O'Neill sitting in his office was relieved that Ares had reached Pacifica, and waiting on a report from Col. Ellis. When his ship tracker suddenly showed Ares a few light years away from P3X-118. A message incoming from Ares read:
Immediate Action Required, Ares ship trojan horse. Mimic aliens have mimicked the Ares.
Col. Sheppard on Pacifica received the same message at the same time as O'Neill. Col. Sheppard looked around and saw Col. Ellis approaching with five of his crewmen. Leaning over to the Lieutenant stationed in the command center, he ordered the Mimic Frequency burst over the station. Col. Ellis flickered along with his five crewmen, and three other officers scattered around the gate area. Immediately they drew weapons and fired what appeared to be a pistol, but produced a white burst of energy.
Diving behind the equipment to avoid the blast Sheppard opened his communicator to station-wide, "All personal the red alert the Ares is carrying the mimic aliens, we have a foothold situation. Defend your areas!"
Subsequent blasts hit the control console, and the lights dimmed.
"Well I guess we won't be using the frequency again," replied Sheppard, "Follow me, Lieutenant!"
They ran behind walls making their way to the nearest transporter. Diving in Sheppard activated the transporter to take them to the transporter nearest the control chair.
"What's your name Lieutenant?" asked Sheppard.
"Lt. Masterson," replied Masterson.
"First name?" asked Sheppard.
"John," replied Masterson.
"Hey, good name. Now have you been in this kind of situation before?" asked Sheppard.
"Yes Teal'c and Ronon's training," said Masterson, who activated his combat bracelet to materialize a combat suit, and began climbing in.
"Now that will come in handy. I need to get to the control chair and I need you to defend that room. I can control the entire city from that chair," replied Sheppard.
"Yes, sir. Do you have any stun armor?" asked Masterson.
"No, I don't. I forgot my bracelet back in Altera this morning. I never expected to be in a foothold situation this afternoon," replied Sheppard.
Masterson raised his arm, and materialized a set in front of him, "I think that will help you and increase our odds considerably."
"Gotta love the Asgard and their toys," replied Sheppard quickly strapping everything on.
Lieutenant Scott who had just been stationed on Pacifica for a month, was at the Mid Pier organizing security to prevent any further personnel from disembarking from the Ares. Scott had gathered six other officers who had weapons to him. They needed to block off the stairway and two hallways that provided access to rest of the station from the dock.
Scott ordered, "Three in the stairway and two in each of the hallways. We have to hold them and prevent any more from exiting the ship!"
A Sargent followed Scott to the hallway across from the dock.
"Sargent watch our backs," ordered Scott, turning his back to watch for anyone attempting to exiting. Just then he felt a blast on his back as he collapsed he saw the Sargent take off down the hallway.
Back in Altera, Pacifica had disappeared from the combat console right after the warning was received. The Apollo had confirmed Pacifica was still intact. The Apollo, Athena, and Poseidon were taking up positions around Pacifica. Once they came within range of the station they lost communication with each other and back to Altera. Caldwell not liking this, ordered the Athena to back away from Pacifica until contact was reestablished. Apollo and Poseidon were each doing the same.
Caldwell over the communicator, "Can anyone establish contact with anyone on the station?"
Emerson responded first, "No Sir, I have tried system-wide, and personal communicators with no luck."
Young responded, "No sir and our scanners are not detecting any individual tags either."
Ellis responded, "Sir this is the real Ellis, the Ares is preparing to jump back to Earth. They have some sort of subspace disruptor. It seems to block all of our communication. We will be there in 1 minute."
"We need to find a way to establish communication to someone on the inside. Does anyone have an idea?" asked Caldwell.
O'Neill responded, "I have our egg heads here working on it. Right now we are going to have to trust those on the station."
