Chapter 3
Atlantis Infirmary
"So, how you holding up?" Jennifer Keller walked into her infirmary to find Jeannie Miller awake for the first time since she underwent an operation to have a bullet removed from her leg. Jeannie wasn't only a patient to Keller; she was also a close friend, and soon a sister-in-law. Since arriving on Atlantis, McKay's younger sister had befriended a lot of people, but she had grown especially close to Jennifer Keller. No matter how much people try to make you feel welcome, you always feel like the outsider in your first year. Jennifer had been through the same thing not long before Jeannie, so she could relate to her right from the beginning.
Jeannie was very happy to see the woman who had taken the piece of metal out of her leg. "I've been better… At least the pain's gone though; I feel a lot better than I did a couple of hours ago..."
Jen smiled back at her. "Don't worry; you'll be back on your feet soon. It's never nice being shot. Most people here will tell you that." Jeannie knew that her friends had been through a lot since she Expedition began, but she personally hadn't experienced anything like that before, until now.
"Caleb and Madison were here before. They only left about 15 minutes ago; I think they went to get something to eat. I doubt they'll be long, and I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see that you're awake." The smile on Jeannie Miller's face grew wider. She couldn't wait to see her husband and daughter again. "I could go and find them if you want. Tell them you're awake."
"It's OK Jen. Let them eat first, they'll probably need it." Keller smiled. Her friend always put her family first. "I nearly forgot... Is everyone else alright?"
The smile on Jennifer's face disappeared.
Battlestar Galactica
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Adama stood facing Kara Thrace, Laura Roslin by his side. "I did not give my permission for you to do that to that woman."
"No sir, you didn't." Kara turned to face Roslin. "But she did. I wouldn't have done it without the permission of either you, or the President."
A look of shock appeared on Laura's face. "I sanctioned nothing. Where did you get that idea from?"
Kara stood silent for a moment, before speaking again "Zarek told me that you and the Quorum had…"
"You actually took the word of Tom Zarek before consulting me?" Roslin quickly cut her off. The President trusted Starbuck, and this felt like a punch in the gut to her. Something she really didn't need. "What if they aren't Cylons, Kara? We don't have any actual proof to say they are lying?"
Kara stood silent, looking at the ground, before Admiral Adama spoke. "Find me Tom Zarek, and bring him here right now."
"Yes Sir."
Atlantis
General Landry stood at the base of the Control Room steps, hands behind his back, and Richard Woolsey standing to one side of him. With a brilliant flash of light, his superior and old friend Jack O'Neill appeared in front of the gate.
"General. It's good to see you." Landry took Jack's hand, shaking it firmly.
"I'd love to catch up Hank, but it'll have to wait. I want to know everything as it happens." The three men began walking up to Landry's office. "Do these aliens pose a threat?"
"Considering what they've done, I'd say so." Landry replied.
"The information we have on their ships is minimal at best, General." Woolsey interjected. "And the information we have on the aliens themselves is too."
"They took two of people and..."
"Misunderstandings have happened before." O'Neill cut off the other General before he could finish. "It's part of the job, in fact. It happens a lot. Too much."
"I'm not saying we should be complacent around the enemy, or give in to demands, but we should at least try and settle this peacefully, if we can." Woolsey continued.
"I agree." O'Neill replied. "We don't need to make more enemies. I like the Galaxy how it is now. No Goa'uld or Ori through every damn Gate..."
"Exactly, General."
Battlestar Galactica
Adama was angry, but Laura Roslin was absolutely furious, summoning all the strength she had to blast her VP. "Who the hell do you think you are giving out orders like that?"
"You had no right, Zarek. With decisions like that, either me or the President need to be consulted, preferably both. No matter what you think, you do not have the power to do it yourself."
Tom Zarek stood with a smile on his face, angering both the Admiral and the President further. "Oh, I consulted the Quorum first, believe me."
"The Quorum is not the be all and end all of Colonial politics and you know that!" Laura shot back.
"No, but when they agree unanimously on an issue then it is my duty to ensure their wishes are carried out, I knew you would never have approved, Laura."
"Yes and there is a reason for that! As far as we are aware, we know all models of Cylon bar Number 7, and unless I am mistaken there are two people being held in that brig, neither of them known to be Cylon models. We have absolutely no evidence to say they are Cylons, let alone anything concrete!"
Tom enjoyed making Laura angry. There was a time when he thought they could actually work together and be friends, but even he was willing to admit that his thirst for power had destroyed any chance of that. "None of this matters. They killed one of our people and wounded others, that isn't acceptable from anyone, be them robots or otherwise."
"Yes but we shot first, Zarek…" all of a sudden, Laura's face changed, her lips curled into a slight smile. "Or did you neglect to mention that little fact to the Quorum when you were trying to convince them to bay for the blood of those prisoners?" Zarek didn't reply. "Oh yes… It's making a lot more sense now."
Tom finally spoke. "Madam President, this fleet has been in grave danger ever since we left the 12 Colonies, and yes even since we made that... alliance with the Two's, Sixes, and Eights. Whether you admit it or not the threat of attack has always been looming over us, and it hasn't gone away just because we have a supposedly friendly Basestar out there..."
Adama spoke for the first time since the conversation had first started. "We haven't seen a single enemy Cylon since we destroyed the Hub. They're scared. The playing field is level now. There is nothing to say that they would just start attacking again now. I am going to speak to the prisoners myself; I personally want to hear them out. You're both welcome to join me, and I think you, Mr. Zarek, owe them an explanation."
"I owe them nothing."
