the 6th chapter already. as promised the Sol will have its first fight and the Vanir are not going to be happy!
so without further delay, Enjoy
November 11, 2015
0832 hours
Bridge, TFS Sol
Atlantis BB-305 Shipyard
"Colonel Marks, Contact Atlantis control and request permission to initiate take off procedure." General Carter ordered from her chair. Just a few hours previous the ship had been christened. All construction on the ship had been completed and it was ready for its shakedown cruise at the Midway Station.
Marks contacted Atlantis Control with the request and soon received the go ahead. "Ma'am, We have the go ahead from control."
"Alright, Switch from umbilical power to internal power." Carter ordered. Immediately a crewmember acknowledged it and seconds later the lights flickered as the ships own power plants, augmented by the two ZPM's started producing huge amounts of power. "Initiate inertial compensators and dampeners." Again a crewmember acknowledged. "Activate shields at takeoff stance, sub light engines on standby, and activate primary and secondary thrusters."
"Shields ready." An ensign reported.
"Sub light engines on standby."
"Primary thrusters activated, so are the secondary's."
"General, all systems are ready for takeoff." Marks reported.
"Contact Atlantis control and request permission for takeoff." Carter ordered.
Marks again contacted Atlantis control and requested permission for takeoff; he pushed the reply op on the PA. "General Carter, TFS Sol, you are cleared for takeoff, welcome to the fleet, good luck and go kick some major ass out there." General O'Neill came in over the PA.
"Yes sir will do." Carter replied. She turned to Marks. "Colonel, commence takeoff procedure, maximum safe speed."
"Yes ma'am." Marks replied. "Alright, deactivate docking clamps, set inertial compensators and dampeners to max." he waited until the systems were ready and docking clamps were deactivated. "Raise thrusters to 20 percent output and set a nav. Course for a geosynchronous orbit over the docks."
Slowly the massive ship lifted out of the dock. As it reached several hundred meters it passed through the shields.
"We're clear of the shields." An ensign reported.
"Ignite main thrusters. Set to normal burn." Marks ordered.
Suddenly the ship surged forwards as the main sub light engines activated.
It quickly reached the fleet that was up in orbit waiting for the Sol to arrive as the fleet's flagship.
"Colonel, put us in the center of the fleet." Carter stood up. "I'm going to the flag room, you have the bridge." She said as she walked through the blast resistant doors.
A minute later she arrived in the Flag room. It was basically the bridge for the entire battle fleet; from here she could command all the ships in the first Alliance fleet and any other ships in the area. The first alliance battle fleet was a formidable group of ships of Tau'ri, ancient and Asgard origin. With the Sol, four Aurora's, four BC-304's, six O'Neill's, nine Jackson's and nine Beliskner's it was the most powerful fleet known to history. Within minutes the 33 ships strong fleet entered hyperspace for the relatively short journey to the midway station.
November 13
Midway station control room
As a console beeped the entire First Alliance Battle fleet exited hyperspace near the Midway Station.
"General Carter, Welcome to the Midway Station. If you have the time I'd like to get a tour of that new ship of yours." Sheppard greeted Carter and the fleet.
"Thank you for the welcome, I had already expected you wanted a tour. We'll dock with the station in about fifteen minutes so we can start offloading supplies and construction materials for the station, you can come aboard then." Carter replied. Ever since the construction of the second Midway station it was in constant growth. By now it was more than a military station, it looked more and more like a colony in space. The crew of the station had already brought in their families, which increased the need for schools, shops, theatres, day care centers and such. Of course there were also the Travelers which were just starting to explore the wonders of the Tau'ri's civilization like designer clothes and all the forms of entertainment. The station had recently received its first ZPM to cover the ever increasing shield coverage and increasing demands of the protective weaponry.
"Copy that general, you can use docking station four, see you soon." Sheppard replied.
The massive Sol slowly approached the Midway Station. The ship was about the length of an Aurora though it had much smoother curves. The ship had a dull grey color, the same as the rest of the Tau'ri ships. As the Sol slowed down to a halt a walkway extended itself from the station up to the main entrance of the Sol. For a minute the life support systems were busy creating gravity, pressure and breathable air. At the end a solid fifty meters connection was created between the Sol and the Midway Station.
As soon as it was safe, General Carter and two marines made their way down the walkway. The marines would stand guard at the walkway to guard the ship's only entrance from any unwanted visitors.
"General Carter." Sheppard greeted.
"General Sheppard, Request permission to come aboard." Carter said as she formally saluted Sheppard. Though their ranks were the same Sheppard had a higher position in the Chain of Command as the commander of all Tau'ri forces in the Pegasus Galaxy, including the First Alliance Battle Fleet.
"Granted General." Sheppard said as he returned the salute. "Sam, it's good to see you again, you look great." Sheppard then continued on a more personal note.
"Same here John. This time it's the other way around huh? You in command instead of me."
"Yeah well, we work well together. How about that tour?"
"Yeah sure, why not, we've got some time left." Carter said as she turned around and guided Sheppard into the ship. It was quite busy on the ship; it held a crew of 805 enlisted personnel and officers. That wasn't counting the 250 marines that made up the security contingent.
