CHAPTER 1 – A MISSION GOES SOUTH

He flew the jumper back from that mission. The one that had gone horribly wrong. M8R239. It should have been a simple science mission. Lorne and three of his team accompanying a group of three geologists who had discovered an unusual energy signature on M8R239 – a planet that was supposedly uninhabited. It was a good two hours by jumper from Atlantis, and according to Rodney's intel, it would be a walk in the park. Fly the scientists in, wait for them to take some samples of the terrain – rocks, soil and vegetation. Then get out of dodge.

His glance flicked sideways at his newest team member. Captain Terry Masters. Cute in that corn fed, farm girl sort of way. Lots of wheaten blonde hair that she kept carefully tied up, freckles smudged haphazardly across her cheeks and nose and the most startling pair of green eyes he had ever seen. She had arrived fresh from earth just two weeks ago and her military jacket was exemplary. She had trained at the Marine Corp Recruit Depot in South Carolina and survived boot camp with a higher mark than most of the boys she had come through with. Intelligent. She had an advanced degree in physics which she had chosen to use for a short time before enlisting in the marines at the age of 25. Daddy was a SEAL, so that may have explained the sudden change of career and she had served time in Afghanistan and seen more than her share of action. Two tours and she had been seconded to the stargate programme.

Lorne's gaze took in her now pale cheeks and he hissed a breath. This had not been an easy introduction to Atlantis – hell, to the Pegasus galaxy. The mission had gone south, and quickly.

"You ok Masters? Want to talk about it?" Lorne was hesitant to intrude on her thoughts, but the expression in her shuttered green eyes worried him and he knew from experience that out here in an environment that was beyond anything that they had been trained to experience, keeping things inside was not the way to go. Led to all sorts of crap that could fester and jump out and bite you where it hurt.

"Um... not really... sir. Just trying to process what happened. I'm thinking that perhaps I made a serious mistake in coming here – joining the stargate programme." Her voice was quiet and had a southern lilt that he found himself wanting to hear more, so he encouraged her to talk.

"This was a bad one Captain, and there may be worse. I won't lie to you. We see things out here that we are never going to be prepared for. How can we? We are aliens in this galaxy and most of the time we fly by the seat of our pants. Literally. But you did yourself proud today. Held your own. I want you to know that – and don't be so hard on yourself." Lorne's eyes were front and centre and he kept a careful watch on the black space that they flew through, his hand resting comfortably on the controls that flew through mind interface with his ancient gene. He touched the panel and brought up the control screen in front of them, checking to make sure they were still flying along the right co-ordinates, then dropping a look behind him to the rear of the jumper where the shellshocked scientists sat quietly. And one dead body.

"I don't feel so well sir..." His look at her was concerned and he let the jumper stay on course and turned his attention to her.

"Take a few breaths Captain, then drop your head forward lower than your knees for a few minutes. Shock. It'll kick in and leave you breathless, but if you work through it and don't push it away – you'll get there. Trust me... here..." He reached into a pocket of his tactical vest and pulled out a bottle of water and lightly tossed it in her direction. "Take a few sips of that, then head down. That's an order Captain."

Her smile was wan but she caught the bottle effortlessly and did as he said. Sipping quickly then dropping her head forward. His glance stayed on her bent head and he wished he could lightly stroke her neck just to let her have some human contact then saw the glaringly obvious field bandage that covered a good part of her neck. And grimaced. As a marine it was a code of honour to be staunch and strong – always. But sometimes, it was necessary to simply be human. This was one of those times.

He let her stay quiet in that position and shut his eyes briefly, thinking and rethinking over the mission that had just gone south. He would have a bitch of report to write when he got back, not to mention the rather painful debrief that Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Carter would demand. He attempted now to put some clarity into his thoughts and work out just what had gone wrong.

This had been her first mission offworld and he had watched with a small smile as she had arrived in the jumper bay with the others, geared up and ready to go. Captain Masters was only a little thing, but strong and used an economical strength of movement that gave the impression that she was bigger than she was. Lorne had seen her train and he had thought that her biggest advantage was that she could psyche out the enemy. In spades.

