Connections (Elizabeth/Sam)
Title: Connections
Author: Etain
Recipient: Lyssie
Warnings/Spoilers: Up to Ghost in the Machine
Chosen Prompt: Elizabeth Weir/Sam Carter and mud, paperwork, and/or ghosts
Rating: PG-13 at the most, more like PG
"Colonel Carter!" Sam slowed at the call, allowing Ellis to catch up with her. "Heading out to see your new ship?"
Sam grinned. Her ship. "Do I look too eager?"
Colonel Ellis grinned back at her. "When they first told me I was getting command of the Apollo, I all but ran out the door to check it out. I don't think there is such a thing as too eager. And I didn't design most of the Apollo myself."
"I wouldn't say most--maybe half at best," Sam admitted. "Still. I was amazed when General Landry told me I'd be taking command of the Phoenix."
Ellis laughed. "It wasn't a clue when they let you name it? Besides, after the job you did on Atlantis, you deserve it. For putting up with McKay alone, never mind defeating the Replicators."
Sam smiled, though the mention of Atlantis did cause a twinge of pain. Leaving the city and the people who'd become good friends would have been difficult under any circumstances; being removed from command the way she was felt like a slap in the face. Though the many desperate emails she'd received from Woolsey asking for advice did go a long way in assuaging her ego.
Sam kept up a running conversation with the Colonel as they moved through the security to reach the top of the mountain, but her mind was already racing ahead--to the Phoenix. At last, they reached the surface, and Ellis grinned as he radioed for two to transport to the X-303 hangar. Sam felt the world dissolve, and when it reappeared again, she was standing in the gloom of the hangar, looking up at her ship.
Her ship. She smiled so widely her cheeks hurt. The Phoenix had been finished just a few days before, and the support beams were still in place. But even motionless and chained to the ground she looked like speed and strength personified. Beside her, she knew Ellis was looking on amused, but she couldn't bring herself to smother the smile. "God, she's beautiful."
"And she's all yours, Colonel."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam was elbow deep in the hyperdrive, having already walked over the entire ship twice, when the call came over her headset. "Yes?"
"We just got a call from the SGC, ma'am. Atlantis dialed in and requested aid. General Landry nominated you to take it."
Sam couldn't decide whether to be irritated that Landry knew her well enough to know she wouldn't come out of the ship's engines for a week if he didn't drag her out, or thrilled at the chance to take the Phoenix out for a spin. "Understood, Captain. Notify the rest of the crew--we'll head at 0700."
"Yes, ma'am." Sam could hear the glee in Kern's voice as she started closing up the panels; she was glad she hadn't had time to start tweaking the drive.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
The first moment she sat in the command chair and felt the rumble of the Phoenix rising up, heard the sound of the supports falling away as the roof opened up spilling in the sunlight, Sam finally felt like she'd found her place.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam spent the ten day voyage to Atlantis getting to know her new crew--Captain Luke Kern was young, enthusiastic, and reminded her of a Labrador puppy she'd pet-sat for a few weeks back in college when a friend was out of town, right down to the big brown eyes and the inability to sit still for long.
Major Benoit, her second-in-command, was tall and serious and only a handful of years younger than herself. Sam had seen him shut Kern up with only a look. He'd also done a rotation on the Daedalus, and Sam felt confident she could trust him at the weapons command in a firefight.
Dr. Davis, her chief engineer, was polite but very absent-minded and generally gave the impression she'd be happier if left alone with the engines.
She was still learning the other's names, except for Sgt. Stackhouse, who she'd managed to pry out of Sheppard's grasp, but she was already feeling comfortable with her new crew. They weren't SG-1, but she respected them, and knew they respected her. Friendship might be too much to ask for, at least this soon. Still, as she confirmed to beam down with Kern and Davis, she couldn't help feeling proud.
The change from the relative low lights of the Phoenix's bridge, and the bright sunshine of the Atlantis gate room was still disorienting, and she was blinking spots out of her eyes as she turned to see Woolsey, Sheppard, and McKay standing there.
"Colonel Carter." Woolsey still looked slightly nervous, but he stood more confidently than she remembered. Atlantis had been good for him, forcing him to rise to the challenge.
It had been that way for her too, and if she still resented the IOA for their handling of her removal, the Phoenix went a long way toward making up for that. Sam didn't even have to fake a smile. "Dr. Woolsey. It's good to see you again. Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay," she nodded toward each of them. "This is--"
"Yes, yes, welcome back and what not, now are we done here? I left a very important simulation running--ow!"
Sheppard smiled at her, as he gripped Rodney's arm. "Sorry, Colonel, you were saying?"
Sam's mouth twitched. "Thank you Colonel. This is Captain Kern," Kern waved cheerfully, and Sam tried not to sigh, "and Dr. Davis."
McKay's gaze sharpened. "Dr. Davis? As in Alternatives to Asgard Hyperdrives: Reactionless Drives and Jump Points?"
Davis brightened. "Oh, you read that paper? It's mostly hypothetical--"
"It's mostly dreaming, you mean. The most plausible ideas in it--and by plausible I mean not entirely ridiculous--are still hardly anything I'd call science--"
"Excuse me, if you'd bothered to read--"
"Dr. Davis!"
"McKay!"
Sam and Sheppard's commands stopped the other two mid-sentence. Woolsey said awkwardly, "Well, perhaps this isn't the time or place for a scientific debate."
"I wouldn't call it science," McKay muttered.
"Don't make me smack you," Sheppard said, sotto voiced.
"In any case, lets, ah, move to the briefing room. I'm sure you're eager to be on your way."
Sam smiled. "I am yes. I heard this was somewhat urgent. Not that I'm not glad to visit Atlantis."
Woolsey brightened. "Oh, yes, we have your old room prepared for you."
"Oh, I'm fine bunking on the Daedalus," Sam said quickly. "Really."
"Nonsense!" Richard said cheerfully. "We're better hosts than that. Everything's all set up."
Realizing this wasn't one she could win, Sam covered her wince and smiled and thanked him. Inwardly, she started thinking about how to get out of it. If there was one thing about Atlantis she didn't miss, it was the dreams. They were never frightening, just odd flashes of walking through hallways in Atlantis or standing in the gateroom, and they'd ceased after her first few months on Atlantis, but they were.... unsettling. They reminded her of flashbacks to Jolinar's memories--like her dreams weren't hers.
Still, with any luck they were gone for good.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Spending half an hour playing referee between McKay and Davis didn't leave her in a particularly good mood. "So, the gate on PX3-477 won't connect, and you want us, along with Colonel Sheppard's team to check it out, and make certain the Wraith or the Replicators haven't attacked the planet, presumably because of the Ancient outpost you found there?" Sam summarized.
"Yes," Woolsey looked as tired of McKay and Davis interrupting as she did. "That's it in a nutshell. The outpost clearly relates to energy vessel manufacturing, we are assuming ZPMs, and its loss would be a great setback."
"Not to mention the Delari are allies of ours," Teyla reminded gently.
Woolsey flushed. "Of course. We've already packed up the standard aid supplies, and they can be transferred into the Phoenix's cargo hold as soon as you're ready."
"Excellent," Sam declared, getting to her feet, causing the rest of the room to rise with her. "If you'll beam them over, and send the navigational data to Captain Kern, we'll leave as soon as Colonel Sheppard's team is kitted out."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
There were, thankfully, no more interruptions, and they were underway inside half an hour. Sam had Davis working on an idea to increase the sublight engines efficiency, and she'd drafted Sheppard into helping her keep McKay occupied at the opposite end of the ship. Thankfully, the planet was only about fourteen hours out. Aside from going through two packets of aspirin trying to keep her McKay-induced migraine at bay, the trip passed relatively peacefully.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam was called up to the bridge when they finally dropped out of hyperspace. She arrived to find McKay already fussing with the scanners. "Noticed anything anomalous so far?" she asked, coming to stand at the monitor beside him.
"Oh, yes, in the whole ten seconds that I've been here before you I've somehow spotted the prob--wait, what's that?"
"There's an energy reading coming from the other side of the planet," Sam frowned. "It's no where near the gate."
"Yes, I know, that's not the outpost--it's over here, see?"
"So, a second outpost? I'm surprised you guys didn't find this before."
McKay straightened up defensively. "We took a jumper up and scanned the planet--there were no energy readings anywhere other than the original outpost! It must have come on recently."
"Sounds like we've found whatever it is that's interfering with the gate," Sam mused.
"So, something in the second outpost is causing these problems?" Sheppard said from behind them, causing them both to jump.
"God, can't you knock?" McKay said irritably.
"There's no door, Rodney."
"That's beside the point--you know what, never mind. We need to get down to that planet and investigate the second outpost."
"All right, go get ready to leave. Do you need any extra help?"
"If you're thinking about that moronic engineer, she'd be more of a hindrance than a help--" Rodney bridled.
"I'm just saying, if it's as complicated as the other, you'll probably figure it out faster with another scientist along to help out--"
"I'll go," Sam interrupted. "Kern, tell Major Benoit he's in command of the Phoenix for the next six hours. And that she'd better not have a scratch on her when I return."
Kern grinned, and reached for the ship's comm. "Aye, aye, ma'am."
