theycalledmeacurse: (sleepy)
rogue. ([personal profile] theycalledmeacurse) wrote in [community profile] fateandfortune2015-11-24 11:11 pm

Just two vampires, traveling the galaxy... [For Todd the Wraith]

[continued from here]

It was a pleasant surprise to glance over and see Todd asleep on the bed, relaxed and peaceful. He can't have gotten much quality rest the night before propped up in the chair as he had been, certainly not when he'd been woken by her nightmare. She hoped that didn't happen again tonight, he had important things to take care of tomorrow; she didn't know all of the details, but with a civil war going on between his people, he needed his wits about him.

To that end, Rogue forced herself to stay awake for hours into the night, eating the dinner he'd brought for her and looking through one of the books from the collection he'd shown her before their sparring session. She didn't recognize anything on the pages, but it gave her a topic for conversation with the voices in her head, providing ample entertainment to pass the time. Eventually she fell asleep herself, the book held carefully to her chest as she curled up in the armchair, her boots set on the floor beside it. It was a fairly deep sleep, and she didn't dream for one of the first times in many weeks, something she was eternally grateful for when she awoke.
commandshumor: (Is a coat not a dress)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-12 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
"So I heard. He's already irritating me and I have yet to meet him" she said. Todd chuckled at that. When they finally reached the bridge she asked, "How long do you think the side effects of the therapy will last?" The initial effects lasted a day with the others. But her body chemistry was different than a male's. They were pretty much going into this blind, and while her tone didn't hint at such, her questions about the gene therapy and what it might do to her suggested she was a little anxious. Maybe even scared. She was a young wraith after all, a queen at that. Her reign could be over before the week was out.

"No telling what might happen exactly" Todd said honestly. "But we worked hard and sacrificed much to get the gene therapy to where it is. The problems are relatively minimal compared to before the changes."

She nodded and turned to the screen. Her commander looked to the helmsman, Kenny, who nodded and brought the hive out of hyperspace. "Hailing Atlantis." the second said, pushing a few buttons on the podium he was at.

There was silence for a long while, and then the screen lit up and a familiar bald head appeared, "Hello Todd."

"Mister Woolsey." Todd acknowledged

"You're cleared to land on the mainland. There will be some strict protocols while you're parked here"

"Such as?"

"No more than yourself, your queen, and one other may be allowed on Atlantis at any one time."

"Why so distrustful?" Todd said, feigning hurt, but expecting such.

"We don't feel there's a need to devote more marines than necessary to your stay."

"Fair enough. Anything else?"

"To avoid detection by any hives in the neighborhood, you're to power down your hive to the bare minimum. No wraith ships may fly without express permission from me. A Puddlejumper flown by one of our people will be used to ferry yourself and your other choice back and forth when needed, though quarters have been set up for you again so that the need for that is kept to a minimum. This...procedure, is going to take time, possibly as long as when we had you if the therapy doesn't take right away."

The commander nodded.

"One final bit." Woolsey said, and this time, he turned his attention to the queen, who seemed a little annoyed that the man had been addressing her commander and not her, but kept quiet, deciding a fight over rank among wraith could wait until she met him face-to-face. "Double cross us in anyway, and your hive will be obliterated."

"So the usual threats?" Todd said with a grin.

Woolsey gave the slightest shrug. "Can you blame us?"

"Something more original would be nice." Todd chuffed. "Any other...new security changes?"

"No. For now I think that will do it. Safe landing to you." and he cut out the feed.
commandshumor: (Hrm)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-13 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
Rogue had to remember that there were strict security protocols in place, regardless of Woolsey's feelings. Todd had been betrayed and sold out by his crew several times in the past, and it usually came back to bite Atlantis. Precautions were likely to be in effect until the civil war was over and real trust could start being earned.

"You will be the third party" the queen said before Todd could even open his mouth. "I need human eyes and ears where mine cannot be." she added. "They're far more likely to be open with you than with me or the commander so having a human in the inner circle would be beneficial."

Todd looked to Rogue. She wouldn't be a spy per se, as it was likely she'd not be allowed to roam Atlantis on her own, but as she said, another set of eyes and ears on Atlantis that would draw less attention than Todd would ensure they weren't being fooled with.
commandshumor: (Doing commander stuff)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-13 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Good." she answered then looked to her commander. "When you're ready."

Todd inclined his head and took over from Kenny who moved to one of the other podium-screens to help divert power from non-critical systems to helping land a ship the size of a city.

There were no windows, even on the bridge, but Todd closed his eyes, steering the ship pretty much with his mind, "seeing" the space around them and the planet below. The ship rumbled as they entered the atmosphere, Kenny and another wraith on the bridge helping slow their descent with thrusters and sub-lights.

The queen stared ahead at the navigation screen. Once they broke re-entry, the systems showed a crude map of the continent they were to land on. Todd steered the hive to a relatively barren area about a mile from the coast.

