Chapter Thirteen: Hunger

Shepard then turned to Carter, "We're going on lockdown until my men search every inch of Atlantis." He told her, "We'll bring all of the civilians here; it's easily defendable, especially against an Army of two, and if we need to, we can escape through the gate."

Sam sighed, thinking things through, before nodding. "Fine. I'll give you four hours to search. If you haven't found them by then, we're resuming normal duties."

John nodded and gave a look to Teyla, before turning his back on the rest of the group, walking over to the soldiers at the gate.

Clark stared after him for a few seconds, the group staying silent.

"Alright. Rodney, Teyla, I'd like you to go to all of the main departments and gather up as many civilians as you can find and bring them back here. John and his teams can bring back any wonderers." Sam told them, "If you need me; I'll be in my office up there." She added, pointing to a small room that could only be accessed by a bridge coming off from the control room.

The two people mentioned both nodded before going off to do their tasks.

"What should we do, Colonel?" Lana asked, moving forward slightly to make herself noticed from beside Clark's large frame.

"Well...Why don't you ask our Commander, here?" Carter answered with a smile, eyes flickering from Lana to Clark.

Clark made a face, to which both of the girls laughed.

"You're going to have get use to it, Clark. It's your official title. You...went far." She continued when she regained her breath. "From Lieutenant to Commander...that means that you are, in fact, in charge of this base. Now, I'm not expecting you to take charge, because I know how inexperienced you are; but you will need to make executive decisions..."

Clark sighed, but nodded his head. "Alright." He said after a moment.

"I'd like for you two to stay in here...actually, Clark, could you quickly run down to the storage compartment and get some of the comfortable portable chairs..." Sam trailed off as Clark vanished from in front of her, reappearing a few seconds later off to the side, standing next to two stacks of chairs that were roughly the size of himself.

"for people..." She finished, blinking.

"Should have let you finish, sorry." Clark stated, walking back over to them.

Lana gaped, before saying a quiet "Wow."

"Um. No problem." Sam replied, "Well..." She added after a moment, "Like I was saying; I'd like you guys to make sure everyone who comes in is comfortable...Any problems, come and see me, alright?"

Clark and Lana both nodded their acceptance and watched as Sam turned on her heels and went up to the control room.

Lana turned to face Clark, slowly walking towards him with a small smile. "Well, I guess we better start setting out the..."

"...chairs." She finished as she came to a standstill, nearly running into a chair that had suddenly been placed in front of her. "Wow. I may have to keep you close. You will definitely come in handy." She nodded her approval as she surveyed the room, which had now been taken over by set-up chairs.

Clark smiled as he stopped, standing behind her. "I'll keep that in mind." He said, smiling down at her. Stepping in front of her, he took her hand and gently pulled her to a set of chairs in a corner of the room.

Quickly taking a seat and leaning back in it, he watched as Lana took the one to his right. They remained silent, Clark's arm draped over the back of Lana's, before he piped up.

"I'm sorry if I come off as...dominant, or over-protective of you...it's just, as self centred and wrong as this is going to sound; I feel like you...this friendship...is the only thing that I can control. I mean; sure. I'm the Commander and all...but...this is my second day! Things are moving so fast, and...even with my powers, I'm struggling to keep up..."

Lana shook her head and gently laid a hand on his arm."You don't have to explain..." She told him. "I don't know what you're going through...but I can imagine."

Clark remained quiet, eyes drawn to hers, silently searching for something. His hand came up to gentle brush a strand of her hair out of her face, and tuck it lightly behind her ear. "Thank you." He finally said after a moment of staring into each other's eyes.

She smiled, her nose scrunching up again as she shook her head. "You have no need to thank me. I'm here because I like you. You being here with me is thanks enough." She said, her head tilting to the side as she continued to watch him.

Clark smiled back, his attention moving to a crowd of people that were making their way into the hall, splitting off into sections to take segments of chairs. One person broke off from the others and carried on walking over to where he and Lana sat.

She was a small (to him, anyway), blonde girl, who, from the look of her, had a bubbly personality and a mouth the match. As soon as Lana saw her, she stood up and the two hugged.

Clark stood, too, and watched as Lana ended the embrace.

"What's going on, Lana?" The girl asked, "All I know is that Rodney was evacuating the department...and then I ran into some of the desk jockeys over there, and decided to follow them, as Rodney didn't say where we were supposed to be going, he had to run off to find Zelenka, whoever that is..."

