Just Don't Let It Be Ronon - August 16th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 16
Title: Just Don't Let It Be Ronon
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG:A
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Stargate people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Faith has to step in on a fight and explain.
Notes: Part 41 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 3
Word Count: 2835
Michael started. Only one person knocked on his glass door before entering, but when he looked it was the wrong Sheppard. He stood, turning towards the door as it opened.
“Colonel Sheppard.”
“Michael,” John said by way of greeting.
“If you’re here, everyone has been treated?”
“Yes. And Beckett says your inoculation was elegant. We’ve been able to distribute it to the village Lucius was from.”
Michael nodded.
“What you did, for Haly…I have to know why?”
“She let me out of my cage,” he replied.
John watched him, knowing the answer could not have been that simple. “She couldn’t explain the situation very well. And, when it came down to it, she wanted you to be bait.”
“So?”
“As glad as I am that you didn’t, you could have hurt her.”
Michael raised his hand, showing the device over his feeding mark.
“That only stopped you from feeding, it didn’t keep you from snapping her neck.”
“What reason would I have to kill the child?”
John could admit he hated that answer, because it suggested something he hadn’t wanted to face - Michael was different. Whether that was as his personality always had been or a result of their genetic manipulation…
Michael sat suddenly, growling.
“What’s wrong?”
“Haly’s request to use my ability to project images of Wraith across the City has taxed my limited energy.” He straightened his shoulders. “I have a request, Colonel.”
John raised an eyebrow.
“With time the hunger will overtake my mind,” he explained. “I will become weak and no longer be able to reason or think beyond the hunger.” He touched the bracelet. “I will probably tear at these.” He gave John a gimlet stare. “In a few weeks’ time…just don’t let it be Ronon.”
“What?”
A corner of Michael’s lips tipped up, looking strange with his pointed teeth and tight, waxy skin. “I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of finally getting to kill me.”
88888888
“How bad is it?” Faith asked Carson.
“At the current rate…a few weeks,” he replied. “His body is already producing an increased amount of the enzyme, I’m not sure how long it’ll be before the effect on his mind is overwhelming.”
“Is there a chance the retrovirus could prevent further deterioration?” Elizabeth asked.
“Aye, but not for any significant length of time. The need to feed would still be there, as it was the first time, he could work through the amnesia even faster.”
“What are our current choices?”
“Feed him or kill him,” Faith said baldly.
Carson grimaced. “She’s right,” he admitted to Elizabeth.
She sighed. “That’s not the answer I wanted.”
88888888
Faith stood next to Evan as the team waited for the go ahead. Rodney had come through with an arrow sticking out of his butt cheek. He’d been lucky it did not hit the sciatic nerve, but his whining had required a strong pain medication that had made it hard to get information out of him. He had only managed - for a while - to tell them that they needed to “find the boy her” with a gesture to Faith.
The Stargate activated.
“It’s Colonel Sheppard’s IDC, ma’am,” Chuck announced.
“Lower the shield!” Elizabeth ordered.
John and Teyla came through, the Stargate shutting down behind them.
“Someone get us some vests,” John ordered. “And guns.”
“Colonel. Teyla,” Evan greeted.
“Major,” John acknowledged.
“Where’s Ronon?” Faith asked.
“He’s still back there,” John said as he was handed a vest. “Did McKay get through okay?”
“He’s going to be fine,” Elizabeth assured. “What happened?”
“Ronon bargained for our freedom,” Teyla explained as she clipped a gun to her vest.
“By sticking a knife to his own throat,” John said angrily. “We’re going back.”
“Dial the gate!” Elizabeth ordered.
Chuck nodded and started dialing.
“It took us about twenty minutes to get to the gate,” John told the teams.
“The place could be crawling with Wraith by now,” Teyla explained.
“Lead on,” Evan said.
88888888
Faith entered the lab. “Can you feed on other Wraith?” she asked.
Michael turned to look at her. “What?”
“Can you feed on other Wraith?”
“It is not as…satisfying as humans,” he replied. “Most see it as an abomination only acceptable for a Queen to do in dire circumstances.” He regarded her. “It would take many Wraith to abate the hunger.”
“Great,” she said. “You’re coming with me.”
“Where?” he asked as he stood.
“According to our intel, Sateda.”
“For what reason?”
