UEC Starbase One
In orbit of Avalon
Captain O'Neill sat in his office looking over the reports on his computer. It had been nearly three weeks since Task Force Pegasus had departed and two weeks since Task Force Ida had left for the Ida galaxy. It had taken each task force just over a week to reach the outer edge of the Milky Way.
Each task force carried over a hundred large subspace relays that were powered by a small fusion reactor. The theory was that each task force would place the relays at regular intervals in the void between galaxies. It was calculated that it would take roughly one hundred relays between the Ida galaxy and the Milky Way. That was only for the void in between though. The UEC should be able to tie into the Asgard network from there so no relays would need to be placed in the Ida galaxy itself.
It was unclear if any of the Alteran network was operational so enough relays were brought to seed all the way to Lantea if needed. After the relays were placed and brought online, the task force would contact Avalon to test the relay. Once the test and progress report were complete, the relays would cloak, and the task force would move on to the next drop point.
The Goa'uld System Lords had continued to consolidate their forces but they had been doing more fighting amongst themselves than trying to attack the UEC holdings. Ba'al had killed Camulus and Ares absorbing their armies and territories.
The Goa'uld still had no way of detecting the cloaking technology the UEC was using. The UEC Phantom under Colonel Lucatero was having a field day. They were destroying antigravity platforms used to build ships, snatching Jaffa out from under the noses of the Goa'uld overseers, and generally wreaking havoc among the forces of the System Lords. It was mostly because of the efforts of the Phantom and her crew that the Goa'uld were fighting more with each other than mounting a concentrated attack against the UEC.
Captain O'Neill just hoped they had done enough to save this reality and their own. With the two task forces he had no choice but to send out, he didn't have the ships to mount a decisive attack against the consolidated forces of the remaining System Lords.
That's not quite true, he had the ships, he just didn't have enough experienced crews to man them. The facilities his people had built for the UEC were churning out ships faster than they could crew them. Even figuring in the Tollan, the Langarians, the Pangarans, the Orbanians, Tagreans, and a few others, they still didn't have enough people to crew the amount of starships they were producing.
The icing on the cake though, was that Captain O'Neill and his people that had counterparts here in this universe, had one more day left before they HAD to return to their own reality. Enough of his people that didn't have counterparts in this reality or family in his had decided to stay though.
They didn't have enough to crew all of the ships but they had enough to put at least two or three on each ship to help teach the UEC how to run them. It just took time to get enough of them up to speed to handle an attack against an enemy like the combined System Lords. Time was something O'Neill and his people simply did not have.
Task Force Pegasus
Pegasus Galaxy
Task Force Pegasus was nearing the last known position of Atlantis on the planet of Lantea. So far long range scans had not revealed much left of Lantean technology so far. Colonel Stephen Caldwell sat in his command chair aboard the UEC Armitage as the task force dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system.
The task force continued on into the system at impulse while running scans of the entire system. "Colonel, long range scanners are picking up one badly damaged satellite at one of the systems LaGrange Points but we are reading zero power. Sensors are also picking up a crashed ship on the second planet out from the star and possibly another on the ocean floor of Lantea. We'll learn more the closer we get."
The Tactical Officer looked up at Ayiana smiling as she continued her report. "We're also detecting a large shielded area on the ocean floor not far from the crashed ship. The profile of the ship on the ocean floor matches that of a Wraith cruiser. The one on the second planet is close to a Wraith cruiser as well but there are some differences."
Caldwell looked over to Ayiana as well and nodded a silent thank you for her providing the information about the Wraith from the Antarctic Outpost databanks. "Take us into orbit and have the Thunderchild join us. Send the Bellerophon, Gladius, and Cutlass to investigate the ship on the second planet. Have the Defiants cloak and patrol the system. Have Voyager see if she can repair the satellite and get it back online while the Pathfinder pulls security for them."
Fifteen minutes later Ayiana looked up at Colonel Caldwell. "Colonel, I've tried to calibrate the transporters to allow us to beam someone through the shield. No offense but I don't believe it's possible with your technology. If we want to enter the city, we'll have to find the nearest stargate and dial in from there."
Col. Caldwell thought for a moment. "Hail the Defiant and have her pick up Ayiana and the ZPM then take her to the nearest stargate. I want a full platoon of Marines to go through the gate with her and assist her in any way she needs. I want them to stay cloaked and get back here as soon as the team goes through the gate."
It took the Defiant just over an hour to reach the closest planet with a stargate. After beaming Ayiana and a platoon of Marines to the surface, Captain Jonathan Jones (JJ to his friends) was running a scan of the planet. There were some strange readings coming from some ancient ruins that appeared to be a Lantean city. There was also a small village not far from the gate. He looked over at his coms officer. "Hail Ayiana and let her know about the ruins and the small village."
Ayiana left three squads to guard the gate as she took the fourth with her to the small village. Colonel Marshall Sumner was with the squad escorting Ayiana. He was the commanding officer in charge of the Marine detachment that had been assigned to Task Force Pegasus.
He and an entire Marine Brigade had been assigned to the task force. If he had known they were going to explore an ancient city and meet the locals, he would have brought more Marines. "Oh well." Col. Sumner thought to himself. "Now days, just one platoon has the firepower that an entire battalion used to have in the old days." Each Marine (himself included) in the platoon accompanying him, was wearing Federation Standard Battle Armor.
The Federation Battle Armor was something they had just finished building after their first major battle with the Goa'uld. It was made of a polymer alloy that was lighter than Kevlar, even more bullet resistant, and ten times stronger than the titanium equivalent.
The material had also proven extremely resilient when hit with plasma based weapons such as the Jaffa staff weapon as well. It also had power servos allowing an average person to lift over fifteen times their bodyweight. It was completely self-contained, air and water tight (when the valves were closed), and also carried a three hour oxygen supply in case of emergencies. There was a place to attach external oxygen tanks to vastly increase the supply if needed.
