AN: I'm still kinda new to this, so be kind, please! I will try to update quickly, but it may be a few days between chapters. Please review and feel free to ask questions. Thanks!
o0o
"Dr. Weir! The Daedalus reports that they are 20 minutes out."
Dr. Elizabeth Weir glanced up from her paperwork to see the gate technician standing in her doorway. "Thank you. Tell them to land on the South Pier. Have Colonel Sheppard meet me there."
"Yes ma'am." As the technician tapped his earpiece to relay her message, Elizabeth quickly finished the report she had been reading, and then filed everything away for a later date. She then began to make her way to the Daedalus' landing area.
Halfway there, she met up with Colonel John Sheppard, Atlantis' commanding military officer, and Dr. Rodney McKay, the head scientist. Both greeted her enthusiastically, which made her a little suspicious.
"Don't tell me you're both this happy because Colonel Caldwell is here." Elizabeth grinned at the exaggerated looks of horror on her friend's faces.
"Hardly," said Sheppard. "Despite the fact that the good Colonel has mellowed quite a bit in the past few months, I always breathe a little sigh of relief every time he leaves without taking over my command."
"Maybe if you stopped getting shot at or turned into an alien every time he was here, he wouldn't have to do your job," said McKay, looking rather irritable.
"What's got Rodney's knickers in a twist, then?" asked a new voice.
Elizabeth turned to see Dr. Carson Beckett jogging up to meet them. "Carson, I didn't expect to see you here."
"Aye, I know. But there are some new nurses and a new doctor coming on this run, an' I wanted to give 'em a once over before escorting them to the infirmary." Beckett sighed. "I dinnae want a repeat of the last time."
Sheppard winced. "Thanks for that. I'm not a big fan of being restrained while the nurse supposedly watching me goes to flirt with some marine. Even if I was hallucinating about giant bugs."
Elizabeth frowned. That had been an unfortunate experience for all.
"Anyway, to answer your question, Rodney here is expecting a certain lovely young lady whom he hopes to kidnap so she only does her research in his lab." Sheppard laughed as McKay took a swipe at him.
"Shouldn't you be practicing your voodoo or something, Carson? And I am not here to kidnap any scientists." McKay crossed his arms as they waited for the Daedalus to land. "I am simply here to greet an esteemed colleague in the field of astrophysics."
"Sounds fascinating," Sheppard said, feigning a yawn. "Anyway, whatever you guys are hoping for, I'm hoping for some well-trained soldiers this time. I've told the SGC a million times that Atlantis needs a separate screening program than they give their personnel. We're in a different galaxy, for cryin' out loud!"
Everyone had to hide a grin as Sheppard rolled his eyes. He was still recovering from a mission to rescue a group of Atlantis newbies on a "stealth" exercise who had blundered into a village of people who worshiped the Wraith.
"I have to say, we do seem to get an awful lot of green recruits." Elizabeth wondered briefly if the SGC were punishing her for some minor indiscretion, but dismissed the thought. It didn't really matter, after all.
"Love, I think we're all just going to have to face the facts." Beckett sighed. "We're too damned much of perfectionists to accept anyone who isn't half so wonderful as ourselves."
Elizabeth looked surprised, but then she saw Beckett's wink, and began to laugh.
It was an interesting sight, therefore, for the first people off the Daedalus. There were Atlantis' brightest and best, laughing so hard there were tears in their eyes.