A/N: THIS.
This is the episode that made me create Vera in the first place. This is where inspiration has come from. I have thoroughly enjoyed finally writing these following chapters.
If you only enjoy reading them half as much as I had writing them, you'll have a good time :3
(More words from me at the bottom)

Point of Ascension

Chapter 6 Part 1
"We mean you no harm"

"All of my people have been safely relocated to the city." Teyla entered the control room speaking to Dr Weir.
"Did everything go smoothly?"
"Yeah." Ronon cut in. "They're pretty used to it, back and forth by now. Have you picked up any of their contacts?"

Weir turned her head towards a young man with a Canadian flag marking his origin on his jacket. "Sergeant?"
"Negative ma'am." He adjusted himself in the seat. "Scans are still clear. It looks like it's just the one hive ship."

Ronon moved around the panel to take a look at the instruments himself.

"And our cloak?" Weird added.
"Up and running." He answered without needing to check the readings. "All readings are in the green."
"Good." She nodded and turned for some privacy as she proceeded to check in with those off-base. "Colonel Caldwell, are you in position?"
"Affirmative. We're out of scanning range and ready to jump into position on your go-ahead." The colonels voice responded over the radio.
"Excellent."
"Just for the record." He added, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "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. There's no need to confirm our presence if we don't have to. Just stand by."
"Standing by."

In the Chair-room Zalenka was monitoring Veras use of the chair. Well, when he wasn't distracted of what she was bringing up, he was monitoring it. There was a screen above her, showing the advancement of the hive ship, ready to switch over to visual as soon as it was able. Another screen showed the 3D model of the Daedalus, with the Colonels picture in a corner. A third screen posing a 3D picture of the Orion, which these people had renamed the Hippoforalkus to, along with a picture of Lt Colonel Sheppard. There laid an interface over all three screens, constantly updating all manner of readings. Zalenka wanted to ask about it but kept it to himself, it wasn't the right time for questions.

Weir had just finished her conversation with Caldwell and Zalenka turned towards the ancient.
"Do you agree?"
"Yes." She answered solemnly. The scientist frowned lightly.
"With which one of them?"
"Both."

He inhaled and raised his hand, stopped suddenly, then shook his head to himself.

"Colonel Sheppard, how goes it on your end?" Dr Weird continued to get a grip of the situation.
"Well, we're out of sensor range and all that, but whether or not we're ready to fight is a whole other story."

Weir could almost hear Sheppard glaring at Dr McKay, who continued the conversation.
"Look, just getting this ship up and actually having the hyper drive work in less than a month is a miracle. If it weren't for Vera we never would have gotten this far."
"Rodney, if the hive opens up on us, I want Orion's drones."
"Well this would be a lot easier with someone who actually know how to run this ship."
"Hey!" Sheppard chimed.
"Can you do it Rodney?" Weir insisted.
"Well-" He snapped his fingers for a crew member who came up and showed him a screen. "Probably not."
"Getting there isn't going to do us much good if we can't shoot at them Rodney."
"Look, if you could get Vera here I'm sure we could-"
"I have the outmost confidence in both your and Colonel Sheppard's abilities, Dr McKay." Veras voice cut in on the radio conversation. "I can do far more at Atlantis control chair."
"I have contact." The technician announced.

Immediately an image of the ship appeared at the large screen in front of Vera. The overlaying interface started scrolling with information. Her eyes narrowed. One single hive ship, something was strange with this. At least she knew it wasn't an immediate threat. Atlantis still had an ample amount of drones in storage. Enough to destroy the hive ship if it came to it.

"Atlantis, report." Came Colonel Caldwell's voice over radio.
"It's establishing geosynchronous orbit. Weapons are cold."
"If they do fire, I want you to switch from cloak to shield as quick as possible. Don't wait for my order." Dr Weir established. Vera smiled vaguely in her seat.
"I have been in more battles against the wraith than I care to count Dr Weir. If they so much as arm their weapons, I will rip them to shreds."
"That's comforting."
"You could be a little more chatty with me here Elizabeth." Sheppard said.
"I'm sorry. We're just waiting for them to make the first move."
"I'm receiving a signal." Vera informed them. "It's in audio only."
"Put it on speaker."

