Chapter 12 - The War with the Wraith
With Olympus now completely repaired, it was finally time for the war with the Wraith to come to an end. Olympus powered up its shields in its birth inside Ganymede. It powered its engines and started moving towards the outer doors which were currently open. It passed through the force field protecting the interior and flew out into open space.
Atlantis and Utopia were already waiting outside. They would offer protection and accompany Olympus back to Pegasus. Once they get there, they will spread out. Each city ship will take a different portion of the Galaxy and systematically wipe out any and all Wraith they encounter. This was no longer a war, it was an eradication.
Olympus powered up its engines and started moving towards the edges of the solar system. The two sister ships followed and all three engaged their wormhole drives at the same time.
Instead of just Battle Jumpers, the Hephaestus-Class warships would have two fighter bays with eighteen Anceint fighters each and a third bay with ten Battle Jumpers. The bays would be designed much like the tower in the city ships. The bay would be circular with one side open to outer space.
Now that Ganymede was empty once again, she would play host to another city ship. This one would act as an embassy in the Alteran galaxy. She would be named Vis Uban in honor of the city that the Ancients were never able to finish. It would also commemorate the victories over the enemies of our creators - the Alterans, Wraith and the Goa'uld too (even though they never caused the Ancients any trouble, it is suspected they were put into power as an obstacle and training for the larger battles to come).
She would be legally recognized as foreign soil and as such not under or subject to any Alteran law. This was agreed to by both sides. It would also act as a home to many Alterans interested in learning more about technologies they don't yet understand.
It will be a place where many people from all four galaxies will one day visit and perhaps spend time within its walls. The city ship would have all the advancements that Atlantis has but would be built more like Atlantis originally was. She would a vessel of exploration and diplomacy not a vessel of war. She will still be well powered which will allow its own stargate to regularly dial Earth or Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy and even Destiny.
The ship is believed to be powerful enough to be able withstand four or five Ori ships at the same time. Any more and the only logical choice would be retreat. It was unknown how effective the drone weapons of either configuration would fare against their shields. The only thing that works consistently are the ABWs. War would, however, not be to our advantage.
With the city ships amenities, many who grew up with what can barely be called technology would be able to come to Vis Uban to receive and get trained in their use. The people's of the Alteran galaxy would now be able to live more comfortably than they did under the Ori.
This would be a place of great power by bringing together two strong people. Uniting the people's of so many galaxies together after having to endure so many hardships. The City Ships would spearhead the bringing together of so many peoples. After the war, with Utopia on Earth, Atlantis in Pegasus and Vis Uban in the Alteran galaxy and a means to continuously dial Destiny, four galaxies would be connected allowing its people's to travel between them with great ease. They would also help in disseminating stargates unique to the Alteran Galaxy. (The seed ships, while they seeded galaxy after galaxy, used different templates and symbols for each galaxy. They traveled through over fifty galaxies for Destiny to get where she is. In each galaxy, a unique stargate system was seeded.)
First the Goa'uld, then the Wraith and then at the same time an invasion from the Ancients home galaxy. Begs wonder if the Ancients didn't put all this in motion to get rid of these zealots that had subjugated an entire galaxy to worse than slave status.
Hours upon hours of prostration just so the Ori can remain cosmically high all the time. Reveling in their power, feeding off the very people they created and then throwing them away like trash afterwards, all the while offering ascension for never thinking or exerting their free will. Instead, they are made to want to give up their free will to these beings. Their entire existence meant to nourish and strengthen them.
Worse than the Wraith. The Wraith didn't care, for the most part, how their food supply lived their lives. Never cared what they did with their free time. Never forced beliefs or lifestyles upon their people. The Ori however had to control every aspect of their food stocks lives. Every thought and action carefully regulated. No choices or decisions. No will of their own. Not free to choose. Only free from choice.
More ruthless and powerful than the Goa'uld. Any dereliction of the norms is strictly and quickly punished. Often ending in death. They terrify and torture their own creations so that they might be high 24/7. Feeding them lies and BS to control their every action. The Goa'uld at least provided technologies so their slaves could live in comfort. The Ori forced their creations to do everything by hand, make everything from scratch, to spend all of their time either in mindless tasks or mindless chanting. Their entire existence expended for the sake of these false gods.
Now they would be free to choose to do as they pleased. To think and ask question anything and everything. To explore, if they wanted to, the various worlds in their galaxy or any galaxy where before they would have needed permission to leave their villages. Now they could travel to even Celestis to see the wonders within. Scientists from Earth hoped to study the city of the gods and learn its many secrets. In turn, teaching any who wish to learn.