The three scientists had gathered their equipment in the jumper bay and Lorne had huffed an impatient breath. He didn't particularly like doing the science missions, found them boring for the most part as it seemed to strictly be a babysitting job. Making sure they stayed out of trouble and that trouble stayed away from them. He had rarely run into difficulties of these sort of missions, maybe the odd unfriendly, but with the help of his friend Mr P90, it was usually sufficient to keep those sorts at bay.

Captain Masters had taken the second seat on the flight there and the scientists had taken up the rear compartment while the final two members of his team had taken a rear seat. Content to simply sit there and catch up on their reading. Go figure. Lorne had engaged Captain Masters in conversation, thinking that it was good time to get to know her a little better. He had watched her during the training that he had made her endure her first two weeks in Atlantis and had taken a couple of meals with her and some of the other new recruits, just to allow them to get to know him better.

"So Captain.. first mission? What do you think of Atlantis so far?" She heard the smile in his voice and slanted her gaze at him. She had liked him immediately – his warm eyes and sometimes cheeky expression when something amused him, had made her feel comfortable under his command and she had felt that small spark of attraction that she had pushed down immediately. Superior officer and all that. Was definitely frowned upon. But he was certainly cute and as she sat in the second seat of the jumper on this mission – her first mission, she gave him an unguarded smile. Which is something she did not do often.

"Well can I say Major, without sounding too much like a new recruit? It is kinda cool... flying in space, in a jumper – I doubt it gets much better than this. I think of all that time in boot camp, and those tours in Afghanistan – all that heat and desert and sand.. and now this? Yeah, it's exciting."

Her freckles stood out when she smiled and her stunning green eyes sparkled and as she turned slightly in her seat to look at him, he had to fight to push down his own reaction to her. Which would be considered inappropriate under the circumstances.

They chatted back and forth while the other two team members seemed happy enough to read and when he pulled the control screen up and saw that they were coming up to the co-ordinates of M8R239 he turned in his seat and called out the scientists in the rear.

"Heads up people. The jumper will be down in five minutes, ten tops. You know the plan. Use your detectors to find out how far away the energy readings are coming from. We get in, get your samples and get out of dodge. No analysis to be done on site – instructions from Rodney. He wants all the data taken back untainted to Atlantis and all work to be done on it there. Copy that?"

He received a chorus of assent from those in the back and after flicking another glance at the Captain beside him, he put all his concentration into taking the jumper down through the atmosphere on the planet and placing her down as close as he could to where the energy readings had been picked up.

He shut down the controls and he noted that Captain Masters did not move from her seat until he had done so. She was peering out the large front window of the jumper, a concerned look on her face.

"Something wrong Captain? You see anything?"

She shook her head distractedly. "Nothing sir... silly really. I felt something walk over my grave."

"You need to talk to Colonel Sheppard. He has these famous 'spidey senses' and we have learned to respect them. Oh yeah! They've been right more times than they've been wrong."

Lorne stood and moved to the rear of the jumper, aware that Masters had gotten out of her seat also and was following him. He moved past the scientists and opened the rear door of the jumper, lowering it so that it formed a ramp like exit point onto the ground. He was the first to step out, P90 held in a defensive position. He had seen no sign of life through the window as they came in, but he had learnt from experience that this did not mean anything.

"Captain. Bring the life signs detector. Do a scan of the perimeter along with Baron and Pearce and make sure that we are on our own here. I'll get these guys organised direction wise, then we'll move out. Baron, Pearce? Secure a perimeter and then I want you to stay here with the jumper. Masters? You're with me."

The life signs detector showed nothing moving other than their group and with everyone in postion, they moved off to the left. The scientists had already picked up a clear energy reading and were happy to settle in behind the Major while Masters took their six. The terrain was jungle like and the air hot and steamy. They had barely gone half a click and the sweat was running in rivulets down Lorne's face and he pulled out a cloth from his tactical vest and wiped the sweat off his face. He paused on the trail and turned to face those that were following him.

"Everyone ok? Take the chance now to have some water – in this heat you need to stay hydrated." He took his own bottle out of his vest and took a few sips, then quickly recapped the bottle and replaced it, watching Masters as she rubbed a hand across her face.

