Stargate Atlantis: Sleep Before I Do

By: Shadow Chaser

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 & Stargate Atlantis and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions, AcmeShark Productions, and Scifi Channel. This story is for amusement only and I didn't get any money for it. No copyright infringement is intended.

Category: Action Adventure, Drama, H/C

Pairing: Hints of Shep/Weir, hints of Ronon/Teyla, and hints of Shep/Teyla.

Notes: This is one of those "pay-attention-lots-of-answers" chapters. Sorry if it's all within the dialogue. I tried to break it up so it isn't a chunky read and yes I know I still left that nasty cliffhanger for all of you guys regarding Teyla's fate. Also, eagle-eyed readers can pick up on Artemis' alternate name from one of my favorite sci-fi book. I made the Furlings' culture the way it is because it's the only mythology that has not been poked upon heavily in any SG-1 episode (save for that bit about Athena-Vala connection). Asgard are Norse, Goa'uld are Egyptian/Babylonian/Mesopotamian like, Ancients are mostly esoteric/mother nature/Merlin style – why not have Greco-Romans for Furlings!

Also I noticed that some of the recent reviews address the issue of pairings, please dear readers, keep it nice and tidy with each other. Don't want the moderators of getting antsy about deleting your reviews within commentaries. But I do enjoy reading your reviews/commentary. Thanks!

Story:

Chapter 8 – Alliance

The control room for Atlantis was a frenzy of activity, most of them from Radek and his team, all whom were still busily fielding translations from Dr. Jackson and his team in Stargate Command. Elizabeth had immediately contacted General Landry with the news regarding Apollo's proposal. Now that they had a better understanding that they were dealing with, in regards to Taethos, her hope in getting this whole mess resolved was growing stronger.

However, it still did not mean she implicitly trusted what the Furling had told them and was still wary of a trap of sorts. The only way she knew to confirm his words was to dial the address he had given for what he had said was the capital world of the Furlings. The only planet in a previous thought uninhabited cluster with a stargate on it.

However, getting the gate to dial the address was another thing. For one thing, they had discovered that the address Apollo gave them was in a remote section of the outer edges of the Pegasus galaxy where neither life nor stargates were listed. All except for one and it was blocked out by Atlantis' systems as a do-not-dial gate. There were several of these types of addresses listed, and Elizabeth knew from previous mission reports from the SG teams and from experience that there was a good reason that some of the addresses weren't meant to be dialed.

Based on the data Rodney and Radek had figured out, a few of them led to black holes. She did not want a repeat of the fatal mission SG-10 had gone through over eight years ago that nearly lead to Earth's own destruction.

The Daedalus was still in orbit around M3R-154, but with the new video feed Apollo had graciously left for them, Colonel Caldwell would be able to see what was happening on their end when they hopefully made contact with Furlings. General Landry had given her the go-ahaed to make first contact with the blessing from the IOA through Woolsey, and from the President himself.

Hermiod was not able to confirm the address, but had vouched for Apollo's character and mentioned something about a previous mission in which the two had been working together. Elizabeth had been surprised to hear that piece of information and wanted to know more, but also knew that it wasn't the time or place to ask such frivolous questions. Caldwell had told her that Apollo had contacted someone from the Agentus after they had initially disconnected the video feed, but did not know if he was successful in convincing them to send more troops. He did tell her that he heard raised voices from both ends of the conversation though and that had him worried.

"Sergeant, what's the status on the address?" she asked the Canadian technician who was hovering over a laptop near the dialing console, tapping a few buttons.

"As far as I can read from Dr. McKay's notes, I don't think we'll encounter a black hole or anything that would affect our end of the connection," Sergeant Chuck Raymond replied.

She bit her lip, "All right, dial the address." Touching her radio, "Radek? Any more luck?"

"Just some more information. Looks like the weapon is specifically designed to be used by only the Ancients and no one else. We're still piecing the latest batch sent by Dr. Jackson, but that's all I've got."

"Thank you," she replied before shutting the radio off. She turned one of the other techs sitting on a higher platform, "prep a UAV."

"UAV, ma'am?" she looked slightly confused, "not a MALP?"

