Stargate Atlantis: S7—A Terrible Beauty4
"Status!" John barked. He settled into the command chair of the Tria even as the ship was heading away from the ice planet.
"Tracking them now, sir. They are moving but at sublight. They're not in any hurry."
"Good. Plot a parallel course out of scanner range. Time we took a look at them. Anders, find everything you can about the planets in their trajectory. We need to know what's out there." John settled back and let his fingers play over the armrests, much as he had let them play over Moira's body. He smiled at the memory but pushed it aside. Now was not the time to dwell on erotic pursuits.
A spray of light convulsed and the ship shot into the wormhole. Streams of blue flight filled the viewport. The ship rumbled like a contented big cat, making the long journey in easy strides.
John sat forward and pulled the translation flash drive from his pocket. He slotted it into this data pad and then into the control pad. "Re-route all radio transmissions to me here."
"Sir?"
John smiled at the baffled technician. "I've got an app for that now. Never mind," he added to the technician's even more puzzled expression.
"Bringing up the intel on the planets, sir. There's not much but they are inhabited."
"Shit," John whispered. He scanned the data. They were the usual agrarian communities, victimized by the Wraith for centuries and unable to develop any significant technology. Way out here even the Ancients seemed to have abandoned them. There were no records of any Ancient cities or laboratories. "Gate access?"
"Yes, sir."
"But there probably wouldn't be time to evacuate," John mused, rubbing his chin. "Better we stop them before they get there."
The ship dropped out of hyperspace.
"Crap," John muttered, and his word echoed the alarmed sentiments of the crew.
The Fugly ships were large. Even at this distance they appeared immense, like floating islands in the sea of darkness that was space. As the scans collected data and began counting the fleet John could feel his confidence flagging. He scowled, reading the information and quickly adjusting his own calculations. Even with an Ancient Warship at his disposal, plus some Wraith Hive ships and whatever his other allies could bring to bear this was going to be an uphill battle.
"Get us closer but keep us out of scanner range. Decker, any radio transmissions?"
"Too sporadic, sir."
"Keep trying on all frequencies and patch it through to me." John sat forward, hands clasping the armrests of the command chair. Even with the compliment of Darts and Jumpers and F-302s plus other smaller fighters the Fugly vessels probably contained far more ships if it came to that kind of combat. It would be one hell of a dogfight in any case.
"Circle round but keep out of scanner range," he ordered. He studied the formation of the large vessels, noting the strange mark on each one. John considered sending out some cloaked Jumpers to get a better look but decided against it. It was too risky and he didn't want to tip his hand prematurely.
He glanced at the translation program. Words were popping up on the screen, interspersed among sentences of gibberish. So far nothing made sense. John looked over at another screen. The numbers were not encouraging.
"Colonel Sheppard, I'm detecting another hyperspace window! It's parallel to our course."
"Great. Now who's joining the party?"
A blur of stars yawned and lilac light folded, revealing a Wraith cruiser. The ship flew into space.
"We're being hailed."
"Maintain radio silence."
"It's the Wraith, sir."
"I realize that, Jenkins. Maintain radio silence. Fugly status?"
"We haven't been detected yet, sir."
"Let's keep it that way. If they wanna follow us into the lion's den they are on their own. What the hell are they doing out here? Probably reconnaissance the same as us," he realized, answering his own question.
The Wraith cruiser changed trajectory, moving perilously closer to the Fugly fleet. John's fingers moved on the controls, maximizing the image. There was a blur of motion as shields were raised, but not before a swarm of single fighters flew out of one of the Fugly vessels. They flew unerringly towards their goal, even as the Wraith ship glimmered with its own shield.
Something was wrong. The shield was flickering.
"I'm detecting some sort of energy field, sir, creating interference!"
"I can see that. Take us out of that trajectory. If they've got that kind of tech we are in serious trouble. Can we deploy counter measures, if need be?"
"Maybe, sir…I'm not sure."
"Great."
"We're being hailed again, sir."
"Ignore it. They're gonna give away our position! Hard to aft and give them plenty of room!"
An alarm sounded as something struck the side of the Tria. Quickly the shields were raised. John stood, moving closer to the viewport. The Wraith cruiser was taking some serious damage. Explosions littered the vessel, great globs of yellow light that were silent in space. A fleet of Darts emerged to combat the fighters. Lasers crisscrossed in a frenzy of activity.
