I do not own Stargate, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, nor do I own any of its characters. I make no profit off this story excepting in my own personal pleasure of writing it. This is set AU after the end of Season Five of Stargate Atlantis. It completely disregards the Legacy book series, so please no flames that it's ignoring those. Also a few characters may go a bit OOC, because I feel like it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
AN: Thursdays are my days off, so I will try to make the updates going forward on them.
Chapter 2: Necessity
They headed straight for the White House and John was privately relieved that he hadn't had time to change out of his uniform because he would have had to just change back into it. They were stopped at the gates briefly before they were waved through. The president's chief of staff was waiting for them when they got out of the car.
"Col. Sheppard, thank you for arriving on such short notice. This is your daughter, I presume. I trust all the legal matters regarding her custody have been dealt with?" The Chief of Staff asked immediately.
John nodded with a slight smile, "I now have full and sole custody of my daughter."
"Very good, sir. If you will both follow me?" With that they were led through the White House and up to the Oval Office. John figured that Woolsey must have told the president about the custody hearing for the Chief of Staff to know about it. That was definitely one way to guarantee there wouldn't be any hold-ups with Rikki being able to live on Atlantis. It did earn him a funny look from Rikki though.
Once they were in the Oval Office, the president smiled and waved for the secret service agents to shut the doors and that they weren't to be interrupted. President Amelia Wallace was elected two years ago and was someone that John had been on Atlantis for the majority of her political career, but he knew that she was a president that firmly backed the Stargate program, which served them well.
"Col. John Sheppard, I apologize for the short notice, but I had to do some wrangling the past few weeks with all the events of the past month and this did need to be done sooner rather than later. Still, you and your team are rare and exceptional heroes, willing to go well above and beyond the call of duty to protect not just our world, but our galaxy and another. It will be many years before the people of this world know of the massive debt they owe you, but I know that your name, and the names of your team members will go down in history as among the greatest people that humanity as a whole has to offer," President Wallace stated. She smiled at Rikki. "And this must be your daughter, Rebecca. According to Mr. Woolsey you're shaping up to be just as impressive as your father, young lady. I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up in my shoes one day. That is if you don't go on to fill your father's first."
Rikki smiled brightly, "That's very nice of you to say Madam President, but I am a scientist through and through. My mother is a politician and I don't like that career path for myself and I'm too young to know if I want to go down the military path, but I doubt I will."
"Well, then I suppose your goal is to ultimately replace Dr. McKay. An extremely noteworthy goal in itself," President Wallace stated with an indulgent smile before directing her attention back to John and McKay. "Now, Dr. McKay, I can't give you the Presidential Medal of Freedom because you aren't an American citizen, however, I would like you to know that we will be eternally grateful for the efforts you have made to protect our world, and others, and I believe the Canadian Prime Minister has a few awards he intends on giving you and there were mentions of a knighthood. Col. Sheppard, however, you are not only an American Citizen, but also a member of our armed forces. You have, repeatedly, placed your life at risk for the protection of our world and others as a whole. The entirety of the United State Congress and I agree that your efforts have been long overdue for rewards with regards to both promotions and to medals. Gen. O'Neil, if you would do the honors for Col. Sheppard's promotion?"
"Happily," Gen. O'Neil smirked and stepped forward. He removed the Lieutenant Colonel insignias from John's uniform and handed them over to Gen. Landry. John's eyes widened in surprise when he saw the silver stars in the case that Gen. Landry handed over in return, "Lt. Col. John Patrick Sheppard, on behalf of the United States Congress, I hear-by promote you to the rank Brigadier General. Congratulations, Gen. Sheppard. You're the first person in U.S. history who got to skip a whole rank grade in promotions."
John was stunned as O'Neill finished pinning the stars on, "Thank You, sir."
"Good, now my turn. Gen. John Patrick Sheppard, for immense courage under fire and your bravery and willingness to risk your own wellbeing for the safety of not only the Atlantis Expedition but the Pegasus Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, and most importantly, Earth, I am humbly honored to present you with the Congressional Medal of Honor, on behalf of not only the U.S. Government, but all the governments of this world," With that, she pinned the medal onto John's uniform and gave him a genuine smile. "Now that that's out of the way, we can get down to business."
John raised an eyebrow at this, "Yes, Ma'am."
She eyed Rikki, "I'm afraid you don't have clearance for this meeting, Dr. Sheppard."
