The Commander walked through his Hive, head high, his attention focused mainly on tasks he was facing for the day. A part of his mind, as always was focused on the interaction of the different Wraith aboard his hive and their mental network. Wraith are telepathic creature, and they want, no they CRAVE the mental connection to other Wraith. AS such, there was always a current of communication between the Wraith aboard his Hive. Much as humans speak to each other, these communications between his subordinates gave him a unique viewpoint of how each of his crew felt and thought. Even the lack of telepathic thoughts, from certain Wraith, gave him insight. To block out his "brothers", an individual Wraith would have to be actually concentrating on shielding his thoughts. There were only three occasions when that would happen: If a Wraith was considering or planning a mutiny, if he were involved in a "personal act" that he felt the need for privacy…or if the Wraith in question was in some way not feeling a part of their Hive. The second instance happened often; Wraith enjoyed the act of procreation as much as any other species. The act of procreation released endorphins, and relieved stress, as with any living being. Indeed, the procreation action was incredibly enjoyable for both parties and considering the ratio of male Wraith to female Wraith, about 70 to 1, humans were more often than not the procreation partners for the male Wraith. And considering that his Hive was Queen-less, that made the odds in favor of human/wraith pairings even more likely. He himself had taken a human procreation partner from time to time…though in recent years, he was more likely to "borrow' one from the Human worshippers onboard his Hive rather than take one as permanent plaything.
The other two instance of a Wraith separating himself from the "network" onboard a Hive was much more worrisome. Wraith are, in general, an aggressive species and very often, the improvement in rank would be due to the defeating of a superior officer. While he, himself, was relatively safe as there were few if any Wraith that could compare with his years and experience, others in his crew were not. And a change, even a positive one, caused problems that the Commander really didn't want to crop up at this point. And a Wraith that felt separated from his brothers, was an unhappy wraith…and an unhappy wraith was a dangerous Wraith…..and one who might might deadly mistakes.
Thankfully, today, his crew were happy and excited. The upcoming Culling was going to be an exciting one. And while he as the Commander, felt and enjoyed his crews excitement, he didn't share it. In the normal scale of things, he wouldn't leave the Hive; entrusting the Culling to his second, a Sub Commander. However, because of the size of the culling and the lowered number of his crew because of the Hoffman virus, he would be attending this Culling. Their intelligence said there would be a sizable contingent of Genii on this planet, however, and that was a boon he had not expected. Since the Genii had kept him confined in a cell for decades, he felt much hatred and animosity toward them. Anytime he was allowed to feed from a Genii, it was a good feeding. And today promised the opportunity of feeding on many of his enemy.
Arriving at the Bridge, he relieved one of his crew at the main station and sent a mental demand for a status report from the other crew. Each gave their own telepathic report in order of seniority, beginning with his second. Everything was acceptable and the schedule for the Culling was progressing as expected. Taking the controls of the Hive, he settled into the telepathic communion with the ship and ran through a diagnostic, making sure all systems were in good shape. Since Wraith Hive ships, and indeed, most of Wraith Tech, were composed of living organism, the Hive responded with its report and a mental touch to his mind; almost a caress. Sighing he initiated the protocols to set the Hive into orbit around the selected planet and sent out the mental commands to his crew to ready themselves for the culling. Most of the crew would be planet side, but a small number mostly very young Wraith, would be remaining onboard. He could sense their disappointment and it made him smile; he remembered being young and so desperate to grow up and become an active part of a culling. But in these times of Wraith turning on Wraith, leaving the ship unprotected was foolhardy. And after being alive many centuries, he was anything but foolish.
