03x19 - Vengeance

[bunniefuu]

Previously on
Stargate Atlantis.

What's the nature
of Major Sheppard's injury?

Some sort of funky alien bug
attached itself to his neck.

Part of Ellia is human,

and part of her comes
from a creature we call the Iratus Bug.

She took the retrovirus.

- You said it wasn't ready.
- It's not. Not by a long sh*t.

It looks like you've been infected
with the Iratus Bug retrovirus.

It's beginning to alter his DNA.

He'll devolve into a creature
similar to what Ellia became.

I'm not safe to be around anymore.

Eyes straight ahead. Focus on me.

Never, ever look away from your enemy.

Shows weakness. Are you weak?

- No.
- Good. Are you ready?

McKay, what did I say?
Don't take your eyes off of me.

Got to anticipate the next move.
You all right?

All right, well, I'll try to ease up
so I don't hurt you.

- Thank you. Thanks.
- You're getting better.

- Really?
- No.

- How are the ninja lessons going, Jet Li?
- What do you want?

WEIR: We lost contact with the Taranans.

- You mean the volcano people?
- Super volcano people.

- What happened to them?
- Well, we don't know.

Seeing how we lost contact with them.

They usually check in from time to time
from the new settlement.

We've been sending them food,
medical supplies.

It's the least we can do
since getting the Orion blown up.

But we haven't heard from them
for a few months.

I tried to contact them by radio,
but no response.

So send a MALP.

We just did. Everything looks okay,

but the settlement's
a couple kilometers from the gate,

so we don't know anything yet.

- I want you to check it out.
- What?

Eyes. Yes.

You may wanna change first.

McKAY: They got a lot done
in the short time they've been here.

They're hardworking people.

I've made several trips
to assist them in getting settled.

This is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard
from Atlantis

calling anyone in the Taranan settlement.
Please respond.

I thought I'd give it a sh*t.
All right, let's go.

Anybody home?

McKAY: Well, it looks like
they abandoned the place.

Well, maybe they found
somewhere better to live.

They left everything behind.
Why would they do that?

Let's get these workstations powered up.

Maybe we can figure out
where these people went.

I got something.

- A single life sign.
- Where is it?

It's below us.

- Quite a way below us.
- They built underground?

No. One of the previous civilizations
that lived here was similar to the Genii,

living below the surface
to avoid detection by the Wraith.

They left behind
several underground passages,

but the Taranans didn't utilize them.

Yeah, well, someone is.

How do we get there?

Rodney?

Wait!

What is that?

Looks like a cocoon of some sort.

What's inside it?

Well, whatever it is,
it's not inside anymore.

Has Colonel Sheppard's team dialed in
with a status report yet?

Well, not yet,
but they haven't been gone that long.

Go ahead and dial them.

How's it going there?

I think I know
why we lost contact with the Taranans.

- Why?
- They're gone.

What? All of them?

Looks like it.
The entire settlement is deserted.

Rodney's picked up a life sign
underneath the tunnel.

But we're tracking it.
We don't think it's human, though.

Why not?

We discovered a large cocoon
in one of the rooms under the settlement,

and we think whatever hatched from it
is what we're detecting.

- Did you just say cocoon?
Yeah, it's like a big slimy...

It's a pod.

Well, I was gonna say egg,
but who knows what the hell it is?

- I'm sending in backup.
We can handle it.

I know you can handle it,
but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I'll send in a team of Marines to assist you.

All right, if you feel the need.

I feel the need. Weir out.

It's a hell of a complex down here.

It's like a maze.
- We're closer.

- How far?
- Forty meters.

It's stopped moving,
so we're gaining ground on it.

All right, good.

Look, if it makes any sudden moves,
I want you to make sure that...

Where's Ronon? Ronon!

In here.

McKAY: Oh, my God!

Taranans!

Wounds on their neck, all of them.

Does this look familiar?

It's disturbingly familiar.

You don't think...

Ronon?

Oh, for God's sakes!

- Ronon!
In here.

You can't wander off like that.
You got to...

Oh, no.

Iratus Bug.

I hate those things.

That explains
why the wounds look so familiar.

What is it doing here? Iratus Bugs
are not indigenous to this planet.

- Well, somebody brought it here.
- Let's hope it's the only bug they brought.

So some kind of a Wraith experiment?