Rikki wasn't paying any attention though because she had spent almost the whole time after speaking the president staring at one particular man. She probably only took in half of what she had heard for his promotion and awarding. John realized that Dr. Jackson, Rikki's personal hero, had been in attendance. John nudged Rikki, "Madam President, my daughter will be relocating with me back to Atlantis, perhaps she can be read into the necessary basic information by Dr. Jackson, since he probably won't be necessary for what I'm guessing will be a military discussion?"
"I'd be happy to, if there's a spare room we can go through the process. Dr. Sheppard, it's a pleasure to meet you," Daniel came forward and gave her a smile and a handshake.
John had to hold back a snort of amusement when his daughter finally broke, "I-um… It's a great… well honor really… your book… I…" She flushed and looked at her father in panic.
"What Rebecca means to say is that she read your book on aliens building the pyramids when she was four and she's been a big fan ever since. Probably your biggest fan, actually," John stated, taking pity on her. "I'm sure she would love your pick your brain on how you figured all that out with only a small fraction of the puzzle pieces."
Jackson looked surprised, "Huh. Well, she's probably part of a very small minority. I thought the SGC pulled my books from circulation after we got the program up and running, Jack?"
"A friend of my bought it as a gift from a used bookstore for her fourth birthday as a gag gift. Rikki was running through books like they were more important than breathing at the time. Your book started a life-long obsession for her. I figured it was fitting that you get to tell her just how right you were," John stated, all too amused by the situation.
Jackson chuckled, "Well, that I can do. I can't say there was ever a day when I met a legitimate fan." Rikki was led out of the room by Jackson who looked like he was more than a little happy to know that someone hadn't immediately gone to the crack-pot theory after reading his book, even if it was a then four-year-old.
"Well, Daniel's going to be insufferable for weeks now," Jack joked before the president waved for them all to sit. "All joking aside, apologies for springing the promotion on you, Sheppard. We needed to get it out of the way before we could start officially working on arrangements with Russia and the other governments on allowing military personnel on Atlantis. There needs to be a clear-cut chain of command on Atlantis for the military personnel and that meant we needed a General and since bringing in a General who knows nothing about the Wraith would have been tantamount to suicide, we had no option but to promote you instead."
John nodded, "I'm not about to complain about the promotion, Sir. I was just a little stunned was all."
"Good, you'd be stupid to protest it since Carter could have gotten the promotion too, if she had wanted it. Now, let's get down to business," Landry stated firmly. They did exactly that too. They worked out a specific chain-of-command system for Atlantis when they started accepting military personnel from other countries. Jack also stated that the Jaffa wanted to station two hundred of their elite warriors there as well, in order to ensure that the Wraith wouldn't be attacking Jaffa worlds either.
It was late before they finished. So late, in fact, that dinner had been brought in for them to eat while they worked out all the kinks of what would and wouldn't be allowed for foreign military personnel. There were discussions of integrated AR teams as well. When they did finish, it was almost 10 pm and they had a viable plan for what the conditions for allowing other governments to station military on Atlantis.
Rikki was located with Dr. Jackson a few doors down in a conference room. John had briefly wondered if the archeologist could entertain his daughter for so long but found that Rikki's innate curiosity had won out over any potential boredom when he went to gather her. It also probably helped that Jackson was explaining the social dynamics of the Ancients before they ascended. Rikki looked disappointed when John interrupted their conversation.
"But we were just getting into how the Ancients used a device on Dakara to spread humanity throughout the galaxy. Oh, Dad, did you know we were descended from aliens from another Galaxy? Why didn't you tell me we were hybrid Alteran/humans?" Rikki asked as she stood. John could tell she wasn't angry, just curious.
"Because I didn't know until I joined the Atlantis Expedition and then I couldn't reveal classified information, like how we're part aliens or that nothing the majority of people on Earth think they know about human origins is accurate. Come on, now. It's late and I'm sure Dr. Jackson is tired. There are quite a few meetings we need to attend tomorrow as well. You have your laptop in your duffle bag, right?" John asked as he started guiding her out of the room. Jackson followed behind.
"Yeah. Now that I have all this new information though, I have so many project ideas. Did you know we know of multiple super-heavy, stable metals? I could do so much! I want to try to get my theory on Quantum field energy containment tested, since we have the materials and the means. I mean, we would have to start with something smaller than a star, like I originally suggested in my dissertation, but…" Rikki was interrupted.
"Did you just say quantum field energy containment? You mean a Zero Point Module? That's what your dissertation was on?" McKay stopped her in the hall, having been with them as they were leaving the building.
