Return To Duty
By
AstraPerAspera
Author's Note: I completely blame Joe Mallozzi for this story. He had me at "General Carter".
"…and I know we can accomplish some great things together. Thank you."
Her words hung momentarily in the empty air as Sam made a concerted effort not to let out a sigh of relief. Speeches were not her forte, no matter how many times she had to give them. She'd felt pretty good about this one, though, despite the lack of reaction from her audience. It was her first day, after all. Pretty par for the course.
"Dismissed!"
The Major's command was so sharp, Sam, who was standing next to her, nearly jumped. Everyone else seemed unfazed, however, and with a sort of loose precision, the SG teams turned and began filing out of the gateroom. Sam watched them leave, trying not to notice the sidelong glances some of them were giving her. They looked so young. Kids, really. Had she really been their age when she'd first stepped off the elevator onto Level 28 and stared breathlessly at the Stargate for the first time? She hadn't thought so then, but looking back now—was it really twenty years?—she had probably seemed as green to General Hammond as these kids seemed to her.
"Will there be anything else, General?"
Her rather gung-ho and newly assigned aide, Major Conklin, stood rigidly in front of her. Right. First thing at the top of her list: make it clear that while she appreciated a clear chain of command and a well-run base, she was anything but a spit-and-polish CO. Standing at attention had its place, but she hoped this was the last time she'd see her people feel the need to do that in her presence. She'd managed to achieve just the right balance of familiarity and formality in Atlantis and on the Hammond. No one, she liked to think, had ever been hesitant to approach her, from her XO to the noncom in the mess. Hopefully, with time, she'd bring that same sort of balance back to the SGC. Eyeing Major Conklin's eyes-front, rod-for-a-spine posture, perhaps the sooner the better.
"Thank you, Major, but I'm good for now." When the woman didn't move she added, "You may return to your duties."
"Yes, Ma'am."
For a moment Sam thought Conklin was going to salute, but instead she swiveled on her heels and strode out the door behind the last airman.
Right. This might take more work than she'd thought.
"Nice speech."
She hadn't noticed him come in. He must have slipped through the door behind her while her attention was elsewhere. But he'd obviously been there the whole time. He grinned at her now, leaning casually against the wall, dressed in his most comfortable civilian clothes. She almost envied him.
Almost.
"Someone once told me to keep it short and sweet," she replied, walking over to him. "I learned from the best."
"Hammond was the best," Jack replied, all trace of joking gone. She nodded.
"He was. And so were you."
Jack shrugged off the compliment. "A CO is sometimes only as good as the people around him—or her." His eyes drifted over to the door where Conklin had just exited. "Speaking of which—"
Sam looked over her shoulder at the same spot and sighed. "Yeah. That's going to be a challenge." Getting the SGC back on track was going to be an even greater one. Since General Landry's retirement, a series of interim Commanding Officers had rotated through the base as the Pentagon struggled to redefine the program's purpose. Before his retirement from Homeworld Security, Jack himself had made an impassioned plea to return the program to its roots: scientific and cultural exploration, for the purpose of acquiring new technology and creating intergalactic goodwill. With the Lucian Alliance finally out of the picture, he'd argued (with a little help from Daniel), the thing Earth needed most was a little diplomacy and a whole bunch of that goodwill. Closing off the gate wasn't an option. Isolationism never worked on a global level; on an intergalactic one, it would be disastrous.
For once, the Pentagon had listened. They'd had only one condition.
It had been worth giving up the Hammond for.
"So—wanna get something to eat?" he asked, brightly, interrupting her ruminations.
"Jack—it's only 9 am. We just had breakfast three hours ago."
"Hey—you might call that kale and yogurt thing food, but I prefer to eat my breakfast with a knife and fork—not slurp it through a straw."
Sam tried not to roll her eyes. He was hopeless. Completely hopeless.
"You know I have work to do. And our meeting with the IOA isn't until eleven." She couldn't imagine what could possibly keep him occupied for the next two hours, unless he intended to just hang out in her office. Not that she'd mind—well, actually, yes, she would.
He cleared his throat. "Well, now that you mention it—"
Her eyes narrowed. He was, she realized, looking a little like the cat who'd swallowed the canary.
There was a familiar clang of a locking chevron as the Stargate came to life. One by one the symbols lit up. As far as she knew, there were no teams off-world. She glanced with concern at Jack, but he didn't seem a bit surprised by the sudden activation of the gate. Now she really was suspicious.
The wormhole burst to life, bathing the room with its familiar blue, rippling light. It had been a long time since she'd see that happen. The same old thrill of excitement ran through her, almost as intense as the first time she'd stood at the event horizon, waiting to go through to Abydos.
But this was an incoming wormhole, from who knew where. She looked up at the control room and signaled for them to close the iris.
As the titanium spiraled toward the center, she looked at Jack again. "You know who it is, don't you?"
He merely smiled and shrugged.
What was he up to?
Over the intercom, the tech in the control room announced: "We have an incoming signal, General Carter. It's Teal'c."
Jack's smug look told her everything. She wondered how long he'd been planning this.
"Open the iris," she commed back to the tech. With the scissoring sound she still sometimes heard in her dreams, the iris vanished and a moment later, Teal'c was standing on the ramp, gazing around the room until he spotted her and Jack off to the side.
