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It was the absence of sound that woke Kai, though she didn't realize it at first. She was warm and comfortable with the steady rhythm of John's heart beating loudly under her ear. She blinked awake quickly when she realized she was still curled against John's chest, though she didn't pull away. His deep steady breathing told her he was still sleeping and she didn't want to wake him. She doubted he had slept much since they had been taken by Ford and his men. He wasn't the type to rest when his team was in danger. Her cheeks heated when she realized he was actually holding her against him with his arms locked together. It wasn't the first time they had slept together, but the other times she had been injured. This felt different somehow.
There was a heavy metal whirling and John startled awake, his arms tightening around her for a second until he realized they weren't under attack. John slowly let his arms fall and scrubbed a hand over his face. He hadn't slept long, but the combat nap helped. He felt clearer than he had earlier. He looked down at Kai who was blushing furiously as she slid away from him. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing he could come up with was going to make the moment less awkward. He didn't like the awkwardness that was hanging between them, but he didn't know how to make it better and certainly not when they were prisoner aboard a Hive.
"What the hell was that sound?" John asked as the two of them climbed to their feet. "Did we blow a tire?" He joked half-heartedly.
Kai wouldn't look at him as she moved over to the wall. She lifted her small hand and rested it against the wall. The texture reminded her of clammy skin and she wrinkled her nose. "We've dropped out of hyperspace. I can't feel it anymore."
John stepped up to the bars, leaning against them so he could try and look down the hall, but there was no movement. "They must be getting ready for the culling."
"They're coming," Kai warned, her head snapping towards John.
"You sure?" he asked. He couldn't see or hear anyone. When he glanced over his shoulder towards her she shot him an incredulous look.
"Okay, okay," he said holding his hands up in surrender. He took a step back from the bars so he was standing closer to Kai. He knew she wouldn't appreciate him protecting her overtly, but it wasn't an instinct he could easily turn off.
Seconds later the heavy footfalls of the Wraith soldiers were audible even to him. Six Wraith guards appeared outside the bars. It seemed a little over kill to him, but when two hung back, leveling their stunners at him and Kai it was clear the Wraith were taking no chances with the two of them.
The door opened and the first two guards grabbed for Kai. She jerked back instinctually, but before she could attack the lead guard pulled a stunner and pressed it against her face. "I will use this if you don't come quietly."
John admired her fire, but there were too many Wraith for the two of them to fight, especially since they were unarmed. He stepped forward, putting himself between Kai and the guards so the stunner was pressed against his chest. "We'll come quietly," he agreed. Kai was close enough he brushed against her, bumping her lightly with his shoulder. There was an answering pulse in the middle of his chest and it reassured him to know they were on the same page.
The guards grabbed them by the arms and dragged them through the hive. John kept up easily, but Kai's legs were shorter and she stumbled over her feet. The guards picked her up and pulled her along, wrenching her arms painfully. She fought to keep quiet but the one on the left twisted her arm painfully and she whimpered.
John stiffened but he didn't look back. It felt like the guards were baiting them, trying to get them to react somehow and he couldn't let them see her as a weakness. If they knew hurting her would get a reaction from him there was nothing left to keep her safe. The wraith already had them at a disadvantage.
The guards brought them to the throne room. Kai scanned the room, quickly trying to identify possible exits. Kai's guards held her back by the door while the others shoved Sheppard back towards the main dais. He stumbled over his feet and hit his knees as the queen of the hive stepped from the shadows.
Kai tensed. She had never seen a queen in person before. The other guards were all treating her with a reverence that made Kai wonder if her position was tied into their religion as well. She wore a dress that hugged her curves with long drapping sleeves. Her skin was lighter than most of the wraith she had met before and smoother. Her long hair was silky smooth and she was better groomed. Hygiene seemed higher up the priority list for a queen than the soldiers.
"Shall we talk now?" The queen asked stalking around Sheppard. She let her fingers trail over his shoulders seductively and Kai tensed before she was able to get control of her emotions. The guard holding her clamped down on her arm hard enough for Kai to suck in a breath.
