Here is another installment.
I hope the wait was worth it.
I hope the wait was worth it.
Spoiler:
Another Lantean cruiser is disabled as a destroyer moves underhead, firing another salvo of drones, eliminating a Wraith cruiser. Wraith move through a corridor, stunning any Lanteans they come across. They blast their way through a door, taking down any Lanteans they encounter. Some Wraith move down a level. The Wraith continue moving through the ship. Eventually they encounter Lantean security officers. The officers begin firing at the Wraith coming at them. They appear to shoot each Wraith several times with relatively powerful bursts. The bursts penetrate the Wraith's bodies entirely. Another Wraith comes up from behind and joins two stun rods together, taking down all opposition in the rest of the corridor.
Aboard Gatelis' ship, he receives a message.
"General, we're receiving reports that several of our ships have been boarded. The crews are being attacked and taken."
"Keep us on course for that hive."
"Two more hives are headed for us."
"Engage them. Full salvo!"
The battleship and one of the cruisers with it fire a cluster of drones. Some are blocked by darts, but the majority gets through and severely damages the hive ship. The second cruiser engages the other hive, inflicting moderate damage. Some 80-100 darts attack the ships as they try and get to the other hive closest to the planet.
Over the planet, the transport takes off and cloaks. The other gateships are already gone. The bridge of the destroyer is pretty shaken up.
"The shields are about to fail!"
"The transport has cleared the surface."
"Take us up. Route weapons power to the shields."
The ship shakes violently. Several systems fail.
"Our shields are offline! We're going back down!"
The destroyer slowly falls to the surface. The impact is light overall.
"Incoming darts! They intend to board us!"
"All remaining crew: Arm yourselves accordingly. The Wraith may intend to capture this ship and its crew."
The Lanteans on the bridge all pull out their sidearms. One attends to the display on the bridge, examining the Wraith numbers heading for the ship.
A number of Wraith begin to board the ship as it lies on the surface. Two Lanteans head around a corner in a corridor, and get stunned by several Wraith before they can get off a shot. In another part of the ship as Wraith move throughout the ship, we come across a Lantean corpse, apparently having been fed on by a Wraith.
The battle is completely one-sided. The Wraith just completely run over the Lantean security attempting to hold the ship.
Within eight minutes, the ship is taken by the Wraith.
Above the planet, the fleet is still fighting to hold its ground. Wraith darts enter the bays of another battleship, and weapons fire can be seen all across the corridors of the Lantean ships boarded. One Lantean cruiser heads on a suicide run, impacting the underside of a Wraith hive. Two more hyperspace windows appear, with two more hives arriving. It's a lost cause at this point.
A hive latches one of it's docking claws onto the exterior of a Lantean battleship, allowing more direct transfer of troops. Bodies of Lanteans are being thrown into hive coocoons. Alongside the Lanteans are some other humans, including a few children as young as five.
More and more Wraith take the Lanteans aboard the hives and place them into cocoons. Hundreds are placed onto each hive. Chamber after chamber is filled. The crews of many Lantean ships taken, and would become the victims of the Wraith.
The Wraith kept coming. For every ship that was in battle, there were at least two to three Wraith counterparts. By the end, it was as many as 10-15. The Lanteans once had as many as 80-90 warships. Now, two-thirds of their remaining ships were being wiped out.
Another cruiser is destroyed by three Wraith cruisers as a destroyer is boarded by another Wraith cruiser. Most of the Lantean ships were disabled at this point, with only a few still fighting back. One battleship targeted its own hangar bay to keep the darts out. A Lantean cruiser was held by a hive's grappeling arm. Another battleship was held by another hive. The sight was pathetic. Truly pathetic.
Aboard another battleship, still capable of fighting, the commander looked around at his bridge, somewhat roughed up, and then he looked outward at the sight of some of the other ships, both destroyed and captured. He has a look of complete defeat. His ship is rocked again. A hive is firing on his ship again.
"Maximum salvo! Eliminate that hive!"
The battleship throws forward about 120-140 drones, this time the hive is ripped apart. This draws six Wraith cruisers to go straight at the battleship. One destroyer pursues them. The destroyer fires ten drones, disabling one.
Not much could be done really at this point. Of the 28 ships that were to protect the Lantean delegation, 15 were destroyed, and another 10 were captured, their ships latched onto by a hive's grappeling arm, or in direct contact with a cruiser above. Two battleships and one destroyer were all that were really capable of fighting. One destroyer not counted in the defense total was on the planet's surface, disabled and crawling with Wraith.
There was no way out of this. But they couldn't just let their ships be taken by the Wraith. Two ship commanders ran their ships into hives in suicide runs. One ship exploded out of nowhere, likely to a self-destruct.
The commander of the battleship recieved a communication from the destroyer.
"We can't fight them off! We should take what we have left and retreat to the Atlantis perimeter."
The ship commander looks around, at the damage to his ship.