Vera played back the signal in the control rooms speaker system as well as the chair room. There was an extra screen forming, showing the wavelength of the voice as it rang out.
"We know you are there. We mean you no harm. Please respond."

As the voice died out and index appeared next to the voice curves. It appeared to be searching through some sort of archive. Then green letter displayed across the screen: "76% Match. Michael Kenmore." Along with a picture of the man in question. Radek and Vera shared a look as Elizabeth and John came to the same conclusion.

"John, are you hearing this?"
"Is that who I think it is?" John responded to Weirs question.

Her jaw tensed. Vera had opposed the idea to turn a wraith into a human from the very beginning. Now this creature, this Michael, had returned to Atlantis. There was a silent anger which she suppressed. There was no point in dwelling about the past.

"There is more." She announced as the message came again.
"We mean you no harm. There is no point in hiding, Doctor Weir. We know you are there. We mean you no harm. Please respond."
"He's addressing me by name. I'm sure we can assume it's Michael."
"You don't actually intend to respond?" It was Caldwell who voiced his concern.
"Why not?"
"Where do you want me to start?"
"Colonel Caldwell, Dr Weir." Vera interrupted them. "I do believe I can confirm that this voice belongs to Michael. Which means they know about Atlantis existence. However they cannot pinpoint our exact location. Answering the call will give us away entirely."
"She's right." Sheppard answered. "Answer them and we guarantee the first shot wont miss."
"Teyla?" Dr Weir looked over at the woman who slowly shook her head.
"Any attempt on my part to connect with Michael will confirm our location as surely as if you answer by radio."

Elizabeth nodded, contemplating.
"I recommend you open a secure channel to the hive via the Daedalus. That way they won't be able to pinpoint Atlantis position." It was McKay who gave the suggestion.
"Have you ever heard of wraith acting this way?" She looked over at both Ronon and Teyla.
"No." He answered shortly.
"Nor have I."
"How about you Vera?" There was a short silence before she responded.
"No, not like this."
"Alright, let's hear what they have to say."

Some minutes later Dr Zalenka walked into the control room carrying a laptop. He looked up from it to locate Dr Weir and continued towards her.

"Rodney and I have set up the subspace relay to go through the Daedalus, and I've been able to configure our systems to handle both the radio and video frequencies. So ... we should be able to see and hear them live."
"Are you ready Vera?" Weir asked into the radio as the ancient had remained in the chair.
"Establishing connection." She answered shortly.

Radek looked down at his laptop and saw that yes, the link was being established. Elizabeth turned towards the screen which started to flicker, slightly nervous about what would follow next. What would she see? Who? What was it they had to say? There was so many questions. Questions that faded from her mind the moment the picture came live and displayed Michael, once again turned into his wraith self. Weir took a step forward, Zalenka nervously backed away.

"Hello Michael." Weird folded her arms.
"Why the long delay?" He asked calmly.
"We needed to take a few precautions before contacting you. I'm sure you understand why." Elizabeth answered without sounding too sour about the situation.
"I said we would not harm you."
"Well," She took a threatening step forward. Speaking with a forceful voice. "excuse me for not taking your word on it. You wanted to talk. We're listening. Go ahead."
"Over two years ago, every hive ship in this galaxy emerged from hibernation prematurely." He spoke slowly and without emotion, as if stating facts. "We thought a new rich feeding ground had been discovered."
"Earth." Weir filled in.
"Unfortunately, locating your planet and uncovering an effective means of transportation to get there has proven quite difficult."
"I can't say I'm sad to hear that." She took another step closer.
"For the first time since the dawn of our race, there are too few of your kind to feed the waking wraith. This has resulted in civil war. Hives are forming alliances. The strong are attacking the weak."
"Which are you?" She tilted her head slightly, Michael almost allowed himself a smile.
"Our goals are not dissimilar, Dr Weir."
"You would like to eliminate the wraith as a threat? I find that hard to believe."
"We would like you to give us doctor Beckett's retrovirus. If we were able to distribute it among the rival Wraith hives in sufficient quantity, this would both render them helpless and provide us with an alternative food source."
"Those wraith would become humans!" She exclaimed. Partially because the idea was disgusting, mostly because the suggestion in itself was shocking.
"On the surface, perhaps. As a sign of good faith, I am sending you our jamming codes. This program was established and distributed before the civil war broke out, so we assume all the hive ships are still using it. By figuring out how to bypass or disable this program, you would be able to beam your nuclear weapons aboard any of our ships whenever you so please. We are willing to help you achieve this if you help us."

