Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It took three days for everything to go to hell.

Sure, it wasn’t the first time something went pear shaped on one of their jobs. Even with Nate making multiple contingency plans, there was almost always something that caught them off guard and they had to accommodate for on the fly. Some of them (mostly Sophie) were better at improvising than others (Parker was by far the worst, largely due to the stabbing a mark with a fork thing), but they still somehow always managed to pull off whatever they were trying to accomplish.

This time, they weren’t so lucky.

*

The first inkling of trouble was so minute, so routine, that it barely even registered on anyone’s radar as potential trouble. Not even Nate, who was the master of paranoia.

“This company is into some hinky shit,” Hardison said, not lifting his gaze from the computer screen he was currently staring at.

Eliot rolled his eyes. “Kind of the point, Hardison,” he said. “If they weren’t, we wouldn’t be trying to take them down.”

“No, this is different,” the young hacker insisted.

“How so?” Nate asked. Since stopping drinking, he had slightly less patience for tangents like this when they were in the thick of planning a job. He was, however, more focused on the goal and less prone to reacting on impulse.

Hardison finally looked up from the screen and reached for his orange soda, taking a long swig and making sure he had the attention of the entire crew before answering. “It has nothing to do with what our client brought to us,” he began, holding up a hand to cut off Nate’s protests that it wasn’t something they should worry about. “I found these files buried deep. And some of it is in a language that I’ve never seen and doesn’t seem to be in any translation software I can find.” He paused again, searching his team’s faces to make sure they understood how unusual that was.

“There’s something going on with the Air Force. Something this company is very interested in and whatever it is, it’s big. Like, really big.” Hardison had some suspicions, but opted not to voice them just yet for fear his team would write it all off as a crazy conspiracy thing and accuse him of going too deep on that last job. Thing was, in his research for that, nothing like this had cropped up in any of the conspiracy blogs he read, and that was enough to concern him.

A long moment of silence filled the room before Parker finally broke it. “Is it another way they’re hurting people?” she asked. Parker had a unique way of looking at the world that was very black and white and sometimes she was able to get to the heart of something faster than the rest of them.

Hardison shrugged. “I think it could be. Whatever it is, it’s got me concerned enough that I think we need to put this thing on hold until we can learn more.” He looked at Nate, expecting the man to blow up at the mere suggestion of putting a job on hold.

Instead, Nate looked thoughtful. “The Air Force,” he said. “Anything specific about it? A base? Name of personnel involved? Something we can dig into further?”

“Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado,” Hardison replied. “Whatever is going on, it’s centered there. I did some surface level digging and the only thing I found was references to NORAD and something called deep space telemetry.” Nothing that he thought would warrant the level of chatter their target had on the place.

Eliot cleared his throat. “I might know someone who can help.” He sighed when everyone turned to look at him. “Buddy from high school is in the Air Force. I heard rumors about something happening at our last class reunion. No one would talk though. Something about NDAs.” And there weren’t a lot of things that would require a non disclosure agreement at a class reunion in his experience. “But last I heard, he was stationed in Colorado Springs.”

“Give him a call,” Nate said. “In the meantime, Hardison, keep digging. Sophie and Parker, let’s hold off on the undercover surveillance until we get a better idea of what we’re up against here.” The last thing he wanted was for something to happen to any of his people. Drunk Nate might have pushed forward. Sober Nate was more cautious.

*

Things were quiet in the Mountain. Since capturing the last Ba’al clone and Sam’s reassignment to Atlantis, SG1 was in something of a holding pattern and Cameron Mitchell was bored. Not that he would ever be stupid enough to say that aloud. He knew that would be the kiss of death, probably literally, so he sat in his office, reading the mission reports out of Atlantis, wondering if he could get a temporary transfer there to help with this whole Wraith thing, when a new email popped up in his inbox from an address he didn’t recognize. It was rare for his official account to get spam, so he didn’t hesitate to open and read the correspondence.

Eliot Spencer was one of the last people he would have expected to send him an email and it was definitely a weird email. They’d played football together in high school and always been friendly, but then Spencer basically disappeared after graduation and Cameron hadn’t thought about him for at least a decade until he’d run into the other man during a brief assignment on a joint base and learned that he was Army. From what he gleaned, mostly from the things Eliot didn’t say, Spencer was in some kind of special forces and was on the base recovering from an injury.

