The Unconquered Pair Part I

Title: The Unconquered Pair
Series: The Unlikely and Unwilling
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Violence-Canon-Level, Character Bashing, Beta by Spellcheck
Genre: Alternate Universe. Crossover
Relationships: McKay/Sheppard, O’Neill/Jackson, Ronon/Tyre, and other pairings as needed
Wordcount: 57,269
Summary: With Elizabeth gone, the Expedition knuckled down to see if they could fulfill their primary mandate: Find the tech Earth needs to defend themselves against what’s coming.  Things are starting to click and that’s when the other shoe drops. The Wraith are starting to move on them. John and Rodney have to make some tough choices.
While Atlantis is figuring things out, the SGC is working to put together a rescue mission. While trying to deal with the fallout of Weir arriving back on Earth in handcuffs. Politics aren’t Jack O’Neill’s favorite thing, but there comes a point when his give-a-fuck breaks. And he’s rapidly reaching that point.
Either way, things are going to get very interesting.
The SGC is working to put together a rescue mission. While trying to deal with the fallout of Weir arriving back on Earth in handcuffs. Politics aren’t Jack O’Neill’s favorite thing, but there comes a point when his give-a-fuck breaks. And he’s rapidly reaching that point.

 

Prologue

Jack sat looking at the Stargate and rocked his chair back and forth as chatter filled the room. The emergency meeting he’d been called in for had turned into a cluster fuck. And here he had thought his day was going to be boring and filled with politics back in DC.

The Atlantis Expedition had contacted Earth twelve hours before with a message that resembled a horror novel. They had found a species that ate people and they knew Earth existed. They had also sent the former head of the Expedition back in handcuffs with a list of suggested charges heading up their report. Jack was sure that no one had expected that to happen. Even Walter had been flabbergasted. Unfortunately, he’d been unable to see the rest of the reports because Landry was holding them for processing.

“I think we need to look into Dr. Weir’s accusations,” Landry announced after several minutes. He sounded bizarrely happy at the thought of investigating Sheppard and McKay. He also had parked Weir at the table without the handcuffs she had come through the gate with.

“And why would we be doing that?” Jack asked as he kept staring out the window. He was keeping an eye on everything in the reflections off of it, but he wasn’t going to let any of them know. He needed all the advantages he could get. “After all, she came through the gate in handcuffs.”

“Dr. Weir has presented a good case that Sheppard has gone feral or something and has managed to incite a rebellion against the leader of the Expedition,” Landry reminded. “Obviously he managed to fool everyone, which is what led Dr. Weir to be sent through the gate like she was.”

“You think he incited a rebellion?” Jack asked. He was keeping his emotional response to himself, but he was certain that his Guide was aware of his mood. Danny was nothing if not observant. Even when he was floors away from him. “And what was Dr. McKay doing while this was happening?”

Weir’s face twisted and Jack tried to figure out what she was thinking. “He’s been taken in by Sheppard and he’s going along with him in every respect. I’m sure Sheppard has him in thrall.”

“The actions they’ve taken against Dr. Weir show a clear pattern of sedition and treason,” Landry said. “I think they both need to be charged with everything we can. Plus, the rest of the command staff.”

“Didn’t they send us reports?” Jack asked. He was keeping his voice mild and calm with an effort. Weir’s comment was just bullshit. Landry’s was no better.

“I have my people reviewing the data,” Landry confirmed. “We should be getting news soon.”

Jack let his chair swing back and forth before he turned to his Colonel. “Carter?”

“Sir, the data came in a single data burst that had the code we gave Sheppard and McKay to use in case everything went south.” Carter shifted slightly and tapped the closed laptop in front of her once. “In my initial review of the information, Dr. Weir became negligent in her duties, both overtly and covertly. McKay was especially damning on how she worked to undermine him and his Sentinel, both as a pair and as individuals. There was also mention of how she worked against the Expedition’s goals in exploring both Atlantis and Pegasus. In addition, she took and hid the hard drive that held the pharmaceutical database needed to resupply the Expeditions medical pharmacopeia. This is relevant since the Expedition only had six months’ worth of usable drugs on hand and needed that database to be able to make more. They managed to make due, but Dr. Beckett was scathing in his report on how her actions affected the expedition.”

Carter shifted once and turned dark eyes on Weir. “She further attempted to allow a bonded Guide to die in order to keep the Sentinel half of the pair alive. She expressed no remorse and no understanding of why that was such a betrayal when confronted. I’m surprised she made it through the gate alive. If it had been me, I’m not certain I would have bothered to do more than send her corpse through. And I’m mundane.”

“I’d like a copy of those reports, Colonel,” Jack informed her, voice soft. He turned to look at Landry and raised an eyebrow at the other General. “Looking a bit peaked there, Henry. One would think that you would be wise enough to not meddle in something like this. Especially when there are easy ways to check.”

Landry cleared his throat as his color returned to something close to normal. “What?”

“What am I going to find when I get the reports from your hand-picked ‘experts’? If I compare the reports that McKay transmitted twelve hours ago, will they match whatever you plan on having delivered to me? Or will I find a carefully shaded set of reports that makes it look like Weir is the wronged party and Sheppard is what? Out of control? Drunk on power?”

“He is!” Weir snapped. She slapped her hands on the table and stood up, leaning forward to press her point. “They both are! We should have stripped the city of everything useful and come back to Earth. Nothing is worth being out there!”

“You don’t get to make those decisions, Dr. Weir,” Jack stared at her and smiled, slow and with all the rage in his soul. “You were sent out there to find answers to some of the most pressing issues Earth has. You were also sent out to explore. To discover. Not run and hide at the first issue.”

“The Wraith aren’t an issue! They are a nightmare! They want to eat us. Staying on Atlantis means that we were going to die. Nothing is worth that!” Weir seemed to crumble around the edges as she tried to excuse her actions.

“Really? Dr. Weir, did you think exploration was without risk? That discovering new worlds would come with no risks and now bloodshed? No one promised you safety. Your mandate was complicated by everything we didn’t know. And it got more complicated by everything you discovered while in Pegasus. The Expedition managed to confirm why the Ancients retreated to Earth. That was something we didn’t know. Did you think the Ancients came back from Pegasus because they missed Earth? That they sank Atlantis because it was convenient? If so, you missed what the legends of the city were telling us,” Daniel said as he walked into the briefing room. “I’ve got the reports from Landry’s ‘experts’, Jack.”

“How angry will I be?” Jack asked. He was keeping a casual eye on Weir while most of his attention was on Landry.

“Incandescent,” Daniel said before he dropped a paper copy of the reports in front of him. “From what I skimmed, the ‘experts’ have changed things around so Weir is indeed the injured party, with Sheppard and McKay taking the roles of the villain. She’s been portrayed as working to get all the requested tech, information, and samples back to Earth, but has been blocked by the evil Sentinel and Guide who somehow convinced their teammates that their way is best.”

“Fantastic,” Jack sighed.

“It’s all bullshit and you know it,” Daniel said. “I have no idea how she managed to convince Landry she was innocent, but whatever she used, it was effective.”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded once. “And all those questions you asked when you came in?”

“The Ancients came back to Earth, facing the possibility of plague because they lost a war against a species that used the humanoids of Pegasus and Alterans as food. Specifically, the species they created in their search for Ascension. That species, called the Wraith, overwhelmed them and they sank Atlantis in an effort to keep the city out of their hands. It worked. For ten thousand years the city slept and kept us safe because she held the only gate that could contact Candidus Lux,” Daniel explained. “But that’s over now. Thanks to Dr. Weir and the delay she caused before allowing Major Sheppard to attempt rescuing Colonel Sumner and the rest of his men, the Wraith know about the Milky Way.”

“And this means what?” Landry asked. “There are billions of galaxies out there, Doctor. I’m certain they don’t know which one is ours. There’s no certainty that they will come here.”

“Keep telling yourself that, General,” Carter murmured. She didn’t sound all that respectful to Jack’s ear, but he wasn’t going to call her on her attitude. “The Milky Way is loud. We make a lot of noise when you listen to the right wavelengths. There’s what Earth’s putting out, which is bad enough. Then there’s everyone else in this galaxy; The remains of the System Lords, the Aschen Confederation, and the remnants of the Asgard networks to name just a few of the major players. If these Wraith have the right direction, they’ll find us soon enough. And when they do, the enemy that defeated the Ancients will invade our galaxy and glut themselves.”

“I think you’re overstating the case, Colonel,” Landry blustered. “There’s nothing in the reports that say that these Wraith know where we are. Or that we wouldn’t be able to handle them like we have the Goa’uld or the Replicators.”

“We won against both of those threats because of our friendships,” Jack reminded the room. “And we have no certainty that those friends will be here for us if we lead the Wraith back to this galaxy. Remember, Weir also tried to partition the galaxy, ceding a large portion to the System Lords. Even now, that decision is causing us problems with our allies.”

“That’s why we should have stripped the city of everything useful and come home,” Weir said. Jack tilted his head slightly and took in the rabbiting beat of her heart. She was terrified, but still determined to push her agenda. “We could have worked out a way to protect ourselves with what we brought back.”

“And the people of Pegasus? The ones who would be left behind, defenseless, if we stripped the city and then destroyed it as we retreated?” Daniel asked. “What about them?”

Weir shook her head once. “They aren’t human.”

“And what does their humanity have to do with leaving them behind to get eaten?” Daniel asked. He was as still as Jack had ever seen his Guide and he sat up slowly.

“My mandate was to protect Earth and the seven billion people on it. It wasn’t to save aliens,” Weir said. Her face twisted slightly and Jack took a deep breath through his nose to take in her emotional tone. Terror was certainly there, but there was also a great deal of hatred. Together with the disgust twisting around her, if he had to label her emotional state, he would call it xenophobia and he had to wonder when she’d developed it. “If the Wraith want to eat sentients in Pegasus, they can. My job was just to make sure they didn’t eat us. And Major Sheppard fought me at every turn on that.”

“I bet he did,” Daniel said as he sat down next to Jack. He leaned back in his chair and stared at her and Landry. “For your actions, Dr. Weir, I name you eiecto. You are unwelcome in any facility that employs Sentinels or Guides. You are not to work with or for any entity that employs Sentinels or Guides. You may not come to us for aid. You are not to speak to one of us. You are, henceforth, banished from the Tribe.” Daniel ignored her protests and turned to look at Jack. “She can be questioned by DiNozzo, Jack, but she’s off this base right afterward. I don’t care where she goes after that.”

“As you say, Guide,” Jack bowed his head once in agreement. It wasn’t often that Daniel used his status in the S&G community, but when he did, it was devastating. As one of only two Lion Guides in the US, even Sandburg tended to go with it when he used his influence. “And Landry?”

“I want to do the same to him, but being an asshole isn’t a crime,” Daniel admitted. He stared at the general and raised an eyebrow as he blanched. “Even if his orders were illegal, we managed to contain him. You and DiNozzo can determine what he’ll be charged with regarding the reports.” When Landry looked like he wanted to protest, Daniel held up one hand and Landry fell silent. “If you’d managed to go any further with your plan, then yes, I would have had the standing to banish you as well. As it is, I can’t. What I can do, however, is name you levifidus. You also will not be working with another Sentinel or Guide until you prove you are worth trusting again. I suggest you start packing. Because we’re not leaving.”

“Better get moving, Hank,” Jack stared at Landry and didn’t blink when the other man’s complexion went ruddy with temper. “And honestly, I suggest you swallow that mood. Because I’ll feed you your own tongue if you say anything to my Guide.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Landry ground out. He stood up and started for his office, posture stiff with anger. “I have powerful friends.”

“If you think that Kinsey is going to save you,” Daniel called as he stared at Weir. “You can forget his name. He’s been found to be working with the TRUST and the President is already working to get him to resign. Whether he gets charged with treason or not will depend on what the investigation into his actions turns up.”

Jack watched as Landry’s stride hitched and he grunted once in satisfaction. Looked like he owed Danny a blowjob for correctly guessing who Landry’s patron was. “Better get your resignation letter written then, because I’m sure Hayes will be asking for it soon.”

He turned his attention back to Weir and sighed. She was sitting in her chair, eyes blank. “Walter!”

“Agent DiNozzo said that he’d be up here in three minutes, sir. He just needs to lock the evidence up and find a spare set of handcuffs. He’s used all of his on the people editing the reports. Also, the originals are still in the computers and he’s got someone putting protections on them,” Walter said as he walked up the stairwell leading to the control room. “Dr. Jackson, I’ll make sure your winnings are delivered to your office once things have calmed down.”

“Fantastic,” Jack muttered. He was going to ignore the comment about winnings. He didn’t need to know about any betting Danny did. “Did we need to do this?”

“Yes,” Daniel reminded. He held his silence and stared at Weir while Landry started shouting in his office. “Is he shouting at the president? Or someone else?”

Jack listened in to the conversation and frowned. “Not Hayes, but someone in the White House.”

“Doesn’t he remember that all our calls out are recorded?” Daniel asked.

“Pretty sure he doesn’t care, Danny,” Jack muttered after several moments of listening to the ruckus. “Do you think…”

“Walter will pull the recording as soon as you request it,” Carter reminded him. From her muttering, she had accessed the Expeditions reports again and was skimming the information they contained at speed. Daniel was leaning over to check out the display every so often. “Sir, did you get a chance to look at the supply requests from the Expedition?”

“I haven’t even had a chance to look at the files you slipped me, let alone the supply requests. Why?” Jack asked. He pulled his hearing back in to concentrate on her.

“Because they are asking for everything. Including the kitchen sink it seems,” Carter said. “Whatever ship we send out there will need to be packed to the gunnels with everything. They’re holding on, but it’s going to be close.”

“Hold that thought, Carter,” Jack ordered. He turned to look at DiNozzo as he walked in. “What have you got for me?”

“Well, I can tell you that this place is a festering pit at the moment, General,” DiNozzo snapped. “Most of the people I’ve passed in the hall are unhappy as hell that Landry took more than six hours to call you in. They are also unhappy that he seems to have tried to restrict access to the reports from the Expedition so severely. Also, every single S&G member on base has requested that he be sanctioned for going against Sheppard and McKay by letting Weir run around free.”

“That last part’s been dealt with, Tony,” Daniel informed him cheerfully. “I’ll be informing Blair, the president, and the IOA that Weir is eiecto. I expect that edict to go over like a solid lead balloon. Also, the president will need to be informed that Landry is levifidus and will have to work damn hard somewhere else to get out of that designation.”

“Fair enough,” DiNozzo sighed. He pulled a set of handcuffs out of his jacket pockets and waved a hand at Weir. “Is she compos? Or did she complete that mental break she started in Pegasus?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s just in shock,” Daniel said as he studied Weir. “The edict states that you can question her, but after you’re done with her, she’s out of the Mountain and stuffed in a hole somewhere.”

“How deep of a hole, Daniel?” DiNozzo asked, suddenly wary. “Are you wanting her dead? Or just out of the way permanently?”

“I don’t want her dead,” Daniel admitted after several moments of thought. “But I do want her gone.”

DiNozzo shook his head. “It sounds like you want her dead, Daniel. And you need to be careful with that.”

“She’s going to go to a black site no matter what, DiNozzo,” Jack cut in. He didn’t need to have two of them arguing about where Weir was going to go. Unlike Daniel, he wasn’t all that fussed about Weir dying for her actions, but he was politically aware enough to know it wouldn’t look good on the SGC if she died while in their hands. Either directly, or indirectly. But there was no way she was going to run around free either.

The SGC had a site for people who needed to be incarcerated but couldn’t just be killed. It was a nice enough planet that didn’t have a stargate but did have a number of small islands that were just the right size to house one or two people at a time. A temperate climate, no real storms, and best of all, no chance at escape. The only way on or off the planet was via space ship and Earth currently had a single tel’tak that was used for all transportation needs.

Weir would have her day in court before she was shipped out. One where all the evidence of her actions was presented and weighed. One where reality would be reintroduced to the woman and then she would have to deal with what her actions had wrought. Jack expected the whole mess to be rather interesting to watch.

DiNozzo was glaring at him again and Jack smiled innocently. “Stop that.”

“What?” Jack asked. He wondered if he could get away with putting a hand over his heart in question.

“Trying to act innocent. You’re really not. It’s creepy when you try,” DiNozzo muttered as he snapped the handcuffs on Weir and pulled her to her feet. “Okay, Dr. Weir. You have the right to remain silent…”

Jack watched as Weir was taken away and let his satisfaction with that echo down the bond he shared with Daniel. His apathy towards Weir had started when he had found out she’d carved the galaxy up like a pie and ceded whole chunks of it to the Goa’uld while he’d been frozen. It had solidified while they had worked to get the Expedition together. She’d spent way too much time maneuvering behind the scenes trying to get her way at the expense of everyone else.

Now, she was gone. Landry was on his way out and he needed to figure out a way to juggle his responsibility to Homeworld, the SGC, and Area 51. Thankfully, he had a damn good set of Betas to fall back on. “Danny? What’d you think about coming back to the SGC?”

“About time,” Daniel muttered as he continued to read over Carter’s shoulder. “You hate DC. I hate the assholes you associate with out there. We both hate the traffic out there.”

“True,” Jack conceded. He paused to listen to Landry. He was getting his ass handed to him by Hayes. Again, a call he could get copies of later. Or he could just replay the damn thing from memory. Either way, Landry was on his way out. “Carter, start putting together supply lists, and reinforcements and see what we can get them from the wish lists. Also, check with our geeks to see if they can add anything to the lists Atlantis sent.”

