Katherine watched him dash off towards his room and thought he didn’t look at all pleased about her joining him on this excursion, not that she could blame him.  If she were in his place, there was no doubt she would resent the idea of being rushed into a possibly dangerous situation and forced to take someone who was not only unproven under fire, but also lacked relevant training. However, regardless of what the Captain might prefer, nothing was going to stop her from going on this mission, and she was damned determined to prove her worth to the team, or at the very least, prove she wasn’t a liability.  Wasting no time, she turned and ran in the opposite direction, but despite the urgency of the situation, her thoughts shifted to the memory of how Captain Hunter had grinned and winked at her when they said goodbye earlier that morning.  Then in complete contrast to her misgivings mere moments ago in the lab, a tiny spark of excitement flared to life, and she shook her head. Once in her quarters, she closed the door completely on her emotions, quickly changed back into her uniform, put on the vest and grabbed what little gear she had.  Her mind was reeling, a thousand questions demanding answers, but there simply wasn’t time; she’d find out the details soon enough.<br/><br/>Halfway to the gate room, Dr. Heath came rushing behind her.  “Kat there you are, I was looking for you!  We’ve arrived and…” she stopped mid-sentence noticing that Katherine was dressed and packed. “Oh excellent, you’re all ready to go.”<br/><br/>Katherine nodded but shot her a questioning glance and began talking as they walked together towards the Gate room. “I gather we have made it to our first stop?  Do you know where we are?” She asked.  Listening intently as the older woman filled her in on what she knew so far, Katherine’s brow furrowed. “A distress signal in English…but that should be impossible…shouldn’t it?"<br/><br/>Hesitating before replying, the doctor said, “Agreed, but I can offer no explanation.  Either way it is vital you and the others determine exactly what the source of the signal is.” She said seriously.<br/><br/>“Yes but six hours doesn’t leave us much time to find the source let alone determine what it is or offer aid if needed.  Do we know how far we need to travel once we get there or whether there are other life forms, intelligent or otherwise?” She asked with concern.<br/><br/>Dr. Heath shook her head and said, “Not yet, but we will be able to get at least the surface readings from the Kino before you step through the gate.”  Gesturing towards to doorway at the end of the corridor, now bathed in flickering light, she said, “Come…we need to hurry, the Stargate is already open.”<br/><br/>Rushing inside, the bright event horizon rippled at the end of the space completely dominating it.  Katherine looked around and her gaze immediately fell on Captain Hunter and lingered perhaps a moment too long.  He was issuing orders to two other soldiers she recognized as McCormack and Spence from their files, and he appeared calm, unwavering and completely in control which was quite remarkable as far as she was concerned, especially considering the speed with which this dropped in his lap.  To her left and just outside of the gate, she noticed the only other civilian in the group, Mr. Albrecht, and beside him, Sgt. Walters held the Kino remote.  It was clear the probe was already through, and the planet’s atmosphere must be safe enough because now he and Mr. Albrecht were discussing the images being sent back from the surface.  She leaned in for a closer look, nervous but refusing to let it show.<br/><br/>An alien world from across the universe filled the monitor and it looked surprisingly…normal.  The image wasn’t perfectly clear however, so she looked to Sgt. Walters and asked, “The vegetation looks incredibly dense, what are the temperature readings?” Then, something else about the picture caught her eye and she tilted her head, pointing to a wall of trees. “Wait…look here, see this?  Notice the water line etched halfway up the trunks and the root crowns exposed? And here…”  she pointed to a depression in the ground, “this appears to be a dried up river or stream bed of some sort, but if this planet is subject to monsoons or torrential rainfall, then it may have been carved from run off or flash flooding.” Turning to gaze at the two men in front of her she added,  “It’s just a theory, but is there any way to predict from the Kino what the odds are we might encounter a storm?”<br/><br/>“Not really. “ He replied.  “The temperature is 86 F; humidity is 20%, slightly overcast skies, but stable barometric conditions.” He shrugged.  “That’s as good as we’re going to get.”<br/><br/>She was about to ask him something about the possible location of the signal or anything else he might have uncovered, but Captain Hunter indicated it was time to go.  There was no hesitation as the group of five fell in behind him and walked to the gate, but Katherine flinched slightly at the sound of shouted orders, and weapons loaded and readied.  As the leader turned to the group, she nodded to him as he gave the signal.  In the next moment, they all stepped through the shimming puddle and instantly transported to the alien planet.<br/><br/>Warm wind whipped around them as they walked away from the gate, and it was the only sound, lending an eerie silence to the otherwise lush surroundings.  While the military team rushed to secure the immediate area, she squinted up to look at the sky which was a dull, grayish colour due to the cloud cover.  The swirling clouds also served to obscure a giant, pale yellow orb that had to be a sun at least twice as large as Earth’s own.  Crouching down, she noted the ground covered in tightly packed, glittering pure white sand, reminding her of silica.  Scraping together a fistful, it was remarkably cool to the touch, and extremely dry; a sharp contrast to the abundant vegetation all around them.  Now she was certain her theory was correct.  These two extremes could only coexist if sufficient rain fell at regular and frequent intervals.<br/><br/>Standing up she motioned for her civilian counterpart to follow her and she walked over to examine the trees, scanning the brush for any sign of life.  Finding none, she said, “That’s strange…I don’t see anything alive except the plants, not even an insect.  Don’t you think it’s odd?”<br/><br/>He shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Who knows, it’s not like we can or should expect anything at this point.”<br/><br/>“Hmmm…perhaps.”  Biting her lip, deep in thought, she moved back to the spot near the gate, waiting for the all clear to follow the others.<br/>