Chapter Forty-Four: Enemy At The Gate


Tuesday, 22nd August 2000 - Anomaly Day 18.

Hermione joined the others quietly on the balcony just outside the control room, staring up at the shield keeping back the ocean above.

Despite being in what amounted to open air, she could feel the tension in the environment as they all silently waited. With a wave of her wand, the large tablet she had been holding lifted into the air and she tapped a command in, activating it.

To either side, a large hologram appeared, projected from the tablet and the group watched her work, three vulta feeds becoming visible on the three screens before them. One was floating out somewhere near Lantea's remaining moon, slowly rounding the planet on its usual orbit looking out through the star system. The second was further out, looking in on Lantea itself, and the third was in the atmosphere hovering out towards the crashed cruiser watching over the city.

All of them were cloaked and had been deployed there by Neville before the others left aboard Vir two days earlier. Now, they were silently watching for the arrival they had been expecting for the past two weeks.

They had initially been waiting in the control room, seated at the various terminals, but one by one, the wait had grown too much to bear, and each had stood and begun to pace the room. Cyla had been the first to head outside, and soon, the rest followed until now, they all stood on the balcony awaiting their fate. If this went wrong, they would have two options left to them. Fight with the now renewed arsenal of drones they had rebuilt using the converter and flee the system. Or run for the gate and retreat back to Aedis or Vir.

The tablet beeped, noting the completion of the unseen countdown Hermione had been running. Before any of them could speak, two of the three screens showed space distorting with an oily substance. From the centre of the almost beautiful distortion came a bright light stretching outwards from the hyperspace window, like fingers reaching out from within. Less than a second passed as the fingers snapped away from the oily mark and coalesced into first one and then the second Wraith cruiser they had been tracking.

From their two angles, they finally got a good look at the design of the ships, something they hadn't been able to clearly get from the one buried in the seafloor nearby. Both were shaped like an arrowhead, with two tangs at the back that stretched underneath the vessel and were presumably its engines. The hull itself was purplish-blue and definitely looked organic in nature, with sweeping curves and odd divots where it was possible to see the more mechanical inner portions.

How they grew actually mechanical matter was currently beyond Hermione's understanding, but the ship was almost beautiful in its own haunting way.

A small message popped up on the tablet as the two cruisers approached Lantea, slowly settling into orbit, indicating that both ships were actively scanning the area around the city.

"Here goes nothing." She whispered, and she felt the tension increase as everyone noticed the message.

There was no visible sign that anything was happening, but they all remained still, afraid to do something that might reveal their presence. As they watched, one of the ships altered its angle, twisting so that it wasn't flying with its belly towards the planet. The tip of the vessel came to point in their direction and without warning, dozens of bright blue energy blasts fired out from the edges and upper portion of the ship, raining down upon the planet.

Several of her group gasped loudly and Hermione had to bite her lip hard to keep herself from doing the same. Their eyes all drifted upwards from the screens, even the one in the atmosphere that showed the blue rain of energy soaring through the sky.

It took a moment, but the shots were powerful enough that they could see them from their position, approaching the shielded city. Distorted by the uneven surface of the ocean above.

Hermione held her breath as the first blasts reached the ocean's surface and the water was immediately vaporized, sending up a cloud of steam into the air as more continued to rain down, digging into the water level and kicking up geysers as they pressed deeper into the surface of the cold water.

And yet, none of the blasts penetrated more than a dozen metres into the ocean. The sheer mass of water around them quickly filled any space that the blasts created and not one of the shots came anywhere near the shield itself, still solidly in place above them.

"Should we fire back?" Cyla asked, breaking the silence as she turned to Hermione for guidance as the only official council member present.

"No. I think that is exactly what they're hoping for, to trigger a response from any residents. It's obvious that those weapons were never going to reach the city, and they would have known that."

She took a steadying breath, the tension lessening slightly at the fact that, even though the section of seafloor that Atlantis rested on was the highest around for hundreds of miles, they were now indeed proven safe from Wraith weapons fire at this depth.