“Yes, sir,” Carter called. She patted Daniel once on the hand he had on her shoulder and folded her laptop down before picking it up and heading out. “It’s currently 0800 sir; I’ll be calling for a meeting at noon!”

“Remember to let Walter know we want lunch!” Daniel reminded her.

“Already ordered, Dr. J. Chief Cooper will have her meeting special ready in time. And the coffee you prefer,” Walter’s voice floated up from the stairwell.

“He’s not a sentinel or a guide. What in the fuck, Danny?” Jack asked as he stared at the stairwell.

“No idea,” Daniel admitted. He walked by and pressed a kiss against Jack’s hair. “I’m going to be in my office, checking my part of the data burst to see what I can help with or add to.”

Jack tilted his head and Daniel obliged by brushing a kiss over his lips before he walked out. Leaning back in his chair he let the motion swing him from side to side. Yeah, things had just gotten interesting again.

Candidus Lux – White Light

Eiecto – Cast out

Levifidus – untrustworthy

 

 

Chapter One

“How soon until we get a ship ready to be launched?” Hayes asked.

“Six weeks at best,” Jack said. They’d been in the Oval Office for more than two hours detailing everything that had happened to the Atlantis Expedition and had taken place when Weir had arrived back on Earth. He was deeply grateful that Daniel had agreed to come with him.

“Can we move it any faster?” SecDef asked.

“No, sir, we can’t,” Jack informed him. “We’ve already got three shifts going on the ships themselves and another set of three running alongside, getting all the prep work done they can so the work crews only have to slot everything into place. While that’s happening, we’ve started ordering all the supplies we should need, both for the ships and for the resupply mission. That’s expected to take every single day of the remaining six weeks. We have another set of three shifts strictly working on that. Manpower is currently an issue, but we’re moving people in and out of the Mountain to cover all three teams as needed.”

Hayes tapped a finger against the blotter on his desk. “Do we have the power to get a ship out to Atlantis quickly?”

“No,” Jack shook his head. “Because we don’t have a ZPM that we can hook into the ship any journey is going to take about three weeks. We’ve been looking at the one that Camulus brought us while I was frozen, but we can’t get a sample of the coating he put on it to test. Without testing to see if we can neutralize it, there’s no way I feel comfortable plugging something that might blow up into any ship headed to Pegasus.”

“Do we know if there actually is a coating?” SecDef asked. He looked skeptical about something. “And are you sure it’s explosive?”

“Yes, we know there’s a coating. We can see it, we can’t figure out a way to get it off without damaging the ZPM itself,” Jack confirmed, irritated at the question. Carter rarely made mistakes and never on events of this magnitude. “And I’m not willing to test how explosive it may or may not be by plugging it in. I mostly like this planet and I don’t have an urge to blow it up.”

“Thank you for that, General,” Hayes said, voice dry. “I’m rather fond of the planet too. Do we know if there are any other ZPMs here on Earth?”

Jack leaned back and pressed his leg against Daniel’s. When Daniel pressed back, he calmed down. “No, sir, we don’t know. And right now, we don’t have the technology in place to scan the planet.”

“Why not?” John Jumper, the Chief of Staff asked. “Launching a satellite isn’t that expensive.”

“Because we haven’t had the money to do it,” Jack reminded. “The SGC has been a Blue Book, black ops level project since its inception. We’ve been on a very set budget for the entire time I’ve been with the project. Every year we spend all the funds we have been allotted and we’re always looking for more. And our budget has only gotten tighter in the last three years.”

“Why?” Hayes asked. “Why has the budget gotten tighter?”

“Do you want to answer that, Mr. Former Vice President?” Jack asked Kinsey. He wasn’t going to take any responsibility for what had been happening to the SGC’s budget. He’s done his part as Hammond’s XO, and as the CO of the SGC, but the base reason for the lean budget could be laid at Kinsey’s feet.

“Robert?” Hayes turned to look at his soon-to-be former VP and raised an eyebrow. “What’s O’Neill talking about?”

“The SGC has had all the money they need to do their job,” Kinsey stated. If Jack had to pick a mood, he would say that the man was bitchy. Losing power could do that to people. “If they’re asking for more, it’s for some ridiculous boondoggle.”

“We routinely come up short every year on our R&D budget,” Jack reminded everyone. “Our operational budget is as lean as we can make it without impacting readiness. We buy most of our supplies in bulk and the needed and necessary stuff has to last all year long, but the emergency fund runs dry every year. This year, it’s been dry since November.”

“It’s January,” Hayes reminded after checking his calendar.

“Yes, sir, it is,” Jack agreed. “And we’re trying to build two spaceships, resupply the Expedition, pay our people, and still go to strange new worlds and meet new civilizations too. That’s not counting pay for our military members and our civilian contractors, and all the items they need to do their jobs.”

“How short are you normally every year?” SecDef asked. He had opened his notebook and was taking notes on the conversation.

“Routinely? We’ve been short about 10% of our R&D budget every year,” Jack said after thinking things through. “We’ve managed to move money around to cover, but the basic operating expenses for the SGC have been running short by that amount for the last three years.”

“Why three years?” Hayes asked. He wasn’t looking at Jack, he was looking at Kinsey.

“Because three years ago, then Senator Kinsey gained the Chair of the Armed Forces Committee and started restricting our budget,” Jack snapped. “We’ve had to scale back several projects and the planetary MRI project has been one that we’ve been working on as we have the funds. Currently, we’re at 80% completion on that project. We’ve been at that level for the last six months. We were hoping with him in the White House our budget would get expanded, but that didn’t happen. In addition, we’ve been restricted from researching alternative revenue streams, based on the discoveries made by the SGC.”

“If we throw the money at it, can your scientists get this thing up and running before a ship is completed?” Hayes asked. “And can we get the planet scanned in time?”

“I don’t know,” Jack admitted. He looked at Daniel and raised an eyebrow at his Guide. “You’ve been very quiet so far. Do you have anything to add?”

“Very little that’s constructive,” Daniel admitted. He looked at Kinsey and raised an eyebrow at the man as he glared at him. “Do not glare at me, Kinsey.”

“I don’t know why you’re asking him to contribute, General,” Kinsey sniped. “While I get that he’s your Guide, I don’t see what he can contribute to this discussion.”

“Oh, my god.” Jack blinked once in shock and looked at his Guide for confirmation. “Did he really say that?”

“He really did,” Hayes cut in. “Robert, even I know that Dr. Jackson is one of the most important civilians in the SGC.”

“He’s a guide,” Kinsey said. He sounded scornful and dismissive.

“And has been with the SGC since the beginning and has two doctorates and a number of terminal masters,” Jack reminded him. “You have a bachelors in political science, right?”

“Jack,” Daniel placed a hand on him and he could feel his Guide passing the calm he was feeling onto him. He turned to look at Kinsey and smiled with no warmth. “My being a Guide has nothing to do with my ability to understand the technology we’re discussing.” He turned his attention back to Hayes and Jack could feel him dismissing Kinsey from consideration as the man sputtered. “Sir, the major issue we’ve been having with the technology have been twofold. We needed a power source that was big enough to run the suite of sensors and small enough to fit into the dimensions of the satellite. A naquadah generator would do the job without issue, but our oversight committees have refused permission to put one in place because it’s alien and we can’t hide that. Second, getting the satellite into orbit. While we can use an F-302 to get into orbit, they are not designed to carry something the size of a large refrigerator into space. And there was no guarantee that the satellite would be able to handle the trip up unprotected.”

“And you still don’t have the permission to use one of those alien generators,” Kinsey snapped. Hayes glanced at him and waved a hand, obviously asking for information. “We already have enough issues with the satellite as is. Adding in alien tech, where it can be accessed by people without the right clearance is folly.”

“If you had let me finish, I would have explained that we came up with a workaround,” Daniel continued. “Before he left, Dr. McKay developed a combination of solar and nuclear power sources that would allow us to run our planet-level MRI and still get enough detail out of it to be useful. He even managed to scale it down enough that we can pull it out if needed and replace it with a generator one day.”

“So right now, the major issue with getting our planetary MRI up and running is what? Getting it into space?” Hayes asked.

“And getting the refined plutonium in the correct amounts and shapes to be used as a power source,” Daniel reported. “That’s been the major stumbling block since the Expedition left. If we get the nuclear materials, we can finish assembly and then launch it.”

“But you said that launching it would be an issue?” SecDef asked. “And how much plutonium?”

“How much? I don’t have the exact amount,” Daniel admitted. He stared at the ceiling for several seconds and shrugged. “I expect that it will be at least two or three rods worth, likely more. And I said that getting it up by F-302 would be an issue. The ships we have currently under construction can go into space. The bridge and the engine room are airtight. The rest of the thing leaks like a sieve and will until construction is complete. But in a pinch, we can send the satellite up on one of them and shove it out when we hit the right orbit.”

“Well, that’s something,” Hayes muttered as he stared at Kinsey from his spot behind his desk. “So what? We need to get the power source built and loaded into the satellite and then you can have one of the new ships take it up?”

“Yes, sir,” Daniel confirmed. He checked some of the notes he had on a pad and nodded once. “Colonel Carter submitted a proposal for the construction and shaping of the power source Dr. McKay designed, but it was declined due to lack of funds for this operational year. Without the power source being completed, we can’t assemble the rest of the satellite. We do have all the parts on hand, however.”

“John,” Hayes turned to look at SecDef and waved a hand at him. “Get with Phillip and make certain that he’s able to free up enough plutonium from our nuclear program to do the job. Dr. Jackson, let Colonel Carter know that she’s to start building this thing immediately, I want this thing in orbit as soon as we have a ship available to take it up.”

“Yes, sir,” Daniel said. He pressed his leg against Jack’s and Jack could feel his satisfaction radiating down their bond. “Is there any chance we can get some nuclear warheads to go with the plutonium?”

“Why?” SecDef asked. He glanced up from his pad and nodded at the pile of documents sitting on the coffee table. “I thought Sentinel Sheppard asked for a number of them. We’re already considering that request.”

“He did,” Jack confirmed. “But it would be nice to add some to the ships.”

“You’ve got enough bombs,” Kinsey cut in. “This is already costing us far too much,”

“Shut up, Bob,” Hayes snapped. Jack suppressed a smile at the affronted look on the former Vice President’s face. “That’s no longer your call. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Sheppard and McKay asked for munitions. Sheppard I can see, because he is in the Air Force and he’s utterly aware of how much weapons matter. For McKay to ask for bombs? Well, that’s a bit of a different kettle of fish,” Jack admitted.

“Why?” SecDef asked.

“McKay’s been working with the military for more than a decade. He knows when and when not to ask for things that kill,” Daniel started. “If he’s asking for bombs, then things are getting dire. And I for one, want to make sure that they get all they asked for and more.”

“He’s a Guide,” Kinsey muttered. “What does he know about war?”

“Are you talking about me? Or about McKay?” Daniel asked. He was still, staring at Kinsey.

Kinsey gave him a disgusted glance. “Both of you.”

Jack started laughing and just got louder when everyone stared at him. “Oh, my god. You missed the fact that Daniel is a badass, didn’t you? And McKay is just as capable.”

“Obviously,” Hayes cut in. “John, get them their nukes.”

Daniel stretched out carefully, and Jack could feel a purr of contentment rumble through him. Yeah, Daniel had worked his magic again.

“So, we’ve covered what you want for armaments,” Hayes said. He was looking at a piece of paper on his desk. Jack checked out the reflections from the windows behind the president and confirmed that the paper had the SGC’s logo on it. Good. Hayes had their wish list. “Now, let’s get your personnel list settled. General O’Neill, you have the floor.”

“The people we want can, for the most part, be drawn from the regular sources that the SGC pulls from. But not everyone. And because of that, we’ve been looking over the whole of the armed services,” Jack looked at his copy of the list Hayes had. “There’s going to be a lot of cherry-picking if we’re able to get everyone we asked for. And we’d want them asap. The sooner the better.”

“I notice that you’ve hit all the services. And drawn heavily from the various branches of Special Forces,” SecDef muttered as he flipped to the page of his briefing packet that held the list they had drawn up. He rather obviously started reading it and broke out into laughter as he reached a set of names. “Jesus, O’Neill. Do you honestly think that you’re going to be able to get the Losers?”

“Two of them are an S&G pair,” Jack said with a shrug. “And I don’t see why not.”

“Wheeler is going to shit a brick,” SecDef said before he shook his head. “And let’s not even get started on what Rampart will do when he sees this list.”

“We just want a few marines,” Jack promised with a small smile.

“You want a company, with support personnel and augments.” SecDef looked up from the list of names and shook the page. “And then some. Because some of these names aren’t from the armed services. Or the US.”

“Some of those names are from the wish list Sheppard gave us,” Jack explained. He sighed as he reviewed his copy of the list in question. “I know that getting some of these people is going to be next to impossible, but I do think that we should try.”

“Why?” Hayes asked. “Shut up, Bob,” he snapped when Kinsey opened his mouth to talk. “You don’t have a say in this. You’re going to stay quiet for the rest of this meeting. I don’t want to hear from you again.”

Jack bit back a smile as Kinsey sulked back in his chair. “Because most of the people Sheppard asked for are Sentinels and Guides. I don’t know if they are a part of his pride or not, but all of them served with Sheppard at one time or another.”

“And the people McKay asked for?” SecDef asked. “He’s not known for working well with people.”

“Rodney is an asshole,” Daniel agreed. “He’d be the first to tell you this. But he can work with just about anyone as long as they realize that his bark is worse than his bite and he’s going to treat everyone exactly the same. He also recognizes when someone is doing exceptional science and he doesn’t want the mediocre on Atlantis.”

When the Chief of Staff raised his hand, Daniel turned his attention to him. Jack suppressed a smile at how Jumper squirmed under his guide’s attention. “I’ve been looking at the people on Dr. McKay’s list. None of them are of the same caliber as the scientists he took out with him when the Expedition left Earth. Does he provide any information on why he changed the type of scientist he wants?”

“Yes, he does,” Daniel confirmed. “Atlantis was underwater for almost ten thousand years. Even Ancient technology breaks down in that amount of time. The city has a number of repair programs, but they are limited by power. The scientists Rodney wants are all whizzes at the practical applications of their fields and can help rebuild the city. While Atlantis has a ZPM, it’s not enough to run everything. At best, the city is on roughly a third of the power it needs to function.”

“If they have a ZPM, why didn’t they come back to Earth?” Kinsey demanded. “Their orders were to acquire technology and bring it back to Earth! Not set up a colony out there!”

“Seriously?” Hayes turned to look at Kinsey and Jack was impressed at the look the president was giving his soon-to-be former VP. Gone was the genial used car salesman look Hayes normally wore and instead he looked like a man who could actually lead the US in a war. “I know I told you to shut up, Bob. Do us all a favor and do it. You’re here because I was told that you had information on the SGC that was relevant to the discussion. Instead, the only information you have is on how to stymie them. As far as I’m concerned, the Atlantis Expedition is going to stay out there until they can’t. And they are to learn everything they can about their new home while supplying us with anything they can get from Atlantis and Pegasus.”

“And these Wraith? What about them?” Kinsey asked. He quailed slightly under the glare Hayes leveled at him before finding his spine somewhere. “Will they come to Earth?”

“Well, they do know we’re here,” Jack admitted. He raised an eyebrow at Hayes when he sighed. “What? I’m not going to lie about it, sir. They do know we’re here. But they don’t quite know where here is. That’s one of the many reasons why I think it’s best if the Atlantis Expedition stays out in Pegasus. We need to know if the Wraith ever discover the Milky Way and head out towards us. It would be nice if we could figure out a way to either get them more ZPM’s or recharge the empties that we have. Because Atlantis is an amazing platform to fight the Wraith from. She just needs power.”

“Fair enough. And do we know if they’ll be able to supply us with anything for our own issues?” Hayes asked.

“We’ve already got a large amount of material from the data dump Atlantis transmitted when they shoved Weir back through the gate,” Jack admitted. He tapped his packet. “Page nine, gentlemen. That’s the current list from Colonel Carter and her people on the tech specs we’ve been able to unpack. Notice that not all of it is munitions. Some of the items listed have the potential to be used by the public at large.”

“That’s an impressive list,” Jumper said after everyone in the room read over the list. “And I can see a number of uses for the items on it. But I don’t know how some of this will help us with our war against the remains of the Goa’uld. Let alone the rest of the threats in the galaxy at large.”

“We’ve found the answers to some of our most pressing problems in weirder places, sir,” Jack said. He shuddered as he remembered what SG-1 had done in the pursuit of knowledge. “Mining the database on Atlantis will not be an easy task. From what was reported, the search function is nonexistent and there’s no real subject listing that they can find. That’s one of the reasons why Sheppard and McKay both have IT specialists listed prominently in their requests and I don’t see any reason not to supply them with what they are asking for.”

“You still haven’t said what you will do if the Wraith come to Earth,” Kinsey pressed. He was staring at Jack and ignoring the glares aimed in his direction from the Joint Chiefs.

“Kill them,” Jack snapped. “But we don’t want them to come to Earth and we’re trying to supply the Atlantis Expedition with everything they need to keep them away from us. So, it would be nice if you would stop getting in our way.”

“Jack,” Daniel cautioned, placing one hand on his arm.

