Title: A Little Cheer
Author: stella_pegasi
Rating: T (violence, implied torture, some minor language, minor suggestive adult themes)
Spoilers: Major spoiler for "Irresponsible", mention of events in "Inquisition", leap of cannon that the Wraith accepted the gene therapy and it worked.
Summary: The holiday spirit has infused everyone on Atlantis with one exception, Richard Woolsey. An important discovery on the planet of a potential ally interrupts their holiday cheer and puts several of Atlantis's key personnel in danger and Richard Woolsey in the unique position of keeping one of them alive.
John S. / Richard W. / Rodney M / Teyla E. / Ronon D / Evan L / Carson B / assorted Atlantis personnel / original characters. Rated T (The story includes some whump, some fatal whump, and some adult themed insinuations along with some fairly minor language. Nothing too drastic, except for the fatal whump.)
Disclaimer: I do not own them; I would have treated them better.
Notes: I had really hoped to be posting this on Christmas Eve as a thanks to all of the authors and the readers of the Stargate Atlantis stories on . I have enjoyed and been inspired by the excellent stories that all of you have posted. However, life and the holidays and broadband issues got in the way; so here is the beginning of the story on New Year's Eve. I am only a week late. The story is complete but the last couple of chapters have not been proofed…or proofed as well as I can (forgive any errors that I miss). There are nine chapters so I am posting three today and will have the other six up by Saturday morning. Hopefully. Thank you again to all the authors for writing such great stories about our favorite show and to the readers who make it so much fun; I appreciate you all and wish all of you a wonderful 2010.
A Little Cheer
Chapter One A Little Discord
Gate Room
"Could you hold ladder steady? I'm going to fall off."
"Are you sure the event horizon won't vaporize that thing as soon as the gate activates?"
"No, major, it will not. The event horizon is contained within the inner rim of gate; I have made certain this is clearing area."
From his office, Richard Woolsey could hear all the commotion and decided that he needed to see exactly what was going on.
"Major, please hold ladder steady…I must get this secure."
Woolsey had been the director of the Atlantis expedition for nearly eighteen months and the men and women of Atlantis never ceased to amaze him. Only a few days before, a mission had gone awry when unknown aliens had captured several of their people; they were fortunate that they had not lost anyone. Yet, after all that, here was Dr. Radek Zelenka and Major Evan Lorne putting a large Christmas wreath on the top of the stargate.
"Sorry, doc, this is not the best ladder; it's kind of wobbly and you're pretty far up there."
"Yes, I know, major. I am afraid of heights, believe me, I know how high I am."
Woolsey walked over to Sergeant Chuck Campbell, the chief gate technician, and asked a very serious question.
"Sergeant, what will happen to them if the gate activates?" He looked at Chuck with a very worried look on his face.
Chuck resisted a smile and pointed to a crystal lying in a foam padded box on the DHD console. "Don't worry, sir. Dr. Zelenka took the control crystal out temporarily so that wouldn't happen."
"But what happens if a team needs to dial in?"
"Sir, there are no teams out, they've all returned. Major Lorne made sure of that before he would help Doctor Z."
"Oh, well, that's good." Woolsey thought it might be best just to retreat to his office and not ask anymore questions that made him look silly, no, uninformed; well, neither was a good choice.
"Thank you, Chuck."
Returning to his office, he wished he had never allowed the decorations in the first place.
Mess Hall
Woolsey entered the mess hall in mid-afternoon for a late lunch and found his second in command, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, directing several Marines in the placement of a huge fir-like tree in the dining area. His mood darkened even more as he realized that there were several people simply standing around watching.
"Colonel, where did this tree come from?" The tree was a deep dark green with medium length needles and was well-shaped, the branches were thick and full and at almost fifteen feet tall, the tree nearly reached the high ceiling of the dining area. Woolsey had to admit to himself that the aroma from the fragrant tree was quite pleasing.
"Hey, Mr. Woolsey, the tree's a beauty, isn't it? Teyla, Ronon, and I went over to the mainland this morning to pick it up. Teyla gave Halling a description of what we were looking for and he found this tree. The Athosians helped us cut it down, tie it up, and transport it to the jumper. We didn't have a lot of room on the way back but the jumper smelled great." Sheppard was grinning like a kid.
The colonel was certainly enjoying himself, Woolsey thought. "Colonel, I didn't expect that the decorations would be so extensive. Is all this necessary?"
Sheppard seemed a bit surprised, "Take a look, see those Marines," pointing to the group that was securing the tree to the mess hall wall for safety. "Most of them have families that they have been away from for many months, some even years. We have military personnel and scientists that have been on Atlantis since we first arrived who think of this as home now. Yeah, they need this."
