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“What the hell were you thinking?”
“Sir, we-.”
“Shut it, Sheppard. This is my opportunity to vent. You and Lorne are going to just standing there and let me. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Said the two men in unison.
The expedition leader was pacing in front of the desk in his office. His two military commanders were standing just inside the doors, at attention. Mr. Woolsey was also present, but was seated on the couch, out of the line of fire. They had just come from the special staff meeting to go over the two incidents that happened on Earth, the kidnapping of Dr. Gray and Ronon and the second failed attempt where the young woman had been used as bait. During the meeting, O’Neill’s anger had been barely contained, hearing about what they went through and had subsequently done. He saw their reasoning and was willing to admit they had taken in to consideration almost every contingency. And in the end, it had all worked out. But Mariah didn’t deserve to be used, even if it was done to protect her, especially not by the two men who loved her.
“Did you even think about what would’ve happened if things went sideways? What if they had overwhelmed you and gotten into the apartment?”
“The George Hammond was-.”
“What did I already tell you?”
“To let you vent, sir.” John almost whispered. He didn’t appreciate being read the riot act, but knew better than to argue with his superior.
“Is there anything you want to say, Richard?”
“Not a thing, General.” The IOA rep answered, before adding. “Except that it might be prudent to hear Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne out. Dr. Gray doesn’t appear to hold any ill-will about what they did and she was the one who was used.”
O’Neill growled and stopped pacing. “Mariah couldn’t hold a grudge to save her life and sometimes needs to be protected from herself. Hell, she’s friendly with a Wraith.” He wiped a hand down his face and took a deep breath.
“There’s no reason to-.” Richard stopped speaking abruptly, when he received a glare from the General.
“Where was I?” Jack asked, mostly to himself, then he remembered his place. “What would you have done if things hadn’t gone as planned? They could’ve landed on the roof, had stolen beam technology, like McKay mentioned, or been in the building before you arrived.” He surveyed his fellow Air Force officers and barked. “You can respond to that.” His anger was abating now that he had had the chance to scream for a bit.
The military commanders shared a look, but Evan took the lead. He could control himself enough to not get them into any further trouble. “Sir, from the moment we left the mountain, Colonel Carter and Dr. Zelenka were tracking us, while also keeping an eye on Mr. Sheppard’s building. But on the off-chance someone had slipped in without them catching it, Colonel Sheppard had a word with the building manager when we arrived, asking about any outside people or workmen who might have come by for any reason.”
“That’s all well and good, Lorne, but even the best-laid plans don’t always work out. What about once the assault on the building began?” O’Neill was growing calmer and could see how much they had thought this out. He didn’t like that one bit. He had a right to be angry. His military commanders should not have put the linguist in harm’s way and he was going to make them understand that.
“Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay and I were alerted the moment hostiles entered the building, sir. The Colonel and McKay stayed in the apartment to act as a final line of defense, while I headed down to lead the offensive with the marines in the lobby and the garage, as well as the marines resting in the other apartments. All the marines with assigned positions stayed at their posts. There were multiple layers of protection in place, sir.”
“And what if they had somehow taken out all of those people, including you?”
“Colonel Carter would’ve beamed Mariah up to the George Hammond, sir.” John interjected. “We weren’t going to let anything happen to her.”
“You were lucky. They could’ve sent more people than your marines could’ve handled. You could all be dead right now.” The General growled. He knew the marines in Atlantis were well trained, but they weren’t invincible, then a thought occurred to him. “Why didn’t you supplement your marines with some of the ones from the SGC?”
“We didn’t know who we could trust, sir.” Evan responded. “Every one of the marines who came with us were hand-picked and trusted, not only by the Colonel and I, but by you and Stacks. We had no way of knowing if there were more Trust spies inside the SGC. We limited who knew about the plan to our people, SG-1, General Landry, Colonel Carter, Sgt. Harriman and the two people we suspected were moles.”
The expedition leader appeared to be over his anger and asked for some additional details that were not shared during the debriefing they had just had. “Who exactly were these guys?”
