You know how
when you are nervous you hold your breath? You know – it is the kind
where if you let one single breath out you are going to faint? I know
it’s totally unreasonable to be holding my breath – I am the Chief
Medical Officer of the Odyssey, a highly trained doctor in
areo-medcine, Major in the Air Force and a member of Stargate Command.
I am more then capable to know in my head that I should let the breath
out, and I will be fine. But deep in my heart, I want to hold that
breath in forever.
Around me is a loosely held
together ship, commanded by Colonel Emerson, who is standing beside me,
also, holding his breath.
“Colonel Carter could still
be out there, sir,” I say quietly, rushing my words together. “She will
need medical assistance.”
He nodded. “Prepare your
team. I’ll get an assessment of what damage we have on board and start
looking how we can rescue her.” He looked at me and gave a sad smile.
“Mitchell is out there too, don’t forget about him. We’ll find all of
them, then we will figure some way to kick the Ori asses.”
He patted my shoulder and
turned toward a small group already looking at the damaged areas of the
ship. I felt the adrenaline surge through me, overriding the sudden
desire to find the nearest empty space vent and hop out. I would do no
good dead and I had a crew to take care of.
- - -
I found my nurses and doctors
already packing small med kits. They looked tired and somber, but each
had a determined edge.
“Ma’am,” nurse Kille said,
coming toward me. “We are all ready, just tell us where we are going.”
“We have heavy damage on the
lower decks; Emerson said that they were the first to be evacuated.
Next is here, and here,” I pointed to the map of the Odyssey I kept on
the wall. “I want everyone to break up into teams of three. Doctor and
two nurses, Drs. Lucas and McDee, you are teamed together. The
infirmary can hold 40; the OR will be over flow, unless needed. Use the
two storage rooms down the hall as triage as needed.”
I heard my radio crackle to
life and dismissed my crew. I went into my office, which looked like a
small war zone. Books and folders were scattered across the desk and
floor.
“Major DeBarr, come in!”
Emerson said.
“Yes sir?”
“We my have a rough landing
coming into the hanger. I need you down there.”
“I’m on my way.”
- - -
It came from the darkness…
sounds like a bad horror flick, I know, but that’s the only way to
describe how I felt watching the figure emerge from the damaged F-302.
“Twinkle toes!”
“Shaft!”
I led a slightly bruised, all
smiles and hugs Cam to the side of the hanger, sitting him on a box and
giving him a quick once over. He chatted about “the big ship in the
sky” and how Sam was still alive. He winced when I probed an open gash
on his leg but followed it by cracking a joke.
“Well nice to see you are
doing so well, coming from a ship that just blew up,” I said, hugging
him.
“There is nothing like
getting close to death to make you feel alive, Bay,” Cam grinned.
“Besides, I could not let you have all the fun.”
“Thanks, Cam, you’re so
considerate,” I smirked.
“Just think of it as part of
my Southern charm,” he said, deepening his accent. I rolled my eyes and
shook my head. “Ok spare me the lecture. We have another Colonel to
rescue”.
“And how, may I ask, will you
do that?”
- - -
“You’re going to do what?”
I was not sure who was more
surprised, Colonel Carter, Emerson or the two crewmembers that were
staring at Cam.
“Are you sure he is ok?”
Emerson asked as he leaned over toward me.
“Medically yes. I should
qualify that - physically he is fine. Mentally, well, he has always had
problems.”
“I’m glad it does not run in
the family,” he said dryly. I just nodded.
Cam was already barking
orders and maneuvering the Odyssey like it was his own craft. Emerson
was standing back, even Major Marks was standing in the wings, chewing
on his fingers, but quietly watching, both with pursed lips and knotted
foreheads wondering how my brother was steering the ship.
“Oh boy,” I heard Sam breath.
I raced back to the hanger, hoping everything would be fine and that
Cam knew what he was doing. This was much bigger then a F-302 and much
less adgel than anything he had flown before. But as I watched Sam
float into the hanger, I quickly closed and re-pressurized the hanger
and raced out with a small team of medics to tend to her.
“Ok let the crew know we got
her and we are on our way to the infirmary,” I said sliding the helmet
off Sam. “What hurts?”
“Nothing. Just a bit stiff.
Need to get used to gravity. Good flying,” Sam said with a weak smile.
“Don’t worry, Cam will be
coming by to boast in no time,” I said, arranging the gurney to
transport her to infirmary.