The Commander sniffed and wrinkled his nose; the stench of fear, desperation and body odors of the humans of this world was almost over-powering. He walked toward a building, set apart from most in this tiny village and gingerly sidestepped the dried husks of what had once been human beings. He, himself, had fed to capacity already, so his current foray was one of curiosity, rather than necessity. The building reminded him strongly of the prison that the Genii had imprisoned him in for so long, and he was curious as to it's true purpose. Reaching the building, he tried the door, noting the bars on all the windows, but it was locked. NO matter to a Wraith, whose strength much surpassed any humans. He simply broke the lock and swung the door open. There were three men here, but what surprised and nearly stopped the Commander in his tracks was the rush of telepathic communication that washed over him. At first, he presumed that they had a Wraith Queen inside this facility, but the feel was distinctly human. Very curious now, as he had never encountered a human with that much telepathic ability. He moved toward the source of that telepathic connection, absently feeding on or ignoring the Genii on the way, most of who either cowered in fear, or ran from the building; often right into the arms of his waiting crew. He approached a room, huge windows ran the length of the walls on either side of a locked door. Inside he saw a human woman, tied to a table attempting to avoid the touch of the Genii who was evidently focused on procreating with her, no matter the danger he was in. The human woman was obviously terrified, striking out with one foot not tied down as she tried to avoid the touch, her mind nearly smother in fear, but still so strongly telepathic that he searched her for any Wraith genetics. Finding none, but instead finding she was unfamiliar in feel from most of the humans of the Pegasus Galaxy, he made a decision. Forcing the door open, he stepped in, watching as the male stopped his attempts at forced procreation and stared at him, eyes wide as though finally realizing the danger he was in. The commander strode forward and grabbed the human by the neck, lifting him up and simply breaking his neck. He dropped the body and wiped his hand on his leather coat, before turning to the woman. She was, rather than cowering in fear of him, staring at him, wide eyed. He reached out his mind and to his amazement, she slammed shields up around her mind, effectively blocking him out. No matter how he tried to breach those shields, she kept them intact. Frowning, he made another decision, that would more than likely cause him no end of problems. He walked over, slowly and reached for her bonds. She shrunk away from him, fear evident, but not, he felt, because of his species. Rather she seemed to fear he was intent on finishing what the dead Genii had started. But even as she shrunk, she raised her chin and glared at him as she struck at him with her mind. He winced inside, not giving her any indication that it had been incredibly power and painful, and said, out loud,
"Madame, I am simply going to untie you…..I assure you there is nothing else on my intent."
A brief hesitation as she touched his mind and he allowed her to reach his public mind, impressed that she managed to keep her own shields in place. Slowly she nodded and said, her voice hoarse and obviously not used much recently, "Ok…th..thank you…."
Untying her and attempting to be gently as he removed the ropes from her skin, where they had burned into her flesh, he allowed her to be in his public mind, though she learned little, it seemed to give her some assurance. Once she was untied, he gazed at her and said, "Madame…my crew are culling this world. You may remain here, if you choose to, but I suggest if you do that, you stay out of site until the culling is over….there may be some Genii or villagers remaining after as well, so you may wish to arm yourself".
After a brief hesitation, during which she managed to sit up, though not steadily and said, "Can I just go with you?"
Once again he tried to access her mind, but her shield prevented it, and imminently curious now ,he said, "You may, however, you may find the choice to be detrimental in the future…being a human on a Hive ship has its own dangers…."
"I don't know what that is…a Hive ship I mean….and I'm really not sure what you are…..but I'd rather go with you than remain here….if that's all right."
Todd tried to probe her mind and to his surprise, she allowed him to access a small section of her public mind…enough for him to realize she had no idea what a Wraith was….and that she obviously wasn't from this planet…he thought, briefly, that she might even be a part of the Atlantis expedition with John Sheppard…but another quick look told him she wasn't that either. Intrigued, he placed his hand under her arm as she attempted to rise and stumbled and said, "Very well, Madame…you may accompany me….can you walk?"
:Yes…", he covered his surprise at her use of telepathy directly to his mind, but respected both her ability and her strength of character that made her refuse his help. He also realized that whatever clothing she did wear was in tatters. He strode over and removed the outer garments from the dead Genii, before coming back over and handing it to her, with a smile that had terrified many a human,
:Wear this…I do not believe he will be needing it father:, she nodded and trembling, put the garment on. It fell to slightly above her knee and he stood there as she got to her feet, unsteady and grabbed onto the table to steady herself. She looked at him and verbally said,
"Lead on McDuff…..", frowning, he said, "My name is not "McDUff….but follow me anyway."
She walked behind him, once they exited the building, he pulled her gently next to him, allowing her to set the pace. He could feel the pain that every step cost her, but she held her head high and refused to ask for help. That earned her more respect, but he did wish to leave this place sooner, rather than later, so he turned to her and said,
:In order to make sure that my people know you are mine and not available for their attention, it will be necessary for met o pick you up and carry you….do not resist.:
She nodded and he felt the relief as he scooped her up into his arms and strode to the shuttle. He knew his crew had seen him with the little human, but he cared very little. Often on a culling a Wraith took a human pet…while he had not done so in the memory of this crew, it was not out of the ordinary. Entering the shuttle, he placed her on a seat and realized she had either passed out or fallen asleep. Considering her briefly, he shrugged and left to pilot the shuttle to the Hive.