Second Chances
A high, piercing siren sliced through Avara Diali's deep sleep. She sat up in alarm, dark green eyes smoldering with a deep anger, and sprang out of bed. That dreaded sound could only mean one thing--Wraith. *How can they be coming so soon after Talinon?* She wondered, a sick feeling of fear tying itself into knots in the depths of her stomach. Her hands trembled slightly with barely supressed rage as she slipped into her blue uniform. Avara had a very good reason to hate the Wraith more than any other Antian, if her fatherless sons weren't any proof.
Three centuries earlier, Avara and her husband, Brenar, had fled from Terra with those Antians who hadn't succomed to the plague or made themselves ascend. Brenar had been elected governor of Isman, the second city built in the new galaxy, a major increase in status from his lowly position as the commander of the battleship Leviathan. He'd always been confident that their race would finally be safe enough to continue its climb to success without anymore plagues to bother them. He'd been correct, to a point.
One hundred and twenty years after the seeding of their new empire, a lone villager in one of the outlying colonies came upon the first Wraith. The Antians who had settled there'd had no reason to search for enemy ships because, to their point of view, they weren't any races in this galaxy that could pose a threat to them. The hapless man had left a clear track to where he'd come from and the Wraith had had no trouble in waking up the rest of their kind and ambushing the half-finished city, killing all its inhabitants. Avara remembered that day only too well; for the man who'd been killed had been Brenar, out on a stroll while he was visiting the new inhabitants. Every Antian older than one hundred and thirty-seven years old remembered the day when thousands of telepathic screams had echoed across the nation as their bretheren were murdered.
Avara shuddered and fiercely blinked back the tears that were misting in her eyes. To her, it wasn't that long ago. Her twin sons, Niral--a smart, considerate, and fiercely protective man-- and Cinar--a brilliant military mind, determined, and just as protective of her as he was his people--however, helped ease her memories a great deal, though they hadn't even been born when they'd lost their father.
As if summoned by her private thoughts, a soft chime signaled the entry of Niral. "All finished?" His dark brown elyes were hard with concern. His uniform was slightly wrinkled from being slept in, but only Avara and Cinar would notice a detail like that. If it was up to him, however, *she* would be the first Antian to flee through the Stargate to Atlantus instead of staying behind like he knew she was going to do.
Smiling, she shrugged the weapons sling into a more comfortable position and nodded, ignoring the lock of long, blonde hair that fell over her eyes. "Did you fall asleep working again, Niral?" She countered in respnse, unquestioning love shining through her eyes. Her son was more like his father than he realized. Before Niral had a chance to ask, however, Avara was running down the corridors, ignoring the transports for they'd take too long. Her quarters were several levels below the control room where the Stargate was. Many of the non-combatants were already taking the same route she was, although they moved aside as soon as the word was passed along that she was in a hurry. Avara smirked quietly, maybe having telepathic abilities were an advantage after all.
Niral had just caught up with her when she burst through the doors into the control room, barely giving the mechanics time to open enough so she could squeeze through. It was a large-scale controled chaos in the room overlooking the Stargate and the fleeing Antians, Cinar in the nucleus of it all. "What intelligence do we have on the Wraith?" Avara demanded, raising her voice over the tumult while she tied her hair away from her face.
Cinar stopped what he was doing and a brief smile flickered across his face. "We almost stopped them with the defense sattelites, but six cruisers still got through." A large screen lit up, showing the opposing ships in red. "If we don't raise the shields and sink the city, we'll be overrun before we can evacuate everybody."
Avara gripped the console tightly; never had she immagined that her city, inherrited from Brenar, would be destroyed and join the thousands of others! "We just need to keep those darts away until the shields are up?" An idea was forming in her mind though her sub-consious thought that it would be suicide. When Cinar nodded, she straightened and stalked over to the far wall and waved her hand. A small section of the wall became transparent and slid away, revealing a heavily sealed box that was too heavy for its size. She opened it in full view of her followers and bit her lips as the familiar sight of the naquadah-sulfur bombs that her father had created. They were two inches in diameter and only ten had ever been made. As the daughter of their creater, she'd inherrited five of them, not telling anyone, even Brenar.
