A New Battlefront

by ElfinKnight

Just after Atlantis's arrival on Earth, John's life takes a happy turn when he suddenly gets custody of his 13-year-old, genius daughter, Rebecca. The impact she has on the lives of everyone on at Atlantis quickly becoming apparent. With this and a new enemy surfacing, threatening the very survival of humanity, John has more to fight for than ever before.

18. Chapter 18

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: And back to the main plot. Sorry for the detours of the last chapters, but they are generally relevant to the plot as a whole and necessary context for the up-coming chapters. This chapter is same day as the previous one.

ANN: Also, sorry for the delay in this chapter. Life got weird. I got sent to a different store, had to work different hours and ended up dead on my feet well before Thursday hit. However, Next week I'm on vacation, and hope to make it up to you guys by putting out a few extra chapters, hopefully. This one also got a bit long, because it wasn't long enough to split into two, but it was rather long even before it got the point.

Chapter 18: And They Called Him Their Savior

John hated negotiations. There was a reason he mostly left them to Teyla when off-world. It also didn't help that for some bazaar reason, seeing John being assertive with allies seemed to make Todd horny, which in turn had the cascading effect of making John horny. Then again, a lot of things made Todd horny right now. Keller had said it wasn't uncommon among human pregnancies for a woman to become amorous at points due to the everchanging hormones and apparently that crossed over into Wraith Carriers too. Or maybe Todd was always this… aroused by John and the incredibly frequent sex that occurred was because the bond meant that one being turned-on quickly resulted in both being turn-on. Not that John would ever complain about the frequent sex. He liked the frequent sex.

Still, it was incredibly difficult to focus on whether or not they would permit Rikki to modify the Tok'ra weapons' systems for their ships when he was half hard and Todd was more interested in sending him mental images of them in intimate positions than he was in the negotiations. Todd clearly had little interest in these negotiations, for all their importance to Atlantis going forward.

Anyone who thought that Todd was submissive in their relationship just because he was on the receiving end had no idea how involved Todd got when they were in the bedroom. Yes, Todd would obey John if he gave him strict instructions, but John still wasn't entirely certain that that wasn't because those instructions were 99.9% of the time directly related to the safety and health of Todd and the Toddlets.

Still, he had managed to finagle a two-hour break for lunch on the second day, after the first's numerous interruptions, for John and Todd, officially to ensure that Todd was able to eat and rest a bit before they continued negotiations. Woolsey and the others would keep going, with Teyla there to keep them appraised of anything they missed. In actuality, it was so that Todd didn't decide he didn't particularly care about human social niceties like not being exhibitionist and jump John in the conference room mid-discussion, as the mental images that Todd had sent him had increasingly implied.

Once John had met his mate's sexual needs, and subsequently his own, Todd did eat and take a bit of a nap though, so it was worth it in John's book, if it got Todd to rest like he was supposed to. Once Todd was asleep, John went to hunt down Jinto and Wex in the infirmary. Keller had four of the older wraith hooked up to the vitals monitors as she carefully oversaw their transitions. John waved the teen boys over to come join him outside the room to talk in private.

Once they were in the next room over, John smiled at them, "Halling said you boys had something you wanted to talk to me about."

Jinto nodded eagerly, "You are aware that the Athosians have decided to join with the Lanteans, correct?"

"Yeah," John confirmed easily.

"Well, Kerran and Versan should be here to discuss this with you as well, but I guess we can present our hopes to you, and you can talk with them later. We want to join your military. More specifically, we want you to train us to be the best fighters Pegasus has ever seen. We know that there might be a lot of good Wraith out there, but with the bad ones, you'll need tactical infiltration teams to attack the worlds they reside on. The worlds like the ones that those poor young wraith you rescued are from. They need teams that can go in and take out the bad Wraith to rescue the kids and the Carriers that are being tortured and enslaved. There will also be worlds where the Wraith have landed or they have labs and those worlds need to be cleared out too," Jinto stood ram-rod straight as he spoke and John could tell that both boys were dead serious about their hopes of being allowed to be trained to do this.

He had had similar discussions too, with Jack and Landry, before Landry's death. They were still working out how the Lantean Military would be shaped and formed properly, but a specific special forces branch was definitely a topic of conversation. John sighed, "We didn't typically allow military service until a person was 18 on Earth. That said, we're also still working out what rules will be carried over from Earth's policies and what are going to change. If… and that is a strong if, if we agree to allow you to do this. It would fall under what we called special forces on Earth.

"It's… I was SpecOps for a while and what goes into it isn't pretty. You'll end up with a lot of lives, a lot of blood, on your hands and not all of it is going to be 'bad wraiths' as you put it. You will have to kill wraith worshippers. People who maybe aren't worshippers of their own choice but because they were brainwashed. If they get in the way of a mission, you can't help them. You will have to eliminate the threat. That isn't all. We also have to consider that eventually we will be facing off with the Naari and when we do, SpecOps will be running a lot of missions into extremely dangerous areas.

"It's extremely possible that you could die young and in unpleasant ways. And that's just how you might die. As for the training that goes into the job? I would insist on at least a full year's worth before even considering sending anyone into the field and it will be difficult and intense. I'm talking running 15 kilometers a day, every day. Intensive combat training not just supervised by myself and O'Neill but with the Jaffa, Ronon, Teyla, the Marines, and any wraith with combat training who isn't pregnant. I won't let anyone on a SpecOps team until I know that they could fight a Wraith in hand-to-hand combat and come out of the fight alive. You'll also be given training how to resist being tortured for information. That's not a pleasant experience. It has broken people.

"Do you understand? This won't be a game. You'll take lives, maybe even some that could have been saved in a different situation. You won't walk away from the job without emotional trauma and while I will always make sure my people get the time they need with the therapists, I can guarantee you that you will likely have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder before you hit twenty-five. This isn't something to take lightly.

"I want you to really think about what I just told you. You tell your friends exactly what I said. You will think about this for a full week and then and only then will you tell me if you still want to commit to something like that," John's tone was hard. He knew that SpecOps was important and they would need it. However, he also knew that if anyone had warned him when he was a young buck about the things he might have to do, the things he now has done, he may have chosen a different path.

He was at least giving these kids the opportunity to really consider it. He didn't want to push them completely away though. They would need to keep their military numbers up and that meant new recruits, "If you don't want to be SpecOps, than you can still join the military, once we decide what our recruiting policies will be, and fight the good fight. It just won't be quite as dirty or haunting as SpecOps, or as difficult in the training."

The boys nodded somberly. Wex's jaw had a stubborn tension to it, "We'll consider what you've said, but I don't think it will change our minds. We already knew that we would have to get our hands dirty of we did this. You didn't dismantle a Genii invasion on Atlantis without killing a lot of Genii. Teyla said that… that there were a lot of bodies that had to be cleaned up in the aftermath. Sometimes the hard thing to do is hard because it's the right thing necessary to make other people safer."

John sighed at the youthful stubbornness of the teens, "Just really, truly consider it. Talk it out amongst yourselves, weight all your options. Like I said, you don't need to be SpecOps to fight and make a difference. I need to go now. I need to go wake Todd and get back to the negotiations."

The teens nodded and returned to supporting their new friends in the infirmary. John shook his head and returned to his room to find Todd still napping. He felt a flood of affection for the sleeping Wraith and marveled a little at how utterly lucky he had gotten. He'd gotten that damned black mark in Afghanistan because he'd tried to save his friend's life and failed. So, they sent John to the ass end of the world, covered in ice, and made him a glorified chauffer to a secret research outpost until he either gave up and left the service or they could claim rank stagnation and kick him out.

Only, a rouge alien drone does something it shouldn't have, and now John was fairly certain that it might not have been Beckett's fault at all, given that the drone had, despite being much faster than the chopper, not destroyed them when in all rights it should have. They said hindsight was 20/20 and knowing how much his mother had already pulled the strings of so many other things, it wasn't beyond reason that one of his mother's group had made a play that guaranteed John would be thrown in the path of the Expedition not long before it left, likely in the most intentional manner possible.