I doubt
the Taranans did this to themselves.

I do not sense
any Wraith in the settlement.

McKAY: Our little friend is on the move.
It's headed right for us.

- How fast?
- Very fast.

- It knows we're here.
- Ronon, stun.

- Why?
- Stun.

Colonel Sheppard, come in.

Colonel Sheppard,
this is Lieutenant Negley. Do you copy?

Yes, Lieutenant.

Sir, my team
has just come through the gate,

and we're proceeding
to the settlement in order...

Great. Terrific. We'll meet you there.

Right now, I need radio silence.
Sheppard out.

It stopped.

- Why?
- How am I supposed to know?

- Where is it?
- Well, I think it's out in the tunnel.

It's close.

- Are you all right?
- Yeah, I'm good.

- What the hell was that thing?
- What is that?

It's a piece of an arm, it looks like.

- Let's hope that slows him down.
- Well, maybe it'll bleed to death.

Or just grow another arm.

Dart!

It's still moving away from us.

Let's hope
losing a chunk of his arm slows him down.

- We need to finish it off to make sure.
- I couldn't agree with you more.

Yeah, and how are we gonna do that?

Am I the only one who noticed
that our b*ll*ts had no effect on it?

It appears to have
a hardened shell on its back.

Right, set that thing to k*ll again.

Lieutenant Negley, this is Sheppard. How
far away from the settlement are you?

Negley, this is Sheppard. Come in.

- You did say radio silence.
- Negley? Respond!

Great.

It's through that doorway.

This is not good.

Dr. Weir,
we just received a data transmission

from the Taranan settlement.
Lieutenant Negley checking in.

And how are they doing?

Well, they've contacted
Colonel Sheppard's team,

who were about 10 kilometers
further inland from the settlement.

Negley and his team are
on their way to meet up with them.

Ten kilometers inland?
What are they doing there?

Well, they found the Taranans. Apparently,
they've abandoned their settlement

for a better location inland.

What about the cocoon
and the life sign they were tracking?

There was no mention about it.

It was a brief transmission.
They were almost out of range.

Okay, good. Keep me posted.

We searched the whole room.
That thing ain't in there.

- Just a bunch of unhatched eggs.
- Pods.

- Whatever.
- Is there another way out?

No, it's the only door to the room.

Yeah, well,
it must have found another way out

- because it is still on the move.
- Alien.

The movie Alien. They use
the air shafts to move around the ship.

And then systematically k*lled
the entire crew, one by one.

- Thank you for bringing that up.
- They didn't k*ll them all.

- What do we do now?
- Track this thing down and k*ll it.

Agreed, but first things first.

The structure is very peculiar.

Yeah. I believe the word is "disgusting."

Go! Go! Go! Go!
Sheppard! They're hatching!

We're good. Let's go.

Shut the door. Shut the door!

Fire in the hole.

- Everyone okay?
- Yes.

- I'm good.
- I think you singed my eyebrows.

Think you used
enough dynamite there, Butch?

Rodney?

McKAY: I think we got them all.
That's good.

Except for our armless friend.
He's still on the move.

Let's go get him.

Lieutenant Negley, this is Sheppard.
Do you read?

Negley, respond.

Damn it!

- Perhaps they encountered the creature.
- And, what, it k*lled all four of them?

No way. One creature
isn't gonna take out four Marines.

- It almost k*lled all of us.
But it didn't.

- We need to find them.
- If they were alive,

we would see them
on the life-signs detector.

Not if they didn't make it
to the settlement.

- This thing only has a range of 100 meters.
- Where's the creature now?

Wait a minute.

- It's back that way.
- Behind us?

- You just said it was that way.
- I did. Well, it was, but it must have...

- It must have doubled back.
- Damn air shafts.

Obviously it knows its way
around this place better than we do.

Perhaps we should consider
returning to the gate.

- What, you mean give up?
- No, not give up.

We can find out
what happened to the Marines

and request additional backup

so that we may do a proper search
of the settlement.

I like this plan.
I mean, if we're taking a vote.

Sounds like giving up to me.

Teyla's right.
Enough of this cat and mouse.

We're better off
doing a full-scale sweep of this area.

Including the air shafts.

- All right, how do we get out of here?
- This way.

In all the worlds I've been to,
I've never encountered anything like it.

