Atlantis

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

"Illusion images, Talok said the other wraith were using their mental abilities to project phantom images to confuse their victims. If they're here, chances are they've taken over the control tower. Which means we might be fucked depending on how many are here."


Aya blinked a couple of times.

"Lovely, life sucking creatures? Even after all this time, never a dull moment in this city. I think I can over-ride the door but ... if he's right there may be company waiting on the other side. Up to you, I can over-ride, or we can go around."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Well, there are three of us and an unknown number of them. They're probably armed, but then again, so are we." Sho starts to look thoughtful. "How quick do those doors open up? Can you only open it a little?"

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Aya thought for a moment, then nodded.

"I think I can override it and partially open them, but I have to stress they weren't designed for that. They might fully open anyway despite my best efforts. If you still want me to, be ready."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Yeah, why don't you we try? Then, if the door's partially open and I can see through it, and they can't see me," she adds with a hurried mutter, "I might be able to take at least some, if not all of them out without us having to confront them directly."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Aya nodded, even as Siphon once more withdrew his pistol. She noticed he thumbed a switch on it, and rightly guessed that meant the weapon was on some kind of kill mode, although at the moment she couldn't know for certain.

Slowly, Aya removed the door sensor panel, and began to tinker with it. After a few moments, the door jerked part way open before stopping again.


On the other side they could see a dozen or so masked wraith attempting to access one of the tower consoles. A larger number, thirty or so, went out one of the doors on the other side, vanishing.

Pulling back, seemingly unnoticed, Siphon whispered to them.

"Must be a Cruiser only, barely any Wraith down here when you take into account their typical 'boarding parties'. I think we can take the ones out in here, but those others are likely heading to find the central power chamber we just left. Fortunately, they look like they are going the wrong way for now."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

Sho keeps well away from the opening doors, preferring to stay to the side and remain as shielded as she can, just in case. Listening to Siphon's report, she nods, then looks to Aya, keeping her voice low.

"There's no way they can double back around us from that way, is there?" Just something to be wary about, obviously, as she inches a little closer to the opening in the door. "Let's see if I can't take these guys out without you having a firefight, at least for now."

Keeping her attention on the room, Aya would see Sho's eyes close briefly before she starts concentrating again. If she gets close enough to the door, she'd feel what might be a quick, steady breeze, like air being sucked out of a vent, from the crack, enough to flutter the ends of the other girl's trenchcoat as she keeps an eye on the Wraith. It might take a minute, but she'll come to realize that Sho is somehow sucking all of the air out of the room. Aliens or not, Wraith still need to breathe, and unless the city has a fail-safe, they were going to be without oxygen soon enough.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Aya shook her head.

"Not quickly, not unless they have more behind us that we managed to avoid by sheer luck."


As the air began to pull out, at first the wraith didn't seem to notice. Then, as one began having trouble breathing, the rest pulled weapons, searching for the problem. One by one they began to collapse, until soon, they were all dead.

The whole time, Aya seemed to be carefully watching, perhaps on some level realizing what was happening, or perhaps transfixed by it. Meanwhile Siphon stayed at the ready, and when they were dead, nodded to Sho.


"How long until it's safe for us?"

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

Sho makes certain that the Wraith aren't moving before she turns her attention away from the door. "Give me a little bit to shunt some air back into the room. Might want to push the doors open a little more, help the process along naturally, but shouldn't take too long. And best to make sure they're really dead. Last thing we need is one of them that can actually hold its breath."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Siphon moved the door open some for Sho, while Aya seemed thoughtful for a moment. Then slowly, she nodded.

"I think I might be able to take care of that actually. Don't rush the air in just yet, I don't want this to spread."



She focused on the bodies for a long moment, and then suddenly each one of them burst into flames, the heat enough for Sho to feel it even from where she was standing. Within moments, the flames had utterly consumed everything fleshy on the wraith, leaving no trace of their bodies except for some sludgy looking residue. However, their weapons and metallic masks seemed completely untouched, and Aya let out a small sound of triumph.

"Guess I still ... have ... it."

