Working with the Atlantis database was a pleasure.
It would have been, if not for the protected files that kept popping up every now and then while viewing the data Chaya was interested in. The number of which she didn't know in principle – the city's main computer refused to tell her even which sections were password-protected and inaccessible. That too, was secret information.
Sometimes she wanted to give up everything, but with an effort of will, she returned herself to this necessary and important work. To know what resources they possessed, what knowledge they relied on, and what secrets they could use in their service, it was necessary to understand all of this.
At the moment, she had brought up statistics showing that for every five accessible files, there were ten encrypted with various access levels. And not only was the content protected by personal codes of the advisors, senior advisors, or the supreme advisor of Atlantis – in some databases, even the names were hidden from the viewer.
Titus the Tribune's code was clearly not enough to figure all of this out. And something told her – none of the Ascended members of the Atlantis Council would regain their human form and provide access to secret information.
It was only pleasing that the vast majority of the address database was open for viewing. It only required a colossal amount of time for the thousands of search programs she had launched into the database to find the data she needed.
"Lady Sar," the girl flinched, realizing she had gotten so engrossed that she hadn't noticed the technician on duty from the control room appear at her office door. "All members of the operation have returned to Atlantis in full."
"Including the Wraith?" Chaya clarified.
"Yes, Lady Sar. He is already being escorted to the brig under heavy guard," the technician said reservedly. Then, unable to resist, the man smiled. "And twenty more people have joined our ranks."
"That's wonderful news," she smiled too. And indeed, she was happy to hear it.
After each combat engagement on the trap planet, field interrogations of Wraith commanders were conducted using violence, threats, and Teyla. After which, "jumpers" were sent to the planet with the Wraith and stasis pods with frozen crew members of the "Aurora."
And each time, empty devices and several revived Dorandans returned to Atlantis.
On the one hand, this couldn't help but please her – at the moment, they had revived almost a third of the crew of the Ancient ship. Eighty top-class technicians, engineers, deck crew members, several pilots, and security soldiers who expressed a desire to serve the new government of Atlantis.
Some of them had already begun their new duties, some were still in the infirmary under observation... And now, twenty more had been added to these eighty.
One hundred Ancients... There could have been one hundred and one, but their only loss so far sometimes made her sad. The technician who died at the drilling rig was buried with all honors, his remains sent into the crown of a star in the Lantian system.
An ancient ritual, which, as she remembered, was performed by the Lantians for their own. But now they were all Lantians, no matter what anyone said.
"Mikhail asks you to join him in the Council Chamber," the technician added. "The others have already been notified."
"Mikhail is back?" Chaya was surprised.
"Everyone is back," the duty technician reminded her. "Absolutely everyone."
And this was strange.
Because the combat groups that were on the trap planet had never returned to Atlantis after their mission. It was assumed that, based on the Wraiths' standard tactic of sending groups of a certain size on missions, they would remain there until either the Wraiths ran out or the group's situation became dangerous.
Which of these had happened, she didn't know, but it would clearly be explained at the meeting.
"I'll be there soon," the girl assured, closing her laptop and getting up from her desk.
"I'll report that," he assured her.
Behind the duty officer, the sound of the Stargate activating could be heard. The man touched his communicator earpiece, listened to the report, and then informed her:
"Lady Trebal and Lady Larrin are arriving from Taranis."
It seemed the meeting required their presence too.
"Don't forget to lower the shield," Chaya reminded him. "If they don't materialize, they will appear to you in nightmares."
"I have enough Wraiths in my dreams," the pale technician shivered, ordering the barrier to be deactivated.
Chaya left her office behind the man. A smile involuntarily spread across her face when she saw the impassive face of the city's security officer, who was looking at the arriving people from the balcony opposite the control room. Two more soldiers in gray Ermen uniforms, with polymer body armor over energy shields and "frequency modulators" on their belts. Even if not everyone liked Nomad weapons, using them to prevent attacks and minimize damage to the city's technology was still necessary.
The alternative was Wraith stunners. Energy shields were also effective for paralyzing the enemy, but they recharged slower, and at a distance of more than ten meters – hardly useful.
