Fanfiction: Broken Wings, Chapter 10
01/08/2011 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rachel500
Sam loved being back in Atlantis. It was a bonus that Atlantis was parked in what Sam considered the SGC's back-yard although she knew it wouldn't last for long. She breathed in the ocean air and looked out at the bay of San Francisco.
It felt surreal.
The last time she'd stood on the balcony almost a year before, she'd been contemplating multiple moons and thinking about her trip back to Earth to report to the IOA. At the time she hadn't realised that her trip would be one-way.
It'd been a weird year on a professional level. The Air Force hadn't anticipated her return – the IOA's decision taking them by surprise almost as much as it had taken Sam. She'd been based out of the SGC, sometimes tagging along with SG1 but mostly not because as much as she loved them, it felt too reminiscent of having to go back because of the Ori. But she'd loved having the time to spend in her labs; loved being entrusted with the SGC; loved being given command of the next Earth ship. She missed George Hammond fiercely.
'It's quite a sight, isn't it?' Woolsey said, joining her.
Sam turned and smiled at him; pleased that she could smile at him because for months after Woolsey had taken her job she'd wanted to punch him. 'It is,' she agreed lightly. 'Are we ready for the meeting?'
'Everyone's on their way.' Woolsey informed her. He invited her to lead the way back inside with a sweep of an arm.
Sam headed inside briskly. It amused her in a petty way that, in the very complicated chain of seniority around the Atlantis expedition, as acting SGC CO, she was effectively Woolsey's boss.
They took their seats in the conference room and Sam regarded the old SGC briefing table with bemusement. She waved Woolsey into the seat at the head of the table because being petty in her head was one thing but showing that pettiness was another; she wasn't Rodney after all. She took the seat on Woolsey's right and wasn't surprised when Daniel slid into the seat next to her. Across the table, Rodney took the seat to Woolsey's left, Major Lorne sat next to him and Carson Beckett took the seat next to him covering for Jennifer.
Woolsey cleared his throat and the briefing began. Most of the agenda was around Atlantis's repairs and projected leave date which Rodney covered, going into a level of detail that only Sam appreciated and could understand. Daniel spent the time exchanging sympathetic looks with Lorne while Woolsey desperately tried to pretend he knew what Rodney was talking about it.
Woolsey covered the on-going preparations for departure. Unsurprisingly, he wanted to stock up on as much as they could while they had the benefit of being on Earth and reduced reliance on a wormhole or a spaceship for delivery. There was a brief tussle around what constituted basics and what constituted luxuries, and Sam pointed out dryly that they couldn't expect to clean out the cupboards of the SGC because Thor had done that once and it hadn't gone down well.
They all moved on with relief to discussing personnel. Rodney covered the science division; Carson, the medical, and Lorne gave an update on the military. Sam noted down a couple of things that she'd need to cover in depth with Lorne at their meeting which would follow, and a couple of suggestions for Rodney to consider.
The personnel discussion over, Daniel covered his research and Sam gave them a brief update on Area 51; on the SGC. It left them with the final item on the agenda; John and Cam.
Woolsey went first. 'Doctor McKay, have you made any progress on getting the sensors to track Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Mitchell?'
Rodney looked up from his datapad possibly for the first time in the whole meeting. 'It hasn't been easy but thanks to a brilliant idea that I had,' he jolted, stopped and glared at Carson and Sam figured that the doctor had kicked Rodney under the table, 'which Carson may have helped with in a small way, and hours of reconfiguring the…'
'So that's a yes?' Woolsey asked a tad desperately.
'That's a yes.' Rodney confirmed sourly. 'I've texted Sheppard already although he probably won't get it until they land.'
'Where are they headed today?' Daniel asked, leaning back in his chair as though he's uninterested in the answer.
'Why would I know?' Rodney blusters, although from the way his cheeks were reddening, Sam was sure Rodney did know. It was a suspicion that was all but confirmed when Rodney sat back with a smug smile. 'All I know is that Sheppard is doing most of the flying today.'
Sam was kind of relieved that all of them were looking at Rodney with befuddlement and it wasn't just her, because why Rodney decided to announce that was anybody's guess.
'Oh, come on!' Rodney said. 'The competition?' He pointed to Daniel. 'Sheppard so kicked your guy's ass!'
