"Previously on Stargate Atlantis..." "Hello, Michael." "Do you remember me?" "I don't even know who I am." "I get the feeling like they know something, something they're not telling me." "He's not... human!" "I'm a Wraith!" "I'm returning to what I was." "There are Wraith nearby." "Not only has our dear lieutenant's rejoined the Wraith, but he's taken with him the knowledge that Atlantis still exists." "They will send another wave of hive ships." "We found a sister ship to the Aurora called the..." "Orion." "All chairs and seatbacks into your upright and locked positions." "Be advised, we have detected a hive ship heading towards Atlantis." "All of my people have been safely relocated to the City." "Did everything go smoothly?" "Yeah, they're pretty used to it, back and forth, by now." "Have you picked up any of their contacts?" "Sergeant?" "Negative, Ma'am." "Scans are still clear." "It looks like it's just the one hive ship." "And our cloak?" "Up and running." "All readings are in the green." "Good." "Colonel Caldwell, are you in position?" "Affirmative." "We're out of scanning range and ready to jump into position on your go-ahead." "Excellent." "Just for the record, I still think that we should be in orbit around Atlantis, ready to open up on that hive ship the second it comes out of hyperspace." "It's one hive, Colonel, which suggests they might just be checking up on us." "There's no need to confirm our presence if we don't have to." "Just stand by." "Standing by." "Colonel Sheppard, how goes it on your end?" "Well, we're out of sensor range and all that, but whether or not we're ready to fight is a whole another story." "Getting this ship up and running in under a month is a miracle." "Do we start the beatification now or later?" "Rodney, if the hive opens up on us, I want Orion's drones." "Which means we're gonna need the hyperdrive to get in position." "Which means we'll need shields, which means you want everything!" " I like everything!" "Can we do it or not?" " Well, don't get up!" "Shields!" "Yes." "Jump into position." "Maybe." "Release the drones." "Probably not." "Well, it's pointless to get in position if we can't fire." "You know, let's talk about it for a really long time, that'll help for sure." "Rodney's doing everything inhumanly possible to be ready." "I have a contact." "Atlantis, report?" "It's going into geosynchronous orbit." "Hasn't armed any of its weapons." "If they do, I want you to switch from cloak to shield as quickly as possible." "Don't wait for my order." "Yes, Ma'am." "You could be a little more chatty, Elizabeth." "I'm sorry, I was just waiting for them to make the next move." "Transmitting a signal, audio only." "Put it on speaker." "We know you are there." "We mean you no harm." "Please respond." "John, are you hearing this?" "It's repeating again." "We mean you no harm." "There is no point in hiding, Doctor Weir." "We know you are there." "We mean you no harm." "Please respond." "Is that who I think it is?" "He's addressing me by name." "I think we can assume it's Michael." " You don't actually intend to respond?" " Why not?" "Where do you want me to start?" "I think we can safely say our cover is blown." "I wouldn't jump to that conclusion." "The message is from Michael, Colonel." "They know we're here." " But they don't know exactly where we are." " He's right." "Answer them, and we guarantee the first shot won't miss." "Teyla?" "Any attempt on my part to connect with Michael will confirm our location as surely as if you answer by radio." "I recommend you open a secure channel to the hive via the Daedalus." "That way they won't be able to pinpoint Atlantis' position." "We can always turn the shield on." "And I believe we have enough combined firepower to take out a single hive if we need to." "Have you ever heard of a Wraith behaving this way?" "No." "Nor have I." "Right." "Let's hear what they have to say." "Rodney and I have set up the subspace relay to go through the Daedalus, and I've been able to configure our systems to handle both their audio and video frequencies." "So, we should be able to see and hear them live." "They want to know what's taking so long." "Open the channel." "Hello, Michael." "Why the long delay?" "We needed to take a few precautions before contacting you." "I'm sure you understand why." "I said we would not harm you." "Well, excuse me for not taking you at your word." "You wanted to talk, we're listening." "Go ahead." "Over two years ago, every hive ship in this galaxy emerged from hibernation prematurely." "We thought a new, rich feeding ground had been discovered." "Earth." "Unfortunately, locating your planet and uncovering an effective means of transportation to get there has proven... quite difficult." "Well, I can't say I'm sad to hear that." "For the first time since the dawn of our race, there are too few of your kind to feed the waking Wraith." "This