Utilizing an 'Official' (scale) map of the Star Wars Galaxy, the knowledge that it is 120,000 light-years across and my math skills, I stand by my guesstimations on distances between planets. I actually wrote this one before I even wrote Chapter 3: Nova… oops.
Disclaimer: If you know it, I don't own it. If you don't know it, I still don't own it. The only thing I own is my own warped mind that created this.
"Be safe." Weir whispered as she watched the 'Hyper Jumper' open a hyperspace window and disappear.
As the Jumper emerged from a layer of sub-space called hyperspace, its sensors immediately detected four vessels in its immediate area. Sheppard activated the cloak, brought up a complicated HUD, and displayed the vessels that the jumper detected. "Lets see… we got 3 vessels with a hammer-head profile and 11 massive engines at the back. They appear to be about 150 meters long and carrying two heavy dual-energy weapons. They seem to be working together with attacking the other vessel. It appears to be about 250 meters long, as well as more streamlined then the other vessels. It also has energy-based weaponry but these are more numerous, but less powerful." As he said this, the fourth vessel had sent up a blistering barrage of green energy that barely influenced the shields of the hammerhead vessels. The hammerheads responded with a barrage of their own, shaking the larger vessel.
Black Widow
Lancer-class Frigate
"It's no use Captain," an Imperial officer said, "The Black Widow was made for anti-starfighter warfare, not ..." he broke off as the bridge shook from a blast, a shot from a CR90's two Taim & Bak H9 dual turbolasers slamming into the side of the Black Widow.
Captain Arian Yage clenched her fists in rage. This was supposed to be a simple patrol mission. Instead, it turned into a mission of desperation as three Corellian CR90s ambushed the out-classed Black Widow. The CR90s did not even bother to try to contact them; they just opened fire the moment they appeared. The first few shots took the Imperials by surprise, causing damage to the hyperdrive systems knocking the main and the back-up offline. "Open a comm. channel to them. Let us see if we can talk them into ceasing their fire." Yage said. If this does not work, we are all dead. She thought to herself. "Attention attacking CR90s. Why are you attacking us? We are no threat to you." The comlink crackles as a heavy voice answers with just eight words. 'You are Imperials. That is all that matters.' She turned to her crew, her shoulders dropping just as fast as the shields were. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a shout came from Sensors.
"Another contact just appeared ma'am."
'You are Imperials. That is all that matters.' Sheppard and Talus looked at each other, looks of surprise on both faces. "That's it. I'm intervening in this little spat." Sheppard said as he prepared to lower the cloak.
"Go ahead. I want to see what you can do." Talus replied as Sheppard looked at him. By the look on his face, Talus could see Sheppard was not expecting that response.
Grinning, Sheppard switched the cloak over to the shield, swinging in front of the larger Black Widow as he did so. "Attention, unknown vessels. Stop your attack now; this is your only warning."
"What do you have Ensign?" Captain Arian Yage asked.
"Ma'am, a small contact just appeared." Yage looked out the bridge window and saw a small ship in front of the Black Widow. It was smaller than a snub-fighter, with a cylindrical shape with a small sub-light engine mounted on an outrigger on either side. "We're getting a signal ma'am." 'Attention, unknown vessels. Stop your attack now; this is your only warning.'
"What do they think they can do?" Yage asked herself softly. Surely, such a small vessel could not harm a larger vessel, but then again look at what happened to the Death Star.
The way the CR90s were moving, it was clear that the enemy was not, in any way, interested in the small gnat in front of their prey. Ignoring the newcomer, they re-orientated their turbolasers onto the Black Widow.
