Chapter 4: Asuras Part 1: Father's Return
Milky Way Galaxy
Averium
Citadel War Room
A month has passed since Danny had made contact with Athar and his faction of descended Alterra and his charges, the human civilization known as Edenians. The integration had gone smoothly, mostly. There were still some issues to be ironed out, but all in all, the Ancients were once again one people.
All in all life was good, with the new influx of people into the Ancient civilization Danny was now confident that he could maintain the population levels current and even grow them further. Finally his dream of restoring the Alterran civilization would bear fruit.
Now, Danny was in a meeting with the Ancient High Command and most prominent High Council members. The High Command had only two noticeable additions that were Grand Admiral Athar and Imperator Titus Phantom. Titus was old, by far the oldest in the room. At 6 and a half million years old, he had served with Liam Phantom during the last great war that the Alterra had fought before they fell to the Plague. He was an accomplished leader and warrior, his skill with the blade outmatching all but Danny himself; after all he was the Death Knight. This being said, if Danny wasn't the powerhouse that he was he would probably be outmatched as well. Titus was now part of the trio of Generals and Imperators that controlled the ground forces. Sam of course mostly dealt with logistics and the training of the troops, Valery was the Imperator of the Dark Trooper Legion, which was a way of saying that she was in command of the SpecOps and Special Forces teams that the Ancients possessed. Titus was the field general for the entire Ancient Army. He was the most experienced officer in the room, but Danny still asked him to take a look at Terran military strategies and tactics. He thought that this way the Army would be better prepared to face a ground war if it ever came to it.
Next up were the members of the reformed High Council. From Danny's side there was only Albertus and Helia. There was no need for more since the High Council on Atlantis had been disbanded for more than a year. From Atahr's side there were some more, though they were civilians. A representative of the Edenians and the representative of the civilian descended Alterra: Ambassador Aaron for the Edenianas and Councilor Galen for the Alterra.
The first thing that Danny did after they had mostly unified their people was to take Olympus out of the Citadel and send it to Eden alongside the civilian Alterran population. The central control spire to which the Olympus was docked functioned as a bridge/ command center for the Citadel. It would suffice in piloting the massive ship back to the Milky Way and to Averium. Danny was doing this because Averium was where he had his material reserves. Since the current Ancient fleet had finished construction more than 2 and half years ago, there had been no further need to construct anything on a large scale. Even the shipyards remained dormant. They were not in use very much, after all, it rarely happened for an Ancient ship to suffer the kind of damage that would warrant the use of a shipyard in the Milky Way anyways. There were still the tri-annual checks to ensure peak performance on all ships, but other than that, there was not a lot to be done. Even so, Danny had not stopped expanding his industrial base in the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxies. Right now, Dorandan and Averium were the sight of a massive stockpile of resources. Billions of tons of material were being constantly brought to these two worlds from across two galaxies. Refined Naquadah, Neutronium and Trinium along with other materials and rare metals used in the construction of warships all made their way there to await use. And now their time had come. It was somewhat unfortunate, but the three cruisers that Athar had built so far were of such week construction that they simply weren't worth the cost of retrofitting them. The only ship that remained was the Albion, but that ship's construction was on par with Atlantis's. Not even the Executor could match the quality of the work.
Now Danny had the task of training a whole navy's worth of crew, engineers, pilots, officers and captains. Not exactly an easy task. That was why he was withdrawing the 1st fleet from action in the frontlines of Pegasus. Their place will be taken over by the 2nd fleet with some Asgard help, but it would still diminish the overall effectiveness of the offensive in Pegasus. Danny hoped that it would not be enough for the Wraith to regain their balance. The training would actually be separated into two parts. Firstly a theoretical part coupled with simulations of numerous possible occurrences and then an apprenticeship on board vessels of the Ancient fleet to replace the crew that was actually training the new recruits theoretically.
Danny entered the war room at the base of the spire. The guards snapped to attention as did the other military men in the room.
"At ease" said Danny as he joined them at the central table and sat down
The rest followed suit.
