There's little that can make a Wraith jump from one topic to another. As if his mind was occupied by something truly global, and the 'seeds' he was revealing to us were no more than hastily invented crude 'hooks' we were supposed to bite.
That very 'editing' of versions I had thought of.
Interesting... I don't recall from the known events that Wraiths couldn't find words for what was happening. On the other hand, this guy was shown in only one episode and quickly killed, so he didn't have time to 'reveal' himself.
Our conversation took nearly an hour. With many additional questions, a minimum of lewd jokes, and mutual insults.
And the picture was emerging, to put it mildly, not good.
"The death of a queen is not just a fact; it's a tragic event for every Hive," the Wraith summarized. "Weak Hive commanders seek new queens for themselves, while strong ones follow their queen's commandments until they die. Or until they find even stronger patrons or queens. And Styx can provide that if he gets his way. But few queens will agree to serve the Scavenger. Of course, unless he has power. And he is looking for it. And he is quite consistent in achieving his goals. That means sooner or later he will find it. And then he will come for you. And you will die. And I will die with you. But we can be allies. Give me the Queen Death's ship, help me seize control of another Hive, and I will create a counterbalance to him. Together we will defeat him."
And after that, our problem will no longer be Styx, who has never been to Atlantis, but Koschei, who knows more about us than any other Wraith in the galaxy. Some deal.
I can see in the Wraith's eyes that he already knows his simple ruse didn't work. Of course, if it was that he planned to get out of here and gain power over other Hives.
His offer looks too simple and uncharacteristically artless. Not Wraith-like.
"Is that all?" I clarified when Koschei finally fell silent.
"In the specific situation, yes," said the Wraith. "And, note, I was frank with you, Mikhail."
"Well, well," I sighed. "Training me. When you're irritated, you call me 'human,' when you want cooperation, you remember my name."
"You don't know mine at all," the Wraith twitched his cheek.
"And you didn't introduce yourself," I reminded, getting to my feet.
"A name is a Wraith's value," the prisoner unexpectedly opened up. "A Wraith's name is his essence. His distinguishing feature. A name is given to us when we grow enough to show our essence. Therefore, our names are always individual. And only those who are supposed to know in the Hive know them."
"It's enough that we have a name for you," I said. "And what you think of yourself isn't that interesting."
"Have we agreed, Mikhail?" the Wraith rumbled with a hint of threat.
"Change one nuisance for another?" I shook my head. "No, Koshcheyushka. That won't do. You're playing your own game. And given what you've told, you have absolutely no need to leave us."
"I'm not going to die when Atlantis is under siege again," the Wraith said irritably. "And this time you won't hold out. No way. Styx's actions are awakening the other Wraiths. Soon the entire galaxy will awaken. And then you'll be in trouble."
"We'll see about that," I assured, approaching the automatically opening door of the Atlantis Brig as I neared it. "For now, your only option to live longer is to stop playing your games, restore my people, and also tell us everything you learn from the Wraiths you've fed on."
"You will need a lot of young Wraiths to give me enough strength," Koschei declared.
"And it so happens that you literally handed me on a platter a place where I can stock up on them," I reminded. "Good plan, Koschei. Reliable as a Swiss watch."
"I do not understand you, human," the Wraith growled.
"Too bad for you," I cut off.
* * *
The Council Chamber was not so crowded today.
To the left of the entrance, near the wall, sat Captain Asan, Captain Librea, Scout Fry, her, and Trebal. Across from them were Alvar Jensen, Ihaar, Teyla Emmagan, and Chaya. The ever-present pair — Kirik and Saya — stood guard by the door. Only one seat at the angular, semi-circular table remained empty.
The seat of the one who had initiated this meeting.
Larrin thought the Lantians should find a bigger space for meetings like this.
She also thought about how difficult her position was.
In exchange for his support of her people, Mikhail and his people had given her the inoculation of the Ancient gene. The ruler of Atlantis and of everything she now led demanded her loyalty.
Well, at least he hadn't demanded her honor. That was a relief.
Even though she kept her position as the unofficial leader of the Nomads from Ermen, Larrin spent more time on Atlantis now. Or at the base on the planet Taranis.
Funny… She had wanted an Ancient battleship. And now she practically had one. A solid start, not counting the experience with the mental connection to the ship's computer.