"Well, can't say we didn't warn them." Remarked Sheppard as he watched streaks of deadly energy flash by the Hyper Jumper. Concentrating, he activated the weapon system and fired a single drone at the closest hammerhead vessel. The moment the drone left the Jumper, it immediately latched its guidance system onto the lead vessel. Closing the distance, it completely phased through the CR90's shields and struck the nose of the vessel. The drone, now active, emitted a high-temperature energy field that literally burned through the entire length of the CR90. The drone penetrated the length of the vessel, exiting via an engine mount. It started to swing around for another pass, but the damage it caused on the first pass caused the reactor to go super critical. The CR90 blew its self to pieces, while the drone commenced a strike on a second CR90. This time, when the drone penetrated the shield, most of its energy was gone from the attack on the first CR90. It did manage to slip through but it exploded within seconds. The explosion caused the reactor to breach, causing the entire ship to vaporize. The third CR90 tried to escape but quite literally had its engines cut off by two precision blasts from the Plasma Beam Cannon [PBC] mounted on the bottom of the Jumper.
"Isn't that considered overkill?" asked Talus.
"Overkill is underrated." replied Sheppard with a smile.
Captain Yage and her entire bridge personnel watched in muted disbelief as the small ship launched a single missile at the larger CR90. Everybody on the bridge of the Black Widow was all thinking the same thing. These people have guts. Disbelief turned to shock when the missile struck the shield and kept going as if it was not even there. Silence reigned on the bridge at the sight of a single, tiny vessel destroying two much larger vessels with a single shot. The third CR90 pulled a hard 180 to get away but the newcomer had refused to let them leave. A pulse of blue energy emitted from the bottom of the vessel and struck the CR90's shield. The shield struggled to stay up, but ultimately collapsed. A second shot sliced the engines right off their mounts, effectively crippling the vessel. Ensign Parck was the first to shake his head and return to his duties. "Captain, the vessel is hailing us."
Captain Yage shook her head to clear it and nodded to him. "Put them on." The comlink crackled as it made a connection to the subspace frequency that the jumper was utilizing to contact them. 'Unknown vessel, this is the Lantean vessel Hyper Jumper.' "Hyper Jumper, this is Captain Arian Yage of the Imperial vessel Black Widow. I thank you for your assistance. Without your help, they would have surely destroyed us." 'Well we heard what they said and could not hold back. Attacking a vessel simply because of who they are… there is no honor in that. However, we also had an ulterior motive. We need some help. Can we come aboard your vessel?' Yage looked surprised. What could they possible need help with? "Of course you may. I will personally meet you in the hanger bay." 'Thank you Captain.' (1)
A standard Lancer-class frigate had a complement of two shuttles but due to the nature of the Black Widow's mission, she only carried one now. As the Hyper Jumper cleared the force field holding the atmosphere inside the hanger bay, Arian Yage got her first good look at the vessel that took out three CR90s will hardly any effort. It was a lot smaller than a Lambda-class shuttle. It was not cylindrical, as she had previously thought but rather squat. Overall, it had a total length of only eight meters, making it just a bit shorter than the staple of the Imperial Navy, the TIE/In starfighter or rather, TIE Interceptor. It had an angled front and rear, with two drive-pods which were extended out near the rear of the vessel. Two humans were visible clearly through a massive viewport. It hovered 10 meters away, and then the two drive-pods sank into the main body of the Hyper Jumper making the entire body streamlined. Sinking slowly to the durasteel deck, the vessel was as graceful as she was deadly. A rear hatch opened and two men stepped out.
"Think that's her?" John Sheppard asked Talus as they walked down the ramp towards a solidly built woman in her early forties with black hair bound tightly in a bun. Two men in a black uniform, carrying some sort of rifle, flanked her. Her bodyguards, John thought. Thankfully, both Sheppard and Talus were wearing an Asuran pistol just in case they needed it. Once they got to within three meters of the party, the bodyguards raised their rifles a bit. The woman raised her hand, and they lowered their guns once more.
"Greetings, welcome aboard the Black Widow." She said. "I am Captain Arian Yage. I would like to thank you again for your assistance earlier."
"It was no problem. I am Colonel John Sheppard and this is Talus." Sheppard said saluting.