And with that she promptly sagged against the wall, and probably would have hit the floor if Siphon hadn't been there to catch her. After a long moment of heavy breathing, she managed to add, "I guess ... all that time asleep kinda ... screwed my stamina up."


Sho could hear Siphon mutter something that sounded a lot like "Jesus F Christ," as he gently sat her down by the door.

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

What's a little more impressive to Sho is not the "creation of fire" but the "creation of fire without oxygen." Or at least minimal oxygen. Not to mention the ability to immolate the Wraiths. That's always impressive, too.

Once the fires were out, she began shunting the air back into the room, keeping an eye on the other two, and the far door, while she was at it. "Well, if the Ancients seeded Earth, I suppose that might explain where quirky folk like me came from," she remarks.

She lets Siphon fuss over Aya, because she knows that's just what he'll do until she's fine again. In the meantime, she continues to keep watch and make sure the Wraith's buddies don't come back and surprise them.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Aya was silent for a long time while she recovered. Finally, she was able to stand, albeit slowly.

"Possibly, we left behind the first seeds of a life form that should have been similar to us, and since the others never returned, it is possible they could have ... lived among your earliest ancestors. Perhaps even assumed a more simplistic lifestyle to intermingle, spread the word of Atlantis, maybe even had children."

At the last part, she visibly winced, as if she'd remembered something painful to her.

"Either way, it's for another time. Right now we need to get the shield up, and then deal with our uninvited guests."


((Waiting for Sho to say they can go in without suffocating lol))

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

Sho arches a brow at Aya's wince but doesn't say anything, at least not for the time being. Crisis first, curiosity later. After several moments, not too terribly long after Aya recovers, actually, she'll nod in the direction of the room. "Should be good to go. If you're feeling light headed, let me know and I'll start filtering in more breathable atmosphere."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Aya nodded as the three began to move.

"Once the shield is up that should stop any others in orbit from coming down, and then we can start dealing with the rest. Actually, we can get an exact number using the internal sensors, maybe even lock them in place if they don't figure out how to bypass things. My guess is they know power is back on, and will be trying to locate the source of it."


Siphon nodded as Aya set about getting the shield up and running.

"I agree, they'll likely head there once they figure out where it is. Knowing them, they may just try to blow out the whole thing if they think they can reverse engineer the power grid. Have to make sure they don't get that far."



A few moments later there was a strange sound, and Aya nodded.

"Alright, the shield is up which means they can't get in unless they gate in. As for the wraith ..."


She trailed off as the city suddenly shook lightly, and a flash of light lit up the room from outside one of the windows.

"Um ... sensors indicate a mid sized vessel in orbit, currently firing on us. Shield is holding, and probably will for several weeks unless they bring in more ships to attack. But the wraith in the city ... there's about thirty of them, and half of them are heading this way. I can lock the doors into here, but if they figure out how to bypass them quickly, they'll be here in under five minutes."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Or, if they've got a hive, they'll just start ramming darts into it because they're fanatical like that," Sho remarks as far as the shields go. "Hopefully they won't think to start doing that." A tight smile passes her face.

After the rest of the information filters in, she sighs. "The three of us versus thirty Wraith. I can slow them down. And come to think of it, if they do start using darts, I can hopefully put the kaibosh on that, too, if the atmosphere likes me." She chuckles. "You're probably not up to flash-frying a bunch of them in a row," she says to Aya, "and you're good," she says to Siphon, "but the numbers are against you. Do we have a plan besides trying to filter them in and taking them out in small numbers?"

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Siphon shook his head.

"Based on the readings she gave us I'd say it's a Cruiser, not a Hive. Which means they haven't got the darts to spare for a Kamikaze run like that. Of course, nothing at the moment is stopping them from calling in another ship, so we may want to get rid of that Cruiser as soon as possible. Which means getting to the damn chair."


Aya thought for a moment before she spoke.

"I might be able to help take a few out, but not that many, not without pretty much knocking myself out of commission for a few days based on how I feel anyway. Probably not even then. I'd guess at most I can take out another six to eight of them before I'm essentially useless to you. Although, they are split right now, with half coming here, half heading in their original direction ... I might be able to seal some doors and cut them off from each other, then we could take them out in smaller numbers. If I timed it right, maybe I can split the fifteen coming here into groups of threes, but eventually they'll figure out and run as one."