Sam rolled her eyes (Kern's constant enthusiasm, while amusing, was starting to grate), and grabbed a still--protesting Rodney by the elbow and steered him out the door.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
They took a jumper down to the surface, and landed in the clearing nearest the outpost. It wasn't very far away, but this planet had a climate that reminded Sam of the Amazon rainforest--hot and muggy, and the terrain wasn't easy going. The difficult hike was made up for when getting into the outpost turned out to be as simple as having Sheppard slouch against the wall. He ended up with a slightly bruised tailbone, and some very bruised dignity, but he also took Ronon and Teyla off their hands to check around the outpost.
Once inside, however, her headache returned in full force. "What did they do, pull it all apart and stick it back together randomly?" Sam exclaimed. The Ancients had left in a hurry. There were tools and parts strewn across the floors, and main console in the center room was gutted.
"You wouldn't believe how many places we've found like this. They're always a pain in the ass, because you've got to put everything back together before you can even guess what it is." Rodney sighed and stripped off his vest and jacket. "Well, let's get to work."
"Start with the main console?" Sam suggested, and they began. They worked in silence for the first several hours, but apparently that was Rodney's limit, because he started complaining again, this time about her presence.
"There's no reason for you to be here," he huffed.
"Two pairs of hands will make this whole thing go a lot faster," Sam told him through gritted teeth, pulling her ponytail away from her damp neck. Times like this she regretted letting it get so long. Rodney's face was deeply flushed and shiny with sweat as he glared up at her from over the control panels. She wasn't feeling much cooler either. "Why exactly did the Ancients decide to build and outpost full of delicate equipment with no air conditioning on a planet with heat and humidity this high?" she grumbled, digging back into the device.
"Because as 'highly advanced' as they were, they were also complete idiots. And also because the planet's temperature has been rising over the last few thousand years," he added grudgingly.
"If we have to spend another day here, I say we bring in some fans."
"I couldn't agree more."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
As it turned out, they were going to have to spend another day there; Sam explained when Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon met them on their way back to the jumper. "No one has fixed this equipment in well over ten thousand years, and while thankfully none of it's been deliberately damaged, the natural wear and tear over time means we have extensive repairs to make before we can shut down the subspace frequencies that are interfering with the gate's dialing system."
"Do you have everything you need for the repairs?" Teyla asked.
"We're set on that score."
"So how long are we looking at exactly?" Sheppard asked, wary.
"Three days at the most."
"Not bad at all."
"I was relieved too, Colonel. So far this has all been relatively easy."
"Don't tell me you're enjoying yourself here," he said, tugging his damp jacket for emphasis and making a face. Sam could hear Rodney, too short for breath to speak, grunt an agreement.
"I'll grant you, rainforest jungle isn't my preferred climate either, but other than the humidity, it's actually fairly nice--"
"Hey, watch out," Ronon called.
Sam had turned around to look at Sheppard as they spoke, which was why she didn't notice the sudden dropping away of the ground underneath her feet until too late. The next thing she knew she was face down in at least eighteen inches of slimy mud. A strong pair of hands on the back of her vest hauled her out of the hole, and Sam looked up through her muddy vision to see Ronon grinning at her. "I said 'watch out."
Sam glared, wiping large clumps of mud and who knew what else off her body. "Yes, I heard you, thanks. A little sooner might be a good idea next time."
Sheppard cleared his throat, and held out a clean T-shirt he'd pulled from his pack and his canteen. "You ought to be able to clean up a bit with this," he offered, him mouth twitching. Sam accepted the shirt with stiff thanks. She could hear Teyla shushing Rodney as he snickered behind them. She got the worst of it off her face and hair, and made sure her gun still worked, then handed him back the T-shirt and canteen. Sheppard accepted them with a slightly disgusted look on his face.
"All right, let's go. I want a long, long shower after this," she said and stalked on ahead, leaving the others to their laughter behind her.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a room she didn't recognize, and as she took a few steps forward, she heard a squelching sound. Looking down she realized she was soaked and covered in mud. "I don't believe it. It took two hours to scrub this off last time--" Sam broke off.
She'd already showered when they finally got back from the planet. A long, hot shower followed by an hour she spent trying to stay awake to finish her report before she gave up and crawled into bed.
"This... is a dream?" Sam asked, bewildered. It wasn't quite like the dreams she remembered having when first on Atlantis, and yet--
"That's my best guess as well," came a smooth voice from behind her.
Sam spun around, bringing her hands up defensively--and then froze.
Standing in the room across from her was Elizabeth Weir. Not the replicator Weir she'd seen on the security footage, but Elizabeth Weir as she was before she disappeared on Oberoth's ship. "Yes, it's me."
Sam's eyes darted around the room. "I've never been here before."
"We're in my quarters on Atlantis."
"Which I've never been in before, which means these images are not coming from my mind, which means--you're in my head." Her voice rose despite her control on those last words. God, she hated dealing with replicators.
"We're in a shared dream, Colonel Carter. I don't control any more of it than you do," Elizabeth said calmly.
"How?" Sam demanded.
Elizabeth shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I've been here for awhile, but it's only since you showed up that things are becoming... clearer." There was no sign that she was lying, but then Dr. Elizabeth Weir had been one of the best diplomats in the world--there wouldn't be.
"Can I leave, or am I stuck here?"
"Well, I assume you'll leave when you wake up. But before you do that, I was hoping you'd tell me what's going on Atlantis," she said, looking eager. "Nothing of strategic value, I know," she added, seeing the automatic refusal in Sam's face. "I just meant, well, how are they doing? Is everyone okay?"
Sam hesitated. "Everyone is... fine."
Elizabeth looked disappointed. "Well, that's good to hear, as little as it is."
"Torren just celebrated his first birthday," Sam offered--she can't think of anything more harmless, and the way Elizabeth lit up made her think that maybe the other woman really isn't a threat.
"I hadn't realized it had been so long. Teyla talked about him, of course, but I never saw him..." she trailed off.
Sam thought about the photos Teyla had sent her just a few weeks ago, and suddenly they're in her hand. Apparently she did have control here. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought of wearing clean clothing and freshly washed and dried hair, and she could feel as the mud evaporated, leaving her dressed in her pajamas. "Huh."
"Getting the hang of it, I see," Elizabeth said, amused.
"Starting to." Sam returned her smile. The knowledge that she did have control here--and clean, dry clothes--was enough to brighten her mood. She held out the envelope in her hand and said, "I have pictures Teyla sent me from the party, if you want to see?"
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam woke up to the beeping of her wristwatch alarm, and nearly fell out of the bunk. It wasn't until she was looking in the mirror that she remembered her dream from the night before. Her hand was halfway to the PA to alert the ship when common sense raised its head. How could she possibly convince the rest of the crew she'd shared a dream with the replicator Dr. Weir?
Sam stared at her pale reflection. She couldn't. She had no proof, nothing beyond her own rapidly fading certainties (it could have been an actual dream, couldn't it?). They'd think she was insane. And considering she'd spent what she estimated to be several hours in small talk with a replicator version of a dead woman, oohing and ahhing over baby photos, she might very well be.
It had to be a dream.
"Colonel Carter, are you there?"
Sam jumped, then forced herself to calm down and reached for the speaker. "Yes, I'm here. What is it?"
"Dr. McKay is asking for you. But if you're busy, I can tell him to go away." Kern sounded like he hoped he'd get the chance to do just that. Apparently Rodney was being his usual charming self.
"No, tell him I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sam rubbed her forehead as she moved toward the shower. "What a way to start the morning."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Eighteen long, hot, frustrating hours later, Sam made the same trudge, shedding yet more sweaty, dirty clothes as she went. A hot shower loosened her sore muscles, but didn't do much for her fuzzy head. She barely bothered to pull back the covers before falling into bed and succumbing to sleep.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"Hello again," Elizabeth said, smiling.
Sam smiled back. This time they were on a balcony overlooking the ocean. Her tiredness was gone, she felt wide-awake. "To you as well. I'm a little surprised to be here, though."
"Convinced yourself it wasn't real?"
"Pretty much," she admitted.
Elizabeth nodded ruefully. "Believe me, I was starting to wonder if replicators could hallucinate."
"You don't seem particularly bothered by all this," Sam noted. The Elizabeth Weir she remembered had been fairly private, keeping her personal life out of her job.
"Right now, my body is floating through space, and up until this happened, I could feel my mind beginning to shut down. Trust me, the chance for an actual conversation, something to do for a change, is far worth it."
Sam bit her lip at the thought of this woman's frozen body drifting in the blackness of space. "I have to say, this is a definite improvement on my day, too," she said, trying for a lighter tone.
"Bad?"
"Tedious, irritating, and frustrating. And very, very long." Elizabeth looked sympathetic. "Not to mention filled with Rodney McKay at his most annoying," Sam added, trying to get the other woman to smile, and feeling pleased when she succeeded.
"Oh, what did Rodney do now?"
"It's more like what didn't he do," Sam started, and Elizabeth's quiet laughter had the last of the day's tension seeping from her shoulders. "It started when he refused to listen to me...."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
They had finally managed to repair the outpost, and shut down the machine that was causing the problems. Sam packed up everything and hustled them all off the planet in double-time despite Rodney's complaints that the data he'd downloaded from the main console might not be enough. Sam didn't care. The gate worked now, they could come back if they wanted, and she wanted to get back to Atlantis.
