Confirming Carter Bk. 01 Ch. 07

Interior-Central Tower

1520 Hours

"Attention all Atlantis personnel. Please assemble in the auditorium at sixteen hundred hours. All Atlantis personnel. Assemble in the auditorium at sixteen hundred hours."

The announcement was repeated every ten minutes for the next half hour.

Interior-Corridor, Central Tower

1550 Hours

"Ronin!" Carter said as she stepped from the porter. She stepped over too him and hugged him, making him stiffen at the unexpected greeting. He put his arms around her awkwardly, patting her lightly on the back, looking around, a look of discomfort on his face.

Carter released him, stepping back and looking up at him. She turned and looked at Tammy.

"Don't you think he'd look better with short hair?" She said, turning him slightly so she could see his back. "Those dreadlocks just make him look so...wild. I guess some women like it, but..."

"I know Amelia would like to see him lose them. That scraggly beard too." She looked up at him. "She thinks he's hot, but the hair turns her off." She smiled up at him. "Hi, I'm Tammy Ford." She said, holding out her hand.

"I know," he grunted. "You're a nurse. You stitched me up a couple times." He paused. "Who's Amelia?"

Tammy looked around, then turned him and pointed at a young woman standing just outside the auditorium doors. "That's her." She said. As she did, Amelia Banks glanced over, then looked away quickly, moving into the auditorium. "See what I mean?"

"She thinks I'm hot?" He asked, looking after her.

"Mmmm hmmm. You clean up your act a little bit, and I think you might have a chance with her." Tammy said. "She's your kind of girl too. I bet she could kick your ass, or come close."

"Really." He said slowly.

"If we're through giving Ronin dating tips, I think we should get started." Sheppard said as he walked up. He turned and looked at Ronin. "I like your hair. Makes you look scary."

He turned to Carter. "Two officers, both lieutenants, one NCO, eleven enlisted. One of the lieutenants wants some more time to think about it, and may change his mind." He said quietly. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. "Samuels prediction. That woman scares me."

She nodded, opened the note and looked at it. Two lieutenants, one NCO, thirteen enlisted, was written on it. She wadded it up and handed him back to him. "Me too, I'm glad she's on our side."

Ronin looked over at Tammy, and gave her a small smile when she made a scissors motion with her fingers.

"Let's go." Carter said, moving toward the auditorium. "It's showtime folks!"

Interior-Auditorium

1600 Hours

Carter made her way down they aisle to the front of the room. A table had been setup, with a single chair behind it. Samuels was standing behind the table, and clipped a microphone to the collar of her gown, then took her hand and steadied her as she stepped up onto it, then onto the table.

She stood looking out over the room. Every civilian member of the expedition was present, and the room was crowded, people lined the rear and side walls, and some were seated on the floor in front.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, people around the room began to stand and applaud. In seconds, everyone was on their feet, clapping, shouting and cheering, filling the room with a deafening din.

Carter looked down at Samuels, who made a palms down gesture, signaling her to let them continue. She stood quietly, looking around, smiling as she picked out people in the crowd.

They went on for several minutes, then Samuels stepped out into the center aisle, her hands raised in the air. "Ladies and gentlemen! Please, take your seats." She had to repeat it several times as she moved up and down the aisle. They sat again, settling down as they waited for her to speak.

"Thank you." Carter said, her voice coming from speakers around the room. "I honestly wasn't expecting that." Another round of applause and a wave of laughter filled the room. She continued when it died down. "I hope you feel the same way when I'm finished."

"You've been told that I resigned my command, and my commission because of a health condition that rendered me unfit for duty. This was true as far as it went." She began, then launched into a brief review of what had happened. "My medical team has determined, that while my current condition is not treatable, it is manageable, making it possible for me to function normally. And resume my duties if I choose to."

"Yesterday, Dr. Keller represented me in a meeting with the SGC and the IOA, where she reviewed my condition with them. She also tendered my resignations." She paused, then continued. "I have to tell you, that Dr. Keller misrepresented the severity of my condition to the IOA at my request. By the time she met with them, we knew that my condition is manageable, and that I could competently perform my duties as expedition commander."

