1324 Hours, October 7, 2183 (Council Calendar)
New Rivers, Attican Traverse, Milky Way Galaxy
Administrator Rollin was typing away at some expense reports he'd left for the end of the day, and he was thoroughly regretting that. He wanted nothing more than to leave his office and get home to a glass of scotch and his dog. He'd spent the better part of his day in talks with Silaris Solutions who were, once again, trying to push for an increase in their mining operations across the planet. Their current operation was more than profitable, and the increased size of their port over the last few years had brought in a steady increase of new colonists. They'd exceeded their growth projections by two hundred percent and were quickly becoming one of the premier colonies in the Traverse.
But for some reason, the executives at Silaris kept trying to push for him to mine more. Specifically, in sector E23, near the northern mountains about five hundred kilometers away from the city. They'd been lightly scouted in the past, and not much in the way of mineral ores or strategic materials was found. There could be deeper veins hidden, but he was doubtful. No… there was something up there that the Asari wanted to find, he just didn't know what. Ever since they'd partnered with them two decades ago, he had a gut feeling that they wanted more than just resources. But it was only in the last few that they'd really started to push for more control of their operations. He'd been able to fight them off, but they were starting to throw serious credits at the colony, specifically, the lead board members. He didn't have proof, but he suspected that they were trying to make a move to push him out. Which of course he couldn't let happen. Whatever Silaris wanted, he was pretty sure it didn't have the people of New Rivers best interests at heart.
A chime drew his attention to the transparent entrance to his office. He looked up to see his right hand Captain Iruna walking in. She walked over to his desk and took a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of him. Rollin closed out of the screens he had open and leaned back in his own as he looked at his head of security with curiosity.
"I didn't think you were off the clock yet, lass," he wondered why she was here instead of in the security station.
Iruna chuckled and shook her head at his endearing term, not bothering to mention once again that she had 350 years on him, "It's a slow day, I needed a break. Besides, I figured you'd want an update on our new guests."
Rollin nodded at that and stood up from his desk. He motioned for her to follow and the two walked over to the window that took up the entire back of his office. Looking out at the city beyond the port he could see everything beginning to wind down for the day. He could see crowds of people heading home, to bars, and elsewhere to take spend their evening.
"What have they been doing?" he asked, folding his arms, and scanning the view outside, as if he was trying to locate the team from the Apollo.
The Asari shrugged, "Started off by getting food at that burger place. My officers tell me they spent a good amount of time there."
"Huh, I wonder why they didn't just eat on the FTL ride here… what else?" he questioned.
"After that they split up. Colonel Sheppard and the woman went with one of my officers to the library. The other two went to the merchant district. I believe they were checking out Lotan's shop," she explained, "From what my officers reported, they're trying to learn more about the colony…"
Rollin nodded, not concerned that they were checking out a weapons store considering how heavily armed they and that cruiser of theirs were. But he was curious as to why they would want to go to a library and the merchant district at all. He mostly expected them to look around the port, perhaps go to a bar and get drinks as most shipment workers did when not on duty. To be exploring the colony and trying to learn about it was… strange, to say the least. And a bit concerning. Just what were they trying to learn exactly? The last thing he needed to deal with was unknowns stirring up trouble for the colony, not with Silaris breathing down his neck-
-Wait. Silaris wanted to expand their mining operations for increase in revenue and exports, at least, that's what they were telling the board. The board members of course wanted credits in their pockets, so they wanted to back the expansion. Without some means of increasing their yields, Rollin knew he wouldn't be able to hold off them off from doing so for long. But… the arrival of the Apollo suddenly presented him with an opportunity.
"Do you want me to have them brought back to the port?" the Captain asked, noticing the apprehensive look on her boss's face.
Rollin thought for a moment, "No, no. I'm not going to act on baseless suspicion. Besides, they might have given me the key to solving my little problem."
Iruna frowned, "The board still pushing for sector B34?" she asked, her frown deepening when she saw the man's nod, "I don't understand what they want all the way out there. Even if there was something, we're stretched thin as it is with our current operation."
"Which is why Colonel Sheppard and his ship offer such a timely opportunity," Rollin replied, waiting for his friend to catch on to what he was thinking.
Iruna brought her hand to her chin as she thought about what he was saying, her eyes widening for a bit as she realized his idea, "You want to use Sheppard and his supposed colony as a stop gap to keep the board and Silaris off your back?" to which the man nodded, "You've never trusted that quickly Rollin."
"And I still don't. But I need to do something to keep the wolves at bay. You saw how much material they brought in. If we can negotiate regular shipments, perhaps even front them for a larger operation, then we may begin the start of getting out from under Silaris's thumb."
"And what makes you think they'd even be open to that, or that they'd want to? Goddess, why would you even think to gamble on people we just met?" she asked with concern, "Is it because they're human?"
Rollin gave her a sideways glance, "You should know better than anyone that does not matter to me," he stated with a mirthful smirk, causing Iruna to roll her eyes and lightly slap his arm in annoyance, "No, I don't trust them, but if they can bring in this kind of shipment on a regular basis and they're not on one of the board members' payroll…"
"I understand, I don't like it very much, but I understand," she relented as she turned her attention back out the window, "If you're going to do this, you'll have to do it fast. If Silaris gets wind that you're making a play, they'll try and steal them out from under you."
"Then I'd better make my first offer a good one. Hopefully, they can buy us a little more time to-"
-BOOM!
Both of them snapped their heads west towards the city in time to see a plumes of fire and smoke rising behind the buildings. Other explosions followed, and the screams of panic started to fill the air. A pair of fighters pulled out down through the clouds and flew past the windows towards the far end of the port.
Iruna raised a hand to her ear, "Control, what the hell is going on out there?!"
Rollin ran back to his desk and opened a drawer, drawing out a heavy pistol, "Come on, lass! We need to get down there!"
"What the hell's going on?!" Colonel Ellis exclaimed as he stared out the viewport of the bridge at the rest of the docks.
The day had started off normal, well, as normal as a day could be in the Stargate Program. Once the twenty-four-hour quarantine had been lifted they'd gotten the go ahead to begin offloading. The transfer of goods had been going smoothly with his crew unloading raw materials. The Quarians had given them some heavy loader machines that used mass effect fields to suspend the many tons that each load carried. It made the process go much faster than it would have if they still were using their forklifts. Still, not anywhere near as fast as it would have been had they simply been able to beam everything out of their bays. But they had to try and keep displays of their advanced technology to a minimum.
He had just returned from the mess hall and his fourth cup of coffee of the day when a series of explosions sent himself and crew scrambling for their stations to get a handle on the situation. He could see the explosions were targeted further down the docks near the smaller vessels they saw as the Apollo came in. As the blooms of fire began to snuff out, a squadron of fighters and what appeared to be shuttles began to race towards the 304. Immediately the railgun batteries began acquiring targets, a millisecond later thousands of hypersonic rounds began to spew out at the incoming craft. Three fighters and one of the shuttles were struck, their glow of their kinetic barriers instantly lighting up before being overwhelmed by the mass of fire. The four erupted in explosions of shrapnel as the remaining craft veered off from the docks. The railguns placements continued to fire at them as they retreated, making for the close quarters, and protection, of the city and forcing the guns to cease fire lest they hit anything or anyone.
"Major Wilson, report!" Ellis ordered as he moved over to the sensor station.
The Airforce officer quickly pulled up a 2D representation on the screen to the left of the bridge, "Looks like ten unidentified ships came out of FTL over the planet. The New Rivers defense fleet is engaging them, but we're picking up squadrons of fighters and troop transports coming down from the ships in orbit."
"So much for a simple drop and go…" Ellis muttered as he looked at the readout of the city and the various red dots representing the unknown craft, noting that blue ones began to appear and engage them. He moved back to his command chair and tapped the comm linking to SG-2, "Sheppard, we've got a situation."
