The hive ship that was spotted by the Daedalus had finally reached the Lantia system, and Atlantis was waiting. All of the military personnel were at their posts and the civilians, those who were not capable of fighting and those assigned to protect them, were in the crèche. It wasn't just the Genii patients and the Atlantis children either. Teyla and Halling had rounded up every Athosian, from the eldest to the youngest babe in arms and every single person that had taken refuge among the Lantians, and made certain that they were all in the safest place they could be. Ronon and Doctor Beckett had even moved the Ancient baby machines to the more protected crèche area.
Rodney and his scientists were also at their posts, ready to make repairs or adjustments or anything else should it be needed in the fight to come. After two years in Atlantis, they were well aware of the dangers that a hive ship in orbit brought, not the least of which was more hive ships. The sensor range of a hive ship had been calculated long ago, so they knew exactly when the approaching hive would be able to begin scanning Lantia for Atlantis.
They couldn't move the city, or sink it, or even shield it the way they had before. They still only had a single ZPM, and those options took up too much of its energy as it wasn't even a third of the way charged. What they could do, and had done, was to fill all of Atlantis' drone ports with the newly manufactured drones, fill all the jumpers with both drones and pilots under Major Lorne's command and put Colonel Sheppard in Atlantis' command chair. The newly christened Orion was unfortunately still undergoing repairs and so was shut down for the encounter. She was able to go from one place to another, but she wasn't up for a fight yet.
"Two minutes and closing," Chuck said softly in the tension charged control room. Most of the command staff, Colonel Sheppard, Major Lorne and Doctor Beckett being the major exceptions, was waiting near the conference room. They were all speaking in almost whispers if they had to speak at all. For once even Rodney was quiet. There was something about this type of situation that always held humans as still and silent as possible. Elizabeth idly wondered in the back of her mind if there were some type of racial memory of being helpless prey in all of them, because it wasn't just the Pegasus natives who were reacting like silent rabbits praying the wolf would pass them by.
"Hold your positions," Sheppard sent out. He could see everything Atlantis could see from the chair, and it was he, not Elizabeth, who was in charge at the moment. "We don't want to waste any of the nice new toys that Rodney's people made for us." Elizabeth could practically hear the smirk Sheppard was no doubt wearing on his face. If she hadn't known better she would have been furious over his casual attitude, but she did know better. She had been one of the few people who had actually heard him admit how many of the Genii he had killed when Koyla's men had invaded and how he had done it. Not all of the men killed that day had died by colliding with the gate shield; some had died from close up encounters with the then major. She had also seen the haunted look in his eyes more than once when they had lost someone, especially when it was the Wraith responsible. John Sheppard cared deeply for his people, and right now he was making sure that they heard a confident commander. Whatever his doubts or fears might be, he would always keep them to himself, unburdening them only with the members of his team and even then, only after everything was over and done with.
Chuck suddenly straightened up from where he had been hunched over the sensor panel. "They're slowing down. They've stopped just outside their sensor range," he reported, confused. None of the other hive ships that they had encountered had done anything like this.
"Are the radio frequencies all open?" Rodney demanded to know.
As usual, he was a few steps ahead of the rest of them. "Yes sir!" Chuck said smartly. He and the rest of those in the control room were now trying to hold down a slender hope. Michael had been sent off with a frequency code that he could use to contact them if needed. If this was his hive, there was a chance there would be no battle today. On the other hand, it was just as probable that Michael had been killed for daring to abandon Wraith custom and the information was now being used against Atlantis.
A few moments later the question was answered. The hive ship sent a signal in the general direction of the planet, making no sign of attempting to track down any receiver. "Atlantis, this is Michael, please respond."
Everyone breathed a short sigh of relief even as Sheppard answered. "Michael, this is Sheppard, how are you doing?" John had bounced the signal off of one of Atlantis' old sensor satellites further out in the planetary system so that if Michael was in trouble the hive wouldn't be aware of exactly where the city was located.
"I am well Colonel. If you could send me the designation for a safe location, my queen would like to meet with your people, especially Doctor Beckett." That wasn't what anyone had expected, even those who had the most optimistic attitude.
"Sure, sending coordinates now. Just make sure that you keep on the flight path I'm including, I don't want to have to blow your ship up," John warned. The flight plan would send the ship to the far side of the mainland, far enough away that they would not be able to see either the village or the city.
"Of course, we still have far to travel on the path to trust."
