vignette: Sam in Atlantis [4/5]
Title: Sam in Atlantis [4/4]
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: General Season Four spoilers and speculations. As usual.
Disclaimer: I own not these characters.
Summary: In which something goes really wrong and Carter has an unusual meeting. Sam whump!
Notes: This is probably my favorite section of the "drabbles" so far. I should probably think of a better classification than drabble since #9 is so clearly not a drabble. Anyway, this starts an arc for the next few sections and is something I hope that we can seen in S4. Because it would be really cool.
eta: Reclassified as 'vignette' now, thank you tielan.
8. John was in the gateroom, studiously avoiding the paperwork Carter had left for him, when the gate activated and whooshed into life.
“We’re receiving a radio transmission from Major Lorne, sir,” Chuck exclaimed, whirling around in his desk chair. “They aren’t scheduled for a check-in for another three hours.”
“All right, put him on speakerphone,” John said and Chuck rolled his eyes, turning back to counsel.
“Atlantis, this is Major Lorne. Please respond.” Lorne’s radio-crackled voice echoed up in the control room.
“Lorne, this is Atlantis,” Chuck said, “Go ahead.”
“Any way we can get Colonel Sheppard on the channel? We have a bit of a problem on our hands.”
Lorne sounded as though he was one step away from panicking, and John shared a look with Chuck.
“I’m right here, Lorne,” John replied, touching his earpiece. A cold feeling crept into his stomach, “Where’s Colonel Carter?”
There was an unsettling silence on the other end, before Lorne said, “Well, sir…that’s the problem.”
John's stomach dropped all the way to the bottom of the control tower.
---
9. “Kneel, human.”
Before reassignment, Sam had never truly believed the Wraith to be a “serious” threat. She had been occupied with the Ori at the time, who were much more real than vampires in another galaxy. Sure, Wraith technology was something of a concern, as was their fixation with Earth, but recordings of captured Wraith and the unfortunate Michael Kenmore, pictures, and all the mission reports and first hand accounts could never persuade her that they were any worse than what the Milky Way could dish out.
That was a belief nothing like being culled, imprisoned, and dragged to a personal meeting with the Queen of a Hive herself on her first off-world excursion could cure.
“I said, kneel.”
The Queen’s voice echoes in her head, bouncing off her skull until Sam’s trembling muscles have no choice but to give out. She falls to her knees, crying out in pain and frustration, and vows she will not let this happen again.
“Was that so hard?” the Queen croons, baring her slimy teeth in a sickly grin. She circles Sam, her long fingers brushing across her back and catching in her ponytail, mimicking a lover’s caress. “Surely you do not wish to make your last moments any more difficult than they should be?”
She’s read the mission reports about Wraith Queens and their telepathic ability, and that was another detail she had woefully underestimated. Sheppard had left out the details about the cold, stabbing sensation of the mind being probed, the crippling pain of not following an order, and the abject horror of knowing betrayal was imminent. She was going to bust his balls over this when -
“Where are you from, human?”
The Queen’s command cuts through her mind and Sam can feel the cold tendrils of power twisting through her head. She won’t answer - she can’t answer because three hundred plus people are depending on her to be strong and she won’t forgive herself if she lets her people down -
“A human Queen?” the Wraith Queen muses, gripping Sam’s ponytail in hand. The probes become stronger and Sam begins to tremble, breathing heavy. “What are you called, Queen?”
Sam tries to lash out, but her limbs are like lead and movement is agony. The Queen snarls with displeasure and yanks on Sam’s ponytail, snapping her head back.
“Do not make me repeat myself, girl!”
“Colonel Samantha Carter,” Sam gasps, fighting back tears, “United States Air Force. Serial number - ”
The Queen lets go of her ponytail and shoves her to the ground, making a noise of disgust. Panting, Sam lays there, the smell of decay and rot filling her nostrils, and watches as the Queen circles her again. She pauses in her walk and stares at Sam’s shivering form with her bottomless black eyes.
Something Sam said must’ve triggered a memory and the Queen’s wracking her brain, trying to figure out what it is -
Oh, no.
Sam buries her face in the rotted ground so she doesn’t have to see the sickly grin light the Queen’s face again. She can still hear the Queen’s shrieking laughter and that’s damning enough.
She lost. Some leader she turned out to be.
“You are the Queen of Atlantis?” the Wraith Queen says, bubbling with what can only be pleased laughter. “My warriors have done well indeed - the Lantean Queen! I will be the envy of all the Hives!”
Sam feels the Queen’s scabby hands on her jacket and she’s pulled upright in one fluid motion. The Queen bends to Sam’s eyelevel and cups her face, caressing her cheek with her long thumb. The stench of decay permeates the air and Sam gags.
“How does it feel, little Lantean Queen?” she asks, her expression sweet, “Knowing that you will be the death of your people?”
Sam summons the rest of courage, channels Jack’s spirit, and says, “Go to hell!”
She spits in the Queen’s face.
The Wraith Queen howls and backhands Sam viciously across the cheek. Sam wobbles but doesn’t fall. Her head’s spinning from the force of the blow and she can feel blood dribbling down her chin.
The Queen’s ugly green face swims into her line of vision again.
“Atlantis first,” the Queen hisses in her ear.
Her feeding hand settles on Sam’s chest and Sam screams.
----
Part Five
Feed me?