Her personal achievements, at least.
She had always wanted the best for her people. Lately, she had literally dreamed of herself on the bridge of an Ancient ship.
And she got it. Despite the trembling and fear the mental link to the Ancient ship — the one she had wanted for so long — filled her with, she had stayed on its bridge. Atlantis needed people who were experienced in space battles and travel.
Asan and Katana would never leave the bridges of their starships. And Mikhail didn't trust the other Nomads — he told Larrin that straight up, no offense intended. Honestly, she wasn't sure he trusted her either.
She was the only Nomad on board the Ares. The rest of the people who passed her like shadows, doing things she didn't fully understand, occasionally informing her of problems whose depth she also didn't always grasp, were Ancients.
Technicians getting the starship in order, and a small deck crew from the destroyed battleship Aurora, who were now to become part of the ship's crew.
Her ship… Nominally.
She was certain she could give orders, but they would only be followed within the bounds of the mission that ship might receive. If she decided to do something her own way, like steal the starship… She couldn't do that alone — she barely knew the Lantian systems. And the mental control… She didn't even want to try testing what would happen if she did something with the ship that went against its missions. Simply because she suspected: the moment she sat in the chair — command chair or control chair, it didn't matter — and tried to rebel, to hijack the ship or anything else, the Ares would consume her.
Perhaps literally.
The choice she had made was not an easy one.
She wasn't a stranger to the Nomads on Ermen, but she understood that the longer she was busy with Lantian affairs, the more her people would learn to live without her. But she wasn't one of the Lantians either.
Yes, to some extent, but not completely. And she doubted she ever would be.
Right now, she saw herself as a kind of scale, with a certain amount of sand on each side. And the longer she stayed on Atlantis, the less sand remained on the side that connected her to the Nomads.
She looked at Teyla Emmagan, sitting across from her.
The Athosian woman was in the same position. And her example showed how it worked. The Athosian people had already split into two camps — those who had bound themselves to the Ancients, and those who decided they hadn't lived up to expectations. But one way or another, both Athosian planets kept in touch.
But the Nomads — those under the Council's rule and those who followed her — didn't. Life on Ermen was still harsh, and daily life was just beginning to be established. Thanks to Atlantis and Emmagan herself, they had managed to make a good dozen agreements for food supplies with small peoples the Nomads would never have contacted before.
Simply because none of those communities could have provided enough food for even one ship. But together, from thin streams they formed a small river that fed Ermen. They had to give a lot in return, though. But it was still better than dying of starvation.
Still, Emmagan had claimed that as soon as the short winter on New Athos was over, the new arable land would bring a large harvest. Enough to feed both Ermen and Atlantis.
The Taranians promised the same, as did the children from Epheon. On a much smaller scale, of course.
Well, at least it was good that thanks to Emmagan and Atlantis, the Nomads on Ermen had been able to clear old fields, plant crops, and even somehow learn basic farming methods. Alvar Jensen claimed that the winter on the planet wasn't as harsh as it could be. Plus, there were plenty of other territories and latitudes with land that could be developed.
One or two seasons, and Ermen wouldn't have to buy food on such a massive scale anymore. On the contrary, they would be able to supply some of it to other worlds. Atlantis, for example, was interested in having as much food as possible at its disposal.
With a soft hum, the doors of the Council Chamber swung open. Mikhail walked in quickly, greeting those he was seeing for the first time today as he went.
Sitting down in his seat, he said without any preamble:
"We have a problem."
"Was it ever any different?" Trebal asked in surprise.
"According to Koschei, that superhive we nearly ran into during the rescue mission of the Aurora belongs to a Wraith commander named Styx," the Lantian leader continued. "He captured the Hive Ship damaged in that battle and subjugated the Feeding Grounds that belonged to that hive."
Even though Larrin had heard these words repeated before, she could confidently say no one present would confuse "Hive Ship" with "hive." The first was the Wraith flagship, the most dangerous of their starship types. A "hive," on the other hand, was the Wraith community centered around a Hive Ship.
The Nomads had encountered Wraith prisoners several times and managed to get scraps of information from them. For example, that a "hive" could include either a single Hive Ship or the starships escorting it.
