"You said two weeks," Sheppard reminded Teyla. "It's been four."

Teyla slowly dipped her head in acquiescence. "I admit, I may have misread the display. It now seems that the Hive ship is still two weeks away."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that, or are you just making an educated guess?"

Teyla stood a little straighter. "Without your portable computer systems to translate, it is difficult to decipher the Ancestors' display screens. In the past I would have asked Stevenson for a translation, but since he's been away for over a month I…"

Sheppard waved a hand for her to stop. "I'm all for jumping on the blame Stevenson bandwagon, but if he doesn't show up soon we're going to have to undertake this op ourselves…and we need to know when the contact will get wherever it's going."

Teyla adjusted one of the displays in the control room for Sheppard to see. "Now that the target is closer, the computer has been able to refine its course projection."

The computer drew a new line through one of the dots on the map.

"Leos," Teyla said, pointing at one of Hoth's neighboring systems.

"You been there before?" Sheppard asked.

Teyla nodded. "Once. They are a primitive people…farmers, artisans, mill workers. Their villages number in the hundreds. I would guess there to have been several thousands of inhabitants. Even if they've been culled in recent years, there should be several thousand remaining…so long as the Wraith refrained from completely wiping them out the first time."

"That's assuming there was a first time," Sheppard pointed out.

"A planet with a population of that size would have been sure to be culled once all the Wraith awakened and found too little food to go around."

"You think they're coming back for seconds?"

Teyla shrugged. "I am merely speculating, Colonel."

Sheppard blew out a frustrated breath. "I'm tired of waiting. Forget Stevenson. Find Ronon and meet me in the jumper bay in half an hour. We're going to have a look for ourselves."

Teyla nodded, half smiling. "Full gear?"

"Full gear," Sheppard echoed as they walked out of the control room towards the nearest transporter.

"I admit, I'm at a loss for words," Anise said after Stevenson had finished telling her of the death of the Ancients, their plan for the Repository, and his subsequent transformation from Human to Alterran.

"Will you help us?" Stevenson asked.

"If I do, will you help us in exchange?" she countered.

Stevenson frowned. "How so?"

"We are a dying people. The Tok'ra cannot reproduce without a queen, and we have been without one for many centuries. Our numbers grow fewer each year, and some of us have speculated that within a thousand years our kind will be relegated to the annals of history. If the knowledge the Ancient Repository gave you contains a way to save us from extinction, both I and the Tok'ra will assist you in any way that we can in exchange."

Stevenson sat back in his seat for a moment as he considered her unusual request. There were many ways to work around infertility, but with the Tok'ra being comprised entirely of reproductiveless drones, theirs was a somewhat unusual situation.

"Does your genome contain the dormant elements of a queen?"

Anise considered his question carefully. "No. The queens pass on the genetic characteristics that they choose to their offspring. Only one chosen to be a queen will be endowed with that genome."

Stevenson chewed on his lip absentmindedly. "Can you obtain a genetic sample from an existing Goa'uld queen?"

Anise frowned in concentration. "Doubtful. The few remaining Goa'uld queens have disappeared into the backwater of the galaxy for fear of being killed by their rebellious Jaffa. I don't believe we know the current whereabouts of any. We do, however, have the genetic profile of our progenitor on file."

Stevenson considered that. "Does it contain the complete genome?"

"I believe so," Anise said hopefully.

Stevenson leaned forward and extended his hand. "If you can give me a complete genome of a Goa'uld queen, I can fix your problem. Do we have a deal?"

Anise extended Freya's fragile hand and grasped Stevenson's. "We do."

Stevenson didn't let go. "However, if you use these new offspring to take so much as one unwilling host…I will hunt you down and take back that capability."

Anise looked him straight in the eye. "We are Tok'ra. We would never do such a thing."

"Even if it means you living in a water tank without hosts?"

"Even if it means our death," she replied. "We are not the Goa'uld."

Stevenson released her hand. He had searched Freya's mind during their brief contact and was satisfied that she meant what she said. "Then we have a deal."

Ronon, Teyla, and Sheppard returned to Atlantis within eight hours, confirming both of Teyla's suspicions. Leos had indeed been culled a little over three years ago, and some eight thousand people had been sparred so as to reproduce the next generation of 'cattle' for the Wraith to feed upon.

"Has Stevenson returned yet?" Sheppard asked the control room via radio as he slowly moved the puddle jumper up out of the gateroom and into the jumper bay.

"Negative, Colonel," Lieutenant Devonshire reported. "The gate's been inactive since you left.

"Damn it," Sheppard whispered to himself as he gently landed the puddle jumper in the center of the bay. "Find Twiki and Bam Bam," Sheppard told Ronon, referring to the two security guard replicators that Stevenson had made, "and have them meet us in the conference room."

"You're really going to go through with this?" Ronon asked as they walked out the back of the jumper.

"It's either that or let our neighbors get culled by that hive ship," Sheppard argued.

"Stevenson may get back in time," Ronon offered.

"And if he does he's going to get a piece of my mind," Sheppard said angrily. "The least he could do is leave us an occasional message…or carry the Ancients' version of a cell phone."

"I'm sure whatever he's doing is important," Ronon said.

Sheppard turned and glared at him. "You're only defending him because he gave you that mini-drone launcher."

"Hey, it works," Ronon said half laughing.

"That's not the point," Sheppard argued.

"You're just sore that he didn't take you with him," Ronon jibbed, clapping Sheppard on the shoulder.

"Ow," Sheppard mouthed as Ronon jogged off ahead of him.

"I think there is some truth in what he says," Teyla added.

"Not you too," Sheppard complained.

She smiled then changed subjects. "Can we not give the replicators some type of explosive to take onboard the hive ship?"

"I thought of that," Sheppard said, back to business. "But I figure a couple drones launched into their dart bay will work just as well. If we had a nuke or two I'd reconsider, but the only ordinance of that magnitude that Earth sent us was kept on the 304s and not in Atlantis."

"Perhaps the other Replicator can make one for us in Stevenson's absence."

"I already asked," Sheppard admitted. "She said she wasn't programmed to give us access to anything larger than firearms without Stevenson's approval."

Teyla looked at him quizzically. "What did you ask for?"

"Some large explosives," he said, strait-faced.

"And?" Teyla prodded.

Sheppard cleared his throat, mangling the word as he spoke it. "Ligh…ts…aber."

"A what?" Teyla asked innocently.

"Never mind," Sheppard said quickly. "The point is the Replicators are our best bet to do some damage."

Teyla sensed he was avoiding something, but she decided to let it go. "How many refugees can we accommodate on Yavin?"

"As many as we can convince to evacuate," Sheppard said. "That Replicator bi…Beta said she can provide us with as many Ancient ration cubes as we need."

"What about shelters?"

"All the basics are covered," Sheppard said offhand. "You can ask her yourself if you like."

"I already have. Seems she isn't programmed to divulge even that much information to someone without the Ancient gene."

"Really," Sheppard said, raising an eyebrow. "I'll have to have a little chat with him about that too when he gets back."

"It's no matter," Teyla assured him, "as long as we get the supplies we need."

Sheppard stopped her in the hall. "It matters because you're a member of my team. If I can be trusted, then it's the same for you and Ronon."

"It seems he doesn't completely trust anyone," Teyla argued, inferring that it was a moot point.

"Well he's going to have to if we're all going to be living under the same roof."

"I would not press him too far," Teyla warned. "He seems to be under a great deal of stress."

"Don't worry about that…we have an understanding."

Teyla raised an eyebrow.

"It's a guy thing," Sheppard said as they started to walk. "You wouldn't understand."