Jack worked to regain his composure. He wanted to take revenge on the miserable creature now impotent before him. Let him out, let him hurt the one who'd hurt Sam so badly. But it would have to wait. Sheppard's presence would insure that it would wait. For now, revenge would wait.

"You'll talk in front of him," Jack said. "For now, then we'll see."

"Very well," Oscar said. He took a seat, positioning himself comfortably, clearly ready for a long conversation. "I have a story to tell both of you. Then we'll see if we can do business."

Chapter 36: Negotiation

"Why should I believe a word you say?"

An experienced soldier and a reluctant diplomat by virtue of his current Homeworld Security position, Jack O'Neill was trying his best to avoid out and out hostilities with Atlantis' newest prisoner. If, as he asserted, he could help Sam recover, then it behooved Jack and the others to hear him out. If not, Jack would happily shove him out an airlock for what he'd done to his wife.

For his part, Oscar was fully aware he needed the human leader's help if he hoped to save his people. His answer to Jack's testy question said as much.

"There is only one reason you should believe me," Oscar said. "My people have as much at stake here as your wife."

"Really?" Jack asked, clearly unimpressed. "Sam's starving to death thanks to you. As far as I know, the Wraith are doing just fine feeding on us little humans. You'll forgive me if I don't see things the same way."

Condescension was one of Oscar's strong suits; he was sorely tempted to respond as such. These pathetic humans knew nothing of them. There wasn't the slightest speck of appreciation for Wraith culture or Wraith sensitivities. That made Oscar angry, insulted him in fact. But now wasn't the time for hurt feelings.

"It will probably surprise you to know that feeding on humans is distasteful to many of us," Oscar said. He'd decided to put it out there and gauge Jack's reaction.

"Yeah, it surprises me," Jack said. "My people tell me you guys seem to enjoy it."

"Your people are wrong sometimes, General," Oscar asserted. "As are mine most likely. My people tell me the humans want to destroy all of us. Such genocidal machinations! Surely 'your people' do not think that way."

The Wraith's assertion brought Jack up short. As a matter of fact, "his people" had attempted to destroy the Wraith on more than one occasion. To have a creature they often considered no more than a subhuman monster call them on it was shocking.

"What does any of this have to do with Sam?" Jack asked. As far as he was concerned all this discussion of Wraith concerns was beside the point. He wanted to get back on track. Standing outside Oscar's holding cell, he remembered the time Sam had spent in the very same confinement.

"Everything," Oscar answered his voice low and perfectly modulated. "It has everything to do with your wife. It's why I chose her for my experiment. In fact, it's the very reason our experiment is so important."

"Could you get to the point?" Jack asked. He'd had enough of this infuriatingly calm Wraith talking around things. "What do you want and what does it have to do with Sam?"

Oscar's lips turned upward in the Wraith equivalent of a smirk. "I like you," he said, looking Jack over head to toe, measuring him physically as well as emotionally. Simple, straightforward, unafraid, he was a man Oscar could understand.

"That's great," Jack said sarcastically. "So …"

"Let's say I've been working on a plan to free my people of their dependence on humans for food. I need help. That's why I'm here."

"Make a habit of asking your food source for help?" Jack observed incredulously.

Oscar smiled, if you could call it that. "General O'Neill, I need to make something clear. I do not see you and your people strictly as a source of food. I and the others of my hive believe the Wraith evolved from your people. There was a time our progenitors lived as you now live. It was before the Ancients brought us to the home world, the planet where we found what you call the Iratus bug. We are more like you than most realize. That's why I know you can help us. You and your people have made efforts, have you not?"

"Efforts to help you? I don't think so," Jack answered.

Jack looked and sounded perplexed, unsure of where this was going. Sheppard jumped in. He had an idea what Oscar was asking.

"Sir, I believe he is referring to Dr. Beckett's research with the retrovirus," Sheppard supplied.

"Oh, that," Jack said, recalling the reports he'd read. "As I recall that research didn't exactly cure your problem. And Keller says it won't help Sam either."

"That's correct," Oscar replied. "The retrovirus wipes all Wraith characteristics from existence as we learned with my unfortunate friend. You remember, he's the one you named Michael.

"That's not what we want," Oscar continued. "We are not ashamed of our being. We want to continue to be Wraith, who and what we are. However, given our sensibilities and the current food shortages, we would prefer to be free of our dependence on your kind."

"I don't believe I'm hearing this," Jack said, more for his own benefit than to anyone in particular.

Finally, Oscar got up from his uncomfortable metal chair and began to pace, slowly and deliberately. After a moment he stopped, coming to stand directly in front of Jack.

"Again, you are interested only in yourself," Oscar observed dismissively.

"No, that's not true," Jack insisted. "You son of a …," Jack reigned himself in mid-sentence. Will any of this help us save Sam?

Oscar's previously wilting expression softened as Jack remained silent.

"I have chosen well," he said. "I knew I needed help from the city of the Ancients, from the ones who have inherited the technology forbidden us. But how to motivate you to share, that was the question."

The light began to go on. And Jack didn't particularly like what he saw.

"I needed a human greatly valued by her people, personally and professionally. Someone you would not want to lose, someone you would do anything to save. My experiment demanded I find someone who was strong enough to survive the genetic changes and the memory wipe. She needed to survive in such a way that her baseline personality remained intact and the inner struggle would occur. One of influence, one who's agony would be felt by the community as a whole. We could have made her Wraith, made her look like us, as you did to Michael, make the memory wipe so complete she'd never regain her recollections. But that would have been counterproductive. The plan was always to send her back to you. We wanted you to watch her struggle, to be motivated to continue your research, to find a way to reverse what we had done. If I am correct, her cure will be the beginning of our answer as well.

"Rest assured, General," Oscar continued, "my plan calls for Colonel Carter to survive. I expect she will be our greatest human advocate. You see, she will truly understand the conflict we feel when forced to feed. She will understand it in a way no other human could. And working together, we will be able to produce and offer a cure."

Jack was dumbfounded. It was a lot to take in. Oscar's perspective on human society, his belief that some members were more valuable than others was a sad but perhaps accurate observation. And Sam was strong, he was right about that. Perhaps what mystified him the most was the concept of Wraith wanting to the "cured" of the need to feed. He didn't buy it, it didn't ring true.

"You do not believe that I want to help," Oscar stated simply.

"Got to admit, doesn't sound like the Wraith we all know and love," Jack said. Turning to Sheppard, he added, "What do you think Colonel?"

"Sounds unlikely to me, too, Sir."

Oscar walked around his eight-by-ten cell with a meditative stance.

"I anticipated your skepticism," he said. "I've brought something with me that will help you see I speak the truth."

"Exactly what would that be?"

"The Testament," Oscar answered. "It is the most revered book in our culture, the writings of our first queen, the one who had been human. She speaks of her struggle. It is a struggle we have all shared. It is an ancient text and will introduce you anew to my people.

"It is secreted in the dart."

"Tell us where it is," Jack said. "I'll send someone."

"No, we must go together," Oscar said. "You may have me under guard of course, but you must trust me that much. We must begin somewhere."

TBC

A/N: Don't worry we will deal more fully with the spy (spies) in the next few chapters.

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