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Stargate: The Ascension of the Fifth Race
By Jayan-Phoenix
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Chapter Thirty-Four
Sateda
Pegasus Galaxy – Hyperspace – Allied Terran Ship Daedalus
When Mylus had been brought to Atlantis he had a hood over his head and had been shown to the conference room.
John, Larrin and Ronon had met Teyla there and the moment the two Satedans saw each other they embraced each other enthusiastically. Mylus explained what had happened, Ronon had immediately asked that John send the Pegasus Defence Fleet to help them.
Not needing convincing John had agreed, they had the Atlantis long range sensors hone in on the Satedan system and from what they could make out a large amount of the Trinity Fleet besieging the system and the four worlds that were inhabited there.
So John had the Tria, Daedalus and nine of the Generation Ships sent out to help, and left the planning to Colonel Caldwell as a test of his command of the Fleet.
Colonel Caldwell sat aboard the Daedalus which was the flagship of the Pegasus Defence Fleet even if it wasn't the most powerful if compared to a fully powered Aurora-Class. They dropped out just outside of the system to probe it before they acted and Caldwell was glad he had as what he saw was shocking.
The entire Trinity Fleet was in the Satedan system, they were spread across the system as there were four inhabited worlds but they needed a plan if they were to save the Satedans, the others were secondary targets as they had not planned on them being there in such numbers.
"How many?" Caldwell asked his Weapons officer on his right.
"I am counting twenty seven hives, thirty three cruisers and hundreds of darts." She said her eyes wide as she read the sensor readings, "Sir I don't think we can help any of them."
Caldwell sat for a few minutes trying to think of a way that their fleet, as large as it currently was could fight of the entire Trinity Armada, they needed to divide them and distract them.
With a plan coming into his mind he opened a channel to the fleet and gave them his orders "I want you all to jump to hyperspace and drop out at different points within the system, circle the system and then proceed towards the centre, the wraith will take notice and pursue you, once they begin to chase you I will jump in over Sateda and rescue them" he told them quickly, "If it becomes too dangerous or you think your ship is at risk you are to jump away immediately."
The Fleet followed his orders and he tracked them through hyperspace and once they were in place and their plan began to work the Tria send a small subspace burst which Daedalus detected and then they jumped to hyperspace.
When they arrived just a short distance away from Sateda the sight of the assembled fleet was shocking, and many of the crew drew in a breath, the fleet was engaging them and had drew them away but a sizeable portion remained, and Caldwell guessed that the Queens were somewhere on one of them.
"We have a zpm from the Atlantis stockpile, it is barely a quarter fall but for this we will need to plug it in." Caldwell ordered and it was relayed to the engine room, "Take evasive action and get us as close to that planet as we can, shields to full and destroy whatever ships we can."
"Sir we cannot survive that fleet!" shouted one of the crew from behind them.
"Yes we can now take us in!" he said sternly and his navigation officer did as ordered and they accelerated forwards and their shield blossomed under the impact of wraith weapons, but they too struck with the Plasma beam weapons indiscriminately firing on any ship that got in their way, the rail guns fired mercifully taking out the Darts that came at them, the missile silos atop the bow opened and released six payloads of missiles which were the anti-dart tactical variety and they managed to punch a hole through the armada.
"Take us into the atmosphere." Caldwell ordered, "Transfer power from the Asgard weapons into the shields to reinforce them, we won't need them there."
Daedalus pointed into bow downwards and began a fast descent into the planet's atmosphere, they skimmed through it to reduce the friction but at the speed they were going it didn't matter the shield was being strained by the friction and the enemy fire.
"Sir I am detecting the Satedans spread across the valley near the Stargate." The sensor officer reported, "I am reading five hundred life signs."
Caldwell frowned, he had not been told that they would be here in such large numbers, and they could not take that many people aboard the ship due to life support requirements.
"Lock on and beam up as many as we can but place them into the storage buffer, be careful not to beam up any wraith that could be down there too. We can rematerialize them later." Caldwell replayed and he silently preyed the ship would make it through this as it shook from the bombardment.
"Sir, five Generation ships have had to Jump to safety." Said the communications officer "They apologise but they were being overwhelmed."