There was a slight pause as the radio crackled to life, "…Yeah, tell me about it! We've got some party crashers here!" he exclaimed, gunfire echoing in the background, "We're with some of New River's security force here in the city center, we got Batarian raiders dropping in all over the place!"
"Batarians?!" Ellis asked as he watched the screen change to show the four blinking dots of SG-2 where Sheppard said they were, their life signs and subcutaneous transmitters relaying all relevant information.
Besides their own, he could see about a dozen others surround the team, the life signs showing a mixture of human, Asari, and Turian. Meanwhile on the opposite end of the terrace they were in were several dozen life signs of an unknown signature. They'd been briefed on all the civilizations of the galaxy, and Batarians were among several species they'd deemed… troublesome. Ever since the humanity of this universe had entered the galactic stage, the Batarians had wanted an excuse to go to war with them. From what Weir had gathered from her research, it was widely believed they sponsored raiders and pirates to attack human settlements in the Traverse, the biggest being the massive multi-system wide assault known as the Skyllian Blitz that had occurred about a decade prior. These terrorist actions were enough to make the senior staff want to avoid any and all contact with the species in the future.
Then they'd learned of their slaver operations. The Jaffa had been in an uproar when they heard about the Hegemony's practice of enslaving their own people and other races, with some wanting to take their four Ha'tak and head straight for their homeworld. Thankfully Teal'c and Bra'tac were able to talk them down, but there was no doubt that the topic would come up again in the future. And now here they were on their first mission, and there just so happened to be a raid the next day? Ellis wasn't one for believing in coincidence. If he was a betting man, he guessed that the Apollo's presence was the motivation for this attack. But set by who, and why, were questions he couldn't even begin to speculate on. Only the Quarians knew about their mission today, and he really hoped they weren't responsible.
"Yeah, no idea how they got past the orbital defenses. We're trying to work our way to the security headquarters, but we're encountering heavy resistance! It got taken in the first push, and New Rivers can't coordinate their defense without it!" another explosion caught into the audio feed, "Could use some reinforcements if you could spare them!"
Ellis shook his head, "Sheppard, General O'Neill's standing orders-"
"-I know what they are, but we're already in the thick of it! There are hundreds of thousands of colonists down here!" SG-2's team leader stated firmly in a tone that Ellis was all too familiar with.
Ellis stared at the screen showing the Colonel's position, and then out the viewport at the rest of the dock and the city beyond. He thought about all the civilians that were running for cover, getting shot down and, as horrible as it was for him to think about, being taken and loaded onto transports to be enslaved. He'd been a SG team leader during the war against the Goa'uld, and later a flight leader of some of the first squadrons of F-302's. He understood how the Jaffa felt about their enslavement. How they felt about the Batarians and their slaver practices. His great, great grandmother was part of the underground railroad. She and many others risked their lives to help slaves escape to the safety of the North during the Civil War. It seems that fate decided that he was destined to fight against slavery no matter what universe he was in.
Relenting, he let out a sigh and returned to the comm, "Understood Sheppard, I'm deploying SG-17 and SG-32 to assist. I'll beam them a few blocks opposite of your position to flank the enemy," Ellis informed, nodding to his XO at the pilot station to inform the teams.
"Appreciate the help! But what are you gonna do?" the Colonel asked on the other end, a distant explosion cutting in at the end.
Ellis looked back at the tactical screen showing the battle in orbit, "I'm taking the Apollo upstairs, see if there's anything we can do to help."
"Copy that, good luck Apollo, Sheppard out!" with that the line clicked close.
"What's the status of the offloading operation," the Colonel asked.
"We only got about three-quarters of the way done sir. New Rivers personnel are pulling out," the officer in charge of coordinating stated behind him.
"Bring up the ramp and get us detached from the dock," he ordered, his officers speaking into the comm system to relay his orders, "Beam SG-17 and SG-32 down as soon as they've geared up. Bring our shields and APB's online the second we're clear."
Not moments later the sublight engines of the battlecruiser came to life and the ship began to pull away from the docking cradle. The cradle held for a moment, still locked in place as official authorization to depart had not been granted before it broke in half and fell away from the ship and down to the ground below. The ship backed out slowly as it began to turn to avoid damaging any more of the port until it was fully out of the way. The sublights kicked into full gear and the ship began to pull up and away from the colony. It continued to accelerate as it got further from the city and began to push through the upper atmosphere until the skyline began to disappear and fade to the stary lit blackness of space.
The battle taking place in orbit was well underway as the Apollo approached. The debris of ships was littered everywhere, though whether they were from the Batarians or the New Rivers ships they weren't sure. The HUD popped into view over the viewport and highlighted the ships they were detecting. Ellis could see that there were about seven ships left in the Batarian fleet, meaning three were no more. Meanwhile, about five ships were left of the New Rivers force. Something must have happened that tipped the scales in the Batarians favor. He saw the formations the New Rivers forces flew when they were escorted in. They may have been a paramilitary force, but clearly one made up of veterans and they took their job seriously. Not a force that would be caught with its pants down.
"Sir, sensors are showing the New Rivers fighter screen is severely outnumbered. What assets they have left in orbit are being overrun," the sensor officer informed Ellis, "Looks like two of the five remaining frigates are in bad shape. I'm detecting radiation leaks and atmosphere venting from multiple points."
Ellis grimaced at that report. They'd need to act fast if they wanted to end this fight while there was still something left of the New River fleet. They'd put up a good fight, despite whatever tricks the Batarians had played. Almost every ship in the enemy fleet was battered in some way, with missing hull pieces and venting atmosphere visible. He walked up to the holographic display and outlined a position between the two fleets.
"Pilot, move us here," he ordered his navigational officer.
As the Apollo began to move between the fleets, several of the Batarian ships turned to face the approaching battlecruiser. Once their mass accelerator cannons were lined up, three of the ships opened fire with several successive blasts. The mass effect propelled rounds slammed into the concave Asgard shield of the Apollo in bright explosions that were quickly drowned out and absorbed.
"Sir, we're being hailed by the lead ship in the New Rivers formation," his communications officer suddenly spoke.
"On screen," Ellis ordered as he stared to the left of the bridge.
The screen instantly changed to show the bridge of one of ship that was hailing them. There were several stations that sat below the main deck of the bridge, lit up by the holographic screens. Above them was a raised station, similar to a podium that one would find at a press conference. Standing there was a Turian, crimson face paint and a fine but clearly used set of armor adorned over his body. Obviously, he was no stranger to combat. It was an interesting layout, far different than what the humans of Atlantis were used to.
"I am Prateus Hikoran, Captain of the Night's Dagger, commander of New Rivers' naval forces. What in the spirits do you think you're doing?!" the Turian demanded, annoyance and anger evident in his voice.
Ellis noted that anger, knowing how disciplined and well trained the Turians were. He respected the militaristic aspects of their race and knew that an unknown and untrusted combatant entering his battle space was not something he appreciated. Still, the Turian Captain was not in a position to be picky at the moment, or so Ellis hoped.
"We detected the Batarians in orbit and figured you could use the help," Ellis replied calmly as the Apollo drifted into position just ahead of the Night's Dagger, "If you'd like I can attempt to contact the Batarians and negotiate a withdraw. Might help to have an unbiased third party."
The Turian scoffed at that, "We're far past a peaceful end to this. We need take out these ships so we can support our forces below," he seemed to stare at the Colonel and the bridge he sat in, "Is that cruiser of yours capable? Or is its size just for show?"
Obviously, the Captain was not proud enough to prevent him from asking help, albeit in a non-direct way.
