Fortunate Journey

Author: ShaViva

Rating: M

Content Warning: Some adult themes, minor language, minor violence

Season: 1

Summary: An accidental trip through the Stargate turns out to be fortuitous when a potential weapon to defeat the Wraith is discovered. This is the story of season 1 from the first person perspective of an original character – I have followed the basic sign posts for season 1 but AU'd everything to include my character and a relationship for Sheppard into the mix.

Classifications: Drama, Romance

Pairings: John Sheppard & Original Character

Spoilers for: Everything in Season 1 but especially Hide and Seek, The Storm, The Eye, The Gift, Sanctuary, Before I Sleep, and The Siege Pt 1, 2 and 3.

Disclaimer: The Stargate characters, storylines, etc aren't mine – I'm just taking them out for a little test drive. I am unfortunately not associated in any way with the creators, owners, or producers of Stargate or any of its media franchises. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, equipment, etc are the property of whoever owns them. The original characters and plot and anything else I made up are the property of me, the author. No copyright infringement is intended.

Authors Note: This hasn't been checked by anyone else so any errors are entirely my doing (despite the many many many times I've read and reread it looking for them!). I have basically written the whole story - it's around 35 chapters and I will attempt to put up a new chapter every day or so (depending on how many times I feel I have to reread it before I think it's good enough). Also note that this is the first fan fiction I've ever written and also the first thing I've written that I ever let anyone else read - any constructive comments would be very much appreciated.

And finally, please stick with the story past the first couple of chapters because I have to set the scene for my original character before I put everyone else into it. If you just want to get into the bits based on Season 1 episodes you could skip to Chapter 4.

Copyright (c) 2008 ShaViva

Chapter 1: You need to get out of here – NOW!

I know what you're going to say - that it would be impossible for someone to end up in another galaxy by accident. Before it happened to me I would have agreed! I was between jobs and had decided to head down to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado for no particular reason other than that I'd never been there before and it was a long way so I'd get to do some real driving. That first night I stumbled across a place called O'Malleys - it was pretty busy but I managed to find a seat at the bar.

"Is this seat taken?" I turned to see the voice belonged to a young, good looking guy with a crew cut almost standing to attention beside me.

"No," I admitted in a neutral tone, not wanting to encourage any unwanted attention.

"Greg Evans," he held out a hand to introduce himself.

"Sabina Scott," I replied, shaking his hand quickly before pulling away.

He sat down and before too long we were engaged in amicable conversation. Turns out he was really Private Greg Evans, newly graduated and now stationed at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force base. Apparently they did deep space radar telemetry there. When I expressed my surprise that he'd be involved in something so ... geeky, he admitted that there were also a number of other "top secret" projects based there and that he was part of one of those.

I was surprised to find I'd been talking to Greg for almost two hours - we'd struck up an easy friendship very quickly, which was handy for me because Greg pointed me in the direction of cheap accommodation and said he'd show me around during his off hours.

I did all the touristy things over the next week or so, based on Greg's recommendations and sometimes with him acting as tour guide. Greg was good company but I could see he was perhaps getting a bit too fond of me and I was thinking it might be time to move on again. I wasn't sure if he was just trying to impress me but when Greg offered to take me to see where he worked I jumped at the chance.

"They just let civilians on the base?" I asked in amazement.

"Not exactly," Greg admitted. "There's a big project starting tomorrow and there'll be a lot of civilians around."

"So you can just sign me in?" I persisted.

"Uh ... no," Greg hesitated. "I'd need to get you the right clothes first and ... "

"Is that legal?" I interrupted. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

"It'll be so busy no one will be any the wiser," Greg said confidently. "If anyone asks I'll just tell them you're someone else and get you out of there before they can check to confirm it. It'll be a piece of cake."

I can't believe that I agreed to a plan that clearly had so many holes, but the next day I found myself dressed in a uniform that looked anything but military, milling around in the foyer of NORAD with a whole bunch of other people dressed very similarly. Some of them were clearly foreign as there were a lot of conversations going on around me that I couldn't understand a word of. Turns out part of Greg's job was signing people in, issuing visitors passes, and escorting them around the base. No wonder he'd been so confident he could smuggle me in and out without detection!

Greg had pointed out that I'd have to pretend I didn't know him and recommended I stay in the middle of the group so there'd be less chance that I'd draw attention to myself. The plan was I'd follow with the group until Greg had escorted them to a briefing room down on level 28 at which time I'd hang back and he'd then take me for a quick tour before getting me back up to the surface.

Everything went according to plan - we made it to level 28 and through the final check point with no problems, and headed down a long concrete corridor towards the briefing room. That's when things started to go wrong - Greg was called back to his post upstairs to bring down a couple of civilians who'd been running late. I exchanged a pointed glance with him and he just motioned for me to go with the flow until he got back. Great, I thought, sitting at the back of the room and slouching down in my seat.

