Chapter Seven - The Lucian Alliance's Final Showdown
Atlantis was in high orbit of Earth. Since she could power her shields and the engines indefinitely she could remain in orbit easily. Over a month had passed since Atlantis had left the planet believed to be the home of the First. The Lucian Alliance already made one attempt and failed and decided to regroup their final remnants. The First was either dead or captured, though no one from Atlantis knows what he looked like. So the remaining leaders decided their best chance was to retreat. To gather as many followers and soldiers as possible on their remaining ships and to go to a remote area of the galaxy.
Atlantis was almost fully upgraded and ready to once again go back into the fray. With USS Hestia, the Tianxia, Catherine the Great, HMS Nottingham and La Bagnole taking the place of the former members of Task Force Earth. The USS Avalon, the Chekov, the Sun Tzu, HMS William Shakespeare and Le Plongeur would take up the protection of the solar system and neighboring areas. They would make up Task Force Astria, primarily in charge of protecting our 'stars'.
Their first mission would be to search every planet in their galaxy in the hopes of finding the remainder of the Lucian Alliance. They spread out in a circle employing their deep space sensors. With sensors like those on Atlantis, the BC-304s could now scan a great deal more. In less than a week, a planet was found at the edge of the galaxy on the opposite side of Earth. It was well populated with Goa'uld architecture. In orbit, there were fifty Ha'taks and sixty-five Al'kesh.
General Carter was ready and expecting to get the mission to take them on. Instead, the President decided the USS Hephaestus would get the mission. She was the first Hephaestus-class Battlecruiser to be finished, the Replicators finished this one before starting the others, and had already had her shakedown completed. Now the only thing left was to test her in the field. Colonel John Sheppard would be her first captain, now a full-bird Colonel. A complement of twenty-five replicators would be going along to enact repairs during battle or when they would need to enact upgrades.
To ensure the safety of the crew and the Replicators, a series of cloaked satellites would be placed around the solar system in question and leading out of it in a line by Task Force Atlantis. Should it seem likely that the USS Hephaestus would be destroyed all aboard could be beamed out and travel along the satellites until they reached a vessel. Since the USS Hephaestus is such a massive ship, she requires a massive complement of personnel. So Task Force Atlantis would be waiting on the edge of the battle should they be required to play host. Even the new eight Battle Jumpers in the hangar bays of each vessel could be used to receive survivors from the satellite network as well as the hangar bays themselves.
The Hephaestus had no Jumpers aboard yet. But now they were aboard an Ancient warship, equipped with its own dialing device. They could activate the gate on a nearby planet and beam the entire crew through it as well. It was believed and mostly hoped that neither of these evacuation plans would be necessary. This vessel was so powerful and the two shields were each powered by their very own set of three ZPMs. The engines, shields, Matter Creation Devices, weapons etc. were all powered by their own set of three ZPMs. She was far too well protected and powered. And well stocked with twenty-four ZPMs in reserve.
The USS Hephaestus took up the search along with Task Force Astria, finishing the scans of all the worlds of this galaxy. Cloaked, Hephaestus stalked towards the planet of the Lucian Seconds. She fanned out into the last unsearched areas of the galaxy. They found six more planets under the control of the Lucian Alliance. The other vessels continued scanning the last corners of the Milky Way and found over twenty planets with some form of Lucian presence.
With TF Astria's first mission completed they would move onto her second. They were to deploy a network of deep space satellites spanning the entire galaxy. These satellites would be cloaked and capable of relocating themselves to avoid detection. They would keep a constant vigil on the galaxy and also provide another means of travel. It might be possible to beam someone up and have their energy pattern travel along the satellite system to anywhere in the galaxy.
Colonel Sheppard wanted to get the most out of this test. He would rather prefer they all be together at the end. To that end, he visited the closest Lucian occupied world and set forth barrage after barrage of Ancient drones to the surface to destroy every building of Goa'uld design, without even introducing himself. Some twenty vessels in orbit attempted to destroy the vessel, but their weapons fire didn't even dent the powerful exterior shield.
The ships in orbit decided they would fair better with better odds and retreated to the new homeworld. This was repeated with every world they knew of. The Ancient Drone ports sent forth hundreds to destroy every remnant of Goa'uld origin. Finally, after over ten planets were 'visited', the remainder of the Lucian Alliance retreated to their new homeworld.
