The following character descriptions are intended as samples of typical SGC team members. Though they are all presented as members of a single team (SG-17), they aren’t necessarily intended to appear together. Rather, the GM may use them to augment any teams he sees fit, or the players may pick and choose from them to create an appropriate four-man team.

Special Note: Statistics will be released for these characters soon, allowing them to be used with forthcoming demo missions to be seen in Campaign magazine and here on this website.

SG-17's leader came to the SGC from USAF Intelligence when the team was formed during the program’s second expansion. When the team's original leader, Lieutenant Colonel Mark McAllister, was killed on a mission just seven months later, General Hammond considered the matter carefully before placing then-Captain Thomas in command instead of assigning another officer. Her success in meeting the challenge was recently rewarded with a promotion to her current rank.

The daughter and granddaughter of veterans, Thomas grew up on Air Force bases around the world, and became the family's first commissioned officer after graduating the Academy in Colorado Springs, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences with a minor in Arabic. She put in extracurricular time as a Falcons cheerleader, and continues to exercise those skills to maintain her agility, balance, and flexibility despite occasional ribbing from her team.

Major Thomas developed an interest in the languages and cultures of the Middle East while her father was stationed at Inčirlik AFB in Turkey (where, among other things, she learned to belly dance, a skill cert>ain members of her team are known to tease her for not maintaining). This, along with aptitudes for linguistics and cryptology, led to her first postings with intelligence operations based in Bahrain and Qatar following Desert Storm. Over the next several years, Major Thomas’ time was divided between the Persian Gulf and the Pentagon, the latter allowing her to pursue a doctorate in sociolinguistics at Georgetown, which she completed shortly before obtaining her post at the SGC.

Major Thomas is fluent in Arabic and Farsi (both spoken and written), has a basic competence with Turkish and Modern Greek. Since joining the SGC, she’s also grown nearly fluent with the most common Goa’uld dialect.

Since SG-17 specializes in intelligence missions, and works closely with the Tok'ra, Thomas has taken a personal interest in studying their methods and tactics when she has the opportunity.

An outgoing and direct person by nature, Major Thomas balances the subterfuge commonly required of her team by placing a high value on honesty, as well as a strong relationship with her family. Her posting to the SGC has been a homecoming of sorts, as her parents settled in the foothills near Denver following her father's retirement from the service, and her younger brother also still lives in the area. Major Thomas drives up to her parents’ home every couple months, where she spends her R&R reading and catching up on family news. Her brother shares her love of country and bluegrass music, and she occasionally goes out with him to concerts or country dance clubs.

Inevitably, though, Major Thomas feels most at home with her fellow gate travelers, where her topics of conversation aren’t limited exclusively to the outside world. Thomas has a wry and slightly cynical sense of humor, and she’s inclined to point out the absurd in any situation (a tendency for which the absolute secrecy and ever-increasing complexities of the war against the Goa'uld provide plenty of grist). Major Thomas is patient and even-tempered, and keeps her head with little difficulty even when provoked.

Laurel Thomas is a tall woman in her early 30s with a light build, chin-length light brown hair, and hazel eyes.

From the day SG-17 was activated, Greg Behrens has been its solid center. He is the first to admit that he’s a walking stereotype – the corn-fed Nebraska farm boy who joined up to serve his country, fly fast planes, and see the world. He never expected to serve his country by seeing the galaxy and flying a death glider, but he's not complaining.

Behrens grew up on the family farm near Sidney, Nebraska, and knows more about wheat, corn, and cattle than he cares to. He earned his pilot's license at a nearby rural airstrip when he was seventeen, with lessons taken around football, basketball, and studying to graduate second in his high school class. All this hard work paid off when he was accepted into the Air Force Academy.

After graduating with a Military Doctrine, Operations, and Strategy major, Behrens entered Special Ops, serving in peacekeeping and relief operations, primarily in the Balkans. His last assignment in that capacity was in Bosnia under Lt. Col. Mark McAllister, who personally requested Behrens as a member of the new team. When McAllister was killed on a mission seven months later, Behrens drew his own strength from supporting the grief-stricken team, leading them in campaigning Gen. Hammond to name Thomas as team leader. Thomas has since continued McAllister's truthful – if not particularly original – habit of referring to Behrens as her “right-hand man”.

