Through the Glass, Part 5
Title: Through the Glass, Part 5
Rating: PG
Warnings: adult themes
Pairing: will eventually be Beckett/McKay, by way of McShep and het McKay/OFC
Summary: Elizabeth is having a bad day, and so are Radek and John.
Author's note: Thanks to Kerensa for her beta work. She made some very helpful suggestions for future events.
"Doctor Weir? Do you have a moment?" Radek Zelenka hovered in the doorway to her office, his fingers flexing nervously around the notebook computer held in both hands. He seemed as ready to dart away as to enter.
"For you, Radek, always. What do you need?" She gave him a smile that she hoped was reassuring but it seemed to have no effect as he seated himself in the chair across from her.
"We have a problem. After Colonel Caldwell was implanted with a Goua'uld, Rodney and I became worried about unauthorized access to the systems here. It would be all too easy for someone in NID to create havoc or try to suborn the city without anyone being the wiser."
"I thought we had systems in place to prevent that."
"We do. Systems designed by people at the SGC. People like Colonel Caldwell know those systems are in place. And if a hacker knows it is there, it can be bypassed. Not effective."
She thought about it for a moment, then nodded her understanding.
"Rodney and I designed a watchdog program to run invisibly, to warn of any attempt to access or change code. It logs every single instance that someone uses the city's intranet. No one but the two of us knew it was there and I check it frequently."
"No one else? You might have told me," she felt irritated. "Actually, you should have gotten my permission for this."
"We felt that the fewer people who knew, the more secure it would be. After all, you are a good target for the Trust to try to implant. We would then have warning that you were not yourself, so to speak."
"As much as I want to dispute the logic of that, I think it's an argument for another time. I assume the reason you brought this to my attention is that the program found something."
"Ano. I am afraid it has. The system has flagged several incursions in the past few weeks. Small changes, programs entered by back doors, protected files accessed. As if someone were looking for information and testing to see whether anyone would notice."
"Protected files?"
"Mission reports, personnel files, medical files."
"Why wasn't this brought to my attention immediately?"
"I wanted to narrow the search down, to get some idea who it was before telling anyone else."
"I see. So you think you know who it is? And why isn't Rodney here, too? I would think he'd be all over this!" Elizabeth blinked and narrowed her eyes at Radek, who began to fidget. "He doesn't know about this, does he?"
"I start to tell him one night, and Ashleigh comes to drag him away." Radek rubbed his forehead with his hand. He looked weary and a bit frazzled. "That is other thing. Few people here have the skills to do this and fewer still have access to systems. The security breaches began shortly after new personnel arrived on Daedalus. I think I know who it is and that Rodney will not listen if I tell him."
It was suddenly obvious to her who Radek meant. "Ashleigh Burke."
He nodded solemnly. "Yes."
"He has not been seeing her that long, do you really think he wouldn't listen to you?"
"Rodney does not listen to me. I am accused now of being jealous of him, of wanting his position. Elizabeth, chraňbůh! I do not want his job!" Radek was growing more upset and began to pace. She was very glad he had closed the door behind him as he came in, as he was speaking louder and more forcefully as he went on.
"When he first begins to see her, he tells me personal things, you understand? Things I do not wish to know but he must share anyway. He tells me she is timid flower, she does not want…" he blushed a bit, made a waving motion at her, and she nodded to indicate she understood. "A few days later, only days, I see a Marine leaving her quarters, who later brags about her. Will Rodney listen? No! He will not! He tells me -- me! his friend!-- that I do not wish to see him happy."
He collapsed into the chair again. "Elizabeth, this is not true. He was very lonely, I could tell. At first I was happy for him, hoped perhaps he would be less… Rodney… if he found love." Radek sighed and shook his head.
"She has only been here, what three or four weeks? Hard to believe so much can change in that time." Quiet reigned for a few moments as she thought about the situation. "We need evidence, aside from the logs. What you have shown me here constitutes a basis for an investigation, but it is all circumstantial. Since her job is working with the systems, we can't shut her out of them or restrict her access in any way without tipping her off. I am authorizing full video surveillance of the labs where the terminals are kept. I assume you can hide the logs of that from her?" At his nod, she continued. "If we have video proving that she is the accessing the systems at the time of the breaches, we can charge her. I want enough proof that we can send her back to the SGC to be prosecuted the next time the Daedalus leaves."
