Ch66
The next morning, the Hammersley left for patrol, with a couple of its crew members being slightly hungover. Two weeks later, they returned all looking forward to a spent time on the land. That same afternoon, Mike took a flight to Sydney.
When Kate arrived home, pushing the kid's stroller, she was received by the smell of a home-cooked meal. She closed the door behind her and left the kids in the living room before heading towards the kitchen already smiling broadly.
"Welcome home, sailor." She whispered making him turn.
"Surprise!" He told her with a big grin opening his arms. Kate moved into him and hugged him tightly.
"I've missed you," Kate said before kissing him
"I've missed you, Kate." He lowered the gas fire that on the stove and turned around. "Why don't you go get changed while I'll take care of the kids."
"Sure?" they kissed and walked to where she left the kids.
"Daddy!" Emma yelled as she tried to get out of the stroller. Mike undid the belt and picked her; she hugged him tightly. "Miss you, daddy."
"I've missed you, sweetie." He hugged her back before he lowered her to the ground.
After that, he managed to pick up the twins and walked into the living room where he lowered them on a sheepskin rug before seating down too. Emma followed him and hurried to his lap. He talked to them and played with them until Kate joined them.
"When did you get here?"
"Not that long ago, I had time to check the fridge, get some groceries and start dinner."
"Wow, so plenty of time then," she chuckled before she leaned forward for a kiss.
Over the next few days, Mike took time to visit all the members of his family while Kate was at work and the kids at the daycare. During the nights, he chose to spend his time with the kids until their bedtime and loving Kate during the evenings.
But the days passed quickly, and soon he was kissing each kid and hugging them tightly before returning them to the stroller. With a tired sigh, he embraced Kate and kissed her longingly.
"Each time is harder," he whispered against her lips before he walked away.
"Too hard," she agreed biting her lower lip before they kissed each other once more. They knew they wouldn't see each other for a good couple of months which made the departure a little more heartbreaking.
A week after Mike left, Kate was called to Watson bay where they confirmed that she was going to be teaching there until the end of the year. With that settled she decided it was time to start Emma's potty training. She also got plenty of tapes to record the advance of the boys who by then were already started to stand.
There was a bright side to her current position, and that was that she was able to e-mail Mike to let him know how things were going and send him pictures of them, which helped to alleviate the void felt by his departure in both ends.
"You look happy, sir." Buffer pointed one day after he returned to the bridge. Mike smiled brightly.
"How wouldn't I, Buffer? I just got an email from Kate."
"I knew your wife would be the cause of it." Buffer grinned.
"Yes, the boys started to walk around hanging onto furniture."
"Woah, that's huge."
"How old are they now, sir?" Nav asked
"Almost nine months."
"Really? They must have grown fast."
"Yeah, they are."
"What about Emma? How is she doing, sir?" Buffer asked
"Kate started potty training her."
"Really, that's great, sir," ET said
"Yes, she woke with a dry diaper in the morning. But she still has some accidents."
"And talking?" ET asked
"She is learning every day while at daycare."
"That's good, sir," Nav said.
"Sir, any plans for Emma's birthday this year?" Buffer asked.
"I don't know, Buffer. I guess it depends on our luck with the patrol."
"It would be a shame if you miss out, sir," ET said
"Well, that's the navy for you." Their talk was interrupted by a mayday.
In Colorado Springs, Sam was in the control room doing a computer test when the gate started spinning, and the alarms sounded with the incoming wormhole. The iris closed and soon Sam turned around to hear the General Landry walking down the stairs
"Who's it, Colonel?"
"We are waiting for the GDO code, sir," Sam said as the code appeared on the screen. "Atlantis expedition, sir."
"Open the iris."
"Yes, sir," Sam said, but then the screen was moving. Eh, sir?" She called.
"Dr. Weir," Landry greeted her.
"General, we are sending copies of our reports and video messages to you."
"Colonel," he said looking at Sam
"Dr. Weir, it's Colonel Carter. Whenever you are ready," Dr. Weir turned around and nodded to someone.
"It's going, Colonel."
"We got it, Dr," Sam announced once the transfer was done.
"Good, we don't know when we will be able to contact the SGC again."
"Understood Dr. Good luck."
"Thank you, General." Once the link was cut, the gate was disengaged. Sam quickly peeked the data.
"There's a lot of information here, General."
"Can you sort it, Colonel?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Let me know when it's done," he said before turning around and walking away.
Sam spent a great amount of her afternoon sorting the data; there was so much information that when she finally rubbed her eyes tiredly, Jack was already in the control room with her.
"Hey"
"What are you doing here?" She asked checking her watch.
"Hank called, he said something about a long-distance phone call?" Sam smiled
"Yeah, I was going through it all."
"Have you read any of it?"
"Only a note to me and a couple of reports."
"Anything interesting?"
"There's a new alien enemy called the Wraith."
"Oh, do they say something else?"
"Yup. They are life suckers."
"Like vampires?"
"No, way worse. Here look at this," she said as she brought up a video of a wraith attacking a human.
"That's not good."
"Definitively, no. If they find out about Earth or another populated planet… we might become an all you can eat buffet."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, but this is good." She said opening another video in which the laser weapon was fired to the wraith and blowing a hole in the chest.
