Interior-Kitchen

0410

The comm on the wall chirped as Carter sat at the kitchen table, slowly adding sugar to her coffee. She ignored it, as she'd been doing for the last five minutes.

A moment later, she heard the elevator doors open, then Cisco stepped into the kitchen.

"Are you alright colonel?" He asked, looking around the room. He saw the telemetry bracelet sitting on the table and nodded, then reached up and tapped the comm on his ear.

"This is Cisco, all units stand down." He said quietly. "I'm with the colonel, and she's fine. There must be a problem with the system. We'll get someone to check it in the morning. Notify the senior staff that we have an all clear."

He listened for a moment, then took his comm off and put it in his pocket.

"Thank you Cisco." Carter said as she picked up her coffee cup and took a sip.

"I'll let you get back to what you were doing..." He said as he turned toward the door.

"Stay with me...please?" She said, glancing up at him.

"Of course." He said, then walked over and got a cup off a peg and poured a cup of coffee. He looked over at the table, then walked over and topped off her cup.

"I just got that the way I wanted it." She said, watching him as he came over and sat down in Tammy's place

"Well, now you'll have something to do with your hands." He said as he scooped sugar into his cup, then added cream. He looked over at her as he said, "Do you mind if I ask why you disabled the monitoring system?"

"I didn't disable it." She smiled, looking down at the table. "I just turned off the PC it runs on."

"Effectively disabling it." He smiled. "No one really noticed that until you took off your bracelet. Did you know that alarms go off in OPs, the infirmary, the medbay downstairs, and both Dr. Samuels and Dr. Keller's quarters when those things stop sending information?"

"I knew something happened, I just didn't know what." She said as she dipped her spoon into the sugar bowl, then sprinkled sugar into her coffee.

"When those alarms go off, the infirmary is put on alert, the senior staff is notified, and half the marines in the city surround this building in full combat rig. Twenty jumpers take to the air around this building, the first ones are onsite in less than thirty seconds, and any warships in orbit go on red alert."

"Wow, all that just cuz I couldn't sleep." She looked over at him as she went on. "If there was that much of a fuss, why are you the only one here Cisco?"

"Actually, there are twenty people downstairs clamoring to come up here, but Dr. Samuels thought it would be better if I came up alone. She reviewed the video from last night, and she asked me to come up and check on you." He said as he took a sip of his coffee. "She thought you might have done something like this without realizing what would happen."

"I'm glad she sent you Cisco." She said, laying her hand over his. "I couldn't have faced Ronin."

They sat quietly for a few minutes before Sam spoke again

"Why do you do this Cisco?" She asked. "Put up with two temperamental women, and all the headaches we cause you?"

"That's easy." He said with a chuckle. "I love you."

"Oh god." She groaned, dropping her head into her hands. "I knew this was going to..."

"Get over yourself Samantha." He laughed as he got up and refilled his coffee cup. He went on as he sat down again. "I love Tammy just as much, but there's one thing I love more than both of you."

"What's that?" She asked.

"This city you've given us." He said as he got up, picking up his cup and walking over to the windows.

"There's more than fifty thousand people out there, people that a couple of months ago, were fighting for their lives, trying to figure out how they were going to survive." He said as he looked out over the city. "This city is a beacon of hope for this galaxy, and I'm allowed to be part of, to help shape that galaxy as we try to make it better."

"I didn't know you were such a romantic." Sam said softly as she came over to stand beside him. She put her arm around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder as they looked out over the city.

"It's my parents fault." He laughed. "My dad brings my Mom flowers everyday, he picks them himself in the spring and summer. She puts little love notes in his lunch, or in his wallet. He keeps them in a box under his bed. They have a true fairy tale romance."

"She's going to be okay." He said after a moment. "She understands why you were angry, and she's forgiven you for how you showed it."

"I know." She whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

(-)

"Cisco left fifteen minutes ago." Tammy said as Sam slipped into bed. "What took you so long to come back?"

"I was just thinking." Sam said as she rolled over facing her.

"They all feel the way he does you know." Tammy said softly. "Not just the people we see everyday, but all of them, all of our people."

"I know." Sam said, rolling over onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. "I just wish there was some way we could show them how we feel about them."

"There is." Tammy said, reaching out and taking her hand. "We keep doing what we're doing, and we tell them how much they mean too us."

(-)

Interior-Kitchen

0705

"Tammy, Sam...wake up!" Geraan said as he got up on the bed and started shaking Tammy. "Wake up! We want you to eat breakfast with us."

Sam opened her eyes, smiling when she saw Phinnar standing beside the bed. She held her hand out to him, and he smiled as he scrambled up onto the bed.

"How is the finest pilot in the galaxy this morning?" She asked as she hugged him to her. "Did you sleep well?"

He nodded, then rolled over so he was facing her.

"Master Bra'tac snores, and Gen. O'Neill farts in his sleep." He said. "I like sleeping here better."

"Do I fart in my sleep?" She asked, trying not to laugh.

"No, you and Tammy look like angels when you sleep." He said, laying his head on her shoulder.

"Geraan, Phinnar...come out of there this instant." Bra'tac said from the door. "Your breakfast is on the table, and is getting cold."

"I'll bring Phinnar out with me if that's okay." Sam said, looking over her shoulder and smiling as she watched Geraan scramble off the bed. "I just want to hug him a little longer."

"Is that okay with you Phinnar?" She asked, looking down at him.

He nodded, then rolled over so his back was to her. He pulled her arm around him, smiling as he closed his eyes.

"Why do you get the quiet, calm one, and I get the loud, obnoxious one?" Tammy laughed as she walked around the bed heading for the bathroom.

"What happened to your butt Tammy?" Phinnar asked, sitting up in the bed. "It's all red!"

Tammy looked over her shoulder, smiling when she saw how red her asscheeks were. She turned and looked at Phinnar as she said, "I was bad, so the queen spanked me."

"No she didn't, she loves you!" He said.

"Yes, she does Phinnar." She said gently. "But sometimes, you need to show the people you love how much you love them by spanking them. That's what the queen did for me."

"You've never spanked me." He said, looking back at Sam. "Don't you love me?"

"Of course we love you, my little man." Sam laughed, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him to her. "We don't spank you because you haven't given us a reason to."

"Do you want to get in the shower with me Phinnar?" Tammy asked as she pulled an outfit from her closet.

"No." He said shaking his head. He looked down at Sam as he said, "I want to go eat breakfast. Is that okay?"

"That's fine." Sam smiled, watching him slide off the bed and run toward the door. "Tell Master Bra'tac we'll be with him in a few minutes."

"Do you want to get in the shower with me?" Tammy asked as she watched her move over to the side of the bed and stand up.

"Is it okay if I say no?" Sam asked, walking toward her slowly. "I'm kind of hungry too..."

"That's fine, I'm just going to rinse off anyway." Tammy said. She put her arms around her and pulled her closer. "But you have to kiss me before you go."

"I was going to do that anyway." Sam smiled as she pressed her lips to Tammy's. She smiled as Tammy kissed her hungrily.

"Huh uh...you are not getting me back into bed or in the shower with you." She laughed as she eased away, taking a step back. "I really want to get something to eat Tammy."

"Okay, I see how you are." Tammy said as she turned and walked into the bathroom. "First you physically abuse me, then you don't make love to me before we go to sleep, and now you don't want me..."

"So we're good?" Sam laughed as she looked at the bathroom door.

"We're good." Tammy laughed. "Now go stuff your face and order me whatever you get."

(-)

Interior-Kitchen

0730

Sam stopped at the comm unit as she walked into the kitchen and hit the button for the guard station.

"Would you ask Cisco and Ronin to come to the residence when they get a chance?" She said when they answered. "We'll be in the kitchen. Tell them to just come on up."

"What happened to Master Bra'tac and the boys Andi?" She asked, glancing over at her.

"Bra'tac was upset that they woke you up, ignoring his instructions not to." Andi smiled. "He took them back over to his quarters to eat their breakfast."

Carter laughed, shaking her head as she hit the RS button on the comm.

"Your order please?" A woman's voice answered immediately.

"I'd like biscuits and gravy with extra gravy on the side, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, hashbrowns...and throw in some fruit, it doesn't matter what kind."

"Is this order for one of the queens?" The woman asked.

"The order is for both of us, but does that really matter?" Sam laughed.

"Yes maam, it does. Lady Tammy or Dr. Samuels usually order, and they have specific requirements for your meals. We'll have everything ready in ten minutes."

"Thank you." She said, then closed the connection.

"Andi, what did that woman mean when she said that you had specific requirements for our meals?" She asked as she went over to the cabinet and got two glasses, then filled hers with ice and grabbed two cokes from the fridge. She sat them on the table, then filled the other glass from the tap and sat it in front of Tammy's seat.

