Top Secret / General Inspection

[sgarb_mod]

Artist: syble4
Title: Top Secret
Medium: Photo manip
Pairing(s): none

Author: goddess47
Title: General Inspection
Wordcount: ~9,300
Rating: R, for swears
Pairing(s): none
Summary: General Stanley A. McChrystal got himself relieved of duty in Afghanistan on purpose. He has other problems to solve and the answer to at least one of them seems to be in Pegasus.
Notes: Many thanks to mischief5 for straightening out my story; it's a hugely better for your input. Thanks to mezzo_cammin for the beta and to melagan for the general feedback.
General Stanley A McChrystal is a real person and this is a work of total fiction. No harm is meant in this work and any interpretations of the General's character or any of his actions are totally my own.

General Inspection

"Thanks for meeting me," General Stanley A. McChrystal told General Jack O'Neill as they shook hands. They sat and placed their briefcases under the table.

"Not a problem," O'Neill waved a hand vaguely. "Nice place," he commented on the small restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia they were currently sitting in.

McChrystal shrugged, "Picked it pretty much at random from the tourist guide. It had decent ratings so I figured it wouldn't be awful." And being early dinnertime on a Tuesday meant it wouldn't be too busy yet.

They both knew they couldn't have this conversation in either of their offices, having to assume their calls were monitored and that, more than likely, there were listening devices in their offices – 'for their own protection' was the official reason. Well, that was O'Neill's problem now, since McChrystal had officially retired from the Army last week. It no longer was his problem.

McChrystal got a message to O'Neill through David Petraeus that he wanted to meet, knowing David would be able to pass the message discretely. He needed information that only Jack O'Neill could give him.

They placed their orders with the waitress, McChrystal only ordering a salad and unsweetened ice tea since he had already eaten today but knew it would look odd if he didn't order anything. He didn't want to do anything that would make their meeting memorable to anyone.

"That was quite the trick," O'Neill commented. "Forcing Obama's hand that way."

McChrystal shrugged. "Worked the way I wanted it to," he replied.

O'Neill laughed. "Even I wouldn't have thought to talk to Rolling Stone," he said. "How'd you get them to cooperate?"

"Didn't have to do anything," McChrystal replied. "One of my aides had been contacted by them months ago about an interview, God only knows why, still had the contact information, and the reporter jumped all over it."

"You're lucky Obama didn't hand you your ass, you know," O'Neill looked at him with clear, brown eyes. The tone was casual but McChrystal didn't pretend to not understand. The man sitting with him had outlasted multiple Presidents and saved the planet more than once.

"He was dithering and I wanted it to be me," McChrystal acknowledged. "Took my chances, figured I was due some luck."

"Atlantis isn't a vacation," O'Neill warned. "In many ways it's another Afghanistan. You don't know who the good guys are, you have a small handful of friendly natives and way too few troops to do the job properly."

McChrystal dug into his jacket pocket and handed O'Neill a folded sheet of paper. "Can you help me with this?" McChrystal asked. "It's part of why I wanted to go to Atlantis."

O'Neill shot him a hard look when he opened the page. "Do you know what this is?" O'Neill demanded.

"I was hoping you could tell me," McChrystal shot back. "We got it from a friend of a friend," which they both knew meant it came from a covert operation somewhere, "the original picture is locked up somewhere, probably never to be seen again."

O'Neill traced a part of the picture, "This writing is Ancient…." He frowned. "It makes no sense."

"That's what I've been told," McChrystal answered. "The weapon doesn't look particularly special, looks like a stupid BB gun, but with the Ancient writing in the background and a partial schematic of Atlantis, it has to be checked out."

O'Neill handed him back the page, "Makes sense. What else is being done?"

"We've set Paul Davis loose on the NID, and Landry is checking the mountain, although if you'd like to give a hand there, it would be appreciated," McChrystal explained.

O'Neill chuckled. "Hank can be a pain in the ass but he'll be fine," he answered.

"So I'm using the troop and equipment request Sheppard and Woolsey put together as an excuse to look into this, also," McChrystal elaborated. "Tell me what the files don't about Sheppard."

He knew he'd hit a hot spot when O'Neill shifted slightly and took a sip of his water before answering.

"You will hate Sheppard," O'Neill must have decided on bluntness. "He's charismatic, his military discipline is all over the place and he's brilliant in Atlantis. Anywhere else, he'd be turfed out by now. Atlantis survives due to him and his team."

"What else?" McChrystal pushed.

"Don't fuck with him, his pet geek is smarter than all of mine put together although Sheppard's no slouch in that department himself," O'Neill said quietly. "And don't tell any of them I said that. Sheppard and McKay are amazing together and they're going to solve a lot of our problems, if they live long enough."

"Trouble?" McChrystal asked.

O'Neill snorted. "Capital T trouble," he said. "They've saved Atlantis, and Earth, more times than you want to know. The AARs don't give you half the story and they aren't talking."

"You said Sheppard's no slouch?" McChrystal pursued the nugget that caught his attention.

"No way," O'Neill said firmly. "He doesn't look like much on paper but if you talk to anyone he's studied under they all say he'd do what he had to in order to look just above average and quit. One of his profs told me Sheppard could do a PhD in math or engineering with his eyes closed but all he wanted to do is fly. So he did enough to get his wings and stopped there."

"And McKay?"

"Arrogant with justification," O'Neill answered. "Brilliant, he really is the smartest man in two galaxies, and in his element in Atlantis. While Sheppard has the strongest ATA gene we know of, McKay's gene seems to have strengthened over time and between them they can make the city do anything they want. Part of the reason I worked with the IOA to get the city to go back to Pegasus. Some asshole would have figured out how much they interact with the city intuitively and made them both a science experiment. And tore the city apart in the process."

"Any chance they're involved with this?" McChrystal asked neutrally nodding at the page O'Neill was holding.

