- "We're not like the Ancients: we're not gonna sit around and wait. We don't back off; we have the capacity and the will to go kick their asses for a change."
- ―John Sheppard
The Tau'ri-Wraith war (2004-present) is a conflict fought between the Tau'ri and the Wraith in the Pegasus, primarily, but also in the Milky Way galaxy, albeit to a far lesser extent.
At the time of the arrival of the Tau'ri in Pegasus, the Wraith had had dominion over the galaxy for 10,000 years since the disembarkation of the Ancients, which was the conclusion of the Lantean-Wraith war and the First siege of Atlantis. From their arrival, the Tau'ri have faced seemingly insurmountable odds against the Wraith and their large fleet of massive and formidable Hive Ships. However, the Expedition, dedicated to the protection of one of the last surviving Ancient city-ships, Atlantis, has continued to combat the Wraith over the duration of the expedition. This combat has included the defense of Atlantis, the protection of the numerous human worlds in the galaxy, and offensive maneuvers aimed and at achieving the ultimate downfall of the Wraith.
History
Beginnings (2004)
When the Atlantis Expedition first arrived in the Pegasus galaxy, they soon encountered the wraith on the planet Athos. In the valiant defense of the planet, several Athosians and Tau'ri were captured by Wraith darts and taken to the wraith homeworld. In response, the Atlantis Expedition soon sent a strike force, lead by Major John Sheppard and Lt. Ford, on a rescue mission the retrieve their people.
When the team arrived to the planet, via Puddle Jumper, they discovered that their people were taken to a holding cell aboard a Wraith Hive Ship. Meanwhile, Col.Sumner was being interrogated by the Hive queen who soon found out about the existence of Earth, with its billions of humans for the Wraith to feed on. The queen then started feeding on Col. Sumner as Major Sheppard arrived. He then ending col. Sumner's pain and hurt the hive queen. The Wraith then captured major Sheppard, who was soon rescued by Lt.Ford. They then fled after rescuing their people, and after a brief skirmish with a group of Wraith darts, safely returned to Atlantis. However, upon leaving the Wraith hive, the queen said that every wraith in the galaxy would awaken to find Earth, and then they would feast. (SGA: "Rising")
The Siege of Atlantis (2005)
- Main article: Battle of Atlantis
The Wraith sent three hive ships and nine cruisers to attack Atlantis. The first hive ship was destroyed by an Ancient Defense Satellite in the Lantean system, but the other Wraith ships destroyed the satellite and continued on to Atlantis. Seeing no further hope,
Atlantis defends against the attacking Wraith fleet
Elizabeth Weir ordered an evacuation. However, just before they were set to leave, Stargate Command managed to establish a wormhole with Atlantis. General Jack O'Neill sent a force of some fifty marines under the command of Colonel Dillon Everett with a mission to defend Atlantis at all costs. With them they brought six nuclear warheads and an increased naquadah generator which was able to power the control chair. (SGA: "The Siege, Part 1")
After the first wave of Darts attacked the city, major Sheppard took one of the jumpers armed with a warhead on a suicide mission to detonate it inside a hive ship. Sheppard, however, was saved when the Earth ship Daedalus, under the command of Colonel Steven Caldwell, rescued him before completing his suicide mission with his actual death. The third ship was destroyed by transporting explosives with Asgard beam technology onto the last hive ship. Seeing their hives destroyed, the cruisers withdrew, while the remaining darts made a kamikaze run onto the city. However, the Daedalus had also brought a Zero Point Module, and the Atlantis Expedition was able to raise the shields. (SGA: "The Siege, Part 2")
After their initial force was destroyed, the Wraith then sent 12 more hive ships to attack Atlantis. However, the Daedalus intercepted them and destroyed 2 more hive ships before retreating to Atlantis. When the hives arrived, they immediately began bombarding the city's shields. With only days of shield power left, Rodney McKay and major Sheppard came up with a plan to fake a self destruct and cloak the city, Believing Atlantis was destroyed, the wraith fleet left and Atlantis survived. (SGA: "The Siege, Part 3")
Later skirmishes
In 2005, the Atlantis expedition came across a severely damaged Aurora-class warship named Aurora. When the Daedalus arrived, they detected a wraith scout ship already at the ship that they quickly destroyed. Shortly after, they detected 2 cruisers approaching their current position. However, both ships were destroyed soon after their arrival when the Aurora self-destructed. (SGA: " Aurora")
The Daedalus holding off two Hive Ships poised to cull Edowin.
