In the blink of an eye six months had gone by. During that time, a new enemy called the Ori had been discovered, an ally named Vala had been lost, and Jess had begun to feel a part of something important again. She knew a lot of that came from the friendships she'd developed, both on her ship and beyond.
Jess' squadron had fully accepted her. They tended to treat her like a kid sister, which she kind of liked. She was by far the biggest risk taker out of the group and the others respected her ability to pull it off.
Sam was as good as her word. Jess was thankful to have a female friend within the larger operation that she could talk to. Working for a top secret military program had its unique stressors and Sam was a great sounding board. Not to mention spectacular at pool. During a weekend long leave from Prometheus, Sam and Jess had met up at O'Malley's for a girl's night out.
Jess found Daniel to be another trustworthy friend. They had more in common then Daniel would have first expected. It turned out that Jess was fluent in three Middle Eastern dialects and had extensively studied several cultures in the region. It was one of the few personal things Jess had divulged about herself.
Jess quickly learned that to know one member of SG1 was to know them all. The four member team was tightly knit. She liked Teal'c immediately. His stoicism reminded her of her uncle. Most of all she respected his commitment to freeing and uniting his people.
While Teal'c, Sam and Daniel all respected the fact that Jess didn't share much about her personal life or time before joining Prometheus, Cam liked to prod. His persistence caused them to butt heads on more than one occasion. Jess even had to remind herself that he was a higher ranking officer and bite her tongue a few times. But in general, they had found a mutual respect for each others abilities as Air Force officers and kept it at that.
For Jess, life had established a certain rhythm and hum that she was enjoying more than she would have ever guessed she could have.
On this particular mission, Prometheus had been deployed to pick up SG1 who were stuck on a rebel Jaffa controlled planet. The Asgaard beaming technology on Prometheus meant this would be a simple grab and go operation that didn't require the 302s' skills. That meant the pilots had a lot of time on their hands, and Jess and Butch were wasting it playing cribbage.
Suddenly, general quarters sounded, and an announcement came over the intercom that Jess' squadron, blue squadron, was to report to the hanger bay. Immediately Butch and Jess jumped from the table and headed toward the hanger. The squadron leader, Lt. Col. Matthew Lynch, was there to meet them and brief his pilots.
"Here's the deal people," Matt went over the details. "The Jaffa have SG1 pinned down, and are closing in. SG1 has taken cover in a cave for the time being, but what ever the cave is made of is making it impossible for us to do the Scotty thing and beam them up. Our job is to bail them out. Any questions?"
"Sir, do we know if there are any enemy gliders?" Jess asked, trying to sound casual about it.
"Don't hold back your enthusiasm Major," Matt could see right through his best pilot. He knew how much she enjoyed flying circles around any enemy. "Yeah, we've confirmed that there are four gliders supporting the ground troops."
After outlining an attack plan that included letting Jess and one other pilot take on the gliders, everyone rushed to their fighters.
"Ready Butch?" Jess asked once they were strapped in.
"You know, I can hear your smile over the radio," he answered.
Jess laughed in response and punched it, launching the 302 into the blackness of space.
It didn't take long to engage the gliders, it was almost as if they were waiting for Prometheus to arrive. The fight was fast and furious with constant chatter over the radio. The gilders were better fighters then they normally went up against and Jess had a couple of close calls. But in the end the only planes to go down were piloted by Jaffa.
What seemed to be causing SG1 the most trouble was an onslaught from cannon welding Jaffa on the ground. Tucked relatively close to a steep bluff, their location was well protected allowing them to affectively raise hell for the 302 pilots, while giving their own troops an opportunity to advance on SG1s position. About all the 302s were accomplishing was to slow the Jaffa's progress.
With the gliders taken care of Jess turned her attention to the cannons.
"Butch?" she asked innocently.
"What?" Butch threw back to her.
"Do you trust me?" Jess questioned her co-pilot.
"With my life, but one question," Butch knew Jess very well by now. "Is this going to get us in trouble?"
"Well, see now that depends," Jess had a plan.
"On?" Butch inquired.
"On if this works or not," Jess was smiling again.
Between their location and the cave was a string of six cannons lined up in a row that ran parallel to a bluff. Those were the shooters causing the most trouble. Jess figured if she came in low and fast from the side, Butch would have time to target the cannons and take them out before the Jaffa would have a chance to readjust their aim.
The trick was that the rather ominous looking bluff was L-shaped. That meant Jess could only approach from one angle and faced a dead-end at the other side. Jess wasn't all together sure she'd be able to pull up in time. She assumed that's why none of the other pilots had tried the maneuver yet. Still, she felt the risk was necessary. As long as those cannons continued to do there thing, SG1 would remain pinned down.
Jess lined up and clued Butch in on the plan. He was all for it, but still made the sign of the cross. If this worked it would give SG1 the break they needed. If it didn't, well Butch figured he and Jess wouldn't get in trouble anyway on account of being dead.
The cover the 302s were laying down had given Cam just enough room to reposition himself inside the mouth of the cave. From that vantage point he had a limited view of the cannons. He knew they were the last major offense for the Jaffa and was trying to assess if there was anything SG1 could do to take them out.
As he was contemplating his limited options he saw one of the 302s coming in dangerously low from the opposite end. It didn't take a genius to figure out which pilot would take that kind of a chance.
"O'Connor," he said aloud.
"What's going on?" Sam was at his shoulder but back enough that she couldn't see what was developing.
"Get back," Cam ordered, having his team take cover back further in the cave just in case.
Butch hit all six targets scattering Jaffa in every which direction.
"That's all of 'em girl, now climb!" he yelled into his radio.
