44: Back Into It

A shower and a meal, that was what Natalia had been looking forward to. She had finished the first, put on a clean unmarked green BDU and then headed to the mess hall for the second. She was not the only one, as Aithris was already there, looking somewhat refreshed himself. He was seated alone at a table near the corner, the cafeteria itself otherwise quiet and populated only by a handful of SGC personnel. Aithris was in a tight-fitting green uniform, a symptom of being the muscular alien warrior he was. The cuts and bruises on his face were much less pronounced now, likely a result of the alien nanotechnology in his system that accelerated his healing.

Natalia went over to the counter with a tray, helping herself to some of the chicken soup on offer, a few warm bread rolls and a slice of vanilla cheesecake. Grabbing a bottle of apple juice, she made her way over to Aithris' table, receiving a curious glance from the Nomad as she approached.

Deep underground in the SGC, it was often hard to get a feel for the time of day. According to the clocks about the place, it was roughly mid-afternoon. One would not have been able to gather as much from looking about the drab grey and olive-green walls.

"Hey," she said, as she sat down across from him. "You don't mind if I join you?"

"I always have time for you, Natalia." He spoke casually, although Natalia detected a warm tone at his voice that may have suggested he meant something more to his remark. She smiled, before she took up her spoon and got started on the soup. She saw that Aithris had already eaten his meal, in this case being a large bowl of salad, typical of the Nomad's usual meals. One thing she had noticed about his diet was that it was vegetarian and usually comprised of greens, including a great deal of spinach. He ate that stuff like it was going out of fashion, and Natalia recalled how once he had commented that spinach was similar to a plant that could be found on Sanctuary, one with similarly nutritious properties. She had seen him eat the odd bit of cheese, so he was not strictly vegan, but also never ate meat. A commonality between all people of his race, it seemed.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him, nodding at his bruised features.

"Fine," he answered. "I should be asking you that question."

"I didn't take the same kind of beating you did."

"We all took a beating out there, in some way," Aithris added. "There were times there I thought we would not make it. But I never lost faith that we wouldn't find some way out of it." Aithris picked up his glass, which was filled with water, and took a sip. All the while, he kept his violet-hued eyes focussed on her. "I know we did some good out there, though. That was why I joined this team. I'm doing more good here, than when I was working for the ruling council of Sanctuary."

"You were worried?" Natalia was curious. She had rarely seen him even appear worried. Normally he kept a straight face, especially when on a mission.

"As I said, never to the point of losing faith." He paused, and Natalia got the impression that there was something more he wished to say, yet for whatever reason he could not bring himself to say it.

"And?" Natalia teased him now, curious as to what had caused him to pause.

"It's nothing, Natalia. You're a friend and team member and like with the others I find myself worrying over you when we're out on a mission."

"That's not unusual."

"No, it's not. But…" Again, he trailed off, and Natalia felt at that moment that she knew what he could not bring himself to say. She smiled, before she spooned more of the soup into her mouth. She had been intrigued by the Nomad from the moment she had seen him, but the work they did and the fact that they were on the same team had brought with it certain boundaries. However, she found herself increasingly willing to cross those boundaries. She did not know if Aithris felt the same way, and she did not know of a suitable way to broach the question to him.

"Are you going back to New Sanctuary?" She asked him, diverting the subject and distracting herself from what she truly felt about him.

"When I get a chance," Aithris said. "That is, not for a few days. The General wants us all on hand, in case something comes of the data we retrieved from the facility."

"I wouldn't mind coming along again, if that's all right."

Aithris narrowed his eyes, curious.

"Surely you have family of your own you could visit?" He asked her.

"In Russia, sure. Not here."

"In your hometown, I suspect?"

Natalia nodded. She recalled something in particular on that note, and so reached into a pocket and pulled out her wallet. From inside it, she retrieved a dog-eared photograph and she handed it to Aithris.

"That's the town, or the most notable part of it," she said. "That photo was taken about twenty years ago. A little reminder of home I like to keep on me, wherever I go. You might say it's so it feels like I carry a piece of it with me." She smirked then, aware of her corny that sounded. Aithris examined the image carefully, that of a large, majestic church on a paved road that went on by a large lake. The same church she had mentioned to him the other day, the one noteworthy thing in her otherwise unremarkable hometown.

He passed her back the photo. She carried that weathered old image with her as a reminder of where she had come from, no matter where she might have ended up currently. Aithris had little to remind him of Sanctuary, save for the memories of seeing the city burn. Such sights would haunt him until the day he died.

