'Holy shit…' Kait swore in her head, as she took one look at the Stargate. Her head whipped around… her eyes were wide and her face a mask of awe and terror.
"They're waiting over on Atlantis, Dr. Nichols. You'd best not keep them waiting." General O'Neill said, gesturing towards the gate, as she gulped and nodded, hoisting her bags over her shoulder. In one was obviously clothing, including extra Atlantis uniforms, and spare shirts, jeans, shorts, a few dresses. You know, the basics. In the other one, filled to the brim, were various books, a few texts on Ancient technology that very few people had ever owned, some less serious reading material, and of course her trusted computer, and the new tablet that SG:C had generously given her, telling her that her own ancient Alienware beast would not be needed. She had still insisted on bringing it, mind you since the strange tablet didn't even seem to work. And of course, her toiletries and make up was also there.
She closed her eyes and entered the event horizon…
Meanwhile:
"You know, I don't know why we need to be here waiting. If this new scientist Stargate Command is sending can't even be prompt on their arrival time, then why should we give them the time of day to have some fancy welcome?" McKay grumbled as he shifted from one foot to another. Dr. Weir shot him another stern look.
"Because, Rodney, you and Zelenka need to be here to meet the newest member of your department." Elizabeth simply said, as he rolled his eyes.
As he moved to shift and get comfortable from the control area, someone walked through the event horizon.
"Awfully small, for a guy." McKay commented, as Zelenka squinted.
"Rodney, I'm not sure that is a guy."
"Well of course it is, Radek, the file said K. Nichols, the only K. Nichols who would even be qualified to be here is Kevin Nichols, a highly intelligent man, although why they would send a doctor of natural sciences is beyond me. And I had heard he died, but you know how that goes."
"No, Rodney, it doesn't 'go' like that on Earth and you know it…" Zelenka said, shaking his head. Of course, Rodney ignored him.
Dr. Weir headed down the stairs to meet their newest addition, smiling and shaking their hand. There appeared to be short hair and a semi-stocky build on the newcomer, and she lead them up the stairs.
"Dr. McKay, Zelenka, I'd like you to meet Dr. Kaitlyn Nichols, a physicist and archaeologist, who has studied Ancient technology and also is an ATA gene carrier. Kaitlyn, this is Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka."
"Kaitlyn?" McKay said confused, as Kait, from behind Dr. Weir, pulled her military hat off and shrugged off the jacket that made her look bulky.
"Oh thank god I can get this garbage off… SG:C insisted I wear the stupid military hat and coat, in case something went wrong." She said as she shook her brunette hair from the stiff position it was in thanks to the hat. She brushed off her pants, and extended her hand to Radek and Rodney, who still looked slightly flabbergasted.
"It's a pleasure." Zelenka said, throwing a smirk at Rodney. As she turned to look around, Zelenka mouthed 'Told you." to Rodney, making him grumble.
"Can you two show her the labs? I would go with you but I have some other stuff that I need to see to." Elizabeth said, as Radek nodded.
"Sure. Come on, Dr. Nichols." He said, and she nodded, tugging her bags back on her shoulder.
McKay was still trying to figure this one out, since they hadn't sent new female scientists in a while, and they hadn't planned to simply because of the increased threat of the Wraith. No one had wanted to put a woman in danger.
"Kaitlyn…"
"Kait, please. Either Kait or Dr. K or Nicky for my last name." she said, as she made a little face.
"What's so bad about Kaitlyn? Seems like a pretty sensible name to me." Rodney said, as she nodded.
"It is. Destiny, however, my middle name that people seem to love to call me by, is not. I think my mother was on crack when she picked that one. And why? Because of some stupid fortune teller who said I had an 'air of destiny about me' before my mother had even had a chance to push me out. Stupid superstitious nonsense." She grumbled, hefting her bag up as Zelenka snorted and McKay blinked. "And besides, I have all my friends call me Kait."
"Well, fine Kait. How did you come upon the Ancient sciences?" Zelenka asked, as she nodded.
"When I was a kid, I found this." She pulled out a small charm, it looked innocent enough. "I thought it was pretty, so I put it on a chain, and wore it everywhere. Well, when I was scuba diving as a teen, it opened an underground chamber. I got sucked inside. It took me 3 days to figure out how to get out, but once I did, I was intrigued. I began to study it, found books that seemed like stories and not fact. When I was older, some of my theories on Ancients and former protectors of Earth were discovered by the military, and I was asked to join when I graduated college. I finished, I joined, and boom. I was sent to Atlantis." She said, shrugging at them.
"You were scuba diving alone?" McKay asked skeptically.
"Well, I lived near the ocean, it wasn't unheard of."
"Man, that's just bad parenting… who lets their kid go scuba diving unsupervised?" he said, as she glared.
