III.
NORMAN FIELDS
Cramped. Undisciplined. Unprofessional Officers. Lax. Annoying. Unnecessary and the list went on and on and on and on. There really was not a single positive adjective that Norman could use to describe Atlantis. He had not been too keen on going there in the first place, his thoughts on the place was far from objective, but since he had gotten there they had only gotten worse.
He could not stand the aliens in the Milky Way, and he did not like the aliens here in the Pegasus Galaxy any better. Especially that Ronon, big lug, should not be allowed on Atlantis at all. To think that, that annoying man Sheppard actually let aliens be members of Stargate teams was a disgrace.
Then again, Sheppard was not known for following orders very well and that Norman had seen firsthand. If he would have any say in it, he would have kicked Sheppard out from the Air Force a long time ago. Just thinking of the tall and black haired man, made Norman angry a bitter taste rising in his mouth.
When he had been chosen as the IOA representative, he had gladly accepted seeing it as his chance to make some changes and maybe put himself in a better position. He had read many field reports, personnel lists, and one name had stood out from the start, a name Norman knew would cause trouble, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard.
Norman shuddered. Sheppard stood for everything Norman disliked. The man was rash, undisciplined, did not follow orders and as if it was not enough rich as hell (it was probably daddy's money that had gotten him his Lt. Colonel position) and good looks. Oh how good it would feel to be able to wipe that somewhat lazy quirk off Sheppard's lips.
Yes that would be fun, very fun indeed. Norman had had big dreams about it before he arrived on Atlantis but now after his small confrontation with Sheppard he was even more so determined to do it, but he had run into a small problem. Norman snorted at his pun, small problem, Major Evan Lorne. When he had read about the people on Atlantis he had brushed the Major off as unimportant but it seemed as if he had been a bit hasty. Smirking Fields thought about that lithe body and slim waist. He was not normally into guys but he could make an exception, but first he needed some background information. Who knew what one could find and maybe he could use the Major against Sheppard.
"Well, well Norman it seems as if you're going to it two birds with one stone," chuckled Norman to himself.
There were a lot of people he did not like on Atlantis, but if he got Sheppard and Lorne out then he did not care about the others. After all, why go after the smallest fish in the pond when you can hunt bigger ones.
STARGATE: ATLANTIS
"Come on now, I don't have all day," snapped Norman.
On this day, he had been on Atlantis for two weeks and four days, the day before some woman Teyla had gotten back from off-world, stupid alien woman, should never have come back but of course she did, after all she was one of the aliens on Sheppard's gate-team. Today was the day that he was going to start with the personal interviews he was to have with every single person on Atlantis to see if they were fit members of the 'crew'. Take note that he was not too happy about it; there were almost three hundred people on Atlantis.
He had already held four of them and it was not looking promising, they all seemed to be misfits and pro-Sheppard people. What a disappointment.
Interview nr 4
Name: Felicia Harmon
Soldier/Scientist
Department: Linguistics
Gate-team: none
Age: 42
Sex: female
years of service on Atlantis: 3 years
N: Your name?
F: Felicia Harmon, sir.
N: Occupation here on Atlantis?
F: I'm a scientist, sir. I work with the languages here in the Pegasus Galaxy.
N: Why did you choose to come to Atlantis, Miss Harmon?
F: I was asked to join the expedition three years ag-
N: I didn't ask anything about when you joined, Miss Harmon I asked why you joined.
F: I- I joined because I was asked, sir.
N: By whom?
F: By the government, like everyone else I suppose.
N: You suppose or you know?
F: I know sir.
N: Then you should've said so.
F: Sorry sir.
N: Continuing. Do you see yourself as a follower of the rules?
F: Yes sir, I do.
N: So if I told you to do something and then Colonel Sheppard would say something else, whose order would you follow?
F: Colonel Sheppard's sir, he is my boss in a way after all.
N: Then you're a liar Miss Harmon; you're not a follower of the rules.
F: Excuse me sir!
N: Excuse what, Miss Harmon? I'm merely stating a fact here.
