STARGATE ATLANTIS: Lost Queen (SGX-04)

by Melissa Scott

  *I can’t think why. My sister’s folly should not be your concern.* Light Breaking waved her hand in dismissal. *Find me those answers, Forge — but feed first. And rest.*

  *Thank you, my Queen.* Forge bowed himself out of the zenana, and only when the door slid shut behind him did he realize he was not alone in the antechamber. Salt had drifted out with him, as indeterminate as the ghosts that populated his tales. Forge glanced at him, and said, emboldened by his hunger, *Is she truly so unconcerned about Moonwhite?*

  Salt gave him a pained look. *Let us talk when you have fed.*

  Forge started to protest, and Salt took him by the sleeve, a terrible liberty from anyone but a storymaker.

  *Or at least not here.*

  There were drones outside the main door, easily in earshot, and the Queens of Night’s lineage could control what little mind they had to share what they perceived. Forge nodded again, and they passed in silence from the Queen’s chambers. Out of earshot of the watching drones, Salt paused.

  *You should feed,* he said again.

  *I’m well enough for now,* Forge said, though a part of him protested that it was a lie. *I would like a word or two with you.*

  *If you’re sure,* Salt said, ambiguously, and let himself be drawn into the clevermen’s quarters. Forge found an unoccupied gaming room, and palmed the door closed behind them as the room’s lights bloomed. In their soft radiance, Salt looked younger, more handsome, and Forge remembered again that he had been the old queen’s favorite, a fixture of Light Breaking’s mother’s zenana. He lounged now against one of the tables, his off-hand idly caressing a handful of dice. *You’re braver than most, cleverman, if you intend to ask me if the Queen is behind her sister’s disappearance.*

  *I’m not that foolish,* Forge answered, though of course it was what he had feared and they both knew it. *I would, however, like to know if there are reasons not to be concerned.*

  *I think she is concerned,* Salt said. *Though she doesn’t like to say so.*

  *Did you know she was here?*

  Salt dipped his head. *I did. Though before you ask, I don’t know why she came, and I don’t know what she wanted. They called me in to answer a question about their mother and dismissed me again when I had answered.*

  *What sort of question?*

  *That,* Salt said, with a wry grimace, *I may not tell you.*

  Forge hadn’t really expected an answer. He said, *It is unusual for any queen to have two daughters so close in age.*

  *That is so.* Salt’s tone was cautious.

  *How did it happen? I have never heard the tale.*

  Salt hesitated but, as Forge had hoped, he seemed unable to resist the lure of a good story. *Queen Edge had conceived her elder daughter — she who became Light Breaking — just as war broke out between our hive and the hive of a Queen of Osprey called Deep Water. We were forced to stand and fight, and to protect her daughter, Edge placed the embryo into stasis at the heart of the hive. After the battle, she wasn’t sure if the hive had protected the embryo — we had taken considerable damage — and so she conceived a second daughter, she who become Moonwhite, but couldn’t bear to destroy the first. In the end, she brought both to term, and so had two healthy daughters all but identical in age.*

  *And they did not quarrel,* Forge said, surprised.

  Salt smiled. *You sound like Edge. When the two of them were young, they clung together, and their mother was afraid they might not be fierce enough to be proper queens. But as soon as they were walking, it was clear that they banded together against all others, and no one dared fight them more than once. It is not usual, I grant you, but the First Mothers did not quarrel, for all that they were nine together in the beginning.*

  *And yet our Queen and Moonwhite have argued for a year about this Lantean venture,* Forge said. *And come no closer to an agreement.*

  *That is so.*

  Forge hesitated, not wanting to put his fears into words. It had been a brutal argument, neither queen willing to concede anything; he had been in the zenana while the sisters fought, blades and clevermen shifting uneasily, afraid to meet each other’s eye in case it provoked a physical attack. Moonwhite was determined not to cooperate with the Lanteans, or any humans; Light Breaking was as determined to meet them at least halfway. Under other circumstances, the two hives would simply have parted ways, an alliance ending, but the ties of blood and a thousand years of habit were all but impossible to break. And, too, neither hive was as strong alone as they were together. It was not impossible to imagine Light Breaking deciding to end the impasse by killing her sister.