It took all her self-control to not let her jaw drop at this information. Her eyes widened and behind her a console beeped.
"They're sending a data-burst."
"Download it to a non-networked, fire walled computer." She only gave the technician a glance before her attention returned to Michael.
"Yes ma'am."
"I'm sure you'll want to recall all the ships you have lying in wait for us and discuss this with your people." Michael continued. "We will await your reply. But, should you make an attempt to destroy us, we will alert every wraith in this galaxy to the fact that Atlantis is still very much intact.. I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

With that the transmission ended.

After the Daedalus had returned, all the people Dr Weir needed to make a decision was present. They sat in the conference room, the doors closed. The air awfully calm, not reflecting the situation at hand. Those present were Dr Weir, Beckett, Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, McKay, Vera and Caldwell. The last one was the first to speak. He leaned forward to rest on his elbows, joining his fingers together.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that if they were going to attack us, they would have done it by now. They let the Daedalus land without incident."
"And you're sure they don't know about the Orion?" Weir walked around the room, too restless to sit.
"I ordered Lorne to park her just outside sensor range."

McKay, who had been busy with his laptop since he got his hands on it, couldn't contain his excitement any longer.

"This.. this is incredible!" Everyone turned their eyes towards him, Weir finally took a seat. "I can't believe they actually sent this over so freely. I mean, if I can figure out how to break through this program.. Which is, well, as you know, pretty likely, we could nuke any hive ship that we came across."
"Including Michaels?" Weir asked, hoping for an 'easy' solution.
"Well it would probably take a couple of tries the first time."
"Long enough for them to tell the rest of the wraith that we're still around."
"If they really are willing to let me run tests on their ship, I mean, this is a..." In his excitement Rodney struggled to find the words for it. "It's an amazing opportunity, Elizabeth!"
"An amazing opportunity." She repeated with a clear undertone that this just might too good to be true.
"Well, think about it." Shepard spoke up. "This is essentially our idea. We created the retrovirus in order to do exactly what they're proposing we do. What's the down side? I mean, other than the fact that we'd be working with the Wraith?"
"Isn't that enough?" Caldwell said without doubting a second, he got an approving nod from Elizabeth as well.
"Colonel Caldwell is correct." Vera spoke up, interrupting Beckett's response. "No matter how much goodwill they show us, they are still wraith. We should expect a knife in the back."
"You hesitated when I asked if you ever had experienced wraith act this way." Elizabeth caught the ancient eyes and refuse to break the contact. "Is there anything you would like to tell us?"

Vera breathed calmly. It didn't seem as if the question came as a surprise to her, though she had rather remained quiet about it. But it was pointless to avoid it now.

"As I said, I have been in countless battles with the wraith. This extend to both full scale battles in space as well as ground combat. There has been extraordinary situations where I have been forced to cooperate with one or two wraith. But never, ever, a whole hive. And most certainly not a queen. And it has never ended well."
"Cooperating? Really? How?" It was Sheppard who asked the question, but it seemed all was interested in it.

Vera turned her attention to him.
"I don't think we have time to talk about incidents that occurred over ten millennia ago. We should focus at the situation at hand, Colonel."

It was a clear marking from her side. It was true that this wasn't the time to discuss such a thing. But this seemed more like a veiled way of saying 'I don't want to talk about it'.

"Anyway." Teyla tried to get back to the subject. "I'm not sure we have a choice. It appears they have kept our existence a secret, but if we refuse to help.."
"There is that." Weir acknowledged with a sigh. "Carson, what do you say?"
"I suppose it would mean that at least something good came out of our experiment with Michael."
"How close are you on a weaponisation of the retrovirus?"
"We're close." He nodded. "It still needs work, but we're close."

As no one else raised a voice in the discussion people started to turn towards Ronon who had kept silent through the whole meeting.

