"So," Ihaar said, entering the bridge and clapping his hands together. "I guess you could say it's all done."
"And the maneuvering thrusters?" I asked, spinning the commander's chair towards the Ancient.
"Um... No," he replied, taken aback. "They're fried. So without access to the workshops, I can't do anything."
"The drone launcher?"
"Is this some kind of joke?" the chief engineer snapped. "We didn't even attempt that work! It's pointless in the current circumstances. We'd need to dismantle half the launcher..."
"Okay, okay," I raised my hands placatingly. "Just asked, you know, just in case..."
"In case of what?" the chief engineer looked around, bewildered. Seeing the smiles on the faces of Teyla, Kirik, and Alvar, he threw up his hands.
"Are you mocking me? Was I supposed to fix damage in an hour and fifteen minutes that you couldn't fix in a week in a dry dock with a fully trained crew?"
"You shouldn't react so strongly," Trebal advised him as she stepped onto the bridge. "That's what Mikhail calls humor."
"Humor?" Ihaar grimaced. "It doesn't look anything like it! Humor is..." he paused for a moment. "Here, tell me: what can you not obtain from contact with a star's corona, a neutrino generator core, and within the tidal zone of a black hole?"
I, Alvar, Kirik, and Teyla exchanged glances. Only the trio of Ancients fiddling with the systems at the consoles remained indifferent to the question.
"Roasted game?" suggested Seliza's guardian.
"The intact cells of your organism!" Ihaar looked at us as if we were ignoramuses. And it wasn't just him...
Snickers came from the Ancients and even Trebal.
"Or here's another one!" the chief engineer got carried away. "What happens if you keep a Wraith under microwave radiation for three days?"
"A cold Wraith in burning clothes?" I clarified.
Well, we're familiar with microwaves...
"No," Ihaar waved his hand. "That's only in the first couple of hours. Then it dies, and by the third day, even the protoplasm from the destroyed cell membranes evaporates. What do they even teach you on your planets?"
"To love good books and be well-mannered," I replied.
"And you, by the looks of it, skipped those lessons," Trebal couldn't resist adding her own remark. Ihaar started grinning.
From the Ancient specialists, barely suppressed "he-he-he's" came, on the verge of death rattles.
"Kirik," I said, deliberately loudly, "remind me next time we find an Ancient ship with a crew in stasis, to first shoot out their giggle gland and then revive them. Or better yet, go to the arsenal and grab a stunner."
"Why?" Teyla asked.
"We'll feed these ones to Koschei, and revive those who have some respect for the man who saved them from a horrible death."
The snickering stopped. Just like that, as if by magic. Only Trebal gave a meaningful snort. Well, yes, this lady isn't so easy to impress.
"Well, that's just peachy," I smiled, looking at the bane of my carefree days. The senior executive officer was working with the navigation database. "So, are we done with the setup, or are we going to wait for another hive to arrive, but a super-class one?"
"No," Ihaar assured me, approaching the engineering console. "I want to get the hell out of here. So, sublight power?"
"Normal," the first Ancient replied. "The secondary circuit is stable, the generators are putting out steady readings."
"Excellent," Ihaar flicked switches. "So-o-o, energy is flowing into the network, the emitters are receiving it... Everything looks great, we can start."
"Start it," Trebal replied. "At thirty percent. We'll test the circuit, then increase power. After that, we'll set a course for Atlantis. Are you sure the hyperdrive doesn't need testing?"
"No, it won't need it," Ihaar repeated. "It's fine. We laid a suitable power bus, so the ship is essentially in order on that front. In the worst case, the emergency system will kick in and throw us into real space along the course. But there, we'll have a better chance of ending up within range of the Stargate."
Alvar and Kirik glanced at me. And me? I'm just sitting here, waiting for my turn.
Right now, repair crews are stationed in the ship's inner compartments, ready to instantly react to any changes in the wiring. Their task isn't so much to fix possible breakdowns that might show up when the engines start, but to manually shut down the power circuits to prevent everything we have from melting.
"Starting," Ihaar replied. He pressed a few keys, and the ship shuddered. Not that we accelerated instantly, but the noticeable influence of the now-active sublight engines should have already affected us. "I don't understand..."
