Colonial Crossover: chapter 4
Title: Colonial Crossover
Author: Betty (sarah_jones on lj) & Katie
Fandoms: Stargate SG-1, SGA & Battlestar Galactica
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 survivors of the fight against the Ori ships get thrown into another galaxy where they meet the Colonial fleet. Will they unite against the threats of the Cylons, the Wraith and the Ori?
Warnings: some character deaths implied
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chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3
chapter 4:
Atlantis - about 3 weeks later:
Elizabeth Weir sat in her office. She felt drained and had difficulties concentrating. She still couldn´t believe what had happened. They had just managed to stop two hiveships from getting to earth and thus made up for their big failure. But if she had thought that that time had been difficult she had been very wrong. The worst part had just started after that. When she sent the Daedalus with several of her expeditions members to earth to assist in the fight against the Ori she would never have imagined how it ended.
Hearing that they had an incomming wormhole from Stargate Command about two weeks later she had been thrilled, because it meant that they found another ZPM. However, Elizabeth’s joy soon faded when they were told that as many people as possible had to be evacuated from earth to Atlantis. First Elizabeth had thought it was a bad joke, but it wasn´t. The Ori had destroyed almost all ships earth had for defence. With only the ancient outpost in Antarctica able to defend the whole planet earth had been in real danger and soon the Ori started to invade.
Elizabeth had been told that the Ori attacked at first to show their superiority. Then they settled down on the planet and started to pray to the people. The military had tried to fight them off, but to no good. The Ori just killed them and everyone who didn´t start to worship them.
Several scientists and military personnel from the SGC had managed to evacuate, as well as a few civilians. But there were many losses, too. According to their information, the leaders of many countries had been captured and taken hostage while debating earth’s plans of defence in the white house. The Ori must have had a spy on earth to know exactly when and where to strike.
Anyway, Atlantis was rather crowded by now with many scared and shocked people. Elizabeth had tried to get the situation under control, but it wasn´t easy. Several military personnel thought this was a crisis situation and thus the military was in charge. But so far they hadn´t managed to decide which one of them actually was in charge. There were many of the same rank and each of them seemed to think he was qualified best. Others were too shocked to even do anything. It simply was a total mess.
On top of all that Elizabeth couldn´t stop thinking about her people on the Daedalus. She knew that they had reached and joined the battle against the Ori shortly before the supergate exploded. But after the explosion there had been no sign of the Daedalus anymore. At first Elizabeth had been sure that her people were still alive. They had been in so many deathly situations already and she had believed them to be dead more times than she could count. So, they surely had made it this time as well. But they still hadn´t heard anything from the Daedalus. The Odyssey had already arrived from earth with the ZPM and several more evacuees. The Daedalus would have had to make it back by now as well.
With each day passing by without hearing from them the unbearable feeling in Elizabeth’s stomach was getting worse. Whenever she closed her eyes to get some rest she started to see their faces... Rodney, Teyla, Carson, Ronon... and John. They couldn´t all be dead. He couldn´t be dead! Not without knowing how much he meant to her! Why had she never told him? She had known for so long now, how much he meant to her. But she had never even tried to show him, let him know. Of course it wasn´t like she knew how he felt about her and it surely wouldn´t have been easy if they would have started a relationship... But she had always hoped that one day they would be together. Now she knew how stupid that was. She should have known that there would be a day when he didn´t make it back.
Sighing Elizabeth got up and left her office. She needed to be alone, be somewhere where no one could find her for a while. She just couldn´t deal with any more catastrophic news or questions about where all the evacuated people should stay. As if it mattered who got which room, she thought exasperatedly.
As soon as she had managed to get past a crowd of people Elizabeth turned off her communications device and headed for an empty part of the city. At least she hoped that it would still be empty.
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Teal'c, with his hands firmly clasped behind his back, was in the control room listening to the military leaders of Earth argue over what their next move would be and who was now officially in charge.
Most had given up on the hope that SG-1 and the Atlantis team had survived, Teal'c however had not.
"Would it not be better to settle your differences and think of what is best for the people of your world?" he asked, trying to create some order and much deserved peace. Of course he was ignored.
Sighing quietly he walked over to Major Lorne who was at one of the control panels next to Radek Zelenka. "Where is Doctor Weir?" he asked.
Lorne glanced at Teal'c and then looked back to the screen. "Taking a well deserved rest I imagine. She hasn't left this room for days..."
"Sir... someone?" a technician called out unsure who to address now that Dr. Weir had left. "A fleet of ships has just been detected heading straight for the planet."
"Wraith? ... the Ori?" someone called out, asking the one question that was on everyone's mind.
"No, it's… it's the Daedalus. It really is the Daedalus! They're okay!"
Cheers broke out all around the control room.
"This is the Daedalus, we finally found our way back home."