"So Captain – desert heat or jungle heat... What do you think is worse?"

"Sir? That would be a tough decision."

"You got that right Captain. Not particularly fond of either of them. Ok – we're nearly at the co-ordinates so keep your eyes open for anything unusual. Dr McKay seems to think that you'll be looking for rocks that are putting out this energy signature, but he also said that given this is an unpopulated planet, there is a small chance that the signature comes from a device – a wraith device. Seems they like to set up their labs on these unpopulated planets – and while we haven't picked up any life signs, they may be in a hibernated state. Be vigilant people."

He moved off and came to a small clearing, surrounded by jungle on three sides and a rock formation that showed a large cave on the fourth side. Lorne paused his group in the clearing, and clicked on his radio, intent on informing the two men watching the gate, that they had arrived at their destination.

"We're going inside the cave Sir?" Masters was staring in fascination at the dark mouth of the cave and Lorne shot her a sharp glance.

"Please don't tell me you're afraid of the dark? Or small places? I'm pretty sure that was something you had to note on the application form..."

"Bugs... does that count.. sir?"

"Well, I know Colonel Sheppard has the same phobia, so shouldn't be too much of an issue... but caves? Sometimes contain.. bugs... just saying..."

She gave a delicate shudder and a grin lit his face. "My trusty P90 here should take care of the bigger ones, and the smaller ones – your boot should suffice."

"Funny... Major, sir..." but her face lit up with a smile of it's own and feeling a sudden warmth inside, he turned quickly, needing to get his mind on the job at hand and moved toward the mouth of the cave.

The cave was damp and smelled of a substance that was unfamiliar and the two sounds he immediately heard was the dripping of water and a scittering sound. A loud scittering sound. Bugs. And almost laughed out loud when he heard a somewhat girlish shriek behind him.

"Don't worry Captain. You can't see them, so let's hope they're not the see in the dark variety. Then we can assume that they don't see us either."

"Your mission humour is a little disconcerting – sir!"

"Just trying to ease your discomfort Captain. They're just bugs. Likely they're more scared of you than you are of them, though judging by that scream, that may not be entirely accurate in this case."

He heard her huff of breath and smiled. Ok, the tough girl was back.

The cave opened up into a cavern and Lorne could see the water dripping down the walls. There was a small amount of natural light coming in here, and as he peered upward he saw a very small natural skylight that opened up above, letting in some of the outside light. Just enough for them to be able to survey the walls of the cavern and see that it was not only water that dripped down the walls. There was a thick viscous substance that slid down as well – it was a deep coloured brown, almost rustic gold and puddled into uneven piles at the base of the cavern walls, then melted away following natural channels in the cavern floor, slithering away into a darkened recess.

"The signature is coming from that substance. Not the rocks." One of the scientists spoke in an excited hushed whisper. "We'll need to gather as many samples of that as we can. Some rocks as well, and there is a metallic soil at the base of the cavern – collect samples of that as well."

The scittering sound was louder and looking around hurredly, Terry saw large bugs scurrying away from the light and away from the people who had moved closer to the walls to get their samples.

"Uhhhgg.. did you see the size of those things. Disgusting. Seriously!"

"At least they're running away from you Captain, and not towards you. I can't get radio reception in here – could you back to the cave mouth and radio the team at the jumper and let them know we're nearly done in here?"

Terry nodded, cast one more disgusted glance at the large bugs scuttling along the walls, and turned and left the cavern. Lorne listened for the sound of her footsteps echoing through the cave and turned back to his scientists.

"Ok people. Gather your samples quickly. This place is cold, damp and disgusting and I for one, prefer not to spend a minute longer than necessary in here."

He received nods of assent from the scientists and moved towards the tunnel where he could await the sound of Captain Masters returning.

What he heard had him bringing his P90 up quickly and shouted a command behind him at the scientists. "Move back – now!"

Not waiting to see if they complied, he held a defensive position. Coming down the tunnel toward him was a wraith, and in front of him he held Captain Masters in a throat lock and Lorne took one look at her terrified eyes and mentally cursed. Looks like the damn mission had just gone south.