VII.       Carter's Crew

Sam came over to the window in the meeting room, looking down at the Gate Room. Many American, Canadian, British, Australian and other nationalities, stood in the room conversing with each other. This would be her crew; the one that would go on EC4567 Horizon, and fight against the Goa'uld called Odin. She turned to General Hammond and Captain Jennifer Hailey as both went through the list of names.

"Many of these people have had family die in battle in the last eight years due to the Gao'uld." Jennifer said, looking up. "It's like we were just handed a bunch of renegade soldiers."

"They're not all soldiers, Captain." General Hammond spoke, pointing to names on the list. The names were grouped by colors. "You see, here. This is a medical personal, this one is an engineer. Most of them are going to be running the EC4567 Horizon than staying in action."

Sam turned back to the window, and looked below. A dirty blond haired woman walked up to the ramp, inspecting the Stargate. Sam's eyes widened at the sight of Cassandra Frasier standing at the Stargate. Sam quickly turned back to her seat and picked up the list, scanning through the names. Cassandra's was marked with a red, signifying that she was a medical personal. She looked at General Hammond.

"Cassie is coming on this mission, sir?" Sam asked barely above a whisper. General Hammond nodded, standing.

"You see, Lieutenant Colonel, Cassandra has been following in her mother's footsteps. And the President thinks that it is a good idea for her to come, seeing how she is not really an Earthling." General Hammond told her, coming to the window and looking down. Dr. Elizabeth Weir was trying to get everyone to calm down. Sam and Jennifer joined beside him, watching the doctor. She would soon be leaving Earth all together…before the mission to PC56721, Daniel had come to the conclusion that Atlantis was in another galaxy, the Pegasus Galaxy, and that the Gate Address was Eight symbols, just like the home world of the Asgard.

"You ready, Lieutenant Colonel and Captain?" Hammond asked, heading down the stairs. "It's time to welcome your crew."

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"Everyone, may I have your attention?" Elizabeth called. Everyone turned their eyes to the Stargate, seeing that behind the doctor stood the three military officers. "General Hammond would like to address you now." She stepped aside and nodded, letting the elder man come forward.

General Hammond cleared his throat. "Welcome everyone to the SGC, Stargate Command. As I am sure you know by now, those who have had family working on the Mountain and found that they are dead, this is the reason." He gestured to the Stargate, and everyone's eyes followed. "You have been selected by your Governments to represent your way of life and fighting to the universe." He cleared his throat as people began to murmur. "Now, I introduce to you, your Commanding Officer and her Second in Command…" he stepped aside, gesturing to Sam and Jennifer. "Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and Captain Jennifer Hailey. Lieutenant Colonel Carter has been working with the SGC ever since it started eight years ago, and Captain Hailey has been with us for three years now." He stepped aside, and allowed the two to come forward, both dressed in their BDOs.

Sam stood in front of her crew, her arms behind her back, eyeing them all in turn. "I am Samantha Carter, your CO, as you have learned. I'll warn you now; this mission will not be easy. We are dealing with an alien race known as the Goa'uld. They enslave human hosts and create empires around them." People began to murmur and Sam stomped her foot onto the Gate's dock. Everyone went back to attention. "Your training in basic knowledge about our enemy that we have learned in the last eight years will start within a week. The reason being that during this week, Dr. Elizabeth Weir," she gestured to the doctor, "Will be conducting her own international team through the Stargate to another Galaxy. In fact, it is the Pegasus Galaxy." She stepped aside, allowing Jennifer to take the stand.

Jennifer took in a deep breath. "You will also learn how to use a variety of weapons, beside just Earth weapons. Goa'uld, Tok'ra, Jaffa, Asgard, Ancient, all of these, even if you don't understand what they are at the moment. You will have classes pertaining to your fields of study, but you all will have a class on weapon training and Stargate knowledge. I like to call it Gate 101." Everyone let out a small laugh and chuckle at this. She nodded to Sam who took the spot back.

"You all have been assigned rooms. Many of you will have two to three people per room until our departure date." Sam said. Everyone began to murmur again. "You all guessed correctly, we are not staying on Earth for this training. After Dr. Weir takes her team through the Gate, we will be picked up by a good friend of mine, Thor, and he will take us to his home world where your training will begin. We will hopefully have some representatives from our allies to teach you in the weapons."

Sam took a breath, eyeing her team once again. "You are dismissed."

They all hurried out of the room, except for Cassandra. Cassandra smiled and stood in front of Sam. The two looked at each other before hugging each other, laughing and hugging. Sam pulled away, her hands on Cassandra's arms and smiled. "You've grown a lot, Cassie."

"Thanks Sam." Cassandra nodded and looked over at Hammond. Hammond nodded and Jennifer did as well, and the two left. Cassandra looked at Sam. "A Lieutenant Colonel, Sam...that's amazing! Isn't that just one position below what Jack was?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, it is." She smiled and patted her arm. "Well, Cadet Frasier, you had better hurry along with your fellow crew mates. Who knows, maybe you can help them learn." She smiled and Cassandra hurried out. Sam sighed and turned to Elizabeth who was watching. "Well, things sure did change fast."

"Yea, they did." Elizabeth sighed. "I never expected to be ahead of a military crew…especially one going to another galaxy! I mean….just, wow. And with this new member of my team, Major John Sheppard… I'm not sure about him."

