The Alpha Team, or Alpha List, as it is sometimes called, is a group of people with expertise in a wide variety of scientific and technical fields, in good health and with clean records, who are supposed to represent the ‘best of humanity’ in the event of the invasion of the planet Earth. The Alpha List may also include the political leaders, should there be time to evacuate them, of America and possibly other friendly governments. Their stated purpose, should the need arise, is to carry on the Earth’s culture and identity, and perhaps military activities, should the planet fall under control of a powerful extra-terrestrial force such as the Replicators or a Goa’uld System Lord.

On February 9th, 2005, just such an enemy launched an attack on the planet. The System Lord Baal, according to intelligence gathered by SG-1, launched several ships with the intention of destroying or conquering Earth. During the brief window before the invasion, the Alpha Team was sent through the Stargate to a place known as the Alpha Site – a planet on the opposite side of the galaxy – there to wait for word of the Earth’s fate.

The word never came. Instead, an alien device was activated by Baal’s spy which sent the entire Alpha Team and the two SG teams which had evacuated there to what appears to be either the far future or some sort of alternate reality. No attempt to reestablish contact with the SGC or any of Earth’s allies has been successful.

Four weeks later, the Alpha team was forced to abandon the Alpha Site when they discovered that some powerful force – ostensibly another Goa’uld System Lord – had troops on the planet. They evacuated to the planet Nasya, hoping to take advantage of the coming harvest season their to recover some of their losses.