She agreed to stay and extra week to allow some of the Atlantis scientists and soldiers a chance at hands-on knowledge of a spaceship (she'd heard Ronon was signing up for a course in weapons command), and in return Woolsey agreed to let her send out a few of her crew on missions with the Atlantis gate teams. Hopefully they'd all gain some practical experience they'd likely need in the future, and it'd give Kern a chance to burn off some energy far away from her.
Ostensibly, Sam was reviewing the data from the outpost. In actuality she was spending most of her time awake thinking about dreaming. And Elizabeth.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"You seem very much at home on the Phoenix."
Sam smiled. "I am. It's--well, it's amazing. I came within an inch of hugging General Landry when he told me I'd gotten the command," she admitted.
"Oh, I'd have loved to see the look on his face."
"Deeply uncomfortable. And a little amused, I think." Sam looked at the other woman, reading the lines of her face. "Are you surprised?"
"I would have thought you'd miss your team more. I got the impression you weren't so thrilled when they first shipped you to Atlantis." Sam hesitated, and Elizabeth added, "Not that it's any of my business."
"No, I don't mind saying. I'm just not sure how to phrase it." Sam thought back over the last months, and the years before. "I do miss them, but.... You remember when General O'Neill was promoted?"
Elizabeth laughed. "As I'm the one who told him about it, I'd say yes, very clearly. I've never seen anyone look so torn about a promotion."
"Apparently he didn't want to be 'the man,'" Sam said dryly. "Though personally, I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to trade going offworld for a desk job and paperwork. Anyway, he promoted me, and I took over leadership of SG-1. And I wasn't ready for it."
"I seem to remember you doing a good job."
Sam made a face. "Oh, decent, maybe. But I still--I wasn't ready to quit being a scientist and second-in-command and become a leader first and foremost. Not to mention that the people I was supposed to be leading were the teammates I'd become as close as family to after seven years together. And that getting either Daniel or Teal'c to obey orders and stick to the plan when they think differently is pretty much like herding cats."
"Anyway, I was honestly relieved when I we split up and I didn't have to be in charge anymore. It's why I never minded that Cameron took over when he got SG-1 back together."
"But you mind now?" Elizabeth guessed.
Sam set her glass down slightly too hard. "Yes. Honestly, I do mind. It's not that he isn't doing a great job, but on Atlantis I was responsible for the lives of over 400 people, not to mention an entire galaxy. And I was good at it. I was a good leader," she said, more quietly. She hadn't really expected to be. She'd gone to Atlantis planning to do the best she possibly could, to keep things running until someone more competent, more appropriate, could step in. Sam knew her strengths. Highly intelligent, great expanse of knowledge, good under pressure--hell great under pressure--and a good soldier. But no professor or commanding officer ever spoke of her leadership qualities. And she'd been fine with that. She never craved the power and responsibility, believing it was better left to others more suited.
Until she'd been put in that position of power, and found out she had leadership qualities after all. "You know Colonel Sheppard called me 'the best commanding officer he'd ever had?'" Sam asked. Elizabeth smiled. "John Sheppard, who's driven almost every CO he's had to tears at one point or another. Landry tenses every time his name is mentioned. General O'Neill said once that he thought John Sheppard was karmic punishment for every CO he'd ticked off."
"He actually said that?" Elizabeth's eyes went wide.
Sam smirked. "He was on the phone with Hammond--he didn't know I was listening."
Elizabeth cracked up, and Sam had to fight down laughter to continue. "But seriously, I earned John's respect, I made Rodney toe the line, I even got Ronon to like me eventually. I kept my base safe, and brought home almost every one of my people, and we took out the Replicators and Michael and did major damage to the Wraith while I was in charge. I was a good leader, even though I honestly didn't expect to be. And after that, trying to go back to SG-1 was just...."
"Too small. You'd grown too much to fit in your old world," Elizabeth said quietly. Sam met the other woman's gaze, and Elizabeth smiled sympathetically.
"Yes. It was too small. So as much as I miss all of them... I'm happier here."
"Well, I'm glad you're here too," Elizabeth said, placing a hand on hers. It was the first time the other woman had been willing to get close to her. Sam stared at Elizabeth's hand, her skin paler against Sam's own light tan. Somehow she'd expected Elizabeth to feel cold, like a machine. She felt warm and soft-skinned, and Sam could feel her pulse beating in her veins.
Elizabeth pulled her hand away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable..."
"No, no, it's fine. You're fine. I just--it's not like I can get infected with nanites here." Sam's joke fell flat as she saw Elizabeth wince and look away. She opened her mouth to apologize, when Elizabeth cut her off.
"Of course. In any case, you should probably go--being here isn't the same as actually sleeping."
Sam nodded. "You're right. I--it was nice talking to you, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth's face was tense with some tightly controlled emotion, but she still smiled. "Same. I've missed talking with a friend." Then she disappeared, and the surroundings melted back into Sam's room. Sam looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap.
They felt cold. Sam closed her eyes, and let herself fall back into sleep.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam was starting to wonder whether the lethargy of her waking hours was a side effect of her busy nights. The more real the dream connection to Elizabeth felt, the less real her days felt.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"Replicators," Rodney announced triumphantly.
Sam shot up straight in her chair, heart pounding. "What?"
Thankfully Rodney just breezed into her lab, oblivious. "The second outpost, it was devoted to the study of the replicators, specifically nanites."
"Really," Sam said flatly. "How interesting."
"Yes, isn't it? Apparently there a lot we didn't know about them. Our equipment can tell between an activated nanite and an inactivated nanite, but it's not sensitive enough to detect where the nanite is fully shut down, or simply in a sort of hibernation."
Sam stared. "What?"
"That was another thing: they don't shut down automatically when separated from an energy source, like, say, a body, human or replicator. Instead the go into a sort of hibernation for several months. Then, if no new energy source is found, they shut down completely. But during those few months they're still capable of self-activating, just so long as they come in contact with someone--Sam?"
"Goodnight, Rodney," Sam said, pushing past him and nearly running out the door. She heard Rodney spluttering behind her, but she didn't stop until she reached her quarters on Atlantis, and dropped onto the bed. She wasn't sure how long she lay awake staring at the ceiling, but eventually sleep overcame her, just as she wanted.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
She opened her eyes. Elizabeth was sitting in the chair nearest her, a smile beginning to spread across her face. Sam cut her off before she could say a word. "Did you know?"
"Know what?"
"Nanites," Sam spit out. "This connection, it's because of the nanites in you that got passed to me!" Elizabeth's face paled, and Sam felt sick to her stomach. "You did know."
"No, I... suspected. I remembered having strange dreams when the Replicators first took me, but they ended once I became energy. When this happened--I wondered whether the two were related, but I wasn't sure--"
"You know more than enough about replicator technology now to put the pieces together, so don't even pretend you couldn't have known if you'd just been willing to face the truth!" Sam felt furious. "I must have picked them up when I first got to Atlantis, that's when the dreams started," Sam muttered, pacing. "Which means I've been running around for the last two years with nanites running through my blood--there's no telling how many people I've infected since then--"
"You haven't," Elizabeth said quickly. "They can't be passed on like that--Rodney designed them not to replicate and spread the way they typically do, and they've still been in hibernation until recently. Until I--reached out to you."
Sam stopped short. Even as angry as she was, she hated what she was about to say next. "I have to tell them. Elizabeth, this is too great a risk."
"I know." Elizabeth stood, and began to reach out before pulling her hand back, but Sam wouldn't let her.
Squeezing Elizabeth's hand, she met the other woman's gaze with her own. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right." Elizabeth's voice was firm, her eyes steady. "I know what it's like to have to make these decisions, Sam, remember? I understand." Sam swallowed. Logically, she knew she was doing the right thing, but it still felt like a betrayal of her friend. "I just need you to promise me one thing."
"If I can."
"I need you to go to the space gate we were sent through, and I need you to destroy all the other bodies."
Sam stopped breathing for a moment. "... what?"
Now it was Elizabeth holding on to her. "It has to be done--so long as we exist there is still too great a risk that someone will find a way to turn us into weapons. This only proves that there is no place we can hide--even space."
"But you'll die!"
"I know." Elizabeth's eyes were cool and calm.
"How can you be so--so--"
"Because I'm going to Ascend. We all are." Sam stared at her. "That's what we were missing before. Funny, really, it's by far the simplest part of Ascension, and yet we never realized. In order to Ascend, the body has to be destroyed. We have to die before we can move on."
Sam swallowed, her heart pounding. "You don't know that. You don't know that you'll be able to Ascend--this will kill you, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth half-smiled. "Last time we tried this, we cheated. Kept our consciousnesses intact so we could be sure we wouldn't just die. I think maybe Ascension is about a leap of faith. You have to want it badly enough, believe in yourself enough, to risk losing it all."
"This is insane," Sam muttered. "I can't do this."
"Listen to me." Elizabeth's voice was passionate as she caught Sam by the shoulders. "I'm stronger, I've held on longer, thanks to my connection to you. But the others are beginning to--well, shut down. Permanently. They're dying. They don't have much time left."
"We can pull them out of space, figure out some place to put them--"
"You know that won't happen." Elizabeth's voice cut like a knife, and Sam fell silent. "It's too risky, and you know it. Ascension is what we have all been working for, and now it's finally within our grasp."