As if to confirm her words, the cruiser ceased fire and turned its attitude away from the planet, pulling out of the shallower orbit the move had pushed it into. However, they were clearly not done. Beneath the wing of the second cruiser, Hermione saw a new light appear as a large hatch opened. Three tiny craft flew out of the hatch and headed for the planet.

"Crap." She said reaching out and yanking the tablet out of the air, shutting off the extra holographic screens as she did.

Hermione quickly spun on the spot and ran back into the control room. She rushed over to the power control panel and with hammering fingers, she powered down everything in the city until the only running systems were life support and the shield. As she finished she noticed that the other three had followed her and now looked very concerned at her actions.

"Just a precaution." She said, tapping a new command into the tablet and its screen now showed the view of the last vulta they had deployed only a few hours earlier from the balcony. This one was inside of the city's shield, hovering near its peak directly above the tower. With the scanner now powered down, the vulta were their only way of seeing what was happening.

She altered the image to show the atmospheric vulta's view in the upper right corner and they could see the two slender dart-like ships escorting down a third much wider model. All three with similar arrow-shaped hulls. The larger ship slowed as it approached the ocean and hovered above the water for several silent moments. Hermione guessed they were running another scan on the city and she was very glad she had disabled everything. They had not thought to test the Wraith scanners at such a close range. She hoped the additional shielding they had added to the tower would keep their life signs concealed as well, as it was too late to run now.

After a few moments, the larger ship seemed to cut its engines and it fell the remaining few metres into the still churning waters above the city, sinking almost completely under the water before returning to the surface, apparently buoyant despite its size and presumed makeup.

"What are they doing?" Carson whispered, the fear still audible in his words.

Hermione could only shrug before two tiny figures landed in the water, seemingly coming from the ship. She watched in horror as they slowly descended through the water, somehow seemingly unaffected by the increasing depths they were passing through and the crushing weight of the water that would be pressing down on them. Just another thing that made the Wraith even more terrifying as they ignored pressures that would have killed a human diver.

She swiped away the second vulta image, allowing the shield view to dominate the large screen and she could feel the other three watching over her shoulders, pressed tightly against her back, only adding to the claustrophobic feeling of dread she had.

The two figures began to emerge from the water above, and Hermione finally got a good look at them both.

The first thing that became properly visible were the faces approaching, there were no eyes, nose or mouth visible on these ones, and as they got closer, Hermione hoped that she was seeing a mask and not their true faces. Its surface was rough and she could see white hair similar to the commander's trailing out behind.

As the two reached the shield, they paused and adjusted their position so they were laying flat, parallel to the shield itself and the rest of them became visible. Their arms showed the same pale green skin as the other two Wraith they had seen, but otherwise, these two seemed identical. Same armour across the chest, the same lack of markings on the arms and neck, same height and build. It was disconcerting to see two creatures so alike hovering beside one another in the water.

Finally, one of them reached out and Hermione felt her heart stop as it touched the shield above them. But with a blast of light, the Wraith was almost instantly disintegrated by the enormously powerful barrier and she had to shield her eyes for a moment. When she glanced back, there was only one Wraith trying to right itself as it had been flung away by the blast and a handful of scattered sparks occasionally flared above the shield as whatever was left of the first one drifted back down through the water to be destroyed against the field as well.

The second Wraith hovered there for a moment before it turned in the water and began to swim back towards the surface. Hermione let out the breath she had been holding and began to pant with relief.

It took the creature several long minutes to return to the ship above, but once it climbed aboard, all three of the small vessels took off and returned to the cruiser in orbit. As they were flying up, Hermione switched to a split view of the vulta in the sky and the one showing the wide shot of the two cruisers.

The one that had fired on them was still slowly pivoting away from the planet and as the three ships boarded the second, it closed the hatch on its underside and moved to join its companion.

Hermione relaxed and she felt the others pull away from her back, stepping away to enjoy their relief in their own way. Hermione fell into the nearby chair and ran her hands through her wild hair. Stressful situations tended to channel her now usually controlled magic back through its mass, just like when she was a child. It was a chaotic mess and she would need to spend several hours reigning herself back in before she could hope to tame it once more.

"They aren't leaving?" Weir asked, still watching the tablet as the vulta tracked the movement of the ships.

