Breaking The Siege
Part Two: The Colonel
Elizabeth didn't quite wince as John committed his faux pas with Colonel Carter.
The Colonel looked displeased but answered levelly enough. "No more than you're Thomerson's Sheppard."
Ouch. This time, keeping the wince from her face was much more difficult.
Brett Thomerson was the Colonel who'd been commanding Sheppard when he went into Afghanistan after the three trapped servicemen. Thomerson's report on Sheppard's actions had been brusque and denigrating. It literally froze Sheppard's career where it was: the young Major had been immediately reassigned from desert Afghanistan to glacial McMurdo.
John grimaced. "Point taken. Sorry."
"Accepted."
In those few seconds during the exchange between John and Colonel Carter, Elizabeth had seen the older, taller man taking the opportunity to look over not only her, but also John and the haphazard disarray of the Gateroom and control area. She supposed it was up to her to begin the introductions. "Colonel Caldwell, I presume?"
He had none of the volubility of Colonel Everett upon entering the city, so far, he'd only addressed the Major, although she suspected that the sharp blue eyes missed nothing. "That would be correct."
"Ah yes," Dr. Jackson said, stepping around her. "Colonel Max Caldwell, meet Dr. Elizabeth Weir."
"Thank you for the rescue, Colonel."
He nodded. "You're welcome." His voice had been velvet-and-gravel over the comms system; it was even more so in person, and Elizabeth blinked momentarily, then caught the slightest of smiles on Colonel Carter's face. "Although," he continued, unaware of her brief distraction, "you should be thanking Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson. Their work on the Asgard hyperdrives got us here a day earlier than we had planned."
Dr. Jackson waved a hand as she turned to him. "I bounced ideas, Sam did the hard labour."
"Well, thank you to all the crew of the Daedelus for a rescue well done," she said, deciding that she could spread the gratitude around.
"Although it's not quite finished yet," John said, stepping into the conversation with aggressive flatness. He turned to her immediately. "Which sectors are segregated and how many people do we have trapped in there?"
"All sectors have corridors that are segregated," she said. "And too many of our people are in there. Anyone who didn't evacuate and wasn't needed in the central city went out to fight the Wraith."
He nodded, just once. "Teyla and Ford?"
Elizabeth felt a pang of grief. "Still nothing," she had to admit.
He opened his mouth and was interrupted by a beep from Colonel Carter's earpiece. The woman turned away, one hand to her ear and speaking softly at her shirt lapel. A moment later she turned back. "Colonel?"
Colonel Caldwell nodded. "I heard. Dr. Weir, Major Sheppard, Icarus squadron reports all planetside Wraith ships out of the sky. They're tracking the ones that went down and will deal with survivors." He glanced from one to the other, "Unless you wish to take prisoners?"
"I think we'll pass," John said bluntly. Elizabeth shot him a glance for his abruptness.
"That won't be necessary," she said. "However, if you have personnel aboard the Daedelus who are combat-trained, we would appreciate your assistance in sweeping the city."
"I have two squadron of marines chomping at the bit up on the Daedelus," he noted. "They're at your disposal to clean up. And glad to see a bit of action."
Elizabeth wasn't the most military-minded of people, but that sounded like a significant amount of manpower.
If John thought the same, he said nothing but, "We'll take them. Get them here in five minutes and we'll start out."
He fully intended to lead the group himself. Elizabeth interrupted, concerned. "John."
"I'm going after them," he said, as though she didn't already know that.
The last few days had been stressful enough for him. Although Elizabeth had been responsible for the overall expedition, John had been the military commander. In the nine months of their sojourn here, she'd come to know him well, and he took the protective aspect of his role seriously. Colonel Everett's glib assumption of command wouldn't have eased his mind any more than it eased hers.
Elizabeth knew that John might have accepted Everett's command, but he hadn't relinquished the responsibility for protecting the city or the people in it any more than she had.
She also knew that he hadn't slept in over a day. Many of the Atlantis personnel hadn't. Rodney and Zelenka were running purely on stimulants, and Carson looked as though he'd soon be in dire need of his infirmary. The control room techs had bags under their eyes, and she dreaded to think of how haggard she must look - especially when compared to the arriving force on the Daedelus. Both Dr. Jackson and Colonel Carter looked close to immaculate.
"You aren't going to be any good to them if you fall over in exhaustion before you even have a chance to get to them, Major." Her voice was hard. It had to be. She was dealing with John Sheppard after all.
