I do not own Stargate Universe
"_" Radio talk
Chapter 3 – Arguments
Claire stood at the interface after Scott, Greer and Eli had left
Leaving her and Rush alone
He leaned back against the frame of door watching her, his eyes glaring into her back. Claire felt his gaze but chose to keep working but the little hairs on the back of her head decided to stand on end
After a few minutes of this, he spoke in a flat emotionless voice
"Bet you thought that was funny, didn't you? Making me look like an idiot" Claire stopped typing away at the display in front of her
"I'm not trying to insult any one. I'm trying to save lives" she said back in a guarded tone tilting her head slightly so she could see him out the corner of her eye "I saw the reason why we are in trouble and told someone, what the problem?" she asked him
He stood up and walked over to her and she turned around to face him, less than a foot apart, their eyes level and trying to out stare each other
"The problem is that I am head scientist around here and you went over my head, you report to me" Rush told her angrily
"You failed to notice the problem at all and if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have even be here" Claire said back in the same angry tone
Rush refused to back down "It was our only chance to dial the ninth chevron"
And so did Claire "You mean your chance. Your life's work accomplished and now we all have to pay the price. There is no way this ship can store enough energy to dial Earth, we are all stuck out here" she shot back, revealing information she had found while trying to discover the ship's manifest
"We don't know where here is yet" Rush countered but Claire activated a holographic screen
"What do you think this is then?" Claire said back "A star map of the ship's journey from beginning to present" the path of the ship beginning from the Milky Way through many different galaxies till it reached where ever it was now "Do you want to take a guess at how far from home we are?" she asked sarcastically knowing as well as he did the answer
"Several billion light years from from home" he said suddenly solemn and humbled but Claire's rage continued
"That's right so unless we find a power source of Icarus scale we are never going home" she said sternly "You've trapped 80 people including yourself on the outskirts of the universe"
Soon the two scientists were joined again by Scott, Eli and Greer and now included Dr Lisa Park and Dr Brody who were all shown the star map and all soon glaring murderously at Rush as they tried to gain access to the ship's systems but soon found themselves locked out of most of the ship's database by security code locks which they couldn't bypass
Scott and Greer left to manage to a ship search while the rest of them stayed to try and fix the life support problem. Lisa Park and Claire were working at the same console while Brody and Eli were working another and Rush had sneaked off somewhere
Claire was peering into one of the data files she had unlocked and she suddenly said out loud drawing the attention of the others
"I found something" and Lisa peered over her shoulder to see what it was
"What is it?" Brody asked hoping that she had some good news but was ambivalent after he heard what she had to say
"There are hull breaches all over the ship, most are sealed by bulkhead doors but some aren't. If we seal the breaches that aren't we can extend our time frame to a extra day" Claire told them
"The only breach in this area that isn't sealed is in what looks like a shuttle not to far from here" Lisa said reading the display after Claire moved to let her get a better look
Just then Rush made an appearance asking like he was someone in authority "Any progress?"
"Yes we discovered that there are hull breaches which aren't sealed that are bleeding air, if we seal those breaches then we might get an extra day" Lisa reported after looking to Claire who nodded
Rush and Brody looked miffed that she had looked to Claire first before reporting but Rush carried on "How long have we got to seal the breaches?"
Eli decided to answer that question "At current levels of breathable air about six to eight hours"
They all looked anxious at that piece of information but Rush asked "OK does anyone have any good news?"
Claire then spoke to answer that "There is only one hull breach in this section to close off, the rest are sealed by bulkhead doors" and Eli said
"I managed to access the menu system and Claire helped me find a schematic of the ship's layout" he told Rush after looking appreciatively at Claire who smiled back
Rush looked even more annoyed at how Claire seemed to be challenging his 'authority' as head scientist but let it slide and started to walk out of the room after saying "Keep at it, anything might help"
Eli then noticed a rucksack in Rush's hand "I don't suppose you have any food in that do you I' am starving?" he asked the older man who didn't blink before saying
"No keep at it" and he turned around to leave again when Eli asked
"Well, where are you going?"
Rush answered without missing a beat "To find a bathroom" to which Eli answered
"Yeah. That would be good too" as the four of them went back to work and Rush vacated the room but as soon as he was out of ear shot, Eli said
"He looked miffed about something" and Brody said
"Given the situation, we're all probably acting a little out of character Eli, best focus on the job at hand"
But only a few moments later they were interrupted again when the radio Rush had left sounded with "Rush this is Scott come in?"
No-one immediately went to pick it up so Eli decided to do it "Hello. This is Eli"
Scott's voice asked "Where's Rush?"
Eli told him "Bathroom, if he found it"
But in the background Claire snorted "Yeah right" she said sarcastically
"What do you mean?" Brody asked
"An Ancient spaceship full of mysteries as Rush's first move is to find the toilet" she said disbelievingly and Lisa hummed in agreement. But Scott's voice brought them back to topic
"Well I'm at what looks like a bulkhead door. It won't open. I was hoping Rush could open it from there"
A bit unsure of what to do Eli asked "Should I find him?"
