Happy Reading!
><><
Misbegotten Cont.
><><
Kai had been absolutely right. Despite her exhaustion, thoughts of John and their conversation kept replaying over and over in her mind until she finally gave up on sleep. It was four-thirty when she made her way down to the mess for a cup of tea and some breakfast before she got started for the day.
Kai had grown accustomed to seeing Colonel Caldwell in the mess so early. It was normally just the two of them. Rather than forming a comradary they had worked to avoid one another as much as possible. Caldwell often stayed out at the far end of the mess near the balcony while she prepared her tea in the kitchen. What surprised her today however was the sound of two heartbeats out in the dining area.
"May I join you?" an unfamiliar male voice asked. Kai frowned as she struggled to identify who else would be moving around so early.
"Of course, how are you settling in Mr. Woolsey? You're up early," Caldwell commented, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I'm not sure about this uniform," Woolsey confided. "And I never did settle into a sleep schedule on board the Asgardian ship."
Intrigued by why the IOA agent would be talking to Caldwell in an unofficial capacity Kai continued to go through the motions of preparing her breakfast all the while listening to their conversation. It wasn't really eavesdropping if she wasn't working at listening in, it wasn't her fault they chose to have the conversation within easy hearing distance of a Mortii.
"You'd stand out more in a suit and tie," Caldwell said. "Being on planet with a sunrise and sunset will help with the sleep."
"Believe me I have done enough of these investigations to realize no amount of camouflage is going to disguise who I am or what I'm doing here," Woolsey said grimly, looking down at the orange in his hands.
"Are you expecting something less than full cooperation?" Caldwell asked with feigned innocence.
"We're just having a conversation," Woolsey said with a shrug as he worked on pealing his orange.
There was something about the IOA agent's quiet insistence that put Kai on edge. She moved her cup to the counter closer to the dining room and strained to hear Caldwell's response. Political games were familiar enough from her time among the Mortii. The Zian caste were typically more straightforward than most, but the backstabbing to get to the top was nothing new and she couldn't shake the fact that Caldwell was potentially after Sheppard's job.
Caldwell snorted and shook his head. "As commander of the Daedalus, I have standing orders to help out around here whenever possible, but I am not a member of the expedition. I don't answer to the IOA and unless otherwise directed by my superiors I don't have to answer your questions."
A small greasy smile pulled at Woolsey lips. He was on the hunt now. "The only reason that you are not the military commander of Atlantis is that Doctor Weir insisted that post go to Colonel Sheppard, if she were to leave...you would be the most likely candidate to take over."
Caldwell froze, and Kai breathed a sigh of relief when he proved himself smarter than what she or Woolsey had given him credit for. "That's not why you're here. The IOA doesn't really want militarization they're just afraid they might not have another choice."
Woolsey cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the direction the conversatoin had gone. "I think you've already spoken to Doctor Weir," he said stiffly.
A pleased smile crossed Caldwell's face and he folded his arms over his chest. "No, I've just been around long enough to know what's going on."
"Sounds like you're saying you won't come out against Doctor Weir only because you're not confident of the outcome," Woolsey said taking a bite of orange.
Caldwell leaned towards Woolsey, the Colonel's imposing size made Woolsey tighten, but Kai had to give the man credit, he didn't back down. "What I'm saying Mr. Woolsey, is have a pleasant day." Caldwell took two steps and paused as though an idea had just struck him. "Oh," he said turning back to Woolsey. "And a word to the wise..."
Woolsey arched a brow, encouraging the Colonel to continue.
Caldwell smirked. "A Mortii can hear a whisper at about a hundred yards." Then he turned and caught her eye in the kitchen, flashing her a knowing smile before he sauntered out.
Woolsey turned to face her, looking shocked for only a second before he narrowed his eyes. His displeasure at being overheard evident on his face. Kai cringed. Eavesdropping probably wasn't the best first impression.
><><
Kai had been working on one of the control room terminals all day. The sensors had been faulty on and off for the last couple days and she took the opportunity to fix them and avoid Woolsey as much as possible. She debated whether or not she should warn John of their interaction that morning, but she hadn't found a moment alone with him. He had been tied up in meetings with Woolsey all day.
