M6H-987
Summary
M6H-987 is a planet in Pegasus that was used as a location for a secret research facility that housed the Attero Device, a weapon built by Janus of Atlantis 10,000 years ago during the Ancient-Wraith War. (Stargate Atlantis: 5.10 "First Contact Part 1", 5.11 "The Lost Tribe Part 1")
Factoids
- Names and Designations: M6H-987
- Number of Suns: At least 1
- Number of Moons: Unknown
- Source of Address: Detected through a trace on the Attero Device's signal
- Introduced in Episode: Stargate Atlantis: 5.10 "First Contact Part 1"
- Earth Cultural/Technological Equivalent: No Earth equivalent: Advanced Ancient of 10,000 years ago
- Main Interest: Ancient Research Facility that housed the Attero Device
- Influenced/Dominated by: Ancients up to 10,000 years ago; Lost Tribe of the Asgard recently; now apparently uninhabited
- History of Stargate: No Stargate
Stargate Glyphs
None, as this planet didn't have a Stargate.
Geopolitical Structure and History
Ten thousand years ago, the Ancients in Pegasus were engaged in a war against the Wraith. During the 100 years of the war, the Ancients created many advanced technological weapons, many of which were of mass destruction, in order to defeat their enemy, who greatly outnumbered them. One such weapon was named the Attero Device and its chief engineer was Janus of Atlantis. He built the Device to isolate the subspace frequency used by the Wraith in their hyperdrives and to emit a form of static that would interfere with the drives' ability to create a stable hyperspace window. During this interference, the Wraith ship would ultimately be destroyed. Janus tested the Attero Device for three days, but had to shut it down due to "unforeseen side effects": Stargates across the galaxy overloaded and exploded when activated. These explosions, enhanced by the naquadah in the Stargates' construction, caused the deaths of thousands of humans whenever someone activated their Stargate. One of the Wraith who had witnessed the testing of the Device said, "I was there ... when the Ancients first tried to use it, but they didn't have the stomach to leave it on once they realized how many of their precious Stargates it would destroy ... how many humans it would kill."
Another witness to the use of the Attero Device was the "Lost Tribe of the Asgard." These Asgard broke off from their Ida and Milky Way brethren when they desired to continue their unsanctioned experimentation on humans in the pursuit of the answer to their cloning problem. They took advantage of the Ancient-Wraith War so that they could move freely in Pegasus and continue their research. They knew that the Ancients had built the facility on M6H-987 and what the Attero Device was. The Wraith attacked their settlements and spaceships, forcing them into hiding on a planet with a toxic atmosphere. After 10,000 years, the environment grew so harsh that not even their armored exoskeletons could protect them, so they once again moved, this time to M6H-987.
In modern times, the planet is covered in ice-age-like conditions. Whether or not it had been that way 10,000 years ago isn't known, but this type of harsh environment would have made a great hiding place for a secret research facility housing one of the most deadly weapons created by the Ancients during the war. From orbit, the entire planet appears to have extensive cloud cover over areas that look to be primarily covered in ice and snow. The Asgard settled in and began their work to get the Attero Device operational to rid the galaxy of the Wraith once and for all. The problem was that the Asgard didn't have the Ancient gene needed to activate the technology.
The solution to their dilemma was provided when the key to the Attero Device, which Janus hid in his secret lab on Atlantis, was activated by Dr. Rodney McKay's Ancient gene when he stepped into the room. The Asgard quickly put their plan into action: they captured McKay and Dr. Daniel Jackson, the one who found the lab, and took them, along with the key, to M6H-987. Under threat of death, McKay reactivated the Attero Device without knowing about how it affected Stargates.
The Device stayed active long enough for at least two Wraith ships and two Stargates, including the one on Atlantis, to be destroyed. In a battle with Sheppard in a Travelers' ship, the Asgard lost two of their three ships that were protecting the facility in their attempt to keep the Device active. Their final ship escaped into hyperspace with the key to the Device, so McKay and Daniel had to disable the weapon by entering its radioactive chamber and removing its control crystal. Fortunately, they used two of the Asgard's protective suits during their brief exposure.
Not willing to take the chance that the Asgard or anyone else could reactive the Attero Device, even without its control crystal and key, Richard Woolsey ordered that the entire facility be destroyed. Nothing of it remained to be salvaged, but instead, the rubble would eventually be buried by ice, snow, and time.
Gallery
Episodes
Related Characters
Related Articles
- Ancient Gene
- Ancient-Wraith War
- Ancients
- Asgard
- Atlantis
- Attero Device
- Cloning
- Lost Tribe of the Asgard
- Naquadah
- Stargate
- Travelers
- Wraith
--DeeKayP 17:38, 22 August 2009 (UTC)