised eyebrows. "I'm one of the stars, am I not? If I'm going to be one of the stars, I want to talk to the writers. So, kindly step aside. Thank you." She pushed past him and he watched after her in shock. He hadn't thought she looked so vivacious. The blonde entered the writers' area a moment later.

"Look, you got to be kidding--do you know how long it takes to write a..." Joe Mallozzi trailed off as he realized that the being that entered was not one of their captors. "Oh, hello."

"Hi," Quenderra took in the scene: Joe was seated among a collection of loose papers--most of which were blank--glaring at them in frustration, somebody had doodled on the white board (yes, an actual white board on an alien ship), and Martin Gero was looking around the room in utter fascination not unlike that of a child in a toy factory.

"Oh, hey," he distractedly directed at Quen. "You're one of the actors right?" Quenderra blushed.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I am...." she shook her head and settled down to business. "But I'm also here to rescue you. I'm a member of the SSD and we take care of situations like this all the time. Actually, usually they're worse.... but, yeah."

"You?" Joe asked, bemused. "Not to sound skeptical, but how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Quen bit back a defensive retort.

"Help me find my stuff?" she requested instead. "I had some equipment on me." Mallozzi motioned at a box across the room that was full of miscellaneous items: hats, wallets, etc.

"They put everything they thought might be good for a prop in that trunk," he told her.

"I already dug my stuff out," Martin added. "I could help you, though. What're you looking for?"

"One looks like an iPod and the other is a wristband," Quen answered. The three of them rummaged through the items for a bit.

"Oh, here's an iPod," Joe handed it to her. Excitedly, she tried to pull out the keypad. She tossed it aside.

"Wrong one," she sighed.

"This your wristband?" Gero asked.

"Yes! Thank you!" Quen returned it to her wrist. A moment later, the RD turned up. "Ziggy," she murmured as she typed a command into the device, "send the others."

<Shh!> appeared on the screen. 

"Z," she spoke into her WD, "You don't have to pinpoint my location, just tell them to travel through the TDP to where the beacon is." She activated the locater beacon on the RD--a signal too weak to be caught on any sensors but strong enough to be pinpointed by the TDP.

<With 30 more minutes,> Z protested, 

"Ziggy, please... If they don't hurry, I'm gonna be wearing a ridiculous costume playing 'damsel in distress'...."

- - -

"Hey! Z wis jist nice to me!"

"What did he say?"

"He gave me the co-ordinates fer a beacon that Quen jist activated. The TDP will take us right to her!"

"See, if you are just nice to him, he will be nice to you. Oh, he just gave me the co-ordinates, lets go!"

The TDP opened up and they both stepped in. Fraggle was following Kassandra, and could see her twist to the left in the vortex, but she just kept going forward.

"Whit the...!"

SPLASH! Cold, salty water exploded around her, she threw her arms around in shock, spitting water out of her mouth and trying not to snort the wet stuff. When she finally calmed down, she found herself in the middle of the ocean, the large ship hovering in the sky far above her.

"ZIGGY! I'm gonna tear out yer wires you carnaptious wee crap!" A buzzing emitted from the wrist device that sounded very like electronic laughter.

- - -

Quenderra and Kass turned round to see what the wet sound coming from the TDP was. Both steeled their faces as much as they could when a soaking wet Fraggle stepped dripping from the vortex.

"Quen, where the hell did yeh buy Z from? A Computers Against Humans convention!?"

"Eh, what happened to you?" Quen asked as a small snigger exploded from KAss.

"Fraggle has been having problems with Z all day!" Kassandra laughed.

"This is no' funny! Whit if I had landed in space or something!"

"I don't think Z would be that cruel!" Quen said, laughing uncontrollably.

But Z just laughed his electronic laugh. "Don't give him bloody ideas lass!"

"Right then, whit is going on here then?" Fraggle said as she wiped herself down with a piece of cloth from the costume box. "Yeh must be Mallozzi? And Gero, right?" she said shaking their hands in turn with a firm grip.

Quenderra let out a sigh. That, in and of itself, didn't necessarily mean anything, as she tended to sigh for every occasion and non-occasion. But the tone of this particular sigh alerted her friends to the fact that the blonde intended to speak straight through until she was finished regardless of the length of what she had to say. They hoped what she had to say wasn't too long.

"Okay," Quenderra began, "It would seem that Vhir Plhonc has taken a liking to Earth television programming. He is one of the big shots amongst the Xur--the blue people--who are from the planet Kaida about 70 light years opposite Alpha Centari from Earth. Now, trust me, when I say you should see some of their programming, unless you enjoy the sound of nails on a chalkboard, that statement is absolutely not true. Theoretically, their programming is so terrible because they haven't grasped the concept that good TV takes time to produce--seriously, they think a whole season of Stargate can be filmed in less than 24 hours. So, Plhonc decided that if he had humans from Earth, he could make some of the great quality stuff he sees when he's on vacation in our galaxy every year. He's got Joe and Martin writing, the Superfans constructing the set, a handful of would-be actors including myself, and an assortment of other folks. Oh, and he abducted Martin Wood, also." She took a deep breath.

"Why didn't he take some of the actors?" Kass wanted to know.

"Oh, the 'Gates are his favorite shows," Quen answered. "He didn't want to interfere with filming. Don't ask why he believed it'd work out if he took some of the crew, though."

"Why don't they just watch Earth programming, then?" Fraggle wanted to know.

"Ah--no reception to Kaida. But if we could locate about two or three junked-up satellites and recalibrate them, I think we could make a deal," Quen suggested, then added, desperately, "Please say we can figure out something like that--Plhonc wants me to play a role that will ruin any possible career that I could ever possibly want to pursue!"

“Hey! Junkers are whit we are good at!” Fraggle exclaimed. She pulled at the FTF from her combat trousers and switched it on. “Lets see whit we can do.” She sat cross-legged on the floor with her back to the others, Z was buzzing away like an angry hornet on Fraggle’s wrist.
“Not now Z, let me concentrate.” But Z continued to buzz at her, so she ignored him, and the noise behind her.

“There!” she said looking at the FTF screen. “That would be perfect for the …” She stopped talking as she noticed some blue goo dripping onto her beloved FTF. She closed her eyes for a second, really hoping that it was not what she thought it was. She reached her hand behind her and quickly withdrew as wet slime covered her hand.

“Eugh! Now that’s jist gross!” she said as she tightened her body to fight. A huge, soggy dripping hand landed on her head and pulled her from the floor into the air and held her dangling. “So why did naebody warn me!” She asked as she was being turned around to face her captor.

“Because there is no one here to warn you.” The voice was spluttering and wet sounding, and when she saw her captor she could see why. The huge blue warty-face was seeping fluid like sweat, creating the blue goo which dripped down the front of its ugly butt face.

“Och it jist gets worse!” she said trying to avoid the spatters of goo as the Xur spoke.

“The others were transported from here and are now on set. But you should not be here, you are not on the list of staff or visitors,” it spat, then wiped its mucky chin. Fraggle could just make Kassandra out, hiding behind a tall pillar like structure. This was embarrassing and very painful, and that made Fraggle angry. Again.

The Scot spoke thickly in her native and fast talking tongue, hoping to confuse the big Xur. (She did not use it often, as people found it hard to understand at times.)

“Och, yeh know fans! We wuid dae jist ‘boot anythin’ bar nowt tae see our favourite show bein made! There’s nae need tae be gangin intae a rager, o’er it ya big glaikit numpty! And by the way, that drool is clatty yeh know, makes me wanna throw!” she said pointedly while gesturing to Kassandra.

“Throw what!” Kass mouthed. There was nothing to throw at the Xur, so that idea was out the window.

“And if Ah hid a face like yer’s, I wid hide it, gien its so ugly! And yer mingin intae the bargain!”

“Translation,” a small voice came from a pocket on the Xur’s jacket. Oh no! Fraggle thought.

“Oh, you know what fans are like. We would do just about anything except nothing to see our favourite show being made. There is no need to get angry about it, you huge stupid idiot. And your secretions are filthy don’t you know, they make me want to vomit. And if I had a face like yours, I would hide it. Given that it is so ugly. And you smell awful, also.”

Translation complete, Fraggle could feel the trembling rage in the Xur’s arm that held her by the head from the floor. Thinking fast, she shouted at Z.

“Z! Your cousin Hal wis nothing more than a stupid handful of dodgy micro chips!” Z buzzed and beeped obscenities at Fraggle and burst a shock through the wrist device. But Fraggle had taken the wrist device off and sat it on top of the Xur’s head. The Xur shook and buzzed and dropped Fraggle to the floor. The wrist device toppled from the Xur’s head as he fell backwards, Fraggle grabbed it.

“Ta Z! I didnae mean that ‘boot yer cousin!” she said as she ran, forgetting to switch to more understandable talk. Z said he thought that it was a trick and that he understood. Kass and Fraggle ran through the studio ship looking for Quen and the others, hoping that the big Xur would be out of it for a while

- - -

"Oh, Zlanther!" Quenderra cried out in a mixture of adoration and relief, meanwhile nearly choking on the words. Zlanther nervously took her into his arms.

"Giti, my love," he said, a bit flatly, "I have rescued you"

"Oh, Zlanther! How every atom in my bosom quivers!" Quenderra let out a odd strangled sound as she pushed Zlanther aka Michael away. Turning to glare at the on-looking Xur, she rested her hands on her hips. "Alright!" she declared. "This is absolutely absurd--and I mean that in the absolute worst way possible! I demand to speak to Vhir Phlonc, immediately!!" Of all the things Quenderra could be, she could pull off intimidating frighteningly well when she put her mind to it, which she was at the moment. She angry AND humiliated--a potentially dangerous combo.

"He's busy!" bawled on of the 'producers'. The blonde thought they sounded not unlike a bunch of livestock with the ability to speak. Martin Wood, who was directing, was very obviously amused by the situation. At that moment, she could have strangled him--along with Martin Gero who was back by Joe trying not to laugh and failing quite miserably. In fact, Mallozzi also had a suspicious smirk on his face.

"I don't care if he's busy!" Quen sassed. "I wanna speak to the brute!" Said brute entered the large room seconds later. Vhir Phlonc was a giant of a Xur (and they were pretty large as it was) and his superior cleanliness and shrewd demeanor only added to his power of intimidation. Quenderra's first thought was, "Um...." followed an empty-brained moment later by: "Oooh crap!!!"

- - -

“Why did you knock him out? He might have been helpful!” Kass said as they ran.

“It might’ve escaped yer attention, but he had me by the heid and wis crushing my bloody skull!” Fraggle said as she ran, looking at her wrist device. She and Kass followed Z's directions and stumbled into a huge cavernous part of the ship, which was the set. Quen was saying her lines, really awful cringe-worthy lines and getting mad about them. Fraggle could not help but smile and Kass was just holding in laughter when the biggest Xur they had seen yet walked into the room.

"Quen dear," he drawled. "What is the matter, you little prima donna you?"

Fraggle stifled a snigger. “Quen, a prima donna! There is an understatement!” she whispered to Kass.

“Listen to who’s talking!” Kass sniggered back, Fraggle raised her eyebrows in mock shock.

“I am NOT saying these lines! They are so embarrassing, not to mention cheesy and dated!”

“But these are the lines I had written especially for you! They suit your lovely character to a T, and you say them so well!” His attempts to flatter her fell on deaf ears.

“No way Phlonc, I am definitely NOT going any further with this shambles! Everyone is laughing at me!” All the others looked away to hide their smirks and smiles, Mallozzi had a sudden attack of coughing and Gero was having trouble keeping his face straight as his shoulders shook with mirth. Vhir Phlonc stared at everyone, and seemed to swell in size. His body appeared to grow upwards and outwards, giving him a terribly intimidating aura. His eyes were closed and his breathing deep and long.

Fraggle had readied a little weapon from her combats, pointing it straight at Vhir’s head. But instead of exploding into a rage, Vhir Phlonc began to emit a guttural animalistic sound, and it took a short while before people realized he was actually laughing. Within minutes, the room was full of laughter, no one could control themselves any longer. Even Quenderra’s stony face appeared to have softened at the noise, but she remained silent and in control.

“Oh, my dear Quen! You have told me a truth that my romantic heart did not allow me to see! Yes, the lines are awful, are they not! I will get onto re-writing your lines at once!” Vhir clicked his fingers once and a smaller Xur that appeared to be a female, popped up beside him in a poof of stinky purple gas.

“Miss Bleugh, I would like Quenderra’s part in the script written again, into a more…up to date and 'with it' edge to it!”

“Oh, yes, Mr Xur! Right away, Mr Xur!" she simpered and disappeared into another stinking cloud of gas that left everyone coughing.

“So, what do we do while we wait?” Quen asked, her arms folded in front of her. “Can we not go back to our own work? Our own lives? I mean it could take days or weeks to write the whole script again!”

“Oh, no, dear Quenderra, you simply have to stay here at my hospitality. I need you all to stay until the very end! The script will be finished within the hour!”

“Hour!” Quenderra squawked in surprise.

“Oh yes, we Xur’s are frighteningly quick at writing, that’s why we can get so many shows out to the public in one day!”

“Yeah, and from what I’ve heard, pretty crap ones at that!” Fraggle whispered to Kass.

“We also have extremely fantastic hearing abilities! So whoever you are over there, behind the lovely maroon curtain, please wait there until my guards come to get you. Perhaps I should have also said that the Xur are very private people and regard trespassing as one of the highest dishonours!” He smiled, though it was obvious that he was very angry.

Fraggle and Kass looked at each other, wondering if they should just walk out or wait as he had said. Their decision was made for them when two massive wet slimy hands clamped onto their heads and lofted them into the air.

"Wait a doggone minute!" Quenderra shouted, noticing her friends' plight. "First off--let them go! They are my friends and you will receive no cooperation from me unless you do. And second--Fraggle's right. Your programming from Kaida is terrible. Isn't that why you come here every year? To see our programming? Isn't that why you're doing this cheesy Star Skip show with human actors? Because you think it'll be better?

"With respect, Phlonc--it isn't just the actors that make the show. It's the careful thought put into the script--ask either of these gentlemen," she motioned at Mallozzi and Gero, "writing a script takes time. It also takes time to film the show. What you can watch in a day takes months to prepare. Your stuff has potential, sir... it just needs more time to develop. And you don't need us.

"But if you do want some human programming, me and my friends--the ones your guards are hurting!--can set up a few satellites that will allow you get reception on Kaida. Please."

All eyes turned to Vhir Phlonc.

Phlonc must have signalled the guards, though no one saw it, as the guards let go of the two twisting SSD agents from a small height. Fraggle and Kass yelped as their posteriors bumped onto the floor, none too happy at the pain in the ass.

“You are right, of course.” Phlonc said with a sigh. “Our ratings are going downhill. TV stations are closing all over the planet, as subscriptions are not coming in. My once beautiful state-of-the-art Set Ship is falling apart.”

“State-of–the-Fart more like,” Fraggle mumbled as she rubbed her sore butt, remembering the gaseous explosions of purple from the ships exhausts. Phlonc chose to ignore her.

“I needed your help. I thought maybe I could open up a new revenue, a brand new series to revolutionise our media on Kaida. I must admit, I still need your help, but you can not leave until I get what I need.”

“Well, Mr Phlonc, I may have jist whit yeh need,” Fraggle said as she got to her feet awkwardly and took the FTF from her combats.

“I designed this earlier, jist before yer muckle great guard grabbed me by the heid.”

“Yes I am sorry about that. Shanud has been trained in the more brutal skill of attack first, ask questions later.”

“Yeah, yeh don’t say. Anyhoo. I calculated the distance to Kaida, the speed of the selected frequency and so forth, and have came up wi’ this,” she said, passing the FTF to Phlonc, despite her OCD crying out about the goopy hands. Her OCD would play up havoc now!

“Mmmm, interesting.” Phlonc said, muttered as he looked over the schematics. The satellites were little more than standard earth satellites, but with the improvement from the KoT, they were more than up to the job.

“Well, whit dae yeh think?” Fraggle asked.

"Hmm..." Phlonc said. "That would give us your programming, but wouldn't do much to help our own."

"I believe I can help with that," a familiar voice spoke up.

"Tally!" Quenderra exclaimed.

"Ulgh--it's PF Romeo," Fraggle muttered. Tahalnid KuRo shot a grin at Quenderra before addressing Vhir Phlonc

"Since I've come to Earth, I have been in every field in the industry," he told him. "I would be willing to return with you to Kaida and help you set up a studio much like the ones here on Earth. How's that?"

"Won't you be missed?" Phlonc asked. Tahalnid laughed.

"Not so much," came the response. "I'm the man behind the curtain, as Earthlings say. It has to be that way--I'm a planetary foreigner."

"I knew there was something different about you," Vhir said. He shifted his gaze towards the SSD agents, then back again. "It's a deal!" he declared. "You're all free to go--immediately!"

Vhir handed the FTF back to Fraggle, who shuddered at the slime on it. She did not mind slime, but if there was any on her things it freaked her out. She would be cleaning it for days now!

"If you would like to make your way to the exits, we will let you get back to your lives. Oh, and Quen dear, can I have a word?" Vhir said as everyone followed the two guards to the exits.
"You are wonderful you know, wonderful actress! I would like to hope that you will come to Kaida one day and star in a one off show!" Vhir flattered her. Fraggle stopped in her tracks and hauled Kassandra behind another curtain.

"I don't believe it! Is she jist throwing trans-species pheromones around the place, coz Vhir is acting aufy like Tahalnid!"

And then Tahalnid started. "Quen, really, you must come and visit some time. My text messages won't be able to travel the distances, and I will miss you the most!"

"No Tahalnid, I believe I will miss her the most. I completely appreciate everything about her." Vhir said.

"Uh, can I get back to you on that," Quen said, as she slowly walked away from them. "It really is a nice notion to come visit and all, but I don't think I will have the time, being an intergalactic, trans-dimensional space hero and all that!"

“Of course, of course, whatever you decide will be okay with us!” they both simpered as she made her way towards the exits.

Fraggle and Kassandra stepped up and walked beside her.

“Quen?”

“No Fraggle, not discussing it right now.”

“I only wanna ask yeh…”

“Nope. Not right now, not in the mood.”

“Hold up there, Giti, my love!” Fraggle said as Quenderra walked quicker in front of her. “Exactly how dae we actually get outta this stinking cesspit anyway?” Fraggle’s question was answered by a grab of the head by the nearest guard. It was the one she set Z to electrocute, and he looked at her with glee.

“Going down!” he said cheerily, then stuffed her in a small hole filled with goop.

“Eugh! Yeuck!” Grunts of disgust could be heard from lots of little holes in the walls of the ship as the captives were thrown into the gooey confined space. There came a whooshing sound and the other end of the holes opened, shooting the captives through the air in a ball of blueish goo. They seemed to fly forever within their personal stinky shield, when they all splattered to the ground in front of Bridge Studios.

