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TITLE: Pegasus Ascendant - Part Two
SUMMARY: What if the Wraith had never existed?
CATEGORY: AU, gen
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Stargate Atlantis, it's characters and situations, are not mine but MGM, Gekko Productions, and possibly other companies. I'm using them without permission and without intent to profit.
NOTES: I posted the first chapter of this story a couple of months back in a Flashfic challenge. I'm still working on it, although it's slow-going right now with everything else. But this is my 'easy' story - as compared to Big Bang, which is being difficult.
Pegasus Ascendant
Part One
Part Two
Welcome she had given them, but that welcome was not reflected everywhere.
In the near-bursting council chamber, Teyla listened to the arguments playing back and forth like echoes through a cliff passage. It was a small relief that the city alliance had waited until the Earthers transferred to their new planet before breaking out in dissent. The intervening time had given them fuel for their anger and it poured forth now.
"Your decision was rash. There should have been a meeting first - an agreement worked out between our peoples!"
Kel's voice was foremost among the protesters in the city council. The large Satedan was not a man to sit back and and see where things led, and his anger carried weight. He had commanded the city security for longer than Teyla had held the office of speaker for the city and was well-respected among all peoples.
Still, he was growing old and more cautious in his outlook on the city of late, his complaints of Teyla's decisions carrying an air of resentment.
Up until now, Teyla had dismissed his reticence as merely the fears of the elders at a younger decision-maker.
Perhaps that had been foolish of her, to dismiss one so influential in the city.
In the Hall of Greeting and with the Earthers looking on, Kel had backed her up; here, he was not so restrained.
"Now we have these strangers among us - people of whom we know little more than that they presumed to come here as though this place was theirs and theirs alone!"
"Their module was almost completely depleted," Ladon said mildly from amidst the Genii and their political allies. At some point in the discussion, he had appropriated Teyla's memory stones and was shifting them in random patterns on top of the smoothskin in which they were kept. The steady click-click-click of the marked pebbles was a soothing undertone in the midst of the chaos. "According to their scientists, they had the power to connect long enough to bring them all through in one passage. As it was, they only just completed the move."
Kel frowned. "They weren't in danger. The Ring doesn't close as long as someone remains in passage."
"That's true of most travel," Ladon said. "We've never seen anyone passage this far. The power requirements on our side were still considerable. Their own would have been beyond anything we've seen before."
There was a rustle among the Aleshka scientists, and one of them spoke with an eagerness barely disguised. "Would our own module be capable of such a feat? To passage us between galaxies?"
The speculation fuelled a murmur of interest, and Ladon appeared to be considering the matter.
"A question for later answering, perhaps." Teyla intervened in the conversation. This meeting had been called for the city to deal with the matter of the Earthers, she would rather their plaints were brought out now than later. "In the meantime, the Earthers will be assigned to free bedspace and free workspace through the city."
"I've got a bedspace free in my room," one of the Satedan warriors catcalled.
"You might find them cold company, Rakai," said Sora with a faint sneer.
"Can't be any colder company than you, Sora!"
Teyla's mouth twitched as guffaws and teasing added to the racket, and Sora flushed with anger. Genii fastidiousness was well-known and much-commented upon by the Satedans who were more casual about such matters as the sharing of bed and body.
"Recall that these people are far from their home," she said with a smile for Rakai, who was being nudged by his fellow Satedans. "Their customs are not our customs, their ways are not known to us - not yet. Before you invite woman or man to your bed, be sure that they do not think it a marriage-contract."
That struck home - that the ways of these people were not the ways of Pegasus, and what the city might assume was true had no basis in anything but their own experience.
Pegasus was wide and diverse; and while no wars had been fought over misunderstanding, they were not yet far off.
Amusement dimmed, then died as Kel brought up his annoyance yet again. "And yet you've set us up like a Nashani marriage arrangement, without warning or consult. Your powers don't go that far, Teyla. This city is ours - it was left to us."
There was irony, but she could not smile at it. In just such tones had some of the Earthers declared their right to remain in the city, having sought it so long and travelled so far to find it.
"They are heirs of the Ancestors - even as are we. Some of their number even carry the gifts of the Ancestors in their veins."
