Chapter 18 – The Last Memories
The breakfast with the IOA lot had been going surprisingly well. They didn't seem quite so full of political questions this morning, maybe because they were just sat around a normal table in the Mess Hall, or it could be because Teyla had been driving most of the conversation. She'd been asking tons of questions about Earth and the IOA members' family life and culture. The IOA appeared pretty happy to answer her questions too, sharing stories of home and growing up on Earth. Even Shen, who was definitely the quieter one during the official meals, appeared more talkative today.
Though the biggest surprise for John this morning was Ketra, who appeared to have decided overnight that she now liked Atlantis. She'd lost all her nervous caution from yesterday and had marched confidently along with them to the Mess Hall, though perhaps that was her anticipating another bowl of the honey flower mix. After she had devoured her food, Ketra had sat by his knee all calm as she had appeared to be listening to Teyla talking with the IOA. John had to wonder though if some of the interest was because of the food on everyone's trays, because he had seen Ketra peering up at the bowl of mixed fruit Teyla had been eating. So, he had offered Ketra some of his orange, and, after a brief sniff, she'd taken the segments from his fingers with her long oddly delicate tongue. Appearing to like the fruit, she'd kept most of her attention now on his hands as he had worked his way through the orange, occasionally offering her a segment.
It still bemused him to watch her use her large Wraith-killing teeth to delicately eat fruit and flowers. Teyla had told him that there were plenty of hard-shelled nuts and fruits in the Athosian forests, and that Ketra's teeth were well shaped to crack almost anything open, but John had to wonder if some of it was for the Wraith killing.
General O'Neill had been the first to leave the table, needing to head up to the Control Room to meet with Colonel Carter after her meeting with some non-Alliance off-world visitors. Before he'd left though, the General had come round the table to say hello to Ketra, talking to her like she was a friendly dog. He was the first in the city to attempt to approach her, outside of those in the Infirmary. Surprisingly, Ketra hadn't appeared to mind and had sniffed at O'Neill's offered hand and then at his boots and had allowed him to stroke her back. Somehow the General could always ingratiate himself with anyone, and winning over Ketra with just a hello was pretty impressive.
After the General had left, the conversation had returned to politics, discussing how other Political Marriages had formed trading relationships within the Alliance. Teyla had answered most of the questions, as Si was busy talking with Cadman and Ford about his planned training sessions for the day. John had promised the two of them that they'd be able to drop by the gym once they got back from today's mission, as long as they got back on time; you never knew with some boring science babysitting visits off-world, sometimes the locals threw in an invite to a harvest festival or something.
John checked his watch; he and Teyla were going to need to leave soon to meet Dr Petri, the Exobiologist who had asked to meet and study Ketra. He would have just enough time to introduce the Teyla to Petri and then make it back for the pre-mission brief and gear up to be ready for the 11:00 departure through the Gate. It felt pretty good to be heading out on a proper mission off-world again; even if it was just to keep watch over Dr Lindsay on M1K 177 as she gave her weekly class on fishing and whatever. John wasn't all that sure how much detail there could be on the subject that required weekly classes. Still it was going to be far better than playing the political smiling role and uncomfortable small talk he'd had to do at the Athosian Conference for the last couple of weeks. Today wasn't the mission he'd supposed to be on, since the IOA had gotten all twitchy about letting him go on missions to unknown planets, but it was at least back to something close to normal for him.
Or as 'normal' as things got around here, which, considering that he would be returning back to the city to spend the rest of his afternoon and evening with his alien warrior wife, wasn't really all that normal now he thought about it. Still, he liked it.
The orange finished, he focused his attention on Teyla as she enthusiastically described something Alliance related. She really did look good in her new outfit. The blue top had a faint shine to it and fit her really well. The neckline wasn't all that low, but the top was sleeveless, showing off her bare golden arms. As she was sat on his right, her line of dark tattoos faced him where they ran from behind her left ear, down the side of her throat and all the way down into her cleavage. As her new top was also slightly cropped at her waist, occasionally there was a hint of the line of tattoos running down and around her middle.
Teyla glanced round at him, maybe sensing him staring at her, but he simply covered it up with a smile and took his opportunity.
"We should probably get going," he told her as he pointed to his watch, "if we're going to get to Dr Petri' office in time."