“Well that was different!” Kassandra said stepping from the goo with a far away look on her face. “Did you see it? All the blue…blue…”

“Oh crap!” Fraggle said running to her. “Big, deep breaths, lass--big, deep breaths! There is no’ goo anywhere near yeh! Find yer zone Kass, find yer lovely quiet zone and take big, deep breaths!” Fraggle said, pulling a stringy piece of goo from her hair. After a short while, Kassandra had started to calm down but could not look at the goo, keeping her head high and staring at the sky instead. Everyone stood covered in blue slime, shuddering with nausea.

“Well, that is some fancy transportation they got there!” Fraggle said as she attempted to rub some slime from herself.

“Well, at least we are all back safe and sound!” Quen said cheerfully.

“Yeah, ‘bout that. Did yeh ever buy any o’ that Scent Of poweR shampoo fae Shimpy Shop on Main Street?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s my favorite.”

“Ah, thought so!” Fraggle smiled and turned to help Kass into a TDP.

“What do you mean 'thought so', what are you talking about?” Quen asked hurrying after them.

“Thank you!” a voice came from behind them. Joe Mallozzi waved a hand at the fleeing SSD agents. “Come back and visit us anytime!”

Gero looked at Mallozzi. “Can you imagine, the fate of two universes are often placed in that lots hands?” He asked.

“Makes me shudder to think of it, actually!” Mallozzi said, shuddering. “Let’s go and get this slime off and start writing about this. This is GOLD!”

The TDP deposited them in HQ once more, and Fraggle steered Kassandra to the bathroom, where she gave her a new set of clothes and turned on the shower for her.

“She should be okay, now,” she commented to Quen.

“Why were you asking about my shampoo?” Quen asked, puzzled.

“Nothing, jist wondered.” Fraggle said with a hint of a snigger as she made coffee.

“No, Fraggle, what did you mean?”

“Och, come off it, Quen! Scent Of poweR? Never wondered why the R is capitalised instead of the P in power?”

“Eh….”

“What is poweR in reverse?”

“Weakness?.”

“NO! Rewop! And who is Rewop??”

Quen’s eyes opened wide in shock and recognition.

“Ewgh! Yeuck! No way!” she cried out.

“Yip, way!”

“What are you two talking about?” Kassandra asked, returned to normal and drying her hair with a towel.

“Well, Quenderra here uses the lovely Scent Of poweR shampoo range.”

“NO WAY!” Kassandra giggled with glee. “That would explain it all! Rewop Merfer. There is a name from the past! Remember the first time we were sent after him!” Kassandra said with a shake of the head. “Never did figure out why we were all fighting over him, until we opened that door to the factory!”

Quenderra groaned and left the room for a shower.

“Yeah, I remember! I nearly took yer heid off tryin’ tae get tae him first! Completely out of control!”

“Poor Quen! She had no idea?”

“Nope!”

Just then, the bathroom door opened and three bottles of shampoo were unceremoniously thrown out.

- - -

Epilogue

Quenderra let out a long sigh as she finally stepped from the HQ bathroom. Fraggle had finally had to return to her own abode to get into the shower there since the blonde was taking so long.

"And here I thought I was just a pretty decent flirt," she chuckled to Z. "I'm telling you, though, it's all Suave and Vo5 from now on--no more experimental stuff." The computer's screen blinked several times as Quenderra took a seat in a nearby chair.

"I heard you and Fraggle were at it," she said, leveling the computer with a pointed glance.

<...are you angry?> Z wanted to know.

"Nah, Ziggy, no--I'm just sad the two of you can't get along," the blonde told him. "Fraggle was pretty ticked, though."

<So?> Ziggy could not see how that mattered.

"So, you should try to get along with all of us! Ziggs, honestly, she was so mad she wanted me to send you back."

<You wouldn't?!>

"If you keep misbehaving, I might have to. Look, you can't shock SSD agents through the wrist devices, okay?"

The screen blinked once. <OK.>

"Alright, I gotta head back home, now, alright?" Quenderra rose to leave.

<To Collene?> Ziggy asked.

"Hey," the blonde said gently, placing the hand on the side of Z's monitor, "Collene's a microchip compared to you. And you don't give me half the problems she does." She held up the RD as the TDP activated. "Play us some good music, okay? I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Ziggy." She entered the portal as music began to play. Ziggy hummed mechanically along for a moment.

<Good night, Quenderra,> he typed to the empty room. The screen grew dark as the computer shut down the majority of his systems. The blonde would return. She was his friend and he was important to her...

-

End.

- - -

Attempted editing for optimal readibility by Quenderra.

Decisions

2008-01-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

- - -

Several days had passed and all the different stories had been told. Now, Quenderra was in her temporary living space at the SSD headquarters packing up her belongings to take back with her through the TDP.

"What are you doing?" The blonde didn't have to look up to know that it was Fraggle.

"Oh, good," she said, taping up her second and final box, "I won't have to leave a note. I always found that to be a rather improper way to say goodbye."

"But why?" Kassandra wanted to know.

Quenderra turned to face them. "Because there's a part of me that is no better than the ghosts of nothing."

"We all have a dark side..." Kass pointed out.

"You're right," Quen said with a sad smile, "but mine can take over. That no longer makes me a part of the team--it makes me a liability."

"You were under the influence of an evil entity," Fraggle reminded her. "You did the right thing in the end--what more could you have done?"

"I could have fought back, instead I helped them. If it wasn't for you two allowing Moropa and the others to use you, this reality would be swarming with GoN." They fell silent. "You shouldn't miss me," Quenderra swung her back pack onto her shoulders.

"But we will," Kass told her. The blonde looked at her companions each in turn, her gray eyes as frank as they had ever seen them.

"Don't." The TDP activated and Quenderra and her belongings disappeared into it.

Kass turned to her colleague, "Fraggle..?"

Fraggle looked at the empty spot where Quenderra had been just a moment ago. Her mind was a torrent of emotions at her departure. She was angry that she had let it beat her. She was furious that she did not let them help her. She was hurt that Quen felt she could not trust them. She was sad that she had gone.

She heard Kass asking her what to do. "I...I don’t know," she shrugged her shoulders in confusion as how to proceed.

"We can't let her go off feeling like that! I don't exactly understand what happened out there, but you obviously do. Tell me and lets see if we can sort this out!" pleaded Kassandra. The real story had never been talked about, the real happenings. No one knew the truth behind the breakout of the GoN, Fraggle had protected Quenderra that much at least, and only they knew what really happened. Stories of the great battle had flew around Atlantis for days, the bravery of all involved, the impressive genius of Rodney McKay, and the incredible equipment of the SSD. But no one, not even Kassandra, knew of Quenderra's fight for her own soul.

Fraggle turned to look at Kassandra. "Okay. I will tell you the truth, but I ask you to keep an open mind. Do not let any of this effect your friendship with Quen." Kassandra was unsure what was to come, but listened intently as Fraggle told the real tale. She spoke of the betrayal she felt when she connected with Quen in the vortex. She talked about the fact that Quenderra had actually submitted to the Queen GoN voluntarily. She told of the separate timeline, the fact that she had died in that timeline and that Quenderra had twisted time to bring her back. She told of Quenderra's fight with her own dark side, the craving for the power that had invaded her body, the awakening of the thirst for dominance and control. When Fraggle had stopped speaking, a heavy silence invaded the HQ.

Kassandra got up and paced the floor. "You mean that Quenderra thinks she is evil, and that given the chance, she would do it again?!"

"Yep. All that power is quite the dangling carrot on the other side of the good/bad fence."

"But everyone has a dark side!" Kassandra shouted, "Any one of us could have gone the same way!"

"Yeah, like I did....once." Fraggle started and immediately wished she hadn't.

"What you mean?" Kassandra demanded.

"Oh, it was a long time before I came to the SSD. Believe me, you don’t want to know!"

Kassandra looked at her funny, then changed the subject. "What the hell are we going to do to help her?"

"Well for one thing, we need to get back into the TDP and go bloody look for her!" Fraggle said as she jumped up and activated the TDP. If one good thing had come of the encouter with the ghosts, it was that the SSD had gained more control over the use of the phenomenon. "Wherever you are Quen, we are coming!!" she said as the phenomenon opened above them both.

SSSSSSHHHHREIKKKK! Time itself slowed minutely as the fabric of space was torn open within the SSD HQ. His hand reached through to grab Kassandra just as she was whisked away in the TDP. His growl shook the room as he entered from the time tear. As he walked around the HQ, he came across the window that looked out from the shore towards Atlantis. The mind of the host, buried beneath the mind control, lurched with excitement at the sight of the magnificent city.

"Yesss! SSD too busssy to come to their aid! We will conquer them all! What?" the King asked his host. "No, no need to call your brethren just yet. We will go to the floating city, and I will use one of theirs to release me from you. Then together, we will have our revenge!"

- - -

There it was again--the feeling that something was about to go awry. From habit already formed, Quenderra glanced up for the TDP. "Stop it, Quen," she murmured to herself. "It could be anything." She thought back to her friends at the HQ. How mere chance had united them across space and time. But she had made up her mind and she was stubborn and proud. She had hurt people and she could not forgive herself. "Even if by some miracle they can forget that I'm a traitor, I will never forget being unable to tell them it wasn't true... I can't trust myself--I can't expect anyone else to." Rising to her feet, she left her dorm room to go to the store. Moments later, the TDP activated, depositing two very familiar figures...

Kass glanced around Quenderra's dorm room, finding it empty except for the boxes that had just traveled through the TDP with her. She looked at Fraggle and spoke with uncertainty, "She must have gone out. Do we attempt to follow her in this strange town, or do we sit here and wait?"

As the two SSD agents momentarily debated whether to risk getting lost in this strange place in order to seek out their friend, the door opened. "Hey, Quen?" a strange girl stuck her head into the room. "Oh, hi! You must be some of Quen's friends. She talks about you all the time."

"Yeah," Kass answered. "That'd be us."

"Hey, do you know where Quen is at? I mean, obviously, she must be somewhere around here, because you're here, but...?"

"Oh, she doesn't know we're here," Fraggle told the stranger.

"Right," the girl seemed mildly surprised as she glanced about the room. "Oh--her purse is gone. She probably walked to Wal-Mart It's a 30 minute walk one-way. Might wanna make yourselves comfortable, she won't mind." The girl then left, calling to someone down the hall, "I think she went to Wal-Mart!!" The two colleagues glanced at each other.

Kass looked at Fraggle and shook her head, "I don’t know about you, BUT I vote that we sit and wait here for her." She walked over to the sink and studied it for a moment. "You know this place looks just like it did on that tape she sent into the David Hewlett YouTube contest." She crossed the small space between the sink and Quen’s bunk bed and peeked under it just to be SURE there were no such thing as wraith in this world.

- - -

"What do you mean they're not responding! We are getting out asses kicked out there!" McKay shouted above the racket.

"We've been trying for an hour, now. We're just gonna have to get on with this until the SSD do get in contact," Sheppard glanced up at a large bit of debris flying through the air.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Fraggle and Kassandra waited on Quenderra's return. Flashes of light in Fraggle's eyes, made her close them, thinking she was tired. Then images of Atlantis under attack invaded her mind. The voice in her head was shouting at her, 'Go back! Go back!' She grabbed Kassandra's arm to steady herself, her eyes wide open in fear.

"What! What did you see!?" Kassandra shouted, now used to Fraggle's jaunts into the mind realm.

"Its Atlantis, something’s attacking it!"

"What’s attacking it?"

"I don’t know! Whatever it is, its not allowing me to see it."

"Come ON, Quenderra!"

Almost as if on cue, the dormitory door swung open and Quenderra entered. She carried a couple Wal-Mart sacks and her gray purse, the strap of which crossed from her shoulder to opposite thigh. As was typical, she wore a tank top with a pair of jeans and tennis shoes.

"You," she stated in a neutral, expressionless tone, though, the look on her face clearly questioned why they stood in her bedroom. "I was going to cook. Hungry?" She studied them silently, the familiar sense of something wrong nagging at the back of her mind.

"Right, Quenderra, enough of this self pity for now,"Fraggle said. "We can get back to it when we have finished our mission. Atlantis is under attack and we are needed there, pronto!" Fraggle did not want to be harsh, but the images she saw told her time was against them, and she needed Quenderra to help. She hoped that Quenderra did not take it as an insult, she only needed to kick start the fire in Quenderra to fight. She looked at the blonde, waiting for a reply. Her hard gaze quavered slightly, she did not want to hurt her friend, but she could think of nothing else to do to get Quenderra thinking straight again. She waited for the explosion of angry words from Quenderra's mouth, ready to fight if she had to, to bring her back to the light. "Well? What's it gonna be?"

Kass spoke up with a quavering voice, "We NEED you, Quenderra--Atlantis NEEDS you! They are under attack... please come back with us? I don't blame you!" she implored her friend hoping that Quen would agree to the trip.

"I left for my own reasons, which you may or may not know or understand," Quenderra spoke evenly. "But since I can't even be here for an hour and a half without a horrible, sickening feeling taking hold of me and refusing to let go, I suppose one last jaunt for the good of the Pegasus can't do any harm. Besides... I hate studying." Putting the bags on the dresser, she gave them a smile. "Well," she said, sounding more heartened than she felt, "shall we go?"

Kass smiled at Quenderra's words and looked over at Fraggle as she conjured up a TDP, "Yes, we shall."

- - -

The TDP spat them out into the middle of chaos. They were in one of the lower floor research rooms of Atlantis and it sounded as though the ceiling was coming down. Fraggle looked at the others. This was bad. As they made their way out of the room into the corridor, one of the researchers ran past with a gash wound on his head.

"WHOA!" Fraggle exclaimid, pulling him to a stop. "What's going on here!" she asked the poor technician as he tried to get away from them.

"They are everywhere! They come out of the walls at you and if you are not quick enough...you explode. We gotta get out of here!" he shouted as he scampered down the corridor.

"They come out of the walls?" Fraggle thought the man had a concussion and was not talking sense.

"You didn't see what was attacking when you saw it in the mind realm?" Quenderra asked Fraggle.

"No. It was being hidden from me. All I could see was explosions, and fire."

"You mean you can't feel it?" Quenderra asked more urgently.

"What should I...oh, come on! No way!" Fraggle was wide eyed as she managed to get a feel for the attackers.

"What?" Kassandra asked warily.

"Its the GoN! Those evil wee buggers are tearing holes in Atlantis looking for us!!"

Quenderra nodded her agreement. "The city is full of them. Someone let them through... another being whose heart is black as night. The darkness," she said. "Darkness... cut in half, it's only half as dark. Light comes from the Sun, but from whence comes the darkness? Where a lamp burns out, the shadows remain--all consuming. Unstoppable... The Darkness... Darkness..." The blonde's speech had suddenly turned to murmured nonsense. Her eyes stared straight ahead and she pressed a hand against her left temple.

"Quenderra?" Kass interrupted before she could continue her rambling. "Quen?!"

"Huh?" Quenderra's attention suddenly snapped to her friend. "Oh--it's the GoN. The city's full of them. Somebody let them through, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't us."

"Are you alright?" Kass asked quietly.

"Yeah, I just have a headache all of a sudden," came the reply. "We need to get to Atlantis--they need our help!"

"Um... Quen?" Fraggle and Kassandra exchanged looks.

Fraggle wondered if Quenderra was actually up to this, she seemed so lost within herself. It appeared that being so close to the GoN was bringing her doubts to the surface again, playing with her mind and emotions. What would happen when she came face to face with one? Fraggle decided to let her be and keep a close watch on her.

- - -

They had to hurry. Atlantis was being torn to shreds, and it was because of them. Whoever the leader was, he had it in for the SSD. They made their way to the gate room to find anyone in command. McKay was attempting to open the stargate to evacuate. He was having trouble, as every time he got the connection, a GoN would tear through the event horizon, having used its energy to come through, then the gate would close down. People were screaming in terror at the dark shapes flying around the room, and McKay himself was no less frightened.

"Oh, nice of you all to show up!" he spat at them in anger. "A little help please!" He handed Kassandra a conduit to hold as he tried to make a different connection.

"It wont work McKay. They will keep coming through. Best you stop, its only bringing more to our realm." McKay's shoulders slumped in defeat, something that he did not take very well. Fraggle noticed Quenderra staring at the stargate. She watched as her friend descended the stairs from the control room and walked up to it, raising a hand as though to touch it. Her actions were surreal and slow against the chaos around her. The stargate began to dial itself.

"Incoming wormhole!" McKay shouted. "Quenderra get out of there!" Quenderra was not able to hear them, a voice in her head told her to stay in front of the ring. 'Stay where you are, stay. We will be together again...and reign in terror supreme!'

"Quenderra, don't you dare! QUENDERRA, MOVE!" Fraggle could sense the indecision in Quen, she closed her eyes and saw the reason. Within the ring stood what appeared to be the shadow of a GoN, a very familiar one. "I thought she was dead!" Fraggle whispered in horror. She pushed past McKay, running towards Quenderra as the Stargate locked in on the final chevron. "Quenderra, NOOOO!"

- - -

As the final chevron locked into place, Quenderra suddenly spooked, pulling back from the metallic ring. Tripping, she fell against Fraggle and they both fell to the gate room floor, thereby avoiding the kawoosh of the incoming wormhole.

"Where am I? What's going on?" Quenderra cried, shaking uncontrollably. "What is it? Why does it want me?" The gate shut down shortly after it activated. Fraggle glanced up at McKay in the control room.

"I didn't detect anything coming through," he told her.

"The darkness," the blonde said suddenly, "cut in two, it's only half as dark. Where a lamp burns out, the shadows remains... but from whence comes the darkness?"

"What does that mean?" Fraggle demanded.

Quenderra pressed both palms against her temples. "I don't know!" she looked up at Fraggle, confusion clouding her gaze. "Who are you?"

- - -

"McKay, where is Beckett?" Fraggle shouted up as she helped Quenderra to her feet.

"He is helping Sheppard put the injured into the puddle jumpers, why?"

"We need to get Quenderra on one and out of here, now."

"Wait a minute! We went through all that trouble to bring her along, and now you want to send her away?!" Kassandra shouted.

"Yeah, and that leaves what, three of us to fight these things!" McKay added.

"Bloody well look at her! She does not know who we are! She doesn't even know who she is! Whatever opened the wormhole did not come through because it used the energy to pull something in. Quenderra is gone!" Fraggle struggled to get Quenderra to follow her. "Help me get her to the jumper bay!" Fraggle shouted at Kassandra.

Kass ran down the stairs to the gate room, joining Fraggle in leading Quenderra towards the jumper bay. "How did the GoNs get into Atlantis?" she asked Fraggle softly.

