Chapter Nine

Ten Thousand Years Later

Year Two of the Expedition, 1412 hours(Atlantis Base Time)

The steady clicking of the advanced computer could be heard from all around the settlement. The wind and the steady clicking were all that could be heard from anywhere in the general area. The crumbling ruins gave the settlement an erie ghost town look as the three Marines stood outside one of the only control rooms that hadn't fallen over.

Kurt ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly. Yanson stood opening and closing a zippo lighter, he twirled it and threw it up into the air. He made it go over top of his fingers before he ignited it and held it open for a few seconds. He snapped it shut and did it all over again. Lee stood checking his gear again even though they had done it several times before they had left Atlantis.

"What the hells taking her?"

The other two Marines looked at Yanson who was still playing with his zippo lighter. The man managed to speak without losing any speed on his tricks with the lighter. "Shes been in there for a good twenty minutes. All she has to do is find the area they store the ZPM's in."

Like she was listening, the Doctor walked out and looked at Kurt, she had a disappointed look on her face young face. "Captain, a word please?"

Kurt nodded and walked into the building, his feet crunched in the snow as he walked inside. The howling wind stopped as he followed the Doctor inside the building. She walked to one side of her laptop and began to type several buttons on its keyboard. "Whats wrong Doctor?"

"It turns out that ship," she looked at him to make sure he was listening. "The Nona was a military ship, not a transport ship. The computer records say it arrived minutes before a Wraith fleet did. The ship managed to load the shipment onboard but they were forced to engage the Wraith once they returned to orbit. Thats all the information the computer has," she stated.

Kurt nodded his understanding, "does that mean the shipment isn't here anymore?"

"I thought thats what it meant. But look at this," Doctor Swenson walked back over to her bag and took out the small grey scanner. She showed the screen to him, it was a large cylinder a fair distance from the four small dots that indicated them. "That ship didn't make it out of orbit. It must have crashed on the surface, it might still have the shipment onboard."

Kurt smiled and walked back to the door, "Collect your equipment Doctor. We have to check in, then we'll go search for that ship," said Kurt as he stepped out and into the whistling wind again.

The Stargate shimmered as the team stood a few feet from the gate listening to the radio chatter between Kurt and Dr. Weir. "Ma'am were capable of moving to that crash site on foot. Theres no need for a Jumper to come through to fly us to the site."

"Well I think there is good reason to send the Jumper, once you've located the ship you'll have six hours to check in again."

"Yes, ma'am. Who are you sending as our pilot?"

"Were sending Luietenant Ashton in Jumper Nine," replied Weir.

"Copy that," said Kurt exhaling.

The gate stopped shimmering and it quickly deactivated. The wind continued to howl as they waited for Atlantis to dial back. The pedistool the Stargate sat on was slowly becoming more and more covered with snow. The wind was beginning to pick up as the day began to end on this planet.

"I swear if it was any colder here...," said Yanson trailing off as the gate gave a loud electronic sound and errupted to life. The event horizon spat out and consumed the air and snow in front completely vaporizing them. The raw energy seemed like a savage dog being released from its cage and being pulled back by a leash. The energy pulled back and was now just a shimmering surface like the water of a pond. The event horizon shuddered and the shimmer seemed to open up. The large dark blue organic point of a Wraith Dart burst through and the ships engines pushed the large starfighter forward at several hundred miles an hour.

"Dart!," yelled Kurt as he dived to his stomach. Everyone else in the team dived to the ground just as the large fighter roared right over where they were standing just mili seconds before. The fighter gained speed and flew up into the air, it continued going as the Stargate shimmered again and another Dart errupted from the gate. It sped over their heads aswell and disappeared following the same direction of the first Dart. The gate deactivated and the loud whine of the Darts could be heard as clear as day.

"What the hell are they doing here?," yelled Yanson as he got to his feet.

The team got to their feet as the Stargate activated again, they all turned to the gate again. It shuddered and the energy spat out before being pulled back into the device. The blue energy shimmered and the Puddle Jumper slowly moved through the gate. Kurt reached up and activated his radio,"Jumper Nine, we have Wraith Darts in the vicinity. Activate your cloak!"

The grey/brown color of the Ancient ship could be seen as Luietenant Ashton reacted to this new information. The side pylons and engines slid out and the Jumper rocketed forward and into the air. Its hull glinted as the bright white snow shined off of its strangely designed hull. The Stargate deactivated as the Jumper continued to climb.

"Their coming back around!," said Dr. Swenson and the other three Marines who turned to watch as the two enemy fighters sped towards the Jumper.

The lead Dart moved in behind the slow moving Jumper and lined up the Target. The large point at the front of the Dart glowed as the fighter shot its blue energy lasers out and towards their target. The first few shots missed and they sped off harmlessly in the sky. The pilot quickly corrected his error and the next shots hit their mark, the hull of the Jumper sparked as it took the hits. Metal and fire spewed out of one of the pylons as it began to lose atlitude. Luietenant Ashton lost control of the Jumper and it swung around. The one engine was knocked out and the other was working at full capacity causing the Jumper to make a large arc and come down towards the team.

"Run!"

Kurt began to run as the flaming Puddle Jumper now sped towards them. His feet crunched in the snow with every stride he took. The loud shrill sound of the Darts echoed through the air as the four Humans sprinted for their lives. A large long trail of thick black smoke came from the blown out pylon as the doomed ship dived. The Jumper lost speed as it fell from the air and the bottom of the spaceship caught on the Stargate causing it to be pulled straight down. The front and cockpit of the Jumper smashed into the ground and exploded throwing debris and flames into the air. The vessel threw out a large fireball as debris spiraled off into all directions.

A large chunk of metal sliced through the air and tore into the leg of Luietenant Lee. He gave a loud cry of pain as it ripped its way through the muscle and fat causing blood to spurt out and into the snow as he fell to the ground. He landed and snow was thrown up into the air as the Darts flew directly over their heads.

Yanson stopped and grabbed Lee by the vest, he began to drag the wounded soldier towards the forest one hundred feet away. Kurt stopped and watched the Darts as they came around again. Their approach was far to shallow to be making a straffing run, they obviously intended to use their transport beams.

Kurt crouched to one knee and began to fire his P-90 Submachine gun at the lead Dart. The hull sparked and the canopy of the Dart seemed to crack as the bullets ripped into the enemy fighter. A small fire started out of the wing of the Dart and it began to slow down. The fighter rolled off and began to dive towards the ground as the second Dart sped past with its beam activated. The beam missed the desired targets and Kurt began to fire at the second fighter. His P-90 clicked empty as the fighter sped off into the sky.

The Stargate activated behind them and the second Dart dived for the gate. It continued to dive as Kurt quickly tried to reload his gun, it passed through the gate just as Kurt slammed the magazine home and cocked the gun. The Stargate stood shuttering for a second then it deactivated leaving them all with just the sound of the whistling wind.