AN: Always thought the Major's name was Lauren. This is a repost with a correction.

Tony found himself weary of his new partner. Ziva had been sent off on an undercover mission by the director – despite Gibbs' protests – and Tony thought it would just be himself and McGee until she got back but they weren't so lucky. The new guy sat in Ziva's desk and used her computer but he wasn't nearly so nice to look at or poke-fun-at. Tony remembered the guy's second day.

"Proby." Tony had called softly while McGee was with Abby for something or other, "Hey Proby!" he said a bit louder when the first summons got no response, "Yo Proby, pay attention." Finally the guy looked up, frustration clear in his eyes.

"Agent, I am not a probationary officer I never have been nor will I ever be a probationary officer. I won't respond to the moniker," the slight grimace showed exactly what he thought of NCIS, "I am a Marine Major. You can call me Major or Lorne." After a beat he added, "Evan if you want I guess."

"If you don't want to be here why are you?" Gibbs asked from behind Lorne, Tony jumped: Evan didn't even twitch. He turned toward the Boss and explained in terse and sarcastic tones.

"SecNav is mad at SecAF not sharing so he sent me away from my," he paused to glare at Tony, "Highly classified," his eyes flicked back to land on Gibbs, "post as head of security on a largely air force base."

His rueful gaze switched to his computer, "I am not an investigator. This piece of crap computer is as fast as a sloth compared to what I'm used to and you idiots won't even let me carry my weapon in doors." The returning McGee frowned at Lorne's computer before he sent an email to Tony.

"I programed his computer for him: he has the least back-log as it's new – no files to clog it up. It should be the fastest in the bullpen."

"Don't care." Gibbs responded, policing his weapon. He did care though, or at least Tony thought he took it into consideration. After that conversation Lorne was put to use mainly as an enforcer: he would run down suspects, haul them into or out of cars and interrogation. If there was a fire-fight Lorne would take point (He was quite good at that). The one time they needed to make a tactical breach of a drug-dealer's strong hold Lorne made one call and had an elite team of marines in for back up. Tony thought that he was settling in: he had started to respond a bit to Tony's ribbing names and he even smiled a time or two.

During the investigative aspects of day-to-day life at NCIS, though, he was still stiff and despondent: he showed absolutely no interest in what they were doing and not even Gibbs' worst stare would get him motivated. Tony amused himself by pretending Lorne did it on purpose. He never messed up collecting evidence or broke the chain of custody but he was slow. He always asked Tony or McGee to do his tasks with him to, "make sure I don't mess up and ruin the case for court."

One week dragged into two and Tony couldn't get Lorne to budge on his prior postings. Eleven years ago he seemed to be reaching for the edge of the map. For a little while he was listed as base security on some land-locked base where the Air Force studied Deep Space Something-or-Other. But that was quickly revealed as a cover story (one that hadn't changed since the 90s). About two years later he was transferred to Antarctica for barely three months before suddenly he completed his journey off the map: there was nothing about him until a week and a half earlier, just before he showed up at NCIS.

The whole thing reeked of Black Ops but who had ever heard of a Black Ops Head of Base Security? Tony found the whole thing quite mysterious. McGee didn't even have any luck hacking the land-locked base. His attempts somehow always ended with him on some Academic Journal site with either theoretical astrophysics or archaeology. Two weeks had almost turned into three when a man, maybe six feet if he stretched, strolled casually out of the elevator.

Tony got the first look at him. He looked like a civilian with his low-rise, tight, boot-cut jeans and green tea shirt, surfing cartoon included. His hair was just a little bit too long for regulation and Tony thought it was just a little bit gelled. He walked slowly looking around him at the sea of people. His eyes landed on the back of Lorne's head and a smirk ghosted across his lips for nearly a second. Tony thought about warning the Major about his guest but decided to let it play out: he might learn something.

"Not slacking off without me around to inspire you, are ya Major?" He drawled abruptly (Tony didn't even think that was possible), leaning against the low partition between Ziva's desk and the walk way. It definitely got a response just not the one Tony was expecting. The major jumped to his feet grinning widely.

"No colonel: I couldn't do that to you: I knew you and the General would get me back to base soon enough." He gave a lazy salute: nowhere near the standard the major had shown the NCIS agents up to that point. Suddenly he frowned at the non-regulation colonel, "That is why you're here right: to take me home?"

