Confirming Carter Bk. 02 Daedalus Ch. 07

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"Jezzus, you're not even gonna butter him up first? Just wham! Here's a job, do it?" Carter laughed. She looked at Lorne. "Is he always this abrupt?"

"No ma'am, I think the colonel might be a little nervous with you here." Lorne laughed. "But I can step up. I think Gen. O'Neill would be a better choice though, given his experience."

"Gen. O'Neill suggested you, Evan." Sheppard told him. "I'm not happy about giving you up, but it's what's best for the city, so I'm not going to stand in your way. This is going to be a good move for you, and Col. Carter and I both know you can handle it."

"Col. Caldwell did a recon mission on a gathering of Wraith hives yesterday, and we're going to hit them, Evan." Carter told him. "He'll brief you in a little while, but I want to tell you the same thing I've told him. If you can't get it done without risking your ship, get out. If you're detected, get out. Under no circumstances are you to engage any Wraith ships other than to deliver your payload. Is that clearly understood?"

"Yes, ma'am. This is a step up for me. The last ship I commanded barely had anything working on it. I'm not going to risk the Apollo before I get to know her." Lorne said. "Can I ask what the payload is?"

"You're going to be delivering nukes. Caldwell with explain what you'll need to do. We've already got you a helmsman, but you can pick two officers to take with you. I want to leave the current XO in place, he already knows the ship, and can help you get situated."

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." She said to Lorne. She looked over at Sheppard. "Status me as you need to John, and let me know when Caldwell and Lorne say they're ready. Good luck."

Interior-Gym

1130 Hours

She got off the elevator and went into the kitchen. No one was there, so she made herself something to drink, and went back down the hall into the living room. The marine standing next to the porter saw her and came to attention.

"Lady Tammy, Ronin and the boy are in the gym, ma'am." He said.

"Thank you." She smiled, and went back through the kitchen and up the stairs to the gym.

Tammy was naked, lying across a float, holding Geraan in her arms as he flailed his arms and legs in the water, turning them in circles.

"Slow down, Geraan, save your strength, smooth steady strokes. You were doing it before." Tammy was saying. She looked up and saw Sam standing by the side of the pool. She dropped Geraan, then grabbed him as he bobbed to the surface, sputtering.

"Give us a minute." Tammy said as she kicked her feet and came over to the side.

She lifted him, and Sam leaned down and took him, sitting him on his feet. Tammy rolled off the side of the float and came out a moment later, sitting on the side of the pool.

"Where's Ronin?" Carter asked. "The marine downstairs said he was up here with you."

Tammy jerked her thumb back over her shoulder. "Sparring with Amelia. They were going through a group of candidates for the house guard. They found three they both liked."

"Good, I was going to ask him about that. What were you two doing?"

"Swimming lessons. Our little warrior didn't know how to swim." She laughed. "We're correcting that."

"What do you expect? He's only five, for god's sake." Carter laughed.

"That's no excuse. He lives on a water planet now. Time for him to learn." Tammy said, then looked over her shoulder at him. "Geraan, show the queen what you learned today."

Geraan stepped up to the side of the pool and bent over at the waist, his arms back at his sides. He looked over at her, and Tammy said, "Go!"

He launched powerfully from the side of the pool, belly flopping into the water. He dog paddled quickly across, stopped at the far wall, pushed off, and dog paddled back.

Tammy hauled him out of the water, and held him in her lap. "Good job." She said quietly, and he beamed as he looked up at Sam.

"Very good, Geraan." Sam smiled. "You just learned that today?"

He nodded, and Tammy hugged him to her. "He sank like a stone the first time I threw him in. Didn't you my little warrior?" She laughed. "Now he can keep his head above water. I'm going to take him to the mainland in a few weeks and teach him how to surf."

"If you can find the time, it's okay with me. Master Bra'tac may have something to say." Carter said. "How are you feeling today? Any problems?"

"No, I haven't spazzed out once. Jenn poked and prodded me for an hour. And Bra'tac just left. He doesn't swim either, but he had a good time hanging on the side of the wall watching us. I hope I look as good as he does when I hit one forty."

"Have you eaten? I'm starved." Carter said. "Has Andi done anything on that staff she was talking about?"

Tammy nodded. "They're set up downstairs. Just hit RS on the comm, and tell them what you want. I already ordered dinner for nineteen hundred. Fried chicken with the fixin's. That okay with you?"

"That sounds great. Will you talk to her about getting someone to screen who comes in here?" Carter asked. "I keep missing meals because people just walk in whenever they feel like it."