After that, they crossed paths occasionally for a number of years, usually grabbing a beer or a meal together to catch up, despite the fact that neither of them could really share much about what they were doing. Then, suddenly, Spencer disappeared again. Completely off the grid. No longer part of the Army and Cameron had no idea if the man was even alive. Now he was sending a casual email, asking how Cam was doing and wondering if he was free to grab a drink since Eliot happened to be in Colorado Springs on business.

And how did Eliot Spencer know where Cameron was stationed these days? Just one of the many mysteries about the man. It was enough to pique Cameron’s curiosity though, so he replied that he was available and suggested they meet at O’Malley’s at 1800 for dinner. When Spencer replied that he was traveling with a colleague and asked if Cam minded her joining, he said no and immediately went to ask Vala if she’d like to accompany him to dinner. He figured Jackson would have his nose buried in some research project or another and she would welcome the opportunity to get out of the mountain for a few hours.

Cameron was definitely looking forward to this dinner, not only because O’Malley’s had the best steak in Colorado, but because he had a sneaking suspicion that Eliot Spencer didn’t just want to meet to “catch up” after nearly a decade of radio silence.

*

“Damn it, Parker,” Eliot growled at his companion as he pulled his rental car into the parking lot of O’Malley’s and found a parking spot that was equidistant from the restaurant’s door and the entrance/exit of the parking lot. He didn’t think anything dangerous was going to happen at this dinner, but he wanted to make sure they had a clear and easy exit strategy just in case. “You can not pick anyone’s pocket tonight. And try to act normal. Don’t start talking about any of your weird shit, okay? This guy is career military and as straight laced as they come.”

He couldn’t believe that Nate insisted on him bringing the thief on this reconnaissance mission. Eliot argued that he was perfectly capable of handling a dinner with a high school buddy on his own, but Nate countered that they might need Parker to break in somewhere and get information, something she was far more likely to manage without anyone knowing she’d been there than Eliot was.

“I know, Eliot,” she said. “I hardly ever steal anything when we’re not on a job anymore.”

“Hardly ever is not never, Parker.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I have to be ‘normal’ while we’re with your friend,” she said, rolling her eyes and using actual air quotes.

Eliot sighed. It was going to be enough of a challenge to dig for information about their target without tipping off Mitchell about his company being on the other side of the law and now he had to make sure Parker didn’t act like some kind of freaking alien from another planet who hadn’t been on Earth long enough to understand the social norms.

*

“No, Vala, I do not want you to steal Spencer’s wallet or his colleague’s purse or anything else tonight,” Cameron said after he’d parked his car in the lot at O’Malley’s in the back of the restaurant where usually only the staff parked. Ever since Vala’s run in with the Trust on her not-date with Daniel a few years ago, they took extra precautions in public.

Vala rolled her eyes. “Should I go to the lavatory with her? That’s something Earth women usually do in pairs, right?” It was something she’d learned from hours of watching television and movies and while she didn’t understand the purpose, she knew it was important that she not draw any undue attention to herself while off the base.

Cameron was about to object and then thought better of it. “Actually, yes. If it comes up, it couldn’t hurt. It’ll give me and Spencer a few minutes alone and maybe we can learn something if they’re separated.” Letting Vala out of his sight was a risky prospect and he knew that Jackson would kill him if anything happened to her, but if she was with someone else, it wasn’t like anyone could grab her again.

Maybe he was reading this all wrong. Maybe Eliot really was just in town on business, whatever business he was into these days since leaving the military, and maybe this was going to be an easy, casual dinner between old high school friends. He slipped out of the car and walked over to Vala’s side to open her door, automatically offering her a hand, and hoped that he was overthinking things.

*

Dinner was fun. Well, as fun as it could be when both sides had a hidden agenda. Eliot wasn't exactly known as a chatterbox, so he largely let Cameron lead the conversation, though when he did speak, it was to ask questions that, on the surface, were casual and the kind of thing an old friend would ask, but were designed to try and poke at the edges of what was happening in Cheyenne Mountain.

Much to Eliot’s surprise, Parker and Cameron’s companion, Vala, seemed to really hit it off. He hadn’t quite figured out if the woman was Mitchell’s girlfriend, coworker, friend, or something else entirely, but he was glad that she was keeping Parker occupied and didn’t seem to think she was odd when she started rambling about locks and security systems and whatever the hell else passed as Parker’s idea of small talk.

