8 Days Ago…

Atlantis Gate Room

Pegasus Galaxy

As the Stargate was being dialed, Sheppard took one last look around the Atlantis gate room. His team stood to one side, having already said their goodbyes, their expressions serious. They each knew that this was perhaps the last time they might see each other.

Sheppard glanced up to see a number of personnel lining the gate room balcony, crowding along the grand staircase and around the gate room. He was surprised at how many were standing there to see him off. He nodded at Amelia Banks, Chuck, Mr. Woolsey, several of the expedition scientists and marines, and lastly, his second-in-command, Major Evan Lorne.

Lorne suddenly straightened up. "Good luck, sir!"

"Thank you, Major." Sheppard gestured in that vague way of his, taking in the whole of Atlantis. "Take good care of my city."

"Yes, sir!" Lorne snapped to attention. "Company—A-ten-shun! Pre-sent—Arms!" Instantly, the military personnel in attendance snapped to attention and saluted their commanding officer. Some of the civilian personnel present also straightened automatically—even McKay.

Deeply touched, Sheppard returned their salute, and then, without further word, spun on his heel and stepped through the event horizon…

oOo

HQ, SGC Gate Room

Cheyenne Mountain

As his boots hit the metal ramp leading from the Stargate at Headquarters, Stargate Command, Sheppard's ears were instantly assaulted by the grating alarms that were the norm during an off-world activation.

Taking a look around, Sheppard was again struck by the intense claustrophobic and utilitarian atmosphere of the place. The brief six months he had spent here in exile a couple of years ago were enough to convince him that despite the constant danger, he had the better deal in being assigned to Atlantis.

He hoped that he would have the opportunity to see his city and his teammates again. With the two fully-charged ZPMs that Todd had led them to, Atlantis would be capable of crossing intergalactic space and make it here to Earth. Hopefully in time to help stop the Super-Hive. Unfortunately, the trip would take weeks. Weeks they might not have.

Hence, here he was…on Earth, at Stargate Command, without his team.

Feeling suddenly very much alone.

These weren't his people, willing and eager to follow his command…his lead. Just like before, Sheppard felt very much the Outcast. All he needed was General Landry to lecture him—again!—about following the "Proper chain of command."

As if no one in the SGC ever disobeyed orders and followed their instincts to do the right thing. General O'Neill's exploits came immediately to mind, as did those of Landry's wonder-boy, Colonel Mitchell. How often had Sheppard heard Landry address Mitchell as "son" during his exile here at SGC? Okay…so Mitchell was a good guy. That didn't lessen the resentment.

And, to read their reports and Landry's glowingly approving comments, the two SG-1 leaders had made "command decisions" based on their "professional analysis" of the situation on the ground. Sheppard, on the other hand, was a "maverick," according to Landry and one of his former commanding officers, "insubordinate" and even "a danger to unit morale" according to Colonel Ames.

Sheppard didn't even want to think about the carefully worded "non-reprimand/non-attaboy" that Landry had placed in his official file after he led a team (comprised of civilians no less) to re-take Atlantis from the Replicators.

Sheppard wasn't entirely sure what Landry had disapproved of the most: The fact that he had blatantly disobeyed orders and succeeded, or that he had chosen to take a strike team made up of Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, and Carson Beckett.

Sheppard smirked. He knew that he would never be on Landry's Top Ten List of Favorite Air Force Officers; however, he also knew that he had a mentor and somewhat friend in General Jack O'Neill. After all, by his count he had already saved the general's life twice.

For now, his career was relatively safe…at least, until the Wraith arrived, and then, well…if they couldn't stop them, then his career would be the least of his problems.

A familiar—and welcomed—voice snapped Sheppard back from his musings.

"Colonel Sheppard—it's good to see you, John." Sam!

Sheppard grinned broadly, sincerely happy to see his former commanding officer.

"Colonel Carter…it's good to see a friendly face."

Carter smiled, knowing exactly how Sheppard felt. Indeed, after Woolsey had so unceremoniously informed her that he was replacing her as Atlantis' Commander, she had felt almost sick to her stomach, as if she'd walked into an ambush. She hadn't even been given the chance to say a proper goodbye to her Command—or the friends she'd made there. She counted John Sheppard among those friends.

Sheppard could've easily made her time there difficult or awkward. After all, she had had some big shoes to fill by replacing a well-loved and respected leader, Elizabeth Weir. Also, many Atlantis personnel believed that either Sheppard or McKay, the ranking military and civilian leaders respectively, should have been selected to replace Weir.