It was cooled and heated as needed, to allow a Soldier to operate comfortably in extreme temperatures on either side of the spectrum. The helmet had a digital Heads Up Display (or HUD) and internal speakers and a microphone to allow constant communication between squad members or an external source. There was also a personal shield generator built into the suit that could withstand multiple direct hits from Jaffa staff weapons, projectile weapons, or something like an AT-4 Rocket.
Weapon load out for the platoon was still the same as they had used during the battle with the Goa'uld except they were now integrated into the HUD of the Battle Armor.
Ayiana and Colonel Sumner met with the leader of the small village. Teyla Emmagan was a beautiful young lady that appeared to lead her people well. She warned them that it was unsafe to go to the city of the Ancestors until Ayiana smiled and told her she WAS one of the Ancestors. So while Ayiana, Colonel Sumner, and a full Marine Squad went to the city to investigate the strange readings the Defiant picked up, Teyla agreed to show Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard the caves her people hid from the Wraith in.
Two hours later, the city search team was returning to the village. The strange readings turned out to be some computer databanks loaded with information about research on the Wraith. They had also found a stash of ZPMs (depleted of course). They were just entering the village when one of the Marines left at the gate radioed Colonel Sumner. "Colonel Sumner, this is Lieutenant Ford. The gate just activated." Ayiana and the Colonel shared a look before he answered. "Roger Lieutenant, I copy the gate just activated. Take cover and be ready for anything that comes through."
A few seconds later they heard the sound of phaser rifles and the heavier squad phaser support weapons firing. Colonel Sumner broke into a run back toward the gate. "Colonel, it's the Wraith! Three darts just came out of the gate but we shot all three down!" Colonel Sumner slowed down and radioed Lt. Colonel Sheppard. "Sheppard did you copy that?"
He heard Sheppard reply back and it sounded like he was running. "Yes Sir, I heard the firing and the explanation. Teyla and I are on our way back to the village now. She says that if those darts don't return back to where they came from, in a few hours this whole planet will be crawling with Wraith! We need to get her people and ours out of here before that happens."
Colonel Sumner started to protest when he caught the look on Ayiana's face. "Colonel, unfortunately he's right. We are not ready to face the Wraith. If what I read off of those computers before I downloaded all of their data and deleted the harddrives is true, we wouldn't stand a chance against them yet. There are just too many of them at the moment." He didn't like it but he knew they were right and he was smart enough to know when he was outmatched.
So over the next thirty minutes, Ayiana dialed Atlantis and took the ZPMs and most of Teyla's people through the gate to Atlantis. The elderly were beamed aboard the Defiant for medical treatment and better protection.
Ayiana's first move the instant she stepped onto Atlantis was to head to the ZPM control room and install the now fully charged ZPM she had brought from Earth. It had taken the scientists most of the trip to charge it but they had managed to do it.
Using just the singularity core they had installed on the Armitage by itself would have taken more than a month. Ayiana had taken a trick out of the Alteran playbook they had used when they built and launched Destiny. She had had the Armitage skim the corona of several stars before they left the Milky Way and after they had entered the Pegasus galaxy. That had help to cut the charge time of the ZPM in half.
Now that they had the power she needed, Ayiana began running a full diagnostic check of all the systems in the city and going through the logs in the main computer. She used the communications system of the city to contact Colonel Caldwell as the signal from their combadges wouldn't penetrate the shield.
"Colonel Caldwell, this is Ayiana. Can you read me?" She smiled as she heard the Colonel's voice. "Yes Ayiana, I read you loud and clear. Does this mean I can start sending people down?"
Ayiana looked at Colonel Sumner before answering. "Not yet Colonel, I would have to release the clamps holding the city to the ocean floor then drop the shield once the city surfaced. But after the run in we had with the Wraith, I really wouldn't suggest having the city on the surface before we can defend it. We have plenty of power for the shields but I'm afraid the Lanteans used most of the drone weapons during the last part of the siege and without the LaGrange Point Satellite (LGPS) system, we would be pretty much defenseless."
Caldwell thought for a minute. "Wait, did you say satellite system?"
"Yes Colonel. There used to be a fairly large number of satellites placed at every LaGrange Point in this system. It took the Wraith many decades to destroy enough of them to truly threaten the city. Once the satellite system had been destroyed, the Lanteans had no choice but to submerge the city. The Wraith came in too great a number for the city, by itself, to hold them off. The manufacturing facilities for the satellites had been destroyed as well as the shipyards by that point in the war."
Colonel Caldwell made his decision. "Ok Ayiana. We'll keep the city submerged while I get the Armitage, Thunderchild, and Voyager busy constructing pulse phaser and torpedo turrets. We can spare some of our torpedo stores to arm the torpedo turrets until Avalon can start sending us replacements."
As an afterthought he continued. "By the way, Marines from the Gladius captured a Wraith alive on the second planet. That ship was a modified cruiser used as a transport to feed the Wraith. It was loaded with stasis cocoons to hold humans in. We have him in the brig with a neural inhibitor on him so he can't telepathically link to the other Wraith. Dr. McKay found they were telepathic from the files you sent back from the database on Athos and we verified that with one of the Betazoids on board."
Ayiana blinked in surprise at that information. "Colonel, that really changes things in a bad way. We need more people here and fast. I am going to dial Avalon and get further instructions. In my opinion now, we need to bring Atlantis to the surface and get to work staffing her. The UEC should have had enough time to charge at least one of the ZPMs even partially. It should be enough for them to dial us and send people and equipment through. I have found a reference in the data base that says it may be possible to cloak the city by interfacing a cloak from the gateships stored here. I'll let you know the final decision."
When the connection closed, the Armitage, Thunderchild, and Voyager went to work on the defense platforms while Ayiana dialed Avalon. Voyager had repaired the LGPS by replacing the conduits and hull armor that had been severed by Wraith weapons fire and tying in a miniature fusion reactor. Colonel Caldwell knew the satellite would only be good for a few shots at the most as it had no shield. One of the Bajoran engineers thought it would be possible to fit it with shields but the priority was getting the Federation defense turrets built and operational first.