"If the stargate is in space, I don't want to lose a MALP," Elizabeth replied.

"Understood," the tech turned to make the arrangements just as Chuck started to dial the address.

As soon as the seventh symbol locked and the stargate activated with a kawoosh she glanced down at him as he looked at the readings on his laptop. "No anomalies, ma'am, at least not at the moment."

"Send the UAV," she ordered and a few seconds later it went through with a quiet slurping sound.

A few seconds passed before she noticed the lack of video or anything registering on one of their main screens. "Sergeant?" she asked, puzzled.

"No telemetry or feed ma'am," he tapped a few keys on his laptop, "it's not even saying it's registering or rematerializing."

"How is that possible?" Elizabeth crossed her arms across his chest.

"I don't know ma'am," he shook his head, "shield? Or even a barrier of sorts? The SGC has encountered barriers on occasion."

"All right, transmit my signal through the gate," she tapped her radio, "My name is Dr. Elizabeth Weir of the Atlantis expedition from Earth, home of the Tau'ri. We've received your address from Arileon Apollo of the Agentus and would like to open a dialogue." Glancing at the others, she saw Radek running into the control room, a bit out of breath, but otherwise nodded a greeting. "We believe," she continued in a firm voice, "that one of your kind, a fellow Furling named Taethos plans to use the Wraith'gul to wipe out your people."

It wasn't as eloquent as she could have put it, but she stuck to the facts that she knew and hoped for the best. Her years of negotiation and diplomatic training told her that people liked the facts and could always tell when someone was trying to bend the truth. It was why so many countries distrusted the United States after they went to war with Iraq under false circumstances. She knew that they were slowly rebuilding the trust lost, but the damage had been done.

At least the IOA and the allied countries who knew of the Stargate program were still willing to leave a majority of the operations in American hands.

"Any answer?" she glanced at Chuck who shook his head. She tapped her radio once more, "This is Dr. Elizabeth Weir of the Atlantis expedition-"

A loud crackle issued over the control room before a booming voice replied, "This is High Councilor Orcus of the Klisan'thus. Your name is known to us. We will lower our shield to allow you and only you to pass. Come with no weapons or else we will consider your life forfeit."

Elizabeth took a deep calming breath and glanced at Radek, "Keep in touch." The Czech scientist nodded before she glanced at the video feed of Caldwell who had a mildly surprised look on his face, "Colonel."

"Doctor," he gave her a faint smile, one she recognized that he did not like it one bit that she was going into an unknown territory without any guards or weapons for that matter, but knew that whatever he said would be ignored by her. "Good luck."

"Will do," the corners of her lips twitched in an effort to smile, but she killed it just as fast. She headed out of the control hub and down the stairs, ignoring everyone's gaze on her, all of them thinking the same thing. If these were truly the Furlings, hopefully they would be able to resolve this whole mess and perhaps, gain new allies. She approached the watery wormhole and paused for a second before stepping through, wondering if it was friend or foe on the other side.

"Hurry it up, Doc!" Lorne's slightly strained tone only made Rodney even more irritated as he was wedged underneath the control circuits for the sensor console, trying to figure out how he could disable the two without shutting down the stargate. He did not want angry cats raining down upon him even though shutting down the gate would be beneficial to their end and means of escape in the long run.

"I'm hurrying as fast as I can!" he shot back, not in the mood to be badgered by the Major, "and no, the threat of impending death and doom isn't going to help you this time!"

"What about the fact that there's a raiding party between us and the door?!" Lorne's reply made him blink and pause in his work. He slid out from underneath the panel to see Lorne, Pearson, and Brown all by the door, which had been barricaded with the three Klisan'thus bodies and any spare furniture that was not bolted down in the room. Lorne himself was pushing against what looked like a table that shook along with the door with each heavy rattle.

"Oh...shit," he cursed quietly before sliding back underneath and grabbed his tablet. He rarely cursed, finding that such words were crude and completely meaningless. But this was one of those moments where he just wanted to curl up and have a moment to scream his head off. Unfortunately, there was no room to curl up underneath the console.

He glanced sideways at his tablet and muttered a series of curses he had most recently learned from Zelenka. The man would be proud of his potty mouth as he tried to figure out which circuits belonged to where.

