Stargate Genesis
Episode 7
"Debt and Revenge"
In the vacuum above the atmosphere of Ankar, the latest of a half-dozen deserted planets to be annexed and colonized by the Travelers, a spacegate sat silent and unused. The Travelers were a spacefaring race who distrusted the stargates, and avoided them whenever possible. It was a rare thing therefore, to see its vortex froth and foam as Jumper 3 slid past the event horizon and into orbit over the planet. Aboard, Dr. Daniel Jackson stared out the window of the cockpit at the silhouette of a Lantean Aurora-class battleship coming up on the opposite side of the planet.
"Where do they keep finding these things?" he asked, marveling at the Tulan. For a ship that was already several times older than most civilizations ever manage it was in remarkably good condition.
"The Ancestors made war with the Wraith for one hundred years, before they were defeated," said Teyla. "I suspect the vestiges of their struggle will liter this galaxy for many millennia."
"They're hailing us," said Vala at the controls.
There was a ping from the cockpit's heads-up-display and the familiar face of Larrin Shivon appeared there. She looked worried.
"The council has already convened," she said. "Hurry up and dock, they come up with all sorts of stupid ideas if no one's there to supervise them."
~~00~~
Teyla Emmagan walked purposefully into the center of the dimly lit amphitheater that served as the meeting hall for the Governing Council of the Travelers. Its nine members were seated behind a single horseshoe shaped desk that was slightly raised and forced her to look up at them. Beside her Ronon Dex and Vala Mal Doran attempted to look tall and menacing, and experienced differing degrees of success. Daniel Jackson was studying a mural to his right of Lantean vessels ascending the walls and disappearing into the star filled dome over their heads. As emissary to Atlantis, Larrin observed the meeting from the back.
"We are here to offer our thanks for-" Teyla began, but Councilman Vega put a hand up.
"You are here to explain why you have failed to uphold the terms of our treaty," he said. "When our ships took up the task of defending inhabited worlds against the Wraith it was with the understanding that your people would provide Zero Point Modules to power them."
Teyla opened her mouth to speak but was again interrupted, this time by Councilwoman Telan.
"This year alone we have lost three battleships, and in return we have received six ZPMs of a promised total of twenty-eight," she said.
"You must understand that Atlantis was attacked," said Teyla hurriedly. "Nearly all of our reserves were destroyed, and-"
"And we've still brought you two of the damn things haven't we?" said Vala, gesturing to the strongbox lying open in front of Councilman Anthony.
Vega gave her an icy glare and leaned over his desk.
"Two of a promised shipment of six," he said. "Perhaps we could see our way clear to protecting one third of the-"
"You coward," said Ronon, drawing his Wraith mandible sword.
"Ronon, I am ordering you to put that away," said Teyla.
This meeting was quickly getting away from her. The people of the Pegasus galaxy needed the Travelers to keep up the pressure on the Wraith, but Atlantis simply didn't have the ZPMs to spare. She had made sure of that, she thought bitterly.
"I promise you," said Teyla, addressing the council. "That we will divert as many Zero Point Modules as we can to your ships. I am only asking for your patience while we rebuild our reserves."
"No," said Vega angrily. "You are asking us to fight your battles while your people do nothing, and we will not agree to it. We will hold our position in this system for two days. Either you will deliver the agreed upon number of ZPMs in good faith or we will order our vessels to retreat."
Larrin looked horrified.
"Councilman, those worlds are prime targets for culling," she said.
"As are our own," he said. "And I will not have the decisions of this council questioned by one of its captains."
Larrin took a step forward.
"Even so councilman, the fleet has grown too large to rely on scavenging parties for parts. We need those ZPMs," she said.
"And so we will get them," he said. "But if we don't... I dare say a few of our vessels could be scrapped to maintain a smaller defensive line."
His glare was now fixed on Larrin.
"Your vessel is in fairly good shape is it not, captain?"
Larrin said nothing.
"This audience is at an end," said Vega. "The terms of our treaty are clear and will be fulfilled, one way or the other."
Teyla was the first to leave the chamber followed quickly by Captain Larrin.
"The council rules by consent," she said as she caught up. "Abandoning those worlds will not be a popular decision, and if enough of the captains object they'll have no choice but to-"
"But they are right," said Teyla miserably. "We have failed to keep our promise and your people will be made to see that. We must convince the council to preserve the treaty of their own free will."
