Atlantis
The sun had risen over the city casting into bright relief the tall towers and throwing long shadows over the ocean, to the more morbid the black shadows of the towers looked like spiky black fingers pointing away from the sun. the fires from the nights attack had been extinguished though twisting spires of black smoke still rose from the smouldering remains of crashed Wraith darts. The city itself was more or less intact, a sign the Wraith wanted it in one piece.
"Ten more minutes." Sergeant Maxwell told his troops. "Eat up and then back on duty."
Privates Kalikov and Murdoch were sat in a corridor with their backs to the wall trying to get some rest. They fished out a re-heat pack and tore off the top initiating a reaction which heated the meal in an instant. The US Marines had gone green with envy at the Earth Force rations and when they got home they were going to petition the government to make new tanks and warplanes a second priority, and decent field rations were going to the top of the list.
"If the timing is right the fleet should be showing up today." Murdoch said as he tucked in.
"Yeah, like the navy ever arrives on time." Kalikov scoffed. "The only time they got the timing right was the civil war, and then only because both sides were late."
Murdoch shrugged and shovelled in more food, time in the field had taught him to eat fast when he had the chance. "Took a lot to kill those Wraith."
"Tough little aliens." Kalikov agreed. "So they wiped out the First ones over here?"
"The Ancients, yeah." Murdoch kept eating. "The Major said it was weight of numbers."
"Doesn't look all that good for us then does it? Five hundred guys on the wrong side of the galaxy?"
"Five hundred guys with a fleet full of nukes and battleships on the way." Murdoch corrected. "We'll be cool."
"Grab your gear!" Captain Thorne ran past shouting, her voice harsh in the corridor. "Incoming, pick up your weapons! Report to defence stations!"
"Great," Kalikov put down the meal. "I only got it half finished."
Murdoch showed him the empty pack he had just finished. "Told you to eat faster. Come on."
They put on their helmets and tuned into the company channel. These helmets were improvements on the older combat gear from previous decades but fulfilled the same function providing data links and full information sharing with the soldiers platoon. The main advantage was a holographic imaging system which created a minute holo display in front of the soldiers eyes, a barely noticeable twinkle of light which the wearer perceived as a full heads up display. Older systems required the wearer to drop down a full face plate, and while these helmets did have a retractable visor most Marines preferred to fight with an open helmet if atmosphere allowed.
They hefted on their body armour designed to protect their vital organs and their combat harnesses filled with spare ammunition and medical supplies. Lastly the checked their weapons, the BilPro shotgun for Murdoch and the enhanced PPG rifle for Kalikov, along with a trusty knife each and a few grenades. They were well equipped and well trained, but the odds were still badly against them.
The defensive fire started up again with laser and rail guns engaging first before the Wraith craft were even visible. A few seconds later the first darts came into visual range, four of them falling from the sky in flames. The first wave began whizzing through the city trying to dodge the defensive fire, weaving between the towers with the weakest defences. The previous nights attack had the effect of pinpointing the cities main defences so this, the main attack, could do what they could to avoid them.
The rippling waves of translucent energy flowed from the craft dropping down Wraith warriors who began infiltrating into the city. A pair of 50cal guns tore up a dart before it landed troops, but as they fired a companion ship soared in from above transporting the gunners up into the Wraith force.
The city had expended much of its defences the previous day including its drones, but the commanders had kept one last surprise for the Wraith to buy time for the relief fleet.
"Duster lead in the air." Lieutenant Danny Reid announced. "All ships stay low and stay moving."
With a flick of his controls he brought the Valkyrie gunship from its hiding place and moved out into the city itself, staying close to the structure around him. Valkyries were agile but slow and if they were caught in the open by fighters they were as good as dead, Reid was counting on the city to provide cover from the much faster darts.
"Here's one, coming in low and fast." His front seater Sergeant McGee reported, as a gunship the Valkyrie had a separate gunnery officer in charge of the varied weapons fit the VTOL craft carried, usually a mix of anti tank and area affect missiles but for this mission they carried air to air weapons in addition to the fearsome cyclone pulse cannon, a weapon eclipsed only by the Thunderbolts gatling cannon.
"Trying to sneak under the guns." Reid nodded. "Let's take him, shoot and scoot."
The pilot nudged the Valkyrie from out of cover putting it right in the path of the dart, the surprised Wraith wasn't expecting an aircraft and quickly tried to point his nose gun at the Earth force jet. McGee was faster, opening up with the pulse cannons in a rapid storm of blue plasma tearing the dart to pieces in an instant.
"Scratch one." Reid cheered and put his craft back into cover. "Find me another one."
Thorne lead the unit down the labyrinthine corridors of Atlantis, each platoon moving via a different route for safety. They were in the outer spokes of the city moving inwards to take up new positions. All the main defences were centred on the main control tower, from the laser batteries to the best defended checkpoints. With the main assault now in progress the outer portions of the city were being evacuated, trading ground for time.
"Wait." She raised her hand bringing the two dozen following troops to an alert stop. "Cover positions." She waved to both sides of the Corridor. "Wraith inbound, we'll ambush them here."
Murdoch and Kalikov flattened themselves against the wall in a crouch along with the rest of the unit focusing their weapons down the plain steel hallway. Quietly in the distance they could hear the stamping of Wraith warriors getting closer, once again walking with all the confidence of a race which believed itself the superior beings in this galaxy. Superior or not it wouldn't stop several hundred plasma rounds.
The Wraith rounded the corridor at a brisk walk and strode right into the concentrated fire of the EA Marines. The Platoon engaged as one, given their orders through their tactical HUD system from their Captain each Wraith soldier took fire from four EA soldiers, with Murdoch's shot gun taking out their leader. For a few moments only the red haze of the plasma fire could be seen and the temperature of the entire corridor seemed to rise significantly as the troops liberally sprayed the area with their rifles.
"Hold fire!" Thorne ordered. "We're clear!"
The end of the corridor was filled with smoking bodies from Wraith warriors, not an appealing sight but not as bad as the smell.
"Gotta love having telepath at the helm." Murdoch cleared his throat with a swig from his canteen.
"Precognition or something." Kalikov examined a dead Wraith. "Or I guess picking them up through walls?"
"Who knows." Murdoch shrugged. "But it's cool for an ambush."
His helmet comms gear beeped into life. "We're moving again." Thorne's voice commanded. "Follow your HUD map, Wraith force has been seen massing for an assault."
"Great." Murdoch sighed and got moving. "How many of these guys are there?"
"Duster flight be aware, sixty contacts closing from the North." The air controller in Atlantis' central tower informed.
"Oh great, ten to one odds." McGee snorted. "Where's a Banshee squadron when you need them?"
