Reading Time: 123 Minutes
Title: Another Country
Author: Daisy May
Fandom: Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis
Genre: Action Adventure, Crossover, Drama, Episode Related, Romance, Time Travel
Relationship(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Other pairings
Content Rating: R
Warnings: Murder (minor character), violence-canon level, character bashing, Discussion-rape
Alpha: Ed Ronhia
Word Count: 156,874
Summary: When Jack O’Neill found himself fourteen years in the past, he had to work out why he’d been sent back to this point. The ‘how’ was uncertain, and probably irrelevant, he decided, for the moment at least. Now all he had to do was change the things he thought were important, preferably without killing his Grandad – ‘or was it killing my Granny? For cryin’ out loud, I wish I’d listened better to Carter!’
Artist: Mizu Sage
Chapter Eleven
The postponed mission to Edora was rescheduled for the Tuesday after the weekend at Jack’s cabin, and this time, one of the nurses accompanied them to make the bi-monthly health checks the SGC carried out. SG-1 were accompanied by SG-7, an engineering team, along with Radek Zelenka – who had a masters degree in Chemical Engineering and had spent a year working with a mining company before joining the SGC – to assess the next stage of the Naquadah mining operation in the meteors which hit the planet every 150 years or so. While Jack and Daniel remained in the village, ostensibly as protection for Nurse Baxter, but in reality to fuss over and play with Lairissa – although Jack would deny the ‘fussing’ to the end of his days – Rodney and Teal’c joined SG-7 and Radek to see what needed to be done next to extract the valuable minerals.
The next closest meteor site was a few miles beyond the village, and took a couple of hours to reach, but Rodney was pleased he had no problems with either the distance or the pace at which they walked. All that exercise John makes me do is paying off, I suppose, although I’m never going to love horse riding as much as John does. Radek soon became engrossed in the readings they were getting from the spectrometers while Rodney and Teal’c stood by and kept each other company.
Rodney had had little to nothing to do with the Jaffa in the previous timeline, being wary of the man he was almost responsible for killing. Teal’c, apparently, had not harboured a grudge, but Rodney steered clear of him as much as he could. This time, however, with no such handicap, the two men had become friends, chatting frequently over such things as films and tv shows they both enjoyed. I miss John for more than one reason; I suppose. He was my best friend as well as my partner, and it helps to have Teal’c here.
For the moment, however, they were again discussing the merits of each favourite Star Trek Commander – Sisko for Rodney, Janeway for Teal’c as he liked badass women – while keeping an eye on Radek and SG-7. I miss Lorne. This mission would be perfect for him. It can’t be long before he joins the SGC since he was here well before the Atlantis expedition was formed.
‘Have you come to a decision regarding the naquadah asteroid due to collide with Earth, Dr McKay?’ Teal’c asked after a few minutes of silence.
‘Mmm?’ Rodney turned to face the Jaffa. ‘Sorry, sorry. My mind was wandering. The asteroid? Yes, we think we have a plan. Do you recall the crystal skull you discovered on P7X 377?’
Teal’c nodded. ‘Indeed. My symbiote enabled me to sense Daniel Jackson even while he was out of phase and invisible to the others.’
Rodney nodded. ‘We’re planning a return to P7X 377 to talk to the Omeyocan about extending the in-phase field around the asteroid. It would still require a ship to take us to it, but – now we know about the naquadah – we can allow for that when landing it.’ He lowered his voice ‘The phase shifter would be invaluable on Atlantis as we can’t use the cloak and shield at the same time. Using the phase shifter would mean the Wraith couldn’t see us at all, and would, hopefully, use slightly less power than the shield or cloak.’
‘And if the Omeyocan cannot help us?’
‘Then we know how to get hold of a device hidden in Great Britain, under Glastonbury Tor, but that’s not ideal, as it took Sam Carter quite a while to analyse how it worked. Failing both those things, we fall back on the original plan of moving the asteroid into hyperspace for a few seconds and moving it through and beyond the planet. That’s my least favoured way as we’ll require a second ship to rescue us as the hyperspace jump will drain all the power of the tel’tak.’
‘Was not Dr Radek Zelenka working on the phase shift?’ Teal’c asked, watching the excitement of the Czech scientist at the levels of naquadah and other minerals revelled in the meteors.
Rodney nodded. ‘Yeah, but he can’t do anything until we’ve paid another visit to P7X 377.’
‘As I cannot visit that planet, I will return to Chulak and visit my son and Master Bra’tac, and take tretonin to give to my wife since O’Neill says that soon her symbiote will mature, and as she does not desire to take a further one, she will die without the new drug synthesised by Major Janet Fraiser.’
This was a long speech for Teal’c. Probably the longest I’ve had with him. Who knew he could be such a Chatty Cathy? And it’s good for him to be comfortable enough to come and go from the SGC as he pleases, but it’s odd that he hasn’t once mentioned the absence of Sam Carter from either the mission or SG-1. I wonder if she even knows we’re here without her, and what she thinks about her new team? That situation will not be pretty!
*****
It transpired, Carter didn’t know SG-1 had gone on a mission without her until their return to Earth at the same moment she was in the operations room. She watched open-mouthed as the group came through the gate and down the ramp, chatting amiably amongst themselves until Daniel caught sight of her and grabbed Jack’s arm. One by one, the group of men – and Nurse Helen Baxter – fell silent under her gaze, until she swung around abruptly and left the ops room, a puzzled MSgt Harriman staring after her.
‘Umm. The general…the general would like to see you as soon as he can.’ Harriman was alternating between looking at Carter leaving, and SGs-1 and 7 arriving. ‘Can see you, that is. See you as soon as he can. He…yeah. See you. Sir.’
‘After we get checked out by the infirmary?’ Jack prompted, grinning at Harriman’s evident confusion.
‘After you…yessir. After…after that.’
‘All of us?’
‘All of you?’ Now Harriman was really confused, which shouldn’t be as funny as it is, Jack thought to himself.
‘All of us. As in SG-1 and SG-7.’
‘What about me?’ Radek demanded, pushing his glasses up his nose yet again.
‘Aaah. Yessir. All of seven of you. That is, SG-7 as well as you, Colonel. And the rest of SG-1. And Dr Zelenka.’
Shaking his head and trying not to laugh out loud, Jack led the way to the infirmary and the ritual blood-letting.
The two teams and Radek rendez vous‘d in the briefing room where General Hammond was waiting for them, along with several carafes of coffee and pastries, both of which Rodney, Radek, and Daniel fell upon like a starving horde, each making away with a carafe of coffee and a plate of pastries for their own consumption. Never get between a geek and his coffee and snacks, Jack thought, shaking his head.
‘Colonel,’ Hammond began when they were all served and seated. ‘Report.’
‘…recommend we send a team of SeaBees to work out exactly what needs to be done with the infrastructure,’ he finished.
‘Thank you, Colonel,’ General Hammond said with a smile. ‘Have your report and recommendations to me by 2100 as I’m due in DC tomorrow with Patrick Sheppard to meet with some of the DOD.’ He got to his feet, followed by the other members of the Battalion, and smiled at them. ‘Dismissed. Colonel O’Neill? A word, if you please? You too, Dr Jackson.’
The two men followed him into his office and Jack was unsurprised when the General raised his eyebrows in expectation.
‘We need to find another of these,’ he muttered, activating his bug-zapper and placing it on the desk in front of him as he and Daniel made themselves as comfortable as they could in the small office. ‘I’m tired of carrying it around with me every day.’
‘Perhaps Rodney could reverse engineer one,’ Daniel suggested, shifting on his uncomfortable seat. ‘General, have you got new chairs? Because I have to tell you, they’re almost as uncomfortable as the one Jack has in his office.’
Hammond smiled. ‘I took Jack’s example and replaced the old chairs. Now, tell me, how is Lairissa and do you have photos? I can’t wait to meet her in person.’
*****
The sound of the alarm brought Jack from his office at full speed and, not for the first time, he wished the SGC had the tiny earpieces used by the Atlantis Expedition. That’s the lab medical alarm. Which Level though, damn it? We need a better system! Acting on instinct, he opened the door to the narrow enclosed staircase which connected all levels to the surface, the top of which was guarded 24/7, and ran up to Level 19 and the main labs. Of course, it would be the day when George was in DC.
As he emerged from the stairwell, he was in time to see a medical team led by Janet Fraiser enter the lab now occupied by Rodney and from where he could hear a cacophony of raised voices.
‘—be accident. Is deliberate attack.’ Zelenka for certain.
‘—aside and let me work!’ Janet.
‘—citrus in—.’ Hmm. Not sure. Could be one of several folk.
There was space in the doorway for him to get through, and there were far too many extraneous people in the lab, so Jack tried to thin them out before Fraiser began yelling even more. By the time he’d cleared the room of all but the essential personnel – Janet and her mob – and Zelenka and Kusanagi who refused to leave, Rodney was being transferred to a gurney, and Jack went ahead to the elevator to save as much time for them as he could. The scientist was still not breathing on his own even though he’d been injected with more than one EpiPen, from the look of the discarded ones on the floor of the lab.
The gurney appeared around the corner to the elevator at speed, with Janet actually on the gurney using the manual resuscitator, just as the elevator doors opened. Jack grabbed the white-coated man inside and dragged him out to allow the gurney entry, and ignoring his protests.
The unknown scientist fell silent as he watched the doors close on the medical team and their patient.
‘That’s McKay. Is he…’
‘No.’ Not yet.
‘But—’
‘Get back to your lab and back to work, and stop speculating!’
The scientist gave him a fearful look and hurried away. Jack stood still, trying to marshal his thoughts. There was something nagging just at the edges of his mind. Something I saw? Something I didn’t see?
He didn’t see or hear Daniel approaching until his friend touched his arm.
‘Jack? Are you alright?’
‘Hmmm?’ He turned to face Daniel, his mind still trying to work out what he’d seen, or was missing. What is it?
He felt his arm being taken, and he was pulled somewhere, but the first point at which he was really aware was when his friend pushed a glass of water into his hand.
‘What?’ He looked around and saw they were in Daniel’s lab on Level 18. When did we get here? ‘Daniel? What—? Why—?’
‘I think you’re in shock, but I’m not sure why.’ Daniel’s expression was the one he wore when confronted by something which interested him, but knew nothing about. ‘What’s got you in this state?’
‘I’m not in a state!’ Jack exclaimed. ‘Wait! Should I be? Is he…Is he—’
‘No! No, not that I’ve heard,’ Daniel said quickly, shaking his head. ‘But why are you so upset over Rodney’s injury?’
‘I’m upset when anyone on base gets injured.’ Jack felt physically hurt by Daniel’s comment. Do I appear indifferent to everyone here? Am I indifferent? Jack couldn’t prevent his thoughts from returning to the times when he hadn’t been bothered about injuries outside of those of his own team. Siler; various scientists I didn’t know the names of and couldn’t be bothered to learn; ditto various Marines and Airmen. Christ! I am a selfish asshole. ‘I was trying to remember what I saw in his lab. Something struck me as odd, strange.’
‘Stranger than a man in anaphylactic shock, not breathing?’
‘No! Well, yes, but it wasn’t directly connected with Rodney or his treatment. I got there just as Janet’s team arrived. It was either something I noticed, or something that should have been there but wasn’t. I just can’t remember, but it feels as though it’s…just touching the edges of my mind.’ He exhaled sharply. ‘It’s infuriating. It should be there, but it isn’t.’
Daniel sat silently, his brows furrowed and a concerned look in his eyes as he watched his friend. After a minute or two, he got to his feet. ‘Come on. We need to go check Rodney’s lab. That might shake whatever it is loose.’
The door to the lab was closed, and when Jack tried the door, it was locked, so he tapped at the door to the lab next door, which was standing partially open.
‘Dr Kusanagi?’ Jack and Daniel stepped into the lab to be met with a furious-faced woman who relaxed when she realised who they were.
‘Is everything okay, Miko?’ Daniel asked, stepping towards her with a hand outstretched.
‘Aside from my best friend dying in the infirmary?’ she asked sarcastically. ‘Yes. Everything is peachy!’
‘Did you lock the door to McKay’s lab?’ Jack asked, going directly to the point.
‘Yes.’ She stared at him, almost…defiantly? ‘I needed to preserve the crime scene.’
‘Crime scene? What…Why…’
‘Someone attempted to murder Dr McKay,’ Miko said baldly. ‘I mean to find out who.’
*****
‘So where are we now?’ General Hammond asked, gazing around the briefing room where SG-1, Radek Zelenka, Miko Kusanagi, Janet Fraiser, and Sam Carter, for some reason, were gathered later that night. ‘Dr Fraiser? I want to know exactly what happened, and I have several people outside of the SGC waiting for an update on Dr McKay’s condition.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Fraiser nodded and took a breath. ‘The lab medical alarm was activated at 14:34 and we determined it was Level 19. I mobilised my team, and we got to the labs at 14:38. Dr McKay was lying on the floor and his breathing was rapid and shallow. His face was already showing signs of swelling, and a raised, red rash was appearing. It was clear he was suffering an anaphylactic episode.
‘Dr Kusanagi informed me she had already administered an initial intramuscular dose of epinephrine, but Dr McKay was showing no signs of improvement. I administered a second dose of epinephrine at 14:39, but this had no visible effect. We began to move him to the gurney, but he seized and stopped breathing. We got him on the gurney and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation and manual ventilation while we transferred him to the infirmary.
‘By the time we got him back to the infirmary, he was breathing on his own, although it remained both rapid and shallow. I began intubation as soon as possible but he seized again during the process and it was several seconds until we were able to get him breathing again.’ She took a drink of water and was forced to hold the glass with both hands, but still water spilled onto the table surface her hands were shaking so badly.
‘At present we have Dr McKay on a low-dose IV adrenaline infusion, and oxygen,’ she continued, ‘and we’ll keep him on both until at least tomorrow morning. We’re monitoring his respiratory rate, oxygen saturations, and blood pressure, as well as his heart for further signs of tachycardia, as an arrest is still an immediate danger.’
‘And your prognosis?’ Hammond asked, looking up from the notes he was making on her verbal report.
Fraiser hesitated for a moment, then sighed. ‘I’m concerned that he went for almost a minute without oxygen. Brain hypoxia shouldn’t begin under the three-minute mark, but…’
Jack felt his insides turn to ice. Brain damage. From the expressions of the other people in the room, he wasn’t the only one who realised what Janet was saying. In fact, only Sam Carter didn’t appear to be affected by the news. Sam Carter…
‘Have you determined the cause of Dr McKay’s trauma?’ Hammond asked Janet, making her frown.
‘I’m not an investigator, sir, and I’ve had my hands full trying to keep Dr McKay alive. He has two fatal allergies noted in his medical records: to bee stings and to citrus, in all its forms. As it wasn’t a bee sting, since I’ve examined him thoroughly for any signs of a sting, it must have been citrus, but I have no idea how it was delivered, though I suspect it was ingested by the severity of the attack.’
‘I can help you there.’ Miko Kusanagi spoke up from close to the end of the table where she sat next to Zelenka.
‘Dr Kusanagi?’ Hammond raised his eyes. ‘Do you have some pertinent information?’
‘I was with Rodney when he had the attack, and I secured his water bottle after he’d been taken to the infirmary, since I knew he hadn’t been stung. He’d just taken a drink when he collapsed and though he dropped the bottle, there was sufficient remaining liquid to tell citrus had been added, in a significant amount if the smell of it was anything to go by. I have it locked in my safe until an investigator is assigned.’
‘An investigator?’ Carter repeated from the opposite side of the table, her lip curling. ‘What do you want an investigator for? You think someone tried to kill him?’
‘Yes.’ Kusanagi inclined her head. ‘I do.’
‘But how can anyone tell the bottle in your safe is the one McKay was drinking from, and how do we know, for that matter, that you didn’t add lemon to it? You had ample opportunity.’
‘I took photographs of lab after everyone is left, including of water bottle on floor,’ Radek said, running his hand through his hair and making it look wilder than ever. ‘I have seen enough TV cops to know this.’
‘You’re ridiculous! McKay wasn’t—’ Carter began before being interrupted by the General.
‘Thank you, Major Carter! I‘m asking the questions. In fact, I’m not sure what you’re doing here. I didn’t ask for you.’
‘No, but—’
‘Dismissed, Major.’
With such an obvious order, Carter had no option but to leave the room, but her scowl was epic and her jaw so clenched Jack worried she might actually break her teeth. Scowl…Sam Carter…scowl…It hit him like a brick and he jerked his head up, meeting the eyes of Miko Kusanagi who gave an almost imperceptible nod.
George Hammond heaved a sigh and glanced down at his notes. ‘Right. Where were we?’
‘Dr Kusanagi was saying she has the bottle she suspects contains citrus,’ Jack said, his voice emotionless, and Daniel gave him a sharp look.
‘Thank you, Colonel.’ Hammond turned to Janet Fraiser. ‘Do you have anything to add, Major?’
Janet shook her head. ‘No, and I’d rather—’
She was interrupted by furious typing from Miko who muttered, ‘Oh no you don’t!’
‘Dr Kusanagi?’ the General asked.
‘Busy!’ she snapped, but Zelenka was leaning over to see what she was doing.
‘Someone…security footage of…of labs, to stop altering, no, to stop deleting somebody—’
‘Take that, asshole!’ Miko snapped at her screen, and finished whatever she was doing with a swishing of her hand, just as Jack felt a further stab of cold pass through him.
‘Dr Kusanagi? Dr Zelenka?’ General Hammond slapped his hand on the table with a resounding smack. ‘Will someone tell me what the hell is going on!’
Jack opened his mouth to voice his suspicions, but before he could say a word, an alarm sounded throughout the building, and Dr Franklin’s voice came over the PA.
‘Code 9, I repeat, Code 9. Dr McKay has just vanished from the infirmary.’
Mere seconds later, light flashed in the briefing room, making Jack blink, and he opened his eyes to find himself standing on the flight deck of an Asgard ship. He glanced around and saw what—who he was looking for. ‘Thor, old buddy, old pal. What have I said about kidnapping me?’
*****
‘What the fuck, Rodney?’
The sudden appearance of John Sheppard in the sitting room of Morrow House made Jack choke on his whisky. Which is a shame, he thought as Daniel slapped him on his back just a little bit too hard, because it’s a damn fine whisky. ‘Enough, already,’ he told Daniel, twisting his body around to avoid the anthropologist’s blows. ‘Also, ow!’
‘Good evening, Major Sheppard.’ George Hammond inclined his head as John went straight to Rodney and began to run his hands over him, checking he was okay. ‘Or should that be good morning since it’s already 1am?’
Satisfied his partner was in one piece, John turned to acknowledge the general, his arm still around Rodney. ‘I’m sorry, sir. Good morning. I was just…’
‘Natural, under the circumstances. No apology necessary. We’re all still waiting for an update on—’
He broke off as the Asgard beam deposited Thor on the rug in front of the fireplace, and Patrick Sheppard reared back. ‘Jesus Christ!’ he muttered.
Thor regarded him solemnly. ‘Incorrect. I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet. Jesus Christ was an Alteran, one of those whom you call the Ancients.’
‘Commander Thor.’ Hammond stood and motioned to his side. ‘May I introduce you to our host, Dr Patrick Sheppard, and his son, Major John Sheppard. I think you know everyone else.’
Thor looked around the room and nodded. ‘It is a pleasure to meet the allies of Jack O’Neill and George Hammond.’ He fixed his gaze on John. ‘Dr McKay is your partner, is he not?’
John flushed and stammered, ‘Yes, s—Commander Thor, that is…’ He cast a worried look at the general, who smiled at him.
‘Relax, son. I have it on the best authority that DADT will be officially revoked two days from now, on Monday 15th April.’
John closed his eyes and released a breath, then smiled at Hammond. ‘Thank you, sir. That’s great news. I appreciate you working on it for us, for all of us.’ He turned back to Thor. ‘Yes, Rodney is my partner, Commander Thor.’
‘A partner you almost lost today. Aside from pulmonary oedema, his heart had begun to shut down. What you call cardiac arrest, I believe, and without immediate action, cerebral hypoxia would have occurred.’