The queen turned to look at her. She cocked her head to the side curiously as she regarded Kai. Kai glared at her and the Queen sniffed the air. The Queen glided across the throne room to Kai. She bent at the waist so she could look Kai in the face. She reached out and picked up a section of Kai's hair and sniffed it. "A Mortii," she said and she closed her eyes as she sniffed again. A slow smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I've been told they taste as good as they smell. That their life force is the most powerful of all species."
The Queen turned back to Sheppard. "You keep interesting company human."
"Yeah well, I have all sorts of meaningful business relationships," Sheppard ground out. He hoped to convince the Queen they were mercenaries. It was the only plausible explanation for why a Mortii would attack a hive with a group of humans.
The Queen whirled back around, her eerie yellow eyes narrowing on Sheppard. "Is that so?"
Sheppard lifted his brows and flashed a cocky smirk. "Yep," he said. "Perhaps you would like to make us a better offer?" he asked as though they were negotiating and he wasn't on his knees with half a dozen stunners pointed at him. "We haven't found anyone who pay as well as the Wraith, isn't that right Kai?" John called, lifting his chin towards Kai. He needed her to understand his plan and fast.
Without missing a beat lifted her chin defiantly. "That's right," she agreed. She stiffened her shoulders as she adopted the air of confidence and indifference the Mortii had trained into her. It appeared Sheppard wanted them to look like powerful allies. She could do that.
The Queen narrowed her eyes dangerously glancing back and forth between Sheppard and Kai. "You lie," she snarled at Sheppard.
"Okay," John responded calmly as though he didn't care one way or the other. "But tell me this. How else could I get my hands on a dart? And who else could provide me with specific instructions on how to infiltrate your hive and destroy it?" he challenged in that casual way of his.
Kai had always admired his ability to think on his feet. The man was absolutely unflappable under pressure. Rage was building in the Queen's body but John was dead calm.
The Queen broke first. She snarled angrily and clenched her hands into fists. "Of which Queen do you speak?" she demanded.
John allowed a pleased smile to tug his face into a crooked grin. "You gotta have a window on this boat, don't you?" John asked smuggly. "Take a look. The other hive that joined you for the culling," he shrugged. "There's a lot more people to feed on when you don't have to share."
The Queen was in a rage. "I will speak to her of this," she snarled.
John shot her an incredulous look. "You don't really think she would admit to trying to have you killed, do you?"
"Enough!" she screamed and she held her hand beside John's temple. He opened his mouth in a silent scream and his knees buckled as pain exploded behind his eyes. "I shall savor your defiance!" she said pulling her hand back to slam it into his chest.
John felt a sudden hard thud in his chest and his eyes shot to Kai.
When the Queen moved to feed on John Kai saw red. She had to get to him. She tried to leap to her feet but the guards slammed her back to the ground painfully. She kicked out at the one to her left. Catching the joint of his knee just right. He went down, grunting in pain. There was a shot somewhere in the room, and she wondered if they had shot John to make it easier for the Queen to feed. Just as her second guard pulled back to shoot her a red blast caught him in the chest. His body crumpled and the guard on the ground was hit a second later. Kai swung around, immediately recognizing Ronon's gun.
Aidan charged into the room. He fired the gun at two more guards before he threw it to Sheppard. John caught the gun easily and whipped around taking out the last guard. John jogged to Kai, offering her a hand up. Her heart was still thundering in her chest, but when Ford approached them her face was an expressionless mask. He swung a backpack off his shoulder and dug inside. He pulled out a handgun, Kai's blade and her scarf. She gratefully took her weapons.
"How did you get our weapons back?" John asked tucking Ronon's gun into his belt as he took his.
Ford flashed a pleased grin at his former commander. "That was the easy part. Getting some more enzyme? That was hard."
The three of them moved down the halls. John took point with Kai right behind him while Ford watched their six. "You're one tough son of a bitch," John said leading the way down one of the side corridors. Ford stopped at the corner and turned back to face the way they had come.
