Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.
I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.
For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: .com/albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/
Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. .net/topic/84023/35075481/1/
Review Responses
AlexanderD: I'm glad you enjoy it, i know that you have a better grasp of all these aspects than i do so i greatly appreciate your praise. Enjoy your character.
Shadow of Realm: I'm calling it an energy discharge wave caused by the naquadah in the bomb. And who indeed.
DaletheChu: What can i say i love cliffhangers, they are brilliant ways of keeping a reader hooked. But i will always try to resolve the previous cliffhanger before giving you a different one.
Andriabow: Glad you liked it, and yeah it sucks the twins get away. But its a hallmark of a good villian to always have a plan to get the heck out of dodge.
Kineticwing: Thank you, i'm glad you were able to see it so well. One of the problems of going from a tv based show is to make sure you are adding just enough detail.
Jedi Carpet: I know what you mean, that last chapter turned out much longer than i thought it would when i started writing it.
StargateFFWriter: The Averians are a relatively young, ambitious and complicated race who believe it is their duty laid down to them by the Lanteans to rid the galaxy of the race.
shroud: Glad i could clear up your misunderstanding.
"What do you mean Averia is under attack?" asked Sheppard sceptically. "Who is there to even attack you?"
"The report only stated that the enemy is unknown to us," replied Sovaer.
"Oh brilliant another one of those," Sheppard muttered. "I take it things aren't going to well if your fleet is bugging out at this speed."
By now the Averian fleet had collected all of their fighters and had fled into hyperspace, including the damaged ships so presumably they would undergo hasty repairs on the way. In a way they had been lucky, after the first four ships had been destroyed the others had started to fall back when they lost shields and try to repair them before engaging the enemy again. Using this attack and retreat method only seven ships had been lost, while another five had taken mild to heavy damage which presumably meant they were only going to acting as carriers. In the case of ships that had lost shields, and there had been quite a few towards the end of the fight, would be a relatively easy to repair.
"It was a warning signal. It just means there are hostile forces in Averian space," said Sovaer. "At this point we don't know whether or not there even is still a battle going on."
"Why do I sense a but coming up?"
"But if the signal is still transmitting it probably means there is, or the enemy is regrouping," Sovaer grudgingly admitted.
"Admiral Durra seems to think so if he is willing to leave you with us," Sheppard pointed out. "So what are we supposed to do now, drop you at the Vanir homeworld?"
"That's certainly one option," said Sovaer.
When he didn't say anything for a while Sheppard studied his expression. Clearly Sovaer wanted to say more but couldn't, which meant only one thing.
"You want us to go help," Sheppard stated.
Sovaer nodded.
"So why not just ask us? We are willing to help our allies."
Sovaer grimaced, "Because it against our highest laws to reveal the location of our homeworld without authorisation. To do so could mean the death of us all."
"Crap," said Sheppard. "I take it the punishment for doing so isn't light."
Sovaer simply shook his head, his face grim.
"I think I might have a solution," said McKay, who had been manning a terminal throughout the conversation.
"What?" asked Sovaer and Sheppard.
"We can track the fleet," said McKay. "All we have to do is follow them and they should lead us right to Averia, assuming that's where they're going. But we better leave soon or we're going to lose them."
"This ship can track others through hyperspace?" asked Sovaer, surprised at the advanced nature of their technology.
"You better believe it," said Sheppard. "Com, inform Echidna we'll be taking Todd with us, he's better off staying in our infirmary and wish her good hunting. Helm set a course to follow that fleet."
"Aye sir."
When Sovaer still looked uncomfortable Sheppard added. "If it makes you feel any better we're doing this because we want to, not because you'd like us to."
"Echidna is acknowledging," said the com officer.
"Helm, take us into hyperspace."
A hyperspace window tore open and the Weir dived into it, chasing after the Averian fleet.
In the ships infirmary Todd was resting on a bed, hooked up to an IV line. During his time in captivity he had been denied the type of food to which he had become accustomed to and he was dangerously dehydrated. Luckily though he was a Wraith, his physiology meant that he was capable of surviving for a fair amount of time without food. The regular beatings and torture sessions had taxed him however, as his ability to heal and recover depended on having suitable stores of energy in his body. Ironically the thing that had kept him alive was having his life force stolen and then replenished, the restoration of his body having dampened the effects of hunger and shored up his energy reserves. Now though he was taking the chance to replenish those same energy reserves and was feasting on the delights being brought to him from the galley, Doctor Keller insisting he stay in the infirmary until he was stabilised.
