Dick let the door close behind Zelenka and Carter before he raised his eyebrows. “He doesn’t seem optimistic.”
“We are all worried about Rodney,” Teyla said.
“Of course,” Dick said. He suspected that his decision to assign Zelenka to Sheppard’s gate team might also have something to do with Zelenka’s mood, but he still didn’t see any alternative. They couldn’t go on as though McKay might walk through the gate at any minute. “I’d like you to think about the best tactics for another rescue attempt, should we be in that position.”
“I’ll do that,” Sheppard said. “And also get some extra security teams to keep an eye on critical areas of the city, just in case.”
Dick turned to Dr. Keller. “Assuming for a moment that we do get Dr. McKay back, what happens then?”
“We don’t know,” Dr. Beckett said before Dr. Keller could answer.
“If the process they used is based on our original retrovirus, it should simply wear off once the virus is no longer being administered,” she said.
“Yes, but we don’t know that it is,” Dr. Beckett said. “It could just as easily be based on the process I developed for Michael, or they could have designed it from scratch after we gave them the idea.”
“Whatever they based it on, I think we should go back to your original work as a starting place,” Dr. Keller said. “It’s the best chance of figuring out what they did and making sure it’s fully reversible.”
“Please keep me posted,” Dick said.
“I will,” she said. “If that’s all…”
“One more thing,” he said. “I hate to have to be the one to say so, but we can’t put all our energies into this. I am not saying that we should stop trying to recover Dr. McKay. That has to be a priority, and not just because of the obvious security risk of having his knowledge in the hands of the Wraith. He’s a member of our team, and it’s important to all of us that we find him. But we came out here to do any number of important things, and the hard truth is that we can’t stop doing them just because one person is missing.”
“I think we all understand that,” Teyla said after a moment’s pause. He hoped it was just that she was the quickest to speak, and not that she was the only one at the table who agreed with him.
“All right,” Dick said. He stood as people began to push back their chairs. “Colonel Sheppard, if you’ve got time this morning, I’d like to discuss your team’s schedule for the rest of the week.”
“I’m not exactly booked up,” Sheppard said as the others made their way out. “I’d like to have a word with Lorne about security first.”
“Of course,” Dick said. “There’s also plenty of time for you to go shave.”
“I expect there is,” Sheppard said after a moment.
“We can’t act as though we’re in a state of crisis all the time,” Dick said. “I just think we need to send the message that things are getting back to normal.”
He could see Sheppard bite back whatever sharp reply had first come to mind. He might not like it, but he knew it was true. “Yeah, but what if we are in a state of crisis all the time?” he said instead.
“We still act like we have things under control,” Dick said. “At least, I always understood that to be part of my job description.”
“Which is why I’m glad you have the job and not me,” Sheppard said.
Dick was tempted to point out that it was a good question whether that would still be true once he heard from the IOA about his most recent set of reports. That problem could wait, though. He thought they had enough to keep everyone busy for the day.
They’d lost their usual outdoor table to their new home’s freezing weather, but John and Teyla were already camped out at a table inside when Ronon got through the mess hall line. They were sitting very close together, as if they intended to defend the table against possible attack. Teyla looked up as he approached and smiled. John didn’t exactly smile, but he relaxed a little and nudged a chair toward Ronon with his foot.
“Are we expecting to get shot at over lunch?” Ronon said, sitting down and spearing a bite of meat on his fork.
“Maybe,” John said with his mouth full of sandwich.
“No,” Teyla said. “We are expecting to be shot at eventually.”
“So what else is new?” Ronon said.
John snorted. “Not so much.” He stood up, glancing down at Teyla with what looked very close to a smile, and picked up his tray. “See you when you get back.”
“Where are you going?” Ronon asked as John made his way out.
“New Athos,” Teyla said. “I said I would pick up Torren this afternoon, and I have goods to take for trade. Mr. Woolsey says we may trade some of the packaged food for fresh, as well as the medical supplies and equipment brought out on the Hammond. We owe a certain amount already for the milk.” She swirled her coffee in her cup pointedly.
“We could trade more manufactured stuff than we do,” Ronon said. “It’s not like there’s not a market.”
Teyla shook her head. “I thought so when I first came to Atlantis, but there would be no profit in it,” she said. “It is so expensive to transport anything aboard one of the ships. The cost is in the generation of so much power.”
Ronon shrugged agreement, although he wondered sometimes why they didn’t make an effort to use some of the city’s machines to produce something that would be in demand outside the city. “Want me to come along?”
Teyla looked tempted, but like she wanted him to talk her into it. “I hate to go among my own people with armed backup.”
“You’re going to be armed,” Ronon said.
“Yes,” she said, her expression sharpening. He didn’t think she’d ever be as easy on New Athos as she’d been before the time she and Keller found it overrun by the Bola Kai, her people gone.
“So, I’m a friend. Who happens to be armed.”
“You are,” she said, smiling. “Very well, if you have the time.”
It might have been better to wait for someone who could fly a jumper, Ronon thought when he saw the boxes she’d stacked onto a cart in the gate room, but he gave it an experimental shove and found it easy enough to push.