Jack frowned at his guide before pressing on. “No, Daniel. Kinsey’s been in our way since the day he learned about the SGC. He tried to shut us down more than a dozen times before he got elected to his current office and I’m certain that if he still had a position here, he’d shut us down now,” Jack reminded. “But what he doesn’t seem to get, no matter how many times you or I tell him, is that the Goa’uld knew Earth was here. And they all had ships. We know that Ra was planning on coming back to Earth to pick up new slaves and Apophis actually did come by in a ship. Which we barely stopped.”

“I know. I remember my briefing,” Hayes said as he held up a hand. “And it’s been proven several times that the Goa’uld can come to Earth to try to invade. Anubis and his invasion were one of the reasons we sent people out to Pegasus. Trying to say that another invasion won’t happen because we defeated Anubis is wishful thinking in the extreme. We need to be prepared. I noticed that some of those line items on page nine were of a defensive nature?”

“Rodney found the plans for a form of satellite that acts as both an early warning platform and as a defensive line for the solar system. He included the plans in the data burst along with his thoughts on it, how to build it with our tech, and where it should go to get the most bang for our buck,” Daniel confirmed. When Kinsey looked at him in shock, he shrugged. “I’ve been on SG-1 for eight years now, Mr. Kinsey. If I hadn’t learned the art of war after that, I would have been a piss poor student of my Sentinel’s teachings.”

“You’re a guide,” Kinsey muttered and shook his head. “You…”

“Seriously?” Daniel blinked once. “What does my being a guide have to do with my ability to wage war? It’s only my personal code that keeps me from being more militant.”

“Huh?” Hayes asked before he turned to his Chief of Staff. “I shouldn’t ask, right?”

“I did that last year when they briefed me,” Jumper admitted. He looked over at his coworker and smiled at the confused look on SecDef’s face. “He’s a Lion Guide, John. It’s part of his nature to be able to make war.”

“There are only two Lion Guides in the US,” Hayes mused as he leaned back in his chair. “I find that I’m very relieved to know that one of them is at the heart of the SGC. Is McKay a Lion Guide?”

“No, he’s not,” Daniel said. “He’s a Wolf. It’s his nature to nurture a pack around him. He’ll build it with Sheppard and if we support them, they’ll defend both Pegasus and us from the Wraith. No matter how strange it is to think of Rodney as a Wolf Guide.”

“Giving them what they ask for, both in material goods and in people will help. Supporting their decisions will also help,” Jack confirmed. “We do need to figure out who is going to be running the city though. Right now, per the information we got, with Weir off the city, Sheppard and McKay are running it with a counsel of all the other department heads. That’s not going to last long term. Also, Sheppard is a major and Atlantis is really the command of a light colonel at minimum. Do we promote him? Do I assign a new officer in charge? That’s something we’re going to need to figure out before we form our extended relief company.”

“He’s kept most of the people on Atlantis alive in the face of an enemy that wants to eat them, O’Neill. I think that deserves some kind of acknowledgment,” SecDef spoke up. He glanced at Kinsey and raised an eyebrow at the man. “And he had to do it while working around Weir.”

“She was a perfectly good choice for administrator!” Kinsey protested. “She did fine at the SGC!”

“She’s got no morals, ethics, or spine,” Jack reminded him. “She believed herself totally justified in sectioning off the galaxy to the remaining System Lords so they would leave us alone. Per the reports we got from just about every single member of the senior staff of the Expedition, she worked against Sheppard and McKay at every step, putting the whole Expedition at risk because she couldn’t bear not being in charge. Plus, she made noises several times about making a treaty with the Wraith so they would leave Atlantis alone while letting them rampage through the rest of Pegasus, eating anyone left.”

“But…” Kinsey started. When he noticed everyone glaring at him, he leaned back in his chair and pressed his lips together.

“Smart call,” Hayes praised. “Is Sheppard up for promotion?”

“Yes, up to Lt. Colonel,” Jack confirmed. He tapped the briefing packet. “We can pick a Colonel for the company and use them to coordinate everything with the eye for taking over the Atlantis group when he gets out there. Sheppard would be slotted into the XO position in that case. If we do that, we need to make sure that whoever we pick knows how to work with a Sentinel of Sheppard’s abilities.”

“And the other choice?” Hayes asked.

“We form the company around the man we want to be Sheppard’s XO and again, pick someone who can work with him, not against him,” Jack said. He honestly wanted to send out someone to support Sheppard, not take over from him, but while he was in charge of the whole Stargate program, he wasn’t in charge of promotions. A major just wasn’t the right rank to run a base the size of Atlantis. And it would still take some fast talking for a Lt. Colonel to get the slot.

“I’m leaning towards option two myself,” SecDef admitted. He turned to look at Jumper. “What about you, John?”

“Option two,” Jumper confirmed. He turned to glance at Kinsey before he continued on to Hayes. “Sir?”

“Would my opinion carry any weight?” Kinsey asked as he stared at the president.

“No,” Hayes admitted. “But then, did you think it was going to? Given the givens?”

“No,” Kinsey admitted. “Do as you will.”

“Good with me,” Hayes confirmed. “Option two carries the day. We’ll need to get with Hatchsaw and have him sign off on a promotion to Lt. Colonel for Sheppard. Is there anything we can get McKay?”

“He’s already CSO of Atlantis, sir,” Daniel reminded. “And like all our civilian contractors, he’s getting paid well for the job he does. If you want to do something that McKay will actually appreciate, make sure that any coffee we send out is good, there’s someone who knows how to cook and he gets the scientists he asked for. Those are things that I think he’ll appreciate more than some award that he’ll just chuck into a drawer somewhere.”

“Good point,” Hayes said. “Okay, so we’re going to start head-hunting through all the services and outside them for the personnel we need along with the civilians that McKay is requesting. We’re using DFAS to buy everything they asked for and then some, and we’ll set up a new line item for them so the SGC’s budget isn’t impacted. While that’s happening, we’re going to have people working round the clock to get two spaceships done, and the satellite finished. Am I missing anything?”

“No, sir, that was pretty much it,” Jack confirmed.

“Better get started then,” Hayes commanded. “I’ll have John send you the orders ASAP.” He turned to look at SecDef and smiled as the man nodded his agreement.

Jack stood up and drew Daniel to his feet. He offered Hayes a very precise salute before he gathered his briefcase and cover. While he was doing that, Daniel was offering his farewells to the other men in the office. He even managed to make it sound polite as he talked to Kinsey. Not a skill he had. “Sirs,” Jack said as he walked out of the office with his guide.

“That went better than expected,” Daniel muttered as they made their way out of the White House.

“It did,” Jack allowed. “Want to stop by the Navy Yard and pick Tony up for lunch?”

“Sure,” Daniel said as he loosened his tie. “And we can ask him to start investigating some of Sheppard’s choices.”

Jack snorted softly as he thought of the NCIS agent and his curiosity. “He’ll be thrilled.”

 

 

Chapter Two

“John!”

John chuckled breathlessly as he slowly sank his cock into the heat of his guide’s body. “You feel so good around me. All hot, slick, and desperate.” Rodney moaned softly as John moved across his prostate and he laughed again. The motion jostled everything just slightly and John moaned as Rodney clamped down on his cock. “God, you feel good.”

“Stop teasing me,” Rodney demanded, big hands gripping John’s ass as he tried to get him to speed up. John resisted, slowly, carefully working to drive Rodney out of his mind.

As he slid out of Rodney’s body, John leaned forward and pressed a kiss against his lover’s mouth. He could taste the desperation that Rodney was feeling and it made him smile. Pressing forward again, he repeated his earlier actions, again, and again, and again.

When Rodney finally came, the shields that separated them, which allowed them to be two separate people fell and John could feel the beauty of his guide’s mind encompass his. He followed his lover over the edge and let his mind mesh with Rodney’s. The feeling of being one person seemed to last forever and yet, never long enough before they slowly began to separate.

Only when they were separated and finally back within their own skins did John fully slide out of Rodney’s body.

“You are such an asshole,” Rodney muttered as he relaxed his legs and let them fall from his grip around John’s waist.

“You’re the one who wanted it slow and sweet,” John reminded him smugly. “I just added making you come on my cock without me touching yours.”

“Asshole,” Rodney muttered before he rolled out of bed. John felt slightly smug as Rodney’s knees went a bit weak as he stood up. “You are not cute.”

“Yes, I am,” John argued. He rolled over to watch as Rodney walked into their en suite. John swept his eyes over his guide and let his gaze linger on his ass. There were two faint bite marks marring the pure white expanse.

“Stop looking at my ass,” Rodney bitched as he turned the shower on.

“I can’t,” John called. He got out of bed and made an effort to straighten the sheets before he gave it up and headed for the shower himself. He slid into the warm embrace of the water and crowded his guide up against the wall. The warm water rushed over them and John shivered as it caressed his skin. “I like how it looks.”

“You’re a caveman,” Rodney said as he wrapped his arms around John’s neck. “You like biting me and leaving marks.”

“You like me leaving marks,” John reminded. “You get off on the ache as you go about your day.”

“Caveman,” Rodney muttered again. He pressed a kiss against John’s mouth before he let his arms fall and stepped out of his grip. “We need to get clean.”

“Seriously, no romance in your soul at all,” John sighed before he grabbed their soap and started lathering up the washcloth Rodney tossed him.

“Not a drop,” Rodney confirmed. “And if I did, you would freak out.”

“I would,” John agreed. He knelt at Rodney’s feet and started washing them. Most of the time, he didn’t have the time to lavish so much attention on his guide, but he was taking it every chance he got. The Wraith were on the move and each day they left their quarters might be his last with Rodney. He wasn’t going to waste a single moment if he could.

“We’re going to survive this, John,” Rodney said. John looked up from his position at Rodney’s feet and met his eyes. Rodney was calm and his gaze was steady as it met his. “I’m not going to die at the hands of a mutant catfish that fucked Marilyn Manson and had babies. I’m just not. And neither are you. So, let that emotion go.”

“Fine,” John did his best to let the pensive emotion go before he caught what Rodney had said. “A mutant catfish that fucked Marilyn Manson?”

“And had babies,” Rodney said. He sounded vaguely grossed out and John agreed. The Wraith as a species and as individuals, were ugly as fuck and there was no way to dress them up any better.

“Let’s stop talking about Wraith and sex,” John suggested. He pressed one hand to his stomach to settle it before he started washing Rodney’s knees. “I don’t need those mental images.”

“No one does,” Rodney agreed. “If you keep that up, I’m going to blow you before we go to breakfast.”

John grinned and pressed a kiss against the inside of Rodney’s knee. “That’s not actually a threat.”

“No, it’s not,” Rodney said before he grabbed the shampoo and squirted out a generous portion into his hands. “Close your eyes.”

“Head massage for the win,” John muttered before he let his eyes fall closed. He didn’t stop washing Rodney, he just stopped watching his hands move over his skin. He could feel and hear the washcloth moving over his guide and it was very easy to keep track of what he’d already cleaned.

“They are one of the best things ever,” Rodney agreed. His guide combed his hands through John’s hair and he started to purr. Rodney let his hands fall to his sides as John reached up and started washing his arms.

“If we didn’t have breakfast in thirty minutes, I’d let you keep doing that,” John muttered as he stood up and started washing Rodney’s hair. He made sure to massage every inch of his guide’s head before moving down to the back of his neck.

“Something for when we can get some time together then,” Rodney moaned. He pulled in a deep breath before he stepped under the water and started rinsing off.

John joined him under the spray after washing himself off quickly. He’d spent most of the shower paying attention to Rodney, so he needed to hurry up a bit. “I’m going to need a haircut soon. Who do we have who can do it?”

“Yeah, your hair is getting outside regs, isn’t it?” Rodney mused as he ran a hand back through the mess of hair on John’s head, making certain that all the shampoo was washed out. “Have you checked with Ford to see if he has a list of secondary skills your men have? Or maybe Bates would be the better bet.”

“Bates,” John decided after several moments of thought. “He’s been within regs since day one, so I’m sure he either knows someone with the right skill set, or he has clippers. If he has the clippers, I’m going to see about borrowing them. Because this is getting excessive.”

John nudged the shower to turn off and pressed it to turn on the dryer. The air that moved over them was just above body heat and it took care of the water on their skin. The water in his hair took a bit more and John made sure to catch the towel Rodney threw his way. A few quick scrubs of the cloth over his hair and it was as dry as he was going to get it.

Getting dressed was simple and John tried not to wince at how some of the seams on his uniform were rubbing against his skin. “I also need to get with Bates and see if we have any replacement uniforms.”

“Why?” Rodney asked as he tied his boots on. When John didn’t answer, he turned to pin him with a look. “John?”

“Parts of my uniforms are starting to rub,” John admitted reluctantly. He plucked at the seams in question and tried not to wince. The uniform he was in was just too old and too worn.

“Well, that’s not going to work,” Rodney muttered. “Change. I’ll call Bates if we don’t see him at breakfast.”

“Fine,” John sighed before he started stripping his uniform off. He got down to his briefs and grabbed a better uniform. “I really hope O’Neill brings everything.”

“We went all out with our lists, John,” Rodney reminded. “I can’t see us forgetting clothes.”

“Right. Uniforms were on my lists, I know it.” John buttoned and zipped everything and bounced on his toes slightly. Nothing rubbed wrong and he blew out a breath in relief. “Okay, I’m good.”

“Breakfast,” Rodney directed.

“Bates,” John called as they walked into the café.

“Sir?” Bates popped his head up from his seat.

John made his way over to his sergeant and sat down across from him. “Did we pack any extra uniforms?”

“Yes, sir, we did,” Bates confirmed. He paused for several moments before raising an eyebrow at him. “May I ask why, sir?”

“Why haven’t you been picked up for officer?” John asked abruptly. The non sequitur threw Bates for a loop and he could see the confusion the other man was feeling clearly.

“Sir?” Bates asked.

“Really. Why didn’t O’Neill kick your ass over to OCS?” John pressed. He leaned slightly out of the way as Rodney brought their breakfasts to the table and slid the tray in front of him.

“O’Neill tried,” Rodney cut in. “But Bates kept declining. What brought this up?”

“Bates and his ability to manage officers,” John admitted. He glanced down at his meal and tried not to wince. “I hope O’Neill is bringing someone who can organize a kitchen too.”

“We all hope that sir,” Bates muttered back. “Even the guys on mess duty want someone to officially be in charge.”

“When are you back on again?” John asked.

“Three weeks sir,” Bates reminded. “And I figure we can look into any seafood we can catch. It’d be a nice change,” he offered before shaking his head. “I’ll see if I can find a full set of uniforms for you. Should I add t-shirts too?”

Rodney nodded as he took a sip of his coffee. “Socks too, if we still have any.”

“We’re good on uniforms,” Bates admitted. “Colonel Sumner made certain that we had enough soft material supplies to resupply the whole Expedition at least once.”

“Good, because I need it,” John admitted. He ran a hand through his hair and nodded at Bates’ head. “And clippers?”

“Corporal Jerimiah can cut hair, sir. He’s been dealing with the company’s needs since day one,” Bates informed him. “I’m sure he’ll be able to handle yours.”

Rodney nudged John to start his breakfast before he pinned the sergeant with a look. “Tell me he’s been keeping his tools clean.”

“Yeah, doc, he has. He actually brought a whole haircutting kit with sanitizers and we made sure that it wasn’t considered his personal item,” Bates reassured. “The major will be safe with him.”

“Cool,” John nodded once before he started on his breakfast. “Where should I have him meet me?”

“I’ll let him set that up, sir,” Bates offered before he picked up his tray.

“Sounds like a plan. See you at the morning meeting,” John said.

“So how long do you think it will take O’Neill to show up?” Rodney asked as they settled into their chairs at the morning meeting.

“Are you asking me? Or the room at large?” John asked.

“The room at large,” Rodney admitted. “I know you didn’t have much time to work with him.”

“I didn’t,” John confirmed. He turned to look at the others in the room. “Bates? Ford?”

“General O’Neill doesn’t leave anyone behind if he can manage it,” Bates confirmed. “He’s still got feelers out for Ambassador Faxon and he’s been missing for almost five years.”

“So, he’s not going to take his time to get out to us?” Radek asked.

Miko shook her head at all of them. “I worked at the SGC longer than the rest of you. O’Neill has always been very forceful about getting his people home. And he made certain to tell us all that we were his people. There were ships started at Area 51. I can’t see him letting things slide. I’m sure he’s accelerated the construction so he can send the first one to be done out to us.”

“No, I can’t see him letting things slide either,” John admitted. He thought over what he knew about the other sentinel and hummed softly. “Given that, is he also the sort to make sure that he brings enough supplies to cover? Or will he just do enough and call it a day?”

“Yeah, no,” Carson cut in. “General O’Neill never refused us supplies at the Antarctic base. We always had enough and there was often something extra slipped in.”

“Okay, so what I’m hearing is that O’Neill is a standup CO and will do right by us?” John asked. He leaned back and stared at everyone in the room. When his soldiers nodded, he looked at Rodney’s scientists.

“He’s a sentinel,” Grodin reminded him. “I don’t expect him to leave us high and dry any more than I would expect you to, Major.”

“Okay. So.” John ran a hand over his face and nodded once. “Let’s drop my twittering and figure out what we need to do next?”

