Fic: Protect and Survive: Rotterdam or Anywhere (JAG/Stargate)
Title: Rotterdam or Anywhere
Fandom: JAG/Stargate
Rating: T
Genres: gen
Recipient: mackenziesmomma
Prompt: JAG/Stargate, JAG and Stargate women, "Did you just say "wormhole travel"?"
Summary: For Sam Carter and Laura Cadman, it's just another day at the office. For Sarah Rabb-Mackenzie and Jennifer Coates, it's a whole new world of crazy.
A/N: Holiday Fic Request Meme. Oh God, this prompt... it's my own fault for offering to write a JAG/Stargate crossover to mackenziesmomma but oh God, that was hard. Had to write it in the course of about a day and it was never meant to become that big. And no, I don't think I'm going to write a sequel because I decided that this fits in well with the entire Protect and Survive 'verse and I think that it takes place between Out of Reach and Seize the Day, because we all wanted to know what Laura did on her stint with the SGC after Carson death, didn't we?
Okay, I did but this can be read as a stand-alone fic, too, so knowledge for Protect and Survive totally isn't necessary. Hope you like it :)
Rotterdam or Anywhere
“This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
Liverpool or Rome
Cause Rotterdam is anywhere
Anywhere alone.”
The Beautiful South, “Rotterdam”
On a rare sunny, slightly chilly day in February 2007, Colonel Sarah “Mac” Rabb-Mackenzie finds a record on her desk as station chief of naval JAG office Southwest that looks so inconspicuous that her instincts tell her to actually read it instead of just signing the form that Jen Coates put on top of it.
As it is, her instincts did not betray her. It’s a simple change of personnel request, one JAG lawyer to replace another, a regular occurrence crossing her desk. Only that they are requesting specifically a Marine Corps lawyer, to replace another Marine Corps lawyer… at NORAD, Peterson AFB, supposed to work out of Cheyenne Mountain for a project called “Deep Space Telemetry”, allegedly because their current lawyer had resigned his commission on immediate notice. There is no way she will sign that without having a look at that project first.
So she tries to find out what that project is supposed to be about only to be stonewalled left and right and basically every other direction she turns to, too. She also puts Jen on it, to see if she could find out about something the way only enlisted can but even she comes up with nothing more than confusing snippets of reports and cryptic comments on message boards and an in passing mentioned non-disclosure agreement in one case. Nothing gets her very far, and she even considers asking Harm to put his CIA contacts on this at some point.
But then she thinks that her last business trip had been a considerable while ago and that she could use a bit of fresh air so she sticks her head out of her office, tells Jen they’re going on a little trip to Colorado, reviews the travel arrangements and kisses Harm and Mattie good bye a day later.
So now she’s sitting in a car with Jennifer Coates, waiting to pass the first checkpoint in front of Cheyenne Mountain to get to the bottom of this whole DST thing. And ready to punch one of those USAF security forces guys in the face or at least make someone quit them with their “We’re sorry, ma’am, but you’re not on our list of expected visitors. We have to clear this with Command first.” routine. She has never seen anyone so well able to say the same thing over and over again with the same impassive face, for thirty excruciating minutes up to now.
When she gets to hear it for the certainly 100th time, Jen leans over and whispers, “I don’t think they’re going to let us in, after all, ma’am. And I think something’s really fishy here.”
She tries not to sound too pissed off when she says, “Obviously, Petty Officer. And if we don’t get to hear something else than…”
“Command authorized your continuation. Have a nice day, ma’am.” That is probably the rudest thing she ever was forced to endure in her almost 20 years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. But then, it’s the Air Force. She shouldn’t have expected them to know how to treat a Marine flag officer.
Which, of course, is bullshit and she would reprimand every one of her Marines and sailors if she caught them making derogatory remarks about another service. But there was a three and a half hour flight this morning, not to mention having to get up at 0500, so having to wait thirty minutes to be cleared to enter a project classified as scientific but absolutely not relevant to any current issues, security wise.
At least they can finally drive through the checkpoint. It is a little scary, though how many SFs they counter along the rather short way from the first checkpoint to the gate that proceed to stare at them with serious looks and wave them on, until one of them waves them over to a small parking space. Jen and she get out of the car, into the February cold and once again, she’s really, really glad that they gave her San Diego as a station.
They walk up to a second checkpoint where they’re thankfully just waved through to walk over to the actual Mountain entrance together with another SF now assigned to them. Inside the tunnel, their guard leads them over to a door in the wall. After keying in a sequence into the code pad next to it, it swings open and reveals a nondescript corridor, leading up to another door. Another keying in later, they find themselves in a room that looks vaguely like a reception area… with two women in something akin to fatigues standing in front of the opposite wall.
One of them looks to be in her late thirties, maybe early forties and the other in her late twenties, early thirties. They’re wearing a kind of fatigue she hasn’t seen on anyone else before, uniformly blue jackets and trousers, combat boots, black t-shirts. There are no name tags but rank insignia on the collars. She notices a dark Velcro sticker left and right but no unit patches. The SF that had been accompanying them inside positioned himself in a corner, ostentatiously inconspicuously.
She resists throwing Jen a look, wondering what the hell is going on her and thankfully she’s saved from doing it after all by the older woman taking a step towards her, extending her hand and saying, “Welcome to the Cheyenne Mountain complex, ma’am. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, USAF, temporary commander of Deep Space Telemetry Command.”
A Lieutenant Colonel is the temporary commander of something as marginal as deep space telemetry? Trying not to raise her eyebrow too high, she takes Carter’s hand and says, “Colonel Sarah Rabb-Mackenzie, San Diego naval JAG station chief.”
Carter nods and replies, “We’re honored to have you here, ma’am. Unfortunately, due to the short notice of your visit, both General Landry and Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell couldn’t be here to greet you. I hope it’s alright for you to have to do with me as acting commander hosting you and your aide here.” She gestures towards the woman next to her. “Please allow me to introduce First Lieutenant Laura Cadman, USMC, to you. She will act as your guide and our liaison officer during your stay here.”
She nods at the Lieutenant who snapped to attention for a moment and then says, “Thank you, Colonel.” Then she gestures to her right. “This is Petty Officer First Class Jennifer Coates. She serves as my aide. I expect her to receive the same access as I while we are here.”
“Of course, ma’am… if you’d like to follow me…” She misses neither the look passing between Carter and Cadman, nor does she miss Carter nodding slightly at the SF and the SF promptly following them as Carter leads them all back out into the corridor and over to an elevator. They ride down only one level in tense silence and more looks between Carter and the Marine Lieutenant thrown back and forth.
Obviously, it was a very good decision to call them only two hours ago to announce their presence. Seems to have them thrown off-balance enough that they might make mistakes big enough that she’ll get behind whatever is going on here.
