Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain
Lieutenant Alice Riley stood in the briefing room of the SGC, she had been scheduled to go out with SG4 before General Hammond had pulled her off the mission with no explanation. Silently she paced up and down the room occasionally glancing out of the window at the Stargate, she was starting to feel nervous, being pulled off missions generally didn't bode well. She dragged her hands through her golden-brown hair, pulling strands loose from her bun.
Alice Riley was - in her mind at least - a pretty ordinary girl. She was 24, petite but very tone. It usually gave her an advantage when sparring as people generally underestimated her strength. Nervously she paced back and forth in front of the large window that looked over the gateroom. It wasn't often people got pulled off missions, and it usually wasn't good news. Biting down on her nails, she caught site of her reflection in the window, her bright green eyes were narrowed into a frown and her lips were pulled into a tight line. Growing up she'd always been told she wasn't pretty by the other girls in her school, but she always seemed to be noticable. Something she'd learnt to use to her advantage. She wasn't sure why she was thinking about this now, anything to take her mind off the situation she supposed.
A dozen different missions flashed through her mind, anything that might have caused her to be reprimanded. Her head snapped up and immediately her body stood at attention as she heard the door open, General Hammond walked in followed by General O'Neill, who gestured to take a seat "please Lieutenant sit down."
Nodding, Alice pulled out the closest chair and took a seat. She couldn't stop her knee from shaking up and down as she waited for either General to speak.
"Lieutenant Riley" General Hammond looked directly at Alice, "we've been reviewing your recent mission files, as well as your recent review from your team leader." Hammond paused for a second, Alice didn't realise she had been holding her breath until she felt her chest aching for air. Taking in a breath she tried to analyse the General's face for any clue as to what was about to come.
"Yes" General O'Neill jumped in after Hammond gave him a pointed look "um… we would like to talk to you about re-assingment." Alice's hands were clammy at this point. "As you know we recently discovered the gate address to the lost city of the Ancients, and we would like to offer you a position on the team."
Alice's jaw dropped, O'Neill looked between her and Hammond "Oh… and we are also promoting you to the rank of Captain. Y'know if you decide to take the job."
It all seemed to good to be true, Alice shook her head slightly trying to straighten out her thoughts. "I…um…Tha…Thank you Generals for the offer, but can i ask why this is an offer and you haven't just re-assigned me?"
O'Neill coughed uncomfortably, "good question" turning to Hammond he not so quietly whispered "see i told you she was good"
Hammond gave O'Neill a disapproving look, "Lieutenant, because this is highly likely a one-way mission we are offering all personnel recommended for the mission the opportunity to decline."
Alice's forehead creased as she considered the weight of his words. Hammond continued "We know this isn't a decision to take lightly, so take some time to cons-"
"I would be honoured to be a part of the Atlantis mission" She interrupted, already solid in her resolve. This could be the fresh start she'd been wishing for. A way to be free of the ghosts that haunted her. Not to mention being one of the first to explore another galaxy, she just couldn't refuse.
Hammond looked slightly taken back, but O'Neill was smirking as though this was exactly what he'd expected all along. "Welcome aboard Captain Riley." He smiled as he enunciated her new title and Alice couldn't help feel a sense of pride at it. "You'll be under the command of Colonel Sumner and the expedition is departing in one week. Please make any necessary arrangements and report back to the SGC in 4 days for pre-mission briefing. As of this moment you're no longer a member of SG-4." O'Neill stood up and offered his hand across the table to Alice. "Welcome aboard." Hammond still looked shell shocked at what was happening.
Alice stood up quickly and accepted his hand. Then stepped back and saluted, before exiting the room. As soon as she made it out the door she lent back against the wall and grinned. Despite the fact she knew she was just running away from her problems, it felt good.
One week later
Alice looked around the hallway leading to the gateroom, people were moving about everywhere, checking equipment and talking to each other. She had to duck, dash and dodge with every step she took to avoid crashing into something or someone.