The other three members of the Atlantis envoy had caught up to them at this point and together they formed a conspiratorial huddle as Teyla went on.
"We must offer them something more valuable than ZPMs. Something that will allow them to extend the terms of the treaty without losing face."
Daniel Jackson put a hand up.
"I think I may be able to help with that," he said.
~~00~~
"I noticed the same thing when General Carter asked me to translate some glyphs aboard the Tria," said Daniel as he stumbled through the starlit Holo room back on Atlantis.
For the last few minutes he had been plucking at little points of light around the delta quadrant of the Pegasus Galaxy, throwing up a swirling mist of stars around Larrin and Teyla.
"That same mural but with a different set of constellations. When I finally found the system they belonged to I asked Colonel Caldwell to take me there, but the planets we found were all uninhabited," he continued. "But one of the planets had a crater about a hundred kilometers across that looked like it had been made by weapons fire. Wraith weapons."
"So the Wraith destroyed whatever was on the planet," said Larrin.
"Yes," said Daniel still searching through stars. "They burned it to the ground, but not before a few dozen of their ships were destroyed and left floating in high orbit."
"So what did the Lanteans have that the Wraith would sacrifice so much to destroy?" asked Teyla.
Daniel's eyes locked on a white dwarf star hovering just over Teyla's left ear and he grabbed at it grinning in triumph.
"Shipyards," he said, as the constellations he had seen aboard the Tulan settled above his head.
"But that world has no stargate," said Teyla.
"Then I guess we'll have to get there the old fashioned way," said Larrin.
~~00~~
An hour later the team was greeted aboard the Thor by Colonel Maya Sol.
"Welcome to the most powerful ship in Earth's fleet," she said as they followed her onto the bridge.
"I heard that mèimei," said a voice over the intercom.
On screen the crew of the Vanity could be seen settling in, and Colonel Tom Sol was sitting at his command chair and smiling at his sister.
Maya Sol walked forward and pressed a button on the arm of her own command chair and the scene vanished.
"As I was saying," she said, turning back. "The Thor is the fastest Daedalus-class ship in the fleet. We are equipped with the latest cloaking and weapons technologies to come out of Area 51, and we are altogether a far superior vessel to the Vanity."
"I heard that too," said Colonel Sol as the door to the bridge slid open. "It's a beautiful ship mèimei, but the Vanity will run circles around her so long as I am at the helm, and an experienced crew knows better than to rely on the superiority of their technology. Are you sure you don't want us along? Father said I should watch out for you."
Maya Sol took the hands of her older brother and squeezed them lovingly then let them fall.
"Major Shen," she snapped. "The colonel would like to visit the North-Pier."
"Aye aye," said the major.
There was a flash of white light and with a look of stunned disbelief Colonel Tom Sol was gone from the bridge.
"Lets get underway then," said a smiling Maya Sol.
~~00~~
The trip through hyperspace was relatively brief owing to the fact that Earth's second newest spaceship was possessed of two extremely powerful hyperdrive engines. Should one have failed, the second alone was supposed to be capable of propelling the ship nearly as fast as a Wraith Hive, though that claim had not yet been put to the test.
The Thor came out of hyperspace on the far side of one of the target planet's natural satellites, a tumbling ball of ice and rock just large enough to land on. Under the instruction of Colonel Sol, a scouting party then took a cloaked jumper around it for a survey of the planet. Twenty minutes later they returned with a distressing report.
The Wraith were everywhere.
Ships in various stages of repair were floating above the atmosphere cloaked in organic nets that looked like evil hybrids of Wraith and Lantean technology. Down on the planet more ships were being grown in what had once been Lantean hangars, and work crews could be seen moving through the complex with weaponry and provisions to outfit them. Perhaps worst of all, the entire facility was protected by an energy shield suspiciously similar to the one over Atlantis.
"I'm sorry," said Colonel Sol. "I know this wasn't what you all were hoping to find, but we're here and we need to deal with this situation. We came equipped with a full complement of nuclear warheads, so: how many will it take to break through their defenses?"
"It is possible that no number will be sufficient," said Teyla. "The shield over Atlantis has been tested many times, even against the very weapons you speak of. It will persist so long as there is enough power to sustain it."
"Alright," said Colonel Sol. "This isn't the Milky Way. Our resources are limited. One Mark III would be enough to level those facilities if we could get it through that shield, so what are its weaknesses?"