With the sound of Sheppard’s voice, more cheering took place.
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Twenty minutes later John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Laura Cadman, Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Cameron Mitchell, Steven Caldwell and some others entered Atlantis and were greeted by a loud applause and cheering. Hugs were given as friends were reunited.
"Teal'c!" Jack called out spotting the Jaffa. Smiling, Teal'c went over to him and the others.
"It's good to see you again O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Cameron Mitchell." Teal'c paused, realising Sam was not there.
"Where is Samantha Carter?"
"Carter is fine, Teal’c. Well, she's not fine but she's alive. She's aboard Galactica,” Cameron said. Caldwell and O'Neill had already told the people of Atlantis about the fleet who was with them.
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"It's good to be home," John muttered with a smile as he searched the crowd for one particular person. However, Elizabeth was no where to be seen, which was strange. He had expected her to be one of the first to welcome them back.
"Major Lorne," he called once he had spotted the man standing close to McKay and Zelenka, who were in deep discussion about the ships which were still orbiting the planet.
"Where is Doctor Weir?" he asked.
"No idea sir, she left the control room about 45 minutes ago. She must have switched off her communication device as we haven't been able to contact her. Shall I send someone to…"
"No, no. I'll go and find her myself. Thank you Major."
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Ronon was glad to be back in Atlantis. By now it almost felt like home to him. He was just a bit surprised by the number of unfamiliar faces that were around.
"Who are all these people," he then asked no one in particular.
Cadman glanced at Ronon and shrugged. "I know a few of them from Earth, but I have no idea why they are here," she told him. She could only imagine two reasons for all those people to be here. Either something really bad had happened in Atlantis or worse something very bad had happened to Earth. The second option wasn´t unlikely, as they had left the battle against the Ori at a very bad time.
Cadman then walked over to where Rodney was talking to Zelenka. "What is going on? Why are all these people here?" she asked.
Major Lorne who had overheard her went over to them.
"They have been evacuated from Eearth, after the Ori took over," he told her.
Cadman just stared at him. She had suspected it, but actually hearing it was shocking non the less.
Ronon glanced around. He knew how these people were feeling. Their planet may not have been culled and destroyed by the Wraith, but as far as he had been told the Ori weren´t much better.
Rodney’s expression dropped with this news. They had expected it to happen, they had even discussed it aboard the Daedalus, but he still hadn't been prepared to hear that it had actually happened.
"There's not enough room," he said suddenly, straight away pointing out the obvious. "Not with everyone we brought back with us as well."
"They can join my people on the mainland. The Athosians will make them feel welcome," Teyla said, finally joining them after greeting her own people.
Impatiently, Rodney glanced at her and shook his head. "I mean, if we're attacked. If the Wraith come... if anyone comes, we will not have enough room in Atlantis. We've just made ourselves a bigger target."
Zelenka turned to Rodney when he spoke. "We have another ZPM now, so a much bigger part of the city can be inhabited," he declared. They would just have to check everything out first and make those parts of the city suitable for people. At the moment everything was still a mess anyway. People were camping all over the cities parts that had already been inhabited before the second ZPM arrived about a week ago.
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Before Rodney could worry further, Jack beckoned everyone to be silent. It had just been agreed that he was the highest ranking officer, well, he was the most experienced highest ranking officer and therefore not surprisingly had been appointed as the offical military leader.
"Can I have your attention please?" Jack yelled out before waiting for everyone to quieten down.
"Thank you. Now, I've just been informed of Earth's current situation. Firstly I want to say to all those who were evacuated: welcome to Atlantis. You've all been brought here because you are the brightest and well to be frank… we need your expertise. Now I'm sure you're all aware of the ships that are floating above us? They are human refugees from another galaxy. We ran into them and helped them out, so now they are repaying the favor by alliancing with us against the Ori. Shortly, many of them will be joining us down here on the planet. Make them feel welcome. As for what we are going to do about Earth, I'll keep you updated. For now, consider Atlantis and this planet your new home as you might be here for a while."
When Jack O'Neill spoke up the conversations around the room had ebbed away. Everyone listened to him. Their situation was less than optimal, but Cadman was glad that they at least had someone who was taking charge. In the few minutes here she had heard enough shouting around from other military people to know that no one had really done anything before they arrived.
Once Jack had addressed the crowd of people, Daniel asked: "Jack, when are we going to talk about Merlin…"
"Not now, Daniel, there is enough mess here to sort out." Raising his hand, Jack rubbed the back of his tense neck for some relief.
"But Jack, I really think…," Daniel pushed, not willing to just let this drop.
"Daniel," Jack warned, as he glared at the younger man. "Let's deal with what's right in front of us first. Like I said, we're going to be here for a while. We might as well make sure we're all comfortable, eh?" Patting the anthropologist on the back, he left and went to join the other military generals to talk about accommodation.