She was just tightened down a screw when she felt a flush of anger. Her screwdriver slipped and she grunted in surprise and her eyes flashed over to where she heard Sheppard and Woolsey step out of the conference room. Though John's face was composed as he shook Woolsey's offered hand she could feel his rage pounding in her chest. She wished there was something she could do to help, but after the disastrous first encounter she figured keeping her distance and not drawing attention to herself was the best thing she could do for everyone.
She slid out from under the panel and reactivated the terminal. It powered back to life and immediately started flashing and beeping. She scanned the screen and her eyes widened. "Sheppard!" she called without thinking as her fingers flew across the keyboard.
John happily took any excuse to end the conversation with Woolsey. "What is it?" he asked striding towards Kai.
"It's a hive ship..." she said her fingers flying over the keyboard as she ran the calculations. Weir, McKay, Ronon, Teyla and Woolsey all joined them around the terminal.
"Heading this way?" John asked.
Woolsey's face visibly paled and he took a step back. Suddenly his sense of superiority was lost in the face of the Wraith.
"No," Kai said with a frown, she hit a few keys and the image appeared on the overhead screen so everyone could see. "On it's current course it's headed straight for the planet where we left Beckett and the prisoners."
"There's no reason for the Wraith to be interested in that planet," John said grimly. "There is no stargate and it never supported a human population. It is completely off the grid."
Woolsey cleared his throat and stepped up in front of everyone. Commanding their attention. "I think we have to consider the possibility that we have a leak," Woolsey said. His eyes touched over Ronon, Teyla and settled on Kai. His meaning was clear.
John stiffened but the others didn't react. He crossed his arms over his chest and tightened his jaw, but managed to keep his mouth shut.
"You mean a spy," Ronon drawled, though his tone was casual there was a dangerous undertone to it that made Weir shoot him a warning look.
Woolsey made a point of ignoring the intimidating Satedan and turned to Weir. "Without ruling anything out, I would begin with our contacts within the various indiginous populations. Including-"
"If you believe any Athosians-" Teyla snarled defensively.
Weir held up her hands placatingly. "Let's not jump to any conclusions here."
Woolsey looked over the three aliens standing before him. "Isn't it true that there are indigenous humans in this galaxy who serve the wraith, even worship them? How hard would it be for one of them to infiltrate Atlantis? Or one of our allied groups?" He challenged.
Ronon's jaw was like steel, John rested a hand on Teyla's arm to stop her from saying anything she might regret and Kai crossed her arms over her chest but kept silent.
Sensing the rising tension in the room Elizabeth quickly spoke up.
"Mr. Woolsey, do you think we post this kind of information on the city bulletin board? What you are implying is that those closest to us are somehow guilty of this."
Woolsey looked back over the group once more, assessing each one of them in turn as though he were trying to decide which of the three was the spy. He stared into Kai's face longer than the others. He impressively held her gaze despite the danger promised in her storm gray eyes.
McKay made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. "If the Wraith had that kind of inetel they would be on their way to Atlantis, not some nameless planet with a couple hundred people on it," he said dismissively.
Elizabeth spoke up before Woolsey could again. "For the time being we need to focus on getting those people out of there, because if the Wraith find them and figure out what they are..."
"We've got a problem," John agreed. "Again," he added grimly.
"How much time do we have?" Ronon asked.
Kai frowned down at her screen. "Two days."
"You could get there on the Daedalus," Woolsey suggested importantly.
Kai shook her head. "Their hyperdrive is still offline. Hermoid needs at least another twenty-four hours.
John's jaw was tight. The Asgardian had been nothing but difficult during the whole repair process. If he had been more of a team player the ship would have been finished days ago. "Maybe if we light a fire under his boney little-"
"That still might not be quite good enough," ELizabeth quickly interrupted John. Feeling something like a second grade school teacher trying to control a rowdy class.
"What if we leave right now in the Hive ship?" John asked turning to McKay and Kai.
"We would be cutting it close," McKay said.
"What are our chances of surviving a ship to ship encounter?" Elizabeth asked.
McKay screwed up his face thoughtfully. "If I can get the manual interface working I'd say less than slim..."
"Do what you can Rodney," Elizabeth said with a nod.
McKay stood, he caught Kai's eye and jerked his chin towards the door. "Back to work."
><><
Kai was chosen to accompany AR-1 on their mission to save Beckett and the others primarily because she was one of the few who was both useful in a fight and could help repair the Hive. She and McKay worked the whole way to the planet, trying to get systems back on line as quickly as possible.
