"Sir," Desperaux tells her when they run into each other in the corridor, "you really have to talk to someone."
They were roommates at War College; Desperaux knows her captain has nightmares, even if she doesn't know exactly what they're about.
Ezrikos blows her off. She's never spoken to anyone about them, and anyway, she's busy now. Beckett has finally cleared Major Sheppard for active duty, and Dr. Weir has agreed to give a go-ahead on the mission to Potamia, which Ezrikos has been looking forward to, seeing as it's the job she came here to do.
Maybe then she can get off this floating catastrophe.
She feels a little pang of loss at that thought, and isn't sure why. It's not like she wants to be here. Shouldn't she be glad about the possibility of going home?
Whatever.
The technician up in the control room is just saying, "Chevron seven encoded," when Major Sheppard joins them.
"Good morning, Captain," he says brightly.
She looks sideways at him and can't help but smile.
"You were going stir crazy, weren't you?"
He nods vigoursly. "Oh yeah."
And they walk through the Stargate together.
Potamia is the sole inhabited world in a binary system. It is forested, inhabited by humans who call themselves 'Potamians', and it is wet.
Although not usually this wet.
It's raining lightly but steadily when they come through the Stargate, and it appears to have been raining for quite some time now.
Ezrikos takes a look around, and decides she doesn't like it. She's not a huge fan of forests. Or rain.
"Let's find the base," she calls to Sheppard, who has, predictably, wandered toward the tree line.
He waves an acknowledgement, and everyone follows Sergeant Spruance's pointed direction toward the clearly visible Alketch military structure. "Find," was a figure of speech.
It's a small encampment: a handful of troops to hold the expeditionary base they've set up on this world and the half a dozen assorted scientists, doctors, and government officials that always seem to find their way onto this sort of mission.
The sentry lets them pass when he sees the uniforms, and when Ezrikos steps into what acts as the command center every armed person in the room (about ten people) jumps to their feet and stands at attention.
Ah, the glories of rank.
"Good morning, Lieutenant," she says calmly to the officer who appears to be in charge, "Captain Ezrikos, Commander Strike Force One."
He salutes her, still at attention, and replies, "Lieutenant Jackson, sir. It's good to have you."
"You sent a distress signal, Lieutenant," she reminds him. "May I ask why?"
"Straight to business, sir?" When she just raises an eyebrow at him he turns back to his table and says, "Give us the room please, people?"
When they're gone he offers the four of them – Ezrikos, Sheppard, Ford, and Lt. Emmons, Ezrikos' second in command – a seat at the now vacant table.
"It's the rain, sir," he says in the tone of someone admitting a mistake.
"The rain?"
"Yes, sir. This season we've had some unusually heavy rains, making the spring planting impossible. The local people are beginning to believe that they're going to starve to death this winter."
Ezrikos tilts her head at him. "And this is a military problem…how?"
Sheppard shoots her a disapproving look, which she ignores.
"Well, sir," the lieutenant continues, "because of the lack of food, the people are getting…" he hesitates, "restless, sir. They're forming what looks like the beginning of an armed insurgency."
"You think they're going to rebel?"
"Yes, sir. There's a local man who been rallying them, claiming he can help them take this base and throw off the Empire taking their food."
Sheppard frowns at him. "Are you taking their food?"
The lieutenant looks startled. "No, sir. This base is completely self-sufficient; we have little interaction with the Potamians of any kind."
"Then why do they think you are?"
"I honestly have no idea, sir."
"Back to the point," Ezrikos says, sharply, "You think that they will attempt an attack?"
"Yes, sir," says Lieutenant Jackson. "I don't have the men to hold this base against an attack of that size without killing most of the attackers. Maybe not even then."
Ezrikos nods to herself. "Alright, Lieutenant. We'll see what we can do. In the meantime, have you sent for relief supplies yet?"
The man looks blank. "Relief supplies, sir?"
She frowns at him. "Yes, Lieutenant. Relief supplies. For the crop failure?"
"We're going to give them relief supplies, sir?"
She stares at him. "Yes. Lieutenant." Her voice is acid etched steel. "We are going to give them relief supplies. You do not sit around and watch an entire village of people starve to death. Was that your plan?"
"Ah, no. No, sir, I…"
She cuts him off. "Never mind. I don't really care. Find quarters for my people; I," she catches Sheppard's glance and adds, "and Major Sheppard are going back to the Stargate to send the message. I am taking command of this base for the duration of our presence."
"Yes, sir!" The lieutenant stands perfectly still, eyes fixed on some indefinable point on the wall, as she stalks out of the room, Major Sheppard on her heels.
"You thought I was going to back him up, didn't you?"
He turns and looks at her. "What?"
"That incompetent, elitist lieutenant. You thought I was going to add soldiers to that base and hold it against a bunch of rebelling farmers. Didn't you?"
They're almost to the Stargate, moving along the road through the rain and silence of the forest.
"No," he says after a long moment. "I didn't."
She looks at him, unsure. "Really?"
"Really. Why, were you considering it?"
Ezrikos laughs. "No. It's impractical. We'd have to stick around here protecting that base until they all died of starvation, and I hate rain. Besides, it's easily solved."
Sheppard shakes his head. "I wonder about you, Veronique. I really do."
The name brings her head around, but there's no one within hearing distance, and after a moment she decides she doesn't really mind that much.
She doesn't really mind at all.
They're on the way back, message successfully sent and received, when it starts to pour.
They look at each other, laugh, and make a run for it.
She beats him; she's a Bahzir after all. Plus, she hates rain a whole lot more than he does. They hit the entrance to the bunkrooms, and are immediately directed to the wet room to remove all wet clothing so as not to drip water all over the floor.
Ezrikos stands in the middle of the room and looks down at herself, and then at him. They're both absolutely soaking wet. Sheppard gasps for breath, wiping water out of his eyes and laughing at her drowned cat expression.
She throws her wet jacket at him (why, oh why didn't she bring the 100 percent waterproof one instead of the water resistant one?) and peels off her shirt while simultaneously unlacing her boots, a talent she picked up on a world that seemed to be completely covered in mud.
She dumps her combat pants on top of the growing pile, and then stops, realizing that Major Sheppard is staring at her. She glances sideways at him.
"Can I help?"
He looks up at her, startled. "Oh. Uh, sorry." He goes back to staring at her legs and then immediately jerks his eyes back to her face. That of course involves dragging his eyes over every other part of her, but she's relatively used to that.
"You have very nice… tattoos."
"I'll bet that's not what you were going to say."
He grins at her. Gods, that grin.
"Actually," he admits, "the first word that came to mind was 'wow,' but I figured you probably wouldn't appreciate that."
"Wow?"
He nods sagely. "Wow."
She shakes her head as she walks past him. "Men. Show them something almost naked and female and they're reduced to monosyllables."
"Hey!" he calls after her, "I said 'appreciate!'"
She laughs at him over her shoulder.
Wow, huh?
She could get used to that.
A/N: Okay, so it's been a while. I charted this out finally, so there is an end in sight, not that I'm entirely sure Ezrikos will stay contained in this one story…we'll see. Thanks to everyone who bothers to review, and, of course, littlefoot22 who helps me work out plot snarls. Plushie Steve: Review or I will FEED! Hah, hah, hah! Raq: Bad Steve, bad! (whacks Plushie Steve with a stick.) Review or I will feed you to Steve!
