Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.

I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.

For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/

Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. topic/84023/35075481/1/

Review Responses

AlexanderD: If there's one about stargate that is consistent it's that when they make an enemy they make an enemy. These are people that planned galactic domination, they aren't going at this half hearted.

BIG Z1776: As the saying goes, it's always darkest before the dawn.

AerchAngel: Cruel cliffhangers are fun.

Shadows of Realm: It is a shame, but on the bright i get to have one of our guys turn around and say "my station" to whoever is leading this little siege attempt.

Cdoctor: I don't think it would work. Admittedly on the lower echelon it can work but Zarin isn't as susceptible i'm afraid.

Atlantis

"How the hell did these people manage to get onboard the most powerful asset we possess?" Jack asked.

"According to the intelligence we have from the fleet there was no sign of any enemy craft and the stargate was definitely active," said Sheppard. "They must have dialled in and gotten a foothold before anyone could stop them and the distress beacon claims a gate room incursion so it seems likely."

Jack sighed. "What's the status of the fleet?"

"Holding position outside of weapons range of the station," answered Sheppard. "They took a nasty hit from those ion cannons, when they hit, but their armour managed to blunt the damage until they got their shields up. A number of people on each of the ships that got hit were injured ranging from light to critical but no fatalities so far. The ships themselves were worse off but nothing a little time spent in a repair yard can't fix."

"Okay now for the important question, who would know the gate address to give it to them?" Jack asked with a frown.

Sheppard and Thor looked at each other.

"There are a number of people," said Thor. "However I doubt most of them would willing give it up. There is one possibility though."

"Go on."

"Minister Jakose," said Thor. "It is my understanding that he and Administrator Woolsey were a key part in the station planning process. It is possible he saw the gate address and committed it to memory."

"You think he cracked under torture," Jack stated.

"He hasn't had the training we have sir," said Sheppard. "And honestly the timing sure is convenient."

"How much of a foothold do they have?" asked Jack.

Sheppard shrugged. "We don't know sir. We know they started at the gate room and have probably worked their way further but we can't say for sure. By now they could have control of anywhere from the gate room to the entire station."

"The fact that they were able to gain control of the ion cannons and shields suggests that they have control of at least one of the stations two control rooms," stated Thor. "However the fact that they stopped firing and that most of the shots missed suggests they were only able to gain control momentarily before they were locked out, presumably by the stations AI."

"Or some of our people," added Sheppard.

"Let's hope both," said Jack. "Okay I want you to start dial the station from Atlantis and then keep going until you gain a lock, eventually they'll need to redial and that's when we'll have them. Tie one of the ZPM's in to the connection and we can get past the thirty eight minute limit."

"Got it sir," said Sheppard. He tapped his ear piece and started talking to McKay.

"Thor buddy I need to call in a marker with the Vanir."

"Of course O'Neill," said Thor. "What do you need?"

"Those Titans are small enough to fit through a stargate right?"

"Yes," Thor said, nodding in understanding. "But they will be unable to make their way through the stations corridors."

"They'll still be able to get through the stargate and into the gate room and if we are going to retake the station we need a foothold."

"I will have one of my ships send for as many as are available," said Thor.

"Thanks buddy," said Jack. "Sheppard prepare to start calling in markers of your own once we have a connection. We don't have the forces on standby in Pegasus to take on a large number of enemy troops."

"With all due respect sir are you sure that's wise?" asked Sheppard. "We still don't know who to trust on this one."

"That's why I said when we have a connection," said Jack. "We don't know who they are now but there is a chance we might find out if we can talk to our people. Somehow I doubt these guys are likely to self destruct in a space station unless they want to try breathing vacuum."

"My own people will be able to assist in combat situations O'Neill," said Thor.

"You sure buddy?" Jack asked, slightly sceptical. The Asgard weren't known for being foot soldiers.

"Our new bodies are more than capable of taking on most opponents and afford us far greater physical capabilities than a regular human," Thor stated. "They may also provide us with a trump card we can use."

"Fair point," admitted Jack. "Okay fine let me know when we have a connection to the station and we'll make a plan."

Celestia – Control Room

"Someone please give me some good news," requested Telford.

