It's only just beginning: chapter 9
Title: It's only just beginning
Author: Betty (sarah_jones on lj)
Fandoms: Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Primeval, JAG, Doctor Who/Torchwood, Animorphs & Angel
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters or fandoms. I wish I did… *g* I don’t make any money with this! I’m just writing the story for fun and hope someone else will enjoy it, too.
Summary: The story starts after the Stargate Atlantis season finale. There will be new enemies and new adventures, as well as new characters from other fandoms. Old enemies and older characters will return as well.
chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8, timeline for all chapters
chapter 9:
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 7: Atlantis - control room:
General Jack O’Neill entered the control room. He really wasn’t in a good mood after the funerals. Someone even organized a wake for the deceased afterwards, but Jack had never been fond of wakes. There was always so much chatting and cake. Who wanted that when people died? Well, he had eaten some pie before excusing himself. He had left Mac in charge long enough, so he left earlier than most others.
“Anything unusual or important?” he asked as he stopped next to the controls. Mac was there, as well as some other newbies.
“Not much,” Mac answered feeling rather relieved. There was no alien contact, no weird devices malfunctioning and no accidents. All in all Mac was feeling good.
Jack smiled. Those were the first good news in a while.
“We have a request to join the Stargate program. Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood would like to become a team leader.”
Jack raised an eyebrow at that. A request for team leader from a Captain? All team leaders so far had been Majors at least. Or was the guy from the Navy?
“I’ll talk to him,” Jack said. They did need team leaders, so he’d find out if the man was capable.
“I contacted the Arc and they would like to arrange a meeting,” Captain Becker informed.
“Good. I think Carter wants to go to the Arc. I’ll tell her once she is back and you can arrange the meeting.”
Becker nodded.
“Anything else?”
No one spoke. Instead the Stargate started rotating.
“Unauthorised off-world activation,” Chuck informed.
Jack frowned. They had no teams off-world. Hopefully it was not another unwelcome ‘surprise gift’ from their new 'friends'.
Chuck activated the shield and they waited.
“We are receiving a langaran identification code and a transmission. Someone named Jonas Quinn asks for permission to come to Earth.”
Jack felt relieved and even smiled a little. “Let him through,” he said. They hadn’t heard from Jonas in a while and Jack realized that he missed the man a little. He might not have liked him in the beginning, when he joined SG-1, but had grown rather fond of him over time. Not that he would admit that.
It didn’t take Jonas long to come through the gate.
Once he arrived on Earth Jonas looked around surprised.
“Woah. A little redecoration?” he asked as Jack came towards him.
Jack chuckled. “Just felt like something new,” he said jokingly and shook Jonas hand. Then he turned serious. The reason for them being in Atlantis wasn’t really a funny one after all.
“Welcome to Atlantis,” he said gesturing around.
“Wow. I can’t believe it. I’m actually in the lost city of the ancients?” Jonas muttered. They had been looking for it while he was a member of SG-1. He knew that they eventually found it, but hadn’t expected the city to be on Earth now, or to ever set foot in it.
“Yeah. Nice, isn’t it?”
Jonas nodded, still looking around in amazement.
“So, planning on staying for a while?” Jack asked gesturing at Jonas rather big bag.
Jonas blinked and turned to face Jack. He should focus. He could check out Atlantis later.
“Maybe. I’m not really sure yet. I came to warn you and give you some information we gathered. Unfortunately I had to travel to another planet by ship as our Stargate was destroyed in an attack.”
Jack frowned. That sounded way too familiar. “Let’s go to my office,” he said. He had a feeling that they had a lot to talk about.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 7: Atlantis - conference room:
Sam entered the room. They barely made it back to Atlantis after the wake when she was told to come to conference room 1. Something must have happened while they were gone. Hopefully that didn’t mean more unwelcome news. She already was in a rather bad mood. Funerals tended to do that to her.
Once inside the room Sam saw a small group of people. They were chatting and smiling. Then she saw the reason for it.
