Confirming Carter Bk. 01 Ch. 07

"He got me where I wanted to go the first time he put it in." Keller muttered, making Tammy giggle.

"Call Jennifer when you get back, and she can give you the symbol combo for the building. Good. See you then." She tapped the comm off, and tossed the headset back to Keller.

"You are a bad, bad girl, Jennifer Keller." Carter grinned. She glanced over at Tammy. "Andi was right, but it's not as bad as having her hounding us."

Interior-Kitchen

1050 Hours

They found Samuels sitting in the kitchen, a laptop open in front of her as she tapped notes into her tablet.

"Has anyone seen her in the last few days when she wasn't typing something into that thing?" Carter asked as she opened the fridge and took out a couple cokes.

"Not me," Tammy said as she walked behind her, then went over and got three glasses out of the cabinet. She filled one with ice and handed it to Carter, sat one on the counter for Keller, and filled hers from the tap.

Jennifer walked up behind Samuels and laid her chin on her shoulder. "Thanks, Andi." She said. Then her hands came up and squeezed her tits, making her jump. "Don't do it again."

"What are you working on, Andi?" Carter asked as she opened a coke, pouring it down the side of the glass.

"What are you doing?" Tammy asked her.

"Huh? I'm pouring a coke, why?"

"You never do it like that."

"Well, Sheppard does it like this, and it doesn't fizz up as much. I thought I'd try it."

"If you two are done." She said, looking up at them. "I'm working on a diplomacy list."

"Really. Who have you got so far?"

"P34J439 is first on the list, but we really need to get someone to ask them what they call themselves. Then I've got the Athosians, Travelers, Genii, and the Wraith, in that order. I figured I'd hit the majors first."

"Add the Jaffa to that list. And send an assistant if you're serious about reaching out to the Genii and the Wraith." Carter said. "I'd hate to lose you."

"I figured we'd start with the Athosians and P34J439. Teyla and her people have contact with most of the planets in the local sector, so they can help us with marketing, and recruiting manpower, which we're going to need a lot of."

"I think we still need to look at trying to get that second city, no matter what happens here." She looked at Carter. "And I think we need to do that sooner, rather than later. We need to get someone in there to check the place out, and see what works, and what needs to be repaired."

"I agree." Carter said. "But tell me what you're thinking."

"Production, manufacturing, and worst case scenario, refuge." Samuels said as she glanced down at her tablet. "I can't remember who was talking about it, but someone mentioned that less than twenty percent of Atlantis has been explored, and most of that was in the central section."

"That was me and Sheppard." Carter said. "You've been reviewing the videos from in here."

Samuels nodded, glanced down at her tablet and changed screens, then continued.

"So we need to get people out looking at the buildings on the other piers. There's probably production facilities, workshops, storage areas. The Atlantian's didn't import everything, they couldn't. They had to produce some basic consumables on site. And if it's here on Atlantis, it's probably going to be in the other city too. And I think we should call it Anchorage. I always liked that name, and it's going to fit."

When no one said anything, she looked up and saw them all staring at her.

"What? You don't like the name? Or did you think all this stuff just popped out of thin air?" She laughed. "They made all these gadgets, gizmos and doohickeys somewhere. And they didn't do it in the labs, at least, not on a mass production basis."

"So we might not need to import stuff from Earth." Tammy said. "We can scan, copy, or reverse engineer whatever we want."

Andi nodded.

"We're having a meeting in the auditorium at sixteen hundred. I'm going to tell everyone what's happening, and offer those that want to leave a chance to." Carter said. "Once we know what we have left, you get with the department heads, and have them assign teams to go out into the city, starting tomorrow morning. Everything not directly related to defense or operating the city stops. This just jumped to the top of the get it done list."

She looked back and forth between Andi and Tammy. "You two block out some time in the next few days, don't plan on it being before Monday, but I want you to sit down, and put your heads together, and bring me a list of ideas. Get drunk, thumped up, whatever it takes. But you work well together, you feed each other ideas. I want them in front of me."

She turned and looked at Keller. "Jenn, what do I need to worry about from your department? You're three nurses down, you can have one back now. If things get hairy, you can pull the other one. Tammy stays with me. Where are you on supplies, patients, anything pressing?"