Being on the losing side of a siege was not good for ones positivity. The despair was starting to creep in and Telford knew good news was something everyone needed right about now. The enemy had finally broken through the last of the internal doors outside in the areas they occupied and that spelled the end of their shooting fish in a barrel strategy.

"Sir," said Perkins. "I think I have something."

"What?"

Perkins didn't reply, he just typed a few buttons on his console and smiled triumphantly.

Over the speakers came a voice sent from the heavens.

"This is Colonel Sheppard to Celestia, does anyone read me?"

Telford immediately pressed the com button.

"This is Colonel Telford on Celestia, we read you Colonel Sheppard. It's good to hear your voice."

He and the rest of the control room personnel couldn't help but smile and breathe a sigh of relief.

"Likewise Colonel, what's your current status?"

"The situation isn't very good Colonel," Telford said grimly. "We count over twelve hundred hostiles with only ninety eight soldiers and two hundred civilians on our side, the rest are all enemy prisoners and have been placed in a large cargo bay near the gate room."

"What kind of a foothold do they have over the station?"

"We've managed to keep them out of the main control area, the hangers and engineering. They've taken the gate room, secondary control room and the computer core went into lockdown mode as a result. We have no access to primary systems and the shields are stuck on and we can't switch them off. Oh and don't try coming through that stargate because they have the shield up."

"Have you been able to identify who the hostiles are?"

"No we have not, but there are a few corpses that have yet to be recovered by the enemy. This isn't a question I want to ask but just how much of a priority is this information because I really don't want to put my men at risk like this."

"I'm going to be honest Colonel it is very important so get your men moving to those corpses and grab one now then I'll explain."

"Jones, tell team five to turn around and grab one of those corpses," ordered Telford.

Jones spoke into his headset and the camera changed to show a six man team grinding to a halt and sprinting back the way they came.

"Okay Colonel talk," said Telford.

"As it stands we don't have the man power on hand to fight over a thousand hostiles," explained Sheppard. "We need to call in a marker to get the extra muscle and we need to know who to call."

"You don't know who to trust so you want to know who you can trust," summarised Telford.

"Pretty much."

"Jones where is team five?" Telford asked.

"About to reach the body's sir," said Jones. "I'm opening the door for them."

"Tell them to grab one and run like hell," ordered Telford. "Close every door behind them until they get to a safe spot."

On the display the six members of team five were grabbing the surprisingly heavy corpse of an enemy they had killed only a few minutes ago. Not a moment to soon they left the section and the door slid shut behind them, just as the enemy soldiers broke through the door at the other end of the corridor.

"Doors sealed and force fields in place sir," reported Jones.

"Colonel Sheppard, we have a hostile in hand," reported Telford.

"Nice work, what is he?"

"Jones?"

"Sending instructions now sir."

On the screen team five dropped the corpse they were carrying and starting ripping open the soldier's uniform in an attempt to expose the skin underneath, when dealing with an alien skin colour is usually a good place to start for identification. The layer of leather was ripped away to reveal not skin but a layer of dark armour. Puzzled they started to pull off the creature's helmet turning its head so that its right cheek was facing upwards to gain a better grip. Prying the helmet off they revealed the face of the creature, it had skin like a Wraith and even looked like a Wraith. Turning the creatures head revealed three dead red lights running along the creature's skull. It was undoubtedly a Zarasian foot soldier.

"Son of a bitch," said Sheppard over the com line.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Telford.

"A Zarasian genetically engineered hybrid foot soldier."

"Now we know who to trust."

"Tell your men to gather together and bunker down. With you if possible," ordered Sheppard. "I need to talk to General O'Neill and our allies."

"Understood."

"Oh and Colonel, spread the word. Help is coming."

"Understood," he said with satisfaction.

"That slimy piece of…" Sheppard trailed off as his anger bubbled over. "He never had any intention of negotiating for peace. He just wanted to make the best of a bad situation."

"It was a cunning plan," admitted Thor. "In the end it seems Zarin gained something much more valuable than the destruction of a single Wraith world."

"It was a trap all along and we walked right into it," yelled Sheppard. "We sat their and ate up his apologies and all the time he was planning on screwing us over."

"Sheppard, take a breath," ordered O'Neill, still in holographic form.

Sheppard did as he was told and took a breath. "Sorry sir."

