Elizabeth called a meeting to discuss Xander's proposal.

"How feasible would it be to reverse engineer one of these things?" She asked.

"Storage buffer." Zalenka offered.

"Thank you. Storage buffer."

"Well, Zalenka and I have a fairly good idea about how they function, you know, because of that incident and given time we could do it." McKay said.

"You mean that time you had Cadman in your head." Sheppard snarked.

"Colonel." Xander said softly. "That's not as funny as you think it is. I've had a Goa'uld and a person in my head. A man having a woman in his head is a joke on the surface. Then it actually happens and it's not so funny anymore."

"Not to mention, you and I have also had another person in our heads." Elizabeth reminded him.

Sheppard looked uncomfortable at the reminder and nodded. "Sorry, guys."

"Thanks." McKay answered.

"Accepted." From Elizabeth.

"It's okay." Xander answered.

"So you think you could do it?" Elizabeth asked, drawing them back to the question.

"Yes." Zalenka said. "It would just be a matter of finding one."

"Xander, you suggest three possible sources in your proposal. The debris field, another planet or the hive ship at the bottom of the ocean. Which gives us the best possible chance of getting one?"

"I'd rule out the debris field. Those ships exploded. Finding something as small as a storage buffer would be very hard. Although, we do still need to clean those fields up and can search them at the same time, but that will take time." McKay said.

"I have maintenance crews scheduled to start working on it soon. What about the hive ship? Major Castleman and AG 3 reported no Wraith either active or hibernating on it."

"Salt water. Who knows what damage has been done by it." McKay said.

"So that leaves another planet. Risks?"

"No different then when we go exploring. Running into the Wraith being the biggest one." Sheppard answered.

"We know of several planets where we shot one down." Xander said. "Some we know have been taken over by the Wraith. Other's no longer have humans living on them and others do. Our best bet is probably one with no one on it. Those with humans on them, some of them destroy the darts. It's a reminder of the Wraith and what they've done to them."

"I agree. AG 1 could retrieve one today if you want. I'm free." Sheppard said.

"Are you all in agreement on this?"

"I could use some exercise." Ronan said.

"I am willing to go along and help." Zalenka offered.

"I'm up for it." McKay said.

"Me too." Xander said.

"Very well. You depart in an hour."

An hour later, AG 1 departed for a world they'd shot several Wraith down on. It didn't take long to find one. McKay and Zalenka set to work on removing it, while Sheppard, Ronan and Xander stood watch.

"Wraith tech is so disgusting." McKay complained as he and Zalenka worked to get it out.

"I agree." Zalenka grimaced. "Once we understand how it works, we can make our own and we will never have to deal with this thing again."

"I wonder how they came to use organic technology in the first place." Xander mused. "I mean they're the only race we've ever encountered that use it. I know they have a kind of symbiotic relationship with the hives. The hives can nurture them while they hibernate, but how did they get to that point?"

"I don't know and we probably never will." McKay said. "But you're right, it is weird. Our science briefly explored the possibility, but quickly dismissed it. Organic technology just makes us too uncomfortable."

"Probably because it's alive. We don't like being inside something that's alive. That usually means you're being digested." Xander said.

Sheppard laughed. "Yeah, that's exactly what it feels like whenever we've been on a hive ship. Like I've been eaten."

"The sooner they're all dead the better." Ronan said.

"Well, the scientists are working on making something out of my proteins. They may have something soon on that." Xander said.

"We've got it." McKay said, as he and Zalenka pulled the storage buffer free. "Let's get this thing in the jumper and get back to Atlantis. We can get started on studying it today."

Once back on Atlantis, they hauled it to a lab and McKay and Zalenka went to work on it. Leaving them to work on it, Ronan and Xander headed to the gym for a sparring session, while Sheppard headed to his office to get some paperwork done. McKay and Zalenka tended to be optimistic, but they did have a good track record in reverse engineering and studying Ancient technology, so hopefully, they'd be able to manage Wraith technology as well.