“Jonas,” she called and hurried towards him to give him a hug. Maybe this wasn’t bad news after all.
“Sam,” Jonas said happily and wrapped her up in his arms.
“It’s so good to see you. Especially after the day we had,” she said as she let go of him.
“Yeah, I heard,” Jonas answered looking rather sad. He had known several people that died at the SGC as well.
“Unfortunately I don’t come with a lot of good news,” he added.
“Why am I not surprised,” Vala muttered. Good news were rare lately.
“Let’s all sit down,” Jack said.
Once they sat at the conference table Jack pushed a file towards each of them.
“Nine days ago Langara was attacked. A bomb came through the Stargate and destroyed everything nearby, including the gate,” Jonas informed them all.
Cam sighed. He didn’t know the former SG-1 member, but he still felt for him and his people. They surely suffered a similar loss as Earth with the destruction of the SGC.
“The next day ships arrived and attacked the planet from orbit. Luckily there weren’t many and we were able to destroy them with our newly developed naquadria weapons.” After the planet had been occupied by the Ori the nations of Langara had finally started to work together peacefully. They cooperated before, but there had always been tensions. Surviving an occupation had united the planet and made them work together to protect the planet better in the future. It probably saved the whole planet now.
“I gathered all the information I could get and travelled by ship to the closest planet with a Stargate. Then I came here.”
Jonas gestured at the files. “This is all the information we have. It’s not much.”
“But more than we had so far,” Jack added. “Which is squat.” Well, Earth hadn’t been attacked by ships so far, so they didn't actually encounter their enemy.
They all looked at the files. There were photos of the attacking ships among them. Sam hadn’t seen them before. A new enemy. Why did a new enemy always arise once they beat the last one? Didn’t they deserve a break?
“Well, I’m definitely glad Atlantis is here,” Daniel said breaking the silence.
“Me, too,” Jack agreed. They had no idea who they were up against and the ancient chair in area 51 had been destroyed by the Wraith. Without Atlantis they wouldn’t have a chair or Stargate on Earth.
“We’ll send the Apollo to Langara to offer help,” Jack said looking at Jonas. The ship was closest to that part of the galaxy.
“Thank you,” Jonas answered.
“What about you? Will you travel back to the planet you came from? Is your ship waiting there or shall the Apollo pick you up on the way?” Sam wanted to know.
Jonas glanced around at his former team members and the new members of SG-1 he didn’t really know so far.
“Well, I was actually planning to offer to help fight our common enemy,” he said, hoping that his offer would be accepted. He really missed Earth. It almost felt more like home than his own planet, even though he spent only about a year on Eearth.
“Really?” Daniel asked and smiled.
“You will join us again, Jonas Quinn?” Teal’c inquired, but it sounded more like a statement than a question.
Sam grinned happily at the thought. She really missed Jonas after he went back home. Glancing at Jack she nudged his arm.
“Yeah, right,” Jack muttered sitting up straight. “Well, you are always welcome here. We even have looots of free rooms,” he said and smirked.
“You will love this place. Atlantis is amazing,” Daniel said, already planning to show Jonas around.
Jonas smiled and laughed at Daniel’s enthusiasm. Everyone seemed happy to welcome him back.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 7: Atlantis - outside Jack O’Neill’s office:
The door opened and Martha turned towards it. She had spoken to the General about Jack joining the Stargate program. Then Jack went into the office and they talked. She was waiting outside for a while now and was relieved when the door finally opened.
Jack Harkness stood in the corridor and smirked. “You’re looking at the newest team leader in the Stargate program,” he exclaimed and opened his arms wide.
Martha grinned happily and rushed forward, throwing herself into Jack’s arms.
Jack lifted her off the ground and twirled her around a little before finally letting go of her again.
“Come on, let’s go celebrate,” he said. He really did feel happy and excited. He would no longer be stuck on one planet. He’d be able to explore the universe again. And he’d get to lead a team once more. He really hated to be bossed around by the new Torchwood leader.
