Confirming Carter Bk 02 Daedalus Ch 09

The Atlantian's learn just how effective their attack on the Wraith really was from Todd, who asks a favor.

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Confirming Carter Book Two Daedalus

Chapter Nine

Interior-Kitchen

0730 Hours

Sam and Tammy were sitting at the table with Geraan and Phinnar when Bra'tac entered the kitchen. He was wearing the Athosian gown Pharris had worn the night before. Going over to the fridge, he pulled out a bottle of wine, then took a cup from the cabinet.

"It's a little early for wine, don't you think?" Tammy asked, grinning at him.

"It is never too early for wine." Bra'tac smiled back. "But I have not, as yet, been to sleep. Pharris has just now fallen into slumber herself."

He poured a long shot of wine into the cup, then took a sip. "I must return to my quarters, or O'Neill will worry." He said. "He hovers about, asking constantly after my health."

Carter laughed, shaking her head. "I'm not buying it you old coot. You're going to slink out of here like a worn out old peacock that's just had his last feather plucked. You shame my house with your cowardly ways."

"Master Bra'tac is no coward. He is a warrior of the finest caliber. After subduing me, he had his way with me repeatedly throughout the night. I was unable to resist his advances, regardless of how I tried." Pharris said as she slipped her hands around him from behind. "When I awoke and felt his absence, it was not to be tolerated." She said as she reached around him, took the bottle of wine from his hand, then pulled him down the hall.

Sam and Tammy looked at each other, their mouths hanging open like schoolgirls. Then they started to laugh, wondering who was going to show up next.

It wasn't who they were expecting.

Interior-Kitchen

0840 Hours

"Col. Carter, a Wraith cruiser just dropped out of hyperspace. They've taken up a stationary orbit directly over the city. Col. Sheppard is on his way to the chair room."

"Good. Keep an eye on them, if they make contact, send it up here, and tie Sheppard in." Carter told him.

"We have visitors. Wraith." She told Tammy. "Let's get everyone up to speed, then see what they have to say."

Interior-Kitchen

0920 Hours

Carter sent Caldwell and Lorne up in the Daedalus and Apollo, to be ready to engage the cruiser if necessary.

"Colonel, we're detecting a subspace carrier coming in to this cruiser." Caldwell reported. "And they're not carrying their normal compliment, it looks like they only have a skeleton crew."

"What kind of weapons? Anything to worry about?" Carter asked.

"No, just the standard array we've seen before. It looks like they're going to use the cruiser as a relay point. We're already tracking the subspace signal." Caldwell told her. "I'd like to take the Daedalus and see what they have out there. I can do a series of jumps to get close. We know the system they're in now. We should be able to drop in behind a planet to hide our jump window, then move in close at sublight."

"Go ahead, Steven." Carter told him. "But have Apollo back off, and keep their shields up. That cruiser has been sitting there for half an hour now, so something has to break soon. If you find more hives, leave nukes on them, but set them on long timers, then back off, and sit. Try to get something between you and the blast if you can."

"Copy that." Caldwell said. "We'll move out behind a moon to mask our jump out, then scan as we go. Will report as we can. Daedalus out."

"Ops, status on that cruiser?" She asked. "Are they still holding station?"

"Affirmative. No change, colonel."

"Okay. Keep us advised. We're going let him make the first move."

Interior-Daedalus Bridge

0955 Hours

"Let's move out around this moon Marks, and take a look at what's out there." Caldwell said, bringing up the screen on his chairs panel.

"Aye, sir. Moving now...three targets, two hives and a cruiser. Two hundred thousand kilometers, eight seconds at max sublight."

"Shields?"

"Negative sir. They're sitting wide open again." Marks replied.

"Weapons, bridge." Caldwell said, opening a channel. "Arm two mark fives, and fit them with subspace transponders. Timers set to twelve hours, with remotes enabled."

"Copy, bridge. Four minutes. Do we need to cover them, or send them loose?"

"Let's use the covers, no point in being sloppy." Caldwell said. "Advise helm when ready."

"I missed that." He said to Marks. "Hold in place, and let's do a scan. Low power. We might as well see what they're doing out here."

"Aye, sir. Beginning scans of first hive." Marks said, his hands moving lightly over the controls. "The cruiser is scanning the moon, sir. Breaking off scan. I'm going to move us away."