However, Sheppard immediately gave her his unwavering support, and somehow brought McKay along to offer his as well. As a result, Carter was soon accepted by the rest of the expedition. It also helped that she was both a scientist and a military officer with several years experience with SG-1.

Carter's first weeks back at the SGC had passed in a numb blur. It was only through O'Neill's intervention, and her being offered command of the newest of the space fleet's Daedalus Class F303s, that had saved her sanity. She had spent the past few months busily working on the ship's systems, looking forward to its ever-approaching launch date. Sadly, that date was still months away, and the ship wouldn't be ready to help in the fight against the Wraith.

For now, Carter had been appointed as temporary commander of SGC, while Landry ran a multi-national task force in the Pentagon under Home World Security. She rolled her eyes. Naturally, she'd appointed to this Command while the world faced its greatest single crisis. Just another day in the office, she thought ironically.

As she led Sheppard down the endless gray corridors of the vast underground complex, Carter dropped the latest bombshell. "Long range sensors spotted a hyper-drive window opening on the other side of the moon." She took a deep breath. "It's the Wraith Super-Hive."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Sheppard looked shocked. "I thought it was supposed to be weeks away!"

Carter shook her head and shrugged helplessly. "I know…but—"

Sheppard nodded. There was little they could do about it now, except move on. "How long before…?"

"We're not sure. Right now they've stopped to re-generate, or whatever it is the Hives have to do between jumps. We don't think it's reached its full charge yet, but it's a matter of time."

"Okay…so what do you want me to do? Take a transport to Antarctica?"

"Not exactly." Carter smiled and indicated he follow her into the SGC Operations Control Center.

When they entered the OCC, Carter introduced Sheppard to Major Davis. Davis was a familiar face at the SGC. He actually worked for Home World Security, but General O'Neill told him to make himself useful at Cheyenne Mountain. He kept O'Neill apprised of any status changes, and O'Neill in turn kept the President up-to-date.

Davis had just gotten off the phone with O'Neill, informing him of Sheppard's arrival. O'Neill had given Davis a message to pass on to Carter.

"Major Davis." Sheppard shook hands with him. "What's the status?"

"Sir…the Hive is still just sitting there. We're getting energy readings that are off the scale. We anticipate it'll be launching darts soon."

"That doesn't sound good," Sheppard muttered. "Colonel, have the F302 pilots trained on the combat maneuvers of the Wraith darts? Both in atmosphere and space?" He paused for a moment and grinned because that just never got old.

Carter grinned back. A pilot herself, with space combat experience, she understood exactly how Sheppard felt. They knew that they were facing imminent death and the destruction of the world, but damn…they got to fly F302s. Carter sighed resignedly. Well…at least, Sheppard did. She was stuck here in command of SGC.

Davis gave them both a strange look. He was career Air Force but strictly ground support—one of the thousands of men and women who never stepped inside the cockpit of a flying machine, but instead, provided the support needed to keep the aircraft flying. Still he knew his job—command, control, and communications—and Sheppard knew that once he was flying combat missions, men like Davis became his lifeline home.

"M'am, we just got a call from Dr. Lee. They've gotten the weapons chair fully operational. Apparently, one of the marines at Area 51 had worked with Col. Sheppard in Atlantis and had undergone some kind of ATA training there."

Sheppard looked on with interest. "Yeah…did he say his name?"

"Yessir…a Sgt. Martinez. He said you gave him and other members of the military who were natural ATA gene carriers training on the weapons chair."

"Yeah…the artificial ATA gene didn't work well with certain primary systems. We started regular training sessions on the weapons chair as part of newcomer orientation for natural ATA gene carriers. It made sense to have as many military trained personnel capable of defending Atlantis if anything happened to me or Major Lorne…or any of the other strong carriers. After we first flew Atlantis, it was obvious that we also needed as many trained pilots as possible who were familiar with the city's star drive. I'm glad to see that our training paid off here at home."

"John, that's a great idea. I'll have to propose that we implement a similar training program here on Earth. We can't keep recalling you from Atlantis to come home and defend us when we're facing imminent invasion. We can't be dependent on only one man."

"Yeah, well…why don't we get through this crisis before we start preventing the next one?" Sheppard asked. "Can we get the 302s outfitted with nukes?"

Davis looked uncertain, but Carter nodded the go-ahead. As Davis hurried to the phone and immediately started setting things in motion, Carter took Sheppard aside.

"John, this isn't why brought you here…"

"Look, Colonel…we can wait for the Hive to grow stronger, or we can take the fight to it. What do you want me to do…?"

oOo