History Recap / StargateAtlantisS01E20TheSiegePart2

* NuclearOption: Col. Everett brings along nuclear space mines to destroy the hive ships when they reach orbit. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: the Wraith see this coming and blow them up with asteroids.]]

--> Elizabeth: "John you can't!"
--> Sheppard: "I have to and you know it."

* InhumanableAlienRights: Sheppard repeatedly shoots Bob the Wraith in an effort to extract information, technically a form of [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]].

* SomeCallMeTim: Sheppard immediately names the Wraith prisoner "Bob."

* HerofAnotherStory: SG-1 and their recovery of Ra's ZPM is this for the Expedition in the context of ''Atlantis''.

* ItsPersonal: While Everett (initially) treats the entire Expedition with barely-concealed condescension, he reserves the full brunt of his contempt and anger for Sheppard. He previously served alongside the late Colonel Sumner and Everett holds Sheppard solely responsible for his old friend's death. [[spoiler: After being partially fed upon by a Wraith in the very next episode, however, Everett finally understands Sheppard's MercyKill was completely justified and forgives him.]]

* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: While SG-1 was responsible for the ZPM's recovery on their end, they don't join the cavalry (either as part of Everett's task-force or aboard the inbound ''Daedalus''. It can arguably be justified in-story due to SG-1 having their hands full with the fallout from the defeat of the Goa'uld and Replicators (with the Real World explanation being budgetary and not wanting to upstage the ''Atlantis'' characters.]]

* ItsPersonal: While Everett (initially) treats the entire Expedition with barely-concealed condescension, he reserves the full brunt of his contempt and anger for Sheppard. He previously served alongside the late Colonel Sumner and Everett holds Sheppard solely responsible for his old friend's death. [[spoiler: After being partially fed upon by a Wraith in the very next episode, however, Everett finally understands Sheppard was justified giving Sumner a MercyKill and forgives him.]]

* TheCavalry: Colonel Everett and his marines.
* VisualEffectsOfAwesome

* Ambadassador: Wier travels to the Genii homeworld to bargain for some of their nukes to use against the hive ships. When they try to take her hostage in exchange for more C4 and supplies from Atlantis, she basically yells at them to stop wasting her time and accept the deal as offered.

* DarkestHour: Happens twice in the episode. The first time is just before TheCavalry arrives as the city is almost evacuated and Weir and Sheppard arm the city's self destruct sequence. The second is the episode's cliffhanger where [[spoiler: Sheppard decides to suicide nuke a Hiveship, Teyla might be dead, Ford and Everett are cornered by Wraith sodiers and the Wraith are beaming troops all over the city and are slowly overwhelming the human defences forcing Weir to reactivate the self destruct sequence.]]

* NuclearOption

It looks hopeless, Weir arms the self destruct sequence and sets a 10 hour countdown.[=McKay=] begins dialling the alpha site so they can evacuate but is stopped by someone dialling in. An IDC is received through the gate, it's Stargate Command! A team of marines march cautiously through the gate, lowering their weapons as Sheppard and Weir come down to greet them. Colonel Everett introduces himself as the new military commander, he has arrived with supplies, men and weapons. [=McKay=] realises that Earth must have received the message they attempted to send and Everett confirms this. He also tells everyone about the ZPM that SG-1 recovered which is being transported aboard Earth's new battlecruiser, The Daedalus, which should arrive in a little under 4 days. The plan is to hold Atlantis until the ZPM arrives and the city's defences can be activated.

A staff meeting is called where the details of the defence plan are discussed, the team from Earth have brought along a compliment of railguns, originally intended for Prometheus. These will help hold off any darts that attack while 6 nukes wired with proximity triggers will serve as 'Space Mines' to cripple the main Wraith ships. There is also a Mark II Naquadah generator, although nowhere near as powerful as a ZPM, it should provide enough power to temporarily activate the city's chair platform and fire drones at any incoming enemies.