"What?"
"What do you think about this?" Elizabeth asked. Ronon leaned back in his chair.
"Let's do it." The simple, quickly delivered comment startled more than one person in the room.
"Really?" She tilted her head slightly.
"Like Sheppard said, it's our idea."
"I just thought you of all people-"
"Hey, if they want our help killing other wraith, it's one kind of help I'm happy to provide." He said without hesitation.
"Okay." She sat up properly. "So we're doing this?" She let her gaze go around the room. "I'll accept the offer." She decided, knowing that this might be the most important diplomatic mission she had ever embarked on.

People started leaving the room but both General Caldwell and Vera lingered. Caldwell started discussing some of the safety issues with wraith on the base. For once, Elizabeth seemed to accept his military precautions. In fact even welcoming them. As they agreed that one of the demands would be that only three wraith would be allowed at Atlantis simultaneously, Vera entered the discussion.

"I have have an additional suggestion to that rule, Doctor, Colonel."
"What would that be?" The man asked. Of all the people here, the Colonel Caldwell seemed to be the least impressed by her mere existence, she appreciated that.
"As you know it is the female who is the leader of the hive. She is your only option when establishing the outline of the deal. And I agree that their presence here should be limited, three is a good number."
"But?"
"No, as I said, I don't disagree. I would just suggest that you demand that the queen must always be one of these three."
"You're talking about holding her hostage." Weir noted.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Caldwell insisted.
"I cannot stress enough that these are wraith we're dealing with, Dr Weir. To them, we are food. Keep that in mind."

After following the wraith scout ship from the chair Vera had hurried her way up to the gate room where Weir waited to receive the wraith. She joined Sheppard on the balcony and waited for the sound of footfalls.

"You and Teyla were both against the experiment on Michael." Sheppard said. "She doesn't really like this idea, what about you?"
"As she said Colonel, I don't believe we have a choice."
"So you don't think it's a good idea?"
"Working with the wraith?" She turned her head towards him, there were sarcasm in her words.
"Yeah, but we're helping them kill each other, instead of us."
"And you believe this is the only thing they are planning?"
"Teyla said the same thing." He frowned and looked down the balcony.
"I'm not surprised."
"Colonel."

They were interrupted by a soldier calling on Sheppard. The wraith would arrive shortly. He nodded towards her as an excuse, which she returned. He joined Weir, Caldwell, Teyla and Ronon at the stairs. Vera turned her attention towards the oncoming footfalls. Wraith. Invited. In Atlantis. She never though she would see the day.

It was the soldier escort that gave the entourage away. To the three wraith there were eight soldiers, all fully ready with weapons. The gate room was also lined with soldiers, ready for anything that may come. Everyone watched in tense silence as they arrived.

The first of them was the queen. Dressed in white her clothing was form fitted, decorated with glittering details. Her high heals gave her a confident stride and posture. The front locks of her white-streaked black hair was tied together in the back of her head. Her skin had a sickly yellow-green tone to it, and on her chest there was an extensive tribal-like tattoo that went all the way up to her eyes. Her yellow eyes with oval pupils clearly set her aside from any human. Well that, and the obvious difference of the facial features.

The second one had a familiar face. Dressed properly in Wraith command clothes, dark brown fabric form fitted with shoulder- and arm-guards, was Michael. His hair was still short, which clearly set him aside from any other wraith.

The last one was dressed in a short black leather coat along with straight lined pants of the same color. His skin was notably greener, his hair white and long. From his jaw hung two locks of facial hair. Above his left eyebrow was a black tribal-like tattoo, not unlike the same style as the queens.

The escort stopped, allowing the queen to face Weir with her people just coming down the stairs.

"I'm Doctor Elizabeth Weir. Welcome to Atlantis." Not a single thread of nervousness reared itself in her voice. She was as confident as ever.

The queen accepted the welcome with a barely noticeable nod. She turned with a few steps and took a look around the room. Not in the least bothered by the number of weapons trained at her.

The queen had joined Sheppard and Weir in the doctors office. Two marines was standing guard on the inside, others keeping watch outside. Vera still stood at the balcony, leaning on it with her elbows. In her ear there was a radio, allowing her to listen in to every word that was said in there. She listened to Weir giving the queen her ultimatums, heard Sheppard filling on on security detail. The wraith sat still and listened without interrupting, not showing a sign of offence. In the corner of her eye she saw a soldier coming up to Teyla, telling her something and then leaving.

