It's the season finale, possibly the series finale. Enjoy this episode, but don't hesitate to slam it if you feel it sucks. As usual, more author's notes are at the end. I suggest you read them.
Atlantis
Rodney McKay knew a bad situation when he saw one. And this one was just about the worst there was. His hands were tied behind his back- incompetently, but he wasn't Harry Houdini. Teyla and Carson were similarly tied up. Armed Jaffa with a new kind of armour pointed a new kind of weapon (that he was pretty sure was the old kind of lethal) at his head. Their leader was both gloating at his accomplishment and holding more hostages at gunpoint.
"My lord," a voice crackled seemingly out of nowhere. Great, the goa'uld had radios now. "Multiple small craft are rapidly approaching our position!"
And to make it worse, the Wraith were here. Could it get any better?
Ba'al turned to one of his Jaffa. First Prime? "What of the Jaffa sent to the power room?"
"No response, my lord. I believe they have been wiped out."
A series of high-pitched whines could be heard outside, interspersed with explosions. That was really, really not good. The disembodied voice spoke again, "They are fighting each other, my lord! One group appears to be of an unidentified origin."
Ba'al turned to the human prisoners. He nodded at the Jaffa guards, who removed their gags. "Looks like your friends won't be joining us. Who are these newcomers?"
"Why the bloody hell should I tell you?" Carson spat.
"Well, doctor, you really have nothing to lose." Ba'al smirked.
"The Wraith cull humans and take their life from them," Teyla answered. "To resist them would be futile."
Rodney briefly snickered before remembering exactly where he was. There was shouting and the sound of alien weapons outside on the balconies. The Wraith had landed. Ba'al turned to his First Prime again. "Prepare the ship. We must leave now."
Samantha Carter swept her gun across the corridor. "Clear forward!"
Sheppard did the same. "Clear right!"
"Clear left!" Weir dropped the empty magazine out of her rifle and slammed in a new one.
"Room clear!" Carter paused to survey the damage. Seven Jaffa bodies lay dead on the floor, their blood soaking their boots. One of the Jaffa lay dead with his entrails spilling out of his armour, his face frozen in pain and his bloodied hands gripping them. Another was missing most of his head, but most of them were less gruesome. She tried to view the scene objectively, but found herself utterly sickened nonetheless.
"We need to get the shield back up!" Weir yelled as the structure shook. Several stories up, a dart had crash-landed into the side of the tower.
"Not until our guys get here," Sheppard countered.
"Either way, we need power back online," Carter replied, heading back into the power room. "You two stand guard, I'll try to get this working again."
A few taps on her wrist interface- a new holographic one- and she had live feeds from the Daedalus and Zelenka, overall status of AESF units, and technical information brought up. She picked up the ZPM and placed it back in its holder. No dice. They had ripped and torn to kill all power, and there wasn't even enough to take the ZPM. Why did they need the fancy pedestal, couldn't they use a fucking socket? "Zelenka, I'm going to need your help on this one!"
"We've got company!" Sheppard yelled. A group of Wraith drones marched through the corridor. He opened fire with his shotgun, buckshot tearing into their ranks. Most of them carried stunners, but one carried a much different weapon. It fired a long, thin glowing projectile that cut a sizable chunk out of his shields. "Better make it quick, this is not good!"
Totalling sixty-five people, the remaining civilian members of the expedition holed up in the massive main mess hall. Add just under a dozen military guards, and that well under half the population of the city. The rest were held hostage, missing, or worse. They were mostly aware of what was going on. A goa'uld had taken the tower, and now the Wraith had arrived.
However, they weren't prepared. Although every member of the expedition was issued with a set of armour, only two of the civilians and half the military contingent present were wearing them. An additional twenty or so were struggling into spare suits. Weapons weren't quite as scarce, with barely enough to go around. Everyone had been given a pistol, although limited ammo supplies left them with one magazine and a handful of cartridges each. The soldiers had a better assortment of weaponry.
Most of their supplies had been taken from a supply dump behind the kitchen. Though food and water was not a concern, they were running short on ammo with the Jaffa, then the Wraith, attempting to move in. Despite limited numbers, runners had to be sent to find ammunition.
With the shield down, however, the Daedalus could support them. Two SG teams and several crates of supplies appeared in a flash of light. More ammunition was immediately passed out, and the new arrivals joined in the fight.
AES Daedalus
The Daedalus was taking a beating. They were going up against a superior foe- two massive hive-ships and four cruisers. The handful of fighters the Daedalus had were attempting to defend Atlantis itself from the relentless darts, leaving the Daedalus without fighter support. Worse still, their most powerful weapons were ineffective. Nuclear missiles would be taken out by kamikaze darts long before they could hit the distant hive-ships.
"Shields down to forty-nine percent!" Marks reported as the ship rocked from another blast. The Daedalus was engaged in evasive manoeuvres, but the rapid fire rate of the Wraith weapons made up for that. And they were cripplingly powerful.
"Keep firing on the cruisers, no way we can take the hives with railguns alone." As Caldwell said it, the main railguns mounted on the bow of the Daedalus fired, ripping into a heavily damaged cruiser. The engines flickered and died, but it remained largely intact. Mission kill, good enough.
One down, three more to go.
Lantean Mainland
"I thought you said they wouldn't find us in these caves?" Captain Roberts asked, firing over the dirt berm. She cringed as a stunner bolt slammed into her shields.
"I did not think they could!" Halling replied. He swept aside a woven blanket, revealing an Earth-made plastic trunk full of weapons.
Wraith darts buzzed overhead in the night sky. The Wraith were creatures of the darkness, and the Tau'ri had night vision systems, but the Athosians would be severely hampered by the low light situation. The ones that could fight at all. They were safe from the dart culling beams inside the caves, but waves of Wraith drones were dropped to flush them out.
Expecting a simple recon mission, the soldiers hadn't brought heavy weapons or a large supply of ammunition with them. The waves of Wraith, however, were endless. Roberts slammed a new magazine- her second to last one- into her SCAR-H. "Sir, any chance we can get support from the Daedalus?"
Daniel Jackson nodded. "I can try. Daedalus, this is Daniel Jackson, do you read?"
"Danny!" Jack O'Neill replied. "What's up, buddy?"
"Jack, this isn't time for games! We've got Wraith hitting us hard, are running out of ammo and trying to defend a bunch of refugees. Can you beam us to Atlantis?"
"It's not that safe," O'Neill cautioned.
"It's better than here!" Daniel replied. A projectile hit him in the side, dropping his shields. He ducked back into cover, reloading as he did so.
"All right, but you're going to have to leave the caves. We'll beam out anything that isn't Wraith."
