24 – The Pegasus Invasion, Part 1
(Atlantis – Gate Room – 06.19.2022, 0806)
The Gate Room was a buzz of activity. While the Milky Way Galaxy had been falling to the Terrans, the people of Pegasus had been all too aware that they would next. So many worlds had been preparing for the incoming invasion. And Atlantis was no different. The city had been relocated to Sateda, where it doubled as the planet's Stargate Command. Both the Pegasus Alpha and Beta Site had been evacuated weeks ago, with their staff joining the complement of Langara Base.
Today, AR-1 one was scheduled to go on a mission to M4R-355, where they were setting up a refugee camp. The rest of the team was waiting for Teyla in the Gate Room. Ronon Dex and Rodney McKay were discussing the mission. 355 was an ice planet, so McKay was already complaining about the cold. ~Some things never change.~ The third person waiting was the newcomer.
Lieutenant Vasily Orlov was a young Russian naval officer. He lacked flight training, but he had served as the Helm Officer on a submarine. Orlov also had the Ancient gene. Between that and his helm skills, he had been able to learn how to get a Puddle Jumper off the ground. He was also smart enough to give McKay a run for his money.
"Good morning, Colonel," Lieutenant Anita Rodriguez said as she walked through the control room.
"Good morning, Anita," Teyla said.
Anita was one of several new Gate technicians recommended by Amelia Banks. Like Orlov, she had been drafted from a navy. But she had been a very capable electrician working on a Cuban frigate. Said frigate had seen action against pirates, so she had combat experience as well. Rodriguez had also the tendency to draw looks from her male coworkers. With Orlov calling her 'ridiculously pretty'.
Unfortunately for Orlov, she was married to a car mechanic called Ernesto. They had five kids. Anita had given birth to two, a boy and a girl. She and Ernesto had also three children, two of which were girls and one a boy. All five of them were still in school, with them pitching in at Ernesto's garage when they could.
"Dial M4R-355, please."
"Yes, Colonel."
Rodriguez began dialing, but before she could finish, an alarm sounded. She shifted and checked her laptop. The look on her face made it clear that the news was not good. Teyla was about ask what was wrong, when Rodriguez entered a command into her laptop. One of the Ancient screens changed to show the readings from the long-range sensors. Forty large dots were approaching the planets, with each surrounded by dozens of smaller dots.
"Terrans ?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"How long still they arrive ?"
"Crunching the numbers, ma'am," Rodriguez keyed the order into her laptop. "At this speed, they'll be here in just over four hours, Colonel."
While Teyla and Rodriguez had been talking, the rest of her team had made their way to the control room. McKay was sitting down behind one of the control consoles, while Ronon and Orlov were waiting for her orders.
"I will brief Mister Woolsey and Larrin. Vasily, Rodney, send word to all our off-world teams. I want them back here as quickly as possible. Anita and Ronon, set up the level two defenses in the Gate Room."
"Yes, Colonel." Orlov and Rodriguez said in unison, while giving each other looks.
McKay and Ronon simply nodded in acknowledgement of the orders. Then Teyla went to find the Woolsey. He was not going to be happy about this and he would not be the only one.
(Atlantis – Crew Quarters – 06.19.2022, 0810)
Doctor Elizabeth Weir had returned to Atlantis yesterday. It had been a turbulent last couple of years. In 2009, she had been an Asuran, frozen in space. And then an ascended Asgard called Ran had visited her. This was the same Ran who was now living in Vanaheimr. She had helped Elizabeth ascend to a higher plain of existence. This had been followed by a rollercoaster of events, which had ended with Elizabeth going back to being flesh-and-blood and rejoining the Atlantis Expedition.
But her return had only lasted a few months. Because 2010 had seen the beginning of the Satedan Reconstruction, which the IOA had wanted to help along. One of the things they had done, was give Weir permission to assemble a diplomatic team to aid the program. That assignment had taken her away from Atlantis. She had not returned to the city until 2014.
Her second stint in the city had not lasted long either. After four weeks, the IOA had assigned her as Ambassador-at-Large to the Pegasus Galaxy. She had ended up travelling for three years. Then she had been assigned as Ambassador to New Athos. Weir would have preferred to stay on New Athos, but General Kersey and the IOA had insisted that she return to the city.
She was writing a report when the alarm sounded. And based on the intelligence updates she had been getting, nobody had to tell her what was happening. ~They suspected this was coming, that why they wanted me back here.~ She closed her laptop and headed for Stargate Operations.
When she got there, Teyla was talking to Woolsey. Meanwhile, Rodney was talking to somebody over the radio, while Lieutenant Orlov was operating the DHD. And down in the Gate Room, Rodriguez and Ronon were assembling one of two fifty caliber machineguns. She also noticed that the iris was closed. Originally, Atlantis had only been fitted with a Stargate Shield. But after a particular nasty Wraith attack in 2009, an iris had been installed as a back-up.