Everyone seemed to be speaking a variety of different languages, some of which she had never heard before. Her entire nervous system felt like it was on overdrive, she hadn't felt this invigorated since she'd first found out about the gate.
When she finally made it into the gateroom, her attention focused on a man in a yellow uniform - each division had been given their own color, yellow was for medical personnel - he was arguing with one of the military personnel dressed in black, same as her. She opened her mouth and put her right foot forward, but before she could intervene the two broke apart and things calmed down.
"Colonel" a man's voice sounded just to Alice's left. Turning, she saw a new soldier walk in and address Sumner. He was a typical build for a pilot; average height, but well built and carried himself with a certain air of cockiness. Sumner gave him a disapproving look before turning his attention away.
Alice had been in all the military personnel briefings for the last few days, but she didn't recognise the new arrival. She noticed his rank next, Major. This wasn't unexpected, although Alice had only recently been made Captain on this expedition most of the military personnel were made up of enlisted, there were very few officers. Before the Major walked in Alice had been the 4th highest ranking military officer.
The man looked around the gateroom with a certain awe that Alice had only seen in new recruits. He caught Alice's eye and slowly made his way over to her. She dipped her head politely at him. "Hello Major, you look like this is your first time seeing the Stargate." But before he could respond, their expedition leader, Dr. Weir, stepped through the doorway and called everyone to attention. Alice felt her skin start to tingle in anticipation.
Standing up on the ramp she began addressing the group, "Alright, here we go. We are about to try to make a connection. We have been unable to predict exactly how much power this is gonna take and we may only get the one chance at this, so if we are able to achieve a stable wormhole, we're not gonna risk shutting the Gate down. We'll send in the M.A.L.P robot probe, check for viability and go. Everything in one shot. Now, every one of you volunteered for this mission and you represent over a dozen countries. You are the world's best and brightest; and in light of the adventure we are about to embark on, you are also the bravest. I hope we all return one day having discovered a whole new realm for humanity to explore, but as all of you know, we may never be able to return home. I'd like to offer you all one last chance to withdraw your participation." Alice looked around the room and saw the Major doing the same, no one moved. Weir smiled and directed her gaze up to the control room "Begin the dialling sequence."
Alarms started ringing and Weir headed back to the control room. The Major turned to Alice "Major John Sheppard, and this is actually my first time seeing the gate"
Alice's face twitched in slight shock, "really?" She wasn't sure why but she'd assumed most if not all the military personnel had either received or been part of SG teams prior to this expedition. Before she could ask any more questions, approaching footsteps alerted Alice to the arrival of Colonel Sumner. He acknowledged her with a curt nod of his head then turned his body to face Sheppard.
"Let me make myself clear, Major …" His tone was dark and low.
Feeling uncomfortable Alice took a few steps back, in the process accidentally knocking into someone. Slightly flustered Alice spun around and looked at the person "Sorry Lieutenant, i wasn't looking where i was going."
The young man looked up and had a goofy smile on his face "no worries Cap, no damage done."
Alice smiled "Nice to see you Ford", Lt Ford had been a part of the SGC for about the same time she had. They'd run one or two joint ops before but she'd gotten to know him better over the past week's briefings. "you ready?"
Ford shook his head "are you?" He cocked an eyebrow.
Alice knew what he meant, they'd all agreed to this but the prospect that in the next few minutes they could be travelling to another galaxy with the prospect of never coming home was slightly daunting.
The whoosh of the Stargate made Alice turn away from Ford and back to the gate. No matter how many times she'd been through the gate it still never managed to leave her awe inspired. The MALP moved through the gate, Alice gave Ford a grin as she bounced on the spot in excitement. They were really doing this. She was really doing this.
She watched as the Colonel touched his ear and nod "Let's go, people. We don't know how much time we've got." Sumner and a few marines headed up the ramp. "Security teams one and two, you're up first. All other personnel will follow on our signal. Once on the other side, keep moving, clear the debarkation area. On my lead."