"I believe we have arrived," Teyla called from her place at the controls. She still had her eyes closed as she focused on navigating.
"Do we have weapons yet?" Sheppard asked impatiently as he paced across the bridge. He hated feeling helpless and all he could do on this journey so far was stand around and wait.
"Sort of," Kai hedged.
"What does that mean?" Sheppard asked with a frown.
McKay scowled. "It means we can fire, just not in any particular direction," he clarified.
"Well you're going to have to do better than that," Sheppard snapped at McKay.
"Oh believe me, no one wants to survive this mission more than I do," McKay assured him sardonically. "Look we're using up most of our power reserves to maintain the speed. We aren't going to have a whole lot left over to fight with."
"We're going this fast to avoid fighting," John reminded him.
"Theoretically," McKay muttered.
"Just-keep working," Sheppard snapped.
The ship groaned and shook as the engines shifted. All of them paused and held their breath, waiting to see if the ship would hold together under the strain. When nothing happened they all exhaled in relief.
"That's it, we're out of hyperspace," McKay reported.
John turned to Teyla who looked pale. "Are you all right?"
She nodded. "I believe I have been able to establish a stable orbit."
"Any sign of the other Hive ship?" John asked.
Kai looked over the sensors and shook her head. "No, we're clear."
"All right, patch me through to the camp," John ordered.
"Give me second..." McKay drew off.
The panel Kai had been using for a table lit up suddenly and she flinched back from it in surprise.
"That's weird," McKay said. He spun around to face Kai who shook her head.
"What is?" John pressed.
"A bunch of secondary systems just came online," McKay said offhandedly as he focused on the terminal in front of him.
"You're a genius Rodney!" Sheppard congratulated.
"True," McKay agreed but he was scowling. "But I didn't do it. It's like they just woke up by themselves."
"It's tied into the sensors," Kai said with a frown her fingers skimming over the controls. "The ship must have detected something and turned them on."
"Detected what?" John asked with a groan. He was sure he wasn't going to like her answer.
"Wraith life signs," Kai confirmed grimly.
"From the planet? How many?" John asked.
Kai chewed on her lip as she scanned the planet and quickly translated the data in her head. "Twenty to thirty."
"How many humans?" Ronon asked.
"Still well over a hundred," Kai told them.
"So some of them reverted," Teyla said. Her skin was pale and her hair was matted to her forehead, damp with sweat. Flying the Hive had taken a lot more out of her than they had anticipated. "What about Doctor Beckett and Lt. Morrison's team?" She asked.
Kai shook her head. "We have no way of didtinguishing them from the other life signs. We can't say for sure either way."
"Shit," John muttered. "Teyla you stay here with McKay. Ronon, Kai you're with me."
Teyla was so worn out she didn't even bother arguing being left behind. She nodded good luck to Ronon and Kai and watched as they strode after the Colonel towards the dart bay.
Kai and John were settling into the pilots chairs of the jumper they had brought with when John activates the comms.
"Could they have contacted the other ship? Teyla?" John asked as he quickly ran the preflight and lifted off.
Teyla's voice sounded tired even over the comms. "I suppose a large group of them working together could communicate across greater distances."
"Rodney, what about the fail safe device?" John asked. "What kind of radius are we looking at?" He asked as he flew towards the planet.
"Three miles," McKay responded without hesitation.
"We have no margin for error," John warned him.
"It's not like the blast damage will just stop at three miles," McKay snapped back.
"What about those that are still human?" Teyla asked.
"There's nothing we can do for them," Ronon said grimly.
"I suppose we could not incinerate them," Rodney added helpfully.
"If Michael got his memory back they could all know about Atlantis and how to find earth. we can't take a chance. Once we get our people out, we'll signal and you set off the nuke," John ordered.
"Colonel-" Teyla started to say.
"This isn't up for debate," John snapped. Heavy silence met his response and he glanced towards Kai. She hadn't expressed an opinion one way or another about the decision to blow up the remaining camp.
It was a difficult part of their potential relationship. This would always be a part of his job. It was the hard part, the part that kept him up at night, but it was his responsibility. Kai had never once expressed judgement on him for it and he just couldn't quite wrap his head around it. One day he expected her to stare into the face of The Colonel and be shocked or disgusted like everyone else had. Instead she continued to pilot the ship and scan the readings.
