Trish and the Wraith Enzyme

Nikki’s Page

This was  the first fanfic I  ever posted. One evening when Trish and I had both had a lot less sleep than was really good for us we started a rather strange conversation thread on the dGeek forum, which Kassandra joined in. Afterwards, when my brain was a little less fried, I realized I could turn it into a story. I posted the story on my original blog site, thinking that at least it would give Trish and Kassandra a laugh. Much to my surprise, the story quickly took on a life of its own, and people started asking for more.

I would like to thank Trish and Kassandra who gave me the idea for the story, Katie who let me use her as a character, and Barcardicider, who gave me the bubblebees.

Warnings

Will contain spoilers for Stargate Atlantis up to season 4 only

Disclaimers

This story was written for my friends the Squirrels at dGeek forum, and not for financial gain. The characters and locations from the Stargate universe are the property of MGM. The other characters are rather loosely based on my friends from dGeek, but are not intended to be accurate portraits.

Chapter list

• Part 1: in which Kassandra discovers Trish is in trouble
• Part 2: nothing goes according to plan.
• Part 3: Journey to the Lost City
• Part 4: Kidnapped!
• Part 5: Looking For Trish
• Part 6: Bubblebees
• Part 7: Finding Trish
• Epilogue

(artwork by Kassandra)

Part 1: in which Kassandra discovers Trish is in trouble

As a parent and a farmer, Kassandra was always a busy person, but that week had been particularly busy, with the arrival of the baby ducklings. So it was not surprising that she had not noticed anything was wrong. Trish had become a bit obsessed about voting for Rodney on an online poll, and had made some crazy comment about wraith enzyme. Kassandra was mildly concerned that her friend was not getting any sleep, but assumed the wraith enzyme was just a joke. She had probably just drunk too much coke. But then she saw the post by that new girl Nikki, who called herself welshgirl.

Apparently WG thought that Trish was in some sort of trouble, and was asking Kassandra to go on a mission to get some more. And she wanted them to take the jumper. Kassandra’s heart skipped a beat. Could WG possibly know about puddle jumper 6, the one that Dr Weir had given her after her gate team had helped to save John Sheppard and Rodney McKay. It was now parked up in the back of the goat shed, with the cloak switched on, and she was pretty certain nobody knew about it except for the gate team, and Trish of course.

Kassandra remembered that WG and Trish had become pretty friendly lately, and wondered if Trish had told her anything. If WG knew about the puddle jumper, then she might have known about the mission to search for Lt Ford, and about the packets  of enzyme that were still stowed in the back of the jumper…. Oh no, Trish could have taken the enzyme!

Kassandra rushed to the barn and used her ATA gene to open the jumper door. Sure enough, the seats of the jumper had been pulled back, and the small refrigerated box powered by an ancient power source was missing. Not for the first time, Kassandra regretted giving Trish the ATA gene therapy. She could still remember how sick she had been the one and only time she had let Trish drive.

Kassandra searched the web forums to see if her gate team was on line, but noone was about. This left only one choice, she would have to ask WG for help. This worried her, because she hated taking a newb on a mission, but WG was one of the older squirrels, a single parent, so presumably she could be counted on to be sensible?

Half an hour later, she had tracked WG to a small village in North Wales. The woman was a little younger looking than she had expected, with short bobbed blond hair, and green glasses. She did not seem too surprised to see the jumper, so confirming Kassandra’s suspicion that Trish had told her everything. There was a small delay whilst WG searched for a neighbour to watch her young son Adam. When WG finally climbed into the jumper and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat, they both got a shock, as the console lit up with a blue light.

“OhMyGod!” exclaimed WG, “did you see that Kassandra, the console just lit up like a christmas tree!”
“It only does that for someone who has the ATA gene. Did Trish give you the gene therapy” she asked suspiciously.
“No, Trish and I have not actually met before, we just talked to eachother by email! Does this mean….?”
“That you’re a natural gene bearer? There is no other explanation. I will have to report this to the SGA. But first we have to save Trish.”