Teyla's dark eyes slid to his presented wrist and then back to meet his gaze and she smiled. "Of course," she said and looked away to the IOA sat around her, except there had been enough of a tint of amusement in her smile to tell him that she had rightly guessed that he was bored of the IOA conversation. He had tuned out the discussion pretty much since O'Neill had left the table. Still, it didn't change the fact that they really did need to leave now.
"Thank you for your company for first meal," Teyla said politely to the IOA as she stood up.
"Breakfast," John quietly corrected for her as he stood up with her.
"Breakfast," she amended quickly. Woolsey and Faxon were both standing up as well, doing the whole gentleman thing. "I look forward to continuing our discussion later," Teyla told them.
"We do as well," Shen was the one to answer.
"Thank you for your company," Woolsey added. They were really laying on the charm this morning.
"Major, we'd be happy to accompany Honoured Elite Si to the gym," Cadman volunteered quickly from the other end of the table, Ford leaning into view and nodding eagerly. They probably were hoping to get in some quick tuition from Si before they had to also leave for the mission brief.
"Okay," John agreed. "Just make sure you report for duty on time." He told them and they both schooled their eager expressions.
"Yes, Sir," both replied.
"You can play later after work," he added as he turned away from the table, suspecting they would be glaring at his back.
Teyla was already a few steps ahead, waiting for him, Ketra at her side who was sniffing at the edge of a nearby table that was full of other people's breakfasts. The occupants of the table were looking a tad nervous at Ketra's attention while still being clearly fascinated by her.
John moved to join Teyla and then led the way between the rest of the tables, exchanging a nod with the two Marines that had been keeping a polite watch over breakfast and who would now follow him and Teyla out of the Mess Hall.
"That seemed pretty relaxed," John smiled at Teyla as they walked out into the reasonably busy hallway. A glance down confirmed that Ketra was still in her more usual confident mood, walking on Teyla's other side and examining anything, and anyone, who got close. People pretty much flattened themselves against the walls to keep out of Ketra's reach, which confirmed that they'd all read Colonel Carter's reminder email yesterday to keep their distance from the Wraith-killing dragon during her stay.
"Indeed," Teyla agreed about the IOA breakfast. "They all appeared very accommodating and friendly this morning."
"Yeah, when they want to be," John muttered quietly, though she probably heard him. Fortunately the IOA were still super keen on the contract.
"Dr McKay did not join us though," Teyla noted as they turned a corner, personnel moving quickly out the way of Ketra's tail.
"He said he's got some science experiment or something he's working on," John explained. "But really he's just pissed because his having to go on the mission later," he added.
Teyla looked round with a delicate frown. "He does not like missions?" She asked. "He seemed very animated on his visits to Athos."
"Sure if its somewhere he can show off, but not missions where he has to 'babysit soft science'," John quoted Rodney's whinging comments from his very brief appearance first thing at breakfast. "He's just throwing his toys out of his pram."
Teyla frowned again at that. "Is a pram a piece scientific equipment?" She asked.
John smiled at that as he shook his head. "A pram is a four-wheeled vehicle you push a baby around it," he explained.
"Oh," she smiled with understanding and then chuckled lightly. "And when upset, they throw their toys out of it in protest? A good expression."
"Yeah, I picked it from Beckett," John confessed. "He says it about McKay all the time."
Teyla nodded. "Carson was telling me yesterday about his home country," she used the word 'country' with a slight pause, checking she was using it right.
He nodded, smiling at her, kind of liking that she was learning more Earth words. For so long she had been the one to have to translate so much for him while in Alliance space, but now she was learning more about Earth.
"Did he mention kilts?" John asked.
"No," she frowned faintly. "I do not believe he did."
"You ask him about them," John suggested as they reached the doors of the closest transporter and he waved his hand over the crystals. "And what goes under them."
As the doors parted, Teyla gave him a narrowed eyed look that told him that she knew he was up to something with that suggestion. He just smiled as he followed her and Ketra inside, waiting as Ketra curled her tail into the small space. The two Marines wisely waited outside the still open doors.
"We'll see you down there," John told the Marine escort before he reached back and tapped the right spot on the screen's map of the city, initiating the transporter.
The flash of the transporter made Ketra shift nervously against John's leg, but he dropped a hand to her back to reassure her. The doors slid open to reveal a new part of the city, which was where Dr Petri' department had set up shop.
"From what I heard," Teyla continued as he waved her through the door first, "despite his attitude at times, Dr McKay was highly regarded during the Conference," she reported.
