[nano] Stained Glass Masquerade
Dec. 10th, 2007 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kittydesadeIt was getting harder and harder to see him, regularly. There was the fear of discovery by the Wraith, the problem of the Replicators, the Wraith and the Replicators making war against each other and human settlements on all worlds getting caught in the cross-fire. Teyla never questioned whether they had done the right thing by re-activating that portion of the Replicator base code or not, but there were times when she wondered whether there was any good outcome to be gained from any of this, for any of them.
She gave Michael what news she could of what was going on in the galaxy outside and, true to her promise, helped him try to find a more permanent solution to his needs. It was Ellia all over again, she thought. Except perhaps the retrovirus had made it possible for Michael's dietary need to be changed more easily? Without changing the whole of him, all that made him Michael? She was conscious of it, every time she watched him work at the lab equipment they had borrowed or plundered. What he had said when confronted with the option of retrovirus or death. The death of self had disturbed him more than the death of his body. Not exactly a position she wanted to disagree with.
Teyla was finding it harder and harder to hide such sentiments. Finding it harder and harder to hide the changes that she was noticing within herself. Not the least of which her skill with her gift, which was growing by leaps and bounds.
"Doesn't look like there's much left…" McKay wrinkled his nose in fastidious disapproval, as if by pulling back from it and disapproving of it he could make it go away. She heard the tension in his voice anyway.
"Yeah, well. Let's check it out anyway, there might be survivors."
She wanted to tell him that there were no survivors, or where they were if by some miracle some had managed to hide, but contacting human minds was still beyond her, for the moment.
Ronon grunted his opinion of the likelihood of anyone surviving the attack, which didn't seem to be high. Teyla privately agreed with his assessment, but had other things on her mind at the time. Such as…
"There are Wraith nearby."
It was a common enough statement coming from her, and got everyone's attention. But it became a distraction when she went on to give more detail than she ever had before.
"Four of them. Three drones and…" She took off at a run. "He has found survivors. He is looking for something among them…"
McKay and Ronon stared at her; Ronon recovered first and chased after her, though he didn't ask why she was running or how she knew. Sheppard was pulling up alongside her and just following her lead, shaking his head.
He more than likely guessed by what route she had gained her newfound skill, and if he wasn't happy about the source he could not argue with the results.
Teyla shouted, something incomprehensible and instinctive, but the real attack was neither by voice nor by P-90 but straight from her mind. A shriek of defiance and fury and if Michael had winced at the volume of her contact before he would have been deafened by it now. Which was, of course, the point. The leader dropped, and all the drones turned to point their weapons at her. And she stopped.
If she had been on her own then, she realized, she would have been dead. Not a tactic to use when she was without backup.
Ronon's pistol knocked down one, then two. Sheppard's gun sounded next to her, dropping the third drone, and when she didn't hear a second P90 join the chorus she assumed Rodney was hanging back and letting the fighters work. It was with both relief and surprise that she realized it was his voice she heard next.
"Come on, come on, this way, let's let the big guys…" something. She couldn't make out the rest of what he said. The other Wraith, a scientist it seemed to her, was pulling to his feet.
Michael had told her, more than once, that she would make a formidable Queen.
[Sit. DOWN.]
The Wraith sat abruptly on the ground, looking both shocked and ridiculous.
"Teyla…" There was a clatter around her. She refocused her gaze, saw John keeping Ronon from shooting the Wraith. "What are you doing?"
"I believe I can learn what he was doing here, why he was attempting to capture prisoners rather than simply … cull and leave. If you would give me a little time…"
And now everyone was staring at her. Sheppard with somewhat more intensity than Ronon, which was impressive. "Are you sure? You remember what happened last time…"
"I have been …" Practicing. She didn't want to say that, not in front of the others, not when she would have to explain what she meant. "I am sure, yes."
"You're not staying here alone with that thing."
She opened her mouth to contradict Ronon when Sheppard interrupted. "No, she's not. I'll stay with her and shoot him if he so much as twitches, you and McKay get those people out of here, just in case the Wraith come back."
Teyla still didn't look around. She didn't have to, not to hear Ronon growling under his breath, not to know that her friend did not like that plan at all. "Sheppard…"
"Ronon. Do as I say, all right? Get to the Jumper, get everyone on board. McKay can come pick us up if any Wraith decide this guy's been taking too long and come looking for him."
It sounded like a weak excuse, even to her. She was a little surprised when Ronon followed McKay back to the jumper with no audible protest and only a couple of backward glances. Sheppard came up alongside her just as her command was starting to wear off, or as the Wraith was starting to decide that he might be able to ignore her, or whatever it was. She still wasn't entirely sure how this would work.
[Stay there.]
He looked surprised, again. He also looked angry.
