Disclaimer: Sorry, forgot last chapter. I don't own Atlantis, or NCIS… though having a flying city would be really cool

Author's Note: Now that I know I won't be cheating or nothing by doing this… thank you to the person who nominated Cross Jurisdiction for an SG Award! What an incredible gesture, thank you so much!

And thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Chapter 2

Ziva David was not used to feeling out of her depth.

And she didn't right now. Not really. It was just… this place. It was huge. It was beautiful. It was like something out of her wildest dreams.

It was in another freaking galaxy.

That was the bit she was having trouble with as she wandered the hallways of the incredible city during the late night hours. DiNozzo was walking with her, but they hadn't spoken a word since joining up ten minutes ago in some random corridor. They were just walking, exploring, trying to wrap their heads around the fact that they were on a floating city from myth, on another planet, in another galaxy.

Knowing it was true was easy enough. Actually living it was turning out to be a lot harder.

So they walked in silence, just appreciating the views, the soaring architecture, and the overwhelming sense of inferiority.

Another five minutes later they both heard the loud clacks of what had to be sticks clashing with some impressive force. Sharing a look, Ziva and DiNozzo angled their way towards the noises.

They found the door just as stick hit flesh and one of the fighters let out a strangled yelp of pain.

"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this," Sheppard muttered as DiNozzo led Ziva into the room and looked around. "You're making me look bad, Ronon."

Sheppard and Ronon stood in the middle of the room, practice swords by their legs, sweating slightly, the Colonel rubbing the back of his leg as he hopped about. Gibbs had apparently already found his way there, because he sat by the only window, leaning back, arms and ankles crossed, a small grin on his face.

"Hey," Ronon greeted as he spotted them first, giving them a raised sword. Sheppard turned, groaning as he saw them.

"Great, just what I need. More spectators to my humiliation."

Ronon grinned mischievously at his commander. "Come on Sheppard. Again."

The two of them squared off once more, while Ziva and DiNozzo went to sit by Gibbs.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Tony asked his boss as he settled down on the seat. It was surprisingly comfortable. Then again, he guessed nothing about this place really should have surprised him.

Gibbs gave him a look. "Sheppard offered to give me a better tour. We ended up here instead," he muttered, turning back to watching Sheppard and Ronon as they went at each other and the clacks of the practice swords filled the room again.

DiNozzo heard the hidden words, but didn't say a thing about it. However, despite his gruff and untouched exterior, Gibbs was just as awestruck as any of them.

"I always had the feeling McGee could sleep through anything," DiNozzo chuckled as he watched Sheppard and Ronon part, the Colonel panting slightly as he swung his wooden weapon around.

Beside him Ziva leaned forward. "No, he isn't sleeping either. He's talking with a man named Zelenka, about the technology they've discovered here."

"Never get between a geek and his toys," Tony muttered under his breath as he leaned back and crossed his arms as well, content to sit back and watch the sparring.

Or he would have if Ronon hadn't just taken Sheppard down with a sharp crack.

As the Colonel lay on the floor, groaning excessively, Ziva chuckled. "Looks like someone needs some more practice," she joked.

The Colonel's eyes shot open, and he glared at her. "Looks like someone just volunteered."

DiNozzo winced as Ziva sat back confidently. He looked to Sheppard. "You're going to get your ass handed to you," he promised with a little sympathy as the Mossad agent got to her feet and shrugged off her jacket.

Ronon chuckled at that as he offered Sheppard a hand to get to his feet. John eyed DiNozzo, trying to gauge how serious he was, before glancing at Ziva where she was warming up. He gave a shrug and then grinned in Tony's direction.

"We'll see."

Ronon chucked the wooden sword in Ziva's direction, and she caught it deftly by the fake blade. Quickly testing its weight with the ease of confidence, she swung it in a fast circle, cutting the air, before squaring herself before Sheppard.

Guessing his newest opponent was ready, he held the sword up in front of his body and rolled his shoulders. His grin deepened.

"Bring it -."

Pounding feet interrupted him, as McKay suddenly bolted through the door, panting and sweating, and obviously frantic.