"McKay!!" Lorne's muffled shout made him gnash his teeth further.

"I'm trying!" he shouted back. As he continued to work, he briefly wondered why the Ancients made their systems so redundant and ridiculously complex. It wasn't as if he could pull this thing out of his metaphorical magician's hat. Ah ha! He found something... "Wait...I think I got...it!" he crossed a couple of the crystals and wires and just as suddenly everything went dark and silent.

"Oh," Rodney sat in the silence, the distant muffles of banging on the door not even registering in his ears. Pulling a flashlight out of his tac vest and flicking it on, he stared at the wires that had betrayed him, though he was pretty sure that all power throughout the base was out. Time for Plan B...

The trip through the wormhole was relatively short, almost like the blink of an eye, but as soon as Elizabeth stepped out of the other side, she was greeted by a majestic red-orange streaked sunset and a wide open forum, unlike Atlantis' closed atrium. Grecian-like columns surrounded the area. In fact, it looked eerily like the Parthenon from one of the many family trips around the world she had taken when she was just a little girl.

Her eyes immediately picked out the DHD on the steps below the stargate before they slid to the line of Klisan'thus all holding weapons that looked like Jaffa staff weapons pointed at her. Behind her, the stargate deactivated with a zapping sound and silence reigned in the forum. She slowly held her hands away from her body, "I am Dr. Elizabeth Weir, I come in peace and without weapons."

The guards stood silently, still pointing their weapons at her. She noticed that they were all dressed in some kind of uniform, military she suspected. She did not know the height of a Klisan'thus, but if her memory served her correctly, judging from the distance she was to them, the Klisan'thus were very tall. At least two meters if she was estimating correctly. Some of them had different mottled fur, while others had solid colors, much like the various cat species they had on Earth.

She suspected calling them cats would be an insult...

"And so you have," a deep voice behind her made her turn slightly to see Klisan'thus step over the stargate's threshold from behind and approach her. She had to crane her neck upwards to stare into the feline face.

"High Councilor Orcus?" she tested the name.

He inclined his head once, his green slit-eyes focused on her. She noted that his fur patterns were almost like a Prussian Blue's, except there was something different about it, something she couldn't place. She suspected it was probably because she was a dog person instead of a cat person like Rodney, but she knew something was off.

"I presume Doctor is your title?"

"Yes," she nodded, "civilian. My people thought it prudent to assign a civilian to head our expedition to the lost city of the Ancients."

"Alterans," Orcus growled carefully and she nodded.

"Yes, that is what they call themselves," she turned slightly as he walked past her and down the steps.

He paused half way down the steps and looked up at her, "Are you coming Dr. Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth blinked in surprise at the name Orcus had called her but nodded and followed, still uneasy at all of the weapons trained upon her as she made her way down the stairs and followed behind Orcus. It was only until she reached the line of Klisan'thus that they all lifted their staff weapons at once and parted for her and Orcus to walk through unimpeded.

"Za'kutus," Orcus gestured with a clawed hand at the weapons the Klisan'thus were holding, "these are the Chapp'ai guards. It is considered to be one of the duties our...Gry'ar...are expected to perform before they are assigned to their stations throughout the galaxy to fight our war."

"We have something similar," the military precision of the guards reminded her of the solemn duty of those who were assigned to the Arlington Cemetery honor guard. "We call our ground forces Army or Marines. We also have soldiers who specialize in air combat and other duties related to the sky called Air Force and sea-based troops called Navy."

"Ah," Orcus nodded once, "Raer'ar, our sky and space force. We do not have any water-based forces as we consider the Raer'ar our ultimate combat force."

"Then what is the Agentus?" she asked as he walked to the other side of the Parthenon and towards a set of doors that opened automatically.

She thought she saw Orcus pause in a step, but maybe it was a trick of the light as he stepped into a narrow hallway and continued to walk. "A specialized military division of the High Council whose people report only to the High Council."

Kind of like Black Ops, a part of her mind supplanted, or at least that was the impression she got from what Orcus told her. He led her into a small room and she hesitated to step in with him before he turned and raised an eyebrow. "We have transportation tubes similar to that of Lantis if that is where you claim you came from," his voice was not overtly snide, nonetheless she caught a hint of a challenge in them, almost as if he believed she was lying and dared her to continue her charade.

