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"That never gets old, I love that!" - Col. O'Neill
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I tap a few more commands into the console, and stretch my tired back against the control room chair. I start the last diagnostic program that needs to be run and can now afford a few seconds to wait for the person I know will undoubtedly arrive. I know he won't miss this, he never does. Sure enough I hear the clanging of someone rushing up the steps and I look back over my shoulder to see the breathless and dishevelled form of Colonel O' Neill throw himself into the room. His soaking hair is plastered flat, and water drips from it onto his shoulders. His face is concerned and hopeful as he strides towards me, zipping up his flightsuit over a damp black T-shirt.
"Am I too late?" He asks worriedly, coming up to my side to stare out the window.
"No sir, launch in two minutes" I say with a smile as he leans over the console, his hands spread on control panels as he cranes his neck towards the window to get a good look at the UAV being prepped on its little launch pad. His face breaks into a broad grin when he sees it, and I duck my head away and tap in some more parameters to hide my own smile. He watches silently for a few moments, then he pulls himself straight and ruffles his wet hair, attempting to dry it. Tiny droplets of water spray everywhere and across my keyboard, and he grins sheepishly at me and backs away, indicating the keyboard with haphazard flourish of his other hand.
"Sorry Carter, didn't have time to dry, you know I couldn't miss this"
I smile to show him there's no damage done, and check the UAV's status as he has a look around the room, hands shoved deep into his pockets. Spying a chair by the stairs he flings himself down into it, then using his feet to push off on the wall he propels himself toward me, banging into the back of my chair as he misjudges his trajectory.
"Sorry Carter" He says, grinning back over his shoulder before taking a hold of the chair and hiking it over to my side. Once there he leans on the palm scanner, chin in his hand, his eyes flicking from me to the UAV, and I swear if he asks 'Is it ready yet Mom?' like last time I'll ban him from the next launch. I busily check the onboard scanners and camera, and he starts to fidget as he gets restless. Suddenly a red light starts blinking on my panel, and with a flash of sparks from the UAV the secondary motor blows out and Siler rushes over with a fire extinguisher.
"Woah, what was that?" Asks the Colonel as he leaps to his feet. I leap to mine and grab the microphone in my hand as technicians start to mill about and Siler raises his hands to show me he doesn't know what went wrong.
"The secondary motor had a short, you're going to have to replace the board and the power supply"
Siler nods and gives me a thumbs up and starts to order people about in the gateroom. I lean back and sigh and abort the countdown, and I can feel the Colonel sag beside me.
"How long's it gonna take to fix?" He asks, eyes showing his obvious disappointment, and I think again how much he often appears to be a big kid.
"It'll take around ten minutes to replace those components sir, then we'll get a launch" He tuts despite himself and leans back in his chair. I reset the self diagnostic programs, and try to ignore the squeaks coming from his chair as he spins lazily, adding to his momentum every so often with a shove of his foot against the monitor in front of him. He starts whistling tunelessly and after a few minutes of that my concentration breaks.
"Sir..." I start, peering back over my shoulder, and he watches me curiously every time he faces me as he spins. He has no idea how annoying he is at this exact moment, and only after being on the receiving end of my glares for a few minutes does he stop, and raise his eyebrows.
"Sorry, am I getting in your way?" He asks, then sticks out his bottom lip and gives me those puppy dog eyes...again.
"Could you please just stop squeaking your chair sir?"
"Sure" he says, and levers himself forward till he's peering over my shoulder. I feel his warm breath on my neck and I grit my teeth, and beg Siler with my eyes to hurry up with the repairs. We sit this way for a few minutes, and I wonder if he's deliberately sitting so close to try and force some sort of reaction from me. Eventually he blows out a long warm breath and I shiver, and I swear he's probably grinning right now. I can feel my shoulders tensing, then after he feels I've had enough he leans back, and starts to pick at the arm of his chair with bored fingers.
"Carter, did you ever have a toy plane, a radio controlled one?"
I spin in my chair to look at him, and he smiles slightly at my wide eyes. He's now straddling the chair, his folded arms resting across the back, and his chin rises off them to look at me.
"Yeah, I did"
"Yeah? Me too, I had a huge one, can't remember what it was but me and my Dad used to fly it all the time. One time it went right through my neighbours window"
He grins at that admission, his eyes slitting, and I swear I can see right through to the naughty boy inside.
"Smashed it?" I ask over my shoulder and he grins, seems like he was waiting for that question.
"Nah, window was open. It went right in and landed on the dining room table that was all set up with a huge buffet lunch. Ruined it"
I can't help but laugh at that, and he looks immensely proud of himself at this admission.
