Major Emily Banning looked at the large circular object in the old missile silo. The large ring of the object was spinning.
Behind her, her three teammates were checking their gear. Lieutenant Evan Michaels was a bald-headed african-american, 26 years of age. Captain Lucius McGregor, on the other hand, was a war veteran, having spent three years in Iraq as a fighter pilot.
After he was shot down, and his successive capture and torture, he decided to ask for a transfer. That’s how he ended up at Stargate Command, the most secure base in the United States.
Her final team member was captain Emanuel Cornwall, of “Corn”. Corn was only 23 years old, but he had been with the Stargate program for four years.
‘Chevron six encoded,’ the voice of sergeant Harriman said through the microphone up at the control room.
Emily looked around to her teammates, looking excited. ‘Ready?’ she said. It was her first official mission since she had been appointed leader of her own SG team, SG-22.
‘Hell yeah,’ lieutenant Michaels said. ‘I was born for this.’
‘Good,’ Emily smiled. She turned back to the Stargate, which reached his last lock. The symbol for Earth, the point of origin, was at the top, and the chevron locked.
‘Chevron seven is locked,’ they heard. The Stargate activated in a brilliant flash of light, with a loud ‘kawoosh’ sound. Instinctively, Emily did a step back. She’s been through the stargate for almost fifty times, but she can’t help feeling intimidated by the thing.
When the wormhole was formed, Emily and her team started walking up the ramp. Michaels was carrying most of their equipment, he nearly tripped.
‘Careful,’ McGregor said, ‘that’s valuable equipment.’
‘Like I don’t know that,’ Michaels answered.
Emily reached the event horizon of the wormhole, and looked at it. It was a strange idea that in a few seconds, it would disintegrate her molecules, transport them millions of light years across two galaxies, and the reintegrate her body on the other side.
‘Good luck, SG-22,’ sergeant Harriman said from the control room.
Emily turned around to him. ‘Thank you, Walter,’ she said. She turned around, back to the wormhole, took a deep breath, and stepped through.

Major Banning stepped out the other side of the wormhole. For a moment, she was disoriented, but that soon passed as she looked at her surroundings.
She was standing in the middle of Stargate Operations, in Atlantis, in the Pegasus Galaxy. In front of her, Richard Woolsey of the International Oversight Advisory, or IOA, extended his hand. Left of him, major John Sheppard looked quite happy. Doctor Rodney McKay was standing right of Woolsey. Emily shook Woolsey’s hand.
‘Welcome to the Pegasus Galaxy, major,’ Woolsey said.
‘Thank you, mr. Woolsey. It’s quite impressive,’ she added while looking around.
‘Thanks,’ Sheppard said as he shook Emily’s hand as well. ‘We just painted.’
McKay looked at the prolonged handshake of the two. ‘Kirk,’ he mumbled.
‘What’s that, Rodney?’ Sheppard said.
‘What? Nothing, that’s – nothing,’ he stuttered.
‘That’s dr. McKay,’ Sheppard said to Emily.
At the same time, the rest of her team appeared at the gate. Michaels’ mouth fell open as he looked around.
‘So this is Atlantis?’ he asked. ‘Neat!’
‘Yes, “neat”’, McKay said, looking as if he just bit in a citrus.
Two uniformed men walked to them, and got the equipment from Michaels.
‘Shall we get up to the conference room?’ Woolsey suggested to Emily.
‘Please, after you,’ she said. ‘You three, get settled in,’ she said to her teammates.
‘Yeas, maim,’ Michaels said.
Emily followed Woolsey, Sheppard and McKay up the steps containing a greeting in Ancient, to the left, to what seemed to be a wall. But, as they walked toward it, it opened in parts.
‘Please, sit down,’ Woolsey gestured as he sat down himself. Sheppard and McKay sat down too. So Emily did too.
‘Let’s get right to business,’ Woolsey said. ‘Your mission.’
It was silent for a few moments, as both Sheppard and McKay looked at her. She wasn’t one of the most beautiful people on the planet, but she certainly could keep up.
Her short, brown hair with an haircut that looked very nice with her tinted skin. Her bright blue eyes made even the pimple on her chin disappear.
‘Sure,’ she finally said. ‘I mean, what else is there to do in a city that has been built by a race of beings that are millions of years more advanced than we are.‘
Woolsey looked somewhat confused, and looked down in his file folder.
‘Don’t worry, I was just kidding,’ she smiled. ‘Let’s get down to business.’
‘Beautiful and funny,’ Sheppard commented.
McKay bowed over so he could see Sheppard. ‘Give it a rest, Kirk.’
‘What?’
‘Gentlemen, please,’ Woolsey interrupted. ‘As I was saying, your mission.’
‘We have gathered intel concerning a Wraith outpost,’ Sheppard said. ‘Apparently, the Wraith are trying to increase the life they can take from humans.’
Emily was horrified. She knew the Wraith feed on the life force of humans, but trying to increase the life force in someone in order to get more out of him or her, seemed upauling to her.
‘You will be accompanying major Sheppard’s team to P4X-539,’ Woolsey continued. ‘The facility lies at about twenty kilometers from the gate, so it will be a short Jumper ride.’
‘The plan is to figure out exactly what they’re doing there, and if necessary, destroy the facility,’ Sheppard explained.
‘And to make our job a whole lot easier,’ McKay said, ‘the equipment you were carrying is a handheld device based on the out-of-phase device Marlin created. With it, we will be able to put ourselves out of phase, unable to be seen or hit. That way the Wrath can’t find us and feed on us.’
‘Nice, McKay, good work,’ Sheppard said.
‘Yeah,’ McKay said. ‘Carter made them,’ he mumbled.
‘All right,’ Woolsey took the lead. ‘If all is clear, you can gear up.’ He stood up.
Emily did the same. ‘Yes, sir.’ The wall of doors opened again, and Emily followed the rest out of the conference room. She couldn’t help but look at the back of Rodney McKay. She had heard how smart he was, but also arrogant and condescending. But strangely, Emily felt attracted to him.
‘If he gives you a hard time, just say the word “citrus”,’ Sheppard said while he walked next to her.
Emily smiled. ‘I’ll keep that in mind, sir.’