The three sister city ships, BC-304s (the USS Avalon, the Chekhov, the HMS Willliam Shakespeare, the Sun Tzu and Le Plongeur), Hephaestus-Class Ancient Warships (the UNS Hephaestus, aka the Tinkerer, the UNS Athena, the UNS Mars, the UNS Bellona and the UNS Pluto) and the Copernicus-Class Science Vessels (the UNS Nicolas Copernicus, the UNS Albert Einstein, the UNS Hippocrates [which would also serve as the flag-ship medical vessel in the fleet, the UNS Pliny the Elder and the UNS Arcimedes) all arrived safely at the edge of the Pegasus galaxy. From here, Atlantis and Utopia would start jumping solar system to solar system from their arrival point. Each city would be escorted by a Hephaestus-Class warship and a Science vessel. Olympus would continue on to near the center of the galaxy with the remaining three Hephaestus-Class warships and Copernicus-Class vessels to start its trek to rid this galaxy of these insects. The BC-304s would fan out in groups of two and pick off any lone Wraith ships if possible but primarily they would look for remains of their technology and destroy it. Why couldn't they eat garbage instead? We could have both prospered very well.
The galaxy was divided into three portions depending on the density of wraith ships. Olympus would take on groups up to fifty strong. Whereas Utopia and Atlantis would take on no more than twenty-five ships at a time.
Atlantis was the first to engage the enemy. In a nearby system, fifteen Hive Ships and Thirty Cruisers were orbiting a planet. Scans revealed empty settlements and cities. This planet used to be populated and quite recently. Its people were now aboard the very ships they came to destroy. Could they mount a rescue? Should they? If any of those ships escape, it'll mean another world ends up like this one.
Atlantis and the UNS Bellona stalked towards the Hives while the UNS Pliny the Elder stayed behind and started creating drones inside its hollow interior.
Atlantis initiated the fighting by firing on the closet ship's engines. The warship followed suit spewing forth a heavy barrage towards the enemy vessels. Ten of the Hive ship's engines were quickly disabled while fifteen Cruisers had been destroyed. The remaining five Hives started to back away from the fight while the Cruisers moved closer to Atlantis. The Bellona followed them while continuing the barrage of their engines. In a few minutes, three of their engines were disabled as well. The remaining two jumped into hyperspace. The Bellona followed one while the Elder followed the other one, it's belly now full of hundreds of Ancient drones. The Ancient sensors had no problem tracking either ship through hyperspace.
Atlantis finished off the Last of the Cruisers and got closer to the Hives and started beaming over the Wraith retrovirus to all of the vessels still intact. After they were sure that all the Wraith were incapacitated, Atlantis sent out all of its Battle Jumpers to secure the Wraith vessels and all the Puddle Jumpers to start ferrying down the people who were still alive. After they were sure that all the humans had been evacuated and the ships had been looted of anything of intelligence value, they moved to a safe distance and destroyed all fifteen Hive ships.
Utopia didn't encounter any Wraith vessels for over a day. Her crew was finally overjoyed to look out and see an armada of their own to contend with. By all accounts, it looked like the Wraith had just gotten here and we're just starting to send out their darts. These quickly changed course and started an attack run. Utopia responded in kind by sending out its own drones. The UNS Pluto started taking shots at any enemy of opportunity, spewing forth drones and Asgard beams. The Archimedes opened up its cargo doors and started spewing forth massive amounts of Ancient drones. In under ten minutes, every last Wraith vessel was in pieces.
During their scheduled dial in, Atlantis and Utopia received grateful congratulations at their victories. They were overjoyed but still worried about how Olympus would fare in its battles to come. The latest intelligence tells us that all of the Wraith ships have regrouped and formed even bigger armadas, none with less than thirty-five Hive Ships and a varying amount of Cruisers.
Atlantis and Utopia were also ordered to regroup and to continue through the galaxy together. No one was going to take any chances. Instead, Replicators would be left behind in each and every solar system they visited to continuously scan the system for any Wraith presence. Since they could no longer go in alone they wanted to make sure they knew that the systems they had already liberated would stay that way. If ever a Wraith pretense was detected, the BC-304s would be sent to investigate and act accordingly.
Olympus chose its first victims very carefully. It was looking for an armada of at least fifty ships. It wanted to demonstrate the true night of our ships. But didn't want to go up against any supercharged Hive ships just yet. They were fortunate to find just on the edge of the center of the universe such an armada. This seemed to be some sort of rendezvous point. There were no solar systems nearby.
The group engaged their wormhole drives and arrived in a formation surrounding them. Olympus on one corner with each Hephaestus-Class warships fanned out around the armada; the Copernicus-Class vessels taking up vigil behind one of the Hephaestus-Class warships.
Olympus deployed its fighters and bombers immediately while her support took to deploying as many Ancient Drones as possible. The Hephaestus-Class warships started firing their ABWs just after Olympus started firing hers. The fighters could be seen popping in and out at random intervals along the space between Olympus and the Wraith vessels. At first, the waves merely rocked the enemy Darts but little by little Darts started exploding all over the battlefield. As the waves increased, all of the Darts sent to attack Olympus were destroyed. The waves continued and intensified and spread out until every single Dart on the battlefield exploded.
