#Samantha Evans

[amazeyphaedra]

I finally watched ep 8 of mismag "I know we talked about me staying with you let me know we should talk about what that would look like" EVSAM BRAIN WORMS WORMS IN MY BRAINJUMPING UP AND DOWN SQUEELING AT THE TV AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[autistic-crypt1d]

[scholar-of-yemdresh]

Adult SFF Books With Aromantic Main/Major Characters

Wanted to highlight lesser known books; including not-so-obscure books that aren't known for their aromantic rep.

[911coded]

Chapter 6: Don’t Dream It’s Over

The silence stretched uncomfortably and Tommy couldn’t think with enough clarity to even know what to say, what to do. What was even happening here? He could feel himself spiraling into panic again as his eyes watered.

John crouched and leaned over, “Hey, Tommy?” he whispered.

Tommy blinked, sighed, and turned his head to look at John from where he was now fully extended in the recliner from hell, “Yeah, John?”

“We can fly spaceships. With our minds,” he whispered with an encouraging grin.

Wide-eyed, Tommy turned his head back to the rocky ceiling, blinked, and suddenly it’s as if his body and mind clicked back together. “Cool,” he breathed.

“Would you like to see the ships that you will be able to pilot, Thomas?” The voice was gentle, hesitant, and seemed to be coming from the chair but also through Tommy’s mind, the same voice that he had struggled to understand while flying earlier.

Tommy glanced at John out of the corner of his eye for directions, but he seemed to be just as flummoxed as Tommy was at the conversation, so he decided to play along again, “Um, sure?” 

“Our sister ship, Atlantis, lost her fighters to the great war, but she has several small gateships that Primus Filius seems to enjoy.” An image of the base of a great steel city floating on an endless ocean was projected in the air above his reclined body and he and John watched as a tube shaped ship with wings darted into frame and seemed to skim along the water before rising to fly to the city glittering on the dark sea.

*******************

The check-in process was fairly painless with Lorne at his side, though the guards gave him quite the look when they asked if he had any weapons. 

”Swords, Buck?” Lorne chuckled, “I feel like every time I see you, you have a new surprise for me.”

“Eh, I got the impression that I would have to come up with things to do in my down time and I’m hoping to find someone to practice with, it’s been a while,” Buck said with a shrug. *

Once they made it past the security checkpoint, they went through a massive blast door and entered the mountain proper. Around a corner and through one more blast door, they passed the last checkpoint at the elevators, then Buck and Lorne began their descent deep underground to one of the most secure places in the world.

“Did you know that this facility was built in 1967 in response to the Cold War, in order to have a secure place to track long range Soviet bombers? It was designed to withstand a 30-megaton nuclear blast from as close as 1.24 miles away. Those blast doors take 45 seconds to open or close and though they are tested every day, they have only really been closed once, on 9/11.”

“No, somehow, I missed that in the transfer onboarding information,” Lorne snorted.

“Mmhmm, and it originally housed the NORAD Combat Operations Center. When NORAD moved to Peterson Air Force Base in 2008, Cheyenne Mountain was considered to be on “warm standby” and is supposed to be manned by a skeleton crew of military scientists that study “deep space radar telemetry,” Buck continued.

“I think I can actually hear the finger quotes you are using there, Buck, what are you getting at?” Lorne asked.

Buck snuck a look at Lorne out of the corner of his eye, “Wikipedia says there is a broom closet labeled “Starportal Command” from the tv show “Wormhole X-Treme!”. I may have made a bet with my friend Karen when we were wine drunk that it was the only true part of the article. You gotta help me out, here, I need to be right, Lorne, she’s too smart, it’s impossible to argue effectively with that woman. Honestly!” Buck exclaimed.

Lorne stared at Buck blankly for a full ten seconds before he lost it, leaned a hand against the elevator wall and laughed until he cried.

The elevator doors open to a tall blond woman with a smile on her face. The smile turned to a frown as she caught sight of Lorne trying and failing to get himself back together. Buck flashed her an innocent smile and leaned out of the elevator car, holding the door open, his hand out for a handshake. 

