The Ninth Chevron - Chapter 5
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Previously: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4
The Ninth Chevron - Chapter 5
Stargate Command, February 2007
Cam's head snapped up off his forearm and he nearly cried out at the pain. Lifting his arm he started rubbing the back of his neck, screwing up his eyes at the agony. Turning to his left he saw Sam sleeping, her face tilted slightly towards him. In repose she looked so beautiful. He'd almost lost her a couple of days ago, almost let her die without...
"Let that be a lesson to you." His head whipped around at the soft voice and he did cry out in pain that time. Dr. Lam glared at him reproachfully.
"Sorry, sorry." He looked over and saw Sam's brow furrow for a moment before settling down again. Still asleep. He sighed gently and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms against his chest.
"She'll be fine, she was awake a little while ago." Carolyn said as she busied herself around Sam's bed and then snuck another macaroon for herself. "They're very good. She tried another of your macaroons." Cam grimaced and sighed sadly. "She liked them a lot." He looked at her in surprise. Carolyn chuckled. "When you gave her some before, the medication she was on would have badly affected her sense of taste. She liked them." Cam was at a loss. She liked his macaroons. He couldn't help a grin. "She asked me not to tell you." He frowned and tilted his head in confusion and she shrugged. "Don't ask me." She patted his shoulder and walked away, greeting Vala at the door who bounded in and shooed Cam out for her own shift at Sam's bedside. It left him outside the door of the infirmary looking in at her sleeping face, wondering what was going on.
Pacific Ocean, July 2009
He had a really stupid grin on his face. She sat in the co-pilot's seat, glancing over at him and his stupid grin every once in a while, trying to decide how she got into this. She shook her head, she didn't need an answer to that. She could be hitting her head against the brick wall that was her latest project back at the SGC, getting nowhere except more frustrated. Or she could be here with him, flying over this wide blue ocean, and also getting distance from her problem, letting her think about it in different ways. Cam always managed to know when it was she needed distance from her projects. And even if she didn't, it was a beautiful day, and she was flying with Cam.
"Okay, Colonel," began Sheppard over the comm, "we like to simulate Wraith weaponry in these cert tests, since they're who we go up against most often. We don't really face anyone else who uses drone weapons now that the Asurans are gone. You won't see weapon beams but hits will be indicated by the computers we've set up inside." She saw a jumper decloak ahead of them and knew the test was going to start soon. "We're far enough away from shipping lanes now that we don't need the cloaks, we'll take turns, offense and defense, you'll have to evade me for five minutes then I'll have to evade you for five minutes. Back and forth. You all set at your end, Rodney?" A static pop came over the radio as a third connection came in.
"Yes, we're recording telemetry and for what it's worth, Lorne's in another cloaked jumper shadowing you to get video," Rodney's voice picked up with his trademarked mixture of exuberance and irritation, "though I keep telling you I can create far better simulations from the telemetry if all you want is to replay the test. And you can view it from any-" Sheppard's exasperated voice cut him off.
"And I keep telling you, Rodney," the warning in his voice was unmistakable, "it's not the same." Cam looked over at her and he rolled his eyes, she had to shake her head at all of them.
"You can't set CGI to 'Danger Zone', Dr. McKay, it's not right." Cam said over his comm and Sam started laughing in her seat. He looked over to her smiling. "What, you didn't think he would actually screen it to the trainees without it, do you?"
"I guess not." She was trying to imagine a room full of SGC pilots watching a dogfight video and not having it turn into Top Gun appreciation night.
"Hard deck for this is sea level, no going under water. Test begins in five." John positioned his jumper right on Cam's six according to the tactical display being shown on the HUD. A little timer which had started with John's voice counted down to zero and Cam pitched hard right, the tactical display showing blue lines going from John's jumper just sliding past Cam's. There was no sensation of movement however, except for the view from the forward view port. For the next five minutes Cam's hand on the controls lifted, dipped and twisted, even at the same time in different directions as each control was independent of the other. At one point while in a long, shallow, banking dive with John cutting the angle on him from behind Cam started a drift and roll which pitched the craft up on its end then shooting back into the sky and John shot away past them and below, they could hear his slight curse of amazement over the radio.