"Same place the rest of our backup is, parked up on the fleet trying to get here." Lieutenant Reid answered. "Prep missiles, I'll take us up for a snap shot."
The ungainly Earth Force gunship put extra power into its engines and rose up above the tower it was hiding behind. They were greeted by a sky filled with bright energy weapons and whizzing Wraith darts, two of the alien fighters racing by before they even noticed the gunship. Red lasers crossed the sky, two batteries forming a lattice in front of the central tower that sliced three darts out of the sky before they knew what was happening.
"I've got six birds ready to fly, seekers active and locked." McGee reported calmly, a unit of darts heading straight for them.
"Launch." Reid commanded and the aircraft shuddered a little as hardpoints released and the gunship's supply of missiles burst from the craft. The missiles were equipped with the latest seeker heads requiring no direct link to the firing craft, especially useful for the Thunderbolts they were designed for which rarely stayed pointing in one direction for long. They roared over the battling troops, dodged a tower and struck one dart each reducing them to glittering confetti.
"Ah hell! Two on our six!" Reid called. "Hold on to something!"
He dropped the gunship, cutting engines down to almost nothing and letting it physically fall from the sky only arresting the descend a few dozen feet from the ground, blue energy bolts from the darts passing overhead where the VTOL had been.
"Pulse cannons ready!" his front seater called. "Just give me something to shoot at."
"Here goes nothing." Reid grimaced and nudged the gunship sideways out into the open. The second he had a clear shot Sergeant McGee opened up with the cyclone cannons spitting a ferocious stream of plasma bolts up into the path of one of the darts. It took the hit straight on and spiralled out of control gouting flame.
"Splash one!" McGee yelled. "Where's two?"
"Coming in high!" Reid warned. "I'll try get you a shot!"
The dart was coming in from almost directly above rolling down out of the blue sky, unfortunately the Valkyrie was built to take on tanks, not dogfight and didn't have the all round weapons and abilities of a thoroughbred combat jet. Its weapons were fixed forward and had a fairly limited weapons arc which further handicapped the VTOL, Reid was going to have to take a big risk.
He increased power to full and pushed the jet up on a pillar of hot air, rising to the height of the tower and then dropped the gunships tail so it was pointing nose up into the sky straight at the Wraith dart. It was an insane move, with no downward force from the engines the Valkyrie began to slip backwards and literally fall from the sky with just a few seconds open to them before crashing tail first into the city they were assigned to protect.
McGee wasted no time, firing with the nose mounted gun he dashed the Wraith ships nose with plasma and shredded the lightly armed cockpit detonating the attacker. Before it even finished exploding Reid was dropping the nose and levelling off putting every ounce of thrust into the main engines pressing the two person crew into their seats. It shook to a halt barely feet from the ground and Reid dodged quickly backwards, the burning wreck of their Wraith victim hitting the ground in front of them.
"Hot damn that was cool!" McGee chortled. "Where did you learn that?"
"Minbari tanks in the war." Reid was sweating with stress and fear. "You know those things can outfly our gunships? You learned a few tricks or you had a short career."
"Duster flight be aware, forty plus bandits from the south." A disembodied voice warned.
"Never rains but it pours." Reid sighed. "Weapons check?"
"Two missiles and our pulse cannon." McGee replied.
"Well let's get some use out of them, here goes nothing."
The engines whined and the VTOL rose into battle once more.
"Move it on, move!" Captain Thorne could be very loud for such a slender woman. "Wraith are massing in a plaza, there is an elevated position for us to exploit, get there fast!"
Her people ran through the corridors heading or the plaza, the tactical map had shown her it was surrounded by balconies and walkways which would let her troops pour down fire on the Wraith from above, but only if they got their before the Wraith moved.
The left the insides of the towers and headed out into bright daylight, about a platoon were with the Captain while the rest of the Company were heavily engaged elsewhere. It wasn't much but they had plenty of firepower to haul around with them.
"Movement!" Murdoch called from point.
"Cover!" Thorne yelled, "Watch forward, do not fire until I order it!"
The lithe Captain darted forward across the sun lit walkway around the side of a building, the EA motion sensors built into the combat gear had caught movement around a blind corner which could be Wraith, but which also could be allied troops or some of Teyla's native fighters. Thorne passed Murdoch and waved him to stay down while she checked it out.
"Thunder!" she shouted the password that all alies had been given, she needed to be closer to tell if they were Wraith just by telepathy alone and with so much happening around it was hard to centre her mind.
"Flash!" a brusque male voice answered correctly. Thorne looked cautiously around the corner and spotted a small group of US Marines from the SGC. They were lead by a tall soldier in full battledress carrying an assault rifle and grenade launcher. "Staff Sergeant William Peters, United States Marine Corps." He introduced quickly.
"Captain Jill Thorne, Earth Force Marine Corps." His counterpart answered. "Where is your unit?"
"Falling back to the central tower, we we're on our way to meet them Ma'am."
"I'll be delaying that." Thorne said sharply. "A Wraith force is massing and I'm heading out to destroy them, we need your squad's firepower."
"Yes Ma'am." Peters seemed to brighten at the idea of shooting Wraith.
"Follow my point team." She was already waving a squad forward. "We're taking an elevated position, set yourselves up and stand by."
They ran on, now two sets of Marines thundering across the walkways above the great city. All around them energy weapons and tracer bullets crossed the sky often seeming close enough to touch. Darts crossed over too but fortunately seemed to be too busy and ignored them, focusing on the tight defences of the main tower.
A massive roar blasted Thorne's ears as an Earth force gunship rose up next to the walkway, the brown and green VTOL looking very out of place amid the silver spires.
"Down!" she yelled. "Keep away from the jet blast!"
The mixed force lay down flat as the VTOL hovered nearby, with a scream it sent a trio of missiles rushing away in a blast of hot smoke following up with rapid pulse blast which filled the air with burnt ozone. Barely audible above the engines sound was a higher pitched whine of a Wraith dart, flashing bolts of energy racing past in the other direction. With a sudden flash of orange light one bolt hit the gunship severing the right hand side engine boom, the long piece of metal falling in flames to the ground.
The gunship rolled out of control passing over the walkway with a blast of heat and dripping fuel forcing Thorne to cling onto the walkway to avoid being blown off before it dropped away on the far side and exploded at the base of a tower.
"Get up!" Thorne ordered immediately. "Get up, stay focused, let's go!"
She knew the troops had to be focused and couldn't spend time dwelling on the unfortunate gunship. It wasn't easy just to turn her back on the scene but they had a job to do and that involved killing Wraith, which would make it all better.
