They had reconvened four hours later in the conference room off the arrival hall, which had been in fact that very spot that the old Alteran Council had sat. The conference table was in a U-shape with everyone on an even plane and able to see each other clearly. The table itself was made of a composites and solid trinium, coloured in blues and greens.
The entire top echelon of Atlantis was there; Theron, McTavish, Aiyana, McKay, and Beckett. Hermione had beamed down and been brought up to speed, and Apollonia was watching through a remote link that had been established up to the Briseus.
Harry stood near one end of the table and began to outline what they had already learned about the Wraith through the Lal hologram. He had his palm down on one of the transparent surfaces of the conference table – which was actually a mental interface station for anyone delivering a presentation.
"The Wraith feed on humans by means of a specialized organ on their right hand," he began.
A large hologram of a clawed five fingered hand appeared in the middle of the room, with an odd slit on its palm.
"They attach it to the chest of their victim and clamp down, and to put it simply, begin to suck the life right out of the body. The science behind the process isn't all that clear in the Alteran database, they didn't exactly have live Wraith on hand to experiment on, nor was they willing to have one suck the life out of a human in controlled circumstances," Harry's tone was dry.
"What about the soul?" asked Hermione gravely. Mckay snorted, but was quickly glared down by Harry and Theron.
"No," Harry shook his head knowing what she was thinking. "This process is purely physical, the Wraith have no overt metaphysical powers – except for a hive telepathy that allows them to communicate when they are within a certain proximity to each other."
"What ca' we do about protectin' ourselves from this, shoul' we God forbid, end up in a position of being fed on by a Wraith?" MacTavish grimly enquired.
"The only advice I have at that point is to will your chromesuit closed so it can't latch on your head, and fight for your life. The feeding organ of the Wraith has no teeth and even if it did, it would not be able to penetrate a suit."
"I'm bloody well sleepin' with the thin' from now on," muttered Beckett nervously.
"Thank you, Commodore," nodded Theron, looking thoughtful. "What can you tell us of the war between the Alterans and Wraith?"
"The exact catalyst for it is not in the database but after First Contact between them, the Alterans came under immediate attack. Initially the War looked to be a shoe in for the Alterans. Wraith ships were hardly a match in a one on one battle against an Alteran Cruiser – they have no shields, their ships are made of an organic metal of sorts that can regenerate given enough time, but they have incredibly powerful weapons."
"So what went wrong?" Aiyana said.
"From what I could gather, twenty years into the war the Alterans were on the brink of victory and grew overconfident, they sent their ships deeper and deeper into Wraith territory without proper backup. The war records list a few Alteran ships that go missing at this point, presumably captured, then barely a year later, the Wraith suddenly explode in numbers and the tide turns completely."
"Over the next hundred years the Alterans fought a losing battle, giving way in front of a numerically superior foe; no matter how many Cruisers or Hive ships they destroyed the Wraith simply kept on coming. There are mention of a number of projects near the end that the Alterans engaged in to solve the Wraith problem through science and ingenuity but as history attests to, they didn't work. Eventually, all that was left was this planet – Lantea - and Atlantis, which was under siege. Here the Alterans made a last gasp final stand, using a network of defence satellites that ringed the planet. Again, the Wraith simply hurled themselves against the superior defences with no regards to themselves, overwhelming it until Atlantis itself came under fire. Finally, they submerged the city and after bringing back everyone they could, went through the Stargate back to Earth and set the city to slumber."
"Which brings us to today," sighed General Theron. "What can you tell us of Wraith ships?"
Harry willed a graphic diagram to appear of the primary ship the Wraith based themselves from.
"This is the Hive ship."
"Ugly lookin' thing," grunted MacTavish.
It had a mostly dark blue organic looking hull, wide in the rear, then tapering to a rounded point at the bow. Various metallic structures dotted out of certain sections and yellow propulsion emitters were mounted on the stern. But there was one thing that impressed the room about it.
"Two bloody kilometres in length!" gasped Beckett.
"Bear in mind that size isn't everything," warned Harry with a grin. "But you're correct to be worried Doctor, the amount of firepower this thing can bring to bear is staggering. Wraith weapons fire in the manner of the Goa'uld Ha'tak – a sphere of energy is projected out of their main cannons – but they don't use energized plasma. Instead, their weapon fires payloads of anti-baryons suspended in a containment field."
"You're kidding?" Mckay exclaimed, looking aghast.
"That was for benefit of those who know what that is, for those who don't – suffice it to say, that when the Wraith shoot, be somewhere else," Harry said intently. "The next ship and most numerous is the Wraith Cruiser."
The Hive ship was replaced by a much smaller four hundred meter length organic ship which also had a blue organic hull and metallic structures sticking out, but had only two pulse engine emitters jutting out of the stern. The design was overall, eerily like a Terran Destroyer in general shape.
"They act as escorts and scouts for the Hive ships, and carry the same weapon systems as the Hives, but obviously have less power. Also of interest is the fact that Wraith Hyperspace capability is limited due to the organic nature of their ships, the subspace radiation has a deleterious effect on their hulls and systems…therefore they can only use their Hyperdrives in jumps of eight hours, before they have to stop and allow the ship time to vent radiation and recover from exposure. Thankfully for us and the Milky Way, this means that the Wraith do not have Intergalatic travel capabilities – at least not within any reasonable time frame."
The Cruiser vanished to be replaced with a small fighter type craft, with a needle sharp nose tapering to a thicker and wider organic hull in the rear.
"This is the Wraith one-man fighter, code-named 'Dart'" Harry continued. "Their purpose is dual-fold. These are the ships sent down to planets to 'collect' humans forcibly, it has a solid state transporter beam which it emits from its belly to strafe the ground with, and anyone caught in the beam is instantly dematerialized and stored in the fighter's matter buffer. They then rematerialize their prey on Hives and Cruisers for feeding. As you can see from its dimensions, it can fit through a Stargate so these things can literally pop up anywhere there is a Gate with little warning. And the Alterans note as well that the Wraith have reverse-engineered remote DHDs on these things."
"Their second purpose is of course, combat. A Hive ship can carry hundreds of Darts and can flood space with the damn things. They have a fighter mounted version of the Anti-Baryon Cannon in the tip of the nose. How they will fair against our F302s is open for debate…but at a glance I would say that the Dart is more manoeuvrable, but very fragile. The shields on a F302 will give our pilots some staying power in a dogfight but we will have to run simulations on their performance against anti-Baryon based weapons."
"Now remember I said a Wraith ship has no shields, but with the amount of Darts they have, it's not really an issue. A Wraith ship will always keep a sizable amount of Darts around it, to perform point defence duties against missile weapons. If one our Terran Destroyers were to engage a Hive Ship we would not be able use AHMs effectively. We'd have to stick to using Particle beams only."
"We could always just beam AHMs close to their hull beyond the Darts and set them off on area detonation," suggested Mckay. "I mean it wouldn't be a sure one hit one kill, but the Hive ship would still sustain massive damage."
Harry frowned severely at Mckay for a moment then got a considering expression on his face, "That's…a good idea Mckay. Simple yet effective. It'll also make a huge dent in the amount of Darts that the Wraith ship has at its disposal." The scientist in question looked quite smug.
"Leaving gaps in the Dart defence where you can sneak an AHM through normally…boom!" Mckay clapped his hands together for effect.
"That is all well and good," Theron held her hands up to pause the enthusiasm, "but the fact of the matter is that we're now in the same position the Alterans were when the siege of Atlantis began. Sure, we could destroy numerous Wraith Hives and ships, but we only have the city, its personnel and one ship. Now, I don't like the fact that we've got an entire Galaxy of humans who have seemingly been reduced to being nothing more than cattle. But the bottom line is…we surface the city, explore this Galaxy and sooner or later we're going to encounter the Wraith."
"And ye can bet they'll figure out eventually where we're based," MacTavish said ominously. "And since A'lantis is the only way back to Earth – we canna let it fall into their hands."
"I still have to inspect Atlantis fully, but I'm sure if the City's Stardrive is still within safe operational guidelines, we could relocate to another world 'off the beaten path' so to speak – if we saw that another siege was inevitable," Aiyana stated helpfully.
"We must also weigh the benefits to Earth and Humanity as a whole, General," Harry was earnest. "Yes, we risk inviting another bad guy to the party, when we're still fighting against the Goa'uld back home, but what if the solution to that problem is here, among the wealth of the entire Alteran knowledge base…literally at our fingertips or somewhere out there in Pegasus."
Silence fell on the room as everyone absorbed that thought.
"My descendants didn't leave Atlantis with idle purpose on this ocean floor," Aiyana spoke up solemnly, yet strongly. "Using the Stardrive they could've opened a Hyperspace window intra-atmosphere to escape, but they did not. Why? You heard the Councillor, because they wanted their descendants…you," she pointed to the Terrans in the room. "To reclaim it when the time came and to make right a terrible wrong."
Theron looked pensive as she interlaced her fingers on the table.
"Looking at this decision from the point of view of a Terran, our course of action should be obvious, fix our ancestors' mistake. But there are so many other things to take into account…give me an hour."
