Note: I am posting two chapters this evening, which will complete the first day in the fic. I hope everyone is well and not too freaked out at how close Christmas is getting, or is that just me?
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DAY 1 – WAKING
Chapter 3 – Teamwork
Mind Song contemplated his view of the narrow valley below. Between dripping branches and through the damp misty air, he considered the unusual location the Wraith of this planet had decided to use as their base. Long Sleep's initial scans of the planet when he had arrived had shown barely any prey lived here, so the food source was limited, and this valley presented the most concealed location in the local area.
This base was purposefully hidden away.
He watched as two Drones appeared out of the apparent single entrance to the underground base and wandered out on a slow and cautious patrol. He was too far away to be able to tell the genetic lineage of the Drones, or be able to recognise any markings or style of clothing, but it was clear that this was a small and nervous group.
During his and Long Sleep's day's trek through the forest, rain dripping down on them near constantly, they had been able to track down these local Wraith by following sensor readings and the distant sense of the Queen's mind. They had refrained from actually touching against the mental network so far though, choosing to remain undetected until they had scouted out the local situation. The display on Long Sleep's interface had shown a scattered arrangement of active underground hibernation pods and a bright series of readings that told of a small group of Guardians watching over the base and the Queen.
It was an unusual location, though perhaps not considering the story Long Sleep had shared through their long walk to reach here. By their reckoning, he had been held captive by the prey Kolya for at least six years, and in that time the Wraith had suffered considerable defeats. Long Sleep had told of the large numbers of killed Queens and ancient Hives destroyed, of vast feeding territories lost, and even an coalition of some of the strongest Queens, including his and Long Sleep's former Queen, had not been strong enough to hold back the advance of the Armoured Herd. The few ships like Long Sleep's that had managed to escape the obliteration of the Queen's coalition had apparently been gathered up by the Hive led by the Skerti Queen. The ancient evil creature had not saved those she had drawn to her though, for instead she had led them all to further destruction.
Their kind was in grave danger, so perhaps that explained this base's hidden and quiet presence on this world.
So much had changed in so short a time. The Armoured Herd had been a considerable threat when he had been captured, but now they had become something far more dominating.
He had seen that fact from a very unique perspective, having watched and listened to Kolya and the other prey talk for all those long years. Then Sheppard had arrived with his Lantean blood and his people armed with their own weapons, and though Mind Song had managed to escape them, it was very clear how much of a threat they had also become.
Now with so many Hives destroyed and ancient Queens lost, and the Skerti seeming about to return from wherever they had been hidden for so long, it was clear to Mind Song that the old ways were not going to work anymore.
If their kin were to survive, he and Long Sleep were agreed that a new strategy was required. But, to be able to direct such a new direction, they first needed to re-establish a position of power. This collection of quiet, nervous Wraith did not present a clear direct step to that power, but, perhaps, they would still be very useful.
A faint rustle of damp leaves and wet moss squelching underfoot announced Long Sleep's return. While Mind Song had watched the base's entrance, Long Sleep had headed around one side of the cliff-top view of the valley to scan the base from another angle, and had now returned with his results.
"Four hibernation pods," Long Sleep began his quiet report as he crouched down by Mind Song's side, the interface display held up for him to see. "There are a series of interconnecting tunnels, but I believe that this outlying power signal is a growing Hive."
Ah, very interesting. If they were growing a Hive, it meant one of two things.
"There are then two central chambers," Long Sleep continued, "and I believe this one to be the Queen's Chamber."
Mind Song nodded, agreeing with his Brother's assessment.
"Her mind is not strong," Long Sleep noted with a faint sigh as he settled more comfortably. He had moved at a fast pace to make his way around and back to Mind Song's side so quickly. Mind Song considered his long lost Batch Brother with renewed admiration. It had been so long since they had been together, and Mind Song had missed his Brother's fast and intelligent mind greatly. He could not ask for a better compatriot for the work ahead.
"She is either young or injured," Mind Song relayed his theories, peering back out through the branches to the view below.
"Mmmm," Long Sleep agreed. "With the recent losses, the wait for Queens to mature is of significant importance."
