Chapter 6

The Daedalus soon entered orbit around the planet where the athosians settled. They had made good time.

"Are you able to tell if the camp site is still safe?" Teyla inquired of the helmsman. A hint of concern had found its way into her voice. He shrugged.

"It's impossible to be completely certain from up here, but life signs are present at the camp and there are no particularly unusual readings that we can detect from this point. Everything seems to be normal. I would imagine they'd most probably be fine."

"Well, we'll have to go down there to find out for sure," Sheppard said from behind them. "Beam my team down to the outskirts. If we give the all clear, send Dr. Beckett and Teyla's family."

The team materialized just outside the still bustling athosian settlement just as the sun was setting. Several startled athosians were nearby and they all reacted with surprise, which quickly turned to curiosity, delight and excitement. Teyla briefly glanced around for familiar faces before a huge smile spread across her face. Sheppard signaled the Daedalus to beam down Beckett, Kanaan and Torren. John could tell how relieved Teyla was to be back here as he watched her begin to greet the crowd of athosians now gathering around them. It had been a little while since he had seen her quite so happy. It was really good to see her smile like this again. After everything that had happened, she deserved it.

They all made their way towards the center of the athosian encampment together. Many more people began to emerge from their homes to try to see the source of the commotion. It was then that Halling strode out of his tent. When he realized who it was, he just barely managed to stifle a bout of stunned laughter. His hair had grown back to roughly its former length in the months following his ordeal with Michael, but the look of disbelief on his face had not yet left when he walked up to them.

"You have returned!" He exclaimed, clearly overjoyed to see them. Teyla was the first to greet him. She put her hands on his shoulders and they touched their heads together in the traditional athosian greeting.

"It is good to see you again, Halling."

"And you, Teyla. Your people have missed you greatly." He turned to Sheppard and extended his hand. Sheppard shook it. "Many of us had begun to believe we would not see you again."

"Well… we're here now," Sheppard reassured him. Halling looked up at the sky.

"You should come inside. It will be dark soon. We were preparing our evening meal and would be delighted if you could join us."

*Later*

"It is good that you arrived when you did," Halling said while they sat at the table in his hut. "It is feared that the galaxy is spiraling into a state of turmoil. They say the wraith are becoming more and more desperate. They have begun culling worlds with greater frequency and savagery than ever before in living memory."

"Have things truly become so bad?" Teyla asked. The grave expression on Halling's face did not soften.

"In the recent months, several of our old trading partners have been all but obliterated."

"What?" She said, horrified.

"Most of us believe it is only a matter of time before the wraith come for us as well. A few others and myself had begun searching for some way for our people to escape if the worst should happen; but safe havens in this galaxy appear to be becoming increasingly rare. I am not sure we would be able to find any place for our people to flee to for very long," Halling said. It was then that Ronon interjected.

"People are dying all across the galaxy now! Isn't that enough to get them to send the city back with us?"

"Hold on there, Chewie. We're probably going to need more than that. The IOA has already heard our testimony about the humans here," Sheppard said. He turned back to Halling. "Can you tell us how the Pegasus Coalition held up through all of this?"

"Have they even survived at all?" McKay said. Halling nodded.

"We do extensive trading with many of the members. Most of the Coalition's leadership has remained intact, but they've become increasingly strained in dealing with all the growing refugee populations. Survival is becoming more of a struggle every day for each of the peoples of this galaxy now."

Teyla's face had adopted a stern expression of her own. She leaned forward in her chair and put her hand over his.

"I promise you, Halling, I will not let anything happen to our people. Not again. Now that we are here, my friends and I will do everything in our power to protect you all." Her voice trembled slightly with conviction.

Sheppard said nothing, but nodded weakly. He could see how much it meant to her to make that vow to Halling. But with everything that was happening, he just hoped that it was a promise he'd be able to keep for her.

He had to.

Between the politics back home and the wraith's struggle for dominance here, he just knew that somehow... he'd need to find a way.

*Elsewhere*

It was across the galaxy on yet another distant battlefield above yet another ravaged world where that struggle for dominance saw its next turn unfold.