Quenderra followed where she was pulled willingly enough, though she seemed entirely lost. "Oh--I remember something!" she exclaimed, the pleasantness of her tone standing in stark contrast to the chaos all around.

"What?" Fraggle and Kass demanded at the same time.

"When I was little, I had a cat," she answered distractedly. "His name was 'Polkadot'. He was such a nice cat..."

"What'd they do?" McKay asked sarcastically. "Switch her with the prime specimen from the local funny farm?"

Quenderra continued to ramble aimlessly."Such a nice cat... he was black..."

"Ah, I think I can answer the question of 'how' the ghosts got here," McKay continued as he followed behind them, clearly disturbed by Quenderra’s rambling. "The Athosians on the main land had put through a distress signal. When one of the teams took a jumper to investigate, the team was killed and the threat took over the jumper and came back here."

"So, what was the threat?" Kassandra asked.

"Well, that would be our friendly wraith that we left behind on the desolate planet. Oh, and the fact that he had the King of the GoN inside him, made it all the better," McKay said, sarcastic to the last.

"You said 'had' been inside him. Where are the both now?" Fraggle questioned.

"As soon as the jumper landed, reports were coming in of a wraith that made a deck hand explode, then a shadow came out of his chest. I'm guessing that the GoN converted the deck hand to escape the wraith's body. So yes, we now have a wraith as well as the GoN running around our prized city."

"The GoN," Quenderra echoed. "The darkness, from whence--"

"Yeah, yeah, from whence does it come?" McKay snapped. "Will you stop rambling, now? You're, uh, getting on my nerves." The blonde halted suddenly and pulled her arm from Fraggle's hold.

"Let go of me," she said, then gazed at the physicist. "Why do you speak to me that way?" Again she pressed a hand to her temple. "You're too proud for your own good, McKay! And what is going on? I thought I was in my dorm room!"

Kass looked at Quen with a worried look on her face. "Um, Quen, you WERE in your dorm room. Then we came and got you and brought you here with us through the TDP."

"You were in my dorm room?" Quenderra exclaimed, horrified. "It's a mess! So--so full shadows... something bad is about to happen, I can feel it."

"Wait a wee bloody minute!" Fraggle said as realization hit her. "Are you saying that you don’t remember anything? Not even, lets say the last half of the last mission??"

"What are you getting at?" McKay asked intrigued."I'm getting at the fact that she does not remember anything from about the time the Queen was inside her! Quenderra think, what is the last thing you remember?" Fraggle felt she knew the answer. She felt that it was not their Quenderra that came through the TDP with them to safety. She was thinking that, perhaps, It was the Queen that had been in control of Quenderra. And that it was she who came back, with Quenderra suppressed inside herself. If she was right, who died in the other timeline... and what did it mean for this Quenderra?

"I... I remember feeling horrible," Quenderra squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a sharp breath. "I was... I was a traitor! It's all my fault. I went home but not before... oh, god, no--You invaded my privacy! Focus... I need focus--there was two... two what? Me. No, that's impossible--but I sent her through the TDP with..." the blonde suddenly grabbed the Scot by the shoulders, "Fraggle! You're alive!!"

"What?" McKay demanded, not quite following Quenderra random mutterings.

"My head--it hurt... there was light and then nothing. Shadows and darkness... Atlantis is under attack! They need us!" She looked at her companions. "What is going on?"

"That sneaky...!" Fraggle exclaimed. "She knew you were going to sacrifice yourself for me and the others, and she switched to you from the other you so she would not be killed! Now my head hurts, but it makes perfect sense. The other you was willing to stay behind and be sacrificed, when she threw you in the TDP, the Queen jumped bodies and came along for the ride! It must have been another GoN I saw evaporated!"

"N n n n no! Wait! That means, if I get the jist of what you're gabbing about, there are now a King AND Queen GoN leading the flying shadows here? Hhmm? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but does that not mean we are in deep trouble?" McKay said exasperated.

"Yeah, there is an understatement." Fraggle muttered.

"What?" Quenderra looked even more confusion. "When she threw me in? No--I threw her into the TDP. You had died, so I went back to try to save you. In fact, I didn't even touch the other me--I didn't know what that'd do--Kass pulled her through with her," she grimaced, putting a hand to her temple again. "I thought I was dead. The queen was there... my head was killing me. There was this bright flash and then shadows... darkness everywhere," she looked up at her companions. "Then I was here."

"Quen?" Kass inquired when the blonde grimaced, biting back a cry of pain.

"The darkness--to defeat it, we must... argh...who am I..?"

Kass looked at their friend worriedly, then looked to Fraggle as she spoke, "Fraggle, we really need Quen for this mission, but I just don’t know what will snap her out of this."

- - -

Meanwhile....Ohio, Earth

The TDP opened and Quenderra stepped through. The hair all along her arms and spine instantly stood on end. "It shouldn't night, already," she murmured to herself as she gazed out the window. The boxes she'd packed and brought back with her were stacked neatly at the end of her bunk bed and two Wal-Mart sacks sat on the dresser. She lowered her back pack to the floor and approached the shopping bags. They contained the exact same items she had planned to buy. Her purse was on her desk and the light that she knew she'd turned off before departing was on. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror to find that she was wearing her favorite tank top and jeans... the same outfit she had worn on the last mission."Something's going on," she deduced. Calling up the TDP, she returned to HQ...

- - -

If you could see the tear in time and space, it would look like someone had ripped it to shreds and glued it back again with big globs of glue. It might only be a small tear, but the paradox remained. There were two Quenderra's, from approximately 10 minutes apart in time from each other. While one was standing in the gate room at Atlantis, wondering why her world and mind were being torn apart, the other was wondering how all the things she had intended to do, had already been done. Should they meet, the consequences would be terrible. But they were destined to meet. As Quenderra turned to go to the Jumper bay with her friends, her other self was already making her way back to the HQ, which would eventually lead her to Atlantis.

Meanwhile, in the Jumper bay, Beckett was getting anxious. "Elizabeth, it's jist making me nervous. I mean, how do we know this is gonnae work? Those shadows are everywhere, they're no' gonnae make it easy to escape! Those poor sods are all injured and they are being shoved around in the back o' that Jumper like bags of tatties!" (No misspellings, all to emulate the Scottish twang!)

"'Bags of tatties' aside, Carson, since the shadows took control of the gate, we have no other option for escape. They might not like being pushed around and in pain, but if it saves them from here, then it’s worth it," Weir pointed out.

"That’s the last of them in," Sheppard said as he approached them. Weir waved to the pilot to go. They all held their breath as the jumper rose into the air. As it approached the roof opening, Carson thought he saw a shadow, but it must have been his eyes. The jumper rose through the opening and left Atlantis.

"Well, time to load up the next one," John mumbled as he walked over to the line of injured and scared Atlantians.

- - -

As Quenderra entered the headquarters, the goose bumps on her appendages doubled in number, if that were possible. The feeling that something was very amiss had become so strong that she nearly felt sick to her stomach. "Kass?" she called, looking about the darkened HQ, "Fraggle?" She walked over the radio console and opened a line to Atlantis. "Atlantis, this Quenderra, please come in." There was no response. "Atlantis, this is SSD Agent 282706, come in, please."

As she looked out the window, she spotted a jumper leaving the city, flying erratically. When it was several minutes from its starting point, it suddenly vanished with a burst of light and debris. "Oh, god!" she murmured, momentarily shocked. Immediately, she called up the TDP and stepped through. Seconds later, she found herself standing in the gate room amidst utter chaos. She spotted Beckett and Weir a short distance away. "Elizabeth! Carson!" she called. "What's going on here? Where's Kass and Fraggle? Have you seen them?"

They stared at her in shock, and the Scot's response made her blood run cold. "Bloody hell!"

- - -

Carson looked from Quenderra to Weir. Something was amiss. "Eh, we jist passed you, in the corridor, didn't we?" he asked in confusion.

"No, I've just arrived," Quenderra told them, then continued. "The jumper, what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Weir asked.

"It left Atlantis then exploded. Didn't you know? You had to have at least heard it?"

Weir began running back to the Jumper bay, calling on the comm to anyone who might still be monitoring the stations and the leaving jumpers. "This is Weir, hold all jumper launches! I repeat, hold all jumper launches!" Her comm exploded to life in her ear.

"This is Sheppard, we have lost the first jumper!"

"Oh my God! Whit the hell are we gonnae dae!" As they turned into the Jumper bay, Fraggle was already coming out. "Its gone, it just....Quen?!?" Fraggle stumbled to a halt. At first she did not understand seeing her friend standing there, when she had just left her with Kassandra. Then, with a sickening stomach lurch, she understood. She grabbed Quenderra and wrenched her down a different corridor, while Quenderra protested at being handled in such a manner.

"Okay, Quen, you are a smart person and I need you to listen and I need you to understand me. But first just wait with me. DO NOT leave me." Quen started to talk, but noticed that Fraggle had already closed her eyes and had gone from this reality.

Fraggle was aware of Quenderra watching her, impatiently waiting for an explanation, but she could not wait. She searched for the feeling she had felt earlier, the tugging and gnawing at her sub consciousness, the warning beating at her brain. She felt her way through the fabric of the mind realm, feeling a ragged edge somewhere far away. She let her mind drift farther away to the place where the whole thing began. There, on the desolate planet, was the tear. It was glimmering silver, like tears from a weeping eye. It looked very much like a TDP, but was larger and more violent.

Have to go back further… The TDP had almost closed and the King was watching. This was where his work began. His very being was that of space and time, and he could manipulate it all he wished when given the opportunity of a tear. And there it was, standing in front of him, the way to get that opportunity. Quenderra.

He had watched the other go through the TDP, and knew he could open the tear by just throwing this Quenderra into the TDP also. He knew that this would allow for him to gather his minions and descend on the humans that had spoiled his plans. As the TDP began to close, he used his host to push Quenderra through. He watched as the TDP stopped billowing and straightened to a pipe like structure. It turned black to red then to silver. As he regarded the glimmering tear, he called his people, the last of who had joined him and his Queen in the battle, to pour through the TDP.

He sensed her, knew she was here but in the other realm with no way of escape. But he would provide that escape for her, for when the human reached the other side of the TDP, all of the heavens would be open to the King and Queen of the GoN…

Fraggle exhaled a long deep breath and opened her eyes. “Quen, listen to me. The King of GoN, threw the other you through the TDP after you had already gone through. It is vital that you and your other self do not meet. I am not fully up to date with the repercussions or the full science behind paradoxes, but I know that two of the same thing cannot occupy the same time and space. We have a whole load of crap on our hands as it is, with the King and his minions tearing Atlantis apart. We don’t need an accidental meeting with your other self to tear this universe apart.

"So, I'm asking you, stay away from the Jumper bay until I can get your other self back to Ohio and out of the way, okay?”

Quenderra just stared at Fraggle for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. But let me know when she is gone, so I can get down to business.”

- - -

As the King flew back to Atlantis after destroying the jumper, he was joined by the other GoN that had came out of the TDP after Quenderra had left. With an army of GoN, he flew into the jumper bay, searching for the SSD…

- - -

"Oh, and Fraggle," Quenderra added suddenly as her colleague turned to go. "Don't let her touch anything."

"What?"

"Anything connected to a power source--particularly the stargate or any of the consoles in the city. She probably shouldn't touch any of the control circuits in the jumper, either."

"Why?" Fraggle asked slowly, beginning to feel an even greater sense of alarm.

"I don't know," the blonde answered. "Just a feeling. Better safe than sorry. I'm gonna head back to the control room and see what I can do to help--if anything."

Meanwhile, in the Jumper Bay

The blonde who Fraggle had left behind with Kassandra regarded her solemnly. "I know you," she concluded. "And I have a horrible headache. Do you know why?"

"No," Kass answered, looking at Quenderra with concern. "No, I don't. Sorry."

"You know," Quenderra continued seriously after a brief pause, "If you removed one of the rockers from a rocking chair, it wouldn't make a very sturdy seat. No matter how good you are at balancing."

"Now, what is she babbling about?" McKay demanded. He was a short distance away, having appointed himself qualified to keep an eye on crazy SSD agents.

"I don't know," Kass answered. "Quen? Are you alright?" Quenderra had taken to having a vacant look in her eyes, again, and this time it was worse than before. She looked at her friend.

"If you have a lamplight outside your window, it's best to have two curtains, 'cause one will let the light through," she spoke listlessly, but mostly as though she was talking to herself.. "But you must first open the one before you can open the other.... If the darkness is cut in two, it's only half as dark. The light comes from the sun, but from whence comes the darkness? Where a lamp dies, the shadows remain... Oh, god," she suddenly took a hold of Kassandra's wrist, tears filling her eyes. "Don't let the lamp die!! What does it want--I don't understand..." Quenderra began to cry and Kass wrapped her in a hug.

"It's alright, Quen. We'll figure this out," she soothed. A moment later, Fraggle returned.

- - -

"Fraggle?" Kass repeated when she didn't receive an answer to her previous inquiry. She straightened as Quenderra had returned to being complacent.

"There's two Quenderra’s."

"What?" she began to wonder if Fraggle was suffering from the same thing as the blonde.

"I just saw the other Quenderra," Fraggle further explained. "She just got here."

"Well, where is she now?" Kass was mildly alarmed. If there were two of the same person...

"She went back to the control room," Fraggle replied. "They're dressed the same--I'm trouble figuring out which one's which. I think this is the one that went back and saved my life."

"Of course I did," Quenderra spoke up. "I couldn't just let you die..." She had a hand pressed to her temple again.

"Quen?" Kass asked as she grimaced suddenly. Her expression relaxed, but her eyes remained closed. Memories were playing across her mind.

**Flashback...** "Fraggle!" She pressed her fingers gently against Fraggle's carotid artery. "Nothing!"

*

'A person can't go back on their own time line!' A searing pain cut into every sense in her mind and body as the TDP billowed around her. She was grabbing Kass's shoulder. "Into the TDP--all three of you!" She shoved Fraggle through, sinking to the ground as the Queen of the GoN hovered over her....

*

A brilliant flash of light. Darkness--and voices..."We should destroy her!"

"After what Moropa did to me, I cannot retake corporal form without her assistance!"

"She'll never help you again."

"She gave part of herself to me--given time, she WILL break!"

*

"Together, we are unstoppable, my love."

"But separated, we can be defeated."

"If they discover the source of our being..."

"They won't."

**End flashback**

"I know how to--ah! No!" Quenderra began, but stopped suddenly as pain once more scattered her thoughts.

"Quenderra?"

"The shadows--from whence do they come?" tears had sprung to her eyes. "Only the one who speaks the riddles truly understands them..."

Fraggle regarded the tearful Quenderra with a look of complete confusion. What the hell was going on here? Two Quenderras, one just like the old one, the other a few beans short of a tin. When it looked like she was going to say something useful, Quen would fold into herself and become like a lost child. Something was so wrong here, and Fraggle's tired mind was not able to make the connection just yet.

Kassandra was getting more and more upset with the way Quen was acting, it was not easy seeing their friend become so lost and scared. But the chaos continued to fly around them. Atlantis was being pulled to pieces and time was running out.

"We have to take this Quen back to Ohio, so that the other Quen can help us. She is more like the Quen we knew, and she's willing to fight. We can ask Quen’s friend in the dorm to look after her for a while," Fraggle said, "just till we try and sort all of this out." Kassandra nodded, relieved to be getting this Quen out of danger at least.

"Eh, and just how long do you think you will be as I have this extremely ominous feeling that we will all be dead by the time you get back!" McKay demanded, dodging a falling piece of debris.

"Kassandra, you take her, Quen and I...the other Quen and I... will help out here," Fraggle told her. "Be quick, Kass, we need you and the KoT." Fraggle went back to the control room to get Quen, McKay trailing behind her.

"Hey, slow down!" he grumbled.

They arrived at their destination and Fraggle surveyed the room, already knowing what her eyes were telling her. "God, trust me to trust the wrong one!" she sneered. Quenderra was gone, and who knows where she was or what she was up to. One thing was for sure, she was not helping, as she could hear the GoN whispering malevolently in the corridors...

- - -

Kassandra and her charge stepped from the TDP into Quenderra's dorm room. "Alright, I'm gonna find one of your friends," Kass said, walking towards the door.

"My laptop has wireless capabilities," Quenderra said suddenly, idly pushing one of the buttons on the device. "With the right knowledge, you can make changes to another computer or network. The more information you have, the more you can do."

"That's... nice, Quen."

"Have you felt like a wireless link?"

Kassandra turned to meet the blonde's gaze. "No," she answered. "No, I haven't."

Quenderra pressed the button again."I have."

---

In the meantime...

Quenderra winced slightly as she made her way through the corridor. Whispers were echoing in her mind. 'Listen!' they said. 'Do as you're told... This! This is who you are! ....You can have this power--you! Forget the others.' Then a more familiar voice, clearer than the rest, invaded her thoughts.

'Quenderra!'

"What did you do?" the blonde whispered back.

'I have isolated that which makes you strong, Quenderra! All those weaknesses, doubts, and useless emotions are confined to your old form. Now, you are superior--perfect! Together, we can be invincible!'

"You betrayed me once, already--what makes you think I'll help you again?"

'We need each other, Quenderra. You crave the power I can give you. I need you to release me again--just as you did before.'

"NO!"

'Don't resist!'

"What makes you think that I can't obtain that power by myself?!" Quenderra demanded. A low laugh reverberated through her thoughts.

'Don't be foolish... I know you as you know me. I shouldn't have betrayed you--we are meant to be one and the same. Be my vessel again, Quenderra. Surrender yourself to me... all of yourself.'

The SSD agent halted her forward motion. "What do I need to do, Nadala?" she asked...

- - -

"What's going on?" A puzzled McKay asked. "Where is this other Quenderra?"

"She was here, now she is gone. And I don’t know how far gone she is yet, but I'm betting she is too bloody far gone!" Fraggle said angrily as she pulled out the FTF. She banged a message into it and pressed enter, sending an SOS to Kassandra, hoping she would hurry.

Fraggle tried to still her mind amid the maelstrom that shook around them. She had to find Quenderra soon, stop her from getting near the GoN leader. How could she have been so blind? Quen had been off-hand, rude, and demanding--not qualities normally found in the bright blonde. What was all that about not letting the other Quen touch the power and computers?

“What, what the hell are you doing?” McKay shouted as he saw Fraggle standing with her eyes closed. She lifted her hand to her lips and urged McKay to be quiet.

“I don’t believe this! Here we are in the middle of a battle and you want to take a NAP! We are SO gonna die!” It did not matter how much she concentrated, she could not enter the mind realm. Something was stopping her natural ability, and this shook her to her core. Only something with immense power would have the ability to do this, and she was betting she knew what it was.

“Come on Rodney, its up to us now,” she said, making a run for the door.

“What?! You mean the others aren't coming? What the hell am I meant to do? I’m a scientist, not a ghost chasing, gun blazing TDP agent!” he whined.

