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: Have a Merry Christmas people!
Chapter 33: Taste of Victory
John yawned as he entered the meeting with Bitterwind and the Council as they planned out their method of persuading the remaining hold out hives into taking the retrovirus. Todd had, mercifully, decided to work with Rodney on the process of working out the systems of the Naari ships in a more comprehensive manner. Mercifully, because if John had thought that Todd had been horny during his first pregnancy than he was now being schooled in how horny Todd could get while pregnant, and moody too. Twice already in less than three days since their mating had ended John had been forced to interrupt what he was doing because an argument from Tunney, who had somehow finagled a spot on the examination team, which had resulted in Todd getting incredibly frustrated and thus incredibly horny, which had translated to John getting horny. It was a whole cascading effect.
It was literally the start of their marriage all over again, only for some reason more pregnancy hormones thrown into the mix and an infant daughter to care for as well. In a small bout of mercy from God, if there was one, was that Vala's daughter had developed such an intense affection for Fianna and TJ that the Nox had opted that the best way to integrate her into her class and keep her on task and behaving was to have both present and using the infant and toddler as a means of keeping Adria calm and on task. Granted, this only worked because Adria virtually worshipped Fianna and TJ and thus would do anything for more time with them and for some reason, the opinion was mutual, even with their infant daughter, which was just baffling.
That didn't mean that Fianna didn't stay with John and Todd at night, but almost her entire day was with Adria's class to keep the otherwise wild girl focused. Still, the matter still stood that it was probably best that Fianna had that kind of occupation and stimulation in her surroundings. It meant fewer interruptions at work. All in all, John would have felt far more awkward and frustrated about it all, if he didn't know that all the other bonded sires were dealing with the exact same issue for their mates. Yu'tra was the one who got the most flustered and was also the one who looked like he got the least amount of sleep. Granted, not only was his baby younger, but he and his mate were much younger than the rest as well. They were actually the youngest pair in the city by a long shot. Even though they weren't the only Jaffa sire/Wraithkin carrier pair by this point, there had been two more joining the mix since then, in both cases, the carriers had been from one of their city residents from among those who'd defected from hives or came from one of their Wraithkin hives and had a much more 'traditional' Wraith style courtship as a result, and they were also much older.
Still, that didn't stop John from being tired as he entered the meeting, nor the fact that he'd already downed a cup of the strongest tea he could reasonably brew, with another to-go mug in his hand as he entered, "Sorry… I got delayed." John wasn't going to tell everyone that Todd had been so horny that morning when they'd woken up that he'd been forced to go three rounds and rush a shower and the tea along with a power bar, forgoing a proper breakfast, to get there even as late as he was.
"Ah, yes, well, that is to be expected. It is a natural state of being for a Wraithkin carrier to require his mate's presence so frequently during a pregnancy," Bitterwind remarked with amusement more than anything. Granted, Semper was standing directly behind her, and John got the suspicious feeling that the long-time second-in-command and mate of Bitterwind knew exactly what John was feeling if the eyeroll he produced was any indicator. John mildly considered that these guys had been exposed to them for too long if they were picking up distinctly human mannerisms but didn't comment on it.
"Right, well, let's get this underway, as I really should be with McKay and the others working out the Naari ship systems," Carter remarked.
Bitterwind nodded her agreement and explained swiftly, that the remaining Wraith Queens were willing to meet with them on her hive provided that they were permitted to bring all the hives at once. Bitterwind explained it was their belief that if they were all present it would increase the probability that the humans wouldn't kill them all in one final barrage. Granted, the very fact that it was the humans who were making the offer and that Bitterwind and other hives were still standing and capable of proving that the retrovirus was safe to take, plus the fact that the remaining Wraith were starving to death or resorting to what amounted to cannibalism, were also heavy factors playing into the matter.
There was also the added bonus that Bitterwind had intentionally leaked that she was pregnant, which caused a stir due to the fact that she'd only had a daughter four years ago. John knew that the lure of more children at a faster pace without the risk of starvation too had to be like chumming the water for sharks off the coast of Australia would have been once upon a time. Bitterwind was insistent that they present physical evidence to the other Queens that they really had found a way to accelerate the breeding process, as it would be a powerful motivator for them to take the retrovirus, with the fact that their numbers were swiftly dwindling.
John wasn't so keen on the idea of exposing his infant daughter and pregnant mate to the other queens, but after a lot of debate, agreed that it would be fine, provided that they didn't expect any actual fighting to occur outside their control. Bitterwind also recommended that the humans provide 'entertainment' in the form of music. John suspected that Bitterwind just wanted the excuse to have a little music if she had to put up with the ultimate bitches of the Wraith that were still standing. Still, Carter agreed that it would be a good incentive to add, since the Wraith didn't yet know how much the Wraithkin enjoyed human music.
There were a good number of bands and odd groups that enjoyed playing music that had popped up since the destruction of Earth, part of this was because the Nox, who delighted in some types of human music just about as much as the Wraithkin did, had strongly encouraged music therapy for those who struggled to express their emotions from the trauma of losing their homeworld. John had to acknowledge that of all the things he thought the Wraithkin and Nox would find common ground, it made sense in a weird sort of way that it was music. For the Wraith it was something new and fascinating that was pleasurable to them, even though they couldn't physically sing themselves due to the shaping of their vocal cords. For the Nox who already had music, if not in the same form, it was seen as a healthy, therapeutic outlet for traumatized humans.
