Welcome back.
This chapter was written before episode 5 because chapter 5 is based on what people wrote in reviews or PMs and I'm bored to death so I started to write this while waiting for more ideas to come in from you, so there might be some odd things that don't match up. Sorry for that.
Ops, this became a little bit longer than usual.
Happy reading.
Conference Room. Atlantia.
"Welcome." O'Neill said
"Care to tell us what we're doing here, Sir?" Sheppard said
"I'm coming to that. As you know I'm not big on formalities so I'm going to cut to the chase. It's been decided that we're going back to Pegasus and I want you three to be in command of your areas of expertise." O'Neill said
"I can see a military, a doctor and a scientist here. But I doubt that we can agree on anything, let alone head an expedition." McKay said
"Don't be silly Rodney, Crater is in command of Atlantis so they're probably letting her stay in control of Atlantis even after it goes back to Pegasus." Beckett said
"Atlantis is not going back to Pegasus. We're going to use her in the Milky Way instead." O'Neill said
"Then what are we going to use as a base of operations?" McKay complained
"That's your problem. If I where you I'd use one of the Destiny style ships that's packing a little more heat than usual and use that as a mobile command post. It'll make it easier to do hit and run attacks on the Wraith." O'Neill said
"This sounds more like a military campaign than an exploration." McKay said
"Well that's because your main objective is to exterminate the Wraith as a species."
"Now that's more like it." Sheppard said with a grin
"Yes, I agree. That's why we're sending three hundred marines with Atlas armors, PP-90s and the rest of our new standard gear to help you as well as any crew you need to command your ships."
"So we're getting more than one ship?" McKay said
"Yes, take as many ships as you want. We've got no use for them at the moment. Just make sure that they're in a working state."
"Ok, I'm in. What ships do we have to chose from?" Sheppard said
"Any ship we've got available. You want the Daedalus? She's yours. You can take anything else you need to, just go down to Lucius and he'll set you up with anything you need."
"Then we'll take a hundred auroras and fifty heavy Destiny class." McKay said
"Stop it Rodney, we can't take more ships than we can handle. I think we'll need around three Aurora class, four cruisers, two heavy Destiny class, three hundred combat jumpers, fifty jumpers and a shitload of drones and Ancient satellites. Oh and I'd like one of those jumpers to be Jumper One, it's got sentimental value to us." Sheppard said
"All of that can be arranged, but you don't need to decide yet. We're also sending the frame of a Supergate with you. That way reinforcements can be sent at any time." O'Neill said
"Thank you sir. Might be good for moral to be able to rotate crew and marines."
"Yes, my thoughts exactly and also part of the presidents plan for disclosure, if we rotate crew and marines they'll get used to the idea of aliens and that kind of stuff, that will hopefully make it easier for the population to comprehend the truth." O'Neill said
"Disclosure? You're going to tell the world about what we've been doing?" Beckett said surprised
"That's correct Doctor. Things got messy when you showed up in Atlantis in a big fireball. So it's been decided that it's time for disclosure." O'Neill said
"I hope you know what you're doing general. Things could turn ugly fast if you handle this wrong."
"Don't worry, we'll start slow with new technology based on alien tech and then drop the bomb slowly."
"Very well."
"If you accept you'll start preparing for the mission ASAP, start with personnel, you can have anyone as long as they accept voluntarily. You leave when you're ready."
"Sir, who's going to be in charge of the mission?" Sheppard asked
"Well, we've got a problem with that, you'll have to find her first."
"Her, sir?"
"Yes, Lucius came up with the idea, cloning. We've got an empty body in stasis for her."
"Weir." McKay screamed "You want to download her back into a human body."
"That's correct. Both I and the committee feel that she's the most qualified for the job."
"It'll be good to have her back sir." Sheppard said
"That's good to hear. If there's nothing else I believe that you gentlemen have a mission to plan and a galaxy to save." O'Neill said as turned around and walked out of the room.