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Harry sat behind one of the Consoles in Atlantis' Control room, familiarizing himself with the systems, Mckay was at one of the forward consoles at a level slightly below, whilst another Chief Scientist, a crazy haired, excitable Czech by the name of Doctor Radek Zelenka, was at another Console – oohing and aahing over the systems and then babbling in his native language under his breath, much to Mckay's annoyance.
Zelenka was a notable Physicist with more of a background in Astrophysics than Mckay – who focused more on Quantum and Mechanical spheres of the science.
Hermione was behind the furthermost Console, which housed the Alteran version of the SGC Dailing Computer. It had the thirty nine Stargate symbols native to the Pegasus Galaxy neatly arranged in a triangular formation, each working with an old fashioned 'composite' push button to engage a particular coordinate. In the centre of the triangle was a red button, which engaged a brilliant white Alteran Shield to appear over the mouth of the Stargate – to stop uninvited guests from entered the city. She was currently familiarizing herself with the Library of Gate addresses that were in the Database for Pegasus.
General Theron had ordered MacTavish and his troops to secure the central tower of Atlantis in the meantime, and erect man portable force field generators to seal off the tower from the rest of the city. The Expedition would live and use it as a base, from which to explore the rest of the city.
Aiyana was standing behind Harry, anxiously looking over his shoulder and occasionally explaining a system's function to make the process go smoother. She would then give a glance at the General's new Office, across the walkway bridge where Theron had sequestered herself.
"She could always bump the decision up to the STO Council," noted Mckay idly, staring at his laptop; which had been interfaced with the Console to render what it was telling him into understandable English. All expedition members had been required to learn the latest dialect of Alteran – but it didn't replace the fact that all of them had been schooled in English, and knew science in that language. Only Harry, Aiyana and Apollonia could truly work with the Consoles without an interface laptop.
"She was given Ambassadorial-level authority to make alliances with the potential new races we would encounter here, Mckay, and deal with those that were a threat to Humanity," retorted Harry in irritation. "She doesn't want to run to the Council with her first command level decision and then have them tell her what she was going to do anyway."
"The Goa'uld need humans to live in, the Wraith need humans to live on," said Zelenka musingly. "We're at war with the first for that very reason; the same outcome with the latter is inevitable. The only question in my mind is in what manner we are going to fight."
"You may be right," said Peter Grodin, an English structural engineer and general scientist from his own Console. "I for one would prefer not to be at war with anyone, but I'll bloody sure fight an interstellar vampire for my very existence."
Their eyes were immediately drawn to the walkway, General Theron – her command chromesuit glistening and reflecting the lighting of the Arrival Hall stood there – she stared at all of them in turn with a mask like neutral face, not giving them an inkling on her decision.
"I trust you can put me on citywide PA and to the Briseus?"
"No problem," nodded Hermione, and rolled her chair over to another unoccupied Console that controlled Atlantis' many and varied communication systems – the simplest being the PA, the most complex being a subspace com array that would even have the Asgard salivating over the opportunity to study it. Hermione fingered a few of the crystal pads, and there was a crackling sound throughout the Arrival Hall, the Central Tower and the crowded Briseus – still waiting to deliver her supplies and passengers.
"This is General Theron, by now, your department heads and commanding officers have briefed you all on the new situation we face here. We came here hoping for a peaceful new frontier to explore, but it is I'm afraid, not to be. So the question is, now what? The Wraith was the undoing of the Alterans, if they failed, then how can we succeed? To that I answer, we learn from their mistakes and push forward. Columbus did not turn his ship around when he caught sight of the unknown Americas and its wilderness and perils, so why should we? As far as I'm concerned, we're one up on Columbus, he didn't have a database on the Americas. We are explorers, but now we will be soldiers too.
"How then will we fight the Wraith? The answer; stealth and guerrilla warfare, we will not allow them to know who we are, we will be like ghosts – attacking without warning with surgical precision at key Wraith facilities, outposts and ships and then vanishing. We will be the spear directly into their heart."
"Commodore Potter, Aiyana," she turned to them. "As Governor General of Atlantis, in my first official act, I order the city to be raised off the ocean floor. We are freeing the people of this Galaxy. All personnel on Atlantis, brace yourself."
Theron made a slashing gesture and Hermione cut the link.
"Proceed Commodore."
"Understood," said Harry, feeling a deep satisfaction…it certainly seems we've chosen the right leader. His hands, with Aiyana's help, began dancing on the main navigational controls of the city. Together they released the city's graviton anchors, engaged the massive inertial dampeners which reduced the city's mass to near zero, and applied a small burst of power from the stardrive to get the city rising.
Despite all this, the ocean currents combined with the hum of the stardrive operating in the water environment caused the equivalent of a four point zero 'cityquake' on the Richter scale; consoles rattled, expedition members had to hold onto walls to steady themselves.
"Six hundred feet and rising!" reported Harry, steadying himself on the side of the console, but continuing to attempt to compensate for the shaking by firing thrusters.
Finally, after fifteen seconds of ascent, looking through the windows, they could see the water suddenly part from the shield, as the central tower saw daylight again for the first time in ten thousand years. The ocean continued to recede around the city shield until finally the ocean had reached the nominal level at about a hundred meters off the edge of the piers.
"Engaging buoyancy systems. Inertial dampening system powering down. Stardrive offline."
The city suddenly sank about fifty meters instantly, but the buoyancy systems kicked in before it go further and it bounced back up, then down again…twice it did this, releasing the brief momentum it had gathered into the ocean, in the form of a displacement waves radiating out from the city in all directions.
"We're stable and on the surface, General," reported Aiyana.
"Lower the Shield."
A musical hum resonated as the energy umbrella protecting the city vanished.
"Good, tell the Briseus that they can begin transport. It's time we make ourselves at home."
Two days passed, filled with near constant activity, supplies were beamed down, then storage space had to be found for it – which of course, required that MacTavish and his men find and secure that space first. Then there was the chore of finding living space for everyone. Atlantis would in the end now house over one thousand two hundred Terrans, and not all of them could be fitted into the central tower; since it was dedicated to Stargate operations and city control, so they'd had to expand into the neighbouring towers for everyone to fit.
Thanks to the city schematics in the Alteran database, almost every member of the Expedition had found the sections of the city dedicated to their specific academic field and promptly moved in.
Dr Beckett was in glee over the Atlantis Infirmary, situated a level below 'Stargate Operations.' Though there was already Alteran medical equipment that was light years beyond most of his gear, he quickly figured out how to combine the uses of both to best effect.
With the help of Aiyana, the scientists were shown to various multipurpose labs in the central towers of the city. The engineers settled into a building that housed some of the city's fabricating facilities – most of which was Matter-Energy based. Atlantis didn't have anything that resembled a military barracks, but MacTavish and his men quickly appropriated six lower floors of the central tower and set up an Armoury complete with a gymnasium and firing range.
The most interesting discovery had been the levels above the Stargate. It housed an area encompassing three levels that held twenty five MEVs parked neatly on docking slots arranged in a circular formation. Those among the military personnel with flight experience, including Major Sheppard, had stumbled upon an MEV that had an addition to it. In the rear passenger compartment was a device hooked in the small ships' systems. It was vaguely circular and about three feet in length with an odd grey beige colour.
"Thought I better call you both to check it out before I sit down at the Jumper controls," said Sheppard.
"Jumper?" asked Harry with a raised eyebrow, poising his scanner over the device.
"Yeah Sir, Puddle Jumper, it's my nickname for these little beauties," Sheppard patted the inner hull of the ship mock-affectionately.
"I see, well, it has a certain…ease of pronunciation to it, more than MEV," conceded Harry distractedly, staring at the readings he was getting from the device.
"Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with calling it simply a 'Gateship'," said Mckay astutely, also staring at his own scanner. "Is that a… no way, that's…that's unbelievable!"
"What?" Sheppard said in alarm.
"My scanner says the same thing," said Harry with forced nonchalance and showed it Mckay who abruptly grabbed it and compared the two. He stared warily at the device and placed a palm on it and carefully extended his senses…"Holy shit!" he snapped and pulled away as if his hand was burned.
"What?"
"You can be very glad you didn't sit at the controls of this thing Major," groused Mckay, shaking his head. "Crazy…utterly mad…"
"Major, there is a small artificial singularity inside this thing – a black hole, to put it more simply," explained Harry. "This device is made to contain it, but also to manipulate it by changing quantum field densities to affect local changes in the space time continuum."
"Uhmm, what does that mean? I got the black hole part but…" Sheppard asked, slightly baffled and alarmed.
"He's saying this 'Jumper' is essentially a Time Machine, Major," frowned Mckay.
"Cool. But wouldn't the person using it be in danger of causing that paradox thing from Back to the Future."
"Don't even get me started on that movie," Mckay held his hands up, disgust written on his features.
"The simple answer is yes, Major," grinned Harry in amusement. "But you wouldn't fade into nothingness like Marty McFly. You'd simply continue existing but in a different Universe, split off from the old one you remember, or get stuck in a Causality Loop like SG1 did a few years ago."
"Hmmm, well despite that failure, it seems the Alterans finally did master Time Travel," Mckay tapped a few buttons on his scanner. "I wonder why they didn't make use of it to fight the Wraith?"