When they arrived in Florida, it was dark. They were met at the door by Jeremy, Trish’s husband, who looked worried. They found Trish on the floor in the Kitchen, shaking.  Her normally curly red brown hair was flattened and damp with sweat, and her suntanned skin had taken on a greenish hue. On the table were two empty enzyme packets, beside the laptop that was switched on, the browser open at the MGM SGA site.

Kassandra asked WG for the med-kit. She took out a syringe and quicky administered a tranquiliser. Trish stopped shaking, and fell asleep. Kassandra told Jeremy they would have to keep Trish in the back of the jumper until the enzyme left her system. Carefully they carried her into the back compartment, which was full of soft pillows and blankets.

In the front of the jumper, Kassandra looked grim.
“Is she going to be…..” WG’s voice broke, and she could not finish the question.
“I’m sorry WG, she’s taken far too much of the enzyme. We need more to wean her off it, but there just isn’t any more left.”
“Isn’t there anything else we can do for her?” WG sounded frustrated, and a bit scared.
“Well there is a chance, but you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
“Of course.”
“We can take her to Dr Keller in Atlantis. She has more experience with wraith enzyme than me.”
“Atlantis? Seriously?” WG looked stunned.
“Where did you think I got the jumper from?”
“Oh!” WG’s eyes opened really wide. For the first time since she had seen WG’s post, Kassandra felt like laughing, but she did not want to upset her new team mate.
“So let’s go already.”
Kassandra smiled, and with her mind she instructed the jumper to take off. Next stop, Atlantis!

*******************************************************

Part 2: nothing goes according to plan.

It had all sounded so easy when Kassandra had explained it to WG . Take the jumper to Atlantis, find Dr Keller, save Trish. Except this was real life, and so nothing was ever that simple. For a start, they had to take the jumper across the US from Florida, to the SGC in Colerado Springs, avoiding the flight paths of numerous commercial aircraft. Then they had to hover above the Cheyenne mountain whilst they waited for permission to take the jumper into the gate room. But the biggest problem they encountered was getting permission to use the gate.

It turned out that only General Landry could authorise them to use the gate bridge to Atlantis, and he had already left the SGC for the night, leaving orders that he could only be disturbed in the case of dire emergency.  He would not be back for 12 hours, time that Trish did not have. Kassandra was not a Doctor, but from past experience she was guessing there would only be 10 more hours before the enzyme broke down. The only hope left was for Dr Lam, chief of medicine in the SGC. The duty sergeant called for medical orderlies to collect Trish and take her to sick bay. Kassandra rushed off after them, and WG followed more slowly, stifling a yawn. She looked at her watch, which was set to English time still. It read 3am, which explained why she felt so tired. WG found herself wishing for a dose of wraith enzyme herself, although she would have settled for a coke, or maybe a sweet black coffee.

Dr Lam took one look at Trish, and rushed her to the examination room. She quickly examined her, and turned to Kassandra with a grim look on her face.

“I’m afraid the prognosis is not great, the enzyme is breaking down in Trish’s body, putting strain on her heart, liver and kidneys. Without treatment she has no more than 9 hours left. However, we do have a few enzyme samples that were sent back from Atlantis. I think there will be enough if we spit it into three doses.”

Kassandra sighed in relief. At least her friend still had a chance. At that point WG yawned, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Kassandra suddenly remembered the time difference between Colerado springs and Wales.

“Hey WG, you OK?”
“I’m fine, just a bit tired.”
Dr Lam looked concerned.
“You do look exhausted, why don’t I find you somewhere to sleep?”

Dr Lam called a nurse over, and asked her to find somewhere for WG to sleep. After they left, Dr Lam prepared the first dose of the wraith enzyme, and gave it to Trish. The effect was almost immediate. The colour returned to Trish’s cheeks, and her breathing and heartbeat became more normal. Dr Lam looked at Kassandra.