John’s face lost all colour, and he gripped Rodney’s hand, his knuckles showing white. ‘Cerebral hypoxia. That’s…’
‘Brain damage. Yes.’ Thor allowed John a few moments to absorb this, then turned his attention to Rodney. ‘While you are no longer in any danger, I suggest you rest for the next forty-eight hours, at least. Your body has undergone a considerable amount of stress.’
Rodney nodded, and, leaning on John, got carefully to his feet, and Jack could see the slight tremors in his hands, likely a reaction to the epinephrine he’d been given. ‘I can’t thank you enough, Commander Thor. I’d have died in the infirmary if you hadn’t helped me. I…’ He paused for a moment and rubbed his eyes. ‘I’ve developed a…piece of equipment which should help you in your fight against the replicators. It’s not quite finished since I’ve had to work on it in what little spare time I have, but with your help, we might complete it together. Perhaps we can discuss it tomorr—later today?’
Thor stared at him for a moment, then nodded slowly. ‘Yes, indeed, Dr McKay. Thank you.’
Together, John and Rodney left the room, and Hammond turned to Jack. ‘Did you know anything about this replicator thing?’
Jack shook his head. ‘No, nothing. But I know he developed several things which aided the Atlantis Expedition in their fight with the Pegasus Replicators.’
‘Pegasus has the same replicators we do?’ Thor asked, and if pressed, Jack would have called his tone of voice ‘interested’, except the Asgard don’t have different tones of voice, or expressions.
‘No,’ Jack said aloud, pushing away his thoughts. ‘The Asurans, the Pegasus form of replicators, are humanoid, created by the Ancients to fight the Wraith – the mortal enemy of the Ancients in Pegasus – then abandoned by them when they discovered their little experiment didn’t work, just like they abandoned all their other dangerous experiments and left the rest of Pegasus to deal with the fallout.’ Jack’s lip curled and his tone was scathing. The Asurans created their own duplicate Atlantis built of nanites, and have no interaction with the rest of the Galaxy – or they didn’t until the Expedition paid them a visit.’ He waved his hand. ‘But that’s a different story.’
John returned as Jack finished his explanation.
‘What’s a different story?’ he asked, retaking his seat and picking up his glass of bourbon.
‘The Asurans. Thor asked if they were the same as ours.’
John grimaced. ‘Not in the slightest, except for also being very, very difficult to get rid of.’
‘In what manner did you fight them?’ asked Thor.
‘We bombed the crap out of their world which happened to have multiple ZPMs on it, but we didn’t know a few had survived and were trying to ascend, aided by our former Expedition Leader.’ John took a sip of his bourbon. ‘That was one of many things which came back to bite us on our asses, but since I’ve been assured she won’t be joining the programme this time, we shouldn’t have that to worry about, and I fully intend locking the gate address for the Asurans out of the Atlantis system as soon as possible. Rodney and I have a list of addresses to lock out, possibly including the Pegasus Amish; we haven’t decided yet.’
‘The Genii?’ Jack asked.
‘The Genii,’ John confirmed, then, seeing the raised eyebrows of the others, continued: ‘A supposedly agrarian society actually at an evolution circa 1940s America with nuclear ambitions. They caused us a lot of problems, up to and including feeding me to a Wraith in an attempt to force Weir to hand over their leader, who was hiding on Atlantis.’
There was a short period of silence while Hammond, Jackson, and Thor took this in, Patrick, apparently having already heard the story from John and Rodney.
‘Then by all means lock them out of the Atlantis system as soon as possible,’ Hammond told John, his expression a mixture of horror and disgust.
John nodded, then he straightened his shoulders and met General Hammond’s gaze. ‘This thing with Rodney wasn’t an accident.’
‘No, son, it wasn’t an accident,’ Hammond answered levelly, even though John hadn’t asked a question.
‘Someone tried to kill Rodney, and if it hadn’t been for Commander Thor, they might have succeeded. That’s attempted murder.’
Hammond inclined his head.
‘I want that person, or persons, found. I understand the secrecy of the Stargate Programme makes prosecution difficult. Last time there was an off-world facility for transgressors. You need to get that set up asap as you’re going to need it.’
‘Sheppard, that’s not as easy—’ Jack began, but John turned on him.
‘Yes, it is. Whoever did this is a threat to people in the mountain at the very least, and possibly a much wider field.’
‘We don’t yet know who did it, or what their motives were,’ Hammond said, holding up a hand to stop Jack from speaking. ‘We haven’t had the time yet to investigate, and I agree. Whoever it was is a possible danger to everyone else and—’
‘No, sir. This is important,’ Jack said as he spoke over his CO, who turned to look at him, a frown on his face, but now he had everyone’s attention, Jack wasn’t certain how to explain his suspicions.
‘Colonel? Just what is so important?’ “That it warranted interrupting me” went unsaid, but Hammond’s visible irritation said it for him.
Instead of answering, Jack rubbed his face, playing for time, unsure of how to explain his suspicions.
‘Jack?’ Hammond asked, his irritated tone mellowing somewhat. ‘Do you…Do you know who’s responsible?’
Closing his eyes, Jack nodded, and Daniel suddenly straightened in his seat.
‘You’ve remembered what you did or didn’t see!’
‘Dr Jackson?’ This time it was Patrick Sheppard asking the questions. ‘What are you talking about? Do you know who did this?’
‘I—No, not exactly, just…’
‘Daniel. If you know something, you have to tell us,’ John said urgently, holding his hand out towards the archeologist in appeal.
‘Colonel O’Neill!’ This was Hammond’s serious voice. ‘What do you know?!’
‘I—I’m pretty certain it was Sam Carter.’ There. I’ve said it.
The world appeared to stand still. There was no movement or sound in the sitting room for what felt like hours, days, even. Then:
‘Jack, are you saying Major Carter tried to kill Dr McKay?’ Hammond asked, his diction so precise there could be no mistaking his words.
‘Yes. Well, no, not deliberately, I’m certain, but—’
‘There is no but,’ Patrick Sheppard said, his tone hard. ‘Either she did, or she didn’t.’
‘Look, all I have is a suspicion.’ Stop lying to yourself, Jack. You’ve got way more than that. ‘That is…’
‘After the…incident,’ Daniel began, his eyes fixed on Jack. ‘When Rodney was on his way to the infirmary, you said you’d noticed something in the lab, or not noticed something.’
‘Dr Jackson, you’re making less sense than Colonel O’Neill!’ Hammond snapped in exasperation. ‘The Colonel either saw something, or he didn’t.’
‘I wasn’t certain which, at first.’ Jack clasped his hands to keep them still and wet his lips. ‘Just that something wasn’t right. I realised what it was in the meeting last night, just before Thor kidnapped me.’
‘And?’ Hammond prompted. ‘What did you realise?’
‘…That Sam wasn’t in the lab after Rodney—after the incident,’ Daniel explained on Jack’s behalf, keeping his eyes on his friend’s face. ‘Everyone else on that corridor was there, mostly to see what was happening, but Sam wasn’t, was she?’ He looked down at the table, then back up to meet Jack’s gaze. ‘That’s what it was, right?’
Unable to speak, Jack simply nodded.
‘And when Miko was busy with her computer and Radek said…someone was trying to delete the security footage of the lab,’ Daniel continued, almost to himself. ‘It was either Sam or someone acting on her behalf. She probably forgot about the surveillance cameras in the labs. I know I do.’
There. It’s all out now. Nothing more I can do. ‘Yes,’ Jack agreed simply, his voice devoid of emotion. I thought I was in love with her at one time. ‘I think Kusanagi stopped her.’
‘And before, when she was arguing with Miko, Sam said…she named the citrus added to Rodney’s bottle as lemon. The rest of us didn’t know that.’
‘And we won’t until the water is analysed, but, yeah. She said it was lemon.’
‘Why?’ John demanded, his voice almost breaking. ‘Why would she do this?’
Jack sighed and let his head drop back against the chair cushion, staring at the ceiling. Ask me a hard one, why doncha? ‘I’m not sure I have a good answer. She thinks Mc—Rodney took her job—’ He held up his hands as John opened his mouth. ‘Ah, ah. I said she thinks. Thinks Rodney took the job which was never hers to begin with. Plus, she’s been moved from SG-1 and he’s been put in what she sees as her place on the team.’
‘But she now has command of her own team,’ Daniel protested. ‘That’s a promotion, isn’t it?’
‘Not entirely, and not in her eyes,’ Jack answered, shaking his head. ‘But, again, not Rodney’s fault: she’s just focussing her anger on him. And that’s probably on us,’ he added, pointing at himself and General Hammond. ‘Maybe we could have handled it all better, I don’t know, but the damage is done now.’
Daniel suddenly yawned widely, and Hammond glanced at his watch. ‘Perhaps we could have, Jack, but it doesn’t excuse her, not at all. Now, what say we call it a night – or morning, rather? It’s almost 3am and I’m bushed.’ He turned to the Asgard Commander who’d remained largely silent, simply taking in the discussion. ‘Are you staying in orbit, Thor? Can you get the Colonel, Dr Jackson, and me home?’
‘Yes, to both of your questions, General Hammond,’ Thor nodded, then looked at John. ‘May we talk tomorrow about Atlantis, Major Sheppard? I have questions you may be able to answer.’
‘Yes, of course,’ John agreed, turning his attention to Thor. ‘I can never repay the debt I owe you for saving Rodney’s life, Commander.’ The tiny Asgard inclined his head, and John turned back to General Hammond. ‘Are we picking this up tomorrow, sir? May we invite you for breakfast?’
‘We have plenty of space if the three of you want to stay here,’ Patrick offered. ‘I should have said that sooner.’
‘Thank you, Patrick,’ Hammond smiled at Sheppard Senior, ‘but I’m at the age where I like my own bed, and while we have Thor to help us…Breakfast would be good, though, and we can discuss what comes next regarding Major Carter,’ Hammond finished, grimly.
‘Then breakfast it is. Does 08.30 suit you? It’s Lizzie’s weekend off so she won’t be around when you beam in.’
Hammond nodded. ‘Thor? That good for you?’
‘Yes, General, but for myself…’ the Asgard Commander tilted his head. ‘…I will BYO.’
‘I’ve corrupted the goddamned Asgard,’ Jack moaned, and disappeared in a flash of light.
Chapter Twelve
‘How’s Rodney doing this morning?’ Patrick continued to make pancakes as his youngest son lurched towards the coffee pot, clutching his mug like a drowning man would a life belt.
‘Tired, aching, irritated that he has to stay in bed without even a sniff of coffee. Take your pick.’ John closed his eyes in pleasure as the caffeine hit his body, despite being told by numerous scientists that it could take up to an hour before it entered the bloodstream. It wakes me up and makes me feel better. That’s good enough for me. ‘Dr Fraiser called around 7am, just as he was getting out of bed, and he leapt back in as though the hounds of hell were on his heels. Apparently, no one on base disobeys her orders.’
‘Not if they know what’s good for them,’ Jack O’Neill muttered, appearing in a flash of Asgard beam. ‘She has big needles and a penchant for prostate examinations.’
Both John and his father shifted uncomfortably, then grinned at each other.
‘Who was she bossing this morning?’ Jack continued, helping himself to coffee, just as Daniel appeared, already holding a cup.
‘Who’s bossing who?’ Daniel asked, draining his cup, and holding it out for a refill.
‘Whom,’ Jack corrected, holding the pot away from him. ‘Who’s bossing whom, and no, no refills until everyone’s served.’
‘I’m on it,’ John announced, opening a cupboard and extracting an ancient coffee maker. ‘Dad, do we have any filter papers?’
Patrick gave him a blank look. ‘How should I know? I’m not usually allowed to even open a cupboard. And that thing’s so old, I’m not sure it’ll work. There should be a French press somewhere. It was a wedding present. Try that. It’s reassuringly old-fashioned.’
‘Can we help at all?’ Daniel asked, looking around the kitchen. ‘Lay the table, maybe?’
‘Silverware in that second drawer.’ John nodded to the side of him while he filled the press with ground coffee. ‘Do we set for Commander Thor, sir?’ he asked as General Hammond touched Patrick’s shoulder rather than make him stop cooking.
‘Might as well.’ Daniel counted out five forks and knives and took them over to the table where General Hammond was already seated. ‘And you didn’t answer my question, Jack. Who’s bossing whom?’
‘Dr Fraiser’s bossing Rodney,’ John answered in lieu of O’Neill. ‘She ordered him to stay in bed and banned him from drinking coffee.’
‘As did I.’ Thor appeared holding a box which, presumably, held his breakfast. ‘He needs to rest for at least forty-eight hours and avoid any stress.’ Thor accepted a plate from John and, seating himself next to General Hammond, placed two small cubes, one blue, one yellow, on it just as Patrick carried over a platter of pancakes and crispy bacon, along with a jug of syrup.
‘It’s Canadian maple syrup since Rodney banned Lizzie from buying anything else on the grounds it was rubbish,’ Patrick informed them, taking his seat and smiling at the men gathered around his table. ‘Dig in, please.’
‘Those blue ones give me serious wind,’ O’Neill confided to John, nodding to the cubes Thor was eating with apparent enjoyment. ‘And Carter threw up after she tasted the yellow ones.’ As though realising his faux pas in mentioning her name, Jack grimaced, while General Hammond simply looked grim.
‘I spoke to the JAG this morning,’ he informed the others between bites. ‘Admiral Chegwidden says we need considerably more evidence before Major Carter can be charged with anything, let alone attempted murder. He offered to select an investigator from the Office of Special Investigations to be read into the Stargate Programme, but—I beg your pardon, Colonel?’
O’Neill looked up from his plate and glanced around. ‘Did I do that out-loud?’
‘If you mean that rude noise, yes you did,’ Hammond told him severely. ‘I’ve sent my granddaughters from the table for lesser offences. I certainly don’t expect my 2IC to behave like that.’
O’Neill stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment while John covered his own mouth with his napkin to hide his grin, earning himself a swipe from his father.
‘I…apologise?’ O’Neill managed to say at last, and Hammond nodded grimly, his eyes narrowed.
‘Now, Colonel, did you have something you wished to say?’
‘Just that we had someone from AFOSI ‘helping’ us in the—the other timeline, and he was sh—ah, useless. We’d be better with an NCIS agent, except Carter’s Air Force and…I’ll just finish eating, shall I, sir?’
‘Good idea.’ Hammond eyed his errant colonel for a moment, then continued. ‘I thanked the Admiral and said I’d get back to him. But I’m reluctant to bring in anyone from outside until I’ve talked to Major Carter myself and—’ He broke off again as the kitchen door opened, then raised his brows. ‘Dr McKay. We weren’t expecting to see you this morning.’
Rodney, dressed in sweatpants and an oversized USAF T-shirt which had seen better days, came fully into the room and looked around, but before he could say anything, Thor fixed him with a gaze.
‘You should not be out of bed, Dr McKay. Your body has undergone a severe shock and needs rest.’
‘Plus, Janet’s going to be on your case if she finds out you’re up,’ Daniel added. ‘Not that I‘d say anything, of course.’
‘Of course you wouldn’t,’ John said, pulling out a chair for his partner, and slapping Rodney’s hand as it reached for his coffee. ‘Defiantly not! Now, why are you up?’
Rodney plucked a piece of bacon from John’s plate instead of his coffee and dipped it in the small pool of maple syrup. ‘I don’t want you to do anything about…the person who put lemon in my water bottle, General,’ he said, looking intently at Hammond.
‘Do you know who that is?’ Hammond asked.
‘Do you?’
Hammond met him, stare for stare, then inclined his head. ‘We have a pretty good idea, yes.’
‘Then please don’t punish her.’
Her. Rodney knows exactly who tried to kill him.
‘I don’t think she meant to kill me. I don’t think she expected anything to happen, except, maybe, to prove I was exaggerating my condition. If that was the reason, she’s been made to look a fool, and that’s punishment enough. We have much greater concerns than what could be classed as hazing the new boy, and we really don’t want to force her into the arms of the rogue NID or the Committee, do we?’
The other five men – and an Asgard – stared at him.
‘But, Rodney. Someone almost killed you.’ Patrick broke the silence first. ‘That can’t just be ignored. They could be a danger to other people.’
‘I doubt it. It’s me she has a beef with, and possibly Radek and Miko, but I think she sees me as the source of her troubles, the catalyst, maybe.’
John opened his mouth to speak, but O’Neill got there first.
‘I have to agree. The Committee—’ He paused as Patrick frowned. ‘It’s a group of shady businessmen who see alien technology as a source of income, and they’re not fussy how they get it.’ Patrick nodded his thanks, and Jack continued. ‘We know they’re tied in with the NID and Kinsey, and it’d be all too easy to push a disaffected Carter – oh, come on! We might as well name her! We don’t want to push her into their arms, given her knowledge of the SGC.’
‘So you’d ignore an attack on my son-in-law to keep her happy?’ Patrick demanded, and frowned at McKay. ‘Don’t look like that, Rodney. You’re as good as married to John and that makes you family.’
‘I’m not saying we ignore what Carter’s done,’ Jack protested, possibly feeling the anger radiating from John, who sat rigid beside him. ‘I just don’t think she’s a particular danger to anyone else, and if I know anything about her, which I do, she’ll be furious with herself for being so stupid. So visibly stupid, as Rodney says, since she’s been proved utterly wrong about his allergies.’
‘And if there’s one thing Sam hates, it’s being proved wrong,’ Daniel added.
‘And I’m not saying let her off scot-free,’ Rodney added. ‘Just keep it in-house, as it were. She’s done some amazing things in her time at the SGC and since we know what’s coming,’ he indicated John and O’Neill, ‘we’re going to need everyone’s help if we want the planet to survive.’
*****
As soon as breakfast was finished and the other men were helping to clear the kitchen, Rodney moved around the table to sit down next to Thor.
‘John tells me you want to have a conversation about Atlantis, Commander. How can we help the Asgard?’
Thor inclined his head. ‘As you may know, for many generations, my people have used cloning technology to extend our life spans, and we upload the memory of one of our people to the clone from computer memory crystals. Unfortunately, excessive use of this process over the years has degraded our genome to the point where the Asgard race is in danger of extinction.
‘We of the High Council believe the city of the Ancients may hold the answer to our problem, but have been unable to find it for many thousands of years. We know a group of Alterans took their city to another galaxy to escape a plague which threatened this galaxy, but we don’t know which one. If you have now found it, we would ask for access to the city’s data banks.’
‘We – or rather Daniel Jackson, found Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy, and we sent an expedition there in 2004,’ Rodney explained. ‘I was the Chief Scientific Officer, and John, eventually, commanded the Battalion out there. We had great difficulty with the city database as it was almost impossible to search. We think it might have been deliberately scrambled before the Alterans left the city. Alternately, it may have scrambled itself during the ten thousand years it was on the bottom of the sea: we don’t know which one it is. If you wanted to come and search it yourself, or send someone else, I can’t see that being a problem, can you, John?’ he called out to his partner.
‘Can I what?’ John demanded, coming over to the table and wiping his hands.
‘See a problem in the Asgard coming to Atlantis.’ Since his back was turned to the other men in the kitchen, Rodney gave John a very slight nod, a very slight smile on his face.
It had been a source of considerable annoyance and frustration to them both that they had been forbidden from asking the Asgard for help regarding Atlantis. The reason given by the SGC at the time the Expedition left – that the Asgard had enough to worry about – was reasonable, but between then and when the Asgard finally took the decision to commit mass suicide, it was positively unreasonable, especially when Atlantis may have held the answers to the Asgard’s terminal cellular degradation. Based on information they had extracted from the Atlantis database, Jennifer Keller – with additional help from Michael’s database – was able to cure clone Carson Beckett, whose own cells were degrading, albeit the year following the Asgard’s suicide.
The real reason they were prevented from contacting the Asgard they both believed, was because the SGC didn’t want them to know of their occupation of Atlantis, in fear they would either prevent the Expedition from leaving, or, after their occupation of the city, force them in someway to share the technology they found. Either way, those in charge of the SGC at the time – including the DOD, and possibly the President – did not want the Asgard to know about Atlantis, and, from the looks Jack had given the pair, the current leadership were more than a little unhappy at the agreement Rodney and John were about to make.
