Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or Battlestar Galactica: 2003.
Another Road not Taken
Chapter7: The Gauntlet
July 14th 2006
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
USS Prometheus
Main Bridge
Unknown to the people below the Prometheus and Astrea sat in orbit with dozens of squadrons of 302s from the governments involved in the Stargate and other projects. Beside the two Tau'ri battlecruiser were three inhumanly elegant Asgard O'Neill-class battleships and the Asgard science vessel Daniel Jackson. Further away were the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus with their vipers and raptors swarming area.
"Sir, message coming in from Stargate Command, its General Landry," Delouise spoke up.
"...Put it through," Pendergast nodded and the screen flickered on.
"Colonel," Landry greeted. "I just got off the phone with Thor...his talks with the Cylons have broken down. They're going to attack anytime now and the rest of the fleet is too far out to get here in time...it looks like you're on your own."
"Understood General," Pendergast acknowledged. "We'll do what we can but I don't have to tell you that without the ability to beam our nukes aboard their ships we won't be able to hold them off for long."
"They have thirteen Baseships," Landry finished. "Good luck Colonel...and Godspeed," the screen flickered off a moment later.
"Sir, I'm picking up multiple hyperlight distortions on the opposite side of the planet," Delouise reported. "It looks like they're going to bombard Earth while we're trying to intercept them."
"Engage the Hyperdrive and put us right between them. Don't let anything through," Pendergast ordered and the Prometheus quickly jumped into hyperspace before dropping back out on the other side of the planet. Astrea flanked her sister ship and readied itself for the battle to come.
The Galactica and the Pegasus quickly joined the small battlecruisers and took up position between the planet and the Cylon fleet. Missiles rained down upon the four human warships as the four Asgard vessels quickly appeared a moment later and released beams of light at the approaching missiles.
"Be ready to beam warheads on my order," Pendergast said clearly.
"Sir, as long as the Cylons are jamming us we can't beam onto their ships," Delouise responded.
"That's why we're not going to beam them aboard their ships," Pendergast countered. "Get me a lock on a set of coordinates in the center of the Cylon raider formations and start beaming the nukes. Clear the road for our missiles to hit their motherships directly."
"Yes sir," Delouise nodded in understanding.
A flash of light and an expanding fireball in the center of a cluster of raiders signified the detonation of a Tau'ri 'super-nuke' as the Cylons and Colonials had begun calling them. Hundreds of raiders were instantly annihilated creating a large hole in the Cylon lines several kilometres across by a temporary expanding star which collapsed in on itself a moment later.
"Get us in closer to the enemy and open fire with everything we've got," Pendergast ordered.
"Everything sir?" Delouise asked.
"Everything," Pendergast confirmed.
The Prometheus moved forward—its railguns tearing into the raiders that survived—and unleashed a volley of missiles towards the nearest Basestar. Several of them were destroyed by the Basestar's limited interception missiles however two made it through and struck the central frame of the Basestar. Nuclear light consumed it for a few long seconds before dying down and revealing nothing but wreckage in its wake.
"Well its official," Pendergast sighed. "We just disclosed the Stargate Program to the entire world and the existence of aliens."
"Sir?" Delouise asked confused.
"We just lit up the sky like a second sun, Major," Pendergast explained. "You'd have to be blind not to see what we just did to that Baseship."
"We'll worry about that later sir," Delouise reassured.
"Where's the Astrea?" Pendergast questioned.
"She's moving into weapon's range of the nearest Baseship now sir," Delouise informed.
The Astrea was BC303, a true sister ship of the Prometheus and launched back in 2004 commanded by Colonel William Ronson. The Astrea was the first ship to be equipped with Ancient drone launchers using plasma drones from the Antarctic weapons platform on the surface. It was thought that smaller numbers of drones could be launched with precision for use against the Cylons. Of course since drones were in limited supply the Astrea only had a few dozen of them compared to the thousands that lay beneath Antarctica.
The Astrea closed in on a Basestar that was angling towards it and unleashing a swarm of missiles and raiders at the approaching Tau'ri battlecruiser. Drones started to fire from the now open starboard and port tubes along its neck and shot out towards the Basestar. Only a dozen of them were fired and they easily outmanoeuvred the Cylon raiders that tried to intercept them. The drones kept going until they struck the Basestar itself, melting through layers and layers of armour before finally detonating inside the ship. Secondary explosions started to riddle the arms and neck of the Basestar before one of the drones struck its reactor core and obliterated the Baseship.
"The Asgard are moving to engage the Cylon Baseships," Delouise reported.