"Not in a million years," O'Neill laughed. "McKay has better things to play with on Atlantis. If this were at all interesting, it would still be there, if it came from there in the first place. No idea where this might have come from."

"Anything else?" McChrystal asked.

O'Neill reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. McChrystal opened the box and looked at the contents. "If you think it's warranted, do it. It's too hard to do here and it's overdue. Your discretion," O'Neill directed.

"If I think it's not?" McChrystal asked.

O'Neill shrugged but McChrystal knew there'd be questions if he didn't do what O'Neill asked.

McChrystal pulled out enough cash to pay the bill. There would be no credit card trail. "See you!" O'Neill gave a small salute and left with the empty briefcase McChrystal had brought. McChrystal picked up the briefcase O'Neill had left for him.

Two days later, McChrystal found himself in a miniscule cabin on the spaceship Daedalus. That was bizarre in just so many ways. It went beyond the Heinlein and Asimov he had read as a kid, never expecting anything like this to ever become real, much less be real now.

A tap on his door. "Sir? Colonel Caldwell can see you now."

"Thank you, Captain," McChrystal answered.

He followed the Captain to what must have been Caldwell's office. It was marginally larger than his room but it did have two chairs, one on each side of the flat surface that served as a desk.

"Sir," Caldwell greeted him.

"Retired, Colonel, retired," he told Caldwell. "Just a consultant now."

"Yes, sir," Caldwell agreed.

"My mission is to evaluate the request for troops and equipment," McChrystal stuck to his cover story. "Tell me about Atlantis."

Caldwell sat back in his chair, obviously deliberating. "What sort of thing do you want to know?" he temporized.

"What kind of thing won't I find in the files? I have mission reports and personnel files. I know they only tell you so much," he answered easily. "Tell me about Atlantis."

Caldwell's eyes narrowed in thought. "I don't spend a lot of time on the city," he offered. "Sometimes I feel like a glorified delivery man although the space ship part of that makes it pretty cool." He grinned. "I also seem to spend a lot of my time getting McKay and Sheppard out of trouble."

Ah! That was more like it. "McKay and Sheppard are in trouble a lot?" he asked.

Caldwell snorted. "They are trouble," he laughed. "They're also so fucking lucky. Why they're still alive, I don't know. Either McKay pulls something out of his ass or I show up just in time to save them."

"Could you do better?" McChrystal asked.

Caldwell shook his head. "I used to think so," he mused. "But I couldn't pull everyone together the way Sheppard does. They'll all do almost anything for him, especially those from the first wave. Me? They'd tolerate me and we'd all be dead inside of a year."

"Sheppard's that important?" McChrystal asked, amazed.

Caldwell shrugged. "Not just him. Him and McKay, hell, Ronon Dex and Teyla Emmagen are part of it," Caldwell replied. "There's no explanation for it."

"What do you think of Sheppard," McChrystal pushed.

Caldwell sat still for a second, probably realizing he was now in a corner, exactly where McChrystal wanted him.

"I've come to respect what he does," Caldwell finally answered. "At first, I resented the hell out of him. He got to run Atlantis and I'm stuck being bus driver. Now? We've ended up doing exactly what we're best at." He looked boldly at McChrystal. "You? You already dislike him and you'll dislike him even more when you meet him."

"Why do you say that?" McChrystal forced himself to stay calm, not take it personally.

"For one thing, no matter what you do or say, you'll never get Sheppard out of command of Atlantis and he knows it," Caldwell stated. "He's honestly not arrogant about it, it's just the way things are. Even though you're retired, you're brass. Sheppard's been fucked over enough that he has no tolerance for much of the chain of command. O'Neill can keep him in line and keeps everyone off his back. Anyone else? Good luck!"

"O'Neill said pretty much the same thing," McChrystal had to admit.

Caldwell laughed at that.

Spending time in his cabin wasn't that much different from time spent in tents in war zones. Admittedly, there were more staff at his beck and call in war zones and he found it interesting how he had become used to having someone take care of routine business for him.

One of the personal things he missed was his daily run. Being used to running seven to eight miles almost every day, his body craved the exercise and the release he got from it. Meditation helped with some of the stress but it wasn't the same. Not needing a lot of sleep meant he had a lot of time to fill.

He had memorized the personnel files O'Neill had given him but he scattered the files for Sheppard and his team over the small, flat surface that he used as a desk. O'Neill's files were slightly more informative than the official personnel files that he had been given by the IOC but he knew they were only part of the story. The files he had from the IOC for the Pegasus natives, Dex and Emmagen, were scanty and a step above meaningless. Even O'Neill didn't have a lot of information on them.

He looked over the personnel pictures, knowing that that really didn't tell him much, but he liked to be able to identify people ahead of time. He had pictures of all of the Atlantis staff on his computer but there was something compelling about these four.

Three weeks to Atlantis allowed McChrystal to memorize all of the personnel files and AARs he had been given. He understood O'Neill's warning about the AARs not being complete; he had been around long enough to know when someone was spinning the truth.

"Approaching Atlantis, sir," the Captain that seemed assigned to him announced. "Colonel Caldwell said if you wanted to watch the approach you're welcome to join us on the bridge."

"Appreciate that," McChrystal answered. McChrystal followed the man to the bridge and stood in the back where there was a free space.

Having never seen a planet from space before, he had not been invited to the bridge when they left Earth, McChrystal was fascinated by the view. While he could see it wasn't Earth, it was very Earth-like. Blue water, continents, white clouds dominated the screen. He couldn't feel the ship slow but could see the deceleration in the slower change in perspective of the planet. The ship broke through the clouds and the city was below them.

"We'll set down on the East pier," Caldwell announced. "It's not technically 'East' but that's what it's been called from the beginning and the name stuck."

McChrystal appreciated the explanation.