"What did he want?" Ronon asked her.
"Michael is asking to see me."
"What?"
"He wants to meet in the room where he was turned from wraith to human."
"You're not going, are you?"
"I think I will."
"I'm coming with you."
"It isn't necessary Ronon. I do not believe he would try anything in this situation."
"I'm still coming."
"Teyla. May I come as well?" Vera suddenly asked, which startled them both.
"If you wish." She nodded.

The room was guarded by soldiers on both the inside and out. Michael was walking slowly along side the bed where he once was strapped down to. Turned into a human. One might expect him to feel more rage in the situation. But he was calm maybe even a bit sentimental. If wraith could house such feelings...

"Hello Michael."

Teyla entered the room with Ronon in her tow. Vera walked in a moment later, but stayed by the door. Michael stopped at the head of the bed and put his hand on the pillow.

"It seemed right to come back here, and to see you. Thank you for coming." He looked up and his eyes shifted between the arrivals. "You didn't need to bring him."
"I insisted." Ronon said solemnly.
"The last time I saw you..." Michael kept his focus on Teyla who refrained from showing him any form of emotions. "I really was going to feed on you, but it was not a matter of choice. It was... instinct."
"That is what you have come here to say?" Teyla watched him sigh, look down to gather his thoughts then up again. Looking in to those yellow narrow eyes sent a chill down her spine, but she showed none of it.
"You have given me a very rare perspective among the wraith. Few of us have ever come to know the humans we are going to feed on as anything more than a means to survive, and still, I would do what I had to do. But what you did to me-"
"We did the same." She snapped. "To survive." The anger was coming too close to the surface now.
"I though you were trying to help me." He tilted his head.
"What's your point?" Ronon was getting restless and his fingers touched the weapon at his side.
"We're not as different as you think."
"We are nothing like you." Her jaw was tensed now, her body language told she wasn't exactly satisfied with the situation. Michael laughed at her.
"You are a lot more like us than you allow yourselves to believe."
"I will not argue with you Michael. It is pointless." There was a moment of silence before the wraith continued.
"If we are to make this alliance work, we must both overcome the instincts that define us." He took a good look on Ronon, then on Teyla. "We will not meet again."
"Goodbye." She said short, gathering her emotions under her control again.
"Goodbye." Michael bowed his head to her.

Teyla turned and walked away. Ronon followed her but as soon as she had disappeared out the door he reached for his weapon and turned towards Michael. But as he grabbed it, there was a strong hand closing on his fingers and another on his arm. He heard the Vera's hushed voice speaking to him.

"Don't. It is what he wants you to do."
"You're proving my point right now." There was a satisfied tone to his voice.
"Be quiet Michael." Vera tried to silence him.
"Every fiber in your body wants to kill me..."

Michael watched him struggle, the woman holding the man back. He doubted she would be able to stop him if he decided that he really was going to kill him.

"Instincts are so hard to resist... But what would happen to our alliance if you did? Every wraith in the galaxy would know of your existence, they would destroy your fair city. Is it worth it, Ronon?"
"Don't answer, just leave." She had to struggle to hold his arm down. His hand was clenching the weapon, the muscles itching to draw it.

But he withheld the urge. He shook himself free of her grip and left in an angry stride. The soldiers at the entrance lowered their weapons and avoided his eye contact. But Vera didn't leave. She stood in front of the wraith and gave the soldiers an order.

"Leave us."
"Ma'am, our orders are-"
"You can wait outside." She said and raised her arms slightly, not shifting her eyes. "I am unarmed. As well as he."
"But-"
"He will not harm me. He would not compromise this.. alliance. Now go."

She had offered the energy weapon to Teyla before entering, telling her to keep it concealed. Before the wraith arrived she had seen to it that several more was supplied with Atlantis standard weapons. She had had at least ten of them to distribute. All of them was now carried concealed. And always on a soldier that remained close to their guests.
The two soldiers hesitated, but they did leave the room. Vera's eyes still hadn't left Michaels. What she was about to do might not be a good idea, there were risks involved. But still she felt it was risks she needed to take.

"Atlantis, seal the room."