"What are you doing?" Kai called to him with a frown. They were so close to getting out of there they couldn't stop now. John slowed, turning back to stand beside Kai.
Ford glanced over his shoulder. "Down that hall, 50 meters, turn left. It'll take you to Teyla and Ronon's cell. I'll hold the Wraith back for you."
John shook his head stalking back towards Ford. "No, no, you're coming with us."
Ford pinched his lips together as he stared into John's eyes. "I'll hold the Wraith back boss," he promised, his voice sounding more like the young lieutenant that had come through the gate with Sheppard. "Now go. I'll be okay. "
It went against everything John believed in to leave Ford behind, but they were running out of time. "I'm not going without you Lieutenant," John said firmly.
"John," Aidan said, clamping his hand on John's shoulder. "I'll catch up," he promised. They both flinched as the arm sounded, echoing through the halls. "Now go!" he said shoving them both. He turned and ran back the way they had come.
"Ford!" John yelled after him. "Ah crap," and the two of them ran down the hall Ford had shown them.
They turned the corner to see Ronon and Teyla standing at the front of their cell. Both looked pale, and had dark circles under their eyes but they were on their feet.
"Hey," Ronon greeted, his eyes running over Kai and Sheppard.
John nodded in greeting. "How about we bust you guys out of here?"
"If you don't mind," Ronon replied with a smirk.
John leveled Ronon's gun at the controls and fired. The bars peeled back. He smiled appreciatively down at the gun in his hand. "I gotta get me one of these," he said holding the gun out to Ronon who took it with a grin.
John pulled his hand gun and clicked off the safety.
Kai scanned the rest of the cell. "Where's Kanayo?" she asked with a frown. She didn't like the man, but they weren't about to leave anyone behind.
"Dead," Ronon said unemotionally.
"What about Aidan?" Teyla asked striding out of the cell.
John led the way down the hall. "He was alive the last time we saw him, so we're going to go with that."
"How are we going to get out of here?" Ronon asked.
"I have a plan," John assured them.
With the help of Kai's heightened sense of hearing the four of them made it most of the way to the dart bay without too much trouble. It wasn't until they turned the last corner that they encountered a small squad of soldiers. Teyla and Ronon took cover on one side of the hall, while Kai and John took the other.
Kai crouched down, while John stood over her. For the two of them, fighting together was as easy as breathing. They didn't have to speak, it was like they could read each other's mind. They emptied their guns into the two Wraith on their side. The first stayed down, but the second staggered to his feet and aimed his stunner at them.
Kai tossed her empty gun aside and it clattered against the floor.
"Kai," John called in a warning tone, but his voice was swallowed up by the sound of Teyla and Ronon firing their guns.
Kai ignored John's warning knowing they couldn't risk letting any of the guards get away and call for help. They needed to get out of there. She pulled her Blade and charged the Wraith. John let out another shout drawing the Wraith's attention and just managed to dodge the stunner shot as Kai spun up inside his guard slamming her Blade up under the guard's helmet. As he fell she gripped the knife so his body weight cleared the Blade. She bent down and wiped the Blade clean on his uniform.
"Right, clear" John said coming up behind her. He handed her her discarded gun. She took it and slid it away in her thigh holster.
"Running straight at the wraith a Mortii tactic I'm not aware of?" John asked wryly in a low tone so only she could hear. If they made it out of this one they were going to have to have a serious talk about acceptable risk taking on mission. He shook his head, thinking Kai was going to drive him into an early grave if she didn't get herself killed first. He stepped up to the bay doors, peering inside. There was more activity than there had been when they arrived.
"All right," John said ejecting the empty clip from his gun and sliding a new one home. "I'm going to steal a dart and fly us out of here. You guys stay here until you get my signal."
"Wait, this is your plan?" Kai asked incredulously. She wished she had pushed for more information sooner, but John was normally a master at getting them out of tight places.
John shot her a look of surprise. "Yeah, why?"
Kai stared at him like he was an idiot. "Because it won't be our dart."
"Don't really see how that matters," he said defensively.
"Well it does matter!" She grumbled agitatedly. "It's gonna have to be me flying now."
