Fic: Chase the Morning {33/37}
Chapter Four: Battles
Date: February 11, 8 A.I. [2008]
Location: North American Wraith Stronghold, Alberta, Canada
Two small groups of Abnormals made their way along the corridors of the Wraith Stronghold, all dressed in the nondescript clothing that all slaves of the Wraith wore. Hidden within their clothes were the aerosol deployment cans containing the poison, which they would occasionally set into a niche or in an unobtrusive corner. The cans were camouflaged so they wouldn’t stand out against the interior of the Strongholds, blending in so curious eyes wouldn’t find them and set them off prematurely. Nikola led one group, while John Druitt the other. Henry was back in the camp, meeting with the members of the rebellion and those of the Alliance who had arrived over the past two days, bringing weapons and supplies with them.
The plan was absurdly simple: set the poison canisters with a remote release so that they would go off when there was a large amount of Wraith in the Strongholds, wait until most of the Wraith had died- the poison took ten minutes to come into full effect, and even feeding off a luckless slave wouldn’t have any influence on the rapid progression of the poison through a Wraith’s body- and then go in and clean out the rest of the Wraith who had been severely weakened by the poison but who hadn’t died outright from it. The fact that the slaves and rebels had high powered weapons was a bonus as well; zats and handguns normally didn’t bother a healthy Wraith unless hit rapidly, but a Wraith in a weakened state? Easy pickings for the attackers.
Once the two groups finished with their task, they faded into the background, going about their normal duties to keep suspicion away from those not involved. All waited with bated breath as the time grew near, the rebels keeping a careful eye out for any trouble. Henry stayed in contact with the other members of the Alliance, using a comm device that was shielded from the Wraith’s notice. When the signal was given to start the concurrent attacks, the canisters were activated, and the strike teams moved into place. After the allotted amount of time for maximum exposure to the poison, the strike teams entered the Strongholds across the six continents, moving swiftly through the halls of their oppressors’ bases.
The Fleet jumped out of hyperspace on cue, emerging into normal space on the far side of Mars. They moved quickly against the Wraith Hive Ships, the larger ships blasting away at the Hives while the F-302s, Jumpers, and gliders tangled with the Darts that were currently on guard. Cam Mitchell, Jack O’Neill, and John Sheppard led mixed squadrons of Jumpers, gliders and F-302s, while Teal’c, Sam, and Evan Lorne led groups of Alkesh and Ha’taks. The Daedalus, Apollo, and Odyssey stayed back, sending off volleys of missiles while staying as far back as possible, just in case the Hive Ships decided to try and make a break for it.
The Wraith took a few minutes to respond, such was the sudden ferocity of the Alliance’s attack. When they did finally manage to scramble their Darts and start firing back at the Alliance, the previously wounded Hive Ship, which seemed to have still been undergoing repairs, had been destroyed, exploding with an almost sad finality that had the various crews of the Alliance ships cheering. That left four of the six original Hive Ships that had attacked Earth to take care of.
‘Stay on target, ladies and gentlemen,’ came General Hammond’s voice over the radios, being broadcast from the command deck of the Odyssey. ‘We’ve still got quite a bit of ways to go, and that Hive Ship was already weakened.’
‘Understood, sir,’ John replied. ‘Green Three, I’ve got some bogies on my tail. Can you assist?’
‘On my way, Green Leader.’ Said the voice of Lieutenant Grimsby, one of the pilots originally from the SGC. Grimsby came to John’s assistance, taking care of one of the Wraith Darts while John pulled some fancy maneuvers with his Jumper and managed to shake the other. He shot at it with a drone, clipping it along one of its wings. The Dart spiraled out of control and spun into another Dart, sending both up in a large fireball. John grinned but soon sobered as he returned to the task at hand. He dove back into the fight, putting his all on the line.
Nikola crept through the halls of the North American Wraith Stronghold, leading his small group of Abnormals, humans, and Tok’ra. They were all armed with zats, P-90s, and handguns, and a few of the Tok’ra had hand devices, just in case. Nikola was staying in his human form for the moment, preferring to keep his vampiric side hidden for the time being, not wanting to give away his ace in the hole just yet. He carried one of the modified sonic stunners he and Tucker ‘n’ Tyler had developed, feeling much more confident with the energy-based weapon than with a handgun or P-90. In a pinch he would’ve been fine with a zat gun, but like any scientist, he wanted to know if his experimental technology even worked.