Ayiana punched in the gate address to Avalon with the 8th symbol needed to dial another galaxy. She had always liked the aesthetics of the architecture here in Atlantis. She considered it to be the pinnacle of Alteran knowledge and design. Why the Alterans had built it and entrusted the Lanteans with maintaining it, was still a sore spot for Ayiana even though that had been well over a million years ago.
She hadn't told anyone this but the Lanteans were NOT her people. They were normal humans that the Alterans had altered to be closer to the Alterans but they were most definitely NOT Alteran. Even in the short time she had spent with these modern humans, she had come to see the total arrogance of her people and it seemed to be exponentially increased in the Lanteans. Her people were not warriors and had never really fought real wars. They hadn't even tried to fight the Ori when the Ori were trying to completely exterminate them. Instead of fighting the Ori, they had simply packed up and left their home galaxy.
Now, enter the Lanteans and they had continued along the exact same lines of the Alterans. They too had never fought a real war so when the Wraith turned on them and attacked, they had tried fight to back but they really didn't know what they were doing. The Lanteans had massively superior technology (thanks to the Alterans) but didn't know how to use tactics to turn that technology into an advantage over the sheer numbers the Wraith threw at them.
So in the end instead of adapting and learning how to fight the Wraith, they did what their "creators" had done before them and ran. These modern humans she had observed would not run and if they did, it would only be temporarily. In the end they would adapt, come up with new strategies, and come back stronger than they had left. Just look at the Starfleet personnel if you needed real proof. They had not only gone back in time but had gone to a different reality to defeat a dangerous threat against them. Ayiana looked around her and felt hope for the first time since she had watched Atlantis leave Earth so many centuries ago. These new humans were aggressive but smart as well.
They had fought constant wars with each other throughout their history and were taking the fight to the Goa'uld and were winning. With the help of Starfleet they were winning anyways. But Starfleet hadn't helped or even came to help at the time when Lt. Colonel Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson had managed to kill Ra. They had a very good chance of succeeding where not only her people but the Lanteans had failed. "With the proper guidance of course." She thought to herself.
The classic "whoosh" of the gate activating brought her back to the present. She blinked her eyes and focused before speaking. "Avalon base, this is Ayiana. Can you read me?" She paused for a minute and was about to ask the question again. "Ayiana, this is Avalon base. We read you five by five." She heard Colonel O'Neill reply. Ayiana realized she was holding her breath and breathed out forcefully.
"It's good to hear your voice Colonel. As you can see we found Atlantis but neither the Lanteans nor any of my people were here when we arrived. I'm sending you the summary of what we have found and accomplished. I'll let you read the report rather than getting into too much detail. To make a long story short, I believe we need at least a couple Infantry Brigades and as many scientists as you can get clearance for as soon as you can send them. The race that the Lanteans were at war with is still around and we have encountered them already. Even with the task force we have here, we would be hard pressed to defend the city if the Wraith came at us in force. That's the basic gist of the problem and I will let you learn the rest from the report."
"Wait? Did you just say neither Lanteans nor your people? I thought the Lanteans were your people?" Colonel O'Neill asked in confusion.
Ayiana sighed. She hadn't meant to reveal that just yet, she had just let it slip in her excitement. "Yes Colonel, I did. I hadn't meant to reveal that just yet as I was still feeling you and your people out when we left for Pegasus. But the Lanteans are not my people. My people are the Alterans or Ancients as you know them. We genetically enhanced the Lanteans to be more like us when a lot of my people began ascending. We were growing smaller in number every day and needed someone to carry on our legacy, so we created the Lanteans."
Captain O'Neill and General Hammond had walked up behind Colonel O'Neill while Ayiana was giving the basics of their progress. General Hammond immediately called Master Sergeant Walter Perryman to bring him the appropriate paperwork to sign to get the ball rolling. "Ayiana, we'll discuss the difference between Lanteans and your people later. Right now reinforcing your position there is my top priority. It will take time to get two Infantry Brigades spooled up and sent to you. I can get you a Marine Infantry Battalion and a Navy Seabee Battalion. We can have them geared up and through the gate in twelve hours. Will that be soon enough?"
Ayiana smiled. "Yes Sir and thank you for being understanding. We should be able to make it twelve hours with what we have. We found Atlantis on the ocean floor under her shield. We have plenty of power to keep it here but to bring troops from the ships we would either have to bring the city to the surface and drop the shield or they would have to travel to the closest planet and gate in."
General Hammond and the two O'Neills had a small discussion before Hammond made his decision. "Do you feel it's safe to surface the city Ayiana?"
Ayiana nodded. "Yes Sir, at least for the time being. I believe it is possible to tie a gateship cloak into the cities shields and cloak the city. If the Wraith do show up, the city would be hidden and the task force would be able to concentrate on taking the fight to the Wraith instead of worrying about protecting the city. Granted the shield could hold off anything the Wraith threw at it but I would rather not take that chance. Especially since our drone reserve is down to barely a few dozen."
She paused and wrinkled her brow in thought. "You know, for being as advanced and smart as my people were, why did we rely on just drone weapons? Why did we give our up directed energy weapons in favor of nothing but drones?" General Hammond just chuckled. "I'm not sure about that myself. But you do have to admit your drones are very effective."
Ayiana had to agree up to a point. "Yes General, they are very effective. But when you run out, you're screwed basically. With energy weapons as long as you have a power source, you can continue to fight. I think I remember something in the database that we can definitely use to supplement the drones and Starfleet weapons."
Captain O'Neill said something quietly to General Hammond then took a step forward as General Hammond nodded his approval. "Ayiana, I just wanted to say thank you for all of your help. My people and I are out of time and we must return to our own reality and timeline. I wish there was more we could do before we left but we will have to leave all of this in your hands. I feel much more comfortable knowing you will be here to help and guide these people in the right direction. You won't have to do it alone though. Over one hundred of my people have made the decision to stay here and continue the work we started. They will back you and support you as much as you need them too. Thank you again for all you have done."
