Hello all!
Here is the second part of the siege of Atlantis.
This is where shit really hits the fan.
And so, here is the seventh chapter!
Chapter Seven: Under Attack.
Time: September 9, 2005. 1300 hours. Location: Lantea.
Currently Atlantis was in a state of emergency.
The Wraith were only a day away from them and they were rushing to be ready.
For days on end, the Replicators and scientists on-board Atlantis moved to get Atlantis's mighty shields ready to be raised.
Also yesterday, a group of men from the SGC were sent through the gate via the newly discovered ZPM they found in Egypt .
Also, Earth's newest warship, the USAF Daedalus was pushing her hyperdrives beyond the safety limits and should be here just in time to fight the Wraith, due to the ZPM powering the ship beyond her normal parameters.
The man in charge of the reinforcements sent by the SGC was Colonel Everett. Everett was a man that no one in the ADF liked. He had come in and had tried to take control of all of Atlantis's forces until Weir had put her foot down. This was ADF territory and they were not under the control of Earth any longer. As long as Atlantis is in this galaxy, everyone who is in this city are under the control of herself, Gloval and Sheppard whether they like it or not. If Everett and his men don't like that they can walk right through that gate and leave the city. If they intend on staying and fighting they would listen to Sheppard, herself and Gloval first and foremost.
Colonel Everett reluctantly agreed to follow Shepperd, he still blamed Sheppard for firing and killing Colonel Summer, who was a close and personal friend of Everett.
Right now, the ADF had taken the six nuclear mines Colonel Everett had brought with him and where placing them in the back compartments of a few of the Jumpers. The plan is to go and take those mines to one of the worlds the Wraith are going to visit before they hit Atlantis. The Jumpers will arrive at the planet before the Wraith due, cloak and then wait. Once the Wraith arrive, the Jumpers will wait until the hanger bay doors are opened and then fly in, place the mines in the hanger on a timer and then flew out as fast as they can, using their drones to blast their way out if necessary. Once far enough away, the mines will detonate and destroy six of the Hives, easing the odds a little bit. Once the Hives are destroyed, the jumpers are to use the confusion and flew to the gate as quickly as possible using a Macro McKay has designed that will override the Wraiths control and allow them to go back to Atlantis.
Sheppard was going to lead the raid and was currently checking over the controls to his jumper while the mine was carefully placed on-board the jumper and then fastened down. Since two people where needed per jumper for this mission, Ford was selected to be Sheppard's copilot for this mission. He was currently in the seat next to Sheppard, listening to McKay talk to him.
"Now, once you inside the Hive and ready for deployment, just simply click this button to turn off the magnet and then open the hatch and simply roll the mine off of the jumper once you punch in a minute for the timer. Understood?" McKay asked.
"I got it. Thanks." Ford said.
"Well, if you two have no questions, I am off. Good luck." McKay said as he walked out of the jumper.
Sheppard then radioed to the other jumpers and said, "This is Sheppard. Is everyone ready?"
"This is Jumper Two, ready." Replied Jumper Two.
"Jumper Three here. We are all set." Said Jumper Three.
"We are good to go here in Jumper Four." Stated Jumper Four.
"Jumper Five is good to go." Said Jumper Five.
"Jumper Six, all good to go." Said Jumper Six.
"Alright then. Jumper Squadron, move out." Sheppard said as he mentally ordered his Jumper to rise into the air.
Behind him, the other five Jumpers followed him as the Jumpers all moved towards the Gate Room.
Chuck then quickly dialed the gate to the planet they suspected the Wraith to visit.
Punching the clear buttons, the circular Alterran device quickly flashed as multiple symbols flashed and moved across the round surface until all seven of the chevrons where dialed in and then the wormhole was opened.
Once more, unstable vortex energy came rushing out of the gate until it stopped fifteen feet from the gate and then it reeled itself back into the Alterran device. Once there, the familiar sight of the water-like surface of the active gate was shown to all.
Jumper One with Sheppard and Ford quickly descended from the jumper bay and then floated only a foot of the ground.
After a second, the Jumper quickly moved forwards and entered into the gate, where it was quickly followed by the five other Puddle Jumpers.
After Jumper Six had flown into the gate, the wormhole closed itself and shut down.
"Let' us hope this plan works. If not, we aren't going to last until the Daedalus get's here." Gloval said solemnly as he smoked his lit tobacco pipe.
"Ain't that the truth. Well, lets get back to work. We have a city to prepare." Weir said as she walked away to get back to preparing for the Wraith's arrival.
Time: September 9, 2005. 1400 hours. Location: Unnamed planet.
Sheppard and Ford came flying out of the Gate at incredible velocity, followed quickly by the other five jumpers.
Once out of the gate, Sheppard quickly activated the Alterran cloaking device on-board his jumper, the other jumper pilots following his example moments later.
With seconds, the group of six jumpers were all quickly cloaked and now invisible to the naked eye plus to most sensors in the universe.
Once cloaked, the group of jumpers quickly exited the planets atmosphere and then began to wait for the Wraith to appear.
Sheppard reached over and brought out a pack carrying two turkey sandwiches.
"Want one?" Sheppard asked.
"Hell yeah." Ford said as he took one of the sandwiches and then the two began to eat in silence.
After waiting an hour, finally, the Wraith arrived.