Rodney didn’t give a fuck, and he suspected John didn’t either.
Thor looked at John, then turned to look at Patrick, and tilted his head. ‘May I have your permission to scan you, Major Sheppard, and you, Dr Sheppard?’
John and Patrick exchanged worried glances. ‘Umm,’ John began. ‘What does scanning me entail?’
‘Touching your head with my finger allows me to take…readings of your body, such as the pressure of your blood, and your blood type, since I know humans have differing blood types.’
‘And you have to physically touch us to do that?’
The steady look Thor gave John told him it was an astute question.
‘…No,’ Thor admitted. ‘For example, I know without touching that you and your father share the same genome as Jack O’Neill, and Dr McKay had one derived from your gene, but it was a clumsy facsimile, at best.’
‘Clumsy?’ John repeated. ‘How so? And please remember, I’m a soldier, not a geneticist!’
‘Dr McKay was given your gene to force his own genes to mutate. It is an imperfect method which rarely works. Dr McKay is fortunate that his own cells accepted the foreign organism instead of rejecting it outright.’
‘And if that had happened?’
‘At best, he would feel tired, listless, possibly with vomiting; at worse, it might have killed him.’
‘Wait, wait, back up, Thor.’ Rodney waved his hand back over his shoulder. ‘You said I had a clumsy gene. Past tense.’
‘Yes, indeed.’ Thor inclined his head. ‘When I repaired the damage to your heart and lungs, I also repaired your body on a cellular level. Whoever, or whatever, sent you back in time did you a disservice by not taking care of that damage.’
‘So I no longer have the ATA gene?’ Rodney asked.
‘ATA gene?’
‘Ancient Technology Activation gene.’ As Thor continued to stare at him, Rodney continued. ‘It’s the name given to the ability to activate Alteran technology, or, more properly, Lantean technology, as they were known as Lanteans in Pegasus. Car—A geneticist on Atlantis created the gene therapy, and he said that it gave those people with a recessive ATA gene, like me, the gene we needed to activate the recessive cell, by using a mouse retrovirus.’
Since the Asgard didn’t have facial expressions, it was impossible for Thor to look disapproving, yet Rodney knew Thor was screwing up his nose in distaste at both the SGC name for the Ancient gene, and Carson Beckett’s ham-fisted gene therapy. ‘Yeah, I know,’ he said sympathetically.
‘That explains the cellular damage done to you, Dr McKay,’ Thor told him. ‘A mouse retrovirus risks triggering an attack on the immune system, which can lead to the formation of inoperable cancer. Nevertheless, I can give you the ability to use Lantean technology by modifying your own…ATA gene,’ and Rodney could almost see Thor curling his lip. ‘Using a vector—’ He paused, seeing a frown on several faces. ‘Using a genetically engineered carrier – not that of a mouse – I can transform Dr McKay’s gene into one which will be similar to Major Sheppard’s own gene, but one which his body will not treat as…alien, although, strictly speaking…’
‘Strictly speaking, it is an alien gene,’ Rodney finished for him.
‘Indeed.’ Thor inclined his head and Rodney couldn’t help but think the Asgard was actually imitating Teal’c. Is he trolling us?
Silence reigned for a few moments while they all absorbed what Thor had told them, then George Hammond broke it.
‘We need to make sure your Dr Beckett doesn’t come anywhere near this programme.’
Jack O’Neill pointed a finger at him. ‘Word!’
*****
Since Thor made no attempt to leave his discussion with John and Rodney, the other men rejoined them at the table, and Patrick brought over a fresh pot of coffee, moving it carefully out of Rodney’s reach, and earning himself a glare for his trouble.
‘Hey, don’t blame me.’ Patrick held up his hands. ‘Both Commander Thor and your SGC doctor have forbidden you coffee.’
‘It is a stimulant, as you very well know, Dr McKay,’ Thor said severely.
Is he frowning? John tilted his head to make sure. Yep. That’s a definite almost-a-frown.
‘Can we go back to how you think Atlantis may help your people, Thor?’ Hammond asked, adding sugar to his cup. ‘Both Jack and John know the location of the city, but we’re not ready yet to form an expedition.’
‘We need to secure a power source, preferably two power sources, before we can leave,’ John explained. ‘One to get us there, and one to power the city the moment we get there, as she’s on the bed of the ocean at present.’
‘I hope the city might have records which can help with our clone issues,’ Thor explained. ‘If not, then I fear my race is facing extinction.’
‘Which would be a real tragedy,’ Hammond said with sympathy.
Yeah, for them and us.
‘I’ll make it very clear to whoever is chosen as the Expedition leader that you are to be given full access to the city database,’ Hammond promised, surprising John since it was the opposite to what had happened before.
But then, different strokes for different leaderships, or something like that!
John opened his mouth to tell Thor about the Pegasus Asgard, then closed it again. That’s going to open a new can of worms. Instead, he turned to General Hammond, wondering how to ask the next question, then decided to just go for it. ‘I want to join the SGC the moment I finish my exams. I need to be there to protect Rodney.’
Jack frowned at him. ‘Are you implying we can’t protect him?’
‘There’s no implication whatsoever,’ John said baldly. ‘He almost died yesterday under your watch.’
‘Hey!’ Rodney poked his partner in the arm. ‘He’s right here! And he’s fine, now!’
‘But you almost died.’ John’s voice broke on the last word. ‘Carter almost killed you, and while I kind of understand why you don’t want her to face any charges, she’s still a danger to you. I just want to be there to protect you.’ He lifted his hand to touch Rodney’s cheek gently. ‘I can’t lose you now. I won’t be able to do this without you, especially knowing what’s going to happen.’
There was a silence around the table until Hammond cleared his throat.
‘When are you free to come?’ he asked, ignoring O’Neill’s scowl.
John grimaced. ‘I’m officially at ACSC until I graduate on 31st May, but my final exam is on the 15th. I’m happy to do a couple of weeks without pay, if that’s what it takes, sir. I just…’ John broke off and looked down at his hand joined with Rodney’s, unable to say anything more to convince the General.
‘Colonel?’ Hammond raised his eyebrows at Jack O’Neill, who also looked away. ‘Your thoughts?’
O’Neill nodded reluctantly, his lips twisting. ‘Yeah, I get it. I’d be the same if it was—Huh.’
‘Jack?’ asked Daniel, pausing with his cup halfway to his mouth.
‘Daniel.’
‘Ja—’
‘No!’ Hammond glared at the pair through narrowed eyes. ‘I know how this goes, so the pair of you can stop it right away!’
Patrick and John exchanged wide-eyed looks while Daniel and Jack both dropped their heads, the tips of Daniel’s ears pink. Just like naughty schoolboys, John thought to himself. General Hammond is really good at this leadership stuff.
‘I’d need to speak to the Chiefs about you coming to the SGC early,’ the general told John, picking up their earlier discussion. ‘Your transfer is sorted for the 1st June, and your papers should come down by the end of the April, but we may be able to swing TDY for you during May.’
‘And what will John be doing at the SGC?’ Patrick asked, in interest.
‘Coming through the gate with SG-1 for a start,’ Jack answered, making John look at him in surprise.
‘I thought Rodney was now on SG-1?’
‘He is,’ agreed Jack. ‘But since you want to keep an eye on him, we’ll become a five-man team, although I always intended you should join SG-1. There’s no rule that says gate teams must be four-men, and most of the S&R teams are five-men, with a couple of six or seven-man teams. If you recall, SG-1 became a five-man team when Mitchell was leader and Vala Mal Doran joined.’
John grinned at the memory. ‘I loved that woman. Didn’t trust her as far as I could kick her, but I loved her.’ He glanced at Daniel, his grin now becoming a smirk. ‘You, Dr Jackson, not so much.’
Daniel frowned, then glanced uneasily from side to side. ‘You didn’t—don’t love me?’
‘No, you didn’t love Vala, even though she was all over you like a rash.’
Jack joined in the laughter John’s comment evoked, while Daniel’s expression was one of disquiet. ‘Jack?’
‘Don’t worry, space monkey. I’ll keep her away from you – if she joins us this time, that is.’
‘Is she a soldier?’ General Hammond asked. ‘Which branch?’
‘She’s a…’ Jack frowned. ‘You know, I’m not sure I ever did find out which planet she was from. She was a…’
‘A thief, a lier, a trickster: take your pick,’ John offered. ‘But she was also incredibly brave and loyal. And great fun,’ he added, grinning again. ‘She came out to Atlantis when SG-1 came looking for—Well, SG-1 paid us a visit, let’s leave it at that, and Vala pretty much held court in the mess with my men falling over each other to bring her food or something to drink.’
Jack gave a bark of laughter. ‘I can just imagine it, but, like I say, we may not come across her this time.’
‘How did you meet her last time?’ Daniel asked, making both Jack and John laugh.
‘She hijacked the X303 currently in progress,’ Jack said, ‘and off-loaded all the crew except for you, Danny-boy.’ Jack grinned at Daniel’s horror-stricken expression. ‘We got you back, though, obviously, and she eventually became a permanent part of the SGC, but if we change the events which led up to her hijacking – which we want to – we may not meet her.’
Rodney got to his feet and stretched. ‘I’m going back to bed seeing as no one will give me coffee.’
‘You will need considerable rest over the next few days, Dr McKay,’ Thor told him severely. ‘I will return in three days to assess your recovery. Until that time, you must rest and avoid stress and exertion.’
‘But I’m needed at the SGC,’ Rodney protested. ‘We have an asteroid due to hit Earth in a couple of days!’
‘I thought Zelenka had that in hand?’ Jack said, frowning.
Rodney sighed. ‘He has, but—’
‘No buts, Dr McKay,’ Thor said firmly. ‘I do not wish my work on you to be wasted. Three days.’ He turned to address General Hammond, ignoring Rodney’s spluttering. ‘May I return you to your home, General?’
‘Thank you, Thor, yes,’ Hammond answered, draining his coffee. ‘And thank you for breakfast, Patrick, and for your contributions to our discussions. An outside view can be invaluable.’
‘I’ll take a lift back to the SGC, Thor,’ Jack said, and glanced at his friend. ‘Danny?’
‘With Jack, please, Thor. I think we have things to discuss.’
As Jack was flashed away by the Asgard beam, John distinctly heard him mutter, ‘Oh, crap!’
*****
Confronting Samantha Carter was best left until Monday morning, General Hammond decided, especially since he was off duty until then. Let Jack cope with the asylum for the rest of this weekend. I’m spending it with my girls.
To avoid giving Carter time to concoct excuses, Hammond left instructions for her to go to his office the moment she arrived at the mountain, although he was aware she might already have an excuse prepared. He’d had Walter collate the security footage from Dr McKay’s lab, and also the record of someone on Level 19 trying to erase it – which had to be someone from her lab since the other labs on that floor were empty and locked at that time.
His phone rang to say Major Carter was on her way down, and the general composed himself and ran over what he wanted to say to her, bearing in mind Dr McKay’s warning not to push her into the arms of the rogue NID or…what was the new organisation called? The Trust, that was it.
A sharp rap on the door brought him from his musings and he took a deep breath.
‘You wanted to see me, sir?’ Carter asked as she entered his office.
‘Take a seat please, Major.’ Hammond nodded towards the wooden chair in front of his desk, and stared at her for a while, making her shift uncomfortably under his gaze.
‘Sir?’ she said, after a while. ‘Why am I here?’
‘Last week, Dr McKay was deliberately exposed to an allergen which caused an almost fatal anaphylactic episode.’ Hammond waited for a moment to see if she had anything to say, but aside from a slight loss of colour from her cheeks, she remained impassive. ‘If it hadn’t been for the Asgard being in orbit and Commander Thor recognising an imminent cardiac arrest, he would have died, and someone in this facility would have been guilty of murder, as opposed to attempted murder.’
‘Attempted murder? Carter repeated, her lip curling. ‘That’s absurd! No one can die from a sip of lemon water!’
Hammond regarded her for a long moment. ‘You appear to be very knowledgeable about how the attack on Dr McKay was perpetrated, Major.’
Now Carter flushed and looked away from him. ‘You know how gossip spreads in this place, sir.’ Which isn’t the same as her denying the knowledge.
‘No, Major Carter, I don’t know. Where – and when – did you hear this gossip about how Dr McKay was attacked?’
‘I—I can’t remember.’ She was unable to meet his eyes.
‘Try harder.’
‘I—I think it—maybe—the mess?’
‘And when was that?’
‘I—I don’t—it—Friday? Night? Friday night—maybe?’
‘Shall I ask MSgt Siler to review the security footage of the mess hall for Friday night to see who you spoke to?’
‘I—’ Carter fell silent and shook her head, but the General wasn’t sure if she was saying ‘no’ to Siler, specifically, or ‘no’ in general.
‘Were you aware that if a service member is found guilty under Article 80 of the UCMJ, the penalty is the same as the maximum punishment allowed for the attempted act?’ Hammond watched as his words sunk in, and she swayed on her seat before managing to straighten up.
Carter’s face was ashen as she shook her head, and her breath hitched as she fought down a sob.
Once again, Hammond watched her in silence, letting his words thoroughly sink in. ‘However, it is fortunate for whoever attacked Dr McKay that he doesn’t wish to pursue the perpetrator.’ He gave Carter a few moments for this to sink in.
‘I could, of course, decide to ignore his request since the act happened on a military base, indeed JAG would likely say I should not ignore it. Likewise, if proof ever came to light that the act was committed by a member of one of the services, they would argue I have to act, and since the Statute of Limitations does not apply, there’s no time limit to it.’
‘I—I understand, s—sir.’
‘Dr McKay isn’t a vindictive man, you know, Major. He didn’t request a transfer here: I was responsible for his move, and that of Drs Zelenka and Kusanagi. All Dr McKay desires is the pursuit of science, and I suspect you have more in common than you believe.’
Carter didn’t answer, but pressed her lips together in a thin line.
I’m not getting anywhere with her. Hammond sighed and waved his hand. ‘Dismissed, Major, but don’t forget what I said.’
She met his eyes for the first time and gave a single nod of her head, then got to her feet and saluted. Hammond watched as she left his office.
I hope to God I’ve done the right thing.
*****
By the time Carter got back to her lab, Level 19 was abuzz with activity.
‘What’s going on?’ she demanded of a passing lab assistant she didn’t recognise and who had an armful of boxes . ‘And who are you?’
‘Kay Spencer. I’ve just been transferred from Area 51 to work with Dr McKay again.’
‘Again?’
‘I worked for him in Nevada, and he asked for me to come here, but he’s not here to welcome me.’ The girl pouted for a moment, then grinned at Sam Carter. ‘But Dr Z says reports of his death are greatly exaggerated and he’ll be back soon enough, which is good because I’ve missed him. And we’re all busy getting ready to go and vamoose that pesky asteroid!’ Spencer turned her head at a bellow from Radek Zelenka’s lab. ‘Keep your shorts on, Doc Z. I’m coming!’ She gave Carter a final grin and trotted into Zelenka’s lab from where a lot of banging and swearing seemed to come.
‘What took so long?’ Zelenka demanded of Spencer as she dumped her boxes onto one of the few empty benches. ‘This is a tight schedule!’
‘Dr Carter was asking me questions,’ Kay protested, then raised her brows in surprise as Zelenka scowled at her.
‘Major Carter, and be careful what you say to her.’
‘Why?’
Radek broke into a flurry of Czech, then in English added: ‘Always why with you! I know not why Rodney brought you here! Speak to her only when necessary, and do as I tell you!’
‘Aww, c’mon, Doc. You love me really.’
‘No one will love you if the planet is hit by the asteroid,’ Miko Kusanagi commented dryly, appearing behind her and Radek. ‘Hurry up. MSgt Siler is waiting to take us up the mountain as Teal’c and Bra’tac are due to arrive.’
‘I can’t believe I’m going into space in a spaceship,’ Kay said, unable to keep still, and her face one huge grin.
‘In what else would you fly into space?’ Radek asked, but he too was unable to keep the smile off his face.
Kay scowled at him, but the laughter in her eyes gave her away.
‘Ignore him,’ Miko said as she pushed her two colleagues into the elevator. ‘This is our first trip into space, too.’
‘But you have been through the Stargate,’ Kay said, and sighed. ‘I haven’t done that, either.’
‘You have time.’ Miko patted her arm. ‘You realise that you’ll be offered a job here after you complete your PhD?’
‘Really?’ Kay’s face lit up.
‘Of course, and if Rodney doesn’t offer you a job, I will.’ Miko smiled at her. ‘Your programming skills are already better than many in my department who are supposedly skilled IT professionals.’
‘But that, as Rodney said just a few days ago, is a low bar,’ Radek called back over his shoulder as he left the first elevator and called the elevator, which would take them to the entrance.
‘Did Doc Z just insult me?’ Kay asked Miko as they joined Radek in the final – or first, depending on your direction – elevator.
‘I don’t think he meant to.’ Miko glanced at her watch as they walked along the long entrance tunnel to the surface. ‘Come on. Teal’c said he was unsure if the cloak worked 100% of the time as the ship isn’t in the best condition, but it is space-worthy, and thank heaven for a damp, foggy day. There’ll be fewer people around to spot the tel’tak ringing us up if the cloak does fail.’
Kay’s excitement continued until they were less than two hours into the flight to the asteroid, and she realised they had a further six hours to go before they reached it, and there was nothing to see out of the window, had there been a window in the cargo vessel.
‘I warned you,’ Miko told her, ‘and advised you to bring something to occupy yourself with.’
‘I know.’ Kay sighed. ‘I brought some work, but I thought this’d be more interesting than it is.’
‘I believe all missions are so at times.’ Radek pulled his laptop from his backpack and settled down in what was really the cargo hold. ‘Teal’c and Master Bra’tac say we are on the timescale they predicted, so we must now hope the phasing device does its work.’
‘D’you think it might not?’ Kay asked, curiously, not fully conversant with how the device Radek had built would work, just that it should do the job they required of it.
‘No, no, I fear not that it will fail to work,’ Radek said. ‘I—It is that I expected Rodney to be here, and…he is not.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Miko reassured him. ‘Rodney has full confidence in the phaser and you. You spoke to the Omeyocan on P7X 377, not him, and if he doubted you, he’d have asked Colonel O’Neill and Dr Jackson to join us.’
‘And he also said not to call device Phaser as it is too much like Star Trek, Miko,’ Radek scolded, lightly.
‘Bah! Phaser, phasing device!’ There’s no difference!’
‘Big difference between vanishing a person and vanishing an eighty-five mile long asteroid,’ Kay muttered, not quite under her breath. ‘An eighty-five mile long asteroid made of naquadah!’
Chapter Thirteen
Zelenka, Kusanagi, and – much to her surprise – Spencer were the toasts of the SGC, while Teal’c and Master Bra’tac also came in for considerable praise as the pilots.
The phasing device – which Miko and Kay still insisted on calling a Phaser – worked just as intended, and the catastrophic destruction of Earth was averted. More importantly, as Rodney informed John on a secure telephone line, they now had an option for hiding Atlantis from the Wraith, which wouldn’t tax the ZPM anywhere near as much as the cloak and shield did.
‘We have real options now, John,’ Rodney told him. ‘I can’t possibly tell him so, but Radek did a fantastic job with building the Phasing Device, especially in such a short time.’
‘I thought it was going to be called a Phaser?’ John said, and Rodney could hear the amusement in his tone.
‘Absolutely not! Have you been talking to Jack O’Neill?’
‘He called to update me on the happenings at the SGC and threw in a bit of gossip.’
‘The SGC is almost as bad as Atlantis for gossip,’ Rodney commented. ‘Look, I have to go. Your father is waving at me about something.’
‘Probably dinner at this time. Speak later?’
‘I can’t. Your dad’s challenged me to a game of Backgammon. With matches as the stakes. I said we should at least play for chocolate, but apparently I’m banned from that as well at the moment.’ He gave the deep sigh of the much-put-upon.
‘You’ll survive. G’night. Only thirty-one more sleeps.’
‘Thirty-one more sleeps,’ Rodney repeated, his voice now soft and low. ‘Love you.’
