Stargate Atlantis/Recap/S02 E20 Allies

"We are both going to have to overcome our instincts in order for this alliance to work."

- Michael

The Hive Ship Zelenka has been tracking for the last three weeks is bearing down on Atlantis. Weir cloaks the city and puts the Daedalus and the Orion on standby in hyperspace - and then the Hive Ship hails them. It is their old friend Michael Kenmore, and he is offering an alliance.

An Alliance with the Wraith?? Michael and the Hive Queen explain that the scarcity of humans in the Pegasus galaxy has caused widespread civil war amongst the Wraith - a civil war to which Beckett's retrovirus could provide the perfect solution. With it, they could turn angry enemies into tasty snacks, solving the overabundance of rival Wraith and the underabundance of human food supply in one go. They are willing to trade anything and everything - including information on how to get around their jamming technology - and just want the retrovirus (and a reliable way to deliver it) in return. It seems like a great deal - and the alterntive is telling the rest of the Wraith that Atlantis still exists.

Well, it seems too good to pass up, so everyone gets to work. Beckett and Zelenka help the Wraith weaponize the retrovirus, McKay downloads all the Hive Ship data he can get his hands on, working with Hermiod to penetrate their jamming fields, Michael tries unsuccessfully to flirt with Teyla, and Sheppard...doesn't tell anyone about the Orion. When all their preparation are complete, all they need is a Hive Ship to test it on. McKay and Ronon stay aboard Michael's ship, while the Daedalus takes the canister of aeresolized retro-virus to beam into the enemy Hive.

No sooner has the Daedalus jumped away than Zelenka, always the bearer of bad news, discovers a virus in the data that the Wraith have been freely giving them - a virus whose sole purpose was to download the location of Earth and then destroy all the Wraith data. Well crap. The Daedalus jumps out of hyperspace to find both Hive Ships firing on them. Caldwell launches the F302s, but to little avail. McKay's transducer to beam him out if things go wrong doesn't work, and he and Ronon are taken and cocooned by the Wraith, who say they couldn't have done it without his help. Just as the Daedalus seems lost, the two Hive Ships open hyperspace windows...and head for Earth.

Tropes:

 * Enemy Mine: Except it's all part of the Xanatos Gambit
 * Moral Dissonance: Seeing sweet Drs. Zelenka and Beckett calmly (if not enthusiastically) talking about aeresolizing biological weapons for maximum effect on an unsuspecting population is actually deeply disturbing.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero
 * Schmuck Bait
 * Season Finale
 * Unwitting Pawn: All the good guys, but McKay especially, as the Wraith let him know at the end.
 * Xanatos Gambit: The Micheal's proposal of alliance: You don't help us, we tell the other Wraith were you are and earn good will by appeasing some enemies. You help us, we get the retrovirus. You help us but decide to betray us at some point, we don't care because we are going to betray you anyways.