"Is this why you can't answer your radio?" he demanded in between breaths, his voice high pitched. "I mean, I have to run, all the way from my lab, which is in an entire other section of the city I might add, just to find you're ignoring all calls for you so you can flex your Kirk muscles?"

Sheppard scowled at him and stood up straight. "What are you on about, Rodney?"

The scientist shook his head. "Woolsey has been trying to contact you for the last fifteen minutes! That's what I'm on about!" He puffed his chest, though it was more to breathe than any show of arrogance. "Something's happened at the alpha site. There's been an accident." He paused thoughtfully. "Well, maybe accident isn't the right word."

Sheppard's blood ran cold, and he tossed the sword to Ronon, who grabbed Ziva's at the same time, intent on putting them away.

"McKay, it's late, and you're obviously running a little low on caffeine… or maybe it's high, I can't tell with you anymore." He stepped in closer, while the NCIS agents moved so they could hear as well. "Just spit it out."

"It's one of your marines," McKay told him, his tone softening. "Corporal Nick Ranger was found dead an hour ago." The scientist glanced at the agents, and then sighed. "He was murdered."

"What?"

Five voices echoed the disbelief and made McKay pause. "Okay," the scientist said with a raise of his eyebrows. "That was just creepy."

Sheppard scowled, and turned to Ronon. "Go and get Roberts and his team to gear up," he ordered. "Grab my gear while you're there. McKay, go tell Keller to get a team ready, and I need Dr Biro on it. Gibbs." And he turned to the NCIS agents, pausing for a moment, weighing his thoughts. "Come with me."

"No! Absolutely not!"

As Gibbs watched silently from the chair, Sheppard's face pinched with anger at Woolsey's immediate refusal.

"Why the hell not?" the colonel demanded in an exasperated tone. His entire body seemed to be on the verge of trembling with his anxiety, but Gibbs understood. A murder was bad enough. A murder in your own backyard was betrayal.

But Woolsey looked shocked that Sheppard had even suggested what he had suggested. "Are you kidding me? It goes against every -."

"If you say protocol, I swear to God -," Sheppard interrupted him, before Woolsey just interrupted him back.

"Well, it does!" the expedition leader snapped, glancing at Gibbs. "They're not trained, and they're not expedition members! They're guests and their safety should be our top priority!"

"It's the alpha site," Sheppard reminded him angrily. "There's not going to be any Wraith about, and it's uninhabited. It's perfectly safe!"

"Tell that to Corporal Ranger," Woolsey told him in a soft voice, leaning down on his desk for emphasis.

Sheppard went still. "What I'd like to tell Ranger's family is that we used every resource we had to find out why their son was murdered. Who do you think it could have been?"

Woolsey's mouth opened and closed a few times. "You don't think… No. No…it… it couldn't be one of ours."

"That's what I think – would have thought," John answered. "But there was no one else who could have killed Ranger. Look, we've scoured every inch, and the planet's uninhabited. There's been no gate activity except our guys. It couldn't have been any one else." He paused and leaned down on the table, matching Woolsey stare for stare. "We can't do this. We have trained investigators on base. Use them!"

Woolsey didn't answer for a moment, and Gibbs decided he should help Sheppard's argument out. He had, after all, seen the extent of the colonel's investigative skills when they had stolen his case two months ago.

At least, that was what he would have said if anyone had thought to ask him later. But if he was honest with himself, he really did want to step through the Stargate.

So he stood up and put his hands on his hips. "Look, Mr Woolsey, my team are not idiots. They're good at what they do, and they can take care of themselves."

Woolsey glanced at him and sighed, but still didn't say anything. Gibbs shared a look with Sheppard and continued.

"If this isn't solved quickly, and efficiently, it will be a major embarrassment to the Stargate Program and the IOA."

That got both of their attentions. Sheppard looked at him, obviously trying not to grin in triumph. Woolsey just looked panicked, but he recovered quickly enough.

"It already is a major embarrassment, Agent Gibbs," the expedition leader snapped. "But Sheppard had already sold me." He sighed again. "Looks like you get the chance to go off world after all."

Both Gibbs and Sheppard nodded, the colonel touching the radio on his ear so he could talk to McKay. "Ronon. Grab another four vests while you're down there."