The mimic commander had his command setup on the ship. He had eight hundred troops invading the station. Their orders had been to spread out and scatter around the station as much as possible before the attack would begin. His second in command had been ordered to the gateroom, to take out their leaders as the first wave in the attack. Primary orders were to secure their areas, and then secondary orders were to find the armory and exchange weapons. Severely stun, as information would need to be collected from them.
In the mess hall, Adams had been on Pacifica reviewing the station for what additional training should be required for assignment here. Once he heard Sheppard's warning, he had activated his bracelet and was in full battle suit. He was monitoring the entrance to the mess hall, several others had taken up arms as best as they could, from chairs to knives from the kitchen. Adams had activated a camera in the back of his suit to watch for any surprise attack.
Adams spoke up, "Can we seal those doors?"
"Yes sir, I can do that!" yelled a man in glasses.
"Once I'm outside seal those doors, the rest of you stay here, and take cover," ordered Adams, moving to the hallway. They closed the doors behind him. He began the trek down the hallway. He knew he needed to meet up with Sheppard, as he would lead the main resistance force. Progressing slowly down the hallway he heard gunfire ahead followed by unmistakeable blasts of some sort. Stepping around the corner he had three blasts hit him in the chest. His armor took a significant hit, he could see the scaring and a few cracks. He returned the fire, dropping the three aliens.
He continued on down the corridor, working his way to the armory. Thinking that would be the logical place for a resistance to regroup.
Varro was doing his best to move silently in the shadows. He was using all of his skills as a former Luscan fighter and everything he learned in training. Given the situation, he had determined his best course of action was to head toward the armory and try to meet up with a group. He looked at his wrist wishing he had not forgotten his bracelet that morning. He really could use that armor and weapons now.
Masterson and Sheppard were only 3 corridors away from the chair. They could hear P-90 fire and what sounded like a phase pistol being shot around the next corner. A quick looked showed it was a group of three fighting against a group of two. Just then the group of three fired phase pistols, Sheppard and Masteron stepped out and fired on the three taking them out quickly from behind.
"Hold your fire!" shouted Sheppard.
"Who are you? How do we know which side you're on?" replied a familiar voice.
"Well for one we just took out your three guys you've been fighting, Second I have yet to see or hear one of the aliens actually speak. Now who is this?" asked Sheppard.
"Major O'Neill," replied Jon O'Neill.
"Maj. O'Neill were you going for the chair?" asked Sheppard.
"I tried but it won't work for me," replied Jon O'Neill.
"I better get to it then," replied Sheppard.
"Yes, sir! The captain and lieutenant with me and we'll keep them off you. Take them out sir!" replied Jon O'Neill.
Sheppard took off down the corridor. Jon O'Neill, Masterson, and the captain, pulled what they could together to form a blockade. This was the choke point to get to the chair. Sheppard closed every blast door on his way to the chair. Sheppard saw the chair right in front of him, jumping into the seat, and activating the controls.
Varro was listening carefully for anyone on the stairwell. He could hear weapons fire was moving further away from him. He needed to make it up two levels, to reach the armory. Silently and as quickly as he could he started climbing the steps, one flight up he heard a slight shuffle above, jumping just in time as a blast barely missed him. He was tight against the wall with the steps providing coverage. Looking up he could see what appeared to be a suit.
Varro faintly said, "Who is up there?"
Adams registered some sort of spoken noise, was it whoever was trying to climb the steps covertly, "Say that again?"
Varro in a normal voice, "It's Varro, who is this?"
"Lieutenant Adams, get up here Varro," replied Adams.
"Man it's good to see you," replied Varro.
"Likewise, sorry about shooting at you. I thought you were one of them," replied Adams.
"No worries, just glad the Asgard built that super hearing into those suits. You wouldn't have any extra armor would you?" asked Varro.
"You're lucky I have one set of stun armor," replied Adams, activating his bracelet to materialize it.
Varro grabbed it and quickly started putting it on, "Thanks man, I'm never leaving my quarters without my bracelet again."
"Where were you trying to go?" asked Adams.
"The armory," replied Varro.
