Former Navy Lieutenant Commander Mark Taggert took a deep breath of fresh air and then exhaled slowly, feeling tension steadily leach from his shoulders in concert with the air leaving his lungs. He made a slow, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn to take in the surroundings, ending just in time to watch the event horizon dissipate and the unmistakable sound of the stargate shutting down made him smile. There was no denying that he had missed it. It was like going back to his childhood home and having a glass of Granny's sweet tea. It just made everything better… for a moment anyway.

When nothing appeared to be out of place, he picked up the handles of the wheelbarrow-like cart piled with his things and began pushing it toward the distant tree line. The world he was on was uninhabited, as far as rumor, scouting and scans from the USS George Hammond could tell. That had been one of his prerequisites for finding a place to work from. He had every intention to cause major chaos for the wraith, and he did not want to lead them back to any people if they were somehow able to track him. This way if they wanted to punish someone, he would be the only one around.

That was the short-term plan, anyway. Eventually he hoped to recruit some help from people out there that wanted to fight the wraith, and he knew that there were plenty of those. The key was finding some that could be trusted, that could work with a team and could follow orders. He would even be willing to follow someone else's orders if they could prove they had the right experience and know-how. That would be decided later, of course, so for the present he would set up a camp and prepare to start doing recon.

Mark was a little surprised to find himself in the position he was in, despite it being exactly what he had asked for. After talking it over with Sheppard, he had gone to General O'Neill with his request and even though he knew the man personally approved, getting the okay from the powers-that-be was another story. When O'Neill had informed him of the special dispensation granted by the President, it had taken him completely by surprise.

Resigning his commission had been the hardest part, since he had no family to speak of anymore, and the secrecy required from his job made it difficult to keep any real friends around. The Navy had been his life from the day he signed up until the aftermath of a simple covert mission gone sideways. That was two and a half years ago and resulted in his recruitment to the SGC. An unusual occurrence since it was mostly the Air Force and Marines in the program. He had met a Navy Corpsman and a few Army personnel, but besides them, he did not personally know of any others.

As strange as his life had been since joining the stargate program, he would not change it for anything. Of course, the fact that he gave up his life and career on Earth to come back to the Pegasus galaxy and fight the wraith was ample evidence of that.

His path in life had always been a little unorthodox. Early graduation from high school, a degree in electro-mechanical engineering, and then the Navy. Many heads were scratched at that career choice, especially when he volunteered for BUDS instead of choosing a field in line with his degree. Not to mention taking a voluntary demotion to Lieutenant Commander so he could come to Atlantis without usurping Lorne's job as SIC. It had certainly led to some interesting times, and he had no reasons to change his ways now.

Mentally shaking off these thoughts, Mark began looking for the site he had picked out for his camp. It would take some time to get set up properly, and then he could start exploring. There were some other caves nearby that the Hammond's scans had found that might be a good fallback position and needed to be scouted, but then he would concentrate on the list of gate addresses he had.

Most of them at the top of the list were for trading worlds that he hoped to gather intel from, but the addresses after that were unexplored worlds from the Atlantis database that possibly had Ancient facilities on them, or some other feature that peaked their interest. Whether there was anything worthwhile there was unknown, but he felt that they were at least in need of investigating.

After finally reaching his clearing, he set the handles of his cart on the ground and gave the area a good once over. It was a decent little setup and when he was finished, it would be a defensible spot that he could make comfortable enough to live out of. The cave he picked was only twenty feet to the back wall, but had a small opening that was easily defended by one person.

The interior was level and pretty wide open, except for an alcove near the back left that he could use as a bedroom. The rest of the space had plenty of room for the remainder of his gear and anything else he would find in his travels.

A chuckle escaped his lips as he thought back to the look on Carter's face when they reviewed the info on the planet.

-oO0Oo-

The images on the monitor at the back of the Hammond's bridge showed a thickly wooded world with jagged mountain ranges not far from the gate.

"I hope you got your merit badges in woodcraft. Looks rough down there." Carter quirked an eyebrow at him and then shared a look with Lorne.

The Major snorted, and then nodded.

"Pretty sure he was raised by wolves. He should feel right at home." Lorne's straight face cracked up after a second, and he grinned. "I always wondered if he and Ronon were separated at birth."

"I'm not sure if I should be insulted or proud," Mark replied.

The grunt from his left preceded the Satedan's response.

"You might have been able to work with the Elites."

Mark smirked at Lorne until the taller man continued in the most thoughtful voice Mark had ever heard him use.

"We always did need grunts to repair our weapons and armor."

Carter and Lorne made a weak attempt at stifling their laughter, and Mark just shook his head in mild chagrin. They all returned their focus to the images in front of them after the chuckles died away.

"I'd pick one of these caves in the foothills. Should be defensible." Ronon quietly rumbled.

"One of 'em might be a good place to fallback, as well," said Lorne.

"I agree. Hopefully you never need it, but..." The Colonel shrugged.

"Better safe than sorry... right, well let's do it. If you can take me back to New Athos, I'll get my gear and gate back here. I ought to be ready for the rest of the supplies within a week or so."

"Sounds like a plan." Carter nodded to Mark, and then moved off to start issuing orders.

-oO0Oo-

It was certainly roughing it, but eventually that could be changed. Maybe one day he could even build a log cabin with the front porch overlooking the nearby stream, but for the time being it would work.

-oO0Oo-

A week later Mark was smiling as he watched two children chase each other through the stalls of the marketplace. This was the third planet on his list of trade worlds, and his time hitting up these markets had actually been productive. News of culled worlds and wraith in-fighting were helping him update his map of the galaxy and its trouble spots. He also added three more gate addresses to his list.

One was rumored to have some strange ruins that just might be Ancient-related, and another was a world that had been destroyed by the wraith when they had become too advanced for the space vampires' comfort. The last could possibly have a wraith lab or some kind of small outpost. He was not too sure about going to that world without back up, but it was still worth looking into.

As he walked through the market, he reflected on the decision to, essentially, become one of the Pegasus galaxy's citizens. He knew there were going to be plenty of things he missed about Earth, but still could not find it in himself to regret it. Most of the worlds, and people, were not much above the hunter-gatherer stage, but that had nothing to do with the fact that the majority were good people that did not deserve to live in constant fear of the wraith.

With that thought, he finished the meat skewer he had bought for lunch, and then brushed himself down to get rid of any crumbs or messes. It felt a little bit strange wearing civilian clothes with a tactical vest, but he was getting used to it.

With a quick glance around he turned toward the path to the gate. It was still early enough in his day to hit the next address on his list. The world supposedly had an Ancient outpost on it, but Atlantis had never gotten around to it. Not deemed a priority because it was listed as abandoned and stripped of resources, the address had fallen to the bottom of the queue. It still might not have anything there, but he was on his own schedule now, so thought he would check it out.

Not having anyone to report to was a pretty big bonus in his book. Yes, he would need to be more careful, and the consequences of his actions could not be laid at anyone else's feet, but he also did not have to wait for approval to help when he knew it was the right thing to do.

These thoughts brought him to the gate, and he patiently waited for the merchant that was pushing his cart through before dialing his own address. After getting a solid grip on his AR-15, and keeping it pointed in the general vicinity of "ahead", he stepped through.