has resulted in civil war." "Hives are forming alliances and the strong are attacking the weak." "Which are you?" "Our goals are not dissimilar, Dr. Weir." "You would like to eliminate the Wraith as a threat?" "I find that hard to believe." "We would like you to give us Dr. Beckett's retrovirus." "If we were able to distribute it among the rival Wraith hives in sufficient quantity, this would both render them helpless and provide us with an alternative food source." "Those Wraith would become humans." "On the surface, perhaps." "As a sign of good faith, I am sending you our jamming codes." "This program was established and distribute before the civil war broke out, so we assume all the hive ships are still using it." "By figuring out how to bypass or disable this program, you would be able to beam your nuclear weapons aboard any of our ships whenever you so please." "We are willing to help you achieve this if you help us." "They're sending a data burst." "Download it to a non-networked, firewalled computer." "Yes, Ma'am." "I'm sure you'll want to recall all the ships you had lying in wait for us and discuss this with your people." "We will await your reply." "But should you make an attempt to destroy us, we will alert every Wraith in this galaxy to the fact that Atlantis is still very much intact." "I'm sure you wouldn't want that." "Well, I think it's safe to say that if they were going to attack us, they would have done it by now." "They let the Daedalus land without incident." "And you're sure they don't know about the Orion?" "I ordered Lorne to park her just outside of sensor range." "This... this is incredible!" "I can't believe they actually sent this over so freely." "If I can figure out how to break through this program, which is, well, as you know, pretty likely, we could nuke any hive ship that we came across." " Including Michael's?" " Well, it might take a couple of tries the first time." "Long enough to tell the rest of the Wraith we're still around." "If they really are willing to let me run tests on their ship..." "I mean, this is... an amazing opportunity, Elizabeth." "An amazing opportunity?" "Well, think about it." "This is essentially our idea." "We created the retrovirus in order to do exactly what they're proposing we do." "What's the downside?" "I mean, other than that fact that we'd be working with the Wraith." "Isn't that enough?" "It would mean at least something good came of our experiment with Michael." "I am not sure we have a choice." "It appears they have kept our existence a secret, but if we do not help..." "There is that." "Carson, I know you've been working on the weaponization of the retrovirus." "How close are you?" "We're close." "It still needs work, but we're close." "What?" "What do you think?" "Let's do it." "Really?" "Sheppard said it himself... it's our idea." "I just thought you of all people..." "Hey, if they want our help killing other Wraith, that's one kind of help I'm happy to provide." "Okay." "So, we're going to do this." "I'll accept the offer." "Teyla." "Colonel?" "Something tells me you don't think this is such a good idea." "As I said, I do not believe we have a choice." "But a good idea is still a good idea." "I voiced my concern about this plan to change the Wraith into humans prior to the experiment on Michael." "And we convinced you." "No, Colonel." "I chose to place my trust in you." "There's a difference." "Look, it's not like we're setting out to create a bunch of Michaels here." "No, we are creating a food source for other Wraith." "Instead of us, which is the part I am fine with, by the way." "I guess I just want you to be fine with it, too." "If this is the full extent of their plan..." "What do you mean?" "They are Wraith." "This is Escort 2." "We have a visual on the Wraith scout ship and are entering formation with Escort 5." "I got to tell you, when I woke up this morning, I honestly didn't think this would be happening." "God, I hope we're doing the right thing." "Touchdown." "I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir." "Welcome to Atlantis." "My people are willing to work with some of your scientists, but no more than three Wraith will be allowed on this base at any given time." "You will be subjected to extensive searches that we we'll perform at random intervals." "If any harmful materials or weapons are found on your, your fellow Wraith, we'll consider it an act of aggression and immediately destroy your ship." " We are also monitoring all of your transmissions." " All we want is the retrovirus." "It is the key to ending a civil war that could go on for centuries." "Impose whatever conditions you wish." "Let us begin." "Aside from a slight refinement since we last used it on, well, on the one we called Michael." "Do you have names?" "What shall I call you?" "What shall I call him?" "Well, I suppose in the end it really doesn't matter, does