Yage chuckled softly to herself. The person in front of her was defiantly not a member of the Imperial Navy, and yet he saluted her in exact same way she would. Saluting him back, she said, "Glad to have you on board Colonel. Now, tell me. What can we do for you? You mentioned in your message that you needed help."
"It's not just us that needs help Captain. It is our entire people. You see, we had to abandon our home when our enemy decided the best way to destroy us was to blow up our sun." Yage gasped, instantly thinking of the Sun Crusher. "We managed to get off in time but the resulting explosion erased our star charts. Our flagship, Atlantis, has limited air and needs to land on an 'M' Class planet. Only thing is, we don't know where any planets are." Sheppard said, gently skirting the truth. There was no need to tell them that the planet that they left was a few galaxies away. McKay was still trying to figure that out.
Yage just nodded. "I can do that, but I must ask that you not land in Imperial Space. If you permit me, I can join you and show you where Imperial Space ends."
Sheppard and Talus looked at each other, instantly communicating without words. Sheppard looked back and said, "Very well. You and one other person can come back with us."
Yage just nodded, went to a nearby computer terminal and loaded a current map of the galaxy onto a datapad. Turning to her second-in-command she said, "You have command. Get the Black Widow repaired then proceed to Bastion. Let Admiral Pallaeon know what happened." He started to respond, but Yage just glared. "That was an order." He nodded his head, turned around and headed back to the bridge. Turning back to Sheppard, she commented, "Normally a captain shouldn't leave her vessel when it is damaged but I don't really care right now."
Laughing, Sheppard replied. "I know what you mean." He gestured to Yage then to the jumper, "Shall we?"
The Hyper Jumper cleared the hanger bay and gently accelerated toward a suitable jump location. Sheppard did not want the wounded Black Widow sucked into the hyperspace window when it formed. Captain Yage looked around at the interior of the Hyper Jumper. There were benches at the back on both sides where her guard was currently sitting and an overhead bin above. The cockpit consisted of two seats with a control yoke in front of them. Overall, it was very spartan. "How old is this vessel?" She asked, "I have never seen a vessel as graceful as this one." This was the truth. All Imperial designed vessels were large and menacing, a clear throwback to when the Emperor was in control.
"This one is a prototype. Most jumpers can not enter hyperspace." Sheppard replied. "The hyperdrive and PBC are both relatively new but the Jumper its self is over 10,000 years old."
The face Yage was making was making was priceless. It started as wonder, and then morphed to amazement and finally disbelief. She shook her head. "Forgive me; did you just say this vessel is ten thousand years old?" she asked, if only to confirm what Sheppard said. Talus got up out of his seat next to Sheppard and gestured for her to sit down.
"You might want to sit down for what's coming next." He predicted smiling. He went to the back and sat down across from the guard. Stunned, Yage sat down in the now vacant co-pilot chair.
Looking back at Talus, Sheppard smiled; knowing exactly what Talus wanted him to tell her. He activated the HUD and set a direct course for Atlantis. Just before he activated the hyperdrive he said, "It's not that bad. Atlantis is over 2 million years old."
"Its how old?" Yage said as the hyperspace window opened and the Hyper Jumper left normal space.
15 minutes later and 500 light years from where they left the Black Widow, the Hyper Jumper dropped out of hyperspace. The system was home to a red giant star with no planets, just their shattered remains from a formation gone wrong. "That was fast. How far away are we?" asked Captain Yage.
Glancing at the readout on the HUD, Sheppard replied, "About 500 light years from where we left; and it looks like I overshot the exit slightly." He said as a shadow drifted over the Hyper Jumper.
Yage glanced upwards at the sight of a huge snowflake like construct. "What is that?" She asked just as the radio crackled. 'Glad to see you back in one piece Hyper Jumper.' "Glad to be back Atlantis," Sheppard replied as he brought the Hyper Jumper around so that Yage could get a good look at Atlantis.
As he entered the cockpit, Yage's bodyguard whispered, "Tarkin's Teeth..." While she would normally reprimand him for such an outburst, Yage found herself agreeing with him. Atlantis was huge. A golden dome covered the vessel, distorting the interior. Pointing to the dome, he asked, "What is that dome for?"