Mitchell was good at answering Eliot’s questions without really answering them and he was starting to think that they might need to resort to Nate’s Plan B, which was following the man home from dinner and then having Parker break in to his place the next day when he left for work, when Parker and Vala decided to head to the ladies room together, leaving the two men alone for a few minutes.

“So what’s really going on in that mountain of yours?” Eliot asked, his tone good natured and accentuating the slight drawl he affected during cons when he wanted to seem non threatening. “What exactly is deep space telemetry? I thought you were a pilot.”

Someone who hadn’t spent more than a year under Sophie Devereaux’s tutelage wouldn’t have noticed the slight panic in Mitchell’s eyes at the direct question, but Eliot definitely did. “It’s astrophysics,” he explained. “And I was a pilot until I got shot down in a dog fight over Antarctica and had to learn to walk again.”

Eliot recognized the answer for what it was, a deflection. Most people would immediately get squirrely about bringing up such a sensitive topic and forget all about the whole non answer of astrophysics. The answer implied that Mitchell was now relegated to a desk job because of his injuries.

“And now you’re an astrophysicist?” Eliot asked. Sure, he knew that there was a lot of math and physics involved in flying planes, but the whole thing still didn’t add up, especially to someone who was intimately familiar with the military’s piss poor notion of cover stories.

“Something like that,” Mitchell said with a shrug.

Their server came to the table with their check then and Eliot took it, waving off Mitchell’s protests that he should pay since this was his city. Eliot took out his wallet and, when he pulled out a credit card (that most definitely didn’t have the name Eliot Spencer on it), a small piece of paper ‘accidentally’ fell out onto the table. Just then, Parker and Vala returned and Vala’s eyes went wide when she spotted the piece of paper.

“Cameron,” she said, reaching over to pick it up and read it again.

“Vala, give that back,” Mitchell said.

“Cameron. We need to contact Daniel. And Samantha. Immediately.”

She handed him the paper and his eyes also went wide as he recognized the symbols on the paper, though unlike Vala and Jackson, he couldn’t actually decipher them.

“Spencer, where did you get this?” he asked, his tone shifting from the casual, aw shucks farmboy that Eliot had known for two decades to one far more befitting of a Colonel in the United States Air Force.

Eliot and Parker exchanged a glance. This had been a last ditch effort on their part to try and avoid the whole breaking in thing and Eliot was actually surprised it worked. “Came up in some files of a company we’re doing business with,” he said. “We haven’t been able to translate it yet. Do you recognize the language?”

It was obvious that Mitchell and Vala were having an entire silent conversation in front of them. After a few long moments, Mitchell finally said, ‘What’s it say?”

Vala glanced around the restaurant and leaned in so close that Eliot could barely hear her response. “It’s talking about bringing a wraith to Earth.” At that, Mitchell’s face went stark white.

“Well, fuck,” he said. “Eliot. Parker. I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with us.” He grabbed his phone and flipped it open. “It’s Mitchell. Get me Landry. Tell him I’m bringing two civilians to the base. We’ll need Jackson.” He paused. “And Carter.” A long moment while he listened to the person on the other end. “Yes, in person.” Another pause. “I know. Trust me. We’ll need her.” Another long silence. “I’m not on a secure line, Sergeant. That’s all I can say right now. Yes, we’ll need the NDAs.”

He flipped the phone closed and let out a long sigh. “Spencer, my man, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,” and the tone of his voice and the expression on his face made Eliot Spencer feel something he rarely felt.

Fear.

Chapter Text

Cameron was glad that Eliot didn’t argue about leaving his rental car at the restaurant and riding to the Mountain with him and Vala. He had suspected that Spencer was into something, but the last thing he expected was the man to have a note written in Goa’uld about bringing a Wraith to Earth. He had no idea how the hell it had come into his possession or what kind of consulting work he was doing, but he also knew that asking questions would have to wait until they were in a secure facility with people who had more decision making power than he had.

As he drove, he glanced in Vala’s direction. She was surprisingly quiet and that only served to underscore the seriousness of the situation. Eliot and Parker had their heads together in the back seat and were murmuring to each other so low that he couldn’t make out actual words, but he had the uncanny feeling they weren’t just talking to each other, though he knew that didn’t make sense because this close to the Mountain there was no cell reception.

They got through the multiple checkpoints and he parked in his assigned spot before leading the group into the facility. One of the marines at the entrance told him that he was expected in the conference room on the 28th level. Cam noticed the puzzled expressions on both Parker and Eliot’s faces and knew that he wasn’t the only one with a lot of unanswered questions right now.