“Not flail?” Rodney teased. “We have some good news. Miko’s search of the Ancient database has come up with an actual satellite to go with the plans we found. From the historical records, the satellite was capable of taking out a Wraith cruiser.”

“So, what’s the problem with it?” John asked.

“Power,” Rodney said grimly. “The Ancients let it die long before they left for Earth and never put a new ZedPM in. I think we can use a naquadah generator or two to power it and will buy us more time if the Wraith do come calling.”

“Can we move it closer?”

Radek shook his head. “No. Satellite would not survive trip through asteroid field.”

“Well, that sucks, doc,” Ford muttered as he sat back in his chair. “Do we have the generators to spare?”

“We need to,” John reminded everyone. “Teyla, how certain are your people that the Wraith are headed this way?”

“We know that several worlds have been decimated. Normally the Wraith leave at least some people alive to rebuild. None have been left on these worlds. When Dr. Grodin plotted the worlds in relation to Atlantis, it was very obvious that the hives were headed here.”

“Damn, and I had been hoping that the Keeper hadn’t been able to pass on whatever she learned from Sumner,” John muttered darkly.

“There’s no telling where they got the information about us, Major,” Bates reminded him quietly. “The Colonel wasn’t talking when you shot him. And you also said that you found him by his heartbeat, not his voice.”

“True,” John said before he leaned back in his chair. “But the Keeper did seem to have some kind of a mental connection to him.”

“So what? They’re telepaths?” Grodin asked. He was clearly startled at the news.

“I told Elizabeth that they were not long after we brought our people back from the planet the Keeper was on,” Rodney confirmed. “There was no other way she could have crawled into Sumner’s head the way she did. I felt her brush up against John’s mind, but he’s a sentinel and has a number of protections against mental intrusion.”

“But Sumner didn’t and he might have given away more than he would have wanted,” Grodin concluded.

“I don’t see how he could have kept her out,” John said quietly. He wasn’t thrilled to remember the sticky feeling of the Keeper as she had brushed up against him. There was nothing tolerable, on any level, about the Wraith. “She was very strong. Both mentally and physically.”

“Fantastic,” Bates muttered. “So, we have at least one Wraith hive headed our way, with all the support ships?” He asked Teyla. At her nod, he sat back. “Okay. We’ve got us, Atlantis, maybe an Ancient super satellite, the Athosians, and a supremely bad attitude to keep us safe. Sure. We can do this.”

“That’s the spirit,” John agreed cheerfully. “Given that, let’s get our shit together. Rodney, Radek, and Miko check our generators and see which ones we can give up. Grodin- you, Teyla, and Ford get together and see if you can work out who’s next in the Wraith’s path and see if you can get the word out. If we can warn our allies, that might buy them time to evac and get us some goodwill.”

“That seems wise,” Teyla said with a small smile. “The warning will be well received, even if the Wraith do not come to their planet.”

“Better to be warned and wary than unknowing and dead?” John asked.

“Yes,” Teyla confirmed.

“Okay,” John turned to look at Bates and raised his eyebrow at the Sergeant. “I need you to go over the physical security of Atlantis. If the worst comes to worst, the Wraith may make it into the city and we need to make sure our people have someplace to retreat to that’s safe.”

“Yes, sir,” Bates said with a frown. “Dr. McKay, I would like to get together with you for a brief meeting regarding how deep a Wraith transporter can reach.”

“I don’t know,” Rodney admitted. “But I think I need to assign someone to figure that out with you.”

“Yes, sir,” Bates said.

John took the time to look everyone in the eye to get their measure. No one looked like they were going to shatter in the next hour or two, so he was going to take it. “Okay, people. Let’s get started.”

 

 

Chapter Three

“Why does Tony work here again?” Daniel asked.

“Because he likes being an NCIS agent?” Jack reminded him.

“But it’s orange, Jack,” Daniel complained as they walked off the elevator.

Jack blinked at the color and tried not to wince. “I really was hoping that I had misremembered that.”

“Yeah, no, General,” Tony called as he came around his desk. “They came back through and freshened it about six months ago.”

Daniel walked over to Tony and gave him a hug. “Did they even ask if you lot wanted it orange again?”

“No,” Tony laughed as he briefly returned the hug. “What are you two doing here?”

“We’re inviting you out to lunch if you don’t have a case,” Daniel said with a smile. “Jack has news and a request regarding your last trip for us.”

“I’m good to go,” Tony admitted. He glanced over at the two agents sharing his row and nodded. “You two are on cold cases until lunch. I’ll inform Gibbs that I’ll be out of the office. After lunch, get started on your reports for our last two cases. The sooner you get those done and submitted, the better. Make sure that you run yours through a spellcheck, Todd.”

“Why are you going someplace?” the female agent asked.

“Because I’m being borrowed regarding a case I was working on for the General and that’s all you can know. You don’t have the security clearance for this Todd,” Tony told her, voice even. Jack could smell the irritation start to work its way through the younger man’s mood.

“Your security clearance isn’t higher than mine! I was on the President’s detail,” Todd snapped.

“Guarding Air Force One,” Tony kept his temper and Jack had to admire that. Having someone call his professional competence into question in front of strangers did nothing for him, let alone Tony. “And while that’s important, you didn’t have the same clearance as the guys who guard the President in the Oval Office.”

“And you do?” Todd asked.

Jack noticed that the younger man was sitting back and enjoying the show. A brief glare got him to sit up and email someone. Likely someone who could get ahold of Gibbs. Fucker needed to deal with the attitude problem on his team before Tony did. Not that Jack wouldn’t enjoy watching Tony cut someone down to size.

“Yes, Todd, I do. I have the clearance to personally report to the President and guard him if needs be, which means that my clearance is substantially higher than yours,” Tony snapped. “Now, that’s not the issue at hand. You need to get to work on your cold case and then your reports.” He turned to the younger man and raised an eyebrow at his silent display of attitude. “If you’ve finished letting Abby know what’s going on so she can try to get Gibbs up here, you have reports to do as well, Probie. Also, I want a written report of that case you’re reviewing by the end of business today. Send it to my email. Structure it like you would any other report going out regarding a case.”

“Why?” the younger man asked. He sounded mildly petulant to Jack’s ear.

“Because you’re being graded on what you notice, how you record it, and how you present it,” Tony explained. He glanced at his watch and raised an eyebrow at the time. “Consider it training on how to be an investigator. You have two hours until lunch to review the files and six hours until the end of business to get the rest of your tasks completed. I suggest you two get started.”

Jack watched as he turned away from the obviously junior members of his team to log back into his computer. “I’ll be ready to leave in about three minutes, General.”

“Not a problem, Tony,” Jack murmured. He rocked back on his heels as he let his senses spiral out through the building. There was a great deal of whispering happening around the bullpen as everyone tried to figure out what was going on with DiNozzo. The smart ones were telling the speculators to get back to work. The idiots were ignoring them, trying to jockey closer for a better view and trying his patience. “I was thinking about something ethnic.”

“The Italian place I like is closed at this time of day, but there’s a nice Indian restaurant nearby that does an amazing butter chicken and a curry that’s flavor-filled, but not a heat bomb,” Tony offered. He tapped one final key and then closed down his computer. Standing, he grabbed his badge, gun, and backpack before walking back to stand by Daniel. “You, okay?”

“Lots of tension in here,” Daniel offered. “Emotions running high.”

“We’re cops, Daniel. The tension and high emotion come with the territory,” Tony reminded. He glanced up at the mezzanine and nodded at the older man watching them. “Director Morrow, the General has invited me out for lunch.”

“I’ll do my best to keep Gibbs from being an asshole,” Morrow promised. “Have a good one. Do you think you’ll be back by the end of the day?”

Tony glanced over at Jack and cocked his head to the side. Jack shook his head slightly. “That would be a no, sir. I’ll call this evening if I’m not going to be in tomorrow. If that’s the case, you may want to look into getting a TAD that Gibbs can stand to handle SFA duties.”

“Got it. Better go before the General gets too impatient,” Morrow called.

“More like blind from the orange, but sure, I’ll go with impatient,” Jack said softly as he placed a hand against the small of Daniel’s back and started steering him towards the elevator. “Thank you, Director.”

Tony made certain to get in the elevator ahead of them and Jack kept his back to the door just long enough. There was just the most minuscule crack remaining when the whole floor erupted in talk. “That was fun.”

“You are seriously twisted, Jack,” Daniel bitched softly. “Todd is…”

“A problem, I know,” Tony confirmed. “But I didn’t pick her. I picked McGee, but he’s not working out too well either. He seems to be rather easily led. Which wasn’t all the obvious in his last position.”

“Todd seems to be bouncing back and forth between fondness, exasperation, and anger with you. Any idea why?” Daniel asked as the elevator doors opened.

“Did you bring a car or what?” Tony asked as he led the way off the lift. He kept himself between everyone and Daniel and Jack hummed softly in approval. “And she wants my position and doesn’t think I should have it. I’m standing in her way and she’s not happy that she knows she needs to learn from me.”

“We were driven, because you know that Jack isn’t allowed to drive in D.C. Certain parties get all upset at the idea of him behind the wheel,” Daniel reminded him with a smile. “And that sounds uncomfortable.”

“Eh. It is what is it. And at this point, I ignore her attitude, which pisses her off even more. At any rate, I’m glad that I don’t have to drive.” Tony said as he led them out of the foyer and onto the roundabout in front of the NCIS building. “Who is driving, by the way?”

“Paul is,” Daniel said. He pointed with his chin at their car. Well, SUV. Jack didn’t really care since he wasn’t allowed to drive the damn thing. It got him from point A to point B and it wasn’t uncomfortable. It worked.

“Good, Paul knows the place I want to pick up food from,” Tony said with a smile. He held the door as Daniel got in and only sighed with Jack took it over. “Seriously, I’m a real live federal agent.”

Jack didn’t say anything until he climbed in and closed the door. “And a guide in my pride. Suck it up, buttercup.”

“You are such an asshole,” Tony muttered. “Paul, we want lunch from the Indian Palace around the corner.”

“Got it. They should be pretty quick this time of day. Should I call ahead?” Paul asked as he started to pull the SUV out of the Navy Yard.

“Yeah, I think you should,” Daniel admitted. He glanced over at Jack and tilted his head in question.

Jack nodded once and leaned back as the two guides hashed out their meal. Nothing seemed to be too unusual and he actually liked Indian food, so he expected he was going to enjoy that part of lunch at least. “Can I get a fuller answer about Todd?”

“Damn sentinel,” Tony muttered. He let his head drop back against the headrest and sighed. “She fucked up and was let go from her job in the Secret Service, and she was lucky to keep her security clearance and she knows it. Gibbs rammed her hiring through and got Morrow to sign off on adding her to MCRT, with a minimal FLETC refresher course to smooth things over. Todd thinks her years in the Secret Service mean that she should be the SFA and is upset that I’m not acknowledging her ‘greater experience’. It’s bullshit.”

“You were a cop for almost seven years and have been with NCIS for almost four, right?” Daniel asked. He waved a hand once in agitation. “And you told me that most of the time you’ve been with NCIS, you’ve been on MCRT with Gibbs. How in the hell does she think that her time guarding an airplane trumps your time actually solving cases?”

“No idea, but she does. And Gibbs has been an absolute ass about catering to her issues. I have not told her I’m a Guide, but how she missed it, I don’t know,” Tony bitched. He touched the discreet pin on his lapel signifying his online status.

“Well, she sounds like masses of fun to work with,” Jack snorted softly at that.

The car stopped and Paul waited as the owner of the Indian Palace brought their meal out to them. A little extra cash brought curbside service. Money was occasionally useful. Once everything was loaded in the car, he turned to look at them. “Where too?”

“Why did you two kidnap me from work today?” Tony asked. He leaned towards the food and breathed deeply. “Not that I’m complaining. Because that smells much better than what I was planning on eating for lunch.”

“We got the authorization to start staffing the rescue mission. We need you to run the names,” Jack said. “I think we need to head over to Homeworld so we can get started.”

“I hope you have plates and forks,” Tony muttered.

“We do!” Paul called as he turned around to start driving. “I left the initial staffing list on the seat next to you, Agent DiNozzo.”

“Fantastic,” Tony muttered as he pulled the folder out and started reading.

Jack leaned back and watched as Tony got lost in his work. He reached out and tangled the fingers of one hand with Daniel’s and sighed in contentment. Things were coming together.

“Okay, everyone. The ships are still greenlit and we’re good to go on that. Our planetary MRI has also been greenlit and we can expect to get what we need to power it delivered soon. We’re going to work on that also, so we can look to see if there are any interesting power supplies here on Earth,” Jack said. He had called a meeting of all of his department heads as soon as they’d gotten back to the Pentagon. For once, he had good news to pass on. “We need to have that done ASAP.”

“There’s only a few of us who can work on that, sir,” Carter cautioned. “We’ll work as long and as hard as we can, but I’m not going to sacrifice safety for speed.”

“No, agreed. Not with nuclear material. You should be getting an email soon from the group who will shape the material to fit what we need, so that’ll be our current bottleneck,” Jack told her. “Once we have it, you and your people will need to get it assembled and then we’ll get it into space.”

Carter nodded her understanding. “Yes, sir. I’ll keep an eye on my email for that. With the ships, do you know if we’ll have enough time to do a shakedown cruise?”

“I don’t think so. We’re going to be doing as much testing as we can, but I have a feeling that the trip out to Pegasus is going to be the actual shakedown cruise,” Jack said. He turned his attention to his two ship captains. “Gentlemen, I wish there was enough time to do this the right way, but none of us believe we’ve got it. We’ll be testing your ships at every step we can, but you’re going to need to let us know if anything gets skimped on.”

“Yes, sir,” the two men chorused.

“Okay,” Jack tapped the send button on his email and sent out the document he’d prepared with the timeline that he’d put together over lunch. “The timeline we’re going to need to operate by should be in your email. We’re going to go over it to make sure that I haven’t missed anything, or rushed something.”

The chorus of agreement weighed in and he took a deep breath and started the review. Time was their enemy and he had never backed down from a challenge yet.

 

 

Chapter Four

“We have space suits?” John asked as he watched the scientists unpack a set of boxes from the back of a storeroom.

“Yeah, we didn’t know what we were getting into, so I made sure that we brought two,” Rodney admitted. He waved at the door off of the main science lab. “And they stayed in our storeroom here. Getting into it without us knowing would have been difficult.”

“So, you’re sure no one sabotaged these?” John asked as he leaned over to look in the boxes. The spacesuits looked like the classic suits he was used to seeing in every recent space movie and from NASA. “Did you steal these from NASA?”

Rodney shifted slightly on his feet and winced. “Define steal?”

John shook his head and smiled. “Acquiring without authorization?”

“Yeah, that would be my definition,” Rodney confirmed. “We didn’t technically, but the deal to get them was certainly underhanded.” He pulled the top suit part out of the box and carefully set it on the form he had set up before they had cracked the seals on the shipping containers. Grunting slightly, he started inspecting the seals on display. “From the first look, these seem to be in great shape. We’ll be doing an in-depth inspection before we let anyone take them out into space.”

“Good.” John reached out to touch the fabric of the suit. “At one point when I was a kid, I wanted to become an astronaut. I thought it would be the ultimate flight experience.”

“What happened to that dream, Major?” Miko asked from her seat testing the helmets.

“Oh, being identified as a sentinel, black marks, going to a different galaxy,” John shrugged. “I’m curious to see if I can tolerate one of these, but I’m certain that you have designated drivers for them.”

“Yeah,” Rodney admitted. “There’s only a few of us checked out on them. I’m one, Radek is another, and so is Grodin, and Kavanagh. I think the four of us will be the ones to go.”

“Right,” John tapped the fabric one more time before he stepped back from it. “Make sure that all four of you are aware of the plan. Whatever it happens to be? And that you have ways to get out if needs be.”

“We will,” Radek promised. “All will agree. Even Kavanagh.”

John nodded once before he walked out of the main science lab. It took all he had to allow his guide to put himself in danger without him walking beside him. Rodney knew what he was doing and John didn’t. He had to trust in his guide.

John stuck his head into Medical and raised an eyebrow at the duffels laid out on the treatment beds. Walking into the room, he moved to stand over the duffel. It was full of medical supplies.

“Looking for something, lad?” Carson asked as he appeared across from John.

“You aren’t that much older than me, Carson. What’s with the lad?” John asked with a raised eyebrow. He’d been wondering that for months but never bothered to check. “You use the term more than my name or even my rank.”

“I do?” Carson looked startled for a moment and then shrugged. “Habit mostly. My parents called all the boys: ‘lad’ and girls: ‘lass’ and I picked up on it. I don’t even notice most of the time.”

“Okay, just checking,” John said. He looked down at the duffle. “Why are you packing up supplies in the duffels?”

“Something Sergeant Bates brought up.” Carson poked a duffle. “If we have shelters for everyone, some of the people who get to them may be wounded. I’m making up kits that have basic supplies with directions in them. Just in case.”

“Seems like a good idea. Might want to run everyone through a basic class on what it means when someone bleeds before you trust them with this stuff though,” John suggested.

“Good point,” Carson muttered as he pulled a pad out of his pocket to make a note.

“You might also want to see if we still have the supplies for a camp toilet. Because there’s no telling how long people will be cooped up. And maybe food and water,” John reminded him.

“This is turning into a major undertaking,” Carson sighed as he wrote the suggestions down.

