Confirming Carter Bk. 03 Changes Ch. 03

"There's five more in this building." She answered. "But keep in mind, that the suites on these floors are smaller, and only have two bedrooms. There's four of them on the floors with the conference rooms."

"So if we take two, that's sixteen people. How many suites on the other floors we can have?"

"The other floors have six suites with three bedrooms each." She said. "Why, what are you thinking?"

"I'd like at least two more floors, that's another thirty-six people. That should cover us for a while."

"I'll give you two conference rooms, and four of the other floors." She said, making notes on her tablet. "Let me know as you start moving people in, and we'll get the closets stocked for them. You're still planning on sending them out plain clothes, not a standardized uniform?"

"Yeah, having them blend in will be best right now. There's no need to advertise." He said. He smiled as he added, "And I think both the colonel and Lady Tammy will be more comfortable with them that way."

"I doubt if Tammy will care." Andi said. "But you're right, Sam will be more comfortable if they blend in."

Interior-Col. Sheppard's Office, North Tower

1650 Hours

Sheppard stopped in the door to his office when he saw Sam and Lorne sitting across from each other, laughing. Sam looked over and smiled as she spotted him.

"John! I was wondering where you were." She said. "I came over and no one was here, and Evan came in before I could call you. We got to talking, and it just slipped my mind. I'm sorry."

"That's fine." Sheppard said lightly as he went behind his desk. "I just wanted to wrap a few things up and call it an early day. We got alot done today, so what's left can wait till tomorrow."

"Well, don't wrap it up too early." Sam said, leaning back in her chair. "But we probably need Stephen for what I want to talk to you about. Did he come back with you?"

"He went home already." Sheppard laughed. "He said he wanted to get ready for dinner."

"Well, give him a call, and ask him to come back." She said. "I have something I want to talk to the three of you about."

They traded small talk while they waited for Caldwell, and when he walked in, Sam stood up and waved him and Sheppard toward chairs in front of the desk. When they were seated, she pushed a pile of papers out of the way and hopped up on the desk.

"Stephen, as commander of the navy, are you planning on staying on as commander of the Daedalus, or do you have someone in mind to step up into that spot?" She asked Caldwell.

"I've been thinking about that." He answered. "We haven't been that active recently, so it was a low priority item. The department is shaping up nicely though, so doing both wouldn't be a hardship."

"If you had to step aside, who would you put in command of Daedalus?"

"It would have to be Marks." Caldwell told her. "But the problem there is we gave up our backup helmsman to the Apollo, and we're still training his replacement."

She nodded, thinking for a moment.

"I'm not looking to take you out of the big chair, I just want to be ready if it comes up." She told him. "I've already talked to Evan about the Apollo, so we can put that aside for the moment."

She looked at the three of them before she continued.

"I've decided that we're not going to help Todd with his eggs." She said, looking at them steadily. "We're going to reach out to the Travelers, and ask them to do joint ops with us. We're going to start aggressively hunting the Wraith down and killing or capturing their ships as we find them."

"Yes." Sheppard said quietly, earning him a grin from her.

"I knew you'd like that John." She said. "I'm going to let you talk to Larrin about it. I'd like the two of you to work out the details between you. But I want to see a plan by the end of the week. Two plans actually. One with joint ops, one with just our ships."

"Do you have a preference on how you want this done?" Caldwell asked. "Evan has had Apollo out daily, and we have more than a dozen idle hives and their escorts tagged. We can take those out, or take them, depending on if you think we can use them."

She looked over at Sheppard. "You know more about Wraith ships than any of us do, John. What do you think?"

Sheppard looked at her for a moment before he answered. "I know the Travelers can use them, but we don't have what...who, we need to make it worthwhile for us to try to capture any of them. Zelenka never got off world that much, so isn't familiar with the technology. So the only one that really understands that stuff is..."

"McKay."

He nodded. "As much as I hate to say it, if you want to take and convert those ships for our use, there's only one guy that can do it for you."

"If that's the case." She said slowly, "If we asked him to come back, could you work with him, and more importantly, keep him under control? I've kind of liked not having a crisis every other day, so I'd want him limited to what he had access to."

