Mitchell had just returned from Altera. Getting to take a couple of days to return home, and visit with Carter and the triplets. He was back on board the Destiny. Thrud, Carson and Oma, had requested a meeting with Mitchell when he returned.
"So Kiddo's what's so urgent?" asked Mitchell.
"We know where we are going," replied and excited Thrud.
Mitchell waiting for more, "OK where?"
"The center of the universe!" exclaimed Carson.
"Is there a restaurant there?" asked Mitchell.
"Restaurant?" asked Oma.
"Bad joke. How do we know it's the center?" asked Mitchell.
"While you were visiting Altera, we dropped out of FTL for six hours. We observed all the galaxies are moving away from us. Except for the one, we are approaching. It's not moving!" shouted Thrud.
"How can you tell?" asked Mitchell.
"Red Spectrum, all the galaxies in every direction appear in the red spectrum to us from here, except the one we are travelling to. It's not red and not blue, which means it's stationary," replied Oma.
"So what does that mean?" asked Mitchell.
"Don't you get it? We have to be nearing the end of Destiny's Journey. This is where the Big Bang as you call it took place," replied Thrud.
"Yes but what if whatever put this signal in the background radiation got blown away from here during the Big Bang, or worse blew up?" asked Mitchell.
Thrud, Carson, and Oma, sat in silence.
"I mean it's cool we found the center of the universe, but it doesn't change anything and we have no idea if what Destiny is hunting for is here, or if this a another stop on the way," replied Mitchell.
"I heard a term used for you. Party Pooper," replied Carson.
"Something the ascended didn't even know, and you brush it off," replied Oma.
"Well, it doesn't change the fact that we have a war going on back home. A war we are not doing well at. The first battle nearly wiped out the Nox. We are stuck all the way out here and have no idea where we are going, what we are looking for, and no clue if it will help!" replied Mitchell.
"Has there been any further attacks?" asked Oma.
"Not at this time, just the one against the Nox," replied Mitchell.
"The last message I had from my father he seemed optimistic on things," replied Thrud.
"Then Thor must know something that the rest of the Alliance does not," replied Mitchell.
Thrud responded, "I'm sorry."
"Look parents often try to sound more optimistic with their children," replied Mitchell.
Destiny was two months away from the galaxy at the center of the universe. Everyone was making jokes about how they made a wrong turn the restaurant was at the end of the universe not the center. If Mitchell heard it once he heard it a thousand times. Several Astro-Physicists came on board studying the stars and galaxies as they were able when Destiny dropped out of FTL.
On another uneventful day, Mitchell was on the bridge, literally twiddling his thumbs until he would go meet Nicole for lunch.
"Sir, I have something on scanners," spoke Tomin.
"Really? What is it?" asked Mitchell.
"Four ships, they are on an intercept course. They each are on a different approach vector," replied Tomin.
"Four ships out here? Do we know anything about who they are?" asked Mitchell.
"Not at this distance sir. We are barely detecting them at this distance," replied Tomin.
"Time to intercept?" asked Mitchell.
"At current speed assuming we do not drop out of FTL the computer says three weeks," replied Tomin.
"Three Weeks?" asked Mitchell.
"Yes sir, they are barely moving faster than we are. It will take them that long to close the gap between us," replied Tomin.
"I'll contact Altera, I want additional ships here with us, before they arrive," replied Mitchell.
Mitchell went off to his quarters. He punched a few keys and found himself connected directly to Commander Caldwell.
"Commander Mitchell, how are things out there on the Destiny?" asked Caldwell.
"Sir, I'd like to report we have four ships of unknown origin on an intercept course to us. Our long-range sensor picked them up. It will be three weeks before they intercept," replied Mitchell.
"Your thinking it's these water aliens?" asked Caldwell.
"The thought had crossed my mind," replied Mitchell.
"I don't want them anywhere near the Destiny. I'm going to send a convoy of ships to intercept them, and see what their intent is," replied Caldwell.
"I thought you might like to do that sir," replied Mitchell.
"I believe Commander Thor would like to have a word with them," replied Caldwell.
"Yes sir!" replied Mitchell.
"I'll contact you once we have more details," replied Caldwell.
Tomin monitored the alien vessels. He kept Mitchell apprised of the situation. After another three days, it was clear they were headed directly for Destiny. Mitchell was having dinner with Nicole, Jackson, and Vala when Tomin reported.
"Sir there has been a development," replied Tomin.
"What kind of development?" asked Mitchell.
"Sir, we have six new contacts on our long-range scanners. They are all on an intercept vector with us," replied Tomin.
"A second wave of ships?" asked Jackson.
"Yes sir," replied Tomin.
"We need to scan one of the targets. You'll find it's not a single ship but three," replied Vala.
"Three ships? Our scanners are only detecting one," replied Tomin.
"Not if they were all in close formation," replied Mitchell.
"Cam, these are the blue water aliens. They destroyed the Furlings. What they will do to us if they capture is not something you want to experience," replied Vala.
