“On Athos we chose not to risk attracting the attention of the Wraith again by rebuilding our cities,” Teyla said. “But they still returned, and drove us from our homes.”
“You’ve made them pay dearly for that,” Cai said. “Or so I hear.”
Teyla inclined her head, taking that as the compliment it was. “We have.”
“We’ve killed a lot of Wraith,” Ronon said. “I’ve fought beside Teyla for nearly five years. And Zelenka is one of our best scientists. They’re both friends.”
He felt that was worth saying. They’d never been particular allies of the Athosians, who hadn’t had much that Sateda had wanted, and the people from Earth were an unknown. The best he could do to make this go smoothly was make it clear that these were friends, people he was willing to speak for.
“Your friends are welcome on Sateda,” Cai said. “And we would be pleased to trade with the Lanteans.”
“We are looking for titanium,” Radek said, finally speaking up. “As pure as we can find, although the shape does not matter.”
“What for?” Cai asked, with a businessman’s easy smile. Ronon glanced at Teyla, who gave him a warning look.
“An extra defense for the city,” Ronon said. He expected what she didn’t want him to say was because we don’t have a shield at the moment. “A metal shield for the gate that can be opened and closed.”
“We have a similar device on our home world,” Radek said. “The titanium is strong enough to defend against a nuclear explosion.” He turned up his hands. “You may not have seen such weapons.”
“I have heard that the Genii are testing great bombs they say are nuclear, weapons that can destroy a city,” Cai said. “I expect that part is boasting.”
Ronon shook his head. “It’s not.”
Cai frowned. “Wonderful.”
“We are less concerned with the Genii than with the Wraith,” Teyla said. “They have been very active of late.”
“So can we look around and see if we can find the titanium?”
“I can probably find it for you,” Cai said. “There’s a metalworking plant that manufactured train cars, among other things. They used titanium, or at least an alloy. But you have to understand, right now the right to salvage what’s left here is pretty much all the Satedan people have.”
“We’re willing to trade for what we need,” Ronon said, glancing at Teyla again.
Teyla nodded. “We are. I cannot offer weapons, but we can certainly trade stores of food and medicine. And our scientists may be able to help you repair some of your machines.”
“I’m sure we can work something out,” Cai said. He waved one of the guards over from where they’d been leaning against the wall by the door. Not soldiers, Ronon thought, but young men who looked barely old enough to be out of school. They must have been children when Sateda fell, and he wondered how they’d made it offworld. “Vin, can you take them to the old Kusada plant, the one down by the tracks? And maybe one of you can stay and talk terms in the meantime.”
Ronon wasn’t sure about leaving Teyla alone, although he thought she’d make a better bargain than he would, even not being Satedan. “It’s not that we don’t trust you,” he said slowly.
Cai gave him a measuring look. “But?”
Ronon hesitated. He hated to speak of how Tyre and Rakai and Ara had been broken and given their service to the Wraith, to spread the news of their dishonor any further. “I’ve met Satedans who worked for the Wraith,” he said.
“And you would be valuable if we held you hostage,” Cai said. “I know. And you don’t know me. You probably never knew anyone I ever spoke to. Except Kell — ”
“I wouldn’t use him to speak for your trustworthiness.”
“He can’t speak for anything, since I hear that he’s dead,” Cai said. “All I can do is ask you to trust that I’m not the kind of man who would sell anyone to the Wraith, and that I’m a sensible enough man to know that I wouldn’t live long if I tried it.”
“You wouldn’t,” Ronon said.
“I will be fine,” Teyla said. She put her P90 pointedly on the table between her and Cai, one hand resting on it while the other curled around her cup. “I am happy to stay here and negotiate.”
Cai smiled a little. “Are you sure you’re not Genii?”
“I am Athosian,” Teyla said serenely.
The Kusada plant had been badly damaged, but Cai’s people had shored up the weakest beams, and reinforced the main entrance with new timber. Ronon eyed it warily, and glanced at Radek to see if he thought it was safe. To his surprise, the scientist was nodding in approval, and followed Vin into the building without hesitation. Ronon came after them a little more slowly, hunching his shoulders in spite of himself.
“This is good work,” Radek said. He was blinking hard behind his glasses, as though that would make his eyes adjust faster to the relatively dim light, and Vin paused.
“Thanks. It’s mostly Martei’s doing, he’s — he used to be an architect, and he told us where to place the supports. Cai recruited him after we nearly lost Pollar in the old Manbael Building. We thought we’d shored up the stairway enough, but we hadn’t. Martei can tell us just where to put the props.”
Ronon looked around, letting his own eyes adjust. He didn’t know this part of the city well, never had reason to be there — soldiers and factory hands didn’t mix much — but even he could see how the massive working frames were bent and broken. They had made train cars here, Cai had said, and he could sort of picture it. There were the tracks, running in and out of what had been massive doors, and overhead were the ruins of the power supply, wheels and shafts that ran the length of the factory. He had been to such a plant once or twice, vaguely remembered the screech of metal and the whine of the enormous leather belts that took power from the driveshafts to the individual machines. Now the machines were dead, thrown from their platforms, and the floor was covered with a thick layer of debris.
“The storage areas are back here,” Vin said.
“How do you know all this?” Ronon asked. It seemed suddenly too easy, and his hand twitched on the butt of his blaster.
Vin glanced over his shoulder. “I was an engineer-apprentice — not here, with Tolland Sons, but it’s pretty much the same layout.” He shook his head, turned back to the path that had been cleared through the rubble. “It’s funny, Kusada was our biggest rival, but Tolland’s factory burned and theirs didn’t, so — ” He shrugged. “Here we are.”
They had reached a sliding door, now permanently bent out of true. Radek reached for his flashlight, shone it through the gap into the greater darkness. He said something in Czech as the light struck the slabs of metal, and ducked past both of them into the storage area. Ronon clicked on his own light and followed, and a moment later Vin came after him, carrying an oil lantern. In the combined light, Ronon could see what had been the neatly stacked raw materials for the train cars, now tumbled into ugly heaps. It would be impossible to move most of it without heavy equipment, and he hoped no one had been in here when the Wraith attacked. There was pig iron, showing rust-red in the light, and what looked like a roll of something silvery, and then Radek’s light swung and steadied, and Ronon tipped his head to one side.
“That it?”
“Oh, yes,” Radek said, almost reverently. “Yes, this should be exactly — ” He stopped, as though he’d suddenly remembered they were supposed to be driving a bargain, and Ronon shrugged.
“We’ll see.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Vin grinning, and didn’t think they’d fooled him one bit.
“Yes,” Radek said, and moved forward to examine the plates more closely.
“Careful — ” Ronon began, and bit back the rest of what he might have said. Human strength alone wasn’t going to move these piles of metal.