View of the Ancient outpost on planet Taranis.
"Looks bleak," Kirik said without holding back comments, looking at the picture opening from the dispatch room. "If Wraith come, they won't survive. Their gate is a beachhead for invasion."
"Not so loud," Teyla softly reminded him of etiquette rules, approaching. "We're guests. Forgot?"
"No," the Runner cast another glance at Taranis landscapes, then looked at the Athosian. "But that doesn't change the fact these people will die right away if Wraith decide to drop in. Too much open space near the gates. A whole squadron of Darts can pass here."
View from the Ancient outpost dispatch room on Taranis.
Teyla, feeling a heavy gaze on her, looked at the nearest guard. He undoubtedly heard what the former Runner said. By his face expression, no mental effort needed to understand—this guy would now watch them twice as vigilantly.
"In childhood I heard many stories about Runners," Teyla said quietly. "People sharing them always portrayed you as heroes, freedom fighters, Wraith hunters..."
"And they didn't deceive," Kirik said.
"True," Teyla rewarded him with a condemning gaze. "Pity the tales said nothing about you lacking a gram of tact."
"Look what they turned the dispatch room into," the former Runner nodded toward numerous Taranian mechanisms fastened on walls and placed in every dispatch room corner. "I saw shock in Chaya's eyes when she saw what they did to Ancestors' instruments."
Dispatch room of the outpost on Taranis.
"More respect for someone else's home," Teyla advised. "These people just tried to understand Ancestors' tech. Similar can happen in any galaxy corner. And that doesn't make them less smart and capable than us."
Kirik shook his head.
"It's not about respect," he pointed out the window. "This is simplest tactic. Their gate is installed in open place. Too much open space and unprotected buildings. If Darts..."
"Speak quieter," Teyla made 'scary eyes'. "We came here to negotiate with these people, not scare them."
"And Mikhail asked to assess and make recommendations for protecting these people," the former Runner reminded. "Which I'm doing, actually. One strike through the gate and these people become Wraith feed..."
Teyla was embarrassed by how loudly that was said. The people in the outpost dispatch room no longer hesitated to cast unambiguous irritated and suspicious glances at them.
"If you want to help—do it not aloud," Teyla advised. "Negotiations aren't easy as is..."
"I see no negotiations here at all," Kirik snorted. "These people have what we need. And what they can't use. Why the hell keep such?"
"I think that's exactly what Chaya and Misha are trying to prove to them," Emmagan said quietly, looking at the mercilessly dissected by Taranian control panels. Abundance of wires and local devices connected to Ancestors' tech caused respect for Taranian inquisitive minds. But here's the catch... By Chaya's words, they only made it worse.
*
"Chancellor Leikos," Chaya tried to maintain politeness. "I'm not trying to scare or pressure you..."
"But that's exactly what you're doing, pointing out we're spoiling your tech," the gray-haired man sitting opposite at the table looked her straight in the eyes without fear. "You know, my people had a different opinion of the Ancestors. And you show up, say we've brought the outpost to desperate state..."
Apartments of Chancellor Leikos.
Chaya used breathing exercises to calm a bit. Didn't help much.
"Let me explain something," she forced a smile.
"Try," the chancellor leaned back in his chair and quickly glanced at the guard.
"Your lighting in this room is quite ascetic," Chaya noted. "Doesn't that bother you?"
"Yes, the builders of this place didn't care for better lighting," the Taranis people leader admitted, pointing to the vertical fixture in the room corner. The column shining white light was draped with a red curtain. There was too much red decor here in general. "Had to install additional fixtures," he spread his hands, pointing to two characteristic floor lamps on the wall behind him. "Plus keep the entrance door open."
"Suppose you keep the door open because when you pried open this room, you spoiled the locking device," Chaya explained, pointing to non-glowing inner-lit crystals on the side panel. "And the lighting problem is because when you hung this lovely curtain," she pointed to the fabric behind the chancellor, "to block Taranian star light from bothering your work, you damaged hidden power cables for the storage's inner lighting in the walls. The wall overlays you took for decor elements are decorative covers for cable channels for easy access to power buses running through the room. By standards of such premises' electrification, lighting wiring runs nearby, which your techs drilled into. I think this happened before you managed to launch the geothermal generator from the control room. Otherwise, it'd kill the techs and cause a fire in the room."
"Storage?" the chancellor echoed.
"Yes, this room is a storage," Chaya explained. "So only one main," she pointed to the vertical light column, "and several additional light sources. When they work, it's enough to see all necessary here."
"And... The window behind me? You put a window in every storage?" the chancellor continued probing.
"There are twice fewer additional light sources here than due for such area," Chaya explained. "Done for simple savings. The Taranis outpost was built in the war's last years when we lacked resources. Taranis is rich in useful minerals my people extracted from the supervolcano caldera where this outpost was built."
"You're on about that again," Leikos said irritably. "We've lived in this place quite some time! And know nothing of any volcanoes!"
"You'd know if you understood what's written on the dispatch room monitors!" Chaya said emphatically. "This whole complex is built on a supervolcano only because the super-strong rock sealing the crater after the last eruption is dense and stable enough for tunneling and construction. Besides, extracting needed materials straight from the mantle made building shafts unnecessary."
"Shafts," the chancellor smirked. "Dear Chaya, we have several shafts in settlements remote from this. And they're deep and branched enough. That proves no supervolcanoes. And yes, we know what volcanoes are. The planet has several. The outpost is in a mountain, not a volcano. So don't try to confuse us."
Very much wanted to hit the blissful blind man. But the Proculian understood that's not the way. At least now