Anybody get a good look
at that thing?

McKAY: Aside from its severed appendage,
no. That thing moved incredibly fast.

In some ways,
it looked almost like a human.

McKAY: If by "human," you mean

clad in a grotesquely proportioned
exoskeleton, yes, very "human."

I meant it looked
like it had two arms and two legs.

It looked like a giant bug to me.
I hate those things.

If it was indeed a Wraith experiment,

perhaps it was created
by combining the genetic elements

of the Iratus Bug with the Taranans.

Which is, as we know,
exactly how the Wraiths evolved.

I mean, Iratus Bug bites human,

human DNA mixes with theirs,
1,000 years go by, Wraiths.

So, what,
they're trying to create more Wraiths?

That doesn't make any more sense.
If they wanted to create more Wraiths,

wouldn't it be easier to get a male
and female to, you know, get a room?

It doesn't work that way
with the Wraiths, all right?

At least, we don't think it does.

We're not entirely sure
as to the Wraiths' reproductive methods.

I don't wanna be around
to watch that film.

Anyway, look,

it's probably less likely
they were trying to create another Wraith

than they were actually trying
to create some kind of a hybrid creature,

probably to be used as a w*apon.

Super-Wraith? That's all we need.

Well, that's the whole distance
from the settlement.

- I don't see any sign of the Marines yet.
- Maybe they went back to Atlantis.

No, they would have radioed us.

They must have encountered the creature.

There's no other explanation
for why they're not responding to us.

If that thing took them all out,
then that is one nasty bug-person.

- Dial us out.
- Right.

- No.
- What?

No, no, no, no.

Rodney?

Control crystal's missing.

- Missing?
- We can't dial out?

Well, fix it.

It is not a matter of fixing, okay?
The crystal is just gone.

Someone has removed it
to prevent anyone else from dialing out.

Stay here?

Hey, Elizabeth will wonder
why we haven't checked in.

She'll dial up to get our status.

We can request backup,
also a Puddle Jumper to come get us.

We don't know how long that'll be.
That could be hours.

We'll be safe here. The life-signs detector
will alert us if the creature's nearby.

She's right. We can set up a...

What do you call it?
A perimeter. Wait it out.

We're not leaving without those Marines.

Let's go back to the settlement.

What?
- I'm sensing something.

Wraiths?

- Cannot be certain.
- Rodney?

No. No, I've still just got the one reading.
Still on the move, heading... No.

No, picking up another life sign.
Just popped up out of nowhere.

How is that possible?

- Maybe one of those eggs hatched.
- Maybe.

- That or part of the settlement is shielded.
- Maybe it's one of the Marines.

If it is one of those Marines,

that something Teyla's sensing
is heading right toward him.

They're close.

What was that?

- Teyla.
Teyla!

Ronon!

John!

Where'd she go?

I'm reading two life signs moving away
from us, but one floor up, I think.

- That or more air shafts.
- Let's go.

Wait!

- They disappeared.
- What?

The life signs, they just vanished.
I was right.

Part of the settlement must be shielded.

Wait! No! We won't be able to track them.

What?

This will proceed much more quickly
if you don't resist.

Michael.

Hello, Teyla.

You need to aim for the stomach area.

It seems to be more vulnerable.
It's a soft underbelly.

You were able to k*ll it
when you hit it there before.

- Thanks.
- Which way?

I don't know.
It's not showing me anything. It's useless.

This way.

- You're the one who's done all this?
- All this?

This experiment.

You m*rder*d those people.
You allowed those bugs to feed on them.

A necessary step in the process.

To create these creatures?
Why are you doing this?

Do you not recall our last encounter?

How you left me to die
on that desolate planet?

The hive that finally rescued me,
they could tell something was different.

They sensed the human in me.

To them, I was unclean.

I barely escaped that hive with my life.

So now I find myself hunted
by both humans and Wraiths,

so you can understand
my need to protect myself,

to survive.

It did not have to be like this.
You could have lived with us.

As a human?

My consciousness erased
by your retrovirus?

No, I will live
the rest of my life as I choose,

but I can't do it alone,

so having taken my cue

from the experiment
your people performed on me,

I figured out how to reverse the process.

To create a being
even more formidable than a Wraith.

It began with the feeding.

I allowed the bug to gorge itself,

to absorb
as much human DNA as possible.