Alice checked her equipment quickly, her and Ford were both part of Security team 2. Major Sheppard moved towards her slightly as Sumner and Sec1 stormed up the ramp.
"Hold on, Colonel." Weir walked up the ramp behind Sumner, grabbing her backpack on the way. "We go through together."
Sumner didn't seem impressed, but he didn't stop her. Together they walked to the top of the ramp with Sec1 and then stepped into the wormhole.
Alice, Sheppard and Ford all stepped up and began to walk up the gate. Sheppard looked at the wormhole with a concerned face "what's it feel like?"
Ford's face took on a serious expression. "Hurts like hell, sir." A second later he grinned and jumped back into the gate.
"Don't worry sir, just remember to exhale before you step through" Alice gave him a slightly sympathetic look, before she followed after Ford.
Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy
The city was bigger than Alice ever could have imagined. She'd been to the Ancient Outpost in Antarctica and she hadn't expected anything bigger than that. But from what they'd seen so far it looked bigger than even the SGC.
She'd taken Sec2 and started scouting the area below the gateroom. So far there was no sign of any hostiles, and the city seemed to be reacting to their presence. But that wasn't was stopped Alice dead in her tracks. They'd discovered a large window at the end of a hallway looking out over the submerged city. Alice felt her throat tighten. "Colonel Sumner, this is Captain Riley, i need you to come down and see this, I'm three levels below the control room."
The radio crackled in her ear "on my way Captain." Alice and the marines behind her shifted their weight uneasily as they waited for Sumner to join them. She knew this wasn't what they'd been expecting and it wasn't good. Sumner arrived and his eyes went straight to the window.
His eyebrows knotted together and he had the same look on his face as Alice and the marines, he reached down and pushed the button on his radio "Doctor Weir. Major Sheppard. Can you come down and meet me, please? We're three levels down from you."
It didn't take long till Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard appeared. Weir moved past her and the marines straight to Sumner's side. Sheppard stopped beside Alice and gave her a small smile.
"Oh my God." Alice looked away from him as Weir approached the window, Sheppard stepped up to look for himself. "We're under water."
"I'd say we're under several hundred feet of ocean. If we can't dial out, this could be a problem. Riley, Fawkes take your teams and report to Bates in the control room."
Alice nodded and began walking back towards the gateroom, stepping out of the way as a man she recognised as Dr. Mckay ran past her.
Back in the control room
Alice was checking in with the various teams around the city, Sumner had just given the order to fall back to the gateroom. Though Alice wasn't quite sure why. Just as she finished radioing the final team, Sumner's voice crackled to life in her ear "Captain Riley, Lieutenant Ford, gather security teams one and two. Everyone gear up."
"Yes sir, we'll be ready to move out in 5." Alice nodded to Ford and gathered her teams down in the gateroom as Sumner and Sheppard ran down the stairs to meet them. From what she could tell it wasn't Sumner's idea for Sheppard to join them, but Alice was intrigued. There had to be some reason he'd been selected for this expedition, and a mission was the perfect way to find out.
Ford handed her a pair of night vision goggles, which she slipped onto her head. Looking around both teams were now fully geared up. "Ready sir."
Sumner raised his gun and took the lead, Sheppard cocked his eyebrows before raising his own gun. Every action he made seemed to be an affront to authority and it amused her a lot. Letting out a breathy laugh she pulled down her goggles and stepped through the gate.
Alien planet
As they seen in the MALP report the planet was pitch black with no built up structures surrounding the gate. The ground was soft beneath her boots and the long grass brushed against her legs.
"Sheppard, you, Ford and Riley take positions on the left" Sumner kept his voice low as he called out orders. Alice lifted her hand to show she heard and fell into step behind the Major. Cautiously they moved forward towards the tree line. The Major stayed in a low crouch as he led them forward in line with Sumner's team on their right.