"What?"
"We must push outwards, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c answered. He fired his staff weapon at the attacking Wraith, killing one in a single shot to the head.
"That's crazy!" Daniel argued. They might be able to survive, but the villagers-
"Out!" Roberts yelled. She slung her rifle and pulled out a Desert Eagle pistol, snarling as she unloaded two rounds into a Wraith that had almost made it into the caves.
"We have no choice, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c insisted.
"All right, Halling, take your people and follow us close behind. Don't get hit, and make sure everyone gets out. Jack, don't beam us out until we give the all-clear."
"I will do that," Halling replied.
"Roger that, Daniel," the General acknowledged. "Break a leg."
"Go, go, go!" Captain Roberts vaulted over the mount, straight into a Wraith drone. Before he could draw his knife, she recovered, rolling to the side and driving her own knife into his gut. She pulled it out and jumped to her feet, slashing repeatedly. Her knife and gauntlets were covered in blood by the time she was done, severing the alien's throat.
Beside her, the others opened fire with whatever they had left. Their unexpected charge pushed the Wraith back, giving them a small space to work with. As soon as an Athosian had exited the cave, he or she was beamed up. The Wraith poured fire into the area, hoping to take some of them out. Indeed, some of the Athosians had been stunned before being beamed out. The Darts, thankfully, could not get close enough to the cave to cull anyone.
"We got everyone?" Daniel asked. He dropped his empty pistol and picked up a Wraith stunner.
"There is one more group," Halling answered. "Just the five of-"
A Wraith drone had managed to sneak around them in the heat of battle, firing his stunner into the open cave mouth. He was cut down immediately, but not before stunning all of the remaining Athosians.
"Great, now we have to drag them out!" Sergeant Lewis complained. He holstered his empty revolver and ran back into the cave, ignoring the stunner bolt that dissipated against his armour. Three of the others followed him, roughly dragging the remaining Athosians out as the rest struggled to hold the position.
"I don't think we can last much longer, sir!" Roberts shouted. One of the drones was right on top of her. She stabbed it through the heart, the wound spraying deep red blood. To finish the job, she slashed across chest and abdomen. Another Wraith came up to take his place, and she shot him with the first one's stunner.
"Roger that, we've got them!" Daniel replied. "Jack, this would be a good time to beam us out of here!"
"Uh, we're having some trouble with the transporters," O'Neill replied.
"Oh, he's got to be taking a piss!" Lewis yelled.
"Well, we sure as hell can't stay here!" Roberts impaled one of the Wraith on his own weapon. "How long?"
"We don't know, it's totally scrambled."
"The cave system is extensive," Teal'c said calmly. "We can hide in there."
"You heard the man. Grab what you can, let's move out."
Atlantis
Two A-3s, the entire complement of the Daedalus, had been dispatched to Atlantis. The idea was that it would be faster than beaming troops to another area of the city and also add an element of surprise.
Well, that was flat out fucking wrong.
Major DeLoria's craft shuddered as another of the Wraith energy bolts slammed into it. He ignored the warning lights, piloting the ship straight toward the control tower. Three Darts were on their tail, and there was nothing they could do about it, especially in atmosphere. The Wraith had been hounding them endlessly since they had launched, delaying their arrival. The other A-3 was taking even more hits, and he watched it wobble and fall away toward the city below. "Fuck the nice landing. Boys and girls, you might want to hold on tight."
Forcing one last burst of power out of the damaged engines, DeLoria pulled the craft slightly to the right, aiming directly at the window in the gateroom. It wouldn't be comfy like the initially planned balcony insertion, but was just as good from a tactical standpoint. And the ship was a lost cause anyway. He braced himself for the impact and slammed the throttles all the way to emergency backthrust.
The restraints held him from smashing his face on the control panel, but Major DeLoria felt the deceleration everywhere in his body. The nose of the craft easily smashed through the window, then impacted against the rear of the stargate. It was designed to fit through one, but not at an angle. The immovable ring ripped into the thin metal of the A-3, tearing through the starboard wingroot and fuselage. The spaceship would never fly again, but thankfully it did not catch fire or explode.
Carter looked up briefly, feeling an impact rock the city. A less pronounced one followed.
"What the hell was that?" Weir asked. She gunned down a Wraith as they approached through the corridor. The black-and-white infrared night vision system just made it all the more unsettling. She didn't like killing, but was not giving up her city without a fight.
"That's our people, one jumper crashed not far from here," Sheppard replied. He slid more shells into his shotgun, then racked the forearm grip and discharged a load of buckshot into one of the aliens. He had considerably less reservations about killing. "The other is securing the control room."
"Roger that, I'm vectoring the survivors here." Carter picked up a laptop that had been left in the power room. She had reconnected the naquadah generators, now she had to bring them back online. Her gloved fingers flew over the keyboard, entering in the control sequence Zelenka gave to her.
"Halfway there!"
The lights flickered back on, and Weir immediately shut off her night vision. She thumbed more shells into her shotgun, not noticing the Wraith dashing towards her until they were within a meter of each other. Reflexively, she discharged the weapon. At point blank, the buckshot tore ugly holes through the drone's chest, splattering more blood onto the gruesomely coated corridor. Another round tore through his neck.
"A little more than halfway!" Carter corrected, placing the ZPM into its holder and giving it a gentle push. It slid down into the pedestal automatically. "Done! We should have power now."
She grabbed her shotgun from the table and headed to Weir's side, where most of the Wraith seemed to be attacking. Was there any end to them?
Captain Teldy slowly picked herself up off the floor of the A-3. It was totalled- the cockpit was totally smashed, with both pilots reduced to amorphous blobs of flesh. Both of the stubby wings had sheared off and there was a massive hole in the port side of the jumper. She quickly checked herself for injuries. Nothing broken. She still had her rifle, though the strap was torn. With a few taps on her wrist, she initiated an armour diagnostic. "Dusty, still with us?"
Another woman in armour pushed herself out from under a pile of twisted metal. "Yes, ma'am."
"Lieutenant Vega?"
"Here, ma'am," Vega replied, sticking her helmeted head out of the remains of the cockpit. "Looks like both pilots are dead, though."
"Doctor Porter?"
A fourth woman shakily got to her feet. "Yeah, I'm still here."
"All right, grab what you can, we're moving out to the power room."
By the time the pilots had begun unstrapping themselves, Major Lorne and his marines were already out of the craft and were checking the room.
"Clear left!" Lieutenant Cadman shouted, sweeping her rifle around. The lights flickered back on as she did so.
"Clear right!" Sergeant Coughlin added.
"Room clear! Cadman, bugs and bombs!"
