After California
Atlantis was docked, cloaked, in San Francisco Bay, near the Golden Gate Bridge. The Navy had set up a perimeter guard & Air Force planes guarded the area. However, the cloaking didn't last. More about that later. People flocked to the bridge to see the strange sight, both locals & tourists. No one was sure exactly what it was, & the government was not telling anything. Rumors abounded-secret government experiment, terrorist plot, the "end of days," aliens.
Ronon had been to Earth a few times before & had told John Sheppard "your planet's weird!"
John replied "you're telling me!"
Watching from the balcony, Atlanteans saw more & more sign waving, screaming protesters after the city became visible. All kinds of signs & slogans-Save the Earth, Save the Whales, Repent-The End is Near, No More Police, End the Military, Stop the Killing (killing who?), No More Fur, Stop Eating Meat. Even No more Gatorade. & some who seemed not to know what they were protesting about, just protesting! Teyla said they were most likely unhappy with their lives & wanted to blame everyone else, & she stayed inside to avoid the noise.
Ronon asked a lot of questions about Earth, mainly to John & Amelia. On their trips to the city, he observed most people looked well fed & clothed. The city looked prosperous, especially compared to most in Pegasus, & most of all, it was safe-they were not being attacked. But there was a lot of crime, & the bad guys were let off easy. Not so on Sateda, where laws had been strict but fair. Amelia told him that was the main reason she had come to Atlantis-she was sick of Earth. Her brother, her only living family, had accidentally walked into a robbery & was shot dead. The murderer got off light because he had "problems" & a good lawyer. Ronon said the guy would have been in front of a firing squad on Sateda. On one visit, a creepy guy had dropped his pants, & tried to grope Amelia. Ronon hit him & threw him against a wall. The police were going to arrest Ronon, but they managed to get away & back to Atlantis. The local news broadcast said police were looking for a "giant" who had beat up a poor confused man. "Confused?" Ronon said angrily."He knew exactly what he wanted to do to my girl friend!" Everyone was hoping to eventually go back to Pegasus.
There was one person who viewed Atlantis with hatred. Dr. Peter Kavanaugh was a scientist who worked for the Stargate program. He had the attitude that he was unappreciated by everyone for his superior intellect & abilities. He hated all bosses & co workers alike, & tried to get people in trouble. He had moved from one job to another, both on Atlantis & Earth, & complained bitterly about all. He hated everyone on Atlantis, especially Dr. Weir. Now Mr. Woolsey had her place & Kavanaugh hated him. He especially hated that smart ass jumper pilot, that know it all scientist, & that big scary guy who made him faint! & all those women who should have been falling at his feet, but called him Dr. Creepynaugh! He was finally fired & unable to find another job in his field. He felt any other job to be beneath him, & went to live in his parents' basement, rent free, after his money ran out. He borrowed from his dad & got a top of the line computer system & became a hacker. He eventually joined a group who hacked into systems just to cause trouble. Corporations & the government were their favored targets. Kavanaugh decided to try to hack into Atlantis.
After much debate, the IOA had decided to scrap the Atlantis Expedition, & the city was being dismantled. The members stayed there in hopes of a reversal, which Woolsey was negotiating. Kavanaugh succeeded in hacking into the system, & was determined to contact the Wraith & give them Earth's coordinates. He convinced some other hackers (who had the same attitude as he) to get to work on this project. One of them, who was considered a computer genius, did contact a Wraith hive ship & after much negotiating, Kavanaugh gave out the coordinates. The Wraith, with their mind control abilities, played on Kavanaugh's ego, promising that because of his superiority to other humans, he would be made King of Earth, & his followers would have high positions in the new world. The Wraith invasion would be a few months away, as preparations & travel would take time. It was supposed to be secret, but Kavanaugh could not resist bragging & appeared on a talk show, whose host specialized in "whacko" guests. Kavanaugh acquired a following of Wraith Worshipers, which grew very large. Starting on the West Coast, where many radical groups were, it quickly spread East. People came West to join the cult & many people left the West Coast to avoid it. Eventually, the governors, & most of the local officials, in the three West Coast states, all became Wraith Worshipers. The government did not take it seriously, even though Woolsey, & military leaders warned it was serious. But when signals were picked up of impending attack, people were warned to build shelters, thinking this would save them. The dismantling of Atlantis was stopped & they tried to rebuild their systems. But too much had been removed, except fortunately the shield mechanism was intact. That's what had happened to the cloaking. So they worked to build up the shields for the city. The Worshipers were overjoyed & gathered on the coast to welcome the Wraith. They were carrying signs saying "Welcome" & "Peace & Love," chanting, & singing the Beatles song "Imagine". The three governors forbade any military or police from interfering. The tanks, etc. were stationed at the Eastern borders of the three states, destroyers were off shore , & fighter planes filled the sky. The first thing the Wraith did was blow away the planes & destroyers. Earth weapons had no chance against them. Then they fired on Atlantis, & the shields held. But it was just a matter of time before they would fail. The Wraith saw all the "food" & since Atlantis was not going anywhere, they decided to have a banquet first. They all swarmed out of the hives, cruisers, & darts, & had a feeding frenzy. One of the first to go was Kavanaugh, & his dying words were "But I'm the King!". In a few hours, all the Wraith Worshipers were dried out husks. The Wraith all went back to their ships, but they were strangely tired, rather than energized. Maybe from overfeeding? But they became sick, had severe pain, seizures, & eventually all died. Atlantis was monitoring the ships on screens & could not believe what they were seeing. One of the hive commanders was Todd, who had worked on Atlantis when they were trying to develop the vaccine to enable Wraith to survive on normal food, rather than feeding on humans. He called on Atlantis for help but the answer was a resounding "HELL NO!" All except for Jennifer Keller. There had been a rumor that she had a "thing" for Todd, even though she & Rodney McKay were a couple. She became angry & insisted a medical team be sent to help, & when refused, tried to go herself, & was restrained. When all the Wraith were presumed dead, teams in hazmat suits were sent to make sure all were dead, look for human prisoners (there were none), download records, & do tests to determine what had killed the Wraith. No hazmat suits were required. The Wraith died because most of the Worshipers were drug abusers-heroin, cocaine, meth, fentanyl-all poisonous in large doses to Wraith. Then all the ships were blown up. Keller became enraged, denounced Rodney & everyone else, & tried to sabotage Atlantis. She was arrested, tried for treason, & sent to federal prison. Rodney was heartbroken, & took a vow of bachelorhood. Ronon was thankful his infatuation for her had ended quickly, & that he had found Amelia.
The Atlantis Expedition was reinstated, repairs were started, & in a few months they were back home in Pegasus Galaxy. The Wraith home planet was destroyed, along with all outposts. All Wraith had come on the ships to Earth. All Eratus bugs were destroyed, at least as much as possible. There could always be a few still lurking. Teams visited planets to inform people that the Wraith were destroyed & help rebuild their societies. Aiden Ford was found living with some villagers on a small planet. He had been made a slave by the Wraith, was injured by an exploding booby trap & left to die. The villagers had cared for him & he recovered & stayed with them. But when found, he wanted to return to Atlantis, & was welcomed back. New planets were discovered, including some with technology & they were happy to connect with Atlantis. All was well in Pegasus, but Atlantis always remained vigilant in case somehow the Wraith returned. The teams kept busy exploring new worlds.
I hope you liked my story. If not, oh well, I enjoyed writing it! Maybe I will write another about what happened to all the characters.