"Their Ancestors resigned their rights to the city when they left!"
"That is conjecture and not known," Teyla said. "What is known is that these people have come to the city seeking knowledge, even as we do. They are here, they have no way home, and they are afraid."
Even in the undercurrent of excitement she had sensed among the Earthers, Teyla had seen the discontent, closely held. Both she and Dr. Weir had soon seen that it would be best to see the Earthers safely installed on their planet while the city dealt with the upheaval and the Earthers adjusted their expectations.
"They were displeased that the city was already occupied," said Irrhena of Taranis with a tilt of her head. "Some of them were not subtle about it."
There had been complaints once the awe of arrival had worn off.
Some of the Earthers had taken the attitude that all their group should be allowed to stay in the city. After all, they had travelled so far in distance, if not in steps, and wished only to settle somewhere familiar!
That discontent had been swiftly quelled by Elizabeth Weir.
"We've come this far," she'd said with steel authority. "We can travel a little further in a day."
And even then, there were arguments.
The Earthers were a vocal group. It was not entirely a shock - many cultures in the city were wont to speak their minds. What surprised Teyla was that the Earthers seemed to feel no shame at arguing in public, while most cultures in the city preferred to hold their grievances in private or save them for council.
Kel had backed her decision out of city solidarity and Teyla appreciated that he had saved his discontent until after the Earthers had gone.
Several of Dr. Weir's people were not quite so restrained.
In the end, when the Earthers grew too vociferous, Teyla had suggested that perhaps that they would like to retire to the planet on which their main settlement would be built and continue the discussion.
Dr. Weir had seemed relieved by the suggestion. "That's an excellent idea."
But even that idea was met with reservation by some.
"If it's all right, I'd like to see the planet that Miss Emmagen has in mind for us, first." The speaker had introduced himself as Colonel Marshall Sumner of the United States Marines. A warrior, without a doubt, and one with a hardness about him, the edges of one who had been a soldier all his life and had not allowed himself to relax for even an instant.
"And if it's not all right?" Ronon had asked, edgy with the noise and the quarrels.
Elizabeth intervened. "If the planet isn't suitable to sustain us, then we'll find another," she had declared with the firmness of a leader and the diplomacy of a peaceholder. "In the meantime, somewhere to get our bearings will be sufficient."
The Earthers had declined anything more than the escort of Solen's detachment to the planet, although Dr. Weir had assured Teyla that no insult was intended. "We just need a little time to argue among ourselves - preferably, without an audience." Her lips twisted slightly. "It's always a good idea to keep the domestics in the family."
Sitting in the council chambers, listening to the observations bandied back and forth, Teyla imagined that what she was observing now could be termed 'a domestic'.
And, like Dr. Weir, Teyla was relieved that her people were keeping it 'in the family.'
She felt the uncertainty that loomed before them. Kel could not question her motives any harder than she had herself.
In the end, she could not second-guess her choice. The decision was made, and these new allies brought in among them. The council was reacting as did all people when faced with change: retreating and bleating of how they preferred 'the old ways.' In time, they would accustom themselves to the newcomers, and the newcomers would accustom themselves to the ways of the city, and they would manage as best they could.
Until then...
Another round of complaints burst forth, and Teyla glanced at her timepiece, laid her hands on the table, and stood.
"We argue a question already answered," she said, lifting her voice to a level of quiet, clear authority. "I made the decision on behalf of the city for right or wrong. It is made and cannot be unmade. Now, the question is not of whether we should treat with them, but how we should treat with them."
"The question," Sora said pointedly from her chair beside Ladon, "isn't how we should treat with them, but whether they'll treat with us at all!"
"Do not borrow the storms of winter in the summer sun."
The quotation was an ancient Veniani proverb and apt for the situation, but the serene superiority with which Irrhena delivered it might well have been a slap across the Genii woman's face. Sora coloured and opened her mouth to retort.
Teyla brought her hand sharply down on the table, a physical gesture to draw attention and break tension in an argument. It silenced the room as yelling over the top of them would not have done.
"That is enough," she said, looking around the table, meeting gazes, gauging reactions.