"So they hide away in a valley on a barely inhabited planet, most of them in hibernation pods as they wait for the Queen to mature and the new Hive with her."
"It will mean they will be very defensive," Long Sleep considered as he lowered the interface.
Mind Song nodded. "We will need to be careful."
"What is your plan, Brother?" Long Sleep asked, his tone amused, likely knowing such a plan had already formed in Mind Song's mind.
Mind Song chuckled faintly as he looked away from the slow moving patrol below and gave his Brother his full attention. "I suggest that we ask for help."
"Help?"
"To leave here. We are survivors of the recent Armoured Herd's attack on the Queens' coalition and are simply seeking assistance to contact a new Hive that will take us in," Mind Song explained the ruse.
Long Sleep nodded with understanding. "After all, we have vitally important information for a Hive about a returned ancient enemy."
"Yes," Mind Song smiled. If they seemed uninterested in this Queen and her weak group, asking them only for access to communication equipment, he knew she wouldn't be able to resist learning more. Despite the usual prejudice against his and Long Sleep's unusual minds from their mutated batch, between them they had amassed thousands of years of experience in frontline battles and political wars, which would be an invaluable resource for a young Queen looking for power of her own. The trick was not to outwardly offer such an opportunity, rather to be a passing coincidence for her to use to her advantage.
"It might work," Long Sleep agreed. "Though, there is still the possibility that she will just have us killed," he smiled. It would hardly be the first time they had faced such a threat.
"Indeed," Mind Song chuckled as Long Sleep checked the interface readings one last time and then tucked the device away into his scuffed and slightly torn coat.
Mind Song considered his own clothes, old, worn, and smelling less than fresh despite the rain. Yes, they both certainly looked the part of survivors. In truth, that was exactly what they were; since the moment of their birthing from the membranes they had been different, considered wrong and mutated, but how well they had survived. When all of their batch, all of their first Hive and the many after, were all gone, they had survived.
And in the face of the newest threats of the Armoured Herd, Atlantis, and the Skerti, well, they would survive that too.
With an eager smile on his face, Mind Song rose to his feet alongside his Brother and together they marched out of their concealment towards their new future.
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"…Atlantis. Had…abandon the…a near…containment breach..." The Ancient shouted out of the large screen.
Sam had watched the Ancient flight recorder's footage far too many times since yesterday as she had tried to help Zelenka clean up the badly damaged recording before the Elite's science team arrived in Atlantis.
There hadn't been anything new she or Radek had been able to do in the end, as the 'black box' recorder, was just too badly damaged. That the husk of the box, broken, twisted and burnt nearly beyond recognition, had provided anything had been a near miracle in the first place, but ultimately the gaps in the recording were due to missing data and Sam couldn't put back wasn't there to reveal.
"The experiments…. broken in and….complete devastation. …entire facility…en lost." The recording continued, the wide-eyed determined features of the Ancient desperate to report everything he could as quickly as he could for Atlantis.
It was his last message and he clearly knew it.
Sam had seen the same expression plenty of times before in her career: the look of sacrificial acceptance that bred a very special kind of bravery.
Behind the Ancient, there was enough architecture visible for Sam to be almost certain now from her research that the recording had been made on the bridge of an Ancient ship, probably Aurora class.
"The breach….all ships…the Skerti surprised us…we are the last. Contai…holding…now. I fear there…no time for us to reach…the Wraith have found us."
Beside Sam, the Alliance scientist Silvar shifted his weight and let out a faint sigh. They had watched the recording through several times already since his team had arrived, and while the others worked on the actual physical 'black box', she and Silvar had focused on watching the recording itself.
"…back to…tell my family…" the Ancient asked only for the recording to break up, his message for his family never heard and never transmitted to them. As the recording resumed, he was looking over his shoulder and a rush of static and unidentifiable noise poured out of the speakers. The Ancient turned, looking sharply back into the camera, fear and near panic twisting his features.
"Atlantis you must not let…Wraith and Skerti…never… …stop the Skerti..."
Fire blazed across the image and then there was nothing but dead static.
