Chapter six
Jack was on his way back to his room from the room all of SG-1's gear was held, when he encountered an angry Wing Commander Wilcke. She looked at the M9 on his hip and raised an eye brow, "What are you doing with that?"
Jack shrugged, "Well you took my sidearm, so I had to get another. There weren't anymore Zat guns so I had to settle for a Beretta."
"I afraid I'll have to ask you to put that back," she told him firmly, "You're still not entirely trusted here, so you can't have that weapon."
"But you're armed?" Jack retorted, "And this trust thing has to go both ways. If you're going to be carrying a weapon then it's only fair that me and mine can too."
The Commander pinched the top of her nose in frustration, "Fine, we can talk about it later, right now there's something I need to talk to you about… in private."
Jack looked up and down the hall, "We're alone now."
"Just follow me," she ordered, leading him back down the hall.
Jack had suspected her to lead him to her office, but instead took him to her bedroom. "Um, why are we here?"
"The walls are thicker," she replied in monotone, "harder for people to eavesdrop."
"Is this top secret?"
Her face suddenly grew a lot angrier, "What the hell did Jackson say to Eila?!"
"What? How should I know, he's been locked up in that library all day, I haven't seen him since breakfast." Jack began to get a little suspicious, "Why do you ask?"
Commander Wilcke sighed, and sat on her bed, "About half an hour ago, Eila walked up to Barkhorn in the hanger and demanded to know about some sort of party. Barkhorn said she didn't know anything about any party and Eila slapped her. It took Shirley, Major Sakamoto, Major Carter and Teal'c to restrain the two."
Jack sighed, "I'll have a talk with Daniel." It'd be just like him to tell them something that'd cause trouble.
"You need to keep a rein on your people," the Commander said firmly.
"Like you're doing with yours?"
"My people were fine until yours came along," she growled, jumping up from her perch on the bed.
Jack met her stare, "Likewise."
"This is my base; you got that, you are guests-"
"And we have the superior technology!"
"We've gotten by fine without your technology, and we could continue to do so!"
"Yeah, but with how many more casualties?! I may not know much but I know damn well the death toll for this war has been high, and will only continue to rise unless it's put to a stop soon. Unlike you, we have the technology and the knowhow to use it."
The Commander sighed and fell onto her bad, "You're right, you're right. I should try and be more trusting of you since you and your team are putting all your faith in us."
"Aw, I wouldn't put it like that. We are getting Striker technology from you after all." Jack said, taking a seat at the end of the bed. "It's not like we're giving stuff away."
"I haven't exactly tried to make your stay hospitable though, Colonel. I think the war is starting to take its toll on even me."
"It's Jack, not Colonel. We aren't from the same armies, so there's no need for titles. Hell, I'm not even from this time."
Commander Wilcke chuckled a little, "You are something different, aren't you, Jack? If you're going to be like that, then I suppose it's only fair that you call me Minna."
Jack sat on the end of the bed and stared at the wall, "Is it normally this eventful here?"
"No, it had been fairly quiet until you showed up. And I've been on a short fuse because of it."
"Commanding officer is a stressful job, especially in wartimes. You tried physical activity?"
Jack turned to see Minna sitting up on her elbows and giving him a quizzical look, "what do you mean "physical activity"?"
"You know, to relieve the stress. Doesn't matter what you do, just something physical that doesn't require too much thinking."
Minna shrugged, "Why not." She pushed herself off the bed and stretched her arms, "any particular activity you think I should do?"
Jack thought about this for a moment. "Sit ups with some punches are good exercise, helps you out if you have to hit someone later. Unless you want to jog on the spot?"
The Karlslander smiled slightly, "I think I'll do the sit ups."
She sat on the ground and put her hands up near her head, and then gave Jack a somewhat angry and questioning look when he stood on the ends of her feet. "What are you doing?"
"You gotta have an anchor when you do sit ups, and unless you want to stick your feet under a cupboard and punch that, I'll be on your feet."
She shook her head and muttered, "You are an odd man, Jack."
"I wouldn't say that, a little bit on the crazy side maybe, but not odd," he smiled as she began doing sit ups, punching Jack's outstretched hands. She could hit surprisingly hard.
"Crazy?" she asked between breaths.
"Yeah, you have to be a certain kind of crazy to join the Special Forces, and an extra special kind of crazy to join the Stargate program."
"You know… I've been thinking… this Stargate program is… top secret, yes? … Won't you… get in trouble… for talking about it?"
Jack pursed his lips in thought, "Perhaps, but given the circumstances, I don't think Hammond will mind."
"Hammond?"
"He's my boss." Jack caught Minna's hand as she came up for another two punches, "That should be enough for now, I'm sure you have things to do."
Jack made his way to the door but Minna stopped him by grabbing his shoulder, "Don't tell anyone about this stress thing, alright, the last thing that this place needs is the others thinking their Commander can't handle it."
Jack said, "Relax, I can keep a secret," and left.
Minna shook her head, exercising to relieve stress, was an interesting concept to say the least. And she had probably hurt his hands when she hit him, she sometimes forgot how much stronger Witches were from regular people. "Maybe I shouldn't have hit so hard," she muttered to herself before leaving. As she left the room, she noticed that her hair and uniform were a bit messy and creased and straightened them up, before proceeding down the hall to talk with Mio.
FrancescaLucchini, the youngest member of the Strike Witches at the age of 13, peered around the corner at Commander Minna's room door. A few moments ago she had been passing by when she heard some strange noises coming from the Commander's room. She had weighed up her options, and decided the best course of action was to hide behind the corner of the hall and wait for someone to come out. What she had not expected, was for Colonel O'Neill to come out, a slight swagger to his step.