After a little bit of debate though, it was decided, to Bitterwind's disappointment that they would use standard audio recordings and not an in-person band, out of safety concerns. Further discussions resulted in the decision to have meals present for those who wanted to 'sample' what it could be like to consume standard food once more, not that any who hadn't taken the retrovirus would be able to properly process it. It was also necessary on the front that the negotiations would likely take days to complete. Dr. Torres insisted on sending Lantean negotiators as well, though John and Bitterwind told her that it wouldn't be a very useful tactic overall. The Hive Queens would respect John because of his mental prowess as well as his connections to the Wraithkin Hives and their Queens' obedience to him. They would however view other unbonded humans without Wraithkin DNA as little more than food at present, and they were starving. So, while they could keep them safe, it would be more a hinderance than help to have straight human diplomats there.
When the meeting was over, Teyla pulled him aside and informed him that it had been confirmed with no uncertain terms that she and the twins were all pregnant. John nodded and congratulated her, though he noted her uncertainty, "What is it?"
"The Athosian women who are Wraithkin, they've never managed to have more than a single child. It dawns on me now that we're likely biologically a lot closer to the Wraith than previously believed. All we truly lack is their longevity and the ability to feed plus a few superficial features. My father, he said that my mother had known that she would only have one child and had been bitter I was born a girl, not because she fundamentally didn't want a daughter but because it would further limit the possibility of our family being furthered. I had long accepted that I would never be able to have another child beyond Torren, and now I'm blessed with not only the chance to carry another child and Orrilin and Serwen, but also the knowledge that it may be possible to have more children in the future if Kannan and I desire it," Teyla looked a little watery eyed as she continued. "And yet I know that it's highly improbable that I would have ever been so blessed if it weren't for the Naari destroying your world. I'm torn because it feels like seven billion lives were the cost to my being given the opportunity that I prayed to the ancestors to for so long."
"It isn't your fault Earth was destroyed Teyla. The Ascended Ancients didn't direct the Naari towards Earth and it's destruction because you prayed to them that you could have another kid. Hell, for all you know we could have found another way in a dozen different ways. Keller and the other doctors have been working hard to fully comprehend the Wraith and Wraithkin biology enough to ensure that they had enough long-term data to fully understand the impacts of long-term hybridization like we're looking at now. Never mind that normal human fertility treatments could have worked if we tried them. It's impossible to say, but there are plenty of other possibilities. Hell, this was just a fluke, it's probably far more likely that we would have figured out the hormones used to induce pregnancy in the carriers and used that in combination with the Regenerative drug as a fertility treatment. And let's be honest, Todd and I would have ended up on the path we're on even if Earth hadn't been destroyed. Hell, the bond likely would have occurred within the same time frame with or without Earth's destruction and that was the information that put us on the path to figuring out all those other things in Wraith biology, so don't feel guilty for praying. We all know that the most the Ancients did was not stop those who followed my mother's lead from doing what they did to preserve as many of us as they could," John reminded her firmly.
Teyla nodded, "Right, of course, it was a foolish notion, undoubtedly brought on by hormones."
John smiled and patted her on the back, "Just remember you're off any combat missions until the baby's born. Same as with Torren."
Teyla snorted, "I'm not a fool who could not surmise that for myself."
With that, John departed and headed back to the control chair to continue the process of downloaded the extensive amounts of information that had been acquired by yanking it from the minds of the Naari. There was a group of Wraithkin waiting for him and they merely opened their minds to his as he settled into the chair and spent several hours funneling all of the information, some of it highly repetitive, into the chair and thus Atlantis's systems. That information would then be accessible to a few select scientists. He was pulled out of the semi-trance from the process partway through though.
"What is it?" He questioned Bloodborne who had interrupted the process.
"Gen. O'Neill is requesting your presence in the control room," Bloodborne answered immediately.
John sighed, stretched out the kinks in his back and then jogged to the transporter and made his way to the control room which was a buzz of activity, "What happened?"
Rodney responded while he, Zelenka, and Carter tapped away at the computer systems, "We're still trying to work that out, but Tunney and a small group of what I can only assume are imbecilic nitwits managed to overpower the gate technician and dialed out somewhere."
"Were they military or civilians?" John asked immediately.
"Not sure, we need you to do a swift head count of your people. I've already ordered the rest of the military chain of command to check on if any of their people are missing. I'm saying they have some training though judging by the camera feed, though there were no Wraithkin at least, so there's that," O'Neill responded.
John nodded before tapping on his Com, "Gen. Sheppard to all SpecOps personnel. All SpecOps personnel are to report to a formation on the Northeast Pier within fifteen minutes of this communication. I repeat, all SpecOps are to report to the Northeast Pier for a formation within fifteen minutes of this communication."
O'Neill nodded to John as he departed, leaving the geeks to their analysis of the systems. Instead, he headed to the pier in question himself and met up with Ronon as he finished the trip over. John carefully counted each mind as it joined the group and nodded in satisfaction before radioing O'Neill, "All SpecOps personnel are accounted for. Any particular orders?"
"Send them to help our Colonels ensure that all military personnel are present. Also, I need Ronon to help check all the teenagers who took martial arts courses with him are present as well," O'Neill responded.
John confirmed that and relayed the orders, assigning them in groups to assist with finding out who had gone rouge with Tunney. How Tunney had convinced any of them it was a good idea was beyond John's comprehension, but then again, it wasn't exactly improbable that the guy had figured his 'time travel' through solar flares would work on a basic level with it being common knowledge that it occurred before. Once SpecOps was dispersed, a few of them going with Ronon and Teyla to check on the teenagers, John headed back to the control room. Once there he found that not only were Rodney, Carter, and Zelenka working on the problem, but Janus was as well.
"Joining in on the fun?" John couldn't help asking the man.