They made it to the Plaza and sure enough there were about a hundred Wraith gathered twenty feet below them checking weapons and preparing to move on the tower. An assault by so many Wraith in one place would be hard to stop for the strained defenders without heavy losses unless their numbers could be thinned a little.
"Quietly." She ordered in a whisper. "First squad left, second right. US troops with me."
They careful scuttled around the edge of the plaza trying to avoid attention ending up with about ten soldiers on three sides looking down on the Wraith, it was a strong position despite the three to one odds. Thorne watched them form up on her command HUD and prepare, the lower tech US troops staying close so the could benefit from her direct orders. She noted one of the troops had a hefty squad support machine gun and their belts were heavy with grenades.
"Ready?" she whispered to Peters.
"Ready." He confirmed thumbing the safety on his rifle.
"Don't be shy with the trigger." She said. "Just kill them all."
"Semper Fi Ma'am." Peters grinned.
Thorne took a deep breath and then leaned over the railing at the edge of the balcony and got her first good look at the Wraith. They were closely packed and mostly consisted of the faceless brutes which characterised most Wraith forces, though there were plenty of the more sophisticated commanding Wraith too. In less than a second she lined up a target with her high powered laser rifle and burned a clean hole through the head of the first target, raising snarls of anger and alarm from officer Wraiths. They raised their eyes and ended up looking into three dozen gun barrels all stamped 'Made on Earth.'
"Take 'em." She said calmly and pulled her trigger a second time.
The plaza descended into fire as a variety of weapons opened up as one, from PPG rifles to Submachine guns and Assault rifles. The Wraith were caught in the open without cover and even their resilient biology wasn't going to change the final outcome. The machine gun chattered beside Thorne firing tracers into the massed Wraith, the bright orange lines passing through the back and ricocheting wildly, often hitting more than one enemy on their journey. From their position a lot of rounds were hitting the heads of the Wraith troops dropping them quickly.
The return fire was sparse, but at least one EA Marine was hurled backwards and upwards into a wall from the Wraith's heavy energy weapons. There was a sharp blast as Peters fired his grenade launcher taking out a small cluster of Wraith and then went for a hand grenade.
"First squad, grenades." Thorne took Peters' example. "Fire in the hole!"
The US marines and their EA brethren pulled their pins and threw the simple devices into the confused mass of surviving Wraith, the US Frag grenades hitting the ground and rolling to a stop before detonating. The EA ones did much the same, only a stabiliser inside made sure the grenade stopped upright, then a sub explosion fired into the air so it exploded at waist height sending an arc of shrapnel and fletchettes into the Wraith. The explosions ended the fight, with the few survivors picked off quite handily.
"Good work people," Thorne congratulated. "That'll show them how a real army fights. We have orders to fall back to the central defence centres, lets make tracks."
The troops began to split into their squads and moved in stages, one squad covering a second as it retreated before exchanging roles. The general retreat was the final part of the plan, abandoning the extremities of the city and gathering on the vital areas such as power generators, heavy weapons points and the central control facilities. The Wraith were deploying troops in much greater numbers now the assault was fully underway and there was a serious risk of the individual companies of Marines getting cut off and destroyed, or worse.
"Squad four, take corridor Bravo west." Thorne ordered through the headset. "Squad three go with them, everyone stay in touch and report any contacts."
The Captain gestured for her last two escorts to follow her, as usual she was the last to leave after making sure her company was retreating in good order and following her own interpretation of the orders. So far no Wraith had been spotted but at least two squads from Delta Company had been ambushed by Wraith showing up from nowhere. Her troops would not suffer that fate.
"That's it Captain, all units pulling back!" Murdoch called, looking quickly over his shoulder. "Nothing behind us but open city and Wraith."
"Time to go then." She said with a clipped voice. "Watch yourselves and stay with me."
Murdoch, Kalikov and Thorne made their way back keeping a fast but cautious pace, like the squads ahead the moved in stages with one covering the rear while the others pulled back, Thorne watching the overall situation on her commanders HUD system. She was pleased to see her front units had made it back it took a valuable second for her to register the Psychic warning which blared in her mind.
She was leading the retreat, with Murdoch five feet behind her and Kalikov a dozen feet further back covering their rear. The danger she sensed came not from there, but from immediately to her right hand side. With a rapid reaction she snapped her laser rifle up and spun the stock around into an open doorway, feeling it connect with something solid.
The Wraiths head spun sideways, Thorne's strike would have shattered the skull of a Narn, but the Wraith merely turned back to look at her and grinned a bloody smile. With all the speed her special forces training could muster she turned her rifle to point the muzzle at the Wraith, but not fast enough and with brutal strength it knocked the rifle clean out of her hands and punched her in the stomach hard enough to force her to stagger back.
It all happened in a matter of seconds and took Murdoch totally by surprise. He skidded to a halt as he recognised his Captain was in trouble and tried to get a shot off with his support weapon, but the Wraith was inhumanly fast, and two seconds after Thorne hit the ground Murdoch was sailing through the air to drop unconscious at the far side of the corridor. The green hued alien bared its teeth with a grin of assured superiority and moved on the last Human still standing.
Kalikov had time, just seconds but it was longer than the other two members of his company. He spun around and pointed his PPG at the advancing alien. "Eat Plasma ET!"
He depressed the trigger and sent a stream of burning hot bolts into the creatures chest, the heat searing through its clothes and charring the flesh beneath. It didn't even slow down, walking on as if it was walking into a slight hail storm with a look of utter hatred on its features. Kalikov had put seven rounds into its chest with no notable effect before it reached him, snatching the rifle from his hand and grabbing his chest. With a sneer it dug its talons through the woven armoured vest and began to absorb his life force.
With a sudden roar it stopped and released him. Before Kalikov dropped to the floor in unconscious exhaustion he noticed the creatures forearm had a combat knife jutting out. He didn't have time to find it amusing, but on another day he would have laughed and thanked the heavens. Instead he hit the floor and did not move.
The Wraith winced with pain and anger as it took Thorne's knife out of its arm and tossed it aside. The Earth force Captain was holding a second equally vicious looking blade in her right hand keeping a steady distance.
"Come on." She smiled. "try me."
The Wraith attacked, moving with swift powerful strides reaching out for her. She ducked and rolled past the creature on its left side jumping up and slashing her knife in a wide arc drawing blood from the creature. It arced its back and roared, flailing with its claws and narrowly missing Thorne. She backed away and tried to focus her mind for a psychic attack, projecting a sensation of burning flames into the Wraiths mind.
If it worked it had no effect, pushing through the pain it hit her with a vicious uppercut catapulting the Earth force officer up into the air and dropping her six feet away, separating her from the knife mid flight. She crashed hard on her back with a sharp exhalation and in an instant the Wraith was bearing down on her, claw outstretched. She performed a scissor kick from the floor, catching the Wraiths legs and dropping it hard to the deck. Thorne leapt up and capitalised on the Wraiths weakness putting all her weight behind an unsophisticated stomp on the creatures throat.