She gave him her best diplomatic smile and stepped in. The doors hissed close and a bright blinding light filled the room then a charging whine before just as suddenly the light disappeared and Elizabeth found herself standing in an impressive courtyard. Her first instinct was to look above and she saw a domed ceiling with octagonal windows making up the dome of the ceiling. Her gaze turned lower as she saw hanging planets, gentle waterfalls, and formless, but curved pillars that looked kind of like statues. Pools of water and fountains sprayed water into the air, giving a sense of tranquility.

"Fellow Councilors, may I present, the one who claims to be of the Tau'ri, Dr. Elizabeth Weir," Orcus announced next to her and she turned around and came face to face with a group of Klisan'thus, all wearing robes of white.

There were at least nine of them, some taller than others, some shorter. And for the first time she realized that she was at a disadvantage – she could not read any of their facial expressions. It was one of the things that made her such a great diplomat and negotiator. She was able to pick up on the subtitles of human emotion ever since she was a young girl. Her bachelor's and master's degree in social and behavioral psychology helped that before she got her doctorate in political science.

"She looks like one of the inhabitants of this galaxy," one of the Klisan'thus spoke up, definitely female from the tone of her voice, "yet her clothing is far different than the furs and cloth of the others."

"I can assure you that I am a Tau'ri," she cleared her throat slightly and stepped up, ignoring Orcus who had moved to join the other nine, "we have made many advances in the last twelve years since our discovery of the stargate, or the chapp'ai as I am told you call it."

"Yes," the same Klisan'thus that had commented on her clothing tilted her orange tabby-colored head, "but you may have discovered that name from any of the Alin'thus' possessions left behind."

"Not in the Pegasus galaxy, no," she replied, "but in the Milky Way, yes. My government discovered the stargate over eighty years ago along with a set of glyphs that we were able to eventually decipher the glyphs that lead us to Abydos and a couple of years later, the repository of addresses that lead to other stargates around the galaxy and some outside our galaxy including to Othalla and the planet Orilla."

She looked carefully at the Klisan'thus when she mentioned the homeworld of the Asgard in a completely different galaxy, but saw no discernible expression on their faces. "We know the Goa'uld were confined to the Milky Way galaxy and thus allied ourselves with many other races, including the Asgard and even the Ancients themselves." It was a bit of fudging of the truth, as she knew the Ancients were particularly loose on the term of helping the 'younger races' or interfering in anything that may upset the cosmic balance, according to their rules. But she knew that the Ancients who had helped them were allies, even though all of them paid the highest cost, including the de-Ascended Daniel Jackson.

"Three years ago, we discovered what was once thought as the lost city of the Ancients, Atlantis in our language, and sent out an expedition to explore the remains. We hoped to find more power sources we call ZPMs to power the defense chair on Earth against future attacks."

"Future attacks?"

"When the expedition was sent out, we were fighting a desperate war against Anubis, who became a half-ascended Goa'uld and we were also fighting the Replicators. We were losing the war on both fronts. Since then we were able to defeat Anubis and eradicate all Replicators from the Milky Way galaxy, but in our error," she hoped that by appearing humble, the Klisan'thus would not judge them harshly, "we have awakened the Wraith from hibernation in the Pegasus galaxy and the Ori have made their presence known in our home galaxy."

"Error?" another Klisan'thus spoke up, his voice rumbling with curiosity.

Elizabeth composed herself, wondering if she was about to receive another lecture like she did with Taethos. She still did not know which Klisan'thus was telling the truth, Apollo or Taethos.

"We had been looking for alternate sites for our expedition when some of my men were captured by the Wraith. We rescued them, but we accidentally woke the Wraith," she did not mention that Atlantis had been on the verge of flooding. She was still too cautious to mention that Atlantis was still in working condition and not destroyed as the Wraith had once thought. Though it seemed like a moot point since the Genii and almost all of their trading allies knew that Atlantis was still standing. However, she dared hope that the Wraith did not figure it out and hoped that the Asurans would not tell them – though she suspected that their mutual hatred of each other assured their silence.