For now, though, both Carter and Cadman seem determined to hide behind a smoke screen and make her and Jen believe that this entire operation is about calculations and equations. When they step off the elevator, Carter takes up talking again. “As you can see, we’re now on the administrative level. There’s one more level below us that’s mostly scientific operations. We would like to show you the JAG officer’s office and introduce a few of the rest JAG staff to you. I’m sure it’ll take thirty minutes tops. If you’d like a break to get settled in Peterson guest quarters, we could arrange it then. We would see you again at 1500 to go into depth with the JAG’s duties and our preferred successors to our current JAG officer.”
That sounds… alright, if a little clipped, as if this isn’t exactly what Carter is usually doing here. Just as much as Cadman doesn’t look comfortable in her role either, as if whatever she’s doing includes duties other than being a watch dog for visiting brass. But since she can’t do anything as long as she didn’t at least get a feel for why they might need a USMC JAG here, she simply nods and gestures for Carter to keep going.
A few minutes later, they reach another nondescript door and even before Carter knocks, a young woman in Air Force Blues and a PCF’s rank insignia on her sleeves opens the door and beckons them to come in. They’re introduced to a number of other personnel, both Marines and Airmen, most of them enlisted, three company grades and an Air Force Major introducing himself as “the Air Force contingent’s lawyer” but none of them give her any indignation why an operation she perceived to consist of about a hundred Airmen at the most, more possibly less than that would need several administrative assistants, at least four paralegals, three lawyers and their secretaries, “(not counting personnel on leave, sick or “otherwise indisposed)”. And all of them display that certain kind of apprehensiveness - one could almost say nervousness in one or two cases - that she has seen both in Carter and Cadman.
Then, just as Carter predicted, at 1330 they are practically ushered back to the elevator and the top, escorted back to their car by all three of their watchdogs, seen off - “Lieutenant Cadman will wait for you at the first checkpoint with one of our cars.” - and stared at as she maneuvers the car out of their parking space.
All through the checkpoints, there’s a tense silence in the car and the moment they pass the last, Jen practically bursts out, “I don’t know what they’re hiding, but it must be huge. Did you hear them practically sigh with relief when we got into the car, ma’am?”
She nods, keeping her face on the road in search for signs to Peterson. “Loud and clear, Jen. I’m also pretty sure Cadman said something like “we’re screwed, ma’am” to Carter.” She’s not sure about that last one but it did look suspiciously like that in the rear view mirror.
“Do you want me to dig deeper once we reach Peterson, ma’am?” She’s tempted to tell Jen yes but then again, something tells her this might be above a Petty Officer’s pay grade. Above hers, actually.
“No. We’ll concentrate on our gracious hostesses and any other personnel we might encounter on the way. Someone is bound to trip over whatever they’re hiding.” Then, as an afterthought, she adds a grim, “They won’t get any of my lawyers as long as I don’t know what happened to the last one and what’s waiting there for the next one.”
The rest of the drive to Peterson happens in silence and once they arrive, there’s none of that strange apprehensiveness that they encountered at Cheyenne Mountain. Only professionally friendly Airmen showing them to the guest quarters and giving them a short introduction as to where everything on the base is.
After agreeing on meeting at 1430, they both take their time to get settled and freshen up. She calls Harm to tell him she arrived safely and would hopefully call again tonight but doesn’t tell him anything about Colonel Carter and Lieutenant Cadman, then makes coffee in the kitchenette and downs her mug almost in one big gulp. God, she needed that.
After that, she meets again with Jen and they take the car back to Cheyenne Mountain. And true enough, there’s an M151 with Cadman in the driver’s side waiting in a curb in front of the first checkpoint. She parks the car and they walk over to Cadman. Interestingly enough, she seems to be reading a sheet of paper, folded like a letter and smiling and she’s sure she even heard a low snort shortly before announcing herself with clearing her throat.
Not in the least fazed by her sudden appearance, Cadman looks up and puts away the letter, folding it carefully and putting it into a pocket inside of her jacket while nodding at her and telling her and Jen to get in the back of the vehicle. They climb in and Cadman starts driving. This time passing all checkpoints doesn’t take them more than five minutes and at one instance Cadman reminding the SF on duty that he still owes her fifty bucks for “the pool on Saratzky”, whatever that is supposed to mean.
This time around, there’s no SF guard, Cadman being their only watchdog this time. When she notices that Colonel Carter’s absence trigged both her and Jen to frown she turns around while keying in a different sequence a the SF to say, “Colonel’s been asked to break up a fight between two of our civilian scientists. She’s the only one who can keep all their egos in check.”
Well. This time, she does share a look with Jen and Cadman seems to have noticed that, too because she adds, grinning, “Never thought there would be anyone with an ego bigger than a fighter pilot’s one until I met my first in-program physicist.” For some reason, Cadman now seems a lot less uneasy as she did during the introductions. Maybe she has issues with Carter or something.
As they follow her to the elevator taking them down again, the tension in her is back again suddenly and she touches her ear, murmuring something sounding like, “Please confirm foothold situation,” and she realizes Cadman must be speaking over a radio. And… foothold situation?
She clears her throat again. “Excuse me, Lieutenant…”
Cadman looks at her again, wincing at whatever she must have heard over the radio and tells her, all levity she just displayed at the door replaced by the hard, tensed exterior she knows from Marines hardened by combat, “No can do, ma’am. There’s been an unforeseen development and I’m asking you to stay here until I’m back. Or actually… go back to Peterson and wait for us to contact you…”
No way.
“Most certainly not, Lieutenant. What exactly is going on here?” Because she’s really had it. First they’re trying to bullshit them with making up some sham about needing lawyers for a scientific operation, now she’s supposed to let herself be told to stay put by a Lieutenant. This is it.
“I mean it, ma’am. Sorry if I’m sounding disrespectable but I really do need to go.” And with that, the Lieutenant has taken off to run the last few yards to the elevator and after a short look at each other both she and Jen charge after her and she reaches the elevator two seconds before the doors shut.
With their united strength, they manage to pull them open… to reveal a horrified Lieutenant Cadman. “Ma’am! I meant it when I told you to go back to Peterson. You cannot…”
“Oh yes, I can. I want answers and I will have them now.” And with that, she and Jen enter the elevator, the immediately takes off and… holy shit, is that thing falling down?
And why is Cadman muttering, “she’ll kill me, she’ll kill me, she’ll kill me,” interspersed with “shit, shit, shit” over and over again?
Just when she thinks that either Cadman will reveal herself as a homicidal maniac or the elevator will have killed them, it comes to a halt and Cadman sprints out towards another elevator door and she and Jen follow suit.
