Lots of exposition in this chapter. Sorry, but that's how it's got to be.

I own neither Stargate nor Mass Effect.

"Shepard, are you sure that it's a good idea to bring the entire ground team to this little meet-and-greet that you've arranged?" Miranda asked Shepard as the other woman sorted out her weapons in the Armory.

"Sure," the auburn-haired woman said. "The fewer surprises we keep to our allies, the better." Clipping weapons back onto their respective hardpoints, she continued. "Besides, if things get hairy, the more people we have increases our chances of escape. Oh, and we're going to Antarctica, so you might want to wear something a little…warmer than your usual attire," she said, pointing at Miranda's skintight uniform. "I think Kasumi has a couple of coats stashed away somewhere; we leave in an hour," Shepard said, leaving. Miranda scowled at the perceived insult to her manner of dress, but admitted that Shepard had a point; her uniform was not designed for cold-weather ops. However, she also did not want to take any clothes from Kasumi Goto. While she was like the rest of the crew in that she typically only exited her self-imposed domain for missions, meals and bathroom runs (at least, as far as Miranda knew – who knew where that thief could be lurking with that tactical cloak of hers), she seemed to be second only to Yeoman Chambers in energy and nosiness, always trying to catch up on the latest scuttlebutt and in Miranda's eyes, make a general pest of herself. Her insistence on giving nicknames to all but those with the briefest of names also grated against the Australian woman's sensibilities. Suppressing the urge to sigh, Miranda marched over the elevator and pressed the button to the third deck.

Stepping up to the door that led to the port observation deck, Miranda rapped her knuckle on the door. As Executive Officer, Miranda had the authority to simply walk in, but basic decency demanded that she at least knocked first.

"Come in," Kasumi's muffled voice said from the other side of the door. Pushing the green hologram in the center of the door, it slid open to allow Miranda entry, where she saw Kasumi lounging on her bed. Kasumi was not wearing her signature black hooded catsuit, instead opting to wear a T-shirt and sweat pants, revealing her hair that barely reached past her ears. The red mark on her lip however was still present. She was also reading a small book with a Japanese title and several scantily clad, muscle-bound men on the cover.

"Should I be concerned about the nature of the literature you're bringing onboard, Miss Goto?" Miranda asked, raising an eyebrow at the book.

"Nope," Kasumi said as she dog-eared the page that she was on before setting it down. "What brings you down to my place, Miri?" the Japanese woman asked. Miranda managed to suppress the urge to scowl at the nickname Kasumi had chosen for her.

"Shepard has informed me that our next mission will be a cold-weather operation," Miranda said, crossing her arms behind her back. "She also said that you have something for such a situation." Kasumi scratched her chin as she thought about it.

"You know what, I think I do," she said. "It might even be in your size too," she added as she hopped off her bed and headed towards her closet. Opening it, she dug around until she pulled out two large, fluffy, pink coats. She handed one to Miranda, who eyed it critically.

"Why do you even have these?" she asked.

"Just in case Shep decided to do something crazy, like make us take shore leave on Noveria or something," Kasumi explained. Miranda could not help but question Kasumi's logic, but was slightly grateful that she had prepared for such a situation.

"And why did you select pink? It doesn't seem to be your color," Miranda observed.

"It was all I could find!" Kasumi said defensively. "There isn't much of a market for cold-weather wear on the Citadel." Miranda looked at the ugly garment again; while she did not like it, or the thought of wearing it, she liked the thought of wearing heavy, restrictive armor even less.

"Excellent work, Miss Goto," she finally said, "report to the hangar bay in one hour." Her personal quest fulfilled, Miranda exited Kasumi's abode to return to her own office. She still had some work left to do before they left, and she had nothing better to do now.

One hour later, the entire Normandy ground team had assembled in front of the Kodiak shuttle. All the humans in the assembly, along with Tali and Garrus, groaned in protest when Shepard announced that they were all going to be using the shuttle at once.

"I know that the last time we all piled in here, it wasn't very fun," Shepard said, remembering the time when the ground team had to use the shuttle as transportation while EDI installed the Reaper IFF; thirteen people, including a Krogan, piling into a vessel meant only to seat ten human-sized occupants made for a very claustrophobic situation. "But with four less people, there should be a bit more breathing room. Now, everybody hop in!" Realizing that it would do no good to protest further, the crew loyally piled into the shuttle. After the last person had entered, EDI closed the shuttle door and launched it towards Earth's southern pole.