"I'm sure I'll manage it. And once I have--I can help the others."
“Will the other Ancients let you?”
Elizabeth smiled fiercely. “They can try and stop me.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
This time when Sam awoke, she spent a long time just staring at the ceiling, watching the light travel across it as the sun rose. She didn't want to do this.
But there was nothing else she could do.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam took a deep, calming breath, and uttered four words she once believed she'd rather die than speak. "Rodney, I need a favor."
Rodney froze mid-typing. He turned slowly in his chair. "Excuse me?"
Sam exhaled. "You heard me." He was already puffing up like a peacock. It was equal parts obnoxious and--though she'd never tell him--cute.
"A favor. You need a favor from me," Rodney reiterated, gloating.
"Yes. A personal favor that I need kept quiet--unless I turn out to be right," she added, thinking 'when I turn out to be right.'
"A personal favor," Rodney was fairly radiating smugness. "Well, if you're here to tell me that you're finally ready to acknowledge the incredibly strong and as yet unresolved attraction between us and 'resolve' it," he sing-songed, grinning at her, "then I have to tell you--"
"I need you to scan me for nanites," Sam interrupted, resisting the urge to strangle him.
The sleazy smile on Rodney's face froze into a grimace. He paled. "What?"
"Quit freaking out. It's just a--precaution."
Rodney was staring at her, horrified. "A precaution? What the hell did you do that makes you think you might be infected by nanites? Wha--oh God, you're not feeling the sudden urge to kill me or anything, right?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "No more than usual."
"That is thoroughly uncomforting, thank you."
"Rodney," Sam said, in her very best command voice, and was gratified to see his mouth snap shut as he straightened in his chair. "Look, we know nanites can survive disconnected from the energy of the human body--they don't 'die' they just shut down until the find another energy source. If the replicator left trace nanites on any of the equipment I handled in that lab on PX3-477, it's possible I could be infected."
Rodney was still pale, but he was paying attention. "Well, that's unlikely--it's not as though they shed skin cells like we do--but it's not impossible either. But that doesn't explain why you want me to keep this a secret," he said suspiciously.
"Because I don't want to cause a panic," Sam stressed. "Just you, me, and your equipment--unless I am infected, in which case you can alert the entire base."
"Believe me, I won't hesitate," Rodney muttered. "All right, give me a few minutes to get everything together, then meet me in the lab across the hall."
"Fine. Thank you," Sam said reluctantly.
"Oh, no, thank you for doing the intelligent thing and not putting us all at risk of infection. God, why won't these things just die already?"
Ten minutes later Rodney's shriek alerted half the science labs even before he triggered the alarm. Sam sighed, and sat down to wait, and wished she'd brought her laptop.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
This time when Sam opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Elizabeth's pale face. "I told McKay," she said, before the other woman could speak. "He's working on a plan to shut down the nanites now. He should have it in another day--less if he quits being stupid and lets Radek help him."
Elizabeth sagged in relief. "Good. And are you okay?"
"Well, I'm stuck in isolation for the time being, and given the way everyone's shunning me, I'm beginning to feel very uncomfortable, but otherwise yes, I'm fine."
Elizabeth pressed her lips together tightly, and nodded. "Good, good."
Sam frowned. "Is something wrong with you? Are you having any doubts about--"
"No, not about Ascending."
"Dying," Sam corrected.
"Dying, then Ascending," Elizabeth conceded. "No, I just--it's silly."
"I think it's safe to say you can tell me."
"I just realized earlier--shutting down the nanites means severing the connection between us." Elizabeth looked a little regretful. "No more late-night conversations. Though at least your sleeping habits should improve."
Sam sat down suddenly. "I hadn't thought about it." No more dreams that weren't dreams. No more long talks that went on for hours about the price of being a leader, about being alone because you no longer fit in your own world. No more laughing hysterically together at the ridiculous shenanigans of Sheppard's team, or sitting in silence as they both remembered friends gone. And no need to wonder any more what Elizabeth would do if she just reached out and--
"Sam? Are you all right? Sam!" Elizabeth's voice and the tight grip on her shoulders pulled her out of her dizzying thoughts.
"I hadn't realized either." Her voice was hoarse. It ached, speaking around the lump in her throat. "I was thinking about finally getting rid of the risk, the chance that the nanites could be used against me. I hadn't realized--" she stopped.
Elizabeth started to pull back, but Sam caught her arms. "Wait. If--if this is the last time we'll see each other, then I guess I've got nothing to lose." She could just see Elizabeth's eyes flutter closed, as she leaned forward and kissed her.
It felt like taking off in the Phoenix the first time, like her world suddenly fit her, and when they broke apart for air, Elizabeth was grinning, looking dazzled. "Oh, I hoped you'd do that."
Sam grinned back at her. "Well, then, why stop?" and covered Elizabeth's smiling mouth with her own.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"I've got it!"
Sam groaned, opening her eyes slowly. Rodney was three feet from her bed, practically bouncing in place. "Please tell me you brought coffee."
Rodney stared. "What? No. What?"
Sam reached for her robe, and then realized she hadn't bothered to change out of her BDU's last night. The dream with Elizabeth had her thinking that--Elizabeth. Sam felt her face heat as last night came back to her in a flood, and hoped that the 'just got laid' glow didn't show up when it was sex in a dream. She cleared her throat and asked, "So you've figured out how to shut the nanites down?"
"Yes, yes I have." Rodney beamed. "It's actually a brilliant bit of subterfuge. See, we force the nanites to believe they've been cut off from their energy source, i.e. e. you by--"
Sam tuned him out. Under other circumstances, she'd want to know every detail. Right now she mostly just wanted to go back to sleep. This was the end, and she hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. And now she had to find a way to excuse destroying the--killing the replicators.
"--Because nanites apparently can't survive away from an energy source for longer than a few months, at the absolute most. Which makes me wonder how you managed to get infected when none of the rest of us did. Also, why they haven't started trying to take over your body."
Sam sighed inaudibly. That was her cue. "Have you looked at the nanites programming?" she asked, striving for patience.
"Well, not in detail, no, I've been a little busy--"
"Check. And see if--" she took a deep breath, "--if they match the programming of Dr. Weir's nanites."
Rodney stared at her, stricken. "What? How--"
"They can survive for a few months without energy. If she went into her office after you activated the nanites in her to save her life," Sam saw from Rodney's flinch that Elizabeth had, "then anyone who has also could be infected."
"None of us went near her office for months. Sheppard wouldn't let us pack it up until we received confirmation that she was dead," Rodney whispered.
Sam smiled grimly. "I did. Practically the first night I was there, to get her notes."
"But the reading suggested they'd been active for less than a month."
Sam looked down at her lap. She didn't want to see Rodney's face when she told him. "Dr. Weir was all but absorbed into the Asurans, well, 'collective mind' for lack of a better term, for months. Then she was focused on trying to Ascend, and after that, floating around as energy. It was only half a year ago or so that she became a replicator again--and then went through the space gate with the others." She heard Rodney's sharp inhale, but pressed on. "Assuming that her body is nearing permanent shut down, this could be her way of trying to hang on. There's no known limit on how far the bonds between nanites exist."
"Is this possible?" Sam's head shot up as Woolsey entered the room.
"Well, it's not impossible, exactly," Rodney wavered.
"So the replicators are still a threat."
"They're frozen, drifting through space," Rodney argued. "I wouldn't exactly say--"
"Yes," Sam interrupted. "Yes, they're still a threat."
Woolsey nodded, resigned as Rodney stared at her, betrayal written across his features. "We'll have to destroy them."
Sam had gotten what she promised Elizabeth. It didn't stop her from feeling miserable. "Once Dr. McKay has permanently shut down the nanites in my body, I'll take the Phoenix to their last know location and take care of it."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"Colonel Carter. I heard the Phoenix is heading out?" Sam stopped to allow Sheppard to catch up with her.
"Yes. I assume you've heard the verdict on destroying the remaining replicators?" He nodded, not looking at her. "We're leaving in twenty minutes. Hopefully this won't take more than a day--we should still have time to swing by Atlantis before heading back to Earth."
"Right." John's voice was brusque. "I'll get my team suited up--"
"There's no need," Sam cut in. "This is a simple search and destroy mission."
John winced slightly, but covered it quickly. "Still, I think I--we--should be there."
"Colonel Sheppard--John," Sam lowered her voice, taking a step closer to him, forcing him to meet her gaze. "You've already said goodbye to her--a few times now. This isn't something you need to do. Please."
John swallowed, looking away. "Yeah. You're probably right." For a moment, the mask slipped, and he looked so tired Sam nearly reached out a hand to steady him. If there was anyone who needed a vacation....
"Thank you." Her answer was heartfelt, and not just because of Elizabeth. Watching what John and the others would go through would make her already shaky conviction even more uncertain.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Hunting down the replicator bodies was fairly simple--they hadn't drifted far, and it was a simple matter to beam each of them into a stationary group. One shot with the Asgard beams would do it. Sam stood up from the command chair, staring out into space at the tiny group of bodies suspended there. Without turning around, she said, "Fire at will, Major Benoit."
The beam lanced out from her ship, brilliant against the stars, and as the bodies vanished into light, Sam swore for a moment she felt the press of lips to her cheek.
