Hello everyone!
Here is the end chapter of the Siege, one of my favorite episodes from Stargate Atlantis, for we introduced to the Daedalus, one of my favorite sci-fi ship designs of all time.
There will be some really cool things happening in this chapter, so be prepared for that.
And with that done, lets start the chapter.
Chapter Eight: Comes the Dawn.
Time: September 10, 2005. 1524 hours. Location: Lantea Orbit.
The bridge of the SDF-1 Macross was filled with the sight of the lightish-green ovular shield surrounding the mighty dimensional fortress being pounded on by the surviving Hive ship and her eleven Cruisers. Those ships were aiming all of their firepower towards the SDF-1, intent on bringing down the flagship of the ADF.
"Sir, shields are now at 4% and will fail in around 2 minutes. The Destroids have expended most of their armaments and are now severally limited in their ability to fight. Veritech squadrons have reported heavy losses, with Green, Gold, Blue, Red and Yellow Squadrons being completely wiped out and Wolf, Skull and Firestorm Squadrons have suffered extreme casualties. Destroid Platoons on Atlantis have also reported that their own armaments have run dry and they too have suffered heavy losses, with those that are still alive and combat capable now being in reloading operations. Atlantis herself is reporting dozens of Wraith attack groups all throughout the city with security teams responding, however they are suffering heavy losses as well. Sir, I don't think we are going to last much longer." Vanessa reported from her station.
"So, the situation that is already bad has just gotten worse is what you are saying." Gloval said from his captain's chair.
"Yes sir." Vanessa said, despair on the edge of her voice.
"Lisa, can we get the Drone Launchers online?" Gloval asked.
Lisa shook her head side to side and said, "They need three more minutes before the Drones can be launched."
"Understood. Lisa, give me ship wide." Gloval said as he stood up.
A click and Gloval knew his voice would now travel all throughout the ship.
"This is Captain Gloval speaking. I am officially ordering all of you to abandon ship. I repeat, the Macross is lost. Abandon ship right now." Gloval said to the shock of all.
"Sir?" Claudia asked, caught entirely by surprise that Gloval would issue such an order.
"Commander, the Macross is lost. Right now, we need to save as many of our people as we can so they can continue on the fight another day. The Macross is just a warship. The most important thing right now, is our people." Gloval said as he then sat back down onto his command chair.
Gloval then turned to the bridge crew, his most trusted and diligent officers he had under his command. Each and every single one of them will make fine commanders one day. But that is not this day. This day, Captain Gloval shall ensure they shall live long enough to become the people Gloval knew they can become.
"Go. Abandon ship. Live your lives. Continue the fight against the Wraith." Gloval said to them.
"With all due respect sir, We aren't going anywhere." Claudia said as she stood defiantly at her station.
The others quickly agreed with Claudia and stayed at their stations, unwilling to abandon their captain when he needs them the most.
Gloval sighed and said, "I would say to leave the ship, but after saying it once, I have come to realize you are all perhaps the most stubborn people I have ever worked with and it will be an effort in futility to try and make you leave this warship. Very well. Let us face whatever may come."
The whole crew and nodded and looked back at their consoles, doing whatever they can to cover the escape pods which are being launched from the Macross.
"Move us forwards. We have to make sure those escape pods reach the surface." Gloval said.
His orders were received and the massive warship moved forwards, her massive bright baby blue sublight engines flaring to life as the warship moved forwards towards the Wraith fleet.
"Divert all power from non-essential systems into shields and weapons." Gloval said.
"Diverting power from non-critical systems into shields and weapons, aye sir!" Vanessa said as her fingers flew over the buttons.
Quickly, the engines shut down as power was redirected from all over the Macross into only the particle cannons and her shield emitters.
The battered and weary shields of the Macros glowed slightly brighter as new energy flooded into the emitters, while the particle cannons on the Macross started firing lances of blue-white supercharged particles that were much longer and much wider then they normally were.
A Cruiser found this out the hard way when three of these lances struck her underside, caring into the organic hull and destroying multiple power lines until it came to the power core, where the particles destroyed the power core immediately.
With a tremendous explosion, the Cruisers joined her sister warships in death at the hands of the strongest ADF vessel.
"Vanessa, what is the status of the other ADF vessels?" Gloval asked.
"Currently the Platos have done the same thing we did, they have diverted all power from non-critical systems and have diverted it all into weapons and shields. Right now they are firing all of their weapons at the Wraith Cruisers. That Hive is at the very back of the fleet and is using the other Wraith ships as meat shields to block the damage. Right now, our shields have gone back up to 7% strength, but we can't last much longer. The Platos all are around 9% on their shields as well." Vanessa reported.
"Understood. Keep me posted." Gloval said as he turned his attention back to the battle, hoping to take as many of these Wraith bastards with him as possible.
Time: 1525. Location: Atlantis.
Sheppard cursed loudly as several Wraith stun blasts struck his right shoulder, leaving the entire appendage numb.
Sheppard then raised his P91 and fired several rounds into the Wraith Drone's skull, killing it instantly while Ford shot another Wraith Drone dead with his own P91.
The two of them then ducked behind some cover as the remaining eight Wraith shot at them with reckless abandon.