Cinar caught her wrist before Avara could reach for the first one and looked at her sternly. Having been a student at the military academy in Atlantus, he'd read about the bombs, so he would know of their destructive power. "Are you sure you want to use these? They could be needed for graver situations when we get to Atlantus." Niral's face showed the same refusal as his brother's.
Aware that the room had suddenly gone silent, Avara chose her next words carefully. "I don't intend on letting the Wraith come close enough to Isman to beam down one of their battalions, not after what's happened to other cities who hadn't acted fast enough. We're the last city before Atlantus and if the Wraith are allowed to conquer our capitol with their current numbers, they'll find out where the rest of our people have gone. They'll head to Terra and destroy many more civilizations less advanced than we are. We're the only race with enough knowledge about them that we have countless *millions* depending on us to defeat them. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would die easier knowing that at least I *helped* give those millions a second chance. If using the naquadah-sulfur bombs is going to help me accomplish that goal, so be it."
There was no applause, no loud cheering like there would've been under normal circumstances, for the circumstances at the moment were anything but normal. However, no one disagreed with her aloud and very quickly they soon returned to their work with a little more vigor.
Cinar chuckled softly under the noise of the others' bustlings. "All right, you win this time, Avara," he consented but grabbed an extra weapon from the many laid out along the counter. "On the other hand, there's nothing that's going to stop me from coming with you. Whatever you're going to do, someone's got to guard your back and make sure you don't turn this mission into a suicidal one." Another weapon found its way into Niral's hands as he nodded in agreement. Usually he disliked fighting, but when it came to keeping both his mother *and* brother out of trouble, he never complained.
Avara sighed at the determined expressions on their faces and gave in. When her sons decided that they were going to do something, there was no swaying them. "Just don't get yourselves killed in the process," she warned, attaching the five spheres to the inside of her sleeves, thankful once again that they possessed adhiesive surfaces just for that purpose. Grabbing her own weapon, she dashed out the door and headed for the nearest transport.
"And just where are we going?"
"The drone lab." Came the calm answer. "They can be individually outfitted with one of the bombs and given their targets once we enter the hangar bay. That way we won't have to needlessly endanger ourselves unless the Wraith have somehow managed to find a way to beam a squad in past our shields." Avara looked over at her sons to see surprise and pleasure at her news. The ascending roof in the bay was good for something *other* than ships after all.
The lab level was eerily silent as the trio emerged from the transporter. After analizing the attacks on the previous cities, Isman was the first city to devise a sufficient evacuation plan that would empty the piers within fifteen to thirty minutes. Down here at the end of the farthest pier, there was absolutely nobody to hinder their progress.
A scratch made Avara stop in her tracks. That was all it was, nothing more, but it was out of place in the empty corridors. Her raised hand stalled any questions and she slowly raised her weapon, its thin, sleek muzzle a deadly dart in the half-light. Someone, or (dare she think it) something, was around the corner where there shouldn't have been. The hairs on her neck stood on end; all her instincts screamed of Wraith. Silently, she gestured for Cinar and Niral to take positions on the other side of the hallway, mouthing, "Wraith." Equally as silent, the men obeyed without question, Cinar's face taking on the familiar look of a fighter. Taking a deep breath, Avara crept slowly forward until the tip of her weapon was even with the corner. Cinar nodded and Niral took a steadying breath before adding his nodd as well. Now it was time to surprise whoever was there. Even if it was an Antian, they couldn't be trusted, for every sensible Antian would've gone to the upper levels by now. They could easily be under Wraith influence, for all they knew.
The blond man jerked up from leaning over the console when all three burst out of hiding, automatically sealing off his escape routes. He was Antian, all right, but there was something in the way he stood that bore ill with Avara's instincts. "Tarak, what are you doing down here?" She made her voice retain some of what it would sound like even though her first thought was that she should kill him at once.