"Yeah. It was an idea I had, because I figured if we could manage to get to a red supergiant not long before it went supernova, we could stably extract the energy from it but the problem with that is that there would be so much energy that it had to be contained in a large quantity of ZPMs in order to drain the star and you would have to drain the star completely to prevent it from destabilizing when you stopped draining energy from it and going supernova… Why is everyone staring at me?" Rikki asked as she had Col. Carter, Dr. Jackson, McKay, Gen. O'Neill, and even her own father looking at her with stunned expressions. Woolsey looked like he might die of euphoria.
"Use a red supergiant star's energy. God, I feel like an idiot for missing that! It's so damned obvious! Of course, the Ancients would use stars to charge the ZPMs, they would get thousands out of a single red supergiant," McKay stated, clearly annoyed with himself.
"Hey, I missed it too. And so did Zelenka and Lee. It could definitely work though. I'd like to see your calculations on the creation of the containment field, Dr. Sheppard. Jack, you don't need me or McKay in the meetings tomorrow, right? It's all just organizing military forces, that's for you and John to work out anyway," Carter stated dismissively, her eyes alight with excitement.
"Far be it from me to interfere with you scientists and your calculations. At least Gen. Sheppard doesn't need to find anyone to watch his daughter tomorrow," O'Neill stated with a chuckle.
Rikki reluctantly settled down for the night when they returned to the hotel, her mind was firing all over the place. The remainder of the week was pure chaos for John and his daughter. At first, Rikki was working with McKay and Carter in one of the empty conference rooms at Homeworld Security while John was in his meetings with various representatives. However, McKay and Carter soon decided that Rikki's theoretical work was as solid as it could get and that they needed the labs at the SGC. Thus, Rikki and the pair started getting beamed back and forth between the base and D.C. each day. Rikki was loving it and John wasn't going to complain since it was keeping her entertained.
For his part, he was mainly stuck in negotiations with the French, Russian, German, and UK representatives on numbers and how many of their military personnel would be allowed on Atlantis and under what conditions. However, at the end of the week, it was determined that each of the other four countries would be permitted to dispatch two thousand men and women or more and their families to Atlantis. On the civilian side of things, Woolsey informed John that Atlantis, when it returned to the Pegasus Galaxy was being upgraded from an expedition to an Earth Colony. The first official one in modern history.
At the end of the week, there was still a lot to do, but it wasn't for John, McKay, or Teyla to do. They were beamed directly from the Homeworld Security building to Atlantis, with Rikki in tow. Woolsey was left behind to work on the technicalities of the 'upgrade'. John showed Rikki her new rooms, which she was being assigned right next to his because he felt it would be too invasive if he insisted that she share with him, given the dorm-like designs of the city and the fact that she was almost thirteen. Then he walked her through the mechanics of the teleporters and where all the main facilities were.
"These are the gyms. Now, I know it isn't really your thing, but I'm gonna have Teyla train you in basic hand-to-hand combat. It won't do you much good right now, but if you master it before you're an adult, when you start going on field missions, it could mean the difference between life and death," John explained. "And you're going to start jogging with me in the mornings too."
"It's a different way of life here. I get it, Dad. I need better stamina to ensure that I can run and hide if I have to," Rikki responded reasonably. John was actually relieved that she was taking the whole change of rules so well. "I may not like having to fight, but I'll learn."
"Good. Because you have marksmanship training with Colonel Lorne as well. You need to be able to fire a P-90 or a .9 mm in a pinch," John stated firmly.
Rikki wrinkled her nose but didn't protest. After all the standard places, including the lab that Rodney had enthusiastically set up for Rikki as 'his' Prodigy, as he kept referring to her for everything, Rikki was given a quick ATA gene test to see if she would need the retrovirus. Fortunately, she had no issue activating the hand-held life-signs detector. The final part of the tour had John hesitant, but he needed to get it out of the way for a multitude of reasons.
He brought Rikki down to the containment cells, where Todd paced, per usual. There was a pile of books on the floor along with a simple mat with a blanket and pillow for Todd to sleep on. As soon as they were in range, Todd spoke, "I was beginning to think you had forgotten me, Sheppard. It has been a full week since you last visited."
"There were some things I needed to do while we were here on Earth. Among them, Todd, this is my daughter, Dr. Rebecca Sheppard," John stated, introducing Todd to Rikki. "Rikki, this is the Wraith that I told you we had in custody, Todd."
"The one you named after one of the guys Mom cheated on you with," Rikki responded, providing a little too much information. "Hi, Todd."