She actually stopped watching the tactical display not long into the dogfight, much more interested in watching the concentration and intensity on Cam's features. She'd flown with him before, but in tandem two-seaters where she couldn't see his eyes. Eyes which glinted hard and cold, dangerous eyes. By the end of the first phase Cam had taken six hits, which if she remembered correctly from her time on Atlantis was very good, especially against John. Cam positioned himself behind John for the second phase and waited on the countdown. This was a different Cameron she was witnessing, serious, efficient, disciplined. She'd seen glimpses of it while under fire on missions with SG-1, when Cam showed them the warrior. Here he was in full glory, the deadly predator.
As soon as the countdown reached zero Cam's hands were in motion, but not those she had been expecting, he pitched down with a twist of his hands and as she looked out the forward view She saw what was happening, John's jumper was banking left and Cam was following him from a high position, rolling with his nose pointed down while the jumper drifted in an arc almost sideways over John's jumper, near-miss indicators started showing in the HUD and one or two hit indicators before John banked straight up and out of frame.
"What the Hell was that?" she asked incredulously, she'd never seen a jumper move like they had in an atmosphere. The look on Cam's face was amused for a second before returning to stony seriousness as he reacquired his target.
"Something the ship suggested. She'd been nagging me all through the first phase so I thought I'd listen for once. Not bad." His words left her feeling bewildered. Throughout the rest of the second phase Cam's jumper continued to dance around the sky sideways as often as forwards, taking advantage of the jumper's ability to control its own inertia to spin on its axis and cut its movements in one direction in favour of another almost instantly, using the same principles which allowed a jumper coming in hot through the 'gate to stop before hitting the stairs in the 'gate room, to score hit after hit on John's jumper, totalling eight over the course of his five minutes.
"Alright, I'll pass you. Not 'cause you're better than me or anything, you're not!" John declared over the comm as they cloaked and flew back to Atlantis, followed by a muttered admission under his breath. "Just afraid you might be if we kept going." After they landed in the jumper bay and disembarked they found John striding over with a glint in his eyes. "Okay, Mitchell, we're not on an open channel now, how'd you pull off some of those stunts?"
"Well, just some pointers the ship gave me, presenting various options in rapid succession until I chose one." Cam started and Sam saw John's eyes widen at the words, as hers must be. "How'd you get used to the nagging, Shep? Yap yap yap the whole time." Just as John was about to speak a voice cut in over the comm, Chuck in the control room.
"Colonels Carter and Mitchell, SGC reports representatives of the Tok'ra are requesting a meeting with SG-1, as soon as possible. General Landry says to use Daedalus." Cam looked at her in confusion and she could only shrug, taking a hold on his arm in preparation. She liked the feel of his arm under her fingers.
"Sorry, Shep, you heard the disembodied voice. Duty calls." Cam took the beacon disk from his pocket and pressed it, leaving John grimacing as he swallowed the protest he was about to utter.
USS Odyssey, above P3X-474, May 2007 + 4,723 days relative
"Were you just calling me a fool, Mr. Seaborn?" asked a severe looking man in a tailored suit before cutting away to the handsome features of the Deputy Director of Communications.
"I wasn't calling you a fool, sir, the brand new state of Georgia was." His voice was polite but his whole demeanour screamed contempt for the man he was speaking to. Cam laughed from the sofa as Sam rested her head against his arm while she lay in front of him facing the television, chuckling.
"It's not that funny, Cameron." voiced Daniel from the love seat he sat in next to Vala who watched the screen with a smile.
"You kidding me? Ain't nothing quite as funny as being able to insult a man without saying anything impolite." Cam motioned to the screen before bringing his hand back to rest against Sam's hip. She turned her head around on his bicep to look at him laying behind her, she smiled at his look. He and Daniel did enjoy these little back-and-forths.
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson," intoned Teal'c from across the small table covered with drinks and little snacks, "it takes great skill to cut down a man with words and allow no avenue for denouncement."
"I'm going to have to agree with them, Daniel." Vala nuzzled against him but he still looked at her in mock-dismay. "Oh, don't look at me like that! Just because you've learned how to shoot a gun doesn't mean your main weapons aren't the words you use."
