They were in the middle of another long, unending set of conversations when one of the Lanteans interrupted the meeting to let Commander Helia know that the Replicators had arrived at the city.

Jack and Woolsey followed Helia to the control room and learned that the Tria crew had sent up a single jumper to engage with the enemy.

Jack stared at the display, well aware that it was never good to underestimate your opponent like the Ancients seemed set on doing.

"That seems like a pretty big ship," Woolsey commented, "You're sure only sending up one jumper to fend it off is the right thing to do?"

"It is impossible for them to harm us," Helia replied.

"I could use some enemies like that," he joked to ease the sudden tension he felt.

Once again, Jack was reminded of Ke'ra and Linea and the dangers of people with too much confidence in their own abilities. He remembered how he told Sam that it was a bad sign. He'd knocked on wood, but as he looked up at the icon of the rapidly approaching ship, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his gut.

Impossible was a word that hardly ever worked out the way you wanted it to.

He watched as Helia contacted the enemy ship and the jumper blinked out of existence.

Yeah, this was not going to be good.

"I thought you said they couldn't harm you!" Woolsey shouted.

"Raise the shield!"

Helia had barely given the order before the first explosion rocked the city.

Jack watched the Ancients scramble into position in the control room.

Another explosion hit Atlantis.

"Damage to the southwest pier grounding station," one of the Lanteans announced.

"Another hit near the generator between the north and west piers."

"Shield's almost up."

A third explosion shook the ground.

"Commander Helia," Jack asked, "What are our options here?"

The woman looked over and he saw fear on her face. She had been so confident that the Replicators would never attack the city. He wondered what had happened to the "nasty surprise" he'd been promised if the Replicators even attempted an attack.

"The shield will hold...hopefully it will hold long enough."

"We can evacuate to Earth," Jack suggested.

Helia shook her head. "This is our city."

He heard the unspoken statement that the Ancients felt it was their duty to stay and defend the city. Jack admired the sentiment, but he'd been in too many situations where going down with the ship was just an idiotic move when you had another option.

The floor shook again with another hit.

"Shield at one hundred percent. Weapons at sixty percent."

"Fire drones," Helia commanded.

Jack felt the touch of a hand on his arm and turned to see Woolsey.

"What should we do?" His eyes were wide with terror.

Jack mentally went through his options quickly. He wasn't in command here so there wasn't much he could do in the control room. He couldn't exactly dial home while they were in the middle of an attack and all of the personnel and technology were focused on defending the city. It was clear that Helia wouldn't entertain his offer of a strategic retreat to the Milky Way.

Another hit shook the city, only slightly dampened by the shield.

"Shield at seventy percent. Weapons at forty."

"Control room for the secondary jumper bay is flooded."

He watched as Helia directed several of her crew to the main jumper bay so they could add additional fire to the fight.

"Sensors are failing in damaged areas of the city," another voice called, listing off the sectors that they could no longer get readings for.

"General O'Neill," Woolsey asked, "what should we do?"

There were no good options.

If things kept going the way they were, the Replicators would disable the shield soon and breach the city. Then they were all going to be screwed.

"We get weapons and see if we can make it to a jumper. Follow me."

He didn't bother telling Helia where they were going. The woman and the rest of their people were preoccupied as hit after hit shook the city.

They were almost down the stairs when Jack heard another update from the control room.

"Shields failing."

"Shit," he muttered before he began to run.

Jack headed for his room. The Lanteans hadn't allowed he and Woolsey to see their weapons stores and he had Sheppard bring all of Earth's weapons home when they originally left the city. All he had were the weapons he brought with him just in case - a Beretta and a P90.

By the time they made it to his room, Woolsey was out of breath and Jack had made the decision to fit more running into his schedule if they ever got back home.

He grabbed the guns from the locked drawer next to his bed and handed the pistol to Woolsey, quickly showing him how to disengage the safety and giving him a few tips on handling and shooting the weapon.

"Got it?" he asked once he was done.

"I hope so," the other man replied.

"Then let's go."

Jack could feel the adrenaline surging through him, making him more alert and pushing all of those troublesome worries he'd have when this was over to the back of his mind.

His priority right now wasn't to help defend Atlantis. It was to make it home to Earth alive, with Richard Woolsey in tow. It was to make it home to Sam.

When they got back to Stargate Ops, the Ancients were nowhere in sight.

"Oh, that's not good," he said aloud when he saw the empty room.

"Where did they all go?"

Jack looked at the displays. There was a lot of red - a lot of damage. He watched as life signs all over the city flickered and disappeared. Some of those disappearing life signs were near the central core of the city. That meant the Replicators were already inside.

He ran over to the console with Woolsey close behind. He dialed Earth but didn't even wait for the sequence to finish before he hit the record button for a video message.

The Replicators were already on the ground and closing in on their location. He explained the situation as quickly as possible and hoped they'd be able to reach the 'gate in time.

"Atlantis is under attack from Replicators! Somehow, they've figured out how to override their programming. The Ancients were taken off-guard and have lost most of the city already. Request immediate evacuation!"

Jack heard shots behind him and hoped that Woolsey was decent with a gun.

"They're coming!" Woolsey shouted.

"God damn it," Jack cursed as he cut off and sent the recording, hoping that it made it there in time.

The Daedalus was still too far away and Jack doubted they'd survive the wait. He wasn't sure if they could make it all the way to the primary jumper bay. That meant their only way out was through the Stargate. He didn't have a GDO on him and they didn't have enough time for him to shut down the 'gate and redial a planet without an iris, so he just hoped his luck held out and they didn't go splat.

"Richard, we've got to go."

Just as they were about to head towards the 'gate, Jack watched as another group of Replicators teleported down right in front of it.

"Oh, that's not good," he muttered.

There were too many of them and he and Woolsey only had two projectile weapons with limited rounds. Maybe if he had real backup or if they had some of Carter's anti-replicator guns, they could have made it in one piece to the 'gate, but that wasn't going to happen now.

They'd have to go with Plan B. They couldn't make it to the Stargate now, so they'd have to retreat.

Jack shut down the Stargate to sever the connection to Earth and left the room at a run. He hoped that Woolsey followed him, but he didn't have the time to look.

As he ran through the halls, his mind worked fast. He thought back to what he'd heard about damage to certain areas of the city rendering them inaccessible to the city's sensors. He turned right, heading to one of the damaged areas of the city far away from Stargate Operations.

Jack tried not to think about what was going to happen to them after they got there. Help wouldn't be coming, he'd personally made sure of it.