"She meant that you both like your food cooked differently." Samuels smiled. "You like your eggs firm, with alot of cheese, Tammy likes hers runny with just a sprinkle of cheese on them. You like your hashbrowns underdone with cheese and onions mixed in, while Tammy likes hers crisp, almost burned on both sides. With ketchup, she hates it when they forget the ketchup."

"We have ketchup in the refrigerator...don't we?" Sam asked as she sat down.

"Yes Sam, the refrigerator is completely stocked with condiments, sliced meats for sandwiches, things like that, but Tammy prefers her ketchup at room temperature, so she doesn't get hot and cold in the same bite."

"I like hot and cold in the same bite." Sam laughed as she poured coke into her glass.

"We know Sam. That's why the kitchen has a thirty page book outlining exactly how each of you likes things prepared and served."

"You're kidding me, right?" Sam asked, staring at Samuels. "You can't be seri..."

"Oh god, did you have to tell her about the book Andi?" Tammy laughed as she came into the kitchen. She turned and grinned at Sam as she said, "You're a fucking queen for god's sake, so you get special treatment. Deal with it."

"You shut up. You did this because you didn't want to cook for me any more."

"I didn't do it, she did." Tammy laughed, pointing at Samuels. "And the only reason she did it is she doesn't like washing dishes. I like cooking for you. I just bitch about it when people are around because I like to watch how you react."

"So what do you ladies have planned for today?" Samuels asked, changing the subject. "I have a list of..."

"We're going out into the city." Tammy said, then took a sip of water. "We want to see what our people are doing. We want to talk to them..."

"You're going to need to give us a list of places you want to see, then give us a couple of hours to..." Cisco began as he stepped into the kitchen.

"No, we'll take our security detail with us." Sam said, turning to look at him. "We'll have our shields on."

"You can come with us if you want." Tammy said. She pointed at a sheaf of papers in his hand and asked, "What do you have there Cisco? Is that for us?"

"It's the report for the drill this morning." He said as he sat it down in front of Sam.

"Is that what we're calling it?" Sam asked, looking up at him.

"Yes Sam." Samuels said. "Officially, you notified Cisco and I at 0350 that you wanted to run a drill on our emergency response systems."

"Okay, so how did they do?" Tammy asked.

"The results are listed by department." Cisco said. "The failures are listed on the last two pages."

Tammy pulled the report over in front of her and flipped to the end.

"The video system was offline for eighteen minutes before anyone noticed." She read. "And the only reason they noticed is because the alarm for Sam's bracelet went off."

"The first jumper wasn't in the air for more than four minutes, when it's supposed to be onsite in thirty seconds or less, the infirmary didn't..."

She looked up at Cisco, glaring at him.

"Please tell me I'm reading this wrong Cisco..." She said as she read from the report. "The infirmary had none of Col. Carter's blood type on hand at the time the alarm sounded. It took more than eight minutes to transfer two pints from the medbay in the residence, and another sixteen minutes to transfer an additional six pints from the active med center on the east pier."

"No, you're reading that correctly." He said, meeting her gaze.

"We have the same blood type, Cisco." She told him, shaking her head as she kept reading. "If both of us were injured and needed blood, one of us would be dead right now."

Ronin stepped into the room and backed up against the cabinets.

"Your food is here." He said as a woman pushed a cart into the room and started putting plates on the table. She was finished in seconds, and backed the cart out quickly.

"What do you think of all this Ronin?" Sam asked, turning to look at him.

"We have some things we need to fix." He said, stepping over and taking a piece of bacon from her plate.

"Would you like some eggs, maybe a biscuit?" She asked, turning back to her plate.

"No, this is fine." He said as he picked up a strawberry. He turned it in his hand, then looked over at Cisco as he held it up. "What is this?"

"It's a strawberry, you'll like it." Cisco said, then turned back to Sam.

"This is the first time we've had a full scale alert of any kind since you took power." He said. "We're not making excuses, everything that went wrong is listed in the report, and we're going to get them corrected."

"As far as the blood supply, if either of you is injured, you'll be taken immediately to the medbay in this building, where there was blood on hand if it was needed. If the situation called for it, you would be transferred to the infirmary, or more likely, the med center on the east pier, since its better equipped, and a blood supply would be transferred as needed to one of those locations while you were enroute."

Carter got up and stepped over in front of Cisco.

"Thank you for checking on me this morning." She said, then kissed him on the cheek.

She looked over at Tammy as she walked toward the door.

"I'm done eating." She said. "I'm going to go get our shields and my tablet. I might want to take some pictures."

"That's a good idea, get mine too." Tammy said as she got to her feet.

She waited until Sam was out of sight, then turned toward Cisco and Ronin.

"You fucked up, and everyone involved in what happened last night fucked up." She said as she looked back and forth between them. "Get with the senior staff and review your report. I want a drill at least once a week until you get this right. I want that failures page to be blank. Do you understand me?"

"Yes maam." Cisco said.

Ronin nodded as he sat down and pulled the plate of fruit over and picked up another strawberry.

"We're leaving if you're coming with us. We'll wear our shields and have comms if you don't, so it's not a problem."

"We need to get started on this, so make sure you turn your shields on before you leave the building." Cisco said.

"Call their team leads and have them check the shields." Ronin said after Tammy left the room, then pulled her plate over in front of him.

(-)

Interior-North Pier

0830

The first stop they made was to one of Daniel's schools. Sam had called him and asked if they could drop by, and he told them to feel free.

"Hi, do you mind if we interrupt for a few minutes?" Sam asked the teacher as she stepped into a classroom.

"No, of course." The woman said quickly. "We'd be honored my queens."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." Sam said as she held out her hand.

"Lor...Lorrel." The woman sputtered as she stared at Sam's hand, then took it in both of hers, shaking it vigorously.

"Can you tell me about your class, and what lesson were you covering Lorrel?" Sam asked.

"These children are all five, six and seven year olds. And we're studying English...I'm sorry, but I don't know how to address you..."

"You can call me colonel, and this is Tammy."

"Boy, do I feel sorry for you." Tammy said as she stepped to the front of the classroom. "English is one of the hardest languages to learn on my homeworld. But if you learn it well, it makes it easier to learn other languages."

She looked around the room, and the children just stared back at her.

"You do know who me and my friend are don't you?" She asked.

"You're the queens!" They shouted as a group.

"That's right. And do you know what the queen's job is?"

"You run the city."

"You kill the Wraith."

"You help people."

"Good answers." Tammy laughed as she walked over and sat on the desk. "And the best part is, they're all right."

"Does anyone know what I did before I became a queen?" She asked, looking around the room. She smiled when they all shook their heads. "I was a nurse. Does anyone know what a nurse does?"

"A nurse helps people get better when they're sick." She said, not waiting for them to answer. "I loved being a nurse, because I like helping people."

"Why did you become a queen if you like helping people so much." A girl in the back asked.

"Good question." Tammy laughed. "There are two parts to the answer. My friend Sam was queen first, and she asked me if I would help her, because its a really hard job. The other reason I became a queen is, now I can help lots of people, and not just one at a time."

She reached over and grabbed Sam by her vest and pulled her over in front of her.

"This is my sister queen Sam." She said, smiling at the kids. "Her full title is Col. Samantha Carter, Queen of Atlantis. She's the reason we can all live like we do in Atlantis."

"But do you want to know something?" Tammy asked, leaning out around her.

"What?" The children shouted.

"She didn't want to be a queen. She just wanted to be a regular person like the rest of us." Tammy told them. "Because she had just fought a war with some really bad people who were abusing the people that lived in the city."

"Like the Wraith?" A boy in the front row asked.

"Worse than the Wraith, these were really mean people from Earth called the IOA, and they did terrible things to the people that lived in Atlantis."

She slid off the desk and stood next to Sam.

"There were only a thousand of us then, that's probably fewer people than the worlds you grew up on." She went on, dropping to her knees. "But after she led us in our fight to defeat the evil IOA, we got down on our knees and begged her to be our queen."
"But do you know what she did?" Tammy asked, getting to her feet and looking around the room. "She said no."

The children gasped as they stared at Sam, but Tammy continued her story.

"That's right, she said no." She told them. "She wasn't trying to be mean or anything. If you want the truth, she didn't think she was worthy of the job. Was she wrong or what?"

"Yes!" The kids shouted as a group.

"That's right, she's a great queen." Tammy said, putting her arms around her. "She loves us all so much, and there's nothing in the galaxy more important to her than keeping us all safe."

"But we finally talked her into it, but she said that we had to vote." Tammy went on. "She won of course, that's why she's our queen today. You can go see the ballots over in the central tower. We preserved them so your children's children's children can see who made the world they're going to live in. Wasn't that a kewl thing to do?"

The kids all nodded as they cheered.

"I think we've taken up enough of your time Lorrel." Sam said, backing toward the door.