"Just this, sir, probably what's been jamming our equipment," Lieutenant Cadman said, tossing her CO a small black box.
He crushed it beneath his boot. "Hostages, get them!"
Rodney McKay was shocked by their method of arrival. Didn't these idiots have any idea what they were doing? You do not crash a glorified puddle jumper into a ten thousand year old stained glass window! Nevertheless, he yelled for help. A woman in powered armour cut his bonds away with a knife, then moved on to Carson.
"Thank you, lass," the Scottish doctor said, beaming at her. Behind the dark faceplate, she smiled. Teyla had already slipped out of her bonds five minutes prior.
"Doctor McKay, I presume?" another of the armoured troops, this one clearly male, asked. His nametag identified him as LORNE, and his rank badge as either Captain or Major- Rodney couldn't remember which was which.
"Yeah, that's me," he replied weakly.
"I need you to get the shield up."
"What, no hello, how are you, are you okay- I've been a prisoner for the last couple hours!" The turned his head to look at him. Rodney was sure there was a death glare under that visor. "All right, all right, the shield."
One of the fearsome Wraith warriors emerged from an open doorway, immediately gunned down by concentrated fire. "I suggest you get a move on, McKay. We've got company!"
"They're still coming!" Sheppard yelled, adding to the pile of bodies with a load of buckshot. "How many of these bastards are there?"
Weir tossed aside her shotgun, having no ammunition left for it. She drew her SMG and fired into the gathering crowd. The Wraith actually had to step over the bodies of their comrades, but they didn't seem to understand the concepts of morale or self-preservation.
"Reinforcements are coming!" Carter shouted, her eyes flicking briefly to her HUD. Also having completely expended her shotgun shells, she ripped into a Wraith drone with 5.7mm rounds from her M91.
Suddenly, bursts of assault rifle rifle ripped through the Wraith ranks from behind. Two armoured women approached through each corridor, ripping effortlessly through the drones. Carter's HUD instantly identified them as Teldy and her team. "Good timing!"
"Thank you, ma'am," Captain Teldy replied. Her team moved into the room and took up defensive positions, two on each entrance.
AES Daedalus
Another powerful Wraith weapon slammed into the Daedalus. "Shields down to thirty percent! Ventral railgun is out of action."
"This isn't working!" General O'Neill complained. None of their missiles had hit, and they were taking a beating from the main guns on the hive-ships and cruisers. The Darts were mostly focused on Atlantis and defending the Wraith ships, and the railgun batteries and Star Streak missiles ripped apart the ones that got too close.
Caldwell nodded acknowledgement. He issued a new set of orders, and the Daedalus pivoted hard to the left, accelerating at all ahead flank. Until then, they had been keeping a decent range to the Wraith ships. Now, they were going in hard. The vessel shuddered as more Wraith energy pulses slammed into their shields. The Daedalus hit back with her main railguns and secondary battery.
"Shields at twenty percent! Main battery offline, number three engine is failing!"
"Ready all missile tubes!" Caldwell ordered, holding tightly on to his chair. He watched the distance count down. Through the window, they could see the hive-ships getting bigger and bigger, showing their truly massive size. More of the Wraith energy weapons slammed into the Daedalus, and the darts were starting to make kamikaze runs.
"Shields at ten percent. Number three engine is offline, we have hull damage and starboard railguns have expended ordinance."
"Now would be a good time to open fire," O'Neill suggested.
"Not yet," Caldwell said, waiting just a bit longer. After what seemed like an eternity, he gave the order. "All missile tubes, fire! Come about and get us the hell out of here."
At the extremely close range the missiles were launched at, the darts had no hope of intercepting more than a quarter of them. Even when they did, the detonations did significant collateral damage, sacrificing ten darts instead of one. The rest of the missiles found their marks. Of the sixteen missiles fired, ten hit their targets. Four slammed into the vulnerable dart bay of each hive-ship. The enhanced nuclear warheads completely obliterated one of the ships, the other being slightly luckier and only having one side blown to pieces, completely disabling the vessel. The other two missiles hit the same cruiser, reducing it to a cloud of wreckage.
The communications officer turned around to face his superiors. "Sir, we've received word from Atlantis. Power restored and shield online."
"And the mainland team?" O'Neill asked.
The officer shook his head. "Nothing, sir."
"Sir, the remaining cruiser is entering hyperspace," the sensor officer reported. "I can't believe it, sir, we've won!"
General O'Neill had the sinking feeling that they hadn't won at all.
Lantean Mainland
Captain Roberts emptied the clip of her AK-103 into the Wraith drone. He staggered and fell to the ground, joining his compatriots. "Was that the last one?"
"I think it was," Sergeant Lewis replied.
"Indeed," Teal'c said.
"So, are we leaving now?" Amanda asked, brandishing another of the Kalashnikov rifles.
"We probably should," Daniel replied. "Either they're gone or they've got something nasty planned for us."
They left the way they came in. The darkness of the cave should have covered up the bodies and pools of blood somewhat, but their night vision systems compensated for that. The cave systems were confusing, but they managed to reach the cave mouth without getting lost. The Athosians' possessions lay abandoned on the ground. Outside, it was still dark, but the sky was clear, free of any of the Wraith darts.
"I guess we won," Roberts remarked.
Atlantis
"What is it, McKay?" Major Lorne asked. The scientist was hammering furiously on a variety of consoles and computers.
"I'm trying to get sensors back online, so we can figure out what's going on." The Wraith attacks had mostly subsided when the shield went up, like the supply of troops had simply run out. Still, it wouldn't be too much to assume that there were still a few pockets left here and there. "Oh, no. No, no, no!"
"What is it?" Lorne asked again.
"Wraith Darts, about a hundred of them. They've all turned around and are headed for the city."
"Why the hell would they do that?"
"It's a suicide run. The Daedalus must have taken out their hive-ships and now there's nowhere for them to go."
"But we have the shield, right?"
"Right, because having a shield above our heads makes it perfectly fine!" McKay replied sarcastically. He took a deep breath. "Yes, it will probably stop the darts."
"Probably? Doc, didn't that thing hold back an ocean?"
"Look, you can never predict anything with total certainty, especially ten thousand year old technology. It's-" A bright flash came through the windows. "Well, it's held against the first one."
"We can hold the power room," Teldy told Weir. "It's your city, you should get to the control room."
She nodded. "Colonel, Major. Let's get moving."
The trip up the tower was eerily quiet, with no enemies in sight. Still, there were signs of battle everywhere. Slick pools of blood and bodies of the Wraith drones littered the hallways and staircase. One of their own was among them, bloody holes punched in his armour. Bullet impacts and energy burns covered the walls.