Colonel Sheppard ordered a course set towards that planet. One hundred and seventy-five Ha'taks and two hundred and sixty-eight Al'kesh were in orbit. Colonel Sheppard gulped at the sight and seriously hoped this new ship would provide the beating and take the beating that was about to happen.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, this is what we came for. To see if this vessel can really withstand an entire army all on its own. Remember, in the event of imminent destruction, everyone will be beamed out and will be beamed aboard one of the vessels nearby or sent through the gate to the Delta Site, just recently created for this very reason. We will keep the gate dialed on the planet so we have a life-line and to prevent anyone on the planet from escaping." announced Sheppard.
The colonel ordered the creation of a constant stream of Drones to the farthest of the Lucian ships. Then he ordered a constant stream of Ancient drones to focus on those ships who were about halfway away. He ordered the ten Asgard Beam weapons and more than sixteen Ancient pulse weapons to fire-at-will. Finally, he ordered the airman manning the dialing device to disconnect and redial at random intervals so those on the surface couldn't guess when they would next be able to attempt dialing out.
The enemy fleet opened fire and started pounding the powerful Ancient shield. All together, a few minutes in, the exterior shields had decreased in power by one percent while fifty of their vessels had been destroyed or disabled. The onslaught continued and their weapons fire encompassed almost every inch of the shields. Ten minutes in and the shields were at ninety while over a hundred and twenty vessels had now either been destroyed or disabled.
Now, though, things were turning. The entire shield was basically on fire and no more drones of either design could make it safely through. Only the Asgard Beam Weapons were of any use now. Shot after shot guaranteed at least the destruction of one or more vessels but at this rate it would take some time and some vessels could easily escape. The Ancient Pulse Weapons continued firing, but were not as powerful of the Plasma Beam Weapons. To prevent any escape, Sheppard ordered them to jump all around the battleground in the form of a five-pointed star.
After they exited hyperspace, they were set to creating as many drones of both types as quickly as possible before the weapons fire reached levels to prevent their safe exit of the shields. Then they would jump to another location somewhat on the opposite side of where they were and do it all over again. Again and again and again until the battle field was littered with drones fighting and colliding with enemy vessels all over the place.
A chair room like that on Aurora-class vessels was also installed in the Hephaestus-class vessels and the operator was having a hard time of things since he had to get re-orientated each time they jumped.
By now, the Ha'taks had deployed all their gliders and they were busy hunting down our drones. After five jumps, thousands of drones fought against the thousands of gliders and well over two hundred Ha'taks and Al'kesh. The exterior shields were depleted to eighty-two percent now. The beam weapons constantly destroyed vessel after vessel as the Ancient Drones collided with vessels of all types. The Drones focused on the gliders primarily unless a few hundred could work together to fire on one vessel.
Hours later, the battle was now strongly leaning in the Tau'ri's favor. Less than fifty enemy vessels were now still fighting. Their combined weapons fire was barely making a scratch. Their vessels were being destroyed at a greater increase as fewer and fewer vessels were effectively being outnumbered by the drones.
Some five hours of battle and the entire enemy fleet now laid motionless. Many vessels remained intact and their survivors were given a choice: surrender or be destroyed. Less than sixty vessels decided they'd rather live as prisoners than die. Sheppard had the Asgard Matter creation devices set to creating hundreds of escape pods of our own design for the prisoners.
On the surface of the planet, the soldiers also surrendered and were beamed up to their temporary 'holding cells'. These escape pods could not be piloted by the occupant. The pod did provide nutrition and sanitary requirements so they could be held indefinitely. It seemed the galaxy was finally free from the tyranny of the Lucian Alliance.
TF Astria's second mission was to deploy a system of deep space satellites, while under cloak, throughout the galaxy. This would allow them a greater coverage of the on-goings of the universe as it would affect Earth. These satellites were placed just in range of each other so they could communicate with each and every other satellite. The satellite system could easily act as a safety net for the entire fleet, so long as they were in range.
In the event of a battle, a 'time capsule' could also be deployed. This would be a cloaked satellite left on the edge of the battle. Should the vessel be destroyed, the crew could be beamed off and saved in the 'time capsule'. It was unknown how long a human being would survive intact, though.
In time, the network would be connected throughout the galaxy. Should one of our ships be destroyed, the survivors would be beamed out and sent along the network until they reached the Delta site. This site was created to act as a safe haven for any crew members of destroyed vessels. She was basically an open-air collection of giant round pillars whose tops have been encircled with Ancient Beam Transporters. Thousands could be beamed down at the same time.
The Delta site was only accessible by transporter. The gate has an Iris that has been permanently welded shut, like the second gate. It was also buried underground, for good measure. This was done to ensure the planet would never be discovered accidentally. Among being a way station of sorts, it would also serve as the last safe haven should Earth ever be destroyed. For now, she could receive thousands. In time, satellites would encircle the world allowing for billions.