"That dome is the shield that is holding the air in so that the inhabitants can breath." Talus replied from behind him. "Can you excuse me? I have to enter a clearance code so that we can pass through the shield." After the guard moved aside, he entered a complex code onto a display beside Yage. Turning to Sheppard, he motioned to the shield. "We can enter now. The clearance code that I just entered altered our shield to match the one protecting Atlantis."
"One second. Atlantis, this is Sheppard. Where are Tria and Borealis? I do not see them any… where… Did you?" 'McKay got the secondary defences running.' "Of course he did. Can you ask them to show themselves? I do not want to run into them by mistake." 'You make a good point. Stand by one.'
"Colonel Sheppard, what is going on?" Yage asked.
"We have four other vessels with us; two are docked with Atlantis and two are running under cloak."
"Your people have a working cloaking device? But those create a bubble that hides everything within that bubble."
"Maybe yours do, but ours are a bit different." As he said this, a shimmer appeared directly in front of them. The shimmer revealed itself as a vessel almost three kilometers long. Another one appeared on the other side of Atlantis. Yage just sat there stunned. "Atlantis, do we have permission to enter the shield?" 'Granted Hyper Jumper, but if you pop the bubble, God help you." "I know, I know. Just to let you know we are two people heavy." Sheppard brought the Hyper Jumper around and passed through the shield.
This time, Yage swore out load. "Emperors Black Bones!" Atlantis wasn't just a starship. It was a city!
Sheppard chucked, "I know what you mean. That was my reaction when I found out that Atlantis was a starship, as well as a city." Lowering the Hyper Jumper down into the top of the central tower, he sent a code that opened the iris-like doors that lead to the main Jumper hanger. Eventually, he brought the Hyper Jumper to a complete stop and lowered the rear hatch. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Atlantis.
Dr. Elizabeth Weir was glad to see the Jumper settling down and the rear hatchway opening. She had been worried when the ships that the long range sensors had detected started disappearing moments after the Jumper arrived. Sheppard and Talus were followed by a lady with her black hair up in a bun and a man who carried the aura of a bodyguard. Extending her hand, she said to the woman, "Welcome to Atlantis. I am Dr. Elizabeth Weir, current leader of Atlantis."
"Thank you Dr. Weir. I am Captain Arian Yage of the Imperial Navy. Thanks to your people, my vessel was not destroyed when it was attacked." She took the offered hand and shook it.
Weir looked at Sheppard with an upraised eyebrow, silently asking what did you do? He just shrugged and replied, "They were shooting at them with the only reason being that they were Imperials. There was no honor in their actions. But we did achieve our main objective."
"You got a map of the galaxy?"
Taking out the datapad, Yage said, "The map data is on this datapad. I came along to make sure that you do not land in Imperial Space."
"We should head to the chair room. Nel Kylex can take it from there."
Atlantis
Chair room
Kylex was sitting in the control chair as a map of the Corusca Galaxy spun above his head in all the glory of what Alteran holograms could produce. On a section of the galaxy he zoomed in. Stars systems realigned as new data flooded into his head. "This is our current location," McKay said pointing to spot on the map, "and according to our Imperial friend, this is the border of Imperial Space." A jagged line crossed the map dividing it into two sections. Their current location was only 50 light years from the Imperial border, on the Unknown Regions side and about 800 lightyears from Bastion. "From the data that was stored within the datapad, we can rule out all inhabited planets." Seconds after he said that, a majority of planets disappeared leaving a mass of potential 'M' class planets left. "Now does anyone have requests?" Of course planets with water were the first to be highlighted.
"A system with a fairly large asteroid belt will be ideal." Captain Helia's hologram said. She was broadcasting right from the Tria. Everyone (except for Yage) knew that for potential repairs to be done, the Energy-Matter converter could be utilized but at the expense of power. Janas had put together a Matter-Energy-Matter (MEM) converter, which would change one type of material into energy and then back into matter. Many of the highlighted planets faded leaving only a handful of planets left.
