"Ms. Emmagan, I'm sorry, but General O'Neill wants to know your progress." Sheffield peered worriedly at her from across the commander's station, and it was all she could do not to bare teeth at him.
"Tell him I am aware of the problem," she said, tightly. "I am working on it."
"Yes, ma'am."
Teyla closed her eyes again, focusing all her strength on the cruiser's controls. I am queen, she said, and you will obey….
O'Neill scowled at the tactical display, the warning flashing more urgently below the converging course lines. Yeah, I know it's going to hit us, he thought. Give me some options here. Behind the cruiser, the other hiveship hung between them and the rest of the battle, and he turned abruptly to the communications station.
"Banks. Can you get me the commander of that hive out there?"
"I'll try." She adjusted her microphone with one hand, and touched keys with the other. A moment later, a screen lit, a bald Wraith staring out at him with bared teeth.
"This is O'Neill," Jack said. "We've got a problem with that cruiser."
"I am aware of that," the Wraith commander answered, "but there is nothing we can do that you cannot." He stopped abruptly, glancing over his shoulder at a long-haired Wraith who stood just outside the camera's focus. "Wait. This one has volunteered to help your crew. He is a cleverman, and an expert at ships' systems. I will send him across at once."
"We'll take him," Jack said. "I'll inform my people to expect him." And let's hope he's as good as you say.
Just Fortune and the cruisers Adamant and Evermore swept down on Death's fleet, Guide still wavering between ship-trance and full awareness. Death had not been expecting their move, or had not believed in it; her second hive scrambled to interpose itself between Death and the incoming ships. Evermore dived beneath it, weapons blazing a path across the hive's belly. Adamant followed, but too slowly. Guide snarled, seeing the mistake, and the first shot struck the engines, sending Adamant careening sideways, its commander fighting for control. Death's hive swung to bring its guns to bear, and Evermore interposed itself, taking fire for a fleeting moment before Death's hive had to swing back to face the Lantean ships. Adamant was tumbling slowly, Darts spilling from its bays as non-essential crew abandoned the ship, and Evermore came around again, applying a tractor to steady it while its crew fought for control.
Guide snarled again, hearing Evermore's commander organizing the evacuation, and brought Just Fortune around to strafe the other hive before it could fire on the cruisers. Just Fortune shuddered, the maneuver stresses tugging at its bones, but held firm. The other hive swung to engage, and he felt its first shots strike the hull.
“Fire as you will,” he said, and felt the blades respond, a seemingly ragged volley of fire as each gun took its best shot. He saw the bolts strike home, leaving long marks, but the other hive was as tough as his own, suffered no worse damage. He rolled left, accepting additional damage to protect the cruisers, twisting to try to give at least the dorsal guns a decent shot.
“Adamant's commander reports that all his men are off the ship,” Bonewhite said.
Guide nodded, the battle unfolding in the tactical screen. The Lantean ships were still hard pressed along with the strange hive that had joined them. If he could only get across, he could buy them time — but Death's other hive still had him solidly engaged. “Tell Thunder to engage Death's hive.”
“He can't hold them,” Bonewhite said.
“No.” Guide glared at the screens, seeing the strange hive falter, bleeding atmosphere for an instant before its clevermen sealed the wound. “But our ally needs help.”
Bonewhite spoke into his communicator, and in the screen Thunder's hive rolled away from the tangle of Darts. It dove on Death's hive, Thunder cutting between the stranger and Death, shooting for the gap that opened as both pilots pulled away. A beautiful maneuver, Guide thought, except his timing was imperfect. Death's gunners caught him as he tried to turn, and flame blossomed from the hive's stern.
“Thunder has lost engines,” Bonewhite said. “Shall we assist?"
“No.” Thunder could hold out a little longer; there were more important targets. “Take out this hive,” Guide said, teeth bared, and his gunners answered, each firing as they found their target. The hive staggered under the volume of fire, and the first serious damage showed black on its hull. Evermore swept up and under, harrying, and Guide turned again, accepting hits to bring the greatest number of guns to bear on the target.
The other hive hung for an instant in the center of the attack, then blew apart, the fireball washing over Just Fortune. Guide steadied his ship, the litany of damage pulsing against his skin. Nothing serious, nothing they couldn't handle, and in the communications screen Evermore reported similar status. The stranger hive was still fighting, the Lantean ship and the Genii's Ancient warship struggling to stay with it, but not enough of their shots were striking home. The Lanteans and Genii he could excuse, they didn't know the stress points, the best targets — but the stranger's commander seemed no more experienced. He put Just Fortune into a turn, but Queen Death saw and turned to meet him.
Ember brought the borrowed Dart into the shuttle bay, the doors sealing behind him, and settled it with its weapons carefully pointing away from the Lantean shuttle. Its door opened as he clambered from the cockpit revealing three humans with lowered weapons; the Dart's system clamored at him, warning him of a readied drone as well. He lifted his hands, showing them empty, and hoped the humans had been warned of his arrival.
"I have been sent to help."
There was a silence, and his muscles tensed. He could survive the first shots, but the Lantean weapons were more than capable of overwhelming his ability to regenerate.
"Yeah." That was their leader, short and stocky, and the noise of the Dart faded away as the drone disarmed itself. "Ling, Grazyk, take him to the control room."
I know the way. Ember swallowed the words, knowing they were pointless — nor would he have allowed a strange human to roam a hive without escort. Instead, he let them surround him, one before, one behind, hurrying down the main corridor toward the control room. They passed bodies, Death's blades crumpled where they fell, and he heard the man behind him cock his weapon nervously. Ember ignored him, though every knob of his spine felt tingly and exposed, and at last they came to the control room.
"Lieutenant! It's Ling. We've brought the Wraith."
The door slid open, revealing a handful of humans at the consoles, and a human woman standing in the commander's place, her hands steady on the controls. Surely that could not be right, Ember thought; a commander controlled the ship through force of will, just as a queen controlled her hive, but no human could speak mind to mind — except that manifestly she was doing so. Her eyes opened and she fixed him with a startled look.
“Ember.”
The mind was Steelflower's, enough to send him to his knees before he thought, but he looked up, frowning, knowing his confusion was plain to read. “Lady?”
The human's mind was closed to him, tight as fingers protecting the handmouth, and yet even the stance, everything about her said she was his queen. “How —?”
“There is no time for explanations.”
The mental touch was unmistakably Steelflower, complex and beautiful and sharp as the metal that made her name. And the body was human, impossible, brown eyes and brown skin and nothing Wraith about her except the touch of her mind on his.