As SG-17’s most experienced pilot, he’s also the team's “designated driver,” and has flown almost every class of known Gou'ald ship at least once. He also serves as SG-17's primary field medic.

Behrens married his high school sweetheart, Lydia, in the Academy chapel shortly after receiving his commission, but after three years of struggling through stress and long separations, they decided their relationship had never been strong enough to last. Lydia now makes her home near family in Nebraska with their two small children. Behrens remains on friendly terms with her, and uses the better part of his leave to visit them.

When a positive attitude is needed, Behrens can always be depended upon to provide it. An easygoing, reliable presence, he’s a good-natured big brother to his teammates much as he was to his two younger siblings during his youth. While acknowledging that the SGC's primary purpose is the defense of Earth, Behrens also believes strongly in its responsibility to the victims of Goa'uld oppression, and always argues to help them whether or it’s part of the mission objective or not.

Off-duty, Behrens is likely to be found keeping up with college and professional sports, and maintains teams in two different fantasy football leagues. His experience with SG-17 has rekindled a high school interest in mythology, and he often independently reads up on myths surrounding the root cultures of the peoples the team encounters.

Greg Behrens is a tall, solidly built man in his early 30s with sandy hair and blue eyes.

Survivor of a shattered people and former host to the Tok'ra symbiote Sholred, Kitri has found another home as the newest member of SG-17. A native of Kadesh, the homeworld of the Goa'uld queen Asherah, Kirtri is a “blessing child” conceived by a priestess during the spring rites. Prior to her time with SG-17, she lived her entire life within the temple complex, but the arrival of Baal's death-gliders reduced the city to ruins in retaliation against Asherah's for plotting against him, and forced Kitri into a crueler universe than she had previously known.

A handful of survivors took refuge in a secret cave system in the cliff face behind the main temple, where Kitri helped to tend the injured, including a lesser Goa'uld of Asherah's circle, who insisted – much to her considerable puzzlement – that she see to her human patients first. Baal's troops discovered the caves, killing some of the refugees and taking others captive, including Kitri's own blessing child, her six-year-old son, Efran. The wounded Goa'uld stopped her from giving away her hiding place, reasoning that throwing her own life away would not help the boy, and confiding his identity as a Tok'ra spy. Faced with the chance to someday save or avenge Efran, she agreed to help him make his way to his ship and accompany him to a nearby Tok'ra base.

Kitri became an active part of the Tok’ra resistance some weeks later, and joined with the Tok’ra Sholred at the long-expected death of his previous host. They had their share of successes and close calls through some twenty-five years, nearly a decade of which was spent in the role of Morrigan's regent on the planet Gleanavar, a position they hadn’t bargained for but could not afford to refuse or abandon. That ended when SG-17's mission to contact them was exposed, and they made the decision to separate so that Sholred could save the mortally injured Lieutenant Stanton (see the “Tightrope” fiction elsewhere on this website).

Already uncomfortable with the desperate methods to which the Tok'ra have recently been driven, and grappling with the psychological impact of the separation, Kitri found she was unwilling to return to their ranks and blend with a different symbiote, though they were more than willing for her to do so. The ensuing diplomatic shuffle – with her case being argued passionately by SG-17 – ended with her being allowed to remain with the SGC, nominally as a liaison but in practice as an active team member (a parallel position to that of Jacob Carter).

Early training as a priestess – as well as her years spent posing as a goddess – make Kitri exceptionally graceful and self-possessed. The manners she employs with strangers and acquaintances alike are extremely formal, and even with her teammates she often remains somewhat reserved. She tends to deflect concern from her own well-being, placing a higher priority on the needs of others, and has become known as SG-17's resident mother hen.

