Chapter 1

In the final days of the Lantean-Wraith war the City Ship Atlantis floats under siege on the surface of the planet Lantea, in orbit is a massive fleet of Wraith Hive Ships and Cruisers are firing relentlessly on Atlantis. The fleet entered the system after totally obliterating the systems defence countermeasures, and the majority of the Lantean Fleet in that sector of the Galaxy.

Lantea.

Inside Atlantis behind the protection of the city's powerful shield the Council of Atlantis meet to discuss options. One of the Lantean's controversial and outspoken scientists, Janus, is in a heated session of the Council. "I informed this Council weeks ago if we were to submerge the city we would reduce the stress the shields are under from the constant bombardment, as you can see on this simulation the plasma bolts the Wraith vessels are firing will dissipate in the water well before reaching the shield perimeter." Behind him a screen shows a simulation of Atlantis submerged as plasma bolts dissipate in the water. "As it stands we have been burning out the shield emitters; and the Potentia while near full charge, all three will eventually be depleted under the strain. The docking equipment is already on the ocean floor from our deep sea drilling projects, and I have already loaded the subroutines into the main database. I must recommend once again that submerging the city is the only viable option to safeguard the future of Atlantis." Janus finishes, emphasising on the future. He resumes his seat, and the screen deactivates.

Moros the High Councillor of the Council of Atlantis, the leader of the Lantean Domain, sits patiently considering Janus's plan, looking at the other three councillors seated in the council room. Melia, his second, bows her head in agreement to Janus' plan, quickly followed by the other two.

Facing Janus, Moros speaks up. "With the loss of the Domain's major industrial power bases, we have been left without the capabilities to replace many of the technological components that we take for granted. Janus, while previous experience has taught us to be extremely cautious with your radical plans and ideas; at this time there is no other choice. I hereby order you to immediately submerge the city." Looking away from Janus he faces Melia, "Melia, contact the Lantean ships on a secure subspace channel; inform them of our plan to submerge the city, and that they have to enter the ocean to reach us."

Melia straightened and looked back at Moros, "Would it not be safer for the warships and the Narvi to change course to a planet with a Stargate and let the crew travel to Atlantis via the gate network instead? Or even have the Narvi divert to the Galactic Core Outpost, let the warships approach the planet they are the only ones with enough fire power to survive the firefight and the landing procedures."

Before Melia could continue Moros interrupted, "No." he said in a frustrated tone, "The Narvi is a Lantean ship, even though it's a transport ship, its technology is far superior to the inferior Wraith biotechnology, and it will survive the trip. Under no circumstances is anyone to inform incoming ships to avoid Atlantis, they must get here, to prepare for the transition. This council is now adjourned." Moros stands and quickly walks out of the room.

Melia looks around at the other councillors, seeing the concerned looks she elaborates on the transition. "You must be wondering what Moros means when he says the transition… we are planning to evacuate the Pegasus Galaxy, to leave this long and terrible war behind and start anew on Terra." Melia stops for a moment to let the other councillor's time to process this new information.

A representative from one of the few remaining Lantean outposts, Nikal, stands and speaks to the council. "How do you expect all of us to get to Terra? Atlantis could make it there if there was not a fleet in orbit, its stardrive has an integrated intergalactic hyperdrive; but the rest of our fleet cannot make the journey with their interstellar variant. We would be leaving the remnants of our fleet behind or stuck in the void if their hyperdrives were to fail." Nikal would have continued but Melia stands up interrupting him.

"That is enough Archon Nikal! Moros did not come to this decision lightly." Melia stopped for a moment realising that she raised her voice, regaining her composure. "Nikal, in the beginning I too was shocked that Moros was considering this, then I looked back over the centuries this war has been waged the Wraith have left us completely defenceless, we had the advantages over them yet through our carelessness and over dependence on our technology we lost. The long term survival of the Lantean civilisation can no longer be achieved here in the Pegasus Galaxy; if we had the resources and the time we could have sent scouts the other nearby galaxies and satellite galaxies and start a new Lantean Empire there, but we don't. What we can do now is start a new life in Avalon, and starting on Terra we can attempt to rebuild our civilisation on the Alteran's former capital planet. This is in the hopes that one day we will return to this galaxy and take back what was ours!"

The other Councillors all looked towards Melia, nodding in silent support for the evacuation of Pegasus. Nikal sat shocked that the other councillors would all agree that evacuating the Pegasus was in their best interests. Their blatant disregard for the human populations still in Pegasus who are suffering at the hands of the Wraith, left Nikal wondering what would be left to come back to.

Using what little remained of his composure he replied to the council. "I see this is a decision that cannot be undone or fought against by the remaining outposts and colony worlds. I will inform the regional council at Galactic Core. When will the other outposts be informed of this decision?"