Janus glanced at John for a moment and smirked, "Considering that my primary job in Ata's group was to develop numerous methods of efficient time travel? Absolutely. You know, Ata probably shared more variables of the future with me than any other person in our group. For example, there was the fact that the Naari could appear in the Milky Way anywhere within a sixty-year period and before a certain point, that point being your…fourth year in Pegasus, after Samantha aided in defeating the Asurans here, the probability of overall human survival was actually quite low. There was also the one in six chance that you would never make it to Pegasus, and numerous other variables, like your being trapped twenty thousand years in the future. To be fair though, all the odds were in you favor after the defeat of the attack of the Wraith attack on Earth, the odds of Humanity's survival went up astronomically after that point. Most of the risks were before then. After that, well you and Todd were all but inevitable, provided you didn't kill him, but then you wouldn't have been able to stop the attack on Earth if you had." Janus shrugged.
"How high were the odds that we never did as well as we're doing now?" John couldn't help asking.
Janus looked at him and sighed, "This time line, which was honestly the ideal one that Ata was hoping for, was a 1 in 89,347 chance of occurring. That's because there were that many possible chances of a single decision by any number of those of you who were key players would be derailed. Which is also why I already calculated exactly when Col. Carter, Gen. O'Neill, Teal'c, and Dr. Jackson originally landed with their attempt at a return trip from accidental time travel so we can get a… well I suppose a ship with a stargate located in the right place at the right time to send them back to the right time so that they are where they are needed later, because to be frank, a closed time loop is rare. Especially with you people, according to Ata. You don't know how many of those you people actually managed to leave altered, creating new timelines in the process. Not terribly bad, but it still made her predictions extraordinarily difficult to manage."
"Hey, some of those, we used your time machine to create, or at least I believe we did," Carter defended.
"Yes, well, that was the point of it, wasn't it. Ata insisted that it was impossible to save enough of the human species for long term survival without involving it quite a bit," Janus responded. "It was why she had me focused so intently on that part of my work."
"Have you figured out where Tunney and his lot went yet?" Carter asked with an eyeroll at the man's casual reference to deliberately manipulating timelines for his own ends.
"Oh, yes, according to my calculations, the solar flare on the particular star he used should have sent him about nineteen days into the future, he just missed one on a different star they would have also pass by about fifteen seconds for one that would have sent him back in time fourteen years, so I suspect that was the one he aiming for. Looks like no harm, no foul. They will be back and safe soon enough," Janus smiled brightly.
"How did he even get the calculations for predicting solar flares in the first place?" Rodney grumbled.
"He probably stole it from my new lab. I'm still working on understanding the security features your computer systems maintain with Eli's help and I admit I'm not fully up to date on all of it. I am some five years and change out of date with the advances made in Earth technology after all. My firewalls probably weren't sufficient to prevent him from hacking in yet and I did need to create those calculations to ensure that in the future we can get SG-1 back to their appropriate time in the past," Janus answered with an apologetic shrug.
"Time travel is so weird," Jack complained.
John looked at Jack, "Yeah, can't argue with that. Any updates on personnel?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, none of the Russians or Brits are gone. We're missing two French, a German, and three Americans, so that accounts for all the people we had go through the gate. All military, so I now have to think of what to do with the idiots when they get back in nineteen days. Janus, you're sure of that number?" Jack looked at the Alteran.
"Oh, absolutely. I can show you the equations if you wish to double check though," Janus offered, tilting the laptop in Jack's direction.
"I'm good, thanks," Jack rolled his eyes and then turned to John. "Well, I'm going to use the next nineteen days to think up a suitable punishment for the six idiots who decided they can change the future by getting themselves killed by going back in time to an Atlantis that was still sixty leagues under the sea, with minimal power, when they might not have even landed in the right spot for the stargate, given that they were attempting to circle back and that doesn't always work out right, while none of them had the ATA gene to activate anything, and no way to get back to Earth."
John considered that for a moment before asking Janus, "Dehydration, starvation, or suffocation?"
"Oh, most likely Dehydration. I believe Atlantis would have had enough oxygen, stagnant though it would have been, to sustain them until they died of dehydration, they wouldn't have lived long enough to starve. The desalinization systems wouldn't have been active without anyone to activate them. Everything beyond the shield and the one status pod that Elizabeth was in was completely shut down. We actually had to install a gene override for the status pod so that Elizabeth could use it to maintain the power levels and shield periodically so you didn't all immediately die on arrival," Janus answered easily.
"Right, I knew that," John responded. "I need to get back to downloading all the information on the Naari from Wraithkin heads into our systems though, so we can properly fight them."
With that, John departed and headed back to the control chair, mentally recalling those who had been with him before and hadn't shared their intel with him yet. Personally, John wasn't exactly thrilled with the whole process given that he was essentially enduring the equivalent of going into the minds of hundreds serial killers who got off on the worst kinds of torture. Still, the information beyond how each individual Naari personally liked to kill its victims was important, especially given how many of those they had taken out in this instance were the scientists. Granted, those who had gone on the other ship had encountered more of the warriors than scientists, helping to balance out the differences and similarities. Additionally, John was privately very relieved that they hadn't encountered any of the Naari's young. Though based on the information they had so far, the children were no better than the adults, even participating in the murder and torture of the humans on the ships apparently, it would have been far more psychologically traumatizing to have physically killed them in person rather than through the psychic wave.
According to the doctors who had been studying the bodies of all the Naari on the ships that had been brought back and situated on Athos for the purpose of study, the deaths of all the children had been swift and they likely hadn't even been aware of what occurred, their minds far more delicate and susceptible to the psychic attacks than the mature adults. That meant that even if they had somehow wanted to try to rehabilitate the children, it wouldn't have been possible to purely due to their sensitivity to telepathy.