"Guests turned up five minutes later, nothing to eat"
"Did you get in trouble?"
"Not really, it was my Dad who was flying it at the time. But it was that plane that made we want to join the Air Force"
He smiles a little then drops his head back onto his arms, turning to look out the window. I'm tempted to ask more about his family life as a child but I get the feeling he's no longer on good terms with his father, so I get back to my work. He falls quiet then, his face set, and I feel I need something to break the silence.
"My Dad bought me the plane so I would like the Airforce, but I didn't want to fly planes, I wanted to fly shuttles" He chuckles then shakes his head.
"This isn't so bad though huh?" He asks, nudging my chair, and I look out the window and grin. No, it's not so bad.
"Now you got your own little toy plane, and hell it flies across the galaxy!" He says, throwing his arms out and simply beaming as he comes to this realisation. I smile too, and then he points out the window to Siler who's giving me the thumbs up. That done I start the initialisation program once more, and this time all the circuits check out. I dial the gate to PK8755 and technicians leave the room. The gate opens, and the UAV shudders on its launch pad. I can practically feel the Colonel fidgeting beside me, and when I turn to him he's looking at me with big pleading eyes that I just can't resist. I push my chair back from the console and sweep my arm low for him, and his face lights up with childish glee. He pushes himself out of his chair and leans over my keyboard, one hand on the monitor to support himself. A long outstretched finger hovers uncertainty over a key, and he glances back over his shoulder in query. I nod, and with a broad grin he stabs the key, and the UAV launches itself into the wormhole and beyond.
"Yes!" He exclaims, punching the air with a fist, his face bathed in blue light. He steps back, eyes still dancing as I watch the UAV's progress, then the gate snaps shut. That's that, we've already done an extensive recon of PK8755, and tagged it for a broader search by the UAV. With it launched my work is over for the day, once I check that everything went well, and help the technicians remove the pad and controller units from the gateroom. I slip back into my chair and start some diagnostic programs, and I hear the Colonel yawn behind me. I turn to smile at him, and his head is thrown back and his arms are outstretched. Finally he sags and scrubs at his hair with a weary hand and smiles.
"Don't work too hard Carter" He tells me with a wave of his hand as he starts to back away. I nod and turn back to my work, smiling to myself. The Colonel always makes an effort to be at a launch, unless he's off-base, and though I know he's here to see the UAV, for some reason it means a lot to me. I shake my head and sigh and try to regain some concentration when a holler from the stairs makes me spin around.
"Carter!"
I flinch as I see something come towards me, but smile instead as my eyes follow the impressively slow yet shaky path of a hastily made paper aeroplane. It dips and weaves across the room, and finally comes to rest on the keyboard in front of me. The Colonel looks so proud of himself as he stands there clutching the stair rail, that I give him a jaunty little salute which prompts a grin. We simply stare at each other for a few seconds, and his grin turns into a soft, gentle smile, the kind of genuine smile I see only rarely, and it makes my heart jump a little. He pulls one hand from the railing to give me a little wave, and I simply sit with my hands folded in my lap and nod.
"G'night Sam" He says quietly, then starts down the stairs.
"'Night sir" I answer softly, and he's gone...or so I thought.
"Oh and Carter?" He says, and his head is just visible as he stands on the landing below.
"Sir?" I ask, wondering what he wants. He just stands therefor a moment, his tongue tracing the inside of his lips, then he gives me a large lopsided smile and shakes his head.
"If this one crashes, try and make sure it comes down within a hundred yards of the gate okay?"
He grins again then is gone, his footsteps resounding on the steel steps as he goes. I turn back to my work and see that the diagnostics have run, and that Siler and the other technicians have cleared the gateroom. With that I shutdown the launch program, and turn the control room over to the late shift. Standing I stretch out my weary body and collect my notes. I pick up the paper plane and look at it for a moment, before folding it firmly along its keel and tucking it into my notebook as I make my way to the stairs.
Oh well, there's another launch the day after tomorrow.
I'm looking forward to it.
********************************* THE END *********************************
Story Notes: EMAIL: dustdevil@btinternet.com
ARCHIVE: S&J Archive and Heliopolis, Yes. Others...please ask.
FEEDBACK: Yes please! Feeeeeeeeeeedbaaaaaaaaack...drool...
SPOILERS: Uh...don't think so...but it's set season 3.
ARCHIVE: S&J Archive and Heliopolis, Yes. Others...please ask.
FEEDBACK: Yes please! Feeeeeeeeeeedbaaaaaaaaack...drool...
SPOILERS: Uh...don't think so...but it's set season 3.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]