MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2006
1400 HOURS

Jack O'Neill scanned the rows of people in the SGC auditorium. They half-filled the seats in the room: in all, fifty men and women who would constitute twelve field teams.

"Welcome back, everyone," he started. Each team had been training together for at least three weeks now, in various parts of the world. Five teams had just returned from Siberia; three from England; one each from Egypt and Mexico; and the last two from Quantico, Virginia. "Some of you have been with the Stargate program for a while, and some of you may have joined us only a few weeks ago. If you're new to the program, I'm going to assume you were fully briefed by Lt. Col. Carter or Dr. Jackson; if you've been here for some time you probably have a good idea of what you're going to be doing. Rumors just tend to spread quickly around here.

"So... all of you in this room are here because you were selected to be part of what might be Earth's most ambitious project yet. You've been assigned to one of the eighteen field teams that will operate from Tau'ri Alpha, our first permanent off-world base. Congratulations - you're probably the only people crazy enough to accept this assignment. I'll let Lieutenant Colonel Carter tell you the rest. She's going to be the top science officer at Alpha."

Samantha Carter stood up from her chair as the next slide, a star map, appeared on the screen. Pointing at the map, she identified both Earth's sun and the star system in which the new base was located. "Tau'ri Alpha is located much closer to the center of the Milky Way than Earth, so most Goa'uld sensor technology should have trouble picking up our location until they actually come within the planet's ionosphere. The planet's a bit bigger than Earth, but doesn't have as much iron in its core, so the ionosphere starts around 40,000 feet. That means, if they were to actually find the planet, they'd probably have to search for days. Speaking of days, they're about 21 hours long there. We're going to use Mountain time as a standard, but it'll probably be easier to operate on the local day-night cycle."

The next slide was an aerial image of the valley, taken from a a Tok'ra tel'tac that had been borrowed for Tau'ri Alpha use. "The base is located in a mountain valley, around a large natural cavern that contains the Stargate itself. The cavern isn't visible in the picture, because of the gatehouse and medical facility" - Carter pointed at a building that seemed to grow out of a mountain slope - "that covers the entrance."

"She could stop wasting our time and skip this," Martin Pasanen grumbled under his breath as Carter proceeded to point out building after building. "It's not as if we'll remember it all before the trip anyway." He looked to his left and right. None of his teammates were paying any attention whatsoever. Davenport was dozing off - no wonder he'd picked a spot near the back of the room. Hsu looked up occasionally, but his hands held a small padlock and some lockpicks, and he idly worked at the lock as Carter began rattling off technical specifications that, while impressive, were at best only tangentially relevant. Fletcher actually listened to the technical information for a while, but soon her eyes also began to wander as she fell into some daydream or another.

Just as it seemed like there was going to be no end, General O'Neill stepped forward again. "Sorry, Carter, we don't have much time left," he apologized after cutting her off. He then addressed the Alpha teams: "Since you've been split into small groups so far, I'd just like to have each team stand up so we all have some idea of who's who. Let's start with Alpha One."

Pasanen just managed to shake his commanding officer awake as O'Neill spoke those words, and the four came to their feet, about equally awkwardly.

O'Neill continued. "Lieutenant Colonel Phil Davenport, Captain Martin Pasanen, Second Lieutenant Kat Fletcher, Doctor Kevin Hsu. And Carter, you owe me five bucks."

Carter covered her eyes with one hand and shook her head.

"So you seriously thought everyone would stay awake through that?" O'Neill asked rhetorically. He was answered by silence. "Oops. Was that on mike? Sorry. Alpha Two..."

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2006
1015 HOURS

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the tunnel of light gave way. Kevin Hsu blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to the light. He was in a huge natural cavern brightly lit by fluorescent lights running across the ceiling. In front of him, Davenport and Pasanen were already chatting amiably with a pair of Marine officers. He stood and stared into space for a while. The engineers had done their job well; modern technology seemed to blend seamlessly into the rock walls and floor. There was a DHD in front of the Stargate itself, supplemented by communication equipment with tangled masses of wires running to the banks of computers near the far wall.

A voice below him broke his reverie. "Eeps," Kat Fletcher said as she sat up on the floor, having apparently fallen flat on her face on the way out of the event horizon.

"Eeps?" Hsu asked, perplexed by the expression.

"Yeah, eeps," the girl said, her tone of voice trying to be matter-of-fact. But her eyes were wide. "That was amazing," she added, bouncing to her feet. "Can we do it again?"