"I didn't expect them to go right away. But they've stopped actively scanning the city." Hermione said as she checked the results. "It looks like they're scanning for any anomalies in the surrounding space."

"Guess it's a good thing you sent the two ships away."

Hermione smirked at that. "It's pretty clear they cannot detect our cloaked devices, or they'd have detected the vulta currently following them. In fact…" She said, trailing off as an idea came to her.

She keyed the tablet, and the image faded away, bringing up the usual interface. She quickly altered the commands on the vulta floating in space. As the two cruisers approached the moon, the tiny balls sent back a confirmation signal each. Both feeds went dark as the tiny spheres focused on getting close enough to latch onto the passing vessels. Hopefully, if they could remain in communication, the vulta would be able to give them a glimpse at the rest of the fleet that had sent the cruisers here. It took a while for the tiny orbs to catch up, but when they did, they latched onto the mechanical innards of each cruiser and went into a low power mode.

"What did you do?" Weir asked.

"I told the vulta to follow the ships. They've latched onto the hull and will follow them home, wherever that might be. So we can get an idea of the makeup of their fleet."

Leaning back in her chair, Hermione let her body relax, the strain of just waiting having taken its toll. She had no idea whether the commander had managed to send any kind of mental signal to the cruisers, but they had not indicated as such. And they had sent a powerful additional stun pulse through the pod shortly before the vessels dropped out of hyperspace. The only way to be truly certain would be to check the logs on the stasis pod itself once the cruisers were gone.

The tablet beeped once again, and Hermione noticed the two vulta had disappeared from her connected devices list. The ships had jumped back into hyperspace. She checked the time and it had only been half an hour since they arrived, but it felt like it had been so much longer.

ϟ

Harry, Luna and Neville stood around the CIC, waiting with bated breath.

The sensors aboard Vir were not powerful enough to provide any detail on the Lantean system from this range, so they had no way of knowing how things were proceeding back at Atlantis. With the added mass of the Aurora and her precious cargo, if things turned bad, they would not be able to get back in range in time to act. The others would have to use the onboard stargate to flee the city. Or blast their way off Lantea using the drones and stardrive while under fire.

Suddenly, the CIC flared to life and they jumped back startled as a video screen appeared in the air showing all four smiling faces of those left in the city.

"Hermione. You're alright." Harry said with relief, noticing that her hair was quite bushy today.

"We are all fine. It seems the plan worked. They scanned us and tried to scare us into firing on them. Even sent someone down to test the shield. But there is no sign that they detected a thing. They're currently in orbit around Religast, I assume checking the distress signal from the supply ship now they are close enough to detect it."

"Or checking to see if there is a meal available. Wasted trip otherwise." Neville said.

The others all cringed at the idea, but they knew that everyone aboard that ship had already died that way a long time ago thanks to their prisoner.

"I'm glad you are all safe. We'll hold here for a week, just to be safe and keep this one away from the cruisers. Good job, everyone." Harry noted, heading for the nearest console and dropping heavily into the seat.

The tense waiting was now over, and they were able to focus on other matters in Pegasus. It was time to see just what else might be lying in wait for them in the depths of the galaxy.

ϟ

Friday, 25th August 2000.

Elizabeth watched quietly as Hermione finished entering the program into the city computer. It had been fascinating to watch her work as the girl was absolutely fluent in the language. Even watching the Lanteans operate the city had not been so engrossing, so distracted were they all by the Wraith sieging the city, though seeing Janus work was quite similar to what she was witnessing now.

As Hermione leaned back in her chair, Elizabeth heard the stargate activate and she turned to see what was happening.

The floor in front of the shimmering portal had a pattern of nine lines within a double circle that curved in to meet the gate itself, but the point where the nine lines met had vanished and a small hole was left there that Weir was certain had not been there when she entered the room earlier.

Suddenly, a tiny orb popped up out of the floor and Weir recognized it as one of the automated drones they had used to keep an eye on the Wraith cruisers. Before she could get a good look, it shot into the event horizon, quickly followed by another two orbs. It was only on the last one that she realized that the tiny balls were cloaking as they passed through, presumably off to check some distant world.