From the bluish-white hyperspace windows came the 36 Cruisers first, their long, angular organic looking hulls looking very menacing as the ships moved themselves into position for what comes next. The nine Hives then came out of their own Hyperspace windows, their much larger bulk easily outclassing anything currently in service in the ADF. Even the mighty SDF-1 was outclassed when it comes to size by those massive monoliths of pain and suffering made manifest into hulls.
Sheppard then radioed the other Jumpers and said, "Alright team, this is what we have been waiting for. Everyone is to selected a Hive and then out signal to the other Jumpers which Hive they have selected, s to avoid us all choosing the same Hive. We have to make this quick and coordinated. Good luck."
The group of six Jumpers suddenly flared to life, the once still invisible hulls suddenly accelerating to great speeds as they moved towards their targets.
The pilots quickly selected their targets and sent that data to the other Jumpers, checking and making sure two or more jumpers were not going to the same Hive. Once it had been confirmed the Jumpers had all selected different Hives, the Jumpers quickly moved towards the Hive's hanger bays.
Once the six Jumpers were at their respective Hive's hanger bays, they simply waited until the doors opened and dispersed their assortment of Darts.
Once the doors where open, the Jumpers quickly flew into the hanger bays and moved off to an area where the bombs could be safely placed and not be found.
With Sheppard and Ford, once they were at their area Sheppard said, "Go, place the mine quickly."
Ford nodded and was quickly at the back, punching in the one minute time for the timer after he had unlocked the magnet keeping the mine from moving. Once the mine was unlatched, Ford carefully grabbed the mine and moved it to the very back of the Jumper, where the ramp opened due to a mental command from Sheppard. Once the back door was opened, Ford got off of the Jumper and landed onto the Hive. Once there, he laid the mine down and then clicked the start up activation button, causing the timer to start counting down.
Ford jumped back onto the jumper and closed the ramp as he yelled, "Go go go!"
Sheppard was already moving the jumper as fast as the engines would allow, quickly leaving the area as fast as he could.
Once the jumper was at the hanger bay doors, Sheppard uncloaked the jumper and fired several Alterran Drones at the doors, causing explosions as the drones punched a big hole for the jumper to go through.
Once outside the Hive, Sheppard reactivated the cloak and pushed as much power to the engines as he could, trying to get as much distance from the Hive as possible.
The other five jumpers followed his lead and were quickly speeding away from the Hives as fast as possible, all the while the Wraith Darts tried to find them.
The seconds seamed to pass so quickly as the jumpers fled from the doomed Wraith Hives as fast as they could.
Soon, the timers all hit zero.
Behind the Jumpers, the massive Hive's suddenly exploded as the enhanced nuclear missiles modified to be space mines erupted with their nuclear fury, tearing and destroying the Hives they detonated inside of with extreme prejudice.
The six Hive's sudden destruction causing massive shock-waves that rippled away from the initial point of detonation and struck the surviving Hives and then the Cruisers with incredible force, the blast wave causing several dozen minor explosions from the surviving Wraith vessels.
The sudden destruction of the Wraith vessels meant the Wraith were too confused to try and find the fleeing ADF members, who were now close enough to the gate to dial out.
They quickly dialed the gate and once the wormhole was activated, the jumpers flew in one by one and the wormhole vanished, leaving no trace that the ADF had been here besides the massive glowing balls of nuclear fury still glowing where the six Hive ships had once been.
Time: September 9, 2005. 1500 hours. Location: Lantea.
The six Jumpers had just landed in the jumper bays and currently the pilots and co-pilots were leaving their crafts as they made their way to the command center to deliver their report.
Sheppard was leading the way and quickly took the group to a transporter booth and whisked the group away to the main tower, where they quickly made their way up the stairs and onto the main control room.
Sheppard saw Weir and Gloval and swiftly made his way over to them.
"Happy to report that six Hives have been destroyed alongside countless Darts and dealing some damage to the other Wraith vessels. Mission was a total success. The Wraith will be feeling that one." Sheppard said to Weir and Gloval.
"Thank goodness. That will definitely help us in our fight against the Wraith. Shouldn't is also buy us some time to continue our repairs for Atlantis?" Gloval asked.
Rodney walked over and said, "Judging from our calculations, the Wraith should be thirty minutes later they would have originally. Hives and Cruisers can regenerate very quickly, so the damage done by the Hive's exploding will be repaired shortly. However, that is thirty minutes less they have to work with and thirty minutes less we have to fight for. That is very good news for us."
"Indeed. How much time until they reach us?" Gloval asked.
"Should they follow the same path and speed with the added 30 minutes on top of that, they shall be here at around 1500 hours tomorrow." Rodney said.
"Alright. Well, let's get back to it. We have a battle to get ready for." Sheppard said as he walked away to go try and prepare the men some more.
The others too left and went to work, time quickly running out as the Wraith's destined attack grew closer and closer.
Time: September 10, 2005. 1500 hours. Location: Lantea.
It was time. The Wraith would be arriving any time now.
The Platos were all launched and in a defensive line outside of Lantea's atmosphere, while every single Veritech currently in service was also now outside of the planet's atmosphere.
Rick was currently in his Veritech, Ben to his right and max to his left as Vermillion Squadron held position only two kilometers away from the Hades port side.
Roy was near the Archangel alongside the rest of Skull Squadron, however the Veritech's Skull Squadron and Vermillion Squadron were using were a lot different from the rest of the 250 Veritech's currently in defensive position.
These Veritech's were a lot bulkier, having a pair of massive engines strapped onto their backs while a large assortment of missiles were now on their missile hard points while a few even had some Reflex Torpedoes on them as well.