"The reactors are working, the circuits are handling the voltage, the energy is reaching the engine emitters, but..." Ihaar pulled away from his console, walked over to the first Ancient, looked at some readings on his monitor, then did the same at the second one. "I don't understand anything," he muttered. "Power should be going to the engines, but instead it's going to the shields! Energy is being redirected between systems!"
"The hyperdrive isn't receiving power either," Trebal replied. "The ship got the jump coordinates, but it's still not even trying to..."
The girl froze, then turned around and looked at me.
"Your doing?" she asked accusingly.
"What?" Ihaar snapped out of his thoughts. "No, I wasn't redirecting energy, there are command protocols at work here... Oh!"
He also looked at me. As did the other Ancients on the bridge.
"Thanks for noticing me," I said with the most stone-faced expression I could muster.
"It's hard when the Wraith are about to arrive and we're sitting here without engines," Ihaar complained.
"Then it's high time we talked about the main thing," I remarked, looking Trebal straight in the eye. "I don't know why you decided you have the right to give orders on my ship, but I suggest you forget that forever. The fact that you're breathing my air, walking on my ship, and flying to my city should at least make you think about what you've done wrong in this life..."
"Like not obeying a Lantian," Teyla said.
"He's not a real Lantian," Trebal objected, looking at me. She naturally ignored my warning shake of the head. "The body is, yes, but the knowledge and the past..."
Yeah. That's not how I imagined this "educational moment."
The Athosian gave me an interested look. As did Kirik and Alvar, for that matter.
Well, here we are at the most interesting conversation since I ended up in this universe.
"What is she talking about, Mikhail?" the Ermen asked.
"So you don't know," Trebal squinted. "It would be interesting to know what story Mikhail made up for you to earn your trust. But in reality, he's not a descendant of the Lantians. His consciousness was transferred from another universe, where they know what's happening here, with us. One of the Ascended gave him a Lantian body. That's it. He's no more an Ancient than any of you."
"Is this true?" Teyla asked. "Mikhail, you're not a descendant of the Ancestors?"
"If you want to know if my parents are the ones you call the Ancients, then no," I replied. "I died in my own universe, and my consciousness was transferred into this body by one of the Ascended. General Hippaforalkus, after whom this ship was named."
"Which seems even more ridiculous than you pretending to be an Ancient," Trebal said. "The General would never have broken the rules!"
"You can check that with the Ascended," I suggested, meaningfully placing my hand with the pulse pistol on the armrest. "I'm sure Melia or Ganos Lal, even if it makes them grind their teeth, will confirm it."
"You're saying that Ascended beings spoke to you and allowed you to live?" Trebal scoffed.
"Other universes, consciousness transfers..." Kirik muttered. "This is too complicated for me."
"Same for me," Teyla admitted.
"Was my rescue part of what you knew from your universe?" Alvar asked. And, as if casually, he placed his hand on his holstered pistol.
"I came to Sudaria for the ZPM that was stored there," I had to explain. "I knew nothing about you, your people, or your planet until the moment we met at that hole in the ground. That's where I pulled out the ZPM. Well, then we went to yours, and things started rolling..."
"Why did you save me?" he asked.
"The same question back at you," I replied, looking at him. "You helped me, I helped you. It's about mutual assistance."
"And you two also needed soldiers," Kirik said. "That's why you saved me and Seliza."
"I did know about you and the girl from my universe," I confirmed. "But finding you specifically among the data on escapees was impossible. The fact that we saved you and not someone else was just a lucky coincidence of circumstances, nothing more."
Kirik thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Is the alliance with my people also part of your memories?" Teyla asked.
"In the events I know about, the Athosians were extremely kind and honest allies," I explained. "But at the same time, cooperation with the members of the expedition that was supposed to come from Earth led to great losses for your people. You were attacked, abducted, experimented on... For that reason, since we met and found our relationship worthwhile, we relocated you to another world. A place without Wraith, a place where you would be safe."
"So that's why Chaya talked about the supervolcano?" Teyla asked. "It was a fabrication, wasn't it? You wanted us to leave Athos so that what happened in your universe wouldn't happen to us?"