"It's selective," said Daniel. "It won't hurt a puddle jumper."
"The one on Atlantis you mean," said Ronon. "How much do you want to bet this one's been modified?"
"Well it doesn't have to be a puddle jumper does it?" said Vala. "We do have a dart after all."
~~00~~
Maya Sol was not pleased when her brother arrived in the Vanity three hours later. Particularly when he took the liberty of beaming himself onto her bridge.
"One Wraith Dart all gassed up and ready to fly ma'am," he said saluting smartly. "Happy to be of service."
~~00~~
The cockpit of the dart was cramped during the descent onto the planet. Ronon, Daniel, Teyla, and Larrin had flatly refused to let Vala beam them into the pattern buffers the Wraith used to keep their food fresh. That honor was reserved for the naquadah-enhanced warhead Colonel Sol — the younger Colonel Sol — had supplied for the mission.
Plan-A was to re-materialize the bomb just inside the shield covering the complex, but Teyla had been on enough missions with Colonel Sheppard to know that any real plan worth its salt was a plan-B. That's why no one panicked when a few meters from the shield the dart's autopilot suddenly engaged to bring the craft in for a landing. Ronon and Teyla had expected this as, even years later, their memories of the last time they had tried to use a Wraith Dart for a stealth mission were quite vivid.
The ship steered itself into a hangar on the eastern end of the complex and landed beside a row of darts being tended to by machines with the same look of hybridization about them that the rest of the facility had.
The canopy of the ship dematerialized as it set down and the team noisily disentangled themselves. It was fortunate that the hangar was deserted. Vala was the last one to climb out, but before she did she tapped a button on the control screen and the Mark III materialized on the floor in front of them. Teyla produced a life signs detector and scanned the room. Once she was satisfied that they were alone she outlined her new plan in a whisper.
"The shield appears to be emanating from generators housed in the two largest hangars to the north and south of our present location," she said. "We cannot know that disabling one of these generators will be sufficient to disable the shield so we will split up and execute a synchronized attack. Daniel and I will target the generator to the North while Vala and Larrin target the generator to the South."
"And me?" asked Ronon.
"You will guard the device," she said motioning to the bomb. "Set it for twenty minutes just as we are leaving and make sure its countdown is not interrupted."
"Any use of our coms will likely give away our position, so we will break radio silence only after the shield has fallen to contact the Thor for beam out," she continued.
With that the team synchronized their watches and broke off to complete their assigned tasks.
~~00~~
High above the planet on the dark side of its cold icy moon Tom and Maya Sol sat in the control chairs of their respective ships and stared at one another over their view screens. If you looked closely tears could be seen welling up in their eyes. Maya Sol's lip trembled. Tom Sol let out a long low sigh. There was a pause and both of them seemed to stop breathing for almost a minute, and then… Tom blinked.
"Aha I beat you," said Maya, now laughing and blinking the moisture back into her own eyes. "You never could compete with me when it came to staring contests, Tom Tom."
"Agh it's just these new contacts I've been wearing," he said. "They don't breathe like the old ones did."
"Oh just admit it," said Maya. "Little league, violin, ship captaining, whatever the contest was I've always been better than you."
"Sure mèimei," he said diplomatically. "Though it couldn't have hurt that you always had an older brother to teach you how to do those things."
Outside, a Wraith Cruiser tumbled out of hyperspace almost on top of them, and alarms on both vessels began to sound. The cruiser appeared to have suffered damage, but that didn't stop it from opening fire.
The Sol siblings reacted quickly and lifted off the desolate moon before the first shots could reach them. Then they flanked the outclassed cruiser and sliced it into thirds with the plasma beams that had been gifted to humanity by the Asgard. This maneuver, while utterly destroying the cruiser, had the less desirable effect of alerting the entire hovering Wraith fleet to their presence.
All around them ships, some of them still looking slightly battle scarred while others looked practically new, trained their weapons on the Sols and their crews and prepared to annihilate them.
~~00~~
Alarms also began to sound on the planet as the Wraith were made aware of the battle that had broken out over their heads. From his post inside the east hangar Ronon peered out to see them drawing weapons and scrambling to man gun emplacements. Columns of Wraith warriors were also marching towards the north and south hangars, and it occurred to Ronon that now would be an excellent time for a distraction.