"We already talked about that. She was there when Jenn was going over me." Tammy told her. She looked down at Geraan. "Are you hungry little man? You've been working hard this morning." She hugged him, making him giggle as he squirmed in her arms. "I'm so proud of you!"

He stood up as she released him, nodding as he looked at her. "Cheebugga."

"He had cereal at seven, bacon and eggs with hashbrowns at nine, and a bacon cheeseburger with fries at a little after ten." She said as she got to her feet. "But a bacon cheeseburger does sound good." She looked over at Carter.

"I was thinking a salad, maybe some pasta..." Carter said.

"Excellent! Three bacon cheeseburgers with fries, coming up. I'll call it in." She pushed Geraan ahead of her. "Hold onto the rail junior, just like we showed you."

Interior-Kitchen

1230 Hours

"Geraan." Tammy said, turning his head toward her. "Chew your food, like this." She took a small bite and chewed slowly. "Now you."

Geraan crammed his sandwich into his mouth, and Tammy grabbed his hand, pulling it out. She tore a small piece off of hers and put it in his mouth, then worked his jaw, setting the pace for him as he chewed.

"Try again." She said, holding onto his wrist.

He took a smaller bite, and chewed, his face lighting up with a big smile.

"It's a lot better when you take the time to taste it, isn't it?" She laughed.

Geraan nodded, and took another, bigger bite, but chewed it slowly before he swallowed.

"You're going to make a great mom." Sam said as she watched them.

"We both will. We're going to keep the nannies to a minimum. I want to raise them as much as we can ourselves."

"I like that idea. After my mom died, I saw a succession of babysitters, maiden aunts, and nannies. I hated it." Sam said. "I want our kids to know us, and be real people. Or as real as they can be."

"Oh, I had Jenn test Geraan while we were down there. He has the gene, so I asked Bra'tac if we could give him the treatment. He thought it was a great idea, so we did it. It took, so I hit him with the teacher too, just basic Ancient. I found some kids games in the database, math, science, stuff like that. I'm gonna start him on them."

"What did Bra'tac think about that?"

"He said that a warrior's mind must be developed along with his body." Tammy smiled. "He suggested that I find something for O'Neill while I was at it. Something about young minds needing new ideas."

"O'Neill is half his age, less in fa...damn." She said as she reached in her pocket and pulled out her comm."

"Carter." She said as she put the headset on. She listened for a moment. "I think you're rushing it, but I'll listen to what you have to say. Let's meet in thirty minutes, and you can review your plans."

She tapped the comm off and put it back in her pocket. "Sheppard. He says they're ready to go." She shook her head. "I don't want them running off, and not being ready when they get there."

"You're being a mother hen." Tammy said. "They know what they're doing, and they're not going to risk those ships if they don't have too. If Caldwell says he's ready, that means his fleet is ready. Trust him...them."

"I know, I just can't help it. All I can do is listen to what they have to say."

Interior-Conference Room, North Tower

1330 Hours

Caldwell waited while everyone took their seats. Carter sat at the head of the table, with Teyla and Tammy flanking her. Geraan was sitting on Tammy's lap, playing a game on a tablet. Bra'tac looked at him, and Tammy smiled as she leaned down and whispered to Geraan. He shook his head, and continued playing his game.

Lorne sat next to Caldwell, while Sheppard, O'Neill and Bra'tac sat at the far end of the table.

"Major?" Caldwell said, and Lorne brought up a graphic on the monitors. Caldwell highlighted an area on the star chart. "This is the location of the Wraith gathering. We will drop out of hyperspace here, thirty minutes out. That's inside their sensor range, but there will only be one window, and we'll be well away before they can get anything there. We'll be cloaked when we come out anyway, so even if they have someone sitting there, it should just look like an anomaly."

Lorne enlarged the image showing the area inside the zone they would be jumping into.

"We'll separate, taking an arcing course toward the cluster. Actual travel time is going to be close to an hour, based on the path we'll take." Lines appeared on the chart indicating their routes, then the image changed again, this time showing the cluster as they had last seen it. "We'll take up positions at six and twelve o'clock, then move counter clockwise around the perimeter. Package placement will be at commander's discretion, based on density of the ships in the area."

"Once we have the perimeter covered, we'll move into the inner ring, and proceed in the same fashion. Daedalus will move in to drop the package for the Primary's hive, since we've already been there, while Apollo withdraws to the three o'clock side of the cluster, ready to jump if anything goes wrong."

He looked around the room. "Questions so far?" He asked.