"Very well, form up and we'll begin a rapid run across the Wraith and try to shake a few of them off the other ships."
He sends a message to the other battleship.
"We're retreating. Form up and target the docking arms and latches between the Wraith and our captured ships."
The three ships, taking fire from several Wraith ships launch a series of drones, destroying a cruiser, and breaking apart the grappeling arm of a hive holding another battleship. A wave of darts head for the trio as they move across. The other ships are not affected, since they are too far away. They couldn't possibly try and retake the other ships, but at least they could give the remaining Lantean crews an additional edge against the Wraith boarding parties by targeting the Wraith grappeling arms, preventing any additional Wraith from trying to get on board.
Another grappeling arm is blown apart, some Wraith being blown into space with the blasts.
One cruiser that is freed by the other ships jumps to hyperspace, likely with some Wraith still aboard.
On the bridge of one of the battleships, the commander is pleased.
"Good, save yourselves. Make your return to Atlantis. Are there any more ships still hyperspace capable?"
One of the bridge officers replied. "Yes, one other. Another battleship."
Have all three ships head straight for the Wraith holding our fellow kind."
Three hives, seven cruisers, and a very large amount of darts block their path. The forward most cruisers and a hive fire on the three ships. The Lantean ships exchange fire with them. The battleships bridge is rocked again, this time quite severely.
"Our shields are almost gone. We must withdraw."
"That ship can still be saved. We need every single one available especially now! Keep us on our direction."
The lead battleship is still taking fire from the Wraith as it throws another drone salvo at the Wraith cruisers, shattering two of them and taking along about a dozen darts.
The three ships come to the other ship, as the two other hives start firing on the other ships. Six drones are fired from the battleship and damage the cruiser latched on the bottom of the battleship. The battleship engines fire up a moment later and it jumps to hyperspace.
"They've accelerated to hyperspace! We need to get out of here now!"
The bridge is rocked sharply again.
"We've lost our shields! We have to go quickly!"
"Agreed. Have the others follow. Take us to Atlantis."
The battleship shows two small explosions on its outer hull as the three ships jump to hyperspace. Back at the wreckage of the other ships, a captain of a Lantean cruiser looks at his bridge, all but one of his officers dead around him. He takes one look at his officer, his officer doing the same to his captain. They look outward, all their ships destroyed or captured. It was a complete travesty. The Wraith are all around them.
They cannot escape, their hyperdrive engines are a complete wreck. The captain takes one more look at his crewman, his crewman understanding what his captain was about to do. The crewman accesses the engineering subsystems and redirects the ships remaining power to the sublight engines. The captain takes control of the piloting controls and heads straight for the closest hive ship.
Taking fire, the ship drives itself into the hyperdrives and critical systems of the hive ship as it explodes, taking the hive ship with it.
--End of Chapter 7.
Aboard Gatelis' ship, he receives a message.
"General, we're receiving reports that several of our ships have been boarded. The crews are being attacked and taken."
"Keep us on course for that hive."
"Two more hives are headed for us."
"Engage them. Full salvo!"
The battleship and one of the cruisers with it fire a cluster of drones. Some are blocked by darts, but the majority gets through and severely damages the hive ship. The second cruiser engages the other hive, inflicting moderate damage. Some 80-100 darts attack the ships as they try and get to the other hive closest to the planet.
Over the planet, the transport takes off and cloaks. The other gateships are already gone. The bridge of the destroyer is pretty shaken up.
"The shields are about to fail!"
"The transport has cleared the surface."
"Take us up. Route weapons power to the shields."
The ship shakes violently. Several systems fail.
"Our shields are offline! We're going back down!"
The destroyer slowly falls to the surface. The impact is light overall.
"Incoming darts! They intend to board us!"
"All remaining crew: Arm yourselves accordingly. The Wraith may intend to capture this ship and its crew."
The Lanteans on the bridge all pull out their sidearms. One attends to the display on the bridge, examining the Wraith numbers heading for the ship.
A number of Wraith begin to board the ship as it lies on the surface. Two Lanteans head around a corner in a corridor, and get stunned by several Wraith before they can get off a shot. In another part of the ship as Wraith move throughout the ship, we come across a Lantean corpse, apparently having been fed on by a Wraith.
The battle is completely one-sided. The Wraith just completely run over the Lantean security attempting to hold the ship.
Within eight minutes, the ship is taken by the Wraith.
Above the planet, the fleet is still fighting to hold its ground. Wraith darts enter the bays of another battleship, and weapons fire can be seen all across the corridors of the Lantean ships boarded. One Lantean cruiser heads on a suicide run, impacting the underside of a Wraith hive. Two more hyperspace windows appear, with two more hives arriving. It's a lost cause at this point.
A hive latches one of it's docking claws onto the exterior of a Lantean battleship, allowing more direct transfer of troops. Bodies of Lanteans are being thrown into hive coocoons. Alongside the Lanteans are some other humans, including a few children as young as five.
