Secrets

Chapter Twenty-three Osprey’s Daughters

They came out of darkness into bright afternoon sun slanting across the cliffs behind them, though the cave mouth lay in shadow. “We’d better get moving,” John said, looking at his watch. “We’re ten minutes late for check in, and Woolsey will get worried.” He looked at Teyla. “I can’t call in from here. It’s an orbital gate.”

“It will take us some time to prepare to leave,” Alabaster said.

John was on the verge of saying hurry it up, but Teyla gave him a look. And what was the hurry anyhow? Well, ok, there was a hurry, but not so much of one that an hour or two would make any difference.

“I’ll go call in,” John said. “Ronon, you’re with me. Rodney, you stay here and help Teyla and Alabaster get ready to go.” And Darling of course. John had learned there was no way to go somewhere with a kid quickly. “It should take a couple of hours for us to walk back to the jumper, go up to the gate, talk to Woolsey, and come back.”

“Thank you,” Teyla said graciously, as though he’d actually had any choice about it.

John made his report to Woolsey as brief as possible, knowing that every word he said was being heard by the gateroom duty crew. Found a ZPM at 97 %, super terrific should make your day. Also found Todd’s daughter, big bargaining chip, bringing her back. Not a word about Hyperion’s weapon. That was something best discussed in private.

Teyla had told him about it, told him what she remembered. He didn’t think she’d told Ronon.

A weapon that could destroy all the Wraith, forever, for all time… The only thing you could say to something like that was holy crap. He didn’t know what he’d do if that kind of power was in his hands.

Yeah, you do, some inner part of him said. You already decided, or you would have told Woolsey in front of the gateroom. You already decided, or you would have told Woolsey in front of Ronon, sitting beside you in the jumper. He knows it’s an Ancient weapon, but he doesn’t know what it does. And if you meant to use it, you would have told him. But you don’t, do you? You would have shot Alabaster and the kid and taken it. You could have. No one would have stopped you.

John looked out at the glimmering orbital gate, his mind only half on what Woolsey was saying. Once, Teyla had asked him why he had brought the Athosians to Atlantis when the Wraith attacked, why he had stayed to talk to her in the first place. “I needed intel,” John had said. “Asking you seemed like the best way to get it.”

Teyla had smiled as though he were being very thick. “And why did you not ask me at the point of a gun? No one could have stopped you. No one could have stopped you and your men from simply taking what you wanted. Why all the talk of tea and Ferris wheels, when you could have simply demanded from people who could not resist you?”

“It didn’t occur to me to do that,” John had said after a long silence.

“You could have taken instead of asked. You could have held Jinto hostage and required that Halling tell you want you wanted to know. But it did not occur to you.” Teyla had shaken her head. “Because you are a good man.”

He hadn’t said what was on the tip of his tongue. “Because I know where that goes.”

And he never wanted to go there again.

John cast a sideways look at Ronon, frowning slightly as he listened to Woolsey droning on through the radio. Ronon, buddy, he thought, if you want someone to kill all the Wraith, it won’t be me. He would defend Atlantis to his last breath, and sooner or later it probably would come to that. But he’d made his decision in the split second the barrel of his P90 had jerked up, bullets ringing off the hanging bells, missing the kid by inches. He was going to stand with Teyla and Keller on this one.

There was an obscure comfort in knowing where he stood. The decision was made. He just had to live with it, be willing to pay the price for it. But he’d been there before too.

“Sheppard?” Ronon prompted.

“I said, what is your ETA, Colonel Sheppard?” Woolsey repeated again. “When should we expect you?” He sounded impatient. Probably couldn’t wait to get his hands on the ZPM.

“Give me two hours,” John said. “Sheppard out.”

He landed the jumper as close to Alabaster’s cave as possible, figuring they were probably going to have to carry a bunch of baggage with them. Before they were halfway down the path to the cave they heard voices raised in anger. What could possibly have gone pear-shaped already? He should never ask that. Motioning Ronon to back him up, John came around the final corner with P90 at the ready.

The cave was filled with about two dozen big blond guys arguing. Filled, as in there was hardly room to step inside. The whole place smelled of sheep, wool, and Iron Age hygiene.