"And yet, you claim that you did not know what the Wraith'gul did," Orcus spoke up quietly and she turned to him.

"Yes," she inclined her head slightly, "we didn't know at first until my people were captured by Taethos. One of his men named Akiesios, contacted us with a plan for their rescue and escape and also gave us the gate address to your homeworld, telling us that this was the only stargate in this cluster of the galaxy."

"Akiesios is known to us-"

"Yet you referred to him as Apollo in your initial transmission," Orcus cut through the tabby furred Klisan'thus and an audible growl rumbled through the High Council.

"From what Apollo has said, to show your human forms is equal to a measure of trust and is one of your highest sacraments," Elizabeth left it at that, hoping that they would take the bait.

There was a moment of silence as all of the Klisan'thus stared at her before the tabby-furred female stepped forward, changing into a human woman dressed in a body armor similar to the one Apollo had been wearing. She finished transforming as she stepped right up in front of her, almost invading her personal space. However, Elizabeth knew from experience that some people loved to get up into others faces just to see if they would flinch from the clear invasion of personal space and so she held her ground.

She had to admit, the tabby's feminine form was quite beautiful, with long dark brown hair that hung in loose curls. However, her brown eyes were hard as stone and her lips a thin line on her face. She had a slight Euro-Grecian look about her. "She does not flinch," the woman said, her voice rich and firm, "a strong one at that, for a civilian."

Elizabeth stayed quiet as the female walked around her, staring at her before finally stepping away and gave her a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. "Arileon Apollo is correct in the fact that our greatest sacrament of trust is to show those we consider friends, even allies, our humanoid-forms. I am Commandant Artemis head of the Agentus," she introduced herself; "You may call me Atredies when I am in my natural state."

She nodded and looked around; hoping that the others took it as a sign to perhaps introduce themselves so she wouldn't have to identify them by their fur colorings. However, no such luck as all of them, save for Orcus, seemed even remotely interested in giving their names, Furling or human. She turned back to Artemis, feeling a bit awkward and noticed a smirk on her face, a clear sign that she had seen what was attempted and wasn't even hiding her mirth at the failure.

Elizabeth's opinion on the female Furling dropped a few degrees and she wondered if she was being duped. The way the Furlings questioned her so far and the way Artemis talked...it was almost degrading, as if they saw her as someone lesser to them, almost like a thing barely worth a glance. But she vowed not to let such negative thoughts cloud her perspective.

"However," the woman started a bit haughtily, "the Arileon has on more than one occasion been prone to over exaggeration."

It was then that she realized Artemis knew about the situation on the planet, or at least whatever Apollo had told her. And it seemed that she did not believe him... She frowned slightly. The Furlings definitely knew about the consequences of the Wraith'gul, that much was assured, yet they did not want to do anything about it? She knew she was missing something very big here, much like she knew she was missing something when talking with Taethos. There was something about the Furlings that made her uneasy.

But she would give them the benefit of the doubt, "The Wraith'gul is a weapon designed by the Ancients as a last resort. The scientists on my expedition have discovered that it is this galaxy's equivalent of the Dakara superweapon, capable of wiping all life out so the Wraith would not have any food source and eventually die."

"Yes," Artemis' wore an impassive mask.

"You would have Taethos activate it with the chance of wiping all of us out, including yourselves?"

"The weapon's capability does not reach into our space so we would be protected," Orcus said gravely and she blinked in surprise.

Before they had dialed the address to the Furling homeworld, she had Chuck pull up a map of the Pegasus galaxy and figured out the real reason why the Apollo needed to destroy the Wraith'gul – the position of the Genii homeworld's stargate would amplify the destructive power of the weapon and activate a series of stargates around the area, including the one that lead to the Furling homeworld. Taethos wanted to make a surgical strike on his own people before continuing whatever plans he had – and she suspected that helping Kolya take over Laden Radim's current government was just a minor step in the plan. The Furling probably did not even care so much to help Kolya as to keeping the stargate open on the Genii side.

