Chapter 12
Galactica's CIC
"Ok, what the hell happened here?" Sheppard walked into the CIC accompanied by Daniel and Rodney. All eyes were suddenly on them, but they really didn't care.
"Colonel Sheppard, you need to understand…"
"We don't have to understand anything." The President was cut off before she could finish her sentence. "How the hell did this happen?"
SGC
Jack stood at the base of the ramp leading up to the Stargate, contemplating what had been discussed. The Wraith, Atlantis, Earth's fleet, and an unknown armada of ships at the edge of the Milky Way. All very important topics, but he couldn't sit by and talk all day. He had gotten the green light for the Colonials, and it was important that things were put into motion as soon as possible.
"Well Jack, it's always nice having you here, no matter how brief a visit it is." Landry walked up to his fellow General, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Yes, it's certainly been… informative? Yeah, let's just go with that."
"Well Jack, at least you got out of it, I'm the lucky guy who gets to take your place!"
Jack smirked. "I feel sorry for George having to continue with the discussions, he's been in their all day… But I'm sure he'll do fine. He's always been good with the political stuff when it's come down to it."
"Chevron 8… locked!" Walter's voice came over the intercom as the Stargate activated, causing the dull concrete walls of the large room to turn a shimmering blue. Using the ZPM from the Antarctic Outpost for Gate travel wasn't normal practice, but it was necessary at a time like this.
Jack walked up the ramp towards the event horizon, anxious to return to Pegasus. "Good luck Jack." Landry stood at the bottom of the ramp, his hands in his pockets, smiling cheerfully.
O'Neill turned back for one last look at the SGC before stepping through the Gate, giving the thumbs up to Landry on his way through. He was looking forward to telling the Colonials the good news.
Atlantis
"It's amazing. I don't know how you do it."
Teyla smiled at Kanaan's compliment. She still wasn't entirely sure herself. Her son was two now yet he still couldn't talk, so he couldn't tell his mother and father what was wrong with him. It was simple guess work. "I suppose I am just lucky."
"Hmm… Shame not of that luck rubs off on me." The two Athosians grinned, almost laughing.
Teyla turned and looked at her son, sleeping silently. "I told Ronon and Teal'c I would meet them in the mess hall… Do you mind looking after Torren for a little while longer?"
"Of course." Kanaan was willing to do anything to help.
Teyla embraced her husband, grateful for what he was doing for both her and Torren. "Thank you; you don't know how much I appreciate having you here."
He smiled at her. "It's my pleasure."
Teyla went to get changed, but before she could a familiar sound alerted her and Kanaan to a presence outside. She walked towards the door, her husband watching from behind as it opened to reveal her two fellow warriors. "Ronon? Teal'c? What has happened?"
Galactica
"Hard day at work Gaius?" Caprica Six was pleased to see Baltar back after long hours in the lab, but she noticed the look on his face was one of annoyance.
"You could say that…" replied Baltar. "…Though irritating and poorly spent sum it up considerably better…"
Six looked at him, stroking the hair of her sleeping daughter gently as she spoke. "Oh? Why is that?"
"Well…" continued Gaius "I was told I would be meeting one of the Earth scientists in order to discuss upgrades to the fleet, but she never turned up. I was sitting there for literally hours waiting for her but she never arrived. I look forward to meeting her actually, I'd like to know why she thinks she has the right to just ignore the fact that she was supposed to attend such an important meeting with me."
Six stopped moving her hand and brought it away from Ellen's head, placing it on her lap. "You're referring to Colonel Samantha Carter?"
Gaius turned to Caprica. "Yes! That's her! The woman had the audacity not to show up, quite frankly I don't see…"
"Gaius…" Caprica cut off her fiancée before he could insult Sam anymore.
"Yes?"
"Samantha Carter was shot by a soldier in one of the corridors; I gather she was on the way to the meeting with you…"
The expression on Baltar's face changed as he realised the severity of the Colonel's absence dawned on him. "Oh… Oh my…" He sat down in a chair opposite Caprica and their daughter as she continued.
"She's been in the infirmary for hours, obviously it wasn't long before news spread and it's been the only thing reported on ever since… Apparently the soldier who attacked her had family onboard the ship that was destroyed after the hyperspace jump…" Baltar wanted to speak, but was unable to, thoughts of how this would affect relations with the humans running through his mind. "The worst part about all this…"
Gaius looked up at Six as she paused. "What?"
Once again she looked directly at him. "…His family wasn't even on the ship when it blew up…"
Galactica's CIC
Daniel was furious. And he wasn't the only one. Vala had wanted to come with him, but he convinced her not to, knowing that she probably wouldn't have been able to handle the situation quite as diplomatically as him. Now that he was here though, even he was finding it hard not to explode at the Colonials.
