Zelenka, Archer and Ripley strode through the city to an unknown part of Atlantis to Archer and Ripley. They came to a steel door at the end of a hall.

"Angel Mackenzie is our best mechanic and Stargate expert." Zelenka said, as the door slowly raised open. "She'll be SGA's field scientist."

Archer nodded as he followed Zelenka into the room. It was a hangar of sorts with a dozen or so small box-like ships. Ripley, however, was legging behind.

"Problem, Major?" Zelenka asked, looking back at the Major.

"I'm a little surprised that you assigned a… someone to my team before consulting me."

Archer was a little taken aback at this comment on Ripley's part. He said "someone" but it was perfectly obvious that he was going to say "girl".

"Firstly, Major." Zelenka said, walking over to Ripley. "I am in charge of the Atlantis Program and therefore of SGA. Second, if this is your attitude towards my decisions, I might have to be forced to remove your leadership responsibilities even before your first mission."

Ripley looked like he might recoil but he in the end, simply nodded.

"Fine, Doctor."

Zelenka turned and continued walking into the hangar.

"These are the Puddle Jumpers." He said indicating the giant metal boxes with his hand. "They're our main source of transportation next to the Stargate. They're big enough to hold a large numbered team but small enough to fit through the actual Stargate."

"Really?" Archer said, walking over to one of the Puddle Jumpers. "I call first ride."

"Well, my piloting is a little rusty." Ripley said, shuffling past Zelenka without even looking at him.

"Sweet." Archer said, though hoping that a feud between Ripley and Zelenka wasn't slowly escalating. "Can I take it out for a ride?"

"In due time." Zelenka said, walking over to another one of the Jumpers. He rapped against the side with his fist.

"Dr. Mackenzie!"

A female voice with a British accent rang out from inside of the Jumper.

"What!"

"Would you come here for a moment?"

Archer and Ripley exchanged a look as a woman stepped out of the back of the ship.

She was a young, appealing-looking woman who looked like she was between 20-23 years old. Her ebony hair was tied back in a small bun with a pencil, indicating her hair was only to her shoulders. She wore small, round glasses that were draped upon the very tip of her nose. Behind them were misty but bright grey eyes. Her face was skinny and her nose was small and dainty. Like a younger Kate Beckinsale. Archer thought. She's hot. She was wearing an Atlantis uniform with a United Kingdom flag on her shoulder.

In her hand, she held a ratchet that indicated that she had been working on the ship.

"Hey." She said, wiping a tinge of sweat from her forehead with her arm. As she did so, she removed her glasses and tucked them in her breast pocket. She must be far-sighted. Archer thought.

"Hey." Archer said kindly.

"Hi." Ripley said his previous surprise and annoyance either hidden or gone.

"Dr. Mackenzie. This is Major Matthew Ripley and Lieutenant Adrian Archer. Your fellow SGA team members."

"Oh." Mackenzie said, sounding surprised. "You're here?"

"Looks that way." Archer said, as the two shook hands.

"Enchanted." Ripley said.

"So, Dr. Mackenzie…" Archer began.

"Mac." The young woman interrupted. "Sorry. I'm still trying to get Zelenka off the whole "Mackenzie" bit. I hate my surname. It's a bit of a mouth full."

"Fair enough." Archer said, smiling. "Mac. So, how do these things handle?"

He pointed to one of the Jumpers.

"Really great actually." Mac said. "Almost anyone can fly them but you're the pilot so if you want to take one for a spin, feel free."

"Dr. Zelenka?" Archer said, looking to the Head.

"Go ahead." Zelenka said. "Whatever one you want."

"You coming, Ripley?" Archer asked the higher ranked man.

"I have a folder of our first mission to look over." Ripley said, waving the folder in front of Archer's face. "You can go ahead. Just be back in an hour or two."

"Cool." Archer said, moving towards one of the Jumpers as Ripley and Zelenka walked out of the hangar. Mac was about to follow them but Archer said.

"You want to come?"

Mac looked from Zelenka and Ripley back to Archer.

"Yeah, sure." She said.

She followed Archer towards the back of the ship where the entrance was. The inside of the Jumper was bigger then it seemed. It had tons of supplies on the shelves on each of the sides. In the front of the ship, there were four seats all facing a large window. Archer walked to the pilot's seat on the left while Mac sat down beside him on the right.

"So…" Archer said. "How do you turn it on?"

Mac didn't answer because the moment he had said "on" the ship shuttered and the lights flickered on.

"Does that answer your question?" she asked grinning brightly.

Archer grabbed the two joysticks in front of him and gripped them tightly.