"Break off the scan, but hold position, Marks. Sit tight, and let's see what they do."

"Aye, sir. The cruiser is moving away, heading for the moon." Marks said. "Weapons reports packages are ready. Do we want to drop, or hold?"

"Hold until we see what the cruiser is going to do."

"Cruiser is opening a hyperspace window...jumping away sir." Marks said.

He glanced over at Marks. "Can you place our packages with any kind of accuracy from here, or do we need to get closer?" He asked. "This is looking too easy, and I don't like it."

"I can put them in one of the open spaces, sir. No problem. Do we want to go ahead and drop the packages?"

"Let's drop them and get out of here, Marks." Caldwell said. "Something isn't right. I want to get out of here, so make it quick."

"First package away...second package, full reverse." Marks called out as his hands danced over his controls.

"Get us behind the moon again, Marks." Caldwell asked.

"Ten seconds...clear. All stop." Marks turned around and looked at Caldwell. "I'd like to look over the telemetry. But I want to be away from here first."

"Do it. Contact Atlantis when we drop out and report status."

"Jumping. Ninety seconds." Marks worked his controls, then looked up at the bridge windows. "Ten seconds...exiting hyperspace."

"Give me another thirty second jump, Marks." Caldwell said. "Pick a direction and go."

"Jumping...thirty seconds...ten. Exiting hyperspace." Marks called.

"Let's see the telemetry on those hives, Marks, and send it to Atlantis." Caldwell said.

"Yes, sir. Nothing special about the moon. The planet is uninhabited. No energy sources from either. There's no reason for them to be there." Marks said. "The first hive is almost empty, not even a skeleton crew. Second hive same condition, but packed with stores."

"Can we detonate from here, or do we have to go back to do that?" Caldwell asked.

"With the transponders, we can detonate from Atlantis if we want, sir." Marks said. "I think that's what we should do."

"Agreed, Takes us home, Marks." Caldwell muttered.

Interior-Conference Room, North Tower

1010 Hours

"Col. Carter, Daedalus reports that they set packages on two hives, and are coming home." The Ops tech told her. "They included a databurst of the scans they took." There was a pause, then he spoke again. "Incoming transmission on subspace channel. Another Wraith, ma'am."

"Send it up here, let's see what they want." She said, looking around the table. Sheppard, Pharris and Samuels all looked back at her, nodding.

A moment later, an image appeared on the monitor.

"Todd." She said, lifting an eyebrow. "And now I know why there's a Wraith cruiser sitting over my city."

"I know nothing of ships near Atlantis."

"Then what do you want?"

"I require your assistance." Todd said.

"We end up getting screwed every time we deal with you." Sheppard said. "Why would we want to help you now?"

"Like I said before, What do you want, Todd?" Carter said. "And like Col. Sheppard said, you do have a nasty habit of screwing us."

"You may not know, the Wraith are at war." He said slowly. "A war the likes of which has never been seen among our kind."

"Why should we care?" Sheppard asked, suppressing a grin.

"What can, or will you tell us?" Carter asked him, waving a hand at Sheppard to silence him. "You seem surprised at this, and you don't get caught off guard very often."

"Indeed." He replied. "Hives from all the alliances were gathering to select a new Primary. She had become unable to fulfill her function, and as is our way, had summoned the other queens to choose her successor."

"I didn't know that's how it worked, but go on." Carter told him.

"We do not know for certain what occurred." Todd said. "I suspect treachery, but the gathering is no more. Hives sent to join stopped responding when they jumped into the area. We investigated, scanning from a distance. This is what we found."

Todd was replaced on their screens by an image of space. In the center, there was a small white disk, surrounded by a large, glowing debris cloud.

"Is that a black hole?" She asked. "That looks like an accretion disk. Are you saying that they were having this summit on top of a black hole? That's not very smart."

"Indeed. But the black hole is artificial. I believe it is the result of a massive explosion." Todd replied. "There were no stars or planets in the area that could have caused this. The only answer is a battle. The collective began fighting among themselves, and the result was a massive chain reaction. Hence, the black hole you now see."

Todd came back on the screen.

"You said the other queens had been summoned." Sheppard said. "As in all of them?"

Carter glanced over at him as Todd stared back at them from the monitor.

"That's a good question, Todd. I'd like to know the answer to that myself." Carter said. "And if they were, what does that mean for the Wraith?"

