Chapter #1 ‘Thinner’

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Colonel Jack Elliot was very much still the commander of Atlantis. The city had been turned over to the Ancients and reclaimed by the Tauri almost half a dozen times, but since his appointment it hadn’t happened once. Jack didn’t think that he was directly responsible for this, however, but in knowing that the last raiders had left in search of a planet to colonise and ascend from... he was fairly certain that they weren’t going to turfed out again, he was certainly certain that it wouldn’t be happening on his watch.

In recent years, the decision was made to militarise Atlantis, a decision actually made just after his tenure began. Jack noticed an atmosphere change, and one that seemed to display a slight level of resentment toward him and his armed kin but matter such as people’s opinion of him never gave him time to pause. But. He was sure to rule with a fair, iron, fist should it get in the way.

Shortly after the memo went out regarding the change and future of the city’s leadership, the was the inevitable wave of resignations. A fair few dismissals, too. Jack was ordered to trim the fat of his predecessors and did just that.
The linguistic department was merged with the science, and engineering departments where applicable, and those not meeting the mark were retasked by Stargate Command.
The diplomacy teams were taught additional skills and those were made their primary functions on the base. Those that weren’t complying found themselves back at Stargate Command.
Everyone was evaluated and the structure in Atlantis found itself significantly thinner in numbers, but better for it.
The veterans of the base; those that predated even himself, were positioned in suitably senior posts, and those that were newer, more inexperienced were lowered, so as to actually learn the job rather than waltz in with qualifications but not nouse for the job at hand.

Needless to say he wasn’t a popular person but didn’t care much for popularity. Atlantis was no longer an ‘expedition’ but more of a Command, or a Base - we didn’t need a PG title to make us feel fuzzy inside. The galaxy was flailing at war with itself and Atlantis was sitting firmly minding its own business, and protecting its allies. No offensives, no assaults as per his standing orders. As a matter of fact, if a single round were to be fired, it had to be accounted for. The IOA and Homeworld Command were not a friend to fighting right now.

So here he stood, in his usual spot, in his usual uniform; at the base of the jumper bay staircase in the Control Room of Atlantis Command, wearing his black BDU’s, sidearm and all, overseeing the operations and ready to be called upon when and wear necessary.

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A little bit of a catch-up history and more to come. Jump in team.

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Dr. Hermione Lynch was a long-time member of the Atlantis expedition… or maybe she should not Atlantis Command since there had been a significant change. However, her position within the command had not as she been very much part of the old guard. Atlantis was her home, although for the moment of the base becoming militarised, Lynch had considered leaving – but she had not.

It was hard to herself not on Atlantis, but it was a crossroads and a choice needed to be made about her future. Although, it would seem her work doubled, and the pressures placed upon her department increased. A stream-lined command is what happened and sadly during that process Hermione had said goodbye to colleagues and some friends, but this was life.

Dressed in her uniform completed with the blue stripe, she stepped out of her quarters ready to begin the day. Hermione did have moments where she missed the individual styles of certain people, but one must not dwell on the past she was sure it was a quick way to have her rear turfed back to Earth.

Armed with her trusty tablet, Dr. Lynch made her way swiftly and quietly to the heart of Atlantis to do some basic day to day checks before she would resume the research commanded of her hoping to find new ways that would further benefit the city.

“Morning folks.” She spoke softly in her British accent giving a slight smile walking over to one of the relevant stations. “Right let’s see…” Muttering quietly, logging into the relevant system before giving a slight nod.

Mere moments passed after she gathered the data, she needed to progress with the days work ahead. Passing some other faces, Lynch once more gave a small smile as she made her way down the staircase to take the more scenic route to the science labs. In her path, the base commander Colonel Elliot. She simply greeted “Hello Colonel.” With a nod of her head while continuing her path.

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Colonel Elliot found it good practice to be where the heart of the work was, there was no point to be huddled up in the city’s toe when you could find time for that, but to be where the decisions were actioned as the decision maker, meant no crossed wires and no time for screwing up. He was set on as the XO of the base with the point of being the biggest, firmest support for everyone... He always endeavoured to deliver that but could clearly tell that with recent events, he was simply viewed as the reaper rather than the farmer.

