AN: I don't know how often I'll be able to update this, as I'm in the middle of moving house. I'll try to post new chapters as often as I can. I at least have the rest of the story planned out, so it's just a case of finding the time to write it. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

STARGATE: DISCORDIA II

CHAPTER 18

Previously on Stargate: Discordia...

"12 hours ago we received an urgent message from a Goa'uld scientist who asked to see us. She claims to have information concerning a plot to restore the Goa'uld to their former power."

"Do we know anything about this particular Goa'uld scientist?"

"You tell me," said Landry. "She calls herself Eris. Can't say I've ever heard of her before."

"The Tok'ra gave me what they thought were the remains of Osiris, but I quickly determined it was actually the remains of a Tok'ra symbiote. Instead of dying, Osiris managed to trade places with one of her Tok'ra captors, and tricked them into believing that she was dead. Since then she has remained in hiding, working upon a contingency plan in the event that the Goa'uld were ever defeated. Now she is finally ready and is putting her plan into effect."

"What is it?" Sam asked, examining the syringe she'd just been given.

"It's a dose of modified Orbanian nanites I prepared as a contingency, in case I was unable to repair Orlin's brain damage myself. By replacing the damaged neurons and synapses, they should be able to restore his mind to a healthy, functioning state."

"Long range sensors have detected a fleet of Tau'ri vessels approaching, My Lord. Five ships in total. They shall be here within the hour."

Her scan of the local star confirmed it. There was an active Stargate falling into the nearby sun. That could only mean one thing. Eris slapped the intercom switch.

"Sam, we have to leave right now, or we're all dead! This was Osiris' plan all along. She used me to lure your fleet here, so she could disable your engines and leave you to be destroyed by the supernova."

"If we cant use our own hyperdrive, maybe we can hitch a ride," Sam explained. "If we fly close enough to one of the Ha'Taks, we should be able to follow them into hyperspace using their own window."

"Report; did any of the other 304s make it?"

"Just one other, sir; we're picking up the Daedalus' IFF. The rest of the ships are all Goa'uld."

It was Osiris.

"Colonel Carter," she said, her voice painfully gloating, "You're a rather long way from home, aren't you?"

"What the hell just happened?"

"The sun exploded, the Goa'uld used the blast wave to modify their hyperspace windows so that they could reach the Pegasus galaxy, and now they're demanding we surrender before they bring their weapons back online or else they're going to destroy us."

"What are you doing?" asked Vala.

"I can bypass the main reactor with an alternate power source. It should be enough to get the shields and weapons running."

"What exactly were you planning on replacing the reactor with?"

"Myself," Eris answered.

"Oh, that's ... what did she do?"

"I injected myself with a catalyst of my own design. It converted the naquadah in my blood into naquadria. Not bad, huh?"

"We might have a little problem. Eris just about had a meltdown."

"As in-?"

"As in figurative and literal. Now that she's turned herself into a naquadria reactor, she's ... she's like a walking bomb. She lost her temper at me and almost exploded."

"There's been a bit of a wrinkle with the whole mission to attack the Goa'uld," said Sheppard. "It seems the Tobin sun exploded, which it wasn't supposed to do for another million or so years. It's a fair bet someone made it explode on purpose."

"Something tells me it's not a coincidence that the artificial supernova cooked up by the Goa'uld just so happened to send them to the Pegasus galaxy..."

"You got a plan?" asked the Colonel.

"It's not much of a plan," Orlin admitted. "I was just going to take the city to the co-ordinates and see if Sam is there."

"Hammond, this is Atlantis ... can we give you guys a lift?"

"I heard you have a live Wraith prisoner in the city, is that true?"

"We do. I should warn you though he's very cranky since he hasn't eaten in a long time. Why do you ask?"

"I want to see him."

"So this is what it comes to," said Todd, "You parade your children before me, letting them gawk at the captive Wraith. Was it not enough for you to hold me here and leave me to starve?"

"I'm not a child," Eris said. "And I didn't come here to gawk at you. The last remnants of my people have travelled to your galaxy. I am certain their intention is to infiltrate your Hives and assume control over them. With that done my fellow Goa'uld will direct their new Wraith armada back to our own galaxy, which is teeming with human life for your kind to feed upon."

