Okay, well, welcome to you who found this project of mine and decided to have a look. Have a cookie.

To explain how this works, seatbelts on: This is not a normal multichap. Experiences from the past showed that my failure rate at normal multichaps is *consults clipboard* uh, high. Therefore I decided to write this in episodes that are one to whatever chapters long and only loosely connected to each other. Means that only the relations of the team are going to be ongoing while the storyline of an episode will be finished after its last chapter.

Also I hereby swear to have finished the whole episode before posting part 1. Though it could take longer between episodes.

Oh, and this can be located in Season 6 :)

Anyway, I would be delighted if you had a few minutes to spare and left a review with your opinion. I am looking forward to your critique, opinions, cookie recipes, whatever :)

So, to the mandatory "Thank You" round:

Alice, my lovely crossover queen, thank you for helping me sort out all the problems and building all these ideas together. It always is a lot of fun, and it reassures me to hear feedback about my ideas! :)

RowenaR, thank you for sharing your knowledge concerning the military topics, and of course for all these tips you already gave me!

And to my fellow Wigtown Wanderers, Liza and Emily, who did a lot of spell checking!

First Impressions

Part 1

Captain Fred McKenzie took a few deep breaths as he straightened his back and looked at his reflection in the mirror of the locker room. His blue United States Air Force dress uniform was sitting perfectly, just as his dark brown hair, his appearance giving him a lot of confidence. Still, he could not prevent the nervousness from creeping through his body as he left the locker room and headed towards the elevator, which was just happening to stop at this level.

Today was the day he had been waiting for some time, since being recruited for the Stargate Program one year ago. In a few minutes, he would meet the members of his very own SG-Team.

It was a huge task, but he was looking forward to it, and he had also worked hard to achieve this honourably recognition, something he knew happened extremely rarely to someone his age. There had been many candidates in line for the four posts on the SG-12 team, and the criterias for the team leader had been even more selective. However, when Colonel O'Neill had told him last week that he was less of an idiot than some others who had applied for the post, Fred had felt a little bit surer about the success of his own application. From Colonel O'Neill, these words were a huge compliment. And then, only a few days ago, General Hammond had asked him to come to his office, where he had informed him that he, Captain McKenzie, had been chosen to become the leader of SG-12 upon its reformation. Of course, receiving a spot on a team just because the original team members had all been killed during the evacuation of a Tok'ra base hadn't felt that good at first. However, he had come to terms with that, after reminding himself that this had happened so many times before and that he and his new team would honour their predecessors by doing a good job.

He was ripped from his thoughts as the elevator stopped at Level 27 and the doors opened in front of him. Excitement and nervousness battled inside of him as his feet carried him to the briefing room. The door was still opened, signalling to him that he could just enter. Fred could feel his heartbeat quickening as he walked over the threshold into the surprisingly silent room, his first glance being directed to the windows offering a view at the Stargate, before he looked over to the conference table. Three people were gathered around it, two men and a woman, all of them wearing the same uniform as Fred.

One of the men, a tall and muscular Master Sergeant with short blond hair, was familiar to Fred – he had seen him around the Stargate Command over the last year, while being a part of SG-10. If he remembered correctly, his team mates had called him Will and he was as calm as his blue eyes indicated when their gazes met for a brief second. The fact that he was there gave Fred a good feeling, as he knew this man had a lot of experience under his belt and was aware of what to expect when walking through the gate – something he couldn't say about the second man who was sitting in the chair to Will's left.

He looked extremely young and though he had black hair, there was nearly no sign of beard on his smooth skin. His young age was only confirmed by his rank and the slightly nervous expression in his dark eyes and, for a moment, the newly assigned leader of SG-12 asked himself if he had ever seen an Airman First Class on an active SG-Team. Fred didn't recognise him, just as the woman who was sitting across the table and had only briefly looked up when he had entered the briefing room.

Her reddish brown hair was bound back in a simple bun and her green eyes were staring down at the polished wood of the table. She had a beautiful face, but he thought he detected a flicker of annoyance and disgruntled awareness to cross her features, however, he was forced to take his attention from her as General Hammond entered. Immediately, everybody stood up to stand at attention, but the General just waved it off and asked them to sit down with an inviting gesture.

"Gentlemen, the lady... thank you all for being so overly punctual, I have a lot of phone calls to make today and the sooner we start, the sooner we will be done and able to focus on our work."

To underline his statement about his limited time, he nodded at the four soldiers before proceeding.

"I don't have to tell you why you're here, I guess. Anyway, congratulations for being part of the new SG-12. As far as I know, none of you have worked together in the past, so I will take the time to introduce you. Captain Frederick McKenzie was assigned to be your CO, he flew helicopters in Iraq and was chosen upon various recommendations of other SG team leaders he worked with."

Fred looked at the three soldiers with an acknowledging glance before returning his attention to the General. He was curious but also tense about who these people really were – he didn't got to choose his team members, something that he had not been exactly happy about at first, but he had decided to make the best of it.

