Timeline: SGA: either season 4 or 5, and BtVS: post-Chosen, Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly. Author's Note: Written for Day 20 of the 2024 August Fic-A-Day. Three weeks stuck on a spaceship had not been nearly as cool as she had hoped. On the contrary, it had taken her less than a day to conclude that this was going to try her patience. It had also tried her ability to not reveal how strong and fast she truly was, rather than just play a little above what her size indicated she should be able to do. Like everyone else, she had gotten the choice between the old Atlantis uniform - grey pants, grey jacket with red inserts, plus a red zip-up jumper since she was a civilian, or the new all-black uniform. She had decided quickly on the latter but still had the grey one as a backup. The day after arriving she went to Colonel Sheppard's office. Well, she had to ask several people for directions to get there, but finally, she knocked on the door as she wasn't sure if the sensor thing on the outside could also work as a doorbell. Despite the three-week journey and more meetings than she cared to remember back on Earth, there were some things she would just have to learn as she went. "Enter!" A voice from inside called as the door slid open on its own. Dark hazel-green eyes widened a little when he saw her, while at the same time attempting to place her. "Hey. Can I help you?" "I'm Buffy Summers," she answered the unasked question and he replied with his rank and family name. "I came on the Daedalus yesterday." She waited a few beats to see if her name jogged his memory, and after a few moments, it did. "Ah, right. You're the person I'm told will be a new member of my team." The recollection of what had probably been an order in email form without an explanation had caused his attitude to cool slightly. "Trust me, I'm not particularly happy to be here either. I'd rather be on Earth, but we both answer to people who decided this was a wonderful idea. So... Can we play nice? I promise I'm not as fragile as I look." The last part got her a scrutinizing examination, and while she was wearing her new black uniform her nails were a pretty shade of pink. He merely raised an eyebrow, but she could see the hint of an upturn at the corner of his lips. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad... Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, she quickly asked, "Wanna spar?" She gave him a hopeful look. "I'm sure all that paperwork has you itching to hit something." That startled a laugh out of him. "Sure," he replied as he got up from his chair and gave himself a good stretch. "All new members of off-world teams need to go through a series of tests to check you can defend yourself and are ready for whatever the Pegasus Galaxy decides to throw at us at any given time. You'll need to be tested in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry, among others." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't like guns." Off his unhappy look, she hastened to add, "I can use them, but I'd rather have something sharp and shiny." Buffy smiled brightly, "I brought several of my swords, and General Jack said I can take them with me when I go off-world." That got her raised eyebrows before he seemed to mentally sort through his orders again. "Right. General O'Neill did mention your fondness for swords and knives. We'll get back to that, but for now, do you know where the gym is?" She gave an affirmative response. "Good. I'll meet you there in 15." They left his office together, but soon parted ways while she went to her quarters and he went... somewhere. Major Lorne had given her and some of the other civilians a short tour of the most important areas the day before, in addition to a few other ones they should be able to find. It would take some time for her to orient herself properly in Atlantis, but hopefully, people here were friendly enough to give directions until then. Someone had also been kind enough to give her a room with a balcony. Something that hadn't even crossed her mind until Major Lorne had pointed it out to her. Someone had placed a large, green plant out there. The quarters were still bare though. Her bags were mostly unopened and just dumped alongside one of the walls. There would be time later to unpack and make the place more homey, but for now, she needed exercise clothes and her toiletries. Buffy changed quickly before throwing anything else she needed into a gym bag and then left to find the gym.