However, the revived Dorandan "security guards" did not refuse to wear them. After all, they definitely incapacitated anyone. While with the same Wraith stunner, with a large number of hits, some resistance could be developed. Not every Wraith could even be incapacitated by their own weapons. After all, they had more developed resistance to their own technologies.
Chaya walked past the control room and descended to the platform that connected the main staircase to the smaller ones leading to both wings of the gate room. Here too, there was one guard each, ready to open fire frontally on enemies arriving through the gate in case of an attack.
Sar momentarily estimated that two more soldiers were on duty on the balcony next to the entrance to the Gate Hall, and two more on the lower level, cutting off any possible enemy advance towards the transport cabin and passages to other parts of the spire on this level.
For now, these five – were all the guards they had. Another five were supposed to be among those revived in the last group.
The Proculucian literally froze in place in the middle of the main staircase, realizing something.
All participants of the combat group had returned. This meant that she had missed not only the Stargate activation from the trap planet but also how all twelve currently operational "jumpers" had returned to Atlantis one by one. However... she had never focused her attention so intensely on work.
According to the plan, the Nomads who participated in the ambush returned to Ermen, and the Atosian recruits – to Taranis. Mikhail, Kirik, Saya, Teyla, Ihaar, the "jumper" pilots were supposed to arrive at Atlantis. And at least the first five should have descended the stairs to go to the Council Chamber...
She had gotten too carried away to notice the movement of so many sentient beings.
"Do we have any new rules, Lady Sar?" Larrin asked with her usual sarcasm.
In principle, she had the same bitchy character as Trebal – it wasn't for nothing that after a short spat, they became friends. But the Dorandan demonstrated her bitchiness quite noticeably and amplified it as needed. Larrin, however, behaved consistently evenly-bitchy. As if the manner of attacking with words had become her defense against possible attacks from the interlocutor.
This indicated not a difficult character, but, rather, a difficult childhood and youth. Probably why Trebal got along well with her.
"Excuse me?" Chaya looked at both ladies who had stopped next to her.
"How many times have you come to the city, this is the first time you've decided to meet us of your own accord," Trebal chuckled. "Or did Mikhail order it, huh, Lady Sar?"
She emphasized the last part with her voice. Oh, it seemed they didn't like it.
"Maybe he'll introduce a rule about curtsying when meeting, in addition to the address 'Lady'," Larrin said in the same tone.
"Mikhail didn't introduce such an address," Chaya reminded her, continuing her way to the Council Chamber. "And you know that perfectly well."
"Yes, but he only had to call you 'Lady Sar' a couple of times, and it started sticking to literally all the girls," Larrin said. "I think you and he came up with this verbal trifle together."
"He just read an old story in Ancient," Chaya explained. "And in it, according to the Alteran tradition, girls were addressed as 'Lady'."
"Mikhail reads in Ancient?" Trebal was surprised.
"He's trying," the girl said, walking past the guards on the balcony. "And he's succeeding. He's almost mastered the Lantian dialect."
"Without the holographic hall?" Trebal asked suspiciously.
"Yes," Chaya approached the doors and turned, looking at both girls. "We were working on the language."
She ignored Larrin's chuckle.
"Yeah," Trebal looked slightly confused. "That's a complex dialect. The grammar is convoluted... It's not for nothing that it was loaded into a growing brain. There are over a million special scientific and technical terms alone!"
"About two billion," Chaya corrected. "We haven't reached them yet. But soon. For now, he's consolidating the conversational basis. It will be easier later."
"Can we go in already?" Larrin clearly didn't understand why Trebal was impressed.
Compared to the Lantian language, all others, except for the Wraith language and the dialects of the lesser races, were hardly difficult to master after hearing a few phrases. Understanding the structure of words was quite simple. Mikhail's native language, for example, was not difficult for Chaya to learn. She would have learned the writing system too, but when Mikhail wrote a few texts, she realized it would be difficult. Because either he writes poorly, or the written language of his people is more like a stylistic electrocardiogram combined with the sinusoidal rhythm of energy output from a small naquadah generator.
The latter is unlikely, of course.