It all depended solely on the strength of whoever was in command of the Hive Ship. If there was a queen, the hive would undoubtedly be large. But if a Wraith commander was in charge of the Hive Ship, it was unlikely he would have many followers. For some reason, the Wraith didn't like existing without queens. Though there were exceptions.
"Feeding Grounds," Asan repeated. "You're talking about planets populated by humans?"
"Yes," Mikhail replied shortly. "The Wraith we lured into the trap came from a hive that was cooperating with the one attacked during the rescue of the Aurora. The superhive and a second hive attacked them while they were in hibernation. Two cruisers destroyed, one captured. The damaged hive fled and is now on the edge of the galaxy, making repairs. They lost their queen — she was killed by a group of envoys from the superhive just before the full-scale attack. Koschei said that the weak join the victors. Or those who need a queen. Hive commanders usually carry out their queen's will, even after she's dead. But if someone else has the strength or a strong queen, they'll join that hive instead."
"Wraith killing each other — that's not bad," Katana declared. "So why is it our problem?"
"Because the subject of negotiations with the superhive leader was us," Mikhail said. "Commander Styx, during the war between the Ancients and the Wraith, was the consort of the Death Queen…"
"They make marriage alliances too?" Kaspar Fry grimaced.
"It's necessary for the hive queens to produce new Wraith," Mikhail explained. "Without queens, the hives won't survive."
"Death Queen…" Trebal said darkly. "I take it there's no mistake in the name?"
"Not a trace," Mikhail confirmed. "It's that one."
"The one you killed on the Bore Rock?" Larrin asked, leaning toward the commander of the Hippaforalkus. Trebal nodded, puzzled.
That was bad. If the Wraith cluster around their queens like insects around theirs, then killing a queen was a clear reason to fight to the death. But there was one nuance.
"The Death Queen was killed at the bottom of the ocean just a few weeks ago," Larrin recalled from the reports she'd read. "How did Styx find out?"
"He doesn't know," Mikhail replied. "He's going on the information that an Ancient ship was near the Aurora, one that was functional, participated in the battle, and flew off."
"And only carriers of the Ancient gene can operate Ancient technology," Ihaar rolled his eyes. "Just as we feared. They won't stop trying to find us and finish us off."
"Only this Styx isn't here yet," Alvar objected. "And, as far as I remember, we would have found out about the approach of their ships well in advance. The rescue of the Aurora crew was months ago. What's he waiting for?"
"The prisoner doesn't know that," Mikhail said. "His intelligence comes from what he learned from the minds of other Wraith from the damaged allied hive. And they, in turn, learned something from Styx's Wraith during negotiations with the queen."
"From his Wraith?" Chaya clarified. "Not from him personally?"
"No," Mikhail said. "Koschei says Styx didn't attend the negotiations. His ship is scouting former Ancient outposts. His representatives do the negotiating. Even in the attack on that hive, a captured Hive Ship was used, not the superhive."
"That's strange," Chaya noted. "The superhive alone could have wiped out all the ships of that hive."
"What worries me more is that they're scouring Ancient planets," Trebal admitted. "What are they looking for?"
"Koschei and the Wraith he fed on don't know that," Mikhail said. "The representatives told the queen that the Scavenger is confident he'll soon find something there that will make him stronger."
"A strong superhive means even more problems," Trebal grimaced.
"Do we know anything about this Styx besides the fact that he was someone's inseminator?" Kaspar asked.
"That he's a Scholar," Mikhail said. "And also that he and our prisoner come from the same hive."
"From the Death Queen's hive," Ihaar sighed heavily.
"Only they don't get along," Mikhail continued. "Death was a queen who could dictate her will. According to Koschei, a queen's consorts are traditionally Blades, not Scholars. Given that, and the fact that Koschei knows absolutely nothing about why Death made that choice, this guy, Styx, is extremely dangerous."
"Blades, Scholars," Asan grimaced. "What is all this, anyway?"
"Blades are warrior Wraith, commanders," Mikhail explained. "Scholars are their scientific personnel."
Larrin, Asan, and Katana exchanged glances. Just from this one conversation, the Nomads had learned more about the nature of the Wraith — whom they had opposed for thousands of years — than in their entire history. Larrin suspected that Mikhail had deliberately structured his report so that the simplest questions were asked in the first part, the one happening right now. It was through them that the general level of knowledge of the Nomads and the Lantians was supposed to reach a common denominator.