- Main article: Battle of Edowin
Later in 2005, AR-1 was captured by a posse lead by Aiden Ford in an attempt to destroy a hive ship. When the plan ultimately failed and they were captured by the Wraith, the Daedalus arrived and engaged the Hive-ship they were on, and another hive ship that joined up with it. However, the Daedalus was seriously outmatched. Meanwhile, Col. Sheppard and the Majority of his team escaped in a wraith dart and began to fire on both Hive-ships. Because of some mistrust already placed between them, they both though that the other hive was attacking them. Both hives then opened fire on each other and were subsequently destroyed as Col. Sheppard flew the dart to the nearest Stargate and returned to Atlantis. (SGA: "The Lost Boys", "The Hive")
Another skirmish occurred when the team went to rescue Ronon from the Wraith on Sateda. Over 30 Wraith were killed in the battle by Ronon, Sheppard and Teyla before the Wraith Leader responsible went one-on-one against Ronon before being killed by Dr. Carson Beckett.
Later a Wraith Queen whose ship had crashed during the first Siege of Atlantis during the war with the Ancients tried to destroy Atlantis by self-destructing her cruiser and causing an eruption that would destroy Atlantis. After being tricked by Teyla, she was killed by a full P90 magazine in the back by McKay and a bunch of pistol shots by Sheppard.
The Alliance (2006)
- Main article: Battle of the Void
In 2006, the Wraith proposed an alliance with the Atlantis Expedition after Dr. Beckett tested his Iratus bug retrovirus on Michael. The alliance was turbulent as the Wraith were actually using the alliance as a ruse by planting a spyware computer virus into the Ancient Database to gather two key pieces of information; the Aurora mission report, in order to work out how to upgrade the Wraith hyperdrive, and the location of Earth.
Whilst on the Hive Ship, Ronon Dex and Rodney McKay were captured. The Daedalus fell victim to a surprise attack. John Sheppard used an F-302 and latched onto one of the Hive Ships before taking off into hyperspace. (SGA: "Allies")
With the intention of attacking Earth, Elizabeth Weir sent the Daedalus and Orion to intercept the hive ships. The Orion managed to destroy one hive before it was subsequently destroyed and the Daedalus managed to severely damage the other before it too became severely damaged. (SGA: "No Man's Land")
The Daedalus managed to beam over the retrovirus gas to convert the Wraith on the ship into Humans. 200 Wraith managed to turn Human, and were later taken to M8G-352. The expedition commandeered the Hive ship, which was subsequently destroyed. (SGA: "Misbegotten") Of the 200 human turned Wraith, only Michael is known to have survived for sure although others may have as well. Michael was ultimately forced to flee for his life and began a crusade against both the humans and the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy.
Around the Black Hole
- Main article: Battle of the Black Hole
The Odyssey orbited a black hole in the Pegasus galaxy in order to connect a wormhole to the Ori Supergate in the Milky Way galaxy using a jump between a Pegasus Stargate and a Milky Way Stargate using nuclear warheads. The attempts mostly failed, but the nuclear detonations drew a Wraith Hive Ship to the Odyssey's position.
The hive ship engaged the Odyssey in battle and caused the Odyssey's hyperdrive to go down. The Odyssey was at a disadvantage due to the black hole interfering with its systems and the gravity well as well, so the Odyssey drew the hive ship in closer while pulling a sling-shot maneuver. The hive ship's systems, including its jamming field, were effected by the black hole and Odyssey beamed the last two nukes on board when its next to the active Stargate. The hive ship was destroyed and the blast caused the wormhole to jump to the Supergate on the other end, destroying an Ori mothership that was over the Supergate at the time. (SG1: "The Pegasus Project")
Temporary truce and Aftermath (2007)
- Main article: Battle of Asuras
Knowing that the Atlantis team had re-activated the attack command in the Asurans, the Wraith, Todd, allied himself with them in an attempt to stop the Asurans once and for all as they were a common enemy between the Wraith and the humans of the Tau'ri. After McKay came up with a plan that would destroy the Asurans for good, the humans of Atlantis formed an alliance with the Wraith to forge an attack fleet to hold off the Asuran fleet long enough for the plan to be put into play.