Rodney was making a point of looking around and working out what profession each and every new earth evacuee had.
"This is going to be a nightmare," he muttered. Atlantis was going to be crowded and he hated working in those kinds of environments.
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Elizabeth & John:
Of course there hadn´t been an empty spot in the city nearby. Since they had a second ZPM much more of they city had been activated. A bigger part of the city could be inhabited now and Elizabeth cursed for not having thought of this sooner. All the people who had come through the gate and on board the Odyssey must have gone somewhere after all.
Going to her room was out of the question. They would find here there immediately and ask stupid questions again.
She then went to the only place that she was sure was empty... his room. It had to be empty, because he wasn´t here... he was dead.
Tears started to run down her cheeks as soon as she stood inside the empty room. She hated herself for being so weak and starting to cry, but she just couldn´t help it. Maybe it hadn´t been such a good idea to come here. Seeing his things just made everything worse. But she couldn´t bring herself to turn around and leave either.
Brushing away the tears she then walked through the room before stopping next to his bed. Noticing one of his shirts laying on the bed she picked it up and brought it closer to her face. It still smelled like him, after all these weeks.
A new wave of tears started running down her cheeks and Elizabeth just didn´t know what to do anymore.
Sinking down to the floor she wrapped her arms around her knees, still holding on to his shirt, while letting her emotions out for the first time.
The only sound that could be heard were her own silent sobs.
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Elizabeth's room had been the first place John had looked, but to his dismay it was empty. Next he tried three other locations he had known Elizabeth to reside to when she needed to be alone. But still, he had no luck finding her. He then decided to head to his room and quickly change into some clean clothes before continuing his search.
Once he reached his own room, he paused hearing noises coming from inside. Frowning, he opened the door, ready to confront whoever was in there and to bluntly tell them to get the hell out of his room. But to his surprise it was no other than Elizabeth, huddled on the ground crying.
"Doc-…Elizabeth?" He slowly entered and stood in front of her, concern written all over his face. "Elizabeth?" He said her name this time much more confidently.
Elizabeth had been lost in her own miserable thoughts and not even noticed the door opening and someone entering.
When she heard someone say her name she sighed frustrated. How had they found her? Couldn´t they just leave her alone for once? She just couldn´t face anyone right now. She didn´t even bother to check who had found her. Keeping her eyes firmly to the floor she mumbled: "Go away."
"Well, I would, but…" John shrugged his shoulders. "…this is technically my room and I need a shower, cause if you haven't noticed, I don't smell that good," he admitted.
John was unsure if Elizabeth had even noticed that it was him. After shrugging off his jacket and dropping it onto his bed, he crouched down in front of her.
"Elizabeth?" he said, trying to will her to look up at him. It wasn’t often that he saw her like this. Vulnerable had never been a word he would choose to describe Dr.Weir. She was one of the strongest people he had ever known. It was one of the things he admired about her the most and was one of the reasons why he hated to see her like this. Gently he placed his hand on her shoulder as a gesture of comfort and he once again pleaded for her to look at him.
"Elizabeth...."
Elizabeth could barely hear what he said. She just didn´t want to hear anything. All she wanted was to be alone in her misery. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and heared his voice saying her name close to her ear. Her first thought was that she was hallucinating. It couldn´t be his voice!
She then slowly looked up and her gaze met his. It was really him, or was she just imagining it? For a few seconds she just stared at him, fearing that if she moved or even blinked he would disappear.
John frowned as Elizabeth continued to just stare at him. For a few moments he didn't know what to do or say, he just stared right back in her sad eyes.
"Come here," he finally said, gently pulling her into his arms and holding her close. Atlantis had thought that he and the rest of the Daedalus crew were dead. They had been out of contact for weeks and he couldn't imagine what she had been going through.
"Its okay", he then murmured, rubbing her back in small circular motions. "Sorry, that it took us so long to come home."
Feeling Johns arms around her Elizabeth finally dared to believe that he really was there.
"You´re really here," she then mumbled while holding on to him. At this moment she wished that time would stop and she would never have to let go of him again.
It took a few minutes before Elizabeth finally managed to let go of him. " I thought you were dead... for real this time," she then admitted while brushing away her tears.
John smiled slightly. "Sorry," he apologised once again. "We ran into a few… difficulties. Brought you back a few souveniers though," he joked, referring to the people they had brought back with them.
Elizabeth sighed when she realised how he had found her. Great, he had to think she was weak and crazy, sitting in his room crying and holding his shirt! Feeling embarrassed she then looked down.
John turned serious again when she looked away. He could tell that she was embarrassed. Noticing one of his shirts in her hand, he smiled again touched by the thought of how much she had missed him. He had missed her, too.
Elizabeth slowly looked up again and let go of his shirt.