To protect the planet and to avoid detection, thirty city ship shield emitters would be buried deep in the planet. Powered individually by three ZPMs each, it would be far more powerful than any other shield in the universe for its size. The shield would be powered down until needed. In the event of evacuation, the Delta Protocol would also automatically transport every Replicator on the planet as well as as much food and supplies as possible.
The planet would eventually be transformed into a world built with the most basic of luxuries. From there, who knows?
Around Earth similar satellites will be placed. They would be cloaked, like those around the Delta Site. It is unsure how the planet would be transformed. Whether with cities and metropolises or something else. Building more City Ships was discussed with strong support from many nations.
The question now became what to do with thousands of war prisoners, what with the war having been won. The Replicators were asked if they would work as prison guards to watch over a colony of enemy combatants. To ensure the prisoners looked after each other well and kindly and that they were not making any technologies that would aid in either their escape or their overpowering of the Replicators. A prison city would be created on one of the moons orbiting the Beta Site, one with no atmosphere or a poisonous one.
This city would be fully contained. It would contain fields for the prisoners to work to grow their food. They would have to tend animals for clothing and meat. They would have to harvest the trees to make shelters. Everything they would need to meet their basic necessities would be met in the very beginning in the form of water and food. Everything else they would have to work to make for themselves. The entire protective shell would be lined with hundreds of sensors to monitor the inhabitants.
They would be well looked after but would be kept busy to be kept from attempting to escape. If there were altercations the Replicators would gently detain the involved parties to ensure they could not hurt each other. Disputes and inner workings would be monitored but mostly left to the inhabitants. In the event of mass riots or escape attempts, all the prisoners would immediately be beamed back to their original escape pods in orbit.
In time, they would individually be evaluated and either released or rehabilitated for release.
It was clear the Hephaestus-class vessels were what was promised. The other four of the first round would be ready in less than a month. The design of the Ancient Drone ports proved very effective, so effective that a new design feature would be introduced to the Battle Jumpers. Instead of a store of Drones, each jumper would have their rear compartments lined with Ancient Matter Creation devices.
These amalgamations of Asgard and Ancient design, as well as with input from the Replicators, came together to make a sleeker and smaller design which would allow the Jumper to house two devices and still provide a walkway. These devices would be powered by the ZPM to create at least a thousand Ancient Drones before depletion. All Asgard Matter Creation devices in the fleet would be replaced for this much more advanced technology.
The Gate Room under Cheyenne Mountain would also be upgraded. The floor, walls and ceiling would be lined with twenty-five Ancient Matter Creation Devices. The old missile silo would be lined with a hundred Ancient Matter Creation Devices so that, if ever needed, five Jumpers could be created vertically at a time and sent through the gate. This would greatly aid in planetary evacuation, if the worst ever came.
And every Hephaestus-class vessel would have their three hangar bays retrofitted with these devices as well. They would eventually hold a complement of thirty Battle Jumpers with the ability to make more in no time. Though, with their shields only being powered by one ZPM meant they were far less powerful than her parent ship.
The Daedalus-class vessels would also get an upgrade. Their two hangar bays would be each lined with twenty-five Ancient Matter Creation Devices. The long standing F-302s would be retired and the fleet would now be aided with squadrons of Battle Jumpers. A complement of eight Battle Jumpers armed with Ancient Matter Creation Devices replenishing their store of Ancient Drones would now accompany every BC-304 into battle. Also, every vessel of the fleet would have dialing devices installed to allow yet another means of escape and to dial the gates from orbit.
Now that it has proven safe to dial Destiny, a midway station of sorts would be built to house the gate and allow for easy movement of items and people through the gate. The Replicators studied the data and constructed a mount that would eliminate the shaking of the gate.
A rotating crew complement would be stationed to watch over the station and neighborhood. A series of cloaked satellites would encircle the station spreading deep into the void connecting the two galaxies. This would allow the fleet would have much better than fair warning should anyone attempt to get close. Though being in the void meant the risk of detection was seriously decreased.
This meant that no matter what Destiny faced in the next galaxy, she would have a permanent supply line. This will be especially helpful if they are not able to use the gates of this galaxy to resupply. Since Destiny could now easily withstand dozens of Command Ships, this supply line meant she would most assuredly make it through this galaxy and the rest after them. For however many millions of years.
Next, a series of a satellites would populate the Pegasus galaxy and be connected via the satellites in the void surrounding the Destiny Midway Station.