Fifteen minutes later they parked the jumper near the Athosian settlement and walked over to meet Ronon and Teyla, who had been part of Sheppard's team on Atlantis.
When they arrived at the settlement, the scents of a hearty meat stew drifted over the air. Sam's stomach grumbled and she realized that she hadn't had anything to eat for almost five hours. The last thing she had was a granola bar.
Jack would have given her such a hard time for not eating, especially before a big mission.
Daniel would have brought some snacks with.
"That smells great!" Sheppard called. She assumed that the two figures talking outside a nearby tent were the other members of the Atlantis team.
The woman and man both turned around at the sound of Sheppard's voice. He was tall and she was somewhat short, but they both looked like - as Teal'c would say - "formidable warriors." She looked forward to getting to know Sheppard's other team members.
"Hope you saved some for us," Sheppard continued.
The woman's face lit up when she saw them.
"John?! It is wonderful to see you—all of you!"
"And you," Weir replied before gesturing towards Sam. "Ronon, Teyla, this is Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter."
Sam stepped forward. "It's great to meet you. And you can call me Sam."
"Hi."
Sam smiled at Ronon in response, but it seemed that the single word was all he was going to manage. It made her think of Teal'c's understated way of communicating.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Sam," Teyla replied, clasping her hand in greeting. Sam appreciated the woman's welcoming demeanor.
"Something's wrong," Ronon observed.
The group from Earth all looked at each other.
"Yes," Sam eventually replied. "Something is very wrong and we need your help."
"Let's talk inside," Teyla offered.
They all moved into a nearby tent. Once inside, Teyla asked if any of them wanted something to eat. She looked at Sheppard first, no doubt because of his comment about the smell of the stew, but directed the invitation to all of them.
Sam's stomach growled again.
"I'd love some if you don't mind," she said to Teyla. "I'm pretty sure the only thing I've had to eat since lunch has been a granola bar."
"I'll have some too," McKay added.
Sheppard looked at McKay. "We all just ate dinner."
Sam remembered a brief mention in the jumper about how the four of them had been at a restaurant when they got the call to come into the SGC.
"That was hours ago," McKay retorted, "and we have no idea when we're going to eat again. In fact, we should also pack some food supplies into the jumper just in case."
"That's actually a good idea, Rodney," Weir said.
Teyla came back with a bowl for her and one for McKay.
Sam thanked her and started eating. Everyone else sat around the table and Sheppard started to describe the outline of their plan for getting back to the city, destroying the Replicators, and rescuing Jack and Woolsey.
The main part of the plan that Sam was concerned about was using a Replicator to defeat the Replicators.
She knew that the Asgard always advocated for using humanity's "stupid ideas" to fight Replicators, but the odds of success for McKay's plan seemed really slim if it all hinged on finding the right energy level to get Niam to transmit the code without having access to any other abilities.
"Are you sure the code will be uploaded to the other Replicators before Niam reawakens?" Sam asked.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"I've had plenty of experience with Replicators and -"
"The plan will work," McKay snapped.
Sam tried to contain her anger and took a deep breath. McKay may have had some experience with Replicators, but she also knew exactly what they were capable of. Being overconfident was never a good idea where the Replicators were concerned.
"It's always good to have a backup plan," she pointed out.
Sam watched Beckett and Ronon look quickly between the two of them. Sam didn't want to start a fight, but it was always better to work through these things in safety while you could.
"He tends to prefer coming up with backup plans on the fly," Sheppard explained with a shrug. "He works better under pressure."
McKay glared at Sheppard. "He would prefer if people didn't keep trying to poke holes in his plan."
"Rodney, I don't think she's trying to poke holes," Weir said, trying to play peacemaker. "We're just all trying to make sure we're as prepared as we can be."
Sheppard looked at all of them and seemed to just give up on the whole situation altogether.
"Okay, you two sort this out. Ronon and I are going to bring the supplies we need back to the jumper and bring back the ARGs. We need to make sure that everyone knows exactly how to use them before we set out for Atlantis."
"Don't forget the food."
"We won't, McKay."
Sheppard and Ronon left to gather supplies and carry them back to the jumper.
"I'm not saying that it's a bad plan," Sam said, trying to soothe McKay's ego. "It's just always good to have a plan B."