One of the Marines called out to the colonel, checking to see if the tree was straight. The colonel walked away and Woolsey found himself wondering about John Sheppard. While Woolsey was a very private man himself, the colonel was an enigma to him. Sheppard was gregarious, charming, with a wry sense of humor that belied the intensely private man that Sheppard truly was. The colonel wouldn't discuss his own family or his own feelings but he was very aware of the needs of the men and women of Atlantis and made every effort to take care of them. Looking around the room at all the decorations and all the people enjoying watching the tree put up, Woolsey thought perhaps the colonel was a bit too concerned about the happiness of the Atlantis expedition.
Deciding that the frivolity of the mess hall was a bit overwhelming, Woolsey grabbed his lunch and returned to his office.
Office
The next few days passed quickly for Atlantis; Woolsey had requested that all science departments begin working on their year-end reports for the IOA. The problem was most of the scientists were caught up in the holiday spirit and had no motivation to work on trivial things like year-end reports. He had never realized that studious scientists that always took things so seriously could party as the ones on Atlantis could. Perhaps the fact that they worked so hard and under such pressure gave rise to the mischievous fun that the scientists seemed to engage in more often than he liked. Even Dr. Rodney McKay, head of the science division, was balking at doing his reports but his excuse was that he was too engrossed in research on a new piece of Ancient tech. Woolsey didn't buy that for a second; on his daily rounds of the science department, he had found McKay actually wrapping a present.
Richard Woolsey was nothing if he was not organized and by the book. He was exasperated at the lack of productivity, the impromptu carol singing, and the popcorn and paper-ring garlands hanging from almost everything; there were candy canes, ribbons, menorahs, and dreidels everywhere. Not to mention that he had walked into the gate room and found the Marines on duty eating cookies laden with icing and 'sprinklely' things that someone brought them. Woolsey had reached the limit of his tolerance and summoned Sheppard and McKay to his office.
Both men knew that Woolsey was not happy about the holiday spirit that permeated Atlantis; the gloomy look on his face as he wandered the halls was a pretty good indicator. They had decided, prior to walking into the director's office, to act like they didn't have a clue what he wanted to see them about.
As Sheppard and McKay entered, Dr. Miko Kusanagi slipped past them and headed straight to Woolsey; she was wearing an elf's hat and carrying a basket full of large snowman cookies. She handed a cookie to Woosley, and then gave one to the colonel and to McKay.
"Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!" Miko smiled broadly as she left to spread cheer to the control room techs.
McKay was eating his cookie with a contented look on his face and Sheppard was tempted but he could tell Woolsey seemed quite displeased. The colonel decided it would be wiser to not appear to be feeling the holiday spirit; he would eat his cookie later.
"This is exactly what I asked the two of you here for, this has to stop." Woolsey was holding the cookie in his right hand, gesturing at the two men. "What is Dr. Kusanagi doing running around here in that silly hat handing out cookies when she should be attending to her duties in her lab? This is getting out of hand; with this holiday nearly two weeks away, I am putting a stop to all of these holiday festivities until Christmas Eve and Christmas Day."
McKay had a mouthful of cookie but he spoke up, a few crumbs falling on the floor, "Mr. Woolsey, Miko worked for three days straight on a project that Radek assigned to her; she slept on a cot in her lab. Radek requested that she have a day off to rest after she had worked so hard and I agreed. Miko is on her own time today and has the right to do as she pleases."
Woolsey just shook his head as if that wasn't an acceptable explanation. "I have made my decision and it is not open to discussion."
Sheppard felt that it might be prudent to not argue with Woolsey on his decision until he could figure out what was really going on. "Mr. Woolsey, I will let the military personnel know and Rodney will let the scientists know that they are to confine their celebration to those two days." He paused, "There are some people who will be celebrating other holidays such as Hanukkah and I believe there are two Islamic holidays during the month; I hope you will allow them to have their observances."
Rodney was giving him a 'what the hell are you doing' look and Sheppard slipped his hand below Woolsey's desk and made a side to side gesture to let McKay know to be quiet.
Woolsey paused for a moment somewhat stunned at how this conversation was going; he had expected a fight from Sheppard about his decision and did not get one. The colonel continued to surprise him. "Yes, of course, colonel; those who wish to celebrate their religious holidays should feel free to go ahead at the proper time."
Rising from his chair, Sheppard thanked Woolsey and turned to Dr. McKay, "Come on Rodney, we have a bit of work to do."
As soon as they were in the corridor and out of earshot of Woolsey, Rodney could no longer contain his anger, "Sheppard, what the hell are you thinking? Woolsey's acting like Scrooge and you are letting him do so without even a dissenting word?" Rodney grabbed Sheppard's arm to get the colonel to stop walking. "You know that a whole lot of people are going to be really pissed off. How can you let him do this without a fight?"
