Bad news...
Author's note: Guide = Todd. Of all the SGA expedition team, McKay is the only human I like.
Disclaimer: the Stargate franchise and aliens that they created are the property of MGM. This is just a fictional story made out of fun and has no profit or commercial value derived from it.
Todd. Good old Todd. Where was he when they needed him? The Wraiths were at it again. Culling away at the planets. A few months ago, Teyla tried masquerading as Queen Steelflower to accompany young Wraith Queen Waterlight to negotiate with the former friendly Wraith factions. The rebuff was as swift as their unprecedented attack. Waterlight's Hive ship barely made it to safety. Most likely destroyed if the Daedalus had not gone in time to provide necessary back up cover.
Perhaps Woolsey should not have been hasty to dismiss Todd's proposal to innoculate the human populations on one planet. For feeding. Wraith politics often resulted in a rapid change of management. Faster than one could change one's underwear. Fickle. Todd was gone, so was his daughter, Alabaster. So were the Hives under their control. Either destroyed or escaped the current hostilities. No contact was made after they returned a very rattled Jennifer at the pre-arranged stargate on schedule. An on the way drop off. No goodbyes. Jennifer only knew that there was a leadership challenge. Not even a peep of a subspace transmission. Another conflict was brewing again. Another ambitious Queen had forced her way up into the Wraith hierarchy. Atlantis was in peril once again.
John sighed...bad news kept piling up as quickly as daily newspapers. Now this recon mission. Necessary. Urgent in fact. His hands clutched firmly on his trusty P90 as his eyes kept scanning the area for moment. Ronon was on the other end, alert and armed. The other marines were scattered in the thick undergrowths. Teyla was nearby.
"MCKAY...!" A strong sense of urgency as John looked around for those damn Wraiths. Life was better with Todd around.
"OKAY...l am going as fast as I can," a flustered Rodney was trying to load the information from crystals in the drawer of a vine draped obelisk.
"Not fast enough."
Having leftover Wraith telepathy was definitely not helping. He had tried meditation, psychotropic drugs and even cognitive behavioral therapy...not that CBT was required. Heck, even yoga. It only made his lumbar hurt more. Desperation at shutting down the thoughts of their predators at close range, made Rodney try anything. The awesome brilliance that was exclusive to Dr Rodney Mckay was hindered by this curse. A curse of the long dead Queen Death. Of all the luck in the world, he caught first dibs on being the very first human selected by a sexy female alien to be turned into a Wraith. Hence the old addage, be careful of what you wish for.
If only he could be like Captain Kirk which was John on getting harmless female aliens. Or at least be as slender as the faced Wraiths...EAT YOUR HEART OUT WEIGHTWATCHERS. Hah! Noooo...of all the Wraith perks, he got was the whisperings of a predator out to have him as a meal. Make that several predators now. He only learn to shield his mind but not shut off the killers. They should be half kin...he did like Ember and Todd. But not all Wraiths were Ember or Todd.
His tablet beeped. Done. Finally. He quickly unhooked the connections and hastily stuffed the tablet into his bag, fastening it with his chubby fingers. A coffee later would be welcomed.
"Good to...," his voice was cut off by the unmistakable sound of P90s rapidly firing the rounds in the nearby shrubs. Wraiths were closing in. A blast missed his head only by mere inches.
"GET DOWN, GET DOWN...MOVE OUT! PUDDLE JUMPER NOW !" John shouted as he spotted the white hair of unwelcomed guests to their little shrub of yet another device investigation soiree.
Rodney immediately grabbed his tablet and started running with the rest, as fast as his boots could take him while the marines regrouped to provide cover. Blood was rushing to his face as the adrenaline was pumping. So were the beads of perspiration spilling from his forehead, a result of the highly humid planet. Great, just great, now he had to worry about dehydration. He deftly jumping over the roots and vines which could land him straight on his face. The familiar screeches of the darts were getting louder. Damn if they got caught in a beam. No more new Hive ships or meeting Queens, thank you very much, his brain huffed at that terrifying thought as he puffed from the exercise he was getting.
He scrambled into the rear hatch of the invisible puddle jumper as some marines bumped into him in the haste. Ronon, Teyla and the marines were now accounted for. John was coming in hot from Wraith blasts. With a huge leap, he went straight into the puddle jumper and to the front, slamming on the controls to shut the rear hatch. A close call.
Next on the list. Get to the space gate and back to the safety of Atlantis. Then the massive work will begin. All because of Daniel. Good old Daniel Jackson just had to fiddle with the device after reading something. Never touch anything without a scientist but nooo...Daniel is an expert. Safe, he said after reading the inscriptions. Daniel was currently in a coma, stuck in the infirmary, which puzzled doctors. Expert or not. It is presently up to the genius who was Rodney to try and save him. Rodney wasted no time on the bumpy ride home as the puddle jumper made a swerve to avoid the darts in the air.
Those inscriptions were a variation of Ancient language. Rodney realised it now as he tapped at his tablet, his eyes poring over the much needed information. This device was far ancient than thought, installed before the Ancient language started evolving in the Pegasus galaxy. As though it came straight from the home galaxy of the Ancients. Even the design was not consistent with most Lantean designs.
*Rodney, what is it?* Teyla noticed a frustrated frown on his face. Mindspeak, now that is an advantage, gifted from his former Wraith transformation. Being able to communicate privately with Teyla, minus the nosy questions from the others.
*The language...I don't think the Ancients made this device. This is too different. OH MY GODDD...OH CRAP* His eyes were opened in shock at a segment of data. Trouble.
