Kajos: Here still. I've added a repeat of some of the information in 'The Genius and The SO to this chapter that should cover more of the issues surrounding citizenship and claims on children. Hope this explains it all.
John closed his laptop.
"Well, my meeting is at two." He said looking at his watch "So, I'm going to talk to EL now and we may run quiet late in to the evening we've got a lot to cover before tomorrow general announcement. You need to eat though so I've talked to Dr Beckett, he's going to meet you for dinner at 6 and come and find you if you don't show up. He said you two could do with catching up anyway." He got through the whole lot with out giving Rodney the chance to interrupt.
"I don't need a babysitter." the genius grumbled "I can eat all by myself like a big boy."
"I don't question your capability, just your memory. I know your working on that energy bridge problem and when your working on something good you tend to loose track of time. Can't have that when your eating for two. Plus it will put your dear Husbands mind at ease." Rodney waved him off with tacit agreement. He kissed him on the top of the head and walked out leaving him to his work.
At 6 Beckett came round to find McKay and drag him to the dinnering room. After they loaded their trays they found a small table in one corner out of the hustle and bustle.
"So how are you doing, Rodney?" Beckett asked .
"Fine, I'm eating and sleeping. Stop nagging." Rodney said loading up his fork with mountains of mash potatoes.
"I don't mean your health. Your becoming a father for the first time. How's that going?" he asked leaning forward in interest.
"I don't know. I want this but I don't know how to do this. My parents were terrible, I hated them." Rodney said thinking back to the long hours of moaning and neglect. His cancelled piano lessons and looking after his sister.
"Your parents didn't have a choice. You do. Your already choosing your children, fighting for them even before they're born." Carson tried to reassure him having put down his knife and fork distracted by the conversation.
"I should have been fighting for them when I signed that contract. I didn't think I'd care, my parents didn't. I signed away two of my children to be raised alone on a different planet." Rodney was starring at his food no longer eating either.
"You didn't know JM back then. Currently we have six babies all of which will be shipping back to earth when they reach six months. Four of them will be going into the military, the other two into the American civil service. Most people here are not yet parents, and they're all intelligent. Most likely a large proportion of children not claimed at birth most will be taken anyway when they turn 6 and take the aptitude test. Many people don't have an issue with that but they deserve a choice at least. You're starting the fight for that choice. If that isn't a good start I don't know what is." Carson finished and quiet settled over them again and they turned back to their food.
"But what if we keep them and they end up hating us for it?" Rodney said finally.
"Rodney your parents, your family can't be all bad. Don't you have a sister?" Carson asked, it always saddened Carson how few happy memories of family his friend had. He loved his mum and gran and all his siblings. He had such a great childhood and he knew they all loved him too, even if he hadn't seen much of them since joining the Stargate program.
"Yeah, we don't talk though, not since I moved to the states. She sends me Christmas cards though." He didn't open them though. For all she knew he could be dead.
"What's she doing these days?"
"She got married at 16 and decided to be a stay at home parent when she found out she was pregnant. I told her she was throwing away her career..." He went quiet starring at his dessert. He wasn't sure he wanted it. That must have been the pregnancy hormones, never has Rodney not wanted pudding.
"Do you still think that?" Carson asked carefully.
"She was brilliant. She was only allowed to stay at home because she hadn't actually started anything yet." He said not really explaining.
"Maybe you should get hold of her. See how she's doing? That might help you. She had the same upbringing."
"I don't know if she'd take my call. I burnt a lot of bridges there." Rodney barely whispered on the verge of tears thinking about his little sister who he had left behind and forgotten so much over the years.
"In my experience lad, when if comes to family the bridges are made of sturdier stuff than wood."
"Your talking about mutiny." was the first response to JM's opening speech. The Sergeant had always been stickler for protocol.
"It's not mutiny. We are talking about a change of policy. This is supposed to be a colony. How can we do that when 80% of our children are being taken? We have the where withal to train, raise, teach and protect children here." JM said clearly and firmly. Major EL motioned for him to sit down in hopes of calming down the building tension in the room.
"I think we can all agree that if the others are okay with this then we can go along with the kids staying." He mediated. "I believe the more pressing issue is the move towards integration."
"We all know you and the Colonel support it we've seen him in his civvies and the way Miss Emagen address you both, but some of us are happy being military." Snarled Captain DK.
"The Athosian's have different customs. In their culture to use a person's initial is a deep insult. She is my friend and I consider her as she does me, a fellow warrior. We live in a different galaxy. There aren't many of us here. We must share our lives with the civilians around us. I will not force anyone to do something they disagree with. If you think you can maintain emotional distance from these civilians then continue but I see no further harm in integration and I certainly see no issue in disbandment for our children." Many around the table clearly did not agree whole heatedly, or at least wanted some time to think about the points made. One face though held no doubt.
"I know I would like to keep my children." This support came from the newly engaged Lt. LC, Beckett's finance. "I don't care about names or having a separate commissary. Half of us are SO's. Our military up bringing and distance was important back on earth where we had to be ready to go to war and die for civilians. Here we go into battle shoulder with them. There is no distance anymore." She said it simply, in a manner of fact way that brooked no arguement.
"That is one point. We need to give anyone going off world physical and side arm training. Some of them are a danger to themselves." EL said calmly. "Adding some of that in to lessons for the children would be good to. At least to start with numbers are going to be too small to support us running separate classes ." JM held up his hand to stop this line of thought. Now he had everyone will to discuss and not dismiss out of hand it was time to get properly down to business.
"We have a lot to discuss. We need to take this one point at a time. First lets start with those concern affecting the day-to-day of the military personnel of Atlantis. Settle in I want to cover all of this at least once before eleven tomorrow." Back on the agenda they dug in and started to make progress.
Weir took a stand on the balcony looking down over the expedition. With her stood JM, Dr McKay and Dr Beckett, JM looked tired the meeting had gone on late into the night with them finally reaching a consensus on the ability for the military personnel to choose.
"Thank you all for coming. As some of you will know we have already had six births here on Atlantis and we have a further four children on the way. As things stand all of these children will be removed from Atlantis when they reach six months. This has brought to light the need for change. We came here to start an off-world colony, to build a new home for all of humanity. In light of that we intend to write a charter of independence for Atlantis. This would cover all aspects of governance but primarily would state that any child whose parents wish to keep and raise it would be allowed to stay here and be part of this new colony." There was a susseration among the crowd.
"I know this is a lot to take in everyone. We want everyone to have a say in the writing of this charter. We will be coordinating through the heads of departments who will all be holding meetings in the next week. If you have any further issues beyond those addressed in the meetings please feel free to bring them to me or any other of the senior staff."