"So how do you want to do this? Take a large fleet and go in guns blazing or sneak up on them and take them down?" Sheppard said over the conference table
"Colonel. If we do that the Wraith will take out their anger on the natives. We need another plan." Beckett said
"I'm with Beckett on this one, there's no way we can go all in on the Wraith without them killing every native in the Pegasus galaxy. We can't risk it. We need a better plan or at least a way to protect them." McKay said
"Well how about we start with getting there and reestablish contact with the locals, establish a base and scout the place for Wraith?" Sheppard said. "After that we get Elizabeth and see where we can go from there."
"I can live with that." McKay said
"Aye, me too." Beckett said
"Then lets get this show on the road. We know our areas and what we need to do. We start with the people we need, followed by equipment from Lucius and lastly ships." Sheppard said
"Sounds like a plan." McKay said. His eyes filled with energy for the first time since their return to Earth. He ran out of the conference room towards the labs.
"I'll see what I'll need. But who should we put in command of the every day duties until we get Elizabeth back?" Beckett said
"I doubt that we'll need someone to do that until we get her back. Can't be that bad, she could do it alone so if we split it on three I don't see a problem." Sheppard said
"I hope you're right Colonel otherwise Elizabeth will have to clean up after us when we get here back."
"Don't worry, we'll figure it all out once we get there."
"Very well Colonel. I've got to go and prepare for this expedition if we want to have a working medical department." Beckett said, he then turned around and walked of into the city in search of the people he wanted to have in his department.
Sheppard stayed a while longer inside the room before setting of towards his own private quarters. Once there he started to look through the merits of everyone who could be suited for the expedition.
Similar scenes were playing out as Rodney and Beckett started to recruit people to run the laboratories and various medical sections.
Design Room. Atlantis lower levels.
A few weeks had passed since their meeting with O'Neill.
"So how did it go for you two?" Sheppard asked
"Every one from the old expedition from the science department is ready as well as some new additions. Unfortunately Zelenka was offered my old job, so he won't be coming with us."
"I got the same answer, every medical personnel that walked the halls of Atlantis is happy to come back to Pegasus to help us against the Wraith, including Dr. Keller. She's going to be my right hand man or rather lady." Beckett said
"Well that's no surprise. We talked about it a couple of days ago; she's jumping at the chance to go back there. But keep your hands of her, she's mine" McKay said with a hint of violence while looking at Beckett
"Either way, the same goes for the military, everyone's from the old expedition is with us. Hell, we could probably take six hundred men in each rotation and still have enough people to rotate three or four times before getting the same people back." Sheppard said
"Yea, I noticed the huge group of people outside your quarters. But remember that we need crew for the ships to, so it might end with six hundred soldiers to man our small fleet." McKay said
"True, but the crew won't come from the marines, they'll come from the air force and there's even more people signing up there."
"What? How many know about the Stargate right now?" McKay screamed
"Everyone that O'Neill brought in to search Atlantia are briefed and have clearance and then there's the ones who pilots the jumpers that patrol and the people that crew the submarines outside the shield. All in all it's over ten thousand marines, six thousand air force and a few hundred from the Navy."
"What? That many? That's an army."
"Yes, but the president gave O'Neill six months to do it and even now there's parts unsearched after eight months. But at least the important parts are secured and HQs for the Navy, the Air Force and the Army are established and the move of the Pentagon, the SGC and other government agencies are finished." Sheppard said
"Guess Atlantia is getting re-populated then." McKay said
"Yes, and we're getting out of here. Never the less, how many scientist are coming along?" Sheppard said
"Well not counting maintenance personnel and gate technicians we're at one hundred and twenty five."
"And counting maintenance and gate technicians?" Sheppard asked
"Depends on the number of ships we take. I'm thinking at least one purple and green gate on every ship, a Pegasus or Milky Way gate on every fifth ship and at least three or four white gates in total. So I'd like at least three technicians for every gate, so a minimum of six for every ship."
"I we'll count them as crew then and deal with that later. How many are you and your people then Beckett?"
"Well since this will be a military campaign I'm thinking along the path of sixty nurses, thirty medics and ten surgeons, so a total of one hundred people." Beckett said
"Well then it looks like we'll be leading an expedition with more personnel than what the SGC usually employs over all its projects."
