Working with Atlantis's database was an absolute pleasure.
It would have been, if Chaya hadn't kept stumbling upon protected files while viewing the data she was interested in. The sheer number of which was unknown to her — the city's main computer refused to even tell her which sections were password-locked and inaccessible. That, too, was classified information.
Sometimes she wanted to give it all up, but she forced herself back to this necessary and crucial work. To know what resources they possessed, what knowledge they could rely on, and what secrets they could use in their service, she needed to sort through all of it.
So far, she had compiled statistics showing that for every five accessible files, there were ten encrypted with various clearance levels. And not only was the content protected by the personal codes of advisors, senior advisors, and the supreme advisor of Atlantis — in some databases, even the names of the sections were hidden from the viewer.
Tribune Titus's code was clearly insufficient to sort through all of this. And something told her — not a single one of the Ascended members of the Atlantis Council would return to human form and reveal access to the classified information.
At least the vast majority of the address database was open for viewing. It just took an enormous amount of time for the thousands of search programs she had launched into the database to find the data she needed.
"Lady Sar," the girl startled, realizing she had been so engrossed that she hadn't noticed the technician on duty from the control room appear at the door of her office. "All members of the operation have returned to Atlantis in full force."
"Including the Wraith?" Chaya clarified.
"Yes, Lady Sar. He's already being escorted to the brig under heavy guard," the technician said calmly. Then, unable to contain himself, the man smiled. "And another twenty people have joined our ranks."
"That's wonderful news," she smiled too. She was genuinely happy to hear it.
After each battle engagement on the trap planet, a field interrogation of the Wraith commanders was conducted using violence, threats, and Teyla. After that, Jumpers carrying the Wraith and stasis pods containing the frozen crew members of the Aurora were sent to the planet.
And each time, empty devices and several revived Dorandans returned to Atlantis.
On one hand, she couldn't help but be pleased — they had revived almost a third of the Ancient ship's crew so far. Eighty first-class technicians, engineers, deck crew members, several pilots, and security soldiers who had expressed a desire to serve the new Atlantis government.
Some of them had already started their new duties, others were still in the infirmary under observation... And now, to those eighty, another twenty were added.
One hundred Ancients... It could have been one hundred and one, but their only loss so far sometimes made her sad. The technician who died on the drilling rig was buried with full honors, his remains sent into the corona of the star in the Lantian system.
An Ancient ritual that, as she remembered, the Lantians performed for their own. But now they were all Lantians, no matter what anyone said.
"Mikhail asks you to join him in the Council Chamber," the technician added. "The others have already been notified."
"Mikhail is back?" Chaya was surprised.
"Everyone is back," the duty technician reminded her. "Absolutely everyone."
That was strange.
Because the combat groups stationed on the trap planet had never returned to Atlantis after their mission. It was assumed that, based on the standard Wraith tactic of sending groups of a certain size on missions, they would remain there until either the Wraith ran out or the group's position became too dangerous.
Which of these had happened, she didn't know, but it would surely be explained at the meeting.
"I'll be there soon," the girl assured, closing her laptop and getting up from her desk.
"I'll inform them," he confirmed.
The sound of the Stargate activating came from behind the duty officer's back. The man touched his earpiece communicator, listened to the report, and then told her:
"Lady Trebal and Lady Larrin are arriving from Taranis."
It seemed the meeting required their presence as well.
"Don't forget to lower the shield," Chaya reminded him. "If they don't materialize, they'll haunt your nightmares."
"I have enough Wraiths in my dreams as it is," the pale technician shuddered, ordering the barrier to be deactivated.
Chaya left her office following the man. A smile crept onto her face involuntarily when she saw the impassive face of the city's security service officer, who was watching the arrivals from the small balcony opposite the control room. Two more soldiers in gray Ermen uniforms, with polymer body armor over them, carrying ESWs and frequency guns on their belts. Even if not everyone liked the Nomads' weapons, using them to prevent attacks and minimize damage to the city's technology was still necessary.
The alternative was Wraith stunners. ESWs were also effective for paralyzing an opponent, but their reload time was slower, and at ranges over ten meters, they were hardly useful.
However, the revived Dorandan 'security personnel' didn't refuse to carry it. After all, it was guaranteed to incapacitate anyone. Whereas, for instance, with enough hits from a Wraith stunner, one could develop some resistance. It wasn't even always possible to take down a Wraith with their own weapons. They had a higher resistance to their own technology.