It snapped its hands up and caught her foot on the way down, holding it away from its neck and twisting, once again pushing the officer off balance and down to the ground. She back kicked into the Wraith's face buying a few more seconds and scrambled up to her feet and turned in time to face the enemy as he too stood. It was grinning like a lunatic, clearly revelling in the fight.
"Alright scum bag, see how you like this."
She unleashed a powerful psychic attack, the ultimate assault a human telepath of the highest order could manage. It had the power to literally turn a sentient into a vegetable but before she could focus the Wraith had struck her with brain shaking force, and not only did she loose her focus she very nearly lost consciousness. Her training had reached a state where counter attack was reflex and she launched a powerful spinning kick which caught the Wraiths head slowing it but not stopping it. It physically grabbed her, picked her up and held her so close she almost retched at the smell of its breath. Then it threw her once more and she skidded to a halt on her stomach. Her eyes shot up, and were caught by Murdochs assault shot gun lying just inside her reach. Her hand flashed out and grabbed the weapon, rolling on her back she brought it up with the Wraith barely three feet away.
"Goodnight arsehole." She grimaced and pulled the trigger, the close range fletchettes catching it in its chest and hurling it back in a bloody mess.
"Damn I hate those guys." She winced.
A low growl suddenly caught her attention, and she glanced quickly to her side. From outside the doorway another Wraith had emerged and was thanking its luck at the feast prepared for it. Before she could do anything else the Wraith was sharply hurled forward to collide with the wall. A soldier in old style army camoflage was right behind it and pit a fast punch into the small of its back forcing a pained cry from the Wraith.
It spun and lashed out, the soldier leaning his head back and just avoiding the strike, then returned the favour jabbing the Wraith in it's head. He punched it three more times with incredible strength stunning the creature before kicking it hard in the stomach forcing it to double over. He moved forward, grabbing the creature in a headlock before tightening the grip and jolting the Wraith up, snapping it's neck with a dull crack.
"What?" Thorne frowned. She was on the edge of losing consciousnes but she could still tell what was real and imagined. The Wraith were physically very powerful, and as she had found even a special forces trained soldier had no chance against one in hand to hand. "Peters?" she recalled the name of the man, one of the SGC troops who had joined her command.
"Turner, Rose!" he yelled back. "Get over here, men down!"
"How did you…?" Thorne began.
"Don't move Captain, we'll get you out of here." He reassured her.
"Wait, you killed the Wraith, how?"
"It's my job Ma'am." He said with a tone which suggested he was in no mood to discuss it.
"Just what the hell are you?"
"I'm a United States Marine Ma'am." He answered bluntly.
Thorne managed a small laugh. "Semper fi."
Peters was definitely hiding something, but she had no desire to go through his mind and find it for herself. He had saved her and that certainly demanded gratitude and respect. But when this was done they were going to have a very long talk.
"Duster flight," Reid called up. "Check in."
"Duster three still here." one of his VTOL's replied.
"Duster Four check."
After a few moments he guessed that was it. "Alright flight, converge on the central tower. Anyone got any missiles?"
Both ships answered in the negative.
"We still got the cannon." McGee patted his control board. "We can have some fun."
"This is central command to any Valkyries, anyone there?" a voice spoke on the comms system.
"I read you." Reid answered. "Go ahead."
"Wraith concentrating in section G, any assistance will be appreciated."
"Understood." He answered. "Duster three, you with me?"
"Coming up on your Seven." His team mate confirmed.
"Duster four stay put, Three cover me." Reid commanded. "Alright McGee, lets add some more marks to the tally."
The two gunships dipped their noses and roared ahead between the towers, still the volleys of defensive fire blasted overhead and still the Wraith attacked. The city was scarred and smoking but in better condition than Reid expected. He'd seen combat in cities before, most of the time there was little left at the end.
The flew by low enough to spot EA troops filing into the tower and sealing the doorway behind them, apparently the last ones to leave the city. Apart from a few strong points it now belonged to the Wraith, which on the plus side meant collateral damage was no longer an issue.
"There they are." McGee read off the scanners. "Wraith ground troops."
"Spin up the pulse cannons, lets give them a nice warm reception."
The gunship dropped to the deck and closed in, its wing mate holding back and watching for darts. The Wraith gathering for the assault heard it coming but had no where they could escape to, they called for back up but it was too late. Reid brought the gunship up in front of the formation, taking a few weapons hits with no ill effects.
"Fish in a barrel." McGee grinned and opened fire.
The cyclone pulse cannons would have torn apart light armoured vehicles, against ground troops even as resilient as Wraith it was shocking over kill. The storm of blue bolts cleared the Wraith away in seconds leaving the charred remains piled up in the far corner of their landing zone, flung there by the power of the rapid fire cannons.
"Atlantis command this is duster leader, targets destroyed."
"Confirmed." The female voice replied, perhaps Doctor Weir herself. "Be advised there are additional darts on their way."
"Tell me something new." McGee muttered.
"Okay dusters, form up in front of the tower." Reid ordered. "We're running out of places to fall back to."
The Three remaining VTOL's converged on the main tower and took up a hovering position facing the new Wraith assault. Above and around them huge amounts of fire rose up undaunted and unwearied by the long assault. Wraith fighters fell from the sky in flames but ever more were there to replace them.
"We're down to about a quarter of our fuel left." McGee commented.
"I get a feeling we won't need it." Reid said bluntly. "Take as many as we can, and if it comes to it I'll ram one of the bastards."
"Aye sir." McGee acknowledged. "To hell with the lot of them."
Major Shepherds plan had seemed like a good one, and it was a guaranteed way to take out one of the hive ships. Sadly it did suffer from one small flaw. He was going to die.
Ultimately he had expected that one day that could happen, he wore the uniform of the United States Airforce and while that did give him the chance of flying some awesome jets, seeing interesting places, and virtually assured success with girls in bars it also carried the possibility of getting reduced to small tiny pieces and scattered across thousands of miles. Or in this case vaporised in a nuclear explosion, which he had to admit was quite a way to go. He hadn't wanted it, but he had accepted it and the cause was justified enough for him to take the mission without hesitation.
He eased the jumper into position beneath the bulk of the hive ship, its presence dominating his view. Darts skipped back and forth as they landed to rearm or launched in a fresh wave of strikes against the beleagured city. The Wraith wanted it in one piece to further their hunger for human life, and that had made Shepherd sick. He moved into position, and set the detonation sequence on the bomb.