"Too many variables to calculate," answered Harry thoughtfully – thinking back to his own time travel experience – and what the mysterious future Terran had told him of how they had side-stepped the laws of causality. "This method of Time Travel is too 'invasive', the tiniest little change causes ripple effects beyond your ability to compensate and factor in, something like interfering in a chaotic war."
"So are we saying we can never use it?" asked Sheppard slightly disappointed.
"No, not at all, Major," Harry replied, going over the possibilities in his mind. "We'd just have to be extremely careful about it. In the meantime, I'm declaring this Jumper off-limits to everyone. I'm going to make a personal report to General Theron about it, so you can relax, Mckay."
He shooed both men out of the ship and linked mentally with the computer, willing it to shut the rear ramp. Next he pointed his palm to the ship and abruptly the entire thing was briefly distorted as he altered its surrounding space and a multi-effect spatial ward appeared over it. It would alter him the moment someone tried to breach the field and give anyone enough of a jolt to render them unconscious the moment it was touched.
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Harry had temporarily appropriated a decently sized sixty square meter 'apartment' only ten floors below Operations. Luckily, it seemed the Alterans knew how to build a bed to last, as all that had been required was a thorough dusting of the mattress. Of course, Hermione and Apollonia entered after their own exhausting days and appropriated their positions on either side of him as he slept.
His sleep was interrupted at four in the morning – Earth time; they still hadn't gotten around to adjusting everyone to the local time on Lantea. Harry gave a glance out of the window and saw that it was midday. Grumbling he untangled himself carefully from his wives and padded over to the desk that held his com earpiece, which had been steadily chirping for his attention. He glanced over at the bed and chuckled as he saw both women moan in irritation at the noise and sudden cold his absence produced.
He placed his earpiece in. "Potter here."
"Sorry to interrupt your sleep Commodore," the voice of Peter Grodin said.
"That's all right, I only had another hour to go anyway, is something the matter?"
"We've picked up an emergency beacon on an Alteran subspace frequency, General Theron is calling for a briefing in thirty minutes."
"Understood, I'll be there." He cut the link with a tap to the earpiece and strode over and abruptly pulled the covers off both women.
"Hey!" "That was not amusing, husband."
Conference Room, Stargate Ops, Atlantis
A holoscreen hovered in midair for all in attendance to see. It showed a starfield map and a blinking dot, with Alteran script attached in a caption next to it.
"What is it?" asked General Theron.
"That," Mckay was standing and doing the presentation "is an Alteran Hippoforalkus Class Cruiser named 'Aurora'. With the ZPMs active, Aiyana and I have been reactivating dormant systems. We stumbled across this one recently – it tracks in real-time the location of every Alteran warship in the Galaxy, most likely used during the Wraith war."
"That'll certainly be a boost to Atlantis' defence capability, if it can be salvaged and retrieved," Harry stated.
"I cross-checked the Aurora's last mission on the war logs," Aiyana continued. "They were on a reconnaissance mission, but curiously that is all the logs say."
"Their mission was classified?" Theron looked much more interested now.
"That is the only conclusion we can draw from the omission of details in the logs, it was a common security measure amongst us, even back in my time. Only the Alteran Council would've been aware of the true nature of the mission."
"It's on the edge of the Pegasus Galaxy, and no Stargates are nearby for the MEVs," noted Apollonia, staring at the star map. "We would need the Briseus to go there."
"Colonel," Theron turned to MacTavish, who nodded.
"I'll assign Atlantis teams one and two; along with myself should the proverbial hit the fan."
"Good, I want you to take along Major Sheppard as well."
"Understood," nodded MacTavish, but didn't look happy. "Begging you're pardon ma'am…"
"I understand your reluctance with him, Colonel," Theron interrupted gently but nevertheless with supreme command in her tone. "The Commodore and Apollonia will not be with us for long, meaning that Major Sheppard needs to fill their shoes. Aiyana is only one person, after all."
"Are there any further questions?"
Silence.
"Make it happen. Dismissed."
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Interstellar space, Outer Spiral arm of Pegasus Galaxy
The huge saucer shaped Briseus burst out of a hyperspace window and settled into a cruise as it flared its sublight engines on a direct course for the beacon.
"The signal is bearing a few light seconds distant," reported Apollonia from her seat in the Command chair on the Bridge. A section of the omniview bridge highlighted itself and indicated the relative direction.
Harry watched in amusement as Sheppard looked slightly disconcerted by the fact that to his senses it felt as if they were standing in the middle of space. The Major was standing awkwardly in full chromesuit and PR8 battle gear with the other nine Spec Ops men.
"We are in visual range," declared Apollonia.
A huge ship came into view, a holoscreen appeared and bracketed it and zoomed in.
"That's one ship that has seen better days," remarked Mckay wryly.
And he was not wrong. The Hippoforalkus class vessel was barely recognizable as being of that class; whole sections were exposed to space, hull was missing, the scorching of battle damage was everywhere. It was amazing that the thing was still in one relative piece.
"Well, there goes the salvaging option," Harry said with regret.
"I wouldn't be so sure, husband," mused Apollonia, another holoscreen blossomed into existence to show a lifesign scan. "I'm reading five hundred and fifty very faint life signs all over the superstructure, with extremely low metabolic rates indicative of stasis."
"Are ye sayin' we've got ourselves a bunch of Alteran's on ice here?" MacTavish said in astonishment.
"It seems that way," Harry stared at the holoscreen. "The Hippoforalkus class I know didn't have stasis pods, this one was obviously modified. Probably because she's only got interstellar hyperdrive and built for war, not exactly a speedy thing. It would've taken them months to get back to Atlantis." He turned to MacTavish. "Alright, there's no life support over there, so we're gonna have to go vacuum on the chromesuits."
"Off we go, lads," nodded the Colonel and they headed off the bridge with Harry following.
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Harry, Mckay, Sheppard, MacTavish and his men appeared on the Bridge deck of the Aurora with a flash of light. Their chromesuits were fully extended up to their necks and the conforming helmet was now tinted a pure reflective silver – anyone looking would not see twelve Terrans, but rather might think they were looking at agile two armed two legged 'advanced alien' beings.
It was one of the strategies of misdirection Theron had come up with to throw off the Wraith into who was attacking them when they eventually made contact with them in person; and since they could never be sure of when, all offworld teams would adopt it. If they had to interact with the local human population, the helmet would overlay a holographic 'mask' that would give the vague appearance of a soft alien face with dark purple skin, glowing eyes and nose; this due to the fact that it was noted in the Alteran database that the Wraith had human 'supporters and worshippers' – who would trade their lives in exchange for service.
The boarding team had PR8s ready and raised; their enhanced vision and the chromesuit's sensors easily penetrating the darkness, and showed a corridor of clearly Alteran architecture.
"Should be just outside the Bridge," Harry walked up to a large sealed door. He gave a gesture with his hand, and it strained open, to reveal to them a scene of utter devastation – the expansive control centre was open to space, consoles were blackened and scorched with fires long gone out, and various debris were floating in the zero g environment. "Okay, nothing to see there, Colonel, make a visual sweep of the ship, our sensors are advanced but it can't replace the Mark 1 Eyeball. Also check the ship's armoury."
"Understood Commodore, Alpha 1 head aft, Alpha 2 fore, Sheppard ye're with me."
With the soldiers off to do their thing, Harry and Mckay walked over to the nearest stasis pods in view. Mckay materialized his scanner and began to take readings.
"These capsules have extensive shielding, probably why their readings came over as faint as they were," said the Canadian scientist. Harry wiped the frost away from the circular capsule jutting out of the wall, to reveal a very old looking Alteran in what seemed to be a Captain's uniform of sorts or at least a very high ranking officer.
"Ten thousand years in stasis," said Harry shaking his head. "We couldn't revive them normally, they'd die instantly."
"You're right, their bodies are moribund," said Mckay looking at his scanner. "Huh… I'm reading active cortical signals."
"You mean their minds are active?"
"Definitely, the pods are equipped with a neural interface. It's indicating definite brain activity, as though they were perfectly conscious. If all of these pods are interconnected, it's highly possible these people are, in fact, communicating with each other."
"For all of ten thousand years, that must be one long conversation," Harry said in astonishment.
"They've probably just given themselves something to do while they waited for rescue."
"Well I can only see two possibilities in achieving that in their state; we could interface the Time Jumper to the Briseus and go back in time to a point where their bodies are revivable, then return with them to our current time."
"Is the Time Module even capable of pulling a ship as large as Briseus through a temporal journey?" asked Mckay.
"It should, if I supplement the power with Briseus's enhanced ZPM and Neutrino Ion Generators."
"Wait, wait, wait, if we retrieve them in the past, then we wouldn't have detected the stasis pods and lifesigns in the first place. We'd create a causality paradox."
"Indeed, and the fact that we see no message from ourselves indicates that we didn't choose this option," Harry didn't have that much of a use for precognition beyond a few seconds into the future in a crisis, but he was not sensing any such time space causality loop.
"Okay," said Mckay, looking baffled yet fascinated at the concept. "So what was the second option?"
"Do the pods have independent life support?"
