Goodbye Milky Way
Title: Goodbye Milky Way
Author: ardvari
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: Small ones for Stargate Atlantis season 4.
A/N: Sequel to Serpentine. Sam takes over command at Atlantis. Also: Gratuitous geek details about the Pegasus galaxy because... well, I can.
Goodbye Milky Way
It’s a sight to behold, the Milky Way galaxy. She looks out the window on the Midway Station, back towards her home galaxy so far away. In two hours she can go on, make the 30 minute trip to the Pegasus galaxy after the quarantine, and she just wants to stand here and marvel at this wonder outside the window. She wants to marvel at the fact that she’ll have traveled three million light years in 24 hours, that from now on she’ll live in a galaxy that’s classified as an irregular dwarf galaxy, a member of the local group of galaxies, a companion of the Andromeda galaxy.
She’s excited and a little nervous too, because she’s taking over command in the worst possible way. Dr. Weir is gone, presumed dead by the IOA for now, and Atlantis is in the middle of a war. Same story, different galaxy, and here she is, on her way to help make everything better. To try to not make things worse.
“Quite the sight,” Bill says, sidling up to her and handing her a cup of steaming coffee.
She nods, wrapping her hands around the cup. Despite the temperature on the Midway Station being consistent and almost a little too warm, she always feels cold out here. The tips of her fingers are always cool, as if the sight of the universe chases all the blood towards her heart.
“So, how long ‘til you get to go back to Earth?” she asks Bill, who has pushed his hands into the pockets of his BDUs.
He doesn’t like Midway now that it’s finished and operational, now that there aren’t any big glitches in the system anymore. It’s boring out here for him, waiting for the occasional gate traveler. He’s a scientist and he feels a bit like a sitting duck here, knows he could probably occupy himself with something far more interesting on Earth instead of twiddling his thumbs out here.
“Oh, I don’t know. They keep changing their minds. Yesterday they said I’d go back next week. Today they said maybe next month,” he explains, sighing.
She blows tendrils of steam off her cup, lifts it to her lips and sips carefully. It’s hot and strong, the kind of coffee people out here drink because there’s no night and day, there’s just an endless stretch of blackness and waiting. Out here, everybody eats and sleeps at crazy times, just like they do back at the SGC.
“At least we fixed the gravity problem,” she grins, making him roll his eyes.
Bill waves her off, wishing her good luck before she steps through the ‘gate later. She finishes that step at Atlantis, emerging half an hour later, shaking off the lingering anxiety as she’s greeted by her new team at the gate.
From then on out it’s just another day, month, year at the office. She settles in well and seemingly quickly, though she spends her nights wide awake and reading through mission reports during her first month.
There’s so much to do and she misses the science because here she is in charge of this expedition and there isn’t much room for astrophysics. Here, the science work and the labs are Rodney’s turf, and McKay is certainly not going to ask her for help.
She misses hearing Jack’s voice on the phone, their irregular phone dates. It’s just e-mails here, and while they’re more regular than their phone calls ever were, she sometimes wishes she could listen to him talk about his day, cursing the IOA.
Being on Atlantis is different from everything she’s ever experienced. Even during the most hectic times at the SGC she was always able to leave, go home for a few short hours if she wanted to. Now Atlantis is home and when something goes wrong in the wee hours of the morning, she’s the one that gets called into the tower to look at things. She’s never been the kind of person with a set sleep schedule but here things are a bit ridiculous even for her. She sometimes runs on two hours of sleep, fueled by coffee and the will not to fail, never to fail.
She grows into this new position and then grows with it, starting to feel at home, at ease, as if she’s never done anything else her entire life. It’s close to Christmas when she gets called back to the Midway Station. There seems to be a problem there and Bill can’t figure it out. She’ll just be gone for 24 hours, maybe a little longer, and while she leaves John in charge, she hopes nothing goes wrong.
Just after she arrives at Midway, the Milky Way gate activates and Jack steps through, dressed in BDUs.
“Sir?” she asks, raising an eyebrow at him.