Chaya passed the control room and descended onto the landing that connected the main staircase with the smaller ones leading to both wings of the gate room. Here, too, there was one guard each, ready to engage in frontal fire against enemies arriving through the gate in case of an attack.
Sar briefly calculated that two more fighters were stationed on the balcony near the entrance to the Gate Room, and two more on the lower level, blocking any possible enemy advance towards the transport cabin and passages to other parts of the spire on that level.
For now, these five were the entire security they had. Another five were supposed to be among those revived in the last group.
The Proculucian woman literally froze in place in the middle of the main staircase landing, realizing something.
All members of the combat group had returned. That meant she had missed not only the gate activation from the trap planet, but also the return of all twelve currently operational Jumpers to Atlantis, one by one. However... She had never been this deeply focused on her work before.
According to the plan, the Nomads involved in the ambush were to return to Ermen, and the Athosian recruits to Taranis. Mikhail, Kirik, Saya, Teyla, Ihaar, and the Jumper pilots were supposed to come to Atlantis. And at least the first five should have come down the stairs to go to the Council Chamber...
She had been so engrossed that she hadn't noticed the movement of so many beings.
"Are there some new rules, Lady Sar?" Larrin inquired with her usual sarcasm.
In principle, she had the same kind of sharp-tongued character as Trebal — no wonder they had, after a brief verbal spar, practically become friends. But the Dorandan woman displayed her sharpness quite noticeably and intensified it as needed. Larrin, on the other hand, maintained a consistently, evenly sharp-tongued demeanor. As if her habit of attacking with words had become a defense against possible verbal attacks from her interlocutor.
This indicated not a difficult character, but rather a difficult childhood and youth. Probably why Trebal got along so well with her.
"Excuse me?" Chaya looked at both ladies, who had stopped next to her.
"We've come to the city plenty of times, but this is the first time you've decided to meet us of your own free will," Trebal snorted. "Or did Mikhail order you to, Lady Sar?"
She emphasized the last part with her voice. Oh, it seemed they didn't like it.
"Maybe, besides the title 'Lady,' he'll also introduce a rule for curtsying when we meet," Larrin chimed in.
"Mikhail didn't introduce that form of address," Chaya reminded them, continuing her way to the Council Chamber. "And you know that perfectly well."
"Yes, but he only had to call you 'Lady Sar' a couple of times, and it started sticking to practically every girl," Larrin said. "I think you and he came up with that verbal trinket together."
"He just read an old story in Ancient," Chaya explained. "And in it, according to Alteran tradition, women were addressed as 'Lady.'"
"Mikhail reads Ancient?" Trebal was surprised.
"He's trying to," the girl said, walking past the guards on the balcony. "And he's getting good at it. He's almost mastered the Lantean dialect."
"Without the holographic chamber?" Trebal asked suspiciously.
"Yes," Chaya approached the doors and turned around, looking at both girls. "We've been studying the language."
She ignored Larrin's snort.
"Well, well," Trebal looked a little bewildered. "That's a complex dialect. The grammar is convoluted... It's not for nothing it was uploaded into a growing brain. There are over a million specialized scientific and technical terms alone!"
"About two billion," Chaya corrected. "We haven't gotten to them yet. But soon. For now, he's solidifying the conversational base. It'll get easier from there."
"Shall we go in already?" Larrin clearly didn't understand why Trebal was so impressed.
Compared to the Lantean language, all others, except for the Wraith language and the dialects of the lesser races, were hardly difficult to master a few phrases. Understanding the structure of word formation was quite simple. Even Mikhail's native language wasn't too hard for Chaya to learn. She would have learned the writing system too, but when Mikhail wrote a few texts, she realized it would be difficult. Because either he had bad handwriting, or the written language of his people more closely resembled a stylistic cardiogram combined with the sinusoidal rhythm of a small naquadah generator's energy output.
The latter was unlikely, of course.
They were already expected in the Council Chamber. Mikhail was talking about something with Alvar at the far end of the hall; Kirik was cleaning his pistol right on the tabletop, causing Ihaar to look bewildered and barely conceal his desire to tell the former 'Runner' everything he thought about cleaning a weapon on the touch keyboard of the supercomputer installed in the room.
