Teta Prime
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter I: "First Line"

In the Pegasus Galaxy, there exists no greater threat than the Wraith. Biologically speaking, the Wraith are a hybrid of humans and a creature known as the Araitis Bug. They feed off of human life force, live forever, and are extremely difficult to kill.

However, for every great force of evil, there is a force of good fighting it. In this case, the good guys are the members of the Atlantis Expedition Team. The Expedition was sent from Earth to the abandoned city of Atlantis seven years ago. Since then, the tem has done extraordinarily well fighting off the Wraith. They have survived three sieges of the city by Wraith forces, and have to date destroyed fifty-six Wraith Hive Ships.

Despite all this, the Wraith are still coming after Atlantis. They learned seven years ago that if they capture Atlantis, they'll acquire the means to get to Earth. Earth's importance to the Wraith is easy to understand; given the current shortage of human food in the Pegasus Galaxy, a planet with six billion humans looks very appetizing. And so the Wraith have sent seventy-three Hive Ships and one-hundred and seventeen cruisers, the entirety of their fleet to crush the human resistance and capture the city once and for all.

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In the blackness of space, the massive Wraith armada drops out of hyperspace nearby one of the Pegasus Galaxy's many inhabited planets. As they always do, the Wraith are feeding on their way to Atlantis.

As their ships take up position around the planet, the Wraith are unaware of the danger to them that lies on the far side of the closest moon. Hidden in the moon's shadow is Atlantis's mobile defense force: three BC-303 battlecruisers. Under the command of Colonel Steven Caldwell, the Daedalus, Valkyrie, and Byzantium are a small but formidable fleet.

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On the bridge of the Daedalus, Colonel Caldwell surveys the sensor readouts in front of him. So far it seemed that the Wraith hadn't yet discovered their hiding place.

"All ships, begin final checks on systems for Pegasus Maneuver," Colonel Caldwell orders as he gets comfortable for what is going to be a very tense campaign.

As for the Pegasus Maneuver, it had been developed four years ago by some of the brightest minds in Atlantis. Basically a ship went into hyperspace and dropped a nuke at the right time. The nuke, unable to stay in subspace without a hyperdrive, would revert to realspace in the middle of an enemy vessel and explode. It was this tactic that had saved the city during the Second Siege.

Though it was a brilliant and effective plan, Caldwell had doubts about how well it would work in this situation. The Wraith had demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt their technology to counter any advantages humanity might gain over them. If they had found a way to counter this strategy, then Atlantis's first line of defense was in big trouble.

"Sir," one of the bridge officers says to the colonel, "all ships are reporting ready."

"Good," Caldwell says in his succinct, business-like tone of voice. He presses a button on the armrest of his chair. "All ships, this is Colonel Caldwell," he says. "Begin the Pegasus Maneuver."

Without even bothering to respond, the fleet began to shift position, moving far enough away from the moon to enter hyperspace. Caldwell watches through the forward viewport as the Byzantium races ahead of the group. Due to Caldwell's reservations about the plan, rather than all three ships going at once, he was sending the Byzantium first to test the waters. And, with the customary blue flash of a hyperspace window, the Byzantium embarked on its mission.

There is a palpable tension in the room as they wait for their sensors to tell them if the Byzantium succeeded or failed in its mission. Suddenly a smile breaks out over a young sergeant's face.

"Sir, I'm reading a kill!" he cries out.

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In the midst of the Wraith fleet, one of the Hive Ships suddenly explodes. Debris from that ship is sent flying in every direction, impacting on the shields of other ships. One large part of the Hive Ship crashes into another Hive Ship, causing serious damage.

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"One Hive Ship destroyed, another badly damaged!" the sergeant continues. There are cheers all throughout the bridge, and Caldwell breathes a sigh of relief.

"Prepare the Daedauls and Valkyrie!" Caldwell orders. "We're going in!"

"Sir!" another sergeant says. "I'm getting a distress call from the Byzantium!"

"Put in on speakers!" the colonel orders. The sergeant presses a button, and everyone on the bridge can hear the static-filled transmission from their sister-ship.

"...repeat, do not attempt the... countermeasures. We've been crip... repeat, do not..." the voice of the Byzantium's captain says.

"That's enough, sergeant!" Caldwell barks, and the sergeant takes the transmission off speakers.

"Sir!" another bridge officer says. "I'm reading multiple Wraith ships converging on the Byzantium!" Caldwell sits and thinks for a moment.

"Well, that does it," the colonel tells them. "This mission is over. Helm, set a course for Atlantis. Sergeant Baker, contact the Valkyrie and tell them to do the same."

"Sir, what about the Byzantium?" someone asks. Caldwell sighs.

"They're lost," he tells them.

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On the bridge of the battlecruiser Byzantium, Colonel Michael Carver stares out the forward viewport at the approaching Wraith ships. In the distance, there is the flash of a hyperspace window, and the look in his eyes shows that Carver knows what that means. He sighs.

"Engine room," the colonel says morbidly. "Overload the reactors."

"Sir?" someone from the engine room asks over the intercom.

"The ship is lost," Carver explains. "But we can still take some of these bastards down with us!"

End of Chapter I

Author's Note: So, looks like Atlantis is in trouble. One ship down, and a fleet over a hundred Wraith ships bearing down on them. How the hell are they going to survive this? Stay tuned for "Discovery", Chapter II of Teta Prime.