"Okay, I'm going to assume that the sunroof opened automatically as well."

"You got it." Mac said.

Archer slowly tilted one of the sticks back, doing what instinct itself told him to do. The Jumper began to rise slowly into the air. It began to ascend faster until the hangar disappeared and blue sky and sun shown through the window.

"Not bad, Lieutenant." Mac said, smiling. "You're a natural."

"Thanks." Archer answered as he let the ship rise higher and higher into the bright sky. "And you can drop the "Lieutenant" bit. Archer's fine."

"Whatever you want." Mac said, obviously more comfortable now Archer had gained full control of the Jumper.

Archer turned the controls sharply and pushed them forward, gunning the engines. The ship handled like a dream. It felt like it was alive and it read Archer's thoughts rather then the movements on the controls.

"The buttons on the handles are torpedoes." Mac pointed out two crimson buttons on top of the sticks. "There's also an automatic map that's voice activated so your hands are free."

"Nice." Archer commented. "God, these Atlanteans knew what they were doing."

He let the ship rise and dive a few more times, coming a little closer to the water each time. Just as Archer came into contact with the water, letting the sapphire liquid brush against the bottom, Mac said. "Archer!"

"Sorry." Archer said, though holding back a smile. "So Mac. What's your story?" he asked. He was eager to have a one on one talk with someone who had lived in Atlantis for a while.

"Oh." Mac said, sounding surprised. "Story?"

"You know." Archer said, scanning her voice for mock-ignorance. "Where on Earth you came from though it sounds like Britain."

"Well, you'd be wrong." Mac answered. "I was born in Atlantis."

"What?" Archer said, his turn to sound surprised. "You've never been to Earth?"

"The last trip there was ten years ago. I just never really felt the impulse. You and Major Ripley are the only two people to come through the Stargate from Earth for that long."

"Whoa." Archer said quietly. He couldn't shake off his surprise. Never been to Earth? She has never walked Earth's fields or climber Earth's mountains or eaten Earth's microwavable burritos. He couldn't believe it. But they would be working together so he figured he shouldn't dwell on it. He promised himself that someday, he'd take her to Earth. "So who taught you about the Stargate and everything?"

"Well, I had many teacher's each with their own area of expertise. Some taught me about the effects of Stargate travel, some taught about shields. Some about the chevrons and the wormhole itself. Now, I probably know more about the Gate then anyone else."

She then lightly tapped the arm of the seat she was seated on.

"As for my mechanical skills, I was always interested in how everything worked. I was always fiddling with one thing or another. Before I knew it, I went from working on data pads and computers to the shields on Atlantis and the Puddle Jumpers."

"Well, you're a woman of many talents." Archer said. "So, do your parents still work at Atlantis or did they go back to Earth on one of those rare occasions."

Archer waited for an answer but Mac never responded to his question.

"Mac?" he said, turning to see what was wrong. The young doctor's face looked passively sad. The kind of face one wears when someone brings something up that one wishes to forget something. Archer had a feeling he had done just that.

"Are your parents..?"

"Yeah." Mac muttered, shaking her head stubbornly. "I'm sorry. It's just…I haven't really talked about them that much since their deaths."

"Unless it's too painful, can I ask how?" Archer asked but immediately regretted it. "No. Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that.

"No it's okay." She said. "It's okay. I don't mind."

She took a deep breath and let it out.

"It happened when I was ten. One of the science teams were out examining some ruins or something like that. My parents were called out to help translate some of the glyphs. I don't know if they intercepted a radio signal or just saw them working but as they were working, a whole fleet of Wraith darts flew overhead and beamed them all aboard."

She stayed silent after this.

"I'm sorry, Mac." Archer said. "And you're sure they're dead?"

"They've been gone for ten years and they were last seen being taken by the Wraith."

Mac said sadly. "I gave up hope awhile ago."

Archer didn't say anything further about the subject. He sort of knew what she was feeling. His mom had died when he was six. Cancer. Even though he knew that she was dead, in a way, it was worse for Mac. Her not knowing whether or not her parents were dead or not could be lot worse indeed. At least Archer had gotten some closure. This was obviously still tearing Mac up inside.

"So, what kind of sports you got going on here?" Archer asked, changing the subject.

"A few actually." Mac answered.

The two new friends continued talking about sports and such for another hour or so. After their time was up, Archer turned the Jumper around and directed it back to the city for their first mission.

A/N: Chapter four concluded. Special thanks to AKAArzosah for his review. Keep reviewing, man. I promise the next chapter will introduce SGA's first mission. Also, there's still one more team member but you'll have to read on.