"Aye, this will be the start of large scale Tau'ri expeditions."
"Yes, we're going to need a whole loot of ships to pull this of." McKay said
"Lucius, please pull up the specs for the currently available ships." Sheppard said before turning to McKay. "I don't think so, we're around six hundred people so we could probably do it with two or three of those heavy Destiny class ships."
"Come on. Yes, they can take around a thousand people each" McKay said pointing at a number on the holographic specs Lucius had pulled up. "But O'Neill gave us free hands to take what we want and you want two or three ships?"
"I said we could do it with two or three ships, not that we should do it with two or three ships. Lucius what's the difference between the different designs?"
"The Aurora class is a light carrier, it is meant to be used as a weapons platform for drones, combat jumpers and other mobile weapons. It boasts strong shields meant to take any punishment from weapons that point its way. It's not meant to be taken into direct battle but rather deploy its payload and retreat to a safe distance. If cornered alone it's useless as it has no weapon mounts. Booth quick and nimble, it's a medium speed vessel.
The carrier class is meant to take smaller crafts into battle and then charge it's way through enemy lines while soaking up large amounts of damage and dishing out equally much. Its shields are almost as strong as the Auroras but because the weapons need energy too they won't last as long as an Aurora's shields. The carrier class is quite heavy and therefore among the slowest of our ships.
The Adaris class science vessels are built with greatly improved sensors. Built to explore and scan they're almost useless in battle due to few to no weapons. It's shields can however be boosted to strengths half of a city-ship if the sensors are turned off and power redirected. Despite the strong shields its primary defense is its speed, it's second only to the scout ships.
The cruiser class was our primary combat ships. Built to take and deal damage they usually deployed in huge numbers to overwhelm the enemy. Extremely maneuverable and agile it's a high-speed vessel.
The scout class ships are what the jumpers are based on. Similar in shape but about four times larger the scout class is the fastest ships in our fleet. Built to outrun anything it only carries light weapons and light shields, but also has a cloak.
The heavy Destiny class is built as a tank. Its function is similar to that of the carrier class, except the only thing it carries is a wing of combat jumpers, instead extra generators and weapons are mounted to make it even more of a monster. It packs the hardest punch of our entire fleet.
Those are the primary ships we used and those are the ones that are already built.
There's also an ocean of subclasses and minor ships."
"Thank you, Lucius. So what do you think McKay, which ship do you think your scientists can have the most use of?"
"I think we'll take four science class ships, but I want them to have as many weapons and as strong shields as possible and also one heavy Destiny class for protection, also boosted weapons and shields."
"That can be arranged, I'll get started on the retro fits of the ships right away." Lucius said. In the background the sound of the Supergate activating could be heard and soon the five ships McKay wanted came through the Supergate.
"Lucius, can you convert an Aurora into a hospital ship?" Beckett said
"That can be done, but I'd advise against it. If converted into a hospital ship one can take up to three thousand people but would be severely limited in it's roll, a better choice would be to split your people over several ships and fit an infirmary on every ships and maybe have a more advanced facility on one ship."
"I've got to side with Lucius here, better to split them over a large fleet than one ship." Sheppard said.
"Fine, I'll take one heavy destiny too, but please fit it with a hangar for a scout class ship and fit the scout ship with medical equipment. But then I want one infirmary on every ship and a more advanced infirmary on booth Rodney's and my heavy Destiny's as well as Sheppard's command ship."
"I'll see to it that it's done." Lucius said.
"Now what should I pick?" Sheppard said as he stood there looking on the specs floating in front of him. "Hm, I guess I'll take a heavy Destiny as command ship, make that two, we're going to need them and then I want two Auroras, one carrier, five scouts and ten cruisers. And can we please rename the heavy Destiny class to something easier like commander class." Sheppard said
"We're using it as command ships so that would be logical." McKay said approvingly
"Good. Do you think we'll need some ships for transport of natives?" Sheppard said
"Well that might become necessary." McKay said
"Aye, we'll need something for evacuations." Beckett said
"Might I suggest that we rebuild a carrier to optimize it for transportation?" Lucius said
"Sounds good." Sheppard said looking at the other two who nodded. "But make that two, never know when we're going to need them."