“Hey, I’m Evan Buckley, most people call me Buck,” Buck declared. The woman slowly reached out a hand, but paused while she stared at Lorne with her eyebrows practically in her hairline. 

“Is he going to be ok?” she asked, starting to look concerned, “Lorne?” 

Buck bobbed his head in a nod, “Oh, he’s fine, no idea what that’s about. Maybe he has a condition?”

Lorne manages to stand up long enough to punch Buck in the shoulder, “A condition?! You asshole! I’ve missed you, emails really aren’t enough to get the full effect.” Lorne groans, shoving him out of the elevator and directly into the intended handshake. “This is General Samantha Carter, head of Homeworld Security. She oversees this facility and our remote base from D.C., while making sure we continue to get the funds and people we need to run the program. She’s going to take you to sign the biggest NDA you will ever see, then to a conference room where you can meet everyone else.”

The General shook her head with a roll of her eyes like their nonsense was just the latest of her day. “Come with me, Buck, and we’ll get you sorted. You can call me Sam when I’m not giving you orders,” she said with a wink. Buck followed with a pout and Lorne stepped back into the elevator with Buck’s bags and a wave of his fingers.

Lorne wasn’t kidding about the NDA, Buck was rubbing his aching wrists as they traveled again lower and lower in the elevator. With a ding on sublevel 27, he followed Sam down a hallway that looked no different than the one several levels above them. 

“How do you keep from getting lost in here? I feel like I’ve been down the same hallway three times now,” Buck questioned.

“You get used to it, but the first few weeks are definitely a struggle,” Sam replied. “Ah, here we are!” With a perfunctory knock, she opened the door to what looked like a conference room. He could see Dave and Lorne whispering, heads together on one side of the impressive table, but had to guess at who the other man across from them could be. 

“Buck, you know Parrish and Lorne, of course, the other gentleman sitting there is General Cameron Mitchell,” Sam explains. “I don’t know where the others wandered off to, I guess I’ll do the explaining this time,” Sam gestured for Buck to take a seat and sat down at the head of the table. “The main reason you were asked to come here today is because of an incident during your time in Peru with Parrish and Lorne. Lorne was carrying a piece of technology that has a mental component and he believed that the technology was trying to make a connection to you. Lorne?” Sam gestured at Lorne. He stood up and reached into a pocket.

“Oh hey, that’s what it was! Is that one yours?” Buck interrupted with a giant grin, pointing to the LSD (Life Signs Detector) that Lorne had just removed from his pocket and made to hand to him.

“What?”

“What?!”

“The fuck?”

Buck startled and looked around the room, eyes wide, as multiple people shouted at once. He rolled his shoulders forward, ducked his head, and shrugged. “It sounds the same. Are there more?” Buck quickly forgot that he was uncomfortable and the questions continued almost faster than they could keep up, practically vibrating in his seat.  “Do they all feel the same? What is it? Is it an alien intelligence of some kind? How can I hear it? How does it work? This been bugging me for like 10 years now,” Buck wheezed out the last of his oxygen and before he could take in another breath to ask another question, Sam interrupted.

“How did you recognise what Lorne was going to hand to you?” 

Buck’s face blushed scarlet and he shifted about in his chair, “Uh, well, as you know, I met Dave and Lorne in Peru about ten years ago and every time Lorne got within three feet of me, I could sort of hear someone that wanted to be picked up, but there was nothing there. I didn’t want to look like a crazy person, so I tried to look around without making it obvious. Then I realized if I stayed in the same place, but Lorne moved, I stopped hearing it. Then, when I didn’t respond, it kept trying to give me instructions on pickpocketing. For all I knew, it was some weird rock you picked up on your trip or was some new technology that was heavily classified and I didn’t have any idea how to ‘talk’ back to it without doing it out loud, so I figured it would be one of those mysteries you never solve, the ones you ponder at 3AM when you can’t sleep, you know?”

“What do you mean by sounds the same?” she prodded, leaning forward across the table, the scientist in her now coming out to play. Buck leaned back in his chair and visually paused, trying to figure out how to answer.