Author: Etain
Recipient: Lyssie
Warnings/Spoilers: Up to Ghost in the Machine
Chosen Prompt: Elizabeth Weir/Sam Carter and mud, paperwork, and/or ghosts
Rating: PG-13 at the most, more like PG
"Colonel Carter!" Sam slowed at the call, allowing Ellis to catch up with her. "Heading out to see your new ship?"
Sam grinned. Her ship. "Do I look too eager?"
Colonel Ellis grinned back at her. "When they first told me I was getting command of the Apollo, I all but ran out the door to check it out. I don't think there is such a thing as too eager. And I didn't design most of the Apollo myself."
"I wouldn't say most--maybe half at best," Sam admitted. "Still. I was amazed when General Landry told me I'd be taking command of the Phoenix."
Ellis laughed. "It wasn't a clue when they let you name it? Besides, after the job you did on Atlantis, you deserve it. For putting up with McKay alone, never mind defeating the Replicators."
Sam smiled, though the mention of Atlantis did cause a twinge of pain. Leaving the city and the people who'd become good friends would have been difficult under any circumstances; being removed from command the way she was felt like a slap in the face. Though the many desperate emails she'd received from Woolsey asking for advice did go a long way in assuaging her ego.
Sam kept up a running conversation with the Colonel as they moved through the security to reach the top of the mountain, but her mind was already racing ahead--to the Phoenix. At last, they reached the surface, and Ellis grinned as he radioed for two to transport to the X-303 hangar. Sam felt the world dissolve, and when it reappeared again, she was standing in the gloom of the hangar, looking up at her ship.
Her ship. She smiled so widely her cheeks hurt. The Phoenix had been finished just a few days before, and the support beams were still in place. But even motionless and chained to the ground she looked like speed and strength personified. Beside her, she knew Ellis was looking on amused, but she couldn't bring herself to smother the smile. "God, she's beautiful."
"And she's all yours, Colonel."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam was elbow deep in the hyperdrive, having already walked over the entire ship twice, when the call came over her headset. "Yes?"
"We just got a call from the SGC, ma'am. Atlantis dialed in and requested aid. General Landry nominated you to take it."
Sam couldn't decide whether to be irritated that Landry knew her well enough to know she wouldn't come out of the ship's engines for a week if he didn't drag her out, or thrilled at the chance to take the Phoenix out for a spin. "Understood, Captain. Notify the rest of the crew--we'll head at 0700."
"Yes, ma'am." Sam could hear the glee in Kern's voice as she started closing up the panels; she was glad she hadn't had time to start tweaking the drive.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
The first moment she sat in the command chair and felt the rumble of the Phoenix rising up, heard the sound of the supports falling away as the roof opened up spilling in the sunlight, Sam finally felt like she'd found her place.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam spent the ten day voyage to Atlantis getting to know her new crew--Captain Luke Kern was young, enthusiastic, and reminded her of a Labrador puppy she'd pet-sat for a few weeks back in college when a friend was out of town, right down to the big brown eyes and the inability to sit still for long.
Major Benoit, her second-in-command, was tall and serious and only a handful of years younger than herself. Sam had seen him shut Kern up with only a look. He'd also done a rotation on the Daedalus, and Sam felt confident she could trust him at the weapons command in a firefight.
Dr. Davis, her chief engineer, was polite but very absent-minded and generally gave the impression she'd be happier if left alone with the engines.
She was still learning the other's names, except for Sgt. Stackhouse, who she'd managed to pry out of Sheppard's grasp, but she was already feeling comfortable with her new crew. They weren't SG-1, but she respected them, and knew they respected her. Friendship might be too much to ask for, at least this soon. Still, as she confirmed to beam down with Kern and Davis, she couldn't help feeling proud.
The change from the relative low lights of the Phoenix's bridge, and the bright sunshine of the Atlantis gate room was still disorienting, and she was blinking spots out of her eyes as she turned to see Woolsey, Sheppard, and McKay standing there.
"Colonel Carter." Woolsey still looked slightly nervous, but he stood more confidently than she remembered. Atlantis had been good for him, forcing him to rise to the challenge.
It had been that way for her too, and if she still resented the IOA for their handling of her removal, the Phoenix went a long way toward making up for that. Sam didn't even have to fake a smile. "Dr. Woolsey. It's good to see you again. Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay," she nodded toward each of them. "This is--"
"Yes, yes, welcome back and what not, now are we done here? I left a very important simulation running--ow!"
Sheppard smiled at her, as he gripped Rodney's arm. "Sorry, Colonel, you were saying?"
Sam's mouth twitched. "Thank you Colonel. This is Captain Kern," Kern waved cheerfully, and Sam tried not to sigh, "and Dr. Davis."
McKay's gaze sharpened. "Dr. Davis? As in Alternatives to Asgard Hyperdrives: Reactionless Drives and Jump Points?"
Davis brightened. "Oh, you read that paper? It's mostly hypothetical--"
"It's mostly dreaming, you mean. The most plausible ideas in it--and by plausible I mean not entirely ridiculous--are still hardly anything I'd call science--"
"Excuse me, if you'd bothered to read--"
"Dr. Davis!"
"McKay!"
Sam and Sheppard's commands stopped the other two mid-sentence. Woolsey said awkwardly, "Well, perhaps this isn't the time or place for a scientific debate."
"I wouldn't call it science," McKay muttered.
"Don't make me smack you," Sheppard said, sotto voiced.
"In any case, lets, ah, move to the briefing room. I'm sure you're eager to be on your way."
Sam smiled. "I am yes. I heard this was somewhat urgent. Not that I'm not glad to visit Atlantis."
Woolsey brightened. "Oh, yes, we have your old room prepared for you."
"Oh, I'm fine bunking on the Daedalus," Sam said quickly. "Really."
"Nonsense!" Richard said cheerfully. "We're better hosts than that. Everything's all set up."
Realizing this wasn't one she could win, Sam covered her wince and smiled and thanked him. Inwardly, she started thinking about how to get out of it. If there was one thing about Atlantis she didn't miss, it was the dreams. They were never frightening, just odd flashes of walking through hallways in Atlantis or standing in the gateroom, and they'd ceased after her first few months on Atlantis, but they were.... unsettling. They reminded her of flashbacks to Jolinar's memories--like her dreams weren't hers.
Still, with any luck they were gone for good.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Spending half an hour playing referee between McKay and Davis didn't leave her in a particularly good mood. "So, the gate on PX3-477 won't connect, and you want us, along with Colonel Sheppard's team to check it out, and make certain the Wraith or the Replicators haven't attacked the planet, presumably because of the Ancient outpost you found there?" Sam summarized.
"Yes," Woolsey looked as tired of McKay and Davis interrupting as she did. "That's it in a nutshell. The outpost clearly relates to energy vessel manufacturing, we are assuming ZPMs, and its loss would be a great setback."
"Not to mention the Delari are allies of ours," Teyla reminded gently.
Woolsey flushed. "Of course. We've already packed up the standard aid supplies, and they can be transferred into the Phoenix's cargo hold as soon as you're ready."
"Excellent," Sam declared, getting to her feet, causing the rest of the room to rise with her. "If you'll beam them over, and send the navigational data to Captain Kern, we'll leave as soon as Colonel Sheppard's team is kitted out."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
There were, thankfully, no more interruptions, and they were underway inside half an hour. Sam had Davis working on an idea to increase the sublight engines efficiency, and she'd drafted Sheppard into helping her keep McKay occupied at the opposite end of the ship. Thankfully, the planet was only about fourteen hours out. Aside from going through two packets of aspirin trying to keep her McKay-induced migraine at bay, the trip passed relatively peacefully.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam was called up to the bridge when they finally dropped out of hyperspace. She arrived to find McKay already fussing with the scanners. "Noticed anything anomalous so far?" she asked, coming to stand at the monitor beside him.
"Oh, yes, in the whole ten seconds that I've been here before you I've somehow spotted the prob--wait, what's that?"
"There's an energy reading coming from the other side of the planet," Sam frowned. "It's no where near the gate."
"Yes, I know, that's not the outpost--it's over here, see?"
"So, a second outpost? I'm surprised you guys didn't find this before."
McKay straightened up defensively. "We took a jumper up and scanned the planet--there were no energy readings anywhere other than the original outpost! It must have come on recently."
"Sounds like we've found whatever it is that's interfering with the gate," Sam mused.
"So, something in the second outpost is causing these problems?" Sheppard said from behind them, causing them both to jump.
"God, can't you knock?" McKay said irritably.
"There's no door, Rodney."
"That's beside the point--you know what, never mind. We need to get down to that planet and investigate the second outpost."
"All right, go get ready to leave. Do you need any extra help?"
"If you're thinking about that moronic engineer, she'd be more of a hindrance than a help--" Rodney bridled.
"I'm just saying, if it's as complicated as the other, you'll probably figure it out faster with another scientist along to help out--"
"I'll go," Sam interrupted. "Kern, tell Major Benoit he's in command of the Phoenix for the next six hours. And that she'd better not have a scratch on her when I return."
Kern grinned, and reached for the ship's comm. "Aye, aye, ma'am."