Sheppard then said, "Ford, I'll toss a flash grenade. Once their stunned, let 'em have it. Got it?"
Ford nodded and Sheppard grabbed another cylindrical grenade, primed it and then tossed it out and then waited for the resounding boom! that told him the grenade had detonated. Once the grenade had blinded their attackers, both Sheppard and Ford got up and then unleashed hell with the P91's roaring as lasers shot out of their guns and blew holes into the Wraith Drones attacking them.
Once the Wraith were dead Sheppard slumped to the floor and started breathing heavily as Ford did the same.
"How many does that make now?" Sheppard asked as he breathed heavily.
"Well, I think you are at 50 or so right now and I think I'm at 47ish? I lost count." Ford said as he too tried to get a few moments of rest.
"Sounds about right. Well, lets go. No rest for us just yet." Sheppard said as he got back up and then held out his hand for Ford.
Ford took it and got up with a grunt and then the two of them moved off to kill some more Wraith.
Elsewhere...
Rick swore loudly as he had to duck behind some cover as more Wraith came into the hanger and had them pinned down.
After the first group of Wraith Drones arrived apparently a number of other Wraith groups heard the noise and rushed to the area and now they were pinned down underneath the intense amount of stun blasts.
Ben and Max were behind different pieces of cover and were trying their best to get rid of the Wraith, but they just didn't have the firepower.
Ben suddenly then had this look on his face and with a burst of speed never before seen in the man, Ben ran to the other side of the hanger, where the torso remains of a Spartan Destroid lay.
By some miracle, Ben managed to get over to the Destroid where he flung himself into the cockpit.
Taking a few seconds to regain his bearings, Ben brought the Destroid online and then turned the light laser in the chest part of the Destroids towards the Wraith.
Compressing the trigger, a long series of laser blasts erupted from the laser, tearing apart the Wraith in the path of the beams and giving the defends of the hanger the time they needed to get up and launch a counter offensive.
The Wraith were quickly cut down by the combined firepower of Ben's Spartan Destroid's laser and the firepower of the 60 men and woman in the hanger.
Once the coast was clear, everyone got back to work in getting the mecha ready to get back out into battle while several workers went and checked on the security members who were stunned by the first group of Wraith. Luckily, they hadn't been fed upon by the Wraith nor had they been struck by the laser fire of the ADF members.
Rick then went to the head mechanic and said, "Sir, is there any Veritechs ready to be used?"
The man shook his head and said, "They are either is use right now or destroyed. Same for the Destroids, we have none too spare right now."
Rick swore and walked away to his team mates.
"No luck getting some new wings skipper?" Max asked, already knowing the answer.
"No. They are either currently is use or destroyed. The ADF has none to spare at the moment." Rick said as he stared out of the hanger in dismay, seeing all the Darts still flying around and causing trouble for their beloved home.
Rick suddenly remembers what they had found just a few days before and knew there might still be some Veritechs currently available.
"Quick guys, follow me!" Rick said as he started running from the hanger, followed quickly by Max and Ben.
The three hurriedly made their way across the pier, miraculously not running into any more Wraith forces.
When they finally reached the bottom level of the pier, Ben and Max finally realized what Rick was thinking and they began to run faster.
Rick led them to a certain door, where he swiped his hand and opened the door.
Inside on the far side of the hanger, lay the three ADF-VF-45 Pendragon prototypes.
"Skipper, you sure this is a good idea?" Max asked as they ran over to the Veritechs.
"Max, it's not like we are going and taking them out on a pleasure flight without permission. We need these to help fend off the Wraith attack on the city. The way I see it, even if we do get in trouble, it will at least be a for a good cause." Rick said as he strapped his helmet on and got into the Pendragon painted his colors.
Max and Ben looked at each other and the both ran over to the Pendragons that looked like their old Valkyries.
Once inside the Pendragon, a rectangular shaped light shined and swiped left to right across Rick's eyes, confirming his identity.
The cockpit looked nothing like a regular Valkyrie. There was simply two round orbs with a hand imprint on either side of the cockpit while a small screen was in between the two orbs.
"Welcome Rick Hunter. I am Ava, your personal AI companion. It is a pleasure to meet you." Ava said as she materialized a small 2 inch tall avatar of a blond haired woman with red eyes wearing a pilot suit.
"Nice to meet you Ava. However, right now the city is under attack by the Wraith and we need the Pendragons. Can you help me get this thing in the air?" Rick asked.
Ava's face grew serious and said, "Understood. Please place your hands on the orbs to begin launch sequence."
Rick complied, placing his hands into the imprint of the hand and suddenly the Pendragon started coming to life. The Reactors buried within the Pendragon roared to life, sending forth large amounts of energy throughout the Veritech's frame. The canopy closed while the engines started glowing a light-purple-pink color.
Suddenly, a H shaped harness formed across Rick's torso while a single rectangular light blue glowing piece of metal connected to the back of Rick's neck, attaching to the outside of this suit.
Rick gave a little bit of gasp when the metal touched the back of his neck, it was unexpected and surprising, but what came afterwards was even more so.
Rick saw the world in a different way now, everything was much clearer now, he just instantly knew where everything was, right down to the size an mass of objects.
"What is this?" Rick asked.