“You look a little tired yourself Kass, why don’t you catch some sleep with WG? You won’t be any use to Trish tired.”
“What if she wakes up?”
“Don’t worry, I gave her some sedative, so she won’t be waking up any time soon.”

Kasssandra could see the sense in that, so she wandered off in the direction WG and the nurse had gone, in search of some rest.

With hind site, Kassandra should have realised it could not be that easy. So she should not have been surprised when 5 hours later, she was woken by WG shaking her urgently. For a second Kassandra did not realise where she was, or recognise the face of the person who was trying so hard to wake her. Then suddenly, the memories fell into place, and she looked up at the worried expression on WG’S face.

“It’s Trish, she woke up about an hour ago,  took the rest of the wraith enzyme, and ran off. They found her in the gate room, trying to dial out to the Pegasus galaxy. She was going to go after more enzyme herself. “

Trish was in one of the SGC holding cells, pacing the floor, looking wired. The duty guard let Kassandra in, but insisted on accompanying her. Trish looked at the guard with contempt.

“You might as well leave him outside. Right now I could take him out with one hand tied behind my back”, Trish laughed, but there was a hysterical note to it Kassandra had not heard before. This was not her friend, this was a stranger.

“You have to get me outta here Kass. I need more enzyme.”
“I’m sorry Trish, you took it all. Our only hope now is the Pegasus Galaxy, and only General Landry can authorise that.”
“So ask him already.”
“We will, as soon as he gets back. But you have to understand Trish, you can’t go on like this. You have to let us wean you off the enzyme.”
“No!” Trish exclaimed. “You don’t understand, I feel stronger, more alive. I don’t need sleep. I have to get back to the poll. I have to keep voting”
“Trish, it’s just a poll. Tomorrow they will probably be voting on something else. But Allie and Erin need their mum back.”

For a moment, a guilty expression flickered across Trish’s face. Allie and Erin, the two most important people in Trish’s life. They needed her to be there for them, to be strong. But then her enzyme twisted thoughts turned to the things she knew were out there, the Ori, the Wraith. How could she protect her family without the enzyme to make her strong?

A sudden thought crossed Trish’s mind. All she had to do was sound reasonable, and Kass would take her where she wanted to go, to get the enzyme she craved.

“OK Kass, you win, I’ll do what you want.”

Kassandra  was not sure she bought it, but it was the best she was going to get., so she left the cell, to fetch WG and prepare for the trip to Atlantis ……..

*********************************************************

Part 3: Journey to the Lost City

Somehow, WG had managed to get back to sleep, only to be shaken back awake by Kassandra a few hours later. General Landry had finally approved their mission to Atlantis, and they would be leaving in less than an hour. Midway station was being rebuilt after the battle with the wraith, but luckily there had been a request for urgent medical supplies, so the general was willing to use the ZMP to dial the lost city direct.

In the gate room, the jumper was already in place. The med team had loaded the supplies into the back of the jumper and were getting settled. Trish was seated next to a large med tech, who was keeping a wary eye on her. WG followed Kassandra into the jumper and climbed into what she was starting to think of as her copilot’s seat.

“OK Kassandra, you are clear to dial Atlantis.”
Kassandra pressed the large buttons on her console, although she knew the symbols so well she could have dialled them with her mind.  As the last cheveron locked,  WG was startled by the kerwoosh of a wormhole being created.  WG was mesmerised by the ripples on the surface of the event horizon, like the surface of a lake on a sunny day. It suddenly hit her that they were actually going to travel through this gate, to another galaxy, with all manner of dangers. She swallowed hard at the thought that it might turn out to be a one way trip. At least Adam was safe with her neighbour until her brother came to collect him. WG hoped she would see him again. Kassandra started the jumper with a single thought, and it moved forward into the unknown.