Teyla was sitting with her head in her hands, clearly suffering from a migraine.
So, the Athosian woman had definitely used her gift — Chaya assumed these would be the side effects.
"Excellent," seeing the newcomers, Mikhail slapped Alvar on the shoulder. The men dispersed and took their seats. "We have news."
"Good news?" Larrin inquired, plopping down into a chair near the entrance. Trebal sat down so she was between her and Mikhail. Her usual place to Mikhail's left mirrored Chaya's place.
The girl mechanically noted that the left side of the table was usually occupied by ship commanders — both Lantean and Nomad. The right side, by everyone else.
An interesting phenomenon.
The Council Chamber doors swung open again and Kaspar Fry entered.
"Sorry for the delay," he said, taking a seat a little further down from Larrin. "I came as soon as we got the message from the returning group. Captains Asan and Labrea are currently absent — they're delivering a large shipment of food that we managed to purchase in one of the trading worlds."
"Your participation is sufficient for now, Kaspar," Mikhail nodded. "You are, after all, our plenipotentiary representative of the Nomads."
A shadow crossed Larrin's face. The girl cast a quick glance at her compatriot, then at Mikhail. But she barely managed to hold back the questions she had.
"So, here's what we have at the moment," Mikhail used his own keyboard and projected into the space in the center of the group first a map of the Pegasus galaxy. Then he zoomed in on the image of one of the planets, practically on the edge of the galaxy.
A dirty-rust-colored celestial body with a fairly rarefied atmosphere, but sufficient for breathing. There was a Stargate on the planet, but it hadn't been dialed from Atlantis — there was no point. Neither the Ancients nor the lesser races had ever settled there. But the planet could boast a large supply of simple minerals, according to the city's database.
There were plenty of such planets throughout the galaxy. Lantea-2, for example. It had roughly the same list of useful minerals as the 'rusty' planet.
Mikhail pressed a few more keys, and a red marker for a tiny Hive Ship appeared in geostationary orbit above the planet.
"This is the Hive whose crew we've been feeding our Wraith all this time," Mikhail said. "And it's the same Hive that survived the encounter with the Scavenger's ships. They're currently in orbit around an uninhabited, lifeless planet to repair their damage."
"Do we intend to destroy them?" Larrin asked.
"That was the idea," Mikhail admitted. "Until we got into their commander's mind."
Mikhail wisely didn't specify how that was done. The fact that Teyla could connect her mind to a Wraith's was undeniably a plus for Atlantis.
But the overwhelming majority of the galaxy's peoples, including the Nomads, considered those like her to be practically Wraith accomplices. And, just like Wraiths, they were ready to kill them day in and day out. Whether or not a person had caused harm because of their abilities didn't matter much to anyone.
In the past, those like Teyla had become maniacs and murderers, which is why people at best avoided them. The most standard reaction, however, was to kill them as quickly as possible.
"Did you get anything valuable?" Fry asked with interest.
"Quite a bit," Ihaar picked up. "First of all, you should know that Wraith ships and technologies are biological in origin. Therefore, they are capable of regenerating their damage. We've already made progress in studying their technologies using the samples we have..."
'And we probably wouldn't have had to do this if we had access to the results of the Aurora's reconnaissance mission,' Chaya thought. But she said nothing. At least because this data was currently inaccessible to Atlantis. And the rest of the galaxy shouldn't even know that such a database existed.
."..but studying a Hive Ship, a functioning one at that, is a pretty good reason to postpone its destruction," Ihaar said. "We need to capture it."
"Good luck with that," Fry wished. "The Nomads won't participate in a group suicide. There could be thousands of Wraiths on board a Hive Ship. And we don't have an army..."
"We've wiped out all the Wraiths that aren't in hibernation, as well as the ship itself," Mikhail interrupted him. "According to the information we received, the remaining Wraiths, except for a small portion of the crew maintaining the ship's repairs, are in stasis due to the ship's heavy damage."
"They didn't manage to wake before the ship was intact, and after the attack they sustained significant damage and can't sustain life support for everyone on the decks until repairs are finished," Teyla added, collecting herself. "Besides, more than half of the ship's stasis compartments aren't connected to the functioning section — the Hive Ship that attacked them tried to make boarding easier for itself, but the victims escaped into a hyperjump."