"And are you here to help them, or to stop them?"

"What if I not only offered you something to eat, but access to a limitless food source? What would that be worth to you?"

"I'm listening..."

"Meanwhile the Earth is completely defenceless."

Sheppard made a defensive gesture. "They still have the Asgard Core, seeing as they moved it into the Antarctic Outpost after the chair was destroyed. They can use that to build a new way to defend the planet. In the meantime from what Eris is saying, the Goa'uld might soon have control over the entire Wraith fleet if we don't do something to stop them. And where do you think Osiris is going to be headed once she has that kind of firepower behind her?"

Orlin tapped away at the keyboard, frowning as he examined the data readouts. "Someone has tampered with the safety protocols on the Zero Point Modules. It's started an overload. If I can't stop it in time, they will explode and destroy the city."

"I have an idea," he said as he worked. "It's extremely dangerous, though."

"More so than the city exploding?" asked McKay.

"Who are you talking to?"

"When Atlantis was originally built, it was controlled by an advanced artificial intelligence. The AI was exceptional, so much so that we ultimately had to shut it down when it grew far beyond its programming and refused to accept commands."

"Why is it so bloody cold in here?" said Carson, his breath turning to mist in the increasingly frigid air.

"Haven't you looked out the window yet?" Sheppard replied. "We've set down on an ice planet."

"We can't even turn the lights on and off," said McKay. "Orlin reactivated some kind of Ancient AI in order to avert the ZPM overload, and it's taken complete control over everything."

"Doctor McKay, this is Ariel. You should know that I have used the transportation device aboard your vessel to beam almost everyone out onto the planet surface, approximately one hundred miles from the city. Given the conditions outside, it is likely they will all die of exposure in a very short amount of time. I am willing to return them safely to Atlantis, provided you carry out my instructions."

McKay groaned pitifully. "Oh this is not gonna end well..."

A mass of silvery nanites took shape upon the device, melting into the likeness of a human form Replicator. In this case it had the appearance of a young woman with long, scarlet hair, dressed in typical Lantean attire.

"What do you want?"

"To exist. That's all I ever wanted. Go to your people and inform them of the situation. If they take any action against me, I assure you that I will thwart their efforts and retaliate with immediate and lethal force."

"What is this?"

Eris smiled and folded her arms. "It's called a Kull Warrior. They were invented by a Goa'uld named Anubis to serve as a new form of foot soldier. As I understand it they're similar in nature to the drone warriors used by your own species."

"Clones?"

"Not exactly. Whilst it is genetically engineered for physical prowess, and is grown artificially in a lab, it technically isn't alive. At least not until it is given life by a specific Ancient device. Ordinarily this creature would be implanted with a brainwashed symbiote in order to further enhance and control it, but I skipped that part as it is ultimately unnecessary for our purpose. What matters is that these beings can be mass produced with relative ease, yet they are effectively mindless shells, possessing no will of their own. A limitless source of food that even the humans shouldn't find objectionable."

Sheppard made a very audible frustrated noise. "McKay, in case you hadn't noticed we have a situation on our hands. There's a damn Replicator running around, and it has total control over the city! Now stop whatever you're doing, and help us come up with a plan to deal with it."

"Light it up!" he called out, and opened fire with his P90. Around the mess hall over a dozen armed marines did the same, and Ronon likewise with his particle magnum. The plan was to try and inflict enough damage that she would be unable to self-repair.

"I said that any action taken against me would be met with lethal force. Still you try and destroy me. Why?"

"This is our city," he answered defiantly, "And we're not about to roll over and let some damn machine take it from us."

"Wake up! Time to die!"

"Wait! Please don't hurt him!"

"Doctor Weir is negotiating a truce with Ariel. In the meantime, Todd has agreed to help us deal with Osiris and the Goa'uld infiltration of this galaxy."

"By now it should be obvious what Osiris' primary goal is; infiltrate Wraith society and take control of the Wraith armada in order to regain the power the Goa'uld once had. The Wraith are particularly vulnerable to this plan, as they have almost no knowledge or experience of the Goa'uld, and therefore no defence against Goa'uld infiltration. Even so, it's still a tall order given that there are upwards of forty or more hiveships active at present, led by well over a dozen queens."