Ayiana felt a lump grow in her throat. "No. Thank you Captain. Without you taking the dangerous risk of coming here in the first place, none of this would have been possible. Apophis would have conquered Earth, Ba'al would have gotten his hands on the mirror, and I would have remained frozen in the ice of Antarctica for eternity most likely, or at least until Sol went nova and vaporized me." She added to try and add a bit of levity to the depressing situation.
Ayiana looked directly at Captain O'Neill. "I'll have all your people that came with the task force assembled and standing by in one hour Captain. You know, just in case any of them change their minds and want to go home or just so they can say their good-byes if they choose." Jack wasn't expecting that but was very grateful for the gesture. "Thank you Ayiana. Thank you very much." With that the gate shut off.
All of the Starfleet personnel that had joined Task Force Pegasus chose to stay and help the people of this reality. The only one that had joined them that had to leave was Starfleet's Dr. Jackson. But every single one of them was standing by an hour later to say good-bye to their friends. Most also knew they had a fighting chance here but if their plan didn't work, they didn't want to face the reality they would return too. Here, they could make a difference. If their plan failed, they had already lost the war back home then.
Ayiana walked out to the balcony to enjoy some fresh air after she had said a quiet good-bye to her friend Dr. Jackson. She wanted some time to think and let the Starfleet personnel have some time to say their good-byes in private. She had released the clamps holding the city to the ocean floor as soon as she closed the gate and warned the people in the city. She didn't want anyone to lose their balance and fall when the city headed for the surface. As soon as Atlantis broke the surface and stabilized, she dropped the shields and personnel began transporting down from the task force.
She immediately began assigning teams to get the city up and running to prepare for the reinforcements that would be on their way soon. Ayiana knew the layout of the city, well at least when it had left Earth she did. The Lanteans had modified a few sections here and there. Each team had at least one member that could operate the Alteran equipment. Her orders were simple. Use the hand held scanners and search the city for anything useful or anything that might be deemed dangerous. If anything was found they didn't understand or they believed dangerous, Ayiana herself would come down herself.
After the Starfleet personnel had said their good-byes, supplies began pouring through the gate. Anti-grav sleds and pallets loaded with photon and quantum torpedoes were first through and they were immediately beamed aboard the ships of the task force to replenish their stores they had used to fill the automated defense turrets with.
Next through was food and medical supplies that were carted away to storage lockers and medbay. Even though they had matter replicators, it was easier for Avalon to use the industrial replicators to save energy from the task force ships. At least until they got their own industrial replicator out of the Armitage's hanger more supplies would come through with the two Battalions that were scheduled to come through in eleven more hours.
Ayiana was a bit puzzled as she found a ZPM factory deep in the bowels of the city but she was confused as to how the Lanteans were charging the ZPMs after they were made. She began searching through the data base to find how they were charging them. Originally before the war began to turn against them, Atlantis had an orbital station in the corona of the sun that charged the ZPMs. When the war heated up and the Wraith laid siege to Atlantis, the station had been cloaked and abandoned.
Ayiana was confused. "If it was cloaked and abandoned in the corona, wouldn't it have been destroyed without the shield?" She thought to herself. So she kept digging until she found what she wanted. She immediately hailed Colonel Caldwell. "Colonel Caldwell, I need you to send one of your ships toward the sun and scan for this frequency I'm sending to you now."
Colonel Caldwell immediately forwarded the frequency to the Gladius. The Gladius turned and headed toward the sun at full impulse. Caldwell turned back to Ayiana. "So what did I just send them to look for?" He could tell Ayiana was excited about something. "If I'm right and they detect that frequency, it will mean there is a cloaked platform that is inside the corona."
Now it was Caldwells turn to be confused. "Ok, I'm confused. How could the platform have survived with its shield converted to a cloak?"
Ayiana grinned from ear to ear. "That's what I thought at first too Colonel. Then I did some more digging through the database. If I'm right, it isn't cloaked. It's been taken out of phase with this reality! If the Gladius detects the frequency I sent you, then it should be a simple matter to adjust one of the gateships to that frequency and dock with the platform. Then once I'm on the platform, the gateship can return to normal space and I power the shield and bring the platform back into phase as well."
Caldwell still looked a bit confused so Ayiana decided to enlighten him. "Colonel, if the platform exists, it will probably have at least one charged ZPM maybe more. And if they Lanteans removed all of the ZPMs, well then we can charge the ones I found here a lot faster." She said with a sly smile.
Colonel Caldwell's face lit up then. "What? What do you mean that you found?"
Ayiana couldn't help but laugh. "I found a working ZPM factory in Atlantis. There were dozens of completed ZPMs but none of them are charged. If the platform exists, depending on how many charger bays it has, we can begin charging them immediately."
Now Stephen was interested. "What about the ZPMs you helped us replicate?" Ayiana smiled. "Those will be handy. No offense, but your technology isn't nearly as efficient as ours. The ones we replicated might be good to supplement power to your ships. But they would probably last only about a tenth of the time that the Alteran made ZPMs will."
Before he could answer, Colonel Caldwell was interrupted by the comsystem beeping. He looked away for a bit and then turned back to Ayiana with a big grin on his face. "Well, it looks like you were right. The Gladius just hailed us and they detected your frequency at these coordinates." He said as he sent her the coordinates.
Ayiana grinned even bigger. "I'll have Rodney and John help me load as many ZPMs onto a gateship as possible. Then I'll take it to the platform and match frequencies and see if we find any goodies." With that she closed the channel and called Lt. Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay.
An hour later, Ayiana, Lt. Col Sheppard, and Dr. McKay were approaching the coordinates where they would go out of phase and dock with the ZPM platform. It normally would have taken them several hours to make the trip on the "Jumper" as Sheppard was calling the gateship. Ayiana had cheated a bit and had landed the jumper in the shuttlebay of the Gladius and had them go to warp and drop them off.