From there on out, his life had been a rollercoaster for the past six years until he'd reached this point, staring at his mate, who, for all his rough edges from thousands of years spent fighting his own nature, had a level of compassion that John could see that a lot of humans lacked. Despite the destruction of Earth, he wasn't missing a single part of his family. He had his husband and Toddlets. He had Rikki and her band of misfit friends who John knew saw him as more of a parental figure than any of their own parents had been. He had his brother, sister-in-law, and nephews. Hell, even Nancy was still alive, though things would likely always be a bit awkward and tense between them.

John was just about as happy with his life as he had been just after Rikki was born, back when things with Nancy were good. Only, looking back, his relationship with Nancy paled in comparison to what he had with Todd. For all Todd's manipulations in the past, there was a level of trust and honesty that came from purely being unable to hide anything from each other. There wasn't going to ever be the massive blow up fights that had occurred with Nancy because if Todd had a problem, he would be blunt and share it with John long before it could reach the blown out of proportion stage.

It felt peculiar. John should still be dealing with the emotional aftermath of his homeworld being incinerated by the Naari, but the truth was that he hadn't lost much of anything. Earth had stopped being home to John long ago, back in the first year when they were still struggling to keep their heads above water in Pegasus. The only thing he left behind that he had wanted with him had been Rikki and with her present, John had basically decided there was little reason for him cling to his old home months ago.

He shook off the introspective thoughts though and smoothed his fingers over Todd's hair, seeking to ease Todd gently awake. Vala had made a point of catching them that morning after breakfast so that she could neaten up Todd's hair finally, after what had been done to it by Cole. It was now a shaggy length that framed Todd's face with layers to give it a bit of volume and John had to admit that Vala had done a good job of taking the damage to Todd's hair and making the hair cut look intentional. Just before he ran his fingers through Todd's hair a second time he paused as he noticed something about the roots, they were dark, far too dark to even be attributed to the idea that hair was naturally darker at the roots.

If that were the case, it would be a light grey for Todd's white hair. No, it was only the first few centimeters of hair, so John couldn't be entirely certain of the exact color, but they almost looked bluish or violet. As he leaned in to examine the hair more closely Todd's eyes opened, and he raised an eyebrow at John. John just shook his head, "Um… this is going to sound weird, but is your hair gaining color?"

Todd sat upright abruptly, his emotions were a mixture of curiosity and almost excitement. He swiftly got off the bed and went to the bathroom. John followed Todd there and watched as his mate examined his own roots before barking out a laugh of what was pure amusement. He then turned to John, "In my youth, before I began to feed, my hair was a darker blue. Carriers are almost always born with color to their hair. It is lost when we begin to mature and feeding on humans. I know this may sound strange, but I have always missed the color of my hair from when I was a youth. I enjoyed how well it complemented the coloring of my eyes." John watched as Todd tugged at the hairs of his goatee and nodded with satisfaction that that too had gained blue roots.

John couldn't help chuckle a little at that, "So, if we have a son who's a carrier, we might end up with a kid with blue hair? That… actually sounds adorable."

"Blue, violet, red, orange, yellow, black and very occasionally white are the colors that carrier youths are born with for their hair. Though, as my hair was a dark blue, and yours is black, those are the most likely colors," Todd clarified.

"Huh, though, if you think about it, the fact that the Toddlet will only be half Wraith, even if it's a sire, or a girl, they could still end up with colorful hair. I'm gonna hope for blue though, since that really would be adorable and a little hilarious," John smirked at the idea. "Kind of funny that Wraith can have all the colors of the rainbow for hair colors for the carriers. I've only seen black, red, and white for Queens."

"Those are the only colors that female wraith are born with," Todd clarified.

John nodded, "So, it will likely be black hair for a girl, since my hair is black and dark blue, or navy blue really, I'm guessing, isn't on the list, though it still is possible with the whole mixed-species thing going on."

"You are aware that we still have several months before our… Toddlet is born, correct? Why speculate on their appearance so soon?" Todd asked as he dressed, now awake and they really did need to rejoin the negotiations.

"Because it's fun? I had all sorts of ideas about what Rikki would look like before she was born. I mean, sure she looks like me for the most part in terms of facial structure and hair, but she's going to end up with her mother's build, if a bit better muscled from her physical training," John shrugged.

Todd sighed and John could feel the sense of amusement from Todd. That was another thing that set Todd apart from Nancy. Nancy had always seemed to find John's quirks annoying. Todd found them amusing, appealing, or occasionally a downright turn-on, depending on the quirk. John didn't allow himself to be distracted again though.

He encouraged Todd out the room and back to the conference room. John was fairly certain they hadn't missed anything of import since they appeared to still be on the same topic as earlier, with the Jaffa and Tok'ra debating who's ships should have enhanced weapons, hyperdrives, and wormhole drives installed first.

John settled into his seat next to Jack as Todd settled back between John and Teyla. Halling looked genuinely exasperated with the debate. After another half hour John decided to silence them both by pointing out that before Rikki could enhance their ships' systems, she would need to study them and work out how best to do so with the ship designs, if they were even prudent designs for combat situations in the first place.

After all, while the death gliders, Al'kesh, and Tel'tak might be shaped in a semi reasonable manner, the small death gliders the most reasonable and Al'kesh the least reasonable. The Ha'tak, for all that they were the largest ships and packed the biggest wallop in firepower, for Goa'uld designed ships, were also extremely cumbersome and poorly shaped for prolonged hyperspace travel.

Both the Tok'ra Jaffa reps looked surprised at John's understanding of aerodynamics, for all that he was military and not a 'scientist'. John merely smirked, "Todd and I wouldn't be compatible on an intellectual level if I weren't as smart as he was. He's just had a lot longer to learn things than I have, you know, given that he's over 10,000-years-old. I'm the son of a friggin' Ancient. I have PhDs in Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, and Astrophysics and got them all by age 18. I would have to be pretty damned blind to miss the fact that something pyramid shaped might be great for stability on the ground, but it's shit for the aerodynamics of flight, even when flying through space because there is resistance present even there, though it is significantly less than it is inside of a planet's atmosphere."

Councilors Per'sus and Garshaw straightened their backs at the information that John was far more intelligent than he had presented himself as previously. They glanced at O'Neill and raised a relevant question, "I believe that you, Gen. O'Neill are also the child of an Ancient. How much have you concealed from us?"

"Oh, me? No, my sister and I both seemed to get the short end of the stick when it came to the genetically inherited intelligence. I'm only good with tactical planning and a slight capacity for learning new languages. Nancy is skilled with Linguistics but that's the extent of our brains. So no, I'm not a secret genius and our dad wasn't anywhere in the league of Sheppard's mother either. Though, to be fair, Dave Sheppard isn't nearly as intelligent as John is either, so maybe the whole brains thing is hit or miss," Jack responded with a dead-pan expression.

"Yeah, but Dave did get lightning powers," John countered.

Jack snorted at that, "Ancient interference is cheating and doesn't count, which means you forfeit your end of our bet on Rikki too."

"You can't prove that Rikki didn't earn it," John shot back. "We're still working out why I ended up getting it naturally though…"

"Wraith bonding help doesn't count either," Jack flat out growled that one.

Per'sus shared an exasperated look with Garshaw before turning to John and getting them back on topic, "If you are suggesting that the Ha'taks are obsolete, what do you recommend as a replacement? The Al'kesh are hardly large enough for numbers or fire-power."

John smirked, "My mother, as you have been made aware, built us ten ships, wonderfully nice, large ships. Now, we are working on getting them manned properly, though we are hoping that the Jaffa will take on some of the crew positions. That said, we also have the design schematics for those ships, the facility they were initially built in that will be empty once we move all the ships out after the finishing touches are done on them, and a veritable wealth of raw materials. All we need is to create another Asgard Core, plop it in the facility and then it will be a matter of you guys assembling all the parts into ships."

