"And so our best options for trade with these Protegans would be...?" Colonel Carter left the statement open to the briefing room, as her eyes roamed over the assembled Lanteans. Sheppard, McKay, Teyla, Ronon, Lorne, Zelenka, and Caldwell, all freshly rested and showered. The Daedalus had arrived back at Atlantis at 0300, and debriefing had been first up on the agenda in the morning.

"The ATA therapy and help repairing the broken Ancient systems in their city," Rodney answered over a plate of bacon and hash browns.

"And in return for this we would be receiving unrestricted access to the weapons platforms?" Carter clarified.

Rondey pulled a face. "Hm. I hardly think 'unrestricted' is the right word. While we were there we were given what they called temporary ID cards, but they were more like keycards. None of their devices work without one plugged in, and seeing as they carry the electronic equivalent of an authentication code, the computers were able to prevent us from any information we didn't have clearance for."

"Despite this, they were a very open society," Teyla said. "They had no reservations against me learning about their government, nor our inquiries about the way they run the city." She paused, then added, "The Consulate, Atheon, almost seemed eager to share their knowledge. The Protegans pride themselves on their academic achievements more than their military might."

Sam considered this. "But they're led by a soldier, a Justicer?"

"Technically, they're led by two soldiers, two civilians, and someone who is neither," Sheppard said. "The Justicer only assumes absolute rule in times of crisis. That said, the council seemed to take their cues from her, though they might have been deferring to her expertise."

"Expertise?"

John shrugged. "Apparently she holds eight Veritads, their equivalent of a university degree. Had the look of a combat veteran about her, too."

"The Justicer had a very commanding presence," Teyla agreed.

Colonel Carter looked from Sheppard to Caldwell. "So the bottom line is, you all think Protegat would be an ideal location to resettle refugees?"

"Absolutely," Sheppard confirmed. In the time it took to travel back to Atlantis, they had spent a fair few hours going at this from every side, and they had all agreed- Protegat could be the best answer to the very pressing problem of so many whose homes had been destroyed. "They have the pre-existing infrastructure to support a large population, and the capability to safeguard that population."

"But bringing so many different cultures together and expecting them to coexist-"

"Aren't we already doing that? At least, in smaller numbers?"

"Okay, I see your point."

"Look," Sheppard said, "hopefully it's not permanent, hopefully, we'll kick the Replicators' ass soon, but in the meantime, until we come up with an effective means to fight them..."

Carter nodded. "At least we can talk to the leaders of each people, see what they think about this. We won't make resettlement on Protegat mandatory."

"I promised Justicer Xerath we'd be back in four days," Sheppard stated. "That gives us today to talk to the leaders, and one and a half days aboard the Daedalus to decide just what the treaty will be."

"Welcome back to Protegat, Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard," Consulate Pacem greeted as Sheppard, McKay, Teyla, Ronon, Carter, and Keller exited the jumper. "And Colonel Carter, Doctor Keller, welcome to High Command."

The building they had been directed to by Sky Fleet Command was the tallest, most grand spire-like tower out of the city, far taller and wider than the central spire of Atlantis. Sitting right in the city's centre, High Command overlooked the sprawl of low buildings that made up the Protectorate Facility, the organised mess of airstrips and control towers of the Sky Fleet's base, and the outer ring of Ancient Weapons, standing like watchful guardians, silhouetted against the dusky, gold-streaked-purple sky.

It was late morning on Protegat, and the Lantean's two jumpers had received a military escort on their way in. As Lorne and his team exited the second jumper, Pacem greeted the Major, too. Sheppard noted Atheon had nailed down the pronunciation of their ranks in the time they had been gone.

"Good to see you again, Consulate," Sheppard said pleasantly, glad the introductions had already been carried out over radio once the Daedalus had dropped out of hyperspace.

"The Justicer is most eager to meet with you, Colonel Carter," Pacem said as he turned, leading the Lanteans out of the small hangar, and the massive doors closed up behind them. "Unfortunately, we have been kept busy since Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne's departure, so the Council could not be here to greet you in person."

"Believe me, I completely understand," Colonel Carter said.

The interior of High Command was a near carbon-copy of Atlantis, and Sheppard figured the tower must be part of the original city built by the Ancients. They used a transporter to head up to the control room, and, in the same room they used on Atlantis as their conference room, Pacem asked them to sit at an octagonal table, so much like the one they had first met the Council at. As they took their seats, Atheon spoke into a comm device on the collar of his uniform, announcing their arrival.

McKay and Atheon almost immediately engaged in a discussion about the Ancient's use of AI, which John quickly tuned out, preferring to listen to, and occasionally weigh in on, Teyla and Carter's last-minute review of which cultures had been open to relocation.

A little over half an hour later, a Protegan soldier in full tac gear entered the room. "Officer in attendance!" he snapped. The Consulate leapt to his feet, cutting off mid-sentence to stand at attention, his left fist closed over the right side of his chest. It was then that Justicer Xerath swept into the room, the rest of the Council at her heels.

"Be at ease," Xerath said dismissively. Consulate Pacem sat back down.

"Colonel Samantha Carter of the Atlantis Expedition, it is an honour to meet you." Xerath had also managed to perfect the pronunciation of the rank.