- - -
“Daniel may have gotten off
the ship,” Cam said as he sat beside Sam in the infirmary bed. “You
know how he is.”
Sam merely nodded and looked
away. I was hopping Cam was right too, but it seemed more important to
Sam to have an answer. Did he get off? If so where was he? Was he hurt?
And if he did not get off… I let the thought die. Daniel would have
found 50 different ways to save himself and the crew before it blew up.
“And Emerson said Teal’c may
be in danger also?” Sam asked, turning back to us.
“Ya, the big guy may have
found the Alliance was not all that sure about their position with us.”
“So we have two rescues?”
Cam nodded slowly. “It looks
that way.”
“Fine, let’s get started,”
Sam said, brushing the blankets aside.
“Hold up,” I said, stepping
toward Sam. “We may not be on Earth, but I am your primary doctor – and
if nothing else, I am Odyssey’s CMO - and I said rest. Teal’c and
Daniel will still need your help in a few hours. After all,” I said,
bringing the blanket back over her legs, “it would do none of you any
good if you went after them in your weak state.”
“I guess you’re right,” Sam
conceded.
“I’ll get as much data as I
can,” Cam said, following me out. Turning to me he asked, “So what are
you thinking?”
“That I could use a tub of
triple chocolate mocha Java ice cream right about now,” I sighed.
“Professionally, I think we have another long night ahead of us. Get
some sleep; you are going to give mom a heart attack if she knew you
were trying to pull the hero again.”
“You would revive her, so I
have not worries.”
I shook my head and watched
as he made his way to the quarters. I sighed as I felt my own eyes grow
heavy. I called my 2IC and told her to take over. I needed to take my
own advice.
- - -
Sam was up and in the
axillaries command center, working tirelessly to get the beaming
technology back up. With the help of our resident Asgard, Kvasir, they
worked to get the drives and other essential systems back online. If
nothing else we needed the speed so we could get back to Earth.
“Hey Doc,” Cam’s voice came
over the radio.
“Hey Flyboy.”
“I was wondering how many are
on your staff.”
“I have 12 nurses, 7 doctors,
why?”
“Well the Lucian Alliance is
threatening to blow us up, and I was wondering how strong our medic
team was.”
“I hate to disappoint you,
Cam, but if they blow us up, no medics would be available,” I said. I
let Cam think about that for a moment. “Because we would be dead too.”
“Ya well. Think positively.
We just had two mother ships drop out of hyperspace; one is lead by
Bray’tac.”
“I love seeing friendly
faces. How is everything going up there?”
“Umm not good. The Lucian
ship is powering up. Ho!” I heard Cam say. The radio was still on, he
must’ve forgotten to take his hand off the transmit button because I
heard Emerson and Marks exclaim that the ships were firing. I braced
myself and wondered why no all-ship message was being transmitted. If
we were going to be fired upon, the crew needed to know. “Wow,” I
heard Cam breath.
“Medic to the axillaries
control room,” I heard Sam’s voice cut in.
“On my way, Colonel,” I said,
grabbing my bag and a nearby nurse. Weaving by some wondering Jaffa and
personnel, we made it to the control room to see Teal’c standing beside
Sam.
“As glad as I am to see you
well enough to stand, I do require you to come back to the infirmary
and let me give you the ok,” I said, coming up to the big guy.
He nodded, and went back to
the infirmary with the nurse. I turned to Sam who was still looking
solemn.
“I was looking at the data
Cam brought by. There were ring transports aboard the ship, maybe the
Ori were bright enough to use that technology in their ships.”
She nodded. “He’s the only
one still to find. I know we will find him ok. It’s just hard not
knowing.”
I laid a hand on her shoulder
and smiled. I turned back to the infirmary as she continued repairing
the damaged systems.
- - -
I was up, walking around at
3a.m., coffee in hand and in the commissary. A few others were
also up, most not having the time to settle down and talk at any
other time.
“I heard that you know where
the pie is hidden,” Cam said, sitting down opposite me.
“Don’t listen to all the
rumors, little brother. This one, however, you can trust,” I smiled and
got up. Walking back to the kitchen area, I opened the cabinet and took
out two plates and forks. “Key Lime fine?”
“It meets the ‘pie’ aspect of
my wanting pie, so yes,” Cam said, leaning against the counter with his
empty plate and fork. “So how was the battle from this end?”