The Kodiak rumbled as it entered Earth's atmosphere, and the red glow outside the window eventually gave way to a white wasteland as far as the eye could see.

"This is your home planet?" Grunt scoffed as he looked out the window, unimpressed. "Not much to look at."

"This is just one small part of it," Jacob explained, "one very small, very cold part of it." Garrus looked at Shepard, who had a distant look on her face as she watched the world fly by outside.

"Something on your mind, Shepard?" the scarred Turian asked. Shepard smiled at her old friend's concern.

"Just thinkin'," she said. "It's been over ten years since I've last been to Earth; it brings back memories." The rest of the crew remained silent throughout the rest of the journey, until EDI's voice emerged from the speaker.

"You will be reaching the designated coordinates in five minutes, Commander," the AI notified the crew.

"Thank you, EDI," Shepard said as she slipped on her helmet, sealing her suit from the cold. "Zip up, everybody; it's a bit nippy outside."

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell sighed in boredom as he stood outside the McMurdo Air Force Base, waiting for whatever vessel Earth's latest guests were going to be arriving in. He was the leader of the F-302 squadron that had guarded SG-1 as they bored into the Antarctic ice to unearth the Ancient weapon. They had gone in expecting Goa'uld death gliders to defend against, but apparently Anubis was so fixated on shooting down the visitors' ship, that he had neglected to send anything down planetside, which made for a very boring patrol. While Mitchell did admit that standing out in the cold was rather low on his choices of career paths, he considered possible alternative scenarios and figured that he had no reason to complain, so he followed his orders like a good soldier.

"Colonel Mitchell," a voice rang in Mitchell's earpiece, "I see something northeast about two clicks out." Mitchell pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked at the mentioned direction, and saw a vessel approaching their position. It was white with black highlights, wedge-shaped, and had two thrusters on either end of it. Mitchell guessed that it was their guests, since it looked nothing like any other race's technology that they had seen so far.

"That looks like them; good eye, soldier," the Lieutenant Colonel said. "Pop a flare for them." A few seconds later, a bright red flare was launched over the McMurdo landing pad. While a thoughtful gesture, it was ultimately unnecessary as the shuttle's computer had already plotted out a course to the base.

One minute later, the vessel had arrived at McMurdo base and had gracefully touched down on the landing pad, its thrusters melting away the snow. The side of the craft lifted open, and a woman wearing faintly form-fitting gray armor stepped out, her face concealed by her helmet. A black man in bulky white armor stepped out next, followed by two women in what looked like full-length bright pink ski jackets; one of the women had a sour look on her face, and Mitchell could not blame her. What followed next was a rather odd menagerie of aliens that the soldier fought hard not to stare at, especially when the tall reptilian one growled at him.

"Welcome to McMurdo Air Force Base," Mitchell said to the woman in gray. "I'm assuming you're Commander Shepard?"

"I am," Shepard confirmed. "What do you say we get out of this cold?"

"I couldn't agree more, ma'am," Mitchell said, beckoning them to follow him. "Follow me, please; SG-1's waiting for you inside."

In a conference room within the base complex itself, said team was sitting at the table reviewing the report from the battle that had occurred above them. General Hammond was also with them, along with a small television set that was linked to a live feed to President Hayes, who had wanted to thank Commander Shepard himself.

SG-1 was particularly surprised by the level of power demonstrated by the Normandy. Even though it was at least half the size of the Prometheus, it still managed to destroy Goa'uld ship with frightening ease. Security footage from the Prometheus had also shown that, with one possible exception, the crew was manned by humans. Finding humans outside of Earth was no surprise for SG-1 due to the fact that the Goa'uld had seeded the galaxy with human colonies to act as slaves. However, due to said slavery, finding any humans that had progressed further than medieval development, with the now-extinct Tollan being the only humans that they had encountered so far with the technology to rival or exceed the Goa'uld. When they factored in the name of the ship itself and the team was scratching their heads over the ship's nature.