"Let me check," said the scientist, seeing where Harry was going with this and waving his scanner. "Yes, each pod has a small very advanced microfusion generator it seems…amazing."
"Therefore we can remove the pods from the ship and beam them over to Briseus."
"Then bring them back to Altantis?"
"Yes, then we'd need to call in the Asgard."
"You're gonna clone them and then transfer their minds to new bodies?"
"It'll only be once, the genetic degradation can be easily repaired, the Asgard have thanks to Earth's efforts and our generous offer for them to study our DNA, perfected a short term solution to their genetic problems. We gave them half a century of extra time thanks to our efforts. But I first need to speak to the Captain to ask his permission and enlist his help…is it possible for me to interface with the system."
"It's highly complex it would take me," he objected initially, "wait a minute," Mckay tapped his earpiece. "Mckay to MacTavish. Have you found any empty stasis pods?"
"Quite a few, Doctor. Two decks below you. Why do you ask?"
"I'll explain later, Colonel," said Harry, "meet us there."
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Virtual Environment, Aurora
Harry blinked and found himself standing on one of the outer piers of Atlantis. He was on one of the landing platforms for ships. He looked down and saw he was now wearing an off white jacket, with trousers and dark boots, which while minimalist, had the same geometric pattern common to all Alteran styles of dress.
He quickly surveyed his surroundings and saw that he was not alone. Sitting on the edge of the platform with his feet dangling over the edge, was an Alteran seemingly in his mid-fifties; it was hard to tell with Alterans…since they could age at will and enhanced with their medical tech, made them capable of immortality if they wished it, but few chose it.
The Alteran was staring over the endless ocean and seemingly in deep thought, and occasionally would chuck a stone from a small mound of crumbled debris that was next to him. Harry saw that he was wearing an identical uniform to the one he'd thought was the Captain. 'Good thing Mckay managed to isolate his cortical signal relative to the virtual environment. I'd spend forever looking for him.'
"Captain Herodotus," he said, speaking in the last Alteran dialect to evolve.
The Alteran looked startled at the sound of a strange unfamiliar voice and turned his head to see Harry.
"Who are you?" the man looked appraisingly at him. "You wear the uniform of my crew, but I don't recognize you."
"I am Commodore Harry Potter of Terra, and I've come to take you all home."
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"Ten thousand years," mused Herodotus sadly. "This neural system responds to the conscious desires of the user, and I'm afraid that it has distorted me and my crew's sense of time completely. To us it feels as if merely a hundred years has passed."
"What are you all doing?"
"Oh we're scattered about this simulated Atlantis, some doing what we did before the Wraith war began. Some more military minded men like myself have continued to work on new strategies to be employed against the enemy. I can't imagine the effect it will have when I tell them of the fact that we lost the war…by the Infinity, what a misfortunate confluence of events." Herodotus kicked the small pile of debris in frustration, scattering everything into the ocean a few hundred feet below them.
"What do you mean Captain?" asked Harry in confusion.
"The Aurora carries a communiqué in its databanks, which was transmitted by a stealth operative that infiltrated a Wraith shipyard. He discovered a key weakness in Wraith technology that most assuredly would have allowed us to turn the tide of war back in our favour."
"The Wraith doesn't know we have returned to this Galaxy," said Harry significantly.
"Then this is the time," said Herodotus strongly, smashing his fist into his palm for emphasis. "I can give you my access codes to download the communiqué. Then…well, I can't say that we will relish the thought of having to go through a mental transference into a cloned body, but I suspect the thought of finishing the Wraith off once and for all will encourage most of us to go along with you, our Descendants. I look forward to seeing the Asgard again at any rate."
"Excellent," grinned Harry. "I'm sure my General will appreciate it…but you must understand, that the Atlantis you remembered is gone…"
"Yes, yes, yes," Herodotus waved the matter off, "if she is as capable a leader as you tell me, then I'm willing to accept her command. It will also help that she has the support of…Aiyana, you said…a most unusual name, but seeing an Ancestor from that time will solidify the support of my crew most certainly. Not to mention you…and the fact that the old home galaxy is at war." Herodotus shook his head in disgust. "Those pesky parasites hardly seemed a threat in my time…they have grown far more powerful than I had believed possible."
"And we will welcome your help in dealing with them too, when the time comes," grinned Harry. "But one enemy at a time…gather your people Captain. Tell them."
"I will."
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Everyone was back aboard the Briseus, including the five hundred and fifty stasis pods containing the crew of the Aurora.
"Have you got it?" Harry asked.
"Right here," smirked Mckay in satisfaction, showing the screen of a Tablet PC.
"I'm detecting two hyperspace conduits approaching in subspace, it matches Wraith profiles," said Apollonia from the Control chair. "ETA, thirty minutes."
"Well let's not linger, then," He turned to Atlantis teams one and two. "Colonel."
"Attention! Render honours!" barked MacTavish and all ten including Sheppard faced the image of the derelict Aurora on the Bridge, and saluted.
"Send it," nodded Harry at his wife.
Apollonia nodded and the Briseus sent a command signal with Herodotus' access code. The results of the transmission was evident as five minutes later the old reactor of the Aurora went critical and detonated with a huge flash of energy, the shockwave rumbled Briseus a bit, but it was nothing the giant ship couldn't shrug off.
Briseus swooped in a turn, plunging into a Hyperspace window.
The Wraith would find nothing remaining of the ship, only scattered debris hardly bigger than the size of a fist. It was puzzling to them why a Lantean ship would only activate its distress beacon now. The Commander of the Wraith Cruiser eventually dismissed it as an old warship finally giving in to the rigors of age as it reactors could no longer keep containment…any Lanteans would've died in the explosion.
Barely twenty minutes of cursory scanning and both ships sent themselves back into hyperspace to their homeworlds. It was dangerous for them to come out of hibernation – not enough time had passed for their food supplies to regenerate.
It was fateful decision.
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Ops, Atlantis, Lantea
"Hardly here a week and already you dump a diplomatic function on me," Theron muttered to Harry as they came to a stop a safe distance from the Stargate.
"You don't like them?" he asked in mock astonishment. Theron just gave him a black look in response and stood in a straightbacked military posture. This was the wrong or right thing to do – depending on who you asked – in a chromesuit. "It's merely an Asgard delegation accompanying the cloning equipment they will use to revive the Alterans."
"Sue me for wanting to make a good impression, Commodore."
"I can give you a bit of advice in dealing with the Asgard, General; they value substance, not façade. You impress them with your accomplishments, not your shiny military brass."
"I see," she looked thoughtful.
"Incoming wormhole!" called Peter Grodin from the upper control room. The shield flared automatically into existence over its maw. "Receiving SGC IDC."
"Lower the shield!"
They waited a full eight seconds for the inbound travellers, and the first to enter was the diminutive form of Thor, followed a few moments later by Freya another of the Asgard High Council, and five other Asgard who Harry recognized as being scientists from the Asgard base on Mars.
Behind them a large tubular device floated through the event horizon, made of elegant curving Asgard construction and just barely made it through the Stargate – no doubt a cloning chamber.
"Greetings Councillor Freyr, Supreme Commander Thor," Theron bowed her head slightly. "Welcome to Atlantis."
"Greetings," said Thor, bowing his head in return and stared at his surroundings. Harry was rather astonished to see the equivalent of awe on the faces of the seven Asgard.
"Good to see you again my friend," laughed Harry, kneeling and placing his hand on Thor's small shoulder.
"We had heard of your success Harry, in finding the Lost City," Thor looked around, his black eyes fully open, "but actually being here is another matter entirely. The Asgard had seen hope with the defeat of the Replicators, now with this city found, we feel it."
"Well, I look forward to giving you a tour, I'm sure that we all have much to talk about, but I suspect we should get down to business," said Theron seriously.
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Conference Room, Atlantis
General Theron had invited the Asgard to join a briefing regarding the communiqué Aurora had been carrying, Freya and Thor accepted whilst the Asgard science team were escorted down to the various storage rooms around the city that housed the stasis pods to begin the slow process of reviving the Alterans from hibernation through cloning – starting with Captain Herodotus.
"I've been going over the data in communiqué and it is amazing," Mckay began excitedly. "Now bear with me, each race has its own unique interpretation of a hyperdrive, we have our interpretation, the Asgard has theirs, and the Wraith, again, have their own separate hyperdrive technology. Now what this Alteran operative found was the specific subspace frequencies which all Wraith hyperdrive technology operates on."
"By the Infinity, no wonder Herodotus was so pissed at his circumstances," exclaimed Harry, mulling over the possibilities of having the actual Wraith subspace frequencies. It was highly significant information.
"Just how does that help us wage a campaign against them?" asked MacTavish in confusion.
"It'll take some doing, but with this information, I believe we can equip the Briseus and Atlantis with a device that can jam these frequencies in a preset radius of space, depending on the amount of power we can allocate to it…a member of the Alteran High Council called Janus came up with the idea," explained Mckay.
"So it'll stop the Wraith from using their Hyperdrive when we engage in battle, effectively stranding them whenever we get in range or they get close to the Lantean Star System?" asked Theron, musing over the tactical possibilities.