"Sir! We've got incoming. I think they are hitting us because—"
"We're in the way! Get us out of range, now!" John ordered. He moved back to his command chair, half tempted to join the fight but knowing that in this instance discretion was the better part of valor. He glanced at his data pad. More words were being translated and John read over them quickly, trying to make sentences out of the jumble.
The Tria swerved and shook as something else hit the shield. John looked up to see the Wraith cruiser limping out of the way, as two Fugly ships were closing in like predators. "Lower the shields."
"Sir?"
"Lower the shields. We can't let them get that ship! We need to take it out of the equation before they give the game away! The Fuglies are gonna board her! Fire missiles on my mark. Decker, plot a hyperspace window now!" John glanced down at the data pad. He settled back into the command chair, forgetting for a moment that it wasn't an Ancient Control Chair that would fire Drones. He frowned, realizing. He glanced at the data pad again. "Mark."
Twin missiles flew out of the Tria and into the damaged Wraith cruiser. There was a tremendous blast of light as the ship was destroyed, along with several Darts and fighters nearby. John leaned forward as the Fugly vessels changed course, heading in his direction. Green beams of light were aiming at him.
"Shields at maximum! Get us out of here now! Evasive maneuvers!"
The ship rumbled in response. It shook as it took a hit before the shields rose, protecting it. Accelerating the ship shot through the hyperspace window and to safety.
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"Let me get this right. You encountered an unexpected second Wraith Hive ship at the meeting and destroyed it to keep the Wraith in line. Then you encountered a third Wraith cruiser and ignored their communications, instead helping the Fuglies destroy them! And you sustained damage getting away from them."
"Minimal damage," John corrected as he stood in Richard's office. His hands were clasped behind his back. "But yes, the rest is accurate."
Richard sighed, about to speak when Abraham accused, "You deliberately provoked our allies!"
John met the colonel's irate gaze, cool and collected. "No. I gave them a message that I won't tolerate any deviation from our plans and our agreements. As for the one destroyed by the Fuglies I couldn't risk revealing our position by responding to them. We were there on a strictly observational mission, nothing more."
"But now they know! They know about us!"
"No," John replied to Richard's exclamation. "They only know a Wraith cruiser wandered too close. It was destroyed before any intel could be revealed. If they realized the other ship was an Ancient vessel than perhaps they will be more cautious."
"What made you decide to destroy the Wraith ship?"
"The translation program." John addressed Abraham now. "It works. The Fuglies were not going to destroy the Wraith cruiser. They were going to board it. If any of our plans were on that ship it could have been disastrous for all of us. I stand by my decisions, sir."
"As do I." John stared, surprised by Abraham's endorsement.
"What?" Richard moved to his feet. He was shocked by the sheer callousness of the two military men. "You do realize that when word gets back to the Wraith they may terminate our alliance! And if they are not with us we don't have a chance in hell of defeating the Fuglies!"
"It's an acceptable risk, Mr. Woolsey," Abraham informed.
"Acceptable to you, perhaps, Colonel Ellis, but will it be acceptable to the Wraith?"
The question hung unanswered in the air.
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"Damn it! What did you do, dare them to fire on her? Look at this! The hull is compromised and you came this close to damaging a major system!" Rodney snapped his fingers and shoved up his visor. He was irate, glaring as he was on his knees, data pad balanced precariously near him on a protruding shelf. "Next time try using the shield before an engagement, all right? At least the missiles worked smoothly! And the scanners recorded everything so now we know the extent of their fleet. But damn it look at this! Now she's scratched!"
John shrugged and stared down at the angry physicist. "Sorry."
"Sorry? Sorry?" Rodney shut the panel and checked his data pad. "Remind me to never let your borrow anything!"
John chuckled. "If she's not battle-worthy she's no good to me, you know."
"I know. Hey…" Rodney's voice lowered and a smile appeared. "How's Moira?"
"Ssh!" John glanced round, but the two men were alone in the bowels of the ship. "Fine. More than fine, actually." John's smirk revealed all.
Rodney raised a hand. "Spare me the details. And the translation program?"
"Worked like a charm, as I knew it would." He hesitated, glancing round again. "She…she suggested I drop the charade and just…tell them."
Rodney met his friend's gaze. "And what do you think?"
"I dunno. She saw it was bothering me. She sees everything!" he complained. "But I…I don't think it is safe enough yet."
"Safe enough for whom, John? For her…or for you?"
"For the both of us, but mainly for her. I can't…I can't shake this feeling, Rodney, and until I do don't say a word, okay?"
"Okay. Now let me get back to work putting my ship together!"
John smiled. "Okay. But you mean my ship."
Rodney snorted in response.