Jess didn't need the encouragement she'd already pulled the stick back and laid on the throttle trying to increase their vertical velocity. It was going to be close, very close.
"Come on, come on, damn it climb baby, climb!" She encouraged her jet.
As they reached the top, the 302 clipped a couple of trees, but otherwise safely cleared the bluff. Jess let out a sigh of relief and loosened the death grip she had on the stick.
"Jess darlin'?" Butch asked Jess' over the radio.
"Yeah?" Jess answered.
"How come you never sweet talk me like that?" Butch teased.
Jess laughed and turned the plane around. Just as they were getting back into range to reengage, Matt came over the radio saying SG1 was safely aboard Prometheus and all fighters were ordered to return to the ship.
Back in the hanger bay, Jess and Butch climbed out of the jet to the congratulations of the other crew members. She was right, the maneuver had given SG1 the time they needed to get out of the cave and safely rescued.
But the celebration came to an abrupt end with the appearance of one very angry Lt. Colonel.
"Major! On me," Cam didn't stop to see if Jess was following his order. He just walked toward the side of the hanger where there was a small storage room. He threw the door open then slammed it shut again once they were both inside.
"Just what the hell was that?" The only word to describe his demeanor was livid.
"Sir?" Jess was a little confused. She just saved his butt and he was yelling at her? She certainly didn't expect a thank you, but the wrath of Kahn didn't make sense either.
"That has to be the most stupid, reckless, idiotic move I have ever seen. Just what exactly were you thinking up there?" Cam was pacing in front of the pilot as best as he could in the cramped quarters, too angry to stay still.
Jess' body language was defiant. While Cam ranted, she stood rigidly at attention. Jess wasn't a tall woman, but she used every inch of height that she had. Her jaw was set and her eyes were on fire.
"Permission to speak freely, Sir," Jess spat out the salutation.
"Oh, I gotta hear this. Ok Major, granted," Cam was so ticked he hadn't noticed the non-verbal cues that Jess was telegraphing.
"With all due respect Sir, five of the last seven missions we've been deployed on have been to bail your team out of a tight spot. So if you want to have a conversation about recklessness, maybe you should be doing it in front of a mirror," Jess' steely eyes locked on Cam's to punctuate her boldness.
She knew he could write her up for insubordination, but right now she didn't care. Jess wasn't one to turn away from a fight when she felt she was in the right regardless of who her opponent was.
Cam was stunned; he had expected an excuse or an apology, but calling him on the mat? That was the last thing he thought she'd do. Hell, he out ranked her!
Jess held her ground for a few moments longer, then hearing nothing else from the Lt. Colonel she decided to end the staring match and walked past him. She threw the door open and marched back out into the hanger.
"Hey!" Cam yelled after her, but Jess didn't stop.
"Major, ten hut!" Cam was on her heels.
At the command, Jess executed a parade quality about face. Her reaction was so quick that Cam nearly ran straight into her. They were well within each others personal space, but neither one was about to back down.
"I didn't dismiss you soldier," Cam knew it was a power play and he was using his six inches of extra height to full advantage. But Jess wasn't flinching. She stood at attention and waited.
"Dismissed," Cam whispered his order.
"Sir, yes Sir," Jess snapped a smart salute, then did another about face and marched out of the hanger.
Cam stormed off too, mumbling to himself as he went.
Daniel let out a long slow whistle and looked at Sam who tilted her head and raised her eyebrows in reaction to what they'd just witnessed.
Jess threw her flight helmet into the corner of her quarters. She wanted to scream. How dare he come at her like that. Where did he get off? He wasn't even her commanding officer. At least if Matt had done it, he would have had clear authority over her.
She was pacing back and forth gritting her teeth when she heard a knock at her door. Jess suppressed an urge to yell at the knocker.
"Come," was all she could manage.
Matt had seen the tail end of the altercation just like the rest of the crew. He wasn't pleased with Cam for circumventing his authority by going after one of his pilots, but he was even more disappointed with Jess for her display.
"Major, do you want to explain that little display of yours?" He asked.
"Sir, sorry Sir, I was out of line. It shouldn't have happened," Jess was back to standing at a tense attention. She knew she had it coming.
"At ease O'Connor," Matt walked over to the small desk in the corner and leaned against it crossing his arms and legs.
He was at an impasse as to what exactly he wanted to do with her. As the officer she'd wronged, it was at Cam's discretion to pursue the apparent insubordination. At the same time, as her CO, he couldn't just let it go with out addressing the issue.
"I'm putting you on two weeks leave," Matt half sighed.
"Sir, I admit I was out of line, but two weeks," Jess was wide-eyed.
"Major, the whole crew is going on leave," Matt waved her off. "Prometheus is due for a major upgrade. We've all been on active duty for the better part of six months, and I think you just proved how much you need some time off this boat."
Jess nodded, understanding that it wasn't punishment, even if it felt that way. She knew she should count herself lucky. In reality, this should be going down as a black mark against her record.
"It will be up to Lt. Col. Mitchell to decide if he wants to pursue anything official," Matt wiped out her little glimmer of hope. "Jess, I strongly suggest that you apologize to him."
"Yes Sir, I will," Jess promised her commanding officer.
Lynch waited to make sure his point had truly penetrated that inch thick skull of hers. He didn't understand why Jess and Cam seemed to get under each others skin so easily, but he knew it was something they would have to workout on their own. The most he could do was try to grease the skids a little with Cam before they got back to Earth. Jess was a great pilot, and a natural with plenty of potential to excel given the proper guidance. He'd hate to see that tarnished because of a personal difference between the two officers.
Satisfied that Jess meant what she said about apologizing he walked back to the door.
"And O'Connor," Matt turned back before leaving. "Good job today."