"No, it wouldn't stop them from using their hyperdrives at all, that's what so brilliant," said Mckay. "It will only destabilize their specific channel of hyperspace so when they try to enter it…"
"Their ships will be ripped apart," Harry grinned in amazement.
"I hate to put, as O'Neill would say, 'a dampener on this enthusiasm'," said Thor droningly. "But destabilizing subspace in the manner you are proposing has been attempted before by the Asgard, as an early means of preventing Replicator incursions. The Replicators based their hyperdrives off our own, it was an effective tactic – that while stopping our own hyperdrive operations within a solar system, would destroy any incoming Replicator ships."
"And you stopped because…" Mckay trailed off inviting elaboration. Thor glanced at Freyr, who nodded his head that he could continue.
"Destabilizing any part of subspace causes a dangerous form of radiation to be emitted, radiation that interferes with the normal operations of a Stargate. If the subspace destabilization field was active whilst a Stargate is also active within proximity – it would cause the Gate to overload…catastrophically. Using this form of aggressive defence would have forced us to 'bury' the Stargate, and with it, any means of escape should the battle not have gone in our favour."
"So we'd have to do the same, bury the Gate, if it ever came down to a siege," said Aiyana, "of course, in our case, we wouldn't have lost the option of Hyperspace, since our drives and Atlantis' wouldn't be effected. And we'd have to be careful when we use it in battle, make sure that we are not close to any inhabited worlds with a Stargate."
"Very well, Dr Mckay, I realize you have a lot on your plate now, but I want to you to give the construction of the jamming device top priority," Theron turned to Freyr. "Councillor Freyr, getting to the reason why we called you here, how long do you think it would take to revive all five hundred and fifty crewmembers of the Aurora?"
"The Cloning Tube we have brought is the latest Asgard design," explained Freyr. "It is based on the advancements Ambassador Potter gave us access to and the Alteran DNA manipulator found in the Milky Way not long ago. With this design we can reconstruct the DNA of a clone to a previously unheard of degree and since we are only cloning them once, the genetic degradation will be negligible. It will take on average a day for a cloned body to grown from the genetic template provided and the mind transferral is instantaneous. The Tube can create ten clones at once."
"Fifty five days, should be interesting," grinned Mckay, rubbing his hands together, no doubt looking forward to bouncing ideas off the Alterans.
"God help us," muttered Harry under his breath. He mentally debated with himself about warning Herodotus about Mckay…naaah, might put him off from leaving his virtual dreamland.
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Ops, Atlantis
John Sheppard stood patiently waiting a safe distance from the Stargate, watching as technicians readied a MALP – it still threw him to see the thing actually hovering in mid-air. To be honest a lot of things in the past few months had 'thrown him' since that fateful helicopter trip in Antarctic. The chromesuit and PR8 AW he had training in was quite cool – if slightly awkward – it felt a bit retro to walk around in a skin tight suit of semi-fluidic smart alloy that was technically a semi-intelligent AI. But to compensate for it there was the PR8 and it was just 'cool' – he'd never expected to in his 'military lifetime' deal with energy weapons…maybe his grandchildren would, but not him.
He rested his arms over the weapon attached in its catches on his front armour and gave a glance to the others going on this first exploration mission from Atlantis into the Pegasus Galaxy. Colonel MacTavish was someone John could respect as a man and a commanding officer. He seemed like the kind of guy who could get things done – no matter what was thrown in his path to stop him.
Lieutenant Ford on the other hand looked almost like a cub in comparison to MacTavish's lion. The man had the boyish face look going for him and John had seen him goof around with his fellow Special Forces buddies in the Mess hall. Now the Lieutenant was all business and seemed to have shed that apparent naivety like a cloak and John knew the man, while young, was no stranger to this business.
The final member of their impromptu team was the very man who had recruited him into going on this whole thing. Commodore Potter. John couldn't make heads or tails really of the guy – sure he was the British equivalent of an USAF General – but he had never met one that went on ops, nor did the man have the frills of your typical General. Scuttlebutt said that he had been abducted as a child by aliens – and learned of the big Galaxy out there – and brought back the means for Earth to defend itself.
John would reserve judgement until he saw the guy in action.
The Gate started to dial and the chevrons locked themselves in barely five seconds, and the vertical wash of energy exploded outwards and settled into the weird sideways puddle effect. Now that was cool too. It groused him somewhat that they wouldn't be taking a Jumper on this first mission; he was itching to fly those babies.
The MALP hovered itself forward and disappeared into the puddle. Peter Grodin stood nearby, looking into a Tablet PC at the feed from the probe and his fingers tapped and slid on the touch sensitive interface. The man nodded to them and walked over. "MALP reads full viability and no immediate signs of activity around the Stargate. But its pitch black. For now, we're going to use the tried and true system for identification of inbound gate travellers with a slight twist. Your GDOs are now integrated and programmed into your specific chromesuit; make sure you send the mental command for it to be broadcasted. We will confirm via radio that the shield is down, and if you're in a Code Red your chromesuit HUD will indicate as well."
"All righ' folks, helmets and masks on," said MacTavish.
John barely thought about it before there was a bright flash in his eyes, and when it cleared, his helmet was over his head, with its HUD beginning to flash data at him in English. 'Holomask active' it displayed in the corner of his vision.
He looked at the other three and was somewhat amazed how little it actually took to make a person appear completely alien. They turned and saluted General Theron who was watching at the balcony of the control room overlooking ops – she smartly returned it.
MacTavish went through first, followed by Ford and Potter, and finally John took his third step through an event horizon…the wormhole twisted and turned, and just as quickly he was finishing his step on an alien world in an alien Galaxy – dominated by space vampires, go figure.
It sure was pitch black, though his HUD immediately flared green into Nightvision.
Potter walked over to the patiently waiting MALP, touched a button, and it vanished cloaking itself. They spread out in a wide formation and headed to this planet's relative north-west.
"Okay, the database indicated there is an Alteran city on this planet, so we're going to search it for anything useful," came the Commodore's voice over the team intercom. There was a forest directly in their path and undeterred they advanced. Before they even reached the treeline, MacTavish held up his arm. John's HUD showed lifesigns fast approaching and the team drew PR8s and waited.
Of all things a boy jumped out from a bush close to Ford, wearing a mask that looked quite like a Wraith warrior. The kid hadn't spotted the team yet, and he growled playfully before another child jumped out and tackled the first to the ground. Only then did they see the strange figures looming above them with weapons now lowered but poised nevertheless.
"Please don't hurt us!" babbled the child clearly frightened. John noted that the kid wore scruffy clothing but that it was well made nevertheless. 'Possible Agrarian society' flashed the ever helpful AI in his mind.
At this point a very tall man with long brown hair rushed out of the forest raising his hands in a gesture of surrender and appeal, standing over the children.
"Please! They're just playing," pleaded the man in a deep voice, and helped the children to their feet.
'Holster your weapons,' said the Commodore over the private team link. John complied and watched as Potter approached the man.
"Holling," said the man nervously, holding his hand to his chest.
"I am Ambassador Potter. You have nothing to fear from us, we are but humble explorers and traders." His voice was slightly distorted by the chromesuit, obscuring their voices somewhat.
Holling nodded but was seemingly too preoccupied with making sure his son - judging by the love the man had in his eyes for the boy – was okay. "How many times have I told you not to go play in the forest after dark? I'm just glad you're safe." Father and son touched foreheads in a greeting probably only shared between family members. Holling stood and faced the Commodore again.
"Teyla will wish to meet with you. Come."
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Holling led the way through the forest, first finding a path, then leading them on a walk a good distance from the Stargate. Holling's son and his friend kept a mini-inquisition going on, and somehow had designated John as their target.
"What do you call yourselves?"
"We are Terrans." The name would mean nothing to the children – it sounded cool though and Earth Latin was sufficiently distant from Alteran that it would mean nothing to the Wraith either.
"Why do you wear that shiny stuff and what's over your head?"
"We're not like you; we can't live on planets like this, so we need this 'suit' to survive." Disinformation pure and simple.
"Where are you from?" came the next question.
"A galaxy far, far away." John answered with a laugh. Commodore Potter had told them with a completely straight face to answer in that fashion.
He noticed the mask the kid had been playing with. "Wraith? What are you doing, playing Wraith and Human?" John chuckled, figuring it was the Pegasus version of Cops and Robbers. The kid merely shrugged, looking embarrassed.
They finally entered a large camp site, with leather walled huts and stilted tents; people dressed in similar fashion to Holling milled about, looking curiously at the new arrivals. John estimated around a hundred odd people called the camp home. They had the look of nomads and hunters more than farmers.
Holling stood at the lip of one of the largest tents and called to its occupants, "It's Holling. I bring visitors from away."
"Enter," replied a woman's voice.
Holling again led the way inside the tent followed by the Commodore, MacTavish and Ford. John entered and could see the apprehensive looks of a group of men and women seated around a table inside. To one side stood a woman with a light cocoa complexion and rather intricate leather clothes, looking at the four of them appraisingly.
"I am Teyla Emmagan, Daughter of Tughan," she introduced herself, frowning in concentration at them.