He looked at her as though she'd betrayed him to the Wraith, and she felt anger slice through her. Her concern was for their people as much as his; she'd let him fly to his death in the ship with the bomb without anything more than that first protest. But there was a limit to the human body - to the human mind. John Sheppard was way past it.
"Those are our people, Elizabeth," he said. "We're not leaving them in the hands of the Wraith!"
"And nobody said you should," Colonel Caldwell said, neatly inserting himself into the conversation.
Elizabeth felt the urge to brain the commander of the Daedelus. It was difficult enough dealing with John Sheppard when he wasn't determined to do something; with the encouragement of a senior officer, he'd let nothing stand in his way - not even physical exhaustion.
"However," Caldwell continued, "you might like to wait fifteen minutes."
Hazel eyes narrowed at him. "Why?"
"Because it will take the troops at least that long to get their equipment issued and for Corporal Arslett to work out how to adjust the transporter to move that many people with Colonel Carter's assistance. And I need you present for a five-minute debrief before you go hunting Wraith."
Sheppard wasn't inclined to wait even that long. "We can debrief later."
"Oh, I think you'll want to hear this, Major," Caldwell said with a faint smile. "Do you have a briefing room around here?"
They were halfway to the briefing room, with John grilling her about exactly which corridors had been shut down by the city computer controls, when they spotted Rodney and Carson coming swiftly towards them.
"I see you made it," were Rodney's first words to John.
"Thanks to the efforts of Colonel Carter."
Rodney positively beamed. Elizabeth tried to hide a smile - and a slight irritation with Rodney's so-obvious preference for 'intelligent blondes' as he termed it. From the terse smile - and her reaction to John's earlier comment, it was fairly obvious that Colonel Carter wasn't as enamoured of Rodney as he was of her. "Yes, well, I'm sure that if I'd been there..."
"You don't know how to operate Asgard technology," Dr. Jackson noted blandly.
"I'm sure that once shown--"
The group had stopped for the conversation, and more than John was showing a slight impatience with the holdup. "McKay," Colonel Caldwell rumbled. "Keep moving."
"And it's a pleasure to see you, too, Colonel," Rodney said.
"McKay--" John got no more than that out.
Caldwell paused. "McKay, am I going to have to remind you of the Siberian llama incident?" There was a moment of silence. "Move."
A peculiar expression convulsed across the scientist's face. "Moving." He turned on his heel and walked away as the Atlantis personnel gaped at Caldwell.
There was the hint of a smile at Caldwell's lips as he kept walking.
Elizabeth stared at John, who stared after Caldwell, then looked at her. Carson's mouth was wide open.
"So, I'm guessing that you two know each other, sir?" John asked when they caught up with the Colonel.
The colonel wasn't given the chance to answer. "For your information, Major," McKay said from up ahead, "Colonel Caldwell was the American senior officer at the Siberia research facility where I worked on and off for two years before the Ancient technology was discovered down in Antarctica."
"We got to know each other well," said Colonel Caldwell, now disconcertingly affable. "Right, Rodney?"
Rodney's expression was distinctly sour. Elizabeth made a mental note to weasel 'the Siberian llama incident' out of him sometime when he was in a better mood. In the meantime, there were other things to attend to, such as why Colonel Caldwell wanted this meeting.
That soon became clear.
Colonel Caldwell regarded Elizabeth the instant the doors shut behind them, giving the group a small amount of privacy. "Firstly, Dr. Weir, I'm not here to impose on either your authority or Colonel Everett's."
His phrasing gave her pause. "My authority?"
Blue eyes regarded her. "You are the leader of the Atlantis expedition."
"She was relieved by Colonel Everett when he and his task force came through the Stargate," John said in the meaningful tones of a pointed reply.
Colonel Caldwell seemed more than a little disconcerted at that. "Colonel Everett was to remain in command of Atlantis and the expedition for the duration of the crisis with the Wraith. His people were to bolster your own and provide additional fresh troops. My understanding was that nominal authority would revert to Dr. Weir after the situation settled down. Colonel Carter?"
"That was how I understood it," she confirmed. "The SGC considers Atlantis a research outpost that is additionally staffed with military personnel."
"In much the same way that Antarctica and Siberia were military-backed research facilities," Dr. Jackson added.
"That was not the impression we received," Elizabeth felt constrained to say.
"He just waltzed in and took it all over," Rodney said, bristling.
