Bridge: The General Hammond

The General Hammond was operating on a small crew, just the three of them and a couple of corporals. Carter was explaining the details of the moon base to Daniel, but he'd tuned them out, watching the big ball of cheese approaching through the viewing panel. Just coming into view was the Mare Tranquillitatis and just past that, he had been told, he would see the first climate controlled, self sufficient dome of the base.

"The reports from last week," Carter was telling Daniel, "indicate that the hydroponics lab is up and running, although no-one is actually resident here yet..."

The giant crystal dome hove into view. Jack caught his breath. He might pretend to be a weathered old Air Force man, but this was stunning. It seemed to float above the bleak lunar landscape, a jewel in the wilderness.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Carter had joined him, and as so often happened, seemed to read his mind. She slipped her hand into his. "The dome finally being operational is big news. We can start moving personnel up here from next week."

He tightened his grip on her hand, and turned towards her.

"Speaking of big news... "

He didn't get the chance to finish. A sharp intake of breath came from Corporal Matteo, followed milliseconds later by a bolt of light, which seemed to enter the bridge as a living thing. The ship lurched sharply to the left. The moon base tilted in the viewscreen... except, of course it was the Hammond that was tilting. Jack grabbed a console for support, and positioned himself in the seat. Carter, the consummate professional, was already in place, hitting buttons and barking about evasive manouevres. Corporal Matteo, her voice shaky, was responding well, and the ship stabilized.

"God, what did they hit us with?" Daniel was somewhere behind him. "I gather it's the Lucian Alliance?"

"Sure is." Sam's voice was taut. Her hands moved swiftly over her console. "Preparing a message now; open all channels."

Jack could hear Daniel muttering under his breath about shield strength. Sam took a deep breath.

"This is Colonel Samantha Carter of the Earth ship 'General Hammond'. We are on a peaceful mission, repeat, a peaceful mission. However should you continue to fire on our vessel, we will retaliate."

Her last word was almost lost in a fresh bolt, as the alien ship fired on them again. Again the Hammond rocked, and sparks flew from the console Corporal Matteo was working on. She flung her arms up, but, to her credit, she kept her head and was able to respond almost instantly when Sam yelled "Return Fire!"

The missile left the ship and sped towards its target. Just before it reached the alien vessel, however, it exploded in a shower of sparks.

The power behind the blast was obvious. Jack dimly wondered what they had that the rest of the galaxy didn't, and where they got it from.

"We're being hailed."

Jack craned his head at Daniel's words; thankfully, his friend appeared uninjured.

"On screen." Carter's mouth was set. He wondered how much damage the ship had taken, and was given his answer by Daniel, who said in a warning tone "One more hit like that will have us dead in the water, Sam."

The screen flickered into life. A man, wearing the trademark leathers of the Lucian Alliance, appeared in front of them. He was smirking.

"Colonel Carter." He cocked his head and looked amused. "A little example of our new strength." He glanced at someone off screen, and nodded slightly, then turned his attention back to them.

"We do not intend to threaten your planet, but we do intend to resume our trading activities. As I think we have shown here today, you may have some difficulty preventing us." The smirk became a sneer. "However, we intend to ensure that the message is properly understood..."

The screen went dead. Carter was white.

"Daniel, what's our status?"

"Not good, Sam. The second bolt knocked out much of the power grid. Shields are down to 33%... life support is venting from decks 3,5 and 8." He grimaced. "I'd suggest evacuating."

Sam nodded. "You, and Corporals Matteo and Willis, take the jumper. Get to Atlantis - I need you to check for any Ancient knowledge that may help us." Daniel started protesting. Sam shushed him with her hand, and a glare.

"Daniel, you sent yourself through a Supergate to save the galaxy. Give someone else a chance, hmm?"

He shut his mouth, gave her a rueful look, then nodded. Sam handed him a small disk.

"That is all the information on their weapons I have been able to get from our readings - make sure you get it to McKay. Now go!" She glanced out the viewing panel.

"I'm hoping there will be no further firing when they see we're not powering weapons."

"Not sure we could, even if we wanted to..."

Jack was checking his console. Sam started at his voice; for a moment, in the heat of battle, she had forgotten his presence on board her command.

"Jack, you'd better go with them. I'll take an escape pod and join you as soon as possible."

"Nope"

"Jack, I'm in command here."

"Not gonna happen, Sam."

There was a pause as they looked at each other. Then Sam shrugged in submission, and turned to Daniel. "Go! "

He looked back at the two of them and grimaced, but all he said was "See ya" and he and the corporals ran for the jumper.

Mere minutes later the little craft exited the Hammond, and Sam breathed a prayer of thankfulness for cloaking technology. Turning to Jack, she smiled, and started to say,

"Well, nothing for the last ten minutes, so perhaps that is ..."

Her sentence was cut short. A massive shock wave rocked the bridge. The view panel in front of them showed the crystal dome and they watched in horror as another huge bolt sped towards its goal...

Some hours later

Jack cracked one eye open, and suppressed a wave of nausea. Afraid even to groan, in case it knocked him over the edge into throwing up all over the bridge, he shut his eyes tight and lay very still.

Just Carter and himself left. Daniel and the rest of the crew escaping in a jumper. An almighty flash, and Luna Base Alpha's single complete dome exploding in an almost graceful arc of dust and debris. A similar bolt hitting the Hammond, and Carter's shocked expostulation as she struggled to keep them steady. His head, hitting the console. Here endeth the memories.

Carter. He could feel his head was in her lap, and that there was a bandage across his temple. With his one eye, he could see that the flames were out, and the screens were quiet. He surmised he'd been out cold for some hours, and he closed his eye again.

When he next came round he could hear music, and it took him a while to realise that it came from Sam. She was humming 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', in a soft soprano.

"Carter," he cleared his throat, appalled at the rusty sound of his voice, and tried again "Carter!"

The humming broke off. "Jack? Hang on a moment, I'll get you some painkillers." His head was gently moved to one side as she scrambled up.

Ah, that was his Samantha. Years of being in the field had taught her that the one thing you had when you woke up after any sort of incident was one big headache. He peeled both eyes open, wincing at the light. She was about three feet away, rooting through the Med Kit. With a small "ah" of discovery, she held the ibuprofen aloft, and reached for the water bottle. Gratefully he swallowed the pills, drinking the water down, and subsided again into her lap.

"Carter"

"Jack?"

"Are we clear?"

She sighed a long sigh, and her voice was only just above a whisper.

"We are. The ship moved off after confirming that the dome was completely destroyed."

He reached for her hand, and held it tight. Her voice, when she spoke again, was stronger.

"I've been in touch with Daniel on Atlantis. He and McKay are already working on counter measures."

They remained in silence for a while. There didn't seem to be anything left to say. Well, maybe one thing.

"Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"Why Twinkle Twinkle??"

She laughed quietly, under her breath, careful not to jolt his head.

"Well. It just seemed - appropriate"

There was a pause, while she readjusted his weight to make him more comfortable. He sighed in relief as the brufen kicked in.

"Carter" his voice was muffled by her leg "you are a person of as yet unplumbed depths."

This time her laughter wasn't constrained. "Yes, SIR" she said, and smoothed the short, grey hair down. "Try to rest now; the engine diagnostic is running, I've sent more data through to McKay and I'll need to re-route the crystal transmute function with the hard data point in...."

He drifted back off to sleep on a blissful tide of Carter-babble.

Thanks for the great reviews, and please keep reading! We're going back to Vala next...