The Hardest Part

The Hardest Part

The breeze tugged vainly at Lieutenant Hera Westbrook's dark ponytail and messy bangs as she sat on the balcony outside the control room, typing away on her laptop. Above her, the sky was bright with the sun, but her dark eyes were focused on the screen.

"Hey Artemis!" Her fingers clattered busily on the keys. "Hera here. You have no idea how glad I am you FINALLY got security clearance…now I can finally tell you what's been going on. Just a few weeks ago, we barely stopped some Wraith from getting to Earth!"

Hera wouldn't forget the first time she met Michael Kenmore. She was in the mess hall when he stepped in, flanked by two stoic guards; immediately she knew who it was and bit her lip. It would be hard to keep acting innocently, but Dr. Weir had requested it.

Standing, she made her way over to his table. "Michael!" she said as brightly as she could, slipping on a cheerful grin for his benefit. "It's nice to see you."

"Who are you?" he asked dubiously, watching her uncertainly.

She pulled out the chair opposite to his and sat down, leaning forward on the table. "I'm Lieutenant Hera Westbrook. We knew each other back before you got…captured."

"Oh." He nodded as if he understood, but she could see that he didn't. That didn't matter; Wraith or not, he remembered nothing, and she needed to make him believe he had been her friend. "So we were…good friends?"

"Yes," she said.

"So anyway, we'd tried to keep this Michael guy from knowing he was a Wraith, but he ended up finding out anyway and escaping. Later on he came back with an ENTIRE hive ship-and since he was actually on Atlantis for a while before, he knew we were here. He threatened to expose us to all the Wraith in the galaxy if we didn't, well, team up with him!

"And believe it or not, we DID! The hive ship's queen came to Atlantis and discussed things with Dr. Weir!"

Hera had never expected to see a Wraith welcomed and practically accepted into the city, and she hoped to never see one again. Even the very sight of one made her stomach turn.

The Wraith queen herself was homely, dressed all in ivory and white; a large tattoo swirled down the side of her face and extended to the base of her neck. Even though heavily armed soldiers marched warily alongside her, many of the people who watched her pass through the hallways showed pure uneasiness on their faces.

Not so with Hera. She hated the Wraith for what they'd done to so many innocent people; she pressed her lips firmly together to keep herself from screaming in frustration. She knew Dr. Weir was making the wrong decision, and she just hoped that it wouldn't end in more bloodshed.

"Apparently, the Wraith didn't have enough humans for them all to feed on. So this single hive wanted us to give them our retrovirus that would turn Wraith into humans, so they could use it on other Wraith and feed on them instead!!"

"That can't be true!" Hera gasped in shock. "You're sure?"

Lieutenant Cadman nodded conspiratorially as if sharing a secret. She almost seemed eager to distribute some gossip, even if it was related to the Wraith. "You got it," she responded. "I heard that they want to actually feed on those Wraith-human things."

Hera couldn't believe her ears. There was absolutely no way that Dr. Weir would tolerate such a bizarre plan. "That's horrible! Dr. Weir can't allow that!" she exclaimed.

"Who knows?" Cadman shrugged with a wicked grin. "It might make things a little easier for us, with Wraith feeding on Wraith…"

"So, in short, the Wraith betrayed us, and the Daedalus had to go speeding out to try and stop them. It almost got destroyed, but we managed to stop the Wraith. I'm still absolutely SHOCKED about all this, but I don't want to overdo it. Let me know if you wanna hear more, and I'll give you the full rundown!

"From your sis Hera :-)"

Hera smiled and hit the save button with a flourish. Large, smooth red letters lit up the screen: MESSAGE SAVED. Closing her laptop, she stood and faced the ocean contentedly. In a few days, that message would be sent to her sister Artemis Westbrook on Earth; several days after that, Artemis's reply would come; and the sisters would continue the correspondence that they'd made a habit over the past year. The very thought made Hera feel that much closer to home.

Suddenly a call came from the control room behind her. "Unscheduled offworld activation!"

Turning sharply, Hera hurried into the room. Sergeant Campbell, the Canadian tech on duty, glanced up at her briefly and then returned his attention to the panels before him without a word.