John followed her out, having to step around Ketra who was sniffing intently at the new corridor floor. "Really?" He asked, making sure to sound surprised, but actually he was kind of pleased to hear that Rodney had impressed them.
Teyla smiled at him as they stood together in the corridor, the transporter's doors shutting behind them. "His knowledge regarding Ancestor technology is very extensive, and he appears to be understanding our technology very quickly."
Light poured through the transporter's windows and the doors opened again, revealing the two Marines. They seemed pretty laid back with the guard detail, though he saw them both drop their gaze immediately to Ketra as they stepped out into the hallway. Ketra was frowning up at them, seeming almost suspicious at their reappearance.
"Come on, Ketra," John called to her as he lead the way forward again, heading down the brighter, and very empty, hallway.
"We are in another part of the city," Teyla noted as they walked past a bank of wide windows.
"We're further out along the North pier," he explained. "There's a lot more space for the scientists out here and some of the rooms were probably originally used as lab space by the Ancients. Ancestors," he corrected.
Teyla nodded, but her attention was focused out through the windows, probably admiring the new view of the central spires of the city.
"They've been digging up some big fossils from one planet recently," John told her, "and they're piecing together a real big one in this room," John indicated the open archway to the right.
Teyla looked round from the windows and through the archway into the large room inside. There were a handful of scientists working in there, all wearing full body jumpsuits and masks as they chipped and sanded down bits of the large chucks of rock they'd brought back through the Gate attached to the underside of a Jumper. John had missed out on that mission because he'd been on Athos for the Conference, but he'd been down here a few times with everyone else, curious about the big fossil. It was some sort of sea monster, he couldn't quite remember now. It was exciting for the scientists at least.
"A fossil, as in an ancient creature preserved underground?" Teyla checked, glancing up at him with wide and curious eyes.
"Yep," John agreed. "Its sea monster, apparently," he supplied.
Teyla looked back into the room with clear fascination. "There have been some such findings in the Alliance, but most of our scientific research has been focused on understanding the development of the Wraith and how to defeat them."
John felt the usual faint shiver just thinking about Iratus bugs.
"If you ever get to visit Earth, I could take you to a couple of museums there. We've got amazing fossils," he suggested.
She smiled up at him. "I would enjoy that."
Her eyes were dark yet sparkling in the sunlit corridor, but John made himself look away, acutely aware of the two Marines standing a polite distance away. No flirting in the hallways; that had been their joking rule the last time she'd stayed.
He led the way forward again, pointing to the next room along the corridor. "Up here, the Botany department have started a new big study testing..." actually he didn't know what they were doing in there, "plants."
Teyla let out breath that sounded like a laugh as they both looked through the partially glass doors into the room in question. He couldn't see much, though there was definitely some greenery.
"I'm not really into plants," he shrugged at her, kind of wishing he knew more about what went on here. He wasn't making the best tour guide for her. Though he wasn't sure when he'd started on the tour guide thing, since they were just supposed to be heading straight for Dr Petri' lab. Maybe because he really liked that bright curious look she had when she listened to him, like she was hanging on his every word.
"I am sure that you will be full of detailed facts regarding golf later," she told him as they walked on.
"You can bet on it," he grinned down at her. "The Exobiology department is just up ahead," he started to explain as they turned the final corner, only for a very recognisable figure to step into view ahead. Clearly Dr Petri had been listening out for them and couldn't wait for them to actually reach her lab door.
"Dr Petri," John called out to her, simultaneously informing Teyla who was up ahead.
The female Exobiologist moved towards them with a massive grin already visible across her face.
She wore the same uniform as everyone else here, but, as was typical with this woman, she had added some more 'eccentric' details to it. Today she had added several badges, a couple of large colourful necklaces and a bright red headband around her head. The headband was needed to try to contain some of the woman's big thick light brown hair that stood out from her head like she was related to Einstein.
"Honoured Elite Emmagan," Dr Petri exclaimed in her cheerful British accent, her hands outstretched, talking like she'd known Teyla for years. "I am so pleased to meet you."
John glanced at Teyla as they reached the scientist. He could tell that Teyla was a little surprised by the Exobiologist, but she was smiling back.
"I am pleased to meet you as well," Teyla replied.
Dr Petri clasped her hands together in front of her throat. "Now, I understand from my reading, that it is best for me to wait for Ketra to approach me first."
"Yes, that does seem to put her more at ease," Teyla confirmed with a nod of her braided head.
