Chapter 1

"Incoming wormhole!"

Dr. Weir came running out of her office to the control centre just as the technician said, "It's Major Lorne's IDC."

"Lower the shield," said Weir.

The technician pressed the button on the console and then said, "I'm receiving audio only..."

"Atlantis - get two medical teams to the gate room ASAP - incoming wounded with gunshot wounds that need medical attention soonest!"

She looked at the technician and said, "Do it," who then made the call to Dr. Beckett down in the infirmary, and then Weir headed down to the main landing at the bottom of the stairs to see what had transpired with Lorne's team.

The security team was at the ready when all of a sudden a person - one of Major Lorne's team - burst through the gate and was dragging Major Lorne. A second later the other two team members came limping through the Stargate, helping each other as they were also injured in some way, and then the Gate shut down.

The member who dragged Major Lorne through the gate was kneeling down and looking at a tag on the Major's tactical vest.

Beckett and his medical team entered the lower landing just as the wormhole shut down.

The one team member said, "Dr. Beckett - you might want to see this," and handed over a piece of paper.

Beckett looked at it and saw writing in English that read, 'Gunshot wounds upper torso, shotgun lower torso, multiple cuts and abrasions, possible severe sprained ankle, and possible concussion.' Beckett asked, "Where did you get this?"

The team member replied, "I just pulled this off the Major's vest. We got ambushed by locals and some bush ... thing drove them off and patched us up."

She looked at Beckett and asked, "Have you got everything under control here?"

He looked at her and showed her the paper and replied, "I'll let you know in a little bit, Elizabeth - when I can tell you more about Major Lorne and his team's injuries. Until then ... I can't really say."

"Good - I'll leave them in your capable hands then." She went up the stairs to the control centre for the gate and asked the technician if he could detect if there were any others that came through the gate.

He checked his readouts and told her, "As far as I can tell just Major Lorne's team came through the gate, ma'am."

Weir asked the technician, "You still have the gate address that Major Lorne's team went to handy?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Have it on stand-by - I'm going to have Colonel Sheppard's team go see who our mystery ... person was and see why they didn't want to stick around."

"Yes ma'am."

She tapped her headset on the side and said, "Colonel Sheppard - can you come to the control room with your team please?"

"On my way - what's up?"

"We just had Major Lorne's team return with casualties and something strange happened when they returned. I'd like your input on what we find out."

"Okay - we're on the way."

Weir turned back to the technician and asked him, "Can you pull up the video footage of the gate room and put it on the main screen, please?"

"Yes ma'am, coming up right now," as he pushed a few buttons and presto - there was the scene that she was still in shock and wondering about.