"What is that about?" She asked Hermione, who turned and smiled at her.

"With the others away for the next week, I figured it was time we got to know the Pegasus galaxy a little better. These new stargates have sensors that will provide information about their local environment, but we obviously haven't had a chance to deploy them anywhere yet. So we're using Neville's vulta to check the planets with stargates on them. The program I just completed will dial the addresses in the database and send three vulta to each one."

"Won't that take a long time to dial every planet? What if someone needs to use the gate?"

"Sure, there are a few thousand addresses on file. But we aren't sending vulta to all of them at once. Probably a few dozen at a time. Once they scan the planet, they'll dial back to 'file their report' and then be given a new address to go to. They are capable of self-dialling, so they don't even need to return, just activate the gate and send their information through before heading directly to their next destination. As for the initial deployment, as you can see, it doesn't take long to send the complement to each world. Just a few seconds for each planet to send through the vulta."

"You can automate it that easily?" Elizabeth asked, surprised at the process.

"Yep. The advantage to having an extremely reliable power source and a very intelligent computer system."

"Ok then. Why three?" Elizabeth asked as she shook off the insanity of automating that process, now more impressed by the very idea of an automated MALP system like this.

"The first will do a detailed read of the area around the stargate and search for any signs of regular access and usage. Or indications of why the gate was placed where it was. If it finds signs of usage, it is programmed to follow them and do a detailed rundown on whatever civilization is using the stargate. The second will head straight up out of the atmosphere and try to get a basic look at the planet's immediate surroundings. This will give us a basic planetary overview. Weather patterns, continent and ocean breakdown, habitability readings and notes on any terraforming residue they might detect.

"Not to mention any natural or artificial satellites. The third is partially a backup for the first two, but will also stay within the atmosphere and do a rapid flyover of the planet. A task the other two will join once they complete their primary tasks. Depending on the size of the world, those could take anywhere from hours to months."

"They can really do all of that?"

Hermione nodded. "Yep. Extremely handy. Neville is working on a larger model we can deploy via hyperspace to check systems that do not have stargates. But they should give us a pretty good idea of what it's like out there before we go blundering about blindly."

Elizabeth gave a short laugh. "Very wise. If only we'd had something like that three years ago."

Hermione gave her an odd look and Weir continued. "I suppose technically the goa'uld were the ones to attack us first, both in the case of Ra and Apophis. But those in charge didn't really consider the wider ramifications of retaliation. We blundered out into the galaxy and we made some serious mistakes. Brought back diseases, angered the System Lords, upset a rather powerful group that once allied with the Asgard and Ancients."

"The Nox?" Hermione asked, and Weir was surprised that she knew the name.

"Correct. We've only had two encounters with them since, both brief. And I do not think we left any better of an impression on those occasions."

"Well, I can understand that. We're far from perfect. We've already survived one war, but mostly, we've been lucky. Now we try to be prepared instead. But that has proven easier said than done." Hermione said, stretching as Cyla and Carson stepped up the small ramp that led to the embarkation area.

"What are they doing?"

"Oh, did I forget to ask you? We are going to head back to Aedis for the weekend. Have a small break from the stresses here in Pegasus. We had hoped you would join us."

"Right. I remember you mentioning something like that." She replied, looking somewhat apprehensive.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, leaning towards her.

"Sorry, it's just, thanks to the stasis, it has been so long. Yet also no time at all. A part of me fears that if I leave this city, I'll never see it again."

"I won't say it cannot happen. We know better than most that anything can happen. But we're going to another location we completely control, powered by three pretty much brand-new potentia. We certainly have the power to simply dial back here again. For the moment, we've adjusted the system so that you cannot dial in from anywhere but Aedis, much as you said Janus did with Earth when he left."

Hermione's argument seemed sound. Weir nodded her agreement and moved to stand.

"I will suggest we still bring this. It is still a city." Hermione said, moving behind her and grasping the handles of her wheelchair. A quick levitation spell helped Elizabeth down the stairs to the embarkation platform and they were situated beside Carson and Cyla when the stargate activated again of its own accord. "Oops, we took too long. This will be finished in a moment."