Sam rolled her eyes (Kern's constant enthusiasm, while amusing, was starting to grate), and grabbed a still--protesting Rodney by the elbow and steered him out the door.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
They took a jumper down to the surface, and landed in the clearing nearest the outpost. It wasn't very far away, but this planet had a climate that reminded Sam of the Amazon rainforest--hot and muggy, and the terrain wasn't easy going. The difficult hike was made up for when getting into the outpost turned out to be as simple as having Sheppard slouch against the wall. He ended up with a slightly bruised tailbone, and some very bruised dignity, but he also took Ronon and Teyla off their hands to check around the outpost.
Once inside, however, her headache returned in full force. "What did they do, pull it all apart and stick it back together randomly?" Sam exclaimed. The Ancients had left in a hurry. There were tools and parts strewn across the floors, and main console in the center room was gutted.
"You wouldn't believe how many places we've found like this. They're always a pain in the ass, because you've got to put everything back together before you can even guess what it is." Rodney sighed and stripped off his vest and jacket. "Well, let's get to work."
"Start with the main console?" Sam suggested, and they began. They worked in silence for the first several hours, but apparently that was Rodney's limit, because he started complaining again, this time about her presence.
"There's no reason for you to be here," he huffed.
"Two pairs of hands will make this whole thing go a lot faster," Sam told him through gritted teeth, pulling her ponytail away from her damp neck. Times like this she regretted letting it get so long. Rodney's face was deeply flushed and shiny with sweat as he glared up at her from over the control panels. She wasn't feeling much cooler either. "Why exactly did the Ancients decide to build and outpost full of delicate equipment with no air conditioning on a planet with heat and humidity this high?" she grumbled, digging back into the device.
"Because as 'highly advanced' as they were, they were also complete idiots. And also because the planet's temperature has been rising over the last few thousand years," he added grudgingly.
"If we have to spend another day here, I say we bring in some fans."
"I couldn't agree more."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
As it turned out, they were going to have to spend another day there; Sam explained when Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon met them on their way back to the jumper. "No one has fixed this equipment in well over ten thousand years, and while thankfully none of it's been deliberately damaged, the natural wear and tear over time means we have extensive repairs to make before we can shut down the subspace frequencies that are interfering with the gate's dialing system."
"Do you have everything you need for the repairs?" Teyla asked.
"We're set on that score."
"So how long are we looking at exactly?" Sheppard asked, wary.
"Three days at the most."
"Not bad at all."
"I was relieved too, Colonel. So far this has all been relatively easy."
"Don't tell me you're enjoying yourself here," he said, tugging his damp jacket for emphasis and making a face. Sam could hear Rodney, too short for breath to speak, grunt an agreement.
"I'll grant you, rainforest jungle isn't my preferred climate either, but other than the humidity, it's actually fairly nice--"
"Hey, watch out," Ronon called.
Sam had turned around to look at Sheppard as they spoke, which was why she didn't notice the sudden dropping away of the ground underneath her feet until too late. The next thing she knew she was face down in at least eighteen inches of slimy mud. A strong pair of hands on the back of her vest hauled her out of the hole, and Sam looked up through her muddy vision to see Ronon grinning at her. "I said 'watch out."
Sam glared, wiping large clumps of mud and who knew what else off her body. "Yes, I heard you, thanks. A little sooner might be a good idea next time."
Sheppard cleared his throat, and held out a clean T-shirt he'd pulled from his pack and his canteen. "You ought to be able to clean up a bit with this," he offered, him mouth twitching. Sam accepted the shirt with stiff thanks. She could hear Teyla shushing Rodney as he snickered behind them. She got the worst of it off her face and hair, and made sure her gun still worked, then handed him back the T-shirt and canteen. Sheppard accepted them with a slightly disgusted look on his face.
"All right, let's go. I want a long, long shower after this," she said and stalked on ahead, leaving the others to their laughter behind her.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a room she didn't recognize, and as she took a few steps forward, she heard a squelching sound. Looking down she realized she was soaked and covered in mud. "I don't believe it. It took two hours to scrub this off last time--" Sam broke off.
She'd already showered when they finally got back from the planet. A long, hot shower followed by an hour she spent trying to stay awake to finish her report before she gave up and crawled into bed.
"This... is a dream?" Sam asked, bewildered. It wasn't quite like the dreams she remembered having when first on Atlantis, and yet--
"That's my best guess as well," came a smooth voice from behind her.
Sam spun around, bringing her hands up defensively--and then froze.
Standing in the room across from her was Elizabeth Weir. Not the replicator Weir she'd seen on the security footage, but Elizabeth Weir as she was before she disappeared on Oberoth's ship. "Yes, it's me."
Sam's eyes darted around the room. "I've never been here before."
"We're in my quarters on Atlantis."
"Which I've never been in before, which means these images are not coming from my mind, which means--you're in my head." Her voice rose despite her control on those last words. God, she hated dealing with replicators.
"We're in a shared dream, Colonel Carter. I don't control any more of it than you do," Elizabeth said calmly.
"How?" Sam demanded.
Elizabeth shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I've been here for awhile, but it's only since you showed up that things are becoming... clearer." There was no sign that she was lying, but then Dr. Elizabeth Weir had been one of the best diplomats in the world--there wouldn't be.
"Can I leave, or am I stuck here?"
"Well, I assume you'll leave when you wake up. But before you do that, I was hoping you'd tell me what's going on Atlantis," she said, looking eager. "Nothing of strategic value, I know," she added, seeing the automatic refusal in Sam's face. "I just meant, well, how are they doing? Is everyone okay?"
Sam hesitated. "Everyone is... fine."
Elizabeth looked disappointed. "Well, that's good to hear, as little as it is."
"Torren just celebrated his first birthday," Sam offered--she can't think of anything more harmless, and the way Elizabeth lit up made her think that maybe the other woman really isn't a threat.
"I hadn't realized it had been so long. Teyla talked about him, of course, but I never saw him..." she trailed off.
Sam thought about the photos Teyla had sent her just a few weeks ago, and suddenly they're in her hand. Apparently she did have control here. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought of wearing clean clothing and freshly washed and dried hair, and she could feel as the mud evaporated, leaving her dressed in her pajamas. "Huh."
"Getting the hang of it, I see," Elizabeth said, amused.
"Starting to." Sam returned her smile. The knowledge that she did have control here--and clean, dry clothes--was enough to brighten her mood. She held out the envelope in her hand and said, "I have pictures Teyla sent me from the party, if you want to see?"
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam woke up to the beeping of her wristwatch alarm, and nearly fell out of the bunk. It wasn't until she was looking in the mirror that she remembered her dream from the night before. Her hand was halfway to the PA to alert the ship when common sense raised its head. How could she possibly convince the rest of the crew she'd shared a dream with the replicator Dr. Weir?
Sam stared at her pale reflection. She couldn't. She had no proof, nothing beyond her own rapidly fading certainties (it could have been an actual dream, couldn't it?). They'd think she was insane. And considering she'd spent what she estimated to be several hours in small talk with a replicator version of a dead woman, oohing and ahhing over baby photos, she might very well be.
It had to be a dream.
"Colonel Carter, are you there?"
Sam jumped, then forced herself to calm down and reached for the speaker. "Yes, I'm here. What is it?"
"Dr. McKay is asking for you. But if you're busy, I can tell him to go away." Kern sounded like he hoped he'd get the chance to do just that. Apparently Rodney was being his usual charming self.
"No, tell him I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sam rubbed her forehead as she moved toward the shower. "What a way to start the morning."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Eighteen long, hot, frustrating hours later, Sam made the same trudge, shedding yet more sweaty, dirty clothes as she went. A hot shower loosened her sore muscles, but didn't do much for her fuzzy head. She barely bothered to pull back the covers before falling into bed and succumbing to sleep.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"Hello again," Elizabeth said, smiling.
Sam smiled back. This time they were on a balcony overlooking the ocean. Her tiredness was gone, she felt wide-awake. "To you as well. I'm a little surprised to be here, though."
"Convinced yourself it wasn't real?"
"Pretty much," she admitted.
Elizabeth nodded ruefully. "Believe me, I was starting to wonder if replicators could hallucinate."
"You don't seem particularly bothered by all this," Sam noted. The Elizabeth Weir she remembered had been fairly private, keeping her personal life out of her job.
"Right now, my body is floating through space, and up until this happened, I could feel my mind beginning to shut down. Trust me, the chance for an actual conversation, something to do for a change, is far worth it."
Sam bit her lip at the thought of this woman's frozen body drifting in the blackness of space. "I have to say, this is a definite improvement on my day, too," she said, trying for a lighter tone.
"Bad?"
"Tedious, irritating, and frustrating. And very, very long." Elizabeth looked sympathetic. "Not to mention filled with Rodney McKay at his most annoying," Sam added, trying to get the other woman to smile, and feeling pleased when she succeeded.
"Oh, what did Rodney do now?"
"It's more like what didn't he do," Sam started, and Elizabeth's quiet laughter had the last of the day's tension seeping from her shoulders. "It started when he refused to listen to me...."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
They had finally managed to repair the outpost, and shut down the machine that was causing the problems. Sam packed up everything and hustled them all off the planet in double-time despite Rodney's complaints that the data he'd downloaded from the main console might not be enough. Sam didn't care. The gate worked now, they could come back if they wanted, and she wanted to get back to Atlantis.