However, there was a 38 minute limit to how long the stargate could be kept open and Elizabeth wanted to use that to her advantage. She had given standing orders to the military personnel and to the security teams that as soon as 38 minutes were up, they were to dial the M3R-154 to establish a connection before disconnecting to make sure that there was a 38 minute window that she would be able to use to send more soldiers in. There was no way she was recalling the Daedalus, the time wasted for a round trip was precious if they were going to make this plan work.

"I was under the impression that Arileon Apollo relayed the details of Taethos' plan?"

"Using the chapp'ai to connect to the Genii homeworld, yes, we are aware," Orcus gestured with a claw to the other members of the High Council, "you must realize that Taethos was once a trusted member of the Agentus. To hear such accusations leveled against him from an Arileon, and a half-breed at that, is disconcerting. We have already instructed Arileon Apollo to continue gathering more information before we make our decision."

This time Elizabeth could not keep the shock from her face and stared at Orcus before looking at the other High Council members. She realized that they had long made up their mind, even before she had arrived. "Why...?" she asked quietly.

"We brought you here because of a formality," Orcus looked at her and this time she could clearly see the dismissive expression on his feline face. "To pay our respects to the second-born children of the Alin'thus. You are young, and do not yet understand the war we have been fighting for a long time against both the Asurans and Wraith. To hear that you were the ones responsible for their mass awakening is both a blessing and a curse."

"Really?" Elizabeth put as much sarcasm in her tone as possible. If the Furlings wanted to play hardball, she would do the same.

"The Wraith are numerous, the children of this galaxy less so. This has lead to civil war amongst the Wraith, a boon to our cause," the Klisan'thus shrugged in a very human-like gesture.

"And what about the Wraith'gul?" she asked.

"Sujunor Taethos was sent out twenty years ago to find this fabled weapon of the Alin'thus and to utilize it for our efforts in wiping out the Asurans," Orcus replied slowly, "it would seem that he has discovered it, though his report did not come from his own mouth, but rather from Arileon Apollo. It is the High Council's belief that Taethos will use this weapon as he sees fit and help out the war effort."

"Did you know that the weapon requires the gene of the Ancients to operate?" she could not believe what she was hearing from Orcus and it seemed that the rest of the High Council agreed with him.

That stopped the Council as all eyes riveted on her and she let the ghost of a smile appear on her face as she saw that Orcus' eyes narrowed slightly. "Yes," she looked at each one of them, her voice hard, "it seems that High Councilor Orcus has kept some information from you from Apollo's report."

"That is treasonous-"

"Steady yourself, Councilor," a female Furling with tiger-like stripes running down her fur held a hand up to Orcus who had raised a hand, claws out looking like he was going to slash downwards at her.

"You claim that we are the second-born children of the Ancients. You know some of us have their genetic makeup. There is that chance the Wraith'gul will be activated if Taethos has his way," Elizabeth continued, before pinning her gaze on Artemis still standing in front of her, her expression unreadable. "You are the Commandant of the Agentus...why wouldn't you believe one of your own men?"

Artemis' gave her a smile full of teeth, "Surely as the leader of your expedition you find yourself trusting someone's word more than another's?"

She knew the Furling was right; more than once she had taken Rodney or even John's decision over others, like Sergeant Bates or even Dr. Cavanaugh and definitely more than once she had ignored Colonel Caldwell's recommendation even though sometimes they were pretty sound. "I have," she replied stiffly, "but could you really trust the word of one who has authorized the torture and execution of my own people?"

Silence reigned in the wake of her statement and she looked around at the others. They weren't going to budge on their decision. Many of them had been already swayed by Orcus and Artemis' words. It was as Orcus had said, this was just a formality. They had no intention of stopping Taethos and were completely in ignorance about the danger the Wraith'gul if the translations from Dr. Jackson and Radek were correct – which she had no doubt that they were since Dr. Jackson was the foremost expert on the Ancient language.

She pursed her lips and clasped her hands together, "Well, if there is nothing further to discuss, I believe I must return and redouble my efforts in saving my people."

"I will escort you to the chapp'ai," Artemis inclined her head before turning and bowing to the rest of the Council members who also returned the bow before she gestured for Elizabeth to follow her and started walking towards the spot where she had appeared with Orcus.

