"I could see the bright flashes of colour that went up as each of our 302s exploded. Although I had not directly encountered Anubis in any of my offworld activities, I had heard enough to know to fear the half-ascended being. He was the most powerful of all the Goa'uld and he had a fleet parked in orbit around Earth. SG-1 were our last hope, I knew that, I understood that, but even knowing that I was afraid.

I was aboard the Prometheus, the X-303, the advanced flagship of Earths defences. General Hammond was sitting in the commander's chair, he was determined that SG-1 would be defended no matter the cost. They were hanging in a Goa'uld cargo vessel over the ice.

The Goa'uld bombers were pounding at our shields, one was just evading my gunnery shots, Come on, I thought I can do this. I looked at the targeting sensor and took my aim, a few hundred metres in front of the small, agile bomber and fired. My face sunk as I saw the shot miss. It nearly hit the floor when I saw the Alkesh swing about. It turned and fired. In front of me the bulkhead exploded sending a vicious array of sparks inwards, I felt the heat but it wasn't the heat that scared me. It was the bomber coming around for its second pass.

The gunnery controls were all but destroyed and our shields were failing. Lunging forwards I managed to grab the targeting stick. I turned it and fired. It intercepted the bomber and I saw it go up in a bright display of fire. Smiling I began to check in my head that everyone was okay. I could see General Hammond, he had a grim look on his face, he was going to have to make an order that could mean 100 casualties.

"Give me ramming speed" He ordered the helmsman, "Take us right at his ship". I gulped, loudly. I knew Hammond had heard as he turned to look at me. I felt ashamed once more, I returned to what was left of my post as we hurtled towards the mothership.

Suddenly there were more bright flashes from directly below us, more explosions? No, it was something else, but what?

We had achieved maximum speed by the time we had cleared the atmosphere and ahead of me I could see the dark hull of Anubis's mothership. The ship began to shake, Some kind of Tractor beam? No it couldn't be, we were still moving. Weapons fire? No, without our shields one hit would kill us. Unsure I began to fire the forward batteries towards the ever growing in size mothership. I saw the explosions, the ship began to explode! It couldn't be me so I looked again, there were bright orange drones heading at the enemy targets.

Without hesitation General Hammond ordered us to turn around and we returned to the safety of the surface." I said to the enquiring lieutenant.

"So how'd you end up on the Daeadalus?" he asked
"For my good work I was promoted and given a chance to come and serve here, on Atlantis, the lost city, how could I refuse an offer like that?" I replied. I hope he doesn't ask anything else, I find the new engines make me feel sick I told myself. To my relief the young man turned and left my cabin.

I slowly allowed myself to drift off to sleep, only a matter of hours away from Atlantis and the wonders, and horrors; that I would discover there.

A few hours later I found myself rudely awakened by the sound of the alarms, we were about to exit hyperspace. We had all read the mission report and we all knew, knew that when we arrived there would be 3 Wraith Hive-ships waiting for us. Quickly I changed and reported to my post, since the battle in Antarctica I had been given many new jobs but my latest was by far the strangest yet.

I was given the post of watching Hermoid; Hermoid was an Asgard, a friend of humanity but unlike Thor, Hermoid scared people. They could never tell how he would react to different situations. Even so we needed to learn the ropes of using the Asgard technologies we had been supplied and this seemed the easiest way.

Oh my God I thought as I heard Colonel Caldwell's voice coming through the intercom. Oh my God I thought as I hear the news, we were exiting hyperspace in less than 2 minutes, entering a battle zone where we would be vastly out numbered and out gunned.

The jolt was sudden and lasted only a few seconds as we returned to normal space. We were now only 10 minutes from Atlantis and our sensors surveyed the battle zone. There were only 2, 1 of the hive-ships was missing. Destroyed? No it couldn't be I thought to myself.

Suddenly an unfamiliar voice came through the ships radio. It was a woman's voice and she was addressing a Major John Shepperd. It seemed that the Major was on his way to what they referred to as a Puddle Jumper. He was on a suicide mission to one of the two hive-ships.

As we drew closer the light from the Wraith weapons became a constant blur. We were blinded, we could see only using sensors. I looked over Hermoid's shoulder and viewed the console. He appeared to be performing last minute checks on the ZPM powered systems now it had been removed.

The tense atmosphere was almost unbearable as we stood waiting. I felt a strange sense, a cross between boredom and incredible fear. The only thing that broke my mood was Novak, I couldn't stand the woman especially when, like now, she powered in shouting orders.

I began to use the targeting scanners, following her orders, to lock onto a specific lifesign in a ship that hadn't appeared yet. Suddenly I saw it, the new dot on the radar; that had to be it; the puddle jumper carrying John Shepperd.

I locked on and hit the beam button. Shepperd was transported directly to the bridge and the Hive-Ship was blown to hell. I smiled and went to perform my second duty of the day.

The briefing room was very large for the normal garrison of troops but we were carrying more than usual. In fact the ship contained a small army of troops. I was commanding a wave of them in the attempt to rid Atlantis of any Wraith that successfully entered the city.

We all gathered our supplies and equipment; we didn't even see the second Hive-Ship go up. However we did see the Darts; quickly they had turned and were now on a ballistic collision course with Atlantis.

Our fighters tried to intercept but weren't in any way fast enough, they thundered towards the city, it couldn't all be for nothing! Could it? We saw the explosions when they impacted. The see of flame cleared quickly and it was still there, Mckay had managed to successfully raise the cities shield.

We were beamed down into the city soon after, we had to find the Wraith who were left in the city.

The corridors were long and all seemed to echo. We heard every time a group found and dispatched a Wraith. Luckily I hadn't seen any of the fearsome creatures yet. We were more relaxed now. That was our first mistake.

We sloppily turned the corner and didn't see it coming. The scream let out by the rest of my team was blood curdling. I turned back and ran as fast as I could.

My team had been taken.

I knew they were still in the city, they had to be. But they were not going to be found easily. I needed back-up. But I was afraid to ask, afraid to admit that we had messed up, afraid to admit that I had messed up but most of all afraid to admit that I had left them. I had only one option.

I had to go myself.

TO BE CONTINUED...