"Vala what did you see? Anything that can help us?" asked Mitchell.
"No. Just shoot and don't stop shooting them till they are gone," replied Vala as she walked off.
"That is all your going to get," spoke Jackson.
"Let's hope Commander Caldwell is able to intercept them and send them running," replied Mitchell.
"Let's hope he is able," replied Jackson.
Caldwell prepared the largest fleet of ships that had been planned. Caldwell would be leading the Athena, Hammond would have the Nemesis, and Ellis would be leading the Ares each would be in charge of a battle group that would be backed by an additional eleven DN-1103a's from the Asgard Fleet. Thirty-six DN-1103's were headed to meet the forces closing in on Destiny. O'Neill and the Enterprise would be returning to Earth immediately in the interim.
The Athena battle group would strike first. Once they tested the enemy's capabilities they would determine if the other battle groups would join them or intercept the other ships.
"Commander Ellis and Hammond, be prepared to jump to our location if we need help. If we see we can overwhelm them then you will advance on your assigned targets," ordered Caldwell.
"Yes Sir!" replied Ellis and Hammond in unison.
The Athena jumped to the first group to intercept. As Vala had predicted they found three ships flying in close proximity. The ships immediately dropped to normal space to meet the Athena.
Immediately an incoming video from the lead ship. On-screen it was a blue alien, Caldwell knew he had to make a decision listen to Thor and Vala and fire at will, or try to be diplomatic. Not knowing the capabilities of the enemy he was in a tough spot.
"Why are you trying to intercept our ship?" asked Caldwell.
"Sir we are receiving a communication in text," replied the Lieutenant.
"What's it say?" asked Caldwell.
"Give us Destiny or face destruction," replied the Lieutenant.
"Any attempt to interfere with Destiny will be considered an act of war," spoke Caldwell to the alien.
"New message it reads, We are the Nakai, you are insignificant. We destroyed Furlings from your alliance," spoke the Lieutenant.
"Cut the video, evasive maneuvers and fire at will all ships!" ordered Caldwell.
The Athena opened fire first, with one hundred plasma cannons firing on the lead ship. Quickly the other ships opened fire as well. The three Nakai ships were taking a solid pounding, but their shields were holding. Then the Nakai began to open fire. All three ships concentrated fire on the Athena. The view looked like a battle of insects. Ships turned this way and that, trying to gain an advantage to fire.
"Sir our shields are taking a beating, we lost the primary shield, the secondary shield is holding, but it's being drained," spoke the Lieutenant.
"How are their shields?" asked Caldwell.
"I can not get a reading on their shields sir," replied the Lieutenant.
"Nemesis and Ares battle group time to join the fight," ordered Caldwell.
Thirty seconds later the twenty-four ships making up those battle groups arrived through wormholes. The fire intensified on the ships. Finally, there was an explosion as plasma cannon struck the ship. The next few blats on that Nakai ship had resulting explosions, before the ship blew apart. One of the ships from the Asgard fleet caught a blast in the engines. It triggered a chain reaction between the engines, resulting in the ship exploding. Forty-four of the fifty crew were beamed to the Ares in safety.
With more concentrated firing, a second Nakai ship was destroyed. The third began maneuvers to escape, which it jumped to hyperspace before it could be stopped. Scanners showed the other three groups in the first Nakai wave halting their advance. The second wave was not stopping. The escaping ship was making a run to reach one of the groups in the second wave.
Caldwell ordered the remaining ships to take up formation as escort to Destiny. Caldwell met with Mitchell, O'Neill, and Thor over the communication system.
"They managed to take out a DN-1103?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes, sir. Commander, I'm sorry to report that AS-945 lost six members, but safety protocols managed to save Forty-four of your people," replied Caldwell.
"Yes I have read the report," replied Thor.
"What are their capabilities?" asked O'Neill.
"Their weapons pack a punch, it takes a number of hits to drain our shields entirely, but they can. Also, the shields they have, our scanners can not register. They are quite formidable, being able to take a sustained barrage before failing. If we didn't have numbers on our side, this would not have turned out so well," replied Caldwell.
"What is their current status?" asked O'Neill.
"The first wave is holding position. The second wave will meet up with the first wave tomorrow," replied Mitchell.
"They are gathering their numbers to be able to take you on," replied Thor.
"Certainly looks that way," replied Caldwell.
"Do you have a plan Stephen?" asked O'Neill.
"I have one but your not going to like it," replied Caldwell.
"I'm listening," replied O'Neill.
"A full powered Arcturus Warhead dropped into the middle of their formation, then a jump out to hyperspace," replied Caldwell.
"No!" exclaimed O'Neill.
"It's the most powerful weapon we have. We show them we can wipe out all of their combined forces instantly, they may decide to leave Destiny alone," replied Caldwell.
"It's a good idea, but I do not want to deploy that kind of weapon," exclaimed O'Neill.
"For the record, I agree with Commander Caldwell," replied Mitchell.
"Having seen what they are capable of doing, I support this suggestion," replied Thor.