The first Wraith his group came across was dead, laying crumpled in a heap near one of the storerooms. Nikola examined it briefly and then motioned for the others to continue on after him, keeping his gun at the ready. The sudden blue-white of a Wraith Stunner was all the warning they got as they came under fire from the Wraith, and Nikola dodged the blast just barely, bringing his weapon to bear as he came to a rest after jerking to one side. Gunfire opened up all around him as the others began firing their weapons in an attempt to bring down the Wraith attacking them, most hitting their marks, though a few ricocheted off the walls and ceilings in the over-enthusiasm of the rebels’ attack. When the gunfire died down, the remaining rebels- there were a few who had been stunned, and who were left behind in care of one of the healers of the group- went on, going deeper into the complex.
They reached the main hub of the Stronghold twenty minutes later, finding and fighting various groups of Wraith along the way. The sight that met them was stomach-churning, to say the least. Nikola heard more than one of the people behind him turn away and vomit at the smell of the dead Wraith. It was obvious that the Wraith had fought one another to escape, even as they were dying. Corpses lay haphazardly around the room, not all of them Wraith. In the attempt to escape the poison gas, the Wraith had tried to feed on any nearby slave, and when that didn’t work, had killed them in frustration before turning on their fellow Wraith.
Nikola closed his eyes briefly and then started forwards, picking his way over the ichor-, blood-, and corpse-strewn floor. Some of the more hardier souls followed behind him, their weapons at the ready, just in case there might be some Wraith playing dead. When he reached the main console in the center of the room, Nikola stopped and turned around, hiding with difficulty his distaste and horror at the scene all around him.
‘Alright, here’s how we’re going to play this,’ he said as John Druitt and the two other infiltration teams entered the room. ‘Medics, I want you to check and see if there are any humans or Abnormals alive anywhere in the Stronghold. They might be holed up somewhere, hiding. Leave the Wraith alone; if any of them moves under their own power, no matter how small of a movement, shoot them in the head on sight. We’ll fan out from here, using this room as a center of operations. Take at least two soldiers or someone with a P-90 with you, just in case.
‘Those who aren’t on the recon teams, start moving bodies once the medics give the all-clear. Dump the Wraith outside; we’ll burn them once we get the chance. For the slaves, we’ll bury them in graves, as is right and proper. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait to do so until we’ve got the entire complex cleared. For now, set the bodies in one of the cooler rooms; use the refrigerated rooms off the kitchens for a start. Let’s get going. Move out.’
Nikola caught John’s eye and waved him over to join him. John did so, coming to a halt next to Nikola.
‘We’re going to need to report back to CenCom about this.’ Nikola said softly. ‘If you’d be willing to do so, I’ll stay here and help clear out this place. I’m sure Henry’s wondering what the hell’s been going on, since we’ve been under radio silence ever since we started this operation.’
‘Right.’ John stared at him for a few seconds, and then shook his head. ‘You’ve been spending far too much time around the military, Nikola. You’re starting to sound like a soldier.’
Nikola smiled mirthlessly. ‘Unfortunately, my old friend, we’ve all had to take on roles we never thought we would in these dark times.’
‘That’s all too true,’ John said. ‘But for the first time in many years, I think I can see a glimmer of light through the clouds.’
‘Let’s hope so.’ Nikola replied before John disappeared in a flash of red lights. He sighed and then went to join in with the clean-up, not relishing the grim and gruesome task ahead.
The battle far overhead was going as well as could be expected, though quite a few of the Jumpers, F-302s, and gliders had been lost from either extremely lucky hits by a Dart or massive damage sustained in the heat of battle. Already the Fleet’s close-range fighters were down by one-fifth of their previous numbers, though they were having a better time of it now, ever since the Odyssey had managed to severely weaken and then take out one of the Hive Ships, lightening the load for the smaller attack vessels. Two Alkesh were concentrating their fire on a mildly wounded Hive Ship, while a Ha’tak and a few gliders guarded them from a surprise attack. That left two Hive Ships that hadn’t been full-on attacked, though the Fleet was doing its level best to engage them.
One of the Hive Ships tried to make a break for it, leaving the Darts that had launched from its fighter bays to fend for themselves against the onslaught. The Apollo fired a warning shot across the Hive’s bow, and when that didn’t deter the pilot, disabled their hyperdrive engines and continued firing at the enemy ship until it was effectively out of the fight, drifting idly in space, its hull rent in far too many places to be rapidly repaired. Atmosphere venting out one of the breaches in the hull made the Hive spin on its vertical axis, giving it the appearance of a top or an ungainly ballerina ponderously twirling in place. It was left alone once it had been decided that there would be no further use in firing at it; Colonel Ellis was content in picking up the pieces once they’d had the time. If anything else, the Hive would make excellent target practice later on.
