Prometheus

"It's a Greek tragedy, who wants that?"

- Col. O'Neill, who disapproved the name

Prometheus was the first, and for a long time only, deep-space battleship built by the Tau'ri. The ship was operated by the U.S. Air Force, and its crew consisted of Air Force personnel. Operationally, Prometheus fell under the purview of the Office of Homeworld Security.

The Prometheus used Asgard technology in its hyperdrive engine and shields (There may be other uses of Asgard technology installed). This technology was fitted by the Asgard in return for Earth's help in fighting the Replicators. It also relied on some Goa'uld technology, most notably the ring transporter.

Commanding officers

 * Colonel William Ronson (until 2004)
 * Lieutenant General George Hammond (March 2004 in the Anubis incident and December 2004 during its mission to Atlantis)
 * Colonel Lionel Pendergast (from 2004)

Other crew

 * Colonel Kirtland - Executive Officer (March 2004)
 * Major Erin Gant - Senior Officer (through March 2004)
 * Major Peter DeLouise - Pilot (2003)
 * Captain Womack - Technician (from 2004)
 * Captain Marks - Pilot/Technician (from 2005)
 * Master Sergeant Walter Harriman - Technician (Antarctic battle, Atlantis mission)
 * Cameron Mitchell - Pilot (until 2005)

Introduction


Prometheus was originally the code name for the experimental X-303, which was developed and constructed in Nevada by Area 51 R&D, with a great deal of work subcontracted to civilian companies without revealing the true nature of the project. The X-303 was hijacked while still incomplete by rogue NID agents demanding the release of Colonel Frank Simmons and the Goa'uld infested Adrian Conrad.

SG-1 managed to reclaim control of the ship and Thor of the Asgard towed the Prometheus to the Ida Galaxy where the Replicators had been captured on the planet Hala. SG-1's mission was to reverse the effects of a time dilation device which the Asgard had created to slow down the Replicators' progression until a method of ridding the universe of them was found. The Replicators turned the device in the opposite direction and evolved into human form. SG-1 successfully reversed the bubble and caught the human form Replicators in it. This was the first time that the Prometheus landed on an alien planet's surface. The Asgard later outfitted the ship with advanced shields and hyperdrive as a show of gratitude. They refused to outfit the ship with Asgard weaponary.

As the ship had not yet been commissioned at the time of this mission, it had no name. Prometheus was first suggested by then-Major Samantha Carter, but then-Colonel Jack O'Neill, who commanded the mission, rejected it as a "Greek tragedy." (He preferred the name Enterprise.) Nonetheless, the ship was officially named Prometheus by the time of its shakedown cruise under Colonel William Ronson.

Col. William Ronson took SG-1 and his crew out on their first mission to test the fully-operational ship. Unfortunately, the naquadria reactor which enabled the ship to travel in hyperspace had to be jettisoned because of its instability. The Prometheus had to land on the planet Tagrea. After some conflicts with the Tagreans they were allowed to stay and await parts and repair equipment brought through the Stargate in order to get back home.

The ship did not make it home, however, until the following year, using a hyperdrive taken from a captured Al'kesh bomber. This meant that the ship was underpowered, since the Al'kesh reactor was designed for a vessel one-tenth of Prometheus' size. En route back to Earth, the ship was attacked by an unknown alien ship and was forced to hide inside a corrosive nebula. Carter saved the day and all of the crew were returned to continue their journey home.

Battle of Antarctica


When Anubis launched a full-scale attack against Earth, General George Hammond assumed direct command of the Prometheus at the request of President Henry Hayes. The ship engaged Anubis' fleet in Antarctica to protect SG-1 as they sought to activate the Ancient weapons platform in the Antarctic Outpost, buried within a mile of ice. After SG-1's mission to access the Outpost was successful, the Prometheus entered orbit to directly battle Anubis' mothership. The ship suffered a lot of damage, and Gen. Hammond was prepared to ram the dying ship into Anubis' ship, but that desperate measure was not necessary after Col. Jack O'Neill activated the Outpost's defense weapons and destroyed all of Anubis' ships.

Further duties
Colonel Lionel Pendergast assumed command of the Prometheus later that year; as the ship lacked a reliable hyperdrive, he was tasked with orbital patrols, guarding Earth from potential Goa'uld attack. On one such mission, the ship made contact with the Asgard vessel Daniel Jackson, which was bringing Teal'c back from a mission to the Ida Galaxy.

The Asgard were still in the process of performing upgrades when the Prometheus was called out to search for the cloaked al'kesh left behind by the Goa'uld Osiris when he/she was probing Daniel Jackson's subconscious for memories of his time as an Ascended Being and the location of the Lost City of the Ancients. The al'kesh was found and used by a rogue cell of the NID, operating under the name of The Trust, who used the ship to steal the Stargate from the SGC and launch symbiote poison on worlds thought to be in Ba'al's domain. SG-1 tagged the Stargate with a locator beacon and the Prometheus used the new Asgard beaming technology to reclaim it. The al'kesh, however, jumped into hyperspace and the Prometheus was unable to pursue it because the hyperdrive engines had not yet been installed.

The members of The Trust who had escaped with Osiris' al'kesh returned home implanted with Goa'uld symbiotes. It was their intention to start a nuclear war on Earth to gain access to the Antarctic Outpost. The Prometheus, still under the command of Col. Pendergast, was assigned to Earth's orbit to search for the al'kesh. The Prometheus also rescued Daniel Jackson via the Asgard beam transporter when he was about to be taken into the Goa'uld's custody in Moscow. The al'kesh attacked the Prometheus and was destroyed in the battle.