Radek nodded sadly in acceptance. "Poor Rodney. For him to think he has found his soulmate and have it end so." He blinked. "I miss my friend. I hope, perhaps, when she is gone, I will have him back again."
*~*~*~
Major John Sheppard knew he was screwed. And not in a good way. Ironically, he was screwed because he had been… screwed. There was not going to be any good coming of this. The only thing he could do was limit that damage.
He jogged up the steps from the control center to Elizabeth's office. Radek was just leaving and passed by with only a nod. Elizabeth was sitting at her desk with a very unhappy look on her face. Evidently he wasn't the only one having a bad day. He was about to make her day worse.
He announced his presence by clearing his throat and she waved him in.
The door slid shut at a thought and locked. There was no way he wanted anyone walking in on this particular conversation.
"We have a problem." Which, he considered even as he said, was probably the understatement of the century, like saying that the Wraith were creepy or Kolya was a bit of a jerk.
"I think we have more than one, but let me hear your problem before I tell you mine."
"Someone just tried to blackmail me."
"Blackmail?"
"God, this is hard." Here it goes, he thought. His career, his place in the city, everything. At least though, he would know that he did the right thing. "I was approached by Ashleigh Burke…" John stopped when he saw Elizabeth's raised eyebrows.
"Really. Go on."
"Right. She said, that if I don't do what she wants me to, she's going to tell what she knows. She'll tell Caldwell and then I'll be out." He was finding it very hard to put it all in words, to tell it so that it made sense to Elizabeth, which was hard because he was having trouble making sense of it himself.
"One thing at a time. What does she want you to do?" The neutral mask dropped over her face, the one she used for intense negotiations.
"She didn't say. Said she'd let me know when the time came."
"Okay. I hate to ask, but I think I have to know. What secret is so terrible that she thought she could use it against you?"
"Elizabeth…" He couldn't look her in the eyes, couldn’t make himself form the words.
"John. Why did you come to me with this?"
"Because I am not going to give anyone that kinda power over me! Once I gave in she'd own me and I can't let her do that! I like to think I have more self-respect than that! God, did you even have to ask?"
The look Elizabeth gave him was warm and reassuring. "Of course not. But the only way to take the power away from her is to be willing to reveal the secret. And John? I know you and there is nothing that you would do that would make me respect you less. Whatever your secret is, you can tell me."
Her words warmed his middle and gave him the courage to go on. "She found out that I've had… relationships… with… other men."
The look on her face was indecipherable. "How did she find out?"
The question stunned him. It hadn't occurred to him to ask that, but the implication stunned him. "Oh, God. He didn't! No, God, he didn't tell her, I don't believe it!"
"Who? Not…?" Now she looked completely stunned. "Rodney?"
John dropped his head in his hands and nodded mutely.
"You and… Rodney?" She seemed to be having trouble with the concept.
"I can't believe he'd do this to me! I trusted him, he knew how important it was that no one knew!"
"Well, I have to admit I had no clue. I thought you were best friends but… lovers?"
"No, it wasn't like… that! We are, were, best friends, just… with benefits, you know? Little stress relief now and then."
"What happened?"
God, he couldn't believe he was talking to her about this! "We just decided we weren't going to do it anymore. It wasn't enough. For Rodney at least. "
"And for you?"
Feeling a bit like he was on a shrink's couch, he raised his head to look at her. "For me… it might have become more, if it had gone on." The admission hurt like tearing a bandage off. He hadn't really admitted that before, even to himself. "I still can't believe he told her!"
Weir was quiet for a bit then suggested. "Maybe he didn't."
"How else would she know?"
"Radek was just here. Someone has been hacking the medical records, among other things. Was there anything in your records that suggest…" she tilted her head toward him and let her voice trail off.
It was his turn to think in silence. "I uh, had an infection, urinary, a while back. Carson gave me a lecture about 'safe sex' afterwards. Seems condoms can.. uh… prevent them." He felt his face heat up. "And uh, there was, uh, some bleeding. Once. But Carson assured me he wouldn't put anything incriminating in my file."
"Hmm. And I am sure he didn't. But Carson also would never omit the details of treatment either."
John rubbed his hands over his face, emotionally exhausted. "So, now what? If this gets out, I am out of the Air Force, out of Atlantis, out of the Pegasus Galaxy. I'm stuck back on Earth."
"Hopefully, it won't come to that. I have some ideas. For now, I need to you to make her think you are playing along."