"Done, rebuilding in progress. Do you wish for any other changes to be made?"
"Install internal defenses and optimize for security and skeleton crew. Make sure that there's quarters for everyone onboard and then some extra to spare."
"Consider it done. It'll take me two weeks to finish rebuilding every ship to your specs. Might I suggest adding Asgard transporters to the ships?"
"That's a good idea and add some rings to." McKay said
"And at least one jumper bay on each side. Oh and blast doors." Sheppard added
"All will be arranged. New time of completion: two and a half week."
"Lower priority of the transports. We don't need them until we're there any way."
"Lowering of priority increase time of completion to three weeks for the rest of the fleet." Lucius said
"Hold it. Lowering the priority of something increases the time for the rest?" McKay said
"Yes. While almost anything can be synthesized, doing so will overheat the equipment after a while, once overheated I need to wait for it to cool down before synthesizing something else. But the transports are going to lose several tons of weight from removed walls and equipment, I use that material to rebuild the other ships so if I'm not allowed to work on the transports then I can't use it's materials and then my equipment will overheat more often. It's easier to remake material than to create new material." Lucius explained
"So if we could bring you material then you could finish our ships faster?" Sheppard said
"That's correct."
"What materials are of use to you?" McKay said
"Anything, but the denser it is the less I need. But minerals are the best since we used those directly in the ships." Lucius said
"Where can we find some material that no one's going to miss?" Sheppard said looking at McKay
"I don't know." McKay said
"Hey smartass we've got that and all of those." Beckett said walking out of the design room and pointed at the Supergate and the parked ships.
"I doubt O'Neill would be happy to hear that we used the Supergate and some of the ships as materials to create our own ships." McKay said
"I don't think that's what he meant." Sheppard said
"No I did not Colonel. I meant that we take one of the ships and go and get some asteroids or something." Beckett
"Oh, yeas, that's what I thought too." McKay said feeling stupid
"Anyway, that could work. Lucius, you said that you could send us anywhere in this galaxy with the gate, can you complete the transports first, we only need a lot of space and the transporters to begin with and a Supergate, so we can get back here." Sheppard said
"Yes, give me two minutes and they'll be ready, I suggest that you get a crew here so you can pilot the ships." Lucius said
"There's no time for that, you said that you could control ten ships during the war. Help us control these ships now." Sheppard said
"Fine but I'm going to have to create some replicators to man the consoles."
"Then do it, we're leaving as soon as your done."
"Well then get on the ship. Everything is done. The replicators are loading up the Supergate as we speak."
"You two take one ship each and I'll take one command class ship to cover you in case something happens. Beam us up." Sheppard said with a smile.
Lucius raised an eyebrow but only waved his hand and the three friends disappeared in beams of light. They all reappeared on the bridges of their respective ships.
The bridges of the carriers where similar to the Aurora class bridges, there where several consoles at the front and sides, each with a chair where a replicator sat, in the center of the bridge was a control chair and out of the front and side windows you could see the front half of the carrier ship. In the back of the room was an elevator leading out to the rest of the ship.
The bridge of the command class was almost exact copy of the bridge from Destiny except for the control chair that replaced the commander's chair and on the backside of the bridge there where more consoles for the additional weapons, at every console on the bridge was a replicator controlling different parts of the ship.
"There should be a control chair in front of all three of you so if you please sit down I'll dial the gate and send you to an old mining facility that still stands. The machines work but we never had the time to place a yellow gate on the planet. There should be some Naquadah, Trinuim, Neutronium, Titanium and some other minerals that we need on the surface, but don't expect much, it's only been operational since I was turned back online again." Lucius said
"Copy that. I'm strapped in and ready." Sheppard said
"Me too." McKay said
"Aye, same here." Beckett said.
