Jon, Rick and Ellie sat around the table in Jon's quarters talking. Deatra was watching over the children in the connecting living room. The rest of the command staff slowly arrived and joined the discussion in progress. Jon and the staff listened to Rick and Ellie tell them of how they managed to be stranded. Once Rick was done, Jon leaned back and looked at several of his command staff.
"Earth isn't how you describe it Rick," Jon said
Rick glanced over at Ellie and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, not how I described it?"
"Earth has been occupied by the Invaru," Terri said jumping into the conversation.
"Huh?" Ellie said. Surprised by what she had just heard.
Jon let out a small sigh and glanced around at his command staff. Deatra had left the kids playing in the other room and moved over to Jon's side, laying a hand on his shoulder. Jon looked up into Deatra's eyes and smiled as he saw her love for him show. "Earth has been over run by the Invaru. They've even been turning the people into slaves. Now it seems like the Invaru and we have a new enemy and from what I have seen, it looks like they're being hammered. These new enemies are the black ships you helped chase off. We couldn't hurt them, none of our weapons were effective. Our shield did almost nothing to stop their attacks. We couldn't even see them much less lock our weapons on them."
"What about the TDF and the fleet stationed at Earth and Alpha Centauri?" Rick asked.
"To be honest I have never seen a TDF ship or a fleet at Earth. They might have been destroyed in the initial battle. As far as Alpha Centauri, I don't know, we have never been there." Jon said.
"Neither my people nor I have ever seen these TDF ships either, as far as I know," Deatra added.
"Well one thing is for sure, we're not going anywhere with those ships in orbit. Repairs are underway but it's not going to do any good if we have to face them." Jon said as he stood and walked to the window.
Jon watched as various spider bots ran about doing their job repairing the hull. On the ground several of the refitted tanks were taking up positions for defense. Marines were patrolling and setting up a command center.
Rick and Ellie had been quietly discussing what they had just found out.
"I don't know what to do. I can't see Ian and the whole defense fleet being over run like this. The recordings we saw shows that Earth is over run, I just don't understand how it could have happened." Rick quietly said.
Ellie nodded, "Kind of hard to believe, I think we should ask for a copy of the recording and let Bronze Six take a look at it, just to make sure. The one thing that bugs me the most is I haven't seen any other Talosian people. For that matter most of their technology seems to be decades behind what we have."
"Let's hold off judgment until we have Bronze Six take a look at the recording and we get a chance to meet more of the crew."
Rick stood and walked over where Jon was standing. "We would like a copy of the recordings from Earth and of the battle with the crystal ships."
"Why?" Jon asked not turning his attention from the window.
"We would like to run the recordings through our ship's AI for analysis.
We might be able to find a weakness in the crystal ships and we would like to check the Earth recording for signs of our people."
Jon looked up at Rick. "Ok, but I told you the events you have described that took place on Earth haven't happened. I would like Atlantis to have access to your histories so we can review them, if that's ok."
Rick glanced back at Ellie and saw her nod at him. "We can arrange that, but for now I'll have to limit your access to only our recordings. I can't make any other information available for you, at least until we figure out what is going on. Ellie and I have came to the conclusion that we will help you as best as we can. That is as long as we're allowed to come with you."
Two experienced fighter pilots with access to a top of the line fighter. A fighter that was better than anything they currently had available. He just couldn't find a flaw in that logic, hell yes he would take them. He would even give them a place in the crew and allow them to keep their rank, once he got to know them better. Besides that, he couldn't leave them stranded on a planet no matter how crazy he thought they were. Not to mention the access to some of the technology they had. Yes, it would benefit them to help these two. "I don't see a problem with helping you get off the planet. All we have to do is find a way to get past the ships in orbit." Jon smiled and stuck his hand out.