The control room was chaotic, with people scrambling all over trying to get the city running again. The stained glass window behind the stargate was gone, replaced with a gaping hole and wreckage that was once an A-3. Several bodies, expedition and Jaffa, were pushed to the side, leaving streaks of blood on the floor.
Everyone turned as they entered the room. Major Lorne was the first to speak, reporting, "Control room secured, ma'am."
"Rodney?" Weir asked. She removed her helmet and set it down on a console, letting her hair back down.
"We've got the ZPM hooked in and the shield is back up. Held the inbound darts no problem."
"Get me city sensors, I need to know where everybody is and if there are any Wraith around." Damn, it felt good to be back in charge.
"One sec... there we go!" the scientist reported. "Seems like mostly everyone went to the main mess hall. Hold on- this can't be right. There are more people there than the total complement of the expedition."
"The Athosians," Carter explained. "The Daedalus beamed them to Atlantis."
"And the Wraith?"
"Pockets remaining all over the city," Rodney replied.
Weir turned to the military officers. "Clear out the Wraith, do whatever you need to."
As they began issuing orders, she turned back to Rodney. "What about the goa'uld?"
"Uh, they seem to have headed back to their ship, which is just sitting there." He paused for a moment. "Looks like it's what the remaining Wraith are heading for."
Zelenka had little to do but wait in the jumper. The control room had been retaken, and the shield was back up. Idly, he toyed with the external sensors. It was that or play Tetris.
Lieutenant Chadad had even less to do. She paced back and forth inside the jumper. Combat wasn't a good thing, but she wished something would happen. She stopped suddenly. Wish fulfilled.
"What is it?" Zelenka asked, sensing the tension.
"Lifesigns, four of them," Chadad replied. "I will be right back."
She moved slowly out the back of the jumper, rifle in hand. The hatch slid shut behind her. Her eyes flicked to her HUD, more specifically the tracking display. Right around the corner, heading toward her. She crouched and waited.
The first Wraith to round the corner didn't get the chance to realize what killed him. Ten 7.62x51mm rounds ripped through his neck and head, some proceeding to impact the squadmate behind him. Another burst took that one down as well. The rest of the magazine Shira dumped into the third Wraith, injuring but not killing him. There was no time to reload.
Lieutenant Chadad dove under the incoming weapons fire, ignoring the stunner blast that hit her shields. In one smooth motion, she drew her machete and severed the injured drone's legs at the ankle. The other Wraith, this one quite clearly not one of the mindless drones, attempted to impale her on his stun rifle. It crunched against her armour, and startled the Wraith, giving Chadad an opening. In a split second, she jumped to her feet and rammed the blade through the alien's heart, or at least where it would have been on a human.
The location was the same. Dark red blood poured from the wound, soaking her knife and hands. Shira pulled the machete out and removed the Wraith's head with it. She wiped her knife on his clothing and retrieved her rifle, reloading it as she jogged back to the jumper.
"My god, what happened?" Zelenka asked, noticing the splattered blood. "Nevermind, that's not important now."
He turned his tablet to show the Lieutenant. "What does that look like to you?"
The image was distorted and difficult to see, but she figured it out after a moment. "A hive-ship battlegroup."
Ba'al sat on the (ugly, but surprisingly comfortable) command chair, pondering his options. There was nobody to discuss the matter with. One of the downsides to being a god was that one could not ask mere mortals for advice.
They were, in a word, trapped. With the shield up, they could not simply take off and leave. There was no way to drop it, either. He couldn't hack the system remotely, and trying to get back to the tower to do it manually would be suicide. The Wraith were pouring toward the ship, and the Tau'ri would be right behind them.
No, they couldn't wait. He would have to act now. Ba'al had learned two things from his adversaries. The first was that the craziest plans worked the best. The second was that if you were going to go down, you should go down fighting.
"Bring the engines to full power. Set course for the tower and ready all weapons."
"Huh, that's weird," Rodney muttered.
"What is it?" Weir asked.
"I'm detecting an energy spike from the goa'uld ship, like they were taking off. But there's no way they can get through the shield."
"They're not going through the shield," Sheppard and Carter said at the same time.
"Oh, crap!" Rodney exclaimed. "You're right, they're not. The ship is headed straight for the control tower."
"Evacuate the tower!" Weir ordered. "Surface-to-air missiles, get them up and running. Can we scramble jumpers?"
Sheppard shook his head. "No way, they'll never be up in time, and the SAMs won't do shit."
He paused for a moment. "What the hell am I talking about, we've got a kickass weapon!"
"Like what?" Rodney asked cynically.
"The control chair!" Sheppard said, running toward the stairwell.
"It doesn't work!" Rodney shouted after him.
"We didn't have a ZPM before!" Sheppard countered, running down the stairs.
"No, it doesn't work even with the ZPM! I broke it on purpose!"
Sheppard came back up the stairs. "You did WHAT?"
"Look, Ba'al would have used it to destroy the Daedalus! And I almost killed the two Jaffa guards with it."
"You destroyed our only offensive weapon?"
"I didn't-"
"Gentlemen," Weir interrupted. "We don't have time to argue. ETA?"
"Less than one minute and counting," Rodney said. The tower shuddered as small explosions dotted the outer surface. "Well, that's just great. Now they're shooting at us."
"Drop the shield," Sheppard ordered.
"What? Are you out of your mind?"
"Just do it, McKay!" Carter yelled. She immediately caught on to what Sheppard was thinking.
"Fine! If we all die, it's not my fault."
Ba'al allowed himself a smile. It was not impossible he would survive the crash. Even if he didn't, he would die with the satisfaction of taking several of his worst enemies with him. Sadly, that did not include O'Neill, but the beautiful Samantha, idealistic Daniel and the shol'va Teal'c would be enough. And there would always be one to take his place. "Time to impact?"
"Fifteen seconds," his First Prime reported. That would be about... twenty-one Long Slithers? "It has been an honour, my lord."
Suddenly, the protective bubble above the city dropped. Less than a second later, a stream of fire poured from the sky. Meteorites?
The railgun rounds ripped through the already-damaged starship. It jerked violently to the left and began losing altitude. Already skimming the top of the city, there was no room to manoeuvre. It smashed into the side of a tower, destroying it and continuing to plough into another at an angle. The port side of the ship was torn off, but the rest continued, reaching what would be street level and cartwheeling violently. Once the pride of the Trust and then the secret weapon of the Goa'uld, the ship known officially only as Project 941 was now nothing but a streak of wreckage on an ancient city.
Ba'al crawled out of the twisted metal. He was in great pain, and would die if he did not find a new host soon. Any of the Jaffa would willingly take him, but they were all in even worse shape. He crawled away from the burning wreckage and lay still, barely breathing.