'There's a competition?' Daniel zeroed in on what was likely the most important information.
'Yes!' Rodney's eyes darted around the gathering. 'With the story-telling about our missions!' His hands fluttered over the table. 'You know!'
Sam put together the disparate nuggets of information. 'John and Cam are competing for flight time with stories?' She took a moment to admire Cam's ingenuity because she knew John well enough to know that he wouldn't have suggested story-telling as a game, and knew Cam well enough to know that he would have suggested a competition for flight time; he was competitive that way.
'Like you didn't know that.' Rodney accused her sharply.
'I didn't.' Sam countered.
'And I certainly didn't know that.' Carson pointed out acerbically.
Sam enjoyed the roll of his accent. She'd met the original Carson when he'd been stationed in Antarctica and again during his brief stint at the SGC when the Ancients had retaken control of Atlantis. He'd reminded her of Janet Fraiser; all warm reassurance and pragmatic competence wrapped around a core of iron will. His clone was the same.
'Neither did I.' Daniel chimed in. There was a disgruntled edge to his words and Sam knew he was annoyed that Rodney had known and he hadn't.
They all glanced at Lorne who shrugged. 'I know nothing.' He said dryly.
'Fine, fine,' Rodney snapped, 'nobody knew but me!' And for a fleeting second, Rodney looked stunned by that revelation before he went red and cast about with his hands, desperately searching for a diversion to hide the fact that he and John were friends who talked to each other.
Sam took pity on him and provided one. 'Mister Woolsey, you spoke with Teal'c?'
'He and Ronon are in place.' Woolsey confirmed. 'Their predecessors had confirmed that Miss Vandenberg has a friend staying over with her and they're remaining in the house. There's no suspicious activity.' He paused. 'I'm still not sure this was the best use of their skills.'
'Teal'c loves stakeouts.' Daniel said by way of an answer.
'Donuts.' Rodney commented.
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
Sam cleared her throat hastily. 'What about Vala and Teyla have we heard from them?'
'Vala called me and I spoke with them both.' Daniel replied. 'They're both fine. No suspicious activity. Teyla seemed to be enjoying the opportunity to explore Earth culture.'
'And again, I have to question whether this was the best use of our resources.' Woolsey said pointedly.
'Oh, please.' Rodney said. 'They're deployed exactly where they should be. It's not like any of them were, oh I didn't know, fixing the city before they left, was it?'
There were times when Sam was grateful for Rodney's brand of honest bluntness.
'There is the question of how long they should be left in place to protect Colonel Mitchell's family.' Lorne said politely. 'Teyla and Ronon are both due to return with us to Pegasus and I'm assuming the SGC can't sustain long term surveillance.'
'I'm given to understand it's only a couple of weeks until the Colonels are back from leave.' Woolsey slid in before Sam could respond.
Sam remembered why she wanted to punch him even if she understood his motives for once; Landry had taken the decision not to explain to Woolsey why the two weeks of the vacation period were critical. She noted the looks Daniel and Rodney were darting at her and she silently cursed their intelligence because she knew they'd started putting things together.
'Which brings me to my original point: if the danger point is the period in which the Colonels are on leave then perhaps the option of recalling them both is something we should reconsider.' Woolsey continued.
'Your preference to recall them is already on record, Mister Woolsey, but we've taken precautions and, at this point, both Generals Landry and O'Neill are agreed, as am I, that it would be best to leave the decision in their hands.' Sam said coolly.
'I agree.' Carson sat forward. 'God knows the Colonel, I mean, our Colonel Sheppard could do with a holiday. And while I don't know Colonel Mitchell all that well, a period of reflection before returning to work after making the kind of decisions he made recently is usually considered a good idea.'
'But is it all that restful knowing they could be abducted by Lucien Alliance thugs at any moment?' Woolsey argued.
'Well, that is a good point.' Carson conceded.
'It won't matter when they're flying.' Lorne commented confidently as only another pilot could.
Sam nodded in agreement. 'From my discussion with Colonel Mitchell this morning, I believe both he and John are comfortable with the concessions they're making in regards to their vacation plans. Unless they decide otherwise, or the situation changes; the decision stands.' She placed her hands flat on the table. 'I believe we're done?'
Woolsey jumped to close out the meeting formally and they all dispersed. Sam followed Lorne to the office he shared with John.
