The Assistant
By: Bursztyn
Three months.
Jonas thought his heart might escape his chest. He felt so light, almost giddy. He had studied for three months, memorizing as much of Dr. Jackson's work as he possibly could, determined to be of at least some use to Earth – to the SGC.
And he had been. He was the one who inspired the solution that had ultimately saved Earth from the attack Anubis had launched against them. Colonel O'Neill had recently approached him and informed him that he had a place on SG-1. Of course he had been helping out the archaeology and linguistics departments, but ever since he had discovered the function of the Stargate Jonas' dream was to go out there and travel amongst the stars. Tomorrow he would take the first steps of his journey.
He surveyed Dr. Jackson's office (not his office – Jonas doubted he would ever be able to think of the place as anything other than Dr. Jackson's office). It was a place he had become familiar with, comfortable in even, and now he felt even more settled in than before. Jonas was pleased that he was making a life for himself here. At the beginning he had his doubts about his ability to integrate himself into such a seemingly drastically foreign environment. He was fitting in though, and finding that things weren't as foreign as they first appeared.
He straightened in his seat behind the desk when someone knocked on the door. "Come in," he called.
A young brown-haired man entered, balancing a stack of books in his left hand. Jonas recognized him as an alien archaeologist he had occasionally worked with since his arrival to Earth. "Hello Nyan. Is there something I can do for you?"
"Actually," Nyan said, "I'm here to offer my assistance."
"Thank you," Jonas replied earnestly, "but I'm not working on anything right now. If you need something to do I'm sure Dr. Laurel would be happy to provide you with some work."
Nyan chuckled as he returned the reference books to their proper places in Dr. Jackson's office. Jonas had often wondered about that. As far as he knew the office wasn't a restricted area, anyone was welcome to come in. Yet Nyan was the only one to do so freely and frequently. "I heard you're the new head of the archaeology and anthro/linguistics departments."
Jonas quickly reviewed the conversation he'd had with Colonel O'Neill about his instatement to SG-1. He hadn't mentioned anything about leading whole departments. "You must be mistaken," he said slowly. "I'm not in charge of anything."
Nyan looked amused. "You're officially the new member of SG-1 right?"
"Well, yes. But I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"I thought you knew," Nyan told him, genuinely surprised. "I mean, you've been studying so hard for the past few months we all just assumed."
"What?" Jonas asked, becoming impatient.
Nyan responded calmly. "Think about it. SG-1 is Earth's flagship team. In order to be a member of such an important group you need to have some serious skills to back up your position. You need to know more than how to handle yourself in a firefight off-world. Colonel O'Neill for example is second in command of this base. He may not look it, but he's a real expert in negotiation, trade and diplomacy. General Hammond trusts him completely, and while the general often speaks on behalf of Earth while on base, the colonel sometimes has to speak for Earth while off-world. That's why he's in command of SG-1."
Jonas nodded for Nyan to continue, thinking he might know where this was headed.
"Major Carter is the lead scientist of the SGC. She specializes in theoretical astrophysics and is a genius in her own field, which basically means she knows all her probability equations back to front inside her head. All of the 'hard' research scientists and inventors report back to her and she gets to decide what reaches General Hammond's desk. Major Carter also understands how things work, and if she doesn't she's usually your best bet for figuring tings out. Off-world she's the best person to have around if the Stargate is malfunctioning for some reason or if a team encounters a cache of alien technology and they need to know whether or not any of it is useful. She's also the only other Earth military member of SG-1 so she's second in command of the team."
"And Teal'c?"
"Well, Teal'c is a Jaffa, and former first Prime of Apophis. He has an unique perspective of the enemy Earth is currently facing. His knowledge and expertise of all things Goa'uld is invaluable to this command. Not to mention that without him we probably wouldn't have an ally in the Free Jaffa Rebellion. He also has knowledge of places in the galaxy we have yet to explore."
"I see," Jonas said pensively, and then cautiously, "Dr. Jackson?"
A bright smile lit Nyan's face. "He was the cultural expert obviously. Around here that means he was pretty much your 'everything' man. Between himself and Teal'c they could paint a pretty thorough picture of any recently-appeared Goa'uld so General Hammond could make an accurate threat assessment without having to engage the enemy first. The other half of the scientists who don't report to Major Carter reported back to him, including all of the civilians on base."
"But some of the techno-scientists are civilians, and you just said that all of them report directly to Major Carter."
"Then they report to both. The line between scientists seems clear on paper, but in reality it's much more complex. It's common for different departments to group together to solve a common puzzle," Nyan shrugged.
Jonas leaned back in his chair. "So you're telling me that to apply for a position in SG-1 is to apply for a leadership position at the SGC?"
"Exactly."
"And no one thought to tell me this because I was busy brushing up on all the right subjects so everyone thought I already knew."
Nyan nodded.
Jonas let a heavy sigh escape him. "Wow."
Nyan's forehead creased. "If you don't feel up to the job you should probably go tell someone."
Jonas thought about it. "No," he decided. "I could have tried to get a position on any other team, but I wanted to be on SG-1. If this is part of being a member of SG-1 then I want to do this too."
Nyan nodded in relief. "Good. Personally I don't know who else would be qualified to continue Dr. Jackson's work. You're a very smart man Mr. Quinn."
"Thank you," Jonas said, surprised. He was used to his peers taking his intellect for granted.
"Well, we've certainly gotten off-track," Nyan commented. "I originally stopped by to tell you that I was Dr. Jackson's assistant. By default that means I'm now your assistant. So any time you need something: help on a translation, another cup of coffee at 2:00 in the morning," Nyan smiled wryly. "I like on base so I'm pretty accessible."
"How many of us are there?" Jonas asked curiously. "Aliens living on Earth I mean."
"You're the fourth."
"So me, you, Teal'c… who am I missing?"
"You wouldn't know her," Nyan said. "Cassandra Fraiser, she's younger than the rest of us. Her entire planet was wiped out by a disease Nirrti inflicted on them. Dr. Fraiser adopted her."
"Wow." What else could you say to something like that?
Nyan moved back toward the door. "I'm in the middle of a translation," he said apologetically. "I just stopped by to see how you were settling in."
"Yeah," Jonas agreed. "Look, thanks for visiting. You just saved me a whole lot of stress."
Nyan grinned. "Assistant, remember? Have a good evening Mr. Quinn."
"You too Nyan." And just like that he was alone again.
Suddenly things that were a mystery twenty minutes ago made perfect sense. All of the people who had tried to get on SG-1 previous to himself would probably have no problem earning a place on a different SG team. Of course the SGC didn't try to hire a series of people who were truly that awful at their jobs. This was a top-secret facility – a no-go zone for flunkies.
Nyan was a constant presence in Dr. Jackson's office because he was used to being there. In all actuality the other scientists probably felt uneasy in the room. Jonas imagined Dr. Jackson had probably had a comfortable flow of traffic when he had been in charge. Nowadays, the office saw very few people.
Jonas' request to join SG-1 hadn't been put off because of Colonel O'Neill's antagonism toward him. If he was being honest with himself he knew perfectly well that no one on base truly disliked him. So what if the marines looked at him a little funny? They did that to everyone.
He had only needed to prove that he was capable of adapting to situations while under pressure. He had only needed to show everyone he was smart enough to be an expert – to be exceptional in his field of choice. His willingness to learn from everyone and everything was a given, and apparently a requirement as well. Most called it 'keeping an open mind'.
Three months.
Somehow the time he spent in pursuit of his goal didn't feel as tedious as it used to.