"You planned this?" she said to Jack as they went to meet Teal'c. He shrugged again.
"He was just in the neighborhood—weren't you, T?"
Teal'c hugged Sam. It had been months since she'd seen him—could it possibly even have been a year? Time seemed to fly by so quickly the older she got. Her dad used to tell her the same thing, but she hadn't really understood, until now.
Teal'c was mostly unchanged. A little thicker. A little grayer—but then weren't they all?
"It is good to see you, General Carter." His voice was warm, matching the smile that she saw in his eyes. "You are to be congratulated on assuming command of the SGC. I can think of no one more suited to take up the mantel of leadership of this place than you." He closed his eyes and bowed slightly.
"Thanks, Teal'c." She didn't dare look at Jack now. She'd wanted a less formal atmosphere around the base, to be sure, but it probably wasn't a good idea to let her command see her tearing up on her first day, even if they were tears of happiness.
Teal'c clasped Jack by the arm. "O'Neill, my friend. It is good to see you again as well." He sized Jack up. "Retirement appears to be agreeable to you."
"Yes. Well, I certainly can't complain—although I do my best to try." He winked at Sam.
"I hope you're able to stay for a while, Teal'c." As delighted as she was to see him, she really did have to get some work done. The revamped IOC was still as political as ever. Jack had the luxury of being able to fly by the seat of his pants with them. She did not. She needed to be prepared as much as possible for that eleven o'clock meeting. "We're just getting settled in the new house, but we have a couple of guestrooms—we'd love to have you stay."
"Actually—" Jack was looking mischievous again. "We only have one spare room at the moment—but it has your name on it, Teal'c—well, not literally, of course."
"Jack, what are you-?" But before she could finish, behind her, the door to the gateroom slid open. Jack looked past her and grinned again. She almost knew before she even turned around.
"Sorry I'm late—they held me up at the security desk. Did you know they let twelve-year-olds be airmen, these days?"
Daniel.
"Hey, Sam!" He was clipping his VIP security badge to his jacket pocket. "Teal'c!" He beamed at both of them.
"What am I? Chopped liver?" Jack asked, archly.
"What? I just saw you an hour ago when you let me into your house."
That explained the second guestroom. Either she was going to kill Jack for doing this or find some way to let him know how much it meant to her. Quite possibly both.
Sam went to hug Daniel. It hadn't been quite as long as Teal'c, but it had still been a while. It was only just hitting her how much she missed these guys in her daily life.
"I can't believe you both came." She nailed Jack with a look. "Or that you were able to keep it a secret."
"Hey—I had top security clearance at the Pentagon. They don't just hand those out to anybody you know," he replied with feigned defensiveness.
"We couldn't miss your first day back at the SGC." Daniel beamed. "Your first day in charge of the SGC," he amended. "It was Teal'c's idea, actually."
Teal'c seemed surprised by this.
"It was not!" Jack protested. "No offense, Big Guy."
Oh yes. She definitely missed this.
"It seemed an appropriate time to celebrate," Teal'c said. "Undomesticated equines could not have kept me away."
Okay. This was just not fair. So much for maintaining her composure. The gateroom was swimming as she reached out and grasped both Teal'c and Daniel by the hand.
"I don't know what to say, guys. Really."
"I do—let's eat!"
Leave it to Jack to break the moment. She was fairly sure he'd done it on purpose. She'd been dangerously close to losing it.
"I wish I could, guys, but—"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. You've got a base to run. I was talking to these guys, anyway." He rubbed his hands together. "So—bet you've both been missing some good old mess hall food, haven't you?"
Teal'c's face lost its smile, and Daniel grimaced.
"Yeah, thought so!" Jack replied, enthusiastically. "Come on. My treat."
"Jack—don't forget the IOA at eleven o'clock." Sam called as he started toward the other door.
"How can I?" he replied. "You put it on my damn phone."
"I'm sorry, but why are you going to a meeting with the IOA?" Daniel asked.
"I'm a consultant now!" Jack shoved his hands in his pocket and grinned broadly.
"You. A consultant."
Jack nodded. "Yup. That means I get to come in when there's really cool stuff going on and give them my two-cents worth, without having to be the one who worries about what happens after that."
"That would be my job." Sam pointed out.
Jack looked at her from across the room. They'd talked about this so many times after she'd been offered the position. They'd talked about where the SGC needed to go, how best to take it there, where its efforts needed to be directed, and how to deal with the various forces that still saw the Stargate program as a pawn in a larger game. But they'd never gotten around to talking about what it meant to accept the responsibility for not only the lives of the men and women in her command, but for the decisions that could potentially ripple throughout the galaxy—and beyond. Jack knew what that was like better than anyone. Now it was her turn to carry that burden.
"Yes. Yes it would," he said, all light-heartedness gone. His eyes held hers. In them, she saw his unwavering faith in her. But something else as well—sympathy. "And it's a job we should probably leave you to do."
Sam watched them leave, trying to ignore the slight pang of regret over not being able to join them. Surveying the gateroom one more time, her eyes rested on the great windows of the conference room, two levels up. That was her place now. Of course, her team would always be her team, ready to support her at a moment's notice. But for all their good intentions, only one person could sit at that desk. Good people had sat there in the past.
She would do her best not to let them down.
ooo