More and more Wraith take the Lanteans aboard the hives and place them into cocoons. Hundreds are placed onto each hive. Chamber after chamber is filled. The crews of many Lantean ships taken, and would become the victims of the Wraith.
The Wraith kept coming. For every ship that was in battle, there were at least two to three Wraith counterparts. By the end, it was as many as 10-15. The Lanteans once had as many as 80-90 warships. Now, two-thirds of their remaining ships were being wiped out.
Another cruiser is destroyed by three Wraith cruisers as a destroyer is boarded by another Wraith cruiser. Most of the Lantean ships were disabled at this point, with only a few still fighting back. One battleship targeted its own hangar bay to keep the darts out. A Lantean cruiser was held by a hive's grappeling arm. Another battleship was held by another hive. The sight was pathetic. Truly pathetic.
Aboard another battleship, still capable of fighting, the commander looked around at his bridge, somewhat roughed up, and then he looked outward at the sight of some of the other ships, both destroyed and captured. He has a look of complete defeat. His ship is rocked again. A hive is firing on his ship again.
"Maximum salvo! Eliminate that hive!"
The battleship throws forward about 120-140 drones, this time the hive is ripped apart. This draws six Wraith cruisers to go straight at the battleship. One destroyer pursues them. The destroyer fires ten drones, disabling one.
Not much could be done really at this point. Of the 28 ships that were to protect the Lantean delegation, 15 were destroyed, and another 10 were captured, their ships latched onto by a hive's grappeling arm, or in direct contact with a cruiser above. Two battleships and one destroyer were all that were really capable of fighting. One destroyer not counted in the defense total was on the planet's surface, disabled and crawling with Wraith.
There was no way out of this. But they couldn't just let their ships be taken by the Wraith. Two ship commanders ran their ships into hives in suicide runs. One ship exploded out of nowhere, likely to a self-destruct.
The commander of the battleship recieved a communication from the destroyer.
"We can't fight them off! We should take what we have left and retreat to the Atlantis perimeter."
The ship commander looks around, at the damage to his ship.
"Very well, form up and we'll begin a rapid run across the Wraith and try to shake a few of them off the other ships."
He sends a message to the other battleship.
"We're retreating. Form up and target the docking arms and latches between the Wraith and our captured ships."
The three ships, taking fire from several Wraith ships launch a series of drones, destroying a cruiser, and breaking apart the grappeling arm of a hive holding another battleship. A wave of darts head for the trio as they move across. The other ships are not affected, since they are too far away. They couldn't possibly try and retake the other ships, but at least they could give the remaining Lantean crews an additional edge against the Wraith boarding parties by targeting the Wraith grappeling arms, preventing any additional Wraith from trying to get on board.
Another grappeling arm is blown apart, some Wraith being blown into space with the blasts.
One cruiser that is freed by the other ships jumps to hyperspace, likely with some Wraith still aboard.
On the bridge of one of the battleships, the commander is pleased.
"Good, save yourselves. Make your return to Atlantis. Are there any more ships still hyperspace capable?"
One of the bridge officers replied. "Yes, one other. Another battleship."
Have all three ships head straight for the Wraith holding our fellow kind."
Three hives, seven cruisers, and a very large amount of darts block their path. The forward most cruisers and a hive fire on the three ships. The Lantean ships exchange fire with them. The battleships bridge is rocked again, this time quite severely.
"Our shields are almost gone. We must withdraw."
"That ship can still be saved. We need every single one available especially now! Keep us on our direction."
The lead battleship is still taking fire from the Wraith as it throws another drone salvo at the Wraith cruisers, shattering two of them and taking along about a dozen darts.
The three ships come to the other ship, as the two other hives start firing on the other ships. Six drones are fired from the battleship and damage the cruiser latched on the bottom of the battleship. The battleship engines fire up a moment later and it jumps to hyperspace.
"They've accelerated to hyperspace! We need to get out of here now!"
The bridge is rocked sharply again.
"We've lost our shields! We have to go quickly!"
"Agreed. Have the others follow. Take us to Atlantis."
The battleship shows two small explosions on its outer hull as the three ships jump to hyperspace. Back at the wreckage of the other ships, a captain of a Lantean cruiser looks at his bridge, all but one of his officers dead around him. He takes one look at his officer, his officer doing the same to his captain. They look outward, all their ships destroyed or captured. It was a complete travesty. The Wraith are all around them.
They cannot escape, their hyperdrive engines are a complete wreck. The captain takes one more look at his crewman, his crewman understanding what his captain was about to do. The crewman accesses the engineering subsystems and redirects the ships remaining power to the sublight engines. The captain takes control of the piloting controls and heads straight for the closest hive ship.
Taking fire, the ship drives itself into the hyperdrives and critical systems of the hive ship as it explodes, taking the hive ship with it.
--End of Chapter 7.
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