Sheppard and McKay had been arguing about what to call the gateship and Ayiana was having a blast listening to them argue. She had Sheppard take over the controls since he had a large amount of Lantean or Alteran DNA (or the ATA gene as Dr. Beckett called it). She wasn't sure which he had as the Alterans had used part of their own DNA to help enhance the Lanteans so they could use the Alteran technology. She would have to look into that later.
At the moment she was making the final adjustments to the field coils that would take the jumper out of phase. A few more seconds and she had the frequency of the jumper matched perfectly to that of the ZPM platform. "Ok John, activate it and let's hope I got it right." She said as she winked at Sheppard. Sheppard knew there was no way she would tell him to activate the coils unless she was absolutely sure they were matched precisely. She was just messing with Rodney's paranoia and it worked perfectly.
"What? What do you mean if you got it right?" Rodney whined as the jumper shifted phase. Sure enough, just inside the corona of the sun they could see the ZPM platform.
"Oh, that's not good." Ayiana said as she surveyed the weapons damage on the side of the platform. "Good thing you brought along the EVA suit Rodney. It looks like I'll need it. John, it looks like the docking ring is undamaged. That's it just below and to the right of the damage. Go ahead and ease up there and dock while I get the suit on."
John stood up and faced her. "You dock, I'll get the suit on and go across. You are too valuable to take a chance on losing."
Ayiana put her hands on her hips. "Oh? And I suppose you are more expendable than I am?"
John look at her calmly. "As a matter of fact that's exactly my point Ayiana. You are the last living Alteran in existence as far as we know. Your knowledge and skills are far more important to the survival of mankind than mine are. I'll figure it out. I'm good with fixing things."
Rodney snorted. "No. You're good at breaking things. But in a good way!" He added quickly as Sheppard turned on him. "Oh, why do I let myself get into these situations." He was heard mumbling to himself. "Look. We all know how this is going to work out. Ayiana can't go because she is too valuable to the human race. Sheppard can't go because he's much better at destroying things than fixing them and a better pilot to boot. I'll go."
Ayiana started to protest but she knew she wouldn't win this one. They considered her completely irreplaceable. "Fine Rodney. But take a microprobe (kino) so if anything goes wrong I can at least help walk you through it." She took another kino and programmed a message into it to explain the situation to Colonel Caldwell. She added a time delay to it so that it would clear the heat of the sun before it reverted back to normal phase and launched it toward Atlantis.
"Oh this is not good. Not good at all. Ayiana, are you getting this? This place is a wreck and I don't think I can fix it without major parts and time here." Ayiana moved the kino to get a better view of the inside of the platform. Lying on the floor near Rodney was a mummified Lantean. She must have been on the station when it was attacked and lost its shield. She was able to activate the phase shift before she died thus saving the station from total destruction.
"Rodney, you're right, there is no way to repair it from here right now. But if what I'm seeing and reading from the kino scans, there is still enough power to activate the maneuvering thrusters and move the station out of the corona. Once out, we can extend the jumpers shield around the station and bring both back into phase. Then the Gladius or another ship should be able to tractor the station to Atlantis. It won't take long at all to repair it once it's in a stable orbit."
Rodney thought about it. "Yeah, yeah that will work. I would suggest moving the jumper away to a safe distance first. I'm not sure how good of a driver I'll be."
Sheppard looked over to Ayiana who nodded. Sheppard then closed the rear hatch and moved a hundred meters to the side of the station. Rodney managed to get the power rerouted to the thrusters.
"Easy does it Rodney. Start slow at like point five percent reverse thrust. I don't want to take a chance on putting too much stress on the super structure. All we need you to do is back it straight out away from the sun. There's no need to try and steer it anywhere, just bring it straight back."
She watched anxiously as the sensors showed the thrusters fire a short blast. Sheppard looked up. "Nothing happened. It wasn't a long enough burn. Rodney, you're going have to give it a longer burn than that. Try a three second burn at the same power."
Rodney punched in a few more commands then hit the thrusters again. This time they lit up for a full three seconds. The station started a slow drift away from the sun. Since it was out of phase, the gravitational pull was greatly reduced. So once the station started moving it continued on its own inertia. Rodney tapped a few more commands in and the thrusters started firing at ten second intervals and stayed firing for exactly one second.
The station started to slowly pick up speed at a very steady rate. "Easy now Rodney. Don't get it moving too fast. It might tear itself apart when you try to stop it." Ayiana suggested.
"My plan is not to try to stop it at all with the thrusters. I hope to get it moving enough so that when I bring it back into phase, the Gladius can help stabilize the structural integrity with her tractor beam. Then once the integrity is stable, she can tow it back to Atlantis and beam me aboard or back to the jumper."
Ayiana and Sheppard looked at each other mildly impressed with Rodney's idea. "Sounds like a plan Rodney. We'll continue to monitor your progress from here."
It took about thirty minutes for the ZPM platform to reach a safe enough distance to allow Sheppard to expand the shields of the jumper around it. Once the shield was expanded and stable, Rodney had Sheppard bring the jumper back into phase. When the phase shift was complete, Rodney brought the station back into phase as well.
The Gladius was standing by and had Sheppard drop his shields on a precise count. The nanosecond the station was no longer protected by the jumper's shield, Rodney was transported to the jumper and the Gladius locked a tractor beam on the ZPM station and went to impulse back towards Atlantis.
While Task Force Pegasus was working to recover the ZPM station, back in the Milky Way the Ascension had just jumped into hyperspace in route to the system they originally entered this reality in. They could have just opened a dimensional rift near Avalon but Captain O'Neill didn't want to risk it. He only hoped that what they had done here would be enough to save both realities and not come back to bite them in the ass later down the line. Their first priority when they returned home was to find that damn quantum mirror on their side and destroy it too.