In the middle of it, Teyla and Alabaster were both gesturing and talking, a pile of packed bags around them. The kid, Lyra, and her brother were watching in fascination. Rodney stood near the door, also apparently fascinated, holding the ZPM’s case in his arms.

“McKay? What the hell is going on?” John demanded.

Rodney came over to them in the door. “Not long after you left, these guys showed up. Apparently Lyra told her dad that she was worried that the rude foreigners would hassle the Bride, so they all turned up to make sure we were properly respectful. That was all ok until Alabaster said she was leaving with us. Then they got upset.”

“You cannot leave us,” one of the men said, his voice almost breaking with emotion. “Do you not know how many people would have died if you were not here? You are the mercy of the gods. You are our proof that they love us! They sent us you so that our children would live!”

Jasen’s dad, John would bet. Oh boy.

“I must go,” Alabaster said. “Pesei, this has never been my home, and you know it! I have lived here for a time in exile, but I cannot remain! Even now my father summons me from beyond the stars.”

“But what will become of us?” another man demanded. “We are your people. We have relied on you for a generation! What will happen now when someone is injured as I was on the boats last year? You know that my legs were crushed and I would never have walked again! Who would have cared for my family if I had been left thus?”

Alabaster looked rattled. Her long red hair spread over her shoulders and she shoved it back with one hand. “Others need me too, in that place beyond the stars. My sister has come to tell me of their need and to bring my father’s summons.”

Teyla did not move as the man turned to her. “What right have you to take the Bride from us?”

“There are many worlds,” Teyla said. “And there are many things that she must do. Her concerns cannot be limited to just this one world.” Teyla shook her head. “In the heavens there is a celestial war, and she is our best chance of averting tragedy that could kill more people than all those this world has ever known.”

Jasen pulled on Alabaster’s sleeve, standing next to Darling. “But what will happen to us?”

Alabaster’s pale face seemed to blanch still further. “I will return,” she said. “I will return from time to time when I may. I will come and heal those of you I may. I do not know when it will be, but I will come as often as I can.” She put her off hand on the arm of one of the men. “Hear my word on this. But I do not know what will transpire in that celestial war, as Teyla names it. I go from here to the City of the Ancestors, where I hope to be reunited with my father.”

A murmur spread through the room.

“Oh, not good…” John began.

“You go to stand among the Ancestors with your father?”

“My father lives,” Alabaster said loudly. “He is not dead, and the City of the Ancestors is a place one may journey to while still breathing.” She glanced sideways at Teyla. “It is a citadel those of many worlds have visited, Athosian and Satedan and Genii and many more, a place left by the Ancestors now reclaimed by their children. I do not go to the land of the dead, but to a place no less living than this.”

“Then why cannot we go there?” Jasen’s father demanded. “If people from other worlds have gone there, why cannot we accompany you, Our Bride?”

Teyla looked like she was hunting for an answer, but Alabaster spoke first. “I do not see why you may not,” she said, turning to Teyla. “Why should not three heroes accompany me? Why should they not come before your elders and represent their people? Surely they are the children of the Ancestors too?”

Teyla’s mouth opened and closed, her eyes still on Alabaster as though the queen spoke other words that could not be heard.

“Crapola,” John said.

“I do not see why not,” Teyla said, her eyes still on Alabaster’s. “But know that it is a hazardous quest, and those who undertake it will be changed by the things they see. It is not something to be done lightly or by those who fear what they may become.”

At that a vast babble went up, young men arguing with each other, each claiming more courage or a deeper love of their Bride.

“It’s like a zenana,” Rodney said wonderingly. “It’s like a human zenana. They all want to show off for her.”

John shook his head. “You and Ronon take the ZPM and the other thing to the jumper. I’ll see if I can get them moving. Woolsey’s going to kill me.” Right. Hyperion’s weapon, Todd’s daughter, a Wraith kid, and a bunch of emissaries from an Iron Age society with no contact through the Stargate in ten thousand years. Oh, and Rodney crushing on a Wraith Queen, and Ronon’s head popping off. “Teyla, can we get going here?” John waded into the fray.