"Lucius, I've got a problem. I'm low on energy." Sheppard said
"Sorry about that. I've not had the time to install a ZPM on your ship yet. You'll have to recharge in the systems sun when you get there. Make sure that there are no threats before you do that, otherwise they'll be in trouble." Lucius
"If I don't recharge immediately we'll be in trouble either way. Their shields should hold against any enemy this galaxy has to offer, at least until I'm done recharging." Sheppard said.
"I fear he's right." McKay said. "The shields will keep us save if anything happens while he's recharging and we've got some weapons ourselves."
"Then lets start." Lucius said.
The Supergate started to dial, the vortex shot out and the event horizon snapped into place.
Hepstus System.
Hepstus was as system discovered by the Ancient at the end of their war. The system contains five planets, the first planet was a highly volcanic planet covered in lava, the second planet was a barren stone planet devoid of all life, the third one was the planet the Ancients had built their mining facility, the entire planet was a large jungle except for the few clearings where the Ancients mine was, the forth was a large gas giant and the fifth was made out of frozen methane.
Half way between the systems star and it's first planet a rift opened, it was almost impossible to notice that it was there unless you where looking at it with the sun, a planet or the stars behind, it was blacker than black.
From the rift the three ships appeared with the command class ship first and the two transporters followed close after.
"Rodney, talk to me." Sheppard demanded
"We're in a system called Hepstus. We're actually very close to the star; you should be able to fill up without any problem by moving closer, after that the ship should take over and steer through the star."
"Ok, any sign of trouble out there?" Sheppard replied
"None, the system seems empty except for the mine."
"Good, get to the mine and load the minerals. I'll fill up and come back for you when I'm done."
"Fine by me." McKay said as he made a short hyperspace jump with his ship to the planet closely followed by Beckett.
Sheppard took his ship closer to the star and then the autopilot kicked in and the ship moved closer to the star while the solar power collectors extended and started to collect power for the ship.
Meanwhile McKay and Beckett was loading the minerals from the planet onboard their ships. Despite the fact that the facility had only been operational for a few months it had managed to extract a staggering amount of minerals.
A few minutes later while Sheppard was on his way out of the star and the two doctors where loading the last of the minerals a dozen hyperspace windows appeared and out of everyone large black ships emerged, while not large in comparison to the Ancient ships they where certainly large by regular standards, they where not very long or high but instead very wide.
"Unidentified vessel. This is our territory, return what you've taken and be prepared to be boarded." One of the vessels transmitted
Beckett and McKay raised their shields and powered up their weapons in response. "This is Dr. Rodney McKay from Stargate Command. I will not return what's ours and I certainly will not allow you to get close to my ship." McKay sent back
The black ships opened fire on the two lonely vessels, hundreds of small purple plasma bolts came raced against the ships but to their attackers surprise nothing happened, the shields simply absorbed the impacts and showed no signs of strain.
"Lucius. Contact Sheppard and tell him to get here now." Beckett screamed into the air.
"Already done. I did it as soon as they arrived, he's on his way." Lucius replied.
"ETA?" McKay asked
"I'm here." Sheppard answered before Lucius had a chance. The command class ship came out of hyperspace less than one hundred meters above the twelve enemy ships, as soon as the ship was back in normal space he opened a channel to the other ships.
"This is Colonel John Sheppard of Stargate Command. Power down your weapons and lower your shields."
No reply came over the channel but instead three large purple plasma shoots was fired from every enemy ship, all aimed for Sheppard. The ship swayed lazily as the blots hit.
"McKay, Beckett, fire at will." Sheppard said
"Happy to." McKay said
"Time for payback." Beckett answered
As if timed all three ships opened fire at the same time. Eleven of the ships where crushed to pieces or vaporized from the first salvo. The last ship was badly damaged, but it still tried to fight with everything it had.
"Last surviving unidentified ship, stand down and you will be spared." Sheppard said over all channels
"We'll never bow to you filthy Kel'tar. You can take our lives, but you'll never take our freedom" was the reply.