When the final download was completed, John winced, and went directly to the Nox for a therapy appointment, because much of what he was exposed to was genuinely the vilest information that he could possibly have been forced to have run through his mind. After two hours of having a very sympathetic Nox listen to his disgust at what the Naari did for fun, he felt a little better and went to find Ford, who was working on a physical therapy session with another Nox. A Nox because to be honest, anyone else would have been a big pushover in letting Ford push himself beyond his limits in terms of his physical recovery, in turn setting him back even further.
As it was, Ford glared at the overly chipper Nox as they went through Yoga and Tai Chi moves to work on limber muscle growth. In between the different styles, Ford would take swigs of the extremely high protein rich smoothy made out of several Nox plants. Those same plants had been used to make the enriched formula that supplemented Fianna's diet, so John was more than familiar with it. Hell, a lot of his SpecOps personnel would inhale those smoothies for post workouts, especially the Wraithkin who needed more protein and calories as well. Once John was satisfied that Ford was putting in a serious effort to recover without over doing it, he departed without gaining Ford's attention.
Over the next few days, they completed the preparations for the Wraith/Wraithkin conference. The settled-on location was the dead space of the solar system around where Genea and its star had once stood, towards the outer limits where the radiation from the blast having finally dissipated from the area. It had been agreed that every hive, Wraith and Wraithkin would be present. The whole preparation for the meeting was an exercise in exasperation for John and Todd, with the Wraithkin Queens using their full-blown cattiness and snide remarks about various the Wraith Queens still kicking about. After one such meeting, John told Todd he now understood why Todd had had no desire to rule the Wraith as a whole and been met with smug laughter from his mate in response.
Finally, however, the starting day of the conference arrived and John and Todd along with all those coming, their infant daughter included, loaded up onto the Phoenix. Then, along with all the Wraithkin Hives, they jumped via wormhole to the agreed upon meeting spot. Naturally, they kept their shields up at full for their exit into the outer region and then tentatively joined the masses of hives present in the area. All their non-hive ships were on standby, incase this was an ambush, but thankfully, none of the ships acted with immediate hostility toward them. After a moment, they were hailed, and Todd was giving confirmation that the Queens could start arriving on the Phoenix.
A large auditorium had been prepared for the conference and all the Queens were permitted to bring two guards with them. Bitterwind was the first to arrive, flanked by Semper and their third, and accompanied by Sweetbell, a now precocious almost five-year-old. Likewise, her daughters Windwhip and Silverclaw entered without hesitation and flanked by their second and thirds. Dancingsword arrive as well, accompanied by the Wraithkin she'd selected to mate with her, for all that she didn't have her own hive. They were soon followed by all the other Wraithkin Queens, all keeping to one side of the auditorium, and giving respectful nods of deference to John and Todd at the front of the room.
When the first Wraith Queen entered, the contrast between her and her escort, and the Wraithkin was painfully obvious. Even on the hives, the Wraithkin had taken to more exuberant colors for their clothing, there were Carrier Clevermen with their hair reverting and dyed back to the colors of their youth, and even some of the sires had taken to dying their hair with various streaks of color out of whimsy. Even the ridged social structure was much more relaxed, with nearly no hostility between the Wraithkin Queens, after all, they weren't locked in a pitted struggle for survival at each other's expenses anymore but were regularly trading materials grown between their worlds to build up their food base in a more diverse manner as much as was physically possible.
In contrast, the Wraith Queens, as they filed into the room were stiff, glancing at each other with suspicion. All of them were dressed in black, the only color on them was the Queens' hair and their teal-colored skin. All the Queens were dressed in the leather-like armor they wore when in a potentially dangerous situation. Additionally, the arrival of the Wraith Queens had the Wraithkin Queens tensing up in a manner that made John uncomfortable, but he knew it was vital for the end of this conflict. It also didn't help that they had been forced to set up a rather rigid seating arrangement on that side of the room due to the fact that many of the alliances were in conflict with each other and John didn't want there to be any attempted murders to occur during the conference, though that might be hoping for too much given Bitterwind's predictions.
John had, per Bitterwind's council, pretended to ignore it all, while actually, with Swordborne's permission, watched it all unfold from the side of the room through his eyes. Once everyone was present, he extracted himself from Swordborne's mind and sent a mental pulse through the group. This got a variety of amusing mental, if not physical ones, from the Wraith Queens while the Wraithkin Queens merely smirked as they cut off their conversations with each other and focused on him.
Once silence had fallen, John gave a light smirk of his own and started in, "Welcome and thank you all for attending this… conference of Wraith and Wraithkin leaders. I'm sure you're all aware of our purpose here, but I'll reiterate it, just to ensure that there are no misunderstandings. As I'm sure you're all aware, the Wraithkin and Lantean government, as well as the Interplanetary Coalition of Pegasus have decided to extend an opportunity for amnesty and a truce with any Wraith Hives that agree to and do immediately take the Retrovirus that will remove their need to feed on humans and will swear to cease all attempted attacks on human worlds for their own personal gain. In short, if you take the retrovirus and stop attacking humans, we'll stop killing you all."
A Wraith Queen immediately stood, "And what true benefit is there for us in doing this? You haven't successfully killed any of us in months now."
John gave a knowing sardonic laugh, "We haven't destroyed your ships, you mean. Don't think we're unaware of the fact that all of you are starving. I'd even wager that none of you have any living Wraith worshippers left alive and your drones are probably starting to dwindle too, to feed those of you who are higher up the chain. The question is, how long before you run out of drones and your lower ranked Commanders realize they're next and mutiny. What benefit do you get? Your hives won't kill you so that they can take the retrovirus just to survive without you. Your commanders won't flee and beg for our mercy to free them from their starvation leaving you alone, without power and nothing to feed on. That's what benefits you in this scenario." John finished with a snarl.