When they got to the conference room, Walter was waiting with pitchers of water and two folders with thick stacks of paper in them. “Colonel Mitchell. Ms. Mal Doran. General Landry would like to speak with you in his office. I’ll look after our guests.” Cam knew that part of ‘looking after’ them would include making them sign lengthy non disclosure agreements that they wouldn’t share anything they learned outside of this facility.

He made his way to the General’s office and wasn’t surprised to find a large group of people waiting. Landry, Jackson, & Carter he’d expected. Sheppard and the rest of AR-1, along with Dr. Lam were a surprise though.

“We figured if you were calling Colonel Carter back to Earth, it must be something big,” Landry explained. “So we told her to bring Colonel Sheppard. He insisted on bringing the rest of his team. And since we had no idea what we’re dealing with, we thought a doctor might be needed as well.”

Given some of the things that the SGC had experienced since opening the gate more than a decade ago, Cameron could understand the logic behind that decision. There wasn’t really time for friendly greetings though.

“What’s going on, Cam?” Sam asked. “Daniel said you and Vala were having dinner with an old friend of yours from high school.”

Cameron leaned against the door that he’d closed behind him. With so many people in such a small space, there were no chairs available and the weight of the past hour finally hit him and he needed the extra support. “Honestly, I have no idea. All I know is that Eliot had a piece of paper on him that had some writing in Goa’uld. It’s small, fell out of his wallet, but I recognized the markings even though I couldn’t translate it.”

“I could,” Vala said. “And it said something about bringing a Wraith to Earth. No context, since it was a small piece of presumably a longer document.” She scrunched her forehead. “Which I don’t understand why he had it with him at all.”

Daniel spoke up then. “Probably just to see if you two had a reaction to it. We did a little digging on your friend, Cameron. He works for some organization called Leverage, Inc. Their web presence is… minimal and presumably heavily sanitized. As far as we’ve able to discern, they help people who are being harmed by large corporations.” It was clear there was a lot unsaid with those words and Cameron had no idea what that might be or how it resulted in his friend having a document written in Goa’uld.

There was a long moment of silence in the room. “We need to find out more about how this document came into your friend’s possession,” Landry said. “And obtain the rest of it. And anything else he might have that will tell us what’s going on. As you can imagine, the idea of anyone trying to bring a Wraith to Earth is troubling. I’ve already called in General O’Neill. He’s waiting for the Daedelus to be back in orbit to beam him here. Should be within a few hours.” Which was still faster than getting on a plane.

“So let’s go ask them,” Vala said.

Everyone exchanged glances.

“Well, it’s the direct option,” Carter said. “It couldn’t hurt to try. If they’re in business to help people…”

Landry nodded. “It’s worth a try,” he agreed. “Carter, you, Sheppard, and Jackson go with Mitchell and Vala. The rest of you don’t go far in case you’re needed.”

*

After signing the documents that the bespectacled sergeant went over with them, Eliot and Parker were left alone in the conference room.

“Eliot, my earbud…”

“Shh, Parker. There are cameras in the room.”

She looked around, trying to spot them, and frowned when she couldn’t.

“What is this place?” she asked. “I didn’t know you could go this far underground. What were all those papers? What is this all about?”

Eliot sighed. “Parker, you know as much as I do. I’m sure we’re about to find out more.” He couldn’t even begin to imagine what they were about to learn, though he did know that Hardison, Sophie, and Nate would be on a flight to Colorado within the next couple hours if they weren’t already. At least the earbuds had worked until they were almost at the base and they were able to let their team know that they had stumbled into something way bigger than they could have imagined.

They sat in silence until the door opened and a handful of people streamed into the room, one of them shocking Eliot more than anything else tonight. “Sheppard? What the hell are you doing here?”

The other man looked equally surprised, as did the rest of the people who had just come into the room, including Mitchell. “You two know each other?” Cam said, looking between them.
“Afghanistan,” Sheppard replied. That seemed to be a satisfactory response to most of the people in the room. “Spencer, where’d you get that paper? And do you have the rest of it?”

Eliot looked at Parker who gave a slight nod to indicate it was his call about how much to tell these people. “We’re looking into a company for a client,” he said. “Our computer expert found some files in this language and was puzzled that there was no known translation for it. Some of the other files mentioned this place.” It was a vague answer, but one that should slot the rest of the puzzle into place.

