Hey everyone, thanks for returning for another chapter, I really enjoyed writing this one and I already have a head start on the next part. Like I said before, reviews are like crack to me, so give me everything you got! For those of you who came to read about the members of SG1, be patient, they are coming. So without any further blathering, I present chapter two.

Chapter Two – Part one

PX0361, the initial reports from SG1 were that this world was remarkably similar to Earth. It had a nitrogen oxygen based atmosphere; it had a mass of only being marginally larger than Earth with a gravitational pull of 1.15 Gees. Sensors on the original MALP probe had detected trace levels of Naquadah, A vital material that was wildly sought after by the scientists at Area 51. More importantly this world was seemingly uninhabited; these were all factors making this world a prime candidate for becoming 'Project Alpha Site'.

Col O'Neil's written report on the world PX0361 was that it was 'a little on the chilly side'. Upon arriving through the gate Netter believed this was quite the understatement, unbearably icy gusts of wind met the journeying scientists and soldiers, so cold it forced Netters eyes shut. Being quick to not allow the elements overwhelm him, he pulled over the hood of his artic survival gear, shutting out the wind. The hood; like the rest of his gear was heavily insulated Gortex, was complete with an ultra violet shielding visor and inbuilt radio and microphone for long distance coms.

With the hood down, the wind was somewhat shut out now, but the cold still seemed to be seeping in a little. Fortunately now however Netter was able to see, although his view was rather restricted by the hood, what he could see was breath-taking. A great vista of rolling hills and snow-capped mountains lay ahead of him, a thinly wooded area sat at the fringes of the tallest mountain. Just over the tallest of the mountains he could see a sun that he prayed was rising and not setting, if the temperature dropped any more before they had their shelters up, they were going to be in real trouble.

The sun here was larger than Sol, its light however was a less intense as well, there seemed to be almost a red tinge to it. All around him the blue sky was lit up with flickering shimmers of light, "aurora borealis" he muttered to himself, at least that's what he seemed to remember from watching the nature channel. The glimmering light was made up of a great mix of vibrant reds, blues and greens, the very sky seemed to boil with these colours, shifting in a never-ending kaleidoscope. It was very easy to imagine becoming mesmerised by such an amazing spectacle.

Mesmerised, thoughts of being caught out daydreaming a third time in one day shook him from the view, looking around he saw that most of the others had donned their hoods were still locked in a state of awe and wonderment to their surroundings. A few of the scientists however seemed to be struggling with their gear, hoods tangled with the webbing and satchels they were carrying. Reynolds was helping to free the one, Netter ploughed towards the other, his feet crunching through the snow. Once there he grabbed the scientist by the arm and pulled the hood free, the name on his shoulder patch read as 'Samuels'. Netter saw a look of relief creep upon Samuels face before it disappeared under the shelter of the hood.

Enders spoke up over the com radio, with only the faint wisp of static; his voice was loud and clear. "Ok everyone, stop gawping at the sky and wake up, if you don't want to freeze to death then get to work!"

Netter saw Enders move to the front of the group with ease; he had already snapped on his snowshoes, he pointed towards a one of the larger hills on the horizon. "We set up camp over there, that hill-side should give us ample shelter from this wind. Reynolds, Netter fix up your gear and scout ahead, me and Reynolds will secure the scientists and follow you up in 5 minutes."

With a nod to Enders, Netter and Reynolds went to business; they quickly snapped their snowshoes on and then started making their way towards the hill. As they made their way, Netter opened up a private link in his radio to Reynolds.

"I hope to Christ they never actually select this planet as a base of operations, this place is colder than my ex's heart, and man she was one icy bitch let me tell ya."

"I think you're shit out of luck on that one Netter, Hammond seemed to have his heart set on this place and besides this place isn't so bad. I mean that view has got to count for something, whole damned sky looks like a lava lamp."

"Nah man, bad luck comes in threes and I've had my fill for the time being."

Walking side by side through the icy tundra, Reynolds turned his head and tilted his head quizzically. Or at least Netter thought he did, those hoods covered the whole of a person's head and the visor had polarised in the bright light showing only darkness where his eyes were.

"Comes in threes does it, go on then tell me what counts for bad luck in your world."

"One..." With his free left hand, Netter raised a finger before continuing. "I've had my ass chewed out by Enders for daydreaming my way through the briefing. Two…" Another finger up, even though gloved he felt the cold biting through. "I'm freezing my nuts off, and likely going to continue freezing my nuts off for the next few days until this stupid mission is over."

Pausing for a moment, Netter sighed before raising his third finger and saying. "Three… and now this is really the most important of things to factor in as bad luck… I'm pretty sure that we've gated through to the planet Hoth, and man, that by no stretch of the imagination good… I've seen Star Wars man, I know what happens. The people on the ice planet got screwed big time, I mean their asses got scragged man."

Both the men continued their walk, laughing and conversing as they went, thankfully the wind began to die down, so much that it allowed them to remove their masks without suffering the bitter bite of the wind. The trek lasted for about half an hour, at which point they arrived at their destination. The sun had indeed been rising when they had arrived, now it reached its highest point in the bizarre colour shifting heavens of this cold world.