As he devoured dish after high calorie dish he was also taking the time to chat telepathically with his mother. She had started the conversation when Sheppard had requested taking him with them, and had only consented once he had assured her that the humans were currently taking care of him and he would be fine. The Arima's telepathic signal boosters made it possible for them to establish a connection even while Todd was travelling further and further away.
"How is your meal, my son?" asked Echidna.
"Very much enjoyable. It's nice to have a good meal after so long," Todd replied
"You really shouldn't have allowed yourself to be captured for my sake," said Echidna crossly.
"That isn't what I meant when I said so long mother."
"Then what did you mean?" asked Echidna, puzzled.
"I meant that I was growing sick of those rations that we've been eating," Todd replied with a chuckle.
"Hmm, is that so," Echidna grumbled.
"Indeed."
"So it wasn't a slight at my attempts to cook a meal for us?" she asked accusingly, remembering how disastrously that attempt had gone. The human chefs in the galley had tried very hard to be diplomatic and not laugh at the results, they hadn't succeeded.
"Absolutely not," said Todd, innocently.
"Well things have progressed rather well in your absence. We're expecting the first crops to be ready soon so we should eventually have a regular supply of food."
"What about meat?" asked Todd, while biting into a piece of steak.
"Many of the worlds with established outposts have many native animals, if we limiting out hunting we can make sure they last."
"What of that world the humans suggested for hunting?" recalling the dinosaur world that he had once briefly visited, very briefly as he recalled.
"I'm only sending large numbers there, the creatures are very dangerous. I'm recommending only using darts to capture the smaller creatures."
"The larger ones would be better, they will provide us with much greater amounts and a higher quality."
"I know, and some of them actually want to try hunting the things. I'm allowing it but only large numbers armed with stun cannons, and a cruiser to support them."
"Sounds like a good idea. It sounds like they are getting restless."
"They are. Looking for you gave them something to do but I'm worried if this is the result of their restlessness," said Echidna, her tone matching her words.
Todd snorted. "You really underestimate your children mother. I heard them you know, they came here to make sure you made it out alive."
"I did order them not to," Echidna replied crossly.
"An order they were never going to follow. They would never forgive me if you died because of me."
"My aim was to save you. Stopping your sisters was a bonus."
"And my aim was to save you. Making it out alive was a bonus," Todd retorted. "They feel a sense of duty and so do I. We will always do what is necessary to preserve the existence of our Matriarch, and you are the only one we have or want."
"Well I intend to finish this now," Echidna replied firmly.
"Tell them goodbye from me."
Unknown area of empty space
Three hive ships were resting in space, their hulls saturated in radiation from travelling in hyperspace for an extended period. One of the hives was different from the other two, as its central area was a section of the ship rather than being a gap in the ship. These ships represented the only survivors of the twin queen's once proud and mighty fleet of ships and they were running for their lives. The ships had only just recently dropped out of hyperspace, their hulls having been weakened from the battle they had just participated in which meant they could not tolerate a very high radiation build up. But even the relatively short hyperspace journey had meant that they were quite a good distance away from the system they had just come and should be relatively safe. For the mean time they would take the chance to have their hulls regenerate and heal the wounds from battle. The enemy, after all, shouldn't have been able to track them whilst they travelled through hyperspace right? Wrong as it turned out, so very wrong indeed.
Behind them a very large hyperspace window tore open and out dropped the Arima, the mighty Wraith flagship being towed in a tractor beam by the Asgard warship O'Neill.
The reaction from the twins was immediate, shock, horror and absolute terror. One question arose from the frantic panic of the hive mind, how? How had they been found?
"Because you underestimate your enemy my daughters," said Echidna, answering their question. "You underestimate their resolve, their determination and you were foolish enough to believe that it was only humans who wished to see your end. Did you really think we would just let you two go if we had no way to find you?"
"The warship?" was the only reply as realization sunk in.
"It belongs to a race called the Asgard. They are a great and noble people and quite possibly the worst people for you to have angered."
"Indeed," said the voice of Supreme Commander Thor, courtesy of Typhoeus converting the subspace transmission into a telepathic one and vice versa.
To prove the point the main plasma cannon on the O'Neill briefly fired twice, slicing the two regular hive ships in half with barely any effort. The resulting explosions scorching the sides of the twins own ships, and causing serious damage to the already weakened ship. The worse thing though was that the beaming jammers aboard the hive were temporarily disabled until the additional power generators unique to the ship started providing them with power. This fact was very quickly noticed by the Asgard.
