Chapter Six

Year 82 of the Wraith War

The smoke trailed up and into the atmosphere of the planet, you could see it from hundreds of miles all around in all directions. The smoke came from the crashed Lantian destoyer Nona, its hull was still burning as the fuel was being burnt off. Wraith fighters darted all around the sky over the Nona and the area surrounding it. A Wraith cruiser slowly descended through the clouds, and took up a hovering position over the wreckage of the Nona. The hull was a dark blue color against the light blue sky, lights could be seen from the windows onboard the cruiser. It gave the cruiser a sparkling effect against the blue sky of Galinishi.

A half mile away Executive Officer Galeb Krinson and Cheif Engineer Brant Osirin ran for their lives. They ran towards the Atlantian settlement on the planet, next to the settlement was the planets only Stargate. It was their only escape from the planet that was now being culled and taken over by the Wraith.

Galeb ran through the deep snow, it was difficult to move his feet through it. His legs and lungs burned from the difficult running. He knew they couldn't stop their running, if they did the Wraith behind them would catch up and kill them. Galeb felt the sweat beading down his forehead and drenching his hair. It was lowering his body heat as the cold air blew against his sweaty head. It sent cold chills all down his body, from his head to his toes. He continued to run, beside him he could hear the heavy breathing of Brant. His friend who had saved his life, was running beside him as they ran for the settlement. The settlement was definatly a long distance away but they had no other choice but to go to it.

They both stopped running and looked up as a Wraith fighter soared above them, it circled several times before disappearing into the distance. Galeb let out a loud exhale and looked over at Brant. "They're probably not gonna stop looking for us," he said looking down and slowly shaking his head.

"We can only hope we make it to the gate before they catch us," said Brant looking around.

The forest seemed to give off a deathly silence as they looked around. Galeb had a cold prickly feeling run up his spin as he looked around into the forest. Beside him Brant took out his sidearm and he raised it looking into the forest. "What is it?"

"I don't know. I feel like we're being watched," said Galeb looking closely into the forest.

Brant continued to scan the forest with his weapon at the ready. He looked closely at every object and shape in the snow, nothing was out of place. Galeb looked at Brant who turned and fired off his sidearm into the forest. The laser whized off and hit a tree, causing a small fire. Galeb felt the cold feeling from behind him as he turned and saw a dark shadow disappear into some bushes. "There using their telepathy, just block it out," said Galeb looking at Brant. Brant continued to turn around and look off into the distance, he fired off a shot once or twice for every direction he looked. Galeb walked over to Brant and took the laser from his hand, "its not there." Brant looked at him startled, he had a look of confusion on his face.

Galeb looked up into the sky and saw several Wraith fighters flying overhead. They had been scanning for the shots of confused Lantians, they now knew where they were in the forest. Galeb looked back down at Brant. "C'mon we gotta move!"

They began to run as the fighters came down and towards the forest, the fighters fired off several shots that sped into the forest and exploded with tremendous force. It knocked over trees and threw snow up into the air hundreds of feet. The fighters continued their straffing run, blue lasers continued to fly randomly into the forest causing large explosions and fire balls to rise up into the air. Galeb continued to run as the fighters continued to fire. They broke off their straffing run and pulled high up into the air. The fighters began to run their transport beams across the ground.

Galeb looked off to his left and saw a few useless shots fly up into the air from one of the other survivors deeper in the forest. The fighter and its beam flew over the area, it then peeled off and flew back to the cruiser hovering hundreds of feet above the surface. They continued to run as the loud whining sound of a Wraith fighter echoed from behind them. Galeb looked back to see it activate its beam and fly towards them. It was now flying towards them at incredible speed. Galeb reached over and tried to push Brant, but it was to late and they were both dimaterialized into thousands of gigaquads of data and beamed up into the Wraith fighter.

Galeb awoke to the loud humming sound of organic technology and quiet fearful whispering. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of the room he was in. It was a dark blue/purpleish color and lights were running through it. Galeb quickly got to his feet and looked around the dark room. Two other Lantians were inside the dark chamber.

"Where are we?"