"Two patients this morning, no one that needs to be evacuated. A broken arm and a recovering appendicitis that can be released. We just took in fresh supplies two days ago, so we're good on blood and medicines." Keller told her. She looked down at her tablet, scrolled through several screens and looked up. "I've got a physicians assistant due to rotate out in two weeks, so we can probably count him as being gone."

"If you're talking about Art, he wanted to stay." Tammy said. "He tried to re-up, but the IAO told him that they preferred to get another MD in here to replace him. He showed me the letter."

"He didn't tell me that." Keller said. "He just told me that his contract was up, and that he was going to be going home in a few weeks. Now that I think about it, he didn't seem real thrilled with the prospect, like most people are."

"That's because he's afraid of you. He sees you as this little dynamo that works miracles. I think he has a crush on you too. And he doesn't have any family on Earth, so there's not much to go back too."

"One of you can talk to him after the meeting. Just feel him out, don't try to talk him out of it if he wants to go." Carter said.

She stood up and stretched. "I think I'm going to go lay down for a little while." She looked around at them as they looked up at her. "I feel fine, but I think this is probably going to be a long day, and I just want to make sure I'm rested up for it."

She smiled as she looked down at Tammy. "I don't think it would hurt to charge my batteries a little either. You wanna come play?"

Interior-Office

1250 Hours

"There's a ZPM in place in the Central Tower already, and we have one charged up here." Carter said as she looked across at Tammy. "I think that's enough for now. I'm not sure if it's worth the risk to try to charge more up right now."

"Well, you said you can work the controls, and monitor the receptacle from here as we charge them, so that means we don't have to put you at risk." Tammy said as she looked up from her terminal. "We only need four more, and I can load them, make sure they start to charge, then step out of the room till you tell me it's safe. That should take less than an hour, all told."

"But what if something goes wrong?" Carter asked. "What if one of them overloads, and I can't stop it?"

"Then you tell me, and I go in and shut it down from the console, or disable the receptacle." Tammy said as she stood up and stepped over to the desk. She put her hands on the desk, and leaned toward her. "Don't do this, Sam. Don't start making up reasons not to do what you know needs to done, because you're afraid someone might get hurt."

"I'm afraid it's you that's going to get hurt."

"Hurt worse than having them take you from me, then not knowing where you are, and not being able to find you?" Tammy shook her head. "No, That's a nightmare I won't live through when I can prevent it. I wasn't affected last night, you saw the scan. So I'm the best choice to do this."

"I've studied the controls for the console, so I'll know what to do if something does go wrong. Which it won't." She moved around the side of the desk and held her arms out. "Now give me a kiss, I have to get going if we're going to be ready."

Sam stood up, stepping into Tammy's arms, wrapping hers around her. "You come back to me." She whispered, then pulled back, looking into her eyes. "I love you." She said as she kissed.

"I love you." Tammy said as she kissed her again. "We're going to be fine, Sam. You'll see."

Interior-Subbasement Three

1340 Hours

"We're done, Sam." Tammy said as the ZPM popped up in the receptacle. "That's the last one."

"Good. Push it back down, gently, don't force it. It should drop on it's own once you get it seated."

"It's in." Tammy told her. "I'm heading for the east pier. I hope they're all on the same floors, or we may not make fourteen hundred."

"Go to the north first." Carter said as she scrolled through the cities power screens. "There's a squad of marines over there, and they already found the receptacle. They'll escort you down to it. We should know where the one on the east side is before you're done."

"Copy that. I'm on my way." Tammy said, scooping up her bag and jogging down the hall toward the porter.

Interior-McKay's Lab

1355 Hours

"Dr. McKay?" Lorne said as he stepped into the room.

"Yes, what is it?" McKay said, not looking up from his laptop.

"You're needed in the gateroom."

"What?" McKay asked, turning around on his stool. "Why didn't they cal..." He stopped when he saw Lorne, and the four marines standing behind him. "What is this? Does Sheppard know..." He tapped his comm, but before he could speak, Lorne stepped over and plucked it off his ear.