If there was one thing he could do, it was play just as nasty, cruel, and calculated as any Wraith thought they were. The Queen glared at him, "My commanders would never attempt to…"
"Sit. Down," John cut her off harshly, deliberately slamming into and decimating her mental defenses, and after a moment making her, against her will, return to her seat. It was an overt show of force and mental power that Bitterwind had informed him would be instrumental in forcing the Wraith Queens to recognize him as a force to be reconned with. "Your commanders are starving already, you fool. All of you Wraith Queens, your commanders are starving. Your numbers are failing rapidly. You are faltering. We know exactly how long you can go without feeding if you don't go into hibernation, which you can't risk without becoming vulnerable to us. My people could easily sit back and do absolutely nothing over the next few years while you turn on each other and attempt to seize control over each other's hives so that you have something to feed on, all the while decimating your numbers even further."
Bitterwind stood at that point and added in, "And for any of you thinking of using the cloning facilities, at for least those of you who haven't already figured this out, I destroyed them all after submitting to The Fearless Leader of the Winds of Change. Even on the microscopic chance you managed to obtain a power source sufficient to make it work, there's nothing for you to use." She then sat back down, smug as could be.
John spread his mental awareness wide and could feel the uncertainty from the Wraith present, and not just their queens now. He let them have their moment of uncertainty before continuing where Bitterwind left off, "There is, of course, another means of accelerating your reproductive rates, but we aren't exactly about to go sharing that with just anyone. That's strictly for the Wraithkin, those who take the retrovirus, and honestly, we don't even know if it would work for those who haven't. Still, it's a useless point if you're all going to starve yourselves to death. So, here's the deal, we're going to end this discussion here for now. Those of you who need time to think about our offer on your own can go back to your ships and contemplate your fate if you choose folly. That's death either now at our hands or later at your own. Those of you who wish for an opportunity to speak with some of our Wraithkin Queens and Commanders, get a feel for how they have adapted and benefited from the retrovirus, we're hosting a banquet, one without humans on the menu, mind, any attacks of any form on a human or Wraithkin will be met with a swift death, but you'll get to see the numerous advantages, like being able to eat normal food again and actually benefit from it, as well as other more mundane pleasures, that come with the territory." With that, John stood from his throne-like seat and departed with Todd, Ronon, and Teyla flanking him.
He sighed briefly over the fact that at least there hadn't been any real resistance to the offer on the table. His group went to where Kannan was watching Fianna and Sweetbell. Once their daughters were collected, John braced himself for what was to come. Bitterwind and every other Queen under him had been addiment that this front of what would almost certainly occur. That didn't mean that John had to like it at all. He absolutely despised that it had to occur with one of his children present. His only consolation was that Bitterwind and Todd both assured John that Fianna's familial bond with him would protect her from the oncoming onslaught as much as it would protect Todd. Unfortunately, every other person in the room, Wraith, Wraithkin, or human would have to deal with the force because, for all of John's mental strength, he didn't have the finesse to go beyond controlling a few people without controlling an entire room, and that had been extensively tested over the past few days in preparation for this conference. At least, he knew that Sweetbell was old enough that they could explain to the little girl what was happening so that she wouldn't be upset by it, but rather think it a fun game. What else occurred would be shielded from her as much as possible.
John took a moment to breathe in the calm that came from touching his mind to Fianna's mind. Even at less than a year, he could feel the building mental strength she bore, but also the basic simplicity at which her mind still functioned. Her perception of people was perhaps a bit stronger than it normally would be of a human child her age. For example, she was far more capable of perceiving who was who, and her known familiar people, as well as her favorite people, i.e. Adria and TJ for some baffling reason, compared to people she didn't know. That said, she didn't seem to really understand much beyond the basic comforts of food, sleep, play, and the people she preferred. This simplicity was a balm against the harsh reality of the Culture of the Wraith and what would be expected of him shortly.
Once John was centered and calm, he handed Fianna back to Kannan who nodded knowingly, understanding that Todd and John would need their hands free for the coming brief fight. Sweetbell actually skipped on her way towards the massive hall where they were holding the banquet. It was a bit ironic to John what they expected to occur was just about tantamount to old school human sacrilege. On Earth, back in the day, it was damned near a taboo to violate it, not that it didn't happen, but rather that it was just generally a taboo to actually do so and also considered cursed to do so.
When he entered the banquet hall, it was to see that the room mostly held Wraithkin Queens and their parties at present, all of them comfortable and relaxed with each other. However, there were a handful of Wraith Queens. Already, John could already feel the mental jockeying that he knew would occur among them. While the banter between the Wraithkin Queens and their commanders towards each other was playful and amused, they same could not be said for those speaking with the Wraith Queens and their commanders. It took mere moments before one of the Wraith Queens was approaching John as he was flanked by Todd and the others of his group. He immediately rebuffed the attempted probe into his mind with little effort. It was one thing to speak mind to mind, it was another to invade his mind, though it was only to be expected that at least one would attempt it.
"You know, some people consider it rude to just try and take information from another person's mind. You should be grateful that I don't consider that an actual serious attack against my person," John remarked icily. Then just to drive home his point, he deliberately forced his way into her mind to snatch out her name and some basic information. "I'm surprised your sire and carrier didn't teach you that Queen Poison Talon."
He could see her absolute rage, both through expression and mentally. He rebuffed the second attempt at his mind and gave a derisive snort, "Please, do you really think that such paltry attempts could penetrate my mental defenses. If you want information, you're going to have to actually ask, Poison Talon." He dropped the title without a thought.
Poison Talon's eyes narrowed before she finally spoke, "We were told that the only reason you were offering this parley was because there was a greater threat that means you can't expend as many resources on us. A threat that would even offend us. Offend, not actually harm us though."
