Beware of spoilers below!
Colonel Sheppard and his team visit an alien world with a tower apparently built by the Ancients, one that possess a control chair able to defend the planet from Wraith attack. In this way the people have survived for generations — but only the line of the Lord Protector, the local ruler, has the Ancient gene that allows him to operate the chair.
After Mara, daughter of the Lord Protector, visits Sheppard’s room to try to seduce him, the Colonel confronts Otho, adviser to the ruler. Otho confesses that the Ancient gene is fading in the royal bloodline with each generation, so that the ability of the Lord Protector to use the chair is no longer a certainty. It is his job to study the royal family’s lineage to determine the best mates for the Lord Protector’s children.
When the team arrived, Otho had used an Ancient scanner to examine Sheppard. He determined that Sheppard has the Ancient gene, stronger than anyone in their recorded history going back three hundred years.
The Lord Protector has promised Mara that if she marries Sheppard, succession will fall to her. But her brother Tavius is not going to give up his birthright so easily. He is next in line to the throne, and Otho tells Sheppard that the possibility of his sister bearing genetically superior progeny is a threat he will eliminate the first chance he gets.
Soon Tavius will be Lord Protector, as the current ruler is deteriorating more each day. Sheppard hopes they can help, and brings Dr. Beckett and Dr. Weir from Atlantis. But the fate of the Lord Protector may be out of their hands.
Guest characters include Lord Protector, Otho, Mara, and Tavius. Learn more in GateWorld’s Season Two episode guide.