"Good," Dr Petri grinned. The woman had big eyes, almost Disney animated sized eyes, which were only slightly magnified by her thin-rimmed glasses. "Then shall I show you my lab and where she and I can meet properly?" She indicated the doorway behind her with a big flourish of her arm. Several big beaded bracelets jangled from her wrist as she did. John wasn't sure if the civilian staff were supposed to wear such things on duty, but clearly no one had stopped her.
"Thank you," Teyla said as she moved forward with Dr Petri. John held back a little, Ketra following the women, and glanced back to the Marines as he reached the open door to Dr Petri' space.
"You guys can wait out here," he ordered them.
"Yes, Sir," one answered with a nod.
John headed into the wide, yet fully equipped lab. Or rather, it was something like a cross between a lab, with glass beakers and jars of unidentifiable things to one side, and an office on the other side with piles of books, two computers, and more stationery supplies than surely an entire department could need. John spied another four laptops as he moved between the two long central tables, which were equally covered in stuff, including hand drawn sketches of Ketra and what looked like some printouts from the Ancient database. It looked like Dr Petri had been reading everything she could on Ketra's species, including the new stuff found in the database yesterday.
Up ahead, Petri had led Teyla through to an adjoining room, which John remembered was much larger. A squawk echoed from the next room – oh, yeah, Petri' parrot. John had no idea how she had been allowed to bring one with her, but the large noisy parrot had arrived with the Doc last year and had fascinated everyone in the City; until they'd all discovered that the parrot hated everyone but Petri.
John turned into the room to see that the parrot was in its massive metal cage that took up a quarter of the room, which usually had its door open during the day, much to Sumner's annoyance. The parrot had escaped into the city a few times in its early days here and Petri had gained quite a name for herself for arguing with Sumner about her parrot's 'right for freedom'.
Ketra, it seemed, didn't share Sumner's dislike of the parrot, as she was already right up against to the parrot's cage, her snout pressed against the metal. The parrot was called 'Sparrow', which presumably was a reference to the movie pirate rather than a tiny bird, because Sparrow was not small. John knew as much about birds as he did plants, but even he could recognise the bright red and blue feathers and massive beak of a Macaw.
Sparrow squawked again down at Ketra from his perch high up and away from Ketra's reach. The dragon angled her head, reaching up further with her long neck, sniffing at the cage.
"No, they usually enjoy the company of birds," Teyla was saying where she stood right beside Ketra, one hand on the dragon's head, presumably worried that Ketra was going to try to climb the cage or something.
"Since they spend so much time up in the trees, that would make sense," Petri replied from beside Teyla. "Sparrow does not get to interact with many other species, well, except for the human variety," she chuckled.
"There are similar birds on Athos. Though they do not live inside with people, they are often found visiting the edge of the tree lines and people feed them," Teyla told her, appearing pretty chatty with Petri already.
"Do they mimic speech?" Petri asked, clearly fascinated. "Parrots are hugely versatile at mimicking sounds, and have a higher level of intelligence than most other birds."
John glanced at his watch; he could probably hang around for a bit longer. He wandered off to one side, looking at large collection of varying eggs and feathers Petri had laid out on a table.
"They do not mimic speech, but it's well known on Athos that the birds call for attention and food when at the tree line," Teyla considered. "Though that is usually only for part of the year, as they usually migrate in the colder seasons."
"Really?" Petri asked with interest. She reached up towards Sparrow's bars and held out a nut she had produced from a pocket. Sparrow spotted the treat and began to climb across the cage, using its beak as well as its long clawed feet to make its way to her. He used a route that completely avoided going anywhere near Ketra. He hissed at her at one point. Ketra however seemed fascinated, her long head reaching up as high as she could.
John saw her flex her large shoulders.
"No, Ketra," Teyla anticipated the jump. "Stay on the floor," she ordered her pet.
"Sparrow is never a good host, I am afraid. He prefers to be just with me, or my assistant, Theo, who is working on the fossil today so that Ketra would not be too intimidated."
"Ketra kills Wraith, Doc," John put in as he leant his butt against the corner of the egg table.
"It was a very thoughtful suggestion," Teyla told Petri though and she looked round at John with a look that said 'be nice'; it seemed a very wife-y thing to do.
John grinned.
Sparrow had taken the nut from Petri and was on a new perch now, chomping on the nut. Ketra, having seen this, moved towards Petri, who was now a potential source of food.
