A/N - Wow 8 reviews on that last chapter, so glad you're all still enjoying it. I promise there will be some answers soon, although there's a few more clues to come.
Thanks for sticking with me and continuing to read, it means a lot.
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Chapter 12 - Marionette
Earth November 10th 2010
Piers Smith-Johnson watched Jack with little more than disdain, 'the IOA were hasty in their decision to make Colonel Carter interim guardian. They require someone else to fill the position until such time appropriate arrangements can be made for long term care of the child.' Jack waited; 'I got that much,' Piers passed Jack a folder. Jack opened it and took out a series of photographs and reports. The reports were written by Sam, McKay and Daniel and covered the details of the pod, the runes, the technology to bypass the iris and Ella herself. There were photographs of the pod from various angles and of the baby.
He picked up a photograph of Sam holding the baby. It was zoomed in on the child being cradled in someone's arms but he recognized the hand and watch, it was Sam. He studied the child for a few moments, her blue eyes looking up at the camera inquisitively. His mind ran back to their first year working together, she had become attached to Cassie so quickly back then. She had even defied his direct orders to stay with her. He was absolutely certain that after spending nearly four weeks with this little girl, Sam was head over heels in love with her. She would be devastated if the baby was taken away from her.
The shrub tapped his pile of papers on the desk and turned it on its side to repeat the process, he laid the now perfectly aligned paper on the desk in front of him, 'Officers of Colonel Carter's caliber, rank and experience are immensely difficult to replace.' Jack knew exactly where this was going, 'not to mention expensive,' he added sarcastically. The shrub nodded and smiled, his expression reminding Jack of the snake-head Apophis, oily, slimy and not to be trusted.
'Do you know how much it costs to train an Air Force Officer?' Jack didn't like where this was going. 'Initial training costs of up to $45,000, phD tutition of $25,000, and $30,000 a year living expenses for four years. Earnings of $35,000 a year whilst ranked 2nd Lieutenant, rising to nearly $50,000 for a 1st Lieutenant, $60,000 per year for three years as a Captain, $68,000 per year for four years as a Major, nearly $80,000 per year for three years ranked Lt Colonel and $88,000 per year for the past three years as a full bird Colonel. That totals over $1,500,000 of tax payers money.'
Jack was pissed before the shrub spoke, now he was really pissed, 'and? In my opinion, money well spent.' Woolsey joined in, 'women of Colonel Carter's, age, may find their priorities change, this may or may not encourage them to step down from active duty, both temporarily and permanently. The IOA wishes to give no encouragement for any US Air Force Officer to change his or her priorities or working arrangement.' Jack stared from Smith-Johnson to Woolsey to Vidrine and Hank, neither General met his gaze, the penny dropped.
'You called me in here cos you're worried if Carter looks after this kid she's gonna wanna start popping babies out?' Hank still refused to meet his gaze, he continued, 'so what if she does? It's her life, her body, and she's more than earned a bit of downtime. The years she's given to her county and she has you lot sniping behind her back about how much she's cost the tax payer. Let me remind you, if it wasn't for Carter, you wouldn't be here to complain.'
Vidrine motioned for Jack to sit down, 'it's not something we discuss lightly, unfortunately we have to put a monetary value on personnel, it is distasteful but it has to be done,' Jack was still incredulous, Woolsey continued, 'Our concerns are largely regarding her intentions towards the infant, Estella, or Ella, as the Colonel has named her. A woman of Colonel Carter's age has roughly a 40 percent chance of conceiving naturally; this figure will drop to 20% within 12 months. A further reduction is to be assumed by her time spent deployed.' Jack didn't bother to add her abdominal injury into the equation, it wasn't his place to, 'so, what you're just going to block any request she makes to adopt Ella and deny her Earth leave just in case she wants to find someone to knock her up?' Jack finally sat down, he didn't want to but his knees were killing him. 'Unfrigging believeable,' he slammed his fist on the table making Woolsey jump.