"It's normal where I'm from." She said, as they rounded the corner to the labs. "Oh, hey, I was given this tablet-thing, but I think it's broken, I tried to turn it on before I left Earth and nothing."
"Did you try it once you got here?" McKay smirked at her, and she glared, again.
"I dunno, does it look like I did? I haven't even had a chance to pee, let alone magically boot up some tablet." She said, hitting the power button.
"Yes, those have to be turned on and calibrated here, but once they are, they can be used anytime we're offworld. It's very handy." Zelenka said, as she nodded, watching it boot up finally.
"Oh, well that explains it. Atlantis tech. Also explains why I didn't recognize any of the insignias on it. I was thinking it would be an Earth brand."
"Yeah well, it's not there for you to go on Myspace on or whatever people use those crappy new tablets for. It's strictly for work." McKay gave her a look, and she returned it.
"I'm not a 15 year old high school brat who got some new piece of tech to play with. I know what it's for. I brought my own computer for personal interests." She glared, as he, also, returned the look.
They reached the labs, and she gawked for a moment at all of the new technology that was there. "Holy super computers Batman…" she muttered, as she faintly, very gently touched one of the control panels.
"Ok, let's get down to business. This is the main lab, this is where you'll be most of the time, however there are times where you'll be on missions or working around Atlantis. Also, you'll be getting some weapons training from Sheppard, and Ronon will be doing some hand-to-hand combat training. You happened to come on a 'free day' though, so none of that will start until tomorrow." McKay said, matter of factly. Kait just nodded, all of this was so fascinating to her. She was in her own world, so much that she didn't even hear McKay speak until the second time he said it.
"Were you not listening? You can go to your quarters now." His arms crossed and he looked at her with an annoyed expression. She glared and gave him a look.
"Uh, Rodney…"
"Oh for the love of god, Zelenka, what? I have things I'd like to get done on my one day off in about a month."
"Does she even know where her quarters are?"
Keep in mind, Kait had decided to simply wait for this, well, jerk honestly, to realize she hadn't been shown her quarters.
"Oh. Right. Well, Zelenka, show her to her quarters." McKay said dismissively, and Zelenka rolled his eyes and motioned for her to follow him.
As they headed down the hall, she grumbled. "So, what's his deal? You'd think I just pissed in his cheerios or something…" she said, making Zelenka choke back a laugh.
"You'll get used to it. He's a bit of an ass, to be honest, but he also is very bright. You'll learn a lot I think." He said, as she nodded. "Besides, rumor has it that his date with one of the women in the medical department did not go so well last night, so he's already cranky."
"Gee, a date with that guy not going well? Who'd have thought." She muttered, as Zelenka chuckled.
"You'll be surprised, I think. Rodney McKay is not all bad, once you get to know him. It's those who do not get to know him who have the most trouble with him."
She simply nodded, but her head didn't believe Zelenka. With the way that man had behaved, there was no way there was some softer interior.
They stopped at a door. "Now, these are your quarters, just raise your hand here to open the door, like so." He demonstrated for her how to open the door. "The lights on the inside work in a similar fashion. Let us know if you need anything." He warmly said, as she gave him a look of amusement.
"Us?"
"Er… ok, so let me know if you need something. We'll get you introduced to everyone in just a bit. And feel free to go exploring." He said, walking off, as she hoisted her bags into her room and, with a sigh, flopped onto the bed.
She had not been expecting this a month ago. Hell, when she had gotten a knock on the door from what she had assumed were regular military types, she thought she was in trouble because her research had led her to Area 51, and she had perhaps nosed around there a bit too much. In fact, that's exactly what it was, but O'Neill and Daniel Jackson weren't there to throw her in the brig, as it were. Instead, they were there to hire her and show her all of the things that she had been right about in her research. She had begun working on unlocking many different weapons, and various other tech of the Ancients. It was her ability to work on Ancient tech that had gotten her sent to Atlantis, and signed on as the latest person to work on the science team.
And that Stargate… holy cow. She'd never seen such a thing, and seeing a live Stargate for the first time on her trip to Atlantis had been astonishing, to say the least. It was like Alice going through the looking glass…
And on that note… her stomach gave a large growl.
Sighing, she dug through her one bag and wrestled out an Atlantis uniform in grey, with purplish blue accents. She stripped off the military uniform and pulled on the new pants, a black t-shirt, and the jacket that matched the pants. Pulling on her sneakers along with it, since she would be damned if she had to wear military boots or boots of any kind for the rest of her time here, she straightened, pulled her hair into a messy bun with the ends sticking out of the top, and she left her room and began the long expedition to… well… any room with food.
In the labs, McKay was working on his latest brilliant project. A device shaped similar to a Bluetooth headset for the phone, but it allowed the wearers to have a 2-way connection into each other's minds. It would make communications so much easier for those on off-world missions that need to split up. This 'mandatory break day' that Weir had been implementing was actually a great time to have the labs to himself to work on any little projects that aren't important enough (scratch that, everything he worked on was important) to involve a whole team with. Besides that, the others didn't have the needed knowledge of the Ancients to properly design technology similar if not more advanced than they had. Hell, even the Ancients hadn't figured out how to -
What in the world was that?