“It has the same ‘voice’ for lack of a better word. Um, I, uh, don’t ‘hear’ it as words. More like…” he faltered a bit and Lorne cut in, “Emotions? Kind of projected at you?” Buck’s head tilted like a dog or bird mentally looking at something from another direction. He opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again. “Emotion is probably the closest way to describe it, but also pictures?” 

“Wait. Wait, wait, it was sending you instructions visually on how to pickpocket?!” Carter exclaimed. “Neither you nor Sheppard ever mentioned visual feedback!” Carter accused, pointing at Lorne on the other side of the conference room. Lorne stood back up from leaning against the wall with his hands held up in surrender. “Other than the visuals on the screen, I never got anything from it other than a vague yes, no, excitement, or disappointment. Sheppard’s gene has always been stronger than mine but you know how cagy he gets when emotions come into play,” he said, with a smirk.

All eyes in the room are now on Buck and he struggled to explain the unexplainable. “You know when you are speaking to someone and you can hear what they are saying, but you are also picking up facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice to get the whole picture? Now imagine it is someone you know really well and you are talking to them on the phone. Even though you can’t see them with your eyes, your brain picks up what they would be doing anyway from the words and tone because your brain is filling in the gaps intuitively. That’s what I’m getting from the device. My brain is getting information that I can’t SEE, but is filling in the gaps so that I have the whole picture as if I were seeing it,” Buck said, looking around the room to see slack jaws and blank expressions.

Mitchell broke the silence. “Holy shit. Great job, kid, I almost understood that,” he said, chuckling quietly. 

Sam looked like she was trying to stare a hole through Lorne’s head. He shrugged. “That’s more than I get. They respond to my thoughts, but I don’t get much feedback at all,” he explained.

******************************

Tommy took a deep calming breath, “You said your sister ship, are you sisters with Atlantis? And what does Primus Filius mean?” Tommy asked, prodding the genderless voice along.

“At one time, we were many sisters, but though I can no longer fly, Atlantis and I are the only city ships left. Though we may not be sisters the way the first ones and you humans consider sisters, we have always thought of ourselves as such. Primus Filius is from the first ones’ language, it means first son. He woke us up and gave us life again, such as it is.” 

“Who did?”

“Why John, of course. John will not live for all time, unfortunately. And he does not enjoy talking to anyone who is not his Condictor(fixer). We need more sons and daughters, Thomas, but John has not given us any and your Stargate people are too secretive. They impede the process. I am afraid that we have been influenced by our hospites(guests). We grew impatient at the delay, and decided we would have to look for new sons and daughters ourselves.” There was an electronic humming sound before they continued to explain, “The endeavor has been difficult. Most that could hear us are too far away and those that are close often refuse to listen. Thank you for answering, Thomas. Will you and your amantis(lover) finally come home?” 

An image of Evan as he remembers him, smiling brightly in delight hovered over Tommy’s head and he finally accepted that Evan may be right about the universe speaking. In that moment, staring at Evan’s beautiful face projected above him, he realized that he was done running. He sat up and mentally asked the chair to let go. He felt a caress of pride from the voice and shakily stood up, John’s hand coming to his elbow to steady him. With his eyes closed, he took a deep breath, and on a count of five, he opened his eyes and turned to John.

“Tell me everything.” **

************************

“So, what does it do when it’s not trying to arrange its own kidnapping?” Buck asked. Lorne strolled over and placed the device on the table in front of him. He looked it over. The screen was blank and it was about the size of the old school Game Boy color he had as a kid. As soon as he picked it up, though, the screen flashed madly and changed functions faster than he could blink. “Whoa! Hey, slow down!” Buck whisper-shouted at the little device. He was getting an impression of giddy, but the device did what he asked and then started to show him each screen and “explain” what it did. While he was absorbing information as fast as he could, the rest of the room was completely silent, and after a couple of minutes the feel of multiple eyes on him started to sneak through the hyperfocus. Buck blinked a couple of times and looked up while his little friend pouted but stopped sending a signal until he could concentrate again. 

Parrish waved a bit in Buck’s direction, “You back with us?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s very excited to see me again,” Buck replied sheepishly.