It was, Dick Woolsey thought, not exactly a reassuring sight. They’d gotten almost used to Teyla walking around Atlantis garbed as Steelflower. That had become almost normal. But this was a real Wraith queen. And she came under a flag of truce as an ally.

The three big human men with her looked like bodyguards, clustering close while at the same time looking around them with wonder and apprehension. Captain Cadman and the Marine team who had met the jumper on the gateroom floor looked wary, weapons just barely at port arms. Only Teyla looked entirely comfortable, five inches shorter than the Queen, her black uniform jacket in stark contrast to the Queen’s white gown.

“Mr. Woolsey,” she said formally, “I would like to present Alabaster the daughter of Snow of the line of Osprey, and thus my kinswoman. She is also daughter to our ally, Guide. This is her son, Darling, and her attendants Perssen, Thessen, and Erach.”

Woolsey inclined his head. “It’s a pleasure you meet you. I’m Richard Woolsey, in charge of this facility.” At least she was looking at him. Todd usually talked straight through him to Carter or Keller or Teyla.

“It is a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Woolsey,” Alabaster said in her low voice. “Teyla says that you are a valued ally of my father, and that you will contact him for me. You must know that I am eager to speak with him after so many years.”

“Yes, of course,” Woolsey said with a quick glance at Teyla. “Our procedures for contacting your father are somewhat indirect, as we do not know his position at any given moment. It may take several days to reach him.”

“I have waited many years. Several days is a short time,” Alabaster said graciously.

Woolsey looked around as Dr. Lynn hurried into the gateroom, somewhat late. He’d told him that he’d better get ready to play anthropologist as soon as Sheppard’s team returned with their guest. Well, now guests, as of course Sheppard hadn’t said anything about the entourage. Which was just like Sheppard.

“Dr. Lynn will be happy to escort you to guest quarters where you can be comfortable,” Woolsey said. “Also, this is Captain Cadman, who will provide security.”

“I will accompany you as well,” Teyla added with a reassuring trader’s smile. “To make certain that you and the others have all you might need for comfort.”

“We will send a transmission in hopes that your father will soon reply,” Woolsey said. “Perhaps we can speak in a few hours, when you are settled.”

Alabaster looked at Teyla, and it seemed to Woolsey that some words must pass between them telepathically. “Of course,” Alabaster said.

Woolsey watched them go, feeling as though they’d managed that pretty well. Ronon was with the Marine detachment, and he could rely on Ronon not to let their guests get up to anything they shouldn’t. Cadman and Ronon worked together well without stepping on each other’s toes, a good thing since Lorne had just traded his crutches for a cane and still couldn’t walk without its help.

To his left, Sheppard cleared his throat nervously. McKay was hovering at his shoulder, a case that looked as though it were of Ancient work cradled in his arms. He was at least looking less Wraith-like now, the sensor pits all but vanished, only the shock of white hair to remind people of what he’d been.

“If Rodney and I could have a word?” Sheppard said.

There was a note in his voice that undid all Woolsey’s satisfaction. “Very well,” he said, and motioned them into his office. He left them to find their own way, and sat deliberately behind his desk. “All right, Colonel, what it is?”

Sheppard gave him a shifty grin. It was almost as though he was trying and failing to copy Teyla’s trader’s smile. “I know I didn’t say anything about Alabaster’s folks,” he said. “But they asked to come as a diplomatic embassy from their people. And I thought we always need new trading partners and…”

“I don’t really see a problem,” Woolsey said. “Though I don’t see any great advantage, either. And you found the ZPM. So, I repeat, what is it?”

Sheppard bit his lip, and Woolsey felt a familiar sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Well,” Sheppard began, and McKay swung the Ancient case up onto the desk.

“We found the ZPM, yes,” he said. “We also found this.”

He worked the latches and flipped back the lid. Woolsey leaned forward warily, to see an object nestled in what looked a bit like velvet padding — like a jewel in its case, he thought, irrelevantly, or some museum artifact. It looked like a scepter, or perhaps a mace; the head was bigger than a grapefruit, and studded with crystals, and another, larger crystal terminated the base of the shaft. The metal looked like naqadah, which meant it probably wasn’t purely decorative, and Woolsey frowned.

“What is it?”