Sam reached forward and stopped the recording.
Silvar sighed faintly again. "Too many questions and no answers," he concluded. Sam nodded as she turned back towards him.
Off to the right, Zelenka was crouched in front of the broken black box, the Elite's foremost expert on Ancestral tech, Kanoot, crouched next to him. The two men had gotten on well very quickly, Kanoot clearly the expert the Elite considered him to be. He also had the Ancient gene and was clearly used to working with Ancient systems. It made Sam wonder how much Ancient tech the Alliance had discovered over the years.
Behind Zelenka and Kanoot were two Elite technicians, experts in data retrieval who were currently in deep discussion with Elite Si as they worked on copying the black box's data into the portable computer system they'd brought with them. Sam itched to be able to have a look at it, get to look inside the Elite tech for herself, but that wasn't the point of today's visit.
Today's visit was about working with the Elite to find out everything they could about this new alien enemy called the Skerti.
"Hopefully your analysis might reveal something more," Sam suggested hopefully to Silvar.
Silvar turned his gaze from his team to her and smiled. Sam liked him. He was one of her 'kind of people', as Jack had described it. By which Sam assumed Jack meant that they were both scientists. What was clear to Sam was that, like herself, Silvar hadn't been shut away in a lab throughout his career, as he had a relaxed manner and practicality that told her that he had plenty of real life experience in the field.
"Hopefully," Silvar agreed, "but if the Ancestral City's computer does not recognise anything further from the recording, I have to doubt that we will discover much else."
Unfortunately, that echoed her own silent conclusion.
Zelenka and Kanoot both stood up from their crouch, glowing Ancient cables running out of the black box behind them. They'd made some changes to Rodney's initial patch into the box, adding a piece of Elite tech that was hoped to help salvage some further data.
Without any comment she and Silvar moved forward towards their people.
"Progress?" Sam asked.
Zelenka looked up from his tablet. "We have patched in the Elite crystal boost system-"
"Crystal boost?" Sam asked.
"We have developed a system of grown replacement crystal circuits that allow us to interface our tech with Ancestral tech more efficiently," Silvar explained as he gestured to the very innocuous looking dark box that was the Elite tech in question.
"Home grown crystals?" Sam checked. That sounded very useful.
Silvar smiled at her, clearly having heard her interest. "They do not last as long as the Ancestral ones. We tend to get burn out within twenty hours of use, depending on the work required. Have you developed something similar?" Silvar asked.
"We've mainly been using actual Ancient crystals, reprogrammed as we need them," Sam shared.
Silvar nodded. "We have managed the same, but we have a very limited supply."
"It seems that, this data recorder," Radek put in, "was originally part of a larger encasement that the Ancients – the Ancestors," he corrected with a glance up from his tablet, "installed on their ships, at least the ones listed in the database here. We are hoping that mimicking a larger and more compatible power supply and crystal system will allow some of the data to be realigned on the data crystal."
Sam nodded, but she couldn't see it working. If the black box hadn't responded to Atlantis' computers already, the very target the device was intended to reach, she couldn't see how a makeshift version could do any better.
Besides, she'd already tried her own version of the idea last night. After seeing Elite Emmagan arrive back in the City from her late visit to see her dying colleague, Sam had found herself wandering into Rodney's empty lab to find the black box. Despite the promise of Jack's warmth waiting for her in bed, she'd spent a good hour working on the footage data. Nothing she had tried had helped improve on Radek and Rodney's efforts so far, but if the Elite could find something new, she was all for it.
"The storage system has been very negatively impacted by damage," Kanoot supplied a very polite description of the mangled black box. "However once we have a complete copy of the data, it may be possible that there is some scrambled static that can be unpicked."
"We have a running connection," one of the Elite technicians reported.
"Ah wonderful," Silvar smiled. "Colonel Carter would you like to watch the computer system interacting with the 'black box'?"
Sam smiled back at him. "You read my mind, Mr Silvar."
He chuckled as they walked round to stand behind Elite Si and one technician sat in front of the Elite equipment.
"The connections are good," Kanoot announced from his place still by the black box.
"Power is steady," Zelenka added next to him.