The depth of his thoughts disabled him from hearing the tip tap of feet descending the staircase he was stood on the bottom step of. Ever polite though, she simply greeted “Hello Colonel.” With a nod of her head while continuing her path.

“Good Morning, Doctor!” Jack threw together quickly, as he rashly leapt out of the way.

Noticing he continued path away from him, he blank-mindedly shouted across the Control Room, “Lynch! My office for a moment.”
He quickly stepped to it and walked out of the busy room and into the still one. The room was never decorated or altered from that of his predecessors’ work - he liked it this way, it reminded him of how it was when he arrived, to stop him from slipping too far.

Once again the footsteps behind him stopped. What would he ask of her this time?

Truth be told, he might have been lying to himself about not caring for what people thought of him, well, no. He didn’t care, but, his leadership was his legacy and his senior staff drove it for him, and now that his senior staff were predominantly members of the older expeditions, he called many of the friends; family even. So while he didn’t care what they thought of him, he needed them onside.

It came to him. “Doctor, as you’re aware, we have dignitaries visiting the city for a formal agreement to the negotiations our teams have spent weeks on. Homeworld are crazy pushing this one and it cannot go wrong. So, I figured a gift.” Jack paused for a second, to breathe and allow for digestion of his words.
“You’ll have 6 hours and don’t make it something we want, Homeworld don’t want us to give anything away for free.”

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TAG_LYNCH

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Dr. Lynch bypassed the Colonel with another smile and nod as she continued on her journey after his response to her greeting. When she stopped mid-step after hearing her surname. For the briefest of moments Hermione felt like she was in trouble, before allowing herself to calm down she had done nothing wrong. It was her first thought which was often incorrect.

Turing around to face Colonel Elliot she simply gave a raised eyebrow and followed him up to the office and calming stood by the doorway.

“What can I do for you Colonel?” Lynch stated with the slightest of smiles, although much had changed during the Colonel’s command; it had not been his fault he was following orders. That much she could understand, and she held him in high regard.

Waiting for the next task to be assigned to the doctor which of cause would take priority over any current research was conducting. Silently she listened to his request and gave a raised eyebrow in surprise.

“A gift?” Muttering back in response to him. Of course, Hermione has been aware of the negotiations, something she had silently been pleased about not having to be part of… until now. “You know 6 hours is not a lot of time Colonel, I would have preferred more noticed” Before pausing in deep thought for the briefest of moment. “But I will make it happen, you have my word.”

It was moments like this she did thrive, Hermione was not one to hide from a task handed to her from previous and present commanders. Lynch would certainly be in the wrong profession if that had been the case.

“Is there anything else you need currently?”

Hermione asked the question because being at the top of the food change could be a lonely place and she felt it helped to show the commanders old and new that they had her loyalty as did Atlantis.

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TAG_ELLIOT

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You didn’t need to be a Colonel in the USAF to read a room and right now you’d read the novel written all over Elliot’s Chief Science Advisor.

“A gift?” She’d muttered back to him. Jack gave a tilt of the head.

.”You know 6 hours is not a lot of time Colonel, I would have preferred more notice.” Jack inhaled and opened his jaw slightly ready to speak with his exhale. No wasn’t an option here - his job was to people manage and to delegate. “But I will make it happen, you have my word.”

Jack softened his expression and smiled just as soft, exhaling his air without words. Once more, he titled his head in silent gratitude. He couldn’t very well tell the lady just how much a favour she’d done for him, the issue with the personnel in Atlantis was that they’d gotten too comfortable which in turn caused the inefficiency that drew attention of the IOA and Homeworld Command that got them all in the situation they’re in. The nod would suffice.

“Is there anything else you need currently?” Jack listened as the Doctor spoke, about to leave.

“That’ll be all, Doctor.” Jack said, nudge his head up toward the digital panel clock high on the wall of his office. The gesture was a polite ‘jump to it’ without shoving the woman down the stairs.

Jack left the room with her and returned to his post afoot of the staircase just off centre of the Control Room.

He looked at his watch. ~Food.~ he thought.

Turning on the ball of his foot, sealed inside his boot, jacks right arm clenched the bannister beside him and he almost swung around and joined the descending stairwell to drop a level, destined for the transporter and then the mess hall.

