Author note: as always, I thank all my readers and reviewers.
Flight
Altera Galaxy.
Space...
The cosmic void, almost infinite in extent where only a few scattered particles and atoms crossed, was like a desert separating tiny oasis of life, the stars, and their planets. On this black velvet sown with stellar diamonds, gas draperies were contorting very slowly, nebulae where stars were pulsating in formation.
This spectacle seemed to be bathed in an unalterable serenity.
Suddenly...
Bluish energy projectiles crossed the cosmos catching two Wraith's Darts. The techno-organic fighters transformed into balls of burning gas, throwing debris in all directions.
Their winners passed the plasma spheres in the process of cooling. It was two fighters of a model never seen in the Milky Way or the Pegasus Galaxy. Oval in shape, made of silver metal, with an ovoid cockpit of a glass-like material housing a seemingly human pilot. At the back, a half-ring was broken in its middle by an energy sphere... The similarities with the propulsion mode of the Ori's Mothership were sufficient to infer that they had the same manufacturers.
The Ori's Fighters were being pursued by other Darts and maneuvered to avoid the shots, turning brutally before engaging in a double Immelmann. The pilots were much more competent than the Wraiths soldiers and they piloted starfighters both more powerful and more agile. They had no trouble positioning themselves within the six hours of their enemies. Again, they fired. Their nose-mounted pulse weapon spewing blued energy projectiles... and two more fighters disintegrate.
Hundreds of spacefighters were spinning in all directions like swarms of angry wasps. New squadrons were continually taking off to throw themselves into battle. The space was streaked with pulse weapons shot and fighters exploded at every moment.
The peace of the cosmos was only an illusion. Here too war reigned as a cruel tyrant.
The room was dark and irregularly shaped. The walls and ceiling seemed to be made of decaying organs. As if to make the place even more sinister, a grey fog hid the ground.
Apart from a few spotlights in the ceiling that struggled to dissipate the darkness, most of the light came from a spherical hologram in the center of the room. Three techno-organic consoles surrounded the holopod. The Wraiths working there seemed to be in a trance. Unlike any computer system used by other known species, which required the pressing of buttons, they used a neural interface.
Like the other Wraiths present on the bridge, the space vampire that the Tau'ri had named 'Todd' looked like... an albino (!) musician belonging to a Scandinavian Heavy Metal group.
Being nyctalope, he was not bothered by the dim ambient light and he looked at the yellowish hologram with attention. His hands moved on the console covered with sticky mucus to touch contact areas that corresponded to different sections of the huge Hive Ship.
To give you an idea of the size of a Wraith's Hive Ship, know that Todd had just ordered the three cruisers carried by the city ship to leave their hangars and attack the two Ori's Mothership who were chasing them. Although these cruisers were considered to be mere auxiliary ships, they were three times the size of a Goa'uld's Ha'tak (1).
Grouped in a triangle, the three cruisers were intercepted by squadrons of Ori fighters who came to bombe them. Throwing swarms of Darts to protect themselves, the Wraiths approached the two enemy spaceships. But...
On the hologram, one of the strange ring-shaped ships had just fired a ray represented as a thick yellow line. The head cruiser was hit and the organic computer of the Hive Ship signaled it by making appear around her several flashing circles. Manipulating his console, one of the Wraiths' deck officers incrusted a schematic of the cruiser in the main hologram. The ship appeared with several sectors in red, which meant that she had received critical damage.
"Cruiser 1 damaged" signaled unnecessarily the third Wraith. "The main weapon of the Ori is an energy beam of unknown nature... the weapon is very powerful and its pointing system must be very accurate."
As if to confirm this analysis, the second Ori Mothership opened fire. Although Cruiser 3 was maneuvering to avoid danger, the deathray strikes her, piercing her through, and inflicting significant harm.
"Don't confront the enemy face to face, maneuver and get behind them," Todd ordered.
Once the cruisers arrived at firing range, they followed the instructions of their leader, remaining out of sight of the main weapon. The space between the five ships was soon streaked with bluish energy projectiles. Alas...
"The enemy ships' shields are comparable to a city-ship shield. Our shots crash on it without causing any damage!"
