Guide saw Alabaster look to him, and spoke aloud. “We tracked him to your ship, and he had not left it when you lifted from your last trading stop. Don’t toy with us.”
“I swear! We don’t have him! He’s not with us, nor would we let him on board.” The speaker drew a ragged breath. “He’s a danger to everyone, and we have our families with us. We’re not stupid, we wouldn’t risk them. Not for him.”
“Liar,” Alabaster said, dispassionately. “We’re wasting time, Commander.”
“If that is so,” Guide said, “if the Wolf is not hiding among your people, allow us to search your ships.”
“Why should we trust you on our ships?” the man demanded. “For all we know, this could all be an excuse to put trackers on board, so you can hunt us down at your leisure later. No, Commander, you can bomb us all.”
“That can be arranged,” Alabaster said.
“Bring all your people out of the ships,” Guide said. “Line them up on the pavement or bring them into that installation that we can see from here, but empty your ships. We will scan them, and if they are empty and the Wolf is not among you, then we will let you go.”
“Wait a minute, now.” A new voice broke in on the circuit, a voice that was painfully familiar, and at the same moment a new image appeared on the sensor display, warning glyphs flashing red around it.
*Lantean jumper!* Banner cried. *Where —*
*Cloaked,* Bonewhite said, grimly. *Commander, it’s readying drones.*
Guide bared teeth in a snarl of pure frustration. “Sheppard. What are you doing here?”
“Exploration, curiosity, you know. The usual.” Sheppard’s voice hardened. “But since we are here — how about we all sit down and discuss this like civilized people?”
Guide growled aloud, ready to refuse and damn the consequences, but beside him Alabaster laughed.
“Colonel Sheppard. How — interesting — to find you here as well! By all means, let us talk. But I remind you, we have an agreement. By it, the Wolf is ours.”
“That’s still up for discussion,” Sheppard said, “especially seeing as under that same agreement you shouldn’t be chasing these people.”
“We will land,” Alabaster said, and rose to her feet. She nodded to Bonewhite. *End the transmission.*
The Hivemaster obeyed, though Guide could feel the worry rising from him. He said what they were all feeling: *My Queen, you must not go —*
*But of course I must.* Her tone was calm, not even angry. *I will brook no argument. Guide, you will accompany me, and Hasten — choose another handful of blades as you will.*
*And drones,* Bonewhite said, greatly daring.
*And drones, yes.* Alabaster nodded. *Now, come.*
Guide stood frozen, furious and unexpectedly afraid. The queen should not risk herself, not unnecessarily, not against humans and most especially not against Sheppard —
Alabaster touched his wrist, the gentle press of skin against skin carrying her message. *Father. I am the queen.*
So Snow had looked, at the height of her glory. Guide bowed his head. *As the queen commands.*
John shut down the jumper’s communications system and reached for his radio. “Rodney”
There was a moment of silence before McKay answered, sounding slightly breathless. “You know, I’d get a lot more done if people didn’t keep interrupting me.”
“Where are you?”
“At the Vanir ship. Trying to see if it’s in fact space-worthy, since, as you so rightly pointed out –”
“McKay. We’ve got Wraith in orbit.”
“Ok. That’s not good.”
“No kidding.” John took a deep breath. “It’s Guide, which may or may not turn out to be helpful. I want you to get back to Daniel and Elizabeth and keep them and Dis out of sight. They already know about Dekaas, but see if you can’t persuade him to stay with his patient for a little longer.”
“On my way,” McKay said. “Do we know what Guide wants, except maybe a free meal?”
“He claims the Traveler ships that just landed are sheltering the Wolf – you know, the guy who’d supposedly been killing Wraith all over the galaxy.”
“That’s just great,” McKay said. “Do we know if they actually are?”
“They say they’re not, but — that’s what I’m about to go ask. Sheppard out.” John hooked his P90 back onto its neck strap, and silently told the jumper to go to a ready/wait mode. He looked at Teyla. “What do we know about this Wolf?”
Teyla tilted her head, her eyebrows rising. “Not as much as we should, it seems.”