it?" "Okay..." "Where was I?" " We were just getting to dissemination." " Yes, yes." "Thank you." "Now, when disseminating an aerosolized medicine such as the retrovirus, one needs to take in a number of different considerations... proximity to patient, particle size, ventilation pattern," " airway architecture, dosage..." " You have turned it into a gas?" "Yes." "An aerosol gas." "On Earth, we would normally use a technique called aerodynamic dissemination, but because of the problems of doing that inside, say, like, a Wraith hive ship, we have attempted various styles of thermal dissemination." " Explosives?" " Explosives." "Yes, yes." "The problem with an explosive delivery system is that, because the drug is now an aerosol, a third of the tests ignited the medication, rendering it useless." "They call it flashing." "Long ago, we experimented with gas weapons." "We found them most difficult to use in outer-atmosphere combat." "When fired into an enemy vessel, the weapon caused explosive decompression in the targeted compartment." "We had thought of that, yes, but if you want to affect a large population simultaneously, an aerosol gas is really the only way to go." "Now we have to figure out a way to get it into your enemies' hive ship." "Yes." "We will." "It's pretty interesting stuff." "I think I've learned more about Wraith technology in the last hour than I have in the past two years." "Oh, come on." "I understand you're an Asgard and everything, but even you've got to feel a bit of an adrenaline buzz." "My body does not possess the adrenal gland that produces epinephrine in your system, and even if I did," "I would not be as easily impressed." "I get it, I get it... you think you're smarter than I am." "Are you ready to go or not?" "I have been for some time." "This is McKay." "Get me an open channel to the hive." "You're live." "Go ahead." "This is Dr. Rodney McKay aboard the Earth ship Daedalus." "We would like... with your permission, to begin attempting to beam an innocuous canister onto your ship while you are actively jamming." "We're hoping, through trial and error, that we can slowly disarm or break the code." "May we proceed?" "You may begin, Dr. McKay." "Okay." "Thank you." "Thank you." "That was weird." "Shall we?" "Hello, Michael." "It seemed right to come back here." "And to see you." "Thank you for coming." "You didn't have to bring him." "I insisted." "The last time I saw you," "I really was going to feed on you... but it was not a matter of choice." "It was... instinct." "That is what you have come here to say?" "You have given me a very rare perspective among the Wraith." "Few of us have ever come to know the humans we are going to feed on as... anything more than a means to survive." "And still," "I would do what I had to do." "But what you" " did to me..." " We did the same." " To survive." " I thought you were trying to help me." "What's your point?" "We're not as different as you think." "We are nothing like you." "You are a lot more like us than you allow yourselves to believe." "I will not argue with you, Michael." "It is pointless." "If we are to make this alliance work, we must both overcome the instincts that define us." "We will not meet again." "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "You're proving my point right now." "Oh, every fiber in your body wants to kill me." "Instinct is so hard to overcome." "But what would happen to our alliance?" "Every Wraith ship in this galaxy would descend upon this City and destroy it." "Is it worth it, Ronon?" " If it was up to me..." " But it isn't!" "What will happen once you disseminate the weapon?" "We shall continue on to the next hive." "Then what?" "Well, we will continue until we have conquered all of our enemies." "And you think our retrovirus can do all that?" "Yes." "The one we're freely handing over to you." "I see." "Your people will not be harmed." "Such will be the nature of our agreement." "And what about all the other humans on the other worlds?" "Any chance you'll stop feeding on them?" "Your retrovirus will allow us to feed off enemy Wraith." "There will come a time, however," "when our enemy will be vanquished." "At which point you'll return to killing ordinary folks the old fashioned way." "That will take far longer than your short lifetime." "Let's just say I'm worried about my grandkids." "The technology of this City... this City that you now control... is far more powerful than that of the Wraith." "Yet we brought the Lantians to their knees..." " Why?" " Far greater numbers." "Numbers that will be diminished by your retrovirus." "Balance will be restored." "I believe that is as much as either of us can ask for." "Don't you?" "No!" "I'm sorry, an aerosol gas is the only way to go." "Not that I want to anger you, or not take any of your ideas into consideration." "It's just that, well, we've been working on this for some time