It takes her a few moments to realize that Cadman quit her muttering and is now talking into the radio again, sounding like a professional again. “On my way to the secondary armory, ma’am. Will meet you there.” Listening. “Uh, concerning that ma’am…” Again listening. “Not… exactly, ma’am. I, um… ma’am I just reached Level 19. Just… see for yourself in a couple of minutes, ma’am.”
So. The perceived scientific project has an armory on Level 19. Actually, a secondary armory. Who even knew that there is a Level 19 inside of Cheyenne Mountain?
In her bewilderment, she nearly forgets to follow Cadman, who’s looking all combat ready and hard now and she wonders where she got that look, if female Marines aren’t allowed to serve in combat MOS. They’re all running now and she starts to curse regulations that made her decide to wear service dress this morning. Cadman’s combat boots are a lot more useful for that kind of pace than heels.
When they reach the armory, there a number of people already there, a few of them wearing shoulder patches with insignia she has never seen before. Something with a ring and strange symbols and did that one just passing her say “SGC”?
And ah, yeah, there’s Carter again, having the same look about her that Cadman has. As far she knows, female Airmen aren’t allowed to serve in ground combat units, either. “Didn’t I make myself clear, Lieutenant?”
That did not sound good. And since her inherent sense of justice never sleeps, she clears and throat and answers in Cadman’s stead, “It was my fault, Colonel. I didn’t give Lieutenant Cadman a chance to leave me and PO Coates behind.”
Carter throws her a disapproving look, then a questioning look and Cadman who almost sheepishly nods. Then, “Alright. The base is under attack from unknown enemy forces. I trust you both know how to handle a G36?” Before she can even express her confusion at this not being a standard assault rifle in any of the services, Carter puts on in her hands, along with what looks like a thigh holster containing a Beretta. She gives the same to Jen.
All through that, personnel streams along and now loud warning claxons sound through the corridors, eliciting a grim expression and a muttered, “Hope Siler and Harriman kicked their asses,” while she hands them each a tac vest with what looks like a few spare ammo clips in its pockets and something that looks like a radio. Before she could think about it, she has striped on the vest, slung the rifle over her back and holstered the Beretta to her leg. At least she decided to wear trousers this morning.
Jen, being behind on a few of her regular combat readiness trainings, needs a little longer to put everything where it belongs. Cadman, on the other hand, emerges in what looks like half of regular battle rattle from the armory, including grenades clipped to her vest. While Jen struggles with the last bits of the thigh holster, Carter instructs them, “Okay, you two, listen to me and listen good. We’re being attacked from within the Mountain. Even if you outrank her, Colonel, I recommend you strongly to stay with Lieutenant Cadman do exactly as she says. She has almost two years of experience in the program and she’s one of our best. She knows what she’s doing.”
What the flying… “Lieutenant, I’d love to put you somewhere safe to sit this out but since I know you wouldn’t stay put anyway and we’re also short on explosives personnel, I want you to be mobile, as much as you can allow with your two charges in tow.” She can’t believe an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel just said that and a Marine Lieutenant just nods. “We’ll need you wherever a door needs to be forcefully opened, some confusion among the enemy, the usual. Feel up to it?”
Cadman rolls her shoulders, pulls a lever on her rifle that sounds suspiciously like she just chambered a round, slams a mag into her Beretta and nods at Carter. “Never more, ma’am.”
“Alright. Take your team down to Level 21. Elevator and steps access is secure but Lieutenant Gordon needs your help with a bunch of intruders that have hunkered down themselves in a corridor blocking access to the infirmary from our end.” At this point, she’s too far gone to wonder why they would even need an infirmary this far down into the mountain. She decides to keep an eye out for Jen and follow Cadman as long as she needs to. “And Lieutenant… try to give them a short introduction to the program. We can bother with the non-disclosure agreements later.”
At this, Carter makes a go sign and Cadman starts running back to the elevator, at a slow trot that means she expects she’ll have to save her energy. For what, she’d rather not like to know. And thank God Jen still remembers hand signs because obviously Cadman wants to save her breath for whatever is awaiting them down on Level 21. As they reach the steps, Cadman takes point, signaling Jen to take the middle and her to take the rear. When Jen passes her, she manages to catch her shoulder for a moment and murmur, “You okay, Jennifer?”
The Petty Officer just nods, but she thinks she never saw her so face so pale and her forehead so wet with sweat. She should have taken one of the Marines with her, after all. The first thing she’ll do if… when they get out of this is apologize to her Petty Officer. That was not the plan.
Anyway, they’re rattling down the stairs and… holy shit. Energy beams. She just saw genuine energy beams almost roast Cadman. There’s a stream of swear words from the Lieutenant and “Secure my fucking ass,” muttered under her breath as she presses her back against the wall while those beams keep zapping past her shoulder through the corridor. She waves them both to come closer. “Okay, guys,” she says and it is making her kind of jealous how Cadman doesn’t sound a bit out of breath, “I have no idea whose down that corridor but you can bet that they’re unfriendly aliens. And by aliens I mean the extraterrestrial kind of beings.”
Her confusing must have shown because Cadman starts to rattle down something she’s probably been dying to tell them all along. “Ma’am, Petty Officer, right now we’re on Level 21 which house the SGC’s infirmary, SGC standing for Stargate Command. Seven levels down there’s what we call a Stargate, a portal for intergalactic wormhole travel, which is how the intruders got into…”
“Did you just say wormhole travel?” Jen suddenly blurts out, not even bothering with the ma’am for the Lieutenant.
Who just rolled her eyes. “You can bet your little sailor’s ass I did. Now, stand back, cover your ears, I’m gonna frag ET’s butt.” With that, she pulls a one of the grenades dangling from her vest, pulls the splints, yells “Fire in the hole!” a lot louder than necessary and throws it into the corridor. She half expected a bang loud enough to demolish her ear drums but all she gets is a strange thud and suddenly, heavenly quiet. Also, a grin that can only be called maniacal from Cadman. Great.
“Alright, ladies, let’s see what the Milky Way has in store for us today.” She will never complain about male Marines and their not exactly standard stance on explosives safety, ever again.
Apparently, she noticed her and Jen’s not really comfortable feelings around her and while they walk over to a small pile of rubble with indistinctive shapes underneath it, she shrugs and says, “Studied chemistry and joined the ROTC at GW. After graduating, the Marine Corps was so nice as to allow me to do a little stint with paraordnance. Discovered they were just my kind of people.”
