Stargate Atlantis: Season 7

by Lady Mayrid

Episode 25: Ronon returns to Atlantis with some news for Sheppard while Todd makes a decision that could cast him everything...

10. Cryptograhic Conflicts

A/N: Here you go peeps, a brand spankin' new chapter just for you. I told you that it would be worth the wait so, if it is, please, please, please let me know. I thrive on hearing from you all. Anyway, enjoy!Episode X: Cryptographic Conflicts

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It was hard to tell who had been smarter, the Ancients or the Asgard. Right now, Lorne was willing to call it a tossup as he watched the acrophobic Dr. Zelenka perch himself atop a twenty foot ladder leaning against the antenna array that was itself perched on top of the control tower some five hundred meters above the ground. The Czechoslovakian scientist was upgrading the city's subspace transmitter/receiver by tacking on some bits of Asgard technology that the SGC said should boost their broadcasting and receiving range by thirty-two percent.

"Ach má bůh Hodlám být chycen! Bolavý vítr , bolavý vítr. Chladně přijmout , chladně přijmout , Hodlám zabˇt Rodney! Proč mne? Proč is ono vždycky mne?!?"

As was usual when one of the scientists was put in a precarious situation, Zelenka's progress was being monitored by two marines. Strangely enough, Lorne was actually quite fond of the bespectacled physicist and so had volunteered to baby-sit, dragging Kate along with him. At the moment, both marines were leaning, arms crossed, against the railing that wound around the observation deck. As yet another loud stream of curse words filtered down to them, Kate snickered.

"Are you sure he's alright up there?" she asked, glancing at her friend out of the corner of her eye before retuning her gaze to the swaying ladder and the screeching physicist. "How is it that Rodney always manages to talk his way out of doing these things?"

Lorne shrugged. "It's Rodney," he offered by way of explanation.

"Yeah," Kate agreed crossing her ankles. "Still can't believe he volunteered to go with my brother to set up the communications lab on the beta site. A whole three days together and they're liable to kill each other."

Again, Lorne shrugged. "I think the two of them habitually forget how much they get on each others' nerve's." He looked up, watching the doc drop a screwdriver and swear loudly. "Hope he's done soon. I'm getting tired of standing up here."

As if to answer his prayers, Zelenka's cuss words slowed to a stop as he completed the updates and then started carefully down the ladder. Kate and Lorne walked over towards the antenna and waited for the scientist at the bottom.

"All right there doc?" Lorne called up to him as he descended the last few rungs and then landed safely on the ground.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Radek replied, handing off his tools to Kate and then turning to edge along the roof towards the stairwell that would take him downwards to safety.

"Good to know," Kate offered, following him. "Come on, let's go see if those upgrades work as well as the SGC says they will."

Zelenka nodded slowly and ten minutes later was busy reading the output streaming from the diagnostic he'd ordered run on their new system.

Woolsey walked into the control room trying his very best to look intimidating and failing miserably. "How's it look, doctor?" he inquired, coming to a stop in front of the communications control console and folding his hands behind his back.

Zelenka looked up from the data he was reading. "It's looking good, actually," he informed Atlantis' director, "I think the upgrades-" he cut off as the terminal in front of him beeped.

Woolsey frowned and both Kate and Lorne leaned forwards. "What's that?" Woolsey asked.

Zelenka shook his head. "I don't know," he replied, "some kind of coded signal…It's coming from way out in space, farther than we've ever been able to pick up on before."

"So the upgrades work," Woolsey concluded before returning to the new and startling development, "Can you get a lock on the signal?"

The Czech nodded and turned to a firewalled computer propped up on the Ancient control consoles. Retrieving the signal, he pulled it up on one of the main viewing screens. Strange symbols flashed across the screen in a repeating paragraph. The scientist frowned. "I have never seen writing like this before," he said mildly.

Woolsey squinted at the foreign characters that reminded him somewhat of Arabic. To date, most of the forms of writing in the Pegasus galaxy had some sort of relation to Ancient but this looked nothing like anything that he had ever seen, which led him to the conclusion that it was most likely not a form of writing at all. "Are we sure that it's writing?" he asked. "It could be computer code of some kind. Numbers maybe…"

Kate rolled her eyes at the idiocy of the man standing across from her. Of course, because it didn't look like Ancient it couldn't possibly be writing. "It's wraith," she said offhandedly, knowing that this announcement was going to throw Woolsey for a loop.

On cue, the balding head of Atlantis operations frowned. "And just how do you know that?" he demanded of her as both Lorne and Zelenka turned towards her in question.

Kate sighed. "That's what the wraith's written language looked like before the Ancients influenced them," she explained, gesturing at the screen with one hand. "Honestly, just because it doesn't look like Ancient doesn't mean it's not writing. They weren't omnipotent, you know."

Woolsey fumed. He hated that even though she had only been here for a short time, Kate Sheppard seemed to have learned more about the wraith then he had in seven years. It was infuriating. "Once more," he started, his voice betraying his irritation at her for her earlier condescending tone, "I must ask how it is that you are so sure of this?"

Lorne and Zelenka glanced at each other and held their breaths. Normally, it was Sheppard and Woolsey that got into these little tuffs. Sheppard usually won so both marine and scientist were wondering if his sister would prove able to do the same.

Kate crossed her arms stubbornly and glared at the man that was technically her boss. "Does it really matter?" she snapped, her patience for the bureaucrat running shorter then it normally did.

"No, I suppose not," Woolsey reluctantly backed down.

Once he was sure that Woolsey was finished, Zelenka turned towards Kate. "I don't suppose you can read this?" he asked hopefully.

Kate dipped her head. "Yes, I can read it."

"That's great," Lorne quipped honestly, cutting in before Woolsey could say something else. "What's it say?"

Kate sighed and turned towards the scrawling paragraph that had begun to repeat itself on the screen. Squinting her eyes, Kate realized only two lines in that they had just stumbled across the proverbial holy grail of crypto messages.

"Well?" Woolsey asked impatiently, watching as Kate's face turned into first a frown and then a wiry grin.

Kate cleared her throat. "It's an attack plan," she informed them. "According to this, some wraith agents have discovered the location of a group of humans who have challenged the wraith for many generations. It says that until now, the wraith have been unable to rid themselves of the threat because the humans are in possession of ships and can evade them." She paused and looked worriedly at Lorne, her mind scanning the populations of humans that she knew of that could possibly fit this description.

"Is that all?" Woolsey asked, wondering what all the fuss was about if this was the extent of the message.

Once more, Kate shot him a withering glare of contempt. "No," she said curtly, "that's not all. Apparently these humans have finally settled on a planet. The plan is to wipe them out."

Woolsey looked at Kate coldly. . "I fail to see how any of this is our concern," he voiced, wondering if they were really going to try and save every planet that got attacked by the wraith. That wasn't why they were here and it was high time his team, mainly the two Sheppards, realized this.

Lorne scowled at him. "I'm pretty sure that message is talking about the Travelers, Sir," he said loudly, feeling the need to impart the reminder that they were Atlantis' allies with his statement.

Still, the director was unmoved. "We don't know that for certain, Major," Woolsey reminded him harshly. "For all we know there could be another group of humans out there with the same capabilities. We have hardly explored all of the galaxy, we have no idea what else could be out there."

Saving Lorne from saying something that could passably get him court-martialed , Kate cut in. "There's a gate address," she informed them, nodding for Zelenka to scroll down and bring up the familiar seven symbols denoting the wraith's destination. When it was enlarged on the screen she turned to Lorne. "Is that the Traveler's planet?"

"Yeah, it is," he replied.

"We should warn them," Zelenka suggested, looking around at the two majors, who he knew wouldn't be hard to convince, and then to Woolsey, who would prove more problematic. "It's the least we can do."

Lorne looked over towards Woolsey. The former IOA bureaucrat wasn't as keen on helping out allies as either of his predecessors and held the philosophy that 'if it doesn't affect us we should leave well enough alone'. Fortunately for the Travelers, Atlantis still owed them for their help against the Replicators, a fact which Major Lorne was only too happy to point out.

"We do owe them, Sir," he reminded Woolsey.

Woolsey was well aware of the obligation they had to the Travelers and so knew that in no way could he refuse this. Moreover, the decision to render aid was also a matter of self preservation. The Travelers had ships that they didn't have, and if the wraith succeeded in wiping them out, the next time they needed help that involved space travel they would be out of luck. If Colonel Sheppard was here, Woolsey knew that he wouldn't hesitate to point out that Todd had ships as well and could usually be talked into ferrying them around. In light of the fact that his top military officer seemed just a little too dependent on their wraith ally, it was much easier to reach a conclusion and so he turned towards the ranking major.

"You have a go, take the remainder of Atlantis One and do what is necessary," he eyed the man steadily, casting a brief look towards the woman on his right. Unlike her brother, Kate was a soldier to a fault and would obey the orders of her commanding officer whether or not they coincided with her own moral code. The problem with this mission was that Woolsey wasn't one hundred percent sure her commanding officer would follow orders, but it was a risk that he had to take, given the alternative of doing nothing and having to rely even more so upon Todd the wraith.

Lorne nodded his head once. "Thank you Sir," he said smartly. His formal acceptance of orders seemed to please the administrator because Woolsey looked slightly less grim than usual, for about three seconds.

"Stay only as long as you have to, Major," Woolsey clarified his orders, realizing that if he said nothing at all Lorne was liable to take that as permission to stay and help them for God only knew how long.

Once more, Lorne nodded, careful to keep his face impassive as he had every intention of disobeying this particular addition to their mandate. His lack of verbal response did exactly what he intended it to do as the major knew full well that Woolsey had expected him to object if he'd found any problem with his orders.

Satisfied, Woolsey took one last look at the two majors before turning on his heel and stalking towards his office, took a seat at his desk and began the tedium of paperwork that he enjoyed far more then he should.

Once Zelenka was fairly sure that Woolsey's mind was more occupied by the requisition forms he was filling out than on any conversations he might overhear, the scientist turned to Lorne. "You know, it's not going to be as easy as he thinks it is," he commented.

Lorne agreed. "It never is when the wraith are involved," he said with a sigh. "Something always goes sideways."

"And up and down, and crisscrossed," Zelenka added, folding his arms as he stared down at the wraith characters still scrolling across the computer screen.

Kate looked between the two men and leaned against one of the Ancient control consoles, crossing her arms and laying her chin on her wrist. "Thought that only happened when we're dealing with Todd," she commented.

Lorne shrugged. "As much as the Colonel would like to blame everything that goes wrong on Todd, I've been on maybe three off-world missions that have actually gone the way they were supposed to," he looked at her. "You were on SG-1, the team that's practically a magnet for trouble."

"Yeah," Kate said slowly and frowned when Lorne gave her a look. "Hey! I'll have you know that me and Cameron almost never caused any of the trouble."

"So you're blaming it all on Daniel and Vala?" he asked with a grin.

Kate smirked. "Well, mostly Vala, but anytime we ran into something Ancient chances were Daniel would get in over his head and then Cam and I would have to pull him out," she said truthfully.

"Uh-huh," Lorne said disbelievingly. "Which is why that Asgard we met, what's his name? - Loki - knew you so well right?"

Kate snorted. "I never said I didn't get into any trouble, just not a lot."

Lorne was standing ready with an retort only to be cut off by the scientist. "Aren't you both getting a bit off topic here?" Zelenka cut in, eyeing the both of them, "We have no idea when this transmission was sent. I mean I can attempt to extrapolate a time given its relative position in space, but it won't be terribly accurate."

Lorne sighed. "Right," he looked at Kate, "Go on and gear up, I'll go round up Ronon and Teyla. Meet me back here in ten?"

Kate nodded and left leaving Lorne to watch her go.

Zelenka, too, watched her retreat before turning back to the major. Because the scientist was better friends with Lorne then most people thought, he knew that the military second in command of Atlantis was planning on disobeying Woolsey's orders. "Do you think Kate will be a problem?" he asked.