"Captain McKenzie, your Second in Command is Captain Tessa Johnson, an excellent F-16 pilot. Colonel Ronson recommended her to the Stargate Command due to her widespread competences in military means."

Captain Johnson didn't smile as she nodded curtly to greet her fellow teammates and Fred wondered why her shoulders looked so tense when she wasn't showing any signs of nervousness. However, nobody except him seemed to notice that, as Hammond just continued to talk.

"Master Sergeant William Howard, he worked with SG-9 before and will from now on be your paramedic. I am sure that his experience will be greatly appreciated."

In contrast to Tessa, Will actually smiled as he raised a hand and mumbled a short "Hello". He looked considerably more comfortable in his skin than the youngest person in the room.

"And last, but not least, Airman First Class Joseph Martinez. He will support Sergeant Howard as the second medic."

Joseph's hands, that were lying on the polished surface of the table, were shaking slightly as he looked around, flurry dominating his features as he nodded while looking like he was desperately trying not to hide in a corner.

For a short moment, it was silent in the briefing room and Fred used this time to let his first impressions of his new team sink in. Of course, he couldn't say much about their competence for now, and as a good soldier, Captain McKenzie refrained from jumping to conclusions without having seen them out in the field. However, he couldn't hold his mind back from telling him what Fred McKenzie thought about them, and he actually bit his tongue as these were things that he would never say out loud, for the sake of his integrity as an officer.

There was Martinez, who looked so young and fresh that he could just have wiped the mothermilk from the corner of his mouth. Seriously, what was he going to do with him? He surely wouldn't waste his time babysitting him on their missions... though Hammond surely hadn't assigned a man to his team who was completely inexperienced.

Will Howard, on the other hand... he looked like the typical soldier - tall, muscular, broad shoulders - and he had an air of experience around him. Fred was fairly sure that this man had been on some classified missions that he didn't really want to know about – he was actually more than happy that he hadn't been recruited by those people in Langley or whatever. Surely this guy would do whatever he ordered him to do, and he didn't know if this was to be considered a good or a bad thing.

And then of course, there was Captain Tessa Johnson.

Her blues were fitting perfectly, so he could see that she was uncommonly thin for a soldier. Honestly, she looked nearly fragile from what he could spot. If he thought about it, he had never seen a female soldier who looked so much like a supermodel – she really was beautiful by all standards. But though he really didn't have anything against women in the military (he had worked with numerous skilled female officers in the past) he couldn't help but feel negative about her presence.

It wasn't because she looked a little bit out of place here, a tiny bit too much like the delicate damsel in distress.

No, it was something else.

Maybe this feeling was being caused by witnessing how she obviously seemed to fight hard with herself, trying to conceal a rather angry or nearly hostile expression when her gaze wandered in his direction. It wasn't too obvious, of course, and he was sure that he wouldn't even have noticed it if he hadn't already been puzzled about her appearance. However, he didn't cross out the possibility that he had just imagined that. Or maybe he had justen mistaken her expression, he couldn't say what it was for sure.

Suddenly, General Hammond's voice stopped his thoughts from wandering any further, and a little part of him was more than thankful for that. He really didn't want to judge these people after knowing them for a mere five minutes.

"Currently, we have most of our teams off world, SG-12. You will travel to the Alpha Site for your training, Major Warren will join you tomorrow to supervise some of your exercises. So, change, prepare your gear and be in the ready room one hour from now. Dismissed."

Immediately, everybody rose from their chairs, saluting, and Hammond turned around to walk into his office, closing the door behind him. For a short moment, Fred felt anxiousness flooding him.

This was it. Now he was the one calling the shots, now he was the one who was responsible for these four soldiers, the one who had to make sure that they came home from interplanetary travels. And even though they would only be in training, and that for at least a few weeks, he felt shaky. Hell, he needed a moment to collect himself, somewhere in private.

Clearing his throat, he declared in his most professional tone:"Well, you heard the General. I'll see you in the ready room, fully equipped. Also, I will say some words if we should have time later."

With that, he spun around on the heels of his polished shoes and marched out of the room, hearing how the other three soldiers started to move as well.

OoO

Half an hour later, Fred entered the ready room, checking that straps of his thigh holster wouldn't be hindering him if he should be forced to move in any other form than upright. His team was already waiting for him and this time, he felt way more prepared. In fact, he had allowed himself to take his nervousness seriously this time, against his usual principle of the officer who placed duty over feelings. Therefore, while changing into the green battle dress uniform and gearing up, he had gone through a tiny little pep-talk in his head and had converted his feelings into a small speech. However, he of course wouldn't admit that he doubted if he really wanted to do this without some senior officer watching over him, able to correct him subtly if he did something wrong. Surely Major Warren wouldn't babysit him, and if he was honest, he didn't wanted him to do so.