"Doctor Weir," Lieutenant Orlov said.
"What's happening ?"
"We have about four hours before the Terrans attack. Colonel Emmegan has ordered all off-world team recalled and Specialist Dex is leading the effort to secure the Gate Room, ma'am."
It was this point that Richard Woolsey and Teyla entered the Control Room. The look on Woolsey's face was grim.
"Richard," Weir began. "What is it ?"
"We just got a transmission from the Orpheus. Both the Alpha Site and the Beta Site have been destroyed and several solar systems at the edge of the galaxy have already been occupied. The Terrans have established a beachhead in this galaxy."
"What about the Wraith ?" Weir said. "Have they responded yet ?"
"Not yet."
Weir nodded. She had read several intelligence reports that had said that the Wraith had gone silent. Planets that usually had Wraith ships in the neighborhood, had seen those vessels depart. And Wraith ground troops had departed through the Stargate. At the same time, the Genii had brought their iris factory on-line and begun installing them.
They had managed to make nine so far. The first three planet to get an iris were New Athos, M7G-677 and M5V-801. The rest had had been installed to protect the Genii Homeworld and the nearby systems. But it would not enough to protect the Genii Confederation from a full-scale Terran invasion. ~But that is a tomorrow problem.~ First, they would have to survive today.
(TIS Rome – Bridge - 06.19.2022, 1221)
Grand Admiral Apophis was not going to repeat the mistake he made during the attack on Earth. He had underestimated the Tau'ri forces. And this time, he would been facing even more formidable defenses. Besides two Ancient city-ships, the planet also had a grid of ground-to-orbit weapons and large fleet. The fleet was a mix of Traveler, Vanir and Ancient vessels. Unfortunately for the Satedans, there would be no Tau'ri vessels coming to their aide.
"Order the rest of the Fleet to drop out of hyperspace," Apophis said.
"Yes, Grand Admiral," Said the weapons officer said.
Apophis watched as two more battle groups – each consisting of another forty Ha'tak-class vessels and their support ships – dropped out of hyperspace. He did some from the command chair of the Rome, overseeing the bridge. Named after the capital city of Earth, where the Empire had been founded, it was not a Ha'tak-class ship. Instead, it was a larger and more advanced design. In this universe, it had been build by a Goa'uld System Lord called Sokar. He had only managed to build a single vessel, which he had lost to the Grand Admiral's counterpart.
Eventually, under his command, it had ended up in a distant galaxy. There, the vessel had been destroyed in an encounter with a race called Replicators. In the Terran universe, it was known as the Strength-class. Counting the Rome, the Empire had eighteen ships of this design in service.
One of the perks of this design was a bigger bridge then the Ha'tak-class. It had four control consoles. One was helm, two controlled the weapons and the last was engineering. It was the engineer who spoke up next.
"Grand Admiral, Terran One has just dropped out of hyperspace." The man said. "We are being hailed, sir."
Terran One was a Strength-class mothership that served as the Emperor's personal flagship. Besides a full complement of Deathgliders, it was always accompanied by three Ha'tak-class ships, a dozen Al'kesh bombers and plenty of armed Tel'tac's. The fact that it was here made the Grand Admiral nervous. But he had no intention of showing it.
"On screen." The engineer activated the screen. "Your highness, what brings you here ?"
"I have come to see you crush the enemy," The Emperor said.
Apophis nodded. A knot in his stomach told him that if he lost this battle, he would not long for the universe. So there was only one way for him to see tomorrow. He turned his weapons officers and began giving orders.
(Hive Ship Grand Conqueror – Bridge - 06.19.2022, 1221)
Guide watched as the Terran fleet approached Sateda. For the past couple of weeks, the Wraith had been gathered their forces. Unfortunately, the number of Humans in the galaxy had not yet reached the numbers needed to sustain large amounts of Wraith. For their attack on Atlantis, they had fielded thirty-two hives and sixty-four cruisers. But those ships had been undermanned. And the post-battle repairs had taken a long time. So this time around, the Wraith had taken a different approach.
Instead of fielding a larger fleet, they had reduced their force to eight hives and twenty-four cruisers. This provided them with twenty-four hive ships and forty cruisers to modify into what they were calling Bravos. These ships were giant flying bombs. They were equipped with advanced automatic pilots that could be locked onto targets by the manned ships. This plan left the manned ships with full crews. In fact, it left the Wraith with a surplus. These crewmembers, along with the ground forces, would board the Terran ships and attempt to seize control of them.
"Commander," Bonewhite began. "The enemy fleet is moving to attack the planet."
"Activate the countdown on the Bravos."
"Yes, Commander."
Bonewhite executed the order. Now it was simply a matter of waiting for the battle to begin.
