The fleet of Lucian Alliance ships were four hours out from Earth.
O'Neill asking, "McKay is the shield going to be up around the Earth or not?"
"I don't know, it's going to be close. We're still making adjustments." shouted Rodney.
O'Neill moving to a balcony and looking out over the piers. If only this had been in another two months, a BC-306 would be ready. Instead they had five ships, and two city ships going against thirty three Ha'taks, 127 Al'kesh and an Ori ship. The Ori ship seriously changed things. It was decided that General O'Neill would take the Atlantis Command Chair for the battle instead of Dr. Beckett, who was much relieved.
With thirty minutes left to go, O'Neill asked McKay, "Do we have a planet shield or not?"
"Right now we don't have any shields. We're adjusting them to cover the planet." replied McKay.
"Wait Atlantis doesn't have shields?" shouted O'Neill.
"No we have to realign the shield emitters to cover the Earth." answered McKay.
"You better get me shields in the next twenty five minutes." shouted O'Neill.
"More like forty minutes." replied McKay.
"Forty minutes and this battle will be decided!" shouted O'Neill.
As O'Neill expected fifteen minute until the Lucian fleet would arrive, an new blimp on the sensors. An Ori Warship incoming expected in twenty minutes. O'Neill went to take position in the Command Chair, the Asgard had adjusted the chair to be able to communicate with the Ships, and Pacifica Chair as well.
"This is Gen. O'Neill in Atlantis Command Chair, everyone please report." O'Neill ordered.
Sheppard was first, "Sheppard in Pacifica Chair, we're ready to drop in behind the fleet to corner them."
"Hammond here sir behind with the Apollo ready to maneuver into position." replied Carter.
"Daedalus here behind the moon sir." replied Lorne.
Ellis replied, "Apollo ready here with the Hammond sir."
"F-302's are in ready sir." came Mitchell.
"The Beckett is ready." came Sol.
Emerson last, "Odyssey here with Daedalus sir. Give the word."
"Caldwell here from Pacifica operations." replied Caldwell.
"Landry here as well from Atlantis operations." replied Landry
"Atlantis doesn't have shields currently and we don't have the shields up for Earth yet either. Waiting on McKay. Target the Ha'taks first., the Ori ship is about 5 minutes behind the rest. Keep them away from Earth as much as you can." ordered O'Neill, "Pacifica you jump in behind the Ori ship when it arrives, they will not be expecting you."
"Yes Sir." replied Sheppard.
"How is McKay doing? We need that sheild." asked O'Neill.
"He is extremely busy. I don't think we're going to get any response from him right now." replied McKay.
Time moves slowly for everyone but McKay. Five minutes before the fleet should dropout of Hyperspace.
"McKay any updates?" asked O'Neill.
"Just a minute." shouted McKay.
One minute remaining, Jack could sense the Ori ship still about five minutes out. The fleet would be dropping from hyperspace any time now.
"Mckay!" shouted O'Neill.
"Just a minute!" shouted McKay.
"We don't have a minute!" shouted O'Neill.
The first ship an Al'kesh dropped out of hyperspace. Then a several others, finally the Ha'tak started appearing. Taking another thirty seconds before they all dropped out, one hundred and sixty ships just appeared over the Earth.
"All ships into positions!" ordered O'Neill.
Daedalus and Odyssey jumped in covering one flank, Apollo and Hammond covering the other flank. Last was the Adgard ship Beckett appearing behind the Lucian Alliance.
O'Neill using the communicator, "Kiva, this Gen. O'Neill of the Tau'ri we are prepared to discuss your surrender."
Kiva responding, "Our surrender, we are here to accept yours. Your five ships to my one hundred and sixty."
"Aren't you forgetting one?" teased O'Neill.
"All the more reason for you to surrender." replied Kiva.
"Not going to happen." replied O'Neill.
Sensors indicated the Ha'taks were preparing to fire.
"Fire at will" replied O'Neill, "Sending a stream of drones up from Atlantis."
"McKay I need shields now!" shouted O'Neill.
"Just a second!" shouted McKay.
Daedalus, Apollo, and Odyssey targeted six of the Ha'taks each firing a volley of Mark IV Phase Missiles. Hammond was more selective in their targeting, before firing on six Ha'taks, taking out eight Ha'taks and additional Al'kesh. Drones were hitting the Al'kesh and decimating them. Here came the Death gliders, a few who managed to launch from the Ha'taks that were destroyed, and the waves from the surviving Ha'taks.
"Launch F-302s" ordered Caldwell.
The remaining Ha'taks were taking evasive maneuvers, making the use of missiles difficult. Three Ha'taks were maneuvering to target Atlantis to stop the drones. Hammond and Apollo were able to destroy one with their plasma beams.
O'Neill monitoring the sensors, could see the Ori ship almost nearly there, "Now Pacifica!"
The Ori warship dropped out of hyperspace, began to target Atlantis. Pacifica dropped out of Hyperspace behind the Ori ship.
"Hyperspace Jammers up!" ordered Caldwell.
The F-302s were targeting the gliders, out maneuvering them and quickly reducing their numbers. The massive attack on the Ha'taks had greatly diminished their numbers.
"McKay shields now!" shouted O'Neill.
McKay clicking a few buttons, as the Atlantis shield enveloped Earth, as the Ori primary weapon struck. The story the next day would be an asteroid exploding in the atmosphere over the Pacific.
McKay sighing, "That was close."
Sheppard opened a volley of drones on the Ori warship while Jack did the same from Atlantis turning the Ori ship to swiss cheese. Daedalus and Hammond targeted the Ori ship and fired their Asgard plasma weapons. The Ori ship was destroyed taking several Al'kesh with it.