‘Love you more.’
*****
At Rodney’s request, Thor had arranged his return visit for early morning – so Rodney could, hopefully, go back to work – and at a time when Janet Fraiser could be beamed to Morrow House to do her own checks on his condition.
Although always professional, Rodney had noticed that in the past, Fraiser’s manner with him had been a little…distant. Miko had said the same thing, and they both put it down to her friendship with Sam Carter. Now, however, Rodney would have preferred distant over the mother henning Fraiser was now doing. Probably something to do with me almost dying on her watch, he decided, plus her pal being the one to blame.
Thor, however, had no such excuse, and for a moment, Rodney wondered if he was going to experience at first hand the tales of anal probing associated with grey aliens.
‘I’m fine!’ he insisted, trying to bat away Thor’s long, slender hands from where they were touching and pressing his chest and back. ‘You did a great job of fixing me up, a really great job and I’m very grateful and all that, but—’
‘Let the…man do his job, McKay,’ a familiar – and much loved – voice drawled. ‘And quit trying to fight him off. If he says he needs to check you over, he’s going to check you over, if I have to sit on you to let him!’ John stepped into view and grinned as Rodney gulped.
‘You being dressed up like that isn’t helping my blood pressure,’ he told John, running his eyes over his partner in his class A uniform. ‘You look good.’ He bit his tongue to keep back the ‘enough to eat’ he wanted to add. ‘I know you’d much rather be the man in black, but somehow, you seem to have more…authority in proper uniform.’
‘My usual black is uniform,’ John said, his smile making Rodney shift awkwardly.
‘You know what I mean. What are you doing here, anyway?’ he asked with a swift change of subject. John in any uniform does it for me, but the last thing I want is an erection in front of Fraiser. And Thor, I suppose. Does he even know what an erection is?
‘I came to see how you are. I have a free period first thing, so Váli beamed me over to have breakfast with you.’
‘Váli?’
‘My brother,’ Thor said, dusting off his hands. ‘You may get dressed, Dr McKay. You have recovered well and I am happy with everything I did. Please avoid anything containing caffeine for the next few weeks as it puts an unnecessary strain on your heart and lungs.’
Rodney felt the blood drain from his cheeks. ‘For a few weeks? Seriously?’
‘I am always serious about health, Dr McKay. I have repaired your heart. I do not desire to do it for a second time because you have failed to look after it.’
It was about as severe a reprimand as it was possible for an Asgard to give, and the blood now rushed back to Rodney’s cheeks.
‘Yes, s—Thor. I understand, and I will do my best, but—’
‘No buts, Dr McKay—’ Thor began, but was interrupted by John.
‘I’ll make sure he sticks to your edicts, Commander Thor.’
‘As will I,’ Janet Fraiser said with a frown directed towards their mutual patient. ‘In fact, I’ll inform Miko Kusanagi of your orders, and she’ll make sure he sticks to them.’
Rodney groaned. ‘It’s a conspiracy, that’s what it is.’
‘It’s for your own good,’ John corrected him. ‘That’s what it is. Now get dressed. Lizzie’s making waffles especially for you. Will you join us, Dr Fraiser, Commander Thor?’
Fraiser glanced at her watch and smiled. ‘I’d love to. I have an hour before I’m on duty. Let me wash my hands and you can show me the way to the kitchen or dining room. This place is a warren!’
‘It’s an old house,’ John said as she disappeared into the bathroom. He held Rodney’s shirt open for him. ‘I have a couple of things to discuss with you, Commander Thor,’ he said in a low voice, his eyes on the open bathroom door. ‘Are you able to wait until Dr Fraiser leaves?’
‘I am, but I will return to my ship. I will send down a communication device for you to use when you are in a position to speak with me.’ Thor gave a quick nod, then disappeared in a flash of light.
‘How does he do that?’ Fraiser asked, coming out of the bathroom in time to see Thor leave. ‘He never appears to have anything on him like a radio, or even something like our GHDs.’
‘Perhaps he just enjoys being mysterious,’ Rodney suggested, rubbing his hands together. ‘Right. I’m dressed. Lead me to the food!’
*****
Breakfast was a pleasanter meal than John had expected. He’d never known Janet Fraiser as she’d died before he joined the programme, but he’d always heard excellent reports of her from the Marines on Atlantis who had served at the SGC with her. Her only negative attribute, as far as he was concerned, was her close friendship with Sam Carter. Rodney had mentioned she was professional, yet cool towards him in the past, but there was no sign of that today.
Conversation over breakfast ranged from John’s experiences in Bethesda Hospital, to their mutual interest in the NFL, with side diversions into life in the USAF compared with Patrick’s experiences in the Navy, the newly announced repeal of DADT, and an exchange of humorous anecdotes of working within the Stargate Programme – where John had to be very careful not to contribute his own anecdotes from Atlantis. They all parted on good terms with Fraiser expressing her pleasure at John’s upcoming posting to the SGC, and with her not asking exactly why he was being transferred there.
Fraiser disappeared in a flash of light when John notified Thor she was ready to go, and seconds later Thor appeared and seated himself at the kitchen table.
‘I find myself wondering why you spend such a large amount of time in just one room of this large house,’ he said, and John wasn’t sure if he was making a joke or simply making a comment. Either way, he’s right.
Out of necessity, Lizzie, the Sheppard’s housekeeper, had been read into the programme so she could keep an eye on Rodney while Patrick went about his business. And because the SGC folk seem to enjoy coming here, John decided. It also makes it much easier to explain how I’m home from Alabama for just a couple of hours! She had been warned about Thor, but her expression as she was faced with an archetypal grey alien was priceless. I wish I had a camera on me!
‘Can I get you a drink, s—M—’
‘Commander Thor,’ Patrick told her in an undertone.
‘Would you like a drink, Commander?’ Lizzie repeated with relief.
‘A glass of water, please, Madam.’ At the expression of shock on her face, he glanced at John and tried again. ‘Mistress?’
‘Just Lizzie.’
‘Then please call me Thor.’
Lizzie placed a glass of water in front of Thor, then, with evident relief, left the room.
‘Exit pursued by a bear,’ Rodney muttered to no one in particular, but much to all their surprise, Thor nodded.
‘The Winter’s Tale.’ Thor nodded. ‘A warning against the perils of misplaced jealousy and distrust.’ John shivered as what felt like a cold finger ran down his spine, and from the expressions on Rodney and his father’s face, they felt it, too. ‘Yet they all, as I believe you say, lived happily ever after.’
‘Indeed, as our mutual friend would say,’ Rodney commented.
‘And now that brief interlude is over, I believe you had something you wished to discuss with Commander Thor, John?’ Patrick said in the driest of tones.
‘A couple of requests, a couple of warnings, and an offer of help,’ John said, fetching and opening his laptop. He then sighed as Rodney gave him the puppy-eyes and went to fetch Rodney’s laptop from Patrick’s study where it had been locked away for the last few days to prevent him from working. Needless to say, Rodney had not been happy, but Patrick hadn’t brought up two boys without learning a trick or two, and since neither of them were sporting any bruises, and they were still talking to each other, John thought Rodney’s forced downtime had gone pretty well.
Rodney sighed with pleasure at seeing his favourite laptop – his only laptop at present – and quickly opened the relevant documents. ‘One of our warnings for you concerns the android we mentioned once before: Reese. We’ve worked out her location and suggest you go to collect her, but refrain from activating her for the moment until I can complete my Replicator Disrupter gun.’
‘Which is close to being completed, I believe I recall you saying, Dr McKay?’ Thor commented.
‘I need your help with the last few bits of the mechanisms, but, yes. It’s almost finished. It needs testing, of course, and we’ll have to be particularly careful about that. In the…future a single replicator block took out an entire…’ He broke off, remembering how that single replicator block had effectively taken out the entire Asgard race. ‘Well, I don’t need to tell you how dangerous those things are.’
Thor didn’t reply and simply sat motionless, waiting for Rodney to continue.
‘Oookay. Don’t let the android near any of the other replicators as they’ll copy her coding and turn into human replicators as well, and don’t even think of using a time-dilation field or bubble because I promise you, it’ll go horribly wrong.’
John took over the conversation. ‘Our requests are for you to collect a couple of unused Stargates – and a space gate if you can find one. We had them in Pegasus and they were very useful.’
‘But useless here, as we don’t have any Puddle Jumpers,’ Rodney pointed out. ‘Why do we need one here?’
‘Because pretty soon we’ll have a Puddle Jumper, and this time we won’t get it stuck in Ancient Egypt!’
Rodney pursed his lips, but nodded. ‘And the DHDs? We’ve still not found the one in Nevada.’
‘And we’d also appreciate a couple of spare dialling devices, Commander. The SGC calls them Dial Home Devices, which shows an astonishing lack of imagination. GHDs, for example.’
‘Might I guess that one?’ Thor asked, and when Rodney nodded, Thor tapped his—tapped where his chin would be if he had a chin. ‘Is it possibly a Go Home Device?’
John broke into his braying donkey-laugh, which had a domino effect on Rodney and his father, and he would swear under oath that Thor was laughing as well.
‘Anything else on your cosmic shopping list?’ Thor asked straight-faced – or his usual face since…
‘Another warning,’ John said, scrolling through his spreadsheet. ‘I’m not entirely clear on this one as I wasn’t around for it, but, per Jack O’Neill, ‘don’t get your skinny ass captured by Osiris or Anubis, and keep the hell away from any violation of the Protected Planets Treaty for the next five years or I’ll ki—’ John broke off and swallowed. ‘Yeah, that’s about it.’
‘There was one more thing.’ Patrick raised a hand. ‘Rodney’s ATA gene.’ He held up his Blackberry. ‘George says Jack has just reminded him to remind me to remind Commander Thor. Have I got that right?’
‘Thank you, Dr Sheppard.’ Thor inclined his head.
‘Patrick, please.’
‘Thank you, Patrick. I—’
‘Commander Thor.’ John interrupted and Thor turned to look at him. ‘I beg your pardon, but would it be possible for you to create a—a vaccine to modify the ATA gene in those people who have it, but can’t use it without the vaccine Rodney was given?’
Thor stared at him for a moment, and John fought down the desire to move. I’m a goddamned Col—Major in the USAF, who’s stared down countless COs.
‘Yes.’
John looked from side to side. ‘Umm.’
Thor sighed. ‘Yes, Major Sheppard, I can create such a modifier suitable for human use.’ He tilted his head to the side. ‘Would this prevent the use of a mouse retrovirus?’
He couldn’t help himself. ‘John, please, and yes, it would prevent that.’ He waited for Thor to tell him to use his name without the title, and waited…
‘Then I will speak with Heimdall, one of our geneticists, to look into this matter. As for you, Dr McKay.’
‘Rodney, please.’
‘Thank you, Rodney. Please call me Thor. As I was saying, I will create a modifier for you, and if I return with it in, say, a week’s time, I will work on the Replicator Disrupter Device with you. Is that satisfactory?’
‘More than satisfactory, Thor, and thank you. For everything.’
Thor watched him for a long moment, then inclined his head. ‘You are very welcome, Rodney.’
*****
Rodney was laughing so hard he was clutching his sides as he appeared in the SGC Infirmary, and when Janet Fraiser frowned in concern and made to move towards him, he shook his head. ‘I’m fine. Just…Trust me, you had to be there!’ He hopped on to one of the beds and grinned at her. ‘Thor’s cleared me for work, but I need you to do it officially.’
His good humour was apparently contagious as Fraiser smiled at him with genuine amusement and affection. ‘I suppose, technically, at least, you’ve been off-world, so I should give you a medical check, but since I checked you less than an hour ago myself, and I trust Commander Thor…Off with you, Dr McKay, but come to see me if you feel the slightest bit ill, promise?’
‘Promise, and, it’s Rodney.’
‘Thank you, Rodney. Just keep away from caffeine and keep to normal working hours for now, okay?’
‘Okay.’ Before he knew what he was doing, Rodney had leaned forward to press a kiss against Fraiser’s cheek. ‘Thank you, Dr Fraiser. I’d be dead if not for you.’
She patted his cheek. ‘Call me Janet, and cut the soft soap. You’re still not getting coffee and, yes, I have informed Miko.’
‘I swear you women are ganging up on us men,’ Rodney muttered as he left the Infirmary with a wave of his hand.
The elevator was empty as he rode up the two levels, thinking deeply, and he was still thinking when he reached his own lab door. He paused for a moment, then before he could change his mind, he turned a full 180 and tapped on the door of Samantha Carter’s lab, opening it as her voice called ‘come in’.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Carter’s lip curled.
‘Come to rub my nose in it, McKay?’
‘In what, Major Carter? Me still being alive?’ Come on, Sam. Come on.
‘There’s no—’
‘Proof? There is, actually. Probably more than we know about, if we tested for fingerprints and DNA evidence and the like.’ He dismissed the ‘like’ with a wave of his hand. ‘That’s not what I’m here for.’ He paused and stared at her again. Wow, she’s let herself go. Carter’s hair was lank and…is that a spot on her chin? ‘I meant what I said to General Hammond. I have no interest in this going any further. I’m just here for the science, as, I think, you are.’
‘Except you’ve made sure I can only do what you allow me to do. You’ve taken away most of the projects I was working on, and—’
‘Major, I’ve taken you off projects other folk can do just as well as you, and left you with the ones in areas you specialise in. Come on, you’re almost as good an engineer as Radek is, and he’s got two Engineering PhDs!’
‘Not as good as you, though?’
‘Better than me.’ And I’ve never admitted that before. Never would have admitted it last time ‘Aside from the Aeronautical one, I’ve only got a Mechanical Engineering PhD.’
‘You’ve got a degree in Aeronautical Engineering?’ she asked, frowning.
‘I thought you knew that.’
She shook her head. ‘No. Bachelor or Masters?’
He frowned back at her, a thousand thoughts running through his head. ‘PhD. As does Radek.’ She’s completely nonplussed by the admission. Why? ‘You didn’t know that? How did you think we’d come up with the designs for the X-303?’
Carter stared at him. ‘You designed the X-303?’
‘Yeees. Who did you think designed her?’
She looked away from him and a slight flush suffused her cheeks. ‘I—I don’t know. Didn’t know. Colonel Landry—Dr Murphy—’ She broke off and shook her head, then turned away from him and went back to the naquadah generator she’d been fiddling with when he came in.
Rodney stared at her, running over everything he know about her at this point, trying not to let his future knowledge of her influence him. He’d fallen for her the moment he first saw her in the other timeline and he did find her sexy, though he flinched when he recalled his comment about ‘dumb blonds’. That was a stupid thing to say, and isn’t even true. I find intelligence far more attractive, hence loving John, who hides his intelligence behind that stupid smirk. He and Carter are so similar, in so many ways. Both are incredibly good looking, and both have the ability to think outside the box, which has been her strength in the field.
But where does Landry fit into it all?
‘I’m not your enemy, Sam,’ he told her quietly, hoping his tone conveyed his sincerity. ‘I think we could work well together if we tried.’ He took a step towards her, curious about the generator on her bench. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Something you don’t know anything about, unless you’ve suddenly become an expert in naquadah generators!’
Rodney coughed into his hand, trying to hide the smile which came to his lips. She’d think I was laughing at her – which I suppose I am. She’s no idea I had to become an expert in naquadah and generators for the Russians.
‘No, I’ve never worked with them,’ in this timeline, at least. ‘What are you trying to do?’
She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, no doubt trying to see if he was patronising her, or even laughing at her, but his facial expression must have satisfied her as she gave an abrupt nod, and stepped slightly to one side.
‘I’m trying to make it smaller, to be portable. We discover gates with no visible DHD frequently enough to justify having a couple of portable generators available to go through the gate so we can explore those planets, especially as they’ve often had no interaction with the Goa’uld. The current naquadah generators are pretty unwieldy and while you can interface one to a laptop, it’s pretty awkward, especially for someone who knows nothing about them.’
‘Which is most of the SGC,’ Rodney commented, pulling up a stool, genuinely interested in what she was doing. It had taken him several months to work out the same thing in Siberia. ‘What if you twist that…’
‘Hmm. No, but if I…’
And just like that, they were off.
*****
Despite his reluctance, Jack knew they were going to have to go to Kelowna. Naquadria was the only power source they’d found to have sufficient energy to open a hyperspace window for the F-302s, but because its inherent instability meant it could only be used for short bursts, it was only sufficient for small intra-system hyperspace hops. This, however, was all they needed it to do since the two-man ships were too small to be of any use for interstellar travel.
If they were to go to Kelowna, Teal’c and Daniel needed to be briefed on what happened last time, Jack decided, and Daniel told very firmly to stay by Jack’s side, and to keep his hands to himself.
‘I need your promise, Danny,’ Jack told him. ‘Ah!’ He held up a finger as Daniel opened his mouth to argue.
Daniel huffed. ‘I can’t give a promise like that. You know I can’t. What if—’
‘It’s the ‘what-ifs’ I’m trying to keep you safe from,’ Jack said, and – fair enough – his tone might have held a touch of asperity. But only a touch.
Rodney was staring at them both, open-mouthed.
‘Got something to say, Rodders?’ Jack asked, raising one eyebrow.
‘About ‘Rodders’, most definitely! But I’m also amazed that you have to make Daniel promise to follow your orders . I mean, if you’re the team leader, shouldn’t he obey you as a matter of course?’
‘He’s a civilian,’ Jack said with a sigh, at the same time as Daniel asked;
‘Why should I obey him?’
Rodney stared at them, then turned to Teal’c, who was solemnly eating a slice of cake. ‘Is it always like this?’
‘Indeed.’
McKay shook his head. ‘I understand now why SG-1 always got into so much trouble.’
‘Hey!’ Jack and Daniel spoke simultaneously.
‘It’s the truth, if Daniel never does as he’s told!’
‘He’s a civilian,’ Jack repeated, slowly, and slightly louder, just in case Rodney was having trouble hearing him.
‘So am I!’ Rodney used the same tone and volume. ‘But I always obeyed Sheppard on missions, even when I disagreed with him.’ He sighed and shook his head. ‘It’s about respect as much as safety. John and I argued—argue all the time. It’s practically our favourite thing aside from sex, but I never once disobeyed him on a mission, on or off-world. It would have sent entirely the wrong message to the people we were dealing with, as well as the men who served under John. He needed their respect as well as their obedience, and if they saw me arguing about an order, he made on a mission, it could lead to problems if they followed my lead and did the same thing, especially with the Wraith where a single second can mean the difference between life and a very nasty death.’
Jack rubbed his hands over his face. He couldn’t argue with a single word McKay was saying. It was all true, but in the five years they’d been going through the gate together, he’d never been able to rely on Daniel’s obedience – or Carter’s, for that matter. It was always ‘just one more minute’ or ‘I can do this if you give me time’. Daniel almost got us all killed when we went to Heliopolis, then there was the quantum mirror…
‘I have to tell you, Jack,’ Rodney continued, ‘John won’t accept that sort of behaviour if he joins SG-1. Maybe you should think about putting us on a different team.’
‘I don’t understand.’ Daniel had been staring at each of them in turn, as though he was at a tennis match. ‘What wouldn’t John accept?’
‘You not obeying orders,’ Rodney said baldly.
‘The only times I don’t follow Jack’s orders are when he’s wrong!’
‘Or you think I’m wrong?’ Jack added.
‘Of course,’ Daniel said, his astonishment evident. ‘You don’t always know best.’
Instead of answering him, Jack turned to Teal’c. ‘What did you do when you were First Prime, T-man? If one of your Jaffa disobeyed an order.’
‘They did not live to disobey a second time.’
‘That’s…that’s inhuman!’ Daniel said, staring at his teammate in horror.
‘That’s reality for you,’ Jack returned dryly.
‘But you’ve disobeyed General Hammond dozens of times,’ Daniel protested.
‘Very, very rarely. And each time I did, I was fully prepared to accept the consequences of my actions. Most of the time, I simply choose to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission. And again, to accept any consequences because of my choice.’ Jack stared at his friend for a moment, then shook his head with a sigh. There’s no way Danny’s going to promise to follow orders on Kelowna. Maybe I should just not take him?