"Calm down, Rodney; I'm not happy about this either but I think there is more going on than Woolsey's willing to admit. Remember, he went back to Earth due to some kind of personal emergency during December last year and didn't come back until February when the Daedalus returned. He hasn't been here for a big holiday; hell, it took a lot of convincing to get him to approve the Halloween party."
Sheppard resumed walking and Rodney fell in beside him, "Do you know why he went back to Earth last year?"
"No, I don't believe he ever told anyone why he returned to Earth; maybe his bah humbug attitude now has something to do with what happened back there. I think we need to find out what's really going on with him. Meanwhile, let's just tell everyone to not be so obvious about having fun when Woolsey is around and for goodness sakes, don't let him know about the Secret Santa thing."
The residents of Atlantis found a way to have their eggnog, cookies, and holiday music without Woolsey finding out. They set up lookouts and used a private channel on the COM system that Chuck set up for them to let everyone know the director's whereabouts. There had been some close calls but so far, they were still able to have some holiday cheer.
Control Room
Off-world missions continued regardless of the time of year and six days before Christmas, Lieutenant Isaacs radioed in from P3X- 971, whose government had petitioned to join the Pegasus Coalition. His team, along with three scientists had gone to do a preliminary survey on the planet's natural resources, part of the approval process for admittance. The lieutenant asked to speak to Colonel Sheppard and Mr. Woolsey.
Sheppard entered the control room as Mr. Woolsey addressed Isaacs. "Lieutenant, this is Woolsey, Colonel Sheppard has joined me. Why did you need to speak to us?"
"Mr. Woolsey, colonel, the governor has requested that the two of you gate to the planet and meet with their assembly. They informed me they are insulted that Atlantis sent lower echelon representatives to initiate the discussion of their petition. I'm afraid they are insisting that you both come or they will withdraw their petition. Sirs, I believe that if they withdraw the petition, it would be unfortunate."
Sheppard interjected, "Why do you think that would be unfortunate, lieutenant?"
"Sir, the scientists found something that I think will be of great interest to the SGC. I think it would be better to let Dr. Kimura explain his discovery."
"Mr. Woolsey, Colonel Sheppard, it is Dr. Kimura; we found a mineral on Tegera that we were not expecting to find. We found a very large deposit of naquadah near the capital city; I believe there may be other deposits on the planet as well."
The soft, low voice of the Japanese geologist was hard to hear and Sheppard wasn't certain he had heard what he thought he heard, "Doctor, could you repeat that, did you say you found naquadah on that planet?"
"Yes, colonel, we found naquadah, large deposits of naquadah here."
Woolsey and the colonel exchanged glances and Woolsey said without hesitation, "Colonel, I believe that it appears we will be going off-world." He continued, "Gentlemen, let's review here. Lieutenant, let the Tegerans know that the colonel and I will grant their request and that we will send word as to when we will gate to the planet. I would like for your team and the scientists to return to Atlantis as soon as you have delivered that message, we will debrief as soon as you arrive."
"Understood sir, we are all here at the gate now along with a couple of Tegeran security guards. I'll have them relay the message and we should be on Atlantis in a matter of a few minutes. Isaacs out."
Sheppard tapped his COM, calling for his team and Major Lorne to join them in the conference room. He asked Sgt. Campbell to inform Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Keller of the meeting. The colonel then headed down the gate room stairs to meet the incoming team.
Conference Room
Mr. Woolsey pulled the returning scientists aside and spoke to them for a few minutes. Colonel Sheppard did the same with Lt. Isaacs's team before they all entered the conference room where the rest of the command leadership of Atlantis was waiting. Woolsey opened the briefing by asking Lt. Isaacs to bring them up to date on the situation on P3X- 971.
"Sirs, doctors, my team gated to P3X- 971 along with Dr. Kimura, Dr. Siris, and Dr. Rogers. Our mission objective was to make contact with the governor to deliver the initial response from the coalition to their petition and to begin the survey process that would lead to the final determination of their request to become coalition members. This first survey was to determine the natural resources of the planet which the inhabitants call Tegera as well as an initial look at their industrial capacity."
"While I stayed with Governor Lalrahn at the Assembly Hall which is in their capital city, Galaz, one member of my team and a Tegeran security guard accompanied each of the doctors as they began their surveys. I continued to go over the details of the survey requirements for admittance to the coalition with the assembly. About four hours later, Corporal Brenner radioed in that Dr. Kimura had made an important discovery. I ordered Cpl. Brenner to bring Dr. Kimura back to the Assembly Hall and asked the others to return as well."
Woolsey interrupted the lieutenant, "Lt. Isaacs, at what point did the governor asked for Colonel Sheppard and me to meet with them?"
