It's only just beginning: chapter 2
Title: It's only just beginning
Author: Betty (sarah_jones on lj)
Fandoms: Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Primeval, JAG, Doctor Who/Torchwood, Animorphs & Angel
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters or fandoms. I wish I did… *g* I don’t make any money with this! I’m just writing the story for fun and hope someone else will enjoy it, too.
Summary: The story starts after the Stargate Atlantis season finale. There will be new enemies and new adventures, as well as new characters from other fandoms. Old enemies and older characters will return as well.
chapter 1, timeline for all chapters
chapter 2:
Day 6: Atlantis:
Jack sat on a bench on one of Atlantis balconies. The past days had been a like a rollercoaster. As if losing so many of his friends and co-workers wasn’t enough, no, now everything and everyone seemed to need his attention. Was no one able to do anything without him?
When everyone was busy talking to each other for a second Jack had used the opportunity to sneak away. He needed a break, even if it was just for five minutes.
Breathing in deeply Jack enjoyed the smell of the ocean and the silence until he heard footsteps coming closer. Of course someone had found him. It was like he was magnetic or something and everyone was drawn to him.
“Not even 5 minutes,” he muttered. “For crying out loud, can’t I have 5 minutes alone?” It was a rhetorical question. He didn’t expect an answer. And he didn’t care who was there either. He wasn’t going to turn around and check. Maybe whoever it was would just go away and leave him alone. He however didn’t believe he’d be that lucky. But one could hope, right?
“Alright, I’ll just come back later…,” a voice said.
Jack was on his feet faster than he would have thought possible, considering how old and tired he felt.
“Sam,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. There she was, standing right in front of him. A smile appeared on his face and the tiredness and sadness disappeared.
“Hey,” Sam said returning his smile. He had looked so tired when he got up. But then his expression changed and she couldn’t help but smile. The next second she was wrapped in his arms.
Jack pulled her close, holding onto her tightly and breathing in her scent. He knew he shouldn’t act that way in public, knew that the military frowned upon relationships within the ranks. But right now he didn’t care. He was just glad to have her back, glad that she wasn’t at the SGC when it blew up. Besides, he had left the SGC and retired so they could be together. It wasn’t his fault that they kept bringing him back. If they didn’t like his relationship with Sam they would have to find someone else to do his job. There just didn’t seem to be anyone left with his kind of experience.
Sam wrapped her arms around Jack, holding onto him as well. Hearing about what happened to the SGC had been hard. She was off-world on the General Hammond’s first test flight, as were SG-1. She was grateful for that, but they still lost a lot of good people and dear friends in the explosion.
As soon as they were back in Earth’s orbit Sam beamed down into Atlantis and went to find Jack. She felt a little uneasy, knowing that he was her commanding officer once more now. How would that affect their relationship? Would they have to go back to being just friends? It had been hard enough to be separated for so long when she went to Pegasus to take command of Atlantis. She didn’t want anything else to keep them apart anymore. She needed Jack, always had. They kept their feelings locked up inside for so long. She just didn’t think she could do it anymore. So, when Jack pulled her into his arms Sam felt relieved. This wasn’t them being two military officers, this was them being together. She sighed silently and smiled. This was the first good thing that happened in days.
“I’m glad you’re back,” Jack said when he finally let go of her.
“Even though I interrupted your five minutes of alone time?” she asked teasingly.
Jack chuckled slightly. “You can interrupt anything anytime,” he said lovingly, just feeling happy that she was there. When he got the call that the SGC had been destroyed he wasn’t sure if Sam was in there. The General Hammond had been due to leave for several days and they kept putting it off. What if they still hadn’t left and Sam was at the SGC? Or someone else of SG-1? He had feared and thought that he lost one or all of them so many times already. He had been sure even that he lost Sam at one time or another. It never was a pleasant feeling and it didn’t get easier over time. He felt like each time a part of him died. No, this job, this life definitely wasn’t easy. But right now none of that mattered. Now Sam was here, she was alive and with him. And for this moment that was all that mattered.
“That’s good to know.”
They sat down on the bench, snuggling close together.
“Did we miss the funerals?” Sam asked silently.
“No, we waited. It’s going to be tomorrow.” There wasn’t much left of the bodies, so waiting a few more days hadn’t been a problem.
“Then we can go together,” Sam stated and he nodded. His hand found hers and they sat in silence for a while.
“The new recruits are coming in a few hours,” Jack then said.
Sam glanced at him, not looking too happy. “Replacements?”