O'Neill huffed.
"Sir I know you don't like to go with solar system busting weapons, but in this case, I think it might be warranted," replied Mitchell.
"We don't even have this weapon," replied O'Neil, "It was just an idea Sheppard had."
"That is not entirely true," replied Thor.
"Thor tell me you didn't," spoke O'Neill.
"We did, we have one hundred of these weapons available. They have been tested," replied Thor.
"Seriously?" asked O'Neill.
"Sorry Commander O'Neill, after seeing what the Nakai would do, I felt having weapons available to combat them warranted it," replied O'Neill.
"Sir?" asked Mitchell.
"Jack, I know this isn't what you want, but this is warranted," replied Caldwell.
"All right!" exclaimed O'Neill.
"I can have them delivered to you within an hour," replied Thor.
Caldwell began to put his plan into action. Nine ships would jump to space where the Nakai ships were, and drop the Arcturus Warhead, it would be delivered by one of the new hyperspace phased drones. The Nakai would not know what hit them. A simultaneous-detonation to catch all of the ships at once. The Ares and Nemesis would remain behind to lead the remaining ships as escorts of Destiny. Caldwell would be taking the Athena on this attack.
Twelve hours later, all ships were reaching their targetted coordinates. The Athena and eight other ships dropped from Hyperspace and immediately opened a wormhole to their designated Nakai groups.
Caldwell ordered, "Fire the missile and jump to hyperspace!"
The Athena disappeared immediately into a hyperspace window. The Nakai were confused as they detected no scans of their ships. Their last thought was why had that ship appeared and then immediately left. Their scanners could not detect any weapons fired. Other battle formations reported similar instances. One Nakai reacted he activated the hyperspace drive, just as their scanners showed a missile between their three ships.
The detonations would be seen across the universe in the years in the future. It would appear as nine supernovas occurring within close proximity to each other, where there had been no stars. Future astronomers would wonder what it was. Twenty-seven Nakai ships were destroyed in an instant. The twenty-eight was severely damaged but had made the jump to hyperspace in time to avoid destruction.
Caldwell asked, "Scanners report. All ships destroyed?"
"Sir it appears one ship was able to escape they are moving slower than before in Hyperspace. We are close enough, scans indicate the ship is barely holding together," replied Lieutenant.
"Lay in a pursuit course," ordered Caldwell.
"Intercept in three minutes," replied the Lieutenant.
Three minutes later they are alongside the Nakai vessel in hyperspace.
"Can we target them with our weapons?" asked Caldwell.
"No Sir," replied the Lieutenant.
"Engineering, can we launch a hyperspace drone at our target while in hyperspace and have it detonate in hyperspace?" asked Caldwell over the ship communicator.
"Yes sir, we would need to deactivate a few safety protocols. However we wouldn't want to be anywhere near it in hyperspace when it detonates," replied Engineering.
"What if we drop out of hyperspace soon as we fire it?" asked Caldwell.
"That should work. It will be much further away when it detonates," replied Engineering.
"Make it happen," ordered Caldwell.
Ten minutes later engineering was ready. The drone was launched in hyperspace to target the ship and detonate. The systems were set up to drop the Athena out of hyperspace immediately upon launching.
"Fire!" ordered Caldwell.
The drone exited the launch tunnel, and the Athena immediately dropped out of hyperspace, at an extreme deceleration. Twenty seconds later the scanners showed the drone had detonated and the ship was destroyed.
"Return us to Destiny," ordered Caldwell.
Later that day Caldwell was meeting with Mitchell, O'Neill, and Thor.
"I can report our mission was a success. All Nakai ships were destroyed. I have several ships conducting a sensor sweep to see if there are any other Nakai ships on approach. None have been spotted," explained Caldwell.
"Hopefully we have sent them back to their home to stay put," replied O'Neill.
"These Arcturus warheads performed amazingly. However due to their power, they are limited when they can be used," replied Caldwell.
"If we only knew where the Nakai homeworld was," replied Thor.
"Thor revenge?" asked O'Neill.
"To monitor them," replied Thor. O'Neill did not look convinced.
"Destiny should be safe again. Right?" asked Mitchell.
"Yes, but just in case I'm going to have five ships provide escort to you," replied Caldwell.
"Who will be in charge of them?" asked Mitchell.
"You will be commander," grinned Caldwell.
"Just as long as we are clear on that," replied Mitchell.
The next day the ships started to return to Earth. The Athena had just opened a wormhole and entered. When they came out the other side they were in total darkness. Sensors failed to identify where they were at.
"What happened?" asked Caldwell.
"Sir this is Vin! We don't know," replied Engineering.
"Well figure it out!" ordered Caldwell concerned the Asgard didn't understand what happened either.
O'Neill contacted Destiny, "Commander Mitchell have you seen or heard anything from the Athena?"
"No Sir. Not since they jumped to return home. Why are you asking?" replied Mitchell.
"They have disappeared just like the Hades," replied O'Neill.