“RODNEY! Oh, you can be a right, whiny little bugger sometimes! Its up to US now!” she repeated urgently. McKay’s shoulders drooped as he begrudgingly followed after her. Fraggle hoped that perhaps Kassandra had managed to get some sense from the other Quenderra, save some time in the long run.“We're gonna have to speak to the other Quenderra, she seems to be the only one who truly knows what to do about the situation.”

“WHAT! The little fruity nut bar that left for Ohio? I don’t see what she can do for us!”

“Exactly! We don’t see what she can do for us. We have to LISTEN to what she can TELL us!” 'Only the one who speaks the riddles, truly understands them…'

- - -

"What is it? Why do we need this Quenderra?" Kassandra asked the moment she returned through the TDP with Quenderra in tow. The blonde was looking around like a lost child. McKay regarded her dubiously.

"I'm pretty sure the Quenderra who stayed here has gone dark-side on us," Fraggle explained, then motioned to their friend. "She seems to be the only one who knows what's going on. We need to hear her out. Did she say anything?"

"Um... yeah," Kass said. "Why do we need to listen to her? She doesn't make any sense."

"I think she's speaking in riddles. In any case, this might be our only chance," the Scot told her. "Well?"

"What? Oh--she said that she felt like a wireless link, that with the proper knowledge you could change another computer... or something." The two SSD agents and the scientist thought about it for a moment.

"Okay," Fraggle said. "Maybe we should try to decipher something else."

"Where a lamp dies, the shadows remain," Quenderra murmured from where she stood gazing out a window. "The lamp died, didn't it?"

"Light and shadows..." Fraggle felt as though she were on the brink of understanding. "Quenderra, we need you to tell us everything, can you do that?"

Quenderra turned to face her."No--I keep adding and adding, but I still come up short," Quenderra replied, aggravated tears filling her eyes, "I'm a few eggs short of a dozen..."

"Quenderra," Fraggle said, taking the blonde by the wrists, confident that she understood what was just said. "You're not crazy."

"Yes, I am."

"You're confused, I understand that, I do--but I need you to calm down and focus, okay?"

"We weren't meant to live there. Staying there takes away from who we are."

"She's talking about the TDP, right?" McKay asked.

"Yeah, she is," the two SSD agents almost spoke in unison.

Fraggle continued, "Quenderra, you need to tell us what you know about the GoN."

Quenderra took a deep, shuddering breath."If you have a lamplight outside your window," she began, "it's best to have two curtains, 'cause one will let the light in, but you must open the one before you can open the other. Cut in two, the darkness is only half as dark." She stopped to gaze at her friends.

"Light and dark..." Kass murmured allowed. "Good and evil!"

"The darkness represents the GoN!" McKay declared.

Quenderra looked at him."Yes."

“Okay,” Fraggle said, shaking her head. “Let’s take this one at a time. When a lamp dies, the shadow remains. Other Quen’s lamp went out when she decided to join the GoN, yes?”

“But how do you know that she is back with the GoN?” Kassandra asked.“Because this Quen just asked that the lamp had died, therefore, she has gone to them once more.” Fraggle replied. “A wireless link, that with the proper knowledge you can change another computer, are you talking about the other Quen? You can bring her back...Oh! Wait! The other Quen said not to let this Quen touch anything to do with power or computers! I thought it was a warning in case she did something wrong, but she was trying to protect herself!”

“How so?” Kass asked.

“I think...I have no idea,” Fraggle shook her head again.

“Oh yeah, this is REALLY helping us!” McKay murmured to himself.

"If you have a lamplight outside your window, it's best to have two curtains, because one will let the light in,” Fraggle thought aloud.

“Wait, the two curtains are two GoN, working together to protect themselves!” Kassandra smiled.

“You must open the one before you can open the other. Get through to Quen to release the hold the GoN have on her?” McKay added, beginning to realize there might be something to this after all.

“If the darkness is cut in two, its only half as dark. They need to be separate to be conquered.”

“Separate from who, each other or from the other Quen?”

“Again, I have no idea!” Fraggle murmured.“From whence did the darkness come? We need to know where the GoN came from. But we know that they came from the dark matter…oh this is giving me a bloody sore head!” Fraggle snapped. They all looked at Quen, who stood staring at them all with wide eyes. "Are we even close, Quen?" Fraggle asked exasperated.

A smile touched Quenderra's lips. "Sometimes, one can be close and far away at once," she said. "To have a pair, you cannot have one without the other; but if you do not have an ingredient for a recipe, often times, you can use a substitute." Quenderra diverted her gaze to the floor and continued. "You cannot get rid of the head of a penny without destroying the whole coin. It's the only way."

"Wait a minute!" Rodney exclaimed. "She's added stuff!"

"Also, I'm not so good with computers."

"We were wrong about the wireless link?" Kassandra asked.

"Yes."

"And the other stuff?"

"Close."

“What the hell is she talking about now?” McKay asked, “This whole head of penny-whole of coin thing, is she suggesting that in order to fix this, we have to get rid of the two Quens? Because I'm sorry, but I am not going to be part of that!”

“Not both, she mentioned a substitute. But what and where?” Fraggle was rubbing her head, a migraine had set in. She understood that the best of Quen was in the small person before her, and the worst of Quen was in the entity running amok in the city. Fraggle regarded the others. She was responsible for them, and knew she was letting them down.

The Scot cocked her head to the side, listening to the hissing coming down the corridor towards them. Even though her ability to see anything in the mind realm was diminished, she knew this could only be a very bad omen. She looked towards the roof where the hissing had settled and noticed the dark shadows that had gathered there, a feeling of terrible dread descended on them.

- - -

The shadows began to take a form that was both familiar and yet alien to them. Above them, Quenderra's worse half appeared, the shadows of wings holding her in the air, her face contorted into a melded form of both human and GoN. She looked down on them all with a sneer on her face. The small Quen quavered and cried out at the sight of the other, swaying on her feet at the sight of her dark half.

Shadow Quenderra’s voice reverberated throughout the room, resonating in their skulls. 'THE TIME FOR PUZZLESSS ISSS OVER! THE TIME FOR REVENGE ISSS AT HAND!' It was than that they noticed that other shadows were holding Sheppard, Beckett and Weir in their gnarled claws, threatening to drop them to the floor below.

Fraggle looked at the others, who looked back at her with questioning, anguished eyes. And for the second time since this situation had began, she felt panic and failure come crushing down on her head. She knew she had let everyone down, that she was the reason this was happening. She was the weakest link, the failure, and the reason their doom had been cast. In desperation she grabbed the small Quenderra and forced her to her knees.

“If you can do anything, ANYTHING! For God’s sake do it NOW!” she shouted in a mixture of anger and fear. She let go of Quenderra and rushed towards the shadows. She freed her mind to the Scottish Dragon within her, and threw herself towards the Shadow Quenderra. She would not let this happen without giving every ounce of her being to the fight, and if that meant that she was to perish for the others, so be it. In her mind, it was all she deserved. After all, had Quenderra not gone back to save her life, Fraggle would be dead anyway.

- - -

Quenderra drew in a deep breath and time seemed to almost draw to an standstill. Her other half, her dark half, was Nadala's now. The Queen of the GoN was incapable of retaking corporal form on her own, so she had seduced her dark half. She had had to separate the two natures to be able to succeed, so she had used the Quenderra who'd been willing to attempt turning back time to make the needed changes--like a wireless link and with all the needed passwords because she had her own Quenderra to work with.

Nadala's work had not been flawless, however...Nadala's tampering had linked the two of them together. But while the good Quen could live without her darker self, evil Quen could not live without her. The prolonged exposure to the TDP had made her body into a conductor.... all she needed to was touch a console with enough electrical power connected to it and she and her evil half would be dead and the queen with them. With Nadala gone, the others could easily defeat the king of the GoN.

"Kassandra," Quen whispered to her friend, wincing through the pain that spread through her mind. "The king's brother is his better half--he cannot withstand him. ...Fraggle knows!" Running towards the door, she removed the cover to expose the control crystals underneath.

"What are you doing?" McKay's shout was lost to her. The blonde remembered learning about these circuits. She reached for the top crystal, withdrawing her hand as it sparked. Clenching her jaw, she grabbed for the crystal once more, ignoring the shock she received in the process. Next, she pulled out the center one and put in place of the top, then she replaced it with the top crystal before removing the bottom.

Up till now, Fraggle had distracted their aggressor. "No!" the human/ghost hybrid suddenly shouted, turning to face the diminished Quenderra. The blonde looked up at the creature silently, tears filling her gray-blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. And with that, she used the last crystal to bridge the others...

Fraggle watched as the shadow Quenderra who she had been aiming for was overcome with a storm of electricity. The shadow screamed and clawed at its body as the white blue lightning coursed through her. Fraggle shielded her eyes and backed away from the sight, unsure what was happening. Shadow Quenderra began to shake and twist, her body seeming to come apart. The other shadows were now backing away to the floor, dropping Weir, Beckett and Sheppard when they got near the ground.

All watched as the Queen and dark Quenderra split in a shimmer of blue sparks. The Queen’s high-pitched screams became a howling distress call to her king as her body shrank into itself to form a small black dot. The shadows became restless, each wanting to get to the black dot, and the power held within that tiny space.

Fraggle watched in bewilderment as the shadow Quenderra was pulled across the room. Until she saw the small Quenderra bridging the crystals on the control panel and understood what was happening. 'PARADOX!' Fraggle’s mind screamed at her. No matter what, the two must not meet. Each would cancel the other out, killing Quen and most probably everyone else.

She ran to Kassandra and grabbed the KoT from her, pulled the FTF from her combats and connected them together. She pressed the keys on both keypads, forcing them to work together to create what she wanted. Her mind was free again, and she could sense the mind realm calling her, the voice in her head telling her she was doing the right thing, that he would take care of it. She could also sense the terrible darkness that had heard the distress call, as it made its way to where they stood.

Pressing enter on both keyboards at once, a huge vortex blasted from the KoT, knocking all in the vicinity to the floor. The vortex spilled towards the shadow Quenderra and plucked her out of the air then vanished, taking shadow Quenderra with it.

Fraggle ran towards the small, falling form of Quenderra, helping her gently to the ground. “You’re ok Quen, I got you.” She could see the scorches on her friend’s hands and winced at the sight.

Quenderra looked at her with a small hint of the person she used to be. “It won’t matter. I had to give myself, to kill the two, there is nothing you can do for me.”

“I beg to differ. I might be crap at riddles, but I know how to keep fighting! I fixed it so you did not need to die, but I will explain later. You just rest.” Beckett took over looking after Quen as Fraggle joined the group. The shadows were still warily looking at the dot, ignoring the group and allowing them all time to hide in a niche out of view.

“So what now?” Weir asked, “What options do we have?”

“Quen said something about the King's brother,” Kassandra said. “She said he could not withstand him and that you would know what she was talking about.”

“Moropa.” Fraggle smiled.

“Wait, he’s the one who helped us before, right?” Sheppard asked.

“Yes, yes, yes, we all know that, but what good does it do, he is not here and we are about to die!” McKay said.

“He is not here, but he will come.” Fraggle said.

“Oh, 'the build it and they will come' scenario! We are SO dead, I tell you, DEAD!”

Kassandra noticed the shadow GoN fighting with each other, trying to get hold of the floating black dot that was the remains of their queen. One managed to stretch its claw closer than the rest and almost touched it when a darker than black shadow forced them apart and grabbed the dot for itself. The King of GoN crushed the small dot in his claw, converting its power into his own body, growing in size and rage.

“Eh, Fraggle? If Moropa is going to come, he better come now, coz I don’t think we are gonna be here much longer!” With the King came the deadly assassin, who had quietly sneaked upon them. He silently stood, raising his arm to strike in the darkness of the shadows. His feeding time would be most satisfying. Here were all the humans that he had planned to kill, all in front of him at once. His hand flashed out of the darkness, and connected its feeding mouth onto the surprised body of Rodney McKay, who let out a cry of surprise and dismay.

"Rodney!" Kassandra cried out, being the first to turn around. John launched himself at the assassin and knocked him to the floor, free and away from McKay.

"Are you alright?" Kass and Fraggle asked simultaneously as they rushed to the scientist's side.

"Oh, god!" McKay moaned in answer. "I'm a dead man!" Carson turned from tending to Quenderra--there was almost nothing he could do for her without the proper supplies--to take a look at Rodney.

"Here," he said, "Let me have a look at it." He examined the marks on his friend's shoulder. "I think you'll be fine, Rodney," the doctor diagnosed. "At most, he only took a few years from you."

"Oh, that's encouraging!" Rodney exclaimed. "Now, I get to die a few years sooner!"

Meanwhile, Sheppard and the wraith were struggling on the ground and the king of the GoN was closing in...

- - -

The wraith jammed Sheppard’s head into the ground, knocking him senseless. He lay with his eyes half closed, trying to gather his wits when the wraith struck his head again, knocking him unconscious. Kassandra flew for the wraith, a choking groan of rage tearing from her throat. He caught her in the chest, sending her flying across the room to land in a crumpled heap beneath the shadows.

McKay straightened his jaw, pulled back his shoulders and wondered what the hell he was doing as he and Fraggle both ran at the wraith. He watched as the wraith grabbed Fraggle and threw her towards the shadows, where she thudded to the ground and lay silently. McKay stopped short of reaching the wraith, his eyes bulging as he realized he was next. He noticed Sheppard moving and wished he would hurry up and help him. Weir and Beckett were helping Quenderra out of harm's way, while watching the wraith as he stood to his full and terrible height in front of McKay.

“Eh, hi. I, um, just wanted to give you this,” he said as he thrust a piece of fallen piping towards the wraith’s chest. It punctured the skin and dug deep into the flesh, seeing this, McKay felt a little braver and pushed it in further. The wraith screamed in fury and pain and grabbed the pipe, pushing it away from himself and towards McKay. McKay’s feet began to slide on the floor from the pushing and he realized the wraith was actually pulling the pipe from its body. Too late did he see the pipe tear free from the wraith as it held it in position to strike. The pipe smacked McKay on the side of the head with a sickening crunch, sending him sprawling to the floor out cold.

Sheppard had roused and seeing the wraith standing over McKay as he fell, he took his chance to attack. Freeing the knife from his thigh belt, he thrust the blade upwards and into the wraith’s stomach. The wraith grabbed Sheppard’s wrists and pushed them away from itself, taking the knife from its body in the same action. John stared hard at the beast that held him, willing himself to be stronger. But that was what the wraith was wanting, Sheppard’s strength. He could almost taste the growing strength of life force in Sheppard’s body, and he smiled as he drew his hand back and violently thrust in towards Sheppard’s chest. John howled in pain as the wraith fed upon him, trying to free himself but not succeeding as his strength waned.

Beckett jumped over the small railing separating himself, Weir, and Quenderra from the others. He jumped upon the wraith's back, trying to pull its head backwards. “Get off ‘im, ya bloody beast, ye!” he hollered, surprising himself that he was actually doing this. The wraith twisted his free hand up to grab at Beckett, allowing a weakening Sheppard to once again try escape. It was then that the wraith suddenly stopped moving, standing still like a grotesque statue, the arm holding Sheppard slowly lowered and John slid off to the floor. Beckett continued to hold onto the wraith tightly, as if he could not let go, finally releasing as the wraith began to fall.

“What, what the hell happened?” Beckett asked as he went over to help Sheppard.

“I was gonna ask you the same thing.” Sheppard said weakly.

“Why don’t you ask Rodney?” Weir called to them. They turned to see McKay, one side of his head glistening with blood, holding the FTF in an outstretched hand.

“That…is for hurting …my…brilliant brain,” he gasped as he fell unconscious once more. While Beckett tried to help McKay, Sheppard slowly made his way to Weir. He had not lost so much to the wraith, but it had definitely weakened him.

“What about the SSD?” he asked her.

“They are in more trouble than we are,” she replied, looking beyond Sheppard to what was going on behind him. The darkness had spread and the GoN were flying in circles around the King. He stood on the ground as his wings flapped behind him. He was taller and bigger than before. The viscous sneer on his face glowering at the crumpled still bodies of Kassandra and Fraggle. The two lay there unaware of the danger they were in. The king opened his mouth large and distorted and spewed out a stream of electrical charges that hit the unconscious SSD agents. The shadows danced and screamed in unison as their King tortured those who had killed his Queen. The others watched, not knowing how to help their friends.

"Carson!" Elizabeth called as Quenderra roused slightly with a sharp gasp and coughing.

"Easy, lass," he soothed, "we've gotcha." The blonde looked up at them without recognition, but this might have been due to the fact that her head was throbbing and her vision not quite clear. She turned to see what was happening to her friends. She weakly moved to sit, but Weir and Beckett.

"I gotta... I..." she murmured.

"You won't be any good to them like this," Weir told her gently but firmly.

"The source," Quenderra whispered, closing her eyes against the brightness all around her. "To save 'em till Moropa comes... ye gotta da-mage ...the source...."

"And how do we do that, then?" Carson asked.

"F...TF," her voice was so soft that they had to lean in close to hear what she said. Carson retrieved the small computer from McKay's hand and returned. Quen reached towards the keypad, but the strip of cloth wrapped around her burned and blistered hand rendered it useless. She pulled at the cloth with her other hand.

"What are you doing?" the doctor demanded.

"Can't type... take it off," the SSD agent responded.

"I'm not so sure that's such a good idea..."

"Off..."

"Carson," Weir interjected. Reluctantly, the man removed the makeshift bandage from Quenderra's hand. Slowly and painstakingly, she typed out a long line of text, her eyelids half-closed, then she let her hand fall to the floor. "What'd she write?"

"I'm not sure," Carson answered, "it doesn't make a bit of sense." Quenderra reached a hand to Weir's shoulder, then uttered two more words:"Alt... Enter." Her eyelids fell shut and she she was unconscious again.

"Elizabeth?" the Scot asked uncertainly. They took in the scene before them: there was no way Kassandra and Fraggle could withstand the energy arcing into their bodies for much longer.

"Do it," Weir commanded. Carson pressed the two keys. The swarming ghosts let out a collective shriek as their king let out an enraged roar, the bolts of energy issuing from his mouth coming to an abrupt stop. He turned his full attention towards them, his eyes glaring. But as he stalked towards them, another form appeared.

"Hello, brother..."

- - -

“Hynoda, this must end now,” Moropa spat at his brother.

“What are you going to do about it! I have the power, I have the army, and I hold the key to our species' evolution. ...you do not know?” Hynoda laughed at his brothers puzzled look. “HA! The great and powerful Moropa does not know what I have orchestrated!” Hynoda turned away from his brother, the density of his shadow momentarily blinding Moropa.