He glared at her.
"It would be worth coming up with options, Rodney," Weir tried.
Beckett nodded, but wisely didn't open his mouth.
"Rodney," Teyla said, "It might be wise to listen to Sam's ideas."
McKay set his laptop down on the table and stood up, facing Sam.
"How come when you have a crazy plan no one doubts it, but I have a crazy plan and have to deal with all these questions?!"
Sam wasn't sure how to answer that question when she didn't agree with the premise.
"I get lots of questions on my plans," she eventually responded. "Some even from you saying my plans are going to be a catastrophic failure."
The anger left McKay's face.
"Oh, I suppose I might have said something like that in the past. It doesn't preclude the fact that my plan is going to work."
She really hoped that his plan did work. She just didn't want them to be caught without a net if it didn't.
He grudgingly let her look at his code and listened to a few of her suggestions before complaining that she was distracting him.
It made Sam feel a little helpless. Normally what McKay was working on would be in her job description. There wasn't even a second computer for her to work on. For the first time since she'd joined the Atlantis team on this mission, she felt like an outsider.
McKay went to the far end of the table to work on his laptop, firmly refusing any more of her help and saying he needed to concentrate. Sam walked over to join Weir, Teyla, and Beckett at the other end of the table.
She sat down, wishing that she could help more to make sure this mission was a success.
"What are you and John going to do when you get back to the SGC?" Weir asked her.
If they got back, Sam corrected silently.
"The rest of us don't have military careers to think about, but General Landry threatened -"
Sam shrugged.
"It wouldn't be the first time I'd disobeyed orders to make sure that Jack O'Neill got home alive. He's done the same for me. I learned a long time ago that you never leave a member of your team behind."
She felt a sudden, sharp pang of guilt about Daniel, but pushed it to the side. One rescue mission at a time.
Weir looked at her shrewdly. "He's not exactly a member of SG-1 anymore."
People didn't stop being members of SG-1 just because they weren't on the current team roster and Weir should understand that better than anyone.
After all, Sam had practically blackmailed her once upon a time to try and help Jack O'Neill when he was in stasis in Antarctica.
"And you're not the leader of Atlantis anymore...and yet here we are."
"I suppose we are," Weir agreed.
Sam changed the topic by asking Teyla how her people were adjusting to the new settlement. Then she asked Beckett how he'd been faring as a doctor at the SGC. She asked Weir how her consulting position was and what else she'd been doing with her spare time.
The woman's guarded look make Sam feel like she wasn't the only one who'd been having a tough time of it lately due to Atlantis.
No one, thankfully, asked about her. If they had, she would have needed to lie. She'd been working long hours in the lab to distract herself from Jack's absence. When she had gone on a mission with SG-1, it had all gone to hell. Her life right now wasn't one she'd want to talk about in polite company.
"I just don't get it," Sam admitted after Weir's halting response led them all back to the conversation about the unsanctioned mission they were on. "They should have had some sort of advance notice or warning before the Replicators got to the city. They should have been able to put a plan in place without being ambushed."
None of it made sense. The Replicators shouldn't have been able to catch them so off guard.
"They did have notice," Beckett admitted. "We found out from General Landry that the Replicators were detected on the Atlantis long range sensors almost a week ago."
"And they didn't do anything to prepare," Sam filled in with disbelief.
Why didn't Jack just return home until after the danger passed?
Almost as soon as the question surfaced in her head she knew the likely answer: duty. He wasn't willing to risk breaking off the talks with the Ancients early just to save his own ass. He also probably realized that leaving would make it seem like Earth's representatives didn't trust their potential new allies.
"I thought it seemed off and offered to brief Landry on the Replicators, but he said that things sounded like they were under control," John Sheppard explained from the entrance of the tent.
Sheppard entered with a black duffle bag and placed it on a nearby table. Ronon entered the tent behind him. Everyone else stood and moved closer.
"You're telling me that they knew about the Replicators?" Sam asked, just to double check.
Sheppard nodded.
"And General O'Neill wasn't concerned?"
"Maybe he did think it was fishy, but Lanteans were walking behind them the entire time they were making the call. What was I supposed to do when Landry didn't care to look into it any further?"