Lorne shook his head. "Kate's obedient to a fault, just read her file, she'll do as she's told."

~xXx~

The Traveler planet reminded Lorne of the Unas planet that he'd gone to on his second off-world mission back when he still worked at the SGC. Things hadn't gone well there and he had a strange feeling that things wouldn't go too well here either. He'd gotten to talk to both Teyla and Ronon before Kate had joined them in the gate room and he knew that the both of them were up on the plan although it had been Teyla's suggestion to tell Kate only if it had to be implemented which Lorne had a funny feeling it would be. Having been in the Pegasus galaxy longer then Woolsey, the military and scientific teams of Atlantis had developed responsibilities to the people of this galaxy that didn't always mesh with the agenda of the IOA, NID, or Stargate Command. Lorne knew damned well that Woolsey had only authorized a go for this mission to preserve their standing alliance with the Travelers in Atlantis' best interest. He had absolutely no problem sacrificing allies if helping them might cause trouble for Atlantis.

Lorne, Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla, Rodney, Jennifer, Zelenka and the vast majority of everyone else in Atlantis, however, did. The only ally on their list that proved the exception of this rule was the Genii and maybe Todd, although Lorne had his suspicions that the Colonel wasn't as keen on killing the wraith as he pretended to be. The Major had seen enough evidence to support the fact that Todd and Sheppard were borderline friends even if neither of them would admit it. Personally, Lorne found their determination to not be friends rather comical and he was pretty sure the rest of Sheppard's team thought the same.

Kudos for using the subjunctive (If I were…) but you don't need to use it when you are describing something that is quite possible, so "If I was going to dinner" vs. "If only I were able to fly"

Regardless of the dynamics between his commanding officer and Todd, Lorne knew that if Colonel Sheppard was here, he would order them to assist the Travelers in any way that they could even if that meant "staying longer then was necessary". It was exactly what Major Lorne had planned for. Teyla and Ronon had already agreed to it. The only person they hadn't told was Kate, but Lorne didn't really think that she'd be a problem. Having been an NC26, Kate had had to carry out a fair few orders that were both morally wrong and just downright damning. But, as her record showed, she'd never once disobeyed any of the orders she'd been given, no matter how despicable they'd been, so he doubted ordering her to do the right thing over the orders of a man that he knew she despised would prove to be a problem. He figured she might protest a bit but in the end she would do as she was told by her superior officer, which in this case was him. He just hoped that he wouldn't actually have to make it an order.

Several minutes walk from the gate, the team of four came to what looked like had once been a deep, if strangely narrow, river bed. As Ronon pointed out, the bottom of the trench looked well-traveled and there was a kind of ramp that seemed to have been made by frequent trips up and down a particular spot not far from where they were standing. All in all the ancient waterway looked very much it was being used as a road and so, after some slipping and sliding and much falling of rocks and small clumps of dirt, the four of them began to follow the twisting bed as it cut through the hills around them.

They'd been walking a while before curiosity finally got the better of Kate and she asked, "So, what are these Travelers like?"

Not surprisingly, it was Teyla that answered first. "When I was a girl, Halling and my father used to tell me stories of the Travelers who crossed the stars in ships left behind by the ancestors. They are migratory, never remaining in any one place for long, even now most of their population still lives aboard their many ships."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "I thought they'd landed, that's why the wraith are attacking them."

"Their governing body is here," Teyla explained gently as she was used to doing. "The Traveler high council in completely planet bound and were the wraith to succeed in destroying it -"

"Then their people would have no direction," Kate concluded, "The survivors would be scattered to the four winds, so to speak."

Ronon grunted. "Besides Kamera and Sateda before it was destroyed, the Travelers are the only humans in the galaxy that live in a structured society kind of like yours on Earth."

"Kamera?" Kate questioned, turning to look over her shoulder at Ronon who usually wasn't one to explain things. That was Teyla's forte although, if you wanted to know about military tactics and weapons of mass destruction, then Ronon was the guy to talk to if you asked the right questions. If not then you'd be stuck with one and two word answers and little or no information.

Ronon nodded. "It was one of the worlds that Sateda traded with frequently. They're more advanced than us but they didn't mind sharing. The wraith don't bother them."

Lorne missed a step. "This I haven't heard," he looked around to Ronon. "Why haven't I heard this?"

The Satedan shrugged. "Sheppard knows; I just don't want to tell Woolsey."

"I do not blame you," Teyla sympathized. "No doubt he would wish to make an alliance with them or simply try and threaten or intimidate them into sharing their technology. The Kamerians are a private people, it is my understanding that they came to Sateda and offered their services, you did not go to them."

Ronon nodded. "They only help those that are worthy," he shrugged. "Apparently we were worthy."

Kate frowned. "And we're not?" she questioned.

Lorne snorted. "Not with Woolsey in charge. With Elizabeth maybe, General Carter, hell yes, but not Woolsey."

"I keep forgetting that he's in charge," Kate observed with a disdainful frown to her face.

Ronon had to agree. "Technically," he deadpanned.

"It is my observation that John holds more power in Atlantis then Mr. Woolsey seems to," Teyla noted. "I do not doubt that Mr. Woolsey is mostly oblivious to the day to day doings of Atlantis and her people," she frowned. "I do not think he cares."

"About all he's good for is signing requisitions," Lorne added with a mild look of disgust on his face. "Mind, he's nice to have around when you need to play political hardball, but other than that he's like you said: ninety-eight percent clueless."

Kate took all this in stride before her curious mind turned back to their original topic. "Right," she said slowly before turning towards Teyla. "Anything else I should know about the Travelers?"

"They make good weapons," Ronon offered.

Kate looked back at him. "Oh, that's right, your gun is Traveler made."

Ronon grinned and Teyla once more took up the explanation. "The Travelers are generally good craftsmen. They make many things that they use as barter for things that they do not have. Since they have long been space bound they are unable to grow or produce any of their own food and so had to rely wholly on the trade of their wares in order to secure the necessary provisions."

Now Kate was interested. "What other things do they make?" she asked.

Teyla smiled, always pleased that Kate showed such an interest in the cultures and practices of people outside of her own. It was a mindset she would not mind more of the Atlantians having and one that she was glad to indulge. "Here," she offered, reaching up and removing the necklace that her father had given her long ago when he had returned from a trading mission. Handing it to Kate, who took it and looked down on it in wonder, she said, "That is Traveler made."

"It's beautiful," Kate breathed as she looked down on the pendant that Teyla always wore before she handed it back to the Athosian. Since they were on a mission of warning rather than exploration, Teyla had opted to remain in her traditional Athosian garb rather than the usual Atlantian military uniform. Ronon never wore the uniform and Kate suspected that Woolsey had given up trying to get him into one which was fine with her. Personally, she preferred the fashions of the Pegasus galaxy to those of her own simply because they all had a kind of rugged edge to them, and any excuse to incorporate leather into an outfit was a definite plus.

Teyla agreed with her. "Yes, they are very good at what they do," she insisted as she refastened the clasp on around her neck. "If they have any shortcomings it is that they do not trust outsiders."

Kate snorted. "Nobody in this galaxy trusts outsiders. It's like a law somewhere that you must be suspicious of everyone and everything."

Teyla laughed. "While your description is a bit harsh, it is nonetheless accurate enough. Our suspicions keep us alive although I will admit that trust in our allies is perhaps a matter that should be more developed."

Ronon agreed. "Speaking of trust issues," the Sateden looked around, fingering his gun lightly, "We're pretty far away from the gate, should have found something by now."

Kate glanced towards him. "Like what?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. A scout, a trap…" Ronon trailed off something that sounded like falling rocks reached his ears. Kate seemed to have heard it too and was now scanning the area around and above them with her slightly advanced vision. More noises filtered down to them and Ronon barely had time to flatten himself to the ground as a volley of energy weapons fire shot over him.

"DOWN!" Lorne shouted as he rolled behind a conveniently positioned boulder and saw both Kate and Teyla do the same.

"Or an ambush," Ronon finished his original commentary before pulling out his gun, priming and aiming it in the direction the shots had come from. He turned to look at Lorne. "So, what's the plan?"

Lorne didn't get a chance to answer him before they were shot at again, one of the beams narrowly missed his head causing him to yelp. "Hold your fire!" he yelled. "We're friends!!"

He honestly didn't expect that to work and was therefore a tad bit surprised when the shooting stopped. Holding his breath, Lorne peaked out from behind his granite shield and watched as several men, well armed, burly, and reminding him vividly of the Sateden crouched next to him filtered out of the trees and surrounding brush above their current position. Looking up, Lorne gulped as they were totally surrounded and at the mercy of the half dozen or so people holding guns.

"Hi," he called up towards the men who continued to glare down at them in a combination of leers and scowls. The sound of falling rocks called his attention away from the men above him as he turned and watched a woman jump down into the river bed and start towards them. She stopped several feet away from them and crossed her arms, throwing her weight to her left hip.

Lorne looked her over, recognizing her almost immediately from the one time before that he'd seen her. Hard eyes and a deep set scowl stared back at him from the comely face of a young woman that might be a couple years older than Kate. "Hello, Larrin," he greeted, using her name as a means to impart his knowledge and familiarity with her in the hopes that she might recognize his uniform and not shoot him.

The woman named Larrin looked back at the face of the man that had called her by name. He had the look of an Atlantian about him, she recognized the uniform and the weapons he carried as being the same as those that Sheppard had had when she'd first met him. It was clear that he was from the city of Atlantis and so she gave her men the order to stand down before she took another step towards him and raised an eyebrow.

"And you are?" she asked, holding his gaze to hers.

Lorne moved the rest of the way out from behind the boulder confidant that if she were asking for his name she wasn't going to have him shot. "Major Lorne, ma'am," he answered, signaling for his teammates to come out from hiding and gather around him. Teyla and Ronon came willingly, Kate was more reluctant and was still mostly on edge.

Larrin's eyes swept over the group of four noting that Sheppard didn't seem to be with them. Too bad, she'd actually missed him since she'd last seen him. Not that she'd admit that out loud. "What do you want?" she demanded instead, fixing her eyes back on the one called Lorne.

Lorne glanced towards Kate and nodded, giving her permission to speak seeing as she was the one that had translated the message in the first place. As Kate stepped forwards still mostly on alert, everyone's eyes including Larrin's shifted to her.

"We've come to deliver a warning to your governing body," Kate ground out, still not at all fond of the number of weapons that could be raised against them at any moment.

The Traveler woman looked her over noting the set of her shoulders and the hard, glasslike glare of warning in her storm grey eyes. "And you are?" Larrin questioned, immediately feeling a connection to the woman that she couldn't rightly explain.

Kate hesitated only briefly. "Major Kate Sheppard."

Larrin's left eyebrow went up. "Sheppard?" she repeated in question, looking the younger woman over once more and realizing that she did bare some vague resemblance to the Colonel. "Any relation to John Sheppard?"

The way she said it made Kate think that this woman had some sort of history with her brother which wouldn't surprise her. John had a tendency to like women who could kick his ass, Teyla was proof enough of that even, if he'd never admit to it. "Sister," she informed the other woman who's face broke out in a frown.

"I'm sorry," Larrin replied honestly and with a teasing tone to her voice that seemed to make the younger woman relax.

Kate snorted, her feeling of caution and heightened state of warning disappearing in an instant. "Habitually, so am I," she teased back and knew immediately that she and Larrin were not so different and would probably end up fairly good friends. "He's got some good qualities though."

Larrin nodded. "Some," she agreed before turning back to Lorne. "So what's this warning you have for us?"

Lorne fixed his gaze to hers. "We picked up on a message in wraith, seems your planet is about to get attacked."

Larrin's eyes went wide in fear for both herself and her people. "They know we're planet bound?" she asked.

Lorne nodded.

She cursed and above her one of the men jumped down to join her. "With the exception of you Atlantians, we haven't told any of our other allies or trading partners that we've landed," the man spat at them. "As far as the galaxy is concerned we still fly the stars. How is it that the wraith know we are planet bound!?!"