"This is the next generation of the of mental interface system. Right now, you are connected to the super computer that is in charge of the Pendragon. Your brain is calculating and processing information as fast as the super computer can, almost the same speed of the thought." Ava explained as she made thousands of micro adjustments to the system that would allow Rick to make the most of the Pendragon.
Rick was a bit shocked by this incredible system, but he quickly got over it and ran a mental scan of the Pendragon, checking it over for any flaws. As of right now there was no flaws in the system or with the Pendragon.
Rick began to experiment with the system, sending mental commanded to the system as tried to get a feel for the aircraft.
After a few seconds he thought he had gotten a really good grasp on how to operate the Pendragon and so he activated the shield, causing a lite green layer to form over the Pendragon while a rippling effect ran over the frame of the aircraft.
Dr. lang had finally achieved a way for the Shadow Field and then shield to be worked at the same time.
"Ben, Max, you guys ready?" Rick asked his two friends.
"I'm good here." Ben said as he too checked out the Pendragon.
"Ready when you are skipper." Max said.
"Okay then. Vermillion Squadron, roll out!" Rick said as the far end of the hanger opened up.
Rick pushed more power into the engines and felt as the engines roared, pushing the Veritech faster and faster.
Rick was quickly followed by Ben and Max as the three pilots left the hanger and flew out towards the 2,000 remaining Darts.
Rick selected the micro Stargazers and then quick as lightning, selected twenty different Darts for the missiles to attack and with a simple mental commanded, the missile launchers on the Pendragon sent forth the twenty missiles towards the Darts.
Ben and Max did the same and soon sixty Darts were nothing more then falling debris.
Rick quickly moved the Pendragon behind a Dart and activated the 40 mm cannons on either side of the cockpit, quick firing lances of supercharged particles flying faster then the eye could see and impacting the hull of the Dart. The areas where the lances struck where instantly vaporized, blowing off massive parts of the Dart in seconds and before anyone could react, the Dart exploded after taking too much damage.
Rick was amazed by the shear speed, maneuverability, firepower and toughness of the Pendragon compared to his old Valkyrie. Comparing the two was like comparing a WW1 airplane to a fighter jet airplane, the difference in capabilities was worlds apart.
Rick then noticed two Darts coming behind him using the on-board sensors of the Pendragon. With a quick mental command, the Pendragon cut power to the engines as the plane backflipped over the two Darts, which overshot the Pendragon and put them directly into the gun sights of Rick.
With a mental command, the Pendragon sent forth its blue-white bolts of death into the two Darts, ending their existence before they could react.
With a feral grin, Rick shouted out, "Alright Vermillion Squadron, let's get these skies cleared!"
"Roger!" Came the two replies from his men as the team of three got to work in cleaning the Wraith from Atlantis airspace.
Time: 1528. Location: Lantea Orbit.
"Sir, the Archangel and Dominion are reporting imminent shield failure. Hades, Ares, Hermes and Athena have only 2% on the shields. Our own shields are at 1.4% sir." Vanessa said as the Macross rocked a little from all the impacts against her shields.
"Have they finally gotten the Drone launchers ready?" Gloval asked.
"I am checking now. Stand by." Vanessa asked, running a scan.
A second later the scan came back and a bright look of joy came across her face as she yelled, "The Drone launchers ready and loaded sir, with Major Hawkins sitting in the control chair. He reports ten more seconds before he can fire."
"Alright. Take all the power from all the other weapons and transfer it to the chair. Those Drones are our last hope." Gloval said as his orders were carried out.
Along dozens of power lines, newly built ones running through the ship were activated for the first time. The Drone launcher, literally just finished were now selecting and activating dozens of the newly built improved Alterran Drone weapons. In the control chair, Major Hawkins sat, his eyes closed as the chair slowly rotated in a circle while the whole chair was reclined backwards.
After a few second, the Alterran Drones weapons activated, flying out of the four Drone Launchers that had just been finished.
The drones flew off at incredible speed, reaching the Cruisers before they had a chance to react. Once near the Cruisers, the Drones activated their energy fields and then smashed into the Cruisers, tearing through the hulls with absolute ease. Layer and layer of organic plating the Drones went through like a knife through butter. The Drones then exited the Cruisers they had impacted and then came back down in an arch and struck the Cruisers, going through the Wraith vessels once more.
After a few times of perforating the Cruisers, the Wraith vessels couldn't handle the damage and exploded, leaving only the Hive left to deal with now that the ten other Cruisers had been destroyed with a single act.
"Sir, the Hive ship has diverted all of her firepower into her weapons and is starting to target us." Vanessa reported.
"Can we fire a second salvo of Drones?" Gloval asked.
"No sir. We used the remaining amount of power to fire those Drones. As of right now, we are out of options. The Platos as well have run out of available energy." Vanessa said.
"Well. I guess this is it. It was an honor serving with you five." Gloval said as he stared forwards, staring directly towards the lone remaining Hive ship.
"Same here sir." Kim said, her sentiments echoed by everyone on the bridge.
Gloval took out his pipe and lit it, taking a long drag from the instrument.
The crew prepared for death when suddenly a single missile struck the back end of the Hive and a massive explosion erupted from the site where the missile struck.