After the Asgard hyperdrive engines were successfully tested, Gen. George Hammond selected his crew to embark on a rescue mission to the Pegasus Galaxy where the Atlantis Expedition Team was stranded and had not been heard from since they left. While en route, they answered a distress call and were hijacked by the space pirate Vala Mal Doran. Vala stranded the crew on her crippled al'kesh and took the Prometheus to a planet where she intended to sell it for a case full of refined weapons grade naquadah, but her plans were thwarted by Daniel Jackson who was the only crewmember left onboard the ship. While on the planet, the Prometheus sustained hull damage when it was attacked by death gliders and al'kesh. Daniel and Vala were rescued by the crew of the Prometheus who had managed to get their al'kesh repaired. Vala escaped in that al'kesh, and the trip to the Pegasus Galaxy had to be aborted because of the ship's hull damage.

The Prometheus played a small role in discovering the subterranean complex left by Merlin underneath Glastonbury Tor in late 2005, which was accessed via the ship's transport rings.

Battle of Kallana


A Prior of the Ori came to the planet Kallana to convert its inhabitants to Origin, but the Jaffa of the planet refused to follow the teachings of the Book of Origin and they were struck down by the prior. Soon after a mysterious blue force shield appeared around the prior and the stargate.

The Prometheus was sent to P4C-452 to rendezvous with Lt. Col. Samantha Carter and SG-1, carrying a Mark IX "Gatebuster" naquadria-enhanced nuclear bomb to stop an Ori incursion on the planet Kallana (Kallana's Stargate was't accessible). The ship was used to monitor the progression of an energy force field being built by the Ori on the planet, as the first step in their plans to build a Supergate and to send ships to the Milky Way Galaxy.

After the Mark IX impacted both the Tau'ri and their arrived Jaffa allies discovered that the shield used their attacks to power itself, becoming bigger. Their plan had backfired. The planet collapsed into a micro-singularity in order to power the Supergate, but thanks to the bravery of Vala Mal Doran the Ori beachhead was destroyed.

The Prometheus suffered a hull breach on the hangar deck, but survived the Ori's attempt at forming a beachhead. The Jaffa fleet wasn't as lucky. They lost two out of their three Ha'tak ships. After the Ori's attempt at building a Supergate was prevented the Prometheus returned home.

After the battle
After the downfall of the System Lords, Ba'al took refuge on Earth. In order that he be left alone, he threatened to blow up a building in Seattle, Washington. The Prometheus was used to transport Lt. Col. Samantha Carter from Virginia to Washington so that she could search for the naquadah bomb. After discovering that the naquadah had been used in the very structure of the building, Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell commanded that the entire building be beamed into space where it could safely explode. Most likely, the Prometheus was also used to collect the debris from the blast and return it to the building's original site.

In 2006, the Prometheus was hijacked once again, this time by an SG-1 from a parallel universe. The SG-1 from our universe and the parallel SG-1 flew the ship to close the breach in space that had diverted several SG-1 teams during Stargate travel. However, it was a trick and they intended to use the ship to steal the Zero Point Module from Atlantis. In this instance, the plot was foiled and the ship reclaimed without suffering any major damage.

Destruction


The Prometheus was destroyed in early 2006 in orbit over the planet Tegalus, which had recently come under the influence of Ori Priors. The Prometheus traveled to Tegalus to retrieve Dr. Daniel Jackson and disable an Ori satellite weapon, but was unable to penetrate the satellite's shields. The satellite, however, quickly overwhelmed Prometheus' defenses and crippled the craft. Colonel Pendergast ordered the evacuation of his crew using the Asgard transporter, remaining behind to ensure their departure.

After taking multiple hits, the Prometheus finally split at the neck and exploded. More than 39 of its 115-plus officers and crew died with her.

Bay on Earth
The Prometheus sat in a subterranean bay in Nevada (Area 37-92/NV) where it was assembled and maintained. It was held in place with large docking clamps. Access to the subterranean bay was given through an elevator housed in a shack surrounded by an electric fence. The ship entered and exited through large retractable roof doors

The Prometheus's maiden voyage was a result of a hijacking by rogue NID agents working with Col. Frank Simmons and the Goa'uld Adrian Conrad. They felt that it was easier to steal the ship than to gain access to the Stargate. Even though it was not complete on the inside, the Prometheus performed extremely well on its first flight and proved its space-worthiness.

Alternate realities

 * In an alternate reality, Prometheus was commandeered by president Landry as "Air Force One". As the general public in that reality was aware of the Stargate and as Earth was no longer was interested in defending the galaxy from the Ori, Prometheus was never in the Battle of Tegalus and was therefore not destroyed. It was indicated that it and the Daedalus were the only two ships that Earth had as the Odyssey wasn't mentioned. 

Behind the scenes

 * In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to the human race. It's fitting that humanity's first deep-space vessel, incorporating new technology, would be named after him. However, Prometheus was then punished by having a hawk come every day and eat his liver, and every night have it regrow. He was also exposed to the elements by being chained to a cliff. Both of these punishments supposedly will continue infinitely. This is why O'Neill thought it not quite so fitting.


 * In the anime series Macross (adapted in the U.S. as part of Robotech), one of two super carriers attached to the SDF-1 Macross was named Prometheus. Perhaps not coincidentally, the other carrier was christened as the Daedalus.


 * In Star Trek, a starship named Prometheus was an experimental prototype that was hijacked and later recaptured. VOY: Message In A Bottle

Major campaigns

 * Battle of Antarctica
 * Battle of Kallana
 * Battle of Tegalus