Ellis nodded, "We're willing and able to render assistance, but I have to insist that we at least try to contact the Batarians to get them to disengage and pull out from the system."
Personally, Ellis didn't have a problem with blasting the hell out of these slavers and sending the rest of them packing. His blood boiled at the thought of them escaping with any of the innocent colonists below to be sold in slave markets. But he knew that he was disobeying General O'Neill's orders, albeit for a good reason, to not engage in hostile actions. Granted, that was specifically against the people of New Rivers, not against Batarian slavers. Not that he expected that would save him or Sheppard from the General's famed anger when dealing these situations. But he figured that if he at least tried to end things peacefully, his impending reprimand would go a little easier.
The Turian huffed in response, "They'll never back down, you're wasting your time," he looked over at one of the screens on his bridge, "But if you think you can distract them for a few moments it will give my ships time to reposition and flank them."
With that the line disconnected and the screen blinked to black. Ellis looked at the HUD that was highlighting the Batarians off in the distance. They were too far away to see with the naked eye, but their positions were laid over with orange diamonds. They'd held position the moment the Apollo had begun to advance on their position. He figured they didn't want to tangle with both the New Rivers forces and a cruiser sized vessel, especially one as heavily armed as the Apollo. He wasn't sure what Prateus was planning, but if he wanted to end things peacefully, he'd need to act now while he had a chance.
"Open a channel to the lead Batarian vessel," the Colonel ordered, his comm officer nodding in response and signaling that the channel was now open, "This is Colonel Ellis, commander of the ASV Apollo. I need you to cease and desist all aggression against the colony of New Rivers."
The only response was silence. Ellis sat patiently, hoping that they were simply weighing the odds of trying to take on his ship and the rest of the New Rivers fleet. He was really hoping that they would be smart and engage their FTL's before he was forced to do something that… well, something he really didn't mind doing all that much. He just didn't want to have to explain it to the rest of the senior staff when they got back to Atlantis. Before he could try and repeat his message, all seven of the Batarian ships opened fire. Mass accelerated rounds slammed into the blue shield of the battlecruiser, hundreds of kilotons of ordinance. The viewport dimmed in response to the bright eruptions that resembled miniature nuclear explosions. The Colonel sighed, and was about to order his weapons officer to return fire when-
"-Sir, I've got movement from the New Rivers forces," his nav officer cut in.
Looking over at the at the screen to the left of the bridge, the 2D representation of the battle space showed that two of the five New Rivers frigates peeling off and heading for opposite ends of the Batarian fleets in a clear attempt to try and draw their attention. Predictably, four ships broke formation and attempted to pursue, two ships for each frigate. The remaining three continued to hammer away at the Apollo, clearly wanting to eliminate the biggest threat on the field.
"Looks like they're not getting the message," Ellis observed before opening another line to the Turian Captain's ship, "Prateus, you go help your other ships, we can handle these three frigates."
Without so much as a thank you, Prateus's ship and the other two advanced, flying over the battlecruiser and firing their own mass accelerator cannons at the ships before peeling off in pursuit of their comrades and the ships chasing after them. The three Batarian ships paid them no mind and continued to fire on the battlecruiser. The mass accelerator rounds slammed harmlessly into the concave shield, like rifle rounds being fired at a Sherman tank.
"Weaps, target the flanking ships with the plasma beams," he ordered the weapons officer to his right.
The officer nodded and keyed in the commands on his console, "APBs charged, target is locked sir."
"Fire."
At once a pair of pale blue beams shot out from the bow of the Apollo. The precise energy weapons carved through the kinetic barriers and armor of the raiders' ships like a knife slicing through butter. They melted their way through several decks of armor in milliseconds until they reached the reactors. Barely a second passed before the reactors detonated violently, exploding the two ships in massive fire balls that sent shockwaves against the lead ship. It was not too dissimilar to what had occurred when the Daedalus had rescued Rola and Jal months ago.
Unlike that time, however, these Batarian ships were of much higher quality, and so the lead ship merely accelerated away from the explosions before any real damage could occur. It fired a few more shots as it pulled up and away from the Apollo, expertly dodging the railgun fire that trailed after it. Ellis ordered his pilot to pursue and the sublights kicked into gear. The much larger Atlantean vessel chased after the Batarian frigate, which attempted to use the debris from the already destroyed ships as cover. The Apollo simply bulled through the debris, its shields flaring as bulkheads and engines bounced off its shields.
Suddenly, six torpedoes shot out from the dorsal side of the raider ship, igniting in blue light and accelerating towards the Apollo.
"Inbound missiles!" the weapons officer informed the bridge.
"Take them out," Ellis ordered, watching threw the viewport as the missiles streaked towards them.
The railgun placements immediately opened fire on the approaching danger, the hypersonic rounds trying to take them down before they could reach the ship. Yellow streaks raced through the black of space, filling the area between the battlecruiser and the missiles with thousands of rounds. The missiles attempted to dodge and weave but were soon all detonated by the expert targeting systems of the battlecruiser. The missiles exploded in huge balls of purple energy, the space around them rippling and distorting in waves.
"The hell kind of missiles were those?" the weapons officer questioned in shock.
Ellis wondered too, but shook his head as he dismissed the question, "Never mind that now, weaps, target their sublights. Dial back power eighty percent."
The officer nodded, punching in the corresponding commands on his console. The targeting computer locked onto the fleeing ship's two glowing sublight engines. The weapons officer dialed down the energy of the bow weapons array before firing on the ship. The plasma beam shot across space just as the Batarian ship was attempting to bank and come about. The pale blue energy blast sliced through the engines, cutting one completely off and sending the ship into an uncontrolled spin. The ship began to drift into the debris of the battle space, sparks flew, and chunks of armor broke off.
The navigational officer spoke, "Enemy vessel is disabled sir, engine cores shutting down. I'm still detecting life signs in parts of the ship, probably the bridge."
Ellis nodded and looked over at the screen to the left. Three of the remaining Batarian ships had been destroyed, with the final one attempting to evade Prateus's ships. Despite their numerical advantage and element of surprise, it was clear that the Batarian raiders were severely outmatched in naval combat and strategy. It didn't come as too much of a surprise to the Colonel. He and his fellow ship commanders, both human and Jaffa, had been studying up on the fleets of the Council races. They all agreed that the Turians would be their biggest threat, in terms of both fleet size and understanding of space warfare. A 304 or a Ha'tak were worth entire fleets of ships in this universe, but the space fairing races here had thousands of ships. Compared to their seven vessels… well, the odds weren't exactly in their favor. Thankfully, this small scrimmage showed once again that their ships would be able to win any single battle in the foreseeable future.
Not a moment later, the final Batarian ship was destroyed by the combined weapons fire. The five remaining ships in Prateus began to regroup and return to their orbital positions incase more raiders dropped out of FTL. The Apollo's communications officer declared that Prateus wanted to open a channel, to which Ellis nodded.
The screen showed the New Rivers naval commander standing at his post, but the Colonel could see that the Turian's eyes were squinted in even greater suspicion, "…You didn't destroy their flag ship."
"I figured that you and Administrator Rollin would want to interrogate them and find out why they came here," he replied, hoping to build a little more good will.
"…Yes, finding out what pirate gang and from where they launched this attack from would be useful. Not as useful as finding out how exactly you were able to destroy their vessels so easily," Prateus replied, an edge in his low-harmonic voice.
Ellis grimaced internally though kept his face disciplined. He knew that the second they fired their weapons they would be suspect. No other race in the galaxy had energy weapons after all. To say nothing of their Asgard shields, which he was sure the Turian was equally as suspicious about.
"That's a bit of a long story I'm afraid… let's just say we've got a few tricks up our sleeve that's allowed us to stay ahead of pirates out in the Terminus Systems," he deflected, hoping that the more in-depth conversation Prateus wanted to have with the Colonel would be saved for another, less dire moment.