Ryk'l February 1st 2004
Janet looked from Jacob to Jack and back again expecting one of them to crack and shout 'surprise' or 'early April fools' or something else cliché. Neither of them did. 'Please tell me this is a joke Sir?' Jack shook his head, 'no can do Doc.' Her eyes darted to Jacob hopefully, he shook his head slightly, 'all true, to my knowledge. As far as I can figure someone has gone to a lot of trouble to set this up. They know our movements and they know Jack.'
'Could this be a Goa'uld trick, manipulating us into changing history?' Jack shook his head, 'nope, but somebody wants us to play about with the timeline. I am so gonna get my ass kicked when I get back to my time.' Janet and Jacob raised an eyebrow each, 'she wouldn't even let me go back to watch the ball game, she'll go bat shit crazy when she finds out I grabbed you two.'
Janet fought back a smirk, 'I take it you mean Sam?' Jack nodded, 'its written in her handwriting. I just I got this feeling, we gotta trust this letter but I don't know, its weird.' Jacob leaned back in his chair, 'speaking of the letter, what's it say next?' Jack picked up the letter and smoothed it out, he cleared his throat and looked at the other two, 'ready? Got those brains ready?' He started to read aloud.
The gleam of the first, the thrill of the chase, the symbol of peace seeks his counsel from God's grace. Whilst the ladder of the lord fights the demons of Hades the young one is at work on a circle without the 0. The first prime remembers the years the flare took and gave with the help of the memorial hero.
Atlantis November 30th 2010
Sam was in the control room looking at some data one of the techs was analyzing, Wraith sub-space communications, and was startled by a high-pitched sound. She leaned back and looked through the glass to her office. Ella was propped up in one of the chairs, her face alight with pleasure at something in front of her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open, she suddenly jumped a little and shook her arms in delight as she giggled.
Sam frowned and stepped away from the console, 'monitor the situation and inform me of any changes,' she told the tech. She walked towards her office and spotted Jack behind a chair, he jumped up and wiggled his hands about, grinning from ear to ear, 'peek a boo!" Ella squealed with delight and shook her arms again. Sam forced back a smile and watched them for a few minutes.
Realising her behaviour could be seen as inappropriate - being caught staring at a General would not be a good thing - she entered the room. She headed straight to Ella, 'what's he doing? Eh? What's Jack doing? Is he being silly? Jack being silly?' Ella held her arms up to her and she gladly obliged. 'Ooh, come here baby,' she settled Ella in her arms, supporting her bottom and head. She turned to Jack, now leaning against the chair rubbing his knees, 'I assume you've finished the commissary requisition forms, seeing how you've had time to play,' she smirked before adding a hurried, 'Sir.'
He looked comically offended at the idea he was shirking off, he stood up and walked towards her, 'Yes actually I have,' he looked down at Ella and tickled her gently, she giggled and squirmed in response, 'and we were having lots of fun, weren't we Ella, till Sam came in and was mean and stopped us.' He pretended to sulk. Sam pointed at the door, 'should I just go work somewhere else until you children have finished playing?' Jack looked at Ella, 'what do you think, you think it would be better if Sam played too?' Sam rolled her eyes, 'you want Sam to play too Ella? Sam play too? Yeah? Sam you play too?'
He looked up at her with his puppy dog expression, she tipped her head to the side, they had danced this dance many times before, both as CO and 2IC and as lovers. She remembered him looking at her like that when he wanted to put the Simpsons on during a documentary on atmospheric change and meteorology, he had pleaded with her, 'but it's a brand new episode Sam.' She'd snuggled on his lap and held onto the remote tightly, he'd continued to whine and sulk for a few minutes before falling quiet.
She'd been suspicious long before his lips found the sensitive spot on her neck, his warm breath tickling her as he teased her, 'Jack stop it, I'm trying to watch this,' she'd laughed. He'd smiled into her neck, taking his sensual assault lower, 'you wouldn't let me watch my programme,' he kissed her throat, 'so I'm gonna stop you watching yours.' He'd unbuttoned her shirt quick as a flash and turned her over on her back whilst she squealed and giggled. She tore herself away from the memory and let her eyes rest on the man in front of her.