Shortly after the rest of the expedition arrived at the cliff side and located an acceptable place to set up camp. Its location made the best use of a nearby outcropping of rock that emerged from one of the nearby cliff side, from there the hostile winds that would plague them for the foreseeable future would be cut down to a minimum.

With Col Enders in command, the construction of the shelters was completed fairly quickly; luckily the task was complete well before sundown. Now, after a series of patrols setting up proximity sensors and doing a speedy threat assessment of local wildlife. (Of which nothing was found). The winds once more picked up in ferocity and dropped in temperature, Netter sat in the door to his shelter, little more than a tent; it did little to shut out the cold. Inside was three of the scientists, he still hadn't bothered to learn their names, other than Dr Birch's and some the other guy Samuels. They mostly kept to themselves and he was glad, it made the job that much easier.

Just as the sun had disappeared under the horizon, just as the final rays of twilight crept back into darkness, the great aurora of this world flared brightly for a moment. Deep shades of scarlet and cobalt struggled and conflicted against each other before going completely out, as though a switch had been thrown. Then the stars began to shine.

Chapter Two – Part Two

Netter was ordered to take the first watch that night; he sat with his back to a huge slab of Granite looking back towards where the Stargate was. For the next hour or so he had found himself watching the starlight during his sentry duty, trying to see if he could spot Sol or at the very least a constellation that he recognised. Fortunately the starlight here was so bright; he didn't even require his night vision gear to see.

From time to time he thought he spotted movement off in the distance, some shadow or silhouette against the white of the mountain, but upon closer inspection with his binoculars it turned out to be nothing. Once, out of the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw a light shining from the largest of the mountains. But as he had turned to face it, there was nothing. Creepy, he thought to himself, from then on he kept his eyes on the mountain, suspicion and unease growing in his mind.

The wind continue to howl its mad screams, the noise reminded him of when he went to see Frankenstein with his father at the movies. The movie was pretty terrible, he had thought, but the noise of the wind screaming in the dark had sent shivers down his spine and raised the hairs on the back of his neck. That's how it sounded here, only it was constant.

For a while he continued to hold his gaze over the great snow-capped monoliths daring them to do something, he nearly jumped out of his skin when more light began to emanate from between two of the highest peaks. So this place wasn't uninhabited, he prayed to everything that was good and right with the world that the inhabitants weren't Goa'uld. Just as he snatched his radio to alert the rest of the expedition team, he saw that the light was merely the returning of the aurora.

Another hour of staring out into the dark passed, until he heard something stirring behind him, he turned to see Dr Birch peering out from her shelter. She was gazing up at the alien night sky, her mouth slightly ajar; her eyes reflected the peculiar heavens that they gazed upon. Her skin was a attractive ghostly white, illuminated by the strange starlight and aurora; she could have easily passed for a spirit or some kind of phantom. A lock of blonde hair hung down from beneath a thick woollen hat, just to the right of her eyes. He had thought her good-looking right from the briefing room where he had first seen her, but now it was as though his eyes had been opened, she was beautiful.

"It's quite a view isn't it?" he stated more than asked. She blinked, still enthralled by the wondrous view, a quirk of a smile on her face.

"I've been to six other planets; I've never seen such a sky as this before though. I don't think I could have ever imagined such a sight…" she paused for a moment, pondering over what to say. "You must see this sort of thing all the time… hard to imagine that going to these sorts of places is routine for you."

Smiling a little himself now, Netter replied. "It may be routine Dr Birch, but I think I get a little more surprised with each place we go to, just when I think I've seen all that could surprise me…." He trailed off gesturing his surroundings with his free arm, the other never releasing its grip on his rifle.

Dr Birch looked away from the sky now and instead gazed at the soldier sat outside in the cold, he appeared different now from when she had first met him at the mission briefing. Before he had seemed very much the delinquent, she had found herself questioning his presence there, what with his daydreaming and total lack of interest in the situation.

Now he appeared very much in his element, his bright green eyes no longer glazed over in boredom now gleamed with intelligence. Everything he said now was well thought over before being spoken, and all that he did say was with conviction and deliberation. He stood at just over six feet with a slim build; his hair was cut short with the first signs male pattern baldness beginning to show. It almost went unnoticed to her that he had a very faint scar. It was razor thin, leading from his left cheekbone to his brow where it abruptly ended.

While looking him over, she noticing the tight grip on weapon, the Dr asked. "Expecting trouble?" and nodded at the rifle.

"Not really, guess I must have the heeby je-." He stopped mid-sentence and stared at the mountains again, Dr Birch took note how he not once blinked. "The heeby jeebies…"

Just at that moment Davis emerged from his shelter, taking a swig from his canteen, he saw Netter and the Dr and made his way towards them, to take over the watch for the night. As he did, Netter stood and made his way to meet his team mate.

Dr Birch stayed in her tent, and watched the two soldiers; they stood close to one another and spoke in hushed whispers, doing their best to keep her from hearing. After a moment she saw the both of them glance at the mountains, Netter gestured towards one of the larger ones with his rifle.

From there, Netter said his goodnight to the two, and retreated to his shelter without another word. Davis sat in Netters spot against the rock and fixed his gaze to the mountains, he never said a word to the Dr, and she eventually zipped her tent and tried to sleep once more. Outside the lights in the night sky continued their illusive dance, mysterious and unsettling; Marie Birch started to feel worry collecting in her gut.