00000000
Battlecruiser Daedalus.
"Colonel sir, approaching destination, two minutes until arrival at co-ordinates."
Caldwell settled himself into the central chair of the ships bridge, a layout which combined the practical experience of naval warships and just one or two passing nods to science fiction TV shows. He took a look outside the forward window, looking out at the long bow of his ship beyond. His ship, and a proud vessel she was too with a good kill record already facing a race called the Drakh which no one had ever heard of until recently. For such a new ship she had seen plenty of action and made plenty of friends and enemies, which had turned her crew into quietly confident and skilled fighters.
"Sound general quarters and set for battle stations." Caldwell ordered firmly and without hesitation in his voice. "Go to condition one and tell our fighter wing to standby for immediate launch. We'll be going in hot."
"Aye sir." Major Karen Foster answered from her side station.
Caldwell opened a comm channel to his Asgard engineer half hidden behind the sensor station he called home below decks. "Hermiod, how is the hyperspace bubble holding up."
"Our reserves are almost depleted." The taciturn alien said. "If this were an Asgard ship it would not have been a problem."
"No, I'm sure it wouldn't." Caldwell bit back a more scathing reply. "Will we have enough power to fight when we arrive?"
"More than enough." Hermiod replied. "And we should arrive with the rest of the group in good order."
The rest of the group being two Whitestar class ships, the Warlock class EAS Titans and the vast Excalibur all on loan courtesy of President Sheridan. They were nestled in the Daedalus' vastly increased hyperspace bubble and travelling the impossible distance along with the SGC warship. It was as much a risk as the battle itself, but they had to try and it looked like it was going to work.
"Major, let our allies know we're almost there." Caldwell ordered, the muted lights turning down to a bluer shade to help the crew read the data accurately from their screens and displays.
"All stations are checking in." Foster relayed. "We're ready sir."
"Let's hope there is still a city there to save." Caldwell said quietly, his eyes still fixed on the maelstrom of hyperspace beyond. Either they were going to save the city, or they were going to be the steel toed boot of vengeance.
The cloaked Jumper eased into position almost inside the Hanger of the Hive ship, there were only seconds left until the mission was complete, and Major Shepherd could retire with full honours from the service. He even had his own firework show which made him smile slightly despite the situation.
"Major Shepherd!" A voice suddenly yelled into life on his speakers. "Decloak your jumper immediately!"
The voice sounded human, American even, but the demand was ludicrous. He was almost on target just a few seconds from completing his mission and destroying the Hive ship. He wasn't sure how the Wraith could know his name, but he wasn't going to comply just like that. But if it was a human, he took a risk and replied on the same channel hoping the message wasn't being traced.
"Who the hell is this?" he asked with little subtlety, this was hardly the time for manners.
"Authentication Alpha, Charlie, One. Decloak now!" the American voice replied.
If it was a trick it meant the Wraith somehow knew SGC codes. Hell they even knew the procedure for authenticating identity. If it wasn't a trick, if it was for real then it meant he might just make it to fight another day.
He held his breath and decloaked.
The next instant he was somewhere else, not the puddle jumper but a different metallic room reverberating with the hum of electronics and filled with a large window onto space.
"Major Shepherd?" a deep voice asked, causing him to turn and see a room full of humans. It was a starship control room.
"Yeah, that's right."
"Colonel Caldwell, Earth Battlecruiser Daedalus."
Shepherd stood to attention in respect of the senior officer. "Sir, real good to see you sir."
"Thank you Major, we're here to relieve the siege of Atlantis, though it looks like you're doing a pretty good job yourself."
Beyond the window the Nuclear weapon hidden in his craft exploded, immolating one of the Wraith ships.
"One to go." Caldwell said, accepting the challenge. "Signal the fleet, weapons free, engage enemy targets at will."
"You managed to get a fleet here?" Shepherd asked. "I'd heard you were bringing help, but not much more."
"Well take a look out there, it promises to be quite a show."
Shepherd followed his gaze and caught a glimpse of a ship moving into position beside the Daedalus. It was utterly gigantic, on the same scale as one of the Hive ships in place above Atlantis. Another equally large ship but with a much more flamboyant design was taking position on the other side, while smaller ships and hordes of fighters swarmed around them.
"Colonel, enemy fighters on approach." Foster warned. "We have cruiser class ships breaking formation and heading our way."
"Understood." Caldwell replied. "Activate rail guns and interceptors, ready main batteries and get our fighters out there."
Atlantis
The explosion was enough to be seen from the city, lighting the towers and causing the defenders to look away briefly. The sky blazed in a double sunrise before gradually fading to the normal dawn light.
"He did it." Weir said solemnly, her mind touching on her memories of her lost friend and the growing knowledge there would never be any more memories to add. It threatened to overwhelm her and she had to fight hard for control, despite this bitter victory the crisis was not over.
"Yeah, he did." Even McKay was subdued, the usually garrulous man lost for more than a handful of words he spoke automatically, his mind locked on the decreasing explosion in orbit.
"Doctor Weir!" One of the technicians shouted. "I'm picking up another ship!"
Weir's chest grew empty, almost as if her heart was in free fall away from the rest of her body. After all that it hadn't changed a damn thing. "Another Hive ship?"
"Negative, I'm picking up an IFF." He replied.
Weir's mind froze, an IFF meant this was a friendly ship, an Earth ship.
"Doctor, more contacts." The operator continued. "You really need to see this."
"Atlantis, this is Shepherd." A voice announce don speakers, it was an announcement they had heard a hundred times but had never expected to hear again.
"John?" Weir asked, hope and expectation overriding her confusion.
"How many other Shepherds do you know?" the reply betrayed amusement and relief.
"No, that can't be!" McKay blurted. "We saw the hiveship go up!"
"I assure you Doctor McKay that Major Shepherd is alive and well." The unfamiliar voice confirmed a little like a schoolteacher repeating something to his students for the twentieth time.
"Who is this?" Weir wondered, mind alert again.
"Colonel Steven Caldwell, Commander of the Daedalus. We are here to assist you, and we brought some friends."
"I assume we have you to thank for saving major Shepherd?" Weir responded to the voice
"We were monitoring your transmissions as soon as we came out of hyperspace but we couldn't beam him in until he decloaked his jumper." Caldwell returned.
"It didn't take much convincing." Added Shepherd from orbit.
Caldwells voiceagain took over. "Doctor Mckay?"
"Here, present." His head snapped up, almost as if he could see the warship high in orbit.
"I'll trust you know what to do with this."
With a bright flash and clap of sound two soldiers in US military uniforms arrived in the control room, taking the occupants completely by surprise. Before they can speak the leading trooper offered Rodney a large sealed box.