She agreed to stay and extra week to allow some of the Atlantis scientists and soldiers a chance at hands-on knowledge of a spaceship (she'd heard Ronon was signing up for a course in weapons command), and in return Woolsey agreed to let her send out a few of her crew on missions with the Atlantis gate teams. Hopefully they'd all gain some practical experience they'd likely need in the future, and it'd give Kern a chance to burn off some energy far away from her.
Ostensibly, Sam was reviewing the data from the outpost. In actuality she was spending most of her time awake thinking about dreaming. And Elizabeth.
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"You seem very much at home on the Phoenix."
Sam smiled. "I am. It's--well, it's amazing. I came within an inch of hugging General Landry when he told me I'd gotten the command," she admitted.
"Oh, I'd have loved to see the look on his face."
"Deeply uncomfortable. And a little amused, I think." Sam looked at the other woman, reading the lines of her face. "Are you surprised?"
"I would have thought you'd miss your team more. I got the impression you weren't so thrilled when they first shipped you to Atlantis." Sam hesitated, and Elizabeth added, "Not that it's any of my business."
"No, I don't mind saying. I'm just not sure how to phrase it." Sam thought back over the last months, and the years before. "I do miss them, but.... You remember when General O'Neill was promoted?"
Elizabeth laughed. "As I'm the one who told him about it, I'd say yes, very clearly. I've never seen anyone look so torn about a promotion."
"Apparently he didn't want to be 'the man,'" Sam said dryly. "Though personally, I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to trade going offworld for a desk job and paperwork. Anyway, he promoted me, and I took over leadership of SG-1. And I wasn't ready for it."
"I seem to remember you doing a good job."
Sam made a face. "Oh, decent, maybe. But I still--I wasn't ready to quit being a scientist and second-in-command and become a leader first and foremost. Not to mention that the people I was supposed to be leading were the teammates I'd become as close as family to after seven years together. And that getting either Daniel or Teal'c to obey orders and stick to the plan when they think differently is pretty much like herding cats."
"Anyway, I was honestly relieved when I we split up and I didn't have to be in charge anymore. It's why I never minded that Cameron took over when he got SG-1 back together."
"But you mind now?" Elizabeth guessed.
Sam set her glass down slightly too hard. "Yes. Honestly, I do mind. It's not that he isn't doing a great job, but on Atlantis I was responsible for the lives of over 400 people, not to mention an entire galaxy. And I was good at it. I was a good leader," she said, more quietly. She hadn't really expected to be. She'd gone to Atlantis planning to do the best she possibly could, to keep things running until someone more competent, more appropriate, could step in. Sam knew her strengths. Highly intelligent, great expanse of knowledge, good under pressure--hell great under pressure--and a good soldier. But no professor or commanding officer ever spoke of her leadership qualities. And she'd been fine with that. She never craved the power and responsibility, believing it was better left to others more suited.
Until she'd been put in that position of power, and found out she had leadership qualities after all. "You know Colonel Sheppard called me 'the best commanding officer he'd ever had?'" Sam asked. Elizabeth smiled. "John Sheppard, who's driven almost every CO he's had to tears at one point or another. Landry tenses every time his name is mentioned. General O'Neill said once that he thought John Sheppard was karmic punishment for every CO he'd ticked off."
"He actually said that?" Elizabeth's eyes went wide.
Sam smirked. "He was on the phone with Hammond--he didn't know I was listening."
Elizabeth cracked up, and Sam had to fight down laughter to continue. "But seriously, I earned John's respect, I made Rodney toe the line, I even got Ronon to like me eventually. I kept my base safe, and brought home almost every one of my people, and we took out the Replicators and Michael and did major damage to the Wraith while I was in charge. I was a good leader, even though I honestly didn't expect to be. And after that, trying to go back to SG-1 was just...."
"Too small. You'd grown too much to fit in your old world," Elizabeth said quietly. Sam met the other woman's gaze, and Elizabeth smiled sympathetically.
"Yes. It was too small. So as much as I miss all of them... I'm happier here."
"Well, I'm glad you're here too," Elizabeth said, placing a hand on hers. It was the first time the other woman had been willing to get close to her. Sam stared at Elizabeth's hand, her skin paler against Sam's own light tan. Somehow she'd expected Elizabeth to feel cold, like a machine. She felt warm and soft-skinned, and Sam could feel her pulse beating in her veins.
Elizabeth pulled her hand away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable..."
"No, no, it's fine. You're fine. I just--it's not like I can get infected with nanites here." Sam's joke fell flat as she saw Elizabeth wince and look away. She opened her mouth to apologize, when Elizabeth cut her off.
"Of course. In any case, you should probably go--being here isn't the same as actually sleeping."
Sam nodded. "You're right. I--it was nice talking to you, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth's face was tense with some tightly controlled emotion, but she still smiled. "Same. I've missed talking with a friend." Then she disappeared, and the surroundings melted back into Sam's room. Sam looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap.
They felt cold. Sam closed her eyes, and let herself fall back into sleep.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam was starting to wonder whether the lethargy of her waking hours was a side effect of her busy nights. The more real the dream connection to Elizabeth felt, the less real her days felt.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"Replicators," Rodney announced triumphantly.
Sam shot up straight in her chair, heart pounding. "What?"
Thankfully Rodney just breezed into her lab, oblivious. "The second outpost, it was devoted to the study of the replicators, specifically nanites."
"Really," Sam said flatly. "How interesting."
"Yes, isn't it? Apparently there a lot we didn't know about them. Our equipment can tell between an activated nanite and an inactivated nanite, but it's not sensitive enough to detect where the nanite is fully shut down, or simply in a sort of hibernation."
Sam stared. "What?"
"That was another thing: they don't shut down automatically when separated from an energy source, like, say, a body, human or replicator. Instead the go into a sort of hibernation for several months. Then, if no new energy source is found, they shut down completely. But during those few months they're still capable of self-activating, just so long as they come in contact with someone--Sam?"
"Goodnight, Rodney," Sam said, pushing past him and nearly running out the door. She heard Rodney spluttering behind her, but she didn't stop until she reached her quarters on Atlantis, and dropped onto the bed. She wasn't sure how long she lay awake staring at the ceiling, but eventually sleep overcame her, just as she wanted.
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She opened her eyes. Elizabeth was sitting in the chair nearest her, a smile beginning to spread across her face. Sam cut her off before she could say a word. "Did you know?"
"Know what?"
"Nanites," Sam spit out. "This connection, it's because of the nanites in you that got passed to me!" Elizabeth's face paled, and Sam felt sick to her stomach. "You did know."
"No, I... suspected. I remembered having strange dreams when the Replicators first took me, but they ended once I became energy. When this happened--I wondered whether the two were related, but I wasn't sure--"
"You know more than enough about replicator technology now to put the pieces together, so don't even pretend you couldn't have known if you'd just been willing to face the truth!" Sam felt furious. "I must have picked them up when I first got to Atlantis, that's when the dreams started," Sam muttered, pacing. "Which means I've been running around for the last two years with nanites running through my blood--there's no telling how many people I've infected since then--"
"You haven't," Elizabeth said quickly. "They can't be passed on like that--Rodney designed them not to replicate and spread the way they typically do, and they've still been in hibernation until recently. Until I--reached out to you."
Sam stopped short. Even as angry as she was, she hated what she was about to say next. "I have to tell them. Elizabeth, this is too great a risk."
"I know." Elizabeth stood, and began to reach out before pulling her hand back, but Sam wouldn't let her.
Squeezing Elizabeth's hand, she met the other woman's gaze with her own. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right." Elizabeth's voice was firm, her eyes steady. "I know what it's like to have to make these decisions, Sam, remember? I understand." Sam swallowed. Logically, she knew she was doing the right thing, but it still felt like a betrayal of her friend. "I just need you to promise me one thing."
"If I can."
"I need you to go to the space gate we were sent through, and I need you to destroy all the other bodies."
Sam stopped breathing for a moment. "... what?"
Now it was Elizabeth holding on to her. "It has to be done--so long as we exist there is still too great a risk that someone will find a way to turn us into weapons. This only proves that there is no place we can hide--even space."
"But you'll die!"
"I know." Elizabeth's eyes were cool and calm.
"How can you be so--so--"
"Because I'm going to Ascend. We all are." Sam stared at her. "That's what we were missing before. Funny, really, it's by far the simplest part of Ascension, and yet we never realized. In order to Ascend, the body has to be destroyed. We have to die before we can move on."
Sam swallowed, her heart pounding. "You don't know that. You don't know that you'll be able to Ascend--this will kill you, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth half-smiled. "Last time we tried this, we cheated. Kept our consciousnesses intact so we could be sure we wouldn't just die. I think maybe Ascension is about a leap of faith. You have to want it badly enough, believe in yourself enough, to risk losing it all."
"This is insane," Sam muttered. "I can't do this."
"Listen to me." Elizabeth's voice was passionate as she caught Sam by the shoulders. "I'm stronger, I've held on longer, thanks to my connection to you. But the others are beginning to--well, shut down. Permanently. They're dying. They don't have much time left."
"We can pull them out of space, figure out some place to put them--"
"You know that won't happen." Elizabeth's voice cut like a knife, and Sam fell silent. "It's too risky, and you know it. Ascension is what we have all been working for, and now it's finally within our grasp."