His embarassed laugh sounded a little strained. "I'm sorry, Avara, I was going to tell you that I was disabling some of the cities functions so the Wraith won't be able to take it so easily." Dark green eyes flicked to the side for just the smallest fraction of a second, but that was all Avara needed to be on alert from an attack at that angle.
{Be ready for an attack from the level above,} she advised her sons telepathically before shaking her head at him pityingly. "Oh, Tarak, you were always a terrible lyer. I don't intend on letting the Wraith get *any* of Isman, and I don't need your help. In fact," she added, stepping a little closer, her finger tightening on the trigger. "I'm not intending on allowing you to escape to warn them."
Tarak's face contorted in rage and he lost all of the Antian resemblence he bore. The air shimmered around him as a cleverly hidden shield collapsed. In his place stood the tallest and most athletic Wraith that Avara--or any Antian, for that matter--had ever seen. It only gave her and her sons a moment to collect themsleves from the surprise before launching itself at the closest Antian--Avara.
She flung the weapon she held at his face mainly to give herself more time to brace herself rather than actually hurt him. Against any Antian she was a fairly decent hand-to-hand fighter, but against a Wraith who just happened to have been spying among them for who-knows-how-long was another thing. Her hands met his in a rapid series of blows too fast for normal eyes to see properly. This Wraith was *good* considering that he wasn't wearing any of the flowing black garb that most advanced Wraith fighters wore. It was all she could do to keep him from scoring a blow as she was slowly forced backwards. A hand snaked forward to strike again, but Avara used it to catapult herself over his head and land next to her dumbfounded sons.
The Wraith saw where she'd landed and a cunning smile crept across his face. "Finally, you are in my hands, 'Lantian." His hand stroaked a wrist devise, that smile never once leaving his face. "Now you will bow to the might of the Wraith."
She felt energy build up around them and knew at once that she'd fallen into a trap. Before she could move to shove one of her sons away, a Wraith beam encircled them and the familiar walls of the city were replaced by the greusome organic-like walls of one of the Wraith ships in orbit. They weren't the only ones in the holding cell. At least three dozen other Antians--most likely caught while trying to get to the Stargate--were huddling in individual groups with only seven Wraith guards watching them all.
{Did you keep the bombs?} Niral's mind-voice was clouded in disapointment. Despite his planning, the Wraith had still managed to capture so many.
Avara's hand reached up to her sleeve and in relief felt all five of them intact. {Yes. I wonder why the transporter didn't take them when it obviously took your weapons. They shouldn't make a difference.}
{Unless,} Cinar's eyes were shining in barely hidden excitement. {The Wraith haven't thought that we would resort to using weapons smaller than drones and didn't program their beams to search for those.} He sat down as if in defeat, but Avara knew him too well for that and sat down with him. {It's either that or there's an element in the bombs that the sensors can't detect. Do you know what this means?!}
A smile burst open on Avara's face before she regained enough control to hide it. {We can still cause some damage. On the other hand, I think that the best effect would be if somehow we escape and find a way onto different ships. We can plant the bombs there and then work on a way to get off.}
{Along with the other Antians, I hope,} Niral interrupted, an uncertain frown on his face.
{There are probably hundreds of thousands of our people in this fleet alone. We can't save everybody.}
Niral glared at his brother, but eventualy conceded. {Then I think we should wait until these ships join the rest. That way we can make as big a dent in their forces as we can in one sitting.} He didn't often resort to violence, but if he thought of the benefits of saving the Antian race as a whole, he didn't mind the implications.
{I'll keep them with me for now.} Avara glanced at the door for the guards were acting a little more professionally (as far as Wraith professionalism went). {I think we're about to have company.} She cautiously advised the other Antians to move away from the door as they could. If it was a Keeper, she would be looking for her and her sons and she didn't want anyone else getting hurt in the process. She hated Wraith as a whole, but she dreaded facing a Keeper. It was said that she posessed enough mind-power to best even the most seasoned Antian mind. Though she wouldn't let her sons know it, she was beginning to feel the first threads of fear. She was a pretty good mind, as far as her people went, but definately no match for a Keeper.
