Title: The Adventure Continues.

Summary: Continuation of 'Adventure of a Lifetime'

Spoilers: Anything from Atlantis season one and two is fair game.

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine. Only the story line and any made up characters that may appear in the story belong to me.

--

"Remind me again why were here." Blue spoke over his radio as he used his field binoculars to watch an approaching jumper.

"Because Coop's attempt at playing Superman against a Wraith landed him on medical leave, taking us off the mission roster 'til his leg heals." Skyler answered as he to watched the jumper approach.

"Right. Remind me to kick his ass when we get back."

Skyler's team along with Stackhouse, who was filling in for Axle, were laying hidden in the underbrush surrounding a small clearing located on the far side of the Mainland, several hundred miles away from the nearest Athosian settlement, waiting for the jumper to drop off a group of soldiers for training. The four soldiers had arrived aboard the Daedalus when it had returned with the senior staff and were completely new to the Stargate program; they'd never even seen the gate before arriving in Atlantis.

Before the four newbies would be allowed to go off world Sheppard had wanted them to go through some training in situations that might be encountered. And since Skyler was down a man and Stackhouse had lost two of his teammates during the siege and the fourth was in a comma back on earth Sheppard had volunteered them to run the training exercises.

"At least this way we get to be the first ones to try out these new paintball guns." Stackhouse added as he adjusted the scope on his weapon.

"Yeah, why are we using paintball guns anyway? What happened to those intar thingies SG-1 picked up a few years ago?" Brain questioned as he readjusted his camouflage.

The team was armed with paintball guns that had been specially made to look like the standard weaponry that off-world teams carried. They had every thing from P-90's to paint filled grenades.

"Requested those, SGC said they didn't have any to spare. So we got the next best non-lethal weapon used for training." Skyler watched as the jumper landed. "Radio silence."

Instantly all comm. chatter stopped and the four watched as Lieutenants Cadman and Stone and Sergeants Fox and Toreil exited the jumper. Once the four were off the jumper and had their gear unloaded and the jumper had taken off they came under heavy fire from four different directions. So completely caught off guard the four never had a chance to defend themselves.

"That ladies and gentlemen was your introduction to off-world missions 101." Skyler called out as he and the rest of his team emerged from the underbrush to surround the paint covered newbies. "Never let your guard down even when in friendly territory. Especially here in the Pegasus Galaxy."

Skyler had to fight with himself to keep from laughing at how ridiculous the four soldiers in front of him looked covered in pink paint.

"I'm Major Cain, the head pain in your asses for the next several days. These are Sergeants Stackhouse and Connor and Dr. Jamsen." He gestured to the others. "For the first couple of days we'll be going over standard off-world recon and procedures. The next three days will be spent playing war games. On the morning of the sixth day we'll be picked up by jumper and return to Atlantis. Any questions?"

"No, sir," the four newbies replied.

"Good then let's get going, we have a long hike ahead of us." Skyler took point, leading the group into the woods.

For the first few miles of the hike the terrain was pretty level and easy to traverse. After about five miles the terrain started to slope upwards and become rougher slowing the groups pace down a bit. The veterans who were used to hiking over all kinds of terrains took it in stride, but the newbies soon began struggling to keep up. By the time Skyler called for a rest break the four were huffing and puffing.

"Cadman, Fox take point and find us a good campsite." Skyler ordered once everyone had caught their breath.

"Yes, sir." Both soldiers quickly fell in step and were soon pointing out different possible campsites to each other. It wasn't long before they decided on a spot near a small stream with plenty of trees to take shelter under.

Camp was quickly set up. The tents were circled around the fire pit and everyone stored their packs. After a quick meal, Skyler quizzed the newbies on their off-world reconnaissance procedures and then turned them loose to explore.

The next two days went smoothly. They spent a day surveying the area, sometimes hiking as far as ten miles up into the hills and refreshing the newbies on their wilderness survival training. The second day was spent practicing different off-world procedures. Finally the moment the veterans had been waiting for; the beginning of the war games.

The first briefing was quick and simple. The mission objective was pretty straight forward; the newbies would be defending the 'gate' – which was actually two trees spaced about five feet apart – from hostile enemies. After placing Stone in charge of the newbies Skyler and his team disappeared into the woods.

--

Once out of site of the 'gate' Skyler's team grouped together to discuss which strategy and tactics they wanted to use first.

"You know we should probably pull the absent minded civilian card early." Brain stated as he loaded paintballs into his fake 9mil. "It's only gonna work once, might as well use it before they start to get paranoid."