Per'sus and Garshaw both had their eyes literally light up with obvious excitement. Jack did raise his hand, "And of course, the work-space would have to be shared between the Jaffa and Tok'ra, since you'll both be needing the better ships anyway. As for the existing weapons systems on the death gliders, Al'kesh, and Tel'taks being updated and enhanced, once Rikki and Dr. McKay figure out the best method of increasing their firepower and how to integrate Ancient and Goa'uld systems for compatibility, which won't be easy, they can easily pass of the plans to your scientists for you to do the work on your ships. After all, we can't be expected to do all the work for you and Rikki and Dr. McKay have other vital projects that they need to work on."

The two groups fell quiet at the reminder that it was ridiculous to expect the humans to do everything for them. From there, the discussions moved on to the topic of food supplies. John leant back, letting Woolsey, Teyla, and Halling take over on that topic since John knew next to nothing about agriculture or trade. They left off the negotiations with only a half hour to spare before the mess halls closed. John was quick in guiding Todd to get food. They then checked on the winding down transitions of the newly arrived wraith, who all had names now thanks to Dr. Jackson.

Finally, John go them back to their rooms for relaxation and another round or three of sex because apparently John putting the Tok'ra and Jaffa in their place about their ships was something that Todd found sexy as hell. It was honestly a good thing that he wasn't required for the later topics being discussed since Todd was virtually flooding John with dirty, dirty thoughts.

The next morning, John was informed by Woolsey about Katie's disturbing revelation that at least four of the people who had left with Cole's group could be fanatical John Sheppard Worshippers, something that somehow managed to surpass John's shudder factor meter past where even Wraith Worshippers had topped out on the charts. Wraith Worshippers were at least, for the most part, brainwashed, and therefore not completely responsible for their actions. Fanatical John Worshippers were something entirely different because these were people who actively chose to worship him, and John was not exactly his idea of someone who should be worshipped.

In fact, the only worshipping that John wanted directed towards him was the kind that occurred in a reciprocal manner with his husband during and only during sexy times. He didn't really want there to be a blossoming cult group to deal with on top of the white, human, supremist group that had already formed. So, he had approved Woolsey's idea of sending a MALP through the gate to the Jurassic World and crossed his fingers that the only thing they would see would maybe be some boot tracks to the DHD and maybe the T-Rex moseying on by near the gate if it got curious.

The one thing he didn't want to see most of all was the one sight they saw when the MALP started sending telemetry back. John groaned and thumped his head against the table next to the Control Room's DHD. The video was of the T-rex alright, but he was munching on what amounted to a pile of corpses and likely had been for the past couple of days, given the numbers left. There was also the distinct damage on the bodies that the MALP got shots of that showed evidence of blaster fire from the new weapons Rikki had designed.

Jack managed to keep his expression carefully blank, but Woolsey's face was positively green. John sighed as he de-activated the MALP. They could retrieve it in a few days, when the T-Rex was done with the dead. There was no point in attempting to fight off the T-Rex to retrieve the bodies of traitors, after all. John looked at Woolsey, "I want Simpson and those other three's movements from the entire time since Earth was destroyed tracked. Simpson's, I want tracked for the past six months. If there is a… what? A cult that worships me? That's just as dangerous as a White Supremist Group, if not more so."

Woolsey nodded in agreement, "I already gave the names to Bates. Hopefully, he can find those who are potentially further connected to the… Sheppard Cult."

John cringed at the idea, "Yeah, good. Lorne, I want those four investigated thoroughly. Anyone they talked to regularly needs to be questioned. Katie obviously knew about Simpson and the others obsession with me. I want to know who else knew and who else shares this obsession." He directed his order to the person he trusted to have his back in this matter most.

Lorne nodded, "Of course, sir. I'll hand select the men who will do the interrogations."

"Good. Damn. I really wish I knew how long this thing has been going on. You say Katie told you that Simpson has been obsessed for years, but does that mean she's been part of a cult for a while now, maybe even its origin, or is this something new popping up thanks to my mother's little time capsule message? If it's the later, that means it might not go too deep yet, but if it's the former…" John shuddered at the idea.

The sad part was that his day had started out with a fantastic wake-up blowjob from Todd, and then a nice run with Ronon who told him that he would arrange for a squad of Marines to move their things over to the new three bedroom suite that Ronon had scouted out for John and Todd and future babies. By that evening, they would be moved into a much nicer apartment style set of rooms where they could eventually set up a nursery for the Toddlet.

The downhill had been a very steep slope and delayed the continuation of negotiations. Not that John was devastated by that part, but it was something they really did need to finish up on. Bates winced at John's question and turned to John at that, "Sir… um… I hate to break it to you… but I think it's been building up since… well since the first year… sir."

While Bates was no longer Military, or at least he hadn't been before Earth's destruction, he had still agreed to retake handling Atlantis's security since his return, which John appreciated. John like Bates, now that he had gotten over his excessive dislike for anyone who had a single wraith DNA strand. He had even given Todd and John congratulations on their marriage.

That said, Bates was the last person John would have thought would have intel on how long the possible cult thing was in play, "What makes you say that?" John forced his tone to be neutral.

"Well… I… I am aware that I caused you a bit of hassle that first year. After… after the Genii invasion during the mega storm… I started receiving some rather open hostility from numerous members of the science departments and a few Marines. Lt. Ford was among that group, though I'm not entirely certain if his hostility was related to his hero-worship of you, sir, or his general friendship with Teyla," Bates looked distinctly uncomfortable with the revelation.

"Do you recall the names of these scientists and Marines?" John couldn't help asking. He wasn't going to touch on Ford's supposed hero-worship. While John still held a lingering hope of finding the Lieutenant, it had been years and those years had likely changed Ford as much as they changed John.

Bates nodded with another grimace, "Some of them were still hostile towards me with my return, sir. Simpson had definitely been a ringleader then and she was definitely still hostile towards me on my return."

"That isn't something I really wanted to hear, but at least it gives us a bit of a timeline to work with," John huffed and rubbed at his temples. "Right, well, Bates, give Lorne the list of those who are hostile towards you. If they hate you, they aren't likely to talk to you. They might be willing to talk to the grandson of an Ancient though."

Lorne looked like he had sucked on a lemon at that reminder. John could feel a little bit of sympathy for the man, as, as it turned out Lorne's maternal grandmother was John's mother's younger sister. John hadn't really discussed it with the man, given the oddity of the situation, but Lorne's mother was technically John's first cousin. They had gotten Beckett to keep that awkward little detail quiet. Lorne's grandmother had mysteriously 'vanished' just after Lorne was born, so John figured that she would have considered it a 'mission accomplished' and had ascended again.

Still, it made Lorne a good option for talking with cult members because of their lingering physical similarities and the fact that Lorne's Ancient DNA made him more 'special'. Thankfully, Lorne didn't disagree or argue. With that settled, John found himself reluctantly going to deal with the negotiations once more. Fortunately, his input wasn't really necessary, for that day or the next. It was more a show of solidarity that had him present while Todd, Woolsey, the Tok'ra, Jaffa, and Nox debated what technologies they would be willing to share, or adapt for various systems, if possible, but mostly it was theoretical. Now, it finally made sense that Todd was present for the meetings.

There was a bit of a huff from O'Neill about the Tok'ra wanting to put up a request for volunteers for hosts. Apparently, to everyone's surprise, Garshaw was a queen. As such, she could produce young Tok'ra symbiotes, but she wasn't willing to attempt it until they were certain that they had appropriate viable hosts for the youths, once they had matured.

There was a tentative compromise that humans over the age of thirty could volunteer as hosts, provided they were fully aware of the entirety of what that entailed. John suspected that the Tok'ra wouldn't be pleased with the lack of numbers for volunteers. He also suspected that most of the volunteers would be those that had some sort of chronic condition that the Tok'ra would be able to repair and thus make it more win-win for them to accept the situation of being hosts.