These are officially called Super Veritech's, because they use the brand new invention of the combined genius of Zor, Lang and McKay called the Super Pack.
The Super Pack was developed as a means to improve the existing Veritechs while Project Pendragon was currently unfinished. Featuring two massive engine boosters on the back of the Veritech about midway down the back of the mecha, there was also extra armor added onto the legs of the Veritech. Also, two pairs of Mauler Laser cannons were added onto each of the Super packs, adding further stopping power to the Veritechs. All in all, these Super Packs made it so the Veritech they were added onto had the firepower, toughness and all around combat efficiency of eleven regular Veritechs.
However, it was because they are so powerful that as it is, only 30 have been created so far. Only enough for all of Skull Squadron and Vermillion Squadron to have them mounted onto them. Vermillion and Skull Squadrons were chosen because they have the highest kill count of any of the other Squadrons, so giving them the packs makes sense because it allows their best pilots to continue fighting much longer then they are supposed to be capable of.
The job of Skull and Vermillion Squadron's is to get in close and then ram their torpedoes down the Wraith's throat and take down as many Darts as possible while the rest of the Veritech's back them up.
The Platos and the SDF-1 will take up defensive positions and hold the line against the Dart's and the Hive's for as long as they can. The SDF-1, since she has the longest reaching and strongest weapon with her Reflex Cannon, shall try and take down the Hive's first and leave the plethora of Cruisers to the Platos to handle.
To aid in the keeping the Dart's away, a number of Destroids had been placed onto the SDF-1 with magnetic clamps while a few others were also clamped onto the hulls of the Platos. Mostly is was Defender and Phalanx Destroids as they have the best anti-aircraft capabilities of the Destroids available to the ADF.
The remaining Phalanx, Defender, Spartan, Tomahawk and the few Monster Destroids were all spread throughout Atlantis's massive frame. They would be apart of the last line of defense before the Wraith hit Atlantis and they were determined to keep the Wraith from their beloved home.
Rick then heard on his radio, "This is SDF-1 control. SDF-1 is now launching, repeat, SDF-1 is now launching."
Down on Lantea, the SDF-1 Macross was released from the clamps that kept her docked to Atlantis. Once released, the mighty ship moved about five hundred feet away from Atlantis and then activated her anti-gravity drives.
These upgraded drives were activated at their full power, raising the mighty vessel from the ocean waters she has called her home for over a year. Her improved frame rose faster and faster until they were about 3,000 feet into the air, where the angled the bow upwards and then ignited her sublight engines. The bright baby blue sublight engines flared to life, sending the massive fighting fortress of armor further and further into the atmosphere, while a light green energy shield enveloped the ship, protecting everyone on those on-board the warship from the friction of outer-space.
Rick looked behind him and saw only the familiar sight of Lantea before he then saw a small object coming from Lantea.
Closer and closer the object came until the massive frame of the SDF-1 Macross was visible, her large white and blue hall shining in the light of Lantea's sun. The Daedalus and Prometheus were now permanently attached to the Macross, their massive hulls adding a new sense of power to the warship as it just illustrated how massive her frame really was compared to those two aircraft carriers.
Gloval's voice then came across the radio saying, "This is Captain Gloval speaking. I know you are scared. I am too. We face a force greater then any we have come across this past year. The Wraith are coming towards us with no less then 39 warships and thousands of Darts. They have come here with the intention of wiping us out. They will not attempt to talk to us, negotiate with us or reason with us. They have come here to kill us and then go to Earth and do with Earth's population as they will. They will kill millions of innocent people in the most horrible and terrible way I know off. The thought of what is coming towards us terrifies me. However, I find strength and bravery in the fact that even with the odds stacked against us, we have decided to stand against the oncoming storm with grim determination. We are soldiers with a duty to preform and I know for a fact, each and every single one of you shall do whatever it takes to keep the Wraith from our home. The Wraith shall never take Atlantis, no matter what, I promise you that. For, we stand together and together, we shall burn the Wraith from the stars. As one."
"Even should the Wraith win the day and we are forced to destroy Atlantis, we shall not surrender, we shall not back down. We shall fight and die to keep the Wraith from Atlantis for as long as possible. When the Wraith think of this day years, decades, even centuries from now, they shall tremble in fear of our rage! Our power! They shall remember how we stood our ground and forced them to fight and die for every single foot of space they take trying to get to Atlantis! They shall always remember the day they fought the Atlantis Defense Forces!" Gloval shouted over his communication channel that every single member of the ADF heard, whether they be in space, on Atlantis, or listening in using the subspace communicators on the Alpha Bases or the single Beta Base.
All the members of the ADF cheered on and screamed out their agreement with Gloval. They know that no matter what, even should they die this day, they shall forever burn themselves into the hearts of the Wraith so that no matter how much time passes by, the Wraith shall fear the name of the ADF.
Vanessa heard a beeping from her console. Looking it over she said, "Captain, enemy Hyperspace windows opening about 500,000 miles away from the fleet."
"Show me." Gloval said, to which Vanessa nodded and quickly displayed the information to Gloval.
Sure enough, 39 enemy hyperspace windows were opening up 500,000 miles in front of the bow of the Macross. Out of the hyperspace windows came the enemy warships, 36 Cruisers and 3 Hives. The enemy warships then began to slowly approach the planet.
"Alright, let's give them a warm welcome. Claudia, Lisa, prepare to fire the main gun. Aim for the Hive ship's first and then start taking out the other warships." Gloval said to the two officers.