She took the visitor chair across from Lorne's desk and accepted his offer of a cup of coffee. They covered the personnel issues that Sam had noted; training schedules; the issue of boredom which was setting in with Atlantis being parked on Earth and no off-world schedule to adhere to; the promotion ceremony that they've been organising for some of the Atlantis Marines. The latter brought to mind John's response to his own promotion. The first words out of his mouth after a perfunctory 'thank you,' had been 'but what about my people?' Jack had beamed at John for that.
Sam enjoyed Lorne's observations, his logical outlining of problems and equally logical outlining of solutions. He was a good officer. She was looking forward to seeing him made a Lieutenant Colonel in the upcoming promotion ceremony and enjoyed the fact that he didn't know anything about it. She gave advice, told Lorne he was doing a good job and settled back to finish her coffee.
'Permission to ask something, Colonel?' Lorne leaned back in his chair, hands wrapped around a mug like her own.
'Sure.' Sam was curious about what he wanted to know.
'Why are the next two weeks so critical in regards to Colonel Mitchell being abducted by the Lucien Alliance?' Lorne asked bluntly.
He really was a good officer, Sam thought ruefully. 'It's classified.'
'Permission to speak freely…'
She waved her permission before he finished the sentence.
Lorne changed position, shifting forward. 'I'm not all that comfortable having our people out in the field without them having full knowledge of the situation.' He left it unsaid that they were all putting their lives at risk.
Sam sighed because it was a valid point. It wasn't her decision though; she'd been overruled and that smarted but there was a chain of command and unless there was a really compelling reason – saving Earth, the galaxy, someone's life – she wasn't an advocate of disobeying orders.
'At the moment, knowing the complete picture doesn't change the immediate threat.' Sam said out loud, giving Lorne the line Landry had given her. 'If the situation changes, then we'll reconsider.' She tried to convey calm and authority in the same way she'd seen Hammond do for years.
Lorne nodded but his eyes gave away his continued unhappiness. He did his best though to set it aside and leaned back again. 'I have to admit I'm a bit envious of the Colonels' vacation.'
Sam swallowed the last of the coffee appreciatively and gave a murmur of agreement. She and Jack had already discussed changing out a week at the cabin for a week flying together in their somewhat nebulous vacation plans. She set the mug down. 'Are you taking some leave yourself, Evan?'
'The Colonel and I have agreed a week of handover and then I'll take some leave.' Lorne informed her. 'I have family in San Francisco so…'
That he was so close but couldn't visit them must feel a little bit like torture, Sam considered. She smiled sympathetically but there wasn't a great deal she could do to alleviate his situation. 'Well, I should go and check in with Daniel.'
Lorne got to his feet. 'You need an escort to the lab, ma'am?'
'I'll be fine, Major.' Sam said. 'You're doing a good job here.'
He smiled at the praise and remained standing 'at ease' as she left. Her walk through Atlantis brought back memories of the short year she'd spent with the expedition. She hadn't wanted Atlantis originally; she'd been looking forward to time with Jack and Cassie, and not having a big bad guy to fight since the Lucien Alliance and the Trust at the time had been less of a threat. But she'd been unable to say no to the opportunity and, once she'd gotten past feeling she was babysitting the city for Elizabeth Weir, she'd enjoyed her command.
Janus's lab was squirreled away and it took her a while to get her bearings but she walked through the wall and into the lab with a wry smile. Something that cool never got old.
Daniel was immersed and didn't even look up. He stared at a monitor and made notations in his journal. The Marine guarding him nodded to Sam and they silently agreed for him to leave for a thirty minute break without saying a word.
Sam sat down on an empty stool and scooted up next to Daniel. 'Hey.'
'Hey.' Daniel said absently before her presence registered fully in his mind and he took a second look at her. 'I mean, hey.'
Sam smiled understandingly. 'Interesting?'
'Fascinating.' Daniel launched into an explanation and Sam listened to it patiently, occasionally asking questions but mostly enjoying getting to hear Daniel be Daniel. He eventually wound down and stopped abruptly in mid-sentence on a device that might, or more probably might not, be the answer to the big bang. He stared at her for so long Sam started to worry that she had something on her face.
'What?'
