The Daedalus arrives and the two hive ships are destroyed. Atlantis seems saved, then Zelenka detects 12 more ships. Ford seems changed after a fall in the water.

McKay, Sheppard, Beckett and Weir are on the Daedalus. McKay finds a Wraith virus that is infecting ship systems and sending a signal to the Wraith.

Fallen into the Wraith trap, McKay initially resigns to fatal captivity in a cocoon, but Ronon keeps struggling to attempt escaping, or at least taking some Wraith down with them. Sheppard managed to hide his glider on the very hive ship, seeking a way out, surprised to get radio contact with Michael, who seeks revenge after the ingrate queen has him semi-restrained as 'too human' suspect. While they try to sabotage the hive and maybe escape, the Daedalus and Orion race just in time to fight the two hive ships before they may attack earth. Weir is summoned to SGC for a pointless grilling by the International Oversight Advisory, finding them bureaucrats unable to risk a decision beyond questioning what was already done. So she returns, never mind the career risk compared to a Wraith culling. Sheppard manages to reach the Daedalus and his party comes up with a daring plan to overpower the hive with the weaponized retrovirus, despite bombarded damage compromising even their life-support systems.

After learning the Asurians are building a fleet of ships, Earth sends its newest ship, the Apollo, under the command of Colonel Abe Ellis to initiate a preemptive first strike to stop them from attacking Atlantis or worse, Earth itself.

A plague of sorts is spreading across the Pegasus galaxy and Dr. Keller estimates that hundreds of thousands will die if they don't don't find a way to stop it. Her research shows however that the disease's origin is with the Hoff, who had been working on a way to kill the Wraith. Sheppard and the others think they know who might be spreading the virus and why. Teyla meanwhile believes she is receiving messages from Kanaan, the father of her child. She's getting his messages while sleeping and most think she's just dreaming. She follows the clues he gives her but she is taken prisoner by an old enemy who has very specific plans for her. In their search for Teyla however, Sheppard and McKay find someone completely unexpected.

After yet another fruitless search for the missing Teyla, Sheppard returns to Atlantis, only to find it deserted. Worse yet, the city isn't just abnormally hot, but the entire ocean has completely dried up, leaving a sandy desert! Sheppard then finds a hologram of an aged Dr. McKay, telling him that a solar flare had sent him 48,000 years into the future. Once he learns the demise of Atlantis and everyone on it, and worse yet that the sun in the solar system is dying and he won't survive there much longer, he and the holographic McKay must find a way to send Sheppard home and potentially change all of this.