James Swallow - Nightfall

Lorne was the last to step to the gate, and he paused on the threshold, glancing up at her. He gave a curt nod, and Carter returned it.

“Bring our people home, Major,” she told him.

“You can count on it, Colonel,” he replied, and vanished though the event horizon.

In the blood-warm darkness of the craft, the air was close and heavy with the sharp scent of sweat. Each footfall was light and difficult, the gravity generators beneath the bone plates of the deck working at their lowest setting, just like every other primary system aboard the ship. The vessel’s commander moved up to the cockpit using handholds formed from ropey sinew, placing each step with care. If he had stopped and listened carefully, he would have heard the labored rasp from the atmosphere processor’s lungs. They were working the craft hard, beyond its normal capacities and durations.

The gloomy interior of the ship took in light from a viewing slit across the bow and the pale blue-white glow of two monitor lenses; these screens were the only ones in active mode.

Two of the six other crewmembers stood at their stations; one, a drone, impassive and motionless, the other, a worker, hunched over a chiming console. The latter looked up at him as he entered the broad cockpit.

“There has been a change?” he asked, absently smoothing the front of his combat tunic.

The worker — a member of the scientist caste — nodded, his pale face shining in the screen-light. “A detection from the planet’s surface. Another activation of the portal. More new arrivals.” His voice was low, almost a whisper.

“Show me,” demanded the commander.

“See here,” said the scientist, working the console. “The energy release plume corresponds with the formation of another wormhole. And these lesser peaks?” He traced a long-nailed hand over a digital mountainside of readout spikes. “Transit outputs. Several humans left the portal only moments ago.”

He considered this for a moment, playing with a tuft of white, wiry hair on his chin. “More humans. Off-worlders.”

“Likely,” said the scientist. “Should we… Intervene?”

The commander glanced out of the viewing slit. Faint color from Heruun’s yellow-orange sun reached them through the mass of dust that was the planet’s ring system; hidden in the shadow of it, drifting over the night side, they were virtually invisible. “And how could we do that?”

The scientist licked his pallid lips. “Perhaps, if we tried a gravity descent —”

He turned and glared at the scientist. “Why do you whisper?”

His crewmate cocked his head. “I do not understand.”

“You speak so quietly. As if you are afraid.” The commander pointed at the curving bone walls around them. “As if you think your voice might carry out there, through the void. It’s a foolish conceit.”

The scientist considered this for a moment, then nodded self-consciously. “Perhaps so. It is a natural reaction, considering the…” He swallowed. “The threat.”

“The threat,” echoed the commander. “A threat your suggestion would rouse, if we were to intervene .” He put sarcastic emphasis on the final word. “I have no desire to be blasted from space as our other scouts have been. This ship has survived in this system longer than any other of our vessels, and that is because we have been careful.” He considered the commanders of the other scoutships that had come here and been obliterated; they had been rash and slow to control their baser impulses. He, on the other hand, was patient. It had taken them days to close to orbital range, drifting in from above the plane of the ecliptic without motive power, letting the gravity of Heruun snare them, pull them in. Now they were perfectly placed to fulfill their mission.

“We will remain, then? And do nothing?” An edge of challenge entered the scientist’s voice.

The commander studied him, slightly amused. The tension of the past days was clearly difficult for him to tolerate; the scientist was in danger of becoming aggressive. Still, as objectionable as he might have found him, the scientist was vital to the duty at hand. “We are doing something,” he hissed, showing a mouth of pointed teeth. “We are observing, and what we learn in that will lead our hive to victory. We will wait for the new arrivals to depart, and we will remain in silent mode until they do. The smallest mistake, the faintest glimmer of unmasked energy, and our lives will be forfeit. This planet’s protector will kill us without hesitation.” He loomed over the scientist. “Your caste is one of thinkers. Think on that.” He turned away, toward the cockpit’s iris door.

“There is another matter.” The scientist called after him.

He paused. “The hunger, yes?”

“Yes,” came the reply, and with it a hiss of raw need. “It’s been so long since we fed, and with a planet below untouched, filled with prey…”

The commander sneered. The subordinate castes did not have the fortitude of their warrior kindred. He too had not fed in some time, but he kept his hunger in check, containing it.

“There is no sustenance here,” concluded the scientist. “I do not know how much longer I can go without…”

“You are hungry?” he asked, drawing a stunner pistol from his belt. With a flick of his wrist he turned the weapon on the silent warrior and shot him at point-blank range. The drone-soldier collapsed to the deck. “Here. Feed, then. Take your fill, but do not dare question the orders of the Queen again.”

He waited a moment for the scientist to answer, but the other Wraith had already descended on the fallen warrior and jammed the feeding maw on his hand into its chest. With a sneer of disgust, the commander left him to his meal.

“ McKay? ”

Jennifer saw Rodney react with a start and pull the radio from the pocket on his gear vest. “Sheppard?” he replied.

The colonel was terse and clipped. “ Carter’s in the loop. Lorne came through the Stargate with some backup. We’re doing a search-and-sweep of the area .”

“Have they found anything yet?” she asked.

Sheppard heard her question over the open channel. “ One of Lorne’s boys spotted some scorch marks in the scrub… ”

“Radiation burns?” said Rodney.

“ Negative, we scanned ’em, they were cold. The only trace we found was Ronon’s gun. He must have dropped it, maybe during a struggle. ” The colonel blew out a breath. “ The power pack’s dead, but he never even got a shot off. It’s like it was drained. ”

Keller said nothing. She’d seen Ronon Dex sparring in the gym, and Teyla fighting off four men at once on New Athos. An enemy that could take down both of them together had to be a formidable one.

Sheppard was still speaking. “ So, in the meantime I need you and Keller to stay put until you hear from me, got it? ”

McKay rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay, mom .”

It was the wrong thing to say. “ Don’t give me any static, Rodney, now’s not the time. Just sit tight and don’t screw around. We’ve got enough to deal with as it is. ”

“We’ll be fine,” insisted McKay, gesturing around at the walls of Jaaya’s lodge. “I think later we’re even going to have some tea.”

There was a pause. “ I’m sending a couple of men up there. ”

“We don’t need babysitters,” retorted the scientist, throwing Keller a wan look, which she returned. “And you need every pair of eyes you’ve got. We’re fine. Honestly. You’re not the only one who knows how to handle a P90.” McKay nodded to himself.

“ Whatever, ” came the reply. “ Ask Keller if you forget which end the bullets come from. Sheppard out. ”