The colonel squinted at his man – Tony could tell that's what he was – "I sure hope so major: Base is boring without you for Ronan to goad into a fight. I have to talk to the director. SecAF has you back so long as this team can survive without you. Come with me to see him. Your eavesdropping friend can make your excuses." His eyes flicked to Tony, narrowing in a Gibbs like manner. For once Tony kept his council. Lorne visibly straitened, something Tony had yet to see, and the odd pair made their way up the steps.

Barely a moment later Gibbs and McGee came strolling into the bullpen from the opposite direction. Gibbs looked up at the two in time to see Lorne's eye scanned to enter MTAC, "Who's with the Major, DiNozzo?" Tony pulled himself out of thinking about how Lorne got cleared for MTAC. Tony wasn't cleared for MTAC and he had Top Secret Clearance.

"Don't know Boss. Lorne called him 'Colonel' and asked if he was going back to his mysterious base. So my best guess is he's some sort of air force dude." Tony said unhelpfully; making Lorne's excuses, just like colonel floppy hair predicted. Gibbs just growled and jogged up the steps, McGee and Tony close on his heels.

One iris scan later and the three agents were greeted by an almost deserted room. Only Lorne, the colonel, and the director were live. The big screen had two faces. Lorne and the Colonel stood as one point on an odd triangle their bodies angled so they could see both the pair on the big screen and the director himself. The Director stood about two feet to the right of the colonel, staying on camera for those on the screen but, still, there was a gap: three distinct groups. Of the two on screen one was obviously SecNav. The other was most definitely not SecAF. He looked like he was a general; he had a lot of medals and commendations. The unknown (air force?) general squinted at the newcomers.

"Secure the room Colonel Sheppard." He said and immediately – with no hesitation to speak of, so fast Tony thought of the ninja named Ziva – the colonel had his gun drawn and pointed at Gibbs. Lorne, Tony noted with some small part of his brain, pulled his own gun and pointed it at Gibbs a second later and wondered why he hadn't notice that Lorne was carrying it. The rest of his brain was screaming about his own gun, still tucked in his desk, in a word, useless. The pair of guns were lowered and holstered after a word from Lorne. All of this took barely three seconds but it was long enough in Tony's book.

"General O'Neill, Colonel Sheppard," Lorne started, "These are agents Gibbs, DiNozzo, and McGee of NCIS." Lorne stated, gesturing to each agent in turn, "It is Gibbs' team that I have been assigned to General. They can attest my overall uselessness in the field." The last statement got a grin from the general and a scowl from SecNav.

"Be that as it may, Major Lorne," the director started, "This is a closed meeting. They don't have an invite."

"You're right, director they don't," O'Neill said sarcastically, "But they do deserve to know why they were saddled with an investigative greenhorn don't they, SecNav." From the way his eyes flicked around the screen Tony could only guess he was looking from one of Tony's superiors to another.

"If the kind agents would wait outside the room until after our meeting, Sheppard has the go ahead to read them in. for their ears only Jarvis, same as anyone else." His tone brooked no argument. Tony was slightly amazed as he was pushed out of the room. Some unknown general talking to the Secretary of the Navy like he was some kid caught with his hand in the proverbial.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind the trio Gibbs was barking orders. Search their names and histories. They were air force so be careful. A frustrating twenty minutes later they had less on their new friends then they had on Lorne.

The General retired twice as a colonel and was called back to duty both times to work on 'Deep Space Something-or-Other' before being promoted to general out of the blue. After his promotion he quickly gained a second star and an office in the Pentagon. His official title was Second Assistant Director of Homeland Security. No one could figure out why there would be a second one in the first place.

Sheppard was a disgraced major flying choppers in Antarctica before disappearing for a year and coming back a colonel. Sheppard's promotion was squirrelly it looked like some civilian PhD forced it through the system. There was something about her refusing to work with anyone else as base commander. One thing that tied them all together was the redacted scream of Black Ops. Black Ops that the SecNav wasn't privy to. And the strange Journal articles that kept popping up in the search.

After that brief dalliance the small team had no choice but to wait for Lorne and Sheppard to show up. McGee – little worker bee that Tony knew he was – got to work on some files that needed filing and some papers that needed… papering. Tony just goofed off. Gibbs? Well Tony had no clue what Gibbs did most of the time, this was no exception. It turns out they didn't have to wait long Tony had just gotten to level three of his Candy Crush Saga game when Sheppard and Lorne filed out of MTAC and down the stairs. Lorne went to Ziva's desk and cleared out his few belongings. All of which fit into his cargo pants except for a photo frame. Tony had snuck a peek at it once. It was a beautiful auburn-haired, olive-skinned goddess in leather. She smiled at the camera while holding a P-90 to her chest. Sheppard caught sight of the picture and raised an eyebrow at the major, muttering almost silently, "Really Lorne? I'd threaten you if you hurt her but Tayla'd just kill you herself." Lorne just grinned back at his superior.