"All were summoned, and none survived." Todd said finally. "This could mean the end of the Wraith. Which is why I require your assistance."

"I don't see what we can do." She told him. "We know nothing of how the Wraith reproduce."

"You can assist because you have access to the ancient database." Todd said. "The ancients created the Wraith. You can help preserve us."

"Again, I didn't know that the ancients had created the Wraith." She said. "Another one of their experiments that got away from them it would seem. But even if we agreed to try, there is no guarantee of success."

"I have eggs that were preserved at a breeding facility, before it was destroyed." Todd said. "I believe many to be queens. We wish you to incubate them, and return them to us."

"If you have these eggs, why don't you incubate them yourselves? Why do you need us?"

"The process we would use is dangerous, and also has little chance of success." He said. "We would implant them in arathis bugs, as you call them, and harvest them as they are fertilized. There is a risk, however. Much time has passed, and both the Wraith and arathis bug have changed over the millennia, so we fear effects from mutation."

"It sounds like you're afraid that the queens you'd get might not be compatible with the Wraith as they are now." Samuels said. "So even if you were successful in producing a queen, it might not do you any good."

"This is indeed the case."

"What makes you think that the ancients preserved the original genetic material, or the research they used to develop the Wraith, or that it would do you any good? If you believe that the changes in you and the arathis bugs would result in mutations in any queens you incubate that way, what makes you think you haven't changed too much from what the ancients originally created?" Carter asked. She pause for a moment, then added, "And what leads you to believe that we won't just say no, and let you die."

"Because you, like the ancients before you, are hopelessly optimistic. You believe that all things have a right to exist, even those that you hate." Todd laughed. "And Dr. McKay has demonstrated a keen understanding of ancient technology. I believe he may be able to assist me."

"Well that presents a problem, Todd. Dr. McKay is no longer with the Atlantis expedition, he has returned to Earth." Carter said, drawing a frown from him. "But let's back up a couple steps, you said the Wraith are at war. I think that the situation would have to be much worse than you're telling us for you to come to us like this. I'm an astrophysicist, I study the stars, and can tell you that it took a pretty big explosion to create that artificial black hole. We're talking about releasing the energy of a star in a concentrated blast, or compressing the gravity field of a planet. How many ships were at this gathering?"

Todd hesitated, then said, "Nearly sixty hives, with their escorts. I would imagine more than four hundred cruisers. Two thirds of the Wraith ships presently in the galaxy. Many alliances stripped the hives they did not send, leaving them in parking orbits around remote worlds. Mine among them."

"So you're saying that the number of Wraith that died in that explosion is higher than the numbers of ships would account for?" Samuels asked. "What would you estimate the number of Wraith left in the galaxy to be now?"

"Less than fifteen percent of what it was before this tragedy." Todd said. "Several of the alliances that did not send large numbers are already preying on those that did. They seek to capture the idle hives."

"It's not going to do them much good if they can't crew them up, or replace the losses from the battles." Carter said. "So we can expect your numbers to go down further in the coming weeks and months."

Todd stared silently are her.

She shook her head. "I can't give you an answer, Todd. I have to think on this. You're not only asking me to preserve your people, but to help the Wraith continue to prey on the peoples of the Pegasus galaxy. I have to tell you that I don't like being put in this position."

"I did not expect you to agree immediately." He said after a moment. "But I know your people, you cannot help yourselves. Should I survive, I will contact you again."

His screen went dark.

"Eighty percent of them sitting there. And I killed them." She said to herself. She shook her head and looked over at Sheppard. "Tell Lorne to destroy that cruiser, and tell Daedalus to detonate those two hives as soon as we can contact them."

"Todd said that the ships we destroyed accounted for two thirds of the Wraith ships in the galaxy. That means there could still thirty or more hives left...I thought there were more than that, but anyway."

She turned to Pharris. "Contact your people. Tell them to be on the look out for these idle hives he mentioned. If you think you can take them and use them, go ahead. If not, destroy them, or contact us, and we'll destroy them. He said that there are still active alliances out there. I don't want them to get those ships."

"Are you going to help them?" Samuels asked, looking down the table at Pharris.

"I don't know yet, but I want a database search for the original research." She turned to Tammy. "You and I are going to do a lot of that. Andi's people can sift through records, But I want to know why the ancients would create something like the Wraith to begin with."