Hynoda opened his wings and flew upwards to an overhanging above. He landed heavily on the structure, and looked out over everyone and thing below. Carson was warily watching him, as he whispered his concerns for the two fallen SSD agents who remained amongst the shadows.

“We’ve got tae get tae them, I’m pretty sure they’re gonna be in a bad way.”

“I’ll try and get to them.” Sheppard replied.

“No way son, you are in no shape tae go anywhere yersel!” Carson said.

“Ok, you go get them!” Sheppard smiled.

“Well, yeh know. If yeh feel up tae it, I suppose you will be alright.” Carson said, as he looked anywhere except at Sheppard.

“Okay Doc, relax. You’ve got enough here to be dealing with.” Sheppard said as he slowly edged his way towards the SSD agents. He hid in the midst of the shadows surrounding the two women, careful not to touch any of the beings emanating the dark cover. Hynoda barked a command, and the GoN dispersed, leaving the area below clear. Which also left John Sheppard exposed to see, his attempt at rescue stalled.

“Oh crap!” Carson cursed, seeing John’s predicament. As he helped a now conscious McKay to his feet, he heard a call from Hynoda that was so loud it seemed to shake the wraith corpse. But that was not what he had seen. Just as he got McKay behind the railing next to Weir and Quenderra, the wraith opened its eyes and stood up. It walked to the clearing and smiled at John Sheppard. Moropa attempted to help him, but a call from Hynoda brought hundreds of dark GoN on top of him, keeping him rooted to the spot unable to help.

“You see brother, I have always lived under your shadow. It is now time you lived under mine. I never cared much for Nadala, my love for her was purely a means to an end. She was too…impulsive. Which is why I chose her, as it made her reckless. Her lust for power made her make the mistake that led to her predictable demise. I planned her death from the very start, she never knew that I had placed it inside her.” He trailed off as if talking to himself. The wraith seemed different to John. It appeared to be larger, darker, and stronger. It regarded him with a new set of eyes, eyes as black as hell that dripped evil as ever he had seen.

Hynoda jumped from above and landed next to John and the still SSD agents. “I remember when I first saw her traveling through the phenomenon she calls the TDP. Her curiosity seemed the ideal opportunity to get out of the dark matter and into the place I wanted to be. The place were power units were walking and breathing and available everywhere. These humans, our addictive enjoyment.” He kicked Fraggle in the side as he walked past her, his face a picture of hatred. “She saw me in the TDP, wondered what I was and just had to find out. She saw me as her little research project, and I allowed her to think that.”

Kassandra had come round and was lying quietly still, listening to everything, trying to figure out what she could do.

“She helped me through to the TDP, thinking that I had been trapped there, allowing me some freedom. She witnessed me consume the power of three humans in my thirst for power upon leaving the TDP. She never was the same after that. A little darker in nature, I think. She eventually forced me back through into the dark matter, disgusted with what had happened, and the fact she had a part in it.”

Kassandra remembered an earlier conversation with Fraggle, and understood what she had meant then.

“I took what I needed from her as she forced me through the walls of the vortex. A little piece of her being that allowed me to plan for this fantastic day, through the dark years I had to endure in the dark matter." Kassandra's eyes flew opened as she realized what Hynoda meant. He had made the Queen from the tiny fragment of Fraggle's being he stole from her. It was why the Queen had initially formed the bond with Quen, a likeness in her being craving for a likeness within another.

"Having used the compacted energy of poor Nadala, I have been able to combine two entities. You see before you, our new form. A form that requires no conversion of power to leave nor enter, and allows us to feed with abandon. A form that can travel both in real space and dark matter, that can heal itself and is in numerous supply throughout this universe. And a form which is readily agreeable to feeding on humans as we are!” The wraith grinned as it looked at its King, proud to be the first to evolve to this form, eager to try its new strength out for size. But it was not just a GoN within a wraith body. This was a hybrid of both, a terrible new species that would be impossible to destroy. It did not feed for survival, it fed for fun.“To show the complete success of this new form of ours, he will demonstrate how perfect this form is!” The wraith looked at Sheppard, Fraggle and Kassandra, wondering who to kill first.

- - -

The wraith leered down at its prey, an evil smile spreading across his hybrid features. Meanwhile, Quenderra's lips began to move as she murmured unconsciously. Dr. Beckett bent down to hear the soft sound being emitted.

"Fraggle... Fraggle...." she repeated over and over.

"Och, she's in a bad way, lass--you know that, don't ya?" he murmured helplessly. For helpless he was, indeed...

- - -

Fraggle roused ever so slightly and immediately realized that she was in the mind realm.

"Fraggle," a familiar voice spoke up from behind her.

"Quen!" she exclaimed, turning to see the blonde. "I didn't think you could enter the mind realm!"

"Usually I can't," Quenderra answered. "I'm not entirely clear on the details right now, but I'm at least half-dead. It's rather painful, actually..."

"Why are you here?" Fraggle asked, cutting to the point.

"Ah, yes," the blonde got back on topic. "Despite the fact that the mind realm doesn't actually work on an actual time frame, in real time we don't actually have any to spare. If that ghost/wraith hybrid feeds even once, it will become invulnerable--nothing will be able to stop it."

"That can't be good," the Scot commented to encourage her friend to continue more quickly.

"You can say that again. We need to destroy the source of the GoN's being. Once it is obliterated, everything connected to it--the GoN and wraith hybrid--will die. Without Nadala, Hynoda has only one weakness: he's combined her power with his, but he cannot be two places at once."

"You damaged the source--how?"

"I was able to remotely alter the TDP to shed some light on it. It could only be done once and only for a split second."

"What?"

Quenderra put a hand on Fraggle's shoulder and their minds were temporarily combined. The blonde took Fraggle to a part of her memory of a place deep within the TDP--a dark, impenetrable blackness. {This.} At its center was a dense black gem. {That's} It was not a question.

"Yes," Quenderra withdrew her hand. "Fraggle, you and I are the only people who can find that gem and the only way to destroy it is to expose it to the full light of the Lantean sun."

"In case you haven't noticed, neither of us are in any condition to be traveling anywhere, let alone in the TDP," Fraggle pointed out.

"Right now, we're connected via the mind realm," Quenderra countered. "Take my strength..."

"Quen, I can't do that!"

"Leave me enough so Beckett can resuscitate me--Fraggle, if you don't do this, we're all dead, anyway. The entire universe and probably every reality, also."

"Fine," Fraggle reluctantly agreed.

"You'll have less than a minute--you know that," Quenderra told her. "If the wraith feeds for even a second, we're screwed. And one last thing," she added as she placed her reluctant friend's hand on her own shoulder. "The focus necessary to manipulate the TDP to get you where you want to go in the proper time frame is gonna hurt like hell. Good luck..."

- - -

As the grotesque hybrid stepped towards Sheppard and the two SSD agents, Carson rose quickly to his feet. "You leave 'em alone!" he shouted...

- - -

Fraggle set her mind to leave for the gem. She could see the Wraith in her mind, and hurried her thoughts. Carson was regretting shouting at the wraith, as it decided it would be him that it would kill first, slowly making its way towards him. Fraggle pulled strength from Quen and Kass and formed an inner mind TDP to where the jet-black gem lay. She could tell by the look of it that it was going to be a very rough ride.

The TDP's usual smooth spinning walls were laced with arcs of electrical charge and it seemed to be billowing almost out of control. This was the result of the added power to form such a transport, and the very fact the other end of the TDP was squarely within the dark matter--somewhere it should not be.

Fraggle warily stepped into the TDP and found herself thrust into agony as the walls seemed to attack her. It continually attempted to eject her out of itself, trying to stop the traveling to the dark matter realm. Hurtling headlong through the unstable vortex she found herself encased in the electrical charges, as if they were trying to get her to stop this madness. She steeled her mind and kept going. Just as she felt she could no longer hold on, the TDP spat her out into the dark vacuous realm of the GoN.

Nothing. Nothing but blackness. No wonder Hynoda hated it here, she thought. She turned around and around, searching for it but could not see it. The voice in her head told her to concentrate. She closed her eyes shut for a few moments, then opened them again. And there it was. Almost invisible against the blackness, the jet-black gem pivoted freely in front of her. She tried to grab it, but it danced from her grasp. It dodged her every time she reached for it, the dot quickly spinning away on a tangent.

"Despite the fact that the mind realm doesn't actually work on an actual time frame, in real time we don't actually have any to spare,” Quenderra’s words came back to her. Okay. She could not catch it and drag it to the light of the sun, so now what? Moropa! She pulled in her thoughts and concentrated on Moropa. She knew this was what had to be done and that Moropa agreed. She could feel it in her mind.

The wraith had almost reached Carson, who was running like a madman to get away from him. Hynoda was watching with glee and so did not notice Moropa. None of the shadows noticed anything untoward, but Sheppard and Weir noticed. They watched as Moropa’s light began to fade and he became translucent as his body left the material world. Weir and Sheppard exchanged glances, hoping that what ever was happening it was going to help their situation.

Fraggle could sense his presence as he appeared beside her. He put a massive claw on her shoulder in reassurance.

“I am so sorry, Moropa!” Fraggle said in guilt and sadness.

“No Squirrel Dragon, this has to be the way. Nothing else will stop my brother. I knew this time would have to come, I just wished there had been another way,” he replied with resignation.

“You should return now--you do not want to be here when this happens!”

Fraggle looked at Moropa, with a small tear in her eye. “Thank you,” she told him with great sadness. Moropa conjured up another TDP, unable to make it any more stable than the first.

“Goodbye Squirrel Dragon.” As soon as the TDP had left his end, Moropa turned to the black gem, knowing what he must do. The small black gem, the source of all the GoN power was like a tiny black hole. Moropa’s source like all of the GoM, was the light of suns. He bowed his head in preparation, then used his claws to tear a hole in his chest. It was not painful, more like release.

All of the immense power locked inside of him burst from the wound and collided with the gem. It jolted to gem into recalling all of its power to protect itself, and since its power was split in the GoN, the GoN came tearing back through to the dark realm to be sacrificed for the gem.

Hynoda was furious as he watched all of the GoN disappear one by one, including the one he had fused within the wraith. He howled and screamed as he was pulled and dragged into the small dark hole that would take him to the dark realm once more. He tried to grab onto anything he could, to no avail. He disappeared leaving silence in the Atlantis control room.

Carson began laughing as the wraith corpse fell to the floor, realizing the lucky escape he just had. Sheppard finally reached the two SSD agents, finding Kass already sitting up, but Fraggle still unconscious. Both were wounded from the electrical charges that Hynoda had inflicted upon them, so he shouted on Carson to help.

As Fraggle hurtled through the TDP, she became aware of a dark shape tearing past her. She could see the shocked look on Hynoda’s face as he tore past. She smiled through the painful ride, sure that it was over. That was until something grabbed at her foot from through the TDP walls.

Hynoda attempted to pull himself back through, desperate to get away from what he knew would be his death. Fraggle screamed as the electrical charges increased, snapping through her being, sapping what energy she had left. The vortex was trying to rid itself of the GoN. The reason it was such a bad ride to begin with was that this TDP was designed to stop GoN from getting through when its other end was in their realm.

The charges snapped and cracked around Hynoda making him release Fraggle, sending him spinning out of the vortex into the dark realm. All energy expelled, Fraggle continued her journey in peace, though she was not aware of it, having ceased conscious thought some time ago.

The gem recalled all of its power as Moropa’s dwindling light continued to hit it. The gem swelled and increased to an enormous size and when Hynoda was swallowed into its darkness, it cracked and exploded into light. A young sun was born out of the dead one that had been there before, its light striking Moropa and engulfing him in its power. A new star shone in view of the Pegasus galaxy.

- - -

Carson had his staff take McKay, Quen and Kassandra to the medical wing, as he took care of Fraggle. He did not know what was wrong with her. Her wounds were severe but not life threatening, her pulse was thready but constant. He could attribute her change in baseline observations to the attack by the King, and the wounds he had inflicted. But he was puzzled by her condition. Helped by Sheppard, they took her to the medical wing.

The medical wing was chaos, people were having to stand in the various rooms as staff helped them all. The GoN had indeed caused chaos in Atlantis. Carson asked one of his team to take Fraggle to the side bay, and left to help the others treat the injured. He and his team helped them, giving first aid and reassurance. When the stream of injured waned, Carson went back to look at Fraggle.

In the quiet side bay, she lay with her eyes vacantly staring at nothing. It almost seemed as if she was no longer there. That her mind had gone and her body was just keeping itself running, waiting for her return. He had ran a EEG, and found very little activity, as if the brain was running only enough to keep her body alive.

"Oh jeez, ye cannae do this to us, lass. Not after everything that’s happened!" he whispered as he looked over the results again. He gazed at her, and it occurred to him that she looked so very peaceful at that moment. All burns and wounds seemed insignificant in relation to the peace on Fraggle's features.

"She okay?" Sheppard asked with concern as he walked into the room.

"No. I jist cannae believe she went though all this, only to not come back."

"What do you mean, not come back?" McKay demanded from the doorway on which he was leaning.

"Whit are you doing up!" Carson bellowed. "Get back to bed, now!" He hearded the two men from the room, helping McKay back to his. He passed Quenderra's bed, trying not to look at her. He really did not want to tell her anything just yet. Once settled, he left McKay with John talking about everything that had happened. Carson went back to Fraggle's room, intent on doing another EEG. He stood in the doorway a moment, took a deep breath, then made his way forward when Quenderra's hand gently stopped him.

"What is wrong Carson?" she asked, knowing it was not going to be good news.

"What's this, then?" Carson exclaimed in a mixture of surprise and dismay. "You should be in bed even more than Rodney--in fact, I'm not so sure you should even be conscious!"

"What's wrong, Carson?" Quenderra repeated. The doctor softened at her resolute expression. She wasn't merely being stubborn (and at any time, she was easily twice as stubborn as Rodney). She was concerned. There were still some things she couldn't recall, but she was Quenderra again.

"I don't rightly know," he answered. "It's like the lights are all on, but nobody's home." The blonde redirected her gaze to Fraggle's still form and Carson stepped aside, allowing her to move past him to her bed side. She sat on the edge of the bed.

"Fraggle," her voice had a tone to it that seemed unnatural to his ears. Glancing at the blonde, he knew what it was: Quenderra was crying, silent sobs shaking her body--it was something he had never seen her do when she was wholly herself. The Scot remembered wondering once if the young woman was unfeeling, but he'd since learned that she was deeply emotional and sympathetic, she just didn't usually express it the way most people did. Quenderra reached out a hand to cup her friend's cheek, exhibiting the tender affection reserved for all the people closest to her, regardless of race or gender, each of whom she regarded as family.

Carson suddenly felt that he was intruding and he retreated to the doorway to wait."Fraggle," he heard Quenderra say again, "Fraggle, come back to us!"

- - -

Darkness--blackness was everywhere. She did not know where she was, but there was light beginning to shine somewhere far away from her.

'What's this?' she thought, finally opening her eyes. She was in the mind realm again, but where she found herself was different than before. She could see the colours and changing twists of time, but her location was changed. 'Am I back in Atlantis?' she wondered, seeing Carson's spectral image moving beside her. Then he left and returned with Quenderra.

"Fraggle come back to us!" she sobbed.

"What are yeh talking about? I'm here, right here!" she called out, but Quenderra did not hear her. What the hell was going on?! She could see them and hear them, but she was stuck in the mind realm! Her consciousness was lodged there, unable to return to her body despite her best efforts. Crap, crap CRAP! She cursed--how the hell had this happened? She realized Quen was crying beside her, and she tried to contact her friend for help, but nothing got through.

'Oh great! I'm gonna be stuck here forever, starin' at that bloody ceiling!' Her mind was working over time, trying to think of what to do. She began to really panic when it occurred to her that to be here forever would be a very lonely existence indeed. She was really beginning to lose it when a burst of bright light broke into the mind realm, blinding her with its strength.

Fraggle squinted against the brightness, raising an arm (and finding it ironic that she couldn't actually move her arm) to shade her eyes. The light took a form and its brightness dimmed, but only because it was contained.

"Moropa?" Fraggle murmured.

"Yesss, I am here," Moropa answered in his grand, even tone. "But you should not be."

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that," the human replied. "Biggest clue being that Quen can't hear me... and that she's crying."

"Her friendsss are her family," the being told her.

"Why can't I contact her?"

"Traversssing the mind realm isss not her strength. Sensssing what is unssseen, both good and evil, isss."

"Then why doesn't she sense me?" Fraggle wanted to know.

"I'm not ccertain... her mind isss not clear," Moropa replied. "I will help you return to the conssciousss realm."

"How..?"

- - -

Quenderra wiped the tears from her face. "You should feel privileged, Fraggle Dragon," she laughed sadly, "you're one of three people who've seen me cry since I was a child." The blonde straightened suddenly, noticing something more than the vacancy that had previously filled her friend's eyes."Fraggle?" she asked slowly. "Fraggle, can you see me?"

Carson ran over from the doorway, something in Quenderra’s voice let him know that there had been a change. He shone a light in Fraggle’s eyes, confident that her pupils reacted the way they should, and noticing that she was trying to see. “You gave us such a fright yeh bloody eejit!” he said as he patted her on the arm.

Fraggle groaned, feeling the pain from her wounds for the first time. Carson injected something into her arm and within minutes the pain subsided, leaving a soft fuzzy feeling in her already fogged mind. She was confused, having trouble focusing her thoughts, with little knowledge of her surroundings. She remembered being in the mind realm and Moropa doing something to return her to her body. But it was all so faded now and she was exhausted. A movement caught her tired bleary eyes, and she saw Quenderra leaving quickly and quietly. She tried to shout for her, tried to sit up, but Carson held her down and her body was too tired to object.

“No, yeh don’t, love. You jist lie there, now,” the doctor told her as he set up some intravenous fluids for her. Fraggle fell into a deep and sound asleep, not waking again for hours. When she did, she was surprised and embarrassed to have a small crowd of people around her. Sheppard was talking to Kassandra, Quenderra was laughing at McKay’s bandaged head. Carson was busy writing on her chart at the end of the bed, listening to everything with a smile. It was Quenderra who noticed that Fraggle had awoken. She smiled a beaming smile that told Fraggle that her old friend was back to normal again.

“Hey, how you feeling?” Sheppard asked when he saw her awake.

“I’m a little sore but, you know, needs must and all that!” she replied shifting her position awkwardly.

“Yes, well, I just hope that 'needs' don’t 'must' again for quite some time.” McKay said, tenderly touching his sore head. “I mean, how am I meant to keep this brain in top condition if it is always being battered by some alien thug, hmmm? I do not know how much valuable knowledge disappeared with that cracked skull!”

“Yeah, yeah Rodney. We all appreciate the fact that you took down the wraith!” Kassandra said with warmth.

“Yes, well I hope you do. I mean, come on!” he said pointing to his head, “Cracked skull!”