He nodded again at Woolsey, who looked pale and slightly terrified before the two men left the office. Sheppard looked Gibbs up and down as they approached the other three NCIS agents. "I hope you're ready to go off world."

The others obviously heard because even Ziva got a look of excitement on her face, though hers was more malicious and confident then the boyish looks of wonder on DiNozzo and McGee, who had appeared from no where. Apparently confident in his negotiating skills, DiNozzo and Ziva had changed into the BDUs Stargate Command had supplied them with.

"Good thing I didn't get changed," McGee declared as Gibbs joined them, rubbing his hands together. "Man, this is so cool."

Gibbs gave them all a stern look. "There is nothing cool about a murdered marine, McGee." The looks immediately sobered. "Especially by another marine in an expedition millions of light years from home. Sheppard, there are some things we need before we go."

Ronon, McKay and Roberts' team appeared five minutes later, and it looked like they had found Teyla on the way. Sheppard gestured for them to follow him, before leading them down the stairs to the Stargate.

Sheppard's team met him halfway, before turning back towards the Stargate with him. McKay handed him a vest before glancing at the agents, who were just receiving some cases they had brought with them from Earth. Keller and a team of five were just arriving from the direction of the infirmary.

"Are the agents coming too?"

He sounded surprised. Sheppard smirked at him. "Why does everyone always seem shocked when I manage to talk someone into something?"

"Because you have the diplomacy skills of a guinea pig," McKay informed him quickly, before falling back to hand the vests to the agents. Sheppard scowled at him, and then at Ronon as the Satedan chuckled under his breath.

"How much do you know?" Teyla asked, breaking the mood and reminding them all of what had happened. Of the seriousness of the situation. Ronon's grin slipped and Sheppard shook his head as they paused on the platform.

"Lorne apparently didn't tell much when he dialled in half an hour ago. Just that they had found Ranger in the barracks, a knife through his neck." Sheppard looked around as the Stargate began dialling. "Okay, here's the deal first-timers. It can be a bit of a bumpy ride, but step right on through. Don't jump, don't leap, just step, because you come out just like you stepped through. Try not to hurl, because if you get it on those vests, the marines in charge of them will find you and make you clean them yourselves."

The Stargate opened then, and to Sheppard's surprise, the NCIS team didn't jump, or even flinch. Then again, by now they should have known what to expect. "Once you're through, just assemble to the side. Lorne's meeting us at the gate to take us to the alpha site." Sheppard gave a grin. "So, when you're ready… Sergeant Roberts, lead the way."

The marine team leader nodded and within a second the four tall, hulking men had disappeared into the puddle of blue. Sheppard gestured at Gibbs. "After you."

The NCIS agents barely even paused before they turned to face the event horizon and walked towards it. Sheppard watched them, waiting to see what they would do. He felt as though he could guess exactly who would step through the shimmering light first.

Gibbs didn't disappoint him, though he managed to hide the deep breath he took just before he stepped into the Stargate. Ziva quickly followed him, bracing her shoulders and holding her head high as she stepped carefully through.

Not about to be outdone, least of all by Ziva, Tony held his breath, closed his eyes and stepped blindly through the blue.

McGee paused for barely an instant, thinking quickly of exactly the words Tony would snark at him in an enthusiastic tone. You could almost see the words darting across his mind. Knowing he wouldn't live it down the entire time they were here, on Atlantis, he hurried across the threshold to another planet.

"Huh," Sheppard grunted, crossing his arms as he approached the Stargate himself. "None of them even really flinched."

Teyla smiled. "You do not think highly enough of them John, if you thought they would."

The four of them assembled in a line before the blue and Sheppard shrugged. "More hoping, really. I'd just like to gain a bit more equal footing. Being arrested by someone, and then saved by them as well tends to give them a bit of arrogance."

"Gibbs isn't lording it over you, Sheppard," McKay pointed out. "You're so paranoid sometimes."

At that the Colonel chuckled. "Just because you miss things, McKay…" He trailed off, shaking his head, sobering up as he remembered exactly why they were travelling to the alpha site. "Come on. Time's a wasting, and we have a serious problem. I'm not about to let a murderer back on my base unless it's in my custody."

Just a short one today, more tomorrow, swear!