Melia faced Nikal. "They will be informed once the transport vessel Narvi, and warships arrive here." She looks away not focusing on any of the councillors. "If anyone needs me I will be in the Holographic interface room, recording a message to place into the database. A condensed history if you will about our time in Pegasus, I'm putting it in there for future generations, in the event the Lanteans return, who may look back and would disagree with the decision we have reached."

Nikal collected his data pads and small data crystals placing them in his pack. He stands up and abruptly leaves the other councillors in the room. Making his way down the main stairs towards the Stargate, he stopped for a moment looking at the circular device; he thought about the people out in the galaxy who look at the same device on their planets hoping for the 'Ancestors' to help save them but are faced with an enemy that would consume them alive instead. It was a cruel fate, having the technology to help these people but not being able to help because resources were low thanks to the war of attrition the Wraith were fighting.

Janus walks out of the council chamber and stands next to Nikal on the main stairs, "It is a remarkable device the Stargate, travelling to other worlds in a matter of seconds. I'll let you on to a little secret; I have developed a new drive system that in theory would jump a ship anywhere in the local galactic cluster in a matter of seconds. In theory we could jump Atlantis to Terra in mere moments, which were one of the reasons I was allowed to integrate the system into the stardrive; of course it is untested and highly dangerous. I'm only telling you this because you are the only one in the city that I can trust with my research and radical ideas. I assume you have installed the new hyperdrive modifications I sent you last week?" Janus asks.

Nikal smiles, "It's good to know that I am still a trusted confidant of yours. A ship that could jump anywhere in the local universe, that would change the way we explore space or fight enemies. But a system such as that does sound highly dangerous, that's why the Stargate's are large rings; it's easier to create and maintain a stable wormhole over long distances. And yes the drive modifications you proposed have been integrated into the hyperdrive array; preliminary simulations suggest that my ship's speed is on par or even better than the stardrive output for the city ships. I must thank you again your ideas and research have saved me years of work. If you are not evacuating with the first groups, I would like to extend you the opportunity to come to Galactic Core to help me with the finishing touches, I would prefer to take the ship with me. There is no way I'm leaving it behind to be scavenged." Nikal says slightly frustrated.

"I appreciate the offer, and I would accept but there is something you need to know." Janus moves closer to Nikal and reduces his voice to a whisper. "The council is not planning to inform the off world outposts, once the Narvi and the Warships arrive he plans to evacuate the city only. He does not want to tip off the Wraith; they could redouble their efforts to take this city especially with it being unoccupied. But I have a plan to help your survival, take the Atlantis database with you to Galactic Core, and install it on your ship. You will find under the restricted section a series of notes from me. Take this crystal it is the authorisation codes to access my secure files in that section." Janus hands Nikal a flat rectangular control crystal. "Go to the computer lab, in storage cupboard five, you will find four large crystals. Use them to copy the entire Atlantis database. I must go there are some other preparations I need to do. Good Luck my friend." Janus abruptly leaves; he walks through the control room to take the rear stairs.

Nikal ponders on the new information he has been given, the council had known for weeks that it's planning to leave a large percentage of its citizens behind, and for what, to become food for the Wraith? Was I meant to even find out about this plan to leave Pegasus? There were too many questions and not enough answers. He looks past the Stargate and out the window to the great spires of Atlantis; Nikal makes the decision to follow Janus' advice. A technician in the command centre sees Nikal on the staircase; she approaches the dialling device and begins entering the symbols for the Galactic Core Outpost. As the chevrons on the Stargate light up Nikal snaps out of his thoughts and shouts out to the technician, "Abort the dialling sequence." He makes his way to the transporter booth on the gate operations level, approaching the door it slides silently opens with the destination selector opening automatically. Selecting the lower levels of the same tower he is instantly transported to a similar booth.

Walking at a brisk pace he reached the Computer Core Lab, the doorway sensors detect the activation gene in his DNA, and automatically opens for him; he walks to a nearby bench and puts his pack down. Going back to the doorway he waves his hand over the door control sealing and securing the lab. Inside a cupboard he grabs a large data crystal which he plugs into an adapter on a nearby console, the console springs to life as its lights turn on and a screen lights up, showing information about the status of the software and the general accessible information. Nikal enters his access code into the console which is followed by the other consoles in the room activating.

At Galactic Core, Nikal is the lead scientist working on the next generation of star ships designed solely to fight the Wraith. This meant that he had mostly unrestricted access to the Atlantis Database and the immerse knowledge on Alteran star ship design as well as numerous designs from other space capable species that had been discovered over the millennia. He begins downloading the files from the database; he starts with the restricted section. This entire section is highly encrypted which means Nikal is unsure what he is taking. He moves on copying the rest of the database, focusing mainly on technical data and astronomical data. Realising that the first crystal he had inserted has reached maximum capacity, he carefully disconnected it and placed it inside his pack. Finding that he had transferred approximately twenty-five percent of the Atlantis Database he returned to the cupboard to collect three more crystals. He resumes the transfer process for the rest of the database; he collects these crystals placing them in his pack. Nikal erases the activity log and places the lab into standby; returning to the transporter booth he selects the top of the tower and makes his way to the Stargate.

