Chapter 88

M7N-549

"Damn it West" breathed Greer to himself.

The three remaining Wraith began pummeling West's position with weapons fire. Seeing his chance Greer took aim and brought down one of the Wraith with a well placed round that pierced the attacker's skull. One of the Wraith turned and began pouring fire onto Greer's position in turn. Debris, dirt, and dust kicked up around him. Taking cover from the enemy fire Greer could taste the dirt in his mouth. Pulling a fragmentation grenade from his combat vest and removing the safety pin he tossed it towards his attacker. A thunderous boom echoed across the landscape. Returning to a firing position and taking aim he saw that his toss had been more accurate than he expected, killing the Wraith.

"West, I lost bad guy number four. He's coming to you" said Greer into the radio.

No reply came. Not hearing automatic weapons fire Greer began to fear the worst.

"Lieutenant, I'm not getting anything from West and am unsure of his status at this time. Can you confirm his location" said Greer into his earpiece.

"Sensors are showing West in the large structure. We're also detecting another life form in there. Close in now" ordered Scott.

With his marching orders in hand Greer removed himself from his hasty fighting position atop the pile of ruble. At a sprint he retraced his footsteps to the structure all the while scanning for any other attackers. Coming around the corner to the rear entrance he saw West and the Wraith slugging it out in hand t hand combat. The stronger Wraith manhandled the young soldier, throwing him into the wall repeatedly. Squirming free West lashed out at his attacker's knee with a vicious kick that sent the two sprawling to the ground. With his weapon targeted on the writhing mass of man and Wraith Greer quickly advanced across the large room. A sharp scream reverberated throughout the structure, but Greer had no shot. Within feet of the Wraith Greer drew his combat knife, and with practiced skill plunged the surgically sharp blade into the brainstem area of his enemy. Despite the wound the Wraith continued to resist, forcing Greer to repeatedly stab the large creature in the neck until the body went limp. Rolling the fallen combatant off his teammate Greer saw the withered remains of Sergeant West sprawled on the Floor.

"Lieutenant, West didn't make it. I need to know to know if I have any more hostiles in the area" raged Greer.

"Scanners show it's only you down there. I'm setting down now. Let's collect West's body and get out of here" replied Scott.

Quickly landing near the structure Scott and Greer brought their fallen comrades body onboard. Little was said between the two men, but it was clear Greer was teaming with a boundless rage. Taking seats the jumper again activated the cloak before lifting off.

"I got a reply from Borealis over the subspace. Backup is on the way. We're to remain cloaked until their arrival" Brody informed the two men.

"Let's head into orbit. Those Wraith came from somewhere" offered Scott.

At full power the jumper climbed into orbit. As they rose into the upper atmosphere a wave of darts was seen diving for the planets surface. Breaching the bonds of the atmosphere and breaking free into lower orbit a Wraith cruiser came into view in the distance.

"We can't do anything against that" spat Brody.

"The hell we can't! We've got a fallen man back there, one of our own. It's our duty to do something" countered Scott.

"Lieutenant, this is Colonel Mitchell, commander of the Hermes" came the call on the radio net.

"This is Scott Colonel, good to hear from you" the young officer replied.

"Heard you boys were having problem and we came to help. Remain cloaked while we deal with this" ordered Mitchell.

Aboard Hermes the already prepped 302's were launched in mass. Exiting the hanger bay twenty entered the atmosphere in pursuit of the darts on their culling run while the remaining forty took station between the cruiser and their mother vessel. With the Hermes uncloaked the Wraith cruiser quickly detected the large Tauri warship. Altering their heading the cruiser opened fire while moving within closer range of the newly arrived combatant.

"Shields are holding Sir" called out the defensive systems operator.

"Bring the Asgard beams online. Target their rear hyper drive pylons" ordered Mitchell.

On command a single shot of the powerful plasma beam weapon arced through space towards the attacking vessel. With surgical precision the beam struck the rear hull protrusion resulting in a large explosion which destroyed the Wraith hyper drive. In response the cruiser opened up on the Hermes with all weapons. With very little effort the powerful shields of the Tauri vessel stood firm under the assault.

"Target center mass on the port quarter and fire. Let's see how they enjoy hull decompression" smirked Mitchell.

Another lone plasma beam streaked towards the cruiser. On contact with the hull the beam bore through four decks before passing through the outer hull on the other side. Massive depressurization was seen as atmosphere vented into space, carrying Wraith with it. Despite the assault the Wraith weapons fire dipped little in intensity. The technological edge the Asgard shields supplied ensured the Hermes remained unharmed.

"Wraith vessel has four decks open to space Sir. Their weapons remain fully online" called out the sensor operator.

"I've had enough foreplay for one day. Target their power core and make that thing go away" ordered Mitchell.

Seconds later three plasma beams impacted the already heavily damaged cruiser. Slicing through the organic hull the power core was struck and vaporized within milliseconds of impact. A cascade of explosions ripped through the Wraith vessels hull, reducing it to nothing more than scattered debris. Using their AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles with naquadah enhanced warheads the 302's made short work of the waves of darts both in orbit and in the atmosphere.

"Grandma always said good things come to those who wait, and we've waited a long time to kill some Wraith" said Mitchell with a characteristic smirk.

Within minutes recovery operations of Scott's team and the deployed 302's began. Although the battle had been won, the Borealis expedition had its first combat casualty. The knowledge that a culling had been stopped in progress offset the feeling of loss, but not nearly enough.