‘No!’ Daniel said, abruptly – and loudly, causing the one or two people near them to turn and stare.
‘No, what?’ Jack asked in confusion, looking around, but they were still in a quiet corner of the Mess with Jack’s bug zapper on the table.
‘No, I won’t stay home while you go to…Kelo…’
‘Kelowna, and I didn’t suggest—’
‘Only because I didn’t give you a chance. I know what you were thinking.’
He probably did, Jack told himself. That’s the trouble of very close relationsh—Huh.
‘What are you thinking?’ Daniel asked him suspiciously.
‘You’ve just said you knew what he was thinking,’ Rodney pointed out. ‘Now you suddenly don’t?’
Daniel flipped him off while keeping his eyes on Jack. ‘What if I said I’d tell you if I wasn’t going to follow your orders?’ he offered.
‘You can’t pick and choose like that,’ Rodney said with a sigh. ‘You just don’t get it. I’ve no idea how you’ve lasted here so long.’
‘I believe we have reached an impasse,’ Teal’c said solemnly.
‘That’s one word for it,’ Rodney grumbled, getting to his feet. ‘I need more cake if I can’t have coffee.’
‘I will join you,’ Teal’c said, and glanced at Jack and Daniel. ‘Perhaps you may reach an agreement while we are gone?’
Fat chance. But nice of Teal’c to suggest it, I suppose.
‘I never realised you felt like this,’ Daniel told Jack in a low voice. ‘About my not always following your orders.’
‘Danny, the only time you follow my orders is when it suits you to.’
‘It’s not as bad as that…is it?’
‘Yes! And since you died last time we went to Kelowna, I can’t risk that happening again.’ Jack took a deep breath. ‘You’ll have to stay ho—here unless you promise to follow my orders. No buts or ifs. I can’t watch you—’ Jack’s voice broke, unable to even say the word. ‘Not again.’
‘Then I promise,’ Daniel said softly, and covered Jack’s hand with his own. ‘I promise to obey your every word – for this mission.’
Jack gave a watery laugh and dashed his hand across his eyes. ‘Only you, Danny-boy. Only you!’
*****
To begin with, it stayed pretty much to the script Jack could recall.
‘This is incredible. It is a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jonas Quinn, and I’m a special advisor to our High Minister…As you have undoubtedly been told, this is one of our most secret and important research operations.’
‘Yeah, about that,’ Jack said. ‘Anywhere we can talk? In private?’
Jonas stared at him for a moment, likely taken aback by Jack’s rudeness, Daniel decided.
‘Daniel Jackson,’ he said, holding out his hand, then added, ‘Colonel Jack O’Neill, Dr Rodney McKay, and the tall, silent one is Teal’c.’
‘Your arrival on our planet is an extraordinary event,’ Jonas told them in excitement. ‘It’s my honour to show you around this facility. Please, follow me.’
He led them to an office filled with books and assorted artefacts.
‘I could be walking into your own lab, Danny,’ Jack commented. ‘Must be a geek thing.’
‘I don’t think I know this word…Geek?’ Jonas said with a frown. ‘But then I don’t understand how I can understand what travellers say, from a planet such a great distance from my own.’
‘There’s a universal translator of some kind built into the gate mechanism which is absorbed into—’
‘Danny!’ Jack said, halting the flow of information spouting from his friend. ‘Just ‘the gate does it’ is sufficient. As for ‘Geek’,’ he turned back to Jonas, ‘it’s an affectionate name for someone both knowledgeable and obsessive about information, particularly science.’
Jonas smiled at him. ‘Then I suspect I too am a ‘geek’.’
‘You are most definitely a geek,’ Jack muttered. ‘With the t-shirt, safety googles, and lab coat to go with it.’
This time Jonas’ smile was more of confusion than happiness, but he waved his guests to an arrangement of chairs, also taking a seat in an armchair rather than behind his – very tidy – desk. ‘You wished to speak to me about something in particular?’ he asked after a moment of two of silence.
Jack observed him for a moment, his head slightly tilted to one side. ‘You’re a brilliant scholar with an almost eidetic memory and you have several degrees, including ones in Ancient Kelownan History and Social Studies. Your mentor is Dr Kieran who is now struggling with thought, emotion, and behavioural problems. He has schizophrenia, although that won’t be officially diagnosed for a while yet. You’re the youngest person ever to be appointed as a special advisor to your High Minister, and a lot of people were unhappy when you were appointed. They’re still unhappy, by the way.’
Jonas was staring at Jack open mouthed. ‘How do you know all this?’
‘How do you think I know all this?’ he returned. ‘Come on, work it out.’
Jack continued to watch Jonas, whose eyes were now unfocussed as he tried to work out the conundrum. Come on, kid. You can do it.
After a couple of minutes, Jonas’ eyes focussed on Jack. ‘You have either learned about me from someone—someones here in Kelowna, or…’
‘Or?’ Jack prompted.
Jonas shook his head. ‘No. It’s impossible. I don’t know an awful lot about the S—Stargate, but…’
‘There’s a well-known author on Earth who once wrote: ‘When you have eliminated all which is impossible then whatever remains however improbable must be the truth‘,’ Daniel said, watching Jonas, the hint of a smile on his lips.
”When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth‘,’ Jonas repeated, then turned to Jack.
‘You once knew me, knew me well,’ he said slowly. ‘But since I have no recollection of you, our association must have taken place—but that’s impossible!’
‘”Whatever remains, however improbable…”‘ Jack prompted. Come on, kid!
‘We knew—know each other in the future.’
‘Sam always said you had a brilliant mind.’ Daniel smiled at the thought of his former teammate.
‘Sam?’
‘She was a member of SG-1 when I knew you in my past,’ Jack explained, then grinned as Jonas tried to work out what he was saying.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ Rodney shook his head in irritation. ‘You know that just confuses people, Jack!’ He turned to Jonas. ‘Jack and myself have been sent back in time to save the world from ending as it will do unless we make certain changes. There’s a third person, my partner, John Sheppard, who also came back in time, and he’ll be joining the SGC a month or so from now.’
Jonas sat for a moment, trying to take in this stream of information, then nodded. ‘And where do I fit in?’
‘You don’t,’ Rodney said bluntly. ‘Or not directly. We wanted you to understand, to know what we’re saying is the truth, because something terrible is going to happen to Kelowna unless you act on the information we’re about to give you.’
‘Now who’d confusing the poor kid!’ Jack demanded. ‘Look—’
‘How about I try to explain it since I was the one damaged by it before?’ Daniel suggested, and leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. ‘Jack?’
‘Fine!’ Rodney huffed, while Jack simply scowled at him. When did Danny get all calm and collected?
Daniel’s explanation of the danger, both of inadequate shielding and the explosive power of naquadria had Jonas frowning.
‘I’m not sure what I can do to prevent my government from using the naquadria bomb on our enemies,’ he said. ‘I’m just an advisor, and my government wants this bomb before the other two nations do.’
‘What if we provided a group of diplomats to broker a peace deal between the three nations?’ Rodney – much to Jack’s surprise – suggested. He then turned and scowled at Jack. ‘What?! I can do diplomacy! You don’t survive five years on a gate team with Teyla Emmagan without learning something about diplomacy and negotiation.’
‘Maybe you should be the negotiator, Dr McKay,’ Jonas suggested, his lips twitching.
‘Nah. I’d space them all within an hour,’ Rodney said, then tilted his head. ‘Huh. Maybe that’s—’
‘Nope, nope, nope!’ Jack leaned over and put his hand over Rodney’s mouth. ‘Don’t even say it, McKay! You could land us all in jail!’
He released his teammate and turned back to Jonas. ‘We can leave you to think it over, but if things happen as they did before, unless you take our advice, there’ll be a serious accident with your naquadria warhead which will kill everyone not just in this building, but from miles around, and if the bomb doesn’t kill them directly, they’ll die from radiation poisoning within a matter of weeks. And as one who’s seen it firsthand, it’s an horrific death.
Jonas stared at him, and Jack just hoped he could see how serious he was. ‘When you say first hand…’
‘Last time, Daniel tried to prevent an explosion by removing the overheating core of the device. He managed it, but it cost him his life.’
There was a period of silence while Jonas absorbed this, then Rodney held up his hand and waggled his fingers.
‘I’m an astrophysicist and an engineer, and I’ve built many, many bombs in both my lifetimes, so please understand that I know what I’m saying. If you explode your bomb, it’ll kill millions, but worse? It’ll start a chain reaction with the naquadria under your planet’s crust, which could destroy the whole thing.’
*****
‘So we left him to mull over what we told him,’ Jack finished, and sat back on the sofa, cradling his glass of whisky.
General Hammond nodded and sipped his own whisky while he thought over SG-1’s report on their mission to Kelowna. ‘Do you think they’ll supply us with the naquadria we’ve asked for?’
‘Unclear. We convinced Jonas we were telling the truth, but as you know all too well, getting politicians to change their minds is nigh on impossible if they’ve decided their way is best – which is always.’
Hammond gave him a wry smile. ‘I’m glad to see your cynicism hasn’t changed, Jack.’
‘Tell me I’m wrong!’
The general laughed and held up a hand. ‘You know I can’t!’
The debrief was taking place at Jack’s house with the bug zapper engaged. SG-1’s official AARs would record a visit to a planet which might, might, be able to supply a small quantity of a new isotope called Naquadria. The unofficial one was for Hammond’s ears only.
‘Well, until we hear from Dr Quinn, or the Kelownan government, there’s not much we can do,’ Hammond said, looking between the four members of SG-1. ‘What’s your next move?’
The four men exchanged glances.
‘I must go to Chulak to visit my wife who will shortly require the Tretonin I delivered to her,’ Teal’c said.
‘And I need to work on the Anti-Replicator Gun,’ Rodney offered. ‘Thor is due back next week to help me finish it, but I still have some stuff to do to get it to that point.’
‘I want to pay a visit to Edora,’ Jack said. ‘I promised Laira I’d go as regularly as I could, and if T and Rodders are busy on their own projects, it’s the perfect time to go.’
‘And you, Dr Jackson?’
‘SG-13 have asked me to go with them to a planet with a fairly primitive population they couldn’t communicate with, but who appear to have a plant which cures asthma.’
‘Asthma?’ Jack repeated. ‘How do they know that if they can’t communicate with the population? And I’m uncertain about you going off-world with Dave Dixon. He’s a nut job.’
‘He speaks very highly of you too, Jack,’ Hammond said, regarding him with that certain ‘look’ which to a child would mean early bed.
‘Sorry? You have to admit, though, General, he’s crazy as a box of frogs. On crack.’
‘A similar comment could be made about you, you know, Jack. Has been made about you.’
‘Nah. Dave’s certifiable. I’m just…eccentric.’ He looked across to Daniel. ‘Come with me to Edora. You know Laira loves you. And there’s Lairissa to play with…’
‘Fine.’
Jack pointed a finger at him. ‘Don’t take that attitude with me, Dr Jackson. I know you adore her, and I also know you bought up half of Toys R Us for her. We’ll probably need a dozen Marines to help carry it all!’
‘I may come with you to see her myself,’ Hammond said, and Jack knew he was serious. If ever a man valued family, it was George Hammond.
‘You’d be very welcome, sir. I’d love to introduce you to my daughter.’ My daughter. It never gets old. Ever.
Chapter Fourteen
Thor returned to help finish the replicator disrupter gun the following week, and Jack and Daniel joined Thor in Rodney’s lab.
‘The energy beam severs the connection between the nanites,’ Rodney explained to Thor, who tilted his head to the side as he examined the device. ‘Jack built the original one last time—’
‘But I don’t have a clue how I did it,’ Jack said, shrugging his shoulders. ‘It was while I was under the influence of the head grabber thingy.’
‘In the future,’ Rodney continued, ‘you mentioned you had tried to create a device to disrupt the connection between the nanites, the individual cells, but were unsuccessful. It is why we named it the replicator disruptor, though.’
‘I don’t believe we know enough about the connectivity of the nanites,’ Thor said. ‘This is the link we were missing. Thank you, Rodney.’
Rodney felt his cheeks heat. ‘I’m afraid I can’t take credit for it, Thor. Major Carter designed the original ARG based on the Disrupter which Jack built using the Ancient repository of knowledge. I simply remembered how I adapted it to use against the human replicators in Pegasus.’
‘But Major Carter did not build this one. You did,’ Thor said. ‘You may have recalled her design, but I doubt it is identical to the one she built before. I consider this all your work, Rodney.’
‘And don’t forget that Sam based hers on Jack’s to begin with,’ Daniel added. ‘I’d call it a collaboration at the most. Don’t be afraid to accept commendation, Rodney. You’ve definitely earned it.’
‘And let’s face it, Rodders.’ Jack was laid flat on an empty work bench, his fingers linked under his head. ‘Only we know it isn’t all your own work, and we won’t rat on you!’
‘Indeed,’ Thor agreed. ‘Now, with what did you require my assistance, Rodney?’
‘I don’t know the correct frequency to use to calibrate the ARG,’ Rodney explained. ‘I believe you were able to determine it from your ship’s communication data picked up from the replicators.’
‘And then?’ Jack asked.
‘And then we need to test it.’
*****
Jack and Daniel wandered around Thor’s ship, the Bråvalla, looking for anything interesting, but like all the other Asgardian ships they’d ever been on, it was sparsely decorated. Sparsely? There’s nothing to see at all. Damn it! I knew I should have brought a magazine.
By unspoken mutual agreement, they headed back to the lab where Thor and Rodney were busy making adjustments to the ARG.
‘I wish Teal’c were here,’ Jack grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. ‘At least we could play ‘make the Jaffa smile’ game.’
‘You’ve never, ever managed to make him smile,’ Daniel told his friend. ‘And you know one day he’s going to realise you’re playing a game with—at him.’
‘He already knows,’ Rodney said absently, tapping a finger against his lips as he watched the lines of coding scroll by.
‘He does?’ Jack raised his brows in surprise.
Rodney looked at him, frowning. ‘Of course he does! He’s not an idiot, you know. His game is making you think he doesn’t know what you’re up to, and so far, he’s the winner by a long margin.’
‘Shut up!’ Jack growled at Daniel, who was holding his sides in laughter. ‘Sneaky bastard!’
By this time, Rodney was doubled over with laughter, and he and Daniel held each other up, especially at the outrage on Jack’s face. Throughout this interchange, Thor simply stared at them, his grey, Asgardian face expressionless, almost as though he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing or hearing.
‘Moving on,’ Rodney said, wiping his eyes and catching his breath. He made sure Jack and Daniel were paying attention and motioned towards the ARG. ‘It’s finished. What do we do now? It really needs to be tested.’
‘But we don’t have anything to test it on,’ Jack said. ‘And I’m certainly not in favour of bringing a replicator block to Earth.’
‘We…don’t have to,’ Daniel said, and Jack could see he was unhappy about something.
‘Daniel?’
Instead of going into their usual exchange, however, Daniel twisted his mouth into a grimace and looked at the floor.
‘Dr Jackson?’ Thor asked. ‘Is there something you wish to say?’
‘Sam…Sam has a couple of replicator blocks.’
‘What?’ Jack demanded.
‘She has two replicator blocks inside a containment unit in her lab.’
Jack sighed. Everything always seems to come back to Carter. ‘How long…’
‘Since Thor’s ship crashed into the Pacific,’ Daniel said unhappily.
Jack stared at him. ‘Those ones? I told her to destroy them!’
Daniel took a deep breath. ‘She told me she was keeping them in case we ever needed to examine one. And now…we do, so…’
Jack rubbed his hands over his face. ‘Okay. Thor, can you beam me down to Carter’s lab, please, buddy?’
‘No!’ Daniel held up his hand. ‘Let me go, Jack. Let me talk to her, friend to friend—’
‘Or better still, let me go down,’ Rodney suggested. ‘I’m the one she has a beef with, and, besides, we’ve reached a sort of…neutrality between us.’
‘A neutrality,’ Jack repeated, his tone dry as the desert sand. ‘And this is supposed to inspire me…how?’
‘For fuck’s sake!’ Rodney shook his head in exasperation. ‘Thor, please beam me down to Major Carter’s lab. I know you have a location for that.’
*****
Between one blink and another, Rodney disappeared from the Bråvalla and reappeared in Carter’s lab on Level 19 in a blinding flash.
‘McKay?’ Carter took a step back and rubbed her eyes. ‘Has Thor just transported you? I didn’t know he was in orbit.
‘We need your help. Thor and I have designed a Replicator Disrupter gun and we need to test it on some replicators. Daniel seems to think you have a couple. Can we have them?’
Sam Carter blinked at the rush of information, then frowned as she digested it. ‘Did he tell J—Colonel O’Neill I had them?’
‘Oh, yeah.’ Rodney hooked a stool with his foot, dragged it over and slumped down on it. ‘Why do Asgard ships have no chairs? My bloody legs are killing me!’
Carter’s frown morphed into a smile. ‘Tell me about it. I once stood all the way to the Ida Galaxy.’ Her smile disappeared. ‘Was he angry?’
Rodney had no trouble working out who ‘he’ was. ‘Yes. He wanted to come down, then Daniel argued he should come and ask you, so while they were busy arguing – you know how they do it – Thor beamed me down.’ He tilted his head to the side. ‘Why did you keep them when you know how dangerous they are?’
Her gaze was unfocussed as she stared at him, considering his question. ‘If Jack asked me that, I’d tell him Thor assured me it took more than two blocks to interact and produce new blocks.’ Her gaze focussed on Rodney. ‘He did, you know. I wouldn’t have brought them here if he hadn’t.’
Rodney nodded, not wanting to break her concentration. This is probably the most honest she’s been with me since we met for that very first time. His face twitched at the uncomfortable memory.
‘But the real reason I kept them, I suspect, is rather more…insightful, I guess the psychologists would say.’
Again, Rodney simply nodded his head.
‘I was curious.’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘That’s the answer to almost all of my actions. I. Was. Curious.’
‘I’ve seen better epitaphs.’ He smiled as she glanced at him. ‘Cart—Sam. You’re a scientist. It’s what we do. We ask questions and we search for the answers. Mankind has been doing it since they first walked out of the cave. Don’t beat yourself up over what is as natural as breathing to you.’ He paused for a moment and regarded her. ‘It only becomes a problem when we lie about our motivations, or when we try to cheat the process.’
Carter flushed and looked away, but Rodney continued to speak.
‘My guess is you didn’t obey O’Neill and destroy the replicator blocks because you thought you could solve the problem of them, so you lied to yourself about them being harmless. Am I right?’
‘They are harmless. I—’
‘I accept that they’re harmless, but that doesn’t explain why you kept them.’ He waved a hand. ‘It doesn’t matter at the moment, but I suggest you have a conversation with yourself about the motivation behind your actions.’
He got to his feet and brushed his hands down his cargo pants. ‘Here endeth the lesson from Dr Rodney. My bill’s in the post.’ He glanced around the lab, frowning at the number of cupboards and drawers. ‘Your lab has much better storage than mine. Now, where are those pesky ‘cators?’
‘Talk to Siler,’ Sam advised him. ‘He built most of this for me, and those pesky ‘cators are in a wooden box, inside a larger wooden box over here.’
A few minutes later, Rodney was staring at a sealed glass container Sam had lifted out of a series of boxes that reminded him of a Russian doll.
‘Hard to imagine a few of these taking over an entire planet, isn’t it?’ he said, forcing himself not to mention the human-form replicators in Pegasus. Don’t give yourself away, not now when it’s so close to John coming here.
Carter gave a wry smile. ‘If I hadn’t seen them for myself, I’d have never believed it.’
Rodney straightened up and picked up the container, and was about to grip the communication stone in his pocket when he paused. ‘Want to join us on the Bråvalla?’
She straightened up so fast Rodney wondered if she’d hurt herself, but her smile showed no sign of an injury. Then her smile faded, and she shook her head. ‘I’m not on SG-1 anymore, and Colonel O’Neill won’t like it.’
For once, Rodney caught the unspoken part of her words, and he filed it away for future examination. ‘That’s irrelevant. I need an extra pair of scientific eyes on the problem, and you’re the person with the most experience of the—’
‘Pesky ‘cators!’