The entire crew was stunned by the sight and Vanessa quickly scanned the area from which the missile had been sent when a voice came over the comm system.
"This is Colonel Steven Caldwell of the USAF Daedalus. We are prepared to assist you." A cool voice said over the comm.
"Nice to be finally meeting you Captain Caldwell." Gloval said.
"We are sorry we couldn't be here sooner, but as it is we nearly fried our Hyperdrive beyond repair trying to get here in time. It will be a few days before we can go to hyperspace again. But besides the point. Any areas on that Hive we should attack first?" Caldwell asked.
"Aim for the hanger areas with your missiles or anything you have. That will cause secondary explosions all throughout the Hive that can potentially render the Hive completely incapable of attack or dodging. Your ship is small and probably nimble, use that to your advantage. A Hive is slow moving and has only forwards facing weapons, so doing attack runs on the sides or on the back of the Hive will increase your chances of destroying the Hive." Gloval advised Caldwell.
"Understood. Major Marks, prepare four Mk. VII's and turn all of our rail guns from passive to activate. Aim all of them towards the hanger bays." Caldwell said to his weapon officer.
"Understood sir." Major Marks said.
"Helm, take us in at military thrust. Try and also keep us away from the front of the Hive. I don't want to take many shots from a vessel of that caliber." Caldwell ordered.
"Understood sir." Helm officer said as the Daedalus roared forth, her large sublight engines pushing the small vessel forwards.
Along her neck several missile tubes opened up and launched forth several large nuclear missiles.
These missiles are Mk. VII's, Earth's strongest nuclear missile to date. Using Naquada as an enhancer, these missiles were many times stronger then they should be. At the same time, the eight barreled rotating rail guns along the Daedalus's hull began to spin and then started firing metal slugs at speeds of mach five for over 25 kilometers.
The rail guns struck the hanger walls, causing multiple hundreds of explosions as the slugs struck the organic wall and did minimal damage due to how large the hanger was.
After firing for a few seconds, the missiles finally struck the Hive's hanger walls, the four nuclear missiles hit and explode in rapid succession, tearing apart the hanger doors and then exploding inside the Hive, causing the final Wraith warship in this long bitter assault to be destroyed.
Gloval sighed in relief as he saw the Hive explode in a giant fireball and then he said, "Vanessa, what is the status of our Veritech's and of Atlantis?"
"Our Veritech's are returning here sir as most of them are starting to run our of armaments. All of Darts around Atlantis have been destroyed by thee unknown Veritech models. We only have 1,000 remaining Darts on our scopes." Vanessa reported.
"Alright. How much power do we have?" Gloval asked.
"Not a lot. Most of our power was sucked away trying to keep the shields up and then firing the Drone weaponry. It will be a few minutes before we have power to spare." Vanessa said.
"Sir, all remaining Veritechs have been brought onto ADF vessels. They are undergoing refueling and rearmament operations right now." Lisa said.
"Understood." Gloval said as the Vanessa's console began beeping wildly.
"Sir, the remaining Darts are changing course." Vanessa said.
"Alright, divert all remaining energy into the CIWS turrets." Gloval said.
"Sir, they aren't headed for us. They are heading for Atlantis." Vanessa said, to the confusion on those on the bridge.
Time: 1531. Location: Atlantis.
Weir looked at the screen that showed the remaining Darts coming towards Atlantis with worry. They had just barely fought off the last of the other Darts and now more were coming? They were out of Stargazers, most of their 30 mm turrets had been destroyed along with a lot of their Destroids. Only Vermillion Squadron could fight and right now they were getting rearmed and wouldn't get out quick enough to intercept.
"Rodney, we have a force of 1,000 Darts coming towards us. Is the shield ready to be raised?" Weir asked.
"We have all the crystals in place and activated, all of the power lines are operational and ready to go, the stabilizers and regulators are online and working. All we have to do is activate the Furnaces and hope and pray it is enough. Activating now." Rodney said as he put his hand down onto the screen before him.
About ten feet below him and around twenty feet in front, there stood the massive form of one of Atlantis's nine Reflex Reactors. The command Rodney had sent had started up the activation sequence for the Furnace.
Within moments, the large reactor began to hum while the mid section of the reactor began to glow in a series of flashing of light, one after the other. At first it was slow, but then it began to grow faster and faster until it was a continuous line of light.
Meanwhile, the other eight Reflex Furnaces did the same thing, the Furnaces all activating at the same moment and then building power up together at the same time until their maximum safe operating capacity was achieved.
In the control room Zelenka saw the energy rise higher and higher until it reached the same power output of a ZPM. Once it had achieved that level of power, he activated the subroutine that would raise the shields.
Those on the piers of the city or looking from the cities many balconies watched in awe as the massive clear shield of the city was raised for the first time in over a year.
It was a beautiful sight.
The Darts were now coming towards the city at speeds in excess of over 10,000 kilometers per hour, but for all their speed and their truly tremendous impacts, they didn't even cause the shields to waver in the least. After the series of massive explosions from the 1,000 Darts impacting the shields, the smoke cleared to show the city completely fine.
"Atlantis, this is Captain Gloval, please come in. Atlantis please respond." Gloval said as he tried to establish contact with the city.