The Turian nodded at that, seemingly reading the man's mind about saving his questions for a more appropriate time, "I'm deploying troops to take their ship. Let me be clear, Colonel, I don't know you and despite your assistance I am in no way inclined to trust you. Not to mention your ship has... unique and unknown technology. My ships will hold a perimeter around yours until the situation on the ground is dealt with."
Before Ellis could protest, an alert rang out from the communications station, "Sir, I've got Colonel Sheppard requesting immediate air support. Batarian fighters are overwhelming the air defense in the colony. And ground troops are trying to take the capital building."
'Damnit' the Colonel thought to himself 'What the hell is Sheppard doing down there?"
Sheppard dove behind a crashed sky car just as it was riddled with bullets. Pushing himself up from his stomach he pressed his back against the car, grabbing his Avenger rifle that he'd dropped and checked it for any defects. Satisfied, he let out a breath and tried to get a handle on the situation.
Once the first explosions happened, Teyla, their security escort, the librarian surprisingly, and himself all immediately ran outside. The square had gone from a peace and tranquil place to absolute chaos. Families were gathering their children and running for the nearest shelter they could find as more explosions peaked out from the buildings. Then the fighters started flying throughout the city, engaging New Rivers own, closely followed by shuttles and troop transports. A pair of shuttles had landed in the grass just beyond the library and armored humanoids began to rush out, opening fire on the civilians.
Without a moment's hesitation, the humans and their escort returned fire, dropping the insurgents and providing a distraction for the remaining civilians to escape somewhere safer. Of course, that left the remaining Batarians to target them instead, and they had little cover in the wide-open city center. Before they could try and find a tree or a bench to dive behind, a purple bubble appeared over them. The Atlanteans turned around and saw the librarian with her arms raised, a smokey-magenta glow around them and a look of concentration on her face. Apparently, she hadn't always been a librarian.
They dealt with the rest of the invaders quickly before their escort informed them that the Batarians had taken the colony's security headquarters. As long as they held it, they'd own communications and the automated defenses and would turn them on New River's defenders. So, the four made their way to that sector, fighting through dozens of Batarians and trying to save as many civilians as they could. Of course, they couldn't save them all; for everyone they saved they watched helplessly as the Batarians used others as hostages and fled back into their shuttles and bolted for the upper atmosphere. Every shuttle that managed to leave with prisoners was a knife in the gut of Sheppard and Teyla, reminding them all too much of the Wraith culling they'd witnessed years ago when the Atlantis Expedition first arrived in Pegasus. But they pushed it from their minds and focused on the task at hand.
Sheppard looked over his shoulder and around the edge of the sky car he was behind. They had managed to fight their way just outside of headquarters, picking up a few squads of New Rivers forces on the way as well as regrouping with Ronan and Rodney, but not before the raiders had taken most of the building and we're trying to break into the system control room. The building was one of the few that wasn't a prefabricated block of metal. It was about the size of White House and made from a glimmering steel and based on the shallow pock marks all over it from stray bullets it was quite durable. The few windows that decorated the walls were covered in spider-webs of cracked glass, but clearly held strong despite the punishment.
The familiar sound of Ronon's Particle Magnum filled the air, and a moment later the Satedan slid into cover beside Sheppard. The man had black blood splattered over his armor and coat, as well as the sword that hung over his shoulder. No doubt he'd taken out quite a few Batarians before they'd managed to meet up.
"What's the plan Sheppard?" Ronan asked, or rather yelled, as eezo propelled rounds flew overhead and impacted the car they were crouched behind, "Those raiders are getting more entrenched by the minute. We gotta get in there!"
Sheppard nodded in agreement, then peered back over his shoulder to assess the situation. To his left, Rodney and Teyla were behind a cement wall, returning fire when they could. Beside them, the Asari librarian was throwing 'warps' and 'singularities' at the Batarians, allowing his teammates and other security officers to take them down when they were floating in the air or stunned. Spread out beyond them and to Sheppard's right, New River's security forces were in what cover they could find as they too tried to suppress the Batarians while trying to find a way forward. Unfortunately, the entrance to the headquarters was flanked with kinetic barriers that the Batarians had set up, as well as mobile defense turrets they'd brought.
"McKay! How are we doing on those turrets?" Sheppard yelled across to his friend who was now sitting behind cover with his Omni-tool out and frantically swiping away at various screens and typing in commands.
A piece of rubble was blasted off the wall he was behind, showering the scientist with debris as he tried to stay focused on the task at hand, "You know, this isn't as easy as turning off the TV with a remote! I've got find the right frequency they're running on and then blast through-"
"I get it, it's difficult! Keep me appraised," he ordered, turning his head slightly and raising a finger to his ear and tapping the comm, "Mason, what's your status?"
There was a pause before the line opened, the sounds of small arms fire and explosions in the background, "Sir, SG-17 and 32 are advancing towards your position, but we've encountered heavy resistance! We've met up with some of New Rivers's forces, but ETA is at least twenty minutes!"
"They're trying to keep any more forces from reaching headquarters. Probably trying to buy as much time for their guys inside to override the colony's defenses," Sheppard grimaced, wishing they had more reinforcements as they were already struggling to get past the outer defenses.
According to their security escort, the colony had a number of anti-air guns, security mechs, and surface-to-orbit mass accelerator cannons that should have come online the second the Batarians broke through their navy, which in and of itself should not have been possible. For whatever reason, the colony's defensive systems were offline, sabotaged most likely. Exactly how that happened was a mystery to the Colonel. But based on how effective the Batarian assault had been, he figured they had to have inside help. Someone on the colony that somehow managed to deactivate the defenses. But then why hadn't they been able to turn them immediately on the New Rivers forces? And he didn't believe that it was just a coincidence that this attack happened a day after they'd arrived. More questions than he had the time to think about continued to bubble in his mind.
But if the Batarians reactivated the defenses and managed to turn them on the New Rivers security forces, they'd own the colony within an hour. Still, even if they managed to overwhelm the fleet in orbit, there was no way they could destroy the Apollo. Of course, given the number of civilians in the city the Apollo in turn couldn't turn its weapons on the Batarian ground forces without inflicting massive casualties on the New Rivers population. Hence the urgency to stop the Batarians before they could override the New Rivers command codes.
"Understood Mason, just assist New Rivers forces and try and help any civilians you can. Get here when you can," Shepperd ordered Captain Mason, SG-17's CO.
"Copy that sir, we'll try and hustle!" he responded.
"Good hunting, Sheppard out," and with that he clicked off the line.
Sheppard leaned over his cover and looked down the scope of his rifle, picking a target and unloading a torrent of hypersonic rounds. A Batarian who'd stuck his helmet covered head out clutched his throat as black blood sprayed out, dropping his weapon, and collapsing to the ground before falling still. Ronon stood up and let of three successive blasts, the ruby bolts shrieking down range and blowing softball sized, burning holes in their victims, and throwing them backwards from the kinetic force. The two took cover again as round peppered their cover again. Sheppard grimaced as he felt his kinetic barrier take a couple of shots from the turrets but couldn't help but be amazed at how much the tech changed the way they approached combat. Of course, not enough to make them charge into the teeth of the enemy without a care in the world. If they were going to take that building, those turrets needed to go.
"Incoming!" someone yelled out.
Sheppard peaked around his cover to see an RPG, or whatever this universe's equivalent, flying through the air towards their position, smoke trailing behind it as it accelerated towards them. The Colonel's eyes widened, and he turned to grab Ronon and pull him from their cover. Their new armor and barriers let them survive a few rounds long enough to get to cover. But he wasn't keen on testing whether or not they would allow them to survive a rocket to the face.
