Stargate Command
Cheyenne Mountain, CO
August 1, 1997

The military hop to Peterson Air Force Base had been uneventful and Sam was grateful for it, as it had given her the opportunity to process what had happened and allowed her to go over the information she had about the SGC, its personnel and missions. To say she had been shocked to come home in the early morning hours to find a message summoning her to the Pentagon on her answering machine would be an understatement. It had only been a few days ago that her CO, Colonel Kennedy, had sent her home for a week's leave. But the message had sounded urgent enough for her to call Colonel Kennedy's assistant right away and to her surprise, she had been told to come in ASAP!

The shower she had taken at Jack's had saved her time getting ready and all she needed to do was put on a bit of makeup, blow-dry her hair and change into her dress blues. Thirty minutes later she had reported to Kennedy, who had been his charming self and told her that while she – more likely her achievements – would be missed, she was being temporarily transferred to Colorado Springs to be on an off-world team at the SGC! If all went well, it could become a permanent assignment or she could at least get stationed at the SGC's science department rather than go back to the Pentagon!

"I will take you to General Hammond's office, Ma'am," the security force's guard who'd been assigned as her guide said.

"Is there some kind of emergency, Sergeant? Is that why I was sent here immediately?"

The man smiled apologetically as he escorted her to the second elevator. "Above my pay grade, Ma'am."

Normally, it would take a few weeks for the paperwork to come through and Sam hated mysteries she couldn't solve. For some reason they needed her expertise and she wasn't about to say no after pleading for a transfer here for months. Fortunately, in the hopes of getting her transfer requests approved, she had kept up her physical condition as well as her firearms, hand-to-hand combat and medical field training, so she figured she was about as prepared as she could be. "Well, it doesn't look like the fate of the planet is at stake," she said when they exited the elevator and all was quiet in the corridor.

"General Hammond will be able to tell you more, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Now that she was actually here Sam felt nervous and a bit giddy too, excited at the prospect of traveling to another planet. Even when she had been a little girl she had dreamed of going into space – becoming an astronaut. That dream had been put on hold after the Challenger Disaster and instead she had entered the military, knowing she could join NASA as an Air Force nominee if the shuttle Program was reinstated at a later date.

Of course, once she had learned the purpose of the Stargate she had been determined to join one of the off-world teams. Unfortunately, all her requests for reassignment had been rejected up until now.

In an attempt to calm her nerves she smoothed her hands down her uniform and tried to recall what she knew about the SGC and the base itself, mentally citing each level's facilities as the car passed them. She couldn't help but wonder what her role here was going to be; Colonel Kennedy had said it was temporary but that might change.

"The General's office is just up ahead, Ma'am."

Sam took a deep breath to steel her nerves and followed the man. At least all the excitement of her new assignment had barely allowed her more than a fleeting thought of the night she had spent with her handsome stranger and the fact that she had been far too reluctant to leave him in his hotel room for a simple one-night stand. There had been chemistry between her and Jack, but the connection she had felt with him as the night progressed had scared her; she liked him far too much for a fling!

"General Hammond's office, Ma'am."

Startled from her thoughts, Sam looked at the SF and nodded her thanks before dismissing him. After running her hands through her hair and hoping her makeup covered the fact that she hadn't slept much last night, she knocked on the door.

"Enter!"

She opened the door and walked up to the desk, behind which a portly balding man with a friendly face and two stars on each shoulder was sitting. Her eyes quickly darted to the nameplate – Major General G. Hammond – on the desk before standing at attention and saluting. "Captain Samantha Carter reporting as ordered, Sir."

Hammond stood and returned the salute. "At ease, Captain. Normally I would make some small talk and allow you to settle in while familiarizing yourself with the base but unfortunately we're on a tight schedule, so if you'll excuse me I'd like to get straight to the point."

"Of course, Sir."

He got out from behind his desk and gestured for her to follow him to the briefing room. "I'm aware of the work you've done for this Program even before there really was a Program, Captain, and it's a pleasure to finally meet you and," he walked over the large window, "be able to show you the fruits of your labor in action."

Curiosity piqued, Sam joined his side. Below was the 'gate room, with a prominent place for the Stargate. She could see the iris she had designed was closed and behind it and the Stargate the blue light of the event horizon shimmered on the wall. There wasn't a team waiting in front of the ramp, which probably meant someone else had dialed in from off-world – probably a scheduled check-in considering the General's lack of concern. "It's fascinating, Sir."

"I thought you might say that," he smiled. "You are the foremost expert on the Stargate, after all."