"Why do you want to come in so close? Why not take your time, and come out of hyperspace where you dropped out yesterday?" O'Neill asked, looking back through the charts on his laptop.

"We don't want to use the same jump point twice, in case they did notice us, and with all the traffic in there, coming in close reduces our chances of being noticed." Caldwell said. "Four hives dropped in yesterday while we were there, at about the same distance, none came in closer. If they do notice, they should just think it's one of theirs coming in."

"It sounds like you've thought this through, Steven." Carter said. "Now give me the downside."

"The downside is we get in there, everything is shielded, and we have to back off and try again later." He said calmly. "In that scenario, we regroup, wait six hours, then go back in for another look. We're prepared to repeat that up to three times. After twenty-four hours, we call no joy, and come home."

"Worst case scenario, one of us is detected, at which point, we break radio silence, call no joy, and Apollo jumps out immediately. Daedalus remote detonates any packages we have in place already, and jumps in another direction. We regroup, wait six hours, and Daedalus goes back in for BDA."

"What's your window in the drop zone?" Tammy asked, pointing at Geraan's tablet, showing him a question he had missed.

"Timers on the nukes will be set for sixty minutes. We start moving away no later than fifty minutes, five minutes at full sublight, five at military thrust. That should take us well out of the blast zone." Caldwell said, bringing up a graphic showing their exit routes. "We should have all the nukes set within thirty minutes, so we back off to at least ten minutes out, and Daedalus remote detonates the packages."

"You say you will put these weapons into the holds of these ships." Bra'tac said slowly. "Yesterday you spoke of cruisers docked with these hives, and transports moving between them, which indicates that they are moving materials."

Caldwell nodded, then glanced at Carter. "We took the liberty of beaming some materials out of the holds of several of the hives yesterday. Our nukes will be camouflaged as their own goods when we beam them in."

"For crissake, Caldwell, you could have mentioned that yesterday." O'Neill said. "Of all the bo..."

"Good thinking, Steven." Carter said. "A little more risk than I would have preferred, but it's done, and it reduces the chances of someone stumbling across our nukes."

"Yes ma'am, it was a last minute decision. Marks wanted to see if they'd notice us beaming our nukes in, and the best way to test that was to beam something out." Caldwell told her. "We took containers from four of them, and sat waiting on each for a reaction. There was none, so they're not scanning within the cluster. They feel safe in there."

"Jack? Go or no go?" Carter asked.

"Go."

"Bra'tac?"

Bra'tac nodded. "Should Lord Caldwell, decide to leave your service, he would be most welcome to lead a Jaffa battle fleet. Proceed."

"Don't get your hopes up old friend." Carter laughed. "Tammy?"

"Go." She said, looking at Caldwell and Lorne. "Get it done, and get your asses home in one piece. Both of you."

Caldwell nodded as she stared at him, then looked across the table at Teyla.

"Teyla?"

"They will makes us proud this day, Samantha." Teyla said. "Major Lorne, I ask that you bring Sir Steven home safely. He has obligations that he must fulfill."

"Yes, ma'am." Lorne smiled. "We'll keep an eye on him for you."

"Then we go. Be ready to jump at sixteen hundred." Carter said.

"Fifteen hundred." Caldwell said. "We're ready, and the longer we wait, the higher the odds of something going wrong get. I don't want to put this off. We have a good plan, and should go."

"Fifteen hundred then." Carter said as she looked at Caldwell and Lorne. "Go with our blessings and hopes, gentlemen. And come home safe."

Interior-Daedalus Bridge

1610 Hours

"Hail the Apollo, Marks." Caldwell said.

"Apollo online sir." Marks said a moment later.

"Lorne, we'll be dropping out of hyperspace in two minutes. Are you good to go?" Caldwell asked.

"Ready, sir." Lorne replied.

"Very good, Evan. Radio silence until your packages are delivered, and you are outbound." Caldwell said. "If they have shields up, we break off and go to the rendezvous point. If you need to break radio silence, keep traffic to encrypted microbursts."

"Confirm." Lorne replied. "Good hunting, sir."

"You too, Evan. Exiting hyperspace in sixty seconds." Caldwell said. "Good luck."

Interior-Apollo Bridge, Sector 347C3

1655 Hours

"Jezzus, will you look at that mess?" Lorne said softly as he looked out the bridge windows, then glanced down at his display. "How long till we hit the perimeter, Wilkes?"

"Six minutes before we're in position to start dropping our packages, sir." Wilkes said from the helm. "I'm not detecting shields on passive scans, and there are no scans coming from the cluster."