"It has been nice having the problems coming at us from the outside, and not making our own, hasn't it?" He laughed. "But to answer your question, yes, I can keep him under control. For what I have in mind, he wouldn't need access to any city systems, and only a few in the science labs."

"He has the ancient gene." Caldwell said. "Would you want to put him on the teaching machines, or do you think that that would make him more dangerous?"

"He's only really dangerous if you let him go his own way." Sam said. "I think if we kept him on a short leash, we could limit the problems he could cause." She smiled at them, then added. "The problem with Rodney is, he thinks he's always the smartest one in the room. Well, that's not the case anymore. I was always at least his equal, but now Tammy and I both make him look like a preschooler. And I don't know how that's going to sit with him."

"Teyla can fly a hive or a cruiser, if push comes to shove." Sheppard said. "I don't know if she could land one. From what Todd told us once, landing a hive is a tricky proposition even with an experienced pilot."

"Why would we need to bring Dr. McKay back to Atlantis?" Lorne asked. "Couldn't we send him the information, have him build a control interface, then duplicate it for any ships we want to capture?"

"I like the idea of the control interface, but it would be something that he'd have to be on site for." Sam told him. "Trying to send that much data back and forth would keep the gate open for hours at a time. I doubt if the SGC would go for that."

"What makes you think they'd let McKay come here, even if he wanted to?" Caldwell asked. "He's an asset, and probably not one they'll want to give up."

"You haven't spent as much time with him as we have Stephen." Sheppard laughed. "I guarantee, whoever he's working for will be glad to be rid of him." He looked back at Sam. "I like the guy. Once you get past the ego, he's not that bad. And he can be handy to have around."

"You didn't have him hitting on you, convinced that you found him as, if not more attractive than he found you." Sam said with a wry grin. "But you have a different problem now, John. He was getting things going with Jennifer, and now you're with her. I don't know how that's going to go over."

"I don't care how it goes over." Sheppard told her. "If we decide to ask him to come back, we tell him up front what he can expect. The only way I want him back is with a clear definition of his role. That's our definition, not his."

"I agree." Sam said. "This is something we need to talk to Andi and Tammy about. I'll get with them later, and see what they think."

"But back to Wraith hunting." She said. She looked over at Lorne. "Evan, keep doing what you've been doing. Find and tag as many of those idle hives as you can. If you run across an active hive, I'll let you decide how to handle it. Daedalus will be on call if you think you need backup."

"Yes, ma'am." Lorne said.

"John, get with Larrin and let her know what we have in mind." She said, moving on to Sheppard. "Let her know that they can have half the ships we've found if they want them. And ask her what they're doing with the ones they already have. Are they converting them somehow, or do they have people that can fly them? We may want to go with their method. It might make McKay a moot point."

"Stephen." She laughed as she turned to Caldwell. "I don't have anything for you, except to step up and do what needs to be done, like you always do. I'm sure John is going to need help, and Evan may have you going out joyriding, so I doubt if you'll be bored."

Interior-Kitchen

1830 Hours

"Colonel Carter, Dr. Samuels is requesting permission to come up."

"That's fine, send her up." Sam said as she poured herself a drink. "I'm expecting Dr. Keller and Ambassador Emmagan later. Just send them up when they get here."

The comm sounded again as Andi walked into the kitchen, and she tapped the button as she walked by.

"Samuels." She said as she opened the fridge and took out two cokes. She held one up, offering it to Sam, but she shook her head.

"Ops, Dr. Samuels." The tech said. "We have an incoming video signal. It's Ladon Radim of the Genii."

"And I wonder what he wants to talk about." Sam muttered. She smiled at Samuels and pointed at her tablet. "Can you get a video feed on that thing, or do I have to go in the office?"

"We can take it on this." Andi said, tabbing through the menu on her tablet. "But I think we should go over to the conference center. And get the court assembled."

"No, I know what he wants, and I know how I want to handle him." Sam told her, holding out her hand for the tablet.

"Ops, send that up here, We're ready." She said.

"Yes ma'am. Wait one."

Andi reached over and tapped an image on the screen, and a moment later, Ladon Radim appeared.

"You are Col. Carter, so called queen of Atlantis?" He said, glaring at her.

"Yes, and you're Ladon Radim, so called leader of the Genii?" She replied. "My sister queen isn't available to join us, but I won't need her to deal with you."