I barely listened to the guy at the front who was talking about their mission and how they had to all carry their own pack and as many other supplies as they could handle through the gate. There were a few other comments about safety and obeying the orders of the military before the briefing closed and everyone started getting up. Greg still wasn't back and I didn't know what else to do except follow along with everyone else. We proceeded down the corridor and when we turned a corner I was confronted with the sight of fifty or so people milling in groups of a similar size to my own. There were also metal cases, probably containing those supplies they'd talked about, stacked along one side of the corridor and hiking packs resting against the walls. A military guy stood at doors leading into a room I couldn't see and was motioning each group through at a steady pace - they'd pick up their packs and some boxes before disappearing through the doors. I did wonder briefly how it was possible to leave for a mission when we were 28 floors below the surface but my worry at being caught where I wasn't meant to be was taking up most of my active consciousness.

When it was my groups turn to head through those doors I looked desperately back down the corridor hoping that Greg would appear and get me out of this. He'd told me up front that under no circumstances should I admit to anyone that I didn't have real clearance to be there - I was peeved that he'd gotten me into this mess and that his plan had gone so badly but I didn't want to get him (or myself) into trouble so I stuck to that. Realising he wasn't going to appear any time soon I just followed my group through those doors, hoping I'd come up with something before it was too late.

We entered a very large room dominated by a metal ramp leading up to a really really really big circular device that was suspended at the end of the ramp by huge clamps coming out of the floor and walls. The most amazing thing was that the inside of the device enclosed a blue sparkly substance that looked like a puddle of water. I watched as the group before mine walked up the ramp and then straight through the puddle– there was no room behind the ramp so it was as if they'd just vanished into thin air. I could feel a horrible rush of panic sweeping over me as my brain tried to process the impossible sight I'd just witnessed.

"You need to get out of here ... NOW!!" that little voice in my head that we all have was yelling at me. I turned against the mass of people heading for the puddle and spotted the military guys with BIG guns in the corners of the room. Did I really want to be arrested for being somewhere I was clearly not meant to be?

Greg would work out what had happened and find a way to get me out of this - I knew I'd be held accountable too because there was no way I could deny I'd known he was doing the wrong thing. I really should have checked before coming here what the penalty was for running around a military base without proper clearance. Because I didn't know how serious that might be I decided in my panicked state that my best move would be to just keep going with the flow. Whatever was on the other side of that puddle seemed much more attractive at that point than a concrete prison cell inside this mountain.

So I just followed along in the middle of all the people, holding tight to the boxes I'd picked up before I entered the room, and walked up the ramp. Up close I could almost feel the energy being emitted from the puddle – it really was a spectacular sight I would have liked to study more but the mass of people moving behind me pushed me forward and I stepped through.

No words I have at my disposal could describe the sensation of being drawn into the puddle, nor the disorientation I felt moments later when I stepped out into an even huger room than I had just left. I looked around me and could see nothing familiar about where I was – how was it possible for me to arrive somewhere so far removed from where I had just left?

The mass of people carried me along out of the range of the puddle still glowing behind me, casting much needed light over the darkened room. A military guy who was clearly in charge was directing people to find a place to put down their burdens and wait until everyone had arrived through the "gate". I'd heard that same reference in the briefing room - was that what they called the puddle thing?

I looked around in amazement. Directly ahead of the gate was a flight of steps leading up to another floor with balconies that overlooked the gate room. I could see people up there looking at consoles and gesturing excitedly. Without meaning to I made eye contact with another military guy standing on the balcony looking down at the gate room – this one had dark messy hair and an expression that made me think that he too was wondering where the hell he was and why he thought it had been a good idea to step through that puddle. He was looking at me and I was looking at him ... to be honest thinking how hot he was ... I know! How could I be thinking that when I was god knows where in what was clearly a heap of trouble caused by another guy I'd also thought was cute? Then I remembered where I was and after giving a small nervous smile I broke eye contact and turned to find a spot somewhere out the way – very far out the way - so I could figure this all out.

People were still stepping through the gate and all attention seemed to be on directing the new comers so I just kept walking down a corridor with my boxes in tow until I couldn't hear the sounds of excited voices anymore. I found a door and it opened as I approached. The lights came on automatically which I thought was kind of cool but also very worrying if someone noticed. The lights dimmed again once I was inside with the door closed behind me. There was just enough light for me to see that I was in some kind of personal quarters with a bed and everything. I put down the boxes and collapsed onto the bed, dropping my head tiredly into my hands. What was I going to do now?

I hadn't slept the previous night because I'd been so nervous about sneaking onto a military base. Either that or my trip through the "gate" had taken more out of me than I realised. In any case, a huge wave of tiredness swept over me and I flopped myself down fully onto the bed – it was very comfortable so it didn't take much for me to drop off to sleep. My last thought before sleep overtook me was the desperate hope that no one would discover my hiding place before I woke up.

I didn't know where I was at the time but that's how I ended up on Atlantis in a whole other galaxy.