Todd eyed her with confusion, "I was under the impression that Doctor was a title given to your people when they were fully educated and supposed experts in a specific field. Yet, you present me with an adolescent and call her doctor and claim she is your daughter for all that you never mentioned having offspring before now."
"First off, Rikki's the only kid I have. And Rikki's kind of the exception, not the rule. Not all humans learn at the same rate as others do. Rikki… she's what we call a prodigy, a genius. She learns thing extremely quickly and is capable of understanding a lot more because of her mental capacity as well," John explained. "Rikki has a PhD in Theoretical Physics, though for us, it's just physics."
"I see. You still have not explained how you have never come to inform me that you had a child," Todd stated.
"I don't recall us ever having a conversation about our families, Todd. Besides, I don't tend to offer up personal information to someone who is a questionable ally at the best of times. I just wanted Rikki to get a good idea of what the Wraith looked like before the Marines went filling her head with non-sense about your kind. Of course, Rikki, that isn't to say all Wraith are like Todd, they're not. As far as Wraith go, Todd's a pretty damned decent guy. Now, I've shown you everything I can for the moment, why don't you get McKay to give you an in-depth tour of your lab before dinner. I need to have a private conversation with Todd," John redirected his attention from Todd to his daughter temporarily.
Rikki knew that her father wasn't trying to give her the brush off. He had spent most of the day showing her around the city. So, whatever it was he needed to talk with Todd about, she probably didn't want to know, "Okay. I'll see you at dinner." She stated before heading back to the transporters.
"Your child is exceptionally obedient. A wraith adolescent would spend several hours arguing with their progenitor before obeying an instruction such as the one you gave her," Todd stated, his expression thoughtful.
"That's probably because wraith parents don't go about instilling a sense of trust and confidence in their children or each other. My daughter knows that I won't ask her to do something without reason and she respects my authority over her. I didn't hide her from you or you from her. My daughter and I believe that open communication between parent and child is a healthy way of forming a familial relationship. Where there is trust and respect, there is obedience," John stated, he was glossing a lot of it over, but he didn't need to explain that his daughter was just so happy to be living with him now that he doubted she would be rebelling for a while.
"Now, there are a few things that you need to be filled in on. We are going to be getting a lot more people on Atlantis very soon. Some of these people are going to be very curious about you, rude even. They also don't belong to my government, so there is a limit of what I can do to prevent them from reporting about you back to their governments. So, you need to tone down the whole hostility toward people who aren't me that are visiting you thing that you do. There are a lot of governments that want you for experimentation and don't care that you are a sentient being because you're an alien from a hostile species and that's all they think matters," John stated.
"Why are you allowing them on Atlantis if you feel they will be a problem," Todd asked, annoyed that he might have to play nice with anyone other than John Sheppard and perhaps his daughter, Dr. McKay, and maybe Teyla and Dr. Keller. He suddenly realized he was tolerating more humans than he anticipated he would.
"Because they're military, and we need more military forces to help in our fight against the Wraith, and they're willing to obey my orders. Simple as that," John stated.
Todd huffed, "Very well. Dr. Keller is still working on the retrovirus, I trust?"
"Yes, she's very close. Jennifer says it should be a month tops before they can begin the treatment. She wants to do it progressively over a full day, so that if there are any problems, we can correct it more easily," John explained in a straightforward manner.
He would never openly admit it, but he liked Todd, in spite of himself. He even thought that the two could become genuine friends, if the Wraith could alter his specific diet. There were a lot of things that John was willing to overlook in friends. Being green, no big deal. Blunt personality, Rodney was much more obnoxious about it than Todd. Todd had even saved his life more than a few times. It was just the whole consuming humans bit that was John's sticking point with the guy.
Todd nodded his acceptance of this, "There is more you wish to say to me." John always found Todd's ability to read him so well when the other Wraith couldn't read him unnerving, too. He figured it had to do with a connection created when Todd had given John 'the gift of life' willingly, because it was the right thing to do and not because Todd had an ulterior motive, given that he had already escaped the Genii by that point.
"Listen… I've put up with a lot of your shenanigans, all the backstabbing, and double-crossing, we've both had our fair share of that. I just want to make something perfectly clear to you. If any stunt you pull in the future puts my little girl in danger, if so much as a single hair on her head is harmed because of some bullshit that you pull, there is nothing in this universe that will stop me from destroying you and yours, not even my death because I will ascend just to finish you off if I have to," John stated, his tone low and threatening as it could get. He knew he was revealing his greatest weakness, but he also knew that Todd would know better than to exploit it if he ever hoped to maintain his alliance with them and John really did believe that Todd wanted this alliance.