"That's true. Well, for virtually every person in this room it is. From what I understand most of you take a great deal of offence at those who view children as toys to rape, and consume, but that really should be a universal sentiment. Unfortunately, it isn't in this scenario. That said, the Naari, our more… unpleasant enemy, seems to think it a delightful pastime," John punctuated this with the mental image of the screaming little girl he'd seen strapped down to a table, the body of a Naari on the ground where it had died from the mental attack. "Fortunately for the likes of you and I, the Naari's minds are the weak equivalent of heavily rotted wood. Even a little mental contact and it immediately begins to crumble. I'm sure that you can see the tactical advantage it would be to us to offer mercy for you in exchange for aid in destroying the people who destroyed my homeworld only through sheer force of numbers."
Poison Talon barked out her own derisive laugh, "You act as if you already have us defeated."
"I would point out that despite the fact that we made the offer to all of you, all of you are currently on my ship, conversing with my Wraithkin Queens, and giving our offer serious consideration because you're starving. Also, last I checked, your numbers are all rapidly dwindling. At the current rate, even if we kept playing at this game of chase the starving idiots, you'll all have defectors to us rather sooner than later, which will further diminish your numbers. And well, even all the Wraith Queens here, even if none of your people desert you, you're going to run out of loyal fools to feed on eventually. So, your choices really are hibernation or starvation, and I know for a fact that the lot of you can't go into hibernation without some serious safety protocols put into place or be placed in an extremely vulnerable state which we would be able to take advantage of," John just smirked.
He then turned his back, feeling her rage and knowing exactly what was about to occur. As soon as he felt her pull the dagger and raise it towards his provided back he immediately lashed out mentally, seizing control over the entire room of Wraith and Wraithkin as well as the few humans who knew what was coming. He turned back to face her, now frozen in place, unable to move as he once had been in his first encounter with a Wraith Queen, and shook his head, "You really aren't the brightest Queen I've ever encountered, that's for sure."
With that, he easily plucked the dagger from her hand as he forced it open with a mental command. He then leaned in close, speaking clearly, both verbally and mentally, "You didn't really think sixteen hive queens would willingly submit to me without question, to be perfectly comfortable with my, a man, a sire, being the Primary of their alliance unless my mental strength was something truly unique and powerful, did you? Think on that for a moment, of every single person in this room, Bitterwind is the oldest living Queen, the oldest in existence, and I know that the longer you lot live, the stronger your minds become, and she willingly submitted to me. My mate is among the oldest living of the Wraith and Wraithkin alive as well. He was alive while the Ancients still walked through Pegasus, as did Bitterwind and her second and third. They submitted to me. My mate bonded with me. You don't really think that they would choose to submit to so someone so weak that they would be susceptible to a dagger in the back at a banquet I was holding myself did you?"
By this point he had pulled back and was circling her in the same predatory manner that he'd had done to him so many times before when interrogated by a Wraith Queen. He fiddled with her dagger and once he was behind her, he got a firm grip on her hair, yanking her head back and exposing her neck, turning her for the whole room to see what he was about to do. He could feel the fear and understanding radiating off her now. The understanding that she had basically walked into the trap of making an example of herself for the other Wraith Queens. John really wished mercy was an option. She was clearly terrified, unable to comprehend how he was so mentally powerful that he could command control over the entire room of people, all of whom had now turned to face them at his mental command.
"Well, let this be a lesson to all those who are watching your folly now. I don't need subterfuge. I don't need cunning. Though I do possess both. I don't need to place a dagger in my would-be opponent's back because I'm too weak to handle her face to face. In a room full of Wraith and Wraithkin Queens, in a room where your own most trusted and loyal Commanders can do absolutely nothing but watch, I have the strength to have complete control and kill," With that, he drew the dagger sharply across her throat, ensuring he severed both jugulars and her windpipe before turning the blade and plunging it directly into her heart.
Todd, Bitterwind, Kannan and the children had all been deliberately moved out of the path of the blood splatter before he'd made the cut. He dropped her and then relinquished his hold over the room, "My apologies for the unpleasantness, some people just don't have manners these days." He quipped as lightly as he could manage, while hating that he'd just been forced to kill a Wraith purely to make a point.
Granted, if he hadn't everything would have fallen apart, compromised his perceived strength. Wraith didn't fully comprehend the idea of mercy or compassion, not after having them trained out of them in the cruelest manner possible. It would have been seen as a weakness. Still, he sent a mental command to the two commanders who had served Poison Talon to step forward. This was the point where he taught the Wraith that he could be considerate as well as ruthless at need, that he was powerful enough for both, "You two have a few options now. You're Queen is dead. Now, if she has a hive daughter on her hive you can take Poison Talon's body, return it to your hive, retrieve the daughter, and allow her to negotiate for the retrovirus as her hive mother should have, and proceed with the others. If she doesn't have a hive daughter, we'll allow one of you to make the negotiations, or for you to choose another Queen here to do so on your behalf if you trust any to make the negotiations for you, the Primary to your hive alliance perhaps, if Poison Talon wasn't that. Or you can take your dead Queen back to her hive under the pretext of getting a hive daughter only to attempt to flee, at which point I should warn you that while the lot of you were having your little conference here with me, my personnel were attaching trackers to all of your hives, and I will be able to track you down, disable your ship's hyperdrives, and then we can revisit this discussion. The final option would be you attempting to avenge your Queen here and now, but I think we all know that wouldn't work out very well in your favor, now would it?"
When John finished, he could sense a great deal of fear from not just the two commanders but from the rest of the Wraith Hive Queens as well, though none of them were visibly showing it. There was also a good amount of grudging respect for him, as in the Wraith sense, he had just asserted the dominance that was expected of the best and strongest Queens. As Bitterwind and the others had explained to him, among the Wraith strength and cunning dictated a lot more than any other factors did in what made a good Queen. John had just proven that he could easily bring them all to heel at will and that he was smart enough to know how to neatly trap them. There would be no further games of chase. If any Wraith Queen rejected the retrovirus now, it was certain death and every single one of them knew it. The best they could hope for was to negotiate for the most favorable terms they could acquire in the process.