In the end, these were Teyla's people, the inhabitants of this city and the planets and cultures they represented. Agreement or approval of her was not necessary, but a willingness to listen and to trust and to learn was. Few continued in the city of the Ancestors who had no capacity to grow in spirit as well as knowledge.
"Whatever our thoughts on the Earthers and their presence, they are here, guests to our city who will most likely become our allies. In their actions and ours alliance will be made, and we should not dismiss them for fear of what they might be."
"And so we excuse all their wrongs?" Kel demanded, narrow-eyed.
"No," she said immediately. "I would not ask us to give up who we are or what we have done here. But I believe that we should treat them with the courtesy that is due all who come here. They will subject themselves to the rules of the city and, in time, prove themselves."
A slightly louder click of stones in the silence showed Ladon smiling in smooth amusement. "They'll meet our terms. They want to stay here; they'll learn how the seasons turn."
"And if they do not?" Oriel of the Aleksha asked. The Alekshan peacekeeper turned her face to Teyla, like a waxing moon in a cloud of dark hair. "If they prove to be intransigent, without moderation or adaptability?"
It was, Teyla knew, their greatest fear; not that she had let the predators in among the herd, but that she had planted rocks in a crop-growing field. Predators could not disguise themselves for long among the flocks, but rocks would not be evident until the ploughshare blunted itself on the edge.
Still, there was no way back, only the passage forward. The Earthers had chosen to step forth into the unknown. Teyla must do the same and deal with the consequences - and so must the city.
She looked around the room, meeting gazes angry and accepting, serene and searing, trusting and troubled.
"If they prove themselves to be unworthy to be part of the city alliance, then we deal with it then."
- tbc -
NOTE: The main reason this has taken so long is because I tried to shoehorn John's entry into the city in this section instead of looking at the Pegasus reaction first. The Earth reaction is coming, though. It just didn't fit here.
REQUEST: If there's someone who has time and inclination, I'd like a beta for this story. The final estimate is somewhere in the realm of 30K, with a central focus on Teyla and Elizabeth, Ronon, John, Rodney, Aiden, and Sora playing strong parts. If you're willing to help out, I'd appreciate it.
SUMMARY: What if the Wraith had never existed?
CATEGORY: AU, gen
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Stargate Atlantis, it's characters and situations, are not mine but MGM, Gekko Productions, and possibly other companies. I'm using them without permission and without intent to profit.
NOTES: I posted the first chapter of this story a couple of months back in a Flashfic challenge. I'm still working on it, although it's slow-going right now with everything else. But this is my 'easy' story - as compared to Big Bang, which is being difficult.
Part One
Part Two
Welcome she had given them, but that welcome was not reflected everywhere.
In the near-bursting council chamber, Teyla listened to the arguments playing back and forth like echoes through a cliff passage. It was a small relief that the city alliance had waited until the Earthers transferred to their new planet before breaking out in dissent. The intervening time had given them fuel for their anger and it poured forth now.
"Your decision was rash. There should have been a meeting first - an agreement worked out between our peoples!"
Kel's voice was foremost among the protesters in the city council. The large Satedan was not a man to sit back and and see where things led, and his anger carried weight. He had commanded the city security for longer than Teyla had held the office of speaker for the city and was well-respected among all peoples.
Still, he was growing old and more cautious in his outlook on the city of late, his complaints of Teyla's decisions carrying an air of resentment.
Up until now, Teyla had dismissed his reticence as merely the fears of the elders at a younger decision-maker.
Perhaps that had been foolish of her, to dismiss one so influential in the city.
In the Hall of Greeting and with the Earthers looking on, Kel had backed her up; here, he was not so restrained.
"Now we have these strangers among us - people of whom we know little more than that they presumed to come here as though this place was theirs and theirs alone!"
"Their module was almost completely depleted," Ladon said mildly from amidst the Genii and their political allies. At some point in the discussion, he had appropriated Teyla's memory stones and was shifting them in random patterns on top of the smoothskin in which they were kept. The steady click-click-click of the marked pebbles was a soothing undertone in the midst of the chaos. "According to their scientists, they had the power to connect long enough to bring them all through in one passage. As it was, they only just completed the move."
Kel frowned. "They weren't in danger. The Ring doesn't close as long as someone remains in passage."
