Chapter V
Everything went according to plan and Atlantis was back on Earth to pick up the other ships. In Earth’s orbit, there was the Sun Tzu and four Ha’tak Vessels that Teal’c was able to secure from the Jaffa Council. Atlantis started her week and a half long hyperspace journey to M4S-781 with the Hammond, Apollo, Odyssey and Daedalus docked on her many piers. The plan was to make the bigger part of the trek by hyperspace and when they were close enough, but still out of sensor range, drop out to prepare for the assault.
Atlantis dropped out; she now had one more ZPM installed. The shield was functioning at 100%; Mackey rigged the Odyssey’s ZPM to supply power solely to the shield. They were hundreds of thousands of miles away from M4S-781 but this was the optimal location for the fleet to separate. From this point on Atlantis would fly away and meet the Wraith ships alone, while the rest of the fleet would take the long way around the planet and attack them from another front.
As planned, Atlantis drop out near-orbit of M4S-781 and immediately the Wraith ships, now there were two hives and five cruisers, changed course to intercept and soon Atlantis became under attack. Woosley, Teyla, Ronon, Zelenka and Mackey were all in Stargate Operations along with the rest of the staff manning the consoles and trying to hold out long enough for the rest of the Tauri Fleet to emerge on the other side of the planet. Woosley started by ordering Banks to initiate the communications scrambler, meanwhile Sheppard was on his way to the Control Chair, even with just a few of the powerful ancient drones left they could change the result of the battle and help immensely.
DR. ZELENKA: I have another contact on screen.
DR. MACKEY: Where?
DR. ZELENKA: On the other side of the planet. It’s the Apollo and the rest of the fleet.
MR. WOOSLEY (SHIPWIDE): Our people have arrived. All personal, men your posts and prepare to fight back.
MR. WOOSLEY (ON RADIO): Col. Sheppard, they are here. You may begin firing.
COL. SHEPPARD (ON RADIO): Roger.
RONON DEX: What can we do?
MR. WOOSLEY: If this works, SG-1 may need your help. Go suit up.
TEYLA EMMAGAN: Understood, Mr. Woosley.
The Apollo was the first to come out of hyperspace, not far behind were the rest of the Tauri Fleet. The Apollo and the Deadalus targeted the two Hive ships while the Odyssey and the Hammond begun there attack run on the Cruisers. The timing had to be perfect;Sheppard fired a ‘salvo’ of drones at each ship with the purpose of knocking out their communications and their engines in the hopes that the Wraith couldn’t maneuver nor call for help. The drones successfully hit the antennas of both the Hive ships but only the second ship had its engines crippled because the drones where intercepted by a wave of Darts, that were launch seconds after Atlantis began to return fire. With the element of surprise on their side, Odyssey and the Hammond had no trouble destroying the first two Cruisers in their path, Wraith Cruisers were no match for the Asgard beam weapons but the remaining Cruisers were now alert to their position and had begun evasive maneuvers, making them a much harder target to hit for both the Odyssey and the Hammond. Sheppard’s initial drone ‘salvo’ had no problem destroying the remaining Cruisers antenna but had little or no effect on the engines. The battlefield was now split in two battle arenas, on one side there was Atlantis, Apollo and Deadalus against two Hive ships and on the other, Odyssey and the Hammond against three Cruisers. All ships had launched their F-302 fighters and Atlantis her Jumpers, to counter the actions of the Wraith Darts that now occupied the entire battlefield like locusts.