This just isn’t right. Cadman shouldn’t be walking around her and detonating frag grenades in a corridor and telling her about paraordnance and them being her kind of people. Actually, she shouldn’t even be here and now she wishes she would not have her curiosity get the better of her and would just have stayed on the top. But it’s too late now and after offering Jen an encouraging glance, she follows Cadman who’s now standing at the pile of rubble and pushing the tip of her boot against the apparently organic mass underneath. She clears her throat. “Are they…”
“Aliens, yes. Never seen ‘em before… probably one of asshole Ba’al’s newest minions.” Who? What? “Don’t worry, you’ll get an in-depth briefing when we’re done with this little invasion, ma’am.” Right. Okay. In-depth briefing. “Okay, come on. I just bet Gordie managed to hide somewhere he can’t get out of again.”
Whatever that is supposed to mean. Sharing a look and a shrug with Jen, she climbs over the rubble after Cadman and follows her jogging through the corridor… right up until they’re running right into a volley of energy beams at a crossing and Jen… oh fuck, Jen just went down with a yelp, holding her arm and rolling into the opposite entrance to the one Cadman just dragged her into. Damn, damn, damn… “Jennifer! PO Coates! Are you okay?”
Jen is crouching against the wall at her side, still holding her arm and breathing heavily enough that she can see it even from here. And the beams keep coming… and oh God, are those… aliens coming closer? “They are, ma’am.” Of course Cadman would say that. She just had to, didn’t she? “Petty Officer, listen to me. Did the beam penetrate your arm?”
Very obviously pulling all her strength and courage together, Jen shakes her head and Cadman nods. “That’s good. So it’s a graze?” Jen nods. “That’s really good, Petty Officer. Don’t worry, you’re most likely not gonna bleed to death. Now… you need to come over here. We need to get the hell away from here, and your end’s a dead end. Think you can do that?”
You can, Jennifer. You’ve been through a lot in your life and you made it through everything. It’s just a two meter dash, maybe less.
Damn, she should be actually saying that but Cadman beats her to it again and she wonders how often she’d had to do this before; comforting young enlisted or NCOs or probably officers, too who were paralyzed with fear. And how her first time under alien fire went. “Alright. Now, listen. You ever used a G36?” Jen shakes her head, actually pretty vehemently. Uh-oh. “See the grip? There’s… that’s right, there’s the safety lever. Pull that… you’re doing great. Now, you need to chamber a round… look at me, Petty Officer… pull this out, now… pull it towards you, with all force… good job, PO. You’re almost done.”
And the beams seems to come closer and closer and closer… “Now, I’m gonna throw a grenade. The moment I yell fire in the hole, you’re gonna jump up, pour all you have into their direction and jump to safety. Got it?” Jen nods, still looking paralyzed but actually readying herself and she thinks she’s never been prouder of a junior sailor ever before. “Alright, here we go… fire the fucking hole you fucking assholes!”
Later, Jen will ask her what exactly happened and Carter will and basically everyone else but she will never be able to fully recount how the fuck it goes. All she will ever remember is a shriek from Jen, staccato bursts of fully-automatic assault rifle fire, another thud and the impact of something heavy and living. At least Cadman’s plan must have worked somehow since Jen survivs it and Cadman can bandage her arm fast enough to make it obvious that this isn’t the first time she saw combat as thick as this.
In the end, they do get to Lieutenant Gordon’s position - a storeroom about a hundred meters away from the infirmary - where he’d holed himself and his team up and gotten stuck just the way Cadman had predicted it. They actually manage to take back the infirmary as Carter had ordered Cadman to and after another hour, the nightmare is over just as fast as it began.
They start to treat casualties the moment the first doctors and nurses make their way to the infirmary, Jen one of the first being admitted and she takes it upon herself to personally oversee the process to make sure her little PO gets all the care she needs. She does, which actually does ease her guilt at having her drawn into this a little, enough that she actually listens to her assistant and leaves her to recover in the infirmary.
Which is why she’s standing in a room Carter and Cadman called the briefing room now. It has big windows, looking down another two or so levels into a big cavernous hall that houses a ring structure with a ramp leading towards it. The “Stargate”. Portal to the galaxy. Another galaxy even, occasionally. Even after a very short introduction into gate history and gate science from Colonel Carter she feels unable to fully grasp what this actually means.
It does help a little that Cadman pats her shoulder lightly and tells that it had been about her reaction, too.
That and that she and Carter actually take a couple of minutes to survey the damage and order people to start reconstruction, order people back from the vacations, whatever, and leave her to her own devices… “It’s a lot to take in, ma’am, I know. But Lieutenant Cadman tells me you and Petty Officer Coates aced your trial by fire.”
Right. Maybe this is the best moment to ask what actually happened to the last JAG lawyer. “Was this why Major Gunderson quit?”
“Well…”
“No, it wasn’t.” Cadman again and she isn’t even surprised anymore that Carter doesn’t immediately discipline her for speaking up like that. Apparently, in this environment, other things than rigid discipline are important. “Let’s just say that he wanted to start a new life.”
She frowns. “In a new profession?”
The two SGC officers glance at each other and Carter clears her throat. “On a new planet. And let’s really just leave it at… you not asking and us not telling, ma’am.”
What… oh. Oh. Alright, uh… “I see.” Awkward silence all around. Oh, fine. “Alright… uh… how do you propose to continue, Colonel?”
That actually makes Carter and Cadman smile and she thinks that must be a good sign. “Well, we thought we let you and Petty Officer Coates have a day off until the worst damage has been repaired, get to the formalities regarding the non-disclosure agreements and then give you both the full tour.”
That doesn’t sound so bad, actually. She feels herself smile, for the first time she has to do with this “program”. “Sounds like a plan.” And then she realizes… they didn’t have to do all that for her. For all she knew, they could have pushed her and Jen back into the elevator or left them to fend for themselves. She thinks she owes them something and she always pays her dues. “So… any chance you’ll have a minute or two so I can invite you to dinner tonight? It’s not much to make up for…”
“We’re in,” they both tell her at the same time and then Carter moves to explain with a grin, “we’ve both been stuck down here on guard duty for two weeks now. I’m pretty sure the Lieutenant and I will be able to spare a minute or two once a couple more people have trickled in. How about 2000?”
Hm. Jen should be discharged by then, she should have been able to shower and get into decent clothes again… “Sounds great. So… uh…”
“I’ll see you out, ma’am,” Cadman offers after a nod from Carter and as she walks to the elevator taking her back to the surface with the Lieutenant she thinks that this could have been worse, actually. This could have been some criminal offense and she could have been duped for shady reasons. In that light, aliens and wormhole travel and female soldiers serving in what is essentially a combat environment apparently without all the fuss this usually generates in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn’t seem so bad.
All of a sudden, she’s really looking forward to working with the SGC, even if it means having to keep a secret from Harm. And she’s glad she took it upon herself to investigate the issue on her desk, after all, even after everything. Otherwise, she and Jen would never have met Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and First Lieutenant Laura Cadman. And that would have been a damn shame.