Colonel Everett asks Sheppard for information on how the Ancients lost the first siege. In the hologram room, Sheppard goes through the basics of Pegasus Galaxy history, (in short, the Wraith won purely due to their vastly superior numbers. For every ship the Ancients destroyed, there were 7 more just arriving). Everett informs Sheppard that he was a personal friend of Colonel Sumner, the commander that Sheppard was forced to [[MercyKill mercy kill]] back in the Pilot episode. Everett is angry that Sheppard not only made it all the way into the Wraith facility only to not save Sumner, but that Sheppard himself was the one who fired the shot that killed him. Sheppard tries to explain that it was the most humane thing to do to someone who was being [[BuffySpeak life-sucked]] by the Wraith but once again the city's radar interrupts them. This time it's a wave of darts incoming.

The railguns, combined with a flight of Jumpers and some well placed drones manage to fight off the first wave, but it's obvious that they'll never withstand a sustained attack. Sheppard has an idea though, the Wraith can't detect cloaked jumpers, so he plans to send one straight into the Hive ships hangar bays. A jumper alone won't be able to do much damage, but Sheppard also has an idea where to get some more nukes, the Genii. [=McKay=] and Zelenka realise that it may be possible to link the chair platform to the jumpers so that Sheppard can fly them remotely. Teyla comes running into the room, she can sense several Wraith in the city, apparently dropped out of the darts that crashed in the attack. As search teams are dispatched to comb the city, Weir heads off to the Genii homeworld to negotiate for two nukes.

The bombs are finished just in time and Sheppard sits in the chair, preparing to send the two cloaked jumpers after the hive ships, when the Mk2 fizzles out. It seems to have exhausted its power output and the chair is no longer functional. Another wave of darts is detected, much larger that the first. Without looking back, Sheppard says goodbye to Rodney and heads for the jumper bay.

Elsewhere in the city, Everett has been cut off from his team and is fighting with a Wraith. Despite unloading his sidearm in the the Wraith at point blank range it begins to feed on him. The process is stopped with a little help, but Everett is badly hurt.

Sheppard runs into Weir outside the dart bay, she attempts to stop him but he persuades her that there is no other way, she lets him pass.

While Sheppard trains the newly arrived pilots in Puddle Jumper 101 and helps to deploy the space mines, Beckett is made to sit in the chair as [=McKay=] and Zelenka attempt to integrate the Mark II generator. They are successful, but [=McKay=] is concerned to discover that only a few dozen drones remain. The rest having apparently been used up in the first siege of Atlantis. His concerns are interrupted by a large number of blips appearing on the city's radar, but the objects appear to be rocks, heading toward them at high speed. IT seems the space mines weren't as invisible as first thought and, with no way to disarm them, everyone looks on as the mines detonate harmlessly when the rocks get too close to them.

Colonel Everett asks Sheppard for information of how the Ancients lost the first siege. In the hologram room, Sheppard goes through the basics of Pegasus Galaxy history, (in short, the Wraith won purely due to their vastly superior numbers. For every ship the Ancients destroyed, there were 7 more just arriving). Everett informs Sheppard that he was a personal friend of Colonel Sumner, the commander that Sheppard was forced to [[MercyKill mercy kill]] back in the Pilot episode. Everett is angry that Sheppard not only made it all the way into the Wraith facility only to not save Sumner, but that Sheppard himself was the one who fired the shot that killed him. Sheppard tries to explain that it was the most humane thing to do to someone who was being [[BuffySpeak life-sucked]] by the Wraith but once again the city's radar interrupts them. This time it's a wave of darts incoming.

The bombs are finished just in time and Sheppard sits in the chair, preparing to send the two cloaked jumpers after the hive ships, when the Mk2 fizzles out. It seems to have exhausted its power output and the chair is no longer functional. Another wave of darts is detected, much larger that the first. Without looking back, Sheppard says goodbye to Rodney and heads for the dart bay.