The other side of the gate, there was a crowd of people waiting for them. The medical team got out first, and started handing the various crates of supplies to the waiting Atlantis medics. Dr Keller carefully picked her way through the crowd and climbed into the jumper.

“Hi Kassandra, glad to see you again”
“Hi Jennifer. I think you met Trish already, and this is WG, my new co-pilot”
“Nice to meet you WG. So Trish, I hear you are causing everyone a lot of trouble.”
“It’s ok doc, I promised to be good. So lets get to the infirmary already.”

Kassandra had to park the jumper to clear the gate room, so she asked WG to go with Trish and Dr Keller. She would follow them later after she filled Col Carter in on the situation.

As WG left the jumper, she could not help staring around her, at the gate room. Somehow it was bigger than she had imagined, more like a cathedral than an alien space port, with the multicoloured stained glass windows casting their dappled light. Apart from the medical staff, there did not seem to be any sort of welcome committee. WG was disappointed as somehow she had imagined that Col Sheppard and his team would be there to greet them.  Dr Keller took them to a transporter, which led directly to the infirmary.

It appeared that their luck was improving, as it turned out that Dr Keller did have sufficient supplies to wean Trish off the enzyme. It appeared that Trish was resigned to her fate, but Dr Keller wanted to keep her under observation, in case of any complications. Kassandra decided to take WG on a tour of the city. However WG realised they had not had any breakfast at the SGC, so they decided to start the tour at the Atlantis canteen.

Fortunately WG had never been picky about food, because the canteen food on Atlantis reminded her of school dinners. She grabbed a bowl of some brightly coloured cereal called Frooties, which reminded her of Cherios back home. Kassandra spotted a friend, a young nurse called Katie, who had recently come out with the Deadolas. Katie had been one of Kassandra’s friends on from the ADB forum, before Kassandra had recommended her for a job to Col Carter. Katie was a lot younger than WG, with short dark hair, and she seemed to be the expert on Atlantis gossip. She told them that Col Sheppard and Ronon had taken a gate team and were searching for Teyla, who had been kidnapped by the half wraith Michael. Rodney had been left behind to recover from a broken collar bone. As she mentioned Col Sheppard, Katie’s eyes lit up, and it was obvious to WG that the young nurse had a crush on the handsome pilot.

At that moment a young soldier came up to their table with a message to call Dr Keller in the infirmary, urgently. Wondering what trouble Trish had got herself into this time, they rushed to the nearest transporter . When they arrived, the news was even worse than they had expected. Trish had managed to overpower her guards, steal a wraith stunner, and worse of all had kidnapped Dr Rodney McKay, who was still recovering from his broken collar bone.  She had three packets of enzyme and was last seen heading for the gate room.

*******************************************************

Part 4: Kidnapped!

Trish waited until Kassandra and WG had left with Dr Keller. She was in a small room with a bed and a small cabinet, on top of which someone had left a glass of water. She knew there would be guards posted outside the door, but she was confident in her ability to take them out. The burning, itching craving for the enzyme was throbbing through every part of her body. Silently she commanded the door to open with her mind, noticing that her control of the artificial ATA gene appeared to be improving. There were two guards, but she caught them by surprise, and quickly disabled them. They were not badly hurt, but their egos would be bruised when they woke up.

Trish’s plan was simple, to get to the jumper bay, steal a jumper and escape Atlantis. She had the gate coordinates in her head for a couple of planets, and was hoping to find out the rest from the computer on the jumper. However, as she passed the door of the next room, an unexpected opportunity presented itself. Dr Rodney McKay was due to have an X-Ray of his broken collarbone, to confirm if it was healed. He was waiting for the results of his examination, and hence was sitting alone in the room, all his concentration on the data tablet in front of him. He did not notice Trish sneak up behind him. Quickly she placed one hand over his mouth, whilst the other pinned his arms to his sides.

Rodney struggled against Trish but with her enzyme enhanced strength he quickly realised it would be a waste of time, and his body relaxed.