Carter stood to accept the Justicer's brief but firm hand shake. "The honour is mine, Magister Protector Justicer Dianna Xerath," Sam said. John was impressed she'd committed that to memory, and pronounced all three ranks correctly. "My team spoke very highly of you and your colleagues."

"I apologise for our tardiness. I'm afraid your visit has stirred up some old rivalries among our people." Xerath and the rest of the Council took seats across from the Lanteans.

"We're sorry to hear that," Carter said. "It was certainly not our intention."

"It is nothing more than a small group of extremists," Lord Farade said in a reconciliatory tone. "We are working to repair the rift with expediency."

"In any case, you have come to discuss other matters of importance," the Justicer stated.

"Yes," Colonel Carter agreed. "As I understand, you and your Council have expressed interest in an alliance between our two peoples..."

The negotiations were carried out over one and a half Protegan weeks, as the Council were forced to split their time between the Lanteans, and their own dissidents. Colonel Carter and Teyla handled the majority of the diplomatic stuff, as Rodney kept running off with Atheon, the two flinging technical jargon at each other so fast Sheppard only registered their conversations as an annoying buzzing sound. He, Lorne, and Ronon took it in turns to baby sit the physicist, as the more vocal opposition threatened to spiral into a full-blown insurrection.

It was, as Lord Farade said, a small group of individuals who were against relations with the Lanteans, as they feared the presence of the Lanteans would reveal Protegat to the Wraith, but their actions were beginning to border terrorism. Despite this, there had been multiple peaceful marches preaching cooperation with the current Council's direction, and a city-wide vote had revealed the clear majority of Protegan citizens favoured the treaty, and supported the Council's actions.

When, as part of the negotiations to settle refugees, Colonel Carter had discussed the possibility of bringing a Stargate to Protegat, the Council had questioned both Sam and John for many hours, weighing the possible threats and benefits of such an action. They had then given the public as much information as possible regarding the pros and cons, then held another vote. It was then that the extremists had launched their first attempted assault on High Command, but were easily stopped by security.

Still, Sheppard was strongly against any of his people wandering around unaccompanied, so they split up as much as they could while ensuring their two civilians had sufficient protection. This meant a lot of mind-numbingly boring hours spent either watching Rodney mess around in the city's Ancient systems, or listening to Jennifer compare notes with the Protegan Medical Corps' doctors.

It was all worth it though when the Justicer, in a rare moment of down time, had offered to teach Sheppard and Lorne how to pilot the Protegan's military birds. The avems had been a challenge, to say the least, though John's experience with both jets and choppers helped a bit. He and Lorne had both agreed- managing rotor speed and jet thrust at the same time had definitely been the hardest part, but all in all, the avems had been seriously cool.

As week two progressed, the treaty was finalised, and it was decided that Protegat would host a large number of refugees, both within and outside of the city, with a no-assimilation clause to protect the cultural rights of those fleeing the Wraith and Replicators. In addition to this, they had accepted the proposition for bringing a Stargate to Protegat, creating a new department to handle the guarding and managing of the gate, and had already begun repurposing a commercial tower close to the Protectorate Facility to house Stargate Control.

In return for this, as well as access to Orbital Defence to study the Ancient weapons, Atlantis had offered the ATA gene therapy, which would allow the Protegans to regain full control of their city and restore it to its full potential, and help repairing the damaged equipment, plus training in the maintenance of this Ancient tech. Combined with this was a joint defence clause, meaning that, if Protegat came under threat, Atlantis would do everything in its power to help protect the city and its people. Justicer Xerath also swore the military might of Protegat should Atlantis require their aid.

It was a short order of harvesting a gate from an uninhabited world to moving the refugees who had elected to go, and settling them with housing and jobs to generate income. As many of the refugees came from simple farming communities, most were happy to take up agricultural positions, supplementing the pre-existing workforce and ensuring the increased demand for food did not overtax Protegan resources.

The insurrection settled, after a final stunt in which their leader, a mid-level officer within the Military Corps, Quaere Commander Karasan, had broadcast across the city's siren system, lamenting the fall of the Ancestor's Shield World. It seemed they had conceded the battle, admitting defeat while despairing of the safety of their city. The Council were unconcerned, given the heightened level of defence the treaty had allowed for Protegat.

Keller quickly had the Protegan Medical Corps making and disseminating the ATA therapy, which was used selectively, with a focus on engineers, doctors, and the new gunners for the Ancient Weapons, manual firing having previously been barred from them for four thousand years. These engineers worked with the scientists from Atlantis to restore all the systems that required the gene, bringing deep-space sensors back online, as well as a myriad of other secondary systems.

The Stargate had been fitted with an 'iris' and the Protegans and refugees provided with an IDC system to allow better security for the planet. Stargate Control then began allowing trade and social trips through the gate, so the refugees could remain in contact with their friends, family, and trading partners throughout the galaxy, in respect to many of their cultural roots.

War games were scheduled between the two militaries, sharing tactics and tendencies. It had been the Justicer's idea, but Sheppard had easily seen the logic of it. Together, they worked hard to see to it that their soldiers could coordinate, trying to figure out where their command languages differentiated so they could be an effective fighting force, should the Joint Defence clause ever need to be enacted.

Within the space of a month, Protegat held upwards of fifty thousand refugees, and Sheppard and his team were back out in the galaxy, searching for the Athosians.

Everything went better than expected.