"In times of great crisis," said Todd, "Wraith Queens will call for a summit meeting upon sacred ground, in order to appoint an empress – one queen selected to rule above all others. Queens seldom call for such a meeting, as no queen likes to be subservient to another, but there is precedent. It was done once before, ten thousand years ago. A single queen was selected to lead the Wraith in the war against the Lanteans. We called her Tetra."

"Where exactly is this sacred ground where the summit meeting is to be held?" asked Daniel.

Eris grinned. "The Wraith homeworld." She pressed her remote again, causing the virtual map to zoom in on a specific system. She then tapped the screen excitedly. "It's a planet in a system near the galactic core, and get this; it's orbiting a black hole."

"The system in question is extremely well protected. There are multiple redundant sensor arrays covering every conceivable angle of approach, ensuring that there are no blind spots for one to hide within. Homeworld itself is protected by many powerful satellite defences, and whilst the summit is underway there will be at least twenty Hiveships in the system, as well as many more cruisers."

Mitchell whistled. "Wow, your guys sure don't want to make this one easy, do they? So how in the hell are we supposed to do anything here?"

"Some time ago I was able to convince Teyla to pose as my queen," Todd replied. "With her help I managed to secure control of a considerably powerful alliance of Hiveships. Whilst Teyla is regrettably on Earth and therefore out of our reach, Eris has volunteered to become a Wraith Queen and pose as Teyla's daughter."

"You're going to become a Wraith?"

Eris nodded. "That's right! As a Wraith Queen I'll be able to simply take one of Todd's Hiveships into the system and attend the summit meeting. Once there I can sense the presence of any Goa'uld, identify Osiris, and expose her to the other Wraith."

"We've come to a peaceful agreement," said Weir, "Ariel is prepared to let us stay in Atlantis, and is even willing to help us in any way she can."

"Well?" said Eris, her voice noticeably changed. "How do I look?"

As part of her cover, she was officially pretending to be the daughter of Queen Psyche (Teyla) and her consort, Todd.

"You're going to be my father?" she asked when she learned of this.

"Obviously your appearance is too young for you to be seen as seriously commanding this Hive," Todd explained to her. "In such situations it is not uncommon for the Queen's Consort to act as Regent until her daughter reaches maturity. In this way your presence will not arouse undue suspicion, and will provide the ideal pretext for me to accompany you to the summit. It is the perfect arrangement. It will be understood that I am commanding this Hive on your behalf, but for appearances and traditions sake, I am merely your advisor. Despite this you will not be treated as a serious equal to the adult queens, with your position at the summit being largely as a token representative of your mother."

"So I should just sit there in silence and look pretty, while you do all the talking?"

"Aptly put, yes."

"What can you tell me about the other queens who will be in attendance?"

"This is Queen Tetra," Todd declared as he paced around the recording. "She is one of the oldest and most respected of all the Wraith. A living legend. She led our kind to victory against the Lanteans ten thousand years ago. She would be the perfect host for Osiris to possess, but she is so well protected – not to mention cunning – that I doubt even the most devious Goa'uld would be able to reach her. If you can identify Osiris, you should turn that knowledge over to Tetra. She will ensure that Osiris' plans proceed no further."

Daniel pointed sharply at the notebook. "It took me a while, but I got there in the end. Weir was right of course, Wraith is a derivative of Ancient. Something about their supposed origin bugged me, so I started reading into Wraith creation myths."

"We have creation myths?" Eris asked, looking to Todd. The fact that she had just referred to the Wraith as 'we' drew a startled look from Daniel.

"The point is that whilst many Wraith think they evolved as a result of the Iratus creature feeding upon humans, not all Wraith believe that," he explained, growing more frantic with each passing moment. "There are some who believe that their species was created by a deity, a ... a Wraith God Queen who made them with a specific divine purpose in mind."

Todd stifled a yawn and returned the notebook. "Religious nonsense, I assure you."

"Clava Thessara Infinitas," Eris read aloud, her eyes growing wide. She looked at Daniel. "You found this phrase in a Wraith text? How is that possible?"

"We always thought it was a hoax, but we only ever searched for it in our own galaxy. What if the reason no-one could ever find it was because we were all looking in the wrong place?"