Back in the Pegasus Galaxy
Ayiana, McKay, Dr. Radek Zelenka, and the UEC engineers had been hard at work on getting the ZPM charging station repaired. They had the hull sealed and pressurized and life support working but that was all so far.
There were other groups scattered about the system and city working on projects of their own. Martouf and Alwin (the two Tok'ra assigned to the Voyager) along with the Chief Engineer, B'Elanna Torres had installed a Starfleet shield generator on the single LGPS. They had brought one of the pulse cannons from the crashed Wraith supply ship to test it with. After several attempts, the team was able to find a frequency modulation that severely limited the effectiveness of the Wraith pulse cannon. It was unknown if the Wraith had upgraded their current weapons so this was only a temporary advantage in everyone's mind.
After getting the LGPS up and running, they began using the large industrial replicator the Armitage had brought with it to begin replicating parts to build more LGPS. The replicator had been transported to the South pier of Atlantis.
As they finished a part, the Voyager would beam it into orbit where engineers in EVA suits would weld it into place on a growing LGPS. It was slow work but worth it if they could get at least one LGPS to each LaGrange point in the system. There were already at least half a dozen pulse phaser and torpedo turrets at each point to supplement the LGPS' when they were complete. The engineers were adding a shield generator from the start this time.
When the Armitage had cleared its flight deck of the replicator, UEC Command had begun shipping more Valkyrie class fighters through the gate in pieces. Once through the gate, the pieces were beamed to the East pier where another team of engineers were assembling the fighters.
As each fighter was completed, a pilot would fly it around the system to make sure everything was working correctly then land on the Armitage. It took a week to get all of the fighters assembled and shuttled to the Armitage but again it was worth it. At the end of the week the Armitage had a full complement of fifty Valkyrie class fighters in its carrier module. It already had its normal complement of ten warp capable shuttlecraft and fifty work bees in the shuttlebay.
At the same time as the last fighter was sent to the Armitage, Ayiana and her team had finished repairing the ZPM station. All six charging stations were filled with a ZPM then the station was towed back to the sun with a jumper docked to it already. Once the station was close enough, Ayiana activated the shields and moved the station back into the corona. When the ZPMs began to show they were charging, Ayiana made sure the command link to Atlantis was functioning. She wanted to be able to take the station out of phase from Atlantis thus eliminating keeping someone either on the station itself or a jumper close enough to reach it in case of attack.
Attack from the Wraith was a very real and dangerous possibility and she wanted to be ready when it happened. She knew it was going to happen, just not when it was going to happen. The two Battalions that General Hammond had promised were settled in and lending a hand where needed. Most of the city had been explored and secured when Ayiana got word that General Hammond wanted to talk to her. "Uh oh, maybe I should have told them about the difference between the Lanteans and Alterans from the start." She thought to herself as she headed toward the Control Room.
It only took Ayiana a few minutes to get to the Control Room. When she arrived, she saw Colonel Sumner, Lt. Colonel Sheppard, Rodney, and an Auburn haired lady she didn't know standing to the side talking quietly. Colonel Sumner noticed her first. "Ayiana, glad you made it so quickly. Let me introduce you to Dr. Elizabeth Weir, your new assistant and Atlantis' new diplomatic attaché."
Ayiana stood there stunned for a second as the Auburn haired lady approached her and extended her hand. "It's nice to meet you finally Ayiana. I've read everything on you and Colonel Sumner and Lt. Colonel Sheppard have been filling me on the accomplishments you've achieved since offering your services to the UEC. And I believe congratulations are in order."
Ayiana was still speechless trying to figure out what was going on when Sheppard stepped up and whistled softly in her ear. She snapped out of it shaking her head and blinking to everyone's amusement. "Thank you Doctor, though I'm not sure what I'm being congratulated on. It's nice to meet you too."
That's when she heard General Hammond's voice in the background. "Ayiana, we've discussed it with the President and the Joint Chiefs. We feel in light of your accomplishments and of Captain O'Neill's parting words to you, that you would be the perfect choice to command the Pegasus Expedition." He paused and smiled at her.
"Thank you Sir and I accept. But what about me holding back the information about the Lanteans and my people? I figured when I was told you wanted to talk to me, that I was in trouble?"
General Hammond laughed softly. "No, you're not in trouble. Yes we were a bit disappointed you withheld information from us but it has been decided that your talents, knowledge of the technology, and your expertise are more valuable than a minor gaffe. Let's just not let that happen again in the future shall we?"
"Yes Sir, I mean no Sir, I mean... I mean I won't let it happen again. I will be completely forthcoming and open from now on. And I will serve the UEC to the best of my ability. Thank you again Sir."
"Don't mention it Young Lady and let's win this thing." He said with pride. "Ok, now that the promotion is out of the way, time to get your next orders. We need to find any other salvageable Alteran or Lantean technology that might still be around. I also need either you Ayiana or for you to pick someone to sort through the database there and look for anything the Asgard can use against the Replicators. They met Task Force Ida and towed them to their homeworld. So far all our combined forces have been able to do is stop the Replicators from advancing further. We need a way to beat them once and for all."
Ayiana turned to Rodney. "Rodney, I want you in charge of that. Pick you a team and get to work as quickly as possible. Let me know the minute think you have something that might work." With that Rodney called Dr. Zelenka, Martouf, and Alwin to meet him at his lab. Ayiana turned back to General Hammond who was smiling at her.
"I knew you were the right person for the job." He said with pride again. "Ok, we also need to know what the Wraith are doing. We all know they could attack Atlantis any moment and we need to be ready." Now it was Ayiana's turn to smile.
"Colonel Caldwell and Colonel Sumner are already ahead of you on that Sir. Colonel Caldwell has the Defiant, Valiant, and the Sao Paulo out scouting Athos and the surrounding star systems for any sign of them approaching Atlantis. They did swarm Athos as Teyla suggested they would but after that they have mostly pulled back. I think they are confused as to how their darts were destroyed and Teyla's people vanished.