Ronon took up the defensive. "That sounds like an accusation," he growled, his fingers reaching for his gun.

Lorne stopped him by holding up a hand and taking a step towards their accuser. "We don't sell out our allies," he bit out.

The man sneered. "But you work with wraith," he growled angrily before looking around at the others. "I say we can't trust those that make deals with the demons!"

There was a rallying cry that lasted only long enough echo once around the hills before Larrin put an end to it. Turning, she grabbed the man by the throat and forced him to his knees, pulling her gun from its holster and holding it to his head. "That's enough, Styson!" she ordered. "You forget that we struck the same deal as they did with the wraith in order to take out the Replicators," she primed her gun and set it to kill. "Or has your memory gone faulty?"

Styson stammered and crossed his eyes before looking up at Larrin. "N-no Larrin," he muttered.

She glared down at him. "Good," she said, her voice hard, as she removed the gun from his head and kicked him in the chest so that he collapsed into a heap in the dust from which he had to pick himself up. Looking around at her men she holstered her weapon and called out, "You forget that the wraith have their own network of spies. Their worshipers infiltrate all levels of human life on hundreds of worlds, feeding their masters information. How dare you accuse those who live in the city of the Ancestors of allying themselves with the wraith!"

Her men looked shamefaced and humbled and Larrin turned back to Lorne. "I'm sorry for the accusation," she apologized before gesturing them to follow her. "Come, I'll take you to the council."

The journey to the village didn't take them long and when they emerged from the river bed, they found a bowl in the ground that had more than likely once been a lake. Inside this impression, a large stone city had been erected, although Lorne suspected that it had already been here and that the Travelers had just moved in and fixed it up. It didn't look all that bad really and it was obvious from the architecture that whoever had originally built the city had either been Ancients or had been influenced by them.

"Nice digs," Lorne commented as they started down the side of the bowel and began the walk towards the monolithic city.

Larrin smiled. "This city used to belong to the Ancestors before the great war with the wraith. Some of their technology is still lying around along with other artifacts but for the most part we've cleaned it up and made it into our own."

"Well, you did a good job," Kate observed from behind Lorne and Larrin.

The Traveler woman looked over her shoulder. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Kate replied before falling silent.

Behind them, at the rear of the procession but in front of the scouting team, Teyla and Ronon exchanged glances. "They're getting along," Ronon remarked quietly to Teyla who smiled in response.

"Yes, and for that I am glad," she answered. "I half expected them to dislike one another."

Ronon grunted and nodded. The two of them hating each other had been a much more likely outcome. Both women were natural leaders, stubborn, hardheaded, hot tempered and in general alpha females. Generally speaking, with the exception of Teyla who was too mild mannered for her own good, alpha females did not get along with other alpha females. On the rare occasions that they did, the bonds of friendship that formed between them were usually unbreakable, so for the sake of Atlantis and everyone else involved Ronon was happy as a clumpa1 that they were getting along.

It wasn't long before they reached the gates of the walled city and after Larrin had a quick talk with the gatekeeper, the wrought metal doors were opened and they were allowed entry. The streets were clear and it was apparent that the Travelers had taken great care with the repairs and upkeep of their new home. If Lorne hadn't been told that that the was a city left behind by the Ancients he would have thought, having now seen it up close, that it had just recently been constructed. They passed by many stores and homes, the occupants of which occasionally peered out of their windows to look at the strangers as they passed. Every now and then a child would dart out of a doorway to get a better look only to be called back and scolded by their parents. Watching this, Lorne felt the weight of duty settle deep in his core as he knew that he and his team would do all in their power to protect these people from the fate that the wraith threatened them with.

Eventually they were led to through the city to the Pyramid type building that lay in its center. They climbed up a set of stairs carved into the stone beginning at the base of the pyramid and narrowing upwards. It was quite a ways up and upon reaching the top, they were led across the flat top of the structure towards a building that he could only guess was being used to house the Traveler council.

Cool air hit him as they passed through another set of metal doors and came out in a large, long room with huge stone columns lining the carpeted walkway that led to the end of the chamber. Each of the columns had light fixture affixed to them that looked not so different from those that lined the hallways of Atlantis. The columns themselves were square in shape and at the very end of the chamber Lorne could just make out an altar that had been carved into the far wall. On the altar's shelf were various works of Ancient craftsmanship and on the wall behind it, at the very top, stood a painted picture of what looked like Atlantis. Under it were writings that Lorne knew to be the in Traveler's language.

"Our tribute to the Ancestors," Larrin said as the carpet split going both to the right and the left. "We painted it ourselves."

Teyla nodded in approval. "It is a good likeness of Atlantis," she commented as they took the path to the right, coming to a doorway carved into the stone and finding themselves in a long passageway. Again, Larrin turned to the right and they continued onwards, coming around a corner before stopping at a ornately carved set of wooden doors.

Larrin stopped and knocked thrice, waiting until she heard the call from within before she nodded to the guards on either side of the double who opened them inwards. Standing back, they retook their positions to the side as Larrin let the Atlantians into the council chamber.

As the doors closed behind him, Lorne had to admit that he was impressed. The room wasn't overly large and while it, like the room outside, had square columns running the length of it they were far fewer in number and height. There was a tiered dais at the end with three levels. On the top level sat one chair, on the next two more to either side of the one above and on the third another two placed just like the ones above them so that the five chairs formed a upside-down V.

Larrin turned towards the Atlantians, her guard having left to return to their duties. "Not all of the governing council is here right now," she informed them, gesturing towards the chairs reserved for those that ruled and formed law. "Two of the five are currently overseeing different repairs to a number of our ships on another world that we're using as a temporary base until they're space worthy again. The remaining three should be here shortly."

Lorne nodded and was about to ask her a question when the doors behind them opened once more and, turning, Lorne and his team got their first look at the Traveler High Council. Two of the three, a man and a woman, walked straight past them without saying a word while the third, younger than the other two, stopped in front of Larrin.

"Greetings, sister," the man said and embraced Larrin briefly before pulling away and retreating to the highest of the five chairs. "Now," he called, looking down on the visitors from Atlantis, "What have you brought me?"

"Sister?" Ronon murmured towards Teyla who looked as equally surprised to hear this as he was.

Larrin took a step forwards. "This is Major Lorne of Atlantis and his team," she gestured over each of them. "Teyla Emmagan of Athos, Ronon Dex and Major Kate Sheppard."

The older of the two men, a slightly rounded man with well groomed mostly grey facial hair, raised an eyebrow. "Sheppard?" he questioned, his eyes looking over the girl. "You are related to Colonel Sheppard, your people's leader?"

While Woolsey was technically in charge of Atlantis, it was probably best that these people continued to think that John was in charge which for all intents and purposes he was. "He's my brother," Kate answered the question and watched at the three people turned to look at each other.

The younger one, Larrin's brother, smiled at this. "I am Arath, son of Termian and High Chancellor of the Travelers." He nodded towards the second man, "This is my First Advisor Palmonth and Fourth Advisor Selorna," he addressed the one called Lorne, obviously the leader because his sister had introduced him first, with a potent stare. "Now, what warning have you come to deliver to us?"

Lorne took a step forwards. "We discovered a coded wraith message -"

Selorna, a stern looking woman with auburn hair that was pulled back into a tight braid that crowned her head and was just turning grey, frowned. "How?" she interrupted.

Lorne sighed. "Atlantis has long range transmitters and receivers that can pick up subspace messages from very far away," he explained. "The message we picked up on was one of intent from one hive to another," he looked directly at Arath, "They're coming here to wipe you out."

Palmonth scowled. "Impossible, how do they even know that we have landed?" his eyes narrowed as his mind came to the same conclusion that Styson's had. "Unless they have been told."

Arath let out an exasperated sigh. "Must you always suspect the worst from others?" he asked of his First, narrowing his eyes at the not quite accusation that the man had laid at their visitors' feet.

Palmonth turned to look upwards at the youngest High Chancellor to have ever taken office. "And why must you always be so trusting?" he snapped. "Our caution keeps us alive."

Arath glared at the tone directed at him. "True, but you must take into account who you are accusing. Those that live in the Lost City are no friends of the wraith, you and I both know this, so accusing them of selling us out is childish. Not an accusation befitting of this council," he turned towards the Atlantians. "My apologies. Your warning is welcomed and appreciated, we thank you."

Lorne nodded and took a breath before taking the plunge that was a defiance of direct orders. "We did not come simply to warn you," he began and, from the corner of his eye, saw Kate stiffen and cast him a hard look. He pressed on anyway. "We've come to offer any help we might be able to give in order to see you and your people escape the wraith's planned attack."

Ignoring the look on Kate's face, Lorne kept his eyes on Arath and the other council members as they each looked at each other before their attention focused back on him.

"Your offer is generous and we accept," Arath announced before frowning sadly. "Unfortunately there is not much that can be done. Our ships are all grounded for the time being and this city is all that we have by way of shelter. I don't know what we could possibly do."

Teyla stepped forwards. "You say your ships are grounded but I do not see them," she leveled her gaze to the council, "Where are they?"

Selorna turned towards the Athosian whom out of all of them, she trusted more than the others. "There is hanger bay on the other side of the mountain," she explained. "The three ships that we have are there."

A plan began to form in Lorne's mind. "I'm going to assume that this hanger bay is Ancient right?" seeing the look of confusion on their faces he clarified, "It was built by the Ancestors?"

Palmonth nodded. "Yes, but I don't see -"

"We've run across other Ancient outposts before," Lorne cut in knowing that time was of the essence and they needed to come up with a plan quick, "Most of them have some sort of bunkers or storage rooms attacked to the actual hangers. Do you know if -"

Selorna nodded. "There is door leading somewhere from the back of the hanger but none of us are able to open it. It is coded and even with our accessorial blood we cannot open it."

Lorne smiled. "Well, lucky for you we know a thing or two about opening locked doors," he turned to Kate who was still looking at him with a hard edge to her eyes. Now was the moment of truth. "Do you think you could override the door controls?"

Kate stared at Lorne. He was defying orders, Woolsey had told them to deliver their warning and leave not stay and pledge their resources to the fight. Kate knew that what Lorne was asking of her was a request not an order but that he'd have no problem making it one if she said no. Never in her life, no matter how disrespectful or disdainful it had been, had she defied a direct order from the top of the chain of command which in this case was Woolsey. Her mind working furiously, she knew that what he was asking her to do was morally right and that militarily speaking - because Lorne was her commanding officer - his orders overrode Woolsey's but if she did this she'd be defying the chain of command no matter how she swung it or what she used to reason with.

The chain of command was there for a reason and it was a reason she believed in. Unfortunately, just like her brother and the rest of Atlantis, excluding Woolsey, she also felt a strong sense of responsibility to the various friends they had and their allies. Lorne was asking her to defy orders in order to do what was morally right and what she knew in her heart they should do.

Lorne saw Kate's hesitation and the confusion warring in her eyes. He knew this was hard for her. She'd been conditioned by the government to take orders blindly and without question of morality. He didn't want to pull rank on her, she was his best friend, but right now he needed her skills to get the job he'd come here to do done. "Major," he called through her thoughts, deliberately using her rank to make a statement, "Can you do it?"

Kate looked up at him, her decision made. "Yes."

Lorne breathed a sigh of relief and watched Ronon and Teyla do the same. "Good," he turned back towards Arath, who was regarding Kate with interest. "Could one of you take Major Sheppard to the hanger and show her the door," he turned towards Larrin. "Meanwhile, we can begin helping your people move. Got any shuttles?"

Larrin nodded. "Yeah, five. They're slightly larger than your jumpers."

"That'll work," Lorne said feeling slightly better about things.

Arath stood and stepped down from the dais. "I will escort Major Sheppard to the hanger and then return to begin shuttling people up the mountain." He gestured for Kate to follow him and together the two of them left the chamber.