“Yes. We lost a lot of people. And we need to be ready in case this was only the first strike.”
Sam nodded. She was sure that this was only the beginning.
“There were explosions on other planets. We picked up some transmissions. I think it’s safe to say that the explosive came through the gate.”
“And it was big enough to break the shield.”
“Yes,” Sam said. This so wasn’t good. Whoever sent the bomb had to be technologically very advanced. And they didn’t negotiate or send warnings.
“I guess they want to isolate planets by destroying their Stargates.”
“Which means we can expect ships to arrive soon,” Jack stated. He knew things were bad. Hopefully they wouldn’t get even worse.
“Will Atlantis shield hold?” he then asked. They couldn’t afford to lose another gate, or even the whole city.
“The ancients built it. So I’m pretty sure it will hold about anything as long as we can power it. But Rodney is probably checking everything already. I’ll talk to him later.”
“Ah yes, the search for ZPM’s... which brings me back to new teams. We need to send them out there, looking for ZPM’s. I’m gonna do Daniel a huge favour and make him search Atlantis for clues as to where to find them.” He grinned, which brought a small smile back onto Sam’s lips.
“Come on, let’s go and talk to the others.”
“Already? My five minutes can’t be over yet, can they?” he whined.
Sam chuckled, got up and pulled him to his feet as well.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 6: Atlantis - a big room:
Mac looked around the room. It was big and very strange. She had never seen anything like the building they were in. This was definitely classified.
She had been picked up, given the non-disclosure-agreement to sign and then was brought here, wherever here was. This was where the tests took place: a psych evaluation, a health evaluation, shooting range, basic fitness, self defence and a simulation of a possible mission. They had finished the first 2 already.
Once everything was done and they were accepted they would be told what this was all about. Mac hoped she’d make it that far. Now that she was here she really wanted to find out what was going on. She wasn’t sure if Harm really wanted her to succeed, but he had told her to do what she thought was best for her. They had moved to London for his career. Now it was her time. She loved him for that, but she had the feeling that maybe he hoped she wouldn’t get in. Then he wouldn’t have to start looking for a job in California and they wouldn’t have to move. It would be a less complicated way. But since when had either of them chosen anything simple?
Glancing around the room Mac looked at the other people. They were all military, but not all were american. So this really was an international operation. Her curiosity grew.
Her eyes fell on a young man. He somehow looked familiar, but she didn’t know how she might know him. He was american, as a small flag on his jacket showed. They had all been given the same clothes, well, almost the same. The flags varied.
A few minutes later they were called to go to the shooting range.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 6: Atlantis gym:
John Sheppard stood at the side of the room, observing. He was in charge of the self defence test. Ronon, Teyla and Teal’c were sparring with the new recruits. Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell was standing beside John. The man had offered to help and John liked the company. He liked Cameron as well. They had always gotten along during the brief times they worked together. And now it looked like they would be working together a lot more in the future. He liked the thought.
“She’s good,” Cam commented and wrote down something on a list. John was glad that Cam was taking notes. That way he only had to add a few thoughts later.
“Yes, she is, which is a good thing. She is one of the possible team leaders.”
Cam nodded. “Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie. She’s a lawyer. Didn’t think lawyers could fight like that. Not that Teal’c couldn’t take her down in a second…,” he added with a smirk, proud of his team member. The Jaffa was still as fit as ever, even though he was a lot older now. Cam was still curious about what had happened during that time loop, or whatever it was. He had refused to let Sam explain in detail what probably happened - too much science babble for his liking. She was the only one willing to talk about the thing however. Teal’c simply refused. Why was beyond Cam. The events had been changed anyway.
Cam was brought back to the situation at hand when one of the new recruits started to complain. The group including Lt. Colonel MacKenzie was done and the next three recruits were assigned their sparring partners. Apparently a young man didn’t think Teyla was a match for him.
“Come on guys, you’re not serious, are you? Why don’t you let me fight one of them?” he suggested gesturing at Ronon and Teal’c. Then he glanced at a blonde recruit who was paired with Ronon. “Let the women do their thing.”
The blonde glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked and looked at the guy threateningly. John had to give it to her, she really did look like she could kick his ass, even though she was smaller and thinner. She actually looked more like a model than a soldier. He had wondered what she was doing here when he first saw her. But the way she was looking at the ‘big mouth’ lieutenant now showed that you shouldn’t mess with her. There was just something in her eyes.