"Hello, Ketra," Petri greeted her and produced a plastic box from somewhere. "I have some of the juiciest flowers I could find for you," she said excitedly to Ketra.
Ketra moved closer, snout moving as Petri opened the box. Yep, Petri knew how to win over a dragon.
A large purple flower came out of the box and Petri offered it to Ketra. The long dragon tongue slid out and wrapped around the large flower and it disappeared into her large dinosaur mouth.
"Fascinating tongue!" Petri exclaimed.
John winced at the scientist tone – he knew it far too well from babysitting duties off-world. They could get excited about the weirdest things.
"Her species is quite unique in this galaxy, as far as I have discovered," Teyla told her. John could tell from just her tone that Teyla was already enjoying Dr Petri' company. "Have you found any like her outside of Alliance space?"
"Not really," Petri replied as she pulled a large petal off another flower from the box and offered it to Ketra. "We have discovered some lizard creatures vaguely similar in shape, but nowhere near her size. She reminds me more of a Komodo Dragon from our planet, but she does not have scales, which is fascinating, and she's clearly stronger and far more agile."
"Are Komodos able to change colour?" Teyla asked.
"No," Dr Petri replied as she fed another petal to Ketra, clearly in no way intimidated by the dragon's size and teeth. "Though they are more colourful when younger and live up in the trees initially. Do Ketra's species move around on the forest floor a great deal?"
"They do, but from what we know of them, they prefer to be in the trees during the night and when feeling threatened," Teyla replied, glancing up at Sparrow as the bird squawked loudly. The parrot was peering down at Ketra, leaning off its perch to watch as Dr Petri fed another petal to Ketra. Clearly the bird didn't approve of Ketra getting all the snacks.
John checked his watch; clearly things were going well here, and he really did need to get going. He felt a lot better about leaving Teyla now; not that she needed his protection or anything. She was a powerful Elite warrior.
"Sorry to interrupt," he said as he pushed off the table corner, "but I've got to get going."
Teyla turned round and moved a few steps towards him. "You are leaving on your mission off-world now?"
Was it him or did she sound a little disappointed.
He gave her a grin as he moved forward to stand a bit closer to her in the middle of the room. "Got to go through the pre-mission briefing and stuff first," he explained, "and then we'll be off-world for a few hours. Hopefully not much longer. There'll be plenty of time for golf later."
She smiled at that.
"Colonel Carter's schedule has given you all the next few hours with Dr Petri," John reminded her. "More, if you want it. Si' in the gym beating up Marines if you want to join him."
Teyla nodded.
Across the room, Sparrow squawked several times, and John saw that the parrot was moving down the front of the cage towards where Petri was offering it a nut, while Ketra munched on another large flower.
"But if you need anything in the meantime, just ask the Marines outside," John added, returning his full attention to Teyla. "If you have any problems, contact Colonel Carter."
"I will be fine," Teyla replied, clearly reassuring him now. Maybe he was a little nervous about leaving her, which was stupid. Teyla killed Wraith Queens before breakfast.
"I am looking forward to spending some time with Dr Petri," Teyla added with a smile as she glanced back towards where Ketra continued to behave herself and Sparrow was eyeing up the dragon suspiciously.
"I told you that you'd like her," John said quietly as he leant forward a fraction.
Teyla looked back around and he leant back again, mostly.
"Yes, you did," Teyla confirmed and then turned directly towards him, lifting her hands up towards his shoulders, initiating the Athosian forehead touch. Twice in one morning.
He cupped the top of her arms in his hands and touched his forehead to hers briefly.
"I wish you a great victory for your mission," she added as she straightened and her hands dropped from his shoulders.
John made himself remove his own hands from her, abruptly aware that Petri was watching them with intense interest that only a scientist would think wasn't rude.
He cleared his throat as he started to move back and away from Teyla, really needing to go now or he was going to be late to give his own briefing.
"I'll see you later," he smiled at Teyla as she turned away back towards Ketra and Petri. John focused on the other two. "See you later, Ketra," he called to the dragon, who looked round with a petal half sticking out of her mouth. "You've made a friend for life there, Doc," John told Petri.
Petri grinned back at him with her wide Disney eyes. "It was nice to see you, Major Sheppard."
John smiled at them all, wishing he could stay really, but he had work to get back to. This was going to be the new normal now away – leaving Teyla to go to work.
He headed to the exit, though paused at the archway out of the room and looked back at Teyla. She glanced back as well, smiling at him with that same reassuring look again.