"That's true of most travel," Ladon said. "We've never seen anyone passage this far. The power requirements on our side were still considerable. Their own would have been beyond anything we've seen before."
There was a rustle among the Aleshka scientists, and one of them spoke with an eagerness barely disguised. "Would our own module be capable of such a feat? To passage us between galaxies?"
The speculation fuelled a murmur of interest, and Ladon appeared to be considering the matter.
"A question for later answering, perhaps." Teyla intervened in the conversation. This meeting had been called for the city to deal with the matter of the Earthers, she would rather their plaints were brought out now than later. "In the meantime, the Earthers will be assigned to free bedspace and free workspace through the city."
"I've got a bedspace free in my room," one of the Satedan warriors catcalled.
"You might find them cold company, Rakai," said Sora with a faint sneer.
"Can't be any colder company than you, Sora!"
Teyla's mouth twitched as guffaws and teasing added to the racket, and Sora flushed with anger. Genii fastidiousness was well-known and much-commented upon by the Satedans who were more casual about such matters as the sharing of bed and body.
"Recall that these people are far from their home," she said with a smile for Rakai, who was being nudged by his fellow Satedans. "Their customs are not our customs, their ways are not known to us - not yet. Before you invite woman or man to your bed, be sure that they do not think it a marriage-contract."
That struck home - that the ways of these people were not the ways of Pegasus, and what the city might assume was true had no basis in anything but their own experience.
Pegasus was wide and diverse; and while no wars had been fought over misunderstanding, they were not yet far off.
Amusement dimmed, then died as Kel brought up his annoyance yet again. "And yet you've set us up like a Nashani marriage arrangement, without warning or consult. Your powers don't go that far, Teyla. This city is ours - it was left to us."
There was irony, but she could not smile at it. In just such tones had some of the Earthers declared their right to remain in the city, having sought it so long and travelled so far to find it.
"They are heirs of the Ancestors - even as are we. Some of their number even carry the gifts of the Ancestors in their veins."
"Their Ancestors resigned their rights to the city when they left!"
"That is conjecture and not known," Teyla said. "What is known is that these people have come to the city seeking knowledge, even as we do. They are here, they have no way home, and they are afraid."
Even in the undercurrent of excitement she had sensed among the Earthers, Teyla had seen the discontent, closely held. Both she and Dr. Weir had soon seen that it would be best to see the Earthers safely installed on their planet while the city dealt with the upheaval and the Earthers adjusted their expectations.
"They were displeased that the city was already occupied," said Irrhena of Taranis with a tilt of her head. "Some of them were not subtle about it."
There had been complaints once the awe of arrival had worn off.
Some of the Earthers had taken the attitude that all their group should be allowed to stay in the city. After all, they had travelled so far in distance, if not in steps, and wished only to settle somewhere familiar!
That discontent had been swiftly quelled by Elizabeth Weir.
"We've come this far," she'd said with steel authority. "We can travel a little further in a day."
And even then, there were arguments.
The Earthers were a vocal group. It was not entirely a shock - many cultures in the city were wont to speak their minds. What surprised Teyla was that the Earthers seemed to feel no shame at arguing in public, while most cultures in the city preferred to hold their grievances in private or save them for council.
Kel had backed her decision out of city solidarity and Teyla appreciated that he had saved his discontent until after the Earthers had gone.
Several of Dr. Weir's people were not quite so restrained.
In the end, when the Earthers grew too vociferous, Teyla had suggested that perhaps that they would like to retire to the planet on which their main settlement would be built and continue the discussion.
Dr. Weir had seemed relieved by the suggestion. "That's an excellent idea."
But even that idea was met with reservation by some.
"If it's all right, I'd like to see the planet that Miss Emmagen has in mind for us, first." The speaker had introduced himself as Colonel Marshall Sumner of the United States Marines. A warrior, without a doubt, and one with a hardness about him, the edges of one who had been a soldier all his life and had not allowed himself to relax for even an instant.
"And if it's not all right?" Ronon had asked, edgy with the noise and the quarrels.