By the end of the fourth day after the other groups had arrived, John was glad when Woolsey presented a base treaty of alliance between them all. It covered what would and wouldn't be allowed in terms of technology and hosting and the like. For example, the Jaffa had made it bluntly clear that they would not carry the Tok'ra larva, while the Tok'ra didn't want them to. Instead, a small tank would be created for Garshaw's young to develop in, but with the understanding that no human would be implanted without a through vetting process and confirmation that they knew it was a time-share situation. While the Tok'ra young would have Garshaw's morality from their genetic memory, the blending process meant that someone with loose morals could in turn result in a Tok'ra going bad.

With the negotiations done, John thought he could relax a little, only for Woolsey to present him with a problem of a completely different sort. The plan to starve the Wraith into submission required that they covered every world with humans on them. There were only a few worlds left, most were those who had not joined the Coalition. One was M7G-677, or the world with all the kids. That world wasn't a problem though. They regularly traded with them and Keras and the other elders would likely be thrilled to have a long-term replacement plan for them that left them less vulnerable and allowed them to advance technologically.

No, the problem would be the Daganians. They had made it clear that the Lanteans were less than welcome on Dagan and had a ZPM. That meant that they would potentially resist the installation of the shield, and if the Wraith came for them, there was a slim chance that the Daganian Brotherhood may not have succeeded in hiding the ZPM again and thus, it would give the Wraith a distinct advantage, though their newer ships would be able to handle them.

Woolsey pointed out that as John and Rodney were among those who made first contact, they were the best option to try approaching the Daganians. John wasn't certain that they wouldn't be shot, but reluctantly agreed. Worst case scenario, Rikki had to heal John or Rodney from a potentially lethal injury. Best case scenario, the Daganians realized the benefits of the shield generator being offered, as well as the ZPM that would power it. That was if they hadn't just decided to outright relocate to another world. If that was the case, they had no option but to look to the Genii to contact them, due to prior relations, and John wasn't certain he wanted to give the Genii that kind of leverage over their plans.

Ladon had kicked up a fuss when he learnt that they weren't planning on killing all the Wraith outright. Still, John requested that Teyla, Rodney, and Ronon gear up as well as Lorne's team. This would be the first time since Earth's destruction that John was going off-world into a potentially hostile situation. There was a bit of debate, but John didn't see the point in using the Jumper for the first trip, despite Rodney's protests of annoyance. If they got the green light for the shield generator, than they could bring it on a Jumper later, along with the scientists needed for the set up.

John kept his back ramrod straight as the gate dialed and the wormhole engaged. He let Ronon take the lead through the gate, as much as it made him itch. He knew that everyone had started seeing him as indispensable, which made John all kinds of uncomfortable. At the same time, however, he knew that while Keller thought she had 'something' that might help Todd if John died, John wasn't about to jump in the path of any bullets unnecessarily. Not with his husband's sanity hanging in the balance.

John was tense as he reached the other side of the wormhole, uncertain as to the welcome they would receive. As the rest of the people came through the gate, John scanned the area just as Ronon was. Ronon finally nodded, indicating that he didn't see anything to imply recent activity around the gate. John sighed and let Teyla and Ronon take point. Teyla because she knew the path and both she and Ronon were the best trackers they had.

If there was an ambush anywhere along the path to the Dagan village, Teyla and Ronon had the best chance of picking up on it. They trudged for the next half hour before reaching the outskirts of the village. As soon as they spotted someone, that person spotted them and after going wide eyed for a minute, immediately dropped their gardening rake and booked it toward the temple building for the Brotherhood.

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," John commented. "Keep on your guard. If our welcome is less than warm, I don't want us to get shot unnecessarily."

"Well, the person didn't run shrieking bloody murder, so that's something," Lorne pointed out.

"No, but the Brotherhood had more tact than that last time too," John shrugged. "Hopefully, they'll be in a listening mood. Just no one mention my mother or her prophecy. Best case scenario with that is they call us liars and tell us to get lost."

"What's the worst-case scenario?" Ronon apparently couldn't resist asking.

"I believe that would be them joining Dr. Simpson's John Sheppard Cult," Teyla answered for John.

John winced. Personally, he really would prefer getting shot in his ass and being held for a few days until Woolsey sent someone to rescue them than he wanted Simpson's little group growing in size. So far, Bate and Lorne had managed to identify six more people who had gone with Cole's group, undoubtedly, to assist in killing them all, that were fanatically 'Sheppard enthusiasts'.

They had another 47 suspected members of that group still on Atlantis, but they couldn't confirm it beyond the knowledge of general hostility towards the likes of Bates and Nancy, because apparently his ex-wife was Satan in the group's eyes, tracked frequent interactions between the 'known' members with the suspected, and hearsay from those around them. Technically, as long as these people didn't break any established rules, there wasn't much that could be done about them. It still gave John the willies to know there was any number of people worshipping him though.

The type of reception they would receive from the Daganian Brotherhood was soon answered though, and John rather wished they had gone the torch and pitch-fork route. Allina and Sanir were wearing bright smiles at the head of a group of the researchers that John vaguely recognized from their first trip to Dagan.

"Teyla, Ronon," John's voice was tense, but both of them fell back to flank him, like John knew they would.

Allina and Sanir both gave immediate, deep bows to John, followed by the rest of their group. Allina immediately began speaking, "We have been long anticipating your return. We humbly beg your forgiveness. We did not know that you were a child of one of the Ancestors, Major Sheppard. If we had known that was who you were and that the Potentia was intended for you, we would have, of course handed it over to you as we should have."

John felt his spine go ridged, "Who told you I was the child of an Ancestor?"

"One of the Ancestors who had ascended appeared before us just days after… after our error. She told us of our mistake and folly. She said that because we had failed our test, we had placed you at risk unnecessarily. She instructed us to go back to where we found the Potentia and to examine the walls. When we did so, we found compartments containing a great many stone tablets. Please, come, we will show you," Allina bowed to him again and then gestured for them to follow her.

John frowned, but shrugged and signaled to his people to follow, "I see. Have you been able to translate these tablets?" He asked, his tone as neutral as possible as he fell in beside her. Ronon and Teyla were directly behind them. His gut groaned about there already being a second cult over him and that would be worse than them joining with Simpson's group.

"Only a few. Some of them were in Ancient, and we were able to translate them thanks to our prior work with the assistance we had from Dr. McKay in learning to read the Ancestors' language. The others were in a strange language we have never seen before. The tablets in the tongue of the Ancestors say that only the Son of Ata and some of those who traveled with him would be able to translate the others," Allina explained.

"Really, now. Well that's… interesting," He shared a look with Rodney. If John were a betting man, he would wager that the text was in Vulcan. With no source of a reference point it would be indecipherable to even the cleverest Wraith, but any die-hard Trekkie would likely be able to translate it in a minute. "What else did the texts you were able to read say."

Allina frowned a little, "They said that our people were to be tested twice. That though we were likely to fail the first test, to fail the second could be catastrophic for our people. We would not know the test until it presented itself, though you were likely to know what it would be long ago."

John tucked his hands behind his back to signal to his people what he suspected it would by tapping the ring finger on his left hand, one that didn't actually have a ring on it due to the unorthodox nature of how he married. The Dagan's would have no idea what it meant, but those from Atlantis would understand that he was hinting at Todd. It was definitely something that would cause tension, especially given the lack of trust built up over the years.

John smiled tightly at Allina, "Well, I'm fairly certain I know exactly what the Ancestors intend to be the second test. I can't say I'm particularly pleased that they would choose that as a means to test you, but I'm certain that as long as you and your people keep an open and flexible mindedness going forward, while you may struggle with accepting it, you will be able to pass it in time."

"I had a hard time of it too. It's not exactly something that's easy to accept until you learn more truths than you are aware existed," Ronon added.

"You were tested as well?" Allina asked, glancing back at Ronon with curiosity.

