Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

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"Two?" Elizabeth asked, feigning ignorance. Once again, following Kai's direction. It seemed if Kai would have faced the Mortii in combat and defeated her without Elizabeth's knowledge, Atlantis would be free of any responsibility, but if the death had been ordered from Elizabeth, it would be seen as an act of war.

The female took over the conversation without missing a beat. It made Sheppard think they worked together often. "The Zian standing at your side we did not originally know was here. The ship of the Xerxe was tracked through the Stargate on a primitive planet. There had been rumors of a Mortii hunting these last circulations. We followed the rumors and found the trail of the ship." She spoke slowly as though she were explaining to a child.

Kai could have kicked herself. She had not been very careful in concealing herself in her search for Ford. She had made her presence known in hopes of luring him out. With the empty Bond throbbing a hole in her chest, nothing had mattered, certainly nothing as simple as concealment. Her friends were now paying for her sloppy carelessness. It seemed she had drawn more than just their old friend out of hiding. It wouldn't have been hard to find her, and once they figured out where the fighter had gone, taking the gate addresses from the DHD on New Athos wouldn't have been very difficult. Most of those dialed would have been to Atlantis.

"What do you want?" Elizabeth asked, drawing her attention off of Kai and back to the matter at hand. Even Elizabeth didn't like the look they cast on Kai.

"We would take our Instruments and return to our planet," the male said. "The Xerxe is known for compliance and will have a reason for not returning," the male said a little dangerously, then their gaze slid to Kai. "The Zian was not known for their compliance and their behavior must be rectified."

'Rectified' sounded an awful lot like punishment to John. He took half a step forward, aggression in his posture. He wouldn't let them touch her, not even to protect Atlantis. He had already sacrificed Kai for the sake of his job and Atlantis. He wouldn't fail her this time.

Kai glanced out of the corner of her eye as she felt a spike in the Bond. The Bond was closed tight enough she couldn't be sure what was coming through, it was nothing as clear as feelings. She glanced at him sharply and resisted the urge to react. Sheppard spent so much time trying to contain all that he was, he put on a friendly face and told jokes, but in his heart he was a warrior. He wasn't bothering with the mask with the Mortii. She was glad of it, they would not mistake him for anything but the strong warrior he was. She felt a flare of something that may have been pride in her chest that her Bonded was strong enough that not even the Mortii would think to try him. She quickly squashed down the thought as she remembered

"Your Xerxe is not here," Kai said, finally deciding to was time for her to speak up. She didn't recognize either of the Mortii's standing before them, but that didn't mean much. She hadn't been well politically connected.

"Where are they?" the female asked carefully, no emotion in their voice.

"They faced me in combat," Kai said, and she reached back, touching both handles of her Blades.

"And they failed," the male observed with a scowl of disbelief.

Kai lifted her chin and met his eyes boldly. "Would you like to face me in combat?" she asked. It was a gentle question filled with quiet menace, it was meant to be rhetorical, although she wouldn't be upset if he chose to take it as a challenge. Her blood was pounding in her ears and her fingers tingled with the desire for action. Unable to maintain her control as tightly as she should, the Bond slid open and sent a nudge into John's chest.

John tried to contain his reaction, but something must have shown on his face. The female made a dismissive wave of her hand at the male, clearly telling them to leave it alone. Then they cocked their head to the side and studied both Kai and John carefully.