Martha took his hand and together they walked to the cafeteria.
“So, what did the General want to know?”
Jack glanced down to her. “A bit more about Torchwood and the work I did there. Then what I did before Torchwood and some specifics about my rank.” That had been the trickiest part. He didn’t mind talking about his past with people he trusted, but so far he hardly knew the General. He liked him. The guy was definitely funny and hot. But he wasn’t ready to share every detail of his rather complicated and very long life yet. Talking about how he actually got his rank and name was one of the things Jack preferred not to mention in a ‘job interview’. It might not come off as good to admit that he used to be a con-man who took the name and rank of a dead soldier during World War II. Besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t earned that rank. He used to be a soldier after all. And he did fight aliens longer than anyone on the entire planet could have. Yes, he really did feel like he earned that title.
“Apparently Captains aren’t good enough to be team leaders around here.”
Martha frowned.
“How did you convince the General?”
“I said it wasn’t a Marine or Air Force rank, but more like a Navy rank.” He actually told the General that he was from the 51st century and that the rank system was a little different there. It wasn’t even a lie. He just hadn’t been a soldier long enough to become a Captain. The time agency had been much more promising.
Martha raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Jack’s life was complicated and she understood that there were some things he might not want to share right away with anyone, like his immortality for example.
“Do they know you can’t die?”
“No. I’d rather give them time to get to know me first,” Jack answered.
“Try to stay alive for a while then,” Martha said in a teasing voice.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Martha glanced at him. “You do tend to die a lot.”
Jack would have liked to protest, but she was right. He couldn’t even count anymore how often he had died already, and that was without counting his constant death and revival while he was buried under Cardiff.
“Maybe I should try to be more careful.”
Martha smirked slightly as they entered the cafeteria and went over to the buffet.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 7: Atlantis - cafeteria - about 50 minutes later:
Most of the people in the cafeteria were gathered around one table. The main noise in the room was roaring laughter, as Captain Jack Harkness told another anecdote of his life.
“Oh, come on, Jack, you did not…”
“Of course I did. It was quite an interesting…” He didn’t get to finish the sentence as Colonel Samantha Carter contacted him over the radio.
Jack held up his finger and pointed at his radio while listening to the Colonel.
“I’ll be right there.”
“Sorry, guys, duty calls. I need to go.” He finished his drink and got up. Then he turned to Martha.
“We’re off to Torchwood. Want to come along?”
“Sorry, can’t. My shift will start in half an hour,” she answered. She had the evening shift in the infirmary today. What she loved most about working for the Stargate program was that she was able to work as a doctor and still would be going through the Stargate to explore alien planets. Now she finally could have both.
“Alright. Have fun. I’ll see you when I get back.”
Jack waved to the group of people at the table and then left the cafeteria. He really liked the people here already. They had a good sense of humour.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 7: Atlantis - Torchwood Cardiff:
While Colonel Carter, Lt. Colonel Mitchell and Dr. Jackson were talking to the new Torchwood team Jack packed his belongings. He’d really miss this place. He had lived in the HUB for so many years now. It was more a home to him than any other place he had lived in. But things had changed. This wasn’t the Torchwood he loved anymore.
“So you’re really leaving,” a voice said.
Jack turned around and there she stood. “Gwen,” he said silently. She was the one person he would miss more than anything in the world. He would never have left, if he didn’t know that Gwen was pregnant and would soon quit her job at Torchwood anyway.
“Yes, I…,” he was starting to explain, but Gwen interrupted him.
“I understand,” she said. Gwen knew him well enough by now to see that Jack wasn’t happy at Torchwood anymore. And who could blame him? The way the new people had marched in and taken over was just awful. And it was completely unfair as well. It wasn’t Jack's fault that his crazy brother had come back in time and terrorized the whole city. And it definitely wasn’t Jack’s fault that Tosh and Owen died. Besides, it wasn’t like these people were doing a better job at protecting the planet. Most of them were useless in a crisis situation. Maybe they were just new at all of this. She hoped that that was it. Who would keep Cardiff safe otherwise? She already had her resignation on her desk at home. She’d hand it in tomorrow. Without Jack she didn’t see a reason to stay any longer. It was safer for the baby this way, too.