F: What you're saying doesn't base on anything solid!
N: Yes it does Miss Harmon, now I think this interview is done, you may go.
Interview nr 26
Name: Dietrich Summer
Soldier/Scientist
Department: none
Gate-Team: SGA-6
Age: 24
Sex: male
years of service on Atlantis: 4 ½ year
N: Name?
D: Dietrich Summer, sir.
N: So you're a soldier, how long have you been on Atlantis?
D: I've been here for 4 ½ year now, sir.
N: You're German?
D: Yes sir, from Hamburg.
N: Have you served anywhere else?
D: No sir, I haven't.
N: Really? And you like it here on Atlantis?
D: Yes sir I do, it's different, I like meeting the people here in the Pegasus Galaxy.
N: Meeting? You think this is some holiday resort, this is a military base it has no room for aliens.
D: I think it would be more appropriate to call us aliens when we're here.
N: Like fucking them?
D: Excuse me sir?
N: I asked whether you like fucking them? Is it some perverse fetish you've got?
D: NO! I never said anything like that!
N: Calm down Sergeant, there's no reason to get mad. After all, we're just discussing.
D: I'm calm.
N: Well it doesn't look like it, it makes me wonder whether you're really fit for duty.
D: wh- what!?
N: Well it seems as if we're done Sergeant.
STARGATE: ATLANTIS
"Connection with earth has been established"
"Finally, took them long enough to do it, aren't they supposed to be the best?" muttered Norman.
He had a very important call to make and he did not appreciate being held up. Sitting down by his desk, Norman powered up his laptop. It did not take long before he had gotten through and he was looking at a woman standing on the other side of the screen.
"Good to see you sir."
"Thank you Fiona has thing changed since I left?"
"No sir, things are progressing here as normal."
"Good, I want you to do something for me."
"Anything sir."
"Good, you can't tell anyone about this and you'll have to be very discreet, I don't want this being trailed back to me. I want you to find me some information on a certain Major Evan Lorne, I want him off Atlantis."
"Of course sir I understand."
"I knew you would understand my dear Fiona," said Norman a small smirk on his face.
After this Major Lorne would wish he had never helped Sheppard. Since the argument – that was what Norman had named his authority fight with Sheppard – he had changed his plan a bit. First he would get back at Lorne, a dishonorable discharge sounded right but first he would have some fun with him, and then he would turn his whole attention on Sheppard, he would make both men's lives miserable.
Norman could not help but chuckle, a small sound more similar to a cat who had just caught the canary, than anything else.
"I'll see what I can find sir, and I'll send it with the Daedalus. Good luck sir."
He did not answer but he did cut off their video conversation. He had things to do and plan. Leaning back in his chair Norman started to plan. He had about two- three weeks before the Daedalus would be arriving. That meant a lot of time for him to finish the interviews and see who needed to go and who maybe could stay.
It was good that he had Fiona; the woman was more loyal to him than a dog could ever be, and she only worked for him. He had hired her when he was picked as a member for the IOA, because he had needed someone to make background checks on his co-workers. It had ended with him hiring her because she was so good at finding the dirt on people. Norman just hoped that she this time too would find something worthwhile. Because a speeding ticket was not going to get Norman what he wanted. He wanted to totally humiliate Lorne, to make sure the man get's the memo that no one, no one humiliates Norman Fields in public, well not even in private.
CAMERON
Cam was itchy. Yes itchy, there was no other way to describe the feeling that was welling up inside of him. Every time he walked past John, Cam's fingers would itch, it took most of his self-control not to reach out and touch his lover. A simple pat was the most intimate they had been able to be since the arrival of Fields, and the pat only made the itch worse.
He wanted to touch John, to feel that warm skin under his palms, trace those scars with his finger. He wanted to hold his lover close, just hold him and never let go. It was desperate but he could not help it, either way he was sure that he had seen something similar in John's eyes when they had met a few times in the hallway.