"The others are ok, as well?" she then asked. He surely would have told her already if they weren´t, but she had to make sure. She also needed something to talk about. She still felt rather embarrassed and sitting so close to him wasn´t exactly helping. Looking at him all she wanted to do was throw herself into his arms once more, feel his arms around her, his touch and be close to him. It was all she had wanted for the past weeks and now she had the chance.
John nodded. "Yeah, everyone is okay. Could have killed Rodney on a number of occasions, but decided that he was too important to kill off,” he joked. He was actually very fond of McKay, despite the scientists annoying qualities and habits.
Elizabeth had to smile at his words. "Good for you, we surely will need him now," she said. They would need anyone, especially brilliant scientists like Rodney McKay. Earth depended on them now.
"We also made new friends while we were gone, humans from another galaxy. They've returned with us to help us fight against the Ori. So Atlantis is going to be a little crowded for a while.”
A slight smile appeared on Elizabeth’s face at hearing this.
"So, you found more refugees again? How many exactly?" she asked. It wasn´t surprising that John brought back people in need. He always wanted to safe everyone. It was what she loved about him. But they usually didn´t have enough space to take in everyone. Well, at least this time they had a new ZPM and thus could inhabit more of the city.
"Around 35,000," John answered with a sheepish grin. "They were at war against a race known as the Cylons. We helped rescue their people from their planet which the Cylons had invaded. In return they are going to help us. I thought it was only fair," he trailed off, knowing that Elizabeth would probably not think it was exactly a good idea. It hadn't been his decision however. General O'Neill had made the call, not him.
“They could also prove handy against the Wraith,” he added, attempting to sway Elizabeth.
Elizabeth stared at him surprised and a bit shocked.
"35.000?" she asked. Trust John to always manage to surprise her again.
"You do realise that we don´t have enough space for all of them. At least not until we find at least one more ZPM," she told him.
"Some could stay on the mainland, and they have sleeping quarters on their ships for their crew. It's just the civilians which are a problem," he said, attempting to make it sound not as bad as it was.
Elizabeth nodded. "Teyla can ask the Athosians if they are ok with it."
"What exactly can they help us with? Are they advanced enough to be a good ally against the Wraith and Ori?" she then wanted to know. She really hoped they would be, as they were in a really bad situation right now and could use some good news for a change. Well, having John and the others back already was good news. It was more than she had hoped for and all she wished for just minutes ago.
"Oh, they’re pretty advanced. They have a whole fleet of ships at their disposal and around sixty good pilots on each battlestar," he told her. "They can definitely manage their own. Besides, we need all the help we can get. It's not like we´re swarming with allies..."
A smile appeared on her Elizabeths lips at hearing that. These people sounded like useful allies. Hopefully the alliance would work out.
"You´re right. Our attempts in finding allies haven´t been the best lately," she admitted. Their last 'alliance' with the Wraith hive had actually been a disaster.
"I guess I should go and talk to our new allies then," she said attempting to get up. She however hand´t noticed that her foot had fallen asleep. When she tried to stand on it it just gave in...
John instinctively reached out and cought Elizabeth, to stop her from falling to the floor. His strong arms easily took hold of her and steadied her.
"You ok?" he asked. Their faces were barely inches from each other now. Up this close to her he seriously contemplated travelling the final distance to kiss her.
But he didn't. After a couple of seconds of hesitation, he helped her stand on her own two feet.
When he caught her Elizabeth could feel his strong arms around her. Looking up at him their eyes locked and she just stared at him again for a few seconds. The urge to kiss him was getting almost too strong, but then he moved back a bit and helped her stand.
"Yes, I´m fine," she then finally said. "It´s just... my foot must have fallen asleep."
Still holding onto his arm, to not fall again she made her way to his bed and sat down. Grimacing she then started to massage it so it would wake up.
John watched her as she sat on his bed, massaging her sleeping foot. Not sure what to do with his hands he slipped them into his trouser pockets and rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet. He contemplated offering to massage her foot for her but that would be crossing the boundaries set up between them, and he wasn't so sure how Elizabeth would react to that.
"SG-1 are with us," he then said, deciding that he should let her know what she would be walking into. "General O'Neill, too."
When he spoke again Elizabeth looked up at him. "That is good news," she said, a small smile appearing on her lips. They really did needed help and every small piece of good news was worth a lot to her right now.
When her foot finally started feeling better she slowly got up again.
"I´ll go talk to General O'Neill and our new allies now," she said walking to the door.
Before she reached it she however turned back to him once more. "And John, don´t make me think your dead again like this!"
"Wont happen again, I promise," he said sincerly with a slight glint in his eyes. He then added.
"Don't start any meetings without me, I'll be with you once I had a shower and changed."