Rating: PG
Warnings: adult themes
Pairing: will eventually be Beckett/McKay, by way of McShep and het McKay/OFC
Summary: Elizabeth is having a bad day, and so are Radek and John.
Author's note: Thanks to Kerensa for her beta work. She made some very helpful suggestions for future events.
"Doctor Weir? Do you have a moment?" Radek Zelenka hovered in the doorway to her office, his fingers flexing nervously around the notebook computer held in both hands. He seemed as ready to dart away as to enter.
"For you, Radek, always. What do you need?" She gave him a smile that she hoped was reassuring but it seemed to have no effect as he seated himself in the chair across from her.
"We have a problem. After Colonel Caldwell was implanted with a Goua'uld, Rodney and I became worried about unauthorized access to the systems here. It would be all too easy for someone in NID to create havoc or try to suborn the city without anyone being the wiser."
"I thought we had systems in place to prevent that."
"We do. Systems designed by people at the SGC. People like Colonel Caldwell know those systems are in place. And if a hacker knows it is there, it can be bypassed. Not effective."
She thought about it for a moment, then nodded her understanding.
"Rodney and I designed a watchdog program to run invisibly, to warn of any attempt to access or change code. It logs every single instance that someone uses the city's intranet. No one but the two of us knew it was there and I check it frequently."
"No one else? You might have told me," she felt irritated. "Actually, you should have gotten my permission for this."
"We felt that the fewer people who knew, the more secure it would be. After all, you are a good target for the Trust to try to implant. We would then have warning that you were not yourself, so to speak."
"As much as I want to dispute the logic of that, I think it's an argument for another time. I assume the reason you brought this to my attention is that the program found something."
"Ano. I am afraid it has. The system has flagged several incursions in the past few weeks. Small changes, programs entered by back doors, protected files accessed. As if someone were looking for information and testing to see whether anyone would notice."
"Protected files?"
"Mission reports, personnel files, medical files."
"Why wasn't this brought to my attention immediately?"
"I wanted to narrow the search down, to get some idea who it was before telling anyone else."
"I see. So you think you know who it is? And why isn't Rodney here, too? I would think he'd be all over this!" Elizabeth blinked and narrowed her eyes at Radek, who began to fidget. "He doesn't know about this, does he?"
"I start to tell him one night, and Ashleigh comes to drag him away." Radek rubbed his forehead with his hand. He looked weary and a bit frazzled. "That is other thing. Few people here have the skills to do this and fewer still have access to systems. The security breaches began shortly after new personnel arrived on Daedalus. I think I know who it is and that Rodney will not listen if I tell him."
It was suddenly obvious to her who Radek meant. "Ashleigh Burke."
He nodded solemnly. "Yes."
"He has not been seeing her that long, do you really think he wouldn't listen to you?"
"Rodney does not listen to me. I am accused now of being jealous of him, of wanting his position. Elizabeth, chraňbůh! I do not want his job!" Radek was growing more upset and began to pace. She was very glad he had closed the door behind him as he came in, as he was speaking louder and more forcefully as he went on.
"When he first begins to see her, he tells me personal things, you understand? Things I do not wish to know but he must share anyway. He tells me she is timid flower, she does not want…" he blushed a bit, made a waving motion at her, and she nodded to indicate she understood. "A few days later, only days, I see a Marine leaving her quarters, who later brags about her. Will Rodney listen? No! He will not! He tells me -- me! his friend!-- that I do not wish to see him happy."
He collapsed into the chair again. "Elizabeth, this is not true. He was very lonely, I could tell. At first I was happy for him, hoped perhaps he would be less… Rodney… if he found love." Radek sighed and shook his head.
"She has only been here, what three or four weeks? Hard to believe so much can change in that time." Quiet reigned for a few moments as she thought about the situation. "We need evidence, aside from the logs. What you have shown me here constitutes a basis for an investigation, but it is all circumstantial. Since her job is working with the systems, we can't shut her out of them or restrict her access in any way without tipping her off. I am authorizing full video surveillance of the labs where the terminals are kept. I assume you can hide the logs of that from her?" At his nod, she continued. "If we have video proving that she is the accessing the systems at the time of the breaches, we can charge her. I want enough proof that we can send her back to the SGC to be prosecuted the next time the Daedalus leaves."