The four watched from up close as the small hole opened in the floor and three more vulta popped up out of the concealed dispenser. From this distance, it was much easier to see the devices cloak in the small distance they travelled before disappearing through the event horizon, one after the other.

When the wormhole shut down once more, Carson raised his arm and used his remote to dial the gate. Elizabeth took a deep breath as the event horizon formed without the usual vortex, something she realized she had not seen since this lot took over the city. Yet another indication of their mastery of the technology.

With a firm nod, she felt her chair being pushed forwards, and the four of them left Pegasus together for the first time.

ϟ

Saturday, 26th August 2000.

Luna felt at peace, her hands rested comfortably on her knees with the palms up, her legs folded together, tucked in tightly so they could not fall free. She sat there with her eyes closed, allowing her mind to process all that had occurred in the past few weeks.

They had been far more hectic than she had ever thought they could be, and now they had two powerful and dangerous prisoners. Her mind was trying not to compare them to their last prisoner and the disaster that had arisen. For the moment, both of them were kept in stasis, and they probably would remain that way unless Carson needed to take some more samples.

She, Neville and Harry had already been drifting out here for four days now. While the boys were whiling away the time variously playing video games, reading from the database or watching movies, Luna had taken to spending a lot of her time meditating. Trying to contextualize all that she had taken in, willingly and forcibly over the past week.

While she had funnelled the Wraith memories through Isis, they were still in her mind, and it was better to sift through them gradually now than to allow them to come upon her suddenly, like the one of the feeding she had felt when interrogating the commander.

So deep in her trance was she, that she had not even noticed another person joining her in the small room she had altered into a small garden shrine in which to perform her activity. Until they shifted loudly.

"Hello, Harry." She said, not opening her eyes.

She could feel the smile spreading across his face. "How are things going?" he asked softly.

"Well enough. I've sorted through a fair chunk of it so far. And it seems that dumping these memories on Isis has given her pause to consider the Wraith."

"How so?"

"She is afraid of them," Luna said plainly and she could feel the goa'uld rebel within her at the phrasing. "Their psychic abilities nag at her biology in a way she greatly dislikes. She can feel their presence, even now at the far end of the ship, unconscious, she can feel the queen."

"That is very interesting. At least it suggests that the Goa'uld and Wraith would likely be enemies if they ever met."

"Yes." She said, a small smile breaking her calm facade. "The Wraith's mental powers make her think of something called a Ree'tou. Whatever that might be."

"Huh," Harry said, clearly thinking about something related to the term. "That was what the soldiers yelled out when I infiltrated the SGC the first time under my cloak. Might be worth reading up on if it's something that bugs the Goa'uld."

Luna nodded her agreement. "I've also managed to learn a lot more about Isis as well. The process occasionally breaks free some of her own memories. I have even more hope my plan will succeed. Even if it takes many decades."

Harry gave a soft chuckle. "If anyone can pull that off, Luna, it is you. After all…"

He trailed off and Luna took a moment to consider what he was referring to before she recalled what her magic was currently doing. In her centred state, she had found she had nearly direct control over her ability and she'd almost forgotten that she was currently exercising that as well.

It must have looked quite the picture to Harry as he walked in to see her hovering about half a metre above the soft mats on the floor.

"Practice makes perfect. You should try meditation too. It is really helping me with my magic."

"I could do it now. That way I can stop distracting you." He offered.

Luna smiled. "Actually, the distraction was helpful too. Didn't even drop a few inches. It's getting easier to control."

"All the more reason for me to give it a try," Harry suggested, and she heard him shifting his position and stilling once more.

Again the extremely soft music she had playing in the background became the only sound in the room. Their breathing slowed considerably and the two fell into a deep trance, losing themselves in their own minds.

ϟ

Thursday, 31st August 2000.

Cyla sat quietly at the lone console in the now wide-open room containing the stargate in the city of her birth.

What had once been a multi-levelled room, with half a dozen staircases and different rooms serving a variety of functions, was now a single flat floor spread across the entire open space. Her companions had raised it all up until the floor was at the same height as the ceiling of the former control centre, which they had moved deeper into the city, only leaving the one station here with a clavis to operate the stargate manually if necessary.