"General O'Neill sent me out here in command of the Daedelus," said the Colonel. "As such, that's as far as my jurisdiction goes."
"As such?" John questioned, eyebrows rising.
A hint of a smile touched the wide mouth. "I'm willing to offer advice if you ask it."
"We'll have to ask first?" Rodney asked. "How novel. If I recall correctly, you were the one making suggestions every time I turned around in Siberia."
"That," said Colonel Caldwell emphatically, "was only because you weren't taking appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the facility was preserved. At any rate," he added, forestalling any protests from Rodney, "you may wish for my advice, you may not; I'm free to give it. On the other hand, you will almost certainly want to work with the advice of Dr. Jackson and Colonel Carter here." He glanced at the pair still standing by the door with a smile.
"And they're here because...?"
Elizabeth made a mental note to get a hold of the major and shake some politeness into him after the briefing.
On the other hand, neither doctor, nor colonel seemed particularly offended by John's brusqueness. "We're independent consultants," Dr. Jackson explained.
"On loan," said Colonel Carter. Her smile was wry. "Temporary rather than permanent."
Satisfaction and disappointment conflicted within Elizabeth. On one hand, two more reknowned intellects would be invaluable to the city - especially now that they'd be in the process of exploring and rebuilding after the Wraith invasion. On the other hand, it was only going to be a little while. "How temporary are we talking?" Elizabeth inquired.
"Three months," Colonel Carter said easily.
"After which, we have orders to get our asses home, or else," added Dr. Jackson with good-natured tolerance.
Not unexpected. The General was known to be very fond of his old team-mates, and in spite of their entreaties, neither had been allowed on the initial Atlantis expedition.
"And, speaking of orders," Colonel Caldwell noted, patting down his flak jacket, "the reason for this meeting... I have something for Sheppard." He fished a small plastic bag out of one of his pockets and tossed it over to the Major.
John caught it and held it up to see what was in it. Elizabeth squinted as the light gleamed silver off the bag's contents. She thought she caught sight of a jagged edge and frowned, then stared as her mind put everything together.
"There's usually a ceremony for this kind of thing," continued Caldwell, half-smiling. "Of course, the general, being as he is, handed me the bag and said, 'Promote him to light colonel. The man's earned it at least twice over.' Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard." He saluted the newly-promoted officer.
A moment later, John scraped his shocked senses together and returned the salute. He still looked slightly stunned, but at least he was moving.
"Well done, Colonel," Elizabeth said, leaning slightly on the title. John looked over at her, and she saw the gratification in his eyes and smiled. He definitely deserved it.
"Does this mean he's going to get even bossier?" Rodney demanded, and this time Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson didn't bother to hide their smiles. Neither did Caldwell.
"What do you think, McKay?" John replied as he pocketed the insignia.
Rodney grumbled, but even Elizabeth could see that he was reasonably pleased for the other man.
Colonel Caldwell shifted position. "Now," he said, "go and get your people, Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard."
She was so caught up in watching John that she nearly missed the moment to intervene.
"John," she began.
He cut her off, "I'm going, Elizabeth."
"Sheppard, you've been up all night," Rodney said, joining in the argument. "You're not going to be much good if you just fall over on your feet."
"If I fall on my feet, then I'll be fine," said John with gritted intent.
"That's not what I meant and you know it! What good are you going to be to Teyla or Ford if you're half-asleep?"
"I'll get Beckett to give me stimulants."
"And I'll order him not to," Elizabeth said. "Believe me, Maj-- Colonel, we want our people back - all of them, unharmed. But you're in no condition--"
"Then who else are you going to send?" John demanded. "Sergeant Michaels? Sergeant Pyne?"
She hesitated. She knew it was a mistake, but she hesitated. He had the truth of it right there, and was intelligent enough and fast enough to use it again her. They had no-one else to send - no-one who knew the city and was accustomed to facing the Wraith.
He exhaled. "I'm the military commander of this base. In the absence of Colonel Everett - and given that Colonel Caldwell has already said he has no direct jurisdiction in Atlantis - that leaves me as the senior command personnel."
"Technically," Rodney said.
"Technically's enough," John said.
Elizabeth was trying to remember how to breathe. She was also trying to remember how to count to ten in Swahili. Because if she didn't count to ten first, she was going to say or do something to John Sheppard - Lieutenant Colonel or not - that went against all her diplomatic training.
