As Jennifer had expected, once Todd had learned the basics of poker, he'd caught on quickly and soon she was struggling to find any hint of a tell.

Todd, on the other hand, seemed to have no difficulties. He seemed to read her like a book and there were several hands she'd gotten the distinct feeling of being led around like a horse around a track before he'd inevitably decimated her and won. Every so often he had this little smile at the corner of his mouth as though he was laughing at her and she couldn't figure out why.

It frustrated her to no end. She'd known, of course, that she had tells. Everyone did. The trick to poker was to know both your tells and your opponent and, well, Jennifer's personal knowledge of Todd was lacking.

She vowed to remedy that starting immediately. She was the queen of poker and she wouldn't hand over her title without a fight.

Blue, in comparison, was horrible at poker. He grasped the basics of the game but lacked the finer understanding of building the perfect hand and misleading opponents.

After several rounds, Jennifer began to get the impression that Blue must be very, very young. All of the Wraith she'd been exposed to up until this point had been devious, calculating, and ruthless.

But Blue seemed more like a puppy in her mind. A vampire puppy perhaps, but a puppy nonetheless. He seemed eager to please Todd but lacking in the traits that she'd assumed had been innate in all Wraith up until now.

It was obvious that Blue looked up to Todd with a mixture of adoration and cautiousness and Jennifer couldn't help but wonder what Todd had done to earn such a reaction. Whatever it was, neither Wraith was volunteering anything.

Todd had requested food while they played and to her surprise, he'd sipped a sweet, alcoholic smelling beverage while she'd eaten. Blue hadn't been offered the drink and hadn't asked and Jennifer had the amusing thought that perhaps Blue was underage.

But once the food was done, her cards were packed up back into the box to return to her bag later and back they'd gone to studying the genome. The break had helped, but despite Todd's intuition about the possible causes, they were no closer to identifying the true source of the feeding gene.

Suddenly, Todd had straightened. He'd looked over at Blue and then strode out of the lab without so much as a word to Jennifer.

She decided right then and there that she'd had enough. She was tired of his disappearing acts, tired of the lack of answers, tired of the misleading information and frustrated attempts at communication.

She was going to have answers and she was going to get them now.

She looked at Blue. "Escort me to Todd." When Blue gave her a disapproving look and opened his mouth, she added, "Now. Or I'll find him myself. Don't think you'll be able to stop me, either."

Blue closed his mouth and seemed to think. "The commander won't be happy."

"Fuck the commander," she hissed.

Blue blushed and Jennifer belated realized that the Wraith probably understood the word, somehow, but not the intent behind her words, but she didn't get a chance to remedy his misunderstanding. "Oh," Blue said shortly. "Ah, that may not be the best action given his location."

Jennifer, despite her age and experience, blushed herself at the insinuation that Todd was probably with someone else. Perhaps several someones. Not likely to be a queen, since all the intel they'd had up until this point proved that Todd had been telling the truth about being a queenless hive.

And then, despite herself, she'd had to wonder. Blue didn't seem repulsed by her accidental insinuation which suggested that the Wraith weren't as repulsed by humans as they made themselves out to be. Otherwise he'd have reacted much more strongly to the suggestion that she was interested in banging his commander. That or they'd slept with humans before killing them for their own amusement, which she supposed was equally possible.

She wasn't really sure what to do with that information, either. In a way, it made sense. If there was only one queen for a hive then most of the males either were celibate or they all got it on with the queen. And if the queen was selective then it made sense that humans would be the only other alternative for a male the queen didn't want.

But can they reproduce with humans? She glanced over at the genome as Blue fidgeted.

The genes suggested that they could. Humans had reproduced with at least two of their close relatives, Neanderthals and Denisovans, proven by the genes those species had passed down to their mixed descendants. Some scientists suggested that such interbreeding had been common throughout the history of the homo genus, though there was no evidence to support those claims.

But with the similarities, it made sense that humans and Wraith could potentially reproduce, too, and produce healthy offspring. But would their offspring be viable and able to reproduce? Would they be able to feed like humans or would they be forced to feed like Wraith?

Blue coughed lightly. "I have been ordered to keep you here," he said finally, interrupting her wayward thoughts.

She suddenly remembered her ire. "Well then you can stay here. But I'm leaving."

Blue nodded. "I realize that. It is safer to stay with you than to allow you to go alone."

And though Blue seemed reluctant, he opened the door and ushered her out of the lab she'd been cooped up in. Silently, he'd led the way through the halls of the hive ship. They passed several Wraith guards along the way and there seemed to be some unspoken communication behind them.

The telepathy, she realized. Teyla had mentioned that the Wraith are all connected via the same neurological network. They can communicate mentally.

