A/N: I apologize in advance for the fact that half of this chapter is a flashback 😉
Chapter 27
2034
"What's going on?" Grace asked, taking off her flight helmet the moment she got out of the cockpit. Miller was already talking to Ferretti.
Miller turned to her, her dark eyes troubled. "We're landing."
"On that planet?!" One of the other pilots asked. Grace couldn't remember his name, but she appreciated the incredulity with which he stared at Miller. The insignia on his chest told her, he was a Major as well.
"On that planet, Nelson." Miller nodded and started pushing her way towards the exit.
"They're not serious, are they?" Lucas approached her, his eyes trained on Miller's retreating back. "I mean…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "You know?"
"Yeah," Grace said. The thing was, though, this decision wasn't up to either one of them.
"Mitchell?"
He was sitting at his desk, frowning at a peace of paper and still doing so when Alex entered the room. "Hey." He still didn't look up. For a moment there he kept staring, his hand buried in his white hair.
"Sorry, the door was open, so I thought…"
Mitchell looked up. "Yes. No, you're right, sorry." He leaned back and wiped his hand over his face. "I'm never going to get used to this bureaucracy thing." Shaking his head, he got up from his chair and picked up his jacket.
"To be honest, I'm surprised you got paper there."
He grunted as she drew nearer, his hand hovering over the document. It had the Pentagon's seal in the top right-hand corner and she saw the headline for just a brief moment, before he picked it up again and shoved it in the top-most drawer of his desk.
"Seen it?" he asked.
Alex looked up. At that face she'd grown accustomed to over the years. She trusted him, not only since she'd been stranded on that planet in Pegasus with his team and Evan. He exuded confidence in a way many pilots did. She nodded and said with a tone of non-chalance: "Seen what?"
The words still seemed to burn on her retinas though. Request to re-launch Pegasus Project.
"Confidential stuff still gets printed out and handed to you by guy who swallowed a stick."
"Ah." Alex said. "I'll make a note of it and tell my son next time I see him."
"Oh?" Mitchell asked, shrugging into his jacket.
"Caleb is incredibly opposed to paper."
"Oh, I see." Mitchell grinned at her. "We're getting too old for this stuff."
"And we're late."
Mitchell nodded and took a look around the room. He'd been in command of the SGC for almost ten years now. Ever since Landry had left and he'd fit in right from the very beginning. "That's why you came over? To make sure I leave on time?"
With a shrug, Alex held open the door for him. "As I recall, you were late to your own wedding, Cameron, so you'll forgive me."
"He forgave me. Eventually."
"Well, I agree, he got married to you. That's not nothing."
Smirking, Mitchell followed her out of the room. Mitchell's husband Oscar, a teacher at an elementary school in Colorado Springs, had been a few years older than Mitchell and had died three years ago. Talking about him didn't seem to bother Mitchell though. On the contrary, it seemed to calm him like little else could.
"I suppose Jackson's already at your house?"
"He and Vala should be there by now," Alex said as she watched Mitchell close the door behind himself and locking it. Grace was off-world. She'd joined the SGC a few weeks ago and she and her team had left for a three-day mission to some far-away planet. She and Caleb had both been home for Christmas, but neither one of them had spent New Year's with them in ages.
Mitchell nodded, shrugged into his jacket and together they made their way to the elevator, Mitchell wishing the airman on guard a happy new year. "How's the research going?"
"You know all Daniel and I do these days is fact-checking basically."
"And taking a closer look at these things. You and him certainly have the most experience in that area." That wasn't wrong. Almost everyone else who had been there in the first decade of the Stargate Program had already left. Mitchell himself was considered a bit of a fossil among the younger airmen. Well. A fossil and a hero, the same as Evan, whereas Alex and Daniel were more the relic-type these days. But almost everybody at the SGC was first and foremost a member of the US Air Force these days. Things really had changed. "Wouldn't want it any other way."
"You really should try to get more archaeologists to join the program. You only have three in that department and they can barely keep up with all the artefacts the teams bring back." Not to mention the damage the off-world teams could cause by not listening to a civilian archaeologist from time to time. Luckily in the past few years no major catastrophe had been caused because of it, but that didn't mean that threat didn't exist anymore.
"I know," Mitchell sighed. "Not easy getting the funding, though." He shrugged and pushed the button to the first floor. "Also, it's kind of hard to get a civilian to sign up for a military program these days. But it's good the new members of the SGC have to go through you, Jackson and Schäfer now. At least they're not as blind as most of us other newbies were at first."
"Yes," Alex said quietly, her gaze trained on the illuminated button in front of her. She shoved her hands into her pockets. "The thing is, though, we won't be there forever."
"Thinking about retiring?"
Alex shrugged. "Caleb will get his Doctorate soon. He's in the las stages of getting it ready to hand in. I'm pretty sure Evan and I are going to retire some time after that."