"Yes sir." The two said as they began their task of preparing for the main gun to fire.
Lisa ordered all friendly fighters out of the way for the main gun to fire while Vanessa began feeding targeting data to the main computer, showing where the main gun would fire.
The bow of the mighty warship opened up, the large booms at the front of the warship split opened up in a large H shape.
Suddenly, massive amounts of raw uncontrollable energy began to coalesce down the booms of the warship, giant arcs of orange-white energy flowing and crackling as the main guns power grew greater and greater.
Finally, the energy grew to maximum capacity and the main gun unleashed all of massive amount of energy she had amassed in one large energy blast.
A single massive orange-white lance of energy that glower fiercer and hotter then the surface of the sun suddenly roared forth from the bow of the warship, streaking across the expanse of space in seconds as it closed in on one of the Hives.
The massive beam of highly condensed Protoculture infused particles struck the unlucky Hive like the fist of an angry god, ripping and tearing through the thick organic hull of the Hive within milliseconds and then blasting all the way through and out of the Hive just as fast.
The Hive was obliterated, the beam carving and destroying over 93% of the Hive within seconds and what little remained exploded moments after. However, the Hive wasn't the only victim of the main guns destructive rampage. The Cruisers that had been around the Hive had been caught in the extreme energy wave of the beam, tearing and melting through the hulls of the Hives with little effort and thusly, two other Cruisers joined the Hive in death.
Moments into the battle and the ADF had taken down three Wraith warships with a single attack from their mightiest warship.
The members of the ADF that had been apart of Atlantis Expedition were stunned silent. They had heard of the awesome power of the main gun of the Macross, but hearing about something never prepares you for the moment you actually see it happen right in front of you.
Quickly, the ADF pilots got over their shock and then Gloval said, "Alright, have our pilots launch their torpedoes the same time we do ours. Move us up into range and prepare for a massive barrage of torpedoes. Let's try to end this with one move."
Lisa nodded and relayed Gloval's orders to the fleet. Quickly, the large baby blue glowing sublight engines of the Macross and the rest of the ADF fleet roared to life, pushing the large frames of the ADF vessels forwards.
Going at maximum acceleration, the vessels reached maximum distance they could launch their torpedoes and as one, the eight Plato Class Frigates, the single Super Dimensional Fortress and the myriad of Veritech's all launched their torpedoes. A massive swarm of torpedoes flew off towards the awaiting enemy fleet.
However, the Wraith did something completely unexpected.
Six of Cruisers angled themselves so that the underside of their hulls was facing the oncoming torpedoes and then moved into the path of the torpedoes.
When the torpedoes struck the Cruisers, the detonated and exploded, tearing apart the Cruisers, but when the Cruisers exploded the other torpedoes were also detonated, causing a massive wall of giant glowing orbs of light that was the remains of the Cruisers.
When the orbs disappeared, all that remained of those torpedoes and those Cruisers were a few pieces of debris no larger then a golf ball.
On-board the bridge of the SDF-1, everyone was shocked at the Wraiths actions, never had the torpedoes been so ineffective before.
"Vanessa, damage to enemy fleet?" Gloval asked.
"As of right now, we have destroyed eight Cruisers and a single Hive, but it appears that the Wraith had six of the Cruisers angled themselves so that all the torpedoes would strike the underside of the vessels, thus saving the other Wraith ships from any damage." Vanessa replied.
"Dammit. Do we have anymore torpedoes?" Gloval asked, hoping and praying.
"No sir. Torpedoes are hard to make and the number we had remaining was just enough for that last volley. As of right now, we are all out of torpedoes." Vanessa replied.
Gloval let out a stream of Russian curses before he said, "Then we will just have to deal with them the hard way. All warships, charge and fire particle cannons and try to do as much damage as possible. Claudia, the moment the main gun is ready to fire, do so. Do not stop until every single Hive ship is destroyed."
"Understood sir. All of the Plato frigates are getting into position and are charging up their particle cannons. Our own particle cannons are charging and will soon be ready." Claudia reported.
Once their large 100 mm cannons were all charged, Gloval gave a simple order.
"Open Fire!" He bellowed, his right arm raised and pointing towards the enemy fleet.
Just as he ordered that, ever single ADF warship let loose their deadly lances of blue-white supercharged particles that crossed the distance from the ADF vessels to the Wraith vessels in seconds.
Meanwhile, the Wraith were very busy as they had completely emptied their hangers of Darts, which were taking a different route to Atlantis.
By going at a large angle, they would be adding a large amount of time to their flight, but it would increase the chances that a vast majority of their forces would reach the Ancient city, since they wouldn't have to go through the imposing wall of eight Plato frigates and a single Super-Dimensional Fortress, plus over two hundred and fifty Veritech fighters.
The swarm of Wraith Darts moved as one and flew away from their carriers which were now being blasted with numerous particle cannon blasts.
However, the Wraith returned fire, giant circular particle blasts that came out of the Wraith cannons like machine gun fire streaking across the void of space and striking the shields of the ADF vessels.
The ADF vessels stood strong, their lightish-green shields glowing as they absorbed the particle blasts with little difficulty. However, since the Wraith outnumbered the ADF ships, multiple Wraith warships were concentrating their firepower on one target, increasing the number of shots striking their enemy shields, and causing said shields to be whittled away.
Also, Cruisers are highly maneuverable warships and were capable of dodging some of the ADF attacks or at the very least, moving so the damage was minimized.