"Sending wake up request," the Elite technician tapped a button on the Elite computer.
The rather small screen lit up with streaming data, looking much the same as Sam had seen on the Atlantis computer when it had interfaced with the black box. The Elite computer started flashing several messages on its screen.
"It is recording the data," Silvar translated the words for her, "and is now filtering and analysing the-" The screen flashed and a side box opened with some graphs.
Everyone leant further towards the small screen.
To Sam it looked like the computer had recognised a pattern in the data stream.
"Interesting," Silvar muttered.
"It's similar, not exact, but close enough," Elite Si noted.
"Something you recognise?" Sam asked.
"Only recently," Silvar replied from close to her left shoulder. "It appears that the box recorder has been exposed to radiation that is somewhat similar to the very damaging radiation we saw emitted by the Wraith Hive ship that was using possible Skerti tech to open up 'jump portals' in our space."
Sam stood up from peering at the screen, a new explanation forming. "If the black box had ended up going through one of those 'jump portals'..." she looked to Zelenka and then back to Silvar.
"It could certainly explain why the box has been so extensively damaged," Silvar concluded.
Sam nodded. It made more sense to her now. Everything she had read about the Ancients' version of black boxes in the Ancient database had suggested they had been designed to withstand significant damage, including the effects of not just re-entry, but extended time out in the vacuum of space.
"However," Elite Emmagan moved forward, joining the conversation for the first time. The Elite warrior had kept to the side during the investigation, having been quietly talking with Lieutenants Ford and Cadman. "That could mean that the 'black box' device travelled a significant distance from the location of the ship it was ejected from."
Sam nodded.
"The recording has been copied in its entirety and analysis is complete," Elite Si reported from the Elite computer. "Nothing new beyond the visual recording."
Silvar sighed heavily beside Sam. "Very strange," he muttered. "We utilise similar recording devices in our battleships and they record days' worth of readings, logs, and ship sensor analysis. However, this simply records the last few minutes of the ship's emergency visual log."
Sam nodded. "So where is the rest?"
"It may be that the Ancestral device was designed to hold different aspects of data in different crystals, and all that we have is the one holding the last visual recording," Kanoot considered.
"Possibly," Sam considered, "but our research of the Ancestral database here shows that their black boxes were essentially one data crystal held deep in a larger protective housing. Even with that outer casing and circuitry lost, this data crystal should hold more than it does. If I was designing something like that, I'd have included far more significant data in the crystal. We don't even have a location or the ship's details."
"Unless that is the point," Emmagan suggested thoughtfully as she moved up to Kanoot's side. Stood side by side, Sam suddenly saw a faint resemblance of colouring and stature between the two, which Sam realised she could now recognise as being 'Athosian'.
"What if the Ancestor's mission was highly confidential," Elite Emmagan continued, "and a location recording would have given away a vital Ancestral military base if it had been found by the Wraith. The Ancestor said that the Wraith had found them, implying they were in a hidden location, or at least attempting to avoid discovery."
"That could explain the lack of identifiable information," Kanoot agreed.
"The recording directly addresses Atlantis," Zelenka chimed in, "so presumably if it had reached the Ancients here, they would have recognised him and not needed to know location or information on the ship."
Elite Emmagan turned to Sam. "Does the Ancestral database hold any information on the Ancestor and those others we see briefly behind him? Could we identify the actual Ancestors in the recording?"
"He's not in the database," Sam supplied the extra telling piece of information.
"Really?" Emmagan asked, clearly surprised. She frowned deeply.
Sam could understand her frown. Why would the Ancients have removed one of their own from their database?
"It unfortunately leaves us with little to go on here," Silvar summarised the rather depressing conclusion.
"All information is useful, regardless of its extent," Elite Si intoned.
"Of course, Honoured Elite," Silvar nodded, but Sam could see that he was disappointed.
"If we cannot get anything further," Kanoot said, "I suggest that we cut open the device and retrieve the data crystal itself. If we can analyse the crystal directly without the damaged components of the device...?"
Silvar looked at Sam, and she looked to Zelenka for his opinion.