"Save that anger and put it to good use," ordered O'Neill. "We'll need it if we are going to take back Celestia. Now I want you to get on the horn to the Wraith and the Averians and get us some more troops."

"Yes sir," said Sheppard before he turned to leave.

"Thor, that trump card of yours, is it still viable?"

"With the shield up it is our only option," stated Thor.

"Thor, are you sure about this?" asked O'Neill, concerned.

"Do not worry O'Neill I will survive, one way or another."

"Good luck."

Celestia

The Zarasian reapers, not that the Tau'ri knew to call them that, had reacted as one would expect to the knowledge that they were no longer going to be getting reinforcements through the stargate. They had immediately activated the shield and the iris around the stargate, having had plenty of time to decipher the controls for those systems. They had then reinforced their position in the gate room, placing large weapons to cover the gate, and removed the large crates they had brought with them. This meant that the jamming device had been moved and wasn't going to be easy to neutralise even if they could get past the shield and iris. Of course the Tau'ri were confident that they could with their allies help.

Speaking of allies they had finally been able to get in contact with their other allies, namely the Wraith and the Averians. Using skilled timing and a long range subspace communications array they had been able to disconnect the connection just a few seconds before Valley Forge dialled in. This freed up the Atlantis gate to call in a favour from the Averians and the Wraith. Both of their allies had strengths and weaknesses and the Tau'ri knew what they were. The Averians had a powerful and numerous fleet but lacked ground troops with any significant combat experience. The Wraith on the other hand had large but slightly fragile ships in small numbers but every one of their species possessed physical strengths that made them dangerous opponents. Echidna agreed to send Todd and a thousand Wraith soldiers to help liberate the station while the Averians would muster ships to guard the Wraith worlds in case the Zarasians tried to attack again. Meanwhile the Asgard/Tau'ri fleet would try to track down the Zarasian fleet and hopefully take steps towards recovering the missing Averians in process. At the very least they hoped to apprehend Zarin allowing for the possibility of a prisoner exchange.

It should be noted though that while the Tau'ri did have a sizeable number of troops of their own available for this mission, a little over three hundred in fact, they knew they wouldn't be able to take on an enemy battalion without some serious assistance. Arguably it was actually possible since each member was equipped with tempest battle armour but it would mean they would suffer some serious casualties in doing so. A number of Titans, even if they couldn't make it past the gate room, and a thousand Wraith warriors would make all the difference.

In a sealed and hidden room not on the official plans a piece of purely Asgard technology, that no crewman aboard knew how to operate, received a subspace signal and came out of a low powered state and went to full power. With the advanced computer system online and in operation other pieces of complicated machinery in the room now came into operation. Automated construction technology was something the Asgard had mastered long ago and matter synthesis technology allowed for much more compact construction machines. Six of these devices were present in the small room.

Against a wall and set into the floor and ceiling were two disks generating an anti gravity suspension field. Surrounding the top disc was a single thick metallic band with crystals lining the inside attached to a glowing red rod set into the wall behind the discs. These three pieces of technology were the only apparent components of the Asgard automated construction devices. As the five devices powered up the crystals lining the inside of the bands began to glow as power flowed into them. Generated from pure energy a shape started to form inside the band as the band lowered to the bottom disc before rising to the top again, constantly moving up and down. As the metallic skeletal form took shape in each of the fields the bands stilled and the computer sent a new set of instructions to the assemblers in accordance with the signal it had received. The assemblers discarded their standard template for the structure of the android bodies they were building and used a specialised design from the computers memory banks. Most Asgard used the standard android body design which was strong, fast and quite tough, certainly more than so than their former bodies were even before genetic degradation started to take its toll. In this instance though the five android bodies being produced were a combat variant meant for use by their military and security forces. In terms of base technology for the mechanics of the bodies the two designs were identical, allowing for the same incredible strength and speed that all Asgard now possessed. But while the now standard bodies possessed the same skin as Sovaer, which was a combination of living tissue and spider silk, the combat variants had a skin similar to the fabric layer of tempest armour. Much like tempest armour the silk and carbon nanotube weave had inset naquadah/trinium armour plating to afford the Asgard with even better protection. This gave them a rather menacing appearance and made them look like cyborgs, compared to their standard organic appearance, with the dark plating seemingly fused into their now black flesh. The combat forms were also equipped with built in weaponry as standard and for close combat the fingers ended in atomic edged trinium claws. In addition the Asgard had taken a page from the Goa'uld book of weaponry, placing a shockwave emitter in each palm, and since they looked like Kull warriors anyway mounted a plasma repeater on each wrist. The memory of what the replicators would do to the Asgard crew of the ships they boarded was still quite fresh in the memory of most Asgard, with Thor having first hand experience, and as such they were making sure that combat forms would be lethal in their function. These bodies were both power and resource intensive to produce, taxing the small Asgard designed power generator and making the construction of anymore than six unfeasible, especially with the time constraints. In fact it took the entirety of the time that was spent marshalling the Wraith forces at Atlantis to produce the android bodies.