The assembled crowd began whispering among themselves, and she continued, speaking over them.

"We presented a proposal to establish a new department here in Atlantis, to be headed by me, independent of, but under the jurisdiction of the IOA. The purpose of this new department was to be research and exploitation, specifically, on methods to improve the quality of life for the people of the Pegasus galaxy, and to establish trade between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. Neither of which has been possible under the IOA to date."

She turned, and a screen dropped from the ceiling. A moment later, Samuels' video began playing on it.

"As you can see, The IOA was receptive to my proposal, even after they had been given an exaggerated worst case scenario of my current status. Granted, they didn't have complete details on what I had in mind."

"We did, however, forward a detailed outline for the department, along with a summary of salary and benefits requirements for senior staff. They must not have liked what they read. Because earlier this morning, Col. Sheppard received this."

She turned toward the screen again, and the Landry message began to play.

There were gasps, then angry shouts as it played.

She stood looking at the screen after it ended, then turned and looked out over the crowd.

"As you can see. The IOA has decided that I am a threat to them. I'm going to call that a self fulfilling prophecy. Col. Sheppard and I, working in conjunction with a small group of senior staff, have decided to take Gen. Landry's advice. Effective immediately, I am returning to duty as commander of the Atlantis expedition."

A cheer went up, and she had to wait a moment before she could continue.

"I'm not finished. I'm not only taking command, I intend to take full control of Atlantis, no longer bowing to the whims of the IOA. Atlantis will be run as an independent state, with me as it's titular head for the foreseeable future."

There was a stunned silence, then the noise of people talking and whispering grew again.

"Col. Sheppard has already spoken to the military. With a few exceptions, they have decided to join us, so we will be able to defend Atlantis, and our away teams as we continue to send them out. I have also taken steps toward that goal, by placing ZPM's in all six of the cities power modules."

"I thought the city only used three ZPM's. The ones in the central tower." A voice near the front said.

Carter looked at Samuels. Andi shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders.

"That's what we thought initially, because most of the city has never been explored. I recently discovered another power room in one of the towers on an outlying pier. We have since verified that there are power centers in the main tower of each of the other two piers. And each of those uses a single ZPM."

She paused, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Those main towers also control the systems of the outlying piers. Including their shields, which I activated before I came down for this meeting."

"As I said, I plan on running Atlantis as an independent state. To do that, I need your help, so I am inviting those of you that wish to remain with us, to go to your quarters when we're finished, and remain there until we call for you."

She paused looking around the room. "Please consider your decisions carefully. Those of you that decide to leave, will not be able to return. We would welcome you home if you did, but we doubt if the IOA will allow it. This is going to be a one way trip for you."

"You have until eighteen hundred hours to make your decisions and assemble in the gateroom with your possessions. I'm sorry, but you will only be able to take what you can carry."

"Those of you that decide to stay with us need to know that success is by no means a foregone conclusion. And I have nothing to offer you but more hard work, a place to live, and the sense of accomplishment we'll get as we work toward our goals, just as we have in the past. This time though, we're going to make a difference. We have allies among the peoples of the Pegasus galaxy, who will support us, and work with us. So we won't be alone. But we have enemies too, some that we eventually hope to make our friends, some that will never be. And now we're looking at making one of our own people."

"Once we know how many of our expedition will be returning home, and have departed for Earth, The rest of us will meet again, here, in the auditorium. At that time, I will review the current status of the city, our short term needs and goals, and assign teams for each."

"Thank you all for your hard work and support while I've been here. I will remember you all fondly. No matter what you decide, I wish you the best, and hope you find the happiness you deserve."

She jumped down from the table, and moved into the crowd, shaking hands and hugging people as they came up to her. It took them almost ten minutes to get her out of the auditorium, because she wanted to talk to everyone that approached her. They finally cleared a space around her, and Ronin led the way toward the door.

"You went off script, but it worked. Good job." Samuels said

"You did that, the applause, didn't you?" Carter asked Samuels as they exited the auditorium.

"No, my plants were in the back, and along the west wall. Those people did that on their own." Samuels said. "Teyla had it nailed. You are much loved among your people. My queen."