Rick looked down at Jon's proffered hand. He had known that the offer of helping them wouldn't be a problem. After all, if he was in command he would do the same in the hope of getting his hands on some of the new technology. Plus he wouldn't just leave people stranded, what he wanted to know was what was really going though Jon's mind. Jon didn't seem to have all his marbles in one place. Earth was protected by the TDF and there wasn't anyone who could change that, not with the Tiamat patrolling. The recording was a fake, at least he was pretty sure it was a fake. Then again he was at this man's mercy, he needed to get his wife and daughter off this planet and back to Earth and the TDF. Kayla, his other wife, was waiting for them out there somewhere. Rick took the proffered hand and shook it firmly. "Let us look at the recordings, then we'll see what we have."
Port Control on Ghost Station watched the three ships approach the outer marker and stop. Earth's Revenge started sending the authorization codes as Carla stepped from the Commander's Ready Room.
"Status?" Carla said in a calm voice. She stepped over to look that the Holo display.
"The Earth's Revenge and Titan have transmitted authorization codes. They're escorting the Marudas, she has heavy damage and minimal life signs." Port Control reported.
"Get me Captain Hawkins on board the Earth's Revenge. I want intensive scans of the Earth's revenge and Titan, look for Invaru. Bring the station to Condition Yellow, launch Nova Squadron and have them proceed on an intercept course."
"Commander can I make a suggestion?" Commander Vaes whispered as he walked up beside her.
Carla nodded, "Always, if I have learned one thing from Captain Hunter, it's to always welcome advice."
Vaes smiled, "Have the Scythe plot an intercept course and have four tugs stand-by incase they're needed."
Carla thought for a second and nodded. "Thanks, I wasn't even thinking about that. Ghost can you contact the Scythe and relay the orders? Also please have four of the remote tugs prepared."
Ghost, who was standing next to Carla monitoring the situation, started issuing the orders. "Issuing orders now Sir."
Carla had grown to like Vaes in the past couple days. He was patient and nurturing in his training. At the end of her shift, he would sit down with her and go over everything she had done. Asking her why she had made certain choices, then he broke those choices down. He would give her other options to the situations, explaining to her that while her decisions weren't wrong, there were always other options. He made her feel at ease and helped her build her confidence level.
"Sir Captain Hawkins is asking for you." Comm reported.
"Put him through." Carla replied as she turned to the main viewer.
Bill's face filled the screen, "Commander Taldage what seems to be the delay?"
"Sorry Captain but protocol requires us to take precautions. The Marudas is a known enemy and I'm hesitant to allow her through the outer markers." Carla replied.
"The Marudas is under my control Commander, she's heavily damaged and most of her crew is in my brig. Please allow us through the outer markers so we can get her to a repair bay."
Carla looked over at Vaes, who just shrugged. "Captain I understand your request for clearance and once I'm satisfied the Marudas isn't a threat I'll allow you through." Carla replied.
"Commander I assure you she is under my command."
"That may be so but I have to be sure of that fact. I'm sure you understand."
Bill sighed, he needed to get back to the Atlantis and this wasn't helping things. "I understand your caution. However, I'm here to collect the Scythe and drop the Marudas off. The Atlantis is in trouble and I plan to go back to see if we can help."
Carla had thought something was odd and now Bill had brought out what was odd about the situation, the Atlantis was not here. Carla watched Bill on the view screen, trying to notice anything strange. "Stand-by Captain" Carla motioned to the com officer to mute the connection.
"Communication muted," Comm reported.
Carla turned her back to the viewer, "What do you think Commander?"
Vaes turned and leaned against the railing, "Seems kind of strange that the Atlantis is missing and they show up with an enemy Super Carrier, especially the Marudas."
"My thoughts too, Condition red, transmit Battle Codes to the Scythe. Tell the commanding officer to stand-by for possible engagement and let them know the Earth's Revenge and the Titan could be in enemy hands."
Bill watched the Scythe approach the outer marker and take up position off the Marudas' port side. Bill shook his head as he turned and sat down in the command chair. He knew he didn't have time for this, the Atlantis' survival could depend on him getting back as soon as he could.
"Comm, order the Titan to pull back and plot a course to the last know location of the Atlantis."
"The Titan wants to know what we're going to do?"
"We will be following covering the rear."
"The Titan is turning and making way to their jump point." Con reported.
"Good, set a course to follow, prep for fold. Send a message to Ghost Station to recover the Marudas."
"Message sent... , no reply Sir."
Onboard the Scythe the commanding officer received the command to engage the Earth's Revenge and Titan and to delay their jumps until boarding parties could arrive. The young commander stared at the departing ships trying to reason everything out in his mind.
"Con plot an intercept course. Condition Red, bring all forward batteries to bear on the Earth's Revenge." Commander Losam said.
"Course plotted, one minute until we over take them. Forward batteries ready, we will be in firing range in twenty seconds." Tactical reported.
"Sir, communication from Commander Hawkins onboard the Earth's Revenge, should I put it through?" Comm reported.
"Did he transmit command codes?"
"No Sir."
"Then close the channel and do not respond."
Losam watched as the Earth's Revenge turned in a delaying tactic. They were trying to delay him long enough for the Titan to make her jump point. Well it wouldn't work, he was ordered to delay them both and he planned on doing just that.
"Tactical drop us just under the Earth's Revenge keel at the last possible second. When we pass her, target the Titan's engines and fire all forward batteries. Have all aft batteries fire on the Earth's Revenge targeting her engines as we pass her. I want them disabled not destroyed, we have friends on those ships."
Bill watched everything playing out on the main planning table. He turned his ship to engage the Scythe, trying to give the Titan the time she needed to make the jump. He had all of the weapons offline but shields to full. He refused to fire on one of their ships that was just following orders, no matter how stupid those orders were. He watched as the Scythe changed course slightly and brought her weapons to full power. He knew what she was doing and it wasn't going to work, Jon had taught him better than that.
"Comm have the lower three decks evacuated and sealed. Tactical the next time the Scythe changes course I want an emergency course correction. Bring the keel down 10 degrees and then sound collision alarms."
The Tactical officer paled a bit as he nodded.
Rick and Ellie had reviewed the recordings and they were both stunned as their computer confirmed them to be unaltered. They also saw no evidence of the TDF in the recordings. Not matter how much they watched or analyzed the recording it always came out the same. There was no evidence of Phoenix Base or the fleet in the system.
Rick and Ellie sat with Jon in his room, the kids were once again playing. Deatra sat next to Jon and listened to the conversation-taking place. They agreed to share limited technology with Jon and his crew. This would help everyone involved escape the small fleet in orbit. The main technology they would first share with Jon would be the replicator and gun design. They would build a large unit for engineering that would allow them to build the guns needed for the Atlantis and her fighters. In return the Atlantis would make a trip to Alpha Centauri and drop Rick, Ellie and their daughter off at the colony there. First Jon said he would take them by Earth and let them see for themselves what was going on there.
Captain Prasuh suddenly regained consciousness and opened his eyes. Standing in front of him was a human woman dressed in an ADF uniform. On her lapel was the marking of a medical officer. She reached down to take his pulse and her reached up and grabbed her arm. Watching her face her eyes grew large and fear filled her eyes.
"You have no need to fear me Doctor. What I told your Captain Hunter was true. I would like you to call him, we have much to discuss." Prasuh said in broken English.
Andie nodded as she motioned the guard to stand down. She turned and walked back to her office to call Jon and let him know that Prasuh was awake and requesting his presence.
Collision alarms rang to life onboard the Scythe as the Earth's Revenge changed her position at the last possible second. Losam paled as the ships ran into each other. Sounds of tearing metal filled both ships as emergency bulkheads slammed shut on the Scythe. Power failed as the main power conduits were severed. Weapons went offline as the shield generators failed. Thankfully, no one was killed, the impact happened in an area that wasn't in use at the time.
Bill looked over the damage reports that rolled by both ships on the main planning table. The Earth's Revenge was for the most part untouched. The Scythe had taken the brunt of the impact. The keel had torn through the top five decks, severing several critical systems. Bill watched as backup systems flared to life. She was going to be ok, that was until an explosion blew the two ships apart. Bill's jaw dropped as he watched the Scythe drop away.
"Where did that explosion come from?"
"It looks like the collision damaged the control conduits to the back up reactor core. When backup systems went online the reactor tried to start up. With no safeties, secondary protocol was enabled and the core was ejected. It looks like the ejection system was damaged and the reactor exploded." Tactical reported.
"My God, how bad is the damage?"
"Severe, the ejection housing wasn't designed to take that kind of explosion."
"Prepare to render aid, bring us along side."
"Sir, engines are still down. Engineering reports 15 minutes until they can bring them back online." Con reported.
"They have five, launch SAR teams."
"Launch control is down due to a power surge." Launch reported.
"Does anything work?"
"Sir, the explosion hurt us too, knocking out several systems."
Bill watched in horror as several smaller explosions dotted the hull of the Scythe. The Titan had already jumped back to the Atlantis's last known position. They had to get to the Scythe so they could stabilize her systems and start rescue operations. Bill watched the Scythe begin to list to her post as she spiraled out of control.
Carla paled as she watched the collision and resulting explosions. Vaes flinched as each small explosion ruptured the hull of the Scythe. The quiet that filled CIC was deafening as all eyes watched the main viewer.
"Oh god, what have I done?" Carla whispered. "Launch all SAR teams and hail the Earth's Revenge."
"Channel open to the Earth's Revenge." Comm reported.
"Commander Hawkins we're launching SAR teams and moving tugs into position to stabilize the Scythe."
"Commander Taldage we're trying to reroute power to engines and get Launch Control back online. The explosion caused a considerable amount of damage to the Scythe and knocked out some of our main conduits. We may not be able to reach her in time to shut down her main reactor. We have tried to access her computer but the damage seems too severe to establish a connection. Her main reactor is spinning up trying to reroute power to her life support and gravitational fields. The problem seems to be the main safety routines are offline. If it continues to spin up she'll go critical in thirty minutes. The only thing we can think of is we have to 'plug in' to her main computer and shut down the reactor."
"How will you do that?"
"If we get close enough to dock to her main collar, the connection will be automatic as long as her conduits aren't severed."
"Sir, the Marudas is powering up her engines and making for the Scythe." Tactical reported.
"Get me a connection to the Marudas."
The Marudas slowly turned towards the spinning Scythe as her engines flared to life. Her shields sprung to life as several undamaged launch bays cycled open. Several small ships launched and headed for the Earth's Revenge. Weapon systems sprang to life and targeted the Scythe as the Marudas approached.
Onboard the Earth's Revenge fury clouded Bill's face as he watched the Marudas prepare to fire on the helpless Scythe. It was unthinkable. They had saved the Marudas from the black ships. He couldn't understand how his people had lost control of the Marudas but there was only one thing left to do.
"Bring weapons online and target the Marudas. Shields to maximum and get something anything launched to intercept those incoming fighters." Bill barked the orders.
"Sir, weapons systems are still offline. Shields are at one quarter power and Launch Control reports 6 six minutes to launch ready." Tactical reported.
Bill felt it, this was going to be a short fight. Carla had been right, he was wrong to think the Marudas was secure. "I'm sorry for doubting you Carla." Bill whispered. He looked up at his bridge crew, they were all concentrating on bring the ship up to battle status.
"One minutes until the enemy ships are in range." Tactical reported.
"Prepare to abandon the ship program all life boats to make for Ghost Station."
"S-Sir?"
"You heard the order now carry it out."
Carla heard everything from the Earth's Revenges Bridge. She stared at Vaes, unsure of what to do. Vaes started barking orders and took command. "Launch remaining fighters and have them intercept the Marudas. They're to stop her at all costs. Have one squad protect the life boats from the Earth's Revenge."
The Marudas fired as the last order left Vaes lips. The Marudas' beams caught the Scythe mid-ship punching through the hull as if it was paper.