The room had originally been added to the design of the station by the agreement of Thor and General O'Neill so that the Asgard would have a nearby download point in the event of the destruction of one of their ships in the void between galaxies. No one had thought the room would be needed, which is why it was kept locked down, but it was better to be safe than sorry. When the bodies were complete a subspace signal was received by the computer core through the stargate, indicating the destruction of android bodies, and the consciousnesses of six Asgard were received and placed within their respective bodies. The six Asgard downloading into new bodies were Thor, Freyja, Brynhildr, Eir, Hrund and Mist.

For this special mission Thor had required only the best and to the Asgard the best meant the valkyries. In the old days, before genetic degradation had meant their bodies became smaller and frailer, the valkyries had been an armed response group. The legends of them being all female were true, when Freyja had originally formed the group she had only recruited female Asgard to the cause. Tau'ri mythology though had demoted them from taking part in battles to merely carrying away the souls of the fallen. Mythology did however suggest that the valkyries decided who lived and who died in a battle, which was true. But with the humans limited scope on the events in the universe Tau'ri history didn't mention that they usually did so by personally ending or sparing lives as their mission directed. Now that they once again had bodies which were combat capable they had been training to resume their role as the Asgard ground forces. Each of the valkyries names had specific meanings that reflected their personal fighting styles, something which would become apparent in the coming battle.

Having already planned out what they were going to do there was no need for them to speak. Each member had a set task and they would carry it out. Walking up to the door Thor placed his palm against the reader panel and the door slid open. Stepping through the entrance they made their way through the halls in silence. Courtesy of their robotic brains their vision was enhanced by a heads up display which included readings from a built in life signs detector, being in an android body had its advantages. Using the life signs readings they were able to avoid the roving groups of reapers and slip past them undetected, of course it helped that they were inside the enemy lines already. Slowly they made their way closer to the secondary control room avoiding any reapers in the vicinity until eventually the number of life signs ahead numbered in the hundreds and they could go no further whilst remaining undetected. So they stopped, bunkered down and stayed out of sight and they waited.

What they were waiting for came to pass very quickly, monitoring the life signs readings the numbers dropped from hundreds to only a couple of dozen. To the Asgard hiding away this might seem strange, so many troops suddenly moving elsewhere surely had to be a trap to make them think their target was vulnerable to a surprise attack. But the Asgard knew the reason for so many troops moving away was because all ninety eight of the tempest armour clad Tau'ri had come together and launched an all out attack against the reapers in a section near the secondary control room. This meant that the reapers had been forced to move their troops away from the secondary control room to hold their lines against the security forces attack.

Knowing this window of opportunity would only last for a short time the Asgard descended on the control room at a flat out run. The Tau'ri SF's would have to withdraw as the reaper hoard descended upon them. The location of this attack had been carefully planned, it was close enough to allow the reapers guarding the control room to reposition themselves to stall the attack but far enough from the other clusters to mean that group would be stuck there until reinforcements arrived from the surrounding sections. In the mean time the Tau'ri were pushing their attack, penetrating deeper and deeper into reaper controlled territories, then when they slammed into the oncoming reaper hoard they would stall and pull back just slowly enough to lure them into chasing after them.