"For your actions," continued Thor. "You would receive death at our hands. However the decision resides with your mother who wishes you to live."
The twins breathed a momentary sigh of relief until Echidna added, "For now."
The twins desperately started turning to broadside the Arima, knowing that they would be unable to destroy the Asgard ship but against their mother they had a small chance. In response the Arima fired at the enemies engines. A few short bursts of pure energy struck the side of the ship tearing through the weakened bio armour and silencing the engines. Meanwhile the Asgard warship moved above the enemy ship and surgically cut out the section containing the additional power generators using plasma beams.
With the ships beaming jammers completely disabled the Asgard promptly started beaming out everyone onboard and the twins were beamed to separate holding cells on the Arima. Over the next hour the enemy ship was boarded and the contents plundered. The databanks were emptied and the samples of various growth enzymes that the twins had developed taken. The research that would have been used for evil would serve to strengthen the new Wraith Empire. Once everything of value had been taken from the ship the Arima finished the job it had started and mercilessly destroyed the twin's flagship. With their task complete the ships headed back to the system they had just left to collect the sentinels that were beginning clean up operations.
The fate of the twins may have been unknown to them but Echidna had already decided once she had seen the creations they had designed. An unfortunate fact about Wraith technology was that it required the sacrifice of a living creature to construct a hive ship or a building. The twins had tried to address this issue by building a cloning facility to create blank drones without a consciousness. One of the twins would become such a building, while the other would become the new hub for ship construction, the very same type of building that Todd had been rescued from. It would be their punishment to aid the new Wraith Empire so that no innocent life had to be needlessly sacrificed just for another ship or another building.
Admiral Durra's Flagship – Bridge
On board the Averian ship Admiral Durra was attempting to gain contact with his homeworld, unfortunately he wasn't having much luck. It seemed that enemy jamming attempts, while not being entirely successful, had limited the transmitting range of the Averian homeworld. They knew this because they were still receiving the alert beacon but it had been weakened more than it should be at this range.
"Any luck," he asked, again.
"No sir."
Durra swore under his breath. "Keep trying."
"Unbelievable, the one place I want to talk to and I can't," he muttered. "Of course if I wanted to contact Hope then I would have no problem…"
He snapped his fingers as an idea hit him.
"Cancel that last order," he ordered. "Contact Hope station and get me Admiral Xander."
"Contact established sir."
On the bridge main screen appeared the image of man wearing a similar uniform to Durra. The man was middle aged with dark hair, steely eyes and a warm smile.
"Ah hello Bovin," said Xander. "I figured you'd be calling sometime soon. How did the attack go?"
"Rather well all things considered," Durra replied calmly, mirroring the other Admirals tone. "We lost seven ships but no amazingly no fighter losses. We have a few injured on other ships but it could have been a lot worse. I'm guessing things aren't as bad as I think at home?"
"It's rather strange actually," replied Xander with a puzzled expression. "Reports are telling us that a fleet appears to be massing on the system edge. We've detected numerous hyperspace windows opening but we can't get a fix on their numbers. The first lot arrived and performed a scan of the system before retreating inside the Brier's nebula. We've seen a few ships pop their heads out occasionally but all the others are arriving in the nebula."
The Brier's nebula was actually rather famous. A long time ago a scout ship captain named Brier's had made an attempt of mapping the inside of the nebula. It was already known that the nebula blocked most sensors and made it impossible to detect anything inside, the only thing that could detect was when a hyperspace window opened and there was a brief shift in the nebula when the particles were sucked away. Even then it had still taken them a long time to realise that and they wouldn't have done if Brier's ship hadn't gotten lost in the nebula. The ship had been somewhere towards near the middle of the nebula when her navigational systems failed, now normally they would just switch to manual control and head in one direction but gravitational anomalies in the nebula threw them off course without their knowing it. The scout was only equipped for a short burst hyperspace journey, this being the early days of the Averian's attempts in interstellar travel and was not powerful enough to get them out of the rather large nebula. After realising that his crew would eventually run out of supplies or go stir crazy it was decided to give it a shot. Outside the nebula the Averian's had been attempting to find their missing ship by concentrating their scans, it was by sheer luck that they recognized a hyperspace window opening and realised they had found the area of the scout ship. Another ship sent in, with shields on full just in case, and it was only a matter of time before the scout ship was shown the way home.
"They also seem to be blocking our communications," said Durra. "I can contact you but can't through to Averia."
Xander frowned. "They must be dampening the transmissions."