Kitri continues to keep abreast of intelligence the Tok'ra gather about Baal's court, where Efran has been raised as an elite slave. No opportunity to reunite with him has yet presented itself, and privately Kitri fears his reaction if and when they do meet again. She welcomes the opportunity to contribute to Goa'uld’s defeat, devoting her own experience to the cause and – to an extent not yet fully explored – some measure of Sholred's knowledge predating their blending. She also retains some ability to use Goa'uld technology, such as the ribbon device, but this ability is unreliable (most likely because the voluntary departure of a healthy symbiote left less of a residual trace of naqahdah in her body than in the cases of Kendra and Major Carter). Kitri can, however, still reliably sense the presence of a symbiote in any individual within arm's reach.

While Kitri is comfortable enough in uniform, and recognizes it as appropriate dress in work areas, she prefers tunics and loose trousers or relaxed dresses composed of lush fabrics reminiscent of the temple garb of her youth. With a little web-shopping help from Major Thomas, she has also added touches of home to her quarters, providing a comfortable retreat within the utilitarian environment of the SGC.

Kitri Samira is a woman of average height and medium build, with long wavy dark-brown hair and large dark eyes. She is about fifty, but those unaware of her background estimate her to be no older than her late twenties.

The youngest member of SG-17, Gallegos was assigned to fill out the team following the death of Lt. Col. McAllister. Prior to that, he was brought in as a surveillance specialist to accompany other SG teams.

Gallegos is the middle child of five in a close-knit working-class family in San Antonio, with a brother and a sister also in the service, and the remaining two sisters still close to home. A third-generation American with some extended family in Mexico, Gallegos grew up around English and Spanish speakers, and now speaks both languages fluently.

As a teenager, Gallegos developed an interest in archaeology, encouraged by a high school social studies teacher who recommended him as a volunteer at several digs in the area and for a summer internship at the Witte Museum of History and Science. Gallegos was a strong student, but not strong enough so to earn substantial college scholarships, and thus he followed his eldest brother into the service with the intention of staying just long enough to earn his education.

Following basic training, Gallegos was joined the security police and kept posts at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, RAF Mildenhall in England, and Scott AFB in Illinois. During this time, he earned his Associate of Applied Science in electronics and telecommunications through the Community College of the Air Force, and built on that foundation while at Scott with a Bachelor of Science in electronic systems technology at Southern Illinois University in nearby Carbondale.

While Gallegos retains an vocational interest in archaeology, Gallegos' experience as an SP led to a greater interest in investigating the here and now, and during the course of his studies and duty he grew particularly proficient with electronic surveillance. By the time Gallegos fulfilled his initial duty commitment, he also found that he felt more at home in the Air Force than he’d expected, and took the Officer Qualifying Test. He passed, and following Officer Training School he was assigned to security at U.S. Space Command, where he came to General Hammond's attention during the black hole incident resulting from SG-10's ill-fated mission to P3W-451. Thereafter, the SGC began to “borrow” him for occasional missions.

With or without his equipment, Gallegos is keenly observant, and is typically the first member of the team to notice unusual behavior. Though he defers to the judgment of superior officers, he first stands by his recommendations, especially while in the field. The same instincts inform his sense of humor, and his dead-on skewering of friends' foibles occasionally steps on the toes of his sensitive teammates. In return, he takes some ribbing as “the cute one,” most often to draw the attention of impressionable young alien women.

Visitors to Gallegos’ modest apartment find many family photos and mementos, a varied and extensive DVD collection, and an acoustic guitar that he plays only moderately well. Gallegos is a faithful Catholic, and attends Mass every Sunday that he spends on Earth, alternating between the Air Force Academy Chapel and a Spanish-speaking parish in Colorado Springs.

Joseph Gallegos is a Mexican-American man in his mid-20s, of average height and build, with black hair and brown eyes.

A Cleveland native, SG-17's civilian technology expert surprised her affluent parents by choosing to pursue her interest in science instead of taking her place in the family business. After earning her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon, she went on to graduate studies at The University of Chicago.