"Your ZPM sir." He announced with little formality.
Dr Carson blinked a couple of times just to make sure the newly arrived Marines were actually real and not some hallucination brought on by stress and insomnia."How did they do that?"
'Daedalus is loaded with Asgard technology," McKay answered while turning the ZPM over in his hands. "The beaming technology is only the first part of it they've got things like-"
"Rodney," Shepherds voice interrupted. "What saw we get the shields up?"
The scientist nodded in agreement with a wide grin."What say we."
Wier however was not immediately convinced things were starting to work out, as a leader it was her job to make sure all the facts were considered."But we still have wraith all over the city."
"After we deal with this fleet we'll assist you as soon as we can, We have a multinational force in substantial numbers ready to land. Until then just hold as long as you can. Caldwell out."
0000000
Outside the control room the battle continued unabated with no knowledge of the conversation that had just happened. The darts swept in, targeting the defending Valkyries with their forward weapons and preparing to fire.
"Pulse cannons locked and ready." McGee confirmed. "Just give the word sir."
"Let 'em have it Sergeant, send them to hell."
The three VTOL's opened fire, ripping into the Wraith formation and adding their power to the defence grid. They brought down several darts but could not stop the tide of the attack, the Wraith swarming onwards and entering their weapons range.
"One more volley Sergeant." Reid ordered. "Make them pay for it."
The pulse cannons spoke again, by now the Wraith almost on top of them. Two more darts dropped before suddenly a sheet of flame burst across the front of the attack, Wraith fighters blazing into destruction and crashing into the sea in scores. The assault wave broke up, Wraith ships scattering in confusion as the heart of the attack was cut out by a massive missile strike.
From behind the tower an incredibly loud roar shook the walls and forced many of the gunners to plug their ears. With a flash of afterburners a squadron of Thunderbolts stormed overhead spitting missiles and gatling pulse cannon rounds into the broken Wraith attack. The Earth force fighters tore clean through the darts before pointing their noses skywards and powering up back into orbit to rejoin the battle certain to be unfolding there.
Even through the cockpit and over the jet engines Reid could hear the noise, that of cheering. It wasn't over yet but the whole game had just changed. Even before the fighters had returned to orbit leaving the few remaining darts to the city's defences the word had spread between the defenders. The relief fleets had arrived.
00000000
Across the deck of the Daedalus the different weapons and tracking systems began picking up on a myriad of incoming enemy vessels, the combined SGC and EA sensor packages working together to identify and lock on to the highest priorities. Point defence rail guns and interceptor cannons ground into life while the ships brand new heavy rail cannons and laser batteries armed themselves. Gifts from Earth force the two rail guns were mounted centreline for over a hundred metres along the forward hull and were slightly modified versions of the sixteen inch guns on a Warlock. The two laser turrets attached to the sides of the flight pod struts were taken straight from a crippled Omega's secondary batteries and could fire both pulse blasts and a sustained laser beam. With a little tweaking to the power feeds they had made what Earth Force considered a defensive weapon into something almost as good as the Omega class forward guns which were five times the size.
The extra versatility in the weapons load out and the ability to coordinate it with new computers made the ship a very deadly opponent against any enemy. The ship had already proven its shields could keep it in battle for a long time, and it's speed would help it out of trouble, but the 303 and 304 class had been seen to lack a real bite. They had a phenomenal missile package, but delivering it with the primitive missiles was not easy, and the standard rail guns weren't going to be much good against bigger targets. Earth had ships that were almost indestructible, but had a hard time fighting back.
Not any more. Now the SGC had refitted the Daedalus and Prometheus with some true offensive weapons and the next batch of ships already nearing completion thanks to assistance from Garibaldi's heavy industrial technology used to speed up their build times Earths defence fleet was looking very healthy.
"Targets locked, ready to fire." Foster reported.
"Rail guns, fire at will." Caldwell said. "Hold the interceptors for counter battery fire."
The first batch of Wraith darts ran into a concentrated volley of fire from the Daedalus, tearing them from the sky with a single clean hit each. The following wave used their comrades glowing remains to try and disrupt the Earth vessels sensor locks but found it only kept them alive for a few extra seconds. Those that made it close enough to take a shot hit the shield with a few blue bolts before falling to the point defences.
One of the squadrons decided to try for another of the ships, sweeping in on the oblong vessel off to one side. The massive warship held its course and activated its own point defences, scores of small interceptor guns flashing in the darkness and setting up a thick barrage in the path of the darts. Their demise was as quick as the ones attacking Daedalus.
"Lieutenant Miguel." Caldwell moved onto the next phase of the plan, satisfied that his ship could defend itself from the attack he would now see if the Wraith vessels could do the same. "Get me a firing solution on the closest Wraith cruiser, four rounds from our heavy rail guns, conventional ammunition."
"Aye sir, locking target."
The Wraith cruiser was smaller than a hive ship but it still greatly out massed the Daedalus. Ten of them had broken away from the orbiting force and were proceeding confidently, perhaps arrogantly, towards the allied vessels.
"Rail guns locked." Miguel said, the whole ship having to change its orientation to point the weapons in the desired direction.
"Let 'em have it Mr Miguel." Caldwell ordered, failing to hide his anticipation
The two rail guns engaged, throwing out their solid armour piercing rounds at ten percent of light speed. It was possible to fire the rounds much, much faster but for their first combat use Caldwell was playing it safe. Even so the projectiles hit with more than enough force to pass clean through the Wraith ship length ways, goring it from bow to stern and physically rippling the metal of the ship as the passed through, shaking it to pieces. The second two rounds were unnecessary, the cruiser was already dead in space and worthless.
"Target destroyed sir!" Miguel called with enthusiasm.
"Nice work Lieutenant, now lock on to another and do it again."
Taking out a Wraith cruiser in two shots was certainly something to be proud of, but Caldwell couldn't risk losing time to celebrations, at least not yet.
"New target locked, rail guns ready."
Caldwell nodded. "Take it out of my sky."
EAS Titans.
"Interceptors running safe, forward guns fully charged and ready to fire." Commander Morton spoke quickly.
"Full fire charge from the particle cannons, then swing us hard to starboard." Ivanova replied. "All batteries ready for raking fire, warn the fighters to clear the way."
The orders were despatched through the ship with practised skill, Ivanova's crew were intimately familiar with the workings of their ship thanks to her tireless drills and recent battle experience. They were among the best in the force and were expected to prove it out here beyond anywhere they had imagined. The orders filtered down to the weapons rooms and navigation facilities, each one widely spread across the ship to give the Destroyer redundant command in case the bridge was somehow knocked out despite it's heavily protected position in the hull.