"Stop that. We're not turning this into a monarchy."

"We'll see."

Interior-Kitchen

1640 Hours

Tammy sat Sam's drink down in front of her as she sat down.

"Drink that, you look a little pale, and I want you to lay down for a few minutes, just to relax."

"Yes mother."

"Good girl." Tammy said as she sat down next to her.

"What's wrong with you?" Ronin asked. "You look fine."

"Andi turned her into a sex fiend." Jennifer said lightly.

"Really." He said, his eyes narrowing.

"Back off, big guy." Tammy said. "This ones mine."

"I thought so." He nodded. "You look good together."

He stood up and walked over to the door. "How do I get out of here?"

"Where are you going?" Carter asked.

"I need to unpack and get cleaned up. You don't need me here, but I'll be ready when you do."

"Thank you, Ronin." She said, smiling at him.

Ronin looked at Tammy, then turned and walked out the door.

"I'll be right back." Tammy said, as she stood up and followed him.

"Ronin." Tammy said as she caught up with him. She led him over to the porter, and stood in the door as he tapped in the symbols for the porter closest to his quarters. "Don't cut your hair. Come back tomorrow, Sheppard can bring you over. I'll help you with it if you want."

He nodded. "I like her too." She heard him say as the doors closed.

"How many are we going to lose?" Sam asked Andi as Tammy came back into the room and took her seat again.

"At least two hundred. Mostly the ones with families and kids on Earth. More than half of the department heads, not because they have families but because they'll feel threatened. Of the rest, the younger ones will stay, so will most of the over fifties."

She tapped on her tablet, scrolling down through her notes.

"Kiss most of the PhD's goodbye, you lost them when you went off script and said you had nothing to offer them but hard work, they didn't hear anything beyond that. The unskilled labor will stay because they like it here. The work is easy, and they have a better quality of life than they can afford anywhere on earth."

"Most of my nurses will stay. I'll probably lose one doctor, but the PA we were going to lose will probably stay, so we break even there." Jennifer said.

"The PhD's are no big loss, present company excluded." She said, smiling at Tammy. "The mid-level people are the ones that actually get the work done. We lost at least five good people in the first group we sent out. Too bad they were moles and spies."

"Two hundred out of six hundred and thirty. And we won't know what skills we need to replace for two hours." Carter said. "Or where we're going to get them."

"It's going to be more than two hundred. And I think we need to make the offer again in a few days. That will be another twenty or thirty."

"Why do it again?" Sheppard asked.

"People are going to change their minds, regret that they stayed. We don't want them." Samuels said. "Better to be rid of them before they can stir up unrest."

"And I have an answer to where you're going to get your skills." She said, looking at Tammy.

"You want to use the teaching machine. I thought you didn't think that was safe?" Tammy said.

"I said I wanted to wait until we knew more about it, and saw that you weren't negatively affected." Andi said. "You appear to be fine. Your scan results show no abnormal activity, or modification to your brain chemistry or tissue. I'm starting to think that it's safe to use." She paused, looking down at her tablet. "On anyone with the ancient gene."

"And on other people?"

"We don't know. So we'll have to test it. I do..."

"No." Carter said. "I'm sorry Andi, but I need you. I can't afford to have your brains scrambled if it doesn't work. We can ask for a volunteer later, or talk to Teyla, and get one of her people. Not her, at least to start."

"You were willing to risk Tammy's life, but no..."

"The machines were designed to work on the ancients. That means the ancient gene. She has it. The risk was minimal, and given that she had already been accidentally scanned by a different machine, with no ill effects, I saw the risk as acceptable."

"Okay, I'll buy that." Andi said. "We won't need the manpower for a little while since we're going to scale back operations and do an inspection of the city. I'd like to add a mapping operation to that. We might as well mark where everything is while we're out looking around."

"But I still want to use the teaching machine. The more people we have that understand ancient, the better off we'll be. That would make it easier to identify and tag equipment, plus keep people from getting hurt as they move around in those buildings. Make it voluntary, and offer it to the people that have the ancient gene."

"That's the kind of idea I can use." Carter said. She looked over at Sheppard. "Did you get that list of names from who I told you to get it from?" She asked.

