James Swallow - Halcyon

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Rodney had been clinging on to the idea that he would, as he so often did, blossom under the pressure of the situation and come up with a brilliant solution that saved his life and those of everyone else around him; but as he watched the shadowy forms of the Wraith butchering those hapless soldiers, his heart felt like a fist of ice in his chest and the intellect he loved to trumpet was frozen with horror.

Everyone in the nexus chamber turned in fright as the hatch irised open, all of them expecting a flood of Wraith to boil in through the doorway; instead the Lord Magnate stalked in, followed by Vekken and a gaggle of panicked soldiers. All the men had their weapons out and Rodney saw smears of oily alien blood on their tunics.

Daus spied McKay and aimed a swordgun at the scientist. "You!" he thundered. "You did this to defy me, eh? You set them loose!" He advanced, fingering the trigger mechanism in the bowl hilt of the wicked blade.

Rodney recovered just enough to be incredulous. "What? No! That's insane! You think I'd wake up the Wraith just to get at you? I don't want them loose any more than you do!"

The Magnate's swordgun quivered. His fury was barely under his control and he wanted someone to take it out on, someone to blame no matter how undeserving they were. Daus roared wordlessly and dashed a trolley of equipment to the deck, stamping to his adjutant's side. "Vekken! Gather all the men and corral these alien abominations, force them back into their hives at blade point if you must, but do not let them run wild! This is my ship! Mine!"

McKay listened to the man's rantings and just like that, he had a solution. He crouched, speaking quietly into the First Scientist's ear. "Kelfer, listen to me. Vekken's troopers won't be able to stop the Wraith, we both know that. It's up to us to deal with this, you and me."

"How?" moaned the other man. "We are doomed."

"Help me with this." Rodney gestured to the control console. "You've been poking around in this derelict for years and you know the layout better than me. Help me access the main nerve cluster for the power systems."

Kelfer's eyes focused on him. "For what reason?"

"Hive Ships draw power from bio-reactors. If we alter the energy flow, unbalance the reaction, we could create a feedback loop."

McKay saw the light of understanding in the other man's expression. "A chain reaction. Yes. It could be done."

"Help me do it, Kelfer."

The scientist got shakily to his feet. "McKay," he husked, "this… This deed will be most destructive. It will destroy every living thing inside the vessel." Kelfer hesitated. "Us."

"Yes." Rodney blinked. How odd. His brain had been completely aware of that fact from the instant the idea had occurred to him, but at the same time it wasn't until Kelfer said it out loud that McKay realized that this course of action was a suicidal one. "Yes," he repeated, a peculiar kind of calm settling on him, "let's get to it, then."

Kelfer gave him a shaky nod and walked to one of the other control pedestals, quickly manipulating the organic switches and buttons.

"What are you doing?" Rodney turned to see Daus call out across the nexus chamber. "Kelfer? Those systems are not to be tampered with! Kelfer, answer me!"

"This must be done," said the scientist distractedly.

McKay's heart leapt as new data filtered in through the crude interface between the Wraith ship and his laptop computer. Complex new code strings and power distribution curve algorithms ticked across the screen. He saw at once how to make the overload happen; it would be a question of routing energy from the bio-reactors along dead and redundant ganglia, letting it rise to supercritical levels…

"First Scientist and Duke Kelfer, by my command you will step away from that mechanism!" Daus strode forward, Vekken and his men at arms all ready for imminent violence. "Stop this mutiny!"

"One moment more," Kelfer began.

There was a double detonation, twin barks of noise like a shotgun releasing both barrels, and Kelfer was jerked away from the console, struck by an invisible hammer of force. Smoke coiled from the gun muzzles concealed in the ornate scrollwork along the length of the Lord Magnate's sword.

McKay went to the man and felt his stomach knot at the ugly wound in Kelfer's torso. The Halcyonite scientist tried to push a word from his trembling lips, but there was only the hiss of bloody froth. There on the deck, Rodney watched the life fade from him.

Anger propelled McKay back to his feet and he whirled. Daus was close, the keen curve of the swordgun hanging at head height between them. "All those who disobey me are traitors," grated the Magnate, a mad glitter in his eyes, "and the reward for perfidy is murder!"

"You just shot that man in cold blood," Rodney retorted. "And you're not even remorseful, are you? Not one little bit. Is there anything that actually matters to you apart from power? Anything? Anyone?"

Daus's face softened and the sword dipped an inch. "Nothing I have done has been for myself. My every waking action is in service of my world, my people. My family." He nodded to one of his men, and the soldier moved Kelfer's body away. "Any man who defies me I will kill in the same manner."

"You have to let me destroy this vessel!" spat McKay.

"Never — "

The deck trembled and shuddered as something in the depths of the Hive Ship came to life. Fines of dust trickled from the ceiling overhead as the chamber's bone pillars creaked.

Rodney grabbed at his laptop as the readings displayed there spiked. "I think… This ship's alive."

Sheppard turned the Puddle Jumper in a tight banking maneuver and circled the encampment. At first glance it looked a like a mine head, just a couple of stone blockhouses, tents and some watchtowers; but second time around he saw the archway constructed into the face of the steep-sided hill that rose up over the compound, and like one of those weirdo dot pictures they always had at the mall, the shape of the landscape suddenly shifted in his perception and John saw it, as clear as day.

There was the edge of the broad, shield-shaped fuselage, buried under a carpet of grasses and younger trees. There were the bony spikes fanning out from the concealed hull, green with creepers and other plant growth. A Hive Ship, hiding in plain sight, camouflaged beneath centuries of mud and earth.

Scar clicked his amusement. "My craft. My home. At last."

"Might want to think about doing a little spring cleaning," sneered Sheppard, "looks a little overgrown from up here."

"Your mockery will not help you when your usefulness comes to an end, human," replied the Wraith. "And with regard to that… Land this craft." He pointed. "There. Close to the Hive."

Sheppard counted his blessings. The launch bays on most Hive Ships he'd encountered were on the ventral side of the hull, and in the case of this one that meant they were buried in the dirt. The last thing he wanted was to take the Jumper inside the alien vessel. Outside, there were still escape options. I hope, he told himself. He brought the Ancient shuttlecraft down easy, very much aware of Scar's tight grip on the controls for the choke collar around Teyla's neck. They were coming up to the point of no return here and the last thing he wanted to do was give the Wraith an excuse to kill the Athosian woman.

Through the trees he saw a silver object low to the ground and recognized the shape of a Fourth Dynast gyro-flyer. The helicopter was heavily decorated with golden detailing and bright heraldry across the gleaming chrome hull. Only Daus would have a ride that pimped, Sheppard thought, and if his high-and-mighty Lordship is here, then maybe McKay 's not far away either. It made sense; if the man had a Hive Ship on his land, then why not kidnap the most qualified guy from Atlantis to take a look at it?