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What was left to say? There was nothing because this doctor has no doubt the Colonel would have shot down any serious objections to the timescale down in flames. She thrived under pressure, some of her best work had come from it and it allowed Dr Lynch some remarkable freedom in her research when there were no other pressing issues.

“Understood Colonel.” Nodding making her way toward the exit of the officer. “Just shout if there is anything else that comes up.” It may have been a little bit of a sly comment, but she could not resist. She was English, having doubled handed comments was what she did best.

Setting her timer on her watch for 5 hours rather than 6 hours because Hermione was considering that whatever the gift was it would need to be packaged in a presentable way.

In a matter of minutes, the chief science officer was in her lab and already a couple of members of the team were there. Just what she liked to see.

“Right team change of plans for the next…” Pausing for a moment checking her watch. “4 hours and 47 minutes. We need to find some useful technology that is no longer useful to us and we no longer want.” Looking around at the room. “And don’t give me the time issue, this request has come from the Colonel. So, lets crack on and shine again.”

The mood of the room quickly changed to excitement and a sense of urgency as the science team pulled together in hush whispers with Hermione overseeing the task at hand.

Within moments, the first suggestion rolled in with a simple shake of her head. “Thomas, you do realize we need that for the city… for part of the power.” Smirking with a chuckle. “Try again.” Dr. Lynch was not about to lower the bar for anyone in the team. They were a strong and she knew they could get it because they had done it before.

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Jack arrived at the mess hall.

Currently he was sat having lunch. He'd plucked three egg mayonnaise & water cress sandwiches from the buffet table, a packet of salted potato chips, a slice of strawberry cheesecake, whipped of course, and a packet of roasted chicken and thyme potato chips for his desk... You never know.

While he consumed his feast, Elliot often sat at a corner table, his back to the room and spent the majority of the time listening to a podcast through his earpiece. He found that sitting looking into the room, or even in the centre of it meant the his personnel weren't relaxing enough on their breaks through assumed fear of being watched or overheard. He wasn't nearly close enough to eat elsewhere to appease the masses though, and so he stayed in the room, but out of the way.

It was fine, he'd got a podcast on, recapping the episodes gone of a science fiction show he recently took to watching, so that blocked the noise out and all was good.

A lot of the changes that had been made, and were being made in Atlantis had indeed created significant efficiency and less personnel in harms way while the galaxy was in uproar with itself... But Jack would be lying if he said he didn't think that those little friendships and moments lost didn't help with inter-departmental relationships... Which of course did cause nepotism and cliques... So best they were gone... It was a catch 22, for sure.
While he was being true to himself he might as well acknowledge that he wasn't the 'true' commander of the base right now, he was just the puppet of Homeworld Command; a once great organisation that had been chewed away bit by bit by the IOA's worst half - he couldn't do a thing. To refuse them would be to simply be another casualty and to accept would further weaken the City. His mind said that the best place to tackle it was Stargate Command. A man with FIVE STARS worked there, and that didn't count for nothing.

He was onto the cheesecake. No point in ruining the cheesecake with thoughts of the IOA, so he carried on - just listening to his podcast and enjoying the solitude.

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ON:

Flying Officer Gordon Hannigan was walking the corridors of this vast city.

He loved the architecture and design that was now millennia old. He truly appreciated the engineering that went into designing this amazing place, but then he snapped out of his day-dream and was refocused on the task in hand.

Due to the city changing hands multiple times over the last few years, the gate had had some modifications done to it which they needed to understand, in this case, Gordo's job. Although he had only recently commissioned within the Royal Air Force, he had many years engineering experience within the air and space fields. Looking down at the tablet which he held in his hand, he was looking over diagnostic data from the last successful established wormhole. This in itself might have seemed insignificant, however he knew that he needed to ensure that the gate was working at its best, all of the time.

As he made a couple of left turns, he found himself in the mess hall. With the sun shining in through the massive windows, it gave the room a warm, yellow glow and the smell of food, although not the greatest of times, was always a comfort. Having lives on RAF stations most of his life, he wasn't expecting five star culinary, but it did smell good. Having picked up a ham sandwich and an orange, he found an empty table, parked it, pulled his tablet out and started reading.