"Ah." Mitchell nodded. "So, he's following in your footsteps, Grace is following in her dad's. Almost romantic, isn't it?"
"Oh, shut up, Mitchell."
Grace's face was apprehensive. That was the word he'd use. The moment he stepped into the lift with her, she opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. This wasn't the time and place.
"She's not wrong, you know?" Miller said, her eyes darting between Evan and his daughter. They were on their way to the loading ramp at the very bottom of the Hammond. Miller and her team would accompany him onto the surface. And he had to admit, this wasn't ideal, but it also wasn't the moment for him to share a father-daughter moment with Grace.
"About what?" Evan asked, closing the zipper of his vest. Miller and her team could have easily gone on this short trip alone, but Evan found it was his duty to go there himself. When their plea for parlay had finally come through, they'd only received landing coordinates. There had been little choice but to comply. Their ship's systems were down and it would take days for them to get them back into working order.
"If you don't mind me asking, Sir, why did we land after we were attacked by a hostile Wraith Hive ship?"
"It wasn't hostile," Evan said, ignoring Grace's derisive snort. He'd expected it, but he still felt the urge to tell her off. "Just cautious." Downplaying this whole thing might not be ideal, but right now that was all he could hope for.
"General?" Lucas asked, cocking his head. "Aren't we so badly damaged that we can't even use beaming technology?"
"Yes, we are," Evan agreed. "But the Wraith agreed to a parlay, and we need time to fix the ship and take a look at the settlement down there."
"So, there is a settlement?" Grace asked and Evan nodded.
"A fairly huge village and we detected life signs. So… fingers crossed."
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Grace and Lucas exchange a glance and felt his own stomach tighten.
Vala had her legs draped over Daniel's lap. Sometimes Alex envied her natural grace. She knew she'd never have the confidence or the agility to sit like this with Evan. Not with other members, or rather former members, of the military present. Moreover, she doubter her joints would be alright with such a sitting position. No matter how often Evan assured her she was just as fit as always. She knew she wasn't. Or at least she didn't feel like she was.
Alex felt Evan's hand on the small of her back. "What're you thinking about?" he asked.
Daniel patted Vala's knee and O'Neill got up from his seat to talk to Mitchell who was standing in the corner, sipping his beer.
"That I'm glad we got Grace's and Caleb's rooms ready for unforeseen overnight guests," Alex said with a small smile.
Teal'c his face still unchanged, was talking in a low voice to Jonas and Carter. Jonas' wife Amanda was sleeping soundly on her husbands shoulder. It was already way past midnight, and going by the soft talking going on in their living room, Alex doubted anyone was going to leave here anytime soon. She only wished Oliver and Anna had stayed a bit longer.
Evan pressed a kiss on her temple.
"Alex!" Vala shouted, interrupting all the talking and stretching out an arm towards Alex, her wrinkled face flushed and as she held out her hand to her, Daniel wrapped his own arm tightly about his wife to steady her.
Alex laughed and fell down on the couch next to her. "What's up?"
"Your favourite New Year's! Tell me."
Teal'c looked at Alex with a raised eyebrow and Amanda stirred in Jonas' arms. "I did not realize that was a custom."
Alex shook her head and looked over at Evan. If anything, it must be the one they'd spent on Larsa. She'd just accepted that she was pregnant then, and although she'd been terrified, she'd been excited. Excited to be with Evan. To be able to rely on him and to know that he relied on her. But she'd be damned if she ever shared that with anyone but him.
He was leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. He frowned slightly and then smiled.
"Huh, this is going to be personal," Daniel huffed, a slight heaviness to his pronunciation. He'd never been able to hold too much alcohol.
"Well, on the first New Year's Eve we ever spent together, I was stationed in Spangdahlem." The grin spread a bit wider over his face, making his eyes sparkle somewhat. Alex didn't particularly like that story. She'd opened the letter with her job offer for New York the next day, disrupting their lives for the foreseeable future. "We went to the party at the air base together and there-" he paused, and Alex remembered the instant he'd been pulled away from her to discuss Javier. But he didn't mention that. Of course he didn't. His eyes were still trained on Alex. "Well, I'm not sure if it counts as the best New Year's I've ever had, but it's certainly been one of the more memorable ones."
"Come to the point, Lorne," O'Neill said from the corner, making Mitchell nearly choke on his beer.
"I am, but to be honest, I'm not sure we'd be here today, at least not in this constellation, if it hadn't been for a meeting between my then-girlfriend and a certain General."
"Who?" Carter asked and Alex could hear the grin in O'Neill's voice when he said: "Hammond."
"Exactly." Evan returned the grin.
"He was stationed in Germany as well in the 90's."
"And he'd been contacted by General West about this one particular artefact. Guess what: when he found out Alex was an archaeologist, he asked her if she knew anyone who could help with interpreting a couple of hieroglyphs."