Before he had a chance to, a glowing magenta dome materialized over their cover. The two Atlanteans looked at each other in confusion before turning to watch the rocket slam into the barrier. As the smoke cleared, the dome remained unphased before it disappeared. Hearing the scuffle of boots, the pair turned and saw Administrator Rollin and Captain Iruna running up to them and crouching behind cover. The Captain looked no worse for wear, her armor barely scuffed and dirtied from the fighting. Rollin was wearing his Administrator uniform, though it was torn up and he had some tried blood on his uniform from cuts.
Sheppard smirked and gave them a two fingered salute, "Welcome to the party. Didn't think I'd see you out of your office with how deep your nose was buried in your computer."
Another explosion showered them with rubble, causing Rollin to flinch away lest any get in his eyes before turning his attention back to Colonel, "I told you. I've defended this colony before, and that's not about to change. Even if I have gotten old," he wiped some sweat from his forehead, "What are you and your team doing here? And what the hell is your ship doing breaking for orbit?"
"Well, we're trading partners now, right? Wouldn't be much of a partner if we just let your citizens get taken and your colony pillaged," he replied sincerely.
Rollin eyed him, though whether or not he believed him Sheppard couldn't tell, "Guess I can't afford to be picky about what help we get right now," he peered out at the Batarians position, "I'm guessing that since the colony's automated defenses haven't attacked us yet, they haven't managed to override our command codes yet."
"That's what your people here are guessing," Ronon grunted, standing up for a brief moment to let off a few blasts, the whirring noise drawing the Captain and Administrator's attention.
Iruna and Rollin stared wide eyed at the Satedan, their eyes trailing to the weapon in his hand. Ronon rolled his eyes at their looks, before turning to give Sheppard a knowing look. The Colonel just sighed in response. Among the list of things he knew they would be raked over the coals for, including engaging in combat without direct authorization, the showcasing of some of their advanced technology would be chief among them. He was not looking forward to his debrief.
Before they could demand answers about it, Sheppard waived them off, "Later! Right now, we need to focus on getting past this no man's land."
After a moment longer of staring, Rollin turned back to the Colonel, "If we can take down those defense turrets, my officers with biotics can create barriers to shield us until we make to the other side. We should be able to take them without trouble, at least until we get inside. There's a lot of defensive barriers and corridors inside. It'll make for a hell of a fight once we're in."
"Are there any other entrances?" Sheppard asked.
Iruna tilted her head in thought, "Yes… there's a service entrance for employees in the back of the building, but with the attack it's probably been put into lockdown. We don't have the explosives to get it open."
Sheppard grimaced at that, knowing that they didn't pack any explosives with them before they left the Apollo, "Damn… I've got two teams down here, but they've been delayed. They're helping out more of your guys a few blocks away, but I don't think they'll make it here in time," Sheppard explained.
Rollin's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean you have two more teams on planet? We didn't see anyone leave your ship when the attack began. How did-"
"-Look, we can sit here and play twenty questions, or we can save your colony. But we can't do both," Sheppard cut the man off. Once he saw that Rollin wasn't going to press the issue, for the moment, he nodded and continued, "At the least, they'll keep any Batarian reinforcements from getting here."
Moving on, the three of them formulated a plan that would have SG-2 and New Rivers security assaulting the main entrance. Sheppard could tell that Iruna and Rollin weren't too keen on having his people being such a big part of the assault, much less getting a look inside their headquarters, but obviously weren't stubborn enough to turn down help when they needed it. The rest of the security forces in cover started prepping themselves for the push, namely those who had biotics who would need to produce barriers to protect everyone else.
Sheppard pushed himself into a low crouch and turned towards the other two members of his team a few meters away, "Mckay! You ready?"
The Canadian was typing away furiously at his Omni-tool, sweat pouring down his forehead, "Just… about… okay, got it! Turrets are offline!"
A moment after his declaration, the sound of thousands of rounds being fired ceased, leaving only the occasional burst of small arms fire. Sheppard turned to Rollin who nodded in turn. Iruna signaled her officers and at once a half dozen broke cover, standing in a spaced-out line just ahead of their position. They raised their arms and a wall of biotic energy formed in front of them. SG-2 and the rest of the New Rivers advanced behind them. Once everyone was in position, the formation began to advance at an even pace. A modern-day Roman testudo.
The Batarians began to unload everything they had at them, realizing that their main line of defense was down. The biotics gritted their teeth as the incoming fire was being deflected by their barriers, but they continued to march forward. As they neared the raiders' position, the group began to split apart slightly, allowing gaps to form in their lines. Between these gaps, SG-2 and the security officers began to take shots at what Batarians were sticking out of cover. A number of them fell to the accurate fire, forcing the rest of the Batarians to dive back into cover.
Iruna saw this and began to glow brighter and brighter, "Break off and advance, now!" she shouted as the glowing whisp around here reached its peak and she shot through the gap in a flash of light, slamming into a Batarian who'd stepped out from cover, completely obliterating him.
The rest of them followed suit, pressing forward and dropping the Batarians left and right. The raiders tried to return fire but were quickly being overwhelmed by the superior training of the New Rivers security forces and SG-2. The Batarians began to break cover and flee into the building behind them, but few made it more than a few feet before being gunned down. Soon enough the entrance of the New Rivers headquarters had been secured. Everyone regrouped around the main entrance, checking their equipment to make sure it nothing would break down when they started to clear the building.
Rollin wiped more sweat off his forehead, "Alright, Jefferson, Liota, Collins, and So'rala. You four hold the entrance, I don't want anyone coming in behind us and fucking us in the ass," he ordered his security officers before turning to Sheppard, "Alright then, let's not waste anymore time. Move out," the Administrator ordered.
SG-2 fell in behind the New Rivers personnel, and at a steady pace they began to move through the tight corridors of the colony's headquarters. Ronon was taking point alongside Captain Iruna while Teyla stayed close to Rodney in the middle of the column. Sheppard and Rollin were just behind the Satedan and the Asari, their heads on a swivel as they looked for hostiles.
"So, once your colony's safe, you guys need help with anything? The Apollo is fully stocked with medical staff and supplies," Sheppard offered, pausing a moment as he aimed his weapon down a hallway, scanning it before nodding in satisfaction that it was empty.
Rollin did the same on his side, not taking his eyes off the hallway, "You're full of generosity today, Colonel. If we didn't pay you as much as we did, I'd think you had an ulterior motive."
Sheppard mentally sighed. The man was more suspicious than most, borderline paranoid in Sheppard's opinion. But to be fair, if they had set up Atlantis in a system that had this much traffic and galactic attention, he'd probably be the same. Of course, Rollin had a point. He was offering a lot that he technically didn't have the authority to offer. That would ultimately be up to Colonel Ellis, though given that he had not objections to engaging the Batarian pirate fleet he doubted the man would have a problem with offering humanitarian help to the citizens of New Rivers.
"Just looking out for our new trading partner, that's all. But, even if we weren't trading, we'd still help you," Sheppard stated with conviction.
Rollin was silent for a moment, before casting a sideways glance at the Colonel and offering a, "Hmm," in response.
Iruna held her hand up, causing the group to halt their movement, "Alright, we're coming up on the atrium. Assume that they've got barriers set up and have taken up overwatch positions on the second floor. I'll put up a barrier for a few seconds so you all can get to cover. Is everyone ready?" she asked, seeing the wave of nods she got she steeled herself, "Okay… now!"
Rushing forward, she collapsed her rifle and slung it over her shoulder. Raising her hands, she created a glowing, wall-like barrier in front of her and left the safety of the corridor they were in. Immediately, gun fire echoed in the open space of the atrium and the barrier started taking fire from multiple positions. The atrium was about the size of a middle school gymnasium, with a receptionist desk and stairs leading the second story. There were columns along both side of the room, the ones on the Batarians' side being used as cover. The Captain grit her teeth and poured more strength into the barrier, trying to keep it from collapsing.