“Preparing for a battle always is,” John admitted. He smiled at the busy but calm atmosphere of Medical. “I’ll leave you to your job then.”

“Right, lad. Remember to eat as you do your rounds,” Carson called as John walked out.

John waved a hand over his shoulder in acknowledgment. Spreading his hearing out, he tried to figure out who would be next on his list. Given what he’d just seen… Bates it was then.

Bates was inspecting one of the small storerooms located on the lowest levels of the central tower. Small being relative. They could easily pack the whole Expedition in the room without much issue.

“Do you think you have enough room here? Or do you need more?” John asked as he leaned against the door.

“Sir!” Bates started and then flushed. “I figure we’ve got a little bit of time, so we can sort some of these rooms into permanent emergency shelters. Put bunk beds in, maybe benches, so people can sit. That way, no one is huddled about.”

“Sounds good, Sarge,” John agreed. He looked over the room and nodded. He could easily see the changes Bates wanted. “Will you be making sure that we have enough room for the Athosians? And will they be making the bunk beds? Did you explain bunk beds to them?”

“That’s the other reason I’m looking at the bigger rooms, sir. It’s not just us,” Bates admitted.

“Good man. Carson is making up medical kits, so after you get this setup, work with him to make sure that everyone has the basics of first aid,” John directed. “Also, you might want to look into portable screens or something.”

“Right,” Bates muttered as he pulled a tablet computer out from under his arm to start jotting down notes. “Why a screen sir?”

“While you or I might not mind taking a piss where everyone can see, I don’t think everyone will be that blasé about it.” John waved a hand at a corner. “Might want to remember to cordon off an area for that. Carson is already putting portable facilities together.”

“Why didn’t I think about that?” Bates asked before he shook his head. “Because I’m not likely to be in here. Got it, sir. Any more suggestions?”

“Just the standards: Food, water, something to do, communications, light in case we lose power down here,” John ticked off. “Something so they can defend themselves if it comes to that.”

“We don’t actually have much ammunition to spare, sir,” Bates admitted. “I wanted to save that for any action we have either off-world or here in the city.”

John turned to look at the only entrance in or out of the room and contemplated it. “Wraith are badasses because they can heal from just about anything we throw at them.”

“Yes, sir, they are,” Bates agreed as he stepped into place beside him. “What are you thinking of?”

“Swords,” John mused. “Battle-axes, baseball bats, clubs, machetes, those bantos rods Teyla uses. Something that a mostly untrained person can use to take out a target from the side.”

“Swords and battle axes aren’t really useful in the hands of someone who’s untrained. A fire axe might be useful, but even then, it might get hung up in the body,” Bates observed.

“Also, blood. We have some weirdly squeamish people in the civilian ranks. We don’t need anyone freaking out at the site of Wraith blood,” John mused. “Plus, their blood stinks in large amounts. Beating something to a pulp is a better bet.”

“And baseball bats or cudgels are easier to manufacture than an ax is,” Bates offered. “I know that the Athosian have a lathe-type thing. We can use that and make up a mess of them, have three or four set up in each room?”

“Good thought,” John praised. “Not something I want to think about but add a set of body bags to the room supplies too?”

“Yeah, having one of those things out and about would not go over well,” Bates mused as he jotted the note down.

“Also, frankly, if they regenerate and are in a body bag, they’re at least minorly confined and the inhabitants of the room would have some warning so they can club it again,” John reminded him. He had to be pragmatic about things. They weren’t sure how well a Wraith could regenerate from a beating. He knew they couldn’t come back from a bullet to the brain.

“We still have some duct tape, right?” Bates asked as he looked his list over.

“About a dozen rolls left that I know of. Why?” John asked.

“Because if anyone does get invaded and they manage to pummel a Wraith to death, wrapping the hands in duct tape seems like a smart idea,” Bates said. He shrugged. “It’s not that easy to get out of duct tape wrapped around your wrists in a confined area.”

“Sounds good. Got any suggestions for me?” John asked. “Requests?”

“No, sir, I think we’re good for the moment. But you might want to check with Ms. Emmagan to see if she has any needs regarding her people,” Bates suggested.

John nodded and let his hearing expand. “Good idea. Do you have someone who can guard the ZPM room?”

“Shit.” Bates looked horrified at himself and John sighed.

“I forgot too,” John comforted. “This isn’t happening this afternoon, Bates. We’ll have time to go over our plans and poke at them before the Wraith get here.”

“Right. Right,” Bates blew out a long sigh of air, and John could hear his heart rate calming. “Yeah, I want everyone going over my plans. Maybe more sets of eyes will see what I may have missed. Couldn’t hurt at least.”

“I’ll get with Teyla and Ford to see what they have on the Wraith Hive’s movement and see if we can get a timeline together,” John offered. “Don’t freak out too badly, Gene.”

“Good luck on that, sir,” Bates muttered. “I’ll be up at dinner.”

“Roger that,” John confirmed. Walking out the door, he let his hearing expand to find the distinctive beat of Teyla’s heart. It was just a bit off the human norm he was used to. Since every single Athosian had the same slightly offbeat to their heart, John could only surmise that the difference was due to her species, not a defect. Pegasus human wasn’t Earth human after all.

“Sir!” Corporal Jerimiah called as John made his way toward his office.

John turned to look at his soldier and smiled. “I was planning on looking you up later.”

Jerimiah nodded once. “Yes, sir. Sgt. Bates mentioned that you needed a haircut?”

“Yeah,” John ran his hands through his hair and winced. He was so far out of regs it was horrific. His hair was actually curling over his ears and the back of his neck. “I need this taken care of ASAP.”

“Right.” Jerimiah walked around him and cocked his head to either side as he took in the mess on John’s head. “You’re going to be losing most of that, sir. I’m good with a basic high and tight, with a mild fade on the sides so it doesn’t look horrible.”

“I don’t care,” John admitted. “This has been bugging me for more than a month and I think the only reason no one’s said anything is I’m your CO.”

“I couldn’t say, sir,” Jerimiah offered with a cheeky grin. “When do you want to get this done?”

“Right after dinner?” John suggested. “I’m going to need to shower right after, so I might as well make it at the end of the day.”

“I can do that,” Jerimiah confirmed. His fingers twitched and John was sure he wanted to run his fingers through his hair to test it for something. “You have a lot of cowlicks, don’t you?”

“Just about every square inch of my head is covered in a cowlick. A high and tight will work just fine. Just a bit longer than Marine standard,” John said.

Jerimiah grinned and dipped his head once. “Yes, sir, we can do that. Thank you for your time. See you after dinner.”

John waved his hand and started walking towards Teyla again. He still needed an update from her.

“…the next planet on the ship’s course is what again?”

John leaned around the open door and took in the mess. There were several of the tablet computers that the expedition used for just about everything and what looked like at least one legal pad of yellow paper tacked up on the walls. That wasn’t even counting the material the Athosians used as a paper analogy that was scattered throughout the whole construct.

“How are things going?” he asked carefully. John wasn’t certain that he wanted to go any further into the room. He had the feeling that Ford, Grodin, and Teyla had a system that only they knew and he would screw up by moving something.

“Good, sir,” Ford said after looking at Teyla and Grodin. “We had more information than we thought we had. I’m already adjusting our gate schedule to warn as many planets as possible in the path of the Hive.”

“Good,” John looked at the lists scattered over the room. “Is there any way we take the battle to them? Maybe give them an explosive gift?”

“We can see if it’s possible?” Ford offered after glancing at Teyla for advice. Her nod firmed up his confidence and he glanced at a list again. “What about moving the Atharians here? Do you think they would come?”

“They are a daughter culture off of mine and we have close relations,” Teyla mused as she tapped her chin in thought. “I know they are not much bigger than we were before the culling. They might be willing to come to be with us while the Wraith pass their world by.”

“We can support them on a short-term basis,” Grodin promised. “If nothing else, we’d be a good place to protect them until the Wraith passes their planet.”

“Meaning they might be here for about a week,” John said after he thought over how fast the Hive was moving. If they brought the Atharians to Atlantis… “Have we thought about a Beta site? For just this kind of thing?”

“It is hard to find a planet that might be considered safe,” Teyla reminded him. “And the only one that I know that is safe, has no room.”

“Yeah, the kids are at the maximum population right now, they wouldn’t be able to support anyone else,” John remembered with a wince. “How many have come through to settle with your people Teyla?”

Teyla sighed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Twenty. And several of those left children behind on their original planet. They are thinking about sending for them, but this will be the true test of how safe they think we are.”

“And your people?” John asked. While he worked closely with Teyla, he could freely admit that he didn’t know enough about the rest of the Athosians to determine what they would do in most situations.

“They know that you are working to keep them safe. I have explained what you and Rodney are to them. We have legends of those who can see more than others, who can feel the truth in a person. No one has seen such as you for generations,” Teyla explained with a smile. “We will do our part.”

“Thank you,” John said after he processed her show of support. It was unexpected but gratifying to get. “Bates is working to put together emergency shelters that will hold your people and mine. We’re stocking them with the basics, including items that can be used to defend the room.”

“We are not experienced in your firearms,” Teyla reminded him.

“At best we’ll see if we can find some Wraith stunners to put in there,” John offered hastily. There was no way he was going to put a gun in the hands of one of the Athosians. While they were incredibly competent people, guns were outside of their experience and it showed in how most of them reacted to firearms. “What we were thinking about were metal clubs that are somewhat close to the bantos rods you use.”

Grodin nodded at that. “That’s a good idea. I know most of our scientists can handle a baseball bat well enough not to cause unintended damage.”

“As can my people,” Teyla agreed. “Training with bantos rods is required of all children, so we will be able to assist in this.”

“Good,” John could feel the tension he’d been carrying since his conversation with Bates dissolve. “Okay, so we have the start of plans?”

“We do, sir,” Ford confirmed after several seconds of thought. “We should have a usable set by the end of the day.”

“I’ll put the email out for a meeting around midmorning,” John decided. “That will give everyone time to put things together, sleep on it, and get back together in the morning for review.”

Teyla gave him an approving look. “That seems very workable.”

“We’ll be ready,” Grodin promised.

“Okay then,” John stepped back and waved at the room. “I’ll let you get back to your work then.”

John turned around and headed out and nudged the door to close. The conversation picked up behind him and he smiled in satisfaction. Things were coming together.

 

 

Chapter Five

“Seriously, why in the hell haven’t you pulled these people in before?” Tony asked as he waved the lists Sheppard and McKay had sent with their reports.

“I had looked into getting several of them on our payroll,” Jack admitted, remembering the last few times with irritation. He tapped his copy of the lists and pushed his dinner plate to the side. “But every time I made noises at approaching them, I got dissuaded.”

“Is that the nice way of saying that your suggestions were shot down?” Daniel asked. “Because I know you’ve been irritated on this level a few times when you’ve mentioned staffing.”

“Shot down, ignored, shouted down, and in several cases rejected with great satisfaction by my superiors,” Jack said as he thought back on his previous efforts. “Some of the people on Sheppard’s list are star operators in their own services and no one wants to give up their superstars.”

“Especially to a black box project where no one leaves,” Tony muttered as he made notes. “The Army and Air Force picks are going to be a bit harder for me to access, but I should be able to get into their records quickly enough with my access through Homeworld. The Navy and Marine personnel can be checked under my NCIS logins if you want there to be a record of the search for anyone observing us. For the civilian requests, I will need to reach out and get help from some of my contacts and frankly, I will want to run those searches here. No one needs to know who is being considered for your program on the civilian front.”

“I can live with that,” Jack admitted. “And yes, run some of the more innocuous Navy and Marine searches under your NCIS credentials. Morrow won’t give us any shit, but there are others looking over our shoulders.”

“Like Gibbs,” Tony muttered as he sat back.

“Like Gibbs,” Jack agreed. “He’s going to become an issue one day, you know this.”

“I do,” Tony said with a sigh. “The only way to get around that would be for me to come over here full-time.”

“I haven’t pushed,” Jack reminded him. As much as he wanted Tony on his team as an investigator, he was aware that the younger man had his own ambitions. It frustrated him at times that he couldn’t just order DiNozzo over to Homeworld and be done with it.

“And I noticed that,” Tony conceded. “I also noticed the spike of frustration as we’ve been talking about it.”

“Jack has never done well when he’s denied something,” Daniel commented from his spot at the conference room table.

“Hello pot, I’m kettle,” Jack sniped back at his guide. It wasn’t like Daniel was all that great at the patience thing either. He just pretended better. And was more charming than he was by several orders of magnitude.

“Smartass,” Daniel offered with a smile. He turned to look at Tony and raised an eyebrow. “What’s keeping you at NCIS?”

“It was loyalty,” Tony admitted. “Now, I think it’s a habit.”

“If it’s a habit, why not come over here? You’ll still be a Fed, you’ll still have your retirement, but you’ll also have respect, an interesting position, and the chance to build our investigative arm from scratch. You could put your mark all over the place,” Jack offered. “You won’t have to deal with people disrespecting your previous experience and you can be open about being a Guide.”

“I’m not exactly closeted, Jack,” Tony sounded amused. “You really want me over here?”

Jack nodded firmly. “Hell, yes. You know we need investigators. You’ve been pulled in often enough to investigate behind the NID to know that we need you. I’m tired of those yahoos trampling over everything and destroying evidence, trust, and accountability. I think you’d do a much better job. And anyone you vouch for as well.”

“And you’re not trying to rescue me from the great orange menace?” Tony teased. He leaned back in his chair and let it rock back and forth. “Why now?”

“Because you’re honestly considering it,” Jack admitted. “We’ve offered every time you’ve come to work for us, but this is the first time you really seemed open to the idea.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Tony said with a sigh. “I’ll think about it. Now I need to get working on these background checks. Who do you want me to start with first?”

“Major Evan Lorne,” Jack said. He reached over the table to drop a file in front of Tony. “I want him to be Sheppard’s 2IC.”

“Is that the file that you went and got as we walked in?” Daniel asked. “Evan’s good people. And willing to take the weird and roll with it.”

“He’d have to be after dealing with you and a bunch of Unas,” Jack agreed with a grim smile. That had not been a good day for him. Damn the Unas and their curiosity about his Guide.

Daniel shrugged and sent a pulse of love and reassurance down their bond. “It worked out in the end.”

“While you two do whatever it is you do to make sure no one loses their shit, I’m going to go find Paul and start investigating Major Lorne,” Tony offered as he pushed back from the conference room table. He grabbed the file and his notepad before heading out the door. “And yes, I’ll join your flying circus, Jack. Let me know where I have to sign!”

“I’ll let Paul know so he can put the employment package together!” Jack called as Tony closed the door. “Damn guide,” he groused fondly.

Daniel chuckled softly as he got out of his chair to hop up on the table in front of Jack. “You adore him.”

“He’s like a slightly more militant version of you. Of course, I like him,” Jack admitted. He wrapped his arms around Daniel’s waist and pulled him slightly forward. He let his head rest against Daniel’s chest and enjoyed the steady beat of his heart. “I don’t think we have a lot of time.”

“No,” Daniel agreed. He ran a hand through Jack’s hair in a soothing gesture. “I don’t think we do either. And that means power.”

“I need to get back to the Outpost to see if it has any more clues about extra power sources here on Earth. We’ll need all the clues we can get to use our planetary MRI effectively.  There’s no way I’m going to be able to brown out the planet to send Sheppard troops. And even with our best engines, it’ll still take our ships three weeks to get out there. I don’t think he has nine weeks. Six is pushing it to the extreme.”

“I know.”

 

“Director Morrow,” Jack said as he sat down, flicking the button on his jacket open. He’d gotten pulled into a meeting with Tony’s bosses after he’d filed his transfer paperwork. He looked over at the agent sitting in front of the Director’s desk. “Agent Gibbs.”

“General O’Neill,” Morrow returned.

“Why am I here?” Jack asked. Not like he didn’t have a clue. Tony had been very explicit in his assessment of Gibbs’ reaction to him leaving.

“You poached my SFA,” Gibbs snapped. “I didn’t give him permission to leave.”

“Seriously?” Jack was surprised that Tony had been right. “DiNozzo is a grown man who can determine where he wants to work. He has decided to come to work for my agency. Given that he’s getting a raise and a promotion at the same time, I’m not seeing why you’re objecting to him leaving.”

“He’s leaving without my authorization,” Gibbs repeated, voice pitched at a growl.

Jack turned to look at Morrow and raised an eyebrow. “Does working with this guy mean that people sign over their independence to do so? Because I could have sworn DiNozzo was an NCIS agent before he switched agencies this morning.”

“He was General,” Morrow looked uncomfortable before he smoothed out his face. Too bad for him that Jack was extremely well-versed in reading the chemical signatures that denoted a person’s mood. Morrow was upset and Jack doubted it was at him.

“Then why is Gibbs acting like a spurned lover?” Jack asked bluntly.

“I am not,” Gibbs snapped. He looked offended by the thought.

“DiNozzo has made a career decision to move on to a new position,” Jack told him. He was holding onto his temper with both hands. Daniel was downstairs, helping Tony pack up his gear, and wasn’t available to smooth things over if he lost his shit. “I suggest that if you want to keep his friendship, you let him go with a smile. You won’t like the results otherwise.”

Gibbs ignored the advice. “You still haven’t said what he’ll be doing.”

“And I’m not going to,” Jack said. He took a deep breath. “You don’t have the security clearance to know, he can’t tell you and your director has just enough clearance to know that he doesn’t want to know. And if you want to stay out of jail, you won’t poke at it.”