Natalia noticed the somewhat morose look his face had adopted, giving a worried frown.

"You all right?" She asked him.

"Yes, I'm fine." Aithris composed himself quickly, after his brief reverie. "Perhaps one day you could take me to your home?" He had mentioned it to her before, that desire to see the place in which she had been born. Just as she had paid a visit to his home on New Sanctuary, it seemed fair that Natalia repay the gesture. She would be more than happy to have him along; she simply was not sure how the outside world would react to having an alien follow her around.

"One day, Aith. When the people on the streets aren't going to panic when they see you." She paused, before she offered him a smile. "Not to say you're horrible to look at, quite the opposite. But people out there, some of them…" She trailed off, before she seemingly gave up trying to figure a way to finish the sentence and instead shrugged. Aithris found himself smiling in turn, well aware that the human species had a habit of panicking when it saw something it did not entirely understand. His people were not much different, they had simply been aware of intelligent life beyond themselves for far longer than the humans of Earth had been.

"Ah, Natalia." Aithris seemed uncertain as he spoke then, something that Natalia found unusual for him. He was usually stoic, even confident, so to see him seemingly bemused was worthy of her full attention. "If you do not have anything to do this afternoon, there is something you could assist me with."

"What would that be?"

"Well, when Valkas was here, he and I used to play a game. A video game, as your people call it. And well, since he's been gone…"

"You're asking me to play computer games with you?" Natalia might have laughed out loud, had she not seen how earnest Aithris was being about it. Aithris nodded his head in the affirmative fashion; he had apparently lost his usual gaming partner when Valkas had gone his own way, and Aithris had few other close friends within the SGC. Certainly no one he wanted to play video games with.

"Okay," she told him, smirking again. "I'll give it a shot. Nothing too competitive, understood? I'm not much of a 'gamer' myself."

"Neither am I," Aithris replied. "Valkas was the one who knew their ins-and-outs. I'm still learning my way around some of them."

"How about we start with something cooperative? You know, the two of us fighting the bad guys together?"

Aithris nodded again.

"If you want, then certainly."

It was a strange sense of normalcy, to be discussing such things with an alien warrior. Natalia had never envisioned such a thing for herself, yet here she was doing just that, about to play video games with an alien. She had been warned that going to work within the SGC might put her in some strange situations, but they had not likely been referring to something of this sort. Yet, here and now, it seemed 'right'. They were just two friends, looking to hang out as friends did. Natalia hoped, deep down, that it might become something more, but it was a hope tempered by the truth of their situation: they worked together, they fought together and they were not even the same species. She was smart enough to see that anything like what she hoped for may not work, yet it did not stop her from retaining that hope. And she felt that maybe Aithris harboured something similar, he was simply better at keeping it hidden than she was.


Elsie Rhodes was sore and tired, although the last couple of hours had seen her dozing on her bed in the infirmary. She was fitted in a loose white hospital gown, with the heartrate monitor beside working silently. She was otherwise alive and well, her time in the infirmary being more of a precaution than for any serious treatments. Nonetheless, her face was visibly bruised, including one blackened patch around her left eye where a Calsharan officer had struck her, hard. Her chest was sore, a result of bruised ribs from both her time held captive by the Calsharans in Blaskane, and also from the multiple tumbles she had taken in the woods on Dalabrai. One glance in a mirror confirmed to her that she was a mess, and she certainly felt as such.

She had woken up after a couple of hours asleep. For the time being, she was the only patient in the infirmary, resulting in a relatively quiet atmosphere. There were a few vacant beds to either side of her, separated by hospital curtains. A television was suspended on the wall ahead, currently sitting dormant. She helped herself to the cup of water sitting on the small table by the bed, complete with a straw in order to make drinking it with her aching jaw a little easier.

Doctor Takagi had told her she would need to take it easy for a few weeks, as any significant physical exertion would likely exacerbate her injuries. Elsie was not one to sit idly by, which was why she was already hoping that maybe she could get out of here by the end of the week, perhaps get put back on duty right afterwards. Not that they would let her, not with the doctor stating that she was in no shape to do so. Besides, she had lost her team. What would they do with her? What team would seriously want her?