It was the first time she'd seen physical evidence to support Teyla's claims and it astounded her. It didn't seem to be just words that were exchanged but something more. As though they didn't need to speak at all and were somehow aware of each other, all through their connection to their network.

But Jennifer didn't have much time to dwell on that realization, either, because after a few minutes they were outside of a door. Blue hesitated but she had the feeling it was more to announce their presence or get permission than any true hesitation.

After a moment, Blue opened the door and ushered her inside.

She was inside what she'd have called the command center of the hive, though she had no idea how the Wraith referred to it. Todd stood in the center, surrounded by several immaculate Wraith all accessing panels on the hive ship interface, but Todd's gaze remained focused on the screen ahead of him. Though she knew he had to be aware of their presence, he never made any sign that he acknowledged them at all.

She turned to see what had captured his attention.

And before her eyes, she saw an army of hive ships on the radar closing in on their position. There were three distinct groups, each varying in size and power, but all three seemed to be converging with deadly intent. One of the groups had already deployed darts and as she watched, the other two deployed darts as well.

And then all the ships seemed to hold their position as though they were waiting for something.

"Oh shit," was all she could manage to say.

"Oh shit indeed."

.

"Alright, Rodney, it's odd. I'll give you that," Radek Zelenka said, glaring at his companion. "But it isn't enough to prove that the gate was tampered with."

"Oh please." Rodney snorted derisively. "Even a circus monkey could tell this was sabotage. If you look here," Rodney circled an area of the code on the tablet with his stylus, "you can clearly see foreign code. And it's obviously Wraith."

"It is not Wraith," Radek immediately argued. "There are none of the usual markers the Wraith use when they've attempted to hack Atlantis previously."

"That's because," Rodney dragged out the word, "they are learning! It's like I'm speaking another language here!"

Radek cursed in Czech.

The colonel walked up just as Radek threw his hands up in the air. "I take it that's not a good sign," he drawled.

"I think we've found the reason the gate didn't work." Rodney puffed out his chest. "The Wraith sabotaged our gate."

"No, you've found something odd. That's all. It could simply be a coding error. Computers glitch, Rodney. This is hardly proof of Wraith sabotage," Radek immediately argued. "We don't have enough information to prove one way or the other."

John Sheppard looked at Radek and then Rodney. "So you're saying you've found sabotage in the coding."

"Yes," Rodney said at the same time Radek said, "No."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Yes," he stressed, "we have. Look here." Rodney showed the colonel the coding he and Radek had been arguing over.

"Great." John folded his arms across his chest and raised a brow. "So where are they?"

"We don't know," Radek said, glaring at Rodney. "That is just a bit of code. We haven't decoded what it does or how it would affect the gate let alone where it might have sent Dr. Keller, Ronon, Amelia Banks, and the Wraith."

"Oh please. Like that's hard." Rodney snorted.

"Then do it." John didn't seem impressed with Rodney's bragging.

"We're working on it." Radek held up his tablet. "If Rodney's correct, then the code should tell us where they were gated. But it's a big if, colonel. It could also be a run of the mill computer glitch or a code designed to do something else entirely. We just don't know."

"It's Wraith," Rodney repeated defiantly. "And I'm never wrong."

Radek and John exchanged glances.

"Look, I'll send Lieutenant Rivera Garcia to help. She has a background in coding. But we need this solved now, Rodney." John reached for his walkie talkie to bark out the order.

But a moment later John was summoned to the gate room.

He walked into find Woosley standing in the command room looking perturbed.

"The Genii just contacted us," Woosley explained. "They're giving reports of three different hive fractions converging on each other."

"Good. Let them blow themselves up." John rested his arm on his gun. "Less of them for us to kill."

"Hmm." Woosely gave him a disapproving look. "Now that our gates are functional and Dr. McKay has reassured me we won't have any future issues with the gate, I think it's worth checking out. We need to ascertain the Wraith's position and see if they are preparing to continue or end this civil war they are embroiled in."

"And I disagree. We should focus on getting our people back," John argued.

"Dr. Zelenka and Dr. McKay are doing just that. But meanwhile things continue to happen, colonel. Check the rumor out. It shouldn't take long." Woosley turned around, evidently dismissing John.

"And I disagree." John stepped in front of Woosley. "I'm the highest ranking officer on Atlantis and that makes me the military leader of this base—"

"I'm well aware of your position," Woosley said smoothly. "And as the military leader of Atlantis, it's your duty to investigate all possible security risks to this base. Check out the rumors, colonel."

John pressed his lips together but he couldn't think of anything to say to refute Woosley's order. Irritated, he stormed out of the control room, careful to keep his irritation to himself lest he look like a toddler in the middle of a tantrum.

But damn if he didn't feel like one.