"The same idea, was hoping others would be there," replied Adams.
Back on Alterra McKay and his team beamed in. Surrounded and immediately the Mimic frequency was fired. Once the guards saw that McKay, Teyla, Greer, Odai, and Barrett were all human they backed off.
"Someone tell me what the heck happened!" shouted O'Neill entering the gateroom.
Teyla began, "Sir it appears they were able to mimic our ship. They had well over two hundred ships cloaked that kind of firepower put a drain on our shields and kept us blocked from making a retreat. They apparently used this time to mimic our ship somehow. They believe we have taken over worlds that belong to them. Ten so far too be precise. Then they have this subspace disruption, that blocked our communication."
"Did we try to negotiate?" asked O'Neill.
"We tried sir, but when talking to them, they refused. They want all humans dead," replied McKay.
"OK, McKay we need a way to communicate with those on Pacifica. Go see what you can come up with," ordered O'Neill.
"What can we do?" asked Teyla.
"Right now we are trying to get communication, and discussing a few different plans. We can't send anyone in until we know where to send them. We are hoping our folks up there will be able to hold them off," replied O'Neill.
Landry came rushing in, "Commander O'Neill, we just heard, weapons fire was seen for a brief period from a window area."
"Good at least we know they are fighting back," replied O'Neill.
"Get suited up, we need our best in this soon as we have a way in. We may end up sending teams into different areas of the station, at least it's a plan we are discussing," replied Landry.
Varro and Adams were approaching the armory, with no signs of any activity. They started grabbing anything and everything they could to form a blockade on the three hallways that came together at the entrance to the armory. They would be forced to guard on three fronts. Varro setup some traps in all three hallways with the stun grenades. While not lethal, it would keep anyone from getting to the armory. Weapons were one of the few ways to tell the difference if they got hold of these weapons they would be nearly impossible to tell apart.
Sheppard activated the internal sensors and cameras that had been installed. He could see all about the station people were fighting all across the station. Life sign detectors showed a number dead, however which were human and which were alien was impossible to tell. First order of business was to destroy their ship. Firing three drones, that arched up and out over the mid-level pier toward the aliens' ship, he could see them pierce the alien ship.
The mimic commander turned in time to see a fireball as his ship was struck repeatedly by the drones. Sheppard was able to enact shields up around the pier to contain the explosion and redirect it out.
Caldwell witnessed the drone attack, "Altera this is Commander Caldwell, it appears we have control of the command chair. Three drones were fired to take out the alien ship."
"Finally some good news, can we get a team in there at the command chair?" asked O'Neill.
"We can not get an accurate enough scan to beam them into anywhere currently," replied Caldwell.
Sheppard was trying to reach out in communication with Altera, however, he could not establish a link with them. All external sensors were dead, only the drones were able to break through to the chair. He was locking down all parts of the station. Every door sealed trying to limit movement as much as possible. Even he could see Varro and Adams holding the Armory, however, there was a large group of what he assumed were aliens heading in that direction. He had excellent control of the drones for combat outside of the station, but he needed something small enough and agile enough to maneuver through the station hallways a drone was simply out of the question.
Varro and Adams were shouting out warnings to anyone approaching the armory. They each had weapons or blasters in each hand. Trying to cover all three hallways. Any movement was being fired at. As several attempts at a rushing them the stun grenade traps had slowed them drastically. Varro and Adams taking turns firing down the central hallways and sometimes both covering it. Swapping weapons out as fast they could they had the supply they needed.
Landry, Caldwell, and O'Neill were discussing the possibilities.
"We can't just beam people in. We don't have good enough sensor readings to be able to beam them into any particular spot, without putting them into the floor, or ceiling. Plus they could appear in the middle of a group of hostiles," replied Caldwell.
"We can't beam them onto the piers because the external shield isn't up," replied Landry.
"Do we have any ring transporters we could use?" asked O'Neill.
