Blake laid on his bed, wearing a black T-shirt and black combats, sipping a beer as he read his copy of The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes; he was up to The Final Problem. When the first group of the expedition had came to the base from Earth, they'd brought with them some items from the three stranded team member's homes; Blake hadn't been able to resist the urge to have his mini fridge and it's contained beer stash brought through. He looked down at the power adaptor connected to the wall; the tech team had rigged power adaptors throughout the base to allow standard Earth technology to be used.

As he finished the page he was on, there was a ringing at his door. He swung his legs round as he shouted for them to come in, the door opening as Michelle stepped in. She gestured to his book.

"Interrupting?" She asked with half a grin "I never pegged you for a Holmes man."

"It was a Christmas present from my Dad when I was fifteen." Blake replied with a chuckle "It's taken me 13 years to get half way."

"That's a long time for one book." She replied "I finished that book when I was twelve."

"I'm sorry, Miss. Graduated MIT at 18." Blake grinned "I'm guessing this little chat isn't why you came down?"

"No, sir." Michelle replied "Colonel Watson's asked for you to join him and Captain Forrester in his office."

"Great." Blake said, rolling his eyes as he set his book down and walked out of the room with Michelle "So, what's Captain Forrester like?"

"He's the same sort of Officer as the Colonel and Major Andrews." Michelle replied "Career Officer, takes the rules seriously, barely cracks a smile."

"Funny, the last one sounds like you half the time." Blake said with a laugh, seeing her serious expression "What? I was kidding!"

"Yes, sir." Michelle said, obviously annoyed as they reached Watson's office "I won't keep you boys from your meeting."

"You're all heart." Blake said, rolling his eyes, walking into the office, tossing back "Wish me luck."

Blake stepped through the second set of doors into the office, grinning at Colonel Watson and the blonde haired man in a Marine BDU as he walked in. He stopped beside the blonde man and looked at Colonel Watson over the desk.

"You wanted to see me?" Blake said, still grinning.

"Yes, Captain Blake McGee, this is Captain Ulysses Forrester." Watson said, gesturing between the two men "Forrester, this is McGee."

"Nice to meet you, McGee." Forrester said, shaking Blake's hand firmly "I was just telling the Colonel what a nice place he's got here."

"Nice place we've got here." Blake corrected, grinning slightly as Forrester scowled "Damned semantics."

"Gentlemen! Have a seat." Watson said, his tone one of warning, Blake and Forrester both complying "Now, as I was about to say, I called you here for a specific reason. Currently, barring myself, the two of you are the highest ranking Military officers on this base. Therefore, I am putting the two of you in command of your own teams. McGee, you'll lead Argyrus one, Forrester, Argyrus two."

"So, just to clarify this, I'm number one?" Blake said, grinning, before attempting a serious expression "I mean, uhm, yes sir."

"I won't let you down sir." Forrester said "When do we select the other members of our teams?"

"I'm having all personnel files delivered to you later this afternoon." Watson replied, looking at Blake "Unfortunately, McGee, I know who your first choice is going to be, and I'm afraid I need Lieutenant Petrovich here. You're going to need another gate expert."

Blake sighed. He'd already figured that was the case. Actually, he'd figured Michelle would get her own team too. Then again, she was still pretty green round the gills.

"Does this mean she never gets to come out on off world missions again?" Blake asked "Don't get me wrong, it'll mean less injuries for her... Only so much she can hurt herself in a lab. That said, she might get, well, bored."

"It's not a vacation, McGee." Forrester said, rolling his eyes "Sir, give me 24 hours, I can have a team picked and ready to mobilise."

"That won't be necessary, Forrester." Watson replied "The Solaris is en route now, and will be here in the next month. We've been ordered to hang tight until then, barring excursions to find food sources. We won't need that for another week. So, you've both got time."

"The Solaris?" Blake questioned "A new 304?"

"No." Watson said "Prototype, X-305."

"Right..." Blake asked "So, why didn't we call it-"

"General O'Neill wanted to call it the Enterprise as well." Watson answered "It was vetoed. Now, the two of you, dismissed. You've got paperwork to do."

"Ahh man!" Blake said, standing and walking out alongside Forrester "Ten bucks says once we get our teams together, my team kicks your team's ass in a training exercise."

"I don't bet on my work, Captain." Forrester replied, stopping as he saw Blake do the same, relenting at Blake's expression "Make it twenty and I'll take the action."

"Done." Blake said, smirking "Hope you're ready to lose, Ulysses."

...

Michelle stood in her lab, going over some read outs. Her understanding of Ancient was vague at best, so she was grateful for the computers with translation software that had been brought by the first group of new expedition members. As she flipped to the next page, there was a knock at the door. She didn't look as she waved the person in.

"What can I do for you?" Michelle asked, looking up and being met with the visage of a young woman in her mid to late twenties with long, dark brown hair "Can I help?"

"Yes, you can, thank you. Sorry, I'm new, got here yesterday, General Carter's suggestion." The woman said, holding out a hand "I'm Dr. Cassandra Fraser. I'm here as an off world technology expert. Kind of have some experience with it."

"Uh-huh." Michelle said "So, what do you need, Doctor?"

"I was just coming to have a look around, get my bearings." Cassandra replied, pointing at the computer "Can I take a look at that? I was told I should start with whatever you were looking at."

"Sure..." Michelle said, asking hesitantly "Who told you to do that?"

"Colonel Watson." Cassandra said, smiling "He said you're the best he's got."

"Well, he'll say that, but he's lying." Came a voice from the door, the two women turning to see Blake stood at the door, who walked over, shaking Cassandra's hand "Captain Blake McGee, base XO and leader of Argyrus one, and you are?"

