Disclaimer: see chapter one.
Jason Bates had to say he was extremely surprised to see where he was going. The route was unfamiliar, which meant they were heading to an area the expedition team hadn't explored yet, which was making him slightly…. edgy. You never knew what was out here.
"You've been to this place before?" He couldn't help but ask.
A chuckle answered him, from all directions. Jet was standing to his right, Hex slightly behind him to his left, and Shadow ahead of them. "When we lived here, it was like a boarding school, I believe it's called. All the kids lived here. It was our community. We interacted with our parents, sure, but we ate, learned, and slept with the other kids." Jet informed him.
"Over the years," Hex continued, "Many off world survivors have been brought to our home, most of them children. The Wraith saw little need in taking them," she finished with a frown.
Shadow continued, "We take them in, teach them, help them, protect them, and in return, they get the opportunity to see what the galaxy could be like without the Wraith. Most of them join our military, so that they can, in turn, help others that need it."
Jesus Christ, they let aliens join the military! "You let aliens join Earth military?" he asked, slight scorn filling his voice.
They heard it, and with slight reproach Hex informed him, "We let them join Atlantis military. We weren't born on Earth, Bates, we were born right here, on Atlantis. This is our home, and we make…made the rules."
Hex speed walked off ahead of the other three, making sure to bump into Jason's shoulder, and Jet looked straight at Jason. "You had to make her mad? When all the rooms are sorted out, I'm so sleeping on the couch!"
Jason's eyebrows raised up high. "She's your…?"
"Girlfriend," Jet answered wistfully. "It would have been..." he trailed off noticing Shadow's ears perking up, and yelled loudly, "Shadow!"
It was almost comical. She jumped a foot into the air, spun around, eyes wide open, and a blush starting to cover her neck.
"Why don't you go ahead and check on Hex for me? Make sure she doesn't blow anything up?" Jet suggested.
"Yes Sir!" Christ almighty, the only thing she was missing was the salute! Jet rolled his eyes, making sure Shadow saw the move, and she replied with a sarcastic salute and a "Later Jet", before running off to catch up with Hex.
Bates made a questioning look, and nodded his head in the direction Shadow had run off. Jet correctly interpreted it.
"She knows I hate it, everyone does. But they've decided that since I got made the leader, they have to show a solid front. Apparently it's something I'm going to have to put with in front of your lot," Jet explained.
That made sense, Jason thought. "What do you mean, voted the leader? You're a Lt. Col. Aren't you automatically the leader?"
They walked slowly onwards, turned a corner, and had walked forward a few more steps before Jet spoke.
"You heard Hex say, Atlantian military, correct?" At Jason's nod, he continued. "You need to understand the basics first. At the moment, you guys have managed to send a message through to Earth, right?" Jet didn't wait for an answer, he already knew it. "What you, what maybe no-one except for Dr. Weir knows, is that since the Atlantis expedition was expected to be a one-way mission, the President stated the Atlantis was to basically become a colony. Non-frat regs were, sorry are, abolished. Atlantis was to become completely self-sufficient."
Jason was stunned. Atlantis had colony status? Self-sufficient? Christ on a stick! He was….God, he didn't have the words to explain it!
"Do you want me to continue?" Jet had to ask, Bates was looking a little wide-eyed, and on closer examination, appeared a little green around the gills.
Jason had to nod. If this were only the beginning, it would take a long time to get everything pieces at a time. He had to hear all of it now, if only so that if he upchucked, it would only be once…hopefully.
"You heard that my dad is Major Sheppard, right?" Jason gave a small chuckle, which left a grin upon his face. Even from the back of the room, he'd heard Sheppard's grumbles about the fact that his kid was higher in rank than he was.
Jet noticed the grin, and correctly ascertained what had been the cause. "You think it's weird? How do you think I feel?" They stopped outside a pair of large silvery blue doors.
"Anyway, over many years, many different people came to seek refuge in Atlantis. Atlantis grew, and became a true city once more. Children were born, were raised, others were refugees, but they all knew what we were doing here. I diverge.