“I can’t cover you if I’ve got this,” he pointed out.
“I am not really expecting an ambush,” Teyla said. “It is just as well these days to have…”
“Friends who happen to be armed,” Ronon finished. “Yes.”
“Give my regards to the Athosians,” Woolsey said from the rail above.
Teyla smiled. “We will.”
On the other side, it was actually warm, a light breeze moving the tall grasses of the gate field. Teyla reached for one side of the cart’s handle, and Ronon shook his head. “Keep your hands free,” he said.
She shook her head. “We are so jumpy these days.”
Ronon shrugged. “It’s what McKay would say.”
Teyla smiled. “I never thought I would hear you standing in for Rodney. Besides, if he were here he would keep his hands free to cover us both so that he did none of the work.”
“Yep,” Ronon said. He wrestled with the cart for a minute, Teyla eventually lending a hand to tug it free of a rut in the too-soft dirt.
“It is too quiet without him,” she said when they had the cart freed.
“There wasn’t anything else to do,” Ronon said.
“I am not blaming you,” Teyla said. “I hope you do not blame yourself.”
“It was my decision,” he said. “I made the call I had to make. How it went down is my responsibility.”
“Then if we had all been captured, that would have been your responsibility as well. That would not have been better.” Teyla sounded a little frustrated.
“I’m not saying it would be,” Ronon said. “Sheppard, though…”
“He blames himself,” Teyla said. “Not you. And he would not truly be happier if we were all in the hands of the Wraith now.”
“If he’d been in charge, d
o you think he would have pulled us out?”
Teyla looked like she was considering her answer carefully. “It is terribly hard for him to leave a man behind,” she said. “I think — ”
“Teyla!” Halling called from ahead, and Teyla lifted her head.
“Halling!” she called in greeting, her face lighting. Although she couldn’t spend much time on New Athos these days, at least she could visit. Surely she must appreciate that even more keenly after months of thinking all her people lost, and more months spent a galaxy away from them.
He and Kanaan were waiting at the outskirts of the camp, Torren in Kanaan’s arms, and once they drew close Teyla went swiftly to take her son. She and Kanaan exchanged awkward smiles, although when he would have pressed his forehead to hers, she ducked her head to Torren’s hair instead.
Ronon turned away, suspecting that her next move would be to draw him into the conversation to make a buffer between them, and not intending to let her. “Halling,” he said.
“Ronon, my friend,” Halling said. “What news from Atlantis?”
“No news,” Ronon said. “The Wraith still have McKay.”
“I am sorry for that,” Halling said.
“We all are,” Kanaan said. “It makes Atlantis a dangerous place.”
“There is no safe place,” Teyla said, her arms tightening around Torren. If Ronon could see it, he thought Kanaan could as well. “We have all seen that.”
“We have,” Halling said. “All the same…” He glanced at Kanaan, as if unsure he wanted to continue.
“All the same, it is something we must consider,” Kanaan said. “We would like the people of Atlantis to come here for the milk we trade them, so that we are not sending our young men and women to the city of the Ancestors when it may at any time come under attack.”
“That has always been the case,” Teyla said. “Surely Jinto has not said he is afraid to come.”
“We are too few, and we will be two fewer when you leave today,” Kanaan said. “We spoke of this in council for a long time, and it was agreed that no one can take the risk for trade goods, no matter how comfortable they make us.”
Teyla’s face was sharp, her body tensing as if for a fight. Torren frowned, sensing her mood. “You did not ask me to be a part of this council. It is usual for all to be asked if they wish to speak.”
“You were not here,” Halling said. “You were not here, and you were not in the city when we called. Decisions must be made when there is something to decide, not at your pleasure.”
“Halling,” Teyla said, looking for the first time more hurt than angry.
“You are not a child, for me to scold you,” Halling said. “I know you were looking for your friend, and I would have done the same. But we could not wait for you.”
Teyla took a deep breath. “I will speak to Mr. Woolsey,” she said. “We can certainly send someone here to trade, although I will not always be able to come myself.”
“It might be better if you were not the one to come,” Halling said.
“And what do you mean by that?”
“Who are you representing when you come to us to trade?” Kanaan asked. “The Lanteans, or the Athosians? We are hardly trade partners if you speak for us both, and stand always between us.”
“I have brought goods from the expedition here for more than five years,” Teyla said. “And I have brought them your work in trade, and no one has complained that I have made a poor bargain for them.”
“Our work,” Kanaan said. “Not the work of your hands. The things made here are not yours to trade, Teyla. Not anymore.”
Teyla looked at him as though he’d struck her. “I did not think you were so angry at me,” she said.
“I am not angry at you,” Kanaan said, and he sounded like that might be true. “But if you come back to us again to trade with goods from Atlantis, we will expect to bargain with you as with any trading partner, and you must not also be part of the council to choose our terms.”
“Must I not?” Teyla said, her voice dangerous.
“I wish that you would not,” Kanaan said. “The truth is I cannot stop you. I expect you could persuade people to your point of view, if you were here to speak on your behalf. But what then? You will go back to Atlantis, and then what? Now that you are gone, the people look to me to warn them of the Wraith, to protect them. That is not a thing I have ever wanted, Teyla, believe me. I would much rather you were here to do it instead.”