“Listen carefully” she whispered. “I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth, but you have to promise not to say anything. OK?”
Rodney nodded in silent agreement. Carefully removed her hand.
“What is the meaning of this …..” Trish covered his mouth again.
“Which part of not say anything didn’t you understand? You’re coming with me to the gate, and it would be better for you to cooperate.”
This time when Trish moved her hand, Rodney remained quiet. He turned his head to look at her, fear in his wide blue eyes. For a moment Trish felt a pang of guilt, as Rodney was supposed to be her friend.

Trish forced Rodney to stand and made him walk towards the infirmary entrance, one arm twisted behind his back.
“Ow, that’s my bad arm“, he whispered. “Is this really necessary?”.

They met nobody on their way to the transporter. Trish searched the map till she found what she wanted, and quickly transported them to the jumper bay.  Pushing Rodney in front, Trish opened the hatch of the nearest jumper. She pushed him down onto the nearest seat, and looked around for something to tie him up.  Spotting her momentary distraction, Rodney decided it was his chance to make a break for it, but Trish’s reflexes were faster than he had anticipated, and she caught him a glancing blow to the head. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Trish checked to see if he still had a pulse, and  was relieved to find her hostage was still alive. She needed him for more than just a negotiating tool. Carefully she lifted him onto the couch, and found some string webbing to tie him up.

Trish sat down in the pilot’s seat, and took a deep breath. She had seen Kassandra do this loads of times, so it couldn’t be too hard. With her mind she instructed the jumper to lift up from its docking bay.
It lurched slightly, then lifted upwards, catching against the cradle with an unpleasant scraping sound.
Someone must have heard that, and three guards came running towards the jumper. Their shots bounced off the sides of the jumper, apparently doing no damage. The jumper lurched out of range, and Trish took it down to the gate.

At this point, Trish was faced with a problem. The gate shields were up, and the gate room was starting to fill up with guards. Sooner or later, someone with an ATA gene would arrive, and then she would be in trouble. A thought struck her, she still had the hostage. Trish turned on the communicator.
“Puddlejumper to Atlantis. I have Dr McKay onboard. He will not be harmed if you stop shooting and lower the shields.

The duty sergent barked out an order to the guards who hurriedly lowered their shields. He turned expectantly to Chuck, who was in charge of the dialling computer.

Chuck turned on his microphone.
“Atlantis control to puddle jumper, I’m sorry but I cannot do that without Col Carter’s permission.”
“You’re stalling. I have a gun and if you don’t lower the shields I’ll kill Rodney.”
For a second, Chuck hesitated, but he couldn’t let  Trish kill Dr McKay.
“OK, lowering the gate shield now.”
“OK now dial for the planet P4X-239.”
Chuck  dialled the gate. The chevrons locked into place and the wormhole established itself. Without any hesitation, Trish took the jumper through, just as Col Carter, Kassandra and WG arrived in the gate room!

********************************************************

Part 5: Looking for Trish

Kassandra rushed into the control room, but it was too late. As she watched the jumper disappear through the gate, her heart sank. With a jumper, and Rodney’s extensive knowledge of gate addresses, they could go anywhere, and there was very little chance of them tracking them down.

She needed someone to shout at, and Chuck presented an easy target
“You complete idiot, why did you let them go through the gate?”
“Chuck took a step backward’s, a nervous look on his face.”
WG was glancing at the screen of a data tablet, which was linked into the Atlantis gate console.

“Um, is this the gate address Trish wanted to go to?”
Chuck smiled wickedly, “Not exactly, that’s the gate address I sent her too, but it’s not where she asked to go!”
“So where is she then”
“P2M- 449”
“The gate bridge!”  exclaimed Col Carter, who had just caught up with them.
“Well done Chuck. She will not be getting far now.”
“I don’t understand” said WG. “What is so special about that planet?”
“The gates in the bridge are controlled by a macro written by Rodney.” explained Sam. “Unless she is a computer programmer, the only place she can dial is Atlantis, since the midway station was destroyed.”
A slow grin crossed Kassandra’s face. Thankyou Chuck, you may have just bought us the time we need.

