Space Pirates Chapter 17
"Control Room? This is Jumper Four. I'm airborne and awaiting further instructions,"
Sergeant Luca's voice resounded through the control room.
„We are receiving you, Jumper Four. Do you have the Dart on your instruments?" Elizabeth replied over the comm.
„Yes, I'm having the object on a direct intercept course heading for the City. ETA is approximately eight minutes." Sergeant Luca informed them. It didn't take much to hear that the young woman wasn't confident in flying the sole craft that could defend the City from the impending Wraith scouting party.
Down in the control room, Elizabeth walked over to Grodin.
"What's the status of the shield?"
"It's as ready as it has ever been. We should be able to use it if we have to." Grodin replied.
"From what we have gathered from the database, a Dart only has minimal weapons. It shouldn't be able to inflict any significant damage to our structures." Radek informed her.
"Yes, I know. But we can't let the Dart scan us either. We have to destroy it. The Jumper is armed with the Naquadah enhanced grenades, but we only have the prototypes. It has to be enough." Elizabeth said. "If we could rely on the City's weapons we have to let the Dart get close enough to scan us or risk transporting someone aboard. I will give the order to use the shield should the Dart enter the atmosphere of the planet. I know we will need every moment of the shield that we can get when the Wraith attack, but this is it. The Wraith are here. If the shield can help us slow the Wraith down then it will be worth it." Elizabeth ordered.
An alarm sounded from the computer and Radek looked over to Elizabeth.
"The Dart is approaching the planet. Two minutes until the it enters orbit." Radek announced.
"Sergeant Luca, did you get this?" Elizabeth asked.
„Message received, Doctor." The sergeant didn't sound reassured at all. "I have them on sensors."
Radek had an idea and quickly pulled up the Ancient database and scrolled to the building plans of the Darts. The Ancients had made thorough intelligence reports, he had to grant them that, even if they hadn't won the war in the end. He switched on his comm..
"Sergeant Luca. This is Dr. Zelenka. I'm transmitting the building plans of the Wraith Dart to you. You may not get the chance, but try to target the engines. Even if they do get the chance top scan us, if they drop in the ocean, they can't rely the data to the Wraith."
"All right. I'm receiving the data, Dr. Zelenka." Sergeant Luca replied over the comm..
"Good thinking, Doctor." Weir commented.
oOo
"I think we should be in orbit any minute now. If I'm reading the display's right." Stackhouse was leaning over Markham's shoulder. „I think he programmed a course there. Otherwise we'd hardly be heading to Atlantis just like that…"
Carson joined Stackhouse in the front of the cockpit.
"Any idea how we can contact Atlantis and tell them that we are coming. I'm not eager to be shot out of the sky by our own people. When do our comm. Units start working?"
Stackhouse shrugged.
"They should work when we are above the City, but I have no idea what the range is on those things. It would be safer if we figured out the communications systems on this thing."
"That might not be wise. What if touching the controls has the same effect on you as it had on Markham. I'd rather not that anyone else try it. The Wraith control might have some sort of psychic interface that we don't know about."
"Dangerous or not Doc. We have no choice. Less than a minute before we are in orbit."
Stackhouse focussed on the controls.
A few second later a light flared and an alarm started beeping.
"What's that?" Beckett asked in alarm.
"I think there is another ship heading for us." Stackhouse replied.
He had barely a chance to finish the sentence before a blast rocked the ship, nearly throwing them off their feet.
"You think?"
"We took a hit to our engines, I think." Stackhouse read from the controls. "But we are still heading straight for the City."
Another volley rocked the Dart and threw the two men off their feet.
Beckett was the first to regain his footing. He switched on his comm., in the hopes of being close enough to reach the control room or the pilot of the Jumper attacking them.
"Anyone? This is Dr. Beckett! Please stop firing and let us explain. Atlantis! Are you receiving us?"
Nothing but static crackled over the comm..
Stackhouse threw him a despondent look.
"It's no use. We can't get through to them."
"They think we are the Wraith. They are going to blow us up. We have to do something!"
Beckett yelled, just as the Dart took a third blow. The small ship tilted forwards and the sharp downward course left no doubt that they were losing altitude fast.
"We can't return fire even if I had any idea how. We'd risk killing our own people." Stackhouse was getting desperate. „The last blast knocked us off course; we're no longer headed for the City. We're going to crash into the ocean."
"Oh great. The water is going to crush is like a tin can, that's if Atlantis doesn't finish us off before we have a chance to drown." Beckett returned a mix of sarcasm and desperation in his tone. He barely got to finish his sentence when the Dart hit the surface of the ocean.
oOo
The entire control room had followed the battle on screen. As the Dart plunged into the ocean a collective sign of relief echoed through the control room.
"Puddle Jumper Four? What is your status?" Weir contacted the space craft.
"The target has been disabled. With your permission, I'm returning to the City now?" Sergeant Luca replied.
"Job well done, Sergeant. Return to base." Weir said with a smile. She turned to Grodin and Zelenka.
„Do you still have the Dart on sensors?"
"No, I lost it as it went under water" Grodin replied.
"Can you locate it? I want to make sure that we have eliminated the threat. Dr. Zelenka, you and Dr. McKay have speculated that the Puddle Jumpers could withstand a dive into the ocean up to significant depths. If the Darts are similarly resilient, we could still be in danger."