"We have cargo for Atlantis, easier to land and offload it," Caldwell went on. "Lets the crew stretch their legs for a day before we head back." The Daedalus was staying about a local day and a half. It was early morning in Atlantis now and they would be heading back tomorrow evening, local time. McChrystal wondered if anyone ever got used to the planetary time differences while traveling. It had to be worse than jet lag from the time zone differences on Earth,

The descent to the city and the final landing were routine. McChrystal took the opportunity to grab his bags so he could exit the Daedalus as soon as possible.

"Attention!"

McChrystal sighed to himself. So much for being discreet.

"At ease," he replied to the assembled troops.

"Welcome to Atlantis, General," Sheppard said. He saluted, then reached out to shake hands.

Not military protocol, McChrystal thought to himself.

"Take the General's bags," Sheppard told a Marine Sergeant. James Littlejohn, McChrystal recognized the man from the personnel files. "They'll be in your room."

"Thank you, Colonel Sheppard," McChrystal replied. "O'Neill?" he speculated out loud.

Sheppard nodded. "In the last databurst, he was kind enough to let us know you were coming so we'd make you welcome," he said smoothly.

Charming, O'Neill had said.

"Mr. Woolsey is in his office and asked that you join him there," Sheppard offered. "You can see some of the city along the way."

"I'd like that," McChrystal decided to just go with it for the moment.

Sheppard gave a discreet signal and the assembled soldiers disbursed. Some went off in a couple of different directions, an organized looking group approached the Daedalus, assumedly to assist with the offloading of cargo.

"This way, sir," Sheppard indicated a walkway toward the nearest tower. "We're on the East pier, which we use for a landing pad and storage. The tower ahead is one we're starting to clear out for living quarters. We've been living in space that we've decided was designed to be transient housing, like a hotel. This building has apartments where we can spread out and have more space."

"With a city the size of Manhattan, I can't imagine you'd be short of space," McChrystal commented.

Sheppard gave a snort, "It's not that we're short of space, exactly. What we're short of is safe living space. The Ancients took a lot of their stuff with them but some of what they left behind is dangerous. Figuring out what's dangerous or not is a full time job."

They came to a sliding door that opened into a small space. Sheppard indicated that he should get in and followed.

"Transporter," Sheppard explained. He pointed to the map on the wall. "Press the location you want to go to and it's instantaneous. You don't have to have the ATA gene to use the system. It's safer if you know where you're going since some of the locations are unstable or under water. It shouldn't let you exit under water but you never know."

He could see that Sheppard was curious whether he was ATA positive or not. Testing on Earth revealed he didn't have an active gene but that there was a slim chance he could benefit from Dr. Beckett's treatment to activate his gene. O'Neill had encouraged him to do it but he was still debating with himself whether he wanted to or not.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," McChrystal assured the other man.

They exited the transporter and walked out into the Gate room. He stopped and looked at the Gate, eyeing the defensive options available and the wide open space around them. He paused for a moment, appreciating the esthetics of the setting.

"Puddlejumper bay is up a level," Sheppard pointed. "I'd be glad to take you up, if you're interested."

"Yes, I am" McChrystal replied, wanting a chance to interact with Sheppard in multiple venues.

They walked over to office space and Sheppard tapped on the doorframe. "We're here!" he announced.

Richard Woolsey looked like the bureaucrat he was. He was the only one in a three-piece suit, clearly 'at the office.'

"General McChrystal, glad to meet you," Woolsey enthused, reaching out to shake hands.

"Stan, please," McChrystal offered. "I am supposed to be retired."

"Richard, then," Woolsey replied easily. "Please, come in and sit. How was your trip?" They sat in chairs around a small table in the office, away from the desk.

"Long," McChrystal replied. "Not used to sitting still for three weeks."

"Dr. McKay is working on adapting the work he and Dr. Zelenka did on the city for space ships," Woolsey stated. "I'll have them give you an update in the next couple of days."

"I'd like that," McChrystal agreed. "Colonel, join us," he indicated to the standing soldier.

Sheppard sat or, rather slouched, in the chair across the table from him. It wasn't quite rude but it was decidedly non-military. McChrystal decided to see where this went.

"So, what brings you to Atlantis, General?" Woolsey asked, openly curious.

"What did O'Neill tell you?" he decided to see what they knew. Or what they would tell him.

"Nothing at all besides the fact you were coming," Woolsey replied. "And we only got that news yesterday as part of the passenger manifest."

"I suspect you saw the news that President Obama is less than happy with me over the interview I gave with Rolling Stone?" he asked.

He could tell that they were surprised he was the one to bring it up. Good, that would keep them thinking.

"Well, it was deliberate on my part," he explained. "It got me out of the public spotlight to let me come here."

"And just why would someone like yourself actually want to come here, sir?" Sheppard asked.

McChrystal leaned forward, placing one hand on the table. "I think you've gotten fucked over by the military and you need someone out here to serve as an advocate for you."

"General O'Neill has been helping us," Woolsey defended O'Neill automatically.

"To some extent, that's part of the problem," he said firmly. "While O'Neill may be the President's fair haired boy, the rest of the military establishment isn't necessarily so fond of him. You need someone like me, who has no vested interest in the SGC or, no offense, in the Air Force, to take a look at what you're doing and what you've asked for."

"The IOC…." started Woolsey.

He over rode whatever Woolsey was going to say. "The IOC isn't providing the majority of the troops nor the majority of the funding for Atlantis. They're a bunch of politicians looking out for themselves, nothing more. The Canadians and the Brits will also get my report when I'm done, no one else."

"Retired? Really?" Sheppard asked, the skepticism evident in the way he asked the question.

"Technically, I'm a consultant," McChrystal admitted ruefully.

Sheppard gave a small laugh and, if it were possible, slouched even more in his chair. He could see Sheppard eyeing him, thinking. He let the silence go on for another minute.

