Stargate

The 9 Queens

The next day General O'Neill was in the Command Tower when the subspace communicator they had given Todd activated and it was clear he was in a ship of some type.

"General O'Neill, the Queens of the Wraith Alliance have decided to entertain your request. They would like to know where you would like to meet to discuss your proposal?" he asked reporting the relevant details before asking.

"You know the location of Atlantis well, let us end this where it all began." Jack replied to him, the response made Todd laugh as he knew the irony of that and terminate the connection.

Jack warned the others that they could expect the Wraith, and Rodney laughed as their options to deal with the Wraith here were endless. Each of the 5 ships sported an upgraded ZPM, and they had roughly a dozen of them in the city. Rodney had even detected massive amounts of the raw crystal in the asteroid fields of this system.

3 days later they detected the 9 Hive ships converging as they flew to Atlantis to meet with them there. It would take them another 2 days to arrive, and Jack knew by the time they did the Hoffan d**g would be working its way well across the galaxy. Laydon had arrived that morning, and was smiling as he met General O'Neill and Carter in their shared office in the control tower.

"It is every bit as infectious as promised General. Our medical facilities are fit to burst from those that are symptomatic, and the guidance provided by Dr. Keller has proved invaluable." he reported to them. "So far we have 80 thousand symptomatic, and believe we have so far achieved a 50 percent infection threshold."

"Excellent, I assume the story is the same across the Alliance?" Carter asked.

"So far very similar, you are aware the majoroty of our population is concenrrated. As such we have a higher infection rate so far, but it has proven to be infectious even to far reaching planets in the Alliance as well." he replied.

"Well we will have the 9 Queens here for our first round of negotiations in 2 days time, you are welcome to send a Delegate or two to observe." O'Neill told him.

Laydon smiled as he nodded. "We would live to attend." he said.

"We need more details on the borders of the Wraith Alliances. We have another 30 drones ready for Payload dispersal, and wish to strike 5 planets in each of the other queens territories." O'Neill told him. He had never expected to employ viral warfare against a population, let alone a Galaxy.

2 days later the 9 Hive ships exited hyperspace in the far reaches of the system, and set course for the planet. They each had 3 cruisers, and O'Neill laughed as they didnt even bother to raise the shields yet.

"Broadcast their instructions." Carter ordered as she would not permit the hive ships or cruisers close to the planet. "Shepherd to the Command Chair." she ordered over the city comms.

They watched closely as each of the ships launched a transport and 5 darts following her instructions to the T. It took 2 hours for them to traverse the distance, and the 5 Delegates from the Pegasus Alliance were there as well.

Carter ensured Security was tight where they met, as they had used the landing platform by Destiny as it was still being supplied with provisions for the trip back to Earth. Part of the reason was because its weapons systems were active, and abke to track all of the ships at the same time. It was also fully manned and capable of launch at a moments notice to join the other 5 ships in various orbits and positions in the system.

O'Neill watched as the 9 transports landed close togrther, the darts landing on the opposite end of the platform. They all quickly exited and approached the area that had been selected for the meeting.

"Welcome to Atlantis Queens of the Wraith Alliance. If you will follow us, I assure your safety so long as we negotiate this peace for the Galaxy." he said as he walked to the nearby conferemce room they had found.

"You speak bravely for one who descends from people who fled us before. What makes you believe you will succeed where they have failed?" one of the Queens demanded.

"Unlike the Lanteans you battled before, we are prepared to exterminate you by any means necessary. Also unlike them, our technology does not solely rely on their drones. You will notice the Alterran ship Destiny behind you being stocked for its voyage. It is just one example of what you will face shoukd we not find agreeable terms. You will also find it increasingly difficult to find sustenance in this galaxy, or ours for that matter. I assume you all have met Todd and noticed the change he has undergone?" Jack asked pointedly as the teams worked around the Destiny that they could watch.

"We have, how were you able to achieve such results? He remains Wraith, yet can survive on human food." the apparent leader of their alliance demanded.

"Genetic modification, improvements on the therapy Michael underwent. Similar to improvements made to the Hoffan d**g that we have made. As I stated, we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to win the war against you." Jack told him as she looked at the 5 members of the Alliance.

One of the queens hissed as it was apparent she was talking with them telepathically. "These men are not of your people, why are they here for peace negotiations with you?" the Queen who had done all the talking so far demanded.