The battle over Asuras.
In the battle that followed the Tau'ri, Wraith and Travelers worked side-by-side against the Asurans and finally destroyed them with the loss of a single Hive Ship and a single Traveler generational ship. Afterward, the alliance was ended and the war resumed. (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd")
During the Battle of Asuras, Todd was able to organize the recovery of several ZPMs from the planet before it was destroyed. He planned to use three to power the Wraith cloning facility, which had turned the tide of the Lantean-Wraith war, and clone himself an army with which he could conquer the other Wraith factions. Todd's plan to create a clone army was interrupted about a week later when a Wraith under his command turned on him, triggering a series of events which eventually led to the facility and the trio of ZPMs being destroyed by AR-1 when they crashed a Hive Ship into the facility. (SGA: "Spoils of War")
Attack on Midway (2008)
- Main article: Battle of Midway
While the Atlantis Expedition worked together with Todd against the Asurans, he hacked into McKay's computer and found out about the station. He either shared this information with other Wraith or had it stolen from him, as, several months later, a group of Wraith were able to dial the station and conquered it. Afterward, a Wraith team was sent to Earth, but they were pursued and eliminated by Ronon Dex and Teal'c, who had been visiting Midway in preparation for an upcoming interview Ronon had with the IOA. Before more Wraith could be sent to the Tau'ri homeworld, Col. Sheppard and a strike team defeated all the Wraith on the station, but during this process the self destruct system was inadvertently activated by Kavanagh. Since it couldn't be stopped, the station crew was evacuated on a jumper and later rescued by the Daedalus during its trip to return Ronon to Atlantis around a week later. (SGA: "Midway")
Wraith Hive Alliances
Two Hive Ships in battle.
- Main article: Battle of the Wraith Alliance
Soon afterwards, "Todd" contacted the Expedition to discuss a drug that enabled the Wraith to forgo the feeding process and eat solid food. Even through he approved of the drug, the final decision lied with the Primary. As she would only meet with the queen from "Todd's" Hive, who died a year before. Teyla had to pose as the queen of the hive. When "Todd" and Teyla met the queen, "Todd" killed her and blamed it on Teyla, so she could be able to claim the leadership of the alliance. She ordered her ship to attack another Wraith faction to not arouse the suspicion of her fellow Wraith.
Catching the other Hive ship completely by surprise, they inflicted serious damage. However, this was planned by Teyla for the purpose of intentionally destroying several Wraith, on both sides. The battle was a losing one, until AR-1 (except for Teyla) emerged from the planet's Stargate in a cloaked Puddle Jumper. After seeing the state Teyla's Hive was in during the battle, Col. Sheppard de-cloaked the Jumper and opened fire on the enemy Hive ship. After inflicting sufficient damage, he re-cloaked moments before Teyla's Hive ship destroyed the opposing Hive. Following the battle, Teyla secured her position as queen of the alliance, leaving "Todd" as its leader. She then returned to Atlantis where she was re-transformed into a human. (SGA: "The Queen")
Hijack of the Daedalus
- Main article: Battle of M6H-987
Some time later Jennifer Keller founds a gene therapy from Michael's database that would prevent the Wraith from feeding on Humans again. The Expedition invite Todd's Wraith faction to discuss this major discovery. Meanwhile the Atlantis Expedition discovers Janus' secret lab in Atlantis, Drs. Rodney McKay and Daniel Jackson unknowingly activated a signal alerting the rogue Asgard-faction, the Vanir, to their location.
The members of the Vanir forced Daniel Jackson and Rodney McKay to activate the Attero Device, which destroys any Wraith ships going into hyperspace.
This caused a duo of Wraith cruisers to be destroyed and Todd to believe that the Atlantis Expedition had located and deliberately activated the device. Believing he was betrayed, Todd hijacked the Daedalus. An unforseen side effect of the device was the destruction of all active Stargates with the force of 12 Naquadah enhanced nuclear warheads. While the device was active it made Atlantis' Stargate explode; luckily a manipulation of Atlantis' shield prevented the blast from destroying the entire city.