After running into a few local children, the team followed their father, who had introduced himself as Halling, back to his village to trade with their leader.
Sumner walked ahead beside Halling with Sec1 a few steps behind, whilst Alice, Sheppard and Ford followed behind with the two kids.
"So, Riley is it?" Sheppard asked her quietly as the group moved in the dark.
"Yes sir, Captain Alice Riley" Alice looked over to him, offering him a small smile.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you Riley. Any idea what we might be looking at here" he gestured with his P90 to Halling.
Alice shook her head "sorry Major, your guess is as good as mine. I'm used to things being a bit more ancient egypt-y."
Sheppard gave her a confused look, which made sense as he probably knew next to nothing about the Goa'uld. "So... how long you been doing this?"
"As in, exploring other worlds?" Alice was amused, Sheppard seemed to be a very different kind of officer to the ones she was used to. Although, he was starting to remind her slightly of General O'Neill. "About two years now, though I was originally assigned as the research attaché for SG-11 before being promoted and joining SG4."
Sheppard nodded, though she wasn't sure if he really understood what she was saying. But before he could say anything else, he was distracted by one of the kids, Jinto, asking about his night vision goggles. She couldn't help but snicker at his Star Wars reference, Sheppard narrowed his eyes at her, her giggle then turned into a cough.
Once they'd arrived at the village, Alice was put on guard position by the main entrance as Sheppard and Ford followed Sumner into the main tent.
She hated guard duty, and didn't understand why Ford was allowed in with the Colonel and the Major and she wasn't. It was probably something stupid and old fashion because she was a women.
Pacing around her position she listened for any signs of movement. It had been a couple of hours and the sun had started rising. Sumner had left the tent a few minutes ago and was now looking out over at an Ancient moment sticking out from the ground with Bates. They hadn't been able to see it in the dark. Alice kicked a stone nearby and watched as it flew down the small hill.
Ford had headed back to the gate and Sheppard had gone off with the leader Teyla, a beautiful red headed woman who looked like someone Alice wouldn't want to mess with. "Perimeter teams check in" Alice called into her radio, listening to the various teams report no updates.
The sun had began setting when Colonel Sumner announced he was heading back to the village. The ruins must have been shielded as they'd not been able to make contact with them for a few hours. Apparently they'd found nothing in the old ruins, but it could be a good alpha site.
Although her radio was on, she had tuned out the chatter that was happening, Ford was updating Sumner about Sheppard. That was until she heard Ford shouting into her ear "Colonel. Three bandits on your way."
Alice reacted instantly. "Perimeter teams go to defense positions, prepare for incoming hostiles." Moving quickly she headed towards the village entrance, just as she heard a feint buzzing noise.
That's when everything turned to chaos. Three planes tore through the sky above them, Alice and the other marines opened fire but their bullets seemed to just bounce off the armour.
The planes headed straight into the village and that's when people started screaming and disappearing, "Fawkes, Bates, report." But all she got in response was loud screaming. Though she heard Bates shouting that the Colonel had been taken. Cursing to herself she opened fire on the aircraft above.
But still her bullets seemed to have no impact. "Get down!" Ford yelled grabbing the back of Alice's vest and throwing both of them down into the dirt as one of the aircraft crashed, showering them in dirt. By the time Alice looked up and wiped the dirt from her eyes the aircraft were gone.
Clenching her fist she pounded it into the ground. "Dammit." Shuffling to her feet, she raised her gun at the crashed ship by her. "Ford..." The ship's cockpit was open and sparks of electricity were flying out. As far as she could tell the pilot had been either thrown from the wreck or ejected as there was no sign of it.
"Captain..." Ford's voice wavered as he called out. Alice raised her head and carefully stepped through the debris to where Ford was standing. His arms were tensed as he pointed his gun down at the ground.