"We might drop in again kids, so you pay attention to Miss Lorrel." Tammy said as she picked up her tablet from a desk near the front of the room. "I'll be asking questions, so you better be ready."

"Bye boys and girls, it's been fun." Sam said as she pushed Tammy out of the room.

(-)

Interior-East Pier

0900

"God, I can't believe you did that." Sam laughed as they stepped out of the porter.

"What?" Tammy laughed. "All I did was tell those kids how we became queens. I may have polished it up a little, but that's how I remember it."

"I thought it sounded pretty close to what happened." One of their guards said as he stepped closer, looking around as they walked out onto the street.

"Where are we?" Sam asked, glaring at him.

"East Pier maam. This is a production area." He said, looking around and waving the rest of the team closer. "We're going to need you to stay in the bubble..."

He stopped in mid-sentence as Sam turned into an open doorway, pulling Tammy along behind her.

"Wow, it's loud in here." Tammy said, leaning close and almost shouting in her ear.

Sam grabbed a pair of head gear and pulled them on, then handed Tammy a set. She pulled them on, then held her thumb up as she yelled, "That's better."

Just ahead of them, a man with a clipboard was walking toward them.

"You're going to have to leave." He shouted, pointing at the door. "This area is for authorized personnel only."

"I can go anywhere I want pal." Tammy laughed. "I own this joint."

"Be nice." Sam laughed as they kept walking

She looked back over her shoulder and saw the man talking to one of their guards. A few moments later, they heard a long whistle blast, followed by two more.

People started stepping away from machines, taking off their headsets as they did.

Sam and Tammy pulled their headsets off and walked over to a group of workers.

"Who are you two?" One of them asked, stepping away from the group. "You managers or something? Dolf, the foreman, said we were getting a new manager this week."

"Shut up Torin." Another man said as he moved forward. "Don't you recognize them? These are the queens."

Taking a step forward, he dropped to one knee, bowing his head.

"No." Sam said as she reached down, pulling him to his feet. She looked around, then stepped into the middle of the crowd.

"You people are citizens of Atlantis, and you kneel to no one, not to me or my sister queen." She said, her voice rising as she spoke. "We asked you here so we could offer you a better life, and..."

"No one asked me if I wanted to come here." A man said, stepping out of the crowd. "They just loaded everyone in my village into ships and brought us here."

"Do you want to leave?" Tammy asked as she stepped over in front of him. "If you want to leave, we can go get your family and take you over to the gate and send you to any planet you want. If you want to go back to your homeworld, we'll give you supplies and weapons so you can defend yourselves."

"Give it a rest Duris, you know we were going to die if we didn't go with them." Another man said, pushing the man that had spoken.

"If you touch him again, I'm going to knock your ass out." Tammy said as she stepped between them.

"Keep talking." She said as she turned back to the man that had spoken up. "What did he say your name was, Duris?"

"Yes my queen." He said, bowing toward her.

"So were you taken against your will Duris?" She asked. "Tell me what happened."

"The Wraith had come, and they took more than half of my village." He said, looking at her steadily. "Then the fire from the sky came, and in minutes, my village was in ruins."

"There was nothing left." The man who had pushed him said as he looked around at the crowd. "They destroyed our homes, our crops..."

"The next day, your ships came." Duris said, picking up the narrative again. "They offered food, and treated the sick and wounded, then the men with guns said we had to get on the ships..."

"Were you forced to get on the ships? Or did you go because..."

"Everyone I knew was getting on them." Duris told her. "My wife and son had been taken by the Wraith..."

"Did anyone else in your family survive?" Tammy asked him.

"Yes, my youngest son and my daughter. They both go to one of your schools." He said.

"Do you like it here? I mean, if you had a choice now, right this minute." She said, looking him in the eye. "Would you stay, or would you leave?"

"I want to leave...but I can't leave my children." He said looking away from her. "They like it here, and can have a better life here than anything I can offer them, so I won't make them leave."

"I'm sorry Duris, but I can't help you." Tammy said as she took his hands in hers. "I can promise that your children will have opportunities that you never dreamed of, and the galaxy they live in will be a safer place than the one you grew up in."

She turned, looking out over the crowd.

"The threat from the Wraith is nearing its end." She said as she looked out over the crowd, which had grown to several hundred people. "Our people killed all their queens, and eight out of ten of their soldiers. There are idle hives and cruisers circling planets all across the galaxy, and we are capturing or destroying them every day."

"Your children will be safe when they decide to go back into the galaxy. I swear it to you on my soul." She shouted, tears running down her cheeks.

The crowd roared its approval as they swarmed over her. They lifted her onto their shoulders, carrying her through the building.

Their guards surrounded Sam, moving her toward the door, but she managed to stop them, telling them to follow Tammy instead.

They trailed along behind the crowd until they came to a wide raised ledge at the back of the building. They raised Tammy up on it, and when she spotted Sam and their guards, she started motioning for the people to make a path for them.

In less than a minute, Sam was standing beside Tammy looking out over the crowd.

"We want to hear your stories, and what you think of the life we're offering you here in Atlantis." Sam said, shouting to make herself heard. "We can't promise that you'll be happy, but we can promise that you'll be safe, well fed, and doing something that's worth doing."

Several hours passed as people told their stories, or related how they were doing in Atlantis. Their guards finally had to push through the crowd and take them out of the building, and back to the residence.

(-)

Interior-Conference Room, North Pier

1200 Hours

"Have you two lost your minds? Again?" Sheppard asked as they walked in the conference room. He went on when he saw Ronin and Cisco walk in behind them. "And you two. Where were you and your goons while they were out traipsing around all over the city?"

"They could have been killed." He said, standing toe to toe with Cisco. "And it would have been your fault."

"Leave him alone Sheppard." Ronin said as he came over and stood next to him. "The queens were fine. They had their shields on, and six of our guys were with them."

"They were in a production facility surrounded by a couple of hundred workers..."

"Who picked Tammy up and carried her around the building." Cisco said, holding up a tablet.

"You all need to watch this." He said as he started the video so it played on the big monitor at the end of the room.

He let the video play from near the end of Tammy's conversation with Duris, and into her speech about destroying the Wraith.

"This is why we asked them to be our queens, and if we don't let them be who they are, we might as well pack it in and close up shop." He said when the video ended.

"What she said to those people is going to get around, not because it was a good speech, but because she meant it, it was straight from her heart..."

"You still put them at risk." Caldwell said, leaning back in his chair.

"We were never at risk Stephen." Tammy said as she got up and walked around the table, stopping behind Cisco.

She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the cheek and whispered, "I love you too Cisco."

"We had our shields, I had comms, our guards had comms, so help was never more than a couple of minutes away." She said as she strolled around the table, stopping behind Caldwell's chair. "I'm glad you worry about us Stephen, but you really don't have to. Even if our shields failed, Sam and I could have kicked the shit out of enough of those people to make the rest back off and think about it. We would have walked out of that building in one piece, I promise you."

"Play the video from the school Cisco." She told him as she walked back to her seat beside Sam.

"I want that video added to the official history of Atlantis, because I'm not the only one that saw it happen that way." She went on as it ended. "And I want it transcribed and printed as a children's book, distributed free to anyone that wants a copy."

"This isn't what we were told was going to be discussed." Carter said as she looked around the table. "So, unless you want to talk about the catastrophic failure of your emergency response system, Tammy and I will be going to find something else to do."

"We've gone over the..."

"Put a sock in it Cisco." Tammy said, not looking at him. "The house guard only had three items on the failure list, only one of them critical."

"What I want to know, Col. Sheppard, is why the first jumper didn't leave the ground until more than four minutes after the alarm sounded, when your protocols say it should have been onsite in thirty seconds or less."

"Tell me why that happened John. The jumper bay is less than a mile from the residence. Your pilots could have run it faster than four minutes."

"Or we could ask Dr. Keller why the infirmary had no supply of our blood type on hand. They had to move two pints from the medbay in the residence, which took over eight minutes, then another six pints from the med center on the east pier, which took over sixteen minutes."

"If both of us had been inured or wounded, and needed blood, one or both of us would be dead."

"The only thing that worked in your scenario was our warships in orbit going to red alert. Daedalus reported all stations manned in two minutes two seconds, two seconds over the allowable threshold, while the Apollo reported all stations manned in eighty-eight seconds. That should actually read eighty-four seconds, since the logs clearly show Major Lorne doing a five count after the last station reported as manned before he stopped the clock."

"Well done Evan." Sam said, looking down the table at him. "Please pass our thanks along to your crew for an excellent performance under pressure. And tell them that they will each receive five days liberty, to be used as, and when they see fit."

"We're passed the what, and I don't give a damn about the why." Tammy said, looking around the table. "I want to hear short, definitive answers on how you are going to resolve the failures in each of your departments."

