“Hang on,” William said. “I thought I heard something.”
Radek cocked his head, listening. For a second, there was nothing, but then he heard it, too, the unmistakable sound of booted feet on the stone floors. “Crap.”
“Not our people,” William said nervously.
Radek said something stronger in Czech, swung his flashlight around again, looking for a way out. There was only one entrance to the hall, and if they could hear the Genii coming — because it had to be the Genii — it was too late to get out that way. His light struck the edge of a doorway, the frame picked out with DHD symbols; there was another beam down in front of it, but if the door opened away from them… He was already moving, ducking under first one beam and then another, William scrambling at his heels. There was just enough room to stand upright inside the last beam, and he quickly checked the door, praying it wasn’t locked, praying it opened the right way. He worked the latch and pushed hard, and to his relief the door scraped open half a meter, loosing a shower of plaster.
“Quick, inside.”
William slipped past him, pistol in one hand, flashlight in the other. “It’s — not very big. Some sort of storage — ”
“Be quiet,” Radek said, and stepped in after him. William flattened himself against the back wall — it was covered with narrow shelves that were crammed with boxes, and Radek managed to work the door almost closed again. “Turn out your light.”
William obeyed, and Radek did the same. The P90 was heavy against his chest, and he worked it awkwardly into position, elbowing William hard in the process. The archeologist grunted, shifted so that he could aim his pistol over the shorter man’s shoulder. The footsteps were coming closer, louder and more distinct. Definitely more than one person, Radek thought, craning to see through the crack he’d left in the door, and — yes, definitely Genii. There was a thump as someone dropped something, and then the rattle of someone shedding equipment.
“Well?” William’s voice was barely a breath in his ear.
“Ssh.”
William shifted uncomfortably. They were so close in the dark that Radek could feel the pressure of William’s hip, feel him breathing, the quick movement of his chest.
“Radek.” That was Teyla’s voice in his ear, the radio he’d forgotten until now, and he jumped, reached hastily to shut it off, not daring to risk anyone else hearing. They would contact her later, when the Genii had left — though it sounded as though they were settling in for the day. He could hear voices now, soft conversation, though he couldn’t quite make out the words. If they had to stay here for more than an hour or two — already his leg was starting to ache. It would cramp soon enough, and then he’d have trouble walking, wouldn’t be able to keep up if they needed to move fast.
The unmistakable crackle of a Genii radio cut through his rising fear.
“Team one, this is base. Report.” It was a woman’s voice, and Radek swore again. Surely their luck couldn’t be running this badly.
“Team one here,” a man answered. “It looks as though the Satedans have been back here, Sora. Someone’s been checking on what we’re doing.”
Radek felt William shift again, heard the breath of a curse, and felt like swearing himself. Of course they’d left tracks, marks in the dust; probably they hadn’t put the Genii supplies back exactly the way they’d been. And of course it was Sora.
“Any damage?” the woman asked.
“No. Just looking around.”
There was a little pause, and then the woman’s voice said, “Right. We can’t have that. Head back to camp, we need to have a talk with Cai.”
“We could still get some work done,” the man protested.
“Negative. We need to establish our position. Head back now. Base out.”
One of the Genii said something that had to be a curse, and the man who’d been on the radio raised his voice. “Roal! Come on out of there. We’re heading back to camp.”
Radek closed his eyes, feeling almost faint with relief. They stood listening for what seemed like hours as the Genii team recovered their equipment and moved reluctantly away. When he was sure they were out of earshot, he risked lighting his watch, counted off ten minutes before he took a slow breath and reached for the door.
“I think we can go now,” he said, and felt William nod.
“Go ahead. I’ll cover you.”
“This is insane,” Radek said under his breath, and pulled the door open again. The hall was empty, sunlight pouring in through the half opened shutter. He worked his knee, and took a cautious step. It hurt, but the leg held his weight, and he turned back to see William playing his flashlight over the shelves of boxes. “William — ”
“Hang on,” William said, and Radek touched his radio.
“Teyla. Teyla, this is Radek.”
“Radek!” Teyla sounded relieved. “There are Genii in this area — ”
“Yes, I know. They were here, and left — they were heading back to their camp. They did not see us.”
“Good,” Teyla said. “We must head back to the gate. Ronon wishes to have a word with Ushan Cai.”
“I am sure he does,” Radek said, and was rewarded by a chuckle.
“We will meet at the square where we stopped before,” Teyla said. “Can you get there?”
Radek glanced at the hyperdrive array still untouched in its case. It wasn’t that heavy, wasn’t much bigger than a football, and they had brought carriers that would protect it. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see William stuffing what looked like decks of playing cards into every available pocket. “Yes. We’ll be there shortly.”
“Be careful,” Teyla said, and cut the transmission.