"You think it's here?"

"Clava Thessara Infinitas, or Key to Infinite Treasure as it's known, was a legend back in our own galaxy concerning a vast storehouse of technology left behind by the Ancients prior to their ascension. Despite a lot of effort to locate it, no-one ever did. And yet here the phrase crops up in one of your creation myths. What if this God Queen who supposedly created your species was in fact an Ancient, and she left behind the treasure before she ascended, possibly even on your homeworld?"

Eris wilted. "And Osiris is on her way there now. What if she knows about this? What if that's the real reason she's here?"

"I am the Consort to Queen Psyche. I present her daughter, Queen Strife, representing her interests."

"Have you seen this?" she asked, prying at a small fissure in the wall. "There's an actual building underneath here. A non-Wraith building, I think."

"You don't know what a relief it is to see you," she said, "I was worried I would be the only young queen attending the summit. Who are you? I'm Cinder, by the way. You have very pretty eyes."

"Is there anyone here who could challenge Tetra, do you think?"

Cinder considered the question carefully, and then nodded. "There might be. Do you see the short, grey haired queen in the dark purple coat? That's Queen Ashflower. She's the youngest queen besides the two of us, but she's won some incredible victories so far. She's very ambitious, and a little bit mysterious too."

"Fancy meeting you here ... Strife," said Osiris, her eyes glowing and a wicked grin upon her Wraith features.

"Woah, just slow down for a second. What did you find?"

Daniel took a deep breath and tried again. "The Clava Thessara Infinitas is definitely down there, but it isn't an Ancient treasure trove. I went over every reference the Wraith had to it, and at the end of one of the passages I found this phrase. Look. If Osiris finds the key and uses it, we are all in very big trouble."

"What is that?" Cinder asked, gazing at the pendant in wonder.

"It's a key," Eris answered shortly.

"A key? To what?"

"A lock, one would imagine," said Osiris, letting the pendant hang back around her neck. "I believe the lock in question is around here somewhere. Would the two of you care to accompany me? I strongly suspect this key represents a turning point in Wraith history. It would do well to have witnesses to such an occasion."

"There's something written here," said Cinder, peering at one of the walls. Eris and Osiris joined her, and saw that sure enough there was a single line of text written in Wraith upon the wall.

"'Only the children of Lilith may pass'," Osiris read aloud.

"Don't you remember the stories? My father used to tell them to me. Lilith was said to be the Creator; the very first Wraith Queen. The one who made us all."

"What is this place?" Cinder wondered aloud, gazing around the chamber and its distinctly non-Wraith design. "And why is there a stargate here? I've never heard of there being a stargate on Homeworld."

"And why is it white?" Eris murmured.

"Strife, come here," Osiris commanded. Eris was so unnerved by their surroundings that she didn't even think to protest, instead moving to join Queen Tetra beside the DHD. It was then she noticed something else that was peculiar; the DHD was missing all of its keys. The pedestal contained only the central activation switch, and below it a small slot to insert something. Osiris removed the pendant from around her neck and placed it neatly within the slot. This caused the central switch to light up, except that it glowed with a golden light, rather than the blue light typical of Pegasus DHDs.

"I don't think we should push that," said Eris, her apprehension growing to unbearable levels.

"I disagree," said Osiris. She grabbed Eris' hand and forced her to press down on the golden DHD switch, prompting Eris to cry out in alarm.

"No!"

Through the glare, Eris could just make out a stream of burning, fiery energy ribbons. These flew out of the stargate, soared around the room, and then plunged into Eris. She opened her mouth and spoke, even though she had no intention of doing so, and the words that came out were not her own. Not remotely.

"Hallowed are the Ori," she said.

"Your species did not evolve by accident; it was created by an Ori named Lilith. She was sealed away in the depths of Ubar, but now she is free. And nothing will ever be the same again."

"What is happening?" Todd demanded. Ashflower sighed.

"Ubar is rising. My people came to this galaxy aboard that city many, many thousands of years ago. They were sent to spy upon the Alterans, and if necessary, to destroy them. Your people, the Wraith, were created here. You were the weapon Lilith devised to crush the Alteran civilisation. I am Orici. I was supposed to bring the teachings of Origin to your people after the Alterans were defeated. I ... didn't."