When her brother and the woman were gone, Larrin turned to Lorne. "You're defying orders," she told him, quirking an eyebrow.

Lorne shrugged. "Woolsey told us to warn you and leave. Unfortunately our consciences won't let us do that."

Larrin nodded and looked over the direction Arath had led Kate as both Palmonth and Selorna left to go warn the people. "She's never defied orders before has she?" she asked.

"Kate is a perfect soldier, or at least that is what she was trained to be," Teyla said sadly.

Lorne nodded. "She's a human weapon, she's been conditioned to take orders no matter how morally wrong or corrupt they are."

Larrin sighed, feeling sorry for the woman whom she felt a kinship towards even after having just met her. "I'm glad she choose to help."

Lorne, too, sighed. "So am I."

~xXx~

"Is this absolutely necessary, Commander?"

Todd sighed and turned towards his second-in-command who normally could not be persuaded to journey off his ship without use of excessive force. Fortunately for the Hive Commander, his powers of persuasion were slightly more advanced than most and Kenny had run out of reasons why he could not go long before Todd had run out of reasons why he should. At the moment, the two of them were in a transport bound for a stationary hive ruled by a queen with whom the elder wraith hoped to make an alliance.

"Yes," Todd answered his reluctant travel companion, "it is."

Kenny knew better then to push his commander any more then he already had. He hated going off hive simply because whenever he did something always went wrong, especially when the Atlantians were involved. Luckily for him, their business was not one that included those miscreant humans and so the chances that some aspect of their mission would end horribly was slightly lower than average. Kenny was glad for that, but he still did not want to be here.

Among other things, Todd could sense his second's dread and had to admit that the younger wraith had a well-conceived point. Unfortunately the matter at hand could not wait and Todd had negotiated and manipulated the players in this particular game long and hard in order to reach this point. The fact of the matter was that his alliance needed queens in order to survive and while he was loathe to attempt a union with any females from this particular class, the absence of any breeding females that were not queens left him little or no options. As a Hive Commander, and supreme commander of his entire alliance, he was duty bound to do what was in the best interest for his wraith and that included making concessions that he abhorred.

Todd pulled back on the transport's controls as he mentally dropped the ship out of hyperspace. The queen's hive loamed before them, impressive and imposing as any other space bound hive if processing a slight aura of corruption and suspicion that pulsed just faintly enough for the ancient wraith to sense. Besides him, Kenny's reservations were pushed to the side and the younger moved forwards into business mode and, as was his job, pressed the communications code so that Todd could talk to the bridge.

The conversation was short and they were instructed by the hive's second-in-command to use the first dart bay. Todd steered the craft forwards and landed in one of the empty dart docks before standing, shutting off all power and lowering the back hatch. Kenny followed him and as commander and second they were greeted by the hive's second. Todd's eyes narrowed.

"Where is your Commander?" he demanded, struck by the breach in conduct and the affront to his rank that this hive had so far offered him. When visiting other hives, a Hive Commander was to be met with either the commander of the hive he was visiting or the Queen, never by a rank lower than his own.

The second eyed him with disdain, not bothering to hide his dislike for this one. The wraith that stood in front of him was a renegade, a commander that sought to take the place of a queen among not only his hive but several others under his control. Why his queen had agreed to meet with such as this was beyond him. "My Commander is busy tending to matters far beyond your level of comprehension," he sneered. "Perhaps if you were not burdened by obligations that are not yours to take you would understand.

Todd stiffened and besides him, Kenny shifted uncomfortably in trepidation. Nothing good ever came from speaking so disrespectfully to the Eldest. The last wraith who had offended him had had his heart ripped out of his chest and shoved still beating down his throat. It was a testament to his age, his superiority and the importance of this mission that the Commander allowed the younger's comment to slide. Kenny rather thought the other was lucky his commander was in a forgiving mood.

Contrary to what his second was thinking, Todd was far removed from allowing this whelp of a wraith's disrespect to go uncommented upon. Taking a dangerous step forwards, he gathered his hands behind his back and glared down on the slightly shorter younger. "Tell me," he began benignly, the threat just barely concealed within the many facets of his multi-toned voice, "what is the age of your queen?"

The Second stiffened. "I fail to see -"

Todd growled. "I was High Commander of the wraith long before your queen was birthed and probably before her Motem or Sire was as well. So," he sneered down on the younger whose eyes had gone wide in recognition, "perhaps some respect is due me, do you not agree?"

The Second gulped in fear. This was the Eldest; the oldest living wraith commander, once High Commander and the wraith responsible for bringing the accursed Lanteans to their knees. His queen had not informed him or his commander of the importance or breeding of their visitor and he wondered if she even knew. He hoped that she did or else, as prideful as she was, she would mostly likely do something to insult him. The Eldest was not known for his forgiveness.

"Now," Todd said, his tone mellowed as he was positive that he now had the younger's full respect and cooperation, "Escort us to your queen and your queen only. Another slight against me and I will see you and your hive rue this day."

"Of course, Eldest," the second bowed low at his waist before straightening and motioning for the visitors to follow him.

His queen was seated at her throne, his Hive's Commander bent towards her in conversation when he entered bringing with him their visitors. He stopped, respectfully waiting for his queen to give him leave to speak while inwardly hoping that she did not keep the Eldest waiting too long.

"What is this?" the queen hissed angrily, standing to observe her hive's second in command and those two wraith that he had brought with him. Angrily she bore down on him. "I told you to have them wait!"

Before the belligerent second could speak, Todd stepped forwards and saved him the trouble. He knew that the queen recognized him as soon as he stepped forwards into the circle of light that circled the area closest to her throne. "That," he began darkly, "would not have been wise."

The queen's eyes widened. "Eldest!" she hissed, caution going into her words while she was in this one's presence. "I did not expect it to be you."

Todd frowned. "That much is clear by the blatant disrespect I have been shown thus far."

"My apologies," the Queen soothed, walking down from her throne and coming to stand in front of the most powerful of males. She circled him, running her feeding hand across first his chest and then his shoulders as she come all the way around him and stood before him once more. "Had I known it was you I would have made sure your reception was better met."

Todd caught her hand before it could trail once more across the front of his form. "You would do well to keep your place," he hissed threateningly, letting her know that he did not welcome her advances.

The female hissed and drew away her hand angrily but calmed herself as she remembered which male she was currently speaking to. Were it any other, she would not hesitate to remove his hand for daring to grip her wrist so harshly. As it was, she would have to keep her temper and her thoughts under control or risk revealing too much to this damningly observant wraith who would see her punished severely if she transgressed against him. The Eldest was not forgiving and was as cold as he was hard and domineering. He was the only male that the queens as a collective feared.

Removing herself from his presence, she retreated to her throne and sat, settling in before flashing her gaze up to his. "You have come to offer an alliance," she began knowing that bluntness in this case was perhaps best given what she knew of his temperament. "If you have not come to offer yourself, then by what manner do you hope to gain my compliance?"

Todd's eyes flashed over the seated queen, her commander that stood nearby and then finally to her second who had brought him here before once more returning to her face. "My alliance is in possession of a great many unique resources which I believe you will find useful," he paused and reached into one of the pockets hidden in the folds of his battle-coat. Pulling out a portable storage device he held it up for her to see. "A list of planets know to contain cashes of Lantean technology that can be reverse engineered and then integrated into your hive along with the instructions on how to do so."

The queen's eyes widened and she wet her lips in greed and anticipation of the advantage such knowledge would bring to her and those hives that she controlled. "And you would be willing to give this to me in trade for what?" she asked.

Todd grinned inwardly knowing that he had already secured her alliance and that, given what he offered her, could ask for anything he chose. "All I ask is that at your next breeding cycle you choose a mate from among my hive commanders."

"And, should I give my consent to this, you then would wish to keep those younglings that I birth," came her steady response, her expression betraying nothing to indicate that she had yet agreed to his terms.

The Eldest nodded. "That is correct."

The queen pretended to think while inwardly knowing that she would be a fool if she did not accept. "Very well," she replied after a time in which she had a short mental conversation with her Commander. "I agree to your terms."

Todd bowed to her. "Then our business here is done."

The Queen held up a hand. "Not quite," she saw him look up, his eyes narrowed. "Regrettably I am not able to let you take your leave as of yet. Moments after you arrived here I ordered my commander to take this hive into hyperspace. We have business to attend to on a human world. When it has been concluded, I will gladly release you and your second."

Todd growled not above showing his displeasure and took satisfaction in the look of remote fear that flashed through the female's eyes. "What business do you have with a human world?" he demanded.

The Hive Commander started forwards in challenge. "That is not for you to know -" he began but was cut off with a simple wave of his queen's hand. Backing down, he returned to his place by her side.

"Come now," the Queen hissed softly, "We are allies now, surely it would not be remiss to explain ourselves to him," she affixed him with her gaze. "You are familiar with the humans called Travelers?"

Todd nodded minutely once. "They are a space-dwelling race. They take their home on ships as do we and as a result are able to evade us quite easily."

"Until now," the queen informed him. "The Travelers are allies with the accursed Atlantians and, as their success against those weaker factions of us has grown, the Travelers have been lulled into a false sense of security. They believe that our hold on this galaxy has weakened and as such have taken to establishing homes upon the surfaces of worlds," a hungry gleam spread through her gaze as a wicked smile of malevolence crept over her lips. "We go to wipe them from existence as punishment for their transgressions against us and for their arrogance in daring to think themselves greater."

Todd's eyes narrowed at this announcement. The mention of his human allies drawing the conversation Katherine had had with him on his hive to the forefront of his mind along with the conclusions that he himself had drawn on the matter. To actually see the practice in action was disturbing and solidified her point all the more firmly inside his head. Besides him, the swirling thoughts of his second leached into his consciousness and allowed him the knowledge that Kenny seemed to feel as equally as did he.

"I wish to take no part in this," he snarled, throwing every note of command into his voice that he was able. "Drop your ship out of hyperspace and allow us to leave. You may go on."

The queen shook her head, undeterred by his anger. The Travelers had long defied the wraith and it was high time they were destroyed for it. She would not let anyone, not even the Eldest, keep her from accomplishing this. "I think not. You see, I want to arrive before they have a chance to take to the stars." Her eyes hardened and she reminded him with a look that he was on her hive and that the twelve thousand wraith onboard were loyal only to her, hoping that that would be enough to deter even such as he from taking any form of action against her.

Kenny glanced towards his commander. The ancient wraith was positively seething with resentment and barely suppressed rage against the female currently seated not a meter from him. The young wraith knew his superior's temper, had heard legends describing it since he was a youngling still mewling in his motem's nest. Desperately he sent that one a mental message of warning and a reminder that he could always put her in her place after they had what they need from her. His probing earned him first a snap of rebuke and then acquiescence from the elder who stood down and relaxed his posture only barely.

"Commander," the queen summoned, turning to her Hive Commander as soon as she knew that the Eldest would not attempt to overrule her and would abide by her whilst he resided here, "Take our…allies to quarters befitting their stations."

It was a dismissal and once more Todd heard the mental tone of his second as the younger pleaded for him to keep his temper. As he followed this hive's commander down a narrow corridor towards the guest chambers reserved for visiting commanders, he thought back on how the one the humans called Kenny had ended up his second-in-command. When he had first been returned to his kind from his imprisonment by the one Sheppard called Koyla, his now second had been the head of science and development on the hive that had picked him up. After a short interview with the queen and a meeting with the Hive commander he had been taken and given to Kenny who was to be his superior officer. It had taken less than an hour for the younger wraith to realize that the newcomer was vastly more knowledgeable then he was, but even while knowing that Todd should be his superior, he could not disobey the orders of his queen.

It was not until their hive encountered the Replicators that Todd's identity came out. When the queen came to them with the mandate to create a code to disrupt their programming to destroy all wraith, Todd had suggested using the original virus created for that same purpose. The Queen had deemed such as that impossible as the wraith responsible for the very intricate program was no longer. Todd had scoffed at this and then proceeded to script out the entirety of the program from memory before turning to the baffled queen and awestruck Kenny and announcing that for being dead his memory was certainly well kept. It had taken the young queen maybe a minute before the name Eldest had dropped from her lips in stupefied shock.

