Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly.
Author's Note: Written for Day 05 of the 2021 August Fic-A-Day.
A/N 2: Timeline, what timeline? Also, I ran out of time. *sigh*

Two days later Buffy was hailed over the radio by Colonel Sheppard, and ordered to come to his office. Which was expected. What was also expected was Dr. Weir being present. A quick sweep of the room proved they were alone and neither Major Lorne nor the rest of AR-1 was present.

At least they weren't in Dr. Weir's office where they would've been on display for all and sundry, and no doubt would've been the focus of gossip. It wasn't like the Gate Tech's and the sentries in the gateroom didn't have eyes and ears.

"Have a seat." It wasn't exactly an order but close enough. Not seeing a point in antagonizing the man any further than she had to, she sat down.

"I understand you're still reluctant to explain why you're really here," Dr. Weir began. "But you have to understand, Atlantis is our responsibility. We need to know if you're a danger to us or anyone else in Pegasus."

"I do understand." Off their disbelieving looks, she added. "Bottom line is, there are people much higher up in the chain of command who does know why I'm here, and more importantly has wanted me or someone else from my organization to come since the Expedition first got the green light."

Dr. Weir's eyes widened slightly at that little piece of information. "I was not aware of that, as I had full control of who went and who didn't."

"At this point, it's irrelevant. If someone from my group had volunteered then any objections from you would've been overruled. However, we were busy with something else and didn't have anyone to spare for a possible one-way trip to another galaxy. The same thing happened when you were finally able to contact Earth in an attempt to get back up for the coming Wraith attack."

More specifically, the original expedition had coincided with Giles taking over the Watcher's Council. Which meant they were busy trying to find hundreds of newly awakened Slayers, trying to find people to train them, get full access to everything the Council had control over, and dealing with major issues within their own camp. The Air Force wanting expendable toy soldiers for their little adventure had been shut down before they had even finished talking.

The year after had been plagued with an unusually high number of apocalypses, so when the new request had arrived it had been shot down quickly as well. To say the armed forces were unhappy with them was an understatement.

Colonel Sheppard chose that moment to voice a question of his own. "What made you guys change your mind?"

Buffy smiled slightly. "Your little unauthorized rescue operation." The two people in front of her shifted a little uncomfortably. "Then the IOA became more vocal than usual, and we decided it was long past time for us to get involved. The head of the IDC had a little chat with the President, and the next thing I knew I was on a spaceship."

Almost immediately after her last word, both Sheppard and Weir spoke.

"You're not a member of the IOA?"

"Your organization has the President's ear?"

Buffy's lips twitched a little despite the serious situation. "No, I'm not a member of the IOA or any of its rogue groups. And, yes, we are in direct contact with the President." She inclined her head a little to the side while she thought about it. "It doesn't happen often, pretty rarely actually, but since what we're dealing with is on a need-to-know basis we can't settle for middlemen. It's too risky."

"You told Colonel Sheppard a couple of days ago that you were involved in some kind of military operation that ended in a lot of fatalities. Can you tell us anything about that, like where it occurred?"

"Not really. Or, I can't give you specifics. Cliff notes version is that a mixed military and scientific group attempted to make a supersoldier. It didn't work as they had expected, and rather than being the perfect soldier they were expecting he proved to have a will of its own and went on a killing spree."

Then, just to press the point of the stupidity she added. "Kind of like your attempt to make a Wraith into a human, believing you could control him. Except we managed to kill our Frankenstein's Monster and yours is on the loose."

Both of them flinched, more or less in unison. Ever the diplomat, Dr. Weir spoke up for them both. "We admit our experiment on the Wraith was a failure, but it's done. Had it worked, it could've saved the entire galaxy. In any case, the Wraith/Human Hybrids are dead, and no longer pose a threat."

Buffy inclined her head, there was no point in arguing. People who came up with these kinds of ideas rarely admitted full responsibility for their actions and the consequences thereof. "The point is; I've worked with the military before and they proved themselves to not be trustworthy. They knew the secret and told others about it despite being specifically told not to, and now a select few people within the Stargate Program knows. It also turns out that you, like the previous top-secret military group think making a Frankenstein's Monster is a good idea."

She looked each of them in the eye in turn, "I'm sure you can see where my mistrust is coming from."

Not to mention one of the first sentences out of Elizabeth Weir's mouth would probably be something along the lines of medical testing to see if they could reproduce and/or duplicate her abilities for their soldiers. And, just. *NO*. Not that they would find anything, but still.

Sheppard's face was set in a grimace. "Is your official job here real or just a cover?"

"It's real. The IOA wanted to send someone loyal to them, but when the President was told that I was willing to come he gave me the job. People in Atlantis need to be able to defend themselves, and it's something that should've been mandatory from the get-go, and not a voluntary activity."

"What about your side trips on all the off-world missions you've been on? Is the POTUS in on whatever that is as well?"

"No, because there's nothing to know. I go for a run while looking for threats and anything that might be interesting. End of story. There really is nothing to worry about."

John Sheppard sighed audibly. "This is getting us nowhere. We have both sent requests to Earth to get read into whatever you're into, and we will revisit this topic when we get replies to that."

Buffy nodded and took it for the dismissal it was and left. With any luck, there was someone she could spar with in the gym.