"My dad, as the ranking officer, learned about the colony status we'd been given. Sporadically, we'd gain contact with Earth. New people, new technologies, promotions granted, but still, we had colony status. Dad created the Atlantis Defence Force, or ADF as our insignia shows, instead of USAF. The ranks were an amalgamation of various Earth and Lantean rankings, so were the symbols.
"Being raised 'on base', so to say, we learned young. Weapons, science, everything was ingrained at a young age. We knew what we wanted to do, and by God, we were going to do it.
"I've no idea where the group designations came from. The Dragons is like your officers, but you can specialise in something, given you the title of 'Specialist Dragon'. You also get different insignia. Komodos are like the enlisted, but you can't specialise."
Jet stopped. "What was the original question again?" He couldn't believe he'd forgotten!
Jason looked at him, stunned. "How did you get voted to be the leader?" He couldn't believe Jet had forgotten!
"Right. Sorry. Yeah, it was designed so that at least a Lt. Col. was in charge. If I was to be in charge, by Lantean law, I had to be made Lt. Col. So, by group decision, I was. Out of the five Majors, I was the one with the most combat experience. I was close to making it on my own anyway."
Jason was gob smacked. "So, you're actually a Major?" Bates had to say, at least to himself, he was disappointed. He was kinda hoping the Lieuten…Ma…Jet would put Major Sheppard into his place.
"Nope. I meant it when I said I was close." Jet looked around, and then leaned into Bates slightly. "The commander was waiting for all of us to be in one place before he made it a surprise. I knew, but he wanted to make it a surprise for everyone else. It would have been today, but the Wraith showed up, as you saw."
Okay, he took it all back. Still he had loads of questions. He looked at his watch. Twenty-five minutes had gone by. "Didn't you want to take a shower or something?"
Jet's eyes glazed over. A few seconds later, Jason started to get worried, but before he could contact Dr. Beckett, Jet's eyes became clear. "Nah, it's okay, they are all being used at the moment. I doubt I'll get one before I kip down for the night. It was mostly so that everyone else had time for a shower and something to eat. Trust me, you don't want to see a hungry McKay!" He finished with a laugh.
Jason's eyes crinkled with suppressed laughter. "I've been dealing with the original remember. Undiluted with the mother's genes. So, Dr. McKay does have kids then?" He vaguely remembered something about someone wanted to 'prettify' them self.
"Four. Micky, Z, Deuce, and Rommie. All of them babble like their dad, and have hypoglycaemia. Each and every one of them is allergic to citrus as well. It's made for some…. interesting off world missions."
Christ, four McKay's! "I feel for you man," Jason said, patting Jet's shoulder. "Are any of them military?" Surely McKay wouldn't let any of his children join the military? Right?
"Three of them, Micky, Z, and Deuce. Rommie would have been joining today."
Shit on a stick! Three, no four McKay's in the military. He could see it now… With a shudder, he brought himself out of the trance he'd nearly put himself into. Jason looked at his watch. Thirty minutes had gone by.
He remembered, licking his lips swiftly, that he'd been promised something. His stomach rumbled.
"Ah, yes. I did promise you food didn't I?" Jet uttered, a grin upon his face, upon hearing the rumble, which was quickly echoed by one from his own stomach.
The doors opened with the passcode from Jet, Jason becoming surprised at how the doors opened with no apparent movement or signal from Jet, and they both walked in, the tantalising smells of freshly cooked bacon and eggs wafting around them and engulfing the pair, drawing them inwards.
Wow, I'm being so gracious! Chapter are coming in on a semi-regular basis, aren't you all happy? I have to tell you all though, I'm shocked at how many people have read this story. At my last count, I think it was somewhere near 2000 hits! Oh, and only one person so far has guessed who the parents of some of the kids are. I know, I know, I've basically told you all who quite a few of them are the children of, but some of them, well. It's no fun if you can't, or rather don't, guess.