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“Nope, that is not something we can give away. You realise home world command would fire us all quickly and replaced by some robot military person.” Pausing for a moment. “Sorry Reeds, you are the exception of course.” Giving a slight smile and smirk to the young solider. Hermione was respectful of course to the branches of the military but she ran her department the way she liked with the ‘gentle’ hand of the military trying to ensure she stayed on their correct side.

They paid her wages, of course Dr, Lynch was going to stay on the correct side of her employers.

Taking a moment to herself, Hermione stepped onto the small balcony providing herself with view that was simply beautiful. It was a sight that she did not get bored of and often to provide her with quite a bit of inspiration when needed. Such as was needed in the current assignment provided to the team.

There were days when she felt like her head was underwater and it could sometimes be difficult to handle a situation, but even Hermione knew when to seek support of the science team. Sometimes it could be make or break depending on the situation. But, quite often she would need a very good reason to accept failure which was never something the upper powers wanted to hear.

“Doctor Lynch…” And there it was. The brief moment of peace was shattered with her own name. Just one more moment, but everything calming must come to end until the next passing moment.

“Yes?” Hermione nodded and turned around to face the destroyer of her fleeting moment of calm. Back to work she went stepping through the automatic doors. Looking across at the team she began her own idea. “What about communicators? Maybe a few generations ago technology?”

The ideas began to bounce around the room once more.

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Colonel Elliot could be found leant back on a chair, arms folded, in the mess hall listening to a podcast with a full stomach of food... but boy was he contemplating those chicken potato chips all the same. Content was what made him hungry, and every so often, back to the world meant just that.

His podcast fading to a slowing silence, a click came through the headset and into his ear, followed by a southern American drawl:
=^=Colonel Elliot, Sir, please respond.=^=

Jack double tapped the headset to cease the podcast he’d prefer and to connect to the conversation he loathed, =^=Elliot, what’s up?=^=

=^=Sir, we have team 19 ready for their team meeting ahead of their brief but there’s a problem=^= 19 was their diplomatic team.

His eyes rolled as his tongue removed cress from behind a tooth. =^=I’m assuming I’ll find out what that is Savanna?!=^= he blurted to the voice with a frustrated tone.

=^=Jack, Alex. Sorry to bother you man, but it’s Obherst... His appendix is on the fritz... He’s been taken off of active.=^= the voice was that of Alex Kingsman, the team leader, and it was a worried voice at that.

=^=So? Just get another science guy to fill in for Obh- wait. I’ll do it. Out.=^=

Jack slid the chair backwards as he ascended to his feet with utter contempt for the hassle caused. He slid the packet of chips from his table with his left hand and walked across the room to use the transporter - then the office of the Chief Science Advisor.

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Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Hermione sighed and she felt her age because they had not yet figured out the best ‘gift’ to give to their new friends. It would be fair if this would be easier on her team and it would pay for them all, however, it rarely did because they were the geeks of Atlantis.

Hermione remembered the brief contact she had with Dr. Mackay all those years ago after she was offered her job, it was not helpful until now. There were days dark and bitter when Hermione knew from experience that something better happened and somehow it did happen. The whole team became wiser from it.

In fact, Hermione remembered a time when the team was first formed and her inexperience at the time. It has been one of the hardest times of her life, sometimes she looked as warm as gold. After this time, she could sometimes be quite cold and it taught her a lesson about not getting attached because in this line of work, it could end quickly and the darkness would fall. Within this new team, very few people knew her experiences and why she reacted the way she.

Hermione had of caused thought about returning to Earth and having a ‘normal life’ but after all this time that was not her. She had created her own happened, in her work.

“Dr. Lynch, I think we have something.” This sentence caused Hermione to snap out of her thought process.

“Well continue.” She told the team and she was quickly involved in the process and this was the right path that they were searching on. “Keep going team.”

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TAG_ANYONE?

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Jack exited the transporter and walked down the halls of the city to get the science labs. They really weren't far away from the transformers, and if one were to be moving a little quickly so as to problem solve a time sensitive issue then you'd be make it in less than half the time.

Turning left and slowing his pace right back down to a standard walk, Elliot was about to make the final turn until he was nabbed by a scientist.

"Atler." Jack said, not paying any courtesies to the man stood in his way.

"Sir, I wanted to ask if we could-" Jack held his palm up to the man.