Siphon thought a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, if we can thin their numbers down and take them out in smaller groups our odds increase dramatically of pulling this off. Only problem though is if those other wraith make it to the Z.P.M and pull the plug, we'll be overrun with wraith in seconds. So we either need to take them out ASAP, or get to the chair and make that Cruiser go away."



There was another pause, and then Aya very slowly added, "I ... MIGHT be able to work a temporary bypass and activate the drones from here, but it would take me a few minutes. Normally I wouldn't suggest it with us being outnumbered as such, but sometimes radical ideas are needed. If the two of you can take out those wraith coming here, I could seal this room off and stay behind to attempt the bypass. If they overrun this room by beaming in ... Well, I might be able to take them out or set the city into lockdown and self destruct mode before they take me out. Up to you but ... I don't think we have much of a choice but to split up."

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"Well, it looks like us splitting up and splitting up the Wraith are our best options right now. As long as you'll be all right here by yourself, I think Siphon and I can kamikaze the bastards ourselves." Sho reaches back into her trenchcoat and removes something that had been hooked to her belt. Flicking a button, the zat expanded. "They've got the lead. We should probably get a move on."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Aya nodded.

"I'll be fine, go stop them before they totally mess things up."


Nodding once, Siphon took off with Sho out the doors, making sure they sealed behind them before they went off down the hall.


((Going to give you the chance while they move to have her bring up concerns if she wants to, if not just come up with something to further it along.))

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

Once they were alone, and out of earshot, Sho debated bringing up some of the things that had been on her mind. Granted, a pursuit wasn't exactly the best time to be having deep, soulful discussions, but it was also the best time to catch Siphon off guard and get him to actually answer questions.

"So, chief, you think Aya's legit?" She keeps an eye and ear out for the Wraith, but there's still that notion of "random girl in the middle of the abandoned city" deal.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Atlantis

Siphon was silent for a long time before nodding.

"I don't think she's purposely trying to deceive or mislead us. I think, whether or not what she says about certain things is true or not, that she personally has these memories and truly believes they are her own. It's possible they could be planted memories and she has abilities she doesn't know about, but I'm beginning to think not. You saw what she did to those wraith, if she intended ill will towards us, she'd already have taken us out. I doubt very much there's any kind of defense we currently could mount that would stop her if she used her power first."


He paused again before continuing onward.

"The strange thing though, is that some of these corridors ... I really didn't get the chance to look at the whole city map with all the running about, yet ... we're navigating them like I have the blueprints in my mind. My memory is good, but not so good that I can do that with only a half second to glance at certain areas. Which leads me back to one possible conclusion. She's right and there are certain memories that for whatever reason I can't properly access, and that this isn't my first time here. And if that is correct, that I was living here, or had been here, how much else of what she said about her and I is true? Normally I wouldn't share this but ... Something you might want to chew on. That flashback I had there that made me stagger? I saw this city when it clearly was in it's prime, and I saw Aya. Was like looking through my own eyes as an observer really, but the one thing that really stood out about it wasn't the city, or the surroundings ..."

He trailed off, and then dropped the bombshell.

"What stood out the most was that this memory was so vivid and detailed, I could practically feel her body standing next to mine. Oh, and did I mention that if this memory really is just that and true, then she and I have been married since before the Ori/Ancient separation?"

 

[Copper]

Re: Atlantis

"You've got a point there," she remarks as he speaks of Aya's powers. Doubtful there was little either of them could do if she turned out to be a threat. They'd definitely need the element of surprise and it was doubtful they'd get it. For now, though, she hadn't given them reason not to trust her, so it was probably safe to put her in the "good guys" column for now.

She wasn't quite sure how to take Siphon's flashback. There was so much that still remained a mystery, even to him, during the time that he'd been gone. If things were coming back to him with clarity, then maybe he might get some of the answers that he was looking for. Still, his words made her skid in her tracks, stalling her pace for a moment before she picked it up again.

"You two were what?" She hasn't got a reason not to believe him, but at the same time...