"We mean you no harm. But if you continue to resist I will open fire." Sheppard said
For a long time nothing happened, then the black ship suddenly accelerated towards Sheppard's ship and crashed into the ships shield, which held firm.
"McKay, clean up what's left of them, put it in a separate hold until we get back to Atlantis. Beckett, get the rest of the minerals out of there. We need to get back to Earth as soon as possible and set up the Supergate. Lucius please contact general O'Neill and tell him about our encounter, also see if Daniel knows what that word they called us means." Sheppard ordered
McKay started to clean up the debris field and Beckett got the last of the minerals. I didn't take them more than ten minutes before everyone where done and they jumped into hyperspace towards Earth.
"Lucius please tell me how Sheppard managed to take a ship with an FTL engine into hyperspace?" McKay said
"Well every ship we built of this design has two engines, one for FTL and one for hyperspace. The seed ships use the hyperspace engines when every they don't need to interact with Destiny, but because Destiny collects data on the CMB radiation she can only use the FTL engine, so we locked her hyperdrive so she won't miss anything."
"Oh, I see." McKay said
"Now please relax during the two hour it will us to get to Earth." Lucius said
The trio of ships rushed through hyperspace and two hours later they jumped out of hyperspace behind Mars. During the hyperspace flight the three men had discussed where to place the Supergate with O'Neill, they had finally decided on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter due to its size and how close it was to Earth. So the three ships set course to the belt and McKay and Beckett beamed out the sections of the Supergate. When all of the sections where out of the ships they activated and moved of to a place where they could assemble into a gate, the whole process took less than ten minutes and then the gate dialed and the ships went back to Atlantis.
Building Room. Atlantis lower levels.
"Lucius where did we get the power to dial the Supergate?" Sheppard said
"From a star close to the center of the galaxy. We've got a facility with solar power collectors inside the star; it then sends the energy with the help of a microgate. When a Supergate's dialing it sends out a signal with its micro gate address and any available facility responds by dialing its microgate and sending the needed energy."
"Why do I ever bother to ask? You people always seems to over engineer everything you make."
"We build things to last."
Sheppard simply frowned and walked up to the ring platform that two replicators had just installed. There he pressed a couple of buttons on his forearm and the rings activated, they placed him on a ring platform bellow the control room that overlooked the room.
"Thanks for that Sheppard." McKay said over the FMC.
"What did I do?" Sheppard replied
"I had just used the rings, so they took me back onto your ship when you used them."
"Ops. I'm sorry."
"Never mind, can you get of the platform so I can ring down there?"
"I'm already of."
A few seconds after he said that the rings activated and McKay appeared inside the rings. He was not looking happy.
"Lucius, did we get everything that you needed?" Beckett said
"Yes, this will cut the time needed to a few hours. I'll notify you when it's done."
"Good, remember to make another Supergate for us too."
"Don't worry about the gates. I've got enough complete sections down here to build a few more before I need to make more."
"Well then I guess we should start to assemble the crew. Lucius how many are needed to pilot the ships on a skeleton crew?" Sheppard said
"For all twenty nine ships you'll need a total of one hundred and seventy one." Lucius answered
"So we'll need five hundred and thirteen for three shift. I've only got around three hundred and sixty crewmembers ready. Is there any way that you can help us to man a few ships Lucius?"
"I'm afraid not, the distance will be to big. I can however recommend that you take another AI with you, his name's Maximus, he was one of our greatest generals and one of the AIs you found in W-29. If you ask him nicely I'll think he's going to be more than happy to help you." Lucius said
"So I guess we'll have to go back there and get him?" McKay said
"Well as a matter of fact I just happened to have him moved here." Lucius said with a smile
"Just happened? Just tell us the truth, you planed for him to come along with us from the beginning, didn't you?" Sheppard said
"Well, the truth is that you humans feels like my kids, I can't just let you run around out there without someone to help you." Lucius said looking at them
"Fine, but just say it out loud next time. Trust is easier to get that way. Now where is Maximus then?" Sheppard said
"He's already being installed on your ship and I've already asked him about it, he's more than happy to help you, what ships do you want him to control or help you control?"