The ship lined its bow up on one of the Wraith cruisers, so far the enemy ships as held their fire as they sped forward to close the range, only the fighters had tried to engage with little success. The Titans interceptors brought down four more darts as her course steadied and the Particle cannons prepared to fire.
"I have two targets at Four degrees and six degrees, we can take them both together." Morton pointed out. "We are in range and ready to engage."
"Main batteries," Ivanova paused for a second, hopefully the Wraith weren't going to have an answer for this. "Fire!"
There was a slight reduction in lighting and gravity, noticeable enough so her stomach seemed to lift slightly as the cannons drew power from across the ship for the final stage of the firing sequence. It wasn't nearly as severe as the power drain from the Victory class, but it was still a minor issue which would hopefully be fixed on the Beta model of the ship. The muzzles of the cannons glowed suddenly and intensely, gathering the immense energies and concentrating them enough so they formed the tight narrow beam of frightening ability. It took one more second to reach its critical stage, a heartbeat felt by the whole crew, then the guns fired.
The warship shuddered as the twin beams lashed out, the recoil system and sheer mass of the ship made the effects less than tests had suggested but the discharge still managed to shave a decent percentage off the ships forward momentum. The Wraith had picked up the energy build up and quite rightly guessed it was not going to be a god thing, but they had no more options left and there wasn't a thing they could do about it.
Both ships took direct hits, the red beams piercing clean through them in a shower of burning gas and molten hull plates. One of the ships exploded violently almost immediately after, the other held on for a while longer until the Titans forward motion caused the beam to move, slicing across the Wraith cruiser hull and eventually hitting something vital. And immolating the vessel.
"Well," Ivanova rubbed her hands together. "That should have gotten their attention. Bring us about, all turrets engage at will."
The Destroyer came about on a new course and began to move away from the fleet, raining pulse cannon and rail gun blasts down at the remaining Wraith ships as it did so. Some took hits, but by now the Wraith were taking evasive action and putting fighters between themselves and the Earth Force destroyer to soak up some of the firepower.
"Five Wraith ships breaking to follow us." The first officer said. "They're closing at high speed, I think we made them mad."
"I often have that effect on people." Ivanova smiled. "Switch pulse cannons to dispersion fire, keep them looking this way."
"Aye Captain." Morton nodded. "I hope this works."
"Not as much as I do." Ivanova remarked. "I've only just got used to this ship."
The Warlock turned away under a hail of fire, the Wraith ships now close enough to engage with their own weapons. Blue, orange and red fire sparkled across the void as the Wraith move din like wolves stalking a tiger.
Daedalus
"There they go." Foster said solemnly.
For a few seconds all eyes fell on the Titans, either watching her on tactical displays or seeing the distant flashes through the window that marked her real position. The crew had seen Earth Force ships fighting before, but it was still an awesome sight to see nearly two kilometres of metal swinging around and firing every gun. Caldwell watched the Wraith fire back, rapid pulses of blue energy streaking back at the huge destroyer.
"They've taken the bait." He said.
"Bait?" Shepherd turned from the window.
"Captain Ivanova volunteered to work as bait to draw away the Wraith escorts." Caldwell explained. "She guessed once the Wraith got a look at the guns on her ship they'd go all out to destroy it before it could hurt the hive ship, and that would mean ignoring us."
"Which we want?"
"Gives us a shot at the hive ship." Caldwell nodded. "Well, not us. Them." He gestured at the second larger but less solid looking ship. "We're going to go help out Captain Ivanova."
"Good." Shepherd looked out at the developing battle. "Glad we aren't leaving them alone I mean sir."
"I understand Major." Caldwell dropped his head in agreement. "Alright helm, Lets close on those Wraith cruisers and hit them from the flank, take some of the heat off our friends."
The Daedalus and her two Whitestar escorts throttled up, driving forward away from the Excalibur and towards the Titans. The Destroyer was bathed in light as Wraith pulse cannons seared past or were neutralised by interceptors. Sometimes though a round would evade the defences and burst in a flash of energy against the heavy armour.
"Release the fighters, have them watch our back." Caldwell ordered. "All guns fire as you bear."
The F-302's performed an overhead loop and swung down behind the Daedalus, falling upon a flight of darts trying to hit the warships engines. The nimble airforce jets and the highly trained pilots woefully outmatched the Wraith and cut them down in moments. Thunderbolts from Excalibur joined the melee, spinning and twisting at high speed strafing the engagement zone and covering the Whitestars and allied fighters.
"I have a firing solution." Miguel reported. "Engaging with main weapons."
The Daedalus rocked a little as its rail guns engaged hurling three thousand pound solid slugs at ten percent light speed towards the Wraith warships. One round missed, the other clipped the side of a vessel splitting it open like a zipper, emptying atmosphere and components into the void. She followed up with the Earth Force supplied laser cannons, bright red beams scoring the Wraith cruiser with a plume of molten metal and fire.
"Switching to pulse cannons." Miguel informed.
The Multi role turrets attached to the flight pods seamlessly ceased firing beams and turned to rapid bursts of orange plasma energy, each hit cratering and shredding the outer hull of the target. Deep within Daedalus the auto loaders dropped two more rounds into the breech mechanisms on the rail cannons. They didn't have the Warlock classes bulky semi automatic system for loading rounds using a giant cylindrical ammunition feed, but the lower rate of fire was made up for by the pure destructive ability of each shot.
A second later the two hundred metre long guns burst into action, kicking out the heavy rounds and shattering the Wraith warship. At the same instant the Whitestars struck another, racing barely dozens of metres from its hull cutting it to shreds with neutron cannons and molecular disruptors. They sped past and performed a quick back flip cutting the Wraith ships bow weapons to ribbons while their organic armour absorbed the few rounds able to connect with the nimble ships.
"Incoming!" Foster warned, then grabbed her console. The Daedalus shook violently as the shields blazed with fresh impacts. "Wraith secondary weapons getting our range!"
"Use the interceptors to take some strain off the shields, and continue firing!" Caldwell demanded. "Find me a new target!"
Blue Wraith cannons met white interceptors as the Daedalus sped on, The enemy had more cannons than the ship had interceptors so some rounds were bound to get through, but the shields absorbed what interceptors and evasive action did not stop. The Daedalus did not pause, and met every hit with another storm of its own pulse cannons and rail guns, charging forward in a halo of light and fire.
Excalibur
Lieutenant Matheson watched the battle unfold, quietly taking in the scene around the still new heavy warship. The Wraith vessels were focusing on the Titans while the smaller human crewed vessels struck the flanks. They had drawn off most of the escort fleet and now left just two cruisers between the Excalibur and the massive Hive ship that represented their primary target.
"Captain, the enemy is right where we want them."