Stalking down the corridors the six Asgard approached the outer perimeter of reapers. Ahead of them and around the next turning were four reapers, or as far as the valkyries were concerned four future corpses. At a run they surged around the corner, Freyja and her valkyries at the head of the pack. The reapers barely had time to even turn around before they were mowed down by a hail of plasma repeater bolts. As their scorched and pot marked bodies crumpled to the decking the Asgard flew past, they hadn't even bothered to slow down. With the reaper perimeter breached it was on to the secondary control room. Rounding another corner they came face to face with four more reapers, standing amidst the twisted and scorched debris that had once been the solid metal door for the control room beyond. Using their gathered momentum they charged at them, closing the gap in moments. Eir and Thor held back as the rest of the valkyries went to work on their enemy. Hrund simply pounced and then repeatedly stabbed at her enemy's midsection using her clawed hands, while Mist ducked and dodged the oncoming plasma rounds before returning fire. Freyja and Brynhildr meanwhile opted to pound their enemy into submission with shockwaves from the crystals in their palms, causing the reapers to slam back against the wall with a sickening crunch, before firing their own volley of plasma bolts until they were confident their enemy had been slain.

Continuing on they charged into the control room, felling the two more reapers standing just inside the room. Following up, with Eir behind him, Thor quickly took in the situation around him, the reapers were all dead and the control room had been cleared of enemy soldiers. But what remained was a small power generator that had been jerry rigged into the control consoles and a cowering human wearing the enemy's uniform.

With a gesture Thor signalled the other valkyries to leave and take up defensive positions. Seeing the dark spectre seemingly walk by him as if he wasn't there the human decided to make a break for it, dodging past Eir and running for the clear entranceway as if the hounds of hell were behind him. Thor's response was to casually turn round and fire a plasma bolt into the fleeing mans leg before he could even make it out of the room, causing him to collapse screaming in pain.

"Eir," Thor ordered.

Eir immediately went over the injured human and immediately raised her hand to the humans injured leg. The human immediately paled as the dark spectre approached and began desperately pleading for his life when the thing raised its hand, revealing a glowing crystal. But instead of the increase in pain that he expected he was surprised when his overall pain actually lessened and widened his eyes in shock when the things hand moved away and revealed his now uninjured leg. The human was rendered speechless as the thing moved away to stand guard by the door. Instead of the regular shockwave emitters that the other Asgard possessed Eir, as the group's combat medic, had been fitted with a pair of Goa'uld healing devices.

"If you try to escape again I will not have your next wound healed," said Thor calmly, while examining a console. "The Tau'ri, the owners of this station, have rules regarding prisoners of war that say they cannot be tortured. However my people do not have such rules and you are not a Tau'ri prisoner at the moment, you are mine."

"Who…who are you?" the human managed despite his fear.

Thor turned away from the console and looked down at the cowering human.

"We are friends of the Tau'ri."

The human instantly paled in shock at the dark creature's words that hinted at horrors that had been unknowingly unleashed upon his people.

As an after thought Thor reached down and plucked the forgotten sidearm the human wore from its holster, examining the weapon before bending the barrel and rendering it useless.

Thor turned back to the console typing in command codes. It was easy for the Asgard to navigate his way through the stations systems since he had, after all, had a hand in designing it. Entering his personal access code he overrode the computer core lockdown allowing for full access to the stations controls once again. As a safety precaution he shut down the weapons and shields before cutting power to the gate room. He then accessed communications and sent a message through the open stargate.

It occurred to him that the AI installed would need to be adjusted or most likely even entirely replaced with the more advanced version being utilised on the Tau'ri warships. The version they had installed was effectively just a basic monitoring version until a more advanced version could be installed or extra command protocols could be added. The current version could follow commands and would react if the crew's lives were ever in any danger but hadn't known to react to the stun wave or the unwanted guests. Clearly that problem would need to be fixed once all this was over, assuming they were able to successfully retake the station.

Celestia – Gate Room

With main power cut the entire room was pitch black until the emergency back up generators automatically kicked in, and the room was lit by dim red lighting. Even without main power life support and the gravity plating remained online but the shield surrounding the gate remained offline. The hundred reapers present immediately raised their weapons and turned six large plasma cannons towards the stargate even though the iris was still closed. With their gaze focused on the stargate they completely failed to notice the Titan beam in behind them. The transport pillar mounted in the ceiling still worked even with the disruptor active and main power down but the shield around the stargate had been blocking the signal, but not anymore.

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