"You have committed an act of aggression against the Genii." Radim said. "Your action on Sateda can be considered an act of war."

"Really?" Sam said lightly. "I think you're blowing what happened this morning out of proportion, but I've heard that your people do that. From my point of view, we recovered weapons and ammunition left by the Stedman's. No Genii were killed, and no Genii property was damaged."

Radim stared at her, then turned and spoke quietly to someone off screen.

"My court was discussing what we were going to do about the Genii the other day." Sam said casually. "We haven't gotten a response from you about opening relations, and we were debating whether we should bother sending an emissary or not."

"You need not send an emissary." Radim said, then turned and listened to someone off screen. When he turned back, he was smiling slightly.

"Good. I doubt you could handle who I had in mind to send." Sam said before he could say anything else. "Atlantis and The Genii have had a...difficult relationship, since we first met. The leadership here in Atlantis has changed since then, as it has with the Genii. We no longer have to follow orders from Earth, but make our own decisions."

"And your first decision was to steal from the Genii." Radim said. "Dr. Weir and others have been told, you do not want..."

"Want to make an enemy of the Genii. Blah, blah, blah." She finished for him. "But you exaggerate again. The action on Sateda was not our first decision, it was an afterthought. One of my advisors had an idea, and we checked it out. We had no indication that the Genii were occupying Sateda, not that it would have made any difference."

She smiled at the camera.

"You said that you considered our action this morning an act of war. So be it." She said coolly. "You can expect my ships over that research lab later this evening. And over your capitol city tomorrow."

She closed the channel and looked at Andi.

"So, how long do you think befo..."

The comm sounded, and she grinned at Samuels.

"Get that." She said. "He called back quicker than I thought."

Samuels got up and answered the comm, speaking quietly to the Ops tech. She nodded at Sam, and she tapped the screen on the tablet.

Radim looked at her for a moment before he spoke.

"If we may begin again." He said softly. "I believe that we are starting down a path neither of us wants to travel."

"I'm fine with the path you've chosen. But if you'd like to try again, I'm willing to listen." She said, looking at him steadily. "But I'd prefer to talk in person. Have you had dinner yet?"

"It is midday here. I was about to order lunch." He said, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Excellent. I have a taste for beef tonight." She said lightly. "You'll love the way my cook does up a ribeye. You look like a medium rare kind of guy. We'll see you in an hour."

She closed the channel and slid the tablet over to Samuels.

"Now you can get the court together. And reach out to Teal'c. See if he can get here in the next hour or so, I have something I'd like to talk to him about." She said as she stood up and walked to the door. "We'll meet him in the dining room. I'm going down to talk to Tammy."

Interior-Infirmary

1910 Hours

She sat quietly beside Tammy's bed, looking at her.

"So what happened?" Tammy asked, not opening her eyes.

"How long have you been awake?" Sam laughed.

"Since you dragged that chair over and plopped your ass down on it." Tammy said, turning her head and looking over at her. "Now tell me what's got you so pensive."

"We heard from the Genii." Sam told her. "Ladon Radim. He opened hard, talking about aggression and war, so I told him fine, we're at war. And hung up."

"Then what happened?" Tammy asked, trying not to smile.

"He called back a minute later, and tried to backpedal."

"Did you let him?"

"I told him I wanted beef for dinner, and to be here in an hour." Sam answered. "We're going to talk to him in the dining room if he shows up."

"Then we need to get me some clothes..." Tammy began as she tried to sit up..

"No, you need to stay here, or if Jenn says it's okay, we can move you to our bed." Sam told her, reaching out to take her hand. "But you need to rest, at least for the next few days. I need you to get better, and that means you have to take it easy."

Tammy looked at her, then nodded.

"Have them get me a monitor set up in our room." She said. "I'd rather be in my own bed. This one sucks. And you can't get in with me here."

"I miss just holding you." Sam said, squeezing her hand.

"Me too." Tammy smiled. "So how are you going to handle Radim?"

"I'm going to explain that the Genii are a second rate power, and if they don't like it, we can make them a fifth rate power." Sam said. "I've asked the Travelers to come over and join in, so he'll know where he stands from the gitgo."

"Good idea. But be careful, the Genii can be dangerous." Tammy said.