"I don't have a short answer for why we didn't have blood on hand." Jennifer said. "The truth is, blood is in short supply, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"How often can blood be donated Jennifer?" Sam asked.

"That depends on what's being taken. You can only donate whole blood every 56 days, but you can donate platelets every 7 days, or plasma every 28 days."

"Fine, plan on Tammy and I donating every sixty days." Carter said. "I used to give a couple times a year anyway."

She looked down the table at Sheppard.

"John, we can't require your guys to donate blood, but we can bribe them. Every pint of whole blood equals one day of liberty, up to a maximum of five days per year."

Sheppard just nodded, but didn't look up, or say anything.

"It's obvious that we're not going to get anything resolved during this meeting." Tammy said as she got up, holding her hand out to Sam. She walked toward the door as she started talking again. "I want an action plan from each department on how performance can be realistically improved, and a revised emergency action plan by close of business on Friday. "I already told Cisco and Ronin that I want drills run at least once a week until you get it right."

"There's no reason for jumpers to be onsite in thirty seconds, or to have marines surround the residence, that's just showing off." She said, stopping at the door. "Give me a more sensible program I can sign off on. This is my life we're talking about. I take it seriously even if you don't."

(-)

Interior-Col. Sheppard's Office, North Tower

1245 Hours

"Goddamit!" Sheppard shouted, picking up a chair and throwing it at the window. The chair bounced off, and he kicked it as he strode across the room.

"It's not that bad John." Caldwell said as he watched him.

"She didn't say anything. Not one goddamn word." Sheppard said softly, looking over at him. "She didn't even look at me."

"Because Tammy is the one that's pissed off about this." Caldwell said. "She's the one that just tore us a new asshole."

"No, the colonel's just as pissed, if not about this, then about something else." Sheppard said, turning to face him. "Ronin told me that this wasn't a scheduled drill. She disabled the monitoring system in the residence, and took off that med bracelet she wears, then sat down to see what would happen."

"Why would she do that?" Caldwell asked him.

"We're about to bring in two million new citizens under their domain, so she probably wants to see how we're going to handle that." Sheppard told him. "You didn't seem very happy about that prospect when you heard about it..."

"It's not the new people I was worried about...it scared me when Tammy said that the Auroras were their ships, that they owned them." Caldwell said slowly. "I didn't understand until she said that they were Atlantis, her and the colonel."

"It took you this long to figure that out?" Sheppard asked, walking over to look out the window. "They're serious about this, both of them. They're going to fill this city, Anchorage too, and they're going to shape this galaxy into what they think it should look like."

"I hope you're going to hang around and help us do that John." Carter said from the door.

"Are you sure you really want me to do that?" Sheppard asked, not turning around. "I keep letting you down...now that cluster fuck last night..."

"John, we gave you an impossible task, and we knew you wouldn't be able to finish it, but you've gotten us off to a good start." Tammy said, holding up her hand as Caldwell made his way toward the door. "You can quit if you want, but we're not going to fire you, because we still believe you're the best man for the job."

"Thank you, but I can't quit. I was never very good at that." Sheppard said as he turned around. "I guess you want to talk about what happened last night?"

"No, we wanted to know if you'd take us up to the station." Carter smiled. "Zelenka is up there with Larrin, and I haven't seen it yet, but I'd like to."

"You can come with us if you want Stephen." Tammy said as she turned toward the door.

(-)

Interior-Space Station Cremonius

1310 Hours

"Atlantis One to Cremonius, request permission to dock." Sheppard said as they approached the station.

"Permission to dock in bay six Atlantis One. We'll be waiting for you."

"Uh...which one is bay six?" Sheppard asked.

"The one with the lights on dumbass." Came the reply.

"Copy Cremonius."

"God I love her." Tammy laughed. She was in the right hand seat, and leaned forward as they got closer. "I didn't realize how big this thing is. Evan said the internal volume is twice that of Atlantis and Anchorage combined didn't he?"

"Yeah." Carter said as she moved up and sat on the edge of the seat next to her. She glanced over at Sheppard and said, "Do a slow orbit before you take us in John."

Sheppard nodded, and they moved slowly up the side of the station, then around the front.

"Oh wow." Tammy breathed as they came around the far side, which was lit up by the lights from inside.

"What's the delay Sheppard?" Larrin asked. "Is there a problem?"

"No problem, we're just taking in the view Larrin." He replied.

"Go ahead and take us in John, it sounds like she's getting impatient." Carter laughed as she slid back into the seat behind him.

"Taking us in." He said as he banked, skimming over the top of the station. They entered the docking bay, and he shut the jumper down as he opened the rear door.

"Get tired of...oh, my queens." Larrin said as she stopped at the foot of the ramp.

"Request permission to come aboard commander." Carter said as she walked down the ramp.

"Permission granted, welcome to the Cremonius." Larrin smiled.

"If the inside is as impressive as the outside..." Carter said.

"It is." Larrin laughed. "Follow me, there's a porter right over here."

"Take me to a teaching machine." Tammy told her as they stepped into the porter.

"There's one on the OPs deck, where Radik and I were working." Larrin said as she punched in a code on the pad.

When the doors opened, they saw Zelenka sitting in front of a terminal, yelling at it in Czech as he stared at the screen.

"He's been doing that for hours." Larrin said softly as they walked toward him.

"What's the problem?" Carter asked.

"I do not know. I cannot understand him."

"What's wrong Radik?" She asked him as they came up behind him.

"Col. Carter..." He said as he started to get to his feet.

"Sit Radik, tell me what has you so upset."

"I am unable to transfer any of the training modules from the database to the teaching machines." He said

"There are modules for all the stations systems?" Tammy asked.

"Yes, several hundred of them. I..."

"Did you check any of the teaching machines to see if they're already loaded?" She asked him.

He stared at her, then shook his head.

She looked around the room, then walked over and pulled a headset off a hook on the wall. A panel lit up when she did.

"How did you know that was there?" Larrin asked as she came over to stand beside her.

"The headsets." Tammy said as she started tabbing through the menus. "Dead giveaway."

Larrin looked at her, then nodded.

"Put this on." Tammy said, holding out the headset.

"You can operate the teaching machine?" Larrin asked as she took the headset and put it on.

"Yeah. You were whining about needing someone who could operate them. So we're going to train you how to use it. If only to shut you up." Tammy laughed.

"That'll teach her to underestimate my girlfriend." Carter whispered, nudging Zelenka with her elbow.

"Ready?" Tammy asked, looking over at Larrin.

Larrin nodded, and Tammy pressed a button, then watched the screen.
"Thirty seconds...ten...you're done." She said.

"What else do you want?" She asked as she tabbed through the menu. She looked back over her shoulder when Larrin didn't answer.

"Command and control systems, engines, navigation..."

"I am not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling from that list Larrin." Tammy said as she highlighted a screen, then tapped on the panel several times.

"The station is not in a stable orbit, so we need to make course corrections." Larrin told her. "You were sloppy when you brought it here."

"Okay, we can do that when we're done here." Tammy said as she picked up a headset and put it on.

"So all the required training is in the teaching machine?" Radik asked.

"Oh god." Sam muttered, dropping her head into her hands.

"Radik, do you see this stupid helmet I have on my head?" She asked as she turned and looked at him.

"Sheppard, smack him upside the head for me." She said as she turned back to the panel.

"Ready?" She asked, glancing over at Larrin.

When she saw Larrin nod, she pressed the button on the panel.

They both stood still for over a minute, and when the process stopped, Larrin staggered as she pulled the headset off. Tammy grabbed her, putting her arms around her and holding her up.

"I've got you Larrin." She said softly. "Give it a minute, the same thing happened to me when I did some longer lessons."

Larrin nodded, and after a minute, she stepped back.

"Thank you Lady Tammy."

"I am not going to let a knight of Atlantis fall on her ass." Tammy laughed. "Unless you're drunk, then you're on your own."

"We need to make course corrections." Tammy grinned over at Sam. "Apparently Fran didn't park it right when we brought it home."

"We need to go to the control room to make the corrections." Larrin said as she started for the porter.

"How long until the orbit will start to decay?" Carter asked as she followed her.

"At least ten years." Larrin said as she stepped into the porter. "But we pass through a radiation field every six hours, and it disrupts many of the stations systems. We need to get into a different orbit to see if it helps."

"Why don't we just take it to one diameter out?" Tammy asked. "There's no need to have it in a stationary orbit."

"We aren't in a stationary orbit now, but one diameter out should put us outside the radiation field." Larrin said as the porter doors opened.

"You're driving." Tammy said as she walked over and sat at the navigator's console. She brought the main screen up, then plotted courses for a series of orbits from one quarter to one diameter out from the planet.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Larrin asked, looking up at the screen.

"The same place you learned how to fly the fucker." Tammy laughed. "Now pick one, and let's move this thing. I wanna see how she handles."