“I wish things didn't turn out this way,” she said. Everything had been great a few months ago. Okay, the job hadn’t been easy. It was always challenging and often frightening, but she had loved it. She loved working with Tosh, Owen, Ianto and especially Jack.
“Me, too,” Jack said and he didn’t just mean Torchwood. He still wished that things had turned out differently between him and Gwen. She meant so much to him, always had and probably always would. But she had Rhys and loved him. Maybe there could have been something between Gwen and him anyway. He often felt like she had feelings for him as well. But what good would that be for her? They couldn’t have the kind of future Rhys could give her. With him Gwen would grow old and have a normal life. Jack on the other hand wouldn’t age and sooner or later it would bother her. His life could never be normal either.
He sighed and pushed away those thoughts. He and Gwen didn’t have a future together, no matter how much he secretly wished it. Maybe it was best if he got some distance to her, for both of them.
“But you won’t just disappear completely, will you?” she asked.
“Of course not. You’ll see me again sooner than you’d like.”
Gwen laughed slightly at that. “That’s not possible.”
Jack smiled sadly, then stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.
Gwen went into his arms willingly, wrapping her arms around him and breathing in his familiar scent. She really wasn’t sure what to do without him. She’d miss him so much. Tears started to dwell in her eyes. Gwen tried to hold them back, but some slipped out anyway.
“I’m gonna send you my contact information. If you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll be right there.” If one of Earth’s ships was in orbit or on the planet he’d beam right over.
Gwen smiled slightly and wiped away her tears, then she reluctantly let go of him.
“And if you need help, you know where to find me.”
Jack grinned. “Sure.”
Gwen then glanced around. “Need some help?”
Jack nodded and they packed the rest of his belongings. Once they were done, Jack grabbed the two bigger bags and Gwen the smaller one as they headed out into the main room of the HUB. The others were still talking.
“How’d you close the rift anyway?” Jack asked as he put the bags down.
“We didn’t. It just shut itself down,” she answered. “Or maybe not…”
Jack glanced at her. “What do you mean?”
“Two people came through the rift, a man and a woman. He claims that they came from an alternate reality and that the woman closed the rift. She was glowing somehow when they arrived.”
Jack stared at her.
“Where are they now?”
“In a cell. The others didn’t really believe their story.”
Jack frowned. “But you did?”
“The rift doesn’t just shut itself down. Someone must have done it. And she glowed. Who knows what else she can do?” Gwen shrugged. She had seen strange things in her life already. Nothing was impossible in her point of view.
“Besides, since when do we lock people that come through the rift up without having been threatened?” Well, unless they are crazy. She however didn’t say that out loud. The subject was still a little tense.
Jack frowned. He had to agree with that. “Let’s go talk to them.”
Gwen nodded. Jack was no longer the leader of Torchwood and he would leave soon, but he was still here right now and maybe he could do something about this. She just didn’t think this was right. But no one had listened to her when she protested about the treatment of the prisoners. It was one reason why she would resign tomorrow. She obviously wasn’t valued here anymore.
Gwen led the way into the holding cell area that usually was reserved for aliens and rarely for human beings.
----- -----
When he heard the door open Mickey jumped up angrily. Rose was still sleeping. She had barely moved since she closed the rift and these people wouldn’t help her. What kind of Torchwood was this? Yeah, right the kind of Torchwood that let the Cybermen through. What the hell had he expected in the first place?
Mickey calmed down a little when he saw that it was the dark haired woman who had promised to talk to the others on their behalf. She seemed to be the only one with half a brain around here.