Buck took a long look around the conference table at each of the faces watching him, “So, ok. Hit me with it. It’s aliens, right? Makes more sense than sentient rocks, anyway.” Dave let out a snort of laughter and held a hand out to Cam, who rolled his eyes and passed over some cash.

“Carter?”

“Right! Yes, well, the little device you are holding, Buck, is a bit of what is essentially advanced, alien technology. What allows you to connect and “talk” with it, is a gene that was passed down through the generations by one of your ancestors. The aliens, that we used to refer to as ‘The Ancients’ and now know to be Alteran, left behind bits and bobs of their creations all over the galaxy. We believe they engineered the gene to put a sort of “lock” on their tech so it couldn’t be used against them. They added the gene lock into just about everything. Any personal or professional device, even their ships and cities were built around using the gene to interact with technology. There are only two ways to tell if a person has the genetic history to operate this technology. We can run a blood test, or we can…,” her voice trails off while gesturing at Buck.

“Hand some unsuspecting person a random piece of technology that wants to talk to them?” Buck asked.

“Yeah, basically. I’m afraid that’s what Jack did to your friend Tommy,” she replied, sheepishly.

Buck winced, “Ah, yeah. I’m sure that went over like a lead balloon.” 

Sam cleared her throat, “Mr. Buckley, we brought you here today because we would like to tell you about the Stargate Program and convince you to join us.”

Notes:

*If my ex-boyfriend and I could find a Japanese trained kenjutsu master in St. Louis to learn from, so can Buck. This was more than 20 years ago, so I only remember enough to look up what I am picturing in my head. My participation wasn’t serious on my part, it was just for fun. The ex-boyfriend and his friends got good enough to compete after we broke up so my handful of lessons with a bokken is all I have to show for it. (Honestly, my favorite part was the flick to the side to shake off blood before sheathing your sword. Dramatic movie stuff, very fun!) The swords may come back in another chapter or may pop up in a one-shot, but the swords are NECESSARY.

**I used google translate and Latin to stand in for the names the outpost uses to refer to their chosen people. According to Stargate lore, latin, as we know it, comes from the Alteran language.

The gifs that I had in my brain that are projected in the air above Tommy:

Tags for those who asked: @eliotwaughdeservesbetter @anangrylittlehobbit @grimmsdead

[embraceyourdestiny]

To those that said she/they Evan kelmp:

You are right !

[justarandombrit]

Is it really a musical if you don't want to put every single character in therapy?

[v1tfrma]

I need a coat like hers desperately, England is so cold but all the coats sold here are either ugly or expensive.

[freaky-little-genius]

misfits and magic premiering on the 25th is directly for me. it’s a birthday gift from dropout to me.

[untildawnss]

hi, i've given in to my delusional obsession with fictional people and want to write again.

i'm on ao3 now.

i'll be writing short and long headcanons and probably one shots, not multi chapter fanfics, for different fandoms but mainly until dawn. i shitpost a lot.

my reqs are open. i'll be working on them on my own time and also writing my own ideas but don't hesitate to give me more ideas.

when i write it's all over the place, so anything can happen, really.

[agent-troi]

giggling my ass off rn

[pantocatcher]

Atlantis (and SG1) as things my friends and I have said pt2

for some reason I never posted these??? but these were fun to make

[amazeyphaedra]

VERY big fan of the way Sam and Jammer pull off to the side and go full Statler and Waldorf sidebar commentary every time Evan and K have an interaction.

[autistic-crypt1d]

[andydrysdalerogers]

Undercover ~ a Jake Jensen Story

Pairings: Jake Jensen and OFC Samantha Matthews

The Losers have made it back to their families and are out. Well, almost. A threat against the British crown needs to be handled and the CIA has tapped the Losers for one final mission. And they are sending in Jensen.

Jake Jensen hasn't been a civilian in years but now he's undercover to find out why his target is where he is and who he's after.

Enter Sam, someone who Jake doesn't expect and well, he didn't know he was looking for.

Can Jake handle his mission and falling in love? Especially when the truth leads to a bigger mission than expected?