“So it wasn’t an accident that Cam and Vala saw that paper at dinner,” the man wearing glasses said.

“Of course not,” Parker said. “We don’t make mistakes.”

“Yes, Daniel, you were correct,” Vala said, running her hand up and down the man’s arm. He pulled it away, though to Eliot’s eye, it seemed a bit reluctant, as if he was trying to keep up a professional front and not because he didn’t like her touch.

By now, everyone had taken seats around the table and the blonde woman cleared her throat. “Okay, first things first. I’m Colonel Samantha Carter. You obviously know Colonel Sheppard, Colonel Mitchell, and Vala. This is Dr. Daniel Jackson. He’s a linguistics expert who works with the Air Force.”

Parker looked at Vala. “How come you don’t have a title?”

“Because I’m far too fabulous to need one, darling.”

Eliot smirked at both her response and the expressions on the faces of the rest of the room. Carter seemed amused and the men all seemed slightly exasperated. He was starting to understand why Parker and Vala had hit it off at dinner. She clearly wasn’t Air Force and he couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of skills she had that the Air Force would need.

“Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Eliot asked. “We signed your NDAs.”

Carter nodded. “I’m getting to that. The reason your ‘computer expert’,” Eliot could hear the air quotes around the words and knew she knew he meant hacker, “couldn’t find a translation online is because this language hasn’t been spoken on Earth in a millenia.” She left that hang and waited to see if they would connect the dots.

Parker was the one who spoke up. “Does that mean it’s been spoken not on Earth? Like on other planets?”

Eliot scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Parker.” At that, everyone chuckled and it was clear their reaction startled the man.

“It’s not ridiculous, Mr. Spencer,” Carter continued. “She’s right. A few levels below us is an ancient device that was found in Egypt in the 1920s. It creates an artificial wormhole between two points in space and allows for travel between them. We’re all part of an organization called Stargate Command and we use these wormholes to explore the Milky Way galaxy.” She paused, glancing at Sheppard. “And other galaxies.”

If he didn’t know better, Eliot would think this was some elaborate prank that Hardison was pulling on him. That he’d somehow roped in an old buddy of Eliot’s to participate and they weren’t really in a secret military base underground. But he knew John Sheppard and he knew damn well that the man would never participate in such a thing. Plus it was clear that whatever was on that slip of paper he’d dropped at dinner had troubled Sheppard and that more than anything else actually scared Eliot after the things the two of them had done together.

“Oh my god, Hardison is going to lose his mind,” Parker said with a gleeful tone that did not suit the occasion at all. “It’s like some crazy Doctor Who episode.”

“We can’t tell him, Parker,” Eliot reminded her. “The documents we signed.”

At that, Jackson cleared his throat. “Actually, we have NDAs prepared for the rest of your team. We have a military envoy meeting them at the airport and bringing them here to join you. We need to know everything about this company you’re investigating. How they got on your radar. Copies of everything you found.” He glanced at Carter and she gave him a slight nod. “The translation of the bit that Vala saw indicates that the organization is planning to bring a very dangerous creature to Earth. We need to figure out who they are, how they even know about these creatures, and what their plan is to bring it here.”

Eliot’s head was spinning. Aliens were real. Two old friends traveled to other planets on a regular basis. And somehow his team had stumbled into some intergalactic plan to bring something dangerous to Earth. “Damn it, Hardison,” he swore under his breath.

*

Cameron still hadn’t exactly figured out what it was that Leverage Inc did and meeting the rest of the team did nothing to clear up his confusion. It was obvious the young man, Hardison, was a hacker. Knowing that Spencer’s Army career had somehow crossed paths with Sheppard’s implied some Black Ops experience, which meant the idea that they were doing some kind of underground investigative work would make sense. And given that Parker had hit it off with Vala so easily, he could easily believe she was into something less than savory. But to Mitchell’s eye, Nathan Ford and Sophie Devereaux didn’t fit in with that trio at all.

After the three signed their NDAs and were given a brief explanation of the current situation, Hardison looked like a fat kid in a candy store. Nate and Sophie, on the other hand, barely showed any surprise at the knowledge that aliens were real and they were in a secret underground military base that had the ability to travel to an entire different galaxy. It was uncanny, really, how calm and collected the two were, especially in a room that contained all of SG1, minus Teal'c, AR1, and an Air Force General. Lam, at least, had been dismissed back to the infirmary once it was obvious she wasn’t needed for this particular situation.