"Why?" John snapped.
Kai scowled at him, her eyes narrowing as her temper snapped in her storm grey eyes. "You can't read wraith," she spoke slowly, lifting her eyebrows as though he couldn't keep up.
"And you've never flown a dart," he said pointing at her chest.
A stunner shot hit the wall near them. Ronon whirled around and leveled his gun at the wraith, killing it with a single shot. "Can you two fight later? We need to go now!" Ronon snapped, raising his voice to be heard over their bickering.
A blush climbed its way up Kai's neck when she realized they had been bickering in front of Ronon and Teyla. She looked away. John however pressed his lips together in a grim line as he considered the fact that maybe Kai had a point.
"Team work makes the dream work," John muttered and he grabbed Kai's arm and pulled her behind him into the bay.
Kai hesitated when she realized his plan. "But, it's a single man fighter," she argued as he towed her along.
John grunted in agitation as she continued to fight him. "Nope. It's a single Wraith fighter," he corrected.
"There still aren't two seats," she snapped uncomfortably. Sleeping against him had been one thing, sitting on his lap while he piloted a dart was too much of an embarrassment.
"Guess we're gonna get cozy," John replied glibbly. He climbed up the stairs first, dropping down into the cockpit. "Are you going to get in or just stand there all day?" he asked a little sharply. He was trying not to think too hard about the prospect of holding Kai on his lap in such a small space. It wouldn't have been an issue if it was Teyla, so rationally Kai shouldn't be any different.
Kai climbed up the ladder after him, but hesitated just before climbing into the cockpit.
"Come on!" John said, holding his arm up to make room for her. "I don't bite."
Kai's eyes flashed to his and he immediately regretted his choice of words. They were running out of time and he didn't know what to say to her to make her feel better.
She was about to make an excuse and bow out when she felt that familiar gentle nudge. Her eyes snapped up to meet John's hazel gaze and she blew out a breath. She was being ridiculous and letting her emotions rule her. She threw a leg over the side of the ship and lowered herself into the cockpit. John's hands came up and landed on her waist as he guided her down to sit on his lap. The seat reclined more than the ones in the jumpers and Kai was forced to lean back against John's chest so his arms could come around her and access the controls.
John's fingers danced over the dash and Kai had to admire how quickly he picked up flying the dart. The man really was a great pilot, he could fly anything. John swung the dart around towards Teyla and Ronon and hit the red button on the touch screen as he went over them.
"I sure hope that worked," he muttered under his breath.
"It did," Kai confirmed as her eyes scanned the readout. "The data is showing two life signs."
"What else does it say," he asked as he turned the dart towards the bay entrance.
"What?" she asked, startling.
"The HUD? I'm flying blind here," he reminded her wryly. Once again, now that it was just the two of them things felt incredibly natural.
"Right" Kai said and she looked up at all the information. "These are other darts, and these are reading for the amount of space on either side of the dart. I'm guessing some kind of wraith unit of measure. Adjust your heading two zero degrees."
Kai exhaled a sigh of relief when they flew out of the bay. "We're clear of the hive," she reported.
"Great," John said through clenched teeth. His team was safe, but he could leave yet, not with the threat of a culling hanging over the small planet below them. He turned the small dart back towards the Hive, a plan already forming in his head. "Now we just need to save the planet."
John did a few complicated maneuvers to make sure he had a hang of the controls, then he opened fire on the hive.
Kai jerked up, her eyes scanning the readouts. "What are you doing?" She demanded. She was struggling to keep up with the speed of the words as they flashed across the screen. She was going to need to brush up on her Wraith.
"I told you, saving the planet. Don't worry, I've got a plan," he swung the dart around to the other side of the Hive and started firing straight into the dart bay.
Kai's body was tense in front of her and her jaw was clenched. "Is flying straight at the Hive a Lieutenant Colonel tactic I'm not aware of?" She huffed.
John's chest shook as he chuckled behind her and Kai wished she could stay mad at him.
"They are scrambling their darts," Kai warned as another readout flashed by.
