Prometheus

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

- Jack O'Neill, who disapproved of the name

Prometheus was the first, and for presumably four years was also the only, deep-space battleship built and manned by the Tau'ri.

The ship was operated by the United States Air Force, and her crew consisted of Air Force personnel. Operationally, however, Prometheus fell under the purview of the Office of Homeworld Security. Prometheus used Asgard technology in her hyperdrive engine and shields although 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. She also relied on some Goa'uld technology, most notably the Transportation rings.

After serving Earth for four years, the Prometheus was ultimately destroyed during a battle against an Ori satellite that took place over the planet, Tegalus in February 2006, a battle that killed thirty-nine of her personnel as well as her commanding officer, Colonel Lionel Pendergast.

Since Prometheus's destruction, it has remained the sole 303-class ship to be constructed, the planned BC-303 series having been rendered obsolete by 304 battlecruiser, an altogether superior vessel.

Commanding officers

 * Colonel Jack O'Neill (2002) (unofficially for one mission)
 * Colonel William Ronson (2003-2004)
 * Colonel Kirkland (Early 2004)
 * Lt. General George S. Hammond (Early 2004 in the Anubis incident as well as the Battle of Antarctica and late 2004 during her mission to Atlantis)
 * Colonel Lionel Pendergast (2004-2006)

Known crew

 * Colonel Kirkland - Executive Officer (Early 2004)
 * Major Cameron Mitchell - Pilot (until 2005)
 * Major Erin Gant - Senior Officer (2003 through Early 2004)
 * Major Peter DeLouise - Pilot (2003)
 * Captain Womack - Technician (from 2004)
 * Lt./Captain Kevin Marks - Pilot/Technician (from 2005)
 * Lt. Adam Banks - Pilot (until 2005)
 * Redmond - Pilot (until 2005)
 * MSgt. Walter Harriman - Technician (Antarctic battle, Atlantis mission)
 * Sgt. Larson
 * Prometheus weapons officer

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 with the agents demanding the release of Colonel Frank Simmons and the Goa'uld infested Adrian Conrad which eventually happened.

SG-1, the SGC's flagship team managed to reclaim control of the ship and stop the NID agents although both the Goa'uld-controlled Simmons and Conrad were both killed while the remaining NID agents were captured. 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's 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 as a show of gratitude. They refused to outfit the ship with Asgard weaponry.

As the ship had not yet been commissioned at the time of this mission, she had no name. Prometheus was first suggested by Major Samantha Carter, but 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 her shakedown cruise under Colonel William Ronson.

Ronson took SG-1 and his crew out on their first mission to test the fully-operational ship. Unfortunately, the Naquadria reactor core which enabled the ship to travel in hyperspace had to be jettisoned because of its instability which caused great damage to the ship.

As such, 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.

She 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 Unidentified spaceship and was forced to hide inside an Interstellar cloud. 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, Major General George S. 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, Prometheus entered orbit to directly battle Anubis' mothership. The ship suffered extensive damage, and Hammond was prepared to ram the dying ship into Anubis' ship, but that desperate measure was not necessary; Colonel Jack O'Neill activated the Outpost's defense weapons and destroyed all of Anubis' ships, resulting in the Tau'ri achieving a huge victory against the Goa'uld.

Further duties
Following Colonel William Ronson's presumed retirement or reassignment elsewhere, Colonel Lionel Pendergast later assumed permanent 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 in the aftermath of the Battle of Antarctica. On one such mission, the ship made contact with the Asgard flagship Daniel Jackson, which was bringing Teal'c back from a mission to the Othala Galaxy.

The Asgard were still in the process of performing upgrades when Prometheus was called out to search for the cloaked Al'kesh left behind by the Goa'uld Osiris when he/she was probing Dr. 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 Stargate Command and launch symbiote poison on worlds thought to bein 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 Prometheus was unable to pursue her 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. Prometheus, still under the command of Pendergast, was assigned to Earth's orbit to search for the Al'kesh. She also rescued Daniel via the Asgard transporter when he was about to be taken into the Goa'uld's custody in Moscow, Russia. The Al'kesh attacked the Prometheus and was destroyed in the battle.