  Except that if she had done so, she would surely have proclaimed it openly. Not all of Moonwhite’s hive would have followed her, but many, perhaps most, would: better to follow the familiar victor than be forced to seek a new queen. Only Moonwhite’s zenana would have been lost, and maybe not even all of them.

  *A conundrum,* he said at last, and Salt bared teeth in what might have been a smile.

  *So it is, cleverman. So it is.*

  Blaze studied his queen’s most likely course projected on the cruiser’s navigation screen. So far, his men had managed to scan most of the planets near that line, worlds where a damaged ship could have sought refuge, and so far all of them had come up empty. Everlasting’s men were searching the worlds closer to their hive, but they, too, reported no sign of the queen’s scout. He tapped his claws on the edge of the console, and stilled them as the Master of Sciences Physical gave him a look. He and Icewind were not precisely rivals — in better days, they had been friends — but with the queen missing, the lords of the zenana looked first to their own security.

  *And still there is nothing?*

  *You have seen everything I have,* Blaze answered. He frowned at the display again. *Though there is one point that troubles me.*

  *Only one?*

  Blaze looked up sharply, but there was only wry humor in Icewind’s thoughts, and he allowed himself a brief smile in return. *One that seems most pertinent.* He touched the screen, highlighting the symbol that marked Teseirit. The world’s description hovered above it, a cascade of gold, and Icewind frowned curiously.

  *I don’t see why. It looks ordinary enough.*

  Blaze touched the screen again, drawing a new line to the foreground. *It’s very close to our queen’s most likely course. But — it’s on the other side of this new border Alabaster’s hive has agreed to.*

  Icewind hissed, thoughtfully. *And you think — what? That the Lanteans are involved?*

  Blaze considered. A part of him wished it were true, an obvious enemy to throw himself against, but he could not make it make enough sense. *I don’t see why they’d bother. It would be easier to control us through Alabaster rather than attack us directly, and risk angering an ally. No, what worries me is if she had any kind of problem anywhere along this section of the course —* He traced a section of the line, leaving it glowing blue. *Then Teseirit is the only place to seek shelter. There aren’t any other planets within a reasonable range on our side of the border. If the scout had been damaged, I could see that it would seem a reasonable risk.*

  *She does not recognize that border,* Icewind said, softly, and Blaze dipped his head in acknowledgement.

  *That had also occurred to me.*

  *It need not provoke trouble with the Lanteans,* Icewind said, after a moment. *Planets are large, and they are few in number. They need never know she was there — if indeed she’s there at all.*

  *There’s no reason to think she is,* Blaze said, *except that she isn’t anywhere else. And I know that between you and Rising Tide our secondary craft are in impeccable shape.* Rising Tide was the Master of Sciences Biological, responsible for growing the hulls from seed just as Icewind shaped their engines and internal systems.

  *Thank you for that,* Icewind said, lifting his brow ridges, and Blaze suppressed a snarl.

  *I am not completely a fool.*

  *Nor did I say so.* Icewind made a gesture of apology. *
I complain because I fear you may be right, though I can’t think what would have brought her scout down. Except an attack, of course.*

  And that brought them back to the glaring problem: the only other hive in this sector was Light Breaking’s, and the only person who dared attack a queen was another queen.

  *It could be Alabaster, of course,* Icewind said, after a moment.

  *It could,* Blaze began, but could not make himself believe it. He shook his head. *It doesn’t benefit her. We’re no threat, she has only to push a little harder, and we will have to agree to her bargain.* It was not something he had admitted before, and he felt the same regretful certainty in Icewind’s mind.

  *Especially since Light Breaking favors it so far.*

  Blaze looked back at the screen, calculating travel times and the number of Darts their smallest cruiser could carry. *We have to search,* he said.

  *Discreetly!*

  *Just so. But we must be sure the scout isn’t there.*

  *If she had to set down, she would have signaled us,* Icewind began, then shook his head. *Or perhaps not, knowing where she was and not wanting to draw the Lanteans’ attention. You’re right, we must send a cruiser.*

  *I’m going myself,* Blaze said. It was not, strictly speaking, wise to leave the hive without queen and consort, but the Hivemaster and Icewind were more than competent. *I will take Far-faring, and a hand of Darts. We can scan from orbit if the Lanteans aren’t there.*

  *And if they are?* Icewind cocked his head to one side in question.