The two of them chatted along as they passed workstations, labs and crew quarters. Eventually they reached the forward manual weapons control station.
"So this is where all the good stuff happens, right?" Sheppard asked.
"Only when the bridge controls aren't working."
Sheppard looked all the screens over. "You sure got a lot of firepower here. What's the total armament?"
"We've got eight turrets, each housing three Asgard plasma beam weapons just like on board the 304's, though with better power conduits. Four of the turrets are on top of the ship in a square at about a quarter of the ship. There are two turrets to the side, one on each side at about three quarters to the back. The final two however are something special. We wanted a way to shift some of the firepower around from one side of the ship to the other without having to turn the entire ship. The last two turrets are housed on rails that run horizontally across the bow of the ship."
"Nice. So how about CIWS?"
"Try CILS. Close in laser Systems. Instead of using railguns we use dialed down Asgard beams that can fire much more rapidly. We've got 24 of 'em, all capable of moving from port to starboard, again via rails. We do have twelve normal railguns although they are fixed. We've also got four 105mm railguns mounted above the forward turrets capable of firing naquadah enhanced rounds with a yield up to 1 kiloton. There are sixteen Launch tubes for missiles and we've got an armory with 320 missiles and a variety of load outs. The Armory also holds over eight hundred anti fighter missiles with a regular warhead."
"That sounds like something I wouldn't want to piss off. You've got fighters too right?" Sheppard asked.
"Yeah, the runways are on the bottom of the ship, it kind of looks like a Nimitz class aircraft carrier. It's about 400 meters long and runs at about two thirds to the back diagonally through the ship allowing for simultaneous takeoff and landing. We've got four squadrons of F-302's, three of the A variant and one of the experimental B variant. We've also got eight jumpers."
"Nice, when are you gonna take her out?" Sheppard asked. "I'd pay money to see all this fighting a bunch of super hives."
"Yeah, I'm sure I could make a lot of money selling tickets to that fight. I'm planning on cutting the last week of the trials and take her out towards the Pegasus galaxy on November 29th, we'll arrive on the first and depending on any sightings we will have our first fight within a week."
"Any chance I can take a 302 out for a ride while you're docked here?"
"No luck, your station is in the way for a proper 302 launch."
"Ah, yeah, slamming into midway would make for a very short flight." Sheppard said.
"Ehm, General Carter, General Sheppard?" A man dressed in civilian clothes asked. He was escorted by two airmen, one carrying a camera while the other took care of the sound. "Hi, I'm Paul Donner, CNN. Could I ask you a few questions?"
"You can ask but I can't promise I'll answer them." Sheppard said before Carter could decline.
"Well, General Sheppard, What do you think of the Sol?"
"From what I have seen this ship will outclass anything I've encountered before. It has one of the strongest weapon systems, shields and has two ZPM. Add to that the crew and its commander and you've got a well-oiled killer machine ready to kick some Wraith ass."
"And what do you exactly think about all those energy weapons? How much are there actually?" Donner asked.
"Come one Paul, you know you can't ask that. Things like that are classified in order to protect national security." Sam jumped in.
"General Sheppard, you have a call from Midway, its important, highest security." The PA announced.
"I'm sorry Mister Donner, we're gonna have to cut this short." Sam said as she gave the two airmen a signal to stop filming and get the hell out of there. She also led Sheppard to the nearest secured console. Sheppard keyed in his access code, and a channel was established.
"Lorne what's up?" Sheppard asked as Lorne's head appeared on screen.
"You've got General Carter there too?" Lorne asked. Sheppard nodded and Lorne continued. "Moments ago we received a communiqué from the Deadelus ahead of schedule. It turns out that a force of four Super hives has been detected by a Traveler ship. Ever since the ship has been trailing the hives and its course is consistent. They are heading to the Genii's home world."
"What's their ETA?" Sheppard asked.
"About four to five days." Lorne replied.
"What is the exact composition of the fleet?" Carter asked.
"Four super hives, eleven hives and twenty three cruisers as far as we know. A force not seen since the attack on Earth." Lorne said.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Sheppard asked Sam.
"Yeah, I'm gonna get busy. We'll have to rush three weeks of trials into two days but we can manage it."
"Okay, Lorne, I need you to inform Earth and inform them of the situation and tell them that the Battle Fleet is going into action soon."
"Yes sir, and General Carter, good luck." Lorne said before the connection faded.
"Well, I'll just get off your ship so you can get started on your preparations." Sheppard said.
November 17
Flag room BB-305 SOL
Geosynchronous orbit over Genii home world
All the ships of the First Alliance Battle Fleet plus the Deadelus and Apollo were assembled over the Genii home world. The commanders of the four task forces and the one battle group as well as Colonel's Caldwell and Ellis, and General Carter were assembled in the Flag room which held a holographic representation of the Genii home world and its solar system. Colonel Reynolds of the Normandy was also the commander of the Third Tau'ri Task Force and the Asgard Tjolver, Freyr and Kvasir were the commanders of the second, eighth and ninth Asgard Task forces respectively.
Carter as highest ranking and commander of the entire battle fleet took the lead and presented her plan.