"Cool, they work against them."
"Not only against them," She said, showing him other footage.
"They do work," Jack smiled as a ship was blown using the laser weapon.
"It seems so."
"Great! Now save this and let's go home to celebrate." Sam grinned.
"Give me a few minutes."
The next day, Jack had meetings with the IOA and the President. Sam spent the day sorting the information and printing all the reports.
"Colonel Carter, what can I do for you?" Landry said later that afternoon when she walked into his office.
"Sir, It's done. got all the files sorted out sir."
"Good, anything else?"
"Yes, sir. This," she gave him a box. He frowned as he opened it to find it filled with tagged pen drives.
"And these are?"
"Video messages from the Atlantis expedition to their families, sir," she gave him a file. "This folder contains the names of the families and the address of each."
"Since you already have it figure it out, Colonel. I'll see that these go to the right people, what about the reports?"
"Printed and filed, sir."
"Excellent. Any idea on how we can get them to Washington within the hour, Colonel?" Landry smiled already knowing the answer. "The Prometheus went to the alpha site." Sam grinned
"You already know what I will say, sir. You might want to call Jack. I'm sure he can come and get them back to DC. But why the rush?"
"The IOA"
"Oh, Jack mentioned something about the IOA yesterday. He says he would ask you if I could join the meeting."
"I'm willing to bet he will ask, Colonel. I'll make the call while getting the files ready for transport."
"Yes, sir," Sam said before she left to do what was ordered.
Twenty minutes later, Sam and six SF were waiting for Jack to show up. When he opened the ship, he found them and shook his head.
"General." Sam greeted him with a big smile.
"We are in a hurry, aren't we, Colonel?" he grinned back. "I guess those are the reports?"
"Yes, sir."
"Load them here and here." He pointed a couple of places where they wouldn't move too much. The SF started to move the boxes while Jack walked towards Sam. "I hear you will be helping me with this meeting, Colonel."
"Yes, sir." She nodded. Soon everything was in place including Jack and Sam in the front chairs. He cloaked the ship and directed it towards DC.
"Sam,"
"Yes, Jack"
"You look hot in your dress blues," he whispered not looking at her.
"So, do you," she purred back. From the corner of his eye, he could see her licking her lips slowly.
"Damn it, Sam." He groaned. "If we didn't have that sucky IOA meeting, I would fly up to our cabin, and I punish you for teasing me like that."
"I guess, General." She husked. "that you will have to wait until tonight," she whispered the last part in his ear to which he growled.
"Clowns, kids, dogs, kitties." Sam snorted knowing he was trying to focus on anything but her. It took him a while, but when they landed at the IOA, they were back at their serious personas. With the help of two SF and two trolleys, they could move the boxes quite quickly.
"General O'Neill, Colonel Carter, what's the meaning of those boxes?" They exchanged a look.
"Colonel, can you explain?"
"Yes, sir. Yesterday, nine hundred the SGC received an incoming wormhole from the Atlantis Expedition. Dr. Weir has sent forward reports, video footage, audio and private messages for the families of the members of her expedition which were scrutinized by a team of SGC staff and deemed safe to send." Jack frowned.
"We checked their private messages?" Jack asked, and Sam nodded bitterly.
"Yes, that's an IOA policy, sir. To ensure that no one compromises the safekeeping of the SGC and Atlantis. All the drives came back clean, sir."
"I don't like to intrude in the lives of our devoted personnel, Colonel. But not even I can say anything against that logic." He grimaced. "Please continue."
"In the boxes, you will find all the printed reports from Atlantis. These are your copies; please keep them safe as we will with ours. Now, if I can connect to the projector," someone nodded to her, and she walked over to the table and connected her laptop to the TV screen. "What I'm about to show is the SGA newest enemy. A race called the wraith."
"For what I've seen, these wraiths are a lot worse than the Goa'uld," Jack said
"And what's that supposed to mean, General?"
"As you will see, they are capable of sucking the life out of a living being in less than a minute without leaving a single mark," Jack explained, and Sam nodded at him. "You can see it for yourselves, go on, Colonel."
Sam pressed play, and the footage started. They could hear a couple of gasps and several of the present blanched. When it was over, they turned around in shock.
"We should recall them before they get to us," one member said
"Actually, they can defend themselves, sir. Allow me to show you the next footage." Sam played the videos of the wraith and their different ships being attacked by the laser gun and successfully defeated. "The laser gun that we send with them works perfectly against the wraith and their ships."
"I'm impressed, Colonel Carter."
"Is there anything about their location?"
"Yes, ma'am." She found a couple of records taken from a jumper flying around Atlantis, then some more videos of the inside. "There are several bits about the inside. However, they have only managed to see a quarter of the city."
The meeting continues for several hours in which Sam and Jack presented the most important results of the expedition before they walked out to the ship again.
"Sam, you did a great job in there."
"Thanks, Jack. Are you returning to your office after dropping me?"
"Nope, we are going to the White House." He stated.
"We?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yup, we are going to see the President, and you can tell him all about the Atlantis expedition results."
"You will owe me for this, Jack."
"Oh, I can think of several lovely ways to pay you for it," he grinned.