"Its fine." He said he turned to the woman who was beaming the Satedans aboard "Have we got them all?"
"I think so, I have all of those that I can detect on the surface but there are bunkers and caves under the ruined city," she said frowning pressing buttons frantically, "there are life signs in them but I don't know if they are wraith or satedan or even human, the sensors are being distorted due to something in the composition of the ground and buildings."
"Very well we have done as much as we can." Caldwell nodded, "Ronon will be happy we have saved this many, take us back out into space and jump us immediately away from this system."
"Sir, the zpm has almost entirely depleted" the navigator warned as they accelerated up through the atmosphere and the enemy fire was increasing four fold as the wraith who had chased the Generation ships that had now left had returned, "We need to get clear of the atmosphere but this bombardment is slowing us down."
It took seven minutes to get themselves free of the atmosphere and accelerated and manoeuvre themselves into a path that could allow them to jump to hyperspace. The zpm had been drained in only three minutes and their shields were overtaxed and they took damage but had been able to jump to hyperspace.
They luckily had not lost a single ship but seven of the ships, including the Daedalus were damaged and would need repairs, but they had destroyed a small number of the Wraiths ships and now they had the Satedans in their buffer and they would now be safe.
The only question left to be answered was where would they go.
Pegasus Galaxy – Lantea – Atlantis
Torchwood Tower was something of an oddity within the ancient city of the Ancients, like the rest of the city it was clearly of Ancient Lantean architecture and contained numerous Ancient Lantean Control consoles and interfaces.
However, when the Institute had set up shop in the tower they had installed an abundant of technologies they had developed since this their founding, from power production, computers, work stations and all manner of things to help them with their work.
Atop the tower had been a large balcony but the Institute had made this a landing platform for their Quinn-carrier ship that had been developed by Prometheus II on its last supply run.
In command of the Torchwood operatives was Frederick Hartman, and he had made sure that Atlantis and the High Council was at ease with their presence on the city and integrated themselves with them for the better protection of their people.
So when Sheppard asked if they wanted to join the off world teams to carry out their research Frederick had agreed, and so his people began to go off world and accompany teams attaching themselves as scientists and even military support.
Frederick was kept busy on the city by organising the operations of his people but mainly they ran themselves, instead he devoted his time to the Ancient Database and his intellectual pursuits. When he had first arrived on the city as Gordon Matthews he had made himself useful by going through the database and doing research, it was something that he was good at and it distanced him from the horrors of his military past.
He was in the process of going through the vast amounts of star map data within the database looking for anything that could give them some insight into the Ancient Lanteans old domain when a console beeped.
Rolling his chair over to the console he pressed a few buttons and saw it was a communication channel opened from Stargate Operations.
"Amelia?" he said opening the visual link, "Is something wrong?"
"Frederick we have lost contact with the team that we sent to escort Mr Woolsey." She said "Councillor Sheppard has sent a team to investigate but we cannot get a lock on the planet they were stationed on."
"How long?" Frederick asked, his research completely forgotten and she had her undivided attention "Have you checked to see if Woolsey is still with that Coalition?"
"According to the Coalition he left four house ago." Came a hard voice from off screen and then Sheppard stepped into the frame, "I know you will be worried, I have sent word to the roaming Travellers and asked if they would check the planet but have yet to hear back."
"What about our own assets?" Frederick asked "What of our own ships?"
"Our Fleet is out fighting the Wraith in the Satedan system, they will not be available for a number of hours." Shepard said solemnly, "our Cargo ships are all currently on Messaline and our mining outpost, but as you know they are not close to us or the planet."
Frederick minimised them on the screen and brought up the Pegasus star map and highlighted the planet his brother and the team had been on, Lantea, the Pegasus Fleet and other ships were and he realised that none were in a position to get to them.
"I will go." He said frowning, "Our Quinn-carrier is hyperspace capable, and capable of speeds almost matching the Prometheus, their only disadvantage is their range."
Sheppard frowned himself having not considered that, "They are armed?"
"Two rail guns and a miniaturised pulse cannon." He shrugged, "They were not built for combat, they could hold off a few darts, it was built as a means of fast travel between short distances."