By the time the team made it back to the gate square, the smell of cooking was in the air there too, and there were people crossing the square, apparently going about business of their own but giving Ronon and the rest of the team frankly curious glances. Ronon stopped the first person who came near enough to speak to, a woman in work clothes with her hair pinned up at the back of her neck. “Where’s Cai?”
“I think he’s in the old hotel,” she said. “He was talking to — talking to some people.”
The line of Teyla’s mouth tightened, and Ronon knew what she was thinking. If the Genii had gotten here before them, they could still wind up in a fight. He waved the woman on and looked at the scientists. Radek was cradling the case that held the hyperdrive crystal as if he didn’t trust it not to fall apart at any moment, or possibly just as if he didn’t trust himself not to trip and drop it.
“Lynn, dial the gate to New Athos,” Ronon said. “You and Zelenka take this stuff back there and wait until you can dial in to Atlantis.” He wasn’t finding it easy to get used to having to wait for the brief windows when they’d arranged to be able to dial in. “We’ll stay and talk to Cai.”
“I should stay too, I think,” Radek said evenly, handing the case to Lynn, who took it with a bemused expression. “One is not much backup, even if that one is Teyla. Of course, there are the Marine teams, but they are some distance away, and if Sora is here…” He shrugged expressively.
Ronon glanced at Teyla. He didn’t think she’d find Radek that much use if it came to a fight, and he expected her to tell him so.
“You are right,” Teyla said instead. “Our teams are still at the factory, and they must finish their work, especially if we are not to stay here long. We will warn them that there may be trouble, but I will not call them back to the gate yet. So, yes, stay.” She nodded at Radek, who shrugged a little awkwardly.
“Then perhaps I should stay as well,” Lynn said.
“We need that hyperdrive array back in Atlantis no matter what,” Radek said. Lynn was holding the hyperdrive crystal case more normally by its handle, his camera still in his other hand, and Radek gave him a dark look as if suspecting that he wasn’t taking proper care, although Lynn didn’t strike Ronon as a careless person. “It is our best chance of ever being able to fly the cit
y again — ”
“Yes, so you already explained,” Lynn said fairly mildly. “All right, then. Anything in particular you want me to say other than giving a report on what happened here?”
“Tell Colonel Sheppard that we’ll check in again within the hour,” Ronon said. “If he doesn’t hear from us — ”
“Then he’ll know it’s time to send in the cavalry,” Lynn said. “I’ll tell him.” He set off across the square toward the gate.
“You and Zelenka wait out here, then,” Ronon told Teyla. “I’ll get more out of Cai by myself.”
Teyla didn’t argue, although her expression was skeptical. He didn’t know if that was because she didn’t trust his skill at talking, or because she suspected he intended to fight rather than talk. It was certainly tempting.
He felt a knot of unreasonable betrayal curling in his chest as he stepped into the dimly-lit hotel. He shouldn’t have let himself be so glad to see his own people here rebuilding that he let himself believe in strangers. He should have known it was too good to be true, should have expected the whole thing to be some kind of dirty trick —
He set his jaw and threw open the door to the hotel bar with a clatter. Cai looked up, startled at the sound, and then met Ronon’s eyes, his face closed. There’d apparently been some kind of disagreement in here recently; there were overturned tables, one of which Cai had been in the process of setting to rights, and drinks spilled across the floor.
Ronon drew his pistol and leveled it at Cai’s chest. “So you’re working for the Genii.”
Cai set the table down squarely on its feet before he answered. “I’m not working for the Genii,” he said.
“Liar,” Ronon said. “We know they’re here.”
“They’ve been here for half a year,” Cai said. “They have their own camps at several places in the city. At first they were mainly after weapons. They were talking about getting some of the munitions factories working again. Exploring the museum is new. That’s Sora’s project.”
“You know Sora.”
“She says she’s in charge of Genii operations on Sateda.”
“And you work for her?”
“I work for the Satedan people.”
“Yeah, it’s really going to help them to sell Sateda to the Genii.”
Cai actually laughed, an unexpected bitter bark that made Ronon’s finger tighten on the pistol’s trigger. “Sell it? The Genii don’t have to buy anything here. They’ve claimed the planet, Ronon. They say they’re taking over.”
“And you let them?”
“I’m not a soldier,” Cai said. “What have the soldiers who escaped Sateda done? Found work as mercenaries? Killing people is a surprisingly marketable skill. Become heroes fighting the Wraith?”
Ronon didn’t lower the pistol. “So?”
“They’ve built lives somewhere. They’re not desperate to get back to Sateda. Any world will take in good soldiers or good farmers. Good carpenters, even. But what do you think the rest of us had to offer out there?” Cai’s voice was tired. “I owned a factory. I spent most of my days sitting behind a table and the rest on the factory floor. I never fired a gun or plowed a field or dug a ditch. I had a dozen mechanical engineers working for me. What do you think they did on planets where the horse collar would be a breakthrough? Plowed fields, maybe. Dug ditches. Badly.”