What looked like a pale human in what appeared to be a black leather tunic kicked him. He was surrounded by four muscular warriors with the same skin tone, but faces covered with bone masks. All carried weapons more along the lines of what the goa'uld would build, not the Tau'ri.
So, these were the Wraith. "You are different," the Wraith hissed. He grabbed Ba'al roughly by the throat and hauled him up. Stronger than a human, except when they were wearing that infernal armour.
"I am Ba'al," he replied in the distorted goa'uld voice. "You will bow before your god."
"An amusing offer," the Wraith replied. He drove his other hand into the chest of Ba'al's host, sending racking pain through his body. Suddenly, the Wraith's eyes went wide, and he dropped the lifeless body to the ground.
"We must leave," the Wraith said, turning to his drones.
"The last pockets of Wraith resistance are being mopped up, ma'am," Lorne reported.
Weir nodded. "And the goa'uld vessel?"
"As good as gone," Rodney McKay said. "The wreckage probably did a bit of damage to the city, but anything that was on that ship is dead."
"So we're in the clear." Weir exhaled. Was it finally over?
"No, we're not," Zelenka gasped, running into the room. Lieutenant Chadad followed him, easily keeping pace. "Twelve more hive-ships, they're headed for the city."
"They must have called for reinforcements," Sheppard suggested. "What hit us was only the first wave."
"I doubt we can stop twelve hive-ships, even with the shield," Weir said. "Daedalus, what's your status?"
"Totally screwed," General O'Neill replied. "Life support is barely working right now. Until Stevie can get this tub running again, we're going to need the protection of Atlantis' shield as much as you do."
"So, that's a no-go on offensive action?"
"I'm afraid so, Doctor. We do have a little present for you, though." Daniel, Teal'c, and SG-114 appeared in a flash of light.
"This is amazing," Daniel said immediately, examining the architecture. "This city must be- who the hell drove the ship through the window?"
"That would be me, sir, and I am very sorry," Major DeLoria replied. Daniel just glared back.
"Gentlemen, if the introductions are complete, we need a-"
"Dart!" McKay shouted. "We've got a Wraith Dart taking off from the east pier."
"SAM sites, I want that thing gone!" Weir ordered.
"Too late," McKay shook his head. "The Dart is making a beeline to orbit."
"Daedalus?"
"Negative," Caldwell replied over the radio. "Most weapons are offline and we've already begun landing procedures."
"But why would they leave now?" Weir asked. "The Wraith are willing to do suicide runs, so it's not survival."
"Probably to go and tell their fleet of hive-ships that we're not dead!" McKay replied.
"No, it doesn't have a hyperdrive," Carter countered. "They'd have to wait for the hives to get here. Besides, they already know."
"Maybe they will give a more detailed report," Zelenka suggested.
"It's not headed toward the hives at all," McKay reported. "It seems to be headed... toward Lantea II."
"The weapons satellite," Sheppard said. "We need to go after it."
"Agreed," Weir nodded. "Major, take a jumper. Everyone else, I need ideas on how to defend the city. Zelenka, how far out are those hives?"
He shrugged. "Maybe a day or two to get to this system and a few more hours to this planet."
"Major, take Doctors Grodin and Abrams with you. If you can get that satellite working, that'll be something."
"What, not me?" McKay asked.
"No, you're going to fix the control chair you blew up." Weir spoke with a slightly accusatory tone.
"Oh, come on, it was not my fault!"
"Just fix it," Weir snapped. "Colonel, would you-"
"I would be happy to help," Carter replied.
"Major Lorne?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Get everyone suited up and armed. I want the control tower fortified, and the power room as well."
"Yes, ma'am." After that, Lorne appeared to just be standing there, but was actually spouting out orders into the communications net.
"Doctor Beckett, get your staff together and prepare to receive casualties."
The doctor nodded, then hurried out of the control room.
"Oh, and welcome to Atlantis, Doctor Jackson. I just wish it could be under better circumstances."
Jumper One
"That's not a Dart," Sheppard remarked as the Wraith spacecraft came within view. "It's too big."
"Maybe it's a bigger version... a Heavy Dart," Grodin suggested.
Sheppard almost rebuffed the comment, but the statement brought back pangs of memory of Lieutenant Ford. They would survive the Wraith, they had to. It wasn't over, wouldn't be over until the Genii felt his wrath. John shook the thoughts out of his head. "Heavy Dart sounds good."
With nothing but a thought, two drones came out of the weapons pods, steaking toward the Wraith ship. Less than a second before they hit, a shimmering hyperspace window appeared in front of the vessel and it disappeared into hyperspace. The drones shut down, drifting through space.
"I guess it has a hyperdrive, too," Grodin said. "But where is it going?"
"No idea, he's gone. Let's just go and get that satellite working."
Atlantis
Elizabeth Weir strolled outside onto the balcony. A cup of tea was cradled in her gloved left hand. She found it relaxing to stand there, looking over the city and the broad ocean. And right now, more than ever, she needed some time to think. She was not, however, expecting anyone else there.
"General O'Neill," Weir acknowledged. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"It's a nice city," O'Neill said, "Would be a shame to lose it."
"I have faith in my people. We'll defend the city."
"Or die trying." O'Neill chuckled. "Even if we win here, the Wraith are still out there. And you know as well as I do that they're just going to keep coming back for more. I know you want to save Atlantis. Hell, so do I."
"But we might have to destroy it," Weir finished. "I'm well aware of that possibility, General. And I'm willing to push the button if it becomes necessary. I'm just really, really hoping it's not."
"Elizabeth!" Rodney shouted, running onto the balcony. He noticed the other person. "Oh, General O'Neill, I wasn't expecting to find you here."
Turning back to the expedition leader, he continued. "We have a problem. Sam and I got the chair working again- she was a big help, by the way- but I don't think it'll do us much good."
"Why the hell not?" O'Neill asked. He had personally decimated a goa'uld fleet with one of those a year earlier.
"There are only a few hundred drones left," Sam answered, coming up behind Rodney at a much calmer pace. She had left her helmet on, probably to keep connected to the battlenet, but left her faceplate clear. "That's maybe one hive-ship and a few Darts."
O'Neill resisted the urge to stare. The form-fitting armour was actually quite flattering, despite the lack of cleavage and unexposed midriff. "Carter, the outpost in Antarctica had thousands of the damn things!"
"The outpost didn't have to defend itself against a fleet of Wraith ships," Rodney argued. "Look, the Ancients probably used up the drones in the attack that made them leave in the first place."
"So, the drones are useless?" Weir asked.