"Ambassador Potter," said the Commodore again, and then gestured to each of his fellow Terrans. "MacTavish, Ford and Sheppard."
"You have the look of beings we have never encountered before," said Teyla.
"We are explorers from another Galaxy, we call ourselves Terrans. We seek only knowledge and trade."
"We do not trade with strangers," countered Teyla, seemingly relaxing somewhat.
"That is understandable," said Potter. "Therefore we must get to know each other. We Terrans value life, but will not hesitate to defend ourselves. Each day most of us will say a prayer to the Creator and give thanks for the gift of a new day, and the acquisition of knowledge in all its forms is our highest goal."
Teyla nodded in understanding and replied, "Each morning before dawn our people drink a stout tea to brace us for the coming day. Will you join us?"
"We would be honoured."
Drinking the tea was adventure in itself for John, though the Commodore took it in his stride – the chromesuit AI actually grew a straw for him to drink with. They learned that these nomadic hunters referred to themselves as Athosians. They were not nomadic by choice though. They moved from world to world through the Stargate to minimize chances of a Wraith encounter – even though the last Athosian encounter with a space vamp was over two generations ago – their oral history was alive and well in the lessons learned since the last time the Wraith 'culled' the Athosians.
The topic of their actual mission eventually came up; when the Commodore mentioned that they were also seeking knowledge of the Alterans and had found reference to the city on the 'Athosian planet' – although he referred to them as Ancients.
"The city of the ancestors is not safe," said one of the men at the table.
"We ca' 'andle ourselves," countered MacTavish.
"The Wraith will come."
"How do you know that?" asked John reasonably.
"We do not know of the exact cause, but our people have long believed that the Wraith will come if we venture into the old city, but it is a belief we have not tested in a long time," admitted Teyla.
"Perha' they 'ave trip sensors on the old place," suggested MacTavish.
"Entirely plausible. But we have the technology to look for such things and will search the city very carefully."
"We could not stop you by force I suspect, nor will we try, your technology is seemingly great and should the Wraith encounter you they will not hesitate to attack you," said Teyla gravely. "They do not tolerate those with the power to contest their dominance…we have seen evidence of them destroying civilizations that begin to develop too much. It would be best if you left this Galaxy…"
"It would be best for the Wraith if we did that, not you," countered John.
Teyla looked surprised at this statement.
"We thank you for the tea, Teyla Emmagan," Potter said, standing. "Sheppard will keep you company for the duration of our search of the city." They exited the tent, followed by most of the Athosians and John wondered what he had done to deserve this honour, then again, searching an abandoned Alteran city would most likely be quite boring – he had a feeling that the Wraith would've stripped anything of value.
"Guess it's just you and me…and him," smiled John, looking at the man that had objected to their presence, stubbornly remaining behind.
"Your leader is well spoken, but I do not think you comprehend the threat of the Wraith."
"Perhaps not, but we know their type, we're fighting a war in our home galaxy against a similar foe – though the whole 'feeding on sentient beings thing' is a new one," grinned John.
"So you are here to stay?"
"Yes."
"Then there is something you must see."
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Teyla led John to a cave in the slope of hill just under a kilometre away from the Athosian settlement. Its entrance was well concealed with foliage and looked entirely natural. "I used to play here as a child, I believe this is where the survivors hid from the Wraith during the last great attack." They were in the mouth of the cave now and Teyla grabbed a torch stuck in the wall – it was nothing more than a thick stick with linens wrapped around its top – and pointed a nifty little gadget that emitted a sparkly beam of light and instantly the torch caught fire.
"Where did you get that?"
"Traded for it," she answered. John shrugged guessing it must have come from one of the more relatively advanced human societies under Wraith oppression in Pegasus.
They went deeper into the cave and the torchlight reflecting on something caught John's eye. He stopped and examined it. It was metallic and caked in dust and dirt on a stone that stood at hip level. His fingers dug for it and revealed that it was actually the circular pendant about the size of a penny…a necklace.
"What's this?" he asked Teyla. She came over, holding the torch to better distinguish it.
"I lost this, years ago," she said in astonishment. "How did you…?"
"It was just lying here, reflecting the light," explained John opening the clasp, figuring that he'd be a gentleman and give the lady her necklace back. Teyla realized what he was doing and lifted her hair out of the way, allowing him to put it around her neck. John suddenly felt awkward as Teyla fingered the pendant, and he pointed to the cave drawings on the wall – no doubt what she wanted him to see. "Someone's been busy."
"The drawings in the caves are extensive," nodded Teyla, moving away to shine the torch over them to illuminate them better. "Many must date back thousands of years or more."
"Does this represent the destruction of the city?" pointed John to the crude drawing of a Wraith Hive ship sending a beam of light down to the ground and representations of people getting pulled up in it.
"This drawing far predates that."
"So someone knew it was going to happen?"
"I believe it happens again and again. The Wraith allows our kind to grow in numbers and when that number reaches a certain point they return to cull their human herd. Sometimes a few hundred years will pass before they awaken again. We've visited many, many worlds. I know of none untouched by the Wraith. The last great Holocaust was five Generations ago, still they return in smaller numbers to remind us of their power."
"It's a hell of a way to live," said John gravely. It was clear Teyla didn't understand the expression literally, but she understood the gist of it.
"We move our hunting camps around, we try to teach our children not to live in fear but it's hard, some of us can sense the Wraith coming, that gives us warning...we should go it will be dark soon."
Teyla turned to leave but John was too busy comprehending what his chromesuit AI was screaming about.
"Crap! Teyla…" he reached out with a hand, so frantic was he that he didn't even think and…the necklace strained against her for a moment, then its clasp snapped and it soared through the air and into John's hand.
'Damn, didn't mean to do that…' all members of the Atlantis expedition had also been given as much Metaphysic training as they could squeeze in. John had only had two months of it, but it was enough that he could now do telekinesis and telepathy quite reliably and well. He saw Teyla's wide eyed expression. 'Too late now.'
He threw the necklace to the ground and unlatched his PR8, charging it up, and sent a single blast directly into the pendant, vaporizing it.
"What…" she stammered.
"I'll explain later, how fast can you get your people evacuated and through the Gate?"
"Immediately if we have to, though we will have left all our food provisions and belongings…why?"
"That pendant was a tiny device that activated the moment it touched your skin, it broadcasted our presence and location…I have a feeling, to the Wraith."
The seriousness in his tone must have registered to her, because she put aside immediately what she saw and charged out of the cave, John following easily in her wake.
'Sheppard to Potter, we're going to have company…"
'Yes, your AI informed mine, by Infinity of the most innocuous things a fucking pendant does it…I'm teleporting Ford and MacTavish to the camp. Have you informed Teyla?"
'Yes, but if they're going to evacuate now they're going to have to abandon everything…"
"And we can't leave them in the lurch like that, not when its technically our fault, very well, we will evacuate them to Atlantis."
'Theron's not going to like that, Sir,' Ford's voice came over the team's link.
'I have the same rank as she, she can shout at me in private, but we can take measures to secure the knowledge of us and Atlantis in the Athosian's minds. Besides she can't deny the value of having allies here to give us recent Intelligence on the state of Pegasus.'
John and Teyla was halfway to the camp when his AI informed him that the Cloaked MALP reported Gate activity. In his HUD a small video feed appeared showing the active Stargate…and three Wraith Darts shot out of the puddle into the air.
"The Wraith are here!" shouted John in warning to Teyla. He could hear a screaming whine echoing through the air and realized that whatever the Dart had as propulsion certainly didn't like to work in an atmosphere – though it did add to the intimidation factor like the old Stuka's in WWII.
He could now hear explosions resonating from the camp.
'The Wraith are strafing the camp!' shouted MacTavish in the link.
'They beamed away three people right in front of me!' said Ford.
Now John recognized PR8 plasma fire streaking up into the air, striking a Dart multiple times amidships that sent it trailing a cloud of smoke as it streaked overhead.
It was then that John felt it, a presence…an old, malevolent mind trying to infringe on his own…to make him see things on the ground all around him…he gritted his teeth and shored up his mind striking back with all the concentration he could spare.
The presence was soon gone, and just in time, as he almost tripped on a log he had to jump over.
He next heard and saw a massive explosion in the air.
'Go' the fucker!' crowed MacTavish.
John heard the Dart high in the air above him, and his AI screamed in warning. He latched his PR8, and the Mk2 Stinger launcher appeared with a flash of light on his shoulder, and he turned to fire…too late. He was forced to dive out of the way of a luminescent beam of light emitted from the belly of the Dart… that just missed him by inches.
Teyla was not so lucky, he just managed to glimpse her being swallowed by the beam…vanishing. He willed the Stinger to vanish into the suit's matter buffer and continued his run to the camp. The MALP reported that the Gate had come on again and he watched the video of the two remaining Darts – one obviously damaged - swooping through the puddle.
He unlatched his PR8 again, despite the fact that the danger apparently over and continued his run. By happenstance his path crossed with the wreckage of the destroyed Dart. It was just as ugly in a million pieces as it was in one solid piece, with organic metal sections sparking and on fire.
Movement caught his eye and he watched in disgust as what had to be a dismembered arm of the Wraith pilot, severed just below the elbow, drag itself along the ground with its fingers.