“What can we do to assist?” Ford asked at the end of Landry’s explanation.

All of the SG personnel in the room exchanged surprised glances at the question. “Other than turning over all of the data you obtained from Nylund Industries?” Carter asked. “Nothing. This is a volatile, dangerous situation and we can’t put civilians in harm's way.”

It was clear the Leverage crew didn’t appreciate that answer. “What about our client?” Sophie asked. “Her family has lost everything and we would like to help her recoup some of that loss.” How they intended to do that was still beyond Cameron’s comprehension, but it was clear that they were all troubled at the thought of failing their client.

“I already have digital surveillance in place,” Hardison added. “We were going to send Sophie and Parker in undercover to gather more intel. Why can’t we still do that?”

Sheppard spoke up at that point, setting the small cube in his hand on the table. “Spencer, trust me. You don’t want your people mixed up in any of this. I know what you’re capable of and believe me when I say, this is beyond even your skills.” Whatever Sheppard and Spencer did in Afghanistan clearly created a bond of trust between them because all Eliot did was give a half nod.

“We’ll give you what we have and stay out the way,” Spencer said. It looked like Ford wanted to object to him making that decision since he was clearly the leader of this group, but he obviously respected Eliot’s opinion.

Before anyone could say anything else, Hardison picked up the small cube that Sheppard had put down and the room was instantly filled with a bright blue light. The young man looked frightened and set the cube back down as he stammered out an apology.

“Sheppard, did you really bring some kind of Ancient toy with you?” McKay grumbled.

“It’s harmless, McKay, relax.”

“As far as we know. We haven’t finished all the testing. Besides, isn’t it a breach of protocol?” He looked to Carter and Landry for backup.

Sam sighed. “Technically, yes, it’s a breach, but since we just learned something potentially useful, I think we can let it slide, what do you say, General?”

Landry looked like he would rather be anywhere else on Earth than in this room at this moment. “Make sure it goes back with you,” he said. “I need to make some phone calls. I trust you can handle this.” Even with three Lieutenant Colonels in the room, it was clear he was leaving Carter in charge and Mitchell wasn’t about to argue that.

*

As soon as the General left the room, everyone relaxed a bit. Eliot wasn’t surprised that he’d left the highest ranking military officer who didn’t have a history with him as the one in charge of whatever they were going to do. He just wished he understood what the hell had happened with that thing Hardison picked up.

“I’m sorry,” Hardison said again, directing the apology at Sheppard as he nudged the cube towards the other man. “I hope I didn’t break your… thing.”

There was a long silence before Daniel Jackson finally spoke. “We mentioned earlier that the stargates were built by an ancient race that we call, well, the Ancients.” Eliot elbowed Parker when she snickered, cutting her off from making any comments. “They created a lot of technology and some of it was designed to only work when someone who shared their genetics used it.” He paused, allowing them to draw the reasonable conclusion.

“OH my god, Hardison’s an alien!” Parker exclaimed.

“Parker!” Nate, Sophie, and Eliot all said in matching exasperated tones. Eliot noticed that Mitchell, Sheppard, and Carter exchanged amused glances at that.

“No, he’s not an alien,” Daniel continued. “But it seems that his family tree can be traced back to one of the Ancients who came to Earth, allowing him to initialize and operate their technology.”

McKay looked up from his tablet. “And it’s apparently a rather strong manifestation of the gene,” he said, his tone a bit dejected. “Not as strong as Sheppard or O’Neill, but probably at least as strong as Beckett’s was.” Eliot had no idea who Beckett was.

“What does that mean?” Nate asked. “In practical terms?”

Carter looked at McKay and Sheppard before answering. “In practical terms, it means that the gene coupled with Hardison’s technical skills could unlock some databases that we’ve been unable to access thus far. And if we can, it may give us access to some powerful weapons to fight our enemies.” At the mention of fighting their enemies, the young man who’d been introduced as Ronon perked up. Eliot hadn’t even been sure if he was paying attention to the conversation.

McKay frowned. “But that means we’d have to…” he trailed off, but whatever he left unspoken was understood among the rest of the SGC personnel.

“I need to talk to Landry,” Carter said. “Mr. Ford, we may be able to use your team’s assistance after all.” Eliot was surprised that the rest of them would be included in whatever she was discussing since it was only Hardison who had this magical gene, but he was guessing it was in large part to keep them from protesting or going off on their own to investigate further.