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The Next Day - A meeting:
Jack O'Neill was sitting in the debriefing room along with Admiral Adama, Commander Adama, Laura Roslin, Teal'c, Cameron Mitchell, Dr. Weir, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, a few other military personnel and Daniel Jackson, who was currently informing them about what he and Cameron had found out before the battle against the Ori.
"…and the text clearly stated that Merlin had created a weapon which could destroy not just the Ori but the Ancients as well. I didn't get to read as much as I would have liked, as we were beamed on board the Odyssey, but it did say he had hidden the weapon. I think we should search Atlantis databases for gate addresses where the Sangraal could be hidden." Daniel paused when he noticed that Jack raised his hand. "Jack?"
"Sangraal?" Jack questioned, confused.
It was typical Jack O'Neill behaviour, and if it had been any other person Daniel would have lost his patience. However as it was Jack and he was used to these regular interruptions he said calmly: "Sangraal: the holy grail. Throughout our history people have searched for the holy grail. We even thought we had found it earlier this year when we found Merlin’s secret lab in England. But then we just thought it was a goblet, dish or plate which possess miraculous powers. We didn't know then that it was in fact the only weapon that could stop the Ori."
"So we're looking for a cup?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, well, I don't believe it is a cup. I believe that’s misconception," Daniel stated, taking off his glasses to squint at Jack.
"Oh...," Jack merely said. He then continued to tap his pen on the table.
Admiral Adama listened intently to all that was said. He found it all very interesting as well as confusing.
"How will we know we have found the weapon when we come upon it?" asked Sheppard.
"Well, I think you'll know. It'll be ancient technology," Daniel said, placing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. “Just bring it to me, if it looks like it could be the Sangraal.”
Elizabeth looked at Daniel. This all sounded good. They would just have to find that Sangraal now in order to get rid of the Ori and free earth. It might not be that easy, but it was a chance.
"So, where can we find this Sangraal then? The Atlantean database has thousands of addresses listed. If we want to go to each of them it´ll take more than a lifetime," she said. They would have to isolate a few.
"Do you even know if the Sangraal is in this galaxy or another?"
Laura Roslin listened to all these people said. She would have preferred to discuss matters regarding her people first, but she also understood that these people were in dire need to find something to defeat their enemy. It actually would be their common enemy from now on, as everyone in the fleet was eager to get to Earth and they would do anything they could to make sure this would be possible, even if it meant to be at war again.
"Well, we can rule out the planets the Atlantis teams have visited as well as the planets the SGC have. You'll find a lot of those gate addresses will not work, due to the change of constellations over the years and natural disasters on the planets," Daniel said.
"Even if you do not count what you've just stated. It'll still take a life time to search every single gate address," Rodney said in one of his 'matter of fact' tones.
"Well, Merlins lab in England told us that the Ori-anti weapon was in Camelot. We found Camelot on another planet and found Melin's library. We didn't find the weapon in his belongings but Merlin wrote repeatedly in his texts about a sacred stone the colour of blood. It was called the bloodstone and he wore it around his neck. I think it's possible that the blood stone may be what we´re looking for."
"So we're looking for a rock?" Jack asked raising an eyebrow. "Daniel, you do realise how hard this is going to be?"
"A stone," Daniel corrected him. "And yes, I do." He then remembered Elizabeth’s other question. "I'm almost positive that the stone is either in the Pegasus Galaxy or our own galaxy. If only I could return to Camelot, maybe I could narrow down where to look."
"Where is this Camelot?" Elizabeth asked. "Maybe we could go back and find something helpful," she suggested.
"P3x 208 987," Daniel answered. “I also want to take a look around Atlantis. This was the ancients home after all. It is possible that we may find out where Merlin went after he left Camelot. You have databases of the Ancients history which I'd also like to check."
Lee raised an eyebrow at what Daniel said. ‘P... what?’, he thought, but stayed quiet. It probably would take a while until he understood what those people were talking about.
He then glanced around. As far as he understood they needed to find a weapon that could be hidden on one of many thousand possible planets in two different galaxies. This surely was not a good thing. If they didn´t manage to find it would they ever be able to free Earth, so that they could all go and live there?
"We could assist you in your search," he then offered, trying to reassure these people that they were still willing to help and also to remind them that they were still there.
Jack, who was feeling a little bored, looked over at Commander Adama, who was sitting opposite him, when he spoke.
"We'll definitely be taking you up on that offer," he promised him. He had honestly forgotten that they were there.
"Right, Daniel, your job for the next few days is to see what you can find out here about Merlin and his rock…"
"Stone," Daniel quickly corrected him.
"Right, stone. The rest of us will focus on accommodation for everyone. This city is huge, or so I’ve heard. So it shouldn't be a problem. The military will work on a line of defence in case we come across any unwanted guests in the next couple of days."
“We don’t have enough room in Atlantis to…,” Rodney started but Jack quickly interrupted him.