Her run of bad luck seemed never-ending. Running a hand through her hair, she let out a weary sigh. Maybe it was time she went home? After the events of the past couple of days, her bad luck had reached a point that it had seen the rest of her team killed. She knew it was stupid, blaming herself for what had happened when it had been the Calsharans who had done it. Still, maybe it was a sign from a higher power that she quit whilst she was ahead? Go home to far flung Perth, maybe hunt invasive animal species for a living. Her father had made a decent living doing just that. She saw no reason why she could not do the same.

"How are you feeling?" A familiar voice sounded from the doorway of the infirmary. Elsie looked up, cocking an eyebrow when she saw Colonel Sheppard. She had not expected to see him, certainly not so soon, yet the look on John Sheppard's face suggested that he was genuinely interested to check on how she was faring. Elsie leaned back against the headboard, shrugging her shoulders as the Colonel approached.

"I'll be fine," she told him. "Bruised ribs, bruised everything, really. I just have to take it easy for a while."

"I'm sensing some reluctance in your tone," John said, smirking. He had determined very quickly what kind of person Elsie was, that of a 'hands-on', 'actions speak louder than words' sort no less.

"Well, my father used to say that idle hands are the devil's playground," Elsie remarked. "Sitting around with nothing better to do usually leads to trouble. That was why he always tried to keep me busy. He'd take me out hunting on the weekends, or just plain camping. I suppose he figured it was a way to keep me out of trouble."

"Something tells me it found you anyway?"

"It did, at times." Elsie gave a wry smirk, recalling some of the more notable incidents from her younger years, before she had signed up for the service. "I'm older and wiser now."

"I can tell," John replied, nodding. "I just wanted to see how you were going, Lieutenant. And to tell you that you did well out there. Hell, I'd say you did more than anyone could have expected of anybody. I know it wouldn't have been easy."

"I did well, sir?" Elsie frowned slightly, not sure if she had heard him correctly.

"That you did," John said, his dark, blue eyes meeting her own. "You saved my life, remember?"

"Yeah, well, I had to do something." Her shooting had indeed saved the Colonel's life, within the ruins of Blaskane. At the time, John had had no idea it had been her. Not until he had found her, along with the .50 calibre rifle she had been carrying. "Mind you, sir, but the shot that saved your life also alerted the lizards to my location. They caught me about a minute after I killed the lizard that was trying to kill you." She had taken a risk, firing the shot that had saved the Colonel. As she had expected, the Calsharans had swooped in on her position right afterwards, cutting off her escape. It was because of that short time in their custody that she was so badly beaten up, although she knew full well that it could have been much worse.

"And I'm grateful," John told her. "Truly, Lieutenant. I like to repay those who do me favours. Gets a load off my conscience, for one."

"You also don't like owing debts, I bet?"

"That too." John nodded in agreement. "What I'm getting at, Lieutenant, is that I've spoken with Janssen. I suggested to him that I could do with a recon specialist on my team. Someone like you, for instance."

Elsie frowned. Again, she was not sure if she had heard him correctly.

"Sir?"

"There's an opening on the team, Lieutenant. If you want it, and when you're in the right kind of shape to jump on board with us, of course." John gave her a friendly smile. "It's not set in stone just yet, but Janssen was open to it."

"Your team…"

"Has four members, sure, but there's no rules against having a few more. You'd be number five, and as far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier."

"But, SG-1…" She trailed off. Sheppard was all smiles, whereas Elsie was a mix of confusion and, somewhere deeper, elation. Maybe she would not need to run home after all? "I mean, I'm bad luck, sir."

"I doubt that," John countered. "Your team was killed through no fault of your own. And, if you're going to continue working in the field, then you need to be put on another team. I'd prefer it if you were on SG-1. You don't have to make your decision now, but the option is there."

Of course she would join his team, she would be an idiot not to take up the offer. She did her best to contain her rising glee, and instead gave the Colonel a beaming smile.

"Thank you, sir," she said, her voice wavering slightly.

"It's fine, Lieutenant. The least I could do, after what happened on Dalabrai. I'll make sure to iron out the details with General Janssen. By the time you're out of here, you should be an official member of SG-1."

Elsie did not say anything for a time, if only because she was trying to bury the rising emotions that thrashed about inside her. She might have even wept, although she considered herself a little 'tougher' than that. After everything that had gone wrong for her, and here she was, offered a place on the flagship team. And with a commanding officer she could actually respect, for a change. A commander who knew what kind of person she was, if only because he himself shared some of the same traits (and quirks).

"Rest up, Lieutenant," John told her. "God knows I could do with a good night's sleep myself."