What followed was transference of power in which he took the place of her Hive's Commander whilst he took Kenny as his second. Truthfully, he saw a great deal of himself in the younger even if he was more reserved and less temperamental then he himself had been. It was rare to find such redeeming qualities in one so young, which was mostly why he had carried the younger as far with him as he had. When he had instructed his hive to come to Atlantis, he had given Kenny instruction to go on a mission elsewhere as he had had an inkling of an idea that the hive would not survive its journey. The loss of the young queen who could have been manipulated into doing anything that he pleased had been regretful, but the loss of the talented younger wraith would have been greater. To this day, his second was unaware as to why he had been sent on that particular mission and Todd intended to keep it that way.

His reflection ended abruptly as the Hive Commander stopped, keyed open a set of chambers that shared a communal living space, and stood back waiting for them to enter. Todd and his second ventured inwards silently, barely inside the room before the Hive Commander closed the door and retreated back to his queen. Turning about the reasonably comfortable chamber, Todd took two great steps towards a chair and sank down into it resting one booted foot upon the edge of the table in front of him whilst slouching sideways to prop up his head on his hand. A great shuttering breath that was more a growl then a release echoed through him as his second came to take the seat across from him.

Kenny sat rigidly in the chair opposite his Commander, slightly uncomfortable with how unceremonious the elder was being. Of course, the younger could look at it as a sign of deep familiarity and trust that his commander would choose to relax in his presence, but long knowledge of the reputation of this particular wraith made Kenny nervous and so he thought to address their situation rather than sit in companionable silence.

"Commander," he began stoically, only to be cut off when the elder raised his gaze to his and silenced him with a look.

Todd sighed. "You have been my second-in-command for several years now," he eyed the stiff-backed younger, "and still you are not comfortable with me."

Kenny gulped, not at all sure how to have this conversation with one so great as this one. "You are Eldest," he tried, offering the explanation that made the most sense given the circumstance.

Todd snorted. "You of all wraith need not be intimidated by me," he smirked. "You seem able to remind me to keep my temper but you are yet nervous when sitting alone in a room with me." His voice betrayed the irony of his observation.

Since the younger still did not wish to have this conversation nor did he know how to proceed if he did, Kenny tried something else; bringing up a name that he knew would draw his Commander's attention to something other than him and their relation to one another as Commander and Second. "This…attack that the queen has planned," he paused and looked up to his superior, "This is what Katherine meant, is it not?"

A true sigh, with no trace of growl or snarl, spread through Todd as he nodded. "Yes," he hissed wearily, his mind racing as he questioned what, if anything, could possibly be done in this circumstance. The Travelers, he knew, and as the queen had pointed out, were allies and friends to the Atlantians. Sheppard had even told him of his fondness for one of the female ship commanders and it was with this knowledge that he understood that were they to be destroyed, Sheppard and others would grieve for their loss. It was an outcome that he would save them from if he could.

Kenny watched the face of the elder and knew instinctively what the Eldest was thinking. "We can do nothing, Commander, without risking our own alliance," he said quietly. "Those hives you control lack females to produce offspring for us and swell our numbers. You're former queen, while able to produce drones for us, is barren and I do not think you wish to mate yet again with your former mate."

Todd made a face that did absolutely nothing to hide his disgust at the mere mention of breeding once more with that female. The idea of him breeding at all with any female was not appealing. Given his age and the fact that he had already done so twenty-two times previously made the thought of parenting seem a sentence rather than a pleasure. He supposed that with his power and influence he could well get one of his underlings to do the rearing for him but his motem and sire had instilled in him a deep sense of responsibility. He did not think his conscience would stand the thought of another nurturing his young for him, and so the idea was dismissed.

His alliance had but two queens and as his second had said one was barren, having only produced one son throughout all her life, and the other would accept no other mate but him, and he would not mate her if his life depended on it. Kenny's assessment of the situation was true enough; if he was to uphold his responsibilities to his hives with any honor, then he would have to sacrifice his concern for his human allies for the well-being of those wraith who served him.

~xXx~

It had taken an hour, but Kate had been able to override the door controls at the rear of the hanger bay, and after a city wide announcement had been made, Larrin took charge of shuttling her people up the mountain to take refuge. This method of hiding worked well against the wraith who almost never ventured down from their hives in order to thoroughly search an area to find hidden humans. And even if they did this time, they wouldn't find anything. The entrance to the hanger could be concealed by a shield that created the illusion of solid rock and gave off such low levels of energy that wraith scanners would not be able to detect them no matter how hard they tried, so the mountain was the perfect place to hide.

As the last few families took to the shuttles, Larrin ran around frantically calling out to her people to hurry as she could almost feel the press of the wraith coming nearer. When Teyla radioed down from the mountain that she could feel them, Larrin had begun to panic and urged her people to move more quickly.

Just as she was checking the last house for anyone left behind her ears picked up on the familiar buzzing whine of the wraith's darts. Tearing from the stone dwelling she ran quickly back to the launching pad where the last shuttle stood waiting.

"Larrin!" a small, terrified voice called out and she turned back towards the city to see a tiny boy running as quickly as he his little legs could carry him towards the awaiting craft.

"Taren, hurry!" a man called out from within the opened sided shuttle and Larrin cursed before turning and sprinting towards the terrified young one.

Scooping him up into her arms she ran back towards the ship and handed him off to his father who gave her a grateful smile.

"Is that everyone?" she asked, still not boarding the transport until she was sure that every last one of her people was safe.

The family nodded and just as Larrin was about to climb into the transport, as the whining of the dart got closer and multiplied, the mother cried out.

"Wait, wait," she wailed, looking around at her children, "where is your sister? Where is Sara?"

The boys all shook their heads and Taren, the boy Larrin had saved pulled at his mother's sleeve. "She went back for the picture of grandmotem."

The woman cried and held her face in her hands. "Foolish, foolish girl. I told her to leave it." Her husband put an arm round her.

Larrin scowled. "I'll get her." She turned away from the craft, her eyes widening as she saw that the darts had already dropped their beams and were scanning the city.

"Your life is more important than our girl," the father called not knowing how he could face the High Chancellor if his sister was taken.

Larrin ignored him and took off running. The darts and their culling beams were coming closer and her feet pounded the ground as she ran. Nearing the edge of the city, she met the terrified child and grabbed her hand wordlessly before turning and racing back to the transport.

"Sara, Larrin hurry!" came the collective cry of those aboard the transport and Larrin dared a glance behind her, fear creeping up her spine as a single dart narrowed in of them as they ran.

"LARRIN!" the girl screamed as the dart came over them and with a shove, Larrin pushed her towards the craft.

"GO!" she screamed as she saw the father grasp his daughter's hand and pull her on board. "GO NOW!"

The pilot took off with a nod to her and Larrin watched them climb, smiling inwardly that they were safe, before the beam passed over her and all went black.

~xXx~

As with any cull or annihilation, any visitors to a hive were asked to be on the bridge to serve as witness to the victory. It was an old tradition, one that Todd found incredibly tedious, but nonetheless one that he was honor bound to follow. As a result, both he and his second stood to the side of the queen and her top-ranking officers as they awaited the return of the dart master.

"Well?" the queen hissed eagerly as her officer returned to the bridge, "How many darts did we deploy?"

"All, my Queen," the dart master replied dreading the question that was to come next because of the answer he had for it.

A smile split her face and the queen shook her head, her long black hair dancing to her movement. "And how many of the humans did we harvest?" she asked her apatite rising.

The dart master gulped. "One," he replied.

To the side both Todd and Kenny looked at each other while the queen fumed.

"What!" she screeched angrily, lunging forwards to grab her officer by his throat. "What do you mean one!?!"

The dart master fought to breath but he did not seek to loosen his queen's grip at his throat. "Just that my Queen," he stammered, "The planet is deserted. There are no life signs registering on any of our scans. We captured the one human on the planet."

The queen dropped her officer who stumbled away from her, gently massaging his throat. "Where are they!?" she growled, "Surly they have not taken once more to the skies!"

The officer shook his head. "No my Queen," he informed her, "Their ships are still planet bound, resting in a hanger bay within the mountain. The humans have simply vanished."

Personally, Todd thought all of this was rather amusing. Experience, helped along by his acquaintance with Sheppard and the other Atlantians, had taught him never to underestimate the intelligence of those humans that his race considered ignorant food. As the queen paced and growled, the Eldest thought over various scenarios in his head and came to the conclusion that the humans were most likely hiding somewhere.

The queen came to the same conclusion.

"They are hiding from me," she ranted. "How dare they! Dart Master!"

The wraith stood erect and waited for his queen's orders, dropping his hands from his neck to his sides. "Yes."

"Go! bring me the human you caught!"

The wraith bowed and then scurried to do as he was bid, fear at his queen' heightened anger urging him to move faster for his own benefit as well as everyone else's. Those left on the bridge did not have to wait long before a human woman was brought to them held between two drones. She struggled and strained against her captors at every turn until she was dragged forwards and forced to kneel at the queen's feet. As the female wraith circled the woman, Todd took the time to study her immediately recognizing her as the one called Larrin, of whom Sheppard was fond.

Todd sighed. This could not end well.

"Tell me, human," the queen hissed, running a hand down the woman's face in mock caress, "Where are the rest of you?"

Larrin could feel the queen's mind pressing at her own, willing her to tell the truth but she fought it. The need to protect her people and keep them from this vicious creature's clutches overriding her fear and making her anger stronger. "Go to hell," she ground out through clenched teeth, her eyes hard and cold as the floor upon which she knelt.

The queen snarled and backhanded the woman across the face. Her head swung away from her, but when the human's eyes returned to hers they held not compliance but contempt. This human would not break, and while the queen could smell her fear, her defiance tainted the room thickly.

"You dare defy me!" the queen growled, completely lost as to where this strength had come from. Humans were weak, it was why they were food to those greater then they. This one, a female no less, should not be able to resist her so strongly.

Larrin glared up at her. "Yes," she hissed her voice low and dripping with all the hate she felt for the wraith. "I dare."

The queen roared in fury and raised her hand to sap the life from this female only to stop as the human began to taunt her.

"We knew you were coming," Larrin informed the queen, satisfaction registering with the disbelief that fluttered across the wraith's face. "We escaped you."

The queen calmed her anger and bent low, lifting the female's chin with her forefinger. "But you did not," she hissed darkly, confidant that the threat of death would lessen this one's defiance.

Larrin's gaze never wavered. "My people did. My life for theirs is a price I am only too willing to pay."

The female's continued and unwavering boldness completely angered the queen, her first thought being to have the woman killed. To feed from her slowly as to prolong her agony. A glance over the woman's figure, the cast of her features and the tint of her eyes changed her mind and, calming herself, she turned towards the Eldest.

"I realize that you have never found any interest in human females," she purred, walking up to him so that he was looking down on her, his eyes hard as if to tell her that he knew what was coming next. "But surly you can find some use for her."

Todd detested the idea of companions; human women forced into a wraith's bed against their will and while he would never do such a thing – and the Queen knew this - accepting her for whatever purpose he could come up with was the only way he could think of to save her. An action for which he was sure Sheppard would thank him. "Perhaps," he said eventually. "Have her taken to my quarters."

Larrin's eyes flashed in fear as her fate was decided for her. She would rather be fed upon then forced to be the paramour for a wraith. As she felt the drones once more grasp her arms and haul her to her feet she screamed and kicked but to no avail as she was pulled from the room and the presence of her new master.

~xXx~

Arath sat heavily in his seat in a smaller chamber off that of the main room in which his people had taken refuge. The last transport had just returned bearing with it the fate of his sister, and while the family on board had apologized over and over again begging his forgiveness, he had assured them that he found no blame in them before retiring to this room to think. Around him gathered the visitors from Atlantis, Palmonth and his wife, all seeking to comfort him. He wanted none of it and angrily rose from his chair to begin to pace.