"You believe I would be willing to harm your child to gain some advantage over you and risk…" Todd didn't finish, though his voice held something that John had never heard before in a wraith and he couldn't quite place it. Todd couldn't genuinely articulate exactly they would be risking. "There are few reasons you have for trusting me, I know that. However, I would not harm an adolescent of an ally, even for my own gain. There are some boundaries not even a Wraith will willing cross, John Sheppard."
John wondered what Todd really wasn't willing to risk but didn't ask. There was a dynamic to their relationship that John wasn't willing to vocalize any more than Todd was. The two of them had walked along a very fine line together for a while. Each staying on their side, but close enough that either could very well break the equilibrium by crossing over it. Ronon didn't understand how or why John made frequent trips down to talk with Todd, nearly daily, for any reason or even why they were keeping Todd alive. McKay and Woolsey always assumed it was for information on the Wraith. Teyla, Carson, and Keller… well those three might have picked up on some aspect of the odd dynamic between the two, but they never vocalized it either.
"Good. Nice to know we're on the same page for once. How are the pigs suiting you?" John changed the subject now that the important matter was settled.
"They are not nearly as sustaining as humans would be. However, I believe they possess enough physiological similarities to humans that they will keep me from starving until Dr. Keller can complete the retrovirus," Todd stated bluntly as ever.
"Good. It's good to hear that you aren't starving. I noticed that your book pile has grown. What've you been reading?" John asked. This was the part that others didn't understand, an almost instinctive craving John had to get to know Todd better. He didn't know why he had it, but he doubted it was ever going to go away. Not even if Todd did do something to harm Rikki. He might kill Todd, but he would never stop wanting to know Todd and he would miss him if he did have to kill him.
"The Histories of the Earth hero known as Harry Potter. I must admit though, if there are humans on Earth capable of such damaging combative strategies and abilities, why do you not employ them in fighting the Wraith? Are they so hidden by their government that they can't or won't serve to protect all of your kind?" Todd stated, willing to get into what he figured was political discussion.
John burst into laughter, to Todd's annoyance. It took him a few minutes to recover enough to respond, "Harry Potter isn't real, Todd. Witches and wizards, it's what we call fiction. We don't have a small population of powerful, magic wielding people running around with wands. Harry Potter is a young adult series, written for pure entertainment. Though, you're right about one thing, if we did have witches and wizards like that, we could do a lot of damage to the Wraith before the Wraith figured out what was going on."
Todd's expression cleared once John explained, "I see. That must have been some sort of practical joke by the Marine who brought me the books. I requested histories on your planet's greatest conquests and battles."
John broke into a wide grin and snorted in amusement, "Ah, yeah, they probably didn't think it would be wise to share our military tactics. Though, I suppose I could scrounge up a few books on the Roman or Mongolian empires. Their military tactics are so out of date that they won't reveal anything to you tactically."
Todd broke into a smile of his own, "There is more to such information than you realize, but I was mainly just looking for some entertainment to pass the time. I would not be opposed to reading the rest of these fictional books on Harry Potter."
"Ah, yeah, so would the rest of us. Unfortunately, the last book isn't due out until next year. If you like those books, however, I can see if Rikki's willing to lend you some of her Tamora Pierce books. She's a great fictional author, has a massive collection of books in two story universes. I've even read and enjoyed them," John stated with a chuckle.
Todd nodded in agreement, "And the books on the Roman and Mongolian Empires. It appears as if I will be here for some time longer."
John smiled, "Sure thing." With that he gave a wave and left. John wasn't sure he would ever fully understand their interactions, but they were never boring.
With the needed conversation with Todd finished, John went to locate his daughter. As he had directed her to, she was getting a tour of the lab that McKay had ordered set up for the girl. Rikki had spent all of ten minutes listening to McKay's lecture on the equipment before showing him that she knew how to operate all the Earth based equipment. John smirked as his thirteen-year-old schooled McKay on the tech before interrupting.
"Hey, Pipsqueak. You want to go for a ride in a jumper before dinner?" John asked.
Rikki looked torn between the laptop that was already set up and him but finally shook her head, "Dr. McKay and I were going to work on the schematics for the rigs to hold the ZPMs for charging them."
"Tomorrow then. You're going to have to learn how to fly one eventually anyways, so I want you to get comfortable with being in them," John stated.