  Blaze sighed. *Then, as you say, we must be exceedingly discreet.*

  Far-faring was the smallest of Moonwhite’s cruisers, and the youngest, grown by the Hivemaster and Rising Tide with stealth in mind. Compared to its elder sibling, it was quietly skittish, and Blaze was glad to leave flying it to the blade Whisper, who had been its pilot since its birth. That left him free to monitor the sensors as well as the ship’s progress, and as they came out of hyperspace, he focused all his attention on the monitors.

  Whisper brought the ship out of hyperspace into the shadow of Teseirit’s larger moon and powered down immediately, hanging silent and near-invisible while the sensors probed the area around them. Blaze allowed himself a sigh of relief as one by one the probes showed nothing but empty space.

  *Bring us in closer. Take up station where we can monitor the Stargate.*

  *Very well, Commander.* Whisper eased Far-faring into motion, still under minimal power, outer lights switched off to leave the hull a rough shadow against the stars. Blaze studied the screens, searching for some sign of the scout, some signal from his queen. There was nothing, though, only the nearly endless forest that ran like a belt around the planet’s equator, a thousand lakes sparkling in the light of the distant sun. There was life, the sensors could detect that much at a distance, but they were intended to identify worlds ripe for culling, not find one Wraith among a thousand humans. They would need to move closer, Blaze thought, and send out Darts as well, let them circumnavigate the planet a few times. That should be enough to pick up any traces of the queen’s scout.

  He started to turn away from the console, but lights flared, a warning rippling down the screen: something was rising from the planet’s surface. Blaze snarled, and a second, brighter warning flared, identifying the signal as a Lantean puddle-jumper heading for orbit.

  *Cease all scanning! Reduce all emissions.* Blaze hissed softly, watching the Lantean ship rise. If Moonwhite were here, that would certainly have brought the Lanteans to deal with a trespasser, even an unintentional one. And yet… He watched as the puddle-jumper settled into an orbit that held it stationary above the Stargate. There were a number of settlements nearby, several of them large enough to contain more than a thousand humans each. It looked almost as though the Lanteans were trying to provide cover, or perhaps were scanning themselves, though if so their probe was directed at the planet’s surface. And certainly Far-faring was not in orbit, nor were there any traces of debris.

  *Do we attack?* Whisper asked, his tone doubtful. *There is only the one of them.*

  The puddle-jumpers were more formidable than they looked, and besides, to attack them unprovoked would not only risk restarting hostilities with the Lanteans, but would bring Alabaster and her allies down on them as well. Blaze shook his head, still watching the screen. If Moonwhite was there, he thought hopefully, perhaps it had not been a crash. Surely the scout’s sensors would have picked up the taste of debris.

  *I could take a single Dart.* That was Red Moon, the senior Dart pilot aboard. *We are out of visual range. If I drift without power, let gravity pull me toward the surface —*

  *They will see you.* Blaze shook his head. *We have no choice. Withdraw — keep the moon between us, and jump to hyperspace as soon as you can. We will have to find another way to search here.*

  The two Consorts met on a planet its humans called Aurelis, though their scouts landed in the southern grasslands far from both the planet’s Stargate and from any human settlements. They landed in twilight and met as the twin moons rose slowly in the eastern distance, one pale pink, the other gold, bright enough to cast shadows, but not so strong as to be painful to the eye. By prior agreement, Everlasting had brought only a handful of blades, plus a quartet of drones. Blaze had brought no more, and as the younger blades lobbed what passed for barbed wit at each other and their seniors began a not entirely casual game of hive-and-star, the two Consorts drew slowly apart, until they were far enough away from the ships and men that the others could not easily follow their conversation.