"He's gone, colonel." Sheppard laughed. "Can we just use his name when we have too? But yes, I have the names. Thirty-seven people never got the gene therapy."

"Let's hope most of them stay, and we can offer them that too." Andi said. "Wait a minute." She said looking over at Sheppard. "Have your guys been tested for the gene?"

He nodded. "All of them have it. That's one of the selection criteria for assignment to Atlantis."

"How many do you have left? How close were my numbers?" Samuels asked.

"You were off by two, on the high side. We're losing eleven enlisted." He looked down at his tablet, did a quick tally and looked up at her. "Nine officers, twenty-six NCO's, and four hundred thirty-four enlisted. That's four hundred and seventy all told."

He looked back at his tablet, tapped on the screen a few times, and looked up again. "I just mailed you and the colonel a skills list. More than half my guys have some kind of degree, all of them have at least a year of college. There's probably fifty masters degrees in this group."

"So we just replaced alot of the skills we're losing without leaving this table."

"John could be a member of Mensa if he wanted. He passed the test." Jennifer said, looking at him. "Teyla told me."

"Where is Teyla? She came over with us." Carter said. "Where did she go?"

"She's out on the couch in the living room. I think she fell asleep" Tammy said as she stood up. She moved behind Sam and pulled her chair away from the table. "Come on, you. I want you to lay down for a few minutes before we go down to the gateroom to say goodbye, then do that second meeting."

"You're going to say goodbye to them?" Samuels asked.

"Of course, they're friends, and they're just doing what they think is best for themselves. We can't fault them for that." Carter said. "It's just the decent thing to do."

Interior-Gateroom, Atlantis

1745 Hours

She moved among them, shaking hands, saying a few words, or getting a hug. Tammy and Jennifer stood off to the side watching. Several people gathered up their belongings, and went back to their quarters, but she didn't say anything.

"Colonel Carter?" The Ops tech called down from the balcony. "It's time."

"Thank you, Chuck." She said, moving back to stand next to Tammy and Jennifer. She slipped her arm around Tammy's waist, and laid her head on her shoulder.

She could hear the tech talking to Sheppard, then the gate started to dial. Moments later, the vortex burst forth, then receded.

"The iris is open on the other end. It's safe to proceed." Chuck called down from his station.

People began moving forward, and Carter waved at the ones that looked back. It took almost two minutes for them all to go through.

Exterior-North Pier

1800 Hours

"The gate is open, colonel. Channel open, now!" The Ops tech said.

Sheppard pointed at Lorne and nodded.

"Stargate Command! This is Lorne! We are under attack, open the iris for emergency evacuation of wounded!" He yelled as he fired his P-90 into the air.

"Understood, Atlantis. We are opening the iris." There was a pause. "Iris is open, Atlantis."

Sheppard, Teyla and Ronin were spread out around Lorne firing various weapons, and throwing small charges of C4 into the air.

"Start sending them through." Sheppard said as he pulled off a burst with a P-90, then popped off half a dozen rounds with his Glock.

Several minutes later, the Ops tech came on. "They're all through colonel."

"Shut it down." Sheppard said, moving his hand in a slashing motion in front of his throat, signaling the others to cease fire.

"Col. Sheppard? We got a databurst from the SGC while we were moving people through. It's a big one sir."

"Copy." Sheppard said. "Put it on a flash drive, or a tablet. I'll come get it in a little while."

"Yessir."

Interior-Central Tower

1815 Hours

"Attention all Atlantis personnel. Please assemble in the auditorium immediately. All Atlantis personnel. Assemble in the auditorium immediately."

Interior-Auditorium

1830 Hours

"Thank you for coming." She said, then paused, looking around the room with a bright smile on her face. "And thank you for staying." She had a microphone on again, and spoke to them in a comforting voice.

There was a brief round of applause, and people looked around, smiling at their friends.

"I need the military to move to the front of the room, we already have your numbers. Everyone else, please form up by departments. If the department head is missing, I need the next senior member to take attendance. There are pads and pens on tables around the room. Please make a list of all remaining personnel, and bring it forward when you're done."