Rikki smiled and nodded, "Of course. I can't wait! Wait, do I have to wait until I'm sixteen to fly a puddle jumper?"
John chuckled, "Well, we'll do a few lessons now and see how you handle it. Technically speaking we don't have an age minimum for flying the Jumpers, but we may need to determine one now that we're going to have a bunch of ATA positive kids on Atlantis. Rodney, your sister and her family are confirmed to join us, right?"
"Yes, Caleb's agreed to be one of Atlantis's High School English teachers. They should be arriving in a few days. Their stuff is being sent tomorrow. They're just waiting on the sale of the house, but they close the day after tomorrow," Rodney confirmed.
John smiled, "Great. Good for you. I'm sure it will be fun for you to have family on Atlantis."
"Not as fun as it will be for you. You now have a teenaged daughter in a city where there is about to be an influx of military and non-military families that are from all over the world, with teenagers of their own," McKay smirked. "All those teenaged boys, or girls, depends on her preference."
"Nah, I don't need to worry about that. Once Todd has taken the retrovirus, I'm gonna make him Rikki's guard dog," John joked.
McKay obviously didn't get it, "You're going to have Todd follow your daughter around and scare off teenaged boys? I doubt he's gonna go for that one. Never mind the risks of what he could do in terms of a hostage situation."
John rolled his eyes, "It was a joke, Rodney. If I let Todd follow Rikki around like that, I'm pretty sure that Ronon would kill me on principle alone. Or more likely, kill Todd. Besides, he will have a long road to earning enough trust that I allow him into a room with my daughter without at least Ronon and a dozen Marines present and fully armed."
"Good, I was a bit concerned there for a moment," McKay stated with a sigh of relief.
"Todd didn't really strike me as very scary when you introduced him to me," Rikki stated bluntly as she clicked and typed away at the computer, already diving into her task.
"That's because you haven't seen him when he's in a fight," John stated to his daughter slightly annoyed.
"And how many times that he's been fighting, has he been fighting against you directly?" Rikki asked still not lift her eyes from the computer.
Both John and McKay hesitated for a moment, "Well, he… He took over the Daedalus." Her father finally responded.
"Were you on it?" Rikki asked.
She had a hypothesis about Todd, the Wraith that seemed to defy the standards that everyone held all other Wraith to, based on the information her father had shared so far. She just had to test it, rigorously. After all, for a man who claimed he had no intentions of leaving his daughter alone with the Wraith, he had been relatively fast about introducing Rikki to Todd. Of course, she was curious about Todd and her father knew that, but he didn't realize it was because he had made a point of telling her that they were currently holding a Wraith that was a sometimes ally.
John shifted uncomfortably before responding to her question, "Well… no… I was on Atlantis. Woolsey was on the Daedalus at the time and felt it would be unwise to have the top two senior personnel in such a precarious position..."
"Why did he take over the Daedalus?" Rikki pressed before her father could deflect.
"Um… well that is…" John shifted even more uncomfortably, something Rikki observed out of the corner of her eye with some amusement. Finally, he did answer though. "McKay and Dr. Jackson got kidnapped by a rouge group of Asgardians known as the Vanir who made them turn on a device created by an Ancient named Janus… that blew up Wraith ships when they went into hyperspace… and Todd happened to be on the Daedalus at the time to help us test out our retrovirus… and watched two of his hive ships blow up… and thought we had lured him there to watch the results of activating the device…"
Rikki finally looked at her father in a brief glance, "And he was meeting with Woolsey on the Daedalus to test out a retrovirus that was meant to remove his feeding hand and thus remove his need to feed on humans? What exactly was the cost/benefit ratio expected for that exactly? I'm assuming he didn't test it out after watching a few of his hive ships being blown up." Rikki was displaying less sympathy than John would have expected of his daughter.
"No, actually, he did. He stole Jennifer's work and tested it on an entire Hive, then he had the nerve to show up at our doorstep and ask for help when it proved to be less than perfect. Nearly got us killed in the process, too," McKay stated, smug that he thought Rikki couldn't defend that. In all honesty, McKay knew that if the Attero device hadn't been activated, Todd never would have taken over the Daedalus and taken such drastic measures.
Rikki's head snapped in his direction and then snapped back sharply to look at her father with wide eyes, "You're telling me, that after he thought you had committed a massive act of betrayal, he still took the retrovirus? What was the estimated cost/benefit ratio?" She asked again for a second time.