"And yet I've never been in the same room with it." Realizing how she sounded, Sam's eyes widened and she turned back to the General. "That came out wrong and I apologize, Sir. I just meant that this is the closest I've ever been to the Stargate and-"

Hammond chuckled softly and waved off her apology. "No need to apologize, Captain. I know what you meant. Don't worry," he continued, eyes twinkling, "soon you'll have all the time you want to examine it up close."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Well, I'm sure you're curious about your sudden TDY to one of our off-world teams after your previous reassignment requests were denied…"

She flushed in embarrassment at learning he was aware of her attempts to get stationed here and hoped he wasn't the one who had been behind the rejections – she had always assumed it was her CO at the Pentagon or even the Joint Chiefs of Staff – because that didn't bode well for a future for her at the SGC.

"… and let me assure you this had nothing to do with any shortcomings on your side. As a matter of fact, it was because of your accomplishments and skills that the brass preferred to keep you away from my base; unlike most of my people a genius of your caliber is not so replaceable. Don't get me wrong, I have some of the best men and women the Air Force has to offer under my command but most of their skills are in the field, whereas your brain and your work behind the scenes makes you invaluable to this Program. The President and the Joint Chiefs weren't willing to risk losing you on some backwater planet simply because you wanted to experience the thrill of traveling to other planets."

Damn, it had started out so well, Sam thought dismayed. Of course she was aware of the risks off-world missions would bring and it wasn't just her adrenalin-junkie-nature that made her want to go through the 'gate; she honestly thought she could make a difference on an SG team! Already there had been several missions where the teams had barely escaped with their lives due to some idiot pushing the wrong button or being unable to disable a piece of alien technology or returned empty-handed because they didn't know how to disarm and retrieve some alien space gun… "I see," she said slowly, after realizing the base commander was waiting for an answer. "With all due respect, Sir, then why am I here now?"

General Hammond turned to her. "Well, some people think your potential is wasted at the Pentagon. Being here at the SGC would be more dangerous but it would also allow you to work directly with alien technology and an off-world team would give you some more experience in the field. The President and JCS are considering giving Area 51 a larger role in the future too, with our alien artifacts and technology being sent there for further examination once the scientists here have had a look at it. That could be an option for you too – working at Area 51 – but wouldn't give you any real field experience. Right now it is still unclear where the Air Force needs you to be and in the meantime I was hoping to make use of your skills and intellect, Captain."

"By temporarily assigning me to an SG team." Sam still wasn't sure why the higher-ups would have agreed to it if they were indeed concerned about her getting killed off-world but she wasn't going to argue against the decision.

"To SG-7 to be exact. So far it's our only science team, if you will. Unfortunately the previous members of SG-7 were all killed on Hanka by the Goa'uld Nirrti and their next mission was scheduled for next week. The science team is one of the few teams that often go on long-term missions to observe alien phenomena, do mineral studies and examine alien technology after a first-contact team has established relations with the natives."

She had heard about what happened to SG-7 from Doctor Fraiser when the base CMO had asked the Pentagon's Xenophysics department – where they did all things Stargate-related – for help on the alien girl with the bomb in her chest. Sam had been the one assisting her in her research over the phone.

"Their missions are deemed relatively safe compared to the other recon teams, with the only risks being an unexpected Goa'uld attack so far, although they have also accompanied some of our medical personnel off-world when necessary in the past. The new leader of SG-7 and your commanding officer is Lieutenant Colonel Grieves; his experience is mostly in special ops and he has just been transferred here after a brief stint at Stargate Mission Analysis at the Pentagon," Hammond explained.

She knew about the project at the Pentagon – technically it fell under her department - but the name of her new CO meant nothing to her. Hopefully he wasn't an ass like Colonel Kennedy or some of the other male commanders she'd had during the Gulf War, though. "What about the rest of my team, Sir?"

"Lieutenant Isaacs has been temporarily assigned here as well, his field experience is slim but he has degrees in meteorology and geology, both of which will probably be needed in your upcoming mission. Airman Adams is your fourth member, chosen because of his potential and field medical training. The previous team had an officer with a medical degree but for now we are experimenting with the composition of this team; hopefully you can all learn something of each other's specialty until we can find more combat-trained scientists qualified in the various areas we need to add to other SG teams."

"You want to rotate us among the nine teams, Sir?"

Hammond smiled and started leading her towards the corridor. "Yes, once our new budget gets approved we want to hire more scientists, both military and civilians. For now the doctors and nurses will all remain on base unless they are needed off-world. We will start training more field medics among the SG teams and hopefully someone like Lieutenant Isaacs can teach you and others about what kind of soil samples or atmospheric readings will be helpful for further examination on base and how to take them."