Sam felt a red-hot flush of anger run through her. All of this could have been prevented if the Ancients and Stargate Command had taken the threat seriously.
She might have - probably would have - fought against General Landry's assumptions longer than Sheppard had, but she couldn't fault the man. It was difficult to be the only one to notice a problem and want to fix it.
"It's okay," she replied, "You're not the one who screwed up."
Sheppard's expression made it seem like he wasn't sure if he believed her.
"The Ancients said that the Replicators couldn't harm them," Weir said.
Oh, for crying out loud!
The phrase that she always associated with Jack echoed in the back of her mind at Weir's comment. Everyone should have been suspicious about that claim: Jack, Woolsey, Landry, the President...hell, even the maintenance staff would have found something wrong with that line of reasoning. You should never assume that an enemy wouldn't be able to harm you. The thing about enemies was they got creative with boundaries like that. They always found loopholes.
"Couldn't harm them?" she asked for clarification.
"They told General O'Neill the Replicators would get a nasty surprise if they tried anything. No precautions were taken to protect the city," Sheppard added. "At least, not that I'm aware of."
That was so unbelievably arrogant that Sam almost couldn't accept that they'd known Replicators were on their way and had done nothing. How stupid could you get?
"They were making decisions like that after being out of contact for ten thousand years?" she said, baffled and angry.
"Yeah," McKay piped in. "To think that we always assumed the Ancients were smart."
"I - " Sam took a breath to calm herself. "I don't know what to say."
She felt a hand squeeze her arm and looked over to see that it had been Elizabeth Weir, likely trying to give her a show of support.
"You don't have to say anything," Sheppard replied. "We all know the failures that have led us here and we know the odds against us, but we've always liked challenges and this isn't any different. We're going to do what we need to do."
Jack would have laughed at the cliches.
Sheppard looked around the group and they all nodded, resolved to do whatever they could to save the two men stuck on Atlantis and save the city.
McKay unzipped the bag on the table to show the weapons inside.
"The anti-replicator weapon -" Sam started.
"ARG," Sheppard cut in.
"Yes," Sam agreed. "The ARG was a weapon that I designed. It's based on disruptor technology General O'Neill developed, back when he was Colonel O'Neill, under the influence of an Ancient Repository of knowledge. They reduce the target to a harmless pile of individual cells using an emitter placed at the end of the barrel."
"So," Ronon asked, "they work good against the Replicators?"
Before she could open her mouth to answer him, McKay started speaking.
"They emit a directional energy beam that disrupts the connection between nanites -"
While he was speaking, McKay picked up one of the ARGs, turned it on, and handed it over to Ronon.
"Not what I asked," Ronon interrupted.
McKay paused and she could tell that it pained him to respond to the question in such a simplified manner.
"Er, yes. They work good."
Ronon lifted the weapon and practiced aiming it, gauging the weight.
"Good. So you need us because, uh, we know our way around the city?"
McKay handed the next weapon to Teyla.
"I need you because you're part of our team," Sheppard replied.
Sam found the way Sheppard said that to be sweet. The bond between all of the members of the former Atlantis team was clearly a strong one.
She realized, suddenly, how difficult it must have been for Sheppard and the others to leave Teyla and Ronon here, not knowing if they would ever see them again.
It was a little different for her to have off-world friends because all of hers were still located in the Milky Way and reachable via a quick walk through the Stargate.
Sam wondered if Sheppard knew what she had started to suspect - if Atlantis was lost, the leadership on Earth would do anything to prevent the Replicators from making it to the Milky Way, including destroying the newly constructed McKay-Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge.
With that thought, Sam realized that this rescue mission might be a one way trip. If Atlantis was lost and the Gate Bridge destroyed, there would be no way home. She doubted the Daedalus would wait to search for them after dropping a nuclear weapon.
Still, it wasn't the first time she'd been on a mission with bad odds.
"There may be hundreds of Replicators on Atlantis by now," Teyla pointed out.
And, as they all knew, the longer you left Replicators alone, the more of them there would be. Their situation would become more dire the longer they waited to go in.
"We've got a plan," Sheppard replied. "A good one. I wouldn't ask you to come with us if I didn't think we could do it."
Teyla and Ronon seemed to consider that and then Elizabeth Weir spoke up.