“General O’Neill?” Bill asks, obviously also not informed about him coming.
“Hey Carter, Dr. Lee,” he says, strolling down the ramp with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
“What are you doing here?” Bill asks, while Sam is still staring at the man in front of her.
“Oh, the IOA wanted to send someone to Midway to go over the quarantine protocol and I volunteered because, well, I’ve never been here before,” he explains.
“The quarantine protocol has been in effect for a while sir, there’ve never been any issues,” she states.
He’s the head of Homeworld Security, he surely could have gotten someone else to come here and go over a routine protocol. He narrows his eyes at her a little, shakes his head once.
“Apart from that I miss gate travel and just… took the opportunity. Not much going on in our galaxy at the moment except for the occasional Lucian Alliance skirmish.”
That makes way more sense and she smirks, nodding a little. Bill bustles, hurrying ahead of them to the sleeping quarters. She falls into step beside Jack, just close enough that their fingers brush every once in a while.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what to do now. We usually get people to share because there aren’t enough rooms…” he trails off, nervously pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Oh, Carter and I have shared tents before, I’m sure we’ll live through sharing a bunk, right Carter?” Jack asks, rocking back on his heels.
“Yes sir, sure,” she says, trying not to smile.
Bill looks at her for a moment, trying to gauge if this is really okay and finally nods, opening the metal door to the small, windowless room.
“Top or bottom, Carter?” Jack asks, gesturing towards the bunk bed.
“Top, sir,” she manages before Bill leaves, closing the door behind him.
They stare at each other for a moment and then he tilts his head and she walks towards him and wraps her arms around him.
“This is a nice surprise,” she mumbles into his shirt.
“Thought so. I wasn’t sure if we’d make it here at the same time but I was willing to take the chance,” he says and kisses her temple.
She smiles, unwilling to let him go quite yet. He gives great hugs and she loves being able to fit her body against his like a puzzle piece pressed home.
She spends the rest of the day, or night, working on the computer malfunction. It’s spread to all the systems and she has to fix it one at a time, plugging her tablet into different outlets, walking around the station until finally the algorithm’s correct and everything runs smoothly again.
She finds Jack in the small commissary, Bill and another scientist sitting at the table with him as they go over the quarantine protocol. He doesn’t look up when she approaches, has probably already sensed her presence. She sits down beside him, nodding to the scientists.
“Fixed it?” Bill asks; glad to be interrupted from the tedious work of trying to find faults with something that works quite well.
“Yep,” she answers, looking over Jack’s shoulder.
They’re on the last page and he’s marked some stuff, is going to review the entire thing with the IOA again.
“Alright folks, I think we’re done here,” he says, clapping his hands together.
Bill sighs with relief, blushing furiously when Jack throws him a dirty look. The scientists get back to their work and Sam leans back in her chair, looks out the window at the spiral of the Milky Way.
“So we won’t have to share a bunk?” Jack asks, looking at the profile of her face in the harsh light.
Despite how stressful Atlantis has been, she looks good. Maybe a little tired, a little worn but good, happy. He puts his hand on hers where it rests on the table and squeezes gently.
“No, I should… probably get back. The sooner the better. Seems like not a day goes by without disaster striking at Atlantis,” she says.
“Just like old times,” he jokes, nudging her gently.
They walk back to their quarters quietly and he helps her put on her backpack. Before she leaves, he kisses her until she clings to him, until they’re both breathless. It reminds them both of why they’re here, why they’re still fighting. Finally she steps away, her eyes dark, and pulls down the jacket of her uniform.
“Gotta go,” she says softly. “Walk me to the ‘gate?”
“Wouldn’t miss seeing you off,” he says, lets his hand rest on the small of her back until they’re almost at the gate room.
They watch as the Pegasus gate kawooshes to life and then she turns and salutes, winking at him.
“Until next time, General,” she says.
“It was a pleasure, Colonel,” he replies and smirks.
When the gate shuts down behind her, he pushes his hands into the pockets of his pants, rocks back on his heels. The station feels empty now, and cold. He can feel a shiver running down his spine and decides to head back to Earth, too.