Fandom: JAG/Stargate
Rating: T
Genres: gen
Recipient: mackenziesmomma
Prompt: JAG/Stargate, JAG and Stargate women, "Did you just say "wormhole travel"?"
Summary: For Sam Carter and Laura Cadman, it's just another day at the office. For Sarah Rabb-Mackenzie and Jennifer Coates, it's a whole new world of crazy.
A/N: Holiday Fic Request Meme. Oh God, this prompt... it's my own fault for offering to write a JAG/Stargate crossover to mackenziesmomma but oh God, that was hard. Had to write it in the course of about a day and it was never meant to become that big. And no, I don't think I'm going to write a sequel because I decided that this fits in well with the entire Protect and Survive 'verse and I think that it takes place between Out of Reach and Seize the Day, because we all wanted to know what Laura did on her stint with the SGC after Carson death, didn't we?
Okay, I did but this can be read as a stand-alone fic, too, so knowledge for Protect and Survive totally isn't necessary. Hope you like it :)
Rotterdam or Anywhere
“This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
Liverpool or Rome
Cause Rotterdam is anywhere
Anywhere alone.”
The Beautiful South, “Rotterdam”
On a rare sunny, slightly chilly day in February 2007, Colonel Sarah “Mac” Rabb-Mackenzie finds a record on her desk as station chief of naval JAG office Southwest that looks so inconspicuous that her instincts tell her to actually read it instead of just signing the form that Jen Coates put on top of it.
As it is, her instincts did not betray her. It’s a simple change of personnel request, one JAG lawyer to replace another, a regular occurrence crossing her desk. Only that they are requesting specifically a Marine Corps lawyer, to replace another Marine Corps lawyer… at NORAD, Peterson AFB, supposed to work out of Cheyenne Mountain for a project called “Deep Space Telemetry”, allegedly because their current lawyer had resigned his commission on immediate notice. There is no way she will sign that without having a look at that project first.
So she tries to find out what that project is supposed to be about only to be stonewalled left and right and basically every other direction she turns to, too. She also puts Jen on it, to see if she could find out about something the way only enlisted can but even she comes up with nothing more than confusing snippets of reports and cryptic comments on message boards and an in passing mentioned non-disclosure agreement in one case. Nothing gets her very far, and she even considers asking Harm to put his CIA contacts on this at some point.
But then she thinks that her last business trip had been a considerable while ago and that she could use a bit of fresh air so she sticks her head out of her office, tells Jen they’re going on a little trip to Colorado, reviews the travel arrangements and kisses Harm and Mattie good bye a day later.
So now she’s sitting in a car with Jennifer Coates, waiting to pass the first checkpoint in front of Cheyenne Mountain to get to the bottom of this whole DST thing. And ready to punch one of those USAF security forces guys in the face or at least make someone quit them with their “We’re sorry, ma’am, but you’re not on our list of expected visitors. We have to clear this with Command first.” routine. She has never seen anyone so well able to say the same thing over and over again with the same impassive face, for thirty excruciating minutes up to now.
When she gets to hear it for the certainly 100th time, Jen leans over and whispers, “I don’t think they’re going to let us in, after all, ma’am. And I think something’s really fishy here.”
She tries not to sound too pissed off when she says, “Obviously, Petty Officer. And if we don’t get to hear something else than…”
“Command authorized your continuation. Have a nice day, ma’am.” That is probably the rudest thing she ever was forced to endure in her almost 20 years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. But then, it’s the Air Force. She shouldn’t have expected them to know how to treat a Marine flag officer.
Which, of course, is bullshit and she would reprimand every one of her Marines and sailors if she caught them making derogatory remarks about another service. But there was a three and a half hour flight this morning, not to mention having to get up at 0500, so having to wait thirty minutes to be cleared to enter a project classified as scientific but absolutely not relevant to any current issues, security wise.
At least they can finally drive through the checkpoint. It is a little scary, though how many SFs they counter along the rather short way from the first checkpoint to the gate that proceed to stare at them with serious looks and wave them on, until one of them waves them over to a small parking space. Jen and she get out of the car, into the February cold and once again, she’s really, really glad that they gave her San Diego as a station.
They walk up to a second checkpoint where they’re thankfully just waved through to walk over to the actual Mountain entrance together with another SF now assigned to them. Inside the tunnel, their guard leads them over to a door in the wall. After keying in a sequence into the code pad next to it, it swings open and reveals a nondescript corridor, leading up to another door. Another keying in later, they find themselves in a room that looks vaguely like a reception area… with two women in something akin to fatigues standing in front of the opposite wall.
One of them looks to be in her late thirties, maybe early forties and the other in her late twenties, early thirties. They’re wearing a kind of fatigue she hasn’t seen on anyone else before, uniformly blue jackets and trousers, combat boots, black t-shirts. There are no name tags but rank insignia on the collars. She notices a dark Velcro sticker left and right but no unit patches. The SF that had been accompanying them inside positioned himself in a corner, ostentatiously inconspicuously.
She resists throwing Jen a look, wondering what the hell is going on her and thankfully she’s saved from doing it after all by the older woman taking a step towards her, extending her hand and saying, “Welcome to the Cheyenne Mountain complex, ma’am. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, USAF, temporary commander of Deep Space Telemetry Command.”
A Lieutenant Colonel is the temporary commander of something as marginal as deep space telemetry? Trying not to raise her eyebrow too high, she takes Carter’s hand and says, “Colonel Sarah Rabb-Mackenzie, San Diego naval JAG station chief.”
Carter nods and replies, “We’re honored to have you here, ma’am. Unfortunately, due to the short notice of your visit, both General Landry and Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell couldn’t be here to greet you. I hope it’s alright for you to have to do with me as acting commander hosting you and your aide here.” She gestures towards the woman next to her. “Please allow me to introduce First Lieutenant Laura Cadman, USMC, to you. She will act as your guide and our liaison officer during your stay here.”
She nods at the Lieutenant who snapped to attention for a moment and then says, “Thank you, Colonel.” Then she gestures to her right. “This is Petty Officer First Class Jennifer Coates. She serves as my aide. I expect her to receive the same access as I while we are here.”
“Of course, ma’am… if you’d like to follow me…” She misses neither the look passing between Carter and Cadman, nor does she miss Carter nodding slightly at the SF and the SF promptly following them as Carter leads them all back out into the corridor and over to an elevator. They ride down only one level in tense silence and more looks between Carter and the Marine Lieutenant thrown back and forth.
Obviously, it was a very good decision to call them only two hours ago to announce their presence. Seems to have them thrown off-balance enough that they might make mistakes big enough that she’ll get behind whatever is going on here.
