Enemy at the Gate rewrite: Bandits Approaching the Entrance

Chapter 2

Woolsey strode into Todd's cell, giving the Wraith a frosty gaze. Richard had not forgotten the Attero Device débâcle (which had almost cost him his job), and so was not inclined to trust their slippery guest any further than he could get away with.

He started the questioning, and rapidly found that Todd was his usual lyrical, yet maddeningly vague, self.

Having managed to establish that the hive was not yet complete, but powered by an undetermined number of Zero Point Modules, he decided to press Todd further for more details of the hive, anything that would help Caldwell and Sheppard.

"What can you tell us about the weaponry and tactical abilities of the ship?" he asked bluntly.

Todd maintained the vaguely Gallic non-committal expression he had been wearing so far. "He's enjoying this, watching us squirm," Woolsey thought.

"I know that the hive is most potent, but I am no-," Todd said, before catching Woolsey's hard expression. "Very well. I merely know that the density of weapons emplacements has been at least trebled, and the power of each weapon is much greater than before. However, the weapons turrets are cumbersome and slow to traverse and recharge." he said, recognising the need to aid the humans. "The hull is significantly denser and thicker...I believe it could be up to a hundred metres thick in places,"

Woolsey felt a private surge of joy in having coaxed this much detail out of the Wraith.

"What is the hive's current location?" he asked.

"Fortunately, I had the foresight to leave a subspace transmitter aboard the hive," Todd said, "which will send out a burst at regular intervals,"

Woolsey had the information he needed. He had to pass this information on to Sheppard immediately.

"See, that wasn't difficult, was it?" he said, and left the room in search of Colonel Sheppard.

Woolsey arrived in the control room to see an active gate, and Sheppard's team, sans Ronon, talking to Caldwell via video link.

"Gentlemen, I've just been discussing the particulars of this hive with Todd," he said, going on to detail what he had found out for Caldwell, Sheppard and McKay. The latter appeared troubled, but agreed that they needed more information.

"Mr. Woolsey, we don't want to delay. We'd like to take a jumper and rendez-vous with the Daedalus ASAP," said Sheppard.

Woolsey gave the nod. Sheppard and co were already kitted up in preparation for the mission, so they ascended the stairs to the jumper bay. McKay accosted Sheppard on the way up, providing tips about how to approach the hive undetected. Most of these tips were greeted with small nods, but when the reached the jumper Sheppard turned to McKay.

"Rodney, I'm a professional military pilot. I do know how to do this sort of thing, you know," he said gently, before activating the jumper.

"I know, I was just trying to, you know," he said, before trailing off.

"I believe Colonel Caldwell will not wish to be kept waiting," Teyla interjected.

"Yeah, we're waiting for Ronon and our good friend Todd to show up," the colonel said with a mirthless smirk.

Right on cue, the Wraith and the Satedan arrived. Todd had been given alternative attire for the occasion, attire that was free of any hidden stun-rods, or indeed any other unpleasant surprises.

"See, we're all here and now we can go. Rodney, dial the gate," John said.

Rodney sighed slightly as he dialled the address. Once the wormhole was established, Woolsey's voice came over the radio.

"Good luck, Colonel. I don't want you or Caldwell taking unnecessary risks on this one,"

"We'll keep that in mind, Mr. Woolsey," Sheppard replied, a split second before activating the engines and sending them into the event horizon.

The Daedalus was about halfway back to Atlantis when Sheppard had called them up on subspace, and it didn't take them long to reach the nearest gate and report in. They were currently in orbit of a gas-giant's forested moon, about 60 miles from the gate, which was itself in orbit. Caldwell was never happy about having to wait in the middle of nowhere, so it was with relief that he greeted Marks's report of the gate activation and arrival of Sheppard's jumper.

"Colonel Sheppard, nice of you to join us. You are cleared to land in the primary hangar bay," he said over the radio.

Fifteen minutes later, AR-1 and the senior staff of the Daedalus gathered in the ship's briefing room. Sheppard was briefing the assembly, with a holographic representation of the Pegasus galaxy over the table.

"OK, according to the information provided by our friend, we know that the hive is currently in deep space, roughly equidistant from these stars," he said, and the view expanded to show a more detailed view of that quadrant of the galaxy, with the hive's approximate location marked by a red ellipsoid. "At our standard cruise speed, it's currently about 3 hours in hyperspace from Atlantis and about 75 minutes from here."

Sheppard looked around at the assembled officers before speaking again.

"Our intelligence on this hive is still very patchy, so our primary objectives are to gather as much data as possible on this thing before engaging. Chances are it'll shoot first and ask questions later, so we've gotta be as quick as possible. Any questions?"

Doctor Novak, the ship's engineer, spoke up nervously.

"Um, Colonel, this might sound like a stupid question, but if this ship is powered by ZPMs, then could we try and steal them?" she asked. Rodney adopted a sneering expression and was about to issue a scathing reply before Sheppard stopped him.

"That's not a stupid question, Doctor, but the truth is we're keeping all our options open until we get these sensor sweeps," he said.

Caldwell spoke up next, mainly to his staff.

"OK everyone, back to your stations. I want us ready for hyperspace by the time I get to the bridge," he said, causing a scramble as the bridge crew departed hurriedly, some speaking into radios, ordering their seconds on the bridge to prepare the ship for a hyperjump.

Caldwell turned to AR-1 and joined them as they left the room, entering the elevator to the bridge.

"Colonel, I saw the data you've got there on their weapons. We're going to have to be very quick on this," he said darkly. Caldwell swiped his card for the bridge.

"Yes sir, but we should be able to limit any damage done with a bit of fancy flying. We certainly don't want to sit still and catch a full salvo from them," John said. "If we drop out a few light-minutes short on silent-running we can plan our next move more easily."

By now the elevator had reached the bridge.

"Oh, I agree completely, colonel," he said, striding out onto the bridge. "Status?" he barked to the bridge crew.

"Hyperdrive is primed, all tactical systems on standby. All systems running at optimal efficiency," the watch officer reported.

"Excellent. Navigation, lock target co-ordinates into the hyperdrive, set emergence at eight light-minutes from the target," he ordered crisply. That would place them about 150 million kilometres from the hive, approximately the distance from Earth to the Sun. The navigational officer busied himself momentarily with his systems.

"Done, sir," he reported.

"Helm, activate hyperdrive when ready,"

The helm officer nodded, and flipping the cover off the red hyperdrive activation switch. Barely a second later, just after he pressed it, a blue cloud of Cherenkov radiation burst forth from the forming hyperspace window and the Daedalus willingly shot forward, faster than the eye could track, into it's maw.