Entering the gate room he shouts out loudly at the technician, "You! Dial the gate to Galactic Core immediately." The technician shocked at his sudden appearance and slight hostility from Nikal, the technician approaches the dialling device and quickly enters the seven symbol address. The chevrons on the Stargate light up and an unstable vortex forms and is pulled back before settling back into the ring forming a vertical puddle. Nikal steps through the puddle.

Galactic Core Outpost

On a world that has been untouched by the war with the Wraith, the Lantean outpost, Galactic Core, sits in a system located deep in the centre of the Pegasus Galaxy. This particular system had never been visited by the Wraith due to its location near the centre of the galaxy. Ships travelling to Galactic Core must travel through specific mapped out corridors while in hyperspace due to naturally occurring subspace interference caused by its position. The Lanteans found this world by accident while testing the first generation Aurora Class science vessels, when an overload in the hyperdrive propelled the ship further than anticipated. Since the chance discovery the Lanteans built an outpost on this world, knowing that the Wraith's inferior sensor and hyperspace technology would mean they could hide in plain sight. Ships not travelling within the specific corridors of space are immediately destroyed when attempting to enter or exit a hyperspace window.

In the command centre high above the outpost a technician is sitting at a console monitoring the primary systems when one of the screens shows the Stargate activating. Touching the console in front of him, he mentally commands it to open a comm link to Stargate Central, "Incoming wormhole. Defence teams to high alert. Stargate shield activated" An alarm begins sounding in the main complex.

At ground level a blue crystal on a tall, sleek obelisk aluminates and the defence team materialise near the Stargate, they immediately take up positions to defend the outpost.

Meanwhile the technician queries the Stargate Network for the origin of the wormhole and sees that it is from Atlantis, he opens a comm channel to the defence teams. "Defence team to active standby, authorised wormhole."

The symbols aluminate around the inner track, when they reach the top of the gate activates, however the unstable vortex doesn't form as its being stopped by the shield. Once the wormhole establishes the shield drops, causing the defence team to raise their energy weapons towards the Stargate.

Nikal emerges from the wormhole to a cool dark night, he left Atlantis late in the morning. His eyes take a moment to adjust to the reduced light around the Stargate. He comes to a stop when he sees the defence team aiming energy rifles at him. "Archon Nikal. Portal Authorisation Delta-5-Gamma. Look, I really don't have time for this." Nikal pulls out a small, flat, octagonal crystal and holds it up. Behind him the Stargate deactivates, the defence team lowers their energy weapons and Nikal walks past silently cursing the Chief Archon's new security protocols which in his opinion are an overreaction to all authorised off world travellers.

After the slight delay from the defence team at the gate, Nikal approaches the transport obelisk and enters coordinates for the Glass Tower; the Galactic Core main administrations building. The blue crystal glows brightly as Nikal is transported away; he materialises at a similar obelisk before moving off to his office.

He enters his office, which is a large space for him but over the years he managed to fill his office with various knick-knacks, and technical components. Setting his pack on sofa, he gets a sweet drink from the food synthesiser and sits behind his desk to compose a message to the Galactic Core Leadership. *I'm calling an emergency session of the council. Please be in the council chamber within the next half hour. - Nikal* He sends the message, and immediately gets responses from many of the members in the upper echelons in the leadership. Nikal slouched in his chair and brings up the schematics for his ship, deciding that it's best to use the next half hour efficiently. He considers running a test on the new ship systems the following day and schedules it with the outpost's control centre.

Taking a sip from his sweet beverage he puts it down and retrieves the pack he brought from Atlantis. Looking at the four data crystals he realises the implications that stealing a copy of the Atlantis Database would have if he were to be recalled to Atlantis; 'stripped of rank and position... most likely, exile from the planets within the remnants of the Lantean Domain… quite the possibility.' He snaps out of his thoughts when he hears the door chime, "Come in please." He says.

The door slides open with a hiss and he sees that it is his colleague and close friend Joja. The young, short woman walks in and the door slides closed behind her, she smiles at Nikal as she enters but sees him slumped in his chair. "Why have you called an emergency session of the council? What is happening?" she asks genuinely concerned.