"The ten cruisers. If he takes them himself we should be able to man the rest."
"Very well. Skipping optimization for skeleton crews on those ships. He'll use replicators to man the entire ship so there's no shortage of crew there."
Sheppard nodded and then left the lower levels to gather up the crewmembers and the rest of the expedition. McKay sat down on a near by crate and started to analyze the debris that he'd gathered from the black ships on his FMC and Beckett ran of into the city to pack the last of his stuff.
McKay was sitting and analyzing the debris for several minutes and then he did the ancient equivalent of paging some on. After a few seconds Daniels face appeared as a hologram in front of McKay.
"What is it?" Daniel asked
"Well this looks like some kind of Goa'uld ship, never seen the design before, it looks crude and old. I was wondering if you or Teal'c knew anything about it." McKay said
"See if you can reconstruct the ships and we'll take a look at it. But we also think it's Goa'uld."
"How so?"
"Well, Teal'c and I have been looking through what they said and that word they called you, Teal'c recognize it as a very old and twisted type of Goa'uld. It means something like 'taker of slaves' or 'enslavers'; we think whoever they are made the mistake of thinking that you where Goa'uld hosts."
"Yea, well the SGC have kicked the Goa'uld's asses so many times that they should be extinct." McKay said
"Well, we've never been in that part of the galaxy, it's possible that we missed a few in some corner of the galaxy."
"Then I know what you're going to do for the next weeks." McKay said
"We'll see. Now if there's nothing else I'd like to continue my research into where the last resting place of the Ancients is located."
"No that's all." McKay said as he ended the transmission.
Soon people started to enter the building room in groups. By the time Sheppard returned there over four hundred people where standing inside the room but that was only around one third of the total expedition. So Sheppard sent a message to every member of the expedition who was outside of the room. It took another half hour but after that everyone was standing there.
"Hello." O'Neill said from a podium that was standing between the group of people and the ships. "You're here because you're going on an expedition. Last time we sent someone to Pegasus they knew that they might not come home again, this time it's the same, despite the fact that you're going to have a small fleet of Ancient ships at your disposal. You're mission is to go to Pegasus and exterminate the Wraith and keep the civilizations there safe. Some of you will not return and others will, but I promise you this, your families will know what has happened to you if you do not. Don't be afraid, despite the fact that there will be many dangers ahead there will be an equal amount of new things to discover and new societies to meet. Today we as a race are going out into the stars to put out mark on the universe. The people leading this expedition are the best experts on the Pegasus galaxy we've got. Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard herby promoted to Colonel will be leading the military division of this expedition. Dr. Rodney McKay will head the science department. Dr. Carson Beckett will lead the medical section. A fourth leader will be joining you some time after you get to Pegasus. I wish you luck out there." He finished his speech and motioned for Sheppard to approach. When Sheppard came up to the general he was given his new insignia. He then turned to the crowd.
"You know your assignments. In a few seconds we'll start to send you through the purple gate to your ships, listen close, when the name of your captain is said you'll go through the gate to your ship. Once there your captains will give you further instructions. There's rings on every ship if you want to visit a friend on another ship and booth a purple and a green gate, there's six Milky Way gates stationed within the fleet and also four white gates, there's also transporters installed on every ship if needed. Lets start with the people whose going to have Carson Beckett as their captain, please go through the gate. Beckett walked to the gate and then through it before the rest of his crew.
Sheppard then continued with the rest of the captains and the crowd started to dwindle until there where only around sixty people left.
"Well then, you're the people that will be under my command. Lets move it people." Sheppard said. He moved down from the podium and of towards the gate.
"Go through and I'll be right behind you." He said. He looked back at General O'Neill and saluted, O'Neill returned the salute.
"Make us proud." O'Neill shouted
"Yes, sir." Sheppard said before turning around and moving through the gate.
On the other side of the gate people was standing and waiting for Sheppard to arrive.
"Map" he said into the air.
In front of the shocked crew a holographic map appeared.