now." "Very well." "Can't you smuggle a gas bomb onto one of your rival hives?" "Such a device would not allow for the gas to affect the whole ship in sufficient time." "They would open fire on our own ship the moment the gas was detected." "Aye." "You need to reach all the occupied compartments at once." "If we could get the aerosol gas into the life support system..." "How long for the gas to take effect?" " Well, theoretically..." " We don't know." "Well, we don't." "He's right, we don't." "Then I will have to make arrangements." "I want to go in there." "Now." "Vent the gas from the room." "Don't worry." "He'll begin to turn back in only a number of days if we don't start administering the..." "Colonel." "We knew this would be a part of the bargain." "I've seen enough." "It works." "There is another hive ship a single jump away from this system." "They recently attempted to attack our ship." "I would like to test the virus on them first." "With all due respect, Madam," "I don't think we're there yet." "We've been working with your scientist here on" " an effective means of disseminating the virus as an aerosol..." " And you have succeeded." "Transforming a single Wraith in a controlled environment and trying to infect an entire hive at once are completely two different things." "We plan on entering their hive under the pretense of negotiating our surrender." "Part of the delegation will break away, planting small canisters of gas throughout the ship." "We need only to create a system that will synchronize the release." "Well, we can do that." "But do we have the kind of volume we need?" "Aye." "Our lab has been churning it out since we struck our deal with our friends here." "Then we can do this?" "Well..." "It's up to them." "I would like our people to go along and observe." "For what purpose?" "Make sure you stick to the plan, do what you say you're gonna do." "Very well." "Good luck." "To us all." "Jumper 8 has cleared the bay, cloaked, and is heading for the two hives ships." " We are running quiet and out of sensor range." " Thank you, Captain." "I guess now we just wait." "This trial's a little premature, don't you think?" "Guess that's what happens when the Wraith get too excited." "What if they fail?" "Maybe they'll blow each other to kingdom come." "We can all go home." "I thought we wanted this to work." "I'm just saying if this thing goes south, we can't let the word get out we were involved in this." "Carson." "Elizabeth." "When I developed this retrovirus for the Wraith, it was to free them from what I perceived to be an unnatural state." "Now, the very moment they take human form, they'll face a horribly painful death." "No matter how we rationalize this, we're still letting the Wraith kill humans." "I guess it depends on how you define "human"." "We can't judge an entire race based on the fact that" "Michael's experiment didn't work." "If you're asking me whether or not I'm losing sleep over this..." "Well..." "I am taking those sedatives you prescribed." "We're getting telemetry back from the cloaked Jumper, Sir." "It's in theater." "Let's see it." "That's our hive there on the left." ""Our hive"." "That's weird." "The delegation is aboard." "Now we wait." "They didn't need you on the Daedalus?" "Colonel Caldwell believed my time was better spent disabling their jamming code." "So, they can fly that ship without you?" "Yes, but apparently you cannot run these tests without me." "I'm sure I would have been fine." "I am not as sure." "Really?" "Well..." "Okay." "Try it now." "Well, well." "Turns out the human knows what he's doing after all." "Indeed." "Your assistance on this project will be noted." "My assistance?" "The delegation transport is returning to the friendly hive ahead of schedule." "What was that?" "The transport has been destroyed." "That's not good." "Sir, Jumper 8 is reporting the enemy hive has opened fire." "Friendly hive is sustaining serious damage." "If they get boarded, it's all over for Atlantis." "They'll give us up for sure." "Jump to their position, shields to full, ready main rail guns, ready all missile batteries!" "Jumping into theater now." "Get that Jumper back into bay!" "We're not going to be able to keep this up for long." " Hopefully we'll give them enough time to jump into..." " Our hive is entering hyperspace." "Jumper 8 has been recovered." "Set course for Atlantis." "Get us out of here." "Our delegation was searched." "They were killed immediately when your canisters were discovered." "Our transport ship tried to escape, but it was destroyed." "You must devise a better delivery method." "Or what?" "Or we will disclose your location to the other Wraith." "We kept our part of the bargain." "We gave you the retrovirus." "And it is useless without an effective delivery system!" "So we have to do everything?" "Okay, okay." "I will figure something out," "But no more holding back." "I