John sighed and stepped forward. “Easy now. The sparring pairs are non-negotiable,” he declared in a voice of authority. He would have liked to just throw the lieutenant out. He had been way too pleased with his shooting performance earlier and boasted around like an idiot. John wouldn’t want him on his team or any other for that matter. But they needed men, so he would at least give him the chance to finish all tests before kicking his ass out.
The lieutenant held up his hands as if to show that everything was fine and he didn’t do anything.
“Don’t go easy on him,” John told Teyla. She answered with a nod and a smug smirk. He couldn’t wait to see this.
John stepped aside and gave the signal to start. He hardly blinked before lieutenant ‘big mouth’ was on the mat. A grin appeared on his face and John had to remind himself that laughing at the new recruits would not be nice. Then he heard Cam snicker beside him as Teyla sent the recruit onto the mat again.
“Make sure you write that down.”
“On it,” Cam replied, made some notes and then glanced back at Teyla. Her moves were really great and he loved her fighting outfit.
“Hey, we’re not here to evaluate Teyla,” John said noticing Cam's look.
Cam glanced at John, looking a little sheepish. Then he shrugged.
John smirked. Watching Teyla fight really was something.
“She’s taken, you know,” he then said.
Cam glanced at John, unsure if the other man was stating a fact or trying to express a claim. But he definitely felt a little disappointed. Teyla was nice, beautiful and a strong woman. And they had gotten along well during SG-1’s brief visit to Atlantis almost three years ago. Not that they had a lot of time to get to know each other. Cam had hoped to change that now.
“So, you and her…?” he asked curiously.
John turned to Cam, raising an eyebrow. “Me and her what?” he asked smirking slightly. But then he shook his head. “We’re just friends.” Maybe he had wondered if they could be more at one point or the other, but it never happened and he was okay with it. Teyla was one of the most important people in his life and the way it was there was nothing to complicate or even compromise that. It was best that way.
“She has someone back in Pegasus. He’s Athosian, like her, and the father of her son.”
“Oh.” Cam was a little surprised. But what had he expected? Just because Teyla seemed to be single three years ago didn’t mean she still was.
“Must be hard for her then, to be so far away.”
John nodded. It had to be. He glanced at Teyla, who was helping the lieutenant up from the mat, and wondered how she must feel. Maybe he should talk to her. She had assured them that it was okay for them to come here, but staying on Earth might be an entirely different thing. And he didn’t think Atlantis was going anywhere anytime soon.
He then pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced at the other pairs that were sparring. They had a job to do after all. The ‘model’ was doing a pretty good job. He could tell that Ronon was going easy on her, but she kept up pretty well anyway.
Cam followed John's gaze and looked at Ronon and his opponent. Right, the evaluation…
“She’s not bad. Who’d have thought that when she entered the room?” Cam mentioned and shared a look with John. Then he looked at his list. “Captain Rachel Berenson, Marine Corps," he said silently. Then he started to write down some observations about her.
John looked at the blonde marine, feeling rather curious about her now. She looked like she could be a model, actress or something, and she definitely looked way too young to be a Captain already. She had to be good. Well, she was good from what he had seen so far today. He’d keep a close eye on her.
The third new recruit was not bad either. Teal’c looked like he was holding back a little as well, but noone was expected to keep up with the Jaffa warrior.
“What’s his name?” John asked.
Cam glanced at his list. “Captain Jason Becker. The new British member of the IOA suggested him.”
John groaned. The IOA had never been on his list of favorite people. But then he had to think of Woolsey. He was part of the IOA as well. Over the past year he had sort of started to like the man. And now that he was dead John actually missed him. He sighed. Thinking about the explosion was not a good idea. They had lost too many good people in it.
“I guess we have an IOA member who actually had a good idea,” Cam said before writing down some notes about Captain Becker.
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Day 6: Atlantis - waiting room:
Jason Becker ruffled his wet hair with a towel. Then he put the towel away and casually leaned against the wall in the waiting room. They had a break before the next and final test. It was enough time to take a shower and get something to eat. He was just about to walk over to the buffet when the blonde, who had been in his self defence group, entered the room. Her hair was still a little wet, she was wearing the same clothes as everyone else and didn’t have any make up on, but she still looked perfect. Once again he couldn’t believe that she was a soldier. What was someone like her doing here? With her looks she belonged on a magazine or on the screen, starring in a movie. But despite her looks she seemed to be rather good at what she was doing.
“You did well in there,” he said as she passed him.