"Good, take us in, half sublight, then one quarter when we start delivering our presents." He opened a channel on his comm. "Weapons room, status on the nukes?" He asked.

"Twenty nukes armed and ready, sir." Came the reply. "Timers are set, we just have to disengage the safeties."

"Confirm. Five minutes to first targets. Lorne out."

Interior-Daedalus Bridge, Sector 347C3

1700 Hours

"First target is in range, colonel." Marks said, then a moment later, "Weapon away, no change in the target."

"Take us around the rim, Marks. Low and slow." Caldwell said. "Get us a count. Hives, then cruisers. Don't worry about the little stuff."

"Aye, sir. There's fifty-seven hives, and it looks like more than three hundred cruisers." Marks said. "I can't get a good count. The damned things are all over the place, and moving at a good clip between the hives."

"Get me the best count you can, Marks. We want to be able to count the meat when we're done."

Interior-Apollo Bridge, Sector 347C3

1705 Hours

"Major, we've got a dart on a collision course to starboard. Forty seconds to impact." Wilkes said, his hands working over the controls. "Shields up. Package away. Increasing speed to military thrust."

Lorne pressed the shipwide on his comm. "All hands, brace for impact! Prepare for hyperspace jump."

"Dart impacted aft quarter, starboard side, sir." Wilkes said as he scanned his console. "No damage, no explosion from the dart. It looks like he bounced off the shields, sir."

"Where is he?" Lorne asked, checking his own screens.

"The dart broke up on impact, sir." Wilkes said. "It looks like we got lucky. No change in upcoming target. Dropping to quarter sublight, next target in eighty seconds."

"How many more do we have on the perimeter, Wilkes? We close to done?" Lorne asked, reaching for his comm again.

"Six more targets on the perimeter, sir. I have the next four tagged, and if I get between them, we can drop two at a time." Wilkes said. "I've already done it once, and we can move to the inner ring in fourteen minutes of we go two at a time."

"Do it. It looks like the dart traffic is picking up out here." Lorne said. He hit the comm. "Weapons room, we're going to be dropping doubles, be ready to pick up the pace."

"Aye sir, we have thirteen nukes ready. Just tell us when."

"Helm will advise. Bridge out." Changing channels, he went on shipwide. "Stand down hyperspace jump. We just took a dart strike to the shields. We've been blooded, but not bloodied. Resume normal stations."

Interior-Daedalus Bridge, Sector 347C3

1715 Hours

"Colonel, shields are going up on the Primary's hive, we have increased...wait one." Marks said as he leaned over his controls. "Shields dropping on the Primary." Marks said a minute later. "There was a hyperspace window near where we came out. Half a dozen ships hit it with scans, and we were right in the path."

"Jezzus, Marks! Don't do that to me." Caldwell laughed. "Get us out of here. Take us to the next target."

"Already moving to the inner ring, sir." Marks replied. "We're ahead of schedule. Wait one...package away, moving to next target."

"How many is that, Marks?" Caldwell asked, checking their position on his screens.

"Fourteen, sir. Five more on the inner ring, then the Primary." Marks said.

"Take us to the Primary next, we can come back here." Caldwell said. "I want to make sure that bitch gets our queen's little present."

"Yes, sir." Marks grinned, looking back at him. "Should I make it a double, colonel?"

"No need to waste ordinance. One will be fine." Caldwell said. "Just tell weapons control that if nothing else works, that one damned well better go off!"

"Aye, sir."

Interior-Apollo Bridge, Sector 347C3

1720 Hours

"Last package away, major." Wilkes said. "We still have six nukes left, do we want to use them?"

"Negative, Wilkes. The lady said to use what we had to, so let's take some home with us." Lorne said. "Get us out of here. When we get outside the perimeter, send a microburst to Daedalus advising of our status. Full sublight when we clear the perimeter."

"Yes, sir. Three minutes."

Interior-Daedalus Bridge, Sector 347C3

1725 Hours

"Inbound traffic from Apollo, sir." Marks said. "They report nineteen packages away, and are clear of the perimeter. Moving away at full sublight." Marks paused, then turned and looked back at Caldwell. "They took a dart strike on the way in, sir. No damage, they say they weren't detected. It looks like the dart broke up, but didn't explode."

"Lucky bastard!" Caldwell laughed, shaking is head. "Get us the hell out of here, Marks. Lorne used up all our luck, and I don't want to push it. Tell weapons to store whatever's left, and prepare to detonate on my command."