Elizabeth intervened. "If the planet isn't suitable to sustain us, then we'll find another," she had declared with the firmness of a leader and the diplomacy of a peaceholder. "In the meantime, somewhere to get our bearings will be sufficient."
The Earthers had declined anything more than the escort of Solen's detachment to the planet, although Dr. Weir had assured Teyla that no insult was intended. "We just need a little time to argue among ourselves - preferably, without an audience." Her lips twisted slightly. "It's always a good idea to keep the domestics in the family."
Sitting in the council chambers, listening to the observations bandied back and forth, Teyla imagined that what she was observing now could be termed 'a domestic'.
And, like Dr. Weir, Teyla was relieved that her people were keeping it 'in the family.'
She felt the uncertainty that loomed before them. Kel could not question her motives any harder than she had herself.
In the end, she could not second-guess her choice. The decision was made, and these new allies brought in among them. The council was reacting as did all people when faced with change: retreating and bleating of how they preferred 'the old ways.' In time, they would accustom themselves to the newcomers, and the newcomers would accustom themselves to the ways of the city, and they would manage as best they could.
Until then...
Another round of complaints burst forth, and Teyla glanced at her timepiece, laid her hands on the table, and stood.
"We argue a question already answered," she said, lifting her voice to a level of quiet, clear authority. "I made the decision on behalf of the city for right or wrong. It is made and cannot be unmade. Now, the question is not of whether we should treat with them, but how we should treat with them."
"The question," Sora said pointedly from her chair beside Ladon, "isn't how we should treat with them, but whether they'll treat with us at all!"
"Do not borrow the storms of winter in the summer sun."
The quotation was an ancient Veniani proverb and apt for the situation, but the serene superiority with which Irrhena delivered it might well have been a slap across the Genii woman's face. Sora coloured and opened her mouth to retort.
Teyla brought her hand sharply down on the table, a physical gesture to draw attention and break tension in an argument. It silenced the room as yelling over the top of them would not have done.
"That is enough," she said, looking around the table, meeting gazes, gauging reactions.
In the end, these were Teyla's people, the inhabitants of this city and the planets and cultures they represented. Agreement or approval of her was not necessary, but a willingness to listen and to trust and to learn was. Few continued in the city of the Ancestors who had no capacity to grow in spirit as well as knowledge.
"Whatever our thoughts on the Earthers and their presence, they are here, guests to our city who will most likely become our allies. In their actions and ours alliance will be made, and we should not dismiss them for fear of what they might be."
"And so we excuse all their wrongs?" Kel demanded, narrow-eyed.
"No," she said immediately. "I would not ask us to give up who we are or what we have done here. But I believe that we should treat them with the courtesy that is due all who come here. They will subject themselves to the rules of the city and, in time, prove themselves."
A slightly louder click of stones in the silence showed Ladon smiling in smooth amusement. "They'll meet our terms. They want to stay here; they'll learn how the seasons turn."
"And if they do not?" Oriel of the Aleksha asked. The Alekshan peacekeeper turned her face to Teyla, like a waxing moon in a cloud of dark hair. "If they prove to be intransigent, without moderation or adaptability?"
It was, Teyla knew, their greatest fear; not that she had let the predators in among the herd, but that she had planted rocks in a crop-growing field. Predators could not disguise themselves for long among the flocks, but rocks would not be evident until the ploughshare blunted itself on the edge.
Still, there was no way back, only the passage forward. The Earthers had chosen to step forth into the unknown. Teyla must do the same and deal with the consequences - and so must the city.
She looked around the room, meeting gazes angry and accepting, serene and searing, trusting and troubled.
"If they prove themselves to be unworthy to be part of the city alliance, then we deal with it then."
- tbc -
NOTE: The main reason this has taken so long is because I tried to shoehorn John's entry into the city in this section instead of looking at the Pegasus reaction first. The Earth reaction is coming, though. It just didn't fit here.
REQUEST: If there's someone who has time and inclination, I'd like a beta for this story. The final estimate is somewhere in the realm of 30K, with a central focus on Teyla and Elizabeth, Ronon, John, Rodney, Aiden, and Sora playing strong parts. If you're willing to help out, I'd appreciate it.
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This is great, I look forward to reading this. :D
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This is great, I look forward to reading this. :D
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