"Go, go, go!" she shouted, the strain of holding her biotics up against this many Batarians carrying into her voice.
Ronan was the first to exit, firing his Particle Magnum as he went and scoring two kills. Everyone else followed, moving to the left and right of Iruna and taking cover behind the columns on their side. As the final security officer dove for cover, Iruna felt her barrier fade away as she could no longer maintain it. She collapsed to one knee as she tried to catch her breath. Looking up, her eyes widened as she saw a Batarian take aim at her, a grin on his face, preparing to pull-
-A ruby bolt of energy slammed into the Batarian's head, blowing it apart and send bit of smoking gore all over the column and his fellow pirates.
Iruna turned and saw Ronan running at her, swooping down and grabbing her by her waist and throwing her over his shoulder while taking pot shots at the rest. A half second later, the spot she was in was peppered with bullet holes as the Batarians unloaded in an attempt to kill her before she could get to cover. Ronan slid behind a column, firing one last burst.
He dropped the Asari down, giving her a chance to recover, "You alright?" he asked, getting straight to the point.
Iruna wiped some sweat off her forehead, took a deep breath and nodded, "I will be, just need a minute. Thank you, by the way… I thought…"
"Don't worry about," he stated, not offering anything more than that, "Sheppard, what's the play?"
One column down, the Colonel was taking cover next to Teyla and Rodney, the latter of whom was kneeling and scrolling through his Omni-tool while the other two members of SG-2 focused on trying to take down the Batarians.
Sheppard pulled back into cover and looked down at Rodney, "What's the word Rodney?"
Mckay kept scrolling without looking up at the Colonel, "Okay, I'm tapped into the building's network and… oh no…" he quietly gasped, staring wide eyed at the orange screen on his wrist.
"Talk to me Mckay, what's going on?" Sheppard asked impatiently, leaning out and letting out another burst.
Rodney's head shot up at his friend, "The Batarians are trying to blast through the firewalls to the colony defense systems! They're already through three of them, and if they get through the last two then-"
"-We can kiss the colony goodbye," Rollin, who was another column down from them, finished for the man, "We need to get through these bastards and get to the control room."
Sheppard nodded in agreement, peeking out from cover to take in the situation. He saw the line of Batarians was somewhat thinned thanks to Ronon and a few of the others, but those on the second story were keeping them from taking any big risks. If they could take out or distract the pirates on the second story, then the ones on the ground floor would be easy enough to deal with. Sighing, he knew what he needed to do, he had just really hoped he wouldn't have to do it.
"Alright, here's the plan. I'm going to take out the Batarians on the second floor. Once they're dealt with, you guys can advance and we'll move on the control room," Sheppard informed everyone, drawing incredulous looks from the New River personnel.
Rollin looked flabbergasted, "How in the hell are you going to get up there without getting your ass shot off lad?"
Sheppard raised his arm, showing off an emerald jewel protruding out from his armored forearm, "Like this," he stated and pressed the jewel.
Without warning, Sheppard vanished from sight. Rollin and Iruna stared at where the man had just been standing in shock. SG-2 weren't surprised at the face that their leader had just vanished into thin air, more at the fact that he'd shown off such a sensitive piece of technology. They had about two dozen Sodan cloaking devices in Atlantis, and a few were given out to the SG teams. They couldn't afford to give one to each member of every team, however. Sheppard decided to take the one given to SG-2 given his Special Warfare training. That and, in his words, he'd always wanted to be able to turn invisible. The only downside to the Sodan cloak was the weird haze that covered the world when one activated the device.
Sheppard moved his way down the line of columns until he reached the stairs. He leaned out and watched as the Batarians continued to hammer away at their position. He moved out and made his way up the stairs, cautious and taking his time despite the fact that no one could see or detect him. Once he made it to the top of the stairs, he rounded the corner and took a look. There were six Batarians behind columns, and all of them unloading everything they had into their position. Collapsing his rifle and attaching it to his back, he pulled out his combat knife, made of a trinium composite, and quietly walked up behind the closest Batarian. The pirate was firing a burst when the Colonel came up behind him and jammed his knife into his spinal cord. The Batarian died instantly and dropped to the floor without warning. The next Batarian looked over in shock but returned to firing at SG-2 and the security officers, assuming that one of them managed to take out his comrade.
He moved onto the next Batarian and did the same thing he'd done to the first. This time however, when the Batarian dropped, one of the other pirates turned and opened fire in a panic. Sheppard dove to the right and rolled, sheathing his knife and pulling his rifle off his back.
"What are you doing?!" another pirate demanded.
"There's someone cloaked up here! They killed Barto and Lob!" the panicked pirate exclaimed, sweeping his rifle all over the place as he tried to find the Colonel.
The other Batarian pulled out his Omni-tool and did a scan, shaking his head while he did so, "I'm not reading anything! Just get back on the-"
Sheppard fired his rifle at the Batarian, a quick burst that punched through his barrier and ended his life in an instant. The remaining pirates turned and watched in shock as fire seemed to be coming from out of nowhere. The Colonel didn't hesitate to take advantage of their confusion and continued to mow the down before they had a chance to react. He dropped two more before his rifle overheated. The final one managed to bring his weapon up and spray the whole area with bullets. Sheppard cursed as he felt the round hit his barrier, and he rolled to the side again. He dropped his rifle, pulled his knife out again and through it at the Batarian. The well-aimed knife sailed through the air, appearing into the visible spectrum again. The pirate could only wide all four of his eyes as he watched the blade slam into his chest wear his heart was. He looked down at the knife, and his eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed.
Sheppard raised a hand to his ear, "Alright, you guys are clear!"
Grabbing his rifle, he looked down and watched as the SG-2 and New Rivers began to advance on the remaining Batarians' position. Batarians were dropping left and right, but to their credit they didn't fall back like their comrades outside. Maybe they knew they had nowhere else to go, or maybe they thought they had a chance. Whatever the reason, it made it all the easier for his team and the security officers to finish them off. Ronon charged out from cover, his Particle Magnum in one hand and his trinium sword in the other. One Batarian thought it was a good idea to engage in hand to hand and charged as well. As the pirate got close, Ronon sent a head kick to the head of the Batarian that stunned him. He followed up with a downward slash that sliced open the chest of the pirate, his hard suit doing nothing to stop the sword. The towering human then turned and let off too successive blasts, stopping the two Batarians who were attempting to help their now bleeding comrade in their tracks.
The rest of the group finished off the last couple of pirates and the atrium fell silent again. Sheppard recovered his knife and deactivated his cloak before jogging back down the stairs and regrouping with everyone else. A few of the security personnel had taken hits when their barriers fell and were being tended to by their fellow officers. Rollin and Iruna were making sure they were okay but stopped as they saw Sheppard approach.
Rollin walked straight over to the Colonel, "Didn't know you had infiltrator training, lad. Of course, I've never seen a cloaking system quite like that… couldn't pick you up on my scanner at all…" he commented, suspicion returning to his voice.
Sheppard knew why; if they had access to cloaks like that then what else had they had done during the day they had been on New Rivers. There was no point and no time for discussing it now though, and Rollin knew that as well. He wasn't quite sure what he meant by 'infiltrator' training. He'd have to ask Elizabeth or Dr Jackson to research it when they had the time.
"Alright, where to now? More rooms to clear?" Sheppard asked.
Iruna walked over and shook her head, "If they had more troops, they would have positioned them here. This was the most defendable position before reaching the control room."
Sheppard nodded, "Alright, let me see where our guys are at," he then opened channel to his men storming the building opposite of them, "Mason, what's your status?"