Nikal takes a deep breath and sighs, "As you know I have been on Atlantis for the last few days with the council, we were discussing mainly the war effort and how to keep our last remaining planets under our control secure, the regional council needs to know the decision the Council of Atlantis have reached." Joja raises an eyebrow and he continues, "They have voted to follow High Councillor Moros' plan to evacuate the Pegasus Galaxy of all Lantean citizens and to travel to Terra."

Joja gasps, "Wha… What? We have been forbidden to leave this galaxy, the Alterans instructed the first Lanteans about this before they ascended." She stops for a moment to process some of the thoughts going through her mind. "What about the human populations? Will we be evacuating them to safety?"

Nikal shakes his head; getting up he moves towards the window at the rear of his office. Looking out he sees the small quiet metropolis, being night time all the nearby buildings are lit with light. "No, the humans are staying here… utterly defenceless. I objected to this, but the other councillors have been cowering behind their shield for too long and voted to leave, the humans were not even brought up. Trust me when I say that the evacuation is not the worst thing I learnt while on Atlantis." He sighs as he moves back to his desk, "Let's walk to the council chambers together, I need to clear my head a little before the meeting starts."

He offers Joja his hand which she takes and gives a squeeze, "I think that is a great idea." They leave the office and make their way to the council chambers, on their way their Joja begins to tell Nikal what has been happening over the few days he was off world.

Eight levels up they continue chatting about events in their lives, they walk in to find all the Archons, councillors and other high level members already in the room. "Someone should have sent a message that everyone was ready." Nikal jokingly said to Joja.

Tyros the Chief Archon of the Galactic Core Regional Council stands, "I hereby call this emergency session of the council open." Tyros yawns, then in a mocking tone, "Archon Nikal, I know that on Atlantis it is the middle of the day, but here at Galactic Core it's not and we like to get our rest," He laughs a booming laugh before continuing. "Now Nikal if you could please explain the reason for this incredibly late meeting?"

Nikal decided not to take his usual seat on the high council desk, preferring to stand in front of the Chief Archon. "My apologies, but this news could not wait till morning," he turns to face the assembled group who have taken their seats in the audience chamber. "I have recently arrived from Atlantis with news. The Council of Atlantis has informed me of their intention to evacuate all Lantean citizens from this galaxy via the Stargate on Atlantis to start a new life in Avalon."

The silence in the chamber erupts into conversations and yelling, Nikal raises his hands up pleading for order. He looks towards Tyros who nodded in understanding, "ORDER, I WILL HAVE ORDER IN THIS CHAMBER!" He yells out.

Silence once again falls on the room, Nikal continues, "I know this is shocking, I personally do not want to leave, what little we have left is here in this galaxy, we cannot take our ships and big equipment with us to Avalon, the ships are not fast enough and the equipment is too large to fit in the Stargate. If we left we would have to start again with nothing. The council is meant to officially inform us of the evacuation once the transport ship Narvi breaks through the blockade around Lantea and arrives at Atlantis.

However this will not happen, I have been informed by a member of the Council that there is no plan to inform the outposts and colonies. They are abandoning us to the Wraith." Nikal pulls out a small computing device out of one of his jacket pockets and taps on the screen. "I have sent all of you a brief report on the situation. At this stage I recommend we reconvene after attempting to contact Atlantis and the Council." He faces Tyros and sees that he has gone pale, nodding to him Nikal walks off the dais.

The Chief Archon speaks up to the assembled group. "As the highest ranking official on this base and quite likely left in this galaxy I will take over duties as High Councillor of the Lantean Domain. This I do as a temporary action and will relinquish the Councillorship when this current conflict ends. This emergency session is now closed, further updates will e provided as they come in." Tyros finished.

Joja meets up with Nikal at the side of the stage, "The Commander would like a moment of your time Nik."

Nikal nods, "Ok, tell her to meet me in my office I have a few things I need to do for later today." Joja walks off to inform the Commander and Nikal makes his way to the nearest transport booth.

Walking into his office he orders a hot caffeinated beverage from the food synthesiser. Moving towards a mirror on the wall next to the window he looks at himself. He notices his skin is a paler brown than usual, before noticing a few grey hairs in his black hair. Thinking to him, 'Hmm, a few greys are nothing if we have no future.' He approaches his desk and takes a seat. He starts typing on his computer connecting it to his experimental ship which is docked nearby the outpost, once the connection is established a small holographic emitter descends from the ceiling and activates. The room darkens as a star map of the galaxy forms; the map rapidly zooms in on the planet the Galactic Core Outpost resides on.

Nikal decides to cut the theatrics, "Ship. End this presentation. Now! I do not have time for it." The light show fades away and the ships avatar forms, a young, slim man appears with long dark hair and very short facial hair, it is wearing the standard white Lantean defence force uniform.

"I apologise, but you programmed this into my data matrix, it is to be shown anytime I am interfaced outside the ship, or in front of young children."