Radek adjusted his glasses. "It is unlikely that we will be able to find anything further anyway."
All eyes turned back to Sam to make the decision.
It was always regretful to destroy anything made by the Ancients, but the black box was just a dead husk now and the data crystal was the most important part of it.
"Do it," she ordered.
Zelenka turned to Kanoot, the two instantly falling into technical discussions on the dissection as if they had been working together for years.
"We can try to filter through some of the broken sections of the visual and audio recording, see if there is anything further hidden in those areas," one of the technicians suggested to Silvar. "See if we can gain a few more words or visual data of the Ancestor ship in the background."
Silvar nodded. "Proceed."
Sam had hoped for more, but she had suspected this disappointing outcome.
"Um, Colonel Carter," Silvar turned towards her, angling his body away from the technicians. Sam turned to face him. "My colleague, Imseti, has been corresponding with your Doctor Beckett since the Athosian Conference, and she asked that, if I had the opportunity, that I be able to pass along her regards to him personally."
Sam controlled her smile, unsurprised in the Elite scientists' interest in Carson considering his retrovirus research. There were some among the IOA who believed that the only reason the Elite had agreed to enter into a trade contract with Atlantis and Earth was so that they could get their hands on the genetic weapon. Carson was fast becoming one of Earth's top resources. Along with John.
"I am sure he would love to meet you," Sam replied. "If you bear with me," she stepped away slightly and reached up to her earpiece. "Carter to Dr Beckett."
Despite being off duty on long term sick leave, Carson had started on a light return to work, mainly working on his research papers and preparing the retrovirus project for presentation to the Elite once the trade deal was agreed. Like all in the city, he now kept his radio on, but she suspected he hadn't been contacted officially in some time.
"Dr Beckett here," the soft Scottish voice replied, clearly surprised.
"Do you have some free time, Carson?" Sam asked. "One of our guests has asked to meet you."
"I'd love to," Carson replied immediately. "I can come to you."
"We're in Dr Zelenka's lab," Sam replied. "Take your time," she added. Carson appeared to be moving around fine now following his injuries, but he still had some way to go until he was well enough for a proper return to duty. Thanks to Elite medicine, his burns were healing extraordinarily well, which was the focus of one of his research papers he was writing with Dr Keller. However, he hadn't been out of the Infirmary very much and she didn't want to push him beyond his limits right now. That said, she suspected a little trip up here would do him the world of good.
Sam closed her radio and moved back to Silvar's side. "Dr Beckett is on his way."
"I had also hoped to meet Dr McKay, though I understand that he is currently off rotation," Silvar added with clear hope in his voice.
"Yes, unfortunately he is," Sam confirmed. As much as she would like to get Rodney in here to help, Rodney was suspended without pay for the week and she had to stick with that.
Colonel Sumner was still fuming over Rodney revealing the existence of the retrovirus to the Wraith they had released. Sam had had to argue long and hard with both Sumner and the IOA about punishing Rodney. If Rodney had been military personnel under Sumner's command, then he would have been severely punished, if not court-martialled, but Sam had managed to keep some logical perspective to it all. Ultimately, Rodney's reveal might pay off in the future, and they needed Rodney. As arrogant as he could be, he really was one of the best at what he did and they couldn't afford to just fire him. Still, it was important that he try and learn a lesson from what he'd done, so she couldn't just backpedal on his punishment.
"You are more than welcome to visit again when Dr McKay is available," Sam offered. In fact, she'd rather enjoy working with Silvar further.
"I would enjoy the opportunity to see more of the Ancestral City," Silvar grinned looking up and around the room they were in with clear delight that he'd clearly been hiding until now.
Movement in the open doorway into the lab drew Sam's attention and she looked round to see Carson had already arrived, as had Elite Emmagan's dragon who was scurrying ahead of him, heading for her owner. Elite Emmagan looked surprised at the sudden arrival, as all in the room did, everyone sort of carefully edging away from the approaching dinosaur.
Had Carson been looking after the dragon?
No, the reason became very obvious as Sam spotted both John and Rodney loitering at the entrance to the lab behind Carson.