“Think Forth of July with the
anticipation of Christmas. It was … amazingly horrible. We are trying
to locate the ancient weapon to destroy the very beings that want to
suck us dry just to become powerful. I guess it was some wonder and the
knowledge that we had let the enemy into our house, which has made a
lot of this seem so …” I cut the pie and gestured Cam over to give him
the piece. “It seemed like we were watching our own futures coming.”
“Hey we are still here, and
we ain’t dead yet,” Cam said. “We have a lot to regroup from, granted,
but I think we have a great chance to hit them where it hurts.”
“And where is that?”
“We know our territory much
better then they do.”
I shook my head. “I don’t
think that will work this time. Before it was just a Prior, now it’s an
army. The enemy had come before, but now there are also backup troops
within reach.”
“Where is my everything is
sunny sister?”
“She is here, just not as
sunny. Cam we have always been at war with the Ori for the past year,
but now, now we have to look at the whole army in the eyes and tell
them we don’t back down.”
“We will be fine, Bailey. We
have been doing this for a long time. Maybe not with the Ori, but we
have had our history of battles, and we prevailed.” He hugged me and
looked me in the eyes. “We don’t go down easily.”
“We better get back to work,
we have the front lines to defend.”
“Exactly,” Cam said putting
the plates back into the cabinet. I saw him still eying the pie. “Hey
Bay, you think they would miss the pie?”
I rolled my eye and handed
the pie tray to him as I passed. “You get caught, I am not patching you
up.”
- - -
Bray’tac came into the
infirmary in the morning, to check up on Teal’c. I had kept him over
night to treat his many burn wounds.
“It is good to see you alive
my old friend,” Bray’tac greeted Teal’c.
“It is good to be alive,”
Teal’c said, with a hint of a smile.
“I am afraid I come with
news. The Ori have been located, however, they are over Chulak.”
A pained look crossed over
Teal’c’s features. I did not retrain him when he got up from the bed
and followed Bray’tac, Sam and Cam out of the infirmary.
- - -
Cam did not have time to tell
me that he was going with Bray’tac to help defend Chulak. Actually I am
glad I found out as soon as the Odyssey was repaired and able to join
the fight. I had still two patients who were not quite cleared to be
out of the infirmary yet. I am not a hard assed doctor like some; I
understand all to well the depth of what’s at stake. But I still wanted
to keep an eye on them.
“You both are in big trouble,”
I said as I came back into the infirmary. “Your only saving grace is
those two,” I said pointing my pen at the newly rescued Vala and
Daniel. “You all are going to give me a heart attack before long.”
“Man that means they would
beat me to it,” Cam said, stifling a smile.
I shook my head. “You are
lumped in there, don’t worry. Now,” I turned to Vala, “I believe you
just had a baby.”
“I suppose I did. I barely
remember it.”
“Well we need to check you
out anyway.”
“You should have taken her
when you had the chance,” Vala said to Daniel.
“I should have shot her when
I had the chance,” Daniel said.
“You couldn’t kill a child,
Daniel,” Cam said.
“She’s not normal.”
“You can say that again,”
Vala said, standing up and walking toward the door with my help.
“Isn’t that cheating?” Cam
asked, confused.
“I don’t know, all I do know
is that we have big problem with a new leader of the Ori,” Daniel said,
shaking his head.
“And the fact that I am her
mother means nothing!” Vela said with regret. “And the fact that Origin
just got more appealing to the male-species. It’s a small problem too.”
“I know one thing: She is
dangerous, and will not make life easy for us,” Daniel said, sitting up.
“Well, I don’t mean to break
the spell, but I will make all your lives very uneasy in about two
minutes if you all don’t stop and let me do your post mission evals,” I
said.
“We are fighting the Ori, and
have seen the enemy,” Cam said, brow knitted together. “The least you
can do is let us slide with the formality.”
“Life is already not formal,
Cam. Let’s not make things even more abnormal, shall we?” I asked,
gesturing toward the curtained examination room.
“We have met the enemy and
she is a doctor,” Cam muttered as he passed me.
“I have met the enemy and it
is mom, actually.”
“In one day you go from
concerned sister to threatening to tell mom about me being a hero. When
did I miss that class?”
“While you were playing
hero,” I said smugly. “Common, let’s get this over with. I need some
pie,” I said rolling my eyes.
I let out the breath I had
been holding when I heard Sam, Daniel, Vala and Cam sitting in the
corner of the commissary talking. Teal’c came in and I knew SG-1 was
back and safe. For now.