Sam nodded in understanding as they entered the elevator. "And you want me to teach him how to take energy readings, disable power cores and-"

"Yes, your knowledge of engineering and astrophysics would be beneficial to the entire Program and especially the teams who actually go through the 'gate. It is not unlike Doctor Jackson sharing his knowledge of the language of the Goa'uld and other alien races and cultures with the other teams. Most of our teams have at least one member who goes to Doctor Jackson's courses and he is also sharing his knowledge with the other scientists in the archeology, anthropology and linguistics department. The year he lived on Abydos has taught him a lot about how the Goa'uld language and its dialects are spoken aloud and it has proven most useful on missions."

"Is anyone on my team following these courses by Doctor Jackson?"

The General shook his head as the car started its ascent to level twenty-one. "No, the Lieutenant has only just joined us and Adams was reassigned here almost two months ago but he at least tagged along on several missions to learn from the more experienced teams. As you may know Doctor Jackson is part of the flagship team, SG-1, and their mission schedule has been busy as of late."

Of course she knew he was part of SG-1, having read many of their mission reports and even exchanging emails with Doctor Jackson, but the base commander probably wasn't aware of it this. "Isn't there also a Jaffa on SG-1, Sir?"

"Teal'c of Chulak, former First Prime of Apophis," he confirmed. "I'm sure you will meet him soon enough – he's hard to miss."

She had read some of his mission reports and explanations about Goa'uld and Jaffa society, as well as the reports about the larval Goa'uld he – and every other adult Jaffa – carried in his stomach pouch. Most of the latter had been written by the medical staff who had done exams on both the Jaffa and his prim'ta, as it was called. "Jaffa have a forehead tattoo of the Goa'uld they serve, right Sir?"

"I see you've done your research, Captain. And yes, you're correct but in the case of First Primes they aren't regular ink tattoos – they're gold." Hammond smiled when the elevator came to a halt and gestured for her to follow him. "Normally my second-in-command would show you around, give you a proper introduction to the SGC and probably leave you with Doctor Jackson for a history lesson but unfortunately Jack is meeting with the President and the JCS in Washington DC. They wanted an in-person report about the Hathor ordeal and what security measures are to be taken to prevent another Goa'uld from entering the facility so easily. He'll be returning later today and no doubt in a foul mood after spending two days in DC, but I couldn't go myself. You will probably already be off-world when he comes back, though."

"Sir, I thought your second-in-command was Colonel John O'Neill?" It wasn't her habit to interrupt superior officers but she was confused; in all the reports she had read SG-1 had been Teal'c, Doctor Jackson, Lieutenant Kershaw and Colonel O'Neill, and O'Neill was both leader of the flagship team as well as the base's 2IC.

There was a brief frown on Hammond's face before it cleared and he nodded. "You're correct, Captain, but Colonel O'Neill goes by 'Jack'."

Holy Hannah! Sam froze in the middle of the entry door to the infirmary, suddenly finding herself back in that hotel room. Jack… Air Force… a meeting with his superiors… hates DC… Could it be…? No wonder she had thought he looked familiar! Oh God, what had she done?!

"Captain?" The base commander seemed concerned but he obviously had no clue as to her epiphany. "Don't worry about your lack of off-world training; we chose you on the team because of your combat experience among other things. We're not expecting any trouble and the natives were reportedly friendly enough but in the event something unexpected would happen, I'm sure you can handle it. Now, if that's all," he glanced at his watch, "I will leave you here in the capable hands of our CMO, Doctor Fraiser, for your pre-mission check-up. The mission briefing is in an hour and a half and you will depart shortly thereafter, so make sure you have some food in your stomach. My people say it helps against the nausea, especially on first time trips."

"Right, um, yes, Sir. I'll be fine. Thanks."

"There are personnel quarters on level twenty-five and one has been prepared for you, Captain. If you had any personal items on you at the entrance of the mountain then you will find them there, along with a new pair of BDUs and combat boots."

Sam nodded, her mind still half on Jack and what the possible fallout of her little fling with him would have for her career at the SGC. "Thank you, Sir."

"You'll be fine, Captain. I will see you and your team at the briefing." Hammond was already leaving when he turned around and smiled enigmatically at her. "Oh and I read your report about research into alternative applications for the Stargate. Personally, I found the part about time travel very intriguing."

Before she could assure him that time travel was out of the question until they mastered the technique of predicting solar flares – which was impossible at their current level of technology – and determine how far one would send them back or forward into time when intersecting with a wormhole, Hammond had already turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

Deciding she might as well get this over with as soon as possible she entered the infirmary and made a mental note to look up Colonel O'Neill's file with, hopefully, a current picture, just to make sure she wasn't imagining things…