"Teyla…" Sheppard's voice was low, tense. "Not to bother you or anything, but are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"I am sure…" she started, and then forgot to finish her sentence as she switched from vocal to mental speech. [What were you doing here? Tell me.] She made it echo, the way Michael had. She made it a command with no option of refusal. She was Queen here, and as far as he was concerned he had no other. If she was frightened of that sort of thinking she did not let herself dwell on it.
Fortunately Sheppard took her half-sentence for a whole one, and left her alone. Teyla took another breath and increased the pressure on the Wraith scientist's mind. And the volume on her words. [Tell. Me.]
He told her. He didn't have a choice. She didn't leave him one.
By the end of it she turned away and made some sort of gesture to John that could have meant anything, but which Sheppard took for a request to shoot the bastard. His word, not hers. She was shaking, sweating, feeling a little sick to her stomach at what she had done and at what the Wraith had been planning to do to his human captives.
"We should go…" she said, grateful for the hand up as Sheppard assisted her to her feet and practically hovered the whole way back to the Jumper. "Colonel Carter will want to hear about this."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they try this already?" Carter frowned, leaning forward and looking more at Teyla than at anyone else. "And…"
"My ancestors were given the ability to sense the Wraith, yes." Teyla shook her head. "I believe it is because of the war with the Replicators. They are reaching for any and all weapons that might be used, including making the feeding process more efficient and more …"
"Streamlined?"
Everyone looked at Rodney.
"What?"
Carter sighed, eyeing Ronon, who was shifting in his seat. "Was that scientist the only one performing these experiments?"
Teyla shook her head slightly, worried, and impatient. And trying not to show the impatience, when even Sheppard and Carter would not understand why. "I do not know. It is possible that the Wraith have become more unified, given a common enemy, and that they are working together on this and other experiments."
"That's a cheerful thought," Sheppard shook his head. "I don't know how we're going to find out, though."
No one looked at Teyla. No one looked at Rodney, either, although he immediately started griping about having to fix all the impossible problems. Far from being the mild annoyance that it usually was, it actually made Teyla smile a little.
"Well, think on it and let me know," Carter said, which seemed so far to be code for 'we'll have a meeting in a day or so, be ready with ideas.'
Teyla had ideas. She had a number of them; the only problem was that very few of them had anything to do with finding out more about what experiments the Wraith might be conducting, and what defenses they might be bringing to bear against the Replicators. More to do with how she would get in touch with Michael and how they might be able to turn this experiment to their advantage.
Which bothered her, when she stopped to think about it. Almost as much as what she had done to the Wraith scientist. And what was she turning into, that she was thinking these thoughts and making these sorts of decisions? Someone who put herself ahead of the welfare of …
Teyla shook her head, stalking down the hall more quickly, towards the gym. If nothing else she could work herself into exhaustion and thereby ensure that she would sleep that night. If nothing else.
She gave Michael what news she could of what was going on in the galaxy outside and, true to her promise, helped him try to find a more permanent solution to his needs. It was Ellia all over again, she thought. Except perhaps the retrovirus had made it possible for Michael's dietary need to be changed more easily? Without changing the whole of him, all that made him Michael? She was conscious of it, every time she watched him work at the lab equipment they had borrowed or plundered. What he had said when confronted with the option of retrovirus or death. The death of self had disturbed him more than the death of his body. Not exactly a position she wanted to disagree with.
Teyla was finding it harder and harder to hide such sentiments. Finding it harder and harder to hide the changes that she was noticing within herself. Not the least of which her skill with her gift, which was growing by leaps and bounds.
"Doesn't look like there's much left…" McKay wrinkled his nose in fastidious disapproval, as if by pulling back from it and disapproving of it he could make it go away. She heard the tension in his voice anyway.
"Yeah, well. Let's check it out anyway, there might be survivors."
She wanted to tell him that there were no survivors, or where they were if by some miracle some had managed to hide, but contacting human minds was still beyond her, for the moment.
Ronon grunted his opinion of the likelihood of anyone surviving the attack, which didn't seem to be high. Teyla privately agreed with his assessment, but had other things on her mind at the time. Such as…
"There are Wraith nearby."
It was a common enough statement coming from her, and got everyone's attention. But it became a distraction when she went on to give more detail than she ever had before.
"Four of them. Three drones and…" She took off at a run. "He has found survivors. He is looking for something among them…"
McKay and Ronon stared at her; Ronon recovered first and chased after her, though he didn't ask why she was running or how she knew. Sheppard was pulling up alongside her and just following her lead, shaking his head.
He more than likely guessed by what route she had gained her newfound skill, and if he wasn't happy about the source he could not argue with the results.
Teyla shouted, something incomprehensible and instinctive, but the real attack was neither by voice nor by P-90 but straight from her mind. A shriek of defiance and fury and if Michael had winced at the volume of her contact before he would have been deafened by it now. Which was, of course, the point. The leader dropped, and all the drones turned to point their weapons at her. And she stopped.
If she had been on her own then, she realized, she would have been dead. Not a tactic to use when she was without backup.