The reason the ADF won all those previous engagements was because of the element of surprise allowed them to do immense amount of damage before the Wraith had a chance to react, allowing them to push the Wraith into an unwinnable situation. Deprived of their torpedoes, surprise and their new Ancient Drones, the ADF were unable to level the playing field quickly like they have been previously capable of doing.
Even so, the ADF fought on, their blue lances of particles racing and meeting the Wraith hulls while Wraith ovular particle blasts raced forth and struck ADF shields.
Meanwhile, all 250 of the Veritechs had moved off and intercepted the Darts and currently the 25,000 Wraith Darts were in a massive dogfight with the ADF Veritechs.
Pound for pound, the Veritechs are more heavily armed, can fire from farther away with greater firing rate, better at turning, have great sensor jamming equipment in the form of their Shadow technology that prevents the Wraith from getting good solid targeting lock onto the ADF fighters and in the hands of a capable pilot, able to completely fly rings around Darts for their pilots have all the skills of trainees. However Darts are much faster and have much harder hitting weaponry.
In this massive dogfight, the Veritechs are capable of cutting down a large number of Darts with their missiles, gun pods and laser turrets. All of these factors along with the Shadow tech allow the Veritechs to fight without worry of the Darts hitting them due to Darts mainly using sensor equipment to target and so deprived of those sensors, they are reduced to using their eyes and due to the dogfight being in space, the Veritechs definitely have the advantage. One thing however, Darts don't have to worry about ammo count like Veritechs do.
Rick was currently chasing a Dart, the cross-hairs of his gun pod sight perfectly aligned with the back end of the Dart.
Compressing the trigger, several dozen 50 mm armor piercing rounds roared out of the gun pod and shredded the back end of the Dart like it was paper mache. The unlucky Dart died a second later in a giant fireball.
Rick flew his Veritech up and to the right and saw two other Darts near him, so he swung his massive fighter jet towards the Darts. He quickly got a missile tone in his ears and sent off two Stargazer micro missiles towards the Darts.
Both of the micro missiles struck true, hitting the Darts in their left side, causing the two alien fighters to explode into giant fireballs.
Turning his head, Rick swore as he saw a good 20,000 Darts go flying towards Atlantis, leaving five thousand Darts to keep the 250 Veritechs busy up here.
Rick then radioed Atlantis and said, "This is Vermillion Squadron leader calling Atlantis Base. You have at least 20,000 Darts headed your way."
Weir then said, "We know. Can you spare any fighters?"
"No ma'am. We are all tied up here taking down these five thousand. We can't help you until these Darts are taken care of." Rick replied as he transformed his Veritech from fighter mode into Battleoid mode, the massive armored mecha quickly grabbing it's gun pod and then taking aim at a single Dart and letting loose a two second burst of armor piercing rounds that struck the Dart in it's mid section, tearing apart in seconds.
Rick then had the pair of twin Mauler laser cannons on his mech's shoulders flip forwards and then fire. A two pairs of bright orange-white laser energy struck two Dart's with deadly precision, destroying the two of them in a second.
"Understood. Try and get down here as fast as you can. Good luck lieutenant." Weir said as she disconnected the line.
"Alright Vermillion squad! You heard the lady! Let's trash these posers and get down to Atlantis to help!" Rick said as he fired several micro missiles from the missile launcher on his chest plate, striking and destroying two other Darts.
"Yes sir!" Max said as he fired and destroyed three Darts with a single pass with his gun pod sending forth it's stream of deadly 50 mm armor piercing rounds into the Dart's frames.
"You got it!" Ben said as he flew behind a pair of Darts and destroyed them with his Mauler cannons.
And with that, the dogfight continued on, laser blasts and micro missiles streaking across space while particle blasts raced to meet them, creating a beautiful scene of orange flashes of light not unlike fireworks in the eternal blackness of outer-space.
Time: 1508 hours. Location: Atlantis.
John was currently in his Mark 6 armor, his P91 in his hands as he and a few other marines from the ADF stood waiting for the Darts to arrive.
Around him, the large forms of the dozens of the eight tubed missile launchers moved into position, all aimed towards the area the Darts were most likely to come from.
That single Mk. II Naquada Generator Everett brought with him had really come in handy, for now they had been able to power over 72 of the 30 mm beam turrets here on Atlantis. Combined with the plethora of missile launchers capable of being used and those 20,000 Darts would find it a massive undertaking to get even close to Atlantis without dying.
John then saw the sensors on the missile launcher next to him detect the incoming Darts and he said, "Alright everyone, here come the Darts. Lit them up and show the Wraith why it was a bad idea to tango with the ADF!"
After getting a chorus of "Yes Sir!" the missile launchers launched their payloads, sending forth hundreds of Stargazers streaking across the blue skies of Lantea.
The Spartan Destroids joined in, sending forth their own supply of missiles that joined the others.
The Phalanx Destroids also launched their own supply of missiles, creating a massive missile storm that flew at incredible speeds towards the incoming Darts.
The over 96% of the missiles struck home, causing a massive series of orange explosions to light up the sky the Darts died by the hundreds as the small missiles impacted their hulls and then tore the alien fighters apart with little effort.
However, the Darts had only lost a little over 500 of their forces and had thousands more for which to use in this attack, so they pressed onwards, uncaring as their brothers died in loads around them.
Once the Darts got close enough, the Defender Destroids activated their long range anti-aircraft laser, sending forth dozens of high power lasers that impacted and then obliterated Darts in mass volleys of orange-red lasers.