They were already waiting in the Council Chamber. Mikhail was talking about something with Alvar at the far end of the hall, Kirik was cleaning his pistol right at the tabletop, causing Ihaar bewilderment and a poorly concealed desire to tell the former "fugitive" everything he thought about cleaning weapons on the supercomputer's touch-sensitive keyboard installed in this room.
Teyla sat with her head in her hands, clearly suffering from a migraine.
Consequently, the Atosian woman had clearly used her gift – Chaya assumed these would be the side effects.
"Excellent," seeing them enter, Mikhail clapped Alvar on the shoulder. The men parted, taking their places. "We have news."
"Good?" Larrin inquired, plopping down in a chair closer to the entrance. Trebal sat down so as to be between her and Mikhail. Her usual place to the left of Mikhail was mirrored by Chaya's place.
The girl mechanically noted that ship commanders – both Lantian and Nomad – usually sat on the left side of the table. And on the right – everyone else.
An interesting phenomenon.
The doors of the Council Chamber opened again, and Kaspar Fry entered.
"Excuse me for the delay," he said, sitting down a little further than Larrin. "I came as soon as we received the message from the returning group. Captains Asan and Labrea are currently absent – they are delivering a large shipment of food that we were able to purchase on one of the trading worlds."
"In principle, your participation is enough for us, Kaspar," Mikhail nodded. "You are our authorized representative of the Nomads."
A shadow fell on Larrin's face. The girl cast a quick glance at her compatriot, then at Mikhail. But the questions she had, she barely managed to hold back.
"So, this is what we have at the moment," Mikhail used his own keyboard and reproduced first a map of the Pegasus galaxies in space in the center between those gathered. Then he zoomed in and brought up an image of one of the planets almost on the outskirts of the galaxy.
A dirty rust-colored celestial body with a rather thin atmosphere, but sufficient for breathing. The planet has a Stargate, but Atlantis had not opened it – there was no point. Neither Ancients nor lesser races had ever settled there. But the planet could boast a large reserve of simple minerals, according to the city's database.
There were many such planets throughout the galaxy. For example, Lantea-2. It had approximately the same list of useful minerals as the "rusty" planet.
Mikhail pressed a few more keys, and a red mark of a tiny hive ship appeared in geostationary orbit of the latter.
"This is the hive whose crew we have been feeding our Wraith all this time," Mikhail said. "And this is the same hive that survived the encounter with the Scavenger's ships. Now they are in orbit around an uninhabited, lifeless planet to repair their damage."
"Are we going to destroy them?" Larrin asked.
"There was such a thought," Mikhail admitted. "Until I got to the mind of their commander."
Mikhail wisely did not elaborate on how this was done. The fact that Teyla could connect her mind with the minds of Wraiths was undoubtedly a plus for Atlantis.
But the vast majority of galactic peoples, including the Nomads, considered those like her almost minions of the Wraiths. And, just like Wraiths, they were ready to kill them day after day. Whether a person caused harm due to their abilities or not, nobody really cared.
In the past, people like Teyla became maniacs and murderers, which is why people, at best, avoided them. The most standard reaction was to kill them as quickly as possible.
"Did you get anything valuable?" Fry became interested.
"Quite a lot," Ihaar picked up. "First of all, you should know that Wraith ships, like their technologies, are of biological origin. Therefore, they are capable of regenerating their damage. We have already made progress in studying their technologies with samples..."
"And we probably wouldn't have had to do this if we had access to the results of the 'Aurora' reconnaissance mission," Chaya thought. But she said nothing. At least because these data were not yet available to Atlantis. And the rest of the galaxy should not even know that such a database exists in principle.
"...but studying a hive ship, and moreover, a functioning one – is a pretty good reason to postpone its destruction," Ihaar said. "It needs to be captured."
"Good luck with that," Fry wished. "The Nomads will not participate in a group suicide. There could be thousands of Wraiths on board the hive ship. And we don't have an army..."
"We have killed all the Wraiths that are not currently in hibernation, as well as the ship itself," Mikhail interrupted him. "According to the information received, the remaining Wraiths, except for a small portion of the crew supporting the starship's repair, are in stasis due to severe damage to the ship."
