Timeline: SGA: anytime, BtVS: post-Chosen.
Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly.
Author's Note: Written for Day 5 of the 2024 August Fic-A-Day.
"Oh, look! More trees!" Buffy feigned shock as she exited the Pegasus Stargate on her first mission since arriving in Atlantis. "And they aren't even blue or an eye-water shade of fuschia."
Major Lorne gave her an amused side-ways grin while simultaneously surveying the immediate area for threats. "Yes, Summers. There are trees—green, normal ones. Most Stargates are placed somewhere with strategically placed forests or rocks around them. Probably part of the Ancients design."
"I've never seen plants or trees in any color they're not supposed to be," Lieutenant Cadman added from a little further ahead. "Kinda disappointing, really. It's usually the same thing, over and over again."
Dr. Parrish had only managed to open his mouth, no doubt to contradict his teammate, before Major Lorne got a word in edgewise. "Let's spread out and have a look around. See if there's anything interesting here, or if we're just taking a nice mid-morning stroll."
Cadman dropped back and the two of them took off to the left, while their team leader and their resident botanist took the right. Buffy had stretched out her senses, both the natural and the supernatural, to check the new planet for anything dangerous, or if there were people or animals around. There were plenty of the latter given the greenery, but nothing that set off any alarm bells. There were no people or, as far as she could tell since she had yet to encounter them, wraiths.
They had been walking for a good ten minutes before the Marine broke the silence. "Are your spidey senses tingling?"
"Nope. No space vampires, no murderous villagers; not even an angry alien bear. We might as well be in a Canadian forest. Except if we had been in a Canadian forest we could've probably dropped by a Starbucks or something afterward. Now all we have to look forward to is the swill in the cafeteria."
"Mess hall."
Buffy turned her head and looked questionly at the other blonde. "What messy hall?"
Cadman grinned. "It's called the mess hall, not the cafeteria. You need to update your lingo."
"Oh. I knew that," she gave her teammate a sheepish look. She did know that. They had used it at the SGC and on the Daedalus as well. It didn't really matter what it was called as long as the food lived there.
They walked in silence for another five minutes before Major Lorne checked in with them. An hour after that he declared the planet to either be empty of people or they were too far away from the Stargate, and they began the long trek back.
When they met back up again in front of the DHD, Buffy declared, "Well, that was nothing more than a sunny stroll in our backyard. How often does that happen?"
"Not nearly enough," the Major replied as he began pushing the keys to dial them back to the no longer lost city of Atlantis. "I'll recommend another team take another survey in a Jumper, just in case there are people further away. If there isn't, it might work as a backup site if we need to evacuate again."
The Stargate kawooshed and then settled before they walked through.