"'Bout time," John grumbled and he swung their dart around towards the other Hive. "Let me know when we're in rang," he said.
Kai frowned but let him know as soon as they were close enough to open fire on the other Hive. Seconds later that Hive had scrambled their darts too. Soon he had the Hives opening fire on each other.
John dipped and dodged through the complicated structures of the Hives, firing as he went. He was staring to get the hang of the readout. Not that he could read Wraith, but he understood what it looked like when he got too close to something. Kai stiffened in his arms a number of times, but he tried not to notice. Once the Hives began attacking one another in earnest John turned the dart and began flying away.
"Where are you going?" Kai asked with a frown. "It's not done."
"It will be," John assured her. True to his word, wasn't another five minutes before alarms started beeping. "What's that?" he asked, hoping his theory was correct.
"Our home Hive ship was just destroyed and it took out the second one with it." Another alarm started and more words in Wriath flashed up, these ones in red.
"What in the hell is that?" he asked.
"Proximity alarm, we have an approaching shockwave," Kai reported. "Our inertial dampeners won't be able to compensate. Brace yourself."
The warnings became more and more urgent until it hit them. The ship snapped forward and Kai was thrown towards the controls. She reached out to catch herself, but there really wasn't anything she could grab her arms just weren't long enough to reach anything in the oversized Wraith fighter.
John's arms wrapped around her midsection and pulled her back against his chest. She sucked in a surprised breath but locked her hands around his forearms.
"Hold tight," John warned and his grip on her tightened as the tiny ship was tossed around. When it at last evened out they both froze, as they waited for another wave to come, but nothing did.
John cleared his throat uncomfortably as he let her go and reached for the controls. "Well, another successful escape."
Kai snorted and leaned back against his chest as she exhaled in relief. "If you call that a success," she said wryly.
He stiffened for a moment when Kai leaned into him, but soon relaxed as she exhaled and the tension left her body.
"What do you say we head home?" He asked.
Kai nodded. "Yes please." Kai leaned forward and ran her fingers over the controls. They brushed against John's a few times and it felt like an electric current was running between them. "The neatest Stargate is about ten hours away. I'm setting a course."
"Great," John said with a relieved smile and he turned the dart toward the Stargate. He hated to admit it, but flying with Kai was something he found incredibly relaxing. And now that they were out of danger he found himself enjoying the time just the two of them with no one's judgment hanging over them. He immediately shoved those thoughts away. Nothing had changed and they would be back on Atlantis soon.
John cleared his throat. "Why don't you get some rest first. I'll let you take over once I get tired." John offered.
Kai nodded. There really wasn't much else to do and it would save her from having to come up with conversation. "All right," she agreed. "Just wake me if you need me to read anything," she said gesturing up to the overhead read out.
"Will do." John agreed. "It's not like there's much to see out here anyway."
Kai leaned back a little bit more, forcing her body to relax against his. She had thought sleeping next to him in the cell was intimate but it had nothing on this. She could feel every line of his body against hers. She swallowed thickly as she tipped her head back and rested it on his shoulder. She closed her eyes.
It was a couple hours flight to the gate and John woke Kai as they got closer. He dialed the address of a safe planet and once they were through he rematerialied everyone in the middle of a grassy field. Then he landed the dart. He and Kai climbed out, he reached up and caught the sides of her waist, helping her down. Kai exhaled when John stepped back, giving her space.
Teyla and Ronon approached them. "Is everyone uninjured?" Teyla asked.
"We're good," John agreed with a nod.
"Let's get out of here," Ronon said heading back towards the Gate.
Kai dialed Atlantis, putting in her IDC. Teyla and Ronon stepped across the horizon first but John waited. His eyes moving over the tree line until Kai was standing beside him.
"Good?" He asked.
Kai nodded exhaustedly. "Let's go home."
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Hello friends! I hope you are continuing to enjoy John and Kai's adventures together! I'm in the process of deciding what to do next! There will probably be a bit of a fluff chapter between but I'm really looking forward to folding their story into some of the upcoming episodes! Any personal favorites?