"Like Sam said, maybe one hive and a few darts, or a handful of cruisers."
"Well, so much for that idea," O'Neill quipped. "Alright, what else do we have?"
"Several surface-to-air missile batteries," Carter replied.
"Which are useless against hives and now redundant against darts."
"A few dozen nuclear warheads," the Colonel continued. "More if we borrow from the Daedalus."
"And what would we do with those? Make them into mines and place them in orbit with puddle jumpers?" McKay asked sarcastically.
"All right, what do we have that we can use?" Weir asked.
"The satellite, if they can get it working, is probably good for a hive or two, at the least, though I'd like to stress the get it working part," Rodney McKay replied. "The drones can take out a hive or maybe a couple of cruisers."
"If every fighter launches both its missiles," Carter continued. "That's three move hive-ships destroyed, theoretically at least. In practice, one or two."
"That doesn't add up to twelve," O'Neill complained. "So, we're boned."
"Well, I wouldn't go that far, I mean, they're not here yet, are they?"
"Keep me posted," Weir finished. "And if you can rig up any more potential weapons, I suggest you get on it."
Ancient Weapon Satellite
"Power is coming back online," Peter Grodin said as the lights flickered, then came on. "Activating artificial gravity."
Sheppard, who had been floating halfway up the compartment, came crashing down to the floor. "Ow. Couldn't you have warned me?"
"Sorry, Major, I wasn't expecting it to come on so quickly."
"Yeah, yeah, it's all right. What about the weapon?"
Grodin connected his laptop to one of the control panels. "Well, we have power now, but it seems there is another problem."
"Like what?"
"Uh, the power isn't getting to the weapon itself," Abrams explained. "The satellite is designed to store charge from a small power source such as our naquadah generator and discharge it in one big pulse. Peter, there should be some kind of buffer or capacitor."
"I think I found something like that," the other scientist said. He brought up a different screen on his laptop. "Yes, power is at ninety percent."
"So, power's getting to the buffer but not the weapon?" Sheppard asked. Peter nodded. "Well, what's between the buffer and the weapon?"
"These power conduits," Peter pointed out. "They are severed and need to be repaired or replaced."
"Or routed around," Abrams added.
"Or rerouted," he agreed. "I think I can... damn."
"What?"
"The conduits. They're on the outside. Someone's going to have to go for a spacewalk."
"Well, at least we brought a thruster pack," Sheppard muttered wryly. "Guess we'll have to draw straws."
"We don't have any straws. Does anyone have a pencil?" Grodin asked.
Sheppard fished in his tac vest for one. Finding it, he snapped it in three and flattened the tops. Each drew a pencil, and Abrams found himself with the short one. "Damn it."
Dr. Grodin patted him on the back. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Major Sheppard-"
"Jumper, right."
Atlantis
"What if the Wraith don't know we're here?" Carter asked, examining the control chair circuits.
Rodney McKay looked up from his laptop. "What do you mean?"
"We both know what the Wraith's real target is- Earth. The only way they can get to Earth- that they know of, anyway- is here."
"So?"
"I've been thinking. See, we've been focusing on this battle, not the long run. The Wraith will be back, whether it's in a week or a year. As long as they know we're here, they'll keep coming."
"So we do what? Submerge the city? They'll detect us anyway, and I'm not sure if we can even do that anymore. Take off and leave? The engines probably don't even work. Wait, you want to cloak the city?"
Carter nodded. "I've been looking at the technical information on Atlantis' shield, and it looks to me that the technology is fairly similar to the cloak used on a puddle jumper. I think we can rig it up to work as a cloak."
She picked up a tablet and showed it to Rodney. "My god, you're right."
Ancient Weapons Satellite
The spacewalk was not as bad as Dr. Abrams expected. Despite the fact that it was a suit of armour in addition to a vacuum suit, the Aegis armour was much less cumbersome than a space suit. The satellite was designed without any handholds, never intended to be serviced from the outside. The thruster pack on his back pushed him gently toward the side of the satellite.
"Oh, man, this is not good," Abrams muttered. "Looks like the satellite took a hit- that's probably what severed the conduit."
"Roger that," Grodin replied. "The panel should be on your right."
Abrams activated his magnetic boots, locking him to the satellite. He removed the panel, revealing a row of cylindrical objects with handles. "This is some kind of power diverter panel, right?"
"Correct. The bottom two on the right need to be activated."
"It turns both ways!" he said after trying one of them. He pushed it all the way to the right.
"Wrong way," Grodin said, and Abrams turned it back the other way. "That looks good. Now the other one."
"It's like a damn quadruple bypass," Abrams muttered. "The shot must have cut right through the main power conduit."
"Power to the weapon has been restored," Grodin replied. "You can come back now."
Abrams activated the thruster pack again. A short burst propelled him away from the satellite and into the back of the jumper, where he immediately felt the artificial gravity. Sheppard closed the rear hatch and re-pressurized the rear compartment.
Atlantis
"So you can make the city disappear?" General O'Neill asked, resting his feet on the conference table.
Colonel Carter replied. "By integrating the control crystals from a jumper's cloak, we can set up the proper pha-"
"Carter!"
"Yes, sir, I think we can do it."
"There's one flaw in your plan," Caldwell added. "The Wraith know we have cloaking tech. They're not going to go for it if the city suddenly just disappears."
"Ah, but you see, I thought of that," Rodney replied smugly. "We'll have the Daedalus beam a nuke above the city to simulate a self-destruct. While their sensors are blinded, we switch from shield to cloak."
"Am I right in thinking that the cloak and shield are mutually exclusive?" O'Neill asked. Carter nodded. "Then if this fails, the Wraith are going to blow the city to hell."
"Which we were going to do anyway if things got bad enough," Weir mentioned. "Does anyone have any better ideas?"
There was a chorus of "nope", "no," and "uh-uh". "All right then. If the situation comes to it, we will evacuate all non-essential personnel to the Daedalus, just in case this gets ugly. You can take the dialling crystal, but the ZPM has to stay for obvious reasons. The we'll attempt to cloak the city."
"Do you think the Wraith will buy it?" O'Neill asked.
"If they don't, we're screwed anyway."
Ancient Weapons Satellite
"Alright, this is not good," Sheppard said. The jumper refused to lock on to the docking collar. "When you diverted power, did you divert it away from the airlock?"
"I must have," Abrams said with a hint of guilt.
"Well, looks like you'll have to do it the old fashioned way," Sheppard said.
"I can't, there's an interlock," Grodin replied. "With the airlock open, the weapon will not fire."
"Should I go back and fix it?" Abrams asked.
"No, don't bother," Grodin replied. "Someone is going to have to stay behind anyway. The automatic firing control also seems to be offline."
