Little A walked down one of the many identical looking corridors, map in hand, trying to find her way to the Briefing Room. Unfortunately, she wasn't doing too well at finding the place and decided that she was completely lost.
And I thought I was good at map reading, she thought. You've got to be a genius to find your way around this underground labyrinth.
She was too busy staring at the map, turning it this way and that to see if any other orientation of the map would help her, that she missed a door to her left open. A man with dark blond hair came rushing out, also not looking where he was going, and promptly knocked Little A to the floor with a resounding thud. The man, known as Daniel to his friends, leant over her to see if she was injured in any way.
"Hello? Are you all right?" he said.
"Huh?" was all the reply he got.
Haven't seen her around here before, he thought, she must be new.
"Here, let me help you up."
Little A grabbed the offered hand and was hauled to standing position. After brushing herself down she looked at him and said, "Thanks."
Oh my, look at those wonderful, clear, sea blue eyes and the way his hair frames his perfect face and how he subconsciously pushes his glasses up his nose. And he's a civilian, she thought.
While she was staring at Daniel and admiring his wonderful facial features, Colonel Jack O'Neill casually strolled up to him and said, "Daniel, you *do* remember that we've got a meeting with the general, to meet the new captain that's joining us."
"I know Jack, but on my way I bumped into this lady."
"This lady, and what might her name be."
As soon as Little A heard this she stood to attention, saluted and said, "Captain Andrea Shearwood sir, or more commonly known as Little A."
"At ease captain."
"Thank you sir."
"So tell me, why are you known as Little A."
" Well at 4'9" I'm quite little and of course my first name begins with A, so Little A seemed to fit."
"Well welcome to the SGC captain. I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill and this is Daniel Jackson."
She shook both of their hands and said, "Thank you sir."
"Now, if you would like to follow us we'll take you to the briefing room where you will get a chance to meet the rest of my team."
"Yes sir."
"And captain, quit with the sir's."
"Yes sir, um, colonel."
Reminds me of another certain captain, Jack thought.
With that, they set off for the briefing room. On the way there Little A tried to figure out where they were on the map, but gave up after the 5th or 6th turn. So instead she tried to figure out what the acronym, that Colonel O'Neill had said, stood for.
After what seemed like an hour, but in reality was about 10 minutes, they arrived at their destination. They entered the Briefing room where three people were already seated at the table, waiting patiently. A bald headed man sat at the head of the table and, by the stars on his uniform, she knew that he was a General. A tall well built man with a strange, glistening gold tattoo on his forehead sat to the General's right hand side on the second chair down. The third person Little A knew very well, Captain Samantha Carter. They had been in the same platoon when training in the Air Force Academy and had kept in touch even when Sam had been assigned to the Pentagon. She sat directly next to the General on the left-hand side.
"Glad you two could make the meeting, and I see that you've brought the new recruit with you. Colonel, doctor, please take a seat," said the general.
Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson both went to their seats, Daniel next to Sam and the colonel next to the general's right hand side. The general stood up and introduced himself and the people that were sat round the table.
"Captain, welcome to Stargate Command."
So that's what it stands for, she thought.
"I'm General Hammond, you've met Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson, this is Teal'c." The well-built man gave a small head nod in acknowledgement. "And this…"
"Is Captain Samantha Carter," Little A interrupted.
"Hey, Little A," Sam said. She got up out of her chair and headed in Little A's direction. When she reached her she gave Little A a great big hug. A few questioning faces looked at Sam and she replied, "We knew each other from the Air Force Academy and we've kept in touch ever since my transfer to the base."
Sam and Little A started chatting about old times, but the colonel interrupted and said, "Uh captains, that's enough reminiscing for now I think the general would like to start the briefing now."
"Sorry sir," Sam and Little A said in unison.
The general motioned for Little A to take a seat and she did so, beside Daniel.
"Thank you. Captain Shearwood…" Little A grimaced.
"Sorry general, but please, if you don't mind, could you call me Little A. It sounds better."
"Very well, as I was saying. Little A if you could tell us more about yourself."
"Oh, right. Well I haven't the foggiest idea why I'm here but I'm an archaeologist specialising in Egyptology, anthropologist, biologist, chemist and astronomer all to varying degrees of knowledge."
