Wow. The last two years have really flown by. Sometimes I can hardly believe it's all happened to me. I want to pinch myself, sure I'm dreaming, that I'll wake up and find out that I'm still in a tiny office at the Pentagon, shuffling paper, doing research. Not that I didn't love what I was doing, but.... There I was, a little over two years ago, when the phone rings - could I ever have imagined how much my life was going to change, from one simple call? "Captain Carter, the Stargate project is re-opening." A simple statement. Deceptively simple. How could the project be starting up again? We'd been over the figures, the simulations didn't work, but I wanted to be involved anyway, despite my questions. This time, I was going to be part of it, or else.... But I'm jumping ahead of myself. You wanted to know how it happened, right? How I got to where I am now.... Well, the next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Colorado. Heading for Cheyenne Mountain, a place I'd heard so much about. I'd studied that report, the one about the Abydos mission, till I could recite whole pages of it verbatim, I was almost to the point where I was dreaming about it, and here I was heading for the place where they kept the Stargate itself! And that's how I found myself in the briefing room, already full of people I knew by reputation, a two-star general and a handful of majors. Colonel O'Neill was there too, of course, lounging there near the head of the table, like he, not General Hammond, was in charge. I knew him of course, or felt I did - those were his words I'd pored over for hours, his mission I'd studied. Even as I was walking into the room, guess what was the first thing I heard? "Where's he transferring from?" I couldn't resist replying to that, and said "She is transferring from the Pentagon. I take it you're Colonel O'Neill. Captain Samantha Carter reporting, Sir." So then it started, but none of what they said surprised me. I'd been in the airforce long enough to have heard every crack someone could make by now, about women in uniform, women officers in particular, so none of it was new to me. Not that any of that stopped me gushing to the colonel, of course - it embarrasses me a little now to think about it. "I practically memorized your report from the first mission. I'd like to think I've been preparing for this my entire life." The moment I said it, I realised how it sounded. Fortunately, Kawalsky saved me, making some crack about bombing runs, and I was able to open my mouth and remove my foot! "Colonel," I went on, once I'd recovered, "I was studying the gate technology for two years before Daniel Jackson made it work and before you both went through. I should've gone through then. But Sir, you and your men might as well accept that fact that I am going through this time." As I made my statement, staked my claim on the Stargate, so to speak, I could swear I saw something in the colonel's eyes. Of course, I didn't know him well enough to tell it then, but now I think, I hope, he saw a kindred spirit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There we were, standing in the 'Gate room, not long after that conversation, the colonel and I. I wanted to say something, I'd waited for this moment so long, dreamed about it, and here it was, finally real. Somehow, the colonel picked up on it, my need to speak. "Captain?" he said, turning to me with a slightly quizzical expression on his face. "Don't worry, Colonel. I won't let you down." Okay, maybe not the earth-shattering statement I wanted to make, but I felt I needed to reassure him, maybe because he hadn't had any choice about me coming along for the ride... "Good. I was going to say ladies first." Said in that same smart-ass tone, which I would come to know and tolerate. "You know, you really will like me when you get to know me." I keep saying these things, don't I? In hindsight, I think I sounded as nervous as I really was. "Oh, I adore you already, Captain." Knowing the colonel better now, when I think back on that - it was a good start, I suppose. Then I just started gushing again, enthusing over the event horizon itself, going off into astrophysical detail, till I felt a firm hand on my shoulder. It was only as I came out the other side, that I realised the colonel, fed up with waiting for me to stop talking, had shoved me through. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Then it was Abydos - my first (but not last, though I didn't know it then) time on another planet. Of course I could never have guessed what an effect meeting Dr. Daniel Jackson would have on me. From the research he'd done, I knew he was brilliant, but that was no guarantee that we'd get along, though I'd somehow always had a strange feeling we would. I'd had my share of cranky professors in the past though, somehow physics seems to attract them, and I had no real desire to add another one to the list. I didn't expect the man we found, and neither, I think, did the colonel. I'd expected a recluse, a genius certainly, but an uncertain and isolated one; that was what the information I'd seen had led me to believe. His ideas had been ridiculed, he had been pilloried by the academic community, so surely that would make a difference to him? Instead I found a man who looked confident, assured, as though he belonged on this planet. "Captain Doctor, you're going to love this," he had said, leading us to his latest discovery and opening up a new way to the stars. Yeah, Daniel, you were right. And you've continued to be right, though now you call me Sam, which has got to be an improvement.... If only the price you paid for our travels wasn't so high, then maybe I'd feel a little less guilty every time I get carried away with what we've discovered and forget about what you've lost. Still, knowing you has been a highlight of this trip - you always treat me with respect, but never give me a headstart, never think I won't be able to keep up with you. Some times I wish I had been so close to my own brother, when you make me realise what I missed out in our strange and structured household. Then again, maybe I wouldn't be here, wouldn't be the person I am now, and I wouldn't trade your friendship for the world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Then it all went wrong. Bad enough that Daniel's wife had been kidnapped by the Goa'uld, but for her to be taken as a host for one of them.... Daniel was forced to leave his home again, leave the new family he had found so far from where he had been born, to search for the woman he loved. When he left Abydos, the people he was leaving behind there had gathered round him, touching him so tenderly, like they wanted to keep a part of him with them, even if it was only in their memory and his. I saw the pain on Daniel's face when he discovered what had happened to Sha're, that moment of total despair when he offered himself as a host, just for the tenuous chance of being with her. Even in the darkest moments of my life, when the Ashrak came, or when I discovered my father was dying of cancer, somehow I still clung on to what I had. But Daniel, I suppose he felt he had nothing to cling to, though I hope he feels differently now, that we have given him an anchor for when things get bad. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That was when we met Teal'c. He's so hard to describe, such a subtle character. When you first meet him, what impresses you is how big he is, how solid looking, and his face is so impassive. But it's deceptive. I hadn't known him very long before I could start to tell what he was thinking, his face is somehow communicative despite that seeming stone-faced look he carries so much of the time. Sure, he's never going to be one for small talk, but when he does speak, it's always something worth listening to. He gave up so much, all on the basis of a slender hope. And for a while, it all looked like he was mistaken, that he'd be taken away for 'tests' - he had pledged his allegiance to us, to this planet, but, like the colonel says, for some people it could never be enough. I'm so glad he's here with us, we wouldn't be the same without him. I'd wondered how he would fit in to the military structure we work within - I thought he'd be okay, as the society he comes from seems so rigid to us, so hierarchical. But I knew how many problems some men from this planet have with a woman telling them what to do, so I guess I expected to have a problem. It never happened. Guess there's something to be said for hierarchies after all.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So that's us, that's SG1 in a nutshell. One sarcastic colonel, who's had more injuries than I've had hot dinners - hard on the outside, but with a true heart. One impulsive archaeologist, always getting into trouble, but keeping us grounded with his sheer humanity and compassion. One honourable, courageous, totally trustworthy alien warrior. One scientist/soldier, not totally sure how she fits in to the scheme of things, but who wouldn't want to miss a minute of it.... Our motto? You know what they used to say on that TV show : "To explore new worlds, to seek out new life, to boldly go where no-one has gone before...." ~fin~

Disclaimer : Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is written for entertainment purposes only - no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story-line are the property of the author - not to be archived elsewhere without permission of the author.