Followed after that were the massive boom of the Monster Destroids using their main cannons, sending forth shells hurtling towards the Wraith with a roar louder then thunder that sent vibrations through the bodies of anyone listen to those massive goliaths of steel.
The Monster Destroids shells caused massive explosions to lighten the day and destroy numerous Darts in seconds from the massive explosions.
The Tomahawk Destroids also joined in, their long range particle cannons sending forth lances of supercharged particles that destroyed numerous Darts in a raw as the beams tore through the enemy lines.
Also joining in were the 30 mm beam turrets, each one of them blasting away at the Darts as quickly as they could, the cold and calculating AIs that controlled them calculating the best actions that would cause as much Darts to die as possible.
A intense wave of bright blue lances came forth and tore through the Darts like a wolf through sheep, numerous Darts losing control and falling into the ocean where the Darts exploded. Still other Darts would get struck in their wings, where they would get sheared off and then the Darts would spiral out of control and crash into the other Darts nearest to them.
The impressive fore of 20,000 Darts was now reduced to 18,000 in only a few minutes of combat, but now the Darts were crossing over Atlantis and were now beaming down their supply of Wraith Drones onto Atlantis.
"Alright, security teams take down the Wraith wherever they are and make sure to protect the science teams. They are our only hope to get those shields up. Protect them with your lives." Sheppard ordered through his radio as he then went off running towards the nearest group of Wraith Drones.
Every single ADF member had a special ID tag that would show up on the life scanners or the helmets of the power armors, so anyone without these tags were obviously Wraith, which made it a lot easier to find and destroy Wraith boarding teams.
Another good thing is that the Wraith Drones are mainly being beamed to areas on the piers and not further into the city, making it slightly easier for security teams to find, get to to and then neutralize Wraith boarding parities.
The bad news is that the Wraith are appearing all throughout the piers at random points and random times, making it hard for all the Wraith boarding parties to be neutralized quickly.
John moved towards one such group of Wraith, his P91 raised and ready to go.
John moved behind a pillar as the door down the hall opened, showing a group of 12 Wraith Drones and single commander type Wraith standing there.
John then quickly leapt from his cover and fired three precise one second bursts of energy fire towards the group, killing three Drones with head-shots before they even had a chance to react.
John then over to another pillar, got behind it so the return fire from the Wraith struck the pillar and not himself.
John took out a cylinder from his waist and then clicked the top part of it, causing the middle part of the cylinder to start spinning and glowing while a slight beeping noise was heard.
John then tossed the cylinder towards the commander type Wraith, who got smacked right in the face, just before the cylinder exploded.
A blinding flash of light erupted from the cylinder, causing the Wraith to scream out in pain from the blinding light that had just erupted from the cylinder.
While the Wraith were screaming from the flash bang grenade Rodney had designed several months back, John then wiped out his P91 and let lose a stream of blue lances that tore through the surviving Wraith until they were all dead, full of holes punched through them by the powerful ADF weapon.
John saw several other groups of Wraith and swiftly took off running for them, his job far from done.
Time: 1518 hours. Location: Lantea Orbit.
Rick swore as he swung the joystick to the right, sending the massive armored Super Veritech dodging to the right, allowing the particle blast send by the Dart on his tail to miss him.
Rick then cut his engines and pulled hard on the stick, allowing his Veritech to swift back-flip and get behind the Dart following him.
A quick Mauler laser blast and only small pieces of debris were left of that particular Dart.
Rick panted slightly as he reignited his engines, causing the Veritech to start accelerating as he moved back into the dogfight.
Things were starting to go back up here in the dogfight, as several Veritechs had been destroyed by the faster and harder hitting Darts.
Even with the Super Veritechs up here, there was just too many Darts and slowly the Veritechs were being destroyed as the Veritechs ran out of missiles and bullets, leaving only with their limited head lasers. The Super Veritechs have it slightly better due to them having their large Mauler laser to slightly even the odds, but as it is, the situation up here in space is deteriorating by the second.
The fleet was being relentlessly pummeled with particles blasts and right now, the shields on the Tartaros and the Enterprise were now only at 11% while the other warships had theirs at 24% and the Macross had her's at 32%. The Wraith however we getting as good as they were giving, losing another Hive ship to the Macross's mighty main gun while 16 other Cruisers have been destroyed.
Rick knew that even with the Macross out here fighting, they were most likely not going to be able to win this fight. Not unless the Drones launchers on the Macross were finally made operational. Just like Atlantis, the Macross hasn't had her upgrades finished by now. Mostly, they are small little things that aren't the most important thing that needs to be completed. However, the Control Chair, along with the Drones launchers weren't completed before the Wraith arrived, so right now a team of four Second Generation Replicators made literally just yesterday have been working around the clock to get the improved Drones ready to be fired.
As of right now, no word has been given that the Drone Launchers are ready yet, but hopefully they will be made ready soon, because as of right now, the ADF will probably not last the remain 12 minutes needed to get Atlantis's shields operational.
Rick then heard Ben saying over the radio, "Hey, I got four Darts on my tail, can I have some help?"
"Hold on Ben, I'm coming." Rick replied as he checked for Ben's location on his sensors. Once finding his subordinate, he quickly moved over towards Ben's location.
After a few moments, he saw his fellow pilot skimming the outer edges of Lantea's atmosphere, the heat causing the bottom of his Veritech glow blood red from the friction, all the while four Darts followed him like sharks after a bleeding fish.