Todd had excellent control of his nerves. However, he was quite angry and an expression of fury was inscribed on his face. Provided these ships have a sufficiently powerful source of energy - and given the dazzling sphere burning in the ring at the center of the Ori's Mothership, the Wraith did not doubt it- the cruisers could no doubt spend the rest of the week firing on these spaceships without succeeding in sinking their shields.
Todd concentrated to give a mental order and a flat oval-shaped hologram appeared above his console. The yellowish image showed the fight as filmed by one of the cruisers. The shots were hitting the shield of one of the ring-shaped ships... without conclusive result. However... the Wraith's leader made appear a schematic of one of the cruisers... many sections were already in orange or red, indicating significant damage and these areas extended quickly. The Wraiths ships were known for their resistance but they were not indestructible. The outcome of this fight was obvious.
Todd sighed.
"Let the cruisers disperse and try to escape each on their own."
Hopefully, the Ori would chase the cruisers and the Hive Ship could escape, but Todd had little hope that this would happen. During the attack of the cruisers, the two enemy ships relentlessly continued to pursue them.
It took less than half a minute to confirm Todd's fears, the two ships did not deviate from their trajectory... quickly catching up with his flagship. They would soon be within range. Behind the first two opponents, two others followed. And further away, the sensors detected seven Ori's Motherships. Not to mention their enemies continued to call for reinforcements.
One of Todd's assistants looked up from his console.
"The Sirius slows down and changes course. She... She turns back."
The second deputy spoke.
"We're receiving a communication from the Sirius."
"Accept the communication."
A holographic window appeared, revealing a middle-aged human male, smiling mockingly.
Mechanically, Todd replied with an almost identical smile.
"John Sheppard... did you forget something when you left in a flash?"
The U.S. Air Force lieutenant-colonel laughs softly.
"Yes, a ship filled with Wraiths!"
Todd shook his head, feigning resignation.
"You could have fled by sacrificing me... must you be an irredeemable naive! Have you already forgotten that we are at war?"
"I know a Wraith who refused to leave the world where the Genii had imprisoned him without his cellmate. And then..." John leaned forward and hid his mouth before murmuring... "the commander of the Sirius may be a Replicator, but she's a big softie."
Todd turned to his two deputies.
"Our allies come to our rescue!"
The sole issue was that they had to survive until the Asuran arrived... and this was not guaranteed given the power of the Ori.
Huge, heavily armed, and armored, the Wraith's Hive Ship was a bit like a World War I battleship. Slow, unmaneuverable, she wasn't made for speed.
Created by a more technologically advanced civilization, the Ori's Motherships benefited from a better mass/ thrusters' power ratio.
They also had a weapon with a better range. A few seconds apart the two pursuers' ships fired with their main weapon.
The immense techno-organic vessel trembled as deep craters with melted edges were dug into her hull yet as resistant as trinium.
"Re-route all available energy to speed up the regeneration of the Outer Hull" ordered Todd.
The Wraiths may not have the most advanced technology in the known universe, but they had created incredibly strong ships. Hive Ships had struck planets at full speed... While the whole crew had perished because of the violence of the shock, the ship had survived and cured herself, recovering all her functions in a few days.
Todd was confident. It would take more than a few shots of the Ori's Main Weapon to destroy his ship. However, as his response took the form of a rain of bluish projectiles formed by energy particles, the leader of the Wraith pinched his lips under the effect of frustration. The weapons of a Hive Ship were much more powerful than those of a cruiser. Nevertheless, it would take a long time to fully deplete their shield's energy... too much time. Other enemy ships were chasing them.
"Commander, I've discovered a weak point that can be exploited."
Todd turned to his subordinate.
"A defect?"
"Look."
The hologram showing the current confrontation was replaced by a diagram of an Ori's Mothership. Todd could see the energy concentrate on the central dish at the front of the ship then the main Weapon fired. Around the 3D image of the enemy ship the shield quickly lost power during the shot, starting regenerating only after the end of the shot.
"The Mothership Main Weapon mobilizes all available energy to fire... draining all other systems of the ship."
With his hand on the surface of the neural interface, Todd concentrated on questioning the computer.
"Interesting! Between the beginning of the system's drainage and the end of the shot, it takes 35 seconds. The moment when the shield is most weakened corresponds to the shot itself."