"Alright, by now we know that there aren't any more ships incoming for either side of this battle so the conditions are set. I wanna hide the fact that the Asgard are here until after we've engaged the Wraith ships. This is also to lure the darts in our direction because we all know that the Asgard's weapon systems are designed to fight capital ships, not fighters. I want to make a single line of all Earth made ships with the Sol in the middle. We engage the Wraith with all the weapons we have. The moment the super hives open fire I want all the 304's to break position and start taking evasive maneuvers. At that same moment the three Asgard task forces will jump in and each take one side so that the Wraith are surrounded on all sides. The Aurora's will join in wherever necessary so they will be a reserve force, if possible we won't have to reveal the fact we possess them at all. Now we know that an O'Neill class ship can easily take the fire of a super hive, but the Jacksons and Beliskners are still vulnerable, so I want them to either hide behind the O'Neill's while still firing or to take evasive maneuvers." Carter said. All the while the holographic image detailed the planned actions and presumed responses of the Wraith. "Any questions, comments or anything else?"
"You'll probably be facing the most fire power here." Caldwell started. "The Wraith know something is up. We haven't made a real stand in the last few months. That beside, they will be suspicious when they see a completely new ship, which appears to be Tau'ri made. We were able to pick up on the Sol and its power signature the moment we came out of hyperspace and it is much stronger than even an Aurora. What I'm trying to say is that the Wraith will either try to board the Sol, or they will simply throw everything they've got in your direction not caring about the rest of us."
"I must agree with Colonel Caldwell, you are putting your ship in grave danger, certainly more than is responsible for a ship so new." Kvasir said. He and his two fellow Asgard were seated in their thrones.
"I suggest you use the Aurora's to cover the Sol as soon as the 304's have moved away. Deploy them in a square formation around the Sol to prevent the Wraith from flanking the Sol." Tjolver said.
"Okay, that does actually make more sense." Carter agreed. "Then that's the way we'll do it. The Wraith fleet will arrive at around 4 AM November 18th, I suggest we all get our ships in position and in the meantime I'll have a chat with Mister Radim of the Genii detailing him how we are going to protect his home world. Dismissed." One by one the commanders disappeared in a flash of light until only Carter and several Staff officers were left. The Staff officers were there to man the Flag room while it is activated.
November 18
0355 hours
Flag room, BB-305 SOL
"General Carter, long range sensors have the Wraith at two minutes out." An officer reported.
"Battle stations." Carter ordered.
Across the fleet the ships made themselves combat ready. Shields were raised to full power, weapons were readied and F-302's were brought into launch position.
Two minutes later the Wraith fleet exited hyperspace. Immediately all F-302 squadrons were launched, ten in total. In response the Wraith launched their darts numbering in the thousands.
"Hey Top, what are the odds here huh? One to fifteen?" one of the fighter pilots asked his CO.
"Try one on twenty; I'm registering over three thousand contacts." The CO replied.
"People, keep it professional will ya? There's enough for you to shoot at out there." Carter interjected.
"Fighters are reaching extreme missile range." A major reported.
"Tell them to fire when ready." Carter said. She stared intensely at the holographic projection that showed the ten squadrons converging with literally a wall of Wraith darts. Seconds later small triangles raced away from the 302's and towards the darts.
"Ten seconds to impact."
The triangles got closer and now some of them were disappearing as they were shot down by the Wraith. Eventually close to 120 missiles hit home. Everywhere they hit multiple darts were destroyed. The wall of darts now started to show holes in it.
"302's are engaging darts close up." The major reported.
"Wraith hives are entering extreme Asgard weapons range."
"Have the 304's open fire, the Sol is to only fire forward turrets, one shot at a time, normal intensity." Carter ordered.
The forward group of seven hives and twelve cruisers were hit hard. Streaks of plasma ravaged the hulls of the hives and cruisers. Despite the power of the Asgard plasma weapons only one cruiser was destroyed. The rest continued charging on with holes in their hull and fires across the ship.
"The advanced group is slowing down while the rest it speeding up."
"Prepare a missile strike, all ships, all tubes, Mark eights." Carter ordered. "Let's give these bastards something to chew on."
A minute later hundreds of mark eights left the launch tubes of the 304's and the Sol. They followed the blue/white streams of plasma towards the hives and were under heavy fire from the hives and cruisers. Nearly ninety percent was shot down by darts, cruisers or hives. The rest however struck home. Most of the advanced group was disabled. Seven cruisers were destroyed while the rest showed signs of heavy damage. The hives fared little better, three were broken up and undergoing internal explosions. The rest were missing large chunks of their hull and were also in the process of breaking up.
Meanwhile the main group closed in and the super hives brought their main weaponry in place.
"I'm reading massive power spikes from the super hives."
"Tell the 304's to scatter, call in the reinforcements." Carter ordered.
On cue the 304's left their positions just as the first salvo was fired by the super hives. Moments later the three Asgard task forces jumped in immediately firing their weapons. The Wraith ships were bathed in fire from all sides as Asgard designed energy fire hit the ships.
After most of the first Wraith salvo had missed the 304's or hit the Sol, the Aurora's jumped in. they immediately released a stream of drones which made their way over to the super hives.
The first super hive was quickly shredded to pieces by the combined power of drones and energy weapons. Another super hive was destroyed after nearly a minute of constant assault by drones and plasma.