"I am not comfortable with sending you out on a potentially dangerous mission Hartman." Sheppard said tersely, "If you encounter anything like a hive or cruiser this could end with your ship destruction."
"Understood Councillor but my brother is out there and I have to help him." Frederick said standing up, "I will be away in ten minutes."
"I will have Lieutenant Colonel Lorne and Teyla accompany you." Sheppard said quickly "They are gearing up and will be in your tower in ten minutes."
"Very well Councillor." Frederick said and he ended the conversation and moved away from the console at a run and down the set of stairs to the armoury, he had four of the Institute operatives gear up in their black armour, unlike those on Earth who used the white variant.
He was placing his plasma pistols into their holsters on his legs when the door chimed and he opened it with a wave of his hand and found Lt. Colonel Lorne, Teyla and to his surprise Doctor Becket outside and ready to leave.
"Doctor Beckett" Frederick said "Sheppard didn't say he was sending you."
"He told me what was happening and I thought a doctor might be needed." Beckett said uneasily, "I hope you do not mind."
"Not at all." Frederick said smirking, he knew the Doctor was wary of him and the Institute, they were currently researching medical technologies and had wanted his input but the doctor did not seem at ease with their method of advanced research.
"Freddie the ship is ready." Rani from one of the Indian stations said.
"Thank you." He said and turned to the assembled "Come we need to leave."
Making use of the transport booth they arrived outside where it was starting to rain and the black Quinn-Carrier lay waiting, its rear access ramp lowered and a team of Institute officers were rushing around making it ready.
"Do you know how to pilot this?" Lt. Colonel Lorne asked "I thought you were in the Army not the Air Force."
Frederick smiled, he would keep them guessing on his past, it was very broad after all even if he was young, "I can fly this, something me and my brother have in common is that we are both very skilled pilots." He didn't care for being modest, it was the truth they could fly just about anything.
He took the pilots chair and strapped himself in while everyone else did the same, he activated the vessel start up sequence and the wings folded down and the sections of the fuselage retracted exposing two circular thrusters built into the wings and they came to life and began to expel thrust.
"Is everyone strapped in?" He asked as he ran through more checks and found everything was satisfactory.
"Yes." Teyla said over the on-board radio.
Nodding Frederick opened a channel to Stargate Operations "This is Black-Hawk One to Stargate Operations."
"This is Shepard Black-Hawk One." Said the high Councillor, "You are clear to proceed, I wish you luck, send word as soon as you can."
"Copied." Frederick said and he pushed forward one of the controls and the power channelling into the thrusters increased and it began to lift off the tower quickly, once he had achieved a decent velocity and was clear of the city he activated the rear thrusters and they accelerated up towards the atmosphere.
Once clear of the atmosphere the Ion propulsion drives took over from the thrusters and then accelerated at a greater speed while Frederick input the planet coordinates into the Navcom and then he activated the hyperdrive and they were soon hurtling through subspace towards his brother.
Pegasus Galaxy – M7D-669 – Downed Puddle Jumper
Matthew Hartman was in the rear of the jumper with the control crystal trays open trying to determine what systems were broken, as the Jumper was stranded in the bottom of the lake and the marine life outside was very large and aggressive.
"Anything?" Woolsey asked nervously.
"No." Matthew said reading his handheld computer "The damage to the drive pods is extensive and I cannot reroute power away through secondary systems as I thought I could, the pods are just damaged, I can get us above water on just the pod built into the underside of the Jumper but I will not be able to control our flight or move."
"Matt can you dial the gate?" asked Katie, one of the Institute scientists, "We need to call for help."
"Tried it six times." Matthew snapped "You watched me six times try to use the on-board DHD, either it is broken, the signal isn't reaching the gate or the gate is in use."
Through the cockpit window they saw an explosion that illuminated the lake and they saw two of the large creatures that had been circling the jumper since they fell in the water.
"What the hell is that?" Woolsey spluttered.
"At a guess I would say it is whoever attacked us through the gate, they are throwing explosives into the lake to try and find us." Matthew said and he quickly began to be prod around in the crystal trays looking for a particular crystal. "Now everyone sit down while I do my work."