"My people will need a lot of fertile land to live on, as well as for crops that we can share with Atlantis." Teyla spoke up. Beside her, Halling nodded. The Athosian people were more comfortable in the open. While it was good to get off of Lantea before the sun destroyed it, their people were getting anxious. Again planets disappeared, leaving only 5 planets left.
"This one looks good." Sheppard said, pointing to a planet that was about 6027 light-years away (spin-ward) from a planet known as Sernpidal. Instantly, Kylex zoomed in on the potential planet. Just under twice the size of Earth, it sported a massive ocean in a band that ran the entire circumference of the planet. Islands dotted the world; some were small, while others were about the same size as Australia. A massive land mass covered the northern pole of the world, while a massive ice cap took up the southern pole. Data on the planet and system appeared within the hologram. Rotational speed was clocked at about 48 standard hours, and took .5 standard years to make its journey around the sun, whose light would take about 13 minutes to reach the planet, which was fourth in the system. Gravity was rated at being .95 standard Gs. The planet had a single moon that had an orbit of about twenty-one standard days. The star was a main sequence star (spectral class F) that had a surface temperature of 6200 degrees Kelvin and was a little bigger than Sol in which Earth rotated. A massive asteroid belt covered the outer limits of the system, remnants of planets that never formed. The system's 'official' designation was M-409534, but it would soon be called home by Atlantis.
M-409534
~ 24 hours later ~
"Taking us down," Sheppard said. His voice was slow, as though he was half asleep. There was no change in motion. There would not be, with the inertial dampeners. But on the screen before them, Yage and Weir saw the scene shift, the city pitching up so that the stars were overhead; the great counter thrusters of the drive on the bottom of the city down so that their engines would slow the city. The shield flared opaque for a moment, then compensated. They brushed the top of the atmosphere. From the control room, they could feel the rumble beneath their feet as the massive thrusters fired, all power on full, slowing their re-entry. The vibration increased, the engines straining. Even as big as they were, Atlantis in the grip of gravity possessed incredible inertia.
"Your angle's too shallow." Rodney said. Trails of light tore past the cameras, superheated gasses flaring against the shield. "Sheppard, your angle's too shallow!" Rodney was more emphatic this time. Weir looked over at a display showing their present course. At the angle and speed that they were currently at, Atlantis would skip off the atmosphere like a stone on water.
The corners of Sheppard's mouth twitched, but he didn't respond, fingers twitching on the gel-like interface pads.
"Sheppard?" Rodney said again. "I said the angle is too shallow!"
"I don't think he can hear you," Weir said. Lost in the interface, how could he? And surely he was aware of the city's angle of entry. On the screen before them, the angle was correcting, a little deeper, but without picking up additional speed. He had bled off speed with the shallow angle, not quite enough to skip, but enough to slow them down considerably.
"He is doing remarkable well," commented Talus. "He isn't a full blood Alteran and yet he is doing better then most would." The city shook, but not as bad as before. He could keep his feet easily enough, though most people in the control room were hanging onto the edge of a console. The cameras fogged, vapour streaming past. A high cloud layer perhaps? Possibly. Probably. All systems were green. The ZPMs power level was steady. Even with the amount of heat and pressure on the shield, the power was rock steady.
Thrusters flared again, tilting the city slightly, increasing the drag. The shield pulled more power to compensate. And the city slowed. Ice. The cameras showed ice below, thousands of feet down to the northern polar ice cap. They were wrapping around the world in a high polar sweep, bleeding speed as they went. Suddenly, land. White ice turned to grey tundra as the ice cap ended. Tundra turned to forest, and still they descended. Surely they would be over ocean soon. The planet they chosen had a large ocean ringing the planet with plenty of small islands dotting it. Mountains. Snow peaked mountains. Surely they were too low. Forest again. Endless forests of trees with a few rivers and lakes here and there. If the city landed in a forest instead of on water… Plains. Then… Water. Dark blue water rolling in great waves, low enough to feel a sense of motion. An island reeled by, a chain of them, bright green against blue water.