Masking that he again had to take a few deep breaths, he let his gaze wander over his new team as if he was inspecting them, just as a sarge did when he had his new company standing in front of him. Now that he was wearing his combat uniform, and was checking the backpack with the medical equipment together with Airman Martinez, Sergeant Howard looked even more like a professional. Every movement of his was calm and showed the routine he had and somehow Fred felt a little bit more secure. Even though it looked a little bit as if Martinez would have loved to throw his weapons to the ground and run away.

To him, at least one thing seemed to be sure: That the Sergeant would support him if he had to continue to form the young Airman to a soldier; doubtlessly, Martinez would profit from the medical experience of the Sergeant. Thanks to his own knowledge, Fred could imagine that, no matter how good he had been trained until now, to Martinez, suddenly going into combat had to be terrifying. After all, this was a completely different cup of tea to the training scenarios, no matter how realistic their concept was, according to the drill sergeants.

With his feeling of security increased a little bit, Fred let his gaze wander over to his new 2IC. Captain Johnson was just securing her braid with a second hair band before proceeding to checking her P-90, which she had already hooked into its harness. And even though he had sworn himself that he would act and think completely professionally while on duty, he couldn't prevent one thought of crossing his mind: In her battle dress uniform, Captain Johnson looked even more like a supermodel that had been stuffed into a military uniform for some odd photoshoot. Or maybe more like a cadet that was still green behind her ears? Not like a professional soldier who had qualified for a top secret program that demanded elite soldier skills.

She was at least one foot smaller than Howard, and he estimated that she must have just met the lowest allowed height for the military service. Additionally, this uniform showed her skinny physique off even more. Really, it was as if she didn't have any muscles at all, and if he hadn't scolded himself inwardly he would have asked himself how she was able to carry all this equipment without her legs giving in under the weight. He really couldn't see her body being able to take the rigorous G-forces that a fighter pilot had to be able to tolerate.

On the other hand, the way she prepared her equipment showed a very professional side of her, building up quite a contrast to her general outer appearance. Of course, due to the circumstances, he hadn't had the opportunity to properly talk to her yet, but this only enforced the question mark that was virtually hovering over her head.

However, now was not the time for an extended train of thought, as a quick glance at his wristwatch told him that they were about to be officially on duty. Clearing his throat, he managed to pull the attention of all his team members towards him and he didn't let himself be influenced by all the different expressions they had on their faces.

Sergeant Howard looked calm and concentrated, just as Captain Johnson, though Fred thought that he had once again caught some kind of devaluation crossing over her features. Martinez, on the other hand, looked a tiny bit green around the nose and he was unable to completely conceal his fear and nervousness. But Fred assumed that this was normal to someone who hadn't really dealt with real pressure so far, another pressure than the of tests and examinations. Howard had obviously been in combat situations while working for the SGC, though those surely hadn't been the first ones for him and he would bet that this man had seen worse. Johnson - the General had mentioned that she was a fighter pilot, and Fred knew that these were the people with nerves of steel. He himself had been in some pretty dangerous situations during his deployment in Iraq and, well, his first off-world missions hadn't exactly been a stroll in the park either.

So surely none of them were unfamiliar with situations like this, except for Martinez, who was just too young to have come across such occasions. But there had to be a first time; he would keep an eye on him, but he would not pamper him.

Though he did notice how the young man squared his shoulders and suddenly looked a lot more confident when Fred started to speak.

"I would have preferred it if this had started off differently, and I think you will all agree with me when I say that this is going to be difficult, considering that we didn't have the time to get to know each other. However, I expect each of you to act as professionally as you always would, and we will have enough time to discover our strengths during our training."

For a short moment, Fred paused to let his gaze wander over his soldiers. Had he imagined it, or had Captain Johnson just muttered something like "Meaning you'll have time to read our files" under her breath?

"Does anybody want to say something?" Fred asked with a stern expression on his face and everybody shook their heads, all expressions remaining neutral. Maybe he really had just imagined that... Probably because he was more nervous than he wanted to admit to himself... He decided to just shake this thought off.

"Good. After we are given the go for Alpha and have arrived on the other side, we will settle in our quarters and meet at 1100 for a basic fitness test."

His timing proved to be perfect – in the same second he had stopped speaking, the alert announcing the activation of the Stargate from the outside went off and the response unit stormed past to secure the gateroom. The Marines from SG-3, who were currently on standby, in the room waited for an explanation for the alert while shouldering backpacks and hooking their P-90s into the harness, just in case they would have to move out.

An agonizingly long minute trickled by until Sergeant Harriman's voice could be heard through the speakers, his tone sounding rushed as he demanded:"SG teams 3 and 12 to the gateroom, ready for departure! SG teams 3 and 12 to the gateroom!"

For a short moment, everybody looked confused, as it had been planned that they would travel to the Alpha Site between the arrivals of other teams, but then, they just followed SG-3.

To Be Continued...