CW Archive

==Atlantis Siege X - Caldwell's Wrath==
the final part in the wraith dreadnaught saga...
Battle � Atlantis Siege V � Caldwell�s Wrath�
Prologue:
After the disastrous defeat at the hands of the wraith at the construction facility the tauri were forced onto the defensive, the Allied forced were forced to surrender several systems to the wraith to allow them to mount a defense at Atlantis, if Atlantis fell the allied forces may never recover and the fate of the Pegasus galaxy would be sealed but the wraith fleet was vast and the stage for one of the most desperate struggles of the war was set�
Ships involved:
Friendly -
4 Oneills leading the fleet (Fryers personal ship)
2 Aegis carriers
6 Daudeless class
11 BC-305 Serpant Class
15 CIX-308 Henry H. Arnold Class cruisers
7 DSG-312 Tegalus-class Gunship
300 F-302A
270 F/B-307
Enemy-
1 Wraith �Dreadnaught�
13 Hives
17 Predators
21 Cruisers
15,000 darts
The battle:
The Tauri stationed their fleet at the edge of the inner solar system they planned to make the wraith fight for every inch. Commander Fryer led the fleet with General Caldwell leading the Tauri contingent from the Daudeless�
The wraith fleet dropped out of hyperspace firing their first volley caused extensive damage to the fleet but allied forces retaliated with missile barrages destroying 2 wraith cruisers for a moment the Alliance looked to be holding its ground then the Dreadnaught emerged from hyperspace flanked by 4 predator class and 2 hives it cut deep into the Tauri and Asgard lines within minutes the Tauri were falling back�
Darts descended on the outer outposts and the dart screens intercepted all incoming missiles with their disintegration beams, F-302As and F/B-307 were launched but they were so outnumbered the battle was very one sided even the use of nukes wasn�t enough to hold back the torrent of darts�
The battle was not going well for the Tauri several hives and other wraith vessels had been destroyed but the Dreadnaught seemed all but unstoppable it�s weapons were cutting through the Allies, in an attempt to do some damage 4 Tegalus class gun ships made a pass at the Dreadnaught but they all destroyed in seconds it became clear that to bring down the Dreadnaught the fleet would need to coordinate their attack to take it down�
At this point in the battle the fleets stand like this;
Friendly -
4 Oneills leading the fleet (Fryers personal ship)
2 Aegis carriers
4 Daudeless class
8 BC-305 Serpant Class
9 CIX-308 Henry H. Arnold Class cruisers
2 DSG-312 Tegalus-class Gunship
73 F-302A
85 F/B-307
Enemy-
1 Wraith �Dreadnaught�
9 Hives
11 Predators
14 Cruisers
6784 darts
The fleet was forced back to Atlantis�s doorstep the regrouped fleet under the command of Fryer order all ships to fire on the Dreadnaught dozens of missiles were launched several programmed to detonate ahead of the dart screen clearing the path for the rest of the payload, hives and cruisers attempted to intercept but over two dozen nukes hit their target a volley from the Oneills finished the job bringing down the shields�
But in doing this attack the fleet was left open for a devastating counter attack from the wraith 2 Oneills were destroyed as were two Serpant battle cruisers, both fleets were devastated. The Allies had once again underestimated the Dreadnaughts resilience multiple nuke hits were unable to grind it�s advance to a halt and the fleet retreated to Atlantis�s orbit�
The Dreadnaught had taken massive external damage but the nature of it�s design allowed it to withstand the vast amount of fire it was taking the Tauri fleet couldn�t penetrate it�s armour and it was feared that even Atlantis�s drones would be unable to stop it, all that remained of the wraith fleet were 5 hives, 6 predators and 5 cruisers but the tauri fleet was unable with it�s limited resources to mount an effective defense another volley from the Superhive destroyed the remaining Aegis carrier, the ship entered orbit and fire it�s shield dampening weapon at Atlantis as well as it�s entire forward weapons array. Hundreds of drones were launched but they were ineffective against the sheer amount of armour on the Superhive andmany drones were intercepted by darts although extensive damage was caused
It was then that fryer noticed a weakness in the armour a large fissure had appeared in one of the sections but with darts swarming everywhere it would be impossible to nuke without getting closer and the fleet had already expended most of it�s nukes, the battle was getting desperate reinforcements were too far away by the time they reached the system Atlantis would have already been destroyed or worse captured, another volley struck one of the flanking Oneills destroying it and Fryers Oneill had been disabled, several missiles were fired non got even close the only ship with any nukes was the Daudeless in one final desperate maneuver Caldwell took command he ordered two Arnold cruisers to flank him as he made a run for the Superhive�
Caldwell ordered the gatebuster nuke to be armed and ordered full speed the entire wraith fleet opened fire had it not been for the flanking Arnold cruisers sacrifice the Daudeless would have been lost, a hit disabled the weapons on the Daudeless but Caldwell stayed on course. The Daudeless rammed the Superhive at full speed before detonating the nuke a split second later the explosion sent shock waves through the ship, parts of the ship blew apart and the remaining fleet focused on the exposed sections breaking the ship in half through secondary explosion destroying the ship�
The remaining wraith fleet fled into hyperspace�while the Tauri celelbrated a costly victory...
Survivors:
Friendly -
1 Oneill
2 Daudeless class
2 BC-305 Serpant Class
3 CIX-308 Henry H. Arnold Class cruisers
Enemy-
2 upgraded hives
1 predator class
Aftermath:
This battle was devastating for both sides only the sacrifice of the Daudeless made by Caldwell averted disaster, this near victory for the wraith spread panic across the galaxy but also strengthened the alliances resolve�
This next year the wraith pressed their advantage and it was an uphill struggle for the alliance who spend the next year regaining lost systems