Chapter 15: Tactics and Cover Stories
Over dinner, Daniel divulged the contents of the folder he'd been carrying, revealing that it held the enlarged and detailed blueprints of the school Sam had found online, delivered to him when he'd run into Walter Harriman on the way to look for the rest of SG-1. It also contained the enlarged public directory of the school as well as detailed topographical maps and satellite images of the school and it's surrounding areas that Sam had found. Walter was nothing less but efficient. The cafeteria table, encumbered as it was with trays and plates, was soon pronounced insufficient to their needs, and after dinner with Jack still carrying a partially eaten slice of pie, the group relocated to the Colonel's office. Not long after, the furniture was pushed back and the walls were buried beneath the plans, tacked up so that all could study them in greater detail.
Colored markers were produced and entrances, windows, fire escapes, maintenance access, ventilation, and electrical supply were all identified and marked. Standing on a chair, Sam highlighted several possible insertion points for SG teams, should the need arise, and Daniel pointed out a few internal details he'd picked up from his tour of the inside of the school, such as the main office, Sam's classroom, and his own small shared office. Jack and Teal'c marked out areas around the school where they could hide surveillance crews. The plan had been to send Sam and the others in with a wire, if possible, despite the risk of the questions it would raise should it be discovered on one of them. However, early recon by specialists from the SGC had ascertained that there was some sort of low level electrical jamming going on. It not only masked the building and its surroundings from scans and probes from space or on the ground, but interfered with any wireless devices. Landline telephones and cable had no doubt been insulated, but cell phones, pagers, and any sort of radio were rendered ineffective.
The R & D department was working on the problem, and thus far had only managed to come up with a crude imitation of an Asgard communicator. They would not be able to speak with one another through it, but it would function as an emergency beacon for the rest of SG-1 and the backup surveillance crews that would be nearby at all times. If any one of them got into trouble, they need only activate the device, and everyone would know who it was and approximately where to find them. Their scientists were working on disguising the beacons as innocuous everyday items, and early tests showed that the devices would work as promised. They hoped to have them ready by next week, when school started.
Studying the blueprints, and shifting his gaze to the published map of the school, Daniel found an anomaly. "Jack, look at this," he said, finger pointing to a large, underground space on the architectural blueprints marked "Storage." Daniel then moved his finger to the public directory of the school, stabbing at a place in the basement level. On the directory, the vast chamber, at least the size of a gymnasium if not larger given the dimensions marked on blueprints, was labeled as a maintenance closet, and no indication that the space was any larger than the closet it purported to be. The chamber was at the edge of the building and obviously subterranean. There were no other rooms on that level to indicate that a chamber the size on the blueprints existed there.
"Now that's interesting," Jack murmured, moving to stand next to the archeologist.
Daniel shook his head, deep in thought. "They took me on a tour of the whole school Jack, and I never saw anyplace as big as what's on those blueprints. In fact, all I remember of the basement is that it was mostly storage and janitorial closets, and some office space. They just wanted to show me where to get more supplies if I needed anything like pencils or whatever," he said.
"O'Neill," Teal'c asked, "Do you believe that something significant might be concealed in this place? If so, it is possible that I may be able to gain entrance, given my cover as janitor. I will have access to all areas of the school."
The Colonel nodded, still looking at the blueprints and directory tacked up on the wall. "It definitely looks worth checking out, but we should take time to scope the place out first, make sure we're all secure in our positions," Jack said.
"Speaking of security," Sam broke in, "I think we all need to work on our cover stories a bit, sir."
The rest of SG-1 turned to look at her, and Sam shrugged. "I might be able to get away with 'sir,'" she explained, "But I definitely can't slip and call you Colonel." Looking slightly apologetic, she continued. "Sir, you can't call me Carter anymore, it would just look too odd, especially since it's not even going to be my last name anymore. It's Sam. Or Samantha," she added, one shoulder lifting in resignation as she looked at Teal'c.
The big man nodded, accepting the mild rebuke. "I am now Thomas Murray, Samantha. None of you should call me Teal'c."