Nikal cuts him off, "Yes, yes. I forgot that I wrote this into your program, please isolate those protocols and deactivate them till further notice; now run diagnostics on all ship systems, I need the results before tomorrow's scheduled test." The holographic avatar nods and fades away.

The door chime goes off, "Come in please." Nikal says as he pushes back on his floating chair, he stands as Rhea, Galactic Core's Commander of the defence force walks in. "Archon Nikal, the news you have brought to our attention is dire. I need to know if you are given the opportunity to leave this galaxy with the others will you, or are you going to stay here?" Nikal is surprised at Rhea's bluntness; he offers her a seat in front of the desk which she takes.

Nikal sits down and returns the bluntness, "I am staying! I have my prototype ship which was meant to help the turn the tide of the war, even though it's on the verge of completion, its systems have not been fully tested. I would not like to see us stranded in the void if the hyperdrives were to fail, there is no way I am going to leave it behind or simply destroy it. In hindsight I see the Videum Project was just another pawn from the council to create a faster fleet to evacuate this galaxy."

Commander Rhea nods, "Good, I'm not leaving either, I would be a commander without a fleet. To my knowledge there is no infrastructure in Avalon that would have survived this long to restart star ship construction…" Nikal makes a mental note to query the stolen copy of the Atlantis Database for information about early settlements in the Pegasus Galaxy. "… I would be more useful here, even though it is to fight a losing war." Rhea finishes, Nikal nods in understanding.

The internal communication system chimes, "Control to Archon Nikal, you have a priority communication from Atlantis." The communications officer says. Nikal replies, "I'm in my office, please route it here." He apologises to Rhea, as the holographic system in his office activates and an image of Janus appears, in the background the evacuation alarm is sounding. "Nikal I am glad that I got a hold of you." Janus says in a hurry.

"Is there something wrong Janus? Did the Narvi arrive safely?" Nikal asks concerned about the citizens aboard.

"I'm afraid that the Narvi was destroyed the moment they tried approaching the planet. But I have even more tragic news, the Council of Atlantis have decided to leave immediately… as we speak the city is sitting at the bottom of the ocean and we have begun evacuating the city's inhabitants in groups. The outposts and colony planets have still not been told of this decision and the council have officially counted them as lost and are willing to abandon them. Right now I and several other high ranking technicians are in the process of securing Atlantis."

Janus would have continued but is interrupted by Commander Rhea, "Councillor Janus, this is Commander Rhea, what do you mean when you say securing Atlantis?" Rhea asks formally.

"Ah. Commander Rhea, always a pleasure." He smirks and then continues, "The Atlantis Stargate has been programmed to reject all wormholes that originate in this galaxy. I'm truly sorry; I do not have the time to override the lockouts before I am forced to leave. You will not be able to reach Atlantis via ship; I have remodulated the shield frequencies to accommodate for more efficient power usage, for the Caretaker I am leaving behind." He stops for a moment.

Nikal and Rhea look at each other, "What Caretaker?" Nikal asks.

Janus lets out a breath, "There is not enough time to explain, I will send you a few files about the situation. I need you to contact the other warships that were approaching Lantea; they stopped the moment the Narvi was destroyed. You can recall them; they could help you at Galactic Core."

Rhea speaks up this time, "What would they help with?"

Janus's face goes pale, "There is a massive Wraith Fleet heading to Galactic Core, I assumed your long range sensors picked them up?"

Rhea immediately leaves running through the hologram, she makes her way towards the transport booth to get to the command centre.

Meanwhile in the command Centre of the outpost a group of technicians is busy monitoring the various systems when one of the consoles beeps. "Hmm. Looks like the long range sensors have picked something up. I'm not sure what it is but the computer is saying it's a major distortion in the hyper subspace layer." said technician Jad.

Another technician gets up and looks over the sensor readings, "It could have been a glitch in the sensors; the amount of interference in this area does bring the sensor resolution down. Given the position of the alert, if it were a ship then it would be torn apart the moment they exit hyperspace, continue running scans just to be sure." The supervising technician says before returning to his seat at another console.

Nikal is shocked at the prospect of having a Wraith fleet so close to the planet. "How is it possible for the Wraith to even know about this world? The whole point we established this base was that it was virtually impossible for the Wraith to find us." Nikal begins pacing back and forth in front of his desk. The Janus hologram stands still but moves his head left and right looking at Nikal.

Janus nods. "The logs here indicate that someone on Atlantis sent an unsecure wide band subspace transmission with the coordinates for Galactic Core as well as the Stargate address. Anyone in Pegasus with an advance enough subspace communications array would have picked up the message. From the way it was composed I assume it was in a bid to attempt to buy time, for our evacuation. As we speak three quarters of the Wraith fleet here in the Lantean System have left, computer projections show that they are on a direct course for Galactic Core most likely as a second front.