"You got that right," Chuck muttered. Then a little louder, "Transmission sent and the hive is still stationary, but I'm reading a smaller ship launching…. It's larger than a dart, but not by much…. Probable crew is four, not counting the queen if she's there at all…. It's following Colonel Sheppard's flight plan," he finished with an overly loud exhale of relief. The recon teams running into, and fighting with, the Wraith was one thing. Having the Wraith show up on Atlantis' front doorstep and having to fight them was another thing all together.
"Ok everyone, stand down from Red Alert but stay close to your stations. Crèche detail, stay in lock down. We still don't know just how this is going to fall out," ordered Sheppard.
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If there was a hand weapon to be had, it was in the hands of a McManus. Well, most of them were at any rate. There were more soldiers than shepherds in Atlantis, at a rate of ten to one, but pound for pound the clan outweighed the soldiers by a huge margin at the moment. They practically rattled they carried so many weapons. That was very reassuring to Carson Beckett.
They made him feel safe, these odd people from so close to his own home. No matter how passionately they went about their calling, which was so very opposite from his own, they never once made him feel as though they were anything but defenders of the innocent. He'd seen far too many fanatics in his lifetime to mistake one of those for anything less than the rabid dogs they were; a certain Genii commander being the most vivid memory. These people used their minds, and as the twins had proved on more than one occasion, there was a lot more to those minds than was first apparent. Which was why he felt perfectly safe standing behind two of them as they waited for the Wraith queen and her entourage to emerge from her ship.
The first one out of the ship was Michael, followed by another male. The second male looked around the clearing obviously, making it clear to all that he at least, was not too sure about these humans and their intentions towards his queen. While Michael greeted Sheppard and Elizabeth the hatch opened again, this time allowing two drones to emerge. This was excellent as it was perfectly normal, (at least for Pegasus as far as Carson was concerned because where else would you find space vampires who were willing to talk to their food?) because in this galaxy you never knew what was just around the next corner and normal was a highly prized state.
It was the emergence of the queen that changed that. The Wraith queen was the equivalent to sixteen human years old, in many ways still a child. Her mother must have sent her off before she reached puberty for her to be this age now as it had been some time since Michael had last been in Atlantis. Her mother should have waited a few more months before sending her off, at least if Carson had understood Michael's description of the Wraith life cycle correctly. They had known that Michael had come from a small, and therefore young, hive but this meant that something had to be drastically wrong. It just remained to be seen what that would be, and what that meant for Atlantis.
The drones fell in behind her as she approached Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard, and the second male did his best to keep himself between her and the armed humans. The queen stopped next to Michael, just out of reach of the Lantians, and gracefully bowed her head. "Doctor Weir, thank you for allowing this meeting."
"We're pleased to meet those who come in peace," Elizabeth said. Like all of the others who sat on Atlantis' council, she had studied everything that was known about the Wraith, from what Michael had told them to whatever the linguists had managed to get out of the database. It really wasn't enough. She could only hope that she would be able to correctly feel her way through this.
The queen tilted her head. "My mother would tell me that to meet in peace with humans is unthinkable, for they are nothing more than our food, but thanks to your people and the one you call Michael, I know that is not entirely correct. Michael's experience among your people has shown me that there are far more food sources for my hive than simply humans. Doctor Beckett's efforts to provide Michael with the information that he needed to have not only an alternate food source, but to ensure that it was healthy for him as well, has shown me that there is far more to humans than I was ever taught."
Elizabeth nodded. "There is much that we do not know about one another." She cocked her head, more in response to the queen's body language than anything else. "My people find such situations to be intriguing. Most of us are seekers of new knowledge, and few of us are interested in only finding out information on how to fight your people. We are interested in history, biology, culture, and not just about your people, but all the peoples of this galaxy. We are not so foolish as to think that such information is casually given however."
"No, it is not. However," the queen paused as the other male tensed. It was obvious that he was really not happy with the situation, but also that his objections had been overridden. She continued when he said nothing. "When you provided Michael with the information and released him to return to my hive, you had done something that you could never have understood or anticipated both because of your ignorance of my people and because of the uniqueness of this situation my people find themselves in."
The queen looked extremely grim. "Because my people have awakened from hibernation early, there are not enough humans to support all of the hives. The Wraith are facing starvation, and because of this have begun to fight amongst themselves. Your efforts have ensured the survival of my hive, and that is a great debt; one that must be repaid."