One of the Lantians got up and looked at him, "I think were onboard that Wraith cruiser that came down into the atmosphere," the young man said. His exterior showed a roughness to him, he didn't look afraid of what was going to come next, the brutal death of being fed upon by a Wraith. Galeb looked into his eyes and the roughness wasn't there, his eyes showed his true feelings. He was afraid of what was going to happen to him, it was apparent as he looked into the young officers eyes.

"Have they been in here yet?"

"Only once, they took crewman Besh a few hours ago," reported the man with a sad look in his eyes.

Galeb looked down at the ground as he thought about losing another crewmen to the Wraith again. So many had died because of him, it was all his fault. If he hadn't tried to help that ship, it was obvious the ship was long destroyed by the time they had arrived at the planet. Because of his decision all his crew were dead, or about to die. Why had he let himself be deluded into thinking that they could save one of their battleships. The Wraith never let anyone live, every Atlantian knew this. They had to escape if it was the last thing they did.

"Sir, are they gonna feed on us?"

Galeb looked up at the man, his face was hard as he waited for an answer. "Its more then likely," replied Galeb looking at the man. The man turned around and sat down on the floor of the holding cell. Galeb walked over to his crew and sat down next to them. He sat not speaking as he considered what to do next. It was obvious that they couldn't wait for death to come. Galeb looked at the two other men, they were sitting lost in their own thoughts as they waited for the Wraith to return.

"We have to escape," said Galeb looking at the other men.

"Whats the point," said the one who hadn't talked yet. He looked up at Galeb, "we'll just be delaying the inevitable."

"Well, I don't know about you, But I feel like living for a while longer. So when they come in next, I say we try to overwhelm them."

The two men looked at him, they slowly nodded as they started the long wait till the Wraith needed more food.

Galeb heard it first, the loud clomping of heavy footsteps on the floor. The Wraith were coming for more food, Galeb looked over at the other men. They all got to their feet as they watched the doorway. It slid back and several Wraith walked into the room, two warriors and an officer. They looked at the captured Atlantians, the officer looked at each one closely judging which one was best to eat.

It pointed at Galeb and the two warriors moved towards him. Galeb moved quickly and punched the closest warrior in the face. It gave out a surprised growl and fell to the floor as the other warrior grabbed Galeb and threw him into the wall. The other two men in the cell moved and tackled the other two Wraith. They struggled with the stronger enemy. Galeb got to his feet and kicked the Wraith he had punched in the face. The Wraith fell and he slowy tried to get up again. The sound a Wraith stunner echoed throughout the room, and one of the Lantians fell limp on the floor.

Galeb turned and looked over at a Wraith who had walked into the room. It had its sidearm stunner drawn and it fired at the other Lantian. He fell quickly and the three Wraith quickly got to their feet. A warrior reached out and picked up Galeb by his neck. Galeb felt the crushing grip on his neck and he began to slowly choke.

The officer who had walked in the room late hissed at the warrior and it let him down from the choking. The two warriors grabbed him and they dragged him out of the room. He struggled in a futile effort against the strong Wraith. They dragged him down the corridor and the door to the holding cell closed behind him, trapping what was the last of his men. They continued to drag him by the arms down the hall, they turned and took another direction away from the cell. They took another turn and another, until finally they were in a large room. The Wraith who had shot the other Lantians turned and looked back at the other three Wraith.

They slowly dropped him to the floor and backed off, the three lower class Wraith slowly walked out of the room. Galeb got to his feet and straightened out his uniform. He looked up at the seven foot Wraith, as it stood looking back down at him. Its slimy face twitched as it looked at its prey. The Wraith leaned foreward and looked into his eyes.

"One day someone like me is going to kill you and your whole god damn race. Take your fill demon!"

Galeb yelled into its face and it backed off a bit before he hissed in return. It moved foreward and drove his hand down into his chest. Galeb let out a cry of pain as the Wraith began to feed on him. It felt like thousands of little insects eating your flesh at the same moment. Galeb looked into the Wraiths eyes as it continued to feed on him. The Wraith hissed and began to pull more of Galebs life away from him. He felt his body slowly beginning to shrink and be eaten away. His muscles now began to flame as the creature continued to feed on him. Galeb closed his eyes and the image of his home in Atlantis came back to him. The vast ocean was what he saw as the last of his life was forcefully sucked from his body. Galeb was surrounded by a darkness and the pain finally disappeared.