"I figured as much, any activity on your front?"
"None so far but quite frankly I'll be surprised if they attack the planet in the first place, with such a small fleet. Averia's defences should hold back the ship numbers we believe they have."
He wasn't wrong. The planet was protected by a powerful web of defensive weapons, both ground and orbital based. Then there was the planetary defence shield courtesy of a massive number of generators and orbital shield emitters. The shield used the energy wall shield variant that was also found on Atlantis. The basic principle was that a solid wall of energy of certain strength was generated but the drawback was that it required a lot of power and could only stop so much energy before it was overwhelmed and penetrated. The Tau'ri were actually theorising that a similar design had been utilised on Ori motherships, hence the reason that APB's had literally gone right through them because of the concentrated burst of constant energy.
"I agree it does seem strange."
"Well to be on the safe side two assault groups were sent to reinforce the forces there."
"I'm on my way there now, how long until they arrive?"
"They should be there in an…"
Xander never got to finish before the transmission suddenly degraded before cutting out.
"What happened?" shouted Durra.
"The transmission was severed at the source sir. Judging by the sudden drop in signal strength it's possible it was jammed."
"Damn it, it was a trap," Durra muttered angry. "Divert our course to Hope station and prepare for battle."
"Aye sir."
Weir – Bridge
"Sir the Averian fleet has altered heading."
"Match them," Sheppard ordered.
"Aye sir, adjusting heading."
Sovaer looked puzzled by the sudden course change. "Is the distress signal still broadcasting?"
"Confirmed, signal is still broadcasting," said the com officer.
"Can you display the original course?" asked Sovaer.
The HUD brought up a star map with a red line running along it, the red line being the vector heading of the Averian fleet.
"Now overlay the new course heading?"
The new line appeared in blue on the map, it was similar to the old course but deviated slightly.
Sovaer grimaced when he glanced at one area of the map where the blue line crossed a small star system.
"Oh no."
"What is it?" asked Sheppard.
"It's a trap. They're heading to a space station instead of our home system."
"What's so special about this space station?" asked McKay.
"It's a fall back point in case Averia is lost. It's also our only major base off world, if we lose that then we are effectively crippled," replied Sovaer.
"Why are you telling us all this?" asked McKay. "If it's so important wouldn't you want to keep it secret?"
"If that base is under attack then we will need all the help we can get to keep it intact. Whoever is attacking has to be a major threat," he explained.
"Then we better make sure you don't lose it," said Sheppard. "Open a channel to the Averian flagship."
"Aye sir."
The star map was replaced by the image of Admiral Durra.
"Colonel Sheppard," said Durra. "I'm sorry for our hasty departure but we have urgent matters to attend to."
"I know," said Sheppard. "You're under attack."
Durra's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"
"They detected the signal and I decrypted it," Sovaer answered.
"You know our laws Sovaer," Durra replied angrily.
"He didn't break any of your laws," said Sheppard. "We're following you."
"How?" asked Durra.
"We have the technology," said McKay.
"Then do you know where we are going?" asked Durra.
Sheppard shrugged. "Some important base of yours, presumably it was the real target and the attack on your homeworld was a diversion."
Durra stared pointedly at Sovaer. "Then you know why I can't let you know the location."
"If that base can be destroyed how long before Averia falls?" asked Sovaer angrily. "You know as well as I do that we designed Hope as our fall back in case something happens to Averia, not the other way around. We need their help."
Durra's stern gaze flickered slightly. "On behalf of the Averian people I am officially ratifying the mutual defence clause of the treaty between our two worlds, any objections?"
"None," replied Sheppard.
"Then I am officially requesting that you follow my fleet to Hope station to assist in its defence."
"I'm acknowledging your request and will follow your fleet."
"We should be there in fifteen minutes," said Durra. "I suggest you get ready."
"How did they find your station?" asked McKay. "This place is supposed to be a highly secure station so how did they find it?"
"I don't know," said Durra.
"Could they have tracked our ships?" asked Sovaer.
"It's possible," said Durra. "It hasn't stopped them from tracking my fleet."
"The technology we have is incredibly advanced and that was a gift from the Asgard," said McKay. "They must have tagged them somehow."
"But how?" asked Sovaer.
"I might have an idea," said ISIS, appearing out of thin air to the surprise of the Averian's.
"How did you do that?" asked Sovaer.
"I am a holographic projection of the ships AI," replied ISIS.
"How did they track the ships ISIS?" asked McKay.
