Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or any of its characters, I wish I did. I'm also not making any money on this story (or anywhere else for that matter!). Blah blah blah, you all know the drill.

But I would like to borrow Carson for just a little bit, I promise to return him (mostly undamaged!

Summary: Dr. Beckett, Major Sheppard and his team must race to solve a mystery on an alien planet before another life is lost.

Warnings: Right now it's G, but I plan to do a little whumping and have some fun with the Atlantis characters, although I do promise to return them all in the condition in which they were found!

Prelude

The sun beat down on the arid wasteland, cracking the ground and turning any signs of what had once been life to dust. The four-man team coming out of the Gate shaded their eyes with their hands in a futile attempt to assist their sunglasses in dealing with the brutal glare. The Gate and the ruins of what looked to be a small Greek-style temple were the only things other than sand as far as the eye could see.

The first person out of the Gate, a giant of a man almost as wide as he was tall, with a body fat percentage an anorexic heroin addict would have envied, started grumbling as soon as he finished surveying the area for potential threats, of which there were none outside of heat stroke and wind burn. "It figures those damn Air Farce idiots would send us to the only world that doesn't have a million frickin' trees. I know they resent us real soldiers, but this is unbelievable."

The woman to his right smiled and stood up on tiptoes to pat him on his broad shoulder, "Don't worry, Moose, I'm sure it's a 'newbie cherry' thing, rather than an 'Army-Air Force' thing. We just need to survey it and get the heck out of here in quick-time to show them what their first team of real soldiers can do."

The third member of the team, a baby-faced man just barely taller than his female companion, furrowed his brow in puzzlement, "Captain Sutherland, I thought the SGC had some Marine teams to supplement the Air Force teams, ma'am."

The Captain rolled her eyes at her large companion in amusement at the young 'butterbar's' formality. A young second lieutenant with the ink still wet on his commission paperwork was always careful to observe military formality with his superior officers. He would eventually learn that what was required in the garrison was completely different from the mutual respect and easy camaraderie of a seasoned unit.

"Marines are jarheads, lieutenant. Great guys to have at your front in a firefight, none better in fact, but still jarheads. We're the first Army team at the SGC, so we need to show them how soldiers of the 20th century do things."

The fourth member of the team, silent till now, threw in a hearty, "Hooo-ahhh, Airborne!" pumped his fist in the air and threw a smirk in her direction.

The Captain quirked an eyebrow at him and tried not to smile. 'Breaking in the newbies' was a favorite pastime for all of them, but the stocky Colonel sometimes enjoyed it a bit too much. Sending Lieutenant Ayers to get 'squelch oil' for the radio and some 'grid squares' for the maps had been a good laugh, but it was really more of a prank to play on new enlisted soldiers.

Colonel Long finished his visual scan of the area and turned to his team, all business now, "Moose, you're on point. Jag, you take rearguard. Lieutenant, you're with me. Let's survey that pile of rocks, see what there is to see."

His team moved out, scanning the area and watching each other's sixes, as they had for several years now in equally hot places on their own planet. Ayers looked over at the Colonel several times, obviously wanting to speak but unable to overcome his awe of the battle-scarred veteran. The Colonel took pity on him, "Cat got your tongue, Lieutenant?"

"Sssssir?"

"Something on your mind, Lieutenant?"

"It's Captain Sutherland, sir."

"Fine soldier, Lieutenant, and a hell of a blackjack player. What about her?"

"Why do you call her Jag, sir?"

"Captain Sofia Colburn Atwood Sutherland is a bit of a mouthful."

"Sir?"

"Well, when it came time to give out nicknames, Moose was a pretty obvious choice for Captain Petty. And I am obviously Long because it might be my name, but I am definitely not."

Ayers looked over at his CO, who was a good four inches shorter than his own five feet ten inches, and tried to decide whether it was OK for him to joke with him. He wisely kept his mouth shut and Long continued with the tale, "Well, there isn't much you can do with Jag's name, so we shortened Sutherland to Sue."

Ayers waited for the Colonel to follow through on his story in vain. He caved within a minute and said, "I still don't understand why she's called Jag, sir."

The Colonel shook his head in disappointment, "I thought you were some sort of genius, Lieutenant. It's a logical progression, if you think about it."

Ayers furrowed his brown in concentration and finally admitted defeat, "I give up, sir. I just don't see where you came up with Jag."

"What do lawyers do, Lieutenant?"

"They defend guilty people, sir."

Colonel Long suppressed a sigh, "What do ambulance chasing lawyers do, Lieutenant?"

"They... they sue people, sir."

"And what are military lawyers called, Lieutenant?"

"...JAGs, sir!"

"That was a heckuva lot more painful than it should have been, wasn't it, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

They had arrived at the ruined temple and the Colonel became all business again. "Spread out, people, and be back here in ten for show and tell."

The team started to fan out when the Colonel remembered something, "Lieutenant!"

"Sir?"

"Don't touch anything except your P-90 and yourself."

"Uhhhh...yessir."

Nine minutes later Ayers shouted from the northern edge of the temple, "Sirs, you have to see this!'

The three senior members took off at double-time, weapons at the ready. They found the Lieutenant staring in fascination at an intact column approximately four feet high. There were several crystals and some strange markings in an oddly familiar pattern around the column.

Just as the significance of the markings dawned on the other members of his team, Ayers reached out for one of the crystals in fascination. The last thing he heard before being struck full in the face with a white blast of light was, "No! Don't tou...!" and then there was only darkness and pain.