Francesca moved slowly down the hall to check on the Commander's room, to make sure the Colonel hadn't stolen anything, when the Commander came out without any warning. Francesca hid in a nearby doorway as best she could, watching the Commander.
The Karlslander's hair was messy, and her clothes had been wrinkled. She straightened them and continued on her way. The Commander seemed almost happy, which was very unlike when SG-1 had
first arrived, and even before then.
Strange, the Commander never let anyone into her room… Francesca covered her mouth to keep a gasp silent. "Did they…?" she concealed another gasp, and shook her head, "no…" She ran off, muttering to herself, "I have to talk to Shirley!"
"Daniel!" Jack shouted as he burst into the library, awakening Flying Officer Litvyak, "What did you tell that Juutilainen girl, she bloody attacked Barkhorn?!"
"Ah, I, uh, was just telling them about the Nazis and…" Daniel blabbered, only to be cut off by Jack.
"Why the hell did you tell her that?! Dammit, Daniel, even I can see that Flying Officer Juutilainen does not think everything through! I mean for Christ's sake, man, she attacked Barkhorn, a full on fist fight. This is the same Barkhorn that can get really, really strong." As much as Jack thought the Witches possessing magical powers preposterous, he couldn't deny their existence, or their usefulness in some cases. "It took Sam, Teal'c, Shirley, and the Major to stop the two of them."
"They just asked some questions, so I answered. I didn't think it would do any harm."
"Just don't let it happen again," Jack ordered, "the Commander'll have my ass."
"You won't have to tell me twice," Daniel said, shaking his head and returning to his studies.
"Ei… Eila… is Eila…" Flying Officer Litvyak tried to get out, worry painting her face, "Is Eila… hurt?"
Jack smiled, he'd always found delicacy works best when dealing with kids, "I'm not sure, but I can go check if you want. I'd hate for you to be charged with dereliction of duty."
"Th-thank you," she shy girl said before yawning and burying her head in her pillow.
"What is that?!" Shirley exclaimed as Sam took one of the Barrett M82s plus one magazine and half pound of C4 from the room where all of SG-1's equipment was stored. "It's huge!"
"A fifty calibre rifle," Sam answered with a smile as she handed Shirley the weapon, magazine and the plastic explosive, "luckily it uses the same ammo as the Browning M2s, so we could use it to test your shields." Sam went back into the room to fetch some more equipment.
"Well what's this C4 stuff?" Shirley asked from outside the room.
"It's a plastic explosive."
"Like Composition B?"
Sam came out of the room carrying a laser designator and a thermal sight, "Yep, now come, we got a lot of work to do."
The two began their walk back to the hanger. "By the way," Sam asked, "are you sure it's okay to do this?"
"Sure," the orange haired girl answered with a smile, "the Commander lets me do lots of stuff in there, I see no reason why this should be any different."
"You're not filling me with confidence," Sam said with a hint of scorn.
"Likewise," Shirley noted, "considering you plan on blowing me up."
"If what you claim about your shields is true, then you should be fine."
"Should?"
"If something goes wrong, Sergeant Miyafuji can patch you up."
"For some reason," Shirley said with the same smart ass voice as Jack used, "that doesn't make me feel any better."
"You're over thinking it."
"Said the woman who isn't being shot and blown up."
They walked into the hanger where a spare Striker awaited. They had been issued quite a number of spare Strikers after Commander Wilcke heard about what they are trying to do, though she didn't know about the ballistics testing.
"So what device of death will I have to deal with first?" Shirley inquired as she put down the equipment she was carrying for Sam.
"I was thinking the laser designator first," Sam said, walking over to the measuring equipment that she and Shirley had set up earlier, about an hour after the Juutilainen/Barkhorn incident.
While Sam was doing some last minute checks on the hastily assembled electronics under one of the terminals, she heard someone sprinting into the hanger.
The out of breath person panted, "Shirley… Shirley… Shirley… there's… the Commander… Colonel O'Neill…"
"Just hold on a second," the Liberian told who Sam could now recognise as Pilot Officer Lucchini, "I can't understand a thing you're trying to tell me. Take a couple of deep
breaths."
Sam heard a thud and looked up to see Pilot Officer Lucchini on the ground, arms and legs spread. The Major wiped her hands on a greasy rag and stood next to Shirley, looking down on the exhausted girl. "Does she normally do this?"
Shirley shook her head, "No, the only time she ever runs anywhere is for food or to get away from training. There isn't any training scheduled and dinner is still some time away, so I wonder what could have gotten her so worked up?"
Sam kneeled down to speak to the girl, "You mentioned something about Colonel O'Neill?"
"An… and the Commander." Pilot Officer Lucchini replied, taking two more deep breaths and sitting up, "I think they're seeing each other."
"What?" Shirley and Sam said at the same time, mimicking each other's wide eyed expression.
Pilot Officer Lucchini nodded vigorously, "Mm-hmm. I saw the Colonel leaving the Commander's room, after hearing some strange noises and then the Commander left and her uniform was a mess. I think…" she trailed off and looked around to check if anyone was around, "…I think they…" she made a gesture with her hands.
Shirley looked at Sam, "Would the Colonel…?"
Sam shook her head. "Would your Commander…?"
Shirley also shook her head.
"They must have been something else," Sam said, somewhat doubting her own words, but still having faith in the Jack.
"Like what?" Flying Officer Lucchini wondered aloud.
"We'll figure it out later, now let's do these tests," Sam told the pair and Shirley groaned.