Not that he was the only one; the tension on Atlantis was high at the moment. Everyone were looking over their shoulders, almost no extra activity was going on, no one wanted there to be any reasons for them to be kicked out from Atlantis. Especially as Fields had started with the interviews, and if Cam was to believe Sergeant Summer, then those interviews was so much more than an objective discussion between personnel and inspector.
Because, there was one thing Cam was sure of, and that was that Fields was not making himself a popular person on Atlantis. Of course, that was only if Cam went by those ugly nicknames people already had given the man or the whispers in the halls and the glares. It was as if Fields had sucked all life out of Atlantis, a dark cloud was hanging over the place. For some reason the only way Cam could describe it, was that it was the calm before the storm and for once he did not look forward to the storm. Not one bit.
"Connection with earth has been established"
Cam did not stop in his thinking but neither did he continue on the same track as he had before, instead he sat down by his computer and powered it up. At exactly five minutes past the announcement that the connection had been established, a video chat screen popped up on Cam's screen.
Nodding at the man on the other side of the video feed, Cam made himself comfortable in his chair.
"General O'Neill, it's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too, Mitchell, how's it going with Fields?"
"Not too good I'm afraid," said Cam with a heavy sigh, "he's been pissing off people from the minute he set foot here on Atlantis."
"Sound like Fields alright, at least you don't have to worry about him being a fake."
"Very funny General now is there anything you can tell me about him?"
"Yeah there is, be careful. Fields is infamous about his dislike of 'aliens' for him they should all be enslaved by us or killed. Either way, he is one of the few in the IOA that is lobbing for the closing of Atlantis, or at least the removing of aliens from the base."
"Great… He got into a small fight with Sheppard a few days ago, and Major Lorne came in between, Fields was livid about it."
"That's not good, but there isn't much you can do about it, Fields could get annoyed at you if you so sneezed while you were eating take-out half across the country from you. One can never be certain about him."
"Is there anything else I should be aware of?"
"There are lots of things that could be good to know abo- Danny, what're you doing here?"
"Daniel," greeted Cam when he saw Doctor Daniel Jackson appear on the screen beside O'Neill.
"Good, I was afraid I'd missed you."
"Why? We haven't even talked for five minutes yet…"
"I saw Fiona coming out from one of the more private rooms holding a laptop looking smug."
"Fiona?"
"Fiona Wilder, Fields personal assistant and lapdog, she does everything for him. Rumors say that she can find shit on anyone," Said O'Neill butting back into the conversation.
" Oh great… things are just getting better and better."
"Yeah she's one sneaky chick, but there isn't much we can do about her," said Daniel running a hand through his hair.
Cam had to smirk at the gesture. Daniel had not too long ago gotten his eyes fixed with some alien device and so he did not need his glasses anymore, but having had glasses for so long it was impossible to get rid of the habit of pushing them upwards, and so Daniel had taken to run his hand through his hair instead.
Not that Cam was complaining or anyone else for that matter, Daniel was not bad looking, on the contrary he was rather good looking and even better so without his glasses. Not that Cam was interested, not only because he was head over heels in love with John but also because Doctor Jackson was forbidden territory. It was a kind of open secret inside the SG-1 that Daniel and O'Neill were lovers or a couple or whatever they wanted to call each other. And one had to be crazy to make a move on Daniel, and if one did make a move then not expect to be alive the next day. O'Neill was territorial and very possessive of 'his' scientist.
"Is he very annoying?" wondered Daniel sounding worried.
"Well that's a matter of opinion, I think if he died the majority of us here on Atlantis would break out the booze and the rest would happily stomp on his corpse."
"Ah, charming…"
"Yeah, he's very set on having things done his way. I wouldn't wonder if he put up a curfew to make sure he always knows where everyone is."
Cam later on would find it creepy how accurate he had been when he said this and was glad he had no idea at the time about what Fields was planning. After all, there is the saying ignorance is bliss and at the moment those words could not be more precise.
"Let's hope it won't go that far, no one on the military side likes Fields, I'm not even sure if the other's in the IOA likes him, at least Woolsey doesn't like Fields."