The change allowed a lot more of the limited natural light filtering through the layers of the ocean above to enter, as most of the walls were now large floor-to-ceiling windows. Several of them lead to balconies facing in all directions as well. The exceptions were the two shallow ramps beginning by the single control console. One wound gradually around the space as it ascended up to the now much closer hangar above. The railing along its inner edge quickly merged with the walls behind the stargate as it moved upwards and out of sight.

A single transport cabinet was built into its base, just behind the console, to allow fast access to the other parts of the city. The second ramp dipped into the floor a few metres from the ascending one, leading easily down to the rooms and floors below. A short railing edged the drop to prevent a falling hazard for any newcomers to the city that were unaware of its presence there.

The large space still allowed plenty of room for a navi to lower down from the hangar above and use the stargate as before, but made away with much of the wasted empty space of the higher levels of the central tower.

A beeping from the console in front of Cyla signalled that the vessels she had been tracking for the past several hours had finally arrived in the system once again. Unlike the last ships to settle into orbit, these still-tethered craft were a welcome sight.

A moment later three figures beamed into place, the computer aboard Vir automatically correcting their destination around the new features to avoid reintegrating them inside the floor. The trio looked around curiously at the modifications to the space, before noticing her sitting there smiling softly.

"Made some changes, I see," Harry noted, walking over towards her.

"Elizabeth has agreed to join us here for the foreseeable future. Given her difficulties with mobility, Hermione and Carson felt it was only prudent to make getting around easier for her."

"So no huge stairways leading between major parts of the city." Luna noted, "Makes sense."

Cyla nodded her agreement. "We've also lowered all the transport cabinets to floor level and widened them to accommodate her chair. How was your trip?"

"Boring in the best possible ways," Harry stated, a firm smile on his face, contrary to what most would expect after a week and a half stuck aboard a spaceship. "And here?"

"There are some plans to make a few more design changes, such as we have in here," She indicated the much wider space and the small ramps leading away to lower and higher sections of the structure. "I certainly think it feels a lot more welcoming now. And our 'guest' remains in stasis. Otherwise, Atlantis is ready and waiting for whatever we choose to do."

"Excellent," Neville noted, stretching after a long stint in the chairs on the bridge as they had approached.

"I guess that means it is time to have a meeting. About our actual guests."

"We've been giving it some thought since we came back from Aedis. Natalie had an idea that I think you will all like." Cyla said, typing a command into the console before she stood and held her hand up, directing them towards the ramp behind her, a few metres from the ascending ramp, that led downwards instead.

The three followed her through the level immediately below which was now a much wider replica of the Atrium in Aether. Complete with a tinkling fountain and several empty flower beds that Neville eyed happily. As with their former home, the ramps continued down to the lower floors, but they stepped off at the next level down where the council chamber, and new primary auxiliary control room, had been relocated and refitted to their usual specifications.

Large windows circled one side of the room looking out over the city and there was a large wooden table in the centre. The others were already seated around it waiting for them to join, having known they would arrive within the hour.

Hermione stood and quickly embraced her boyfriend, before giving Luna a firm hug of her own. Neville simply patted her back as he passed and took up his usual place at the table.

"Welcome back," Natalie said from her place, now physically present at the table.

"Welcome to you too," Harry said as the group sat down. "Where is Richard?"

"He decided to remain in Aedis for today. Keeping an eye on both the progress of the new ship and the Earth situation. Which, before you ask too, has not changed. Though we are now twenty-seven days in."

"Haven't the Asgard gotten anything definitive yet?" Neville queried.

"Not really," Natalie confirmed. "As you all know the first small pod they had sent to Earth, before the Wraith buzzed us, ceased transmission almost immediately. Sharing almost nothing before it vanished. A second probe was sent out and it managed to process a small amount of data for about an hour before it too vanished without a trace. In the last week, a small science ship finally became available to investigate directly.