The PA system throughout the SGC crackled into life then, with the voice of the chief technician chiming in through the speakers loud and clear:

"Colonel Sheppard, please report to the briefing room. Colonel Sheppard, please report to the briefing room."

John frowned slightly, having not expected such a call. He checked his watch, gave a light shrug of the shoulders and then turned to Elsie.

"Looks like I'm needed again," he said. "I'll see you around, Lieutenant. Let me know when you're feeling better."

"I could probably walk out of here right now."

"Yeah, well, you could do that but the doc wouldn't approve." John gave her a nod before he turned and walked out of the room, once more leaving Elsie with only herself for company. This time around, however, she was in a much better mood. Even her pain seemed to have decreased in severity.


Janssen was seated at the head of the conference table up in the briefing room. He was alone, with John being the only other person to join him. Judging from the look the General wore, he seemed partly confused, but also very, very concerned. Something had given him that grave expression, and John felt a mounting ominousness as he walked into the room and stopped a few paces from where the General was seated.

"What's the matter, sir?" John asked him.

"I think we've found Daniel Jackson," Janssen answered. He had a few papers upon the tabletop before him. He slid one towards John, cocking one eyebrow: he wanted John to read it. Picking it up, the Colonel set his eyes upon what was a printout of what he quickly saw was a message of sorts, something picked up on one of the computers here. It was short, but it said a great deal. More than he could have ever expected it to.

"This is from…?"

"We've confirmed the location of the source. It was sent on a subspace burst, the kind only certain systems can detect properly. Systems here, for instance, and those in Area 51, not to mention the outpost in Antarctica."

"The moon." John had difficulty believing it. For all this time, he had wondered as to what had become of Atlantis. He had assumed it had remained in the Pegasus galaxy, home to a token presence of expedition personnel. To think it had been on Earth's moon all this time…

"We can't have been the only ones to pick up that message," Janssen said, gravely. "The people McKay mentions would probably have the means to intercept it. They would know, and they would know that we know. I'm expecting a call from someone further up the chain because of that, no doubt to tell me not to get involved." Janssen's eyes narrowed, his face hardening into an expression of intent. "You and I both know that we cannot simply dismiss this information and wait idly by."

"They're on the moon," John said, and he slowly shook his head. "I guess they found Rodney, and I guess Rodney found out something. And from the look of it, they're in trouble." He watched Janssen carefully, seeing that the General appeared to be wrestling with some internal conflict. He was likely caught between a rock and a hard place in his position, especially given that if some behind-the-scenes conspirators were running Atlantis, then they likely had significant pull over the stargate program. Yet, McKay's message here was clear: they were in trouble, Atlantis was on the moon and some seriously bad people controlled the city. This was not something they could simply sit on, they had to act. Janssen knew it and John knew it, just how they would go about doing it was another matter entirely.

"I know that city inside and out," John said. "I can lead a team in there. We can find out what's going on, try and locate McKay and the others. Take the city back, put an end to whatever conspiracy we have going on here."

"What do you propose, Colonel? A frontal assault?"

"Just a team. Ten men, maybe. We use a stealth ship to get in and we take the control tower." As he spoke, Janssens' aide, a young Lieutenant, came striding into the room. He had a few printouts with him, and he leaned in close to the General and spoke quietly to him. Janssen nodded in acknowledgment as he skimmed over the printouts, before the Lieutenant turned and left the room almost as quickly as he had arrived. For a moment, Janssen said nothing, he simply stared at one of the sheets he had been handed, that of an image that John could not properly see from where he was standing.

After a pause, Janssen slid the printed photo across the table to John, who picked it up and examined what was on it. His eyes widened slightly, both in surprise and recognition: he knew what he was looking at, he simply found its choice of location very much unexpected.

"On the moon," he muttered, once again shaking his head. The image was taken from a distance and zoomed in significantly, which had affected the quality of its resolution. Even so, it was clear that he was looking at Atlantis, the general shape of it was instantly familiar to him. He noted the time marked at the corner of what he presumed was a photo taken by a satellite, noticing that it was barely twenty minutes old. The city was nestled upon the barren, crater-marked lunar surface.

"We had one of our satellites in a good position to take that," Janssen explained. "It corroborates with the location of the source of that subspace burst. The city's there, except it wasn't there before."

"It must have been cloaked," John said, and he put the photo down back upon the tabletop. "It could have been there for years and we would not have known."