From the scent of anger tinging the air, Gibbs wasn’t happy with being warned off. Jack truly didn’t care. The SGC was more important than one man’s sense of entitlement. And Tony had confirmed that he didn’t want Gibbs involved with the SGC, so he wasn’t getting a hint.

“I don’t believe you,” Gibbs declared. “I think you did something to talk Tony into working with you.”

“Really?” Jack chuckled harshly at that. “You think I managed to talk DiNozzo into doing something that he didn’t want to do?”

“You’re a Sentinel. Tony is a Guide,” Gibbs snapped. “You can order DiNozzo to do what you want.”

Jack shook his head in disbelief. “Oh, my god, you have no idea. I have a Guide and I can’t order that man to do anything I want, let alone a Guide who isn’t mine. DiNozzo got offered a better job that uses all his skills and offers him more respect. Why don’t you just be happy for him? He’s not your slave, he’s not my slave, he’s his own man. Let him be.”

“But,” Gibbs started to speak again before Morrow finally snapped.

“Enough, Jethro,” Morrow cut him off. “DiNozzo is leaving. He’s leaving us with my blessing and you’re going to have to learn to deal with the disappointment.”

Jack stood up and calmly rebuttoned his jacket before he picked up his cover. “I would say it’s been an honor, but that would totally be a lie. You need to get him under control, Director. Because I realize that you used DiNozzo to blunt this twits’ edges and I highly doubt you’ll find anyone else who can do the same.”

He walked out on that. He needed to pick up his Guide and Tony,

 

“Should I thank you for defending my honor?” Tony asked as they settled back into the SUV.

“Gibbs is a jackass,” Jack sighed. “And Morrow’s not much better. You know he used you to help keep Gibbs on the straight and narrow, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony admitted. He tapped the button showing he was a Guide once and then let his hand fall. “The SFA I picked will be able to handle Gibbs. He doesn’t intimidate her and frankly, she can out alpha him when she needs to. To say nothing about holding her own with Todd and McGee.”

“Are you okay to be okay with leaving?” Daniel asked.

“I’m good, Daniel,” Tony admitted. “It was time for me to move on and I’m fine with that. No matter how often I go back due to trials.”

“Understood.” Daniel brushed a finger over Tony’s hand once. “Okay, so now what?”

“Now I’ve finished my paper review of Major Lorne, so that’s done. He’s as good as you said he was. I want to start looking for someone to help me in my new job and make my way through the relief lists,” Tony ticked off his chores on his fingers. “However, I do want to meet Lorne in person before I give my final approval of him.”

“I can have him here by this afternoon,” Jack offered.

“More like Paul can, but sure,” Daniel snarked softly. “What are you looking for Tony?”

“I want to get the measure of him,” Tony admitted. “His records show him to be levelheaded under fire, while also being pragmatic and fiercely intelligent. I’m curious.”

“Evan is indeed a very intelligent man, with an artist’s soul,” Daniel shared. “Like every officer who’s survived to serve at the SGC, he is perfectly capable of making war. He’s also a latent Sentinel.”

“And that’s the missing piece,” Tony sat back. “Do you think he’ll be able to stand as Sheppard’s second if he flips on? It can cause tensions if the Pride order doesn’t match the rank structure of the battalion.”

“I think so,” Daniel looked over at Jack and tilted his head, inviting him into the discussion. “Jack?”

“Sheppard is a stronger Sentinel than Lorne will be,” Jack admitted. “I don’t know when Lorne will come online, but I expect that he’s been on the edge of it since he got to the SGC. I’ll have to check everyone else that Sheppard picked, but I don’t think any of the online or latent Sentinels is stronger than Lorne.”

“Good planning that. And his Guide?” Tony asked.

“Lorne says he’s not here,” Daniel said slowly.

“Which is the other reason you want to send him out,” Tony surmised.

“Yes,” Jack admitted. “There were several latent Guides and Sentinels who went out with Sheppard and McKay. All of them knew their status, but none of them had ever admitted to meeting their match.”

“You’re playing yenta,” Tony observed with a smile before he started to hum.

“Do not start singing,” Jack warned. “I don’t need the earworm.”

“Spoilsport,” Tony groused.

Jack just laughed and nodded his agreement.

“Getting back to the point,” Tony pushed. “Once I do the final sign-off on Lorne, I need to get to the rest of the list. I can’t do it on my own.”

“Do you want anyone from NCIS?” Jack asked. He wasn’t thrilled at the idea of pulling anyone else in from the agency, but he was willing to do so if he had to.

“No. I’m going to work on two people after I clear Lorne,” Tony admitted. “Sheppard was very blunt in who he wanted and your packets included his assessment of why he wanted Lt. Jensen and Sgt. Alvarez.”

Jack wracked his brain to remember what Sheppard had to say about the two Army men. He was familiar with their team, but the breakdown of skills always took him a second or two to pull up. “Jensen’s a computer whiz on par with Kusanagi, right?”

“Hah,” Tony snorted. “McKay had his own notes attached to the request. He states that Jensen is a white hat hacker only because he’s in the Army. If he wasn’t in the Army, he’d been on a most wanted wall for everything he’s done. His skills will make the review much easier.”

“And Alvarez?” Daniel asked.

“Sgt. Alvarez is a sniper. The number two sniper in the US and number four in the world,” Jack sighed. “Sheppard wants to get someone who can pick off the enemy he’s fighting, at a distance.”

“If we can’t get Alvarez, we need to see if we can get him another sniper,” Tony mused.

“Who have you got in mind?” Jack asked.

“Ian Edgerton, number three sniper in the US and number five in the world,” Tony said. “I checked into him already. He’s utterly clean.”

“Couldn’t hurt to have two snipers,” Jack mused. He’d done the job several times for the SGC but had always wanted one to be assigned to the Mountain. “Davis?”

“I’ll call him in when we get back to the office, sir,” Davis confirmed from the driver’s seat.

Jack raised an eyebrow at them. “Anything else to know about him?”

“Like all the really good snipers, he’s a Sentinel. As far as I know, he’s not bonded,” Tony shrugged.

“Well okay then,” Jack leaned back and let what he’d learned churn over in his head. “I’ll put in the request to get Jensen and Alvarez here quickly.”

Tony nodded once. “Good.”

 

 

Chapter Six

“I thought those things were creepy when they were on the ground. In space, it’s worse,” John muttered as he stared out the viewport of the puddle jumper. Straight ahead of them was a Wraith Hive ship. It took up most of the starfield and they were over three hundred klicks away from the damn thing.

“It looks like it’s wet,” Rodney said. He was peering out at the hive ship, his hands resting on the case of his laptop. “We’re in space. How can it be wet?”

John shook his head. “I have no idea. But it really does. Can we scan it?”

“Passive scanning only,” Rodney directed. “At this point, we don’t know if the Wraith will notice active scanners coming from an empty spot in space.”

“But they can’t see a cloaked jumper,” John confirmed. “Either by sight or sensors.”

“Correct, they can’t, which is why I want us to use passives only,” Rodney agreed. “And we should be able to slip into the landing bay without an issue. The Wraith don’t know we’re here and we can hit them before they send out any darts to cull.”

John grunted in agreement. “Sounds like a plan I can get behind.” He looked behind them at the team sitting in the cargo bay. “We’re going to go in, do it silently, and place our charges. Once they’re laid, you come back to the ship and get loaded up. We have the locations that Ford and McKay used when they destroyed the Hive that kidnapped our troops, and you’ve all confirmed you know where those areas are. Any questions?”

Eight heads shook in unison and John smiled at that. “Thank you,” he murmured. John turned back to face the viewscreen. He glanced at the man sitting behind Rodney. “You good, Doc?”

“Yes, Major, I am,” Parrish agreed. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the Hive. “Do you think you can get a sample of that thing for life sciences to look over?”

“Maybe?” John said as he pushed the computer to throw up a map of the ship. The landing bay lit up and John guided the jumper to slide in. As the little ship settled into place as close to a hallway as he could get it, he turned to stare at Parrish. “Stay here. Be the one to guide our people in. And if needs be, fly them back to Atlantis.”

“I’ll do that if needs be,” Parrish promised. “But you two had better be on the ship when we leave.”

“We’ll do our best,” Rodney confirmed. He stood up and paused in front of John, letting his sentinel inspect his gear. When John nodded, he headed towards the back of the jumper to open the hatch. “Stacks, grab me a set of gloves?”

Stackhouse pulled several sets of gloves out of the box webbed into the storage compartment over his head. He handed a set to Rodney and the second to John. “I think we all need to be wearing some, sir.”

“Agreed,” Rodney nodded. He quickly pulled the gloves on and accepted a second set before stuffing them in his high pocket. “Do we have any sample bags?”

“Not really, sir,” Markham admitted. “But we do have some gallon Ziplocs?”

Rodney hummed as he took a mess of them to tuck into his other thigh pocket. “Those will work.”

John kept an eye on his guide as he shrugged into his mission backpack. He had seventy-five pounds of homemade C-4 already bricked out, with detonators tucked into the side pockets. “Stacks, there should be an empty backpack over your head, next to the gloves. Give it to McKay.”

“Yes, sir,” Stackhouse confirmed. He stood up and carefully pulled the empty pack down. “It should have enough room if Dr. McKay fills all those bags.”

“Gross,” Rodney muttered before he accepted the bag and shrugged into it. He made sure it was tight to him and then nodded. “I’m ready.”

John reached out and interfaced with the jumper’s computer. He locked the cloak into place. “Parrish, the cloak will stay up, even after we leave. Stacks, make sure to tuck the signal repeater into place before you leave the landing bay.”

Stackhouse nodded. “Roger that, sir.”

“Thank you, Major,” Parrish called.

“Everyone ready?” John asked. He glanced over at the squad and waited until they all nodded. “Let’s go then.”

 

“Are you sure this is the right spot?” John breathed.

“You weren’t with us when Ford and I started to lay the explosives. We went through and laid the charges on the uprights,” Rodney reminded him. “We need to lay the charges at these points.”

“Okay,” John shrugged out of his backpack. “Good thing you prepped these things out.”

“I don’t want us to be here any longer than we have to be,” Rodney reminded him.

“If only there was a way to get rid of the stink,” John muttered as he pulled bricks out and started tucking them in the areas Rodney pointed out to him. “I hope it doesn’t stick.”

Rodney wrinkled his nose at the reminder. “Destroying this thing will help.”

“Agreed,” John tried to dial his sense of smell down and sighed in relief as the stench of death faded. With his sense of smell dulled, John let his hearing move out to encompass the area around them. Tilting his head to the side, he tried to figure out what he was hearing. The Wraith had an utterly fucked up heartbeat that was more akin to an insect than a humanoid. But…

“Rodney, there’s people on this thing,” John informed him, voice urgent.

“Oh, Jesus,” Rodney breathed as he hung his head over the explosives. “We can’t contact anyone, so our people will be heading back to the jumper soon.”

“Yeah, I know,” John mumbled. He stared in the direction of the heartbeats he had heard. “I can only hear about a dozen. And most of them sound like the heartbeats of children.”

“Yeah, that’s bullshit,” Rodney huffed before he started moving faster. “Let’s get these set into place and go deal with the kids. Because no one deserves to be here any longer than they have to be.”

John nodded once and pulled the next batch of explosives out of his backpack. “Right.”

 

“When we get back to the jumper, we’re going to be crowded as fuck,” Rodney bitched softly.

“But we’ll be alive,” John breathed out as he let his senses lead. The first of the survivors was just around the corner. “Two up ahead. They’re the adult heartbeats I’ve been hearing.”

Rodney hummed softly as he stopped behind him. “That’s convenient.”

“Isn’t it?” John snarked back with a smile. He couldn’t hear any Wraith, and they were running out of time. Turning the corner, John stopped and took in the two adults they had come for. He had been expecting to find them in a cell like Teyla and his men had been held in, but there wasn’t one. “What are those?”

“I have no idea,” Rodney said. He sounded as confused as John, but he pulled one of the LSDs from Atlantis out and was using the little machine to scan for information. “Oh, gross. They’re modified hibernation units.”

“Like the ones the Wraith use for themselves?” John asked. He remembered the Wraith waking in cells and moving. The cells he had seen hadn’t looked like the ones before him though. From what he’d seen, the cells had resembled a honeycomb more than the upright tube he was standing in front of.

“No, I’m pretty sure these are strictly for the humans the Wraith pick up to eat,” Rodney suggested. He waved down the hall. “Skeletons, John.”

“Fuck,” John breathed out and gritted his teeth. The two adults in front of him were male, one taller than him, the other the same height and both were younger than them. “We’re getting them out of here.”

“Right,” Rodney growled. He pulled his knife and stabbed a spot just to the side of the first adult. The webbing holding the man in place pulled back and John quickly caught him as he fell out of the tube.

“Rodney, he’s a Sentinel,” John breathed.

“I hope the other guy’s his Guide,” Rodney muttered as he pulled his knife out and stabbed the next control panel. As soon as the webbing retracted, he made sure to catch the man. “Yeah, he’s a Guide,” Rodney muttered as he took the other man’s weight.

The man in John’s arms woke with a growl and jerked back. “Hey. We’re friends.”

“Wraith worshipper,” the man hissed.

“Not a hope,” John hissed back. “Those fuckers need to die. We’re getting you out of here.”

“There’s no way,” man one shook John off and stood tall. He rotated his head on his neck before he reached up to wrap one of his dreadlocks around the rest to hold them in place.

“We have our ways,” John snapped. “We can’t stay. There are some children on this thing that we need your help to get off this nightmare.”

“Tyre,” dreadlocks snapped as he reached out to nudge the Guide. “Wake up.”

“You’re a bastard, Ronon,” Tyre groaned as he straightened up. He stared at Rodney and John before he turned back to his companion. “They’re like us.”

“Can we skip the whole introduction bit and go rescue the kids?” Rodney snapped. He was looking at his watch and pursing his lips. “We’ve got thirty minutes.”

“How long is that?” Tyre asked as he shook his limbs out.

Rodney shook his head. “I honestly can’t tell you.”

“Right, not the issue,” John breathed. He turned towards the spot where the kids were being held. “Let’s go.”

Ronon tilted his head towards the same location and nodded once. “Lots of kids.”

“We’re not leaving them,” John warned. He started moving towards the kids and paused a hundred feet down the hallway as their two rescues grunted in satisfaction. “What?”

“Our weapons,” Ronon grunted as he pulled what looked like a gun out of one of the cells lining the hallway. He passed it over to Tyre and pulled the second out before checking the cells on either side. “Doesn’t look like they have any more. Let’s get going.”

“Twenty-seven minutes,” Rodney breathed out as they started moving again.

Unlike the two adults, the children were being held in a cell. “Fuck.”

“Not a hope, Sentinel,” Rodney snarked. He dropped to his knees before the cell and used his knife to slice the material of the wall open. “This is almost like slicing into a watermelon. Only rotten.”

“Gross,” John muttered as he reached into his Guide’s thigh pockets to grab the sample bags. “Let’s grab some of this for Parrish.”

Rodney shook his head as he dropped some of the bits he was carving off into the bag. “He’s so damn weird.”

“He’s one of your scientists,” John reminded him. He sealed up the bag and dropped it into Rodney’s backpack. The cell door opened with a squelch and John glanced over at Ronon. “Do you know any of them?”

Ronon looked over the children and shook his head. “No. None of them look to be of my people.”

“Not the issue,” Rodney snapped as he sealed the backpack up and shrugged it on. “Twenty minutes. Children, come on. We’re getting you away from the Wraith.”

“Wraith worshipper,” one of the kids whimpered. They were tucking the younger children behind them, trying to protect them from John and Rodney.

“Not worshippers,” Ronon rumbled. “Custos and Dux.”

The child’s face lit up and they turned to the kids behind them. The whispers were easy to hear and John let them convince the other kids that it was safe to leave. Thankfully it didn’t take much time.

“You have a ship?” Tyre asked as he picked up one of the younger children.

Rodney picked up the youngest child and John smiled at how trusting the kid was as it settled into his Guide’s arms. He had no idea if the kid was a boy or a girl, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was keeping the kid alive and getting back to the jumper. Thankfully, horrifically, there was no one else to rescue on the ship.

“Yes,” John said. He reached out with his senses and listened for his men. “Everyone seems to be heading back to the jumper. Stackhouse is muttering about taking samples and Markham is trying not to gag.”

“I don’t blame either of them,” Rodney groused. He looked at John. “Which way?”

John let his awareness of the jumper guide him as he started walking. The kids bunched up behind him with his Guide and their two new friends bringing up the rear. The path back to the little ship was much more direct than their journey away from it. He paused before they entered the hanger. The jumper was still cloaked.

“There’s nothing there,” Ronon rumbled as he glanced over his shoulder at the empty space. Most of his attention was locked on the empty hallways behind them.

“We’ve got some tricks up our sleeves,” Rodney said. He shifted the child in his arms and looked at the kids surrounding him. “I know this is going to be weird, but you need to do exactly as we say.” He waited while the kids stared up at him. When they nodded, he waved at the spot holding their target. “We’re going there. You need to be quiet and move fast.”

“Stacks and Markham are onboard. They were the last two beside us,” John reported. “Time?”

“Three minutes,” Rodney murmured. “I don’t want to thin my shields in here. I have a feeling that the queen would notice.”