"Do you know how to fly a jumper Tammy?" Sheppard asked.

"Not yet. Do you think I should take the training?"

"Couldn't hurt." He replied. "You know how to fly this behemoth. You'll love the way a jumper handles."

"Can you show me the radiation fields these orbits might be exposed to?" Larrin asked as she typed commands into the console.

"Are you kidding me?" Tammy asked, glaring at her. "You didn't say anything about needing sensors, so that wasn't in the training we just did."

"I'll put us into the highest orbit then." Larrin said, then looked around.

"You might want to take a seat." She said. "I do not know how she is going to respond on the maneuvering thrusters."

"Dibbs on the big chair." Carter said, grinning over at Sheppard.

Sheppard and Zelenka took seats near the door.

Tammy changed the view on the screen, and the stars came into view.

"Engage Commander Larrin." Carter said, leaning back in the captain's chair.

"Seriously? You're doing Picard?" Tammy laughed, looking back at her.

"Well yeah...I'm never gonna get another chance..."

"Thrusters engaged...half power." Larrin said, looking at the screens in front of her.

She glanced over at Tammy as she said, "Can you put the image of the orbits back up, with our position on it?"

"Yeah, I can do that." Tammy said as she tapped out a string of commands.

The image came back up with their position marked with a green dot.

Larrin made an adjustment on her console, then said, "Thrusters at full power."

"It doesn't feel like we're moving yet." Carter said after more than a minute had passed.

"We're movin' sweetie." Tammy laughed, looking down at her console. "We'll be a quarter diameter out in two minutes, and she'll need to start decelerating in five."

"I'll need jumper training now too Sheppard." Larrin said, turning in her seat to look back at him. "At one diameter, we're out of range of the rings."

"I suppose you'll want your own jumper too." He laughed.

"If it's not too much trouble." She grinned, then turned back to her console.

"You're going to have start decelerating sooner than I thought." Tammy said, looking at her console. "We're closing on the half diameter mark already."

"Cut power to the thrusters Larrin." Carter said, watching the image on the monitor.

"I'll go to half power on the thrusters." Larrin said as she worked the controls.

"No, I said cut power." Carter said. "We're going to overshoot our mark at this speed. Get ready to start decelerating."

"We'll be fine Samantha." Larrin said.

"Tammy, take over. We're going too fast, and need to start decelerating now." Carter said.

"Transferring control to my station." Tammy said. "Decelerating now."

"Why did you do that?" Larrin asked as she turned to look at her. "You don't know..."

"I do know Larrin." Carter said. "I'm a pilot, and I may not be qualified on this ship, but I can read a chart. We're going overshoot our target."

"She's right Larrin." Tammy said, looking over at her. "Coming up on one diameter. Full reverse thrust."

"How much are we going to overshoot by Tammy?" Carter asked.

"Not much, less than five percent." Tammy replied. "And I see what happened. Larrin didn't do anything wrong Sam."

"So what did happened?"

"When Larrin engaged the thrusters." Tammy said, bringing up an image of the helm control. She expanded a section of it, then drew a circle around a set of symbols. "She followed the correct procedure, but didn't notice that computer assist was enabled."

"Don't tell me she left the cruise control on." Carter grinned.

"That's exactly what she did. The computer engaged the mains to assist the thrusters based on the course I had laid in." Tammy said. She turned to Larrin and added, "There was no reason for you to expect that. If Sam hadn't had me decelerate, the computer would have shut down the mains and we would have coasted into orbit right where we should have been."

"You knew just by looking at that chart that we were out of position based on just using the thrusters?" Larrin asked, turning in her seat to look at Carter.

"No, your navigator was telling you that we were moving faster than we should have been too, but you weren't listening, or you didn't believe her." Carter said.

"We're in orbit, thrusters and engines disengaged." Tammy said, turning in her chair. "I say we leave her where she is till we see whether that radiation field is still affecting her. What do you think commander?"

"Agreed." Larrin said. "And I don't want to move her again until I review what just happened, and study that computer assist."

"Let's see if Radik wants to go back to Atlantis, or stay here." Carter said, getting to her feet. "If we're out of range for the rings, he'll be stuck here until we get some jumpers up here."

"I need to go by my quarters and get some clothes, so we can get him on the way." Larrin said as she got up and started for the porter. "Can I sleep in that bed I..."

"I'm sorry Larrin." Tammy said as she followed her. "Andi already assigned you quarters in the north tower. You're one floor down from Pharris, Bra'tac and O'Neill."

"But make sure you bring some casual clothes. We're going out tonight." She said as the porter doors closed.

"Really? Where are we going hon?" Carter asked, slipping her arms around her and pulling her back against her.

"I wanna go to a bar." Tammy laughed, leaning back and kissing her cheek.

"Cisco and Ronin aren't gonna like that." Sheppard said.

"Pfffftttt. Who cares." Tammy said as the porter doors opened. "Besides, they're going with us."

(-)

Interior-Kitchen

1700 Hours

"You're not going to take no for an answer, so I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you." Cisco said. "After that stunt this morning..."

"You realize that you're speaking to your queens, don't you Cisco?" Carter asked lightly.

"Yes." He said, smiling at her. "But like you said earlier, you're both temperamental, and you not only cause us headaches, I'm starting to think that sometimes you enjoy doing it."

"I don't know about her." Tammy laughed, jerking her thumb at Sam. "But I know I do."

"I know a place." Ronin said, glancing over at Cisco. "It's kinda rough, but the woman who runs it doesn't allow weapons inside. Her guys break up any fights pretty quick too."

"Sounds like my kinda place." Tammy said. "What kind of crowd do they get?"

"Mostly workers, but they get traders, marines..." Ronin told her. "Amelia likes the music. She gave Korra a bunch of Earth music to play."

"Easy access? We'll be able to get them out fast if we need to?" Cisco asked.

"Won't need it." Ronin said, shaking his head. "We have Daedalus and Apollo lock onto their STIDs and beam them out if it comes to that."

"Sounds like a plan." Tammy laughed getting to her feet. "So when can we go?"

"Second shift got off an hour ago, so the place should be packed. We can go anytime you want."

"Kewl. You guys go get into something casual, and we'll meet you back here in half an hour." Tammy said, reaching down and pulling Sam to her feet. She looked down the table at Larrin and said, "You can change in the guest room. We can take you over to your quarters later if you want."

(-)

"Oh god, I have missed you so much!" Tammy said as she pulled a pair of tattered jeans from a shelf on the closet and pulled them on. She giggled as she wiggled and squirmed, pulling them up and buttoning them.

She took a sleeveless red t-shirt from a drawer and pulled it on, tucking it in quickly.

"Okay, I'm ready." She said, picking up a pair of beat up cowboy boots and tossing them on the bed. "Now let's see what we can find for you."

"This...these...oh my god, you have got to let me wear these Tammy." Sam laughed as she picked up a pair of sandals with a four inch wedge heel.

"That vest will look great with those jeans, and those heels will make your ass stick out." Tammy told her. "Go ahead and get dressed, I'm gonna do my hair and stuff."

"Okay." Carter said as she pulled on the jeans, then loosened the laces on the vest and pulled it over her head.

She sat on the bed and pulled the sandals on, then stepped over in front of the mirror, buttoning the jeans and adjusting the laces on the vest.

"Come in here." Tammy called from the bathroom.

Sam walked into the bathroom and saw Tammy putting on eyeliner. Her hair was slicked back, and she was wearing red lipstick. There was a tear drop at the corner of her left eye.

"Is that a tattoo?" Sam asked, steeping closer so she could see.

"It's fake, but you're getting one too." Tammy laughed.

She picked up a water bottle as she grabbed Sam's right arm and sprayed the outside of her bicep with it, then pressed a large piece of paper to her arm.

"Hold that there for two minutes." She said as she laid a towel over it. "Then we can do mine."

"Do I get to wear make-up?" Sam asked as she watched Tammy putting on blush.

"Nope, you don't need it." Tammy said as she picked up a piece of paper and peeled a small dot off of it. "But you do get a beauty mark."

She turned Sam and pressed it to her cheek near her mouth. "One one thousand, two one thousand..."

When she got to five, she released it, nodding as she picked up a brush and started brushing Sam's hair back away from her face.

"Close your eyes." She told her as she picked up a can of hair spray and sprayed it lightly on the top and sides of her head.

"Perfect." She mumbled as she sat the hair spray down. "Let's see how that tat turned out."

Pulling Sam's hand away, she let the towel fall to the floor and carefully peeled the paper from her arm, turning her as she could see it better.

"That turned out better than I expected. It looks real." She said, turning her so she could see it in the mirror. "Take a look."

"Holy shit...what did you do?" Carter gasped as she looked at the tattoo in the mirror.