“Ronon was taken by a Hunter,” she replied. “They’ve taken him to the ruins of his home planet to kill him as a Runner.”
“And you want me to help him?”
Faith stared at him. “I’m offering you a chance to feed, do you really want to quibble about why?”
He hissed at her in annoyance.
88888888
“You sure about this?” Caldwell asked as he considered Faith.
“Yes. The Orion’s Drones have restocked all of our needs. The Jumper in the 302 bay has a full battery. We’ll have to be fairly close for me to use them.”
“And the Wraith?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, “if we could have gone through the Stargate to get to Sateda, I probably wouldn’t have had the time to consider taking him. But I have to try something and if it doesn’t work, he’ll die here.”
“He knows too much.”
She nodded. “I’m just not ready to call it what it is.”
“Why?”
Faith shrugged, tilting her head so her long, dark hair moved over her shoulder. “Because we really need an end to the fight with them. Something he has a stake in, he may be the only way to find a solution.”
Caldwell looked at her skeptically. “I hope you’re right.”
“Me too.”
88888888
The ride from the Daedalus to Sateda was made in tense silence. Faith and Michael sat in the rear on benches across from each other. John, Carson, Rodney, and Teyla sat up front.
“Well,” John said, “there’s the ship.”
Michael and Faith both moved towards the front to look out the front window.
“I know this ship,” Michael said. “It makes sense he would recapture Ronon and bring him back here.”
“Why?” Rodney asked.
“Your people call it ego.”
“One we probably hurt when we helped him escape,” John guessed.
“Can’t we just destroy it now?” Carson asked.
“That would be unwise,” Michael commented. “Any ship not destroyed would immediately aim for the surface of the planet - and your friend.”
“Rodney,” John said, “Where are we going?”
“Oh, right,” Rodney pulled out a small device. At the same time the HUD came up to show the planet below. “There.”
The Jumper made a smooth transition into the planet’s atmosphere. It took just a moment to identify the building Ronon was in and land on the roof.
Faith withdrew a sword from her small bag and pulled the scabbard over her head. She flicked it this way and that a bit, until it was in the right position.
“Let’s go,” John ordered. Then he looked at Rodney and Carson, “Stay here, stay cloaked.”
The men nodded and sat back down.
They traveled down two levels before seeing a little floating device.
“Follow it,” Michael said, “it’s tracking him.”
They took off after it. On the fifth floor it went into a room and came to a stop. Faith pulled a knife and flung it at the sphere. It went crashing to the ground. Ronon raised a gun, aiming it at her. His wild eyes conveyed confusion and dismay.
“Don’t look so surprised,” John said.
Ronon slumped back, relaxing a fraction. His breathing heavy.
“Are you okay?” Teyla asked.
Faith got closer, immediately finding a wound on his thigh still bleeding. She pulled a field dressing from her bag and wrapped it.
“Get out of here,” he told her.
“Yeah, not going to happen,” she retorted. “You’re only allowed to make one stupid decision per mission, you made it when you threatened to kill yourself to get John and Teyla released.”
“We need to go,” John said.
“I can’t,” Ronon admitted, angrily, “Keturah and his people, they had a deal. They traded me for their freedom.”
“What, you’re doi-”
Faith put a hand on Ronon’s face. “They were betrayed, they are all dead.”
Ronon looked at her and saw Teyla nod behind her. His gaze focused on Michael in the hall. He brought up his gun. Faith lowered it, before he could fire.
“He’s here to help,” she said. “He already told us one thing, this Hunter…he has a huge ego.”
“Good,” Ronon said as he let her help him up. “Then I should be able to lure him down.”
“Still feeling foolish,” Faith groused.
John approached with Ronon’s unique gun.
“Will taking out enough of his minions get him down here?” Faith asked Michael as she headed for him.
Michael nodded. “The number I sense below would suggest he’s already angered the Hunter.”
“Well, let’s see what we can do to help.” She pulled out a key from her bag and disengaged the covers on both his wrists, slipping them all back into her bag.
She heard Ronon’s gun charge behind her.
“Not today,” John said. “He gets to feed on Wraith.” He pinned Michael with a glare. “Only Wraith.”
“Just remember,” Faith said, “I plan to blow everything to hell when we’re done here.”
“I recall,” Michael hissed.