"Don't worry. We are all here. Rodney managed to get the Reflex Furnaces working in time for us to raise the shields. How are things up in space?" Weir asked.
"Well, all of our ships were on the cusp of being destroyed, but other then that we are all good. I am going to have the fleet dock with Moon Base ALUCE and start repair efforts." Gloval responded.
"Understood. Also, can you please have the captain of the Daedalus meet with me? I want to personally thank him for saving us." Weir asked.
"Sure. Gloval out." Gloval said as he disconnected the line.
"Patch me into our fleet." He ordered Sammie.
Sammie nodded and quickly got Gloval through to their eight other warships.
"All ADF vessels are to report to Moon Base ALUCE and begin repair efforts. I want these warships back at 100% fighting capabilities as soon as possible." Gloval said through the comm.
Gloval then said, "Get me the Daedalus please."
A quick nod and Gloval was once again talking to Caldwell.
"Colonel Caldwell, could you please join me in going down to Atlantis? We need to talk." Gloval asked.
"Sure thing. Just stand by for beaming." Caldwell said, confusing Gloval.
"What is..." Gloval started before a bright light surrounded him as a musical chime was heard before Gloval vanished in a second.
Gloval reappeared in the control room of Atlantis, where a balding older man with graying hair appeared a few seconds later.
"Hello, Colonel Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus." Caldwell said as he stuck his hand out.
After a second to recompose himself, Gloval took the hand and shook it saying, "Captain Henry Gloval, commander of the SDF-1 Macross. The big warship."
"Ah. She is a fine ship the Macross sir." Caldwell said as Gloval led him towards the meeting room.
"That she is. Although the Daedalus herself looks to be a good warship as well." Gloval commented on as the two walked into the meeting room.
Weir, Lang, Zor, Rodney, Sheppard and Rick were all in the room, waiting for the two to arrive.
"I must assume you are the commander of the Daedalus, correct?" Weir asked.
"Yes. Colonel Steven Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus. You are Dr. Weir, correct? I have heard a lot about you." Caldwell said.
"Only good things I hope. Colonel, as the leader of the ADF and Atlantis, thank you for saving our home. If you hadn't arrived when you did, we would have had to destroy the city." Weir thanked Caldwell from the depths of her soul.
"It was nothing ma'am. Me and my crew were just doing our duty. Atlantis is beyond even my wildest dreams and it is an honor to see her. You guys have done a brilliant job keeping the city safe." Caldwell said.
"Thank you. Now, onto more pressing business. As of right now, Atlantis has virtually no defenses save for the Daedalus and the shield. Rodney, how long until we can repair all the damage done by the Wraith?" Weir asked.
"Well, I have ordered the Replicators to start replicating until their numbers have risen up to 1,500 Replicators. With all of them working together with our mechanics and technicians, we are looking at about three days to get all the turrets, Destroids, Veritechs and everything else repaired back to working order. As for the Platos and the Macross, the computers from Moon Base ALUCE say it will take 5 days to get them all repaired back to 100% working order. We can have a fresh supply of Drones and Reflex torpedoes ready by that point." Rodney said as he read of his report.
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about the Wraith boarding us anytime soon. With the shield up, we can now outlast them. I say we try and get the Drones launchers on Atlantis all into working order first and then begin working on the other things first. Also, I say we begin mass production of the Pendragons." Sheppard said.
"We can't. We haven't done any testing on the Pendragons. We were going to begin two days ago, but we were a little busy at the time. Vermillion Squadron was not cleared for using the Pendragons and we nearly lost our three next generation prototypes." Lang said as he leveled a stern look at Rick, who looked abashed.
"Rick and his men did what they thought were right. It as thanks to their efforts we were able to drive the Wraith from Atlantis." Gloval said as he nodded towards Rick.
"I agree. There wasn't time to ask for permission or any of that. It was simply using what was at hand and fighting for your home. I feel they went above and beyond what they were expected to do. No punishments for them other then a simple, "Don't make taking irreplaceable prototypes out into dangerous situations a habit." Sheppard said.
"Agreed. We have more important things to worry about as well besides punishing three pilots at the moment." Rodney said.
"Agreed. Now, onto the next item of business. Carson, how many injured?" Weir asked.
"It is bad. We have no less then 7,000 injured, varying from minor injuries such as burns to life threatening situations due to attacks from the Wraith. We are overwhelmed down in the infirmary and we are currently doing our best to get the worse of the injured all healed up while the less injured are given pain medications and few other things to help them wait, but it will take a while to get them all healed up." Carson said.
"That bad huh?"Sheppard asked, really worried about his men.
"Yeah. Also, we have no less then 100 confirmed deaths via Wraith feeding with over 150 personal suffering from being fed upon by the Wraith. It is a mess. We will have too send most of them back to Earth when we dial her again." Carson said.
"Agreed. Get all those who need to be sent to Earth ready in an hour. We will send them to Earth then. Anything else?" Weir asked.
"Yes, a question. When will we allow civilians back onto the city?" Sheppard asked.
"As soon as we are sure that it is safe for long term civilian populations to be here on this planet. Not a moment before. Any more questions?" Weir asked.
"Yes, what do you require of me and the Daedalus?" Caldwell asked.