She really did seem okay here, and she could easily look after herself. He gave her one last smile and then headed into the next room.
Moving through the lab/office towards the main door out of Petri' department, he heard Sparrow squawk loudly again and then both the women laughed.
He just needed to get though the boring mission to M1K 177 and then he could get back and hear how Teyla's day had gone.
0000
Oneakka ran out of the habitation sector, intending to make his way through the Facility to a transport craft to take him back to the Portal, but he had felt an update buzz from his electronic pad in his back pocket. Still running, he had pulled out the pad, only to find a slightly unexpected report across the screen.
Territory breach – One Hive. No Deployment.
No Deployment? That didn't make much sense, so Oneakka had redirected his target to the Facility's Emergency Response Station. At a good run, it had still taken him an annoying amount of minutes to make it to the Response Station and found that almost every other Elite currently in the Facility were already there. Though, admittedly, only he, Halling and Isen were technically on-alert, the other Elite crammed in the Emergency response Station were not cleared for action anymore and were here to provide logistic and strategic support.
Pushing his way into the crowded quiet room, Oneakka heard the voices echoing up loudly from the central console, and Halling, still Lead, stood in central position overseeing the situation.
"We ha...visual lock," a male voice stated brokenly from the speakers, the clipped accent and slightly angry edge to the professional words suggested the owner of the voice was Satedan. Oneakka slid between several more Elite, making his way to the central console and squeezing in beside Massa, who was stood over several screens displaying only limited data.
Oneakka frowned at the display. The Negese System? He recognised the name vaguely, but couldn't recall anything about it.
"Can you identify the Hive as the same from Atreus?" Another voice spoke out from the speakers. Oneakka tapped one of the screens, looking for more information.
"We have no visual feed coming in yet," Massa reported quietly. "Only the audio link frequencies we got through the radiation on Atreus are working."
That explained a little.
"...are se...g...same enlarged...al hull," the possibly Satedan voice reported through crackling static.
"Satedan?" Oneakka asked Massa.
"Yes," Massa confirmed softly. "There's a mining base on one of the moons, and the Satedan cargo ship was on a supply run there when the Hive appeared."
Oneakka nodded, but then frowned at the information he'd just found on the screen about the Negese System. He felt several of his colleagues leaning in close around him to look as well.
"We are losing the integrity of your frequency," the other voice stated to the Satedan Commander. "Repeat last message."
A burst of static was the only answer.
"Satedan vessel Gunvor," the voice called. "Repeat."
"Just a mining base?" Someone asked quietly around Oneakka's left shoulder.
Oneakka frowned down at his screen. The Negese System held only a handful of gaseous planets around a single sun, and nothing else useful except the mining base on a small moon.
"None of the planets are habitable," Oneakka confirmed for those around him.
Oneakka frowned across the console at Halling and Halling nodded that he too was confused. Why had the Wraith appeared there? There were no habitable planets to cull, just one mining base and a passing ship.
"Deployment Station this is Mining Base Alpha, we are relaying with the Gunvor," a new voice spoke out of the speakers. "Radiation levels increasing the closer the Gunvor approaches the Hive."
"Tell the Gunvor not to engage," the other voice commanded, now identified as from Deployment Station, but Oneakka knew the order would be ignored by the Satedan ship. It didn't matter if a Satedan was Commander of a battleship or a transport ship, they wouldn't run and hide from an attack.
"Gunvor rep...ts...b...st of," the report from the mining base was barely discernible in the growing static, but the note of panic in the broken up voice was clear.
"Mining Base, report!"
Oneakka looked over the screens in front of him, but there was nothing useful to see. The only live feed in from the Negese System was via the Links conversation playing out for all to hear. Next to him though, Oneakka watched as Massa started downloading in data, but it was taking its time. Oneakka leant closer, seeing that it was coming in via a longwinded route through the links system.
"Deployment station this is Mining Base," the voice suddenly re-appeared, the feed strong again. "We had a massive burst of radiation and the Gunvor now reports that the Hive has gone."
"Repeat, Mining Base?"
"The Hive has vanished," the very relieved voice replied. "It is no longer within sensor range."
"Understood Mining Base."
"The Gunvor is moving away from the radiation central point," the voice added. "Transmissions improving."
"Gunvor, this is Deployment Station, do you read?" Deployment Station asked out of the speakers.