Following his eyeline, she realised why he was tense laying on the ground was a grey-blue hand that had been severed just above the wrist amongst the debris. The strange part though was it was still moving. "What the hell..."
Atlantis
Alice, followed Sheppard and survivors from the village through the gate. Now that the Colonel was gone, the Major was the highest ranking military officer, which meant whatever he said goes as far as Alice was concerned.
As soon as she was back into the gateroom people came rushing in after her scared and anxious. "Riley, get these people out of the way and standby for further orders." Sheppard called out to her from somewhere across the crowd. Alice obliged and immediately began ushering people over to the side of the gateroom and down one of the corridors. She could hear shouting happening above in the control room, then everything started shaking.
"Everyone grab onto something!" Alice yelled down at the civilians. Gear and equipment started falling around them. Alice stumbled back through into the main room bracing herself against the staircase as the vibrations grew more violent. Just when she was sure the city was going to tear apart under her sunlight began streaming through what she now realised were windows above her. Gasping, she slowly stood up as the shaking subdued.
"Riley! Everyone down there alright?" Sheppard's voice rang out from the control area above her.
Alice let go of the stairs and gave the Athosian's around her a quick once over. Though they looked shaken, no one seemed injured. "Yes sir, we're all good" She stepped around the corner to see him moving towards the stairs just as a door opened up next to him leading outside. Weir and Sheppard headed out there, her expression was serious. It seemed like Sheppard was about to get an earful, and she was glad that she wasn't in his position.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and decided on a plan of action. Grabbing her gear from the floor, she radioed for the security teams to check for any structural damages and to get any injured personnel to the medical teams.
Just as she was satisfied her teams were getting to work and she started to look around the gateroom to see if anyone here needed assistance, Sheppard walked down the steps towards her. Alive stood at attention. "Major, I've tasked security teams with damage control and getting any injured to the medical teams."
Sheppard seemed distracted, but gave her a curt nod "Good work Riley," he started to walk past her, but then stopped and turned back. "Can i ask you something Captain?"
"Sure thing, what's on your mind?" Alice tilted her head, looking into Sheppard's eyes, noticing for the first time the green tint to his hazel eyes.
"How well did you know Colonel Sumner?"
Alice shook her head slightly, and turned her gaze to the floor. "Sorry sir, this is the first time i've worked with him." Sheppard huffed and as Alice looked back up to his face, just nodded. "Sir, I know you're planning a rescue mission. I want to come along." She could see in his eyes this was what he was planning, with or without Weir's permission.
"Sorry Riles, you're now one of the senior military officers on the base, I need you here to manage the set up."
Alice raised her eyebrows at the new nickname he had given her. "But sir…" Sheppard's look was enough to stop her. She raised her chin. "understood Major."
Sheppard smiled and began heading over to Lt. Ford and telling him to gear up. Alice huffed silently, she didn't like being left out, especially when people's lives depended on it. But there wasn't time for self pity, people needed help and they'd be looking to the military personnel for guidance. She knew the priorities, it had been drilled into her since she first started at the SGC - security, shelter, food, water and oxygen. Not to mention taking care of anyone who was injured in the shaking or on the planet.
Straightening her jacket she headed for one of the men in a yellow jacket. "Dr. Beckett?" Although she knew most of the military personnel, she'd only read the civilian manifest briefly. The man shook his head but pointed towards another man with dark brown hair a short distance down the hall.
"Excuse me, are you Dr. Beckett?" The man was bandaging up one of the scientists.
"Aye, who's asking?" His eyes didn't leave his patient
"Captain Alice Riley, I've been put in charge of getting the base sorted." Alice glanced around her, everywhere people were rushing past with heavy equipment.