"These must be the same people who built the Broadsword," Janssen added. "It looks like their cover's blown."

"I bet Daniel and Rodney had something to do with that."

"Probably." Janssen scratched at his chin, eyeing the photo and then John carefully. "The fact that Atlantis is there and none of us knew about it is cause for concern. These people, whoever they are, they need to be stopped. That is why I will allow you to take whatever you need to get up there and get to the bottom of this."

John nodded. He wanted nothing more than to get up there and retake Atlantis, not to mention find out just what exactly was going on and why the city-ship had been parked on the moon. So many questions had arisen, none of which had solid answers available. Not until he got up there and poked around. Something told him that 'poking around' would involve a lot of shooting. However, if Daniel and McKay were up there, Teal'c as well, then John was more than willing to dive in and do whatever necessary to rescue those three. No man got left behind, certainly not under John Sheppard's watch.

The sound of a landline ringing in that familiar and repetitive bell broke through the pair's exchange then, originating from the black phone situated upon Janssen's desk in his office behind the conference room. Janssen glanced back to the doorway, then looked up at John, his expression making it clear that he had a good indication of just who might be calling.

"I should answer that," Janssen said, and he slowly rose from his chair. He did not appear to be in a hurry to get to the phone, which continued to ring, over and over again. "You should go, Colonel. Get your team and whoever else you need. We've got a puddle jumper stashed away in the hangar topside; that should get you where you need to be."

Janssen was going out on a limb for him here. John would have to thank him properly later, right now he had a raid and a rescue to sort out. The 'puddle jumper' craft would be perfect for his purposes; the one that Janssen referred to had likely been unearthed from some Ancient outpost years before and stored away for a rainy day. It seemed the rain was coming, and it was coming in hard and fast. The puddle jumper in question may very well have been brought over from Atlantis itself, so in that case, John would be returning it to its place of origin. It would even come with a harmonizer device, necessary to pass through Atlantis' shield.

He left Janssen to attend to his phone call, and instead hurried out of the conference room. He had the General's aide put out a call for his team to meet him in the locker room, Jonas Quinn included. The man was practically an honorary member of the team at this point, and with Daniel elsewhere it made sense to keep him around. Of course, John would need a few more volunteers. He would feel better with some more backup on this one, the kind of backup that had been sorely lacking during their trip to Dalabrai.


Natalia heard the call same time as Aithris did, cutting short the pair's video game session. They walked at a brisk pace through the corridors, headed for the armoury that had been specified. This put them past the infirmary, and much to the pair's surprise, Elsie was standing in the doorway.

"What was that call for?" She asked them, dressed in a loose-fitting grey patient's gown. Her injuries had been cleaned up, yet she still looked terrible. Even her stance suggested that she was struggling to remain upright, and Natalia thought of telling her to get back in her bed. However, from the look Elsie gave, staying in bed was the last thing on her mind.

"Team's meeting in the armoury," Aithris said, before Natalia could reply. He stopped a short distance from the infirmary entrance, one brow quirked in a curious manner. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I'm going," she told them.

"You really shouldn't—" Natalia began, but Elsie cut her off.

"The only reason you'd be gathering in the armoury is because it's something urgent. And I want in, especially if I'm going to be on your team."

This last part was news to both Natalia and Aithris, with the former offering the Lieutenant a surprised glance.

"You are?" She asked her.

"Yeah, and a lot sooner than even the Colonel expects." She walked back into the infirmary then, stripping herself of the cable that was connected to the vital signs monitor. Immediately the machine started to beep in alarm, which brought in Doctor Takagi and a nurse. The doctor scowled at the now very active Elsie.

"Lieutenant, where are you going?" He asked her. The nurse, meanwhile, was already over at a cabinet nearby, readying up a syringe that she no doubt intended to fill with a sedative. Natalia and Aithris watched all this from the doorway, with the Nomad looking almost amused by the stubborn display of the Lieutenant.

"I'm going out," Elsie declared, and she pulled a small bag out from under her bed, one that contained her uniform. Ripping off the gown and leaving herself in her undergarments, she began to hurriedly throw on her uniform.

"We should go," Natalia said to Aithris, upon the reveal of the scantily clad Lieutenant. Aithris gave her a smirk, before the two of them started back on their walk to the designated meeting point. There was no doubt that the matter was urgent, for there was little other reason why they would be called to the main armoury. However, it could not have been a proper assignment, as those were usually preceded by a briefing up in the conference room. Natalia found the whole situation strange, and it became even stranger once she and Aithris entered the armoury and met the Colonel. He was there, as was Jonas Quinn, who had presumably answered the same call.