"So if we attack, the Wraiths won't overwhelm us with numbers?" Fry asked with interest.
"They'll still be able to wake some of their soldiers," Teyla said after a moment's thought. "A small portion. A hundred, maybe a little more Wraiths. And even that only because there's plenty of open space on the ship right now to revive them."
"As long as the Wraiths on board don't know their boarding parties aren't coming back, they'll try to conserve life support for them," Mikhail explained. "But once we attack, we'll need to move fast."
"You want to capture a Hive Ship?" Larrin asked, taken aback.
"Yes," Mikhail said simply. "Right now the situation is most favorable. The ship is on reduced power consumption. In simple terms, it's sleeping while stored materials are being 'digested.' Most of the soldiers are unavailable. No one will hit us from the rear. There are few soldiers on board — we'll have the advantage."
"And an extra ship never hurts," Trebal agreed. "If Hive Ships are as automated as their cruisers, a small number of people can control one."
"That kind of ship will be useful for moving through enemy territory," Chaya noted. "It attracts less attention than a Lantian-design battleship."
"Fighting in enemy territory is very dangerous," Kaspar said skeptically. "Especially since in the time that's passed they might have repaired the corridors, and then a whole army of Wraiths will be waiting for us."
"I haven't yet stated the reason we're capturing this Hive Ship no matter what," Mikhail said, a metallic edge creeping into his voice. "Whether the Nomads come with us or not, we're attacking."
"If the reason is compelling enough, besides acquiring a starship that only a Wraith can fly, we'll join," Kaspar Fry said hastily.
"The Wraiths didn't come to our beacon's signal for no reason," Mikhail said. "They're familiar with beacon technology and immediately understood it was in the hands of at least one Ancient. And they planned to capture him."
"Not kill, but capture?" Trebal asked with interest. "That's new. Though we considered that possibility. Capturing one of ours to exchange for Koschei."
"Actually, no," Mikhail drummed his fingers on the table. "The interrogation of the Hive commander showed that before meeting us, he believed in the return of the Ancients about as much as he believed there were enough humans for all the Wraiths."
"Hold on," the Dorandan woman said with interest. "Are you saying we worried for nothing and Koschei wasn't leading us into a trap?"
"That depends," Mikhail answered evasively. "We considered a plan where Koschei could have sent information about us to his people. And that the Scavenger was trying to free him. This Hive could have been bait... But no. The commander of the Hive Ship — the highest-ranking Wraith on board, the commander of a possible operation — knew nothing like that about us. Therefore, Koschei didn't transmit any data to the Scavenger. And the information about the damaged Hive Ship he gave us was truthful. So we're not facing a whole fleet of Wraiths from that side. Just a beat-up Hive Ship whose crew is waiting for their commander to return with a valuable trophy for exchange."
"Exchange?" Trebal raised an eyebrow. "We're talking about an Ancient who activated a beacon, right? Wouldn't a Wraith who captured such a prisoner be better off keeping him?"
"That's exactly what this Hive's commander planned," Mikhail explained readily. "Capture an Ancient, extract any possible technical information that could help this Hive. Then he intended to hand the Ancient over to the Scavenger to stop the hunt for his Hive."
"And then gather allies and destroy the Scavenger along with Atlantis," Kirik summed up. "In short, when they sent the first group of Wraiths, they contacted that defector cruiser from their Hive and proposed an exchange."
"It sounds like you're planning to capture a Hive Ship, take it to the rendezvous point with the Superhive, and start a small war," Larrin crossed her arms. "Even if the Scavenger has a Superhive, a Hive, and a cruiser, we'd have, in the best case: two battleships, two Nomad ships, and a Hive we can sacrifice. Is that the plan?"
"In broad strokes," Chaya deduced from Mikhail's evasive tone that what he'd said wasn't nearly everything. It seemed Teyla had extracted plenty of useful information from the Wraith's mind. "But we need to hurry. And first of all, so we don't spook the Wraiths on the damaged Hive Ship, we need the Nomad ships."
"For what reason?" Fry clearly didn't want to make a decision about cooperating in such an operation alone.
Even though he'd become the Nomads' representative who worked directly with Atlantis, relaying all necessary information from Ermen to the city and back, and coordinating forces, his authority only extended to the Nomad combat units on Ermen. Not to the ships.