He drew his particle magnum and lined up a parked dart in the sights. He aimed for a spot he had discovered via a happy accident on a reconnaissance mission to M6H-491. Two shots was enough to dig through the thick organic shielding and ignite its fission core. The explosion echoed around the complex and when Ronon next poked his head outside the hangar the columns of drones had turned around and were closing on his position.
Sword in one hand and gun raised in the other, he waited for them to arrive.
~~00~~
After hurriedly crossing the expanse of open ground between the east and north hangar complexes, Teyla and Daniel, but mostly Daniel, hid behind a row of metal drums and caught their breath.
"So how do we get in?" Daniel asked.
Teyla peered out from around the barrels and saw a door jutting out from the hangar about twenty meters in front of them.
"We need a distraction," she said.
Behind them a Wraith dart exploded, and suddenly every drone was making for it with weapons drawn. A few of them practically bounded over the barrels they were hiding behind to get there, and when Teyla next looked up the entrance had been vacated.
"Now say 'we need a dozen ZPMs," said Daniel.
"Come on," said Teyla and pulled him forward.
Inside, the hangar was mostly open space, but along the side they had entered from the first fifty feet were taken up by laboratories filled with enormous bubbling cylinders. Inside each one was a blob of metallic purple goo. Mechanical components appeared to have been crudely pressed into them and the goo had grown in around them. Teyla guessed that these would become new Wraith ships with new capabilities, and new horrors for those who encountered them.
She pulled out her life-signs detector and scanned the area. Three life signs. She signalled for Daniel to get down and crept over to a thin dividing wall of a kind she had seen many times before in the conference room on Atlantis. As she approached its panels turned to reveal the room beyond and in one corner a small creature sat trapped behind a web of living purple goo.
She leveled her P-90 at it, but Daniel put a hand up and brought it back down.
"It looks like it's been held prisoner here," said Daniel. "Also we sort of owe their species an impossible debt the likes of which we can never hope to repay."
The Vanir in the cage looked up at them. As Vanir go it looked… thin, even starved.
"Please," it said. "There are others. Two maybe even three being held in the facility across from this one."
It tried to stand using the organic mesh for support, but its legs gave out underneath it. They looked broken.
Daniel took something from his pocket. It was a lightsaber… if lightsabers could be three inches long. The room started to smell like burning flesh as he cut through the cage and brought the Vanir out in his arms.
"You'll want… hugh… the generator," it breathed. "That way."
The three of them took off in the direction indicated by the trembling finger, but not before Teyla reached for her belt. Radio silence be damned.
"Vala, Larrin, come in. Be advised there are at least two Vanir being held captive in your vicinity. If you see can find them, they will need your help to evacuate when the shield goes down. They are not a threat," she said.
~~00~~
The hangar complex that housed the shield generator to the south was larger than the one to the north and Vala and Larrin had decided to split up and look for a way in. The plan was to circle around from either side and meet in the center. Larrin had happened upon a door with only one guard and downed him with a blast from her particle magnum.
Shortly after slipping inside she heard her radio crackle and Teyla's voice came through, masked by heavy static.
"Advised…..shhhhhh… Vanir… shhhhhh… your vicinity… They are… shhhhhh... threat…. shhhhh…" it said.
Larrin shut it off to stop it making noise, and in any case she didn't need to be told that the Vanir were a threat.
~~00~~
The Sols had earned their posts by turning flanking an enemy vessel into an art form. On Earth they had discovered this calling whilst piloting F-302s over the arctic, and anyone watching the Thor and the Vanity now might have believed they were controlled by one mind as they dodged in and out of sight amongst the wreckage they created at every turn. A cruiser would get a weapons lock on the Thor only to have it disappear behind the corpse of a hive and suddenly the Vanity would be bearing down on it from above. Angry darts with speed and maneuverability on their side would pursue the Vanity around a corner in the debris field to be met by a storm of rail gun fire from the Thor.
Slowly but surely the Wraith fleet dwindled until there were only a few cruisers and a heavily damaged hive remaining. These fled into hyperspace and for a time there was calm. Aboard the Thor Maya Sol was enjoying the feeling of coming out on top in her first dogfight as a Colonel, when a swarm of darts left behind by the hive decloaked from below and went to ramming speed with their guns blazing.
The ship rocked as hundreds of shots struck the shield and then stopped as the more heavily armored Vanity dove between the Thor and the closing darts.
