AN: This is just a little something that occurred to me as soon as I went on (inspired by MissRosenberg's post first strike piece) that i hammered out in about half an hour. I'm not sure if I'm happy with it or not :\ Tell me what you think ;)
The Last Stand
As Atlantis drifts through space Colonel Shepard looks out at the battle raging around them. Pulse weapons, rail charges, missiles, drones and fighters fly all over the visible sky. The shield remains strong, the addition of the second ZPM from the Daedalus allowing for a continuous bubble of protection for the moment.
The final Battle was upon them. The last of the wraith battle cruisers surrounding Atlantis, pounding on it's shield with the ineffectual Apollo and Daedalus's weapons practically bouncing off their hulls. Over 60 ships, covering the shield in orange smears leaving almost no space untouched by the energy weapons.
With the hyper drive out of commission, the Stargate blocked and the subspace transceiver off line it was, in Sheppard's Opinion the end for Atlantis and it's residents. No Stargate, shield up so no transporters, no way to call for help from earth and the teams allies ranging from farmers to the Athosians that were left behind on the planet during the frantic take-off.
Someone walked silently up behind him, of course John knew it was Rodney, the man had nothing to do, having nothing to work on, no ideas and pretty much no resources. He felt useless and John could relate. Together they watched the Daedalus pull around from an attack run, a handful of f-302s spilling out of the fighter bays to combat the waves of darts on approach. A mere 12 against thousands was even for Sheppard pretty insane odds.
The fighters began firing missile after missile, exploding in clouds and taking many darts down per shot. Huge rail gun charges from the cannons on the Daedalus ploughed into the ships, creating secondary explosions and yet, they kept on coming. The shield began to flicker around the ship, the healthy green/yellow around impact sites sparking and flashing a red/orange that signalled it was close to failure.
"Colonel Sheppard, this is Caldwell. We can't take much more of this, we're going to have to retreat soon and recharge along with the Apollo. No word yet from earth, it's possible that out transmitter simply isn't up to the distance."
"Rodger that sir. We, ... we'll still be here when you get back" he said more to convince himself than Caldwell.
"You know our shield won't last much longer Sheppard, another 5 maybe 6 hours if we're lucky."
"I know Rodney, they'll be gone about that long so they might make it back in time for the party" He said with a grim smile watching the ships hyperspace windows cut out as their last hope disappeared.
"Zelenka reckons we have maybe another 2 hours of power left, after that, shields go down, vacuum tears the city apart combined with the wraiths best efforts. We have drones left but not enough to take out every ship out there and the hyper drive will take about 2 days longer than we have to repair." John said as he summed up the situation to those in the briefing room. He was met only with silence. No last minute plans, impossible theory, 1 in a million chances or get out of jail free cards. Just silence. Until his radio beeped.
"Sheppard this is Caldwell, We're charged up and on our way back, ETA is 10 minutes. Lieutenant Cadman has managed to rig us up some more nukes from the remains of the last siege but we only have 4"
"I read you, our situation is, well it's not good. We have about 2 more hours"
"We're almost there Colonel, we'll figure something out"
"Yes sir"
The residents all gathered on the balconies, at the windows, around the computer screens. Looking for their last chance, a little sign that everything would be aright.
Right on cue the Earth battle cruisers dropped out of hyperspace, weapons firing before they had even exited subspace. Swarms of darts left over from the previous engagement were immediately destroyed in the explosion of a beamed nuke. Several smaller wraith cruisers also took serious damage but nothing enough to make a dent.
About 30 seconds after their reappearance the ships were already splitting up and circling the wraith fleet. 2 more massive explosions took out 5 of the biggest ships and their support ships while a third detonated several thousand miles about Atlantis. Caldwell answered him before he could even ask the question.
"It was the gate weapon colonel, our sensors detected it on approach and we took it out before it's shields could come up and join the battle."
The battle raged on again. Lives lost everywhere. John felt a sense of dread pulling around him as McKay gave the 15 minute warning. The brilliantly yellow drones swarmed from the central spire of Atlantis, taking down Wraith ships everywhere. Maybe a third of the fleet had been eliminated when the chair room called to inform him they were out of drones.
One of the wraith battle cruisers that were damaged appeared to be on a collision course with the city. Rodney gave him a terrified look.
"This is it you know, the shields won't be able to repel that thing".
And just as he was about to open his mouth to reply and inform the city, a ship blasted straight in front of the window they were at, blue beam weapons slicing through the Hive as if it were butter.
"Atlantis this is General Landry abroad the Oydessy, looks like we're missing all the fun"
"Well it's not going to be fun much longer sir, the shield goes down in 5 minutes..."he was interrupted before he could question their weaponry.
"Well I think we can help you there"
There was a flash of light in front of him and 3 ZPMs appeared. McKay looked like Christmas had come early. He almost fainted in relief as he began shouting orders to the scientists around him. They has barely finished the transport before they were whisked out of the control room and en route to the power station.
"Sir how..? what..?"
"We'll explain everything later Sheppard. Colonel Carter informs me that three ZPMs should allow the shield to remain up for many years but we don't intend to wait that long."
The Earth ships grouped up on one side of the city and began making a run on the Wraith ships. The Oydessy at the point of a spear with the Daedalus and Apollo covering it from runs by another wave of darts. John had never been so happy to see one of the ships in his life. The lasers from the lead ship were blasting down the Wraith ships as if they were flies.
It was beautiful and yet at the same time it was horrific. To see so many lives cut short so fast was not something John Particularly wanted to see but he knew it was their only hope.
Odd that, how in the space of a few hours their 'only hope' had changed so little and yet suddenly their odds were looking so much better...