Sam rolled her neck from side to side as she walked into the master bedroom, yawning with Aqua on her heels. She chuckled as the dog tried to nuzzle her way into the room. "Not tonight. Sorry."
Jack had left the door to their bedroom open one night after Aqua had come to stay with them, and the Air Force officers had awoken to the dog in the center of the bed, her head on their pillows looking for all the world like this was her bed and they were the interlopers.
Sam bent down and scratched behind Aqua's ears, hoping to reassure the animal that there were no hard feelings. Just boundaries.
Sam slipped into the bedroom as Aqua curled up outside the door like she did every night. She winced as she tried to lengthen her spine, tried to alleviate some of the pressure that lined it. What had possessed her to fall asleep on the couch in the middle of the day? It had been years since she'd taken a nap—even longer if one didn't count the sleep she got while recovering from an injury or illness in the infirmary.
She smiled to herself as she brushed her teeth. Maybe it had all been for the best. She'd just pulled one of her more meaningful all-nighters.
Addison Samantha.
Greg and Cassie had already asked that Sam and Jack be their kids' guardians in case something happened to both of them, and that had been touching enough, but this?
You should have seen her, Janet. She was remarkable. You would have been proud.
Sam hesitated a moment, the bittersweet memory of her departed friend mixing with the joy of the evening's events.
Janet should have been here instead of Sam. That was the whole reason Sam hadn't adopted Cassie in the first place. So, the girl wouldn't have to go through the loss of a mother a second time. A loss Sam knew all too well from her own personal life.
She blew her nose as she emerged from the bathroom and knelt beside her husband's side of the bed. "Jack?"
No answer.
She almost let him sleep, but she knew that the moment he saw a birth announcement on social media, he would ask her why she didn't wake him up.
Not that he was really into social media. He really just had an Instagram account so he could keep up with Cassie's adventures in parenting. That in and of itself cracked Sam up when she thought about it, her Black Ops baby boomer husband in a sea of arts and crafts loving millennial moms.
She tapped his bare elbow. "Jack."
Jack gasped awake. "Jeez, Carter. What's the deal with those fingers? It's like being back in Antarctica."
She chuckled as she rubbed her hands together and he burrowed under his pillow again to protect against another attempt to wake him. He was right, her hands had been a little cold against his warm skin. "Sorry. I just wanted to tell you. Cassie had the baby."
His head peeked out from under his pillow, his gray hair sticking straight up as it always did when she woke him in the middle of the night. "Girl?"
She nodded. "Addison Samantha."
He grinned. "Nice."
"Everybody's healthy, and the baby's beautiful. Just perfect."
She yawned, her exhaustion catching up with her, and Jack scooted over on the bed and opened the covers to her. "Come here, Grandma Sam. We'll conserve our body heat."
She raised her eyebrow. "I'm nobody's grandmother, Jack."
He yawned, the offer still extended to her. "Tell that to Cassie's kids."
A faint smile played on her lips as she climbed in, letting Jack's strong arms envelop her as she rested her cheek on his pillow and he pressed his face into her shoulder.
Maybe she'd just catch a couple hours of shut-eye.
"Carter."
The way the hand shook her awake, roughly, reminded her so much of her years in the field that her answer, even before she'd opened her eyes, was instinctive. "Yes, sir."
Except she was in bed. On Jack's side of the bed, his apologetic half-smile looming overhead.
"Jack?"
His face was grim. "We've got a bit of a situation. How soon can you be ready for a video call with Landry and me? Probably a couple other people, too."
She sat up, her head pounding with the change in elevation. She pressed a hand to her temple, not willing to let this sudden headache impact her readiness. "Give me five minutes."
It took her less than three minutes to put on a pair of jeans and one of the athletic tees she'd been issued when she went to Atlantis. BDUs while working from home felt too battle-ready. Her dress uniform too formal.
She hoped this would be the right balance between professional and casual for this meeting.
She pulled her hair into a ponytail as she hurried down the stairs to grab her laptop. Though they hadn't been hiding their marriage, she and Jack had agreed when she'd gotten home for the quarantine that if a situation like this would arise, it would be more professional for them to appear on separate screens. No sense poking the bear.
"Colonel Carter, thank you for joining us. I trust you've had a relaxing leave?"