This, of course,
led to the death of the subject.

The timing of the feeding was critical,

ensuring that the bug laid
its next egg quickly,

before the genetic material
could filter it out of its body.

The embryo then contained
enough human DNA for me to manipulate.

I accelerated the development,

augmenting the complexity
of its physiology.

There were several adjustments,
several mistakes,

until I finally found the perfect balance
between strength, agility

and resilience.

A perfect animal to do my bidding.

Must be some kind of security lockdown.
Whoever took Teyla no doubt triggered it.

- We gotta open this up.
- Stand back.

Jeez!
Mind giving us a little more heads-up

before you start blasting everything?

You got any more C4?

I saw how you and your team
destroyed the incubation room,

but don't think
that's the only one in this complex,

and don't think that this is the only planet

from which
I'm conducting this experiment.

That's right.

Soon, hundreds of these creatures
will be at my disposal,

and their numbers will continue to grow

so long
as I have human subjects in supply.

And now that you're here, I do.

All right, that's the last of the C4.
Let's hope it's enough. Ready?

What happened?

Jeez!

All right, let's go.

- Serious energy spike.
- What does that mean?

We probably just entered
the shielded section of the settlement.

Your friends are coming for you.

They'll meet the same fate as you,
one by one.

Others will come for us.
Dr. Weir will send...

Don't concern yourself with Dr. Weir.

She thinks your team has met up
with the Taranan people and all is well.

One of the Marines
she sent to help you was

kind enough to assist me in transmitting
a message back to Atlantis.

Michael, please don't do this.

After what you did to me, twice,

how could you expect anything less?

- What happened back on the planet?
- No more excuses.

Your experiment failed.
You decided to k*ll us.

- We believed we were left with no choice.
- And now I'm in the same position.

You drove me to this.

Oh, my God.

Where are the others?

Sheppard. Over here.

You hear that?

- It sounds like bugs.
- Come on.

Put that thing away. I thought you said
it didn't work in this area anyway.

I just... I thought
I could recalibrate it to take into effect...

It's dead.

John!

John!

Nice sh*t! You okay?

Yes. It's Michael. He's the one doing this.

Michael? Our Michael?

- He's alive?
- Yes. He created the creatures,

and he's attempting
to build an army of them.

- Where is he?
- I don't know.

He ran off as soon as he heard the g*nf*re.

We need to come up
with the best plan here.

- The best plan is to k*ll him.
- Hey, just hang on a sec.

Maybe I should check out
these workstations.

- There might be some intel.
- We don't have any time.

Such as how many
of these creatures he created

and if they have any weaknesses
that we might be able to exploit.

All right, Teyla, you stay with Rodney.
Ronon and I are going after Michael.

- We'll stay in touch on the radio.
- You can't. Shielded, remember?

Look, the energy spike, it fouls
with radio communications as well.

Well, then unshield it. Let's go.

You go that way.
I'll go the other. Oh, hey, wait.

- Set your g*n to stun.
- What?

- Yeah, we're gonna need to question him.
- No, no more talking, no more questioning.

I'll do what we should've done
the first time we captured him.

- Ronon, listen to me.
- No, you listen to me, John.

This whole retrovirus thing was a mistake.
I said it then. No one listened to me.

- It was a bad idea.
- We had to try.

- If it'd worked, we wouldn't...
- But it didn't work. Admit it.

It just made things worse.

How long
do you wanna keep paying for it?

God, it is amazing how much work
he's been able to get done

in such a short amount of time.

He's quite the industrious little fellow
or Wraith or whatever.

What does he look like now?
I mean, is he full-on Wraith again?

Not quite. There are still
human characteristics present in him.

No doubt it's why I was confused
when I first felt his presence.

You'd think that the human side of him
would temper his aggression a bit.

Yes, because we humans
aren't aggressive at all.

Well, certainly less aggressive than...

Oh, sarcasm. Yeah, nice.

What Michael is doing right now
must be stopped,

and he cannot be allowed to escape.
He's far too dangerous.

- You're preaching to the choir, my dear.
- But I understand his anger.

His life has been destroyed.
He no longer has a home or family.

- He had a family?
- I don't know,

but I've often wondered
what he left behind

when he was captured by us.

We know nothing of his past
other than he was a Wraith.

A very smart Wraith.