"Actually, the supervolcano on Athos isn't a fabrication," Ihaar said. "I helped build the geothermal generator there. So... Wait a minute! Which Chaya are you talking about?"
"Chaya Sar," Kirik said. "She's Mikhail's assistant. Probably also from his universe..."
Ihaar and Trebal exchanged glances. There was something on both their faces...
What kind of sore spot is the Proculusian's name?
"Chaya Sar is not from another universe," Trebal rasped. "She is an Ancient, exiled from our society because she broke the rules and instructions the Lantians gave. A willful, selfish, impatient, ambitious piece of trash, responsible for some of the biggest failures of the war with the Wraith! I was hoping she'd been executed!"
"You won't believe it, but she Ascended," I forced a smile. "And then, when the Ascended didn't want to help me, she returned to human form and fought alongside me for the survival of Atlantis. By the way, she's the one who repaired this ship. And made sure there was something to connect the stasis pods on this ship to."
"Now I understand why there were only a hundred power connectors for the pods," Ihaar muttered. "She calculated how many pods could be transferred in case the 'Mutiny' protocol was triggered."
"Chaya knew I was going to put Koschei at the ship's helm?" Alvar asked, surprised.
"She suspected he might pull something like that," I said. Trebal's words, if they were true, explain the real reason Chaya was so reluctant to get involved with other Ancients. "So she created a backup just in case."
"She should be arrested and tried as soon as we return to Atlantis!" Trebal declared.
"This is exactly why we're talking now," I smiled. "The Wraith don't threaten us at all right now, so we can discuss the accumulated issues. And the first one is very simple: the old state and order of the Lantians is gone and won't return."
"Oh, really?" Trebal snorted, signaling the Ancients.
They reached for their electroshock weapons...
"Don't even think about it!" Alvar said, aiming both pistols directly at the heads of the two technicians.
Teyla had Ihaar, who was scared out of his wits, at gunpoint, and Kirik had his weapon aimed at Trebal.
"Easy, girl," Seliza's guardian advised, gesturing with his eyes for her to take her hand away from her holster. "You might be able to do fancy kicks, but you can't outrun bullets."
"And you serve him, after he deceived you?" Trebal was surprised.
"That doesn't exactly speak well of him," Teyla cast a glance in my direction. "But I've suspected for a long time that something was off here."
"At the very least, because there were only two of them," Alvar added. "You don't send a pair to scout from another galaxy, one of whom knows nothing about his own people's technology."
"And frankly, I don't care who or what he is," Kirik admitted. "He's not a Wraith, he helped me get rid of the tracking device in my spine, gave me a corner where I can live without fearing the Wraith. That's worth a lot."
"That means nothing at all," Trebal sneered. "Any of us could have done the same by returning to Atlantis."
"You sure you would have returned?" Alvar asked. "Because I'm thinking that without him and the Wraith attack, you'd all still be stuck on that ship, frozen like fish in a glacier."
"That doesn't change anything!" Trebal replied. "He's not a Lantian!"
"Well, the chair doesn't think so," I reminded her. "That's why you sat me in it, isn't it? You wanted to make sure I was really as simple as I seem, didn't you? You convinced yourself and decided you could disregard me..."
"Chief engineer, what's going on over there?" Ihaar's brooch-transmitter asked. "Energy is being redirected from the engines to the shields. And the time before the Wraith arrive is shrinking."
"It's dangerous to constantly divert energy to the damaged shield projectors," one of the Ancients on the bridge chimed in. "The emitters could burn out, and then we won't be able to protect the hull at all..."
And that's exactly what needs to happen for my plan to finish the Hippaforalkus's journey without tragedy.
The thing is, all races that have shields to protect their ships use them as ovals with three-dimensional coverage. An ovoid, if memory serves.
Inside such an ovoid is the ship or any other object that needs protecting.
The Ancients' ship shields on combat vessels don't have a simple, uniform geometric shape. Instead, they envelop the hull at a distance of up to fifty meters from the plating. Irrational, on the one hand, because it uses more energy.
But there's a nuance.