"Several of the Averian fighter craft and ships used in the battle were marked with a radiation signature that my sensors can easily detect even at long range," explained ISIS.
"Can it be removed?" asked Durra.
"I have a countermeasure in my databanks that your ships should be able to implement," said ISIS.
"Send me the data and I'll get started on it," said Durra.
ISIS didn't reply and instead turned her head to look at Sheppard .
"Do it," he ordered.
"Aye commander."
"Be ready to transmit the same data to Hope station," Sheppard added.
"Aye commander," said ISIS. "Transmission complete."
"Thank you," said Durra. "We may need to come up with a contingency plan in case we are unable to defeat this enemy."
"Then lets get to it," said Sheppard.
"What information can you give us about the station?" asked McKay.
Hope station was one of the Averian's greatest achievements. The Hope system lacks green planets as we would call them. But there are several asteroid belts and planets which could be mined for resources, but there was nowhere to grow food without the construction of bio domes.
The station was basically a long cylinder with a wide rimmed upside down bowl like section at the top and placed on a thick disc, and numerous long spikes sticking out of the bottom. The central column was 9100 metres long with a diameter of 5600 metres, and held the 24 docking arms, and near each arm was a 400 by 700 metre hanger entrance in the central column. The arms themselves were arranged in three two by four groups, and were 350 metres tall, 300 metres wide and over 1500 metres long. They had entrances on the ends and both sides, with numerous docking umbilical's running along them. The upper bowl section was a lot larger than the central column. The disc was 9800 metres in diameter and 1400 metres high while the bowl was 2800 metres high. The longest of the spikes was 4900 metres long with the smallest being 3150 metres, all of which were uninhabited and were partially covered by a ring of solar radiation absorption panels which were 1050 metres wide. That brought the total size of the inhabited sections to be 13300 metres long and up to 9800 metres wide.
The station was designed as a ship berth primarily and held six per arm, four externally docked and two internally through the arm end entrances with the side entrances for fighters and smaller craft. The central column entrances would hold up to four ships, which came to a total capacity of 240 ships that were either transports or combat variants. Each of the arms also boasted two hangers designed to hold fighters and were capable of holding up to thirty, which gave the station a basic compliment of 1440 fighters.
Aside from ships and fighters the station also boasted formidable built in defences, with the starting point being a defence shield which was a thousand times more durable than anything found on the Averian's warships. Then there were the multiple layers of defensive weapons with overlapping fields of fire. The designer and commander of the station, Admiral Alec Xander, had proposed the following for the station defence screen.
"Layered defence is key, along with overlapping fields of fire. When looking at the fields of fire one must also take into account loss of weapons emplacements due to malfunction and enemy action. Let's divide the overall kill box into three zones; inner, intermediate, and outer. The outer zone can be covered by the outlaying pickets, which we can lay in a staggered formation three hundred and sixty degrees around the station. Let's assume each separate picket covers a ten degree slice of the compass from its position in relation to the station. That brings us to a total of 36 pickets forming the primary screen. These pickets will follow the same configuration as our warship combat sections and each picket would house thirty fighters which will give us 1080 fighters just for the outer defence and patrol groups.
"For the intermediate zone we have our beam weapons. Those should be mounted at the very top of the upper dome of hope station and at the very bottom. Let's say turrets on the top dome numbering ten, which each turret covering a thirty six degree field of fire. An eleventh turret can be mounted in the middle of the dome but this one should be allowed a three hundred and sixty degree field of movement. This will give you greater flexibility in targeting each zone. The ten turrets should allow for overlapping fields of coverage so I suggest each have a field of movement of forty degrees which should provide sufficient overlap.
"Moving on to the inner defence zone we have the heavier plasma weapons. In my mind we need four per arm of the station on the top, bottom, left and right of each arm. Further emplacements ringing the bottom lip of the upper dome, and also ringing the bottom third of the station body are advisable. I would recommend two ship type plasma cannons to cover each of the ten beam emitters that would be half the strength of the main arm cannons with double the firing rate, so that's twenty around the dome. If we go with the same type of lighter cannons then I would have twelve in a ring covering a thirty degree angle and six rings total. The rings with a ten degree change in position between each one to provide overlapping fields of fire.
"For ultra close in defence the mini drones come into place, these will be your defence of last resort. Call it sixteen twelve by six batteries total. Along the long portion of the body of the station mount the first four along the four points of the compass. Several hundred meters lower mount the next four but offset their position by twenty five degrees in relation to the first battery.