"And this is one of those moments when I'm going to offer advice without being asked," Colonel Caldwell said with distinct dryness, interposing himself into the middle of the argument. "Colonel Sheppard, as a general rule, it's bad form to explicitly throw around the fact that you have command. Dr. Weir, neither is it a good idea to use seniority to plant obstructions in the way of him and let him know - it's a lot more effective to let him think circumstances are being a bastard. And Rodney, I see you still haven't read 'How to win friends and influence people.'"
"Haven't got around to it yet," Rodney muttered.
"It shows." Caldwell folded his arms over his chest. He glanced around the room. "Now, since I don't have any authority in Atlantis, I can't exactly order Colonel Sheppard not to go. On the other hand, I do have authority over the two dozen marines that have just been beamed down into the gateroom. Which gives me what's called 'leverage'."
"Colonel--" Elizabeth began.
"Colonel--" John said at the same time.
Caldwell held up his hands, silencing them both. "I'm going to advise that Colonel Sheppard lead the marines into the first engagement with the Wraith. After that, I'm going to advise that the Colonel return to the central city with the injured and allow the fresh troops to get on with flushing out the Wraith while he deals with the other issues that are going to crop up in the aftermath of the attack."
It was a compromise. Not exactly what she wanted, but better than John exhausting himself to get their people out. And he would, she knew, because of who he was.
"And if we choose not to take that advice?" John's voice had an edge to it.
Caldwell shrugged. "Then you choose not to take that advice."
"And you choose not to let us have the marines after all," Elizabeth stated grimly.
"From the sound of it, you've got people trapped and held by the Wraith," the Colonel said. "I'm not such a bastard that I'd leave them in the hands of the enemy; but I don't want to see Colonel Sheppard - or any other personnel from this facility - running themselves into the ground on rescue missions. You get one chance to help rescue your people, then my people will take over that job. We're fresh, you're not; fair's fair."
"And you think that's reasonable?" Sheppard demanded.
"I think it is," Caldwell said. "Take it or I'll give my men the order to find a pair of handcuffs and chain you to a railing somewhere in the city."
Elizabeth choked a little, biting back a smile at the image. Across the room, Rodney was spluttering.
"That sounds more like 'blackmail', sir."
"A senior officer never blackmails, Sheppard," Caldwell said, half-smiling. "He applies leverage."
John regarded the older man flatly. "Consider the leverage applied, sir." It was the closest he was going to come to a state of formal acquiescence. He wasn't happy, but he was outgunned.
Elizabeth was relieved. She might have to talk to Colonel Caldwell about any other methods he had of working with intractable officers. In the meantime, she had a base to restore - and a military officer's authority to re-establish. "Colonel Caldwell, if you would please bring your men up here, we can begin working out the details of the first attack."
Caldwell gave her a nod that seemed as much a bow as anything else and left without a further word, still smiling.
Rodney huffed, but waited until the Colonel had left the room. "You know, I used to hate it when he did that."
"You still do," noted John.
Elizabeth cut them both off before it could turn into a sniping match. There were moments when she desperately wished that someone else was in command of these two - and moments when she was glad it was her and not some other person who could less-ably handle them. "Major--" She paused, recollecting herself. "Colonel. We have a plan of the city with the sealed-off sections marked if you'd like a map of where the Wraith are likely to be."
"The city seems to be cutting off sections reached by the Wraith," Rodney added. "The outlying piers are almost all blocked off by now - but there are one or two sections closer to the centre of the city that have been sealed off."
"And our people with them." John's grim statement echoed Elizabeth's feelings about it, but she answered evenly.
"Perhaps from the city's point of view, it's preferable to lose some of its people rather than let the Wraith through."
He fixed her with something close to a glare, and she met it with direct calm. She was concerned for their people, too; but she could do very little about the personnel captured by the Wraith. Her primary concern was the city and the expedition overall - it had to be.
"I'm still going in." It was intended as a challenge.
"As if we were expecting anything otherwise," scoffed Rodney.
Elizabeth tried to bite back a smile at the scientist's pithy comment and failed. As she caught John's glare, she hastily said, "Rodney, will you pull up a map of the city and show us which sections are being cut off. Let's go through all the possibilities before we begin the rescue mission."
John narrowed his eyes. "We?"
"Atlantis," she replied. She was in this, just as much as he was.
After a moment, he nodded.
It had been enough time for Rodney to bring over his screenboard and hook it up to one of the screens on the walls.
"So," he began. "Where do we begin?"
- TBC -