Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 23

Chapter 23 - Reinforcements

“That's a lot of ordinance crates.” John muttered as he watched the intermittent string of soldiers exiting the gate from Earth from the gateroom’s control platform.

“You didn't think we were just going to leave you here to die, did you Major?” Colonel Everett inquired in a clipped tone as he walked up beside John and joined him in looking down at the egressing men and equipment.

“Not particularly.” John admitted as he briefly glanced over to the man before returning to watch the spectacle. “Just kind of figured there would be a bit less military equipment involved and more necessary supplies.”

“Given your sudden disconnect, General O’Neill wanted us to be ready for the worst. And of course, have enough men available to run that Ancient warship of yours.” 

Made sense John supposed, though he wasn’t entirely sure how much they would be needed given Evan had seemed to think he could the run ship on his own.

“Probably should warn you if you’re planning to head to Taranis.” He began as the partially disassembled form of several rather impressive looking guns were wheeled on trolleys through the stargate. “The locals aren’t exactly thrilled to have us there given a lot of them still blame us for the earthquake. It’s not middle east levels or anything, but I’d warn any men you plan on sending there to keep an eye out for rotten fruit.”

Everett crossed his arms and nodded. “And the Ancient? Weir’s reports suggest he’s a bit of a difficult handle.”

“I’ve been giving him the visiting senator treatment.” John offered, knowing from his rank that Everett would understand the reference. “And so far it’s seemed to work pretty well. But I get the distinct sense that’s more because we haven’t really been pushing things with him. So you might wanna tell your men to use a soft touch.”

The Colonel seemed to consider that for a moment, and the little voice of warning in the back of John’s head began calling out as the man frowned. “And if we have to go hard with him?”

He wanted to say you don’t, because he’d never actually seen Evan take off that personal shield of his. But he also knew that wasn’t the type of answer the Colonel was likely looking for.

“Out of the armor? Flashbangs might work to disorient him, probably better then they do us since from what Beckett said he has better eyesight and hearing then we do. At that point try and rush him with high tension restraints and wrap him up.”

“And in the armor?” Everett pressed, clearly not happy with that answer.

“If what little Rodney was able to locate about the suit in Atlantis's database turns out to be accurate? An overloaded naquadah generator might be able to do it.”

And he really wanted to ask Evan if he could play around in the thing at least once, maybe see how far he could hit a long drive with it.

“Not the sort of thing I like to hear.” Everett stated, sounding more than a little annoyed by John's answer.

“Then maybe you shouldn't be asking one of my people how to kill an Ancient.” Weir interjected in a disappointed tone as she walked up behind them.

“According to your own reports, that Ancient devastated an entire civilization with barely a care.” Everett countered as he turned a hard stare at the expedition's leader. “And while I'd love to just assume everything will be candy canes and rainbows, it's the military's job to prepare for if and when things turn the opposite direction.”

“Hell, what if a Goa'uld gets their hands on him? You want us to just sit on our hands helpless while he becomes the next Anubis?”

John glanced between Everett and Weir for a moment. “Is that actually a thing that can happen?”

“In theory?” Weir said, visibly grimacing in a way that all but answered the question for him. “Yes. But every member of the expedition was screened before stepping foot through the gate, and I assume the same can be said of the Colonel's men.”

“Of course.” Everett confirmed with a nod. “But enough about that. I take it you were able to confirm my orders Doctor Weir?”

“Yes.” Weir confirmed with a look of general dismay. “However I also confirmed with General O'Neill that I am still officially in charge of this expedition in regards to all non-military related matters.”

Everett grinned, something about the expression enough to cause the little hairs on the back of John's neck to stand up on end. “Excellent. In which case my first order is going to be that you plug that ZPM of yours in so we can test out the city's systems and begin running defense drills.”

“We were kind of holding back on that for diplomatic reasons, sir.” John offered, suspecting Everett likely knew that already, but wanting to reinforce the point nonetheless.

“I'm aware of that, Major.” Everett confirmed as the last of the men came through and the gate finally shut down. “And you've made an admirable try of it. But we have at least four days till the Daedalus arrives, and five days till the Wraith. So I want this city to be ready to help out in a fight in case your plan A with the Ancient warship falls through.”

Reasonable enough all things considered, to the point John had been considering pushing for them to do something similar tomorrow. But that had been with the full expectation that it would take at least another day or two to get Weir to come around to the idea. 

And it was clear from the expression on her face that she did in fact want to protest, however this was about as clear a case of a military matter as you could get.

“I'll tell Doctor McKay to get on it.” She finally said as she turned and walked back towards her office.

“Now.” Everett continued, focusing on John with a look he was eminently familiar with from years in the military. “I want you to tell me everything about the Wraith that didn't make it into your reports.”

He spent the next ten minutes going over everything he could think of, from their rarely used telepathic illusions, to what Evan had told him about the way they tended to get self destructively overconfident when they thought they had an advantage.

“And even if they look dead you’re going to want to put a couple more shots into them from a distance, because they can–

“Hey.” Evan's voice suddenly echoed out from somewhere in the control room that John couldn't quite place. “If you're hearing this message the city is currently not being attacked, and you tried to plug in the ZPM several days before the Wraith fleet is set to arrive. As I asked you to refrain from doing this, I just want you to know that I'm moderately disappointed in you all. And as such I have set the computer to narrate the names and service files of a random selection of the most likely members of my people to still be alive somewhere in stasis.”

“If after hearing this you still want to push forward with inserting the ZPM, well, I won't stop you.”

“Oh that's just mean.” John muttered as he glanced up to see Weir in her office visibly cringing in a way that suggested she was hearing the message too.

As if sensing the point had been made, an indiscript female voice began speaking. “Trebal, daughter of Torrel by Saren. Age twenty six. First officer of the Aurora. She served under captain Herius for the entire eight years of her enlistment. Service awards include…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes: Eventus uses targeted guilt trip, it was moderately effective. And a little funny.