"Well, I didn't really think of it as a test at the time or even now. Back then, it was more of a trial. It was a long and difficult but necessary lesson that I needed desperately to learn. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have one of my sons," Ronon supplied without really getting into too much detail. John knew that Ronon would feel that if the Ancients wanted to test the Daganians, well that meant they probably needed to learn the same lesson and it was one that had to be learnt first-hand.

"I see, so, you are not Lantean, then?" Allina asked, clearly probing for information.

"I am now, but I was born on Sateda. Then I was a Runner for a while until Sheppard found me. The Lanteans enabled me to stop running and make a real life for myself on Atlantis," Ronon's admission had John a bit surprised. He had never volunteered so much information towards others in the past, especially strangers.

Allina led them through the open doors of the temple and into one of the research rooms, "Yes, I can imagine that the Children of the Ancestors are quite benevolent to those who are worthy of earning their trust. What happened to Sateda was a tragedy. Being a Runner must have been a difficult life, but I'm sure you must feel blessed now, for your home."

"Yeah, well, we have people who have taken Ronon's account, along with those of some other Satedans of Sateda's history. Sateda's tragedy is one that won't be forgotten," John responded before redirecting to prevent her from attempting to probe further into Ronon's life. "So, you said you had untranslatable tablets."

"Yes, right over here. We've kept them secure, as we didn't know how to translate them and didn't want to risk damaging them with carelessness, though they do appear to be quite…sturdy," Allina responded as she pushed a tapestry out of the way and using a series of slides and switches, that John suspected needed to be done in a specific order, unlocked a vault of sorts.

She pulled out the tablets one by one and carefully began laying them out. Rodney joined John and they looked at them. John smirked and shook his head. His mother was clever, that was certain. Athos had the texts in Vulcan, so of course these would be in Klingon, to prevent the Wraith from having multiple sources to cross reference improving the chances of determining the language and translating it.

"It's Klingon. Of course, your mother would use that," Rodney grumbled.

"Hey, at least it's something I know how to read second nature," John pointed out.

"Of course, it is. You're mother probably made sure you knew the language," Rodney retorted.

"Oh, please, you're a Trekkie too. You can read it as easily as I can. Also, mom actually died before Next Gen came out. She just made sure I was a Trekkie long before that," John rolled his eyes before turning to Allina. "Would you mind if we took photos of these to translate later. You can keep the originals. They actually weren't what we came here about."

"Oh, of course, they were intended for you. It would be unpardonable to fail to allow you to examine them in whatever form you wished," Sanir finally spoke up. "We have also already sent someone to retrieve the Potentia from its place of protection. It rightfully belongs to you and we will endeavor to make amends for our past mistakes and transgressions."

John could tell that she was embarrassed. That wasn't entirely surprising given that she had been the one to betray them to the Genii the last time they were on Dagan. He just smiled and nodded while Rodney got out his camera and took photos as each slate was taken out and laid down, not on table, John noted, but on a cloth on the ground. John eyed the material of the slates, noting they were rather thin. He turned to Allina, "Do you happen to know what kind of material these slates are made of?"

She shook her head, "Not exactly, our scientists believe they are made from the same material as the Ring of the Ancestors. They are extremely heavy, though not particularly fragile. Any given person can carry one maybe two at most, though most would struggle attempting to carry two." With that she and Sanir set down the next two tablets.

"There appears to be quite a few of them. And they are in conveniently good condition, for once," Rodney observed as the last few tablets were laid out.

Sanir nodded, "It was a painstaking process removing them from the vault that held the Potentia. Only four tablets at most could be lifted at a time without our ropes failing and we required multiple people pulling on the rope to bring them up. We believe that the vault has been there far longer than we originally thought. Allina believes it is possible that the Ancestors themselves set it up and that the test was so that none other than the Child of an Ancestor would be able to pass it." She gave a small bow to John at that point and he shifted uncomfortably.

"Right, well, we did have another reason for coming," John decided to divert the topic, though he knew he was being completely unsubtle. "We've been installing shield generators on all the worlds with populations on them. Our hope is to prevent the Cullings through the generator as it possesses the capacity to sense when Wraith ships come in close proximity to the planet. We'll also set up a shield on the Stargate so that if any darts come through, they will only make it partially through before being basically sliced in half by the shield. From there, it will send a signal to Atlantis and we'll be able to send ships quickly to… handle the hives for you."

Allina and Sanir shared a look of awe before bowing deeply to John, it was Allina who spoke, he voice emitting almost worshipful tones making John cringe, "Your benevolence is humbling. Even after we failed in our first test, that you would gift us with such… merciful protection…"

"We are truly without words to express our gratitude to you," Sanir finished, her voice nearly breathless.

"Yeah, well, to be fair, it wasn't my idea, but rather my husband, Todd's. He's also the one who designed and created the shields and sensors, so it's more him you should thank, not me," John shifted uncomfortably. Still, if he implanted the idea of the good that Todd had done with his designs and suggestions, it was likely to soften their attitude towards him when they finally met him.

"Oh, of course, a Child of the Ancestors would undoubtedly choose a gifted and intelligent partner in life to gift his affections to," Allina agreed readily.

"Excellent. Well, since we have your approval for the plan, we'll head back to Atlantis and get our scientists set up to bring all the equipment and gear through to set up the generator and gate shield systems. They'll be back no later than tomorrow, with everything," John plastered on a fake 'I'm pleased with your response smile'.

"And your husband will be among them, so that we can thank him in person for such a generous idea for all the worlds of Pegasus?" Allina asked, clearly hopeful.

Teyla responded when John's smile immediately dropped, "That is unfortunately not possible. Todd Sheppard has a… medical condition that means it would be highly ill advised for him to leave Atlantis for the next several months. The condition has only just recently placed his life at great risk. I'm sure you will understand Gen. Sheppard's refusal to allow his husband's wellbeing to be placed at any further risk."

"Yes, of course. I apologize if we caused any discomfort. It is only natural that Gen. Sheppard would wish to take great care of his husband's wellbeing. I am surprised that Atlantis does not have the capabilities to heal this condition for several months, though," Allina spoke with gentle reassurance and no little curiousity.

"It isn't a condition that requires healing, only patience and a great deal of rest and food. It also leaves him particularly vulnerable for the duration of the condition," Teyla hedged. "The only reason his life was at risk was… from others causing him physical harm though they have been dealt with."

It was fortunate that the Daganians had no idea about the idea of some Wraith males being capable of being pregnant or the idea of male pregnancy in the slightest or they might have made the connection between what was clearly being described as a pregnancy and the fact that John's husband was his husband and not wife.

"I see, well, if he cannot come here, perhaps we could go to him? If there is no objection. I assure you that we will not do anything to cause him harm. Perhaps we could gift him with the crystals that we found with the tablets? We aren't certain as to their purpose, but I am sure that is an appropriate gift for someone with such a benevolent and brilliant mind," Allina seemed eager to please.

John's back was stiff as a board and Teyla asked for a moment to speak with John in private before they gave their answer. John just wanted to say hell no. They could give the Daganians the shields, but they were also fanatics, which made them potentially, extremely dangerous. He didn't want them anywhere near his husband, supposed test for them or not.

Teyla eyed him firmly, "If the Daganians are to be our allies, we need to be honest with them. On Atlantis, their interactions with Todd and the other Wraith can be controlled. We can ensure that no harm comes to them. However, we cannot hide the truth of Todd's pregnancy or that we are converting Wraith with the retrovirus indefinitely. As it is, Woolsey has already informed the Coalition council members. It is likely the Daganians only do not know of this due to their refusal to join the Coalition. If we do not hide it now, it will be presented more as if there is nothing to hide. If we delay, they will be suspicious, especially when the truth is revealed, and we already know that the Genii have regular contact with the Daganians. It is wiser to bring a few to Atlantis now, so that we can ease them into the idea without the Genii being given the opportunity of polluting their minds."

"They can easily do that after the fact as well," John sniped back.