I cannot contact the two Aurora class battlecruisers that have stopped the moment the Narvi was destroyed, I recommend you contact them, they could be some help with the fighting and possible evacuations." The holographic transmission fades, before being restored, Janus continues, "I believe the technicians are shutting down the long range subspace communications system, I must go. Once again I am truly sorry for this; I too have invested so much in this galaxy, all the secret outposts and abandoned projects I will never see them again. Nikal do not worry about Atlantis, it will survive for thousands of years to come. There is a caretaker in place to look after Atlantis."

Nikal interrupts Janus, "Wait, what caretaker? What do you mean?" His questions go unanswered as the hologram fades away. Moments later his console beeps informing him of a new subspace message, he opens it and finds a report about Atlantis' mysterious caretaker, a time travelling human. Nikal takes a moment to sit and lets the information sink in.

He touches the comm device on his collar and contacts Joja, "Nikal to Joja."

After a few moments a response comes through, "Joja here, what's up Nik?"

Nikal takes a quick breath, "I need your exemplary piloting skills, meet me in Cargo Bay Eight in the next fifteen minutes."

After a short delay she replies, "I just need to finish up a few things, but I will be there. See you soon." The comm channel closes automatically and Nikal taps his comm badge to deactivate it.

Arriving in the cargo bay Nikal walks towards a computer console placed left of the door facing out to the cargo bay, the oval like console automatically activates as approaches it. He touches the crystal controls, a small holographic display activates and he begins working the controls. In front of him several dozen shipping creates and equipment pieces dematerialise, being transported away to another hanger bay. He continues typing on the console in the now empty bay, other shipping creates materialise along with large pieces of equipment ranging from medical devices to ship components.

Behind him the large doors open and Joja walks in, "Nikal what do you need… gosh that's a lot of cargo. Why is a highly respected scientist such as you doing the menial task of inventory?"

She jokingly laughs while walking towards Nikal, he replies "Very funny Joja but this is rather serious, I'm in the process of finding as much equipment that I feel my ship will need in the foreseeable future."

Joja stops Nikal typing commands into the console and makes him face her, "What are you saying Nik?"

He sighs "I am highly doubtful that this outpost and the surrounding city will survive the coming battle, everything you see before you is what I have so far sourced from all over the base. I'm loading as much as I can take…" taking a breath he continues "…ugh, we have lost so much. Now with Atlantis effectively gone we need to preserve as much of our technology, most of these devices we can no longer create without the Domain's factories."

He notices Joja's face go pale, "Are you running Nikal?!" She bluntly asks him in an angry tone, he is taken aback with the accusation.

"I will never run! But if the base is lost… we need contingencies in the event something happens here and we can no longer return." He responded immediately. He reaches for one of her hands and holds it, "The reason I called you here is to help me with this, I need to shuttle the cargo to my ship where its short range transporters can pick them up; if you feel that I'm making the wrong choice then I'll have to do it myself." He lets go of her hands and faces the console placing one hand on the console he uses his mind to open the cargo bay doors. Moving off he walks to one of the large shuttles in the bay quickly followed by Joja. Joja takes the pilots seat, Nikal sits next to her controlling the tractor beam and power regulation systems. They spend the next few hours travelling back and forth between the cargo bay and the experimental ship.

In the command centre Commander Rhea is busy preparing the outpost for the approaching battle. "Technician Jad, let's go over the sensor analysis you picked up earlier. She says staying in a calm manner.

"Aaahhh, so nothing drastic has changed since our original scans earlier, of course the objects which we have now identified as Wraith ships of varying designs are closer. We are only now getting clearer readings from the earlier scans as we have retuned the sensors to a higher resolution."

Rhea interrupts, "Why weren't the sensors at a higher resolution in the beginning?"

Jad continues, "Well before the time of the original detection we were ordered by Chief Archon Tyros to transfer a large percentage of our scanning capabilities to him for his personal experiments that he is apparently running. This left us without the necessary resolution to identify the ships currently in hyperspace, this coupled with the interference around the Galactic Core system it would have been impossible to get accurate readings. Either way we still would have not been able to determine what was out there until it was closer." He finishes, Rhea nods and he resumes his seat around the holographic situation table.

Rhea contemplates this new information, standing up she taps the comm device on the collar of her white uniform. "This is Commander Rhea; I want a security team to bring Chief Archon Tyros to the Command Centre immediately." Tapping the comm device again she deactivates it, under her breath she mutters "First the leader of an outpost now the leader of the tatters of the Lantean Domain, that incompetent fool."

With Jad being within earshot he responds, "Hear. Hear."