For now, though, both Carter and Cadman seem determined to hide behind a smoke screen and make her and Jen believe that this entire operation is about calculations and equations. When they step off the elevator, Carter takes up talking again. “As you can see, we’re now on the administrative level. There’s one more level below us that’s mostly scientific operations. We would like to show you the JAG officer’s office and introduce a few of the rest JAG staff to you. I’m sure it’ll take thirty minutes tops. If you’d like a break to get settled in Peterson guest quarters, we could arrange it then. We would see you again at 1500 to go into depth with the JAG’s duties and our preferred successors to our current JAG officer.”
That sounds… alright, if a little clipped, as if this isn’t exactly what Carter is usually doing here. Just as much as Cadman doesn’t look comfortable in her role either, as if whatever she’s doing includes duties other than being a watch dog for visiting brass. But since she can’t do anything as long as she didn’t at least get a feel for why they might need a USMC JAG here, she simply nods and gestures for Carter to keep going.
A few minutes later, they reach another nondescript door and even before Carter knocks, a young woman in Air Force Blues and a PCF’s rank insignia on her sleeves opens the door and beckons them to come in. They’re introduced to a number of other personnel, both Marines and Airmen, most of them enlisted, three company grades and an Air Force Major introducing himself as “the Air Force contingent’s lawyer” but none of them give her any indignation why an operation she perceived to consist of about a hundred Airmen at the most, more possibly less than that would need several administrative assistants, at least four paralegals, three lawyers and their secretaries, “(not counting personnel on leave, sick or “otherwise indisposed)”. And all of them display that certain kind of apprehensiveness - one could almost say nervousness in one or two cases - that she has seen both in Carter and Cadman.
Then, just as Carter predicted, at 1330 they are practically ushered back to the elevator and the top, escorted back to their car by all three of their watchdogs, seen off - “Lieutenant Cadman will wait for you at the first checkpoint with one of our cars.” - and stared at as she maneuvers the car out of their parking space.
All through the checkpoints, there’s a tense silence in the car and the moment they pass the last, Jen practically bursts out, “I don’t know what they’re hiding, but it must be huge. Did you hear them practically sigh with relief when we got into the car, ma’am?”
She nods, keeping her face on the road in search for signs to Peterson. “Loud and clear, Jen. I’m also pretty sure Cadman said something like “we’re screwed, ma’am” to Carter.” She’s not sure about that last one but it did look suspiciously like that in the rear view mirror.
“Do you want me to dig deeper once we reach Peterson, ma’am?” She’s tempted to tell Jen yes but then again, something tells her this might be above a Petty Officer’s pay grade. Above hers, actually.
“No. We’ll concentrate on our gracious hostesses and any other personnel we might encounter on the way. Someone is bound to trip over whatever they’re hiding.” Then, as an afterthought, she adds a grim, “They won’t get any of my lawyers as long as I don’t know what happened to the last one and what’s waiting there for the next one.”
The rest of the drive to Peterson happens in silence and once they arrive, there’s none of that strange apprehensiveness that they encountered at Cheyenne Mountain. Only professionally friendly Airmen showing them to the guest quarters and giving them a short introduction as to where everything on the base is.
After agreeing on meeting at 1430, they both take their time to get settled and freshen up. She calls Harm to tell him she arrived safely and would hopefully call again tonight but doesn’t tell him anything about Colonel Carter and Lieutenant Cadman, then makes coffee in the kitchenette and downs her mug almost in one big gulp. God, she needed that.
After that, she meets again with Jen and they take the car back to Cheyenne Mountain. And true enough, there’s an M151 with Cadman in the driver’s side waiting in a curb in front of the first checkpoint. She parks the car and they walk over to Cadman. Interestingly enough, she seems to be reading a sheet of paper, folded like a letter and smiling and she’s sure she even heard a low snort shortly before announcing herself with clearing her throat.
Not in the least fazed by her sudden appearance, Cadman looks up and puts away the letter, folding it carefully and putting it into a pocket inside of her jacket while nodding at her and telling her and Jen to get in the back of the vehicle. They climb in and Cadman starts driving. This time passing all checkpoints doesn’t take them more than five minutes and at one instance Cadman reminding the SF on duty that he still owes her fifty bucks for “the pool on Saratzky”, whatever that is supposed to mean.
This time around, there’s no SF guard, Cadman being their only watchdog this time. When she notices that Colonel Carter’s absence trigged both her and Jen to frown she turns around while keying in a different sequence a the SF to say, “Colonel’s been asked to break up a fight between two of our civilian scientists. She’s the only one who can keep all their egos in check.”
Well. This time, she does share a look with Jen and Cadman seems to have noticed that, too because she adds, grinning, “Never thought there would be anyone with an ego bigger than a fighter pilot’s one until I met my first in-program physicist.” For some reason, Cadman now seems a lot less uneasy as she did during the introductions. Maybe she has issues with Carter or something.
As they follow her to the elevator taking them down again, the tension in her is back again suddenly and she touches her ear, murmuring something sounding like, “Please confirm foothold situation,” and she realizes Cadman must be speaking over a radio. And… foothold situation?
She clears her throat again. “Excuse me, Lieutenant…”
Cadman looks at her again, wincing at whatever she must have heard over the radio and tells her, all levity she just displayed at the door replaced by the hard, tensed exterior she knows from Marines hardened by combat, “No can do, ma’am. There’s been an unforeseen development and I’m asking you to stay here until I’m back. Or actually… go back to Peterson and wait for us to contact you…”
No way.
“Most certainly not, Lieutenant. What exactly is going on here?” Because she’s really had it. First they’re trying to bullshit them with making up some sham about needing lawyers for a scientific operation, now she’s supposed to let herself be told to stay put by a Lieutenant. This is it.
“I mean it, ma’am. Sorry if I’m sounding disrespectable but I really do need to go.” And with that, the Lieutenant has taken off to run the last few yards to the elevator and after a short look at each other both she and Jen charge after her and she reaches the elevator two seconds before the doors shut.
With their united strength, they manage to pull them open… to reveal a horrified Lieutenant Cadman. “Ma’am! I meant it when I told you to go back to Peterson. You cannot…”
“Oh yes, I can. I want answers and I will have them now.” And with that, she and Jen enter the elevator, the immediately takes off and… holy shit, is that thing falling down?
And why is Cadman muttering, “she’ll kill me, she’ll kill me, she’ll kill me,” interspersed with “shit, shit, shit” over and over again?
Just when she thinks that either Cadman will reveal herself as a homicidal maniac or the elevator will have killed them, it comes to a halt and Cadman sprints out towards another elevator door and she and Jen follow suit.