"Alright, I don't like this, but I'll roll with it," Sheppard replied. "If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate. Just get the hell out of there."
They waited a few minutes before the group of hive-ships appeared, shooting out of hyperspace. Each hive-ship had three cruisers accompanying it, totalling forty-eight ships in all. As Sheppard watched from a safe distance with the jumper cloaked, Grodin powered up the satellite.
Targeting the first hive-ship, the satellite pivoted around. A greenish stream of energy shot from its tip and cleaved straight through the lead hive-ship, destroying it in one shot. The rest of the ships turned toward the once-dormant satellite and accelerated.
"Something's wrong," Sheppard said. "If he could fire, he would have done it by now. Grodin, what's your status?"
"It looks like the circuit we rerouted has overloaded," Grodin replied. "The weapon can't fire again."
"Can you fix it?" Sheppard asked.
"No."
"I'm coming back, get the hell out of there!"
Grodin shut down the artificial gravity on the control panel, then jumped from the bottom of the shaft, floating to the top. Outside, the first shots slammed into the delicate satellite. Grodin pulled the emergency release handle and the doors popped open. Air rapidly left the satellite through the opening. Taking a deep breath, he jumped through.
The most eerie part was the silence. Even as the satellite was destroyed in a fiery explosion, he could hear nothing from it. Without a thruster pack, he floated uncontrollably. Hopefully the Wraith didn't notice or care about him.
The familiar form of a jumper appeared in front of him, lined up so that he would drift through the door. As soon as he was in, Sheppard shut the rear hatch and reactivated the cloak, quickly pulling away from the incoming Wraith weapon fire. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard, confirm one kill. Satellite destroyed, we are RTB. Out."
Atlantis
General O'Neill was the first to break the silence. "Well, so much for that idea."
Weir nodded sagely. "Put me on city-wide."
"The past few days have been tense. First the goa'uld took the control tower and held the city hostage. Then the Wraith arrived, and during our attempt to retake the city, invaded. With the help of the Daedalus, we pushed them back. We won against all odds.
"As you probably know by now, the Wraith have returned with larger numbers. The Daedalus is in no shape to fight, the satellite has been destroyed, and we don't have many drone weapons left. There's no telling how long the shield will hold under continuous bombardment.
"We've come up with a plan to make it appear as if the city has been destroyed. There is no guarantee it will work, and if it does not, Atlantis will be destroyed. All non-essential personnel are to be evacuated to the Daedalus, just in case. You all know what to do.
"During the past year, you all have accomplished extraordinary things. I wish I could promise you that this is a fight we will win, but I can't do that. I wish I could tell you that we will survive, but I can't do that. I can tell you this. If we're going down, we're going to take as many of them down with us as we can.
"Thank you, that is all."
There was a long silence, which O'Neill broke again. "You've changed."
She nodded in reply. "Colonel Caldwell, I recommend you return to your ship now."
"What about us?" Colonel Carter asked.
Weir shook her head. "It's not your fight."
"The hell it isn't!" O'Neill argued. "We're staying. Right, boys and girls?"
"Yes, sir," replied Carter.
"Yeah," replied Daniel.
Teal'c bowed his head slightly.
"All right, General, I suggest you get to the chair room, in case Major Sheppard doesn't return in time. Colonel, you're familiar with Ancient technology. I'd like you to work with McKay and Zelenka. Teal'c, go with the defensive teams. Doctor Jackson- well, I honestly don't know what to do with you."
"Well, I'd love to look around, but I guess I'll have to settle for searching the Ancient database for something we can use."
"What about my people?" Teyla asked. "Many of them express... concerns over leaving the city of the Ancestors to be destroyed."
"They'll be evacuated with the expedition," Weir replied. "This plan does have a chance of working, this is just in case."
"If it had such a good chance of succeeding, why would you order an evacuation?" Teyla asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You know as well as I do, this probably isn't going to work," Weir answered. "But I don't want to rob people of hope."
Teyla nodded. "I understand."
"Daedalus, I would advise you to depart as soon as possible," Weir said. "Head for the other side of the planet. They shouldn't be able to see you in the shadow."
"With all due respect, doctor, I've been thinking," Caldwell replied, over the radio this time. "If the Daedalus jumps to hyperspace before the nuke goes off, they might be inclined to believe us."
Weir thought about it. "Alright, go for it. If things go south, we'll rendezvous at-" she consulted a galaxy map "-M85-393. Good luck."
"Thank you. General, I would remind you of your command responsibilities, but I know you don't care. Good luck, sir."
"ETA?" Weir asked the scientists.
"One hour, eighteen minutes," Colonel Carter replied.
Jumper One
John Sheppard was, for lack of better words, pissed off. He was so close! He could have shot at the Wraith ships, boarded them, done something! And at the same time, he knew it was suicide. The Wraith armada lumbered uncontested toward Atlantis, not far behind the faster puddle jumper.
Lantea Prime was visible through the front window, a large blue marble. The Daedalus hung in a lazy orbit above the planet, slowly heading for the other side. Sheppard brought the jumper in fast and steep, a situation easily compensated for by the inertial dampeners.
He knew what the plan was, of course, and didn't like it any more than the others did. He couldn't think of anything better, except for flying a jumper loaded with explosives into a Dart bay. Although that was hardly better at all.
Sheppard brought the jumper down carefully through the bay doors, not wanting to do the same thing that crazy bastard DeLoria did. Puddle jumpers were tough, but it would still trash the spacecraft.
"Evacuation complete," he heard Caldwell say on the comm net as he left the jumper.
"Raise the shield," Weir ordered. Sheppard headed down to the control room followed by the two scientists. Seeing them, Weir added, "Welcome back."
After that, they had to wait. It was not fun, mostly because of what they knew they were waiting for. Sheppard remembered what someone had said about combat. Something about long periods of utter boredom interspersed with brief spells of sheer terror. Finally, the wait was over. The Wraith vessels positioned themselves over the city and opened fire.
"They're firing!" Rodney reported rather redundantly.
The impacts against the shield were almost beautiful, except for the fact that they were incredibly lethal. The entire dome was dotted with impacts of the blue energy bolts, which caused small orange bursts in the shield upon impact.
"Well, at least the shield is holding," Sheppard remarked.
"Yes, it's holding under the bombardment, but it's under incredible strain," Rodney replied.
"How long do we have?" Weir asked.
"Days. At this rate, the ZPM will be depleted in a matter of days."
"How can they keep that up?" Sheppard asked.
"Those hive-ships are massively powerful," Carter explained. "Add the cruisers to that. They don't have to sustain full-power full-rate fire to wipe us out."