"Chloe...Chloe! Relax." Lana said, interrupting her friend's rant. "We just encountered a..." She glanced to Clark, "A small problem. Major Shepard and his teams are searching Atlantis as we speak."

Chloe's mouth closed like a goldfish as she listened to Lana's brief explanation, and when her eyes followed Lana's over to Clark, her eyes widened. After Lana finished, she couldn't contain herself much longer, "Well...Hello there, tall, dark and handsome. Do you have a name to go with that fitting description?" She asked, moving forward slightly.

It was Lana's turn to get, as Clark put it, 'over-protective', as she instantly moved to his side. "Chloe...!" She said warningly. "This is..." She began hesitantly, glancing at Clark again, "...Commander..." She steeled herself, "Kal-El."

Clark turned to Lana, and a raised a finger. "Don't!" He whispered angrily, "I already told you! I'm a Kent!"

Lana faced Clark with a pleading expression, "People need to know who you are, Clark! I know you're a Kent! Believe me, I do, and that's something I absolutely admire about you! The fact that even though you know you're a part of such an advanced and powerful race, and yet you still chose your Human life over this one! But here, now...nobody is going to care who, or how you were raised. What they'll want to know is who and what you'll become!"

Clark's eyes still bore into hers, but he slowly lowered his finger and straightened up, jaw clenched.

Lana sighed, a slight pout on her face as she wondered if she wanted to fall out with him about something that didn't matter to her.

"So...you're the Ancient that has McKay cursing?" Chloe asked, eyebrow raised at their little squabble.

Clark looked down to Lana, who was still pouting, before nodding. "Yeah. He's probably still jealous I beat him on an IQ test." He told Chloe as his gaze went back to her.

Chloe's lips curved into a smile, nodding her head appreciatively. "Well, anyone that can do that certainly has my respect. But don't let Rodney's arrogant facade fall you. The word coming from the top is that he can be quite the softy when time dictates he be..." She told him, "I haven't spent too much time with him at the moment, myself, but, I'm his assistant...so, it's bound to happen sooner or later, right?" She asked with a laugh.

Clark smiled and nodded his head, before indicated to the chair opposite him, taking his own.

The two girls quickly followed, and Clark was happy to let them discuss their first day and a half between each other.

FOUR HOURS LATER

"Clark? Clark..."

He yawned, before opening his eyes to the now crowded Hall. Turning his head, he saw Lana standing next to him, trying feebly to shake him.

"Hm. I'm up...I'm up." He muttered, stretching his neck. "What's going on?" He asked, as his attention was caught by a large crowd of people gathering near the archway into the main corridor.

"Major Shepard has just got back from the search. I expect he'll be letting everyone go now. I've heard complaints going around about people being hungry and wanting to go to the Mess Hall, but Shepard's reply over the radio was that he still deemed it too dangerous." Chloe's voice stated, coming from his other side.

"Oh." Clark said simply, standing up as the crowd was let go, and the people went spilling into the corridors.

"I need to check in with Rodney. I'll see you guys down there?" Chloe asked them, as she too, stood up.

"Yeah, alright." Lana told her, glancing up at Clark. "Shall we go then?" She asked him, as Chloe walked off in the opposite direction.

Clark was just about to agree as Lana began to walk away, but quickly took her hand and pulled her back.

"About earlier..." He started off, but was interrupted by Lana.

"Look; I'm really sorry about that." She hurried forward, when she realised he'd stopped speaking, "You were right. I should have asked you first." She finished, before biting her bottom lip.

Clark sighed, staring at her. "I was just about to say I was sorry...I know where your coming from. I just...I just don't want you to feel like me being 'Commander Kal-El' is what defines me, because it isn't! I was raised as a morally right human being. I was only told I wasn't from earth in my sophomore year!"

Lana nodded, quickly agreeing with him. "I know, I know! I don't think that of you at all! I think of you as the person who looks up to his Dad, and wants to be as good as him. And I like that; I really do. You don't have to worry about what I think of you. I know you're not the guy everyone will want you to be. But, sometime, you'll have to be." She told him soothingly, her eyes wide trying to convey what she was trying to say.

Clark stared at her, before nodding slightly. "Alright." He said, ending the discussion there.

She smiled happily, taking his hand again and pulling him through the now empty hall.