I also have the deep space scanners up and running from the city. We've seeded cloaked sensor arrays twenty light-years out all around the system. Colonel Sumner has fire teams of Marines scouting through the stargate using the personal cloaking devices Section 31 developed. We'll know if they make a move our way Sir."
General Hammond was still smiling. "You've got a good team there Ayiana. Take care of them and they'll take care of you. One more thing and I'll let you get to work." He paused and took a deep breath.
Tomorrow morning the Advance Party (Advon) for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 5th Pangaran Infantry Division will arrive at 0800 hours your time. Over the next several days, the rest of the Brigade will arrive. After they are settled in, the 2nd Ranger Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord will arrive. Sorry I couldn't get two full Infantry Brigades but 2nd Ranger Bat is among the best the US Army has to offer. There are few that could give them a run for their money."
He then looked straight at Colonel Sumner. "We'll be sending our newest equipment through to fully outfit 2nd Bat and the Pangaran BCT. It will be your Brigades job to get them up to speed Colonel Sumner."
"Yes Sir, can do General." Colonel Sumner replied proudly. Ayiana faced the General. "Sir? Any word on the Goa'uld? How is the fight with them going?" She was a little surprised and worried at the same time when she saw the General frown and his brow furrow.
"Well, it hasn't Ayiana. We've been carrying out covert attacks throughout their territories with the UEC Shadow and several other stealth cruisers. But it appears the Goa'uld are fighting a new enemy that is giving them some real trouble. From what Tok'ra intelligence can gather, a former System Lord named Anubis has risen from obscurity and has somehow gained tremendous power. We are working on getting more information but it's risky. He has somehow found a way to detect our stealth cruisers and we lost the UEC Shade when she tried to get close to one of his bases."
"Sir, I can send the Armitage and the cruisers back if you need the extra firepower. With the pulse phaser turrets, the torpedo turrets, the LGPS we are building, and the city herself we can handle anything the Wraith throw at us." Ayiana offered.
General Hammond shook his head. "No Ayiana. You keep the task force there. I know you could survive without them but I don't want you just to survive and the President and Joint Chiefs agree. We want you to take the fight to them and not just hold out like the Lanteans did. To win a war you must attack, always attack. Well at least that was General George S. Patton's philosophy. It served him well all through World War II. Find their weak point Ayiana. If anyone can, it will be your and your team. Good luck and Gods Speed, Hammond out."
Ayiana felt her heart fill with pride as she turned to her team. Her team, she liked that. She liked that a lot. "Ok, you heard the General. Let's get cracking folks. We've got a lot of work ahead of us. Do any of you need anything from me?" When everyone shook their heads she continued. "Well ok, John would you show Dr. Weir to her quarters please? I'm going to sift through the deep space scans and some of the database to see if I can locate any possible technology left by the Lanteans."
An hour later Ayiana was rubbing her eyes from staring at the readouts on her screen when Teyla knocked on her door. "Ancestor, can I speak with you?"
Ayiana stood up. "Teyla of course you can speak with me. My door is always open to you and your people." Teyla smiled and dipped her head respectfully. "Thank you Ancestor, we greatly appreciate it." Ayiana frowned. "Ok, I know I am Alteran and your people revere us as Gods. Teyla, we are not Gods. We are as human as you are. Just a few years older is all. In time, your people will develop similar abilities as mine did. I know this to be a fact Teyla. Some of you already have to an extent."
Teyla looked up in shock. "What do you mean, to an extent?" Ayiana smiled. "Teyla, I'm Alteran. I can sense your heightened sense of awareness the same as you have been able to sense the Wraith since childhood." Teyla was actually speechless. "Yes Anc... Ayiana. I have been able to sense the Wraith since childhood. Many of my people have this ability."
Ayiana leaned forward. "I know. There are many things that your people can do other than sense the Wraith. In time, I will help you master those and develop even more. The Lanteans should have done that centuries ago but they followed in the footsteps of my people. With the help of our new friends, we will repair the damage that 10,000 years of neglect has wrought on this galaxy."
Teyla was again speechless. Ayiana sensed this and spoke again. "What did you want to discuss Teyla? I'm sorry I distracted you from your original purpose of coming to see me." Teyla relaxed a little and started to speak.
"My people are grateful for your assistance in protecting us from the Wraith. But we feel useless here in your city. Several of us have discussed settling on the mainland and beginning anew. We are farmers and traders and would like to help pull our own weight." Colonel Sumner had been standing in the hallway listening. "I believe I can help with part of that Ma'am." He said as he addressed both Ayiana and Teyla.
"Come in Colonel. Have a seat and we'll work this out together. What do you have in mind?" Colonel Sumner didn't waste any time.
"Well, since here people are traders and they know this galaxy much better than we do, I would like Teyla to join Lt. Col. Sheppard's team as sort of our liaison for this galaxy." Teyla blinked before accepting. "I would be honored to be your liaison in this galaxy Colonel." Ayiana smiled. "Well that's settled. As for you people settling on the mainland, I'm sure we can work out a mutually beneficial agreement."
"Thank you Ayiana and Colonel." She said as she stood up to leave. Before she could make it too the door, a fast paced beeping sounded from Ayiana's computer. Ayiana blinked in surprise. "Humph, well what do you know? The ship tracking database has found four Aurora Class Alteran battleships. Well two actually. There are two different types it seems. One more closely resembles the Alteran Aurora and the other seems to be a smaller version. Not much smaller mind you. The larger is 3,500 meters and the other is only 500 meters shorter."
Colonel Sumner's eyes and face lit in excitement. "3,500 and 3,000 meters? Those are huge!" Ayiana laughed. "Yes Colonel they are. But they are also extremely powerful and can handle several Wraith hive ships by themselves." She studied the readings again before getting up and going to the Control Room with both Colonel Sumner and Teyla following.
When she got to the Control Room, she entered a few commands into the console controlling the deep space scanners. The scanners focused on each ship for a few seconds before moving to the next. "Ok, this is interesting. The closest seems to be in an underground Lantean hanger about a day's journey from here." She looked over to the technician at communications. "Hail Colonel Caldwell please?" She asked.
