Chapter 1

Major Morgan Finn sat back and put his feet up on the table. And why not? It wasn't like he was going to be in Star Gate command for very much longer. He was now a 'black cat' -- considered bad luck, and he knew he'd never be assigned to another team again. He wasn't even sure he wanted to be.

Finn had been on SG-6. Both times. And both times everyone on the team had died but him. The first time he'd survived had been sheer luck. The Goa'uld they'd been stalking had gotten the drop on them, although Finn hadn't been surprised. For some reason, the team commander had taken a page right out of SG-1's play book to use as his own. The problem was, he hadn't had SG-1's incredible luck (which was the one thing, from Finn's point of view, that had allowed those incompetents to survive as long as they had) and the team been compromised and killed. Finn had escaped. Barely.

SG-6 had been reformed, but Finn hadn't been given command. Too bad too, because this time the idiot in charge had been even dumber then the last team commander. Hell, they hadn't even been able to outwit a bunch of savages who fought with bows and arrows. Once again, Finn had survived, but it wasn't due to luck this time. His own abilities in woods craft had allowed him to make it back to the Gate and get out of there. General Hammond had not been amused to lose two teams and despite the fact that it was hardly his fault, Finn had been benched for close to a month.

The door opened, and General Hammond entered. Finn jumped to his feet to stand at attention, more out of habit then anything else.

"As you were Major," said the General, sitting down at the head seat of the table.

Finn sat down, but watched the General with a wary eye. Hammond looked like he always did. Neither upset nor happy. He had several folders marked Top Secret, which he laid down on the table, opening the top one.

"Major Finn, your new team will be here shortly," he said.

To say Finn was surprised was an understatement. He was surprised enough that he didn't guard his tongue very well.

"Who did you find who..." the sentence trailed off. If he was getting to be on another team, he didn't want to fuck things up right off the bat. He realized that he wasn't quite so anxious to leave the SGC as he'd thought.

"Who did I find that would take on a 'black cat'?" asked Hammond with a smile.

Finn didn't trust himself to say anything, so he just nodded.

"You know," said Hammond, "there's two ways to look at what's happened to you. One way is that you bring bad luck. The other, is that you are lucky. You get what I'm meaning here?"

Finn thought for a moment, then nodded. He would have said something else, but just then the door opened, and three women walked in. One was a Major, like himself, one was a Captain, and the other was a civilian.

"Major, I'd like to introduce you to your new team," said Hammond, as the women sat down. "Major Morgan Finn, this is Major Colleen Wilds, Captain Lisa Reed and Doctor Alexa Shaw."

Introductions were made while Finn hoped that Major Wilds wasn't as stupid as his last two team commanders. The only thing he knew about her, was that she was hell on wheels when it came to hand-to-hand combat. People had been trying to get the two of them to spar for a long time, but somehow, it just hadn't happened. Anyway, if she did turn out to be a dud, then he wasn't going to trust luck a third time. Retirement was only a form away. Too bad too, since under other circumstances, he'd be more than happy to spend some off duty time with any one of them. Major Wilds was almost as tall as he was, which meant she was five eleven. She had very short, blonde hair and the build of an athlete. Big, baby blue eyes and breasts that looked interesting even through her fatigues, ensured no one would forget she was all woman. Nice. Captain Reed was the shortest of the three. She also had blonde hair, but it was a bit longer than regs allowed. Her face was very pretty, and she had brown eyes covered by glasses. She didn't look as muscular as Wilds, but still looked like she was in good shape.

Finally, there was the civi -- Doctor Alexa Shaw. She was easily the most attractive of the three, with long red hair, a light complexion and deep green eyes. He noted that while she was a civilian, she certainly kept herself in shape. She had a lean build that her skin-tight black clothing did little to hide. On the other hand, she was an egg head, and that could spell trouble.

If looks were the only thing that concerned Finn, then he'd have been in heaven. But he didn't know much about any of them (and nothing about the doctor), so he was more than a bit wary. The two Air Force officers didn't look overly happy to be here either.