"So they are Lieutenant." Captain Matthew Gideon stroked his chin briefly with his hand, weighing up the best tactic to use in this situation. "I think its time we delivered the big finish, increase speed to flank, activate defence grid and prepare to fire on the lead cruiser."
The deceptively slender looking warship began to move alone towards the battle, its gravitic and advanced ion engines straining into life. Looking like a grey and silver dart it zeroed in on the two Wraith escorts, it's gun turrets rising up to ready stations and interceptors scanning the sky around the ship.
"You know this is exciting."
Gideon refused to show surprise at the familiar voice beside him. "You know you really should wear a collar with a bell."
Galen grinned widely. "Now where would my sense of awe and mystique go if I jingled everywhere I went?" The technomage stepped closer and observed the tactical display, even though he was fully aware of how the battle was going thanks to the link to his ship. "It certainly wouldn't do to inform enemies of my location, and I fear the tinkle of my arrival would not serve to inspire terror in those who invoke my wrath."
"But at least it will stop you sneaking up on me." Gideon replied. "What do you think of the Wraith?"
"Interesting race, I'd like to take a look at one up close some day." Galen nodded. "But I'd rather see Atlantis first."
"They're telepathic." Matheson stated. "I can sense them, but I can't break through."
"I really don't think you'd want to." Galen advised. "Probably simpler to shoot them."
"Speaking of Captain," the first officer directed the conversation, "enemy in range."
"Forward guns, you know the drill." Gideon relaxed a little in his command chair, happy to be doing his job. " Fire."
The four Minbari neutron guns glowed to life lancing bright green beams at the Wraith vessel, the sheer strength taking it by surprise. Unlike the EA heavy weapons the Minbari cannons did not cause much collateral damage, they just cut from end of the cruiser clean through to the other. The Wraith ship spun out of control, the volley of beam fire never letting up and systematically cutting it to ribbons. Secondary explosions gouged the ship from the inside out, leaving nothing but floating junk.
"Second cruiser taking evasive action." Matheson reported. "She's firing."
"Interceptors, deal with it." Gideon commanded. "Bow guns, hit them again."
The rotary barrelled interceptor mounts sprayed a steady field of white energy bolts into the sky in front of the Excalibur intercepting the majority of Wraith pulses, the armour taking the brunt of any that got through while reflecting away a great deal of the raw energy. Once again the bow guns engaged, and once again a Wraith ship fell to them, clearing the way to the hive ship.
Dart fighters from the Hive ship swarmed forward, intent on doing damage to the Earth Force battleship, and in turn meeting the fearsome defences. They died in droves, cut down by interceptors or sliced out of the sky by the beam cannon turrets. Those that got through found their weapons all but useless and instead elected a more direct attack, plummeting into the ships thick hull.
"Sir, shall I recall our fighters?" Matheson asked.
"Negative, have them continue to cover the other fleet, we'll be joining them soon." Gideon was entirely focused on the Wraith Hive ship. "Sensors, what is she doing?"
"Enemy flagship heading this way." The officer replied. "Reading multiple weapon batteries charging."
"They want a fight." Galen noted. "If they had sense they should have run away by now."
"Why don't they?" Gideon asked.
"I suppose Atlantis must be as important to them as us." The mage shrugged. "Important enough to die for."
"Well I guess we better make sure the dying is all on their side." Gideon stood from his chair and straightened his uniform. "Stand by to fire main gun, target enemy flagship."
"Aye sir, power is available and weapon locked."
"Fire."
The Excalibur's engines dimmed and faded, lights grew darker and the interceptors ceased their fire. With a slow and ominous build up the Vorlon derived cannon awoke, tendrils of barely controlled energy fed through the ships drive system and erupted in concentrated streams converging at the bow. For an instant they waited, long enogh for the Wraith on the Hiveship to take a terrified breath in, then it discharged, lancing with green and yellow light towards the Wraith vessel.
The beam knifed clean through it, passing through armour and structure in an instant. The energy surrounding the beam split the hive ship apart, vaporising every Wraith and sadly many imprisoned humans in its cavernous halls moments before the ships power systems broke out of control and destroyed whatever was left of the flagship.
The battle paused seemingly to take in the demonstration of incredible violence. The glowing embers of the Have ship cooling and falling towards the planet. With the flagship gone the Wraith cruisers suddenly found themselves cut off from heavy support and now surrounded by powerful unknown starships.
The destruction of the Hive ship was Ivanova's signal to stop running.
"Hard about Commander, all guns concentrate fire and remove those targets from my sky."
With a quick burst the Destroyer swung broadside on to the Wraith crossing the T of their formation. Every gun turned to face the enemy, powering up for a full powered shot. The bow cannons still needed a few minutes to charge but the Warlock was armed with enough secondary weapons to keep it safe until the particle cannons were ready once again. Ivanova doubted they'd need them again.
"Weapons locked, changing from suppression to direct targeting." Morton reported. "Firing."
The heavy guns spoke firing rapid pulses of plasma at the Wraith ships, no longer needing to draw them out the ship was firing at full power with the intention of doing as much damage as possible. The pulse cannons ripped into the front of two Wraith ships, punching through armour and splitting metal and bio organic material apart like confetti. The destroyer then turned its guns from pulse to beam mode, sending bright red lasers into the weakened enemy hulls. With the armour already gone the energy lances cleaved through the defenceless internal structure which offered no resistance. Secondary explosions gutted both ships, sending them out of control spouting flame from a hundred rents.
The surviving Wraith ships saw they were surrounded and by now woefully outgunned. With fighters closing in and the smaller Human vessels already firing from range as they sped forward, their leaders decided the battle was lost. With a flash of light the left their ruined comrades and fighters behind to whatever fate had in store.
Daedalus
"Enemy forces disengaging." Major Foster said. "Two cruisers made it to Hyperspace, I read thirty two fighters left behind."
"Send our air wing to deal with them." Caldwell ordered.
"Yes sir, Captain Ivanova ordered her ships to do the same."
Caldwell stood from his chair and came to stand beside Major Shepherd at the window.
"Looks like we won." The Colonel said, a burning Wraith cruiser visible beyond the window glowing white and red as its air burned away.
"Yes sir." Shepherd agreed. "For now. But those two cruisers will be back and they'll bring friends. And if we beat them more will come, then more, then more. It happened before, they'll do it again."
"Then I guess we should make ourselves ready." Caldwell grunted. "We've got some extra resources now, more than one ship. Maybe whole fleets if we play our cards right."
"Maybe." Shepherd nodded. "But I don't think its going to be enough." He looked at the planet in the distance. "We earned some room to breathe, but I don't know for how long. The Wraith will be back."