"Sheppard! Take us down gently. Like a leaf kissing the water."
Sheppard would have to remember that Rodney was a backseat driver. Yes. Never drive with Rodney. The ZPMs' power gauge still read 97%. Less heat meant less power to the shields. The city shivered for a moment, changing pitch again, stardrive down, like a jet putting its flaps down hard as the runway skimmed by beneath it. An island the size of Australia flashed by. Water. Water. It didn't look as close as it was. He was surprised as it slammed down, throwing everyone in the control room to the floor, laptops crashing down on top of them. Atlantis shook, heaved, bouncing in deep water, wallowing, water flooding over the lower third of the shield, then righting and coming to rest on the waves.
"Nice kissing…" McKay stated sarcastically.
"Nice flying rookie." Commented Talus, impressed at Sheppard's first landing.
Beneath the floor the rumble died away, the engines dying. The chair tilted upwards, releasing Sheppard from the city interface. Sheppard opened his eyes. He looked a little groggy, as a man awakened from a deep sleep would. "Well?" he rasped his throat sore and dry.
"Shields are holding. Structural integrity is intact. Daedalus and Apollo are fine. We've got a few minor things blinking, but nothing bad, and ZPMs are at 96%. A few injures in the control room from the landing aside, it looks like we made it." McKay said as he held his bleeding finger like it was a major injury.
"Checking external sensors," Radek said. "Atmosphere mix as we saw before, perfectly sustainable if a little higher in oxygen. Current temperature is at positive twenty degrees centigrade, with a light wind of 5 km/h. Nice weather for a location of eighteen degrees north. We're home."
The shield dropped, letting fresh air waft through the city as exterior doors started to open.
Down in the chair room, Sheppard click on his radio, "I'm going to bed," and promptly fell asleep, while still sitting in the control chair.
A/N:
(1) Arian Yage is a canon character. She first appears in 'Force Heretic I: Remnant', in the Imperial frigate Widowmaker. She is a lot mellower then other Imperial officers, too the point that she greets Luke Skywalker like an equal, without assuming that he will manipulate her with the Force.
I will now post my hyperdrive class conversion equivalents. Utilizing data from 'Vector Prime' and distance calculations, I stand by these postings. In 'Vector Prime'; it took Jaina's X-wing seven days to travel from Reecee to Dubrillion, a total distance of 32066.33 light-years. This means that it traveled about 190.87 light-years per hour (I will bump it up to 200 for easier conversions). A Class 2.0 hyperdrive is half as fast, meaning that it has a speed of about one hundred ly/h. The following table is the basis for Atlantis Prime:
Class 2.0 hyperdrive = 100 ly/h
Class 1.5 hyperdrive = 150 ly/h
Class 1.0 hyperdrive = 200 ly/h
Class .75 hyperdrive = 266.66 ly/h
Class .60 hyperdrive = 333.33 ly/h
Class .50 hyperdrive = 400 ly/h
Jumper hyperdrive = 2000 ly/h or Class 0.1
Daedalus-class hyperdrive = fast (31,250 ly/h)
Aurora-class hyperdrive = too fast (250,000 ly/h)
Atlantis-class hyperdrive = way too fast (850,000 ly/h)
All the 'capital-class' hyperdrives are powered by ZPMs (3 in Atlantis' case), and I got the hyperdrive speeds from the Stargate: TNG wiki page. Next up: Running the belt Sheppard dodges asteroids, while the Apollo takes Yage home.
One last note: 'Worlds Gate at War' is going on Hiatus for a while. The stargate/WWII crossover is not my best one, seeing as I don't know WWII that well. I need to do some extensive research on Hitler/Germany, Pacific Fleet, Atlantic Fleet, and the politics behind America. Sorry.