"That was you?" Daniel asked, incredulously and Alex found herself smiling when she turned to look at him.
"Well, I'd only recently read your infamous book and I couldn't help but think of Doctor Jackson." Daniel had been the best in the game at that point. "You were good, even if I didn't exactly… well…"
"I know, I know." Daniel rolled his eyes, clearly remembering the way he'd been scorned for his theories back in the day. By now he was all but forgotten by the archaeological community. As was she. But she doubted either he, or her cared too much about it. The trace of a grin on his lips told her he wasn't angry, though. Not anymore.
Vala looked at Daniel, a certain warmth in her eyes that was only there when she talked to him. "So General Hammond told West and that's how you joined the Stargate Program."
"That's how any one of us ended up here. Well, maybe apart from Vala and Cam." Carter grinned and then got to her feet, her drink still in hand. "General Hammond." She raised her bottle and everyone, stood as well.
Jonas carefully laid Amanda down on the couch and as he stood opposite Alex, his own glass raised as well, he managed one of his old smiles. One of those meant to show confidence when he was really unsure of himself. How could that still be possible?
If it hadn't been for Hammond letting him through the Gate all those years ago, he wouldn't have found a place here on Earth. If Hammond hadn't put his trust in Teal'c, the Jaffa rebellion might not have happened and Teal'c might be long gone. Daniel, Mitchell, O'Neill, Carter and Vala were here because Hammond had helped establish the SGC as a place where teams would always stick together.
Hammond had let Alex join the SGC despite the history she shared with one of his officers. He'd mobilized every resource he could to bring back their daughter. They owed him a lot. And Evan was right. None of them would be here if it hadn't been for General George Hammond.
"General Hammond." They chorused, drinking to the memory of the man who'd built and shaped the SGC more than anyone else.
As Alex swallowed, she closed her eyes, thinking about all the people who weren't here. Those who had moved away from Colorado Springs years ago. Team mates she'd lost. Friends she'd never see again. There were too many to name, yet their faces flashed before her eyes and there was a soft ache in her chest. A throbbing pain. Almost intangible, but there nonetheless.
She felt Evan's arm sneak around her waist and she looked up to see him looking at her, his expression serious. She nodded once and the soft talking resumed.
Alex looked over her shoulder at Mitchell, the current leader of Stargate Command. He'd try to get the Pegasus Project relaunched, she knew he would.
Mitchell winked at her, then resumed talking to O'Neill.
If he succeeded to even launch an expedition to Pegasus, she knew neither one of their old comrades would go. Neither she, nor Evan would see that galaxy again.
"What is it?" Evan whispered in her ear and she gently patted his chest.
"Nothing." At least this was nothing she wanted to tell him right now.
Every planet smelled different. It was hard to pinpoint every single scent in the blend, but once you took your first lungful of another planet's oxygen mix, you knew you were in a different place, no matter how much like Canada or Nevada your surroundings looked.
And this planet smelled familiar. Evan recognized it the moment the ramp was lowered and he and Miller's team started walking down it. There was that certain earthiness and fresh herbs smell which was so typical for New Athos, and Evan doubted that smell had not been involved when Teyla and her people chose a new homeworld. Somehow he thought that their original planet had smelled very much like this one.
The Wraith scout ship had already landed and from where they were standing, Evan could make out three figures, two massive ones and a third, slightly slimmer one. Behind him, he could hear Grace take a deep breath, reminding him that right now keeping her and her team as safe as possible was his top priority. "Here we go," he said quietly, relishing in the sound of grass beneath his boots as he stepped from the ramp. It'd been weeks since he'd been outside, and sometimes the simplest sensations were easy to forget.
"Do you know one of them?" Lucas asked quietly and quickly added: "Sir?"
Evan didn't answer. The figures were still too far away to make out, but he got the sense that only one of them was Wraith, given the greyish green skin tone of the person standing in the middle. And then the faces came into focus, but before he could speak, the Wraith's chilling voice reached out to him:
"The years have not been kind to you, Major Lorne!"
Oh boy, did he wish Sheppard were here for a heart-felt reply. "Thanks, Todd," he shot back, picking up the pace to reach the delegation. "Ronon!" he exclaimed, relieved to see the former ally standing tall and burly as ever, his now grey hair cropped short. And then there was Halling, also much older than Evan remembered, but it was him. Undoubtedly. "Halling," he said, smiling and Halling nodded, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Lorne," Ronon answered, stretching out his hand to greet him.
Evan took it without hesitating, Miller's team right behind him, and when they clasped hands, Ronon pulled him towards him, as though ready to embrace him. His breath caught in his chest as Ronon whirled him around, pressed his arm over his throat and Evan felt the cold metal of a weapon against his temple.
A/N: And now I'm apologizing for the cliffhanger. Oops!