“It’s a weapon,” McKay said. “Teyla believes, and Alabaster confirms, that it was created by an Ancient scientist named Hyperion, who was tasked with building a weapon that would destroy the Wraith if they got out of hand.”

“As they did,” Woolsey said, slowly. It made a kind of sense — it was what you’d do if you were experimenting with dangerous animals, be sure you had a way to control or destroy them, a failsafe to keep them from escaping and harming anyone else. Except that the Wraith hadn’t been made from animals, they’d been made from humans, from volunteers who revered the Ancients as their protectors. He wished he could believe it wasn’t true, but he remembered his own brief encounter with the Ancients all too well. They hadn’t had time or thought to spare for the Athosians, and not much more for the humans from Earth — and the Replicators had slaughtered them, which was not satisfaction, but felt more and more like some rough justice.

“Teyla says they stole it,” Sheppard said quietly. “In the escape, along with the ZPM, so it couldn’t be used against them. They were going to destroy it, but they couldn’t figure out how, so they hid it, sealed it up in a cave where no one could find it.”

“And now we have it,” Woolsey said. He was furious, and desperately afraid. How could intelligent men be so stupid? The political ramifications were appalling. If the IOA found out about it, or the Genii —

“We couldn’t leave it,” Sheppard said. “We had to open the cave to get at the ZPM. Once we’d done that, it wasn’t safe to leave it behind.”

“Besides,” McKay said, “I’m pretty sure that given enough time I can figure out a way to reprogram it.”

“No,” Woolsey said sharply.

“But with the Ancient equipment here in Atlantis, I’m sure I can —”

“As far as I am concerned, there is no weapon,” Woolsey said. Sheppard sat up straighter in his chair. “What do you think will happen if we say there is? Besides, we genuinely don’t know what it is. We know that you discovered an Ancient artifact of unknown provenance that we have not tested and have no idea what it does or how it works. Just like lots of Ancient artifacts we have discovered. Do you really think I want to tell everyone that we have a weapon that will destroy all the Wraith, and that we know this based on Teyla’s recovered genetic memories of a Wraith queen?”

Sheppard swallowed. He saw the pit. And about time.

“We have a thing. We don’t know what it is, or what it does.” Woolsey folded his hands in front of him, closing them over his anger and panic. There was no time for either one, not yet, and with any luck, not ever. “Sheppard, what were you thinking, bringing it here?”

“I didn’t think we could leave it,” Sheppard said again.

“And do you intend to use it?” Woolsey demanded.

Sheppard’s eyes evaded his. “No,” he said.

McKay looked at him sideways. “Just no?”

Sheppard straightened up in his chair. “And kill you? And Teyla? And Torren? And every other Athosian with the Gift? Every other person in this galaxy who doesn’t know they’re descended from someone with Wraith DNA?”

“I’m sure I could modify it so that it would just …”

“Kill Wraith?” Sheppard asked.

McKay winced, as though he hadn’t really worked it all out until now.

Woolsey cleared his throat. “It may come as a shock to you gentlemen, but I do have a problem with assassinating our allies. This may surprise you, but that’s not how I do business.” It felt good to say that. He wouldn’t always have been able to say it, not with surety. Not when he worked for the NID. He hadn’t done it himself, of course. His hands were technically clean. He didn’t actually have definitive knowledge of any covert operation, of any assassination. He didn’t actually know it had happened. He had never needed to know.

And maybe it hadn’t happened. Maybe he was, as Jack O’Neill had said, a paranoid little bastard. But it wasn’t how he did business, and this was on Dick Woolsey’s playing field.

“Dr. McKay, I want you to take the ZPM and plug it in. Let’s see what we’ve got. I’ll expect a report in an hour. Colonel Sheppard, I want you to take the other box down to some location within the city about which you will inform no one, and lock it in the most secure place you can find. And by no one I mean even McKay, Teyla, and me. If we don’t know, it can’t be taken from us.” He swallowed hard. He’d been mind probed before, and they were all alive only because he hadn’t known what the plan was.

Sheppard looked surprised. “OK.”

“We need some time to think this through,” Woolsey said. “And we need to get this business with Alabaster squared away. If we do have the beginnings of an effective alliance against Queen Death as well as a working ZPM, we may be back in the game.”