The blonde turned to face him. “I know,” she answered. Then she started to smile. She didn’t come off as arrogant, just self confident. And her smile was breath-taking.
“You weren’t so bad yourself,” Rachel added. She had mostly concentrated on her own sparring, but had been able to glance at the others from time to time.
“At least I didn’t land on my ass every 10 seconds,” Jason answered with a smirk as he glanced at the third member of their self defence group. The guy really had it coming after the way he acted, but Jason almost felt sorry for him. Well, he did until he noticed that the guy was boasting around again and apparently tried to chat up one of the military personnel. She was a pretty redhead, probably about his age.
Rachel chuckled at his words. He seemed like a nice guy and he was kinda hot as well. Not that that mattered. They were both trying to get a job here, which meant there could never be anything more than friendship between them. And besides, she wasn’t good at dating anyway. Maybe she really had a heart of ice like her last boyfriend had told her or she simply didn’t have one anymore. It might not have come here with her. It probably was still back home - with Tobias.
Rachel frowned and tried to push away the memories. This really wasn’t the right time to think about her past. She distracted herself by glancing at the arrogant guy and the redhead.
“She seems to be enjoying herself,” Rachel stated sarcastically. She wondered if she should go over and tell the guy what exactly she thought of him. No, that wasn’t a good idea. She had a temper, a really bad one. She had worked hard on controlling it and usually managed by now. But this was too important to take any risks. She wasn’t exactly sure what this job was about, but she knew it was something big. It was all classified and mysterious. But besides that she had a gut feeling that this was where she was meant to be. That might sound weird, but she never ever felt like this was where she was supposed to be, not since the Ellimist brought her here, saving her life, by throwing her into an alternate reality. Everything always felt wrong. Her friends and family weren’t the same, her whole life was really different and most importantly Tobias simply didn’t exist in this world. Nothing was like it should be. Well, there were no Yeerks, which was good. But it all still didn’t feel right - until now. She wasn’t about to mess this up because of an arrogant little snob.
Luckily it looked like the redhead could handle herself. Rachel couldn’t hear what she said, but the guy walked off looking rather miserable.
“Want to get something to eat?” the tall dark haired recruit next to her then asked.
“Sure,” Rachel agreed and followed him. “I’m Rachel by the way. Captain Rachel Berenson, US Marine Corps,” she introduced herself. She was a marine for about nine years now, but somehow she still felt like just Rachel. But she liked being a marine. It was the only thing she could imagine doing with her life. She just simply was a soldier through and through. Her cousin Jake had once asked her what she’d do when the war was over. She always thought everything would go back to normal somehow. And it kind of had for her. She ended up in a world where things were normal, always had been. But for her nothing would ever be normal again. She wasn’t normal, even if she didn’t morph, which she rarely did anyway. She was a soldier, had been since she was 14 years old and once her first war was over she enlisted and went to find another one. But still, despite all that, it felt strange to introduce herself with her rank.
“Captain Jason Becker, UK Special Operations.”
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
About an hour later they were all led into another room where General O’Neill, Colonel Sheppard and a few other people waited for them.
The redhead, Lt. Laura Cadman, called their names, dividing them up into groups.
Great, the snob was on her team. Of course he had to be. Rachel turned to look at Jason and they both sighed. Well, at least Jason was on her team, too. Their leader was a Lt. Colonel MacKenzie, who turned out to be a woman. Rachel smiled as they all gathered together. Somehow she didn’t think the snob liked to get orders from a woman.
After everyone had found their team members the General addressed them, welcoming them and wishing them good luck. Then he explained that they were all going to be sent to different locations and would be simulating a mission. Colonel Sheppard explained the details. Each group would have to try and retrieve certain objects from enemy territory. There would be enemies around and possibly allies or even hostages. The enemy was to be neutralized, the allies and hostages rescued if possible. It sounded simple enough.
Rachel glanced at the gear they were given. The fake weapons were really high-tech. But what did she expect in a place like this? The whole building looked like out of a Science Fiction movie.
Once all teams were ready the General wished them luck once more and told them to be expecting anything. Nothing was impossible. As if Rachel needed to be reminded of that. She had seen aliens, been on other planets, could turn into animals and lived in an alternate reality. She didn’t think much could shock her anymore.
Jason glanced at the General, wondering what the man meant by anything. Well, he’d find out soon enough. Besides, it wasn’t like much could shock him anymore. After joining the Arc he was sure he had pretty much seen the weirdest stuff. What could possibly throw you off after you fought dinosaurs, other creatures from all kinds of eras - past and future - and travelled through anomalies through time?
