Summary
Sheppard and his team race through a forested area. Bullets
fly all around them. Since they're running from baddies
with bullets instead of energy weapons or something more
primitive like arrows, I think it's safe to assume the
Genii
are involved. McKay makes it to the DHD and dials out.
He and Teyla go through the gate while Ronon and Sheppard
provide
cover fire. Ronon and Sheppard make a run for the gate,
but one of their pursuers fires a set of grappling hooks
at Sheppard, yanking him to the ground as Ronon runs through
the gate. The wormhole disengages, and Sheppard finds
himself
looking up at Kolya.
Weir sends several teams back to the planet, but there's
no trace of Sheppard or his abductors. Since the code used
to lure the Atlantis team to the planet was given to the
Genii, that's where Weir wants to start asking questions.
Ladon Radim and several Genii security officers come to
Atlantis. Radim admits that the codes must have been stolen
from his people, but denies having anything to do with Sheppard's
abduction. He only gave the code to two people: his second
in command and his personal assistant. He claims both are
in custody undergoing questioning.
Sheppard finds himself in a cell. He tries calling out
to Kolya, reminding Kolya that Sheppard didn't kill him
when he had a chance. The prisoner in the next cell tells
Sheppard to save his breath. There's no escape. The other
prisoner sits in the shadows and sounds resigned. He's been
there too long for the number of years to matter anymore.
Sheppard is taken from his cell to see Kolya. Kolya tells
Sheppard that it's nothing personal. He'll be released when
Kolya gets what, or rather who, he wants. Weir's conversation
with Radim is interrupted by an unscheduled gate activation.
They receive no IDC, but there's a video transmission. It's
Kolya, and he's got Sheppard. He says that he knows that
Radim in on Atlantis. Kolya wants to propose a trade, Sheppard
for Radim. To buy some time, Weir says she has to consider
the offer. To speed up Weir's consideration, Kolya brings
in a Wraith, the other prisoner. He briefly allows the Wraith
to feed on Sheppard. He tells Weir that it takes a body
three hours to recover from the trauma Sheppard just endured.
She's got that long to think about her response.
Sheppard awakens in his cell. He's got a bit of gray in
his hair now. He hasn't yet figured out that his neighbor
is the Wraith that fed on him. Having his neighbor defend
the Wraith's actions on his need to feed should have been
a sure giveaway, but Sheppard doesn't get it until the
Wraith calls him "Sheppard." When did he hear
someone call him that? "Just before I started to
feed."
Dun dun DUNNNNN!
Back on Atlantis, Weir, Teyla, Ronon and McKay meet with
Radim. We find out that following the failed attempt to
take over Atlantis, Kolya was blamed for the failure and
forced out of Cowan's inner circle. Radim was involved,
too, but as Cowan's chief scientist, he was safe. Before
Kolya went underground, Radim learned that Kolya was planning
a coup of his own. He didn't think Cowan or Kolya had what
it takes to effectively lead the Genii. So by Radim staging
his own coup, Kolya came to think of Radim as taking his
rightful place from him.
Ronon thinks they should just turn Radim over to Kolya
and let them fight it out. Radim says that, in addition
to giving in to blackmail, they'd be sowing the seeds of
civil war among the Genii. Weir is torn, but thinks there's
still time to find Sheppard. Radim agrees to cooperate in
finding where Shepard is being held by supplying the locations
of several Genii safe houses.
In the cells, the Wraith tries to convince Sheppard the
the Genii are torturing both of them, Sheppard by allowing
the Wraith to take a few years off of Sheppard's life,
and the Wraith by them not letting him take them all.
Sheppard
isn't in the mood for conversation, but he still believes
his friends will find him. The Wraith hopes Sheppard still
believes that the next time he feeds.
Dr. Beckett advises Dr. Weir that if she's going to turn
over Radim, she should do it before the next feeding. They
don't know enough about the feeding process to know whether
Sheppard can recover, but each time he's fed upon the chances
of his survival go sharply down. McKay interrupts them with
the news that he and Radim have found a likely gate address
for where Sheppard is being held. Unfortunately, the lead
turns out to be a dead end.
Sheppard is brought back before Kolya. He confirms that
he thinks Radim took what was rightfully his, but he says
he was forced underground when Radim exposed his plans
for a coup, not due to his failure on Atlantis. Kolya
brings
the Wraith back in and contacts Atlantis. Weir still isn't
willing to hand over Radim, so Kolya allows the Wraith
to
feed again. This time, Sheppard ends up with a lot of gray
hairs and a good number of wrinkles, too. Kolya tells
Weir
he'll contact her again in another three hours.
Sheppard and the Wraith are brought back to their cells.
Does Sheppard still think his friends will save him? Yes.
The Wraith knows what they'll face if they do find the
right facility, and thinks they're unlikely to make it.
Sheppard
asks if the Wraith knows enough about the place for them
to find their way out together. The Wraith isn't interested
in discussing it. "There is no escape."
Three hours must already be up again, because Sheppard
and the Wraith are once again led from their cells to Kolya's
private torture chamber. Kolya calls Weir. Are they going
to give up Radim? Nope. They they're effectively ending
Sheppard's life. He tells the Wraith to "have your
fill." The Wraith feeds on Sheppard for a good while,
but stops short of killing him. Kolya asks why the Wraith
stopped. He explained that Sheppard is near death, and asks
if Kolya wants him to finish the job. Apparently not, as
Kolya orders them both returned to their cells. This time,
he'll call back in two hours.