“Well it wasn’t exactly cracked, Rodney, but you were bloody lucky” Carson interjected.

“And what about me? I lost about 5 years!” Sheppard said, hoping to wind McKay up a little.

“So did I!” the scientist retorted. “But I am confident that Carson will discover a way to reverse the aging. After all, he has me to help him in his research.”

“Okay, folks, time to give the girl some breathing space,” Carson said with a smile while showing them the door. Fraggle appreciated Carson for allowing her time to come round on her own, but she wanted to talk to Quenderra.

“Quen!” she shouted before the small blonde exited the room.

“What? Is everything okay? You alright?” Quen asked, hurrying back to the bed.

“I’m fine.” Fraggle said, watching Carson as he tidied away some things and left the room, seemingly having something else to do all of a sudden.“I…I was actually here before. When you thought I wasn’t. I was in the mind realm,” she said, knowing that what she was saying sounded stupid.“I, I know you were here, I know you were crying, and I do feel privileged. Privileged for being counted as one of your friends.”

Quenderra looked aghast for a moment, realizing that Fraggle had heard everything that she had said to her while in the mind realm. She looked at her friend for a moment, and realized that they had been through too much together to be shy.

“I appreciate the fact that you wanted me to come back. It made me realize that I could make a difference here. Truth is, I always feel like a spare chip on a circuit board. By-passed and unwanted. I want you to know that I value your friendship and I am there for you, no matter what,” Fraggle finished.

Quenderra took a deep breath. She placed her hand on Fraggle’s. "You felt like the spare chip?" she spoke, laughing sympathetically. "Me, too. Always, I've been the friend who's always there no matter what, no matter who the friend. Few people return the favor--you're one of them. People always expect that I will be Miss Sunshine, but sometimes I feel like the storm cloud. With friends like you I can be myself--entirely--and you don't think any less of me... even when I think less of myself..."

"You're a better person than you think you are," Fraggle told her. "We've all got demons to face."

"Yeah--sometimes literally," Quen smiled. "Anyhow, I'm gonna let you get some rest. Carson doesn't think I should be up and about. Besides, I'm gonna need you and Kass to help me move my stuff back to HQ." The blonde rose to her feet and moved slowly across the room.

"Sure thing," Fraggle grinned. "Good night, Quenderra."

Quen glanced back over her shoulder."Sleep tight, Fraggle."

- - -

Wounds healed and pains subsided. Carson eventually allowed them all out of the medical wing and so the time for the SSD to return to the mainland had come.

“Well, I can truly say that it is never a pleasure seeing you, as it usually means that we are in trouble.” McKay said. “Perhaps sometime we can make it a pleasure, and meet up without all the doom.”

“Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen! With you lot out there on your adventures, there is always going to be doom lurking somewhere!” Fraggle responded.

“Thank you for that!” Sheppard smirked.

“Let’s just hope that we are not needed for a while. Rodney, keep away from swinging poles, and John, watch out for wraith, they seem to like the taste of you!” Kassandra laughed as she stepped into the waiting TDP.

“Wait! Yeh forgot this!” Carson shouted as he ran up the corridor.

“My FTF! Fraggle said as she reached for it. She hugged the wee doctor and thanked him again for all of his help. “Right!” Fraggle said looking to Quenderra, “Lets go!” They both stepped into the TDP, leaving Atlantis once more, headed for home.

- - -

End.

-
Attempted editing for optimal readability by Quenderra.

Stalked by Shadows

2008-01-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

Note: This particular tale is still a bit zany (Okay, okay... they're all a bit zany) as we were still figuring out who we were as characters. Also, it would seem we may be missing an adventure or two... *scratches head*

~ ~ ~

The room was still lying in darkness at the SSD HQ. The phone had stopped ringing now, but a new buzzer was sounding next to one of the consoles. It was radio system that had been installed when the SSD had formed and decided to set up headquarters on the mainland. It was a way for Atlantis to contact them when needed.

A TDP portal (Time Distortion/Delay Phenomenon) formed in a violent turning of clouds near the ceiling in the corner.

Phfoot! Fraggle had returned to the Pegasus system, through the phenomenon that only the SSD were capable of. As she stepped into the dimness, the room sensed her presence and powered up. Consoles sprang to life, and lights were switched on. She looked around to see if more of the gang were around, but as is the way with the TDP, timing arrivals together was quite unpredictable.

It was then that she noticed the computer screen blinking an urgent statement across its screen.
"Alert-SSD! Alert-SSD! Atlantis requires your help! Wraith have taken Rodney McKay and John Sheppard hostage on their ship. Please respond! Alert-SSD!"

"Oh crap!" Fraggle whispered, looking at the screen in disbelief. "How long have they been trying to get through to us?" It was then that she noticed the intermittent buzz of the radio system. As she reached for the receiver, she knew who was on the other side. It occurred to her that the voice in her head had never left from the last adventure. Surely she had gone mad? Nevertheless, it was there telling her that Weir was on the other end and that panic was all that was on her mind.

- - -

Quenderra halted suddenly in the midst of her drowsy shuffle towards her bed, suddenly wide awake. The sense that something bad, somewhere, was happening to someone important to her causing chills to run down her spine."Don't be silly," she murmured to herself. "Everyone--everything--is fine." But as she lay down in her bunk, a knot began to form in her stomach and the wheels in her head continued to turn... the feeling had never been wrong before.

Little did she know how right she was nor where the TDP would take her next.

- - -

Kass plopped down on her bed, the Keyboard of Truth (KoT) an arm's reach away. Closing her eyes, she wondered when the SSD would meet again, blissfully unaware of the ringing red phone.

- - -

The intent to carry out the threat was evident in the snarling tone of his voice, the evil look in his eye. The implications for McKay and Sheppard were obvious to all--they would lose them and become enemies. He shut down the communicator, watching the faces of the Atlantians disappear from the screen.

This Wraith did not want to suck the life from the two men, he had something much worse in store. He had heard about the experiments that the humans had performed on his kin, and he had the idea to do something similar. He figured that these humans would react differently and change their minds when their compassion for a fellow human was roused, especially two important to their mission in the Pegasus Galaxy. He's used experiments from humans and the Iratus to develop a serum that would mutate the two Lantians.

Into what? He did not quite know, as the other humans he had experimented on had either died or were comatose whilst locked in a horribly mutated body.But he was desperate enough to lose his prized subjects. If the Lantians did not hand over the location of earth, he was to be ripped limb from limb and thrown into the event horizon of the nearest stargate, to the core of a burning sun. So yes, McKay and Sheppard would be a loss if the experiment did go wrong, but his life depended on it now.

Back in Atlantis, Weir was tired and weary from trying to contact the SSD. She knew that the TDP couldn't be predicted--at least, not yet--and that the SSD were unable to get here any quicker. Her voice was hoarse, her eyes sore. Would they ever answer her? And if they did, would it be on time?

- - -

"Look I know this is an emergency Elizabeth, but I start nightshift back on earth in an hour, I have an early TDP arriving. The others will be here when they can. Don't worry." Fraggle put the receiver down, and shook her head. The TDP was howling above her, waiting to suck her back home. Just as the pull of the TDP grabbed hold of her, she noticed something. Another TDP was forming in the other corner of the room. Smiling to herself, Fraggle D let the forces rip her back through time and space to allow her to go to work...but not the work she wanted to go to... Phfoot!

- - -

After her TDP dropped Kass in a heaping lump on the floor with a thud, she glanced around and found the room empty. She saw the warning flashing on the screen and mentally cursed knowing what this was all about. She quickly geared up thanking her lucky stars that she had grabbed the Keyboard of Truth and a knife back on earth, as she went to power up the ship that would take them into battle.

- - -

"Oh, nonononono!" Quenderra murmured under her breath. "I can't just disappear in front of a bunch of people!" She got up from her spot on the bleachers and told her friends not to wait around for her. Hurrying through the crowd of people pressing their way into the large gymnasium, she made her way to the bathroom and entered one of the stalls. No sooner had she shut the door behind her than she was overtaken by the now-familiar light-headedness that came with transportation via the TDP.

"Okay, so who are we rescuing this time?" she wondered as she arrived at the headquarters. "Atlantis needs our help--ah! It's the actual team this time! S'pose it's best that way, since the actors actually believe it's a TV show. I'm still waiting for something to happen to Mallozzi, though." The blonde looked about the room. "Okay, TDP--take me where I need to go. Please... I really don't want to ride there in that Junker of a ship we have..."

- - -

PHfoot! Fraggle bounced into the middle of a cat fight, wondering what the hell was going on. Her eyes, bleary from lack of sleep, watched as Kass and Quenderra rolled about the floor, fighting about whether to use the TDP or the junk ship for the rescue. Quenderra was biting Kass' leg as Kass was throwing text at Quenderra’s head.

"RIGHT!" Fraggle roared, instantly getting their attention. "I have just finished a LONG nightshift, and I am in no mood to start patching up you two! Heads ship, tails TDP!" (throws coin into the air)

- - -

"Fine then," Quenderra relented as the coin landed heads for the third time (it was best out of 5), "but me or Fraggle drives."

"Why can't I drive?" Kass protested.

"Because when you drive, I can't tell the difference between the sense that something's happening to our people and the sinking feeling that we're about to crash. Admittedly, that has somewhat to do with the fact that the ship is about to fall apart anyway," Quen explained, "but you drive like my mom. Trust me when I say: that's frightening."

Fire flashed in Kass's eyes (she LIKED driving) as she stalked towards the blonde."Quen-der-RA!" she growled.

"And!" Quenderra continued quickly, backing away from the angered SSD agent. "AND you gotta do your thing with the Keyboard of Truth, right? In fact, that's the only thing I have against your driving, you try to do both at once. Driving and typing just doesn't work for you--it doesn't work for me, either. I rather think we'd be better able to help if we arrive in one piece, don't you? Truce??" Quenderra held up her arms in a defensive gesture as she awaited Kass' response.

"I will drive there, you drive back," Fraggle told Kass. "Is that fair?" Pleased, Kass nodded and let poor Quenderra by with a final glare.

- - -

The Junker, as Quen had named it, was indeed a pile of junk. Parts foraged from far around the galaxy, joined into one big lump of space flying metal design. The engines were a cool pair of ZK 5000's, scavenged from a nearby planet after the owner crashed and burned. The ZK 5000's were guaranteed to get you where you had to be in face distorting, neck breaking speed. But only if they had the fuel to run them.

"Eh? Did anyone think about filling her up? You know, a perpetual state of readiness.....?" The huge engines whirred and coughed, and refused to fire up. Fraggle's face got more and more red, there were little wisps of smoke trailing from her ears. She let loose a roar that frightened tiny animals from their homes up to 2 miles away."So that...will be...a no....then!"

"No fuel?! I think we have some stocked up somewhere in the HQ, don't we?" Quenderra asked. "Not that I want to take the ship, nor would I have foggiest idea where."

Refueling was not Fraggle's idea of fun. It took ages and was pretty disgusting. The fact that the engines ran on decaying compost and the saliva from a huge breath exploding, dinosaur-like creature from a neighboring planet left the fuel drums rather stinky and shiveringly horrible to go near. Once the ship was ready, a rather shaken and pale Fraggle fired up the powerful, but decaying craft, and took her out of the atmosphere and into the blackness of space."So where exactly are we going to look first? Weir sent through a video of what the ugly-butthead said, are there any clues as to where they are?"

Kass looked around as she typed. "No Fraggle I have no clue where we are going. Let me type up a few keywords and see if the trusty keyboard can locate that slimy scum." She typed furiously away at the keyboard narrowing the search to a four-planet radius that popped up on the blurry HUD of the ship. "Okay I have narrowed it to the space around these four planets. Two are near stargates and two are a rather long jaunt--more of a sprint for this Junker" Kass spoke with near certainty, "I am guessing that the jerk would go to one of the two planets that the stargate is a bit away so as not to be detected by any aerial recon teams."

"Okay," Fraggle said, "pick... that one." And the Junker made its way to the planet they hoped the Wraith was holding McKay and Sheppard. Just as they entered the atmosphere, the Junker began to rumble and shake, threatening to tear itself to bits."There is a ship above us, if we don’t get out of here we are toast."

It was then that the radio sparked up. "SSD ship, this is Sheppard, come in."

Kass looked at the radio in surprise, also hearing the voice echo in her ear forgetting she had brought com units for everyone this time and she quickly remembered and held them out to Fraggle and Quenderra.

"I figured we didn't want to get separated this time," she stated plainly, remembering the goo monster. Kass quickly scanned the console in front of her, locating the radio button, "I am opening a channel now," she stated for no particular reason as she hit the big 'RADIO' button. "Sheppard, this is Kassandra aboard the SSD Ship. If you are piloting that thing, please back off a little before you ruin our ship." She paused, waiting to see if it was Sheppard piloting the other unknown ship as she looked at Fraggle and Quenderra anxiously.

"Copy that, Kassandra, and its good to hear its you!" The larger ship moved away, allowing the Junker to settle into a more normal flight pattern.

"What is your situation Sheppard? Are you with McKay?" Fraggle asked.

"Yeah, he is here, too," came Sheppard's voice. "We just escaped and locked the weirdo in a room. But I don’t think it will hold too long."

"What?!" came the voice of McKay through the comm. "I thought you said you had taken care of him!"

"Settle down Rodney, I did take care of him."

"Oh, yes, for what? Ten minutes? Five minutes, hmm? In fact, why didn't you just let him fly the ship!"

"Okay guys," Fraggle interrupted. "Lets rendezvous and work out what to do next."

"Oh, Fraggle? You didn't happen to bring some power bars with you? I don't fully know what that big green idiot did, but I'm verging on hypoglycemia here."

"Yes, Rodney, I always have a stash on the Junker in case you ever grace us with your presence." Fraggle smiled to the others. "You say that the Wraith had done something to you. What has he done exactly?"

"Well, you're not gonna believe this......."

- - -

"What are you doing?" Quenderra hissed at her traveling companions, ignoring the explanation coming over the radio. "How do you know it's really them? And even if it is, we don't know what the wraith did to them! They could be brainwashed! It could be a trap! What good will it do if we get captured, too?!" The blonde glanced suspiciously out the front view screen at the ship above them. "I just--I have the feeling that something bad is happening or about to happen." She gazed at them pointedly, her expression clearly showing how right she believed herself to be...

"Okay, what do you suggest we do?" Fraggle asked, realizing that Quenderra was right. "I could go in, you two keep watch? Or do you have something in mind?" They watched through the front screen as the larger ship landed near theirs. Two figures were getting out."It sure looks like McKay and Sheppard. But what is that on Sheppard’s back?"

"Looks can be deceiving," Quenderra reminded them. "I say we go out there with stunners--shoot first, ask questions later."

Kass glanced between her traveling companions and the figures outside the other ship, "Okay you guys you take the stunners I got the Keyboard of Truth to back ya up. I don't know about you, but I just hope there aren't any of those stupid Iratus bugs around I HATE THOSE!"

"OK, lets go meet them." The three walked towards what appeared to be McKay and Sheppard, but Fraggle couldn't shake a growing feeling of dread. Quenderra was right to be suspicious, something was wrong. Sheppard walked over in his usual slow and confident gait, as Rodney followed, looking somewhat guarded.

"It's not very friendly to point those things at your friends," Sheppard drawled, pointing at the stunners.

"We have to be careful," Kassandra replied.

"Really. You have to be careful? And yet you fly through space in what can only be described as a collection of crumpled debris," said Rodney incredulously. Politely ignoring the statement, Fraggle proceeded to ask what happened to them. While Sheppard spoke about being on an away mission, then coming under attack and taken aboard the ship, Fraggle noted out of the corner of her eye that McKay was acting strangely.

"Rodney, what are you doing?" she asked, pointing the stunner at him.

"Fighting....it....warn you....." he struggled to speak. The SSD were becoming alarmed, it seemed as though McKay was growing, and Sheppard now had trouble speaking.

"Get away...you don't know...what they've done!"

"RUN!!" Fraggle hollered.

"We can't leave them here, like this!" Quenderra shouted.

"We can't help them like this either! RUN, NOW!!" When they got into the Junker and had closed the door, they watched as the two Atlantians made their way back into the big ship. "Get us out of here now," Fraggle growled.

Quenderra took the pilot's seat with a huff. "What?" Kassandra asked her, getting used to being able to tell when something was on the blonde's mind (she didn't always volunteer). She glanced back at them over her shoulder as the SSD Junker took to the air.

"We shouldn't have left them," her tone was terse, likely indicating that she was fighting to keep her words neutral. "Those are our people, I could feel it, but something is happening to them and it's only going to get worse. We should've stunned them, hog-tied them, and taken them back to Atlantis where Beckett could have a look at them. I just... I don't think we should've left them. I just hope..." She left the sentence unfinished, but others knew what she meant. They all hoped that they hadn't forfeited their only chance to save McKay and Sheppard.

"Well I don’t know about you two, but MY vote is that we go into orbit around the planet and I can use the Keyboard to change our crappy shield into a cloak and we can monitor them from there," Kass said as she looked between Fraggle and Quen as they moved the ship into orbit. Kass hopped up from her seat, going to the back of the compartment and plugging in the KoT and typing furiously away while muttering to herself. "You know when this is over we really need to get a new ship, ladies." She looked at the small blurry screen in front of her as she spoke with a unsure tone. "Okay, that should do it. Though, I am no brilliant astrophysicist, I think we are cloaked."

"I think you're right, Kass, we should be cloaked, now, but the Junker probably couldn't take a hit with a pebble," Quenderra said. "And we do need a new ship. Y'know, a Tardis would be nice, if we can come by one... Oh. That cannot be good! Fraggle, you completely filled the tanks, right?"

"Yes," Fraggle answered slowly. The blonde maneuvered the monitor so it was more clearly visible to her Scottish companion. "Then, why are we almost out?"

Kass typed furiously away at the KoT, glancing at the screens as she typed. "I think I found the problem," she said in an ominous tone. "Apparently, there was a small crack in the fuel tank. When Sheppard and McKay flew their ship so close to us, the pressure created forced the crack larger and the fuel has been draining into space, which means we are TOTALLY scre--" She was cut off as the Junker suddenly lurched downwards at an alarmingly fast pace towards the surface of the planet from which they had just come....

- - -

The others were so upset and angry with her for leaving McKay and Sheppard behind, that neither had noticed that Fraggle was hurting too, nevermind realize that she did it for a reason. She sat quietly, her mind rushing through countless ideas for a rescue, each one as useless as the next. Fraggle's reverie continued until she realized Quenderra was talking to her."What?"

"The fuel tanks are almost empty, I thought you filled them up?" Quenderra said accusingly. Fraggle sighed. This was not good. And if the others even began to suspect the danger they were in, they might not be so quick to get back to the fight."What's up with you anyway! The way you are acting is beginning to make me think you want to sabotage this mission." Quenderra’s blonde anger exploded. "How could you do that to them! To us! No one will ever trust us again!"

