Chapter Seven
Ten Thousand Years Later
Year Two of the Expedition, 1300 hours(Atlantis Base Time)
Captain Kurt Henderson felt the bone numbing coldness fade and the feeling to his limbs was restored. He stepped out of the Stargate and the different gravity of the planet pulled his weight down. His blue fatigues and black combat vest were pulled down by the heavier weight. He felt his P-90 get heavier in his hands but he continued to hold it at the ready. His hands tightened through his gloves on the trigger of the P-90 as he continued down from the exit of the ancient device. He walked forward and the sound of another person exiting the Stargate behind him was the only thing he heard.
Kurt scanned the ruins ahead of his team, he carefully looked into the ruins of the abondoned settlement. Nothing moved except the wind as it gusted over the snow. The sun was just rising over the horizon as Kurt continued forward, he made sure the area was clear before turning and waiting for the other members of his team to come through the Stargate. One of his men stood next to the shimmering gate already, the soldier watched his superior and waited for his sign of the all clear. Kurt made the familiar motions with his hands and walked back to the steps leading up to the gate. Another Marine exited the gate and looked at him, Kurt gave him a nod and the Marines stance became more at ease. The gates energy horizon shuttered and another person emerged from the gate. The woman walked down the steps and towards him, she had a small grey device in her hands.
"Any life signs, doctor?"
The woman continued to look at the device, she slowly raised her head. "There aren't any in the general area," she replied to her team leader.
Kurt looked over at the Marine who was second in command of his team, Luietenant Mike Yanson walked down the stairs and stood watching the ruins as he spoke. "Is it just me or do those buildings look ancient?"
"Of course their ancient, look at this place," said the other Marine, Luietenant Jack Lee.
"No, Atlantian you idoit," said Mike looking at Jack shaking his head.
Kurt looked from the two bickering Marines and looked at Doctor Linda Swenson, "doctor?"
She pushed a strand of her blond hair out of her eyes and looked at the ruins, she gazed closely then nodded to him. Kurt turned and walked a few feet from the other team members before hitting the radio on his shoulder, it gave a loud crackle. "Atlantis we have visual on an Ancient structure, we're going to proceed to the ruins and check for anything interesting. We'll check in at our appointed time."
Kurt waited for the reply from the Ancient city, the radio crackled loudly as they waited. "Alright. continue on mission," replied the familiar voice of the IOA appointed Dr.Weir, her voice held a bit of curiousity as she replied to her off world team.
"Copy that," said Kurt as he walked back to his team. They all watched him waiting for him to tell them their orders.
He looked at Luietenant Yanson, the man was younger then him and had dark brown hair. It was the regulation length and hidden under the standard military cap. The young Luietenant had a large chest, his arms were just as muscular. His uniform was larger then any other member on the expedition. He had dark brown eyes with a strong jaw to match the rest of his body type. "What are we doing?"
"Alright, we're going into the ruins," replied Kurt looking at the other members of his team. "Lee take point."
The youngest member of the team nodded and he began to walk off towards the ruins in the distance. He was just twenty years old and had dark black hair. His face was clear evidence of his half Vietnamese mother. The man continued walking down an old path that was beginning to have a thick layer of snow on top of it.
"If we get into any trouble, I don't want you sticking around. Just make a break for the Stargate and get back to Atlantis," ordered Kurt to Doctor Swenson.
She gave a slight nod in reply as she continued to walk scanning the area around them for anything out of the ordinary. Her blond hair was in a tight bun that was covered by her military issue cap. She had blue eyes that sometimes seemed to be a dark grey color when she was angry. The woman had on the standard uniform for Atlantis Science personel, but she wore a military issue vest over top of it.
They all walked deeper into the snowy hills towards the Atlantian settlement in the distance. Each team member had their own thoughts about what they might find at the dilapidated settlement. Each human team member kept these thoughts to themselves as they continued into the hills.
Captain Kurt Henderson layed in the deep wet snow, his fatigues were becoming wet and the layers of clothes under them were slowly becoming wet and cold aswell. In his hands he held a standard pair of Binoculars. He gazed out at the ruins of the Ancient settlement, the settlement had several badly damaged buildings and a large tower that seemed to stretch hundreds of feet into the air. It had four large arms that came out from the tower and made a rectangle around the top of the tower.
The wind howled past and around them as he took his gaze from the settlement and looked back at the group of explorers. "It looks clear," he said getting back to his feet. He opened his vest and placed the durable binoculars back into the large pocket. "But that doesn't mean there isn't someone down there," he said closing the pocket.
"How do you want to aproach it then?"
Kurt looked at Lee, "Mike and me will move up with you coving us. The doc will stay with you up here," he said looking at his other two men who nodded their heads in reply.
Kurt unclipped his P-90 submachine gun from his vest and looked at Yanson. He did the same and they both in unison walked over the hill and began to run down the other side towards the Ancient settlement. Lee layed down in the snow and began to look through the scope on his P-90. He watched them pass several fallen trees and slowly wade through the thick snow towards the settlement.
Mike and Kurt both carefully watched the ruins as they aproached, they held their guns at the ready as they moved. Kurt continued to struggle through the deep snow as Yanson walked slowly beside him. Kurt scanned the ruins with his P-90 and watched for any sign of movement. Nothing moved in the chilled day air as they both entered the ruins at the same time.