"You would seriously con..." Pharris began.

"I just said I don't know yet." Carter told her. "I don't like the idea of playing god, and I think the ancients screwed up big time if they really did create, or assist in the creation of the Wraith." She leaned back in her chair, letting her head fall back, sighing heavily.

She looked over at Samuels.

"Twenty-nine days. How the hell did so much happen in that little time, Andi?"

Interior-Bedroom

1130 Hours

"Come with me." Tammy said, taking Carter's hand as they got off the porter, leading her into the bedroom.

"You're in a bad place, and you shouldn't be." Tammy said as she turned Sam to face her. "You didn't cause this. All of us were involved, and we all make the decisions that are being made. And what we're doing is right." She opened the buttons on Sam's vest, cupping her breasts, letting her thumbs run in slow circles around her nipples. "That extra fat is going right where I wanted it too. You're tits are getting bigger."

"It's not..."

"Don't talk." Tammy said, pushing the vest off her shoulders, then opening the button on her pants. "Undress me." She said as she slid the zipper down slowly, guiding them down over her hips, letting them fall around her feet.

Carter stepped out of them, her fingers moving down to open the button on Tammy's slacks. As she opened them, she looked into her eyes, questioning her.

"Talk to me." She said softly.

Tammy's pants fell to her feet, and she stepped out of them as Sam opened the buttons on her vest, pushing it off, letting it fall to the floor behind her.

"Soon. Wash me first. Then make love with me." Tammy said, taking her hand, leading her into the bathroom. They went into the shower, and Tammy turned on the spray, pulling Carter under it with her. "Dance with me." She whispered, nipping at her ear as she pressed her body against her.

"I don't want to do this." Carter said softly, her hands resting on Tammy's hips, her feet moving slowly in time with Tammy's.

"Yes, you do. You wouldn't have let me take your clothes off if you didn't." She dropped her hand between her legs, cupping the lightly furred lips of her mons. Her fingers stroked up and down between the soft, slippery lips of her pussy, and she purred as she slipped her fingers into the tight wet hole of her cunt. "You're dripping. You want it, and you know it. Say it."

"No. I..." Sam whispered, then gasped as Tammy started moving her fingers, fucking her gently as she leaned back against the wall, pulling her with her. "Oh god!" She moaned as she followed, her knees bending as she spread her legs wider.

"I want to eat you." Tammy whispered, rubbing her breasts back and forth over Carter's. "Say yes. Tell me you want me too."

Sam stared into her eyes, then pressed her lips to Tammy's, her tongue delving deep into her mouth, then pulling away quickly. "Will to you take me into the bedroom?"

"Yes." Tammy said, taking her hand and stepping toward the door.

"Carry me." Carter said, a slow smile forming on her lips.

"No, you lazy bitch." Tammy giggled. "Now bring your hot little ass out here. Bacon cheeseburgers may be the hottest thing in two galaxies, but I got me a taste for furburger, so get your ass moving."

Carter laughed and ran past her, falling onto the bed, lifting and opening her legs, then putting her hand over her pussy. "Say please." She said, staring up at her.

Tammy dropped to her knees beside the bed, her hands running up the backs of her legs, pushing them up, and wider apart. She pressed her face against her hand, inhaling deeply, the rich, musky scent filling her senses. Then she turned her head, licking lightly along the inside of one soft, smooth thigh, then moving over to the other one.

"You say please." She whispered as she ran her tongue slowly up over Sam's fingers, moistening them. She dipped down, lifting one with the tip of her tongue, sucking it into her mouth and fucking it in and out slowly, wetting it with her saliva.

She dipped lower, dragging her tongue up the warm, moist crack of her ass, lapping up the spicy juices drooling from Carter's juicing pussy. She moved her hands down and spread the cheeks of her ass, then drilled her tongue against the puckered pink rosette of her asshole.

"Oooohhhh! Th...that's che...cheating!" Carter panted, her fingers beginning to move slowly over her pussy slit. She pulled her hand up, slipping two fingers inside her pussy, grinding the heel of her hand over her clit. She arched her hips up as Tammy moved her mouth up, licking lightly around the outer lips of her pussy.

"All's fair in love." she said as she licked around Carter's probing fingers. "Are you going to move your hand? And you still haven't said please."