"Well, taking some of injured onto the Daedalus will definitely help us right now." Carson said.
"Say no more. We'll take all of the injured we can. Don't worry." Caldwell said.
"Thank you. Now is that everything?" Weir asked.
That was everything and so the meeting came to end, those assembled moving off to get to work on recovering from the Wraith attack.
Teyla then approached John and asked, "All you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm tired, but at this point I am sure we all are. No rest for the wicked as they say." Sheppard replied.
"Sheppard, you need rest. You have been running on coffee and caffeine for the last few days. You need sleep." Teyla continued on.
"Not right now. Too much work to do." Sheppard said, but Teyla wouldn't let this issue slide.
"John, you need rest. Going to sleep and getting a few hours of rest will not kill you nor will anything bad happen in that little amount of time." Teyla said.
"She's right Major. As ADF leader, you are hereby ordered to get something to eat and some rest. Go." Weir said, her tone leaving no room for arguing.
Sighing deeply, Sheppard gave Weir a salute and said, "Yes Ma'am."
Sheppard then walked away, headed to get some food and then to his quarters to get some rest.
"Thank you Dr. Weir. John needs some rest, but of his own accord he wouldn't have gotten any rest until he passed out." Teyla said.
"You welcome Teyla. John is a good military commander, but sometimes he just needs to allow someone else to hold the reigns for him while he takes care of himself. Although, I guess that goes for all of us. We all need a break soon." Weir said, the stress of these last few days starting to get to her.
"Agreed. I must be off, I am going to go check on my people at the Omega Site." Teyla said.
"Alright, good luck." Weir said as Teyla nodded and then walked over towards the gate.
Weir sighed and then went to her quarters to do a few things and then get some rest.
Time: September 11, 2005. 0230 hours. Location: Atlantis.
Chuck was on the night shift, a steamy cup of coffee in his right hand as he clicked a few buttons and ran a scan on the city.
The work was coming along nicely, those 1,500 Replicators work fast and already the six Drone Launchers on Atlantis were going to be working soon, further enhancing the power of this city fortress.
Chuck then checked the long range sensor array and saw something that nearly caused him to drop his coffee cup.
Chuck quickly clicked his communicator and called Zor, Dr. Weir, Sheppard, and Gloval.
"I am sorry to bother you guys, but we have a situation here." Chuck said.
"Chuck, what can be so important you have to call us two-thirty in the morning?" Sheppard asked.
"A Wraith attack fleet of no less then 17 Hives and three times that many Cruisers is coming towards Atlantis." Chuck said, staring at his screen as he saw the Wraith fleet approaching.
The line was quiet before the leaders all replied with, "We will be there shortly."
Within ten minutes, the three leaders of the ADF plus Zor and the newly awakened Caldwell all stood staring at the screen.
"17 Hives and their escorts. How did they get so close to us without the city finding them?" Caldwell asked.
"Well, our sensors were only focusing on the Wraith fleet that attacked us and not anyone else, plus we were busy holding the Wraith off." Chuck said.
"How long until they reach Lantea?" Sheppard asked.
"They will be here by tomorrow." Chuck said.
"Damn. Wake everyone up. We have to pull an all-nighter for this one. Also, Rodney, Lang, Teyla, Zelenka and Fran into the meeting now." Weir said as she went to make some coffee. It was going to be a long day.
Twenty minutes later and everyone was now in the meeting room staring at the long range sensors read out.
"So, we have 17 Hives and three times that many Cruisers coming our way. Perfect." Rodney said in despair as he chugged his third cup of coffee down his throat.
"How long can the shields hold out for Rodney?" Weir asked.
"Well, the nine Reflex Reactors use as little Protoculture as possible, but with the shear amount of firepower 17 Hives and their escorts can unleash, I would say the shields can last for 5 days, perhaps a little bit more before the shields drain the furnaces of Protoculture and then we would have to change the power cells out for some new ones." Rodney said.
"How long would that take?" Gloval asked.
"Well, creating new Protoculture cells only takes about ten hours and then installing them only takes about 2 hours per reactor for a grand total of 28 hours to replace all the Protoculture cells." Rodney replied.
"We can't keep this up. Even if we destroyed these ships right this second, more would come and more after that. And then Wraith will just keep growing new warships and new troops much faster then us, from my standpoint I don't see how we can win this." Weir said.
"Well, this must been what the Ancients felt like." Rodney said.
"Yes, the Wraith will keep coming as long as Atlantis is here." Zelenka said.
"As long as the Wraith know we are here." Sheppard said, an idea starting to form in his head.
"Yes, that is what Radek said." McKay said.
"No that's it you guys. As long as the Wraith know we are here, they will keep coming." Sheppard said, his crazy idea growing stronger.
"Yeah?" Weir said, completely unsure of where John was going.
"So we disappear." Sheppard said, a smile on his face.
"Disappear, like we destroy the city?" Caldwell asked, not understanding what John was suggesting.
"No, we just make it look like we did. We can beam a nuke on top of Atlantis's shields and then detonate it." Sheppard started.
"I think I know where you are going with this. We use one of the Jumpers cloaks to make the city completely invisible to Wraith scans and with then with detonation of the nuke, it will appear as if we destroyed the city." Rodney said, the idea now know to everyone in the room.