The last two Hive ships were soon the subjects of an all-out bombardment by those ships not currently engaged in a battle. Several Ha’taks fired upon them, while the Daedalus and Odyssey assisted, sending out what gliders, Jumpers, and F-302s Colonels Davidson and Caldwell had held back in reserve to combat the Darts that had been deployed to protect the beleaguered Hives. The battleships hadn’t gone unscathed throughout the battle; the Apollo had several decks sealed off due to hull breaches, the Odyssey’s forward shields were low, and the Daedalus was starting to lose more atmosphere than was necessarily good due to a malfunctioning shield on one of its F-302 bays. Hermiod was working to counteract the damage, but so far, the diminutive Asgard was having trouble finding a way to work around the problem.
When the message came through via CenCom at the SGC that the North American Stronghold had fallen, quickly followed after by the European and African Strongholds, a great cheer went up among the members of the Fleet, giving them renewed purpose as they fought. The number of Darts in the fight was slowly waning as their sheltering Hive Ships were destroyed, which spurred on the defenders of Earth to press forwards, leaving little chance for the Wraith to escape. Once the final Hive Ship had been destroyed, leaving only the defunct and gently spinning one hit by the Apollo even somewhat intact, the tide of the battle soon turned in the favor of the Alliance. The pilots of the Darts turned desperate, going into kamikaze dive bombs in attempts to hinder the forward progress of the Alliance Fleet.
The fighters gave the Wraith no quarter, teaming up and mowing them down with little remorse for what they were doing. As the battle turned more into a mop-up situation, the critically wounded and injured began to filter back to their home bases aboard the battleships and Ha’taks, where a combination of Human, Abnormal, and Tok’ra doctors and healers awaited them. With a grim smile, General Hammond ordered the final Wraith Hive to be destroyed entirely. The Daedalus fired upon it, catching it amidships and causing a chain reaction of explosions that tore the Hive apart. A cheer went up on the bridge of the Daedalus; General Hammond and Colonel Caldwell exchanged bright smiles.
‘Alright, people, let’s get our fair ship fixed up; meanwhile, I’m going to go see what’s going on with the rest of the attack force.’ George said, getting up from his chair. ‘Colonel Caldwell, you’ve got the bridge.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Caldwell replied, saluting George sharply as he took over the command chair. George nodded and then left the bridge, his pace brisk as he navigated the halls to the communications room, where he opened a visual link to CenCom down at the SGC.
‘How’s it going down there, Doctor Weir?’ he asked once Elizabeth had been informed of the call. She looked weary, and her normally neat hair was escaping its restraints, forming loose waves around her face.
‘Hard,’ she replied, brushing her hair out of her face. ‘As you already know, the North American, African, and European Strongholds have fallen, and we’ve just got word that the Australian and South American ones have been cleared as well. We’re waiting on word about the Indo-Asian Stronghold, though. It appears that they’re having more trouble than we’d anticipated, possibly because there’re more Wraith there than the other Strongholds.’
‘Well, we knew that might happen.’ George said. ‘Have you sent any backup?’
Elizabeth nodded. ‘Some of our teleporters have moved several strike teams, but it’s going to take some time, even with the extra personnel. As for the others, well, it’s more of the clean-up phase at the moment. What about you? How goes it in space?’
George couldn’t hide his grin. ‘Well, we’ve managed to get rid of all of the Hives that were left, and we’re down to doing some mop-up skirmishes with the remaining Darts. The wounded are making their way back to their home bases as we speak; our doctors should be taking care of them as they arrive. What’s the casualty count on your end?’
Elizabeth sighed, though George thought it was one more of weariness than sadness.
‘It’s hard to say at the moment; as far as I know, there haven’t been any deaths directly linked to a Wraith feeding on someone, but with all of the resistance from the Wraith worshipers and other people, we’ve got at least twenty of our people dead. It’s a miracle that it isn’t more; we got lucky with that poison.’
George nodded grimly. ‘Yes, we did. Unfortunately, we have quite a bit of work ahead of us, even with the Strongholds and Hives destroyed. There’re probably Wraith holed up somewhere, biding their time.’
‘Yes, and-’ Elizabeth was interrupted by Peter Grodin, who murmured quietly in one of her ears before stepping out of range of the camera. Elizabeth nodded, and then turned her attention back to George. ‘I’ve just been informed that the Indo-Asian Stronghold has fallen, though they’re still in the early stages of securing the base.’
‘Good.’ George was relieved to hear the news. The Indo-Asian Stronghold, situated on the border of what had once been India and China, just on the south-west side of the Himalayas, had been one of the most vital Strongholds to conquer. Control that, and the Wraith had little chance of ruling over one of the largest areas of land on the globe. ‘I’ll inform the rest of the Fleet. We’ll be heading back to the Beta Site once we’re able to, but the Jumpers will be returning to Atlantis.’
‘Understood.’ Elizabeth paused, and then allowed a smile to form on her face. ‘We did it, General. We’ve started on the path to freedom.’
‘Yes, we have.’
End Part Three