Now that two of the super hives were destroyed there was some more room for the 304's to make hit and run attacks on the hives and cruisers. Pretty soon cruisers and hives alike started blowing up creating large and dense debris fields.
"Tell Marks to combine turrets one, two and three and target that super hive. Let's see how powerful that option is." Carter ordered.
Moments later a noticeable hum could be heard throughout the ship as capacitors charged to the brim and the targeting systems worked on getting a proper shot at the super hive. This was quite tricky, first the computer needed to calculate a position beyond the shields where the three plasma beams would meet, and then the correct amount of energy was to be used to send the beam towards the super hive. For anyone outside the Sol whom was looking towards the Sol would see a giant ball of light assembling, not unlike the flash of a nuclear detonation. After a second all three beams pulsed and one thick bright white beam shot out towards the super hive.
The beam was so powerful that the hull of the super hive wasn't even slowing it down. The beam hit the hive near its engines and cut a hole straight through the ship, destroying a cruiser and hive that were on the other side before speeding off into the distant space where it eventually lost its power.
The super hive, now showing a massive hole which was still expanding, slowly broke in two, the internal stress being too much for the internal superstructure to handle. As the fight around the ship raged on the ship finally broke in two and after the two parts bumped into each other a few times they both went their own way, destruction.
"Only one super hive, Sierra 2, is remaining. Furthermore there are two hives and two cruisers left." A Major reported.
"Have the Sol take care of that super hive; tell the aurora's to save their drones. Let the rest take care of the hives and cruisers." Carter ordered.
This time Marks, whom was effectively the CO of the Sol elected not to combine the turrets but instead unleash several individual beams at the super hive. The super hive didn't stand a chance as half a dozen beams cut through the ship creating a huge amount of damage which quickly destroyed the ship. After that the remaining Wraith ships didn't stand a chance and were quickly eliminated.
0722 hours
Flag room, BB-305 Sol
Just as before the battle the commanders of the first alliance fleet were assembled in the flag room. This time they were going over the replays of the battle seeing what could be improved upon. Once they were done that plans for the future campaign was discussed and elaborated upon.
"Okay, I have received orders from the President which were co-signed by the Alliance leadership. Within a few hours special equipment will be arriving from the Midway station through the stargate. Our next goal is to extract the ultimate revenge from the Vanir. We will destroy their home world with Horizon weapons platforms. High command thinks that as soon as the Vanir are either gone or incapacitated the Wraith will have a much harder fight since their advanced power sources are supplied to them by the Vanir."
"My plan is to make a dash straight through Wraith and Vanir territory, inflicting as much as possible damage with just the Sol. The rest of the fleet will advance on the flanks making sure the enemy has to divide its resources. Eventually we will meet up at the Vanir home world Vanaheim. Before we will level the planet we will evacuate several Asgard that had been taken prisoner by the Vanir when they left the Ida galaxy for the Pegasus galaxy. These prisoners include Freya, sister of Freyr, Bragi and Vidar." Carter explained.
"General Carter, I assume you have the required paperwork that goes with such a devastating act. I am more or less surprised that the Aesir council agreed with such an act." Kvasir said.
"The paperwork will arrive when the weapons arrive here as well. I believe General O'Neill and Supreme Commander Thor will deliver them personally." Carter said.
"Look, Kvasir, I understand that you don't like destroying a race, let alone one you have ties with, but, they are directly responsible for the death of over one billion humans on Earth, just to safe their own ass, even though they could have done that another way. I think I can speak for every Tau'ri when I say that we want revenge. I'm sure that the Vanir would exterminate us all if it would give them the chance to survive their degeneration." Caldwell said.
"That is correct. In addition the Alliance needs to show that it is willing to use their full power to ensure its survival, it will give off a signal to our enemies and potential future enemies that if they commit acts of mass murder against sentient beings, they deserve nothing but the death the same, a death penalty. Basically that Vanir have been convicted guilty and sentenced the death penalty." Carter said.
"I would say that the Vanir did not have much of a chance to defend their actions in this trial the alliance council apparently had held." Freyr said.
"We captured that Njord guy during the combat in Atlantis, he's been saying all kinds of things about their motives and such ever since." Carter said.
"Nevertheless, we need to end the Vanir's support to the Wraith, we've got a war back in Milky way and another one that is just a matter of time before it starts. The only reason why the Wraith are still in the fight is because of the Vanir." Ellis said. "Besides, me and my crew want revenge. We all lost someone on the hands of the Wraith, some literally. I know my crew will support this order without a doubt."
"The same goes for the Deadelus and its crew. Even Hermiond lost some of his Tau'ri friends and has been making plans in his spare time for a way to destroy the Vanir." Caldwell added.
"Nearly a quarter of my crew lost their families when the Wraith bombed Ramstein in the opening hours of the occupation." Colonel Reynolds, Commander of the Normandy said with his usual English accent. The Normandy was a ship crewed by people of European descent, primarily German, English and French.
"And I for one do sympathize with you on this matter." Tjolver said. He turned to the other Asgard. "We conveniently forget that when the Vanir left us they too inflicted carnage on our home world Valhalla, and at that time downloading was not as widespread as it is now, we lost millions of souls that day."