"That is brilliant Sheppard. By making it appear as if we destroyed the city, the Wraith will no longer continue attacking us." Gloval said, truly astonished by the shear simplicity of the plan, but also astonished how capable it is of saving the city.
"That's all well and good, but I thought we couldn't run the shield and the cloak at the same time." Weir said.
"Well, yes. I haven't figured out a way around that little roadblock. So if we do this, we will be trading the shield for the cloak." Rodney said, causing all their hopes to be dampened a little.
"So we will be defenseless. What about radiation from the nuke?" Weir asked.
"I can calculate the radiation cloud with reasonable discrepancy. Also, Zor can help me." Rodney explained.
"The Wraith know we have a cloak. Even beaming a nuke above the shields might not be enough to trick them" Weir asked.
"When the Wraith get here above Atlantis, I can connect with them. If I can convince them we intend to destroy Atlantis rather then allow them to take it..." Teyla began.
"They'll stop firing. They want to take Atlantis intact and so the last thing they will want to do is help us destroy it." Sheppard said.
"I like this plan. I really do, but what do we do if the Wraith aren't convinced?" Weir asked.
"The Daedalus can take all non essential personal to the Alpha Sites here in Pegasus." Caldwell offered.
"The fleet is well enough to flee. We can't fight them, but we can run away and live to fight another day. Should the city be destroyed, we can always head to another one of our bases here in Pegasus." Gloval said.
"Okay. So, we have backup plans should this go south. How long does the science team need to rig a Jumpers cloak into Atlantis?" Weir asked.
"Twelve hours. I want to make sure the crystals are all exactly the right spot so that they will not burn themselves out when we are trying to trick the Wraith." Rodney said.
"Okay. Get to it." Weir said as the meeting ended.
The leaders dispersed outwards, heading to get the city ready for the final act of the second Siege of Atlantis. If they succeed, they won;t have to worry about the Wraith coming to Atlantis again. If they fail, they doom Atlantis to destruction. The stakes have never been higher then at this moment.
Ford then came walking up to Sheppard and said, "Sir, what's going on?"
"Well, another Wraith fleet is coming at us. We cooked up a plan to have Teyla convince the Wraith we are going to blow up Atlantis to keep the from it. After that we are going to beam a nuke above the shields and detonate it. With their sensors scrambled, we are then going to use a jury rigged cloak from a jumper and then cloak the city, giving the illusion we destroyed the city. With a little bit of luck, the Wraith will believe we destroyed the city and then leave us alone." Sheppard explained to Ford as they walked though Atlantis's halls.
"Dang. That's a nice plan." Ford said.
"Thanks I think its one of my best plans. For right now, you and I are going to go start helping get the injured on the Platos, Macross and the Daedalus, just on the off-chance the Wraith aren't convinced and we really have to destroy the city. If that happens, the injured will be take via ship to the Alpha sites while the rest of us use the gate and activate the self-destruct." Sheppard said.
"Understood sir." Ford said as the two went down to the infirmary to start moving the injured onto the ships.
Time: September 12, 2005. 1100 hours. Location: Atlantis.
The Wraith fleet draws ever nearer and time is running out.
Right now, there is only 100 personal on Atlantis. The injured were sent to the Alpha bases to keep them safe while the rest of the ADF was sent as well. The fleet has all left Moon Base ALUCE and are in orbit around the Alpha Site, save for the Daedalus who is currently on the dark side of Atlantis's second moon with her newly installed cloak thanks to a Puddle Jumper now activated. When the time comes, the Daedalus shall come down and beam a nuke on top of Atlantis's shields. They had done a few experiments and it was found that the Daedalus can beam things without giving away her position.
Moon Base Alpha is safe due to the fact the base has Shadow Devices built into the design, plus it is built pretty far into the moon itself, about 1 kilometer or so to protect it from bombardment.
No one feared for Neo-Macross because there was only slightly more advanced 21 century technology in the city and nothing else, so there was little fear the Wraith would try and steal anything from Neo-Macross.
Teyla and Carson are in the infirmary, with Teyla on her back as they waited for the Wraith to get here. Once they are here, Teyla shall use her powers and connect with the minds of the Wraith to convey the message that they were willing to destroy Atlantis rather then let the Wraith take her. Hopefully they shall buy it and stop firing.
Rodney, Zor, Lang, Zelenka and the other scientists have finished installing the jumpers crystals into Atlantis and are now currently in the control room with a bunch of consoles active and set to monitor radiation levels so that they shall know the exact moment to lower the shields and not kill everyone on the city from radiation poisoning.
Sheppard was currently in the control chair with all of the Drones activated and waiting, ready to destroy a number of the Wraith warships in case they do attack. This should hopefully give the crew enough time to evacuate should the worst happen.
Gloval was currently on-board the Macross which was above the Alpha sight, waiting for word that the plan has either worked or failed.
Just then, 51 hyperspace windows opened up in Lantea's orbit and out came 51 Wraith warships.
Immediately, the Hives and Cruisers took up orbital bombardment positions and began to fire downwards towards Atlantis, the large white-blue bolts of highly charged particles roaring forth and impacting the mighty shields of Atlantis with resounding booms that shook the city.