'Sam, has mission reports to review, unless Jack would rather do it for me.' His eyes widened, a small smile creeping across his face, 'no, you, review away,' he carefully took Ella from Sam. The physical contact making her pulse race and her temperature rise, images of him pressing her against her living room wall, pinning her against the bookcase and kissing her hard as he unbuttoned her pants, flew through her mind in a rush. Her breathing quickened and she felt like her chest was heaving, she was sure she was bright red.
The sound of whirring and locking chevrons snapped her out of it, she hurried to the walkway and watched as the event horizon kawooshed and formed. 'Incoming communication, Colonel Sheppards IDC,' Sam nodded, she felt Jack's presence behind her and felt her skin tingle all over.
'Put him through,' she tapped her radio, 'John, go ahead,' static crackled for a few seconds, 'Colonel, seems you're all kinds of popular in the Galaxy these days.' Jack was close enough to feel him tense, 'Go, on,' Sam was taking deep breaths trying to ignore the warmth spreading through her.' 'Seems the locals on P6X-894 are led by women, and will only discuss trade and alliances with women,' a second voice interrupted, 'I haven't even seen a man anywhere, you don't think they keep them locked up somewhere do you?'
'McKay!' Sheppard answered, 'They're probably off doing all the manual jobs and the women take on the political roles,' Sam mulled the thought over, an image of Jack in denim cut offs chopping wood outside his cabin, the sun shining on his tanned toned abs, sweat shining on his back and chest. She bit her lip to stop herself moaning and tried to keep her mind on P6X-894.
'You think it's safe, for us, you know, to stay here, they could, attack us and…' Sam rolled her eyes, 'tie us up somewhere and use us a sex slaves?' Sheppard asked sarcastically, 'Really, don't you think we should get back in the jumper and head back, and…' Sam sighed irritably, 'Oh, I think you're quite safe Rodney,' she said before she could stop herself, 'hey! Are you, is she saying I'm not physically attractive?' Jack snorted behind her and she swatted him with her forearm out of habit. 'Jack, seriously,' she hissed turning to look at him; she glared at him, meeting his gaze. She realized he wasn't looking into her eyes in the way she was his, the deep brown like melted chocolate and coffee, but looking past her and turned to see the tech's staring. Cameron had appeared at some point and was stood by the steps. He raised his eyebrow at her and smirked.
Ignoring them and putting some space between herself and Jack she spoke again, 'What are they requesting,' 'our, I quote alpha female and if required, several members of her pack knowledgeable in relevant fields.' She waited for it, one, two, 'so Vixen, what foxy ladies you taking on your field trip?' That was bad, even for Jack, she gave him a look she hoped conveyed her lack of amusement. She tapped her radio, 'SGA6, Dr MacKenzie, Dr Keller, Lt Hailey and Vala to the briefing room,' she looked down at the wormhole and tapped her radio again, 'John, bring your team back through, tell the locals we'll be there in 2 hours, Carter out.'
She returned to her office and grabbed her tablet, 'You want me to sit in, its why I'm here, toss in my 2 cents worth,' Sam smiled, he leaned against the door frame, his Atlantis uniform hugging him in all the right places and looking the picture of perfect holding Ella. 'I'll be fine,' she breathed, Jack nodded, 'We'll find somewhere else to play then,' he grinned and lifted Ella's hand up. As he reversed, he waved it gently, 'bye bye, bye bye Sam,' she waved back, 'bye bye Ella.' She turned around as he disappeared from view and fanned herself with her tee. She only had to brush her hand against his and her whole body was on fire, she realized she was sweating under her jacket and took some deep breaths to calm herself. What was wrong with her these days?
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P.S. I don't pretend to know anything about officers pay but googled it and took the figures from a USAF website. airforce dot com /benefits/officer-pay/ I guesstimated she must have done at least 3/4 years to reach 1st Lieutenant (I mixed up 1st/2nd Lieutenant assuming it went 1-2 not 2-1 and have subsequently swapped them over) and at least 6 years to reach Captain (including her phd studies over 4 years - which I assume she completed whilst enlisted due to her comments in 'Prodigy') and took a round figure near the value in the box. As I say it was all guesstimates based on that table but I did try to be as accurate as possible.