The ship obeyed her command instantly, the doors slid shut and locked. He gave her a curious look, tilted his head and brought it upright again. He breathed slowly, moved slowly.

"That's the second time you keep him from attacking me." Michael proceeded carefully and decided he would try to pry her intention from her. Using his voice he reached for her mind. "Perhaps you-"
"Your wraith tricks wont work on me, Michael." She said with a forceful voice. He was startled but kept his balance. "As you said, that was the second time. There wont be a third." She took a step closer to him. "When your capture and turning was discussed, I made my opinions clear. First, that I was utterly against it. Second, as you said yourself, that we are more alike the wraith than we would ever acknowledge. I know more of your kin than you believe. When the full extent of this plan is revealed, and believe me when I say I know there is more," She placed her hands on the bed and leaned forward towards him. "I will be there to foil your plans."

She gave him time to respond, waiting in silence, locked in eye contact. He said nothing, just met her eyes. Satisfied, she turned towards the door and commanded it to open. As the doors slid apart soldiers came in with guns raised. Vera kept walking as if they weren't there and once out the room she turned and continued down the hallway.

She had tried to force a reaction. A flinch, eyes averted, a protest to her claim. Michael had given her nothing. Even though she didn't have experience in reading the facial expression of a wraith, she had gotten the feeling that as long as Michael was concerned, the retrovirus was the full extent of their plans. This, however, was far from enough to make her at ease.

In the corridor came a running Colonel Sheppard, he held the lantean energy weapon in his hand. When he spotted Vera he slowed down until he came to a stop.

"Are you alright?" He asked concerned.
"Yes. How so?"
"Lieutenant Reed just called me and said you got locked up with Michael." He gestured towards the end of the corridor.
"I locked myself in with him."
"What?" He frowned.
"I accused the wraith of having a hidden agenda with this deal. I tried to get a reaction out of him."
"What? You can't do that! What if he.. he'd fed on you?"
"I judged the risk of him trying to harm me would be minimal. He serves under a queen now. He wouldn't move without her permission."

John clenched his teeth and tried to find his words.

"You can't do that! What if they see this as an act of aggression?"
"I didn't make any threats."
"That's not what I-" He took a breath to gather his thoughts. "Look. This is a very delicate situation."
"Nothing happened, colonel."
"This time."
"My concern is-"
"The safety of Atlantis. Yeah, we know that." He interrupted her. "I'm just saying we need to know what's going on."
"I understand." She assured him before he could continue.
"You do?"
"You are the head of security. You need to know what's happening. I apologise."
"You do?" He repeated, not really sure what was happening.
"Normally I am used to a strict chain of command. Your way of doing things are... confusing. I will clear such actions with you in the future, before taking them."
"Really? Just like that?"
"Yes colonel."
"Great!" He said a bit hesitant and surprised. "By the way.. Could you just call me John? Or Sheppard. Colonel just sounds so.. formal."
"I understand, it seems you are young for your command. However it is my habit to call soldiers by rank. So I can give you no promises, Sheppard. Would that be all?"
"Yeah, sure." He smiled hesitantly

She bowed her head and continued down the corridor.

"Too young for my command?" John frowned.

The End

Authors Notes: So, does Vera have a hidden agenda? Why isn't she affected by wraith-telepathy-control thingy? : D OH GOD how I've long to write this.
Well, you all had to suspect that there was something special to her if The Ancients actually saw it necessary to leave her alone in Atlantis while they all left for earth.

Yes, there's something strange about her, and soon enough, you may know. Not yet though. There are some pages left still ^,^

So there's going to be a lot of things that's exactly as the actually episode "Allies". It's the last episode of Season two. I don't wanna spoil too much so that's what you get right now.

I thought it would just be natural that they'd got longer on the work to fix the Orion. Vera is after all a kickass pilot and knows her way around every lantean ship you can present to her.

Then there is the text and dividing it into sections and stuff.
Thing is I'm a huge fan of books. And all this spacing does automatically is something I do not like. But at the same time I do realize it's one thing reading from a paper and one complete another reading from a screen. So! I'm experimenting a little, hopefully we can all feel comfortable with it X3

Well.. Actually I already have the next chapter ready and I promise to post it around the same time next sunday. If we're lucky I can get the third chapter done until the sunday after that :3

Peace out!