Coming together is a beginning

"Lorne."

Lorne stiffened automatically at the sound of his name from somewhere behind him but relaxed when he recognized his commanding officer's voice. He was unused to having only one person on base outrank him, but Lorne liked and respected Sheppard. He thought in time they might even be friends.

"Major." Of course mutual respect and possible friendship were no excuse for completely ignoring your CO. Even a superior officer as laid back as Sheppard might take offense to that. So Lorne came to a halt and turned to face the Colonel, stopping just short of actually coming to attention.

"Good morning, sir," Lorne greeted formally as Sheppard came along side him. "Did you need something?"

Sheppard indicted that they should keep walking before he answered. "Yeah, lots of things. Mostly a muzzle for McKay and a some real aspirin. But in the realm of the realistic - I have a request."

"The doc in a mood? More than usual?" Lorne asked with sympathy.

"Yeah, and that brings me to my request. One of the botanists has been buggin him about the aborted mission to P3M-736. Paris?"

"Doctor Parrish? Yeah, he was pretty excited about saving Earth through the wonders of greenery until the dead wraith interrupted him."

"McKay has requested…" Lorne got the impression that request was a generous interpretation. "…that we 'shut the idiot up and let him go back to study the mutant greenery before Rodney's forced to do something drastic.' That's a direct quote in case your were wondering."

"I thought it might be, sir." Sheppard shot him a suspicious look but Lorne kept a straight face.

"So what do you say?"

"I'm not sure it's safe, sir. If the wraith have been following the Runner..."

"Ronon," Sheppard corrected sharply.

Lorne didn't take offence. He nodded and continued. "If they've been following Ronon they may return to that planet at anytime, especially since that's where his trail grows cold." There was no way Sheppard didn't already know this, but Lorne didn't mind the impromptu quiz. He was a new element and for all Sheppard knew he could have been sent to keep an eye on the new commander of Atlantis. He hadn't been of course, but it wouldn't have mattered to Lorne even if that was the SGC's intent. Lorne's loyalty was to what was best for the SGC in general and the City in particular. And what was best for Atlantis was to have Weir, Sheppard, and McKay at the helm.

As much as it pained him to admit to that last one.

"I agree." Sheppard said. Lorne had expected as much. "You think he'd be happy if we gave him another planet to study?"

Lorne shrugged. "Never met a scientist who couldn't be distracted by something new for awhile. But I've also never met a scientist who would let go of a project until they were satisfied."

"Yeah, like a dog with a bone." Sheppard spoke like a man who knew the pain of interrupting a scientist's pet project. Lorne's admiration for the man who volunteered to put up with McKay on a regular basis went up another notch. "Recommendations?"

"A small team could return to collect samples. If we stay close to the gate, maybe even take a cloaked jumper, we could be there and back with minimal risk."

"You want a team of marines?" More testing. Sheppard was way too smart for that question.

"No, sir. More people means a greater chance of attracting attention. A single gate team would make the most sense."

"Okay then, get together with Dr. Parrish and submit a formal mission proposal and we'll run it by Weir together."

"Parrish, sir?"

"Of course. Can't collect plant botany samples without a botanist. Besides, you said he handled himself well when you found the body."

Lorne nodded. "He called for me right away, didn't panic, and didn't fight with me when I made getting him to safety my first priority."

"Not panicking and not arguing are some of my favorite things in a teammate." Sheppard muttered darkly.

Lorne wasn't fooled. "I'm sure having Dr. McKay has its perks." He was going for gentle humor, but was surprised when the Colonel turned suspicious on him.

"What do you mean?"

Lorne didn't flinch, but only because Sheppard wasn't the first superior officer to address him with steel in his voice. "Doc's an expert on nearly everything according to him and an engineer to boot. That must come in handy in the field."

Sheppard visibly relaxed and offered a conciliatory smile in Lorne's direction. "Yeah, it does. I'd think a botanist would too - especially when you run into the alien sex pollen."

Lorne didn't want to outright contradict his commanding officer, especially right after whatever he'd said to cause the sudden cold tenseness of a few moments before, but... "There's never actually been an incident of alien sex pollen at the SGC."

"Not officially, no," the Colonel agreed. "But it's not exactly the sort of thing you write up in a mission report, is it?" Sheppard was all smiles and sly side-long glances and for the life of him Lorne couldn't figure out if he was having his leg pulled or not.

"No, sir. I guess not." Lorne finally answered because it seemed the Colonel was expecting some kind of response from him.

Sheppard raised his hand in an abortive gesture Lorne already knew well, he was being paged on the headset but was refraining from answering right away. "Okay, have the mission proposal on my desk by the end of the week," Sheppard said distractedly before he answered his comm. "What is it, McKay?" He rolled his eyes at Lorne and turned back the way they'd came. "I'm taking care of it now, don't get your panties in a bunch. It's not my fault the botany department now sees you as human: blame your girlfriend."

Lorne smiled and turned left - toward the botany labs - at the next intersection.