The briefing with the Athosians went better than John had dared to hope, given how little he was willing to share with them about the magical members of the expedition. Still, he was confident that, eventually, the Athosians would become allies in fact rather than by happenstance.

That, however, wasn't his bailiwick, so he headed off to the person whose bailiwick it was and, a few minutes later, knocked on the doorframe of the room Elizabeth had chosen as her office.

"Got a minute, Dr. Weir?" he asked.

She looked up from her laptop and waved him in.

He sat in the guest chair and waited patiently while she finished typing whatever she was working on and finally looked up at him, her expression wary.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"I think the Athosians are a good resource for us."

She obviously hadn't been expecting that. "How so?"

"They trade with a number of other worlds, and have knowledge of dozens more," John said. "That knowledge might turn our telephone directory of addresses into a guidebook."

"I'm sure you'll enjoy getting it."

"Me?" John frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"You seem to be taking over everything else on this expedition," she replied, her tone … bitter? It wasn't the right word, but it was the only one John could come up with.

"I didn't take over anything," John replied. "I commanded my men in the proper exercise of their duties."

"But I'm the leader of the expedition," Weir protested.

"Civilian leader, absolutely," John agreed. "And I'm more than happy for you to do that - with the understanding that we're in a war zone. We didn't expect to be, but we are."

"War is a failure of diplomacy. You didn't even try for a diplomatic solution."

"The Wraith opened negotiations by kidnapping our people to eat them," John reminded her. "When you figure out a diplomatic solution to that, I'm all ears. Until then, I'm going to do everything I can to keep our people from becoming their main course."

"But -" Weir frowned. "Your cousin destroyed their base."

"He destroyed that base. Do you know how many others there are or might be?"

"No, of course not."

"Neither do I. Nobody does. That means we have to be prepared for war wherever we go."

"Even though we're a peaceful expedition?"

"Si vis pacem, para bellum," John said. "If you want peace …"

"…be prepared for war," Weir finished on a weary exhale.

"Exactly," John said.

"So how is this going to work?" Weir asked.

John didn't let his relief show. When he'd arrived, he hadn't been entirely confident that she'd be willing to work with him. "You do what you do - talk to others, oversee city administration, whatever. I'll do everything I can to keep you safe while you do."

"Nothing in my training prepared me for this," Weir said softly.

"None of us are prepared for an enemy who thinks you'll make a nice meal along with the local version of fava beans and a nice chianti," John said, and didn't regret it when she winced at that description.

"So what do we do?"

"What humanity's always done," John replied. "Adapt and survive."

:-:-:-:-:

John found Harry chatting with Teyla in the mess, cups of coffee or maybe tea on the table between them. He grabbed a cup of coffee and wandered over to the table where they sat.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," Teyla said, even as Harry waved him to a seat.

"What's up?" Harry asked.

"Just giving Teyla a heads up," he offered with a smile.

Teyla frowned. "What is a heads up?"

"Advance warning, basically," Harry replied. "Though sometimes the advance is only a few seconds."

"That was one time," John protested, but Harry was matching his grin. "Besides, you caught it."

"What are you warning me about?" Teyla asked.

"Dr. Weir wants to talk to you about the other planets in this galaxy," John said. "Not immediately, but soon. Your knowledge will be a great help to us."

"And your ability to destroy the Wraith will be a great help to all worlds," she replied, then rose to her feet. "I will see when Dr. Weir wants to talk."

John nodded a farewell and was amused to see his cousin's gaze following Teyla as she left the mess.

"Good," he said, and Harry's gaze jerked to him.

"What?"

"That you might have found some companionship in this galaxy."

Harry rolled his eyes and John grinned.

"She had an idea, though," Harry said. "About what to do with our sleeping Wraith."

"Oh?" John took another sip of his coffee.

"Why not take her back to P-666 and leave her in the rubble of the base?" Harry said. "Cover her up so she doesn't get eaten by whatever wild animals are around and leave her be."

"Her being eaten by wild animals appeals to my sense of poetic justice," John said. "Too bad we can't let that happen."

"At least not anytime soon," Harry agreed.

"All right, then," John said. "Finish up, and let's go."

"Go?"

"Mm-hm. I'm not going back to P-666 without one of your people, and you need to learn to fly the Jumper. It's a two birds, one stone situation."

"I've known how to fly since I was eleven," Harry protested.

"Yeah, on a broomstick, where it's as much your body movements and muscle shifts as your magic that makes it work. You have to learn to fly with your hands and your mind, like the rest of us."

"Sounds horribly dull," Harry quipped.

"How about helping me figure out a place for an alpha site?"

"Mm." Harry waved his hand in a so-so gesture. "Moderately more entertaining."

"There's just no pleasing some people." John clapped his cousin on the shoulder and headed for the brig.

:-:-:-:-: :-:-:-:-: :-:-:-:-: :-:-:-:-: :-:-:-:-:

This isn't the original ending I had in mind for this story, but the ending I originally wrote actually raises a ton of questions and possibilities that I need time to explore the changes that would result from it, and come up with a coherent story around those changes.

So, I kept the original ending in a file and, with a bit of tweaking, it will be the first chapter of the sequel, whenever I get said coherent story figured out. Thanks for coming to Pegasus with me! Hope you enjoyed the trip!