Two hands rested on her shoulders. {If the Keeper probes your mind, we'll help you.} Niral's and Cinar's voices were blended together so thoroughly that they sounded like one person rather than two. In the Antian society, twins were often twice as effective as a single warrior and were often the envy of the entire race. Niral and Cinar were the strongest set yet, and when they melded with their mother, all three formed a deadly triangle that couldn't be seconded.
As the doors opened, Avara's hands reached up and squeezed theirs, letting them know without words her affection for them. Then they separated so that when they melded, the Wraith wouldn't know that they were together.
The Keeper swept in followed closely by the Wraith who'd posed as Tarak. The second Wraith whispered something into her ear and pointed in Avara's direction and suddenly Avara found herself the focus of hate-filled eyes. The Keeper's flaming red hair was a stark contrast to her dark blue skin and white, rather simple, Wraith gown. Her power rippled around her in invisible waves that only someone like Avara would sense. She was shorter than the Wraith beside her, but he treated her with the respect of someone twice her height.
A path formed rather quickly when the Keeper started in Avara's direction, the same evil smile on her face as had been on the previous Wraith's. "Ah, the famous Avara Diali, commander of the 'Lantian city below. I am dissapointed that your people retreated so quickly upon our arrival. Someone of your reputation should have stood and fought, giving us a more worthy prey." Her silky voice was dripping with scorn, though her expression remained taunting. "However, I am willing to...let you live longer than your companions as long as you give me what I need. Let me take the information conserning Atlantis from your mind and you will live for perhaps a day more."
The very offer sent a cold shiver down Avara's spine and her stomach churned itself into knots. "I don't think so. You'll hae to rip it out of me if you want it that badly, but that will only kill me and you'd deny yourself at least one more meal. You Wraith are too...conserned about loosing your food supply that you wouldn't risk killing one out of anger. That'll mean that even *you* will have to do with less until you find another food source. By then you'll all be dead because I will have killed you myself." Her tirade served as a distraction as much as giving her more time to reinforce her shields as much as she could.
The Keeper snarled and suddenly her mind was pressing against Avara's. {Now.} Immedeately Niral and Cinar melded their minds with hers and increased the strength of the barrier protecting Avara's mind from the Wraith's. Sweat broke out on Avara's face as she struggled to gain the upper hand. Even though her sons were protecting her, she was the one doing all of the protecting and it was as tiring as if she was doing endless physical labor. All of a sudden she faltered and the Wraith gained one mental "step" forward. The Keeper's mind held incredible ammounts of energy that Avara wondered if she'd been right in opposing her. If she lost any more ground, the Wraith would be in her thoughts and would find out who'd been helping her. Before she could think anymore, however, she felt an enormous surge of power from her sons' end and had to ease up on her consentration otherwise she would loose focus completely. It wasn't her sons' power, but power flowing from every Antian in the room! They had felt and seen what Avara was trying to do and unanimously decided to feed the three of them power; even the least talented among them was contributing somehow. With renewed confidence, Avara began attacking the *Wraith's* shields, using all of the training she'd recieved. Caught unawares, the Keeper's defenses collapsed and suddenly Avara was in her mind. Her power source was fading so she quickly gleaned all the information she found necessary and retreated, storing the stolen knowledge in the far corner of her mind so she could sort through it later.
Both of them severed contact at the same time and backed away from each other. One because the sudden draining of power left her weak and shaking, the other because the sudden change of tactics had shattered her confidence and she needed time to recover. Niral and Cinar, almost as tired, but not as much, caught Avara before she fell down and supported her until she could stand on her own. She glanced at the furious looks that the Keeper and her guard gave them. {So much for keeping you two secret,} she sent her sons and raised her head defiantly let the Wraith eat them, she thought, at least she would die with honor.
But the smile that slowly krept onto the Keeper's face was anything but desire to feed. "Very impressive, Diali. Never before have I encountered an Antian that gave me so much pleasure in breaking." She gestured at two of the Wraith guards behind her and they lept forward to grab Niral's and Cinar's arms in theirs.