It was a large red heart with roses and leaves surrounding the bottom third, and extending down under it. The word BITCH was written in an ornate script diagonally across the heart.

"You don't like it?" Tammy asked as she picked up another piece of paper and the water bottle, then leaned down and picked up the towel.

"No...I love it." Sam laughed, leaning closer to the mirror so she could see it better.

"Good. Now you can do mine." Tammy smiled. "Spray my arm with water, you don't need alot, then lay the tat on my arm and smooth it out. Make sure you get it straight."

"What does yours say?" Sam asked as she sprayed her left arm, then lined up the paper and smoothed it out.

"I don't know." Tammy said as she laid the towel over the paper and held it down. "I had a box of them in my bag, and they all say different things. I thought I had used all the ones that said bitch, that's my favorite."

They waited for the tattoo to cure, and when they pulled the paper off, Sam laughed as she said, "Yeah, that fits you..."

The tattoo was a large red heart like Sam's but had white orchids instead of roses. In the center of the heart the words BAD ASS were stacked one above the other in a bold, ornate script.

"Okay, let's go see if everyone else is ready." Tammy said, taking Sam's hand and leading her out of the bathroom.

(-)

Interior-East Pier

1840 Hours

"Who are your friends Ronin?" A woman asked as she sat two pitchers on their table while a girl sat mugs in front of them. The girl disappeared, but the woman stood smiling at Ronin.

"This is Larrin, Cisco, Tammy and Sam, Korra." He said. "You know Amelia."

"Nice place." Tammy said, smiling up at her as she picked up a pitcher and filled a mug, sliding it over in front to Sam, then filled one for herself and passed the pitcher over to Cisco. "This is my kinda dive."

"Thank you." Korra smiled as she leaned closer, resting her hands on Sam and Tammy's shoulders.

"You won't need those shields in here." She said softly, so only they could hear her. "I don't allow weapons in here, 'ceptin' him, cuz he won't give his up." She said, nodding toward Ronin. "And from what I hear, you two can handle yerselves right and proper."

"We do okay." Sam said as she picked up her mug and took a drink from it. She shook her head as she looked in the mug, then took another drink from it.

"What the hell is that?" She laughed, looking up at Korra.

"Athosian ale." Korra told her. "It's an acquired taste. I just got a shipment in yesterday."

"Now you're talkin'." Larrin laughed, picking up a pitcher and filling her mug, then taking a long drink from it.

Tammy picked up her mug and took a drink, grinning as she tilted it up, not stopping until she drained it.

"Damn! That is good." She said, slamming her mug down on the table. "Bring us two pitchers every ten minutes until someone passes out, then bring us three."

"I like you." Korra grinned. "I can tell you're gonna be trouble."

A woman walked up to their table, and looked down at Cisco. She was tall, with flowing brown hair that fell passed her shoulders. She was wearing a skin tight black vest and leather pants that fit her like a second skin.

"Want to dance handsome?" She asked, giving him a seductive smile.

"Maybe later." Cisco smiled, filling his mug and taking a drink from it.

"How about you blondie?" She said, looking over at Sam. "I think I could have some fun with you."

"I know you could sweetie." Sam laughed, picking up her mug and draining it, then getting to her feet.

The woman came over and slipped her arm around her waist, leading her away from the table.

"I'm Kinai." They heard her say as they moved toward the back of the bar.

"I can't believe she just did that!" Amelia laughed, taking a drink from her mug. "Or that you let her!"

"We're here to have fun, and meet people." Tammy laughed as she filled her mug and took a long drink from it. "So let her have some fun. The worst that can happen is she brings that bitch home..."

"Don't say it..." Cisco muttered.

"What, would you be jealous if we did a threesome with her Cisco?" She asked him.

"No, I just..."

He stopped talking as she got to her feet, grabbing a man that was walking by their table.

"Fuck, you're beautiful." She moaned, pressing her body against him. "You wanna dance with me?"

"I'd rather get out of here." The man grinned, reaching down and grabbing her asscheeks, squeezing them in his hands.

"Maybe later...dance with me first." She laughed.

She grabbed his hand, leading him toward the back of the bar.

She grinned when she saw a large dance floor, laughing she spotted Sam and Kinai grinding against each other, kissing passionately.

Turning around, she stepped into her new friend's arms, laying hers over his shoulders.

"I really hope you can dance studly." She laughed, grinding against him in time with the music.

"What you're doing is fine." He laughed, spinning them around, then putting his hands on her hips, bumping his crotch into hers, moving it slow circles.

He took a step back as he brought one of her hands down, holding it in his as his other arm slid around her waist.

"Samba!" She laughed, throwing her head back, letting him lead as they danced across the floor.

He was spinning her when she spotted Sam again a couple of songs later. Kinai had her pinned to a wall and was kissing her hungrily, one of her hands down the front of her jeans.

Tammy grinned as she started guiding her partner over toward them. They came to a stop beside them, and Tammy looked over at Sam.

"How ya doin' sweetie?" She asked her, tilting her head as her partner started kissing her neck, his hands squeezing her breasts through her t-shirt.

"Oh god...I think I wanna go home..." Sam panted, breaking the kiss.

"With her?" Tammy laughed.

Sam nodded as Kinai turned her head back toward her, kissing her roughly.

Sam pushed her back, nodding at Tammy as she said, "And you..."

"Sorry studly, but I just got a better offer." She said, pushing him away.

"I'm not done with you yet." He growled, pushing her against the wall.

Before she could move, the man was jerked back, falling to the floor. Ronin stood over him, pointing his gun at him as he started to get up.

"Go." He said, looking over at her, then back at the man. "I've got this."

"Come on you two." She said as she grabbed Sam's hand, pulling her toward the front of the bar.

Sam grabbed Kinai's free hand, moaning as her other hand slipped from her jeans, following Tammy.

"I'll meet you outside." Tammy said, reaching down and picking the pitchers up from the table.

"You can't take those..." The man at the door said, stepping in front of her.

"Let her go Tanna. Lady Tammy can do anything she wants in her city." Korra laughed from behind her.

"Thank you...we had a great time!" Tammy grinned, turning to look at her.

"I could tell." Korra smiled. "Come again soon my queen...it's been a pleasure serving you."

"We will." Tammy smiled as she went out the door.
She saw Sam and Kinai kissing near the porter down the block, and she hurried to catch up.

(-)

Interior-Bedroom

2200 Hours

"By the gods." Kinai whispered as they stepped out of the porter into the living room. "Where...where are we?"

"This is our home." Sam said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the bedroom.

"Here, take these." Tammy said, holding out the pitchers. "I'll get some glasses."

"We don't need glasses." Sam said as she led Kinai through the door into the bedroom. "We'll just lick it off of her."

"Oooohhh, kinky." Tammy laughed as she followed them.

She sat the pitchers on her desk and hit the comm. When it beeped she said, "Cisco, we're in the residence, you can come up if you want."

"Thank you Tammy, but I'm going back out." He said. "Ronin is on call if you need him."

"Good luck Cisco." She said. "You better not come home alone. That's an order"

"I don't plan to my queen." He laughed.

"How do you get this thing open?" Sam groaned as she tried to get Kinai's vest off.

"Wait...wait a moment." Kinai gasped, stepping away from her. "Did he just call you..."

"You didn't know?" Tammy grinned, looking over at her as she pulled her t-shirt over her head. She kicked her boots off and opened her jeans as she stepped toward her.

Kinai shook her head as she watched Sam walk over to the bed, then looked over at Tammy.

"You hit the jackpot sweetie." Tammy said as she walked toward her. "You get to fuck the two hottest bitches in the city tonight."

"But...but you're the queens." She said "I don't know..."

Sam kicked off her sandals and pushed her jeans down. She kicked them off as she pulled her vest over her head and tossed it across the room. She fell back on the bed, sliding up until she was resting against the pillows. Her hand moved down between her legs as she watched Tammy toying with Kinai.

"That's not a problem is it?" Tammy asked as she opened a tab at the top of her vest, then opened the snaps and pushed it off over her shoulders. "Look at her sweetie, she wants you. You can leave if you want, but I'm going to fuck her whether you're here or not."

Her hands dropped down and opened the top button on her pants, then opened the second one.

"You have two choices Kinai." she said softly as she opened the third button. "You can stay and serve your queens, or you can leave."

She glanced over at Sam, then back at Kinai, seeing that she was breathing hard, her eyes closed as Tammy undressed her.

"I think you want to stay." She whispered, slipping her hand into the front of her pants.

"Tell me you want to stay Kinai." She said as her fingers slid between the moist, clean shaved lips of her pussy. "I want to hear you say it."

"I wish to serve my queens." Kinai purred, putting her arms around Tammy's neck. Her lips opened as Tammy's pressed against them, kissing her hungrily.