Woolsey broke first. "Well, then," he said. "What do you need and where do you want to start?"

"I need a real shower with real hot water," he replied. "Even a Hollywood shower on the Daedalus gets old, fast."

"That is does," Sheppard agreed with a light of understanding in his eyes.

"I understand you're a runner, Sheppard," McChrystal looked at the soldier. "Where's a good place to run?"

"How far?" Sheppard tilted his head in consideration. "Not safe to run by yourself until you know the course and we insist that on some of the longer runs no one goes alone."

He figured Sheppard also didn't want to leave him to wander around on his own too much. "When I've been running regularly, I do seven, eight miles," he replied. "Since I haven't done much for the past three weeks, I'd like to start at three, four miles."

"That's easy, then," Sheppard answered. "I'll take you to your room, give you –" he looked for agreement, "—an hour to clean up and get settled. Ronon and I will come by and take you out."

"That'll work," McChrystal agreed. It would let him meet the Satedan on his turf.

"Glad you've joined us, General… Stan," Woolsey stuttered as McChrystal glared at him for using the title.

His door chimed exactly an hour later, and the door opened to reveal Sheppard in a worn t-shirt and sweat pants, a second, tall, swarthy man looming behind him.

"General…. Stanley McChrystal," Sheppard waved at the other man. "Ronon Dex."

He reached out a hand to find it engulfed by the other man. A grunt of greeting. "You run?" Dex asked.

"Yup." He could do laconic.

"We'll take one of the routes that you can take on your own after you've been through it," Sheppard explained as they went to the transporter. "It's all pretty level. If you want hills, we have lots of stairwells you can climb."

"Makes sense," he replied. He watched the location Sheppard touched on the transporter. They exited in a small hallway, crossed it and went outside.

He took a moment to look around. This was another part of the city; the towers were lower, a couple broken off part way up.

"We lost those when we moved through an asteroid belt when running from the Asurans," Sheppard saw where he was looking. "We got the bigger asteroids but couldn't stop everything getting through." He pointed in the other direction. "That's the control tower."

McChrystal saw the spire that seemed to reach to the sky. "Not a very defensible position," he observed.

"We’re finding the Ancients were pretty fallible," Sheppard admitted. "Why it's such an obvious target, we haven't figured out. McKay figures the Ancients were arrogant enough to assume their shield would protect them."

"I'd like to meet Dr. McKay," McChrystal floated.

"Don't worry, you can't miss him," Dex said flatly.

Sheppard pointed slightly to the left of where they were, "Start off that way, don't go into buildings – pretty much for any reason – you don't know what's been cleared or not. If you get killed doing something stupid even Lorne won't do that paperwork."

McChrystal couldn't help laughing. "I'll try to save you from that, then," he grinned. "Lead on."

They set a steady pace, he and Sheppard in the front, Dex slightly in back of them. Sheppard pointed out landmarks and hazards as they went through the course that had been set up. McChrystal could hear Dex breathing easily as he ran almost silently behind them. The breathing had to be overt so they knew he was back there, he figured, since without looking they'd not know he was there.

They ended back where they started, making a loop around buildings and going close to the water along one stretch.

"We run most every morning," Dex offered. When Sheppard shot him a glance, Dex shrugged. "No one else does longer distances, be good for you if you did."

"Thanks," McChrystal replied. "I like to run seven, eight miles. Do you have anything longer?"

Sheppard groaned, "I'll let you two work that out, that's getting over my limit."

Dex flashed a quick grin. "Be good for you," he repeated, teasing slightly this time.

"I have to spend time with Teyla, too," Sheppard protested. "And while you may not think it, I do have a day job."

Dex snickered and turned to McChrystal. "I'll get you in the morning."

"We have a mission tomorrow afternoon," Sheppard warned as they moved toward the transporter.

"Bring him along," Dex stated.

Sheppard stopped at that. "Hmmm…" he considered. "It's one of Rodney's fishing trips." At the silent query from McChrystal, he elaborated, "The scientists found something in the city's database that sounds like a lead on a ZPM. Neither Ronon nor Teyla are familiar with the planet so we're going to check it out." With a bare hesitation Sheppard offered, "You are welcome to come with us."

One of the opportunities he had been hoping for. "Yes, I'd like that, thank you. I've not had a chance to go through a Star Gate before this, so it will be interesting."

He wanted to laugh at the horror in Sheppard's eyes. "Never been through a gate?" Sheppard demanded.

"No chance, since I've not worked with the Stargate program before this and being Earth-bound," he said steadily. "Although I have to admit that beaming up to the Daedalus was an interesting experience."

"Ronon, would you run the General through the standard first-timer's briefing?" Sheppard asked. "I have some work to do and he'll get to meet a variety of people that way."

Dex shrugged. "Sure."

They approached McChrystal's room. "I won't be long," he offered.

"Half an hour?" Dex asked.

"Sure," he agreed.

"Don't wander off," Dex warned.

"No," he promised.

The two others went off as he stripped for his second shower of the day. He had been honest earlier that the restriction of water for showers on the Daedalus had been frustrating. He had been in many places over the years where water was limited, so it wasn't something new, but he had let a good, hot shower become one of the few luxuries he allowed himself in his life.

He thought about both O'Neill's and Caldwell's warning that he would dislike Sheppard. He suspected that if Sheppard was in his chain-of-command, he'd be more than annoyed by the borderline rudeness and unmilitary behavior. Since Sheppard was someone else's problem, he could be more objective. Which also gave him time to evaluate the man before making a decision.

Exactly thirty minutes later, the door chimed and Dex was waiting for him.

"Where first?" he asked.

"Armory, for equipment," Dex stated. "Then medical for a checkup, and the labs so Zelenka can give you his lecture."

"Sounds reasonable," he had to agree.