It was simple and logical! Bring everyone to the same criteria, the same terms, so they could talk concretely without interrupting the more important information Mikhail clearly hadn't shared yet with clarifying questions.
"What exactly does Styx want?" Chaya asked. "Since he was here ten thousand years ago, he doesn't need to find Atlantis's coordinates. He could fly his superhive straight here."
"Especially since he already has one additional hive," Alvar recalled.
"And a superhive is a big problem," Trebal said through gritted teeth. "Unlike the others, they have the necessary energy. Better hull, weapons, engines. We couldn't deal with ships like that unless we threw more of our own battleships against them."
"And now for the main part," Mikhail announced. "Styx and his forces are gathering a coalition to attack us. So far, the only evidence of the Ancients' return he has is the scanner data from the Hive Ship damaged in that battle. So his persuasion doesn't interest many. The Keepers — those who monitor the safety of the hibernating Wraith — aren't impressed by that kind of talk or evidence. They don't intend to wake the hives because now isn't the time for it."
"They can't all feed themselves," Kaspar Fry pronounced. "Not enough time has passed since the last full-scale Wraith attacks on all worlds."
"That's why he's hesitating with the attack," Trebal said. "Since he knows Atlantis's defensive capabilities, he understands that with a couple of ships, he has no chance here."
"There haven't even been any scouts," Chaya reminded.
"They aren't needed if he doesn't have enough strength to attack," Trebal retorted. "In the past, it was Atlantis and Ytran that destroyed practically all the superhives. Styx can't not know that."
"Just as he can't not know that our capabilities are more modest than ten thousand years ago," Mikhail said. "So he acts with an eye on past capabilities and makes estimates based on at least a fraction of the forces Atlantis once had."
"Do we know what forces he currently has?" Captain Asan asked. "If it's just the superhive, two Hive Ships, and one cruiser, we could track them down and destroy them one by one."
"One Hive Ship," Chaya corrected. "Based on what we know, the Hive Ship that attacked our forces with the beacon didn't join Styx."
"Is that because your captured Wraith said so?" Asan asked.
"Why would he lie?" Ihaar was surprised. "He's a prisoner here. And he has old disagreements with Styx."
"That's what he says," Fry insisted. "But it could be a trap to lure us into a Wraith ambush."
"It could be," Mikhail agreed unexpectedly. "That's exactly why we're discussing what he told us."
"We need to attack them and destroy them," Larrin said.
"We don't have enough strength to fight a superhive," Trebal cut in. "Given their past tactics, as soon as we hit them in the Lantian system, they'll immediately report us to the other hives."
"And that would be a call for the rest of the hives to wake up," Mikhail agreed. "Even if the galaxy's population hasn't recovered from the last great gathering, they certainly won't allow Atlantis to grow stronger."
"If that's the case, then why did that damaged, non-aligned hive respond to the Ancient beacon?" Chaya asked. "Why not Styx himself?"
"We know that the necklace-transmitter is too weak to send a signal through subspace on its own," Ihaar reminded. "Probably the nearest hive responded, and the rest don't know what happened. We were just lucky."
"In general terms, you're right — the nearest one responded," Larrin spoke up. "But actually, the Wraith leave satellites in orbit of planets to monitor how the human population recovers. At least, they used to. It's possible the signal passed through one. And that Hive Ship was nearby, so it attacked."
"Or that the transmitter only sends a signal to the hive that invented it," Ihaar grimaced. "We don't really know anything about that technology. So it could be anything."
"What exactly do we want to do?" Alvar asked. "It would clearly be foolish to just sit and wait until he gains strength and comes here."
"No one is planning to wait," Mikhail assured. "I don't intend to let an obvious enemy grow stronger. Maybe most hives will ignore Styx's flimsy evidence, considering he wasn't much in their hierarchy until recently. But some will definitely respond. We need to make sure this coalition doesn't form."
"But if we attack his forces, they'll have time to tell the others that Ancient battleships have appeared," Kirik noted. "And the rest of the Wraith will wake up. And they'll know for sure that Styx was right."
"We could try to lure them into an ambush," Larrin suggested. "We have two Lantian starships, two Nomad ships. We attack with all our forces and destroy them faster than they can scream to the whole galaxy about our arrival."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Alvar asked. "Invite them over?"