Lorne watched him, his mind going over anything that could possibly be done. Besides him Teyla and Ronon stood silent while Kate sat sullenly in a corner. She hadn't spoken to anyone since she'd unlocked the doors.

"There's gotta be something we can do," Ronon grunted, not one to stand and do nothing.

Arath stopped and turned towards him, his hurt bleeding into anger as he snapped, "Like what!?"

Ronon's eyes narrowed as Millia, a small woman who was the complete opposite of Larrin, went to attempt to sooth her husband.

"They are only trying to help, dearest," she reminded him as she reached out a hand to touch him only to have him draw away in pain.

Arath let loose a shaky laugh. "What is there that could be done?" he demanded, looking about the room. "She had been taken to the hive and will either be imprisoned, killed or worse," he sighed and sank back into his previously deserted chair. "I shudder to think what will be done to her and that I shall never know her fate."

An idea struck Lorne who suddenly turned towards Kate. "Kate," he called and when she didn't answer he tried again. "Major."

She looked up and Lorne knew he had her attention.

"The wraith code we found, the one that had the original message in it, can you write it?" he asked, ignoring the confounding looks he was getting from everyone else who wanted to know where this was going.

Kate nodded once. "Yes."

Lorne turned to Arath. "What we need is a reason for the wraith to come looking for us." He nodded toward Kate. "If she sends the hive a message in their own dead language, then wouldn't that give them enough reason to come down here?"

Ronon grunted. "It would certainly piss them off."

Arath shook his head. "But what good would provoking them serve?" At his side, Millia rubbed his back soothingly and for the first time in over an hour, he felt hope retuning to him.

"Well, think about it," Lorne continued, "The wraith's biggest fault is pride. Imagine what would happen if they were to receive a message from what they think is an inferior race in their own language."

Near the back of the room, in the same place he had stood for well over an hour, Palmonth nodded his head in understanding. "Yes, that would certainly provoke the queen's anger." He looked at the Atlantians and carefully studied each of their faces. "She would most certainly send a delegation of wraith to investigate."

Millia looked frightened. "But, would not the hive be able to track the signal back to its location?" she looked about. "Why would we wish to invite them to our doorstep when we have successfully hidden from them?"

Ronon took a step forwards, silently communicating with Lorne by flashing his eyes at Kate and then looking up to convey that he was onto the plan. "Larrin's on the hive and we need to get her. We get the wraith to come looking for the one that sent them the message –"

"And they will take her back to the hive to be killed by the queen," Millia insisted with a shake of her head. "You're plan, while bold, will not work."

"Yes, it will."

Lorne, Arath and his wife, Teyla, Ronon and Palmonth turned towards Kate who had removed herself from the shadows and was now standing not far away from the group of people. The look of determination on her face told Lorne that she had reached a decision and that he would not have to order her to do this. Larrin, in the short time they had known each other, had become her friend and he knew that Kate was deathly protective of her friends, mostly because she had so few.

Millia looked at her. "How?"

Kate lifted her head. "Not to sound conceded or anything, but I'm John Sheppard's sister and if I tell the queen that in a message then she'll want me brought to her alive. I've been on enough of hives that I will be able to find Larrin and get her back."

Palmonth eyed her. "You are so certain?" he looked her up and down. "You are but one girl, how do you suppose to defeat an entire hive's worth of wraith?"

Kate's eyes narrowed. "By not being seen. Trust me," she added, "this is what I was made for."

Palmonth looked like he was about to object again, but Lorne cut him off. "If Major Sheppard thinks she can do it, then we let her try," He sent Kate a piercing look, thanking her.

Millia opened her mouth and closed it again as she looked at her husband. He looked so hopeful. She was reluctant to take that from him and so she bowed her head in acceptance of the plan.

Lorne saw the consent on everyone's faces and turned towards Kate. "Right, there's a communications terminal in another room farther back in the mountain. Go send a message to the hive."

Kate nodded once and turned towards the exit.

"Kate," Lorne called out before she could leave the room. She stopped and turned to him, her face the same blank mask it had been since they'd decided to stay and help. "Make her mad."

For the first time in several hours, Kate grinned before leaving to attend to her task.

~xXx~

The queen's throne room was the absolute last place that Todd desired to be at the moment but unfortunately decorum prevented him from retiring to his chambers until the queen dismissed him to do so. As it stood, the queen was seething in her throne, both her second and hive commanders standing to either side of her while he and Kenny stood respectfully off to the side in perfect silence. They had been this way for quite a while and personally Todd was tired of it.

"My Queen," a wraith called as he entered the room and bowed low before the sulking female that had been outwitted by a group of humans.

She sat up. "What?" she demanded.

The wraith kept his eyes on the ground, careful not to anger his queen whom was already in one of the foulest moods she had ever been in. "My Queen, we are receiving a transmission," he informed her.

The queen hissed lightly. "From whom?" she asked, leaning forwards in her throne and regarding the wraith subservient before her.

His head remained bowed as he answered. "The planet."

Todd's eyes widened along with everyone else's as he wondered what the humans could possibly be thinking as a message could be retraced back to its source. This type of erratic and not quite properly thought out behavior was indicative of the Atlantians and for the first time Todd considered the possibility that the Travelers were being helped. The thought was not a pleasing one as he now did not know what to expect and could not even begin to predict the outcome.

The queen gave a mental command to the subordinate who crossed the room and, after punching in a series of commands, brought a communication up onto one of the room's viewing screens.

The queen's eyes scanned the message, her anger rising with each symbol her brain read and recognized. This was their own code, an early form of the wraith language that no human should know. "How is this possible?" she whispered as her eyes scanned the message, more of a jeer and a taunt, which had been sent to them from the humans hiding on the planet below.

"It is our own code," the Hive commander acknowledged taking a step towards the screen and frowning. "Whoever composed this did a remarkable job." There was a slight tint of respect to his double toned voice. "The grammar is perfect."

The queen raged. "I do not care if their grammar is correct or not, no human can read this!"

Off to the side, Todd had to inwardly grin as that statement wasn't exactly true as he knew for a fact that Katherine could read this particular form of wraith writing very well; she might even be able to write it. That thought made him wonder who planet side was the one scripting this. He dismissed the possibility that it was Katherine. There was no way that she could be there.

The Hive Commander watched his queen pace and began to offer up an explanation. "The Travelers are allies with the Atlantians," he began. "Is it not possible that those accursed humans found a reference to our earliest language in the Atlantis archives?"

The Queen hisses. "It is not possible," she bellowed, clenching her fists at her sides. "Five years ago the queens as a collective ordered the Archives wiped clean. We sent virus through their computer systems erasing all mention of the wraith from before the Great War. There should be nothing left for those damnable humans to find!" She gestured wildly at the screen. "Certainly not this!!"

It took a moment for the queen's words to make full sense, but when they did, their meanings left Todd livid. Having recently been in the Atlantis archives he knew that precious little information about his race's history and culture remained. The fragment of wraith-written script that he had written into the achieves after Sheppard had told him of Katherine's interest in him he had intended her to find so that she could begin to translate his command log. Had he not given her that reference point then he had no doubt that she would have been unable to translate any of his writings and he had sat there cursing the Lanteans for erasing the history of his race. Now to discover that it was his own wraith that had ordered their history deleted angered him beyond all comprehension.

"What right have you and your fellow queens to erase our past!?!" he hissed slowly and dangerously, breaking from his spot to the side of the room and walking forwards threateningly.

The queen turned on him, in her anger completely forgetting whom she was talking to or perhaps not caring. "Such was the unanimous decision made by all awakened queens when the city was first raised by those blasted humans!"

Around them, the hive commander and second gulped knowing that confronting the Eldest was not a wise decision on the part of their queen, but their loyalty to her forbade them from stopping her.

Todd snarled, his words dripping malice and hatred for this one as well as all others of the corrupt queens. "That was not your right!"

She answered him in a growl. "You are a relic of the past Eldest," she seethed, her reasoning and caution lost in her anger. "Be glad that we did not take your memories as well, for the less the humans of Atlantis know of us, the better off we shall be!!."

The words that he had once told Sheppard, that there was much he did not know about wraith, tugged at him as he realized that what the queen said was partially true. He was from a time long past and the events and culture that had shaped him and made him were long since gone, dead and buried. Suddenly, Todd knew why it was that Sheppard had such difficulty viewing him as different from other wraith. To him all wraith were the same, the way of life that they lived had always been and the human knew no different. But there was a difference and Todd realized that if he were to ever have anything more than just a tentative alliance with John Sheppard, he'd have to show him that difference.

Without waiting to be dismissed, his mind a swirling mass of thoughts and emotions all kept artfully hidden, Todd turned on his heel and stalked from the room, retreating.

Due to the years that Kenny had spent under the service of the Eldest, the younger wraith could easily ascertain the disposition of his commander as the barest hints of the elder's turmoil washed over him. Within him he felt the echoes of great loss as well as both betrayal and the deepest, most profound repugnance. Forcefully clearing his mind, Kenny turned back his attention to the queen who seemed undisturbed by the Eldest's departure. Something in his consciousness, a fleeting feeling of unease, told him to stay rather than follow the retreat of his commander. There was something in this message that had not been revealed and Kenny, although he could not rightly explain how, knew instinctively that his commander would wish to know of it.

His inner feeling was rewarded as the bottom of the missive sent form the planet was achieved and the visiting second felt his eyes widen in alarm at the name that sat there. Caution, panic, and intense unease and trepidation flooded him as he flicked his eyes towards the female wraith and watched her eyes alight with the greed of victory that this new information brought her.

"Ah," the queen hissed in glee, inwardly pleased at the stupidity of this human who so easily gave up her name. "Katherine Sheppard. Humans that share the same latter name are related are they not?" she asked her hive commander.

"Yes, my Queen," the male confirmed.

She returned her eyes to the screen, her mind racing. "Retrace the signal and dispatch the hunters," she turned, her wide and malicious smile taking over the whole of her face. "I want to meet this Katherine of Atlantis. I believe she and I have a great deal to talk about."

With the queen distracted, Kenny took this as his opportunity to slip form the room and race, as quickly as was socially acceptable to his commander's temporary quarters as, not for the first time this day, Kenny wished he could have stayed on their hive.

~xXx~

Blinded by his anger over the termination of so much of his kind's history and the betrayal over the fact that such a heinous crime had been committed by those of his own race rather than by the Lanteans as he had long suspected, Todd forgot what was waiting for him in his quarters. He was quickly reminded however as soon as he walked through the door and saw her attempting to view the planet below out of the tiny window situated on the far wall of his room.

"Thinking of your people?" he asked blandly and watched the woman jump and scramble as far away from his as she could get.

Larrin glared at the wraith who was now supposedly her master. It would be a cold day in hell before she submitted herself to him and the retort she spit out at him came out cold and hard. "Why do you care?"

Todd sighed, not at all in the mood to deal with her at the moment after what he had just learned but knowing that he could not very well leave her without an explanation as to the particulars of her situation. Taking a step towards her, he had to commend her when she did not try and get still farther away from him. Her defiance and confidence reminded him of Katherine.

"I will not harm you," he spoke evenly, trying to make his voice seem as nonthreatening as possible.

The woman's eyes turned to glass and narrowed to slits. "Like I believe you," Larrin spat contemptuously.

Todd rolled his eyes and noted with some humor that this action seemed to catch her off guard as it was, after all, a behavioral trait he had picked up from continuous time spent with Sheppard and the other humans of Atlantis. "Believe what you wish little human," he informed her wearily before trying another approach. "Your name is Larrin is it not?"

She stared at him. "How do you know that?"

Todd opened his mouth to provide an answer but was interrupted by the arrival of his harried looking Second whom at first glance, conveyed to him that there was something desperately wrong.

"Commander," Kenny bowed slightly, foregoing proper decorum given the gravity of the information he had come to depart.

