15 Days Ago

Onboard a Puddlejumper

The Pegasus Galaxy

The single puddle jumper, cloaked against the obscenely huge Hive ship, hovered in space, observing the enemy. The four occupants inside the jumper, their expressions grim, watched as it seemed to grow even larger before their eyes.

At McKay's request, Sheppard brought up the small spacecraft's HUD. If it were possible, Sheppard's expression became even more serious at McKay's report.

"The readings are off the scale. At the rate it's growing, the hull is gonna be practically impenetrable in another few days." His eyes widened. "Oh, no…"

"McKay, what have I told you about saying, 'Oh, no'!" Sheppard interrupted, annoyed.

"It's powering weapons!" McKay whimpered.

Ronon Dex leaned forward. "They can't see us, can they?"

McKay shook his head. "No…no, of course, not…at least, I don't think—"

The next moment, a powerful beam of energy shot out in their direction, narrowly missing them.

"What are the odds of them randomly firing a test shot directly at us?" Sheppard demanded.

"I would say, given the enormity of empty space all around us—non-existent," McKay replied, panicked.

Sheppard didn't need to hear anymore. He immediately turned the jumper around, accelerating at the same time, but it was too late. The next instant, the Hive found its target, and the team felt a sudden lurch as one of the drive pods was hit.

"Daedalus!" Sheppard fought the controls as the jumper began spinning out of control. "We've taken fire! Our cloak's ineffective."

McKay stumbled to the control panel located in the rear compartment to try a work around.

"Can you get me weapons?" Sheppard shouted, his voice strained from the effort of trying to regain control.

"Not a chance!"

The next moment, the Daedalus arrived and placed itself directly between the jumper and the Hive, taking direct fire. Its shields glowed with each impact, showing the strain it was under. To the jumper team's horror, they saw the earth ship begin to falter as the Hive's weapons broke through weaknesses in the shields.

"They're venting atmosphere," McKay whispered, reading a string of information the jumper's sensors were relaying. "Oh, God…total shield failure in seconds."

Before the others could react, something happened that surprised them even more. A hyperspace window suddenly opened, and the Super-Hive disappeared into it without finishing off the Daedalus.

"What just happened?" Sheppard asked no one in particular…

oOo

14 Days Ago

Homeland Security Building

Crystal City

Arlington, VA

Nancy pulled into her assigned parking space in the underground parking lot. The Homeland Security offices of Northern Virginia were located in Crystal City, a modern neighborhood of glass towers in the city of Arlington. The neighborhood attracted a myriad of government professionals with its hip restaurants, chic shops, and luxurious condominiums—conveniently situated a quarter mile from The Pentagon.

In other words, an ideal location in case of national emergencies.

Nancy made her way to the garage elevators. There, she took out a special key and put it in an unmarked key slot, which bypassed the regular elevator controls. Instead, she punched in a special code, and the elevator rose, stopping on a secure floor—the offices of Homeland Security.

As Nancy headed toward her office, she nodded and waved at personnel who were already hard at work at their desks, although it was only 6:00am. The dedicated staffers and the long hours they put in never ceased to amaze her. While she was in charge of an analyst division, as Malcolm Duncan had so disparagingly pointed out, the intel her people garnered was of real world threats to national security and had already resulted in stopping several attacks before the bad guys had a chance to implement their plans.

Nancy's personal assistant followed her into her office, handing her boss the "Daily Reading" binder—filled with the latest possible security threats—a stack of classified messages, and a cup of coffee. Nancy's eyes lit at the sight of the coffee.

"You're a lifesaver, Angie! I overslept and didn't have time to stop at the coffee shop."

"Just remember that at my next performance review," Angie said with a smile and a wave as she headed out.

Nancy was deep into her "Daily Reading" when her secure phone rang. Putting the notebook aside, she picked up the phone. As she listened, her hand gripped the handset harder and her heart sped up.

The words "DEFCON 2" and "This is not an exercise" rang in her head. When the usual recording said, "Acknowledge," Nancy shook herself back to the job at hand and acknowledged the message.

This was it. This was for real. The nation was under the second highest alert warning possible. Her thoughts suddenly went to John, wondering if he was doing anything to stem the threat. Knowing John, he was probably in the thick of things right now. An old, familiar fear clutched at her chest, the same fear she'd always felt whenever the phone rang while John was deployed. She prayed fervently that wherever he was, he was safe.

Almost as an afterthought, she wondered about Grant. She had recently signed the final divorce papers, offering no contest. It was funny…She hadn't really thought of him since. She hoped that whatever happened, he remained safe. Despite how their relationship had ended so suddenly, she couldn't wish him any ill. After all, when she had needed someone all those years ago, he had helped her pick up the pieces.

Stepping into the elevator, Nancy took out her special elevator key, put it in the same unmarked slot, and turned it. The car immediately started descending and soon passed the lowest garage level indicated on the control panel. She felt her ears pop as the elevator went down an additional 100 feet to an unidentified sub-basement.