John shrugged, "Keller said that they might lose some of their longevity and strength, but they wouldn't be reliant on feeding on humans, which they were and still are in a massive civil war over food resources, aka humans. I mean, he was looking at a massive strategic advantage over the other Wraith, because he could just sit back and watch them fight and weaken each other while he had his drones farming and then when the rest were significantly reduced in numbers, he would have been able to wipe them out."
"And this was to Todd's advantage how? From what you told me, the Wraith have a massive ratio difference between males and females and rely on Queens heavily to reproduce and govern them. What happens when Todd's wiped out all the rival Queens, which I'm guessing is all the Queens who don't kneel to him? How many would be left? What is the extinction threshold for the Wraith anyways? I'm imagining they can go pretty low because the regenerative properties would help with negative gene mutations, but still, they drop below a certain number and extinction is inevitable," Rikki pointed out. "So, what's the real cost/benefit ratio, not to Todd the Commander, but to Todd the individual?"
John looked at his daughter stunned. He knew Rikki was right, of course. Somehow, in all of their interactions, John had never really considered what Todd's end game really was. The whole time, he had just assumed it was to rule the Wraith, but if that was the case, he would have been doing more about playing the long game. He certainly wouldn't have given John heads up after heads up about the activities of other Wraith hives and even his own rouge ones. Sure, a lot of the time it served to his advantage. Others, though, it didn't. After all, there were times when his freedom was called into question and Todd had taken John's word over what would seem logical, especially given the shaky ground they stood on with each other. Never mind the fact that his willingness to cooperate with humans had caused more than a few of his hives to go rouge in the first place.
John didn't end up answering the question, he just turned and headed directly back to where the containment cells were. Rikki smirked and shook her head before returning to graphically designing the rig for energy extraction. McKay, however, eyed her with suspicion, "What was that about? Why are you defending a Wraith?"
"I wasn't defending him. I was merely questioning your assumptions about him. Trust is based on knowledge. For some reason, whether he wants to admit to it or not, Dad trusts Todd. Or at least I think he does and I think Todd must trust Dad too. I want to know why," Rikki answered. "One thing no one can deny about me is my curiosity."
"John doesn't trust Todd. He's threatened to shoot him hundreds of times," McKay stated. "And Todd's betrayed us before, and John knows that. Todd is wily and cunning and Wraith. There's no way John would trust him or Todd trust John."
"Really? Tell me, what was my father's first interaction with Todd? What is that essential ground-work for this ever so shaky alliance between Todd and my dad?" Rikki stopped working and gave McKay her undivided attention. She didn't call it an alliance between Todd and Atlantis, because she didn't think it was an alliance between Todd and Atlantis.
McKay eyed her with suspicion before answering, "Your father got kidnapped by a rouge group of Genii who used Todd to torture him as a way to get us to hand over the current Genii leader, who we have a tentative alliance with. The two of them realized their odds of escaping were much higher if they worked together, so they did." Rikki could tell that he was abbreviating the story drastically.
"How did the Genii use Todd to torture my father?" Rikki questioned immediately.
"They had Todd feed on him, sapping a little bit of his life at a time," Rikki could tell that he was getting annoyed now.
Rikki nodded slowly, "And how did my dad recover from this? Is there some antidote to the draining that the Wraith do in the Ancient archives?"
McKay turned suddenly uncomfortable, "No. There isn't. Todd gave John his life… force, I guess for the lack of a better word, back. In exchange, John made us leave Todd on a random world where he would be able to leave when he woke."
"So, my dad and Todd both actively placed their lives in the hands of each other and you don't think that would have, on an instinctive level, created an emotional groundwork, at the very least, for trust? I'm betting that wasn't even the only time that my dad has trusted Todd not only with his life, but with your life and the lives of his team members as well. Oh, look at the time, we should be going to dinner," Rikki changed the topic quickly. She didn't want McKay to think about it too deeply, not like she already was.
As soon as John reached the containment cell, he waved the guards away, ordering them to stand near the transporter. He told them that he'd call for them when he was done talking with the prisoner.
Todd eyed him with confusion and not a little suspicion, "I see you've returned without the books. Perhaps your daughter was reluctant to loan her possessions to… one such as myself?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I completely forgot to ask her about the books. What's your endgame?" John dismissed the question Todd asked quickly and asked his own in a half-agitated manner.
"My… endgame? I am not certain I understand your question, John Sheppard," Todd began pacing once more. His confusion also doubled, as John seemed far more worked up than earlier.