- Perhaps he was a scientist.
- Sure. Probably. Why not?

- One of their very best, I'd wager.
- Like you.

Right.

- Wait a minute.
- What is it?

I think I just figured out
how to disable the EM interference

that is causing the shielding.

Sheppard, you there?

- Yeah, I'm here.
- I got the shielding disabled.

So I see.

Any luck finding Michael?

No sign of him yet.
Is that life-signs detector working yet?

Oh, of course.

Oh, my God.

What?

I'm reading a ton of life signs near you.

Well, define "ton" and define "near."

A few dozen.
I mean, they're all bunched together.

Prisoners in a holding cell, maybe?

Or worse.

Whatever they are,
someone just released them,

and they're headed your way.

Oh, crap.

Keep going, straight up the tunnel.

Ronon should be coming
around the corner towards you now.

It's not Ronon.

It's one of the bugs?

Michael.

Colonel Sheppard.

No offense, but I was kind of hoping
never to see you again.

I had hoped just the opposite.

Well, then you've seen me.
Now say your goodbyes,

but first, give me the control crystals
to the DHD.

- I don't think so.
- Or I can just k*ll you.

Unless I stun you first.

As much as I'd like to sit around chatting...

Extraordinary, aren't they?

Your army of bug people?

- I thought you'd be impressed.
- Not so much.

After all, I'm merely continuing
the experiment your people began.

What then? Take over the entire galaxy?

That's a little too Dr. Evil if you ask me.

McKAY: Sheppard, the creatures
are closing in on you fast.

- You better get moving.
- You and Teyla go to the gate.

- We'll meet you there.
- Right.

- Give me the control crystal.
- I can't do that, Colonel.

Just so we're clear,
I have no problem k*lling you.

And I have no problem with dying
because even if you k*ll me right now,

I'll die knowing that you and your team
did not get off this planet alive.

Go.

Rope climbing's the reason
I got bronze instead of silver

- In the ParticipAction program.
- What?

Hurry! They're coming!

This is messed up.

- This must be where they got up.
- What?

Air shafts. It's about time we used them.

- Michael's.
- No doubt.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

I fly it, pick you, Rodney and Teyla up.
We use the Dart's DHD to dial the gate.

I was thinking, blow it up,
but your idea's better. Get moving.

Sheppard!

- Wait!
- What is it?

- Life signs up ahead.
- Colonel Sheppard? Ronon?

Doesn't sound like it.

Life signs behind us, too.
It's closing in fast. Oh, God.

We're surrounded.

Incoming wormhole.

- Colonel Sheppard's IDC.
- Lower the shield.

Are you all right? Where are the Marines?

- Didn't make it.
- What?

We barely made it ourselves.

We had to commandeer
a Wraith Dart just to dial out.

We ditched it on another planet.

Didn't wanna risk
damaging the control room.

- Daedalus can pick it up later.
- What happened to the Taranans?

They're dead, all of them.

Wait a minute.
Lieutenant Negley sent a message

saying they just relocated
to a new settlement.

No, it was Michael.
He sent the transmission.

- He's the one that k*lled the Taranans.
- Michael?

We'll tell you about it in a minute,
but first, is the Daedalus here yet?

It's still a few days out. Why?

We're gonna need it
to make another stop on the way.

Okay.

- Elizabeth?
- I just came from McKay's lab.

He's been examining
the research he was able to upload

- From Michael's experiment.
- Has he been able to determine

just how many more of those creatures
Michael was able to create?

Well, not an exact figure, no, but Rodney
believes it's well into the hundreds.

Yeah, and it appears
Michael has similar labs

on at least three different planets.

It's amazing how quickly he's been able
to incorporate our science into his.

What is it?

Michael found out
about the Taranan settlement

through information
the Wraiths hacked from our database

during our brief alliance
with them last year.

We led Michael straight to them.

Colonel Caldwell just radioed. They did
a full sweep of the planet. No life signs.

They searched the settlement.
No Michael, no creatures.

- He already dialed out.
- Yeah.

We got the control crystal back
in the DHD.

Rodney's trying to figure out
the last address dialed,

but you know how long that takes.

I'm sure Michael immediately dialed
elsewhere to cover his tracks.

You can count on that.

We need to find him.
He's already too dangerous.

And I'm sure we're number one
on his hit list.