Ascended Rite
To my eternal shame, I do not own Stargate Atlantis or the designs for Sovereign class starships (star trek). But the idea for the story is mine so enjoy…
"The hull isn't going to take another hit; we need to get into space and through the damn gate!" McKay shouted at Sheppard as he used the jumper to avoid a hit from another wraith dart. The sensors were showing 7 of them in close proximity. It has been an ordinary mission, SGA-1 went through a space gate to check out a planet for potential ZPM's when they had been ambushed by a group of darts. John had taken out a few but luck and drones were running out fast. He made the small ship ascend fast and saw 2 darts bearing down on him. John Sheppard knew he was going to die, and prepared himself for the final blow…but it never came, instead, an orange beam appeared out of nowhere and blew through both darts, piercing two at once.
"What was that?" Teyla exclaimed, having seen the explosions through the window. A sleek, grey ship about the size of a puddle jumped emerged from a cloud with two other identical vessels, the lead ship fired another orange beam and took out another dart.
"Atlantean vessel, this is the shuttlecraft Geronimo. We will deal with these ships, get into space and await further assistance. Do not make a run for the stargate, there are three hive ships surrounding it," a voice said over the comm. Channel. The wraith began firing on the unknown ships, but a blue energy field surrounded the ships, stopping the energy bolts from hitting the vessel.
"Who was that, and how did they know this is an Atlantean ship?" Sheppard asked the group in general, Ronan, Teyla and Rodney were too bewildered to even think about it.
"Roger that Geronimo, we'll make our ascent as quickly as possible," Sheppard replied, opening the channel. The little ship rose quickly and soon the three 'shuttles' moved into formation around the jumper, forming a defensive perimeter. The 4 ships quickly broke the atmosphere and launched into space.
"Atlantean vessel, we will escort you to our starship, the Crimson Sunrise. Captain Mathos will be eager to meet you." The voice, once again, coming over the speakers.
"Acknowledged Geronimo, we'll follow your lead." John said gratefully over the speakers, glad they weren't becoming charred roast quite yet.
The Crimson Sunrise was hidden in a polar orbit, away from prying wraith sensors. A magnificent ship in John's eyes, and you could hear everyone else in the cockpit gasp in awe. The ship was huge, several hundred meters long and very sleek, two nacelles extending from pylon attached to the aft hull of the ship.
"I've never seen anything like that, although there are legends of a great white bird coming down from the heavens, eradicating wraith in mid-culling," Teyla said. Large doors opened at the rear of the forward section and a blue beam engulfed the jumped, guiding her into the landing bay.
"A tractor beam!" McKay said mounting excitement. Within 20 seconds, the ship had landed in a large room, a couple more of those shuttlecraft sitting close by; picking up his weapon, John made his way to the hatch and opened it.
"Welcome to the Crimson Sunrise, I am Captain Roz Mathos, commander of this vessel. We came to this world after detecting an Atlantean power source; on closer inspection we discovered it was your ship. I must admit, my crew and I were shocked to find you, we have looked for others of our kind for a century with no results." Said a boy, or a man, John wasn't sure. He was tallish, black hair, looked around 17 with piercing grey eyes and a very attractive face. He wore clothes different to the two guards behind him, his clothes somewhat similar to Ronan's. Tight, sleeveless top and leather trousers that fit in all the right places. He also wore a black jacket that hugged his figure admirably and on the collar diamond shaped pip was shown, the same worn as the captain of the Aurora.
John and his team exchanged glances and John said,
"I'm John Sheppard; this is Teyla Emmagen, Ronan Dex and Rodney McKay. We're not actually ancients. We call you ancients because, well, to us, you are a race long gone from our galaxy and this one. Only McKay and I are from Earth, Teyla and Ronan are natives to this galaxy." Roz looked shocked at the news that John and his team were not actually ancients.
"Then how did you come to be in this galaxy if my people are gone?" Roz asked, he motioned them to follow him and he walked out of the landing bay. The Crimson Sunrise was an amazing starship, neat, clean lines, more advanced than anything the ancients had come up with, well, other ancients.
"We came to Atlantis nearly 3 years ago from Earth through the Stargate." John said, walking in step with Roz, they entered some kind of lift which, after a few seconds, opened up into a room with a large table and chairs around it. Roz motioned for the team to sit and the guards to leave.