"Doctor Cassandra Fraser." Cassandra replied, looking Blake up and down "Aren't you a little young to be the base XO?"

Blake looked taken aback by her statement. Michelle could understand it; he was 30. Then again, he was also completely baby faced. Plus, proportionally speaking, he was young, at least compared to the usual age for higher command roles.

"I've got a baby face." Blake finally replied, before grinning "So, are you the same Cassandra Fraser who SG-1 brought back from the Planet Hanka, or P8X-987, back in the 90's? Because if you are, then you've already got more experience with all this gate crap than me, which given I came in fresh from college, is saying something."

"Yes, that's me." Cassandra said, cocking an eyebrow "Good memory, Captain."

"What can I say, I'm a prodigy." Blake replied, before grinning "Actually, I read all the personnel files last week while the Colonel was picking people. You were on General Carter's recommended list, so I put two and two together and did some extra reading up on you. Is it true you have psychic super powers?"

"That was a brief thing when I was 16..." Cassandra replied, smirking "Let me guess; you grew up watching Carrie?"

"Among other movies." Blake said, before grinning "Wait, you're a gate expert, right?"

"Yes, why?" Cassandra asked, slightly confused.

Blake grinned at her, then Michelle, then back at her. Michelle had seen that look before; he was planning something, and usually, something meant problems for her. She was dreading the moment when he finally opened his mouth.

"So you're a gate expert... And the only reason I can't have Michelle is because she's the base gate expert..." Blake said "Doc, how much were you hoping to go off world whilst you're here?"

"I wasn't really..." Cassandra said "Why?"

"Michelle, I'm getting you put on my team." Blake said "If you don't mind."

"Actually, sir, I was hoping to get some of my projects here done."Michelle replied "That rules me out. Sorry."

"Okay..." Blake said, turning to Cassandra "Then I'll take you. Yeah, that'll really mess with Forrester..."

"Wow, I almost feel like the girl you're asking to prom for a bet." Cassandra said sarcastically "Thanks, but no thanks."

"Oh, c'mon." Blake said, grinning "You can't say I'm not funny."

"I can't. I also can't say you're modest, and if your behaviour so far is anything to go by, sensible." Cassandra said "Besides, my mother was killed on an off world mission, why would I choose that risk?"

"I don't know." Blake said "Why did I join the air force when my father, the fighter pilot, crashed and burned? You see, Doc, we've all got baggage, we've all got histories. It's about whether we let them hinder us, or inspire us, that makes a difference."

"Let me think about it. It was nice meeting you both." Cassandra said finally before walking out of the room.

Michelle turned to Blake. It was a first on two accounts. It was the first time she'd heard him talk about his father, for one. It was also the first time for something else.

"You're actually not a bad leader, are you?" She asked, grinning at him.

"Well, I try." Blake grinned back, before the lights went out "What the hell..."

"Watson to senior staff." Came Watson's voice through Blake's radio "Please report to the Gateroom."

"Me and Lieutenant Petrovich are on our way." Blake radioed back "Come on, let's go."

...

Blake and Michelle walked into the Gateroom, walking up the stairs into the main control area, where Watson was stood with Forrester and Cassandra, discussing something displayed on a holographic display.

"What's going on?" Blake asked, looking at the display.

"There's been a power surge." Cassandra said "It's taken out conduits throughout the city. I'm still calculating the extent of the damage."

"Can we repair it?" Watson asked, looking at both Cassandra and Michelle "Ladies?"

"No, sir." Michelle replied "We don't have the equipment to repair power relays. The material isn't a naturally occurring one anywhere in the Milky Way, so we couldn't bring it."

"Okay." Forrester said "Is it naturally occurring anywhere in this galaxy?"

"Probably." Cassandra said, Forrester and Blake looking between each other "What are you two thinking."

"You picked your team yet?" Forrester asked Blake, cocking an eyebrow "Or were you too busy flirting?"

"Of course I've picked it, we're the A-team. Have you got yours?" Blake asked, pressing a control on his radio "Will Lieutenants Ashton and Varrelli both report to the Gateroom."

"You want Varrelli?" Forrester said, cocking an eyebrow "He's one of the lowest scoring officers on the base in marksmanship."

"Which is why I have Ashton, whose the highest." Blake said "Besides, Varrelli is the best linguist on the base."

"You don't have a gate expert on the team." Watson said "Lieutenant Petrovich-"

"Yes he does, Colonel." Cassandra cut in "I agreed to join the Captain's team earlier. Isn't that right, Captain?"

Blake froze for a moment, before realising everyone was still looking at him.

"That's right, Doctor." Blake said as a Caucasian man with short cropped blonde hair and a Latino man with mid length brown hair and glasses came in "Lieutenant Ashton, Lieutenant Varrelli. We've got five minutes to gear up."

"Sir?" The Caucasian man, Ashton said "Where are we going?"

"That is a very good question." Blake said, leaning on Cassandra's chair "Where are we off to, Doc?"

"Z4R-P7X." Cassandra replied "According to the database, it's... Something."

"An Ancient test site." Varrelli cut in "It'll probably have what we're looking for. Where'd you find it?"

"I didn't." Cassandra grimaced "It just popped up..."

"I guess that means we're going the right way." Blake grinned "Colonel, if you don't mind?"

"At your leisure, Captain." Watson replied "Argyrus One, you have a go."

...

So, it's been a very long time since I updated this. In fact, I had to reconstruct the plot from memory. Some characters are different. Also, I know I'm going to get a load of hate on Cassandra being out of character; all I'll say is the last time the character appeared on TV was over a decade ago. As a 16 year old. Some creative liberties are not just acceptable, they're near guaranteed. Anyway, R&R, please, no flames. B.