'Nothing, it's just…' Daniel lifted a shoulder and wrinkled his nose at her, 'whenever I thought about coming to Atlantis, I mean before we understood where it was even, this was what I thought about. You know,' he gave a small smile and a hand wave to go with it, 'you and I talking about the discoveries we'd made in some secret lab that we'd found.'
Her lips curved upwards. 'With Jack playing with something he shouldn't in the background and Teal'c guarding the door?'
Daniel nodded.
'Yeah,' Sam sighed wistfully, 'me too.' She looked around again and shook her head. 'I spent my first three months here wishing you guys were with me.'
He nudged her shoulder with his. 'We missed you too.'
Sam nudged him back. She checked her watch. They had another ten minutes before the Marine was due to show up again and she had to find Rodney.
'Did you really not know about the story-telling competition?' Daniel asked suddenly.
Sam glanced at him. Daniel was studiously looking back at the monitor. 'Yes,' she said, 'I really didn't know.'
'Mitchell didn't tell you?' Daniel checked, flicking a look in her direction.
'I think his mind was on other things like the possibility of getting kidnapped.' Sam said dryly.
'Right.' Daniel sighed.
Sam sat back and regarded Daniel thoughtfully. There was a line between his brows; a frown twisting his lips. 'You're mad because Rodney knew about the story-telling and you didn't.'
Daniel winced at her perfect summation of his state of mind. 'Not mad exactly.' He crossed his arm over his chest, sending the blue BDU shirt he was wearing over his t-shirt askew. 'He isn't talking to us.'
Sam knew the 'he' in question wasn't Rodney. 'Just because Cam isn't talking to us, it doesn't mean that he doesn't value our friendship.'
Daniel's eyebrows inched towards his hairline. 'Teal'c gave you the same speech too, huh?'
'Oh, yeah.' Sam sighed. 'He reminded me that I didn't exactly talk to you guys about, uh, Pete either.'
'Hmmm.' Daniel's eyes narrowed on her. 'Why didn't you talk to us?' He made a whirly gesture. 'I mean apart from the obvious?'
Sam squirmed and stood up. She paced a couple of steps away and back as she considered what to say; how much to say. It had never been an easy topic of conversation either before or after she and Jack had stopped dancing around their feelings for each other. 'Change.' She crossed her arms over her chest. 'I knew if I ever talked about everything, it would change the team.' She smiled tightly. 'It's the same reason Jack never talked about it either.'
'You think Cam's scared of talking to us because he thinks things might change with the team if he does?' Daniel asked.
'I don't know.' Sam said. 'I only know why I didn't talk to you guys. I don't honestly know why Cam isn't talking to us.'
Daniel sighed heavily and pushed his glasses up his nose. 'I guess we should be grateful he's talking to Sheppard.'
Sam nodded in agreement.
'And Vala said he's checking in with his family so that's got to be a good sign, right?' Daniel continued.
Sam stepped up and hugged him. 'He'll work it out.'
Daniel hugged her back. 'I kind of miss him.'
'Me too.' Sam murmured.
'Does this mean you're going to tell me what's up with the two week deal?' Daniel asked.
Sam huffed a breath of laughter into his ear. 'No, but feel free to bug Jack about it.'
They were still hugging when the Marine came back. Sam smiled at the Marine's embarrassment, kissed Daniel's cheek, and told him that she'd call him later to discuss Janus's theory of inter-dimensional time-travel.
She headed for McKay's lab.
Rodney was frantically discussing something with Radek Zelenka. The two men were exchanging insults along with ideas in every breath. The rhythm of it had her all nostalgic for her time on Atlantis again and she lounged in the doorway, content to watch them.
Radek spotted her first and flushed. Rodney picked up on the direction of his look.
'What?' He snapped, whirling around, nostrils flaring with annoyance.
'Nice to see you too, Rodney.' Sam said brightly, entering the lab. She smiled more gently at Zelenka. 'Radek.'
'Colonel Carter. It is…good to see you. I should go check the progress on the systems on the South pier now we have solution, yes?' Radek didn't wait for an answer but picked up a datapad, darted around Sam and out of the door.
Rodney turned back to the two laptops he had running in front of him. 'Sorry, but I don't have time for social calls. Busy, busy.'
Sam hummed her agreement and sat down on a stool next to him. 'Have you thought of Doctor Levinsk for the open geologist position?'