Rick maneuvered behind the Darts and let loose a single blast from both of his Mauler cannons, causing two of the four Darts to be vaporized.
However, it was at that precise moment his maulers chose to malfunction. Sparks erupted from the Maulers as section along both of his Maulers exploded. This is one of the problems with the Super Veritechs, the Maulers have a high chance of malfunctioning if they are in a place full of heat. They can only work out here in the vacuum of space, which cools the system so it is usable. However, Rick and Ben are skimming the outer edges of a planets atmosphere, which causes a lot of heat.
The two remaining Darts fired on Ben, their particles blasts striking the back of his fighter and causing the fighter to be pushed down into the gravity well of Lantea. Even a Super Veritech cannot escape the gravity well of a planet like Lantea on their own.
"Dammit! Lieutenant, my engines are dead, I can't get out of the gravity well!" Ben shouted as he tried to get control of his Veritech.
"Don't worry Ben, I'm right behind you. Just let me finish these two bozos first." Rick said as he got a target lock with his laser turret.
A quick burst and one Dart was now flying through Lantea's atmosphere without it's back-end, the heat and friction tearing the Dart apart and causing the whole enemy fighter to explode a little ways away.
The other Dart was suddenly destroyed by a micro missile when it tried to bank to the right. The culprit was none other then Max who said, "Sorry I'm late. I had to destroy another flight of Darts to get here."
"Better late then never. Let's go save Ben." Rick said as he banked to the left and increased his speed as he flew downwards to try and reach Ben.
"Right behind you." Max said as he did the same, the two fighters roaring through the atmosphere as they flew towards their friend.
Their Veritech's glowed red as they raced through the atmosphere and once they got through the atmosphere Rick said, "Eject the Super Packs. We can't leave the planet now and they re useless in atmosphere. Might as well loose the weight."
Max nodded and then the two pilots hit the release switch on the cockpits, blowing the bolts that kept their Super Packs attached to their Veritechs. The Super Pack left the Veritechs and flew away from the fighters and they flew after Ben.
After a few seconds they saw him and they also saw the damage done to his fighter.
The particle blasts had sheared the thrusters off the back end of his fighter, along with most of the back end, leaving only the cockpit and just enough of the middle part of the fighter so the wings wouldn't fly off and that was it.
"Ben, eject. That fighter can fly much longer and we are racing towards the ground fast." Rick said.
"Sorry, but the canopy won't open. I think the particle blast did a lot more damage to the internal systems then I originally thought." Ben said as he tried to get the canopy open.
"Okay, hold on. I'm coming over." Rick said as he flew over to Ben's fighter.
Once he reached the fighter, Rick transformed into Battleoid mode and grabbed the fighter with his Veritech's hands.
Rick then ignited his afterburners to try and slow his momentum down.
Giant torrents of fire erupted from his fighters engines as the mecha tried to slow it's decent.
After a little bit, the Veritech came to a hover about five thousand feet from the surface of the ocean.
Once he had stopped his descent Rick said, "Alright Ben. I am going to destroy your canopy and then I am going to grab you with my Veritech's hand and place you inside my Veritech. Understood?"
"Got it." Ben said.
Rick then manipulated the hand of the Veritech to reach up and squeeze the canopy of Ben's Veritech just enough to get a grip and then he tore the entire thing off.
Once the canopy was off, Ben took out the AI that had been paired with him and placed it onto his right hip. He then unbuckled himself from his fighter and then was picked up by Ricks Veritech's right hand.
Once Ben was safe, Rick tossed the ruined fighter away and then carefully brought Ben up to the head of his Veritech, which flipped forwards and then copilot seat rose up towards Ben.
Ben was placed onto the Veritech and then carefully walked over to the copilot seat where he strapped himself in.
Ben was then retracted back into the Veritech and then the head flipped backward and connected back into it's regular position.
Rick then transformed the Veritech back into fighter mode and flew off towards Atlantis.
"Thanks for saving my bacon back there lieutenant." Ben said.
"No problem Ben. Just try not to make it a habit okay?" Rick asked.
"Sure thing." Ben said, his enthusiastic smile on his face.
Rick shook his head as Max formed up on his right wing and the three of them flew over towards Atlantis.
The city was still being attack by Darts, but the number had been reduced significantly with all the anti-aircraft defenses the ADF had placed on the city.
There was only around 4,000 Darts left buzzing around the city, the others having been shot down by the defenses, but that still left 4,000 Darts here to deal with, alongside the numerous Wraith Drones that had been beamed aboard the city.
Rick then saw several Darts flying towards him and Max, so he said, "Max, Darts at 3 o'clock high."
I see 'em." Max replied as the two Veritechs rose to take out the Darts.
The Darts fired their particle blasts, but the ADF pilots quickly dodged out of harms way.
The laser cannons on the two ADF fighters fired, sending highly concentrated lances of energy into the Dart's hull, burning through the lightly armored hull of the Darts and then striking the power cores of the small fighters, causing them to explode.
"Attention Atlantis control. This is Rick Hunter. Myself and Max Sterling need a resupply. Over."
"This is Atlantis control, quickly head to hanger bay three, there is a load of gun pods and Stargazers you can use. Get resupplied and then get back out there, we need you." Weir replied.
"Understood. You heard the lady. Hanger bay three." Rick said as he banked his fighter to the right, followed quickly by Max.