"A while back, the Nomads were destroying those satellites to lure Wraith ships into ambushes," Katana added. "But for the last hundred or hundred-fifty years, they haven't been putting new ones up — they prefer to send their 'arrows' through the gates instead. And we stopped destroying those relays because we couldn't fight their starships anymore."
"But now your ships are in better shape than before," Ihaar reminded. "New power system based on naquadah, better armor plating, we optimized some systems."
"That's all true," Asan said. "But we only have two ships. And they have three. And one of those starships is clearly stronger than anything the people in this room have. Dragging that armada into an ambush would be utter stupidity."
"I agree," Katana backed her colleague. "We'd destroy a few of their ships, maybe even badly damage the rest. But what guarantee is there that we won't lose all our own starships?"
"If this were the only Wraith coalition whose destruction would make the rest leave us alone, then yes, we could risk what we have," Asan continued. "But if you yourselves say the enemy has a contingency plan in case of destruction — that they'll wake and call the others — then attacking them head-on is not an option."
"You'd lose your ships, we'd lose ours, and there'd be nothing left to fight the Wraith with."
"We could attack and capture that Hive Ship that sent the Wraith into the ambush," Alvar suggested. "Then we'd have one more ship."
"According to what we know about Hive Ships, there could be several thousand Wraith on board," Ihaar objected. "We'd need an army to defeat them all. And we don't even have enough people to fix all the damage on the Hippaforalkus and Atlantis."
"Does Koschei know where the superhive is now?" Chaya asked. Mikhail shook his head.
"Styx operates through his representatives. He doesn't get personally involved in combat. It's possible we've run into his forces before when launching Recon Drones on former Ancient colonies. At least in some cases."
"If so, those were some of the rarest cases," Chaya shook her head. "The scouts reported Hive Ships, cruisers on planets. But never a superhive. It's probably somewhere else."
"Or at the moment our scouts attacked, the superhive was in orbit, and they couldn't detect it," Trebal suggested. "It's just… That's actually strange."
"What exactly?" Larrin asked.
"This Styx was close to the Death Queen, and she led troops against the Ancients," Trebal said. "So he must at least know there's nothing valuable left on the Ancient planets. So why waste his time? His superhive could easily destroy any hive or defeat them and subjugate the survivors. Which is exactly what he did."
"I have a more basic question," Alvar stated. "If this guy is so tough and has a starship capable of beating most enemies, why is he the Scavenger? Why didn't he subjugate the other Wraith long ago? Why now?"
"Because we only revealed ourselves now?" Ihaar suggested. "And also, a superhive appears when an ordinary Hive Ship feeds on a powerful energy source. And the Wraith never had enough of that. Over ten thousand years, he must have drained a lot of energy from the ZPM he had. Maybe he's just saving the last of his energy for a truly serious battle?"
"Or he doesn't have enough energy to fully power his superhive at all," Mikhail said.
"Excuse me?" Kaspar Fry drew attention to himself. "I remember correctly — ZPM is Lantian technology, right?"
"Yes," Trebal replied.
"So how did the Wraith get them?"
"They captured them," the commander of the Hippaforalkus explained. "Do you want me to tell you how?"
"Yes, that would be good…"
"They surrounded our starships with an overwhelming number of their own ships, sacrificed them to deplete the Lantian ships' ammunition and shields, then boarded and attacked the crew," Trebal said coldly. "Hundreds and hundreds of Wraith, moving through the decks and compartments of our ships, killing crew members, draining their lives in front of others. They managed to capture several of our ships, and each one had a ZPM. They connected them to their technology and got superhives. Is that detailed enough?"
"Quite," Kaspar replied. "But do you have those ZPMs now?"
"What's your interest in that, respected one?" Ihaar frowned.
"The point is that this Styx is clearly looking for something valuable on the Ancient planets," Fry explained. "There are Wraith worshippers among humans. If we try, we could plant information in some human societies that ZPMs have been found on certain planets. Styx should come for the energy source, since he needs it."
Trebal snorted.
"We'll have the Genii showing up for the trap instead — they have a lot of spies among humans."
"I wouldn't mind giving the Genii a beating too," Asan said. "We contacted a couple of old trading partners of our ship to restock supplies. The Genii attacked them and turned them into their semi-colony. Kaspar barely managed to escape through the gates on an intermediate planet."