They took a transporter to another location and Dex nodded at the soldier on duty at the entrance to the armory. Dex seemed to know his way around, pulling a tac vest from storage and various small supplies to put in the vest. When he put a couple of Power Bars in one pocket, he protested, "I won't need those."

"No, but McKay might," Dex stated, like it was an obvious precaution.

They went into a different room with weapons. Dex handed him a sheathed knife and then looked at him, considering. "Hand gun and a P-90?"

"Yes," he answered. "What kind of weapon do you carry?"

Dex brought out a hand weapon that looked like a ray gun.

"Are there more of those?" he asked.

"Nope, but McKay tries to build one every once in a while," he stated. "Wraith stunners come close, though."

"I'd like to see that, when we have time," McChrystal requested.

"Up to Sheppard," Dex replied easily.

Faintly surprised at the answer, he realized that it was more than reasonable and a credit to Sheppard that, while things looked pretty open, there were controls within the system.

Dex handed him a pistol. He checked the weapon, made sure the chamber was clear and sighted the gun at the far wall.

"Need to try it out?" Dex asked.

"No, this should be fine," he answered.

"Saves on ammo," Dex agreed. "Even with fresh supplies, never can have too many bullets."

McChrystal had to agree with that sentiment. They repeated the process with the P-90, which must have assured Dex that he knew what he was doing with the weapons.

"You'll get your weapons tomorrow when we're ready to leave," Dex informed him.

"No problem," he agreed.

Dex took him to a space that served as a locker room and placed the vest and knife in a locker.

When they were done in the armory, Dex escorted him to what was obviously an infirmary.

"Sheppard wants him to have a pre-mission physical," Dex announced to the nurse they came upon.

"Put him in any open place," she replied. "There're only two teams off world at the moment, and both are trading missions, so we don't expect anyone."

"Okay," Dex replied. They moved further into the infirmary and Dex pointed at a curtained off space. "Suspect you know what to do."

Going into the space and taking off his outer clothes, McChrystal folded them neatly, put them on the chair at the side of the bed and then sat on the bed in a t-shirt and boxers.

The curtain rustled and a man entered.

"I'm Carson Beckett," the man introduced himself with a slight brogue. He reached out and they shook hands. "Welcome to Atlantis."

"Stan McChrystal," he introduced himself.

So this was the clone, McChrystal realized. He didn't look unusual and he understood the mission reports that this man, being, whatever, had fooled everyone until they had done further scans on him.

"Understand you're going off world with Colonel Sheppard's team?" Dr. Beckett asked as he took blood pressure.

"Yes, anything you can tell me?" McChrystal asked.

"Well, I'm not telling you any secrets when I tell you the Colonel's team comes back injured more often than not," Beckett said, much too cheerfully for McChrystal's comfort. "They do some of the more dangerous exploring, so it's to be expected."

"Does that affect Colonel Sheppard's ability to be in command of the military?" he asked, deciding to be obvious.

"Nah," Beckett waved it off. "It's not always him and he has good people working for him. Major Lorne and Major Teldy do a good job of taking care of things."

Beckett took some blood samples and ran a hand scanner over him. "You could stand to put on some weight," he announced. "You're on the low end for someone your age and height. But it's not really a problem. Just don't lose any weight."

This wasn't anything he hadn't been told for a number of years now but it was reassuring to hear it. That told him the medical personnel here knew what they were talking about.

Dex was waiting when he came out of the infirmary. "Lunch?"

"I'll wait for dinner," he replied. He'd had his one cup of coffee a day on the Daedalus before the ship landed but felt further explanation was needed. "I only eat one meal a day. But I'll have something to drink while you eat."

"Okay," Dex answered.

They entered the dining hall, where Dex directed him to the serving line. Looking over the offerings, he was surprised at both the variety and the color of the food. "Don't eat purple casseroles. They're usually awful but the food people say it's good for us and make the cooks make it once a week."

"Nutritional," McChrystal supplied.

"Yeah," Dex agreed.

They sat across from each other at a table near the windows. McChrystal looked out over the city and out toward the ocean.

A tray slid next to Ronon's and Teyla Emmagen sat down next to him.

"General," she nodded at him in greeting.

"Ma'am," he nodded back. "But please, call me Stan."

"Stan, then," she replied. "Welcome to Atlantis."

Talk turned to the universal constant – the weather. McChrystal had to admit it was more wide ranging than usual since it involved talk about the weather not only local to the city but for the Athosian settlement, a couple of the city's trading partners and speculation about the planet they were going to tomorrow.

"I understand you will be going with us," Emmagen said to him.

"Colonel Sheppard was kind enough to include me," he admitted.

"Taking him on the Dummies tour," Dex put in. "Going to see Zelenka next."

"As in Gate travel for Dummies?" McChrystal asked, amused.

Emmagen shot Dex a glance that told him she was not amused but Dex laughed. "Yup," he stood. "Ready?"

They walked to the labs, taking a route he had not been on before so he noted what features there were to distinguish their path. Many of the corridors looked alike and it would be easy to get turned around and lost in this immediate area, much less the larger city.

There was yelling as they approached what he assumed was the lab area. He looked around in interest, not having spent a lot of time in science labs over the years.

"What were you thinking!" a voice shouted.

"You are the one not thinking," an accented voice shouted back at him. "Look at this… here…."

"That's not important because this is fucked up here, so all of that has to be redone!" the first voice came again.

"That is not fucked up as you call it! It is a proper variation," the accented voice shouted back.

They came to a room with the shouters, whiteboards with equations scattered on them and a table of what looked like electrical parts in the middle of the room.

Dex knocked firmly on the doorframe. The two men who had been shouting stopped to look at them.

"Sheppard needs you to do the talk," Dex put into the sudden silence. "Going off world tomorrow."

McChrystal recognized Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka from the pictures he had of them.