"Excuse me a moment, Mr Silvar," Sam excused herself and moved forward to meet Carson and the two stowaways behind him.
Both Rodney and John held their ground at the entrance, both looking decidedly sheepish.
"I'm sorry, Colonel," Carson supplied as she reached him, though she kept her glare on the two other men. "They were with me in the Infirmary when you called."
"We just wanted to make sure Carson made it here okay," John supplied as he moved into the lab, his gaze swinging to the left where no doubt Elite Emmagan and her dragon were watching.
"Sure you were," Sam said doubtfully.
"And then we're taking Ketra for a walk," Rodney added the clearly fabricated excuse.
"McKay, need I remind you, that you are suspended," Sam reminded him. "You are not allowed to be here."
"You need me here," he protested instantly.
"We're doing just fine," Sam replied, except Rodney's attention had moved past her.
"Are they cutting up the black box?!" He demanded.
"Rodney," she shifted to stand between him and his view of the work. "Go!" She pointed to the door they'd just come through.
"But-"
"McKay," Sam stressed, putting some anger in her voice now. "That is an order."
Rodney frowned, but she could see that he was going to back down. She could understand his passion for his work, but he had to learn there were consequences to his choices.
"Major Sheppard," Sam switched her attention to the other troublemaker. "Perhaps you'd like to escort McKay out to the pier with you for your supposed walk? And then see him back to his quarters, and then go to yours to rest."
"I'm fine," John insisted. He did in fact look very well, but considering everything he had gone through yesterday, it was important that he take time off.
Sometimes she felt more like a parent than a boss working here.
"Colonel Carter," Elite Emmagan's voice arrived from the right and Sam looked round to see the petite woman walking up to them, her pet dragon at her side. "As the work here is far more technical than I am used to, would it be acceptable for me to join Major Sheppard and Dr McKay on their walk with Ketra?"
Sam almost frowned at the very polite and helpful intervention from the Elite warrior.
"That'd be great," John immediately put in, smiling at his 'wife'. "We'd love the company."
Rodney didn't look quite as convinced, clearly having been expecting to be able to worm his way into the work on the black box.
"Thank you, Elite Emmagan," Sam smiled at her. "I am sure Dr McKay would love your company."
"But," Rodney started to argue, but Sam fixed him with her best 'Colonel' look. Rodney's face fell and John patted him on the shoulder.
"Come on, McKay," John encouraged him, suddenly happy to leave, "we'll have a nice walk, and, if you're a good boy, you'll get a biscuit when we get home."
Sam worked hard not to smile as Rodney sighed. "Okay," Rodney muttered as he turned reluctantly away and started following John, Elite Emmagan and the dragon back out of the room, but not before glancing back towards where Zelenka and Kanoot were still cutting into the black box. Sam stayed where she was watching the troublemakers leave and only once they had left and she had waited a few counts, did she turn back towards the guests.
Carson had already introduced himself to everyone and was stood in cheerful discussion with Silvar, so Sam headed to join them.
"...dissecting the alien Skerti today," Silvar was saying.
"I would love to see a copy of Imseti' report," Carson replied with clear excitement at being involved in work again. He was still wearing a plastic brace around his right upper arm and his forearm was resting in a simple sling attached to it, but he was gesturing with his right hand, which told Sam that he was clearly healing up well.
Sam glanced towards Zelenka to see that the dissection of the black box was going well, with half of it open already, the inner data crystal just about visible. She could see that it too was charred and crusty from the damage the recorder had sustained.
She found her eyes shifting back to the large screen where she had watched the Ancient in his last moments. He was an unknown name on an unknown ship. For some reason the Ancients appeared to have removed any trace of him and his ship from their own database.
Though, considering that Atlantis had essentially become a military base during the final siege, when the Ancients had finally abandoned the City to leave for Earth, it made some sense that they would remove any classified information they didn't want falling into the wrong hands. However, considering the wealth of advanced technical and engineering information that had been left behind in the Ancient database, what had the Ancients considered so classified that they had permanently deleted it?
But, more importantly, could any of it be retrieved?
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On to Chapter 4...