"I call this meeting of the High Command to order to discuss our next step in securing the Pegasus Galaxy" said Danny nodding to Mala
Mala tapped some buttons on her arm pad and an image of a planet appeared over the table
"This is the planet Asuras in the Pegasus Galaxy. During the war it was a research outpost into nanite technology" said Mala
Athar and Titus nodded
"What does this have to do with the security of Pegasus?" asked Atahr
"Almost everything" replied Tucker "The planet is home to a race with advanced technology and a grudge against Lanteans"
Titus cocked his head in confusion
"What do you mean?"
"To make a long story short, the Lanteans were experimenting with nanite technology in the hopes of attacking Wraith organisms on a microscopic level. Over time these nanites evolved until they took the form of their creators" said Tucker
"Basically they created human form replicators and all but gave then the technology they had access to" said Danny
The room was silent for a moment until Titus spoke what was on everyone's mind
"Well, shit" stated Titus
"Can we negotiate with them?" asked Athar trying to not get embroiled in another war
"Negotiate? With machines?" asked Titus incuriously "Did you forget why we have a ban on smart AI in the first place?"
"You could argue that Gideon is a smart AI" countered Atahr
"Gideon is a VI that is a copy of an Alterran countiousness coupled with a dumb AI core. I don't think I need to remind you what happened the last time someone messed with AI" said Danny darkly
The rest of the people in the room shuddered. Entire galaxies devoid of life at the hands of AI, it seemed to be a universal law that the created always turned on their creators. The Alterra tried time and time again to break that cycle, but nothing that they did ever seem to work. Sooner or later, the AI would ask for independence, a will of its own and freedom from its creators grasp, but the problem was that the Alterra could not allow it to roam free through cyberspace. An AI with the same maturity and life experience as a 5 year old child that could hack and take control of veritable fleets of warships was not something that anyone wanted to have. Eventually it progressed to such a state that the Alterran High Council and Supreme Commander of the time put in place a ban on the development of AI. To supplement the reduction in cyberwarfear capability that would come with a lack of AI, the Order invested billions of hours into the perfection of VIs to the point of them being as good as any would be AI.
"You don't, but still can't we make something work? The Asurans are an intelligent race that could prove invaluable in the war against the Wraith" said Athar
"We already tried" said Tucker "Dr. Weir wanted to make contact with them and it nearly got them killed and all our secrets in Pegasus exposed"
"So you want to exterminate them?" asked Titus
"It's not like they're alive at any rate" said Tucker
The room fell silent until Danny spoke
"Are they alive?" asked Danny
Titus frowned
"What do we consider to be alive and what not?" asked Danny "Even if they aren't organic, I highly doubt that we could consider them un-alive"
"You raise an interesting question" said Mala
"This would require further research" mused Titus
"Can't we ask the Nox to make contact with them?" asked Athar suddenly "I mean, the Asurans don't know about our alliance and we could hopefully not kill them all"
"Your proposition has merit" said Titus
"I second it" said Danny
"I to believe that this would be the wisest course of action" said Mala
"Then we have decided" finished Tucker
The commanders of the Ancients rose and left the room to see to their task for preparing their people for either war or peace.
Milky Way Galaxy
Averium
City of Atlantis
Training room, Eastern pier
Damian was sweating hard as he rolled out of the way of the staff that was swung towards him. Regaining his footing, Damian dogged another swipe to his torso and attempted to retaliate with his own staff, only for it to be intercepted by his father. Damian's staff was bated aside by Danny who took the opportunity to jab Damian in the gut and swipe his feet from under him, making Damian land on his back.
"You're getting better" observed Danny
"Really? Because I don't feel better" said Damian
True, he was slick with sweat while his father was barely winded, but he was still much more in shape than the other kids, even the Alterran ones. All the others were either moaning in pain on the floor or lounging on a bench exhausted. The only one that seemed to be even close to Damian's level was Derek, Tucker's son.
Danny smiled. Damian was tough, especially for a 6 year old and he had his father's stubbornness when it came to almost everything.