"My orders are you escort you to the gateroom, sir." Lorne said evenly. He motioned to toward the door. "After you."

McKay looked at the marines, back at Lorne, then back at the marines. He started to say something, but apparently thought better of it, and accompanied them out into the hall, then down to the porter.

Interior-Gateroom, Atlantis

1405 Hours

"Sheppard!" McKay called when he saw him standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the Ops Center. "What's going on? And why is the gate open. I was just about to call you, I'm getting weird power readings from all over the city, like there's ZPM's just popping up all over the place."

"I know, Rodney." Sheppard said. "We got an emergency message from the SGC with instructions to send people back to Earth. The others have already gone through, you're the last one."

"What? No, no, no, no, no. I can't go back to Earth." McKay said, backing away, and looking around. "I have to figure out what's going on, where these power readings are coming from. And when are we coming back, I have to pack. I can't just to go Earth like this. What abou..."

"Lorne." Sheppard said quietly.

At Maj. Lorne's signal, two marine's stepped forward and grabbed McKay's arms, leading him toward the gate. He started to struggle, but they tightened their grip, and he gave up, realizing that fighting them was useless. He let them lead him to the gate.

"Rodney." Sheppard called, not moving from his place at the foot of the stairs.

The marines stopped, just short of the event horizon, and McKay turned to look at him.

"Tell Gen. Landry, message received, operation completed. Next contact eighteen hundred hours." He nodded at the marines, turned, and walked away.

"What?" McKay asked as one of the marines spun him around, and pushing him into the event horizon.

Interior-Gateroom, SGC Earth

1405 Hours

"Dr. McKay, welcome back to Earth." Landry said as he stepped up the ramp toward him.

"What's going on, general? Sheppard said that they had been told to return people to earth, and said to tell you, 'message received, operation completed. Next contact eighteen hundred hours', and..."

"Take Dr. McKay and put him with the others." Landry said as he turned and walked back down the ramp. "Keep them together. No one talks to them until I know more about what's going on." He walked through the blast doors, and disappeared down the corridor.

Interior-Kitchen

1420 Hours

"We need to do this in three groups. I've been working on a script..." Andi said, looking around the table. She slid a small stack of papers into the center of the table. "We need to do the military first, but in two groups. Officers and NCO's, then the enlisted."

She looked over at Sheppard. "You need to impress on the officers and NCO's, that once they join us, they are becoming mercenaries. Then tell them that they will be the command group for the Atlantis Defense Force that will be established once we know that we've been successful in seceding from the IOA. And use the word seceding. Let them know that we're establishing an independent state here."

"Mercenaries? They're not going to like that. We'll lose half of them, if not more." He said, shaking his head.

"No, they'll recognize that you're being honest with them, and that will make them more likely to stay. You know these men, John. But I know men as a group." Samuels said. "Most of them plan on being career military. That kind of man wants to serve, to be part of something bigger than himself, that he can make a contribution to."

"Why the Atlantis Defense Force?" Carter asked "You picked that name for a reason."

"Busted again. I gave it alot of thought before I settle on that. I chose it because it makes us sound like the little guy, defending our home against the big bad IOA.

Carter nodded. "Go on."

"I made up a video presentation to show at all three meetings, made up of excerpts of Jennifer's meeting with the IOA. I included clips of Jennifer outlining Sam's request for an independent department, Woolsey saying he didn't see a problem with it, then Sam's exchange with him on details on the department and a compensation package. Both of his responses clearly indicate a willingness on the part of the IOA to agree to what sounds like a reasonable request."

She played the video she had made up on her laptop.

"The fact that Woolsey comes across as a weaselly snake oil salesman works to our advantage." She said as she stopped it.

There was laughter and heads nodding around the table

"Then we play Landry's message to John."

She hit play, and let Landry's message play through, watching their reactions. She hit stop when it finished.

"All of you knew what was coming. But each of you showed anger again by the end of Landry's message. We can expect a similar, if not greater reaction from each group we show it to when they see it cold."

"What was Maj. Lorne's reaction when you showed him Landry's message?" She asked John.

"He was angry, and asked what we were going to do."

"We. No hesitation? The first thing he asked is what are WE going to do?"