Rather than reply to Lorne's grin Sheppard turned to the agents, "Come on team Gibbs!" he crowed affectionately, "Let's find somewhere private to talk." His gaze shifted from the agent seated behind Ziva and Gibbs' desks to the obvious cameras in the corners.

"This way sir, there is a service elevator to the evidence garage." Tony easily followed the major's logic. He knew that Lorne had been a guest in Gibbs' office quite a few times in the past three weeks; Tony quickly realized that the small elevator that served Gibbs would be quite cramped with the five of them.

"Alright. Here're the bare bones: Maj Lorne is my 2IC for a highly classified base, called the Outer Base in public. The outer base is largely a research centre and it is international. The Air Force started the program a long time ago but we have always had marines as well. Lorne is head of security and he is one of only a handful of people who can pilot our transport. SecNav was feeling prissy as politicians often do when they don't get to read all the reports sent to the President. Because of that he got Lorne's name off of a heavily redacted report and demanded his transfer. The Lower and Outer bases had to scramble to get him here before SecNav threatened to have him court-martialed. General O'Neill and SecAF have been working for five weeks to get Lorne back where he belongs. Finally SecAF had to call in a huge favour and ask the President to put him back. Obama agreed but on the condition that we wouldn't be leaving NICS hanging if we brought him home." He looked around at the agents, "Ask your questions. We will answer them if we can."

McGee started, "The United States has two secret air force bases?" he sounded disbelieving.

"Oh there are more than two; you just know most of their names. Let's see there is NORAD, Lower and Outer, Atlantis Research outpost in Antarctica, ah, there's the Alpha and Beta sights, hm." He paused to think, "Those are the only ones I can think of right now. There are probably more. Beyond NORAD those are all lumped into one group called HWD.*

"Major Lorne has been a part of HWD for how long now Major?" Sheppard's questing look found his man.

"Almost twelve years now, sir. They found me and a buddy at FLETC; my buddy didn't make it very far." Sheppard offered his condolences as Gibbs cut in.

"How long have you been part of the HWD, colonel?" Gibbs Hesitated on the acronym, trapping the letters behind his teeth for a moment.

"About half as long agent: I stumbled upon a chair I shouldn't have touched. Command just sort of fell on my lap after that."

"How is it that a colonel is in charge of a whole base?" Tony asked, weren't those positions reserved for generals?

"Colonel Sheppard isn't in charge of all of the outer base, just the military and his team. We have a unique command structure: Civilian at the top, then it would be military and scientist on par but the head scientist is also 2IC of the colonel's team. That puts him half a step behind Colonel Sheppard. After that I am in charge of security and military if Colonel Sheppard is unavailable – which happens more than you might think."

"Now, now Major Lorne you shouldn't give away all our secrets." Sheppard grinned before adding, "The only All American thing about the Outer Base is the military. One of our top researchers is Czech." He looked from agent to agent before smiling and nodding to himself. Sheppard drew a small, business sized card out of his pocket and handed it to Gibbs.

Glancing over his bosses shoulder Tony saw a phone number, no name and an odd two sided triangle under a circle.

"If you ever come across this symbol in a case call that number. We will find the answers you need." Sheppard sounded ominous before turning to Lorne, "Come on major! We have three weeks to catch up before we get home. Then you can see your Athosian Zina." With that he led the major out of the elevator and out of Tony's life. Tony didn't know if it would be forever but a guy could hope.

Couldn't he?

END

*Home World Defence. I know you guys are smart enough to get that but it wasn't said all that often on the show. (That's what Jack is in charge of btw)

AN

I would love to hear some feedback on this: I tried to write it from Tony's perspective and not wonder but I don't know how I did. Please tell me?

I don't think Lorne was on Atlantis for the first year but he's such a great character with the ATA gene that I couldn't see the SGC leaving him on earth.

I made McKay 2IC of AR1 (Atlantis recon one) because I think that earth would prefer it if an earthling was higher ranked than a Pegasus native even if both Ronan and Tayla can whip him easily.

I am not a Lorne/Tayla shipper. That just worked its way in: he HAD to have something personal and a photo of his team would have had unexplainable uniforms for Tony to see.