He grinned and nodded. ‘Of the pesky ‘cators.’ He gripped both the container and the stone in his pocket tightly. ‘Thor, can you beam us both up, please?’
*****
A blink and a flash, and the two scientists appeared in Thor’s lab on the Bråvalla, and in front of a scowling Jack O’Neill.
Ignoring him, Rodney placed the glass container on the bench they were standing around. ‘How does the communication stone work, Thor? I keep meaning to ask you. You obviously heard me speak, but how does that happen?’ He pulled the stone from his pocket and laid it next to the container. ‘There’re no obvious buttons, no obvious tech at all. How does it work?’
‘The stone connects—’
‘Whoa, whoa.’ Jack held up his hands. ‘One thing at a time. You can gossip about stones and radios etc etc when we’ve done with the rep—’
‘Pesky ‘cators!’ Rodney and Sam said simultaneously, and grinned at each other.
Huh. That’s new. And unexpected, Jack thought. Still, as long as she’s not trying to kill him, I suppose. Sheppard would never forgive me.
From the corner of his eye – the one Sam couldn’t see – Rodney winked at Jack.
That’s new, as well.
‘I decided two heads were better than one,’ Rodney announced. ‘We thought…’
Thor didn’t bat an eyebrow – not that he has any to bat – while Daniel’s disappeared into his hairline, and his jaw dropped.
‘What the hell?’ His voice was pitched so only Jack could hear him.
‘I know as much as you,’ Jack replied in an undertone. ‘I guess…we watch and learn.’
*****
The disrupter gun worked perfectly, turning the innocent-looking grey blocks into a pile of silver sandlike substance.
Jack rubbed his hands together. ‘Sweet. What’s next?’
‘Next, we have to test the disrupter against the replicators destroying my home galaxy,’ Thor told them, with just a hint of satisfaction in his tone, Jack decided.
‘One gun isn’t going to do much to them,’ Daniel pointed out.
‘We can easily make more of them,’ Rodney said, absently tapping his finger against his lips in what Jack was beginning to recognise as his ‘thinking’ mode. ‘Thor, am I correct that all Asgard ships have a—a matter convertor?’
Thor inclined his head. ‘Yes. The items we wish to convert, such as food, for instance, are created from stored values within our data systems, using stored matter on the ship.’
Jack opened his mouth to ask what matter, then decided it didn’t…matter. ‘Could we repli—convert the disrupter?’ he asked instead.
‘Yes.’
It’s why I like Thor. His answers are short and clear, unlike…others. ‘So what’s got you all distracted and a-lip-tapping, Rodders?’
Rodney frowned, and examined his finger, as though it held the answer, then looked up. ‘It’s what Daniel said. One Disrupter won’t make much difference. It won’t. We need a—a—’ His hands outlined a mass, part of a circle, a…’A field. A disrupter field, or—or a—a bubble to encase them so we can get them with one shot, or wave, or whatever we decide to call it.’
‘Is that important? To get them all at one time?’ Sam asked, frowning. ‘Depending on the size of the field, it might take more than one.’
‘True,’ Rodney agreed, ‘but what if they can adapt to the frequency we use? We might not get more than one shot.’
It was exactly what had happened in Pegasus, Jack recalled. It took less and less time for the Pegasus Replicators to adapt to, and broadcast, the new frequency, and now Jack understood Rodney’s hesitation. Bringing Carter aboard meant no discussion of future events.
Clearly, Thor had also realised this as he closed his mouth on whatever he had been about to say. Only Daniel remained unaware, and Jack slowly moved to his side, ready to clap his hand over his friend’s mouth should he begin to say something too revealing.
‘So we need a way to widen the field,’ Sam said, looking at the box, unaware of Jack’s concerns.
‘The shield!’ Rodney said suddenly, snapping his fingers. ‘We could adapt the Asgard shield to combine with the disrupter frequency and code.’
‘It’ll be expensive in terms of power,’ Sam warned, but her eyes were suddenly alive, unlike their previous dullness, which went along with her general air of unkemptness.
Huh. Even her hair has recovered its bounce – does hair bounce? ‘Ow!’ Jack rubbed his side where Daniel had just elbowed him.
‘Pay attention! You were miles away,’ Daniel told him.
‘What have I missed?’
‘Well, nothing really, but…’
Jack tuned out Daniel’s complaints and focussed on the two scientists and Thor. He considered himself an intelligent man – even if he tried to hide it – but their chatter, their exchange of ideas, was a foreign language to him. He followed it for a short while, but when they began to discuss someone named Karon – Keron? – he tuned out again and instead thought about up-coming missions, although everything will change with them simply because Daniel’s still alive, even before I change anything. Won’t the F-302 be completed soon? Maybe Sheppard’ll be here by then.
*****
It was only when he found himself alone in the lab that Jack realised the geeks had moved on from mere talking. He sighed to himself, cursing Daniel for not dragging him along with them, and made his way up to the bridge where, he reasoned, they would probably be. They’ll need to see…whatever it is they can see. Hmm.
‘Jack! Where’ve you been?’ Daniel demanded, his face alight with glee, then waved his hand. ‘It doesn’t matter, we’re almost there.’
‘Almost where?’
‘Hala.’
‘And then…’ Jack rotated his hand to get Daniel to continue.
‘And then Thor is going to bring all the replicators here.’
Jack knew this. He remembered it happening before, except the Asgard had created a time-dilation field to trap the—the pesky ‘cators! That was what Rodders called them. Sweet.
‘How?’
Daniel stared at him. ‘How?’
‘Yeah. How. How is Thor going to bring all the replicators here?’ No time-dilation field. No time-dilation field, please.
‘Oh. Using Reese, the android they discovered on a planet they believe the replicators originated from. Thor extracted the signal from it and he’ll broadcast it from here in the hope the repli—’
‘Pesky ‘cators.’
‘Huh?’
‘Pesky ‘cators. It’s Rodders’ word for them.’
Daniel stared at him. ‘Technically, that’s two words.’
Jack stared back at him.
‘Moving on,’ Daniel said, shaking his head. ‘Thor hopes the pesky ‘cators will all home in on the signal, and we’ll be able to—to drop the disrupter field around them. That’s the theory, anyway.’
‘And if the field doesn’t capture them all?’
‘Then we’ll use the disrupter guns.’ Rodney walked over to join them. ‘It’s the best we can do, I’m afraid.’
‘And if the theory fails and you don’t gather them all?’
‘Then we’re out of options,’ Sam said as she joined them, looking hesitantly at Jack.
‘You and I need to have words, Major,’ Jack told her.
‘Yessir, but can it wait until we’re back home? Please?’
‘Hmpf. I suppose so.’
The three former teammates stood together awkwardly, each aware of the issues between them, but the newest member of SG-1 was frowning into space, a finger tapping his lips.
‘Rodders?’ Jack asked. ‘Whatya thinkin’?’
‘Hmmm?’ Rodney looked round with raised eyebrows.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Jack repeated slowly.
‘I’m thinking about the signal Thor’s using to call them all together. That’s the bit we’re unsure about. Will the signal reach them all, and will they all come to an essentially empty planet?’
‘And, so, therefore?’
‘What if we had an energy rich ‘thing’ to attract them?’
‘Richer than the remaining infrastructure on Hala?’ Sam asked.
‘Mmm.’
‘There’s still a lot of Asgard technology down there.’
‘And we don’t have anything with richer energy,’ Jack pointed out.
‘Actually, we do.’
‘Do we? What?’
‘We have a naquadah-enhanced asteroid.’
*****
It turned out to be remarkably easy to tow a naquadah-enhanced asteroid to the Ida galaxy. The most difficult part was getting hold of the Phaser as Radek had locked it away in the safe in his lab.
‘But why is he lecturing in New York?’ Jack demanded.
‘It’s a symposium at Columbia. He accepted the invitation to speak at it before we came to Colorado,’ Rodney explained. ‘Miko’s there as well. As moral support, she said. I’d forgotten all about it.’
‘Can’t we just beam him out of there?’ Jack asked, already knowing the answer.
‘Not unless we’re prepared to declassify the entire programme,’ General Hammond said wryly. ‘Which we’re not.’
A piercing whistle attracted their attention.
‘Thank you,’ said Kay Spencer. ‘I’ve been trying to get your attention for an hour!’
‘For barely two minutes, kid,’ Jack corrected her.
‘Fine, two minutes then. I’ve been trying to tell you, I know the combination.’
‘You do?’ The same question came from several people all crowded in Radek’s lab, and made Kay jut out her chin.
‘Well?’ Rodney demanded after a moment of silence. ‘Get on with it, or I might change my mind about offering you a job.’
Kay huffed as she knelt down and, hiding the keypad from view, tapped in the combination. The safe door swung open.
Rodney pointed his finger at Spencer. ‘Remind me to make a master list of combinations from everyone.’
‘Why me?’
‘Because I said so.’
Sam Carter was already on her knees, pulling out the contents of the safe. ‘What does it look like?’
Rodney pushed her gently away. ‘Here, let me. I know what I’m looking for.’ He searched in several boxes and finally found it, and held it up.
‘So much power in such a small object,’ Hammond commented.
‘Wait till you see a ZPM,’ Jack murmured in his ear.
‘A what? the general asked at his normal volume, making everyone around him turn.
‘Shhhh! Secret, remember?’ Jack hissed. ‘Tell you about it later.’
*****
After begging, pleading, and possibly promising her first-born, Kay Spencer was allowed to go with them back to the Ida galaxy.
‘I am the only one who’s seen the Phaser actually work in the field,’ she reminded the group in Radek’s lab.
Rodney closed his eyes. ‘How many times do I have to tell people it’s not a phaser.’
‘What is it, then?’ Jack asked, aware he was teasing his teammate.
‘It’s a device which emits a field to move whatever’s inside the field out of dimension.’
‘That’s what you used to prevent the asteroid colliding with Earth?’ Sam asked. There was a slight pause before she added; ‘It’s a smart idea. I’m not sure I’d have come up with it.’
That cost her, Jack thought, watching as she relaxed her clenched hand. It cost her, but I have a feeling she’ll gain a lot of goodwill by admitting it. Good on you, Carter.
‘It is,’ Rodney answered, ‘but I explained, more than once, that calling it a phaser is wrong, and it suggests a link with the Phaser guns used on Star Trek.’
‘If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck…’ Jack shrugged when Rodney scowled at him. ‘Just sayin’.’
The group of five reappeared on the bridge of the Bråvalla.
‘Why have you brought a waterfowl aboard my ship, Jack?’ Thor asked him. ‘I understood you were returning with a phasing device, not an Anatide.’
Jack frowned and turned to Daniel. ‘Huh?’
‘Anatide, plural Anatidae. A member of the water bird family.’
‘You mean a duck.’
Daniel nodded.
‘So why not say ‘a duck’?’
Holding his hands up, Daniel backed slightly away from his friend. ‘I was just answering your question.’
Frowning, Jack glanced around at the others. ‘What was the frigging question?’
‘I enquired why you had returned with a—a duck.’
Jack stared at him. ‘Eh?’
‘Oh, for crying out loud! We don’t have time for this!’ Rodney stepped forward and held out the phasing device to Thor. ‘This is what we wanted.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the asteroid is—No, it isn’t. For fuck’s sake!’ Rodney slapped his forehead. ‘I’m an idiot.’ He glared around the Bridge. ‘And no comments from the peanut gallery, thank you.’
‘I don’t understand why you need the phaser,’ Sam said. ‘Am I missing something? It’s a very clever device, and I can see dozens of way it could be useful, but why do we need it now?’
‘We don’t. That’s the point, and why I’m an idiot,’ Rodney said with a sigh. ‘We originally decided to leave the asteroid out of dimension so it wouldn’t hit another planet – even though it could take months, years even, to get to one. However, Radek and Miko realised when they activated it, they were also out of dimension.’
‘Ah.’ Sam nodded.
‘None of us thought it through,’ Spencer added. ‘We had to return the asteroid to this dimension to actually get home.’
Jack had been following their discussion, looking between the participants like a man watching a tennis match, and he thought he’d followed it. ‘So that means…?’ he asked, hedging his bets.
‘That we don’t actually need the dimension shifter,’ Spencer explained. She swung around to face Rodney. ‘That’s right, isn’t it?’
‘Unless…’ Rodney was tapping his lip again, Jack noticed. ‘Unless,’ he began, snapping his fingers, ‘we go for belt and braces.’
‘Oh, good idea,’ Sam said, her face alight with energy and excitement. ‘Attract the repli—’
‘Pesky ‘cators,’ Jack, Daniel, and Rodney chorused, and grinned at each other while Thor and Kay Spencer watched them uncertainly.
‘Attract the pesky ‘cators to the asteroid, then put the whole thing out of dimension. Brilliant.’
‘Will it work, Thor?’ Rodney asked. ‘Without us becoming trapped inside it?’
Thor took the device from Rodney and examined it, and the pair had a technical conversation in which Sam joined in with, making the occasional remark.
‘D’you have any idea what they’re talking about?’ Daniel asked Jack.
‘Not a clue! Spencer?’
‘Shh. I’m trying to follow what they’re saying.’
Jack looked back at Daniel. ‘I guess that’s your answer.’
Before long, Rodney and Sam turned back to the others. ‘Thor thinks he can rep—duplicate the phaser in the Matter Converter, and using the signal…Why are you all grinning at me?’
Daniel and Spencer were trying – unsuccessfully – to hide their grins behind their hands, but Jack was outright laughing.
‘You…Phaser…’ Kay spluttered.
‘Ignore the children,’ Sam told him, but she was also smiling. ‘You called the phaser, a Phaser. That’s all.’
To Jack’s surprise, Rodney grinned. ‘Ah well. I never was much good at naming things.’ He met Jack’s eyes and gave the hint of a wink, making Jack laugh louder.
*****
It worked. The damn thing worked, and all the pesky ‘cators were both hit with the disrupter field and put out of dimension.
‘And we have the disrupter guns in case we run across any more,’ Rodney reported cheerfully to General Hammond in their debrief. ‘As far as Thor is aware, though, there are no more anywhere in the Ida galaxy.’
‘It’s a twofer,’ Jack agreed, nodding. ‘We got rid of the asteroid and the pesky ‘cators.’
Hammond’s bemusement as they all chimed in with Jack’s last two words brought forth such gales of laughter that Walter appeared at the top of the staircase from Stargate Operations to see what was happening, and disappeared back down, shaking his head in bemusement.
Once they had sobered and explained their mirth to the general, Jack waggled his fingers in the air.
‘Ah, sir? There is one more thing.’
‘Go on.’
‘The Asgard High Council were so pleased at our help, they have offered to fit the new X-303 with Asgard beaming technology, sensors, scanners, shields, and hyper-drive, but not weaponry, unfortunately. But they’ll do the same for the next couple of ships we build and they’ll send an Asgard engineer to help fit them, and to generally advise us.’
General Hammond beamed. ‘That’s excellent news, and the timing couldn’t be better.’
‘Why’s that, sir?’ Daniel asked.
‘Because P—I’m due in DC on Monday to argue for our financial independence. This will be a marvellous boost for our arguments and against the politicians who say we don’t give value for money.’
‘Glad to be of service,’ Jack told him, but his next words were drowned out by the noise of klaxons.
‘Unscheduled off-world activation.’
General Hammond led the way down the spiral staircase, the others following him, including Spencer, who was trying to keep herself out of sight behind Jack and Daniel. Hoping we can’t see her to throw her out, Jack mused. Poor kid.
‘It’s a dial-in from…’ Walter kept one eye on the screen where the dialling address was being registered, and another on the screen, which would display an iris code. ‘From Kelowna, sir. It’s the GDO we left with Jonas Quinn.’
‘Open the iris,’ Hammond ordered as they stared out at the rippling blue of the event horizon.
The ripples expanded momentarily, and a figure appeared at the top of the ramp, heavy packs on his back and in hand if his slightly bent posture was any gauge.
‘He’s done it,’ Jack whispered, and, fortunately, only Daniel heard him.
‘Who is that?’ Sam asked with a frown as Quinn walked down the ramp, staring at the security forces in position around the room.
‘Stand down,’ Hammond ordered, and as one soldier straightened and lowered his weapon, the others followed, and they all filed out of the room, leaving just four men on duty.
As Quinn looked around for any clue as to what he should do next, Jack and Daniel entered the room, with Rodney just behind them.
‘Hello, Colonel O’Neill, Dr Jackson, Dr McKay. I’ve come for a visit.’
*****
Jonas was fascinated by…everything. From the books in Daniel’s office to the SFs in the gate room, anything and everything interested him. What’s more, he also had an eidetic memory and spent hours in conversation with Rodney and Miko Kusanagi discussing the esoteric things they’d read (Jonas) to the lines of code they recognised on sight (Miko) to the sheer number of equations they knew and could use (Rodney).
For the first time in several months, Jack found himself almost in agreement with Samantha Carter as they watched the three geeks exchange information over lunch.
(‘Calling them geeks is quite rude, Jack.’
‘Well, Danny, they are’)
‘I was envious of McKay when he told us he had an eidetic memory,’ she confided in Jack and Daniel where she’d joined them for lunch. ‘Now, when I realise just how much must be in his brain, I don’t think I do anymore.’
‘He did say it was a burden,’ Daniel offered, peaceably.
‘No,’ Jack drawled. ‘You called it a burden, not a gift. Rodders just agreed,’
‘Rodders?’ Sam repeated. ‘Does he know you call him that?’
‘It’s a nickname, not an insult, Major. Don’t judge everyone by your own actions.’
Sam bit her lip and nodded. ‘Yes, sir. I—I—’ She stood and collected her tray. ‘I think I left—yeah.’
‘That was pretty harsh,’ Daniel said, watching her leave.
‘I suppose it was, but she gets me all riled up every time she opens her mouth.’
‘Not every time. She was very helpful on the Bråvalla. You said so yourself.’
‘Most of the time, then. I can’t forget what she’s done, particularly to Rodders. She almost killed him, and as far as I’m aware, hasn’t shown the slightest bit of remorse.’
‘Rodney seems to have forgiven her.’
‘She attempted to murder him, Daniel. She should have been called up for an article 15 at the very least.’
Daniel stared at him, frowning. ‘Are you saying you don’t agree with General Hammond’s handling of the affair?’
‘No! Well…Huh.’ Jack sat deep in thought. Do I disagree with the way he handled it? He only did what Rodders asked him to do . If it had gone to an Article 15 it would have caused a lot of other problems, and did Carter really try to kill Rodders? Would I have handled it differently? Ah, crap!
‘—ack!’
A hand on his shoulder made him start, and he realised he’d been oblivious of his surroundings for several minutes.
‘Are you well, Colonel?’ Jonas asked him in concern.
‘Nah. I’m fine. Just, y’know, daydreaming.’
Jonas didn’t look convinced, but he nodded when the others accepted his excuse, although from the look in Daniel’s eye, he’d be hearing all about it later.
‘The general’s expecting us,’ Rodney said, pointing at his watch.
‘Huh?’
‘For a discussion about Kelowna’s offer? Remember?’ Rodney shook his head, then led the way out of the mess hall.
‘Eh?’ Jack asked Daniel inelegantly, but instead of replying, Daniel also shook his head and left the mess behind Rodney and Jonas.
‘I wish Teal’c were here. He never leaves me in the dark,’ Jack grumbled as he followed his teammates, attracting several glances of bemusement from other diners.
*****
‘I’ve spoken to several people at the Pentagon regarding the request Mr Quinn brought to us from First Minister Valis,’ General Hammond reported. ‘Although it wasn’t easy contacting them at a weekend. Why politicians think diplomacy only happens on weekdays, I’ll never know.’
The group assembled in the briefing room comprised SG-1, SG-9 – a team which numbered two military-trained diplomats amongst its five members – Major Paul Davis and Jonas Quinn.
‘There was some talk of handing the matter over to the United Nations, but the State Department finally decided that would open too many cans of worms they were unwilling to explain, so a representative from the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, and one from the Office of Foreign Assistance will be read into the programme, and will travel to Kelowna along with SG-9, Major Davis, and, of course, Mr Quinn.’ The general beamed at them all, as if he’d solved world hunger, or the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle.