Sheppard is dumped back into his cell. He looks like he's
in his eighties. He asks the Wraith why he stopped feeding.
He says that Sheppard was getting too weak, and he'll need
what strength he has left if the two of them are going to
escape.
Since Weir isn't going to change her mind about turning
Radim over to Kolya, and since Radim claims he can be more
helpful from home, Weir decides to let Radim return to his
people. He promises to be in touch as soon as he has information
that can help them locate Sheppard. Ronon and McKay feel
as they've made a mistake by letting him go. Teyla isn't
so sure.
The guards come for what promises to be Sheppard's last
trip to the Wraith's feeding trough. There are only two
guards on each of them as they're led from their cells.
Sheppard may look like death warmed over, but he can still
take out a couple of guards single handedly. The Wraith
takes care of his two guards as well, feeding on one. The
two fight their way toward the exit. Kolya orders ten guards
placed around the stargate, and has the rest of his people
assigned to hunt down Sheppard and the Wraith.
Sheppard and the Wraith both emerge through a hatch in
the forest. It's nighttime. The Wraith was shot escaping
and will need to feed if he is going to survive. They agree
that they need each other to get to the gate, so they won't
kill each other. How nice. They make their best speed toward
the gate, but the Wraith is having problems keeping up.
He tells Sheppard to go on without him. Sheppard needs the
Wraith due to the number of guards likely at the stargate.
Of course, it would help if they actually knew where the
gate was. The Wraith thought he knew, but it was too many
years ago that he was brought there.
Sheppard intercepts a Genii radio transmission. Reinforcements
have arrived at the gate. Kolya's orders are to kill the
Wraith on site, but bring Sheppard in alive. Sheppard tells
the Wraith that they've learned two things. One, that Kolya
likes Sheppard more than he does the Wraith, and two, they
never would have made it to the gate. Then, the Wraith says,
it is over. Not so fast my friend. Humans never leave anybody
behind, that's three things the Wraith has now learned.
Sheppard reasons that Kolya is wasting manpower looking
for them near the gate, and the chances of his people finding
them keep going up and up. The Wraith tells Sheppard, "you
are more like Wraith than you know." Sheppard isn't
too happy to hear that, but the Wraith reminds him that
there is much about the Wraith that Sheppard does not know.
On Atlantis, Weir notes that Kolya's transmission is overdue,
which is unlike Kolya. Several suggestions as to why are
floated, none of them being that Sheppard is already dead.
A transmission comes through, not from Kolya but from Radim.
The questioning took longer than he'd hoped, but he has
the location where Sheppard is being held. Radim is going
to send a battalion of troops to the address, but it will
take him an hour to get them assembled. The Atlantis team
isn't going to wait around. They prepare a jumper to go
through the gate cloaked.
The next morning, the Wraith awakens when he hears Kolya's
men approaching. He awakens Sheppard, but then starts feeding
on him, draining him almost completely. The Wraith uses
his newfound energy to defeat the guards, stopping to feed
on two of them. The jumper comes through the gate and cloaks.
The sensors detect Sheppard's subcutaneous transmitter.
They notice that the number of life signs surrounding Sheppard
drop from eight to four to two. Ronon tells McKay to land
near Sheppard's location.
The Wraith kneels next to the nearly-dead Sheppard. Sheppard
tells him, "finish it." The Wraith reminds him
that he has much to learn about Wraith, and puts his hand
on Sheppard's chest. Cut to Ronon and the rest of the rescue
team, making their way towards Sheppard's position. They
hear Sheppard scream and start sprinting in his direction.
When they arrive, they find the Wraith still bending over
Sheppard. Ronon pulls the Wraith up and aims his blaster
at him. Sheppard yells for everyone to hold their fire.
He springs up from the ground, good as new. (McKay thinks
he looks even younger).
Obviously, the Wraith can give life the same way they take
it. They reserve such honor for their most devoted followers
or for brothers. Sheppard gave him back his life, he merely
repaid the debt. Hey, anyone remember Kolya? Sheppard radios
him and tells him, "next time, I shoot you on sight."
Kolya then slips through the gate, no doubt to be a thorn
in Atlantis' side another day.
So what happens to the Wraith now? Sheppard says they had
a deal. The Wraith says he never expected Sheppard to keep
their bargain. Sheppard faces the obvious dilemma of whether
to take a chance on making the same mistake with the Wraith
that he did the first time he had a chance to kill Kolya.
Ronon hands Sheppard his blaster. Sheppard walks over to
the Wraith and blasts him in the chest. Of course, he'd
set the thing on stun first. Sheppard orders that the Wraith
be taken to the jumper to be dropped off on another planet.
The Wraith awakens in the dark, another stargate is activated
in the background. He's surprised to be alive. Sheppard
is there, too. He tells the Wraith that there's a lot he
doesn't know about humans. "And the next time we meet?"
asks the Wraith. "All bets are off," replies Sheppard.
A Wraith dart flies overhead, distracting the Wraith as
Sheppard steps into a cloaked jumper.
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