Author: Katelin Mason

(AthenaIceGoddess)

Title: When only the best will do

Spoilers: Minor ones from both series, probably mostly SG-1 season 8 and Atlantis season 2

Action/Adventure-Angst

Summary: A new threat emerges for Earth AND Atlantis. The Goa'uld and the Wraith have made contact, and are about to negotiate a partnership that could prove deadly for humankind everywhere. The original SG-1 is brought back together, and they need help from someone who knows the Wraith, so Sheppard's team is brought in.

Disclaimer: Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis belong to MGM and many others who, unfortunately, aren't me. I'm getting no money from writing this, so please don't sue me :).

A/n: This is my first attempt at a crossover, and it's going to be a bit convoluted. A bit AU as well. Mitchell, while I love him dearly, isn't in the picture, and Ronon is. It's set pre-season 9 for Sg-1, and in season 2 for Atlantis. Impossible, I know, but I had to write it. Shep/Teyla pairing and Sam/Jack, so be warned. Fluffiness might occur. And Jacob is NOT dead. I'm still in denial.

Now, enough of my babbling. Enjoy!

Chapter Samantha Carter was running late for a very important briefing with General O'Neill. Of course, General O'Neill thought every briefing he had to give was too important to miss, so she probably wasn't missing much. She hoped.

"Sam! Why aren't you in the briefing room? You're never late. Is something wrong?" Sam turned and waited for Daniel to catch up with her.

Showing him her coffee and a piece of pie, she explained. "I've been working on a new project that's been taking all my time- really, it's one of the most interesting things I've worked on in a while. I'm tweeking one of the Tok'ra's field generators to make the field bigger so it could encompass- well, it's not important right now." She stopped at the blank look on Daniel's face- they had all been hanging around general O'Neill far too long if things were starting to rubb off- and remembered to contain her tangent for another time.

"Well, I was so engrossed working on this project that-" Daniel was nodding in understanding. "You didn't go home last night, did you?" She shook her head. "I got a few hours sleep in the BOQ when I realized what time it was, but I needed coffee."

"Is the pie for Jack?" Daniel asked, eyeing the piece of apple pie. Sam nodded. "I figured if I brought him pie he'd forget I was late. Think it'll work?"

"Oh yeah, it'll work." Daniel agreed as they walked into the briefing room. Jack would agree not to berathe if a piece of pie was waved at him. Not that he'd really mind Carter being late. In fate he'd probably applaud her for her stopping for food.

General O'Neill looked up at them when they entered, putting the yoyo he had been playing with back into the front pocket of blue uniform.

"I'm sorry I'm late sir, we were-" Sam started apologizing, but Jack's eyes were on the pie. "Is that for me?" He asked hopefully. A grin spread across Sam's face and she handed him the pie.

"Ahhh, pie. Thanks, Carter. How did you know I didn't eat yet?" The General asked, his mouth full of the treat, just like a little kid.

"No fruitloops at the commissary this morning, sir?" Carter asked sympathetically. "No! You'd think that they'd keep such an important breakfast meal in stock, but no. Cheerios. Who likes Cheerios?"

Carter pretended to be hurt. "I like Cheerios, sir. Not as much as blue Jell-o, but they're good."

O'Neill waved his hand at her. "Bah, red's better anyway."

Daniel grinned down at the table so his friends couldn't see him smiling at their antics. It was nice to see them falling back into old habits. Things had been tense between them for a few months.

No doubt the betting pool would heat up again now that Sam and Pete had broken off their engagement, not that that was a surprise to anyone. Everyone on base knew how the General felt about Colonel Carter and vice versa. The only thing they seemed to disagree about was when they would finally say screw the regs and give it a go.

Teal'c noticed Daniel's smile and raised his eyebrow at him. "Is there something that is amusing you, Daniel Jackson?" Sam and Jack immediately stopped their flirting, and stared at Daniel. Leave it to Teal'c to be blunt and ruin the moment.

"No, no.Nothing amusing, Teal'c. Let's start the briefing now." Daniel cleared his throat. "So, Jack, what's going on?" He asked, and the general gestured for the team to pick up the folders in front of them.

"A few hours ago, we recieved from information from the Tok'ra. They said one of their operatives stationed on a Goa'uld ship heard an interesting rumor. Now, we all know what I think about the Tok'ra and their interesting rumors," He grimaced and coughed a cough that sounded remarkably like 'za'tarcs', remembering all the times the Tok'ra had gotten them into hot water, "But this one is a bit too interesting to ignore. Although I'd love nothing more than to ignore their snakey asses. No offense to your dad, Carter. He's the only good one." He paused in typical Jack fashion before continuing.

"The operative said that the gould he was spying on was talking to another gould about some upcoming big meeting between what's left of the system lords and- I'm quoting here- ' some foolish, inferior beings from another galaxy'."

"Did they say what galaxy they were from?" Daniel asked, frowning. Jack stretched. "Nope, but he did say that the other 'inferior beings' were having a pesky people problem. Aparently there isn't enough of them to go around where they're from. Apparently they suck people's life forces where they're from."

"The Wraith." Carter said, sucking in a breath. If the Wraith and the Goa'uld got together... that wouldn't be very good. A Goa'uld with a Wraith for a host... Carter had'nt seen the Wraith herself, but from what she heard about them, they were bad.

"That's what I'm thinking." Jack replied. "Well, we've got to stop this! They can't- It would be disastrous!" Daniel sputtered.

"Relax, Danny boy. We will. The Tok'ra who overheard this also gave us the co-ordinates where this is going to go down. Sg-1 will go. I think I'll go on this one, actually. You'll need me." Jack said with a grin. He was just bored with paperwork and being stuck on base while his friends went off into danger without him. He didn't want to get rusty.

"Can we do this alone, sir?" Carter asked. "Of course we can, Carter! It's Sg-1." Jack replied, surprised that Carter would even ask such a thing.

"That's not what I mean, sir. We don't have any experience fighting the Wraith ourselves. We don't know how to take them out quickly. From the reports on them I've read from the Atlantis expedition, they're resilient buggers. I'm thinking we should bring in an Atlantis team to go with us."

Jack thought it over. Carter had a point, there. If this was going to go down in their favour, they needed as much help as they could get. Things needed to go smoothly, and tyring to figure out exactly how many bullets would kill a Wraith in an ambush wouldn't be too smooth.

"Yeah, we could do that. The Dedalus is due back here in a few days, it shouldn't be too much trouble for Caldwell to turn around and pick up a few passengers." And if it is, that's too bad, Jack thought. They needed another team's help for this to work.

"I'll have Walter send a transmission." Carter said, standing up. Jack nodded, and she left to do just that.

"Dismissed." Jack said. "I'll go see if there's anything we can use in the mission briefs from Atlantis about the Wraith." Daniel told Jack, getting up to leave.

" I will accompany you, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said, bowing to Jack before following Daniel.

Jack looked around the empty briefing room. "I'll go... do something."

Next Chapter: SGA-1 gets the news and heads for Earth.