"They didn't have time to wake up while the ship was intact, and after the attack, they received significant damage and are unable to maintain life support for everyone on deck until repairs are completed," Teyla added, regaining her composure. "Besides, more than half of the ship's stasis compartments are not connected to the functioning part – the attacking hive ship sought to facilitate its subsequent boarding, but the damaged ones jumped into hyperspace."
"So, if we attack, the Wraiths won't overwhelm us with numbers?" Fry became interested.
"They will be able to awaken some of their soldiers," Teyla said after thinking. "A small portion. A hundred, maybe a little more Wraiths. And even then, only because there is a lot of free space on the ship now for their revival."
"As long as the Wraiths on the ship don't know that their landing parties won't return, they will try to conserve life support for them," Mikhail explained. "But, as soon as we attack, we will have to act quickly."
"You want to capture the hive ship?" Larrin was taken aback.
"Yes," Mikhail said simply. "Now is the most suitable situation for it. The ship is on reduced power consumption. Roughly speaking, it's sleeping while the stored materials are being 'digested'. Most of the soldiers are unavailable. No one will attack us from the rear. There are few soldiers on board, we will have an advantage."
"And an extra ship wouldn't hurt," Trebal agreed. "If the hive ships are as automated as their cruisers, then a small number of people can operate it."
"Such a ship will be useful for us to move around enemy territory," Chaya noted. "It attracts less attention than a battleship of Lantian design."
"Fighting in enemy territory is very dangerous," Kaspar was skeptical of the proposal. "Especially since they may have repaired the corridors during the past time, and then a whole army of wraiths will await us."
"I haven't yet stated the reason why this hive ship will be captured by us anyway," there was metal in Mikhail's voice. "Whether the Nomads go with us or not, we will attack."
"If the reason is significant enough, other than acquiring a starship that only a wraith can fly, then we will join," Kaspar Fry stated hastily.
"The wraiths didn't just come to our beacon's signal for no reason," Mikhail said. "They are familiar with beacon technology and immediately realized that it was in the hands of at least one Ancient. And they planned to capture him."
"Not kill, but capture?" Trebal became interested. "Something new. However, we considered such an option. Capturing one of ours for exchange for Koschei."
"Not really," Mikhail drummed his fingers on the table. "Interrogating the hive commander showed that before meeting us, he believed in the return of the Ancients no more than in the fact that there would be enough people for all the wraiths."
"Wait a minute," the Dorandan became interested. "Do you mean we worried in vain and Koschei didn't lure us into a trap?"
"How to say," Mikhail answered evasively. "We were considering a plan by which Koschei could have sent information about us to his own. And that the Scavenger was trying to get him out. This hive could have been a lure... But no. The commander of the hive ship, the highest-ranking wraith on board the starship, the commander of the possible operation, knew nothing of the sort about us. Therefore, Koschei did not transmit any data to the Scavenger. And he told us the truth about the damaged hive ship. So, we are not expected by a whole fleet of wraiths from that side. Only a life-beaten hive ship, whose crew awaits the return of their commander with a valuable trophy for exchange."
"Exchange?" Trebal raised her eyebrows. "We are talking about an Ancient who activated the beacon, right? Wouldn't it be better for a wraith who got such a prisoner to keep him?"
"That's exactly what the commander of this hive planned," Mikhail explained willingly. "To get the Ancient, to get any possible technical information from him that could help this hive. And then, he intended to give the Ancient to the Scavenger to stop the hunt for his hive."
"Well, and then, gather allies and destroy the Scavenger along with Atlantis," Kirik summarized. "In short, when they sent the first group of wraiths, they found that renegade cruiser from their hive and offered an exchange."
"It sounds like you're going to capture the hive ship, go on it to the meeting place with the super-hive and start a small war," Larrin folded her arms across her chest. "Even if the Scavenger has a super-hive, a hive and a cruiser, then we, in the best case scenario: two battleships, two Nomad ships and a hive that can be sacrificed. Is that the plan?"
"In general terms," Chaya guessed from Mikhail's evasive tone that what was voiced was far from everything. It seemed that Tayla had managed to extract a lot of useful information from the wraith's head. "However, we need to hurry. And first of all, so as not to scare away the wraiths on the damaged hive ship, we need the Nomad ships."
"For what reason?" Fry clearly did not want to make a decision about cooperation in such an operation on his own.