"Well, given my part in this mission," Sam said, pointing at her small body, still standing on the chair so she was more or less at eye level with the rest of her team, "I can't call you Thomas. It will have to be Mr. Murray." She turned to look at Daniel. "You too, Daniel. It has to be Mr. Paxton from now on."
"Actually, for class, it will be Monsieur Paxton," Daniel shrugged sheepishly. "I guess we all have a bit to work on," he finished. Thus far, he'd mostly been chiding Jack who seemed to be having the most trouble in not addressing Sam by her first name, falling back to using her surname or rank. He'd no doubt forgotten just as she had that it would look odd for her to be addressing adults, especially a teacher, without some sort of title.
"And you won't be able to call me Jack," the Colonel helpfully added. "I'm the parent of one of your students, the two of us on a first name basis smacks of too much familiarity."
"Mr. Lewis it is," Daniel agreed. "We should stick with a professional relationship, it will be less likely then for people to recognize us if they see us together outside of the school," he added.
Jack nodded. "We'd probably be best meeting here on base, or at the place Sam and I will be staying. Both are far enough away from the school to make it unlikely we'd run into anyone from the school that might see us together. Still, we probably shouldn't go out in public anymore together, unless absolutely necessary."
"Speaking of where we're staying, sir," Sam asked, "When are we moving in?"
"The General says the place will be ready by Friday. That will give us some time to settle in before school starts, especially since it's a long weekend," Jack explained. Monday was Labor Day, and school started Tuesday, the first two days were half days for the Lower School students. The Providence School offered a full day kindergarten, which is what Sam would be attending. Additionally, the school separated out the age groups into a Lower School for the youngest students, a Middle School, and an Upper School for high school students. The three groups arrived and dismissed on a staggered schedule, with the oldest students arriving earliest and leaving first, giving them more time for after school activities as well. Sam's school, as the youngest group, would arrive last, and leave latest except on the first two days, where they would be dismissed early before lunch. The older students in the Middle and Upper schools were starting back with full days.
"While we're talking about Friday," spoke a female voice from the doorway, interrupting their conversation, "I need to see the two of you before you leave," Janet Fraser said, looking at Jack and Sam. "We need to go over IM injections with the two of you."
Sam frowned slightly at her friend. "Can't I just give the shots to myself?" she asked, "I already know how to give them," she added.
Janet shook her head. "No, Sam. I'm sorry, but at your current size, the dosage we've worked out combined with the viscosity of the compound, is just too much to go in any muscle but the dorsogluteal. Because of that, you'll need someone else to administer the shots, and it's not practical for you to come back here every three days for the booster. That makes Colonel O'Neill the best candidate for giving them. At your present size, the dorsogluteal site the largest and safest muscle to use for both of you."
"I thought it lasted four days," Sam argued, for the moment, not wanting to have to think about the Colonel giving her shots every few days. She also had an inkling of exactly what muscle the dorsogluteal was, and didn't much want to think about that either.
"It does," nodded the doctor. "But it's breaking down on the fourth day, therefore it's safer to give the booster dose every three days. We can give the first dose Friday morning before you leave, and Monday you can give it in the afternoon, to work it back toward a more convenient time in the evening if you prefer."
"Whoa, wait a second," Jack asked, looking confused. "You want me, to give Carter, I mean Sam, shots every couple days? Should I really be handling great big needles?" He seemed to be forgetting that he handled on a regular basis many things much sharper and definitely more deadly then a few little syringes. He also seemed to be forgetting he already knew how to give injections as well, just as Sam did from basic field training.
Sam flinched slightly at Jack's phrasing and obvious discomfort, but Janet narrowed her eyes at the man, more than used to his stubbornness. "Yes," she told him shortly. "I'll see you in the infirmary tomorrow, oh nine hundred. We'll take a little refresher and practice drawing up medication and giving injections to oranges before I let you try on Sam Friday morning before you leave. You already know how to do this Colonel, now don't be late." With that, the petite woman turned on her heel and left, they could here her footsteps clicking down the hall, receding in the distance.