"I'm surprised you didn't go after them." Carter said.
"Their attacks left us with a crippled fleet incapable of chasing the Vanir to another galaxy, and fight the Wraith there. By the time we had a fleet large enough the Ancients were overrun and we had forget all about it and decided to move on." Freyr explained.
"Why do we always hear about these things after it would have been useful?" Caldwell asked. "If we'd have known about their nature or even their existence this all might have been prevented."
"There are a lot of things we are not proud of, or that we have simply forgotten. The High Council at the time decided it didn't matter if you'd know about the Vanir since we didn't even know of they'd existed or where they were." Kvasir explained.
"Let's move on beyond this. We can dwell on the past or live in the present and deal with the Vanir and Wraith. They have both made their decisions and their days are numbered. It is just a matter of time before we destroy them and by taking out the Vanir home world we can shorten the war, lower our losses concentrate on the Aschen war and prepare for the Dominion invasion that is bound to come." Carter interjected.
"I agree. We shall await the arrival of Supreme Commander Thor and General O'Neill after which we will continue our campaign." Tjolver said cutting of the other two Asgard.
November 22
Somewhere within Wraith territory
Bridge TFS Sol
The ship was on its third day of its guerilla campaign behind enemy lines. Just now the blue of hyperspace colored the bridge even though the bridge was deep inside the ship itself. Because of the perfect Intel they had already been able to ambush eight Vanir or Wraith battle units without taking as much as a scratch. Now that there was no fleet to command, Carter was on the bridge in her chair awaiting their arrival at the next ambush.
"Time to target?" She asked.
"One minute, twenty five seconds." Marks replied as he checked his console.
"Get everyone at their battle stations, prepare to raise shields as soon as we exit hyperspace and power the Asgard weaponry." Carter ordered.
"Reversion to real space in twenty seconds." Marks said as he started to count down. "Reversing now."
The Sol exited hyperspace and found several Vanir and Wraith warships caught off guard by their arrival.
Carter just took a second to take it all in before she started issuing orders. "Begin gathering targeting data and target the nearest ship, use turrets. Hold off on the 302's."
It took just seconds before the turrets found their targets and started firing bright white beams. Two Wraith and two Vanir cruisers were the first victims, they were soon accompanied by a hive and several Vanir escorts. Within minutes the unfair fight was over and the quartermaster of the Sol could break out the paint to add the silhouettes of the destroyed ships to the Sol's kill list which was getting longer and longer.
"General, all hostile ships have been neutralized." Marks reported.
"Check the debris of the hives for any humans in stasis. The Deadelus recently rescued over fifty humans after they'd destroyed a hive." Carter ordered.
Marks worked on his console for a minute as did several of the bridge crew. "Ma'am, we have located four separate groups of human life signs."
"Does the immediate area have a stable atmosphere?"
"Yes Ma'am, they are all stable though they won't be that way indefinitely."
"Okay, send in marine units to get them out of their and tag them with locater beacons so we can beam them back aboard." Carter said.
Marks issued the orders to the Marine units aboard the ship which quickly gathered for beam out. Within minutes the first evacuees started to arrive in the sick bay. After twenty minutes all humans were saved and the marines were beamed back aboard.
"General, all units are back aboard." A lieutenant reported as Marks was busy decrypting a message they'd just received.
A minute later Marks console beeped as the decryption was completed.
"General Carter, we received a priority one flash message from CINCPEG –Commander in Chief Pegasus- it's for your eyes only." Marks said.
"Send it to my tablet." Carter said as she took her tablet from where it was kept in the side of her chair. Within seconds the message was transferred to the tablet and she quickly entered her passwords to open the message. What she read surprised her. "That's quick." She murmured to herself. "Marks show me the position of alliance ships in the Pegasus galaxy."
Marks quickly put the map of the Pegasus galaxy on the forward view screen. Soon the icons of the various ships and task forces started to appear.
"Prepare to send a message to the following people: Colonel Caldwell aboard the Deadelus, Force Commander Tjolver aboard the Samantha Carter and Commander Labrea aboard the traveler ship Navras. Tell them to use their access code to open file 29/37/43/4C/JQ, clause nine." Carter ordered.
"Would you care to fill me in Ma'am? Marks asked.
"Not yet, open the same file as well and begin what is described in it." Carter responded.
For the next hour Marks was busy using several programs and coordinating the next few steps with the other commanders.
"Ma'am, we're ready." Marks reported.
"Start the open transmission; make it look like an accident." Carter ordered.
The view screen changed into the three bridges of the other ships involved.
"Commanders, the line is now secure, please confirm." Carter started. The plan was to lure the Wraith to the planet Proculus where the ascended ancients could fulfill their part of the plan. Part of the plan was to make the Wraith think there was a major force build up over the planet which would spawn a Wraith assault and leave their lines vulnerable. While the Wraith units attacking Proculus would be destroyed by the ancients, the First Alliance Battle Fleet would attack Vanaheim.
"The Deadelus is secure."
"The Samantha Carter is secure."
"The Navras is secure."