"We cannot hide what we are doing, John. Not if we wish to have Pegasus as a united, strong front against the Naari. The sooner it is revealed, and revealed as a success, the sooner that the people of Pegasus can come to terms with the idea of the Wraith being willing to change their ways if provided with the opportunity. That is why Woolsey has already informed the Coalition of our intentions with the retrovirus," Teyla's voice was hard. "If need be, I will reveal that some of my people are Wraithkin, to help ease them on their concerns."

John wanted to argue against her, but he knew that she had a valid point. He could also sense, faintly over the bond at this distance, that Todd could tell he was uneasy, and it was making him uneasy as well. John sighed, "Fine, but only two of them, and they aren't allowed weapons."

"I know this will be difficult, but you must trust that those of us who are there will ensure that Todd remains safe, as will all the other Wraithkin," Teyla kept her tone low and reassuring.

John nodded reluctantly and they returned to the group. Teyla made the announcement of the decision, "We will allow two of you to go back with us to Atlantis. However, you cannot bring any weapons with you. We have several different species of peoples both on Atlantis and on the planet. We would rather avoid any accidents from occurring simply because you fear the appearance of one of the people of Lantea. You will also certainly be facing the test that was mentioned before, if you go now."

Allina and Sanir looked delighted. They didn't seem to really care about the prohibition of the weapons. Instead, they went back to the vault, opened a section, and brought out what looked suspiciously like the crystals that were used for city systems. Clearly, John's mother had left more of her trail of breadcrumbs here than just some Naquadah composite tablets in Klingon. Of course, if John had denied them entry onto Atlantis, it was possible they wouldn't have gotten the crystals, meaning that it might have been a hint from his mother, long ago, to give the Daganians a second chance.

Once the women were finished collecting the crystals, stashing them in their bags, they returning the tablets to the vault and finally sealing it, they then turned to the group of Lanteans and smiled, "We will prove worthy of your benevolence. If an open mind and flexibility are what is necessary to pass this test, than that is what we shall endeavor to maintain."

John nodded, though he kept silent for a while as they headed for the gate, letting the two Daganians talk with Ronon and Teyla a bit. They were a few clicks from it before he finally spoke, having given considerable thought to what warning he could give before they went to Atlantis, without directly informing them that Todd was a Wraith. He didn't want to set them up for failure, but if his mother and whoever was acting as a messenger thought that the Daganians needed to be tested, than he couldn't exactly tell them the answers in advance either.

"So, I just feel that you should be warned of something before we head through to Atlantis before we go through the gate. As Teyla mentioned before, there is more than one species of peoples on Atlantis. There are, in fact, four other species, besides humans. One of the species is purely peaceful. In fact, it goes against their ingrained nature to cause others physical or emotional harm and they are natural healers. The other three… Of them, one isn't even humanoid, they are actually symbiotes that live within human hosts and can only communicate with us using their hosts' bodies.

"There is a balance and tradeoff for it. In return for the human allowing the symbiote to share control of the body part of the time, they gain a longer lifespan, experience greater health, and their bodies heal at a faster rate. The third species is actually a sub-species of humans, though they are physically stronger, and more of a warrior-type species. They are actually genetically compatible with us and I suspect there will be a lot of… genetic mingling in the future," John paused as he glanced at Allina and Sanir to see that they were listening with curiousity, rather than concern for now.

He continued, "The forth… there are only a few of, and most of those present are actually children. My husband, Todd is from this species. They… they're genetically compatible with humans as well, meaning that we can have children with them, if we wish. Though, technically, in terms of appearances, they look less like us than the others, the symbiotes not being included, as they are rarely if ever seen outside of their hosts. The thing about their species is that… well they've had a long history of violence. Some of them, those that live with us, have made the choice to receive our assistances in becoming far less violent. The majority of these are children, as they haven't had that way of life ingrained in their lives as much yet. My husband is among the eldest of their species with us, however, and he had long been looking for a means to escape the violent cycle they are forced into.

"Anyway, due to their violent nature, the majority of their females don't make it to physical maturity, so they have a genetic adaptation that allows some males to… carry the babies as well. My husband is among those males capable of doing so. He is currently pregnant, that's his medical condition. As Teyla said, it's not something that needs curing. Just time," John finished, keeping a close watch on the faces of their companions.

The two women remained quiet for a few moments before Sanir spoke, "I can understand why you would not wish to risk your husband's safety, if he is carrying your child. Is this process artificially created or…"

"It's perfectly natural. It just requires a specific type of relationship to form. Probably the truest form of marriages possible. My husband and I share a telepathic bond. This is, in part, what allows him to safely carry the child, though our doctors are still studying the science behind it. It's a bit complex, but the development has progressed in a completely natural manner for his species," John smiled a bit at that. "Honestly, I'm excited. I have a daughter from a previous relationship, her mother is also the child of an Ancient, but that was the only other child I've had. This will be her first sibling, and I'm thrilled to be having more kids."

Allina nodded, "It must be a blessing to you to be having another child then."

"It is, and I'm looking forward to all the exciting bits of having another kid. This will be Todd's first child, so he's excited, if a bit nervous as well," John knew his affection for Todd was showing on his face.

"Any new parent would be a bit nervous. I know I was while carrying Torren," Teyla admitted.

"I just adopted Liam and Cooria, so I can't say I experienced all that new parent stuff, but I am a bit worried I'm going to screw up at some point, especially with Cooria," Ronon admitted.

John snorted. He had seen Ronon with Liam and Cooria over the past few days, "The only thing you're at risk of doing is spoiling them with too much attention. To be fair though, the both of them probably need a bit of extra affection, so I'd say your safe. Just don't let them become too co-dependent on you. They need to learn a bit of independence and their own personality as well."

"You mean like Rikki?" Ronon asked.

Rodney was the one to snort, "Please, Rikki is not a normal kid in terms of being independent. She probably would feel smothered if Sheppard or his ex-wife tried to treat her like you do your boys."

"Uh, yeah, gonna be honest, Rikki used to hang all over me, just like Cooria and Liam do with Ronon. That's normal little kid behavior. Rikki is actually pretty normal in her sense of independence too. Yeah, she's got a brain bigger than a red-giant, but most 13-year-olds prefer to spend a lot of time with friends. It's just that her friends are a bit older than her and she's a bit more mature about it all, Rodney," John retorted.

He didn't mention that Rikki had had a nightmare the night before and ended up crawling into bed with John and Todd, for all that she was a teenager. Yeah, she was a little older than most kids when the stopped doing that, but John wasn't going to deny his daughter the sense of security that came from knowing her father would keep her safe. Especially just after suffering from a recent trauma likes someone breaking into her room in an attempt to kill her and the loss of her entire planet. Thankfully, he and Todd had been wearing boxers, so it wasn't entirely awkward.

"Anyway, I just wanted to warn you about the other species that live on Atlantis and off, that some of them are possibly going to freak you out a bit. The hosts ones with symbiotes will occasionally have their eyes glow gold, the Nox, those are the peaceful ones, look like they got plants growing off of them, though they aren't really scary. Some others have tattoos on their foreheads and are massive, muscle bound men and women. Try not to be too intimidated," John intentionally left out the Wraithkin. He didn't want them to freak before they even got to Atlantis.

Rodney immediately began dialing the gate. Once it engaged, John immediately commed Woolsey, "Woolsey, I just wanted to let you know that the Daganians requested permission to bring a gift to Todd personally to thank him for his generous suggestion over using Shield Generators to protect everyone from Wraith hives. We've agreed to allow Master Handler Allina and Assistant Handler Sanir permission to come for this presentation, if it's all right with you."

"Is that wise? Do they know Todd is a Wraith?" Woolsey asked, his voice laden with concern.

"It's better that they meet him now rather than later. At least this way, things will be our terms," John pointed out.

"Very well. I will inform Todd that he has visitors," Woolsey sounded anything but pleased.

John didn't expect him to be otherwise. He suppressed the sigh he wanted to release as they walked through the event horizon and back to Atlantis. Though it wasn't the first time since establishing the bond between him and Todd that John had gone through the gate, he still relaxed when he could feel it far strong than it had been thousands of light-years away on Dagan. What had been faint echoes were now strong, firm emotions.