The shields on Ancient combat ships serve not only to repel external attacks — they also prevent the hull inside the shield from experiencing stress caused by gravitational distortions. Given the fact that Ancient starships often surpass anything other races have, it's no wonder they simply found it unprofitable to make shields even more voluminous.
This doesn't apply to city-ships, as they have a standard (almost) shield shape. But here the Ancients have their own reasons, actually... A volumetric shield can't retain air, gravity, or prevent the hull from collapsing, because it's far enough away from the hull and any possible breach in it.
The Ancients' shields can do all that.
Yes, there are some inaccuracies and logical gaps in all this, but I'm sure they're easily filled in if you study energy physics, starship construction, and a good hundred other sciences just a little bit, using Ancient textbooks.
"So, time is ticking," I summarized. "Here and now, Trebal, we have to resolve one simple question: do you obey me, or do you go your own way? I won't give you the ship, or Atlantis, or anything else from the Lantian legacy. You know yourself — genetically, I have more in common with the Lantians than any member of your crew. The structures won't care what knowledge I have in my head — only the presence of Lantian genetics matters. And I have it. Unlike you."
"Is this an ultimatum?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied simply. "Either you obey me, or..."
"You feed us to the Wraith?" Trebal clarified.
"I have enough problems without having to look over my shoulder, waiting for you to stick a knife in my back," I explained. "Honestly, I should throw you in the brig, or even kill you, as the instigator of a mutiny. Without a leader, I doubt Ihaar and the rest of the crew would act so insolently, ignoring me..."
The girl flinched. Barely perceptibly, but still.
"However," I continued, "before he ejected me from the virtual environment, the Captain asked me to look after you. And I intend to honor his request."
"Why would you?"
"Because I respect him," I explained. "He clearly didn't sacrifice himself so we could tear each other's throats out. I think he understood that even if the entire crew returned to life, it wouldn't make your fate any easier. You said it yourself — without a Lantian, the technology won't work at its planned maximum. I think the Captain understood that better than anyone. Why you, a person who served alongside him for so long, didn't pick up his habits and point of view is a mystery to me."
"How do you know how long I served with him?" Trebal asked.
"In the events I know about, the expedition from Earth that arrived in Atlantis, after obtaining the ZPM, discovered the Aurora in sleep mode," I explained. "That would have happened about a year from now, compared to what I did. And for almost six months, the Aurora was transmitting its coordinates until the humans found the right button and figured out what was going on. When they arrived, they found that the Wraith had killed you," Trebal's face darkened. "They pulled you out of your pod, drained you, then interfered with the virtual reality, made the crew forget it even existed. And they extracted information from the Captain, through a copy of you, on how to upgrade the hyperdrive. The crew did this to get to Atlantis faster and deliver a message about the Wraith's technological weaknesses. In reality, the Wraith were getting the Lantian knowledge on how to improve their own hyperdrives. In the events I know about, the Captain had to blow up the Aurora along with the entire crew, because there was no chance to save them and the Wraith were closing in."
"And why would the Wraith need that?" Trebal asked. "To learn how to upgrade a hyperdrive."
"Because the Terrans revealed to the Wraith that they came from another galaxy," I replied. "They revealed that there are billions of people on Earth. And thousands upon thousands of planets in the Milky Way with just as dense a population. Can you imagine how the Wraith's mouths watered?"
"That would make sense if the Wraith weren't in hibernation, as they are now," Teyla said.
"But the Terrans woke them up," I said. "Athos was the first planet the Terrans came to when they arrived in this galaxy. That should have happened about six months ago."
"Right during the big harvest," Teyla realized.
"Some humans were captured by the Wraith, just like you, Teyla," I continued. "The Wraith Queen learned from them about Earth, the Milky Way, and so on. Later, when the humans killed the queen, she awakened all the Wraith in the galaxy."
"A massacre would have started," the Athosian shuddered.
"And it did," I continued. "The humans tried to fight the Wraith. They created a retrovirus that could suppress everything in the Wraith except the human genes, but it didn't work..."
"And it couldn't have worked!" Ihaar declared. "Their genetic structure is very resistant to change..."
