Chapter 4

Athena - sixty days later

With her shakedown cruise complete, Athena was provisioning for her first official mission. During her shakedown it was decided to push the ship hard to find any potential fault. She and her crew were sent into the galactic void between Pegasus and the Milky Way to tow home the abandoned ancient warship Tria for repairs. Athena performed without fault and was declared operationally fit and ready for service.

Her commander was Colonel Aaron Eckhart. He was a legend in the F-302 community from the Battle of Antarctica and as one of the few survivors of the Ori incursion that resulted in the destruction of the Korolev. He oozed fighter pilot machismo. For the last seventy two hours he had watched the Athena's loading of supplies and provisions for this mission carefully. Everything but the kitchen sink was going along for this ride. The reason was everything but a sink was needed at the destination. He checked and rechecked. Of course he was nervous about this one. He and his crew were going farther out than any earth vessel had gone before. This truly was one for the record books.

Her crew was an odd mix of combat troops from the SGC, scientists, engineers, and technicians. With the size of the vessel and the fact she had a matter creator onboard as standard equipment she was not without her luxuries compared to the Prometheus. Even with her once unimaginable speed this would still be a long mission. One month to the destination, two months on site, and one month on the return leg. That's why he made the big bucks the Colonel laughed acidly to himself.

Looking out at the shipyard he saw the Athena's sister sh.i.p.s taking shape. Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Mitchell were both present overseeing minor details during the construction process. Tria was also visible in dock being repaired after being damaged thousands of years ago in the Ancient Wraith War.

On the dock Colonel Sheppard approached the Athena's commanding officer, handing him an orange. "In case Rodney acts up, just show it to him and he'll behave" chuckled Sheppard.

"Between McKay, Dr. Lee, and the egomaniac where we're going I might switch from oranges to buckshot in all honesty" said Col. Eckhart.

Both men laughed and turned on their heals for the observation deck to have a drink. In the morning Athena would leave, and it had become custom for commanders to have a drink above the shipyard for luck.

"Just come back in one piece Ecky" suggested Sheppard.

Andromeda Galaxy

With pride Thor looked over the nearly completed Asgard fleet. With the fleet now composed of only O'Neill class sh.i.p.s instead of older Bilskirnir class vessels it was a vastly more powerful fleet. Monitoring sensors scattered throughout the Milky Way informed Thor that the Tauri fleet was vastly increased as well. How would they react when contacted? What would change? These are the questions that troubled the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet. Would the Tauri be able to handle the change in the order of things that Thor knew to be coming very soon? No one knew the answer to that, least of all the Asgard.

Atlantis

With three fresh ZPM's in place and more in reserve Atlantis rose from the ocean's surface under the cover of it's cloak. The Atlantis task force of X-304's was already in Pegasus awaiting their arrival. It had been decided at the highest level that now was the time to end the Wraith threat once and for all, and to humble the Genii. Richard Woolsey was still in command of the expedition, but the chief military commander was now Lt. Colonel Evan Lorne. Atlantis would return to Pegasus in the condition she had arrived there the first time. Full power, full magazines, and full of hope for a new future, Atlantis was ready. The second Athena class ship under the command of Colonel Sheppard was due to arrive once completed. With all things considered the future did indeed look bright thought Lorne. Looking over to Woolsey the colonel pushed these thoughts to the side. With a nod of his head he signaled all was ready. With that Woolsey said "Activate the Worm Hole Drive" and Atlantis left Earth behind.

Destiny, 22 days later

Rumors had swirled after the command group of the expedition had returned from the last session on the communication stones to Home World Command. General O'Neill normally played things very close to the chest but even this was pushing it. Young and his staff had been told to be prepared for assistance and supplies. That could only mean another planet like Icarus had been found to dial the ninth chevron from. With luck this one would not go critical and explode like the last two had. Supplies would be a god send they all agreed, but hopefully it would just be supplies pushed thru the gate instead of more people. More mouths to feed meant further rationing of what was on hand, and no one wanted that. When this help would be arriving was anyone's guess.

"Colonel Young this is Eli on the observation deck, a very large ship just dropped out of Hyper Space in front of us" said Mathboy.

On the bridge Brody, Volker, and Park leaped into action powering up weapons for the fight they all knew was coming. On the overhead speaker a message rang out.

"Destiny this is Athena, we bring you greetings from the SGC. Power down your weapons and shields and we'll share some of the goodies we have on board. Sound like a deal?"

Could it be? Could they finally be rescued? The vessel looked nothing like the current fleet of Earth vessels. This was a massive ship, and looked a bit like an ancient ship that was crossbred with a BC-304. After a twenty minute process in which Lt. Scott contacted Earth with the stones to verify it was indeed an Earth vessel a shuttle was deployed with Col. Young and Camille Wray to the Athena. Landing the Ancient shuttle in one of the 302 bays Col. Young felt like he was dreaming. I swear to god if that damn ship is playing with my dreams again I'll scream he thought.

"Welcome aboard the Athena Colonel" said Col. Eckhart.

After taking them to the briefing room to discuss the mission objectives a schedule of events was worked out. Half of Destiny's crew would transfer to Athena now via both shuttles for a good meal. Once the first half ate the second half would transfer over. After that was accomplished engineers, more military personnel, medical personnel, plus Doctors McKay and Lee would board Destiny. From there it was simply a matter of beaming aboard the several hundred thousand pounds of supplies aboard. Col. Eckhart made sure the first real meal these people had in eighteen months was steak and lobster with fresh apple pie.

"This is not a rescue just yet, just a resupply and repair mission. I get that wont make you happy, but if it helps we brought everyone clothing, hygiene items, and every movie you could think of. Plus food wonderful food" reassured Eckhart.

Transferring all the materials and supplies from Athena to Destiny took the better part of four days. Everything needed to repair Destiny was transferred first in the shuttles, while foodstuff was moved via the Asgard beaming technology. Destiny already had two repair robots after salvaging one from the "other Destiny". Athena delivered ten more. Soon everything aboard the ancient vessel would be like new. To some this was a dream come true. To Dr. Nicolas Rush it was a major headache