Sam turned to study the schematics intently, in actuality, hiding her flaming cheeks. The last thing she'd expected was to have to depend on the Colonel to give her the shots that masked her naquadah laden bloodstream from detection. Particularly given the Colonel's dislike for "big and honkin' needles." Obviously, it was the last thing the Colonel had expected as well. While she was fully confident that her CO was perfectly capable of administering the injections, it was one more thing to add to the growing list of things she could no longer do independently. She was distracted from any further musings by a huge, face-splitting yawn.
Taking the yawn for a cue, Daniel dropped his marker on Jack's desk and stretched his arms over his head. "It's late," he said. "I've got early morning meetings tomorrow."
Jack sighed slightly, clearly thinking about his appointment with Janet Fraiser in the morning. "We should all probably get some shut eye. And don't forget, we need to update the General on what we've learned and SG-1's mission readiness tomorrow at thirteen-hundred."
With that, the group broke up, Sam smothering another yawn as she hopped down from the chair and bidding a muffled goodnight to the rest of her team. She had an early morning as well, with Sergeant Nichols.
As planned, Sam spent the morning with Nichols, this time being coached on losing some of her athletic abilities. Surprisingly, Sam found it more tiring to remember to be awkward and act like she was new to skills than it was to just do them as she normally would. The Sergeant suggested that Sam watch her classmates, and choose a few children who seemed neither overly accomplished, nor particularly clumsy, and emulate them, keeping her on the class average and therefore not requiring any special attention from the instructor. After her little physical workout, she was occupied mentally in filling pages with letters and numbers, concentrating on making it look like she had to struggle to make them uniform and stay within the lines, just as a child learning to write might do. Again, Nichols advised her to observe the children around her, and try to mimic how they held their pencils or crayons, occasionally gripping implements wrong or making certain figures like the letter S or the number five backwards. The only thing they didn't work on was Sam's artwork, which Nichols, somewhat to Sam's dismay, pronounced adequate.
After her somewhat exhausting morning, both mentally and physically, Sam met the rest of her team for lunch, before they headed to the conference room to brief the General on their progress. She found the room less intimidating, and climbed into one of the chairs without hesitating, comfortably tucking her legs under her to add those few extra inches.
The Colonel brought the General up to speed on their reconnaissance with she, Daniel, and Teal'c making the occasional contribution. Hammond frowned over the revelation of the underground anomaly and agreed with Jack's assessment to establish themselves first before attempting to gain entry to the area.
"I may not have mentioned at the first briefing," added the General after a brief frown at the two different layouts, "But our mole only knows of two insertions being made at the school. Dr. Jackson, and Teal'c. As far as anyone knows at the school, I have made a rather generous donation to the school upon my granddaughter's late admittance to the kindergarten class. Fortunately, there was an unexpected opening, or no amount of bribery would have gotten Major Carter a place in the class."
There was a brief lull of silence around the table, before Jack had to break it. "So… Grandpa?" he remarked altogether a little too innocently, and Hammond speared the younger man with a level gaze that made Jack sink deeply into his chair, looking like he'd just swallowed his foot.
"Actually, Colonel," he said, "It would me more like Father to you…" he coughed slightly. "Or rather, Father-in-law," he finished, his tone infused with just the slightest hint that were Jack ever to address him as Dad or worse, grandpa, he'd find himself so far buried in redundant paperwork that he'd have no time to think of anything else. Jack was busy staring down at his notes, and therefore missed the glint of amusement in the General's eyes, particularly when he'd mentioned that perhaps they weren't related by blood, but by marriage instead.
"If that will be all?" the General asked around the table. Everyone nodded, and the meeting broke up.
The evening was a quiet one. Most of the clothing and school supplies that had been purchased for Sam had never been unloaded from the SUV. The only things she'd removed were a small assortment of casual attire for off-base trips and the simulated uniforms she'd been wearing while on base. She could leave the uniforms, and some of the casual things. It was unlikely that she wouldn't be returning to base on a regular basis. This Goa'uld was savvy. She'd been hiding under the SGC's radar for over a decade now, and it was unlikely they'd sniff her out overnight. Likely, they were looking forward to at least several weeks of undercover operations to pinpoint her and flush her out.