A blinding flash of light and whirling sound later, she found herself back in the room and just as she was about to make her way back to the Parthenon-like area, Artemis' hand gripped her shoulder, stopping her. She stared at the brown-haired woman, wondering what the Furling was up to.

"Please wait, Dr. Weir," Artemis' use of her proper title and last name startled her and she paused, tilting her head curiously. She saw her look cautiously out into the hall before back at her. "You will have your troops, as that is what I believe you came all this way here for."

"Excuse me but-"

"You have arrived in an ill-fashioned time for my people," Artemis quickly explained, her beautiful Euro-Greco face pinching with apprehension, "we are in the midst of a power struggle, more so within the High Council, but also amongst the people. I was there when Arileon Apollo relayed his report to Orcus and know of the details that befall the planet Acheron, where the Wraith'gul is located."

"Then why all the deception? Why offer me this?" Elizabeth was too much of a career diplomat to fall so easily to a sudden offer in troops. It was eerily similar to what the Genii had offered and she knew how that negotiation went the first time.

The Furling woman gave a very human-like sigh, "In my position, I am the head of the Agentus. They are our most prized forces and are high recognized and praised for their work. Sujunor Taethos is one of our highest ranking officers, looked up on to perhaps one day succeed High Councilor Orcus' seat on the Council. There are many citizens and a few Council members who do not believe that he has turned traitor to our people and intends to destroy us."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Then there are many amongst the Furlings and of the Council who believe the mission given to Arileon Apollo was to keep him out of sight. I do not know if this is prevalent among the Tau'ri, but the Arileon was considered a troublemaker and the Agentus sent him on his mission just to keep him out of the way."

Elizabeth could understand where Artemis was coming from, but she knew that there was also something else the Furling wasn't telling her. "I don't think sending two Agentus members to find the Wraith'gul is worth considering," she decided to call her out on her statement and was rewarded with a slight narrowing of Artemis' eyes.

The Furling woman stared at her for a second before a crooked smile appeared on her face. "Unafraid and bold," she hummed in approval, "the Tau'ri definitely take after their makers."

"I've been a career diplomat for many years to be intimated with just words," Elizabeth shrugged.

The crooked grin grew wider, "You are right about sending two Agentus members. Since our last awakening, there has been dissent amongst some of our people and I personally assigned Apollo to watch over Taethos; to befriend him, to become part of his cadre of followers. And if he were to discover that the Sujunor was not faithful to our cause, to assassinate him. However, it seems that with your people's arrival on Acheron, it accelerated his plans."

"I am making the assumption that Orcus was close to Taethos?" she asked and received a nod before continuing, "and with the lack of evidence binding the two together, it is probably why he is still part of the High Council?" Her dealings with enough wily politicians who thought they could slip one underneath the dealing table had taught her to pick up on subtle connections during her negotiations.

"Yes," Artemis nodded, "and my position is precarious enough as it is. I have the support of the High Council to continue being the Commandant of the Agentus, but if Taethos is allowed to succeed..."

"By activating the Wraith'gul and potentially killing everyone on your planet, you think in the aftermath, if Orcus is still alive, he will install Taethos as the new Commandant of the Agentus."

"No, Taethos would not kill every Furling on this planet. We number too many in our solar system to warrant a killing. He will use the Wraith'gul to specifically kill certain members of the High Council, to get rid of the opposition before Orcus would then hold new elections and appoint a new High Council, one favorable to his agendas," Artemis shook her head ruefully, "Arileon Apollo did well to inform the High Council and I of Taethos' plans, but he should not have done so with High Councilor Orcus in the room. He has been away for too long to understand how much the political dynamic of our government has changed."

There was something in her tone that made Elizabeth pause as they walked down the halls and out into the vast Parthenon. She realized that Artemis and Apollo had some sort of connection...perhaps lovers? "You're worried about him, aren't you?"

The female Furling looked up in surprise, before she laughed bitterly. "He is a good for nothing bastard that is what he is."

Elizabeth could completely understand where those feelings came from and the corners of her lips twitched up in a smile before she realized another thing. The way Artemis said bastard... Could it be?

"He's not-"

"He is my half brother," Artemis gave her a small shrug, "borne from my mother's infidelity with one of your kindred, an Alteran."