A Legacy left Behind - Initial encounters

Part 4

He hesitated here, because he didn't know how to put into words the compulsion that took control of him that directed all his actions from there on. The help came from Colonel Sumner, surprising Sheppard.

"This is probably where your biological imperative took hold. Basically your ATA gene came online and one of its rather strong side effects is the urge to annihilate anything Wraith-related. Don't worry son, you will get the full lecture in the near future. Do go on and tell us what you felt and what you did then."

With a grateful nod towards the Colonel, John continued his narrative;

"Like you said Sir, Things started to feel weird just then. Everything sort of came into sharp focus and all my senses sort of elevated to a very high degree. I was on auto-pilot when I landed my bird near the downed Hawk and armed myself. By then everything else was faded to background and in my mind unimportant, the survivors were already piling out of the bird and I could not stop to check on any of them. By then I had three clear targets, a male and a female, 100 yards off to the South of me and a creepy crawly bug/baby/spider hybrid thing that was crawling towards them in a hurry."

The dread, the guilt and the nausea he had been pushing away resolutely whenever he cast his mind back to it-since he woke up in Antarctica, came back in full force. He hadn't had the time to properly dwell over his actions as he was occupied from the moment he was awake back at the Outpost. He realized that he still didn't know what happened to the survivors of that unfortunate accident.

"Continue, Sheppard." The order was soft and full of understanding, yet firm.

So he continued, doing his best to keep his voice flat and face neutral.

"I engaged them from a distance first- opened up with the carbine and emptied a full load on both of them but that didn't do anything to them. The male alien- charged me and I stabbed it on the neck and shot its right palm with my hand-gun, the palm with the mouth-like opening, neutralizing it."

"Sheppard, can you describe them, what exactly these Wraiths looked like?"

The question came from Colonel Mitchell. And it was significant for some reason; if the laser-focused looks pointed his way were any indication.

"Well, they were very thin and very tall, easily over 6 and 1/2 ft. They moved way faster than humans and were obviously bullet resistant. They both had kind of long faces, pasty pale, cat like eyes, flat noses and mouths full of pointy teeth. Long white hair that looked slimy. Oh, and really nasty breath. And, um, one of them had, um, curves and, um, breasts and a sort of shrill voice, so I assumed female."

John finished, blushing slightly avoiding looking at anyone. He heard snickers from both Mitchell and Carter.

"Major Sheppard, can you tell us the significance of the way you attacked? How did you know to do that?" The question was from Dr. Lam and she had an intense look on her face. He realized that everybody was staring at him raptly, in varying degrees of alarm and fascination.

"Like I said Doctor, the compulsion that took over my mind sort of gave me all the information. I could see the attack points as if I had an HUD on me. I can't really describe it except to say that I knew what to do and how to do it."

"Sounds like basically your online experience came with some genetically stored information about the Wraith as well. This is extraordinary. I must consult with Dr. Beckett about this at the first opportunity." The doctor had a gleam in her eyes that made Sheppard want to squirm.

"I need to sit down with him and go through all the weak points of the Wraith, their biology and everything else he can tell me about them as soon as possible Jack." Lam directed the last at the General who looked like he wanted to squirm as well.