Radek nodded sadly in acceptance. "Poor Rodney. For him to think he has found his soulmate and have it end so." He blinked. "I miss my friend. I hope, perhaps, when she is gone, I will have him back again."
*~*~*~
Major John Sheppard knew he was screwed. And not in a good way. Ironically, he was screwed because he had been… screwed. There was not going to be any good coming of this. The only thing he could do was limit that damage.
He jogged up the steps from the control center to Elizabeth's office. Radek was just leaving and passed by with only a nod. Elizabeth was sitting at her desk with a very unhappy look on her face. Evidently he wasn't the only one having a bad day. He was about to make her day worse.
He announced his presence by clearing his throat and she waved him in.
The door slid shut at a thought and locked. There was no way he wanted anyone walking in on this particular conversation.
"We have a problem." Which, he considered even as he said, was probably the understatement of the century, like saying that the Wraith were creepy or Kolya was a bit of a jerk.
"I think we have more than one, but let me hear your problem before I tell you mine."
"Someone just tried to blackmail me."
"Blackmail?"
"God, this is hard." Here it goes, he thought. His career, his place in the city, everything. At least though, he would know that he did the right thing. "I was approached by Ashleigh Burke…" John stopped when he saw Elizabeth's raised eyebrows.
"Really. Go on."
"Right. She said, that if I don't do what she wants me to, she's going to tell what she knows. She'll tell Caldwell and then I'll be out." He was finding it very hard to put it all in words, to tell it so that it made sense to Elizabeth, which was hard because he was having trouble making sense of it himself.
"One thing at a time. What does she want you to do?" The neutral mask dropped over her face, the one she used for intense negotiations.
"She didn't say. Said she'd let me know when the time came."
"Okay. I hate to ask, but I think I have to know. What secret is so terrible that she thought she could use it against you?"
"Elizabeth…" He couldn't look her in the eyes, couldn’t make himself form the words.
"John. Why did you come to me with this?"
"Because I am not going to give anyone that kinda power over me! Once I gave in she'd own me and I can't let her do that! I like to think I have more self-respect than that! God, did you even have to ask?"
The look Elizabeth gave him was warm and reassuring. "Of course not. But the only way to take the power away from her is to be willing to reveal the secret. And John? I know you and there is nothing that you would do that would make me respect you less. Whatever your secret is, you can tell me."
Her words warmed his middle and gave him the courage to go on. "She found out that I've had… relationships… with… other men."
The look on her face was indecipherable. "How did she find out?"
The question stunned him. It hadn't occurred to him to ask that, but the implication stunned him. "Oh, God. He didn't! No, God, he didn't tell her, I don't believe it!"
"Who? Not…?" Now she looked completely stunned. "Rodney?"
John dropped his head in his hands and nodded mutely.
"You and… Rodney?" She seemed to be having trouble with the concept.
"I can't believe he'd do this to me! I trusted him, he knew how important it was that no one knew!"
"Well, I have to admit I had no clue. I thought you were best friends but… lovers?"
"No, it wasn't like… that! We are, were, best friends, just… with benefits, you know? Little stress relief now and then."
"What happened?"
God, he couldn't believe he was talking to her about this! "We just decided we weren't going to do it anymore. It wasn't enough. For Rodney at least. "
"And for you?"
Feeling a bit like he was on a shrink's couch, he raised his head to look at her. "For me… it might have become more, if it had gone on." The admission hurt like tearing a bandage off. He hadn't really admitted that before, even to himself. "I still can't believe he told her!"
Weir was quiet for a bit then suggested. "Maybe he didn't."
"How else would she know?"
"Radek was just here. Someone has been hacking the medical records, among other things. Was there anything in your records that suggest…" she tilted her head toward him and let her voice trail off.
It was his turn to think in silence. "I uh, had an infection, urinary, a while back. Carson gave me a lecture about 'safe sex' afterwards. Seems condoms can.. uh… prevent them." He felt his face heat up. "And uh, there was, uh, some bleeding. Once. But Carson assured me he wouldn't put anything incriminating in my file."
"Hmm. And I am sure he didn't. But Carson also would never omit the details of treatment either."
John rubbed his hands over his face, emotionally exhausted. "So, now what? If this gets out, I am out of the Air Force, out of Atlantis, out of the Pegasus Galaxy. I'm stuck back on Earth."
"Hopefully, it won't come to that. I have some ideas. For now, I need to you to make her think you are playing along."