want to know everything there is to know about hive ships." "Schematics, power distribution, life support configurations, everything you've got." "Then you shall have it." "For real?" "Receiving transmission." "Make sure it's secure." "Yeah, we're completely firewalled." "Let me see that." "She actually did it." "I mean, this is the motherlode!" "What is, exactly?" "Only everything you've ever wanted to know about Wraith technology, but were afraid to ask." "Why are you doing this?" "We have suffered extensive damage." "We could render assistance" "You would do this?" "We're supposed to have an alliance, aren't we?" "Sending information on Wraith technology was a remarkable act of good faith on your part." "Your assistance would be acceptable." "Alright, then." "We have a deal." "I know you guys have been burning it at both ends, so..." "Dr. Vogel just went to get us some." " Thank you" " Yeah, caught him on the way in." "How's it coming?" "It's phenomenal." "It's like being handed a Wraith encyclopedia." "It's hard to know where to start." "When I was a kid and I got my first encyclopedia, I started with the letter "S"." "Yes, well, while I'm sure that Wraith sexuality is interesting, we've decided to split into two teams." "Team A, over here is trying to find the best place or places to plant the gas canister and team B, over there is trying to come up with some fixes for the damage that the Wraith hive" " sustained during its last battle." " And you?" " Mostly, I'm just skimming the index." " Anything exciting?" " Oh, yes." " Such as?" "Well, the ships are massive, but because of their mainly organic design, they have a number of external weaknesses." "I've got a weakness for external weaknesses." " Any word from Rodney yet?" " I'm sure he's fine." "The organic base of a lot of your technology, it's... it's quite amazing." "Very... resilient." "Many of the problems we encounter eventually heal themselves, yes, but there are smaller, more complex issues." "Such as the programming code to make your old ships do new things?" "Or bypassing inoperable systems, yes." "It has been so long since we have fought a real battle." "Yes, well..." "I imagine I'd forget a lot in 10,000 years, too." "Before the civil war, there were keepers who maintained the entire fleet, but they have made their own alliances." "Sorry about that." "Without your help," " this damage may have been irreparable." " Finally, an alien race that appreciates me." "Do you think we will be able to come up with an adequate delivery system for the retrovirus?" "Well..." "I know that you don't know me, so you couldn't possibly know this but..." "The short answer is yes." "This way." "Ronon, are you crazy?" "Do you want us to get killed?" "You don't touch him." "He was guiding me down the hall, not sucking the life out of my shoulder." "We are sorry." "Say you're sorry." "That will not be necessary." "He was protecting his superior." "I would have done the same." "He's not my superior." "Certainly not in every sense." "My apologies." "You wanted to take us somewhere?" "Please... this way." "That's your sweet spot." "This central chamber scrubs the CO2 from your artificial atmosphere and redistributes it as breathable air to the rest of the ship." "If you get a sufficiently large canister of retrovirus into that central chamber, the whole ship will be affected simultaneously." "Getting to this location without arousing suspicion will be very difficult." "I'm sure it will be, but we can't really help you with that." "Although, the Colonel and I have come up with a way to test that theory." "Step one, we find another enemy hive and jump to a location just out of its sensor range." "Step two, the Daedalus takes position in close proximity to your hive, essentially merging with your scan patterns, rendering it practically invisible to the enemies' sensors." "Step three, using sublight systems, our ships approach the target hive for whatever reason..." "I'm sure you can come up with something." "Step four, now that the Daedalus can use its beaming technology again... which would be thanks to..." "Anyway, once we get in range, we can beam a canister into the CO2 chamber, and boom... one hive ship de-Wraithified." "Unacceptable." "Excuse me?" "This plan keeps us completely reliant on you to disseminate the retrovirus." "It's meant to be a test to see if the gas works in the first place." "If it does, you can come up with some other way to deliver it." "Very well." "I'll transmit the coordinates to our new target as soon as I return to the hive." "We'll leave as soon as you are ready." "What's a girl like her do for fun?" "I should be on that hive when we do this." "Excuse me?" "Really?" "I know it's uncharacteristically brave, but I've hacked a lot of their systems under the guise of repairing them." "I've convinced them that I should be there to supervise their systems if anything