  *You found nothing either?* Blaze asked. Like most of Cloud’s descendants, he had wide-set eyes and broad cheekbones, his silver hair pulled up and back into an intricate double fall. As elegant as ever, Everlasting thought. They had been good friends once, before Moonwhite had seen Blaze among her sister’s blades and lured him to her side. Blaze had saved his life once, when a Culling had gone wrong and Everlasting had been trapped among the human kine, and Everlasting was conscious of the debt as yet unpaid. Surely, he thought, we can remain friends still.

  *We did not.* He shook his head for emphasis, the skirts of his coat rustling against the long grass. *Is it possible she took another course?*

  *Anything is possible,* Blaze said, with a grim smile, *but it seems unlikely. She was determined to make this a quick visit.*

  The implicit accusation hovered between them, a breath away from being uttered outright. By the scouts, a blade laughed, sharp and unamused; there was a clatter of wood on stone as another blade made a play in the game. Blaze shook his head sharply, hair whispering against the leather of his coat. It was finely worked, an embossed pattern of stars and moons above a bed of flames that flaunted his status.

  *I do not believe that your lady is involved in this,* he said. *To speak plainly, if she intended to rid herself of her sister, I believe she would have done so openly, and come directly to the hive with an offer: join her or die.*

  Everlasting hesitated for an instant, hovering on the edge of outrage, but Blaze’s assessment was so close to his own that he had to nod. *That is so.*

  *Then who could have moved against her?* Blaze took a few steps away in frustration, then turned back. *The only other queen in this sector is Alabaster. It has occurred to me that she might not be aware that — should anything happen to our queen — we would follow Light Breaking before any other. And Moonwhite has refused to discuss this retrovirus.*

  *Our Master of Sciences Biological was with Alabaster’s hive when Moonwhite went missing,* Everlasting said. *Nothing he has said would suggest that Alabaster was involved. Though I grant you Guide is tricky.*

  *Even he would not go against his queen’s orders,* Blaze said. *I don’t see what it would gain him anyway.* He paused. *You consider him trustworthy still, in spite of everything?*

  *I do.* Everlasting didn’t have to think about that question: Guide might wish to see his daughter’s hive the dominant force in the galaxy, but that was
honest enough. He had proved long ago that he would always keep the letter of his word, and often its spirit, even with his enemies, and that was rare in any commander, never mind one who was also Consort. *More to the point, my queen believes it, too.*

  *There is one final possibility that we have not been able to eliminate,* Blaze said. *Teseirit lies close to my queen’s most likely course, but on the Lantean side of the border Steelflower and Alabaster drew. It was in my mind that we should ask the Lanteans if we might search there.*

  Everlasting cocked his head. *You haven’t already done so?*

  Blaze hesitated, then gave a rueful smile. *We attempted to scan from orbit, but the Lanteans were there before us. Which makes me wonder what brought them there. But before you ask, no, we didn’t manage to find any answers. We withdrew as soon as we saw the Lantean ship.*

  *What sort of ship?* Everlasting felt a chill travel down the ridge of his spine, in spite of the warm night air. If the Lanteans were coming to the borders in force…

  *A puddle-jumper,* Blaze answered, and Everlasting hissed in relief. That could mean almost anything, from pure exploration to trade or some mission of mercy.

  *You’re sure they didn’t see you?*

  *We took every precaution,* Blaze said. *I have no desire — my queen has no desire — to provoke trouble with the Lanteans unless it is absolutely necessary.*

  Everlasting considered the problem. Blaze was right, if they had searched all the other possibilities, they need to eliminate Teseirit. Moonwhite still considered it part of their shared feeding grounds, and in an emergency she wouldn’t hesitate to land there. *You should ask Guide.*

  *What?*

  *We should ask Guide to ask the Lanteans to let us search,* Everlasting elaborated. *They’re such good friends, let him do the work. And he’ll do it; he wants your queen to agree to join this trial. There’s a better chance they’ll listen to him anyway.*

  *True enough.* Blaze’s tone was suddenly bleak with worry. *Just — hurry.*

  If it were my queen, Everlasting thought, and shuddered at the idea. He touched Blaze’s shoulder cautiously, as he had done when they were friends and blades together, and the other consort did not move away. We will find her, Everlasting thought, but they both knew it was an empty promise. *I will,* he said instead, and they turned back together toward the ships.