They assumed that Trish would not go far from the gate, as she would not want to stay on an uninhabited planet. However they had some time, even if Rodney agreed to overwrite the gate macro. Sam suggested that they send one of their UAV  through the gate to find out where Trish was. It took around an hour to get the UAV set up, and they sent it through the gate. To everyone’s surprise, there was no sign of Trish, Rodney or the puddle jumper. The UAV sent back pictures of an empty desert. The gate was on a small rocky outcrop beside a dried out river valley. There must have been some water near the surface, just enough to support some small wiry bushes.
They sent the UAV as far as the range of the remote control would allow, but there was no sign of a puddle jumper.

After a short discussion, Sam and Kassandra decided that Trish would most likely have  followed the dried out river valley to the North, in search of some sort of human settlement.  So they decided to search in that direction. Sam suggested that Kassandra should Take Major Lorne and some marines with her, just in case. This time, they were not going to let Trish get away.

*********************************************************

Part 6: Bubblebees.

Flying a jumper turned out to be harder than she had expected. She came screaming out of the gate way to fast. The jumper lurched erratically as she tried to slow it down. Trish looked around her for a place to land and that’s when she noticed the desert.
“That little jerk” she thought to herself. “ he’s sent me to the wrong planet.” That’s when she noticed that there was smoke coming from the engine pod on the pilot’s side of the jumper. Trish struggled to control the alien spacecraft, but she had no real experience of crash landing a jumper. In the end it was a lot more crash than landing.

In the back of the jumper, Rodney rolled onto the floor and landed uncomfortably.
“Ouch! What the ..” . Rodney looked around him in confusion, until he remembered the kidnapping. He felt his hands tied behind his back, and there was a dull ache in his shoulder.
“Oh no, I think I must have broken my collarbone again. For gods sakes someone untie me, and get me a doctor.”
“You’re awake then.” said Trish. “Good. I need you to fix up the jumper.”
“You are joking, aren’t you. Apart from the fact my hands are tied, and my shoulder is killing me, why on earth should I help you kidnap me?”
“Shut up Rodney. Either you help me, or I leave you here and walk back to the gate on my own.”

A few minutes later, they were standing outside the jumper, looking at the pilot side engine pod.
“Well, that’s that then. Even I can’t fix a fried engine pod.” Rodney sounded almost smug. “We’ll just have to stay here and wait for them to pick us up.”
“Sorry Rodney, that’s not possible. Time to start walking.”
When Rodney looked like he was about to protest, Trish waved a stolen wraith stunner at him. Rodney was not sure if she actually knew how to use it, but he decided it was better not to take the risk.

The jumper was a few hundred yards from the dried up river valley. This far from the gate, the valley was wider, with the occasional small pool of muddy water. There were bushes everywhere, and even the occasional small tree. Some of the bushes had tiny yellow flowers, producing a sweet scent that would probably give Rodney hey fever. It almost looked like a desert oasis back on earth, except for the strangest insects that Trish had ever seen. They had brown stripped bodies, and  large iridescent wings, which they held curled upwards to form what looked almost like a bubble. Instead of flying, they floated in the breeze, occasionally opening up their wings to land on a flower. They made a humming sound, not unlike a bee.

“Oh no,” said Rodney. “Not the bubble bees.  Of all the godsforsaken uninhabited planets in the Pegasus Galaxy, why did you have to bring me here?”
“I didn’t, Chuck dialled the wrong planet. What’s so bad about the bubble bees anyway?” she asked.
“Please, what’s good about them? I’m allergic to bee stings, but bubble bees are the worst. If you think I’m going anywhere near..”
“Sorry Rodney, there’s no choice. I need the cover of the bushes.”
“Oh, well you might as well shoot me now, because if I go anywhere near those little pests I’m dead anyway.”
“Stop being melodramatic and start moving.”
Reluctantly, Rodney set off towards the valley, Trish following with the stunner.

