"Yes, I understand that," Radek said. "Though if you would tell me more, I might be able to help —"
He stopped, aware that he was speaking to empty air. He swore in Czech, glaring at the screen, and wondered what new disaster they'd stumbled into.
Chapter Two
Broken Trust
"Here's where we need to concentrate our search," John said. It was a small briefing, with only Carter, Cadman, Ronon, and Lorne in attendance. "You all have assigned areas to search, and we need to move fast."
"While being discreet," Carter added. "We need to find the… object… without drawing attention to the fact that we're looking for it."
Cadman's eyebrows went up, but she didn't ask questions. Carter and Lorne didn't look like they had questions. Ronon figured he'd wait until everyone else left before getting the real story out of John.
"All right, move out," John said. The others headed out, Lorne still leaning on a cane but managing a brisk pace despite it.
"So what's this thing we're looking for?" Ronon said.
John's face went suddenly closed. "Just find it, okay? It's about so big, made of naquadah, looks like some kind of scepter or club."
"I heard that the first time," Ronon said. He waited a moment. "So what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing you need to know."
"You sure?"
John's gaze slid sideways. "I'm sure. Let's just find this thing."
"Whatever you say," Ronon said, and went out into the hall. He waited until he was out of earshot, and then called Teyla on the radio.
"Yes, Ronon?"
"Are you up there with the Wraith?"
"Not at the moment."
"Sheppard knows something he doesn't want to tell me," Ronon said. "I thought you might know what that is."
There was a pause, and then Teyla said, "We should talk. But not over the radio."
He met her in the gym, their usual place to talk in private. Teyla was there when he arrived, standing with her hands folded as if in meditation, although he thought her calm didn't reach below the surface.
"The device that is missing is the Ancient weapon we found on Alabaster's world," she said.
"It's not her world." Alabaster might think of the place as hers, and of the humans there as her pets, but it had been the humans' world first.
"The world where she has lived for many years. She is not the first Wraith to make a home there, Ronon. Thousands of years ago, the first Wraith visited the same world."
"So?" His voice was harsh in his own ears, but Teyla went on undaunted.
"They had been human beings themselves, once. They were the product of a very unwise experiment by one of the Ancestors, a man named Hyperion. He may have been trying to find a way for the Ancients to live forever without Ascending."
"Becoming a Wraith? Not a good trade."
"That was not his intention. But the experiment went badly wrong. Instead of creating humans with the powers of Ascended Ancients, it created the Wraith. Hyperion imprisoned them to study them, trying to find out what had gone wrong. They were here on this planet. The island base we found beneath the ice was Hyperion's laboratory."
Ronon felt a chill run down his spine. He'd wondered who the prisoners were who'd been imprisoned in those cells on the island. He'd been glad to think that they escaped. But they'd been Wraith. The first Wraith, setting off to prey on the rest of the galaxy.
"They killed Hyperion, and escaped his laboratory," Teyla went on. "They could not return to their homes, so they scattered to many worlds. Eventually they created the hive ships, and made their homes in space."
"And made more Wraith."
"They had children."
"Same thing."
Teyla's mouth tightened, but she carried on. ''Hyperion also created a failsafe, a weapon created to kill the Wraith. The first mothers of the Wraith took it with them when they escaped. They could not destroy it, so they hid it on Alabaster's world."
He let the question of whose world it was go that time. "A weapon that kills Wraith. Okay. What's the big secret?"
"It is not just a weapon to kill Wraith," Teyla said. "It is a weapon with the power to destroy every Wraith in the galaxy."
It took Ronon a moment to find words to reply. "That's impossible."
"Colonel Carter tells me that the Ancients once created a weapon that could destroy all life in an entire galaxy," Teyla said. "Such things were within their power. And Hyperion was a brilliant man."
"He made the Wraith."
"Brilliant and very arrogant. He believed his experiment would be a success. And he never imagined that the humans he thought of as laboratory animals could truly overpower the Ancients who created them."
"So why aren't we using the weapon?"
"Even if we wanted to, we could not," Teyla said. "It would kill all those with the genetic markers of the Wraith as well. Myself, Rodney, Torren, Kanaan, and every other human being with the Gift. Hundreds or thousands of innocent humans would die."
"How do we know this?"
"Alabaster warned us when we found the device."
"Oh, Alabaster says so."
"She does," Teyla said firmly. "I do not trust her unduly, but she is skilled in the sciences, and she knows more of the history of Hyperion's weapon than we do. And Rodney agrees with her. If you cannot trust Alabaster, surely you can trust Rodney."
"Unless he's working for the Wraith himself."
"He is not."
"It's happened before. And don't say they couldn't break McKay. They can break anybody. Who knows what it did to him, turning him into a Wraith, messing with his head—"
"Guide and Alabaster have no idea where Hyperion's weapon is," Teyla said. "Their anger that it is missing is real. And if Rodney had been compromised by the Wraith, that would be all the more reason for him to want the weapon destroyed."
"I'm not going to argue with that." Ronon shook his head. "Sheppard should have told me himself."
"I believe John felt you should not have to share the responsibility for destroying a weapon that could kill all the Wraith. He wanted to spare you that."
"I'd still be responsible even if I didn't know," Ronon said.
"I thought you would see it that way."
"I guess I'd better go look for the weapon. So that we can do the right thing."
He started to shoulder past her, but she caught his arm. "Please tell me that I have done the right thing by telling you about the weapon."
"Don't you trust me?" Ronon said, and shrugged her arm away as he went by.
The news reached Ladon Radim in the still hours before dawn: one of their most valuable agents, a man so well-placed that only the innermost circle of the government even knew of his existence, had stumbled through the Stargate on Taadin, and was demanding to see the Chief. Ladon dressed quickly, listening to the report, the sky outside the high window still glazed with stars, and gave his aide Ambros a thoughtful glance. This could not be good news, unless Varelon had lost his nerve, and that seemed unlikely. It was more likely that the Wraith had turned him, sent him back to wreak what havoc he could before he died. Ladon did not need to say that, however, and tugged on gloves against the cold.
"Who's with him?"
"Arrasid Bak and Colonel Hanan."
Ladon nodded. They were both good men, loyal and reliable; if this were a Wraith trick, he could trust them to defend him. Even so, he slipped a knife into the sheath hidden beneath the sleeve of his uniform jacket, and made sure his pistol was loose and ready in its holster. There was no need to take unreasonable chances.
They had brought Valeran to a secure site not too far from the Stargate, a low stone house distinguished from its neighbors only by the government truck pulled up inside the courtyard gate. There were soldiers as well, Hanan's men on discreet watch. Ladon returned their salute, and was ushered into what had been the informal receiving room. The curtains were drawn tight, and a fire blazed on the hearth; all the lamps were lit, and Varelon sat huddled in the central armchair, his arms folded tight as though he were cold. He shot to his feet as the door opened, and Ladon saw the movement of his shoulders as he stopped himself from bowing as though to a Wraith Queen.