McKay strode forward and offered a hand. "Rodney McKay," he said shortly. He eyed McChrystal with suspicion.

"Stan McChrystal," he offered back evenly and shook the hand firmly.

"Ignore my friend," Zelenka said. "He does not like to be proved wrong." He offered a hand, "Radek Zelenka."

McKay huffed and crossed his arms. "I am not wrong and you know it."

"Not important now," Zelenka waved a hand dismissively. "Need to make sure the General doesn't get killed on his first trip off world." Zelenka led him to another room, leaving McKay with whatever project they had been working on.

"Call me Stan," McChrystal repeated patiently. "I'm retired and here on a consulting trip."

"Ah!" Zelenka held up a hand. "But you will always be a General. I suspect you will have difficulty fighting that."

"True," he admitted, appreciative of the honesty behind the warning. "So, what do you have to teach me?"

Zelenka must have figured that since he hadn't fidgeted at the beginning of the lesson, he would get not only the Dummies lecture but the graduate lecture while he was at it. In the end, McChrystal was appalled at how many ways there were to die in this galaxy without ever being in a firefight. Granted, there were stupid ways to die on Earth but Pegasus outstripped that.

"Thank you, Radek," he said when it looked like they were done. "That was very helpful."

Zelenka looked at him for a moment, considering, "Stan, I think you should try the ATA treatment. It has not worked for me but it has worked for enough people that it is worth trying. You will know more about what you are doing if it works for you."

That was an argument he could understand. Using the ATA capability as a tool or to be able to protect himself made sense. "I'll consider it," he agreed.

"Call me if you need anything," Zelenka offered.

They shook hands and McChrystal looked around. He didn't see Dex and there wasn't anyone else that was obviously an escort.

Free of handlers for the moment, McChrystal took the opportunity to just wander about the sections of the city he had been to, looking to see if he could find his way around.

He met a couple of Marines on patrol who he waved off when they asked if they could help him. He could see them passing a message on the radio as they passed him but they didn't stay. Eventually he wandered back to his room to freshen up.

He was ready for today's meal and thought he'd see what was available on the menu. He only turned wrong once on his way to the dining hall, re-oriented himself and grabbed a tray from the stack at the beginning of the serving line.

"Tell me what you have today," he asked the woman behind the line. He looked at her name tag: Judie Szymanski. His information from the personnel files told him she had PhDs in Nutrition and Biochemistry.

"Well, today there's the purple casserole that we keep trying to get everyone to eat because of the vitamins, but, honestly, it's still horrid," she laughed. "There's tormack," she put a scoop of that on his plate without waiting for his agreement. "Have to get your share of that before Ronon or McKay gets here." She gave him a piece of something that looked like chicken but probably wasn't and some green vegetables.

"Give me a taste of the purple stuff," he directed when she was about to hand him his plate. "I'll try anything once."

"You're brave," she admitted, giving him a tiny serving of the casserole.

He got a drink and went back to the table he had sat at earlier with Ronon.

He took a small taste of the purple casserole and while he swallowed it, he had to admit he agreed with the woman. It was horrid.

Trays slid in next to and across from his. Sheppard sat down across from him, McKay and Dex in the remaining chairs.

"Teyla's working on getting Torren to feed himself," Sheppard explained the missing team member. "It's at the messy stage since more ends up on him than in him and he seems to do better without an audience."

"Well, he'd do better if you didn't laugh at him," McKay pointed out.

Sheppard shrugged but shot him a grin.

"Tell me about tomorrow's expedition," McChrystal asked.

McKay perked up. "It's a planet in the Ancient database that we really don't know a lot about but we've already sent a MALP through and got it back and there are energy readings I'd like to check out."

"We have a couple of different types of MALPs we use on new planets," Sheppard explained. "We have Rodney's MALP on a stick that we use on a totally new planet to test to see if it's a space gate or not. Once we know it's on a planet and that there's a safe exit area, we send a rover to gather info for a couple of hours. Once it comes back and checks out clean, no radiation or nasty lifeforms, then we see what kind of readings it's taken and put it into the list for further investigation."

"How many of these have you done so far?" McChrystal asked.

"About a dozen," McKay answered, scooping up another mouthful of the tormack.

That was one dish McChrystal had to admit was excellent. The poultry was in the 'it tastes like chicken' category and the vegetables were decent.

"What have you found so far?" he asked, thinking through the mission reports he had read.

Sheppard shrugged. "Met some new people, found a couple of places we want to investigate further once we have more resources but, overall, not really much. Just keep looking."

"Why do you do it?" McChrystal persisted.

"Might find something," Dex put in unexpectedly.

Exploration was why they were there, he had to admit. That was a foreign concept he had to work with. His military background was more in battle strategy and not in simple, peaceful – well, relatively peaceful – exploration.

"Energy readings?" McChrystal asked McKay.

He shrugged. "Not sure, which is why it's currently at the top of the list," he explained. "Don't think it's a ZPM but we'll take any help with getting more energy that we can get."

"What do you want me to do tomorrow?" McChrystal asked.

"We can take a 'jumper so we don't have to walk as far," Sheppard replied. "We don't know if there's anyone living there, so be observant." He suppressed a small grin. "Protect McKay and protect him from himself."

"Hey!" McKay protested. "Sitting here!"

It was obviously a running thing between them since McKay didn't protest too much.

Sheppard turned serious. "Protecting the scientists is our number one job. They're the ones who will figure out how to stop the Wraith," Sheppard pointed out. "Without them, we don't have a chance and Earth will become a buffet to them."

McChrystal saw Dex's nod to this.

He got up and spoke to Dex. "Come get me in the morning for that run," he instructed.

"Yup," Dex answered.

McChrystal strolled back to his room. The travel and the slightly longer day finally caught up with him and he was ready for some sleep.