Larrin automatically noted that Asan and the Nomads on Ermen were still using the old scouting tactics of their people. They consisted of escaping pursuit to a new world. Then, having lost the trail, they'd dial another planet's address and flee, leaving the pursuers empty-handed. Only after a second or third intermediate planet — usually ones where the Wraith had long ago harvested all the population and the Nomads had taken everything useful — would the scout return to the rendezvous point with his ship.
It made sense that no one would settle on that kind of planet, whose addresses could be known to anyone in the galaxy. In that regard, Ermen, which had little contact with the rest of the galaxy, was much better.
"The Genii don't appeal to us either," Teyla Emmagan, who had been silent until now, assured. Larrin mentally smirked. "Us." Who was she talking about — the Athosians or the Lantians? "They cause trouble for many people in the galaxy."
"And right now, the Genii aren't our immediate problem," Trebal reminded. "It's an old, cunning Wraith Scholar with a superhive and a growing coalition. The Hippaforalkus won't survive a battle against a superhive. The Ares… maybe, but in its last battle with the Wraith, it destroyed a superhive and two enemy hives at the cost of severe damage, which is why the crew abandoned it."
"Energy sources," Chaya suddenly said. "That's what Styx is looking for."
"Presumably," Mikhail agreed cautiously.
"No, it's the most logical explanation," the head of Atlantis shook her head. "Ihaar is right — if he had a ZPM, even several, then over ten thousand years they would have clearly depleted. And there aren't many new ones in the galaxy. If he had enough energy to power the superhive, he wouldn't have to hide. And certainly the owner of such a ship, even without a queen, could get anything he wanted. But he's called the Scavenger."
"The Wraith are sensitive to insults," Mikhail said. "And names mean a lot to them. Because they reflect their essence. If others call him the Scavenger, then over ten thousand years he's clearly lost his authority and strength."
"And now, a little speculation," Chaya leaned forward. "At least one superhive survived the war with the Lantians. Its commander lost his queen, the Wraith coalition broke up after the war. They clearly started dividing up the human planets. That was a civil war; surviving it required resources. It's likely that over ten thousand years, Styx lost his capabilities and turned from a leader into the Scavenger. Somehow, he ended up near the Aurora's damaged Hive Ship, probably captured it or annexed it another way — that doesn't matter now. What matters is that they had data on the Hippaforalkus. Styx decided we had returned and started gathering strength."
"To avenge the Death Queen, whom he believed died at our hands ten thousand years ago," Mikhail picked up. "If we're right and his superhive doesn't have enough power, he definitely won't go into open combat. Even if he wins, repairing the hull and damage will require a lot of strength and energy. He probably responded to the emergency beacon only because he wanted to get a ZPM or an Ancient ship."
"He doesn't have enough strength to attack Atlantis head-on, which is why he's not sending scouts," Trebal continued. "Even if he confirms that Atlantis is still here — which is unlikely — he has nothing to attack with. And by the time he gathers the necessary forces, he won't have up-to-date intelligence. So he'll have to send another scout ship."
"Strix doesn't have that kind of strength, so he's creating a coalition where no one will argue with him," said Mikhail. "That's the whole point of killing the damaged hive's queen — she could control her soldiers and call them back if Strix made a mistake and found no Lantians here when he arrived. And while his subordinates fight for him, increasing the coalition's power, he's scouring the Ancient planets for an energy source to power his Superhive."
"But we don't know which planet he's on right now to find and attack him," Ihaar reminded. "If we destroy him, the coalition will definitely fall apart."
"I hope your genius isn't limited to summarizing all the guesses made during the meeting?" Captain Asan inquired.
"Say something smarter," Alvar suggested.
"You got a problem?" the Nomad ship commander bristled.
"I think we all need to calm down," Teyla suggested. "Mutual accusations won't help. We need to figure out how to find him, lure him out, and destroy him."
"We already have," Mikhail announced.
Larrin exchanged glances with Trebal. The others also looked bewildered — nothing that had been said so far resembled a good plan.
"We do?" she clarified.
"Of course," Mikhail smiled. "That's the beauty of a brainstorming session. So, ladies and gentlemen, we have a plan. Not the best one, but if I'm right, we can find Strix."