"Very well, as you all know this afternoon the transport fleet will arrive with the garrison divisions for the planet of Proculus. You'll also know that the escorting ships were delayed by our enemies in the Milky Way. The garrison fleet of Proculus, well; it's not the garrison fleet anymore but the sector's rapid response fleet and currently tied up with holding the line against several Vanir units pushing from the core. Therefore all units have to cease movements that will get them further away from Proculus just in case the Wraith decide to attack now."
"Ma'am, you do know that the last time the Wraith attacked the planet was when their protector was absent, she's there now right?" Caldwell said.
"From what the Asgard have been able to conclude from your logs on this planet and its protector we have concluded that ever since we started to transfer peoples to the planet that protection was canceled. Basically it is just a bluff right now." Tjolver said.
"It is a bluff, but it is one that won't be called anytime soon as long as we won't tell the Wraith about it." Carter said.
"Ma'am, even if we were to be given the order to make our way to Proculus it would take us nearly two weeks to get there." Labrea said.
"Four you it would, but the Asgard can be there within two hours and our 304's can be there in a matter of hours as well." Carter responded. Even though the Traveler fleet had been upgraded it was far from being comparable to a 304. It boosted Asgard energy weapons, enhanced shields, hyperdrive and power generators, but because of the state of the ships its capacity was severely limited.
Carter observed the silence for a moment before continuing. "If there is nothing else, we'll commence our planned operations after 48 hours assuming no other orders are given." She received nods from the others and motioned to Marks to cut the feed. "Did they get it?"
"We have detected at least four hacks into the signal, and there may have been over a dozen others, at least one of them should have been Wraith." Marks said.
"Great, send an encrypted signal to all ships in the battle fleet to continue as planned. Vanaheim will be destroyed within 24 hours."
Proculus
21 hours later
Jumper 23
Lieutenant Stavos, formerly of the Traveler ship Navras, made his way towards the next waypoint on his patrol. He had been blessed by the ancestors with the gene that apparently allowed him to operate their technology, making him one of the lucky few. He and his Tau'ri co-pilot were just chit chatting, mostly about girls, and of course sports.
"You know, these patrols couldn't get any more boring. Why do we even need them? Our ground based sensors are more than capable of detecting everything the Jumper can as well." Stavos asked his companion.
"It is so we can maintain a presence up here. It takes a jumper or 302 about four minutes to reach space, not counting the time it takes to suit up and get strapped in."
"It can't take that lo-" Stavos said before he was cut off by an alarm.
"What is it?" the co-pilot asked.
Stavos used his gene to link with the jumper and pushed the source of the alarm on the front screen. "Hyperspace window opening, it is enormous."
"The Sol?"
"Not a chance." Stavos said. Another alarm activated as the first of what would turn out to be many ships exited hyperspace. "By the ancestors."
"Massive Wraith fleet incoming, warn ATC and cloak the ship." The Co-pilot said.
Immediately the jumper cloaked and the ATC was informed, though it wasn't really necessary, they'd had to be blind to have missed that.
The Wraith fleet had exited hyperspace quite a bit away from the planet itself; probably to prevent any potential defenses from blowing them to bits before they could respond, something the Tau'ri were notorious for. After a minute of scanning they organized several squadrons of darts to begin a scouting attack on the defenses. In response several squadrons of 302's were launched from the planet.
"302's have been launched; estimated time to interception is four minutes."
Flag room, TFS SOL
4 minutes away from orbit of Vanaheim
"General, the entire fleet is present and accounted for. The Vanir defense fleet is forming up over their capitol; estimated time to contact is four minutes."
"Assign targets for every ship, we'll hold nothing back this time, 302's, jumpers, nukes, drones, everything but the Horizons." Carter ordered.
As the fleet made their way over to the Vanir ships they launched 302's, opened missile tubes showing off the dangerous Mark 8 nuclear warheads installed. Energy weapons were readied and energy started to build up in the capacitors, railguns loaded and powered while targeting systems painted the targets.
As the two fleets approached each other they were both scanning each other for any useful information. In the flag room a timer counted down the time left until weapons range was reached. Once the timer read zero, a hailstorm of weapons fire was released by both sides.
Proculus
The four squadrons of 302's that were up in the air had all painted two targets per fighter. As one they unleashed a hailstorm of missiles towards the darts. It only took a few seconds for the missiles to reach the darts. Once they were in range, the darts opened fire on the incoming missiles and were able to destroy quite a few of them. Nevertheless, enough missiles made it through as to do heavy damage to the Darts.
Vanaheim
The two storms of plasma, drones, missiles and railgun slugs crossed each other in the middle; seconds later the two storms encountered the shields of their enemies. The Tau'ri suffered little losses, several 302's were unlucky enough to be in the way of a plasma bolt and were incinerated and one Asgard Jackson class ship, this one particularly close to the front lost shields and had to retreat to prevent certain destruction.
The Vanir however suffered horrific losses. First shields were reduced by plasma slamming into them, and in some cases slicing through them. Then the missiles hit, each unleashing their devastating force over a wide area destroying most ships that had lost shields. Right around that time the railguns started to do damage to the smaller ships that so far had survived the onslaught.
After the results of the first salvo were received both fleets started to fire continuously. The Tau'ri and Asgard ships increased speed to spearhead the Vanir forces and hopefully cut them in two.