“Please tell me you are here to let us out,” he called. Then he froze when he saw the man that came in behind Gwen.
“Mickey?” Jack called as he stepped closer. Then his eyes fell on the woman who was sleeping or unconscious.
“Rose. Oh my god. Open the cell, Gwen. Now!”
Gwen didn’t hesitate. This was the kind of order she didn’t mind following.
“You know them?”
“Thank god you’re here, Jack,” Mickey said. “I never thought I’d say that, but I really am glad to see you.”
Jack grinned, spread his arms and they hugged. “Always knew you liked me,” Jack said jokingly.
Mickey frowned, grimaced and pulled away. “I’m not that glad!”
Jack ignored him and instead went to Rose, who still hadn’t moved.
“Rose,” he said silently as he kneeled down beside her. He could hardly believe that she was actually back. He had missed her a lot and had so many questions for her.
“I think something is wrong with her. She glowed and closed the rift. Then she collapsed and has been sleeping almost the whole day since then,” Mickey said.
Jack frowned and remembered that Gwen had told him about the glowing already. He also remembered what the Doctor told him about Rose looking into the heart of the TARDIS and becoming Bad Wolf. The Doctor said he took all of the power out of her, but maybe he had been wrong. He must have been. How else could Rose close the rift? She probably saved the whole planet. And what did she get as a thank you? They locked her up!
“Do you think she will be okay?” Mickey asked.
“I’ll make sure of it,” Jack said. Then he picked Rose up and left the cell with her.
Gwen held the door open for them before following. Jack knew these people and seemed to care about them. That made it even worse that they locked them up.
Mickey turned around to Gwen and smiled slightly. “Thank you.”
Gwen stared at him. That was the last thing she had expected to hear. “For what?”
“You said you’d help us and you did.”
Gwen smiled as well. She guessed he was right about that. She just wished they didn’t have to wait in that cell for a whole day before she helped getting them out.
As they entered the main room of the HUB the door of Jack’s old office opened and Colonel Carter, Lt. Colonel Mitchell, Dr. Jackson and the Torchwood people came out.
“What is the meaning of this?” the new Torchwood leader called.
Jack ignored him and tried to get his anger under control as he gently put Rose down on a sofa.
“That’s what I would like to know,” he said as he turned around, his eyes still sparkling with anger. Calming down didn’t really work.
“This woman…” He pointed at Rose. “Closed the rift and saved the whole planet. And what do you do? You throw her into a cell and deny her medical help?!” he barked.
“You don’t know if she had anything to do with closing the rift. Just because they claim that…”
Jack didn’t let the man finish. “Infact I do know that that is exactly what happened! And I know these people. They have helped save the planet more than once and got trapped in an alternate reality because of it. Now they finally get home and you treat them like criminals. Did you even try to confirm their story?”
“How would we confirm such a fantastic story?” one of the new Torchwood members asked.
Jack didn’t even know his name. But he didn’t care. There were more important things right now.
“By checking Torchwood records. They are mentioned more than once. They are companions of the Doctor!” He actually could hardly believe it. These people were even dumber than he thought. Checking records wasn’t that hard, was it?
Everyone stared at him now. They obviously at least knew who the Doctor was.
----- -----
Sam looked around. Things had gone well so far. Torchwood was eager to start a cooperation with the Stargate program. But once they left the office things didn’t seem to go that well anymore. From what she heard Jack had found out how the rift had been closed and that ancient device been shut down. The people responsible came from an alternate reality and had been imprisoned after arriving here and saving the planet.
“We didn’t know who they were. They could be anyone,” someone tried to defend their actions.
“And you couldn’t check files to see if they are who they say they are?” Sam asked. She didn’t get an answer. Glancing at Cam and Daniel they shared a look. Why did they want to cooperate with Torchwood again? This was supposed to be a highly efficient organisation that dealt with alien matters. UNIT had confirmed that, even if they didn’t always agree with Torchwood on everything.
