Warning: Language and Violence

"Oh fuck!" came the exclamation from the young woman that had just emerged from the gate. She had layered, straight, light brown hair that hit her at mid-back. Her skin was slightly tanned, as if she spent a lot of time outside. She had straight nose, with high cheekbones, huge emerald eyes, and full, pink lips. She was dressed in a white wife-beater, dark grey cargo pants, and black combat boots. Strapped to her back was a sword incased in its sheath. You could see her muscles ripple under her skin as she raised her hands in a gesture of peace. She was surrounded by the glow of the wormhole that was still opened behind her; it made her seem supernatural. She was absolutely stunning. Ronon tilted his head to the side, she reminded him of someone he knew but he couldn't think of who.

John was still reeling from her sudden emergence and couldn't stop the choked, "What!" that escaped his lips at her curse.

"Would you believe that this hasn't been my best day ever?" she said conversationally. "I'm finishing my clean-up and decide, 'Hey, Atlantis is the perfect place to end this because it's empty and therefore I can keep the human casualties to a big whopping zero.' But ya'll shot that plan straight to hell. So not only is Atlantis not empty but it seems that a group of people with guns…," she paused in her rambling and looked intently at the weapons that were held by the line. "Wait; scratch that, P90's and Berettas. Which means that Atlantis is currently being occupied by the great American military. So allow me to reiterate: oh fuck!"

"You know we're from earth?" John asked mouth agape.

"Well, the weapons accompanied with those fun little flags on your coats kind of gave it away," she retorted.

"How the hell do you know about earth?" John snapped. She looked unimpressed, "I went, I saw, got the t-shirt."

"And we're supposed to just believe you?" Major Lorne interjected. She sighed, "Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Picard, Captain Kirk, Aerosmith, Saved by the Bell, Friends, Big Macs, Chicken Nuggets, Corn Dogs, Kennedy's assassination, Vietnam War… is that enough or should I go on?"

"Umm… can I just say wow!" Rodney called from the stairs. The girl flashed him a grin. "Also, this is a civilian led operation. The military is just here to protect us and do grunt work," Rodney finished with a wave of his hand.

"McKay…." John started to growl but refocused his attention on the girl who seemed quite interested in this new information.

"Take off any weapons and empty your pockets," John ordered. The girl arched her eyebrow, "What no cavity search?" she replied in a bored tone. Rodney snorted. "Now," John called as he took a step forward.

"Fine, fine. Don't get all tetchy about it," the girl said as she slowing released the sword and sheath from off her back and placed it on the floor. She quickly went through her numerous pockets and pulled out an Ancient looking device, along with an assortment of throwing stars. "So," she stated casually as she bent to untie her boots to get at ankle sheaths that housed some wicked looking knives, "If this is a civilian operation that means that Dr. Weir is your superior."

John bristled, "How do you know that?"

"Call her on your radio, tell her that Sandy's here," she looked up from her boot, at the looks of disbelief she added, "Trust me, she'll want to know." She continued to pull a variety of knives from all over her person.

John keyed his radio, "Dr. Weir this is Colonel Sheppard." Sandy took a couple steps back from the pile of her possessions, while a soldier cautiously went forward, gun raised, to collect them.

"John, what's the situation?" questioned Elizabeth in her I'm-prepared-for-anything voice.

"There's a girl here, says her name is Sandy." John could hear the sound of something being dropped over his radio.

"Sandy?" came Elizabeth's unsteady voice from the city-wide comm. system. That isn't right, John thought, her voice is never unsteady.

"Yeah listen, I'd love to do twenty questions again Dr. Weir but I have no time for this. I need you to get them to listen to me, I've got incoming," Sandy responded while glancing over her shoulder at the still open wormhole. A pause came from Elizabeth and then, "How many?"

"Last count was fourteen but I took two down on the way over," Sandy replied hastily.

"John?" Elizabeth's voice asked.

"Yeah?"

"Lower your guns and do exactly what she tells you to do," came Elizabeth's firm reply.

"Elizabeth…" John said apprehensively while eyeing Sandy wearily.

"This is not open for discussion Colonel. Do it or good people will die," snapped Elizabeth. John lowered his gun, Sandy smirked.

She took a step forward, "Get you and your people up to the control room, lock down the gate room." John still seemed indecisive but nodded in agreement, and his soldiers along with Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney quickly made their way back to the control room. The soldiers carried her belongings with them. Only John and Major Lorne lingered. John opened his mouth to question her but was cutoff when a group of creatures came through the gate snarling.

Sandy placed both hands on John's chest and shoved him towards the stairs, "GO!" John stumbled towards and up the stairs. But while Sandy was distracted the creature that had led the group through the gate got close to her and swung a fist at her. A second before he made contact though, Major Lorne stepped between the creature and Sandy, so he was hit instead. He was flung to the side where he hit the wall with a loud thud.

Sandy slowly turned to face the creature, "That," she pointed to Major Lorne's crumpled form, "is going to cost you," she stated matter of factly.

The creatures were tall and heavily muscled. They had a reddish tinge to their leathery skin. They all had an assortment of tattoos that traced patterns from there arms to their chests. The creatures were dressed in pants that seemed to be made from a heavy cloth. Their eyes were orange and slanted. They had no noses, just two nostrils on their face like a snake and bald heads. Their mouths revealed sharp, pointed teeth.

The lead creature spoke in a low, gravelly tone, "You are it?"

Sandy arched an eyebrow. "I prefer her. But if you're asking if I'm the one responsible for killing your kind, then yes I am." A murmur spread through the creatures and the humans that observed from the control room.

She sighed, "You seem surprised."

"I just expected you to be bigger, with more muscles and all," said the creature, a sneer twisted on his face.

"Really?" Sandy asked in mock surprise. She tilted her head to one side, "You're just as dumb and ugly as I thought you were going to be."

The creature roared and swung his fist in the same way he had when Major Lorne had flown across the room. There was a collective gasp that went through the observing Atlanteans. John and Ronon were cursing themselves for leaving her there alone. But this time was different. This time, Sandy caught his wrist just before it made contact with her face.

"Just a little piece of advice Sparky: Never use the same trick twice," Sandy said in a reproachful tone. Her fingers tightened on his forearm, and he sank to his knees before her with a pain filled growl.

"You think you will stop us. It does not matter if you finish me and my kind today, for more creatures are out there and they will destroy you," the creature vowed.

Sandy smirked and then leaned down so that her face was even with the creature's. She spoke in an amused tone, "Well in that case, see you in hell." She then released his arm and in a flash of motion, gripped his chin and the back of his hairless head and tore his head from his spine. The sound of tearing muscle, skin, and bone stopped leaving a strained silence, no one breathed for a beat. The creature's body crumpled to the floor.

"Whoops! Guess I don't know my own strength, huh?" Sandy said in a mock apologetic tone. She had an indulgent grin on her face.

And then all hell broke loose.