Despite the crash, Trish was still in good spirits. She still had a couple of day’s enzyme left, there were small pools of water in the valley, and plenty of shade, and they had liberated some power bars from the crashed jumper. The bubble bees floated round them, their buzzing a strange but soothing counterpoint to Rodney’s continual moaning. Rodney complained about his sore feet, his bruises, and his collarbone, but actually he was in pretty good shape, and they were making good time. Trish was sure that they were less than a day‘s walk from the gate.  Just as she was starting to be lulled into a false sense of security, she was startled to hear Rodney cry out.
“Ow, that stung!”
“Hey Rodney, you OK.?”
“Of course I’m not OK.  One of those stupid pesky bees just stung me. I‘m probably going to die horribly from anaphylactic shock.”
Trish looked more closely at Rodney, his breathing was faster, his skin looked pale and clammy, and she could see a red rash forming where the bee had stung the side of his neck.
“You know Rodney, that does look serious, don’t you have some sort of medicine with you?”
“Of course I do, normally, but I was in the sick bay when you kidnapped me. I don’t really need to carry medicines in the infirmary!”

With a sinking feeling, Trish realised that Rodney was in serious trouble, and it was all her fault. Suddenly, running away from Atlantis did not seem such a good idea. Rodney had been her friend, and she had attached him, forced him against his will to come with her, and now he was probably going to die from an allergic reaction because of her thoughtlessness. Suddenly she realised that she missed Jeremy, and her daughters. All she wanted was to go home. She was even prepared to consider trying to fight her addiction to the wraith enzyme.

“Rodney, please don’t panic. Its going to be alright. I’m going to take you back.”
Rodney stared at her for a second, a confused look on his face, and then to her shock he passed out.

*******************************************************

Part 7: finding Trish

Kassandra fetched the jumper down from the jumper bay. WG took her accustomed place in the pilot’s seat, and the Atlantis team found seats behind them. Major Lorne had brought two experienced marines, and the young nurse Katie, in case they had a medical emergency. As they waited for chuck to dial the gate, WG felt a sense of excitement building up, after all this would be her very first off world mission. The chevrons locked, there was the inevitable kerwoosh as the wormhole established itself, and then they were moving towards the gate. WG couldn’t help holding her breath as they passed through the event horizon.

On the other side, the sun was low in the sky, and a few bubblebees drifted lazily over the few bushes along this stretch of the dried out river valley. Kassandra lifted the jumper higher to get a better view, and brought up the HUD. She asked Major Lorne to help WG use the display to search for life signs , while she concentrated on flying.
They had travelled maybe 15 miles, when they noticed the valley widening. There were more bushes, and the occasional pool of water. Not much further and WG spotted 2 life signs, not far from the edge of the valley, near one of the larger water pools. Major Lorne suggested that it would be a bad place to land, as the ground would be unstable and there were far too many trees and bushes.

While looking for a safe place to land, they spotted the crashed jumper. “Oh no” said WG, what if they’re hurt?”
“I wouldn’t worry to much” replied Lorne. “As long as the inertial dampers were still working, they wouldn’t have been hurt much.”
Kassandra turned the jumper round and landed as close as she dared to the two life signs. They could come back for the jumper later, but one of the life signs was too faint.  The team collected their backpacks and wraith stunners. Lorne handed one to Kassandra .
“Kass, I know you’re checked out for stunners, but what about WG?”
“I don’t  know. WG, have you ever used a gun?”
“You’re kidding, right? People in Wales don’t have any use for guns, well maybe farmers?”
“OK, well you better make use of that ATA gene and take a life signs detector.”
“At the mention of the ATA gene, Lorne looked up, startled. Kassandra suppressed an urge to laugh. With all the excitement she had forgotten to tell Sam about  WG‘s gene. When the leader of Atlantis found out that her friend was also good with computers, she might get an invitation to join the expedition, working for Radek.