Sure, some Nomads had moved to Ermen and started a new life, but decisions about where and how their ships would be used were made by the captains themselves. Asan and Labrea.
Who weren't present.
And if Chaya understood anything about these people, even if they were contacted now and briefed, it wouldn't help the upcoming mission with specifics. The Travelers wouldn't abandon their business and travel to the other end of the galaxy with full holds of supplies to participate in a battle they might not return from.
And if they didn't care about their own lives, they certainly cared about the cargo that would help the colonists.
"Time is running out," Mikhail said. "The Hive Ship is in a recovery phase. And it won't last forever. A day, maybe two — and the critical damage will be repaired. The appearance of Ancient battleships would trigger a defensive reflex in the Wraiths — they'd call for help and broadcast news of us across the entire galaxy. But Nomad ships wouldn't make them want to wake all the Wraiths. However, their presence would be necessary for us as a diversionary maneuver during the landing."
"Meaning?"
"We have the Hive commander's access codes," Teyla said. "At least some of them."
"And we also have Wraith 'darts' that can collect people into energy buffers and materialize them directly on a Wraith ship," Alvar explained. "That's what we'll tell the Wraiths — send out guards, we've delivered the Ancients. Upon materialization, people are unconscious so they won't resist. That way, soldiers will come to the hangar, and we'll kill them. Then we'll start the operation to capture the Wraith ship."
"Why use darts?" the Nomad man asked in surprise. "You have Jumpers with cloaking fields!"
"And that's exactly the additional plan," Mikhail explained. "No one keeps their hangar bay doors open when they're hiding. So the Wraiths have theirs closed too. And blowing them open is a direct path to decompression and failure. Using a dart and the access codes, we'll make them open the doors for us and fly inside. Not just the dart, but also cloaked Jumpers. In the hangar, we'll deal with some of the guards, get data on the ship's condition, send strike teams to control the stasis sections where Wraiths could be awakened. The remaining forces will storm the bridge, take control of it, and finish off the rest."
"Our ships will need to be a visible distraction so they don't immediately spot the saboteurs," Fry understood.
"Exactly," Mikhail confirmed.
"And the backup plan?" the Nomad representative asked with interest. "What if the data is wrong and there are too many Wraiths on the Hive?"
"Then we retreat to the hangar, extract everything possible from the Wraith computers, and detonate the naquadah-enhanced bomb delivered on the Jumpers," Mikhail explained. "Either this ship serves our purposes, or it serves no one's."
"You don't pull punches," Larrin noted. "Wouldn't it be easier to blow up the whole planet and have the debris destroy the Hive Ship? Then no one would have to take risks."
"We don't have a weapon that could do that," Chaya said. "At least not right now."
Fry paled.
"I need to consult with the captains," he rose from the table. "The ground groups I can secure, of course. There are plenty of men among us who want to fight the Wraiths, but you need ships... That will be a problem. How soon do you want to strike?"
"Within a day, no more," Mikhail said. "If you're with us, you'll get a copy of the data from the Hive Ship. I'm sure there's plenty there that would interest the Nomads. If not..."
"I can't promise anything about the ships, Mikhail," Fry said. "But I'll do everything in my power to support our allies. Unfortunately, that's the only thing I can promise."
From Mikhail's impassive face, it was clear he hadn't expected any other answer.
The Nomads from Ermen might be allies of Atlantis, but their own sanctuaries came before Lantian security.
"You have an hour to come up with a better attack and retreat plan," Mikhail announced. "We're full of good ideas as it is."
That was true enough.
"Kirik, escort our guest to the control room," Mikhail ordered. "Let him contact his people and request instructions."
"No need," Larrin rose from the table. "I'm heading that way anyway — I'll keep him company."
"Just don't kill each other there," Trebal wished.
"Well, now let's move on to the details of what we actually need this Hive Ship for," Mikhail said, as the doors of the Council Chamber closed behind both Nomads.
"You don't seem particularly conflicted by the lack of Nomad participation," Chaya noted.
"I've been waiting for something like this," Mikhail admitted, leaning back in his chair. "Koschei needs hosts, and a Hive Ship full of sleeping Wraiths is a perfect source. That's not something I could say in front of Fry or Larrin. The Nomads might not approve of using Wraiths as experimental subjects."