“Then the rest can camp out on the planet until further notice. Or stay on the ships,” he glanced over at the Commander and Admiral for confirmation.
The Admiral nodded. "A lot of our people can stay on our ships if needed. There is not room for everyone to remain comfortable, however."
"Our people will be glad to stay wherever they can, as long as we are safe from the Cylons," Laura Roslin said speaking up. "Besides, anything will be better than that rock we were forced to live on the past year."
Lee turned to her with a grin. "That wasn´t our decision," he said.
"Neither mine," she reminded him. "Have we gotten word about the whereabouts of our dear president by the way?"
The Admiral shook his head. "He doesn't appear to be on any of the ships. There is a possibility that he didn't make it," he said looking over at Laura. They may have had their differences in the past but he'd be all too happy to have her pre-elected for president again. "The people will want a new election. I hope you'll be running for the position?"
Laura just nodded. Truth be told she wouldn´t miss Gaius Baltar one bit. He had only managed to get them into one hell of a mess.
"I will," she confirmed. She hadn´t really missed the responsibilities, but she surely didn´t trust anyone else to do the job, not after what they had been through.
Lee smiled happily. They would just have to hope Balthar didn´t show up again now. They needed a capable president again!
Lee then turned to their new allies again. "How many people can we bring down to the city and how many to the mainland?" he asked.
Elizabeth looked at him. "We will first have to get organised in the city again. We have to get all evacuated people from earth sorted and we need to check out new parts of the city. So far we could only inhabit a small part of Atlantis as we need ZPMs - a powerful source of energy - to power it. We however recently got another one of these ZPMs and can now make more of the city suitable for living. Maybe you can bring some of your people to the mainland in the meantime. I will talk to Teyla, the leader of the Athosians, who currently are residing there. I´m sure they will be glad to assist your people to get settled on the planet. I will let you know as soon as I hear from them," she told them. "If we can help you with anything else, like food or other supplies, please let us know."
Laura smiled at Elizabeth. "We are really thankful for your help and will gladly accept your offer. As we had to leave the last planet we resided on in a hurry we didn´t have time to take much with us. We however learned to survive on a planet with less than optimal resources, so I am sure we will be just fine on this planet. It looks much more promising." The data they had gathered about the planet from the Galactica had been very promising actually.
Elizabeth nodded. "Then we will assist you until you are good on your own," she said with a smile. She really liked these peoples attitudes so far. They hadn´t really met many humans in this galaxy that they got along with. Maybe they had more luck this time. They really needed allies more than ever right now.
"Right. Well, now that everything is sorted…" Jack began to stand.
"It is?" Cameron asked, looking up at Jack.
Jack paused, and pursed his lips in the attempt of a small pout as he gave Cameron’s question a little thought.
"Now that... things are... kind of sorted… you'll have to excuse me, I have some personal business that I have to take care of." The truth was he wanted to visit Sam in the infirmary to see how she was. He doubted anyone would protest about him cutting the meeting short, he was supposed to be a very busy man after all.
"Gentlemen, maams. We'll re-gather in a couple of days for further updates on our current situations."
Cameron, John and a few other military men quickly stood up when Jack left the table.
"Jack, Wait. I'll come with you," Daniel quickly said, knowing where the General was heading.
"As will I," Teal'c added. He wanted to see Samantha Cater as well. He hadn't had a chance to visit her yet. He turned to Cameron before leaving. "Will you be joining us?"
"I'll catch up," Mitchell promised.
Laura got up, too and nodded at the General. There was a lot to do for them as well.
Elizabeth walked over to Laura. "I will go and speak to Teyla now, if you want you can join me."
Laura nodded and smiled. "Yes, I would love to," she said.
"What about you, Admiral?" Elizabeth then asked.
Adama had planned on returning to Galactica to inform the fleet about the agreement they had come to with the people of Earth. However meeting the people who his own people would be living with was something he felt he needed to do first.
"I would like to accompany you as well, if you do not mind," he said, giving the two women a polite smile.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Fifteen minutes later in the infirmary:
Jack had hoped to go and see Sam alone, but Daniel and Teal'c had decided to tag along. He couldn't complain, really. He understood that they were just as concerned about Sam as he was… well, maybe NOT as concerned as he was. After all he very much doubted that they felt what he felt for the Lt. Colonel.
Entering the infirmary he looked around for Dr. Beckett, who was no where to be seen. It didn't matter however, as he spotted Sam lying in a bed in the far corner of the room. He was relieved to see that she was awake. For a while there he had thought...
"Hey, Sam." Daniel was the first to approach her. "How are you feeling?"
"Nasty bump you've got on your head there, Carter," Jack said, pointing to his own forehead and mouthing 'ouch'.
"It is good to see that you are awake, Samantha Carter," Teal'c said while bowing his head as a greeting.