The two Veritechs quickly transformed into Guardian mode and then saw the large part of the pier open slowly, showing the massive hanger bay where technicians worked quickly getting the damaged Destroids back into fighting condition.
However, just as they were entering the hanger bay several particle blasts struck the back of their fighters, destroying their legs and the back of their fighters.
Max swore as he tried to gain control of his fighter, but only managed to make it so that the fighter struck the ground along the underside of the canopy, not directly on the canopy. Max's Veritech skidded a little way and then fell silent.
Rick fared much the same way, except his Veritech flew and continued moving until it stuck the side of the hanger.
Rick then saw several Darts flying towards the hanger and quickly used his Veritech to grab a gun pod and sent a stream of armor piercing rounds into the frames of the Darts, destroying them quickly. Rick then opened his canopy and got out of his Veritech and saw the damage His bird would not be flying anytime soon and when he turned around and saw Max getting out of his own Veritech, it seemed Max was in the same situation.
Rick, Max and Ben then heard noise coming from the hanger entrance and saw several security guards getting stunned while a team of Wraith Drones entered the hanger. Getting their laser pistols out, Max, Ben and Rick all started lending their help to try and keep the Wraith out of the hanger bay.
Time: 1522. Location: Atlantis control room.
Weir looked on in despair at the reports as she tried to get control of the city back.
"Ma'am. Wraith in section 13. Heavy fighting and numerous injuries." Chuck said.
"Ma'am. We lost contact with Colonel Everett and his team in section 2." Another gate technician said.
"Ma'am. Sheppard reports he and his men have just finished up with section 7 and are moving on to section 13. Injured are being sent to sick bay." A human replicators said while checking the scanners to help coordinate the men.
"Ma'am. Rodney, Zor, Zelenka and Lang report another eight minutes until shields can be possibly raised, no certainty. Fran and the other Replicators are working on Reflex Reactor 5." Chuck then said,
Weir then said, "Do we have any available security teams?"
"No ma'am. All of our forces are trying to take down the wraith that managed to get onto Atlantis. We have no one to spare. Also, hanger bay three reports they are under attack by several Wraith attack teams. Vermillion squadron is helping take down the Wraith as their Veritechs have been rendered in operable." Chuck reported
Weir signed deeply, she was hoping those three could help get rid of the Wraith in Atlantis's airspace, but it appears they are now grounded.
"Ma'am, there are Wraith all over the city. We are being spread too thin. Also, the Tartaros and the Enterprise have had to go to Fold as their shields were only a few seconds away from collapsing. The fleet is being overwhelmed and now the Wraith are solely concentrating on the Macross, her shields can't take this level of firepower for much longer." Chuck said.
Weir looked on as the Wraith invaded her home and made a decision.
She walked over to one of the terminals and entered in her pass code, which activated the cities self destruct. A loud booming warning siren began to blare all throughout the city as the single remaining torpedo in the hold of Atlantis was primed and set for a 12 minute detonation. If they cannot get rid of the Wraith in that time, the city will be destroyed.
Weir turned her attention back to the situation and began to send out orders, hoping that the city wouldn't have to be destroyed this day.
Time: 1523. Location: Lantea orbit.
Gloval looked out towards the enemy fleet which was now focusing all of their firepower towards the Macross, hoping to destroy the flagship of the ADF.
The main gun had claimed yet more victims, destroying seven more Cruisers, leaving only a single Hive ship and 11 Cruisers left to deal with.
However, the Macross's shields were now only at 7% and to make things worse, due to the constant fire being directed at them, the ship had been rocked by the impacts and several crystals had been fried due to the overload and now the main gun was inoperable until those crystals could be repaired.
Gloval knew an unwinnable battle when he saw one and this was one such battle. Without the main gun, they couldn't obliterate all the of the Wraith ships with ease anymore and the Wraith had gotten wise, pushing a lot of their available power into engines and hull regeneration, making it hard for the ADF to hit them and if they did, the damage was quickly repaired. They suffered a drop in firepower, but the Wraith apparently thought this was an acceptable lose and for right now, it was paying off for them.
The Tartaros and the Enterprise already had to flee or they would have been lost here today. The other Platos faced the same situation and Gloval was prepared to order them to flee to fight another day, but then thought better of it.
The men and women on those warships were stubborn and unbending, they would never quit this battlefield while they still lived.
Gloval sighed and looked outwards, seeing the Wraith fleet continuing to fight and attack his doomed ship.
If this was the way he was going to die, he couldn't think of a better way to die then this. Fighting alongside some of the best officers he has ever served with, taking on an enemy towards peace and not bowing down. The ADF would live on, that make was certain. Those on the Alpha Bases would rebuild all they had lost here today and fight against the Wraith once more.
"No matter what the Wraith do, they shall never break our spirit." Gloval thought as he then began spending out orders to try and do as much damage to the Wraith before they died.
In this storm of darkness, the Atlantis Defense Forces shall fight until their last breaths. That is for certain.
The Wraith may win this day, but the war shall continue on, no matter what.
And that is that!
Chapter 7 done and done.
Nice little cliffhanger I left it on, wasn't it?
Also, none of you have guessed the Pendragon design right, so I will give you a hint. It is from Macross franchise. (not the saga.) Let's see if any of you can guess it before I unveil it in the next chapter.
And this is it, so as always, if you have comments, criticisms or concerns, send me a P.M. or leave a review. Always appreciated.
Thanks and until next time, this is StrikeFreedom10 signing off.
PLUS ULTRA!