Chapter 40: I just know you can't trust that Queen
When you know something is going to happen in the near future the passage of time is an elastic concept. Initially time seems to drag so slowly that you just wish you could get to it already. At some point that changes – time speeds up beyond the comfort zone and suddenly there isn't nearly enough time to get everything done. Before you're ready the event is upon you. Such was the case for the arrival of the Hive ship.
I'd taken up position on the Bridge of the Daedalus as we waited to hear from Atlantis that the ship had entered orbit.
"Colonel Caldwell," Doctor Weir radioed in. "Are you in position?"
"Affirmative," Caldwell relied. "We're out of scanning range and ready to jump into position on your go-ahead."
"Excellent," Doctor Weir's tone was professional and didn't hint at the tension she must have been feeling.
"Just for the record," Colonel Caldwell pointed out, "I still think that we should be in orbit around Atlantis, ready to open up on that Hive ship the second it comes out of hyperspace."
"It's one Hive, Colonel, which suggests they might just be checking up on us," Doctor Weir reminded him. "There's no need to confirm our presence if we don't have to. Just stand by."
"Standing by," Caldwell confirmed.
Waiting really sucked ... I'd always hated it and life seemed to be full of too much of it. Doctor Weir checked in with the Orion too. John sounded optimistic and Rodney stressed, pretty much as usual for the two of them. There wasn't much time but I still crossed my fingers that Rodney would still get enough systems operational to make the Orion battle worthy. I'd said my good lucks and be carefuls to John before we'd all gone our separate ways but I still wished I could say something ... even just to fill the tense gap that grew as the seconds went by with no word from Dr Weir.
"Atlantis, report?" Caldwell made contact a few minutes later to find out what the holdup was. The radios enabled us to have a three way conversation between the Daedalus, the Orion and the Control Room in Atlantis.
"It's going into geosynchronous orbit," one of the Control Room technicians reported. "Hasn't armed any of its weapons."
There was a short pause before John's voice came over the radio "You could be a little more chatty, Elizabeth."
"I'm sorry," Doctor Weir said simply. "We're just waiting for them to make the next move."
"Transmitting a signal, audio only," the same technician reported.
"Put it on speaker," Doctor Weir ordered.
"We know you are there," a male Wraith voice echoed through the Daedalus Bridge. "We mean you no harm. Please respond."
"John, are you hearing this?" Doctor Weir questioned with a worried frown.
"We mean you no harm," the Wraith voice repeated. "There is no point in hiding, Doctor Weir. We know you are there. We mean you no harm. Please respond."
"Is that who I think it is?" John asked grimly.
"He's addressing me by name," Doctor Weir pointed out. "I think we can assume its Michael."
The Wraith we'd turned it a human, even if only briefly? The implications of his returning to Atlantis sent shivers down my spine. I knew conducting that experiment had been a bad idea!
"You don't actually intend to respond?" Colonel Caldwell asked incredulously.
"Why not?" Doctor Weir asked.
"Where do you want me to start?" Caldwell said mockingly, pacing frustratedly in front of the view screen.
"I think we can safely say our cover is blown," Doctor Weir responded.
"I wouldn't jump to that conclusion," Caldwell cautioned.
"The message is from Michael, Colonel," Doctor Weir said in a tone that said 'what else could it mean?'.
"They know we're here," Ronan rumbled.
"But they don't know exactly where we are," Caldwell pointed out.
"He's right," John spoke up for the first time. "Answer them and we guarantee the first shot won't miss."
"Teyla?" Doctor Weir asked.
"Any attempt on my part to connect with Michael will confirm our location as surely as if you answer by radio," Teyla replied.
"Sabina?" Doctor Weir asked for my opinion.
"Unfortunately I have to agree with Teyla," I replied thoughtfully. "If I attempt to use the TED it will only create suspicion that we're down here somewhere."
"I recommend you open a secure channel to the Hive via the Daedalus," Rodney suggested. "That way they won't be able to pinpoint Atlantis' position."
"And we can always turn the shield on," Doctor Weir reminded us that Atlantis did have that protection available.
"I believe we have enough combined firepower to take out a single Hive if we need to," John offered.
"Have you ever heard of a Wraith behaving this way?" Doctor Weir asked, presumably talking to Teyla and Ronan.
"No," Ronan said shortly.
"Nor have I," Teyla agreed.
"Right," Doctor Weir said briskly. "Let's hear what they have to say."
Once the secured channel had been initiated Doctor Weir contacted Michael. The conversation that followed was an eye opener. There were not enough humans for all the waking Wrath to feed upon and civil war had broken out amongst the Wraith cells. Michael's Hive wanted our help to turn their enemy Wraith into humans using Doctor Beckett's retrovirus. Those human Wraith would then meet their end in the predictable fashion. In return the Wraith had given us their jamming program – if Rodney could crack it then the Daedalus would again be able to beam nukes directly to Hive ships.
Doctor Weir called a meeting in the conference room to discuss our options, necessitating our return to Atlantis. I met up with John briefly before he had to head off for the meeting.
"You don't want to tag along?" John asked in surprise when I told him I wouldn't be attending.
"I thought the experiment on Michael was a bad idea from the start," I reminded him. "Doctor Weir didn't ask for my opinion then and I don't think there's any point in my giving it now."
"Wasn't it your idea to use a virus of some sort to take out the Wraith?" John looked at me in confusion.
"Yes – but I wanted Doctor Beckett to create a biotic virus to attack the Hive ships directly," I retorted, "not something that creates ... food for other Wraith!"