Getting up, making a mental note of what he was doing, he poked his head out the door to hear another muttered set of curses and swears. A rather impressive string of curses at that, if he did say so himself.
Clearing his throat, he watched the frustrated female turn and look at him.
"I'm guessing by the colorful language that something's wrong?" he asked, rolling his eyes.
"I'm trying to get to ANYPLACE in this damnable city that has food… I haven't eaten in a day because those damn military types rushed me here, and-" her stomach rumbled loudly "…I'm just hungry."
Sighing, McKay held his hand out in a gesture that clearly said to wait a second, and while he put up his project, he was oblivious to her walking in behind him.
"Hey, may I ask what that is? It looks… Ancient… but not." She said, and he jumped a mile. He turned around quickly, trying to get her to leave.
"WHOA, what happened to wait?! It's a personal project, nothing for you to fiddle with and play with." He said dismissively, and she narrowed her eyes.
"First off, you never said wait, you made a quick little hand gesture. Second, considering I recognized it as part Ancient with a glance should speak volumes, and third, I honestly just want to eat dinner right now, and I don't care about tinkering with your machine right now. So, since I seem to have royally pissed you off somehow, even though I have been in this damn city for all of an hour and a half or so, I'm going back to cussing at corners until I find something for sustenance, if you don't mind."
She spun on her heels and headed out the door, and McKay blinked. After a moment, he gathered his materials, put them away, and took off after her.
"Wait. WAIT! Jeeze, you stubborn woman, would you just slow down?" She stopped in her tracks, a look rivaling his worst on her face. He bent over, catching his breath. "C'mon, I'm not as young as I used to be…Not to say I'm old or anything though…" he said, panting. He looked up… damn, still had that pissed off look… Well, Weir would be proud of that face. "Ok, look, I get it. I'm just confused by why they sent you. I've been trying to figure it out… with the Wraith coming closer and now the Replicators, I can't understand them sending any more female non-military personnel. In fact they flat out told us they wouldn't…" he said, as she put her hand on her hip.
"Is that what's been bugging you? Holy crap McKay… I was sent because of my research… and the fact that I found a ZPM off the Hawaiian coast in that site that I found a long time ago certainly helped…"
"You found a ZPM? How long ago?"
"Oh, about a year ago. I had no idea what it was. I thought it was a strange gem of some kind, so I kept it in my office as a souvenir. But what I found in the site led me to Area 51… and about a month or so ago, they kind of caught me poking my nose around. After some… very intense… interrogation, I was determined to know too much to not bring aboard the Stargate program, but the amount I had learned on my own about the Ancients was too valuable for them to just leave on Earth. So, despite the ban on new female personnel and any children on Atlantis, they sent me."
He still looked a bit perplexed, but they continued walking, heading for the cafeteria area. His head was trying to put the pieces together. "Wait, you said you found that site as a teenager." He said. She nodded.
"Yeah, but I went back a few times. Once I figured out how to get out, I figured it couldn't hurt. And I love to see new tech." she said, as he actually looked mildly impressed.
They arrived at the cafeteria, and went to get food. He watched as she piled food on her tray in a manner that rivaled his own, and he gawked a bit. She blinked at him.
"Dr. McKay?"
"Oh, sorry, uh… I've simply never really seen anyone else, you know… eat like I do on here." He said, gesturing to her tray, as he loaded his own up. She looked down at the tray, and realized just what he meant, and bit back a laugh.
"I've always eaten like this, it helps me think when I load up." She said, as he pointed at her.
"I've said that to the others here for YEARS! It helps the process!" he exclaimed, as she nodded in agreement. Looking around, he spotted Sheppard and Teyla and Ronon, and he motioned to them. "Well, look I'd love to continue this conversation, but, uh, I need to go over there, we have a mission to a new world to discuss." He said, as she nodded.
"Sounds good, Dr. McKay. I'll talk to you later." She said, as he nodded and gave a small wave, heading over to the others.
She stood there, feeling a bit like a lump on a log, and turned, heading to her quarters. It would not be the first time, or the last time, she figured, that she would be eating alone. After she sat down in her quarters, she set her food down, and rifled around for her Mp3 player, and realizing she left it, she swiftly hooked up her laptop and set up her Itunes. Putting P!nk's 'Don't let me get me' on, she sat back and let the lyrics wash over her as she ate.
Author's Note: EEK, this is my first try at a Stargate fic, and my LONGEST first chapter EVER. Maybe this show is my muse? Dunno. Obviously, Kait is an original character and is NOT canon to the SG universe. Hope you enjoyed!