“I am sorry,” Teyla said. “I thought you understood why I must stay in Atlantis, must help defend us all from the Wraith.”
“I do,” Kanaan said. “It would be easier if I did not.” He turned away abruptly, and Halling cleared his throat.
“Thank you for bringing us these goods in trade,” he said. “We will look for your man to come to us three days from now for the milk, and we can talk then of any other changes to the trade agreement.”
“I will ask Mr. Woolsey when it would be possible for him to meet with you,” Teyla said, the words too pleasant, as if talking to a stranger.
“That is well.” Halling embraced her, touching his forehead to hers, and after a moment’s stiffness she returned the embrace. “We will look for your coming as well,” he said. “You are always welcome among us.”
“I never thought you would need to say so,” Teyla said, and Ronon looked away; he didn’t think she’d want him to see if she cried.
She talked cheerfully enough to Torren on the way back to the Stargate, but it was the kind of relentless good cheer that mothers everywhere used in an attempt to convince children that nothing was wrong.
“Ride!” Torren demanded, struggling to clamber down and onto the cart, now empty of all but Torren’s traveling bag.
“Can’t hurt,” Ronon said, and Teyla let him climb down to the cart, where he sprawled happily. He risked a glance at Teyla. Her eyes were clear, but her jaw was set hard. “You okay?”
“I would never cheat my own people in a trade,” Teyla said hotly. “I cannot imagine that anyone would think I would do such a thing.”
“You could try to get back to New Athos more,” Ronon said.
“Back,” Teyla said, shaking her head more ruefully. He waited for her to say more, catching Torren when he seemed about to topple to the ground. “I lived on New Athos for a few weeks, not even for a whole season. I helped build the settlement, but this season I have not put crops in the ground, or hunted, or cared for anyone else’s children.”
“They’re your people,” Ronon said. “That still matters.”
“Of course it does,” Teyla said. “But it is Miko who I will help with her work in return for her watching my child. No one in Atlantis grew the food we eat, but I will earn my share of it guarding the city of the Ancestors. For the Athosians, all I have been for seasons is a trader, and now even that…”
“You did rescue them all from Michael,” Ronon said. “That was kind of important.”
“The people of Atlantis rescued them,” Teyla said. “I was in no position at the time to rescue anyone, including myself.”
“You would have,” Ronon said.
“But I did not.”
“That’s not your fault,” Ronon said.
Teyla smiled faintly. “It is my responsibility.”
“Maybe they’ll get over it.”
“It is possible,” Teyla said, in a tone that suggested she thought he was missing the point. “Come up now, Torren. You may not ride on the cart through the Stargate.”
Torren made a noise of protest and clung tighter to the cart as Ronon dialed the gate, leaving Teyla to pry him loose and gather him up. “Ride,” Torren demanded in what sounded like an imitation of Teyla’s most dangerous voice, although he didn’t expect she would let him follow it up by hitting anybody with sticks if they didn’t agree.
“Up for a minute,” she said, wrestling him onto her hip and catching at his bag when its contents nearly spilled out onto the grass. “We will be home ve
ry soon.”
Ronon wasn’t sure if she’d noticed what she’d said, but Torren nodded decisively and said, “Home.”
Chapter Two
Aboard the Hive
The commander’s quarters aboard the hive ship Just Fortune were pleasant, even luxurious, as befitted a hive whose queen was currently absent on business of her own. Except that that was a lie, as much of a bluff as anything else the commander had managed to achieve since he had escaped from Atlantis, as much a lie as the ridiculous name John Sheppard had given him. He was Guide, commander and Consort, and if the Lanteans called him “Todd” that was not his concern. His concern was his ship, his men, and the Lanteans’ unaccountable failure to rescue Rodney McKay.
*They failed.* Guide was unable to hide his anger, but Bonewhite faced him squarely.
*Did you honestly expect otherwise?*
*I thought if I handed them Death’s hive powered down and feeding, they would be able to recover McKay and destroy it. They’ve been extremely efficient at such things before.* Guide took a breath, made himself relax, his hands uncurl. *Which makes our position even more awkward.*
There was a flash of something, bitter amusement, from Bonewhite, but when Guide rounded on him, the other had mastered his thoughts.
*And what are we to do about it?*
*We are summoned to our queen’s assistance,* Guide said, without inflection. *We can respond or we can flee. I see no choice there.*
*No.* Bonewhite met his gaze. *We must do as she demands.*
Guide bared teeth, a general complaint. He could no longer sit still, paced the length of his outer chamber, coat swirling at his ankles. Their repairs, at least, were finished; the hive was a strong as it would be, the hull healthy, systems fed… And how Sheppard had failed to destroy Bright Venture when it lay helpless, failed to rescue McKay — Bonewhite was watching, head tipped to one side in silent question, and Guide made himself stop, stand still again in the center of the oval room.
*What do our people make of this?*
Bonewhite laughed. *That we are trussed for feeding.*
STARGATE ATLANTIS: Allegiance(Book three in the Legacy series) Page 2
