“They will hide,” Teyla said. “As we have all done before.”
“And what’s the chance that the Wraith would finish the destruction they started?” Radim asked. “This wasn’t Queen Death. She would leave nothing behind. Surely you don’t mean to risk losing everything that’s here.”
“And what, exactly, are you looking for?” John asked. Radim had a point, that was part of the problem.
“The same things you are, I imagine,” Radim said. “Ronon will have told you that there was an important collection of Ancient artifacts in their museum, and among that collection were things that we could use on our warship. Crystals, for one thing, and tools we don’t know how to make. I am sure there are things Atlantis needs as well.”
Things you can’t make, his tone implied. John said, “Yeah, plenty of things we can use. And we’re happy to trade for them. It seems to me it would be to your advantage to do the same.”
“And if we agree to trade with Cai, do we also pay extortion to the next group of returning Satedans who set up a so-called government?” Radim shook his head. “And the one after that? Because, to speak frankly, I can’t see you wasting the manpower to shore up Cai’s authority.”
“Right now, the only people who are questioning his authority are the Genii,” John said. “Really, we wouldn’t want to have to break off relations over this.”
“I don’t think you could afford that,” Radim answered. “Not given the threat we are both facing.”
“I’m seriously hoping it won’t come to that,” John said. “Excuse me.”
He turned away, Teyla at his side, and nearly ran into Caldwell beside the meeting tent.
“Any progress?” Caldwell asked.
John took a careful breath. “Well. I think I’ve made our position clear.” He paused, but couldn’t quite stop himself. “That little bastard thinks I murdered Woolsey to take his place.”
To his surprise, Caldwell grinned. “Tell me you never thought about it, Sheppard.”
“Not to get this job,” John answered. Teyla was smirking, though, and he couldn’t help smiling himself, even as he shook his head. “Diplomacy.”
“Don’t knock it,” Caldwell said. “You might have a knack for it after all.”
Sora ducked out of the meeting tent and made her way toward one of the long tables laden down with food. There was little point in staying inside at the moment. Sheppard didn’t seem to be making any effort to get everybody back to the table rather than letting them gather in little groups spread across the square, and the conversation in the tent at the moment bore little relation to what was supposed to be the point.
She spotted Cai at the end of one of the tables, apparently setting out bottles of some kind of drink as if he had nothing better to do. She shook her head. As if alcohol was going to help anyone to keep their minds on business. But then that was Sateda. If they’d devoted more of their people’s energies to fighting the Wraith rather than to distractions, clothing and music and games, all the absurd little luxuries she kept finding in the ruins —
“Sora Tyrus,” Cai said when he saw her. She wasn’t sure if his nod in her direction was meant as a courtesy or simply an acknowledgement that he knew who she was. “Will you have a drink, then? We’ve found more liquor bottles than we expected intact, but it’s still in scarce supply for the moment.”
“I’m surprised you’re not relying on the Lanteans for your supplies,” Sora said. She waved away the cup he offered her.
“We haven’t yet,” Cai said. “You’re sure you won’t have a drink?”
“You’re just relying on them for protection.”
“Something the Genii haven’t offered. So far I can’t see that you’ve offered anything, except on entirely unacceptable terms,” Cai said, fairly mildly.
“Believe me, the Lanteans’ terms won’t stay so pretty,” Sora said. “Don’t make the mistake of believing they can be trusted.” She glanced across the square to where Teyla Emmagan was talking intently to Dahlia Radim with a false smile, no doubt making excuses for having taken Dahlia prisoner and tried to steal their Ancient warship. As if there were any to make other than we wanted it, so we thought it should be ours.
Sora wished she were close enough to make sure that Dahlia wasn’t fooled. She’d had more than enough experience with Teyla’s ability to spin pretty words until you found yourself losing track of your original purpose, starting to have doubts —
“The Lanteans defeated the Replicators,” Cai said. “And they’ve done much to fight the Wraith in the last years.”
“So have we,” Sora said. “And we haven’t laid waste to the galaxy in the process. It was the Lanteans who unleashed the Replicators in the first place, and who woke the Wraith. Before they came — ”
“Sateda fell before the Lanteans came,” Cai said flatly. “They’re not responsible for the Wraith doing what Wraith do.”
“And are you happy that so many worlds have now met the same fate? The Lanteans don’t know how to defeat the Wraith. All they’ve done is make things worse and interfere with our plans.”
“And your plans involve Sateda?”
“We are so close to being able to use the technology of the Ancestors,” Sora said. “To have their weapons in our own hands, not the hands of the Lanteans who claim to be here to protect us. Why should they care about any of us? They’re here for their own purposes. They want what’s in that museum, too.”
Cai picked up one of the cups and drank deeply before he answered. “No offense,” he said. “But if our choice is to be robbed of our treasures by the Genii or to sell them to the Lanteans, I would prefer to deal with the Lanteans. At least they didn’t come as robbers demanding we hand over our wallets.”
“More like vandals setting your house on fire,” Sora said. “Did you hear about the Travellers’ colony, the one destroyed in a moment when their gate exploded? It wasn’t the only world where that happened.”
“Wild rumors,” Cai said. “People hear of many things that aren’t true. If worlds have had their gates destroyed, there’s no need to go looking for a cause other than the obvious. The Wraith Cull more deeply every year.”
Sora gritted her teeth. She’d heard this too many times on too many worlds, people who blindly believed that the Lanteans could help them, save them, when how could they, and why should they? It was pure superstition; the Lanteans’ blind luck in stumbling on the city of the Ancestors and having it answer to them wasn’t a sign of either military genius or purity of heart. But try to tell a people like the Athosians, or what was left of them.
“The Wraith can’t destroy a Stargate,” she said.
Cai shook his head. “Because your people can’t? I hope you’re not looking for a convenient Stargate to experiment with, or a place to try out your — what are they called — ‘nuclear bombs’?”
“I’m not going to talk to you about our weapons testing program. But we’re aware of how valuable some of the things in this city are. If you just let us use them — ”
“Now you want to make a trade? I’m sorry if I’m skeptical of your good intentions after you came among us with your rifles in hand.”
“I’m not offering to trade,” Sora said. “I’m saying that it’s in the best interests of your people and of every human being to let us have all the weapons we can find to fight the Wraith, because it’s not as if you can use them anymore.”
“There will be a Satedan army again,” Cai said.
“Who? Your army won’t even come live in your settlement. Your great ‘hero’ Ronon is more a Lantean now than a Satedan — ”