"Well isn't that good to know… How did he even get into the IOA?"
"Well my dear Colonel I've got no idea, and neither does Danny, or do you?"
"Nope, I've tried asking around but hey, the IOA works in a mysterious way sometimes."
"You can say that again," muttered Cam, scratching his neck thoughtfully.
He felt a bit defeated. He was not sure what it was he had expected to hear, but this was far from good. If O'Neill was worried then it was serious business, Fields was more trouble than Cam had anticipated.
"Come on Mitchell cheer up, you'll get through this, don't get worked up over nothing and try to relax until something actually happens. Fields is a creep but not even he can do anything he likes."
"Thanks… I think…"
"You're welcome! Either way, Danny and I have to go, some dudes from D5X-554 wants to talk to us. Take care Mitchell and make sure Fields don't gets too close to Sheppard, what I've heard Sheppard ain't exactly Fields favorite type of guy."
Cam did not even have time to respond before O'Neill cut off the connection leaving Cam with a blank screen and too many thoughts running through his head. He had already kind of summarized that Fields did not liked John, but something in the way O'Neill said it made Cam worried that Fields may have some kind of motive for his picking and criticizing of John.
Atlantis could not afford loosing John that was a fact. John was the one who kept Atlantis floating, who inspired everyone; the one who had this crazy connection to the city, no Cam would not let Fields remove John from his post as the Military Leader. This was John's home, John had not exactly said it out loud to him, but Cam knew that his partner counted Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy more as home than earth ever had been.
It would break his lover, to have to leave Atlantis. A very good example of this was when John and the rest of the personnel on Atlantis had been forced from the city when they had been cheated by the Replicators. John had not taken it well and Cam would rather be fed to the wraith, than let John go through that agony again.
STARGATE: ATLANTIS
It was not hard for Cam to figure out where John was hiding. It was only to follow the path that the marines looking tired and well beaten were coming from. By the looks of it, it was not only John who was letting out some steam. Cam did not stop to talk to any of the marines but he did get his guess confirmed, John was with Ronon and Teyla in one of the training rooms, but they were finishing up so he should hurry if he wanted to catch the Colonel before he disappeared again somewhere on Atlantis.
With a small bunt of papers underneath his arm Cam quickened his pace when he passed a freshly showered Ronon. That meant John and Teyla would not be far behind, even if Ronon held quite the amazing record in fastest showers, did not mean that everyone else took hours upon hours of getting washed and dressed.
Cam did not even have to go all the way to the showers as when he rounded the last corner almost walked straight into Teyla, John only about half a step behind her.
"Oh, sorry I didn't see you there Teyla have you had a nice day so far?"
"Yes thank you Commander for asking."
"That's good," said Cam smiling down at the exotic woman before he turned to face John who had yet to say a word, "I hope you've got some spare time Colonel because I need to speak with you."
He could see the question in John's eyes but even though he trusted Teyla, who knew if there was someone standing in a small nook listening in or just watching the security feed. It was better this way, either way he actually had a few real papers for John to look over with Major Lorne so it was not completely bogus.
"I've got some papers that you need to take a look at," explained Cam waiving the papers he had in his hand in front of John.
"Oh, okay."
"Well if the Commander needs you John then I'll be going, I'll see you in the mess hall for lunch," said Teyla and bid her goodbyes. She left with a pat on John's shoulder and a nod for Cam.
They walked in silence, close enough for Cam to feel the heat radiating from John but not close enough to touch. Cam was lucky that no one really took much notice of them on their way to his office, because that would just have been embarrassing on his part as he could not take his eyes off John. With his hair still wet and smelling of that soap he used, it was a wonder that Cam had not gotten a hard on.
If the way John was stubbornly staring straight in front of him was anything to go by then he had noticed Cam's more than a bit wandering eyes. It was kind of cute how John always seemed to get a bit uncomfortable when it came down to sex and things concerning sex. Maybe it was because throughout his whole life people have thrown themselves at him, seeing him more as an object than a person and now here was Cam who yes wanted him sexually but not because of his looks but because of who he was. Cam did not know, but he knew John good enough to make a very well educated guess.
