The Ashrak Malice
Author's note: So! My little break from writing is over and now we come back to the Camper's universe for another visit. I won't go into what the story is about since those of you who have been along for the Campers ride already know who the Ashrak are after. All others should read at least a few of my Campers stories before taking this one on, since it has several characters that I've made up. That said, here we go!
Disclaimer: I'm not making any money off this story. It's for amusement only and I don't own Stargate or any characters I use that I didn't make up.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ian Brooks scowled.
"Are you done?"
His scowl was no match for that of Rodney McKay, who didn't even bother to look up from what he was doing.
"This is a delicate procedure, okay?"
"It's not rocket science."
Now McKay did look up, although his hands stayed where they were.
"Do you want to do this?"
"I-"
"I'm almost done, okay," McKay interrupted. "Hand me that wipe."
Ian reached over and handed the requested item over to the man who was almost certainly the most brilliant man on Atlantis, and a moment later handed McKay a can of powder without being asked. A moment later Rodney stepped back.
"Done."
"Hand him here and I'll get him dressed. You make sure the twins are ready, will you?"
McKay handed Ian his youngest son, who gurgled happily now that his diaper had been changed, and Ian grinned at the baby wondering again where in the world he'd managed to get such vivid blue eyes and brilliantly red hair. Definitely not from his father, that much was certain. Ian's dark eyes were soft and his hands were deft as he dressed the squirming Alexander in the outfit Cassandra had picked out before she'd gated back to Earth the day before.
"You ready, big boy?" he asked, holding the baby up so he could look him eye to eye.
At only 8 months, Alexander wasn't quite up to a conversation – even for his daddy – but he did smile at the affection in Ian's tone, and that was more than enough.
"Hey, loser, are you ready?"
Ian looked over at River, who had entered his quarters without asking – since he knew that Cassie wasn't on Atlantis just then. Nestled comfortably in his left arm was Jessica, dressed in pink – but wearing a shirt that had a surfer on the front.
"Just about. We're waiting on Rodney and the boys, then we'll-"
He was interrupted by Carter and Michael, who ran into the room excitedly. Of course, they were always excited – and more so when they were getting ready to visit Earth, and their grandparents.
"We're ready!" Carter told him – loudly.
"Can I carry Zander?" Michael asked, hopefully.
Ian rolled his eyes at the nickname the boys had given their little brother, but didn't comment on it.
"You'll be careful?"
"I promise."
Without hesitation, he handed the baby over, knowing that Michael would be more protective of him than even Ian could be. And Carter would help him if he needed anything while they were walking to the Gateship bay.
McKay joined them only a moment later, carrying the bag that was filled with the twins' clothes for their visit to Earth, and Ian scooped up the diaper bag.
"You ready?" he asked River.
"We're loaded already," the Californian answered with a grin. "Jessica wanted to bring half her wardrobe, but I reminded her that if we use all our space going out, we wouldn't have room for anything new that we might pick up in the mall – or at grandma and grandpa's."
"And she saw things your way finally?" Ian asked, smiling down at the baby in River's arm. Jessica looked nothing like River – which made sense since she wasn't related to him by blood, and wasn't even truly human. She was Ancient, and absolutely adorable as far as Ian was concerned. None of them had ever dreamed they'd have an Ancient back on Atlantis, and if someone had told them 8 months ago that River would have adopted one and was raising her as his own they'd have ordered a straight-jacket immediately. They really didn't have any idea what to expect as far as development was concerned, but so far Jessica Hayden was a happy, contented baby – who didn't show any signs of the capabilities she'd almost certainly possess some day.
"Let's say she didn't put up too much of an argument," River told him.
"Don't get used to it," Rodney told him as they headed for the door. "Jeannie started talking at 9 months and never stopped."
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
The Gateship that was officially designated as Gateship 4 was the one they used whenever they took the kids to Earth. The reason for that was simple. While almost all of the Ancients' spacecraft had seat harnesses, none of them came equipped with car seats. Gateship 4 had more seats installed and it held two booster seats for the twins that adapted to any of the seats in the craft, but also carried car seats for the babies. They'd been Carter and Michael's first, but now were for Jessica and Alexander. The section around those particular seats had also been fortified, just in case the worst happened and they crashed, it was the safest place in the craft.
River handed Jessica to McKay as the boys got themselves buckled in, and he did the preflight check on the systems while Ian and McKay settled the babies into their places.
"Get set," River told them as he started the Gateship engines. Ian double-checked the twins to make sure that they were properly buckled in and then sat down in the seat beside the Californian while McKay slid into the one right behind him.
"I'm really not all that fond of parties, you know…"
"Yeah, we know," Ian assured him.
"You don't have to go to the party," River pointed out. "But there's no sense in making more than one trip, and since it'll be the weekend there won't be as many people at Stargate command so you'll be able to get the shield back up on-"
"Yes, yes, I know," McKay interrupted. "The sooner the better since they're all too inept to get more than the basics back up."
"I would suggest you don't speak that way to General Hunt," Ian told McKay. "He wouldn't appreciate it."
Of course, Ian didn't really like it, either. He was used to McKay, though, which gave him more patience for the attitude than the commander of the Stargate Command would have in similar circumstance. He was proud of his command and the people under him – and with good reason. It wasn't their fault that a perfect storm of unfortunate events had hit Colorado all at once. An electrical storm had struck Colorado Springs in the middle of a test on the shield that protected the Stargate. While that wouldn't normally have been an issue – they had had electrical storms before, after all – it also happened that the some unknown had dialed into the SGC at the same time. The wormhole had never manifested – according to the eyewitness accounts of those who had been in the embarkation room at the time – but the extra power it caused had done damage to several systems in the mountain. The worst damage had been to the power grid that was responsible for the shielding on the Stargate, leaving them stuck with only the old iris until they had a chance to get an expert in to look at the shield systems.
As the only two real experts on the shield, Rodney and Ian were called in. Which was fine, since Ian had been planning on spending the weekend on Earth anyway. Shawn's birthday was coming and Gina had planned a party. River and Ian – and families – were invited and they'd had every intention of going. Rodney was invited as well, but he was far more interested in the shield than socializing, so he was going to tackle the problems at the SGC while the rest enjoyed spending time with family and friends.
Of course, the twins had immediately gone to their father, concerned that Rodney would miss out on cake and ice cream. Amused, Ian had passed word on to McKay, who had been surprised – and somewhat gratified – by the concern. He'd promised the boys that he'd stop in and have cake.
Since there weren't a lot of Sears and Macy stores in the Pegasus galaxy, Cassandra Brooks had gone to Earth earlier than the others, planning on shopping for presents – which was made even easier when Ian offered to keep the boys with him and bring them in time for the party, leaving her free to have a day with Gina and Janet Fraiser before the weekend.
"I'm not going to," Rodney said, waving his hand dismissively. "But I do expect you to save me some cake."
"We will," Carter assured him.
"Let's go," Ian told River, his hand gripping his armrest just a little tighter than it was a moment ago.
The Californian noticed, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he just grinned and turned his attention completely on what he was doing. If he crashed them, Ian would never let him live it down. Not to mention there were kids in the Gateship, which meant he needed to fly more carefully than he normally did.
A moment later they were in the gateroom and Ian detached his hand from his armrest long enough to dial up the Earth gate.
"Here we go!" River told the boys, who loved to gate almost as much as he did. And certainly didn't share in their father's fear of all things that flew.
A moment later the wormhole engaged, and they went through.