After the Asgard hyperdrive engines were successfully tested, Gen. 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 Prometheus to a planet where she intended to sell her for a case full of refined weapons grade Naquadah, but her plans were thwarted by Daniel who was the only crew member left on board the ship. While on the planet, Prometheus sustained hull damage when she 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 had to be aborted because of the ship's hull damage, forcing the Prometheus to return to Earth for repairs.

Prometheus played a small role in discovering the subterranean complex Avalon left by Merlin underneath Glastonbury Tor in late 2005, which was accessed via her Transportation 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, having previously worshiped the Goa'uld refused to follow the teachings of the Book of Origin. As such, the Prior struck them down. Soon after a mysterious blue force shield appeared around the Prior and the Stargate.

Prometheus was sent to P4C-452 to rendezvous with Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter and SG-1, carrying a Mark IX "Gatebuster" Naquadria-enhanced Nuclear warhead to stop an Ori incursion on the planet Kallana (Kallana's Stargate wasn'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 eventually destroyed.

Prometheus suffered a hull breach on the hangar deck, but survived the Ori's attempt at forming a beachhead. Unfortunately, the Jaffa fleet weren't as lucky as 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 to ensure that he would be left alone, he threatened to blow up a building in Seattle, Washington. Prometheus was used to transport Lt. Colonel 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. Colonel Cameron Mitchell commanded that the entire building be beamed into space where it could safely explode. Most likely, Prometheus was also used to collect the debris from the blast and return it to the building's original site.

In 2006, Prometheus was hijacked once again, this time by an SG-1 from a alternate reality. 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 her to steal the Zero Point Module from Atlantis. In this instance, the plot was foiled and the ship was reclaimed without suffering any major damage.

Destruction


In the aftermath of Dr. Daniel Jackson disappearing in February 2006, Prometheus was dispatched to Tegalus to save Daniel.

The crew and SG-1 discovered that the planet which had recently come under the influence of Ori Priors now possessed an Ori Satelite.

Prometheus attempted to attack but was unable to penetrate the satellite due to the satellite's shields. The satellite, however, with two shots quickly overwhelmed Prometheus's defenses and crippled the craft, causing overwhelming damage to the ship itself and even killing numerous personnel as well.

In a last ditch attempt, Colonel Lionel Pendergast ordered the evacuation of his crew and SG-1 using the Asgard transporter, remaining behind to ensure their departure.

After taking three shots, Prometheus finally split at the neck and exploded, resulting in its destruction. More than 39 of its 115-plus officers and crew died with it including Pendergast himself.

In the aftermath of Prometheus's destruction, the Odyssey under the command of Colonel Paul Emerson was launched with many of the Prometheus's former crew including Major Kevin Marks going on to serve on the Odyssey.

Bay on Earth
Prometheus sat in a subterranean bay in Nevada (Area 37-92/NV) where she was assembled and maintained. She 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

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

Alternate realities

 * In an alternate reality, Prometheus was commandeered by President Henry Landry as "Air Force One". As the general public in that reality was aware of the Stargate and as Earth was no longer 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 she and the Daedalus were the only two ships that Earth had as the Odyssey and Apollo weren'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.
 * Prometheus is the name of a ship class in Star Trek.
 * In Star Trek: Voyager, a starship named USS Prometheus (NX-59650/NX-74913) was an experimental prototype that was hijacked and later recaptured. VOY: Message In A Bottle.
 * In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a starship named USS Prometheus (NCC-71201) was in service with Starfleet. DS9: Second Sight
 * Prometheus was the name of a spaceplane concept proposed in 2010 by Orbital Sciences Corporation.
 * USCSS Prometheus is the name of the spaceship in the eponymously titled film Prometheus.

Major campaigns

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

Gallery
Prométhée