*~* A Jake Jensen Story *~*

Author's note: this story continues after the events of the Losers. I may weave other characters into it but they are all minor.

The playlist is available on Spotify.

cover photo by me! Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Warnings: angst, death, smut, and a bunch of stuff a can’t say because it gives away the plot!

Coming on Wednesdays Starting February 28th

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10 // Chapter 11 // Chapter 12 // Chapter 13 // Chapter 14 // Chapter 15 // Chapter 16 // Epilogue

Taglist:

@patzammit

@texmexdarling

@slutforchrisjamalevans

@firephotogrl74

@tinkerbelle67

@before-we-get-started

@bunnyforhim

@alexakeyloveloki

@sunnyhummingbee

@whiskeytangofoxtrot555

@peaceinourtime82

@saucy-sassy-sparkly

@kmc1989

@kandis-mom

@lokislady82

[911coded]

Chapter 7: Dancing With Our Hands Tied

This chapter is the longest yet and with tons of dialog that I have been at my wits end with editing. Buck and Tommy meet face to face! Finally, it only took 7 chapters!

Chapter 8 will probably be a while longer than normal; I got overexcited about posting and don't have any buffer chapters anymore. As of today, I'm only about a third of the way through it, but these crazy kids are going to have a long-awaited talk. I came up with a romantic backstory for Tommy at 3am when I realized that I could just use one of mine, so that's going to be fun. 😒 Hopefully, I will have it ready for posting next weekend. 🤞

John led Tommy to the edge of the room, “Come on, let’s sit.” Once they were settled side by side on the floor, backs leaning against the wall, John waggled his head in thought, trying to decide where to start, “Have you heard of the legend of Atlantis?”

“Advanced society, the city sank into the sea, that Atlantis? It’s real?” Tommy replied.

“Well the sinking part is true, but the city wasn’t destroyed, when we found it, it was beneath the ocean, surrounded by an energy shield that was about to fail on a planet in the Pegasus Galaxy. Today, I live there and plan to die there, if they let me, it’s the most beautiful place I’ve seen in two galaxies. Not exactly peaceful, though it gets safer by the day, but absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t live anywhere else, it’s home.”

“And you want me to come to the Pegasus Galaxy to pilot ships I can fly with my mind? And all this came about because my ex-boyfriend tried to follow me to Antarctica?” Tommy sighed, absolutely done with this day and also sure it wasn’t over, “How do you even get there?”

John grinned in triumph and rubbed his hands together, “Tommy, my friend, this all began with what we call the Stargate.”

********************************

“The Stargates were built by the Alterans and placed on habitable planets all over the Milky Way Galaxy. The Stargate itself, what the Alterans called the ‘Astria Porta’ is a metal ring approximately 22 feet in diameter. When dialed in to any other gate placed on those other planets scattered across this galaxy and the Pegasus Galaxy, the two gates create a wormhole that allows near-instantaneous travel between gates. The Alterans, though we originally referred to them as the Ancients, are gone. Their society was the basis of the legend of Atlantis, the great city that sank beneath the sea when the advanced society destroyed themselves through their hubris. Atlantis, though, is real. It was sunk beneath the sea in the Pegasus Galaxy by their creators when they fled back to Earth, running from a war that they were unable to win. 

Since their creation, the gates have been used by humans and other beings to both travel and maintain control of their territories. The gate we use today was found in 1928 buried in the sands of Egypt. It was brought to the US in 1939 to protect it from Germany and its allies and was first activated in 1945 in the hopes that it was a weapon. When they were able to get it to power up, a portal appeared within the ring, blue, that looked like water rippling. One of the researchers, Ernest Littlefield, was sent through the gate on a tether but almost immediately after he went through, the gate lost power, the portal collapsed, and Littlefield was lost.