"The two crew arrived, sent back a message that they were investigating the anomaly, and began streaming data back to Othalla. Before they too vanished after a few hours. The Asgard have been unable to contact them since. But have warned us against attempting to travel to the Sol system for the time being. Something about 'concerning readings' from all three attempts that they are studying in detail before proceeding."

"Anyone else more worried now than they were before?" Luna asked and most turned to face her. "At least if it was an attack, we'd have something we could do about it."

"It sounds more like some kind of actual spatial anomaly has taken place that has made it dangerous to enter the system, either via stargate or ship." Natalie summarised. "Richard has been instructed not to attempt a voyage himself once the ship is completed. But, we all know my husband."

"I may have taken steps to guard against that when we were there on the weekend," Hermione said, glancing at Harry who seemed to understand what she meant and sighed. "I made sure that the system will require High Councilor authorization to activate it for the first time. Just like Vir did."

Natalie looked thoughtful. "I doubt he will notice until it's too late. He's too busy worrying about Earth to actually think about things like that. But I might confirm that using our shared code once I get back. That should prevent him from undoing it before integration completes."

"So for the moment, Earth is beyond our reach or help." Harry sighed. "If that is the case, it's time to focus on the more pressing issues we have here," Harry said, turning them back to the matter of the hundreds of Lanteans floating in space above their heads. "I'm told there was a suggestion?"

The group turned to Natalie, who smiled at the attention. "Well, I was looking into the stasis technology aboard the warship as part of our efforts to keep the two Wraith subdued. It seems the virtual environment we are detecting is not a standard feature. The crew probably created it themselves. But from the monitoring we've had the sensors running on the environment the past few weeks, and judging by the schematics of the pods... I believe it would be possible for someone to enter the environment and interact with them, without activating the stasis portion of the device, and thus avoiding any of the physical stress of going into and out of stasis."

"Communicate in real-time, in person," Harry noted. "Cool."

"Or not, as it were," Natalie said with a smirk, referring to the lack of need to freeze whoever went in. "We could speak with them directly and find out their status and figure out what options are available to us."

"And it will be safe?" Carson asked.

"As far as I can tell without actually firing up a pod, yes. It should be safe. There are countless safeguards built into the stasis technology. But as I mentioned, this would be an alteration of that system. I cannot guarantee absolute safety without more information."

"I'll do it," Weir said quietly, leaning forwards and resting her interlaced hands on the table.

The entire group turned to face her and the old woman smiled at them. "We appreciate the offer, Doctor…" Harry said, before being cut off.

"Please, hear me out." She replied, looking at him questioningly before he nodded for her to continue. "I am old. It is possible I do not have long left in this life. The potions Hermione and Carson have prepared for me are doing wonders, but I can feel my own mortality. If something were to go horribly wrong, losing me will not be devastating to you all."

Several voices attempted to counter her comments, indicating they would indeed miss her, but Cyla sat in silence, watching the woman formulate a rather sound plan in front of them. Her mind was certainly still as sharp as she must have been as a younger woman.

"Please, you know that it is true. However, I also have an advantage that none of you, even you," she said, locking eyes with Cyla for a moment, "have. I have personally interacted with people that the crew up there will know by name. I can provide evidence of the validity of my identity, and the fact that I am 'from Atlantis'. You would be nothing more than strangers claiming to occupy their home."

Cyla nodded at the argument. It was sound reasoning. Having spent almost a week with Lanteans, and having seen the woman's keen perception even now, she would have picked up tiny details about key personnel that would be vital in convincing the crew of their claims.

"I think that it is a good idea," Cyla said, siding with the aged woman. "Doctor Weir has a point. And she has much negotiation and mediation experience."

Cyla saw that Harry was looking to the others, evidently trying to gauge what their thoughts were as they all considered the offer. "Ok, I will agree in principle if the others are in favour. Provided we can ensure all possible risk is accounted for."

Weir smiled at Harry. "Thank you, High Councilor."

Harry groaned softly and Hermione gently prodded him in the side. "Just… meeting adjourned. Go find out if we can do this." He said, leaning back in his chair as Natalie and Luna stood and walked over to Cyla and Weir.

"Shall we?" Natalie asked, and the two nodded their heads.