Rhea smiles for a brief moment, she gets up and walks to the small balcony overlooking the well of the command centre. On the railing is a small computer terminal, the crystals light up as she approaches and a small holographic display begins showing data about the outposts various systems. Placing both hands on the terminal she mentally clears the screen and brings up the communications protocols, she opens a link to the entire Galactic Core Outpost, the citizens out in the city and the ships out in orbit. "Attention all personnel this is Commander Rhea, minutes ago we found out that a massive Wraith fleet is on its way to this… our world. Some may have heard the rumours that Atlantis has been evacuated… unfortunately this is true. Our brothers and sisters have fled this galaxy thus leaving us to fend for ourselves. I request that citizens in the outer city blocks and industrial zones please leave your work, return home, pack a few items and calmly enter your nearest safe zone.

Our defence and offensive systems should be adequate to hold back the coming fleet. I plan to defend this base and repel those who mean to attack us but in a safe and sane manner.

As a Commander in service for the Lantean Defence Force during war time I hereby am taking charge of this outpost, I will order an evacuation under extreme circumstances, if the assessment that this outpost will fall I will be sure to make certain that every soul on this planet leaves be that by transport vessel, or the Stargate. At this moment the Stargate is now under complete lockdown. All ships that are able to fight please prepare and report in to the Command Centre. Further updates will be provided as the come in. Rhea out. **

Rhea touches one of the crystal controls on the terminal, in the background alert klaxons begin to sound. The civilian personnel in the Command Centre leave their posts and make their way to the safe zones. Rhea moves back to the holographic projection table now showing the Galactic Core planet with the ships in orbit moving into defensive positions.

Nikal making the twentieth and final trip to his ship with Joja, they are sitting in silence after hearing Rhea's speech over the shuttle's comm systems. Joja breaks the silence, "Nik, why wouldn't we be evacuating? I mean even if it's just the unnecessary personnel, there is still the Capricornia outpost, the evacuees can wait out the attack there…" she stops and sighs, "… ugh we have suffered one command decision failure after another especially since Tyros became the Chief Archon here."

Nikal nods and speaks up "This is something a lot of people don't want to accept… but the Lantean race is an arrogant one. We were advanced well beyond our means, and given the keys to a kingdom by the Alterans and what have we done as a race? We tried to emulate our creators; we are now trying to follow in their footsteps by ascending to escape this war. I know I'm a small voice when to this assessment…if we come out of this alive I feel that we need to be the voices of change, we are so few now that the Lantean race cannot continue if we as a people cannot adapt to these circumstances."

Joja chuckles, Nikal looks at her slightly frowning. "What?" he says.

"Nice speech." Joja immediately smiles.

"With you by my side we could push for change and accomplish so much, but one step at a time." Nikal finishes, as he pushes one of the buttons on the control console a comm link with his ship opens. "Ship. Initiate transport cycle twenty." Below the shuttle several large containers disappear, while inside the shuttle all the smaller crates also disappear. Nikal continues to consult with the ship, "I need a full systems report."

The heads up display activates showing the ship; the avatar begins his report "Primary systems; life support and propulsion are operating at one hundred percent. Primary weapon arrays and shields appear to be operating at one hundred percent, although thorough testing is recommended. Cargo bays one through eight are at currently at capacity, drone weapons have arrived and all reserve holds are fully stocked. However diagnostics show a variance in several of the hyperdrive induction arrays, and the shield systems appear to be drawing less than optimum power from the defensive system reserves. I must inform you that with the shakedown cruise cancelled the diagnostics will not be able to determine the exact number of actual or possible faults within the various systems that would have been identified if the tests were run." The ship relays crisply.

Nikal sits back in his seat worried, he grows concerned that the ship could fail at a critical moment. He pushes the thoughts aside to worry about the coming crisis. Closing the comm link he faces Joja to instruct her to head back to the main complex. The shuttle banks heavily to the left returning to the base, the occupants don't feel the sudden change in direction or speed with the inertial dampeners active.

As they approach the base Joja contacts the Command Centre, "Shuttle 2-1-8 to GC Command Centre, requesting clearance to dock in shuttle bay twelve."

She waits for a reply from the base, moments later a female technician replies, "Shuttle 2-1-8 please reduce speed and stand by for landing instructions." In the background of the comm link they hear Commander Rhea issuing orders for the defence fighters to take off, the technician continues "Be advised that defence fighters are embarking from all shuttle bays, change course and land in shuttle bay one, a highlighted course is being uploaded to your nav-conn system."

Joja prepares to close the comm link, "Understood, course received, Shuttle 2-1-8 out." She closes the link. The shuttle descends, in the distance hundreds of objects lift off from the surface from several of the shuttle bays. These fighters look similar to the gate ship variant with the exception for wings integrated into the drive pods, stronger shields, and smaller plasma weapons along with a larger compliment of drones with ten per ship. Half of the fighters engage their sub-light drives and ascend rapidly; others begin patrols of the outpost.