"Good idea," Skyler nodded in approval. "What've got in mind?"

Brain tucked his handgun into the waistband of his fatigues, using his shirt to conceal it. "Turns out I forgot my first aid kit and need to go back to camp to get it, which of course means I'll have to walk past the 'gate'."

"You don't really expect them to fall for that, do you?" Stackhouse shook his head.

"Only one way to find out." Skyler grinned. "While Brain plays the absent minded civilian the rest of us will take up sniper positions.

As Brain started to noisily make his way back towards camp the other three spread out and circled around to take up their positions.

--

After taking up a defensive position around the 'gate' the newbies settled in to wait for whatever was going to be thrown at them.

"Better get comfy guys, we're liable to be here for awhile." Stone warned. "They'll most likely wait for hours before making their move."

"I wouldn't get too comfy, these guys are supposed to be some of the best. I wouldn't put anything past them." Cadman spoke her gaze scanning the surrounding woods for any movement. She wasn't sure about Stone sometimes, the guy was a cocky arrogant bastard more times than not and that kind of attitude could get people killed.

"Heads up." Fox stiffened up as he heard something moving through the brush.

When Brain appeared out of the brush the four soldiers instantly had the weapons aimed at the man. They watched as he trudged over the terrain his head bowed so he could see where he was stepping. Playing his part to the letter Brain paused in surprise when he looked up and spotted the four pointing their weapons at him.

"Whoa, easy guys," Brain held his hands up showing that he was unarmed.

"State your purpose." Stone ordered.

"I forgot my first aid kit back at camp. Major Cain ordered me to go back and get it, said something about Beckett getting pissy with people who didn't carry one even when on the Mainland. And I don't know about you but I don't want to deal with a pissy Beckett."

Looking Brain up and down trying to tell if he was lying or not Stone noticed the empty side holster strapped to the older mans leg. "Where's you weapon, Doctor?"

"Left it back with the others. Figured you be less likely to shoot me if I was unarmed." He shrugged his shoulders.

Scanning the tree line looking for any movement that might indicate that this was all a diversion from an attack Stone finally lowered his weapon nodding with his head that Brain should continue.

"I don't think we should allow him to just waltz through here." Cadman confronted Stone.

"Relax, Cadman, he's unarmed," Stone turned his attention to her. "Besides he's a civilian, how much of a threat can he really be?"

Not believing Stone's attitude Cadman was about to call him on it when she heard the distinct sound of a paintball gun firing. Quickly turning away from Stone, Cadman spotted Fox and Toreil down on the ground, red paint splattered across their chests, with Brain standing over them holding a 9mil.

Cadman swung her weapon around but never had the chance to fire as she was hit with a paintball directly between the shoulder blades. From the corner of her eye she could see that Stone had suffered a similar fate.

"Okay, that was frighteningly too easy." Skyler called out as he, Blue and Stackhouse broke cover.

"That wasn't fair, sir," Stone complained.

"News flash Stone; life's not fair."

"Anyone care to tell us what you learned after this little exercise?" Blue questioned. The four stayed quiet not sure if it was a rhetorical question.

"Just because you can't see a weapon doesn't automatically mean a person is unarmed." Skyler took the liberty of answering. "And Stone…"

"Sir?"

"Brain's being a civilian should've had nothing to do with your decision. Nine times out of ten you're going to be dealing with civilians while off world. And trust me the civilians in this galaxy are far from harmless. Did any of you even think to check that Brain really was unarmed like he'd said?"

No one answered him.

"Right, get your gear and let's return to camp for debrief." Stackhouse spoke up taking point.

--

Two days later and the four newbies were still griping about the first day's exercise. The second day had gone pretty well for the newbies, they hadn't managed to get any 'kills' but they had managed a few 'injuries' on the other team. For the day's exercise the mission objective was to track down and neutralize the veteran team.

"I still can't believe we got our asses kicked by a civilian." Toreil griped as the team made their way through the brush.

"I know," Fox agreed. "And it was a completely unbelievable scenario. That never would have happened while off world."

"That's not the point." Stone had at least gained some perspective over the last few days. "They wanted us to learn to never to make assumptions."

"And only you and Toreil got your asses kicked by a civilian. Stone and I were taken out by snipers." Cadman added. "You've gotta give 'em credit for being creative though."

The four thought back to the day before. In the scenario Blue had played a native speaking in Ancient, but since none of them had been in the city long they hadn't had a chance to pick up anything but very basic words and phrases. The team had nearly shot the medic before they realized that he was trying to warn them.