"The result was hybrids of human and Wraith," I narrated, looking into Trebal's eyes. "Stronger than humans, but without the need to feed on humans. And as the foundation of his army, the hybrid leader used your people, Teyla."
"Oh, Ancestors," the shocked Athosian whispered.
"Why them specifically?" Trebal asked. "Why not other human races?"
"There must be something special about the Athosians, since they were chosen," Ihaar muttered, glancing at Teyla. "But you've degraded... The genetic code couldn't have evolved that fast under Wraith attacks..."
"What do you and Kanaan have in common, Teyla?" I asked.
The girl looked confused.
"We both lost loved ones during the Wraith cullings..."
"And you can also sense when Wraith are approaching," I added.
"How did you know?" she tensed up. "That's our secret, and we don't talk about it."
"The knowledge of his universe," Trebal stated. "You could have figured that out yourself, if you weren't so primitive!"
Ihaar and the other Ancients shot her a disapproving look. Interesting... She wasn't as infallible an authority for her own people as she thought. Excellent.
"Commander," Kirik addressed me. "Can I shoot both of that bitch's kneecaps?"
"A little later," I said. "Maybe it'll teach her to show more respect to people who crossed half the galaxy to rescue her."
Trebal might have thrown a wrench in my plans, but the fact was her behavior was turning even her own people against her.
I needed to keep at it.
"Why can they sense approaching Wraith?" Ihaar asked quietly, glancing at Teyla. "The Lanteans developed complex scanners for that, but implanting such an ability in a human is impossible without..."
He fell silent, looking at the girl with a surprised expression. And backed away, as if she might attack him.
It seemed both he and the other Ancients understood what was going on.
"That's not my secret to tell," I interrupted the competition in perceptiveness. "If Teyla wants to, she'll tell us..."
"There's a legend that some ancestors of the Athosians came from another world and brought this ability with them," she said. "It made them useful, so the others could hide... But they were unsociable, so they were feared, and sometimes even killed."
"I'm not going to the Athosians to build anything anymore," Ihaar muttered. "They'll decide I'm unsociable and slit my throat like a food animal!"
"And with good reason!" Trebal said. "You clearly have Wraith DNA in you!"
"What?" Teyla was bewildered.
"There's no other way to achieve this," the senior officer cut in, looking at me. "Am I right, Mikhail? Were her people's ancestors genetically altered, turned into Wraith detectors? Possibly by one of the minor races..."
"The Wraith," I said, seeing the panic in the Athosian's eyes. "The Wraith did it. They wanted to implant genes in humans to make them 'tastier' for feeding. But the other Wraith didn't like it, and they killed the experimenters. And the humans managed to spread out."
"And passed their updated genetic set to the next generations," Trebal mused.
"And..." Alvar looked at the Athosian. "Teyla, you don't feel like putting your hand on someone's chest and, well, you know..."
"What?" Emmagan shot her comrade a murderous look. "I'd rather kill myself than feed on someone!"
"She won't turn into a Wraith on her own," I said, dispelling the Erman's concerns. "But with proper development of her gift, she might even be able to connect to the Wraith's mental communication channels, take control of them..."
"On her own," Trebal seemed to snap out of it. "You said 'on her own.' So she can become a Wraith?"
"In the events I know of, genetic therapy was used for that," I explained. "In some cases, it was even useful..."
"We could use this!" Ihaar exclaimed. "Make her our own Wraith to replace Koschei. And she'd revive the crew..."
"I won't become a Wraith!" Teyla shouted back. "Among my people, you're killed for even thinking about cooperating with Wraith!"
"That's enough," I ordered, raising my voice. "No one is turning anyone into any kind of Wraith. Knowledge of the future is given to avoid the mistakes the Earth expedition made..."
"Speaking of which, where are they?" Alvar asked. "You said they came to Atlantis. But we didn't see anyone there except you and Chaya."
"That's why I'm here. The expedition was supposed to reach the city, but it didn't happen. Something is happening in the Milky Way. Something that destroyed the Ascended there. And that something looks very much like a weapon created by one Ascended being, Moros," the Ancients exchanged glances again — "to fight the Ancients' very ancient enemies."