As the ship had no landing legs, the whole thing would flatten the area they'd settle in. The landing jostled them about a bit but nothing serious, and a wave of relief seemed to sweep through the bridge, even from the queen. Landing hives was not done very often for good reason.

Todd opened his eyes, took a moment before starting on the process of putting the hive to sleep, Kenny helping out around the podiums. "Powering ship down. Occupied hibernation pods are to remain active. Air filtration systems shifting over to environmental mode. Send a troop out to run the pumps to the sea, might as well refresh our water supply while we're parked here."

The second nodded and passed on the order. System by system the hive was sent to hibernation, until only the bare minimum like lights and the pods remained online. "My queen, what if we are betrayed?" Kenny asked.

The queen thought a moment. If they were betrayed, getting the hive off the ground and away before Atlantis could do significant damage was impossible. So the next logical step would be to send out a data burst through subspace to the nearest hives to betray where Atlantis was. Todd always fell back on this threat because it would get back at Atlantis without question. And it didn't matter which side of the war you were on. If you were part of the alliance, then the data burst clearly meant Atlantis could no longer be trusted. Part of the enemy's ranks? Well, they were still banking on some way to earth where the best feeding grounds in two galaxies lived. Atlantis was the only way.

Finally, the queen answered. "Depends on the betrayal. With that, she led the way to the deck where the insomnia-ridden wraith were being kept.
commandshumor: (On second thought)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-14 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
As they drew closer to the pods, Todd grew nervous. If this hibernation cure didn't work, then they could be looking at weeks of tests. Just this last week with minimal rest had been taxing enough on him and the crew experiencing the symptom.

He heard Rogue stumble against the wall and he paused looking to her, the queen also turning around in question.

"You all right?" Todd asked, "Are you sick?"
commandshumor: (Hrm)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-14 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
The queen nodded and began to walk on, after a moment, Todd followed, but now he had another worry on his mind. What was wrong with her? They got to the pods and one by one, woke the three wraith.

After they came out, it was a few moments to figure out if the hibernation helped or did nothing. Fortunately, it had. They were well-rested and ready to go to work. Todd ordered them to go join the others and pass on the word to start sending any insomnia-stricken wraith into the pods for a week of rest.

He'd have to go in hibernation himself, but first they had to go to Atlantis and bring them up to date on what was going on, and even post-pone the treatment to the queen until he was out of the pod as he did not want to be kept out of the loop for such an important event.

Todd and the queen headed back to where they'd left Rogue in the hallway, with good news.
commandshumor: (Turn around)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-14 07:00 am (UTC)(link)
They returned shortly after she fixed herself up. Todd, while tired, was clearly pleased.

"Good news, the hibernation worked. How often it will have to be done remains to be seen but at least its not an incurable problem." he said.

The queen however was eyeing Rogue suspiciously. She knew something was wrong with her. Perhaps she could pick up on the faint scent of new blood. But she kept it to herself. "Come, let's leave the ship" she said and led the way.

Todd and Rogue walked behind her, the commander silently asking if she was okay.

Instead of heading to the dart bay, they seemed to be heading down some levels, and, sure enough, they turned a corner and a door, typically air-tight, opened at the queen's touch with an ugly noise, a trail of slime briefly connecting them in the bright sunlight, and they stepped out onto solid ground.

It was warm out with a pleasant breeze. There were a scattering of trees but nothing like the forest that Todd and Rogue had needed to navigate a few days ago. They moved into open ground, where they'd easily be spotted by the Puddlejumper.
commandshumor: (Betrayed)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-14 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
Indeed, he did.

"Rogue, what's wrong?" He asked, kneeling beside her, touching her shoulder.

The queen looked on with interest. Rogue must have been far more important to her commander than she guessed if he was acting like this.

Todd looked to his feeding hand. The option of the enzyme to cure her of whatever ailed her came up.

"Did you get hurt sparring?" He asked, guessing she might have hidden whatever was wrong for a little while and he'd been too busy to notice.
commandshumor: (The fuck is this shit)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-15 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
He nodded once, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before standing up, eyes watching the sky for the Puddlejumper.

Not a moment later, it appeared on the horizon and sped towards them, landing within seconds.

The back opened up and Sheppard walked out, Ronon-always one to trust the wraith even less than Woolsey-beside him. "Morning" he greeted, but his frown vanished at the state of Rogue. He looked to Todd, "Hey, what happened?"

"I'm unsure." he replied honestly.

Sheppard knelt beside her, "You injured or sick?" he asked, but unlike Todd, he didn't touch her because he still believed her to be dangerous...but also if she was sick with something, it was best to expose himself the least possible.

Ronon tightened his grip on his gun, glancing to Rogue but mostly had his eyes on the queen.
commandshumor: (The fuck is this shit)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-15 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
Sheppard wasn't convinced and he stood, touching his earpiece. "Atlantis this is Sheppard, have a medical team standing by in hazmat. Rogue is sick and we're not sure with what."

