STARGATE ATLANTIS Halcyon by Halcyon (SGA-4)

Author:Halcyon (SGA-4) [Retail]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fandemonium Books
Published: 2020-06-29T20:05:00+00:00

Chapter EIGHT

Colonel Sheppard looked out through the Jumper’s canopy at the Fourth Dynast blackcoats milling around outside the ship. They had emerged from the cloisters around the open plaza within moments of the ship landing there. John wasted no time getting Teyla inside and closing the hatch behind her. He wanted this conversation to be just between the three of them.

She was nodding as Ronon replayed the events of their short venture into orbit and back. The Athosian woman’s expression hardened when Dex spoke about the Wraith machine they’d obliterated. John knew that look of old; he could read Teyla’s feelings, the same thoughts that had clouded his mood now forming in her. He opened his mouth to speak and realized there was a Halcyonite rifleman standing just a meter or so away on the other side of the canopy glass. The trooper was staring directly at him, blankly intimidating with his lance-rifle held at arms.

Sheppard very deliberately turned his back on the soldier before he started speaking. The movie of the week on Atlantis last month had been 2001: A Space Odyssey, and John suddenly recalled the scene in the pod bay where the Hal computer had lip-read the plans of the human astronauts. He didn’t want to chance that Daus trained his men with the same kind of skills. “With that satellite in pieces, any immediate danger is over,” he began, “but clearly the bigger problem we’ve got to consider is if that thing has been broadcasting. There could already be Wraith Hive Ships in hyperspace and on their way here as we speak.”

“That all depends on how long the satellite had been transmitting for,” noted Ronon, “and we don’t know for sure if it was. But given our usual fortunes, I wouldn’t count on us being that lucky.”

“Upbeat as ever,” said Sheppard. “Teyla, you wanna chime in here?”

The woman took McKay’s station and scrutinized the data captured from the Wraith device. “I have an idea how we might determine if it was in communication with other craft. From what I know of these marker beacons, they operate in a dormant mode, often for centuries, until triggered by a command from a Wraith vessel.” She paged through the reams of information, searching for something. “Interstellar communications require a lot of power, John. These beacons run on solar batteries.”

Sheppard got it. “Right, so transmitting a message would take a lot of energy. If the batteries are low, it’s likely it sent out a dinner call.” He smiled with gallows humor. “Like a Wraith equivalent of those neon signs by the highway — Good Eats, Next Exit…”

“Here,” said Teyla, halting the flow of text. She pointed at a string of computer code. The tension in her shoulders visibly lessened as she read through the data. “I think you may be wrong about our luck, Ronon. According to this, the power reserves on the satellite were barely depleted. It was still in an information gathering mode when you happened upon it.”

“If

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