Todd quirked a brow ridge wondering what in the name of the stars could have happened to make his second show such strong outward emotion. "Yes?" he inquired and out of the corner of his eye, saw that the female was listening, her posture suggesting curiousness and again he saw the similarities between her and Katherine before he turned the full front of his attention to his agitated Second.

Kenny took a deep breath, aware that he was about to pry into his commander's more personal dealings with the humans of Atlantis but he needed to know. "You taught Katherine how to read our first language," he said bluntly and watched his commander immediately erase all emotions from his face and retreat into himself as he always did when another wraith brought up Katherine Sheppard.

Todd's eyes narrowed. "I fail to see how that is of any concern of yours, Second," he ground out defensively, leery of what might be interpreted from such a blank statement.

Not about to be deterred by his commander's wish to keep his relationship in correlation to Colonel Sheppard's sister ambiguous, Kenny took a step forwards. "Katherine Sheppard is on the planet below," he said evenly. "It was she that composed the communication."

A strange feeling that bordered concern flushed through him as Todd's eyes widened just slightly at this news. Turning stiffly towards the one called Larrin, Todd bore down on her with an urgency that he could not explain. "The Atlantians are helping you," his voice louder then perhaps it needed it be. "Colonel Sheppard and his team?"

Larrin stared at him not understanding why a wraith would care or why he would have any sort of connection to humans of any kind. The tone of his voice was accusatory, almost as if he were blaming her for dragging them into this and putting them in danger. It confused her and continued to do so even after she'd managed a nod before finally finding her voice.

"No," she said clearly, pushing the confusion away to examine later. "John's not here, just Major Lorne, Teyla, Ronon and Major Sheppard," she paused wondering if he knew the difference between Colonel and Major. "That's John's –"

"I know who she is," Todd snapped, cutting her off as he turned towards his second. "What orders did the queen give?"

Kenny bowed his head. "She wishes to meet this Katherine of Atlantis, sister to Colonel Sheppard," he lifted his gaze to his commander, watching his reaction. "She has ordered the signal retraced and hunters to go down to the planet to retrieve her."

This news brought out a low, loud hiss from Todd that turned quickly into a growl and both his second and the human woman jumped in alarm. His mind racing, he began to pace, wondering over the reasoning behind all of this.

"She's coming for me," Larrin whispered, realizing as the more she thought about it what Kate's motivations must be. Both wraith turned to look at her. "They needed a way to get onto the hive so that they could come rescue me," she frowned. "Funny, I figured that if any of them would try and get up here it'd be Ronon."

Todd grunted. "Katherine's abilities far supersede the runner's," the corners of his mouth tugged downwards at the thought of her putting herself at such a great risk.

Larrin looked up at him, studying the expression on his face and coming to a remarkable conclusion. "You're worried about her," she breathed, slightly in awe of this fact.

Kenny watched his Commander's spine stiffen to full rigidity in the face of such an accusation that, honestly, Kenny did not think was so far off the mark.

"Katherine is Sheppard's sister and were anything to befall her that I could otherwise prevent, it would undermine the value of an already tentative alliance," Todd spoke stiffly, turning away from both his fellow wraith and the human female as he continued to go over his options.

Larrin looked unconvinced and so did the other wraith, but she knew that it would be better not to push the creature too far. Wraith were not known for having feelings and she had a vague idea that she'd just hit a nerve by accusing him of actually caring about the well being of a human. Of course, the question of why he cared still plagued her, but she pushed that inquiry away as one that was unlikely to be answered anytime soon. As it stood, something he had said pulled at her, and as she studied him more closely, she began to sense familiarity bubbling up from deep within her memory.

"You're Sheppard's wraith," she said slowly, coming out of the corner she'd been in for the past twenty minutes or so and taking a step towards the wraith whose back was still to her.

Todd turned. "I am not Sheppard's pet," he seethed, disliking the way she had said 'Sheppard's wraith,' as though he were owned by the human that was his ally.

Larrin gulped realizing that that had probably not been the right thing to say. "I-I mean that you're the wraith that helped us defeat the replicators," she tried again, realizing as she did that while he might be less dangerous than other wraith, he was still a threat and should be treated as such.

Todd let out a rumbling noise through his nose. "Yes, that was I," he looked over the woman. "Are you so important that Katherine would risk her life to come rescue you?"

Larrin's eyes narrowed. "I really don't think my importance to my people is any concern of yours, Wraith."

The Commander looked amused. "Sheppard has seen fit to give me a human name by which to call me," he eyed her, "You may use it for I think I would rather have that then to be referred to constantly by my biological designation."

"And what exactly does Sheppard call you?" Larrin asked, curious despite herself.

"Todd."

Larrin's eyes widened as she recalled the times she'd heard Sheppard talk about someone named Todd whom she'd never have thought was a wraith from the stories. Some of the things Sheppard had told her he'd done seemed most un-wraith like.

He eyed her. "You have heard of me," he deadpanned and at her tiny nod of affirmation moved on. "Be that as it may, I cannot allow Katherine to be captured and brought to this hive," he turned towards her. "If I take you to the planet, will you be able to lead me to where your people hide?"

Larrin opened her mouth only to be cut off by the other wraith who she had damn near forgotten was there, he hadn't said anything in a while.

"Commander, we cannot interfere," Kenny reminded his superior, throwing all caution to the wind and speaking his mind. "We have secured this Queen's compliance to our terms and must take into consideration the wellbeing of the rest of our alliance. We cannot –"

"I am well aware of my responsibilities as High Commander, Second, I have been doing this longer then you have been alive," Todd interrupted irritably, not liking that a younger was attempting to put him in his place. "However, there is more at stake now then just the possible hope of an arranged mating between this queen and a commander under my command."

Kenny glared at him, for the first time since coming under this one's command, he failed to agree with the Eldest. "Like what?" he demanded.

Todd was admittedly surprised by his second's outburst as this was the first time since having met the younger that he had shown this much emotion or personality. If he was not contradicting him, Todd considered the possibility that he would be proud of the younger.

"Our alliance with Atlantis - though tentative at best - is the only reason that our alliance has advanced as far as it has," Todd reminded his second in a patronizing voice. "Without their assistance and albeit reluctant cooperation, we would not be in the position of power in which we, you and I and all other under my leadership, have grown accustomed. To be blunt, they are our greatest resource as we, I am sure, are theirs."

Kenny lowered his gaze. "Surely we do not rely on them so much, my Commander."

Todd grunted. "We rely on them a fair bit more then I am willing to admit," he sighed. "And were we to lose their support and continued assistance, then we would not stand so great a chance at effecting the change that must take place if the wraith are to survive as a race."

His commander's words struck a chord and Kenny briefly considered defying him before realizing that the Eldest, as usual, was right. It was a mark of his age that the elder was able to admit to needing the assistance of a species weaker than theirs and Kenny could do nothing but respect him for it.

When his second did not respond, Todd returned his gaze to the human woman. "You will speak of none of what you have heard to anyone," he ordered knowing instinctively that she would not breathe a word. "Now, returning to my earlier question, can you take me to your people?"

Mutely, Larrin nodded, having never thought she'd witness two wraith arguing. Before now, she'd always thought that the wraith worked with single-mindedness and had no differences in personality or thoughts of their own that distinguished them as individuals. Briefly she wondered how different this Todd really was from the rest of the wraith and if she'd ever find out.

"Good," Todd replied, turning to Kenny who seemed to have stood down. "Bring her."

Kenny nodded and took hold of the woman's arm before she could protest and quickly followed his commander from the room.

"Hey!" Larrin squeaked as her feet fought to keep up with both the wraith's long strides.

Todd glanced at her over his shoulder. "Be silent," he commanded harshly. "We do not want to attract any undue attention."

The realization that whatever Todd the wraith was about to do would most likely land him in trouble if he got caught made Larrin hold her tongue and keep quiet as she was more or less dragged through the twisting corridors of the hive. The shadows and lack of sufficient light made it hard for her to keep track of where she was or in what direction they were going which she eventually gave up trying to keep track of.

Just as she began to wonder where exactly they were going and if they were planning on walking down every hallway in the whole damned ship, she saw light ahead and the next thing she knew they were in the dart bay. Ahead of them loamed an odd looking ship that was bigger than either a dart or an Atlantian jumper and reminded her vaguely of the Traveler's own cargo ships. The wraith holding her stopped besides it as the other one, Todd, pressed his hand to the outside of the hull. A hatch opened and she was brought onboard, shoved into a seat and ordered to strap in.

"How?" she asked darkly, offering her captors – for lack of a better word – a glare.

Kenny sighed heavily as his Commander took his seat in the pilot's chair and began to power the engines. Walking back to the human, he instructed her on the proper procedure in which to secure herself into her seat, before the ship lifted off and he was forced to reach out and hold onto her chair or risk falling over. The woman seemed to find this amusing and Kenny growled before making his way back up to the co-pilot's chair and seating himself, shooting his commander a glare of contempt for not having waited for him to sit before taking off.

Larrin, meanwhile, watched these two and came to the conclusion that this was the most personality she'd ever seen a wraith, or in this case wraith in general, demonstrate. It was comforting on a small level to know that while fierce and dangerous, they were still capable of some degree of humanity.

The hive's dart bay door's yawned open as Todd maneuvered his transport out of the dart bay and set a course for the planet. If he had calculated right, and he was sure he had, then the humans were most likely hiding somewhere near to where the Lantean ships were stationed in the mountainside hanger bay. Turning in his seat, he looked over Larrin.

"Now," he asked, "where are they?"

Larrin sighed, deciding that she was just going to have to trust him. "There are several supply rooms beyond the hanger we're keeping our ships in," she told him and watched him nod in acknowledgement.

"As I suspected," Todd reasoned and gave the mental command for the ship to adjust its course just slightly.

Larrin stared at him. "How did you know that?" she asked.

Todd chuckled, amused with her curiosity. "I have been around a while," he answered her.

She frowned. "How old are you?"

In the copilot's seat, Kenny raised a brow ridge as he had often wondered over the Eldest's exact age himself.

Todd, however, merely bared his teeth in a what would have been a smirk on a human's face. . "When this is all over you may ask Katherine," he told the human. "I believe she has done all the necessary calculations."

Kenny stared at him. "Katherine knows your age, Commander?"

The elder wraith looked sideways at the younger and gave a grunt that Kenny was left to interpret as a 'yes'. Not for the first time, Kenny wondered just how much his commander had shared of himself with her.

The rest of the journey was silent and when the ship landed and the group disembarked, Larrin was able to look around and realize that they were but a few hundred meters from the hanger. As she noticed the wraith watching her, she took a deep breath and began to walk. "This way," she called out over her shoulder.

Their pace was quick and Larrin called both wraith to a halt as soon as they got to within visual range of the hanger. Below them on the actual path, three wraith traveled upwards the leader holding a handheld device that must be tracing the signal that the message had left behind. Turning back to the wraith Larrin looked at them both curiously.

"Well, what now?" she asked.

Kenny looked at Todd who seemed to be staring off into the distance. "Commander?" he questioned.

Todd let out a long breath. "We wait," he said slowly, crouching down and becoming comfortable.

Besides him, both Larrin and Kenny looked at each other before doing the same a settling in for the long haul.

~xXx~

Lorne, Arath, Styson, Ronon and Kate were waiting inside the hanger bay, the latter four hidden while Kate stood in the middle of the room ready, as the wraith approached them.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ronon had begun second guessing their plan about an hour ago.

Lorne threw him a look as the first of the three wraith entered the hanger and spied Kate and began to walk towards her, motioning for his fellows to follow. "Well, if it isn't, it's a bit late now," the major whispered back to the former runner.

Kate, meanwhile, stood waiting as the three wraith stalked closer and finally stopped a few feet in front of her. "You are Katherine of Atlantis?" the leader asked, looking the female up and down and finding her to be very pleasing.

She nodded once. "Yes."