(-)

"She is insatiable." Kinai panted, breaking their kiss and rolling away from Sam. She raised up on her elbows, watching as Tammy writhed under Angelo, moaning loudly as he drove his cock into her with long hard strokes.

"She is that." Sam grunted, sliding up onto her, lifting her breast and taking the wide ring of her areole in her mouth, sucking on it.

Kinai moaned as she felt her leg pressing against the tender flesh of her pussy, arching up toward her as she pulled her down against her, her own leg grinding against Sam's cunt mound.

"Please, can we rest?" She asked, pulling Sam up higher on her. "I...I am getting sore..."

"Wimp." Sam laughed, rolling off of her then sliding over to the side of the bed.

"Are you thirsty? We have a little ale left." She said as she held her hand out. "Or we can go in the kitchen and get something else."

"Something else. I've had enough ale." Kinai as she took her hand and let her pull her up from the bed.

As they walked out of the bedroom, Sam notice the lights in the guest room were on, and she walked over, looking inside.

"Hi Larrin." She said when she saw her propped against the headboard, looking at a tablet. "I thought Cisco or Ronin would have taken you over to your quarters..."

"They offered to, but this bed is so comfortable. It's much softer than what I usually sleep on."

"That's fine, we're going in the kitchen to get something to drink, maybe some food." Sam told her, pulling Kinai up beside her. "You can come with us if you'd like."

"I could eat." Larrin said, tossing the tablet aside and climbing out of the bed.

She was wearing a tank top that came down to her waist, and nothing else. She grinned as she looked over at Sam.

"No point in getting dressed I guess."

"I'm not going to, and I'm hiding her clothes till we're done with her." Sam said. She looked back at Kinai, letting her eyes run up and down over her body. "And that might be a while."

"I have to work in the morning." Kinai said.

"No, you have to do as your queen commands. Now shut up."

Looking back over at the bedroom door she said, "We're going to get something to eat Tammy, do you want anything?"

A moment later she said, "Okay, we'll call you when it's ready."

(-)

As they walked into the kitchen, she said, "Larrin, get Kinai something to drink. You know where everything is."

She hit the RS button on the comm, and when they answered, she said, "I'd like scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, sausage, both patties and links, some biscuits, gravy, mixed fruit, toast, not buttered, but send soft butter up with it. And some chocolate milk, just send the carton."

"Is this order for one of the queens?"

"Yes, just make everything the way Tammy likes it, but send up some extra shredded cheese. This is for four people, but make enough for six. Just put everything on its own plate or bowl, we can serve ourselves."

"Yes maam. We'll need fifteen minutes."

"That's fine, we'll be here."

"No, not there." She heard Larrin say, and she smiled she saw Kinai standing at Tammy's place.

"No, you don't want to sit there." She laughed. "Sit next to Larrin."

She got two glasses from the cabinet, then filled one with water and sat it at Tammy's place, then filled the other with ice and got two cokes from the fridge.

"I know you." Larrin said to Kinai as Sam sat down at the head of the table. "You're a systems engineer with Durrim Samar. What are you doing in Atlantis?"

"I came here after our facility was destroyed by the Wraith several weeks ago." Kinai told her. "And it wasn't just a culling. They spent hours going through the wreckage, and took tons of computers and supplies before they destroyed what was left. They fired on that complex from space for hours before they left."

"Wait." They heard Tammy yell, and a moment later, she ran into the kitchen.

"What planet was that facility on?" She asked Kinai as she walked over and dropped into her seat. She sat her tablet down beside her as she tapped her comm, waiting for the beep.

"Durrim Samar, our group was named after the planet." Kinai told her. "That facility was the first one they built."

"Andi are you on?" She asked. She waited a moment, then in a louder voice she said, "Andi! Wake up! I need to talk to you!"

"Yes...yes, I'm here. Is something wrong?" Samuels asked.

"That research facility we were dealing with that the Wraith hit a few weeks ago, what planet was that on?"

"I'll have to look, give me a moment." Samuels said

"How many Wraith were there in this attack?" Tammy asked.

"More than a hundred, they came through the gate on foot and in darts, and more arrived in cruisers." Kinai told her.

"I have the information you wanted Tammy." Samuels said. "The planet was Durrim Samar, our designation is P347C509. We were dealing with them about various technologies. Can you tell me what's going on?"

"I'm talking to a survivor." Tammy told her.

"I'm on the way." Samuels said.

"Wait! Send me a picture of Todd first." Tammy told her. "Just grab a still off the last video session we had with him."

"It's in the database..."

"Then send me a link for that." Tammy told her.

"It's in your email." Samuels told her.

"Good, now get your ass over here." Tammy said, then took off her comm.

"What's going on Tammy?" Sam asked as she watched Tammy pick up her tablet, tapping on the screen, then turning it so Kinai could see it.

"In a minute Sam." She said, looking across the table at Kinai.

"Did you see this guy there? Take your time, we can rewind it if you want." She asked her.

"Yes, he was the leader. Most of the Wraith were soldiers and drones, there were very few like him." Kinai told her. "But he was in charge."

"Todd finally crawled out of whatever hole he was hiding in Sam." She told her. She paused when the comm on the wall chirped, and hers vibrated on the table. She picked it up and put it on.

She tapped the comm and listened for a moment, then said, "Send her up."

Samuels walked into the kitchen a moment later, followed by a woman pushing a cart loaded with food.

"No, leave the covers on everything and take it over to the conference center in the north tower, we'll eat it there." Tammy told the woman.

She turned to Samuels and said, "Andi, I want Sheppard, Caldwell and Lorne in the conference center in ten minutes."

"Larrin, you can come too. There's some things you're going to want to hear."

"And you, you sweet little piece of ass." She said as she pulled Kinai to her feet and pulled her against her. "You're going to tell me everything you know about Durrim Samar, what they're working on, what planets they have facilities on...and when we're done with that, we're going to come back here, and you're going to fuck my brains out..."

(-)

Interior-Conference Center, North Tower

0220

Sam, Tammy, Larrin and Kinai were sitting at one end of the table eating when Caldwell and Lorne walked into the room. Both wore jumpsuits, and Sam grinned as she waved them to seats.

They both took seats down the table from them, opening laptops. They waited quietly as they watched the women eat.

Samuels came in and sat across the table from Caldwell and Lorne, tapping on her tablet.

"Sam, you've found us an amazing resource." She said as she sent a feed from her tablet to the monitors around the room. "This is what we have on her from the ingress scan and the intel file Sandy has on her."

A picture of Kinai came up in the upper left corner of the screen, and a list of statistics scrolled along the right side.

"Kinai, no middle or last names, twenty-eight years old, lead systems engineer for Durrim Samar..."

"Let's wait for Sheppard, Andi." Sam said as she pushed her plate away.

"He can read abo..."

"Thanks doc." Sheppard said as he walked into the room. "I always knew I was your favorite."

"After Tammy, you are John." She smiled at him.

"But if I may continue." She said, glancing down the table at Kinai. "Her IQ is off the charts. It is quite possible that she is the most intelligent person in this room. In the entire city for that matter."

"Smart and hot. I like that in a girl." Tammy laughed.

"There may be a reason for that, but I'm going to need to get Jennifer to confirm it." Samuels said, highlighting and expanding a section of the profile on the screen. "She has the highest concentration of the ancient gene I've ever seen. In most people we test, the gene is recessive, in Kinai, the gene is dominant."

"Are you saying that this woman is an ancient Dr. Samuels?" Caldwell asked, looking down the table at Kinai.

"No, the gene is dominant in almost ten percent of the people we test, including Col. Sheppard and Gen. O'Neill." She told him. "What makes her unique, is there appears to have been very little intermarrying in her bloodline, and I'm guessing that most of that took place in the last two hundred years."

"More like eight hundred years Dr. Samuels." Kinai said, looking down at her. "My ancestors were ancients that settled on a remote planet at the other side of the galaxy, well away from Atlantis and any possible Wraith threat when the rest of the ancients fled this galaxy for others."

"You're saying that some of the ancients went to other galaxies, not just to Earth?" Sam asked her.

"Yes, most of the people living in Atlantis went through the stargate to Earth when Atlantis was abandoned, but before that, following the plague that swept through the galaxy, many went by ship to a satellite galaxy near your galaxy, the Milky Way. Others went to the galaxy you call Andromeda...others went even farther than that."

"Are there still ancients living on that planet?" Sheppard asked.

"No." She replied. "That planet became unlivable more than a thousand years ago. It's star is now becoming a red giant like your own star will someday become."

"Most of the original ancients on that world lived for more than a thousand years before they ascended. After they relocated, they didn't begin intermarrying immediately, but when they did, their offspring were almost as long lived."

"The last pure blooded ancient born on that world ascended less than ten years ago." Kinai said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You knew them?" Samuels asked softly.