*

While Carter was off talking to the General, Cameron decided to step out and ask Walter to arrange for some refreshments to be delivered to the conference room and also suggested that he get some guest quarters assigned for the Leverage team. At the rate they were going, the others wouldn’t be leaving Cheyenne Mountain any time soon and, in fact, might be heading through the gate to Atlantis. It would be an immense breach of security to let them leave the Mountain at this point and since Landry was dealing with larger issues, Cam figured he’d step up and handle some of the logistics. Two years ago he wouldn’t have dreamed of doing such a thing, but he and Landry had a mutual trust and respect and Cameron was pretty sure that he was being groomed to eventually take over base command when either O’Neill retired and Landry moved to Homeworld or when Landry himself retired.

He was a little surprised to find Sheppard lingering outside the conference room when he returned. “So, you and Spencer go back, huh?” he asked. “Small world.”

“Yeah, we played football in high school. Ran into each other through the years. Wouldn’t call the guy a good friend, but I didn’t hesitate to say yes to meeting up when he said he was coming to the area,” Cam said. There was something slightly squirrely about the way Sheppard asked the question, as if he were looking for some kind of specific answer or tell, though Cam couldn’t begin to guess what that might be, especially when Sheppard’s shoulders sagged a bit and he seemed to relax at the answer.

John changed the subject immediately. “You think Landry is going to approve them coming to Atlantis?” The other man was always enigmatic and Cameron had long ago given up on trying to understand him. They were colleagues and he would count him among his friends, but there was a lot about Sheppard that was kept close to the vest.

Cam shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. He trusts Carter’s judgment a lot and if she thinks it’s important, he also knows that she can get O’Neill’s buy in, so I’m guessing he’ll go with her recommendation.” They both knew that O’Neill was wrapped around Carter’s finger and that he would override any order Landry gave if she pushed it enough.

Before Sheppard could reply, they heard footsteps and saw Carter turn the corner at the end of the corridor. “Guess we’re about to find out,” Cam said, opening the door and letting the other two lieutenant colonels enter before he did.

The rest of the room went quiet when they re-entered. Cameron wasn’t sure what kind of conversation this motley group would have had, but the atmosphere in the room was pleasant enough, so he figured it didn’t matter that much.

“Just out of curiosity,” Sam said, leaning over to pick up the cube where Sheppard had left it, “can the rest of you hold this so we can see if you have the gene?” She handed it to Sophie first. When nothing happened, she passed it to Nate, who passed it to Spencer, and he finally handed it to Parker before it lit up again, though much dimmer than it had for Hardison. “Fascinating,” Carter muttered.

It did strike Cameron as odd that two of the five members of the Leverage team would also have the ATA gene given how uncommon it was in the general population. Almost like they were meant to discover this Goa’uld plan and help thwart some kind of Wraith invasion on Earth.

“General Landry has approved for Mr. Ford, Ms. Devereaux, Mr. Hardison, Mr. Spencer, and Ms. Parker to accompany myself and AR-1 back to Atlantis,” Carter said. “Cam, he’d also like SG-1 to join us to provide more intel on the Goa’uld.”

Cam immediately looked to Daniel and he was the one who now looked like a fat kid in a candy store. Apart from a few brief excursions, he hadn’t spent any significant time on Atlantis despite being the SGC’s foremost expert on the Ancients and this was a long awaited opportunity.

“I will warn you,” Carter continued, her words directed to their guests, “this may be a lengthy trip. If you need to make arrangements for care of loved ones or anything, I suggest you do so for at least a month. This threat is serious and we need as much support as we can get to ensure the Wraith never reach Earth.”

The Leverage crew exchanged some surprised glances, but none of them protested the notion of leaving their lives on Earth behind for a lengthy period of time.

“When should we be prepared to depart, Colonel?” Mr. Ford asked.

“We’re going to leave at 0600 the day after tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll brief you on what to expect. We’ve got people retrieving your rental car and suitcases and we’ll provide you accommodations until departure. SG-1, you also need to make whatever arrangements for this excursion. John, Rodney, if there’s anyone you need to connect with while you’re planetside, you’ll have a few free hours tomorrow. We’ll also be putting together a supply order to take with us through the gate.”

Even with the implicit threat to Earth that necessitated this trip, Cameron couldn’t deny he was excited about heading to Atlantis for an important mission. This was the excitement he’d been missing.