"I'm sure I'll manage it. And once I have--I can help the others."
“Will the other Ancients let you?”
Elizabeth smiled fiercely. “They can try and stop me.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
This time when Sam awoke, she spent a long time just staring at the ceiling, watching the light travel across it as the sun rose. She didn't want to do this.
But there was nothing else she could do.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Sam took a deep, calming breath, and uttered four words she once believed she'd rather die than speak. "Rodney, I need a favor."
Rodney froze mid-typing. He turned slowly in his chair. "Excuse me?"
Sam exhaled. "You heard me." He was already puffing up like a peacock. It was equal parts obnoxious and--though she'd never tell him--cute.
"A favor. You need a favor from me," Rodney reiterated, gloating.
"Yes. A personal favor that I need kept quiet--unless I turn out to be right," she added, thinking 'when I turn out to be right.'
"A personal favor," Rodney was fairly radiating smugness. "Well, if you're here to tell me that you're finally ready to acknowledge the incredibly strong and as yet unresolved attraction between us and 'resolve' it," he sing-songed, grinning at her, "then I have to tell you--"
"I need you to scan me for nanites," Sam interrupted, resisting the urge to strangle him.
The sleazy smile on Rodney's face froze into a grimace. He paled. "What?"
"Quit freaking out. It's just a--precaution."
Rodney was staring at her, horrified. "A precaution? What the hell did you do that makes you think you might be infected by nanites? Wha--oh God, you're not feeling the sudden urge to kill me or anything, right?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "No more than usual."
"That is thoroughly uncomforting, thank you."
"Rodney," Sam said, in her very best command voice, and was gratified to see his mouth snap shut as he straightened in his chair. "Look, we know nanites can survive disconnected from the energy of the human body--they don't 'die' they just shut down until the find another energy source. If the replicator left trace nanites on any of the equipment I handled in that lab on PX3-477, it's possible I could be infected."
Rodney was still pale, but he was paying attention. "Well, that's unlikely--it's not as though they shed skin cells like we do--but it's not impossible either. But that doesn't explain why you want me to keep this a secret," he said suspiciously.
"Because I don't want to cause a panic," Sam stressed. "Just you, me, and your equipment--unless I am infected, in which case you can alert the entire base."
"Believe me, I won't hesitate," Rodney muttered. "All right, give me a few minutes to get everything together, then meet me in the lab across the hall."
"Fine. Thank you," Sam said reluctantly.
"Oh, no, thank you for doing the intelligent thing and not putting us all at risk of infection. God, why won't these things just die already?"
Ten minutes later Rodney's shriek alerted half the science labs even before he triggered the alarm. Sam sighed, and sat down to wait, and wished she'd brought her laptop.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
This time when Sam opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Elizabeth's pale face. "I told McKay," she said, before the other woman could speak. "He's working on a plan to shut down the nanites now. He should have it in another day--less if he quits being stupid and lets Radek help him."
Elizabeth sagged in relief. "Good. And are you okay?"
"Well, I'm stuck in isolation for the time being, and given the way everyone's shunning me, I'm beginning to feel very uncomfortable, but otherwise yes, I'm fine."
Elizabeth pressed her lips together tightly, and nodded. "Good, good."
Sam frowned. "Is something wrong with you? Are you having any doubts about--"
"No, not about Ascending."
"Dying," Sam corrected.
"Dying, then Ascending," Elizabeth conceded. "No, I just--it's silly."
"I think it's safe to say you can tell me."
"I just realized earlier--shutting down the nanites means severing the connection between us." Elizabeth looked a little regretful. "No more late-night conversations. Though at least your sleeping habits should improve."
Sam sat down suddenly. "I hadn't thought about it." No more dreams that weren't dreams. No more long talks that went on for hours about the price of being a leader, about being alone because you no longer fit in your own world. No more laughing hysterically together at the ridiculous shenanigans of Sheppard's team, or sitting in silence as they both remembered friends gone. And no need to wonder any more what Elizabeth would do if she just reached out and--
"Sam? Are you all right? Sam!" Elizabeth's voice and the tight grip on her shoulders pulled her out of her dizzying thoughts.
"I hadn't realized either." Her voice was hoarse. It ached, speaking around the lump in her throat. "I was thinking about finally getting rid of the risk, the chance that the nanites could be used against me. I hadn't realized--" she stopped.
Elizabeth started to pull back, but Sam caught her arms. "Wait. If--if this is the last time we'll see each other, then I guess I've got nothing to lose." She could just see Elizabeth's eyes flutter closed, as she leaned forward and kissed her.
It felt like taking off in the Phoenix the first time, like her world suddenly fit her, and when they broke apart for air, Elizabeth was grinning, looking dazzled. "Oh, I hoped you'd do that."
Sam grinned back at her. "Well, then, why stop?" and covered Elizabeth's smiling mouth with her own.
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"I've got it!"
Sam groaned, opening her eyes slowly. Rodney was three feet from her bed, practically bouncing in place. "Please tell me you brought coffee."
Rodney stared. "What? No. What?"
Sam reached for her robe, and then realized she hadn't bothered to change out of her BDU's last night. The dream with Elizabeth had her thinking that--Elizabeth. Sam felt her face heat as last night came back to her in a flood, and hoped that the 'just got laid' glow didn't show up when it was sex in a dream. She cleared her throat and asked, "So you've figured out how to shut the nanites down?"
"Yes, yes I have." Rodney beamed. "It's actually a brilliant bit of subterfuge. See, we force the nanites to believe they've been cut off from their energy source, i.e. e. you by--"
Sam tuned him out. Under other circumstances, she'd want to know every detail. Right now she mostly just wanted to go back to sleep. This was the end, and she hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. And now she had to find a way to excuse destroying the--killing the replicators.
"--Because nanites apparently can't survive away from an energy source for longer than a few months, at the absolute most. Which makes me wonder how you managed to get infected when none of the rest of us did. Also, why they haven't started trying to take over your body."
Sam sighed inaudibly. That was her cue. "Have you looked at the nanites programming?" she asked, striving for patience.
"Well, not in detail, no, I've been a little busy--"
"Check. And see if--" she took a deep breath, "--if they match the programming of Dr. Weir's nanites."
Rodney stared at her, stricken. "What? How--"
"They can survive for a few months without energy. If she went into her office after you activated the nanites in her to save her life," Sam saw from Rodney's flinch that Elizabeth had, "then anyone who has also could be infected."
"None of us went near her office for months. Sheppard wouldn't let us pack it up until we received confirmation that she was dead," Rodney whispered.
Sam smiled grimly. "I did. Practically the first night I was there, to get her notes."
"But the reading suggested they'd been active for less than a month."
Sam looked down at her lap. She didn't want to see Rodney's face when she told him. "Dr. Weir was all but absorbed into the Asurans, well, 'collective mind' for lack of a better term, for months. Then she was focused on trying to Ascend, and after that, floating around as energy. It was only half a year ago or so that she became a replicator again--and then went through the space gate with the others." She heard Rodney's sharp inhale, but pressed on. "Assuming that her body is nearing permanent shut down, this could be her way of trying to hang on. There's no known limit on how far the bonds between nanites exist."
"Is this possible?" Sam's head shot up as Woolsey entered the room.
"Well, it's not impossible, exactly," Rodney wavered.
"So the replicators are still a threat."
"They're frozen, drifting through space," Rodney argued. "I wouldn't exactly say--"
"Yes," Sam interrupted. "Yes, they're still a threat."
Woolsey nodded, resigned as Rodney stared at her, betrayal written across his features. "We'll have to destroy them."
Sam had gotten what she promised Elizabeth. It didn't stop her from feeling miserable. "Once Dr. McKay has permanently shut down the nanites in my body, I'll take the Phoenix to their last know location and take care of it."
_______________________________________________________________________________________
"Colonel Carter. I heard the Phoenix is heading out?" Sam stopped to allow Sheppard to catch up with her.
"Yes. I assume you've heard the verdict on destroying the remaining replicators?" He nodded, not looking at her. "We're leaving in twenty minutes. Hopefully this won't take more than a day--we should still have time to swing by Atlantis before heading back to Earth."
"Right." John's voice was brusque. "I'll get my team suited up--"
"There's no need," Sam cut in. "This is a simple search and destroy mission."
John winced slightly, but covered it quickly. "Still, I think I--we--should be there."
"Colonel Sheppard--John," Sam lowered her voice, taking a step closer to him, forcing him to meet her gaze. "You've already said goodbye to her--a few times now. This isn't something you need to do. Please."
John swallowed, looking away. "Yeah. You're probably right." For a moment, the mask slipped, and he looked so tired Sam nearly reached out a hand to steady him. If there was anyone who needed a vacation....
"Thank you." Her answer was heartfelt, and not just because of Elizabeth. Watching what John and the others would go through would make her already shaky conviction even more uncertain.
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Hunting down the replicator bodies was fairly simple--they hadn't drifted far, and it was a simple matter to beam each of them into a stationary group. One shot with the Asgard beams would do it. Sam stood up from the command chair, staring out into space at the tiny group of bodies suspended there. Without turning around, she said, "Fire at will, Major Benoit."
The beam lanced out from her ship, brilliant against the stars, and as the bodies vanished into light, Sam swore for a moment she felt the press of lips to her cheek.