The three O'Neill-class ships were quick for their size and boasted some of the most powerful weapons in the known universe. Within moments they had manoeuvred into position to unleash hell on the Cylon fleet and shattered six Basestars outright with several well placed hits from its ion cannons. The battleships' re-sequencers were washing over the squadrons of raiders in the area and disintegrating them instantly.
Suddenly explosions riddled the hulls of two of the O'Neills as Cylon raiders seemed materialise inside the bubble-like energy shield of the ships and attack them directly. Nukes from the raiders struck their hulls and after several hits broke their backs and left them as nothing more than floating debris.
"What just happened?" Pendergast questioned.
"Cylon raiders jumped inside the shields of the Asgard ships and nuked them directly. Two of them are destroyed and the third is under attack. The Daniel Jackson appears to be moving to assist," Delouise replied. "Several hyperlight distorts have tried to jump through our shields however every time they try they simply tear themselves apart. It's similar to what happens if something impacts the iris on a Stargate."
"Then how are they jumping through the Asgard's shields but not ours?" Pendergast questioned further.
"Their shields are larger than ours," Delouise answered. "They have more room to re-materialise without hitting anything...it's how they've been hitting Jaffa and Lucian Alliance motherships."
"A lot of good that does us," Pendergast muttered before the ship rocked from another impact.
"Shields are beginning to fail," Delouise reported. "The Galactica is taking heavy fire and it looks like she's lost most of her weapons. Several Baseships have jumped into orbit behind us and-" several flashes of light engulfed the far horizon of the planet. "Multiple nuclear detonations...weapons fire from the surface...it's the US naval ICBMs...they're being launched at the orbiting Baseships."
"Status of our ordinance?" Pendergast inquired.
"We're out of nukes and the railguns are down to their last mags. We're running out of ammo," Delouise replied. "Sir, one of the Baseships has just jumped into orbit above Asia...they're launching nukes at the surface."
"Surface fire?" Pendergast asked.
"They won't reach it in time," Delouise informed.
"What about the Astrea?" Pendergast questioned.
"She's got her own problems sir," Delouise shook his head.
"Jump us right between the Baseship and Earth. Fire all railguns at those missiles; don't let any of them through," Pendergast ordered.
The Prometheus quickly jumped into hyperspace again and dropped back out between the Basestar and the planet just in time to intercept several nuclear missiles aimed at the planet. Three warheads struck the shields of the battlecruiser and started to bleed through.
"Shields are failing," Delouise reported as his console sparked. "We've lost the Hyperdrive and most of the secondary systems. We need to break off and recharge the shields."
"If we do that the Cylons will have a clear shot at Earth," Pendergast shook his head.
"Railguns depleted," Delouise said finally as the nukes launched from the Basestar rained down on the battered battlecruiser.
"...All hands abandon ship," Pendergast gave the order.
"Sir?" Delouise asked unsure.
"You heard me," Pendergast told him. "Start beaming everyone to the surface while we still have the transporters working."
"Yes sir," Delouise acknowledged and began beaming people off the ship and down to the planet.
"That means you too," Pendergast ordered.
"But sir-" Delouise started.
"That's an order Major," Pendergast told him.
"...Yes sir," Delouise nodded and entered one final command.
He disappeared in a column of light leaving Pendergast alone in the room who quickly began typing in one final command. The Colonel entered in a collision course and quickly diverted all the remaining power to the sub-light engines and shields. The Prometheus accelerated towards the Basestar as dozens of raiders swarmed over the battlecruiser and unleashed wave after wave of missiles at it.
The transporter suddenly gave out and Pendergast sighed knowing what was coming. He stared out of the viewport at the rapidly approaching Cylon Baseship and closed his eyes as his speed increased. The Prometheus continued on course and rammed the neck of the Basestar though relatively doing little damage in the process do to the sheer size of the Cylon warship.
The core of the Prometheus suddenly overloaded and consumed the two ships in a blinding light that could be seen across the battlefield. When the blast died down nothing remained but a cluster of debris signifying the fate of Earth's first true interstellar starship.
July 14th 2006
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
Battlestar Galactica
CIC
The Galactica had seen better days were the thoughts running through Colonel Tigh's head as yet another ship-to-ship missile struck the spinal frame of the old Battlestar. They had placed themselves directly between the planet and a pair of Basestar and were taking a beating for it. The Pegasus was engaged further away in orbit over the continent known as South America.
"Sir, we just lost the Prometheus," Duala reported.
"...Where are those raptors?" Adama questioned.
"Jumping in now sir," Gaeta informed.
Suddenly ten Colonial raptors jumped in behind the Cylon Basestars and unleashed several clusters of missiles into space. The missiles struck the neck and arms of the two Basestars as the raptors shot past. Nuclear light engulfed the two Cylon Baseships as several squadrons of raiders descended on the fleeing raptors.