After acknowledging the order, he returned inside the Jumper.

Todd helped Rogue to her feet, the queen stepping in and sitting down without a word, though a little annoyed by Ronon's continuous guard.

The commander sat with Rogue, letting her lean her headachey head against his shoulder.

Sheppard closed the door, glancing to the odd pair but saying nothing as he took the jumper back into the air and they headed for Atlantis, and hopefully, help.
Edited 2016-03-15 02:31 (UTC)
commandshumor: (At the Gate)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-15 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Todd let the doctor have her without a word, but silently he and the queen were talking. She was surprised by her commander's devotion to the human, but not mad at Rogue for being sick or taking up what should have been her time in the spotlight. She was actually curious. Wraith never fell ill, and when it was something even their Gift couldn't cure, it was fascinating. A little morbid perhaps but that's how they thought.

Sheppard and Ronon also followed Beckett as there was a possibility they could have been exposed. Todd and the queen were escorted by a team in hazmat to their new quarters.

Beckett had Rogue lay on a rolling bed-and would have none of her excuses to walking on her own-and asked questions along the way. What sort of pain, how long, how bad, and so on. He also assured her that the hazmat precaution was more often done than she might think. Atlantis had had its fair share of need of quarantines over the years and the city itself often shut down if it sensed a containment. Better safe than sorry.
commandshumor: (I got nothing on the table)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-15 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
The morning stretched into the afternoon, Todd and the queen were eventually brought before Woolsey when it was confirmed Rogue wasn't carrying anything contagious.

Todd filled Woolsey, Keller, McKay and Teyla and Ronon and Sheppard-who'd joined them after they'd been cleared-about what had happened since their last trip to Atlantis. The death of the young queen, the progress with farming, finding the queen and her story, as well as how far they'd come with preparing their own meals on board the hive. The insomnia bit was left for last, along with the apparent remedy for it.

Keller in turn filled him and the new queen in on the progress of the drone's therapy. Thus far, the current trial seemed to be working. They were eating real food and had no side effects so far.

"So all that remains is a test on me" the queen said.

"True but-" Keller started but the queen cut her off.

"Acquiring an enemy queen to run tests on would be next to impossible, and as I am the youngest in the alliance, the choice is already made. However, as my life is quite valuable, there are a few conditions we would like followed."

"Such as?" Woolsey said.

The queen looked to Todd then back to the bald man. "We have captured an iratus bug queen to feed upon me in the event the test goes wrong and my healing abilities cannot overcome it. It will be used as such. It will of course remain on board the hive until such a time, if any, its needed."

"...Anything else?" Woolsey asked

"Yes." Todd said "As there is a possibility the queen may perish from the drug, we have a list of demands to make up for her loss. But also we require at least some of them to be fulfilled anyway in order to gain the upper-hand in this civil war."

"Wait a minute I know where this is going and the answer is no." Sheppard butted in, sitting up straighter.

Todd looked to him. "Our hive is ancient, we must have upgrades for it otherwise every fight we engage in is a fifty-fifty chance." he looked to Woolsey. "And as we're taking a big risk in trials on the queen, its only fair you give us something in return for our troubles. We're not asking for zero-point-module power. Just a little help in gaining the upper hand over enemy hives."

Woolsey was quiet, staring at the pair in front of him, then looking to McKay. "I want you to look over their list of demands."

"Seriously?" McKay said

"Yes. Report to me what the power requirements will be as well as any loopholes." his eyes flicked back to the pair. "We'll see what we can do, but no guarantees."

The queen stood, and Todd did as well, and they were escorted back to their quarters, though Todd paused briefly on the way, looking down the hall where the hospital was before following his queen. It was best to stay out of the way and let Beckett figure out what was wrong on his own with Rogue. Butting in may cause her to hide more from him.
commandshumor: (With Kenny)

[personal profile] commandshumor 2016-03-19 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
Todd and the queen remained in their quarters for awhile, interrupted in their discussions about how things went with Woolsey and the others by a marine opening the door and delivering the good news. Rogue would be all right.

It was a relief for both of them, but Todd more so of course. Now that that worry was over, and Atlantis had been brought up to date on what happened, he decided it was best he be flown back to the hive so that he could take his turn in hibernation for a week. He really didn't like the idea of leaving the queen alone, but this couldn't be put off much longer. His exhaustion was beginning to tell.

He talked with the queen awhile more, telling her what ought to happen while he was away from her. Rogue would be her consort as it was likely she'd be out of the hospital before he was out of the pod.

A little convincing of their guards to let them see Rogue, they were taken to the hospital.

Dinner was just being brought in for the patients and while Beckett knew what was wrong with her, he'd insisted on keeping Rogue over one night to monitor. The doctor was surprised by the visit but allowed the pair to talk to his newest patient.

"Rogue love, you have visitors." he smiled, Todd and the queen following him to her bedside.

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