It takes her a few moments to realize that Cadman quit her muttering and is now talking into the radio again, sounding like a professional again. “On my way to the secondary armory, ma’am. Will meet you there.” Listening. “Uh, concerning that ma’am…” Again listening. “Not… exactly, ma’am. I, um… ma’am I just reached Level 19. Just… see for yourself in a couple of minutes, ma’am.”
So. The perceived scientific project has an armory on Level 19. Actually, a secondary armory. Who even knew that there is a Level 19 inside of Cheyenne Mountain?
In her bewilderment, she nearly forgets to follow Cadman, who’s looking all combat ready and hard now and she wonders where she got that look, if female Marines aren’t allowed to serve in combat MOS. They’re all running now and she starts to curse regulations that made her decide to wear service dress this morning. Cadman’s combat boots are a lot more useful for that kind of pace than heels.
When they reach the armory, there a number of people already there, a few of them wearing shoulder patches with insignia she has never seen before. Something with a ring and strange symbols and did that one just passing her say “SGC”?
And ah, yeah, there’s Carter again, having the same look about her that Cadman has. As far she knows, female Airmen aren’t allowed to serve in ground combat units, either. “Didn’t I make myself clear, Lieutenant?”
That did not sound good. And since her inherent sense of justice never sleeps, she clears and throat and answers in Cadman’s stead, “It was my fault, Colonel. I didn’t give Lieutenant Cadman a chance to leave me and PO Coates behind.”
Carter throws her a disapproving look, then a questioning look and Cadman who almost sheepishly nods. Then, “Alright. The base is under attack from unknown enemy forces. I trust you both know how to handle a G36?” Before she can even express her confusion at this not being a standard assault rifle in any of the services, Carter puts on in her hands, along with what looks like a thigh holster containing a Beretta. She gives the same to Jen.
All through that, personnel streams along and now loud warning claxons sound through the corridors, eliciting a grim expression and a muttered, “Hope Siler and Harriman kicked their asses,” while she hands them each a tac vest with what looks like a few spare ammo clips in its pockets and something that looks like a radio. Before she could think about it, she has striped on the vest, slung the rifle over her back and holstered the Beretta to her leg. At least she decided to wear trousers this morning.
Jen, being behind on a few of her regular combat readiness trainings, needs a little longer to put everything where it belongs. Cadman, on the other hand, emerges in what looks like half of regular battle rattle from the armory, including grenades clipped to her vest. While Jen struggles with the last bits of the thigh holster, Carter instructs them, “Okay, you two, listen to me and listen good. We’re being attacked from within the Mountain. Even if you outrank her, Colonel, I recommend you strongly to stay with Lieutenant Cadman do exactly as she says. She has almost two years of experience in the program and she’s one of our best. She knows what she’s doing.”
What the flying… “Lieutenant, I’d love to put you somewhere safe to sit this out but since I know you wouldn’t stay put anyway and we’re also short on explosives personnel, I want you to be mobile, as much as you can allow with your two charges in tow.” She can’t believe an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel just said that and a Marine Lieutenant just nods. “We’ll need you wherever a door needs to be forcefully opened, some confusion among the enemy, the usual. Feel up to it?”
Cadman rolls her shoulders, pulls a lever on her rifle that sounds suspiciously like she just chambered a round, slams a mag into her Beretta and nods at Carter. “Never more, ma’am.”
“Alright. Take your team down to Level 21. Elevator and steps access is secure but Lieutenant Gordon needs your help with a bunch of intruders that have hunkered down themselves in a corridor blocking access to the infirmary from our end.” At this point, she’s too far gone to wonder why they would even need an infirmary this far down into the mountain. She decides to keep an eye out for Jen and follow Cadman as long as she needs to. “And Lieutenant… try to give them a short introduction to the program. We can bother with the non-disclosure agreements later.”
At this, Carter makes a go sign and Cadman starts running back to the elevator, at a slow trot that means she expects she’ll have to save her energy. For what, she’d rather not like to know. And thank God Jen still remembers hand signs because obviously Cadman wants to save her breath for whatever is awaiting them down on Level 21. As they reach the steps, Cadman takes point, signaling Jen to take the middle and her to take the rear. When Jen passes her, she manages to catch her shoulder for a moment and murmur, “You okay, Jennifer?”
The Petty Officer just nods, but she thinks she never saw her so face so pale and her forehead so wet with sweat. She should have taken one of the Marines with her, after all. The first thing she’ll do if… when they get out of this is apologize to her Petty Officer. That was not the plan.
Anyway, they’re rattling down the stairs and… holy shit. Energy beams. She just saw genuine energy beams almost roast Cadman. There’s a stream of swear words from the Lieutenant and “Secure my fucking ass,” muttered under her breath as she presses her back against the wall while those beams keep zapping past her shoulder through the corridor. She waves them both to come closer. “Okay, guys,” she says and it is making her kind of jealous how Cadman doesn’t sound a bit out of breath, “I have no idea whose down that corridor but you can bet that they’re unfriendly aliens. And by aliens I mean the extraterrestrial kind of beings.”
Her confusing must have shown because Cadman starts to rattle down something she’s probably been dying to tell them all along. “Ma’am, Petty Officer, right now we’re on Level 21 which house the SGC’s infirmary, SGC standing for Stargate Command. Seven levels down there’s what we call a Stargate, a portal for intergalactic wormhole travel, which is how the intruders got into…”
“Did you just say wormhole travel?” Jen suddenly blurts out, not even bothering with the ma’am for the Lieutenant.
Who just rolled her eyes. “You can bet your little sailor’s ass I did. Now, stand back, cover your ears, I’m gonna frag ET’s butt.” With that, she pulls a one of the grenades dangling from her vest, pulls the splints, yells “Fire in the hole!” a lot louder than necessary and throws it into the corridor. She half expected a bang loud enough to demolish her ear drums but all she gets is a strange thud and suddenly, heavenly quiet. Also, a grin that can only be called maniacal from Cadman. Great.
“Alright, ladies, let’s see what the Milky Way has in store for us today.” She will never complain about male Marines and their not exactly standard stance on explosives safety, ever again.
Apparently, she noticed her and Jen’s not really comfortable feelings around her and while they walk over to a small pile of rubble with indistinctive shapes underneath it, she shrugs and says, “Studied chemistry and joined the ROTC at GW. After graduating, the Marine Corps was so nice as to allow me to do a little stint with paraordnance. Discovered they were just my kind of people.”