John had spent enough time bonded to Todd now that the other's emotions were, unless being intentionally directed at him, like secondary sensations hovering in the back of his mind, but not constantly distracting him. The distance obviously dampened that sense and it now felt wrong to not have that awareness of Todd there, just as if felt foreign to not feel the slight edge of the neural interface of Atlantis just barely brushing against his mind. The city wasn't sentient per-say, rather the systems were constantly taking note of those in the city with the ATA gene. There was no information exchanged that John knew of, just the presence of the city systems being there.

John paused before leading the two guests to the conference room for their meeting with Todd. Hopefully, the table being between them would prevent immediate panic and attack, or enough time to prevent harm to Todd if the two women did immediately panic. John watched as Woolsey entered the conference room just behind him and the two Daganians.

He was frowning, but he still greeted them with his polite formality, "Welcome to Atlantis, Master Handler Allina, Assistant Handler Sanir. I must admit to some surprise of your willingness to come here, given the last time Atlantis had contact with your world we were left with the impression that you were less than willing to enter into an alliance with us."

Allina bowed neatly, though not nearly as low as she and Sanir had to John, "We have since learnt a great many things. The first and more primary being that we learnt the grave error we made when we refused to hand over the Potentia to the then Major Sheppard, despite the fact that it was intended for him. We have greatly mourned our error as it turned out to be a test of the Ancestors. We will endeavor to do our best to not fail in this second chance we have been gifted with."

Woolsey gave John a raised eyebrow. John just shrugged in turn. He wasn't going to explain his choice while the two women were present. John didn't trust them in the slightest. He also braced himself as he felt Todd approaching. While Allina and Sanir were seated near one set of doors to the conference room, Todd deliberately entered by the other, at John's mental instruction. There was no need to have him too close to the Daganians until they knew how the women would react.

The reactions of the two women were nearly instantaneous on Todd's entry. They both tried to bolt. Unfortunately for them, Ronon had anticipated this and stood in the doorway nearest them to prevent any escape. John had also sent a mental order to the city to lock that door, so even if by some chance, they had made it past Ronon, there would have been no retreat through that door.

John also placed himself carefully between the women and Todd as they turned on him in horror, "What have we done to so anger you? How can you have that monster at your back, with no fear?" Allina demanded. The situation would have been hilarious if it wasn't so concerning, especially since it appeared that Vala had finally prevailed and talked Todd into dying the rest of his hair to match his roots.

"The person who is behind me is not a monster, though he might disagree with that assessment. You asked to meet my husband, Todd. This is him. I did warn you that his species has a long history of violence," John pointed out. Don't bother trying to get through that door. Not until you listen to what we have to say. After that, if you want to leave, we'll allow it. However, I would remind you that you have already been warned by your precious Ancestors that you failed the first test and I am letting you know that your capability to accept this will be your second," John's tone had turned hard.

He received a mixture of amusement and exasperation from Todd as his mate moved around him and settled in the chair furthest from the others. Allina and Sanir shared frightened and uncertain looks before finally, and with clear reluctance, resuming their seats. John nodded before launching into his explanation of Wraith children, their reluctance to feed, and how some adults maintained that reluctance, regardless of how long they have been forced to feed on humans.

Once it was clear that Todd was no longer capable of feeding on humans, the two women, while not relaxing, at least looked far less skittish. Teyla must have retrieved Kannan and their children, as well as Ronon's boys. Allina gave Ronon a look of shocked understanding as Cooria happily climbed into his lap, where he had taken a seat in a mid-point between the Sheppards and the Daganians. John smiled at Orrilin and Serwen when they completely ignored the tension in the room and went up to the two women, greeting them. Teyla and Kannan kept close, clearly intending on pulling their children away from the two Daganians if the women appeared to pose a threat to the preschoolers.

"They… they're so young…" Allina finally spoke again as she eyed Teyla's sons.

"There are a few that are even younger than Orrilin and Serwen. These children have already received the retrovirus. It is perfectly safe for them, according to the Nox and Dr. Keller. They will never know the hunger and drive to feed on humans as their birth parents did," Kannan responded firmly as he picked up Serwen and settled the boy on his hip.

"How did they come to be in your care?" Sanir asked, eyeing the children as if they would turn vicious at any second.

"We've already set up shield generators on other worlds. One of them was attacked by a hive, the children were in the Hive. Todd provided us with means to distinguishing the difference between adult and immature wraith. From there it was a matter of locking onto the immature wraith and beaming them safely aboard our ships before destroying the hive. Of course, we gave the Queen and all the wraith on board an opportunity to take the retrovirus. Only four fully matured adults accepted. We were forced to kill the rest in order to protect the human world," John kept his tone neutral as he gave bare facts.

"They were on a hive? How can you trust them not to attack you? How can you trust the adults that have fed on humans to not attack you?" Allina asked in clear and genuine disbelief. Her mind was in turmoil. John's telepathy had kicked in again and let him know that while she wasn't outright willing to risk failing the Ancestors, she had no way of understanding how so could trust those of a species that had caused so many in Pegasus so much harm.

John considered this, before going with the response that would serve as both a warning and one that would be the hardest to argue against, though he went with a gross over exaggeration of the truth, "Simple. Because I can read their minds. My bond with Todd awoke a latent telepathic ability in myself. There is nothing I can't pluck from their minds, just like I can tell you that Sanir is half wondering if you wouldn't be better off if Kolya had killed me when recovering the Potentia after all."

Allina turned to look at Sanir so quickly, John wasn't certain she wouldn't get whiplash from it. As for Sanir, her expression had turned deathly pale. John simply smirked, "You didn't think that being the child of an Ancient didn't come with perks, did you? My brother can create lightning. My ex-wife, whose father was also an Ancient, has telekinesis. My daughter can heal serious injuries of others with a thought." John decided to hammer home the reminder that they had failed to recognize him once and it would be a bad idea to do so again.

Allina and Sanir looked distinctly uncomfortable. Sanir looked genuinely afraid and her thoughts matched with her expression. Allina's were focused on how to recover ground, as she realized how thin the ice that they were both on was, given that her second was essentially thinking stupid thoughts and got caught at it. She straightened her back, "We… we made a mistake once, and I will not allow my people to make it again, simply because of our past. If these Wraith have truly stopped harming humans, or the children have not done so at all… You must understand that we are uncertain as to why, even if they have that you would be forgiving towards the adults. The children are innocent, yes, but what the adults have done…"

Todd interrupted her before she could continue, "It was a matter of survival. Would you not kill some of your herds for food if you were otherwise starving? The difference with us is that we were also reluctant to do so because we knew that those that we must feed on to survive were perfectly aware of their fate if they were to be fed on by us well before their deaths. We had to in order to survive. This does not mean that all of us took pleasure from it. In such cases, we are far happier to accept the retrovirus rather than be forced to feed on humans.

"There is a genuine difference in those of us who take pleasure in feeding and harming others and those of us who simply endeavored to survive. One will kill for pleasure and sport. The other only feeds when necessary, to survive. It is for this reason that so many of our young do not survive once they begin being forced to feed. When it comes to choosing a life surviving at the expense of others or their own death, they frequently chose death for themselves. Such will not be the fate of future generations if I have any say in the matter. My actions in these past few months mean that my children will never know the hunger or suffering it brings to others," If anyone would have wondered if the navy-blue hair detracted from Todd's serious appearance, that speech would have set them straight.

Allina looked distinctly uncomfortable after essentially having it pointed out that the majority of Todd's species was so opposed to killing humans, they chose death over feeding on them. They were learning that the majority of adults were, as a result, the worst of the species in terms of their morals.

John gave her a positive, as well as a piece of the bigger picture to focus on, "Think of it this way, the Wraith are at a turning point of their evolution. They can either take the retrovirus and live without the necessary violence their previous lives required for their survival, or the next time they make an attempt to cull a world under Atlantis's protection, they will die. Either way, we will no longer tolerate anyone feeding on humans. We are merely making the choice to prevent it occurring with genocide when there is a far more… rational alternative.