Jack glanced at Colonel Carter and his other new colleagues. They seemed to get him. Good.
“They’ll come with us,” he said looking at the new leader. Then he looked at Colonel Carter.
Sam wasn’t really thrilled, that Jack simply made a decision like that. But he looked at her for confirmation and honestly, what else could they do? They obviously couldn’t leave these people with Torchwood, especially as the woman seemed to need medical help, which she didn’t get here, and it would be nice to find out how she closed the rift.
Carter nodded and Jack picked up Rose. Mitchell, Jackson and Mickey tended to Jack's bags. No one from Torchwood said anything as they left the HUB.
Gwen followed, not wanting to stay any longer.
Once they were outside Sam glanced at Cam and Daniel. “I think we should talk to the british IOA member. Maybe he can do something about these people.” Torchwood was supposed to be outside the government, but maybe the IOA had some influence anyway? Someone with half a brain in charge would be nice. No wonder they were so eager to cooperate. They’d need a lot of help. And no wonder Captain Jack Harkness left.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 7: LA:
Addison Montgomery walked into John Sheppard’s room, his file in hand.
John looked away from the TV and turned it off when he saw who it was.
“Please tell me you have the results of the tests and that there will be no more poking around, scanning or anything similar,” he said. He had been in the hospital for hours and was taken from one room to the next. He was used to being checked out in hospitals, but this seemed a little much even for him.
Addison smirked. “We just wanted to be thorough. And yes, I think we’re done,” she said. She hadn’t been there for any of his examinations, as she was a pediatrician, but she wanted to give him the results herself. He probably saved her life after all. And besides that, he was kind of hot. It might just be the whole hero thing, she was attracted to, but she didn’t care. He was the first guy she was interested in since Noah. And anything that distracted her from Noah was a very good thing. She couldn’t be with him. He was still married and had a baby now. And she wasn’t a cheater. Not anymore!
“So?” John asked, looking at her expectantly. “What did you find, Doc?”
Addison had to smile. The way he was looking at her almost gave her chills. Yes, he was definitely hot and it wasn’t just the hero thing. It was the way he looked at her, the way he sat in that bed as if nothing could bother him and the way his hair stood in all kinds of directions.
“Nothing. We didn’t find a thing. You’re perfectly healthy, which could be considered a miracle,” she said and tried not to lean forward and run her hand through his hair.
John wasn’t really surprised at the news, as he felt fine, but it was still strange. A bus hit him and he didn’t even have a scratch on him. That wasn’t normal.
“A miracle. Well, I’m not complaining,” he said. “Does that mean I can go now?” It was too late to go to the beach, but he could think of nicer things than spending time in a hospital. He had spent more than enough time of his life in hospitals already.
“Not yet. We want to keep you here for observation until the morning, just to be sure.”
John sighed. “Too bad. I was going to ask you to dinner. But since I’m stuck here…”
Addison smirked. It was against hospital policy to get involved with patients, but since she wasn’t actually his doctor and didn’t really work at the hospital anyway it would be fine, wouldn’t it?
“I’m free tomorrow,” she said.
John sighed. He just had the one afternoon off and wasn’t sure if he could manage to change his shift the next day.
“I’m only in the city today,” he said regretfully. “I’m stationed outside of San Francisco at the moment. Maybe I could come to LA on my next free day.”
Yeah, right, he was a soldier. She had almost forgotten about that. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to get involved with him after all. San Francisco wasn’t that far away, but he could be shipped off to Iraq or any other far away part of the world any day. And he might not return. He was lucky today, but how much luck did one person have? Did she really want to risk falling for a man who might risk his life on a daily basis?
Looking at him she sighed slightly. She probably was stupid, but she was willing to give it a try.
“I’m going to give you my number. Call when you’re back in LA and we can see what happens,” she said.
John grinned. He almost thought she would say no. But she didn’t. He was definitely looking forward to his next free day.
----- ----- ----- ------ -----
poster / book cover for this chapter:
chapter 10