Kass looked at Fraggle as the ship hurtled toward the planet as she spoke in a strangely soft and reassuring tone. "Fraggle, I know you did this for a reason but we NEED you to concentrate here. We have to get out of this one alive!"

- - -

So, the Junker had finally succumbed to the war with gravity and tore through the atmosphere like a burning fireball. "Quick, concentrate on the TDP!!" shouted Fraggle above the screaming noise of tearing metal. The three were suddenly pulled from the crumbling ship and were placed safely on the planet's surface. "Oh CRAP!" Fraggle screamed!

Kass slowly opened her eyes and realized the throbbing against her arm came from clutching the Keyboard of Truth too tightly. Just as quickly, she realized that they were in a small dark cave with some kind of sticky gooey orbs hanging from the ceiling. "Uh, Fraggle, Quen... are those what I think they are?"

Fraggle's mind was a whirr of adrenaline fueled lightning, synapses firing quicker than normal to make her think and act quicker, to get them out of here safe and alive. "DONT LOOK AT THEM!" she screamed. Grabbing the others by the arms she physically dragged them from the cave. Her strength was borne of fear and desperation. The others tried to comprehend the situation, but it was lost on them. They had never seen these creatures before. 'If this is what that wraith was experimenting with,' Fraggle thought, 'McKay and Sheppard are in bigger trouble than we first realized.'

Kass looked at Fraggle and Quen, her mind racing, trying to come up with a plan to trap the creatures into the cave but finding none that would be feasible since the Junker was now officially toasted. "C4! We need some C4!" she screamed at Quen and Fraggle, desperately pounding at the KoT trying to work its magic into creating C4 as she ran.

All of a sudden, the KoT kicked into life, and a powerful beam of BOLD text fired from it to the hurtling doomed Junker. The fiery Junker stopped in the air, burning like a low lying sun, then began to move towards the cave. As they ran for cover, the Junker stopped above the cave then dropped with an almighty bang on top of it. The wave of heat from the wrecked Junker whooshed over them as they continued to run.

"Good thinking Kassandra, but we are not out of danger yet, not by a long shot," said the Scot.

"Alright, that’s enough!" Quenderra exclaimed, breathing heavily from exertion. "What the hell is going on, Fraggle? You can't expect us to keep on following you for no good reason!" Fraggle stopped in front of them, but did not turn around to face them. Her silence was as heavy as guilt as she tried to gather her thoughts and tell her friends what was going on.

Kass crossed her arms and looked at Fraggle's back, and she spoke a tad harshly, "FRAGGLEDRAGON, if you know something that will help us with this mission then you are obligated by the SSDC to tell us so that we may complete this mission objective." She looked at Quenderra whose blond head was nodding in vigorous agreement.

"That's right. We need to know." They looked back at Fraggle who slowly turned around to face them. "This is bigger than the last time," Quenderra continued. "There are fewer of us. If we're going to get through this, we NEED to communicate. All of us. Fraggle," she looked at the Scot, "you know what those things are, don't you?"

Fraggle drew a deep breath, then sat down heavily on the ground. She rubbed her head with shaking hands, then looked up at them."When you first came through the TDP, what happened? What did you feel, see, hear? Anything or nothing?"

Kass looked at Fraggle unsure what the TDP had to do with the mission but she answered anyway. "When I first came through the TDP I saw yours just leaving and the message on the screen and felt the KoT jabbing into my ribs from hugging it too tightly like I tend to do. I didn't hear anything, though. It was deathly silent until Quen came through and we started fighting over the Junker. Even when I was prepping the Junker, you could have heard a pin drop. It's like nothing I have ever experienced before--an other worldly calm. Since we have arrived here," she paused and gestured broadly around her at the barren planet before continuing, "I felt this sense of urgency and dread at what was awaiting us, though, I am not sure why. Maybe it was because I knew we'd be stuck here...or worse."

"So quiet you could hear a pin drop. I wish!" Fraggle said wistfully. "You have heard of the beings that live in the vacuum of space, the creatures that no one really notices? Well, in the wake of the TDP, dark matter, the thing known least about, is drawn nearer to our vision and mind. In this dark matter are other beings that live in such conditions that they have adapted to life in nothing. Of these creatures, there is a species of terrible evil. They are known as the Ghosts of Nothing. No one is meant to see them, and when they are seen, they are brought into our realm, and they cause havoc. I have been coming to this galaxy for some time using the TDP, my research and curiosity brought me here, but never had I ...." She fell silent for a moment, standing up and then pacing. "I....I heard the screaming before I saw them. I wish I had not heard them as now when I go through the TDP, it's all I hear. They...saw me first. I did not know what it was at first. It was like a dark shadow in the vortex. So, I.....I reached out my hand. One of them grabbed my arm and tried to pull me out. I fought so hard that I brought one with me instead, I threw it back out of the vortex and hoped that it had gone back to the dark matter. But I fear it did not, and now I am responsible for all of this. If only one came through we might have had a better chance. But since we have seen the nest, I believe another is here. I had heard of the Ghosts of Nothing, I researched their existence a few years ago. I know what they are capable of. If the wraith has been experimenting with these Ghosts, we may already have lost McKay and Sheppard. And it's all my fault."

Kass looked at Fraggle taking in all that had been said. Finally, after a long moment of silence, Kass piped up, "I have not heard of these Ghosts of Nothing, though, they do NOT sound like a creature that will be easy to defeat. Do we know if the containment device that was used for that energy creature is still around? If so we might be able to use it to capture the GoNs, and free Sheppard and McKay...."

Quenderra gazed at Fraggle, only half-listening to Kass. Goosebumps caused all the hairs along her arms to stand on end. "The shadows," she murmured, seemingly to herself at first, "a lingering darkness, a foreboding that never leaves the back of my mind. A constant, frantic hum that would be piercing shrieks if my brain was unable to reduce them to white noise. It's like a bad taste in my mouth, a never-ending knot in the pit of my stomach. An unnamable nightmare that stalks me in the day, like an apparition just visible in my peripheral vision... Just enough to drive one crazy and set them ill-at-ease. Right, Fraggle?"

Kass looked at Quenderra listening intently, "So, um, am I the only one of us who hasn't seen these creatures of nothing?"

Quenderra looked at Kass. "I haven't seen them," she said. "Only sensed their presence."

Kass looked at Quenderra with uncertainty, "I haven't even sensed them at all, ever. I feel kind of confused as to why not. Every time I enter the TDP, it is always so silent and quiet--not another soul or anything in any form in the TDP..." she trailed off suddenly pounding away at the KoT.

- - -

FFFRR!

"Ouch!" Something hit Fraggle in the face, drawing blood from her cheek."We need to get behind something. Rodney’s power bars are beginning to explode. There is so much energy in those things, they might take our heads off!" Cringing behind a massive tree as the edible bombs exploded around them, they became aware of something moving--a wraith running through the woodland, seemingly chased by something. It was the wraith from the message, and if he was still here, McKay and Sheppard would be close.

It was then that something occurred to Fraggle. She lifted her fold-to-fit laptop from her pocket and began to search. All of the data she had collected on the GoN and other species throughout her travels in the universe were stored in here. She whirred through the data as the explosions began to abate. Something did not add up. Then she found it.

"The Wraith is not the one who carried out the attack on the away team, it was the GoN all along. Here, look." An illustration of a GoN was followed by a detailed analysis of the creature. Highlighted was the sentence '...with the ability to control and take over, any intelligent form of life...' "You see, the Wraith is being controlled, too, just like McKay and Sheppard. Its the GoN that are doing this. But why?"

Kass realized she HAD seen one of them, but not in the TDP."That looks like Prog! Exact same except its a different colour!" She said.

"Prog? Who the hell is Prog?!"

"Prog was someone I met when I first came to the Pegasus galaxy after we saved David from the Spacey. He was the chef at the little cafe on P4125X. The food was lovely and the coffee gorgeous!" she said licking her lips. Puzzled, Fraggle turned the electronic page and showed Kass a new picture.

"Is this what Prog looked like?" A creature just like a GoN, except instead of shadow, he was light.

"Yes! That’s him!"

"Its a Ghost of Matter! Prog is a GoM! If anything is going to help, we need to find Prog!"

"But Prog is gone. No one knows where he went to. The Cafe shut down and he disappeared."

Quenderra was quiet throughout, and did not reveal the mist in her mind that was talking to her. You will all pay for what you have done... Her body seemed to slip out of her control, and she found herself trapped, viewing the world like an observer in her own body. From her position beside Fraggle, Quenderra suddenly plunged her elbow into the Scot's ribs, removing the KoT from Kass's grip a split second later. Tucking the keyboard under her arm, the blonde departed before her friends knew what was happening.

- - -

As Fraggle bent double, the breath pushed from her lungs in a violent grunt of pain, it occurred to her that Quenderra's shadow did not look quite right a she ran away from them. "We...have to ...get her!" Fraggle gasped.

"Are you ok!" Kassandra asked.

"I'm fine. Come on, we have to get her. She's been taken over."

"How do you know that?"

"Her shadow had wings. It was the same thing I saw on Sheppard’s back when he got out of the ship earlier. They may be able to hide inside people, but their shadows are always the same shape."

"Oh no. McKay, Sheppard, and now Quen?" Kassandra whispered. "We are now down to two. We will be lucky to get out of this alive. Quen has the KoT. Before they were evil killers, suckers of life and light. Now they are armed with the KoT, they could blow up planets, suns if they wanted." They went to run after Quenderra, but she disappeared within a billowing vortex."Oh no! They also have the use of the TDP too !!!!"

- - -

Quenderra's mind was in flux. Part of her wished to fight the presence that had taken control of her body, while another part craved the power. And power it was indeed! As an SSD agent, she had access to the TDP, combine that with the Keyboard of Truth and she would be unstoppable... if she surrendered everything she was to this shadow. Naturally, being able to sense them had made her a target, but that wasn't all... Fraggle wasn't responsible for the ghosts getting through, not entirely. 'I'll help you,' she told her possessor suddenly. 'I'll cooperate...'

- - -

There it was again. That voice in her head. It was telling Fraggle to reach out her mind. The world through her mind was a very different world than is normally seen. When she closed her eyes and concentrated on the world surrounding her, she saw the essence of the place. She could see the movements of time like fleeting spirits, the colour of people's minds and souls.

Since the voice started talking to her, it was much more clearer. She could more accurately understand what it really was she could see. Her breathing slowed down and she calmed to a stillness that frightened Kassandra. But she had seen this before and knew what it was Fraggle was doing. While Fraggle was lost in the mind realm, Kassandra would have to take care of them both.

Fraggle's sense of danger was less evident and her reactions more sluggish. But she had to make contact with Quenderra before she was lost. She could feel her moving around in vortex, she could feel her fight for dominance in her own body. She felt the fight being lost and the memory of what Quen had done. The betrayal of her colleague sent her instantly back to real time so fast she stumbled and fell to the ground. "It wasn't me!" she whispered.

- - -

Quenderra lingered back in the portion of her mind that was her own. That quiet place fortified against all the forces of hell.

'What are you doing?' her cautious self demanded.

'Quiet,' she mentally took a deep breath. 'Trust yourself.' Well was she aware of Fraggle's attempt to make contact and how quickly her colleague had retreated back to the visible reality.

'She thinks I'm a traitor,' she reflected sadly. 'But what other option do I have? I'm used to dabbling in multiple realms--I'm a writer. The ghost believes that I am in accord with it. I may yet beat this shadow at its own game. Oh, Fraggle! Kass, don't give up on us!' she silently pleaded. Her body emerged from the TDP yet again.

"Come," her voice commanded. McKay and Sheppard stood a short distance from her.

"Quenderra?" McKay questioned. 'So,' Quenderra's possessor mused, 'their hosts are still fighting back--the fools.'

"Come," she repeated. "This realm is ours..."

- - -

Prog, his real name Moropa, was himself a paradoxical creature. He should not be seen, and yet had been expelled from the Dark Matter realm for treason against the GoN to live in the seen world. He had been a spy of sorts, from the regulatory council set up by the GoM to stop the devastation caused by the dark entities of their species. He had been found out and tortured, then banished. Working in the Cafe as the only visible member of his species had helped him realize the enormity of the GoN threat. He knew that Fraggle did not know that he was the voice in her head. He knew that she did not even realize the real reason she had an a dragon alter ego, nor the fact she could see time and space when she closed her eyes. Once more he called on Fraggle, attempting to pull her back to the vortex to make contact with her.

A flicker passed over the faces of the two Atlantis team members before their minds were suppressed once more. "How did you get your host to submit so quickly?" Sheppard asked.

"Because I am smarter in my dealings with these mortals," Quenderra heard her own voice snap back at him. "She has agreed to assist us." A triumphant smile crossed her face.

"Maybe she's just, uh, weaker," McKay suggested.

"Do you take me for a fool?" her voice took on an ugly rasp. "Why would I choose someone weak?"

"Because she can sense us," they responded together."And you do not believe that is but an offshoot of a greater latent power?"

"Do you?" Sheppard looked dubious. Quenderra threw the keyboard against a nearby tree.

"Wh-what are you doing?" McKay demanded.

"My host has informed me that the one called Kassandra is the only one who can work the keyboard," she responded coldly. "No use carrying it around."

"And you believe her?"

"Are you questioning me?" there was no response. "We must continue, now." The TDP activated and they were sucked into it, leaving the fractured KoT behind...

- - -

It seemed as though the vortex was calling her, as if the TDP had a will of its own. "Kass, I think we need to go back into the TDP."

"To where? We don't know where anybody is!"

"I can't explain it, but something is telling me to go back into the vortex. If we are gonna rescue Quenderra and the others, then we gotta try anything that might help."

Kass was depressed, without her KoT she felt unarmed and vulnerable."Come on!" Fraggle called as she called up the TDP and jumped in.

- - -

Quenderra could feel herself slipping. She didn't know how many deceptions and half-truths she could get her possessor to believe. The SSD agent had tricked the ghost into abandoning the KoT, knowing she could not be trusted to keep it. Now she wish she had. Now, she wanted that advantage. Something else was happening to Quen. No longer was she merely a victim in her own body. The surge of power was intoxicating, appealing to a side of her that she had kept suppressed for years. It was from this shadow of her own being that her ability to sense when something bad was happening or about to happen arose. It was this part of her mind that had reached out to the darkness within the vortex of the TDP. 'I'm not a traitor,' she thought desperately, but it was no use. Too late did she remember that those who play with fire get burned. And with that, the Quenderra the SSD and everyone else had known was gone...

- - -

Kass followed Fraggle, forlornly wishing she had brought something other than the KoT with her. "Fraggle where are we going?" she asked as they traveled through the TDP. Kass knew that they had to act fast if they wished to save Quen and the others.

As soon as they had entered the vortex, Kassandra's question was answered. The vortex continued to billow far longer than usual. It felt as though they were being pulled apart by the forces surrounding them, but something kept them safe. The vortex suddenly stalled, and they were suspended within its walls. Face to face with a Ghost. Kassandra's sharp intake of breath reverberated within the walls, alerting Fraggle to the Ghost presence. Fraggle felt strangely composed as she stared at the Ghost. It just stared back, waiting for them to speak.

Kass squeezed her eyes shut even though she knew that it would not make the ghost disappear. "FRAGGLE, HELP ME!" she screamed, not knowing if it would do any good or if she was alone in this battle

"I know you," Fraggle stated. The voice that came back to them was like whispers in a haunted room.

"Yesss. You do."

"Say hello to your friend, Kass. This is Prog."

"Pleassse, Moropa isss my given name. I prefer to ussse it inssstead of Prog--an insssult gave to me by the GoN."

"How do I know you?"

"Put your hand to the wall and touch mine." Moropa said. When Fraggle's hand touched Moropa's, she winced in pain as electrical charges shot through her entire being. She watched as her arm began to glow, much the same as Moropa, who smiled at them.

Kass looked at Fraggle’s arm with a mixture of shock and amazement as she reached slowly towards the wall contacting it with the tips of her fingers feeling the tingles it sent through her. She spoke, not knowing what to say, "Moropa can you help us? Our friend Quenderra has been taken by the GoN, as have John Sheppard and Rodney McKay..." she trailed off desperately waiting for an answer that would be cut short by the TDP dropping them to the surface of a foreign planet...

- - -

Quenderra halted suddenly, getting confused looks from Sheppard and McKay. She looked up into the sky with an angry sneer."Moropa!!" she shrieked. He was meddling and she could sense it. She continued her forward motion. They must not fail.

Fraggle stood on the surface of the new planet with a new resolve. Fear and uncertainty was replaced by anger and confidence. Moropa did not tell her how she knew him, but his confidence, reassurance, and will for victory was so powerfully contagious. Even Kassandra looked more mean as she surveyed her surroundings. Fraggle closed her eyes and focused on the surroundings in her mind. She could see nothing. Nothing untowards in the vicinity at all.

'That’s strange, why would Moropa send us here if the was nothing to...' That’s when it hit her. There was nothing. No life at all in the vicinity. She knew from her research that the GoN had been known to use life energy as fuel. The very action of the conversion left nothing in its wake, a small vacuum within which the dark matter was contained. Because it was a vacuum, it was easily transported into the void that the GoN called home. People, animals, vegetation, anything that they could they would transform. But for what reason? What the hell did they need so much power for?

- - -

"Soon," the possessor of Quenderra's body told her companions, including Quenderra herself, "ALL our brothers and sisters shall be free! We will control the universe. And I, all of me, will be queen."

"You will keep that form?" McKay's possessor questioned. "If we get enough energy, you will not need to."

"Silence!" the ghost hissed, but the information had gotten out. The shadow did not want a partner. 'And what happens to me?' Quenderra demanded, a red hot rage surging within her. 'ANSWER! What happens to me?!'

- - -

Like an intense sound wave, the thoughts hit her, sending her reeling, dizzy and nauseous. 'What happens to ME?!' The terror in that single thought sent Fraggle's mind into overdrive, she began firing out thought waves uncontrollably. It was so powerful that Kassandra heard the thought in her mind also, she paled in shock.

"Quenderra!" Fraggle bolted.

Kassandra followed in Fraggle's wake, unsure of where they were headed but not wanting to waste any time that could be precious when it came to saving their friends. "QUENDERRA, WE'RE COMING!" she thought loudly.

- - -

The thoughts, the memories, they were coming back. She could feel them as they got closer to the GoN lair. *flashback* Fraggle sitting taking notes on a new species of creature found on a planet in the Orion galaxy. *flash* Whirl of wind drags her through TDP. *flash* Suspended in the vortex, surrounded by Ghosts. *flash* "Will you do this for us, Squirrel Dragon?" "Yes." *flashback ends*

- - -

"QUENDERRA, WE'RE COMING!" Quenderra sensed Kass mentally call out.