"They are representatives of the Pegasus Humans Alliance that represents 200 plus planets. I believe it is the entirety of two of your queens territories, and a large percentage of a third. Seems our advancements are appreciated as they have begun being dispersed throughout the Galaxy. The other 6 of you will find increasing portions of your territory flooded with the Hoffan d**g as well, you have stockpiles of food right?" Jack asked her sarcastically as he knew theybwere already suffering a huge food shortage.

"So here is the skinny of your situation, you have essentially 3 options. First you can negotiate with us for peace across the galaxy. Or you can fight amongst yoursleves as your supply of food becomes ever smaller as the Hoffan d**g spreads. The 3rd option is to attempt destroying it before it contaminates your entire food supply, hoping you have the ability to overwhelm us before we launch it to every inhabited world throughout Pegasus." he told the 9 of them bluntly.

All 9 of them were visibly pissed as he told them they could either agree to his terms or die. "You would not be able to disperse it quickly enough before we wiped you out."

"It has already been dispersed to 280 planets with another 20 occurring as we speak. The Hoffan d**g is now infectious to human populations, and those are just confirmed deployments by us. That does not include those who traveled to other planets, exposing those we have not done so directly yet. I give you at most 2 months before the galaxy is covered, and maybe 6 before every survivng human is immune to Wrairh feeding. That is just what we have deployed so far, as I understand it the Alliance has visited many worlds they have contact with spreading the virus further than we could have hoped for on our own." Jack told her as all 9 hissed at once. The mental assault was immense as the news quickly spread through the Wraith ships in the system as well.

The Queens quickly composed themselves, as they knew they had no hope of overpowering the city itself before they died. "How can you propose peace when you have given ojr food supply the means to be immune to our feeding, and killing us if we try?" she demanded angrily.

"Because I offer you the solution to your issue as well. You already have the organs necessary to survive on human food, and do so when young. The treatment simply deactivates the change so human food can sustain you indefinitely. You would still be able to feed on humans if you desired, but it would not strengthen your abilities any better than consumong human food." O'Neill told her.

"Beyond your treatment what would we receive? We are not a race at peace even with itself, and food would only solve one issue. We would need territory that would be exclusively ours to manage as we see fit, to grow our crops and live the way we see fit." the Primary Queen demanded.

"As I understand it the Wraith have several dozen planets that are under your control. We will not challenge those worlds, and will not challenge any planet you wish to take, so long as their is no human population or we allowed to evacuate those that wish too." O'Neill said as she smiled.

"We actually control 52 Worlds, and several of them have human populations. We however will nkt negotiate those worlds, or their inhabitants. As far as you are concerned they are our integral property, and several of them are not connected to the gates in any way. We will agree to your terms to stop culling from worlds with Human Populations that we do not outright control. What happens to our worlds is none of your concern." she told him dramatically.

O'Neill nodded as he knew it would take giving them some concessions. "Very well." Oneill said keying his radio. "Cease drone operations for now."

The Queen looked at him curiously. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Assuming we can reach an agreement, we will not perform hostilities on any of those 53 planets, assuming they do not belong to the Alliance of Humans in Pegasus. We will also ensire they are nkt exposed to the Hoffan d**g, as we will ensure they remain safely off limits to any Human who wishes to live." Jack said to her.

She stepped forward, and the 8 others followed her lead as they sat at the far end of the table. "What exactly is it that your require?" she demanded.

"Each ship will be ae to be converted at the same time, which will make treating the many Wraith simpler. As it makes minimal changes to your physiology, it will not impact your abilities to use your ships or anything else. Essentially the only change it will make is allowing you to draw nutrients from food." Jack told her. "From you we need peace for the Humans of the Galaxy, The majority of them anyway. You will not dispatch ships to cull worlds that are not your own, and we will ensure you are given the opportuninty to find a new way to exist." General O'Neill told them sternly.

The 9 Queens began communicating telepathically about what he had said. If they accepted it would reduce their total human population to only a few million humans in the galaxy not immune to their feeding. "We will meed to test your solution on a select few of our ships before we accept your terms. We will forward the coordinates of our worlds that our souly under our control. We will be removing their Stargates from most of them to protect them from your Plague. If we detect your ships anywhere near them we will destroy them without mercy." the Queen nearly sneered as she stood."How long until you have the tools necessary to convert 5 ships?" she demanded.

"The location you wish to conduct the tests." O'Neill replied.

"We will send the coordinates where to meet us in 3 days time." the Primary Queen sneered as they all turned and marched back to thier ships to depart.

O'Neill watched as they lifted off, their darts forming up around them as they departed the surface. As soon as their ships cleared the city he keyed his radio. "Shields up, prepare for battle."