"Maybe it's from the future," Doctor Daniel Jackson, the team's historical expert speculated. "It wouldn't be the first time we've messed around with time travel, and it would certainly explain the name, and why we don't recognize the technology. The question is, how far did they go back?"

"We can't rule out an alternate universe either," Colonel Samantha Carter, quantum physicist and current leader of SG-1 said. "Remember that mirror that you found on P3R-233, the one that transported people to alternate realities? Maybe they found a bigger version, or something with similar properties."

"It would be pointless to speculate further when we can soon ask them of their origins," said Teal'c, a jaffa and former First Prime of Apophis, the first major enemy that SG-1 had to compete with.

"I guess you're right," Sam said, flipping further through the file. "I would love to get a hand on their technology, though! If we could get something like that, it could turn the tide of the war against the Goa'uld!"

"If they give it to us," Daniel countered. "Remember, we don't exactly have a stellar track record of having people just handing us over their advanced technology, no questions asked." Sam sighed in defeat, as she knew that Daniel was right.

"I know, it's just that I—" Whatever Sam was about to say was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," General Hammond said. The door opened to allow Colonel Mitchell entrance.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell, sir," Mitchell said as he raised his hand to his head in salute. General Hammond saluted back and Mitchell's arm fell to the side. "Shepard and her team have arrived and are waiting just outside, sir."

"Very well, let them in Colonel," General Hammond said. Mitchell did not immediately respond, instead scanning eyes across the room as if searching for something.

"Should be big enough," he muttered under his breath. Before anyone could ask what he meant, Mitchell left the room. A moment later, Shepard came in with eight other individuals, much to everyone's shock. Shepard and most of her crew removed their helmets and placed them on the table, and in two members' cases, shrugged off rather hideous-looking jackets to reveal themselves to the assembled SGC personnel.

While General Hammond was not particularly surprised about Shepard's features, having already met her, the SG-1 members could not help but stare at her lightly glowing scars, or her green eyes mixed with red. The black man next to her was handsome, if otherwise unremarkable. The first woman to shrug off her coat wore a black leather uniform that conformed to her rather curvaceous body and left absolutely nothing to the imagination. The second woman was also dressed in a black full-body suit, although hers had a hood on it as well. The second woman seemed Asian, but the hood obscured her features. Then their eyes drifted to the rest of the group, who were more exotic in form.

The first was a tall, barrel-chested figure in damaged blue armor. Its facial features were a strange mixture of reptilian and avian, and there was a large burn scar along one side of its face. Next to it was a smaller figure in yet another black, skintight suit, although she also wore a face mask with an opaque purple visor. The alien had a figure like a woman and, like the reptile/bird thing next to her had a hand with only three digits. Next was a towering hulk of a lizard with orange skin and a dull gray bony crest on its head. Its yellow eyes glared at SG-1 and it growled softly. Next was a small alien that vaguely reminded SG-1 of the Asgard with its frail build and large, black eyes. However, unlike the Asgard, this alien was orange, had an elongated head and two horns, one of which seemed to have been cut off. It had also been in an altercation, if the scars on its face were any indication. Finally, there was the most unusual figure of all: A robot with a gaping hole in its chest and what looked like a head made out of a flashlight.

"Hello, I'm Commander Shepard," Shepard finally said after SG-1 had finished gawking at her team. "I'm guessing that you're the famous SG-1 I've heard so much about."

"We are," Sam said, standing up. "I'm Colonel Samantha Carter. I just wanted to thank you for the assistance you gave yesterday."

"You're welcome," Shepard said. "You're one of the few people who've thanked me for my work," she observed.

"I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson," Daniel said. "Thanks for saving us back there. I hope you won't be leaving us too soon."

"I'm not sure, Doctor Jackson," Shepard said honestly. "Our technical problems might leave us stranded here for a while."

"What sort of technical problems?" Sam asked, intrigued. When Shepard did not answer, General Hammond spoke up.

"Commander Shepard, Colonel Carter has the highest security clearance in the world," he said. "And she is one of the top minds in quantum physics. I assure you, if anyone can solve your problem, she can."

"I'll think about it," Shepard said. Teal'c stood up and bowed his head.