'Use me, will you?" she thought to herself, her anger growing exponentially. She might not have been the same Quenderra she was before, but she would not allow anyone to walk over her. 'FRAGGLE!!! KASSANDRA!!!! We're over here!! ...you can take over my body, but no one, NO ONE controls my mind!'

"What are you doing?" the GoN demanded. 'You need me,' Quenderra answered. 'But I don't need you!'

"Need you? MMMMWuhahahaha! You silly little thing! I am so powerful now, I can live without you here! Come my brethren, leave these bodies and convert them to energy so we may bring our brothers and sisters forth!"

- - -

Kass headed towards where Quenderra's thoughts guided them, hoping that it wasn't too late to save their friend from the ghosts.

Fraggle could sense it before she felt it. It was like a ripping through her mind. The closer they came to the lair, the more restless they became inside her. The lair was in sight, and the GoN were just leaving their hosts. Like shadows of souls, black figures tore from the bodies of Quenderra, McKay and Sheppard. As the shadows left, the three fell to the ground unconscious. The GoN gathered above the unmoving bodies, preparing for the conversion of energy.

Fraggle felt as if her feet had taken flight as her body was lifted violently into the air by the GoM inside her. They had seen the GoN leave the bodies, and would not allow harm to come to Fraggle's friends. She had allowed herself to become the vessel that transported them to this realm, and they would not forget it. The difference was that the GoM had no energy to leave Fraggle's body, so would have to use her to fight, or kill her and use her energy to free themselves. They were after all, the same species as the GoN, they had their dark side too. But over the years of intellectual thought and research, they had grown to understand the world outside their realm. In the beginning they would not have thought twice about killing this human to gain their freedom to fight, humans are just encased energy to them, batteries if you will. But their minds had evolved, they discovered that the "batteries" were alive, had their own thoughts and this made all of the difference.

The GoN also knew and understood this, but did not care. This was the fundamental difference between the GoN and the GoM. Compassion. They knew they would have to use Kassandra too, and had already invaded her body out of desperation. She was lifted through the air, completely unaware as to how it was happening. They were only sorry that the two SSD agents did not really know how dangerous and painful this would be for them.....

- - -

Kass glanced around as she hurtled through the air, the GoM controlling her body and movements. She looked at Fraggle and screamed, "You NEVER said there was flying involved in this adventure!" She clamped her eyes shut not wanting to witness the great battle that was about to ensue.

- - -

With the declaration that the GoN were about to be free, releasing hordes of creatures just like them, Quenderra suddenly came back to herself. What had she done? How could she have taken the side of evil? She had helped them...

'NOOO!!' she screamed desperately at her possessor. 'Take me, but leave the other two alone!' But she was ignored. The last thing she remembered was the feeling that something horrible was about to happen, and then with a sharp, sudden pain, everything went black...

- - -

This was it. The battle was here and now. Fraggle could see Sheppard rousing and trying to help McKay and Quenderra out of the way. She was glad that they seemed to be ok. Fraggle and Kassandra landed softly on the ground out of sight. The voice in her head told her to be prepared. It had explained that they would have to use some of her energy to break free from her body, to be able to attack the GoN. She was wary of this, but trusted them. The GoN had no idea that the GoM were here, but the leader spotted Fraggle and Kassandra, just as they were about to attack the three struggling friends. They turned now towards them, their high pitched screams sounding like an alarm. The GoM sparked energy from Kassandra first and left her body. She watched in pain as the three GoM lifted from out of her chest, rising into the air towards the GoN.

It was explosive and deafening. The GoM hit the GoN mid air, and waves of multicolored light broke from their injuries. The screams from both sides were painfully loud, and the GoM seemed to be winning. They fired what looked like tiny meteors from their outstretched hands, that pummeled the GoN unrelentlesly. One GoN completely disappeared in a massive burst of light. The leader of the GoN screamed in anger and shot back a huge attack that took out all three GoM.

Then the GoM inside Fraggle burst free, taking to the air like angry hornets. Fraggle and Kassandra ran towards the other three, pleased to see them all on their feet.The battle was exploding above them, the GoM were being slaughtered. Every time one was killed, the GoN used the energy to pull through another of their own kind. It was even numbers now, and the GoN leader noted that Moropa was no where to be seen. Where was he?

She noticed the humans smiling and jumping around on the ground and hated them. 'That one,' she thought, 'Moropa was inside her! He must still be there!' It flew down towards the humans unnoticed. They were all shaking hands and talking while watching the fight above. Fraggle went to shake McKay’s hand when her eyes closed in pain. It was in her mind, ferreting around in search of Moropa.

'You wont find him here. He is gone. And he is gonna rip you to pieces when he is ready!' Furious, the GoN began to scream inside Fraggle, attempting to break free. It found the energy and exploded from Fraggle with terrible force, returning to the battle above to look for Moropa. Everyone looked at Fraggle as she swayed and staggered.

"Fraggle?" McKay said quietly. Fraggle's world was torn apart, the only reason she survived the energy conversion at all was because Moropa had intervened at the last moment. But he could not stop her brain from taking the full brunt of the internal explosion. Her mind fractured into a million pieces, and Fraggle Dragon was gone. Without a sound and with unseeing eyes Fraggle fell backwards into oblivion...

- - -

Too late did Quenderra realize that the sick feeling in her stomach was separate from the disgust that she felt with herself.

"Fraggle!" she cried as the Scot suddenly fell backwards. She and Kass caught their falling colleague and the blonde's fingers automatically went to Fraggle's carotid artery. "Nothing!" she bowed her head. 'This is all my fault,' she thought, then straightened suddenly. 'And I'm going to fix it!'

Quenderra gently shifted Fraggle's weight entirely over to Kassandra. Rising to feet, she distanced herself from the scene of the battle still occurring overhead, though she no longer was aware of what was going on.

'A person can't go back on their own time line!' the logical part of her mind warned, but she reasoned, 'This is NOT our time line--it's not even our reality!' Quickly, she activated the TDP, the one thing that she had access to that could do what she wanted. She entered the vortex, thankful that the GoN were too busy fighting the GoM to notice the momentary opening. Her head felt as though it could explode as she concentrated on going back, just a little over a minute.

But she wasn't traveling to any time or any place--she was going to a place and time where she already was and the TDP was resistant. Never one to give up easily once her mind was made, she continued focusing on her objective. After seemingly hours, though more likely, it was mere seconds, the TDP deposited her where she wanted to be. Fraggle was just turning to shake McKay's hand. A glance upwards revealed that the GoN that had earlier possessed Quen was making its way towards the Scot. Quenderra ran forward, shoving Sheppard and McKay into the portal.

She grabbed Kass's shoulder, "Into the portal--all three of you!" Kass and her present self obeyed, but Fraggle hesitated. "Quickly!!" the blonde pushed her into the vortex a split second before it deactivated. Clutching her head, she sank to the ground, no longer caring what happened to her, but briefly musing that the human body probably wasn't meant for such a paradox...

- - -

It was then that Kass glanced around the TDP and realized that Quen was there with them. She looked confused and slightly disturbed, sure she was going nuts. "Wait, Quenderra, how can you be here and there?" she asked shakily.

While the vortex billowed around them, Fraggle questioned her own eyes. There had been two Quen's a moment ago. She had saw it but did not believe it. The TDP threw them out onto the planet's surface, about a mile away from the fight. Everyone looked to Quenderra except Fraggle, who was looking to the other Quenderra. She watched as the other one exploded into a burst of light, and disappeared. Quenderra was wondering why everyone was looking at her. She had no memory of what her other self had done, as it was another time line from her.

Quenderra began to feel self-conscious and even more disgusted with herself as everyone looked at her."What? ...did I miss something?"

Fraggle closed her eyes and entered the mind realm, determined to see more than she had before. All of the cosmos opened up to her, she could see everything. 'Go back,' she told herself. Looking back into the past was not easy, but she had done it before. She saw herself attacked, she saw herself fall to the ground dead. She saw Quenderra's brave sacrifice to save her and the others. Quenderra looked at Fraggle who was staring at her, smiling.

"Thanks." she said with great feeling, to Quenderra’s confusion.

Kass looked at Quenderra questioningly. "Um, I don’t know how to put this, so I'll be straight with you. A minute and a half ago we were over there," she paused and pointed off in the distance of the planets surface, "and there were two of you!"

"Two of me?" Quenderra's eyes were beginning to water and her lips trembled. Between confusion, exhaustion, and self-disappointment, she felt ready to cry, but she would not lose it in front of her friends. "And thanks for what?"

"Yeah, two of you," Kass replied simply looking at her friend's trembling lip, biting her own before speaking. "I think that somehow, you changed what happened...." she trailed off and looked at Fraggle.

Quenderra's and Kass's questioning looks were left hanging in the air as a massive explosion rocked the landscape. They all looked towards the noise to see that Moropa had finally entered the battle field. He had been collecting the energy that was being expended throughout the battle and he shone like a sun with the power.

'And he is gonna rip you to pieces when he is ready!' The words echoed in her mind. She knew it was her voice and that she had not spoken them in this timeline. But she smiled as she remembered what she had seen in her mind. Moropa roared at the Queen of the GoN, the wave of sound sending her tumbling through the air. He lifted his hand and all the remaining GoM scattered from the field. The force and magnitude of the power and light that left his hand was unquantifiable. The GoN shook with screams of rage as they watched their kin exploding from the beam as it swept the battlefield. The Queen was trying to gather the energy, trying to escape back into the other realm, but Moropa caught her in the blast. When all was over, the silence was deafening. The GoM were bleeding colorful light from wounds and still stood proud in front of Moropa.

"Thisss isss not a day of victory. Thisss isss a day of sssadnesss. They are ssstill our kin, and we murdered them, but let thisss be a lessson to them. It will not be tolerated." Moropa said.

'A day of sadness,' the words echoed in Quenderra's mind. A day of sadness it was, indeed!

'A day of sadness,' the words echoed in Kass' mind as she surveyed the surface of the planet, watching the GoM and Moropa slowly dissipate into the air as she looked over at her companions. "Can we go home now?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm, yes, well. While I fully appreciate the fact that you came here and saved us, the fact remains that the spaceship blew up and we have no way of getting home. Any ideas where we are exactly would also be great," McKay said in his usual sarcastic manner.

"Well, its not like they had time to seek out a stargate, Rodney, give them a chance!" Sheppard said.

"I am just worrying about how long I have before I fall into a hunger-induced coma!" McKay moaned.

Kass turned and glared at McKay, a little on edge knowing that without the Junker or the KoT they were possibly SOL. "You know what, McKay? I'm sorry that we were a little more concerned about saving your asses than we were about bringing our non-existent second ship or not blowing up the power bars or finding a stargate on this miserable planet. So why don’t you talk less and think more of a way to get out of here?" After a moment she turned and looked at Quenderra and Fraggle and spoke in a much less irritated tone, "Hey, Quen, any idea where you took the KoT? We could really use it right now to get us out of here..."

The first light that had shone in Quenderra's eyes since she'd been possessed by the ghost dawned upon her face."The Keyboard!" she said, almost laughing. "Yes--yes, I know exactly where it is! It might be a little cracked, but it should still work... at least well enough to get us out of here."

A look of relief swept over Kass' face as Quenderra spoke. "That’s great! Let's go get it, 'cause with now having to get a new ship, we wouldn't be able to get another keyboard-they are very hard to find you know!"

"Why can't we use the billowing, cloudy tunnel...thingy?" Sheppard asked as they made their way to where the KoT lay.

"We can use it, you can't. That’s the rules. Did you not think that it was a bit of a bumpy ride?" Fraggle asked.

"No kidding!" snuffed Rodney.

"That’s because you are not TDP agents. The phenomenon was trying to expel you both, almost ripped itself apart in trying to do so. But since it was a short journey it managed to hold. If we were trying that to get home, we would be floating in space right now."

Kass picked up the KoT that lay on the ground at the base of the tree at which Quenderra had chucked it when she disposed of it earlier. She typed in a few commands and got no response from the Keyboard. She quickly turned it over in her hands and looked at the hole with exposed sparking wires and sighed "Rodney, think you can fix this thing?"

McKay raised his eyes to the sky and back."You know, I am not called a genius for nothing!" he said as he took the broken keyboard and set to work.

- - -

"I must admit that this is possibly the most complicated thing I have ever worked on," McKay said distractedly.

"It works with a quantum regulator, I think that’s what broken," Kassandra said helpfully.

"Nevermind the fact that does not make any sense in the real world, does anyone actually have a spare quantum regulator?" McKay asked.

"Oh, yeah, Rodney. I keep one in my pocket just in case!" Sheppard laughed.

"Oh yes, very funny, except if we don’t have one, we don’t get home!" McKay said irritibly.

As Kass looked on over McKay's shoulder, watching him work on the Keyboard, an idea popped into her head."Wait! There is an backup quantum regulator over here," she paused and pointed to the area where the num pad would be. "Why not divert the power through the backup QR and power it that way?" she asked.

McKay paused for a moment, thinking. "That might just work," he said excitedly, quickly removing the cover of the keyboard and attempting to locate the backup Quantum Regulator(BQR). After a few minutes he located the BQR, and started the diversion process, "It doesn’t have much power but this should be enough," he said distractedly attaching the last connection and handing the keyboard off to Kassandra. She typed a few quick easy commands but after a moment nothing had happened.

"Uh, McKay, I thought you said this would work."

"I said it SHOULD work, not that it would. In case you haven't noticed, I am quite arrogant and think that all my ideas will work," he trailed off, glaring at Kassandra.

"Wait a bloody minute!" Fraggle said as she started to fumble about in her combat pockets. "It should be here....come on!" She said as she pulled her fold-to-fit laptop from her pocket."Here, what about this?" she said handing it to McKay. "I think I remember in the handbook, that the numerical pad in this was powered by a very small quantum regulator. Might not be big enough, but then again, it might?"

Kassandra's face suddenly brightened as she thought about what Fraggle had just said, "YES! That should do it. We will have to get a new fold-to-fit, but we can do that!" McKay took the FtF from Fraggle and quickly opened it, pulling out the mini QR and putting it into the Keyboard.

"Try that!" he said triumphantly a few moments later.

Kass took the keyboard and started typing commands and suddenly a box of power bars appeared and she looked at Fraggle. "I didn't realize your QR was capable of that! So, we need a ship right?" she asked.

- - -

McKay tried to hog all of the power bars, but lost the fight when everyone started to pull them from his laden arms. "Oh come on! How's a guy to live?" Rodney exclaimed as his prize load diminished. But it was only half-hearted, he was actually joking, in his own, sarcastic way. Kass hammered away at the KoT, writing all the data she felt they would need for the building of a new ship. Fraggle and Quen added their equations to the calculations, and soon it was time to press the Programme key. So what would it be? As sleek as a dart? As powerful as the Dadelus? Or as cool as an Goaul'd mothership? The new ship was about to be revealed...

As the ship slowly materialized from the things entered into the keyboard Kassandra cocked her head and studied the new ship. She looked at Fraggle and Quenderra watching their faces before looking back to the ship that looked remarkably similar to the Junker in which they had flown in on originally, though it was really much different with a more efficient power source, and more room inside."Uh, is that right Fraggle? I don’t know--it looks like the Junker to me..."

Fraggle burst out laughing at the looks on the others' faces. It was indeed the Junker: big and robust, powerful and beautiful! The difference was that the GoM had been watching and listening. They had to repay the SSD for all they had done. So when the Junker had been materializing, they made it so that the ship was virtually indestructible (wee bit of the good old Captain Scarlet!!!) and gave her a new shiny bodywork. The ship hovered feet from the ground, glistening like a newly launched passenger liner.

"Oh...MY...GOD!" Fraggle said as she stared back at the ship. "Its new ZK6000's! Oh, this baby is gonna FLY!!"(Fraggle's love of computer geekyness, was only equaled by her love of good looking machines with big engines.) They made their way onto the ship, McKay munching his power bars, Sheppard in his usual 'I don’t care' stride, Kassandra with a worried-about-this-ship look on her face.

Fraggle held a hand to Quenderra's arm, holding her back until the others had gone inside."I know that you went through a long journey of self discovery this time. I know the decisions you had to make. No matter what you think of yourself, no matter what you feel you did wrong, you came good in the end and that’s all that matters. If you were really THAT bad, you would have went the other way. Surely that counts for something?"

"But how do you know what I have been feeling?" Quenderra asked in shock.

Fraggle just turned and looked out into the barren landscape."Just know this. You did something for me today, something that you don’t even remember doing, but I do. And in my book, what you did... well, I am glad you are on the team. Thank you." With that, she turned and went aboard the ship.

- - -

Upon entering the ship, Kassandra had found a brand new Keyboard awaiting her and she immediately plugged it into one of the displays checking out the specifications for the new ship. She saw Fraggle enter the back of the ship and she spoke excitedly. "Fraggle! The fuel source for this thing is no longer that stinky icky gross monster goo! This must be the LE of the Junker complete with seats!" Kass surveyed the ship proudly and clung to her new KoT, though she would forever keep the old one as a reminder of the lesson which they had all learned that day.

Fraggle shuddered at the thought of the sticky monster goo fuel, and wondered what the hell would power the ZK6000's. She pulled up a schematic on the nearest viewer, and noticed that these were no normal ZK6000's. These were modified, to be powered by the TDP! The energy within the vortex, could be extracted and used as fuel whenever the TDP was called upon. This also enabled the ship to fly through the TDP, and of course, carry people in it that would not normally be allowed inside the vortex. (Hence the reason for the other seats!) As the ships massive engines powered up, all they had to do was wait on Quenderra to board the ship...

Kass looked out the back of the ship and studied Quenderra's figure standing there, but decided to leave her be for the moment, instead, more intent on finding out everything she could about the new ship since she had been charged with maintaining the 'fleet's' possessions. "Fraggle looks like we never need worry about running out of fuel again, doesn’t it? I am just amazed that we got the LE Junker, but in a way I'm going to miss that piece of space garbage!" she spoke with a note of sadness in her voice as memories of the old ship flooded her mind.

Quenderra stood gazing at the ship. "Well, we still have an SSD Junker," she murmured to herself, tears glistening in her eyes. She blinked several times, taking deep breaths to compose herself. Donning her best smile that no one who truly knew her ever bought but never questioned, she boarded the Junker, her decision made...

As the Junker rose from the ground and shot through the atmosphere, he crept out from behind the rock where he had been standing. He realized that the being acting as host would eventually break through the hold he had on him. Like is like, and the mental suppression would not last forever as both had the desire to feed and dominate. As the TDP tore an arc of light high in the sky, the King of the GoN watched with rage and hatred dripping in his mind.

"I will find you."

- - -

TO BE CONTINUED…

-
Attempted editing for optimal readability by Quenderra.