"We were happy when we realised there was in fighting amongst the Wraith," John reminded me. "How is this any different? It's still Wraith killing Wraith."
"Maybe it'll make it easier to do this if we think that," I disagreed, "but the evidence from Michael suggests that initially he was human. His decline could have been as much to do with our treatment of him as it was because of characteristics that might make him inherently Wraith. And I don't think creating a weapon was Doctor Beckett's motivation when he began research on the retrovirus – he's gonna struggle with the morality of this."
"Look," John said impatiently, "I'm not happy with the situation either, but the fact remains that we did ... create Michael and I don't see how we have any choice but to take up this alliance."
"And everyone else will see that too," I said lightly. "Hence I don't need to go to that meeting."
"We'll be cautious," John promised.
"I know you will," I replied seriously. "You're not thinking that we can trust these Wraith?"
"Hell no!" John retorted. "But if we don't take them up on their offer they'll alert every Hive ship in the galaxy to our presence."
"I know," I said, resigned. "Go ... do what you have to do."
A short time later three Wraith were escorted through Atlantis to meet in Doctor Weir's office. I waited with Rodney and Doctor Zelenka ... as they walked past us I caught enough of a glance to realise that one of them was the Hive Queen.
"This is just wrong," Rodney muttered sickly.
"You were excited about the jamming programme," Zelenka pointed out.
"Intellectually," Rodney retorted. "Being this close to the Wraith makes my skin crawl."
"Mine too," I admitted. "The Ancients would be turning in their graves, those that didn't ascend, at the sight of their city being violated like this."
"I wonder what they are saying up there," Zelenka said, glancing up at the Control Room that was just visible from our position.
"We'll find out soon enough," Rodney replied. "Let's get back to this jamming programme."
Doctor Weir and the Hive Queen came to an agreement and what followed was the most uncomfortable period I could recall spending on Atlantis. Doctor Beckett and Doctor Zelenka worked with one of the Wraith to find a way to disseminate the retrovirus aerosol gas to a Hive ship. Rodney went to the Daedalus and worked with Hermiod to crack the jamming program so that we could successfully beam something onto the Hive ship. Michael and the Queen seemed to just hover around menacingly.
I did my best to avoid them all completely, sticking mostly to my lab while they were on Atlantis. John thought I was being silly to feel so apprehensive of the Wraith but I had a sick suspicion I didn't want to confirm. Unfortunately I couldn't avoid the Hive Queen forever – I was still pursuing research on my telepathic jamming idea and I needed to ask Doctor Zelenka something. Expecting to find just the Wraith scientist with Radek, I was dismayed to find the Queen was also in attendance.
She turned when I entered the lab, doing that Wraith hiss and head twitch thing they all did.
"Sorry," I mumbled, quickly backing out of the lab again. With a panicky feeling I rushed off down the corridor. I couldn't resist glancing back to the lab – the Queen was standing in the door way watching my retreat.
"Crap, crap, crap," I muttered under my breath, thoughts buzzing in my head as I tried to recall where John was supposed to be that morning. I was almost running by the time I got to Doctor Weir's office, relieved to see John still meeting with Elizabeth.
"It's her," I rushed right in, voice shaking as I started to pace in the small space.
"It's who?" John got to his feet and grabbed my hands to halt my nervous movements. He frowned when he felt my hands trembling and focussed intently on my face as he continued. "What's wrong?"
"The Hive Queen! It's the same one I ah ... you know ... when I was captured," I wobbled my way through that explanation.
"Are you sure?" John urged me to sit down, sitting beside me and glancing at Doctor Weir to check her reaction.
"Oh yeah," I replied grimly. "Same tattoos, same superior expression ... same disco outfit."
"Why is this a problem?" Doctor Weir asked me.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I just know you can't trust that Queen – I've seen inside her head and she's vicious even by Wraith standards. Plus she's cunning and intelligent – you don't want to underestimate her."
"Did she recognise you?" John asked the question I'd been trying not to think about.
"She made out like she didn't," I replied, "but I sensed ... something from her ... satisfaction maybe? She knows who I am all right."
"I think it best at this stage if you keep clear of all the Wraith," Doctor Weir instructed. "Do you think there's a risk the Queen might be able to sense things from you too?"
"I have no idea," I said irritably. "Much as I hate to hide from the Wraith, I'm thinking it might not be a bad idea for me to go up to the Daedalus until the Wraith leave. I would hate to give away anything about the TED just by being here and I really have no idea how much a Wraith Queen could pick up in close proximity like this."
"I'm sure Rodney could use your help to work through the jamming program," Doctor Weir said briskly. "Colonel Sheppard, why don't you help Sabina pack up what she'll need?"
"Thanks Doctor Weir," I said, grateful for her giving me a reason to go to the Daedalus without making it seem like a retreat, as well as for giving John and I the chance to talk alone before I left.
"You okay?" John asked once we'd put a bit of distance between us and Doctor Weirs office.
"Maybe Doctor Heightmeyer was right," I said reluctantly, "maybe I do have some lingering effects from what happened on that Hive ship."
"Anyone would be freaked out to come face to face with an enemy like you did," John discounted. "That doesn't make you weak."
"No, it just makes me feel weak," I pointed out, "which is almost as bad!"
We'd arrived at my quarters and I quickly gathered together enough clothes to see me through a few days.
"So I guess I'll see you when the Wraith leave," I looked at John hesitantly.
"I'm sure I can find something on the Daedalus that'll require my personal attention before then," John drawled.
"That'd be nice," I went over and hugged him. "Be careful."