Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, or anything other than my character, etc.
Chapter One: Transfer
A young woman hurried to the door of her New York apartment. She opened it only after undoing the locks.
"Yes?" she asked, opening her door to the hallway.
"Hey, Birdie," a grey-haired man in an Air Force officer uniform said. A younger man with dark brown hair and glasses stood beside him.
"Jack! Daniel! What brings you to New York, especially so early in the morning?" she asked, pulling a golden pocket watch from her pocket and checking the time. She quickly returned it to her pocket before rearranging her white, cotton robe closer around herself for warmth. With the adjustments, it just managed to cover up her sapphire necklace.
"Recruiting," Jack said.
"Ah. Well, come in," she said. The first was said with sympathy. She knew well enough that he detested recruiting.
Avery opened the door farther and ushered them into her apartment. As she shut the door, she heard a whistle. "Quite the nice place you've got here, Puffin, especially for Manhattan," Daniel said, looking around her apartment.
The first floor was twice the size of an average apartment. On one side, there was spacious kitchen with modern appliances. A cup of coffee sat on the counter beside a thick volume labelled La Traviata. On the far end of the counter laid a curious, dark brown pile of what appeared to be hair, most likely a wig. A large open space with wood flooring was stretched out before them. The far wall was completely covered with mirrors the length of the open area. Off to their left, there was a sofa, a love seat, a chair, and a large TV mounted on the wall with a wooden console underneath. Between the open area and the kitchen, there was a metal, spiral staircase leading up to a loft above. All of this was lit only dimly.
"Come sit down," she said, stepping in front of them to lead them toward the sitting area..
"Sign this," Jack said, holding out a document on a clipboard as he spoke once they were all seated.
"Non-disclosure?" she asked.
"Yep," Jack answered.
"Alright," she said, taking the clipboard from him. "I'll be back in a second," she said, hurrying over to the staircase and thence up the stairs.
Not much later, Avery came back into the room with the signed document in hand. She gave it back to Jack before turning to Daniel. "What's the project?" she asked.
"Atlantis," Daniel said, sounding envious.
"How long?"
"Assignment based," Daniel said quickly.
"SGC for tests before?"
"Yep."
"Do I get to pack?"
"After the tests."
"Then when do we leave?"
"Now-ish."
"Pack a bag. We'll beam you up as soon as you're ready," Daniel said, leaning back into the sofa.
"Alright. I'll be ready soon. You had best be glad Sam told me to decline the lead for the next opera," she said, smiling as she walked over to the spiral staircase, her small, pale feet padding softly on the wood floor. She hurried upstairs and packed.
"Think her vision's gotten any better?" Jack asked.
Daniel glanced around the dark room. "Nope."
Fifteen minutes later, Avery hurried back down the stairs, completely changed. Now, she wore a casual grey dress that hugged her rib cage before splaying out in elegant draping over her hips. Black leggings peeked out from under the dress as she walked; she wore a black cardigan with one button underneath her bust. The same sapphire necklace was displayed prominently on her breastbone. In her hand, she held a purple leather jacket with an asymmetrical zipper and a pair of grey and black oxfords. On her back, she wore a normal-sized backpack, partially unzipped. Inside the backpack, they could see a laptop, small rolls of clothes she was taking, and a few toiletries.
It was only now that they could tell how very Italian she looked. She had long, wavy, white hair that fell well past her shoulders. Very light red, almost pink, eyes gazed out from a face with delicate, refined features and smooth, almost white skin. Her nose was very small, yet it was not a button nose. It suited her face well. She was short, under five feet tall, and slender, about ninety pounds. She did not look particularly muscular, but opera singers do not need to be muscular.
Avery spoke, sounding intelligent. More than that, they could tell that she was highly educated, even though neither was in doubt of that fact.
She set her backpack down on her kitchen counter and zipped it up before turning to them. "Let me just finish my coffee," she said, holding up a hand when the two men stood. Daniel chuckled, knowing how attached she was to caffeine. To their immense surprise, she downed her coffee in one gulp before setting the mug beside her sink.
Then, she slipped on her heels and slipped her backpack on her back. She picked up the jacket before turning to them. "Alright," she said.
Jack pulled out his phone and called, presumably, the ship. Seconds later, they were beamed right up. "Welcome aboard the Odyssey," he said.
"Lovely. Can we gate there, yet, or must we make the shlep?" she asked.
"Get settled in. We've got a long way to go," Daniel said.
"Are you coming?" Avery asked, turning to Jack.
"Nope, only SG-1," Jack said.
"And you wish you were going," Avery finished.
"And sit on this for the next multiple weeks? No, I'll leave that joy to you," he said.
Avery smiled in understanding before throwing her arms around him. "It's nice to see you again, Jack."
"You, too, Lucky Bird," Jack said before he beamed back down to Earth.
LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK- LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK-LUCK
"Sir?" the psychologist asked, knocking on the door.
"Yeah, what is it?" Jack asked, looking up from his paperwork.
"It's about Dr Avery Sewell, the new recruit for Atlantis, Sir," he said nervously.
"Come in, and shut the door," Jack said, sitting back in his chair.
Once the man was seated in front of Jack, he said, "General, are you aware that she is taking Haloperidol to control schizophrenia?"
"Yeah. So?"
"General, she failed the psych test. She can't be a member of the Atlantis Expedition," he said bluntly.
"Yes, she can," Jack said tensely.
"Sir, she has to be cleared by a psychologist in order to go off-world, as I'm sure you know-"
"And I'm sure you know I've worked with her before off-world. She functions. She just needs to take her medication, and she's fine," Jack said, obviously annoyed.
"Sir, she is not fine. She has insomnia and headaches because of this medication," the psychologist insisted.
"She had them before," he said simply, shrugging.
"General-"
"Nelson, you will clear her. She can handle it," Jack said, grabbing the form and slapping it down on his desk.
"Sir, it's unethical!"
"I am telling you to do this, Nelson! I wouldn't be asking you to do this unless I trusted her!" Jack yelled.
Nelson sat silently for several seconds before sighing. "This is why I don't like working for the military," the psychologist muttered.
"Yeah, well I don't like shrinks," Jack threw back.
Nelson sighed and said, "I give up. Fine. I'll let her go, but there had better be a licensed psychiatrist at this new base." As he spoke, he reluctantly signed the form and handed it over to the brigadier general.
"Thank you!" Jack said forcefully before shooing the shrink out of his office.
Quickly, he grabbed the phone from his desk and dialled Avery. "Birdie?"
"Jack?"
"Good news," he began, "Nelson signed off."
"You got Nelson to sign off on me? He was the most vehemently against me working in this programme to begin with!" Lucrezia exclaimed in absolute shock.
"Yeah, I convinced him of your—wha' did ol' Danny Boy call it?—expertise," Jack said mockingly.
"What did you do—threaten to fire him?"
"Nah. That was only if I couldn't convince him," Jack joked.
"Well, then...I guess I'm going to Atlantis," Avery said, a smile obvious in her voice.
"When are you going to tell Daniel?"
"Oh! He is going to be so jealous!"
"Yep," Jack said, popping the p.
"Thank you, Jack," Avery said.
"Yer welcome, Lucky. Get packing," Jack said before hanging up and settling back in his plush office chair, a smile on his face.