There was a slight pause before his radio came to life, "…We're pressing towards your position sir, but the remaining Batarians are falling back to the colony headquarters. Colonel Ellis radioed us that the fleet in orbit has been destroyed. I'm guessing they're going to try make one last push to turn the colonies defenses on everyone here."
"Damn," Sheppard muttered, "Copy that Mason, stay with the security officers and try and keep them from breaching. Hopefully we'll have the building under our control soon and we can turn those defenses on them instead. Sheppard out," with that he turned to face the rest of the group again, "Good news and bad news: good news is the fleets been taken care of. The bad news is we've got more pirates incoming, we need to move and take that control room."
Rollin nodded in agreement, and everyone double timed it past the reception desk and through the large doors on the other side. It was a short jog past a few more corridors before they came to a large round door. Even with it shut Sheppard and his team could tell that it was a thick blast door, likely capable of resisting all of their small arms. Rollin pulled up his Omni-tool and typed in a few commands. The red holo-lock on the door flashed a few times before returning to a solid red. Frowning, the Administrator tried again, only for the lock to refuse whatever command he was typing in.
"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed as he turned off the computer, "They must have changed the codes, we can't get inside without knowing the new ones."
Sheppard mentally groaned, wishing SG-17 and SG-32 were here already with their explosives. He could have the Apollo beam in some, but then of course they'd be revealing one of their most sensitive technologies. One that they were ordered to not reveal unless under the most dire of circumstances. He really didn't want to have to do that before he'd exhausted all his options. So, he once again found himself turning to his friend.
"Mckay, do you think you can get through this?" he asked the scientist.
Rodney rolled his eyes, "Haven't heard that question a thousand times before," he pulled up his Omni-tool and began to do whatever it was he did when he was hacking into a system, "… Alright, looks like they weren't too careful about locking up the back door… just a few more… oh crap!"
"What? What's wrong?" Teyla asked, concern in her voice as she knew the tone that her friend was using meant that their situation was about to go from bad to worse.
Rodney's eyes were wide in panic, "The Batarians are almost through the last fire wall! I don't know if I can open the door in time!"
"Well quit wasting time talking and try!" Iruna exclaimed.
Looking over at the Asari, he seemed to snap out of it and nod before returning his attention to the orange holographic interface on his wrist. His fingers danced across the holographic keyboards and screens as he made his way through the Batarian lock on the door. Ever since they'd received Omni-tools from the Quarians, the Canadian had spent countless hours learning everything he could about the new technology. Specifically, he'd spent most of his time learning how to use it to hack computer systems in the field. It was much easier than using his old tablet and having to connect wires to systems directly. Jal had been kind enough to show him how to do so, even if Rodney privately felt a little embarrassed at being taught something by someone so much younger than him. But he was glad he did since it had paid off once already today. He just hoped that it would pay off one more-
"-Yes! I got it!" Mckay shouted as the red lock on the door blinked twice before turning a sold green.
The door slid open, revealing the control room and the numerous consoles and holographic screens giving the room an orange glow. Standing in front of that, were three Batarian pirates aiming their rifles directly at the door that just opened. Not wasting a moment, the three opened fire causing everyone to duck out of the way. Everyone except for Mckay who was distracted by his excitement at hacking through the lock.
He took several blasts that took down his barrier before a final shot winged him in the shoulder, "Oh my god! What the hell was-"
He didn't have a chance to finish his sentence before Teyla tackled him out of the way before he could take more fire. They rolled near the wall next to the door and Teyla sat up to look over the man. His shoulder was bleeding and had a quarter sized hole in it.
"Rodney are you alright?" she asked, reaching into her pouch to pull out a tube of Omni-gel.
Rodney looked up at her with a shocked expression, "Do I look alright?! Why does this only happen to me?" he cried out as Teyla started to look over his wound, "How bad is it?! I'm bleeding out aren't I! Oh god, I knew it was gonna end like this someday! Why didn't I-"
Teyla placed a hand on his other shoulder as she lathered the wound in the medical substance, "Calm down Rodney, the bullet merely grazed you! The Omni-gel is already stopping the bleeding."
Rodney stopped his panicking and looked down at his shoulder, "What, really?"
Teyla sighed but smiled at the fact that her friend was alright. Meanwhile, Sheppard and Iruna had taken up positions on either side of the door and kept the Batarians suppressed as best they could, but they couldn't do much without risking taking out the computer consoles and thus preventing them from overriding the sabotage that was keeping the colony defenses offline. Sheppard ducked back around cover and gave the Asari a pointed look that was returned by one of her own.
"Any suggestions?" he asked impatiently, growing tired of this whole mess they'd gotten involved in.
Iruna gritted her teeth in frustration, "We can't just mow them down and they know it. If we hit the wrong thing, our defense system will be crippled. Even with their fleet down, they could still have FTL capable shuttles available and ready to take more of our people."
Sheppard peaked around the corner, only to pull back instantly as more rounds whizzed past, "Well, I don't see any way through that doesn't involve a lot of pain. Maybe we can-"
-Ronon sprinted past the pair straight into the room with a mighty war cry, his leather coat and dreadlocks flowing behind him. The three Batarians in the room stared in shock the massive and savage human sprinting at them and did couldn't help but freeze up as they watched. Ronon raised his Particle Magnum and blasted the lead Batarian who was standing in front of the other two and thus less of a risk to target. Three energy bolts slammed into the chest of the pirate and pushed him back into his comrades who in turn dropped their weapons as they tried to grab him. Ronon holstered his weapon and reached over his shoulder, unsheathing his blade, and grabbing dead Batarian and throwing him away. He stepped closer to the one on the right and sent a vicious headbutt directly to the Batarians forehead, stunning the four-eyed alien and causing him to step back in pain. Turning his attention to the other one, Ronon sent a straight jab to the pirate's throat. The Batarian grabbed his neck as he tried to gasp for air, only to receive a blade through his gut that lifted him a few feet into the air. The Satedan turned and kicked the dangling Batarian off his blade and spun, throwing his blade in a wide arc that took the head off of the remaining hostile. The Batarian's eyes widened in surprise, his whole body freezing for a moment. Then his head rolled off his shoulders and rolled onto the floor towards the entrance.
Wiping the blood off his blade and then off his face, Ronon turned to his friends and the security officers, "All clear."
Iruna, Rollin, and the other officers simply stared at the man with wide eyed expressions, and some fear, as they couldn't quite believe what they'd witnessed; melee combat wasn't all that common in the galaxy anymore. At least with such lethal brutality as what Ronon had just demonstrated. SG-2 filed into the room without a second thought, having seen their friend preform this act countless times before. Rollin and Iruna recovered and followed while the rest of the officers stayed outside the control room to make sure no other pirates tried to enter.
Rollin quickly made his way over to the primary console, pulling up the holo-keyboard and began to type away as he tried to figure out what had gone wrong. He kept at it for a few more minutes before finally pulling up a screen that made him narrow his eyes.
"It seems that someone entered an override code that only supposed to be used in the event the colony's defenses are somehow turned on the colony," he growled in anger as he continued his typing.
Sheppard seemed to notice this, "And this is surprising because…"
"Because the override code was one that belongs to someone high up in the government of the colony. I can't tell who exactly, since the bugger who did it wiped the logs and covered their tracks," he explained, finally pulling up a screen that showed the colony's defense activation coming back under their control, "I've almost the system back online. Just… about… there!"
A moment passed and nothing seemed to happen. Sheppard looked around in confusion, waiting for some kind of grand… something to happen. But the room was silent other than the occasional sound from the computer systems and the breathing of everyone else in the room. Rollin looked over at the Colonel and smirked a bit.