"Another thing you need to keep in mind, the Wraith aren't the worst things out there. There is also a species we know little of, other than that they are called the Naari. They destroyed our world, without provocation, and without any reason beyond that they couldn't enslave us. That's right, they destroyed my home world because we were too powerful to be enslaved. They didn't do it out of a necessity to survive, but because they wanted… well we don't know what they want exactly, but I'm guessing it involves nothing nice or pretty for humans, given that, from the little we do know, they wiped out a completely peaceful species from another galaxy because they had enough technology to resist their control," John watched as both women became ashen-faced.

"Worse than the Wraith?" Allina asked, her tone colored with the dread that the thought invoked even as her face paled to a sheer white.

"Much worse, after all, my mother launched a plan ten thousand years ago to give us a shot, just a chance to defeat these guys. They've already destroyed my home world. A world that held seven billion human lives. That's more lives than the Wraith have taken in the last ten thousand years, wiped out, in a period of hours. They are currently ravaging our home galaxy and the odds are that once they are done there, they will turn their attentions here if we don't stop them before they finish there. Those other species that are on Lantea, besides the Wraith, they are from my home galaxy. They are advanced in technology.

"Advanced enough that they can build spaceships to travel here and they are refugees. That is what we are up against. That means that we need everyand I do mean every person capable of fighting them trained to do so, so that when they turn their attentions here, they won't be able to repeat what they are doing to the Milky Way. That's why we need as many Wraith to take the retrovirus. Because if we don't help them evolve and put aside our differences, then we all will pay the ultimate price, complete annihilation," John made the point of hammering that point home.

Other than to a few Coalition reps, this information hadn't been spread just yet. John was making the choice to ensure that these people realized that the Wraith's change had to be accepted for the safety of all. Sanir was glancing between Todd, Cooria, Orrilin, and Serwen and while Allina took in the information and processed what it meant for her people.

"Why is your hair blue?" Sanir finally asked, clearly unable to process the information as Allina appeared to be attempting to do. "I thought the Wraith only had white hair."

Ronon snorted at the ridiculous question. Todd sighed, and John suspected that she wasn't the first person to ask him since he had dyed it sometime earlier that day, as the change would be enough for curiousity from most people.

Instead of ignoring the question, Todd answered it with surprising honesty, "Male wraith carriers are born with hair of various colors. My hair was originally this color. When we begin to feed, our hair color is lost. However, an entertaining side-effect of the retrovirus is that those who were born with color in our hair are regaining that color. It was suggested by several others, and I agree, that since my hair would be peculiar looking with only the roots being blue, that I should merely dye my hair to match what my hair will grow as in the future. I have thus done so."

"Did River and Arthur go for it too or are you leading by example?" John asked, allowing himself the distraction for a few moments while Allina processed the information, still.

"They wish to wait to ascertain if it is a fluke that only I shall have or if they will also regain their hair color. Given how short a period of time since they received the retrovirus, they aren't certain as to the results yet," Todd responded casually.

Sanir didn't seem to know what to make of this information but before she could really respond to the information that there were other adult wraith around somewhere, Allina finally snapped out of the contemplative state. She retrieved their bags and then shoved them across the table towards Todd, "If the Ancestors have been planning for these… Naari for ten thousand years, that is our test. Are we strong enough to accept the fact that our old enemy must become our ally, or we will all parish? That is why the ascended one said that if we failed the second test, it would spell our doom. I do not know what those tablets say or what is contained on these crystals, but I do not doubt they are intended for you."

Sanir looked at Allina in absolute shock. Allina was sitting with her back straight. Though John could tell there was still a great deal of fear in her mind directed towards Todd and the children, given that she had lacked the longer opportunity to get to know Todd as the others in the room had, she possessed a steel determination to follow the path the Ancestors intended for her.

John decided to reward her courage in the face of such uncertain fears, "We appreciate that you have been willing to listen to our position. With that in mind, will tomorrow do to install the Shield Generator and place another on the gate?"

Allina nodded firmly, "When your people come to perform the work, we will welcome them and accept your gracious gift. We will also, of course, turn over the Potentia to you, as it is rightfully yours."

John would have protested that they didn't really need the ZPM anymore, given their vast stores within the city, with literally thousands of them, but it was also a risk to leave the thing virtually unguarded, despite the Daganian intentions of protecting it. Instead he gave his agreement and let Woolsey take over the conversation with Allina about the form their alliance would take while he and Todd retreated to Todd's lab with the crystals for examine later. When they returned after their little trip, Allina and Sanir seemed to have relaxed a great deal.

The pair bowed deeply to John and then almost as deeply to Todd. It was an odd moment before Allina turned to John, "Mr. Woolsey has explained that your mother made a great prophecy that your bond with your mate will enable the survival of all humanity. That she went through a great deal of effort to ensure that these events would come to pass so that we might all survive. We feel truly blessed to be honored with the gift of meeting your mate before so many of your other allies."

With that, they gave a much lesser bow to Woolsey again and headed out of the conference room to depart through the gate. John just turned to Woolsey, "Really? Like we don't have enough issues with one cult of Sheppard worshippers, you need to add another?"

Teyla intervened before Woolsey could attempt to defend himself, "They were already set to worship you, I believe. You are the child of those they revered above all others. Undoubtedly, they have also heard from their trading partners of various feats that you managed, John. The bond between you and Todd needed to be presented in a way that it was seen as blessed by the Ancestors. Otherwise, they likely could have taken a dislike or posed a potential threat to Todd, viewed him as a subversion of someone who otherwise would have been their salvation. Now, they see him as a necessary part of the salvation of the people of Pegasus from the wraith who would not choose a new path."

"Oh, great, so Todd's the Virgin Mary to my God. That's real reassuring," John grumbled.

Todd sighed, "That analogy is a poor one." John had temporarily forgotten that Todd had read the bible cover to cover.

"Yeah, well, I'm grumpy. I'm sick of suddenly finding either people wanting to stab me in the back or turn me into some sort of twisted Messiah. It's creepy," John grouched further.

"I believe it is in part due to your reluctance to have others worship you that makes them so eager to do so. They believe you will truly do what is right because you are virtuous and desire to protect others, not because you desire more praise," Teyla pointed out.

John glared at her. The worst part was that she was probably right. John had a hero complex and he wasn't even going to bother denying it. His first instinct would always be to do the right thing, even if it wasn't logical to anyone else or easy. Case in point, his choosing to let Todd go when they escaped from Kolya. If he hadn't done so, things would be significantly different. Jeanie likely would be dead from the nanites, the Replicators would still have played a significant risk. Hell, there was even the probability that without the ZPM that he had stolen from the replicators, Atlantis never would have returned to Earth, meaning John wouldn't have had the golden opportunity to get custody of Rikki, they wouldn't have had the ZPMs she created, never mind a bunch of other advantages that she created.

It was also possible that Sam would have still been on Atlantis with the replicators still around and thus wouldn't have given a warning to evacuate Earth like they had. There were enough people on Atlantis to ensure the survival of humanity, so long as they had enough time to rebuild. That option wouldn't have existed if Sam wasn't there to give the warning.

John shuddered. It hadn't been the easy choice, but it had been the right one, not that the others had understood John's reasoning of his giving his word. John ignored the biggest thing though, if he hadn't done the right thing, he wouldn't have Todd now. Sure, he wouldn't have known what he was missing, but hindsight was 20/20 and damned if John wasn't glad that he made that one correct choice.

Teyla and Ronon looked at John indulgently as he huffed, "Yeah, I get it, if I didn't have a hero complex, people wouldn't make me out to be a hero. It doesn't make me happy, you know."

"That's what we're here for. To keep your ego from inflating. At least we don't have to worry about you getting a god complex too. You don't like people worshipping you enough for that," Ronon responded. Todd snorted along with John on that one.