Author: ardvari
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: Small ones for Stargate Atlantis season 4.
A/N: Sequel to Serpentine. Sam takes over command at Atlantis. Also: Gratuitous geek details about the Pegasus galaxy because... well, I can.
Goodbye Milky Way
It’s a sight to behold, the Milky Way galaxy. She looks out the window on the Midway Station, back towards her home galaxy so far away. In two hours she can go on, make the 30 minute trip to the Pegasus galaxy after the quarantine, and she just wants to stand here and marvel at this wonder outside the window. She wants to marvel at the fact that she’ll have traveled three million light years in 24 hours, that from now on she’ll live in a galaxy that’s classified as an irregular dwarf galaxy, a member of the local group of galaxies, a companion of the Andromeda galaxy.
She’s excited and a little nervous too, because she’s taking over command in the worst possible way. Dr. Weir is gone, presumed dead by the IOA for now, and Atlantis is in the middle of a war. Same story, different galaxy, and here she is, on her way to help make everything better. To try to not make things worse.
“Quite the sight,” Bill says, sidling up to her and handing her a cup of steaming coffee.
She nods, wrapping her hands around the cup. Despite the temperature on the Midway Station being consistent and almost a little too warm, she always feels cold out here. The tips of her fingers are always cool, as if the sight of the universe chases all the blood towards her heart.
“So, how long ‘til you get to go back to Earth?” she asks Bill, who has pushed his hands into the pockets of his BDUs.
He doesn’t like Midway now that it’s finished and operational, now that there aren’t any big glitches in the system anymore. It’s boring out here for him, waiting for the occasional gate traveler. He’s a scientist and he feels a bit like a sitting duck here, knows he could probably occupy himself with something far more interesting on Earth instead of twiddling his thumbs out here.
“Oh, I don’t know. They keep changing their minds. Yesterday they said I’d go back next week. Today they said maybe next month,” he explains, sighing.
She blows tendrils of steam off her cup, lifts it to her lips and sips carefully. It’s hot and strong, the kind of coffee people out here drink because there’s no night and day, there’s just an endless stretch of blackness and waiting. Out here, everybody eats and sleeps at crazy times, just like they do back at the SGC.
“At least we fixed the gravity problem,” she grins, making him roll his eyes.
Bill waves her off, wishing her good luck before she steps through the ‘gate later. She finishes that step at Atlantis, emerging half an hour later, shaking off the lingering anxiety as she’s greeted by her new team at the gate.
From then on out it’s just another day, month, year at the office. She settles in well and seemingly quickly, though she spends her nights wide awake and reading through mission reports during her first month.
There’s so much to do and she misses the science because here she is in charge of this expedition and there isn’t much room for astrophysics. Here, the science work and the labs are Rodney’s turf, and McKay is certainly not going to ask her for help.
She misses hearing Jack’s voice on the phone, their irregular phone dates. It’s just e-mails here, and while they’re more regular than their phone calls ever were, she sometimes wishes she could listen to him talk about his day, cursing the IOA.
Being on Atlantis is different from everything she’s ever experienced. Even during the most hectic times at the SGC she was always able to leave, go home for a few short hours if she wanted to. Now Atlantis is home and when something goes wrong in the wee hours of the morning, she’s the one that gets called into the tower to look at things. She’s never been the kind of person with a set sleep schedule but here things are a bit ridiculous even for her. She sometimes runs on two hours of sleep, fueled by coffee and the will not to fail, never to fail.
She grows into this new position and then grows with it, starting to feel at home, at ease, as if she’s never done anything else her entire life. It’s close to Christmas when she gets called back to the Midway Station. There seems to be a problem there and Bill can’t figure it out. She’ll just be gone for 24 hours, maybe a little longer, and while she leaves John in charge, she hopes nothing goes wrong.
Just after she arrives at Midway, the Milky Way gate activates and Jack steps through, dressed in BDUs.
“Sir?” she asks, raising an eyebrow at him.
“General O’Neill?” Bill asks, obviously also not informed about him coming.
