Chapter Twenty Four
Refugee planet (Year 6, Day 63, 0545 hours)
Maj Sheppard relaxed slightly as his team slowly moved up to him. Nothing else had occurred. The figure in white armor remained sitting at the base of the ramp, occasionally taking a sip from a container every few minutes. Motioning toward the armor clad man, he handed Tayla his binoculars. Taking them, she peered at the person of interest. After a moment, she gasped.
"Tayla, something wrong?" Maj Sheppard whispered his question.
"I am not sure. There is a mark on his neck that was very common among the people of Sateda. I am not aware of any others that placed marks in that location." She responded.
"He is moving." Ford interrupted.
They watched as the man stood, picking up his helmet, the began walking straight toward Maj Sheppard and his team. The pace was slow, yet steady, as he crossed the open field. As he grew closer, they could see he was also armed, with what appeared to be a pistol of some kind in a holster on his thigh. Over the next few minutes, he closed the distance between himself and Maj Sheppard's team. Just before Maj Sheppard was about to order his team to fall back, the man halted about fifty feet away.
"Are you planning on hiding there all day watching me or are you going to come out and talk?" Came the words Maj Sheppard was not expecting.
Seeing no other option, the team slowly stood, keeping their weapons pointed at the ground. Maj Sheppard spoke. "No offense, but we don't know who you are, or if you would attack us."
The man chucked. "None taken, but if we attacked, you would be dead already."
"Good point. So that leaves the question of who you are."
"Col Tyr, of the Praesidium Army." As he spoke. Tyr slowly approached the four.
Tayla was looking closer at the mark on the side of Col Tyr's neck as he drew closer. "The mark on your neck, I have only seen it on the people I have met from a planet called Sateda, are you familiar with them?"
Tyr nodded slowly. "I should be. I was born on Sateda. Less than ten thousand of us were left when we were rescued."
McKay interjected. "Rescued by who? As far as we have seen, no one else in this galaxy has space flight or can hold off the Wraith."
Col Tyr looked at the man, glanced back at his ship, then back again. "You are not too bright are you." It was a statement, not a question.
Maj Sheppard commented before an argument could begin. "He has his moments. We have been to Sateda and seen what happened there. The few survivors we have heard stories from say everyone else left on ships, and no one has heard from any of them since."
"Follow me to the ship. I'm getting kinda hungry, and it will take a bit to explain. I can't let you inside, but I'll bring out enough for everyone." As he finished speaking, he turned toward the ship and began moving away from Maj Sheppard's team.
Atlantis (Year 6, Day 63, 1000 hours)
The foursome exited the gate, well fed and uninjured. Waiting for them were Dr Weir and Col Sumner. Before any words were said, Maj Sheppard pointed at the door to the conference room. Quickly his team removed their weapons, handing them off to a couple of the marines stationed in the gate room. Remaining silent, they then briskly walking to the conference room, waiting for the two leaders of the Atlantis expedition to join them.
As the door shut, Col Sumner spoke. I assume this has to do with missing the last two check ins?"
"It does." Maj Sheppard responded. "The Wraith attacked right before the third check in, we were on the way back to the gate when the Wraith came through. There were maybe twenty around the gate when the darts started coming through. They started beaming down more of the drones outside the village. It took us about two hours to make it back to the village due to the number of drones being beamed down. After we fell back to one of the stone buildings near the center of the village, we tried to get as many people inside as possible. It was only a few hours later when someone began attacking the Wraith. A damn big ship, flew right over the village, using energy weapons of some kind destroying darts as well as groups of Wraith on the ground. The Wraith near where we were went after it, and left the village alone."
"Are these the same type of ships reported on Sateda?" Dr Weir asked?
Maj Sheppard shook his head before answering. "I don't think so. These were definitely not ships you would put thousands of people on. They were pure warships. I doubt the Prometheus would last more than a few seconds against this thing. It went toward the gate then landed in the field about five hundred meters from it. It wasn't long before we saw the robots rolling past us."
"Robots?" Col Sumner interrupted. "Please tell me you are joking. We really don't need replicators in this galaxy."
"These weren't replicators. No little blocks or nanites. They were solid, and well built. We saw the Wraith weapons either deflected or absorbed by some kind of shield around the robots, at least for a while. They shot back at the Wraith with red lasers of ..." Maj Sheppard went silent as he was corrected.
"NOT lasers! They had to be plasma based weapons of some kind, very powerful from what we could see. I saw a stray shot hit a rock about a foot and a half across and the rock simply exploded. Lasers won't do that." Dr McKay insisted.
"Ok. Not lasers, but laser like weapons that took out the Wraith in the area very effectively." Maj Sheppard continued. "It took only about ten or fifteen minutes for the noise to stop. A few minutes later, the robots curled into a ball and rolled off back toward the gate. I followed at a distance ..."