Sheppard nodded.

"And when you asked him to join our mutiny?"

"I didn't put it that way. I gave him the list of people to round up, and as he was leaving, I asked him if he understood what we were doing. He said, 'The right thing'."

"The right thing. Again, we can expect the same reaction from most of the people that see this video." She stopped and looked around the table. "Before anyone says it. Yes, we're manipulating peoples emotions. It can't be helped. But we're going to offset that by giving them accurate information. We'll make the full video and transcript of Jennifer's meeting available, and tell them upfront that we lied to the IOA about Sam's condition. But for the moment, we have to let this video do our work for us."

"Would it not be better to simply proceed as normal, as though nothing out of the ordinary has occurred?" Teyla asked. "Among my people, all are expected to follow as our leaders decide. They are after all, wiser. This is why they lead."

"I'll take this Andi." Carter said. "Your people are working for the common good, or against a common enemy, Teyla. Would you say the same thing if your people were talking about uprising against your leaders?"

Teyla shook her head.

"That's what we're doing. I thought you understood that."

"Yes, but you are much loved among the people of Atlantis, as is Col. Sheppard and Dr. Weir before you. Your people speak fondly of you, and it has hurt them deeply to hear that you have fallen ill, and will no longer lead them. Many have feelings of distrust for the IOA, and fear that their new leader will not care for them as well as you."

"That's why we're going to talk to them Teyla." Andi said. "We want them to know that Sam is alright, and that she will be resuming her command. Continuing to lead them as she has before."

Teyla nodded.

"But we're asking them to rise up against the IOA, which means that those that decide to stay, may never be able to return home, or see their families again. We're placing a terrible burden on them, and we have to give them a choice, to return home, or stay and help make Atlantis what we all think it can be."

"Jennifer has told me of your plans, and I appreciate what you wish to do for the people of this galaxy." She turned and looked at Carter. "You know that you will always have my support, and the support of my people. We will stand with you, and bring in others to stand as well. You need not fear, we will prevail."

Carter nodded, unable to speak for a moment.

"Sam?" Tammy said quietly.

Carter waved her off. "Thank you Teyla. The support of your people was never in doubt. And the love I feel for you...We're going to make Atlantis something we can all be proud of, and want to call home. We just need to give our people a chance to make their own choices."

She looked over at Samuels. "Anything else Andi?"

"I just need approval on the script, then you need to rehearse it few times." She held up her hand as Carter started to speak. "No Sam, not just read it, rehearse it. It only takes about twenty minutes, so you'll have time to run through it at least twice."

She looked over at Tammy. "I want her in a gown, light grey, pale green or blue, cream would be perfect. Not white. I want her looking saintly and pure, not angelic. Brush her hair back from her face, no make-up. No shoes either, but I doubt if anyone will notice that."

She turned to Sheppard, sliding a sheet of paper across the table too him. "Read through that. Stick as close to it as you can. Walk through it at least once before you go in and talk to your men. This has to sound like it's coming from you. You can improvise, but only to substitute your own language."

"I'm not much of an actor, doc." Sheppard said.

"Bullshit, you do it all the time. You're just using someone else's words this time." She wrote something quickly on the bottom of a pad, tore it off and folded it several times, then slid it over to him. "Put that in your pocket. Don't look at it till you're done."

She looked at her watch. "Your first meeting is in thirteen minutes. You need to be done with both, and with us at the auditorium by thirteen-fifty. Fifty-five at the latest. You need to get going."

"Jennifer, walk him out will you?"

Sheppard and Keller stood up and left the room. Carter looked at Andi for a moment, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

There was a long silence before she answered.

"He has to know that his woman has faith in him, that she believes in what he's doing." Samuels said, looking down at the table. For the first time since they had begun the meeting, they were seeing her look uncomfortable. "I didn't like doing that. But I didn't have any choice." She said quietly.

She looked up, glancing around the table. "He already knows that his leader and his peers support and believe in him. But she's key in this. Three days ago, it wouldn't have mattered. Now, she gives us an edge."

She was shaking her head as she let it drop into her hands. "God, I hate myself sometimes." She muttered.