Maya turned and screamed something terrible and incomprehensible to Major Shen as the Vanity was destroyed in the maelstrom.
~~00~~
Ronon was a runner. A man the Wraith had abducted and implanted with a tracking beacon so they could hunt him for sport. The beacon was gone now, but he was still a runner. One of the best even, and the thing that made him so good was that sometimes he didn't run at all and other times he ran at you.
Still, no matter how many times one Wraith drone sees another burned through the middle or hacked to bits it will still attack with the same murderous intensity. As the floor filled up with blood and bodies, Ronon was starting to tire. The Wraith hair handle of his particle magnum was soaked with sweat, and any moment now his second power cell would run out.
He brought his sword down hard on the last Wraith to make it through the open door of the hangar then pulled it out and wiped the blood and brains off on his pants. Outside a fresh column was approaching with their long organic rifles drawn.
In his hand the particle magnum murmured and died. He holstered it and bent down to go to work with his sword. A few seconds later he had six of the self-destruct devices the drones wore across their chests in the palm of his hand. Ronon slammed his fist down on one and let it fly into the advancing column of Wraith.
~~00~~
When the door opened, Larrin didn't hesitate. The Vanir had destroyed the first Traveler settlement she had ever known and killed thousands of people. She didn't see their chains. They had murdered Kelana and her new baby. She didn't see the wounds on their backs. They had been responsible for the death of her lieutenants Palto and Lerig. She didn't see their broken legs. What she saw was an enemy that had inflicted more suffering on her people in an instant than the Wraith had managed in her lifetime. She killed them both, and still she never really saw them.
~~00~~
Vala reached her target a few seconds before Teyla and Daniel reached theirs. The shield generators were powered by two ZPM's each and without them the shield crumbled to nothing.
~~00~~
Tom Sol was mourning the loss of his ship loudly, and Maya Sol was rubbing her temples in frustration as the entire crew of a Daedalus-class ship that no longer existed crowded into every nook and cranny of the Thor. How fast could they make it back to Atlantis, she wondered.
Then the call for evac came up from the planet and the Thor suddenly got a lot more crowded as the entire away team plus one Vanir were beamed onto the bridge. Maya Sol watched in awe as a plume of fire visible from space exploded far below. She had never nuked anything before, but it felt like an achievement. There would be nothing left of the complex. Later, when her brother was less distraught, she might even work in some bragging.
For the moment however, she still had a job to do. Larrin had taken one look at the Vanir, the only one to escape the inferno below, and drawn her weapon. Ronon had stepped between them and Teyla was doing her best to hold her back, but the Traveler was practically foaming with rage.
"They are murderers," she screamed.
"They were defenseless," said Teyla.
"We were defenseless."
Larrin broke free and charged but Maya was behind her and dropped the back of the enraged woman's knee to the floor with a boot then wrenched her arm behind her back and tore the gun from her hands. The Thor was silent.
In a daze, Maya Sol stood up and stared around at her crew who stared back at her in frightened amazement. Larrin began to sob.
~~00~~
There were no goodbyes when the Thor returned Larrin Shivon to Ankar. She had refused to so much as look at Daniel while he tried to explain why he couldn't execute the unconscious Vanir for its crimes. She heard only weakness and cowardice in his voice.
On the planet she met quietly with the few Traveler Captains who weren't currently off world, and sent messages to all the ones out on patrol who she thought would support her. Then she boarded a shuttle and paid a visit to the orbiting battleship.
Her eyes were filled with fire as she walked into the council chamber flanked by Captains Linik Trel and Mika Sen. Between them they laid four Zero Point Modules down in front of Councilman Vega.
He held them up to the light as if he wasn't sure what they were and then he smiled.
"So our treaty with the Lanteans has borne fruit after all," he said.
"Our treaty with the Lanteans is finished," said Larrin.
"What... Why?" asked Councilwoman Nivern baffled.
"Because they've chosen to conspire with our enemies," she replied. "From this moment on any dealings with the Lanteans will be considered treason."
Councilman Vega balked at her.
"And who are you to make such a decision?" he demanded. "The Council is the supreme governing body of the entire-"
Larrin slapped him.
"The Council rules by consent of the captains," she said. "And the captains have consented to a change in leadership."
Written by Andrew Marron
Story by Caleb Palmquist and Andrew Marron