Atlantis (Year 6, Day 63, 1310 hours)
Dr Weir and Col Sumner sat in her office with the door closed. The meeting with Maj Sheppard's team had ended ten minutes ago. With the team off to get cleaned up as well as write their reports, this let the two in charge of the Atlantis expedition have the time to discuss what the new information meant for them. News of the Satedan's survival was welcome news, however, it still did not ease the suspicions held by Col Sumner.
"If they moved the Satedans to a safe location, and gave them so much technology, why haven't they done that anywhere else they pushed the Wraith back from?" Dr Weir asked.
"I have been thinking about it. There are quite a few reasons. We won't know for sure until they tell us, and even then we will never be sure they are not lying. I think the best explanation is they want to keep their location a secret. It would also explain why the Satedans have not been in contact with any of their old trading partners since the were rescued. They may be the enemy of the Wraith, but that does not mean the trust us, or will be helpful to us." Col Sumner said as he expressed his opinion. "Also I have been checking the locations they have defended. They are operating in a fairly small area considering how wide spread the attacks are. I asked Dr Zelenka to map out the locations we know they have been. They haven't been seen outside a small section on the edge of the galaxy. I fairly certain that is where they are from."
"Could they have been missed by the Wraith? Remained in hiding without being culled?" Dr Weir inquired.
"It is possible, but I don't see how. If they don't have a stargate, how did they get there. And if they do, then where have they been for the last ten thousand years. There would be rumors or evidence of some resistance to the Wraith somewhere." Col Sumner replied.
"They did give us a way to contact them. We just need to send a representative to Sateda. They said it may take a few hours, but they will be able to meet us there."
"True, however, I am not comfortable with the possibility of an ambush the method presents. It is unlikely they would, as they could have taken our team earlier. But the Wraith may also be keeping an eye on Sateda, seeing if anyone returns there. Not sure I would feel any better than telling where we are, and having one of their ships drop in on us while we have no way to defend the city." Col Sumner countered. "But meeting on Sateda gives both sides the ability to keep our secrets."
Praesidium (Year 6, Day 63, 1820 hours)
Col Tyr entered the council chambers, approaching the table the seven council members were seated at. Normally he would give his report to his direct superior and that would be the end of it. Considering his direct superior was on the council, and the topic of discussion was of interest to the council as a whole, he understood why the change had been made. He took position just next to the chair on the opposite side of the table from the council.
"Please be seated Col Tyr." General Koth's ordered. "Thank you for coming. We have received your initial report of the meeting with the group from Atlantis. I understand how after action reports are supposed to be completed, and as such, they tend to exclude details that could be useful later. As such, we want you to tell us what happened, from first contact until your departure. Please leave nothing out, even if you think it irrelevant."
Col Tyr took his seat opposite the council. After a moment's thought, he began his experience. "As the last group of Wraith died, I received an update from Specter fleet concerning radio transmissions..." Tyr went over his actions in approaching, speaking, and eating with the four. He relayed the information he learned from them, including from the woman Tayla, who was originally from a planet called Athos. "...moved back to the treeline as I closed the ramp. Once I verified they were outside the danger area, the Castle lifted off and began collecting the Plinths before entering orbit to join the fleet for departure."
For a few moments, no one spoke as they processed what Col Tyr had reported. Kaden was the first to speak. "What are you impressions of them?"
After a moment, Tyr's answer was given. "The guy in charge of the team seemed wary, understandably. Seemed like a decent guy, a good leader. His second was a bit excitable, and jumps to conclusions a lot. Their scientist was pretty stuck up. He kept answering technical questions I couldn't answer, and didn't like that much. He kept trying to convince me to let him look at the inside of the ship, and seemed hurt every time I had to tell him he couldn't. The woman, Tayla, seemed to be fairly calm and collected. They all seemed uncomfortable near the droids though, something about replicators, but I am not sure what that is. I think they would keep their word if the gave it, but I wouldn't trust them not to snoop around looking for things they shouldn't know."
Ferol added his thoughts. "Athos is one of the planets we traded with before. Never met any of them as I was not involved with any of the negotiations, but they were supposedly fair and honest. Most of it was handmade goods, but occasionally we traded for food. I had some of their pottery in my kitchen for years, it was very well made."
Namil followed. "I remember meeting some of the Athosians many years ago. I wasn't much more than a child. I remember they were very considerate, and never heard negative things about their bargains or craftsmanship. If the Athosians are involved, I would say we can afford the a little trust. We could help them with trading food or raw materials. We have plenty of both. I think that would be a good way to start."
Kaden nodded. "Interesting thoughts. Maybe we should send someone to speak with them if they contact us. We will have to be patient. We have no way to directly contact them, so for now we wait."