WG turned on the detector and looked for the life signs they had spotted from the jumper.
“This way” she declared, and started off in the direction of the signal.
“Stay behind me” advised Lorne. “Trish may be armed, and is certainly dangerous, if she has any of the enzyme left.”
As they walked down to the valley floor, the bubblebees drifted round them. WG found it hard to concentrate, distracted by the pretty iridescent bubble insects.
“WG, stay focused,” Kassandra whispered. Unlike WG, she knew that nothing in the Pegasus galaxy was completely safe, and she was concerned that her friend might get stung.

As they got closer , they suddenly realised they could hear the sound of someone crying.  Major Lorne waved at them to stop, while he went off ahead to see what was happening. To his surprise, he saw Trish bent over Rodney, who was far too still, talking to him between sobs, and trying to get him to sip water from a canteen.
“Please Rodney, you have to drink something, the fever is burning you up.”
Lorne carefully returned to where the others were waiting and told them what he had seen.
“Kass, I think it would be easier if you and WG spoke to her first. I’ll get the marines into position to back you up, and Katie can stay with us.”
“WG, you up for that?” Kassandra asked.
“OK,” replied WG, trying to hide her nervousness.

When they saw Trish hunched over Rodney, crying softly to herself, Kassandra knew that they had a chance, but they had to sort this out quickly.
“Trish, it’s me, Kassandra, with WG”
“Kassandra? You found us? Well of course you did, Chuck must have given you the gate address.”
“Trish, what’s happened to Rodney?” asked WG.
“Bubblebee sting.” Trish replied, in a flat voice.
“Oh no, isn’t Rodney allergic to bee stings?” asked Kassandra.
“That’s why he’s so sick. He’s burning up with a fever, and I can’t get him to drink the water.” Trish sounded desperate.
“Trish, we have a nurse with us. You have to let her see Rodney.”
“It’s OK Kass. I can’t do this anymore. Rodney was my friend, and I got him hurt. I just want to go home.”

Kassandra signalled to Lorne. He sent Katie forward to help Rodney, followed by the two Marines. Kassandra gently pulled Trish away from Rodney, to give Katie some space. Trish hugged Kassandra, then turned to hug WG. WG found a clean handkerchief in her pocket and offered it to Trish. Behind them, the marines lifted Rodney. Together, the group walked back to the jumper.

************************************************************

Epilogue.

On the way back to Atlantis in the jumper, Trish refused to leave Rodney’s side, until the nurse, Katie, shoed her away. Lorne was sitting up front with Kassandra, and WG came back to sit with Trish. The look of guilt on her face was heartbreaking. WG put her arm round the younger woman’s shoulder, and Trish gave her an awkward smile.
“Trish, its going to be OK,” she said, and somehow, Trish knew she was right.

Back on Atlantis, Dr Keller examined Rodney, and assured his friends that he was going to be alright. She made a plan for Trish’s recovery, which she promised that she would stick to, and this time Kassandra believed her. Of course it wouldn’t hurt if her friends dropped in occasionally, just to keep an eye on her.

Back in Florida, Jeremy, Allie and Erin were pleased to be reunited with Trish. Kassandra was relieved to see her friend back in the safely of her home and family. She knew they would look after her, and in return she would look after them.

WG was glad to be back home in Wales at last. Sam Carter had offered her a job in Atlantis, but she had regretfully declined. Exciting as it would have been, she knew that she could not be separated for that long from her son Adam. She knew that there would be more adventures with her new team, but it was important to be able to go back home when all the excitement was over.

A few weeks later, WG was surprised to get a letter from the US government. When she opened it, it turned out to be an offer of a job studying the ancient database in area 51. WG knew she would have to decide at some point whether to accept it, but for now the sun was shining, and she had promised to take Adam for a walk………..

The end, Until the next adventure……………….?