Laura was quick to counter. "Then get the hell out. You may not think you owe them anything, but you definitely owe the Quorum the truth about what happened on that planet down there. Lie to them again, lie to Kara Thrace again, or lie to me again, and believe me when I say that I will find out." With that, Zarek turned to leave, before Laura stopped him once again. "And Zarek… This is far from over."
George Hammond
The Hammond dropped out of hyperspace behind one of the three moons of P9X-113. Sam, hoped that would be enough to avoid detection from the large enemy fleet in orbit. Each of Earth's ships now contained at least one Puddle Jumper, and at times like this, having a Puddle Jumper on board that could cloak came in very handy, and Cameron knew it. Scientists were still unable to work out how to cloak a BC-304 without using a ZPM, so this was a good alternative for recon missions.
"Are you guys all set to go?" Carter asked as she walked into one of the Hammond's hanger bays.
"We sure are." McKay was the first to reply. "Just so I know, if we run into trouble will you…"
"Come save your butts?" Sam answered the question before Rodney had a chance to. "That's the point. General O'Neill didn't want us sending Jumpers through the Gate because they would be alone if they were detected, but we've got your backs." Sam smirked and then turned to Cameron. "If you guys need anything, get straight on the line and we'll jump straight in there."
He smiled at his friend. "I don't doubt it for a second." He turned to the others, and began walking towards the Jumper. "Alright. Let's get our people back."
Puddle Jumper
Soon after, the Jumper had left the Hammond and was heading out to the planet, and the fleet of ships above it. "OK, cloak the ship." Cameron ordered as he looked out of the large front window, staring at the curvature of the large moon.
"Oh believe me, I am more than happy to." McKay answered as he used his mind to make the small vessel disappear.
The two men watched the curvature of the moon until the planet came into view, and then a fleet of ships bigger than either of them had seen in a long time appeared. Rodney took the Jumper out of its orbit and off towards the other vessels. "Scanning the ships… Right, I'm starting to get some information through."
"So, what are we up against?" Cameron asked, interested in knowing the capability of this new race.
"Hmm… I'm quite surprised actually, I wasn't expecting this…"
"What?"
"Well, it seems the majority of the ships aren't actually capable of combat. There are a few, but it seems only two of them are actually built to fight." McKay concentrated as he received more information.
"Well thank god for that." Cam replied.
McKay watched the fleet as information regarding each ship was gathered by the Jumper's incredibly advanced technology. "Both of the capital ships are damaged, and neither appears to have shield technology. They seem to use extremely thick armour, but it looks like a lot of it has come away, on one of the ships at least. The two ships are of totally different design too… In fact, I'm not even sure they were made by the same race."
Mitchell was pleased. "Nice job McKay." He looked out over the ships as the Jumper flew in between them, taking a good look at the designs. Some of them didn't even have any windows, obviously down to the fact that the hulls were so thick, and the lack of shields.
He didn't think he would want to spend any length of time on one of those, and then thought about how Teyla and John must be feeling. "Take us back to the Hammond. I think we've got what we need."
Galactica's Brig
Admiral Adama, Laura Roslin and Apollo entered the brig, hoping that they would be leaving it with a much better sense of what was going on. John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagen stood as soon as they saw the figures coming into the room. "If any of you think you're getting in that damn cage with her again you've got another thing coming." John said as the three walked closer.
"I apologise for what happened before." The woman spoke, hoping to diffuse the man's anger slightly. "Kara Thrace had been told to do what she did to you by my Vice President, and had been falsely told that I myself had sanctioned those actions. Believe me, I had not." She turned to Teyla. "I'm sorry for what happened, and so is Kara. I thoroughly intend to make sure that the Vice President pays for what he has done."
John wasn't satisfied. "Why should we believe you? For all we know this is going to be another interrogation. We're not stupid, you don't have to use violence or threats to get information out of someone, and when the information you're trying to get doesn't even exist then…" Teyla stopped him before he could finish.
"John, it's alright. I believe they're telling the truth." Teyla had been in situations like this before, and she had learned to recognise whether someone was lying or not. This woman was either sincere or a fantastic liar. Judging by the way she was acting, Teyla was inclined to believe the former.
The older of the two men spoke next. "We are. And we also apologize for shooting first, in hindsight we realise that was probably the worst move we could have made. However, after what we've been through, we didn't have much choice." John was becoming intrigued now. However, he didn't want to turn the questions around to these new people just yet. Hopefully there would be time to find out more later.
The younger man was the next to speak. "You'll understand that we do need to paint a picture here. We need to know who you are. If we hear your story, we'll be a lot more inclined to believe you. We're not here to force anything out of you. We're here to ask you."
Teyla and John both looked at each other, before Teyla turned back to the three people in front of her and spoke. "I am Teyla Emmagen, and this is Colonel John Sheppard. We are from a planet many light years from here." She wasn't prepared to give up the fact that they were from Atlantis, or more importantly Earth. Not yet anyway. "We were on that planet doing research on the outpost that you no doubt noticed, in the base of the mountain."
Roslin smiled. "Thank you. That's a good start. I am President Laura Roslin, and this is Admiral William Adama and his son, Lee Adama, another political representative. The ship you are aboard is known as the Battlestar Galactica. We were wondering, how did the rest of your people escape the planet?"
Teyla and John both shared another look. "Did you not see the Planet's Stargate?" Asked John, wondering how they could have missed something so obvious.
The President looked confused. "Stargate? Do you mean that large stone ring?"
John was amazed that they didn't know what a Stargate was, but before he could answer an alarm began blaring and the phone on the brig's wall rang. "If you'll excuse me." Adama walked over to the wall and picked up the phone, he was silent for a moment before speaking. "What do you mean it isn't a Baseship?"