Although he had become the representative of the Nomads, who cooperated with Atlantis directly, transferring all necessary information from Ermen to the city and vice versa and ensuring the interaction of forces, his powers extended only to the combat detachments of the Nomads from Ermen. But not to the ships.
Even though part of the Nomads had moved to Ermen, starting a new life, the decisions about where and how their ships would be used were made by the direct captains. Asan and Labrea.
Who were absent.
And, if Chaya understood anything about these people, then even if they were contacted now and brought up to speed, it would not help the upcoming mission with specifics. Travelers would not abandon their business and go with full holds of provisions to the other end of the galaxy to participate in a battle from which they might not return.
And, if they didn't care about their own lives, then they certainly wouldn't about the cargo that would help the colonists.
"Time is running out," Mikhail said. "The hive ship is undergoing restoration. And it's not infinite. A day, maybe two – and critical damage will be restored. The appearance of the Ancient battleships will provoke a defensive reflex in the wraiths – they will call for help and blab about us throughout the galaxy. But the Nomad ships will not cause them any desire to awaken all the wraiths. But their appearance will be a necessary diversion for us for landing."
"So?"
"We have the hive commander's access codes," Tayla said. "At least some of them."
"And there are also wraith 'arrows' capable of gathering people into an energy buffer and materializing them directly on the wraith ship," Alvar explained. "This is exactly what we will tell the wraiths, say, send guards, we have delivered the Ancients. Upon materialization, people are deprived of consciousness so as not to offer resistance. Thus, soldiers will come to the hangar, whom we will kill. And we will begin the operation to capture the wraith ship."
"Why use 'arrows'?" the male Nomad wondered. "You have 'jumpers' with cloaking fields!"
"And this is precisely an additional plan," Mikhail explained. "No one keeps their hangar doors open when they are hiding. So they are closed for the wraiths too. And blowing them up is the first way to decompress and fail. Using the 'arrow' and access codes, we will force them to open the doors for us and we will fly inside. Not only the 'arrow', but also the cloaked 'jumpers'. In the hangar, we will deal with part of the guard, get data on the ship's condition, and send strike teams to control the stasis sections, from where they can awaken the wraiths. The rest of the forces will be sent to storm the bridge, take control of it and finish the rest."
"Our ships should be an eyesore for them so that they don't immediately detect the saboteurs," Fry understood.
"Exactly," Mikhail confirmed.
"And the backup plan?" the Nomad representative became interested. "What if the data is incorrect and there will be too many wraiths on the hive?"
"Then we will retreat to the hangar, having obtained everything possible from the wraith computers, and blow up the enhanced naquadah bomb delivered by the 'jumpers'," Mikhail explained. "Either this ship will serve our purposes, or no one's."
"And you don't stand on ceremony," Larrin remarked. "Maybe it's easier to blow up the whole planet and the debris will destroy the hive ship? And no one will have to risk it."
"We don't have weapons that could do that," Chaya said. "At least not now."
Fry turned pale.
"I need to consult with the captains," he got up from the table. "I can certainly knock out ground groups. Among our men, there are many who want to fight the wraiths, but you need ships... There will be problems with that. Within what time do you want to strike?"
"A day, no more," Mikhail said. "If you are with us, you will receive a copy of the data from the hive ship. I'm sure there's a lot of interesting things there for the Nomads. If not..."
"I can't promise anything about the ships, Mikhail," Fry said. "But I will do everything in my power to support our allies. Unfortunately, this is the only thing I can promise."
It was clear from Mikhail's impassive face that he clearly did not expect any other answer.
The Nomads from Ermen, perhaps allies of Atlantis, but their own refuges are dearer than the safety of the Lantians.
"You have an hour to come up with a better attack and escape plan," Mikhail announced. "We have plenty of precious ideas."
What is true, is true.
"Kirik, escort our guest to the control room," Mikhail ordered. "Let him contact his people and request instructions."
"No need," Larrin got up from the table. "I'm going that way anyway and will keep you company."
"I just hope they kill each other there," Trebal wished.
"Well, and now we move on to the details of why we actually need this hive ship," Mikhail said, when the doors of the Council Hall closed behind both Nomads.