"Yes, but don't break it, no if your boss says don't play with it and report it if you've carried it out safely." Jack then used the same right hand to move the man gently out of his way via the shoulder, before he pressed on.

Jack stepped foot inside the lab in question and heard a familiar voice, “Keep going team.”

The Colonel entered the room further, in doing so seemingly reduced the volume level of it's occupants. He approached Lynch, "Lynch, have one of these rubes sent to the briefing room to join the diplomacy team - it's pretty time sensitive so they'd like your brightest rube please."

Colonel Elliot turned to leave, stopped and turned back, holding out his left arm with the packet, "You can have the crisps for your trouble, if you'd like?" straining slightly to get his head around the 'language barrier'.

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TAG_LYNCH

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Dr. Lynch was quite happy with the way the team was progressing and the communication was becoming better than it previously had. There was about a thousand steps and meetings to get to this point. Before that Hermione had been pulling out her hair and felt often like working in darkness because that was what the dynamics was once upon a time.

The team quickly become quieter and about to make a comment. Dr. Lynch heard the voice of Colonel Elliot and she resist the urge to roll her eyes and say something sarcastic. Why did the military insist on trying to control her lab? Then she remembered he was the commander of Atlantis.

Facing the Colonel as he began to speak, and she simply raised eyebrow at the request made. Once more, Dr. Lynch found herself nodding and was about to turn to the team when the Colonel spoke once more.

Almost in disbelief she gave the Colonel a chuckle and then a smirk with the response. “Colonel, I have worked around you yanks for a long time now, you can simply say chips and I will understand.”

It had always made her chuckle when the Americans tried to speak in a British accent and always ruined it. “So you can keep your crisps, I am not that mean.” Once again thinking. “However, for my trouble, can you please ask some members of the security team to stop coming into the labs unsupervised. They keep handling items that they shouldn’t or break something else.” Hermione made in passing comment, she knew not to handle guns or weapons without permission.

“It causes additional work for my team and gives me a headache for days.”

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Gordo was sat at the table, picking at his orange and reading the data that was showing on his tablet.

Taking slow and conscious bytes of the pieces of orange seemed to help him concentrate on the barrage of data that was being displayed to him. Being the chief gate technician came with a large amount of responsibility and boy did he know it. Although he knew the Milky Way gates inside and out, the Pegasus gates where something else. Their blue hue always amazed him and the fact that the technology was more refined.

Suddenly, something caught his eye on the data that he was reading. ~Oh geez~.

Grabbing his sandwich, he smashed it down his throat and proceeded towards the control tower. He knew that this was either going to cause a mighty big bang, or a small spark Gordo being the optimist that he was, was hoping for the spark. Otherwise polish wasn't going to 'buff out' the mess that an exploding Stargate could cause. After a slight jog towards the control room, he reached his console, plugged his tablet into the dock and started typing away furiously.

After stopping for a second, to glance around the room, he calmly tapped the ear piece in his right ear =^=Colonel Elliot, its Hannigan, have you got a second?=^=

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Jack smirked at his Chief Scientist refusing his chips, and authorising him to proceed to use the name they were given in his native tongue.

He winked and withdrew his hand from offering the potato chips. With them now back at his side he listened again:
“However, for my trouble, can you please ask some members of the security team to stop coming into the labs unsupervised. They keep handling items that they shouldn’t or break something else.” Lynch’s comments made Elliots face frown.

“It causes additional work for my team and gives me a headache for days.” He nodded agreeing with her stance on the matter and then he tapped his earpiece.

=^=Security Teams to refrain from touching ANYTHING in labs unless City-wide emergency is declared. Team lead, you’ll also need to find time to get appropriately trained in order to disseminate the information. See me directly if you’re unhappy.=^=

Elliot casually gestured at a salute with a few fingers, and from his left hand, before he smirk was interrupted, =^=Colonel Elliot, its Hannigan, have you got a second?=^=

Jack tossed the potato chips over to a lab table, “Lynch, you’ll love ‘em.” Before he turned on his heal for the door, once he’d entered the hallway he yelled back, “Don’t forget the rube!”

Hightailing it to the transporter he’d not long since exited, he hit his earpiece once more, =^=Mr Hannigan! What can I do you for?=^=

Hannigan was a gate tech if memory served, so his post was right where Elliot perched.

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