The boots of Maj. Patrick Lindsay of Alpha Two hit the ramp with a resounding thud. Responding only to the sound, Hsu and Fletcher stepped aside just in time to avoid the rest of that team - all the better because the other three members of Alpha Two were all new to the Stargate program. Lindsay barely managed to catch Ens. Beth Winstead as the Navy medic let out a short shriek of surprise; and Capt. Ryan Raybourne and Dr. Kirsten Weiss barely stayed on their feet. They were closely followed by Alpha Three. Although three of them had also never been through the Stargate, they had better luck. Maj. Andy Szeja, a veteran, had no problems at all. Capt. Dan O'Toole stumbled but was easily caught by Hsu and Raybourne, while the Special Forces training of 1st Lt. Jonathan McNamara and Ens. Alex King compensated for their inexperience in Gate travel as they easily kept their footing on the metal ramp.

The junior of the two Marine officers, a black man with the name Davis on his uniform and a captain's bars on his shoulder, snapped into action, suddenly realizing that his job wasn't quite done, and three teams, not one, had just arrived. He stepped away from the conversation and toward the people milling about at the base of the ramp. "Please step aside, sirs," he said curtly, "Theah's half a dozen cahtloads of equipment right behind ya."

"Hey, you from Boston?," O'Toole asked him as he went by.

"Yeah," Davis answered. "Yourself?"

"Lived there for a couple years," came the reply as O'Toole walked off.

Hsu and Fletcher rejoined their teammates. "Good day, Lieutenant Fletcher, Doctor Hsu," said the tall Marine major who had stayed with Davenport and Pasanen. "I'm Jesse Krogstad. I'm in charge of security here. General O'Neill wanted to see you guys, he'll be down in a minute."

"Thompson, I want each unit moved to the left wall when it comes through," Davis's voice came from behind them with a sense of finality.

"Will do, sir," another voice responded.

Hsu looked around to see him returning.

"This is Kwame Davis, my number-two," Krogstad finished. "Anything security-related, look for one of us." Davis nodded.

Just then, a familiar figure stepped out from among the banks of computers. "Good morning, campers!" General O'Neill greeted whichever of the new arrivals were still in the cave. "Enjoy the trip?"

"Wasn't bad, seeing as we had so many first-timers," Davenport reported as O'Neill joined the group that was now approaching the exit. "No one's thrown up yet."

Fletcher was more enthusiastic. "Best. Ride. Ever." It was obvious to all present that she was about to start bouncing again at any minute.

"Glad you liked it," O'Neill said, spreading his arms wide. "Welcome to Tau'ri Alpha."

The landscape stretched out before them, outside the double doors of the gatehouse. They stood outside for a few moments, admiring the view.

"You sure know how to pick a place, sir," Davenport said. "Ever considered going into feng shui consulting? After you retire, of course?"

"Feng shui? Since when did I strike you as a mystic?"

"Since you started meditating in that room full of candles with Teal'c."

O'Neill traced small circles in the air with an index finger as he tried to come up with a response. "I was getting in touch with my inner Jaffa!" he protested.

All he got was a blank stare.

"Alright, you win," O'Neill admitted. "But this one was all Jacob."

"Great scenery, all the same," Davenport said. "My compliments to the Tok'ra. Hey, where's Fletcher?"

Everyone looked down the slope. Kat Fletcher, having long since abandoned all military decorum, was splashing happily through the mountain stream below them.

"I think she's got the right idea," Pasanen said. "We do have the rest of the month to move in, right?"

Davenport stopped to consider the thought, then suddenly took off running. "Dibs on the boat!" he shouted behind him as he tore downhill.

THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2006
1200 HOURS PDT

The letter on Marine Capt. Edward Blackburn's desk intrigued him. He was being asked, apparently, to join the Stargate program, as second-in-command of Alpha 15. Did that mean SG-15? What he knew of the SGC was only what had been openly published. He hadn't expected to ever need to know more. While being Vice-President Kinsey's nephew had its advantages, access to the SGC had never been one of them. It was all too well known that Hammond and Kinsey were not on the best of terms. That was an understatement, Blackburn thought as he unwrapped a sandwich. They flat-out loathed one another. It didn't matter that he and his uncle were not especially close. He had no doubt in his mind that, had Hammond realized that he was at all related to Kinsey, the letter would never have been written.

In fact, Hammond knew already. But Blackburn's service record - a Purple Heart in the Gulf War, a Bronze Star for heroism in the second Iraqi war, and participation in at least half a dozen top secret operations around the globe - had been enough to at least suppress his doubts. There was also the matter of Blackburn not actually having applied for the position; he was simply one of the best soldiers in the Marine Corps, which was enough to draw the SGC's attention. Still, Hammond had warned O'Neill to watch the man carefully, and to report any signs of meddling on Kinsey's part.

O'Neill, incidentally, was the subject of Blackburn's next thought. The two men had never met, but Blackburn certainly knew O'Neill's name from past campaigns. Jack O'Neill, from a distance, had always seemed both flippant and arrogant, which to Eddie Blackburn meant he needed to be taken down a notch. There was also the matter of that incident in Iraq... Jack O'Neill was going to be embarrassed, sooner or later. Blackburn intended to make sure of that.