"From what I have seen from the construction plans of the Darts in the Ancient database, I doubt that the Darts could withstand the water pressure for a prolonged time. They were built for speed, not for stability." Radek considered.
"Still, I want you to get on it. Locate the Dart. I want you and Sergeant Luca to take out the Puddle Jumper and capture the remains of the Dart for analysis. So far we only have what's in the database on the Darts. Having the wreckage of an actual Dart would provide us with valuable intelligence. We need everything we can get now that the Wraith are on their way." Weir explained.
oOo
Carson woke up in a world of hurt. Pain laced down from his head into his right shoulders and down his arm. Instinctively he raised his arm to feel for the source of his aching head, but an explosion of pain stopped him dead in his tracks and prompted him to open his eyes.
The light was dim, but it was enough to recognise that he was no longer inside the Dart, but in a large indoor dock. Carefully, now wary not to put weight on his right arm, he levered himself into a sitting position to get a better look around. His head was spinning ferociously and his vision was starting to blur if he tried to hard to make something out. But from what he could recognise, he was in a large hall, with a high, vaulted ceiling and some sort of indoor dock. The hall was closed to the outside and there was no visible lighting, yet everything was illuminated with a dim, greenish glow. Floating in the black water was the Wraith Dart. It was the only craft visible in the vast docking bay that would have been large enough to house an entire fleet of ships. Carson scrambled to get to his feet and limped over to where the Dart was floating in the water. The ground descended in several steps towards the ocean. Carson gingerly climbed down towards the black body of water as far as he could to reach the Dart. As he was close enough to touch the hull of the Dart, the side bulkhead slid open as if obeying his mental command.
Inside, Markham was slumped over the cockpit controls; Stackhouse was lying motionless on the floor behind him, bleeding from a wound on the side of his head. Carson stepped over into the cockpit, holding on to the bulkhead as the Dart moved in the water.
He leaned over Stackhouse, verifying that the man was still alive. As he checked his pulse, Stackhouse stirred and immediately moved to sit up, but Carson cautioned him.
"Take it slow. Stay down for a second!"
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I think we are in Atlantis. Some sort of underground docking bay, but I have no idea how we got here. You took a hit to the head when we crashed into the ocean."
"I'm fine." Stackhouse insisted and sat up. "You don't look too good yourself. You have blood all over your face."
Carson wiped his sleeve over his face and was surprised when it came back bloody.
"Must have hit my nose when we crashed." He shrugged. His head hurt like hell, not to mention his right arm which felt like it was broken, but those injuries could wait until they figured out what had happened.
"I'm going to check on Sheppard and the others." Carson said and made for the rear compartment.
"I'll try to contact Atlantis. If we really are in the City, we should be able to make contact."
oOo
"Dr. Weir. I can't locate the Dart anymore, but when I calibrated the sensors, I noticed something else. Seven additional bio signs on level 4. It's outside the perimeter of what we have explored so far."
"Could the Wraith have transported a scouting party aboard before the Dart crashed into the ocean?"
"It's possible. Although I think that would have raised an alarm with the City, unless the sensors in that area are damage from the storm…" Radek theorized.
Elizabeth didn't wait for him to finish. If the Wraith were in the City, they had to act now.
"Sergeant Lee, this is Dr. Weir, assemble your team and head down to level 4 sector…"
"Sector 23 beta." Radek filled in for her.
"Sector 23 beta, you got that."
"Got that. What are we dealing with?"
"Possibly Wraith. They might have transported aboard the City before we had a chance to take them down. We'll try to disable to transporters down there to keep the Wraith in place. You'll have to take the long route."
"All right. I'll keep you posted. Lee out." The sergeant replied over the comm..
"Radek, Peter, disable the transporters, I do not want the Wraith to leave that level."
"Cutting power. The transporters are now off-line. There are four access routes to level 4. Two of them directly next to sector 23 beta. We could-"
Radek was interrupted as suddenly a voice came over the comm..
"Atlantis? This is Stackhouse with the rescue team. We're somewhere in the lower level of Atlantis. Some sort of docking bay from the looks of it, but we have no idea where we are…it's all incredibly vast down here."
"Sergeant Stackhouse, we are receiving you. I think we have your locating on the sensors. A team is on their way to you now."
"Thank God." They could all hear the relief in the sergeant's voice. „We need a medical team. The expedition team was badly injured, Dr. Beckett is checking up on them now, but they weren't doing so good…" Stackhouse sounded somewhat confused and more than a little tired.
"We'll send down a team from the infirmary." Elizabeth replied. „Good to have you back."
oOo
John turned away from the scene unfolding around them and focussed on his companion.
"You saved them. They would have drowned after Sergeant Luca shot them down. Why?"
„Why should I let them die, John? You still care about your friends and feel for them intensely. You would have grieved for them if their lives had been lost." Chaya replied lightly.
"I would not have let it happen."
"I know. I know that you would have accepted the consequences for your actions. But I could not let you. I have been alone for too long. When I lived on my planet, I was different from everybody else, I could only watch from afar. But when I met you, I sensed your heritage. Now that you are one of us, I can't let you throw it all away like I did it once."
TBC