In 2009, he and 80 others fled the base after an attack against the base, and evacuated to the Ancient spaceship Destiny. (SGU: "Air, Part 1") Later in 2009, the Destiny expedition made a first contact of sorts with the Nakai, who started attacking. During the attack, one of the alien fighters latched on to Destiny near Dunning's location. After the aliens drilled through the hull, he witnessed the aliens kidnapping Chloe Armstrong, before they retreated. After a force shield was erected over the hull breach, Dunning reported to Colonel Everett Young about Chloe's abduction. (SGU: "Space")