Battle of Atlantis

"They know that Atlantis is the only way to a rich new feeding ground." "Earth."

- Teyla Emmagan and John Sheppard

The Battle of Atlantis was an event that occurred between the Tau'ri and Wraith in 2005, primarily over the planet Lantea. The battle was long foreseen by the Atlantis Expedition since they were aware of the Wraith and their desire to reach Earth as their new rich feeding ground. While a fleet was heading towards Atlantis, the Expedition spent much time preparing the evacuation and destruction of the city to retreat to a plausible Alpha Site. Fortunately, a contingent from Earth arrived to help defend the city before the arrival of the Daedalus and a much needed Zero Point Module. Ultimately, the Expedition tricked the Wraith into believing that they destroyed the city, and hence won the battle.

Prelude
"There are three Wraith Hive Ships on the way, Major! Desperate times call for desperate measures."

- Rodney McKay

Having culled several Tau'ri of the Atlantis Expedition, along with several Athosians, Colonel Marshall Sumner was brought before the Wraith Keeper, who subsequently learned of the existence of Earth with a Human population well into the billions. Exhilarated at the prospect of a new feeding ground, the Keeper interrogated Sumner, forcing Major John Sheppard to intervene and kill him. However, Sheppard himself was captured in the process. While questioning him, the Keeper discovered Sheppard's Atlantean life signs detector. Lieutenant Aiden Ford was able to kill the Keeper's Wraith warriors, allowing Sheppard to kill the Wraith Keeper by stabbing her with a Wraith rifle. However, as the Keeper died, the rest of the Wraith awoke fifty years prematurely&mdash;well aware that there was a rich, new feeding ground available, and that the only way to get to it was through Atlantis.

Several months later, Atlantis' Long range sensors were automatically activated when it detected a modified Wraith darts heading for the city. Upon its arrival, the dart scanned Atlantis and self destructed. However, it was able to send a message back to the Wraith containing information about the city. Shortly after that, Atlantis' sensors detected three Wraith Hive Ships that would reach the city in two weeks.

Knowing that standing up to a force of that magnitude alone would be impossible, Rodney McKay was able to channel just enough power into the Stargate to open a wormhole back to Earth, albeit for a fraction of a second. In that short time, the Expedition able to send a compressed data burst, in which included information that they had acquired since their arrival in Pegasus. The data burst also included one other piece of information: a plea for help

As a last ditch effort to defend Atlantis before the Hive Ships' arrival, the Expedition sent a small three-man team to reactivate a dormant Lantean defense satellite with the intention of powering up its main weapon and destroying the attacking Wraith fleet. However, The satellite was only able to destroy one Hive Ship before it itself was destroy by the remaining two. With no hope of survival remaining, the expedition decided to evacuate the city and arm the self-destruct.

The Siege of Atlantis
"We are going to defend Atlantis at all costs."

- Dillon Everett

The first wave
Moments before the final group was to evacuate the city, Stargate Command establish a wormhole with Atlantis using the ZPM the SG-1 from an alternate timeline buried in Egypt. Having received their message for help, General Jack O'Neill sent a force of some fifty marines under the command of Colonel Dillon Everett, carrying enough supplies and weapons to hold the city from the Wraith for three days until the Daedalus could arrive with a Zero Point Module to power the city's shield. Among these supplies were railguns, naqahdah enhanced nuclear warheads to be used a space mines, and a Mark II naquadah generator to power Atlantis' control chair.

While the city prepared for battle, John Sheppard trained Puddle Jumper pilots and deployed the space mines. However, shortly after this, the Wraith harvested several asteroids from the system's asteroid belt and accelerated them towards Lantea from a safe distance. Upon their arrival, the asteroids were all destroyed by the mines. However, as every mine detonated when in proximity to the asteroids, Atlantis' main line of defense had been eradicated.

After this, the Wraith sent a wave of Darts ahead of their main invasion force to attack Atlantis, as well as to transport Warriors into the city using the culling beam from their darts. When the wave descended though the dark atmosphere of night, it was immediately bombarded with a barrage of railgun, drone, and small arms fire. As the battle progressed, several darts began making kamikaze attacks on the city. After the remaining darts were eradicated, they city was left with only mild damage. However, the engagement had forced the use of the remaining drone weapons in Atlantis' arsenal, leave the city with one less line of defense.