"You four are the new SG-6," said Hammond. "Major Finn, you'll find that Major Wilds is an expert in hand to hand and seems to have a knack with pretty much any weapon you put in her hands. Captain Reed is a language and history expert. She's memorized every report that Daniel Jackson ever wrote, and, in fact, has worked with him to translate some of the more obscure alien languages that the SGC has had access to. And last, but not least, is Doctor Shaw. She's a recent M.I.T. grad and we're very luck to have her."

Hammond stood, "Now, I'm sure you'll all want to get acquainted and I suggest you do so, since you're leaving for P3X-255 at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow morning."

Then he turned to Finn.

"The team is yours, Major. They're all good people, so keep 'em safe."

With that he waked out, and Finn realized that he was in command of the new SG-6. He looked down at the folders -- dossiers on each of his new team, plus an overview of P3X-255 -- then looked up again.

"Well," he started, pointedly ignoring the folders, "welcome to the new SG-6."

Wilds' lips tightened, and Reed didn't look very happy either. Shaw simply continued to scan the people at the table, her face giving away nothing.

"You know," said Finn, "the general said something interesting to me before you folks arrived. He said that I could either be good luck or bad luck. Me? I figure you make your own luck. Major Wilds, do you have anything to add?"

"No sir," she relied, her voice even.

"Captain?"

"No, sir," the Captain said.

There was a pause, then Doctor Shaw said, "Am I missing something?"

There was silence for a moment, as the two Air Force officers looked at Finn, clearly leaving him to answer. Wilds had a bit of a smirk on her face.

"What have you been told about SG-6?" asked Finn.

"Nothing," replied the doctor. "I was told I'd been selected to be put on an SG team, and that was the end of it. They told me I'd be briefed when I got here. However, it seems that someone forgot to tell me something."

"I'll say," snorted Captain Reed.

Finn sighed again.

"SG-6 has had a... somewhat rocky history," said Finn.

"Oh?"

"He means," put in Wilds, "that this is the third time it's been formed."

"What happened the first two times."

"Everyone on the team was killed," said Reed.

"Everyone except him," added Wilds.

"Nice," said Shaw in a flat voice.

"Well," said Finn tightly, "now that we know my history, why don't you give us an update on yours Major?"

She barked out a short laugh.

"No problem. Lisa and I are from SG-9."

"SG-9?" asked Finn.

Both women confirmed it with a nod. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"Okay, so now I know I'm missing something else," said Alexa.

"SG-9 hasn't done any better than SG-6," said Wilds. "Captain Reed and I also managed to survive twice as well."

"So both of your teams were wiped out two times, with you three as the only survivors?"

"That's about it," said Finn. "As a civilian, you could, of course, ask to be transfered to another team."

"I was told there aren't any teams available," said Doctor Shaw, "and quite frankly, even if there were, I wouldn't ask for them."

"Why not?" asked Finn, startled.

"Because, you three are still alive," said Shaw, "and maybe the third time's the charm."

Finn knew that no one else would be seeing it that way. And in the SGC, news travels fast.

"Yo Finn," said Bunson while they were in the shower, "I hear they gave you a command."

Another man, Robeson, gave a loud, long laugh.

"Oh yeah, he got a command all right. He got the two black cats from SG-9."

Men and women who outlived more than one full SG team, or who seemed to bring disaster on their teams were referred to as 'black cats'.

"You kidding me? Wild and Reed? I hear them two are munchin' on each other," said Bunson.

"Yup," said Robeson. "Guess that means you in charge of SG-69."

Finn said nothing, the tightening of his lips the only thing showing how annoyed he was.

"Not," continued Robeson, "that I'd mind gettin' in on that action."

"Hey you could ask," said Bunson.

"Naw," was the come back, "it's the new man's military. You know: don't ask, don't tell."

The two busted out into big gales of laughter, which only made Finn less amused.

"So," Finn said, as they were drying off a few minutes later, "you ready for another sparring match Bunson?"

The other man suddenly lost his good humor over SG-69 and shook his head no.