"We should get moving, then," Weir ordered. "Recall everyone to the gateroom and signal the Daedalus."
About a dozen armoured figures appeared in the gateroom, the remaining military complement of the city. "Prepare to dial the gate in case this doesn't work."
Weir took a deep breath, then nodded. "Do it."
AES Daedalus
As soon as the Wraith ships saw them, several of them broke off and sped toward the Daedalus, opening fire with their weapons. "Time to deployment range?" Caldwell asked.
"Ten seconds, sir!" Major Marks replied. The ship shuddered as the powerful Wraith weapons slammed into their damaged shields. "Five... four... three... two... one... mark!"
"Deploy the warhead!" Caldwell ordered. "Helm, take us into hyperspace."
Atlantis
"Attention all personnel, prepare for detonation flash!" Weir shouted, her voice carried across the communication net. A flick of her wrist darkened her faceplate so much she could barely see out of it. Beside her, Rodney and Radek frantically shut down the few civilian computers they still had running. Doors were shut and several of the expedition members took cover. At this range, if the shield were to fail they would be vaporized, armoured or not.
The flash was brilliant, like a second sun in the sky. It quickly diminished, the nuclear reaction over in a few shakes, or tens of nanoseconds. A mushroom cloud began to form over the city shield, completely encompassing it.
"Rodney?" Weir asked.
"If we switch from shield to cloak before the blast radius diminishes we'll all be vaporized," Rodney replied. "Just five more seconds."
"That was definitely five seconds!" O'Neill said after a pause.
The scientist tapped on Carter's military-grade laptop. "There. We're cloaked."
"Is the city still going to be inhabitable after this?" O'Neill asked.
"What?" Rodney sputtered. "You're asking that now?"
"Well I had to ask some time!"
"Yes, of course!" Rodney spat. "Fallout over the city will be negligible."
"I think there's a more important question, did it work?" Weir asked, interrupting them.
"I don't know, they're still scanning us," Zelenka answered.
For the second time, it was a period of tense waiting. O'Neill likened it to a submarine movie, except instead of a submarine, they were inside a ten thousand year old city. And instead of a destroyer, it was a fleet of Wraith ships. And they didn't really have to be quiet. Okay, so it wasn't like a submarine movie at all.
Rodney McKay was the one to break the silence. "The Wraith fleet is breaking orbit. I can't believe it, we've won!"
"Don't be so hasty," Weir cautioned. "Keep the cloak up for now, until we're really sure. That being said, I share your sentiment. We did it."
Atlantis - One Week Later
The senior Atlantis personnel gathered on the pier to see off the mostly repaired Daedalus. Several familiar faces waited there to greet them.
"General O'Neill, SG-1," Weir greeted. "I trust you had a pleasant stay on Atlantis?"
"After the Wraith left, it was all right," O'Neill replied.
"It was really amazing, I mean, this is the city of the Ancients! I wish I could stay longer," Daniel said ruefully.
"We've already been over this," O'Neill said to him.
"I know, but a man can dream, right?"
"I had the opportunity to look over some of the Ancient technology, sir," Carter added. "I think I can solve the power problem that have been plaguing our attempts to establish an intergalactic wormhole. And with the ZPM here, two way gate travel will be possible."
"That's great!" Rodney McKay replied. "Maybe we'll, uh, see each other again."
Sam smiled and said back, "That would be great, Rodney. For professional reasons, of course."
"Yes, right, professional reasons." Well, that shut him up.
"Major Sheppard!" O'Neill called.
"Yes, sir?"
"Congratulations, you're now Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard, official military commander of Atlantis. Don't fuck it up." He handed the new LCol a set of rank insignia and saluted.
"Thank you, sir, I won't." Sheppard said, saluting back.
O'Neill turned to the Athosian leader, reaching out with his hand. He retracted it as Teyla bowed forward in the Athosian gesture, and awkwardly touched his forehead with hers. "On behalf of the Allied Earth Space Forces, Stargate Alliance, and the people of Earth, I offer our friendship and our thanks. God, what a mouthful. Basically, we're officially allies now."
"I, and my people, thank you," Teyla replied, smiling. "We endured many hardships together, and learned many new things. Were it not for your people, we would still live in fear of the Wraith. That time has come to an end."
"Well, glad to see we're appreciated," O'Neill replied.
The next thing General O'Neill did surprised the hell out of everyone around. He pulled the single-grey-star rank insignia off his uniform, leaving everyone wondering who the hell he would give them to. "Atlantis needs a leader," he said, handing them to Weir.
"General, you know I-" Weir replied, but was quickly cut off.
"From this point onwards, Atlantis is a military operation. This comes from up on high. You can relinquish command of the base and I'll go through hell trying to find a replacement, or just take the new title. Your choice."
Weir gingerly took the slip-ons. "But why?"
O'Neill replied, "We're at war. In war there are casualties. You're going to have to get used to that. Atrocities are committed. You're going to have to get used to that, too. This isn't a few recon missions anymore. I'm going to take the fight to the goa'uld, and you're going to take the fight the the Wraith. We both know they can't be allowed to feed on the galaxy at large forever. And we both know that they'll be back. The goa'uld might, too, and there are no doubt bigger, scarier things out there. I have confidence in you. Finish the fight."
Weir was rendered speechless for several moments. "I don't know what to say."
"So say nothing," O'Neill replied. He motioned to his team, and they began heading for the open door on the underside of the Daedalus.
"General," she called. She snapped a shaky and awkward salute. "Thank you."
General O'Neill responded in kind. "Good luck," he said before disappearing.
Brigadier General Elizabeth Weir turned to her people as the Daedalus took off behind them. "We have a mission. Let's get to it."
And it's a wrap! I'd like to thank everyone who read this story and especially those who commented on it.
At this point, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I could drop SGD and work on other things, maybe for a while, maybe forever. In addition to the unfinished fics here and on Spacebattles, I have several ideas that haven't been put on metaphorical paper (all my writing is done on a homebuilt Win7, Core i5-2500K, GTX 560 Ti rig and stored on a WD Caviar Black 1TB, backed up onto a Seagate Freeagent USB of the same capacity). I could rewrite Halogate as well. Or I could go back and revise some of SGD, although you'll never see the finished result here.
SGD Season Two. If I do this, I'm dropping the episodic format. I'm not sure if I want to go to a more traditional chaptered story format, or a more TL type one like In The Ashes of Autumn. I'm leaning towards the latter, as it is less work and gets the epic feel across better. I do have a general idea of what I'm going to do for S2, but I'm not sure if it'll be actually good or not. Updates will probably be much less frequent, as I'd rather focus on other things.
Your input is appreciated.