“Stay out of my way,” Ronon growled as he shoved past. It was unclear exactly who he was warning.
They dashed after him. John and Teyla brought up the rear.
Michael stopped at the first Wraith who had been dropped by a blast from Ronon’s gun. He didn’t hesitate, tearing the armor and placing his hand on the fallen’s chest. His breathing became its own hiss as he stole the life force of the foot soldier. Unlike humans, the Wraith did not wither or look as if it was in pain.
John and Teyla passed them, following Ronon and taking out other Wraith as they went.
Michael moved on to the next Wraith and the next. It was after seven of them he finally stood and regarded Faith.
“Better?” she asked.
He nodded. “All had fed recently.”
“We should catch up with the re-” Faith’s words cutoff a hand wrapped around her ankle. A sharp pain paralyzed her.
Michael rushed towards her, forcefully shoving her out of the way and out of the grip of a fallen Wraith. He feed on the foot soldier. When he pulled his hand away, he looked at Faith.
“That hurt,” she noted as she sat up.
“It’s an ineffective survival instinct,” he told her. “He shouldn’t have been able to get anything significant from you.”
Faith nodded and shifted to look at the one that had attacked her. She frowned. “What’s wrong with his hand?”
Michael’s gaze went to the hand that had attacked her. There was a small line of blood in the center. He ran his finger along it. But he immediately saw what she had.
He looked up at her before lifting the edge of her pant leg and inspecting the damage. Except there was none.
Yellow eyes darted to her, questioning. Because when he had fed from the foot soldier, he had been able to sense the fresh feeding.
Her radio crackled to life. “Faith, come in.”
“I’m here,” she replied, still watching Michael as he rose before her.
“Ronon made his challenge. You and Michael done?”
“Yeah…we are headed up to Carson and Rodney with a deceased Wraith we have to take back with us.”
“Why?”
“No time,” she said. “Where is this fight going down?”
“Middle of the street about four blocks from here.”
“Join you shortly. Faith out.” She grabbed the arm of the foot soldier and managed a fireman hold. She started jogging up the stairs. Only her Slayer hearing allowed her to verify Michael was following. “Grab that sheet,” she ordered as they passed the fifth floor. She burst out onto the roof and waited for Michael.
He stopped next to her and glanced over.
“Lay it out,” she told him.
As soon as there was enough room, she dropped the foot soldier and they rolled him up. Faith used her connection with the Jumper to open the hatch, surprising Carson and Rodney.
“Lass,” Carson said as he looked at her.
Faith dropped the body on the bench and ordered the Jumper to takeoff, making it ignore safety protocols. They heard the Dart warble as it reintegrated someone on the surface.
“Got them,” Faith said. “Whoever is going to drive, get ready to take over.”
She looked out the rear hatch as she held on to the interior.
“What are you going to do?” Michael asked.
She didn’t answer. Her focus was on Ronon getting thrown around by an armored Wraith.
“That is the Hunter.”
“Good,” she said before jumping. She landed next to Ronon and came up with an uppercut that sent the Hunter tumbling back several feet and landing on his back with an ‘oof’ of air.
“What are you doing?” Ronon demanded, but there was a lot of pain in his voice and more than a few cuts on his face.
Faith kneeled next to him. “You forgot the part where you’re not a Runner any more, Ronon. You don’t have to do this alone.” She tilted her head, giving him a smirk. “Now, you want to take him on with me or just watch me beat the stuffing out of him?”
“I…I want to go home,” he whispered.
“So we’re done with the fighting?”
He nodded, blood dripping off his lip.
“Great.” She held out a hand and controlled a Drone from the open weapon’s rack. She activated it and zipped it behind her. Neither of them watched as the Hunter was dragged back by the Drone and destroyed in the explosion.
John and Teyla came from a nearby building and helped her get Ronon onto the Jumper. The door closed behind them and the Jumper flew through the air and over the city.
“Bit crowded,” John noted.
“Let Carson back here. John and Teyla can head up front,” Faith said as she helped Ronon off with his armor. But she could tell he was fading fast, the fights, the blood loss.
Michael sat at the other end of the bench across from them, next to the wrapped corpse.
Carson got through. “How’s he doing?”
“Not good,” she replied. “John take over flying, I need to be able to concentrate.”
“I’m doing just fine,” Rodney whined.