Their shuttle approaches shuttle bay one located near the Glass Tower, they descend into the underground bay, the drive pods retract slightly into the body as the back hatch slides open and a small ramp extends. They leave and walk towards the exit then on to the transport lifts on their level. Nikal waves his hand over the elevator control calling for it to stop; he notices the commotion around him with personnel running about either getting to the safe zones or to their assigned defensive positions.

Joja notices this too, "I am starting to feel that your over the top preparation may not be so crazy after all." She says. The lift doors open and they get in.

"Command Centre level five." Nikal says aloud instructing the lift, to Joja he replies "It is nice you have so much faith in my planning." They both chuckle as the doors close; the lift begins speeding up as it quickly ascends from the extensive underground facilities up into the main lift shaft of the Glass Tower.

At Stargate Central the transport obelisk activates depositing Chief Archon Tyros. He looks around not realising that the security contingent had been tripled. Since he heard that Commander Rhea had ordered that he was to be apprehended for questioning he immediately left his office and made his way to the nearest maintenance hatch on the wall around the corner from his office, and began to make his way down the building through the tunnels. He looks at all of them nodding; he begins to wonder if they have been alerted to the Commander's orders to apprehend him for questioning. Walking calmly towards the podium dialling device in front of the Stargate, he is abruptly stopped by one of the security team. "I apologise Sir, but while we are under security lockdown all travel through the Stargate has now been suspended."

Tyros is shocked that a minor security guard is stopping him from his escape route, his plan was to travel to another planet away from the coming battle, he was not willing to risk staying here to lose his life. He takes a few steps back from the guard to re-establish his personal space, straightening up he glares at the guard, "Stand down! I'm giving you a direct order to step aside and allow me free access to the dialling device; if you all must know I am trying to get assistance from our other outposts. I have Commander Rhea's approval to travel to them to gain support. Concordia for instance has more personnel that can help us. Now you and your security detachment will vacate this area." Tyros said confidently.

The guards all looked to the leader of their team, who gives them a nod to stand down. They slowly move away Tyros walks to the dialling device and begins touching the symbols for an address he knows would be a safe harbour. The leader of the security detachment not entirely convinced with Tyros' intentions taps his comm device and attempts to directly contact Commander Rhea. As Tyros touches the fifth symbol the dialling device goes blank as well as the chevrons on the Stargate. Moments later the symbols illuminate in a clockwise direction lighting the chevrons as they pass.

The security team leaps into action one roughly pulls Tyros away from the dialling device, as the leader of the security team contacts the Command Centre. "Stargate Central to Command Centre, there's an incoming wormhole, activate the portal shield." He says quickly, he reaches for his energy weapon and aims it at the Stargate. Within seconds the wormhole establishes with the unstable vortex shooting out only to be pulled back as the event horizon forms, the shield activates blocking any inbound traveller who tries to reach Galactic Core.

The leader of the security contingent taps his comm device, "This is Specialist Matthel at Stargate Central, to Command Centre. Request priority alpha communications link with G-C Commander." In the background something hits the gate shield.

"Stand by Specialist." Is the response he gets from the Command Centre, removing the comm device from his uniform jacket and placing it on his ear it automatically changes the audio from loud to a quieter setting thus making the conversation private.

"This is Commander Rhea, Specialist Matthel good job at the Stargate." Rhea began.

"Thank you Commander, but I am not calling to be praised. We have a situation down here that does not revolve around the possible Wraith incursion attempt. Moments before the Stargate activated the Chief Archon attempted to activate the gate to travel off world. He claims that he was going to get reinforcements from Concordia, but the symbols he began entering were not the same." Matthel replies.

"Detain him, if he resists stun him then bring him here. I'll send someone down to deal with the Stargate. Rhea out." She terminates the connection from her end.

Specialist Matthel taps his comm device closing the connection, placing the device back on his armour. He reaches for the energy pistol holstered on his right leg, the clear crystal in the rod shaped device begins to glow a light blue colour as he mentally instructs it to be set to stun. Approaching Tyros he does not aim the energy pistol out of respect, "Chief Archon, if you would please accompany these security members; Commander Rhea would like to talk to you."

As two of the security team approach the Chief Archon, he darts back and runs to the transport obelisk. Tyros makes it five strides before Matthel fires his weapon twice in his back, he collapses to the ground heavily stunned. "Pick that up, and drag it to the commander." Matthel says to two of his security team. Matthel being one of the many in the defence force who's disdain towards the current leader of the outpost is unparalleled. The security team picks the indisposed Chief Archon and makes their way to the transport obelisk; they disappear in a cone of energy. Facing the Stargate again and the still active wormhole Matthel continues to see objects hitting the shield.