goes wrong." "And they agreed to this?" "Yes." "Plus, now we can freely beam stuff on and off their ships," "I've written a program that will immediately beam me out of there the second I activate this emergency transponder." "You're sure you want to do this?" "Of course I don't want to do it." "I just..." "I think it should be done." "Ronon goes along." "I wouldn't have it any other way." "And I'd like you on the Daedalus." "No place I'd rather be." "Okay." "Good let's get this done." "I'm about ready for our house guest to leave." "Hey, is your terminal..." "You need to see this." "Oh, no." "Tell me the Daedalus has not left yet." "Are we there yet?" "Do you have any idea how difficult these maneuvers are going to be?" "I'm guessing really difficult?" "Yeah, we're going to be flying so close to that hive ship you'd be able to reach out and touch it." "I'm gonna insist on a few practice runs before we approach the enemy." "I'm sure they're fine with that." "Coming out of hyperspace." "Now, get McKay on the radio." "I want to..." "Shields to maximum!" "Decks 1 to 7 in the forward section have decompressed and are venting atmosphere." "Seal off those sections, get a damage control team down there." "Who's firing on us?" "I have two hive ships bearing down on our position, Sir." "One of them is the friendly." "Not so friendly." "All main weapons, fire at will on both ships." "Hermiod, stand by to beam warheads to the nearest hive ship." "This doesn't make any sense." "Why break the alliance now?" "They don't even have the gas aboard their ship, we do." "That's not my concern right now." "Colonel Caldwell, this is Hermiod." "The warheads are ready to deploy." "Stand by till we reach optimal range." "We've got to give McKay and Ronon time to beam back aboard first." "They've got until we reach weapons deployment range." "If they can't activate their emergency transceivers by then, there's nothing we can do about it." "What was that?" "Activate your transceiver." "Oh, no..." "What are you doing?" "I am sorry, Dr. McKay." "There has been a change in plans." "That's time." "You got to give them a few more seconds." "Sorry, Colonel." "I can't do that." "Hermiod, deploy warheads when ready." "Colonel Caldwell," "Dr. McKay's code has failed to breach the Wraith countermeasures." "I am attempting another series of codes." "Work as fast as you can." "This shield ain't gonna hold up forever." "With some 302s, I might be able to take out their hyperdrive, save us some time." "Do it." "Shields are at 60%!" "Dagger 2, on my lead, we're going to hit their stardrives, where the hull is thinnest." "I've got incoming." "Daggers 3 and 4, try to keep these darts off our six." "Hold on!" "We were supposed to be allies!" "I'm afraid the alliance has been dissolved." "Do you have any idea how much work I have put into all of this?" "I haven't slept in 36 hours!" "Perhaps it is better if you rest." "Shields are under 20%." "Hermiod, what have you got for me?" "I cannot guarantee that I will be able to defeat the Wraith countermeasures in sufficient time." "Colonel Sheppard, get your flight back to the ship." "We need to jump out of here as soon as possible." "Two minutes, and I can shut down their hyperdrive." "Unless you can shut down their weapons, it's not going to do us much good." "Damn it." "Sheppard?" "Sheppard?" "I'm not getting anything, Sir." "Prepare to jump on my mark." "Sir, the hives are opening hyperspace windows." "Why the hell'd they do that?" "Three of our 302s are returning to Daedalus, Sir." "Sheppard?" "His fighter isn't one of them." "The only contacts I have on screen are wreckage." "What about his locator beacon?" "No." "Nothing, Sir." "He's just gone." "Understood." "Set course for Atlantis." "We got hacked." "Within the hive ship schematics was a worm-like computer virus." "Your people went over the data." "I know." "We thought it was clean, but this virus was entirely different." "What did it do?" "It very selectively probed our systems without damaging them or exposing itself." "I don't understand." "If you didn't find it, and it didn't reveal itself..." "Once the hive left Atlantis, the worm began to destroy all of the data they had sent down." "Then this was their plan all along." "What did they get?" "This is one of the reasons we didn't detect it." "They only uploaded two pieces of information..." "One, the Aurora mission reports..." "Okay." "And two?" "The location of every world in our database." "Are you okay?" "No." "No, I think this is the most "not okay" I have ever been." "I see you have awakened." "Really?" "I was sort of hoping this was just a nightmare." "Why aren't we dead?" "The queen wants you to live long enough to witness the fruits of your labor." "If it wasn't for you, Dr. McKay, we would never have been able to get there." "What are you talking about, get where?" "Earth." "corrections and synchro by THU22"