Atlantis and Pacifica used their drones to target the remaining Ha'taks, and destroyed them. Sol from the Beckett, had been beaming occupants of the Al'Kesh they had caught trying to flew into a brig, and then targeting their ships to be destroyed.
O'Neill in an open communication to all ships in the area, "Lucian Alliance you are defeated, you can not escape to hyperspace we have blocked hyperspace here. Bring your ships to a stop, power off the engines and weapons, to surrender."
Over forty Al'kesh were still fighting. One Al'kesh pulled up in front of the Beckett and powered down weapons, and engines, the Lucian Alliance member piloting it was named Varro. Five others came to a stop and powered down. The others continued fighting or attempting to get away. Apollo, Daedalus, Hammond, Beckett and Odyssey began picking off the remaining ships not surrendering. The Beckett beamed the individuals from the surrendering craft to the brig, before destroying their ships.
Fifteen minutes after the first ship dropped from Hyperspace the battle was over. Twenty seven captives, held by the Asgard on the Beckett, were being transported to Pacifica, where they would be placed in the brig. The remaining ships were busy cleaning up the debris. Everyone was breathing a sigh of relief. Debris was collected and deposited on the back side of the moon. They would have to do something about that, or risk turning the moon into a junkyard. Pacifica returned to it's normal location, ships docked to resupply on missiles.
The next day O'Neill called for a senior staff meeting. Caldwell, Landry, Davis, Mitchell, Sheppard, Teal'c, Woolsey, McKay, Miller, Thor Beckett and all the ship captains were present.
"We survived another one. However that was close McKay." spoke O'Neill.
McKay nodding, "We need to make some adjustments to the shield emitters so we can shift the shields from city to planet, they have to be rotated and it's precise."
"Work with Sgt. Siler and make happen. I don't want that to happen again." ordered O'Neill, "Dr. Miller how did the N.I.G. handle the blast we took to the shields?"
"Even stretching the shields to cover the planet, we registered a 20% drop in shield strength, but that was quickly recharged. I'd like to work with Rodney and Zalenka to make some adjustments to the shield emitters I think we can make them stronger on the planet scale." replied Miller.
"Absolutely, I'll always choose better shields." replied O'Neill, "I'd like to commend Earth Force for our first time out in force. You all performed remarkably well."
"Shame we had to destroy the Ori ship. I do believe there are a few advances we could learn from it." replied Caldwell.
"Gen. Landry now that we are settling into a routine, please make sure your teams have their ears open about any Ori ships we can investigate." replied O'Neil.
"Sir I think I know where there might me one." informed Mitchell.
O'Neill shocked, "Where?"
"The Ori home galaxy we know several were being built." replied Mitchell, "Plus we know there is a lot of tech there."
"Good point, Mitchell we'll discuss that further down the road." replied O'Neill, "One problem I did notice, we do not have people who are very adapt at the command chair. Col. Lorne, Col. Sheppard, Dr. Beckett and myself, we need to find others. We may not be able to send Sheppard to the other side of the sun to take the chair in Pacifica, and rest of us may not be available as well. Beckett I want tests run on everyone to see who has the gene and who doesn't."
Beckett, "Yes sir."
"Also I want a simulator chair designed for training purposes, so those with the gene can do training. McKay can you get someone on that?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes Dr. Lee would be a good candidate." replied McKay.
Caldwell spoke up, "Sir, another thing, we need a medical staff. May I suggest Dr. Lam."
"Gen. Landry here will speak to her and OK, the transfer, as he is taking the command over the city, with Col. Davis reporting to him." replied O'Neill.
"Thank you Sir!" replied Landry.
"I will still operate here, overseeing both Pacifica and Atlantis." smiled O'Neill, "Dr. Miller, and Dr. McKay and their departments will be reporting directly to me."
Caldwell stated, "I've been reviewing the battle from yesterday. I have a few comments to make. Col. Carter the Hammond wsa noticeably behind firing it's missiles with the first wave, as I noted you selected your targets to be able to strike multiple targets at once. We need to train our tactical officers to do this as well, in addition to being able to coordinate among a group of ships in particular battle."
"The Asgard have employed a similar coordinated attack strategy among our ships. I could adapt a system to work with your ships." informed Thor.
"That would be perfect. Second thing I noticed the F-302 can deliver a significant dent to an Al'kesh, we need to upgrade the F-302s to be able to take a hit better, and strike harder." replied Caldwell.
"Another thing General I would add to that, is launching from Earth to space takes us longer to join the fight. Might be a good idea to have a bay on Pacifica that could launch a number of F-302s in addition to the Battle Carriers." explained Mitchell.
"What do I do with the prisoners?" asked Caldwell.
"The I.O.A. is trying to sort that out. Ginn will be staying here." replied O'Neill, "She would be in danger if they ever find out she was the one who provided us with the intel."
"O'Neill, Daniel Jackson and myself learned from her there was another member of the Lucian Alliance would likely cooperate. His name is Varro." informed Teal'c.
Woolsey looking over a roster of the prisoners, "Yes we have him. She thinks he has valuable information he would share?"
"Indeed." stated Teal'c.
"Have him brought here for interogation, Gen. Caldwell." ordered O'Neill.
"Yes sir." replied Caldwell.
"Last thing if nobody else has anything. Thank Vala Mal Doran, her thinking saved us. Without her we would have lost D.C. for sure." informed O'Neill.
"About that General, she is wanting an all expense paid trip to Vegas, as a thank you." informed Landry.
"I'll mention that to the President." replied O'Neill.