The next morning, he and Dex took an extended run. Dex didn't talk much, concentrating on his running, and McChrystal suspected Dex held back to stay with him. There were a couple of stops that had been cleaned up so they could get water along the way. He didn't see anyone else on the path they took but assumed some of the others came out here to make it worth their while to set up water stations and keep the path clear.

After a shower, he went back to meet with Richard Woolsey. They reviewed some of the requests Woolsey had put together for civilian support resources. Thinking of dinner last night, he realized they had double-PhD people doing serving work because there was no one else to do it. Atlantis required that people be smart to live here; Zelenka's lecture on what could kill him yesterday was fresh in his memory, but not everyone needed a PhD to have meaningful work to do.

There were also some 'creature comforts' on the list. They had trade agreements with a number of other planets but people from Earth were more than slightly spoiled when it came to clothing, hygiene and simple comfort – mattresses, sheets and towels – looking for quality that just wasn't available in Pegasus.

He took notes, talked with Woolsey about options, and learned more about the people in the city.

Taking his notes back to his room, he went to the armory to get ready for their mission. He found Dex and Emmagen already there, ready and waiting patiently. Dex looked him over as he put on the tac vest from his locker and holstered the weapon that was waiting for him. Sheppard strolled up shortly and was ready quickly.

"McKay, this is your planet, you know," Sheppard spoke over the radio.

"Right here," McKay responded, coming down the hall. "Some idiot decided that they needed to discuss sewage handling right now and I had to cut her off before she got going."

McChrystal watched as Dex and Emmagen helped McKay get ready but he could also see that McKay knew, had learned, how to handle a gun as he checked it out and holstered it.

"Up to the 'jumper bay," Sheppard indicated. They climbed a flight of stairs and McChrystal had his first look at the so-called 'Puddle Jumpers.' They hung around the bay in multiple levels and he could see one being working on at the far end.

"Need to learn more how to build them," McKay followed his glance. "And repair them. Zelenka and Kusinagi are good at it but they have their hands full already and we don't get to things like this the way we'd like to."

He entered the back of the ship and looked around. Sheppard waved him to the co-pilot seat.

"You get to ride shot-gun since it's your first trip," Sheppard explained.

McChrystal watched as the ship was lowered to the gate room, the gate was dialed and Sheppard flew them through it.

That night, McChrystal went through his impressions of the day. Going through the Gate had been disorienting at first but the fascination of flying in the 'jumper helped distract him from that. The energy reading had been an abandoned Ancient outpost on the other side of the continent, relatively small but big enough to require caution. McKay was like a kid in a toy store, flitting from place to place. Dex and Emmagen were all business, keeping an eye out for danger. Sheppard never wandered far from McKay and would occasionally lend a hand – literally – when McKay wanted to try to turn something on.

He grinned to himself, remembering how McKay's eyes lit up when he handed over a power bar at a point when nothing seemed to be going right. He watched as McKay ate the bar and drank some water, taking a much needed break. Then McKay snapped his fingers a couple of times and dove under another console. Sheppard grinned in a way McChrystal understood meant he knew McKay had made a breakthrough and suddenly the room lit up.

It had been disappointing that the outpost was powered by geothermal energy, something that wasn't an immediate help to Atlantis, but the outpost itself was now something worth further exploration.

By the time they got back, the Daedalus had taken off to make its next round trip. McChrystal was scheduled to go back on the next visit, which gave him roughly six weeks to look things over and draft his report. And time to work on his weapon mystery.

McChrystal spent the next week wandering around the city, talking with Woolsey and Sheppard regularly but also talking to both civilian and military staff. None of the military would call him anything but "General" or "sir", but they were friendly and open about enjoying what they were doing in Atlantis. There was a modicum of grousing about things they missed from Earth but that was no different than troops in Afghanistan who missed things from back home. If anyone was overtly unhappy, they didn't speak up to him.

Sheppard invited him on another off world mission which didn't go so well when they ran into, literally, acid rain. It was the by-product of a large tree-like plant falling over in a sudden wind and the mineral content of a cliff they were walking beside that the plant fell into. They all spent the night in the infirmary that night.

Three weeks into his stay, McChrystal made a decision and asked Sheppard to get his team together for a meeting.

"In addition to my review of Atlantis and your request for people and supplies, I have another task to follow up on," he stated. "I need more help in getting more information and figure the four of you are my best resource."

He got out the digital image he had of the gun that he had shown O'Neill and handed it to Sheppard. Sheppard took one look at it and grimly handed it to McKay.

"That mother-fucking, rat bastard," McKay swore vehemently. "I'm going to kill him. Just wait, I'm going to ruin his entire life. He'll be lucky to get a job sweeping streets. He's going to wish he had never been born."

Dex and Emmagen looked faintly amused.

"Would you like to let me in on whatever is going on?" McChrystal asked patiently.

"It's like this," Sheppard started. "When the Wraith destroyed Area 51, a serious number of the best scientists" --- he held a hand up at McKay's snort of derision – "died that day. Those that escaped or were elsewhere now don't have a single place to work until the US gets its act together. You know how long that sort of things takes."

"And with so many people dead, we have to bring a serious number of new people up to speed on projects," McKay added. "People we frankly don't know. Since they weren't already working for us, many of them are even more incompetent than the borderline ones we've already taken in."

"So, we decided to test the waters, so to speak," Sheppard took up the tale. "While we were on Earth, we passed around multiple sets of briefing papers to various scientists. We told this particular guy that McKay had found schematics for an energy source that would fit into a hand weapon, like the one in the picture, could he look it over, find any problems with it and make any suggestions."

"That specific image was sent to Dr. Gregor Suminovic in Belarus," Sheppard continued. "The Russians, or what's left of them, want back into the Stargate program badly, and this was their opportunity to show us what they could do."