"Woman's got a point, Daniel." Sam said and Cam turned his head to look at her, she loved using his catchphrases sometimes, it always seemed to surprise him. "Didn't I hear tell once of how you put the Ancients in their place on Atlantis? Told them off enough that Morgan le Fay admitted many shared your ideas?"
"Yeah, and we have no idea what they did to her after that." Daniel huffed. General Landry had long since paused the DVD and was happily enjoying the discussion around him. He came to movie nights for this right here, Sam smiled at him and he nodded at her. "Anyone could have said what I said, any of you could have."
"What are you talking about, Jackson?" Cameron's tone was part disbelieving, part exasperated. "Yeah, we all have words, I'll grant you that." He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Sam's words can blind you with the wonders of the universe... and confuse you a lot, sorry, baby," he kissed her hair and she smiled indulgently, "Teal'c can rouse his fellow Jaffa to battle with ease, and also he can turn them to re-examining their souls and their honour." Teal'c bowed his head at the praise. "Vala, she can talk you into giving her everything you have and make you think she's doing you a favour." Vala giggled and covered her mouth with her hands. "General Landry and I? We can inspire confidence in our men, make them believe we'll get them through the mission, but that's all, no offense, sir." General Landry shook his head.
"None taken, son, in fact I agree." The old General nodded for Cam to continue and he did.
"But you, Jackson... Daniel, your words... your words make people change their lives!" His eyes were gleaming as he spoke and Sam reached a hand up to cup his cheek. He closed his eyes for a second before continuing. Sam took the time to look at Daniel, who was looking down at his hands until Vala turned his head to face her with a hand on his cheek. "Without your words, Daniel, would O'Neill not have detonated that nuclear bomb on Abydos instead of aboard Ra's ship? Wouldn't he-"
"Be dead?" Daniel finished for him, looking somewhat stricken. "Jack did that himself, Cameron, not me. Words are words. Nothing more."
"Words are power, Daniel Jackson. Colonel Mitchell is correct in this. It was not just O'Neill telling me he could save those people on Chulak that caused me to join the Tau'ri cause." All eyes had turned to the Jaffa as he spoke. "It is not just the words you speak, but the words you understand. When I asked where you were from you understood what I was truly asking. By drawing the symbol of the Tau'ri in the sand that day, you changed my life."
"Your words have changed all our lives." Sam's words were spoken softly, but she hoped he would understand the feeling behind them.
Hypraxia Base, Praxyon, June 2010
Sam watched the rippling blue event horizon with a sense of abject wonder. She'd done it. She'd established a connection to the nine symbol address of Atlantis while the city was in hyperspace just beyond the edge of the galaxy. This facility could definitely do it. She glanced at the console and checked off several indicators, it was stable, power levels were also nominal. She turned her grin to Cam standing next to her and noticed a whole group of scientists were cheering behind him staring at the event horizon. It was only when he turned to her that she could see his shining eyes, his countenance was all military discipline and efficiency but his eyes as he looked at her said he was proud of her and that realisation left her feeling slightly weak.
"Great job, Sam." He touched her shoulder for a moment and it was as if she was filled with energy again. She raised a hand to cover his fingers on her shoulder and smiled. A sergeant came running up to them and Cam walked over to take what he was holding. Sam smiled and walked up next to him to head towards the 'gate, where a comm station was set up and the radio was already blaring.
"Hello? Who is this? Identify yourselves and could you please tell us how you are doing this?" She grinned at the incredulity in Dr. Rodney McKay's voice, she tapped the comm at her ear to connect her with the radio system and smiled at what they were about to do. She and Cam stepped in front of the camera pickup and she waved at Rodney's look of amazement.
"Hey McKay." She nodded at Mr. Woolsey to one side of Rodney and grinned at Colonel Sheppard on his other side. Sheppard looked a bit flushed, he'd obviously just run from somewhere else, not expecting an incoming wormhole while in hyperspace en route back to the Pegasus Galaxy. "Mr. Woolsey, Colonel Sheppard. Greetings from Hypraxia Base." Beside her, Cam waved into the pickup.
"Hey Shep. You still owe me twenty from the Superbowl spread buddy, didja really think you could skip galaxy and get away from me?" Cam declared to Sheppard's grin before an increasingly irritated Rodney broke in.