"Nice to meet you lass, what can i do for you?" Beckett finished his bandaging "This is all wrapped up, try not to let anything else fall on you now." The scientist mumbled a quick thanks and started moving away. Alice stepped aside to let him past, Beckett now directed his attention to her "well you're not exactly what i was expecting…" He seemed slightly taken back as he looked her up and down, realising what he said he started stuttering a bit "i mean, sorry, you're just so young"
"No worries doc, i get it a lot" Alice smiled and brushed a strand of her brown hair that had gotten loose from her bun off her face. "One of the security teams found what they think is an infirmary, it's been cleared and i thought you might want to check it out and see if it's suitable."
"Sounds good lass, I'll grab my team and check it out. We need to start examining that thing you brought back from the planet too." Beckett touched his radio and began moving towards another cluster of yellow jackets.
Alice shuddered at the memory of the severed hand, Ford and her had found next to the crashed dart. "Let me know if you need anything." The doctor just nodded and started gathering his team together.
Alice stepped aside and moved onto her next thing on her mental checklist.
—-
Everything had started coming together, Alice had her teams continuing their security sweeps, whilst other personnel were starting to set up communal and research stations. She'd started heading back to the control room to see if there was any update from Sheppard's team.
"Dr McKay" Alice acknowledged the scientist sitting at one of the primary consoles.
"Ah Captain Riley right?" McKay looked up and pointed towards the console next to him. "If i remember correctly you have a degree in astrophysics, right?"
Alice rubbed her hands together nervously. "Only a BSC though sir, but i am quite familiar with the ancient language" she had a feeling this was McKay's way of validating the ability of people.
"That'll do, can you sit there and see if you can find anything relating to the wraith" McKay returned to what he was working on.
"No problem sir" Alice unzipped her flak jacket and took a seat by the console "While i'm thinking about it sir, has there been any word from Major Sheppard's team?"
McKay didn't even acknowledge her question. "No Captain, no word yet." Dr Weir said as she walked across from her office to the control centre. "How's the set up going?"
Alice dipped her head respectfully. "So far so good ma'am, we've got teams securing the immediate area around the control room and most of the civilian scientists are finding areas to set up their basic labs." Alice looked down at the controls in front of her. "How long until their scheduled check in ma'am?"
"Elizabeth is fine, and they're now overdue." Elizabeth turned towards the gate, Alice could tell she was feeling nervous as well.
Alice had her head down in the console, as far as she could tell from what she'd translated, this station controlled the basic internal city functions. It didn't take her long to get internal comms up and running, making it a lot easier to keep in touch with all her teams exploring the city.
Just as she started diving deeper into the other basic functions of this control panel the gate began to dial. "Raise the shield" Elizabeth came jogging out of her office "do we have an identification code yet?"
McKay checked his computer screen "nothing yet."
Alice stepped up and tapped the internal comms system "security teams to the gateroom." Moving quickly she began heading to the stairs, taking her side arm out from her thigh strap.
"Wait, I'm reading Lieutenant Ford's I.D.C." McKay shouted
"Let 'em in" Dr Weir nodded at Alice as she gathered her teams.
"Make sure you leave enough room for the jump-" before she could finish the sentence energy blasts erupted from the Stargate. "Take cover!"
Alice watched everyone duck for cover as explosions hit the columns around them, then suddenly the jumper appeared through the gate and the shield immediately flew up back up. Through the window she could see Major Sheppard and his team smiling triumphantly. "Stand down." She ordered her teams, shaking her head at Sheppard's expression as the Jumper rose up into the hanger above them.
Later that night
Alice stood looking out over the city, since Sheppard's team returned they'd decided to hold a welcome to Atlantis party. It had been an intense 48 hours and she hadn't had a moment to get any sleep. Her security teams had managed to clear a good amount of space, enough to accommodate the expedition members and the Athosians. They'd started setting up campbeds, it wasn't going to be comfortable but at least they'd be able to get some rest and set up more permanent sleeping arrangements tomorrow.
Currently she was holding onto the railing trying not to yawn, as the various expedition members chatted behind her.
"Nice view" Sheppard appeared next to her, leaning against the railing.