"Unfortunately the Tel'tak returned to Altera this morning," replied Caldwell.
"We can't even risk docking if they have control of the docking rings," replied Landry.
"Let's hope those there are able to give us a clue what we can do to help," replied O'Neill.
Cameras and sensors showed Sheppard another group was fighting just outside of the chair room. O'Neill and Masterson were holding them off, when he noticed the captain, had drawn back and was targetting them. He immediately deactivated the chair, meaning to rush back out to save O'Neill and Masterson, when he heard the plasma blast, and the P-90 fire stopped. Realizing he only had seconds before the chair room would be breached he jumped back into the chair, reaching for the Asgard core, he did the only thing he knew to do.
The Apollo's sensors detected it first. Young immediately alerted Caldwell and O'Neill. Each had confirmed the same sensor readings. Caldwell beamed down to Altera. O'Neill had immediately called for a meeting to discuss the implications of this new development.
"It appears someone on Pacifica, we are assuming Sheppard for the moment has activated a time dilation field around the stations," spoke O'Neill.
"Why would they speed time up inside the station?" asked Ronon.
"They didn't, they instead slowed it down. Actually to a point where every year here, is one second inside the field," replied McKay.
"You can do that?" asked Ronon.
"Yes, the Asgard developed this technology many years ago. We can increase or slow down time as needed," replied Thor.
"Only reason he would do this, is if he saw no other way to win," replied Landry.
"I believe he was giving us a chance to find a solution to the situation," replied Caldwell.
"Let's break down what we know," replied O'Neill.
"They can mimic the appearance of any human," replied Caldwell.
"We have seen signs of fighting throughout the station. Soon as that ship landed they must have scattered as quickly as they could around the station," replied Landry.
"We know someone who has control of the command chair destroyed the alien ship," replied Teyla.
"If they have control of the drones, why not use them to take out the attackers in the station? One or two of them is all it would probably take," replied Teal'c.
"No the drones while agile for combat in space, would never be agile enough for those corridors," replied McKay.
"What problems do we need to solve here?" asked O'Neill.
"A way to identify the aliens before attacking. We have the Mimic Frequency, but no way to get it around," replied Teyla.
"We need a way to turn off the time dilation field," replied Thor.
Carter who was above the Furling homeworld was on a video conference to the meeting, "I believe my work on reversing time in a dilation field may be of some help. Thankfully I sent that back with Teal'c on the Oydessey."
"We need to be able to get people or weapons into the station to combat the aliens once identified," replied Caldwell.
"Thor buddy nobody knows time dilation fields like you," replied O'Neill.
"We will find you a solution," replied Thor.
"Dr, McKay we need a way to deliver the Mimic frequency around the station," ordered O'Neill.
"Systems on the station can already deliver the frequency we just need to reach them," replied McKay.
"Commander Caldwell and Commander Landry work with Teal'c and Ronon, come up with a plan to assault the station," ordered O'Neill.
"Wait, I have an idea," replied Carter.
"I'm all ears for ideas," replied O'Neill.
"Mini-Drones," replied Carter.
"Harmony, I remember that," replied McKay.
"Please explain?" asked Landry.
"Back in the Pegasus Galaxy, Col. Sheppard and Dr. McKay encountered them. They are small and extremely agile. If we can find the designs for them in the Repository we could build them, and add an enhancement to include the mimic frequency. We would have to do a little reprogramming, as they attacked anyone without the Ancient Gene," replied Carter.
"How do we get them in there? Beaming them into the station we have the same issue, I don't imagine beaming one of these into a wall of conduit would do us much good," replied Landry.
"No, but we could beam these into one of the empty airlocks. They could burrow through the inner door since they can't be opened from the outside. The station would remain secure because the outer door would still be in place," replied McKay.
"Dr. McKay what do you need to make this happen?" asked O'Neill.
"Time to find this in the repository. I hope it's in there because we were never able to get much from the Ancients Outpost where we found it," replied McKay.