Rodney and John felt the same. They hadn't known Sam as long as Daniel, but they had known and worked with her long enough to care about her on a more personal level. "Why was she left alone on your ship after what happened?" Sheppard was the one asking questions. McKay and Daniel had agreed to let him before they arrived.
"Colonel Sheppard, we had no idea that any of our people would do this, we assumed she would be safe. You cannot hold all the Colonial people accountable for the actions of an individual." Roslin was trying to stress the fact that the Colonials were just like the humans, everyone was different. All the while, Kara stood back, watching the drama unfold in front of her. She found it hard not to get involved, but didn't want to make matters worse.
Rodney couldn't stay quiet anymore. "Like hell we can't. She was on your ship; you should have been looking after her."
"Exactly." Daniel continued. "You had a responsibility to her; we would have taken care of your people if the roles were reversed."
Adama stepped forward. "We're taking care of her now. We have doctors trying their best to make sure she survives. We made an error in judgement. For that, we're sorry. But right now, arguing over things we can't change isn't going to help her, and although I haven't known her long I think she would rather we looked at this objectively."
John, Daniel and Rodney stood, knowing the Admiral's words were true. They felt angry but Sam wouldn't want that to jeopardise the relationship between the Colonials and Earth, there was simply too much at stake when the bigger picture was taken into account. Suddenly, Felix Gaeta turned to face the group. "Admiral Adama, we're receiving word from Atlantis that General O'Neill has just returned from Earth… He wants to beam up here A.S.A.P."
Adama and Roslin looked at each other. This wasn't going to go well.
Samantha Carter
"I should be over there…" Apollo had been pacing back and forth for what seemed like ages. He turned to face Thor. "Is there nothing you can do?"
The small grey alien looked away from his console and towards Lee. "I'm afraid beaming Colonel Carter aboard this ship in her current condition could prove dangerous, at this point in time the best place for her is most likely with your doctors."
Apollo sighed. "You helped the President, why can't you help Sam?"
"The two situations are considerably different. I have managed to tap into your frequencies and listen to your news reports; apparently she is stable for the moment. Beaming her here could cause jeopardise that, and I am not even certain I could do more to help her at this point."
Lee looked out through the large viewing window at the front of the bridge, the Galactica eclipsing the sun at the centre of the system, the silhouette of the ship visible. He hoped deep down that whatever was happening on that ship, good could eventually come of it for both the Colonials and humans.
Galactica's CIC
With a flash of light that was becoming all too common for the Galactica crew, General O'Neill appeared in the CIC. Jack turned straight to his people. "How's she doing Colonel?"
Sheppard seemed quite surprised at how calm Jack was. "She's alright sir, we've just received word that she's in a stable condition."
"General…" Roslin began, but she was cut off.
"Don't even start!" O'Neill turned around, staring Laura down. "I don't want to hear it. I've told my people in Atlantis to contact Thor and to tell him to bring the next ships back here. The Admiral's son will be given the chance to remain here if he wants to. The Galactica will stay here, and people will begin to be transferred to Atlantis, to a part of the city away from any main systems. It's been made quite clear that we can't trust you yet."
Laura wasn't happy. "With all due respect Colonel it was made quite clear that we couldn't trust you and your people when one of our ships…"
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" O'Neill stopped her before she could finish. "We were trying to help your people, to get them to safety. Was that soldier trying to help Carter? 'Watch out, you've got a bug on your uniform, BANG'? You have no right to say what you just said."
Adama placed a hand on the president's shoulder. "Madame President, we can't leave those people out there forever. The General is right. We need to remain here and deal with this, but every second the fleet is out there it's at risk."
Laura turned back to the General, and after a brief moment spoke. "Fine. We'll remain here. But if anything happens to my people…"
"It won't."
Galactica Infirmary
Carter lay on the infirmary bed, anesthetised and unaware of the operation that had just taken place to remove a bullet from her and save her life. The room was quieter than it had been for a while, the curtain pulled around the bed to allow her to rest.
Although she wasn't conscious, thoughts ran through her head. Sam felt as though she was floating in darkness, with no sense of where she was. All of a sudden, a figure began to emerge from the darkness in front of her… a man.
She began to hear her name being whispered from a number of different places in the darkness. She focussed on the man again and finally recognised him as he came closer. "…Dad?"
Jacob smiled at her. "It's starting, Sam…" he raised his hand, and the darkness surrounding them both turned to light. Carter's eyes snapped open, and she found herself lying in the Galactica infirmary, shaking.