----- -----
Sam lay in her bed feeling confused. She just didn´t understand what happened and where she was. Then suddenly three men appeared in the infirmary and walked straight towards her. She looked up at them quizzically when they spoke to her. One of the men looked weird. He had some sort of symbol on his forehead and she found herself staring at him. Finally managing to tear her gaze away from him she then looked at the others.
"Excuse me, do I know you?" she asked.
"Excuse me, do I know you?" Jack repeated in disbelief, not quite sure if he had heard right. A frown appeared on his face. "Carter, you've got to be kidding me here."
"It appears that Samantha Carter is suffering from memory loss," Teal'c told Jack stating the obvious.
Jack glanced at Teal'c. "Thanks T, but I kinda got the memo."
Daniel's mouth had dropped open. "I guess that bump on her head was more serious than we thought."
"Carter, seriously you don't remember us?" Jack then asked. He was hiding his utter dismay well in front of the others, but the General was crumbling inside. “You at least must remember me,” he pushed, not accepting the fact that she had forgotten him. “I’m told that I’m hard to forget.” He still wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not.
Sam looked at them once more, trying to remember them, anything. But it didn´t work. Her mind was just blank.
"I... I´m sorry. I don´t remember any of you. I didn´t even remember my own name. Dr. Beckett had to tell me," she said with a sigh. This was just so weird. How could she know these people and don´t remember it?
At that moment Dr. Beckett appeared. He just had to tell a young woman that her husband was dead, which wasn´t something he was fond of doing. He then noticed that Samantha Carter had visitors. Sighing he stepped towards them. He would have preferred to tell them about her condition before they would talk to her. But maybe seeing them had already helped her remember?
"General, Dr. Jackson, Teal'c," he greeted them before turning to Sam.
"How are you feeling? Did you recognise your friends?" he asked hopefully.
“No,” Sam answered looking apologetic.
Jack was at a loss, he really was, but he still had hope. This kind of thing was never permanent was it? After all, when Daniel had returned after his year of 'Ascension' he had lost his memory. It had been hard for Jack then, too. But Daniel’s memory had slowly returned and now he was practically back to normal...maybe a tad more annoying, but Jack could live with that.
"Doc, this isn't a permanent thing is it?" Jack asked glancing at Carson. "This doesn't bode well for Earth if our brightest has no idea who she is.” If they didn't have Carter, Jack believed Earth was pretty much screwed.
"I´m afraid I can´t say," Carson answered. "We still don´t know that much about amnesia. But we won´t give up. We will run a few more tests to find out what has caused it. Maybe we can help then. Besides that it always seems to help for people with amnesia to be in a familiar surrounding... with people they know," he added. The familiar surrounding was out of the question, seeing as they were in another galaxy.
Jack sighed. Looking back at Sam he offered her a small, awkward smile. "Nothing at all?" he asked her as if he hoped she had suddenly remembered something.
Sam slightly shook her head. She had the feeling that he really was worried about her.
Life never made things easy for them, did it? There was always something waiting for them around the corner, ready to kick them in the ass. Jack sighed deeply, raising his hand he rubbed it along the side of his face wearily. "Then we will have to help jog your memory," he said, trying to keep his tone light.
"Sam, I'm Daniel Jackson." Daniel then pointed to Teal'c. "This is Teal'c, and he is…"
"Jack… Jack O'Neill." Jack said, his eyes boring into Sam’s. Fear had a firm grip on him. What if she never remembered him?
Sam smiled at them, when they started to introduce themselves. It was nice that they tried to help.
“You’re part of a team called SG-1. We travel to different planets by a device known as the Stargate,” Daniel began to tell her. Out of everyone in the room he understood the most what Sam was going through. All the doubt and the confusion that she was feeling, he had felt once too. It had been a scary time for him.
Sam raised an eyebrow at that.
"We travel to different planets?" she asked a bit unbelievingly. It sounded weird, but also kind of normal, which was weird as well. She guessed that this just meant it was the truth and that she knew it deep down.
"So, what happened to me?" she then asked. "Dr. Beckett only said that I had an accident."
Carson watched them and hoped that telling her all this wouldn´t be too much for her yet.
"It is good that you want to talk to her and tell her everything, but not too much at once. Give her time to process it all," he told them.
"I will leave you alone now. I have some other patients to take care of, but I´ll stop by again later."
Once Dr. Beckett had left the four alone, Jack made a suggestion. "Doc's right. We don't want to be tiring you out. Maybe we should take it in turns to sit here," he suggested glancing at Daniel and Teal'c. Both straight away understood that it was their cue to leave.
"I'll come back later today," Daniel said giving Sam a smile. "Bye Sam."
Teal'c bowed his head and followed Daniel out of the infirmary.
Jack watched the two, grateful that they were allowing him some time alone with Sam. Occupying Daniel's now empty seat beside the bed, he glanced at Sam, unsure where to begin.