“She would,” Tyre confirmed. “It’s not safe for a Dux to use their abilities while around the Wraith.”

“Fucking fantastic,” Rodney growled. He started for the open area of the hanger. “Get moving Sentinel. We’re not staying here.”

“Strong-willed, is he?” Ronon asked as he stood beside John, guarding the rear.

“That’s a slight understatement,” John murmured. He watched as Rodney and Tyre disappeared into the cloaked rear of the jumper with the kids. “We’re following.”

“Something tells me you lot have a lot of secrets,” Ronon observed as he headed for the same spot his Guide had disappeared into.

“You have no idea,” John murmured. “I’m going to take your hand to guide you into where we need to be.”

Ronon gave him a level look before he held out his hand. “Let’s get going. Your Guide was very concerned with the time.”

“Yeah, he was,” John agreed. It took only moments to make their way into the cloaked jumper. The strike force was all crowded into the back of the jumper with the kids tucked into every spare spot. “Everyone accounted for?” he called.

“Yes, sir!” Stackhouse confirmed. He handed over the detonation device as John passed him.

“Thanks,” John grunted as he directed the jumper to close up. Ronon followed him to stand behind the pilot’s chair in the cockpit. John handed the detonator off to Rodney and dropped into his chair. The little ship lit up and John grasped the control yokes to start the process of leaving.

“You want to blow the ship up?” Rodney asked their two guests as they slipped out of the hanger.

“Yes,” Tyre growled. He stared out at the Hive and shuddered. “That’s horrific.”

“Yeah, it is,” John agreed. He looked back at Ronon and raised an eyebrow at the Sentinel. “I figure that wherever you two are from, it’s been a while.”

“Not that long,” Ronon admitted. “They used us as a test. Let us loose on a planet without a Ring, try to hunt us, and survive. When we’d kill one, they’d try to scoop us back up until they wanted to hunt again.”

“Well, that was dumb. I bet you killed a lot of them every chance you got,” Rodney observed.

“We did,” Ronon confirmed. The smile on his face was bloodthirsty and more than slightly feral. “They lost a lot of their troops to us.”

“Good for you,” John grunted. He stopped at the three hundred klick mark. “We’re at a safe distance.” He turned to look at Tyre and the detonator he was holding. “Press the round button under your thumb.”

Tyre glanced down at his thumb and then at his Sentinel before pressing firmly. Everyone glanced out of the viewscreen and waited. It took over a minute, but the forward motion of the hive ship stopped and it shuddered before fires started breaking out in various places on the ship. And then a large fireball burst out of the landing bay.

That seemed to be the death knell for the hive and it crumpled in onto itself, before breaking apart. There was no real explosion, but the ship no longer seemed to be moving with any purpose.

“Is it dead?” Ronon asked.

John pulled up the passive scanners and aimed them at the wreck before them. The sensors registered a rapidly cooling husk, with no life signs. “Yes.”

“Good,” Ronon grunted. He grabbed hold of his Guide and pulled him close. “Good.”

 

Custos: Sentinel

Dux: Guide

 

 

Chapter Seven

“Why isn’t Colonel Everett in charge of the resupply mission?”

“Hello, General Rampart,” Jack muttered as he looked up from the report he was reading. SG1 had checked in with Langara and spent time with Jonas. The report on what he had been up to had been amusing at least. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

“Please,” Rampart gave him a level look before he sat down in the only visitor chair Jack allowed in his office. “You can’t stand me.”

“No, it was your predecessor that I couldn’t stand,” Jack snapped. “You’re just an asshole who gets pushy. And keeps trying to stick his nose in my command to direct my troops. Mostly I just want to ignore you.”

“You’re taking my Marines and sending them out to fight in a war that you started,” Rampart snapped back. “And you don’t give them back.”

“We didn’t start the war,” Jack growled. He held up a hand to stop the other man from talking and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to get into that with you. But to answer your question, Everett isn’t in charge of the mission because he’s not mentally flexible enough to handle what Sheppard has going on out in Pegasus.”

“He’s a Marine,” Rampart protested.

“He’s a hidebound twit who can’t find his way out of a wet paper bag without a set of regulations done up in triplicate and that’s the best part of his personality,” Jack explained, voice even. “When he worked with us six months ago, he insulted all of the Sentinels in the Mountain by saying that they were animals and that the Guides were little sex fiends. If you think I want someone like going out to relieve a Sentinel and Guide pair, you’re insane.”

“You think Sheppard would object?” Rampart asked. Jack noticed that he wasn’t disagreeing with anything else he had said. “Wait, what did Everett say?”

“Yes, Sheppard will object. I object,” Jack confirmed. “And you heard me. Everett insulted every Sentinel and Guide in the Mountain. I’m not going to repeat myself. He’s not coming back, so you can forget that.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Rampart said before he ran a hand over his face. “I didn’t know he was a bigot. I knew about him being hidebound, but not that.”

Jack glared at him. “The two traits tend to go hand in hand. I don’t need to have a Sentinel under my command murder a superior officer for being an asshole. Plus, there isn’t a Guide in the Mountain that will take that treatment with any level of calm. He’s damn lucky they didn’t kill him. Sheppard is capable of doing that too.”

“Sheppard’s file doesn’t hint at that level of aggression or even ruthlessness. His records show a decent officer who fucked up and got sent to the bottom of the planet to cool off,” Rampart said. He sounded confused.

Jack took a deep breath and nodded as he parsed the chemical signatures of the other man’s emotions. Yeah, Rampart was confused about something. “What’s the issue? That I think he can kill without a problem or that his record doesn’t support it?”

“He’s a flyboy. A pilot. There’s nothing in his records that shows that he’d be able to lead a frontline base in battle. It’s the reason why I was pushing for Everett. He’s got combat experience; he’s run a frontline base and he’s lead battles. And unlike a lot of other officers of his rank, he’s got the clearance.”

“On paper, Everett seems like a good bet,” Jack allowed. He leaned back and thought of everything he’d learned about Sheppard, both before he’d left with the Expedition and from the reports they had sent back. “And I get that you think Sheppard doesn’t based on his record before he joined the SGC. However, he’s had more than a year out in Pegasus, fighting to keep his Pride alive. He might have been a bit soft when he left, but he’s not now. He’s a Sentinel who’s been operating in a hands-on warzone for a year and that changes a Sentinel in ways that go beyond what it does to mundane soldiers. Every single report that has been written since they got to Pegasus shows that. And you know it.”

“Maybe,” Rampart sighed and sat back in his chair. “I’d still feel better if you were bringing more experienced Marines.”

“Why?”

“You’re convinced that Sheppard is capable of defending Atlantis. I want to know why you feel that way. The reports I read show a change in him, but not enough for me to fully sign off on him being in charge,” Rampart deflected before he grimaced. “And Marines with more combat experience can only help. The troops Sumner brought were greener than I would like.”

“Fair.” Jack leaned down and pulled one of his tablets out of his desk drawer. It took him only moments to pull up the report that had been filed on the Genii invasion of Atlantis. If ever there was something that showed what type of man Sheppard was, what kind of Sentinel he was, that would be it. Jack tossed the tablet at Rampart. “Read that.”

The office was quiet while Rampart worked his way through the file. It wasn’t short, so Jack took the time to get back to work. He had reports from Tony and Jensen to read. The background checks needed for Sheppard’s choices were basically done and his investigative team had moved on to McKay’s list.

Jack jotted down any questions he had in the margins of each report before moving on to the next. Thankfully Tony was good about leaving him information in easily digestible chunks that contained everything he needed to make an informed decision. The last time Tony had been around when Danny was in the office, he’d asked the younger Guide to try to help his Guide with his report writing. The pissy look that had earned him had been epic.

Smiling softly at the thought of his Guide, Jack moved on to the list of incoming transfers. “About damn time,” he muttered as he saw Edgerton was finally being sent over to get his chance to go down the rabbit hole.

“Okay, so he’s not the soft Air Force pilot I thought he was,” Rampart allowed after more than an hour of reading.

“You do remember that I’m one of those soft Air Force pilots, right?” Jack asked as he looked over the screen of his laptop.

“I barely remember that most of the time. Not like you’ve used your wings a lot in the last twenty years,” Rampart sniped.

“More often than you think,” Jack said as he thought of all the craft he’d piloted while at the SGC. If all of his flight hours were added together, he’d have just as many as Sheppard. Just…of a more exotic variety.

Rampart blinked once and then shook his head. “I’m going to leave that alone.”

“Smart man,” Jack said with a smile. “So, I take it you’re happier with Sheppard’s martial prowess?”

“Yes,” Rampart nodded. “Can you explain something to me?”

“I can try?” Jack offered. He had no idea what Rampart wanted. The conversation they’d been having was disjointed as fuck, but they’d been making sense. He just hoped the sense continued.

“Sheppard’s file states he’s a Sentinel. It doesn’t say what his spirit animal is.” Rampart looked uncomfortable for a moment before pressing on. “I’ve been around enough sentinels and guides to know that your spirit animal influences you.”

“More like the baser parts of our minds and personalities are reflected in our spirit animals,” Jack explained. That was a gross oversimplification of what a spirit animal was to a sentinel or a guide, but Rampart wasn’t one, and he didn’t need the metaphysical parts of the explanation.

“Okay, I can see that,” Rampart said after several seconds of thought. He looked up at Jack and met his gaze head-on. “What is Sheppard?”

“A black jaguar,” Jack informed him with a smile. “He’s protective, fierce, aggressive, and while not fearless, he’s very good at moving through it at a rapid pace. He’s also an excellent hunter and has no problem killing.”

“Oh, fuck me,” Rampart said as he ran his hands over his face. “And McKay? I’ve read his files too. The note that he’s a Guide is almost non-existent.”

“He’s a wolf guide. He’s the one who will build a Pride and teach them how to work together. He has all the same characteristics as his Sentinel, but they aren’t the first thing he reaches for,” Jack explained. “God help the person or group that pushes him to that point though.”

“I would have expected him to be a lion guide, given his reported personality,” Rampart muttered.

“Ha, no. McKay’s a lot nicer than anyone really knows. He’s just too damn smart to settle for anything less than his perfect match and it was implicit in every bit of his being. He wasn’t willing or even able to bond with someone who didn’t match him. It made him uncomfortable to be around for unbonded Sentinels,” Jack said with a sigh. His first meeting with McKay had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions and his inability to separate the reactions of his Pride from his own hadn’t helped.

Daniel had ripped him a new asshole when McKay had come back from Russia to help with the gate. The shit they had put McKay through had been disturbing when he’d bothered to think about it and Daniel had never let him get away with avoiding the uncomfortable shit. The argument that discussion had led to had been bad. But it had gotten McKay back in the US and then down to Antarctica with the Ancient Outpost.

“Do we have any lion guides to send out to them?” Rampart asked.

“Well, Daniel isn’t going out because I’m not,” Jack reminded him softly. “And while there’s one more lion guide in the US, he’s not bonded. I know, for a fact, that he’s not willing to leave the planet at this time.”

“Okay,” Rampart settled in to think things over and Jack left him to it.

Jack pulled up his email and fired off a message to Davis. He wanted to meet up with Edgerton as soon as the man signed his NDAs. He was the Alpha for the Stargate Program and he needed to make sure that he could work with the man. Sentinels were hard to rank before they bonded, but Jack normally had good luck in determining his compatibility with the men and women he worked with.

“Sheppard never used that personality of his before he went to Pegasus, did he?” Rampart questioned softly.

“No,” Jack confirmed. “He’d been a pretty lazy cat, coasting along. He put the work in, but he wasn’t really being challenged and it showed. His first real wake-up call was when his interim guides were killed. Their deaths knocked him out of his comfortable little nest and he had to push beyond the basics. The months down in Antarctica sped the job up, but it was bonding to McKay and defending Atlantis that let him come into his own. Now? He’ll lay waste to anyone who tries to get between him and what he considers his. I’m not planning on doing it. Are you?”

Rampart shook his head. “No. And I won’t let anyone else either.”

“Good man.”

 

“Agent Edgerton, my name is Jack O’Neill. I’m in charge of the madhouse that’s recruited you.” Jack waved a hand at the conference room attached to the offices of Homeworld Security. “Glad to finally meet you.”

Edgerton raised an eyebrow at him and tilted his head in acknowledgment. “How long have you been looking for me?”

“You’ve been on our radar for a while,” Jack said. He wasn’t going to give a timeline because there really wasn’t one. Snipers of Edgerton’s level were too useful not to be known by people in his position. Personally, he’d known about Edgerton since he’d graduated sniper school. Jack waved a hand at the chair across from him before sitting down. “But we didn’t have a reason to call you in until ten days ago. Then we had to wait for you to finish your hunt.”

“Thank you for not pulling me from it,” Edgerton muttered as he settled into place. Jack watched as the younger man stiffened before he took a deep breath. It was only because he was watching for it that he saw the way Edgerton’s eyes dilated and then contracted. Interesting. “What do you want from me?”

“Honestly, we want you to switch over to my agency from the FBI and to be one of the two trained snipers we have on the payroll,” Jack informed him. He reached over and pulled the NDA Davis had prepared over to him and dropped a pen on top of it. He pushed the mass over to Edgerton and smiled ruefully. “Before we go any further, you’ll need to sign this.”

“Hell of a lot of paper for a job interview,” Edgerton picked up the pen and tapped it against the stack. “I looked into you when I got told who I was meeting. You’ve been very low profile among the movers and shakers here in DC for years, but you’ve gotten a lot more overt in the last two weeks. Is what’s contained in here the reason for that?”

“Damn federal agents,” Jack muttered before he smiled at the snort of agreement Edgerton let loose. “Yeah, part of the reason’s in there. And the rest we can go over once you sign. But we’re on the side of the angels and we’ve got Presidential oversight.”

Edgerton stared at him for several seconds before he nodded once. Jack was sure he was going over the information his senses had given him on how truthful he had been. If he’d been in the same place as Edgerton, he would have done the same thing. After all, he had, when Hammond had pulled him back into the SGC. When the younger man opened the packet and started to read, Jack smiled and pulled out a computer tablet to start working. No way he was leaving Edgerton alone to freak out about what the NDA contained.

“For fucks sake,” Jack muttered as he read through the latest update to the ships. Prometheus and Daedalus were proceeding apace, but someone had decided that they needed to stick their oar in on who was going to command them. Someone being a bureaucrat by the name of Davenport. Like hell, he needed SecNav thinking that the ships the Air Force was paying for were going to be commanded by the Navy. He already had the officers picked and they were drilling on the simulators.

Leaning back in his chair, Jack sighed. He could raise hell with the President or he could ignore Davenport and just get his people in place ahead of whatever SecNav had percolating. “Davis!”

“Sir?” Davis asked as he pushed back from his chair in his office.

“Get me DiNozzo and Jensen in here in ten minutes. You should also get Secretary Hatchsaw on the line. Maybe get SecNav and SecDef on the line too,” Jack called. He reached for his bond with Danny and tugged on it gently. He figured his guide was already on his way given how irritated he was, but jerking the bond was a sure-fire way to get Danny mad at him.

“Do you need me to leave, General?” Edgerton asked as he signed the last page of the NDA before pushing it back over to him.

“No,” Jack said as he quickly flipped through the package to confirm all the required spots had been signed. Every single one of them had been and he tucked the package into the expanded file they had on the younger man. “Okay, short, short version.”

“Just as long as it doesn’t get me married,” Edgerton snarked before he waved at Jack to continue. “Sorry.”

“I don’t think I’m qualified to marry anyone, but if I did, I would indeed use the short, short version,” Jack admitted with a grin. “So, the story behind the NDA and the agency that’s pulled you in is that aliens are real, we’ve been to different planets, discovered new worlds and new civilizations, and made enough friends and enemies for a thousand lifetimes. We’ve got people in two different galaxies and the group out in Pegasus need all the help they can get. We pulled you in because the other sniper we have is currently scheduled to go out to Pegasus and our Head of Investigations thinks you would be a good fit for what we do.”

Edgerton goggled at him for a second before Jack could see his composure being rebuilt, one brick at a time. “Well, that wasn’t quite what I was expecting,” he muttered before pinning Jack with a look. “Who’s your Head of Investigations?”

“Tony DiNozzo, late of NCIS and SFA for the DC MCRT,” Jack said promptly. He was sure Edgerton was aware of who was who in the world of investigations. He’d learned that Tony was well known from how his contact over at the FBI had convulsed when Tony had walked in on their monthly meeting. That had been worth the cleaning costs for his rug.

“I’ve heard good things about him,” Edgerton confirmed. “So what? He asked for me?”

“I did,” Tony called as he walked into the conference room. “Holy SHIT!”

Jack froze in place as a large male lion appeared on the conference table in front of him. Holy shit, indeed.

“Fuck,” Edgerton muttered as he stood up and moved around the table to stop in front of Tony.

“Eventually,” Tony agreed with a grin. He glanced at the lion and sighed as his spirit animal appeared on the table. “Bast,” he said with a sigh as she hissed at the big male taking up most of the space. He turned to look at Edgerton and raised an eyebrow. “What’s his name?”

“Aslan,” Edgerton informed him with a smile.

“Okay,” Tony crossed his arms and tucked his hands under his armpits. “I need to keep from touching you for the next little bit,” he said as he looked over at Jack. “I’m pretty sure you’ve figured out what’s going on, Jack.”