John grunted in agreement. “I thought somebody’d decided he wasn’t real, just a Rambo figure people made up to make them feel better about the agreement with the Wraith.”
“Rambo?” Teyla began, then shook her head. “Oh, yes, never mind. I believe the anthropologists have been arguing about the Wolf since first we heard the stories. But Dr. Lynn does not believe he is a myth.”
“Guide sure doesn’t think so,” John said, and headed down the ramp out of the jumper. “Durant! Lesko! I want to talk to you.”
Durant’s captain was already halfway down the ramp, and there were signs of hasty movement on the other ships. John ignored them, coming to a stop beside the ship just as Lesko’s boots touched the ground. Teyla planted herself at his shoulder, her expression unnervingly serene.
“Colonel!” Lesko spread his hands in a gesture that was probably supposed to express bewilderment. “I’m just glad you were here to hear that. We need your help.”
“They’ll be landing in minutes,” John said. “Do you have the Wolf on board?”
“No!” Lesko shook his head vigorously. “No, of course not, would we risk our families like that? They’ve picked on entirely the wrong ships.”
The other two captains had joined them, a stocky, graying woman and a skinny red-head who walked with a limp. “Completely the wrong people,” the woman said, and Lesko waved a hand.
“Tallisk. And Yoran.”
“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Teyla asked, with dangerous calm.
“As you know, we were holding a meeting of a number of our ships,” Lesko began.
“You were there,” the red-head, Yoran, said, and Lesko glared at him, but Yoran ignored him. “As a matter of fact, you took Durant’s doctor —”
“Yoran!” Tallisk said, and the younger man subsided reluctantly.
“As you know, we had arranged a rendezvous, for trade among ourselves and to balance out crews and so on,” Lesko said again. “We had just completed the last exchanges and the ships were ready to lift when we were attacked by a Wraith cruiser. We managed to hold it off until we could all get off planet, but then the hiveship showed up. We played tag with it until we could all make the jump to hyperspace, planning to meet up here and fix the damage. And now they’ve followed us.”
John carefully didn’t look at Teyla. Lesko was leaving out a few things, he thought, maybe quite a few important things. “Why did they think you were hiding the Wolf?”
“How would we know?” That was Tallisk, her arms crossed on her chest. “The Wraith don’t generally tell us what they’re thinking.”
“Yet in this case they have hailed you,” Teyla said, “and offered you the chance to turn over the Wolf in exchange for your lives.” She lifted a hand. “I am certainly not saying that you should do so, but I am asking if they offered that bargain in the first place.”
Lesko licked his lips. “They did, yes. But we don’t have the Wolf! We wouldn’t give him shelter, we’re not stupid. And when we told them that, they attacked us. So of course we ran.”
“You didn’t try to persuade them?” John asked.
Tallisk glared at him. “They’re Wraith. What proof could we offer that wouldn’t leave us vulnerable?”
“We have made an agreement with the Wraith,” Teyla said. “And so far they have abided by it.”
“We haven’t made any agreement,” Yoran sai
d.
“But you benefit as much as anyone from us getting rid of Queen Death,” John said. “Whatever else you think about it, not having the Wraith hunting down every stray human is good for everybody.”
“And that is a matter we can discuss later,” Teyla said. “The Wraith — this Wraith, Guide — is coming now, and wants an answer. We are willing to stand with you, stand between you, as far as we can, but first we must know two things. Do you want our help? And do you in fact have the Wolf?”
Lesko licked his lips. “Of course we want your help. We’ve been friends before, if not quite allies, and frankly if there’s anything you can do to keep this from ending with all of us drained dry, we’d appreciate it. So say we all, right?” He looked hard at the other captains, and Yoran dipped his head.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t see that we have a choice,” Tallisk said. “Yes.”
“You did not answer my second question,” Teyla said.
“But I have,” Lesko protested.
Teyla waited.
“No, we are not sheltering the Wolf!” Lesko said.
“And these other captains?” Teyla’s voice was implacable.
“Neither are they,” Lesko said.