"What, were you expecting bagpipes and fireworks?" he sardonically asked, smirking more when he saw the man roll his eyes, "As we speak, our air defense cannons are back online and legions of mechs are being deployed throughout the colony. Once Prateus gets the orbital situation locked down and sends down some reinforcements, we should have the colony back under our control within the hour."
SG-2, minus Ronon, sagged with relief that their efforts had paid off. They took a huge risk in helping New Rivers fight off their attackers. Not the first time they'd done something like this, but certainly the biggest risk they'd taken since coming to this universe. And while they were glad the risk had paid off, at least in the sense that no more innocent civilians were taken or harmed, they all knew that both General O'Neill and Elizabeth would not be happy when they reported in.
"So, now what?" Sheppard asked.
A few hours had passed since they'd brought New Rivers's automated defenses back online. Hundreds of mechs had emerged from bunkers and began to work with the security forces to kill or capture the remaining pirates scattered throughout the colony. Once they realized their ships in orbit were destroyed, and the forces sent to retake the headquarters had been eliminated thanks to SG-17 and 32 along with New Rivers forces, the remaining pirates surrendered. A temporary holding facility had been set up until Rollin could get the Alliance to come pick them up. Despite being an independent colony, the Administrator figured they'd want to interrogate the pirates and get whatever intel they could out of them. That was, after he'd had a chance to do his own.
He and Sheppard had returned to his office and were staring out the window at the colony. Smoke was rising from multiple points, and there were numerous medical tents set up to help injured civilians and security personnel. SG-2 had joined the other SG teams in helping the people of New Rivers however they could. The Apollo had returned to one of the other cruiser-sized docks. Ellis deployed more teams and all of the medical staff on board to assist in dealing with the overflow of patients.
Rollin sighed and folded his arms as he watched the scene, "I know I am not a very trusting man, Colonel, and I know that I'm a son of a bitch when things don't go well. But," he turned to the man and offered his hand, "You have my thanks. Without you and your team, well, I'm not sure we could have survived."
Sheppard turned and stared at the man for a moment, then took his hand and shook it firmly, "Like I said, we're glad to help out our new trading partner," he glanced out at the chaos still going on outside, "You gonna be able to recover from this?"
Rollin sighed and walked over to his desk, motioning for the Colonel to follow and take a seat before reaching into his desk and pulling out a bottle filled with an amber liquid. He also pulled out two glasses and poured two fingers worth of it into them before handing one to the Colonel. Not wanting to offend by refusing, Sheppard accepted the glass and raised it in a cheer, taking a sip and closing his eyes as he felt the warm liquid race down his throat.
"That's good stuff, hell of a lot better than the crap we've got," he complimented as he took another sip.
"A good twenty-year scotch, I always keep a bottle in my desk for special occasions," Rollin explained as took a seat in his chair, "I figure this as good a reason as any. But to answer your question, yes, we will recover from this. We've been attacked before, and we've always rebuilt and become the stronger for it."
Sheppard nodded at that, but couldn't help but tilt his head a bit, "Don't take this the wrong way, but this attack seems like it was a lot worse than a typical raid for resources. Not to mention how surprised you were that the code used to disable your defenses came from your own people…"
"Yes… that little nugget of information just confirms what I've been suspecting for a while…" Rollin trailed off, taking a long sip and finishing off his glass before pouring another.
Sheppard frowned at that, sensing that the man meant a lot more to say on the subject, "What do you mean by that exactly?"
Rollin shook his head, "No offense, but nothing that concerns you or your people. Just some issues that are going to make me very uncomfortable in the coming days. In the meantime, if you want to tell your Colonel Ellis that he can finish offloading the remainder of your shipment, he may do so. No sense in keeping you here longer than you need to be after everything you've done."
"I'll let him know, but we'll stay here for a few more hours until you've got a handle on the situation. I know you need all the medical help you can get," Sheppard offered, finishing off his drink.
Rollin let out a breath and nodded in thanks, "I appreciate, Colonel," he took a larger swig and finished off his second glass, "Alright, I need to get back out there and coordinate with Iruna. We'll meet again once your ship has finished offloading."
He got up and began to move towards the doors to his office, followed quicky be Sheppard. The pair walked through the transparent entrance and down the stairs to the lobby that was housing a few dozen injured civilians and security. Once they reached the exit of the bottom of the stairs, they both looked in opposite directions, knowing they needed to go separate ways to get back to their people.
Sheppard turned back to Rollin, "So, besides everything that's happened, can we count on you being a regular trading partner?"
Rollin stared at the man for a long minute, seemingly debating something in his mind before a look of relief came over his face, "… Yes, you and your people are welcome here. For both trading and if you ever need to find a port in the storm," he raised an eyebrow at the man, "Besides, having an ally with such... unique and powerful technology never hurts. Especially with raider attacks becoming more common," he commented, noting the annoyed look on the Colonel's face with a smile, "Now, I'll see you later Colonel."
With that, the Administrator left, leaving Sheppard alone. The man let out a long sigh, knowing what a shit show of a day it had been. That last comment by the Administrator made was already giving him a headache. It was bad enough that they had showed off Ronon's weapon and his Sodan cloak. The Apollo all but decimating the enemy fleet in front of New Rivers ships was the real issue, one that would no doubt come back to bite them in the ass. At least he had Ellis to stand beside him when General O'Neill tore him a new one. He wasn't regretting a moment of it of course, but he was tired and really wanted to bunk down for the night. But his day was still far from over.
Raising a hand to his ear he activated his comm, "Colonel, as soon as you can the Administrator has given us permission to finish offloading."
"…Copy that, Sheppard. We'll begin right away. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two. Once our medical teams have finished dealing with the worst patients we're bugging out and heading back for Atlantis. I've informed General O'Neill of the situation, and once we've entered hyperspace, we're scheduled for a debrief," Ellis informed him, though based on his tone Sheppard could tell that he was looking forward the debrief as much as he was.
"Understood Colonel, I'm heading back to see the situation is with out people. See you soon, Sheppard out," he replied and clicked off the comm.
He turned towards the exit but stopped when he saw the people laying on gurneys and hooked up to IV's and being attended to. Despite the good feelings he had about helping this colony, he couldn't help but wonder why it was that every time he came to a new galaxy it always ended in violence. He was hoping their first foray into the galaxy would be a simple one. Hell, if it was the most boring mission, he would have been alright with that. He just couldn't help but think that this was going to set a tone for how the rest of their time in this new universe was going to go. It seemed that war and conflict was going to follow them no matter where they went.
He shook his head. Maybe things would be different. Maybe, despite some of the rougher aspects of this galaxy, things would be relatively peaceful. Maybe in time, once they started to explore a bit more and got to know more of the races around here, they'd get to a point where they wouldn't have to fight anymore. He imagined just hitting golf balls off of the docks of Atlantis into the ocean with all his friends around, every day with no worries at all.
He shook his head at the thought. He knew that he was cursed to fight for the rest of his life, however long that was. But, as long as his friends… his family was safe and happy, he could live with that. Turning, he jogged out of the building, radioing Mckay where he, Teyla, and Ronon were. The exit doors slid open, he put on his sunglasses, and turned and began to head to wherever they were.
As the spiky-haired human left, an Asari with purple tattoos on her face that had been sitting down nursing an arm wound watched him leave, a small device capturing the Colonel's image. She checked to make sure that it had recorded both him and the Administrator talking, and that the bug she had in the man's office had recorded their conversation as well. Smiling that it had, she packaged everything she had gathered over the last two days and accessed the system's comm buoy. Once she had access, she sent the data packet through, smiling even wider once she got confirmation it went though. Turning off her Omni-tool, she leaned back and closed her eyes, looking forward to future events that no doubt would make her life a lot more interesting.