"It's more amazing then i'd even dreamt it could be" Looking out over the city, the buildings lights created a soft glowing halo effect in the water. "I'm glad that you and most of our people made it back safely, though i still wish i had been included in the mission."
"You know as well as I do Riles that we couldn't have all senior military personnel off-site. You'll have to get used to taking on more responsibilities now that you're one of my top commanding officers." Alice looked up in shock, Sheppard took a swig of his drink and continued to look out at the city.
"But sir, you don't even know me." Alice was dumbstruck, one week ago she was just a Lieutenant, the lowest ranked member of SG4.
"I read your file, and your commander's recommendations. And Elizabeth agrees with me, she said you handled the settling in like a champ." Sheppard kept a calm facade on as he peered out over the city.
Alice couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face. "Thank you Major." She stepped back and started to salute him.
Sheppard waved her off, "stop it, we're at a party. By the way, i was going to ask you..."
"So, i guess this is home now" Ford walked over and slapped his arm across Alice's shoulders, interrupting Sheppard's sentence.
"I guess so." Sheppard stiffened a little and turned back to look out at the city.
With his arm still draped over Alice's shoulder, he waved his hand towards the city "I'm thinking of a little place with an ocean view. Out of the way."
Alice pushed his arm off her, and just laughed, as she saw Weir approaching "Major. Captain. Lieutenant." She held up some mugs for them to take. "I thought the occasion merited opening this. Compliments of General O'Neill."
Sheppard was the first to take a mug "Cheers." Alice thanked Elizabeth and they all raised their mugs up and took a drink.
"You did good, John." Elizabeth turned towards Sheppard.
Sheppard sighed "I don't know about that." Alice felt like she was intruding on their conversation, she'd already heard the details of Sheppard's rescue mission. It sounded like a no win situation. But he'd still managed what the Athosian's had said was impossible, he'd brought back as many of those who were taken as possible. Except Colonel Sumner.
"Hey, there was no way you could have saved Colonel Sumner." Elizabeth assured him solemnly.
Alice turned to Ford, who was looking just as uncomfortable, subtly she nodded her head to the side and silently shuffled away from the two senior staff members. "Tell me honestly..." She grabbed Ford's arm. "Is it as bad as I heard?"
Ford tipped his head back draining the contents of the mug. "I've been with the SGC for three years and I've never seen anything like it."
Alice tightened her grip on her mug, her throat tightening. "That bad..." she took a sip of the bubbly liquid, letting the alcohol warm her body.
They stood together for another few minutes before she noticed Drs McKay and Beckett looking over at her, quietly she walked over to join them. "How come I never make friends like that?" Becket's voice was wistful as he stared past her. Looking over her shoulder she saw Sheppard and Teyla touching foreheads.
With his mouth full of food, McKay scoffed "You need to get out more."
"We're in another galaxy - how much more out can you get?!" Alice laughed at the Scottish doctor, who was just shaking his head at her.
McKay looked up suddenly staring suspiciously at his kebab "Is there lemon in this?!" then hurried off without another word.
"well… that was strange, is he always like this?" Alice motioned towards McKay's retreating form.
"Rodney is certainly a unique man m'dear" Beckett smiled softly at Alice "thank you again for your help with the infirmary Captain."
Alice waved a hand at him "ah it's no problem, just doing my job. And you can call me Alice doc."
"Well then it's Carson to you too. Oh looks like you might have some admirers." Beckett nodded behind Alice, turning she saw a small group of young boys from the planet staring at her, and then running off down the hallway. As she began to turn back, she also noticed Major Sheppard had turned to look at her, it looked like Dr Weir had just finished saying something. He raised his glass and smiled at her.
Alice returned the gestured and then turned back to Carson. "Well, it's been a long and tiring day. I hope you enjoy the rest of the party Carson" Alice placed her mug down on the nearest table and began to head towards her assigned quarters.