The Hephaestus-Class warships started moving in closer, attacking Cruisers and Hives with equal vigor. Meanwhile, the fighters returned to Olympus as the bombers made their run towards the enemy fleet. They unleashed a punishing torrent destroying eleven vessels. Olympus now turns to producing her own share of Ancient Drones as she is firing her ABWs while she creeps in closer. The drones tear through the closest enemy ships while the beams take out the vessels behind or near them. They follow this pattern until every Wraith vessel is completely destroyed.
With their shields barely affected by the battle and their energy reserves still well within the green, they decided to move on to the next target immediately.
Their next target was currently playing host to one of the First's ZPM powered Hive ships. An armada of sixty-five Hive ships were in attendance. Perhaps the First was trying to rally more supporters to her cause. We would destroy them before we would let that happen.
They engaged their wormhole drives and surrounded the fleet. Olympus took up position closest to the hyped-up Hive. The fighters were ordered to deploy the second they arrived. They took to outer space and started their firing as soon and as quickly as possible. Before the Hives could even deploy their Darts, the fighters had made the battleground deadly to them. At first, Darts blew up at the entrance of the fighter bays but as more and more waves were sent forth, the further in the Darts started to explode. Thirty-four Hives met their end because their Darts exploded inside of them.
As tightly packed as they were, these ships' destructions led to the destruction of many of the Cruisers as well as many more Hives. The First's Hive was completely unaffected and had started inching closer to the city ship. Those Wraith vessels that survived started firing on the Earth vessels.
The First's Hive ship opened fire on Olympus dealing a truly punishing blow that any lesser ship might have succumbed to. Her shield's dropped by ten percent. The first time a Wraith ship was able to deplete one of the new fleet's vessel's shields by so much. She opened fire again and again while Olympus sent forth as many Ancient drones as possible, all the while firing the ABWs. The Hive bore the attack well, easily absorbing the ABWs with its hull. The Drones took out portions the Hive's hull but their overall effectiveness has been severely reduced. Olympus sent in its bombers next. They formed a misshapen line and pounded the top the Hive ship. The Hive ship repositioned herself so that the weapons systems on the bottom of the ship could join in on the fight. Olympus' shields were below forty percent by now while the Hive still showed hull integrity above sixty person. Another pounding brought Olympus's shields to below twenty-five percent.
The Hive ship must have smelled victory because it unleashed as much firepower as possible in its next attack. The shield buckled and failed. The primary shield took up its place in defense of the city ship.
The First's Hive fired again. They must have been expecting the shield to fail at that moment because they didn't fire again right away. But when they still saw the telltale shimmering of the shield still Intact, they sent forth another volley. The original shield buckled under the weapon's fire, it's strength dropping to below thirty percent.
The control rooms powering the city ships outer shield were fast at work replacing the drained ZPM's with fresh ones. Within minutes, all three towers had switched in new ZPMs and the shield came back to life, more easily taking the pounding.
The Hive's hull integrity had fallen below forty percent by now. Things had shifted back in the favor of the Olympians. The Hephaestus-Class warships had finished with the other Wraith vessels and were closing in on the First's Hive ship and let loose with everything they had.
The combined weapons fire finally overwhelmed the Hive ship and she started to break apart. Not wanting to let any part of the ship survive, Olympus, the Hephaestus-Class warships and the Copernicus-class vessels took to disposing of the remains with extreme prejudice.
The Copernicus-Class vessels took this opportunity to study the Wriath technology as well. The prices that could fit into her hold would be analyzed, broken down into their smallest components then absorbed by the vessel.
This victory meant the days of the Wraith were truly numbered. They had gone up against the Wraith four times now and easily dominated the battlefield. The Wraith were grouping in larger and larger numbers but there were still hundreds of Hives left out there still culling worlds to extinction.
But there were also a staggering number of ships that remained alone and seemed intent on culling as many people as would fit on their ships. What were they going to do after all their pods are full? Hide in some remote part of the galaxy ruling over one planet, tending to their live stock, retired in peace from galactic conquest?
We didn't know but we were going to make sure that we have eradicated every single last Wraith in this galaxy or any other. To that end, a new sort of vessel was currently undergoing construction. This vessel would be primarily used by the intelligence services of the varying United Nations and be nicknamed the Bed and Breakfast or B . These would replace the countless Jumpers currently being used to surveil both the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. Twenty of these vessels were currently under construction in Ganymede, in the section specifically designed for making the fighters, jumpers, bombers and other small to midsize vessels. One hundred were slated to be built in the first round.
They would be about the size of an Al'Kesh and remain cloaked at all times. Her hull would be reinforced in the event they are discovered and fired upon. They would have a kitchen and living quarters capable of housing five people. There would be labs and offices for their use. The ships would have rings as well as Ancient Beaming technology. This would provide our intelligence officers the perfect home base and safe house. A replicator would pilot the vessel while scanning the planets and outer space for sign of Wraith ships, our intelligence officers would take to the planets to learn as much as possible about the peoples of the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. They would be focused on determining if a peaceful alliance could be established first but also hyper vigilant about any threats to Earth or any other peoples.