Thousands of these bolts were hitting the city, creating a incredible sight unlike any other in the universe, as massive balls of orange glowed and then vanished in seconds all over the cities shields.
Teyla heard the booms and the Weir called the infirmary and said, "The Wraith are here. Teyla, it's all up to you."
Teyla nodded and then closed her eyes, focusing on the minds of the Wraith that were now in orbit.
After a few minutes, Teyla found herself on-board one of the Hives, a thin ghostly white fog hovering over everything in sight.
"I am on one of the warships." Teyla said as Carson monitored her vital signs.
Teyla walked a little bit on the ship, trying to find a Wraith commander.
After searching for a bit, she found three of them standing at a series of organic consoles.
"They see me." Teyla said, her heart racing a little faster then usual.
After a few seconds, Teyla shot up from the medical bed, sweat covering her body as she breathed hard.
She then gave a smile and said, "The message is away."
Carson then clicked his communicator and said, "Dr. Weir, the message has been delivered."
In the control room...
"Understood. Let's hope they buy it." Weir said as they waited for the Wraith too stop firing at them.
They didn't have to wait long because after a minute, the Wraith stopped firing at them and the sounds of explosions ceased.
Once they stopped Weir radioed Caldwell and said, "Deploy the nuke."
Caldwell responded with, "Understood. Dr. Novak, send the nuke."
Dr. Novak nodded and then said to Hermiod, "Is the nuke ready?"
"The nuclear weapon is ready and I have disabled the safety protocols for this operation." Hermiod said as he continued to work at his station.
Novak grimaced a little, seems Hermiod really didn't like using Asgard technology this way, but no time to think about that now.
With a click of a button, a single Mk. VII nuclear missile beams away from the Daedalus's armory and was sent down to the planet.
Once down on the planet, a single second after the beaming process was complete the Mk. VII detonated.
With a thunderous roar louder then any weapon save for the main gun of the Macross, the nuke exploded with a monstrous mushroom cloud forming over the city, giant waves forming as well from the tremendous explosion.
Inside the control room, everyone had closed their eyes and hidden their faces in places the extreme levels of light would hurt them while Rodney put on a special pair of glasses that kept his eyes safe from harm.
After the initial burst of light left, the people in the control room moved back to where they were and began to monitor the radiation levels, watching them fall back down now that the explosion was over.
"Rodney." Weir said.
"Just wait a few seconds. If we drop the shields now we will all die. Just give it fifteen seconds." Rodney said as he watched the radiation leave.
This was the trickiest part of the plan, it all came down to timing. Leave the shields up for too long and the whole plan is blown, take them down too soon and everyone on Atlantis dies a horrible death from radiation.
After a little bit Weir then said, "That was definitively more then fifteen seconds."
Rodney then clicked a button and a whooshing noise as heard from everyone before Rodney then said, "We are now cloaked."
"How can you tell?" Weir asked.
"The Wraith are scanning for us." Rodney whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" Weir asked.
"Well it seemed like the prudent thing to do." Rodney said.
The ADF then waited, watching their sensors for anything from the Wraith, who were scanning for the ancient city.
Suddenly Rodney said, "They're moving out of the Lantea's orbit and they are powering their hyperdrives. They're leaving."
Sure enough, the Wraith Cruisers and Hives were slowly leaving Lantea's atmosphere and quickly entered hyperspace, leaving the planet.
"Well I am going to keep the cloak up for a few hours, but, I think we are in the clear finally." Rodney said, a sense of relief and joy entering his soul.
His sentiments were shared by all of the ADF who were on Atlantis, all of them cheering and shouting in joy that they had lived to see another day.
After a few hours, the cities cloak was deactivated and the glorious sight of Atlantis was revealed to all.
Atlantis had gone through the hell once more, but the brave men and women who call her home had come out the other side alive. Battered, beaten, but not defeated. Not by a long shot.
The ADF has now contacted Earth and reestablished contact with their home.
Change is coming, for the ADF shall recover, lick their wounds and then they shall come after the Wraith with twice the fury as before.
The Wraith-Human war has only just begun.
And that is that!
The end of the first arc in this story.
We finally got to see the Daedalus, the siege has ended, the improved Drones were finally fired and finally, we got to see the Pendragon in action for the first time, if however briefly it was.
The next chapter shall deal with how the ADF and the SGC will deal with working with one another, considering how different the two groups are two one another.
As for the Pendragon, no one guessed correctly what the Pendragon is based off of, so I am going to tell you guys.
Drum roll!
It is the VF-25 Messiah, one of my favorite mecha designs of all time. I just love how the Messiah looked, moved, fought, it was just so awesome. It also looked like a natural evolution of Veritech design and so I choose it to be the next generation of Veritech fighters now that Stargate tech is available to the RDF.
There won't be any more designs from either Robotech or Macross for the next generation of Destroids however, those are all from my own demented mind.
This is the end of season one and we shall now be moving into season two, that's were things really get insane.
And with that all done, if you have any comments, criticisms, or concerns, P.M. or leave a review, always appreciated.
Until next time, this is StrikeFreedom10, signing off.
PLUS ULTRA!