The doors opened to a poorly lit, tunnel-like corridor. Nancy could see uncovered electrical conduits running along the concrete walls. She walked briskly to a small "parking area," where two golf carts sat. Climbing into the first one, she used the same key that had operated the elevator to turn the ignition. Within fifteen minutes, she arrived at her destination.

Parking the cart in the designated area—there were five additional carts already there—Nancy walked the last twenty-five yards to the first checkpoint. Two MPs stood before yet another set of elevator doors. Nancy showed them her ID badge, and she walked through the metal detector. At their nod, she stepped into the waiting elevator and pressed ERB-3.

When she exited, Nancy was subjected to yet another ID check, although she didn't have to walk through another metal detector. Instead, Nancy knew that she was being covertly scanned by other means. One of the security officers then gestured that she follow him.

"This way, m'am," he said courteously. He led her to a conference room, empty except for a pitcher of water and two empty glasses. "Please take a seat, m'am. Someone will be with you shortly."

"Lieutenant, I don't understand," Nancy began. "I'm supposed to—"

"I'm sorry, m'am. I have my orders," the lieutenant replied. "If you'll excuse me." He nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

oOo

14 Days Ago

The Daedalus

Adrift Somewhere in the Pegasus Galaxy

Sheppard stood over McKay, intentionally invading his personal space.

"McKay!" he said sharply. "How much longer before the repairs are done?"

"Are you kidding? We took a lot of damage…! The long range sensors are shot. We have no hyper-drive, no shields…We're venting atmosphere…and no weapons—"

"So…ballpark figure, McKay. An hour…? Two…?"

"What part of 'we took a lot of damage' didn't you understand-?"

"Give me an estimate, Rodney," Sheppard leaned in, hands on hips.

"I don't know-!" McKay started, then stopped when Sheppard turned on his "I killed sixty Genii singlehandedly, and just think what I can do to you" look. "Um…? Twenty-four hours? Maybe?"

"Twenty-four hours? You've already had twenty-four hours!" Sheppard snapped. "McKay, we're sitting ducks out here. You said it yourself—no shields, no weapons! And the Super-Hive has the coordinates to Earth!"

"I know!" McKay shouted, his face red. "And your bothering me isn't gonna get things fixed any faster! So go—" He waved his arms in a shooing motion. "—and do whatever it is you do, and let me work."

But he spoke to empty air because Sheppard had already left to find Colonel Caldwell and ready preparations to defend the ship if worse came to worst. The Apollo and the Sun Tzu would stop the Wraith, he told himself…

In the next twelve hours, Sheppard, acting as Caldwell's second-in-command, planned and executed several courses of action designed to protect the vulnerable ship while it underwent repairs.

He ordered Ronon and the ship's senior gunnery sergeant to organize those personnel not otherwise occupied into security teams. He assigned Teyla to work with Major Marks at navigation as she had already shown a natural aptitude for the ship's complex systems, while the team had fought its way through alternate realities on the "other" Daedalus.

Meanwhile, Sheppard himself led the ship's complement of F302 fighter pilots on 24/7 reconnaissance and security patrols around the Daedalus' outer perimeter while she lay dead in the water, so to speak…

Ronon and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Muldoon organized the security teams and assigned them to different critical sectors of the ship: bridge, engineering, sickbay, mess, armory, personnel quarters. Then they rotated the teams through drills designed to repel boarders, evacuate wounded, and hand-to-hand combat.

The last part Ronon tackled with a gusto that was frightening to see, taking down entire four-man teams singlehandedly, all while having a great time, much to the ship's chief medical officer's alarm…

"I understand what you're doing, Specialist Dex," Dr. Ramsey said reasonably, "but if you break the marines, then who will be left to repel boarders?"

"The Wraith won't bother to break them, Doc," Ronon said with a shrug. "They'll just feed on them."

"Ronon's right, Doc," Muldoon interrupted. "My guys know the score. They also know there's no better hand-to-hand expert than Ronon, here—with the possible exception of Teyla and Colonel Sheppard."

A young private on the exam table spoke up. "Doc…better to bleed a little now and not die later. It's a no brainer."

Dr. Ramsey threw his hands up. "Fine…but if he breaks you in two, don't come crying to me…!"

On the ship's bridge, Teyla took readings off the navigation computer and made the necessary adjustments. Watching her, Major Marks couldn't help being impressed with the progress Teyla had made in mastering the ship's systems since the training he'd last given her. He had actually offered the training as a friendly gesture during some downtime on a previous mission.

Marks overheard the beautiful Athosian leader asking intelligent questions as she observed the bridge personnel go about their duties. Marks asked her if she was interested in learning about the systems and smiled at her enthusiastic response. She was a surprisingly quick study, absorbing the technical concepts after only a few hesitant starts. Now, she was providing much needed technical support, freeing others to tackle some of the more difficult computer problems.

And, yeah…although he would never admit it on pain of torture, she was nice to look at on a ship teeming with utilitarian uniforms…

oOo