The following morning marked the arrival of the Wraith fleet as they entered orbit around the planet. Seeing no other option, Major Sheppard suggested that they use the Puddle Jumpers in stealth mode to deliver nuclear warheads into the Hive Ships. In preparation of enacting this plan Rodney McKay and Radek Zelenka were able to rig Atlantis' control chair to control the Jumpers remotely. Meanwhile, Dr. Weir was able to contact and convince the Genii to loan them two partially complete nuclear warheads, which Rodney McKay and Radek Zelenka were able to assemble moments before they were needed for use. The Wraith fleet then began sending in another wave of darts, several of which used their culling beam to transport wraith warriors into the city. In order to combat them, several heavily armed teams of both Tau'ri and Athosians were spread throughout Atlantis. However, upon enacting Sheppard's plan, it was discovered that the Mark II naquadah generator had exhausted itself, leaving the plan a failure before it even started. In a desperate attempt to save the city, Sheppard decided to pilot one of the Jumpers himself on a suicide mission to plant and detonate one of the nuclear devices aboard one of the two Hive Ships.

Moments before the warhead's detonation, however, Sheppard was saved when the Daedalus, under the command of Colonel Steven Caldwell, rescued him via Asgard transporter. Upon informing Atlantis of their arrival, the Daedalus then engaged the remaining Wraith fleet. Several attempts to launch Mark VIII tactical warheads towards the Hive's dart bays failed, however, as the missiles were intercepted by darts "miles from the Hive Ship". As per a plan by Col. Sheppard, Hermiod disabled the failsafes and the remaining Hive Ship was destroyed by using the Asgard transporter to beam a warhead directly onto the Hive. Seeing how swiftly the remaining Hive was destroyed, the cruisers promptly withdrew into hyperspace. The remaining darts then made a kamikaze run onto the city. However, Rodney McKay was able to install the city's newly arrived Zero Point Module and activate the shield moments before the darts rained down upon the protected city.

The second wave
"I say we take the fight to them."

- Sheppard

Infuriated that they had been defeated, the Wraith responded to this by sending twelve more Hive Ships and their escorts, no less than a full fifth of their entire population, to Atlantis. "Sick" of sitting around waiting for the Wraith to show up, Sheppard suggested that the Expedition "take the fight to them". The Daedalus was then sent to a planet in the Pegasus galaxy to wait in ambush of the Wraith fleet, which would need to take a brief hyperspace pause at the location. Upon the fleet's arrival, the Daedalus took the Wraith completely by surprise as two Hive Ships were quickly destroyed by nuclear warhead using the Asgard transporter. However, upon trying to destroy a third Hive, the Wraith were able to produce jamming codes, which prevented a transporter lock. As the other Hive Ships altered course to intercept, the Daedalus was taken "right at ‘em" and the ship's forward railguns returned fire. Unable to defeat the Wraith's countermeasures in sufficient time, the Daedalus retreated into hyperspace and set a course for Atlantis. The ship arrived at the city moments before the Wraith fleet, but was able to take refuge under the safety of Atlantis' shield.

Upon their arrival, the Wraith fleet opened up on Atlantis with everything they had. The shields were able to withstand the onslaught, but McKay predicted that the city's lone ZPM would be depleted in days. As this was too much for the defense forces of Atlantis to handle, John Sheppard came up with a plan to cloak the city. In order for the plan to be successful, Teyla Emmagan was able to establish a mental connection with the Wraith and convince them that the Expedition would rather destroy Atlantis than allow it to be taken. The Wraith then ceased fire moments before the Daedalus beamed a nuclear warhead above the city, in order to fake a self destruct. After a brilliant explosion and the radiation dropped to safe amounts, the city was able to lower its shield and activate the cloaking generator that had been taken from a Puddle Jumper. Immediately after that, it appeared as though nothing of Atlantis remained and the Wraith pulled back.

Aftermath
"There has been no sign of the Wraith. It would appear that they continue to believe that Atlantis has been destroyed."

- Teyla Emmagan

After the battle, the Daedalus returned to Earth where it was thoroughly inspected and repaired. However, on the return voyage to Atlantis, a computer virus became active throughout several ship systems, which was uploaded by the Wraith during the ship's last encounter. After gaining control of the ship's navigational computer, the virus attempted to fly the Daedalus near the coronasphere of a nearby star, which would have resulted in the death of the entire crew. The virus would have then flown the ship to the Wraith if, after several attempts, it was not eradicated by a full systems shutdown.

As the Wraith believed the city to be destroyed, the secrecy of Atlantis became even stronger for the Expedition. Without enough humans to feed them, the Wraith entered a Civil War, which broke them into several waring factions.