The lieutenant turned to Mr. Woolsey, "Sir, as soon as Dr. Kimura made his report, the assembly asked us to step outside while they conferred. The Tegerans called us into the hall after approximately thirty minutes and at that time, Governor Lalrahn informed us that the assembly was unhappy. They claimed to be insulted that Atlantis sent lower level representatives to initiate the petition process instead of the leaders of Atlantis attending to their request. They were adamant that they would only continue talks with the two of you; otherwise they would withdraw their petition and the naquadah would not be available to the coalition."
Colonel Sheppard followed up, "Lieutenant, did the governor ask for Mr. Woolsey and me by name?"
"Yes, sir, they did." As Isaacs answered him, Sheppard noticed Teyla and Ronon exchange looks; he knew what they were thinking because he was thinking the same thing. Someone wanted Woolsey and him on that planet.
Dr. Kimura gave his report next and noted his surprise at the amount of naquadah ore found on the planet; naquadah was rare but quite often found in abundance when it was located. The estimated amount of the mineral on Tegera was certainly larger that the SGC had discovered previously. The other two scientists gave their reports on the ecological system of the planet and on industrial growth. The planet was one of the more advanced in the galaxy, with manufacturing, electricity, and motorized transportation. When the reports were completed, Woolsey dismissed the scientists and all of Isaac's team with the exception of the lieutenant, and then addressed Sheppard.
"Colonel Sheppard, thoughts?"
"I think it's fairly obvious that we need to meet with the Tegeran Assembly; finding such a large supply of naquadah is simply too important. We're going to have to deal with these people."
Woolsey nodded his head in response, "I agree, colonel; however, I want to inform the SGC before we gate to Tegera to begin discussions. This is an important discovery and Stargate Command will want a say in this. Dr. McKay, I imagine that the SGC will have questions that only you can answer regarding Dr. Kimura's discovery; please come with me."
As they left, Rodney instructed Zelenka to review the data and let him know if there were any anomalies. With that, Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Keller also exited the conference room leaving only Sheppard, his team, Lorne and Isaacs.
Sheppard started to speak, when Isaacs interrupted him. "Sir, I am sorry to interrupt but I have a concern that I wanted to discuss with you."
Sheppard knew that Isaacs was an experienced Marine and was in line for promotion to captain with in the next few months. The lieutenant was an intelligent and observant man; if he had a concern about the situation, Sheppard knew he needed to listen.
"Go ahead, lieutenant."
"Sir, when we first arrived and were escorted to the assembly hall, there were quite a few citizens there who had come to find out about the status of the petition. The governor made a point of mentioning how interested all of their citizens were in becoming coalition members. However, when we entered the hall after they discussed Dr. Kimura's find privately, I was surprised there were no citizens present. Most of the assembly members were still there but there were also five other men; men that we had not seen before, standing in an alcove near the front of the hall apparently attempting to hide from us. If they were intending to hide, they should have been more careful; from where we were standing both Cpl. Brenner and I could see them quite well."
"Also, sir, they were dressed differently from the Tegerans, who wear clothing made from really nice fabrics. These guys weren't exactly in uniform but they were all wearing clothing made from a rougher brown material. Their clothes gave the impression of uniforms but there were no insignias or decorations that we observed."
Teyla asked, "Lieutenant, neither you nor any of your team had seen these men outside of the assembly hall?
"No, ma'am, they were new faces to us but then we certainly didn't meet everyone there. For the most part, the Tegerans were very friendly; almost all of them greeted us as we passed, some offered us food and drink. But these guys didn't look friendly at all."
"Anything else, Isaacs?" The lieutenant nodded yes and Sheppard indicated for him to continue.
"Yes, sir, there was a real shift in the demeanor of Governor Lalrahn when those men were present. He seemed nervous and could barely look me in the eye. The others members of the assembly looked nervous as well. I don't know what happened but something seriously changed while we were waiting outside the assembly hall."
Sheppard looked at Ronon and Teyla whose faces reflected his concern, "Thanks, Isaacs; great intel, you did a good job. Go get checked out in the infirmary, make sure your team gets some food and rest, I want you to return with us."
"Yes, sir; thank you, sir." Isaacs left the conference room with a nod to the rest of Sheppard's team. As he left, they heard the familiar swoosh of the gate engaging; Woolsey apparently wasted little time contacting the SGC.
Ronon, who had been sprawled in his chair during the meeting straightened up, leaning his elbows on the table, "Sheppard, this sounds like a set-up."
"I agree, colonel. Lt. Isaacs is very perceptive; I believe what he said," Teyla looked pensive.
Sheppard nodded in agreement, "Isaacs is smart and has excellent observation skills and that's what concerns me, his instincts are good and I'm afraid he's right. Something's definitely going there and we may well be walking right into the middle of it. But there is no doubt that once the SGC and the IOA hear that there is a large deposit of naquadah on Tegera, we'll be going no matter the risk." The colonel rose, "I'm going to eavesdrop on Woolsey to see what the SGC thinks about all of this. I'll let you know."