"We're here." Sheppard said and pointed at the gate room. "Your WMC should have your quarters tags downloaded. Look at the map and find the section that your quarters are located at and get there. If you get lost at any time you only need to say the word map and the ship will display a holographic map for you. I want the first shift on the bridge in thirty minutes so get moving."
People began to study the map and moved of after a while. Sheppard on the other hand had already prepared his quarters while they waited for the expedition members to arrive so instead went to the bridge and powered up the ship.
When his ship was powered and ready he opened a channel to the bridges of the other ships.
"Hello. As you know most of the ships can be controlled from the chair alone but most of the more advanced functions will require crewmembers at the consoles. But we can get out of here by simply using the chair. So while the crew gets settled we'll get out of here and start to test the ships. So please inform the crew and move out when you're ready, be careful, these ships are a bit bigger than the jumpers you where trained to use."
Aboard the other ships every captain informed the crew that they where going to go through the gate. Sheppard did the same and as soon as Lucius had dialed the gate the fleet went through.
Asteroid Belt. Sol System.
The fleet of Ancient ships arrived one by one through the gate and took up positions around the gate.
"Listen up. We're going to the coordinates I'm sending you for some target practice and evasive maneuvers. It's a system with a single star and a huge asteroid belt. We're also going to train the recharge method used by these ships, they're all fitted for recharge inside a star, just like Destiny, but they also carry a single ZPM in case you need extra power, the ZPM works as a battery and will also be recharge inside the star, each ship also carry small generators, but they are not anywhere as effective as recharging is." Sheppard said
The fleet turned to face the system and then they jumped away one by one. The ships arrived at the designated system and begun to run weapons tests and evasive maneuvers on the asteroids and then they set course towards the star to recharge when they needed to. This continued for two days so that they where sure that the crew knew their ships and that everything worked as it should. After that Sheppard ordered the fleet away from the system and towards Pegasus.
Hyperspace. Void between Milky Way and Pegasus.
The fleet was traveling at a staggering pace rivaled only by the Asgard when they still traveled the universe.
"McKay, have you found any planet that's suitable for a base?" Sheppard said
"No one that's better than the Alpha site." McKay answered
"Well that's not an option. I don't want to places all of our eggs in one basket."
"I'll keep looking. Maximus has been helping me too, but he can seem to find a suitable planet either."
"Well we've got ships now, so check planets without a gate."
"Sorry but that list is very short. Most habitable planets where given a gate."
"Well, keep looking. If we don't find a planet by the time we get there we'll send the scouts, cruisers and science vessels to look for anything suitable." Sheppard said
"Come on, one days is a very short time."
"But you've been looking for a day already. So that makes it two days." Sheppard said with a smile
"And that's still to short. I'll come up with some thing." McKay said and ended the transmission.
Sheppard was smiling as he sat in the control chair on his flagship, he always felt good when he got to mess with McKay, as he was sitting there his WMC alerted him that someone wanted to talk to him. He saw that it was Teyla and his smile disappeared immediately but he accepted the call.
"Hello Teyla. What's happening?" He said
"We've got a problem. We've been keeping a low profile and have reestablished contact with many planets over the last few months, but recently entire planets have gone of the grid." She answered
"That's not good, have you and Ronon found any evidence of Wraith activity?"
"I don't think you understand. Their gates don't accept wormholes."
"Oh crap, that's not good. We're one day out. I'll send a scout ship ahead to come by and pick you up; it should be there within fifteen hours so pack your stuff."
"Yes Sheppard. Teyla out." She said as she ended the transmission.
Sheppard immediately opened a channel to a scout ship.
"Captain. Get to these coordinates as fast as possible. Teyla and Ronon are there in a jumper. Pick them up and return to the fleet." He said.
"Yes commander." The captain replied
Sheppard could see on the sensors how the scout ship broke formation and accelerated away ahead of the fleet. He felt nervous; this wasn't the way the Wraith usually did things, what could have happened?
THE END
Hope you liked it.
I tried to be a little more describing in this episode, was it better, worse or the same?
I apologies for the Braveheart quote, but I just had to have it there.
Please review.