“I believe Faith is controlling the Jumper,” Teyla pointed out.
“Keep us circling the planet,” Faith said as she felt John take the controls.
“Why?”
“Don’t want them to see a Runner tracker coming their way.” She looked at Michael. “Pull up a schematic and tell me the best place for six Drones to do the most damage.”
He nodded and headed for the front.
Ronon passed out, nearly taking Carson down with him. Faith maneuvered him to the center of the rear compartment and rolled him onto his stomach. She chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Rodney asked.
“Nothing,” she replied, but she was smiling.
“You ready to act as my assistant?” Carson asked. “Or do you want another solo surgery?”
“I’ll assist until we get it turned off, then I’ll need to concentrate.”
He nodded and set about cleaning and sterilizing the area. She got lights up and started cleaning her hands.
The sound of a gun readying had her frowning.
“What’s wrong?” she asked from there she was setting up the tray.
“Michael is not wearing the mark covers,” Teyla said slowly.
“I know, hadn’t had time to get them out,” she glanced back. “He’s not going to do anything,” she pointed out. “The Slayer freaked him the hell out and at this point he’s more curious about what the hell I am than overeating.”
“You seem pretty sure about that,” John said.
Faith nodded. “I am.” Her gaze went to Michael. “Did you find me a target?”
“Yes. Two of them.” He leaned his slim form over the console and pointed to two areas on the schematic. “Here and here.”
She locked the targets in her thoughts.
“Why don’t you come back here?” she said. “As soon as Carson has turned it off, I want to get the Drones in the air.”
He crossed to stand behind her.
Carson worked quickly, within three minutes he had the tracker deactivated. Michael kneeled and took the tray. Faith slipped out and raised her hands.
“How close do you need me?” John asked.
“The closer the better.”
88888888
Caldwell watched the team, Faith, Carson, and Michael exit the Jumper. “I’m guessing the fireball was you?”
“Yes, sir,” John said jovially. “We also came back with a corpse that needs to be put on ice.”
He frowned, watching Ronon be loaded onto a gurney. “Why?”
“Because it fed off me for a second and its feeding mark disappeared,” Faith replied.
Title: Just Don't Let It Be Ronon
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG:A
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Stargate people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Faith has to step in on a fight and explain.
Notes: Part 41 of Faith Sheppard - Links Page
Seasons: Post-series/Season 3
Word Count: 2835
Michael started. Only one person knocked on his glass door before entering, but when he looked it was the wrong Sheppard. He stood, turning towards the door as it opened.
“Colonel Sheppard.”
“Michael,” John said by way of greeting.
“If you’re here, everyone has been treated?”
“Yes. And Beckett says your inoculation was elegant. We’ve been able to distribute it to the village Lucius was from.”
Michael nodded.
“What you did, for Haly…I have to know why?”
“She let me out of my cage,” he replied.
John watched him, knowing the answer could not have been that simple. “She couldn’t explain the situation very well. And, when it came down to it, she wanted you to be bait.”
“So?”
“As glad as I am that you didn’t, you could have hurt her.”
Michael raised his hand, showing the device over his feeding mark.
“That only stopped you from feeding, it didn’t keep you from snapping her neck.”
“What reason would I have to kill the child?”
John could admit he hated that answer, because it suggested something he hadn’t wanted to face - Michael was different. Whether that was as his personality always had been or a result of their genetic manipulation…
Michael sat suddenly, growling.
“What’s wrong?”
“Haly’s request to use my ability to project images of Wraith across the City has taxed my limited energy.” He straightened his shoulders. “I have a request, Colonel.”
John raised an eyebrow.
“With time the hunger will overtake my mind,” he explained. “I will become weak and no longer be able to reason or think beyond the hunger.” He touched the bracelet. “I will probably tear at these.” He gave John a gimlet stare. “In a few weeks’ time…just don’t let it be Ronon.”
“What?”
A corner of Michael’s lips tipped up, looking strange with his pointed teeth and tight, waxy skin. “I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of finally getting to kill me.”
88888888
“How bad is it?” Faith asked Carson.
“At the current rate…a few weeks,” he replied. “His body is already producing an increased amount of the enzyme, I’m not sure how long it’ll be before the effect on his mind is overwhelming.”