Three Vanir starships, the hijacked Daedalus and one Traveler ship would confront each other around the planet M6H-987, where the device was. The Vanir lost two starships in the battle, the Tau'ri re-took the Daedalus and the Attero Device was destroyed. Todd and his Wraith escaped via their Scout Ship before the battle, though. (SGA: "First Contact", "The Lost Tribe")
Gene therapy and disease
The diseased Hive ship breaks apart
A Hive Ship appeared in orbit over Atlantis and to everyone's surprise did nothing. It transmitted an automated but distorted message from Todd requesting their assistance. They had used Keller's gene therapy and given initial apparent success distributed the therapy to the hive. They had since fallen ill to a disease they cannot cure.
Members of the Expedition investigated and found the whole hive in hibernation. They decided to board the ship hoping to rescue whatever research they could on the therapy and make it viable. However, once on board, they discovered that the ship is in terrible shape and one soldier was killed by a Wraith warrior who actually attempted to eat the body.
When more warriors were awakened due to a malfunction, Sheppard and Lorne's teams must fight them off. As a last resort for survival Todd suggested that they travel to a planet where the Wraith could allow the Iratus bug to feed on them either saving or killing them in the process. The ship was in no shape for hyperspace however and a short while later it began to break apart. The vessel's orbit decayed and began falling towards the planet. Todd was able to land the ship on water, soon after which they were rescued by teams from Atlantis.
Later, when Keller was unable to cure Todd, Sheppard agreed to honor his original wishes and permitted him to leave Atlantis to find a cure elsewhere. (SGA: "Infection")
ZPM powered Hive Ship (2009)
- Main article: Battle of the ZPM powered Hive Ship
The Daedalus opens fire.
At the Battle of Asuras, Todd was able to steal a number of Asuran Zero Point Modules before the planet was destroyed. He set his underling, Kenny, to work on devising a way to integrate the ZPMs into a Hive ship. (SGA: "Be All My Sins Remember'd", "Spoils of War", "Enemy at the Gate") Eventually, when Kenny was finally able to make it work, he mutinied, chasing Todd from the Hive. Todd apprised the Expedition of the situation and yet again allied against the Wraith. He revealed that the ZPM powered hive ship was still in the process of upgrading its systems, and if the process is allowed to complete, the Hive would be unstoppable. (SGA: "Enemy at the Gate")
The Tau'ri sent the Daedalus to confront Kenny's Hive Ship, but the ZPM-powered vessel proved itself an impressive opponent, crippling the Daedalus before making a sudden and inexplicable jump into hyperspace. The Expedition later found out that the hive ship was on its way to Earth.
Atlantis joins the fight.
In the Milky Way galaxy, two of Earth's 304 battlecruisers, the Apollo and the new Sun Tzu, failed miserably to stop the Wraith ship. They then relayed a message back to Atlantis, detailing the failure to stop the Hive.
Meanwhile, the Expedition managed to locate more ZPMs. Atlantis, with her full complement of three ZPMs, was then flown to Earth in a last-ditch effort to defend it. When Atlantis arrived, it placed itself in a position between the Hive and Earth in order to buy the SGC some more time. Atlantis took the brunt of the hive ship's assault on Earth and launched a barrage of drones in retaliation. The sheer force of the Hive's weapons fire pushed the city ship into Earth's atmosphere, and it strained the shield. The SGC eventually succeeded in destroying the Hive (via smuggling a nuclear weapon aboard), but Atlantis was forced to make a landing through Earth's atmosphere. (SGA: "Enemy at the Gate")
Future of the War
Although the Tau'ri-Wraith war continues, the Tau'ri have made considerable progress despite terrible odds. With the addition of Daedalus-class battlecruisers and Asgard plasma beam weapons, the Tau'ri are slowly gaining the upper hand in terms of technology, but they still lack enough ships to actually launch an all-out assault against the Wraith. With the destruction of the ZPM powered hive ship, the only hive that has any sort of technological advantage in the war is gone and so also is the only hive ship that knew Earth's location and could reach it, protecting Earth again from possible culling. With Atlantis back on Earth, the future nature of the war is currently unknown.
