The Virtue had clearly taken more damage than we had first believed, she was lurching uncontrollably as we travelled, I decided that since we clearly couldn't get to Lucas's other city with the small amounts of fuel we brought onto the ship, I should go and find Lucas.

As I headed towards the bridge I noticed that almost every second corridor was an inferno. All of the Wraith attacks seemed to have been focused upon the bridge and the higher decks. The closer I got, the more the fear grew inside of me. I hoped that Lucas was all right; without him the crew would be distraught, uncontrollable. I fought my way through the damage and up onto the top deck, the flame was unbearable at this point.

The fire was lashing out at anything that moved, it saw me and reared its ugly head. I managed to dive into a shaft and escape the flames. I waited a little while then jumped back into the corridor.

The last door before the bridge entrance was badly burnt on the outside, I hoped the inside had kept its integrity. I could hear nothing from the inside. I pulled my gun from the holster and laid twenty bullets into the right hand side. It fell out of the frame when I kicked at it.

Half expecting a backlash of flame, I dived to the floor. Nothing appeared, cautiously I found myself leaning in. Electrical sparks flew across the room; the ancients were lain down all over the room, most of them clearly dead.

In the centre of the room I saw the area in which Lucas's chair had once been; it was now replaced by an iron girder.

I ran to the pole and found Lucas, my fears were confirmed; he was impaled.

"Lucas!" I shouted to him, he was still alive but he was slipping away, "Lucas!" I shouted once more. His eyes opened slightly, "We've turned around…" he told me "We have enough fuel to get you close to Atlantis". Atlantis, I had been away from there for so long now, would they accept me back? After all, a lot can happen in the space of a few months.

"Lucas, I have to get you to the medical bay" I said, choking on my words. "No time" he said to me, he began to re-close his eyes. I tried my best to keep him awake, "Take over" he commanded me "I can't get you to Atlantis directly… … We won't survive coming out of hyperspace, you need to hit the engines before we leave, you can't time it wrong… If you are too fast you'll fly uncontrollably into the hyperspace energy and vapourise… I can get you within Puddle Jumper distance; you have to get the others to Atlantis. Tell them my last wish was for them to help you get home."

His eyes closed and wouldn't reopen. I ran to the door and noticed the fires had spread. Remembering the ship schematics, I ran to Lucas's office. Just outside there was one of the transporters; I could take it to the jumper bay.

Before leaving his office I activated the intercom system, "Friends, Commander Lucas has just died, he informed me that he ordered the Virtue to head in the general direction of Atlantis, we can't get there in the Virtue. So I need you all to get to the Jumpers as soon as possible. Atlantis will take you all in, we will shelter you and in return you can assist us, there is a lot we need to learn about your city. The Virtue may fall but we owe it to Lucas to survive, together. So all of you get to the Jumper bay. If you don't get there you will die with the Virtue."

Safe in the knowledge that the crew knew exactly what to do I began shooting through the wall. The hyperspace alarm began to sound once more, I had little time. As rapidly as I could, I fired on the wall. It was beginning to bend but not fast enough. I ran back onto the bridge and took another gun from one of the bodies laid around.

The combined strength of the guns managed to form a hole in the wall. I kicked my way through and into the corridor. The flame was spreading towards me; I ran and found the transporter. The door opened as I approached. As I walked in the flame shot towards me, I hit the Jumper bay and the flame ripped into the transporter.

I materialised on the Jumper deck; the flame had caught me. The unbearable pain was almost as great as that of the Wraith feeding process.

My legs had been burnt, burnt badly. Luckily the rest of me was okay.

Somebody saw me and ran to assist. She lifted me into a Jumper and shut the door. The small ship was packed to the brim, there was little room to move and I was sure that it would affect manoeuvrability but nonetheless I was glad that I had made it on board.

The pilot activated the holster controls and the Jumper lowered; ready to release.

I looked to the side and noticed that the ship on our left was releasing its clamps. It flew out whilst the Virtue was in hyperspace. It impacted the hyperspace energy and exploded.

Hoping that we wouldn't explode caught me in a web of fear. My legs still felt like they were burning. My injuries were bad I knew that, I was well aware I might never be able to walk again.

I felt the jolt of hyperspace coming to an end followed by the jolt of the clamps releasing.

We flew out at the fastest speed I had ever experienced.

TO BE CONTINUED…