It was a routine mission to M2X-352. Sheppard and his team had been sent to the planet, along with Dr. Keller, to provide help to a small village they'd allied themselves with during their last visit, who'd succumbed to a flu-like illness which had already claimed the lives of multiple children and elders. They'd been there for the past week and a half while Keller worked nearly non-stop trying to treat the sick. She'd stopped only to sleep and eat when one of the team dragged her out of her makeshift clinic. Figuratively, of course.

John and Rodney were sitting on the ground at their campsite, tossing a tennis ball that John had snuck into his pocket between them. Ronan walked around the perimeter of the site, refusing to let his guard down even on a practically deserted planet such as this. Teyla was down in the village, helping the doctor with her patients. The man had offered, but according to Jennifer Teyla just had a natural knack for dealing with people. Something about having patience.

"How much longer are we going to be here? Sleeping on the hard ground is not doing my back any favors." Rodney complained as he tossed the ball back to John. "Soon I'll be conducting major breakthroughs in science remotely from my bed because I can't stand up anymore."

"Stop complaining McKay. The doc said that she thought the antibiotics were working, so give it a few more days and we'll be home before you know it" Sheppard rebutted.

"Would you rather a whole village die of something you can cure?" Ronan snipped as he walked past the pair.

"Yeah well if my back gives out before then I'll be claiming compensa-" Rodney was cut off before he could finish by their radios crackling to life.

"Colonel Sheppard, please come in". It was Teyla.

"Go on Teyla, what ya got?" Sheppard answered.

"It would seem that our work here is done. Doctor Keller seems confident that the treatment is working well for the villagers and that there is nothing more we can do but wait." Teyla's voice explained.

"I do want to come back within a week to check on their progress, but we've instructed the healers here on how to deliver the antibiotics so there shouldn't be any problems" Jennifer interjected.

"So we can go home?" Rodney asked hopefully.

"Yes Rodney" said John, rolling his eyes. "It means we can go home." Turning his attention back to his radio, he told Teyla and the doctor to grab their stuff and head back to camp, while the boys would focus on packing up the camp.

Half an hour later, the group was heading back towards the Gate, talking jovially about food, beds, and hot showers. John noticed that Jennifer had kept rather quiet since departing, so he told Ronan to take up his position at the front of the pack, while he dropped back and fell into step with the doctor.

"What's wrong, doc? Not happy to be headed home?" He asked, voice low enough that she was the only one that heard him. The others were too busy discussing the variety of desserts waiting for them back on Atlantis anyway.

"It's not that" She answered. "I just hate leaving patients before they're a hundred percent healthy. It makes me nervous".

"Don't worry, we'll be back inside of a week, and I guarantee that they'll all be on their feet, and ready to kneel down and kiss yours." He looked at her, smiling reassuringly. She couldn't help but smile back, and bump her shoulder against his.

They arrived at the Gate a few minutes later. Rodney dialed Atlantis' coordinates, and the Gate whooshed to life. Sheppard sent through his IDC and they walked up to the event horizon when a sudden movement made Sheppard call them to a halt. The event horizon seemed to flicker, before disappearing entirely. Sheppard turned to Rodney and asked: "What just happened?"

"I don't know, the Gate doesn't usually just cut out. It's not like it's a microwave and the cable just got pulled!" He exclaimed. He returned back to the DHD and redialed, as the rest of them moved safely out of the way. As before, the wormhole opened, flickered, and disappeared.

"McKay, what the hell is happening?" John demanded.

"I don't know! Look, we'll try it once more and if that doesn't work we'll have to wait for Atlantis to realize we're late with our check-in and come get us." He attempted once again, at which time the wormhole flickered, but seemed to stabilize.

"See, no problem. It's probably an issue with the planet's DHD." McKay assured, as he walked around the DHD towards the Gate.

"I'm not so sure…" John hesitated, but followed Rodney anyway.

The group walked out on the other side of the wormhole to an Atlantis that they immediately didn't recognize. It looked awfully similar to their gate room, but there were little details that changed, such as the primary color scheme on the walls was not blue and green, but a dreary beige, and there was no one around save for a young woman, seemingly in her mid-twenties wearing tight black trousers, a white button up shirt with a little identity badge on it sporting the SGA logo, and black military style boots. She had long jet-black hair that was messily tied up into a ponytail, and had in her hand a tablet that she was working on. She did not react upon the team's arrival, head firmly pointed down, eyes fixed on her work.

"SGA-1, you're right on time." The woman said, still not looking up from her tablet. A few seconds of stunned silence took over them.

"Umm look, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who the hell are you, and what the hell is going on here?!" John demanded, as his voice rose. The woman didn't react to his tone of voice, just lifted her head and beamed at them, showing them her face for the first time. She had a very straight nose, and amber eyes.

"Sorry, this must be a shock for you. Let me introduce myself. My name's Liz Sheppard and I am mayor of Atlantis."