‘That’s great news, sir,’ Jack told him. ‘Well done. Now all you need to do is tell us what the request from First Minister Valis was.’
Hammond’s beam faded. ‘What?’
‘While we knew Jonas had brought a request from First Minister Valis, none of us know what that request was. Except Paul, maybe?’ He glanced at Major Davis, who shifted uncomfortably.
‘Umm.’
‘I do beg your pardons, everyone.’ Hammond gave them all a sheepish smile. ‘I didn’t realise you didn’t…know.’ He turned to Jonas. ‘Mr Quinn. Perhaps you’ll fill them all in.’
Jonas smiled at him, and Jack was reminded of how affable the man was. ‘Certainly, sir. In brief, when I informed First Minister Valis of the danger our attempts at building a naquadria bomb posed, he was very concerned, and, if I’m honest, disbelieving, at least at first. I was finally able to convince him, when I explained Dr McKay was concerned we might render our entire planet uninhabitable if we used the bomb we were building.’
‘This is in brief?’ Jack whispered to Daniel, but his friend merely poked his arm. Hard.
‘First Minister Valis, therefore, has asked the SGC to provide diplomats to negotiate a peace between the three warring factions of our planet.’
‘And the State Department has agreed to help us?’ Jack asked. ‘What’s it going to cost us?’
‘Always the cynic,’ Daniel sighed, but General Hammond was nodding.
‘A fair question, and the answer is, I don’t know at present. It will depend very much what the Kelownans are willing to offer us, but as a goodwill gesture, Mr Quinn was able to bring us ten pounds in weight of naquadria: sufficient to trial as a power source for the X-302 fighter jet.’
‘Excellent.’ Rodney rubbed his hands together. ‘I’ll get together with Radek—’
‘Of course, Dr McKay, but can you spare us a further few minutes?’ Hammond asked, but his eyes were laughing.
‘And SG-1’s role in this is…’ Jack asked.
‘Merely for information at present,’ the general answered, and raised his brows. ‘Was there anything in particular you desired? You’ve been looking after Mr Quinn. I understood he was accompanying you on a mission tomorrow.’
‘He is. I just wondered…Nope. All good here, sir.’ Jack grinned at his CO, hoping he wasn’t going to get the dreaded ‘Colonel’.
‘If there’s nothing else, Jack, you’re all dismissed. I need a few more words with Major Davis and SG-9.’
‘Dismissed. Yessir. Thank you, sir. Come on, campers. Places to be, things to do.’ Jack led his team from the briefing room. Jack. He called me Jack. He still loves me.
Chapter Fifteen
‘Good morning, George.’ Patrick Sheppard greeted his friend at a coffee shop in Pentagon City. ‘I’ve ordered coffee and a couple of croissants for both of us. I haven’t eaten breakfast, and I doubted you have.’
‘Jennifer offered me a slice of toast, but she was busy getting the girls off to school, so I just had coffee. I’m ready for something to eat,’ George said as they seated themselves at a window table.
The weather was still too cool to sit outside, although, with May almost upon them, it wouldn’t be long before the checkerboard terraces outside the cafes in Pentagon City would be lined with tables, chairs, and gay coloured awnings, with the scent of freshly ground coffee and baked goods enticing workers to pause and partake. At 08:30 on a Monday morning, however, those same workers were rushing to get to their offices with barely enough time to grab a coffee to drink at their desks.
‘Being semi-retired has its advantages,’ Patrick told his friend.
‘How so?’
‘I was up and dressed by 07:15 today, as I have been for most of my life, but it’s because I chose to. I didn’t have the same urgency as I used to have when I was rushing to my office to read emails before everyone else was in to badger me about something or other. I felt almost relaxed, driving here, as well.’
‘Lucky you. I spent most of yesterday arguing with politicians and only got to Jennifer’s in time for me to go to bed. I missed the girls entirely, even though they waited up to see me.’
‘Problems?’ Patrick asked, aware they couldn’t even risk mentioning Colorado in such an open space, in such a populated area.
‘And then some,’ George sighed, then perked up a little. ‘Still, we had some good news from our Norse friends who’ve offered us several gifts, as thanks for our help.’
‘Gifts that could help us with our negotiations today?’
‘Indeed, as our mutual friend says.’
The two men grinned at each other, then George glanced at his watch.
‘Time to go.’
They took a cab to the lesser used River Entrance to the Pentagon where, to their surprise, they were met by the SecAir’s admin assistant, Mrs Janice Lloyd.
‘Secretary Williams asked me to escort you to his office,’ she told the two men after greeting them. ‘This way, please.’
Patrick had been to many meetings at the Pentagon, and both in and out of uniform, but he’d never been whisked through checkpoints quite as fast before. Mrs Lloyd gave the appearance of an efficient and highly regarded individual, despite her lowly title, but titles and appearances can be misleading, Patrick told himself. This is a woman used to giving orders, and used to being obeyed. I wonder if she’s an ex-service member? I wonder if she’d give me her phone number, if I dared ask?
‘Your 9.30am, Mr Williams,’ she announced to the Secretary of the Air Force, ushering George and Patrick into an office within a sumptuous suite of rooms.
‘George, how mice to see you.’
The SecAir advanced on Hammond with outstretched hands, much to his friend’s surprise, Patrick noted. And possibly his dislike. Hmm. I need to ask him about that later.
However, before they knew where they were, they were entering a room where a bevy of suits and uniforms were awaiting them at a large circular table. George came immediately to attention, and Patrick had to force himself not to follow suit. Man taken out of the Navy, etc, etc.
‘No need for all that,’ Williams said, waving a hand as he took his seat ‘We’re all friends here, aren’t we?’
Patrick stiffened at his words, and suspected George had had the same reaction. ‘Most certainly not amongst friends, I suspect,’ he murmured to his friend as they took their allocated and named seats. ‘On guard!’
*****
‘Well, that wasn’t as bad as it might have been,’ Patrick said to George in a low voice as they joined the throng around the coffee station – only SecAir, his Under Secretary, and the AF Chief of Staff were served in person. ‘Only a few of them don’t support our objective. I thought at first we were going to get shafted.’
‘As did I,’ George answered, even as he gave a fake smile to a Lieutenant General, who nodded to him. ‘I’m pretty certain he was involved in the attempt to get me to retire a couple of years ago. Henry Bauer, the man they brought in, was one of his protégés.’
‘John told me about that. He said Bauer was promoted after it was all over.’
‘That’s the way of it with a top secret programme. Can’t afford any disgruntled members of the services: they may go public.’
Patrick frowned. ‘What about their NDAs?’
‘Pretty difficult to enforce if truth be told – especially on someone who’s left the service. It’s why I was…not displeased, shall we say, when your son-in-law said he didn’t want to press charges.’
‘Ahh. I did wonder. How’s she been with him since then? I haven’t spoken to him recently to get an update.’
‘She’s been remarkably settled. Ro—your son-in-law has made an effort to include her in things where he can. My current bane is J, surprisingly. He can’t seem to get over it, even though R has.’
The pair had decided, early in their initial meeting, to use letters or acronyms where possible as they couldn’t use the bug zapper -or only sparingly – in much of DC, and the Pentagon in particular where an absence of radio traffic would be more noticeable than in the mountain or Jack’s house.
Just as Patrick was about to reply, he saw Mrs Lloyd heading their way, and she smiled when she saw him looking her way.
‘Dr Sheppard, General Hammond, Mr Williams and General Schneider would like a private word if you have a moment?’
‘Certainly, ma’am,’ George answered, his southern charm to the fore, making Patrick smile even as he followed George like a baby duckling.
I wonder what the Air Force Chief of Staff wants with us?
Their ‘private word’ took place in a corner of the room with Mrs Lloyd acting as gatekeeper and bouncer combined, and while several people looked their way, no one dared approach, not even George’s erstwhile enemy, Lt Gen Nelson Arreguin, who glared at them both throughout their ‘word’.
‘George, Patrick – I may call you Patrick, might I?’ Williams asked. ‘I know you play golf with Neville Delauder, so I feel as though I almost know you! Anyway,’ he continued without waiting for Patrick to give his assent, ‘I—We‘ve noticed how Arreguin is gunning for you, George, and we want to try to circumvent that, but what on earth did you do to the man?’
‘I didn’t go quietly into the night,’ George answered, but Williams wasn’t listening.
‘He wasn’t even invited to this meeting, but when he turned up…’ He held out his hands. ‘I mean, what can you do?’
It was a rhetorical question, but had George or Patrick wanted to reply, he didn’t give them time. And Schneider is enjoying every minute of it, Patrick mused. Almost as though he’d heard, Schneider glanced at Patrick and gave him a surreptitious wink.
Huh.
‘So, Janice is booking a private room at Browns for lunch and it’ll just be us four, Matthew, Eric, and Alice. And Janice, of course. Is that okay?’
‘I will not be joining you, Mr Williams,’ Janice Lloyd said in a frosty voice. ‘I am merely organising the luncheon.’
‘Aww, shame on you, Janice. We need pretty ladies to ogle over a meal.’
Patrick watched, mesmerised, as ‘Janice’ clenched her fists and didn’t hit her boss, and Patrick was tempted to do so on her behalf. Now, who the hell are Matthew, Eric, and Alice?
‘They’re like SecAir’s cabinet,’ George murmured to Patrick as they returned to their seats. ‘Eric Granger is Chief of Staff and Senior Adviser to Clive Williams, and is his right-hand man; Maj Gen Matthew Elmore is Deputy CoS for Plans and Programmes, and it’s rumoured Williams won’t even go to the bathroom without his advice; and Dr Alice Butterworth is the Air Force’s Chief Scientist, although I’ve never met her before.’
Patrick tried to cover his laughter with a cough, but fortunately, no one appeared to have noticed.
The discussions over the SGC becoming self-financing continued with Arreguin still making all the objections, even while Loretta Johnson, the assistant Secretary for Air Force Financial Management, agreed with the plan.
‘All we need now is Kinsey to walk in,’ George muttered to Patrick, making him turn and look towards the door just in case speaking the name of a demon did actually summon them.
It all dragged on until a quarter to midday when Williams rapped the table. ‘Well, we’ve had a most lively discussion this morning, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave it there. Thank you all for your input.’
There were several glances of confusion at whether or not they were being dismissed, but when Secretary Williams got to his feet, there was a general sigh of relief and people began to collect their belongings together. Nelson Arreguin gave George a smirk as he left the room at the side of the Director for Studies and Analysis – and Patrick had no idea what interest he had in the Stargate Programme – which George simply ignored.
‘I don’t think he realises he has absolutely no influence in making this decision,’ George said to his friend in a low voice.
‘Fuck him!’ Patrick muttered. ‘That’s three hours I’ll never get back!’
‘You never know in this programme. Anything can happen, remember?’
*****
Lunch at Browns was surprisingly pleasant – both the food and the company. Alice Butterworth was erudite, witty, and as disparaging of their host as they were.
‘He’s pretty harmless,’ she told them, taking a sip of the wine Williams had pressed upon her. ‘Just…clueless. He relies heavily on his advisors – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it means various vested interests are sometimes pushed above higher priority issues. Take this morning, for instance. Barely half the people in that meeting should have been there, and some who should have been present weren’t.’
‘Like who?’ Patrick asked, in interest.
‘Sally Claythorne, Chief Information Officer,’ Alice replied promptly.
George frowned. ‘Why would she need to be involved? It sounds like a political post.’
Alice shook her head. ‘Not at all. Sally’s in charge of Information Technology. Information Technology, Data, and Artificial Intelligence, to be exact. She has a far better understanding of IT than I do, and we actually work pretty closely as our areas of interest intersect quite a lot.’ She grinned then, and looked at George from under her eyelashes. ‘She’s tried to poach one of your assets several times, actually.’
‘Really? Who?’
‘Miko Kusanagi. Miko’s probably the world’s leading IT professional, and I doubt Sally’s the only one who’s interested in her. The same goes for Rodney McKay, and Radek Zelenka. In fact, anyone who’s worked closely with McKay can pretty much write their own ticket in the private sector.’ She frowned at George’s expression of surprise. ‘You didn’t know what a hot commodity Rodney McKay is? Why? How?’
‘I did know – to an extent,’ George told her. ‘I knew of his encryption programme, who doesn’t, but I…probably didn’t appreciate just what an asset he is.’
‘And you, Patrick? Did you know?’
Patrick smiled and nodded. ‘I knew. He’s my…son-in-law to all intents and purposes.’
‘Your son, David?’
‘No. John, but…’
‘Ah, of course. That ridiculous DADT. Thank God that’s out of the window now.’ Alice’s moue of distaste said more about her disapproval of the policy than her words. ‘Does that mean John will be joining the SGC when he completes his course at the Air Command and Staff College?’
Patrick’s mouth dropped open. ‘Is there anything you don’t know about my family?’
Alice appeared to consider this, but her grin gave her away. ‘I don’t know if you’re dating at present,’ she offered, making the two men laugh.
‘I think she’s asking you to buy her dinner, Patrick.’
‘I think so, too!’
*****
Once the table was cleared and the coffee brought in, the diners grew silent and focused on Clive Williams, who immediately ceded the meeting to General Schneider.
‘I asked Clive to arrange this private meeting so we can actually do something other than talk,’ he began, and both Patrick and George relaxed at his words. We might actually get a decision made now.
‘The proposal Major General Hammond and Dr Sheppard have put forward is to make the Stargate Programme financially independent. This can’t be done overnight, obviously, but I believe it is an achievable aim, and I’ll do all I can to support them in their endeavours.
‘This morning’s meeting was, if the Secretary of the Air Force will excuse me, a complete fiasco. Far too many civilians have now been read into the programme who shouldn’t have been, and their vested interests have been given priority over the SGC’s mission objectives which are, quite simply, ‘Defend the Stargate; Protect the Planet’. It’s as simple as that.
‘You’ll hear various other ‘objectives’ bandied about, such as ‘To search and retrieve technology which benefits Earth’ which is code for ‘which benefits me and my pals’, and maybe ‘research and development of off-world technology’ with the unspoken ‘acquired by any means’ – or maybe not so unspoken,’ he added as George grunted. ‘General Hammond?’
‘Harry Maybourne once told me that ‘acquire technology from other worlds, through trade or by theft’ was the NID’s stated mission,’ George said. ‘I’m not sure who was responsible for that mission statement.’
‘I could hazard a guess,’ Schneider said, his mouth twisted in distaste, ‘but that wouldn’t benefit anyone. Between ourselves, I’m pretty certain the NID is a front for a criminal organisation which involves both politicians and businessmen.’
‘It is,’ George said with a sigh, and Schneider glanced at him with narrowed eyes.
‘You have proof?’
‘…I have…something,’ George admitted reluctantly. ‘But I’m not prepared to go into details.’ His unspoken ‘here’ was understood by most of the people around the table with varying degrees of comfort.
‘Understood.’ Schneider nodded, then looked at the six people in his audience. ‘You’re all here because the SGC being financially independent will directly affect your personal briefs. Matthew. You’re Plans and Programmes. What’s your opinion?’
‘I’m in favour,’ Matthew Elmore replied. ‘The Air Force has a limited budget and the Stargate Programme takes the majority of it.’ He held up his hand as Hammond opened his mouth to speak. ‘It’s not a criticism, George, it’s a statement of fact. The less money you take, the more we have for other projects.’
‘Eric?’
The Senior Adviser to Clive Williams cleared his throat. ‘I’m in favour in principle, but I’m also aware there’ll be a lot of opposition from the wider DOD, and it’s going to take careful negotiations to get all the relevant parties to agree. Having Dr Sheppard and Sheppard Industries onboard will help, of course, General Hammond, but you must be prepared to make compromises.’
‘Compromises,’ Hammond repeated. ‘What kind of compromises are you suggesting?’
Eric Granger is a politician of the worst sort, Patrick decided. Compromise and negotiate are his weapons of choice, the namby-pamby little—
‘—agree, Patrick?’ George asked him, and Patrick forced his lips into a smile – or something approaching a smile.
Thankfully, George saw his problem and gave a mere hint of a nod.
‘Yes, of course. George has my full backing,’ he said, his voice full of confidence. Did I get that right?
Schneider gave him the glint of a smile, but no one else noticed his lapse, and Patrick relaxed in his chair, and reached for his coffee – which had gone cold. Still, not the first time I’ve drunk it cold, and I doubt it’s the last time.
‘Finally, what are your views, Dr Butterworth?’ Schneider asked.
‘Completely for it,’ Alice said brusquely. ‘Quite apart from the bad science which is being taught in our schools because we can’t reveal what we really know, it’ll improve the flow of new technologies into our society where they can do some good, rather than being choked up in some committee by politicians arguing that their state should get to produce it.’
Can’t argue with that, Patrick thought as he nodded his agreement. I wonder if I could get her phone number?
*****
The SI private plane took George, along with Patrick, back to Colorado to break the good news.
‘Nathan Schneider had a private word with me while you were in the bathroom after lunch,’ Patrick told George once they were in the air.
‘I wondered if he would.’
Patrick shot him a sharp look. ‘You know about this?’
‘If ‘this’ is the contract for SI to take over construction and production of the X-302, yes. I also know you’re on the shortlist for the next X-303 when it’s commissioned, and that they’re considering asking you to take over management of the X-303 still under construction.’
‘I knew we were in the final three for the new X-303s, but I didn’t realise we were being considered to take over construction of the fighter-interceptor or the X-303,’ Patrick said. ‘In fact, I didn’t know a new lead was being sought for either of them.’
George sighed. ‘The projects have both been mismanaged from the start, and I can’t get to the bottom of who’s responsible, but I’m pretty certain both Major Carter and Hank Landry were involved.’
Patrick wrinkled his nose. ‘I can’t hear her name without remembering what she did to Rodney.’
‘You must blame me for her not being held properly accountable.’
‘Why?’
It wasn’t the question George had been expecting. ‘Why?’ he repeated in surprise. ‘Well, I made the choice not to put her in front of an Article 15, for a start.’
‘I thought that was Chegwidden?’
‘Well, I suppose it was, originally.’ George frowned as he tried to think back to the conversation he’d had with the JAG. ‘He certainly advised me on procedure, but I was the one who made the final decision.’
‘And I didn’t disagree with that decision.’ Patrick sighed as George’s face contorted in puzzlement. ‘Not after both John and Rodney talked to me about it. They explained how dangerous it would be to have Samantha Carter on the outside of the SGC, and what she still had to offer to keep her within it.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Rodney tries to give the impression he’s a hard man of science, but John describes him as a squishy teddy bear when it comes to compassion – which he has by the bucket load, although he tries to hide it.
‘John’s far more hard-nosed: the product of being on his own for so long in the other timeline, I think. Had Rodney made the slightest noise about just retribution, he’d have led the firing squad himself.’
‘When I originally heard what she’d done, I felt like leading the firing squad,’ George admitted. ‘But Rodney was right when he said we have far greater concerns to consider.’ He was silent for a moment, mulling over choices, actions, and mistakes. We’ve all made them, that’s for sure. ‘But we were discussing SI and our ship construction. I assume Sheppard Aeronautical will be the lead company?’
Patrick nodded. ‘Yes, and Rodney’s already begun hiring for that division, thankfully. As you probably know, I had hoped to entice John away from the Air Force with it, but once his time travel, and the Stargate Programme were explained to me, I realised that wouldn’t happen, and nor should it. John has a far greater role to play than building aircraft. That said, once he finishes at ACSC he and Rodney will take on greater roles in the company, although I will remain as CEO, and while he’ll indirectly own a share of the company – through SI being the parent company, John will funnel any renumeration – including any dividends from SI – into a new trust he and Rodney are setting up.’
George raised his eyebrows in enquiry, and Patrick sighed. ‘I should really leave it to them to explain it to you, but as long as you’re surprised when they tell you…They’re establishing a trust to provide for the spouses and children of Stargate personnel killed in the line of duty – that’s military and civilian.’
The general stared at him, open-mouthed. ‘That’s…astounding. I’m lost for words.’