The act of giving the Commanders a choice might seem a bit odd to them, but it was important as well, because it would alter their perception of him in the long term and teach them that things weren't going to continue to run the same as they had before. Finally, the second spoke, "We do not have any hive daughters and Poison Talon was our hive Alliance's Primary. We will negotiate for our Hive."
John nodded his approval, "Good."
He then glanced over in the Wraithkin waiting in the wings and they came over to quickly to dispose of the body and clean up what they could of the mess. A few others came out and handed damp cloths to those who'd gotten splattered with Poison Talon's inky blood to clean up as best they could. Once the process was done, they went back to the mental jostling, though, all the Wraith Queens were careful not to attempt another probe at John's mind, clearly respecting the power and authority he already had over them. The Wraithkin Queens were feeling all kinds of smug over the situation. Bitterwind's pleasure at how easily John had asserted dominance would have been a little disconcerting if he didn't know that she was just smug that her own child had managed to bond with probably the most powerful telepath in their known universe.
The rest of the banquet was more an exercise in ignoring the fact that Todd was now extremely horny for John on his part than anything else. He would never understand how Todd could be so turned on by John basically proving to be the strongest in the room, but the fact stood. Other than ignoring Todd's mental indicators of what he wanted to do to John when they returned to their room, John spent a good amount of time fielding questions on how it was possible that Todd was pregnant again, less than a year after giving birth to their previous child. Bitterwind enjoyed the fact that she could flaunt her pregnancy as well. John kept his answers vague, implying heavily that the retrovirus was a contributing factor, when he really didn't know for certain whether or not that was true.
John did keep a close eye on those who were purely human who were at the banquet as well, though and knew that Ronon, Teyla, his SpecOps Wraithkin, and his Queens, who were spread out, mingling, and attempting to sell up the benefits of the retrovirus, were doing to the same. Keller and Beckett were both focal points as they explained the origins of the retrovirus, how it was created, and the basic process of how it worked to shut down the Wraith's need to feed while maintaining as many of the other benefits as was possible. Gentle, subtle brushes allowed John to know that those who listened were, if not eager for it, then at least resigned to taking the retrovirus and relieved that the effects weren't going to drastically reduce their lifespans. Some Wraithkin Queens explained their use of the now decimated breeding colony worlds that held basic farms already to build up an agricultural foundation to feed the hives and their experiences with tentative trade agreements that were starting to be made on worlds that they had been working to make reparations on.
As most hives maintained a world with some form of agricultural means to ensure they had a steady supply of food for their children, it was more a need to expand on the existing structures and the Wraithkin Queens were happy to supply the answers on how best to do so. Other Wraithkin Queens, mainly Dancingsword, were explaining the scourge that was the Naari and the potential long-term, indirect threat they posed to those who didn't take the retrovirus. The fact it quickly became known that those who were female or bonded had immediately entered a breeding cycle after going onto a Naari ship seemed to bring about covetous eyes from many a Queen. That also led to many glances at Fianna and Todd as well as Bitterwind and Sweetbell. There was nothing more that a Hive Queen would like than to increase the rate at which they were able to breed.
By the end of the banquet, the tensions from John having to kill one of them were almost gone entirely, and it was clear that if for no other reason then to save their own necks, the other Queens would take the retrovirus. They all headed back to their hives to 'consider their options' and John took the opportunity to satisfy his mate's needs before they got to sleep for the next several hours. When all the Queens returned, the second day of the conference was more a mass negotiation of terms of taking the retrovirus, mostly to appease the prides of the Wraith Queens. Before the day ended however, Keller and Beckett were strapping down the first of the Queens and their commanders and beginning the process of altering them on a genetic level with the retrovirus. Within two days, the infirmary was flooded with Wraith Clevermen who were going through the treatment themselves before they observed how the process was completed and left with the exacting formulas to create the retrovirus on their own and begin administering it to their hives.
In total, it took two weeks for them to get all the key personnel from the hives through their transitions. It didn't help that there were a few growing pains along the way as two different queens attempted to back out after watching some others transition and the other queens present killed them, presumably for their perceived weakness. It was an unfortunate but necessary event that John had to just barely tolerate, knowing full well that such methods were merely how the majority of the Wraith lived. Ruthlessness and more than a little fear of John were driving factors in their actions and as much as he found it repulsive, he also knew he had to let it go on principle. It was still something he would require time to process, however, and it would never be something that he was happy about.
When the Phoenix returned to Atlantis, it was to a city that was half relieved but one that was also in turmoil as it geared up for the first arrival of the Naari in Pegasus. Still, with any luck, the war with the Wraith was done, because in a matter of a few more weeks, the Wraith would be no more. Not unless there were more breeding colonies hiding somewhere, though they hadn't found any more of late. When John sat down at the table with the council to report the results of the conference, they were less tense than they could have been, but the mood was still grim.
"Rodney's on the Daedalus, out at the closest communications relay to us, just inside Pegasus. We're setting up sensors like the Hammond have on the relay so that when the Naari get within vicinity and then pass it in a few days, we can get a rough estimate of the number of ships. We're hoping for just the two that were located over Madrona, but we're going to remain cautious for now. The rest of our science teams are on the various worlds that are occupied by humans and Wraithkin making some modifications to their shields and sensors arrays so that it can pick up Naari ships in close proximity to their planets. We're also warning the ICP of the potential of a possible larger strike force having some split off and attack other worlds that display advanced technology so to not activate the shields independently of the sensor arrays or they could run the risk of drawing them in unnecessarily," Carter said her part.