This just isn’t right. Cadman shouldn’t be walking around her and detonating frag grenades in a corridor and telling her about paraordnance and them being her kind of people. Actually, she shouldn’t even be here and now she wishes she would not have her curiosity get the better of her and would just have stayed on the top. But it’s too late now and after offering Jen an encouraging glance, she follows Cadman who’s now standing at the pile of rubble and pushing the tip of her boot against the apparently organic mass underneath. She clears her throat. “Are they…”
“Aliens, yes. Never seen ‘em before… probably one of asshole Ba’al’s newest minions.” Who? What? “Don’t worry, you’ll get an in-depth briefing when we’re done with this little invasion, ma’am.” Right. Okay. In-depth briefing. “Okay, come on. I just bet Gordie managed to hide somewhere he can’t get out of again.”
Whatever that is supposed to mean. Sharing a look and a shrug with Jen, she climbs over the rubble after Cadman and follows her jogging through the corridor… right up until they’re running right into a volley of energy beams at a crossing and Jen… oh fuck, Jen just went down with a yelp, holding her arm and rolling into the opposite entrance to the one Cadman just dragged her into. Damn, damn, damn… “Jennifer! PO Coates! Are you okay?”
Jen is crouching against the wall at her side, still holding her arm and breathing heavily enough that she can see it even from here. And the beams keep coming… and oh God, are those… aliens coming closer? “They are, ma’am.” Of course Cadman would say that. She just had to, didn’t she? “Petty Officer, listen to me. Did the beam penetrate your arm?”
Very obviously pulling all her strength and courage together, Jen shakes her head and Cadman nods. “That’s good. So it’s a graze?” Jen nods. “That’s really good, Petty Officer. Don’t worry, you’re most likely not gonna bleed to death. Now… you need to come over here. We need to get the hell away from here, and your end’s a dead end. Think you can do that?”
You can, Jennifer. You’ve been through a lot in your life and you made it through everything. It’s just a two meter dash, maybe less.
Damn, she should be actually saying that but Cadman beats her to it again and she wonders how often she’d had to do this before; comforting young enlisted or NCOs or probably officers, too who were paralyzed with fear. And how her first time under alien fire went. “Alright. Now, listen. You ever used a G36?” Jen shakes her head, actually pretty vehemently. Uh-oh. “See the grip? There’s… that’s right, there’s the safety lever. Pull that… you’re doing great. Now, you need to chamber a round… look at me, Petty Officer… pull this out, now… pull it towards you, with all force… good job, PO. You’re almost done.”
And the beams seems to come closer and closer and closer… “Now, I’m gonna throw a grenade. The moment I yell fire in the hole, you’re gonna jump up, pour all you have into their direction and jump to safety. Got it?” Jen nods, still looking paralyzed but actually readying herself and she thinks she’s never been prouder of a junior sailor ever before. “Alright, here we go… fire the fucking hole you fucking assholes!”
Later, Jen will ask her what exactly happened and Carter will and basically everyone else but she will never be able to fully recount how the fuck it goes. All she will ever remember is a shriek from Jen, staccato bursts of fully-automatic assault rifle fire, another thud and the impact of something heavy and living. At least Cadman’s plan must have worked somehow since Jen survivs it and Cadman can bandage her arm fast enough to make it obvious that this isn’t the first time she saw combat as thick as this.
In the end, they do get to Lieutenant Gordon’s position - a storeroom about a hundred meters away from the infirmary - where he’d holed himself and his team up and gotten stuck just the way Cadman had predicted it. They actually manage to take back the infirmary as Carter had ordered Cadman to and after another hour, the nightmare is over just as fast as it began.
They start to treat casualties the moment the first doctors and nurses make their way to the infirmary, Jen one of the first being admitted and she takes it upon herself to personally oversee the process to make sure her little PO gets all the care she needs. She does, which actually does ease her guilt at having her drawn into this a little, enough that she actually listens to her assistant and leaves her to recover in the infirmary.
Which is why she’s standing in a room Carter and Cadman called the briefing room now. It has big windows, looking down another two or so levels into a big cavernous hall that houses a ring structure with a ramp leading towards it. The “Stargate”. Portal to the galaxy. Another galaxy even, occasionally. Even after a very short introduction into gate history and gate science from Colonel Carter she feels unable to fully grasp what this actually means.
It does help a little that Cadman pats her shoulder lightly and tells that it had been about her reaction, too.
That and that she and Carter actually take a couple of minutes to survey the damage and order people to start reconstruction, order people back from the vacations, whatever, and leave her to her own devices… “It’s a lot to take in, ma’am, I know. But Lieutenant Cadman tells me you and Petty Officer Coates aced your trial by fire.”
Right. Maybe this is the best moment to ask what actually happened to the last JAG lawyer. “Was this why Major Gunderson quit?”
“Well…”
“No, it wasn’t.” Cadman again and she isn’t even surprised anymore that Carter doesn’t immediately discipline her for speaking up like that. Apparently, in this environment, other things than rigid discipline are important. “Let’s just say that he wanted to start a new life.”
She frowns. “In a new profession?”
The two SGC officers glance at each other and Carter clears her throat. “On a new planet. And let’s really just leave it at… you not asking and us not telling, ma’am.”
What… oh. Oh. Alright, uh… “I see.” Awkward silence all around. Oh, fine. “Alright… uh… how do you propose to continue, Colonel?”
That actually makes Carter and Cadman smile and she thinks that must be a good sign. “Well, we thought we let you and Petty Officer Coates have a day off until the worst damage has been repaired, get to the formalities regarding the non-disclosure agreements and then give you both the full tour.”
That doesn’t sound so bad, actually. She feels herself smile, for the first time she has to do with this “program”. “Sounds like a plan.” And then she realizes… they didn’t have to do all that for her. For all she knew, they could have pushed her and Jen back into the elevator or left them to fend for themselves. She thinks she owes them something and she always pays her dues. “So… any chance you’ll have a minute or two so I can invite you to dinner tonight? It’s not much to make up for…”
“We’re in,” they both tell her at the same time and then Carter moves to explain with a grin, “we’ve both been stuck down here on guard duty for two weeks now. I’m pretty sure the Lieutenant and I will be able to spare a minute or two once a couple more people have trickled in. How about 2000?”
Hm. Jen should be discharged by then, she should have been able to shower and get into decent clothes again… “Sounds great. So… uh…”
“I’ll see you out, ma’am,” Cadman offers after a nod from Carter and as she walks to the elevator taking her back to the surface with the Lieutenant she thinks that this could have been worse, actually. This could have been some criminal offense and she could have been duped for shady reasons. In that light, aliens and wormhole travel and female soldiers serving in what is essentially a combat environment apparently without all the fuss this usually generates in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn’t seem so bad.
All of a sudden, she’s really looking forward to working with the SGC, even if it means having to keep a secret from Harm. And she’s glad she took it upon herself to investigate the issue on her desk, after all, even after everything. Otherwise, she and Jen would never have met Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and First Lieutenant Laura Cadman. And that would have been a damn shame.