 The scientists weren’t able to determine the gate’s purpose until 1996 when Dr. Daniel Jackson translated the symbols on the cover stone and ring itself and determined that the ring was a doorway. He went through the gate with a military team to find themselves on another planet that was ruled by a member of an alien race called the Goa’uld. They were able to stop the alien from following them back home and destroyed his ship, but Dr. Jackson stayed behind on the planet with the local population, and Earth’s Stargate program was shut down, deemed too dangerous to continue. What we didn’t know is that the Goa’uld were a race of empire builders, who stole humans as slaves and ruled their territories as if they were gods. They were already aware of Earth and always intended to return, their ships were capable of hyperspace flight and could come back at any time, we had no defense. Though the US government thought that shutting down the gate would protect us from what is out there, the truth is doors open both ways and the gate was activated from the other side about a year later. Though the gate was just in storage, a guard was killed, another taken and it was decided that to be unaware was more dangerous. So, Stargate Command was formed and based here in Cheyenne Mountain. We have been exploring, making friends and enemies, but ultimately doing our best to protect Earth from invasion ever since. This is a simplified version of events, of course, and the Goa’uld have been all but eliminated as a threat, but once the box is open���..”Sam’s voice trailed off.

“All the worst of the universe is released and we must strive to hold on to hope, which is the best and last of all things,” Buck continued, paraphrasing a quote. * “So what do you need from me? I’m a firefighter with SAR training, which I can see being useful, but not enough to just offer a job out of the blue. I’m sure there are military service people who have the same training.”

“Maybe they have some of it, but Buck, I’ve seen your list of certifications. It is very impressive. Your experience and commendations from the LAFD speak for themselves, we need you. If I had known about you earlier, you would have received an offer years ago,” she insisted, with a hard look at Lorne and Dave. “What those imaginary marines don’t have, is such a strong expression of the gene that they can talk to the tech without touching it. That gene that the Alterans created and that you have in spades, makes people like you very useful for a city that is made up almost entirely of Alteran technology. In 2004, we found the city of legend, Atlantis, and were able to bring her back to life. Atlantis had been mothballed when the Alterans fled back to Earth and it took many years to get the city into livable shape again. And now, the original gene carriers are getting older and they need every able body with the gene they can get. 

Not to mention, with the majority of the program classified to the highest levels, getting soldiers with specialized training is harder than you would think when you can’t explain why you need them. We do need you for more than your genes, but the number of people who can get even the simplest of the technology to work are few and far between. The city’s population is increasing as the galaxy gets safer, both with people from Earth and small populations of refugees from Pegasus. The Wraith, which I will tell you about later, has been pretty much eliminated as a danger, but there are others. Milky Way or Pegasus, humans are humans and they are often the worst of the monsters out there. Most of the planets have small populations, some nomadic. More like rural Peru than LA.

As far as Atlantis itself, Major General John Sheppard is the military lead on Atlantis. He’s been on the city since we first sent the expedition through the gate in and has the strongest expression of the gene that we know of, but I think if you were tested, you would be the same, if not higher. John is now in his late fifties and has mostly stepped back from fieldwork. He and Dr. McKay, the head of science run the city together, with a council of various departments and representatives from the native population in the mix. The military members and scientists create teams of 4-5 people that go through the gate, exploring and trading with the peoples of the galaxy. But, John has been bringing up needing more pilots and specialized teams, including search and rescue. Most of Atlantis’s food supply comes from trade within the galaxy, often what the people most need in trade are services. Doctors, engineers, construction repair, and even rescue from natural disasters, or accidents, occasionally a team needs rescue from the people they are attempting to befriend. You would not believe the number of prison cells I had to break myself out of in my days of going through the gate.

The population of the galaxy itself is starting to recover, and we’re getting closer to the declassification of the entire program. Atlantis is now intended to be a colony, the first trial before the powers that be decide if opening up empty habitable planets in our own galaxy is feasible, that is the goal at this point. They need new people with skills that can make a life there. That isn’t what we are asking for now, but something to keep in mind. Right now, per our current agreement, this is a six month contract offer, with the option for extension, but we want you to keep in mind that Atlantis is a base with 300-500 people, depending on the day. With a colony, the goal is to make a home for 1000 people to start. There’s no pressure here, the Atlantis expedition has always been volunteer only, but there is something about being there…some people take their rotation and come back to Earth happy for the experience and just as happy to come home to the familiar. Others, though, find a real home there that they had been searching for, in fact, every one of the surviving original members have basically refused to leave and–”

“Frankly, I would still be Sheppard’s XO if he hadn’t practically frogmarched me through the gate to take this promotion,” Lorne interrupted and the rest of the room burst out in chuckles.