"You haven't answered my question, Samantha. How are you doing this?" he demanded, leaning into the view, John rolled his eyes behind him and turned away slightly. Woolsey sighed heavily. "We are in hyperspace. What you are doing is impossible!"
"Oh, you know me, Rodney, I blow up suns on my days off, the impossible is merely commonplace." She hoped desperately no one brought up the fact that Rodney had destroyed an entire solar system, or possibly, an entire alternate reality. The man was a far greater menace than she was. He was sputtering at her and she turned to Cam for him to take over.
"Actually, Dr. McKay, we have something here of yours which you forgot to take with you. If you'd just go down to the 'gate and sign for it, that would be super." He was really laying it on thick. Sheppard had turned to look at the camera again when Mitchell started talking and the two of them must have shared some communication between them because John grabbed Rodney's elbow and began dragging the protesting scientist away from camera.
"You heard the Colonel, Rodney, when are you gonna learn not to forget stuff?" He was long out of picture before Mr. Woolsey turned to look at the camera once and then turned away to follow them, leaving Sgt. Chuck Campbell looking at them nervously.
"Sergeant, could you turn the camera around to face the Stargate, please." Sam smiled at him and her former 'gate tech's eyes lit up.
"Yes, ma'am." He got up and she saw the picture wobbling and tilting for several seconds before coming back to rest pointing at the stained glass above the 'gate, then tilting down and sideways slightly to get the 'gate and the three men waiting in front of it in view. As he did that she keyed in her IDC. "Receiving SG-1's IDC, lowering the shield." She saw the shimmering iridescence slip away from in front of the event horizon.
"Thanks, Chuck." she whispered. She turned to Cam and he was practically grinning his ears off, he studied the screen for a moment, scrutinising everything before going to stand in front of the 'gate. Just then she heard Rodney yelling again and he reconnected his radio.
"Carter! What is going on? How are you doing this?" He was staring at the shimmering blue 'gate and she could just imagine the face he was making, hard edged, chin sticking up indignantly.
"Oh, I just dialled Atlantis' nine symbol 'gate address." She grinned as she saw him freeze and she could imagine the face he was making now too, eyes glazed over, looking up in confusion and momentary wonder. Just then she saw a bright yellow oblong come flying out of the event horizon, spinning and tumbling and headed straight for Rodney, Cam's aim was perfect. It would have hit the stunned scientist in the face had John, standing next to Rodney, not stuck his hand out and caught the lemon in his palm. He held it between his thumb and index finger in front of Rodney's face and started laughing. Rodney finally noticed it and recoiled backwards in horror, stumbling and falling on his backside.
"Package received, Hypraxia Base." came Sheppard's incredibly amused voice. "We'll make sure Rodney doesn't forget it again." Rodney was sputtering and flailing on the ground as Ronon was helping him to stand. The large Satedan was also clearly enjoying this.
"Atlantis sends congratulations on a successful test, Colonels." came Mr. Woolsey's crisp voice, she knew him well enough now to know he was laughing on the inside.
"Hey Mitchell, did you really just dial a nine symbol address just to send Rodney a death threat?" Sheppard asked into his comm, waving the lemon in front of a clearly agitated Rodney. Cam had come back to stand by the monitor and tapped his own comm.
"Oh, you know, Shep, keep the man on his toes, and since you guys are still close by it was a good power test without a lot of drain." he explained happily.
"Copy that, I'll get you your twenty bucks next time I see you I swear. You know I'm good for it, Atlantis out." Sheppard signalled to the balcony and Sam hurriedly signed off before the 'gate was disconnected.
"Godspeed Atlantis, Hypraxia Base out."
Hypraxia Base, Praxyon, June 2010
For the next test a few days later they'd decided to use another one of the addresses which used the Beta 'gate point of origin symbol. One of the three addresses which were identical apart from the ninth symbol itself. Sam sighed happily as the wormhole engaged and shimmered blue within its enclosing ring. She prodded Cam who immediately ordered a MALP to be sent through. The scientists who were still cheering as they had after the Atlantis attempt's success, settled down slightly and the little rover started moving into the event horizon. They turned to the monitor and watched it appear on the other side into darkness, switching on the illumination on the little vehicle showed a large space, swivelling the camera from side to side revealed a raised balcony to the side of the gate with sweeping staircase leading up to it, on the balcony they could see what looked like control consoles. The MALP would have a little trouble getting up there but it would manage. So far so good.
