Chapter 213

M34-227

The celestial body known as M34-227 was not a planet. Instead, it was a moon orbiting a gas giant similar to Saturn. Uninhabited, the moon had played host to extraordinary events a time or two. Most recently, the moon had been the location on which the surviving Asuran's had discovered digital ascension. Thousands or years earlier, the Lantean's had chosen this moon as the site of a dry dock for their fleet during the early days of the war against the Wraith.

Similar to the facility on Taranis where the Aurora class vessel later to be called the Orion had been discovered before the eruption of the planets super volcano, this facility had once been home to Lantean warsh.i.p.s. In the tenth year of the Lantean/Wraith war, the Harbinger had led a brutal assault that resulted in the facility's capture and its denial to the Ancients as the staging point for future assaults. The attacks that had originated here had nearly led to the downfall of the Wraith. At great cost, Harbinger had achieved his aims, losing six Hives and many more cruisers in the process.

Standing on a lightly wooded plain, the stargate activated. From the event horizon, exited two sleek Wraith Darts. Speeding away from the gate, the Darts climbed as they accelerated. Passing over the plain, the two Darts quickly covered the forty miles that stood between them and their destination. That destination was a towering tabletop mountain. Slowing to a crawl, the two craft settled into a hover three hundred feet above the mountains flat top. Descending in place, the two Darts lowered to the mountaintop's surface, and passed through the holographic camouflage image. As they continued to descend, the Darts pilots found themselves in a manmade cavernous opening. At the bottom of this cavern were four docking points that had once housed Lantean warsh.i.p.s.

Landing on a platform that had once played host to Puddle Jumpers, the two craft came to rest. Their energy shield protective canopies deactivated, and the two Commanders who piloted the craft exited. Sure of foot, the two Wraith made their way to the nearby transporter booth similar to those found on Atlantis or Borealis. Knowing exactly where they were going, the destination booth was selected with ease.

As the receiving transport booth doors slid open, the two Wraith Commanders found themselves standing in the Lantean facilities data core. Contained within the databank before them were the fleet files of the long vanquished Ancient fleet. Technical data, navigation, and mission reports were all here for the taking. Like the Wraith who had entered this room after the facilities capture, these commanders would once again dip into the plethora of knowledge that sat at their fingertips.

Over the next five hours, the two commanders navigated the core. Finding the information they sought took longer than expected, due in large part to the differences between Lantean and Wraith database design. When first captured, this facility had provided a treasure trove of data on drone weapons, and the effectiveness of Aurora class defensive shields. The core had also provided the location of Ancient outposts and settlements within the Pegasus galaxy. At that time, human life had flourished in great abundance in the galaxy, so the need to find an alternative feeding ground was not a concern.

It was known that the Tauri were the children and most powerful descendants of the Ancient's. It was also known that the Ancient's had once called the Tauri home world their capital. During the database search, the navigational data pertaining to this world was found. In a separate search of the engineering section of the core, the secrets of highly efficient intergalactic hyper drive technology was also found. On arrival from Arkos to Pegasus, each Aurora came to this facility for modifications to their hyper drives. Going from intergalactic to far simpler interstellar models, these modifications were enacted to ensure that intergalactic hyper drive technology did not accidently fall into Wraith hands.

Transferring the collected data to a storage crystal, the two Commander's took their leave of the long abandoned facility. Back in the c.o.c.kpits of their individual Darts, the two Wraith raced back towards the now active stargate with their assigned mission complete.

Atlantis

When the Harbinger made his presence known on the galactic stage of the Pegasus galaxy, he did so in such a way as to give the Tauri pause. That pause brought about a rethink of the constantly evolving strategy on just how to wage war against the Wraith. Fleet engagements were now done by ambush, so as to avoid the loss of another vessel and crew. The Daedalus class vessels in galaxy soon found themselves restricted to specific corridors of the galaxy thought safe from the Harbinger's movements.

With the more powerful Athena's utilized in the ambush and wolf pack roles; this left a gap in the overall war plan. It was felt at the highest levels that to give the Wraith even the briefest of moments to catch their breath could spell disaster. Returning to a system that had worked and worked well since the very first mission through the gate, small and highly trained teams were being brought back to the forefront. Instead of relying solely on SG teams operating from Atlantis and Borealis, the other asset currently in theater was being brought into play.

Fresh from their time raiding the random Genii safe house that was discovered, Task Force 190 had a new mission. Teams formed by parent unit were put together. Each of these teams would operate in conjunction with an SG team. One would serve as the anvil, and the other the hammer.

Proven operators from Delta, Special Forces, and the Ranger element of the task force soon found themselves in a nearly endless stream of intelligence briefings on the potential missions to come.

Captain Carlyle, one of the Delta team commanders, put in an unexpected request. Petitioning Colonel Frost and Lieutenant Colonel Lorne, the Captain made his case for the temporary assignment of Ronon to his team. Soon, Teal'c found himself attached to another team in a similar request. Sequestering themselves away, the teams immediately went about prepping their new additions for the eventualities of any potential mission to come.

They would not have to wait long. Colonel Frost, the combined intelligence staffs of both city sh.i.p.s, and the fleet commanders were hard at work on putting the target package together. In recent memory, Pegasus had been a much more target rich environment as far as Wraith were concerned. Tauri fleet actions had altered that landscape dramatically. Many prime targets had either been neutralized, or destroyed altogether. That was not to say that targets of significance did not still exist though.

All the men who would soon fan out to many different fields of battle were ready. Though they had not yet been assigned team specific missions, they were all certain it was about to get exciting. The anger over the loss of the Leonidas still burned within them. They had a war, they had a purpose, now all they needed was a mission. Anger is a motivator like no other.

COMMENT 0 comment VOTE Load failed, please RETRY Privileged

More Privileged Chapters

Download the app and become a privileged reader today! Come take a sneak peek at our author's stockpiled chapters! Download Table of Contents Display Options

Background default yellow dark

Font Nunito Sans Merriweather

Size

Paragraph comments Chapter comments Write thought login liked newest Author:

© 0){ %>Chapter :

Author: Machine Translation

Editor: