Stargate

Destiny Departs Atlantis.

The loading of Destiny finished just as the shields were raised, and the personnel were already loaded for departure. General Young alerted the crew to Battle Stations as they prepared to lift off and launch into orbit.

"All hatches are closed and sealed, ready for liftoff." Eli said as the boards turned green as they powered the systems.

"Atlantis Control, requesting permission to lift off." Young transmitted.

"Authorized, good luck General." Carter replied as the multiple Wraith ships maneuvered deeper into the system as they scanned the planet.

"Shields up, power weapons, bring the sublight engines online amd take us into orbit." he ordered and the flurry of activity on the bridge increased as the ship began rising off of the platform.

Two minutes later they were in orbit above the planet, and General Young ordered an intercept course. "Battle Stations." he ordered as they closed distance to the Hive ships. "Power the main weapon and lock on the the lead hive ship. Open a channel." he said as the new officers learned the systems in a live exercise.

"Channel Open sir." Chloe replied as she had decided to remain with the Destiny Project with Lt. Scott.

"Wraith Hives, this is General Young aboard the Lantean ship Destiny. You are approaching a restricted planet and are advised to leave now." he said confidently as the hives changed course. The cruisers however kept coming as the 9 hives jumped into hyperspace.

"They are charging weapons sir, looks like there are 3 remaining behind to observe." Eli said as he would remain until they arrived on Earth.

"Let them observe all they wish, reset the shields and monitor their weapons frequencies. Let the fleet know we will be engaging them, and wish to do so alone." Young ordered as he knew that the Phoenix was currently on a several month mission to retrieve any of the seed ships they could quickly repair.

The Wraith cruisers came at Destiny head on while several of them attempted to flank the Destiny.

"Charge the main weapons and lock target on the lead Cruiser, Fire at will. Use the secondary weapons to fire at the ships flanking us, and allow the automated to deal with the darts." General Young ordered as part of his training had been how to combat the ship effectively. The main weapon fired just before the shields absorbed the first of the plasma weapons the Wraith used.

The energy from the main weapons 3 barrels slammed into the front ofnthe ship and blasred deep into it causing secondary explosions halfway through the ship. The Cruiser went dark as the auxillary weapons began firing rapidly at the Cruisers that were now launching darts at them. One of the beams destroyed a dart as it came out if the dart bay, and the explosion collapsed thekr launch tube and the other darts behind it causing several explosions and taking out half of its weapons.

The auxillary weapons were able to knock out the weapons and other systems that ran along the hull, and they did damage. However it took several hits in the same spot to penetrate the hull and cause internal damage.

The first Cruiser took a second shot from all 3 barrels that hit the same spot more or less, and burned their way into the engines that caused the ship to explode as Chloe adjusted course automatically to battle the ship as they had been taught. She had joined General Young, amd would be doing extensive training when the returned to Earth. "Eli, Rush, see if you can increase power to the secondary weapons. We need them to hurt a bit more." Young ordered as he was assessing the battle as the first wave of darts entered range and the automated cannons opened fire on them with lethal accuracy.

"Tuning the shields now." Eli said as they had finished the analysis of the incoming fire. "Shields at 80 percent and strengthening." he reported as soon as the change was made.

"20 percent increase to the auxillary weapons, any more and we risk burning them out. As is I do nkt recommend this setting for more than an hour before we allow the barrels to rest and cool." Rush reported as most of them were holding in the yellow for now as they were used.

"Keep an eye on it and adjust the firing rate if needed." Young replied as they got the second Cruiser into the main weapons firing arc.

Lieutenant Scott fired as soon as he locked on, and the hit to the engines blew the ship from space as it exploded spectacularly. Chloe had to turn the ship hard over in am attempt to avoid the massive amount of still exploding debris as the cruisers learned the increased power in the auxillary weapons had the desired effect. The cruisers were having difficulty channeling enough power to hull regeneration as the hits were coming in faster than they could handle.

"Weapons are having a greater effect, most darts have been destroyed. Hull damage is becoming more extensive as we continue to battle. Seems secondary systems are beginning to become effected as well." Eli reported as Chloe maneuvered to get the main weapons bearing down on another target.

Before they could line up the next shot the 7 survivng cruisers jumped into hyperspace, the 4 ships heavily damaged as they fled the Destiny.

"Scopes are clear." Sergeant Greer reported as he looked at the sensor readouts for his guns.

"Confirmed, all Cruisers have jumped to hyperspace." Eli said.

"Power down weapons and battle shields. Open comms with Atlantis." Young ordered as one of the others did just that and sugnaled him. "Destiny to Atlantis, Wraith threat eliminated. 2 cruisers destroyed, 4 heavily damaged. Setting course for Earth, good luck Atlantis." he said signaling them to close the channel.

"Confirmed Atlantis, safe travels through Pegasus." Carter replied over the communications.

"Open a ship wide channel." Young ordered as they would be in FTL for the the next 45 days as they traveled to Earth. "Attention crew of the Destiny, we are preparing to depart Atlantis for our 45 day journey to Earth and home. We have the supplies we need, and I am assurred we have one stop in Pegasus to recharge the batteries before we journey between Pegasus and the Milky Way. Once we arrive we will get a 3 month vacation while upgrades and refits are made to Destiny so we can perform the next part of our mission. For now let us focus on what we need to do here so we may return home.

"Visits with the communications stones will include larger groups more frequently until we reach the Milky Way, when they will become inoperative. Until than enjoy the ride as we continue to improve systems as we go." Young said as he closed the channel to the crew.

"Course plotted sir." Chloe said as she waited.

"Power the engines to full and take us into FTL." Young ordered just before they made the jump.