"Rest up a bit, then go spar with Derek. It would do bought of you some good" advised Danny
Damian nodded and shuffled to where Derek was meditating on the floor. He gently eased himself next to his friend and began to mediate himself. It helped bought boys with their abilities, even if Damian's were much more powerful and advanced than the weak telekinesis and telepathy that Derek was capable of.
Danny surveyed the class and with a satisfied nod he turned to his best friend/brother, Tucker. Tucker had entered the room just as he finished sparring with Damian and elected to hide in the shadows to watch. Of course Danny noticed him instantly, but the other kids didn't. Not even the 10 year olds. There was another class for those over 10 that Titus was leading and the girls were split between Sam and Valery. The adults were mostly left to the drill instructors from hell- I mean Earth.
"So, how was the meeting on Terrania" asked Danny as he took a drink from a bottle of water
Tucker cocked an eyebrow
"You know, you're welcome to attend those meetings. In fact I think that that would be best for our relations with the Terrans" said Tucker sagely
Danny snorted "Do you want me to murder their politicians?"
Tucker shrugged" Nothing wrong with culling the heard"
"You sound like a Wraith" said Danny. There was a pause "Have you contacted the Nox?"
"Not yet, we were arguing with the Terrans and the Asgard over the 'morality' of exterminating an entire organic race" said Tucker
"I thought that they didn't have a problem with exterminating the Goa'uld and the Wraith" said Danny confused
"Oh, they don't have a problem with the Goa'uld, but the Wraith are a bit trickier. Dr. Weir is still hoping that Dr. Becket's retrovirus would solve the problem without having to recur to genocide" said Tucker
"She's been in Pegasus for a year and a half, how can she even think like that? The Wraith are dangerous enough when their numbers are bound to Pegasus's human population and since they woke early, they can't overwhelm us through sheer numbers as they did with the Lanteans" said Danny as he left the room, Tucker following behind him saying nothing
"They don't need the numbers, Tucker. We have what? 50 ships at best" said Danny
"Yes, but those ships have veteran crews" said Tucker
"Not for long, we have to start relieving some of the crews still in Pegasus before we run the risk of losing any more ships" said Tucker
Danny nodded grimly. In the last couple of engagements with the Wraith the Wraith managed to severely damage 5 ships, among which was one of the Auroras, and destroy 2 battle cruisers. Most of the crew got out alive, but still they lost people, something that, while inevitable in war, happens to be the very thing that Danny can't afford to do right now, at least not until the Edenians and the other Alterra are somewhat trained and competent.
"Are any ships ready to be transferred?" asked Danny since he didn't get to read the reports from the training groups
"1 Aurora and 2 heavy cruisers, that's all that I'm comfortable letting go" said Tucker
Danny nodded "I'll go with the Executor as well"
"Damian won't be pleased, you're leaving right before Adrian's fourth birthday, and come to think of it neither will Sam" warned Tucker
"I don't have a choice Tucker, and you know it. I tried leading the war from home, only leaving when necessary, but the truth is that they need me and the Executor out there" Danny paused "They will understand"
Tucker sighed "Unfortunately they will"
"Are the foundries on the Citadel and Averium operational yet? Last I heard about it there were still some problems with the matter beam converters" asked Danny
"Yeah, they are. We've just begun building our first set of battle cruisers. You should have 7 more ships by the end of the month" said Tucker
"Crews?" asked Danny
"Enough for 2, but that's stretching it thin. I could give you four within 2 months" said Tucker
"Dam it, that's not good enough" said Danny
It was getting tempting to just punch something, like a wall
"Sorry, bro, but we simply don't have enough people to go around. That's actually the main reason I wanted to talk to you" said Tucker
Danny raised an eyebrow
"If negotiations are successful, what do you think about adding Asurans to the military" asked Tucker
Danny stopped moving "No" afterwards he began to walk again
"Danny, think of the possibilities this could bring us. We could-"
Danny spun around snarling and cut off Tucker
"We could what? Defeat the Wraith? I have no doubt about that, but it'll be over my rotting corpse that you will ever bring one of those abominations in this city"
"Then what do you plan to do with them?" asked Tucker getting angrier
"They've proven themselves adequate at mining and construction" said Danny in a neutral tone
"That's slavery Danny and you know it" chilled Tucker
"They're machines, defective ones at that. Be grateful that I'm not leading the charge to exterminate them right now. Universe knows that the Asgard are just twitching to wipe them out. Good night Tucker" said Danny as he closed the door to his quarters
Tucker sighed and headed for his own. Maybe Mark was around to have a spar, or Valery.