"Also, General O'Neill and Richard Woolsey were both on Atlantis when the Replicators attacked. There is a chance they're still alive."
They had to be alive. Sam wouldn't let herself think about the alternative.
Sheppard gripped his gun tighter.
"I'll be damned if I'm going to let a bunch of Replicators take our home away from us. So…you with us?"
Ronon and and Teyla exchanged a look and then smiled at Sheppard. He nodded and smiled back in return.
"Great," he replied, "Then let's take our city back."
Plan in place, they all walked back to the jumper.
On the walk over, Sam and McKay discussed the program to force the Atlantis shield to stay open. He explained the modifications he made in order to upload it to the gate. She suggested a couple changes that might help it load faster that McKay grumbled about and then grudgingly accepted.
Sam had never felt entirely comfortable around Rodney McKay. He was arrogant, annoying, and unfailingly condescending. At least he was a lot less sexist than he used to be.
In spite of his flaws, she suspected that McKay's time on Atlantis - where he could shine and bond with a team - was somehow making him into a better person. Slowly.
"So how's Jeannie?" Sam asked.
"What?"
"Your sister, Jeannie."
Sam had really liked Jeannie Miller, even with her initial refusal to be involved in any way in the Stargate Program with its inherent secrecy demands.
What had shocked her was the sudden stab of jealousy she felt at meeting Jeannie. Here was a woman who'd given up science entirely for a happy home life with a husband and daughter and still managed to come up with a proof beyond the abilities of most of their scientists and mathematicians.
She solved - or almost solved, as it turned out - their problem with finger paints and still seemed happy living a normal life.
Sam had tried for that kind of normal life once, but it never fit quite right. She still wasn't entirely sure if it had been because Pete was the wrong man or because normal wasn't a word that could ever be applied to Sam Carter.
"Yes," McKay replied. "I know who my sister is. Why are you asking?"
She knew he had other things on his mind, with their plan probably bouncing around his head, but Rodney McKay was always so abrupt.
"I was just wondering how it was for her to settle back into normal life after seeing everything she saw. It's probably been nice being able to spend time with her."
"What are you talking about?"
She thought that McKay and his sister had reconciled since the events that led an alternate Rodney McKay to temporarily travel to this universe's Atlantis.
"It's been six weeks. Surely you've let her know that you were back on Earth."
Rodney McKay stopped, paused, and looked up.
"I'm sure I sent her an e-mail," he replied, mostly to himself. "Or it might still be in the drafts folder."
He grimaced and started walking again.
"Thanks for the reminder. I'll worry about it later assuming we're still alive."
The situation wasn't the same, but Sam knew what it was like to have an estranged sibling. She also knew those relationships could be repaired if both people wanted them to be.
"She'll forgive you, Rodney. She's done it once already and six weeks isn't nearly as bad as four years."
He looked over at her.
"Yes, well, maybe." They entered the jumper and he sat down, placing his laptop on the nearest flat surface. "Still need to not die first."
Sam, Weir, Beckett, McKay, and Sheppard sat in the font half of the jumper while Teyla and Ronon stayed in the back to gear up.
Sheppard started the jumper up and moved it to hover near the Stargate.
Sam watched McKay make a few final adjustments to the code. His hands pulled away from the laptop.
"Okay, I think I've loaded up the GDO. It'll lower the shield when we dial."
"Go for it," Sheppard ordered.
"All right," McKay said, taking a deep breath and looking around at the group. "Dialing Atlantis."
He pressed the dialing buttons on the laptop.
"And…"
He drew out the word and Sam felt nervous that this might not work, that she might not be able to make it to Jack.
Her memory flashed back to the months she spent desperately dialing the Stargate on Edora.
The Stargate activated and then settled back into a stable wormhole.
Sam breathed a sigh of relief. The Atlantis Stargate was still active. That was step one.
McKay continued to look at his laptop.
"That's confirmation. Gate shield has been lowered."
"Great job, McKay," Sam replied.
He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and turned back to face forward. They all looked at the Stargate shining in front of them.
"I hope this little plan of ours works," Sheppard said.
"Yeah," McKay replied, sounding less than confident, "you and me both."
Sheppard flew the jumper into the active wormhole, back to Atlantis.