Todd thinks for a few seconds, and then he smiles... the smile of a predator.
"The Ori gave us such a warm welcome; we can't leave the party without giving them a nice present."
The battle involved three massive cosmic titans, each as large as an Earth's city. They fought fiercely using weapons capable of delivering impacts of several thousand megatons. Todd's Hive Ship suddenly released several hundred Darts, which were completely ignored by the Ori. It was common for spacefighters to be viewed as insignificant in battles between such space behemoths. Nevertheless, Todd imagined a plan in which the Darts played a critical role. They were chosen to destroy an Ori's Mothership.
While most of the Darts were reinforcing the squadrons attacking the enemy fighters, ten of them targeted a Mothership. Unsurprisingly, the ship's defenses completely ignored these insects. Shortly after, the ring-shaped vessel fired a golden beam at the Wraith's Hive Ship. The deathray sank deep into the stern of the ship, digging a melted crater, and causing significant damage that would have been enough to destroy a less resilient vessel.
At the same time, the ten fighter crafts activated their Culling beams.
A Culling beam was a Wraith beaming device, the equivalent of an Asgard Transporter Beam. Of course, the device was named so by the Tau'ri because the Wraiths used it mainly to capture humans. But the imagination of their users was the only real limit to its usage. For example, the Wraiths also used the Culling beam to hold in the buffer memory troops or passengers that they could drop at a location of their choice. It could even play a role equivalent to an ejection seat... since the system could also remove the pilot from his seat and transport him in safely if the Dart was seriously damaged.
It was just one of those cases where the Darts didn't come to take something. As Todd had mockingly said, they came to bring 'gifts'.
Seven of the Culling beams could not get through the shield of the Ori's Mothership because, even weakened, it remained active. But three of the 'gifts' were re-materialized in the thruster sector.
They were quite massive objects in the form of eggs, with an organic aspect. The upper part was orange and appeared gelatinous, while the lower part was covered with blue scales like the skin of a snake.
The Tau'ri would have immediately identified these objects, they were plasma bombs.
The stern of the Ori's Mothership exploded instantly. This caused the collapse of the containment fields that held in place the huge sphere of plasma that served as a generator. It expanded and destroyed the front of the ship less than three seconds after the first explosion, almost merging with it.
The Priors who commanded the Ori fleet had misjudged the Wraiths. They thought that these aliens were inferior technologically, and therefore not dangerous.
The Priors obviously did not know that the Ancients had made the same mistake...
Because, ironically, the Wraiths had succeeded where the Ori had always failed: to destroy the Ancients.
A few hours later, aboard the Sirius.
The room was typical of the Lantean aesthetic. The walls were made of orange metal, with shiny silver pillars supporting wall sconces from which a pleasant light emanated. In the center, a large rectangular table, also metallic, allowed ten people to sit.
This conference room was located near the bridge. Somewhat uncomfortable, Hakuno Kishinami presided over the session sitting at the end of a table in a comfortable chair. The Last Master of the Moon would have been without such an honor. Created to be an NPC in the background of the Moon Cell Grail War, she would probably never feel comfortable in the role of leader... the fact that she is a great talent strategist didn't change anything. Hakuno didn't like to talk and had a non-assertive personality.
The other conference participants were the Asgard Fenrir (present only as a hologram, his body was still trapped in a stasis chamber), Todd the Wraiths' Leader and two of his subordinates, as well as members of AR-1: the Athosian Teyla Emmagan, the Satedan Ronnon Dex, the Tau'ri John Sheppard.
The last member of Atlantis Reconnaissance 1, the Tau'ri Rodney McKay was standing with his tablet in hand and commented on a hologram showing a clash between an Ori's Mothership and an Aurora-class Lantean Battleship.
"... that's when the Sirius arrived. The Ori ship immediately turned her full attention to us, completely neglecting the Hive Ship."
On the holographic screen, the two huge ships had begun to maneuver, exchanging energy projectiles. Their shields were flashing and vibrating but still stable, proving the excellence of their defenses. Arrived in good position, the Ori's Mothership used her main weapon, striking the Sirius at the bow. Around the area splashed by the stream of burning energy, the shield (usually translucent, almost invisible) appeared in the form of a dark brown mist that tightly enveloped the hull.