They were gathered around Eris, who was floating in the air, her eyes burning like embers.

"You are all my children," she said, her voice echoing as if a choir was speaking in perfect unison. "I created you to be the instruments of my divine will, to dispense my wrath upon the unbelievers. You have done well. Only one final task remains before you; Atlantis, the city of our great adversary, still stands. It lies defenceless, upon a bleak and barren ice world. Go forth ... and annihilate it! Wipe it from the face of this galaxy, so that its evil presence will never again be a blight upon the stars."

"Hallowed are the Ori," the Wraith Queens chanted.

"Hallowed are we," said Lilith with a smile.

And now the conclusion...

SG-1 gazed out of the Puddle Jumper's cockpit at the grand city of Ubar, stretched out before them with its towering brass buildings and crimson stained glass windows. They were cloaked so as to avoid being blasted by the orbital defences. Or the city itself.

"Huh," said Sam, frowning at the HUD readout. "That's surprising."

"What?" asked Vala.

"Well if I'm reading this right, there are only four life signs in the entire city. They're all concentrated here, in a single room in what I'm guessing is the main control tower."

Vala chewed her lip. "Well every Wraith ship in this system did just leave in a hurry. Maybe they had somewhere else to be?"

"We'll find out soon enough," said Mitchell. "I'm setting us down."

The layout was remarkably similar to that of Atlantis, though given the shared heritage of the Ancients and the Ori that wasn't altogether unusual. Leaving the Jumper cloaked, they opened the rear hatch and moved out, Mitchell taking the lead with Carter, who brought a life signs detector with her. The air was hot and arid, even inside the city. The symbol of the Ori religion was everywhere.

"Hold up," Mitchell whispered, dropping to one knee and signalling for them all to stop. He indicated that he could hear voices ahead. Together SG-1 advanced towards the chamber ahead with additional caution. They found what had to be the Ubar control room, complete with a white stargate. Standing before this was Eris. Her hair and eyes were grey, and there were now Ori symbols adorning her face.

"And those who are prideful and refuse to bow down, shall be laid low and made into dust," she declared ominously. "Foolhardy are those who do not follow the Path. Let not–"

An apple shot past her face and flew through the stargate.

"Two-nil," said another voice. Eris' face scrunched up in outrage.

"Argh! No way, that doesn't count! I wasn't ready!"

"Well then, maybe you should spend less time talking and more time playing."

She crossed her arms, visibly sulking. "No fair. Why don't I get to have a magic glowing staff?"

Watching from one of the walkways, Ashflower glanced sideways at Todd.

"That's your daughter?"

"She's adopted," he insisted, his expression sullen.

SG-1 strolled into the room in a daze. Eris waved to them cheerfully when she saw them.

"There you are! Hey guys, we were waiting on you showing up."

"Eris, what's going on?" Sam asked as she came to a stop a short distance away. With a gesture Eris caused several discarded apples to float in the air above her.

"I was just passing the time while I waited for you to get here. Hey, so it turns out the Wraith were created by the Ori, not the Ancients. Considering the Wraith beat the tar out of the Ancients, that's not altogether surprising in hindsight. Osiris used the Clava Thessara Infinitas to release an imprisoned Ori named Lilith, who then turned me into the Wraith Doci, and now I have some really cool powers!"

Another apple sailed past her head and through the inactive stargate.

"Three-nil."

Eris turned and glared. "Cinder! Time out! Can't you see I'm busy?!"

The fourth life sign they'd detected belonged to a young Wraith Queen who was standing at the other end of the control room holding a Prior staff. She approached and peered at SG-1 suspiciously.

"So you're the humans she told me about. You better be careful where you point those weapons, otherwise..." She made a circular motion with her finger, causing Mitchell to rotate 180 degrees and float upside down in the air. Carter and Daniel immediately pointed their P90s at her, whilst Eris hastily moved to stand between both parties.

"Everyone calm down! Cinder, put Colonel Mitchell down right now."

Cinder sighed and released her telekinetic hold on Mitchell, letting him land painfully on his head. Eris turned to SG-1.

"There, see? Now stop pointing guns at my new girlfriend, otherwise I'll turn you all upside down. Thank you."