Proculus
The two groups of fighters met each other with a thunderous clash. Immediately the fight started to evolve into dogfights between pairs of 302's and groups of darts. Every time a pair of 302's was on the hunt a kill was quick and certain, but when a pair of 302's was the hunted a kill was impossible for every time a dart had a shot that would either damage or destroy a 302, a white force field would stop the shot, despite the 302's not having any shields whatsoever.
Within minutes that darts were dispatched off. However that had been able to give the main force a good look at what was waiting for them. It did not impress them. Beside the strange force fields of the 302's, which they just contributed to innovation of the Tau'ri there was nothing that would distinguish this world from so many others that had been culled the last few months, except for the number of humans on this planet that was. A number not seen in the Pegasus galaxy since the Lantean-Wraith war over ten thousand years ago.
Vanaheim
The fleet was now reaching the Vanir ships and firing on them at point blank range. The Sol, with the O'Neill's and Aurora's in the center and the rest of the ships on the edge, all firing plasma weapons everywhere they can find a clear line of fire. Now they preferred energy weapons over the nuclear ones so as to spare their own shields and to prevent the destruction of 302's.
Another Asgard ship, this time a Beliskner lost its shields. This time however the ship did not have the time to retreat and was swiftly destroyed by smaller Vanir ships. Also one of the 304's started to have problems with their ZPM and subsequently the shields and had to fall back.
As ship after ship was blown up by Asgard weaponry the fleet got closer to their main objective. Eventually every Vanir ship was destroyed at the cost of two more Jackson's both were able to retreat from the battle and recharge their shields.
As all 302's and jumpers were recalled the 304's and the Sol chose their positions over the Vanir home world. The actual surface of the planet was obscured by lightning storms all across the planet.
Proculus
The 302's had been forced to return towards the planet to rearm and refuel. Meanwhile, the Wraith had destroyed the few orbital defenses while only suffering minimal losses and were now in the process of taking positions for a culling. On the planet chaos reigned. As soon as people realized that the Wraith were going to cull them they made a dash for the nearest shelter. The local garrison was unable to keep the peace as they were busy preparing defensive positions. They were under no illusions that without any outside help they would be dead within hours.
Vanaheim
The Tau'ri ships had reached their launch positions.
"This is General Carter to all Tau'ri ships: initiate nuclear launch sequence."
As one all 304's and the Sol slowly started turning their top side towards the planet's surface.
"This is General Carter, Commanding Officer of the Tau'ri Federation Ship Sol, Commander of the First Alliance Battle Fleet, Authentication: Charlie Alpha Foxtrot Kilo Niner, the release of nuclear weapons is now authorized."
The 304's and Sol opened their launch tube hatches and the mark nine's were clearly visible in the tubes. At the same time a cargo bay door on the bottom of the ships opened to reveal the deadly Horizons.
"At the authorization of the President of the Tau'ri Federation, and the leadership of the alliance, you may fire at my command."
"Fire."
As one all missiles were launched as well as the horizons. Each missile had its own target in an attempt to destroy as much as possible in the first wave.
Proculus
Now that the Wraith were in a stable orbit over the planet they launched hundreds of darts, all intent on culling the planet to the last human being. In addition several hives and cruisers fired on defensive positions that could be discovered from space.
As the darts dived through the upper atmosphere they left burning trails behind them. By the time they reached maximum velocity they were accompanied by the plasma fired by the ships in orbit.
Vanaheim
The Horizon launched by the Sol had as main target the Vanir Capital city which also held the main download facility. As it burned through the atmosphere the first stage fell away as it had expended al its fuel. Not much later the second stage was ejected for the same reason. With seconds left before the warheads would be ejected the computer ran a last check to confirm the targets. As one all Horizons ejected their warheads which all headed for their individual targets, impact only seconds away.
From outer space it seemed as if a star was born so bright were the flashes of the nuclear explosions.
Proculus
Only several kilometers away from the surface the darts started to slow down so not to fly into the ground. However before they could pull up a barrier formed itself, seemingly consistent of glowing white threads. It destroyed the darts and the weapons fire. It immediately sped upwards towards the Wraith and Vanir fleet in orbit. The higher it got the more black threads appeared, which all seemed to try and destroy the barrier. Black thunderclouds appeared and thunder rained from above. To most it did seem as if the ancestors were fighting a brutal fight. As time progressed more and more black threads disappeared, and some even turned white. Eventually it reached the Fleet in orbit. Hives, cruisers and Vanir ships were shredded everywhere. Not a single ship was left intact and not a single piece of debris was larger than a basketball. It provided a nice display of fireworks.
Vanaheim
By now the flashes were dissipating and sensors could finally get a good look at what was left of the planet. Nearly the entire planet had been burned by nuclear fire. Oceans had been vaporized by the intense heat and mountains had been flattened only to be replaced by new mountains, the edges of bomb craters. It was suffice to say that the Vanir home world was no more.
Press room, Atlantis
November 23
1435 hours
"Ladies and Gentlemen, President Hayes of the Tau'ri Federation." The press secretary announced.
All reporters rose as the President walked in and took the stand which showed the seal of the office of the president. After a second the President motioned everyone to sit down.