Sam rolled her eyes, “Now that you know what we are asking for, think about it, and let me know what you decide.”

********************************************************

“So, you walk through a portal, and walk out in another galaxy? Just like that?” Tommy asked, skeptical.

“I don’t really understand the science of it, the math is pretty neat, but the theory is beyond me. I just nod seriously when they try to explain it,” John responded.

“How bad are these Wraith now? How dangerous would this job be? I mean, I fight fires for a living, I risk my life every day, but I have no interest in being eaten.”

“We have managed to take out all the hives, we think. We do occasionally run into a handful of drones on foot, but they are floundering without the leadership of a queen and not eating like they need to. They are not the smartest, so at their current state, someone strong and with training could take one out without much difficulty. Even better if you can use a sword, though I only have a handful of people with any kind of skill. Anyway, I don’t think they can repair their ships anymore, we haven’t had a sighting of one of their fighter ships in more than a year. I’m not saying being out there in another galaxy is perfectly safe, but we lose more people to accidental injury, requiring them to be rotated back to Earth earlier than we do to death. I’ve been sending requests to Homeworld for a dedicated rescue team for 5 or 6 years now. From what Parrish told me, Buckley would be perfect for the team lead position and they are probably trying to sweet-talk him into the idea right now. I was pretty excited when Parrish told me that Buckley reached out. Finding you, a pilot, is just gravy,” John explained, with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Yeah, I can imagine the look on his face if I asked him if knew what he was getting into. The man survived a firetruck landing on his leg, a tsunami, and being struck by lightning, space vampires would be a piece of cake, right? He’s been with the LAFD for nearly eight years, now, and he doesn’t have any room for advancement at his current house. This would be a great opportunity for him, even if he doesn’t stay long term,” Tommy rotated his neck until it popped then levered himself off the floor and offered a hand to help John up too. “How long will it take me to resign from McMurdo and get to the US to see this stargate? This is insane. I’ve lost my damn mind, but if he goes, I’m going too. Honestly, if it was just me, you would have had me at spaceships, but I need to talk to him, I can’t decide until I know where we are, the two of us,” he sighed tiredly. 

“Awesome! Let’s get back and I’ll get you taken off roster at McMurdo while you pack. I’ll get you to Colorado and Buckley before you can say ‘Beam me up, Scotty!’” John exclaimed in excitement.

*******************************************************

Mitchell clapped his hands sharply, “So. Now that we got the serious part out of the way, I want to see this bartending trick Lorne and Parrish have told me about, we may have a bet on who will get what drink and how many you get right.” Behind Sam and Mitchell, Buck can see Dave bouncing on his toes with a wide grin on his face. 

With a chuckle, Buck perused the bar cart they provided and mentally started a list of the drinks he could make with the ingredients, “Who’s first? Someone I don’t already know?” 

Before anyone could volunteer, the door to the hallway burst open with a bang, “Why did no one tell me we were having a party?! Why did I have to find out from Walter!? Shame! Shame on all your houses!”

Buck jumped in surprise but started to giggle at the sight of the beautiful woman who strode into the conference room with an exaggerated swagger, her long black hair swaying with the motion. “I do believe that I have my first customer! What say you, pretty lady? Would you like me to make you a drink?”Buck said grandly, with an eyebrow waggle. Vala’s eyes lit up with delight and she sidled up to Buck’s side with a grin. 

“I could never turn down an invitation from a handsome stranger! What’s on offer, kind sir?” 

“It’s a surprise, first, tell me about yourself. Are you Vala Mal Doran? I’ve heard of you a bit, good things, of course,” Buck asked with a charming smile dialed up to ten.

“Ooooh, you are the friend of Parrish and Lorne who they are attempting to lure here, are you not? I’ve heard about you, too. But, neither of them shared how beautiful you are! I’m disappointed! Why would they hurt me like this!? They know how much I enjoy…..shiny things!” Vala leans her chest against Buck’s arm and reaches up with one finger to boop him on the nose with a smirk.