"Captain, you are here to assist all the members of SG-1 and, in special circumstances, you will be able to go on missions, with SG-1, off base."
"Off base?! How?"
"Through this." The white board behind Little A slowly rose to reveal a great big metal ring with seven visible chevrons and a ramp leading to the rings centre. Little A stood at the window with a fish mouth expression and gazed at the ring, astonished at the size of the thing. "This is the Stargate."
Finally composing herself, Little A spoke.
"Wow, it has star constellations on the ring, well, representations of them anyway."
"For cryin' out loud, another scientist," O'Neill muttered, hoping no one has heard. Unfortunately Little A had heard loud and clear and she wasn't about to let that comment pass her by, especially as it had annoyed her.
"Colonel, I may be a scientist but I'm not on pat with Sam and Dr Jackson. One, I'm not a doctor. Two, I only have degrees in archaeology and anthropology. Three, I did biology and chemistry A-Levels and four, astronomy is one of my many hobbies that I take seriously and like to read about." Calming herself she added, "OK, I shouldn't have got annoyed at my commanding officer, so I apologise. Just don't bite my head off."
O'Neill stared at her.
"Why would O'Neill bite your head off," a booming voice said.
"It's an expression, Teal'c isn't it."
"It is indeed."
Little A tried to explain, for Teal'c's benefit.
"It means that if he was going to tell me off I didn't want him to get really angry, even though I would probably deserve it."
"I see," Teal'c's face betraying his words.
"Well people, now that the briefing's over why don't you take Little A on a tour of the base."
"That, general, sounds like a great idea. I tried to find my way here using the map that was given to me, but even then I got lost," said Little A. Sam laughed.
"Believe me, it takes a few days to even get your bearings, When I arrived I could never find a coffee pot even though my office was near one, but after being here nearly two years I know my way round like the back of my hand," said Daniel.
"OK campers, let's move out and show Little A round the base."
"Why is it you are called Little A, Andrea Shearwood," Teal'c inquired.
"Ugh." Little A put her face in her hands and mumbled, "Someone please tell Teal'c why I don't like being called Andrea Shearwood and so I'm called Little A."
After Sam's in depth explanation to the rest of SG-1 why she was called Little A they left to start the tour.
The last stop was the infirmary.
"And this is the infirmary where Daniel spends most of his time after being injured on many of the missions," explained Sam.
"Ha, ha Sam. Very funny," Daniel retorted.
"Dr Janet Frasier is the Chief Medical Officer. She's the one over there."
The group headed over to where Dr Frasier was staring into a microscope and looking totally baffled.
"Hello, I'm Little A."
"Damn, I need someone who knows about microbiology," muttered Dr Frasier.
"Uh Janet, there's someone to see you," said Sam.
"What is it now, has Daniel been hit by the colonel trying to teach him self defence again?" Janet asked.
"Hey," Jack and Daniel retorted in unison.
"No, this is Little A, the new captain assigned here."
"Oh, hi Little A."
"Before you ask why Little A, ask Sam. She can explain it including every little detail, some of which I would not like to be reminded of," Little A interrupted. "I heard you need someone who knows about microbiology."
"Yep, sure do. I have no idea what micro-organism this is."
"Could I have a look," Little A asked.
"OK."
Little A looked down the microscope, readjusting the focus, and saw a chain of circular bacteria with rod shapes coming from each bacterium.
"Hmm, Dr. Frasier you have a Streptococcus species with Bacilli attached to each coccus. Good news is that it can be treated with antibiotics as long as there is no resistance, but the bad news is that I don't know what illness it will cause. I've never seen anything like this."
"And you were taught all this at that A-Level thingy," the colonel questioned.
"Yep," was the blunt reply.
"Thank you Little A. Luckily it was a sample that SG-12 brought back from P4X-318 so hasn't contaminated anyone."
Little A took the slide out of the microscope and gave it to Dr. Frasier. What no one had realised was that a sample of the bacteria had come into contact with Little A's skin and had been absorbed into the epidermal layer.
Little A looked at all the people in the infirmary and thought, I'm going to enjoy it here.
The End
Feedback to Little A
