STARGATE ATLANTIS: The Furies (Book 4 in the Legacy series) Read Online Free

needless to say. Caldwell made the call that
Daedalus
was making the run because we’re still under repair. Since I have no idea what the situation there is…
    How to phrase this bit? With Woolsey and the IOA, with the politics, with the movements of other ships… How long would
Daedalus
stay on Earth? Who would it bring back? When would it come? She had no way to know. She just knew that she’d keep it together until whenever.
    …I’ll be here.
    Maybe they’d get their hands on another ZPM and they could call Earth any time they wanted. Or maybe not. If a hive ship showed up it was going to get very interesting.
    Caldwell is leaving his 302 wing wit h me, as he details in his report. Hocken is good, and they did an exemplary job in our last engagement. I’ve included commendation paperwork for Captain Dwaine Grant, whose conduct was above and beyond the call of duty.
    There was no need to reiterate that. But he’d know that she meant it, would take a closer look and remember Grant’s name, read over it carefully seeing the crippled 302 in his mind’s eye, a plume of oxygen venting from his wing tank as he dove between the hive ship and the
Hammond
, taking the burst on his shields instead of the now unshielded bridge windows. Jack would read the formal, stilted words that Hocken and Caldwell had written, her formulaic endorsement, and he would see.
    Anyhow, I’ve got to go. The taxi’s waiting. He’s blowing his horn.
    He’d fill in the rest of the lyrics. Peter, Paul and Mary was his cup of tea.

Chapter Three
     

Guide’s Play
     
     
    The moment Guide saw Ember, in the pilot’s lounge just off the dart bay, he knew there was something wrong. His face was smooth and well-fed, his dark blue silks immaculate, embroidered in copper with their pattern of whirling atomic particles, but tension showed in every line of his body. He radiated it.
    It was enough that Guide let the rest of the party go ahead, allowed himself to be drawn aside as though on personal business that would not wait, his hand on Ember’s wrist so that they might speak mind to mind without being overheard.
    “Is it McKay?” he said.
    “No.” Ember’s voice was bright and rueful. “That one… I do not know. Sometimes I think there is a spark there, that he remembers. And then I do not. All is the same. Nothing has changed with him, and so we continue.”
    “Then what is wrong?”
    “You may recall Thorn, he who was Consort to Firebeauty?”
    “I do, but she is gone,” Guide snapped. “Come to the point, Ember.”
    Ember would not be hurried. “He stands now as guardian to Waterlight, who calls him Father. She is young, she is nothing, and the Queen has not seen her. But now Thorn has contacted us and said that they have captured the Consort of Atlantis!”
    Guide took a long breath. “Have you seen the transmission?”
    “I have,” Ember said. “It is John Sheppard.”
    Guide did not ask if he were certain. That was useless. Of course Ember was certain. “And you said?”
    Ember’s eyes shifted. “I said I did not know. I did not think it was he.” He shook his head. “It was Ardent who had the watch, and he did not take it to the Queen, saying that he would not waste her time on trifles.”
    “Still,” Guide said contemplatively, “Thorn will call again. He must hope to make a trade, and he will call if his words are not responded to in due time. I take it he left coordinates so that the Queen may speak with him of this if she wishes?”
    “He did,” Ember said. Fear was bright within him. Sheppard knew too much. He knew too many plots within plots, and most of all that Guide had told him where to find Bright Venture. The damage to the Queen’s favorite ship still rankled within her. The example she would make of Ember and Guide…
    “Coldly,” Guide said, his mind working furiously. “Be cold, Ember. He is not in her hands. You have done well to throw doubt upon Thorn’s words.”
    “He will call again,”