The team had managed to just barely escape the ambush but not with out wounded; Stone had taken a shot to the thigh and Toreil a shot to the shoulder. The bright side had been when they'd regrouped and learned that they'd managed to nick Stackhouse in the side and hit Skyler in the shoulder during their retreat.

Motioning for silence as they neared the last known location of the other team Stone led his team silently through the woods. Bringing the team to a halt he signaled that he'd heard something and motioned for Cadman to move ahead and scout the area out.

As Cadman stealthfully slipped through the brush she caught a glimpse of charcoal gray material poking out from behind a tree. Whoever it was seemed to be hiding behind the tree facing away from her direction. She signaled for the rest of the team to move forward.

As the three moved forward the ground to the left and right of them suddenly sat up and began firing at them. With an ambush behind her Cadman didn't have a choice but to move forward. It was shear luck that she wasn't hit when another piece of ground sat up and fired at her. When she'd heard the rustle of leaves to her left she'd spun around to defend herself and tripped over backwards on a tree root causing the enemy fire to just miss her.

Quickly firing off a couple of shots at the underbrush covered soldier Cadman scrambled to her feet only to be grabbed from behind and held with a 9mil against her temple. Releasing her weapon Cadman held her hands up in surrender. As she was led back to the others by Blue, Cadman got a better look at the tree she'd thought someone was hiding behind. She was going to be kicking herself for a while; the fabric she'd seen was nothing but a field jacket stuffed full of leaves strung up to the tree with fishing wire. She had to admire how cleverly they had lured the trainees into their ambush. These guys really were some of the best the military had to offer.

Rejoining the others Cadman spotted Toreil and Fox playing dead on the ground with blue paint splattered across their chests and Stone leaning against a tree, his right thigh splattered blue and his hands bound as if he'd been taken prisoner. She watched as Skyler, Brain, and Stackhouse brushed off their camouflage of leaves, twigs, moss, and several other things found in the forest. She couldn't help the slight smirk of pride that formed when she saw Stackhouse's blue splattered chest.

"Congratulations, two of you are dead and the other two are in enemy hands." Skyler stated as he scrubbed a hand through his hair dislodging some leaves. "Any one care to take a guess at what went wrong?"

"We revealed our position without confirming that we had indeed found our target." Stone answered as he shifted around trying to dislodge the rock digging into his lower back.

"Anything else?"

"We forgot to take into account that things aren't always what they seem." Cadman was still kicking herself for having fallen for such a simple trick.

"Exactly. If you've learned nothing else from this last week, always, always remember that things are not always what they seem, especially in this galaxy. Take the Genii for example on the surface they seemed like simple farmers, no more technologically advanced than the people of the colonial days on earth. But you've all read the reports and know how that one turned out. So never, ever take something at face value. Alright I think we're done here let's get back and start breaking camp the jumper will be here to pick us up in the morning."

"Sir, if I may?" Cadman requested as she fell in step with Skyler

"What is it?"

"When will we receive our assignments?"

"Pending final approval from Colonel Sheppard you'll receive your assignments Monday. I suggest you take the weekend to think over things you've learned this week."

"Yes, sir." She fell silent wondering if that next assignment was going to be scrubbing floors.

--

Freshly showered and with a stomach full of something other than MRE's Skyler made his way to the control room for his debriefing with Sheppard. He wasn't about to admit it to anybody but Skyler was glad to be home, he'd missed being able to take a shower, eat real food, and most of all he'd missed being able to spend time with Aria.

Reaching the control room Skyler barely had time to move out of the way as a large man with dirty dreadlocked hair followed by two SF brushed past not paying any attention to those around him. Entering the somber atmosphere of the control room he raised a questioning eyebrow towards Elizabeth. She shook her head indicating that she would fill him in later.

"Major, how'd it go?" Sheppard turned his attention to Skyler. He'd debated going after Ronon and rescheduling his debriefing until later, but decided to give the man some time alone to take in what he'd just learned about his world.

"Not quite how I'd expected, but considering the circumstances I think they did alright." Skyler admitted as the three of them moved to the conference room.

"I heard you kept them on their toes." Elizabeth stated as she took her usual seat at the briefing table. Since this was a military matter Elizabeth didn't really need to be present for the debriefing but she liked to keep tabs on the people under her command, civilian or military.

"We gave them a few things to think about. I think with a little more training and some trail runs off world with seasoned teams, they'll be good to go."

Nodding her head Elizabeth sat back and listened as John and Skyler went through the detailed evaluations of the four soldiers.