There was a moment of silence before Scott's voice said "No"
After a few moments the console at the center of the room started making noises that sounded like alarms, Eli moved to the console but alerted by the alarms Claire also moved from where she was working to the center column
She took one look at it and grabbed the radio from Eli's surprised hand "Stop what your doing" she said into the radio
"Why?" Scott said
"The bulkhead's sealed because of a hull breach on the other side, if you open that door you'll be sucked out into space" Claire told him and Eli looked horrified at the thought
"Roger that. Thanks" Scott said a little nervous at the near miss
"Lots of sections are sealed for the same reason, were only occupying a fraction of the ship right now, it just goes on forever" Eli told them looking at the schematic of the ship, taking the radio from Claire so he could speak
Then Rush came back
Eli went to try and speak to him "Oh,, hey, good timing. We just found" but was interrupted when Rush snatched the radio out of his hand Eli saying annoyed "Hey...Really?"
Without even looking up Rush said into the radio "This is Doctor Rush. Meet me in the Gate Room immediately" before looking up to the people in the room with him and adding "everyone" and walking out again
With a sigh they all stopped what they were doing and headed for the Gate Room
People were muttering when they arrived trying to figure what was so important
Scott, Vanessa and Riley came in last and Scott asked "What's going on?"
Rush held up a case "In this case are five Ancient communication stones. They work over vast differences in real time"
But before Rush could continue he was interrupted by Senator Armstrong "So we can talk to people on Earth" and Rush with an annoyed sigh at being interrupted said
"Yes"
Everyone looked relieved that they could contact Earth and Rush continued with his description of how they worked "You physically take control of an individual at the other end" he paused for everyone to absorb the information before continuing "I brought these with us in the event we ended up somewhere out of range of normal communication"
Senator Armstrong said "So let's use them"
There was a murmuring of agreement in the background before Rush admitted "I already have"
The murmurings were quickly asking "What?" and "When?"
Brody broke through it by asking "Are they sending help?" and Rush answered
"No"
The crowd before Rush now sounded almost betrayed when they started asking why and Rush continued with his speech
"The only means of dialing this gate from our galaxy was destroyed in the attack. We're cut off"
The crowd started to feel both fear and depression when that news sunk in and Senator Armstrong once again made himself heard "I want to use one of those stones now" he demanded but Rush said over him
"I have spoken with General O'Neill..." before he was interrupted by the Senator again
"I am a United States senator!"
"I've explained our situation clearly" Rush said taking control of the conversation again "In light of my knowledge and experience, he has placed me in charge" he stated
The murmuring again started this time sounded like an angry bees hive and Claire shouted out in anger
"That's bull shit" drawing attention to herself and shouting the mumbling
"Bull Shit?" Rush said before Claire explained
"Emergency protocols were made for situations like this, when Earth groups find themselves out of range of Earth and potentially beyond any help. They state that until reviewed later at a more stable time the highest ranking able bodied military officer is in charge. I know General O'Neill and he would never put someone like you in charge, especially when that person has no command experience or training, he wrote half the protocols himself with Richard Wolsey sitting next to him" she paused to let that sink in before continuing "So for the moment the protocols recognize Lieutenant Scott's authority till Colonel Young recovers"
The looks at Rush now were accusing and Claire went up and took the stone case from him "I'll use the stones to go to Earth and get this straightened out" looking at Scott for permission
He nodded and she went up the stairs letting Scott take charge and Rush fuming that his moment had been taken from him
At the stone station a young woman doctor was sitting at the station accompanied by an older man
Suddenly the woman's eyes glazed over and she blinked
Claire settled into the body she temporally inhabited and looked at the screen, seeing a face that was not her own staring back at her
"And you are?" said a soldier standing at the door
The voice that came out of her mouth was not her own and Claire found it quite disconcerting "Claire Williams, I need to speak to General O'Neill"
The soldier nodded and walked out to attract the attention of said General who quickly appeared
"Claire are you ok?" he asked concerned "Tell me the situation since I doubt Rush gave me anything solid" he told her
"For the moment fine but the life support situation is continuing to escalate, we have six to eight hours before we suffocate and Rush is going power mad. You didn't really put him in charge did you?" she asked hopefully
"God no! I told him that Lieutenant Scott was in charge till Young recovers, although he omitted any mention of Scott at all when he explained the situation" O'Neill told her "Guess he didn't know I actually knew what officers were stationed on Icarus"
"Good, he doesn't seem to focus on the problem and although we might be able to find what we need we doesn't tell us anything" Claire told him
"Be careful Claire, Rush is a slippery one and I do not want to have tell Sam if something happens to you" O'Neill warned her
"I wish she was here with us, she'd have this solved in a snap, I haven't a clue what I'm doing" she admitted to him
"Just do your best, keep a clear head. You'll do fine" O'Neill assured her putting a comforting hand on her borrowed shoulder
Thank you those who have read and an extra thank you to those who have reviewed
This is not a 'how many times can I dis Rush in a chapter', in this story there is someone who can challenge him and for the purpose of the story in the beginning at least Rush has to take some heat
The last part of 'Air' after this so we'll see how things go this time