Sam watched the two leave and then turned to focus on Jack.
He sighed yet again buying himself some time. Finally he said: "You chose a bad time to hit your head." His facial expression then softened and for a couple of moments he allowed himself to be vulnerable. "Just promise me you'll try to remember everything?" The vulnerability disappeared just as quick as it had appeared.
Sam watched him closely. First his expression was all facial, but then it changed and she could see emotions running through him. She just wasn´t sure what it meant.
"Believe me, I want to remember who I am more than anything else," she told him. Not knowing who you are, what happened to you and what was going on just sucked and it also frightened her a little.
"So, you don't remember blowing up a sun?" Jack then suddenly asked.
Sam raised an eyebrow at his words. "A sun? Me? How do you even blow up a sun?" she asked surprised and confused. Then she frowned. She had the feeling that she should know that. But why would she?
"Don't ask me, I rely on you to explain all the science babble. You're the science geek." He smiled slightly, in the past he would have received a glare for calling her that. Somehow he guessed it wouldn't cause the same reaction this time.
Sam just raised an eye at him. A science geek? She wasn´t really sure if that sounded good or bad.
Shifting in his seat to get more comfortable, Jack decided to try a different approach. "Do you have any questions? Like what’s your favourite dessert? Which, is blue jello by the way.” Now that he was alone with her, he was struggling to find words to say.
"You know my fave dessert? We must be pretty close then," Sam stated and watched him to see his reaction.
She then tried to think about what she could ask him. There was so much she wanted to know, so much she didn´t understand, that she didn´t even know where to start.
Hearing her words Jack looked down and smiled sadly before looking up again. "I was your CO for over eight years, so you can say we're close." They had been through a lot together over the years. SG-1 was his family. He had stared death in the face with these people. Going through all that they had undoubtedly created an unbreakable bond between the four of them. Jack just hoped that this bond would be strong enough to survive Sam’s memory loss.
Sam smiled at his words. Hearing that there were people who cared for her was good to know. Before Jack and the others had come she had felt totally alone and frightened. Now she felt a bit better. Of course everything he said could be a lie, but she had the feeling that she could trust him. She wasn´t sure where that feeling came from, it was just there.
"You also have no life outside the SGC. I won´t tell you how many times I had to have you escorted off the base,” Jack then went on. There was some truth behind this but it had been meant to be a joke. He grinned to make sure she knew this.
"So, you’re telling me that I´m a workoholic?" She didn´t really like the sound of that.
Jack laughed. "I think workaholic is putting it lightly," he said with a grin. "But it's not a bad thing. It wouldn't be you if you were not obsessed with figuring out every single thing." It was one of the things he loved about her most. "You're the cleverest person I've met, and I’ve met a lot of clever people."
Sam smiled. Being called clever surely was a god thing.
"I guess I´ll have to take your word on this," she said while reaching for a glass of water that stood next to her bed.
"So, is anything feeling familiar? No flashes of the past?" Jack then wanted to know.
Sam took a sip of water and glanced at Jack again. "No, no flashes of the past. But... this kind of feels familiar, I think, or at least nice," she admitted. She really was glad that he stayed with her. She was sure that she would have gone crazy trying to remember who she was if she had been alone.
Jack’s lips curled into another amile. Even if they were not making that much progress he was glad that she at least felt comfortable with him.
"Thanks for staying with me," Sam then said silently and gave him a shy smile.
Jack reached out and squeezed her hand. "Anytime, Carter. You would have done the same for me." He let his hand linger on hers a little longer than necessary. "Besides, I need you back to normal as soon as possible... no pressure." His eyes crinkled as he smiled yet again and pulled his hand away from hers.
When he touched her hand Sam felt a weird feeling rush through her. She wasn´t sure what it meant, but she kind of liked it.
"No, no pressure," she said with a small laugh. Looking at him she then wondered why he could possibly need her that much. She was just one person after all. Surely there were others who could do what she usually did.
“I’m not tiring you out am I? Because if you want to rest I can come back later?”
Hearing him speak again Sam snapped out of her thoughts.
"Now that you mention it, I do feel a bit tired," she admitted. She didn´t really want him to go, but maybe resting would be better, especially for getting back her memory.
Jack nodded and silently rose to his feet. "Try to get some rest, and that's an order Lt. Colonel," he told her, humour seeping into his tone.
"Yes, sir," she said jokingly and had to smile at how familiar those words actually sounded.
Jack grinned. "I'll come and check on you later. Daniel, Teal'c and Cameron will show up at some point, too," he then added with a final smile. "Sweet dreams, Carter." With one final glance he turned around and headed towards the door.
Sam watched him leave and hoped that he would keep his promise and come back later.
Turning around she then tried to get some sleep.
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chapter 5