As though she could sense him she turned and met his gaze. Maybe she had been able to, he didn't know how all that Bond crap worked. There were no emotions on her face but she held his gaze and dipped her chin once so he would know she was with him.
He turned back to the controls with that warm feeling in his chest. He hadn't known what would happen after their talk the night before. He had pushed pretty hard and part of him was worried he would scare her away. But she was acting like nothing had changed between them, and it gave him hope.
They landed outside the camp and crept through the dark forest. As the approach the spotted Wraith guards outside the med tent. They each dispatched one silently. Kai went into the tent first while Ronon stood at the door and watched their backs.
Kai sucked in a breath as she stepped inside. Beckett was strapped to a gurney, his eyes closed. She dropped her hand to find the pulse at his throat.
"Beckett," Sheppard said, and he groaned and blinked against the bright lights overhead.
Kai frowned. "He's barely conscious."
"Let's get him on his feet," John said slicing through the restraints with his knife.
They grunted as the fought to pull Beckett up. The door opened and Kai tensed, but John had already leveled his gun at it. They both exhaled in relief when they saw it was Ronon.
"Did you find the others?" John asked when Ronon stepped into the tent.
Ronon helped take one of Beckett's arms over his shoulder. "They were fed on, not much of them left."
Kai led the way back to Jumper. By the time they had returned Beckett was fully awake and moving on his own.
John dropped into the pilots chair. "Rodney come in."
"What's happening?" McKay demanded.
"We got Carson, the others are dead. We're heading back. we're clear....now," John said as soon as Kai signaled him they had passed the three mile distance.
"Understood...fail safe detonation in 3-2-1"
Kai frowned when nothing happened. She turned to the HUD but nothing showed up.
"Rodney?" John called into the comm.
"I don't understand it," Rodney sputtered.
"What happened?" John demanded.
"You mean what didn't happen," McKay snapped sarcastically.
"You telling me the bomb didn't go off?" John asked.
"He got to it," Ronon growled. The identity of the 'he' clear by his tone.
"We can't leave those Wraith to be found by that Hive," Kai said grimly.
John nodded. "Get back to work on those weapons Rodney, we're not going anywhere."
They landed the Jumper in the dart bay and the four of them hustled back to the bridge. Teyla was standing back at the controls while Rodney ran from terminal to terminal trying to fix as much as possible.
"How are weapons?" John asked. Kai slid past him and picked up the tablet she had left plugged into the terminal. She quickly scanned the read outs.
"We couldn't hit the side of a barn," McKay snapped.
John shot him an incredulous look. "Hive ships are hundreds of times big-"
"A giant, flying barn, we couldn't hit that," McKay snarled.
John pressed his lips together as his thoughts raced. They had to destroy all evidence of that camp. "What about hitting a stationary target?"
"All motion in space is relative," McKay said.
"I'm talking about on the planet," John corrected. He wasn't in the mood for McKay's sarcasm.
"That we might be able to do," Kai said meeting Rodney's gaze. He nodded as his thoughts whirled. He moved over to the other control panel.
"Target the camp," Sheppard ordered.
"Wait just a minute!" Beckett exclaimed.
"We;ve had this discussion before Doc, it's our only choice," John said dismissively.
"We could go down in the jumper and take as many as possible," Beckett said. He looked over each of their faces, but no one was rising to the bait.
John shook his head. "We have no time, the other Hive ship will be here any minute and we won't survive a battle."
"There's still about a hundred men down there that believe we are their saviors!" Beckett exclaimed.
"They're about to become casualties of war," Ronon growled.
"It has to be done. Ready?" John asked turning to Kai.
She nodded.
"Fire," he ordered.
Rather than risk any guilt on his part, Kai activates the weapons system herself. She wouldn't lose a moment of sleep over eliminating the wraith threat. Not that she necessarily thought McKay would either, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
They staggered as something hit the hive.
McKay ran to the other control panel. "It's the other hive!" he yelled. "We're taking multiple hits!"
"What about the target?" John asked urgently.
"It's hard to say for sure how accurate our fire has been."
"Blanket the entire area, we can't afford a mistake," John ordered.
Kai nodded and continued to fire.