“A starry-eyed youngster and a bitter, disgruntled kid.” Sheppard growled.
“Both easily manipulated then?” Jack looked at the Major for clarification.
“The airman from the motor pool was. Seems a Trust operative masqueraded as an NID agent and told this guy that tracking Mariah was for her own safety. He thought something was up after she was kidnapped, but the same guy showed up afterwards and convinced him the kidnapping was exactly what they were trying to avoid.” Lorne answered, before sending the man next to him a dirty look. They both needed to remain calm, especially since it seemed the worst was over.
“The naivety of youth.” Richard opined, then asked. “And the other man?”
“Maintenance worker on the George Hammond. Was passed over for promotion multiple times and extremely bitter. The Trust paid him a big wad of cash to help them pinpoint Mariah’s location. And he didn’t care who was hurt in the process, since he was mad at everyone in the program.” Evan kept his tone even, but one look in his eyes was all that was needed to see how angry he was about what his lover had gone through, because of these two men.
“How’d Carter end up with a malcontent on her ship?” Jack knew his former teammate was a good judge of character and couldn’t image how she missed a troublemaker on her crew.
John answered. “He was selected by her chief engineer, sir. While he had been skipped over for promotion, he was known to be a hard worker and good at his job.”
The General nodded and continued. “How’s Mariah dealing with what happened?” He was obviously concerned about his young friend.
“Little clingy, sir, and probably will be for a week or so. She had a complete breakdown in the infirmary after we recovered her and Ronon.” The Major opted not to use the word rescued, since his lover had saved herself and the Satedan, with a little help from her new pet.
“Wouldn’t it be wise for her to speak with Dr. Heightmeyer? I know Dr. Gray has been to see her on a few occasions.” Woolsey asked and offered.
“Boys?” The expedition leader addressed his military commanders. His order went unspoken.
“We’ll speak to her about it, sir.” Colonel Sheppard stated. He would never force Mariah to do something she didn’t want to. He learned that was bad for his health, mentally and physically.
O’Neill thought over everything he had heard. His anger had completely faded and he was thinking much more clearly. Something else from the debriefing occurred to him. “Were you able to get anything from the Trust operatives we took into custody? Something you didn’t share during the debriefing?” He had thought they were holding something back, but he couldn’t be sure without prodding them about it and hadn’t wanted to do that in front of the linguist.
“Not much, sir. Most of them were thugs and mercenaries. Hired for a job and told very little.” Evan had been unhappy with what they had gotten, but he and John would do whatever it took to keep their lover safe going forward, even if they were flying blind.
“What about the moles?” The IOA rep prodded. He was sure his colleagues back on Earth were having a field day since it came to light the SGC had been infiltrated by hostile operatives.
“The motor pool kid told us everything he knew and it didn’t amount to much. And-.”
“The maintenance worker was well-paid to keep his mouth shut.” Lorne interrupted his CO. He could see his friend’s temper flaring again. “The only thing we did get was that his POC was one of the guys we killed during the second attempt. We may never get any further information.”
The General had heard enough. “Get out of here, both of you. Have lunch with your girl and remind her the demonstration on the Orion is at 1400 hours. If she’s late, I’ll never hear the end of it.” The two men nodded at him and turned to leave, but he quickly added a final point. “And boys….” He waited for them to look at him. “If you ever use Mariah as bait again, I’ll bust you both back down to Lieutenant for the hell of it. Is that clear?” He got two stilted nods and the men fled his office. He chuckled as the doors closed after them.
“That’s seems rather counterproductive after all the trouble you’re going through to get Major Lorne promoted.” Richard quipped with a twinkle in his eye.
“I know that and you know that, but those two knuckleheads don’t. It’s my only hope to keep them in line until they try their next crazy stunt… or their girl does.” With a shake of his head, he went behind his desk and sank into his chair. “You wanted to review a couple things before we meet the VIPs for lunch.”
“Yes, General.” Richard stood and hurried over to one of the guest chairs. “Several of the VIPs mentioned….”