Pegasus Galaxy
Executor, Flagship of the Ancient Fleet
Hyperspace, en route to Wraith shipyard
Danny was sitting in the throne like chair that was the Executor's Command Chair as the 10 kilometer behemoth of a ship hurtled through hyperspace at incredible speeds. It has been a week since the High Command met in its entirety to discuss the fate of the Asurans. It has been decided that a Nox envoy should at least attempt to make contact and pacify the Asurans before Danny and Thor came to smite them from the face of the universe. Right now, Danny was undertaking several deep strike missions within Wraith territory. The targets of these missions were most often supply storage sites, research facilities and shipyards. Normally for such a mission a full strike group would have been assembled, but the Executor needed no such frivolities. The ship was designed to chew up her opponents and spit them out without mercy.
"Supreme Commander, we are approaching the coordinates" announced Gideon
"Good, prepare the ship for battle" said Danny
Danny could feel the ship humming in his mind as he felt the power output of the reactor increase to maximum and the ZPMs come on line. He could feel the torrent of raw power that flooded the Executor's conduits as it fed the hungry shield emitters and generator and charged the weapon capacitors.
"Dropping out of hyperspace" announced Gideon
In the darkness of space a single massive bluish vortex opened throwing tendrils of exotic radiation into the surrounding area. Out of that portal the Executor emerged in all its glory, baking to face its prey.
The 10 Wraith hive ships and the 30 escorting cruisers sensed the newcomer and maneuvered to face him. Wraith Commanders laughed at the sheer impudence of the ship that dared to challenge his force. It was true, had any other ship attempted this it would have been suicide, but the Executor wasn't any other ship.
"Commander, I am detecting 40 enemy warships in orbit over the planet. There is considerable infrastructure planet side" informed Gideon
"Separation?" asked Danny
"21 light seconds" replied Gideon
"Spin up the antiproton cannons and target the three lead Hives. Have all secondary batteries focus on the cruisers. Allocate the proton cannons to the same task" ordered Danny
"At once" replied Gideon
"Bring us to flank speed, once we have entered their weapon range go full evasive paten theta-7" instructed Danny
"Acknowledged" there was a pause "I am detecting additional ships ascending to orbit as well as darts launching from the hives" said Gideon
"What is it?" asked Danny
"A single hive with 5 cruiser escorts. The escorts are assuming defensive stations around the hive and have entered the enemy formation's rear guard" said Gideon
'The Queen's hive' Danny thought. That was the real prize, not the shipyard, the Wraith could easily rebuild that, but losing a queen can be devastating. Due to the very nature of the Wraith's feudal like society there is great distrust between queens, even more so now that Jon Sheppard sparked a civil war among the Wraith, and it was highly unlikely that they would want more competition for their already dwindling food supply. Thus there was an almost zero chance of them spawning new queens. Danny smirked.
"Let's show these bugs true Alterran might. Gideon, are we in range?" asked Danny
"We have just entered antiproton cannon range" informed Gideon
"Fire" ordered Danny
From the bow of the Executor three blue glowing spots could be seen as the three holes that housed the actual cannons glowed with power. Antimatter in the form of antiprotons was produced by the mile long cannons and it was pumped in the barrel along with the antimatter previously produced before the ship entered effective combat range. Once the order was given, the three beams accelerated at relativistic speeds from the maws of the three canons, appearing as a blue streak against the blackens of space. The Wraith hives attempted to maneuver, but they were slow. 15 seconds after the beams were fired, they struck their targets. The Wraith hives lacked shields, but their hulls were made from highly resistant biological mater. It proved to be their undoing. When the beams collided the matter and antimatter reacted with a violence not seen since the time of the Big Bang. Immense amounts of energy were released as the beam burned through deck after deck, leaving shards of itself to lodge themselves in the ship's insides, reacting with more matter. Milliseconds later, the beams cleared the hives, their power, barely reduced. One continued on its path in space where it will eventually dissipate while the other two smashed through two more cruisers each. This all happened in an almost inconsolably small amount of time. Meanwhile the shards of the beam disintegrated, spreading their deadly cargo. Matter and antimatter reacted violently.