"Son of a…" he set his weapon to stun, and shot the limb…Dr Beckett going to wanna take a look at that, especially as it seemed to be the arm with the feeding organ.
He span around aiming his weapon automatically as a teary eyed boy – Holling's son - appeared, even more thoroughly dishevelled. "Help me!" cried the boy. "I can't find my father." Sheppard stepped forward, putting a hand on the kid's shoulder sympathetically, whilst staring at the Wraith hand.
"Don't worry, kid, we will…we will."
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Conference Room, Ops, Atlantis
Harry sat and stared resolutely at the others seated there in the debriefing, joining them for the first time was Major Sheppard and also newly revived Captain Herodotus. The Alteran was much younger now in appearance, seemingly in his mid-thirties, and was wearing a chromesuit that had been issued to him, until clothes more to his taste could be fashioned.
"Let me get this straight, you wish to rescue the taken Athosians?" asked Theron severely.
"It's easily within our means," retorted Harry. "The MALP recorded the Wraith's outgoing wormhole destination on the DHD."
"Even with those six symbols there are still hundreds of permutations…" interrupted Mckay.
"Seven hundred and twenty," said Sheppard.
"Yes, I knew that of course," Mckay looked at the Major strangely. "I'm just surprised that you did."
"Well, there's a lot you don't know about me…we just have to take away the coordinates we can't get a lock on, and that's the one."
"Enough," interrupted Theron. "Give me one good reason why we should do this, Commodore, and risk exposing ourselves for who we really are to the Wraith."
"It would give us an opportunity for our first strike against them, and in the process rescue the five Athosians, one of whom is their leader…it would certainly build trust between us. Because face it, we will need local help as well to achieve our goal."
"Any other opinions, Major?" invited Theron, when she saw the man move in his seat.
"I'd hate to be the one to tell Jinto we'd just abandoned his father and left him an orphan because it would be too inconvenient for us to make a rescue, ma'am." Sheppard said pointedly.
"Herodotus?"
The Alteran looked surprised that Theron was calling on him, but eventually said, "If this was the old Lantean Council, they would've helped the Athosians relocate to another planet, and left the five taken to their fates. There were many times during the war I wished to turn my ship around and forcefully put some 'consideration' back into their minds for the impact their decisions were having on the local worlds. As a ship commander I saw first hand the suffering the Wraith wrought, but I had to follow standing orders and not intervene…when I so clearly could. It would only have taken two well aimed drones – or a single shot from any of the weapon arrays to stop some of the massacres I've witnessed."
"Thank you," nodded Theron with a deep sigh. "We will go with my first instinct then – bring 'em back, Commodore."
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The Stargate burst to life and a MALP hovered through the event horizon an hour later. In the Control room, everyone was watching the feed being projected on a large holoscreen mounted so it faced all the Consoles. It was made on Earth and interfaced with Atlantis' systems and the Terran made ones brought with them.
"We're receiving visual telemetry," reported Grodin.
The screen came to life and showed only darkness.
"I can't see anything," Theron frowned at Mckay.
"There's no atmospheric readings at all, the MALP says it's in hard vacuum," reported the scientist looking at his laptop. A large bright round object flashed past on the screen. "Switching visual sensors to lock on it…" The image stabilized and they saw a planet and the Stargate orbiting above it.
"It's a Spacegate," said Herodotus. "They're fitted with small pulse engines that automatically keep the Stargate in a stable high orbit. We did this eventually to keep most of the human societies isolated on their planets – so they would only achieve interstellar contact when they'd had developed enough to launch themselves into space. We stepped up the campaign to do this during the War, since initially the Wraith had no Darts or smaller craft. They would be forced to come to the planets in ships and we in turn would be waiting for them."
"We'll just have to go in a Jumper then, suitably disguised of course," grinned Harry with relish.
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Jumper Bay, Atlantis
John stared in amazement at the craft that sat on the central floor of the Bay. It looked nothing like the Jumpers at all – its hull was gleaming solid silver, instead of the dark bronze colour. Instead of having a flat front, it had solid round nose and in the rear tapered to a sharp finish on its upper hull.
"You can relax, Major," Potter came out of the rear end of the ship. "It's a camouflage field; that operates on an independent power source. The Jumper is still underneath."
"Cool," grinned John.
"So you think you're up to piloting her?"
"I feel like I was born ready, Sir."
MacTavish, Ford, and another four Special Operators, from Alpha 2, strode into the Bay, heading towards the modified Jumper.
"Let's get this show on the road."
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Unnamed System, far side of the Pegasus Galaxy
The Spacegate burst into life and the moment the event horizon stabilized the Jumper burst out of it before quickly Cloaking. The Gate shut down…only to come on again. This time to send the MALP back through that had obediently hovered near the Stargate waiting for its owners to send it back. The Gate flicked off yet again as the probe finished going through.
The invisible Jumper turned around and headed off towards the planet.
"This is cool," John was amazed at the feeling of his mind connected with every system on the little ship.
"Looks like you've got the hang of it," Ford said from the co-pilot seat with a grin.
"Tell you what, Lieutenant, a lot of fighter pilots would kill to fly this thing."
"Perhaps we should look into asking for some pilots to be recruited, to fly the Jumpers."
"Not a bad idea, Lt." grinned Potter, as a holoscreen appeared superimposed over the front window.
"Did you do that?" Ford asked.
"I was just wondering where we go from here," as John stared at the readings the ship was taking of the planet below. It showed lifesigns and a mass of faint energy readings coming from a point on the largest northern continent. He automatically turned the Jumper to that heading.
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Fifteen minutes later the ship came to a hover just a few meters over a grassy terrain with interspersed trees dotted everywhere. There was a huge mound a few hundred meters away, with trees growing on top of it. It was clear that this was not a natural formation in comparison to the terrain around it.
"Dimensions are consistent with a Hive Ship," Potter had his palm on the controls. "Seems like they landed the thing and let nature take its course."
"Tha's hundreds of years of dirt and vegetation, Sir," MacTavish was clearly incredulous that a ship could last under the assault of nature for that long.
"Teyla did say the Wraith attacks had become cyclical, perhaps they go into a hibernation of sorts," suggested John.
MacTavish walked to inner bulkhead door, opened it and addressed Alpha 2. "All righ', teams of two, learn what you ca', lay down the defences as you see fit. Move out." Alpha 2 led the way out of the Jumper, their PR8s raised and scanning the area. John, MacTavish and Potter walked out, their helmets a solid reflective silver. There would be no need to talk on this mission.
'Alpha 2, I wanna be able to ligh' my cigar in this place if I have to.' MacTavish ordered over the team link. The four professional soldiers immediately dispersed and began materializing C4 and Claymores. 'Engage the enemy only when under fire.'
"Sheppard, MacTavish, you're with me," said Potter. "Ford assist Alpha 2.'
Ford nodded and headed off, whilst John followed in his two superior officers' respective wakes.
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The inside of the buried Hive ship was rather eerie, organic power conduits, organic floors, walls, bulkheads, all in blues, reds and greens, with a white mist that hung on the floor. It distinctly felt like walking in a giant creature, and perhaps that analogy was not that far off from the truth – the Hive ship could be considered alive by some definition.
Harry signalled with his hand to hide in an alcove…a lifesign was approaching. That was the other odd thing.
"Thought this was going to be the hard part,' said Sheppard in confusion, as what was clearly a Wraith warrior drone, carrying a long curved weapon came striding past the intersection.
'Clearly very few Wraith are actually awake,' Harry scanned for any human lifesigns. 'I've got them, fifty meters that way.'
They advanced carefully, keeping a watch on their sensors for any more approaching Wraith. Finally they approached a cell that had hard organic webbing acting as bars, and within were only four Athosians.
Teyla noticed them and rushed up to the edge of the webbing, desperation and hope clear on her face.
"Ambassador? Is that you?"
"Shh, are you alright?" Harry said, while ordering the other two to keep a lookout on both sides of the corridor.
"How did you find us?" she asked in astonishment, but at a much lower volume.
"Is my son alive?" whispered Holling desperately, also coming closer.
"He's well and waiting for you, where's the fifth Athosian?"
"Toran was taken by the Wraith, we don't know where," Teyla said in worry.
"Major, put some C4 on this webbing, stay here and on my signal, blow it and get them out of here," ordered Harry "MacTavish, with me."
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It took them another fifteen minutes to scout towards the potential location of Toran, there was a human lifesign deeper in the Hive Ship. He and MacTavish had to stop and hide a few more times to avoid Wraith, and one occasion he had to even disillusion them both when it became clear there was no place to hide in the corridor they were in at the time.
When they finally reached the location, they were on a balcony overlooking a large hall, within was a long crude table with not entirely appetising food on it. Toran was on his knees, his shirt ripped off and what had to be a tall Wraith Queen with red hair, had her hand on his chest and growling in satisfaction.
Harry watched in sickened disgust as Toran, a man who looked somewhere in his late twenties, aged literally before his eyes.
"How many years must I take from you before you tell us what you know of the newcomers?" growled the Queen at Toran, her voice was throaty and disturbing, not sounding female at all. "Or shall I take them all?"