“Hey Carter, Dr. Lee,” he says, strolling down the ramp with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
“What are you doing here?” Bill asks, while Sam is still staring at the man in front of her.
“Oh, the IOA wanted to send someone to Midway to go over the quarantine protocol and I volunteered because, well, I’ve never been here before,” he explains.
“The quarantine protocol has been in effect for a while sir, there’ve never been any issues,” she states.
He’s the head of Homeworld Security, he surely could have gotten someone else to come here and go over a routine protocol. He narrows his eyes at her a little, shakes his head once.
“Apart from that I miss gate travel and just… took the opportunity. Not much going on in our galaxy at the moment except for the occasional Lucian Alliance skirmish.”
That makes way more sense and she smirks, nodding a little. Bill bustles, hurrying ahead of them to the sleeping quarters. She falls into step beside Jack, just close enough that their fingers brush every once in a while.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what to do now. We usually get people to share because there aren’t enough rooms…” he trails off, nervously pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Oh, Carter and I have shared tents before, I’m sure we’ll live through sharing a bunk, right Carter?” Jack asks, rocking back on his heels.
“Yes sir, sure,” she says, trying not to smile.
Bill looks at her for a moment, trying to gauge if this is really okay and finally nods, opening the metal door to the small, windowless room.
“Top or bottom, Carter?” Jack asks, gesturing towards the bunk bed.
“Top, sir,” she manages before Bill leaves, closing the door behind him.
They stare at each other for a moment and then he tilts his head and she walks towards him and wraps her arms around him.
“This is a nice surprise,” she mumbles into his shirt.
“Thought so. I wasn’t sure if we’d make it here at the same time but I was willing to take the chance,” he says and kisses her temple.
She smiles, unwilling to let him go quite yet. He gives great hugs and she loves being able to fit her body against his like a puzzle piece pressed home.
She spends the rest of the day, or night, working on the computer malfunction. It’s spread to all the systems and she has to fix it one at a time, plugging her tablet into different outlets, walking around the station until finally the algorithm’s correct and everything runs smoothly again.
She finds Jack in the small commissary, Bill and another scientist sitting at the table with him as they go over the quarantine protocol. He doesn’t look up when she approaches, has probably already sensed her presence. She sits down beside him, nodding to the scientists.
“Fixed it?” Bill asks; glad to be interrupted from the tedious work of trying to find faults with something that works quite well.
“Yep,” she answers, looking over Jack’s shoulder.
They’re on the last page and he’s marked some stuff, is going to review the entire thing with the IOA again.
“Alright folks, I think we’re done here,” he says, clapping his hands together.
Bill sighs with relief, blushing furiously when Jack throws him a dirty look. The scientists get back to their work and Sam leans back in her chair, looks out the window at the spiral of the Milky Way.
“So we won’t have to share a bunk?” Jack asks, looking at the profile of her face in the harsh light.
Despite how stressful Atlantis has been, she looks good. Maybe a little tired, a little worn but good, happy. He puts his hand on hers where it rests on the table and squeezes gently.
“No, I should… probably get back. The sooner the better. Seems like not a day goes by without disaster striking at Atlantis,” she says.
“Just like old times,” he jokes, nudging her gently.
They walk back to their quarters quietly and he helps her put on her backpack. Before she leaves, he kisses her until she clings to him, until they’re both breathless. It reminds them both of why they’re here, why they’re still fighting. Finally she steps away, her eyes dark, and pulls down the jacket of her uniform.
“Gotta go,” she says softly. “Walk me to the ‘gate?”
“Wouldn’t miss seeing you off,” he says, lets his hand rest on the small of her back until they’re almost at the gate room.
They watch as the Pegasus gate kawooshes to life and then she turns and salutes, winking at him.
“Until next time, General,” she says.
“It was a pleasure, Colonel,” he replies and smirks.
When the gate shuts down behind her, he pushes his hands into the pockets of his pants, rocks back on his heels. The station feels empty now, and cold. He can feel a shiver running down his spine and decides to head back to Earth, too.