A few seconds later she hears Colonel Caldwell's voice. "This is Caldwell, what can I do for you Director? And congratulations by the way." Ayiana smiles at him. Why thank you Colonel, I really appreciate that. I need to borrow the Gladius and Cutlass. We've located a Lantean warship and I would like to take a couple of engineer teams and see if we can get it operational. I actually located four of them but this one is the closest. There is a stargate on the planet but I would rather have a couple of starships there for obvious reasons."
Colonel Caldwell thought for a bit. "You're the Boss Director, but might I suggest taking a team of engineers and a platoon of Marines through the gate while the ships are in transit?" Colonel Sumner stepped forward. "I agree with Colonel Caldwell. Let's dial the gate first and send a kino through to see what we might be facing. Then if it looks promising, we send the ships while we take a team through the gate."
Ayiana smiled and nodded her head. "General Hammond is right. We do have a good team here and we take care of each other. Ok, we'll do it your way Colonel. My people's way didn't work so well and the Lanteans made the same mistakes we did. Might as well try a different way of thinking and maybe I'll get it right with your help." Ayiana turns to order a kino and finds the technician standing in front of her holding a kino and remote.
Ayiana smiles. "Thank you Mr. Tanner. Now could you please dial these coordinates?" Tim Tanner smiles back at his Boss. "Yes Ma'am and it's just Tim please. Being called Mister makes me feel old." He said with a sly smile as he pressed the corresponding keys matching the coordinates. When the classic whoosh of the gate activating died down, Ayiana sent the kino through the event horizon of the open stargate.
An hour later Ayiana, Dr. McKay, Colonel Sumner, and Lt. Col. Sheppard were stepping out of the gate on Taranis. She had only brought a small group as Chancellor Lycus had assured her there was no need for a platoon of Marines. Neither Colonel Sumner nor Colonel Caldwell liked the decision but both followed her orders. Colonel Caldwell changed his a bit though by sending Voyager with Gladius instead of sending the Cutlass. He explained to Ayiana that Voyager had larger replication facilities if the battleship needed major repair. She had agreed and went with his choice.
"Director Ayiana, welcome to Taranis. We didn't know there were other people as technologically advanced as we are out there." He was a politician through and through and Ayiana disliked politicians.
She smiled sweetly though and shook his hand. She cheated a bit once her skin came in contact with his and he knew instantly he had made a mistake. Chancellor Lycus instantly went to his knee. "Ancestor. We are honored by your return." His people duplicated his kneeling before Ayiana released his hand. Colonel Sumner eased closer to her and whispered in her ear. "Are we going to run into this everywhere we take you?" He asked sarcastically.
Ayiana sighed. "Probably. Apparently the Lanteans went out of their way to instill this type of behavior in the humans of this galaxy." She shook her head and helped Chancellor Lycus to his feet. "Chancellor, please stop this. I'm as human as you are just a lot older. Your people as I have told the Athosians, will one day evolve to be as I am with the proper guidance. We are here to fight the Wraith and fix the mistakes the Lanteans made before they abandoned you and the rest of the people of this galaxy. We want your people by our sides and we will help you in any way we can."
After Ayiana had finished her little speech, Chancellor Lycus put on his best politicians smile. "Yes Ancestor, we understand."
Ayiana rolled her eyes. "Oi, this is going to take awhile." She went on to explain the key systems of the Lantean outpost to the lead Taranian scientist who Rodney couldn't stop drooling over. She explained to the Chancellor that two starships were on the way to help get the Lantean Battleship, the Hippaforalkus, repaired and launched. "We aren't stealing it from you Chancellor, we want your people crewing it as well."
Again that cheesy politicians smile. "Director Ayiana. The ship is yours anyway. We will be happy to help you crew it but it belongs to the Ancestors and that would be you." Ayiana restrained her sigh and smiled. "Thank you Chancellor. I promise you that neither you nor your people will regret making that choice. Would you be so kind as to give us a tour of the hangar?"
The Chancellor looked mildly confused. "By all means Director, but I assumed you knew where to find it." An honest mistake. "Chancellor. This outpost was actually built by the Lanteans, not the Alterans. The Lanteans you could call, our children, your older siblings basically. This is my first time visiting this galaxy."
She explained. Chancellor Lycus accepted that and continued. "Then if you'll follow me, I'll happily show you the way." They made small talk on the way to the hanger. But when Chancellor Lycus opened the doors and Ayiana stepped through, she knew they had just possibly found the answer to one of their biggest problems in the Pegasus galaxy.
Sitting in front of them in all its majestic glory was not only a Lantean Battleship but further in the distance was a set of large hanger doors that only Ayiana knew was the outer doors to a shipyard. This was not only a hanger but if the shipyard was intact, it was a way to build more Auroras and other Alteran ships. Colonel Sumner saw her face and knew something was up. "Ayiana? Are you alright? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Ayiana spotted what she wanted and explained. "Colonel, do you see those large doors at the very back of the hanger?" Colonel Sumner looked at the exact spot she was pointing. "Yes Ma'am I do. But I don't understand why the doors out of the hanger would excite you this much." Ayiana laughed. "No Colonel, those aren't the doors to get the ship out of the hanger, those are." She said as she pointed up at the ceiling of the hanger. Then she pointed back at the doors to the rear of the hanger. "If I'm right. Those are the doors to an Alteran shipyard." As she moved toward the control panel she had spotted earlier.
Well there's chapter four. Sorry it's taken so long but things have been a bit crazy here in Kuwait with everything going on in Iraq. I'll try to get Chapter five out quicker than this one but it is still pretty busy around here. I'm also trying to work on an actual story I would like to publish and not just on a fan fiction site. I'm also happily helping L4oftheWest as his Beta. Well hope you enjoy and I tried to incorporate all the previous reviews to make this chapter better. Any constructive criticism is appreciated.