"I am Teal'c," the dark jaffa said, "and I too wish to convey my gratitude for your assistance against Anubis."

"You're welcome, Teal'c," Shepard said, returning the bow. The man in the television cleared his throat, turning attention to him.

"Commander Shepard, I'm President Henry Hayes," he said. "I too wish to thank you for all that you have done for us. The people of this planet owe you a great debt that we can never repay."

"I think I'll find some way to cash it in," Shepard said. "Okay, my turn for introductions. This is my executive officer, Miranda Lawson," she said, gesturing to the busty woman in black.

"A pleasure to meet you," she said in a thick Australian accent.

"My armorer, Jacob Taylor," Shepard continued, pointing to the black man. He saluted SG-1, but said nothing. "Kasumi Goto, infiltration and retrieval specialist," she described the hooded woman.

"Konichiwa," Kasumi said, bowing.

"Konichiwa," Daniel replied, returning the bow.

"My gunnery officer, Garrus Vakarian," Shepard said, pointing to the alien in blue armor. It responded in a strange sound, like a cross between a growl and a trill. SG-1 was so used to hearing aliens speaking English that this alien speaking its native language took them by surprise. "My chief engineer, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy," Shepard continued with the alien in the mask.

"You can just call me Tali," she said in clear, if heavily accented English, further surprising SG-1.

"Wait, how come she can speak English but he can't?" Daniel asked, pointing to Garrus. Shepard frowned in confusion at his question, but realization slowly dawned on her face and she smacked her forehead with the heel of her hand.

"Damn, I forgot," she muttered. "Where I'm from, everybody has a translator that eliminates the need to learn each others' languages; I forgot that you don't have those. Sorry about that," she said.

"And I have a translator integrated into my helmet," Tali said, tapping the part of her mask where her mouth would be. "It's helpful if another person's translator malfunctions."

"That sounds like it'd be useful," Sam said, intrigued.

"Yeah, it is," Shepard agreed. "Back on track, though. Grunt, my close combat specialist," she said, pointing to the large reptilian figure. It let out a series of growls and barks, and Shepard scowled at it. "Grunt, behave," she admonished the towering being. Grunt made a low growl, but otherwise kept silent. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Shepard pointed to the Asgard-like alien. "Professor Mordin Solus, biochemical engineer," she introduced. Mordin began to speak in short bursts of clicks and pops, while Shepard rolled her eyes again; apparently this was not the first time that this had happened. Ten seconds later, Shepard politely asked Mordin to be quiet, and he eventually did. "Finally, Legion, my cyber-warfare specialist," she concluded, gesturing to the Geth.

"Greetings," the robot stated in its mechanical monotone.

"Well, that's quite the diverse crew you have there, Commander," President Hayes said.

"Thank you, Mister President," Shepard said. "They are diverse, but they're the best at what they do, and I only hire the best."

"The best at what, exactly?" Sam asked, confused. Shepard gave a large, toothy grin that, when combined with her scars and eyes, made her seem ever so frightening.

"Whatever needs doing," she answered cryptically. For a moment, nobody spoke and the tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Finally, Shepard spoke again. "All right, I know what to do with my favor now," she said.

"And what's that?" President Hayes asked.

"I'm sure my crew can figure out how to fix our little problem eventually," Shepard said, "but if Colonel Carter is as good as General Hammond says she is, I won't turn down her help. In addition, I'm going to need a few things: Alloys, mostly, as well as certain kinds of food. Garrus and Tali have special diets that can't be met on Earth, so we need to harvest it off-world. Unless you've got a magic machine in a basement somewhere that can make something out of nothing," she continued, laughing at her own little joke.

"We don't," General Hammond said, "but we can put in some calls to see if we can't arrange something." Shepard stopped laughing when she saw the serious expressions on everyone's faces.

"You're serious," she said. When they nodded, she added, "Well, these are going to be some interesting times…."

And that's the end of chapter four. Sorry that it's mostly talking, but that's just how it goes sometimes. I hope that you enjoyed it anyway.

For those who don't remember, P3R-233 was the planet where the reality-hopping mirror was introduced in SG-1 episode 1.20 – There But for the Grace of God.

Edited 5/10/10 to clean up a section.