“Is there a chance the retrovirus could prevent further deterioration?” Elizabeth asked.
“Aye, but not for any significant length of time. The need to feed would still be there, as it was the first time, he could work through the amnesia even faster.”
“What are our current choices?”
“Feed him or kill him,” Faith said baldly.
Carson grimaced. “She’s right,” he admitted to Elizabeth.
She sighed. “That’s not the answer I wanted.”
88888888
Faith stood next to Evan as the team waited for the go ahead. Rodney had come through with an arrow sticking out of his butt cheek. He’d been lucky it did not hit the sciatic nerve, but his whining had required a strong pain medication that had made it hard to get information out of him. He had only managed - for a while - to tell them that they needed to “find the boy her” with a gesture to Faith.
The Stargate activated.
“It’s Colonel Sheppard’s IDC, ma’am,” Chuck announced.
“Lower the shield!” Elizabeth ordered.
John and Teyla came through, the Stargate shutting down behind them.
“Someone get us some vests,” John ordered. “And guns.”
“Colonel. Teyla,” Evan greeted.
“Major,” John acknowledged.
“Where’s Ronon?” Faith asked.
“He’s still back there,” John said as he was handed a vest. “Did McKay get through okay?”
“He’s going to be fine,” Elizabeth assured. “What happened?”
“Ronon bargained for our freedom,” Teyla explained as she clipped a gun to her vest.
“By sticking a knife to his own throat,” John said angrily. “We’re going back.”
“Dial the gate!” Elizabeth ordered.
Chuck nodded and started dialing.
“It took us about twenty minutes to get to the gate,” John told the teams.
“The place could be crawling with Wraith by now,” Teyla explained.
“Lead on,” Evan said.
88888888
Faith entered the lab. “Can you feed on other Wraith?” she asked.
Michael turned to look at her. “What?”
“Can you feed on other Wraith?”
“It is not as…satisfying as humans,” he replied. “Most see it as an abomination only acceptable for a Queen to do in dire circumstances.” He regarded her. “It would take many Wraith to abate the hunger.”
“Great,” she said. “You’re coming with me.”
“Where?” he asked as he stood.
“According to our intel, Sateda.”
“For what reason?”
“Ronon was taken by a Hunter,” she replied. “They’ve taken him to the ruins of his home planet to kill him as a Runner.”
“And you want me to help him?”
Faith stared at him. “I’m offering you a chance to feed, do you really want to quibble about why?”
He hissed at her in annoyance.
88888888
“You sure about this?” Caldwell asked as he considered Faith.
“Yes. The Orion’s Drones have restocked all of our needs. The Jumper in the 302 bay has a full battery. We’ll have to be fairly close for me to use them.”
“And the Wraith?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, “if we could have gone through the Stargate to get to Sateda, I probably wouldn’t have had the time to consider taking him. But I have to try something and if it doesn’t work, he’ll die here.”
“He knows too much.”
She nodded. “I’m just not ready to call it what it is.”
“Why?”
Faith shrugged, tilting her head so her long, dark hair moved over her shoulder. “Because we really need an end to the fight with them. Something he has a stake in, he may be the only way to find a solution.”
Caldwell looked at her skeptically. “I hope you’re right.”
“Me too.”
88888888
The ride from the Daedalus to Sateda was made in tense silence. Faith and Michael sat in the rear on benches across from each other. John, Carson, Rodney, and Teyla sat up front.
“Well,” John said, “there’s the ship.”
Michael and Faith both moved towards the front to look out the front window.
“I know this ship,” Michael said. “It makes sense he would recapture Ronon and bring him back here.”
“Why?” Rodney asked.
“Your people call it ego.”
“One we probably hurt when we helped him escape,” John guessed.
“Can’t we just destroy it now?” Carson asked.
“That would be unwise,” Michael commented. “Any ship not destroyed would immediately aim for the surface of the planet - and your friend.”
“Rodney,” John said, “Where are we going?”
“Oh, right,” Rodney pulled out a small device. At the same time the HUD came up to show the planet below. “There.”
The Jumper made a smooth transition into the planet’s atmosphere. It took just a moment to identify the building Ronon was in and land on the roof.
Faith withdrew a sword from her small bag and pulled the scabbard over her head. She flicked it this way and that a bit, until it was in the right position.