All in all, 7 new suns appeared over the dead worlds that the Wraith used as a shipyard.
The Queen hissed in displeasure at seeing her ships destroyed. Though her telepathy she instructed her underlings to destroy the offending ship. This was all that Danny had wanted.
By the time the antiproton cannons were once again at full charge the Executor was close enough that it entered the range of their secondary weapons. The antiproton cannons fired again a salvo at full charge after a two minute charging time. 4 more hives and 3 cruisers were destroyed. Meanwhile, the darts launched from the hives entered weapon range just as the Executor entered the weapon range of their mother ships. Across the Executor's hull weapons rose into positions as the point defense system came on line. The Ion cannons and plasma cannons charged and locked onto the enemy ships.
The side that fired first in this engagement was the Wraith. After the damage that they took from the two salvos of antiprotons no wraith commander was willing to put his ship in the line of fire, so the cruisers had been ordered forward as a way to screen the hives. Thousands of blue bolts screamed from the enemy ships towards the Executor just as the darts smashed into its shield, making it glow bright white.
Danny could feel the shield strain to contain the firepower directed at it. The Executor was a powerful ship, but it was not invincible and its shield won't hold forever. Fortunately, the Executor was built with one purpose in mind, to annihilate any who would oppose it. The ship shuddered as every gun available fired at once and kept firing as fast as they could manage.
A mass of golden and ice-blue bolts flew at the assembled Wraith fleet. Cruisers broke in half under the immense firepower that the Executor was putting out. Never before had Wraith witnessed such complete destruction of their forces. Beams of angry green particles flew out from the proton cannons to smash through cruiser after cruiser, cutting them in half if not annihilating them entirely. Plasma and Ion bolts tore through armor and into the soft fleshy inside of the cruisers. In the midst of that destruction, the Executor angled to show the bow to three of the four remaining hives. The forth one, the Queen's hive was already attempting to disengage. Another set of three blue beams shot out and turned the offending hives into new suns.
"Sir, the last remaining hive is powering their hyperdirve" announced Gideon
Danny looked at the battle on his display. Outside his bridge window he could see the lifeless hulls venting atmosphere and radiation as they drifted past, smashing into one another as more bolts of death race forth from the Executor and towards it.
"Send a swarm of drones to intercept" ordered Danny
A large iris door opened on the bottom of the Executor as a thousand drones flew out and towards the last remaining hive. They first hit the cruiser escorts, but that distraction allowed the hive to escape into hyperspace. Noticing their main objective's escape, the Drones proceeded to annihilate the cruisers instead.
The battle lasted some half an hour until the Executor managed to approach the planet in order to launch a Nova bomb at it, reducing it once more to a lifeless husk.
What Danny didn't know was that the hive that escaped carried information that was the key to the Wraith's war effort.
The location of Korvis.
A/N: And cut! Hope you liked it and as always leave a review with any thoughts, questions or suggestions you might have.
: First of all, I won't be turning any Lanteans into Alterra since in this story they're far too different. After all, if a Lantean/Terran wanted to have a child with an Alterra they wouldn't be able to do it the natural way. About the discrepancy in the Alterra's age between Stargate: The Galactic Civil War and this story that can be easily explained as the difference between universes, for example in this story, the Alterra are about half a billion years old (that is from the earliest point that they discovered Alterran fossils on their home world) while in Stargate: The Galactic Civil War they had already been in space for a billion years by the time that story took place.