Sam had just folded the last of the things she'd decided to take with her and added them to the duffel already containing the pencils and large ruled papers she'd been practicing with during her lessons with Sergeant Nichols when she heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find the Colonel standing there. "Sir?" she asked.
Jack shrugged slightly, hands in his pockets. "I know team night is usually every other Friday when we are on world and off duty, but considering that this mission is likely to be longer term than usual," he said, unknowingly echoing her recent thoughts, "I thought we should have a bit of a team night tonight." He shrugged again, eyes traveling over her head to the bed where the one small duffel rested. "That all you packing?" he asked.
Returning his shrug, Sam gave him a half smile. "Most everything never got unpacked, sir. I'm leaving a few things here besides." She looked around her small quarters, Spartan and military, with only a smattering of personal effects to identify the woman who owned them. She didn't spend much time in here except to sleep occasionally when conditions warranted she stay on base. "I'm all done here, and don't have any plans for the night if that's what you're asking. Not like I can go anywhere at any rate, at least not by myself. What's the plan for tonight?" she asked.
"Movies, and popcorn of course," Jack replied. "We were gonna meet in Teal'c's quarters."
Groaning, Sam flinched. "Not Star Wars?" she asked in dismay. Whenever Teal'c chose the movie, he almost inevitably chose one of the Star Wars films, no matter how many times they'd watched it.
Jack shook his head quickly. "No, Daniel threatened mutiny if he picked that, besides it's MY turn to pick," he replied, bouncing slightly and suddenly looking cheerful.
Sam was not reassured, especially since she'd already agreed to attend. Still, she could always cite something technical and impressive sounding in her lab that she'd just remembered, despite the fact that she'd already pretty much completed or delegated anything in progress. "And what did you pick, sir?" she asked warily.
He grinned. "Big," he answered proudly. Sam shook her head.
"Cute, sir, real cute," she commented.
The grin widened. "Cute I'm leaving up to you, Sam. Now come, daughter of mine, a great film awaits us," he commanded, tone laced with gentle levity.
Sam shook her head with a sigh. "Yes, Dad," she muttered, but ducked her head to hide an amused smile as she closed the door to her quarters and followed her CO to Teal'c's room. Since their conversation last night, Jack seemed to have lost any lingering traces of discomfort over acting as her temporary guardian, and had simply directed his usual command presence into that of a father figure. Theirs may perhaps seem a bit more military than the usual parent/child relationship, but given Jack's own military background from the cover stories and their close proximity to several military installations in the area, that would be rather unremarkable. Sam was surprised to find that their new roles were not too far different from their normal commander and subordinate role. Aside from names and titles primarily, Jack was still in charge of the mission and still her superior officer. In public at least, she still had to do what he told her. Her thoughts cut off as they reached their destination. Daniel was already there and judging by the smell, he and Teal'c had already started making popcorn.
"Hey Sam, Jack. Teal'c is getting more popcorn. Heads up you two," Daniel greeted as she entered behind the Colonel. Sam brought her hands up just in time to catch the hurled packet of Reese's Pieces and Jack caught the Snicker bar. Daniel's aim had improved greatly over the years.
"Merci, Monsieur Paxton," Sam thanked him with a grin.
Jack gestured vaguely in her direction as he took the more comfortable of the semi-comfortable chairs Teal'c had added to his quarters when all of them had started taking turns hosting team night. Often, it had been more convenient to hold their gatherings in Teal'c's on base quarters, given that their unpredictable schedules often had them going on missions the next morning, depending on gate availability and time of day on the destination planet. "Yeah, what she said," Jack pronounced, reaching for one of the full bowls of popcorn on a side table.
"Greetings Samantha, Mr. Lewis," Teal'c told them, coming through the door with several more bags of microwave popcorn which he added to the remaining bowls on the table. The TV and DVD player on the small stand in the corner were already on, the screen running the repeating scene selection menu.