"Are we certain that the use of sensor arrays won't be enough to draw in the Naari?" Torres asked in concern.
Janus, who was sitting in on the meeting as the Ancient Technologies expert answered, "They shouldn't. It's passive technology, like the Stargates. Unless they're used to trigger something and we have to presume that given that the Naari haven't destroyed all the worlds with Stargates on them given current evidence, that those aren't contributing factors in what causes them to deem a world dangerous to them. My best wager is that it was combination of the fact that Atlantis, with it's highly active systems, being on the planet, plus the recent high level of energy output due to the Wraith attack on Earth were what drew the Naari to Earth in the first place. I believe now, that if the Wraith attack on Earth hadn't occurred when it did, it's entirely possible that it could have taken the Naari decades more to be drawn to the Milky Way and Earth itself, which is why there was such a widespread time range on when the attack could occur according to Ata. This, of course, after numerous other highly active events while you were fighting the Goa'uld when they attacked Earth, though those were weaker events than the Wraith Hive attacking the planet and the use of Atlantis in Earth's defense.
"What drew them in towards Earth, and I believe they were likely already on a long-term prowl for a new populated galaxy to attacked, was likely the high frequency of high levels of energy output. The solar system Earth was a part of was located on an outer arm of the Milky Way galaxy. If they were coming from say, any portion near that section of the Virgo supercluster that the Milky Way and Pegasus are a part of, they would have had the potential to pick up readings from Earth. Especially that the type of energy specifically released, which was released at such higher frequencies as those used on Earth, be they Asgard or Ancient and the capability of their sensors. You were basically sending up a flare with some regularity, especially after the destruction of the Asgard homeworld. Between the fighting with the Ori, the Wraith attack, and general increased use of the technology you possessed, you essentially signaled to the Naari that the Milky Way was occupied, had plenty of sentient life, and that Earth was, if not the origin of all of it, the biggest player on the field technology wise, all of which was essentially true," Janus finished.
"Which was why it was an inevitability. Once we uncovered the Stargate, and with humanity's inherent determination, curiosity, and tendency to never remain cowed for long, as exhibited by how many worlds we've found that the Goa'uld eventually lost control of through the sheer force of human will, we were bound to figure out how to work the stargate out sooner or later. Then once we did, our refusal to bow would mean that we would never take the inevitable encounter with the Goa'uld sitting down. Humanity's very nature, our evolution into being persistence hunters, which we obviously gained from the Ancient's design, we were basically designed to be the natural lure and enemy of the Naari," Jackson added.
"Yeah, well to be fair, I'm pretty sure the Naari were expecting more along the lines of something closer to the Nox or the Furlings, or even the Ancients, those who, while maybe capable of fighting, aren't geared to it. Humans, we've spent the time since the Ancients left us basically honing our capability to fight, even if it was each other," John pointed out. "And the fact that we didn't really put up much of an apparent resistance when it came to Earth probably just reinforced their perception of us. Hell, I'd wager that the Naari aren't expecting humans or anything like us at all. I mean, our ships were under cloaking while performing the evacuation. The first time they saw one of any of our ships was when the Apollo's systems malfunctioned and all they saw was the exterior and the Apollo ran rather than attacking. They have no intel on what they're actually up against."
"And we now have two of their ships, as well as their fighters, plus thanks to you and the Wraithkin, a means of translating their language into our own. Our scientists have already uncovered several weaknesses in the Naari ship designs. Our current biggest concern is the human, Jaffa, and Unas hostages that are likely to be on the ships, which means we can't really just blow them out of the sky if we want to save as many as possible and one of the few down sides that we've managed to determine is that unless you've got a locator beacon on you, our sensors can't pick you up inside their ships. The design of the hulls prevent us from picking up life signs themselves. Our sensors can penetrate it, but without those…" Carter looked apologetically at John.
"Well, we now know that the Naari are vulnerable to telepathy, and thankfully, we have an ample supple of telepathically capable personnel in the form of the Wraithkin. The Hive Queens have all agreed that as long as the Naari are a threat to any settlements they will try establishing, mostly because of their own technological advancements, they will aid us in the fight. That said, right now they've only pretty much agreed to work with us because they know they'll starve otherwise and they're all terrified of me," John admitted, still displeased with the fact that he was basically the dictator over a reluctant armada of Wraithkin Queens. It really wasn't a situation that would stand for long, definitely no longer than his life span, which they had really no idea how long that would actually be at this point due to his bond to Todd but probably less given the personalities of the queens in question.
"Right, well, as long as the Wraithkin will be working with us, we can manage. We can at least presume that the Naari aren't all coming here at max strength, given that the Naari over Dakara were perfectly content to stay and do their research on what they were finding on that world," O'Neill admitted with relief. "Plus, the further recon that the Cthulhu, Terra, and Africana have done say that the Naari are, to all appearances, still spread out and tormenting the worlds they're over. Personally, I say that once we know we've taken out the immediate threat heading our way, we start unleashing the Wraithkin that we know are trustworthy on the bastards."
The sentiment was met with thorough approval from the rest of the council and John agreed to talk more in depth with the Queens once the current threat had passed. At present, along with the retrovirus being administered to the remaining hives, they had also distributed and installed the networking systems that would allow the hives to be alerted to threats over worlds and the Queens had all agreed to station themselves in certain sectors of the galaxy for the coming confrontation, in anticipation of being needed in response to attacks over other worlds. It was a risk, but one they would have to take. It did have the side benefit of the fact that having those systems installed in the Hives allowed for Atlantis to actively track their locations, meaning that any attempts at a double cross would be much easier to deal with in the long term.