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Recruits - team 1:
Colonel Jack O’Neill walked through a corridor in Atlantis, followed by his team. Cassie was part of it, which was a good thing. They knew each other already and he knew she was a capable Lieutenant. Apart from that they both knew what this was all about. They knew about the Stargate program. That he even had to take this test was ridiculous. He used to lead SG-1, for crying out loud! Well, it technically wasn’t him, not this body. But he remembered it. He might technically just be 21, but he had the memories of about 56 years.
“This is way cool,” one of Jack's team members declared in broken and heavy accented english. Jack frowned and ignored the man. Why did he get stuck with two Russians? He knew why. They had to be a welcome present from the General. He knew how much he hated working with Russians. The man was him, or better, he was him - or whatever. He was the clone. The Asgard Loki had made him to replace the real Jack O’Neill while he studied him. Jack was just a clone, but he was determined to do something good with his life. After finishing High School - again - he joined the Air Force - again. And now he was about to join the Stargate program again as well. It was the perfect opportunity. They needed men and he was one of the few people who actually came with experience. He was glad to be back, but he still wished the circumstances were different. Hank was dead and so were a lot of other people he knew. Whoever did this was going to pay. But first he needed to pass this stupid test.
They proceeded on their mission, looking for the artefact they were supposed to find. Jack hoped it wasn’t a real artefact. Daniel would get a fit if anything happened to one of his precious artefacts. And they had Russians on the team. Something was meant to go wrong. It always did when Russians were involved.
About twenty minutes later they had eliminated five enemies. The Russians didn’t seem to be surprised about the alien looking people. They probably already knew about the Stargate program. The Russians didn’t seem to take the word classified quite that serious.
After rescuing a hostage, Daniel - who kept grinning at him in an irritating way - they found the artefact. He held it in his hands. Mission accomplished. Enemy dead, hostage saved, artefact retrieved, no dead Russians. He grinned happily. Then the alarm went off.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Recruits - team 2:
Mac rushed forward and jumped, pushing Lieutenant Cane down with her. Something grazed her arm and she knew that she would have been hit if this wasn’t just a simulation. She frowned. But at least she hadn’t lost a team member, even though the thought was tempting. Cane had been irritating her from the beginning. He thought he knew everything better, didn’t want to follow orders - or were it just her orders? - and was just damn right annoying. He reminded her of Vukovic, but at least Vukovic had had a reason to be as arrogant as he was. He was good. Cane wasn’t. He almost got them killed. Well, it was just a simulation, so they couldn’t actually get killed, but it would be bad anyway.
“Stay down,” she muttered while trying to peer over the knocked over table they were hiding behind. “That’s an order,” she added in an annoyed tone of voice. Then she heard shooting and the enemies dropped dead. They weren’t actually dead, as they were holograms, but still… At least Mac could count on her other two team members. Becker and Berenson were doing a fine job so far.
“You alright?” Becker asked looking at them.
Mac nodded. “Just a graze,” she said indicating her left arm.
“What? There’s nothing there,” Cane said dismissively.
Rachel frowned and shared a look with the Colonel and Jason. How did they end up with the idiot? Rachel wondered if they would throw her out if she accidentally shot Cane in a friendly fire incident.
“Come on, let’s go. We have an artefact to find,” Mac announced.
Cane got up, leaned against the wall and then yelped. He was on the ground again. The wall had actually been a hidden door that opened when Cane touched it. Mac raised her gun, signalled the others to wait and moved into the room. Lights went on once she stepped inside and she could see the room much more clearly. It was some kind of science lab. Maybe the artefact was in here?
“All clear,” she called. Becker and Berenson entered, guns raised, while Cane picked himself up off the ground.
“Check for the artefact,” Mac told them and started looking herself.
The door shut as soon as Cane stepped away from it.
Mac, Becker and Berenson spun around. Becker was closest and started towards the wall where the door had been. Hopefully they weren’t locked in.
Having a bad feeling Mac looked around for Cane, who had wandered off into the room and was standing next to a table.
“Don’t touch anything,” she warned, but it was too late. Cane had leaned forward and touched whatever was on the table. The room was bathed in bright light and something seemed to be radiating off the device. An alarm went off just as Berenson pulled Cane away from the device.
“I don’t suppose that’s part of the simulation?” Becker asked from the door, which he luckily had been able to open again.
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poster / book cover for this chapter:
chapter 3
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