John could hear a faint, high whine, not as shrill as a Dart but just as piercing, and tilted his head back to look for lights against the darkness. There were none, but he thought he saw a dark shape move across the stars. “They’re on their way.”
The others turned to look as well, and they stood in silence as the shape swelled, blocking out more and more of the sky, until at last a Wraith scout dropped slowly into the lights of the landing field. It settled at a respectful distance — also a distance that would let it use its cannons to best advantage, John thought — and he heard noises from the Traveler ships that suggested their weapons were being brought to bear.
“Whoa, hang on —”
Teyla had that faintly abstracted look that suggested she was talking to the Wraith. “It’s all right, John. Though Captain Lesko would be well advised not to offer further provocation.”
“No, no,” Lesko said. “None intended.”
“Only if they shoot first,” Yoran murmured.
A hatch opened in the side of the scout, and a short ramp reached for the pavement. A moment later, Alabaster appeared, Guide hovering protectively at her shoulder, a blade and a handful of drones behind them. Alabaster started toward them, Guide matching her step for step; the blade and his drones followed them to the foot of the ramp and stopped there, stunners ready. Teyla squared her shoulders and took a step forward.
“Alabaster. We appreciate your willingness to discuss this further.”
“There is very little to discuss,” Alabaster answered. “We will have the Wolf. He has murdered too many of our people, and will continue to kill without thought or even clear intention, save to bring us death. I will not allow you to stand in my way, allies though we have been.”
“We don’t have the Wolf,” Lesko said, without conviction. Both Yoran and Tallisk looked pale in the field lights: John guessed it was the first time they’d been this close to a Wraith without having to fight for their lives, and he eyed them cautiously, looking for signs that either of them was about to draw a weapon. Tallisk still had her arms crossed tight across her chest as though she was cold, and Yoran’s hands were clenched at his sides. About as good as he was likely to get, John thought, and rested one hand on the butt of his P90.
Teyla met Alabaster’s stare with a smile. “As you hear, Captain Lesko says the Wolf is not among his people. Is it not possible that you are mistaken?”
“We tracked him to the rendezvous with the Traveler ships,” Guide said. “He arrived, and did not leave. Therefore, he is on one of these ships.”
“Is it not possible that he left through the Stargate?” Teyla asked. “It is difficult to monitor gate travel from any distance.”
Guide showed teeth at that, but Alabaster said calmly, “It is possible, but we deem it to be highly unlikely. What we have learned, from the peoples of the worlds where the Wolf has struck, is that he comes with the Travelers. He claims to be a Traveler. It is most likely, therefore, that he left with them, and is here now.”
“If he told the truth about being a Traveler,” Teyla said. “To claim that kinship endangers his people no less than hiding among them. Captain Lesko is right, a man who loves his kin would not place them in harm’s way.”
Guide growled. “A wounded wolf returns to his pack, and does not count the cost.”
“We do not speak of animals,” Teyla said, her voice suddenly steel, “but of humans.”
“You speak as though the Wolf were rational,” Guide countered. “I see no sign of that.”
Alabaster lifted her head. “We can debate this until the seas rise to sweep us away, but there is a simple answer to the problem. Allow us to search these ships. We will take only the Wolf, and if he is not here, we will let the others go free.”
“Absolutely not,” Yoran said, and Tallisk unfolded her arms long enough to lay a hand on his shoulder.
“We can’t let you do that,” Lesko said. “What if this is all just an excuse to sabotage us? Or put trackers on our ships? I can’t let Wraith onto my ship. It would be madness.”
Guide growled again, and Alabaster said, “What, then, would you suggest?”
Lesko paused. “I’d be willing to bring my people out in groups, let you see that the Wolf isn’t among them.”
“That is what we suggested before,” Alabaster said. “Have your people leave the ships, and if we do not find the Wolf among them, and the ship scans as empty, we would let you go.”
“I’m not leaving my ships empty and my people unprotected,” Lesko retorted. “Suppose you had Darts waiting, huh? You could just scoop up everyone and that would be the end of us.”