(Zacharias – Bridge - 06.19.2022, 1223)
Larrin was in command of the Zacharias, with Major O'Neill as her second-in-command. With no Tau'ri ships here, it had been decided that the Zacharias would be the flagship. Flanking her, the Orpheus and Pride of the Genii were providing protection. Nevertheless, the odds were not looking good. There were one-hundred and twenty Terran capital ships and dozens of support vessels. Besides, the Zacharias' battle group, all they had was Battle Group Two.
Battle group had the two other Genii cruisers, the Vanir ships and all the Puddle Jumpers they could muster. Between Atlantis, Vanaheimr and Orpheus, they had managed to scrape together fifty Jumpers. ~This is so not good.~ Even with two city ships and the missile launchers providing cover fire, the numbers were not on their side.
"The enemy has entered weapons range," O'Neill said.
"Tell the Defense Grid to open fire."
"Yes, ma'am."
O'Neill gave the order and the grid opened fire. The Battle of Sateda had begun.
(USS George Hammond – CO's Quarters - 06.19.2022, 1223)
While the Pegasus Galaxy was facing a full scale invasion, things weren't going much better in the Milky Way. Every day, resistance cells were being crushed by the Terrans. And the enemy was still conquering large swats of the galaxy each day. Between this and the invasion of Pegasus, morale was in bad shape. ~Now I know how the other Sheppard felt when the Reapers showed up.~ It didn't help that the IOA and Air Force had given the fleet of orders to consider the defense of Earth top priority. Sheppard was reading the latest update at his desk when somebody rang the doorbell.
"It's open."
Colonel John McAllister entered the room. The look on his face made it clear that he was about give Sheppard bad news. ~And I have a bad feeling that I already know what it is.~ Because everybody knew what was about to happen in Pegasus.
"Colonel," Sheppard said. "Why do I have the feeling there's bad news and you drew lots ?"
"Because you've been keeping up with the reports, sir ?" McAllister said. "And the news is indeed bad. The invasion of Pegasus has begun."
"Atlantis ?"
"We're getting the data through the Deep Space Internet, sir," McAllister said. "Sateda is facing a massive fleet, sir," He paused. "Permission to speak freely, sir ?"
"Granted."
"What are we doing here, sitting on our asses in Earth orbit ? We should be out there, kicking Terrans to the curb."
"Look, Colonel, I agree with you," Sheppard got to his feet. "The problem is that while the IOA can be idiots, this time they have a point. If Earth gets conquered, this whole save-the-galaxy plan would get a lot more difficult," He headed for the door. "Let's get this over with."
"Yes, General."
Sheppard led the way out the room. McAllister took a deep breath and followed him. Like the general had said, it was time to get this over with.
(TIS Alexander the Great – Bridge - 06.19.2022, 1225)
Alexander was a Strength-class command ship. It was the flagship for the forces securing the Terran beachhead in Pegasus. At the moment, it was orbiting a planet the Tau'ri called M4H-212. Once a world allied with the Genii, it was now a Terran slave world. Thanks to a special scanner, it had taken less then ten minutes to hunt down and execute all the Genii spies on the planet. So, all in all, Commodore Acastus Kolya was sitting pretty, overlooking his new dominion. That was until the weapons officer spoke up.
"Commodore, we are reading a group of contacts on the long-range sensors."
"Show me," Kolya said.
The main window changed into a tactical map, showing the planet and a collection of small, yellow dots. Kolya gave the order to intercept and the Alexander departed from orbit. Which was when the Wraith made their move. What the Kolya didn't know, was that the dots were actually the work of the Bloody Talon. The Bloody Talon was a modified Wraith Hive that served as a massive cargo ship loaded with all sorts of supplies. She had hidden just beyond the Alexander's sensor range and unleashed a swarm of decoys.
And as soon as he saw the Terran ship move towards the decoys, he had gave the order to transmit a signal. His second-in-command executed the order and the Wraith made their move. Because when the Bravos had been converted into flying bombs, all of their darts had been removed. The darts that had not been used to bring the main force's squadrons to full strength, had been loaded aboard the Bloody Talon. These darts had then been dropped off on three uninhabited planets with Stargates.
And the signal that the Bloody Talon had just send, was the order to attack. One of the three targeted planets was M4H-212. What this meant, was that Commodore Kolya ended up getting several reports from his weapons officer.
"Commodore, we have detected a Wraith Hive. It appears to have been the source of decoys, sir," He paused. "And our forces on the planet report that they are under attack from darts, sir."
"Smart," Kolya said. "Any other enemy ships on sensors ?"
"No, Commodore."
"Lock weapons and open fire."
"Yes, Commodore."
There were two weapons stations, but only one was manned. So the officer ordered another officer to the bridge to help him. The officer – a female – arrived quickly. As soon as she took her station, they opened fire. ~We will crush them, then return to the planet and do the same to those darts.~ But the Commander of the Bloody Talon had other plans. His ship turned and bolted at full sublight speed. Because he had no intention of going down without a fight.