'Levinsk?' Rodney didn't look up; he continued to tap away on the keyboard of one of the laptops. 'He's Stanford, right? The one with the insane ideas about Yellowstone? Didn't he get kicked out of some Think Tank? And when was the last time he published anything?'
'Last year,' Sam said dryly, 'he had two articles published in…'
'Yes, yes, OK.' Rodney harrumphed. 'Maybe he's not a complete waste of space.'
'So…'
'I'll think about it.' Rodney moved to the second laptop and started coding something in Ancient.
Sam tapped her fingers lightly on the top of the bench. 'You also have an engineering position open.'
'Who?' Rodney asked caustically.
'I was thinking of Doctor Novak.' Sam slid in, trying for a casual tone.
Rodney stopped and stared at her.
'Novak?' Rodney frowned heavily. 'Isn't she permanently assigned to the Odyssey because of the Asgard core?'
'She's…' Sam spread her hands out in a supplicating gesture, 'having difficulties with the new CO.'
'Difficulties?' Rodney stilled.
'He's a misogynistic prick. Won't listen to anything she tells him.' Sam said succinctly. 'Although you didn't hear that from me.'
'You think I'm a misogynist prick.' Rodney waved at himself.
Sam let her smile spread across her face. 'You were a misogynist prick, Rodney, but you've grown. You have respectful relationships with women that aren't all about sex. I have it on good authority that you cuddle.'
Rodney looked horrified. 'Jennifer would never…'
Sam simply smiled. Rodney was right; Jennifer would never be so indiscreet about their relationship but it was just too much fun to tease McKay.
'Take that back!'
'Too late, McKay.' Sam grinned at him. 'Your secret's out.'
Rodney glared at her. If his blue eyes were weapons, she would be dead. Her grin widened.
'Anyway, even before your growth,' Sam made air quotes with her fingers, 'you generally didn't dismiss ideas because they came from somebody with breasts and a vagina,' she pointed out, 'you dismissed them because they were, in your opinion, stupid and wrong and in disagreement with your own opinion.'
Rodney waved his hands about his eyes. 'Gagh! I'm not talking about breasts and vaginas with you.'
Sam felt a rush of delight at the horror in his eyes. She'd had to be good the year she had been on Atlantis because she had been his boss but winding up Rodney was fun and she enjoyed it. 'So, Novak?'
'Will you stop talking about breasts and vaginas?' Rodney demanded.
'I could do that.' Sam promised calmly, pleased that she'd gotten her way.
'OK, so I'll request Novak. She's not useless and it makes sense anyway to do some cross dissemination of information thing between her Asgard knowledge and our Ancient.' Rodney muttered. 'Now if that's everything…'
Sam perched her elbows on the bench, propped up her head on her hands and regarded him thoughtfully. 'So how are you tracking the plane?'
Rodney fidgeted, looked down at the laptop and pressed some buttons. 'I don't know what you mean.'
'I'm guessing there's a laptop set-up,' her eyes flickered to the one in the corner that Rodney had purposefully not looked at the whole time she'd been in the lab, 'hacked into air control? Woolsey probably gave you the registration. I assume there's some kind of alarm should the plane deviate substantially from its flight plan?'
Rodney rounded on her, his arms flailing around like windmills. 'Like you don't have something set-up too!'
She sniffed. 'I don't need to,' she waited a beat, 'I knew you'd do it.'
Rodney's mouth fell open slightly before he snapped it back shut. He pointed at her. 'I hate you.'
Sam smiled, eased off the stool and headed for the door. 'Rodney?'
'What? Aren't you gone yet?'
There was a hint of desperation in his voice that made Sam gleeful. She really could be as petty as Rodney at times.
'If you're thinking of hacking into my account or Cam's account to discover why these two weeks are an important window for the Lucien Alliance to kidnap Cam, you should know only General Landry has that information.' Sam smirked at Rodney's startled expression.
He knew that she knew that he was going to hack the information. She knew that he knew that she had just told him where to look. She was under orders not to tell the guys the full picture but Rodney could and, besides, she preferred to keep him out of her own files.
Sam sauntered out of the lab and back to Stargate Operations to say a polite goodbye to Woolsey, feeling satisfied. Her work on Atlantis was done for the day.