Jack nodded in return, but Sam smiled, accepting the diet soda and bowl of popcorn Teal'c handed her as she kicked off her shoes and made herself comfortable on the bed. "Thank you Mr. Murray," she said, the unfamiliar name sounding odd, but SG-1 had made a great effort the last day to get as much practice as possible in using their aliases before the group made it's inevitable split the next day. Obviously, the coming split was another reason for Jack's suggestion for an impromptu team night. After tonight, they would have to spend most of the time pretending not to know each other so well.
"You are welcome Samantha," Teal'c returned, settling as was his custom on the plush rug, his choices of candy, juice, and popcorn in reach on the floor in front of him.
Daniel also removed his shoes, and joined Sam on the bed, there being only one chair of any comfort in the room, and Jack usually claimed it citing his bum knee. Companionably, he leaned against the wall, legs outstretched, while Sam found herself sprawling on the bed on her stomach, her much smaller body able to fit across the bed in an unaccustomed position. Usually, she leaned against the wall next to Daniel. She nudged the popcorn bowl to rest between them as Teal'c cued up the movie. The two scientists generally shared a bowl, and Daniel offered her some of his Skittles while they waited for the movie to start.
It had been years since Sam had watched the movie, and despite some startling reflections in her own current situation, she soon got lost in the humorous nature of the film. Still, her child body knew best, and before the credits were rolling, she was dosing off, head on Daniel's thigh, having shifted position sometime during the film.
Vaguely, she was aware of the ending music, and the hushed male voices of her team as the DVD was turned off. She felt Daniel shift, and could only summon enough energy to mourn the loss of his body heat and her comfortable pillow as he slid out from under her. Dimly, she felt the bed move as he got off, and heard some more murmuring before she felt hands gently gathering her up. Before she could protest, she was lifted up and settled so that her cheek rested against a strong shoulder. Inhaling slightly, she smelled the telltale traces of Daniel's aftershave.
"I'm ok," she murmured sleepily, "I can walk," she protested, even as her eyes sagged closed.
"Don't worry about it," Daniel said softly, his breath warm against the top of her head as he patted her back gently with one hand in a soothing gesture, shifting her body to one hip with the other.
"S'ok," Sam mumbled, finally giving in to the inevitable and letting her eyes slide closed, her head securely tucked under Daniel's chin. "Just this once."
He may have replied, but it was lost in sleep.
A/N: Almost a month since the last update… Almost. So I hope the little touchy-feely at the end was awww enough to make up for it. As well as a little teamy goodness. For those of you eagerly awaiting Sam's first days of school, I'm still working on a lot of those details. And there a LOT of details that need working on… (No worries though, I've got at least two professionals that work with young kids giving me loads of advice and conflicting information… j/k) But this chapter is Thursday night, another will be dealing with Sam and Jack on Friday, and one more to cover the weekend (Labor Day) So for those of you counting, school starts on Tuesday, which should be Ch 18 with any luck.
I hope I will be able to update soon, but there is so much to do. I never seem to have more than a day or two off in a row and those days are usually packed with things to do. I'm also volunteering my professional services for a weekend camp in the next few weeks for children with chronic kidney disease. It's only thanks to the recent monsoon we've been having the last week or two (combined with a few days off in a row!) that actually gave me time to sit down with Elementary. Because I will admit, I'm just as eager as you folks for Sam to experience kindergarten!
Anyway, I keep meaning to put out there, but we all have memories of school, or have children going through school, and in many of my stories I've asked for reader input, so don't forget, if there's something you'd like to see Sam experience or have to deal with, any stories or anecdotes you'd like to share that might spark ideas, you can drop me a line. I do have several evil things in mind for Sam, but I'm always open for suggestions!
And lastly… not any updates on my cats recently, for those familiar with the many adventures of Sammy and Dragon. I think they are now mature, 3 and half-year-old kitties, and as such spend much of their time parked upstairs under the skylight baking in the sun, and slightly less time getting into mischief. We are going to the vet next week for their annual check up. Dragon is going to take a new combination of sedatives, but Sammy will hopefully be his usual sunshine self. Wish me luck; giving pills to Dragon is always an adventure in itself! After the pills, he'll probably go into hiding, and do his best to avoid capture, which makes actually getting to the vet rather interesting.