She smiled at Landry whose face was pleasant even though the tone seemed tense in the virtual meeting room. "Yes, sir. Thanks for asking. Good to see you. Wish it was under better circumstances."
She had to keep from whistling at Jack's understatement as one by one, faces joined the conference call. Ellis. Caldwell. Her counterparts on other ships. Sheppard. Woolsey. The Atlantis and IOA representatives. Reynolds from the Alpha Site. Lt. Colonel Jennifer Hailey, the new head of Research and Development at Area 51.
Mitchell. Landry. Jack. Teal'c. Vala. In fact, Daniel was the only member of SG-1 missing, and she wondered if it was because he didn't have any direct bearing on this briefing or if he would be appearing soon.
Only one thing could have them all on a secure video chat in the middle of a quarantine.
The Lucian Alliance.
A chill went down her spine.
"How soon can we get the Hammond in the air?"
Hailey shook her head at Jack's question. "All due respect, sir, but we just started on the hyperdrive updates. We'll work as fast as we can, but I don't think you're going to get the ship before next week. And that's with asking Colonel Carter and her crew to finish the updates while they fly."
Sam shook her head. "We won't need the hyperdrive online. If the Lucian Alliance is coming to Earth like the Jaffa have heard, we'll only need sublight engines, shields, and weapons if we're going to be an asset instead of a liability."
"Sublight engines have been upgraded, but not shields or weapons. Those were scheduled for after the hyperdrive."
Caldwell cleared his throat. "Not gonna lie. I'd feel a little better if you were here to watch our six, Sam."
Ellis nodded. "Agreed. But the safety of your ship and your crew needs to be taken into consideration, too."
"Not to mention how to quarantine the crew before allowing them board."
Sam was surprised to see Carolyn Lam on the call as well. "Quarantine?"
Carolyn nodded. "If we aren't careful, we could create a situation like they had on that cruise ship in the Pacific with COVID-19 rapidly spreading through your crew. We could beam up supplies, but that would be all we could do until the virus hit everyone."
Sam grimaced. "That's a cheery thought."
"So, we quarantine everyone at the SGC for a couple of weeks with daily temperature checks and regular COVID testing. With cots in labs and opening up VIP rooms, we should have enough space."
Landry nodded, pondering Mitchell's suggestion. "Then, they'd be on site where we could treat them if they begin to show symptoms. We could stock each room with MREs, but we could also have the mess hall staff drop meals off outside each room. You know, sandwich, water, protein bar."
Sam's heart sank. So much for spending six weeks at home with her husband.
"Assuming, of course, that the Lucian Alliance doesn't attack us before the Hammond is battle ready."
Sam's gaze flickered to her husband's face on the screen.
He made a good point.
Maybe it was the reality of their precarious position setting in, but taking a breath felt far more arduous than it normally was. "General, I understand what you're saying, but if we don't quarantine the crew and find replacements for the members who test positive for the virus, we can't board the Hammond even if by some miracle, she does get her upgrades in time."
Jack held her gaze. "It's up to you, Colonel. She's your ship."
Sam tensed. "Then, I say we recall the crew. We'll wait for the intel Teal'c, Vala, and Reynolds are gathering to verify when and where the Lucian Alliance are planning to attack. Hailey, have your teams work around the clock if you have to. Hopefully, we'll be ready when they are. My crew would go crazy if they had to watch the skies knowing they could have been up there with you all."
Jack's eyes closed for a moment. "Then, that's the plan. We'll have the crew of the Hammond report to the SGC no later than Monday, and we'll cross our fingers the Lucian Alliance gives us a couple of weeks to get her back in the air."
As she closed her laptop a few moments later, she could feel Jack's presence on the stairs.
She coughed into her fist before she reached for the hand sanitizer and cleaned her hands. "I'm sorry, Jack. It was the right call."
He walked down the steps, nodding his agreement. "I know."
She coughed again, pressing against her sternum as if the pressure would assist her in clearing her throat.
She washed her hands a second time in as many minutes, only to catch Jack's quirked eyebrow. "Jack, I'm fine. My late nights have caught up with me. That's all."
He didn't seem to buy it, but he didn't say anything. "We should get you packed."
She swallowed and nodded, and with that, all thoughts of vacation vanished.