A year before she earned her degree, one of her professors left to accept a contract with a mysterious government project. Shortly after Sullivan completed her thesis, the mystery was solved when her former professor asked her to join the expanding research staff at Area 51. One look at the alien technology she would be working with, and she knew she’d made the right choice.

It didn't take her long to earn the notice of the people in charge, most notably when another attempted field trial with the Atoniek armbands almost went haywire. The drug regimen being tested failed to prevent the erratic behavior prompted by the alien devices, but it did temper the armbands' effects long enough to allow Sullivan – who was more used to shooting deer – to disable the trial team with a tranquilizer gun for retrieval. When the decision was made to add a fifth member to SG-17 who could deal with alien technology in the field, Sullivan was tapped for the job.

Now that Sullivan’s work no longer confines her mainly to indoor locations, she takes what opportunities she can to enjoy the wealth of wilderness recreation in the Colorado Springs area, particularly rock climbing. She keeps in sporadic contact with her family, with whom she feels distant, with little in common. To a lesser degree, Sullivan feels set apart from her teammates and their military backgrounds, but their shared experiences are gradually closing that gap. Quiet and unassuming, Sullivan is most comfortable in small groups, and quickly becomes a wallflower in any large or noisy gathering.

Sullivan's exceptional fine-motor coordination and small size are valuable assets in her work – she thinks nothing of reaching into tight spaces to fiddle with sensitive equipment, usually (but not always) after she has some idea of what it does. While proud of her accomplishments, she never go out of her way to draw attention to them, and isn’t entirely comfortable with others doing it for her. She develops a strong proprietary attachment to pet projects, and debates most fiercely over them with colleagues, for whom she has the greatest respect. With the caliber of minds at both Area 51 and the SGC, this has occasionally led to some intense fireworks, coming as a surprise to those who previously saw only what her teammates refer to as her “mild-mannered geek” side.

Frances Sullivan is a petite, small-framed woman in her late 20s, with shoulder-length brown hair and gray eyes.

Though primarily an Air Force installation, the SGC also makes good use of the strengths of other service branches, such as Army intelligence, from which Troy Stanton hails. The younger of two brothers, Stanton was brought up in Washington D.C. He never met his father, an Army Ranger who was killed in action in Vietnam a few months before the war ended.

Though his mother, LaDonna Stanton, never remarried, she never considered herself a “single mother” either, raising her sons with strong support from her parents and neighbors. LaDonna’s own schooling was interrupted by motherhood and marriage at sixteen, but she instilled the value of a proper education in her boys, urging them to take full advantage of every opportunity to gain new knowledge.

For Stanton, this meant involvement in chess and debate teams, and – following in his brother's footsteps – rising to leadership in his high school's ROTC program. With the encouragement of his instructors there, Stanton applied for and received an appointment to West Point, where he continued to compete in chess and debate at the intercollegiate level, and graduated as a military history major with a mathematics minor.

After graduation, Stanton was posted to Fort Huachaca, Arizona for further study at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center. He provided analysis and support to intelligence operations in Asia and Central America before a USAIC instructor recommended him for the SG-17 post.

Stanton is serious and focused, and generally considered to have no discernible sense of humor. The brave soul who accepts a downtime invitation to face him across a chessboard or unravel the latest puzzle he’s designed is in for an intense experience, but he cherishes no gift more highly. Stanton has a low tolerance for jokes during serious situations, which can sometimes cause friction with more irreverent teammates.

Recently, during SG-17's ill-fated mission to Gleanavar (see the “Tightrope” fiction elsewhere on this website), Stanton was critically wounded. Their Tok'ra contact offered a drastic solution – leaving its host, Kitri Samira (see above), the symbiote Sholred blended with Stanton, and was able to stabilize his condition enough to survive the trip back to the SGC. It was a very close call, and recovery has necessitated an extended stay with the Tok'ra. Stanton and Sholred have not yet definitely decided whether the arrangement is permanent, though at this point it seems likely. Kitri has since chosen not to return to the Tok'ra and has been accepted as a member of SG-17.

Troy Stanton is an African-American man in his late 20s, of average height and build, with very close-cropped black hair and brown eyes.