"This morning at 0945 hours the First Alliance Battle Fleet under the command of General Carter destroyed the Vanir home world Vanahiem." Hayes paused for a second and the press took the chance to ask questions. They were quickly silenced.
"This action was sanctioned by me, the cabinet and the senate. It was also sanctioned by the Alliance Council. The destruction was carried out by a number of 304 class battle cruisers and the Sol. The weapons used were several Horizon weapon platforms and a number of Mark Nine Gatebusters. Scans made after the bombardment show that the entire planet has been devastated. No Vanir has been left alive and most importantly their download facility has been destroyed."
"The decision to destroy the Vanir home world was not made lightly; ultimately we concluded that if the Vanir were removed from the equation in the Wraith war, our losses and the time spent would be much lower. Furthermore, the Vanir killed nearly one billion humans by helping the Wraith just too safe their own hides, they got what was coming to them. It is also good to say that we rescued a number of Aesir that were held hostage."
"I'll take you questions now."
Immediately all reporters jumped up yelling questions.
"Yes, Susan." Hayes said as he pointed to one of the reporters on the first row.
"Mister President, are you also going to authorize the destruction of the Aschen home world?"
"No. at the moment we are not contemplating the destruction of the Aschen home world. The destruction of the Vanir home world was a one-time action." Hayes answered. "George." Hayes said as he pointed at another reporter.
"Mister President, are you going to redeploy the First alliance battle fleet?"
"No, for the moment the First Alliance Battle Fleet will remain in the Pegasus galaxy to combat the threat of the Wraith and remaining Vanir forces. It is General Carter's job to win the war there before the fleet will be moved back towards the Milky Way galaxy to fight the Aschen. In any event a redeployment of the battle fleet needs to be authorized by the alliance military leadership."
"Mister President, earlier you mentioned that the strike also destroyed the Vanir download facility, does this mean that the Vanir are now mortal, or do they have any back up sites?" another reporter asked.
"According to the Asgard and our own intelligence this was the only download site." Hayes answered.
"So basically this is genocide?" the reporter asked.
"Yes, it is. This wasn't decided easily, there were several cabinet meetings dedicated entirely to the subject, as it should be. If there would have been any other way, we would have done it. Unfortunately, the Vanir have made it clear that they will not surrender and as we have seen have no qualms about any human deaths necessary for their survival."
"So why didn't you just give them the cure, we have it in the medical databanks."
"Because we could not locate them after we created the cure. By the time they resurfaced the Wraith had already attacked Earth and we were at war with the Vanir." Hayes said.
"So we would have given the Vanir the cure if we'd have found them?"
"We would have most certainly offered it to them. Of course we'd have some demands as well such as ceasing experiments on humans. If we could have prevented the assault on Earth we would have done it."
"What are your plans for the Aschen war?"
"You all know that for the sake of security I can't comment on the plans for the Aschen war. Please also don't ask questions you know I can't answer."
"What can you tell us about the plans and preparations for the Aschen war?"
"All I can tell you is that our military is hard at work to create the required force necessary for an offensive ground war against the Aschen. Fortunately we have no problems with finding enough manpower for recruitment is up through the roof ever since the Wraith attack on earth."
"And how about our colonies? Is it true that there have been delays?"
"Yes, on average we are half a year behind on schedule, this however doesn't mean the shipyards are not yet working. Most of the delay is located in the civilian sector. Due to the attacks made by the Aschen it is much harder to set up proper civilian facilities which are needed to support a large civilian population."
"How will this impact the war effort?"
"Not by much. As I said, the shipyards are already working and the first ships will be done somewhere next year, as expected. In addition to the shipyards the mining facilities are operational and are now providing over 80 percent of our material needs, taking a huge load of of our trade deficit."
"Can you give us some numbers about the amount of ships being produced with the new shipyards?"
"Again, no for matters of national security. I can tell you that in conjuncture with the colonial fleet, marines and army we have been able to design new transport and troop landing ships reducing our dependence on the colonial fleet for transport of our land units."
"Would you care to elaborate on the new transport ships?"
"A bit yes. The transport ships will be modular. What this means is that we are building a ship that is quite big. It has shields, engines and some mostly defensive weapons. The inside of the ship is mostly empty space. In this we can place modules designed for troop transport. This will also allow us to use these same ships for transporting minerals, civilians and supplies, all that is necessary is a module. Right now the designs call for three versions, each having a different size. There will be a version that can handle 4 modules, a version that can handle 8 modules, and a version that can handle 20 modules. For any more specific details I would like to refer you to the department defense."
"The actual landing ships will also have several versions, from being able to carry about a dozen troops, to being able to carry an entire module, whatever is in them. These ships are partly modeled after the Colonial Raptor design. For the largest of the transport ships you can compare it to a CH-54." Hayes explained.
"Has this anything to do with the nationalization of interplanetary transport?"
"Yes. In order to prevent any possible terrorism from spreading beyond the borders of the Tau'ri Federation and to prevent people and companies from creating their private colonies we have decided to control all the transport in space by means of a government operated transport organization. We wouldn't want the mafia or a multinational to get its own planet they can do with as they please without having to fear the government. So basically we want to prevent any illegal activities to stretch beyond the Tau'ri Federation."
At that time the press secretary walked in and announced that any further questions could be directed to her.