IX. The Horizon Beyond Us
"Is everything prepared, Major?"
Jared looked over his shoulder as Samantha approached him, her hands on her hips. She was dressed in the uniform that had been given to the EC4567 Horizon; a suit much like Atlantis except it was gray and had a badge with the symbols of Earth and the Asgard Home World on it. Jared nodded and stepped back, allowing the higher ranking woman to inspect his work. She nodded to him and went on down the line, making sure everyone was packed. Within twenty minutes Thor would be here to pick up the crew, and everything that the Asgard requested had to be done.
Sam continued on and found Cassandra standing there with the medical personal. She checked over quickly and nodded before heading off again, Jennifer hot on her trail behind her. Sam nodded and opened the door, letting the team fill into the Gate Room. She entered and stood on the ramp, waiting for everyone to settle.
"Soon Thor will pick us up and we will go to the new Asgard Home world." She spoke. "I have learned that with new knowledge the Asgard have, they are equipping our ship so it will take a little longer than we had first expected. You have in your hands a list of classes you will be taking and also the room numbers you will be staying in. There are no co-ed rooms or bathrooms, so do not be expecting to do anything of the sort." Everyone looked at one another.
Cassandra frowned. She could see the large change in Sam. The Lt. Colonel was cold, untrusting and yet loved her crew. Cassandra giggled inside, it reminded her of Jack, or at least what Daniel had told her about when he first met Jack. Cassandra knew, however, that Sam would want to live up and make her dead teammates proud of what she had become and who she was.
"Five….four….three….two…." Jennifer counted. There was a flash of light and everyone stood in a large room. She turned to find Sam smiling at a small grey man. "One, damn I was off!"
"Welcome, Lieutenant Colonel Carter." Thor greeted and turned to her team. "This is a rather large team that Hammond has placed together. However, it is no trouble, with the additions to the EC4567 Horizon, they will all fit comfortably."
"Everyone!" Sam called them to attention. "This is Thor, he is an Asgard. You will learn about him and other Asgards when you take Stargate 101." Everyone laughed, thinking this was funny. "Captain Hailey, you and I will be attending meetings with Thor and the Asgard Council while the others are during their classes." She nodded to everyone. "DO not go into the places of this ship, the DanielJackson without the permission of Thor." Everyone nodded and went to their own groups and conversed.
Cassandra came to the three and smiled. Jennifer nodded to her while Sam hugged her. Cassandra lowered her eyes in front of Thor.
"Thor, this is Cassandra Frasier, the young girl we were able to save from the planet that Neriti had control on." Sam introduced. Thor nodded and Cassandra smiled. Sam looked at Cassandra. "You enjoying your stay here, Cassie?"
"It's so awesome! Jack had always talked about how much he loved the Asgard, I can't believe I am standing in front of one!" Cassandra sighed happily as if it were a dream.
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"Your team learns quiet quickly, Colonel." Thor spoke as he looked at the woman. She had been watching her team members interact from the window of the meeting room, watching them move about in their own manners. "I am not sure what more we can enlighten them of since the additions to the ship are not complete."
"Additions?" Jennifer asked. Thor turned to her. "You guys are adding on to it some more? What is it this time?"
"I am glad you asked, Captain." Thor moved a device and the screen behind him lit up with schismatic of the ship. "You see here, we have added a new feature to the ships navigational system. With the new location of where Atlantis is, we have added this feature." Sam looked over at the wall. "The computer will have all known friendly Stargate addresses into it, including that of Atlantis, in case of emergencies."
"So if we know that Odin is on one planet we enter the gate coordinates and the ship will take us to that planet and or gate?" Jennifer asked and Thor nodded. "That is totally awesome."
"However, you will need people to maintain this. With Earth discovering and investigating more planets, it will need to be updated most likely everyday. Hence we are in the processes of building a address communicator that goes three ways, concerning the ship, Earth, and our home world." Thor explained. "Now, if it turns out that the Atlantis has new star formations, and then we will be in need of adding yet another component to this."
"It's pretty complex." Sam came over and looked at it. "It would require at least five people to maintain it and keep a running list of working addresses, and also it would require that they memorize the main addresses. Most likely Earth and your home world, possibly Atlantis."
"That is….if any of that team is still alive." Jennifer said before returning to the paperwork of that day. She kept a running tally list of the people that frequently caused trouble and also those who were working their hardest. Cassandra was one of the hard working ones, as well as Jared. She looked up as Thor and Sam looked at each other with understanding of her statement. "I mean, even if the Ancients no longer inhabit Atlantis, I am sure something else took hold and lived in that city for a while…but then again with Weir in command maybe things are going ok."
"I do not trust Weir." Sam sighed. "I do admit that she is needed for the mission, but I do not think that was a smart idea to place her in charge of the group. She doesn't even know the beginnings of how the military mind works, and I'm sure that she'll run into a lot of problems. Mainly with Major Sheppard….he can follow orders but he has is own way of doing things."
"Much like former Colonel O'Neill." Thor commented. Sam looked down for a moment and nodded in agreement. "If you wish, Colonel, we may have the ship ready by the end of the week. All is left is the Address Navigational System and to finish the rooms and of course moving the personal belongings that we received yesterday from Earth."
Sam looked at him. "Is it alright for me to walk around in the ship?" Thor nodded and left his seat, heading towards the exit. Sam followed him, waving for Jennifer to follow her. The two followed the gray man to where they were constructing the massive ship.
Thor gave a short tour before leaving Sam in the room that would be hers. She nodded and looked around the room, finding that almost all her possessions were already moved in. She looked around and stopped as she saw the picture of her team mates on the wall, then under it was the picture from Jack's cabin. The one of him and her. She froze and stared at it, not remember if she had packed that or not. Sam took in a shaky breath and looked down at her hands, then back up at the picture.
"I won't let you down sir." Sam whispered, putting her hand on the picture of her team mates. "I won't let either of you down. I'll make sure Odin pays for what he did…even if it goes out of the way of the treaty." She looked over her shoulder as Jennifer stood in the doorway. "Yes, Captain?"
"Thor says they have to close the ship now….to finish up." Jennifer said softly. Sam nodded and followed her out, but was silent. Jennifer frowned but kept it to herself, she didn't want to make her commanding officer upset. She could tell by Sam's eyes that she was still deeply hurt by having her best friends torn from her like that, and Jennifer didn't plan on pursuing it. They left the ship and headed out to the mess hall to eat for the night.