“Sure, but — ”
Cai kept talking, like maybe he’d been wanting to say all this for a while. “I had a secretary, typists, clerks. Do you know of anywhere that needs typists now, or hairdressers, or radio operators?” He shook his head. “That’s who came back, Ronon. People who’d lost everything they had. Not just their possessions and their families but their usefulness.”
“Like you?”
“Like me,” Cai said flatly. “It took me ten years to figure out that being able to manage people, being a good salesman… that much I still had. That’s how I convinced these people to come back here. But they’re ordinary people, not soldiers. The Genii sent a regiment of soldiers through the Ring. If we’d tried to fight, it would have been nothing to them to kill us all. And I couldn’t let that happen to these people. I’m responsible for them. I’m not sure why they want me to be, but they do, and I am.”
“You sent us to the museum,” Ronon said after a moment. “You set us up.”
“I didn’t know they were working there today,” Cai said. “We try to steer clear of their people as much as we can.”
“That’s not the point,” Ronon said. “Why didn’t you tell us about the Genii?”
Cai reached for one of the other overturned tables, ignoring the way Ronon’s pistol twitched to follow him. He set it upright, squaring it with the others in the row instead of looking at Ronon. “You?” he said. “The greatest living Satedan hero, the great warrior against the Wraith? And here we sit, unable to keep the Genii from squatting in our cities and robbing our dead.” He looked up, finally. “What do you think? We were too ashamed.”
The words hung in the silence for a moment, and finally Ronon lowered his pistol. “You did what you could,” he said. “You brought our people back to Sateda.”
“I did,” Cai said, raising his chin a little. “And now we can finally be rid of the Genii. Compared to the Wraith, they ought to be easy for you and the Lanteans to handle.”
“Compared to the Wraith,” Ronon said, “but — ”
“The Genii don’t own Sateda,” Cai said. “The Lanteans have a reputation for being a fair people, and you call some of them friends. Surely you can bring their soldiers to help us.”
“It’s complicated,” Ronon said.
“Not so complicated,” Cai said. “We can make Sateda a world we recognize again. Our children will see the trains running again and have electric lights. Our grandchildren will have hospitals and factories and music on the radio. But none of that is going to happen if this world becomes a military outpost for the Genii. They’ll take everything they can use and build their great bombs here so that if the Wraith find out, it won’t be their world that gets burned to the ground.”
It was all too easy to believe, especially knowing that the Genii had been poisoning their own people with their experiments with radioactive materials. They’d probably like the idea of poisoning somewhere they didn’t care about that much instead.
It would be easy to promise that of course they’d help. The Genii didn’t have any right to be on Sateda, and even if Woolsey might have thought it was somehow more complicated than that, Ronon didn’t think that John would. But the Genii were supposed to be their allies, and it wasn’t up to Ronon to decide whether the alliance was starting to be more trouble than it was worth.
“I have to talk to my commander,” Ronon said. “I can’t make any promises about something like this without his authority.”
“That’s fair,” Cai said. “I know your reputation even if I don’t know you, and what I’ve heard makes me trust that you’ll do whatever it takes to help your people.”
“I will,” Ronon said, but he couldn’t help feeling like this wasn’t going to be simple at all.
Chapter Fourteen
Michael
Quicksilver had not slept well since they returned from Atlantis, woke with head and hand aching as though he needed to feed, though that faded almost as soon as he came completely awake. He thought he dreamed, perhaps of the dark-haired queen who guarded his mind’s gates, but he could no longer remember. Instead, he remembered human faces, fragments of places and voices. Some he recognized from the attack: the gate room in the city, the shabby little man who had tried to trick him, the warrior who had killed Dust, who had called him by a human name. Other things he could not have seen this time — the fierce and beautiful woman with the bearing of a queen, who had attacked him on the hive; the hall where the humans had their meeting; another woman with golden hair, and a smaller room with red walls where the humans’ zenana gathered — and he guessed those were memories of his captivity.
And that they would pay for. He rolled out of his sleeping niche, saw to his surprise that Ember’s door was drawn back, the narrow compartment empty. Frowning, he found clothes, dressed — that, at least, had come back to him — and slipped the communicator onto his wrist.
*Ember.*
There was no answer, and Quicksilver frowned. *Ember!*
*I am with my commander,* Ember said at last. *What is it? Is there a problem?*
*I want you in the labs.*
*It is the middle of the late-night watch,* Ember said. *Can it not wait — ?* He broke off then, as though someone else had spoken to him, and when he spoke again, his tone was resigned. *Come, then. I am in Guide’s quarters, Steelflower’s Consort. It is on your way.*
Quicksilver snarled, but there was really no point in objecting. He made his way through the corridors, brushed past the drones that guarded the rooms assigned to the visiting lords, and laid his hand on the door control. It opened, though not to his touch, the door sliding back to reveal Ember, his hair pulled back into a single loose tail.
STARGATE ATLANTIS: Allegiance(Book three in the Legacy series) Page 17