The main armoury was sizeable, with a firing range starting after a door down one end and a quartermaster's office at the other side. The quartermaster himself was behind a secure barrier, and inside his workspace were shelves brimming with weapons and specialised equipment. John was fitting on a black combat vest when Natalia and Aithris came in. He picked up two from the bench just before the secure barrier, tossing them to the newly arrived pair.

"Gear up, you two. We're going out." He was succinct, his eyes narrowed with intent. Something had come up, something he intended to deal with in the most direct way he could. Jonas was also gearing up, having put on a black combat vest over an equally black 'night raid' uniform. He was seated on a bench between John and the others, and unlike the two who had just walked in, Jonas appeared far less confused. He seemed the kind of man to simply take things in stride, no matter what happened.

"What's going on?" Natalia asked him.

"I'll explain on the way," John answered. "We're getting a few more volunteers. Once we're all together, I'll tell you everything."

"Right." Natalia knew better than to press the point. They were obviously in a hurry. Given the secretive nature of their work, it was not surprising that details for such urgent scenarios were few and far between.

"I've already picked out your favourites," John said. From the desk of the quartermaster, he pulled up a SCAR-H rifle that he tossed to Aithris. The Nomad caught it with ease, along with the pouches and waistbelt brimming with magazines for it that John threw to him in turn. Natalia received a pump-action Remington shotgun, complete with fitted holographic sight and underslung flashlight. This suggested that they would be getting into some close-quarters action, otherwise John would have thrown her a rifle.

"Best to keep this whole thing on the down-low," John told them. "Once we're done in here, we go straight to the elevator outside."

"Not the stargate?" Jonas asked him. He zipped up his vest and rose to his feet from the bench he had been seated upon.

"We're not going too far," John answered. He looked up then, his attention diverting to the armoury's entrance. All other heads turned to there as well, where Elsie had appeared in a somewhat creased uniform. She was breathing a little heavily, suggesting that she had run here.

"Colonel?" She asked, offering him an innocent smile. John frowned, taking in her generally bruised face with some concern. "Whatever it is, I want in."

"Lieutenant, you're in no shape to—"

"I can run and I can shoot. That's the bulk of what a soldier needs, right, sir?"

"I think it's a little more than that," Aithris interjected, but John held up a hand, signalling him to stop. Elsie wavered slightly where she stood, yet she otherwise appeared strong. She was not the kind of person to let a beating keep her down.

"The doctor didn't let you out, did he?" John asked her. The answer was obvious, yet the apparent lack of an irritated Doctor Takagi suggested that he may have relented in her departing the infirmary. Either that, or he had simply not bothered to pursue her down the corridors.

"Don't worry about him, sir. I made him hit me up with the best painkillers he had on hand."

"Not morphine, I hope?"

"I want to be alert, sir, not high."

John smiled. He already liked this Lieutenant Rhodes, which was all the more reason to keep her around. She was simply giving him more reasons to like her.

"I can't have you slowing us down out there," he warned her. Elsie shook her head, adamant.

"I won't, sir."

Natalia took a few steps over to her, meeting the Lieutenant's gaze with a level one of her own. She looked her up and down, trying to gauge just what kind of shape she was in. Bruised face, a few cuts on it, a slightly wavering stance; yet the look in her eyes spoke to a vitality and determination that was likely what kept her going.

"I don't know, sir." She turned to John, offering him a curt shrug of the shoulders. "She might be a liability."

"I ain't a liability, Sergeant," Elsie countered, her voice hardening into something much harsher. "You best watch your tone." Of course, Elsie outranked her; such was the issue with being an experienced NCO and not a full-blown officer such as Elsie was. Natalia turned to her, frowned, but otherwise said nothing more.

"Relax, Lieutenant. The Sergeant was simply offering her opinion." John regarded both women in turn, agreeing with Natalia's concerns just as much as he was impressed by Elsie's drive and determination. He checked his watch then, knowing that with each minute that went by, that was another minute his friends on Atlantis had to fight to survive.

"All right, Lieutenant. Gear up." John picked up his own MPX submachine gun. He slid a fully loaded magazine into the weapon and cocked it, satisfied from the noise it made and the feel of it that all was functioning as it should be. He had a strong feeling that he would be using it very soon.