Oneakka turned his attention to the screens again, watching as Massa finally had some packets of data through and he was opening them up to show visual recordings from sentry satellites, no doubt from around the Negese System.
Oneakka suddenly realised that Massa had Aki in the sling against his chest. The little boy was awake and was quietly watching what he could of the crowded room around him.
"Is the baby going to be helpful for this?" Oneakka asked Massa.
"If he is, it wouldn't be the first time he's saved the day," Massa pointed out, recalling Aki' perfectly timed cry that had distracted Karthig and helped save the Sythus. Massa now had satellite data recorded from several satellites in Negese and he pushed some feeds across to the other screens. Oneakka tapped into one on the screen in front of him, starting a search through several satellites' imagery, while another set of Elite hands did the same on another screen to his left.
"...ent Station; are you reading us now?" The Satedan voice echoed up from the speakers.
"Yes, Gunvor. Report."
Oneakka listened in with one ear, but the Elite next to him had found the images of the Hive from their satellite data and the time index helped Oneakka find the Hive in his feeds. The footage of the Hive was from various angles from around the system, but the computer was quickly set running comparisons to the Atreus data.
"As we approached, the Hive started running away from us," was the very Satedan conclusion reported from the Gunvor. "There was an intense burst of the radiation across all sensors, then a flash, and it was gone. Disappeared."
Just like it had from over Atreus.
But why?
"The Hive is identical to the one from Atreus," Massa announced from the screens.
"Did you hear that, Deployment Station?" Halling asked. "We have confirmation that it is the same Hive." Oneakka could see Halling bent over his screens on the other side of the console, seeing what Oneakka and the others had found. The Hive had the same enlarged shape and abnormal extra lump that was presumably the new drive tech, but, more importantly for identification, the surface damage from Atreus clearly matched.
That in itself was interesting. Why hadn't the Hive healed those injuries by now?
Damage to one of the Hive's fighter bays showed that the ships above Atreus had done a good job in their targeting before the Hive had disappeared. Which was all good information, because it meant this thing could be stopped despite its enlarged hull.
"Confirmed, Elite Facility," the voice replied.
"There were no fighters launched," the Satedan ship Commander added. "No signs that they even locked weapons on us at our approach."
"Radiation readings are also confirmed identical to Atreus and Amduat," Edfu reported off from the right, having taken over from Maja for the morning shift.
"No further signs of the Hive," the Commander added through the speaker. "Radiation levels are noticeably reducing. We'll do some patrols around the system to make sure the Hive doesn't come back."
"Understood, Gunvor," Halling was the one to reply.
Some back and forth then went on between Halling and Deployment Station about the high level Alliance wide alert, but Oneakka fixed his attention back on the images in front of him. The satellites that had been furthest away from the radiation had captured the best quality images of the Hive. Oneakka zoomed into one image which clearly showed scorch marks from weapons fire across the Hive's hull and visually compared them to images of the Hive from above Atreus. They were definitely the exact same scorch marks.
"Why hasn't it healed by now?" Massa asked, watching Oneakka's screen and echoing the same thought.
"Maybe the increased thickness of the hull means the regeneration takes longer?" Someone considered behind Oneakka.
"Possible," Massa nodded.
With Massa leant in close, Oneakka found his eyes drawn to baby Aki where he was strapped to Massa's chest and watching Oneakka. The baby grinned a drool drenched smile at Oneakka.
He couldn't help but smile back at the boy.
Only Aki immediately made him recall Seeal's comments.
He had no idea why he'd been willing to talk about his lineage, telling her Zopi' name, but he realised that he hadn't said his brother's name out loud in a very long time; he suddenly felt rather guilty about that.
Little Aki kept grinning, blissfully unaware of the concern going on around him. He just felt safe against his father's chest, with familiar faces around him.
Such fragile innocence.
It made Oneakka's chest tighten to think how vulnerable the baby was and he knew he would do anything to protect the babe if needed. Aki wasn't even his own blood, but the instinct to protect the infant was still strong, and it made Oneakka feel a flush of fearful cold just to think of what Seeal had said.
It wasn't like he hadn't thought about children of his own, for it would, as she had said, allow his Ugun blood and the lineage of Akireu to perhaps continue, but just the idea of it turned his stomach. He couldn't imagine what it felt like to be related to such a vulnerable thing as a baby of his own, to watch over it during its innocent youth, while knowing that, once the child was grown, that it would venture out into the uncaring and dangerous galaxy on its own.