Buck laughed, delighted, and already pulling tequila and a tall glass from the cart. “Lovely and vivacious Vala, you are a Tequila Sunrise. Tequila, orange juice, and just a splash of grenadine for the distinct layered look. Sweet, tart, and with a strong kick. Charismatic and captivating,” Buck raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, “always ready for a competition or party, no off switch, with a fiery personality,” he finished with a flourish, adding an umbrella to the drink and passed it to Vala. While she sipped with a hum, he gazed around the room at everyone watching and threw a wink at Dave, “How did I do?” 

“How about a real challenge?” Dave asked with a grin. “Pick drinks for everyone in the room based only on the information I’ve told you in our emails.”

“Deal! First up is Cam! General Mitchell is a family man, deeply patriotic, creative but rational, likes rules, and knowing where to draw the line. He’s calculated in his work, sarcastic with his friends, but at the end of the line, he’s a marshmallow in a bulletproof vest.” Sam snorted a laugh and slapped a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shook in silent laughter. Cam’s face flushed bright red and he shot a glare at Dave who was accepting a passed bill from Lorne. Buck poured Jim Beam in a low glass with ice cubes and squeezed in juice from the lime he had sliced while talking. After he topped off the glass with ginger beer, he gave it a quick stir, added another slice of lime on the rim, and placed it on the table in front of Cam with a bow.  “A Kentucky Mule for General Mitchell.”

The impromptu party was interrupted by the sound of an ear-splitting klaxon alarm and Buck resisted the urge to go for his turnouts and run for the truck. After a few moments, the alarm lowered to a manageable level and Buck turned to Sam, “Do you need to go? Is everything alright?” he asked.

Sam smiled, “Everything’s fine, someone is coming back through the gate. Would you like to watch? We should be able to see them come through if we hurry.” The group left the conference room en masse and all trooped across the hall into some sort of command center with one wall made of glass to overlook a cavernous room below, there were already two men standing at the glass with their backs to them. Both men were tall, one with fluffy salt and pepper hair with a slim build and the other…..he would know that back anywhere. He had explored every inch of that back with his hands and lips.

“Tommy,” Buck gasped out.

The two men turned as the group approached the glass and Buck began to see what everyone was looking at. The space was expansive and stretched a level above and below the observation room they stood in; he could see the stargate below and it was just as impressive as Sam had described, but Buck was having trouble keeping his attention on anything else when the man he had been missing for two months was standing this close to him. Tommy looked tired and thin, his face was covered in a beard and what skin that was exposed seemed to be sun or wind-burned. Buck drank in the sight of him and wiped his clammy palms on his thighs. Tommy’s eyes met Buck’s and the voices talking around him ceased to exist. In this moment, he didn’t want to fight, he didn’t want to argue, he just wanted to take in the sight that he had been denied for two months. Tommy’s mouth twitched at the corner like he wanted to smile but couldn’t and Buck could feel his face light up in a soft smile as his heart just about melted in his chest. His hands twitched to reach out and touch, but this wasn’t the place, it wasn’t the time. 

Voices slowly seeped back into his awareness and Buck reluctantly turned away when Lorne touched his shoulder.

“So what do you think, Buck?”

Buck turned back to glance again at Tommy and drank in the look of wide-eyed wonder on his face as he watched people walk calmly out of what looked like a vertical pool of water, and suddenly working in another galaxy didn’t seem so scary, “Can’t wait.”

*The quote that Buck paraphrased was about Pandora’s Box, “Hope…which is whispered from Pandora’s box only after all the other plagues and sorrows had escaped, is the best and the last of all things.” -Ian Caldwell

PS Would anyone be interested in a dramatic telling of the history of Atlantis, the Pegasus Galaxy, and the Wraith that I accidentally wrote 800 words about?

PSS I have more notes for Buck the Bartender that I may post later. There wasn't really room for all my notes.

tags 💕: @eliotwaughdeservesbetter @anangrylittlehobbit @grimmsdead @fiyaerrigan

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