Toran was now the equivalent of an extremely elderly man, with white hear, sagging skin.
Harry shook his head and brought his PR8 up, aiming - a three round burst of plasma shot into the Queen's head, leaving it a ruptured ruin. But it was too late for Toran, the man collapsed to the floor, now nothing but a desiccated corpse that looked as if it had been dead for a long time. He shifted his aim to the three Warrior Wraith and killed one before the others returned fire with whispy blue energy bolts.
MacTavish's PR8 also killed another Wraith that had been trying to flank them, as Harry retreated from the balcony back into the corridor. He materialized the device he had specially brought for this mission and set about arming it.
"Didn't know nukes came that small," barked MacTavish, squeezing off more shots and felling another Wraith.
"New design for SG teams when the shit really hits the fan," grinned Harry, and shoved the armed suitcase nuke into a recess near the floor where it wouldn't easily be spotted and he overlaid a disillusionment over it for good measure. 'Alright Major, blow that cell.'
'Understood' replied Sheppard.
A loud ringing high pitched alarm suddenly sounded throughout the hallways. 'That's our cue to leave.' Harry grabbed a hold of MacTavish and Teleported.
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John escorted the four Athosians on the route they had taken to get in, and soon managed to find the way out of the Hive ship. Luckily, it seemed whatever the Commodore had done, had caused all the Wraith to be summoned to his position, meaning that they didn't encounter a single bad guy and easily left the Hive Ship
It was only as they were halfway towards the Jumper that the whine of Darts in the air could be heard. Again he holstered his PR8 and brought out a Stinger launcher, this time managing to turn around and making sure the Athosians were not in the backblast, fired off a missile which obliterated the Dart that been aiming to strafe them with those damn Culling beams.
More missiles from Alpha 2 soared into the air, destroying five more Darts and when they finally reached the Jumper he found MacTavish and Potter already waiting there.
Oh yeah, he can Leap. I am so learning that.
Everyone retreated into the Jumper, plus four Athosians.
John threw himself into the pilot's chair and slammed his hands down on the controls. "Now what am I thinking?"
The Jumper soared into the air, just as two new Darts strafed the ground with weapons fire…and cloaked.
"Everybody Okay back there?" asked John, turning briefly to the harried and bewildered Athosians.
"We are well enough," Teyla replied.
"Pause at sixty thousand feet Major, give us a view of the Hive," ordered the Commodore. John nodded and eased up on the angle of ascent. When they were in position, Potter took a seat at the co-pilot station, placed his hands on the controls as well. He felt him send a signal using the Jumper's com system. "Everyone close your eyes."
There was a blinding flash for a brief moment, which John could even see through his closed eyelids and helmet. When it was gone, he looked awed and slightly horrified with a sight that had terrified Terrans since the first one was detonated over Nagasaki during WWII. The mushroom cloud completely obscured what had been the Hive Ship…which was now utterly destroyed.
"By the Ancestors," muttered Teyla, clearly struggling to comprehend.
"Did we have nukes?" asked John in astonishment.
"Yes, it's a new device being issued on strategic missions to SG teams, Naquadria enhanced suitcase nuke,' explained the Commodore. John shook it off and turned the Jumper back into its ascent. "The hard part is coming up, Major," Potter pointed out the forward viewport. The Jumper was out of the atmosphere and in orbit rapidly approaching the Spacegate – which was surrounded by three Darts aiming themselves outwards, whilst five more hovered in a loose formation ready to pursue the instant they showed themselves.
"Clearly they don't like people blowing up their Hive Ships," muttered John.
"What can we do?" asked Teyla with worry.
"We're safe as long they can't see us," assured Ford.
"They don't have to – there's only one way for us to go. The minute we activate the Stargate they can start shooting blind and blow us away on our approach."
"Decloak and lure them away from the Gate, Major," said Potter, still in the copilots seat. "You focus on manoeuvring and I'll fire the Jumper's weapons."
"Understood."
The Jumper decloaked and instantly four drones spiralled out of the launchers, each heading unerringly to a Dart under the direction of the Commodore's mind and blowing them up. John pulled a hard left and banked away from the Spacegate. Three Darts chased after them, only leaving one to stand guarding the Gate.
Again, drones shot out, three this time - homing with lethal finality to destroy the Darts on their tail.
John jerked the Jumper back on a heading to the Gate and the Commodore began dialling with the small DHD mounted between them. The Stargate burst into life and the event horizon settled into stability. The last Dart began firing desperately, now blocking their path into the Gate. Another drone fired by the Commodore made short work of it.
"Sending IDC." John saw the return signal on his own HUD indicate that the shield was lowered on the other side. He retracted the drive pods and threaded the needle so to speak, diving the ship into the active Stargate.
An exhilarating ride through subspace later and he watched as the ship was caught by the hidden graviton emitters, and stopped the Jumper within two feet of the central staircase in Ops. The inertial dampeners were amazing…John didn't even so much as feel a bit of Gs pulling that stop, when by all rights everyone should be pancakes on the forward viewport.
John smiled with relief as the Jumper went on autopilot up through the roof and back into the Bay and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Atlantis. Please remain seated until the Puddle Jumper comes to a full and complete stop."
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Harry stood out of the copilot seat and turned to face Teyla and the other four Athosians.
"We have sheltered your fellow Athosians in the walls of Atlantis, Teyla, rest easy that they are safe."
"Is this…?" her eyes went wide. "This is the city of the Ancestors?"
"Now you will learn something that your fellows already know," he said kindly. 'Remove your helmets.'
Flashes of light accompanied their helmets vanishing, and revealed their true faces.
"You are the Ancestors?" she gasped.
"In a manner of speaking, Teyla," smiled Harry gently. "Some of us are their descendants, others come from their ancient home before they even walked among these stars millions of years ago. There are some whom you would Ancestors, but they are very few among us – we only recently rescued them." Teyla was clearly too overwhelmed to reply. "Come we have much to speak about."
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Ops, Atlantis
Night had fallen on Lantea and an aura of celebration hung in the air. Theron had felt that the Athosians, not to mention the Terrans as well, needed a social event to fan the sparks of the relationship between the two peoples – especially if they wanted them as allies. It would also help to get rid of the rather embarrassing reverence that the Athosians held for anything Alteran.
John emerged from the throng of the party and walked out onto the main balcony off the Control room – it had the best view in the city. Ford accompanied him. It was strange how one could find friendship; it could be as simple as meeting someone in a bar, or in this case, helping to rescue four Athosians from space vampires and blowing up their ship, but it didn't matter how it happened in the end.
"I guess this is home now," grinned Ford, leaning a foot on the lower rail of the balustrade.
"I guess so," murmured John.
"I'm thinking of a little place with an ocean view," the younger man gestured to expansive city around them, as if thinking of which apartment he wanted to live in, "out of the way."
Theron and the Commodore also emerged from the throng and onto the balcony, each carrying two glasses filled with Champagne. "Major. Lieutenant," she said, and they handed them their extra glasses. "I thought the occasion merited opening this. Compliments of General Thompson."
John thoughtfully took a sip and enjoyed the fuzzy alcohol as he looked over the dark waters beyond Atlantis.
"Something bothering you, Major?" asked Commodore Potter.
"I think it's only hitting me now that we're in a true War, seeing that mushroom cloud over an alien world…" John sighed. "The Gulf and Afghanistan…they're minor quarrels in comparison to what we're going to be dealing with out here."
"Quite right," nodded Potter. "But we can do all the soul searching and moralizing we want, sooner or later, the Wraith would have found a way to upgrade their Hive Ships with transgalactic ability and expand their feeding grounds to neighbouring Galaxies. Best we fight them in their backyard, rather than our own."
"And look what we've done in the meantime," Theron gestured to the party. "We've made new friends. Who knows what could blossom from it?" They watched through the windows as Holling had an affectionate moment with his son, Jinto, the two of them touching their foreheads together in the Athosian familial greeting.
Teyla who was standing near the balcony window door, came forward at this point, having heard the discussion. "I agree, Major Sheppard." She advanced to Commodore Potter and placed her hands on his shoulders, he grinned at her warmly and they touched foreheads, she then repeated the gesture to the General, Ford, and finally John.
"You have earned both my friendship and that of my people," she said, taking a step back from them. "And with our help you will make many more friends."
Mckay and Aiyana entered the balcony, both carrying Tablet PCs and looking grave.
"We apologize for breaking the festive atmosphere but this couldn't wait," Aiyana gestured for Mckay to begin.
"I've went over the Jumper sensor logs of the rescue mission this afternoon," Mckay said uncomfortably. "It recorded a massive subspace burst transmission sent from the Hive just moments after the Commodore killed the Wraith Queen."
"Where was the message sent?" asked Theron.
"It was omni directional…it reached every corner of the Galaxy," Aiyana reported.
"I've had Herodotus look at it since he's the only one who can read the Wraith language among us," Mckay handed over his Tablet to the Commodore.
"It wasn't encrypted in any way?" Potter read the Tablet and raised an eyebrow at Mckay.
"No."
"What does it say?" asked Teyla worriedly.
"It's quite brief, a single word…Awaken."