“Yeah, I caught the clue,” Jack confirmed with a snort. “He’s signed all the NDAs and gotten the ultra-short version of what he’s gotten into. No specifics. As much as I’m thrilled about this, I’m not because of timing.”

Edgerton looked between them and shrugged. “Holding off from bonding wouldn’t be comfortable for either of us, but I think it could be done if we had to.”

“No, this is going to take more time than the two of you have,” Jack said as he thought over what was happening. “Tony, is Jensen up to speed on what’s needed as your second?”

“Yeah, he’s good,” Tony confirmed as he started to rock on his feet. “We’re not going to be able to get to my apartment.”

“Use the bonding suite we have here,” Daniel cut in from his spot in the doorway. “It’s clean, it’s shielded and it locks. We can hold the fort for the 24 to 48 hours you’ll need. Go.”

Tony glanced at Jack and nodded once when he did. “Come on, Sentinel. Let’s get to bonding,” he said as he turned on his heel and started walking towards the suite Daniel had managed to get put in when Jack had transferred out to Washington.

Edgerton snorted once and followed behind Tony and Jack watched them both go with interest. Both men moved like their spirit animals. All prowl, danger, and a glide that promised everything filthy and fun. “We’re going to be so damn mellow in a few hours,” he said with a resigned sigh.

“Might not be a bad thing with how you summoned us, sir,” Jensen said as he slid into his spot at the conference room table and started plugging in his laptop. “Now why did you call us in, sir?”

“Right,” Jack pulled his attention back to the issue at hand. “SecNav is trying to choose skippers for our BC-305s. I need a complete breakdown of everything he’s been trying to pull to get that going.”

“Since when did he get the authorization to do that?” Daniel asked.

Jack smiled grimly. “He didn’t.”

 

“What is this about, O’Neill?” SecDef asked.

“I have a memo from SecNav stating that he will be choosing the captains and crews for the two ships that the SGC is building,” Jack informed the conference room bluntly. “I have captains and crews already for them and they are being trained on their ships and how to fly them. At this late date, I can’t change the crews without pushing back the launch dates and potentially losing Atlantis. And we can’t lose the city.”

“Okay, I got that,” SecDef agreed, “Who is doing what?”

“SecNav is agitating for the Navy to take over crewing our ships under the guise of, well, ships,” Jack explained. He turned to look at Davenport and raised an eyebrow at the man. “No idea why he thought it would be a great idea to propose this now.”

“It’s illogical for the Air Force to staff ships. The Navy is in charge of ships for the US Military, not the Air Force. We have the institutional knowledge of how to operate and fight ships,” Davenport protested.

“We asked you for crew members for our ships over a year ago,” Jack reminded. “And you told us that you had no one to send us. We asked twice. When we were declined, again, we started training our people internally. I have the officers for each ship chosen and the crews are working on their ships along with the building crews because we need every hand we have. We don’t have the time to deal with the politicking you’re trying to push.”

“It’s not like your people will know what they are doing with these ships. How could they?” Davenport sneered. He waved a hand at Jack and turned his attention to SecDef. “At best, he’s a pilot. And they have one-on-one fights. Ships of any stripes will have more complex battles.”

“Really? You’re going to try to pull this?” Jack demanded. He shook his head in disgust. “Yes, I’m a pilot. I’ve been in dogfights both here on Earth and in spaces against our enemies. I’ve piloted both small, one-man fighters, and the large ships that the Goa’uld use as their version of an aircraft carrier. The men who I have slated to become the captains of our ships have the exact same experience. The men you have in mind? While they might be able to win a fight here on Earth, don’t have the experience needed to win out in space. I don’t have the time to train them right now. We can talk about possible captains later.”

Davenport flushed red with temper and Jack eyed him critically. He could smell the frustration pouring off the man in waves. He didn’t care. He was far too stressed to be polite to the man. “You may be a general, but you are not the one making the staffing decisions for this venture. The President will certainly hear about this.”

“I’m hearing about this,” SecDef reminded him. “And I’m going to tell you this once. Stay out of the staffing decisions for the SGC. You don’t have the needed experience for any of it. And if you bring this shit to the President, I’ll ruin you.”

“But!” Davenport protested.

Jack suppressed a growl at the man’s attitude. “Why are you pushing this?”

“The Navy runs ships. Not the Air Force!”

Daniel cleared his throat from where he was sitting next to Jack. “But the Navy is not the one running this program, Mr. Davenport. The Air Force is and has been since the inception of the SGC. The other services have been approached for personnel to fill our manpower needs and the Army and Marine Corps have utterly stepped up. The Air Force has been the major contributor of troops since day one. The Navy has only a few sailors in the Mountain and none of them are front-line troops. If you want to have any say in this? Get us the troops we need.”

“Who do you have in the Mountain from the Navy?” SecDef asked. He stared at Davenport and raised an eyebrow at the man when he shrugged. “General O’Neill?”

“We had an issue concerning a sub. We needed to use Navy resources to respond to the threat successfully. In the course of that event, we pulled in several naval personnel and they signed on with us,” Jack explained. “Chief Beryl Cooper and her whole shift were folded into our command. She’s still there.”

“And?” Davenport asked. “Who is she?”

“One would think you would do your homework on who is at the SGC before you attempted to change things around,” SecDef observed. He turned his attention back to Jack. “This is going to stop and you’re going to look over your forces to see who might work best at the SGC. And they won’t be assigned to a ship. So don’t try to get around me on that.”

Jack leaned back and watched as Davenport fumed at SecDef’s pronouncement. John Howard was no one’s pushover and he was happy he’d called him in. He just had to wonder if this was going to bite them on the ass later.

 

 

Interlude

Tony sighed as he pushed open the door to the bonding suite for Homeworld. “Somehow I feel like I have an unfair advantage,” he muttered as he watched Edgerton glide into the room.

“Why?”

Shutting the door felt like the first step in an inevitable process and Tony wasn’t 100% sure how he felt about it. He wasn’t freaked out and maybe that was the thing. He wasn’t freaking out about meeting his Sentinel and bonding all in the same day. And he had no idea why. And that was what was freaking him out.

“DiNozzo?” Edgerton asked as he stepped into his space.

“I worked with Jack and Jensen to do the background check on you,” Tony admitted. “I feel like I know way more about you than you know about me.”

Edgerton smirked once. “I looked into you when you started making waves on NCIS’s MCRT.”

“Okay?” Tony said. “I have no idea what that means.”

“You aren’t the only person here with knowledge,” Edgerton reminded him. He held out a hand, palm up. “I’ve known you were a guide for years. I just didn’t know you were my guide. I know the cases you’ve worked; I know the convictions you’ve gotten, and I know the precincts you’ve been in. I’m aware of all the public stuff. The relationship you and I will build will be between us. It will be something for us.”

“Okay,” Tony said before he took a deep breath and placed his hand in his Sentinels. The mental feel of Edgerton, no Ian was delicious. He was a deep well of calm that held within its heart, a storm that felt like it could shatter countries. Tony was entranced. Woven through the calm were the other traits that made up his Sentinel. Decency, honor, humor, intelligence, and curiosity were all there in abundance. As were integrity, ruthlessness, and pragmatism. “You feel pretty damn amazing.”

“So do you,” Ian said as he pulled him close.

They stood together, faces tucked into each other’s necks, breathing each other’s scents. “This is nice,” Tony murmured.

Ian hummed in agreement. “It is.” He pressed a kiss against Tony’s neck and he shivered. “You taste amazing. Can I touch you?”

“Yes,” Tony agreed. He held still as Ian ran his hands down his arms until he could wrap his fingers around his wrists. As Ian started to explore his body, Tony let his shields relax and slowly started to learn the shape of the man before him. “Do you want me to take my shirt off?”

“Please,” Ian said. Tony stepped back out of his Sentinel’s grip and pulled his shirt over his head. Like every other online Guide, he’d gotten all the hair on his body removed within weeks of his gifts blooming. It made things more interesting when a lover ran their hands over his skin. He threw the shirt on the couch taking up one wall of the bonding suite before stepping back into Ian’s embrace. “You can touch me.”

His Sentinel’s hands immediately went back to his skin and started mapping each and every inch of it. “You’ve never not led from the front, have you?” Ian asked as he traced the scars that dotted Tony’s skin. Careful fingers traced a long scar that curled around his ribcage and moved onto a second that bisected his bicep. “I’m going to be growling at so many people.”

“Honestly, I don’t try to get hurt,” Tony murmured. He hummed softly as Ian moved on to another scar and traced the whole thing. “I got winged taking down an asshole who wanted to kill any sailor they could find. I objected. He died.”

“Good.” Ian’s hands moved down to rest on the button of his pants. “Can I take these off you?”

“Yes,” Tony agreed. He held still as Ian slowly unbuttoned his pants. As the zipper for his pants was pulled down, he shimmied his hips slightly to allow them to fall. As they hit his ankles, he stepped out of them and kicked them to the side. “Want to push my briefs down too?”

The growl his Sentinel let out was soft and focused and Tony sighed in relief as thumbs hooked into his waistband and pushed the briefs he was wearing down. When his cock was free of the fabric holding it, he moaned. “Are you going to get naked so I can see you too?”

“That means I have to stop touching you,” Ian protested.

“I can cut the clothes off you?” Tony offered. He had a knife in his pants and he kept it sharp enough that he could easily cut through clothes if he needed to.

“I don’t have anything else to wear. We’ll have to get back to that idea later,” Ian promised. He took a deep breath and stepped back from Tony before reaching for the hem of his shirt to pull it over his head.

Tony hummed appreciatively at the skin his Sentinel revealed. Ian had more scars than he did and his fingers itched to trace each and every one. He wanted to learn the stories behind each of them and see what they felt like under his lips. As Ian pushed his pants and underwear off, Tony caught sight of his cock. Long, thick, and uncut, it was more than half hard. It took effort, but he pulled his mind off his libido for a brief moment. “I’m clean. I got tested when I joined the SGC.”

“I was tested as a matter of course after my last hunt was completed,” Ian said. “I’m clean.”

“Oh, good,” Tony sighed. He eyed Ian’s cock and smirked. “Before we leave here, I want to blow you raw.” From the way Ian froze in place at that, he wasn’t against the idea. Tony tucked that response away for later review and walked over to the bed and pulled the duvet and top sheet off. “Could you grab one of the bath towels?”

“Good idea,” Ian agreed. He headed for the en suite and quickly returned with a towel and two wash clothes, one of which was in a small bowl. He laid the towel out with a careful flick of his wrist and waved at Tony. “Please?”

“Yup,” Tony said. He climbed on the bed and sprawled out on his back. When he let his legs spread, he could tell he’d caught another layer of Ian’s interest. “All yours, Sentinel.”

“You’re beautiful,” Ian said softly. He stood at the end of the bed and let his fingers trail over the tops of Tony’s feet. “Are you ticklish?”

“Bottom of my feet and back of my knees only. The rest, I’ll play at it, but I’m not,” Tony confirmed.

“Oh, good,” Ian said. He moved to kneel between Tony’s feet and started exploring every inch of skin with lips and fingers.

Tony did his best to breathe through the sensation of his Sentinel mapping him with every sense. The feel of his hands on him was delicious and he basked in the attention. It had been ages since he’d been touched on more than a casual level and the sheer luxury of Ian’s hands on him was overwhelming. “You like this?”

“Yes,” Tony hissed. He kept himself still with an effort. Everything in him wanted to move. And yet, he also needed to lie still as his Sentinel imprinted on him. The war his instincts were waging in his mind was making him twitch. “More.”

“If I was a less kind man, I’d draw this out,” Ian mused. He moved up to place a kiss against Tony’s sternum. He moved over to one nipple and ran his tongue around the outer edges of it. “And I will. One day,” he concluded before he moved up to inspect his neck. “Oh, you like me here?”

The shiver that wracked his frame made Tony moan. “Yes.” Ian nuzzled the join between Tony’s shoulder and neck before he gently bit at the site. “Oh, fuck. Do that again,” Tony panted as a shot of lightning raced down his spine and settled in at his dick. How had he never known that he liked his neck being bit?

From the breathy chuckle Ian gave, he was enjoying his reactions. Tony didn’t care. Pleasure was burning through him and he was enjoying every moment of the imprinting process. As Ian moved over his skin, he slowly, but surely allowed his shields to thin. With each layer pulled aside, Ian got closer and closer. It would take only a small twist for him to draw his Sentinel into his mind. But…

“I can feel what you’re doing,” Ian said, breath hot against his ass. Tony hummed softly in question as he let his legs spread. If Ian was going to be by his ass, he was going to make things as easy as possible for the man. “Tease.”

“It’s not a tease if I mean to follow through,” Tony protested. “And yeah, this is what I need to do so we can bond. Do you have your sensory impressions of me down?”

“I do,” Ian confirmed. He pressed a kiss against Tony’s ass and then gently bit. “I want in you. But I also want to taste all of you.”

“I support your ambitions,” Tony said with a breathless laugh. “But I really want you in me.”

“All of me, Guide?” Ian asked. His mental presence nudged against Tony’s shields like his fingers were nudging against his asshole. “Gonna let me in?”

Tony hissed as Ian’s finger slid into him. “Yes.” He relaxed his shields even further and drew Ian’s mind into his. “You feel wonderful.”

Ian hummed softly as he carefully moved his fingers. “How much do you want me to stretch you?”

“Oh, fuck,” Tony said. He breathed carefully as Ian’s fingers moved within him. “You can fuck me now. I’m stretched enough.”

“I’m not going to hurt you, Tony,” Ian said. His fingers were steadily moving within him and Tony moaned as they grazed his prostate. “Now, once we get to know each other better and I know what you like, if you want me to open you up with my cock, I’ll be happy to do so.”

“Oh, I want that,” Tony said, breath hitching as his nerves fired with each brush of Ian’s fingers. “But I’m stretched enough. Get in me.”

“Pushy,” Ian muttered before he pulled his fingers free and wiped them on the towel Tony was lying on. He pressed the head of his cock against the furled bud of Tony’s asshole before pushing steadily in. “Damn.”

“Ian.”

“What?” Ian asked. He looked down at Tony and carefully placed his hands on either side of his torso as his cock slid all the way in.

“Move,” Tony ordered. He had been as patient as he could possibly be, but he needed his Sentinel to move. “Now.”

The laugh Ian let out was breathless, but his Sentinel did as he demanded and started fucking him in earnest. “So pushy.”

Tony nodded once as his attention was caught by how his body was reacting to what Ian was doing. Each thrust in tagged his prostate and he moaned at the delicious stimulation. It took more effort than he really wanted to think about to relax his mental control enough that they could bond mentally as they were physically. He was going to trust that the psychic plane could handle the bond they needed on that level because pleasure was stealing everything from him and he barely got their mental bond in place before his orgasm ripped through him. The moan he let loose was hoarse and Tony opened his eyes to see Ian staring down at him. “Sentinel.”

“Guide,” Ian confirmed before he started to come as well.

His eyes fell shut again and Tony concentrated on the feeling of Ian. Every inch of the man above him was imprinted on his mind and he reveled in it. As the aftershocks of pleasure moved through him, he rode the feelings, using them to reinforce their connection, weaving their mental connection tighter until there was no way to separate them. Their bonds, physical, mental, and psionic, all locked into place and Tony relaxed.

“I can feel you in my head,” Ian murmured into his ear. Sometime in between his first orgasm and their bond solidifying, he’d maneuvered them so Tony was the little spoon. “That’s amazing.”

“It’s one of the things with being a Lion Guide,” Tony explained. “When a Lion Guide uses their gifts in battle, they can get lost in the connections they build. The bond with you is the strongest that I will ever have.”

“Lion Guides can facilitate a form of battle meditation where the army they are part of works as one,” Ian said softly. “The bond means that if you go too far, fall too deep, I can pull you back. Right?”

“Exactly,” Tony confirmed. “I’ve never done it. I don’t think that Daniel has either. But given the program we’re now with, that may change in the future. The only Lion Guide I know who has actively used that skill is over 80 and not in the know about this program. He’s also a widow.”

“Oh, god,” Ian hissed. “World War II?”

“Yeah,” Tony confirmed. “Ernie and his Sentinel survived Iwo Jima and made it home. They married the same woman and had a lovely family. Unfortunately, Ernie has outlived both his Sentinel and his wife. His kids have moved away, so he’s lonely. I go see him every week to see how he’s doing. His most overt gifts have mostly shut down now, but he taught me a lot about being a Lion Guide.”

“Is he part of General O’Neill’s pride?” Ian asked.

“Not officially,” Tony said. “But Jack knows about him and has gotten with Lee and Amanda to make sure that Ernie is taken care of. I’m not the only one who visits him, I’m just the only Lion Guide who does.”

“No one knows what kind of Guide he is, do they?”

“Nope,” Tony said. He shrugged once before settling back into his Sentinels arms. “He doesn’t want a fuss most of the time. His status as a Medal of Honor winner causes enough issues when he goes out.”

Ian exhaled sharply at that and Tony patted the arm wrapped around his waist. “Fun. Sounds like I need to get to know this man. And yes, I am certainly going to pull him into our pride.”

“Good. He needs it.”

“Sleep Guide,” Ian urged. “I can feel the urgency of what’s happening outside of these rooms through you and we need to get some rest to settle ourselves before we dive back in.”

Tony took a deep breath and let the exhaustion he had been ignoring rise up and between one beat and the next, slid into sleep.

 

Part II