"This is good, Sam," Cam stood close to her as he spoke, "how sure are you that interface you cooked up with Dr. Rush's help will allow us to interact with any systems remotely?" She watched the rover's video feed for a moment as it approached the console.
"Fairly certain, he helped us build it while he was here. If we can find the correct interface ports we'll be able to gain control of those consoles." Sam glanced at him and nodded. He smiled and turned to the feed himself. As she watched the video, doubts began to creep into her mind. The motifs of the design didn't remind her of the way Destiny was described.
"Uh, guys?" Jackson called over from beside the ancillary console. "Something's off here." He pointed at the power usage display and both Cameron and Sam went to look. Cameron ran a finger along the display and pressed a few buttons which sequenced through several different views before settling on one.
"That's not right." The frown creasing Cam's face surprised Sam for a moment, she still wasn't quite used to the fact that he could read Ancient. "We were expecting..." His voice trailed off in consternation.
"I know." replied Daniel. "I mean, I'm not a physicist, but even I can tell that," he indicated the display, "is not what we were expecting." Sam looked down and checked the display herself, she couldn't read it, but a power usage display was a power usage display in any language and once you had an idea of scale... this definitely wasn't right. Dr. Lee ambled over still grinning and took a while to register the serious faces of the three SG-1 members while he looked at notes on a pad.
"Great job, guys, atmospheric readings are not good but then again, power readings over there are very low so it could be in some sort of standby mode, once we can confirm the interface is properly-" He finally looked up from his little list of notes to see they were practically ignoring him. "Uh, guys? What's wrong?" Sam turned to him seeing the stirrings of concern in his eyes.
"Bill, how far are we from Earth?" she asked, knowing the answer but wanting to confirm it.
"Uh, about thirty-two hundred light years give or take. This place is in the neighbourhood so to speak." He looked confused, but Sam was already doing some calculations in her head. She turned to Cam with wide eyes, it was a large area but knowing their luck... Cam's lips tightened into a thin line and he reached for the comm in his ear. Sam turned to head for the MALP control station.
"You know it's a bit creepy how you two are already doing the silent communication thing." Daniel muttered before returning to looking at the display and pulling at his lower lip. Sam flushed slightly but said nothing.
"Sam, get the MALP's beacon going, max output." Cam ordered for Daniel's benefit, she nodded and smiled with a wave over her shoulder as he turned to face the monitor and tapped the comm. "Odyssey, this is Mitchell, come in."
"Colonel Mitchell, this is Odyssey, what news on the dialling attempt?" came the expectant reply of the battlecruiser's commander as he swivelled his seat to face the comm screen on the port bulkhead of his bridge.
"Well, Colonel, it's hinky." Mitchell looked at Sam by the other console and she confirmed the MALP's beacon was active with a nod, she began walking back to his side, Dr. Lee was staring between the three of them in great confusion.
"Hinky?" Hendricks looked as confused as Bill. "Is there a problem?"
"The 'gate is active and we've sent a MALP, but..." He frowned slightly. "Could you please relay a message to Apollo in Earth orbit, have it scan for a MALP beacon." The ship's commander acknowledged the request with a wary look and signed off. Cam's eyes told her everything she needed to know. He was absolutely certain. This was just how it worked with SG-1. Bill's eyebrows suddenly shot up his forehead and his eyes widened precipitously. He turned between each of them unable to speak for several seconds.
"You think the MALP is on Earth?" he asked in a rather high pitched squeak. Cam turned from Daniel to Sam, but before any of them could answer, Cam's radio squawked into life once more and the monitor lit up to display the bridge on Odyssey.
"Colonel Mitchell, this is Odyssey, Apollo confirms MALP beacon detected in the vicinity of Earth, they haven't pin-pointed it yet but they think it's coming from the Moon. Copy?"
"Copy that Odyssey, thanks, Mitchell out." Cam replied and let his arm drop to his side as they all stared at the still active Stargate which was drawing only enough power to sustain a wormhole to Sol.
On to Chapter 6