Shooting out of the hangar bay came us and three other Jumpers. We were heading straight towards the energy wall of hyperspace. I turned my head and closed my eyes; this was it.

I almost flew out of my seat but we didn't explode. Instead we found ourselves looking into the black of space. The pilot turned the jumper around to face the Virtue; it began to fall apart and explode. The bridge crushed and broke off, followed by a series of small explosions across the ship, fire bursting out of the ship into the vacuum of space and one huge explosion emanating from the engines. Soon the Virtue was gone, replaced by a mass of debris, lifeless wreckage where the most advanced piece of technology I had ever seen had been only seconds before.

The Jumper turned away from the area where the Virtue had been and activated its sensors, most of the Jumpers made it out. Only two seemed to have mistimed their exits.

We scanned for the nearest planet we could find and set the quickest course to the planet. The only planet in range we could find, that we could reach safely, was not one I knew of but I hoped it had a Stargate; if the planet held a gate; I could dial Atlantis and safely bring all of the Alterans to a new home.

The constant struggle these people had lived, we had lived, was soon to be over. Dr. Weir would gladly take them in; I was sure of it.

After a few hours the Jumpers entered the atmosphere, they split off and began a search for the gate. The planet was green, beautiful, untouched to the eye. I hoped that the perfection this planet sported was not an indication of the lack of the Stargate.

We continued to search for hours and hours before we decided to meet back to rest. All of the Jumpers converged on an opening in the woodland that seemed to cover most of the planet. Fifty Alterans; all that was left now of the Ancient ones before they ascended.

We were quiet as anything, none of us felt able to talk although all of us wanted to. Everything that had happened had changed us, made us closer while at the same time made us more apart. I felt no relationship with any of the crew, none of them closer now than when I first joined the crew. Only Lucas ever really accepted me and he was gone now.

We ate and took it in turns to sleep, sleep was a commodity that we were not used to and was gladly accepted. Although I only slept for a few hours it felt like a whole days worth to me. I had missed the comforts I was so used to at home and on Atlantis.

I awoke to a beautiful night, the night was clear and the stars could be seen as brightly as the midday sun, each as beautiful as the last, the moon was large and yet even on this great night something seemed wrong. Eternal vigilance, I thought to myself.

Something definitely bugged me. Most of the Alterans were asleep; they had split into pockets, on the grounds of which Jumper they had been in.

I felt for my weapon, I found it in its holster and attempted to remove it. I couldn't at first but when I pulled as hard as I could it came out from its, what I could only assume was similar to leather, straps.

The gun was misshapen. Knowing I couldn't fire it I pulled myself across the ground to our Jumper. I now felt nothing on my legs; they were well and truly useless to me. One of the medical attendants from the Virtue had informed me that there may be a chance to help me using a piece of Ancient technology, hopefully available in Atlantis.

The Jumper lit up as I entered and I opened the weapons locker. I found myself an automatic ancient weapon and went to activate the sensor systems when I heard loud screams. As quickly as I could, I headed back out to the camp; everyone from our Jumper was now awake and they were all present and accounted for but there was no sign of two of the other groups of Ancients. I re-entered the Jumper with two other ancients and they lifted me into the pilot seat.

The other Ancients armed themselves and went to search for answers to what had happened. Those of us who had been injured or would be liabilities to the others would be in the air, searching the rest of the planet. In the hope to find a Stargate.

I pulled the Jumper up and just inside the atmosphere. We then sped off in another direction.

After twenty minutes of searching the others contacted us; they had found a series of caves near to where the others had stayed. They were exploring them at that moment.

We had almost searched half the planet when I saw it; the gate. It was well hidden and most certainly not used often.

"We have found the gate" I informed the others over the radio, "We are heading back to you. Don't wait too long before coming back to the clearing, I don't like this place."

I received confirmation and was told that there was one last tunnel not explored. They were intending on checking it out then heading back.

Almost a hundred feet from the caves they had found I noticed something from the air. I pulled the Jumper down and went to investigate. The others carried me out of the Jumper and to the area that had caught my attention.

I, to my horror, was right. Lain against a tree was a pile of the bodies of the Ancients. The doctor, who had been with me in the Jumper went to check on them.

"Get back to the Jumper!" He shouted to me, as he moved away I noticed what had worried him. As fast as they could they carried me back to the ship and we took off.

"Get back to your Jumpers!" I shouted across the radio, "Don't worry" came the reply, "We are nearly finished here.", "Listen to me" I shouted at them, "The planet is infested with Wraith and their bug origins, get out of the caves!"

Our flyby took us over the cave entrance and I saw movement. Not the Ancients but Wraith. A large Wraith group was headed into the caves.

The radio came to life for us to hear the screams followed by a final order by the commander of the cave group. "Get out of here, we have been overpowered. The Wraith are wiping us out. Just do us one favour; fire the Jumpers full weapons at the cave, make sure those bastards don't get the satisfaction of feeding upon us"

Without hesitation I fired a full array of drones into the cave. It exploded and then collapsed upon itself. I raised the Jumper and headed for the Stargate.

Our top speed was very fast but Jumpers could never out run a Wraith dart and unfortunately we found ourselves tailed by two of them.

I thought about drones but nothing happened, they must have finally been depleted. The darts opened fire upon us and the Jumper began to take damage. They were sturdy craft but were never meant to be put through so much, so fast.

On the sensors the gate seemed so close, yet we didn't stand much chance of making it there. I activated the on ship DHD and dialled Atlantis. From the front pocket of my shirt I removed my GDO, it had been a reminder of my past, a relic to me but now, once more it was to be used.

The gate opened and was just coming into view when our ship began to fall apart. I decided that I had to retract the drive pods then to protect from failure. We began sailing towards the gate without a thought of anything else.

Suddenly a bright flash occurred from behind us. One of the Darts had exploded, followed by the second.

I then remembered the second Jumper. It had been out of contact for so long, I wondered how much they understood.

"Line up and head through the gate" I said as I pulled away from our approach. I typed in the GDO code and opened the door for them.

I activated my radio and contacted Atlantis, "Atlantis, no time to explain but I am sending through a Jumper containing living, breathing Ancients, get them into the Jumper bay within two minutes because after that time I will be coming through in my Jumper."

The first Jumper headed through the gate and into the safety of Atlantis. I began my silent countdown.

I had reached one minute fifteen seconds when more Wraith ships appeared on our sensors. "Weir is it safe for me to come through yet? I have Wraith closing on our position!" I requested down the radio. "Give us twenty seconds" came Weir's reply.

The first shot was fired after eight seconds and by fifteen we were in deep trouble, I had to begin my approach, we sped forward and through the gate by seventeen.

Luckily we soon found ourselves on the other side, just below the Jumper being slowly lifted up into a bay. The gate shut down behind us and I saw Dr. Weir heading down the stairs that had greeted me everytime I had come through the gate.

I sighed as I was lifted out of the Jumper and to the nearest transporter.

The Doctor from The Virtue hadn't lied, in Atlantis there was a machine designed to repair the human body. Originally used to infuse the gene into the Alterans that protected their technology from the Wraith, it managed to rebuild and repair my legs and within the space of a week I found myself walking once more.

As soon as we were rested and had eaten I was told to report to my debriefing.

As I walked down the fresh corridors I found myself thinking, this one isn't going to be easy to explain…

THE END