F302s quickly intercepted the raiders and strafed them, wiping out several dozen of them on one pass and accelerating away before the remaining raiders could get a lock on them. While this happened Adama stood as unmoving as a mountain in the center of the CIC gazing up at the DRADIS screen which displayed the battle.
"Tau'ri 302s are strafing raiders across the board," Gaeta reported. "But they aren't as manoeuvrable sir...for the moment they're just able to outrun them."
"Status of the enemy fleet?" Adama questioned.
"The Pegasus is engaging the last Basestar now," Gaeta replied.
Indeed the Pegasus was trading fire with the last remaining Basestar on the battlefield with raiders, vipers and 302s engaged in a vicious dogfight around them. The Mercury-class Battlestar had already destroyed three Basestars one after the other and was now trying to tackle its fourth and last. Its ventral gun batteries were easily making short work of the relatively lightly armoured frame of the Basestar.
Several rounds suddenly tore through the Basestar's main reactor core and ignited its fuel. Secondary explosions riddled the neck and arms of the ship, smashing it apart under the barrage. The remaining raiders quickly jumped away in flashes of light to the surprise of the remaining defence forces.
"Sir, the Cylon raiders are retreating," Gaeta informed.
"Status of the fleet?" Adama questioned.
"Two Asgard ships have been destroyed and another is heavily damaged and venting atmosphere. The Prometheus was lost and the Astrea has exhausted her ordinance. We've lost most of our gun batteries to overheating too," Gaeta reported.
"Frak," Tigh sighed. "Well at least we won...not sure at what cost though," the moment he said that the DRADIS screen lit up. "Now what?" he gritted out.
"Several contacts are jumping in...twelve...thirteen...twenty...their Basestars...twenty-six..." Gaeta continued with rising fear.
"Frak, Bill it's the whole damn Cylon fleet," Tigh swore.
"...Mister Gaeta...plot a jump vector and charge the FTL drive. Dee, tell the Pegasus we're leaving," Adama ordered.
"...Yes sir," Duala nodded in acceptance.
"Bill..." Tigh spoke barely restrained.
"We've done all we can Saul," Adama told him. "You know as well as I do that we can't take one that many Basestars...we won't last long against that kind of a force."
"Frak, Galactica are you seeing this?" Kara's voice suddenly shouted through the comm. brining everyone's attention back to the DRADIS screen.
July 14th 2006
Sol System
Earth
Antarctica
Ancient Outpost
"Carter?" General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill shouted as he sat down in the control chair.
The Cylons had been beating the fleet in orbit and just when the defence forces seemed to have finally driven the Cylons away they had launched a second assault. The second fleet was much larger than the previous one and seemed to be most if not the entire Cylon fleet. They were at their limit and they knew...it was now or never.
"Just give me a minute to finalize the energy input," Carter told him as she examined the ZPM.
"Sir, the Cylons are moving into position for orbital bombardment," Major Paul 'Disaster' Davis spoke from the side as he looked over the nearby screen.
"Carter?" Jack asked again.
"...Alright, try it now," Carter gave the go ahead.
"Sorry you terminator rejects but Judgement Day ain't happening on my watch," Jack cackled as the chair lit up.
A column of light exploded upwards from the floor a few feet away and shot up through the shaft of ice. The swarm of plasma drones quickly accelerated into the air and ascended upwards past the clouds and into space. The assembled Cylon fleet could only stare in surprise as the drones swarmed over their fleet, annihilating Raiders, Heavy Raiders and Basestars alike one after the other.
The drones tore into them, blowing them apart and kept going towards their next target. Raiders and missiles shot out to intercept the swarm but the drones merely evaded or in some cases kept going after being struck by KEW fire from the raiders and even missiles from the Basestars.
When the last of the Cylon warships had been destroyed the drones that remained went inert, having expended all of their energy. The Colonials couldn't help but stare, both amazed and frightened at the display of firepower they had just seen. Thor on the other hand couldn't help but chuckle at seeing the Alteran weapons in action after many millennia.
One thing was for certain however...the Battle of Earth was finally over...
Author's Notes:
There's the Cylon attack on Earth and the world sees the nuclear detonations in the sky. I had two choices for disclosure of the Stargate Program to the public for this fic; the first was naturally this chapter in which the Cylons attack Earth. The second was in the beginning of 2009 when the ZPM-powered Hiveship attacks Earth.
To be honest Stargate Atlantis should have ended with a two-part finale and the IOA declaring to the world everything that has happened over the last decade concerning the Stargate. I mean come on, we destroyed the Hiveship with a nuke in orbit of Earth...surely someone noticed a massive sun just appear out of nowhere above their heads.
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