"Excuse Me Sir, we're going where?" Chip was sure he had heard the Admiral correctly the first time but Chip Morton had always believed a good XO made absolutely sure his CO had said something outrageous before mustering logical reasons why said utterances probably weren't such a good idea.

"Atlantis, an Ancient alien floating city on some unnamed planet in the Pegasus Galaxy, should be interesting." Nelson said offhandedly, while sorting through various computer discs on his desk.

To his credit, Morton's left eye barely twitched, he'd been worried for awhile that he was going to develop some sort of facial tic working with the Admiral and Lee but so far his iron clad reserve had yet to fail him, at least completely. "But Sir, the retrofit," Chip tried, he didn't think it was going to do him any good but he intended to go down swinging.

Nelson waved his hand distractedly, "We'll only be gone a week tops, Sharkey will be here and Bobby can oversee getting things moved into the warehouse and shifted around so that the serious work can start."

"Lt. O'Brien; and Chief Sharkey; without any supervision," Chip's left eye twitched a little more strongly.

"You know," Nelson continued, oblivious to his XO's distress, "this will be an excellent opportunity for our young lieutenant; he doesn't often get a chance to spread his wings without one of us looking over his shoulder; it'll be good for him, dealing directly with Sharkey and the men; how much trouble could they get into anyway." Nelson pulled out a satchel and started loading some paperwork along with the discs he'd found and was therefore blissfully ignorant of his XO's appalled stare.

Chip blinked, not even sure where to start; fortunately or unfortunately, as the case may be, he didn't get a chance because his best friend and commanding officer breezed into the room carrying a tray of coffees and several reports under his arm.

"Hey, what did I miss?"

XXXXXXXXXXX

"The biologists are making 'Welcome' banners," Radek commented. He reached for the salt, hesitated, and then added a shake to the pale blue 'potatoes'.

"That is very kind of them. He must be a great man on your planet, not only are the scientists quite pleased he is making a visit, the Marines also appear to be very happy as well." Teyla smiled at Radek before turning to Torren and trying to coax him into eating another bite of 'potato'. Torren, in the way of most toddlers was much more interested in using his food as building materials. Teyla frowned; Torren would not be quite so difficult if his 'uncle' Ronan weren't encouraging him quite so much.

"Yeah, the Staff Sergeant has been cleaning ever since O'Neill announced the visit. Is this Admiral Nelson a great war hero as well as some sort of scientist?" Ronan snuck Torren another carrot stick to use as fencing for his potato fort.

Radek shrugged, "He has fought in wars, yes, but he has always spoken for peace and especially protecting the Earth's oceans. He is a very brilliant man. He created a great ship, called the Seaview and he sails the Earth's oceans studying them and protecting the planet. He is a teacher as well as a soldier and one of the few military people that we scientists trust."

Zelenka smiled as Teyla intercepted another carrot stick from Ronan to Torren, biting it in half decisively. Ronan grinned unrepentantly.

"Rodney does not seem very happy about his visit though," Teyla stated diplomatically.

"McKay's pissed," Ronan snorted.

"Admiral Nelson is a marine biologist and Rodney does not do so well with biologists," Radek said.

"He usually just insults them," Ronan said, "so what's different about this guy?"

"Well, he is also a Nuclear Physicists, a great designer, holds many patents in engineering and," Radek hesitated, leaning forward and lowering his voice, "Admiral Nelson also has won the Nobel Prize in Marine Biology."

"Ah," Ronan and Teyla said in unison, nodded knowingly. They may not understand everything about Earth society but they had heard of the Nobel Prize often enough from Rodney usually on a rant about what idiot had won the latest one while his genius was trapped, unable to publish prize winning papers due to the idiotic bureaucracy that was the United States military and their rampant paranoia. They knew that having a Nobel Prize winner on the base would irritate Rodney greatly. The fact that the prize was in biology would simply be adding salt to the wound.

"We shall have to be extra nice to Rodney during this visit," Teyla said kindly, bouncing Torren on her knee.

Ronan and Radek exchanged looks, yeah, right.

XXXXXXX

"I just don't see why I have to go, that's all." Chip finished loading another book into his Kindle.

"Give it up Morton; we're both going, although frankly if anyone should get to stay behind it should be me." Lee muttered as he fiddled with the pens on Chip's desk thinking longingly of the willowy brunette he'd had a date lined up with that evening.

Chip narrowed his eyes, giving his friend a knowing look before snatching the pens and putting them neatly back in their container. "My heart bleeds for you," he said insincerely.

Lee grinned and leaned back in his chair, "You're just annoyed because you think Sharkey and O'Brien are going to wreck havoc while we're gone," Lee teased.

"I just think it would be a good idea to have a senior officer present in case anything comes up, that's all I'm saying." Chip answered from the head where he was fetching his shaving kit.

Lee rose and threw an arm across his friend's shoulders as he came out, "They've got to leave the nest sometime Chip old friend, and our Bobby's all grown up." Lee stated solemnly before breaking into a grin, "Sharkey I think we're stuck with."

Chip finally relaxed, shaking his head and smiling fondly, "Goof." He snapped his suitcase closed.

"C'mon, let's go meet this Colonel Carter the Air Force is sending over to pick us up."

"Yeah, maybe we can get a snack from Cookie before we head over to the Admiral's office, you know to tide us over later," Chip added. Lee smiled, mission accomplished, one annoyed XO's feathers now unruffled.

Chip and Lee heard unfamiliar feminine laughter coming from Nelson's office. Cookie had been kind enough to hand them several sandwiches and a stash of chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. Chip believed in always having snacks in place for any trip and Lee couldn't complain as more than once Morton's stash of food had come in handy.

"Come in gentlemen, come in," Nelson was smiling broadly. In front of him stood a slightly taller blonde haired woman with the rank insignia of Colonel on her Air Force uniform, although it was more like a flight suit. Lee and Chip set their bags down and came to immediate attention.

"Ma'am," they saluted.

She returned their salute and smiled broadly. "Captain Crane, Commander Morton, it's an honor."

Chip and Lee exchanged a look, 'an honor'?

"I've read your files, absolutely fascinating." Carter stated. "Admiral Nelson…"

"Harri," Nelson interrupted with a charming smile. Chip and Lee felt their eyebrows rise slightly.

"Harri," Carter amended, somewhat bashfully, "has been telling me about some of your more colorful adventures."

"And getting some grand tales in return," Nelson stated kindly, "the Colonel's ship the Hammond will be giving us a lift to Midway II. I can hardly wait to see her in action."

Lee was pretty sure the Admiral was referring to the ship but Colonel Carter was a very good looking woman and Nelson could be very charming with the ladies and if the ladies happened to be the commanding officer of a space ship, well that lure would be nigh irresistible.

"Well, now that we're all here, shall we?" Nelson said with a conspiratorial wink at the Colonel.

"Shall we what?" Chip asked.

There was a flash of light and suddenly Lee and Chip found themselves standing on the bridge of a ship looking down at the Earth from what appeared to be high orbit, their bags at their feet, Nelson and Carter in front of them; Nelson with a mischievous grin on his face.

Chip glanced to his side and started; standing behind a consol was a small grey alien with large eyes. He nudged Lee who had been busy staring out the windows.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Chip said faintly.