He had helped save too many children to count, had literally carried babies to safety in his arms during a culling. Parents had willingly, and without thinking, pushed babes into his arms, trusting blindly that he would better protect their offspring than they could as they struggled to escape.
And he'd had to pick young children, crying and terrified, up off their parents' dead bodies.
He didn't need to live through that himself, with his own offspring. He'd already lost too much. He couldn't face the possibility of losing more.
Ever.
He snapped his eyes across the central console to Halling, the panicked fear returning, tightening up his throat. He'd almost been able to forget about the threat to Halling in all this. But, it was there still, eating away at his middle, waiting for the moment in the dark when Halling was alone and vulnerable.
He had to keep Halling alive.
Halling couldn't be further from a vulnerable infant, but, to Oneakka, he was family.
"Why use their new tech to jump into the empty system of Negese?" Massa asked loudly from Oneakka's right, cutting sharply through the worried anxiety. Oneakka realised he had missed some important conversation. Annoyed with himself, he mentally shoved all the fears and wayward thoughts out of his focus, fixing his attention on the discussion.
"Could the mining facility have been their target?" Someone suggested.
"There's hardly two hundred people working there," Edfu was the one to reply.
"Hardly much of a meal," Oneakka muttered. "Maybe it was a jump off point, to head on to another target?"
"The Negese System is closer to the border than Atreus was," Massa considered as he dropped his eyes to the Alliance map on the screen in front of him. "If they needed jump points, wouldn't we have noticed them on the way into Atreus before the first attack?"
"Unless their engines failed?" Halling considered.
"Or it is a cloaking field?" Oneakka added. "Maybe it failed and they've been sneaking around our space," he echoed Seeal's idea.
"No, the data we have analysed so far suggests that the Hive disappeared into some form of singularity, there is too much energy to be a simple cloak," someone answered from further back in the room.
"A simple cloak?" Massa almost chuckled at that comment, considering that cloaking tech had still not been successfully implemented.
Oneakka considered the images of the Hive again.
"Unless they jumped into the system blind," he suggested. "They arrived in Negese too far from the mining base for it to be their target and it gave the Gunvor plenty of time to approach and engage them."
"And why did they leave so quickly?" Massa continued the questions. "The Hive had enough firepower to take on one lone Satedan ship."
"For some reason it was more important for the Hive to leave," a voice continued the logic from behind Oneakka; he thought it had been young Isen. The new Elite had done well on Atreus, learning fast.
"Perhaps to protect their new tech from us?" Oneakka considered.
"Good questions, but no sure answers yet," Halling replied. "All we can do for now is to study all the data gathered. We should have sensor downloads from the Gunvor and the mining base through soon. The team will need everything we can on this new tech to find ways to counter it."
"That the Hive runs reasonably quickly may suggest they are nervous," Massa suggested.
"Which gives us an advantage," Oneakka agreed at the idea.
"An advantage?" Young Isen asked from behind Oneakka's shoulder.
"If they're worried about something and trying to protect themselves, then it's important to us. Any weakness is valuable," Oneakka replied as he angled his head to see Isen over his shoulder. Elite were packed in behind him, most of them, though injured enough to keep them from battle, were younger than him.
Some days it seemed that most of the Elite were now younger than him.
The majority of the Elite that he'd grown up and trained with had fallen, and yet, somehow, he was still alive. All those dangerous places, all those battles he'd thrown himself into, and somehow he'd survived to an age that was probably close to what his father had been when the Wraith had destroyed Ugun.
His eyes slid back to baby Aki, who was chewing on a little fist and dribbling down the side of Massa's chest.
All those Ugun babies who had been killed...
He looked away again.
This was why he never opened up these wounds. There was nothing to be found in them but painful memories and aching empty unanswerable questions.
It was because of the threat to Halling.
And, maybe, because of Seeal. While they had agreed on the boundaries of friendship and were easily keeping to it, she had a way of making him act out of emotion. He'd gone to confront Myrtle and told her about the tapestry. Out of all the items in his quarters, she had known with one glance of the importance of the tapestry. Unlike most people, she had then directly asked him about it, finding the wounds easily. And he'd opened them, telling his new strangely unexpected friend about his people's belief in him.
A belief he had failed to fulfil for them. He'd brought down vengeance for them, but he'd not been able to save a single one of them.
He snapped his attention back across the room to Halling.
He hadn't been able to save his people, but he would do everything humanly possible to save Halling.
Whatever it took.
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TBC