"Even though he has the exact gene from the Ancients." Sam asked, the two walking out of the Gate room.

"It's his record, Lieutenant Colonel, have you seen it….have you read it?" Dr. Weir hissed.

"Yes I have, and he seems like a good member to your team." Sam hissed back, getting into the elevator. "You fail to notice, Dr. Weir that Major Sheppard saved three military men. You will need something like that going into an uncharted galaxy. And he is a military man, and even though he made a mistake, he thinks like one. Don't doubt him so much because of a record, Dr. Weir." She looked over at Elizabeth's sour face. "Colonel O'Neill didn't have that good of a record as well, and yet they let him commanding a Stargate Team."  She smiled as the elevator stopped. "My floor, see you Dr. Weir."

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Sam entered the commissary. She could tell the SGC personal from her own team, and Elizabeth's team. She headed to a corner table, seeing one of the members of her team. He was a fitted young man, early twenties. Blond hair, brown eyes, tall and small frame, but trained in military fashion. Sam smiled at him as he looked up at her.

"Lieutenant Colonel!"  he stood up, saluting her.

Sam smiled. "At ease, airman." He nodded and took a seat. "May I?" she asked and he nodded, and she sat across form him. She smiled again, reading the name tag on his jacket. Lieutenant Jameson. She looked up at him and nodded. "Well, Lieutenant Jameson, how do you like the SGC?"

Lieutenant Jameson shrugged. "Permission to speak freely, ma'am?" Sam nodded. "I don't really understand how you could live here for eight years of your life, Ma'am."

"Well, I only worked her. Most the time I was off world or was staying at my own place." Lieutenant Jameson nodded. "What's your first name, Lieutenant?"

"Jared, ma'am….." the Lieutenant looked up as someone joined them. Sam turned her head and let out a surprised gasp as Dr. Rodney McKay stood there.

"Long time no see, Carter." Rodney smiled. Sam nodded, remembering all the hot headed times they had. "Too bad we weren't able to continue what we had, Samantha….with me going off to Atlantis this week, a shame, huh?"

"Oh Rodney stop it." Sam rolled her eyes, waving her hand about. "I am sure that Atlantis will need you, so why don't you go and talk with them?"

Rodney shrugged and looked at the seat next to Jared. Jared nodded and moved over, allowing Rodney to sit down beside them. "Well, seeing how most the team that is here doesn't speak English, for one. For two, Dr. Weir hasn't taken a liking to military personal very much….and I haven't been able to find that Major Sheppard anywhere."

"Probably getting a talking to from General Hammond." Sam mentioned, looking over her shoulder at the food that was out. She looked at Jared. "So, Lieutenant Jameson, where do you come from?"

"Ontario, Canada, Ma'am." Jared answered. Sam nodded. "I moved to America when I was eighteen and joined the military. Never expected to be going through some alien technology."

Sam smiled. "See, there's a funny thing about that, Lieutenant." Jared looked at her oddly. "We won't be going through the Stargate to get to the Asgard home world."

"Why not?"

"Because it is an eight chevron address." Rodney spoke up. Jared looked at him oddly. "As you noticed, there are seven chevrons to a Stargate. Some planets are so far away that they need an extra chevron. The Asgard home world is one of those planets. And since we don't have power to get to it, usually one of the Asgards comes and picks us up."

"You've been studying, Rodney, I'm impressed." Sam smiled standing and getting something to eat. Rodney shook his head and looked at Jared.

"No matter what, kid, never get under her bad side." Rodney said.

"…Dr. McKay." Jared read his name tag quickly. "What did Lieutenant Colonel mean by…Atlantis?"

"Well, not sure how much I can say." Rodney thought. "What the current thought is that the aliens who built the Stargate, the Ancients, lived in Atlantis. Our thinking is that the Ancient's moved Atlantis to the Pegasus Galaxy to escape some kind of disease."

"And…you need a…eight chevron address to reach it?" Jared asked.

"You catch on quick." Rodney smiled. "Yea, we do. Dr. Daniel Jackson came up with it down in the Antarctic Outpost….don't worry, you'll learn all about it." He patted his back as Sam returned with some pie. "Didn't get any for me, Samantha?"

"Sorry, last piece." Sam played along and smiled back, taking a large bite out of the pie. "I'm sure you'll get some tomorrow, its ok Rodney."

Rodney mumbled and stood up, heading for the food line. Sam and Jared sat there, continuing to talk about the Stargate and eight chevron addresses.

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"So will this new crew work out for you, Lieutenant Colonel?" Hammond asked that night. Sam nodded, looking at Jennifer who nodded as well. "I hear a report from Dr. McKay of the Atlantis Expedition that you and him met up again…any trouble/?"

"Not at all, General." Sam smiled. "We were humane about it this time." Hammond shook his head and Sam smiled. "It seems that Lieutenant Jameson has caught your eye as well, Lieutenant Colonel. He is a good man, good record."

"So I have seen." Sam spoke. She looked at Jennifer.

"I was talking with Dr. Watson about her background." Jennifer said. "It seems like we have a very well put together crew for our mission."

"Yes, we do." Sam said, and looked down at the Stargate again. 'But it won't be SG1…'