"How about you Robeson?"

"Uh... no man... my ribs still hurt from the last time."

"Huh," replied Finn, "the way I hear it, the last person you sparred was... who was it now? I seem to have forgotten."

Robeson remained quiet.

"Oh yeah, it was Wilds," said Finn. "Major Wilds. Maybe I'll mention to her how much you're looking forward to a re-match."

"Hey thanks man, but I don't wanna horn in on your action."

Finn grunted and left the room.

Most of the service men and women sparred to keep in practice, and Wilds was known to be always up for a match. Knowing your hand-to-hand could mean the difference between life and a very messy death when you were on a mission. He wished that the SG-6/SG-9 bad luck thing hadn't come up during the briefing. He had really wanted to get to know his team before they went out. But everyone had gone their separate ways a few minutes after the revelation, and Finn hadn't felt it wise to call them back, other than to mention that they should meet at oh-six-hundred tomorrow for a pre-mission briefing.

Since everyone who made it to the SGC was supposed to be the best of the best, it was rare that new teams got to spend much training time together before going out. It was a stupid policy, and he knew that Hammond didn't agree with it, which made him wonder why his team was being pushed out the Gate so quickly. Normally, they had at least three days to acquaint themselves with each other. That slack time wasn't official, of course, but Hammond was the one who scheduled the missions and he usually made sure his people got the time they needed to acclimate. Not this time though, and Finn wondered why.

He ate dinner alone in the cafeteria since he really didn't feel like going back to his small apartment off base. Most of the time he enjoyed the solitude, but right now he was secretly hoping that some of his new team would join him. No luck there. Bad luck that Bunson sat down with two of his friends. Worse luck that SG-1 was eating in the small room as well.

"Hey Jonny," said Bunson, "did you hear about the new SG team?"

Jonny didn't even glance over at Finn, which meant they'd planned this. There were a lot of other people in the cafeteria as well, so anything these three yahoo's said, would spread like wildfire. Worse, if Finn said anything, the gossip would spread twice as fast.

"Yeah, I heard that a certain black kitty managed to get himself on a team," said Jonny.

"The way I heard it, he's in command, if you can believe that," added the third man, who's name was Reggie.

All three men thought that was just the funniest thing. Finn missed the humor though. Unfortunately, the comments had caught the attention of SG-1.

"They've even got a new number for their team," said Bunson, finally looking over at Finn. Finn eyes promised payback, but that didn't deter Bunson. "SG-69."

At that pronouncement, others, who had been listening, snickered, as the three men roared their laughter. Finn wasn't going to take it anymore. He stood up, intending to... explain to Bunson that SG team numbers didn't go that high. Most likely by introducing him to the number five, as in five knuckles, but a voice cut through the noise.

"As you were Major Finn," said Colonel O'Neil.

The men settled down, but were still chuckling when O'Neil turned his attention to them.

"You know," he remarked, "I'm sure that there's a latrine that needs cleaning around here. What do you think Major Carter?"

"Huh?" asked the woman.

Fast on the uptake, thought Finn.

"Uh, never mind," continued O'Neil, looking at Bunson and his friends. "I'll tell you what Bunson. You and your pals can stay here and finish your meal, then go clean every latrine in each of the barracks, or you can just get up, leave now, and clean only one of them. Your choice."

Bunson and his friends looked at each other, obviously annoyed. But no one was going to give O'Neil a hard time, so they got up and left the room. Their manner showed they were pretty pissed at Finn. Other folks got the idea, but Finn knew the damage had been done. And with O'Neil coming to his rescue, he knew it would only make the SG-69 misnomer stick -- kinda like having mommy scare away the bullies. Thanks Jack.

"I do not understand," Teal'c said, "why those men called SG-6, SG-69."

"They were making fun of it, Teal'c," said Daniel Jackson.

"Making fun?" asked Teal'c. "I'm afraid I still do not understand."

"Sixty-nine, Teal'c," said O'Neil, "it's a sexual reference."

"To what?"