"And loved her. She was my grandmother."

"Whoa." Carter said softly as the rest of the room fell silent.

"So your mother was half ancient, and your father..." Samuels began.

"My mother's father had only one non ancient in his bloodline, and my father only had two."

"So your mother was at least three quarters ancient, and your father two thirds...that would make you more than seventy percent ancient yourself."

"As you will. My children will be less, when I decide to conceive." Kinai said, wiping her eyes.

"Do you know where others like you are..." Caldwell asked.

"Yes, but I will not tell you." Kinai told him. "Had I known that my prey was a queen of Atlantis, or had my original target not declined, we would not be speaking."

"So I'm prey am I?" Carter asked.

"Yes, and easy prey at that. You surrendered to my charms in minutes."

"Yeah, you had her suckin' face with you pretty quick." Tammy laughed.

"You on the other hand, are a true predator." Kinai smiled at Tammy. "Once you knew that I was unaware of who you were, you did not order or force me to serve you, you offered me a choice, while making your own desires known."

"Where did you meet this woman colonel?" Caldwell asked. "I was told that she was a survivor of..."

"We met her in a bar Stephen." Carter told him. "Then we brought her home and had sex with her."

"Really good sex." Tammy added.

"If we could talk about why we're here..."

"So we can go have more really good sex." Tammy added.

"It appears that Todd was involved in a raid on a facility that Kinai worked at." Samuels said. "She identified him as the leader of the assault."

"Our interest in this facility is, we had recently started farming out research to them, and have been acquiring technology from them."

"We don't need the technology we've gotten from them, we got it to keep other people, mostly the Genii, from getting it." Tammy said. "The research is of greater concern."

"Why is that Tammy?" Caldwell asked

"Because some of it can be used to determine the location of the planet that Anchorage is on."

"The actual planetary coordinates were not included in the information we provided, but a description of the star and the solar system were included." Samuels told them as she put up an image of the solar system on the screen. "The star is in a cycle of unusual activity, and we needed a study to determine if it is stable or not."

"I know the research you are concerned about, and it is not in the databases that the Wraith gained access to." Kinai said. "I can also tell you that that systems star, while it cannot be called stable, poses no risk to the inhabitants of any of the seven planets in the system."

"How can you be sure of that?" Sheppard asked.

"Because the culture within Durrim Samar is even more paranoid than you are." Kinai told him. "There is no networking between the research centers, and little or no information is shared between them. Assignments are passed by courier to centers based on which is best able to process the information fastest given its knowledge base."

"You know about the research, and the results from it, and I'll bet that you know the location of that system." Caldwell said. "If they're so paranoid, and security is so tight, how do you know anything about it if you were assigned to the facility that was destroyed?"

"I didn't say I was assigned to that facility, I said I was there when the attack too place." Kinai said. "I am one of a handful of people that see requests, for purchases, or requesting research, and assign them as needed. I also do security checks and investigate breaches, which is what I was doing there the day of the attack."

"Let me get this straight." Tammy said, turning to look at her. "You're a boss with Durrim Samar, so you could have gone to one of their other centers, but you decided to come here?"

"Yes."

"Andi, what job is she assigned to?" She asked, not looking away from Kinai.

"She's a second level manager of the jumper factory on the north pier."

"And she has access to what?"

"The entire ancient database I'm afraid."

"So she's a spy...great." Caldwell muttered.

"I did not come here to acquire information from you, but about you." Kinai said, looking at Tammy. "We already have access to an ancient database of our own."

"And I suppose you expect us to believe that you didn't know who they were when you met them in that bar?" Caldwell asked.

"I "I did not know who they were until we entered their home, and one of your people addressed Tammy as 'my queen'." Kinai said. "I considered leaving, but was unable to."

"And just why was that?" Caldwell laughed. "I can't wait to hear this."

Kinai got to her feet and stepped over behind Sam, laying her hands on her shoulders. "If you had seen this one laying in her bed, pleasuring herself as she stared at you, her eyes filled with desire." She said, then took a step over behind Tammy. "While this one removed your clothes, offering you the choice of staying with them or leaving, as she showed you the evidence of her desire for you...would you have been able to leave?"

"We're keeping her Stephen, for as long as she wants to stay." Sam said.

"I have a question before we go on." Samuels said as she looked at Kinai.

"Just why does Durrim Samar want information about us, Atlantis I mean. From what you just said, I don't think you're looking for information about the queens."

"There is much I wish to learn about the queens, but I will share none of it with my peers." Kinai said with a smile. "I am here to learn more about Atlantis, because we wish to join you, as the Travellers, and so many others have done."

"Where did you hear that?" Sheppard and Caldwell asked at the same time.

"Arrin...Arrin told them." Larrin said. "He's the most likely to want them."

"Stop...we are way off topic from what I wanted to talk about, and I have better things I want to be doing." Tammy said.

"Like her." Sam giggled.

"Exactly."

"Evan, how many hives and cruisers do we have tagged, do any of them have nukes on them, and how often are they checked to see if they are still idle?" She asked, looking down the table at him.

"We have seventeen hives and sixty-one cruisers tagged, and all the hives have nukes on them. We haven't been checking them to see if they're still idle." He answered.

"Start checking them." She told him, then turned to Larrin and asked, "Do you want any of those hives or cruisers for the Travellers? I need to know now, because if you say no, I'm going to tell Evan to destroy them."

"We do want some, but I can't tell you how many until after we get the vote and know how many of our people will join you." Larrin said.
"That's good enough." Tammy said, turning to look at Lorne.

"Evan, I want you to take the Apollo, and hunt Todd down." She said. "When you find him, I want you to blow his ass out of my galaxy."

(-)

Interior-Bedroom

0400

"I guess there's no point in asking if you were really spying on us." Sam said as they stepped out of the porter.

"We can talk about that later." Tammy said, taking Kinai's hand and leading her toward the bedroom. "Right now, I have better uses for that mouth than talking."

"I cannot." Kinai said. "I was up before dawn as it is..."

"Your queen is commanding you to pleasure her." Tammy smiled, turning to face her.

"You are not my queen, I have sworn no oath to you." Kinai said, looking at her. "My hope is that the day I swear such an oath comes soon. When it does, I will fall to my knees before you for you to use me as you wish."

"Let's go in the kitchen for a few minutes." Sam said as she turned and headed down the hall. "She can pleasure you in the morning. If she doesn't, I will."

"Deal." Tammy laughed

"To answer your question Samantha, I am not here to spy on you." Kinai said as they took their places at the table.

"Well, that's a relief." Sam said, glancing at Tammy.

"I am here to gather information from the thirty agents we've placed here since you started taking in new citizens." Kinai went on.

"Sandy's not going to like it when she hears that." Sam said, glancing at Tammy.

"Was it Arrin who told you that our people wish to join with Atlantis?" Larrin asked.

"Your people do not wish to join with Atlantis Larrin." Kinai told her. "Three of the four members of your ruling council do, and the fourth was coerced into agreeing. Your people will go along, because they have seen the success Pharris has had with the city Anchorage, and feel the effect of not having those three hundred thousand people within the fleet."

"You haven't answer my question Kinai." Larrin said.

"Yes, Arrin approached us." Kinai told her. "As did Pharris and Walleen, each seeking the answer to the same question."

"They wanted to know the outcome of the vote." Sam said, shaking her head.

"Yes. Walleen however, also wanted to know the most effective way of influencing the vote against you."

"I'm going to kill him." Larrin muttered.

"As satisfying as that may be, it would be a wasted effort with little gain." Kinai said. "A more effective approach would be to leak his betrayal to his clan, and let them remove him from the counsel, or kill him for you."

"How many from the fleet will leave?" Sam asked.

"No more than thirteen percent from the fleet will vote to leave." Kinai said. "If you include Anchorage, no more than eleven percent. The actual number is roughly the same, because none from Anchorage will elect to leave."

"Are you going to talk like a computer all the time now?" Tammy asked her.

"Yeah, I liked her better at the bar." Sam said.

"She wasn't talking to you at the bar. She had her tongue down your throat." Tammy laughed.

"I provide the requested information when asked direct questions." Kinai smiled. "Stop asking me questions, and I will talk to you as I talk to my friends."

"Okay, but I have one more question for you." Tammy said, taking Sam's hand as she got up and came around the table. "Will you come sleep with us, then play with us when we wake up?"

"I would be happy to." Kinai said as she got to her feet. "Sam is a delightful lover...but you are an animal in games of love..."

* * * * *

Thanks for reading this installment. Chapter Four is in progress, and will be posted soon.

One of my proof readers commented that she can no longer hear Samantha Carter's voice when she reads Part4 Expansion, while she can hear the other characters from the show. I don't see it, but Carter is evolving, and I'm expecting her to change.

If anyone else has a similar experience, please let me know. As usual, comments are appreciated.