"They're only as dangerous as we let them be." Sam said, shaking her head. "They don't have any ships, and from what I've read, there's so much infighting that they have trouble..."

"That infighting will stop if you give them an enemy to focus on." Tammy told her.

Sam nodded. "That's why I'm bringing the Travelers over for this. Once he sees that they're in with us, he should lighten up. And they'll keep me honest."

"Let Arrin do most of the talking." Tammy said. "Pharris says that he has the best relationship with the Genii. You say what you want to say, but let him tell them how things are. And are going to be."

"I'll get with him before dinner." Sam said. She stood up and came closer to the bed. "I also had Andi reach out to Teal'c, to see if he could drop by. I know you said that having the Jaffa in Pegasus could be dangerous, but I was thinking that having a small force of them under our control might not be a bad idea."

"And you're planning on using them against the Genii?" Tammy asked.

"Yes, if Radim gives me any trouble, we're going to take that facility on Sateda, mainly to use as a bargaining chip. But I might let Teal'c bring in a couple hundred Jaffa to assault other Genii strongholds. I want to talk to him and see what he thinks about that."

"But I have to go." She said softly, leaning down and kissing Tammy lightly. "I'll have them get you moved, and get everything else ready."

Tammy nodded, closing her eyes, a small smile on her lips.

Interior-Dining Room, East Tower

1945 Hours

Cisco stepped into the room, stopping just inside the door. He glanced over at Sam, then stepped to the side when she nodded.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Ladon Radim of the Genii, accompanied by ministers Phrenum and Colak." He said as they entered the room.

Radim was wearing the plain, unadorned green and brown uniform of the Genii, while the other two men wore insignia of rank and rows of medals.

"Ladon, it's been too long my friend." Arrin said as he stepped forward, taking Radim's hand. "I don't believe that you've been formally introduced to our friend Samantha. If you would allow me?"

Radim looked at him, then followed him over to where Sam was standing.

"Samantha, if I may present Ladon Radim of the Genii." Arrin said warmly. "Ladon has been a friend of the Travelers for many years, long before he became leader of the Genii."

"We spoke earlier." She said, giving Arrin a soft smile. Her expression hardened as she turned back to Radim. "It's too bad he hasn't been as good a friend to Atlantis, considering everything that's been done for him."

"A situation I hope to correct." Radim said, holding out his hand. "I was sorry to hear of the deaths of Dr. Beckett and Dr. Weir. I owe both of them for the life of my sister, and the other Genii that they treated."

"I had expected to hear from the Genii sooner." Sam said as she took his hand. She held it, tightening her grip as she continued. "Had we known that the Genii were occupying Sateda, perhaps we would have asked before we went poking around."

"A misunderstanding." Radim said, glancing down at her hand. He looked back up at her and smiled. "We're not occupying Sateda. We purchased that complex from the government in exile."

"Kell." Ronin said softly, glaring at him.

"Ronin! I almost didn't recognize you." Radim laughed. "But yes, we dealt with Kell until he disappeared last year."

"He didn't disappear, he's dead." Ronin grunted, coming over to stand next to Sam. "He betrayed his people, and had no right to sell anyone anything."

"We had no way of knowing that." Radim answered, looking at him steadily.

"Ronin." Sam said softly as she took his hand in hers. "Come sit with me. Take Tammy's seat."

She looked at Radim and waved him toward a seat on one side of the table. "We're having ribeye steaks for dinner. These are the last we'll have until we get relations worked out with Earth. I guess we'll have to start looking for a new source of meat."

"I had something called a potterhoose with Dr. Weir." Radim said. "Is a ribeye anything like that?"

"A different cut, but off the same animal." Sam said as Ronin held her chair for her, then sat down beside her. "And it's called a porterhouse, don't ask me why."

"I'll remember that. I thought it was delicious." Radim said as he sat down. "But we have a similar herd animal, called a dron, that offers meat very close to the taste of what we ate."

"Well, if your dron can get me a ribeye, or a sirloin, we might be able to do business." she said.

"We've heard that you are taking in refugees, and talking of selling goods." Phrenum said as he came over and sat next to Radim.

"Yes, we are." Pharris said, looking across the table at him. "The Travelers have entered into a partnership with Atlantis, to the mutual benefit of both."