"Atlantis! It still stands after all this time? 10 thousand years have passed since I walked within those walls, tell me, where is the city of my birth. We went to the world it rested on only to find the city gone and the system crawling with wraith." Roz looked amazed, his eyes shone. John felt very attracted to the person sitting next to him, he reminded John of a younger John, even though Roz was over 10 thousand years old.
"Yes, there was mention of Atlantis moving from one planet to the one it's on now. The city is about 67000 light years from here." McKay said, piping up for the first time since they had landed.
"Tell me, you are an ancient correct? This ship is nothing like the Atlantean vessels we have encountered." McKay said, sounding a tad suspicious.
"You are correct to be suspicious, but I assure you, we've had nearly ten thousand years, thanks to RNA re-sequencing, to rethink how we designed and built ships, this is the culmination of millennia's work. The Crimson Sunrise is the only ship we have, and she is also the newest." Roz replied, quite happy to tell the team what they wanted to know.
"Now, I'll arrange quarters for you here aboard Crimson, and if you give us the exact co-ordinates of Atlantis, in an hour, my crew and I will see home for the first time in 10 thousand years." Roz said.
Rodney gave the Crimson's helm officer the co-ordinates of Atlantis and the ship jumped to FTL speed without the wraith seeing or hearing anything.
"So tell me, have you encountered any others of my kind in you travels through this galaxy. I knew a lot of people of Atlantis, finding some would be amazing beyond words," Roz said, they were once again in the briefing room, Sheppard looked out at the stars flashing past as Teyla answered for once,
"We have encountered one true ancient and two of your warships on our travels. We found the Aurora adrift in space and another vessel on a planet next to an ancient outpost."
"The Aurora? I was on that ship for a month while she was being finished, I heard she was lost with all hands, it, like every other loss we suffered, was a tragedy for those on Atlantis," Roz said mournfully.
"I spoke to the captain, he and his crew and been in stasis for 10000 years and were trying to modify their hyperdrive in order to return to Atlantis with a weakness in Wraith technology, unfortunately they never finished the modifications and we had to destroy the ship to destroy two wraith cruisers and prevent our existence on Atlantis becoming known to the Wraith again. As far as they know, or KNEW anyway, we had destroyed the city along with everyone in it," Sheppard said, catching up with the conversation. Watching Roz, John felt something stirring in him that he hadn't felt for 5 years, not since Mikey had died in a plane crash in Iran, his heart clenched tightly when he thought of his old lover, tall, blonde, handsome. John had been so madly in love with him he was destroyed when Mikey's jet had been shot down by that missile. Sheppard was open to his team, Elizabeth and Carson about him being gay, but hadn't dared tell anyone else for fear that the Air Force might find out. Even in Atlantis they could find a way to reach him, perhaps via the Deadalus as it shipped him home for a court martial.
"Well should they come to Atlantis looking for trouble, I assure you John, the Crimson Sunrise is more than capable of taking on up to 8 Wraith hive ships simultaneously," Roz said, watching for the shine in Johns' eyes to brighten, and brighten they did.
"8 ships! You really have advanced in 10 millennia!" Rodney squealed happily, a thousand questions buzzing in his head.
"Captain, we are approaching Atlantis." The helmsman reported over the comm.
"Very well, take us out of light speed and drop to half impulse," Roz replied. SGA-1 and Roz stood and walked out onto the bridge, the planet which Atlantis rested on lay before them.
"Open a channel once you find the city," Roz said to another officer, possible the comm. Officer.
"This is Doctor Elizabeth Weir, who are you?" Elizabeth's face appeared on the large screen at the front of the bridge.
"I am Captain Roz Mathos of the Atlantean warship Crimson Sunrise. I have your team aboard and would like permission to land." Roz replied, turning to John.
"Elizabeth let them land, they're ancients!" John said, trying to be convincing.
"I'm sorry John, but I will not let an unknown vessel land on Atlantis, even if they claim to be Ancients, we have been tricked before," Weir replied.
"That is perfectly understandable Doctor Weir, I will transport down with your team, unarmed and unguarded, but I request that my ship be allowed to enter orbit, I am well aware of Atlantis's defensive capability and would not like to be destroyed, although my ships' defenses are more than adequate to combat 100, 000 drones if they had to. From what I hear Doctor, you don't have nearly that number." Roz said calmly, he knew he'd get on Atlantis one way or another, but these people had brought his home back from the brink of annihilation more than once, it was their home too.
"Very well, your ship may enter orbit and you may transport down with my team, but bring any weapons and measures will be taken to defend ourselves," Weir said, and John had to admit, he was a little scared of Weir when she got like that.