Author's Note: So, it's been a while…
Chapter 5
July 29, 1997
Stargate Alliance (SGA)
Cheyenne Mountain
It just so happens that the first time their paths cross, they don't actually meet.
The team, led by Sam, are able to install the iris with just under an hour left to their deadline. It has been tested and everything appears to be fine but Sam isn't fully naïve; she knows the real proof will be when General O'Neill and his men dial home. For the moment, however, she feels more confident that her ideas are going to work and will help to keep them safe.
From her vantage point in the control room, Sam glances down to the gate room and observes the eclectic group of people who've been thrown together in order to finish the project. She feels a sense of pride and she smiles when Siler meets her eye through the protective glass and signals that they've completed their final checks. When they gather up the rest of their tools and exit the room, Sam breathes a sigh of relief but she has no time to relax as everything around her begins to shake and she has to hold onto the back of a chair. A couple of seconds later, the inner ring of the Stargate starts to turn.
"We've got company," George suddenly mutters to her right and she glances over as he reaches for the nearest phone and orders the defense teams to standby.
There are orders relayed via the tannoy system and the doors to the gate room slide closed as the teams gather at the base of the ramp, but it all fades into the background for Sam as her attention remains focused on the Stargate. The way the inner ring moves; the steam that escapes the mechanisms on the side of the device; how the chevrons light up when they lock into place – and when the wormhole establishes and spits out its vortex before settling back into a shimmering pool of vertical liquid, she audibly gasps. She's captivated by its beauty and finds herself trying to calculate the energy the gate must release in order to create a stable wormhole.
Astronomical.
It's the first word that springs to mind and it feels almost overwhelming to finally, finally see the Stargate in action.
But her idealism is shattered when moments later a group of men burst through the event horizon. Two of them pull another down the ramp, while the others drag another wounded team member away from the gate and while Sam is horrified by the scene that's unfolding before her, she can't look away. She feels George leave her side as one of the younger men yells for a medic and she hears Catherine follow the order but she can't do anything to help yet. She has to wait for her own order.
It takes a few seconds, then George turns and meets her eye.
"Close the iris," he calls. "Close the iris!"
Without hesitation, Sam slams the palm of her hand down onto the sensor and watches with bated breath as the iris smoothly closes over the event horizon. The movement surprises one of the men in particular and he spins around in surprise, his gun at the ready. He's still on edge, even when the gate shuts down and Sam leans forward and grabs the microphone.
"Wormhole disengaged."
Sam observes the man for a few moments longer as he returns his attention to George. She can't make out their conversation but she has a pretty good idea that it involves the iris – especially when her godfather then turns and gestures in her direction. Before she can get a better look at him, however, Catherine places a hand on her arm and Sam turns to look at her.
"You did it, Samantha," she whispers as she quickly pulls her into a hug.
Sam returns the hug and a relieved chuckle escapes her. "It worked. It worked."
"I never doubted you," Catherine says, then continues. "We'll have to meet with George and Jack about this, but let them see to their men first."
Sam nods and follows her gaze as the injured are taken to the infirmary.
"Come on," she adds softly, "let's get some coffee. There's nothing else we can do right now."
Wordlessly, Sam accepts her mentors offer but as she turns and starts to leave, she misses the moment General O'Neill finally looks up at the control room, his eyes briefly meeting Catherine's before he's left staring uncertainly at an empty space.
Sam tiredly massages her temples before she takes one final glance around Catherine's lab and decides to call it a night.
Their plans for coffee were interrupted before they really started when George appeared and said the General required Catherine's presence for a post-mission briefing. But even though she'd received the appropriate security clearance and was heavily involved in the instalation of the iris, Sam's presence hadn't been requested and she'd tried not to let her exclusion – nor the looks Catherine and George exchanged – bother her as much as it did.
But that had been hours ago and Sam's found herself hiding away ever since. She knows she could have taken a walk around the base but she doesn't yet feel comfortable enough to do that on her own, so she used the time alone to go over her notes and calculations. She was also able to read through Catherine's notes again regarding the Stargate and using these – plus the experience of finally seeing the gate in action – to rethink everything she's previously thought she's known regarding the technology. Before she can stop herself, Sam is rewriting sections of her work; reviewing the math and coming up with ways that could save them valuable resources, such as time and people's lives, by making the various programs more efficient. Ideally, she wants to begin with the dialing program, but she knows that in order to do that, she needs to present – and defend – her arguments. And she can't do that until she's spoken to Catherine and run the ideas by her.
Right now, however, she needs to sleep. She also needs to unpack and pulls a face at the thought but she does need to go back to the hotel, shower and change.
With her decision made, she grabs a blank piece of paper and starts to write a note for Catherine, explaining that she will be back on base early in the morning. She's almost finished when the woman herself appears in the doorway and makes her way around to the far side of the desk.
"Catherine," she smiles. "I was just –"
"You should have gone home hours ago, Samantha." Sam ducks her chin slightly. "I'm sorry I left you – again – without much of an explanation," she adds.
"It's fine," she shrugs, but can't quite meet her eye. "I guess it's something I should get used to."
Catherine shakes her head and Sam catches the movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Jack –" the older woman sighs, then continues. "The mission didn't quite go to plan."
Sam nods. Despite keeping to herself, she'd heard a few details filter through over the last few hours and she knew that the team had lost a couple of men in a firefight with the enemy; but the injured who had made it home were all expected to make a full recovery.
"After we discussed the mission and what should happen next, he asked about the iris. I explained the idea behind it – leaving out most of the science," she smirks and Sam's brow furrows in confusion, "but he's convinced that it will help keep his people safe from any future threats. He was impressed," she adds after a beat.
"Oh." Unwittingly, Sam feels herself blush at the relayed compliment.
"He wants to meet you."
Her gaze snaps to Catherine. "I – uh – do I – when does he – now?"
She winces but is thankful that if Catherine picks up on her sudden awkwardness she doesn't comment.
"Well, I had told him that you'd probably gone back to your hotel for the evening," she chides gently, "but I should have known better."
Before Sam can argue that she was about to leave, Catherine chuckles. "But I also know Jack – and he'll still be here too."
Sam purses her lips. "So?"
"Give me a couple of minutes," the other woman smiles as she starts to move around her lab and Sam feels the need to fill the silence and calm her growing nerves.
"I've been thinking of ways to overhaul our dialing program," she says, "to make it better."
Catherine looks at her and smiles. "Good."
"I wanted to run a few ideas by you."
"Of course," she nods, "but it can wait for now."
"Oh. Sure." She tries to think of something else to talk but then Catherine's gaze falls on the piece of paper from earlier.
"What's this?"
"I was about to leave," Sam insists, "but I didn't want to go without saying goodbye."
Catherine watches her shrewdly for a moment. "You're coming back tomorrow though, aren't you?"
"I think so," Sam nods. "If I'm still needed. I know I can –"
"Sweetheart," Catherine interrupts gently, "after your work today, I can promise you this – Jack won't be letting you go without a fight."
She isn't sure how to take the statement but before she has any more time to dwell on what her mentor means, Catherine balls up the piece of paper and throws it in the trash can.
"I know you're tired, Sam," she says, "but I'll introduce you to Jack now. It'll only take a few minutes, I promise."
"OK," she relents.
"Great! Follow me," Catherine smiles as she turns on her heel and disappears around the corner.
Sam sighs, but nods in agreement. She sets her purse back down onto the lab bench and takes a deep breath. She tells herself that she can do this.