"I must say," McKay continued. "That I was very worried at the idea of the Sirius approaching within firing range of a Mothership Main Gun."
Pressing several buttons on his tablet, the unbearable Canadian scientist includes tables with graphs and figures in the holographic projection of the confrontation.
"As these measurements prove, the Ori are using an extraordinarily powerful weapon, I must even say that it is the most powerful ship-mounted energy weapon we (the Tau'ri) have encountered so far. Yet... "
In the sphere of the holographic screen, the translucent representation of the Sirius had not suffered any damage and was responding, sending Drones' salvo that hit the transparent bubble surrounding the enemy ship.
"... our ship has withstood the fire without difficulty."
Hakuno tilted her head.
"ZPM?"
Teyla turned to the Wraiths to play the role of translator.
"The High Councilor Kishinami means that the shield of the Sirius draws its energy from a ZPM and regenerates much faster than a shield connected to any other source of energy."
Without seeming to notice the Athosian's intervention, McKay replied to the Japanese teenager.
"It is probably part of the ZPM that the shield has taken this attack so well, but this is not the real answer." He paused for a few seconds to think about how to present his findings. "When the Asgards installed improvements on board the Daedalus, our very first spacecraft, we were amazed at the intrinsic qualities of their shields." McKay nodded at Fenrir who listened, blinking slowly his big black eyes. "Even powered by the same energy source (Naquadah's generators) the Asgard shields were much more stable than the Goa'uld shields we used before. Yet, upon our arrival on Atlantis, we discovered that the City ship-class energy shields created by the Ancients, similar to those used by the Ori, were even more stable and resistant than the Asgard models. Imagine our surprise when we investigated the wreck of the Aurora, a ship of the same class as the Sirius. The ship's shields operated on a completely different principle and were fundamentally less resistant. Why would the Lanteans install less powerful shields on their ships? It made no sense."
Ronon Dex looked concerned and stopped swinging from his chair.
"Are you saying that the Sirius shields are ineffective?" he asked, pointing at the hologram. The battle was still raging on. The Ori's Warship was being dismantled by internal explosions as swarms of drones penetrated through holes in the hull of the ring-shaped vessel. They ravaged the interior, emerged on the other side, and then turned to attack again, targeting a part of the ship that was still intact. The Sateadan smirked mockingly.
""Me, I had the impression that our lovely Hakuno laid the Ori on her laps and spanked them!"
Without looking up from his tablet, Rodney touched icons on the screen and replied, "The truth comes out of the mouths of Neanderthal men. In most situations, the Sirius shields are actually less effective than the ones used by the Ori's Warship because they were developed specifically to counter a specific weapon: the Ori Energy Beam Weapon."
Rodney glanced up to gauge the reaction to his revelation, but the people there were simply listening politely and did not show any surprise. The only person to intervene was Hakuno, the Victor of the Moon Cell's Grail War, who nodded sharply. To her, it was obvious. After an initial fight against an opponent, it's necessary to take measures to counter their strengths.
"Ori, enemies of the ancients."
In the holographic 3D projection, the Ori Warship had lost her shields and was being ravaged by continuous explosions. Suddenly, the central sphere wobbled and went out as the ship broke in two.
Rodney continued to comment on the battle.
"... As we turned back to help the Hive Ship, the two nearest Ori's Motherships passed us. Their plan was probably to block our escape route and hold us back until the last seven warships catch up."
The Canadian turned to Hakuno.
"Fortunately, our commander understood the enemy movement and although she was already busy protecting the Hive Ship, she sent all the Puddle Jumpers ahead... cloaked... by the most direct route."
The hologram showed the interception of the fleeing Sirius by the pair of Ori ships being filmed by one of the Jumpers. The two Ori Warships were firing on the Aurora-class Battleship and the Hive Ship, while the latter were retaliating. Suddenly, the Asuran's small crafts cut their cloaking devices... According to Kishinami's orders, they had positioned themselves behind the Motherships. The Drone salvos they launched before becoming invisible again crossed the enemy defenses, targeting... the shield generator of both ships.