There was a large explosion and McKay reported. "Engines are off line, the hull has been breached and we are venting atmosphere, power is about to fail."
"Exac to the jumper!" Sheppard called. Ronon, Teyla, McKay and Beckett started running down the hall. Kai stayed until the last possible minute to make sure the threat was eliminated.
The ship shook once more. "Time to go," Sheppard said, he grabbed Kai's arm and the two of them ran for the dart bay.
McKay had already started up the Jumper but he happily stepped aside as Kai and John took their seats and lifted off. They just barely cleared the ship in time as it exploded. The shock wave threw the jumper out into space. Kai quickly cloaked the ship as John fought to right it and regain control.
An alarm went off from the scanners.
"What now?" McKay grumbled.
"The Daedalus just dropped out of hyperspace," Kai said.
"Daedalus this is Sheppard," John called.
Colonel Caldwell's voice came over the comms. "Sheppard where the hell are you?" He demanded.
"Oh, right, sorry," they decloaked revealing they were just off the larger ships bow. "You got here in good time Colonel," John said brightly. "We were looking at a long ride home."
><><
Once they had returned to Atlantis they all went their separate ways and headed to bed. They had all been running on very little sleep and now that the Daedalus was repaired and their Hive ship had been destroyed there were no outstanding projects. Caldwell set a course to head back to earth immediately and much to everyone's surprise Woolsey chose to take the ride back to earth.
Kai walked slowly through the hallway on her way back towards her quarters. John had gone to meet with Elizabeth and no doubt discuss Woolsey's findings. The interviews hadn't taken very long which was either very good, or very bad. Kai had been beating herself up for making such a bad impression but when she checked with Teyla and Ronon neither of them had been interviewed privately by him either.
Kai heard John's footsteps before she saw him. She turned just as he came around the corner.
He startled at the sight of her and chuckled. "Lurking?" He teased.
Kai snorted and nodded. "Just wondering if-"
"If Woolsey is going to shut us down?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kai nodded. She couldn't help feeling like she and Teyla and Ronon had so much more to lose. For the other members of the expedition this was a job. At worst they would be sent back to earth and reassigned. For the three of them this was their home.
"Just wondering if I'm about to be homeless," Kai tried to keep her tone light to match his, but she didn't succeed.
John cocked his head to the side and all humor fled from his face. It hadn't occurred to him how worried Kai had been about this. The burden of that worry was a shadow in her eyes. He felt like an ass. He should have picked up on it sooner and been more reassuring or something.
"No, not homeless," he promised taking a step closer to her. He had promised to give it a week while they both thought about what they wanted, but it was harder than he cared to admit to keep a professional distance. He wanted nothing more than to take her back to his room and gather her up in his arms and reassure her he would never let anything happen to her. He shoved his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't give in to the desire to touch her. "Woolsey is going to give a favorable report."
"Really?" Kai asked in surprise. That was not at all what she had been expecting.
"I know, shocked the hell outta me too," John said with a grin. "But he thinks we're the best people for the job."
"Wow," Kai said with a shake of her head, she felt almost giddy with relief. "Not just Weir but you as well?" She fought to keep the impish grin off her face but failed miserably.
John turned to reassure her once more but when he saw the gleam in her eye he narrowed his own playfully. "Hey," he teased. "I'll have you know I am a highly trained, highly regarded Colonel in the United States Air Force who-"
"Doesn't listen to anyone," Kai filled in quickly and laughed. Everything was going to be fine.
John threw back his head and laughed with her. "This coming from you!" He pointed out.
Kai nodded good naturedly. "You May have a point," she allowed.
"Usually do."
The boyish gleam in John's eyes made Kai want to close the distance between them. It was so rare for him to show this side of himself and be so open and genuine. The Colonel took up so much of who he was, she treasured every moment she saw of just John. She exhaled and realized just how scared she had been this would be taken from her. She would probably never believe she deserved this, but she would always be thankful for it.
"Sleep well Colonel," she said with a teasing smile. She needed to put some distance between them before she totally forgot about their agreement to wait out the week.
John's answering smirk made her think perhaps he knew why she was heading to her room so quickly. "You too Zian," he called after her.
><><
I hope you enjoyed the update!! I really struggled with these last two episodes but am SO excited for the next one!!! I'm planning on starting to write it right away!