Chapter 162

Hala

Engaging in battle against the Tria had been an unplanned event. Vanir hopes were limited to simply to returning to Pegasus. Dropping out of hyperspace had been unexpected and far from planned. The culprit; an emergency failsafe first conceived during the Asgard/Replicator war when captured vessels had been used against their creators. The surprise at dropping out of hyperspace so suddenly had turned to resolve upon detecting the Tria closing in on the Hala.

The battle had been short, vicious, and very one sided. Fighting valiantly despite the overwhelming odds, Tria fought like the warrior of old that she truly was. Not since her final engagement during the Ancient/Wraith war had she faced an opponent as powerful as she was, if not more so. In the end, Vanir hesitation and the drive to escape to familiar territory were all that saved Tria from destruction at the hands of an allied designed vessel. Venting atmosphere and with multiple hull breaches, the crew of the Tria watched helplessly as Hala maneuvered away.

Aware that it was just a matter of time before the beast of armed combat found them again, the Vanir set about disabling the safeguard standing between them and their return home. Traveling at maximum sublight, each second moved them further away from the site of their triumphant battle with the Tauri. Despite this victory, the Vanir were all too aware that a battle of overwhelming odds against them could appear at any time. Thirty five incredibly long minutes later, with the safeguard preventing their continued escape removed, Hala leapt back into hyperspace.

At their current pace, the advanced vessel would cross the threshold into the Pegasus galaxy in seven hours. Once they entered the galaxy, the Vanir were aware that their presence would be known to Atlantis for a time. Here, in the middle of the void between two galaxies, they were almost certain no resistance would be encountered. A sudden alert displayed on the sensor display dashed those hopes instantly.

The Tauri vessel closing on them moved at a rate of speed previously thought impossible for sh.i.p.s of Earth. Even the Ancient designed Aurora class vessels they possessed could not hope to attain such speeds. This vessel, identified as the Athena by the onboard database, steadily ate away the distance separating the two craft. In a last ditch effort to avoid further combat, the Vanir overrode many of the safety protocols limiting the Hala's hyper drive output. For a fleeting moment it looked as if the gambit would succeed, but the Tauri vessel did the unimaginable and accelerated further.

"Mimir, the Tauri vessel continues to close." Syn, the Vanir second in command stated plainly.

"Their proximity to our vessel while troublesome is of little concern. Asgard vessels are far more advanced, and even with those advancements, cannot make use of shields during hyperspace travel. The power needed is far too great." Mimir replied.

"According to the data we have on this vessel, they will enter weapons range in four minutes." Syn informed her commander.

"An attack on this vessel in hyperspace would be foolish. The resulting debris would destroy their vessel as well. The Tauri are pragmatic, but not suicidal." Mimir replied seemingly without concern.

"If we do not act now, we will be unable to escape them within Pegasus." Syn stated with a sense of concern.

"The outcome of any battle the Tauri pursue against us is already decided in our favor." Mimir assured his second in command.

Growing closer and closer, the effectiveness of the Hala's sensor array was diminished greatly by the staggering amount of energy being detected aboard the pursuing vessel. The incredible blooming inferno of vacuum energy being created within the Arcturus device overwhelmed the Hala's ability to detect already powered weapons onboard the Athena.

"The Tauri vessel's shields are powered!" Syn called out.

While Mimir registered the warning from his second in command, he already knew it was too late. Seconds seemed to span into hours. They faced an enemy that could not be outrun. Somehow, the Tauri had found a way to build a vessel that could outpace even the blistering pace set by the most advanced of Asgard designs. If they could pull off such a feat, could they also have found a way to build a weapon even more formidable than the Ancient designed drones the Tria had fired in vain at them?

While Mimir's intellect sought out the answer to the riddle unfolding before his eyes, Athena inched to within twenty miles of his vessel. His mind screamed that danger was coming, but his intellect refused to believe it. He pondered the question as the Athena leveled its first shot in anger in his direction. The ion bolt from the Athena covered the distance to Hala in scant seconds. Impacting the Hala's hull, the ion bolt was quickly neutralized by a protective energy diffusion field that surrounded the vessel's bulk. Separate from the traditional shields, this field was meant only to protect Asgard vessels from their own weaponry, and reduced the bolts impact to nothing more than vibrations that reverberated through the hull.

"They are firing. The energy diffusion field has negated the attack." Syn stated quickly.

Before Mimir could reply, the second round of attacks from the Tauri vessel was unleashed. Seeing their ion bolt reduced to nothing more harmless than a simple Goa'uld staff blast impacting powerful Asgard shields, Athena next unleashed a single shot from the fearsome plasma beam weapons she carried. The superheated plasma impacted the Hala's hull, and easily pierced her tough hide, damaging multiple key systems and one of the two hyper drive cores she carried. Tenths of a second later, Hala unexpectedly remerged into the cold emptiness of the intergalactic void.