Closing the door behind them, locking it properly Cam had never been more happy that he only had a huge window looking out over the sea instead of glass walls on the inside like John's and Evan's office so that anyone walking past could see into it.
Turning around Cam took two steps towards John before he stopped. Spreading his arms Cam could not help but grin when he saw his lover watching him with suspicious eyes.
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Because someone could see."
"Nah, I've locked the door."
"Still why?"
"Can I say I've missed you?"
Cam gave John a small pout, batting his eyelashes whilst trying not to throw away his poker face. Vala was right; when it came to John he had no poker face whatsoever to talk about. It was almost sad. Then again, when it got him what he wanted, he did not particularly care whether it held or not.
It felt nice holding his lover. Burying his nose in John's hair, Cam let himself enjoy the private moment they were sharing.
"I've missed this…"
"Me too John, me too," murmured Cam still not letting his grip around John's waist loosen.
"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"And what if this was the only thing I wanted? What if I don't have anything to say?" asked Cam.
"That's bullshit and you know it," said John pulling away from Cam.
"Yeah it is," admitted Cam, before he got more serious, "I spoke with O'Neill and Jackson when he had contact with earth. John, please you need to be careful, hell all of us need to be careful with Fields! He's a creep and an asshole but a somewhat influential one."
Cam waited for John to say something but as is lover kept quiet he continued.
"Fields wants to shut down Atlantis, and he'll make that possible with any means necessary. He doesn't like aliens, he doesn't like people who don't do as he says, and he doesn't like you and with what happened a few days ago, Major Lorne may just have stepped into the line of fire, I love you and god knows Atlantis needs you, I don't want you to be sent back to flying people around in Antarctica."
"Cam, I know you're worried and I know the man's difficult to deal with but I can't just lay down and rollover," said John sitting down in one of the chairs in the room, "Fields want a lot but I can't just turn a blind eye to his doings or else we'll all die, God knows only a few months ago we had a huge wraith attack, what if one comes along while Fields is still here? I can't give him the reins or else no one is coming out alive from it, and you know it!"
"I know, but try at least to not openly challenge him, and let's hope he doesn't stay for too long. Although it seems as if he'll be staying for quite some time…"
"I'll try but I can't promise anything, he doesn't like me and nothing will change his opinion so I dare say it'll be a few very interesting months," said John with a sigh.
"Thanks, that's all I'm asking of you, maybe you should warn Major Lorne too, he always seems to know odd stuff but I really don't want anyone taken by surprise, the IOA is always hard to deal with and an IOA member with an grudge and dislike for all we do and stand for is even worse."
"You don't have to worry about me, let's both just try and keep Fields as far away from everyone else as possible. I know this sounds odd but I don't think I'm his primary target anymore, and don't ask me why I say that, it's just a gut feeling I have right now."
Cam smiled at that, it was such a typical answer from John. They did not really say much else, they could not exactly stay locked into Cam's office for hours or else it would look a bit suspicious. Even then, Cam was still worried about what O'Neill had said about that Fiona woman, everyone had a past, but with a man like Fields who knew what it would be turned into.
Just before John was about to open the office door to go and continue with his own work, he turned to face Cam.
"Cam… We can do this, okay? Everyone has a past, some with skeletons and some without skeletons but we can't give up. We've gone through too much to give up now."
Cam was not sure whether John was trying to reassure him or both of them. Either way he was right, but that did not stop Cam from worrying. Fields, was a man who if stuck inside a burning house would happily sacrifice everyone else in there if it meant he would get out, it was disgusting.
"Yeah John, we can do this, make sure everyone's on their guard."
"I will, take care now."
"I love you Colonel Sheppard."
"I love you too, and I'm not going to give up Atlantis, not even to God."
"I know."
"Good."
So that's it for today :) please review and tell me what you thought!