"It wasn't real and anyone who could figure out where the math and the engineering went wrong, we really did want to take another look at," McKay put in. "It was both a science test, and a test to see where people wanted to place their loyalty."

McChrystal was not amused. "You did this all on your own," he said in the flat tone of voice his aides had learned to worry about. You didn't get to be a four-star General without learning how to deal with all levels of stupidity. "You didn't tell anyone what you were doing and decided you were the best ones to figure all this out."

"Yes, we were," McKay leaned into the table, placing his hands flat on the tabletop in emphasis. "O'Neill was busy romancing the President, Landry couldn't do anything with the stick he has up his ass and the IOC would only want to know what was in it for them and then tell everyone it was a con. Honestly? No. One. Cares. We take care of our own." He sat back.

Sheppard jerked a thumb at McKay, "What he said. Not even begging forgiveness, much less asking permission."

McChrystal sat in a chair and considered the team sitting in front of him. The silence went on. Even McKay sat still, arms folded across his chest defensively.

Knowing he wouldn't get anywhere against the united front, he sighed, "What's done is done. How many more of these do you have out there?"

"Why?" McKay demanded. "So you can tell everyone that there're fake projects out there? Go ahead. You have one but they are all different, keyed to the person we sent each project to. Some are weapons projects like this. A serious number are different. We're the only ones who know what they are."

"It was fun making them up," Dex put in.

"What happens when you get caught?" McChrystal demanded.

"What's to catch?" Sheppard answered calmly. "We asked a variety of scientists to consult on a project in their area of expertise. If it's bad science or math, so sorry, the information we got from the Ancient database must have been bad and thank you for your help."

"Just like that?" McChrystal was dumbfounded at the boldness of the approach.

"Just like that," McKay replied flatly.

"What else should I know?" McChrystal had to ask.

"Nothing," Sheppard replied. "You found someone probably shopping Ancient technology on the black market. We can tell you who we gave it to, you do what you want with it. But, we'll not easily trust him or anyone from his lab for quite a while."

"The fact that someone put it out there without catching the bad math and engineering behind it tells me they're too stupid to live very long, anyway," McKay added. "Someone else who's not as nice as we are will figure it's a fake and take care of the problem for us. Our hands are clean."

Not what he had expected. That was pretty ruthless, something he hadn't expected at all from these people. He looked at them, reconsidering what he had learned over the past three weeks. They had fooled even him with this.

"Okay, let's try this again," McChrystal asked. "What's next?"

"Dinner and, hopefully an early night," Sheppard answered but looked at McKay meaningfully. "We have an early mission tomorrow, three teams, since we think the Genii are threatening one of our allies. They arranged a meet-up to pay for 'protection' and we'll be there ahead of time to see what's really going on and make sure nothing goes wrong. We gave them the goods they need with a special tracking device so we can see where it goes."

"It gives off an intermittent signal, not a steady one," McKay explained. "So it's harder to find if it is the Genii or even the Wraith."

Turned out to be Wraith worshippers, something that McChrystal found faintly fascinating in a repulsive sort of way. Sheppard's teams took great satisfaction in clearing out that particular group of worshippers and taking their Stargate away with them, leaving them stranded on their home planet.

All too soon, McChrystal's six weeks was almost up and the Daedalus had signaled they were now one day out.

McChrystal went to Woolsey to review the report he was going to make and to ask him to arrange something special for him. He could see that Woolsey was curious about the request but readily agreed.

The report part was easy; Atlantis could use everything they asked for and more. He had spent time with Sheppard, Lorne and Teldy, outlining troops and weaponry they could use in their work.

Late the next morning, the Daedalus set down on its usual East pier landing pad.

"Colonel Caldwell," he called over the radio to the ship. "Can you join us on the pier?"

"Thirty minutes?" Caldwell replied. "Have to make sure everything is secure."

"That works," McChrystal replied. "See you shortly."

McChrystal radioed Lorne, "Thirty minutes." He placed the same call to Zelenka.

"Yes, sir," Lorne replied. "Yes," Zelenka echoed in answer.

Just before the thirty minutes were up, McChrystal went out to the pier. Sheppard was organizing some of the offloading, a number of the soldiers again working to move cargo.

Caldwell came off the ship, "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Richard Woolsey came from the tower to join them on the pier where he and Caldwell exchanged small shrugs that admitted they had no idea why they were there, they were just humoring McChrystal.

"Wait for just a moment," he directed. He saw Lorne signal that they were ready and moved to the center of the area.

"Attention!" Lorne barked.

The soldiers stopped what they were doing and snapped to attention. McChrystal could see the civilians easing in around the edges.

Sheppard looked around quizzically.

"Colonel Sheppard? Come forward, please?" McChrystal spoke loudly enough so those assembled could hear him.

Sheppard stepped in front of him and gave a snappy salute, "Sir?"

"General O'Neill gave me something before I left Earth and told me that this was at my discretion," he announced. "Having been here and seeing what you are doing, I agree with him and think this is long overdue."

He brought out the box O'Neill had given him and stepped closer to Sheppard. He reached up and unpinned the Lieutenant Colonel insignia and replaced them with the eagles that represented the 'full bird' Colonel position.

"Let me be the first to acknowledge the work you've done in Atlantis, Colonel Sheppard," McChrystal said. "Consider this a sign of appreciation from a grateful country and it's a small token of appreciation from a grateful Earth."

"Sir! I…. thank you!" Sheppard stuttered, obviously surprised. He stepped back and gave a precise, military salute.

McChrystal returned the salute. "Go on," he grinned. "I think you have some people who want to congratulate you." He could see Sheppard's team beaming behind him and everyone assembled gave a hum of approval.

Sheppard turned and was engulfed by his team.

"Much as I hate to admit it," Caldwell said from beside him, "it is overdue."

"Yes, it is," McChrystal said.

Woolsey invited them both, "Come on, there's a party. And cake."


(original comments are here)