"What is your endgame? Your ultimate goal? Why do you keep coming back to us, helping us, informing us of the movements of the other Wraith? Why do you want the Retrovirus? Why did you steal Jennifer's original version and test it immediately on yourself and your hive? What's the endgame?" John listed the questions with all being, what he would assume, would be similar answers if not the same, growing even more agitated as he asks them.
Todd froze, "I do not know how I should answer those questions." Todd knew, deep down, in a part of himself that he refused to acknowledge, what the answer to all the questions were, but he was too deep within his own denial, his own rejection of that to give it as an answer. At least for now, as there was no way that John Sheppard would accept it as truth even if Todd was bound permanently to the situation due to his Wraith DNA.
"How about the truth?" John practically snapped.
Todd's eyes narrowed and he decided on the second best, reasons that he believed that John would accept and were, on some level true, "My ultimate goal is… to change the course for the Wraith as a whole. To turn my kind in a new direction. We keep our numbers small out of necessity. If we didn't rely on humans as a food source, we would thrive as we never have before. There are many worlds out there, many where we would be allowed to thrive without coming into conflict with our own kind or others. The Wraith already have a social structure that would allow for us to live comfortably if only we weren't reliant on humans for our only sustenance."
John relaxed visibly at this, "You want to save your species from extinction?"
Todd nodded slowly, "This civil war… it severely depletes our already insubstantial numbers. Hundreds of thousands may have been sufficient numbers to defeat a few thousand of the Ancestors, but not so many that we can risk our numbers so recklessly. The Queens who fight so viciously for feeding grounds fail to realize they are placing the survival of the species as a whole at serious risk. I have come to realize… through our own interactions, that humans and Wraith don't necessarily need to come into constant conflict. This is my… endgame. To redirect my species in order to ensure their survival."
John seemed to relax fully at this, "Okay. See, now we're getting somewhere. That's a goal I can get behind. It's not like we want to go committing genocide on our part. Earth's already had its fair share of that and from what I've learnt, the ones committing it never come out looking rosy. See, communication is important, Todd. If you had just told me all this sooner, we could have pushed for more people researching the retrovirus. As it is, it should be good to go in a few weeks. Keller says she has a good idea of what she thinks went wrong last time and stage one is to test it… slowly this time. The original one was supposed to be administered in stages over a day, but you didn't do that, which is part of why it didn't go so well the last time."
Todd nodded, relieved that John accepted that response so easily. He wasn't certain how to tell him that it was unlikely that the Queens would heed the wisdom of this move and thus the best odds of this idea working was if interbreeding were possible and for the adolescents of his species to be converted to the cause. That was something that Todd wasn't certain of, but was willing to test, if it was personally not possible for himself, then with the help of others. If not, he would happily see his kind die out before destroying their souls any further or allow them to remain a threat to John.
"Might I ask what brought these demanding questions on so suddenly? You've never expressed a desire to know what my ultimate goals were before," Todd stated, tentatively and a bit hopeful.
John shrugged, "My daughter may have pointed out that I may not have been viewing our… alliance from the correct angle. She tends to find the flaws in other people's logic a lot, so that's not really surprising. She was right too."
"How so?" Todd asked, now genuinely curious. He still was uncertain of why Sheppard had introduced them, and he wanted to figure that out as well.
"Well, I was thinking your goal was to wipe out all your enemies and take over the remaining Wraith and that was it. Rikki pointed out that every population has a critical threshold for survival and while yours might be lower than others, it was still likely very present," John stated, a little uncomfortably.
Todd immediately burst into laughter, "Ruling the Wraith on a whole would be a tedious and dangerous task. Not only would every Queen try to undermine me at every turn, my kind are far too volatile to be governed by a single entity. It would be pure madness to wish to rule them all. No, I would sooner see my species wiped out than to try to govern them all myself."
John smiled at this, more than a little relieved that Todd wasn't the galactic domination type after all. John gave Todd a final nod, "Right, well I can imagine how obnoxious such a task might be. I'll leave you be now."
"John Sheppard," Todd called as John moved to leave the area. John turned to look at him in questioning. "Do not forget the books next time."
John laughed and gave a nod before retreating, something in his chest eased slightly, though he didn't realize it just yet. For Todd's part, he barely maintained his grace as he sat back down, his legs going weak with relief and for the first time, perhaps the slightest amount of hope. Though, hope for what, Todd still refused to acknowledge as the possibility was still too microscopic to admit it, or at least, so he believed.