The explosions were more frequent and spread out over the lake, two of them were close enough to the Jumper to make it rock slightly but so far they had been lucky and had no direct impacts.
Matthew was working quickly having isolated the control systems that he needed and was working the rear small console in the back of the cockpit "Okay that should do it." He said to himself and he flicked a switch and a shield shimmered into existence around the jumper. "We have a shield." He called.
"I didn't think Jumpers utilised shielding technology." Woolsey said looking through the glass "How much time until it fails?"
"The shield is not as powerful as those used in the fleet, but it will hold off maybe three of these bombs that are being dropped." Matthew explained to them, "But to hold off the bombs means it's now pushing back the water which is also depleting the shield power."
"How long?" Katie demanded.
"We have maybe three hours." Matthew admitted, secretly he was just as nervous as everyone else on the Jumper but he hoped that Atlantis would send them help soon.
Pegasus Galaxy – M7D-669 – Quinn-Carrier
It took the Quinn-Carrier just under three hours to get to the planet and when they dropped out they saw that the system was empty, with no enemies displayed on the sensors. So Frederick set a course for the planet and locked on to the Stargate and he piloted the ship down through the atmosphere.
"We are here." He said to everyone, and he began to try and locate the Jumper or the team his brother led, "I am detecting around twenty people in the vicinity of the gate."
"Twenty?" Teyla said walking up behind him to looking through the cockpit glass, "Mr Woolsey's escort and your science team was only nine people."
"I am also not receiving their radio signals." Frederick said tersely, he would find his brother out here if it was the last thing he did, "I am going to take us in closer."
The Quinn-Carrier shot through the skies of the planet baring down on the Stargate position and as they got closer they saw that the gate was blocked by something in the middle of the event horizon and the twenty life signs they had detected were taking cover and firing rpg's at them.
"Okay we have hostiles." Frederick told them and he performed evasive manoeuvres "Whoever these people are…"
"This is Matthew Hartman of Atlantis." Said a voice over the radio "unknown ship can you hear me?"
"Matt?" Frederick all but shouted into his headset "Where are you?"
"We are in the lake, unknown assailants hit us and took out our drive pods." His brother told him "Are you able to help?"
Frederick was able to locate the jumper in the water, but a small explosion hit the outer hull of his vessel, "I don't care who these people are they are going to die."
At the front of the ship two small sections of the fuselage opened and the two railguns emerged from the forward section and a burst of weapons fire shot out and peppered the island and area around the gate but he didn't target the people.
"Do you recognise these people?" Frederick asked as he moved the ships position, its thrusters able to keep it hovering in one place but still able to move left and right allowing him to avoid the rpg fire.
"It could be the Genii." Lorne said taking the co-pilots seat without invitation "But as far as we knew they do not have these types of weapons."
"Matt can you get your jumper to the surface?" Frederick asked "I am engaging the targets and they are starting to fall back."
"Freddie?" Matt asked quietly "You don't have to do it."
Frederick flinched at his brother's words and his grip on the controls tightened, he held a finger over the trigger for the weapons as the targeting computer locked on to hostiles. The smell of fire and sound of screaming assaulted him suddenly and it had nothing to do with their current situation.
Lt. Colonel Lorne must have realised he was hesitating and he took a hold of the controls and pulled the trigger himself.
"But…" Frederick was about to say but he clamped his jaw shut, and steeled himself and took over the weapons fire and it took no time at all to kill the enemies and once it was clear the Jumper rose out of the lake.
It took tremendous effort to get the Jumper over the island, the Quinn-Carrier had to be lashed to it and drag it over but soon enough they were both on the ground. Frederick was immediately tackled by his brother who whispered into his ear that it wasn't his fault.
But Frederick was not so sure, he despised taking human life and it was the reason he had left the military, his brother understood his fear, he didn't care if he killed aliens such as Wraith but humans were a race he could not stomach to kill.
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PLEASE REVIEW MY DEAR READERS!
So I will be honest I hated the writing this chapter other than the Satedan rescue, but I have the next 7 chapters almost completely written just need to get them flowing better and they will be posted.
The next chapter will be Titled "Speed Way" and it will take place on the outer rim of Pegasus, some of you might be able to guess what that means.
As always I write this fic just for fun!
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