A wraith cruiser hung drifting in space, surrounded by fractured pieces of debris. The hull was scorched and battered from weapons fire. Its remaining guns made weak attempts to return fire against an unrelenting bombardment. An enemy hiveship and its escorts continued to blast away at all that was left of a fleet that had been marshaled to defend this outpost. Two wraith factions had fought a battle here for control of this and several surrounding stars systems… precious feeding grounds. One faction had hoped to make a final stand here, and in so doing, finally drive these intruders from their territory. But now the battle was over. Their fleet had been decimated and their once powerful alliance had been broken. All that had still survived here was the cruiser and the last hiveship it protected. Both were under heavy fire from the wraith vessels at the head of triumphant invaders' fleet. The onslaught finally ruptured the cruiser's hull integrity and it began to erupt in a series of secondary explosions. The fleet refocused their attacks on the remaining hive; but just as they did, the damaged ship finally managed to activate its hyperdrive and escape. The cruiser, however, was not as fortunate and the explosions soon magnified and ripped the ship apart in one final detonation of orange fire.

Aboard the victors' hive, one wraith commander stood in center of the bridge at the primary console. One of his subordinates reported on the battle's status from his station near the front of the room.

"Cruiser destroyed. All enemy ships have either been destroyed or have fled. The battle is ours." The commander said nothing. Instead he simply closed his eyes, took a deep breath and smiled… as if savoring the precise moment when all his enemies were destroyed. A few seconds later the ship received a transmission and the image of another wraith appeared on their view screen. Unlike the commander and his underlings, this wraith was bald and appeared to be much larger in build. When he spoke, an almost unnatural and inhumanly deep voice filled the entire bridge.

"The Queen is pleased with your progress," he said. The other two wraith on the bridge appeared slightly nervous in his presence, but the commander didn't hesitate when he responded.

"As she should be. Our conquest of this cluster is complete. Another of our enemies has been erased from the galaxy and their territory is now ours."

"The enemy queen escaped." The bald wraith said flatly.

"She is nothing." The commander said dismissively. "Her alliance has been shattered and her fleet annihilated. Any survivors are of no consequence. We can hunt them down at any time. Her hive may flee to her last outposts to hide, but she is still powerless. She cannot escape." The other wraith seemed satisfied with that answer. He spoke again.

"The Queen wishes to extend her congratulations and has commanded that these conquered worlds shall be a new feeding ground for you and your warriors." The commander's expression did not change but he gave a slight nod. The bald wraith continued. "Another wraith faction has begun a major offensive into our territory on another front. The Queen desires that you take your ships and gather your strength at one of the nearby planets, and then join forces with our main fleet."

"They challenge us, they all die." The commander simply said in response. He had a tone of almost diabolical glee. The bald wraith smirked ever so slightly before he closed the channel. The wraith commander turned to his subordinates.

"Which of the feeding grounds is nearest to us?" The wraith who gave the status report earlier adjusted his console and the image of three different planets appeared on the main screen.

"These three worlds are all within a short distance of this location," he said. "We could reach any of them quickly enough to still be able to reinforce the fleet."

"Population levels?" The commander said.

"Moderate," the same wraith replied. "Humans have spread extensively across each of the three worlds, but other wraith factions had culled the populations repeatedly prior to this battle." The commander was thoughtful for a moment then said:

"This territory would still be vulnerable to incursions from other wraith. Which feeding ground would be most likely to be raided by enemies?" The image of one of the planets was enlarged on their screen.

"This one. Its location puts it near the edge of our territory and it can be most easily accessed by intruders."

"Excellent. Order the fleet to rendezvous above this world. Tell them to prepare to cull the entire planet." Another wraith to the commander's left suddenly turned back to him in protest.

"But... commander! Its population will be too diminished to sustain a viable feeding ground! We canno-" But the commander silenced him with a glare.

"Once we leave, our enemies will steal what is rightfully ours! They shall find nothing there but a broken, lifeless shell! These worlds shall belong to us or no-one!" He took another deep breath before a look of wicked satisfaction appeared on his face. He raised his voice to speak to every wraith around him. "Bleed this planet dry."