Daniel was resting comfortably in the infirmary. Nothing a few muscle relaxants or painkillers could not solve. Nodes were still well stuck to his cranium, monitoring his EEG patterns on the medical screens. The device, responsible for his incapacitation, was another variation of a long distance communication. Except it was not Ancient in design. Not meant for humans to use. A grand mal seizure had violently threw him back to his human body with an untoward gusto. Leaving him with a migraine akin to a sledgehammer hitting his very tender brain. Had it been other humans, they would be dead. That device could only be used by a Prior or someone who experienced Ascension, like him. Fortunately, Woolsey, in his wisdom, invited Daniel to have a look at the device on P3K-571.
It brought him to the last place it dialed out to, leaving his body catatonic. Celestis. Home of the now extinct Ori. Only this time, there were no priors to greet him. The golden fortress looked run down and in shambles. No Gods were present. A troubling feeling was growing within him. The Ori have known of Pegasus galaxy, yet they made no effort to invade. Well, there was an entire infestation of aliens willing to feed on potential worshippers. Were the Wraith and Ori connected? From what he read, the Wraith worshipper culture was alike that of the Ori. With two key differences, Wraiths do not promise Ascension and made no Godly assertions. However both intensely loathed the Ancients. A common ground. No one really understood how the Wraith won the war against the Ancients.
Teyla had once told him that from her memories, the Wraith were created by the Ancients. A human experiment gone wrong. But that did not explain how Wraiths became so numerous that they could overwhelm the Ancients. Even with 1000 years, there was almost no way a race could evolve so quickly to a space faring one. Athosians were advanced back then but not to that stage, according to the lore. Wraith technological base material in itself was organic. Most remnants of past advanced civilisations were using man made material, even the Athosians of the past. Furthermore, the hologram only showed a map of Lantean territories. Not exactly the entire galaxy. That was a huge puzzle in itself.
Rodney promptly informed him that the activation, based on what little he could decipher, was done around the time of the Wraith-Lantean war. Roughly nearing the end. Daniel stiffled a choke of a laugh. His mind imagined a Wraith feeding on a Prior. That was hilarious. Hollowed are the husks of Priors. Not hallowed are the Ori. He adjusted his pillow for comfort as the migraine receded slightly.
"How's my patient?" Jennifer asked softly and very gently.
"Just a migraine. But I will be fine. When can I return to work?" Daniel twiddled his thumbs patiently in the dimly lit room. The nursing staff was kind enough to move him to an area where they could reduce external stimuli for his comfort. He was more interested in the data Rodney obtained.
"Not just yet. Until your EEG normalises. There are still abnormal spikes. I will give you something for the migraine."
Daniel smiled gratefully at the kind doctor who promptly gave him a pill. Jennifer was a welcome sight from the earlier visit of the incessantly chattering Rodney McKay with more the smug 'I told you so' and less the 'pertinent information' talk. Until Maya, one of the nurses, shooed him off.
"Oh dear...," Daniel had cross referenced the Ancient database on Atlantis with startling results. Moros, or rather Merlin as Daniel knew him, did leave a record. He slumped on the chair. A record which was carefully sealed from general indexation and cross referencing of the Lantean Wraith war. Of one known living Ori in the Pegasus galaxy during the war. On the Wraith's side. It detailed how she took sadistic pleasure in transmitting recorded sounds of captured Lanteans' final moments at the hands of feeding Wraiths. How she spoke in the Ori dialect. And she had the ATA gene.
"See, we always wondered how the Wraith could get their hands on ZPMs. Those plans would have required the gene." Rodney suggested helpfully. The Ori were relatives of the Ancients. That could explain the bloodthirsty family feuds. The theory on the ATA gene being artificially expressed, would be refuted. It was now looking more than likely the gene was produced naturally.
Daniel nodded. He was glad to be discharged from the infirmary to look at all these newly gathered information. "Still, what puzzles me the most... there is no evidence of Origin being spread around any of the known Pegasus human populations. That brings me to the question of the hologram. Melia's hologram only made a reference to Lantean territories laid on the map... what if there are more worlds to Pegasus but never explored by the Ancients? "
"But my time with the Wraith..." Rodney paused, trying to bring up memories about what he learnt.
"Wraith are extremely territorial as your reports suggested it. Extremely territorial species do not tend to venture out much...they stick around with what they have. Now apply it to the Wraiths."
"You mean...there could be more...than the current estimate of 40 plus Hive ships..." Rodney spluttered his coffee.
"Exactly. They only know their surrounding neighbours. It does not make sense for just the original estimated sixty hive ships to wreck so much terror in all worlds...I mean come on. That is not possible... not with the size of this galaxy, " Daniel emphasized size with hand gestures indicating the shape of Pegasus.
"...weeee haaaave mooore...OH MY GOD. but but...their database...gave us sixty waaay back then...plus we don't know the exact amount of Wraiths teeming in them" Rodney stammered. The mug filled with coffee in his hand was shaking along, scattering a few dark droplets around.
"What if that tainted Wraith database only showed you known alliances only in this region? That is logical. Most of the Hive ships were...say teeming with a few, rather than the full complement based on the ease that our teams took them out with. What if there are others?"
"Nnnot possible..."Rodney steadied himself. However he was unsure. Daniel had a point.
"This device...and the information it loaded...indicated several worlds where it is linked up to, in coordinates which does not even exist on the Ancient maps or databases. No gate addresses...nothing. You simply do not communicate with uninhabited worlds," Daniel passed Rodney the tablet and pointed to the highlighted segments.
"Then that's bad news..." Rodney now groaned. More Wraith they did not know about. He had to extrapolate which areas were missing on the database now.