Chapter 158

Vala's Tel'tak, six hours later

Sitting at the controls of the craft, Vala looked at her nails as hyperspace unfolded before the sh.i.p.s view screen. Looking at the data displayed on the heads up display she noted that they would arrive at their destination in a few short minutes. In the distance she heard the now restrained three men begin to struggle on the floor. That struggling soon turned into yelling and shouting. Smiling broadly, Vala stood and made her way to the rear compartment of the Tel'tak.

"You will pay for this with your life woman!" Cyrus yelled.

"I cannot break the bonds holding me commander." The Genii soldier beside Cyrus pleaded desperately.

"I'll choke the life out of your body!" Cyrus continued to bellow.

"Now boys, flattery will get you everywhere with me. As the mother of a once powerful ascended being, I would ask that you be a bit more polite with your rhetoric." Vala replied from her place leaning in the compartment doorway.

"Untie me now!" Cyrus demanded.

"Yeah, about that; I don' think that's the best of ideas judging by your mood. I was thinking instead of introducing you to a few friends of mine." Vala said wistfully.

"Your friends will die along with you! Who are these friends?" Cyrus continued to demand.

"You know them well actually. The Tauri! They are very excited about the chance to have a little chat with you." Vala replied with a smile before walking away.

Exiting hyperspace, the Tel'tak slowed. Turbulence began to buffet the small craft as it entered the atmosphere. Minutes later the turbulence ceased, and the craft soared through the bright blue sky. In the distance, rising from the sea stood Borealis. A few simple commands later, the Tel'tak set down gently on the east pier of the city. Opening the outer door, salt air entered the craft. Along with that salt air was a man. Leading the new arrival to the rear compartment Vala smiled a toothy smile.

"Tada!" Vala said happily.

"Indeed." Teal'c replied with a smirk.

M6H-491

Thousands of years earlier, the world known within the Atlantis database as M6H-491 had been home to a human agrarian society. Repeated severe cullings had severely diminished the numbers of the inhabitants until they abandoned their home world for another elsewhere in the galaxy. Today that world was once again inhabited, but not by humans as it once had been. This world was now a Wraith outpost of medium strength. Several thousand Wraith soldiers patrolled the area near the world's stargate.

Gliding silently through the atmosphere was the Apollo, under the command of Colonel Ellis. This mission was not one that he would have requested for himself, but his hope was that it would lead towards an end to the war against the Wraith. The mission was twofold; deliver the wraith form replicator while also capturing a number of actual Wraith. As a cover for the mission of delivering their agent of destruction, it had been decided to mask their intentions and make their presence appear to be for the purposes of culling Wraith.

In the port side fighter bay of Apollo preparations were complete. A modular containment area had been erected, using the Atlantis brig as the model. Using the matter creation units, a portable copy of the force field equipped detention cell had been built. Equipped with stun field device modified from the original Wraith design, any being transported inside the detention area would be rendered unconscious by a field of debilitating energy. Standing near this in the fighter bay was Doctor Radek Zelenka and the replicator form Wraith. Being his creation, Radek had insisted on accompanying the replicator along for its introduction to the targeted delivery point.

"Is everything ready on your end Doctor Zelenka?" Colonel Ellis asked into his radio earpiece.

"The replicator is ready. The detention cell is also standing by." Radek replied.

"Standby Doctor. We have a group of twenty Wraith soldiers we're tracking on the ground. We'll beam them aboard and then deploy the replicator. I want the Wraith incapacitated the moment their aboard." Ellis ordered.

"Understood." Radek replied quickly.

Moments later a dazzling display of white energy expanded within the containment field. As the Wraith appeared within the energy field they first looked down at now empty hands that had moments before been holding weapons. Next they looked up directly at Doctor Zelenka. Standing at his station before the containment fields control panel, Radek pushed a button before looking at those trapped in the energized field. From the four corners of the square energized containment field a wave of debilitating energy shot forth in a flat trajectory five inches above the deck. On contact, the Wraith contained within fell to the ground unconscious.

Continuing to follow the instructions it had been given, the transport beam module energized again. The replicator form Wraith dematerialized and vanished from within Apollo's fighter bay, to reappear on the ground below where the now captured Wraith had been standing. Reaching down for one of the stun weapons laying on the ground, the replicator form Wraith grabbed the weapon. Turning on its heels, the replicator broke into a sprint towards the nearest structure of the Wraith outpost. While it ran, the organic replicator using its access into the telepathically linked hive mind began to report the 'culling' that had just occurred.

Her mission accomplished, the Apollo climbed higher. Less than a minute later the ship broke free from the bonds of the planets atmosphere. Powering down the cloak so their presence would be noted on Wraith sensors, Apollo leaped into hyperspace and vanished.