Ronon's pistol knocked down one, then two. Sheppard's gun sounded next to her, dropping the third drone, and when she didn't hear a second P90 join the chorus she assumed Rodney was hanging back and letting the fighters work. It was with both relief and surprise that she realized it was his voice she heard next.
"Come on, come on, this way, let's let the big guys…" something. She couldn't make out the rest of what he said. The other Wraith, a scientist it seemed to her, was pulling to his feet.
Michael had told her, more than once, that she would make a formidable Queen.
[Sit. DOWN.]
The Wraith sat abruptly on the ground, looking both shocked and ridiculous.
"Teyla…" There was a clatter around her. She refocused her gaze, saw John keeping Ronon from shooting the Wraith. "What are you doing?"
"I believe I can learn what he was doing here, why he was attempting to capture prisoners rather than simply … cull and leave. If you would give me a little time…"
And now everyone was staring at her. Sheppard with somewhat more intensity than Ronon, which was impressive. "Are you sure? You remember what happened last time…"
"I have been …" Practicing. She didn't want to say that, not in front of the others, not when she would have to explain what she meant. "I am sure, yes."
"You're not staying here alone with that thing."
She opened her mouth to contradict Ronon when Sheppard interrupted. "No, she's not. I'll stay with her and shoot him if he so much as twitches, you and McKay get those people out of here, just in case the Wraith come back."
Teyla still didn't look around. She didn't have to, not to hear Ronon growling under his breath, not to know that her friend did not like that plan at all. "Sheppard…"
"Ronon. Do as I say, all right? Get to the Jumper, get everyone on board. McKay can come pick us up if any Wraith decide this guy's been taking too long and come looking for him."
It sounded like a weak excuse, even to her. She was a little surprised when Ronon followed McKay back to the jumper with no audible protest and only a couple of backward glances. Sheppard came up alongside her just as her command was starting to wear off, or as the Wraith was starting to decide that he might be able to ignore her, or whatever it was. She still wasn't entirely sure how this would work.
[Stay there.]
He looked surprised, again. He also looked angry.
"Teyla…" Sheppard's voice was low, tense. "Not to bother you or anything, but are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"I am sure…" she started, and then forgot to finish her sentence as she switched from vocal to mental speech. [What were you doing here? Tell me.] She made it echo, the way Michael had. She made it a command with no option of refusal. She was Queen here, and as far as he was concerned he had no other. If she was frightened of that sort of thinking she did not let herself dwell on it.
Fortunately Sheppard took her half-sentence for a whole one, and left her alone. Teyla took another breath and increased the pressure on the Wraith scientist's mind. And the volume on her words. [Tell. Me.]
He told her. He didn't have a choice. She didn't leave him one.
By the end of it she turned away and made some sort of gesture to John that could have meant anything, but which Sheppard took for a request to shoot the bastard. His word, not hers. She was shaking, sweating, feeling a little sick to her stomach at what she had done and at what the Wraith had been planning to do to his human captives.
"We should go…" she said, grateful for the hand up as Sheppard assisted her to her feet and practically hovered the whole way back to the Jumper. "Colonel Carter will want to hear about this."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they try this already?" Carter frowned, leaning forward and looking more at Teyla than at anyone else. "And…"
"My ancestors were given the ability to sense the Wraith, yes." Teyla shook her head. "I believe it is because of the war with the Replicators. They are reaching for any and all weapons that might be used, including making the feeding process more efficient and more …"
"Streamlined?"
Everyone looked at Rodney.
"What?"
Carter sighed, eyeing Ronon, who was shifting in his seat. "Was that scientist the only one performing these experiments?"
Teyla shook her head slightly, worried, and impatient. And trying not to show the impatience, when even Sheppard and Carter would not understand why. "I do not know. It is possible that the Wraith have become more unified, given a common enemy, and that they are working together on this and other experiments."
"That's a cheerful thought," Sheppard shook his head. "I don't know how we're going to find out, though."
No one looked at Teyla. No one looked at Rodney, either, although he immediately started griping about having to fix all the impossible problems. Far from being the mild annoyance that it usually was, it actually made Teyla smile a little.
"Well, think on it and let me know," Carter said, which seemed so far to be code for 'we'll have a meeting in a day or so, be ready with ideas.'
Teyla had ideas. She had a number of them; the only problem was that very few of them had anything to do with finding out more about what experiments the Wraith might be conducting, and what defenses they might be bringing to bear against the Replicators. More to do with how she would get in touch with Michael and how they might be able to turn this experiment to their advantage.
Which bothered her, when she stopped to think about it. Almost as much as what she had done to the Wraith scientist. And what was she turning into, that she was thinking these thoughts and making these sorts of decisions? Someone who put herself ahead of the welfare of …
Teyla shook her head, stalking down the hall more quickly, towards the gym. If nothing else she could work herself into exhaustion and thereby ensure that she would sleep that night. If nothing else.