“Let’s go,” John ordered. Then he looked at Rodney and Carson, “Stay here, stay cloaked.”
The men nodded and sat back down.
They traveled down two levels before seeing a little floating device.
“Follow it,” Michael said, “it’s tracking him.”
They took off after it. On the fifth floor it went into a room and came to a stop. Faith pulled a knife and flung it at the sphere. It went crashing to the ground. Ronon raised a gun, aiming it at her. His wild eyes conveyed confusion and dismay.
“Don’t look so surprised,” John said.
Ronon slumped back, relaxing a fraction. His breathing heavy.
“Are you okay?” Teyla asked.
Faith got closer, immediately finding a wound on his thigh still bleeding. She pulled a field dressing from her bag and wrapped it.
“Get out of here,” he told her.
“Yeah, not going to happen,” she retorted. “You’re only allowed to make one stupid decision per mission, you made it when you threatened to kill yourself to get John and Teyla released.”
“We need to go,” John said.
“I can’t,” Ronon admitted, angrily, “Keturah and his people, they had a deal. They traded me for their freedom.”
“What, you’re doi-”
Faith put a hand on Ronon’s face. “They were betrayed, they are all dead.”
Ronon looked at her and saw Teyla nod behind her. His gaze focused on Michael in the hall. He brought up his gun. Faith lowered it, before he could fire.
“He’s here to help,” she said. “He already told us one thing, this Hunter…he has a huge ego.”
“Good,” Ronon said as he let her help him up. “Then I should be able to lure him down.”
“Still feeling foolish,” Faith groused.
John approached with Ronon’s unique gun.
“Will taking out enough of his minions get him down here?” Faith asked Michael as she headed for him.
Michael nodded. “The number I sense below would suggest he’s already angered the Hunter.”
“Well, let’s see what we can do to help.” She pulled out a key from her bag and disengaged the covers on both his wrists, slipping them all back into her bag.
She heard Ronon’s gun charge behind her.
“Not today,” John said. “He gets to feed on Wraith.” He pinned Michael with a glare. “Only Wraith.”
“Just remember,” Faith said, “I plan to blow everything to hell when we’re done here.”
“I recall,” Michael hissed.
“Stay out of my way,” Ronon growled as he shoved past. It was unclear exactly who he was warning.
They dashed after him. John and Teyla brought up the rear.
Michael stopped at the first Wraith who had been dropped by a blast from Ronon’s gun. He didn’t hesitate, tearing the armor and placing his hand on the fallen’s chest. His breathing became its own hiss as he stole the life force of the foot soldier. Unlike humans, the Wraith did not wither or look as if it was in pain.
John and Teyla passed them, following Ronon and taking out other Wraith as they went.
Michael moved on to the next Wraith and the next. It was after seven of them he finally stood and regarded Faith.
“Better?” she asked.
He nodded. “All had fed recently.”
“We should catch up with the re-” Faith’s words cutoff a hand wrapped around her ankle. A sharp pain paralyzed her.
Michael rushed towards her, forcefully shoving her out of the way and out of the grip of a fallen Wraith. He feed on the foot soldier. When he pulled his hand away, he looked at Faith.
“That hurt,” she noted as she sat up.
“It’s an ineffective survival instinct,” he told her. “He shouldn’t have been able to get anything significant from you.”
Faith nodded and shifted to look at the one that had attacked her. She frowned. “What’s wrong with his hand?”
Michael’s gaze went to the hand that had attacked her. There was a small line of blood in the center. He ran his finger along it. But he immediately saw what she had.
He looked up at her before lifting the edge of her pant leg and inspecting the damage. Except there was none.
Yellow eyes darted to her, questioning. Because when he had fed from the foot soldier, he had been able to sense the fresh feeding.
Her radio crackled to life. “Faith, come in.”
“I’m here,” she replied, still watching Michael as he rose before her.
“Ronon made his challenge. You and Michael done?”
“Yeah…we are headed up to Carson and Rodney with a deceased Wraith we have to take back with us.”
“Why?”
“No time,” she said. “Where is this fight going down?”
“Middle of the street about four blocks from here.”
“Join you shortly. Faith out.” She grabbed the arm of the foot soldier and managed a fireman hold. She started jogging up the stairs. Only her Slayer hearing allowed her to verify Michael was following. “Grab that sheet,” she ordered as they passed the fifth floor. She burst out onto the roof and waited for Michael.
