Stargate Atlantis:

Episode 17

The Attack on Helium Prime

Part 1

Doctor Rodney returns from the station and is surprise to see they're preparing for the Wraith attack. He sees many of the women, children, the old, and several platoons of Helium Prime soldiers heading to the Stargate. John comes up to Rodney. "Glad you're back Rodney we need your help with fixing a Lantian Anti-Aircraft Gun which was developed before the Arcastus Heavy Batteries." John takes Rodney to the weapon. Rodney was surprise the Lantians had other types of anti-aircraft guns to defend the worlds prior to the Arcastus Heavy Batteries. John tells Rodney what they learn he was disappointed he wasn't there. They reach the weapon and Rodney goes to work trying to fix it. The Helium Prime general comes up to him. John politely says sir.

"Colonel Sheppard, will you help us fight the Wraith?"

"General Horton is going to contact our commanding officer and asks him to send reinforcements," John responds. The general walks away. John didn't know what to think of him. at the gate, General Horton briefs Richard Woolsey on everything they learn except for what his ascended grandfather tells him. Ronon and Lieutenant Ford are also present. Mr. Woolsey tells General Horton he'll send reinforcements through the gate along with supplies as soon as he can get the assembled. Heath also asks for Mr. Woolsey to dispatch the Noah and one of the Aurora Battlecruisers. He agrees the gate shuts down. Heath sees the women, children and old approaching the gate. a Helium Prime captain goes over to the DHD and dials the Charlie Site which Heath gave to them. general Horton radios the marines station at the Charlie Site and tells them they're going to have visitors. They go through the gate.

"Ready to go Ford," Heath says to Lieutenant Ford. Lieutenant Ford knows the general is sending him there because he trusts him.

"Yes sir," Ford replies. Ford and his team follows them through the gate. The gate shuts down. Heath and Ronon returns to the citadel. They arrive at the citadel and Teyla is waiting for them.

"They want you in the command center," she tells them. he heads to the command center. He arrives John is looking at a monitor of the approaching Wraith Fleet.

"John, what's the status of the Wraith Fleet?"

"They're moving faster than they were they'll be here in 24-30 hours at their current pace," John replies.

"They know the ambassador is dead," he says.

"General, how do you know that?" The President asks.

"They probably have spies among your people," Heath responds. The Helium Prime general enters.

"How do you know they have spies among our people?"

"The Wraith ships have quickened their pace that should tell you they know something," Colonel Sheppard says.

"Let them come they be defeated," the general says. Some of the others cheered. The Helium Prime general walks away. The president turned to General Horton.

"I would like to show you something," the President says. they follow him to an underground train station. Rodney caught up to them before they left and he gets onto the train. They didn't know where they're heading except for the president. They arrived at another station. The train stops and they exit.

"Where are we?" Ronon asks looking for signs of where they are.

"You're underneath the ocean. I have something to give to you my prince," he says. They follow him doors automatically open to allow them to enter and the lights also flickered on. They see a Lantian Battlecruiser docked. "she's the last battlecruiser station here she was heavily damaged during a surprise attack on a Wraith stronghold. Some repairs were made before the Wraith arrived and some after. They board the ship so they can access the ship's systems so they can see how bad the damage is. They head to the bridge which surprise them the bridge layout is the same as the Aurora-Battlecruisers. General Horton sits down in the command chair and activates the ship systems. Rodney looks at the diagnostic reports. General Horton is also going over the diagnostic report. Life support is functional plus there are no hull breeches despites the holes in the ship but nothing to compromise the crew to the vacuum of space. The engines are down along with the hyperdrive and shields are down as well. Rodney reports all that too them.

"Looks like you got your work cut out for you McKay," Ronon says.

"I'll be happy to lone you some of our engineers to help repair the ship," the president says.

"Thank you," General Horton replies. he looks over about the weapons. He noticed a dozen CIWS were destroyed the drone launchers are still operational but they're down too about 350 drones. The ship even has a full complement of Lantian Fighters which are manual control along with a full complement of Jumpers. "Rodney, what do you need to get this ship operational again?"

"Dr. Gree and some of our engineers would be good," Rodney answered. Heath nods. Rodney, Major Rhodes and Major Rhodes' team are remaing behind to start repairing the ship. The rest return to the citadel. As soon as they arrived back at the citadel General Horton receives a message from Aquarius Mr. Woolsey is sending the teams through. Heath also asks for him to send some engineers and Dr. Gree. Mr. Woolsey agrees. An hour later four AR-Teams arrived through the Stargate along with Doctor Gree and 6 engineers. The engineers and Dr. Gree are sent to work on the Lantian Battlecruiser. They even brought 3 Naquadah Generators with them. the AR-Teams begin sitting up defenses under the watchful eye of either General Horton or Colonel Sheppard. They brought some Anti-Air launchers with them a railgun which is setup in one of the citadel's towers. Colonel Sheppard and Teyla begin training the Helium Prime soldiers and civilian volunteers on how to use the new weapons. The Lantians are armed with their advance plasma rifles and pistols. Heath knows they have two setting stun and kill but he's sure they are set to kill which will kill a Wraith with one shot no matter where the person hits them. the Noah and the Aurora-Battlecruiser Woolsey sent arrived in orbit. Rodney contacts them asking for them to send teams to recover the items from the nearly destroyed Lantian ships in orbit if there are anything onboard. Captain Dave also knows not to allow anything the Wraith might be able to use to fall into their hands if things go badly. Items McKay requested are beamed down to him.