"That gives us a total of 36 defence pickets, 11 beam weapons, 96 heavy plasma cannons, 92 lighter plasma cannons, 16 missile batteries, 2520 fighters and a potential to hold 240 ships. Oh and a shield strength 1000 times that of one of our warships."
As powerful a station as this was it was now missing the majority of its defence fleet. Ninety of the ships present were transport types which possessed only the standard command section weapons and three hidden weapon nests as well as two thirds of the shield strength of the warships. The majority of these ships had been scattered around the system, picking up resources from automated mining stations and rechecking remote outposts. There were only fifty ships left in the system of the warship configuration, after the other one hundred had departed for Averia in case the amassing fleet decided to attempt an attack. Now though it became apparent that that build up of forces had been nothing more than a ruse to lure away the defences of the station, and when they found themselves without communications the penny dropped. The penny hit the deck plate when a large fleet of spear head shaped ships was registered as having exited hyperspace in system and launching large fighters.
They were lucky that they had raised shields in response to their communications being cut. Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to block the first volley of shots from the attacking ships. Yellow torpedoes of energy hurtled towards the stations shields, causing them to flare orange where the torpedoes struck. The weapon blasts were powerful, easily more powerful than the Averian's own plasma weapons, but the station shields held strong against the attack. The defence pickets facing the enemy however did not have as much luck, they were barely able to launch their fighters before they were overcome and destroyed.
Against a massive formation of four hundred warships, as well as the twelve fighters they each launched, the transport vessels retreated behind the stations shields for their own protection. The Averian warships were all docked for maintenance, the only active ships having been sent to Averia. The weapons on board the station were quite powerful but they were designed to cover all angles of attack. With the enemy only attacking from one angle almost two thirds of the stations weapons were out of arc. The remaining weapons however were destroying what ships they could but the energy torpedoes that the enemy were launching had an impressive range. The only weapons in range were the main plasma cannons and the beam weapons and while they could deliver powerful shots they could only target one ship at a time. The end result was a war of attrition that they would eventually lose.
Even deploying the stations massive number of fighters to combat the enemy fighters was only a stalling tactic and it was proving costly to both sides. The enemy fighters might have been less manoeuvrable but they were much bigger and so that much harder to destroy. They were more like small transports than fighter craft.
When the Averian fleet and the Weir exited hyperspace they immediately took stock of the situation. The stations shields were on the verge of collapsing under the sustained fire, a large number of the stations fighters had been destroyed and the few warships that were active were confined to firing plasma beams from their docks. At some point the defence pickets had been repositioned to combat the enemy fleet only to have been destroyed. By now over a hundred enemy ships had been destroyed along with a thousand of their fighter craft but it didn't seem to matter at this point.
"Admiral Durra," said Colonel Sheppard. "I think its time for that crazy plan of ours."
"I agree," replied Durra. "If we don't then we will be looking at a large number of civilian casualties. I'll relay the plan to Admiral Xander."
"Helm," ordered Sheppard. "Take us into position above the system and engage the tractor beam."
"Another crazy plan," said Rodney, while tapping at the console. "We don't usually have two in one day."
"Wells it has been a weird day," admitted Sheppard.
The Weir rose to the top of the station, gracefully moving inside the stations shield thanks to assistance from Hope's control team. Meanwhile the Averian fleet positioned themselves around the top of the station facing upwards like the Weir. Once they were in position and the tractor beam was locked in place Admiral Xander opened a channel.
"I just heard your plan," said Xander, looking slightly nervous at the prospect of what was to come. "I've removed all the tags from the docked ships. I really hope this works."
"We've seen this kind of thing done before so it should work," McKay assured him.
"All ships have been slaved to my control so we're ready when you are."
"Begin power up," ordered Sheppard.
"Confirmed," replied Xander.
The enemy fleet were surprised when the Averian fighters all retreated to the stations hangers, filling them well beyond their usual capacity. They also couldn't work out why the station had stopped firing at them but it made sense when the station shield strength got a boost in power as the capacitors were suddenly refilled. What they didn't notice was that the Averian fleet had all powered up their hyperdrive engines but hadn't opened a window yet. Instead they were channelling a huge amount of energy into the hyperdrive and then when enough energy was gathered a truly massive hyperspace window opened above the station. The window was large enough for the entire station to enter into it and that was the plan. With assistance from the stations thrusters the Weir pulled the station through the window with the Averian fleet in tow. With the enemy fleet still firing desperately into the stations shields the window snapped shut and they were gone.
Once again a big thank you to AlexanderD who wrote the majority of the Hope's defence layout.