As the transparent bubbles surrounding the two Warships were extinguished, the Sirius and the Hive Ship focused their fire. The Asuran starship only used her pulse-weapon turrets to save her almost depleted Drones supply.
Without shields, the Ori ships were easy targets.
McKay manipulated his tablet again and ended the projection.
"Well, I'm not going to show you the rest of the fight, you've seen it before. The Good Guys won like in any US TV show."
The holographic projector flashes for a few moments before projecting a well-recognizable image: a squid-like thing with numerous tentacles.
"For those who have never seen one, it's a Lantrean's Drone. It is a fast, highly maneuverable weapon that can dodge defensive fire from an opponent, target a specific system in an enemy spaceship, navigate through the passageways, and destroy all obstacles thanks to the shield that surrounds it."
The image changed to show an activated Drone. The projectile was wrapped in yellow light and whirled, turning, maneuvering between Darts and Ori's fighters.
"We forgot it a little because we have mostly faced the Wraiths since we arrived in Pegasus, but the Drones were mainly designed to bypass shields."
"Correct," said Todd. "It is precisely to avoid being vulnerable to the Lantean Drones that our ships are equipped with hulls capable of healing their wounds rather than shields."
Teyla Emmagan frowned.
"I have the impression that we have already had a similar explanation some time ago. The Drones surround themselves with a shield whose frequency is of an amplitude inverse to that of the shield they want to cross, right?"
Sheppard answered, ahead of McKay.
"Yes, I remember. At the time when... uh..." John turned to Hakuno and gave her a look of apology. "... Kishinami was our 'guest,' the Pegasus Replicators came to pay us a visit by exploiting this same vulnerability (2)"
Slightly annoyed that he was no longer in the spotlight, McKay silenced the discussion by speaking very loudly.
"I will quickly explain how the Drones work."
"It's really necessary," asked a bored Ronon Dex.
"Yes, there is something you need to understand."
The Canadian scientist, using his tablet, projected a 3D drawing of a Puddle Jumper with unfolded Drone launcher pods. The shuttle fired two Drones, one for each pod.
"When a Jumper fires on an unknown ship, the Drones are launched with minimal programming."
The image was replaced by a diagram of a drone.
"The tiny brain of the Drone analyzes the information it receives from sensors located in the front part. These sensors measure the frequency of the target shields. Of course, this analysis is rarely successful on the first attempt but as the drone remains in contact with the Jumper until its destruction, the second burst of Drones benefits from the experience of the first salvo."
Until then, Fenrir would just listen. But the Asgard suddenly intervened.
"Although no shield uses exactly the same frequency to avoid interference, each shield model operates in a specific frequency band. The frequency difference between two Asgard shields is in the order of a few decimals while an Asguard shield oscillates at a frequency three times higher than a Goa'uld shield. Because Lantean firing computers know the frequency range used by a city-ship shield, the chances of success of a shot against this type of shield are much higher."
McKay stood with his finger up, mouth open before looking furiously at Fenrir.
"That's exactly what I was going to say." the scientist pressed an icon on his tablet and the holographic image changed, showing again the diagram of a Puddle Jumper. Red sparks were circulating in the wiring, symbolizing the data that the firing computer sent to both Drone launcher pods. "Although I hate to be interrupted, Fenrir is right. Before launching a Drone against an identified opponent, the firing computer programs the projectile, providing it with the internal plans of the ship so that it can navigate through the corridors and target vulnerable points. Of course, among this data, the computer provides the Drone with the frequency ranges used by the opponent's shields."
There was a pause during which Rodney looked at each person present as if he challenged them to contradict his explanation. Annoyed that he had been forced to listen to a blah-blah incomprehensible to him, Ronon turned his head back and yawned, stretching out like a bear coming out of hibernation.
"Well, what does that mean, egghead?"
Hakuno answered in the Canadian's place.
"Shield designed to stop Ori Main Weapon. Drones designed to pass through Ori's Shields. Not a coincidence. Aurora-class Battleship constructed to destroy Ori Warship."