"The Ori," Ihaar whispered. "Did they finally find a way here?"
"No one knows," I said. "All the Ascended who went to the galaxy never returned. Either they died, or they decided not to come back... In any case, it's a mystery shrouded in darkness. And the Ascended asked me to look into it. But that's very hard to do on a malfunctioning Atlantis, a jury-rigged starship, or without additional ZPMs..."
"Not a single ship from the Lantean fleet can reach Earth," Trebal said. "Even the newest hyperdrives used on the latest model ships aren't intergalactic. They'd burn up before crossing the intergalactic void..."
"But they can be modified," I reminded her of what I'd told them.
"Yes, if we had an educated Lantean," Trebal countered. "One with the relevant knowledge..."
"Or if we had a team of specialists capable of repairing Atlantis, which definitely has such a drive," I continued.
"I'm not flying to the Milky Way," Trebal cut in. "And I won't allow anyone under my command to break the rules! The Lanteans were clear: that path is forbidden to us. To us, to them, and to our descendants."
"Why?" Teyla pressed.
"Before the Ancients came to Pegasus, they were fleeing a plague that was killing them in the Milky Way," I explained. "That's probably why they're afraid to go back. Although I'm in no hurry to go there either. I like it here, the city suits me, and I intend to bring Ancient technology back under my control. So listen to me carefully, dearie," our eyes met, Trebal's and mine. "This is the last time I'll say it twice. Either you're with me — and you serve me unconditionally, or when we get home, you try your luck in another part of the galaxy. Without Atlantis's help, without its technology, without data, and so on..."
"I don't want to rush you for an answer, but there will be Wraith here in a minute," Ihaar said, looking at Trebal. "Maybe we should get out of here first, and then decide who's in command?"
"No," I cut in. "We decide here and now. I'm not taking people I can't trust into my city."
"Forty-five seconds," one of the Ancient technicians whispered.
"Think, Trebal," I said. "What's more important to you — pandering to your own ego, or taking care of our people? Because just a couple of hours ago, you were ready to kill me to save the Captain... Well, just him. The other nineteen bridge watch crew members weren't mentioned nearly as often in your speeches..."
The girl stared daggers at me. She clearly was not thrilled about submitting to someone who was only better than her based on genetics. And it wasn't even my own merit...
"Just lock her in the brig already!" Ihaar exploded. "Twenty seconds and a superhive will be here! I'm responsible for my people and their safety! If Trebal's ego is stopping her from thinking about everyone, I'm relieving her of command of the crew, as the next highest-ranking officer who's still conscious! I can guarantee the others will serve you, Mikhail! For us, saving our lives means a lot, considering that your beloved Lanteans, Trebal, left us to die! Mikhail, we're on your side! All of us," he gestured around at the Ancients present on the bridge. "Everyone you saved."
"Is that so?" I looked at the other Ancients. They silently nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll trust you about the rest..."
But that doesn't mean I'll take my eyes off you.
Canceling the energy redistribution command, I heard Ihaar and the other Ancients let out relieved sighs.
"Power is going to the engines, Chief Engineer," a voice reported from the brooch-transmitter. "We're accelerating, the hyperdrive is engaged..."
An energy cloud materialized in front of the Hippaforalkus's nose, and the starship dove into it, heading home.
"Alright then," Alvar said, lowering his weapon from the other Ancients. He nodded toward Trebal. "What do we do with her?"
With one hand, the senior officer touched the buckle on her left hip. The belt with its holster and weapon fell to the deck.
"May I request a private conversation?" she asked me.
"Crazed bitch," Ihaar grumbled, fixing his gaze on one of the monitors. That's how he escaped Trebal's angry glare.
"Let me just shoot her?" Kirik suggested.
"A little later," I said, stepping down from the command chair. "First, she and I will have a private chat."
Walking up to Trebal, I took the Ancient woman by the elbow. Leaning slightly toward her ear, I whispered:
"Just try pulling any tricks..."
The girl gave me a piercing look, then replied in the same whisper:
"Would I have stirred all this up if I wanted to break your neck, you primitive?"
Ah.
You.
Absolute.
Bitch.