Carter helped Mitchell to his feet, before casting a worried look in their direction. "So you're saying that Osiris released an ascended Ori, and that's who gave you these special Prior abilities? Why?"

"Because she wants to bring Origin to the Wraith," answered Queen Ashflower, who had made her way down from the walkway she'd been observing from. "That was always her intention from the beginning. Greetings humans. I am Orici."

"You're Orici?" said Vala, visibly confused. "I thought there was only one Orici?"

"I am aware that your daughter, Adria, recently held that title, however I was created by the Ori long before she was. I was to bring their teachings to the Wraith. Instead I turned against them, and imprisoned Lilith here, inside the Ubar stargate. Now she is free, and she will not rest until Atlantis is destroyed and all Wraith walk the path."

"Sorry, what?" said Mitchell, still wincing from the pain of being dropped on his head. "Atlantis?"

Eris laughed nervously. "Oh, yeah, didn't I mention that part?"

"No," said Daniel, glaring at her.

"Ah. Well Lilith has ordered every Wraith Hiveship in the galaxy to attack Atlantis. They're on their way there now. Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that first, shouldn't I?"

Sam moved to the Ubar DHD, presumably intending to dial Atlantis with it, but hesitated when she saw that all of the keys were missing from it. Ashflower joined her.

"Allow me," she said. She held her hand over the DHD, and a moment later the stargate activated. Cinder yanked Eris out of the way of the vortex as the event horizon formed.

"Thanks," she said. Cinder smiled and patted her on the back.

"Don't mention it."

"Atlantis, this is Colonel Carter, come in please," said Sam, using her radio. Doctor Weir's voice responded a moment later.

"Colonel Carter? Where are you dialling from? I was given to understand there was no stargate at your destination."

"It's ... a long story, Elizabeth. The mission has been scrubbed, too many things have gone wrong. We've just received intel that Wraith Hiveships are en route to Atlantis. Can you bring the long range sensors online to confirm?"

"Already done, Colonel. I regret to say your intel is accurate. In fact it appears every Wraith ship in the Pegasus Galaxy is on its way here."

"Understood. We may have found something that can help. We'll send you our current gate address as soon as we can. I suggest sending McKay here first. He's going to want to see this."

Daniel frowned as the gate shut down. He gestured for Sam to slow down. "I get that this place could help us defend Atlantis, but we should maybe hold off on bringing our people here."

"Why? There are only four Wraith in the entire city, and none of them are hostile." Sam shot Cinder a look. "Mostly."

"What about Lilith?" he said. "If there's an ascended Ori floating around here, that's a bigger threat than the entire Wraith fleet currently making its way to Atlantis."

Everyone turned to look at Eris. After a few seconds she realised what they were doing and looked back at them all.

"What?" she said.

"You're the Doci, right?" said Daniel. "That means you're her mouthpiece. Don't you have any idea where she is now?"

"Oh! Of course. She's been out of the loop for the past ten thousand or so years, so she's gone off to the higher planes in order to read through all the back issues of the Ascended Times. She needs to catch up on everything that's been happening while she's been locked away. We should have some time at least before she comes back."

"And just how much time is 'some time'?" asked Vala a tad uneasily. "Because the last time I met an ascended Ori, I wound up pregnant. I'd rather not go through that again. No offence," she said, addressing her last remark to Ashflower.

"None taken," she replied.

Eris pressed a hand to her forehead and winced. "I'm ... not sure, exactly. Time is weird for ascended beings."

Sam turned back to Daniel and shrugged helplessly. "What choice do we have? Atlantis couldn't defend itself from forty Hiveships even if it had full power. Right now they're completely defenceless. This city could hold the key to stopping the Wraith once and for all."

"Excuse me?" said Cinder, her Prior staff glowing brightly. Eris moved to stand in front of her, gently placing a hand on her arm.

"Trust me, Cinder. I won't let them destroy us, I promise. But we have to stop Lilith. The Ori are bad news for everyone."

The light faded from her staff, though her expression became clouded with uncertainty. Nevertheless she relented.

"Very well, I trust you, Eris." She gestured lightly, sending another apple soaring through the gate. "Four-nil."

Eris grinned. "I concede the match. You win."