The wraith tilted his head towards her. "You have been expecting us," he observed.

Again she nodded but this time said nothing.

One of the other wraith took a step forwards. "Come, human, our queen would speak with you."

Kate smirked. "Yes, I'm sure she wants to know how I managed to send her a message in her own tongue."

The leader hissed, knowing nothing of the details of why the queen wanted to speak with this female, only knowing that she did. Mentally, he sent orders to those who followed him and the other to his left moved forward and took from a pocket a set of bindings and fitted them around the female's hands. Satisfied, the leader turned on his heel and stalked from the hanger, his followers taking up positions to either side of the female and pushing her after him.

Kate was able to catch Lorne's gaze out of the corner of her eye before she was led from the hanger downwards towards where she assumed a transport ship of some kind waited. The walk was slow and they'd gone maybe a quarter mile when the wraith stopped suddenly.

The wraith to her left, bald and with a long beard, turned toward the leader. "What is it?" he asked.

The leader shook his head. "I do not –"

He was cut off as a blast of energy fire shot out of nowhere and hit the wraith dead in the chest. He dropped to the ground, dead, as the other two wraith closed in around Kate whose eyes were scanning the area looking for their attackers.

With a snarl another wraith went down and the last remaining one let out a growl of rage before grabbing Kate and pulling her roughly in front of him. Locking her to his chest and using her as a shield he looked around wildly.

"Where are you?" he hissed, his voice dripping venom as he held the human woman before him tightly. A movement to his right caused him to look up, his eyes widening at the figure that stepped from the trees. "Eldest."

Todd was livid as he stared down the wraith that held Katherine captive within the circle of his arms. He did not quite understand the reason for his anger or its intensity but he knew that he did not like seeing another male wraith touch her, did not like seeing her being used as a shield. "Release her," he commanded dangerously.

The wraith that held her sneered and dipped his head so that he could breathe down her neck. "I think not," he hissed softly, bringing up a hand to gently caress the female's cheek. She jerked away at his touch. "My queen wishes to see this one."

Todd's eyes narrowed. "Your Queen will be disappointed," he said evenly as though he were stating a fact rather than an outcome, careful to meet his eyes to Katherine's as he spoke to convey to her silently what he wanted her to do.

She nodded once and as her captor wraith opened his mouth to speak, she lunged forwards breaking free of his grasp, Todd's arms reaching out to wrap around her waist and pull her to him as Kenny stepped out of nowhere and fired twice at the last remaining wraith who hit the ground with a thump. Bewildered and more then slightly confused, Kate twisted out of Todd's grip and looked up at the wraith.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice betraying her confusion.

Todd opened his mouth to speak, but was delayed by Larrin as she rushed forwards.

"Kate," Larrin called, pushing the wraith out of the way and going to her friend. "Are you alright?"

Kate nodded. "I'm fine," she assured the other woman before sighing. Holding her still bound together hands up, she looked around Larrin to Todd. "Can you please take these off?" she asked him.

Larrin moved out of the way and went to stand by the other wraith as Todd stepped forwards and took the both of Kate's wrists in one of his hands while keying in the code to unlock them with the other. When they fell free, Todd did not immediately release her and instead continued to hold onto her wrists. Lowering his head, he tilted it to the side so that he could better look her in the eye.

"You are unharmed, Katherine?" he asked her, true concern bleeding through his multi-toned voice and for the first time since having met her, he did not try to stop it.

Shock intermixed with a warm fuzzy feeling over the fact that Todd seemed to be genuinely concerned for her made Kate look up at him as she felt her cheeks stain a light pink. "I-I'm fine," she stammered, pulling her hands from his grasp and dropping them uselessly to her sides as she looked away from him.

Todd tilted his head first to the left and then back to the right before reaching out a hand and tilting her downcast chin up towards him so that he could see her eyes. "Katherine," he began and felt her swallow, "You are certain?"

The sincerity in his eyes melded with the knowledge that he was in earnest concerned for her made Kate's skin flush with heat as she held her gaze to his. "Yes, Todd," she said seriously, "I'm sure."

Todd nodded once and let out a low rumbling noise as he dropped his hand from her face and watched her turn away from him, confidant that she was unharmed. "Come," he called, beginning to walk towards the hanger bay, "it would be best if we returned you to your respective kinds."

Kate nodded mutely and followed after him, falling into an easy pace beside him as Larrin and Kenny followed them, each thinking heavily on what they had just witnessed.

The walk back up to the hanger was short and upon entering the cool ship bay, Todd took the opportunity to look around at the variety of ships anchored there. "You have an impressive fleet," he said, casting his voice so that the compliment was directed towards Larrin.

"Thank you," Larrin said, mildly surprised that a wraith would offer her a compliment, but then, after what she'd seen this wraith do, nothing would honestly surprise her.

"Hmmnnn," Todd grunted in response and turned towards Katherine. "Which way?"

Kate opened her mouth but was cut off as the lights in the ceiling turned on and the hanger was flooded with bright light. Squinting and turning around she saw the outlines of several dozen people all arranged around them and holding weapons aimed at the wraith.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Lorne yelled as he and Ronon pushed their way to the front of the group. "Todd," the major called out when he got there, "What in God's name are you doing here?"

The Travelers looked around, confused as to whom he was speaking to.

Todd crossed his arms and smirked down at the Major. "You are not happy to see me?" he asked, bemused.

Lorne scowled. "I'm never happy to see you," he looked over the alien. "Now, what are you doing here?"

Todd was about to answer when another human male began to shove his way to the front of the crowd. This one, perhaps middle aged as far as humans go, was dressed more finely then those others that surrounded the wraith, Larrin and Kate. It was a fair guess to say that this male was of importance, perhaps part of the governing body.

"Larrin!" Arath cried, rushing forwards and engulfing his sister in a hug that lifted her feet off the ground. "I thought I'd lost you."

She laughed. "It'll take more than that to kill me, brother," she stepped back from him and swept a hand over the two wraith both of whom wore expressions of mild curiousness. "Remember the wraith that helped us defeat the replicators?"

Arath nodded, his eyes sweeping over the two intimidating creatures that Major Lorne had ordered them not to shoot. "I remember," he looked at his sister. "This is he?"

Larrin nodded. "This one, Sheppard named him Todd, he got me off the ship and away from the queen," she looked over the other one. "I don't think that one has a name."

Kenny looked relieved.

"We call him Kenny," Ronon deadpanned, smirking at the wraith who frowned and proceeded to glare dangerously at the Setedan.

Arath looked over them both. "I thank you," he said sincerely finding it just a bit odd that he was thanking a wraith. "For your assistance we will allow you to go."

Styson snorted. "But High Chancellor –"

Arath cut him off. "They are not our enemy, at least not today." His voice and the narrowing of his eyes commanded all to obey. "We will let them go. A reward, for my sister's life."

Defeated, Styson and his men stood down and the ring around the two wraith dissipated as the Travelers went back to the hidden bunkers beyond the hanger bay. Arath and Larrin stayed along with Lorne, Ronon and Kate.

Todd turned towards Lorne. "I and my second will depart shortly, but first I suggest that you neutralize the hive."

Ronon grinned. "You mean blow it up?"

Todd looked over his least favorite of all the Atlantians, with the possible exception of Mr. Woolsey. "That would be effective, yes."

The large Satedan smirked, jerking his thumb towards Todd. "Every now and then he has good ideas."

Kate snorted. "Yes, every now and then," she looked up at Todd. "And just how do you suppose we blow up a hive from down here?"

Todd shrugged and looked around, spotting a beaming platform off to the side of the bay and turning back to the human whom he saw had seen it to. "I can give you the jamming codes for the hive that will allow you to beam an explosive into their engine room."

Arath stared at him. "You'd do that? Help us destroy your own kind? Why?"

Todd looked at the human seriously. "The Queen on board that hive is a traitor to our race and I shall gladly watch as she is blown into oblivion."

All of the humans, with the exception of Kate, and even Kenny cringed at the malice dripping from his words.

Kate turned towards him. Her familiarity with his thought process providing her with the knowledge that whatever the queen had done it had upset him greatly. "What'd she do?" she asked gently.

Todd growled. "Now is not the time for such discussions," he looked down and saw the hurt in Katherine's eyes that he would hide something from her and sighed. "I will tell you later, Katherine," he appeased her.

Kate frowned. "How about you tell me now while we go blow up this hive that managed to piss you off," she smirked and pulled a small brick of C-4 from one of her utility pouches and held it up. "I have C-4 and I'm sure you can make some sort of bomb out of all the spare parts lying around."

Todd grinned. "It is within my capabilities, yes," he bent forwards slightly at his waist and held out his hand to indicate that she should begin walking to the far side of the hanger bay first. "Katherine."

They left and left Arath, Larrin, Lorne, Ronon and Kenny standing there starring off after them slack jawed and in awe. Lorne was the first to recover and he turned angrily on Ronon.

"I thought you said he wouldn't try anything?" the irate and more then slightly worried Major demanded.

Ronon looked apologetic and shrugged. "Teyla said he wouldn't try anything, I said we should have told Sheppard."

Larrin frowned. "Tell Sheppard what?" she asked, curious.

Lorne crossed his arms and glared off in the direction that Todd and Kate had gone. "Nothing important," he huffed.

Kenny tends to be pretty close-mouthed, so this seems a little out of character for him. Maybe just make everything a little more subtle for the rest of the episode.

Kenny was inclined to disagree and unlike these humans who seemed to think the issue warranted discretion, felt that someone ought to say something before it all got out of hand. "The Commander is fascinated by her," he said bluntly, turning to the humans, "to the point of obsession."

Lorne glared at him. "That's a bit much don't you think?" he said darkly. "I mean, why can't you just say he likes her, which is the truth by the way."

Larrin frowned. "He likes her?" she questioned. "Likes her how?"

Ronon opened his mouth but Kenny beat him to it.

"The commander desires her," he informed the humans, all of which seemed horrified by this announcement. "I counseled him to take her and be done with it, but he will not. He seems to be under the impression that such a course of action would harm her."

"Because it would!" Lorne yelped throwing up his hands. "Think about it."

Kenny glared at him. "I have," he said darkly. "And trust me when I say that it would be better for everyone if the commander did as I have suggested rather than allowing his enthrallment with her to fester. Such as that could prove to be very damning indeed." With that the wraith turned and stalked off toward where Todd and Kate had their heads bent together and were talking avidly about something.

The humans watched him go. Arath spoke first after a time had passed. "What does that mean?" he asked, referring to Kenny's last statement.

Ronon frowned and shook his head while Lorne looked thoughtful.

"I think it means that Kenny's afraid that Todd might actually develop feelings for her," he turned around to look at everyone. "And I think he's right."

"But that's impossible," Arath countered. "No wraith would ever care about a human."

Larrin sighed. "I've seen it," she said slowly, all eyes turning to her. "Up on the hive, when Kenny told Todd that it was Kate that sent the message and that the queen had ordered her brought to her. Todd looked worried. I called him on it and he brushed it off as nothing, but I saw the expression on his face before he could hide it. He was concerned."

"Well then," Lorne began, "What do we do now? Tell Sheppard?"

Ronon shook his head vigorously in a yes.

Larrin disagreed. "I think you should wait," she said honestly. "Think about it. If he cares about her even a little bit, it gives you power over him. You can control him."

Ronon grinned. "Never thought about that."

Lorne frowned. "But what about Kate?"

Larrin shrugged. "Well, it's not like she likes him too, right? Don't worry about it."

Lorne sighed. The problem with that was that Kate did care, a hell of a lot more then she was supposed to, and the thought that either the two of them would find out how the other felt scared the shit out of him. But, like Larrin said, Todd liking Kate and caring about her did give them a certain amount of power over him and they were always in sore need of that.

"Right," he said eventually. "We say nothing, let it play out, maybe it'll all blow over or maybe it won't, either way we just got one up on Todd," he sighed. "Come on, let's go see how they're doing on that bomb."

The others nodded and followed.