He stopped next to her and glanced over.
“Lay it out,” she told him.
As soon as there was enough room, she dropped the foot soldier and they rolled him up. Faith used her connection with the Jumper to open the hatch, surprising Carson and Rodney.
“Lass,” Carson said as he looked at her.
Faith dropped the body on the bench and ordered the Jumper to takeoff, making it ignore safety protocols. They heard the Dart warble as it reintegrated someone on the surface.
“Got them,” Faith said. “Whoever is going to drive, get ready to take over.”
She looked out the rear hatch as she held on to the interior.
“What are you going to do?” Michael asked.
She didn’t answer. Her focus was on Ronon getting thrown around by an armored Wraith.
“That is the Hunter.”
“Good,” she said before jumping. She landed next to Ronon and came up with an uppercut that sent the Hunter tumbling back several feet and landing on his back with an ‘oof’ of air.
“What are you doing?” Ronon demanded, but there was a lot of pain in his voice and more than a few cuts on his face.
Faith kneeled next to him. “You forgot the part where you’re not a Runner any more, Ronon. You don’t have to do this alone.” She tilted her head, giving him a smirk. “Now, you want to take him on with me or just watch me beat the stuffing out of him?”
“I…I want to go home,” he whispered.
“So we’re done with the fighting?”
He nodded, blood dripping off his lip.
“Great.” She held out a hand and controlled a Drone from the open weapon’s rack. She activated it and zipped it behind her. Neither of them watched as the Hunter was dragged back by the Drone and destroyed in the explosion.
John and Teyla came from a nearby building and helped her get Ronon onto the Jumper. The door closed behind them and the Jumper flew through the air and over the city.
“Bit crowded,” John noted.
“Let Carson back here. John and Teyla can head up front,” Faith said as she helped Ronon off with his armor. But she could tell he was fading fast, the fights, the blood loss.
Michael sat at the other end of the bench across from them, next to the wrapped corpse.
Carson got through. “How’s he doing?”
“Not good,” she replied. “John take over flying, I need to be able to concentrate.”
“I’m doing just fine,” Rodney whined.
“I believe Faith is controlling the Jumper,” Teyla pointed out.
“Keep us circling the planet,” Faith said as she felt John take the controls.
“Why?”
“Don’t want them to see a Runner tracker coming their way.” She looked at Michael. “Pull up a schematic and tell me the best place for six Drones to do the most damage.”
He nodded and headed for the front.
Ronon passed out, nearly taking Carson down with him. Faith maneuvered him to the center of the rear compartment and rolled him onto his stomach. She chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Rodney asked.
“Nothing,” she replied, but she was smiling.
“You ready to act as my assistant?” Carson asked. “Or do you want another solo surgery?”
“I’ll assist until we get it turned off, then I’ll need to concentrate.”
He nodded and set about cleaning and sterilizing the area. She got lights up and started cleaning her hands.
The sound of a gun readying had her frowning.
“What’s wrong?” she asked from there she was setting up the tray.
“Michael is not wearing the mark covers,” Teyla said slowly.
“I know, hadn’t had time to get them out,” she glanced back. “He’s not going to do anything,” she pointed out. “The Slayer freaked him the hell out and at this point he’s more curious about what the hell I am than overeating.”
“You seem pretty sure about that,” John said.
Faith nodded. “I am.” Her gaze went to Michael. “Did you find me a target?”
“Yes. Two of them.” He leaned his slim form over the console and pointed to two areas on the schematic. “Here and here.”
She locked the targets in her thoughts.
“Why don’t you come back here?” she said. “As soon as Carson has turned it off, I want to get the Drones in the air.”
He crossed to stand behind her.
Carson worked quickly, within three minutes he had the tracker deactivated. Michael kneeled and took the tray. Faith slipped out and raised her hands.
“How close do you need me?” John asked.
“The closer the better.”
88888888
Caldwell watched the team, Faith, Carson, and Michael exit the Jumper. “I’m guessing the fireball was you?”
“Yes, sir,” John said jovially. “We also came back with a corpse that needs to be put on ice.”
He frowned, watching Ronon be loaded onto a gurney. “Why?”
“Because it fed off me for a second and its feeding mark disappeared,” Faith replied.