"What are you doing?" Avara cried in horror as her sons were dragged out of the room. Her heart felt like someone was slowly tearing it in two. The Wraith who'd remained stationed behind the Keeper held her arms in a vice-like grip before Avara had any chance to escape.
"I am making sure you will not do that again, Avara Diali. Because you resisted me, your sons will die while you remain our prisoner. I am sure that any information we desire will come willingly from now on." Her head jerked to the open door.
Grief tore a stream of curses from Avara's throat as she was taken away from her people. She lost her husband and now her sons! And it was all because of *her*! With tears streaming down her face, Avara felt herself babbling incoherantly as she was thrown into an empty room devoid of any furniture. Even after the door slid shut, she lay there, a gaping black hole where her heart had been.
*****************************************************************************
Avara didn't remember falling asleep for the next thing she knew, she was still lying on the floor with massive cramps along her muscles. She slowly sat up, careful not to strain anything, then remembered why she was here. Another flood of tears coursed down the paths of the old as sobs racked her chest. *I've failed you. I've failed you all.* Her mind couldn't sense any more Antians which meant that the room had probably been designed for that purpose. It didn't matter, though. She was so involved in her grief that she forgot about the bombs until one came unattached from her sleeve. The clang brought her mind back to reality. There was still a chance that she could destroy the Wraith, although it would be harder with just one person doing it. She quickly snatched the loose bomb up and put it back where it belonged. Maybe it would work, but not now. Not while she was under intense scrutiny. Better to wait for the Wraith to become comfortable that she wouldn't escape and *then* make her move.
The disgustingly-organic door slid open without a sound and the Wraith from Isman entered, leaving two guards outside. Apparently he seemed confident that, with her sons dead, Avara wouldn't even be considering trying to escape and put a dent in his defenses. For a long while he just stood there, eyeing her with a triumphant expression in his glinty black eyes. The very way he stood told Avara that she was supposed to give in to fear and babble that she would tell him everything as long as he didn't hurt her. It didn't work on her for her feelings had gone too numb for her to feel anything.
Her silence and lack of submission angered the Wraith and he lost that overconfidence that had been written in every feature. A backhanded slap sent Avara tumbling to the other side of the room. "I would prefer it that I kill you right now instead of waiting for you to tell me what I want," he snarled, his odd voice reverberating around the room. "The Keeper doesn't know you like I do..."
"I'd prefer it if you didn't know me at all." Avara's disgust for him was overriding her despair. All she wanted him to do was get away from her so she could arm the bombs and be done with her life. "By the way, you haven't told me your *real* name; not that I would want to know it freely."
There was a peculiar spark in the Wraith's eyes, though it was quickly quenched. "You speak too freely in my presence, Avara. Perhaps with some persuasion, you will not be as bold in the future." He turned around and stalked out, but not before Avara saw another flash--this one of guilt--pass over his face before he left.
*Guilt?* Why would *any* Wraith feel guilt? And for what reason? There were only two options that made sense to her: the first, and most likely reason, was that he'd wanted to kill her before hand, but the Keeper had denied him that luxury; the second, which was probably the most crazy idea ever, was that he was guilty for betraying her and the other Antians. "I *must* be having delusions of grandeur," Avara scolded herself, though her ever-working mind kept pestering her with a plan. Maybe, just maybe, the Wraith felt guilty enough that she could convince him to help her to destroy the fleet that was on its way to Atlantus. Who cared if...She smacked her head fiercely in an attempt to bring her back to her senses. "I must've hit my head on the wall a little too hard," she groaned and lay down on the cold floor, but the thought was there at the back of her mind like an insect waiting to bite.
Second Chance von Wraith Queen
Story Bemerkung:
This comes around 10,000 years befor SGA finds Atlantis.
Kapitel Bemerkung: I am temporarily calling this complete because I have no time to finish the second chapter. Sorry for the Inconvinience.
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