Fifteen hours later the first three Hives emerge from hyperspace along with 24 cruisers for support. However, they're out of range for the Orbital Defense Platform weapons. The Wraith ships haven't moved but several more hyperspace windows open and 2 more Hive ships exit along with escorts. Several of those escorts are Wraith Destroyers. A bigger hyperspace window opens and a Super Hive exits follow by another 2 Hive ships and 6 cruisers. Onboard the Super-Hive the empress sees the two Lantian warships and the lone station. She orders the attack. Three Hives move to attack the station. The Stargate activates and eight Darts exit follow by Wraith soldiers. A swarm of lead cuts down many Wraith warriors and several Darts are even shot down, but some of the Darts beam down Wraith soldiers catching a few Helium Prime soldiers by surprise.

On the surface of Helium Prime in the command center they see three Wraith Hives moving towards the station. The general paid no attention to Heath's suggestions. The station fired obliterating the three hives, but then the entire Wraith fleet starts to move. The Helium Prime general tells the station to lunch their Jumpers and Unman fighters to take the fight to the Wraith and to have the station to fire on the biggest hive. The general fails to notice the Darts and a cruiser heading towards the station from the surface despite Heath's warnings. The general knows the gate is under attack he sends two battalions to help hold the gate. general Horton gives the order for the Noah and the Aurora-Battlecruiser to help. The Noah destroys the cruiser heading for orbit while the Aurora-Battlecruiser goes to help the station defense. The Noah's complement of Unman Interceptors is focusing on the Darts. The Noah opens fire destroying a Wraith destroyer and a cruiser. However, the Aurora-Battlecruiser takes out a hive ship just minutes before its destroyed by the Super-Hive. However, the crew of the Noah manage to beam the crew onboard before the ship was destroyed. the Noah has no choice but to retreat too. The Lantian station gets off a shot destroying a cruiser and a destroyer before the Super-Hive destroys the station. The Noah is hopefully out of sensor range of the Super-Hive and it cloaks. General Horton knows the Wraith now have a clear shot for the surface. However, the Helium Prime general is smiling. He watches as the Wraith Fleet moves closer.

"Launch the missiles now," The general says. However, Darts intercepted them along with a cruiser. The general turns to General Horton. "Get to the drone chair and do something." Heath leaves the command center with two Lantians along with a AR-team.

"General, Darts are no heading to the surface, we're holding the gate for now," Teyla informs him. the Helium Prime Air force is scrambled but the Wraith on the other continent also attacked the coast. A few Jumpers are also sent up to engage the Darts. Heath hurries to the tower with the drone chair but of course he must cross open grounds. A Dart swoops in strafing the area in front of him first which of course takes out a Half-track with Anti-Aircraft gun on it.

"Check and see if that gun is operational," Heath tells one of his men with him. The corporal goes over to the half-track. He radios back telling the general it's still operation. He can hear the railgun firing. He watches as four Darts fly overhead with a Jumper in pursuit. The Jumper destroys the 4 Darts. Another Dart swoops in but the corporal on the anti-aircraft guns brings the Dart down but another Dart beams down Wraith soldiers blocking the general's path. The general and the men with him open fire on the Wraith. The Wraith return fire. They however aren't firing stunners but lethal versions of the same weapons. One soldier takes a hit directly in the face. The corporal on the AA Gun opens fire cutting down the Wraith soldiers just before a Dart silenced the AA Gun. A Jumper avenges the kill just before a Dart takes out the Jumper. Heath goes to the body of a dead soldier and relieves the soldier of his Anti-Air Launcher and brings the Dart down. General Horton and the surviving soldiers reach the tower and the Helium Prime soldiers guarding the tower allow them to enter. Heath heads for the drone chair to hopefully change the tide of the battle. Colonel Sheppard reports several cruisers and a Hive ship are landing to deploy more ground troops and the gate is getting hard to hold. He hears P90 fire in the background. Heath gets into the chair which powered up thanks to them having a few ZPMs. Heath fires a swarm of Drones. He knows the Drones want have much of impact on the Super-Hive so he goes after Darts and cruisers. However, Darts begin to focus on the tower and they also beam down Wraith infantry. The Helium Prime soldiers defending the tower fought bravery against overwhelming odds but in the end the Wraith infantry overran the troops outside and are now in the process of trying to get through the doors. However, by that time they're out of Drones. Heath has no clue how many Darts he destroyed but he knows he took out 2 cruisers and a Hive. The Wraith gain entry to the tower. The few Helium Prime soldiers guarding the entrance are stunned by a stun rod so are several others but the pulse didn't reach Heath or the AR-team. They formed defensive positions. As soon as the first group of Wraith appeared around the corner they open fire. The Wraith soldiers and their officers return fire some with lethal others with stunners. A lethal bolt almost hit the general but he moves out of the way in the nick of time. Heath reloads his P90 for the 3rd time and opens fire into the last Wraith soldier but by that time only him and 2 others are left standing. Heath gets onto his radio and order Colonel Sheppard and the other AR-teams to fall back to the citadel. He even advises the Helium Prime general to do the same when he tried to cancel his order." Several Hives along with the Super-Hive land on the surface and thousands of Wraith soldiers exit to help take the planet from the humans.

To be continued...