“Let us not be hasty,” Teyla said. “We have a point of agreement, I believe. Captain Lesko, you are willing to prove that the Wolf is not among your crews, are you not?”
Lesko gave her an uncertain glance. “Yes. Well, if we can —”
Teyla ignored him, focusing on Alabaster. “And that is what you require, yes? Proof that the Wolf is not among them. So. Let us each step apart a little, and consider some way to meet these reasonable objections.”
Her voice was steel again. For a second, the decision balanced on a knife-edge, and then John saw both Lesko and Alabaster concede. The Wraith Queen dipped her head gracefully.
“We will consider.” She took Guide’s sleeve and drew him back out of earshot. From the look on Guide’s face, he was shouting mental objections, but Alabaster’s expression remained serene.
“Yeah. Yeah, ok,” Lesko said. He jerked his head toward the foot of Durant’s ramp, and the others followed him, Yoran already protesting.
John touched Teyla’s arm, drawing her back a few paces as well. “Ok, well, that’s progress.”
“It is something,” she said. “I am not entirely sure what.”
John lowered his voice. “Lesko. Do you believe him?”
Teyla sighed. “He is hiding something. Certainly I think he knows more of the Wolf than he admits. But surely he is not so much of a fool that he would lie to us now, when he knows he must be found out.”
But he would. John bit his lip, remembering Afghanistan. Lesko would lie because he didn’t trust them any more than he trusted the Wraith, and in the long term, that was likely to get them all killed. “Let’s hope so.”
Elizabeth looked up sharply as Rodney burst through the door. Dekaas shot to his feet and Daniel had his pistol half drawn before he realized who it was.
“What the hell?”
“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth said, riding over Daniel’s protest.
Dis straightened. “Perhaps my people have come.”
Rodney stopped, breathing hard. “No. No, they haven’t, and frankly, I’m not expecting them to, considering that there can’t be very many of you left, and you
just lost — how many was it? — when your ship crashed.”
Dis blinked again, and Elizabeth frowned. They hadn’t gotten anywhere with the Vanir, but she was sure it wouldn’t help to remind Dis that they’d caused the deaths of its compatriots. “Rodney.”
“Sorry.” Rodney shook himself. “Look, it’s a little — the Wraith are here. They were chasing the Traveler ships, that’s where they got all the damage, and now Guide’s here to finish them off.”
“Elizabeth.” Dekaas reached for the jacket he’d shed in the relative warmth of the infirmary. “I must go. Guide at least knows who I am —”
“Wait,” Elizabeth said. “I thought you said the Wraith weren’t trying to hunt down the Travelers, that there was some kind of deal with them?”
“Guide thinks they’re hiding that guy, the Wolf, the one who’s been killing Wraith,” Rodney said. “He says they have to hand him over, or he’ll destroy the ships on the ground. But of course they don’t have him.”
“Who said they don’t have him?” Elizabeth felt a familiar chill settle into the pit of her stomach. This was something she’d seen before, the showdown between two equally angry, equally desperate sides.
“Um, their captain? I think that’s what Sheppard said.”
“Elizabeth,” Dekaas said again, and his voice was full of pain.
“I know.” She straightened, and Daniel gave her a worried look.
“You know something about this.”
“Yes.” Elizabeth took a deep breath, marshaling her thoughts. “Osir may not have the Wolf on board now, but they have in the past. And they also have his wife and son.”
Daniel swore under his breath. “That’s really not good.”
“No,” Elizabeth said. “I’m going to talk to Colonel Sheppard.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Rodney said. “Hold on. Sheppard told me to keep everyone here, out of sight.”
“He has to know this,” Elizabeth said. She smiled. “You can’t stop me, Rodney. I’m going.”
“I’ll go with you,” Dekaas said.
“No,” Elizabeth said. She put her hand on his arm. “Let me hold you in reserve, for your connection with the Wraith. If you come with me now, it’s likely that your past will be revealed, and you’ll lose your home. If it’s necessary, yes, I will call on you. But not now.”
Stargate Atlantis: Third Path: Book 8 in the Legacy series Page 14