"All this is of course very interesting, but it does not solve our main problem. We escaped the Ori and fled into this uninhabited planetary system. But the Priors will hunt us down and destroy us," said Todd. "The Sirius has an intergalactic-class hyperdrive and a ZPM. But my Hive Ship has only an interstellar-class hyperdrive. You can leave now that you have finished the inspection of your propulsion, but we are condemned to die here! You can't take us all on board. There's not enough stasis pod, and because of the life support limitations, all of us will die from lack of oxygen even before leaving this galaxy even assuming there is enough space for the entire crew to board the Sirius. "
McKay smiled.
"Luckily I'm a genius and I've already fixed this problem. All I need is your Darts, more precisely their beaming devices."
Fenrir's hologram slowly folded his eyes and his nostrils slightly pinched.
"Simple and elegant solution, Dr. McKay."
Teyla, Ronon, and Sheppard exchanged uncomprehending looks.
"What's he saying?"
"The Darts?"
"I don't understand what Rodney wants to do; the Darts don't have a sufficient range to reach Pegasus."
Rodney McKay raised his hands to the sky.
"My God, why have you imposed such idiots on me?!"
"Held hands and passengers in the buffer of the Culling devices," said Hakuno. "Take the devices aboard the Sirius. Return to Pegasus."
McKay agreed with the Japanese teen and interpreted her words for those unfamiliar with her telegraphic style.
"It was not a difficult problem to solve. Just collect the Darts' Beaming devices and connect them to the Sirius power grid. Then, all we need to do is dematerialize the Hive's crew members and stock them in the Culling devices' buffer memory. This way, we can bring back all of them without worrying about the oxygen they breathe, water, food... especially the food" the Canadian shuddered thinking about what the Wraiths were eating "or the limited space on board."
Delmak, Milky Way galaxy
The capital of Apophis Dominion had been ravaged for several days by fierce fighting in orbit and on the planet's surface.
Although victorious in the battle against Apophis' fleet, Ba'al was reluctant to approach within range of the formidable space defenses surrounding Delmak, a huge fortified satellite and numerous combat Ha'tak. Although he wishes to send reinforcements to his troops fighting around the Chappa'ai (stargate) the Phoenician god impersonator feared falling into another trap of the Serpent King.
As the Death Gliders rushed towards each other and the Al'kesh bombers began to drop plasma bombs on the shields of the space station... alarms started to sound.
A third force had just been detected.
Five modernized Combat Ha'tak... plus Anubis Mothership!
In the Delmak system, several squadrons of the Phoenix Alliance were waiting for the right moment to intervene. The fleet was formed by a coalition of several nations. It consisted of three O'Neill-class and two Bilskirnir-class ships from the Asgards, four Combat Ha'tak ships from the Free Jaffa, and a BC-304 (USS Odyssey) from the Tau'ri. Thor, the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet, was observing the situation with interest but remained passive for the time being. He was waiting for the arrival of the USS Prometheus, as the starship carried SG-1 and another challenging mission awaited them.
Note: All explanations given in this chapter about the operation of the Ancient Drones are considered to be accurate within the fictional universe. However, the idea that the shield of the Lantean ships is specifically designed to block the Ori's Warship's main Weapon is not part of the official storyline. The fact that the Aurora-class Battleships were equipped with a shield less powerful than the shield of the city ship always seems illogical to me. I have imagined several potential explanations, such as these shields being cheaper to produce or the shield generators being too large for a Battleship, but these assumptions are contradicted by other elements of the lore. For example, the Ancients always use the best equipment at their disposal and seem indifferent to notions such as price/ performance ratio, and Atlantis City's shield generator occupies only one floor of the central tower. The only logical explanation is that these shields are more resistant than the City ship-class shield against a certain type of threat. This threat is certainly not the Wraiths (the first Aurora-class Battleship was built before the first encounters with the Wraiths as a long-range exploration ship). And what is the main enemy of the Lanteans before they meet the Wraiths? The Ori. And what is the most powerful weapon of the Ori?
(1) Combat Ha'tak: Length 700 meters; width 650 meters; height/ deep 315 meters. Wraith Cruiser: Length 2,500 meters; width 1,500 meters. Although considered 'medium-sized' ships in the Wraith fleet, the Cruisers are comparable to the Anubis' Mothership (Length 2,500 meters; width 1,200 meters). Readers still underestimate the Wraiths, forgetting that these space vampires have the largest ships in the Stargate universe.
(2) Chapter 5: "From bad to worse".