Patrick nodded. ‘So was I when they suggested it, and then I felt about this high,’ he held his thumb and index finger slightly apart, ‘that I hadn’t considered it myself. I believe the Programme attracts a much larger number of younger personnel than older ones – obviously as fitness must be a major concern – who won’t be on higher salaries, and are more likely to have young children. And as you often can’t reveal how they died, and therefore allow the spouse access to special funds, there will be many who subsequently struggle.’
‘Fewer than you might think, as several of the more senior officers keep an eye on as many as they can, but I’m certain a number of families will fall through the net.’
‘Undoubtedly.’ Patrick opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated.
‘Go on,’ George told him, smiling. ‘It can’t be too bad.’
‘John has suggested Dave be read into the Programme in order to head the trust.’
George tilted his head to one side and considered this. ‘It’s not a bad idea. Dave is a lawyer and also has some experience with wealth. Would it interfere in his other duties for SI?’
Patrick shook his head. ‘I doubt it, and I’m pretty certain he’d make sure it didn’t. I also suggested they appoint a couple of trustees from the Programme too.’
‘Dr Jackson,’ George said immediately. ‘I can think of a couple of others, so I’m prepared when they break this news to me, and I’m suitably surprised.’
‘You’d better be,’ Patrick muttered. ‘It’ll be my ass in a sling if you’re not!’
*****
Jack O’Neill was bored.
Jack O’Neill was bored, and he was driving everyone up the wall, especially his best friend, Daniel Jackson, in whose lab Jack currently hanging out, having been thrown out of the labs of Rodney, Radek, and Miko. Most unfairly thrown out, Jack told himself. It wasn’t my fault Zelenka hadn’t backed up his work on that computer. And who actually needs four computers, anyway?
‘Still mad at Radek?’ Danny asked him, looking up from the book he was currently reading.
‘He’s still mad at me. How was I to know he had a simulation running?’
‘Why were you in his lab to begin with? It’s not as though you’re close buddies, is it? Or are you?’ Daniel frowned as he spoke.
‘I wouldn’t say we’re buddies, as such, but I’ve eaten lunch or dinner with them a few times.’
‘Have you?’ Daniel asked, and his frown was now more questioning than puzzlement, Jack decided.
‘Only because Rodders was there as well. They’re his friends. I was just there because…Well, I was there, that’s all.’
‘And, again, why were you in Radek’s lab to begin with?’
Jack tipped his head back to examine the ceiling. ‘Because Miko and Rodney had thrown me out of their labs,’ he mumbled.
‘Miko and Radek did what?’ Now Daniel’s frown was because he hadn’t heard Jack’s mumbled and rapid explanation.
‘Because Miko and Rodney had already thrown me out,’ Jack said bitterly. ‘And before you ask, I don’t know why. Except…’
‘Except what?’
‘Look, I’m the second in command of this base, and I have the right to go wherever I want,’ Jack told him firmly, and Daniel sighed.
‘What did you do?’
‘Why do you immediately assume I did something?’
‘Because I’ve known you for six years, Jack.’
Huh. Seven years since Charlie…
‘I thought I was being helpful,’ Jack said at length, but Daniel didn’t comment or ask any questions. He simply waited for Jack to answer. I hate it when he does this, but he’s not going to break me this time.
Jack’s determination lasted all of two minutes. ‘Okay, so I was in Rodders’ lab and decided to play a game of tic-tac-toe. How was I supposed to know he was saving the stuff written on the white boards?’
‘Oh, Jack. You didn’t.’
‘If you mean did I wipe them clean…yeah, I did, but seriously, he should write ‘Do Not Erase’ or something on them.’
Daniel shook his head, but couldn’t hide his smile.
‘Ha! There! I knew you still loved me!’ Jack pointed a finger at his friend, then realised what he’d said. ‘That is…I didn’t…except…’
They stared at each other in silence for several minutes, hours, days, lifetimes…
‘Yeah, I think…I think I…might,’ Daniel said, not taking his eyes off his friend’s face.
‘So might I,’ Jack answered softly, and reached out a hand to touch Daniel’s cheek. ‘I think I always…did.’
And suddenly, he was no longer bored.
*****
‘John has his third exam this morning,’ Rodney told his teammates over breakfast on the morning of 13th May.
‘How many has he got left?’ Daniel asked, pausing with his fork in mid-air.
‘How many has who got?’ Sam Carter asked as she approached their table with a tray in her hands. ‘Mind if I join you? All the other tables are full.’
‘Go ahead,’ Rodney said through a mouthful of pancake, as Daniel nodded at her. ‘Major John Sheppard, my partner, is taking his final exams at the Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama, and he’s got just one left to do.’
Sam nodded as she carefully set out her silverware and crockery, and Rodney recalled the habit from the meals they’d shared on Atlantis. I guess that’ll not happen now. I wonder who’ll be the expedition leader this time?
‘It can’t be an easy relationship for either of you, being separated so much, can it?. Where was he before the College? Where will he go after he graduates?’
Rodney blinked at the litany of questions.
‘Umm. We manage; in Iraq; and…’ He paused and glanced at Jack, unsure how to explain John’s upcoming posting without causing a row.
‘He’s coming here,’ Jack said, baldly.
Sam paused, her coffee cup almost touching her lips. ‘Here? Here, as in the SGC? Why?’
‘Because he’s an exceptional officer who has a lot to offer the Programme.’
‘But, if he’s Rodney’s partner…’
‘What about it? Several of the Marines are married to other Marines or civilians on base. Why should Rodders and John be any different?’
Rodney gave an internal sigh. You probably shouldn’t have used his christian name, Jack. Sam won’t miss something like that.
Shrugging, Sam applied herself to her breakfast. ‘You know him, then, sir?’
‘We’ve met a few times. His father is helping General Hammond with a couple of projects.’
Annnd, click!
Sam stiffened. ‘He’s one of those Sheppards, then.’
‘Is that a problem, Major?’
‘Not at all.’ Sam shook her head, then focussed on Teal’c. ‘How’ve you been, Teal’c? I haven’t seen you for a few weeks.’
‘I am well, Major Carter. I have recently spent much time on Chulak, and with Master Bra’tac, and I am returning to Chulak later today.’
‘Why?’
‘My wife and son have recently relocated there from P3X 797.’
‘P3X 797,’ Sam repeated, frowning.
‘Land of the Light,’ Rodney said absently while he scrolled through his tablet.’
‘Do you have all the planet designations memorised?’ Sam asked with a certain degree of exasperation, making Rodney look up from his reading and frown.
‘Not purposely. I’ve already explained I have an eidetic memory.’
Sam simply shook her head and continued to eat her breakfast.
Rodney regarded her for a moment, then turned back to his tablet.
‘How does John think he’s done with his exams so far?’ Daniel asked, relaxing back in his chair with his hands wrapped around his coffee mug.
‘It’s hard to tell with him, but I doubt he’s had any problems,’ Rodney answered. ‘He’s a lot brighter than he lets on, you know. Much like Jack.’
‘Hey! I resemble that remark.’
‘Resemble all you want. Have you submitted your dissertation yet?’
Jack scowled at him, but Rodney merely smirked, making him huff. ‘At the beginning of May.’
‘Dissertation? What dissertation?’ Sam asked, clearly taken aback by this information.
‘Jack’s been studying for a Master’s degree for the last ten months,’ Daniel explained, oh so casually. ‘Didn’t you know?’
‘No, I didn’t.’ Sam stared at both him and Jack. ‘I think there’s a lot I don’t know about Colonel O’Neill.’
‘Jack O’Neill,’ Jack said, getting to his feet and loading his tray with dirty plates. ‘International Man of Mystery.’
*****
Teal’c had barely been gone a half hour when the gate dialled.
‘Unscheduled off-world activation,’ Walter called out. ‘I’m getting…’ He looked up at Jack and General Hammond, who had just arrived. ‘I’m getting Teal’c’s iris code.’
Jack frowned. ‘Has something gone wrong? He was intending to spend the week with Drey’auc and Rya’c.’
‘Open the iris,’ Hammond ordered, ‘and prep SG teams 1 and 4 for an off-world rescue, Colonel, just in case. We’ll find out what’s happened soon enough.’
There was a ripple in the event horizon as Jack sped towards the ready room, and Teal’c materialised with Master Bra’tac at his side.
‘Unit, stand down!’ Hammond called out before hurrying down the stairs of the Ops room and round into the gate room.
‘Greetings, Hammond of Texas,’ Bra’tac boomed. ‘We bring news!’
‘News which will make me happy?’ Hammond asked as he gripped Bra’tac’s forearm in a warrior’s salute. ‘Or am I going to have to shout at someone until I feel better?’
Bra’tac gave one of his loud, full-body laughs. ‘My news will bring you joy, Hammond of Texas.’
‘Do we need Colonel O’Neill?’
‘It would be best.’
Hammond smiled at him. ‘Then let’s all repair to the briefing room and wait for Jack.’
The general led them through the blast door, and up the small staircase to the Ops room where he told Walter to call for O’Neill, then they crowded up the spiral staircase to the briefing room where they settled around the table to await the Colonel.
Jack was in full off-world gear when he joined them, with Daniel and Rodney trailing after him, Rodney still trying to fasten his tac-vest.
‘I hope this is something important,’ Rodney said, scowling. ‘I have a ton of work to do, all of it needed yesterday, as usual. I can’t—’
‘Master Bra’tac brings news, Dr McKay. News which I suspect will interest you,’ Hammond scolded. ‘Master Bra’tac.’ He gestured with his hand to proceed.
‘Thank you, Hammond of Texas. Colonel Jack, you requested I seek a planet upon which the fake god Anubis has placed a terrible weapon, and I have done so.’
‘Excellent news, Master Bra’tac,’ Hammond said, smiling at the old man. ‘I knew we could rely on you.’
*****
Bra’tac produced a list of six planets which Anubis appeared to control, and after consulting Jack, Hammond dispatched SG Teams 1 to 6, one team for each planet, and warned them all to stay sharp as the weapon they were looking for would likely be heavily guarded. When the device was located, the team would send a message to the SGC who would then send through reinforcements to help with getting to, and destroying the weapon.
This would be the first time Sam Carter led her team on anything other than a straightforward science mission, and as the six teams lined up in the gate room, Jack knew Carter was staring at him – at his whole team – with a mixture of…Envy? Resentment? Both? I wonder how long it will be before she gets over herself?
As soon as SG-1 stepped onto P3W 867, they knew they had the right planet.
‘Why the fuck is it always us?’ Daniel muttered as he dived for cover from a staff weapon blast into a group of bushes – a group of thorny bushes. ‘I swear I’m going to resign.’
‘George wouldn’t accept it,’ Jack retorted as he hit the ground next to his friend. ‘And neither would I-oh-fuck!’
Fifteen minutes later, the three members of SG-1 stared at each other from the floor of the cell they’d been thrown into unceremoniously.
‘How many missions with us before you’re in a prison?’ Daniel asked Rodney.
‘Eight, which is more than I expected, to be honest. I think your AARs gave a ratio of 6:1, so I’m ahead of the game, I suppose. It was more difficult in Pegasus because of the Wraith.’
‘Why because of the Wraith?’
‘They rarely kill their victims as they’d be reducing their food supply, so I’ve been in several holding rooms on a Hive, and even been cocooned once or twice.’ He grimaced at the memory.
‘Cocooned?’ Daniel asked?
Rodney thought for a moment. ‘It’s too soon for The Two Towers,’ he muttered, ‘so…like a spider or a moth’s cocoon?’
‘You mean wrapped up in a silky-type web?’ Daniel’s nose and mouth were both screwed up in disgust.
Silky, sticky, yep, both those.’ Rodney grinned at him. ‘Makes this place feel like a palace, doesn’t it?’
‘Less comparing prison stories, and more escaping, Danny, Rodders,’ Jack ordered, although his own face was as contorted as Daniel’s. I, thankfully, never actually came face to face with a Wraith other than Todd. ‘Rodders? Can’t you get us out?’
Rodney stared at him. ‘How, exactly?’ He waved his hand, indicating the four walls and dirt floor of their prison cell. ‘There’s no technology for me to crack. There’s no lock for me to pick, even. There’s—’
‘Wait!’ Jack held up a hand. ‘D’you mean you can pick a lock?’
‘D’you mean you can’t pick a lock?’ Rodney demanded right back at him. ‘Even Sheppard can pick a lock – a fairly basic one, admittedly, but still…’
‘How did you learn to do that?’ Daniel asked. ‘Can you teach me? Teach both of us?’
‘I learned after being locked up once too often by the Genii, and I can teach you if you want, when we have time. John might be a better teacher, though, as he’s got more patience than me, as surprising as that might be!’ He grinned at Daniel, making both him and Jack laugh.
‘Okay, we’ll schedule some lessons when Sheppard gets here,’ Jack agreed. ‘But for now, is there anything you can suggest to get us out of here?’
‘Here’ was a small room containing a small bed, a table, and a chair, and little else, and was part of a small building close to the Stargate the Jaffa probably used as a barracks since they’d noticed several bunks in the room they were pushed through by their captors.
‘Start digging?’ Rodney suggested. ‘I mean, what else can we do?’
‘We don’t yet know why we’ve been captured,’ Daniel mused, drawing his finger through the loose dirt on the floor, or perhaps ‘ground’ would be a better description, Jack mused absently.
‘Because we came through the gate?’ Rodney suggested. ‘Those Jaffa didn’t exactly stop and ask us who we were and what we wanted, did they?’
The rattle of the door handle suggested they might soon have the answer to at least one of the questions.
A Jaffa bearing the mark of Anubis entered their cell and motioned to two other Jaffa to take Jack, leaving Daniel and Rodney behind. Jack was dragged through the suspected-dormitory, and outside where Anubis’ first prime was waiting for him.
*****
‘Well, it’s official,’ Jack said, spitting blood out of his mouth, then poked one of his teeth with his tongue. Huh. Another loose one. I’m gonna need dentures at this rate! ‘We’re on the right planet for the Stargate Destroyer. Much good it’ll do us, locked in here.’
‘What did they want?’ Daniel demanded, as he pulled Jack towards him and motioned for him to open his mouth. ‘Hmmm. Can’t see any real damage. Just blood and a loose tooth, and I’d say.’
‘And cuts and bruises to your face,’ Rodney added. ‘Or don’t they matter?’
‘All in a day’s work,’ Jack answered, gingerly touching his left cheek where the Jaffa goons had concentrated their attack.
‘What did they want?’ Daniel repeated.
‘To know how we knew about this place; what we intended to do here; why we wouldn’t bow down and worship their god, etcetera, etcetera. The usual.’
‘And?’
‘And what?’ Jack frowned at Daniel.
‘And what did you say?’
‘I said I didn’t know what they were talking about, that we’re peaceful explorers, etcetera, etcetera. There wasn’t anything I could tell them. We’re going to be held here until Anubis arrives, as he wants to question us, apparently.’
‘And how long will that be?’ Rodney asked, tapping his lip.
‘Couple of days, from what I understood. Why?’
‘Because when we miss a check-in, won’t the SGC send another team here? We need to try to warn them not to.’
Jack frowned. ‘They won’t send an S and R team straight away. We generally wait for two missed check ins.’
‘Why?’
‘Because quite often a team’s just got held up. If we sent a team every time someone missed a check-in—’
‘You’d have fewer teams killed off-world,’ Rodney snapped. ‘Seriously. How many entire teams have you lost in the last five years?’
‘Hey! You don’t know—’
‘What I’m talking about? I’ve read the reports, Jack. Nine entire teams were killed in the first five years of the SGC. Two iterations of SG-15 had all its members killed. Not all of them could have been saved by a rapid response unit, admittedly, but three of them could.’ Rodney shook his head. ‘It’s always been a failing of the SGC: not to learn from past mistakes.’
‘Exactly how is this helping us now?’ Jack asked, more than a little icily, even as he acknowledged Rodney was correct in his observations. I know all this. Why haven’t I acted on it before now?
‘Well, it isn’t – mostly because the proper protocols aren’t in place, but I was wondering if we could get a message back to the SGC through our GDOs, since we all still have them?’ He pointed to the devises on each of their right wrists, opposite to the arm which bore their watches.
‘How can we do that unless the SGC dials here, which we’ve just established, they won’t until after our second missed check-in,’ Daniel asked, fingering the GDO he’d forgotten he was wearing.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ Rodney replied. ‘You have an advantage in this galaxy that we don’t have in Pegasus: the Asgard subspace communication system.’
‘The what now?’ Jack raised his eyebrows.
Rodney narrowed his eyes. ‘The Asgard subspace communication system. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it.’
‘Okay, I won’t. Danny, you tell him you’ve never heard of it.’
‘What. The. Actual. Fuck?’
Jack gave him a slightly crazed smile, which pulled on his split lip. ‘Ouch!’ He touched his lip, rubbing it carefully. ‘Look, Rodders, when we say we’ve never heard of something, just believe us, okay? It’ll save a lot of time and wasted words.’
Rodney shook his head. ‘I know Sam knows about it. I just can’t understand why she never explained it to you, to either of you.’
Jack and Daniel exchanged chagrinned glances. ‘It, ah, it might not, ah, be her fault,’ Daniel admitted. ”We both,’ he pointed to himself and Jack, ‘had a tendency to tune out when she, ah…’
‘Talks her psychobabble,’ Jack finished for him. ‘I mean, I know I pretend not to understand what she’s talking about, but in all honesty, sometimes I really don’t. I suspect she makes more than half of it up, in any case,’ he muttered. ‘Just to catch me out, y’know.’
‘Okay. Quick lesson on the Asgard subspace communication system.’ Rodney sketched out a grid in the dirt on the floor. ‘Over the last Thor-knows how many millennia the Asgard have spread out a kind of…net across this galaxy, and others too, I expect. Ida, certainly. The intersection points of the net here and here,’ he pointed to the sketch, ‘are the subspace relays which send communications back to wherever the Asgard are monitoring them.
‘Remember when you went back to Cimmeria for the second time? When Heru-Ur invaded because you’d broken Thor’s Hammer?’
Jack scowled. ‘We didn’t do it on purpose.’
‘Well, we did,’ Daniel pointed out, then held up a hand as Jack opened his mouth. ‘With the right intentions, maybe, but we still broke it.’
Jack sighed and nodded. Fair point, I suppose.
‘How do you think Thor communicated with you in his Hall of Might?’
‘From his ship.’ Daniel frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’
With a sigh, Rodney tapped his lip. ‘Okay, how did Thor’s ship pick up you were in the Hall of Thor’s Might on Cimmeria?’
Daniel nodded and smiled. ‘I get it. At the time, we believed Thor’s ship just happened to be in the area, but the Hall of Might used the communication network to connect to Thor’s ship, right?’
Rodney wriggled his hand from side to side while Jack mouthed in the area at Daniel. ‘Close enough. My point is, if you’re paying attention, Jack, that if the gate is open to anywhere, our GDO’s mean we can send through a message which the Asgard, or possibly the SGC will pick up.’
Jack stared at him. ‘How will sending an iris code tell the Asgard or the SGC where we are?’
‘We won’t send an iris code. We’ll send the emergency code instead.’ He stared at his teammates as they remained silent, then face-palmed. ‘You don’t have an emergency code set up, do you.’ It wasn’t a question.
‘It’s a good idea, though,’ Jack said brightly. ‘Well done. I suppose you had them on Atlantis.’
‘Emergency codes, plus our GDOs allowed letters, symbols, and numerals to be typed so limited messages could be passed through the gate,’ Rodney agreed somewhat wryly.
‘Also a good idea. Make a note of it, Danny.’
Daniel ignored him. ‘So we’re stuck here until…when? Someone notices we haven’t come home?’
‘Looks like it. Wonder if they’ll feed us,’ Jack mused. ‘I’m hungry.’
This just flows so well and is easy to read, so it’s like being in a time dilation bubble as the hours pass outside!
I can understand to an extent why they let Carter go without punishment, but part of me wishes they had done so, for justice and also because I don’t know how much I trust her current good behaviour will continue.
Making the SGC financially independent is a great idea and having people who can help with that, especially Patrick Sheppard, means that their best interests will be borne in mind.